Hello, fellow readers! Welcome back to Harmonic Hearts! First, let's see what we have:
johannvanguard: We shall see.
Nisha: I find it funny that Sora, the one who's all about the light, is left in the dark a lot. Yeah, I find the Lingering Will also heavily underutilized storywise, especially in KH3. Thanks, glad you are enjoying it!
Raximus: I feel like he should have been more fleshed out in KH3, but no. In fact, a lot of characters could have been more fleshed out.
Thanks for the feedback! With that said, let's get going!
Interlude 2: The Wayfinders
Master Yen Sid hears visitors enter his study, seeing the return of King Mickey and his friends. He's understandably curious at the new arrival, which they tell him what had happened at the castle. After a brief summary, he proceeds to speak:
"I see. Now that we have the knowledge we need, it's time to reunite these keyblade wielders. Mickey, how did you come across Aqua?"
Mickey summons his keyblade as he summarizes his story:
"I went to find this key, in order to close the Door to Darkness. While we fought off a swarm of Heartless, we ended up separated when she pushed me through a door, where I found Riku near the Door to Darkness."
"Wait, she was where we were?" Riku doesn't recall this, "How? I didn't see her."
"There was a door on this world that fell to darkness, one she recognizes as Destiny Islands. Actually, that was where she met you two, when you were little."
Sora realizes what he means, recalling their meeting with a woman on the lone island. She was curious on their strong bond, even advising him to help Riku if he ever lost his way. Honestly even without meeting her, he would have done it all the same.
Back to the conversation, he hears Riku figure out a connection:
"Then if the door you said is what led to the Dark Realm, then is that how me and Sora came back home?"
"You mean that shoreline we ended up at?" Sora clarifies.
"Probably. At least we know where to look. Let's head to the islands."
"A word of caution." Master Yen Sid chimes in, "The Dark Realm is capable of corrupting even the strongest hearts. Do not dwell longer than necessary."
With a nod of agreement, the group were off as the former Keyblade master goes to check on Kairi's progress.
Upon arriving on Destiny Islands, they find a keyblade laying on the shoreline. Sora goes to pick it up, not recognizing who might it belong to. Mickey on the other hand does:
"Aqua had that when I saw her! Why is it here!?"
"Hmm, maybe it came to help us reach her." Sora guesses before running ahead, "Come on!"
They immediately head towards the secret place, entering the caves to soon find the strange door. Upon closer inspection, Mickey recalls seeing it before:
"This was the door we went through. Kinda strange that this world is so close to the dark."
"Life's full of surprises." Riku comments before turning to LW, "You ready to do this?"
The armor responds with a nod before Sora points Master's Defender at the door. Upon connecting its beam of light, they warp through the keyhole to the other side. They felt the shift in atmosphere get heavy as they approach the destination. In a flash of light, they find themselves high above a shoreline under a dark sky.
Sora and Riku recognizes it as the four land on the sand, soon noticing someone else nearby. He sat on a nearby rock, wearing the black coat associated with the Organization. The man turns to them and spoke in a familiar voice:
"I didn't expect this realm to receive visitors."
King Mickey recognizes it, "Ansem the Wise!? I thought you-"
"So did I, my friend. However, it seems fate has a crueler punishment for me than fading away." He then sees Riku and points out the obvious:
"I see that Xehanort's Heartless has disappeared from your heart."
"Funny enough, it was that machine you had." Riku clarifies, "Must have had enough light to overpower him."
"Huh. That's how he lost before..." Sora notes the parallel between Riku's change and his defeat of Ansem the Imposter.
Ansem the Wise then sees the armor. He recalls a familiar set from back then, making him quite curious:
"I don't recognize you, keyblade wielder. Where do you come from?"
"Oh, this is Terra. We found him in a wasteland and brought him here to find his friends. Have you seen a woman with blue hair by chance, goes by the name Aqua?"
Ansem takes a moment to think before another voice interrupts:
"Do tell, wise man. I need to know."
LW turns instantly, keyblade pointed towards a man near the water as the others look over. The unexpected guest had silver hair, yellow eyes, and armor on his left arm.
"Xehanort..." The armored warrior growls.
"I see you have yet to rust away, ghost of the past." The man taunts.
Riku recognizes the face and recalls meeting him way back when. However, he had brown hair and blue eyes instead. Then, this must be-
"So it's him." He mutters, getting Sora's attention as he took a moment to make the connection:
"Wait, that's the guy you met on the island! He's Terra!?"
"I prefer the name 'Xehanort'." Terranort clarifies, "You must be Sora and Riku. And I see the King is here as well."
The trio summon their keyblades, or rather two as Sora held Master's Defender ready, before King Mickey blurts out:
"He revived faster than we thought!"
Terranort smirks at this, "Not exactly, but that's not why I'm here. I came here to find my 'friend' Aqua, who fell in darkness to save me all those years ago-"
LW suddenly leaps at him, swinging his keyblade as Terranort summons his to block. The blades clash, emitting a shockwave that pushes the sandy waves back. The latter pushes the former off, who lands as the trio tries to come assist:
"Don't!" LW calls out, "Find Aqua! This is MY fight!"
"Ha! You want to fight me alone again!? You remember what happened before?" Terranort gloats.
"I do. You were knocked out cold." LW retorts before tightening his grip, "Though it seems... that was clearly too merciful for you."
"Such rage... allow me to extinguish it with that will of yours."
As the two got their fight underway, Mickey turns to Sora and Riku:
"You two go on ahead. I'll get Ansem to safety."
"Got it." Sora agrees before he and Riku went off towards the rocky terrain.
Mickey helps Ansem find cover as the two warriors got into their battle stances. Terranort emits a dark aura around himself, smirking as LW held his keyblade firmly. Ten years had passed since they fought. He beat him before, but it was a hollow victory as Xehanort had already took away what he had.
He knows this won't change a thing, but it didn't stop him before.
Objective: Take down Xehanort! (BGM: Dismiss)
The two dash at each other, immediately clashing blades in a flurry of strikes. Terranort tries a strong swing, but got outpaced by LW's drill gauntlet, blasting him back. Sliding back in, he charges at the armor with a piercing lunge.
LW leaps back in time, swiftly countering with a trio of rushing slashes, finishing with a rapid whip barrage. Terranort recovers onto his feet, deciding to attack from afar this time, as he activates Dark Volley. LW transforms his keyblade into a keybow, soon teleporting around to avoid the shots.
He soon reappears behind Terranort and fires, catching his opponent in a binding spell. The latter felt his strength getting drained, but wasn't too worried about it:
"This won't hold me!"
He breaks the bind, leaving LW open as he goes in with Ars Solum. Landing the full finisher, he slams his keyblade down, blasting his opponent back. Terranort grins at the damage he did, but the armored warrior was quick to retaliate.
He transforms his keyblade again, bringing out his glider and hops on. Terranort quickly slides away to dodge, but LW keeps up the pressure, casting Blizzaga to try freezing him. The former dives into the water, avoiding the icicles while leaving a shadow.
Said shadow then zooms into his path, shoots Terranort out as he summons a massive dark fist. LW was knocked off his glider, quickly summoning his keyblade back before diving down, slamming into the water. Terranort was caught off guard during his recovery, feeling his power get sealed off on impact:
"Wretched spirit!" He tries to attack, but feels a shock of pain that ceases his assault.
LW takes this chance to perform Ultima Cannon point blank, blasting his enemy back across the water. Now furious, Terranort retaliates with the same technique:
"Two can play that game!"
LW soon fires another shot as Terranort fires his, the two spheres clashing before bursting apart. This creates a massive wave that smothers the shoreline, which King Mickey blocks with a barrier. He and Ansem watch this fight go on, seeing both sides match each other effortlessly.
Within the makeshift storm, Terranort decides to finish this fight with a powerful spell, casting a massive Meteor to crash upon the sentient armor. He then notices the world had darkened more before seeing LW channeling a powerful aura. As the Meteor closes in, LW swings his blade down.
Terranort barely processed what happened, narrowing dodging a thin shockwave as it courses right past him. In one swing, the armored warrior sliced his Meteor in half, crumbling to pieces. He sees LW charge in fast and calls out his shadow:
"Come, guardian!"
His shadowy other was summoned, holding its arms out as LW comes in swinging. It manages to tank all of it before he rips his blade in two, making it use its hands to block the grinding gears. Despite this though, it can only take so much as a cross slash sends it back, leaving Terranort open.
LW showed no mercy, landing each lunge and swing with unyielding rage, finishing the fight with an Zantetsuken.
LW stands victorious once again as Terranort lands on the water's surface, weakened and frustrated at the loss:
"How!? I AM stronger in this body, I should be!"
"You are." LW coldly states before adding, "But it's MY body, I know my limits. You don't."
Terranort simply growls before casting Curaga on himself, healing his wounds:
"You win this time." With that said, he disappears into a portal.
LW stares at where he was before turning his helmet to the shoreline, calling out his glider to go follow Sora and Riku. King Mickey stood on said shoreline with Ansem as he flies by, the latter wondering on what had transpired:
"Why was Xehanort here? And wearing the attire from when I met him?"
"I don't know." Mickey admits, "Whatever it is, something strange is definitely going on."
Meanwhile, deeper in the Dark Realm...
Sora and Riku reached a large cavern, lit by some glowing blue substance from the rock wedges. It was quiet upon slowing down to a walk, but it didn't last long as a sudden rumble was heard. A large ball of Shadow heartless flew up above them, having glowing chains binding it down.
The two didn't waste time, leaping up to attack the sudden threat, swiftly finishing with a dual cross-slash. The ball fades away once they land on the ground, with the chains disappearing soon after.
"Who's there?"
The duo turn to see another keyblade wielder, one they recognize. Blue hair, blue eyes, she even wore the same attire from back then. In fact, she looks exactly the same. Maybe something with the Dark Realm? Even the keyblade she held was one themed after water, how fitting.
"Aqua! We found you!" Sora cheers, though it's likely Ventus saying that.
She was a bit on edge, but her face shows she was also curious.
"It's been awhile." Riku mentions, "We met you when we were kids, remember?"
That was enough to jog a memory, making her suddenly give them a big hug with a smile:
"Sora! Riku!"
Her grip was surprisingly strong, but thankfully not enough to be suffocating. Once she eventually puts them back down, she then shifts to worry:
"Why are you two here!? I thought you returned to the Realm of Light!"
"We did. We had to deal with a bunch of stuff, but we recently heard you're trapped here." Sora answers.
"Long story short, we're here to rescue you." Riku adds.
She felt serious relief from that before a familiar voice was heard:
"This is too easy."
The trio see a dark portal appear, revealing Terranort from earlier. They brace themselves for a fight as Aqua questions this:
"You again? I thought Terra-"
He cuts her off in annoyance, "There's no Terra, only Xehanort. It's about time you accept he's gone."
"He's not, you saw him yourself." Sora retorts, getting Aqua's attention.
Before she could ask what he meant, Terranort just gets right to the point:
"I'm just here to tell you what happened since you've been here."
"What?" The trio was a bit confused as he goes on to elaborate:
"As you saw before, the Realm of Light wasn't at peace. Your hope for your friend to return greatly backfired, allowing me to regain my memories and seek what I sought... Kingdom Hearts."
"This again..." Riku's comment goes unnoticed as Terranort continues:
"I willingly became a denizen of the dark and set another plan in motion, using the Princesses of Heart as the seven lights. My Nobody went on to form an Organization, in order to gather the remaining thirteen pieces of darkness, while also taking any loose hearts they find to create their own Kingdom Hearts."
"So there's another way to create the X-Blade..." Aqua summarizes, "Which meant you could have left us alone!"
"In hindsight, you're right. There were many paths I could have taken instead, which just makes your sacrifice all the more pointless."
Sora and Riku had questions of their own, but Aqua simply closes her eyes. A brief moment of silence passes as she takes a breath, and opens them:
"I know what you're doing. Trying to tempt me into darkness, use my rage to take you down. If a decade of phantoms and demons can't break me, you won't."
Terranort smirks at that and crosses his arms, "Well, there's more than one way to break a heart."
A dark aura surrounds him before a sudden gust of wind was felt, dispersing it as a shout was heard:
"XEHANORT!"
Terranort quickly leaps back, dodging an attack from above. A cloud of dust was made as the trio brace from the shockwave, with Aqua visibly stunned. This feeling in her heart grew strong as the dust settles, revealing a familiar set of armor.
"Persistent pest!" Terranort summons his keyblade in anger.
LW holds his keyblade up, pointing it towards his foe. Aqua couldn't believe what she saw, it has to be-
"We're fighting this time!" Riku calls out as he and Sora goes to stand side by side with the armored warrior.
"...I'm no fool." Terranort admits before summoning a portal, "We'll meet again, when this war reaches its conclusion!"
With that said, he disappears to who knows where, leaving the four alone in the dark. LW relaxes his stance, turning to Aqua before suddenly getting hugged by her:
"...You're here... for real." Her voice gives away that she was shedding tears now.
LW simply looks down, as if it was taken aback by this gesture, eventually using his free hand to return the embrace. Sora smiles at the reunion, but Riku sadly had to cut it short:
"Not wanting to be rude, but let's get back home before we catch something from here."
Aqua realizes this and composes herself soon after, "R-Right."
After regrouping with King Mickey and Ansem the Wise, Sora uses his keyblade to lead them back to Destiny Islands. From there, Mickey wanted to get Ansem back to Radiant Garden first, leaving Aqua and LW with Sora and Riku. Before they could return to the Mysterious Tower though, Aqua wanted to stop somewhere.
Returning Master's Defender to her, she then leads them to a strange world, one that Riku recognizes:
"Castle Oblivion? This was your home?"
"I used this keyblade to lock this world's keyhole, recreating it into a labyrinth to drive away invaders. This is also where I left Ven, to keep his body safe until I returned with Terra." Aqua answers before glancing to LW, "At least, what remains of him."
"Let's go meet Ven then, I know he's eager to see you two after all this time." Sora reminds them.
Not wasting any more time, she points her keyblade at the doors of Castle Oblivion, revealing its keyhole. A beam of light fires into it, literally transforming the castle into another one. Upon its completion, the dark sky disperses to reveal a bright blue sky.
Sora and Riku were surprised at the contrast, looking around at the surrounding mountains as Aqua and LW walk ahead. The duo speed walk to catch up, the four soon entering the new castle as Aqua informs them of what this world is:
"This is our home, the Land of Departure. Me and Terra trained here to become Keyblade Masters under Master Eraqus, with Ven arriving here later to do the same. From that point on, we were inseparable until... you know."
"Huh, sounds similar to when Kairi showed up on our world." Riku mentions to Sora, who also notes the parallel.
Reaching the top of a large staircase, they arrive at the second floor where three thrones were placed, seeing Ven's body resting in the center one. Aqua goes over ahead of the group, stopping near said throne:
"Ven... I'm sorry it took so long. I promised to come back with Terra, but ended up trapped in the Dark Realm. You two were the reasons why I kept fighting, hoping to see you finally wake up."
She then places her hands on his shoulders, gently shaking him:
"Please, open your eyes. Please!"
No response came. She tries again with a slightly harder shake, no response. Her heart sank as she fears the worst:
"No... did your heart never find your way home?"
Before Sora spoke up to explain, he suddenly felt a pulse in his chest. In his mind, he soon finds himself transported to his Station of Awakening, which confuses him. It wasn't until he heard a voice:
"I need your help, Sora..."
"Ven! What do you need me to do?"
"My heart has fully recovered long ago, but I never found out where my body went. Now, all I need is for you to light my way."
"A path, huh? Got it."
Summoning his keyblade, he holds it out as an orb of light shines at the tip, revealing a keyhole in the Station's center. Said Station soon darkens as he leaps upwards, seeing only the keyhole before it brightens into light, unveiling another one underneath that belongs to Ventus.
Pointing his keyblade again, a beam of light shoots into Ven's portrait, fittingly where the heart would be as it floats out:
"Thank you for always keeping me safe, Sora."
He smiles at the gratitude, "Of course. Now go, they're waiting for you."
Ven's heart follows the path Sora opens, returning to where he belongs in a flash of light. Sora returns to reality soon after, seeing Aqua saddened at what she thought happened. That sadness instantly vanishes as a yawn was heard:
"All this time, and all I got is a creak in my neck..." Ven's heart successfully returned as he stretches his body out.
Upon placing his feet on the ground, he was suddenly put in a hug from Aqua as she sheds joyful tears:
"Good morning, Ven!"
"M-Morning, Aqua. I missed you too."
LW stood there, just content to see the two back home safely. Sora smiles at this before hearing Riku whisper to him:
"I thought he was in your heart."
"He was, but turns out the keyblade can open paths for hearts too."
"That's...not surprising."
The duo decide to let the reunited trio have time to catch up, going on ahead to the Mysterious Tower to inform Master Yen Sid of their success.
And done! That took a bit longer than it should. I had ideas I was thinking of doing, but axed them since it would drag this out. The main point here was to reunite the Wayfinders, simple as that.
Now, we are done on the KH side of the interludes. Next up, we'll be catching up on what the Rainbooms have been up to, along with keeping another promise.
With that said, thanks for reading and I'll see you next chapter!