Hey, guys! Thanks for the patience! And now, back to the third and final part of the Cinderella arc!
Disclaimer: Mage of Hope doesn't own any Kingdom Hearts games, only the OCs!
'Ohhhhhhh! This bread is so warm and fluffy! Good thing I managed to buy a fresh batch!' thought Ignis, hugging a bag full of bakery goods in her arms while happily eating a loaf of bread. 'God, I needed this! I haven't eaten until...uh...yesterday, I think...?'
Though it would normally be a lot faster through carriage, it did take a while for Ignis to reach the village Anastasia described by foot. She didn't really encounter any obstacles along the way, so her walk was relatively peaceful and calm.
At the village, Ignis' arrival did manage to catch her a few onlookers as the red-haired girl wandered around. Well, it was clear that she was a newcomer to the village because of her blazing red hair and strange attire, though she would have caught a lot more attention if she arrived with her armor on. Instead, she just appeared to the villagers as a foreign young girl with an outwardly appearance, which wasn't far from the truth.
As much as Ignis wished to explore the village and take in more of her surroundings, she knew that that wasn't important. Cinderella's sickness came first, therefore, she asked around for any doctor before being informed where his office was. She managed to procure medicine upon describing Cinderella's symptoms as well as a suggestion for a good night's rest, which Ignis couldn't have agreed more on.
And, of course, because there was a bakery nearby, and since Ignis was absolutely famished, the girl couldn't help herself but buy a bunch of bakery goods. She didn't forget about Cinderella and the rest of her animal friends, of course, so she bought some goods for them. Though, she wasn't going to mention that she decided to buy some bakery goods just because she was a tad bit selfish and hungry.
Just when Ignis was finishing her bread, she paused when she sensed something...ominous. She glanced around and wondered where exactly the ominous presence was coming from, but nothing came to mind. However, the closer she reached the château, the ominous presence she had previously felt only grew more and more.
It didn't take much for her to realize that the ominous presence was indeed darkness, making her fear and wonder what was happening. She hoped that the darkness wasn't coming from the château, because if that were the case, then Cinderella was in grave danger!
'Wait, no, but I was so certain that there was no darkness when I left!' Ignis thought, trying to recollect her memories and thinking back of anytime she encountered even a single hint of darkness ever since entering this world. 'When could-?! CRAP!'
Perhaps it had been exhaustion and hunger that clouded Ignis' thoughts, but now that she's rested and satisfied her hunger...now, she recalled everything.
The first signs of darkness came from Lady Tremaine, or rather, more specifically, Ignis sensed darkness for the first time when she spotted Lady Tremaine talking down on Cinderella. Granted, during that time, Lady Tremaine didn't even notice Ignis was there, but it was clear even to an inexperienced outsider like Ignis that there was darkness lurking within Lady Tremaine. And it wasn't just some random darkness emerging from normal negative emotions.
This sort of darkness was the mystic, abnormal kind that would cause chaos and catastrophe if not dealt with as soon as possible.
Ignis didn't deal with the darkness within Lady Tremaine at first because she was more concerned about Cinderella at the time. But, the second time she saw Lady Tremaine, the noble woman with also with her two daughters, Drizella and Anastasia, and the darkness was much more stronger than the first encounter because the two stepdaughters also had darkness within them, adding in the ominous darkness already within Lady Tremaine. Once again, Ignis cared more about her friend than the darkness during that time.
While Ignis was still inexperienced and new to the forces of darkness in other worlds, that wasn't an excuse for not dealing with the source of the darkness sooner.
Even now, even as Ignis was hurrying to reach the château in time, she still didn't know what to do. Yes, she was given lessons as part of her Keyblade wielding duties, but those duties along with the confusion of what to do for the right thing was clashing inside of Ignis' mind. One thing was absolutely certain, though.
The darkness needed to be dealt with now more than ever.
At least one good thing about the forces of darkness, Ignis had to acknowledge. The stronger the darkness, the more she could feel its presence, therefore, the darkness acted as a sort of compass towards its source. Well, that was one thing to acknowledge, and the other was the usage of training and learning darkness magic itself.
Right as Ignis hurried along the path back to the château, suddenly, the air shimmered with a sense of negativity. What popped out afterwards was a horde of creatures brimming with darkness with red eyes and carrying a strange insignia somewhere on their bodies.
"Oh, what?" exclaimed Ignis, surprised before she jumped back to distance herself. Instantly, she could feel not just negativity, but the darkness within the negativity as well, meaning that the strange creatures before her were beings of darkness.
Before pondering on just what the creatures were, two of the swift-looking ones leapt high in the air, taking the first initiative. Quickly summoning Phoenix Fairy, Ignis blocked the first hit, but the other hit from the second creature made a direct hit on her unguarded side, flying her back. Steeling her heels against the ground to cease her flight, Ignis clutched her side, grimacing in pain.
Fortunately, the damage was very little, but had surprisingly been much more quicker than Ignis expected. Normally, Ignis wouldn't have taken such damage, but the damage had reminded her that she had left her armor back in Cinderella's sleeping quarters. At the time, she didn't need it, but now, Ignis was regretting not equipping the armor back on before she had left for the doctor's.
Before she could deal with the speedster creatures, she felt a large shadow overshadowing her figure. Her instincts cried for her to move out of the way, causing her to take a leap back just as a large, rounded creature of darkness crashed down in the same spot where she had previously been standing.
Then, two other bottom-heavy creatures that resembled the large, rounded creature of darkness joined in the crashing, bouncing around the area near her. Each bounce created shockwaves the more they landed, and with three in total, they caused three times the amount of shockwaves that Ignis couldn't dodge.
"Gh-!" The shockwaves dazed and sent Ignis packing, making her tumble to the ground before being forced airborne by the shockwaves and then promptly crashed down by another shockwave.
Glancing up, Ignis saw that all five creatures of darkness were about to land an all-out assault on her, as though to finish her off with all five attacks combined. Springing up to one knee, Ignis quickly casted a wind spell as swiftly and strongly as she could.
"Aero!"
With what little reaction time and strength she had, Ignis focused on making the Aero spell as strong as possible, around the same strength as a Barrier spell. Gusts of wind swirled around Ignis, acting like an airborne barrier. The spell served two purposes: protecting its user as well as blasting the enemies back high in the air, where their formation was knocked off course.
Seeing her chance, Ignis canceled out the Aero spell and sprung into action. Wrapping Phoenix Fairy entirely with flames, Ignis then hurled the flaming Keyblade towards the creatures of darkness with all her might. The Keyblade curved in a circular motion, targeting and slashing through the creatures before returning to it's wielder's palm just as the creatures burst into wisps of darkness that faded away upon their defeat.
Sitting up to catch her breath, Ignis took this time to rest and calm herself. 'W-what was that...?! What did I just fight just now?!' she thought. 'I definitely sensed darkness within them! But, I never saw or sensed anything like them on my way to the doc's! Does that mean that they're recent or that somehow, I missed them?! I...I should hurry back to Cinderella either way! I really, REALLY hope nothing bad happened to her!'
As Ignis hurried back to the château, she continued crossing paths with more creatures of darkness that randomly appeared in her path. Some of them were some of the same creatures she's fought earlier, but most of the time, they were creatures of darkness that she's never encountered before. While she did successfully defeat them, she had to take breaks-in-between to rest up a bit. This only further increased the time away from Cinderella and Ignis' worries for her as time passed.
After a long time, Ignis arrived back at the château, or rather...what was left of it.
A large portion of the château was in complete ruins, torn down and in scrambled debris. If not for the lower levels of the château being mostly intact, the rest of the residence would have collapsed. At most, the lower levels had cracks on the outer walls and the glass windows.
However, the exterior of the château wasn't Ignis' primary concern. No, her main priority was searching for any survivors, specifically Cinderella, and if possible, the rest of her stepfamily as well. While she pondered on what exactly caused the mass destruction of the château, finding Cinderella and the others was her top priority. Even if she did dislike the rest of her family.
Although it was a bit distant, Ignis could hear some faint laughter a bit afar from the château. Following the sound of the laughter, Ignis hurried and found a creature of darkness, but unlike the previous ones she's fought, this one seemed especially more powerful than the rest.
In fact, it appeared much more feminine-looking, as its appearance took the form of a shadowy noblewoman. Donned in a shawl-like baroque white and pink dress, it also wore a white elegant hat that shadowed over its already shadowy black face with red eyes. Wearing high pink heels and its hands garbed in long white gloves, the feminine creature of darkness held a razor-sharp, floral-shaped parasol in its hands as its choice of weapon.
The official name for this particular creature of darkness was unclear, but a more appropriate title for it would be "Fashionista."
"Ahahahahaha! What a suitable end for you, Cinderella! Done in by such beauty itself!"
Turning her head, Ignis heard the cackling mad laughter coming from Lady Tremaine and her two daughters, who were all standing afar and brimming with darkness. Rage filled her heart upon hearing such cruel words towards Cinderella. But, if they were for Cinderella, then...where was she?
Although faint, soft groaning was heard from the side, causing Ignis to whip her head towards the sound. Lying amidst the rubble and debris, dirtied, unconscious and severely wounded, but fortunately still alive, was Cinderella.
Stomping closer to Cinderella in an elegant manner, Fashionista closed her parasol, which, in its closed state, resembled a very thin but extremely sharp blade. Raising it high above its head, the feminine creature of darkness prepared to plunge it down onto Cinderella.
"REFLEGA!"
A rounded-shaped dome-like barrier formed around Fashionista just as its parasol blade was about to pierce Cinderella. Instead, its blade hit the barrier, bouncing the attack back with such great recoil, Fashionista was knocked back. This granted Ignis a great opportunity to turn the tables swiftly, as she quickly released the high-tier Reflect spell before making a comeback with another powerful spell.
"FISSION FIRAGA!"
Aiming the tip of Phoenix Fairy at Fashionista, Ignis fired a fireball, which launched at rapid speed. Due to the recoil from striking Reflega and the speed from which Fission Firaga was launched upon, Fashionista didn't have the chance to even attempt blocking the fire spell. Upon making contact, the fireball instantly exploded, causing Fashionista to crash on its back. It was dazed and now damaged, but the fire spell wasn't enough to take it out.
Seeing as the creature of darkness was still alive, Ignis hastily casted Triple Firaga in an attempt to finish it off. However, due to being hasty, while her casting time had shortened, it had two unfortunate side effects of being much weaker than the original magical strength of the spell as well as being much slower.
That gave Fashionista just enough time to recover and long enough to block the weakened Triple Firaga spell with its parasol, successfully blocking the first two fireballs before swinging its parasol to deflect the third fireball elsewhere.
It just so happened that the third fireball was sent flying towards the spot where Lady Tremaine and her daughters were.
A small explosion of fire and smoke followed up by three screams caught Ignis' attention. While the fireball did indeed hit the three women, they were merely unconscious, though their ashen-like, injured states would need medical attention soon.
But not immediate.
From the tip of Fashionista's parasol alit a great force of darkness generating power within. It was charging up a certain amount of power while utilizing the forces of darkness to further enhance the severity of the charged power.
More importantly, Fashionista's target wasn't even Ignis. No, it was aiming its darkness-powered attack on the bane of its existence: Cinderella.
Unbeknownst to Ignis, a Princess of Heart.
Ignis' instincts told her to protect Cinderella, something she was more than willing to comply at. Twirling Phoenix Fairy in her hand, Ignis pointed at the tip of Fashionista's parasol as though to counter against its charging attack with her own defenses.
"Dark Barrier!" chanted Ignis, combining her defense magic with her darkness magic. At least, this way, it would help lessen the damage from the darkness magic emitting from Fashionista's charged attack.
A beam of darkness fired almost immediately after Ignis magically brought up her Dark Barrier defense spell; both offense and defense colliding against one another. Having underestimated the mighty power behind the charged darkness attack, Ignis clenched her teeth as she struggled to keep her barrier magic up. It wasn't as bad as she thought, thanks to her spell's dark resistance magic on the side.
The beam dissipated once its charged power ran out, giving Ignis ample time to counterstrike. "Explosion!" shouted Ignis. A large, fiery blast of magic exploded right at Fashionista, knocking it down from such an unexpected assault.
But, the spell casting was hasty, therefore, not very effective in attack power, so sooner or later, Fashionista would be up back on its feet. That's why Ignis rushed to towards the injured and unconscious Cinderella, casting a Cura spell on her to mend her wounds. Her healing spell did heal the majority of Cinderella's wounds, but she still remained unconscious. Dragging her unconscious body and lying it behind some rubble, Ignis then casted Renewal Barrier to both protect and heal Cinderella at the same time.
Standing back up, Ignis walked forward to face off against Fashionista properly just as the creature of darkness stood back up. With very little magic power remaining, yet having renewed vigor after ensuring Cinderella's safety, Ignis knew that this was a battle she mustn't run from nor lose.
Her opponent struck first, striking at the ground with its weapon and with such force, it caused a minor tremor and sent large rocks flying towards Ignis. Pouncing off the ground, Ignis then launched off each of the rocks to both dodge and maneuver across the battlefield. While Ignis was distracted by the rocks, a glint of silver caught her attention as it sprung towards her direction. Taking advantage of its opponent being distracted by the rocks, Fashionista thrusted its parasol blade, aiming at Ignis' center mass.
"Barrier-!"
Fortunately, the blade didn't pierce through Ignis and instead struck against her defensive magic that Ignis materialized in the nick of time. But, in that split second, the moment that sword struck shield, everything was engulfed in a blinding flash of light. Ignis' barrier may have protected her from a fatal blow, but it couldn't completely protect the young Keyblade wielder from the aftermath impacts and recoils.
In that moment, the barrier crackled against the swift and flashy sword thrust from the parasol blade, forcing Fashionista back, but with much less recoil. Ignis, on the other hand, was sent flying back from the impact, crashing over and over the grounds until her back collided with some debris from a collapsed wall.
"Gah-!"
Such harsh impacts were more than enough for Ignis to cough out blood. She fell to her knees and struggled to get up with her shaky arms. She went to stand only to find herself nearly beaten. It wasn't even that long since her 1-1 battle against the mysterious creature of darkness that signifies beauty begun, and already, Ignis had little strength remaining and was out of breath. Blood streamed down her face and dripped onto the floor.
Perhaps it was the latest blow that knocked Ignis to her senses, or maybe it was her grave wounds, but either way, it served as a wake-up call for her to realize a very significant problem in her battle. Ignis wasn't wearing any armor. Oh, she still had her clothing garments on, that was for certain, but she didn't have her usual heavy but protective armor on. Hell, she didn't even have her pauldron equipped, which was the main catalyst to unlocking her Keyblade Armor!
Thinking back, Ignis realized the reason why was because she had those removed when she had arrived in this world. She had crashed landed and had been unconscious, therefore, Cinderella had been caring for her since. As such, Ignis' armor and pauldron were removed and placed away in Cinderella's room.
That meant that this whole time, Ignis had been fighting without her armor. No armor meant no defenses. And charging in battle without any form of defensive clothing was practically suicide.
If Ignis wasn't currently in battle, she would have facepalmed herself and called herself stupid.
Obviously, she couldn't just stop fighting and go searching for her armor. That'd be like lowering her guard and showing her back to her opponent. Ignis was fairly certain that she couldn't survive another fatal blow from the creature of darkness a second time. The first and last time was avoided luckily thanks to the strength of her defensive magic and her instincts kicking up, but next time might not be so lucky.
The only single good thing about not wearing any of her armor was the fact that the weight of her heavily defensive armor wouldn't slow her down. Without her armor, her body felt much more lighter, which would lead to an increased boon to speed and movements.
With such advantages, yet more disadvantages on her part, Ignis knew that she was going to have to continue fighting even with the included risks. Normally, she'd prefer to fight with defense as her main specialty, but given the circumstances, that wasn't an option. Even when sparring, she's never gone through a single fight without her armor, so this would be quite the enlightening first experience.
And hopefully, not the last.
Wanting to give herself a bit more of a power boost, despite having very little magic power left, Ignis granted herself the magic gift of increased strength. "Bravery!" she chanted, feeling inner strength flowing across her body.
Feeling prepared and willing to try again, Ignis stepped forward, stopping before the creature of darkness, regarding it with her determined brown eyes as it also got into an elegant fighting stance. Both were prepared for round 2.
Fashionista struck first, thrusting its parasol blade at Ignis like a rapier. Backflipping to avoid such a sharp thrust, Ignis regained her momentum and retaliated, swinging her Keyblade at Fashionista. However, the creature of darkness pulled its parasol blade back in time to open the parasol, shielding itself from the slash using the parasol as its main source of defense.
Attempting another assault, Ignis dashed forward. Fashionista closed its parasol before whacking away at her with a giant parasol blade swing as she approached the creature of darkness. Bringing up the blunt part of Phoenix Fairy, Ignis defended herself, but was knocked back several feet, sliding across the rough terrain floor and suffering recoil from defending herself.
Fashionista moved in, swinging its parasol blade at Ignis in a downwards slash. Ignis leapt out of the way and took that moment to spring forward, dashing behind Fashionista's legs to strike it around the knees area. Fashionista struck at Ignis once more, but Ignis avoided its attack by jumping into the air and slashing at it several times over. To avoid anymore damage, Fashionista swung at Ignis again, but this time, Ignis retreated to a safer distance before moving in to strike.
As time passed, the clash between Ignis and Fashionista evolved into a rough but graceful dance between the two. Fashionista's attacks were brutish in nature, yet elegantly alluring to watch. There was hardly any dodging in Fashionista's part, but the swift moments shifting between offense and defense for the creature of darkness while maintaining a mature lady's posture could be considered impressive. Any elegance for Ignis' part was found only in the way she dodged, using her own speed and acrobatics in any and every way she could accomplish.
Ignis was obtaining a clearer understanding on her enemy's movements and how to defend herself even without use of her armor. Without the heaviness of her armor weighing herself, Ignis quickly learned how much faster and acrobatic she was by continuously dodging nearly every attack Fashionista had thrown at her. In addition, it was such a huge relief not to have literal weights on her, but at the same time, because Ignis was so used to having armor and her specialty of defense on her side, she did feel uncomfortable.
The better news during her clash against Fashionista was figuring out the pattern of attacks from the parasol-wielding creature of darkness. In physical terms, Fashionista's sword skills are more heavy-based but also stylized elegantly when striking. In comparison and terms of speed, if Ignis was still wearing her armor, she'd be much slower than her opponent. However, without the armor and with the added bonus of more movement speed, Ignis was slightly more faster than Fashionista. Still, Ignis knew she had to be weary of this unknown enemy, as even one more fatal blow could spell out her demise.
When it comes to Fashionista's fighting patterns, it was surprisingly simplistic for Ignis to understand. Whenever Fashionista attacked, it always closes its parasol to strike with the parasol blade elegantly. But, whenever it feels the need to defend itself, it would open up its parasol for defense. And, if given enough time, whether or not its parasol is open or closed, it will concentrate much of its darkness power and fire it off in the form of laser beams, eliminating any weaknesses of long-ranged attacks besides the delay of time necessary to create said laser beams. Out of all of Fashionista's skills, Ignis found the laser beam ability the easiest to avoid, and yet the most difficult to defend against, especially since the laser beams of darkness are quite possibly the most powerful offensive skills in Fashionista's arsenal.
Even so, Ignis discovered a significant weakness in her opponent's patterned movements. Whenever Fashionista transitions between the offensive and defensive parts of its parasol blade by opening and closing it, there's a brief period of time in-between. And during that period of time is when Fashionista is left vulnerable and defenseless. It's specifically that moment when Ignis knew she needed to strike to finish off the battle once and for all.
First, she needed Fashionista's guard to be down. Thus, Ignis leapt back a far distance and stood there with Keyblade in hand. Puzzled, yet not further questioning such an action, Fashionista took this chance to charge up a long-ranged laser blast from afar. Meanwhile, Ignis enchanted Phoenix Fairy with the magic spell, Enlight, which whose power grants further damage from light-elemental physical attacks. Because her Keyblade was a Keyblade of light, this spell was an additional boost to the light-attribute element. Facing Fashionista's laser-charging parasol, Ignis extended her free palm out and casted Dark Barrier, concentrating as hard as she could to keep its defenses up.
Ignis' Dark Barrier spell took the brunt of the blast and fortunately held up up until the laser blast fizzled out. By then, Ignis had used the last remaining remnants of her magic power to keep the Dark Barrier intact and withstand the damage. However, the magic effect of Enlight was still active on Phoenix Fairy, granting Ignis the fighting chance she needed as she charged forward.
As Fashionista tried to slash at Ignis with its enclosed parasol blade, Ignis jumped onto its blade. As quickly as possible, Ignis ran up the parasol blade and slashed at its hand. The sheer physical force Ignis put her slash attack into, the elemental advantage of light against darkness, and the release of the magic energy caused Fashionista to be disarmed as its parasol blade went flying away, stabbing the ground.
Afterwards, Ignis jumped away in time right before the parasol blade was forcibly disarmed, thus landing behind Fashionista. With Fashionista disarmed and in a frenzy, Ignis had the opportunity she was waiting for to finish off the creature of darkness. Keyblade brimming with a glowing white energy of the element of light, Ignis pounced off the ground to reach the skies as high as she could, raising Phoenix Fairy for a final attack. While heading downwards, that's when Ignis struck.
Ignis landed on the floor, kneeling and heard some sort of ominous shrieking behind her. Upon feeling the fading presence of darkness, she didn't need to turn around and witness the defeat of Fashionista as it was fading away from existence.
When the battle was all over and there was no more signs of danger whatsoever, that finally gave Ignis the chance to wonder...what exactly was that?
She originally left Cinderella's home to get some medicine for the sick girl, and just when she was returning, faced her first encounter with the...strange creatures of darkness! And if that wasn't bad enough, one extremely powerful one decimated Cinderella's home and injured not just Cinderella, but her entire family as well!
Speaking of her family, when Ignis had arrived to the decimated scenery, Fashionista was already in a rampage and, for some reason, targeting Cinderella. And Cinderella's family was no help at all whatsoever. Granted, they weren't fighters nor trained to take on the forces of darkness, but insulting Cinderella was not helpful at all.
Although deep thinking wasn't Ignis' strong point, she stopped and attempted to anyways to better understand the situation. The forces of darkness are always attracted towards any sort of weakness, including light, their sworn enemy, if only to corrupt and taunt such weaknesses to grow stronger. That meant that Fashionista was attracted towards Cinderella's light, as Ignis couldn't sense even a shard of darkness within the girl, whereas the rest of her family were a different story. In fact, Lady Tremaine and her daughters almost seemed too...eager for Cinderella's demise...
'No way...Did the darkness inside of them actually summon that strange monster?' thought Ignis, glancing over at the unconscious forms of Lady Tremaine and her daughters. While she was taught that darkness itself could conjure up many different kinds of powers, she never imagined that it could summon creatures of darkness through one's own dark desires. 'I-I mean, as bad as these guys were, I never thought they would actually want to kill Cindy...'
Ignis headed towards Lady Tremaine and her daughters' location, gripping Phoenix Fairy tightly. If she disliked them before, then she definitely hated them now. After all, their jealously and other dark desires towards Cinderella was what caused this entire mess to begin with. They were the ones who treated Cinderella cruelly for who knows how long, and for what? Because Cinderella was much more beautiful than them? Because she was capable of accomplishing much more than they ever could? They abused Cinderella, forcing her to become their servant, and now, they nearly killed her, too! If this wasn't considered horrible, Ignis didn't know what other words to describe the disgust she felt towards Cinderella's family.
'...The darkness within them must be so, so cruel, to end up like this,' Ignis thought, raising her Keyblade above her head. Whether she was acting out of anger and hatred, or whether this was an act to stop the source of the evil darkness that summoned the creatures of darkness, Ignis didn't care. What she really wanted was for these horrible people to stay out of Cinderella's life and leave the poor girl be.
But, even with nobody around to stop her, no witnesses to see her next course of action, Ignis still hesitated.
As a Keyblade Master-in-training, Ignis was strictly taught not to show the forces of darkness any mercy. Master Eraqus explicitly reminded his students over and over about how darkness must be destroyed, and that the light will always guide the way. As such, in this situation, if Lady Tremaine and her daughters were the source behind the darkness that Ignis had been forced to fight, then naturally, the source must be eliminated.
In other words, Lady Tremaine and her two daughters, Anastasia and Drizella, must be killed.
Perhaps the reason why Ignis was hesitating so much was because...well, this was her first time dealing with this. Her first time actually killing. Even if it could be justified that Ignis was doing so as part of her Keyblade wielding duties, Ignis was still hesitating and was...scared. Even if she hated the three ladies that caused so much harm in Cinderella's life, even if Ignis now had a justified reason, Ignis was still afraid of killing for the first time.
But more so...was this really the right thing to do? Was it really okay to simply just...kill them, even if they were the sources of darkness?
"Wait!" A voice called out from out of nowhere. Ceasing her attempt, Ignis turned and lowered her Keyblade, though still had a good grip on it.
The voice came from an elderly, kind woman with a gentle and friendly demeanor. She was cloaked in a light robe with a pink ribbon in the middle and was brandishing an aura of gentle light. "My dear...such violence is not the proper way to fight the darkness with light."
"Um..." Tilting her head in confusion, Ignis couldn't help but ask, "Who are you?"
"I'm Cinderella's Fairy Godmother. But everyone calls me the Fairy Godmother."
"Oh, well, I'm Ignis! I...um..." Normally, Ignis would be stoked to greet new people, especially friendly, kind ones. But, considering that she was about to actually murder three people, the situation put quite a damper on the usual cheery girl. She turned back to the unconscious forms of Lady Tremaine and her two daughters. "I-I should-"
"No! No, you should never commit such a heinous act!" cried out the Fairy Godmother. "Please, this is not the way! Please...hear me out."
"..." Ignis was already hesitant and uncomfortable to even think of murdering, even if it was for the sake of the forces of light, so she was willing to hear out the Fairy Godmother. "O-Okay, then..."
Relieved that Ignis wasn't going to do anything drastic for now, the Fairy Godmother continued. "What you were about to do won't just be wrong, but it'll cause more pain than doing the right thing."
"What are you saying? I...I was trying to do the right thing!" protested Ignis, though even she was uncertain about her would-be action. "I...I was trying to eliminate the sources of darkness here in this world..."'
"...By attempting murder on three innocent people?"
To Ignis, it felt as though what the Fairy Godmother wasn't asking a question. Yes, it did feel like an obvious question, but at the same time, it was almost as though the kindhearted fairy was...accusing her? Honestly, even though Ignis hated the three she was about to kill, even she felt uncomfortable with murder.
"...I..." Ignis couldn't really find it in herself to say anything excuse to get her out of this mess. "...I don't have a choice. I...I have to, if I want to destroy the source of darkness. The evil within darkness...it can't be allowed to exist..."
The Fairy Godmother shook her head, speaking in a gentle, but admonishing manner. "No, not necessarily, my dear. Yes, there are some evils within this life thar must be taken care of, but at the same time, darkness must coexist with light. There is a strong saying, 'strong rays of sun creates dark shadows.' In other words, light and darkness go hand-in-hand, and cannot exist without the other."
Her words were like a source of eased clarification for Ignis as she looked at the Fairy Godmother, astonished. Her words were...they were contradictory to Master Eraqus' lessons. After all, Master Eraqus always emphasized the importance of light and how darkness was an absolute evil that must be destroyed. That it couldn't exist no matter what and that they must always utilize the power of light to extinguish the evil of darkness.
Well, another lesson taught to Ignis was that darkness always did lurk in some place within every living being's heart and that darkness would never ever coexist with light. To many, darkness was practically evil incarnate, whereas light was always good incarnate.
But, from a very young age, Ignis' curiosity about that led to doubt and suspicion, and that eventually led to her secretly learning darkness magic all on her own. At first, it was just out of interest towards darkness magic, which brew a reason to use darkness to defend against darkness. But now? Now Ignis was just really...confused and conflicted.
"I...I...I don't know!" cried out Ignis, clutching the sides of her head in confusion. "I-I have to get rid of the darkness! I was taught to do that! But I...I don't want to kill anyone! But I have to! I...I...!"
Feeling sympathetic towards the young girl, the Fairy Godmother then suggested, "...Perhaps it would be best if you were to rest up for a little while? After all, you have gone through a terribly difficult battle with the Unversed, after all."
"...Unversed? Is that what they were called?" Ignis wondered, referring to not just Fashionista, but also the previous creatures of darkness she fought along the way.
"Yes. They are creatures of negativity. Similar to the Heartless, but instead, these creatures are spawn from negative emotions. They are...extremely dangerous, so you could imagine my shock when I saw you take one down," admitted the Fairy Godmother. "Then again, I suppose being a Keyblade wielder has its advantages, after all."
"Oh...That must mean-"
The Fairy Godmother nodded. "Yes, my dear. I am fully aware that you're not from this world. Rest assured, your secret is safe with me. Now, why don't you rest while I clean up this mess?" She turned towards the ruined château and waved her magic wand. "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo!"
Several rubble from the surrounding areas hovered around in mid-air for a few seconds as the Fairy Godmother worked to reconstruct the entire château. Swishing wand motions and sounds of enchanting magic being casted were signs of multiple magic spells currently in-progress.
Deciding to take up the Fairy Godmother's suggestion, Ignis decided to wander around the premise for a walk and to think things through. In fact, she had quite a bit to think about after her latest stunt that nearly killed three people. Ignis wasn't sure what to even think of anymore, as she was deeply conflicted between her personal morals and Master Eraqus' lessons.
Darkness was evil and light was supposed to be good, right? But would it still be wrong to continuously use the darkness to help others? If Ignis was allowed to use the power of light, then shouldn't it also be okay to use darkness to fight the darkness? But if that were so, then would it be possible for light to be evil as well? And was it absolutely necessary to defeat the darkness if it meant resorting to killing people with strong darkness inside, even if said people were "innocent?"
As Ignis pondered about this, the château gradually began restoring itself, returning back to its former glorious state before it was taken down and destroyed by the Unversed, Fashionista. Any cracks created, any rubble split into pieces, any remains of the château were lifted up and restored before hovering towards the center of Cinderella''s home, placing back to their original positions.
A shine suddenly caught her attention, and before she knew it, she was running towards that exact source amongst the remaining rubble of the château. As it turns out, the shine happened to be her armor along with her pauldron. Well, it was still damaged from her last fight with Vanitas, and it was very likely that her armor got more damaged from being crushed under all the rubble and destruction from the Unversed. Still, Ignis chose to put it back on in order to not leave behind her armor and pauldron, no matter how damaged they may be.
Ignis decided to check up on Cinderella next to see if she was alright. Considering that Cinderella was well-guarded and healed with her Aura spell, Ignis thought she shouldn't assume for the worst. To her surprise, she found the Fairy Godmother still casting spells on the château with her magic wand, but also casting some sort of magic onto the still-unconscious pure-hearted girl.
"Um...What are you doing?" Ignis asked just as the Fairy Godmother finished casting her spell.
"...I just finished erasing Cinderella's memory of this whole event," explained the Fairy Godmother. "And not just her. Her and her stepfamily as well. It would be...very, very bad if they were to recall what happened after they wake up. The balance of the worlds must be of upmost priority, no?"
"Well, yeah...But, my Master never taught me how to erase memories," Ignis admitted. "Only that Keyblade wielders like myself have to keep the balance of the worlds and something like keeping them a secret, too. But, man! Would it be super helpful to have the ability to erase memories as well! I could have done SO much with that!"
Frowning, the Fairy Godmother wagged her wand at her in a scolding manner. "And it's THAT kind of attitude that prevents you from accessing such powerful magic in the first place! You should be ashamed of yourself, choosing to use such powerful magic on childish and unnecessary manners!"
Ignis...had to admit, the Fairy Godmother had a good point. Ignis totally would use memory erasing magic whenever she would get in trouble or get caught, thinking nothing of the consequences afterwards. It's no different than whenever she uses magic to pull pranks before.
"...Sorry," apologized Ignis, rubbing the back of her head shamefully. "So...I guess you must be a pretty strong magician. Since you're able to restore Cinderella's home and erase her family's memories."
"Well, I don't mean to brag, but yes, I suppose that's true. Although, my good friends Merlin and Yen Sid are much more talented magicians than myself," spoke the Fairy Godmother. "But, enough about me. I should thank you for protecting and healing Cinderella."
"it's no problem!"
"But, that leads to my other question...Why didn't you do the same to Lady Tremaine and her daughters?"
Upon being confronted by such a question, Ignis felt...awkward and unable to look at the Fairy Godmother in the eye. Granted, she could argue and bring up the point mentioning that she didn't have much magic power to spare for them when she used it all against the Unversed monster, but even that was a weak argument. After all, that was basically admitting that Ignis didn't care much about the other three's lives, which, honestly, was the truth.
"...I honestly didn't think of them too much at the time. But...I also don't really care about them," Ignis admitted. "But-! Why should I?! They hurt Cinderella! They hurt her, even though she did absolutely nothing wrong! They're supposed to be family, and yet they treat her like nothing more than a slave! Not even a thank you was given! And worst of all, their darkness was what brought the Unversed here in the first place! Why should I...Why should I care about people like them?!"
"...Even so, it's a part of your duty as a Keyblade wielder to protect others, no matter how much you dislike them," the Fairy Godmother said.
"But their darkness-!"
"Even if their darkness was the cause, I don't believe that killing them would resolve everything," the Fairy Godmother said. "Remember, light and darkness go hand-in-hand. You simply cannot have one and not the other."
"Even...thought Master Eraqus says that the darkness must be destroyed no matter what?" questioned Ignis, still in confusion.
"Even you must know that there are many other ways to combat the darkness than simply the power of light. It's just that light is the most effective method against the darkness that many others consider the power of light to be the only thing to combat against the darkness. Why, just earlier, you used the power of darkness to combat against the forces of darkness themselves, no?"
What the Fairy Godmother must have been referring to was the magic of Dark Barrier that Ignis casted for protection. Yes, Master Eraqus would never, in all of his years, teach his own students any forms of darkness, including darkness magic, which was why Ignis self-taught herself through secret training and experimentation. Even defensive purposes had some method of combating the darkness itself.
The Fairy Godmother smiled sadly at Ignis. "My dear, I can tell that you are simply confused and too young to understand the much deeper depths between light and darkness. My suggestion would be to explore and experience more. That way, you'll find more ways to handle the darkness than destruction."
"..." Ignis rubbed her arm. "You...you said that you erased Cinderella's family's memories, right?"
"Correct."
"Then, did you heal their wounds, too?"
"Yes, indeed I did."
"...I don't like Cinderella's family," stated Ignis. "I think I even hate them for mistreating Cinderella, too. But...I don't think I hated them enough to want to kill them. And yet...I just...left them like that during my big fight with that creature of da-I mean, Unversed. And it was because...because I didn't really care about them."
"But you did said earlier that you had to kill them to destroy the darkness?" reminded the Fairy Godmother.
Ignis nodded. "I know, I said that...but that didn't mean I wanted to. I...I was always taught that in order to eliminate the darkness, we had to kill the source behind the darkness no matter what. I was just following through my Master's teachings...but even I didn't want to kill. I...I really, really felt uncomfortable when I was about to kill. I...I really didn't want to kill or hurt anyone. Okay, maybe I still want to punish Cinderella's stepsisters and mother for what they did, but I never wanted to kill them. But...even still..."
"...That's still not an excuse for not protecting them during your battle earlier. Is that what you're trying to say?" asked the Fairy Godmother.
Ignis slowly nodded. "...Yeah. I guess...in some ways, I've still got a ways to go before I'm even considered to be qualified as a Keyblade Master. I mean...I don't even know what Master Eraqus would have done in my situation."
The Fairy Godmother reached over and grasped her gently on the shoulder. "Well, I may not know your Master well, but...I can say this for certain. Admitting your faults is the first key step to improving yourself. There is no shame in admitting your mistakes in order not to repeat them and improve yourself."
"..." Ignis nodded, at least agreeing with the Fairy Godmother on that part. Then, she remembered something that caused her to groan and facepalm herself, disappointed in herself. "I...Wow, I really, REALLY am not ready to become a Master yet."
"Hmm? Whatever do you mean?" asked the Fairy Godmother.
"It just hit me just now, I mean, I know that Keyblade wielders have this non-stop duty of defeating the darkness and defending the innocent, but...I failed one crucial thing right after my battle. I...I didn't even bother checking up on Cinderella earlier. I mean, I did place a protection and healing spell on her, but still, I doubt that's any excuse. Because, right after my battle, I...I was going-" Ignis' eyes widened even further in recognition. "...I was going to kill the rest of Cinderella's family. I was going to do it without hesitation...and...and more importantly...Cinderella would have been left all alone."
"It seems that you're finally beginning to understand the consequences of your actions," spoke the Fairy Godmother. "No, to be more accurate, it's safer to say that you're starting to realize that you can take more than one choice to decide how to deal with the darkness. As I said earlier, you are much too young and inexperienced to understand the depths between light and darkness."
"I...What have I...No, what was I thinking...?" wondered Ignis, staring down at her shaky hands that were so close to being covered in blood. "But...Master Eraqus is right...isn't he...? I mean, wouldn't it be much safer if darkness is destroyed, instead...? But, I-I don't wanna kill-but this is Cinderella's only family-I-I..."
Noticing that Ignis was once again going through a crisis, the Fairy Godmother gently placed her hands on her shoulders. "I believe that you deserve to rest and sleep on this for now. It's no good to dwell on this for such a long time."
At the mention of rest and sleep, Ignis barely noticed how exhausted she truly was until her knees gave in and she fell on her bottom. "I..." She let out a loud yawn, wiping away at her tired eyes. "I guess so..."
She brought her palms together and laid them on her head as she turned to her side and closed her eyes; fatigue and injuries causing her to black out quickly.
After an unspecified amount of time passed, Ignis found herself well-rested and revitalized in both stamina and body. As it turns out, while she was resting, the Fairy Godmother took the chance to use her magic to restore not just Ignis' battle wounds, but her torn clothing and armor as well, leaving not even a single crack nor dent in her newly refined armor.
Because of Cinderella's state and situation, especially since she was already sick before being attacked by the Unversed, it was clear that she needed time to rest her body. The Fairy Godmother assured that she would do everything within her power to erase any memories and damages caused by the Unversed. As much as Ignis wanted to stay much longer for Cinderella's sake, eventually, even she gave in to the Fairy Godmother's suggestion of leaving when asked a certain question.
How would Ignis herself protect Cinderella from further darkness in her world?
Ignis wasn't the smartest person amongst her Keyblade wielding friends, but even she caught on that the Fairy Godmother wasn't just talking about the Unversed. She was also referring to dealing with the rest of Cinderella's stepfamily. There was no doubt that her stepfamily was just going to continue mistreating Cinderella, even after the whole Unversed incident even if their memories would be erased from it. But Ignis cannot keep protecting Cinderella forever, especially since she has duties and a life of her own out there. Ignis had to return back to the Land of Departure, after all.
More importantly, Ignis agreed to leave because she wasn't sure if she would be able to resist the choice of killing Cinderella's family again.
Yes, Ignis was scared of the actual murder option if it meant eliminating the darkness and protecting Cinderella, but Ignis knew deep down that another reason to want to kill Cinderella's stepmother and stepsisters was to stop their heinous ways. After all, a more permanent solution to stopping child abuse was to eliminate the abusers themselves, no? Therefore, not wanting to ever meet such an option again involving Cinderella's stepfamily, as well as sparing the girl the pain of losing her only family, Ignis decided it was best for her to leave her world.
'But-! It-It's not like I'll be gone forever! I can come back and visit some other time!' Ignis thought, determined, as she walked away from the château. '...Maybe the next time I come here, I should get Cindy a gift...What would she like, anyways? Well...I hope she'll be alright, then, and things can be a whole lot better for her.'
As Ignis continued walking, she couldn't help but think back on her last conversation with the Fairy Godmother. Right now, the only one who could properly protect her from the Unversed or any sort of danger was the Fairy Godmother herself. At least before, Ignis was given some helpful advice, which was a huge hint as to where her next destination would be located.
Flashback...
"Eh? Meet three other fairies like you?"
The Fairy Godmother nodded. "That's right. They're my dear fellow fairy friends. Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. Simply mention my name, and they'll be more than willing to help you."
"Not to sound rude or anything, but what exactly would they help me with? They're not really Keyblade wielders-at least, I doubt they are," said Ignis.
"No, but surely, if you explain your situation, they may provide some more insight than me," said the Fairy Godmother. "Don't worry. I'll be certain to protect Cinderella even more now that I know the darkness is after her light. But, unfortunately, I can't help with her family problems."
"Wait, what? Why can't you?" wondered Ignis. "If you're Cinderella's Fairy Godmother, then doesn't that make you her protector or something? Why don't you do something about her stepfamily, like threaten them with magic? I mean, you must have known for a long time how badly she's been treated, right? Then, why didn't you use your magic to deal with them? And for that matter, if the Unversed really are after Cinderella, why keep it a secret and not tell her? Her life is practically on the line, you know!"
"It's not that simple, my dear," said the Fairy Godmother, shaking her head sadly. " First, I do have to admit, I am rather quite busy a lot, even as a fairy, so my attention isn't always on Cinderella, but she will be my upmost priority, I guarantee you that. Second, fairies such as myself aren't allowed to interfere too much in the human world. It always pains me to see Cinderella always mistreated by her family, but using magic to hurt and threaten will not solve anything. If anything, that will only fuel the darkness. And as for the Unversed, they are otherworldly creatures of negativity; an existence that shouldn't even exist in this world. Even telling Cinderella may disrupt the balance of this world, something I am unwilling to risk."
"...Then, how can Cinderella be saved?" wondered Ignis. "She doesn't deserve any of this! Where's her happy ending in all of this? To continue being a slave and fearing her life from the Unversed? I won't accept that!"
The Fairy Godmother said, "Yes, you aren't wrong in feeling that way. But, soon, Cinderella's dreams will come true. If she so wishes for her, I shall grant her dreams, but only if she truly desires them from the bottom of her heart."
'...I wish I could have had one last talk with Cindy, or had time to write a letter to her, but maybe this is for the best,' Ignis thought, equipping herself with her Keyblade Armor upon the activation from the pauldron. She threw her Phoenix Fairy Keyblade high in the air to enable the Keyblade Glider form before taking off into the skies.
The Fairy Godmother did grant one last spell onto Ignis; a spell that would allow Ignis to reach the next world's location where her three fairy friends were. Ignis may not be too keen about studying or learning very difficult topics, but given that this is part of her Keyblade Master-in-training studies, and since she was super curious about the balance between light and darkness, she figured that the effort might be worth it.
And so, Ignis left, unaware of the events that would soon transpire afterwards involving Terra, Ventus, and Aqua.
Dear Diary,
I...I really don't know what to write. Actually, I do but a part of me is afraid of writing it down because I don't want anyone to see my private thoughts! Actually, I just don't want anyone, especially Master Eraqus, to find out about the things I've been writing down in this diary. I don't wanna get yelled at or get in big trouble! Mannnn! I wish I knew any lock-sealing spells or something like that! Then again, as a Keyblade wielder, anyone could easily gain access to my diary, so that's pointless.
Whatever! I'm just gonna write down all my frustrations and stress and other stuff down here just like I've always done!
So anyways, today, Cinderella was still sick, meaning that I had to take over her endless supply of chores given by her bitchy family! Yeah, that's right! I'm calling them bitches because they totally are! They mistreat and abuse Cindy and force her to become their servant! Not even giving her a break when she's sick or even so much as a thank you for all her hard work! God, they are such bitches!
Anyways, I can continue ranting on and on about how much of bitches they really are, but there's more I wanna say! So anyways, I tried questioning all of them about why they hate Cinderella so much when she hasn't even done anything! And guess what? They said it was because they were JEALOUS! Because Cinderella was so much more prettier (and smarter) than they were!
Honestly...they are so right. And it's not just because I wanna rub it in their faces! Cinderella will always be 10-no, 100 times better than them! Ha! I said it! Well, more like I wrote it, but since they're not here, I'll just gloat it right here in my sweet, sweet diary! Take that! Okay, I feel a bit more better now!
Because Cindy was sick, I had to go to her hometown to get some medicine from the doctor. Okay, I have to admit, I was pretty tired and hungry back then because I haven't had a proper rest, so I went and got myself some grub, too! But, when I was getting back, I met and fought these strange monsters! They were practically filled with darkness!
Well, actually, they were monsters filled with negativity. I heard from the Fairy Godmother, who I will mention more later, that they're called Unversed. Unversed. Unversed. Unversed. I think that's how you spell it. But, Unversed sounds like such a cool name! It sounds similar to "universe!" Ha! But anyways, these guys were really tough! I mean, I could still beat them, but they were really strong! I didn't even know that enemies outside of the Land of Departure were this strong!
Whatever these Unversed were, they're definitely attracted to the light and are deeply influenced by the negative emotions of others. In other words, it was thanks to Lady Tremane (? I think that's how you spell her name?) and her daughters that brought the Unversed here! The Unversed liked their darkness so much, they attacked Cindy and would have killed her if it weren't for me arriving in time.
When I arrived, I was like, "Jeez, what happened?!" I mean, everything was destroyed! Cinderella's home, the gardens, everything! Well, fortunately, Cinderella was still alive, though she was injured and unconscious. Same thing for Cinderella's other family, kinda. They were laughing at Cindy and I immediately spotted the darkness within them that caused the Unversed to go rampage. Rampage enough to attack them, which, in my opinion, serves them right. They didn't die, no, but they were injured and unconscious. I didn't really tend to them, which, now that I think about it, should have been my first priority.
Long story short, I defeated the weird Unversed and saved Cinderella! (And her family.) But now came the next part. Honestly, I think I was about to face my most hardest choice ever.
Whether or not to kill the rest of Cinderella's family.
According to Master Eraqus' teachings, it made sense. If you get rid of the source of darkness, then naturally, the rest of the darkness should ceased to exist. But in the end, I couldn't do it. I was hesitating. I was scared. I didn't want to kill anyone, even if they were filled with darkness. I mean, it's pretty dumb of me, isn't it? I secretly self-taught myself darkness magic, and yet I'm afraid of this one choice that'll ceased darkness from leaking out further from Cindy's family.
I'm pretty damn lucky that the Fairy Godmother appeared and stopped me from actually committing the crime. She and I talked, debated a bit about our stances and morals about the whole light and darkness stuff. In the end, I didn't kill Cinderelly's family, and I was given advice on what I should do next. That killing the source of darkness isn't necessarily the only way to get rid of the darkness. That light and darkness have to exist for balance to be restored or something like that.
Honestly, I want to do that. You know, search for a way to stop the darkness from hurting anyone without hurting anyone. Especially the killing part! Honestly, I'm still sorta leaning the whole "darkness is evil" kind of schtick, mainly because I know that darkness is mostly used to hurt others. But, I said it's mostly used because I have a defensive spell involving darkness magic. How can darkness be used to hurt people when it can be used to defend them as well? It's the reason why I picked up darkness magic by myself; to resist the darkness and learn to control it to defend innocents.
Originally, I never really planned on telling Master Eraqus and the others about this whole secret darkness business, but...it may not be such a bad thing. I mean, originally, I planned to keep it a secret for who knows how long and use darkness magic to help people once I become a Keyblade Master and explore around many different worlds. But, my conversation with the Fairy Godmother, someone who's well, Cinderella's godmother and clearly one who knows the existence of other worlds, made me think otherwise.
I mean, if someone as wise and talented as her understood the delicate need for the balance between darkness and light, then it shouldn't be a farfetched thought that Master Eraqus and the others would understand, too. Don't get me wrong, I still know that darkness is still bad and can be used to hurt, but I wouldn't necessarily say that it's entirely evil or anything. But wait, doesn't that mean that if darkness can be used to defend people, can light actually be used to...hurt people, too?
Man, this stuff is so complicated to me! I wish that I could ask Master Eraqus about all this, but I don't wanna get yelled or get in big trouble because of all this! If only things were really that simple. But anyways, some things happened after I defeated the Unversed that was threatening Cinder's life. Me and the Fairy Godmother talked a bit, and it was decided that it was best to "expand my experiences" or something like that and leave Cinderella's world. I'm a little worried for her, but the Fairy Godmother promised me that she would take care of her, so I'll have to leave that to her and seek out some other world.
~ Ignis ~
HELLO! It's been SO, SO LONG! Sorry!
A big part of why this chapter has been delayed for so long was because of real life problems, just like a lot of other folks in Fanfiction like me! That also involves COV-19 issues as well, but so far, I've been doing fun. Mostly busy most of the time, but I used any kind of free time I had remaining to write up this chapter.
Another reason why was because I had so much difficulty creating the conclusion of this chapter. Like, I had to go into details with the fight scene, the conflicts Ignis had within, and how to properly end the whole Cinderella arc in this chapter, so it did a good while. By the way, in the next chapter, it won't be the next world, but rather a side-story, as that was my intentions for this story. I wanted to put in a side-story whenever one world was finished, so you'll be seeing a side-story later in the future.
Now, I wanted to talk a few things about this chapter, starting with the choice of the Unversed boss monster for this world.
The Unversed boss monster was called Fashionista, which obviously means fashion, good-looking, or rather, someone who's a devout follower of fashion. I guess it could be applied to supermodels since they are models for fashion. The reason behind this Unversed's character appearance was because I actually discussed about the Unversed with some people before, and one significant detail that stuck to me was that the Unversed may be based off negative emotions, but most of their forms takes the forms of items or some sort of theme involving an item. I remember seeing Unversed being pumpkins, rabbits, shoes, and all that other stuff.
Therefore, the Unversed Fashionista took the item form of an umbrella, or in a more fancy term, a parasol. It was because fancy ladies tend to use parasols even during the sunny days to not only block the sunlight, but in a way, hide their beauty that would only make their true appearances more beautiful in a mysterious way. I figured that "beauty" might for the theme for Fashionista, since Lady Tremaine and her daughters were awfully jealous of Cinderella for her beauty.
The designs behind Fashionista were inspired by Neo from RWBY. I based the designs off of Parasol Beauty from KH III and the futuristic design of Neo from Dishwasher1910, combining them together to finalize Fashionista's design. The attack patterns for Fashionista were somewhat inspired from Bulbasaur's Solar Beam attack from Pokemon and Yoshi's moveset from Bleach. Basically, I made Fashionista a mid/long-ranged tank Unversed user.
Now, we're reaching the beginning parts of Ignis' clashing conflict between light and darkness. Well, technically, she's been having doubts long before she even arrived in Cinderella's world, but another crack to her conflict was meeting the Fairy Godmother and hearing her views about the balance between light and darkness. This is extremely important for Ignis if she truly wishes to distinguish between light and darkness, as well as some hefty character development.
I bet it must have been quite shocking to see Ignis really about to commit murder because of Master Eraqus' teachings. In truth, I actually do believe that Master Eraqus would actually do the same thing just to destroy the darkness. Now, I'm not trying to bash on Master Eraqus' character. I actually do think he's a cool guy and has an awesome character design, but his ideals make for a character flaw, something that's not brought up too much in the games.
I think I've said all that I've wanted. Read and review!~