Aqua stretches and yawns as she sits up from her bed. She looks over to the other end of the room and sees a small flashing red light on the nearby computer. She slowly gets out of her bed as she rubs one eye. She gets changed into her usual attire before activating the computer. She opens the communications app and finds that she has one new message from Cid. ( /a/xlrZwzF [imgur link])
"Well, I guess I better let everyone know about our plans. It's gonna be a long day." Aqua says to no one in particular. A few hours later, the six keyblade bearers sit in the gummi ship as they get ever closer to their destination. Kairi looks over her shoulder, looking at Roxas, and Xion, as well as Riku and Namine as the two couples, sit close to each other.
"Are you guys sure you want to sit on the floor? There's an open seat right there." Kairi says as she glances over to the seat to her left.
"No thanks. We're good." Says Roxas.
"Yeah, we're fine too." Namine chimes. Kairi sighs with a hint of envy before turning back to Aqua.
"How much longer until we arrive?" asks Kairi.
"According to this terminal, we should be there in only a minute or so," Aqua replies as she looks down at the terminal in front of her. After a few minutes, the gummi ship stops. The keyblade wielders get out of their seats, in or some cases, off of the ground, and approach the cockpit window to get a good look.
"This world-!"Aqua's eyes widen as she recognizes the world below.
"You recognize it?" Namine asks. Aqua turns and nods.
"Have you ever heard of the age of fairy tales?" asks Aqua. "The time where all worlds were connected but became separated by darkness after people fought for the light?"
"My grandmother told me that story!" Kairi answered.
"This is where the war over the light took place." gasps are heard coming from the five pupils.
"Are you serious?" asks Riku. Aqua nods.
"Not only is this where thousands fought over Kingdom hearts, but it's also where Terra, Ven, and I had come to face Master Xehanort and his pupil Vanitas."
"Woah. . . a lot happened here," Namine utters, in shock at the battles that took place in the world below.
"Ready to see it for yourselves?" asks Aqua. The group nods, and they materialize their keyblades. They put the ends together before disappearing in a flash of light. The group reappears in the badlands below, the pupils look around and are shocked to see thousands of keyblades surrounding them, with clear paths separating the four sections of keyblades.
"So many keyblades. . ." Xion comments as she stares upon them all.
"Wait, if this is where everyone fought over Kingdom Hearts, does that mean every keyblade here. . ." Riku says trailing off.
"Represents a fallen keyblade wielder?" Roxas finishes his question. The group turns to Aqua, who slowly nods.
"Everyone one of these keyblades represents a person, someone who had friends, someone who formed memories of all sorts of emotions, they laughed and cried and had their own lives. . ." Namine feels the impact of the battle on her shoulders, even if she was never there to see it herself.
"So much tragedy happened here," says Aqua. "But if I manage to do things right this time, you'll be the last generation to face these tragedies." The group nods as their confidence restores.
"Right." The group says. They turn and pick a direction, before walking. They make their way to a small cave with a large circular opening up top that lets light in. They take a moment to cool off in the shade before they walk through the cave and continue onwards. After exiting the cave they find themselves in a large open expanse, surrounded by rocky cliff-faces. A few large rocks stand erect atop the earth below, sticking out like sore thumbs in the vast landscape around them.
"This whole place looks barren. Is there anything here besides the keyblade graveyard?" asks Roxas. Aqua tries to think of an answer, but before she can the group notices something ahead. They shield their eyes as a sandstorm blows past them. They're pelted with small rocks and sand as they stand their ground, unable to see with their eyes closed. After they feel the wind calm, they open their eyes only to see something in front of them. Aqua's eyes widen as she puts her hands over her mouth.
"Terra. . ." Aqua says in shock. This catches the attention of the rest of the group, looking at Aqua, then back at the armored man in front of them. The man is kneeling on the dirt below, his head down and his hands on the bottom of his large keyblade's hilt. His cape moves slightly in the breeze. Despite Aqua's call, he sits there, unmoving.
"Terra?" Aqua asks, not knowing why her close friend from her childhood isn't responding. Terra's head moves just a little, looking a bit more forward, showing that he's looking at the group.
"Aqua . . . Ven. . ." Terra says, though his voice is not his own. He speaks with a voice that resembles that of many whispers, like a ghost haunting a long-forgotten home. His head moves a little and faces Riku. "You. . . I know you. . . We've met before. . . Way back when. . .You're the one I chose. . ."
"The one he chose?" Kairi asks, the group glancing over at Riku, who looks toward the ground.
"No. . . you can't be the one I chose. . ." says Terra. The group suddenly turns back to him, with shock filling Riku's body. "I sense . . . darkness. . . I sense. . ." Terra looks up higher at Riku, then Roxas, then Xion. "Xe . . . ha. . . nort. . . Va . . . nit . . . as. . ." Tension fills the air as those names echo throughout the canyons. "Xeha . . . nort. . . .Vani . . .tas." Terra moves a little as his rage reawakens. "Xehanort!" Terra says as he begins to stand on his legs.
"Terra?" Aqua asks, unsure if it's really her friend. Terra stares the six down, his presence alone giving off an intense aura of rage. Terra grabs his keyblade with one hand and pulls it out of the ground, and holds it calmly at his side. "Terra wait! they're not Xehanort, calm dow-" Bit before she can finish Terra suddenly dashes forward at incredible speeds and strikes Riku right in his stomach. Riku is sent flying by the sudden attack. Terra quickly turns to Roxa and does an overhead strike, which Roxas is barely able to block the attack. Roxas falls to one knee from the impact of Terra's keyblade colliding with his own. Xion materializes Rejection of Fate and leaps over Roxas. Terra's knocked back only slightly by her attack, before leaping high into the air and behind the group. Terra throws his keyblade into the air, it becomes large and large until it fully transforms into a keyblade glider.
"Watch out!" Aqua yells before dodging to the left. Terra quickly hops onto the glider and charges his foes. The keyblade bearers barely dodge out of the way of Terra and his keyblade glider as he glides across the badlands, making sharp turns to charge at his foes more and more times. Everyone regroups as Terra hops off their gliders. Namine and Kairi materialize their keyblades, while Aqua presses the button on her sleeve, dawning her own keyblade armor. She materializes stormfall and the new generation of keyblade wielders face one of those who came before them.
Terra strikes the earth with his keyblade, causing a flash of light to appear at his location, before disappearing, leaving behind floating projectiles. The projectiles dash closer to the keyblade bearers and move around like they're taking aim. The keyblade wielders dash away as the projectiles begin shooting beams of light at the heroes. Eventually, the projectiles merge together and in a flash of light, Terra reappears. And throw his keyblade into the air once more to form his keyblade glider.
As Terra prepares to hop onto his glider, Aqua throws her own keyblade into the air and hops onto a glider of her own. She glides at Terra at high speeds, before the two keyblade gliders crash. Aqua hops off of her glider Terra falls to the ground because of the collision, and before he can get up Aqua performs her Spellweaver technique, The rest of the keyblade wielders catch up to Aqua just as she's about to finish.
"Now!" She yells as she finishes the use of spellweaver and jumps back. Roxas engulfs himself in dark red energy, entering Limit Form, while Xion engulfs herself in the familiar white energy, entering Final Form before they, alongside Kairi, Namine, and Riku dash at Terra as he falls to the earth. They slash at him many times with their keyblades, before leaping back and performing their own magic attacks. Roxas, Namine, and Kairi shoot out many light projectiles from their keyblades, while Riku casts a Dark Firaga, and Xion casts the strongest thunder spell she can muster. The attacks all collide at once, dealing incredible damage to Terra, but despite it all, he lands on the ground with one foot, and on one knee, he doesn't scream, he doesn't yell. All he's focused on is taking his rage, and turning it into power, and determination.
Terra casts a wind spell, surrounding himself in wind. He rises into the air and dashes back and forth as he slashes with his keyblade at his targets. Roxas is sent flying as he doesn't anticipate the attack, but Xion and Namine manage to block the attacks they face with reflective shields, knocking terra back a bit before he lands on the ground. Terra takes his keyblade and spins it around, it grows in length as it gains elastic-almost whip-like properties. Namine and Xion are sent flying, Xion managing to regain control over her movement mid-air, before catching Namine before she falls to the ground thanks to Final Form's ability to fly.
Riku dashes at the one who chose him he expects Terra to counter him with an overhead slash, so he prepares to block with his keyblade. What he doesn't expect is for Terra to punch him in the gut. Terra punches him twice more with his left hand before striking him with his massive keyblade Riku is knocked ways away as he hits a rock and falls to the ground. Namine looks at the unconscious Riku, before turning back to Terra. She raises her keyblade, and Xion beside her does the same. Thunder reigns from above and strikes Terra. Terra falls to one knee as the lightning courses through his body. As the thunder stops, Aqua and Kairi attack him in unison, Aqua striking her friend with Stormfall while Kairi stands back and provides support with Blizzard spells. As Aqua takes one of her swings, Terra grabs her keyblade with his hand. He throws aqua into the air before using his keyblade like a whip and knocking the two keyblade wielders away from him.
Terra throws its keyblade into the air and transforms into a large, cannon-like machine that he lugs over his shoulder. He takes aim and shoots a massive ball of light. The ball explodes as it reaches Aqua and Kairi's position, sending them flying towards the rest of their Comrades. They try and regroup, only for Terra to take his keyblade and morph it into what looks like a bow. He draws his bow and shoots out hundreds of light projectiles at his foes. Namine pulls Riku close to her and casts a reflective shield. Kairi and Aqua cast their own as well, and Xion reaches out to Roxas before attempting to cast her own reflect spell when they're both struck by the light arrows.
The two are knocked far away, Xion managing to catch Roxas while in final form. Before anyone can even react, Terra has already risen into the air and started flying across the badlands, swinging his keyblade at Namine and Riku as he passes by, he slashes at Roxas and Xion, separating the two before landing on the ground. Terra throws his keyblade into the air. The keyblade transforms into the canon yet again and Terra takes aim at Roxas, his cannon charges with energy as he prepares to finish off his foe.
"Roxas!" Xion yells, dashing in front of him as the cannon shoots a massive beam of light. Xion takes aim with her keyblade and retaliates. "FLARE!" yells Xion as she shoots her own beam of light. The beams collide as they push against each other. The beams seem equally matched at first when Xion's beam suddenly pushes hard against Terra's dispersing his beam and colliding with him. Terra is sent flying as he's shredded by the beam of light before the light finally dims away and Terra falls to the ground. After that, Xion too practically collapses, Roxas grabbing her just in time before she hits the ground.
"Are you okay?" asks Roxas. Xion nods her head weakly as she looks at Roxas.
"Y-yeah. . . just a little tired." Roxas nods and sets her down against a nearby rock. For a moment, there is silence, but that changes when something catches their attention. Dread fills their bodies as they see Terra get up from off the ground.
"How-?" Roxas can't believe his eyes. If their foe could take that and get back up, could they really stop him? He doesn't have time to dwell on this though, as Terra raises his keyblade to the sky. Light constructs surround him for a moment as he's enveloped in white thunder before he dashes at Roxas. Roxas quickly enters Final form before clashing keyblades with Terra. He pushes Terra off of him and towards the rest of the group, who finally catch up with the three. Roxas dashes at Terra, but before he or anyone else can attack, Terra performs a spin slash with light constructs appearing around him as he slashes, knocking his foes away from him. He teleports behind the weak Riku and slashes at him multiple times, causing him to fall to the floor. Terra raises his keyblade before attempting to finish off Riku, but his attack is blocked by a reflective shield propped up by Namine. Terra is sent back a little before being struck by Roxas's two keyblades, Oathkeeper and Oblivion. Kairi slashes at him numerous times once Roxas flies back, before knocking away Terra with many light projectiles. She jumps back as Aqua dashes forward. She pulls back Stormfall, and stabs at Terra, Piercing his armor.
Terra stops, standing completely still as Aqua pulls out her keyblade, the keyblade warriors look on at the wound in Terra's stomach, or rather, where his stomach should be. Instead all there is where Aqua struck was a hole, revealing the hollow armor inside. They look at where Terra's face should be, as he speaks.
"Finally. . . I have been. . . complete. . ." Says Terra mysteriously.
"Complete? What do you mean?" asks Aqua.
"Three pieces. . . become one. . ." Terra falls back and Aqua reaches out to him, but as she grabs his hand, the piece of armor pulls out of the rest, and the armor falls to the ground and separates into numerous pieces. "Don't be sad. . . We will meet again. . . I'm sure of it. . ." said the whispery voice, before going quiet. The group looked on at the unmoving armor before them, in disbelief of what just happened. Aqua is the first one to move, as she dematerializes her keyblade, and her armor disappears. She walks forward and crouches down, before gathering the armor.
"What are you doing?" asks Kairi
"I'm putting them together," she says as she gathers the armor and puts it into one pile. She grabs Terra's keyblade, Ends of the Earth. And stabs it into the ground, in front of the pile.
"You're not going to bring it with you?" asks Namine, as she helps Riku back onto his feet, and supports him, putting his arm over his shoulder so he uses less energy.
"No. It's not mine to take," she says as she steps away from the armor. "When we meet again, I'll gladly bring him here, so he can reclaim what's his." Roxas regroups with everyone, carrying the exhausted Xion in his arms. "Until then. It'll rest here. Waiting for him." The group stares at the armor, silence falls between them as they look at the remnants of a keyblade wielder long lost. Eventually, they know they have to go. They raise their keyblades and disappear in a flash of light, leaving the armor and keyblade on the ground, to wait for its chosen wielder.