Part Seven: To Fight for Friends
Doanld wearily rolled over and pushed himself up. Every inch of him ached as though it had been beaten. Doanld groaned as he sat up, and picked up his staff. Goofy was lying a few feet away. Doanld crawled over to him, and shook his shoulder.
"Goofy wake up." Goofy didn't stir. "Come on" Donald said shaking him harder. "Don't give up on me now. Not after everything that's happened."
Goofy's eyes opened and he grinned at Donald. "You know I wouldn't leave you in the face of a battle." Donald sat back also grinning, and examined the place they had landed in. They were sitting on the roof a building high in the heart of a gigantic city. The sun was high and shone brightly. The buildings were made of various shades of brown, yellow, and tan.
Carefully Donald and Goofy got to their feet. It wasn't the city the gave them and eerie feeling, it was the total lack of life within it.
Yuffie and Leon had climbed down off the bluff and were walking along the beach below. Neither said anything to the other, not as though they had much to say. Suddenly two figure merged out of the shadows a ways down the beach. Both Leon and Yuffie instinctively reached for their weapons, but they weren't there.
The two black-coated figures walked up to them. Carefully they reached up and slid their hoods down. One was a slim faced woman, with dark black hair streaked with silver that fell to her shoulders, framing a face set with glittering green eyes.
The other quite unearned both Leon and Yuffie. For he looked exactly like Sora. He smiled crookedly at the shock on their faces.
"You look just like Sora, but older." Yuffie said, gazing at him.
Lutian sighed. "That's because I am shadow of the being he will become. He doesn't know we didn't tell him-"
"You've seen him?" Leon asked sharply.
Lutian nodded. "Yes found him in the city."
"We thought he was dead," Yuffie said quietly gazing at them.
"How he got to the World in Between is beyond us." Terra said with a shrug. "For his heart still lives. As do yours coincidentally." Terra said.
"We were sent here by Ansem I guess, though don't ask how. I haven't a clue as to how he did it." Leon stated.
Lutian and Terra looked at each other. "You must come with us" Lutian said and turned around swiftly and began walking, Terra right behind him. Leon and Yuffie glanced at each other and seeing no alternative followed.
Standing at Ansem's side, Kevaul gave and shudder.
Ansem looked at him with concern. "What is it?"
Kevaul shook his head. "Nothing my liege"
Ansem turned back to the sky he could feel it coming. It was finally falling, a grin twisted his lips. He felt a strange presence next to him. He turned to look at Kevual again, annoyed this time. Kevaul was trembling uncontrollably, darkness was dripping from his mouth, nose, eyes, and ears. Ansem took a step back, it must have been a symptom of his experiment with the nonexistent.
Kevaul looked up at Ansem and said with a grin. "They have come for you my liege, for you are the source of all Heartless." He turned and pointed to a writhing pool of darkness just behind them. Ansem smiled and walked into it, Kevaul didn't follow. He fell to his knees, his hair slowly changing color from red to a brown-blond. His eyes changed from green to a soft brown. His face changed features melding back into the form they had been created into.
Kevaul had come back to his body, he began to feel once more. Emotions and temperatures. The pool of darkness closed behind him as Kevaul gazed up at the tower. He then ran through the lift stops and doorways, madly trying to reach Ansem's private quarters.
Aerith and Cloud jumped as the door to the room burst open. Cloud lunged for his sword and Aerith grabbed her baton as Kevaul burst into the room. His eyes were frantic as he saw the shattered containers. Completely ignoring Cloud and Aerith he ran to the strangers who were all laying in a line.
"Terra, Caliga, Lycole! Wake up you guys!" He shook them each in turn, none of them stirred. If he hadn't looked closely he would have thought they were dead. Slowly Kevaul sat back putting his face in his hands. "No" he moaned, "I'm so sorry."
Aerith and Cloud walked cautiously up to him. Aerith laid her staff down, but Cloud kept a firm and determined grip on his sword. "Our friends won't wake up either" Aertih said. Kevaul looked up, his appearance had changed. It looked just like the body that had been confined in one of the containers. Cloud glanced around as he noticed this, Kevaul's body was gone, returned to its heart and soul.
Kevaul took a shuddering breath. "If they don't wake up that means their souls have gone to the World in Between. It's a forgotten realm where the shells of beings who once lived reside."
"So why didn't we end up there?" Cloud asked still suspicious.
Kevaul looked at him. "I don't know, perhaps your tie to this world is so strong that you couldn't be pulled through. Or perhaps your friends have been called there, that happens every now and then. Those who still have living hearts are called to the World in Between." Kevaul got up, "Ansem's gone by the way. The Heartless called him out by using me as a voice." He grimaced, "Heartless have the most foul stench of any creature I've ever run across." He looked down on his friends, "Whatever you're doing guys you'd better hurry up. We're running out of time."
Suddenly Kevaul looked up the air around him began to bend and writhe as though in a haze. "Ansem has the power to mess with time. He sent me back to destroy those who would stand in his way. It is because of me that Caliga has no sight." He shuddered. "I fought Lycole and I nearly killed him. I am ashamed for that." He stood gazing at Aerith and Cloud. "I will not let them fight alone" he hissed furiously. Cloud raised his sword, but suddenly Kevaul was gone.
Sora, Caliga, and Lycole entered the rain. It was like walking through a vertical curtain of water. It immediately soaked them through to the skin, but none of them felt it. Sora tried to summon the Keyblade but it wouldn't come, it just wouldn't come to his hand. He had barely had time to ponder this when Lycole shoved him hard. And Caliga took him by the scruff of the neck, and ran. Sora felt himself spinning in about thirty different directions. When Caliga released him Sora fell over, his head spinning. Sora carefully got to his feet shaking his head.
They were standing on top of a building, the same building they had before. Sora saw with some shock that is memories were still flying across the screen. "You've got to go" Claiga said, "you've got to jump." Sora nodded, and swallowing moved to the edge. "Don't fall with your body," Caliga said. "Fall with everything you are. Your heart, body, and soul."
Sora turned to look at him. "Why was I brought here?" he asked. The wind whipped Caliga's hair and coat.
"Because your heart is different, it bears a different power. Because you know the road you must take. Quickly you must jump, don't ask me how. But you are able to manipulate the folds of this world. You can jump, you are not afraid are you?"
Sora shook his head. He turned to face the open air and jumped. The wind roared in his ears as he fell. Everything seemed to slow down, the ground did not come. He fell deeper and deeper into shadow. Then he stopped, his vision cleared. He was hovering in the air far above land. Sora cast his eyes about, looking over the world. Something was serene about it, all peaceful and calm.
"What is this place?" He though silently, and jumped when a voice answered.
"Is this the answer you've been looking for?" Sora didn't reply due to the shock that was numbing his entire body. Since he didn't say anything the voice went on. "This is the world in its true form." Sora felt into his pocket and his fingers closed around the small key chain of the hawk, buried in the crinkled paper. Phantom tears came to his eyes, to fall into the illusion of what the world had once been. The image broke apart spiraling off into shadow.
Sora fell deeper into the darkness, as at last he too lost hope. "Maybe our journey meant nothing after all" he thought, and blackness closed in around him.
Lycole walked along the dark street, as he had done so many times. Something cold and resolute came with him this time. The rain ran down the side of his hood in thick streams, it was cold too. He could feel Caliga standing on the building where Sora's memories continued to whir across the screen. Dots of eerie yellow light appeared on the ground all around him as the Heartless pulled themselves out of the pools of darkness that spawned everywhere they stepped. They massed in a great army around Lycole, shivering jerking, never staying still.
Lycole drew Oathkeeper and Oblivion, whirling the Keyblades on his hands and sinking into the guard position. Caliga raised his arms, and the clouds rolled away, to reveal the dark navy sky streaked with meteors. As the moon light fell on the drenched street, icy blue light rose from the ground to form a heart shape around Lycole.
"Where's Sora?" Lycole's question ringing through his thoughts.
"Gone…" Was Caliga's faint answer.
"We must find him""Yes, we must" Caliga replied.
The light around Lycole vanished and with a wild cry he threw himself into the mass of Heartless. A strange force roared in his veins, he leapt into the air rising away from the ground. The Heartless rose with him, he threw Oathkeeper into the air, striking down the air born Heartless.
But there were too many for him to take out. Lycole leapt backwards, landing at the top of a stair case. He chanced a glance up the building, the heartless had formed a vast sea. They writhed and clambered over each other to get at Lycole. He jumped, leaping from the banister and landing on the side of the building. Lycole proceeded to run up the buildings side. When he reached the screens Lycole drew his arm back and hurled Oblivion into the air, summoning the Kingdom Key in its place.
Caliga leapt off the edge of the building and seized Oblivion as he fell. He and Lycole exchanged a quick glance as they passed each other. Caliga landed directly in the midst of the Heartless sending them in all directions.
Lycole flipped himself up onto the top of the building. He turned and looked down to see Caliga fighting off a fresh torrent of Heartless. He was just about to leap down and help, when he felt and odd presence behind him. Lycole turned to see something small and dark come flipping through the air. It landed tail erect and Keyblade drawn, its eyes blazing as it watched Lycole.
Lycole raised and eyebrow at Mickey. "I see you have returned, care to join the fray?"
"I do believe I shall" Mickey and Lycole leapt from the building. Joining Caliga in the battle against the endless stream of heartless.
Kairi and Riku felt something drag at their hearts. "Heartless" Riku growled.
"Let's get them" Kairi said drawing her Oathkeeper. Riku looked at her for a moment sure he saw another standing where she was. He saw not the ditsy childish girl she had been. But a great warrior whose heart and being had grown through an experience he would never know. But was not all that different from his own. Riku shook the feeling off with a shiver.
Riku and Kairi had been put on their guard when the rain clouds rolled away. Now they saw the swarming mass of Heartless and the struggling figures within them. Sword and Keyblade in hand, Kairi and Riku threw themselves into the battle with a fierce, blind rage.
Leon, Yuffie, Terra, and Lutian. Came running into the city, both Terra and Lutian had been panicked when the clouds had gone from the city. They were running hard when the mass of Heartless came into sight.
"But we don't have any weapons" Yuffie said gazing, eyes wide at the mountain of squirming bodies.
Terra whirled on her, "You know your own weapon better than anyone! Summon them you idiot! This is not the time to be helpless!" With that she and Lutian waded into the fray. Leon and Yuffie glanced at each other. Then simultaneously held out a hand and summoned their weapons. Leon the Gunblade, and Yuffie a large shuriken, they too went into the battle.
There was one last fighter to join the battle. He slammed into the Heartless knocking several out. He darted through the thick places of the battle like a viper, wielding deadly bladed rings. His eyes gleamed in a golden glow beneath his hood. Lycole was the first to come face to face with him.
"Kevaul?!" Lycole said with surprise, nearly dropping his Keyblades.
Kevaul grinned. "Of course, can't let you guys have all the fun." Lycole grinned in reply, they fought side by side.
Something struck Mickey hard at the ankles. He fell backward, shadow closed in around him swallowing the King. The Keyblade in his had disappeared, and Mickey knew not where the darkness sought to take him this time.
Lutian fell to his knees, his strength draining through the wound in his side. Slowly he felt his being unravel. Lutian smiled. "At last" he whispered his voice fading away. "At last this war is to end" Lutian fell forward and his body disintegrated in a huff of air.