Sadness of the sky
Guys, you can provide back up now.
The journey through the cosmos in a battered, auto-piloted ship sapped Sora's nervous energy. When the familiar sandstone castle with its shining, turquoise turrets edged into view, an interstellar monster smacked its tentacle on the fuselage and instead of a smooth landing, the gummi ship did a spectacular nosedive and ended up as scrap metal on the surface of the micro-planet.
Kicking the dented door apart and cursing, Sora emerged, surprised by the untainted quality of the air. Layers of shifting, onyx darkness formed the sky. Summoning Kingdom Key, he stalked to the behemoth Castle and waited for a vigilant nobody, surely someone saw him come? Or heard the ship crash?
Where the hell is everybody?
To compound the problem, time rolled backwards. Half an hour ago, his phone showed 16:45 on the digital display, now it flashed 16:00.
Cold in his short-sleeved, baggy hood jacket, Sora paced, senses jittery. Springing back when a disturbance rent the air, he slashed and Riku ducked expertly, his reflection rippling on the silver metal of the Kingdom Key.
"Sorry!" Sora hysterically bowed. "You were supposed to arrive via a dark corridor and when you came out of mid-air, I sort of... panicked and tried to fight." He apologized some more. "How did you get here?"
Briskly surveying the castle and determining the strength of the entry points, Nox replied, "I reported to Disney Castle first." He uncurled a gloved fist to display a winking star-shaped object. "This is a star-shard, King Mickey lent it to me. Donald and Goofy will come along shortly. Meanwhile," Riku nodded to the Castle, "you are to break in through the roof."
Roof? "How... how," Sora stammered, "am I going to get up there?" He pointed to the highest tower, a pinnacle of slanted roof tiles tapered to a dangerous point. As if sensing his unease, a couple of dusks diffused into view. Before Sora incinerated them with an unnecessarily large firaga, Nox threw his Keyblade and it whizzed like a frisbee, cutting through the monsters before they could scream. "I can weaken the base of the tower-"
"Too slow," Nox interjected. A dark corridor opened, spitting Donald and Goofy out. "Help Clavius up there," he ordered. "I'll keep guard for interference." A crossroad spun atop his silver locks of hair, spinning like an uncontrolled weather vane. "We are breaking through the roof," he explained.
Swapping his wooden staff for one of precious metal and gem, Donald cast aeroga, forcing the scattered winds to swirl tightly around Sora. The King's muffler flapped and he hastily tucked it in, uncannily composed while the wind buffeted him to the soulless sky.
Desperately trying not to gauge the distance between himself and the rocky ground, Sora angled his weapon at the turret. "Union X!" he commanded.
A searing, golden glow bathed the planet. The tips of ancient Keyblades appeared. Ten, a hundred, a thousand, emerged from the nebulous sheet of gold and speared into the castle. Blades with wicked teeth and pronged fangs shattered roof tiles. Weapons with delicate shafts, sprouting blooming roses and tender vines, cracked the tower supports, breaking masonry. Short keyblades with blunt teeth or modified shafts plunged into the walls like a missile and blasted the structure apart.
Keyblades swarmed through the hole, the weapons flashed in a rainbow of metallic colors. They poured like water freed from a dam. Forgetting to guard for unprecedented threats, Riku observed, grip on his blade slack. Braveheart buzzed, yearning to become part of the King's arsenal. The destruction Sora single handedly rained on Castle Oblivion sparkled like fireworks lighting a midnight sky.
Wishes murmured in Sora's ears when each individual weapon whistled past. His eyes stung from the memories of the Great Keyblade wars which he unwittingly inherited from Ventus. On the barren plains choked with dust, thousands fell, slain in the name of light; martyred under the banner of darkness. Each lovingly crafted Keyblade soared, details reflecting their owner.
One trailed stars like a comet.
Another left the air crisp with minute ice-crystals.
A particularly long Keyblade smelled of vanilla. It careered towards the tower and exploded in starburts of cream
The right wing of Castle Oblivion caved in and the rest of the KBWA members arrived. Lowered gently to the ground, Sora opted for scuffing his sneakers in the dirt when the chief approached, her hair braided and clasped with a jeweled ring which could double as a weapon. She abruptly hugged him and Sora alternated from being gratified, to urgently avoiding eye-contact with the jealous stares stabbing his skull. Lockhart let him go and he involuntarily wiped sweaty palms on his cargo pants.
"The entry point is secured," Tifa's strident voice shushed the low murmurs of the operatives present. "We will go in and branch out. Be alert, always!" she stressed, wine-dark eyes resting ponderously on the operation leaders. "The nobodies are alerted to our presence and may use the Black Saint as leverage."
Mutters of agreement.
"Whatever you do, do not engage the Black Saint." A heavy silence followed her announcement. "I repeat," Tifa smacked her fist into her palm, "do not engage the Black Saint. He may be a Mid-tier, but his skills outstrips his category and he may use force against his will. Our top priority is his safe extraction, not defeating the superior. Do," her gaze stopped at Isa and Lea, "I make myself clear?"
The teams saluted in unison and Sora followed sloppily, a heartbeat later.
"Good." Tifa whipped around, a feral grin on her fair face. "Cut loose."
Opting to stay out of the rampaging chief's way, Sora watched her fight and promptly felt sorry for anything barring her path. A lithe young girl, silky hair cut into a short bob and handling a grotesquely large shuriken, formed the chief's vanguard, shredding through the crush of lesser nobodies barring their way. The pilot, Aerith, fought alongside Lockhart, keeping the chief safe from salivating teeth and claws.
Shoes squeaking on the pristine tiles and trying not to get distracted by the overwhelming purity of the snow white walls and pillars, Sora mentally congratulated himself on keeping pace with Riku, charging to who knew where. KBWA operatives diverged like water from a stream. Teams of four and five people broke off at each new corridor.
The hallways thundered.
Vibrating in anticipation of war.
Lungs bursting, Sora skidded to a halt, catching himself before slamming into Nox's broad back. The hallway expanded into a circular chamber with ridiculously high thrones, all from the same, blinding white material. Some of the thrones were broken and weaving through the forest of stone, he followed Riku and emerged on the other side.
The breath knocked out of him when a boot collided with his abdomen.
"Greetings to the King," Larxene giggled, her foudre cackling with electricity. Goofy helped Sora to his feet. "Aww, you're shorter than Vanitas!" She threw her head back and laughed, her airy mood whiplashing when Riku charged at her. "Yum," the nobody licked her lips, "I think I'll let you entertain me."
Nox sidestepped a flash of lightning which scarred the floor. He fluidly jabbed at Larxene and caught the short knives aiming for his stomach. Pearls of blood sprang on his palm and a powerful ball of wind forced him and Larxene apart. "Go," his turquoise irises flicked to the exit, "I'll catch up with you."
Larxene smiled suggestively, her black coat hugged her figure provocatively.
"What about you?" Sora fretted, not liking the way the blonde lady eyed him, like a premium piece of steak. If Vanitas were here he'd gouge her eyes...
But he's not here. It's my turn to save him.
"I'll go." Sora squared his shoulders and swerved. "Please don't tax yourself," he called after Riku and with Donald and Goofy flanking him, continued through another endless corridor snaking into the heart of the castle.
He did not stop running when a crimson axe swung for his head, instead he ducked, time seemed to go in slow motion and Sora slid underneath. Scrambling upright on scraped knees, he rushed ahead. Hercules emerged out of a side corridor and rammed into Lexaeus, driving him through several walls. A flash of spiky hair up front revealed Cloud, who solemnly pulled Sora back, fingers digging into a shoulder.
A volley of venom purple arrows perforated the area beyond their feet.
"Well, well, well..." Xigbar slid into view. "You sensed the trap, congratulations," he drawled. "Zack Fair certainly molded you into a near perfect super soldier." The nobody hefted his arrow guns, a leather eye-patch fixed on his face. Scars fringed his jawbone. "Killing two birds with one- whoa!"
The Buster Sword carved a thin line across his nose bridge. "You're keeping my training partner hostage," Cloud said in his usual, emotionless way. "We are here to retrieve him. Don't stand in my way." Xigbar's jacket unraveled, diced into scraps of cloth.
Fear clouding his golden irises, the nobody jumped back and let loose a hail of energy arrows.
Two pierced Sora's thigh and upper arm respectively. Growling, he irritably set the corridor aflame. Tossing a potion to Cloud, he squeezed past Xigbar.
I hope to God Cloud shreds the old man.
Sora eventually entered the grey area and tensed when a dark corridor churned into existence on the opposite side of the spacious lounge. A man, long hair in dreadlocks and six lances floating menacingly around him, exited the corridor and roughly dragged a figure out. Vanitas emerged, fighting venomously against the effects of bind the superior put on him.
He stumbled over his boots and crashed to the floor.
His chin collided painfully with the glass helmet and he struggled into a seated position.
"Vanitas?" Sora, winged by Goofy and Donald, called.
Despite his condition, Vanitas smiled. "You have stubble," he observed. "Eww," he snickered.
"What?" Sora self-consciously scratched his face. "How do I know you aren't hiding an inch long beard under your helmet?" he sputtered indignantly. "And get over here!"
"I'm trying!" The raven haired twin gasped and wriggled forward, only to jerk back when Xaldin planted a spear on the floor. "The dumb old fart restricted my movements because I stabbed him," Vanitas shouted over the wide space.
Freezing when the light blue spear narrowly missed piercing Vanitas' head, Sora craned to look past Xaldin. "You... you stabbed Xemnas?" His stomach growled for food. What did I eat this morning? Did I eat in the first place? "Why would you do such a thing? Didn't you leave the KBWA?"
"Of course not!" Vanitas shrieked. Thunder grumbled in the palace somewhere. "I thought I'd stay here and gather information and see if I could kill the old man in the process. To fool your enemies, you gotta fool those closest to you first," he sighed. "Honestly brother, are you dumb?"
Drawing to his full height and peeved at his twin throwing shade at his intelligence, Sora let the tip of Kingdom Key burst into flame. "I'm not dumb!" he asserted. "Lawyers aren't dumb!"
He launched a triple firaga at Xaldin, keeping vigil by Vanitas' side. The moment the nobody moved to intercept the fireballs, Donald and Goofy respectively fired a thundaga and threw a shield at him. All six of the lances flew into position and intercepted the attack while Sora hurled his Keyblade, cloaked with ice, at the man.
Grabbing a lance whizzing in midair, Xaldin parried the spinning weapon and sent it back. He grunted when Goofy rammed into him and sidestepped a hail of icicles. Unable to take advantage of the mayhem, Vanitas wormed away from the center of the battle.
Cloaking himself with aero, Xaldin rushed at Sora. "You cannot fight," he commented and thrust his spears. The points deflected off a shield and he glowered at the anthropomorphic dog. Teleporting behind the King, he leapt up and crashed down, spear tips glinting cruelly.
Blood milked across the wound stretching from shoulder to pelvis. Hissing, Sora attempted a salvation, quickly bringing his Keyblade to block when Xaldin honed on his position. His arms jarred with each impact, he swore he could hear his joints and ligaments tearing loose. Sneakers skidding on the drops of blood blooming on the marble tiles, he twisted to avoid a fatal plunge to his throat and received a nasty wound on his collar bone.
The lance tip snagged his crown necklace and drew him forward. Without thinking, Sora swung his Keyblade, grip loose like the way Vanitas taught him and blasted ragnarok.
"Go!" Vanitas cheered when Xaldin retreated, blood spouting from a dozen injuries on his left side. "Chop his hair off!" he advised. "I always wanted to see how he looked without those dreadlocks." Donald dashed across, chased by stray spears. "By the way, where is Leon?" Vanitas demanded. "I doubt you came here alone." He continued his running commentary as Sora scrambled to safety, Goofy kept Xaldin from teleporting closer to the King. "At least the silver haired pansy should've come with," Vanitas added. "I thought he might want to rescue me, well, before… What about Yuffie? Or Lea?" he asked. "Leon didn't come did he?"
His brother exchanged blows with Xaldin and fired volleys of ragnarok. "Vanitas," he gasped. "Please, not now." The shotlocks cratered the walls and floor while the nobody danced through them.
The lances twisted into a dragon and acute terror constricted Vanitas' throat.
"Don't," he screeched. "Fight me you bearded nutcase! I'll tear your head off if you lay a finger on Sora!" The binds around him squeezed tighter. Darkness leaked from his boots, dripped off his suit like rain, seeped from his hair and through the cracks in his helmet. His eyes stretched wide at the twisting dragon of spears surging towards Sora. "STOP!"
The dragon smashed. And clattered apart into individual spears. "You are as loud as ever." Riku lowered his Keyblade, a barrier crumbled apart. Behind him, Sora's labored breathing reverberated through the lounge. "Leon could not come," Nox informed. "He transferred his leadership to chief Lockhart. If you are wondering if she's here, yes. Lea and everyone too."
Trying his best to feign nonchalance, Vanitas exhaled in relief. Leon transferred his leadership? "Why?" he demanded. "What's going on? Tell me," he insisted. Riku blitzed forward, preventing Xaldin from cloaking with aero. "Rikuuu," Vanitas aggressively pronounced, "tell me right now what's going on!"
"Vani," his brother snapped, "can we at least get rid of him first? I'd like to live."
Cutting the beginnings of a pointless argument short by appearing in the middle of the two brothers, Riku mopped a wound to his forehead. The brown haired Clavius moaned about his heirloom necklace, while the jet haired one teased his twin about the stubble. "We should try Session," Nox recommended and Sora blinked questioningly.
"Are you sure?" He pulled his warped necklace. Sora's scarf long ended up on the floor of some obscure hallway. "What if I can't pull it off? We haven't practiced as much as I-"
"You will do fine," Riku interrupted before the attorney dredged up a hundred and one reasons. "We'll take turns-"
"What is this Session and why are you doing it with my brother?" Vanitas asked. "Why don't I have an attack with him?" he whined.
Ignoring him, Sora muttered a prayer under his breath. Please let everything go as planned. He thought of returning to the agency; of waking up in the morning, listening to Vanitas snoring on the sofa-bed, curled around his dragon plushie. Sora imagined the varnished wood of the defense's bench underneath his palms and the adrenaline rush of objecting. Kingdom Key glowed bright. Nox's reassuring presence pressed against his back and they split apart.
A spherical barrier of interlocking, hexagonal plates surrounded Sora the moment he peeled apart from Riku. The duo honed on Xaldin, who glowed with an eerie, icy light and slammed into him with a flurry of rapid attacks.
Slicing, dicing, flicking the lances apart.
The nobody jumped.
Aiming the Keyblade at him, Sora shot a barrage of crackling orbs of magic and they bombarded Xaldin who sustained minimal damage. Riku appeared next to him and plunged Braveheart into the nobody.
Blinded by pain, Xaldin failed to parry a stab to his thigh and more stabs to his shoulders. Searing agony erupted from his abdomen, burning upwards to his sternum and down to his legs.
Panting, Sora initiated the next phase of the relentless attack. The grey lounge and the vistas of the dark plains beyond thick planes of glass blurred. His body moved on its own, anticipating the next attack. Most of the lances aiming for him skittered across the reflect Donald cast.
The two guarded Vanitas.
Amazed by the light and dark particles pirouetting across the ground and air each time the Keyblades and Xaldin clashed, Vanitas rotated his wrists when bind reached its limit. "Get him Sora!" he shouted, hopping mad with glee. "Riku, you missed a spot," he claimed. "Stab him! stab him in the-" volunteering his support for the Grey Knight with a choice of scathing curses, Vanitas broke free from bind and summoned Void Gear, barely able to contain his excitement. Hot blood gushed in his veins. "I'm helping!" he exclaimed. "Let me at him!"
Thirteen swords edged with light and hilts of gold, fanned around the King and Knight. Holding Sora's elbow, Riku guided him across the air. The swords rotated and flashed, cutting Xaldin to ribbons.
Vanitas, screaming, hurtled across the lounge, Void Gear held energetically. Goofy and Donald gave pursuit when he stumbled, bringing up a hand to press against the glass helmet. Shaking his head, he stormed on and Sora's chest erupted in nervous butterflies when a dark corridor cleaved the air to reveal the tall and bronze figure of Xemnas.
Deciding to deal with the superior later, Sora pushed off the floor to meet Vanitas.
Stab.
The tip of Void Gear sank through his abdomen. He coughed. The stinging pain in his stomach blazed molten fire.
Ouch.
What happened?
It hurts dammit.
Did Vanitas stab me?
"Did you just stab me?" he gurgled, pressing a hand to the oozing wound. His brother wrenched the helmet off and Sora recoiled at the miasmal darkness. Vanitas smirked. His missing jawbone, eye and cheek reconstructed, the roots of his hair gleamed silver. "Vanitas..." The ache in Sora's side grew unbearable. "How... how dare you stab me!" he hissed. "It hurts!"
Snatching his hands from Void Gear's bloody haft, Vanitas staggered backwards, pressing them to his chest. "I...uh... ah..." he stammered, his eyeballs pricking. "I'm sorry," he whispered. A bolt of lightning pain struck from temple to temple. "I don't know what... why... my head." My head is splitting apart. He shot out like a poised viper, fingers tight around Sora's throat. "Greetings brother," he grinned, teeth pearly white, and raised his twin off the floor. "I missed you so much while rotting in here. It drove me insane!"
Laughing, he chucked Sora across the room and whipped around, freezing Donald and Goofy in their tracks.
Head colliding against the unforgiving floor, Sora cast curaga, no sense in asking help from Donald; and sprang to his feet. "What's wrong with you?" he bellowed. "You're making me angry!" He refused to summon his Keyblade.
Angry? Vanitas trembled. The metal reek of blood filled his nostrils. Memories flooded his brain. Three young, promising Keyblades, the endless push and pull of the ocean.
His ankles knee deep in the foamy, salty ocean tide. His friend, a bushy, ponytailed staunch supporter of light. Vanitas smiled at the memories. His Keyblade cut a vicious scar in Eraqus' youthful face.
"Let's become one, brother!" he screeched and lunged for Sora who side stepped clumsily. Attention zeroing on Riku in the periphery of his vision, Vanitas covered Two become One with dark, poisonous flames and threw it. Void Gear in hand, he clubbed Sora, sending his twin tripping over the tiles. "Get up!" Vanitas barked, "and fight me. Make me whole. Look at me!" He ripped the edge of his suit to reveal smoky darkness pouring where skin and bone should be. "I'm empty!" Vanitas cut Sora's forearm, licking the fleck of blood which spattered on his lower lip. "Empty. Empty. EMPTY! When I cut you." He slashed the jacket apart. It's mine... he belatedly realized. It fits him. "You bleed... you're bleeding. My head hurts!"
He mechanically sliced from the shoulder tip, leaving a neat wound seeping bright seeds of blood.
Magnega yanked Vanitas away and he thrashed against the pull. Landing before a petrified Sora, Riku thrust an elixir at him. "Drink," he ordered, "and leave Vanitas to me." Turquoise eyes searched the chamber for Xemnas, who observed the proceedings with an enigmatic smile. "Keep Xemnas occupied."
"You can't harm him," Sora squeaked.
"I know," Nox placated. "I'll disarm him with minimal injuries."
A no small feat.
Plucking Goofy's shield out of mid-air, Vanitas pitched it at Riku who swatted the flying disk of metal aside. Donald trapped Vanitas in a matrix of mines and his split second hesitation at detonating them cost him when the Black Saint leapt out and unleashed a wildly out of control dark cannon. The glitzing stream of energy forced Sora off course and gouged the wall, slicing through pillars. Great columns crashed on the tiles, shattering the ground. Slugging Riku in the abdomen with a basic ball of ice, Vanitas thundered across the Grey lounge.
Striking Xemnas with Kingdom Key, Sora grunted in frustration when the taller man effortlessly shoved him away. The superior easily hefted a huge, heavy, bronze hilted Keyblade. How many different versions of a Keyblade does this man have? Regaining his footing, Sora lashed, forcing every drop of energy behind his attacks. Xemnas' hair shone an off-putting silver brown under the misty light filtering through the windows.
A lattice of thin, rocky monoliths erupted from the ground and snared Sora. "You are fighting the wrong person," Xemnas intoned, his voice warm and rich. Irises flickering between a shade of blue and silver, he let Sora go and hobbled backwards, the whirl-pooling dark corridor swallowed him whole.
Flabbergasted when the blades of earth receded, Sora gasped in pain when a sharp whack resonated on the back of his head.
"Become one with me!" Vanitas shouted, growling at Nox who proved to be a surprisingly tough adversary. He lamented the loss of another pawn. Riku was the perfect candidate. Strong, aloof and easily corruptible. It's a shame the Dark King found him and pulled him out of the darkness. Kicking, Vanitas grinned when Riku dodged and reeled in close.
Hooking his leg, Vanitas wrapped his thighs around Nox and slogged him to the ground. He seized Riku's wrist the moment Braveheart disappeared and twisted it, lips stretching into a satisfied smirk when the bones snapped. Stabbing through the other arm with Two Become One, Vanitas aimed the teeth end at Riku's face, infuriated at the cross-roads rapidly moving above the latter's head.
"No one will be calling you pretty anymore," Vanitas crowed. The Keyblade glowed with a dark light. "I enjoyed make your life miserable-"
"Stop!" Sora fired a firaga when a stream of charcoal black energy ripped from Two Become One. It narrowly missed Riku and carved his cheek instead, burning a hole through the left side of his face. "Riku!" Sora pummeled Vanitas off, who moved, strangely silent. "Riku, are you okay?" Breath coming in hysterical gasps, Sora patted his pockets for a potion and finding none, cast cure.
Pressing a gloved palm to his mutilated cheek, Riku waited for the blood to stop spewing. His body became light and fluffy, darkness pecked his field of vision in odd spots. "Watch out!" He yanked Sora to the side. "Perhaps..." The pains stung like someone poured salt and acid on his wounds. "Maybe you should escape." He pressed the star-shard in Sora's bloody palms.
No. I can't leave. I'm not leaving. Not without Vanitas.
Leaving Riku in Donald's care, Sora, along with Goofy, intercepted Vanitas. He moved as if in a dream. A bizarre, long winded dream where nothing made sense.
Metal cut into his shoulder and bruised his collarbone. Metal rang on metal. A disk, polished to a high shine and embossed with a proud emblem, absorbed some of the attacks meant for him. The echo of bronze and silver played endlessly. Brightly tinted phosphenes, snowflakes of gold and darkness spewed each time the Keyblades of darkness and light met.
Why...
Clang! Kingdom Key and Void Gear crashed.
Why, each time, on exchanging blows...
Sparks as the teeth sheared against each other.
Does my heart quiver? It's like...
Sora panted and roughly wiped the saliva at the corners of his mouth.
Every time I fight with Vanitas... a part of my heart is going missing.
It's being sucked dry.
Vanitas smashed his fist into his chest. Confusion hounded his eyes before his expression hardened.
Clang! The two Keyblades met and transformed. The lava hot metal seared Sora's fingers and he let his weapon go, frowning at the unfamiliar Kingdom Key falling to the ground. My Keyblade changed? He looked up. Vanitas' too?
Snatching the other half of the x-blade, Vanitas placed them together, glee bubbling in the depths of his non-existent heart. "We did it!" he cried. "The x-blade, it's almost complete. We forged it. I forged it. It's mine."
I don't understand what's going on.
Why is Vanitas so happy?
Why is he crying? A tear trickled down Vanitas' blanched face, marbling with the sweat on his chin.
Why am I crying? Tears stained Sora's fingertips. The earth beneath him shook and he instinctively caught the weapon his twin threw at him.
"Let's become one," Vanitas whispered and rushed, the foreboding half of the Keyblade raised to pierce. "I've always looked up to you," he confessed. "I want to protect you, forever."
Exhaustion and shock rooted Sora to the spot. What is he talking about? The tip of the eerie Keyblade moved like an old fashioned film, every blink and it came closer. Closer. Till Sora became cross-eyed from tracking it.
It's going to go through my skull.
I'll die.
He thought of Mr. Wright and the constantly fussing Apollo. Sora envisioned lying in Athena's office, on the shaggy wool carpet, inhaling the clean aroma of pine. The ever present whiff of chocolate heralded the appearance of detective Sky.
Trucy, Vanitas loved you.
And Grandpa Yensid... I miss you; every time I wake up.
Oddly, Sora could not close his eyes. Of all the ways to die, I get murdered by a psycho possessing my brother's body.
A short Keyblade whisked in front of Sora. For one long second it hung, suspended in midair and Vanitas' Keyblade met it pointblank.
The new Keyblade careered low over the floor and flew up, doubling.
Wary, Vanitas retreated, irises guarded.
"Back away," Ventus chirped and landed the floor with an elegant, cat-like grace. "I'm not letting you harm Sora."
Ven?
I thought he wasn't going to join the battle?
Why am I even sweating the details? Sora clutched his hair, spiked stiff with crusts of blood.
Master Aqua is here too. The Sea Queen, accompanied by Lea, stalked towards Riku and Sora bashfully lowered his gaze. The present rushed in overwhelmingly when Ventus popped up uncomfortably close.
"Your face is scratched up." The boy offered a potion. Extracting a dog eared tissue from the pockets of his tan pants, he attempted to clean Sora's cuts. Ventus' dreamy blue eyes lingered on the skew crown perched atop the current King's head. He attempted to touch it and his hand phased through. "I came to help you," the Wind Mage added, a vortex of emerald winds spun on top of his blonde locks. "You absolutely can't complete the x-blade. You're going to kill yourself and Vanitas while you are at it."
Far away from them, Vanitas crouched on the half x-blade. He eyed Ventus with undisguised hatred.
"Where's Xemnas?" Ven asked, shattering Sora's ruminations.
"Huh? Oh... I uh," Sora stuttered. "He... he ran off when I tried to fight him." A nasty bruise flowered on his sternum in shades of plum and blue. "I mean, he didn't run off because I scared him," he hastily clarified, "Xemnas could easily shred me... it's a miracle he didn't," Sora babbled. "What I mean is, he told me I'm fighting the wrong person and left through a dark corridor."
As if on cue, a corridor ripped apart and out stepped Xemnas
Hair a bewitching silver and eyes a cruel gold, Xemnas smiled. "It didn't take much to tempt you out of your elusive nest, did it?" he sneered. "Are you looking for Terra?"
Gritting teeth and irises pulsing gold, Ventus composed himself, knuckles tight around Wayward Wind. "Terra is precious to me," he declared affectionately, "and he's precious to Aqua. I will bring him home."
"I see." Xemnas brushed his long bangs away from his face. "And at what cost are you willing to bring him home?"
A blast of wind brushed Sora and Ventus disappeared. Keyblade met crimson, glowing ethereal blades. "At any cost!" the blonde hissed and back flipped. He fluidly threw Wayward Wind and guided it with his hands. The weapon repeatedly pummeled Xemnas.
"Kill the King," Xemnas rasped and rained laser-like projectiles at Ventus who expertly dodged them.
Straightening, Vanitas brandished the half x-blades. "Don't tell me what to do," he swore. "After I'm done, I'll twist the squirt's head off," he spat at Ventus who obliged him with a predatory smile.
Springing over Aqua, Vanitas collided with his twin and like a ball, embroiled Lea. The three bowled over in a tangle of Keyblades, arms and legs. Coming to a heaping stop, Vanitas slugged the fledgling Keyblade wielder out of the way, the pit of his stomach stirring at the phoenix rising out of the ashes on the man's head.
Stabbing one half of the Chi-blade between Sora's feet, Vanitas jerked his head at it. "Pick it up and fight."
"I can't fight anymore," Sora plaintively stated. "You know that better than anyone here."
"You're capable of casting magic," his twin jeered. "You have reserves of them. Get up and fight or I'll cut off your legs."
"Cutting of my legs isn't gonna help me stand," Sora countered drily.
"Shut up and do it!"
Rising to his feet and enraged, Sora shrieked, "Don't tell me to shut up! You shut up!" Tangerine flame flickered in Sora's palms and he slid the Keyblade out from where it bit into stone. "I'm older than you, don't come crying to me in the middle of the night when your virtual girlfriend rejects you on a date."
Virtual girlfriend? Xehanort considered. Pathetic.
"Aqua, what's a virtual girlfriend?" Ven's innocently asked while belting Xemnas with an Ars Arcanum.
Cartwheeling away from Xemnas' range, Aqua cast a flash freeze, concerned when Lea slipped on the sheet of ice. "It's nothing to concern yourself with Ven," she sweetly responded. "Watch out," she warned.
Vanitas lowered his Keyblade. "Why," he pouted, "are you embarrassing me in front of everybody?"
Tsk. Must I do everything myself?
A heart shaped moon rose among the clouds smothering the sky. It glowed white, a far cry from its pale, withered, palm-leaf appearance.
The current vessel sickened him. More so than the body he stole from Terra. Vanitas Clavius resisted efforts of direct manipulation and fought to preserve what little sanity remained. How heroic! How tragic! Xehanort mused. A completely sentient Lingering Will lived an illusion of life in an effort to protect its other half.
Fascinating!
The silver from Vanitas' hair roots spread to the tips and he switched to the Gazing Eye, its teeth wicked and hooked. "I will always protect you," Xehanort murmured against his will and slashed downwards.
Darkness exploded out of his chest and he crumpled to his knees. Weak. Shaking.
Gasping for life.
"NO!" Sora hoarsely screamed when Vanitas toppled forward like a doll. He caught his brother and hugged him tightly.
Ventus retracted his Keyblade, expression grim.
The ends of Wayward Wind dripped darkness and scarlet, sticky blood.
Soul of silk
Late afternoon
Olympus
The last petal in the bell jar fell. Eyelids fluttered upwards and Ventus yawned.
Where am I?
His back hurt on the stone hard throne and he hopped gently to the floor. Three peculiar, star shaped charms in colors of green, blue and clay lay on the arm rest and a strip of cream blue, gauzy fabric wrapped his petite wrist. It smelled faintly of the ocean. Tugging the fabric free, Ventus inspected it, blonde eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"What's this?" he wondered.
Shrugging, he tossed the fabric aside and skipped out of the Chamber of Waking to an arch gate streaming with sunlight. Ivy crawled across the ivory columns and the sweet aroma of jasmine lingered in the summer heat. His boots crunched gravel and below a long flight of marble steps, people in sheer white togas and leather sandals thronged the streets.
Smoke from sandalwood incense sticks tickled his nose and a passerby, carrying a basket of luscious peaches, stopped.
"The..." The man's mouth fell open in perfect astonishment. "The Wind Mage has woken!" he cried. "Inform the KBWA chief, now!"
A group reverently climbed the squeaky clean steps to the temple, dedicated to Ventus, and he beamed when someone thrust a delectable peach in his small hands.
"Thank you mister!" he gratefully said and bit into the fleshy fruit, juice dribbling down the corners of his mouth. "By the way," he blinked when a lady, platinum blonde hair wreathed in flowers, humbly offered him her cotton handkerchief. "What is this KBWA?"
A/N: I swear with each new game, Sora becomes dumber. The Lingering will always fascinated me so I worked it in the story. Ventus is evil, I have corrupted the baby beyond saving; in this last part, he wakes roughly half a century later. Olympus is repopulated and he has no idea what's going on.
Please read and review. Questions, comments and theories are all welcome.