The ship landed in front of the castle.
Carolyn frowned and sniffed the air. "Hmm. No Heartless in this area."
"Oh quit acting like you know everything Carolyn!" Katie grumbled.
"Well that can only mean one thing." Riku said frowning. "We're expected."
Riku burst into the throne room followed closely by his friends. A boy with short blue hair with dark armor sat on the throne. Riku recognized those cold, piercing, golden, eyes looking down at him with a look of triumph.
"So you came," He sneered. "I've been waiting for you."
Suddenly Katie ran up and shook his hand. "HI! How ya doin'? My name's Katie. What's yours?"
He stared at her funny. "Cedric."
"Good to meet you Cedri-" Katie stopped suddenly at the mention of his name. Her eyes widened in fear. She ripped her hands free from his and bolted away screaming: "I SHOOK A BLOODSTAINED HAND I SHOOK A BLOODSTAINED HAND!!!"
She ducked behind Carolyn wringing her hands. Rikku handed her a bar of soap.
"Thanks." She grumbled scrubbing frantically.
Riku stepped forward. "CEDRIC! LET'S SETTLE THIS!"
"The time has finally come!" Sora yelled, "You will pay for your deeds with your life!"
Cedric stood up and drew his sword.
"I'll escort you to your funeral. Let me give you a taste of my incredible power! This sword contains the ultimate power that you idiots believe in! The power of justice!"
Riku shook his fist. "WHAT JUSTICE?! TRUE JUSTICE, TRUE POWER IS IN THE HEART! NOT IN SOMETHING VILE LIKE YOU!"
"You should talk Riku." Cedric grumbled. "I will never forgive you for what you did to me."
"What did I do?!" Riku screamed.
"You killed my father."
"You-your father? But then that means..."
"Yes." Cedric said spinning dramatically causing his cape to billow out around him. "I am prince Cedric, ruler of Hollow Bastion, and SON OF KING ANSEM!!!"
"You're Ansem's son?" Riku said in shock.
"What did you expect?" Cedric laughed. "Before I kill you allow me to tell you my story…"
"It began ten years ago when I was only six. It was back when my father Ansem ruled this land without the power of darkness. I grew up naively thinking that everything in life was fair and good. All that changed when my father discovered The Heartless, he was fascinated with it. He decided to try to create an artificial Heartless. But in order to do that he needed a human subject to test on. All of his servants refused until my mother Queen Jenna volunteered. At first he refused but then he realized he had no choice."
Cedric sighed and continued sadly.
"My mother didn't survive the experiment. Afterwards my father and me began to study the dark arts. Then we realized that darkness was the heart's true essence and that this power could be used to dominate mankind. He gathered an army of heartless and began to destroy worlds. The keyblade master thwarted him. After that I began to train in the art of sword fighting and black magic while my father studied ancient legends.
He found one about the pure-hearts. He knew he could revive Maleficent and have her get the leader of the pure-hearts for him. Unfortunately the plan fell apart when Riku and Mia fell in love.
He took her powers from my father causing his destruction! I plotted for months to get revenge so finally I did it. I created a heartless clone of Mia to tell Riku to wait by the beach. Then I made one of Riku and told Mia to wait for him on top of the island. Then I came up and slaughtered her!"
He pointed his sword at Riku. "And now I'm going to finish the job and get revenge! Revenge for my last family member!"
"Well I'm getting revenge for Mia!" Riku yelled. He pulled out his keyblade. "Sora, guys! You stay out of this! This is my fight!"
"He is SUCH a show-off!" Carolyn shouted angrily.
The two foes leapt at each other.
Their swords clashed. Both boys wore a look of unspeakable hate. Riku swung the keyblade and knocked Cedric back. Cedric rose into the air.
"Meteors of Heaven! UNLEASH THY FURY!" Cedric bellowed. A gigantic meteor flew out of nowhere straight at Riku. He dove to the side just as it slammed into the ground where he had been.
As the fight wore on Riku began to realize how strong Cedric really was. For every wound Riku inflicted Cedric gave two in return.
Finally Riku slumped over exhausted and wounded badly. He fell to down on his hands and knees. He tried to get up but Cedric placed his foot on his back and pushed him back down.
"I could kill you now. I could twist my sword into your back and end it now. But that would be immoral."
"Moral?!" Carolyn yelled. She started towards him in fury. Sora and Kairi grabbed her and held her back. "MORAL?!" She screamed again, "YOU DON'T KNOW THE MEANING OF THAT WORD!!!!"
Cedric turned and sneered at her. "You're the Chosen One right?"
Carolyn gawked at him. "How did you know...?"
"Your powers are legend, just like the Faerie who gave them to you."
"DO YOU WANNA SEE LEGEND BECOME REALITY?!" She yelled trying to break free from her friends grasp.
"You talk big. But can you do anything else except talk?" He turned his attention back to Riku. "Get up and face me like a man."
Riku started to get up but it hurt so bad he could hardly breathe.
"GET UP OR I WILL MAKE YOU GET UP!" Cedric roared.
Riku stood up shakily and gripped his sword. He was covered in blood and bruises. He knew he didn't have a chance to win. Cedric was going to kill him no matter what.
"Mia, I'm sorry. I failed to get revenge for you." Riku whispered.
"NOW DIE! RIKU THE KEYBLADE MASTER!" Cedric yelled jumping back. He raised his hand above his head. A gigantic black orb began to grow in his hands.
"This is it, I'm gonna die." Riku thought shutting his eyes.
"RIKU!!!" A familiar voice screamed.
Riku looked up and almost fainted.
There was a marble staircase behind Cedric that led up into a back room that was used for storage. Standing at the top of the staircase was someone Riku would know anywhere.
Because the person standing there was the one he was thinking about more than anyone else right now.
"MIA?!" Riku gasped in shock.
In an instant Mia was rocketing down the stairs, past Cedric, and straight into Riku's outstretched arms.
Riku was dazed. Questions were flying into his head so fast it was impossible to comprehend it all at once.
Is it really her?
What is she doing here?
Isn't she dead?
Am I seeing things?
"Mia is that really you?" Riku asked still shocked.
She nodded. She was shaking. "Thank god! Riku I thought I'd never see you again I'm so glad you made it!"
"But how?" He whispered.
"NOOOOOO!" Cedric yelled. He stormed up to them and knocked Mia to the floor.
"You stupid little girl! You weren't supposed break out of your chains!"
"Never underestimate the power of a girl with a hairpin!" Mia said smiling as she held up a small black hairpin.
In his anger Cedric raised his hand to strike her again but Riku grabbed his wrist and stopped him.
"If you hit Mia again then I'll rip your throat out and kick it around on the ground." He hissed.
Cedric laughed coldly and yanked his hand free. "Don't threaten me you bleeding cripple!"
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A CRIPPLE YOU ASSHOLE?!" Riku yelled. "HOW IS MIA ALIVE ANYWAY?! I SAW YOU STAB HER WITH YOUR FRICKIN SWORD!"
Cedric sighed. "Well, there's no point in hiding the truth from you any longer. …I didn't really kill Mia."
"Why?" Riku asked suspiciously, "Didn't you want revenge? I thought you wanted to make me suffer."
"I do." Cedric said clenching his fist, "My original plan was to kill her. I heard about her from your friend Cloud in the coliseum. I had to snap his arm but it was worth it. Didn't you notice that his arm was in a sling the last time you saw him?"
Riku vaguely remembered. He was too full of grief to have noticed.
"When the time came for me to kill her I followed her up the mountain and waited in the shadows. When it started to rain I could see you starting up the mountain and I knew I had to act fast. I emerged and lifted my sword to kill her. She turned around in terror and I saw her face. And I saw the same thing you saw and I just couldn't kill her. I knocked her out with the flat end of my sword and teleported her to this castle quickly. Then I came back and placed her heartless clone in her place. Then just as you reached the top I slaughtered the clone and ordered it to say those touching last words."
Riku's stomach twisted with anger. This scum...he had kidnapped Mia, put her through hell, and made the lives of the people who cared about her turn upside-down. But she was alive and safe and that was all that mattered.
"So you fell in love with her too." He hissed.
"That's right," Cedric grumbled, "But it appears she's still in love with you. So it looks like I'm going to have to kill you in order to win her affection."
"HIGHLY UNLIKELY!" Mia yelled.
"Be quiet!" Cedric snapped.
"If you hurt Riku I'll never forgive you!" She screamed.
"Then let me say 'I am sorry' ahead of time!" Cedric laughed.
Riku smiled at Mia. "Don't worry. I can handle him."
She smiled back. "I know you can."
"Puh! You're pathetic!" Cedric said raising his sword. But Riku was quicker. With Mia there he felt no more grief weighing on his heart. His strength was renewed. He swung his keyblade and knocked Cedric back into the wall. Cedric staggered to his feet. Blood oozed from a cut in the corner of his mouth.
"Um...dude?" Katie said pointing, "You got some blood on your face."
"Oh no I don't." Cedric said shaking his head, "Sometimes when I fight my opponent's blood gets on me and…" He frowned and wiped the blood from his face and looked at it. "Wait a minute! This IS my blood!" He pointed at Riku, "YOU! YOU MADE ME BLEED MY OWN BLOOD! You're the first person to do that!"
"I'm so honored." Riku laughed.
"That's it!" Cedric yelled. He raised his sword. It began to glow with a brilliant red light. "This is my ultimate attack! The blood sword!" He leapt towards Riku and swung it at his throat. "NOW! IT IS TIME TO OFFER ME YOUR NECK!"
Riku flew back when the sword made contact with his throat.
"RIKU!!!!" Mia screamed. She ran to his side. There was only a small cut on Riku's throat.
"I looked death in the eye for a moment there." Riku gasped as he clutched his throat.
"What?" Cedric said frowning. "The flesh has NOT been severed?"
"An ordinary human would be headless right now." Lulu said smiling, "But luckily Riku is a keyblade master."
"Daaaaang." Katie said in shock.
"Hmm. A minor inconvenience. I will just have to-" Suddenly Riku punched him across the face and knocked him to the floor. Riku grabbed him by the front of the shirt and lifted him off the floor.
"And this is for tying up my girlfriend!" Riku yelled. He grabbed Cedric and rammed his head into a pillar. Cedric looked dazed for a moment. (Kind of like how Katie always looks). But he shook his head and returned to normal.
"That's it! I'll see to it that you pay for this insult! YOU'LL PAY!" He pointed at the others. "YOU'LL ALL PAY!" He ran from the room in anger.
"Why me?!" Katie sobbed, "I didn't do anything! I was just sitting here!"
"Oh cram it!" Tidus snapped, "We've got too find a way out of here before Cedric comes back for an encore performance!"
"He's right!" Carolyn said clenching her fist and smiling, "As much as I'd like to dash out his brains I'm not sticking around and testing my throat against that 'Blood Sword' thing!"
Carolyn frowned and sniffed the air. "Hmm. No Heartless in this area."
"Oh quit acting like you know everything Carolyn!" Katie grumbled.
"Well that can only mean one thing." Riku said frowning. "We're expected."
Riku burst into the throne room followed closely by his friends. A boy with short blue hair with dark armor sat on the throne. Riku recognized those cold, piercing, golden, eyes looking down at him with a look of triumph.
"So you came," He sneered. "I've been waiting for you."
Suddenly Katie ran up and shook his hand. "HI! How ya doin'? My name's Katie. What's yours?"
He stared at her funny. "Cedric."
"Good to meet you Cedri-" Katie stopped suddenly at the mention of his name. Her eyes widened in fear. She ripped her hands free from his and bolted away screaming: "I SHOOK A BLOODSTAINED HAND I SHOOK A BLOODSTAINED HAND!!!"
She ducked behind Carolyn wringing her hands. Rikku handed her a bar of soap.
"Thanks." She grumbled scrubbing frantically.
Riku stepped forward. "CEDRIC! LET'S SETTLE THIS!"
"The time has finally come!" Sora yelled, "You will pay for your deeds with your life!"
Cedric stood up and drew his sword.
"I'll escort you to your funeral. Let me give you a taste of my incredible power! This sword contains the ultimate power that you idiots believe in! The power of justice!"
Riku shook his fist. "WHAT JUSTICE?! TRUE JUSTICE, TRUE POWER IS IN THE HEART! NOT IN SOMETHING VILE LIKE YOU!"
"You should talk Riku." Cedric grumbled. "I will never forgive you for what you did to me."
"What did I do?!" Riku screamed.
"You killed my father."
"You-your father? But then that means..."
"Yes." Cedric said spinning dramatically causing his cape to billow out around him. "I am prince Cedric, ruler of Hollow Bastion, and SON OF KING ANSEM!!!"
"You're Ansem's son?" Riku said in shock.
"What did you expect?" Cedric laughed. "Before I kill you allow me to tell you my story…"
"It began ten years ago when I was only six. It was back when my father Ansem ruled this land without the power of darkness. I grew up naively thinking that everything in life was fair and good. All that changed when my father discovered The Heartless, he was fascinated with it. He decided to try to create an artificial Heartless. But in order to do that he needed a human subject to test on. All of his servants refused until my mother Queen Jenna volunteered. At first he refused but then he realized he had no choice."
Cedric sighed and continued sadly.
"My mother didn't survive the experiment. Afterwards my father and me began to study the dark arts. Then we realized that darkness was the heart's true essence and that this power could be used to dominate mankind. He gathered an army of heartless and began to destroy worlds. The keyblade master thwarted him. After that I began to train in the art of sword fighting and black magic while my father studied ancient legends.
He found one about the pure-hearts. He knew he could revive Maleficent and have her get the leader of the pure-hearts for him. Unfortunately the plan fell apart when Riku and Mia fell in love.
He took her powers from my father causing his destruction! I plotted for months to get revenge so finally I did it. I created a heartless clone of Mia to tell Riku to wait by the beach. Then I made one of Riku and told Mia to wait for him on top of the island. Then I came up and slaughtered her!"
He pointed his sword at Riku. "And now I'm going to finish the job and get revenge! Revenge for my last family member!"
"Well I'm getting revenge for Mia!" Riku yelled. He pulled out his keyblade. "Sora, guys! You stay out of this! This is my fight!"
"He is SUCH a show-off!" Carolyn shouted angrily.
The two foes leapt at each other.
Their swords clashed. Both boys wore a look of unspeakable hate. Riku swung the keyblade and knocked Cedric back. Cedric rose into the air.
"Meteors of Heaven! UNLEASH THY FURY!" Cedric bellowed. A gigantic meteor flew out of nowhere straight at Riku. He dove to the side just as it slammed into the ground where he had been.
As the fight wore on Riku began to realize how strong Cedric really was. For every wound Riku inflicted Cedric gave two in return.
Finally Riku slumped over exhausted and wounded badly. He fell to down on his hands and knees. He tried to get up but Cedric placed his foot on his back and pushed him back down.
"I could kill you now. I could twist my sword into your back and end it now. But that would be immoral."
"Moral?!" Carolyn yelled. She started towards him in fury. Sora and Kairi grabbed her and held her back. "MORAL?!" She screamed again, "YOU DON'T KNOW THE MEANING OF THAT WORD!!!!"
Cedric turned and sneered at her. "You're the Chosen One right?"
Carolyn gawked at him. "How did you know...?"
"Your powers are legend, just like the Faerie who gave them to you."
"DO YOU WANNA SEE LEGEND BECOME REALITY?!" She yelled trying to break free from her friends grasp.
"You talk big. But can you do anything else except talk?" He turned his attention back to Riku. "Get up and face me like a man."
Riku started to get up but it hurt so bad he could hardly breathe.
"GET UP OR I WILL MAKE YOU GET UP!" Cedric roared.
Riku stood up shakily and gripped his sword. He was covered in blood and bruises. He knew he didn't have a chance to win. Cedric was going to kill him no matter what.
"Mia, I'm sorry. I failed to get revenge for you." Riku whispered.
"NOW DIE! RIKU THE KEYBLADE MASTER!" Cedric yelled jumping back. He raised his hand above his head. A gigantic black orb began to grow in his hands.
"This is it, I'm gonna die." Riku thought shutting his eyes.
"RIKU!!!" A familiar voice screamed.
Riku looked up and almost fainted.
There was a marble staircase behind Cedric that led up into a back room that was used for storage. Standing at the top of the staircase was someone Riku would know anywhere.
Because the person standing there was the one he was thinking about more than anyone else right now.
"MIA?!" Riku gasped in shock.
In an instant Mia was rocketing down the stairs, past Cedric, and straight into Riku's outstretched arms.
Riku was dazed. Questions were flying into his head so fast it was impossible to comprehend it all at once.
Is it really her?
What is she doing here?
Isn't she dead?
Am I seeing things?
"Mia is that really you?" Riku asked still shocked.
She nodded. She was shaking. "Thank god! Riku I thought I'd never see you again I'm so glad you made it!"
"But how?" He whispered.
"NOOOOOO!" Cedric yelled. He stormed up to them and knocked Mia to the floor.
"You stupid little girl! You weren't supposed break out of your chains!"
"Never underestimate the power of a girl with a hairpin!" Mia said smiling as she held up a small black hairpin.
In his anger Cedric raised his hand to strike her again but Riku grabbed his wrist and stopped him.
"If you hit Mia again then I'll rip your throat out and kick it around on the ground." He hissed.
Cedric laughed coldly and yanked his hand free. "Don't threaten me you bleeding cripple!"
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A CRIPPLE YOU ASSHOLE?!" Riku yelled. "HOW IS MIA ALIVE ANYWAY?! I SAW YOU STAB HER WITH YOUR FRICKIN SWORD!"
Cedric sighed. "Well, there's no point in hiding the truth from you any longer. …I didn't really kill Mia."
"Why?" Riku asked suspiciously, "Didn't you want revenge? I thought you wanted to make me suffer."
"I do." Cedric said clenching his fist, "My original plan was to kill her. I heard about her from your friend Cloud in the coliseum. I had to snap his arm but it was worth it. Didn't you notice that his arm was in a sling the last time you saw him?"
Riku vaguely remembered. He was too full of grief to have noticed.
"When the time came for me to kill her I followed her up the mountain and waited in the shadows. When it started to rain I could see you starting up the mountain and I knew I had to act fast. I emerged and lifted my sword to kill her. She turned around in terror and I saw her face. And I saw the same thing you saw and I just couldn't kill her. I knocked her out with the flat end of my sword and teleported her to this castle quickly. Then I came back and placed her heartless clone in her place. Then just as you reached the top I slaughtered the clone and ordered it to say those touching last words."
Riku's stomach twisted with anger. This scum...he had kidnapped Mia, put her through hell, and made the lives of the people who cared about her turn upside-down. But she was alive and safe and that was all that mattered.
"So you fell in love with her too." He hissed.
"That's right," Cedric grumbled, "But it appears she's still in love with you. So it looks like I'm going to have to kill you in order to win her affection."
"HIGHLY UNLIKELY!" Mia yelled.
"Be quiet!" Cedric snapped.
"If you hurt Riku I'll never forgive you!" She screamed.
"Then let me say 'I am sorry' ahead of time!" Cedric laughed.
Riku smiled at Mia. "Don't worry. I can handle him."
She smiled back. "I know you can."
"Puh! You're pathetic!" Cedric said raising his sword. But Riku was quicker. With Mia there he felt no more grief weighing on his heart. His strength was renewed. He swung his keyblade and knocked Cedric back into the wall. Cedric staggered to his feet. Blood oozed from a cut in the corner of his mouth.
"Um...dude?" Katie said pointing, "You got some blood on your face."
"Oh no I don't." Cedric said shaking his head, "Sometimes when I fight my opponent's blood gets on me and…" He frowned and wiped the blood from his face and looked at it. "Wait a minute! This IS my blood!" He pointed at Riku, "YOU! YOU MADE ME BLEED MY OWN BLOOD! You're the first person to do that!"
"I'm so honored." Riku laughed.
"That's it!" Cedric yelled. He raised his sword. It began to glow with a brilliant red light. "This is my ultimate attack! The blood sword!" He leapt towards Riku and swung it at his throat. "NOW! IT IS TIME TO OFFER ME YOUR NECK!"
Riku flew back when the sword made contact with his throat.
"RIKU!!!!" Mia screamed. She ran to his side. There was only a small cut on Riku's throat.
"I looked death in the eye for a moment there." Riku gasped as he clutched his throat.
"What?" Cedric said frowning. "The flesh has NOT been severed?"
"An ordinary human would be headless right now." Lulu said smiling, "But luckily Riku is a keyblade master."
"Daaaaang." Katie said in shock.
"Hmm. A minor inconvenience. I will just have to-" Suddenly Riku punched him across the face and knocked him to the floor. Riku grabbed him by the front of the shirt and lifted him off the floor.
"And this is for tying up my girlfriend!" Riku yelled. He grabbed Cedric and rammed his head into a pillar. Cedric looked dazed for a moment. (Kind of like how Katie always looks). But he shook his head and returned to normal.
"That's it! I'll see to it that you pay for this insult! YOU'LL PAY!" He pointed at the others. "YOU'LL ALL PAY!" He ran from the room in anger.
"Why me?!" Katie sobbed, "I didn't do anything! I was just sitting here!"
"Oh cram it!" Tidus snapped, "We've got too find a way out of here before Cedric comes back for an encore performance!"
"He's right!" Carolyn said clenching her fist and smiling, "As much as I'd like to dash out his brains I'm not sticking around and testing my throat against that 'Blood Sword' thing!"