Chapter 12: Radiant Garden (Part 2)
(A/N: School is a bitch. That's my excuse. Enjoy.)
With Kairi safe and sound again, Aqua and James were able to return to their mission of finding Ventus and Terra. Just as they started down the path, James nudged her, "Aqua, look!" She looked to her right and saw a large Unversed.
She groaned, "They never end!"
James smirks, "We'll fix that problem! Let's go after it!" She nods and they hurried off after the strange Unversed. They followed it to a large open area and discovered Terra standing there. They quickly rushed over to him.
Once they reached him, they saw Ven run up as well, "Ven!" James, Aqua and Terra exclaimed.
"Terra! Aqua! Jim!" Ven replied.
James summoned Starlight, "Fight now, catch up later!" He said. The three nod as three different Unversed suddenly merged to create a giant monster.
James and Terra rushed the arms of the Unversed while Ven attacked the midsection in a flurry, with Aqua hanging back and casting attack magic at the head. The four of them were fighting perfectly in sync and, if only for a moment, James felt surprisingly relaxed for the situation. They may have been fighting for their lives right now, but this felt very much like the many different training sessions they went through together.
The Unversed tried to unleash a volley of fire balls, "I got 'em!" Ventus calls out as he casts Aeroga to create a powerful wind current that redirected the attack back at the Unversed.
The Unversed then tried to charge directly at Terra, resulting in the Keyblade Wielder smirking, "Bring it on!" Using his strength alone, he withstood the monster's attack and forced it back, causing all the parts of it to fly out wildly.
Aqua leapt into the air, "Leave this to me!" She launched her Shotlock at the different pieces and bombarded the creature to the ground where James could be seen flying straight towards.
"Say goodnight! Faithblade!" With a single thrust of his Keyblade, a massive pillar of light erupted and consumed the Unversed, vaporizing the enemy. Against the four friends bound by their Unbreakable Connection, the Unversed stood no chance.
"Got 'em." Terra says triumphantly.
Aqua smiled, "We make a pretty good team."
James nods, "The best."
Ven nods as well, "Sure do." He says before his eyes widen, "Oh yeah! I got you these tickets." He says, holding out four Disneytown Passports.
Terra eyed them curiously, "For what?" He asks.
Ven smiles as he hands them out, "Lifetime passes to Disneytown."
James eyes his curiously, "I have no idea why, but this feels like some kind of 4th wall joke." He comments.
"He said to-." Ven says, "He said to take some grown-ups."
Aqua looked at the boy, "You mean us?" She asks, generating a laugh from the whole friend group.
Aqua put her card away, "Listen to me, Ven… We need to get you home-."
Ven shrugs, "It's okay, Aqua. Trust me, that guy in the mask is history. He'll never bad-mouth Terra again."
James' ears twitched, "Guy in the mask?" He echoes, "Who are you talking about?"
Terra then gripped Ventus' arms, "You saw the boy in the mask?" He asks.
Ven looked confused at Terra, "Y-yes?"
Terra looked away, "Vanitas…" Terra says quietly. Aqua and James catch the name though.
Terra steps back from Ventus, "Ven…" He says, "You let Aqua and Jim take you home."
Ven shook his head, "No way. I wanna go with you guys."
Terra narrows his eyes, "You can't. We have a dangerous task ahead of us. I don't want you to get hurt."
James puts his hand on Ventus' shoulders, "You've been through enough already, Ven. Let us take you home, and be proud of what you've managed to achieve."
Aqua looks squarely at Terra, "And what is this dangerous task, Terra?" She asks suspiciously, "It doesn't sound like what the Master told you to do."
James turns and stands in front of Ventus, facing Terra, "One instance sounds like something Maleficent told you to do." He adds with clenched fists, "Level with us, Terra. You haven't been fighting the Darkness inside you, have you?"
Terra eyed them both, "It might be a different route, but I'm fighting the Darkness." He claims.
Aqua looks sadly at her friend, "I'm not so sure." She tells him, "I've been to the same worlds as you and I've seen what you've done."
James summons Starlight, "Does the name Princess Aurora mean anything to you, Terra?"
Aqua takes a step forward, "You shouldn't put yourself so close to the Darkness."
Ventus pushes James aside, "Listen to yourselves, the both of you! Terra would never-."
"You mean you've been spying on me?" Terra interrupts, "Is that what he said to do? The Master's orders."
James steps between Terra and Aqua, "Terra, I've seen Keyblade Wielders go dark before. And they all did the same kind of stuff you've been doing. Aqua and I are only doing what we've been doing because we don't want to lose you to the Darkness." He grips his Wayfinder, "I, don't want to lose anyone else to the Darkness."
Ventus looked down, "Jim… Aqua…"
Terra closed his eyes, "I get it." He says before turning away.
"Terra!" James yells, "You are balancing between the lines of Light and Darkness. When we see you next, you need to decide which side of the line you want to be on."
Terra stops and looks back at him, "What will you do if I don't pick your side?" He asks.
James grips Starlight tighter, "What I must." He answers. Terra says nothing and continues down his path.
Ventus looks at James, "You're awful, Jim!" He says.
Aqua steps between them, "Ven, please listen-."
"No! You're just as guilty as he is!" He says.
Aqua grips her Wayfinder, "So now you know the truth." She tells Ventus, "But the Master loves Terra, and you know that too."
Ven's eyes widen for a brief moment, "Were you also 'ordered' to take me home?"
James steps forward, "Your training isn't complete, you weren't ready to face the different Worlds on your own yet." He explains.
Ventus doesn't react, he keeps looking at Aqua, waiting for her answer, but it doesn't come. She looks away. Ven glared at her, "Aqua… Now that you're a Keyblade Master, you've let it go to your head. I'm gonna go find Terra." He then bolts off on his own path.
"Forever and always." James says aloud, "That's what you said the night before the Mark of Mastery. The night before all this." He turns to face her, "I wanted to believe you were right. To believe that things would be different this time. But, deep in my Heart. I knew it was too good to be true." James takes his Wayfinder from his neck and stuffs it in his pocket.
Aqua looked back at him, "Terra… Ven… I'm not ready to give up on them." She states softly.
James grimaces for a moment before sighing, "Well then, I guess that's the new objective." He tells her, "I don't know where I stand anymore on the bonds between friends, but if you think you can reconnect with them, then I wanna help you."
The two of them hurried through the streets to try and find Terra and/or Ventus, but they were stopped by a boy wearing a mask, presumably the one Ventus and Terra mentioned.
"A mask?" Aqua said, "You're the boy that Ventus mentioned."
"Ah yes, Ventus." Said Vanitas, "Tell me something, has he learned to put up a decent fight yet?"
James glared at the masked boy, "What did you say, you punk?"
"I'll be asking the questions." Vanitas says quickly, "And why shouldn't I? After all, between the three of us… I'm the only one who will walk away from here alive." Aqua summoned her Keyblade and James did the same, but Vanitas waved his finger, "Now, now. Two on one hardly seems fair. I'll take on the girl. You can play with my new friend."
Just then, James sensed an attack coming and narrowly dodged a strike from the Entity, except this time, their physique was much large and muscular. James assumed his stance, "Fine by me! I owe this thing some payback anyhow." He then glances towards Aqua, "Can you take him alone?"
She nods, "Leave it to me."
While Aqua and Vanitas begin their battle, James kicks things off with his. The Entity summoned additional Keyblades and launched them at James, but he narrowly evaded the attacks, deflecting those he couldn't dodge. He counters with a Wind Storm attack to barrage the Entity with attacks before raising Starlight skyward, "Thundara!" He says before viciously blasting the Entity with lightning. James landed several feet away, "This time, you're gonna give me some answers! Starting with what you are!" He says before re-entering the fray.
The two exchange blows for a decent while, but James maintains a solid advantage over the Entity. Suddenly though, the Entity splits into three beings, each one looking like the previous encounters he's had with them. James began to get overwhelmed by their numbers before using Stop to halt them long enough for him to take aim, "Union Ragnarök!" He fires his Shotlock and destroys the duplicates before rushing the original with a thrust attack that ran the Entity through, causing their arms to fall limp. The Entity stared deep into James' eyes, "Home…" They say.
James grits his teeth, "What do you mean?!" He shouts.
He is startled when the entity replies, "Day…. Break …..." before fading into the shadows.
James turns to help Aqua, only to see her Shotlock knock Vanitas to the floor. Aqua slowly walks towards Vanitas, "Who are you?" She says as she grasps his helmet. She jolts back when she hears Vanitas burst into laughter.
James and Aqua re-entered their fighting stances and prepared to fight again as Vanitas rose to his feet, "Not bad at all. Congratulations, to the both of you." He says as a Dark Corridor opens behind him, "I'll keep you around." He then turns away from them, "Never hurts to have a backup." Before walking into the corridor and vanishing.
Aqua looks on, "I have to stop him…" She says, "Before anything else happens to Terra and Ven.
James puts his hand on her shoulder, "WE, will stop him. No matter what."
"Aqua!" Ven calls out as he rushes to them. James tenses, after their last conversation, he's not entirely sure he's Ven's friend anymore.
"Ven." Aqua says, "Were you able to find him?"
Ventus nods, "Yeah, but… He's gone."
Aqua turns away from him, "Right." She says before looking away from him, "Then I can't stay here."
Ven smiles, "Let me go with you guys, Aqua."
Aqua turns back to face him, "No, Ven." She says sharply, "Do as I say and go home."
Ventus sighs, "Why won't you let me?" He asks. He then turns to James, "Jim! Tell her to let me help!"
But he doesn't say anything. He looks away from them both.
Aqua speaks up again, "I don't want to put you in harm's way." She says before touching his shoulder, "You understand?" She then activates her armor and looks back at James, "You coming?" She asks.
James hesitates for a moment, but nods, "I need to get more information from the Entity. The best way to do that is to keep helping Aqua for now. I wish I still had a better reason, but now…" He dons his armor, "Now I don't know anymore."
(That's it for this Chapter! Ok, wow. That was a lot heavier on the emotions for me to write than I thought it was gonna be, but here we are. If I had to guess, I'd say we're roughly around the halfway point. Lemme know what you think in the reviews, and thanks again so very much for your patience in dealing with my absolutely horrible work ethic.)
