GAHHHH LAST CHAPPIE!
…………………………
Riku, and this mysterious girl he'd just met, were sitting in front of the crystal, watching Sora, Kairi and the others as they confronted Sandra. Emma, as the girl's name was, leaned closer to the crystal, watching intently.
"Wow. How brave." She noted. Riku nodded.
"I've never met anyone else like those two." He answered. Emma sighed.
"I wish I could be like that." She told him, her voice rather sing-songy. She stared off into the blackness, getting lost in thought. It was a long while before she realized that she was staring at something. She tilted her head to the side, perplexed. "Was that door there before?" She asked, pointing. Riku looked up, and stared at it.
"No…" he said slowly, standing up and walking over. Emma followed, curious. Once she got a closer look at it, she laughed.
"But it doesn't lead anywhere!"
"Sure it does. Look." Riku said, pulling the door open. On the other side was a place that looked much like the Mekiv Caverns, but grey-er and much more shadowy. Emma poked her head through the door and looked around.
"Wow, I've never seen a place like this before…" She said. Then, she gasped as some invisible but irresitable force took hold of her and all but threw her through the door. Riku tried to reach for her, but his hand collided with what felt like glass. Every door was covered in it, some substance that only he was unable to pass through, which was why he couldn't leave. He watched as she straightened up and looked around, confused. Spotting an archway, she started towards it, disappearing into the shadows. Riku slammed the door shut and ran back to the crystal.
"Show me Emma."
……………………..
Emma brushed herself off and looked around. This place definitely isn't as cool looking as it was before. She thought apprehensively, wondering what she'd gotten herself into. First things first. I have to find a way out of this cave. The thought calmed her a little and her mind straightened itself out. Catching sight of a doorway, she jogged towards it, wandering through it. The caverns were straightforward, usually only one other door for Emma to leave by, taking generally a straight line. She soon found herself in a cavern much bigger than the ones before it, but to her dismay, found it to be a dead end. Now what? It looks like there's no way out! She thought, panic starting to take hold. Then she spotted a little creature unlike anything she'd ever seen before huddling on the floor across the cavern. She walked slowly towards it, and heard it was crying.
"Are you alright?" She asked. Then the thought occurred to her that it didn't speak English, if it spoke at all. The little creature, who looked like a child with leaves, wiped her eyes and looked up at Emma.
"Are you here to save me?" She asked quietly. Emma blinked, unsure of what to say. "I need to heal the Mana Tree! That's what we Sproutlings were born for." Emma blinked again. Mana Tree? Sproutlings? This kid is delirious! She decided. Then, some thought hit her. One of Riku's friends had mention a Mana Tree. She gasped. Oh my god! I've been thrown head first into a full blown, fantasy adventure! She wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. This was something that didn't happen to just anyone, and hadn't she just been saying that she wished she could go on adventures? But still, could she handle an adventure like this? The Sproutling smiled up at her.
"You'll need this." It told her. Dumbfounded, Emma took the sword from the Sproutling's hand. It was by far the most beautiful sword she'd ever seen, even if she hadn't seen very many swords.
"Wow…" she breathed, turning it over in her hands. The Sproutling smiled, her eyes dancing.
"Thank you for saving me!" Emma stared at it. She definitely hadn't done anything to save the Sproutling. Then, a blinding flash illuminated the room, and Emma found herself in a very different place, still holding the sword, seeing the last people she ever dreamed she would see.
……………………..
Behind the house, there was a mound of earth, with a door and a number of smokestacks. Two voices could be heard inside, though they were too muffled to be understood. Carefully, Tidus opened the door, and they all leaned in close to get a look. The inside was a small cave, with a number of doors leading into different workshops (a blacksmith's workshop for example). In the center of the room were Nunuzac and Belle. Belle looked furious.
"Do you have any idea how many laws you are breaking?" She shouted angrily. Nunuzac sighed.
"I know, but it's for the best. You know the kind of warring the Mana Tree causes." He answered. Belle crossed her arms.
"The Mana Tree is the source of life in the planet! You of all people should appreciate that! You're the one who uses the mana the goddess supplies!"
"And therefore I know better than anyone what it has cost this world."
"You can't avoid the inevitable!" Belle cried, frustrated.
"The return of the Mana Goddess is not inevitable." Nunuzac answered calmly.
"Then why did you imprison the Sproutling? In a nightmare no less! She was of no threat!"
"Not herself, but she was to play a pivotal part in leading a group of adventurers to the Mana Sword. Those children are much to rash and naïve to understand the power they are dealing with!"
"You're only saying that because Gippal insulted you!" Rikku cried, bursting through the door. Nunuzac stared at them in surprise. Belle seized the opportunity and threw a wave of energy at Nunuzac. It didn't seem to do him much harm, he teetered for a moment and straightened up.
"If you do that again, don't think I won't imprison you in that nightmare with the Sproutling." He threatened. Belle glared at him.
"You can't imprison me in a nightmare! I'm the Dreamweaver!" She answered, indignate. Then, she blinked. "There's been a change in the dream's makeup. It's no longer the Sproutling's dream. It's someone else's, and they're about to wake up…" She paused, looking around, then gasped. "INCOMING!" She dove out of the way, pushing Nunuzac to the ground, and just on time. There was another explosion, picking up unbelievable amounts of dust. Once the dust settled, they saw a girl standing there, coughing. She looked about Rikku's age, and had long brown hair. She was standing in her pajamas, and carrying a magnificent looking sword. Both Belle and Nunuzac gasped when they saw it.
"The Mana Sword!" They cried at the same time. The girl blinked.
"I'm not surprised it's called a Mana Sword. Some kid dressed up as a bush kept going on about some Mana Tree." She said sleepily. Kairi gasped.
"The Sproutling! Is she alright?" She asked urgently. The girl thought a moment.
"I don't…remember…" She answered. "That's funny… I can't remember much of anything about my dream, except some kid dressed like a bush and something called a Mana Tree…" She noted. Rikku looked curiously at her.
"Who are you anyways?" She asked, trying to recognize her. The girl smiled.
"My name's Emma."
………………………
The Sproutling, still thanking Emma profusely, was leading the group slowly but surely towards the place she said the Mana Tree belonged. At the center of the world, she said, where it's power could return the rest of the world to it's former glory.
"After the Last War, the Mana Tree's heart was eaten away at, because the mass death of the war affected the flow of mana in the world, and began to twist the Goddess, who is the spirit of the tree. It came to be that the Goddess became so twisted that the Moon Gods locked the pieces world away, partly because the mana was weakening and couldn't hold it together much longer anyways, and partly because if they didn't stop the flow of mana from the Tree, the entire world would become twisted and dead. We need you to return the Goddess to her former self, so Fa'Diel can return to normal." The Sproutling said, finishing her explanation of the Mana Tree. Sora nodded.
"I can see why the King was worried. If the wrong person got hold of the Mana Sword and released the Goddess without healing her… it would be like Maleficent and Kingdom Hearts all over again." He said, cringing at the thought.
"Poor Riku." Kairi sighed sadly. Emma paused, watching Kairi curiously. Riku…where have I heard that name before…? She wondered, biting her lip. The Sproutling stopped walking suddenly.
"Here!" She said, pointing to the expanse of dark, dead land before them. Emma shivered at the sight, not having seen anything like it before. The Sproutling was watching her expectantly. "Well?" Emma stared at her.
"Well what?" She asked, confused. The Sproutling put her hands on her hips.
"Do it!" She ordered. Emma blinked.
"Do what?" She asked, bewildered. The Sproutling sighed.
"Duh! Release the Tree!"
"Ummm….how?" She asked, inspecting her sword. There was a long silence. None of them really knew how. This artifact wasn't like any of the others. All the others had been small, really only charms. This was a full-sized, rather dangerous weapon. Emma bit her lip and poked the ground with the tip. She lifted the sword to poke the ground again, hoping something would happen, but stopped when she saw a bright green seed sitting in the hole made by the sword's tip. She bent down to take a closer look, but stumbled back when a vine-like plant exploded from it. In seconds it was the biggest tree any of them had ever seen. The ground fell away from it, leaving it floating in a mist.
"….Now what?" Rikku asked, looking up and shading her eyes. Paine shrugged.
"Climb it?" She suggested. It was as good an idea as any. Rikku started down the slope towards the bottom of the roots, disappearing into the mist. One by one, they followed. They reached the bottom and found some of the roots touching the ground, gnarled and twisted together. Rikku climbed on top of one of them and started to walk along it. They were wide enough to accommodate three people walking side by side. It was like a maze, making their way up through the knotted roots. It was Kairi who found the top of the roots. She climbed up onto one of the lowest branches. It was covered in moss, some of which hung freely from the branch she stood on to the next branch, like a bridge, which she crossed, taking careful steps and not quite trusting the moss to hold her weight. One by one, they crossed, just as slowly and cautiously as Kairi had. Yuna reached the other side and leaned against the trunk. To her surprise, the bark crumbled away and she fell backwards into the center of the tree with a scream. She landed on something very soft and almost spongy. Rolling over, she found herself lying on a very large bit of violet fungus. There were other fungi all around the hollow inside of the tree, creating almost a ramp upward. Kairi poked her head in the hole in the bark.
"You okay Yuna?"
"Fine. Check this out though!" She answered, beckoning Kairi inside. She did as she was told and walked in, letting a quite gasp escape her lips when she saw the mushrooms. She shot Yuna a quizzical look, then grinned.
"It's really pretty!" She announced.
"What is?" Rikku asked, poking her head inside. "Woah! Cool! A short cut you think?" She asked, stepping inside. Yuna shrugged.
"Probably." At this, Rikku leaned back outside and yelled.
"Hey! Everybody come here! Yunie found a shortcut!" She announced. Everyone else started piling in, and they started the climb up. Not long in, they found themselves standing at a long gap, too long to jump. Gippal crossed his arms.
"Now what?" He asked. Paine kicked the wall, which crumbled. Not far below them was another branch, which entangled with the ones above it and appeared to be able to get them to the next part of the ramp. Jumping down, Paine walked briskly along the branch until she reached a mat of leaves, which she used as a springboard to jump across to the next branch. From there, she could step across to the next branch, walked back down towards the trunk and kicked the bark in. Stepping back inside onto the next fungi, she smirked.
"Voila." Everyone else followed her lead, jumping from the first branch to the second, and then to the third and back into the hollow trunk. This time though, the climb wasn't nearly as easy. There were ten times as many gaps for them to jump, and they began to feel like the fungi was about to fall out from under them. So naturally, they were glad when they reached the end of the ramp. Emma cut through the bark with the sword and stepped outside. She froze and gasped.
"Uh guys? Look at this…" She murmured, beckoning for them to come out. They were standing in a stone sanctuary, overgrown with plants.
"Are we still in the tree?" Sora asked. A place like this couldn't possibly exist within the branches of a tree…could it? In any case, there was a pathway leading from the overgrown courtyard and through a series of arched, which Tidus started towards. They followed, and found themselves standing in a flat expanse similar to the last sanctuary, but much, much bigger. This one wasn't overgrown, but surrounded by trees whose canopies created a huge arched roof. Only in the center was a space not covered by the branches of the trees. The sky above was clear and dark, illuminated by the moon directly above them. When had night come? It had only been mid-afternoon when they'd gotten there, and according to the sky they saw above them, it had to be at least midnight. Across the Sanctuary from them was a flower. It was enormous for a flower, at least four feet tall, though it had yet to bloom. It looked something like a rose, with thorns surrounding the bud. Yuna began to approach it. To her surprise, a vie shot out from the flower and caught her arm. She yelped and shook it off, though her arm was now covered in cuts from the thorns. They heard a cackling, and the flower began to bloom. As it flowered, it grew to enormous size, and out of it stepped a woman, ten feet tall with dead eyes. On her chest, in the same place that the Jumi had their cores, she had a Heartless insignia imbedded in her skin. Kairi saw it and cried out in pain, collapsing and grabbing at her ankle. Sora spun to face her, surprised and worried, and wondering what he could do to help, but when he saw what it was, he froze, unsure of what to do. Then he smacked himself in the head. Of course she'd react like this in the presence of a Heartless Goddess! Stupid me! I should have done something before! Before he could continue silently scolding himself, a terrified scream drew his attention. The Goddess had grabbed hold of Emma with a thorny vine, lifted her of the ground and was wrestling the Mana Sword from her grip. Paine was there in a flash, cutting the vine clean off. Emma fell to the ground with a thump and groaned, her whole body covered in cuts. The Sword skittered across the Sanctuary and she scrambled towards it. A new vine tip grew out of what was left of the old vine. Paine, unprepared for this to happen, was knocked off her feet and thrown into a tree. Yuna started shooting, though her bullets didn't seem to have any affect on the Goddess. Tidus cut off the end of the vine again, but before they could grow back, he cut more of the vine off, and then more and more until her reached the base of the vine and was close enough to the Goddess to attack her. He buried his sword into her stomach, then pulled it out and stepped back, prepared for a last attack from her before she died. Instead, she started to laugh, a cold, cruel laugh.
"Moron. I'm a Goddess, immortal. You and your petty friends can't kill me." She stated. Tidus' eye went wide and before he could react, he found himself flying through the air, hitting a tree with a sickening crunch and landing on the ground next to Paine. Yuna hurried over, transforming into White Mage and got to work on healing them both. Everyone else stopped attacking, only defending against the occasional attack from the Goddess.
"Now what?" Rikku asked, knocking away a vine. The ground started to rumble and a number of spikes started shooting up from beneath the ground. Gippal was hit by the attacks, and Rikku, trying to get to him to pull him to safety, was hit as well, though not fatally injured. Gippal's injury though, wasn't looking as good. A vine whipped out and caught both of Yuna's hands, forcing her to the ground, helpless. The second vine hit her across the head and she was out cold. Kairi was horrified. There was only her, Sora and Baralai left standing. As she watched, her friends were being killed! This was not the way this was supposed to end! She thought furiously. Then, a new thought came to her. My voice! The King said my voice was the key! As if reading her mind, Sora fought his way over to her.
"Kairi! Sing something!" He shouted. Paine, who was still barely conscious, agreed.
"Sing Kairi! We can't harm her physically, but you can force emotion on her!" She shouted, her voice hoarse. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Baralai drop to the ground. Kairi swallowed her fear, and began to rack her brain. Sing something painful. It'll force pain on her. Think Kairi think! A painful memory! Stepping as far back out of the way as she could, her thoughts settled on one memory. And, she began to sing of the emotions she felt from it.
I still remember the
world
From the eyes of a child
Slowly those feelings
Were
clouded by what I know now
Where has my heart gone
An
uneven trade for the real world
oh I...
I want to go back
to
Believing in everything and knowing nothing at all
The Goddess began to scream, sending the vines whipping out at her. Helpless to defend herself, Kairi braced for the attack, but it never came. Sora was cutting down one of them, but the other hit him in the back, causing him to collapse. Tears started to sting her eyes, pouring more emotion into the song than she ever had before. So much in fact, that she almost felt her emotion slipping away from her. A numbness came over her, but still she poured her pain into the song.
I still remember
the sun
Always warm on my back
Somehow it seems colder now
Where has my heart
gone
Trapped in the eyes of a stranger
oh I...
I want to go
back to
Believing in everything
Where has my heart gone
An
uneven trade for the real world
oh I...
I want to go back
to
Believing in everything and knowing nothing at all
Kairi felt herself collapsing, but she could see the Heartless hold on the Goddess weakening. She was forcing the Goddess to feel emotion again, forcing her to fight the Heartless that had taken hold.
Where has my
heart gone
Trapped in the eyes of a stranger
oh I...
I want
to go back to
Believing in everything
I still remember………
There was a final scream of the Goddess, and Kairi collapsed. The Goddess had split into two. One, the true Goddess, was lying on the ground, weakened greatly from the separation. The other was a gruesome looking Heartless. It crawled over to where Kairi lay, knowing she hadn't yet fallen into death. Even if the girl had won, the Heartless would mock her, and it would get its final sadistic pleasure from doing so before the Goddess awoke and destroyed it completely. It spoke a few words to the girl, watching, pleased, as the tears began to roll down her cheeks. Then, she lay still.
"Filth!" An angry voice cried. "How dare you!" The Goddess shouted at the Heartless. "You sick monster! You've killed her and you can't even give her a peace of a quiet death?" Enraged, the Goddess reached out towards the Heartless, locking it in her magical grip. Within seconds, the creature screamed, writhed for a moment, and was gone. The Goddess looked around at the nine dead around her. She walked gracefully over to Kairi, smiling sadly.
"I wish you peace." She whispered, kissing her forehead. Then, she walked over to Emma and gently took the Sword from her hand.
"You protected the Sword with your life, you will be a hero long remembered here."
………………………
Darkness enveloped Kairi. She didn't know where she was, and she could feel her memories slipping out of her grasp. It was terrifying.
"How cute." A mocking voice said from the darkness. "You gave and your friends sacrificed yourselves to save the world. A little too cliché, don't you agree?" It spoke in a bored tone. Kairi could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. It cackled wickedly, seeing her pain. "After all, what have you got to lose?" There was a moment's silence before Kairi could reply.
"Everything…" she replied, thinking of her life so far. She had so many friends, so much to look forward to still. She had the most fiercely loyal friends she'd ever imagined, almost like the family she never had. And then, of course, she had Sora. The thought of losing him was horrible. She was completely numb, leaving her unaware of the tears rolling freely down her cheeks. She no longer tried to hide her emotions, and her voice wavered with the hopelessness she felt. "I have everything to lose…"
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That's it guys! It's finished! Omg, what a ride!
Thanks to:
-Emma, who was with
me all the way. Much luv Ems!
-Mooglegirl, whose
reviews were always amusing (I know you made scary threats about
what you'd do if I killed Tidus! Gah! Me sry! But I killed all of
'em! Don't hurt me:P )
-Antimusicman, who
reviewed just about every chapter and always let me know what you
thought
-CuteKitty, who
always encouraged me to keep writing, no matter what
-Mandy, whose
comments would ALWAYS make me smile
You guys were the ones who were always there, always reviewing, the ones who really inspired me to keep going. I LOVE YOU GUYS!
BIG BIG BIG BIG BIG PS: There's still gonna be an epilogue! We're not quite finished yet! I know, you're wondering how I can possibly write a sequel when I just killed all the main characters…. Hehehehe…. well, that's what I'm writing the epilogue for. You'll see!