6H:Welcome back! Did you all recover from chapter 60?

Anaretsu: Their eyes are bleeding.

6H: Did you do that?

Anaretsu: (hiding sycthe behind back) Nope.


Kingdom Hearts-Shattered Fragments

Fragment 61-Last Line of Defense


The last wyvren fell down through the air and then disappeared into nothingness. Vincent's red cape and headband flew out inthe wind behind him. He looked down at the endless abyess below him, glaring at the mist. They had defeated this round of heartless for now, but there were still many more waiting in this castle. He listened to Sora and the group talk.

"We have to take the lift over there up. If they really are at the top of the castle, then as long as we go upwards we'll find them...eventually." Ryu said.

"We could run into dead ends, you know? It would be wasting time." Aru told him.

"No, I think he's right we gotta take this lift up." Sora said.

"Vincent..."He turned to see Lulu with a hand on his shoulder.

"What is it?"

"I know you're mad. I am too. But we have to face this...seven years in oblivious darkness was already too long..."she told him.

"You think I don't know that? Still, I just thought everything would be dark and...gone, I guess-that everything would be just gone. But seeing things and remembering how they used to be and how they are now is much worse...In my mind, I can still see everything...the paintings in stairway, the entrance hall, the gardens...the village...see over there, in the distance? Squall's hill was there, and over there the ruins where all the kids hung out...and the fields over there...can you see them Lulu?" he asked her.

"Yes...I can see them still. Almost like I could touch them...like...just like..."

"Your parents?"

"...yeah...just like my parents..."she became considerably quiet. The rest of the group looked at them from a distance.

"Should we leave them?" Donald asked quietly. Sora shook his head.

"No...let them have some time...this was their home, after all." he said, knowing what it's like to lose your world, and wondering what it'd be like if he got the chance to go back hom. Would his mom still be there, calling him for dinner and yelling at him when he broke the windows from throwing the old blitzball around with Wakka? Would Cedeile's house be right next door, her back yard just beyond the trim green hedges the he could walk through to go see her? Would the island be the same, with the palm trees, the tree house, the secret place, the waterfalls...? But the question he didn't want to anwser was-would Riku and Kairi and Cedeile be going back there with him...

"Let's head out..."Vincent said as he and Lulu rejoined them. They walked over to where the lift picked them up and the moved upwards quietly, no one saying anything. Sora thought about his friends and if they were okay. He was dying to find out where Cedeile went to, and if she was still alive even. He wondered if Kairi was here. The last time he had seen her was on Captain Hook's ship, and then she had been like the living dead. At least she had responded to him when he called out to her.

Ryu slumped against the side of the lift and thought about his own home. He had lived at fragment hunter HQ for all his life-mostly because it served as his family's home as well. He missed them all, and hoped the heartless hadn't gotton there yet. But there was a dreading feeling in his chest that they had and everything was gone. He wouldn't have been able to live with that if it happened. He already had his brother's blood on his hands-he didn't need everyone's. 'Mom...dad...everyone...I'll be back as soon as I can...' he thought, hoping they would hear his message.

Aru began to feel sad, because she had no 'home' to think about. But then again, Cedeile said that after their journey was all over that she could go and live with Cedeile on Destiny Islands. It was a promising new start-she could adopt Cedeile's family as her own, and she and Cedeile could be like sisters. Then again, it would be strange to try and live with them as a family. And she thristed for more information about her past. A castle, a starry night sky that hasn't been seen since the worlds were split apart, and a person with a black scarf...the face of that person-seeing them-she would've given anything. It might provide a clue to who she was and where she came from. She decided after all this to start a journey to find out her past.


The lift came to a stop and let them off on a new platform high above the ground. Vincent and Lulu looked atround at their new surroundings in horror. Golden metal pipes came out of the ground beneath them and covered the walls like a curtain. Thefloor was chipped where they came through. A few bent off at this level and pumped out smoke into the air. A larger lift rested a few yards away, waiting to take them to some unknown destination. They hopped aboard. As soon as they were all on, it began to move slowly across the air, giving them a few of the massive front of the castle. As it slowly moved onward, a huge, two colored heartless symbol came into their sight. The left side was golden, as was the rest of the castle on that side. Most of the symbol on that side had cracked away, showing turning gears inside, hard at work. The right side was silver, and the symbol fully intact on that half.

Vincent shook more violently than ever and Lulu took a few steps back, clenching her hands into fists as well.

"What is it? I mean, besides that your cstle has been defaced with the damn heartless insignia." Ryu said, keeping his distance.

"They had the nerve to take down the clock..."Vincent growled.

"The clock?" Goofy asked, confused already.

"They must've reused the gears from it..."Lulu murmered to herself. She then began to explain. "It was the main time keeper for the world and it sat right there." The lift lurched to a stop in front of it. "See how the castle is half gold and half silver? It was to respresent to sun and the moon and the harmony between them. The clock had been fanshioned to mirror the theme. The gold side had the sun-beautifullly edged in gold and the clock face painted metallic, so when the sun hit it, it sparkled. The silver half was the moon-a smooth cresent moon that was painted silver and edged in shapphires. And the front face was semi-transparent, so they had all this stained glass behind it. At night, they would light it up and you could see it all and the gears turning and the ropes hanging down and people walking around. The hands... they were cast iron-painted black. The hour hand had the cresent moon on the end of it, and the mintue hand had the sun. The numbers were elegant, black roman numerals that framed it perfectly. Behind the clock...it was magically to see how everything worked. And the chimes at every hour...like beautiful music being played..." She stopped, looking back to the castle and seeing that the dream was gone.

"But it's gone now..."Vincent ended, falling to his knees. "Those bastard heartless destroyed it, no doubt. Damn them..." he used some other, more foul language. Lulu knelt down beside him.

"Vincent...will this place ever go back to the way it was...?" she asked.

"I don't think it can. It's too late."

Suddenly, they were ambushed. Three wizards and two Dark Balls came out from behind them. They all got into action. Vincent ame forward and released his metal hand, tearing one of the dark balls to shreds. Lulu cast a firaga spell on one of the wizards, giving it considerable damage. Donald came in, casting Thundra, and then she finished it off with Blizzard. Ryu wacked at one of them for a long time before finally getting some results and seeing it die. Sora and Goofy took on the other dark ball as it bashed out, sending them flying every so often. Aru took on the last wizard, casting Aqua and Eartha on it to crush it flat, and when it broke through the rock on top of it, she bombarded it with Thundra bombs until it squeaked and died. When they were all done, the lift began to move smoothly again.

"That was a good battle, huh?" Aru said to them.

"Aru, you pelted that thing to ashes." Ryu told her, surprised to see her fight so fiercely.

"Yeah...I guess I did..."she said, thinking about her fight.


The got off on the other end of the castle. A few pipes rose out of the stone nearby, and there was a set of stairs leading down to another lift stop. Before they left that area, Vincent had the need to punch one of the pipes with his metal hand and curse out the heartless some more.

"Damn them! They destroyed our castle! Our home is now only a piece of memory!" he yelled as the metal vibrated up after he hit it.

"There's no time!" Donald told him, annoyed. "Let's get out of here!" They rode the next lift up and came to a place with a huge block with the heartless symbol on it that was in two peices. They fought some heartless in the area and the looked around.

"That door over back there-"Ryu pointed to behind them, "-will most likely get us around to the other side. The block is like a big set of stairs, and we'll end up on the upper platform. There's a doorway up there we'll go through."

"You sound sure of yourself." Vincent commented to him.

"Hey, I'm a fragment hunter, remember?"

"That doesn't impress me as much as you being one of the Takita line does." he retorted back at him.

"Is anyone ever going to tell me why that's so important?" Sora asked.

"Maybe later, when we defeat Mallificent." Lulu replied, heading to the other doorway already. They all went through and found themselves in another part of the lift stop inside with another doorway on the opposite end of the ledge. Once again, they fought with the usual aragment of Hallow Bastion heartless and decided to rest a while, because they had taken some heavy damage. Ryu was already bleeding again, as well as Aru. Sora had gotton his eye poked out, stupid as it sounds, when Donald went flying into him. Donald went around curing everybody and they sat down for a few moments, realising that they had no idea what to do when the time came to fight Mallificent.


The witch, meanwhile, stood in front of what appeared to be the keyhole. Kairi layed on the ground, eyes closed, resting peacefully. In Neverland, the girl had been active, somewhat, and now she slept as she had before. Mallificent walked forward, facing the enirity of the the hall.

"Seven princesses of purest heart-open the keyhole for me! Now!" Six beams of light came from the hall and formed over Kairi. Just as the beams of light got at their strongest, they dispearsed, leaving the room as dark as it had been before. Mallificent began sceaming again. "So maybe I can't cheat this one. The princess must have her heart back for the keyhole to be complete."

"Oh Mallificent..."a voice sang. Out of the shadows stepped a young woman with an oversized chest that was barely held in her lace-up, black sleeveless shirt. She wore short, tight black shorts with a chain hanging around the waist to serve as a loose belt. She also had big platform black boots to finish off the outift. Her hair was dark blonde, and hung around her shoulders. Small black wings entended from her back, and on her one ear was a long, black earing.

"Black Angel...you're still here." Mallificent said, disapointed that this one hadn't left already. She didn't really like Black Angel, mostly because she was annoying in the human qualities she loved to posess. The girl came forward., and then floated up to where Mallificent was.

"You don't seem so happy to see me. And here I was, thinking that I'd be your last secret weapon...hmm?" she asked hopefully.

"You? My last secret weapon? You must be kinding, right?" Mallificent said, walking away and observing the six roses in her possesion already, trapped within the glass orb.

"But Mallificent! You know how much power I pack!" she giggled. Mallificent winced at the annoying sound. "I'm Black Angel-the Lady Death, The Princess Wreaper, the Temptress of the afterlife!"

"Uh-huh..."Mallificent said, ignoring and doubting the girl's power.

"The keyblade master gets closer, you know. Soon he'll be at the chapel." she reminded the leader of the heartless.

"Don't remind me."

"But I can stop him once and for all...I just need the comand..."Black Angel trailed off, hoping Mallificent would give her the orders to kill off the keyblade master and his friends. The witch looked at her. She was floating in mid air, anticipation filling her face. Mallificent sighed.

"Fine. Go and get rid of him." she replied, sounding like she didn't care if he died or not in this battle.

"Oh, yay! You won't be disapointed, Mallificent! I promise!" And Black Angel flew back down into the room and hopped into a portal into her relem. The witch rolled her eyes at her patheticness and hoped that the keyblade master would get rid of her, because then one, she wouldn't have to do it herself, and two, she wouldn't have to deal with that preppy cheerleader physce that the girl possessed. Assuming that Black Angel would not suceed, she headed down the stairs and left the room, going to assume her postion in the chapel.

When she left, a figure emerged from a corner of the room, seeming to come from darkness itself. It was Riku, the same silver hair trailing down his back. He was dressed in the strange, dark clothes from before, but his eyes were filled with some kind of new malice they hadn't had. He walked out across the floor and saw Kairi laying on the gound. He stopped, looked at her for a bit, and then continued on his way to some pipes by the far stairs. It was a whole, tangeled mass of them, all looming over like they would fall. He waved his hand over a particular spot at the base and soon, Cedeile's resting form came into view, now a blue, glowing color. She was entangled within the pipes, so she could not escape. Not that she could move anyway, with that spell on her. Riku smirked and then turned back around, spotting the six roses. He went over to them and looked at them for a moment, then placed his hand on the glass. He rubbed a spot on it and the glass there suddenly broke into pieces. He stuck his hand in and captured the roses in his own darkness, sending them somewhere where only he would find them.

"It was so kind of her to leave them for me. And I didn't even have to do any work." he said to himself, his voice, changed. He looked back at Cedeile, grinning even more.


Sora and the group finally decided to head out again and went through the doorway to outside. They found Ryu had been right-they were on the other side of the block and could now climb up to the other door that would hopefully lead them to Mallificent. As they stepped further out, a sudden black pillar of fire erupted. They all staggard backward.

"What the hell is that?" Ryu asked.

"Looks like a fire there." Goofy responded.

"Yeah, but what's it doing?" Ryu responded, unevered by this new...thing in front of them.

"It doesn't look good, whatever it is." Lulu added. The fire cleared and out popped out a woman with black wings.

"Tada! I'm Black Angel! And keyblade master, you're going to die right here!" she exclaimed happily. Sora looked exaspherated. Ryu laughed a bit.

"Well, Sora, at least you get to be killed by the foxy sex demon, eh?" he joked.

"Shut up!" Sora yelled back at him, a wild shade of red. Ryu laughed again. The rest of them sighed at the immautrity that the two boys were showing. Black Angel watched them, annoyed.

"Can we get this over with?" she asked them. They seemed not to have heard her. "Fine, I'll just start on my own." She gathered black fire in her hand and tossed it at them. It sent them all flying in different directions. Sora jumped up and went for her, wacking her with everything he had. She blocked him, playing along with his game, and then kicked him on his head. He froze from the sudden pain, and then she threw a fireball at him, burning his chest. He yelled out. Ryu came up behind her, trying to slice her through, but she poofed away, reappearing on the high railings behind Aru and the others.

"AQUA PILLAR!" she yelled. It grazed her, sending her back a few feet, but then she came back down, torching the pillar with her blackfire. The water dwindled away and was dispelled. Lulu came right up behind Aru and cast her own water spell on Black Angel.

"WATERA!" Lulu yelled, sending the magic towards her. It knocked her back farther, but she recovered again and sent black fire down on Lulu. She yelled out, being engulfed in the flames.

"Lulu, no!" Vincent yelled, attempting to get through the flames.

"Aqua..."Aru said weakly, bringing down a splash of water on the flames. Lulu was on the ground, her skirts half-burnt away. Aru was charred as well, her robe nearly all the way burned. She pulled the blue sash around her waist off and let her robe fall off of her. Underneath she sported a blue, sleeves tank top that went up around her neck and came down to her theighs like a dress. From underneath were tight pants in black. The bottom of the shirt blew in the wind. Aru looked up at Black Angel. She raised her hands up toward her and knelt down on one knee. "Get back everyone." she said to them. Vincent half dragged Lulu away, and Sora and Ryu stepped back. A great black swirling mist came in her hands, followed by white power looking stuff filling in the mist. "STARDUST SHOWER!" she yelled. It blasted out of her hands, sending her flying to the ground a few feet back. It hit Black Angel, slamming her into a statue far above. The staute crumbled and broke off. Black Angel rested on the ledge it formerly sat on.

"Aru, are you alright?" Ryu asked, coming to her aid. She got back up again.

"Yes, I'm fine. Is Lulu alright?" she asked. Ryu and her looked over to the black haired woman.

"She'll be fine. Right now, we have to defeat Black Angel." Sora came up next to them. Black Angel got back up and swooped down, hitting them all with a barrage of black fire. They all tried to guard against it, but found it difficult. She landed up on the block behind them and grabbed the end of her earring with her thumb and index finger, rubbing it and thinking.

"How to kill you...hmmm...I could send you to the depths of hell, or I could brun you alive. Oh, the choices!"

"We don't have time for this!" Ryu yelled. "We gotta go in for the kill!"

"Not so fast!" Sora said, grabbing him by the end of his cloak to stop him from charging into battle.

"Black Angel is death itself. One false move...and we're finished." Vincent said.

"What do we do, then?" Donald asked. "She's powerful!"

"She's nothing I haven't handled! If I can hold my own in a fight with Nabuki the demon queen, then I can take on some big busted woman!" Ryu decalred, anxious.

"She's not just a demon, Ryu!" Aru said. "She's much more than that...Nabuki wouldn't be able to stand up to her. I don't think any enemy we've faced..."

"Come on, she's not that powerful. Sure, the blackfire burns and crap, but she hasn't shown any REAL power yet." Ryu said, crossing his arms.

"Don't tell me all of you are done playing already!" Black Angel called to them. She gathered up a huge, blackfireball in her hands and threw it at them. It hit them and engulfed them, becoming a new enviroment. They were surrounded by darkness, and they all began to fall into it, feeling their souls burning and being torn from the bodies. Black Angel landed outside of it and smiled at her handy work. "He'll never make it out of that one! The keyblade master is as good as dead!"

"I don't think so!" Vincent came in and charged at her with his metal hand, claws extended. She barely dodged, the sharp metal scoring a glancing blow. She staggered back.

"How did you-?"

"It was easy when your aim is so bad!" He drew out his gun. "Now what have you done to them?"

"I sent them into a dimension where darkness eats light. Their souls will be devoured and they will see the people they care about die horrible deaths until they finally give up wanting to live and let the darkness take their very exisitance!" she explained. "Isn't it the perfect way to die?"

"I've thought of better." he growled. "Now get them out."

"Why should I?"

"You may BE death's messenger, but you haven't DIED yet." He tightened his finger on the trigger.

"Your puny gun won't hurt me." she said, her eyes narrowing. He pulled the trigger back all the way and a bullet flew out, releasing thunderbolts as it went. It hit her near the base of her neck, knocking her over. The darkness went away and the five of them were laying there, injured and weakened. Vincent loaded another bullet in his gun. Lulu came out from the corner he had left her in.

"She underestimated you puny gun, huh?" she said, looking at Black Angel, how was shaking in pain.

"Yeah. But I taught her a lesson." Sora got up slowly, shaking his head.

"That was...horrible..." he trembled.

"Sora, it was just an illusion. None of it was real. It was all the fault of that woman there." Vincent pointed to Black Angel with his gun. "And soon she will die."

"I'm not finished yet!" Black Angel yelled, getting up. Vincent shot her twice, each shot echoing off the walls of the castle and falling down into the abyess below them. She staggered backward, holding her bleeding wounds. Vincent shot her again, and she fell to her knees. He shot her five more times, each one exploding in a small burst of gold light.

"I believe you are." Vincent said, walking towards her. Taking his metal hand, her thrust it through her body, making five punctures in her skin. He pulled out his claws, lifted her dead body, and threw it over the edge, never to be seen again. "There. That's done with. Now she really is death, and dead..."

"What is your problem?" Ryu asked him.

"Weren't we trying to kill her?" Vincent asked him. Ryu went to speak, but shut his mouth.

"Donald..."Aru said, standing up and facing the other mage. "I think we need a little help here." He nodded and got out his staff.

"CURAGA!" he yelled. Light rained down on all of them, fixing the damage that had been done. Aru's robe was made whole again, and the burnt holes in Lulu's dress disappeared. The blood on Vincent's metal hand melted away into the stone on the ground.

"Well then...I s'pose we should get movin' so we can fight that Mallificent witch." Goofy said to the group. They all agreed and headed onward, ready to take Mallificent and whatever heartless she threw at them.


6H:SUSPENSE!

Anaretsu: No.

6H:Aw...come on!