A/N:
As you can see, even after a two-month hiatus, this fanfic is not dead ^^. I don't really know when the next chapter will be completed. As quickly as my muse will let me, I suppose. Hopefully I won't be hit by another writer's block before ItL's finish.
###
A flurry of needle-sharp shards of ice flew towards the Heartless. A few of the creatures were struck by the volley and vanished in trails of smoke. The rest halted their advancement. They paused briefly to study their prey and then tensed their muscles, preparing to rush forward. Sei didn't wait for them to make the first strike.
"Run!"
He cast another Blizzaga spell, and Yuna and Tidus sprinted through the gap he had created in the throng of Heartless. Selphie dropped her crutches with a yelp as Sei scooped the girl up in his arms and ran with her down to the open beach. The Heartless turned at these movements and began to swiftly follow the humans to the water.
From the sand Tidus picked up a large piece of driftwood, holding the unwieldy branch like a sword as he dropped into a defensive stance.
"You guys want a piece of me?" he called with fierce brashness, standing in front of Yuna protectively. "Then come and get it!"
Any Heartless that drew close were promptly knocked away and backwards as the wood made contact with their small, shadow-dark bodies. Sei deposited Selphie beside Yuna and then hurried to help Tidus. He focused another spell towards the oncoming hordes.
"Thundaga!"
Bolts of lightening fell from the heavens to destroy several more of the Heartless, bits of glass forming in the sand where the lightning had melted it. Another shower of ice needles hit a pair of Heartless before they could reach Yuna and Selphie. On the other side, Tidus was fighting the onslaught as best he could, but it was more difficult for him to beat back the Heartless as he didn't have a more potent weapon.
Two Heartless jumped at the blonde simultaneously. One was knocked several feet out into the surf. The other managed to claw his arm before the blonde could pull it off. He sent a grateful glance towards Yuna when the telltale glow of green healing magic shimmered over his arm and mended the wounds. Yuna smiled back at him in encouragement, but it was obvious that he and Sei would never be able to keep back the Heartless forever, not by themselves and all but unarmed.
Selphie leaned over to stare at Yuna apprehensively as a fiercely determined look came over her face.
"Yuna...?"
"I have an idea----" Yuna said quietly. Then, more clearly so the others could hear her as well, "---just give me a little room! I'll do a summoning--"
Selphie scrambled backwards, closer to the hem of Yuna's dress. Sei quickly moved away as well. A gleam of fascination showed in his face despite himself as he cast a sideways glance at the girls.
"All right, Yuna! That's the spirit!" Selphie cheered.
Yuna closed her eyes and began to go through the movements of the summoning. A cry of pain halted her mid-summoning, and her eyes snapped open, wide and panicked, as she and Selphie and Sei turned towards the source of the cry.
Then Yuna screamed.
"TIDUS!!!"
A Heartless had stuck its black claws into the blonde youth's chest. His eyes were vacant and staring as he fell back. Even as they watched, Tidus' form vanished as his glimmering heart was consumed by the darkness. For a moment, all Yuna could do was stand there, frozen. Selphie stared horror-stricken at where Tidus had stood only moments before.
"Oh no! Tidus---!"
It finally seemed to sink into Yuna's mind what had just happened, and something broke. She began to cry, Selphie patting her on the back and hugging her and trying her best to consol the summoner.
"Yuna, don't cry...it'll be okay..."
Sei turned back to face the Heartless, white-faced from what he had just seen and more resolute than ever to continue protecting the two girls. He called down another storm of lightning. One set of Heartless dispatched, he pivoted towards the other side.
"Graviga!"
A troop of Heartless was pushed flat to the earth and destroyed, only to be replaced by another. He cast a water spell to dispatch a few more.
"Waterga!"
A strain of fatigue began to pull at him---a sign that he was using too much of his magic too quickly. A trained black mage would have had little difficulty lasting much longer, but he was no black mage. He pulled together strength to cast another gravity-based spell, wondering how long he would be able to keep this up. He hadn't been conditioning himself to work magic like /this/.
"Graviga!"
The gravity spell hit six of the Heartless at once---two managed to flee before they could be hit by the full brunt of the magic. His darkside watched these events with growing interest.
~Give up
Sei didn't halt when Ansem's voice entered his mind, and Ansem persisted in his own cool, detached way.
~Surely even you can see the darkness will overtake you and the rest of your friends eventually. This island will again be eclipsed by darkness
Sei forced his arms to stop shaking and to focus his remaining energy into another spell.
~Shut up---damn you----shut up!
Something painful flared up in his chest and Sei doubled over, gasping for breath and wrapping his arms around himself. Ansem's voice rose up inside of him triumphantly.
~How long did you honestly think you could confine /me/ with your weak light?!
As if beckoned by some signal, half a dozen Heartless leapt on Sei at once, pushing him onto his back on the sand. Sei screamed as a Shadow plunged a clawed hand into his chest, catching a hold of his heart in its icy fingers. The darkness began to wrap around his shard of heart almost instantaneously, and the Heartless crawled away from his body, watching with unblinking butter-colored orbs.
Sei was drowning in the darkness---he couldn't breathe or cry out, and the more he struggled, the farther into its depths he was dragged. He could no longer see or hear or feel anything of the outside world. And Ansem was laughing---
Then Sei was gone.
Ansem stood up from the earth, dusting the sand off his clothes and staring down for a moment at his hands and his arms and his body---the body that had been denied him so long by his pathetic little light. His self-satisfied smile turned to a slight frown in his irritation. But then, he thought musingly, if it hadn't been for his light, this body would have disappeared---probably to become a Nobody or nonexistent one. But that, he supposed, no longer mattered.
He looked down the beach towards the two girls who had accompanied Sei. His eyes narrowed when he noted the sudden lack of Heartless and the large avian-spirit that now stood beside its brown-haired mistress. Yuna had one hand on Valefor's neck and was staring with cold iciness at Ansem. All signs of her anguish at Tidus' loss were gone except for a redness about her eyes and a light shimmer on her right cheek where she had missed wiping the tears.
"Who are you?" she demanded frostily. "Where is Sei?"
Selphie looked around, as if hoping that Sei had somehow managed to survive and was simply hiding somewhere.
"Sei? S-e-i!!" she shouted. "Can you hear me?!?"
Ansem looked bored, as if he were dealing with children of no significance. "Your voice can no longer reach him where he is."
Selphie turned to stare at Ansem, confusion on her face.
"What...?"
Then her eyes suddenly widened in recognition. "Hey! You---you're that guy Sei was talking to this morning! I'd recognize that creepy voice anywhere! And---" she glared daggers at him with these words "---and I bet you're with the Heartless, too!"
"Perceptive little girl, aren't you?" Ansem asked mockingly.
"Perceptive little girl my arse---" Selphie snarled. "Your stupid Heartless took Tidus!"
"As is only inevitable for all the hearts of this world. Very soon even you shall be joining your friend."
"Who do you think you are, saying things like that?!? Come on, Yuna!!" she cried, turning to the other girl, "Have Valefor show this guy what happens when he messes with us!"
Yuna was only happy to oblige.
"Go forth, Valefor," she murmured, her voice brittle and wintry.
"Yeah," Selphie cried. "Kick this guy's sorry butt!"
Valefor gave a piercing cry and dove for Ansem, claws outstretched. A weapon materialized in Ansem's hand before the summon reached him. Valefor had no time to retreat. The copper-skinned man whipped up the lower blade of his swallow to cut through Valefor's side. The summon veered away with a shriek, preparing to circle around and strike at Ansem once more. While still at some distance away, it shot a thin, white beam sideways at its opponent. There was an explosion upon contact between the beam and the ground, sending up chunks of earth and a thick cloud of sand and dust. From out of the cloud flew several orbs of purple and black energy. Valefor gave a screech as the shots converged upon its body. It crashed to the ground in a daze, its body slowly disappearing in flickers of light.
Selphie gave a cry of horror.
"Oh no! Valefor---!"
"It's all right, Selphie---Valefor won't die that easily."
Yuna was far more worried at the moment about what would happen to herself and Selphie and the rest of the islands. Her hands tightened into fists at her sides. She wondered if the Heartless had reached the villages and if everyone was doing all right. For now, it seemed like there was nothing more she or Selphie could do...
Ansem ignored the two girls and made his way up the path to the Secret Place. His stylized coat billowed about his ankles.
~There is still so much we don't understand...
He halted as a pool of darkness began to form at the base of the entrance, his brow knitting together in puzzlement. His face cleared when he saw the young man emerging from the darkness, eyes hidden by a blindfold and silvery hair framing his pale face.
"Of course..."
The pool of darkness gradually flickered away, and Riku looked up. He stared, but even after a few moments, his face remained blank. Only the deceptive coolness of his words showed that he held any emotions at all.
"You have no right to be here."
He stepped forward and pressed his hand against Ansem's chest before the other man could react. He drew the darkness away from the light within, enough so that the light could retake its other half and its body. When Riku began to see Sei's light glimmering brightly, he took his hand away. Sei stood there unsteadily, looking around him uncomprehendingly. Then his knees buckled and gave way beneath him. He collapsed into Riku's arms, his face pressed against the latter's chest.
"You can't walk, can you?"
Riku sounded amused. Sei would have scowled in reply, except Riku's shirt was in the way, and it seemed like he could barely muster the strength to even stand up.
Riku chuckled.
"Heh...all right, let's get you to somewhere more comfortable, and you can rest."
They shuffled out of the damp shade of the trees by the Secret Place and into the sun, Riku supporting Sei. It was so beautiful----the only signs that anything had happened at all was glass in the sand and a thin, jagged trench where Valefor's energy beam had cut into the earth. Sei shuddered, despite the comforting warmth of the sunlight.
"You-'re---cold---"
Riku paused to give Sei a faintly inquiring look.
"---you---feel like---"
Sei stopped, letting his head fall onto Riku's shoulder. It reminds me of the cold of the darkness, he had wanted to say, but he didn't. It wasn't just a physical cold---he thought he could feel it inside his heart too, somehow.
"What did you---do back there---anyway?" He muttered instead. "How---?"
He broke off when Riku gently set him in the sand against a palm tree.
"I have power over the darkness," Riku murmured. "And I never liked Ansem---but you already knew that." His smile was chilling at these words, but then his expression softened. "Besides, I couldn't leave you trapped like that."
Sei looked like he wanted to ask more, but Riku stopped him.
"We can talk later. Go ahead and get some rest."
Sei nodded heavily, not bothering to fight the fatigue any longer. He had already fallen asleep when Yuna and Selphie approached the two young men. Yuna peered down at the blindfolded one, uncertainty and questioning on her face.
"Riku?"
###
They had left Hollow Bastion's world to follow that tugging feeling in their hearts through Traverse Town's streets once more. At first, the direction the pull took them confused Kairi---she wondered if maybe Sei or Riku had ended up on a world they had never been to before because she didn't remember opening a glimmer in this area. When they stopped in the shadows of a darkened alley, Kairi was almost certain about her first assumption. But after a moment, something prickled in the back of her memory about an alley in the night. About herself cold and wet and lost...and she wondered...
She stared at the place where the glimmer was, wondering if it really was the same portal she had used in the beginning.
"What is it, Kairi?" Sora asked. "Is something wrong?"
Kairi held her heartkey uncertainly against her chest, grasping the handle tightly in her hands.
"I think this is the way back to the Destiny Islands," she said softly.
Destiny Islands.
The world where it all began.
Sora grew silent, focusing pensively on the glimmer.
"I didn't even tell anyone that I was leaving that night," Kairi whispered. "They have no idea---and then you've been missing for five years now. This'll be a big shock. For everyone."
"...a shock. Yeah."
Sora sighed, running a gloved hand through his thick, dark hair.
"You know, Kairi---I've been dreaming about going back home forever. Ever since I left you to search for Mickey and Riku. Ever since I promised you I'd come back. It's funny because...now I think I'm scared to."
In the shadows, his face looked just like a little kid's----completely uncertain.
"I thought the day I came back would be the day I had opened the door to the light and defeated the darkness. I don't think we're even close to achieving that yet."
Kairi hugged him tightly.
"Oh, Sora..."
Sora buried his face in Kairi's chest, Kairi holding him like he was a child.
"It's okay Sora----don't be afraid. It'll be awful, having to go back when you know we'll just have to say good-bye again. But---"
She fumbled for a moment at her neck, then held up the necklace that she was wearing.
"See this, Sora? A thalassa shell from when we were little; thalassa shells were good luck charms for sailors."
Sora looked up at what she was holding, managing a small smile.
"To ensure that no matter what happened or where they went, they would always be able to return home," he murmured.
Kairi nodded encouragingly.
"Right. So, this won't be the last time you see home," she said.
Then, more seriously, "Or if it is, at least you were able to see it at least once more, and everyone back home would know that you were still all right, even after these years."
Sora nodded. "That's true. I owe them that much, at least." He chuckled. "I feel like...a kid who's run away from home or something. Come back from the dead. It's silly, I guess."
Kairi smiled.
"Well, whatever it is, I think everyone's going to be happy to see you again."
She spun the keyblade once in her hand like a baton.
"So, ready?"
She opened up the portal, and they stepped out onto the beaches of the Destiny Islands.
It took a moment for their eyes to adjust to the bright glare of the tropical sun after the clouded skies of Traverse Town. For a few moments they simply stood there soaking in the sun. Kairi sighed, tasting all the familiar scents and flavors of the island. It seemed like nothing had changed here since the night she had left it.
~It feels so good to be back
Wakka and his younger brother Chappu were fixing a fishing boat out on the beach, a hole apparent in the hull of the craft. Farther down the shore, Leena was watching over the smaller children of the village as they built sandcastles, swam in the ocean, and beat each other with dull practice blades. Kairi gazed around at the island paradise, feeling like it had been years since she had last set foot in the warm sand or joked around with Selphie, Leena, and Yuna in the village. Of course, for Sora, it had been years since he had last been with everyone, and he was feeling that. He stared at everything and everyone with his wide, blue-gold eyes, as if he could soak in the entire island if he only stared hard enough. Despite his earlier misgivings, a huge grin had formed on his face.
"Home..." he whispered. "It's really home..."
At the boat, Chappu looked up, a hammer still in his hand. He caught sight of the newcomers, and his jaw dropped open. Making excited exclamations, he jostled Wakka until his older brother would look at where he was pointing. When he did, Wakka gawked. Then he jumped up and began to sprint across the sand towards the pair, Chappu close behind him. They waved and shouted excitedly as they drew close.
"Kairi!" Wakka exclaimed. "Ye Goddess, you're back!"
"Kairi, where have you been?" Chappu asked eagerly. "You've been missing for weeks---everyone's been so worried!"
They stopped just short of the two and Chappu turned a quizzical look towards Sora.
"And who's this guy you've brought back with you?"
Wakka's eyes grew wide as he studied the brown-haired young man.
"Chappu, you moron, it's Sora!"
"No way! Sora, is that you?!?"
Sora smiled feebly and twiddled his fingers in a sort of little wave.
"Hey guys, how's it been?"
"My God! Sora---! Do you have any idea how much grief you've caused us at the islands?! Gone for five stinkin' years---we thought you had /died/----arghhh if your mum doesn't kill you---then just watch it 'cause /I/ will---!"
Wakka stopped mid-rant when he realized that both Kairi and Chappu were laughing. Then Sora sort of chuckled too, and Wakka sighed and grinned in defeat.
"Ah well...but seriously, what's been up with you guys? You and Riku gone for five years---then Kairi up and poofs into thin air, not to mention that strange guy Sei shows up, falling out of the air and causin' Selphie to raise a fuss---"
Kairi gasped.
"Sei?" she broke in, "Sei was here?"
"Yah, you bet---he, Selphie, Tidus, and Yuna went over to the island we always used to go to." He peered across the water at the islet. "They probably won't be gone too long---hey, while waiting for them to get back, how 'bout seeing everyone back at the village?"
"I---well---" Sora stammered.
"We'd love to!" Kairi said with a grin. "Come on, Sora!"
###
When Sei awoke next, he found that he was still where Riku had placed him, curled up in the sand beneath the shade of a tall palm. Riku sat beside him, playing with a long, thin branch fallen from a nearby shrub. He was staring out into the ocean, but he turned to look at Sei when he felt the other man shift beside him.
"How are you feeling?"
Sei winced and let his forehead fall to Riku's shoulder, his eyes closed as he mumbled something unintelligible. Riku raised a slender brow beneath his blindfold.
"What's that?"
"...awful. I feel like crap."
Riku smirked. "I'm not surprised. An hour wasn't nearly enough time for you to have regained your strength."
Sei raised his eyes briefly to look at Riku before slumping back into his original position.
"An hour?"
"More or less. Last time this happened, you had an entire night to recover.
Sei was silent for a moment.
"Last time..." he whispered.
Then he laughed softly, the action completely devoid of any real joy or humor. Just pain.
"I really...am pathetic."
Riku glanced at him sharply.
"Don't say that."
Riku's voice was quiet, but there was a harsh intensity held behind his words.
"To live with that---that /thing/ inside you, as part of you---you're one of the strongest people I know. Don't ever let him tell you otherwise. Ansem..." Riku spoke the name like it was something poisonous---to be spat out rather then spoken. "I'd have disposed of him more thoroughly had I not known it would hurt you, too."
Sei slowly blinked at the silver-haired young man. A hesitant smile twitched at his lips.
"Thanks, Riku. And thanks for helping me. I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't come."
Riku shrugged it off.
"It's not a big deal."
Sei nodded and then shifted so that he was leaning with his back on the tree.
"Are Selphie and Yuna alright?"
Riku waved his hand airily in response.
"They're fine. I told them to go ahead back to the village. I'd stay here with you until you woke up."
He paused, then added, "I needed some time alone. I don't know if I can handle going back just yet."
"It's been five years now, hasn't it?"
"...yeah."
Sei brushed his long hair out of his eyes.
"Riku, I've been meaning to ask you...something's happened to you with the darkness. I can feel it. What happened?"
Riku was quiet for a few moments. He looked down at the branch in his hands and then broke it in half.
"I'm not sure..."
He closed his eyes briefly.
"It scares me...because it feels so /right/...but I think-"
Riku turned his head to meet Sei's gaze.
"-I think I'm becoming the darkness."
He broke one of the stick's halves into two smaller pieces.
"You don't look surprised to hear that."
Sei shook his head. "No...I guess I'm not, really."
Twist---snap.
"It feels like Fate..." Riku said softly. "It...feels like everything, not just Ansem, has been working towards this."
Riku threw away the rest of the branch in his hand and summoned his keyblade. The weapon shone like a piece of a starless night among the light and brightness of the island.
"Sora never used the Oblivion, you know."
He tugged lightly at the keychain hanging from the handle, smiling sardonically.
"It won't come off."
The Oblivion disappeared when Riku released it. The silver-haired keyblade master sighed, pulling his legs close to his chest and resting his chin on his knees. He and Sei sat beside each other in silence, their minds wrapped up in a tangle of memories, wondering where exactly this road of Fate was leading them.
Sei had fallen asleep again when Riku saw Sora and Kairi approaching the islet. They were still some ways from the beach when Sora caught sight of the pair. The brown-haired teen nearly jumped up from his seat in his relief and his excitement to wave at the pair. Kairi had to pull him down by the leg of his jeans before he capsized their craft. As soon as they reached the shore, Sora tossed their oars off into the sand without paying the least attention to where they landed, and he and Kairi ran towards the two under the palm.
"Riku! Oh, thank the Goddess---!"
"We came as soon as we heard what had happened from Selphie and Yuna----"
"Are you two all right?"
Kairi knelt down by Riku and Sei, looking at them with worry.
"What happened? Is Sei doing okay?"
"He's fine---just sleeping---"
Riku stared up at Sora as he spoke. His face, if it were possible, was whiter than it had been before.
"The keyhole----in the Secret Place," he heard himself say. "You probably want to go seal that."
Sora stared.
"What?"
"I never got around to the keyhole in the Secret Pla---" Riku repeated.
"No, I heard what you said," Sora interrupted. "I just----well, all right. I'll go take care of that."
Sora climbed up the ridge behind them and proceeded to follow the path up to the Secret Place. When he returned, he squatted down beside Kairi across from Riku.
"All right, Riku," Sora said equably. "Now, we talk."