Author's Note: I was meant to update this last week, but the last minute visit from a relative kept me busy lasted so long that I was too exhausted to even write. But now I'm back and ready to write more! Get ready for more tensed and shocking moments and no, we're still a long way to go before we enter the epic clash.
Warning: This chapter will have more dark moments, so be prepared.
I don't own Kingdom Hearts, or Final Fantasy.
CH53: The Marks of Truth.
The fight against the large horde of Heartless and Aced was tougher than any of them imagined. The worldly travelers had not been expecting to be reaching their limit almost rapidly but they were none the less. Riku struggled to push Aced back as the two met their Keyblades in the middle, one trying to overpower one another and the ancient Keyblade Master was by far winning. Fortunately Terra, Cloud and Zack came to the rescue as the trio made to swipe at Aced who sensed them and gritted his teeth before forcing himself to leap away before his enemies could reach him. Riku panted before he and the other three had to quickly swipe away another large number of Heartless that attempted to steal their and everyone else's hearts.
Isa thrusted his Claymore at another large number of Heartless but began to feel the exhaustion winning as he and everyone else glared at the monsters that had them surrounded. Lea spun his Keyblade at a Pureblood Heartless that was the size of him, striking it cleanly in half and set another on fire.
"Geez, these guys are even more relentless than the last time!" The redhead panted, trying hard not to give into the exhaustion.
Roxas and Xion both combined their Keyblades together to strike seven Heartless in a single hit but even then the numbers just wouldn't go down. Ephemer, Skuld and Strelitzia used the combinations of magic and Keyblades, while Tifa punched and kicked many others, Ven tossed his Keyblade at five which were destroyed, Myde used his Water Clones to help with the battle while using Water Pillars with his Sitar, but that didn't help made either. Serah fired several arrows before switching her weapon into it's sword form and sliced through another Heartless. Lightning leaped up and attempted to slice a giant Heartless in half, but her sword was blocked by it's large weapon that forced her to jump back. Vincent then leaped up and spun around it in a cape-fire form which allowed Lightning to then finish it off.
Aqua dashed forwards towards Aced and attempted to strike him, but he blocked her Rainfall Keyblade with his own and the two struggled which Riku, Terra, Cloud and Zack attempted to join her. But the ancient Keyblade Master powered up his strength and smacked all five of them back where they had to spin and land in crouched positions. Shelke then came to save them and powered up her shield when Aced created a crossed blade of light and sent it towards them. The attacked was blocked but even the youngest Rai sister struggled. Shalua leaped up and attempted to punch her former master, but Aced smacked her away where she crashed onto the ground, much to her sister's shock.
"This is getting us nowhere! They just keep coming and coming!" Tifa exclaimed. There was too many Heartless and they were trapped.
'Sora, Mickey, Kairi, Donald, Goofy! C'mon!' Riku thought desperately to himself, wishing the others would hurry up and save Master Yen Sid, Angeal and Genesis. At this rate they will very likely meet their ends.
"I'll hold them back! You guys focus on Aced!" Cloud ordered them, slashing several more Heartless away when he and the others were forced to form in a circle where they were now trapped by the Heartless and Aced who watched on.
"Are you crazy!? You can't do this by yourself! I'm helping too!" Zack exclaimed, not wanting to end up losing Cloud as well. Especially since he tried his best to save his younger friend.
"Two is still not enough!" Xion pointed out just before striking another Heartless quickly.
Lea grunted as he struck and destroyed another Heartless before he panted in agreement. "Yeah, splitting up is a bad idea!"
"You fools! You see now how weak you all are. Only the powerful warriors will protect the Realm of Light! It's over for you all!" Aced declared, before roaring as he surged powerful energy that formed the Heartless into a wall that now began to tower over the group who then knew that they were about to become engulfed.
Myde whimpered before screaming as he crouched down and tried his best to cover his head with his hands. He then exclaimed in panic, "We're done for!"
"Ugh! Sora, come on!" Roxas grunted, hoping his former original would hear him as he held a tight grip on his Oblivion Keyblade. The Heartless were getting closer and Aced was almost just as powerful as Xehanort. How can they defeat him if the Heartless had been wearing them down?
Just then, from above in the sky, a large golden beam of Light came shooting down which almost instantly destroyed the towering Heartless and reducing them to the normal small numbers while the worldly travelers had to shield their eyes from the blinding light. At the same time, three very familiar figures came falling down right towards Aced who looked up and saw not just the three of them who were holding Keyblades, but also five others, three whom were imprisoned but now were free and cured.
"What!?" Aced exclaimed, before he was shockingly struck back on the chest and stomach by the Keyblades of the Kingdom Key, the Kingdom Key-D and the Destiny's Embrace, sending him back flying before he landed on his feet in a skid and surprisingly having some injuries. Sora, Mickey and Kairi then landed in crouches as did Donald and Goofy who used the combined magic and Shield to strike at other Heartless, while fifteen more were destroyed by the powerful magic of a familiar sorcerer, the large broad blade and crimson sword of two familiar men which had the rest of the worldly travelers very relieved.
"Sora! Kairi! Mickey/Your Majesty/King Mickey! Donald! Goofy! Master Yen Sid! Angeal! Genesis!" Riku and the rest of the worldly travelers exclaimed in relief.
"Nice entrance." Cloud commented with a relieved but impressed smirk.
"Angeal! You're okay!" Zack exclaimed happily, very relieved that his mentor is safe.
"How 'bout we wait for the reunion after we dealt with the Heartless and Aced problem. Remember, Zack; Focus. Understood?" Angeal told him with a smirk.
Remembering their current situation and realizing that his old friend was right, Zack nodded, this time with a determined smirk. "You got it!"
"You!" Aced hissed at Sora's group. "You wasted your time to save those that are not that important!?"
"Put a cork in it, Aced!" Sora snapped back, standing in a fighting position as he glared at the enemy who's frown deepened. "You just don't get that power and strength isn't everything! That's why your heart's falling into darkness."
"Wrong; I am only using darkness because I have no choice. It's you who are the true darkness of this world! Now I must destroy you all and restore this land to it's original state!" Aced growled, standing in a fighting position.
"Be on your guard! The rest of us will hold the Heartless back as long as we can!" Yen Sid informed Sora, Kairi, Mickey, Donald and Goofy who nodded, before the powerful Sorecerer turned to Riku and commanded him, "Riku, you must aid your friends!"
"Right!" Riku nodded, knowing that at everyone else's determined nods as they were now confident to win this fight and ready to finish off the Heartless. The silver-haired teen hurried over to join his best friends who nodded and stood in fighting positions, ready to face Aced. Everyone else in the meantime would defend them from any Heartless attacks.
"Sora!" Lea called up, causing the spiky-haired teen to glance at him over his shoulder as the redhead smirked. "Whack that big bad Bear-Masked guy for us, will ya?"
"Will do!" Sora nodded with a smirk, before turning his glare back to Aced who hissed, not amused.
Without saying anything else, Aced roared in anger as he charged forward to attack the group. Thankfully, Yen Sid and Aqua powered up another barrier while Sora, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Donald and Goofy leaped out of the way before the insane Keyblade Master would smack them back. Sora then tossed his Keyblade at Aced who blocked it with his own, forcing the Kingdom Key to return to the younger wielder. Riku used this chance to leaped up and strike Aced who grunted when he was hit in the back, but not enough to completely defeat him. Sora leaped into air and clashed against Aced's powerful thrusts and clashes before being forced to the ground once more, in which Riku and Mickey both took over in thrusting the mad Keyblade wielder to the ground before he landed on his knees. But he then thrusted out his Keyblade in the air, creating a powerful cross of light, sending it forward towards the six of them.
Mickey, Sora and Kairi quickly sent their Orbs of Light while Donald casted his Fireworks Spell, sending all four attacks combined with Riku sending out a Dark Firagaza that pushed Aced's attack back which caused a small explosion of dust. Goofy yelped out in fright when Aced then launched himself forward again and the Captain of the Knights blocked the mad Keyblade Master's Keyblade with his Shield, but it was still enough to sent him flying straight towards Sora and the others who crashed onto the ground in a small pile.
Aced then leaped up in the air and then unleashed a powerful shockwave to send them flying further back, but Mickey used his own Barrier to block the attack, yet struggled in strain to hold it from getting to him and his friends. Once it stopped, the barrier faded and Kairi casted Curaga on him, herself and the others before they jump out of the way when Aced came crashing down, missing them as his Keyblade was thrust onto the ground, sending small rocks flying in the air.
Sora then sped forward and clashed heavily at Aced who blocked his attacks as the two Keyblades clashed and created sparks as they went, neither one willing to give up easily. The younger wielder leaped backwards to avoid being sliced in half before holding his Keyblade above him to call upon one of his more recent abilities. Surprisingly, the Keyblade transformed into Icicle blades which as he clashed against Aced who was still insanely strong, was actually helping a little while Kairi, Mickey, Riku, Donald and Goofy hurried to clash against the Keyblade Master who had to block each of their attacks but soon realized he was recieving hits from all six of them which never happened before the last time he fought against the group in the Caribbean. Despite this, the Bear-Masked Master then thrusts his Keyblade at them, sending most of them flying backwards as they screamed while getting hit before crashing onto the ground again, much to Sora's horror as he cried out to them. He then blocked Aced's attack when the latter tried to get him as well.
When his Ice-blades wore off, Sora ended up clashing against Aced again before dodge-rolling when the older wielder smashed his Keyblade onto the ground and missing again before the teenage boy whacked his Keyblade down at him as quickly and strongly as he could and then chanted Thunderagaza which was upgraded and caught Aced off-guard. Sora then used Blizzaraga to encast the powerful Master briefly in ice which allowed Sora to whack him back. Despite this, Aced recovered in mid-air and sent out another powerful cross of light, sending it forward towards Sora.
The younger Keyblade Master tried chanting his Blue Orbs of Light before realizing his Magic was already running low. So instead he was forced to leap out of the way as the attack smashed into the already broken railing of the bridge they were on, broken stone falling into the dried up river below. Quickly jugging down a spare Elixir, Sora hurried over to his friends who were recovering as they too jugged down healing potions and Elixirs as Sora used Curaga on the five of them which they nodded their thanks to him, much to his relief.
Aced by then held up his Keyblade in the air which created a Meteor Spell that was sent towards the group. Sora and his friends shared a quick glance and the four Keyblade Wielders and Donald then held up their weapons which their own combined Meteor Spell as the two attacks clashed in mid-air and ended up creating a fiery fire-field that separates Sora's group from Aced who then attempts to leap in the air to attack again. Goofy then had an idea and placed his Shield on the ground which had no effect on the fire before he, Sora, Donald, Mickey, Riku and Kairi jumped on and slid onto the hot stone while Kairi and Donald cooled off the fire with Blizzaraga as they went.
Aced gazed down in shock too late as Sora leaped up quickly in the air and the two clashed heavily again to which Sora then used his power of Glide to help with battling the crazed Keyblade Master who sent out a sliced upper-cut light towards him. Sora flew out of the way and spun in the air to return to the ground while Mickey leaped up and triple-air sommersaulted, hitting Aced who was quickly distracted by Riku who also jump and slashed and clashed against him too quickly that Aced began to realize that he lacked speed in this battle. Still, he thrusts at Mickey who screamed as he began to fall towards the still hot spots on the ground and even as he flipped to try and save himself, he wouldn't have time to cast Blizzagaza to avoid in getting burned. Fortunately Goofy saw this and leaped back onto his shield and slid onto the ice and fire, catching the King in his arms which the latter thanked him for.
While the two old friends quickly went to rejoin their other friends, Kairi jumped as high as she could and clashed against Aced's Keyblade despite not being as well trained as her friends, but she was surprisingly getting better in which she shot out a beam of Light from her Keyblade, shooting at Aced's wrist that held his Keyblade. This allowed Sora and Riku to smack the Keyblade out of his hands before the Destiny Island Trio landed back on the ground with Mickey, Goofy and Donald while Aced hissed before he attempted to retrieve his weapon, determined to show his enemies the mistakes they made in trying to save the Realm of Light and everyone they think they can save.
Knowing that they had to finish this battle once and for all after seeing that Aced has slowed down despite that they were almost completely worn out themselves, the six friends held up their weapons which touched at the tips, preforming a special double-trinity that none of them tried before but somehow knew, with their connections of their hearts, it was a power that created a beam of light which shot out towards Aced who saw too late and, by the most powerful light he has ever experienced, yelled out in shock, horror and soon agony as he was soon engulfed and continued to scream until the light died out and the Keyblade Master collapsed onto the ground, next to his Keyblade.
This resulted the darkness he formed to seep away and die down, the sky returning to normal as it was darkend when he took control of the Heartless which they themselves were at last defeated by the rest of the the group during Sora, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Donald and Goofy's battle against Aced and soon all of the Heartless that appeared disappeared. The six of them in the meantime were now exhausted, panting and worn out after a very hard battle against one of the toughest enemies they ever faced, with Sora, Riku and Mickey on one knee and one hand each, Kairi was on both her legs and hands, Goofy was sitting while using his hands to keep himself from falling on his back, and Donald was flat on his front, close in passing out. Their companions and the three they rescued weren't faring better after the long battle against the Heartless. None the less, they all had won, against all odds.
Aced was the worst of them all, struggling to push himself up but refusing to believe that he had just lost to the younger, more reckless generation of Keyblade Wielders who had no knowledge of how things should really be. How could he have lost to children? Haruo only managed to knock him back in the Keyblade War years ago. Yet how could Sora and his friends defeat him when they were not chosen by the Unions that no longer existed?
"Why...? How could I have...lost to...all of you?" Aced wheezed, shakily pushing himself up while Sora and the others slowly stood up, gazing with small glares but with sympathic expressions.
"It's over, Aced. You lost." Sora informed him.
"It's...not over. I must...save the Realm of Light..." Aced panted, glaring hard at Sora and the others, including everyone else who were rejoining the six who had defeated him. "A leader...must be made...for all the Realm of Light. The Keyblade War destroyed everything, leaving children into rebuilding the world into a fragment state. Not paying attention to driving away the darkness; darkness such as Xehanort and Chaos. Only the strong can save the world and control the world."
"You're wrong. Strength and power isn't the way to protect the Realm of Light." Kairi informed him, more gently than her friends were intending. "The real reason why we managed to defeat you is because of the friendship and love we have for each other and every one of our friends, the people who really matter. Every live is worth saving, because everyone deserves happiness, peace and the freedom to choose. Sure everyone makes mistakes, like Xehanort, but that's not why the Realm of Light the way it is."
"And yet companionship leads to betrayal." Aced pointed out. "My allies...most thought I was a traitor; Ira thought one of us was the traitor before the Keyblade War began."
"That doesn't mean there aren't second chances in almost every friendship, or ways to fix and atone for those mistakes!" Lea pointed out, calming down when he quickly realized his emotions nearly got to him. "Yeah, not everyone can make up for it and guys like Xehanort forgot about what it was like to have friends, but what you tried to do was almost like what he tried to do and look where it got him."
Aced grunted, using his Keyblade as support to help him stand up. "But it was you who brought Chaos back; because you didn't see him or learn of him."
"No." Vincent shook his head. "It was Xehanort who was unaware that Chaos would do what he did. Sora and his friends fought long and hard to prevent Xehanort from starting another Keyblade War, and had saved the Realm of Light more times than anyone can count."
"Then why do you focus more on saving others rather than saving the world?" Aced demanded.
"Because everyone's worth saving. It's not the weak that makes the world the way it is; it's those who want to hurt others that causes the darkness to spread across the Realm of Light. If you end up controlling the worlds the way guys like Xehanort and Maleficent tried to do, that will end up destroying everything everyone knew about." Sora answered, taking a couple steps forward.
He stood a couple feet in front of Aced while he continued, "Ruling the worlds isn't the answer. That just makes things worse. Strength is important, but caring for everyone and having friends is also important, even if it means risking your life for them. I don't know what happened back then, but that's all in the past. You can't keep looking back into it now, but at the same time, you can't forget about it. The real mistake is that the Master of Masters just let it happen instead of figuring out how to change it. He messed up with you guys because of some dumb old book."
"I tried that...but it still hasn't helped." Aced grunted, though his voice didn't seem to share it, and then he soon realized that neither did his heart. "The Master once told me that I needed fufil my true role as leader since Ira couldn't handle it."
"Aced, being a leader isn't about ordering people about strengths. A true leader knows he can't control everything, and he has to care for others, doing the best they can. No one is perfect." Sora pointed out.
"Not even me." Mickey added. "Gosh, I'm not the best King at home, but even I know I gotta do what I can do. There's a limit to everything. But what makes our hearts strong is because of our connection."
"That connection ties our hearts together. Our hearts are connected. The Realm of Light does have a few ups and downs, but everyone in the world handle most things, with or without the Keyblade. The only reason why things got so bad again was because Xehanort wanted the Keyblade War to happen again, to find out things that ended up casting the world into darkness in the first place." Sora concluded.
Aced gasped, before gazing at the ground, his heart pounding and he could actually hear it agree with the boy and his friends in front of him. Everything that has happened...and the Master didn't to a thing to stop it, but gave everyone roles that in the end caused the Keyblade War to happen without telling them how it really happened; could that mean that the Master of Masters was the true traitor and he disappeared on purpose? Was all of his teachings a lie? Here stood a generation who knew nothing of traditions and yet they had defeated him, fought the Heartless and still held onto their own beliefs. They defeated the man who caused all of this, worked together to protect the worlds despite what Chaos was doing, but then...Aced soon realized that everything cannot be done at the exact same time. Anyone who thought they could do it all at once was a fool.
But not Sora or his friends.
"Master Aced...you have to stop now. Please." Skuld muttered pleadingly.
"...You were right, Skuld." Aced sighed, standing up fully. "You and the Dandelions knew from the beginning. I see now that is why Ava chose you and Ephemer among those who refused to fight. Whatever teachings they had passed on is the right course of action, and now you stand by those who prevented one who wished to repeat history just to learn of our past, to start the war over where there would be no survivors, no one to bring back the light, no world to rebuild."
He chuckled a little while everyone else looked on at him with sympathy that grew before he continued, "Leadership isn't what I thought it was. Then again, not everything works the way people imagine."
Aced gazed at Sora again, this time with a smile that wasn't cold or scary. "Sora...you are a true natural leader."
This made Sora surprised, before he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head and pointed out, "I'm no leader. I just like to hang out with my friends and help out others who need it."
"Yeah, Sora's a half-pint." Donald added teasingly.
"Hey!" Sora pouted.
"But with all of us together, we make a full-pint." Goofy agreed.
"Pint and a half." Sora shook his head with a growing smile. Kairi, Riku, Mickey, Roxas, Xion, Lea, Isa, Aqua, Ven, Terra, Skuld, Ephemer, Strelitzia, Tifa, Cloud, Zack, Myde, Serah, Angeal, even Vincent, Genesis and Yen Sid chuckled while Shelke and Shalua began to smile warmly and Aced just smirked.
"Pint and three quarters." Lea couldn't help but add. He then added to Sora, "Seriously though, Sora, you saved us and brought all of us back together. Without you, we wouldn't have any of that. Got it memorized?"
Everyone else nodded in agreement, which made Sora feel a bit more embarrassed, but he smiled warmly at them none the less. Given what they had seen earlier, Sora just hoped that the outcome wouldn't be like what happened to their alternate selves or that he wouldn't have to use the Power of Waking to bring everyone back and change history.
Unfortunately, the mood of having to finally make progress on their journey was suddenly dropped when a familiar voice spoke to them from behind. "How touching. Making progress in saving those Master Aced kidnapped and beaten said Master himself. This just makes me dislike you guys even more already."
Turning sharply around at the voice, the group gasped before grunting angrily as Blaine approached with a smirk. Beside him was Ardyn who's smirk was just as cruel and cold before the duo stopped halfway across them.
"Blaine! Ardyn!" Sora grunted angrily as he and his friends, Yen Sid, Angeal and Genesis stood in defense.
"Not you guys again!" Lea growled. Didn't Ardyn and Blaine know when to quit? What were they doing here now?
Aced glared at the two new arrivals, demanding. "Why are you here?"
"Oh, sorry, Master Aced. Were you expecting someone else? I mean it is nice to see you again, but I think we should cut to the chase." Blaine chuckled.
"Quite a performance you and your friends displayed, Sora. But we'll be taking what rightfully belongs to us." Ardyn spoke this time.
As though realizing that they were here for Kairi who took a step back in the sudden growing fear, Sora quickly stood in front of her and yelled at the two villains, "Not a chance, Ardyn!"
"Why are you doing this!?" Roxas demanded.
"Even with your backs turned to me, you, Sora and that other kid still have those angry looks, Roxas." An awfully familiar voice said cockingly, which caused chills to run down most of the group's spines, one that only Aced, Ephemer, Strelitzia, Serah, Lightning, Tifa, Yen Sid and Skuld didn't recognize. Everyone looked at the owner of the voice that appeared from a corridor of darkness from the direction of the tower. "Fancy seeing you all here, what with you having beaten that old coot."
The eyes of the worldly travelers widened in pure shock and disbelief as they recognized the man; that long black and gray streaked hair tied up in a pony tail, the eye-patch, the golden eye, that scar, and that obnoxious grin...one that was still fresh in their memories yet hadn't thought about in a while due to the belief that when Xehanort died, that guy went with him...and yet there stood Xigbar who was chuckling darkly at their expressions which soon turned into glares.
"XIGBAR!?" Sora's group exclaimed.
"No way! No stinkin' way!" Myde exclaimed, just as shocked.
"I thought you died when Sora and Riku got rid of Xehanort!" Lea exclaimed in disbelief and anger. Of all the other dead people to suddenly be brought back to life, it had to be the one who Xehanort trusted the most, the one who betrayed Ansem the Wise just for a Keyblade of his own.
Xigbar just smirked. "As if. Takes more than a broken piece of grandpa's heart and those kids to get rid of me."
"Do you know him?" Tifa asked, suspicious about the man in the eye-patch.
"He was with Xehanort and Organization XIII. I only seen him once when we went to rescue Vincent and Rufus from their and Deepground's clutches." Cloud explained.
"So you're the one who was willing to become part of Xehanort, to gain a Keyblade of your own?" Skuld questioned as she sensed more than what everyone had told her within this man.
"That would be me, little girl. You're a smart one, but hey, can't have more of the dummies like Sora's group right..." Xigbar said, before realizing something and corrected himself, "Oh, right. You're traveling with them, so that makes you dumb enough to do that. Someone as young and pretty as you would've made a better choice."
"Shut up!" Ven snapped, glaring angrily at the one who mocked him, Aqua and Terra twelve years ago.
"Yep. You still got that angry look, and you rubbed it off on Sora and Roxas, kiddo." Xigbar mocked, grinning madly. "Careful, or those expressions will be stuck like glue."
"I wish I could glue your mouth shut so that no one would have to listen to your annoying voice." Isa grunted, clutching his fist tightly. Roxas, Xion and Lea nodded in agreement.
"Why are you here, Xigbar?" Mickey demanded.
"Well, lemme think..." Xigbar responded sarcastically, pretending to think for a moment, before gazing back at the group and answered seriously. "How 'bout, "I'm on a top secret mission", with an familiar superior that I promised not to tell."
"Lemme guess; you're with these two guys and that's why you're here." Lea growled softly while jerking a thumb at Blaine and Ardyn who stared at the redhead with dark expressions and boredom.
Xigbar just snorted in amusement. "As if. Why would I work for the big old monster-god, Flamesilocks? Yeah I know about Chaos, but seriously, why would I go work for that four-armed guy? He scares me just as bad as Xehanort like no one's business."
"Enough! What is it that you're after!?" Aced growled.
"Sorry, Aced. Old new habits die hard. Hate to do this to ya, but...you know...thanks to Sora that things turned out completely different." Xigbar replied casually to him, and for a moment Sora and the others thought they saw...some sort of sadness in his eye which confused them and Aced. Did they know each other? Judging Aced's confused gasp, apparently not. But then how did Xigbar know him?
But as Aced stared at Xigbar, there was something familiar about him; not the way he looked as the appearance was different, but...something within him triggered something Aced hasn't seen or heard of in years...Plus, the personality was extremely similar too...exactly the same in fact, apart from the constant 'As if' catch phrase.
"Hey, don't forget about us. We're still here, you know." Blaine interrupted Aced's thoughts, and just when the latter was close in figuring out why Xigbar felt familiar.
"Indeed. How rude of you to interrupt our conversation, Braig." Ardyn shrugged in agreement, calling Xigbar by his old name.
"Haven't heard anybody call me by that name in a while." Xigbar just shrugged with one shoulder.
Lea's eyes narrowed at the eye-patched man. "Who cares? You always end up cheating death without anyone knowin'. That kind of achievementment is totally lame!"
"Please. You guys are the lame ones. Falling for tricks easily and still completely cluess! It's a wonder how any of you managed to stay alive the way you did." Xigbar scoffed.
"I say we stop talking and just cut to the chase. Shall we, Ardyn?" Blaine smirked, summoning his Keyblade. The sight of him had Xigbar frown a bit. He'd seen this kid before...he knew he did.
The older man chuckled darkly as he took off his hat for a moment as he raised his arms which different kinds of crimson-transparent like weapons appeared all around him which had everyone else take notice and gasp in shock and slight horror. He then makes to strike at the group who stood firmly, before Yen Sid chanted a spell to block most, but was hit in the arm which made him grunt in pain and bend slightly.
"MASTER YEN SID!" Mickey exclaimed in horror as the rest of the group screamed or gasped in horror at what just happened, only to gasp when Ardyn's weapons were about to hit them as well while Xigbar, deciding to use this distraction, summoned his Arrow Guns with a grin and fired even darker laser arrows, aimed at the King, Sora, Kairi, Ven, and Lea who gasped while the others were about to get hit by Ardyn's attack.
However, Aqua saw this and quickly stood in front of the five with her arms spread and was hit five times, one of the dark lasers hitting her squarely in the chest and seeped deep into her heart, causing her to scream and be flown back and into Terra who caught her, but was hit by one of Ardyn's swords and went down onto his knees, but had Aqua in his arms.
"AQUA!" Terra, Ven, Mickey, Sora, Kairi and Lea all screamed out in horror. The others tried to block Ardyn's other attacks when Blaine dashed forward and made to strike at Strelitzia who gasped in shock.
"Time to die...again!" Blaine sneered.
"Strelitzia!" Serah and Skuld screamed out, while their said friend screamed and shut her eyes, bracing herself for her second bitter end...but it never came, because Aced, unwilling to allow this to happen and despite still being weak, leaped and pushed her side...only to be struck right into the chest and into his heart by the Keyblade.
When Strelitzia looked up, she and everyone else gasped in pure horror as Aced, gasping in gurlging pain, staggered a bit before falling backwards. Time seemed to stop or slow down as it seemed like forever before Aced, with his final gaze at the horrified Sora, began to fall backwards while he soon vanished in golden particles of light before he even hit the ground. Aqua didn't have the chance to see this as darkness began to seep into her heart, before she soon passed out which had Terra, Mickey and Ven fear for the worst while the three of them were speechless in horror, and Donald, Goofy and Myde clinged onto each other in fear and horror.
Xigbar, who had taken a bit of a pleasure in placing darkness in Aqua's heart, gasped softly as his eye widened at the sight that had happened to Aced before looking away and hissed to himself. In reality, he knew Aced more than anyone else...and now the Keyblade Master, one of the six apprentices of the Master of Masters...was dead.
"He's gone!" Goofy screamed out, horrified.
"...Master Aced!" Ephemer screamed out in agonized sorrow, only for him and everyone else to suddenly become frozen when Ardyn clutched his wrist and darkness began to appear and kept everyone, even Master Yen Sid firmly on the ground by the legs.
"One less problem to worry about. Now, to gain our next vessel." Blaine smirked, turning his gaze to Sora who grunted as he tried and failed to free himself from Ardyn's darkness. When the teenager gazed at him, "You know, you're the last person I'd expect to hold Ventus's darkness, Sora. But then that's probably why both Venty-Wenty and the Keyblade chose you over Riku."
"W-what? How did you-!" Sora grunted, only for Blaine to hold out his left hand and shot out a sharp looking keyblade-like thing right towards the former who screamed as it went right through him, digging into his heart as Sora screamed in pure agony, feeling the darkness quickly spread into his body and began to pull something out from his heart that slowly began to cover his body in the mist of darkness.
"SORA!" Everyone else exclaimed in horror, unable to do anything to reach him and save him. Not Sora too! They can't just lose him!
Sora struggled against the pulling of whatever it was that was digging into him, and for a brief moment, he could even hear Vanitas exclaim in shock, but then the dark embodiment's voice was becoming more and more vague until he couldn't hear him anymore. With a final tug, Sora let out a louder scream when a dark orb was forcefully pulled out from his chest in a chain that formed around it before it hovered slowly towards Blaine, then more darkness formed around it, becoming bigger and larger as Ven let out a horrified gasp, a sharp memory hitting him like a ton of bricks. He knew what this meant.
Soon the darkness faded, and revealed a familiar figure in a helmet, and a red and black outfit that resembled to what Riku ended up being in when Xehanort's Heartless took over his body.
"...Vanitas!" Ven exclaimed softly in quivering horror.
Vanitas said nothing. Instead, overcome by exhaustion of being forcefully pulled out by Sora, fell forward and Blaine then caught him. Sora in the meantime continued to scream as the darkness began to slowly cover his body and no matter how hard he tried, he was becoming consumed. The rest of the group tried reaching out to them but Arydn held the weapons out to them while mocking them with a smile. But Kairi, unable to let anything happen to Sora, tried harder to break free from the restrains, reaching out to Sora, the boy that she loved, in desperate hopes to save him.
The more she tried, the more her heart slowly began to glow in light, which began to spread on her body as she struggled to reach out for Sora. The light then began to spread onto the darkness that trapped her by the legs. Kairi wanted to save him, more than anything. Tears began to form as her friend was half-way covered in darkness.
"SORA!" Kairi screamed, her body becoming covered in light which broke away the darkness on her, almost blinding everyone else who had to shield their eyes with their arms while she, without much thought, raced over two steps before hugging Sora tightly which startled him, even though he was still struggling. "Sora! Don't let the darkness get to you! You're stronger than this, I know you are!"
"K-Kairi...!" Sora grunted, having heard her voice, but he was now scared that he was about to hurt her. He couldn't do that; not to the girl that he loved so much with all his heart.
"I'm not losing you again! You won't hurt me, because I know you!" Kairi wept, hugging him more tightly even as Sora struggled. "Y-You can have some of my light!"
"Kairi! You c-can't! The darkness will-!" Sora exclaimed, realizing that Kairi was about to sacrifice herself.
"I don't care! I'm done being the one needing to be saved! I've had it being useless and weak! This time, let me save you, Sora." Kairi argued, and while she had no idea how to spread some of her light into Sora, but she prayed, wished and pleaded with her heart to save Sora's, everything she could think of in order to transfere some of her light into his body.
"Wait, Kairi! If you use much of your light, we might lose you too!" Mickey pleaded, his own heart hurting and drowning in the very thought.
"I think I'll take some of her light too." Blaine snickered, and Ardyn nodded as the two held out their hands and Kairi screamed as she felt a painful sensation of her heart being tugged at, which made her realize that it matched that of what Bhunivelze did in one of her nightmares.
"No! They are absorbing the Light of the Princesses from her heart!" Yen Sid exclaimed, struggling in using his magic in freeing himself and everyone else, but Ardyn's darkness was too powerful even for him.
"Sora! Kairi!" Riku exclaimed, struggling to free himself to save his best friends.
None the less, despite an orb of pink light seeping out of Kairi's body, she remained determined as she struggled to summon her Keyblade and even as that orb of light then floated towards Blaine who then caged it with his powers, the Princess of Heart held it high above her which also began to glow in light. While Kairi felt that some of her light was gone, the power that made her Princess of Heart since she was born, she still had enough light within her in her heart, and light in her Keyblade.
"Light!" She chanted, and a large flower-like light grew and spread which not only seeped deep within Sora's heart which caused him to stop screaming when he suddenly felt the warmth of Kairi's light within him and driving away the darkness, but also released him and everyone else from Ardyn's darkness which had the man in question grunt painfully in light while Blaine hissed before he leaped to Ardyn's side, with the rest of the Princess's light and the unconscious Vanitas with him.
"Ow! Hey, turn that light off, Princess! I'm already half-blind!" Xigbar cried out, wincing as his eye began to sting at the blinding light.
The light did fade, but not the way anyone expected. Exhausted and feeling weak from Ardyn's attacks and powers, everyone bend low while Sora and Kairi both feel onto their knees, panting and breathing with slight difficulty. Sora no longer felt the darkness in his heart or the rest of his body. Instead, his heart was back to normal, but that was the least of his worries. He turned quickly to the exhausted Kairi who also stopped glowing as her Keyblade dismissed itself.
"Kairi!" Sora exclaimed, gently holding her by her shoulders as tears began to form in his eyes, fearing for the worst. She had just sacrificed some of her light to save him and now he was terrified at the very thought that, given that Blaine had also taken some of her light as well, Kairi was about to fade away and die. He couldn't lose her! Not now! Not when he finally confessed his feelings and earned her confession in return. He didn't want to lose her!
"I-I'm okay, Sora. Just...tired." Kairi weakly replied, smiling none the less, placing a hand to his check which had Sora begin to cry as he gently placed his hand over hers. She then giggled and added, "C'mon, I'm not dying. I would've...told you that if I was. It's okay..."
Sora saw that Kairi was telling the truth; he saw it in her beautiful eyes. As she said, she was just exhausted. But still alive. Unable to help himself, he pulled her close and embraced her, softly crying in relief and guilt and felt her arms gently around his waist and back. Kairi rested her head on his shoulder, silently crying herself, relieved that she managed to save him. Nothing terrified her more than losing the one she loved.
Everyone else felt some relief in their hearts as well and couldn't help but smile a little at the heart-warming scene before them. However, it was interrupted when Blaine groaned in disgust which had everyone turn to glance at him and Ardyn.
"I think I'm going to be sick. But even so, you'd better enjoy the moment while you can, because it'll be your last." Blaine informed them, before he and Ardyn began to vanish in the Corridor of Darkness.
"Get back here!" Cloud shouted, standing up as he, Zack, and Lightning raced after the duo, but were too late as the two villains already vanished with Kairi's light and Vanitas captured. The trio skid to a stop and grunted in anger, to which Cloud hissed, "Damn!"
"I think I'll hit the road too. Hmph, and knowin' you guys, you'll save Aqua too. See ya!" Xigbar waved when everyone turned to face him and he then vanished while teleporting away.
"Hold it!" Isa shouted, he, Roxas, Xion and Lea trying to catch Xigbar but again they were too late. The four of them grunted.
Lea wanted to scream in anger, but he held it back. Instead, he grunted while keeping his temper in check. "I hate that guy."
"Aqua! Are you okay?" Ven cried out, causing everyone to turn their attention back to their unconscious friend as Roxas, Xion, Lea, Isa, Cloud, Zack and Lightning quickly rejoined everyone else as Ven and Mickey hovered worriedly by Yen Sid and over Aqua who still hadn't woken up and darkness seeping deeper into her heart and to their, Terra, and everyone else's horror, it was spread on her body.
"Oh no! Aqua!" Mickey cried out, feeling the dread on what was happening. Just when he finally got his mentor back, not only Aced had sacrificed himself to save Strelitzia, and both Sora and Kairi were lost, but now Aqua was at the risk of losing her heart.
"We need to head to Midgar. That's about the closest world that will have treatment." Vincent informed them urgently.
"Agreed." Genesis nodded.
"Let us make haste." Yen Sid agreed.
While Terra carried Aqua, Riku and Cloud helping Sora and Kairi, Mickey, Donald and Goofy making sure Yen Sid was alright and Zack helping Angeal, they and everyone else began to hurry back to the gummiships to fly back to Midgar. But Strelitzia paused her steps as she gazed at the spot where Aced, who had caused much problems and only now had finally understood his mistakes, had sacrificed himself to save her from Blaine killing her the second time. It ached her heart terribly as tears stinged her eyes.
"Master Aced...I'm so sorry. It's my fault that...that you risked your life to save me." Strelitzia whispered to the fallen Keyblade Master. Shaking her head to try and clear it with the knowledge that Aqua may be in danger, she quickly ran to rejoin her companions to hurry back to Midgar.
Yet just when things were looking up, the situation was now becoming apparent that Chaos is about to slowly begin his strike.
Aqua didn't know what was happening, or why it was happening. The last thing she remembered was being struck by Xigbar's arrow laser which had darkness in it this time, not like the time when she faced him. Other than that, it was blank. She couldn't see anything, except for never-ending darkness, and she was falling into it.
Then her mind and heart jolted painfully again, making her scream as the darkness that seeped into her heart began to spread across her entire body. What was this feeling? It was cold, terrifying, and sharp and stinging, as though some sort of acid was eating her alive. It was then she saw, images that she now knew was an Alternate Universe;
She saw herself, with Ansem the Wise, being faced with Ansem the Seeker of Darkness. Aqua saw herself fighting the Heartless-Ansem without any Keyblade, but was caught by that Guardian, which she managed to escape. But she was then struck by a powerful orb of darkness that went into her chest, as she was sent flying and falling into the waters of the Realm of Darkness, which like she was feeling now, darkness covered her body.
Aqua then saw herself, her darker self, confronting Mickey who was caught in the darkness created by the Demon Tower Heartless, and Riku who had been knocked back. The other Aqua picked up Mickey's discarded Keyblade.
"This Keyblade." Aqua's other self muttered, in a tone of sadness and betrayal.
"Is it her?" Mickey asked, horrified as he saw what was happening while he was left dangling in the orb.
"Mickey, you're too late." Dark-Aqua hissed.
"What happened?" Mickey asked, and Aqua felt more than heard the fear in her friend's voice, and she wanted to try something, anything, to reach out to him, but the darkness was taking it's hold, beginning to cloud her senses and she then realized that her fears and doubts she forced back when she'd been trapped in the real Realm of Darkness began to overtake her.
She could hear the words from her darker self and the darkness in her heart was telling her to agree and she felt it. But Aqua didn't want that; it's not Mickey's fault...!
Unfortunately, the darkness reached up to her face as she reached out her hand to her trapped friend who by then began to cry in guilt, as she heard him choke up in front of her darker self and Riku.
"I'm sorry...It's all my fault." Mickey sobbed which began to fade.
"Mickey..." Aqua muttered sorrowfully before her vision went blank...
It's been at least five or six hours since the worldly travelers, Yen Sid, Angeal and Genesis returned to Midgar and almost immediately they were put into treatment by the Shinra and WRO personel and doctors. Most of them were released with clean bill of health, Sora and Kairi had to be held back a bit longer with magic to heal them up before they too were released. Now they stood before Aqua in a huge cylinder glass tube with bluish liquid which most of them were inside of earlier inside a laboratory. It did heal their wounds, but Aqua's was a different case; during the trip back to Midgar, her body had slowly transformed; her clothes were tainted black, her fingers were still showing signs of turning sharp red, her skin turned into a dark tan, and her hair...it was silver, much like that of Xehanort when he was younger; as well as both his Heartless and Xemnas.
With the group were Rufus, the Turks, Namine and Reeve after Sora's group explained what happened and how Aqua ended up in this situation.
"So that eye-patched guy who disappeared when that Xehanort jerkface died in that Sleep World or whatever it was is still alive and did this to Aqua?" Reno surmised in shock and disgust.
"And you say that Blaine and Ardyn have extracted this 'Vanitas' from Sora's heart as well as part of Kairi's light even when she used most of it to save his life?" Tseng added.
"That pretty much sums it up." Zack confirmed, folding his arms to his chest in worry.
"Worst part is, Master Aced sacrificed himself to save me from Blaine, who was the one who killed me, not Lauriam." Strelitzia added, the guilt still noticable on her face as she gazed on the steel hard floor.
Reno shook his head, turning his gaze to Sora. "Still can't believe you managed to get through to that guy before he got killed. You sure impress the hell outta me, kid."
As much as Sora wanted to accept the compliment, the fact that Aced had died just moments after accepting the consequences of his actions made him feel like it was all his fault. Even worse, he couldn't do a single thing to stop Blaine from extracting Vanitas from his heart or stop Kairi from risking her life to save his while most of her light was now gone too. He lowered his gaze to the floor and suddenly he found himself missing that annoying voice in his head which made no sense since he was relieved that Vanitas was out of his body and now he didn't have to worry about that guy taking over. Maybe it was because he'd gotten used in having him inside his heart for so long that Sora just felt the lingering sense of emptiness.
"It still wasn't enough, though. Aced's gone, Kairi lost of her light to save me, and now Aqua's in this situation. If only I acted a lot quicker!" Sora grunted, angry and disgusted with himself for having put his friends and others into serious danger. "It's all my fault!"
"Sora...!" Donald and Goofy both muttered worriedly, feeling sorry for Sora who after what they been through together two years ago had become one of their best friends, much like the King.
Everyone gazed at him with worries of their own, wondering what they could do to cheer him up or how to help Kairi and Aqua.
"Master Yen Sid, what will happen to Kairi now that she lost most of her light?" Xion asked the Sorcerer with hesitation. She was aware that he needed to rest after having spend most of his time imprisoned in the Daybreak Town Ruins, the urge to ask for his wisdom was too much for her to hold back. Especially since Kairi was on her best friends, though not as the same as Roxas, Lea, Namine and Isa, but still someone she cared about.
"There is not much we can do with her powers of Light been taken from her heart. Fortunately, even though Kairi is no longer a Princess of Heart, she still holds a powerful light within her that makes her almost as unique as the rest of the Princesses, especially when she wields a Keyblade." Yen Sid explained which got everyone's attentions.
"Whaddya mean?" Goofy asked, now confused.
"In order to maintain the balance of the Realm of Light, each of the Princesses of Heart through generations since the time after the Keyblade War will pass down their powers to successors once their duties are fufilled. The new Princesses of Heart would not know of this as of this moment, and while some of them still hold that power, eventually they would pass on to new Princesses who will continue in protecting the worlds, whether they know it or not. As for their precessors, while they would no longer be considered as Princesses of Heart, their own lights that had grown will continue to protect them from the forces of darkness." The Sorcerer continued.
"So even though Kairi lost her power of the Seven Princesses, the rest of her light within her heart has grown so much that she doesn't need that kind of power anymore, because not only her light is still burnin' strong, she also has her Keyblade." Mickey surmised in realization, and some relief.
"Indeed, and while it was reckless of her in using her light to save Sora's heart, a moments rest is what is needed to restore her to her original state in spite of her power of the Princesses stolen, given how Vanitas was forcefully extracted." Yen Sid confirmed.
"I had a feeling you know about that guy being inside me." Sora sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "I was gonna tell you about him and ask you if there was a way to get him outta me after we handled the stuff in the Caribbean, but...you know."
"I am sorry. The timing was unfortunately out of reach and Master Aced believed the wisdom I held would help him in his quest to dominate the Realm of Light. Which is why Angeal, Genesis and I were kept alive for as long as we were. I sensed that Vanitas had entered your heart from when you and Riku used the power of waking to bring back Ventus. Yet, with you informing your friends of his presence, his hold on him had by then weakened, and the light within your heart was slowly bringing him into that light. While he still posed as a threat, the strength within him held him back until the point in the Keyblade Graveyard." Yen Sid apologized and explained.
"But sir, if Vanitas was getting weaker, how come I didn't hear him until just before we reached the Keyblade Graveyard? How does that make sense?" Ven pointed out.
"Maybe it's because since you guys fought the Keyblade Graveyard twelve years ago that that's the only place Vanitas started to talk to you." Ephemer guessed with a shrug. "I'm not a expert on that but, it's just a guess."
"Yes, the Keyblade Graveyard was the birthplace of Vanitas. It would be logical that world would enable Ventus to hear and commuciate with Vanitas even though Xehanort is no longer among us." Yen Sid agreed, before admitting, "Though I am still surprised that Ventus had come from the same era as you, Strelitzia and Skuld, young Master Ephemer."
The white-haired boy sheepishly rubbed the back of his head with a nervous grin. "Aw, c'mon, Master Yen Sid. You don't have to call me that. I'm not even a Keyblade Master, let alone much of a Union Leader. As a matter of fact, I still feel like a kid."
"Staying young for many years can do that." Vincent informed him. "I've slept for 27 years and I haven't aged a day, given the Chaos gene and the Protomateria within me."
"And at least you, Skuld, Ven, Vince' and Strelitzia didn't end up lookin' like that Fish-Guy who had a giant squid who eats people as a pet." Reno added, shuddering slightly at the memory of Davy Jones.
"Uh...what?" Ephemer asked, blinking in confusion.
"He means Davy Jones and the Kraken; The legendary Pirate and the giant Octopus Sea Monster." Skuld explained as she went up to his side.
"Wha!?" Her friend gasped, bewildered and more than a little spooked.
"Don't worry. Both of them are gone, so we don't have to worry about them anymore. Captain Jack Sparrow and Captain Will Turner solved the Davy Jones problem at least." Skuld ensured him.
"And his octopus that nearly had us for lunch was killed before hand by that guy Beckett who's now dead too." Lea added.
"But still leaves the problem that Vanitas is now in the hands of Blaine and Ardyn who also took Kairi's powers of Pure Light and tried to kidnap Namine." Riku pointed out.
Realizing that he was right, the rest of the group immediately returned to the point as Lea shook his head, grunting, "I still think Chaos has something to do with it and if we're right, he's gonna try and do what Xehanort tried to do."
"Given that Calypso has been freed from her imprisonment as I sensed, and Chaos holding such dark powers, it is clear that Blaine and Ardyn are in the league of the beast of darkness. Thus, should he succeed, Bhunivelze will most likely reawaken and the Princesses of Heart, both the previous generation and the new generation chosen now are in grave danger." Yen Sid agreed grimly.
"You know, when we were in Agrabah, I could still sense Jasmine's light but in the Arendelle and the Kingdom of Corona, I sensed the lights in Elsa, Anna and Rapunzel, much like how in Cinderella, Snow White, Alice, Belle and Aurora." Kairi admitted and Sora and the others quickly nodded in agreement.
"Wait, wouldn't that mean...Rapunzel, Elsa and Anna are three of the new Princesses of Heart?" Roxas asked in realization.
"Elsa had powers of ice which she can control by love, the power of true love Anna held in her heart which her sacrifice in saving her sister thawed her, and Rapunzel did have the power of healing and the very last drop of it revived Eugene even after her hair was cut. It suddenly makes sense with the three of them." Isa realized.
Myde let out a low whistle, "Whoa, so we already met three of the new Princesses and we didn't even know it. How cool is that?"
"Even so, they're in danger too." Serah pointed out.
"What about Aqua? Why is the darkness effecting her this badly?" Terra demanded, wanting to now figure out how to help Aqua who still hasn't awoken.
Yen Sid grimly gazed at the young woman who for twelve years had been trapped in the Realm of Darkness, recently been released thanks to Xion, but now was in this situation. He didn't want to break the terrible news, but everyone had to know given that it was slowly overtaking her.
"Aqua's Heart is being tainted by the great power of Darkness, one that Braig held within him despite Xehanort no longer being alive. I'm afraid her time in the Realm of Darkness has found the cracks within her, and while she had been freed as her heart was still full of pure light, the rift between all realities has began to overwhelm her. Given what you described, she has been seeing visions of I suspect Xehanort overtaking her heart in a time-line we have yet to fully understand." He explained.
"This means, the years of being alone in the Realm of Darkness have began to consume her, and transform her into a being that resembles to that of a Heartless." He continued.
"WHAT!?" Sora, Mickey, Terra, Ven and everyone else exclaimed in pure shock and horror.
"Aqua's gonna turn into a Heartless!?" Goofy exclaimed.
"Whadda we do?" Donald asked, horrified.
"No..." Mickey quivered, guilt quickly began to form. How could he have not realized it? All the years and when he finally met up with Aqua again two years ago in the Realm of Darkness, he assumed that she was fine as he still sensed her light that was still burning strong even when he saved her from falling into the deeper darkness. Had it been the Dark Realm that clouded his senses that he couldn't sense the growing darkness, fear, doubt and loneniess within his friend's heart? He then remembered that Aqua had been seeing visions of her being overcome by the darkness and now he knew it was in the other Time-line out there somewhere. Was that what will happen to Aqua now?
"So Aqua is suffering the same thing that happened to me and Riku?" Terra questioned, feeling anger rise inside him and while he tried to hold it back as he knew that it was his anger that led him to end up having such powerful darkness in the first place, the fact that one of his best friends was still suffering and no one had even noticed.
Before he knew what was happening, he angrily turned to the King and demanded, "You were there in the Realm of Darkness, weren't you, your Majesty? Didn't you even notice her being there!? Or was it just Xion making a guess!? Why didn't you do something and try and save her sooner!?"
"Terra!" Ven cried out as he and Riku quickly both grabbed hold of the older man's arms to pull him back from hurting Mickey. "Calm down, Terra, please! It's not Mickey's fault that-"
"No, Ven. He's right." Mickey's choked up voice interrupted. When the others turned back to him, the king was unable to meet their gaze as, in a way unfitting of a king but fitting for someone young and very naive, he broke down before them. "I did see her, in the Realm of Darkness. I was lookin' for the Keyblade of Darkness when I felt her light and saved her. I told her what happened after she told me how she ended up in that awful place, so I promised that we'd both come home. But then, just as we were about to meet with Riku and close the door..."
He explained what had happened as Mickey once again remembered the time when just as he and Aqua located the Kingdom Hearts that Xehanort's Heartless summoned when Sora, Donald and Goofy fought and defeated him.
Flash-back: During the events of "Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth By Sleep: A Fragmentary Passage" and "Kingdom Hearts 1"...
Mickey ran as fast as he could, to try and stop the large Heartless Wave from reaching Riku. But he was too far and was too slow, fearing that they wouldn't be able to make it. But to his shock and surprise, Aqua jumped, summoning her Keyblade and somehow trapped it in it's magical chains. Mickey skid to a stop and he gasped. She was struggling to hold it in it's place.
"Aqua!" Mickey cried out, making to help her.
"Go without me!" She yelled back.
His heart froze and sank. Aqua was sacrificing herself again...this time to save both Riku and himself! Mickey couldn't leave her! Not again! Not when he finally found her after looking for her, Ven and Terra for ten years!
"No, I-!" He was cut off when the Heartless broke free, now more furious than ever. Mickey couldn't move as he and Aqua were both caught off-guard. The Heartless Wave engulfed them both and Mickey screamed as he felt himself feeling like a giant was swallowing him whole, mixed up with berries like he was in a fruit salad bowl and a grip like the said giant was clasping him and squeezing him to death. He heard Aqua scream echoing his scream and at that split second moment, he was terrified.
Terrified that the Heartless would seep into their chests and pull out their hearts. Mickey could see Aqua a bit in front of him, and she looked just as buried and eaten as he was feeling. He tried to pull himself free from this wave Heartless, desperately trying to reach out to her. But the Heartless refused to let him go as they were hungry for his and Aqua's hearts.
'Someone help us!' Mickey pleaded in his mind, the shear terror of losing his friend and dying before he and Sora could save the remaining worlds slowly overcoming his mind. It can't end this way! 'HELP!'
Then, as if the Heartless were not interested in him, or perhaps the Keyblade of Darkness he inherited was protecting him that they feared it's power more than any regular Keyblade, Mickey felt himself being released and thrown out of the wave and screamed as he crashed onto the ground. But the darkness of those monsters did damage his shirt which disappeared into golden light. Pushing himself up quickly, he could only watch in pure horror as the Heartless Wave zoomed right through the door which led to the ruins of Destiny Islands...
With Aqua still held captive.
"AQUA!" Mickey screamed in despair and distraught as the end of the Heartless Wave vanished through the door which slammed shut and then vanished without a trace, leaving only a wall and him stuck in the area with Riku. 'NO!' He thought to himself in dismay.
Mickey couldn't believe it. His friend...one he hasn't seen in ten years and had just found...was gone. In the matter of minutes. He stood up and reached over to where the wall was, his heart aching in guilt and devastation.
"Aqua..." He muttered, the urge to cry for the loss almost overwhelming him. But then he remembered; she survived ten years in this horrible place. Her heart was strong. Full of pure light. Plus, she knew that the Door to Darkness had to be closed, and she had risked her freedom to save Riku and Mickey himself. In that respect, she...was a lot like himself. Aqua now counted on him to save the worlds.
'Don't worry, Aqua. I'll come back for you. I promise! Just...give me a little more time, okay?' He thought to himself as he renewed his resolve. Knowing what to do, Mickey turned and hurried to help his other friends as quickly as possible.
End Flash-Back:
"...That was the last time I saw her, 'til Xion got her out and they met up with us when we went up against Master Xehanort." Mickey concluded, trying very heard not to cry, but it was becoming more and more difficult as the guilt that left his shoulders when he told Aqua back at the Mysterious Tower while Sora and Riku were waking Vincent was now back with a vengeance.
"She sacrificed herself to save me?" Riku asked in disbelief. While he felt guilty for having been responsible for Aqua in still being trapped until that point and he didn't want to blame Mickey for what happened, he was angry that his friend hadn't said anything.
Sora beat him in demanding to know, though. "Why didn't you tell us a lot sooner!?"
"...I had to respect her choice." Mickey replied, feeling ashamed with himself and he felt that his friends felt the very right in being so angry with him. He was angry with himself too, and more than anything, had been foolish into making such decisions.
"What about the rest of us?" Sora pointed out. "You could've let us know sooner! We would've helped Aqua get out of the Realm of Darkness sooner than having Xion go through all that trouble!"
"I know..." Mickey closed his eyes. "I'm so sorry...! It's all my fault!"
"Is that all you can say? That you're sorry that Aqua has been trapped there longer than necessary?" Terra asked coldly, glaring at Mickey who clutched his fists to stop himself from shaking even though tears began to leak despite his eyes remaining closed. Terra was right; sorry wouldn't cover it and Mickey knew it. But he couldn't say anything else.
Fortunately, someone else who knew all too well spoke up to speak for the distraughted and guilt-ridden King.
"Listen to yourselves, guys." Lea grunted darkly, which made Sora, Riku, Terra and everyone else gaze at the redhead as he continued. "Seriously, the Realm of Darkness isn't a good place to be, even with the coats."
Sighing, he continued to the trio who were angry with the King, "Okay, granted, I'm still not happy that Xion went there and that she volunteered in goin' in, but come on, let's be realistic here. The Realm of Darkness is hard to get into without a coat and the Corridor of Darkness, that place is crawlin' with Heartless and if I'm gonna guess, if Sora and Riku did go there, there'd be no way in getting her back out. Not only that, me, Roxas and Xion had to be careful as we couldn't just keep usin' those as transport anymore."
"Lea is right, Sora, Riku and Terra. Do not be rash." Yen Sid agreed. "As Mickey told you clearly in his story, reaching the realm of darkness the first time was not a simple task. And even if we had found a way back in, regrettably none of us possessed the necessary means to get Aqua back out safely. So I forbade Mickey from telling you, let alone going after her."
"Then, why keep it a secret?" Riku demanded.
"Um, maybe it's because going into that spooky place without a safety way and just barging in head first knowing you and Sora might be the issue here?" Myde pointed out awkwardly. When the Sorcerer gazed at the young mullet-haired man, Myde apologetically rubbed the back of his head while waving. "Sorry, sorry. Just trying to help lighten the mood and make a point here."
"None the less, you are correct, Myde." Yen Sid nodded, turning back to Sora, and Riku. "As he has told you, either one of you would have staged a reckless attempt at rescue. Yet with Xion, as she had still possessed the coat given to her by Organization XIII as well as the power of darkness, she knew where to look and as such has brought Aqua back into the Realm of Light. Unfortunately, not quickly enough."
Despite still being miffed that none of them were told of any of this, Sora, Riku and especially Terra knew that Yen Sid, Myde and Lea were right. Despite that things had worked out, now Aqua was in the unconscious process of turning into a Heartless, no thanks to Xigbar.
"That still doesn't mean I didn't make her hurt this way. I should've tried harder to save her...why didn't...why didn't I save with her from the Heartless? I should've gone with her to find and save Terra, but I didn't...Everybody got hurt and involved because of me, and now Aqua's turnin' into a Heartless and it's all my fault!" Mickey cried out, burying his face in his gloved hands and wept in guilt and sorrow.
Everyone remained silent, not sure how to reply as Mickey sobbed. Yen Sid sighed, deciding it was best not to speak with his former apprentice at the moment. Between losing him, and now Aqua in this situation had finally broke the King's spirit. Donald and Goofy, being closest to the king, approached him as the former pulled Mickey into an embrace and while the Keyblade Master was hesitant when he saw this, he let his emotions take over and cried on Donald's shoulder while Goofy hugged both of them, though the two didn't know what to do or say in making Mickey feel better.
Seeing the King cry like this actually began to scare Sora. Now he felt guilty for lashing out like that when he himself had made the similar mistakes, especially today in the Keyblade Graveyard, and like how Jack had sacrificed himself to save Sora when Caius sent him into the Locker, and how Sora failed to save Will when Davy Jones stabbed him, and how Kairi risked her light to save Sora. But to think that Mickey had gone through ten years over the losses of Aqua, Ven and Terra, and another two years just when he reunited with the former only to lose her again.
"I'm sorry, your majesty. That was uncalled for." Sora muttered in guilt, before pointing out as he bend on one knee, swallowing a lump that formed in his throat. "It's not your fault, really. Xehanort's the one who started all of this, all because he wanted to open up Kingdom Hearts with that stupid X-Blade. You, Terra, Ven and Aqua didn't have anything to do with it. You guys and everybody else including me, Riku and Kairi got involved because he liked hurting others."
"Sora..." Mickey muttered as he forced himself to calm down and tearfully gaze at the teen.
"No. It's my fault." Terra spoke up, now guilt-ridden as he gazed up at Aqua's still unconscious form when the others looked at him this time. "I was the one who was too stupid for my own good. My dream in becoming a Keyblade Master clouded my senses, allowed the darkness within me grow, making me an easy target for Xehanort to use as a vessel. He easily tricked me and I pushed away my friends when they wanted to help."
He turned to Mickey and added, "I'm sorry, your majesty. I left you with my burden to care for my best friends and went astray. Aqua sacrificed herself to try and save me, when I told her to put an end to me. I didn't listen to Ven when he tried to warn me about Vanitas...Master Eraqus was struck down because I fought him to try and protect Ven, and ended up having Xehanort finish him off."
"Terra..." Ven muttered.
"Um...can we just conclude that it was that old man Xehanort who started all this in the first place and try and figure out how to save Aqua, please? It's getting kinda musty and tensed in here." Myde awkwardly interrupted to try and break the tension in the air.
"Works for me." Reno shrugged, feeling awkward himself.
Mickey wiped away his tears as he began to calm down while sniffling a few times before he sighed. "I guess so. But how can we save Aqua if she's turnin' into a Heartless?"
Sora thought hard, trying to figure out how to save Aqua and restore her to normal. There had to be a way to save her but he didn't have a powerful light and Kairi already risked most of hers to save his heart from the darkness which Sora didn't want to risk in having her do so again. Unless...
"The power of waking." He ventured, causing everyone else to gaze at him. "That's gotta work, right? If it worked on Vincent and Ven, it can help bring Aqua's heart back to normal too. I can enter her heart and take out the darkness within her."
"Sora, that's crazy!" Riku exclaimed as he and everyone else stared at his crazy spiky-haired friend in shock.
"The power of waking is not to be used lightly or recklessly, Sora." Yen Sid warned sternly. "While you and Riku have both successfully awakened Vincent and Ventus, you must also keep it under control. When one uses it, he risks losing himself into the void as it takes great concentration and vast energy to enter another being's heart. It is used to follow hearts to awaken worlds. Yet it was the risk we had to take in order to return Ventus and Vincent home."
"So by using too much of it ends up making that person disappear, right?" Sora finished, much to Yen Sid's surprise. The teenager shrugged awkwardly, "I uh...the time-line is outta whack, right? Well, the thing is, the other day back at Disney Castle before we went back to Twilight Town, I met the other me, the one from a time-line where we're still fighting Xehanort. The other me had to use the power of Waking to bring everyone back and change history and..."
He trailed off, struggling to bring out the words he was about to say next. But when Kairi gently placed her hand over his and gave him a slightly encouraging nod, Sora continued, "When Xehanort was defeated for good, the other me had to use the power of waking to bring back the Kairi he knew...and now he's a ghost."
A long tensed pause.
"Whaaaaaaaaaat!?" The rest of Sora and Kairi's group, Cloud's group, and the Turks exclaimed in shock and no small amount of horror.
"But he also said he saw two futures or something." Sora quickly added, doing his best to remember what the other Sora had told him. "He said that in one, he stays dead, but in the other, well, Riku-the Riku he knew-went out to figure out how to bring him back. But yeah, that's the ghost guy I mentioned earlier."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait a minute! Whaddya mean the other you and Alternate Universe?" Zack asked, completely lost and he wasn't the only one.
"You seriously lost me there." Reno muttered, dumbfounded.
"The time-line that's being distrupted." Strelitzia muttered in realization. "That's what Sora is talking about. I know, because I went into one where...the Keyblade War never happened, Keyblades never existed, and most of you were friends attending an Academy. I went there during the quest to stop Garland and to find Sora and the others. I never told them where I came from and after helping in sorting out a problem which, well, it's awkward to say, was a bit of a electrical growth-spurt problem with a little boy, I secretly left and returned here without them knowing."
"Why did you do that?" Ven asked, confused.
"Cosmos told me to, before I woke up in Serah and Lightning's world." Strelitzia replied. "Still, it involved with Sora because of another time-line that's been erased."
"I was involved in that too?" Sora asked, stunned and shocked.
"I guess no matter what dimension he's in, Sora's still the hero." Goofy thought and Donald nodded in agreement which made the aforementioned Keyblade wielder scratch his head again in embarrassment.
Sora shook his head, before continuing his point, "Anyway, he told me this and warned me not to make the same mistake and, I promised myself and him that I wouldn't. But if it's the only way to save Aqua, then I'm gonna take that risk, at least just once. After that, we're gonna make sure Chaos doesn't catch us off-guard like Xehanort did."
"But Sora, if you do use the power of waking, you could end up like the other Sora." Mickey pointed out worriedly. "Please don't do this."
"Hey, it's not like I'm gonna go saving everyone rapidly. Besides, no one said this adventure was gonna be safe, right? I'll be okay and I promise that me and Aqua will be back before you know it." Sora ensured him.
"But you're still recovering, Sora. You haven't fully gotten used to that Vanitas guy being outside of your heart yet." Tifa pointed out, also worried.
"Then, I'll go with him." Kairi spoke up, much to everyone's shock. "I don't care if I'm a Princess of Heart or not, Aqua's my friend too and she saved me twelve years ago when I was a little girl and she's the main reason why I have a Keyblade. Now it's my turn to help save her. I owe her that much and I'm not gonna let Sora disappear on me. Not by a long shot."
"Kairi..." Sora muttered. He was now scared that something might go wrong if she went, but the expression on her face quickly told him that this was an argument he was going to lose anyway this time. She had grown stronger and despite almost losing her today, she didn't want to lose him.
Mickey glanced back and forth between the two teenagers and while he was deathly worried about both of them, they were ready to do this. Still, he felt responsible for Aqua's suffering and felt it was right for him to make up for that mistake.
"I'll go too!" The King finally declared, and when Sora and Kairi gazed at him as did the others, Mickey continued with determination. "You two fellas and I, we're gonna save her!"
"Perhaps it is best the three of you go, given your connections with Aqua. Sora has more than a better chance in saving her, Kairi has a chance in keeping him safe in spite of her actions earlier, and Mickey's heart connected to all three will be the guide that will lead Aqua home." Yen Sid eventually agreed, turning to Sora as he continued, "I am deeply sorry for not informing you earlier, Sora."
"Aw, it was just bad timing, Master. No biggie." Sora ensured, placing his hands behind his head casually.
Yen Sid just stared at Sora, before smirking a little in defeat. "You certainly are much like Mickey and Ventus combined. The three of you certainly have a lot in common."
Sora, Mickey and Ven shared puzzled and surprised expressions to hear Master Yen Sid say this, which made everyone else giggle or laugh in agreement with the elder man. After a moment of embarrassment between the three of them, Sora, Kairi and Mickey stood in line in front of the tube that Aqua slept.
"Ready?" Sora asked his two friends who nodded with determination.
"Sora." Terra spoke up, "Be careful and good luck to you three guys." as Ven nodded in agreement.
"Will do." Sora gave Terra a thumbs up, before he summoned his Keyblade as a purple spike materalized when Aqua's chest glowed slightly. Then as Kairi and Mickey both held onto Sora, the spiky haired teen aimed the Kingdom Key at the spike as a beam of light shot into it and soon the trio were glowing in light before they vanished and became absorbed into the spike which Tifa, Tseng, Elena, Myde, Strelitzia, Ephemer, Skuld, Serah and Lightning were struck in awe at the sight before they and the rest of the group now just stood in silence.
Waiting for Sora, Kairi and Mickey to return and Aqua to be restored to normal.
A/N: So many references in both the real Kingdom Hearts 3 as well as my other story "Life NEVER was Normal" here, and there will be more coming. Hopefully I'll be able to post the next chapter sooner than this one as planned.
See you then!