Chapter Nine: Entrance
From afar, the Darkness in Zero watched the boy, Sora, as he conversed with the Nobody. "As you proceed through the castle, step by step, the bonds holding you to others comes loose."
"There's no way I'll forget anyone!" The boy promised emphatically.
"Perhaps, but can you say the same for everyone outside?" And with that, the Nobody gave Sora a card that moments later transformed the floor into the recreation of the refuge between worlds. Traverse Town. As the trio began to explore, they soon encountered a man in a black jacket with a peculiar weapon.
"Hey, Leon!" The youth exclaimed,. "What're you doing here?"
Leon looked aside at Sora. "Do I know you, kid?"
"Wha? Wait a minute...We just saw each other back at Hollow Bastion. Don't you remember?"
The man shrugged and began to walk away. "Can't say that I do."
"Now hold on a minute!" Donald squawked. "After everything we did for you, you're just gonna walk away?
Goofy stepped forward. "I mean...I know ya just met Sora recently, but we've known each other for years!"
Yet the man was unmoved, "Listen, I have no idea who any of you are."
To their untrained eyes, it truly seemed their former acquaintance had no memory of his encounter with the trio. Dismayed, they followed, attempting to jog their friend's memory.
But for the observer, he knew enough about his former apprentice to recognize their handiwork in illusion. The one once called Ienzo had grown quite proficient. Indeed, Zexion could likely create true imitations indistinguishable to the untrained.
Very well, if his foes were moving forward with their plans, so would he. To that end, he made contact with the one drifting in darkness. Whose will was subsumed by it, though enough of him persisted to avoid annihilation. The other one the Organization occasionally spoke of. Riku.
He had a chance to inspect the cards that transformed the castle. Reshaping it according to memory. Given his greater knowledge on the mind, he was able to craft a more proficient version of it, one pertaining to his own memories. Memories of what was left of his former home, and the bitterness that still lingered when he thought of it.
Bitterness that resonated with that of Riku.
And so, he offered it to him, "Will you still go?" To depart and find the path to truth? "There is no return to the security of sleep." If he did not have the strength to face it, there was no way he could face the Organization.
The boy reached forward and took the card, "This seemed like a boring place to take a nap anyway."
Perfect, "That was very well said, Riku." And so, he was able to transport him to the bottom of the castle, away from the prying eyes of nobodies. DiZ pondered the boy. As well as...that.
It was one of the few things he managed to keep while he was trapped in the void. He had hid it away when his traitorous apprentices had struck. It held power to be sure...but it could not be accessed by him, and the one who could was far away.
It mattered little. Riku had enough power on his own to render the weapon irrelevant for now. In time, he would reveal himself to the Organization.
And at long last, revenge would be in his grasp.
Ventus was hardly afraid of heights. He had enough experience on his glider to not have that sort of hangup. But when the object supporting them was little more than Thin Pieces of metal connected to a tiny electric beam, he couldn't help but ponder the long fall down. "Are you sure this is safe?"
"It'll be alright. We've used these before." Leon turned to the group. "The real problem is that the minute this lift gets to the top floor, everything up on that balcony is going to swarm us."
"Now that we have a keyblade on our side, we could actually get rid of them, rather than just charging through and hoping for the best. With the heartless gone I can get to work shutting off whatever's spewing smog, and get to work routing the water back into the pipes." Cid stretched, spear in hand. "That way we can begin to unflood the town."
Ventus nodded. "Makes sense. Water flows up, only place for it to go is into the castle."
Aerith seemed more pensive as the the lift ascended. "Though getting the water working again will be good, it probably won't be as simple as that. Those pipes probably have years of chemicals built up in them."
Yuffie shrugged, "Well, no time to start like the present. Just about ready Naminé?" She turned to the blond girl staring down toward the mass of water below. "Naminé? You alright? You're not afraid of heights are you?"
"Wha? Oh, no." She shook her head as she was snapped out of her reverie. "It's just funny…I can almost see what the town down there used to look like.."
"Really?" The ninja peered down "Guess you've got better eyes than mine. I can't make out anything in the water."
Seeing Leon and the others get on the lift without it shaking from the added weight, Ventus worked up the nerve to step on the platform. True to the mercenary's word, it held sturdy and ascended. The boy kept waiting for some sudden stop or lurch, but fortunately, the elevator arrived at their destination without incident. As they stepped off however, A mass of darkness coalesced into heartless. Ventus was all too eager to get off the platform in charge in. Yuffie was just as quick. The two moving past the Defenders that materialized, and striking at their exposed backsides. Ventus alternated between quick strikes and fireballs, while the Ninja slashed away with her oversized shuriken. Leon and Cid were not too far behind, A gunblade slashing into some of the Darkballs moving closer, while Cid had leapt into the air, landing spearpoint down on the back of an unfortunate Wyvern.
As the beast crashed to the ground, Naminé had summoned her cards in one hand while holding her sword in the other. Aerith had begun to focus, magic gathering around her staff. Suddenly, Sorcerers appeared around the two. "Get rid of the magicians, then I can deal with the rest." Naminé nodded, and tried to swing her sword at them. Her grasp on the blade was strong enough for her to use it without it flying from her hands. Unfortunately, her form tended to be more of a flail rather than a swing. Meant to get an attacking heartless to back off. But it was enough to knock back the Heartless immediately next to her, leaving her free to summon a figment to leap at it and finish the Job. Turning to the other heartless, she used a trio of cards this time. Again, the figment appeared, this time tossing it's keyblade at the target to knock it back. A moment later, it returned to its owner, striking down the Heartless on as it flew through the air.
"Alright, now-" Naminé gasped as she saw one of the defenders charging toward Aerith. Once more she summoned a figment. But this time, the figure defended. The heartless stopped as Keyblade collided against shield.
"I've got him!" Ventus called out, and with that he tossed his keyblade out too. But unlike the figment before, the blade was wreathed in flame. As it connected with the target, Ventus' energy reached a peak, a firestorm at his command. He charged forward, blade ablaze to take down the large heartless. Each swing scorching the monster, until eventually he unleashed a burst of fire to finish it off.
As it vanished, Aerith's staff shined and she called out, "Ramuh!" In a flash of lightning, the image of a wizened sage appeared behind the summoner. He raised his hand, and from the heavens above, the Judgement Bolt came crashing down. A blinding column of lightning blasted away the heartless on the castle roof.
Naminé and Ventus were slack jawed. They hadn't seen power like that in their lives. Yuffie however, was more bemused. "It's been a while since you've busted out the summons Aerith. Getting antsy?"
The summoner smiled. "I suppose I've got some pent up aggression. Of course, it wouldn't have worked that well on them without a keyblade around."
"Would…" Naminé spoke up hesitantly, "Do you think you could teach me that? Summoning?"
Aerith pondered for a moment. "Well, I could certainly try and teach some of the basics. The way you fight with figments might be a good place to start." Naminé nodded, a smile on her face.
"I think you'll be a natural at it Naminé." Ventus grinned. "You've been doing great so far."
"Well, as long as you can keep it up long enough for me to fix things, I'm happy with what you're doing." Cid shrugged, and began walking inside.
"Just a moment." The blonde girl called out, and began to search the balcony. Periodically, she'd stop to reach out, and pluck cards from seemingly thin air. "Okay, this is...more magic. I think this is fire and thunder." In her hands, two blue cards with the appropriate symbols had appeared.
"Not bad." Leon remarked. "If you're ready, let's keep moving." And with that, he joined Cid inside the castle.
As the rest of the group followed, an unseen observer mused on the progress of the group. "Well, I've seen better swordsmen, that's for sure. Still, those cards aren't half bad. Can't say that Luxord could do tricks like that." Larxene sighed. "Unfortunately, with the rate they're going, it's probably going to be a while before they discover anything juicy." She began to gesture, calling upon a door to darkness…
But then she noticed something. A raven, perched right next to her. Eyes studying her intently..
"What're you looking at?"
The bird's eyes narrowed. Did this thing actually understand her?
Larxene scoffed, "Well I'm not going to feed you. Bother someone else." And with that, the dark portal opened, and walked through, vanishing.
The bird was surprised at first, but shook its head. It had other business to attend to. Namely, tending to their lost master. And so it took to the skies to resume its search.
Kairi's eyes searched the horizon as the sun set. Hoping for some kind of sign. Anything that might indicate her friends had found their way back. Of course sooner or later, someone would come around to tell her she ought to head home, usually it was-"You know, you can't just spend your entire summer waiting for Sora and Riku to get home?" Selphie, who had made her way beside her.
"Well…" As much as it pained her to admit it, her friend had a point. Sitting around, pining for the two to return was hardly the way she wanted to spend what little time off she still had.
In fact, when had she ever been good with waiting? She was about ready to follow Sora to the end, and agreeing with him to stay behind was still something she wasn't happy with. So..."You know what, you're right. I'm not going to wait. We're going to find them."
Selphie raised her hands in apprehension, "Wait, what's with the we? I never agreed to…
"Okay, I'll go." She wasn't going to wait on the sidelines. Not anymore. Every time Sora and Riku had gotten lost when they were kids, she was the one who would bring them back home. Whenever their fighting had gotten a little too bitter, she was the one who helped mend the gap, or knocked some sense into their thick skulls.
Wherever the two went, she was right there besides them. And that wouldn't change, not now or ever.
"Wait, don't you need one of those Gum Ships?
Oh right, there was that problem. She had no way to get there.
"Gummi ship, but yeah. I mean I had to go find Cid to get a ride to…"
Or did she?
"But I didn't….I used…" A door. A doorway to the light. That was the only way she could describe what led her from Cid's workshop to The End of The World.
"Wait, what did you use?"
"It was…" She just had to remember. Remember what was going on when it appeared. What was happening. What she was thinking of.
Who she was thinking of.
Sora. He was probably still searching, even now. For all she teased him about being a lazy bum, when he stopped napping and actually worked, he gave it his all. Nothing stopped him, no matter how hard it was to do.
And Riku, even though he had fallen to darkness, he still believed he was doing what's best. Despite how aloof he could be, he always cared about the two of them. Even when he was in Ansem's grip, he fought back, gave them a chance to escape.
There was no way she could forget either of them.
"Whoa, what the heck!?" Selphie's exclamation roused her from her thoughts. And then she noticed it again. A shining portal.
And she knew her friends were on the other side.
She ran over to the nearby docks and began searching the boats.
"What are you doing?"
"Looking to see if they kept them...Aha!" and Kairi held up the weapon she had found.
"Kairi, that's a toy."
"Well, if it worked for Sora, it can work for me." And with that she began charging toward the portal.
Selphie shouted after her, "Kairi, do you even know where you're going?!"
"Wherever they are. And I'd know they'd do the same for me!" And in a flash, she vanished along with the portal she had run into.