Final Fantasy XV - Kingdom Hearts

Part 21

Summary: Two warriors of Light, the Chosen King and Keyblade Master, face an unseen Darkness.

*On the Road*

In the Regalia, Noctis was the driver with Riku in the passenger side and the other two keyblade wielders in the back. There was a silence in the car, each of them taking in the recent updates from the advisor and processing what had been revealed.

'I can't believe it…Aqua's keyblade was broken?', Sora said, disbelieving. 'I mean…I didn't even know you could break a keyblade'.

'As strong as they are keyblades aren't unbreakable', Riku spoke up, looking at the ocean in deep thought, 'Mine broke when we first returned to the realm of darkness thanks to the demon tide…'. As Noctis made a turn and drove into the tunnel, he said: 'So what can she do? Can't she just summon another one?'. Riku said: 'Not as simple as that. Usually, you need a chain strong enough to create a keyblade unless you have a master who can create one for you'.

'And I'm gonna go on a limb and say you don't know how?', Noctis asked.

'Right on the munny, Noct', Riku confessed.

Noctis sighed, his thoughts going back to Gladiolus, especially after what Ignis had told him. The giant hadn't been himself since they escaped the ship, that for the last few days he was mostly training and often gone out for hunts, alone. He'd come back sure, but not without looking more furious than when he left the base. He knew people like Xigbar would be a completely different enemy compared to an average nobody or heartless, but this Terra was able to beat both him and Aqua at once…

And now with the Marshal dead, the odds had stacked against the party more than ever.

In the backseat, Kairi was quietly looking at the world pass them by, deep in thought over Lunafreya. From what Prompto had told her via texting, Lunafreya was this worlds "Oracle", meaning her job was to maintain the stability of this world and communicate with the gods and cleanse this world of the darkness known as the "Starscourge", what that is she didn't know and neither did the boy.

As far as she knew about the woman personally, from what Noctis told her, she is a princess of another place called Tenebrae and is Ravus' little sister. Then the worst part was when she was told the princess was a prisoner of the Empire after they not only took over their home but killed their mother. It was only because of her royal blood apparently that Tenebrae had some autonomy, plus she had a suspicious feeling the people would revolt if they so much as even scratched the woman.

It only furthered her concern when she kept thinking back to the letter. How does she know about the Order, the guardians of light and more importantly, how did she know about her being a princess? Kairi leaned back into the seat in thought, looking up at the tunnel ceiling in deep thought. 'Still thinking of Lunafreya?', Riku asked, seeing her concerned face from the corner of his eye. 'Yeah…how does she know about all that? Especially if Noct hadn't spoken to her', she confessed.

'Maybe someone from the empire told her? Xigbar maybe?', Sora suggested. 'With Ravus around? No way. He wouldn't let that guy anywhere close to her', Noctis counter-argued. 'Speaking of Luna, what did you write to her?'.

'It was more me being courteous to her and agreeing to meeting her in Altissia if we get the chance, but I also warned her about Ravus', Kairi said. Leaning forward she said: 'If Ravus is only using the darkness to protect her, then she needs to know what's going to happen to him if he uses more of it'.

'Think he'll listen to her?', Sora asked, looking at the prince. 'I dunno…', Noctis replied. 'But hey, maybe Luna will tell Kairi how she knows when they do meet up'. As confused as the prince was that she would request Kairi to meet her raised some concerns for the redhead, Noctis didn't feel like she had any malicious intent. They're both princesses, so maybe she wants to talk to someone who might have an understanding like her?

He pushed those thoughts aside as they exited the tunnel and after another five minutes of driving, they see Ignis waiting for them by a small stall selling vegetables. They parked the two cars on the dirt path with Prompto carefully parking right behind the Regalia. Ignis turned to the arriving parties and after bidding the seller a good day, he approached them.

'Good to see you're all safe', he said, but then he looked at Riku being assisted by Sora, one arm over his shoulder and holding him up by the belt. 'Are you well, Riku?', he asked. 'Just a little sore, I'll down a potion later', dismissed Riku, 'Where's Aqua and Gladio?'. Ignis's face softened with concern as he leads them to the house, Sora assisting Riku all the way. 'After we managed to escape from the empire, we received word from one of the guards that his majesty's boat was stashed away here', he explained. 'Thus, we opted to come here then ask you to join us'.

'Makes sense', Donald hummed, 'But what happened on that ship?'.

'I believe you're familiar with this "Terra", correct?', he questioned. 'Kind of, but we know what's happened to him', Sora said, his voice made him sound so down. 'Yes…well, suffice to say he proved to be more of a challenge to Gladiolus, and Aqua', Ignis responded, even by his professional tone they could tell he was equally horrified that Aqua lost. Getting closer to the house, Kairi looked to the rocky path near the ocean to see Aqua sitting on one of the rocks, looking out the sea. She stopped walking, earning the attention of everyone else.

When they followed her gaze, their eyes softened with worry. 'Ever since she recovered, she has been sitting there for most of the day…', Ignis explained, 'Only coming up to help us with some labor'.

'And Gladio?', Iris asked.

They all looked towards the spectacled man, who shook his head. 'He has gone out for some hunting. Some wild beasts were prowling the area and he offered…or rather, decided himself, he'd go and exterminate them', he said. 'And let me guess, you offered to go and he "kindly," said no thanks?', Noctis asked, frowning. 'If we wish to put it generously', Ignis confirmed.

Looking at the master below, Kairi turned to Sora, who nodded. Without a word, Kairi started to jog down to the master, leaving the others. The rest of the party made their way to the new base of operations likely, where Riku was immediately taken to one of the bedrooms. Donald had offered to use some magic to restore him but the master declined, stating he was just sore from the fight. Once he was in bed, with Iris watching over him, Ignis took the others to the lighthouse.

Just outside of the old tower was Cid, the father of Cindy, sitting down on his chair looking tired and downright done with the process. When he sees the group, he gets off his chair and tips his hat to them. 'Your Majesty took his time', he said gruffly yet harmlessly at the same time. Noctis placed a hand on his hip looking at the grouchy old man, but before he could introduce the others, Cid spoke up. 'Sora, Donald, and Goofy aye? Heard about you from my daughter, Cindy', he said, waving his hand.

The trio blinked, surprised by his bluntness and the fact he's also named Cid. Maybe it was just a common name they thought. 'She wanted me to let you guys know your ship shouldn't take that much longer to patch up', he stated, 'But she's expecting your feathery partner to come through with his side of the deal'.

Donald grumbled in retort, crossing his arms and looking away, while Sora rolled his eyes. 'At any rate, how fares the repairs to the vessel?', Ignis said, turning to the old man. 'Well son I've got some bad news for ya'll…most of the repairs I can do myself, but we've hit a snag', he said, 'The engine your old man had? Its long-gone dead son'. The three members of retinue looked at one another, a dreadful sense of déjà vu was coming on and knowing their previous ventures with the Cid family, it will involve going somewhere and fetching it.

'Then what can you do to fix it?', Sora asked, 'Do you need something?'. 'Aye boy, we're gonna need mythril ore if you want me to fix the engine, and then some', Cid said. Behind them, Donald and Goofy gave each other looks of surprise, likely due to the fact this world ALSO had mythril too. Next thing they'll find is someone has the name of a Gummi Ship. 'And where can we find that?', Noctis asked with a grunt littered with annoyance.

'Heh, you tell me, sonny boy, I've never even seen the blasted thing. My daughter recommended it to me', Cid said with a smirk. Before Noctis could let out another noise that was nothing but annoyance, Prompto spoke up: 'Course she did! She's fixing a ship after all! But maybe we could ask the Crownsguard about it!'.

Ignis nodded in agreement, turning to the others while Cid says, as he left, he was gonna see if he could do more with the yacht while he waits for them. 'I can ask the guards if they know a place where mythril could be mined, perhaps one our spies knows', Ignis conversed. 'Unless of course, you want to explore every cave and tunnel on Eos until we find it?'.

The prince grunts, before sighing and nodding to his advisor. With a nod, Ignis headed for the house and left the five remaining members by the tower. 'Guess we've got some time to ourselves', Prompto said to no one particular. He pulls out his camera and starts to walk off, saying he was going to get some photos while he waited around. The two anthropomorphic beings said they would go and see how Riku was doing and see if they could help out around the house.

Leaving only Sora and Noctis behind. 'Sounds like your ships almost ready to take off', Noctis hummed, looking at Sora. 'I guess so. I thought she'd be a bit longer', Sora confessed while throwing his hands behind his head. 'Think you guys will head off immediately after she's done?', the prince asked. Sora gave the older boy a perplexed look, humming and cupping his chin before ultimately, he shook his head.

'Nah, not until we get rid of Xigbar and help you guys get your home back', Sora said with a grin. Noctis crossed his arms, a smirk appeared on his face. 'Seriously? Thought you guys had a universe to save?', he teased. 'So, you wanna deal with Xigbar, the heartless, nobodies and everything else the empire throws at you without us?', Sora challenged. Noctis laughed, shaking his head. 'Okay, got me there', the prince relented. 'But hey, we won't say no to more help'.

Just as their laughter died down, they looked to the woods and see Gladiolus returning from wherever he went, likely a hunt. To say he looked more frustrated was a very small understatement. His face showed a darkness within his eyes, fury of a wild animal that was begging for something to tear apart, and the fact he still had his sword out gave the two the impression he wasn't done fighting…anything, yet.

'Man, Gladio looks pretty upset', Sora said, putting both hands on his hips.

'That's putting it mildly…', Noctis concurred with a bite of sarcasm. The prince shook his head and turned to the younger boy. 'I'm gonna go talk to him, you should probably check on Kairi and Aqua', he suggested. Sora nodded, gave the prince one more look of support, then jogged off to Kairi and Aqua. Taking a breath, preparing himself for the likely shitstorm that was Gladiolus temper, the future king approached him. The giant was stalking around the spot, before with a growl emitting from his chest, he stabbed his sword into the ground, before sitting down and resting his back against it.

He punched the ground next to him, cursing loud enough for Noctis to feel the anger in his voice. As Noctis grew closer to him he refused to look up at his charge, almost as if he was so ashamed, he couldn't face his king. Standing before him, Noctis folded his arms and gazed at him. There were no words exchange at first, the prince letting his brother cool his mind before he spoke first, no sense in arguing with the man.

Noctis then sat on the ground, looking at Gladiolus as he kept his head down and glowered at his clasped hands. The wind blowing softly, whistling through the leaves and branches above them, the silence between them was unheard of and strange to the prince. His worries slowly grew as Gladiolus still couldn't face him, and he just looked so very defeated. Even during his early years, if there was a way Noctis often used to describe Gladiolus, it'd be persistent and too damn determined to stop. Even when he loses fights against Cor, he still got back up and trained even harder.

This defeated look, it is much worse than when he lost to Ravus.

'…guess Iggy told you what happened?', he grunted out, still not facing him.

'Specs told me you *and* Aqua lost to some guy named Terra', the prince spoke, making sure the shield didn't feel any more of failure. If Aqua lost, then clearly whoever the fought was worse than your average baddie.

'She only lost because that son of a bitch used her friend's body against her…he kicked my ass', he growled, looking at the prince at long last. Seeing his face showing fury mixed with shame, it disturbed Noctis. 'I barely managed to hurt him, and he healed it like it was just a bug biting him', he said, 'And he wasn't even *trying* to beat me'.

Gladiolus punched the ground again, this time harder and he just barely missed the rock near his fist. Noctis almost reached out to grab his shoulder before reluctantly disregarding it, coddling Gladiolus with false confidence wasn't going to fix this. The man was truly furious with his performance and seeing him this angry over a loss it worried the prince. His friend's anger slowly drained from his features as he ran a hand down his face, groaning.

'Gladio', he said, but the words failed him.

The shield looked down; eyes dimmed. 'He broke my shield Noct…he kicked my ass, and he would've killed me if Aqua didn't step in', he lamented. Closing his eyes, he ran a hand through his hair and sighed. 'I'm not…strong enough, Noct', the shield lamented. Noctis leaned forward. 'Gladio, come on, you lost a fight', he said, 'That doesn't mean you're not strong enough…'. Gladiolus shook his head, giving the boy a hard look. 'Not this time Noct, this guy was in a whole new league of strength', he said.

He stood up and dismissed his sword, looking at the prince as he stood up. 'I can't protect you and the others if I'm falling behind like this', Gladiolus said, arms crossed. 'So that's why…I'm gonna head off for a while'. Noctis raised a brow at this sudden announcement, before saying: 'Heading off? As in, leaving?'.

'Just for a while, until I get stronger', Gladiolus promised. '…and where are you going to get stronger?', Noctis questioned. Gladiolus didn't say anything, he just stared down the prince as Noctis refused to relent to his hard gaze, standing his ground. Both warriors stared intensely at each other, neither backing down. Gladiolus then smirked. 'Just some business I need to take care of, that's all', he said. Noctis then smirked in response, before he groaned exaggeratedly. 'Fine, keep your secrets', he said, waving a hand.

Gladiolus turned to go, but Noctis grabbed his arm. 'But you're taking Aqua with you', he said. Gladiolus opened his mouth to protest, but when he looked at the prince, his blue eyes showed there was no room for an argument. 'If you're feeling this bad about losing, then imagine how she's feeling about all that? Keyblade broken, fighting a friend and losing?', he said. Gladiolus closed his mouth as he looked down, closing his eyes and then inhaling through his nose. Opening them again, he looked at Noctis and with reluctance, nodded. 'Okay, fine'.

Releasing his grip on the man, Noctis addressed him. 'Gladio…I get what you're saying', he confessed. 'Sora, Riku, Aqua, they're in a whole different league than us…and then there's Xigbar, Ravus and now Terra…'.

Noctis grunted, looking at him. 'I know it's rich coming from me…but even I wouldn't have stood a chance against Terra if he could beat you and Aqua…but I'm still getting there', he continued, showing one of the royal arms in his hand. He then smirked. 'So, you listen to me, as your king, I order you to come back better than ever. Even better than your old man', he commanded. Gladiolus was both amused by the proposal but more so…impressed by the sheer confidence he was displaying.

He gave his future king a cocky grin and placed a hand on his hip. 'Oh? That right?', he said. Noctis gave him a smug look. 'Any lesser would be an insult to a king, wouldn't you agree?'. Gladiolus chuckled, ruffled the prince's hair good-naturedly. Noctis waved off his hand with an annoyed growl, but he was still smirking at him. They shared a brother's arm bump before the shield nodded to the prince and headed off to get his partner.

*Earlier*

Reaching the rocky beach before her, Kairi had a sudden sense of nervousness attacking her will when she saw her master before her. Truly the princess hadn't thought of a way to approach her master's situation, and she feared making the situation worsen, or even make the master close herself off to the others.

Biting her lip, Kairi made her way to the blue head, hopscotching her way to her, making some noises and "whoas" when she nearly lost her balance. When she got close to her master, the last step nearly made her trip and slam her face into a small puddle of seawater, Aqua turned around to see her nearly slipping before she staggered forward. Aqua caught her apprentice in time before her delicate face became familiar with the rocky beach.

Looking up at her blue-haired savior, she shyly smiles. 'Looks like my footwork still needs work', she giggled, scratching her cheek. Aqua softly chuckles in response to her student's awkward humor, helping her to sit down on one of the larger rocks. Both sat there in silence, watching the ocean and the sun shining over it, the smells of saltwater made Kairi think back to the islands. Looking over to her master, Kairi opened her mouth to speak up but her voice seemingly vanished.

The master's gaze was sullen and devoid of the light she always carried. There were dried tear stains on her cheeks, circles beneath her eyes likely from lack of sleep since the raid. In her lap laid Master's Defender, broken in half and unfit for battle. Kairi's flawless face turned to sadness as she reached out for Aqua and gently placed a hand on her hand resting on the handle of her keyblade. 'Aqua…', she started, but whatever she wanted to say or do, nothing was coming to her. It was as if the words she sought just didn't exist anymore.

'…he made a mistake', Aqua whispered.

Kairi looked up at her, confused. Aqua looked to the ocean, a far off look in her eyes as if Kairi wasn't there anymore. 'My…master. He made a mistake', she lamented. Looking at the destroyed keyblade in her lap, her voice was so quiet and defeated, for a moment, Kairi couldn't recognize her master. Her eyes were slowly replacing the emptiness with doubt and shame. 'I was chosen among the two of us, and he elected me to be a master', she said.

'Yet…I failed everyone…Ven, Terra…and now this'.

Kairi was horrified, hearing this woman, this person who survived the solitude of the darkness for nearly twelve years and is an idol to the princess. Hearing this from her, the sheer confidence in her failures, it tore her heart apart. 'Aqua…that's…that's ridiculous!', Kairi said, grabbing her shoulder. 'You deserve to be a master! Eraqus wouldn't have made you a master if he genuinely thought you weren't ready!', Kairi argued.

Aqua turned on her, eyes hardened and said: 'If he saw how much I screwed up Kairi, I sincerely believe he'd be disgusted!'. They stood up together, Aqua more so because she was about to walk off but Kairi held her there by grabbing her forearm. 'Aqua, that's not true! You should know-

'I should know my master better than that?', she accused. Her tone was sharp as if she was halting any argument the redhead was about to have with her. They both stared down at each other, as much as Kairi hated to have confrontation like this hearing Aqua berate herself like this infuriated her. Among all of them, she had no reason to be this harsh to herself and hearing her act like this only angered her.

'You're letting whatever Terra…or Xehanort, whoever, they said get to you!', Kairi argued. 'You know better than anyone that's how he gets to you!'. Aqua ripped her arm from the girl. 'Doesn't mean he's wrong! He was right about Terra's fall being on me!'.

'I was the one who started Terra's doubts, I was sent to watch him because we doubted him!', she ranted, 'If I hadn't been so dismissive of Ven's abilities, he wouldn't have run off without us! I failed them both! And now…', she growled, but Kairi could see her anger slowly waning and shifting to despair. She looked at her keyblade before she shook. 'I…I can't even call myself a master without a keyblade…', she lamented.

Kairi's anger vanished when she saw tears starting to run down her cheeks, utter despair in her eyes. She shook her head, holding back a sob. 'Seeing him again like this…knowing that I couldn't save him, that his body was used to create two of the world's greatest threats…', she whispered. Kairi gently took the woman into her arms, hugging her despite the keyblade between them. Aqua froze from it, not used to someone giving her hugs as opposed to her being the instigator of them. 'You're not a failure, you saved Ven, remember?', Kairi said.

'Kairi…', Aqua whimpered.

'You've made mistakes Aqua; everyone has. And you may not have been able to save Terra then, nobody says you can't save him soon, right?', she offered. 'She's right you know'. They both turned to see Sora approaching them, a sad smile on his face but she could see the earnest in his eyes. He placed a brotherly hand on her shoulder. 'I know what it's like having your best friend as your enemy, especially when somebody took over their body and heart', Sora explained.

'But that's why you can't give up, because you know they're still in there, waiting to see you all again, right?'.

Sora stepped back and summoned his keyblade. '…I wasn't chosen by this, you know that', he said, a look of shame flashed in his eyes before he pushed it down to smile weakly at them. 'And yeah, me not passing my exam kinda says a lot about me, but you know…If I could make it this far, despite not being picked off the bat', he looked to Aqua, 'Why can't you?'.

Tears ran down her elegant cheeks as Aqua's heart swelled, before the two younger teens hugged her together, wrapping her in a cocoon of safety, and love. Aqua shook before she finally broke down and collapsed into their arms, finally letting out all the pain her heart carried in those years of solitude, being cut off from her friends for so long and almost blinded by the darkness.

Seeing her friend, brother in fact, in such a state had cracked that wall of resolution and determination she had built in her years in the dark realm and losing her master's keyblade had been the final hammer to break down her wall. In the arms of her student and rescuer, she finally dropped that strength to allow herself a long-overdue moment of weakness at long last. Huddled into a group hug, they weren't aware of Gladiolus watching them from the cliff, his own eyes glistening somehow with remorse.

Looking at his hand, he started to see why Noctis wanted him to take her too.

To reclaim that strength…

*Next day*

After the plans were set, the seven remaining party members had agreed to go and obtain the mythril ore. Riku though was put on guard duty of the house, in case the empire's nobodies and/or heartless prowled around the area. Though still not in tip-top shape, he would be more than able for the task at hand. Plus, Gladiolus admitted he felt better knowing Iris was safe with Jared and Talcott if the master was around.

He would come to regret that later…

With their chocobos at the road, Aqua gave both her friends one more hug, promising to return safely and better than ever, while Noctis gave his shield one pat on the shoulder and nodded with a stern command they both come back soon. Though many of them were saddened that the party must once more be split apart, each of them knew the necessity of the choice. The journey to Altissia could not be delayed much longer, but it made no sense for the shield and master to force themselves to continue with the lingering doubt in their hearts.

As Noctis entered Aqua's car (Prompto STILL insisting they name it someday), and Ignis in the Regalia with the remaining three of their party, Aqua and Gladiolus trotted off with their birds to the distance.

Though they may be apart, Kairi and Sora knew they were all still connected, and knew the day will come when everyone will be reunited once more. They could not wait for that day…

*Leide*

Back in the canyon with the Gummi Ship, Cindy closed the final door latch just below the pilot's feet with a satisfied grunt. Clapping her hands together with a grin, she stood up and looked around the interior of the now repaired GS. It took a while, many sleepless nights and several of those were just keeping the lights on to ward off the daemons. The powerful lights did their jobs for the first few nights but after she managed to fix the lights of the ship, she was awed by how powerful they were.

The headlight alone was enough to coat the entire spot in light so powerful it disintegrated several bombs in a manner of seconds. Cindy was already making a list of requests Donald owed her when she would finally build her own GS. 'Whew…another bit done', she sighed, stretching her limbs before she sat in the pilot's chair. The mechanic looked around the room, before landing on the main controls, seeing several lights blinking and listening to the low hum of the ship's power, proud she managed to get it back online.

Maybe it won't take her much longer to get it airborne.

Then, curiously she leaned forward to the buttons, then thinking if the ship had some form of a scanner to tell her where the biggest concerns or damage to ship was, that way she'd have a better idea where else to fix. Granted Donald had given her an extensive overview of the ship overall and because of that, she had a great idea on where the most attention was needed. Having said that it never hurts to have the ship tell you where it's hurt the most.

'How hard can it be?', she asked herself, pressing a few buttons to at least get it started. The monitor before her showed a hologram of what she thought was the ship's body and structure. That was until she sees several glitches and even some scrambled words that were equally clear as smothering oatmeal on a glass window. 'The heck…?', she said, pushing another button, hoping it would clear up the message.

Then she pressed one of the large triangle-shaped buttons…and the whole ship began to shake. Cindy let out a yelp as she was launched back into her seat, when suddenly the alarms went off wildly in her ears, the whole interior went red as the tremors got worse.

The loud hum of the ship grew louder but she also heard something akin to rockets going off in flames. Quickly launching herself to the monitor, Cindy visibly paled when she sees the text on the monitor told her the one thing she did not want to see.

*Returning to Last Destination*

'No! NONONONONO!', Cindy said, pressing every button under the moon to stop the launch, there was no hope in heck she was going to visit any aliens! But her button mashing was stopped when suddenly the belts reached out and wrapped around the poor mechanic, pulled her back into her seat and strapped her in it.

The ship then launched into the skies, disappearing into the night sky and out of the world's atmosphere.

Cindy had become the first person from Eos to explore new worlds…

A/N:

…I wanted to get this done yesterday…

Not sure how I did with Aqua and Gladiolus coming to terms they lost, but I hope I did them justice. Cindy is now off to see other worlds, where do you think she'll go? Next time the party goes for the mythril ore, Sora and his buddies finally meet Ardyn, Lunafreya gets Kairi's letter, and Riku gets to be lazy!

As always, if you have a question please ask! It helps motivate me to make more!

Q1: Does anyone miss Naminé and Xion?

Q2: Would you like more fluff between Sora and Kairi?

So I've asked about the AC event, and so far a lot of you are saying it should be in this story, so I'm not sure when it'll happen per say, but I can say it won't be done soon until we get everyone back together again, and after we do Episode Gladiolus, you'll see what the future chapters will be about.

As always, thanks for reading! Stay awesome but more importantly Stay Safe!