Chapter Twenty Three: Burden
"Stand aside!" Erxart called out as he charged forward, gathering shadows around him to break through the castle walls. Though looking around, the path leading to the lair had taken them far from the castle itself, down to the bottom of a rocky canyon that the queen's lab overlooked.
It mattered little. All Erxart needed to know was that his target was right in front of him. She looked up in surprise, but that faded away soon enough. Maleficent raised her staff, and she was surrounded in a barrier of dark flames. He brought his keyblade crashing down on the shield, causing the magic to give just a bit. Maleficent winced as she continued to weave her magic, but even so she smirked, "My my. I remember you. I never did thank you for your service so long ago."
Erxart snarled as he continued to try and break through cracks showing in the shadow surrounding Maleficent, "Service?! You tried to control me! Use me to take the princesses heart!" And with one more heave, the barrier shattered. A sidestep on Maleficent's part being the only thing that saved her from Chaos Ripper's edge.
Despite the danger, Maleficent only smiled wider, "Yes. And you were such a useful pawn I would be remiss not to use you again." Erxart turned to her as she raised a hand to the crystal on her staff, green…energy…
"No! Not...again!" The same as last time. A haze coming over him. His limbs...bound…
"You have no choice."
No...voice…
"Through the darkness in your heart...you cannot resist."
Darkness all around.
But...there was always a light. Brighter than any darkness he was trapped in. For ten years, it helped him to hold on when his heart was dyed in it.
And compared to that, the shadows that tried to ensnare him now were nothing.
Maleficent barely had time to back away, as he smashed the ground with his fist, the Critical Impact causing the ground to explode around him. She gripped her staff now, holding it between her and Erxart, "What?! How could you slip from my control?!"
He got to his feet, eyes trained on Maleficent, "Seems I know the darkness better than you."
Just then Larxene landed beside him, laughing as she dusted herself off, "I have to hand it to you! You sure know how to make an entrance!"
Erxart nodded, "Had to keep her from using the mirror to find whatever χ-Blade is. Decided to make a shorter path." He gripped his keyblade in hand as Maleficent lifted the earth at her feet, darkness floating the mirror beside her.
The artifact only continued to intone, "What woulds't thou know, mistress of all evil?" Maleficent turned to the face in the glass, "Magic mirror—"
"Magic Mirror tell me this! How many volts to fry a witch?!" Only for Larxene to leap up and smash atop the floating rock like a lightning bolt. Maleficent stumbled as the blow pushed her to the edge of the platform.
But in a moment, she regained her footing, and brought her scepter down with a crack,"Back you fool!" A cloud of shadows gathered above, purple lightning cracking within before raining down on the two of them. In a blink, Larxene had moved away from an imminent lightning strike, re-appearing for an instant, only to move again as electricity struck where she was.
While his keyblade was able to protect him from the storm by letting him block the lightning, Erxart was still hampered. Each blast knocked him away from the floating rock. And with a wave of her staff, Maleficent created two portals of darkness. Two huge heartless with shields tumbled from the portals, but soon found their footing and readied their weapons.
Erxart was ready too.
He took aim with his keyblade targeting the two heartless before him. Familiar darkness gathered around him as his target was in sight. Above, more lightning gathered to strike. But when it came crashing down he was gone. He had shot forth to strike the defenders, a sonic shadow tearing into them before hovering above and crushing them in an explosion of shadow.
He turned to the witch, magic gathering around her as she started to cast another spell. "Not a chance," he growled out, as he felt the Dark Impulse overtake him once more. Swinging his keyblade with an edge of darkness, Maleficent's vantage point shook with each blow. Cracking more and more under his assault.
But just as it seemed ready to collapse, Maleficent roared,"ENOUGH! I HAVE NO TIME FOR THESE DISTRACTIONS!"
Larxene appeared behind him, "Woah! Back off, muscle head!" Only to pull him away from the floating rock. Or at least where it was until it seemed to have erupted in a column of shadow and green fire. The mirror was knocked away, but right now that was the least of his concerns. From the very top emerged a black dragon, green eyes glaring down at the two of them as it cackled in Maleficent's voice.
The dragon dived down to the ground below, and in a flash grabbed Erxart faster than he could react. Green eyes narrowed as he struggled, "You think you know darkness?" With that Maleficent flung him towards canon wall.
Right into the tower.
As he crashed into the rock, his vision swam. He tried to focus, to see what was going on. Vaguely, he knew there were other people in the room. But by the time he could see clearly again, Maleficent's head with a jaw filled with flame were all that mattered as she roared, "IF YOU KEEP ME FROM THE BLADE I SEEK, THEN YOU WILL BE CRUSHED BY THE MISTRESS OF ALL EVIL!"
After everything that he'd heard from Ventus, Roxas wasn't sure what to believe. About the Organization, about Axel, about the world. But when he saw the draconic Maleficent about to breathe emerald flames, he knew what to do.
"ERXART!""TERRA!"
He had no clue why Ventus jumped up to block the attack beside him, or what he was yelling about. But together, their keyblades were able to hold back the torrent of fire the dragon spewed forth. The heat was intense, the force pushed them back, but together they were able to stop the assault.
It bought time for Axel and Ventus' companions to strike back. Chakram, Shuriken, and Ice barraged the dragon's head. The beast wincing, though still not letting up But it wasn't until Erxart got to his feet to add to the assault with dark fire that Maleficent flinched back. Roxas lept ahead and began to hack at the dragon's claw still holding onto the tower, while Ventus kept up the assault of spells.
Everyone ran to the hole in the wall that had only widened from Maleficent's assault, though only Erxart jumped through without hesitation. Roxas looked down along with Axel, who chuckled, "It's a big drop, but nothing we can't handle." With a nod, the two of them lept down to the rocky ground below.
They ran over to where Larxene was holding onto the mirror the large heartless had earlier, "Whoever made this definitely didn't skimp on the materials. Maleficent had the right idea snagging this."
Erxart raised an eyebrow, "But how could she have taken it without us noticing?"
She shrugged, "Magic telekinesis. Making a dark portal to where she was, take your pick." Just then, Ventus and his friends jumped down from the lab walls, weapons ready. Larxene's eyes narrowed and she grumbled, "Looks like little Naminé's grown a bit of a spine…"
"Right now, I think we need all the spine we can get!" at Roxas' words, Maleficent found her footing. She reared up on her back legs, before slamming her claws to the ground, causing the whole area to quake. Magic rippled out from the point of impact.
He knew that even touching the rings radiating toward him was a bad idea. But even as he leapt over one, there was another wave right behind it. Too fast for him to avoid. Fortunately, Erxart was faster, landing in front of him with his keyblade to block. The power pushed him back, but for the most part he was fine. Axel also seemed to manage dodging the energy as well as Larxene, moving so fast he seemed to almost blink.
Ventus' group also managed to hold up well. Naminé was protected by Ventus as he blocked with the Keyblade, while Yuffie clung to the wall as she flung another huge shuriken. Again Maleficent breathed fire, but now it coalesced into balls that floated around her. In a flash they flew towards their targets.
Axel was able to catch the flames head on with his chakram, though he couldn't hold onto the green flame. Yuffie simply kept playing keep-away, running from the fireball as she continued to throw knife after knife at the dragon. Erxart and Ventus were a bit more proactive, batting away the orbs at just the right moment. It gave them just the right moment to go in. At least for the three of them with keyblades. Naminé stood back and cast more ice with her cards, much larger than what Roxas was capable of.
Roxas and Erxart began to strike at Maleficent's knees, while Ventus seemed to...toss his keyblade? No, Erxart taught him about this. It was Strike Raid. He kept his distance from the beast as he attacked, tossing and re-summoning his keyblade. Even so, the dragon showed no signs of weakening, what with all of them…
Wait, where was Larxene?
He took a moment to look around in the chaos, but in a lucky glimpse he saw her appear in a flash next to someone else. In an instant, she grabbed them and disappeared again. But why? He managed to get out over the din of the fight, "Hey Erxart? Any idea why Larxene would grab Naminé?"
Erxart shrugged and continued the assault. However, Yuffie dropped down from the wall while Ventus stopped in horror. He looked around, frantically asking "Where?! Where did they go?!"
Yuffie ran to where Naminé last was and checked the ground, ducking another blast of fire,"From the footprints, I'd say they went that way." Ventus looked farther down the canyon where Yuffie pointed and threw out his keyblade which…
Turned...into a glider?
"Woah, hold on!"
Roxas' mind echoed Yuffie's words exactly. But Ventus showed no signs of stopping, "Why?! We've got to hurry!"
"I know! Just," Yuffie ran over to the side of the canyon and hefted something up, "mind helping me with this?"
A very large, round, and reflective something.
"Don't you DARE!" Maleficent roared as she began to flap her wings. Only to screech as Axel's chakrams sliced into one side, while Erxart engulfed the other in dark flame. It bought enough time for Ventus to bring the glider over so they could move the mirror onto it.
"I think we will dare." Roxas smirked as he jumped away from Maleficent's snapping jaws. The power of a Thunder Bolt rising within him. Plenty of power to buy Ventus and Yuffie time to glide away with the mirror.
It nearly happened in an instant. One moment she was readying blizzara, the next, someone from behind grabbed her and she was pulled away. Far away. Far enough down the canyon that the fight was out of view, though the sounds of battle could still be heard. "Let go!" She wrenched herself free, and tried to face whatever had taken her.
"Ugh. And you're still so rude," and as she feared, Larxene was grinning down at her, "This is what happens when I'm not around to keep you in line."
Naminé backed away, knuckles white as she gripped her sword, "What are you doing?! Malefi—!"
Larxene just continued stepping forward, smile unwavering, "What? We've got time to chat. Maleficent is busy fighting off a pyromaniac, a wannabe ninja, and three real keyblade users."
She just continued to step away until finally her feet hit the wall. Naminé shouted, "What do you want from me?!"
Larxene crouched down and looked Naminé in the eyes, something inside them glittering as she spoke, "For you to remember your place, empty little witch. Everyone else in the organization might be willing to give you a chance, but we both know the truth." Her grin grew ever wider as she sneered, "The truth is you're nothing! Less than nothing! Just a memory meant to fade away!" Naminé felt something twist inside her. Old worries boiling away like they used to.
But there was something else.
People who believed in her. Wanted to give her a chance.
And a memory of a gentle hand in hers. Of a boy who thought of her as somebody. Somebody great.
So she lifted up her sword and answered, "You're wrong. People know the truth about who I am and they still care about me."
Larxene scoffed, "You think some washed out heroes maAAAH!?"
And then cried out, as Naminé slashed her with her sword.
She'd had enough of listening to someone who didn't care about her.
Running to the side, Naminé got some distance between the two of them. Larxene could only look down to where she was struck. There was no visible harm, but her eyes were wide as she looked at Naminé, "You hit me?" It was strange, what was in Larxene's eyes only seemed stronger now. Then she began to smile, "Well, now I can say…"
"...I was provoked!"
Larxene's voice was behind her, even though she stood ahead. Fortunately, a week of fighting the heartless kept her on her toes. Instinctively, she summoned a figment to attack behind her and heard the sound of clashing weapons. She turned to see the shining figure struggling against a duplicate of Larxene, knives out and ready for blood.
"Where are you looking?!" She was just fast enough to block Larxene's punch. But the lightning infused strike sent her flying. Tumbling, she regained her footing and reached for her cards. She needed something with a bit more strength to deal with the two. There was the summon stone, but would that be too much? Even for an Organization member?
No, she just needed to focus. Even if Larxene had multiple versions of herself, Naminé had backup of her own. Grabbing two fire cards, she threw one then the other at each of her attackers. Both Larxenes dodged the flame, moving farther apart. It gave Naminé the chance to focus on one of them.
She first cast a figment to strike at the one closest to the wall. Larxene scoffed and held her arms up to block. On that cue Naminé rushed in, keeping her back to the wall, and began to strike. Her sword might be more than a nuisance, but after each slash, she used another of her cards, allowing her figment to continue attacking. Larxene finally dropped her guard, snarling, "I don't think so!" in two voices.
One in front of Naminé, and one above her.
A quick side roll was all that kept Larxene's doppelganger from drop-kinging her into the dirt. Fortunately, her figment was unharmed. With a card and a kick, the two of them shoved the unhurt Larxene into her double. Both of them cried out and re-fused into one, the damage one half carried showing as she lied on the canyon floor. The refused Larxene got to her feet, growling, "You little worm! You really think you can beat me?!"
And then Naminé realized just what the look in Larxene's eyes was.
"Then—!"
"What are you afraid of?"
For once, Larxene was speechless, her mouth hanging open as she heard Naminé's question. "Afraid?" But a second later, her mouth had contorted into a snarl and she glared daggers, "You think I'm afraid of you?!" Electricity began to arc off of Larxene as she pulled out more knives in her fists.
"Naminé!"
Hearing Ven call her name, she smiled and saw him and Yuffie on the keyblade glider. Larxene however, was still as angry as ever, "Well, look who it is! The faithful failure of a knight!" With a punch, she sent the lightning bolt of electricity towards the two. As they narrowly swerved away, Larxene spat out, "Got any other bright ideas?!"
"Yeah! Catch!" At Yuffie's cue, she and Ven jumped off the board and they both gave it a kick. It tumbled in the air, and flung something which collided with Larxene, kicking up dust.
Ventus ran up to Naminé, concern clear in his eyes, "Are you alright?! She didn't hurt you, did she?!"
"Nothing too bad. Thanks Ven." She jogged up to her friends before looking over towards the dust cloud, "Do you think that took care of both of them?"
However, to their dismay the face in the mirror was still there. Distinctly intact and agitated, "Trodden and tossed by youth. This treatment is most uncouth."
And soon, after some sounds of exertion, Larxene hefted the artifact off herself. Bruised but certainly defiant, "Nice Try! But it's going to take more power than that to break the mirror or me!"
Well, if there was little point to holding back…
Naminé reached into her pocket as she looked to Ven. He nodded and re-summoned his glider.
Yuffie was a little more uneasy, "Hey, are we really going to be busting this out?" Nevertheless, Naminé held the summoning stone in front of her as it glowed with a blue light.
"Leviathan!"
"She's definitely not going down without a fight!" Roxas got up from the dirt. Another wave of darkness dodged as Maleficent shook the canyon.
Erxart was caught in the dragon's claw, just barely prying open it's grip with his keyblade, "It's like...something else is strengthening her…"
Maleficent's chuckle reverberated through the rock, "Oh? You have the strength to resist my control, but not to stand against the darkness that sustains me?" She then slammed Erxart into the canyon wall, "Then fall to the true power of darkness!"
As the claw retracted, Axel pulled Erxart out of the rubble, "We're going to need something big to turn this around!"
Then the fight stopped, as the sound of roaring water filled the canyon. Maleficent looked to the sound with narrowed eyes and muttered, "My own power turned against me." She flapped her wings to take flight.
Axel began to pull back his free arm to throw his weapon, but a quick glance further down caused him to stop. Roxas saw it too. Water pouring through the canyon, with Leviathan charging forth at the head of the flood. Hurrying as fast as he could while carrying Erxart, Axel got over and opened a dark portal while shouting, "Move!"
Roxas didn't need to be told twice. Though the portal didn't go quite as far as the others he had walked through. Just back up to the tower they were in. As the walked out, they saw Maleficent had landed on the side wall, claws digging into the rock. She looked down to the torrent of water and growled. As the three of them followed her gaze, it was not hard to see why.
The magic mirror, shattered into pieces.
"Well played. But this is not over." At that, Maleficent's colossal form surrounded itself in darkness, then vanished.
Erxart sighed as she vanished, hanging his head. But after a moment of looking into the stream, he pointed, "Down there!"
A floating black cloak, one that made an effort to swim towards them. Eventually, after reaching the wall, and coughing up several lungfuls of water, Larxene hoisted herself up onto dry crossed his arms, "So. Naminé seems to be doing pretty good."
Wringing the water out of her cloak, Larxene grumbled, "Could have gone without her fighting back. Could have had some fun like in Castle Oblivion."
Just the way she said that word made Roxas' skin crawl. And from everything that happened earlier, it wasn't too hard to put two and two together, "You tortured her before she escaped." She looked up at the accusation with an eyebrow raised, "Why?"
Larxene rolled her eyes, "Seems the witch was chatty." Getting up, she glared at Roxas, "She was a tool, and sometimes you need to keep tools in line."
Axel spoke with crossed arms, a lot more seriously then before, "The bosses aren't going to be happy we missed Maleficent."
Erxart shook his head as his keyblade vanished, "Or how you ignored the mission for your own agenda."
Larxene only narrowed her eyes, "I have my reasons. I'll explain them if Xemnas asks." Nonchalantly, she summoned a portal to return to the castle and walked toward it.
Axel followed, "When he asks. Considering he put out the kill order himself." Roxas could only watch as he vanished. Even though part of him still thought of him like a friend, with everything Ventus and his friends had revealed, everything was so...uncertain. Was there anyone he could really trust in the organization?
"Roxas, are you coming?'
Erxart calling back to him snapped him out of his thoughts. And then he realized that maybe there was. Someone who had been there just as long as he had been, "Erxart, after we debrief can we talk?"
And the smile on Erxart's face gave him the feeling he made the right decision, "Of course."
"Terra...Roxas..." Ventus sighed as they watched them from the canyon edge the glider had brought them to.
Yuffie was content to kick her legs as she sat on the cliff, "Well, might not have been the way we thought things might go, but overall we did good. We got rid of the mirror, right?"
"I think Naminé deserves most of the credit for that," Ven smiled as he looked over to her.
A blush came to Naminé's cheeks at the praise, "Thanks. I…"
Then it came back, like in Enchanted Dominion.
""The queen is gone, my service done. Adieu O victorious one."
A dull ache in her head.
"That ruffian pointed one of those at me, asking about some 'Xehanort'..."
Visions began to swim in her mind.
"Beyond both light and dark he dwells, where war was waged upon the fells."
Of places and people she had seen and others she never knew.
It was familiar...it was almost like...
"Woah, think you need a break?"
Yuffie's words snapped her out of it. She'd gotten up from her seat. Ventus was down at her side as she had fallen to her knees at everything she was seeing. Naminé leaned on him as she slowly got to her feet, "I'm fine just...head...hurts."
Ventus held her hand as she steadied herself, "We'll get you some rest when we get back to the ship."
It was odd, but just being next to him was helping the pain in Naminé's head subside. She smiled, "Thanks Ven." and as he smiled back something in her almost seemed...lighter. Like everything she had been through before didn't weigh on her so heavily.
Yuffie looked over to the castle in the distance, "Well, it's a long walk to the ship, so we better hurry if we want to get back before dark."
So she and Ven followed Yuffie, Naminé holding his hand the whole while.