Chapter 3 - Nemesis

(So you do know what this is.)

The monster, yes. I've seen it before.

(What name did you give it?)

It is... my Nemesis.

The cry took a moment to register in their minds. Both Kydran and Leon stood for a moment, looking at her. The Lion was a little taken aback because he wasn't sure whether Yuffie was kidding or not. Kydran was slack-jawed because he had been mulling over his plans for the trip when she had interrupted his machinations.

"Move it, guys! Let's go!" she shouted, about-facing and darting off down the street toward the Third District. Her shout was enough to spur both Leon and Kydran into action. Kydran had spent approximately one half-hour fighting to call the keyblade to his hands, but could not, and so a frustrated Leon had given him a wooden sword from one of the racks. He wished he had either the keyblade or a wooden sword or anything that could make him a little more useful than a bystander. Or a victim.

"What do you mean by 'they've broken down the walls'?" inquired Leon as he drew his gunblade from the twin leather belts about his waist.

"What... (huff) do you... (huff) think... (huff) I mean...?" breathed Yuffie, who had been running for quite some time. "The walls fell! (huff) Like they were pushed over by some huge shockwave!"

They had not even neared the Third District before they found themselves lost amidst the anarchy that the Heartless excelled at leaving in their wake. People were screaming, afraid not only for their lives but also at merely at being reminded of the monsters that had plagued the worlds they once inhabited. Some wielded weapons against the Heartless, but most were quickly buried beneath the sheer number of them.

As Kydran reached the horde of Heartless, pouring in from the direction of the Third District, he felt a sort of pull within himself, the way a planet must feel when it feels the sun's pull. His hand shot to the silver pendant about his neck, and he drew in a sharp breath. All the warmth left his body.

(Nemesis)

He felt a sudden weight in his left hand, and looked down. There it was. The crimson-hilted keyblade. He looked from it back to the mob of Shadows and Darkballs and Invisibles and, amazingly, two Darksides headed directly for them.

"Kydran!"

The boy felt a sharp blow to the back of his head; Leon's gloved hand had made a solid connection. Kydran was broken from his daze. He braced himself. The sheer numbers of the Heartless were overwhelming. He wasn't sure how they were going to survive.

"Tell me that's not the sound I think it is," gasped Aerith, halting, blatantly fearful.

"It sounded like a wall crashing dow- the Third District! No!" was Sora's panicked reply.

Both Aerith and Sora hastily made their way across rooftops, Aerith fighting to keep up with the young man's quickening pace. They arrived at the edge of the Third District in time to see the last of the walls falling. Now, the Third District and the monstrosities within were wide open to all of Traverse Town- and seized upon this opportunity, they did.

Aerith was unsurprised at how quickly Sora joined the fray. He made a dive off of the building, intending to land in the center of a mass of Shadows. As he fell, the Keyblade Master uttered words of power and wind rose about him in a spherical fashion, creating a defensive shield. Aeroga. Landing atop a Heartless, which burst into a cloud of dark power, Sora began to cleave into the Shadows mercilessly, while Aerith rained down offensive spells from her place on the rooftop.

Not far off, Leon perked as he heard the sound of Firagas and Blizzagas being slung in spades, and recognized the voice.

"Kydran, Yuffie! Aerith must have found Sora! Let's get to them!" Leon cried, and Kydran had managed to register it even as he swung the black keyblade around to fend off the countless little creatures that tried with all their might to rend, claw, tear, and destroy.

The 'Great Ninja' leapt into action immediately, bouncing up and rebounding off the heads of more than one Shadow, running atop the chaos while managing to hack her way through the aerial Heartless with her huge shuriken. Kydran followed her example and, with a dexterity that was simply astounding (keeping up with Yuffie? Unheard of, even for Sora!), he bounced along the heads of the Heartless.

Leon, left behind, growled in irritation at the Heartless. He lashed out at one, destroying it, and felt a familiar power well up within him. He channeled this energy through his arms, and his body crackled with blue electricity. The length of the Revolver doubled, as did the breadth of the blade; it was now engulfed with shining azure energy. Lionheart.

The Griever then proceeded to swing the enchanted weapon in huge arcs, decimating and swathing a path through the Shadows. His blade swept upward, and a Darkball was cleaved in two. He would gain momentum. Soon, he was keeping up with Yuffie and Kydran.

Sora felt strange, suddenly, when his bright blue eyes finally fell upon Kydran's approaching form. Though he had been unnerved not long ago, he felt oddly comforted. If felt like seeing an old comrade-in-arms; the same way he felt as he watched Leon close the distance, and Yuffie approaching agilely, each out of the corners of his eyes.

"What took you all so long?" called Sora cheerily, though the situation was anything but cheery.

"Sora! We have to find somewhere else to go, we have to get to the gummi docks!" Leon shouted, realizing that the number of Heartless overcoming the city was far too great to be stopped; Sora would have to get off of Traverse Town immediately.

"Duck!" cried Yuffie, suddenly plowing into Kydran. He fell back, surprised, and realized on his way to the ground that he was nearly decapitated by an Invisible's blade. Sora threw himself the Invisible and tore it apart. Then, after helping Kydran to his feet, they ran toward the First District.

The dark form moved to the edge of the platform in front of the bell-rope, looking down upon the sea of black, upon the millions of glowing yellow eyes filling the Second District. Its arms folded behind its back, and it straightened itself. The figure, clad in a hooded raincoat of black leather, watched the chaos.

He was pleased.

Behind the figure, there was the sound of a soft humming as a portal was opened. The humming grew louder; it grew loud enough to hurt the ears, and was followed by the sound of electricity crackling. Another raincoated man stepped out of the portal, moving up beside the first as the portal shut itself.

"It's coming," spoke the newcomer, his voice high and not without a little malice. The only thing visible of his body, the lower part of his face, revealed sharp features and paled skin. "I can feel it. This will be quite a show."

"Of course. It's found the boy; it always does. It was only a matter of time."

"How long can we keep this going?"

"As long at it takes for all worlds to be destroyed. Then, when the Keybearer has no choice left, he will find the path. It will be set right again," returned the first of the two, looking up at the sky. It would not be long.

"Do we have to power to stop him, if something goes wrong?"

"That is not your concern, Knives. Things have already gone wrong; you know this. Cease asking me your pointless questions, and think for yourself. Unless, of course, you would like to be augmented as well?"

"No. Thank you."

"Go to the boy and his brother, ensure that nothing happens to them. If you fail me... I will make you wish you had never taken your first breath."

"Understood."

Knowing the conversation was over, and knowing even more clearly that there shouldn't have been a conversation to begin with, Knives turned and walked away, disappearing into the wall of the clock tower.

The first continued to watch, as a legendary strategist would watch a battle unfold.

He was pleased.

"What the hell is going on? I thought you said they couldn't leave the Third District!" cried Kydran, looking over his shoulder at the anarchy. Buildings were already catching on fire; people continued to be reaped by the Darkness. "I don't understand!"

"You know as much as we do!" replied Leon, and they reached the World Exit, the path to the gummi docks.

Yuffie cried out in terror.

The huge, twin gates burst open, and nearly crushing the group on the ground. Kydran dove out of the way, rolled upright, and raised his keyblade for retaliation, but as the aggressor came into view, he felt his wish to retaliate diminishing.

An immense foot stomped down, nearly crushing Kydran in the process. The immense, violet-colored monster towered over them all, energy spiking from a large horn protruding from between beady black eyes. Kydran felt his hair standing on end; electricity would ensue.

"A Behemoth!" called Sora as he propelled himself upward, leaping upon the gargantuan Heartless's shoulder. He struggled his way to the horn and proceeded to hack away; the others were left to continue charging through the gate.

Leon groaned in despair at the sight of what lay beyond the fallen gates. Heartless had already overrun the docks; there were no gummi ships to be found. Escape would be impossible.

"No! This can't be happening!" exclaimed Leon, losing his composure. Yuffie grasped his upper arm and dragged him back through the gates, where Sora was still engaged with the Behemoth- though with the aid of Aerith now. The flower girl was still barraging Heartless with a multitude of spells, keeping them at bay.

The gargantuan Heartless reared and swung its head violently. Sora was sent flying into a crowd of Heartless, and having being spared by his Aeroga, lifted himself to his feet and continued to hack apart the Shadows swarming around him.

The Behemoth still remained, though its horn was nigh to breaking; Yuffie took it upon herself to finish the task. Her focus was on the shuriken as she released her grip on Leon and barreled in between the tree-trunks it had for feet, narrowly avoiding being smashed as it rampaged further away from the gate. She dove forward, executing a perfect dodge-roll. As she came out ahead of the Behemoth, she leapt upward, turning in mid-flight. The weapon she held glowed intensely; she hurled the weapon in mid-jump. The attack struck true. The horn shattered. The beast reared once more, and then was gone, burst into a cloud of Darkness.

Kydran was following the four fighters as they advanced further into the First District, but his thoughts were not. His mind was racing; what would they do now? How were they going to survive? They couldn't last forever. Where would they sleep? Not where he slept last time... the Inn.

Pandora.

His stomach turned.

He checked the weapon that rested now in his left hand, and then the others. Leon was in the lead; he had to have some sort of plan, the one that he was now revealing.

"Look, the Heartless originated from the Third District, right? That means that maybe if we take the fight there we can close off their entrance!" he yelled, loud enough for them to hear even over the din. The others found this course of action doubtful, but it was better than standing around and looking helpless.

Kydran skidded to a halt and yelled in response, "No! I have to help Pandora, she's in danger!"

As the boy split off, toward the Inn, Aerith cried the boy's name, which was lost on Kydran by that time. Sora felt compelled to go after him, but Leon turned and shoved him back in the direction they were moving.

"I'll catch up!" were Leon's words as he veered off behind Kydran, his weapon still shining and buzzing as it cleaved through the Heartless in his way. Sora watched for a moment as he went, looked back to the others, and led them toward the Third District.

Kydran's legs pumped as quickly as he could force them to go. As he slammed his Heart Key into the Heartless, charging toward the inn, he asked himself why. Why he felt compelled to save her. It didn't make any sense; she couldn't mean this much to him, he only just met her.

Performing a baseball slide beneath an Invisible's blade and cutting its legs out from under it, he popped himself onto his feet with his free hand in time to avoid the Invisible's counter-slash to his head. Ignoring it for the time being, he barrelled toward the inn, hearing the hum of Leon's Lionheart cleaving the Invisible in two. Kydran looked over his shoulder, unsurprised to find Leon following him.

"What the hell are you doing!" shouted Leon, clearly angered.

"I didn't ask you to follow me!"

"Ungrateful little twerp," muttered Leon, slicing through a Darkball.

The inn was close by. Kydran felt bad that he couldn't save all the people he was seeing being cornered and taken by the Heartless. He did what he could, but he knew his primary goal was to save Pandora if she was, indeed, still in this world.

Charging into the inn, Kydran was immediately met by a group of mixed Powerwilds and Search Ghosts. Swatting aside one Powerwild, grabbing another with his free hand, and narrowly avoiding a slash from a Powerwild, he searched wildly for Pandora, praying she was still safe.

A Search Ghost launched its disembodied hands at Kydran, to which he responded by using his grabbed Powerwild as a body shield. Then, having chucked said Powerwild at the Search Ghost, he dove over a charging monkey-Heartless, rolling to his feet and pivoting to face the stairs, springing up each step. Leon entered the inn at about that moment, swinging like a madman.

The hall on the second floor, leading to each room, was not made for close-quarters combat. Kydran found it very difficult to keep the Heartless at bay with such a small amount of fighting room. Still, he had felt something within himself, something that told him he was closer to Pandora, that she was still okay. He could also sense her fear.

As Kydran made it past the third room, about halfway down the hall, he heard the door crack and burst open. A Neo-Heartless landed in the hallway, locking its haunting yellow eyes on Kydran. The boy turned to see what he was up against, and was shocked to find it was already coming at him, claws raised. Narrowly deflecting the swing, he was unprepared for the next swing, which he had nearly avoided; the monsters claws raked across his abdomen. He stumbled back, wincing in pain.

H was surprised to suddenly see the glowing blue tip of the Lionheart pierce through the monster's body. It was not dead, not by a longshot, but Leon had bought enough time for Kydran to get to his feet and enter the room at the end of the hall.

With the sound of Leon's combat with the Neo Heartless ringing in his ears, Kydran threw the door open to find Pandora huddled in the back corner of the room. She was clearly startled by his entrance, and seemed confused as to whether or not he was a Heartless.

"Pandora! Give me your hand, we're getting out of here!" cried Kydran, extending his gloved right hand. She didn't move.

"Come on!" he cried once more, and she got to her feet, shaking off the daze. Grabbing a hold of her hand, he practically dragged her from the room. Entering the hall, he saw that Leon hadn't had a problem with the walls, being that he had simply cut through them to get to his foe.

The Griever stood at the top of the stairs, keeping the Heartless at bay. As Kydran flew down the hall, more of the monsters generated behind him.

"Leon, let's go! I've got her!"

Pandora, too bewildered to do anything, said nothing, but kept her grip on Kydran's hand as tight as she could. Kydran wasn't paying attention to the pain she was causing to his hand, but rather occupied himself with fending off the endless tide of Heartless.

Leon took the lead as the three of them ran to find and meet the others. He knew they would be alright; they had Sora with them.

Leon glanced over his shoulder and shouted, arm sweeping to mow over a line of Heartless.

"The Third District! We're not long off, hurry!"

Kydran saw it ahead, saw that the gates were wide open and that Sora, Yuffie, and Aerith fighting a losing battle.

Sora and Aerith and Yuffie were surrounded, trying to force their way through the horde to get to the Gizmo Shop, which seemed to be where they were all coming from. But as they neared, and found themselves irrevocably trapped in the Third District by the swarms of Shadows and Darkballs that now enveloped them, they learned that was not the source of the Heartless.

They were falling from the sky.

Leon's gaze shot upward; why hadn't he seen it coming before? The clouds rolling in, the fact that the stars weren't visible. It was probably due to the fact that the stars were blinking out, there were so few left. As his steel-gray eyes traveled upward, he felt his body turn cold.

There was a rip in the sky.

It was as if the sky was made of fabric and somebody had torn it wide open. It was from this rip, the split seam, that the waves and waves of Heartless were now spilling from.

The mass of Shadows suddenly slid away. Sora was most surprised by this, though all those who had been engaged in combat with the Heartless now found themselves looking around, warily, as if danger loomed overhead.

Kydran's twin green oculars slid from the rip in the sky to the open court before the run-down Gizmo Shop. A figure stood there, though the ebon-haired boy was unsure if it was even real. The image of the masculine figure flickered. He stood in a black raincoat; the sleeves belled out, a hood was pulled over his head. He turned. They could not see his face, but Sora would feel, then, strangely pulled toward this Unknown.

Sora began to move forward. A locked-away memory stirred. He knew that figure from somewhere.

The enigmatic man raised his arms high, as if accepting, welcoming them, and was gone. Each of the six survivors would feel a ripple of power emanate from the rip in the sky. The Heartless stopped falling. Every gaze turned upward.

Something was emerging.

It was like watching some sort of thick, viscous substance fall through a hole in the ceiling; it was almost squeezed out, this titanic black form. It filled the entire rift with its bulk, and soon it fell, some gargantuan meteor. It was headed directly for them.

Aerith was the first to come to her senses, though the others were mesmerized by this turn of events. She blinked, looked at the others, and cried a "Get out of the way!" at the top of her lungs. This brought all but Kydran to their senses, and they moved hastily, giving as much room as they could spare for this colossal comet to land.

Kydran still looked upward, hypnotized.

Pandora lunged out to grab him by his arm, shake him, get him to wake up. He moved absentmindedly, still looking upward.

(Here we are again. No surprise.)

What are you saying?

(Don't you see? Nothing ever happens by accident.)

Is this...?

(Yes. It's yours.)

Kydran blinked, momentarily gaining control of himself. He was thrown backward, jolted, lost track of who and where he was. Was sent flying through the air. Was dazed again.

(It could be worse.)

Who are you?

(He could be awake.)

I... don't understand!

(Because you know nothing.)

Who are you?

(You'll remember.)

When his eyes opened, Kydran was in agony. He tried to pick himself up from the ground, but felt a splitting pain in his right arm. He looked, surveying himself. His right arm had to be broken; it was hanging at an unnatural angle. Beyond him lay his keyblade. He groaned, and tried to sit up, but when he saw what had happened and what lay before him, his blood froze in his veins.

The 'meteor' had struck; it hadn't taken long for it to do so. The rip was bigger than he remembered it, and much of the shrapnel upturned by the massive form's entrance was being sucked upward into the rift. Sora was already at his feet, as were Leon and the three girls. Apparently, Kydran was a slow waker.

He forced himself to his feet, grimacing. Terror was still fresh in his system. All of them were looking up at the beast that had fallen from the sky.

Nemesis.

It rose about five stories tall, hunched over. Tentacles, an innumerable mass of black, inky tendrils whipped at the sky and the ground in every direction, from every which way. These tentacles came to a point at the monstrosity's midsection, where they seemed to solidify into some sort of spinal cord. The tentacles reached upward even further than this, solidifying into a crystalline ribcage and, atop it all, a crystalline, black skull wrapped in tentacles which glared, eyelessly, down at all of them. More tentacles extended outward for its arms, which crystallized and formed a pair of skeletal forms. Its fingers were made up of the tentacles as well. Its hollow eye-sockets loomed over them all, and not one of them could move, the terror was so great.

Sora finally broke the deadly silence.

"RUN!"

They all began to turn, to flee, to try to escape, but the countless tentacles gave chase. The monster, if it could see, was watching Kydran most of all, however. The boy again felt that tug, the pull, but forced himself to resist. He babied his broken right arm, but lacked the ability to defend himself as one of the tentacles wrapped itself about his waist and proceeded to drag him into the mass that the monster used as legs. Kydran cried out in pain as he was lifted into the air.

A bright, azure flash passed before Kydran's eyes. He felt himself falling. He hit the ground. He screamed in agony. The roar of a gummi ship sounded in his ears.

"Rescue!" cried Leon triumphantly, as he fended off the tentacles assailing him, the energy engulfing the Revolver yet unwaning. Sora himself was a flurry of blade strokes and defensive maneuvers, and he had managed to work his way toward Kydran, Pandora in tow.

The two stooped down to help him up, and cry of pain from Kydran drew their attention to his broken arm. The gummi ship, still firing on the colossal Heartless, sailed in, hovering just over the wreckage. Leon guided Aerith and Yuffie, neither of whom wasted any time, to and onto the rescue ship. Sora was swatting away tentacles while Kydran and Pandora struggled to the ship. They managed, finally, to board the ship, Sora last of all, the furious glow in his eyes still not fading until the door to the ship was closed.

Kydran was let go, and he sunk to the floor, lying down onto the floor of the ship. He felt the vehicle moving, and heard the roar of its engines as it rocketed away from Traverse Town. Sora got up and rushed to the cockpit, to look out at Traverse Town.

He witnessed its last moments before the rip swallowed it whole, clouds of shrapnel and rubble still flying in orbit around it. And then Traverse Town was gone entirely. He felt his heart sink. Traverse Town was gone, and everybody who had been on it.

Leon moved beside the boy and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. His voice was soft and understanding, for once.

"I understand now... the worlds weren't blinking out. They were being swallowed, by that... thing."

Sora looked up at him, feeling no less mournful.

"It happened so quickly," uttered Sora, shaking his head in disbelief.

"It always does," was the Griever's reply.

Cloud, the blonde, spiky-haired wielder of the Buster Sword swiveled in and got up from the pilot's seat to meet Leon and Sora.

"Glad to see you made it," spoke Cloud, his face still emotionless.

"Cloud. Good to see you. The docks were destroyed, how'd you get this ship?"

"I was there, watching, when the boy Kydran summoned that... Heart Key. The Heartless went insane after you left. I saw the walls fall and knew you'd need a way out."

"It's a good thing you did. Where are we headed?"

"I don't know."

"Let's try for Olympus Coliseum... a lot of people from Traverse Town go there. We should tell them they don't have a home to go back to. Again," input Sora glumly, and the other two men only nodded in agreement.

Aerith was tending to Kydran's wounds, in the meantime. Pandora was kneeling, sitting over the ebon-haired adolescent, muted violet eyes awed.

"You came back for me," said Pandora softly.

Kydran coughed, and chuckled. "Yeah. I did. Good thing, too."

"Why do you say that?" asked Aerith, though she knew the value of a life.

"...because the thought of being stuck all alone in the middle of space with that dippy brown-haired kid just doesn't appeal to me."