If ever the four forces of magic
Were to use their magic at its
Full potential, chaos would
Ensue and the world would
Be no more.
Book of Shiva
Kairi ran toward the mayhem, destroying any Heartless who got in her way, and gasped. The once beautiful city she had entered only a few days before was now a scene of destruction and death. She saw the villagers rising up to try and protect their home, but their spells were doing little damage. The Darkside-Heartless were relentless in their destruction of the town.
Kairi looked around. Where were the four, powerful Archmages? They should be out here protecting their home with their friends, she thought.
"Kairi!!" a voice yelled out. She turned around and saw Fayne running toward her. She smiled and said, "I'm glad you came, Fayne."
"I almost didn't, but I couldn't just let you fight the enemy alone."
"Where are the Archmages? Why aren't they helping with the fight?" Kairi looked at Fayne.
Fayne destroyed a Neo-Heartless that had been trying to
sneak up on them. "They don't
participate in any kind of battles, because of their power. They feel that if they use their abilities
to the fullest extent, the world could collapse."
"What?" Kairi gawked. "That makes no kind of sense."
Fayne shrugged. "It's written in the Book of Shiva. They follow its writings like its Shiva herself."
A group of Heartless appeared out of nowhere and their conversation was halted while they dealt with the new threat. Fayne used Thundaga to take out the main force, and Kairi cleaned up the leftovers.
"What's the 'Book of Shiva'? Who is Shiva?" Kairi slashed a Neo-Heartless and used Aeroga on Fayne, who was starting to take a lot of damage.
"The Book of Shiva was written by the aeon Shiva. These people worship her as their god." Fayne explained, kicking a Heartless in the face.
"I thought that aeons were just manifestations of the summoners' power. I didn't know they were real." Kairi cast Curaga on Fayne and herself and proceeded to destroy more of the enemy.
"Actually, summoners only call forth an incarnation of the aeon, kinda like a copy." Fayne focused her power into the keyblade and unleashed a purple shockwave that destroyed the remaining Heartless. "The actual aeons are way more powerful than the copies."
"Okay, now we should go to the temple and try to convince them to help." Kairi began running toward the temple.
Fayne shook her head and followed. She saw another Neo-Heartless jump off of a building and torched it with Firaga. It was going to be a long day.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Riku gazed out of the window and sighed. He walked up to the cockpit where Cid was steering. "Can't you go any faster?" he asked.
Cid cursed. "Look kid, I'm driving as fast as I can and I don't need your sorry ass in here!!!"
Riku shrugged. "I just thought that a high-class pilot like you would be able to make this ship move faster, but…" he trailed off.
"Grrr!! I'll show you faster, ya little runt!!!" Cid slammed his fist down onto a red button on his dashboard and the entire ship shuddered.
Cloud ran in, "What are you doing, Cid!"
"I'm gonna show this whelp how much $&@^**# firepower the Highwind's got!!!" Cid screamed. He began pressing more buttons at, what seemed like, random.
Riku smirked. He reacted just like I wanted him to, he thought. Now he'll get us to Kairi faster. "Hey Cid, I can still see birds passing us."
"That's it!!!" Cid got up and slapped Cloud on the shoulder. "Take over for me willya?!" He began walking toward the back. "Come with me, kid."
Riku had to jog to catch up with the pilot's brisk walk. He saw Shadow, Yuyami, and Vincent talking quietly. Shaking his head, Riku continued to follow Cid, who had began climbing down a ladder in the back. "Hey, where are we going anyway?"
Cid was already halfway down the ladder and yelled up, "Shuddup dammit!! If you wanna save your &$#&* girlfriend, then get your scrawny ass down here!!!"
Riku sighed and began his long descent to help his friend.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Kairi ran into the temple and saw the four Archmages sitting on their thrones. They calmly looked at her at the same time as if linked telepathically. "Young apprentice, why have you returned so soon?" the white wizard asked.
"Why aren't you doing anything!!!" Kairi screamed. "Your town, your home, is being destroyed and you stand by idly?!!"
"We can do nothing, for if we do, the world will be destroyed," the red figure replied.
"One town is little compared to the world," the black-clad figure added.
"You can't be serious." Kairi looked at the figures. "You just can't be serious! My world was destroyed by the Heartless, and I would have done everything I could if I had the power you have!!"
"There is nothing we can do," the white wizard said. "Please leave this town to its own fate…"
Fayne had walked up and was listening to the conversation. "You four make me sick," she sneered. "Hiding behind your god is going to be the most cowardly way for you to die."
The black-cloaked figure rose up out of its seat. "Hold thy tongue, apprentice. You know not what you speak of."
"Come on, Kairi." Fayne grabbed her hand and began leading her out.
"Where are we going?"
"To fight." Fayne replied, leaving the Archmages to their own devices.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Riku had finished going down the ladder and looked around. He saw Cid going through a hatch after imputing a code on some kind of keypad. Riku followed him in and gasped. The room was lined up with huge gummi engines.
"Is this enough firepower for ya?" Cid lit a cigarette, took a long puff, and leaned against the wall. "These are Firaga engines, the most powerful, top-of-the-line engines you'll ever see." He pressed a button and the engines moved to the outside of the ship.
"Okay so why did you need me to come?" Riku asked. The counted mentally ten Firaga engines in the line.
Cid walked over to a button a few feet away from Riku. "You gotta press the button next to you at the same time I press this one."
"Why do you have all of these precautious for some stupid engines?" Riku eyed the button he was supposed to push.
Cid cursed. "Do you @&^$*%@ know how much these things cost?!! They're worth as much as your life, and have more uses!!! Now, we push the button on three, got it!!"
Riku agreed and put his head on the button. "Three!!!" Cid yelled and they both pressed their buttons. The engines fired up and the ship lurched forward violently. Cid cursed as he was thrown into a wall. "Ha, ha!! $@#%, feel that power!!! Let's get back up to the cockpit!"
Riku nodded and walked unsteadily to the ladder. He began climbing it with Cid in tow. The keyblade master got to the top and looked around. He was amused to see that Shadow and Vincent were unfazed by the jolt and continued talking. Yuyami, however, walked toward them and held out a hand to Riku. He took it and pulled himself up.
"What happened down there?" Yuyami asked as he helped Cid up.
Cid laughed and began walking toward the cockpit. "I just showed what the Highwind could do!!! No one insults her and $$@*&$@&* gets away with it!!!"
Riku and Yuyami followed in time to see Cloud get up with an amazed look on his face. "What'd you do Cid?" the blonde asked.
"Just let the Highwind go all out," Cid replied and sat down in the pilot seat. "This little prick," he gestured toward Riku, "thought that the Highwind couldn't move!!"
Riku shrugged feigning nonchalance. Inside, however, he was impressed with the pilot's abilities. "How long before we get to Salom?" he asked.
"Jus a few minutes and we'll be there, kid," Cid replied, laughing.
Just a few minutes. Hold on Kairi, he thought. Hold on.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Kairi jumped as a Neo-Heartless came at her with all its might. She swiped at it while it below her and sent it back to the darkness from which it came. She began destroying Heartless left and right and she wasn't even tired yet.
"Kairi, don't bother with the small fries!! We gotta take out the main force!!" Fayne was running toward the center of town, dodging Heartless as she went.
"What's the main force?" Kairi asked, running after her.
"I think it's the Darksides."
"The Darksides…?" Kairi didn't think so. She felt another force under the Heartless'. Something frightening that was controlling the Heartless. Yet it was so familiar…
Fayne saw one of the Darksides and didn't stop running. She jumped as high as she could and used her keyblade to send a wave of purple energy toward the huge Heartless's face. The force of the blast caused the Darkside to stagger back, stunned. Kairi was taking care of the Neo-Heartless that were trying to distract them from the Darksides. She cast Aeroga on herself and Fayne to knock back the smaller Heartless and looked up.
Another Darkside was walking over to help its companion, but Fayne was already on it. She cast a Graviga spell that forced it to the ground and crushed all of the weaker Heartless at its feet. She then used a Thundaga spell to try and destroy the weaker Heartless, but realized that whenever she destroyed one, three more would take its place. She looked around to see where Kairi was and gasped. "Kairi look out!!!"
Kairi looked to her right and saw another Darkside running toward her with terrifying speed. She looked to her left and saw the same thing, a huge Darkside running at her. She waited until they both attacked her and used Ragnarok. The familiar energy filled her body as her speed became unbelievably fast. To her, it seemed like the Heartless were moving in water and she jumped on one of the Darkside's hands. She ran up its arm and began to hack at its face with quick, powerful strokes from her keyblade. The monster roared as its face was reduced to an unrecognizable mass of black flesh. It tried to grab Kairi, but she had already jumped of its shoulders, and on to the other's. She proceeded to do the same thing that she did to the first one, destroy its vulnerable face. The second Darkside was smarter though and shrugged its shoulder in one powerful motion. Kairi was propelled into the air, but she unleashed a blast of bright blue energy that had been building up in the Promise Keeper since the attack. It hit one of the Darksides and ripped it apart resulting in an explosion of dark energy that engulfed the second one. Kairi landed back on the ground and tensed ready for the next attack.
Fayne ran up to her, face aghast. "What was that? I've never seen anybody move so fast!!"
Before Kairi could answer, the three Darksides attack in unison. They had surrounded them so there was nowhere to run. Kairi was punched and the force of the attack sent her hurtling into a building. Fayne turned around to help Kairi, but was kicked up into the air by another Darkside. She landed on top of another building and lay there, breathing hard. Kairi tried to stand, but couldn't. she also didn't have the energy to cure herself. This is it, she thought. I tried to save you Sora, but I failed. I'm so sorry. A tear slid down her cheek as one of the Darksides rose its foot to crush her. As the foot came down, she knew that she regretted nothing.
