Sephiroth stood still, waiting. After all, it was only a matter of time. Sora had no where else to go, no place to run. The Keyblade master knew this as well, and with his companions behind him, Sora urged himself to confront the One-Winged Angel.
Sora's body was tense, but he was starting to feel better. He was still scared to death, but he would not allow his fear to control him. For this fight, his mind could not be against him if he wanted to survive.
As Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Auron neared Sephiroth, even more dead bodies surrounded them. Sora looked around, then back at Sephiroth. "Why? Why would you do this?"
Sephiroth's gaze was cold and uncaring. "Does it matter?" He answered. His voice was clear and light. It didn't seem to fit someone who was capable of so much destruction.
Sephiroth unhooked the Mursame. He didn't bother with sheaths, it would be impossible to draw the long sword in time. The sword itself was tribute to Sephiroth's skill. It seemed to be even taller than him, and incredibly heavy, yet Sephiroth wielded it with ease. He alone was the master of that blade.
His eyes narrowed. "Well, are you just going to stand there all day?" Sora tightened his grip on the Keyblade. It was now or never. Or, to better match the circumstances, it was Do or Die.
Sora rushed forward, issuing a long battle cry as he did. He lunged at Sephiroth, but the Soldier easily evaded. Sora turned and let loose a rapid assault of fierce swipes. None of which had any effect. Sephiroth was just too fast.
Sephiroth grinned, but there was no happy laughter in his eyes. "Fool boy. You should have just stood there. Now its time, to meet your fate. Death on the tip of my sword."
Sephiroth darted towards Sora and leapt high to avoid a horizontal swipe. He returned with a flying kick that smashed heavily into Sora's jaw. Sora stumbled back, momentarily stunned and off-balance. Sora grabbed his cheek, wincing, as the stars that he saw began to fade.
Sephiroth's knee took their place. It crashed in and upward, crushing into Sora's diaphragm. Sora dropped the Keyblade and collapsed, winded, to his two knees and a fist, the other was cradling his stomach. He tried to force gulps of air down into his lungs, trying to fight off the weakness that was spreading through his body.
Sephiroth stood over Sora, looking down onto the Keyblade master with a look of moderate distaste. "Pathetic. You've grown weak. I don't think that you even deserve to be cut by the Mursame. Perhaps, I should just crush your skull beneath my heel."
Sephiroth raised his foot and rested it on Sora's head, slowly increasing the pressure until Sora's face was millimeters from the dirt floor.
"Aarrghh!!" Sora growled angrily. Even if Sephiroth would beat him today. He wasn't going down like this, bowing with his face mashed into the ground. Sora stood, his hand outstretched. The Keyblade zoomed from the floor, back to its master. "Bring it on!!"
Sora renewed his assault on Sephiroth, closing the distance quickly first, before striking. His mind was suddenly racing, playing out every single move he was about to make.
Overhead smash- Sephiroth dodged, but Sora had prepared for that. Spin, strike! Sora's Keyblade clashed with the Mursame, and sparks soared into the air. Now! Break his stance-! Sora heaved and twisted the Keyblade, knocking the Mursame away, and leaving Sephiroth's body open for attack.
Sora knocked Sehiroth back with a good blunt slash, and when he had enough space, "Fire!!" Fira blasted away from the Keyblade and exploded into Sephiroth's chest.
Sephiroth grunted, but other than that showed no reaction except a mixed look of surprise and annoyance.
"Do you see now? Weakness is a disease that infects everyone. Because of your weakness, I made a simple mistake of letting my guard down, only for a moment. A moment that a total amateur fighter utilized to actually score a hit against me. Weakness must be stamped out and eradicated. The day of judgment will soon be at hand, and the weaklings will not survive. I will destroy them all! And become the most powerful warrior this world has ever seen!"
Sephiroth disappeared in a flash, leaving only a floating feather behind. Sora knew this trick, but his second-wind mind rush was slowing down and he did not react soon enough to evade Sephirtoh's slash.
"Aagh!" Sora felt a burning sensation across his back. But it was not fire that scorched him, it was the darkness within Sephiroth, so cold that it burned. It was infused into his sword.
Sora tried to regain his balance as quickly as possible, and then he took up a defensive stance. He noticed Goofy, Donald and that dude Auron. He refocused on Sephiroth. His friends were useless to him right now. Auron had no sword and the other two stood no chance. For now, he was on his own.
Kairi wandered aimlessly through the hallways. The Unknown were strangely lax with her. It was not how she thought being kidnapped would be like, she had imagined being tied up somewhere, in a dark room or something, but not this. 'I suppose that they just don't care. All they want is for me to be here, and since I've no place to run, here is all that I've got.' Kairi thought. But not only that, she had a sinking suspicion that they knew where she was, even now. It was like the walls themselves had eyes.
It was late afternoon now, many hours since her conversation with the Master Unknown. And now, her fear was slowly being replaced by not only anger, but boredom as well.
Kairi rounded a corner, Wham!
Kairi stepped back, rubbing her forehead. "Sorry" she said out of habit, these Unknown deserved no ounce of her sorriness.
"No its alright, I probably shouldn't have been looking at my feet anyway…."
Kairi looked up, at the same time the other person did. Their eyes widened, while their jaws dropped. 'There are others here!' Kairi's mind screamed. Before her was another girl, her age with long brown hair. She was dressed in shorts, a light shirt and a long shawl-like thing going down one of her legs. "Who are you?" The girl asked in wonder.
Kairi stood there for another moment, before her brain got over the shock and allowed her to answer. "Who are you?" Kairi asked back, after stating her name. The other girl answered in a breathless sort of voice. "My name's Yuna. I've been here for about a month now, and I didn't know that there was anybody else…."
"I only got here this morning. So, you probably wouldn't have known." Kairi explained quickly. Without realizing it, they had started walking again. "Why did you come here?' Kairi asked her.
"I was brought to this place by those hooded guys. I was originally living peacefully in my little village, when these strange creatures attacked. They were destroying everything, and I wished…." Yuna trailed off, as if she were wondering whether to tell Kairi or not.
"You wished…?" Yuna looked over and made her decision. "I wished that they would all just…burn. I wished they would all just burn away. I screamed it at them, and before I knew it, this huge beast burst from the Earth itself and set fire to them. It saved the village, but the villagers thought that I was some sort of witch or something and cast me out. Two hours later, those guys showed up, and soon after, I was here." The girl sighed. "I know, it sounds weird right?" Yuna gave Kairi a half-smile, obviously worried that the red-haired girl believed that she was a witch too, or that she was crazy.
Kairi of course, thought neither. She had seen much weirder and scarier things than that. "Not at all." Kairi said, without a hint of sarcasm. Yuna's face showed instant relief. "In fact, I have a good friend who can do that sort of stuff…." Kairi's heart ached slightly at the thought of Sora, and she couldn't help wondering where he was now, or if he was looking for her. But then Sora's hair changed color, and Kairi began to wonder about BHK as well. What had happened to him? Was he out there, searching for her as she spoke?
"You do?" Yuna asked. Kairi returned to the conversation at hand and spent the next few hours talking with Yuna, they were even able to have dinner together, but eventually they had to return to their rooms with each other's promise to meet in the morning.
Kairi closed her door and turned to collapse on her bed with a good feeling inside. Now at least I have someone to talk to. Kairi thought as she rolled over, but something was jabbing at her leg. She sat up and reached in her pockets, raising her eyebrow when she pulled out that old parchment. Realization dawned on her. I forgot about this! Kairi switched on the lamp by her bed and unfurled the paper.
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