Hayner, Pence, and Olette lean against a nearby wall as they await their friends' return.
"Looks like they have things all under control now," says Pence as he looks around at the now peaceful Radiant Garden.
"Oh! There they are!" says Olette as she points the two in the direction of the six keyblade wielders approaching them.
"Looks like things weren't too tough," says Hayner, noticing the lack of injuries of the sorts.
"The MCP was nothing compared to the likes of Xemnas," says Roxas as he stretches his arms above his head.
"Yeah, it was a good warmup though." Says Xion
"So, what now?" asks Namine
"Now we can actually show them around the world." Says Kairi, almost laughing at how their chill tour of Hollow Bastion became a battle against a living computer program.
"Where do we even start?" asks aqua as she looks around in the world she once knew. It's completely unrecognizable compared to what it looked like ten years ago.
"Well, we've already seen the marketplace, and Merlin's house, so I guess that leaves everywhere else?" says Roxas, looking back in the direction they came. Roxas and Xion show them around taking them up to the castle which they had just left earlier.
"Now that I think about it, I don't remember seeing this part of the castle when I was here with Sora," says Kairi as they roam the halls.
"Yeah, me neither. . ." says Riku, as he thinks about the time he spent alongside the mistress of all evil: Maleficent. The three residents of Twilight Town look in awe at the remnants of the old castle. The Tour of the castle is cut short, as they find out there's no real way to enter the rest of it, the entrances either being sealed off or destroyed.
"Is that really all there is to this place? It's such a large area," says Hayner as he looks at the town below.
"Not exactly. . ." Says Xion as she and Roxas turn to the restoration site. They motion for everyone to follow them, and they do. As they make their way past some destruction, Hayner and the gang get a look at the destroyed wall.
"What happened here?" asks Olette.
"A lot of things Olette, you'll see," says Roxas as the two guide everyone farther down the caverns. Finally, they make their way to an area, with nothing but a destroyed fountain laying in front of them.
"I remember this," says Kairi as she looks upon the broken fountain. "Sora and I passed by this area with everyone else as we made our way to the keyhole."
"Yeah, I remember this place too," says Riku. "This is where I . . . well, to put it likely, I was a jerk to Sora."
"Why am I not surprised. . ." Roxas mutters quietly before being elbowed in the ribs by his lover.
Riku glares at him before staring him down. "Alright then, how about you tell us how you recognize this place," Roxas says irritably.
Roxas stares back with fury in his eyes. "OH well, you want to know, do you?" asks Roxas mockingly. "I'm surprised you don't know since you were probably hiding away in some hole watching from afar as you always do. But if you don't remember this is the place where I fucking died Riku."
"Stop. . ." Xion utters quietly.
"In fact, if you would like to draw your attention to the cliff face over there, you may see the rubble in which I laid dyin-" Roxas is cutoff as Xion's voice pierces the
"Stop!" yells Xion. Roxas and Riku snap out of their staredown as they turn to the girl. Her fists shake as she looks to the ground, trying to hold her rage. Roxas looks on at her and realizes what he'd done. Guilt builds up in him as he looks at her.
"Xion . . . I-" Roxas can't find what words to say as he feels eyes on him, eyes giving off many different emotions. "I- . . .I'll just. . . give you some space. . ." Roxas turns around and walks away from the group down further and further into the caverns. Riku watched as Roxas walked away, and as he got farther, he too felt the intense pressure of eyes on him, he knows what he has to do. Riku begins to walk in the same direction as Roxas and he slowly disappears from their view.
Aqua and the gang from twilight town were stunned at all that occurred. They had understood the general idea that Roxas and Riku didn't like each other, more so Roxas despising Riku than Riku disliking Roxas, but they didn't expect either of them to be actively antagonistic towards each other. But they snap back to reality as they focus on Xion.
"Xion, are you okay?" asks Olette she reaches out to Xion and pats her shoulder.
"I'm fine just. . . tired of thinking about what happened here," says Xion. The group stands beside Xion and comfort her as the thoughts of Roxas dying in her arms fill her mind. Roxas and Riku exit the small cave where Xion had reunited with Roxas after his death. they look at the vast canyon in front of them where Roxas and Xion singlehandedly took down two thousand heartless. They continue to walk on, side by side, silently, their lingering guilt overshadowing their disdain for each other. They reach the opposing side of the canyon where Roxas and Xion faced their former superior, but upon arriving, they find something concerning.
"You feel that too, right?" asks Roxas.
"Yes, there's no mistaking it. There's powerful darkness ahead of us," says Riku. The two keyblade warriors steadily turn the corner and see a tall man staring at the dark castle ahead. He has long silver hair, even longer than the likes of Ansem or Xemnas. His most iconic feature, however, is a singular dark wing protruding from his back. Roxas recognizes him from the battle of Hollow Bastion, where he effortlessly took out legions of heartless, despite seemingly not caring at all for what becomes of this world. The two cautiously make their way closer to the figure, who they can tell is the source of this immense darkness. He doesn't even need to turn around to know they're behind him.
"What's Cloud doing?" asks the silver-haired man, known as Sephiroth
"Beats me," says Roxas, questioning if he should even answer Sephiroth's question.
"Hmph. . . By the way, you two. . . Who are you?" Sephiroth asks as he quickly turns around and draws his massive blade. Roxas and Riku step back to get out of the blade's slashing range, before drawing their keyblades in retaliation.
"Like we'd tell you!" says Riku. Sephiroth pays no mind to Riku or Roxas, his gaze focusing on their keyblades, Two Become One, and Way to the Dawn.
"Well. . . Those are some interesting swords you two are carrying." Sephiroth remarks.
"They're keyblades! Not Swords! Get it right!" says Roxas angrily.
"I see. . . So that's a keyblade. And I supposed you must be their chosen wielders" Sephiroth deduces
"Hmph, and what if we are?" asks Riku. The One-Winged Angel laughs to himself before responding with another question, or rather, a threat.
"I wonder if it won't change their minds- once I kill both of you," Sephiroth says in his unchanging cold voice. Sephiroth raises his blade, as Roxas and Riku prepare for combat against the entity of darkness.
The rest of the gang makes their way through the caves and caverns near the outskirts of Radiant Garden. They enter the cave nearby the canyon and Xion looks back on her special moment with Roxas.
"This is where you two first got together, right?" asks Olette as they pass by, to which Xion nods.
"So uh- I wanted to ask," says Hayner, concerned with whether or not asking his question would be appropriate at this time. "But if Roxas. . . died. . . how did he come back?" Xion thinks for a moment, about whether to tell the truth or not about their inner battles against the nightmares, eventually, though, she decides it would take too long to explain everything, and just chooses to feign ignorance.
"I . . . don't know," she responds. "I know I went through something similar during our battle with Xaldin, but I just sort of remember, waking up," says Xion before the group continues to walk out of the cave and through the canyon. The group gets more and more uneasy as they get closer to the dark castle ahead, everyone, including the non-keyblade wielders, feeling the dread in the air. They round a corner in the crevasses before the cliffside that faces the castle, and that's when they see it. Sitting against the wall is a bleeding Roxas, his eyes are closed as the only sign of movements being his slow, small breaths. "Roxas!" Xion cries as she runs to the fainted blonde, the rest of the group follows closely behind.
"Augh!" Riku shouts in pain. The group turns and watches in horror as Riku is raised into the air, his hand desperately clutching the blade that pierces his shoulder. Sephiroth smirks before he notices the group staring at him as they stand next to Roxas's unconscious body. Sephiroth smirks before swinging his massive blade, throwing Riku off of it and towards the group. Kairi runs up and catches Riku before jumping back towards the perceived safety of the group. Sephiroth takes a few steps towards the group, his mere presence echoing the darkness of insanity. Just as the Xion, Namine, and Kairi prepare to stand their ground, master Aqua steps in front of them and faces the one-winged angel. She looks at her young friends over her shoulder.
"Go! Get them out of here! Make sure they're safe!" says Aqua, turning her head back to face Sephiroth, he hasn't taken a step closer just yet.
"But-" Kairi tries to argue, but Aqua is having none of it.
"Just go!" shouts Aqua. The young keyblade wielders look back and see the terror in the eyes of Hayner, Pence, and Olette, as they look at two of the strongest people they know on death's door. The girls nod, before getting out of there. Roxas and Kairi Supporting Riku by putting his arms over their shoulders, while Xion leads the pack carrying Roxas in her arms.
"So, you plan to fall here in their stead?" Sephiroth taunts. Aqua doesn't let herself get intimidated by the words of the fallen angel.
"My name is Master Aqua." Says Aqua, as she raises her hand and summons her keyblade. Now leave this world or pay the price!" Aqua slaps the button on the armored segment of her sleeve, and in a flash of light, she dawns her glider armor.
"A keyblade master you say? Then allow me to test your strength." Sephiroth raises his blade, and the two prepare for battle. Sephiroth takes a mighty swing while aqua leaps high into the air over the attack. She slashes at Sephiroth from behind multiple times before he suddenly vanishes. Then, not a moment later he appeared right behind Aqua and launched her into the air before vanishing again, Aqua anticipates his next move and casts a reflect spell as he reappears to slash at her knocking him away as his own strength is used against him. Aqua dashes in midair at the heartless angel and strikes him with her keyblade: Stormfall, sending him to the ground. Aqua jumps back as she lands to the ground, just in time to block 8 consecutive swings from Sephiroth, he jumps back as Aqua counters his slashes with one of her own.
"That's enough . . ." Sephiroth says as he readies his blade before Aqua can even anticipate an attack, sephiroth has already dashed past her and struck her many times, moving faster than she could have possibly comprehended. Aqua falls to one knee as Sephiroth turns to her. "Perish now!" says sephiroth as he raises his hand in the air. Aqua feels the sudden force of wind pulling her towards the One-Winged Angel. She manages to get on her feet and dash away just in time to avoid being incinerated by large pillars of fire. She turns and takes aim at Sephiroth waiting for just the perfect moment. She prepares to cast a powerful blizzard spell when Sephiroth is consumed by his own pillar of fire. Once the fire disappears, Aqua notices that Sephiroth has too. She instinctively blocks with her keyblade as she turns around, stopping an attack from Sephiroth before pushing him away. "Give in to the darkness!" Sephiroth exclaims as he summons orbs of darkness around Aqua The orbs of darkness collapse in on Aqua's location, but Aqua manages to stop the attack with a reflective shield.
"I have spent a decade in darkness. . . You'll need more than a few small orbs of it to make me fall. . ." Aqua remarks before the two clash once more.
Cloud strife is walking around Hollow Bastion, avoiding a certain dark-haired girl when he suddenly sees a group of people coming from canyons. He thinks nothing of it at first, but he notices something peculiar. He squints his eyes to get a better look, before opening them wide as he realizes something, two of the people are severely injured.
"Where's Aerith!?" asks Xion in a panic.
"At Merlin's house, follow me!" Cloud yells. The group of teenagers follow the spiky-haired soldier as he clears the path of any stray heartless. The door to Merlin's house slams open, catching everyone in the room off guard.
"What's all this ruckus about-" The wizard complains before the two realize what's happened, as Xion, Namine, and Kairi barge in carrying Roxas and Riku while Cloud keeps the door open for Hayner, Pence, and Olette to run in after them. The two boys are quickly put onto two beds before Aerith performs her powerful healing magic. Kairi, Namine, and Xion join in, lending their keyblades strength to help the boys recover faster.
"What happened?" asks Yuffie, terrified of what could have done this to these powerful keyblade wielders.
Leon looks around and notices the lack of Aqua. "Where's master Aqua?"
"She told us to run while she held off the assailant." Namine quickly explained.
"Who was it?" asks Cid.
". . . We don't know." Says Kairi, the residents of Radiant Garden widen their eyes as Kairi describes the attacker. "He had long silver hair, an incredibly long blade, and one large black wing." The group turns towards the door, but they're too late, the door hangs ajar as Cloud rushes out of the house to reach the end of the canyons
"You shall be one with nothing. . ." Sephiroth radiates a red glow as he dashes at Aqua, hovering above the ground as he does so. He performs eight consecutive slashes at Aqua as orbs of darkness fly around the arena. She can barely keep up with her foe's attacks. As he gets faster and more ferocious as time goes on, Aqua only gets slower, and more exhausted. She manages to make some space between herself and Sephiroth by casting a reflect spell, using his darkness and strength against him. Sephiroth dashes around as he hovers above the ground, slashing at Aqua whenever he's in range. The keyblade master barely has the strength to block each attack before he rises into the air.
"The time has come . . . let us make the future."
Aqua looks on in dread as burning rocks reign from the sky at her location. She dodges the meteorites as best she can, but the explosions caused by the impact are too much, and she falls to the ground, exhausted, and unable to continue.
"I'll admit, you're very skilled. But the victor was decided long before our battle even began." Sephiroth approaches the keyblade master when he hears a familiar voice.
"Sephiroth!" Cloud shouts.
"Cloud. . ." Sephiroth immediately loses interest in the keyblade master and begins approaching Cloud." You'll never let go of the darkness. . ." he taunts.
"Shut up. . ." Cloud responds quietly
"You'll never let go of your past. . ."
"Shut up!" Cloud dashes at Sephiroth, and the two clash blades. Aqua seizes this opportunity to recover. Using healing magic on herself as she slowly limps to the crevasse from which she came earlier. As she limps away, she sees a girl with long dark hair run past her. Whatever is going on back there, she's confident they can handle it. For now, she needs to recover from her injuries and make sure Roxas and Riku are safe.
Many hours later, Olette and Namine are leaving the usual spot before Olette turns to Xion. "are you sure you want to stay here with him? It's pretty cold."
"I'm sure," says Xion as she looks down at her beloved. His head rests on her lap as he lays on the couch. He's still unconscious, but in much better condition
"Alright well, if he wakes up, feel free to come to my place after dropping him off, okay?" asks Olette. Xion nods, and with that, Olette and Namine leave the usual spot as they walk through Twilight Town, the cold wind complimenting the thin layer of snow on the ground. It's not long after that Roxas awakens, slowly opening his eyes
"Xion. . ?" Roxas jolts up as he looks around for Sephiroth "Xion! Where's-" Roxas stops talking as he groans in pain, he may be stable, but he's still injured.
"Hey, hey! Rest easy, everything's fine now. Aqua held him off. Then Cloud and Tifa took care of everything from there."
"They did?" Xion nods and Roxas rests easy, choosing to sit up on the couch instead of lying down.
"Hey uh- Xion. Are you still mad about earlier. . . I mean, about what I said to Riku. . ." Xion sighs.
"No Roxas. I'm not exactly happy, being reminded of the time I watched you die in my arms. . . but you're alive now, and that's what matters most to me." Roxas cracks a weak little smile as the two sit on the couch together.
"I should probably get going. I don't want to be late and wake Hayner and his parents up." Roxas tries to get up but Xion pulls him down.
"No way. I don't care how good Aerith's healing is, you need to rest," says Xion, before grabbing a nearby blanket and draping it over the two. It looks like Roxas really doesn't have a choice in the matter, But he's not exactly complaining. The two rest together as the sound of the outside breeze fills the room.
"I know you said you're not angry but. . . I'd still like to apologize for taking things too far back there." Says Roxas. "We were all just having a good time and then I up and ruined it. . . and then everything just spiraled from there."
"Roxas, we wouldn't have known that things would've gone the way they did. Yes you did something wrong, but so does everyone else, Roxas, so don't beat yourself up over it," says Xion reassuringly. "Besides, if it makes you feel any better. I accept your apology."
Roxas smiles as the two rest their heads against each other "Thanks." Roxas and Xion rest together before Roxas asks "How are Aqua and Riku?"
"Riku's alright. his injuries weren't as serious as yours, but he's definitely gonna be out of commission for a day or two," Xion explains. "Aqua is also alright. She was able to walk away on her own two feet, which I can't say for either you or Riku. But she's also gonna need some time to rest and recover."
"I guess she's not called a keyblade master for nothing. I can't imagine fighting that guy by myself. . ." Roxas admits
"Yeah. . . But soon, I think we'll be strong enough to be worthy of the title ourselves." Xion says cheerfully.
"Yeah. . . I think so too. . ." the two sit silently, just enjoying the moment of peace they have together. Eventually, Xion turns off the singular light that illuminates the usual spot, and the two finally close their eyes and let sleep take over them.