Chapter 22: Grand Theft Heartless
Destiny Islands seemed so cold ever since Dav and Craxte landed on the now Heartless blitzed world. Out of all the Islands the hangout remained and even that seemed incomplete and broken. The sea was once a light aqua blue but now it was tinted a deep shade of purple and the palm trees were snapped and destroyed by the Heartless, the only thing that remained the same was Riku's Island, where both Dav and Sora received their roles in the war against darkness. In the centre of the inland stood two figures, Aaron and Andrew both clad in dark body suits with the sign of the Heartless on their respective chests. Dav who was at the time stood on the main stretch of the beach summoned his Great Blade and headed straight for the island to confront his new enemies.
Aaron and Andrew both wielded new weapons which were all he same dark colours of the Heartless Aaron using a set of midnight black claws that rested on her hands. Andrew however opted for double Longswords which he held loosely in his hands. He reached the Island and glared at his old friends who simply smirked at him.
"Well, you took your time didn't you Strife?" Andrew taunted
"Must be hard stopping the blood flowing from such a deep wound..." Aaron said amused written all over her face. Dav did not reply just returned their smirks with a half grin of his own.
"Ever since the Heartless attacked my home I have been wrestling with the dark and light inside of me but thanks to you bastards I finally chose the side I'm going to back... the light"
As he finished his statement he began to glow in a yellow aura that grew steadily brighter until it blinded all three onlookers who shielded their eyes with their weapons. As the light faded Dav now stood wearing a black pair of trousers, a light blue top and a long body length white coat with the crown emblem on his back. His guns holstered in the same places and a different weapon in his right hand, a Gunblade which had a Sabre C24 with a long steel blade extending three feet ahead of it. On his back the Great Blade sat sheathed the same as ever and the crimson Keyblade now sported a grey metallic finish that hung by his left hip.
"Light versus Dark again, when will this end.." a deep voice came from behind Dav.
"Ansem, at last we meet" Dav spoke, his voice dripping with hate.
"The balance is now un-balanced as it where, as I was researching the Heartless the king of Disney Castle came to me and spoke of the Keyblade and mentioned that it will soon be revealed. I did not however expect three Keyblade masters instead of one, you must be eradicated before I face the other Keybearer. How fitting that it will be your friends who do it"
Dav without warning enflamed his free hand and hurled a bolt of fire at Ansem who vanished and reappeared behind Aaron and Andrew.
"Now, now, save that for my new helpers. Attack!" He yelled as he vanished in a shadowy portal from the scene and Aaron and Andrew charged at him. Aaron threw a strong right claw swipe toward his head which he ducked and jumped in the air, turning as he did and nailed Aaron with a roundhouse kick which knocked her against the island's palm tree. Andrew growled in anger as he swiped his right sword toward Dav's head which was met with a spinning Gunblade block and his left thrusted at his midsection which was avoided by Dav twisting his body to the side. Dav kicked the left sword from Andrew's grasp and punched him in the right cheek, knocking him back. Aaron by this time had recovered and again went on the offensive by holding up her right arm and formed five shadow kunai daggers and launched them at Dav.
He responded by spinning to the side and whirling his Gunblade in the process knocking three daggers to the floor, the other two impaled the ground as they missed their mark and lost momentum. She held up her left hand and her claws became engulfed in shadow and she swiped them in Dav's direction which caused five claw shaped marks to fly in his direction. He jumped into the air to avoid the attack but the highest shadow stream clipped his leg and ripped a gash onto it. He landed on his injured leg and cursed as pain shot through his body from the wound on his leg. Aaron jumped high into the air and extended her claws ready for a strike. Trying to stay off his injured leg Dav jumped out of the way of the initial assault and clutched his leg in pain while Aaron rolled forward as she landed and leapt back into the air and plunged her left claw into his shoulder. Andrew followed his sister's attack by charging toward a pained Dav and slashing at his head with both of the swords which he only just managed to avoid, earning himself a gash on the forehead for his evasion effort.
His leg received further injury as Andrew caught the same wound with one of his swords which opened the gash further and caused extreme pain. Dav fell to the floor and managed to roll to avoid a claw slashing attack and stumbled to his feet while clutching his leg with his left hand and blocking a Andrew sword strike with his Gunblade. He looked around to the beach where Craxte instead of fighting by his side just stayed in the same spot watching the fight intently. His attention was snapped back to the fight as he was knocked to the floor viciously by a smirking Aaron. She held her claws above his head and stabbed towards it while Andrew held Dav still. He shut his eyes awaiting the fatal blow but it never came.
Ashura who had been recovering on the ship made to the fight and dispatched both Aaron and Andrew, first by punching Aaron in the back to knock her to the floor feet away from Dav and then kicked Andrew in the sternum and finished by a sharp uppercut to the chin. Dav used the time to cast a weak Cura spell on himself to restore his energy and stood up but he still felt the searing pain in his leg. He looked over to see Ashura holding off both attackers to give him tie to recollect himself to which he looked back at his leg and saw the wound and decided on the best course of action. He placed both hands on the wound and flinched as he did and closed his eyes, bracing himself for what was about to come. "Burn" he uttered as flames sprung to life in his hands and onto the wound that hissed as the skin became cauterised and resealed itself.
Meanwhile Ashura was still weak from Aaron's earlier assassination attempt and was clearly showing signs of fatigue. He blocked Andrew's swords with his Gauntlet's and pushed back on the blades causing Andrew to slide back. Aaron however jumped over the power struggle and kicked Ashura in the face sending him crashing to the ground with blood flowing from his now busted nose. Andrew walked over and grabbed Ashura's hair and hoisted him up to standing and held one of his newly acquired Long swords at his throat. Aaron smirked darkly and mouthed "Twice in a week..." before laughing as Andrew prepared to slit his throat for the second time.
Two loud cracks echoed through out the wrecked Island as Ashura prepared to face certain death but he opened his eyes and saw Dav knelt on his good leg with one of his Handguns in both hands pointing in their direction with smoke rising from the barrel. The second after the cracks wracked the ears of all fighters Andrew's grip on Ashura loosened and he slumped to the ground, one bullet hole in his hand which clutched the sword and the other in the middle of the forehead. Andrew just laid there as Aaron crouched beside him and she began to shake as Ashura joined Dav at his side of the island. Tears flowed from her eyes as she held her brother's corpse who had already started to turn cold as Dav and Ashura watched her weep, Craxte all the time leering at the fight without so much as a word as his robe billowed in the chilling breeze.
She stood up with her knees slightly shaking and attached her claws to her battle suit and extended her hand in front and dark energy swirled around it. Tears continued to flow as she became consumed in the aura and disappeared from the wrecked Destiny Islands uttering "I'll get you yet, don't worry about that"
Ashura straightened his Gauntlet on his right hand and glanced toward Dav who had returned to his feet although a bit shaky from the injured leg. They began to walk across the rickety wooden bridge that lead to the main land with Ashura supporting Dav who still couldn't walk properly. Craxte stood at the end of the bridge with his axe resting on his shoulder with a grin on his face but not a friendly one.
"It is time I disposed of you both" he said evilly as he stood in a battle ready position.
"What the hell..." Dav asked as Craxte advanced on the beaten pair.