Chapter Twenty-Four: Fragments of Light
"Roy…" Sora said, slowly walking up to me. I barely stood, exhausted, and gritted my teeth while I sheathed my sword.
"Don't worry about it. We… we all have trying times. But don't forget the darkness," I told him. "Remember that darkness, remember what it made you. Turn away from that."
"I'll… try. We need to get out of here, anyway," Sora said, breathing heavily as well.
"You guys…" Riku said, walking up to us.
"Hey, Riku. So, what happened with Jason?" I asked, knowing to some degree what had happened.
"He fell down that chasm while we were fighting. I guess I'm stronger than he was, and after blocking an attack of mine, skidded back and fell down that canyon," Riku muttered. "Sorry."
I shook my head. "We're in more trouble now…" I muttered under my breath.
"You say something?" Sora asked me.
"… no, it's nothing. Well, what do we do now?" I asked back.
"Well, we need to get into Senka's fortress. That way, we can rescue Kairi and Jason's girlfriend…" Riku said.
"Her name's Serenity," I reminded him.
"Yeah, yeah. Well, Sora, what do you know about this fortress? You were here for a while," Riku said.
"Well, I don't know much about it, really. Senka told me to stay here and wait for you guys, and I did. I don't even know how to open the door," Sora answered.
"Let's check it out, then," I said, staggering up the rest of the steps. When we reached the top of the stairs, the castle gate, we were baffled. What stood before us was a great wall of darkness. It was seething darkness, pure and untainted by the light.
"It's… darkness. Pure darkness," Riku said, holding his hand out.
"Wait! Don't touch it. It'll taint your soul," I told him.
"My soul's already tainted," he said, barely touching it. He turned around, and I could see his eyes had turned yellow.
Just like Xehanort, I thought. Just like me…
"It's definitely no good," Riku said as his eyes returned to normal. "We won't be able to get past this… at least, not as we are."
"Why?" Sora asked.
"Simple. If we touch it, we give in to our inner darkness. If we went through it now, we'd become puppets of the darkness," I explained.
"So what do we do?" Sora asked.
"There's one way. Light," Riku said. "Pure light."
"We could find some at a world's heart, I suppose…" Sora said.
"There's the first good idea you've had!" I teased Sora. "Well, even if we did have a fragment of pure light, what would we keep it in? Light's just like darkness; mutable," I said. We all stood there, thinking for a moment.
"How about the Struggle crystals? If we got them, then went to a world's heart while sealing it, we could get the shards of light and temporarily dissipate this barrier," I suggested.
"It's the best shot we've got. To Twilight Town!" Sora shouted.
"Wait just a second. Can I get my arms reset first?" I asked.
"Uh… yeah… sorry about that," Sora apologized.
"Don't worry about it," I said with a smile. "Let's just go." We did so, beaming up to our Gummi Ship (now that we knew where we were). After a quick visit to the Radiant Garden, wherein I got Aerith to fix my arms, we went to Twilight Town.
The sweltering summer heat was brutal. I surmised it must have been a few months since I set out on this new journey. Despite the fact that it was quite late to enter the Struggle, we found the organizer soon.
"Hey, dude. We want to enter the Struggle," I said to him.
"Well, the preliminary rounds are about to begin. I've only got one spot left, though…" He muttered.
We huddled together for a moment.
"So, who's going to enter?" Riku asked.
"Why not you? You're pretty strong," I suggested.
"Well, I don't feel like fighting little kids. What about you, Sora?" Riku asked.
"I already beat all these guys a year ago," he said. "It'd be too easy."
"Well, it'd be too easy for me as well! I'm in a whole different league from these guys!" I complained.
"Well, then let's vote. All in favor of Roy entering?" Sora asked.
Both he and Riku rose their hands.
"Dammit…" I muttered, walking back over to the organizer, defeated.
"So, you're going to enter?" he asked.
"Yeah…" I muttered.
"Well, what's your name?" he asked me.
"… Eliwood. Sign me up as Eliwood," I told him.
He took out a clipboard and wrote down my alias on it. "Eliwood… right… well, meet at the sandlot in an hour for the prelims," he told me.
I puttered around town for a while, then went to the sandlot for the prelims. Not many people were there yet. The stage wasn't even up.
"Here in the prelims you're slated to battle Vivi. So, are you ready?" he asked.
"Yeah, whenever he is," I answered.
"Just a moment. I'm going to have to ask you to leave your weapon on the bench. No real weapons here," he told me, motioning toward Gaia's Edge.
"All right…" I muttered, somewhat exasperated. I set my weapon down on a bench and got a Struggle club. Vivi shuffled into the area minutes later.
"Now, I want a good, clean fight," the organizer told us.
"Yeah, yeah…" I muttered.
"A-all right…" Vivi said doubtfully.
"Then… LET'S STRUGGLE!" the organizer shouted. Vivi hesitantly approached me. I whacked him in the head once and knocked him out.
"Wow… that was fast," I heard Hayner say. I turned around to see him looking at me. I wasn't sure if he was impressed or if he wanted to beat me up.
"It was way easy," I said, walking off.
A day later, I walked in as the tournament was starting. People were cheering. I could see Sora and Riku sitting on a bench. The announcer was finishing up his speech.
"… and the mysterious stranger Eliwood! His sudden appearance and dominating performance in the preliminary rounds have made Eliwood the contestant to beat!" the announcer shouted.
"First off, Hayner and Seifer! Seifer's always been a tough opponent, but recently Hayner's been getting better? Who will win?" the announcer shouted into the mic. The organizer went to the two standing in the ring, gave them the standard 'clean fight' speech, and shouted for the match to begin.
The fight was intense. Just before time was up, it looked like Seifer was about to win. But in a last-minute comeback, Hayner gave him a few good hits, got more orbs, and won the match.
"What a surprise! In a comeback victory, Hayner has defeated Seifer! Unbelievable!" the announcer managed to shout over the crowd's cheering. "Next up, Rai vs. Eliwood!"
Rai and I walked into the center of the stage, Struggle clubs in hand. He looked at me with that dull look… the look of a tough, dumb goon.
"And now it's time for the second bout; Rai vs. Eliwood! Rai has always been a tough competitor, but the mysterious stranger, Eliwood, one the preliminary round with one hit! Who will win?" he shouted into the mic over the crowd's shouting.
"Okay, you two. I want a good, clean fight," he said, stepping out. "LET'S STRUGGLE!"
I walked straight up to Rai and hit him in the shoulder before he could react. I grabbed the orbs that fell and then slowly walked up to him again. He swung at me, but I easily dodged it and hit him again, sending him flying out of the ring.
"Amazing! Eliwood continues to dominate the opposition! Rai clearly stood no chance against him!" the announcer shouted to the mic while the crowd roared. I saw Sora and Riku standing up, shouting my real name at the top of their lungs.
"Next up is the final round! We'll be back after a short intermission!" the announcer yelled. I went over to Sora and Riku, who were still shouting my real name (despite the fact nobody could hear them over the roar of the crowd).
"So, how goes the Struggle, 'Eliwood?'" Sora teased.
"You saw. This is no fun… at all…" I complained.
"You're not doing this for sport. We're here to get the crystals, remember?" Riku reminded me.
"Yeah, yeah… well, I need to get back," I muttered, walking off.
"Wait. Why did you enter with a different name?" Riku asked.
"… because…" I muttered, walking off.
"Now, it's time for the finals! Will victory smile on the local favorite, Hayner? Or will the newcomer Eliwood come out on top? It's time for the final round!" the announcer shouted. "Let's get ready to STRUGGLE!" The crowd went wild.
"So, you made it after all," Hayner said with a smile. "Let's have a fun time, okay?"
"Fun? This… is no fun…" I muttered.
The referee/organizer gave a 'clean fight' speech to us, then shouted STRUGGLE!
Hayner and I circled around the arena, looking each other in the eyes. I made sure to let him make the first move. He approached me and attempted a wild swing, which I easily parried. The force from my parry made him drop a few orbs and go flying, but he skidded just before falling out. The crowd roared.
"I guess I underestimated you…" I said to myself. "Okay, let's get serious!"
I got into my usual fighting stance (I had been simply slouching before) and approached Hayner, who met me in the middle. I attacked him with a vertical swing, but he blocked it, despite the fact that he slipped backwards a little. Hayner then attempted a horizontal slash, but I blocked it.
From that position, we jumped back. I then ferociously charged at him, catching Hayner unawares. I got in a couple of good hits, knocking him out for a few moments. I proceeded to beat the rest of the orbs out of him, and won the match.
"It's unprecedented! A newcomer has won the Struggle!" the announcer shouted, barely audible over the roar of the crowd. I looked into the crowd, which was in an uproar. They were all shouting my 'name.'
The organizer went and got the trophy for me. I held it up, basking in my glory… even though it wasn't too glorious.
I plucked the crystals off and pocketed them before the sky went grey. Nobodies began appearing and attacked the residents. They fled, but Sora and Riku remained. I tried to hit them with the club, but it was ineffective.
"Roy! Your sword!" Riku shouted, throwing Gaia's Edge at me. I caught it and opened a can of whoop-ass, not holding back at all any longer. The Nobodies stormed and stormed, ending with a Twilight Thorn. Yeah… the Twilight Thorn was nothing, considering there was a hero, a hitokiri, and a twilight hero all fighting it at the same time.
I beamed back up to the ship before anyone could come and start asking things. I left the Blue Crystal with Sora.
hitokiri – Japanese for "manslayer." Literally translates to "human slayer."