A/N: Heya! Sorry I'm late!
When Arthur woke up, he barely had enough time to analyze his surroundings, as he was enveloped in a smothering hug
"Arthur, you're safe! I was so worried for you!" Arthur didn't have time to respond, as another voice cut into the conversation
"Gee, you seem to love sleep, you remind me of Sora, just sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep". Sora smiled and retorted
"Come on Riku, I don't sleep in that much!" Riku and Sora argued some more, while Arthur watched, just happy 2 of his best friends were spared a terrible fate, and happy to see Sora and Riku getting back to their normal selves he hated worrying them, or anyone for that matter. Sora was waking his hand in front of his face all of the sudden
"Hello? Anyone home?" Riku let out a chuckle, and Arthur giggled a bit
"Yes, Sora?" Sora smiled and said
"I didn't ever introduce you to Riku, did I?" Arthur smiled and shook his head
"No, I don't ever think you did, but I've heard about him". This piqued their interest and Sora asked.
"What have you heard? You heard about me too, right? Like, before we met?" Riku made a comment on how everyone knew of Sora and his weird antics, chuckling somewhat. Arthur smiled and resumed after Sora playfully shoved Riku
"Well, I remember the tall tale of a boy swept away from his home, he had a huge keyblade, nothing else like it, he was looking for his friends, Riku and Kairi, he teamed up with two other allies to stop the horde of dark forces from taking over the worlds, and in that process, found his two friends, though, admittedly, I never knew of your personalities, definitely wouldn't have guessed I'd become a part of it all too". Sora seemed satisfied with that answer and responded
"Well, for what it's worth, I'm glad you're here". There was a budding warmth in his chest, as it thumped away like mad.
"I am too" Arthur beamed back, but then Sora interjected
"Arthur… I… I don't really know much about you, and even though I don't, It hasn't been any more difficult to get real close to you, do you think you could tell us a bit more?" Arthur nodded and tried to dig up some information for his two friends.
"Well, I was one of the original 4 keybade wielders, I was an apprentice of a kind, wise old keyblade master named Master Eraqus. One day, Master Yen Sid detected a shift in the balance of light and darkness. Master Eraqus sent Terra and Aqua off to find Master Xehanort and find the source of the Unversed, those beings we fought in Monstropolis. We were told by Master Xehanort's apprentice, Vanitas, that Terra would change forever once he left, but it was a ruse to draw us away from our homeland. Eventually, we figured out that me and Ven were supposed to clash to make the X-Blade, but would not do it, Master Eraqus confessed to us that he knew about this, and didn't want us to leave for the other worlds… When he learned Xehanort never stopped with his ambitions… He tried to strike both of us down, in order to prevent Xehanort from getting the X-Blade, but Terra saved us. But it had all been set up… Xehanort manipulated Terra into fighting Master Eraqus, and while our dear old master was weakened, Xehanort struck him down. Ever since I've become… This, I've been living a normal life, not much is too interesting, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't think of running from this to be normal again, I just hope it's all over soon, I really want to be back home, both of them, all three of them? I don't remember where we lived at before becoming pupils of Master Eraqus". Riku and Sora were enthralled by his story. They never knew how deep the well ran when it came to Xehanort and his lust for the ultimate light.
After a while of conversing, Riku asked the two to join him and Kairi for some good old sparring. Sora immediately agreed, and after 2 minutes of Sora begging, Arthur did too. They got set up out in front of the Mysterious Tower, Sora and Arthur were on a team, Sora went for Kairi, going a bit easier, as he had about a year's worth of semi-hidden experience, so it wouldn't have been exactly fair. Arthur went for Riku, though Sora played nice, Arthur and Riku did not, constantly slashing at one another, using high tier magic against one another. Sora and Kairi could be mistaken for some feisty couple, bounding around in a circle, taking some swings, using some basic magic, before picking up in speed. Though Arthur noticed the sly smirk on Kairi's face, as she glanced at Riku and Sora, and Arthur knew what was likely to happen. Casting water, Arthur was stunned just enough to give him the head start needed. Riku sprinted to Sora, behind him, as to not spoil his advantage. Arthur expected this, and shouted "Sora! Behind you!" Sora forced Kairi away from him, so he could take on Riku. Arthur jumped in to fight Kairi. Rhythmically they clashed, even performing some spins in there, somewhere. Arthur smiled and he shouted out "come on! Kick it to the beat!". To which Kairi laughed and said
"Don't get too cocky now!" Causing Arthur to laugh and nod slightly, eventually, Arthur began backing up, and going on the defensive, Kairi had incredible stamina, she didn't even seem slightly phased by this all. Eventually, he backed into a very exhausted Sora. Arthur tried to fight back harder, but lost his grip on his keyblade, which ended in it getting slapped out of his hand, he and Sora slumped down, beaten, and embarrassed.
Arthur got up, somewhat shaking, and Riku helped Sora up. Kairi helped stabilize Arthur, and she went to join the two boys. He turned around and turned around, prepared to rejoin his friends, but when he turned to see that his friends were gone. Instead, he saw 3 different people, the first one was a tall, spiky haired brunette boy, more like young adult. He was buff, wearing a grey shirt, with a beige/brown Hamaka. The second person took the place of Kairi, she was taller than the girl she took the place of, but by no means taller than the buff guy next to her. She had beautiful dark blue hair, with beautiful eyes of a lighter blue, she was fit and angelic in her movement, she was kind and motherly, she was truly, one of a kind. Then, there was a boy, Sora's height, as well as his own. He had lovely blonde hair, with warm, deep, blue eyes, he had several shirts on, with varying colors, mostly consisting of green and beige. Ven had on shorts that were grey and white, with armoured green shoes. At the same time, giving him warm smiles, then they all called his name, first Terra, then Aqua, then Ventus. Arthur gasped, dropping his keyblade to the ground, eyes widening. Arthur could feel tears surging their way to his eyes. Arthur saw the concerned faces of his former friends, and began crying even more. The world rearranged itself around him, it was no longer Yen Sid's tower, it was the Land Of Departure, it was sunny and lovely. But nothing was lovely, it was all fake, he knew it, but his heart was yearning out to touch them, to be held in their arms forever more. Training, joke Keyblade rituals, lessons with their master, sparring matches. The day they all met, and right now, Arthur wanted nothing more than to be held, he was hurting, his heart had gone too long without them, and he couldn't bear it any more. But just as soon as they changed forms, they reverted back, revealing the worried faces of Sora, Riku and Kairi.
"Arthur?! What's going on?!" They were now shaking him violently, it snapped him out of his trip. Kairi held onto his hand, while Riku was trying to calm Sora down. Arthur tried to say something, but instead chose to run back into the tower, he wanted to just forget what happened. Eventually, as he expected, but feared, someone knocked on his door
"Arthur? Are you in there? Can I come in?" It was not at all who he expected it to be.
"Yes Riku, go ahead". Wordlessly, he opened the door and stepped in, he saw Arthur sat on his bed, staring down at the floor. Without needing to be asked Arthur emotionlessly said
"I saw them… And everything felt okay for a moment… And it was all gone, but the memories… Where did they all come from? Why did I see them instead of you? It doesn't make sense". Riku rubbed his back and rubbed circles into it to soothe him. Arthur continued to speak, this time, having more emotion in it "seeing them… It filled me with emptiness, I feel so alone without them, who knows what's happening to them, and I'm powerless to protect them, but I'll do better for them to make up for that, they deserve my best, no matter how much it takes". The issue resolved itself, and Riku nodded, patting him on the back, and said "the king and I are planning to look for Aqua again, would you like to tag along? We may find Ventus as well". Arthur got giddy and agreed to it immediately. He got ready for the long haul the very next day. Since Sora hadn't received the power of waking, so perhaps Ven would wait, but that didn't mean that he couldn't be saved from the Realm Of Darkness.
Entering the Realm of Darkness was an oddly familiar experience, they were walking through caves, it's where they entered from. When they emerged from the cave system, they felt the ground shake beneath them, Mickey and Riku seemed to know what was going to come, but Arthur was clueless. There was a couple feet between Arthur and the other two companions. Riku shouted out
"Arthur! Come over here, now!" There was a clear tone of desperation, and Arthur didn't need to be told twice, he ran to their side and readied his weapon. And suddenly a horde of basic heartless soldiers sprouted forth from the ground where Arthur once stood, but Arthur knew better, this was the Dark Realm, this was where they were at their best. Though it flew away from them, it soon reared its ugly head back at them, preparing to charge at them. When it did, they all dived out of the way, it narrowly missed Arthur, but he jumped back to his feet and began unleashing hit after hit, while Mickey and Riku did the same. Soon enough, the thing had enough of the beat down, and latched onto Arthur's foot and skidded him all over the ground, his sides and back were slammed against many of the other obstacles. It circled around the other two, as if to taunt the other Keyblade masters with their friend being thrown about like a doll. Arthur tried to whack the creature with his keyblade, though it was random swinging that didn't do too much to the creature dragging him around with general ease, Eventually, with the powers of both keyblade masters combined, they managed to fend off the beast, and got it to drop Arthur, but not before flinging him over to a nearby wall, making for a gruesome impact on the boy. Riku considered getting revenge, but when he glanced at Arthur, he quickly shut that idea down. Mickey and Riku ran for Arthur and wanted to make sure he was okay, which, he was iffy on. He didn't want to leave, he needed to save Aqua, so he nodded when they asked him if he was okay, though he clearly was not. Mickey and Riku looked worried, as they exchanged glances at one another, and Arthur caught on
"I'm not a kid! I'm fine". Riku spoke up in defense of himself and the king
"It's not that Arthur, we're just worried about what might happen the next time this happens, Aqua would understand, she'd be okay with you-" Arthur sharply cut him off, and ran past him shouting out
"No! Aqua needs me, I won't wait any longer, and I don't need to be babied around like some stupid kid!" Mickey and Riku chased after him, thinking of the worst possible outcome of an inexperienced boy running wildly in a dangerous realm. Arthur ignored their pleas for him to calm down, he was following where his heart said she'd be, he could feel a tug on his heart, guiding him the direction of one of his friends. He ran out of breath and put his hands on his knees, hunched over. When Arthur looked up, he saw the sea ahead of him, and the sand looked beautiful, his heart felt a pull stronger here than anywhere else, but where was she? And suddenly, the rumbling on the ground came back. Mickey and Riku just caught up to him, and were going to reprimand the boy for running off, but felt the rumbling too, and decided to postpone it for a later time. The demon tide arose from the ground, as menacing as could be, and the trio were on their guard. It was pointed at them, and launched itself at them. They all stood their ground, Arthur did a slide dash, where he warped past the tide at lightning speed, slicing at it, doing some damage. Riku, understanding he was in the dark realm, used Dark Firaga on the creature. The creature went for Mickey, and he summoned a sphere of light, it went through it, causing immense damage. Riku began slashing at the beast while it was stunned, Arthur joined in, casting Thundaga. The beast wildly swung around, managing to throw Arthur a sizable distance. Riku used Time Splicer, which allowed him to move impossibly fast, slashing at the beast multiple times while it didn't even have the time to react to these blows. Mickey cast Stopga on the beast, and was surprised when it worked. Arthur got up and held up his keyblade, and before he could even question why, he shouted out
"Salvation!" Several columns of light surrounded his body and he warped to the beast, using a newly formed blade of equal light and darkness, to slash away at the beast. Arthur wasn't even thinking about what he was doing, it was like he was being controlled. Arthur was on the ground when he came to his senses. He looked around to see Riku was close by, also on the ground, Mickey outstretched his hand, but before he could move in their direction, he was swallowed whole, and whisked away, with his keyblade being thrown violently from his hand in the process. Arthur and Riku shouted his name, but soon enough, the heartless converged into a single point of pure, emanating darkness, the only distinguishable detail was Mickey's head sticking out of the round ball of darkness. Then, a figure leaped forth from the same darkness. It gave a casual glance at the two boys, before walking over to the keyblade sitting by the shore. It glanced down at it, before picking it up to inspect it. The figure spoke a single word, but it was as chilling and as frightening as an actual threat.
"This keyblade... Mickey…" The words were spoken with as much pent up vile and anger, revulsion and hatred as the figure could summon to it's throat. But something else stuck out, the sound of its voice. Mickey seemed to get the same idea
"C-could it be? Is it her?". Aqua sounded bitter, as she said
"You're too late". Those three words sent his hopes crashing down, he saw the face of a former friend, she now had golden eyes, and steel colored hair, and she looked at him with the utmost contempt. Mickey asked
"W-what happened?" She glared at him, before muttering
"You left me here, abandoned me in this shadow prison for more than a decade, knowing what it would do to me". Mickey took it especially hard, as he lamented
"Oh my gosh… It's all my fault, I'm sorry". She didn't care for his remorse, she turned to walk on the water.
"You should have known that I was stranded, I lost my keyblade and was unable to fight off the darkness here, eventually, I found my way to this shore, and began waiting for the help that would never come, all that is left of me is misery and despair… and now you can share it!". Riku had enough, and planted his fist into the ground, to help steady his body as he began to get up. Riku collected his keyblade and began walking towards her, when he reached the area where the water started, and the sand ended, he muttered
"I don't need to, got my own". Arthur stepped up and ran to Riku's side.
"A-Aqua! It's me! It's Arthur! It's okay, we'll be okay!" He seemed overjoyed, despite his friend taking on a different appearance, and insinuating she wanted to fight them. Before Aqua could respond, Arthur ran full speed at her, fully intending on giving her a bear hug, but before he could, Aqua aimed the keyblade at him, which shocked him.
"A-Aqua…" He was at a loss for words, he was in total shock, how could Aqua possibly turn her keyblade on him?
"And you" Aqua said, with as much anger as she had addressed Mickey "you ran away from us, from me, what kind of friend does that? You turned your back on us when it got too hard for you, you made me face Terra and Ven on my own, and I barely got out of it, bruised and battered, and yet you dare try and speak to me? Like it never happened?!" Arthur felt himself get stung deep, like it bypassed his body, and struck right at the heart. He was rendered speechless, and Aqua continued "you never spared us a passing thought, did you? Not me, Terra, or Ven, yet you come back to try and redeem yourself? Coming here was a mistake, but I'll rectify that… With my judgement!" Aqua shouted as she glided slightly above the water, preparing to strike down Arthur where he stood. Arthur was unable to raise his weapon in self defense, to him, he deserved it, he abandoned everyone he knew, and they all had to suffer, all the while, he left the troubles of his old life behind. The sound of bones crushing rang out, it was deafening and rendered the other two in shock. Arthur flew back like air resistance didn't exist, he slammed hard into the sand. Arthur was out cold, but Mickey saw blood slowly seeping from his mouth. Seeing his friend get torn down and struck down, Riku had enough, he didn't know what happened between them, but he didn't care, no one was going to treat him like that.
"That's it!" He ran at her, Aqua summoned the demon tide holding Mickey, releasing him, and making Riku their top target, Riku would have to fight them again, but this time, he had to do it on his own. Mickey ran up to Arthur, forcing a couple potions down his throat, hoping the mega potions repaired his, no doubt, severe internal bleeding, and broken ribs. Riku was fueled by pure rage, which he knew was a recipe for disaster, if it got out of hand, but that didn't matter, all that did was that we would protect his friends. The Demon tower stood no chance against Riku and his infinite rage pouring out of his heart. Soon, it couldn't take the heat, and it sunk back into the water, allowing access to Aqua. Mickey noticed Arthur had a faint pulse, and was breathing very shallow, he needed an Elixir if he hoped to save Arthur, but right now, he didn't have that, but he couldn't leave Riku, if Riku lost, he'd be the last line of defense, and if he left Riku, he could be killed, and there was no telling where he'd find an Elixir, there was no definite win here, so he had to comfort Arthur, and watch out for signs of his situation getting worse. Suddenly, a bright light tore Mickey's attention away from the boy, who was now paling as more blood fell out of his mouth. He was shocked to see it was Sora, diving down from the sky, when he hit the water, water splashed all around him, he looked up at Riku as he stood up, when they were eye level, he gave a nod and they both summoned a large key, blue-green and orange colored for their respective halves that came from both boys, they made a slashing motion with their hands, as if they were holding onto the same keyblade. They slashed at Aqua, sending her back. Aqua staggered for a few moments, holding the side of her head, before dropping into the water, and she began sinking fast. Sora jumped in after her and reached for her hand.
The party had regrouped on the shore, and they gathered around Arthur, no one had an Elixir on them, Arthur was really paling at this point, and there was no way to get one in time. They all waited around Arthur, sharing his last moments, when Mickey asked the gang
"S-should we… talk to him? Maybe he can hear us, and… If he fades away… Maybe he'll go happily". Everyone looked at one another, before solemnly nodding. Aqua decided to go first, to bite the bullet.
"Arthur… I'm so, so sorry, I promised to protect you, but… Now you're going to die, all because I failed, I'm sorry, I'll never ever forgive myself for this, but I know I need to finish this, for you and Ven, we'll find Terra… Goodbye". Sora put a hand on her shoulder, and squeezed it. Aqua placed a hand on Arthur's cheek, stroking it lightly
"Arthur… I'm sorry, I'm sorry I wasn't able to protect you… You thought I was a hero, but I'm not… I don't deserve your admiration, I'm… Just a failure" Sora replied, dejectedly. And they all sat in silence as they waited for his heartbeat to stop.