Secrets of Memories Chapter 30: A Matter of Choice
Aozora stared at the gummi ship, the one Cid from Traverse Town had sent him to use. It looked like some strange dancing green cactus.
What disturbed Aozora was that while the gummi ship seemed indestructible, its engines were pitifully tiny and there were no traces of weaponry on the gummi ship. None.
"Is this some kind of a joke?" Yuna's voice wondered behind him.
"A sick one at that," Paine added calmly while Rikku emphasized with a, "Blegh!"
"What are you doing here?" Aozora turned on them. "And what are you talking about?"
"We were wondering if you can give us a lift to Spira," Yuna said. " To be specific, a place in Spira named Besaid Island. Its kind of urgent that we get there."
"Cid's repairing our airship," Paine said. "He's sending it over after us."
"And you can meet Brother, Buddy, and Shinra!" Rikku yelped." They're part of our crew, the Gullwings!"
"The what-wings?!" Aozora demanded.
"Gullwings," Paine affirmed. "We search for spheres all over Spira."
"Search for-I don't want to know," Aozora suppressed his curious mind. He didn't have time for this! "Yuna, what's the problem with this gummi ship?"
"It's a really sick joke," Yuna answered, echoing Rikku's words. " That's a cactuar gummi ship and it has one of the best defensive systems around. However, not only is it super slow, it can't attack."
"It can't WHAT?!" Aozora yelled. "Is this some sort of a sick joke?!"
"Our thoughts exactly," Paine replied while Aozora whirled on the gummi ship, fuming.
"You goddamn piece of junk!" he shouted, shaking his fist at it. "Of all the gummi ships Cid can send me, its this piece of shit! And when I need to get around the universe at top speed and blast anyone outta my way!"
Yuna, Rikku, and Paine raised eyebrows at each other while they watched Aozora rant. They had never seen the blond teenager lose his temper before. He seemed like the most mellow, calm, sorrowful guy around but this gummi ship Cid obviously sent as a joke ticked him off to who-knows-what.
"This is a joke, Aozora," Yuna said in an attempt to not only calm Aozora down but to keep people from staring at him like he was a raving lunatic.
"Uh, Yunnie?" Rikku said hesitantly as she surveyed the shipyard a.k.a. gummi garage. "I think this really is a sick joke. That is the one we're supposed to be traveling on."
"What?!" Paine whirled on them. "Your dad's cousin sends us a gummi ship with really decent defense but crap for engines and nothing for weapons for us to use? You gotta be kidding me."
"Yunnie," Rikku mock-whispered. "Between you and me, I think Aozora's not going to be the only one who's going to lose his mind today."
"Hey!" Aozora and Paine both protested. "At least I can see what the problem is right now with this sort of emergency."
"See, birds of a feather flock together," Rikku added while Aozora and Paine glared at each other for saying the same thing at the same time.
"But they're both right," Yuna said. "You know what, why don't you go to your dad and ask for some gummi ship upgrades."
Rikku nodded, for she was still serious for all her teasing, and dashed off.
"Bigger engines!" Paine yelled after her. "Fira or Firaga, though I think we need Firaga!"
"And weapons!" Aozora shouted in a way louder voice. It was full of indignation. "Bring us some goddamn weapons!"
Rikku nodded and ran even faster, as if Aozora was actually going to chase after her like a guard dog to make her to go faster.
"I'm wasting time here!" Aozora snapped at Yuna and Paine, who were giving him a queer eye. "Valuable Time, slipping away thanks to an idiot who decides to send me a dysfunctional gummi ship! I don't' know what I did wrong but I don't' deserve this!"
"What did you do wrong?" Paine asked calmly.
"I. Don't. Know," Aozora growled back. "I-"
There was an explosion of pain on his right shoulder and he fell over, biting back a cry of surprise.
"Aozora!" Yuna exclaimed and ran to help him.
"I'm fine, I'm fine..." Aozora sat up. "What in-"
There was a feeling in his heart, a foreign emotion that was beginning to dominate all other emotions within him. It was a mixture of fear, sadness, weariness, exhaustion, and a sense of impending doom.
Aozora knew these were not his emotions. How could they?
Well, it could come from me...but this is all just too sudden, too foreign...
Then he remembered something the Dream Heart had told him.
Your hearts are connected Aozora...you, the sky-child, the small king, the wizard, the knight, the lost one, and the princess...connected, in a circle of light...
Could it be Sora?
Hercules and Phil gasped for air as they hid behind double doors made eerily out of bones. Cerberus was yelping after them, the booming barks echoing off the walls of Underworld.
"If that mutt doesn't shut up, the whole place would wake up, and we're dead," Phil muttered to Hercules.
"What am I supposed to do?" Hercules snapped back.
"Toss that," Phil pointed to a huge bone double the height of Hercules and three times taller than Phil.
"That?!" Hercules stared at the huge bone. "Toss that thing?"
"You can do it," Phil said. "And that's final. No other choice, Hercules."
Hercules knew he had no choice. He marched over to the bone and hoisted it up, carefully lifting it up to his shoulders.
"Phil, if the Heartless catch me like this-" Hercules realized.
"Hercules, its best if you do put that bone down," Phil was staring at something behind him. "Turn around slowly. I don't think you're going to like what you're going to see."
Hercules followed as Phil told him to do and turned around.
He was tall and lithe, adorned in a long black trench coat with a hood halfway pulled over the head. He had a light tan and a strong, stern face, with liquid blue eyes and strange fluid markings on his cheeks colored blue. His hair color was not easy to distinguish under the hood but it seemed to be blue, blue like the waters of the sea.
What Hercules noticed as well was the whip in his right hand. It crackled blue and suggested pain.
"The Nobodies..." Phil was murmuring. "Oh no..."
Hercules heard movement behind them and shifted his head slightly, so his eyes were able to spot a horde of Heartless coming up behind them, facing off against the twitchy white creatures gathering behind this mysterious man.
Neither side looked happy neither with each other nor with Hercules and Phil.
"So..." the mysterious man said in a deep voice. "So, it has come to this. The great Hercules, surrounded by the two factions of Darkness. What will you do?"
That was one of the oddest and possibly stupidest questions ever directed at Hercules.
"I will fight both of you if I have to," Hercules said. "But I think I should go and let you guys settle this on your own-"
"Unless he chose otherwise," the mysterious man spoke up, "the Keyblade Master would be dead by now."
Hercules froze and Phil's jaw dropped open.
"Indeed, Phil, you have missed one important fact about summoned dreams," the being said with a sneering grin. "All dreams summoned for a purpose are to obey one command, and one command only, depending on what it is."
"And we all know what Hades wants most," Phil said. "Its either the both of you dead or one or the other."
"Hades is most intent on ridding of the Keyblade Master first, Heart and Soul," the being spat. "With him out of the way, he can focus on Hercules."
"Auron isn't an ally?!" Hercules was shocked to the core. "No..."
He turned to make a run for the double doors but found his way blocked by not only Heartless but one of Cerberus' heads. It was grinning at him in a very friendly manner, completely unaware of the Heartless, the Nobodies, and the mysterious man.
"Cerberus..." Hercules whistled and made frantic gestures at the huge bone.
The head spotted the bone, just gleaming in the middle of the room. He opened his great jaws and made a lunge for the bone.
The two other heads yelped as their heads were bashed through the walls while the middle head rammed itself into the room, attempting to reach the bone. Heartless fled and the Nobodies backed away when the being flicked his whip and blue sparks showered on the floor.
Cerberus, in the act of bickering over the huge bone, whirled on him with a vicious growl, the six eyes centered on his whip. They were full of hate.
Phil yanked Hercules out of there while Cerberus raised hell against the human. They dodged the falling debris and fled outside.
"Good move, Hercules," Phil praised as they reached the shore of the River Styx where they last saw Sora, Donald, Goofy, Eucletes, Auron, and Charon.
"It's pretty obvious..." Hercules replied while Phil dragged him along the shore towards the towering stone towers of Underworld.
"Hercules, there's something I gotta warn you about this place," Phil said.
"What?" Hercules asked.
"There's an area here in the Underworld that does more than keep back creatures like the Titans," Phil answered. "I think Hades is out to release whatever's behind this one door in what I call the Craters."
"You know the name of the place?" Hercules demanded. "Wait a minute...you've been there?!"
"No, not really," Phil answered. "I was reading the newspaper and there was this article by a guy named Eucletes about that area. You know what I mean. He's been there enough times to know of the place."
"But what about this place called the Craters?" Hercules asked.
"The door holds back something, something so dangerous its not even funny," Phil answered.
"Of course something dangerous isn't funny!" Hercules yelled.
"Which is why Hades is out to open up that door," Phil explained impatiently.
"But what does that have to do with us?" Hercules demanded.
"Everything," Phil replied." Absolutely everything. If he manages to kill you off, he can at least open one of the double doors. But what really keeps him from opening the door is Sora. Sora and the power of the Keyblade keeps the doors chained. You can dynamite Underworld to hell-though this is already hell, mind you-and the doors will still stand and they'll still keep in whatever's behind them."
"So that's why he hired Auron!" Hercules exclaimed, finally understanding. "To kill us off so Hades can open the door and so that all hell would break loose in Ancient Greece-"
"Not only Ancient Greece," Phil replied. "The whole damn universe!"
"We gotta stop Auron then!" Hercules exclaimed.
"No, we can't," Phil said and when Hercules began to protest, Phil added, "Auron still has a choice, even if he has that one order to follow through with. We have to find the Craters and that door so we can at least keep Hades from touching that door. And besides, even if we try to get there, it could be too late."
Hercules wondered how their whole situation had turned from maddening to just plain crazy.
He trembled. Sweat trickled down his face, falling like raindrops from the tip of his nose and his chin. He had never known fear like this before, had never directly faced Death, but now he was at Death's door. And he knew he was too young to die.
There was so much for him to accomplish, to see, to fulfill, yet already he was already brushing by Death, with a quivering steel blade deciding whether or not he would have a date with Death.
What will Auron's choice be?
There was a great explosion of golden light. Everyone shield their eyes and the dead fled.
"What the-" Auron began to swear.
"Dream!" a great voice, the voice of a woman, boomed. "Dream, stop where you are, stop what you are doing, and listen to me!"
No, it was three voices.
"The Fates," Auron's face turned grim.
"Misled you are but redemption you can still find, Auron Dream of Spira!" the voices cried out as one. "Killing the Keyblade Master will not give you the redemption you are searching for! Obeying the one order from the summoner will not be your redemption."
"Then where can I find redemption, dammit!" Auron yelled at the Fates in a sudden, uncharacteristic burst of anger.
"You know deep within your heart and soul," the Fates answered firmly, from the golden light that lit their side of Underworld. "Murder is not the answer; assassination is not your redemption. Redemption comes from doing good. Don't be misled because of your desperation; it can be more than the downfall of all you love and hold dear that must be paid."
Sora could not believe his ears. Will he still live?
"I still have a choice," Auron reminded. "It is my choice whether or not to follow through with the one order given to me. You know what would happen if I do disobey."
"Are you willing to murder an innocent child so you can come back to the real world freely?" the Fates asked in a cold voice. "Or are you willing to sacrifice yourself and your freedom for the sake of the others?"
"He is not innocent," Auron shot back. "His blood was tainted from the very beginning; what would come out of his death?"
"Spira would fall with the rest of the universe!" the Fates boomed. " All who you hold dear to your heart and soul will fall with the universe if you kill the Keyblade Master! And the Farplane would never survive beyond the destruction of the real world."
"And if I let him live?" Auron snapped.
"The universe still stands," the Fates rumbled in the same authorative voice, "and it will be up to the Keyblade Master and others to decide the fate of the Universe."
"But Spira, will it still exist?" Auron asked, his temper already cooling.
"Depends on the war," the Fates answered simply. "What will you do, Auron? Will you find redemption for yourself with spilt blood or will you give up your freedom for others?"
Sora realized that Auron had no choice but to answer with the only possible choice. But he also knew surprises were always hiding, that one may choose the most unexpected of the two-
"I will not give up my freedom," Auron shot back, his temper flaring again. "It's my last true connection to the real world and I will not give it up!"
"You are already connected to the real world, Auron," the Fates said sadly. "The true human nature is still in you; you have not achieved the true essence of one from the Farplane. Whatever choice you make, you will always be connected to the real world. But if you chose to set the chain of reactions that will bring down real world, we will never exist again. We will become a mere echo in Time."
Auron was grim, his eyes narrowed angrily. Sora looked up at him, wondering what was running through his mind.
"What will you do?" the Fates asked and the golden light faded.
Auron and Sora were the only ones awake; somehow the light had knocked the others out. They looked at each other, each trying to figure out what the other was thinking.
"What will you do?" Sora echoed.
Auron stared at him for what seemed to be a long time. "You are two different people, yet you are so alike...how can this be...even I could not see..."
Sora was befuddled. What?!
"I don't know what will become of me, Sora," Auron said quietly as he lifted his sword and rested it behind his head. "If I let you go, I may never come back to the real world. But my small sacrifice can do well for others. Yuna...she and the others will be able to stand a better chance against this darkness I have been watching from the Farplane for a long time."
"If you can watch the real world from the Farplane or whatever it is, then why do you try to physically walk the real world?" Sora asked, confused.
"To physically interact," Auron answered. "But I see that I am human still at heart for I, like all humans, am selfish and greedy. That is why I had such a hard time deciding. But my choice is made."
Sora watched him, waiting.
"You will fight Hades if needs be. You must move quickly for time does not wait for anyone," Auron said quietly, "and you will soon decide what to do with this realm's door. Hades is trying to open a door to Darkness, something you must stop. After that, your journey will continue. To what end I will not say but I will be watching. Farewell."
To Sora's complete shock, Auron simply...disappeared.
"What happened?" Eucletes moaned out as he, Donald, and Goofy gained consciousness.
"No time to talk," Sora answered for he understood Auron's message. " We've got to find Hades and this door..."
"Hey...der...where's Auron?" Goofy wondered curiously.
Sora contemplated. "He's been called away."
Donald cast him a suspicious look but Sora didn't notice. Either that or he chose to ignore it. "We have to stop Hades from opening some door to Darkness!"
"So that door does exist here!" Goofy exclaimed.
Sora didn't hear; he was too busy making a mad dash for the complex set of hallways carved from the dark stone of Underworld.
"This is one weird gummi ship," was Paine's calm comment about the cactuar gummi ship Cid had sent them.
"That's what we all agreed on not too long ago," Rikku answered as she collapsed on one of the chairs inside the odd gummi ship. " Whew...I'm pooped. That stuff was sooo heavy."
"This is the most pathetic gummi ship I've ever been witness to!" Aozora stormed. "Fira engines and Thundara guns, along with just one Meteor missile! I mean seriously!"
"It was either that or you pay," Rikku protested.
"Just be happy with what you got," Paine answered calmly. "That's a very simple philosophy."
"With what I've got?" Aozora snapped back. "You have no idea what I've got with me! And I am definitely not happy with it!"
"Whatever you guys are talking about, we need to get a move on," Yuna said as she looked over the control panel. "How do you turn on this gummi ship?"
"Where's Spira?" Aozora sighed as he strode over and thrust forward a lever.
The Fira engines roared to life. The cactuar gummi ship was now a respectable ship but Aozora saw people staring, pointing and basically laughing at the gummi ship. His blood boiled. He had never gotten so mad like this before. Oh wait, just kidding; he did get mad like this before. But he never expected to get mad like this again so soon.
"Kid, just chill," Paine called to him, "and get us out of here."
"Where is Spira anyways?" Rikku mused.
Aozora twitched. They didn't know?
"I think it's beyond Atlantica or Australia," Yuna mused. "I'm not sure. Its location in the universe is kinda...odd, I guess."
"How so?" Aozora asked.
"There are more worlds than just worlds like Twilight Town, New World, China, and of the like," Paine explained. "For instance, Spira is not like those worlds. Its located in what I think is a separate 'system' of its own, with other worlds."
"Remember the stories of that one world that was destroyed?" Rikku suddenly digressed. "What was it called again? Old Citadel or something?"
Aozora, who was steering the gummi ship out of Twilight Town froze.
"That's a thing of the past," Paine waved it all aside. "It no longer exists."
Aozora carefully maneuvered the gummi ship out and away from Twilight Town and the surrounding gummi ships into the space between worlds, the universe. His ears were on the alert, careful to pick up, process, tinker with, and store any possibly useful information in his mind.
"Old Citadel is a thing of the past," Yuna agreed. "Those rumors going around about that world being restored are false; it is false play."
"What happened to those who did try to go back to it?" Aozora asked carefully.
"Simple," Paine answered. "They are all murdered and their possessions stolen. Then their bodies were incinerated. They live no more."
"Are you serious?" Aozora turned on them. "Who did that to them?"
"Pirates, I guess," Paine answered calmly. "That's why the rumors were false play; those innocent people were tricked."
Aozora let the disturbing information sink into his mind while he turned back to steering the gummi ship. He remembered how Orion once mentioned about why he and Yuri were here without their parents.
"There was a rumor going around a few months back about Old Citadel being restored," Orion had said in the better days, the days before Sora's arrival and Orion's betrayal. "My parents and everybody else, including Yuri's parents, packed up and left."
"We've never heard from them since," Yuri agreed. "If it weren't for Ashita, I don't know what would've happened to us."
Aozora's heart filled with gloom. Not only did Orion and Yuri not hear from their parents again, Paine had just told him they were dead.
"In which direction to we go to Spira?" Rikku broke a momentary silence while probing the panels and controls of the gummi ship other than the control panel Aozora was using to maneuver the gummi ship.
"Ancient Greece is to our left," Yuna thought.
"And we came here from our left, which means we would be turning right," Paine agreed. "Aozora, go right."
Aozora, who was going to turn left as soon as Yuna spoke of Ancient Greece's location, reluctantly turned right.
"But Sora and the others are on Ancient Greece," Rikku noted. " Doesn't Aozora have to go to them?"
"We have business to handle in Spira," Paine slowly opposed. " Vegnagun is a major threat to Spira."
"And if Vegnagun leaves Spira..." Yuna let the question hang.
"Oh," was Rikku's only reply.
Aozora perceived that this Vegna-something was not to be trifled with and for this thing to leave Spira was a bad thing indeed. He steered the gummi ship in the direction opposite from where he had to go. His sense screamed at him of his duty but he knew he had promised to take them to Spira and he was not about to let them down.
"There is a dragon guarding the door," Hercules pointed out as he and Phil stepped into what was called the Craters. There were craters, strange holes in the ground that emitted a glowing green light, like the light from the River Styx.
Phil froze and Hercules, who happened to be behind the satyr, nearly fell over him.
"Hey, watch-" Hercules nearly yelped but Phil immediately hushed him.
"The black dragon!" Phil hissed in horror. "Hercules, that's the dragon, the dragon form of Maleficent!"
Hercules, on closer inspection with his eyes, made out the huge, jet-black form of a great dragon with glowing yellow nostrils and a mouth slightly open, showing off a glowing yellow mouth. The wings were tiny compared to the body size and mass but the huge spikes rising from the dragon's back were more threatening than the possibility of the dragon being able to fly.
"But Phil," Hercules protested, "Maleficent was supposed to be dead. Sora killed her."
"Then what's this big great dragon sleeping in front of those double doors?" Phil shot back. "There's only one dragon that looks like that and only one person who can turn into that sort of dragon."
During the conversation, they failed to notice the doors of the Craters closing and locking behind them. Those were the only doors out of the Craters; the other door in the Craters led deeper into Underworld.
They also failed to notice the great, golden eyes slowly open, the great dragon slowly and silently yawn and stretch itself. They did not see the dragon look at them, first with surprise and curiosity, then with hate, before the dragon slowly shifted in their direction. It was only then that Hercules saw the dragon move. Phil, who had his back to the dragon and the door, demanded with a gaping Hercules," What are you staring at?"
"Phil, behind you," Hercules pointed a shaking finger at behind the satyr.
Phil slowly turned around and found himself staring at a pair of jet-black claws. He looked up, at the dragon's great chest, up the slender, serpentine neck, and up to the head that glared down at them, the long snout glowing yellow, the eyes glaring at them with a hateful fire.
A roar rang out through all of Underworld, a great deep bellow followed by a rumbling and violent shaking of the earth. The walls of Underworld shook and cracks appeared on the wall.
Hades, who was in his throne room, sighed, shook his head, and said, "If it's Pain and Panic threatening to bring down Underworld, I'm throwing them into the River Styx. But if they're doing something about that blasted Keyblade Master and Hercules, I'll just let them be."
"What was that?" Eucletes asked fearfully as the ground threatened to rise up on them.
"No idea," Sora answered as bits of the stone walls of Underworld fell all around them. "But stay on guard; this makes me suspicious."
Donald and Goofy nodded in agreement and kept their weapons on the ready. They moved slowly towards the tunnels in a triangular form; Eucletes was practically weaponless and, therefore, defenseless, and he stayed in the middle, surrounded three ways by Sora, Donald, and Goofy.
"I think we should see what's causing this 'uproar'," Goofy suggested. "I've got a feeling we need to."
Sora nodded and headed for the right tunnel, which vibrated with such violence one could see the walls shake. The bellows continued, now echoing through the tunnel and as the foursome entered the tunnel, they plugged their ears and grimaced; the roaring was magnified seemingly tenfold and it was horrible, a loud screeching ending with deep, rolling thunder.
Then, abruptly, it vanished. The thundering stopped and Underworld ceased to shake and vibrate. Everything stood still and silence finally fell all around this hell, an uneasy silence.
It was too silent.
"What was that?" Eucletes repeated in wonderment and surprise.
"Well," Sora replied as they came upon a set of double doors fashioned out of what seemed to be ivory carved with motifs of fire and bones, " we're about to find out. Donald, Eucletes, help me lift this bolt."
With Goofy watching their backs, they lifted up the heavy bolt that kept the doors not only shut but locked. Eucletes commented that the bolt, which was mottled with odd colors, seemed to be made out of a huge bloodstained bone and Sora immediately dropped his end of the bolt. Donald, who was still holding his end of the bolt squalled as he let go of the bolt as well and it slammed on his foot. Donald bounced away holding his left foot, cursing illegibly and throwing death glares at Sora.
"Sorry, Donald," Sora shrugged while backing away from the bolt. "I couldn't help it."
Eucletes, in the meantime, pushed open the doors, and exclaimed, "The Craters-oh no."