Final Fantasy XV - Kingdom Hearts
Part 23
Summary: Two warriors of Light, the Chosen King and Keyblade Master, face an unseen Darkness.
When nightfall came the entrance opened itself up to the party and no sooner did, they enter it they were greeted by the dark. Immediately the inhabitants of the world switched on their torches while Sora and Donald used a spell to create a ball of light for them to guide their way.
They walked down five flights of stairs before coming to a clearing with two different pathways left and right. They also see there was light, magic lights that may not entirely guide their way, but it was enough for them to see the ground and the walls. 'Huh? Who left the lights on?', Prompto asked, looking around. Upon the walls were small pillars emitting faint but visible lights, almost like mystical torches.
'Do you think the owners are still home?', he further asked.
'Wouldn't be the first time we barged into someone's place', Sora mused, smirking at Donald and Goofy. The two snickered quietly while Kairi gave the boy a raised brow. 'Breaking a thing you three get up to?', Kairi accused with smirk. The boy just smiled innocently before they all headed to the left after Aranea assured the team the right was nothing but space. One open area into another, there were violet mists scattered around the ground, and coming out them were skeletons.
'Daemons!', Prompto yelled, summoning his gun.
'Hey look, we found the residents', Aranea said, drawing her spear as everyone drew their weapons. 'And their guests!', Ignis said just as violet portals appeared behind them and spawned heartless soldiers, air soldiers, and three defenders.
'Well let's go greet them!', Noctis said, summoning engine blade and flinging it to the air soldier. The blade struck right in its chest as the prince reappeared and used it as a steppingstone to strike at the other ones.
Prompto busied himself with one of the defenders, shooting it to earn its attention. It shield snapped at him like a wild dog, making him yelp and stagger backward. It then fired a fireball at the blonde, which made Prompto roll away from the attack and switched out his pistol for one of his machine weapons, Noise Blaster. He charged it up to the max just as the shield lunged to him, and with a cry, he expelled the full force from his weapon.
The blast repelled the shield and was thrown upwards, the defender staggered backward with the its hand latched on the shield. 'Got ya!', Prompto said, pulling out his revolver and firing a single shot right into the heartless' skull, destroying it. He turned in time to duck under an air soldier's flying kick, on his hands and knees.
He turned around and using his SMG rifle, he unleashed a storm of bullets at the thing, spraying mostly everywhere but the heartless in the skies. However, Prompto's air barrage took the flying heartless out of the sky and forced them to fly lower and closer to the ground.
Sora flipped over the defenders and swiped at the flying soldiers that flew towards him, slashing them in half mid-flips. Behind the bulky heartless, Sora turned around just as it swung it's shield in a circle to smack the hero. 'Stop!', Sora ordered hands up and freezing time just as the shield was a few inches away from him. The boy slashed at the exposed back of the heartless a few times before dashing away and fighting back. When time flowed normally, the slashes burst forth and destroyed the defender.
Donald and Ignis were fighting the soldiers, the duck using his magic and staff to keep them at bay while Ignis sliced and chopped up the foolish cartoonish creatures that were too close to his liking. The spectacled man tossed both daggers at two leaping shadows, piercing their chests and taking them down, and performed a backflip when one spin kicked towards him.
When he got back to his feet, a defender aimed its shield at the man and fired a breath of freezing ice at him. Donald jumped before the mana and fired a spray of flames at the ice, blocking it and engaging in a deadlock of the elements. The duck gave the man a nod as Ignis summoned his spear, adjusted his eyes and leaped into the air. He then reappeared above the defender, spear plunged through the defender and finished the knight.
Ignis turned to the air soldiers flying towards him, but then a shield flew at them, smacking them in a perfect ricochet arch before flying to a soldier and decapitating it. The shield was caught by Goofy, who gave the man a thumbs up before running to assist Prompto. Kairi on the far left was spinning her keyblade in hand before she changed into Strike Form, summoning Dual-Blade.
Kairi looked at the skeletons surrounding her, hissing and dancing mockingly at her like she was a helpless cub. One skeleton leaped at her and another threw a violet beam of the blight at the girl, only for Kairi to spin her blade and deflect the beam back at the leaping skeleton, killing it instantly. She dashed to her ambushing adversaries, slicing them to pieces in a flash of light.
Kairi then used both hands to spin the blades above her head, creating a small suction of air that drew in the soldiers. Like a blender, Kairi sliced them all into nothing, then spun her blade to mid-level and then spun, swung her blades upwards sending the air into a condensed blade of air that sliced an air soldier in two. Kairi spun her blade in hand with a smile, impressed by her new ability.
Finally, Aranea plunged her spear through three soldiers in a line, expunging them all and stabbed it into a skeleton, utterly obliterating its form in a matter of seconds of the attack. The area was cleared, and not a daemon or heartless remained.
Even dismissed their weapons, some clapped the dust of their hands and clothes while others just looked around. 'Heh, that was easy', Noctis said, smugly. 'Try and not let it get to your head', Ignis warned, 'We've just entered this place. Likely we'll see far deadlier creatures inward'.
'Four-Eyes' got a point, usually, the worst daemons are deeper in these places', Aranea joined in, holstering her spear on her back. 'Just how deep can this place go?', Kairi asked, returning to her regular form. 'Good question princess…'.
Sora and Donald entered a room on the left to see if there were any other paths to take. Much like the room prior, there was nothing but space. However Donald spotted a glint in the corner on the right, he approached but before he got too close, Sora immediately grabbed the collar of the duck's jacket and yanked him back and threw him on his back. 'Hey! What's-
As he bellowed, several rocks fell from above, burying the glint in stone and dust. Both Sora and Donald looked up to see much of the debris came from, much of it looked to be withered and old, in fact, Sora was sure if they threw a rock at it they could probably bring down the whole ceiling from that one stone throw. 'That was close…', Sora said, looking at the duck and offering his hand. 'Yeah…thanks', he said, taking his friend's hand and was pulled up. He adjusted his hat with a sigh and then together they returned to the others.
'You two ok?', Goofy asked.
'Yeah we're fine', Sora said, 'But this place has had better days'.
'Best to take our time then, very likely the floors could be was withered as the ceilings', Ignis stated just as Prompto and Kairi re-joined the others. 'That's a dead end too…', Kairi said, 'Looks like we've only got one way to go'. Thus, the team headed further into the ruins, some keeping their weapons out and ready for any more surprises. When they ventured into a narrow corridor, Sora and Noctis took the point while Goofy and Ignis took the rear-end.
They found another open area with more skeletons, which were dealt with quickly without the heartless to back them up. It was certainly nice to have an easy fight now and then.
Leaving that room, they opened a door that lifted upwards and walked out onto a walkway were above them, Sora pointed upwards. Above was what looked to be the surface of water, like they were trapped underwater. 'What in the heck…?', Kairi asked, looking at it in awe. They all stood on the balcony near it and looked up, taking in the beauty of it. Light was glistening upon the surface; it was as if they were underwater and the surface was just a swim away from them.
'How's this possible? A-Are we underwater?', Prompto asked, his voice was a mixture of fear and awe. 'Look, there's fishes too!', Goofy said, pointing to the water. Sure, enough fishes were swimming around the surface like they were in the ocean. 'What the hell is this place?', Noctis asked, turning to Sora. 'You guys ever seen something like this?'. 'Nope, first time for me too', Sora said, unable to look away from the majestic water.
After some photos were snapped by Prompto and Kairi, they ventured onwards into the ruins. That was until they came to a collapsed pathway with barely a ledge to shimmy across. They all peered down below them to see another floor waiting for them, but rather too far to jump without risking breaking their legs and knees. 'Think we can make that jump?', Prompto asked, his tone sounding strongly against it.
'The ledge will hold us', Noctis said, already shimming across the gap. Followed closely was Ignis and Aranea, then a reluctant Prompto. Kairi and Sora leaped across the gap with Donald and Goofy jumping across after them. Then just when the two other world beings landed behind them, the ground beneath them suddenly shook and bits of the floor started to break away. Quickly, Sora grabbed Kairi and shoved her off the floor and on her back by the rest of the group's feet.
The ground finally broke away and the three of them fell with the debris, each of them yelling as they descended into the darkness. 'SORA!', Kairi screamed, falling on her knees to stare down the collapsed passage disappearing into the dark.
The rest ran to join her, looking down with her to find them but nothing, they couldn't even hear their yells anymore. 'GUYS!', Prompto yelled, cupping his hands against the sides of his mouth. No response, but before Noctis or Kairi jumped down to find them, Ignis held them both back. 'Hold on! Jumping down without seeing where you'll land is suicide!', he warned, holding back a more desperate Kairi.
'B-But! What if…', she started but one look from the advisor stopped her argument. With a sympathetic look on his face, he said: 'I understand your worries Kairi, but it wouldn't be any benefit to anyone if we throw ourselves into more danger'. Kairi lowered her gaze back to the hole before she nodded solemnly. Aranea glanced at the girl before she gestured to the next entrance. 'Maybe we could find a way down to them? Think the ore is on the bottom floor', she suggested. Whether it was an attempt to get out of here quicker or genuine worry for hero, the party didn't know.
'No other options', Ignis said, following her gaze, 'Best hurry then'.
'Right', Noctis agreed.
The team of five proceeded down a flight of stairs that lead them to the second floor where an almost identical pathway was laid bare before them. The only difference was there was more rubble and fallen debris but no broken pathways or holes. The balcony was more in ruin than the first floors, which only furthered the question they had that likely will remain unanswered for the remainder of the journey through. No daemons spawned yet, which even Aranea was perturbed by as daemons often sprout out of nowhere in these dungeons.
'So those were the heartless huh?', Aranea asked, looking at Kairi in particular. 'Yeah…how did you know?', she asked. 'That pirate wannabe told me about them', she revealed with a shrug. 'Lot more cartoony than I thought'. 'Empire is pretty interested in them, along with those white freaks, creepy…'.
'Why?', Ignis asked. 'The empire was hoping to harvest them, much like the daemons. But Xigbar said they weren't as compatible like the daemons, so they mostly stuck with them', Aranea said. 'Compatible? Harvest?', Prompto said, confused. 'What are you talking about?'. Aranea gave them all a look before rolling her eyes and said: 'The empire's been capturing and harvesting the blight from the daemons. Turns out, they're making weapons out of them'.
'…like, the magitek soldiers?', Kairi asked worriedly. 'Bingo, they harvest their darkness, put them in the soldiers, machine or…human. Then they become the perfect little soldiers, no need to worry about exhaustion, food, anything', she said, sounding disgusted by the explanation she was giving the team. Kairi herself looked horrified, especially the humans being experimented on. 'And the emperor is, fine with such a thing occurring in his empire?', she asked aghast. Aranea, let out a cold laugh. 'Kiddo, he was the one who ordered the whole ordeal!', she revealed.
'That's…disgusting…', she replied harshly.
'Right with you on that Kai', Prompto hummed in response. Aranea lead them onwards, continuing her talks while they climbed down some stairs. 'The empire hasn't been quite right lately…', she said. 'A lot longer than lately', Noctis corrected. '… *sigh* yeah…can't argue that. Maybe its time I left', Aranea said. 'What would you do if you did leave?', Prompto asked. 'I'd probably go back to mercenary work, maybe gather up some of my men and hunt daemons for cash', she says smirking.
'That's certainly an interesting job occupation to take up', Ignis said thoughtfully. They came to another balcony, but they could see they were getting closer to the ground where the ore was likely awaiting to be mined. The downside was there was no sign of their missing companions, only furthering Kairi's worries for Sora and the other two. A pat on the back from Prompto earned her attention as he smiled. 'Come on, I'm sure those three will be fine. They've been through way worse, right?', he asked.
Kairi smiled in turn, nodding. 'I'm sure they have…', she mused, looking ahead of them to see there was another door much like the one they found on the first floor on the right. When the approached it and opened it, Ignis resumed the conversation. 'What is it about the empire that strikes you as odd?', he asked.
'Aside from Xigbar, the white freaks and heartless?', Aranea replied with sass laced in her tone, 'The emperor and the new high commander, for starters'. 'Ravus?', Noctis asked tone laced with constraint resentment. 'Kinda…guys already a grouch, but ever since he could summon the heartless, he's been more reclusive and broodier', she explained. 'Even the general's afraid of him'. The prince looked at Kairi for an input, who shook her head. That was something Riku would be better suited to explain.
'And then there's that chancellor…can't stand that guy', Aranea groaned with disdain. 'Oh cool! We don't like him either!', Prompto pipped.
The team came to an intersection with two bridges that lead to two directions, one on the left and one straight forward. Standing in the center of the intersection, the group looked ahead of them at the straight path. 'Left and straight forward?', Noctis asked, looking at the others. 'Or we could split up and cover more grounds?', Aranea offered. 'UUUH…last time we split the party it didn't end so well…', Prompto mumbled.
'Pfft, well this time you have me around', the dragoon bragged. "We also had Aqua, Gladiolus, Sora, Donald, and Goofy, look how well that turned out", the prince thought, rolling his eyes at the dragoon's confidence. Kairi stepped forward to the straight path and said: 'Me and Aranea can take this path, you three could see what's on the left'. 'See? Kid's got more guts than all three of you', teased the dragoon. 'Better to be cautious than have our "guts" sprayed all over the floor', Ignis chastised.
'You sure you wanna do that?', Noctis asked, 'I could go with Aranea'.
'Sorry prince, but I feel like your butler would have an aneurysm if we go together', she said with a wink. Kairi rolled her eyes, annoyed by the woman flirting with Noctis. Especially when she was very aware, he was already engaged to the Oracle. Ignis looked to Kairi, who nodded. 'I'll be fine with her, don't worry', she promised. Nodding to the princess, Ignis turned to the younger boys. 'Then we'll take the pathway on the left, and with luck, we'll meet up on the other side'.
Kairi and Aranea walked towards the bridge but when they were halfway across it, it collapsed beneath their feet. Both girls let out yells of surprise as they fell to the next floor. Kairi collapsed on her stomach with Aranea landing on her feet with a grunt, as the debris fell near her and the dragoon. 'Move!', Aranea shouted, grabbing the girl and pulling her just as boulder smashed the spot she laid on.
Kairi looked up to the space that the bridge had been, now nothing connected to the other side of the bridge. 'Girls! You ok!?', Prompto yelled. She sees the men on the edge looking for them, the light from the magical torches helped her see them though faintly given how low they were. Judging how high Ignis and the others were, she had a worrying feeling they fell probably the same level of depth as Sora. She got to her feet and yelled: 'WE'RE OK! BUT THERE'S NO WAY UP!'.
Aranea cupped a hand to her mouth and shouted: 'GO ON AHEAD! WE'LL FIND OUR WAY OUT!'.
It seemed the boys couldn't see them but hearing them was another story. 'OK! BE CAREFUL!', the blonde yelled, making Noctis flinch from being too close to him. Kairi giggled slightly at the act as they walked off, leaving herself with the dragoon.
Kairi turned to her. 'Couldn't you, just jump out?', she asked, remembering her leaping skills back at the base. 'And smash my head on the ceiling?', Aranea asked with a raised brow. '…you can't control how high you can go?', Kairi questioned. 'Can you?', she responded. '…fair point', Kairi conceded with a sigh. Looking around the dark depths using the dragoon's flashlight and Kairi using magic from the keyblade to light up the black. All around the two was rubble and broken pillars, many passages were blocked or caved in by the rubble.
To the right side of the two, there was a doorway that only had a single boulder in the way, but the passage was entirely dark. Approaching the entrance, the two looked deep into it to see if anything stood out or if their eyes had adjusted to the dark. Nothing came out and Kairi couldn't sense any heartless or daemons. 'Looks like this is our only way out', Aranea stated. 'I guess so…'.
The two girls headed into the corridor, keeping close and weapons at the ready for surprises. More so for crumbling floors.
The corridor was longer than the other ones they had ventured through, walls in better condition and had a few torches that were even more dimly lit then the ones from the upper levels, barely illuminating even the walls they were attached too. Kairi kept biting her inner cheek with trepidation as they explored this dark corridor together, mind often wandering back to Sora and the others. This place was home to daemons as well as heartless, and being separated from everyone again, based on previous experiences, wasn't an ideal situation for them to be in.
It didn't help her either that she was alone or stuck with a former ally to the empire. The woman glanced at her and said: 'So having fun tumbling in the dark?'. Kairi rolled her eyes. 'I could live without the constant collapsing floors…', Kairi said, rubbing her knees. 'Aside from that, I kinda am having fun'.
'You're not too shabby for a newbie', Aranea complimented, 'Could still use some polish here and there but hey'. Kairi frowned, considering she's been doing rather well since she came here, and she believed her skills were far more polished than they were before arriving. Plus, could she be called a newbie at this point? 'Thanks…', she muttered.
Aranea smirked at that tone, ruffling the kid's hair, which made Kairi duck her head from it when she tussled her hair. Granted it probably was a mess giving the fall and the amount of dust and grime in it probably made it look atrocious, but still, she wanted to make it look at the very least decent. Her reaction, however, caught the dragoon's attention and in turn, she smirked. 'What? Worried about your hair?', she teased.
'Kinda?', she said, straightening it out with her fingers running through it, brushing off some dust and pebbles too. 'Why? For the kid?', she asked with a cat-like smirk. Kairi blushed softly, before clearing her throat. 'W-Well…I mean, Sora…isn't really, I mean…', she rambled. 'Aww cute, you and he together?', Aranea said as the turned around a corner. '…yes', Kairi said shyly. It was both so wonderful to say yet somehow also embarrassing to talk about it to someone. She truthfully didn't know why telling her was so awkward, it wasn't as if she was embarrassed to be Sora's girlfriend (what lunatic would be?) and she is thanking her stars for it.
Maybe it was because she told someone outside of the team, they were together? Then again, the others knew about their relationship and she hadn't said a word about it to them. Maybe opening being affectionate to Sora tipped them off…
'Can't say I blame you, kid's got skill', she admitted, thinking back to their fights and how he took on Sephiroth. 'Plus, it helps he's easy on the eyes'. 'Oh yeah…', Kairi agreed wholeheartedly, smiling dreamily. 'Those blue eyes, spiky hair, and that damn smile', Aranea listed. 'Yeah…', Kairi mused, already thinking of him.
'Plus, he's pretty athletic, a nice lean body too', she went on, smirking at Kairi. 'Oooooohhh yes~', Kairi cooed.
'Think he's into more mature women?'.
Kairi stopped walking and turned on the woman, her daydreaming ceased, and she just stared at the dragoon. '…beg your pardon?', she asked slowly. Aranea just kept that smug smirk on her face like she was winning a debate between the two. 'Just saying, he's probably the strongest guy right now, bar that oversized sword ass from before, and just saying, bounty hunting gets a bit lonely…', she mused, almost like she was contemplating something.
'A-Are you, do you intend on seducing Sora!?', Kairi asked, horrified mixed with a severe case of rage. 'Why not? I think I've got a chance', Aranea shrugged in response. Kairi glared at her, standing and holding her keyblade up dangerously. 'And what makes you think he'd be interested in you?', she challenged, nearly aiming her keyblade at her as opposed to using words. Kairi wouldn't lie but the idea of smacking this woman on the head with her keyblade sounded like a great idea.
'Well let's see here', she said, gesturing to her body subtly. Kairi felt a nerve when she glanced at the woman's more developed chest. 'W-Well! Sora isn't interested in just looks!', Kairi argued, huffing. 'Hey there's more to me than just the outside~', the dragoon argued. 'Sides, I know a few tricks here and there…'.
She stopped talking when Kairi gave her the most murderous look the sixteen-year-old could muster. 'Utter one more word…and now amount of healing potions will fix what I will do to you', Kairi warned darkly, a dark violet aura surrounded her. Even Aranea wasn't that reckless to test the truth of Kairi's promise. In the end, the dragoon shrugged. 'Yeah, your right…we can finish this after we get out here', she concluded. 'So how about truce? Just until we get out?', she offered, holding her hand out.
Kairi eyed her armored hand before she took it. 'Fine…', Kairi said. Together they walked on, the princess a little more than irked, while Arena was smiling away at the teasing. Least for now she kept the girl focused on the task as opposed to worrying about the others and getting distracted. Looking at Kairi, the dragoon gave her a more friendly smile when she wasn't looking. 'All things considered, you're a lot better than you think', she admitted.
Kairi didn't look at her but she could see the girl's shoulders loosen up and her walk more relaxed and slower. 'I get the impression this is your first time on a journey like this and you're only now learning the real hard stuff?', she asked. Kairi turned to her, begrudgingly nodding. 'Yeah…this is the first time I've ever been on a journey with Sora', she confessed.
'I figured as much', Aranea said, patting her shoulder, 'And let me guess, you're worried about being a liability to him?', she prodded. 'Am I *that* obvious!?', Kairi groaned, rubbing her neck. 'Trust me kiddo, I've trained and met a lot of new guys and gals on the first mission, you get used to seeing the signs of a novice', Aranea said, thinking back to the rest of her previous trainees. 'But hey, you're at the very least ahead of the curve, that dual wield weapon thing? Good stuff', she assured.
Patting her back she walked off. 'But you can't keep letting those doubts get the better of ya kiddo', she said, 'Otherwise that goal of yours to not be a liability to the other kiddo? Ain't gonna happen', she encouraged. As she walked off, Kairi looked at her keyblade in thought, the words of her companion stuck with her as she thought back to the day she did come here.
Looking back, she realized she had come a long way since she was finally able to leave the forest. Even then she didn't believe she had much improved on much of her talents, and with only having a fellow trainee to compare her progress to, she worried that wasn't much to base on.
Heck ever since Sora had taught her the form changes, Aqua teaching her more magic and even taking a few lessons from watching Ignis' footwork, she felt like had improved far more than she did back at the forest. Though she knew she was still far from Riku and Sora's levels, and she didn't even compare herself to Aqua. Closing her eyes, she opened them again after inhale and jogged after the woman, a promise made.
"One day I'll be able to stand beside you as an equal, Sora".
*Lower Levels*
Laying on a bunch of rubble, Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked up the void of darkness that was the ceiling above them. 'Guys?', Sora spoke. 'Yeah?', they both asked. 'I never thought I'd say this…but I wish we just had another avalanche', he groaned, 'WAY softer to fall on'.
'Well Sora, ya know what they say? What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger', Goofy said with cheer. 'Wish I could say the same about my back', Donald whined, rubbing his aching back with both feathered hands.
Sora chuckled as he and Goofy got up and rolled his shoulders, cracking a few joints in the process. Looking up with a whistle, Sora said: 'No way to climb from here'. Even if there were some flat walls for him to run up and granted, he could probably hop his way to the surface again, but that would mean leaving Donald and Goofy behind. That was a no go for the boy. 'Hope the others are ok', Sora said, immediately thinking about Kairi.
'I just hope they don't get separated! That's happening a lot to us lately!', Donald said, looking around their new accommodations. 'Not as much as it happened on our second journey', Goofy remarked, rubbing his aching head, 'I think Sora fought more bad guys on his own with us'.
Sora chuckled at the two's banter, looking back at them before he realized something. 'Hey…have you guys noticed something familiar?', he asked. They stopped their talks and looked to the boy. With a grin, he opened his arms like he was showcasing the room. 'It's just the three of us!', he said. The two members of the King's circle blinked before Donald crossed his arms impatiently. 'Yeah, we've noticed Sora…no Kairi or Noct insight', chastised the duck.
'No ya doofus, I mean, its just the three of us again', he clarified. 'Think about it, ever since we came here, we've had someone else with us. Noct and the others, Aqua and Kairi, Riku. It hasn't been just us three since we came here'. Realization dawned on the duck's face as he uncrossed his arms, Goofy chuckled. 'Wow, I hadn't noticed that', Goofy said, cupping his chin in thought. 'We've been separated a few times sure, but it was never with the three of us'.
'I know, that's so weird to think about huh?', Sora said. 'It's kinda nice'. 'A-Hyuck, yeah. Its like old times', Goofy hummed. 'Kinda weird huh? Usually, it's just the three of us', Donald mused. Sora turned down the pathway ahead of them, and with a smile. 'A trip down memory lane?', he offered. His two longest companion nodded and followed him into a new adventure.
A/N:
YAY, ANOTHER ONE DONE! *Slams head into desk* I'm so tired…
Next time we'll finish off this dungeon with another guest of mischief, then later chapter focusing on Riku and Iris.
Q1: What did you think of Kairi and Aranea having a sister/rival moment? It'll be more sister here on out.
Q2: Should we focus on Sora, Donald, and Goofy in the next chapter?
Q3: Can you guess whose the mischief character?
Q4: Was the pacing acceptable?
Q5: Do you want more fight scenes?
As always please leave your questions in the review and I'll answer them in the next chapter! Thanks for reading, stay awesome but more importantly stay safe!
