AN: I would once again like to thank Lord Maximus, whom I worked closely with writing this chapter.
Not really much else to say, so let's get right to it.
Chapter 60
A few years ago…
Yang was panting as she stood a few feet from Mom who remained composed and ready, waiting for her next attack. Instead Yang sighed and sat down. "Can we call it a day?"
Mom frowned as she dismissed her Keyblade. "Just like that? What happened to no stopping until you knocked me down? Since when do you quit like that, Yang?"
"Well, you and Ruby have the Keyblade and you can do so much… I'm just so lame compared to the two of you." Yang let out a frustrated sigh. "I can barely land a hit on you."
Mom sighed and walked forward, taking a seat next to her eldest daughter. "You think because I have a Keyblade and you don't that you're somehow not good enough?"
"No… I mean…" Yang shuffled a bit. "How am I supposed to win, even in a spar against you, Mom? How am I supposed to get stronger if I always lose?" Mom wrapped an arm around Yang's shoulder.
"Winning's not about being strong, Yang. Look on the bright side, you lasted longer."
"How's that supposed to help?" Yang asked with a deadpan expression. Mom shook her head as she helped Yang stand up.
"The fact that you can last longer against me means you are learning and gaining experience. You're not expected to win immediately. Here, let me show you." Mom stepped back and summoned a copy of Hercules.
"How is summoning him going to—GAH!" Yang yelped and jumped as Hercules charged at her, aiming his fist down at her.
The punch was strong enough to leave a crater and it wasn't done. Knowing what would happen if it landed a single hit Yang proceeded to dodge each and every punch. Yang grunted. It was almost like her mother was actually trying to kill her!
"Come on, Yang!" Mom called out. "Find the opening!"
The opening? Wha—
Yang aimed her Ember Celica down and fired, propelling herself up over the next punch and then delivered a hit to the crystalline copy's head, shattering it before it could react.
"Well, you seem pretty good considering you just beat a copy of a son of the gods," Mom said, stepping forward with a smile.
"And how…" Yang asked while panting. "Did that help?"
"You think you could have lasted as long as you did against someone with infinite strength if not for all the training and spars we do?" Mom asked rhetorically. Yang wasn't sure how to respond to that. "Look, you're becoming a great fighter, Yang. Yes, there are some flaws. Most glaring is that when you're on the attack you overcommit yourself and forget about defense when you really need it. That's the point of this training. You have great potential in you, Yang. Enough that that you'll be as great a warrior as any Keybearer, even without a Keyblade of your own. But only if you're able to hone that potential."
Yang was silent as she considered her mother's words.
"Remember this, the Keyblade may offer great power," Mom said as she summoned her Keyblade again and held it up. "But in the end it's only a tool. The kind of opponents you'll face won't just be strong. They'll also be cunning, and their greatest weapon will be getting into your head and making you doubt yourself." Mom pointed to Yang's heart and her head. "Your heart and your mind are as important as your body. Use them in tandem with your strength and you'll be able to overcome anyone, Keyblade or not."
Yang was quiet for a moment, considering her mother's words before looking up with a small smile. "So…best two out of three?"
"Mom smiled back. "You're on."
Both stepped back, Yang raising her fists and Mom holding her Keyblade. Mother and daughter faced each other as a leaf fell to the ground…
And then they charged straight into battle again.
Just as "Vanitas" raised his Keyblade to finish Weiss a voice shouted from behind.
"Mickey!"
The Unversed spun and blocked a strike from a crystalline copy of Mickey Mouse. The Mickey copy jumped back and the Unversed trailed after it, slashing at it but the crystalline mouse was too fast.
And it wasn't the only opponent.
The Unversed was just about to strike "Mickey" when Aqua appeared, blocking its strike. The Mickey clone then rushed over to administer a healing spell to Weiss who stood up and watched as Yang walked over, having freed her arms from the ice.
The Unversed leaped up into the air and swung his Keyblade in an arc, releasing bolts of dark lightning down on Aqua who somersaulted forward and dodged the bolts.
"Seeker Mine!" Aqua shouted as "Vanitas" fell towards her.
She jumped back and the Unversed landed where she had been, only to be shot back up into the air by a blast of light from Aqua's Seeker Mine spell.
"Gather!" Aqua shouted, pulling the Unversed who was still in the air into her spell and held it there temporarily. "Thunder!"
Bolts of lightning rained down from the sky and slammed into "Vanitas" who didn't seem affected or in pain because it didn't make a sound. The spell wore off and the Unversed landed on its feet, launching a powerful slash at Aqua. She ducked, and the attack sailed over her head. Aqua jumped forward, creating a Barrier Surge, and slammed right into the Unversed. But as her spell knocked it down it vanished into a puff of black smoke.
"Vanitas" reappeared from above and swung its Keyblade down. Aqua dove forwards, dodging the attack and spun around, clashing her Keyblade with "Vanitas's".
The two clashed for several seconds before Aqua cast a Blizzard spell that knocked the Unversed back.
"Freeze!" Aqua shouted, firing an ice shard at the Unversed, hitting it dead-on.
Only for it disappear in a puff of smoke and reappear from above again. Aqua cartwheeled as the Unversed fell to her, slashing at the ground where she had been. "Vanitas" chased after Aqua, slashing at her but she kept on dodging as he chased her around the arena.
"Sleep!" Aqua shouted, casting a Sleep spell on the Unversed that would only work for a few seconds, but long enough for her to use her next spell. "Gather!"
Once again the Unversed was lifted off its feet and into a vortex of magic while Aqua jumped up, slashing her Keyblade at him. She used her Barrier Surge again as the spell wore off, slamming head-on into the Unversed as it landed on its feet. The creature went on the attack but Aqua danced and cartwheeled around his strikes, going on the offensive and then quickly retreating.
"Freeze!" Aqua fired another ice shard at "Vanitas" who shattered it with one hit from his Keyblade just as Aqua cast her next spell. "Thundara!"
A bolt of lightning hit "Vanitas", seemingly zapping him but he shrugged it off and shot a large fireball from the edge of his Keyblade at Aqua. She activated her Spellweaver Style Change as she dodged the fireball that split into three smaller versions of itself.
"Sleep!" Aqua shouted, her spell now enhanced by her Spellweaver style. As the Unversed was temporarily stunned she utilized the quick magical combos of the style, following up with a blast from her Keyblade that hit "Vanitas" right in the face and knocked it on its back.
Aqua panted as her spell wore off and carefully watched the Unversed, waiting for it to get back up. When it seemed like it was finally knocked out she slowly approached it.
She watched as it vanished into a mist of black smoke, showing that the copy of Vanitas had been defeated. She sighed in relief.
"Finally."
Weiss had watched the fight and was stunned by just how powerful Professor Branwen had shown herself to truly be. Even after getting to know her and the power she wielded it was still easy to forget just how powerful she really was.
"Really is something, huh?" Weiss looked over at Yang, who had a small smile.
"Huh?" Weiss asked.
"Just how powerful those Keyblades can make someone," Yang said with a shrug, still berating herself for making that rookie mistake. "I'm still not used to fighting someone who can use magic after all this time I spent during my childhood training under someone that could."
"What, the professor never used it?"
"Since she didn't want to kill me, no, not really," Yang said with a chuckle. They looked up to see that the professor was walking back towards them. "You did it."
"It wasn't all me," Aqua said. "You both did fantastic considering the caliber of enemy Vanitas was. I actually think that Unversed hit even harder than the real thing. Now, let's go find the rest of your team. I'm concerned about exactly who they have to fight."
"Blake, I think you're right," Ruby said. "We need to get out of here."
It stung for Ruby to say that, since she hated the idea of running from a fight, but the armored man was taking everything the two were throwing at him and shrugging it off with such ease it was frightening.
But they had to run,
With that in mind, Ruby grabbed Blake and they both took off through the use of her Semblance, dashing through the battle-scarred canyon in a desperate bid to locate the others and escape. She was sure the man couldn't catch up with her with her Semblance.
How wrong she turned out to be.
The sound of an engine was heard and Ruby looked over her shoulder, seeing the armored man on some sort of flying bike.
"Are you kidding me?!"
The armored man began firing icicle shards from his bike and Ruby had to duck, jump, and twirl to avoid the projectiles while holding onto Blake at the same time. No matter how fast Ruby was the armored man kept chasing them.
"You…flee?" the man asked from above. "Why does…does a… Keybearer flee? Are you not… worthy?!"
Suddenly the man's hover bike activated some sort of energy field that lashed out, catching Ruby and Blake in it. The two found themselves being pulled towards the man's bike.
"Ruby!" Blake screamed as the man slammed his bike into them.
Both girls screamed as they were sent skidding across the terrain, hitting the ground very hard. Blake grunted as she got up, her Aura shimmering. She spun around to see the man land several feet away, the bike changing back into his Keyblade. Looking behind her, Blake could see Ruby still trying to get up, but had a feeling it wouldn't matter anyway.
The man could not only overpower them if they tried to fight, he could outpace them if they tried to flee.
Blake let out a battle cry as she brought out Gambol Shroud, summoning all of her Aura into a single wave as she swung it at the man as he approached. The Aura wave collided with the man's armor and he staggered for a second, seemingly caught off-balance by the attack. But he easily shrugged it off.
Ruby just finally managed to get back up to see the armored man temporarily halt, and added her own attack.
"Thundara!"
A bolt of lightning hit the armored man, stunning him for a mere second before he continued approaching them.
"Thundara!"
Another bolt of lightning stopped him for just a few seconds.
"Thundara!"
This time the man disappeared, stunning Ruby and Blake as he appeared right between them.
He could teleport too?!
The armored man swung his Keyblade, backhanding Ruby away who barely managed to bring her Keyblade down to defend herself. She was slammed into a rocky wall, and her Aura shimmered and broke as she slid to the ground.
"No true… owner of the Keyblade…would run," the armored man said as he approached her. "You are… unworthy."
"Get away from her!" Blake threw her weapon in its pistol form, wrapping the ribbon around the man's neck and pulling with all her might.
The man simply grabbed the ribbon and pulled with such force Blake was lifted off her feet and flew right at the man, who backhanded her away with a single fist. The armored man then turned to Ruby. She backed up in fear, only to trip and land on her backside. She scooted along on the ground, desperate to get away from this man. He raised his Keyblade. Ruby closed her eyes.
Mom, help me! Please!
There was a clang of metal, and when Ruby opened her eyes, Mom was standing over her, blocking the man's Keyblade with her own. Ruby was quickly scooped up into Yang's arms, and Weiss ran past them to check on Blake.
"Is this some kind of sick joke?!" Mom yelled.
"Aqua…" the man said, totally devoid of any emotion. He gently stepped back, lowering his weapon.
"What are you doing, Terra?!" she asked.
Terra?! Uncle Terra was the one trying to kill her?! Ruby couldn't believe it.
Uncle Terra said nothing else, simply sticking his Keyblade back in the ground and kneeling again, like he had been before Ruby and Blake started fighting him. Ruby looked at him, still terrified that he might decide to get back up again.
She hadn't noticed how badly she was trembling until Yang pulled her closer, whispering calming words into her ears.
There was something about being held in her big sister's arms that made her feel so safe.
She couldn't help but cry.
"Terra," Aqua said sadly, putting a hand on his helmet. "What are you doing here?" He said nothing, simply continuing to kneel. "Why won't you say anything? Terra?"
"He can't hear you," that stupid, condescending voice said. Aqua whipped around, summoning her Keyblade and pointing it at the hooded man that put them in this mess.
"What did you do to him?!" she demanded.
"I did nothing," the man said. "This is all that's left of your friend after Xehanort was done with him. Just a suit of armor, and pure, distilled rage. He just sits here, in the Graveyard, waiting for Xehanort to come back in the hopes that one day, he can reclaim what's his. His Lingering Will." Aqua looked down sadly at the suit armor, devastated that this was all that was left of her best friend. "Honestly, I'm amazed there's enough of him left in there to recognize you."
The man calmly walked forward, taking up a position next to the kneeling form of Terra's armor.
"I gotta say, that was disappointing," he said. "I expected that Aqua was going to defeat that remnant of Vanitas but you, little rose. I honestly thought you'd rise to the occasion against the Lingering Will. Have you learned nothing from the last time we spoke? Is your heart just not in it?"
"Shut up!" Yang yelled, still holding a shaking Ruby close. "You almost got my sister killed and that's all you have to say?!"
"Oh, trust me on this little dragon, if Terra wanted her dead she wouldn't have lasted more than a second against him. Only through her connection to Aqua was she spared," the dark -coated man replied, folding his hands behind his back. "And too bad for you, that won't help next time."
"I'm not sure what you're talking about, but the test is over, win or lose," Aqua said, pointing her Keyblade at him. "So send us back."
"Well, you're definitely playing the part of Master, Aqua Branwen. So as long as you don't falter in the days to come you might be able to weather the storm. But when one test ends, another begins." The man raised his hand and just like before the Keyblades from the Graveyard shot at them.
"Get behind me!" Aqua shouted, conjuring a barrier just as the Keyblades slammed into it.
The force of the onslaught was so great that the barrier was lifted off the ground and carried into the air. Aqua grit her teeth as she struggled to keep the barrier up as more and more Keyblades flew up, forming into a massive tornado that reached the top of a cliff. That was when the barrier broke and the group let out startled cries as they fell, hitting the ground at the top of the cliff. As they got up, the Keyblades encircled the cliff in a massive tornado, flying around them and cutting off any means of escape.
"What do we do now?" Yang asked as the circling blades grew closer.
They were exhausted, their Auras spent, and still had no way back home… or way to wake up.
If they died here, would they die in the real world?
Aqua watched the tornado of Keyblades, feeling something from them. "Ruby, when I say so cross your Keyblade with mine."
"What?"
"Just do it. Trust me," Aqua said as she raised her Keyblade. "And… Now!"
Ruby raised her Keyblade and crossed it with Aqua's just as the Keyblades flew at them, all stopping when making contact with a blast of light. Aqua and Ruby's Keyblades combined into a sword of light that all of the Keyblades touched. There was a flash of light and the Keyblades flew back, returning to the graveyard and a moment later all was silent again.
"Well," the group watched as the hooded man appeared, clapping his hands. "Seems you might have a chance after all. Just took a little extra effort." Aqua frowned, pointing her Keyblade at him.
"Have we passed your test now?"
"…Yes," he said, raising a hand. The group were all suddenly struck by dizziness again, like when they fell asleep on the Bullhead.
"What… what are you doing to us?" Weiss asked.
"Waking you up," the man answered. "You may feel a little sore. Also, one last piece of advice before you go, since you clearly need it." Aqua fell to her knees, finding it difficult to stay conscious. "Trust is a very precious commodity…" Aqua fell over, barely able to keep her eyes open.
"…Be careful who you give yours to."
AN: Well, that was fun! So, yes, Ruby of course had no hope against the Lingering Will. Sora and Xehanort couldn't even beat him. This was more to teach her a lesson, and she failed the test mainly because she ran away.
So, next time we'll be dealing with the aftermath of the whole Merlot incident, and then a quick little arc before we start Volume 3.
As always, thank you very much for reading, and I'll see you all next time!