Final Fantasy XV - Kingdom Hearts

Part 48

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

Rubbing her hands together as she basked in the warmth of the campfire, the princess of light stares into the golden flickering lights, hypnotized by them. Near her, Prompto sits quietly with his back against the fires.

Neither of the two had spoken since Prompto broke down and revealed the truth of his mark, having told her what exactly he discovered in that lab, his birthplace. Killing Verstael had shook the poor blond, admitting to Kairi it was the first time had killed another person despite the horrible act against humanity the man had performed on infants. After that, and then telling her about the research recordings he found, she offered her ears and shoulder for him.

Kairi had yet to tell him about what she discovered about Ardyn, opting to hold off on dropping more bombshells on the poor man after today. As much as she needed to get it off her chest, he needed her to be their pillar of support and keep them going. Trouble is, as she noticed, what came next was a question neither had answers to…

'Glad you two made it here', a voice they knew called. They glanced to see Aranea approaching them, but her usual smirks weren't to be seen. Instead, she had a look of genuine sympathy on her face, Kairi didn't want to imagine how crappy they must have looked compared to earlier. Relaxing her posture she walked around to Kairi's side and settled down with a playful: 'You two could at least look happy to see me again'.

'Sorry, it's…been a very long day', Kairi says weakly, turning to the fires. The dragoon pats her back in a friendly manner, nodding. Before Kairi could offer her some of their resources, what little remained anyways, the woman spoke up. 'I ran into your friends back in Tenebrae', she says, smirking when both younger members of Noctis' party turned to her. 'Are they ok? What about Ignis?', Kairi asked, getting on her knees. The woman waves her hand, 'The guy says his vision got better, thanks to the silver kid', she reveals, 'Says he's better than ever'.

Together the two sighed breaths of relief, Kairi smiling albeit it was small and fragile. 'That's good, that's good…', she says, repeating. 'You've got them worried sick you know?', the dragoon teased playfully, 'You gonna go see them soon?'.

Kairi opened her mouth to affirm that silly question, but one glance over her shoulder to Prompto, and suddenly that question became too hard for her to answer confidently. Resting on her knees and facing the fire, Kairi lowers her head. '…I can't…', Prompto said with such a sullen and grime tone, Kairi had to do a double-take to make sure it was Prompto who said it. Never hearing the cheery and happy-go-lucky man sound so defeated and broken before. It tore her heart apart to hear such a defeated sound from him.

'I'm not like them…I was born here, in Niflhiem…', he confesses to the dragoon. 'Not only did I never tell any of them…but I wasn't born into a happy family…I was made in a facility, created to make Noct and the others miserable'. Kairi clenched her fist and turned on Prompto, still unable to face her. 'Prompto…', she tried but he shakes his head. 'How do I even face them? Knowing that if they knew what I am they would never accept me?', he asked.

'That's not fair…you've known Noct for years and you still don't know what kind of person he is?', Kairi asked, shaking her head. Aranea chuckles at them, making the two face her. 'You're a real piece of work, blondie', she scoffs, 'You know your prince and I weren't always on friendly terms, not as bad as say little red over there but pretty bad'.

Kairi glared at her, recalling the reason this woman made her list of people to keep Sora away from. The dragoon waved a hand, dismissing her friend's glare. 'But ya know something? He pushed that aside, and asked me to make sure you two were safe'. This made Kairi turn to Prompto with hope in her eyes, perhaps hearing that would grant him the assurance he desperately needed to see again. The spark of hope that would relight the fire to make him push forward again, so they could reunite with them.

'…he did?', he asked.

'Yup. That's not the kind of request you'd ask for someone who made your life miserable', Aranea says confidently. Prompto looked to her and Kairi, the latter was giving the man hopeful glances that should have made him feel safe again like he could have the power to see his best friends again…yet somehow, her hope never reached his own heart as he lowered his gaze back to the ground. Aranea lets out a groan and gets to her feet. 'You two obviously wanna go back to them, so why not go?', she asked, exasperatedly.

Kairi got to her own feet and stared down the woman but before she could open her mouth to fight back, Prompto says: 'Even if they did let me back…I'd cause them nothing but trouble…'. Shaking his head, Prompto continues: 'If I brought that all that, I'd never be able to live with myself'. 'And you're doing such a great job living with yourself now, huh?', Aranea challenged, pushing Kairi aside and then when she strode to Prompto, she shoves him onto his back.

She placed a knee on his stomach to stop him from getting back up and stared down at him. 'And what do *you* want then? Huh?', she questioned. 'You worry so much about what other people want from you that you don't even know what *you* want anymore!'. Prompto stammers but when he tried speaking again she places each hand on each side of his head and stares at him. 'How about this? You forget what everyone else thinks for just a minute and try to figure out what *you're* really after here'.

With that, she gets off Prompto and turns to Kairi, before scoffing and then flung a map down to Kairi's feet. 'I'm going after that new model in the morning', she announces and stalks off. 'You two are on your own'. The dragoon stormed out of the cave as quickly as she arrived, leaving the two behind to ponder on her words. Prompto sits back up and rests his elbows on his knees while Kairi settled down on her side.

'…let's get some sleep, ok?', she offered, 'We can think about what to do tomorrow'. Prompto hums, agreeing with her and laid down on his side as Kairi used her hat and gloves for a make-shift pillow. With the sound of the crackling fire, hearts waning and strength low, the two ventured to dreamless slumber…

*Next day*

Prompto awoke with a slight startle, a bark jumping him out of his sleep.

Quickly he rolled onto his side to look outside the cave, hearing a persistent bark call out to him. Blinking and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, the gunner turned to Kairi, still sleeping and turns on her other side, back now facing Prompto. The gunner lowered his head before deciding to go investigate the barking, quietly exiting the cave after scribbling a notice for Kairi using the soot-covered wood.

The barking didn't sound very far thankfully, a small jog away from the cave. At least he didn't have to go so far from the cave that Kairi couldn't track him down easily. Out on his own in the never-ending night, Prompto held his revolver in both hands as he trained his ears to direct him to the barking dog. Following the barks gave him time to think on what Aranea and Kairi had said to him last night, his steps slow and movement careful.

His tattoo was in his sight whenever he looked at his gun, reminding him why going back to Noctis was no longer an option for him. Just the thought of seeing his friend glared at him with those heated eyes every time he saw one of the MTs shook Prompto, to be on the receiving of that look. He hated this, forever knowing he was from the empire was bad enough, to begin with, it got easier over the years to the point where it was second nature to him. His time with Noctis had helped him forget even for a little while he was an enemy of Insomnia.

Now though? An MT. A creature created in a lab to lay destruction to his best friend's kingdom and be a forever trouble-causing magnet for them.

Swallowing dryly to hold back getting ill from those thoughts, Prompto's search took him to a spot populated by thin trees and bushes, likely a place for nature to provide the wildlife before the snow came.

Resting below the tree in front of him is an MT, spread open like it was gunned down despite not seeing a single bullet hole nor anything indicating it was attacked. Somehow though that meant little to the gunner when he stared at the lifeless machine before him. It dawned on him that in some other life, this could have been him, he could be lying there before someone as his last breath is drawn before he sinks into oblivion.

Or many times when they clashed with the MTs on their adventures, he could have been one of those who was sent to capture Lunafreya, one of the few who stormed the capital of Insomnia or even been the very same soldier that helped claim the lands of Lucis for the glory of the empire. He felt his stomach churn as he sat down before the machine, trying to stop thinking of those possibilities. Desperate to believe Kairi's words, that Noctis, the others, would welcome him back with open arms despite knowing what he is…

He closed his eyes, exhaling a shaky breath before suddenly the sound of snow being crushed boomed in his ear. Kairi must have followed him out here, maybe he wasn't as quiet as he had hoped he'd be. Prompto got back to his feet and turned to prepare for Kairi to lecture him about going off on his own, but instead of it being Kairi or even Aranea…

Noctis was approaching him.

Instead of smiling at him, looking relieved he was here and safe, Noctis gave Prompto the most murderous look he'd ever seen from his best friend. No…not the first time, the second. Memories of the king chasing after him on the train, blaming him for everything that happened and even attempted to flat out murder him. Noctis drew Night's Sky as he marched towards Prompto, eyes glowing with hatred and fury.

'Noct…no, please…', Prompto begged weakly, raising his hand. That was when his eyes fell to his metallic limb, and when he looked at his body, now a complete MT. "W-WHAT!? HOW!?", he screamed in his mind, looking at his body. This isn't real he told himself, he pleaded with himself that this was some horrible dream. He didn't think much because Noctis warped in front of him and swung at the gunner.

Prompto leaps backward from him before his keyblade could tear him apart, staggering until he tripped on himself and fell onto his back. With a yell of terror, Prompto crawled away from Noctis as he approached him, ready to put down this worthless scrap of a machine. The blond scrambled to his feet and dashed away from the king, who persisted in chasing him. Prompto ran through the bushes and bypassed the trees, tripping over his feet and the snow as he evaded and desperately tried to escape Noctis.

He felt his heart in his throat, his breathing becoming harder and harder until his foot was caught by a root and he tumbled down a hill of snow. Bouncing with flakes of snow and being smacked in the face by the bushes and getting several face full snow. He falls onto his side when his short tumble came to an end, but quickly he got to his feet and kept running, there is no doubt Noctis was close by and he had yet to give up the hunt.

Prompto runs and slammed his back to a tree, squeezing his body against it and trying to make himself look as small as possible, panting heavily and taking in large gulps of air to replenish his lungs. He tenses when he heard snow crunching again, Noctis must be searching for him, maybe trying to catch him off guard. Prompto swallowed dryly, his revolver in hand, tears threatening to spill from his eyes as he comes to a horrible choice.

If words could not reach his best friend then Six forgive he had to resort to drastic measures…

Closer came the crunching of snow, his breath hitches as he feels his purser getting closer to him. He held his gun up high, trying to keep back his tears and control his breathing, he stressed himself not to pull the trigger on him, no matter what.

When the crunching came close enough, Prompto spins around the tree and aimed. 'D-DON'T!', he begged, eyes trained on Noctis. 'Noct, please! J-Just let me explain!'. The king just stared at Prompto, eyes unwavering and unfazed by his best friend having a gun trained on him. It was like he knew deep down even with his life on the line Prompto wouldn't have the will to take the shot. Prompto's hands shake as he tried to muster his will to speak, even if he won't forgive him or accept him, maybe he could at least assure him he had no ill intentions.

Noctis resumed his march to the younger man, weapon out with his intent clear as Prompto's aim goes askew. 'N-Noct, d-don't make me do this…please…', he pleaded, stepping back from his king. Before another word could get out of him, Prompto was suddenly tackled from his side and he fell on the snow. He thrashes and tried to punch his assailant, on full panic mode in case someone else with Noctis.

He feels his wrist being restrained by hands and then pinned to the snow, sat on his stomach and as he clenched his teeth and thrashed, a voice broke out.

'…ompto! PROMPTO! PROMPTO!'.

The blonde's eyes opened to see not Noctis holding him down, it was Kairi.

The girl was panting heavily, her hands restraining his own, eyes alit with panic and adrenaline. Prompto looked to his left where Noctis stood, only to find no one. When he looked around he sees he was back right where he first discovered the MT body, only now there was snow falling and the wind had ceased blowing. His mind boggled, heart slowly calming down as Kairi stared into him like he was some sort of ticking time bomb.

'K-Kairi?', he gasped, hesitantly. She nodded to him, assuring the man he wasn't going crazy yet. 'W-What, what happened? How did…', he rambled, but Kairi cuts him off. 'You tell me! I woke up and you weren't there, I went to look for you and next thing I knew, you were aiming your gun at the air', she explained. She eventually released her grip on him and got up from his stomach, offering a hand to help him.

Taking hers and allowing her to yank him back to his feet, Prompto looked at the girl's worried face with shame. 'I…I'm sorry', he apologized, 'I just, I heard barking and…'.

A small bark interrupts the blond, making both turn and see a white dog sitting before them, panting happily. Kairi tilts her head in confusion but Prompto smiles in relief. 'Pryna…what are you doing here?', he asked. Pryna merely barks and scampers off, making the two chase after the dog. Questions still boiling in their minds but for now, a distraction was needed, especially for Prompto.

But what the dog leads them to…

Scattered around the snowy plains were MTs, demolished by whatever they had the poor luck of coming across. Whether it was the wildlife, heartless or daemons, they didn't know but none the less the MTs were slain. All but one, anyway. A single MT on its back raised its head to Prompto and Kairi, shakily and weakly raising its right hand to them, in a manner that seemed as if it was pleading them for mercy. Not a sound came from it but its request was clear.

It wanted Prompto to put it out of its misery.

The gunner already had his gun still in his hand, he took a weary breath and took one step forward to the MT. Kairi looked away and placed both hands on her ears, her heart hammering in her ears. This was an execution as far as she concerned, Prompto is far braver than she is. The man steadied his arm, a single tear racing down his cheek as he aimed, trying to tell himself this was the right thing. For all he knew this being was in agony.

Maybe the daemon infusion was twisting them inside and out, warping their minds into ugly messes of humans. The fact it was begging Prompto for a mercy killing, only made him wonder just how much pain these things were in and that this was their last piece of peace before welcoming oblivion.

He aimed …and fired.

His gunshot rings out across the plains, another MT meeting its end, for better or for worse. Taking a breath to steel himself, Prompto looked ahead of his latest kill and sees an all too familiar boy crouched down in a ball. The same position he was always in when he was alone, a desperate attempt to block out those insecurities and find a source of peace he had desperately sought for so long.

Slowly he approached the boy, knelt and placed a hand on his back like a big brother assuring his younger sibling. Doing this, Pryna nudges his side, prompting him to look at the white dog and see a letter within her mouth. He slowly took the letter and strangely, he felt as if he already knew what was already written within it. A message from the Oracle, from many years ago when he was that pudgy nobody that felt unworthy to be around anyone.

A simple request from the divine woman, to be by Noctis' side and continue to be there whenever he needed him. A request he truly wondered if he was capable, nay, worthy of doing for someone who cared so much for Noctis. The letter was encased with photos as well, one of them was the four all together after they got the Regalia back, their first major success as a team.

Another is showing him with his brothers, goofy grins plastering their faces. For the time, it was a photo he kept close to him as it reminded him he was amongst friends. Friends that he wondered if he deserved to call family. The last photo stirred the light within him.

Before they all sailed for Altissia, he got everybody off the royal party to join in and pose for what he believed to be his best photo yet. He was standing next to Noctis with both doing a peace sign, behind them was Aqua smiling kindly with her hands behind her back with her boyfriend Gladiolus flexing his right arm with a cocky grin. On the left was Ignis smiling politely with Riku having his arm crossed with that confident but brotherly smile.

Donald and Goofy on the far right doing poses while smiling away at the camera, playful and innocent. Finally, Kairi and Sora was kneeling in front of Noctis and Prompto, arms wrapped around each other smiling adorably.

"Is this…what the others want from me? Just to be around them?", he asked himself. Standing up with his camera in hand, scrolling through the photos he'd taken with the others. From scenic pictures, catching his friends in and out of the battles they took part in, to the moment of peace that he wanted to keep for them to reflect on and look back on the journey they all had taken.

Memories of the day he opened to Noctis, atop of that hotel and laying bare his fears. Noctis stating he wouldn't make time for any old loser than Prompto, how he was happy to have him along with them for this journey and even going so far as he was more than good enough for him. It didn't matter that he was not of nobility or royal blood, but he felt close to the prince, he felt like he was one of them.

Sora and the others acting like Prompto was just a long-time friend they hadn't seen in years, how even though they didn't know each other long they welcomed him into their group just as simple as that.

All he ever wanted were friends, to be part of something. When he glanced back at Kairi still keeping her ears blocked, remembering that she had been there and is still here for him. Even knowing he wasn't born like everyone else, so if someone who he's known for a few months still accepted him for who he is rather than what he is…

Why wouldn't Noctis?

Looking back to his camera, then back up the sky with resolution in his eyes. With a firm nod, the fears that haunt him will be put to rest here and now. Prompto approaches Kairi and pats her back, making her open her eyes and lower her hands. He smiles at her, bright and warm without force, before nodding. His message got through to her, she returned his bright sunny smile with one of her own, a look of pride shining in her eyes at him.

*Later…*

On the snowmobile and heading towards the facility marked on the map Aranea left for the two, Kairi directed Prompto as they speed through the snow and trees. Without Verstael around the empire loses it MTs, but this new model could have been a backup plan the old man had in case of the event of him losing his life. With their discovery of how the MTs were made from daemon infusion, they feared they might have notes on the matter or worse, they might have even considered using heartless as a source.

This mission for them was not just to stop Verstael's plans, but for Prompto it was for him to put an end to his "father's" legacy. To make amends for what the man did, and it started with taking down whatever this new project of his was.

As they got closer to the site on the map, immediately they could hear a battle waging ahead of them with gunfire and explosions. 'Sounds like Aranea's already making some noise', Prompto says with a grin as he drives up a slope leading to their destination. 'Better give her a hand or two', Kairi teased as they witnessed the dragoon was indeed in the middle of a battle.

Kairi gets on her feet whilst the backseat of the snowmobile and jumps into the air while Prompto drives onwards with reckless abandonment.

Kairi draws Oathkeeper and changed into her Element Form, shifting her keyblade into the bow form as she fires an arrow of ice before her that left a trail of slid ice. She slides on it, taking fire upon the MTs still fighting for the empire, firing arrows of lighting and fire at them. She pulls out two grey arrows of the spell magnet and fires them below the watchtower were two snipers were stationed and firing at her. The moment the arrows struck the ground beneath the tower, the spell activated and pulled down the tower and turned it into a mangled mess of metal.

With the skies handled by Kairi and Aranea, Prompto drives up the slope at full speed and shoots up into the air with his vehicle. He jumps off it while firing at the MTs, his transport flying towards one of the MA-X units and hitting it straight in the cockpit. The force of the attack made it stumble back into a pair of red explosive barrels, creating a huge explosion that manged to scorch some soldiers too close or the shockwave of the explosion sent a few of them flying.

Prompto rolled onto the ground after his jump and rolls onto his feet, quickly taking shots at the MT units that were stationed around the area. His revolver takes down two snipers resting on the roofs of the small warehouses while two ran towards the gunner with what looked to be large switchblades. Prompto smirks at them, already conjuring up an idea when on got close enough. He quickly shoots the other one in the head, then parried the sword arm of the MT by using his gun as a blunt weapon to deflect the blade.

Doing so, Prompto grabbed the arm of the MT that wasn't armed and threw it over his shoulder and onto the ground. He was mighty grateful for those brief but beneficial hand-to-hand drills he took from Gladiolus before they left the Citadel. Prompto shot the MT in the head and looted the blade from it, pleased that the size suited him perfectly as he runs into the battle, sheathing it and strapping the weapon to his belt.

In the air still riding the icy rails, Kairi fires arrows upon their enemies and skates to the dragoon, leaping into the air. She spirals around the silver head's ascent to the skies until they met in the skies as Kairi jumps off her frozen ride. Above the MA-X unit, together the two dive down together with Kairi's magic surrounding them and their speed rivaling a torpedo. Aranea's spear encased in red lightning while Kairi fired arrows while spinning to hit more MT units.

They cleaved their way through the machine, leaving almost nothing left of the cockpit before they dashed off to pick off more adversaries, Kairi firing arrows while she runs, hitting the MTs in their chests, heads or stomachs. Kairi leaped over one with a flip, firing two arrows of ice at it mid-flip. She plucks three arrows from her quiver, stretches the string as far as she could and fires the three to the skies above an oncoming horde of soldiers.

'Rain Fall!', Kairi yells as the arrows were engulfed by a black cloud appearing where they flew. Arrows in the form of lightning bolts fall from the cloud-like rain, striking her enemies and even completely incinerating a few with the intense heat and power from the bolts.

Prompto finds himself running into one of the buildings where more of the MTs were gathering up for an ambush, rushing in himself and drawing a sub-machine gun he managed to procure during his wanderings in Verstael's facility. Unlike his previous one he had lost during Altissia, this weapon was far stronger than his first rifle, the bullets were encased with the empire's technology, the very same one that empowers the MTs, giving Prompto an easier time to put them down.

He takes down one and sees a weapon stack near him, carrying a few more weapons for him to loot. And if RPG's have taught him one thing, its looting.

With just one more MA-X unit guarding the entrance to the facility protecting the newest model, Kairi and Aranea stood before it, not even panting from the battle. 'Kairi!'. She looked behind her to see Prompto on a knee aiming what she sees to be a bazooka resting on his shoulders. Looking between her friend and the unit, she caught on to his plan and plucks one more arrow from her quiver. 'Ready when you are!', she informed.

Prompto yells "fire" as he lets one rocket fly towards the MA-X unit, leaving Kairi to charge up a more powerful arrow that was glowing with intense heat and light. She lets it soar and the arrow pierces through the cockpit to leave only the tail of it out, but the moment Prompto's rocket strikes it, the explosion it caused was enough completely encased the area around the machine to be engulfed in fire and light.

The machine was destroyed, along with the large hatch that kept the entrance closed, now bearing a giant hole big enough to get a truck to drive through it. With the final defense of the facility destroyed, Kairi and Prompto looked to Aranea, looking at the two with a bemused look. She stared at them before smirking. 'Looks like you figured out what ya wanted, huh?', she asks, looking to the gunner.

'You know it', Prompto replied confidently. He looks at the facility ahead of them, eyes steely. Together the three of them ran in.

*Inside*

Much like the previous facility the two former captives found themselves in, this place was just as empty and silent as the first. Not a soul in sight nor any evidence that the facility had been visited for some time, yet it didn't feel like it had been abandoned for years.

Even still the party of three walked onwards, dead set on their joined effort to put an end to whatever the mad scientist had in stock for his empire. The deeper they had gone the more notes and recordings they find, one of which got the attention of the three when Prompto played it back.

'Without the Oracle, I had thought his project would be doomed to leave gathering dust…but chancellor Izunia, once more, brings good fortune to my ears. He tells me that among the prince's retinue, a girl named Kairi bears similarities to her Grace. According to him, she possesses the same divine blood the Oracle carries, but to an even greater extent.

Based on the recordings we manage to recover from our deployed units, the remarkable skills she's demonstrated along with the light she carried within, he assured me she would be a perfect replacement for the loss of our Oracle. And the moment I had the chance to exam her, I can contest to the man's claims without a shadow of doubt.

We've extracted enough of her blood to infuse the subject, and with the addition of the blight, we have created the perfect hybrid that carries the perfect balance of light…and the blight within it'.

Prompto looked at Kairi as she had a pale touch to her skin, suddenly her eyes widened with revulsion. 'He, he experimented on you?', he asked, gritting his teeth. 'I…I don't know…all I remember when I woke up were needle marks on my arms', she says shaking. She shook her head, taking a steady breath. 'Whatever he had planned, it can't be good for this world'. Nodding, Prompto stuffed the device in their pocket dimension, thinking of giving this to Ignis later.

Down one final flight of stairs, they came into another lab. Inside it were several more test tubes like the ones that housed Prompto's clones, but they were devoid of physical bodies and only homed to miasma of the blight inside the liquid. A lot of research notes were strewn on the floor and tables, several vials of what they imagined to be chemicals of the blight or something else entirely. Slowly walking in with their weapons out, the party looked up to see one large machine holding up a test tube that housed someone inside it.

'Hey Kairi…is that…?', Prompto gasped.

'Luna…', Kairi whispered.

Inside the large glass container was indeed what looked to be the Oracle, her hands crossed her chest with her head bowed, but inside her home was the miasma of the blight. Her hands were a far cry from the pure snow-white skin she had, instead, they bore the same horrible burning look of the blight infecting a victim, dark reddish-purple veins that stretched to her shoulders, her fingers were claws like a goblin, and upon closer inspection from Kairi, she sees the heartless emblem adorned in her chest.

'Holy shit…', Aranea comments with a scowl appearing on her face, 'This is his big project?'. 'Better than what he had in mind'. They all turned around to see Ardyn standing by the entrance, smirking at them all. Kairi immediately got in front of her friends, eyeing the man as Prompto trained his gun on him. The man chuckled, amused by the sudden bravado the blond was displaying after everything that's happened.

'What is this?', Aranea demanded. Ardyn shrugged. 'Well, there is always the fear that one day the empire's precious Oracle would either be spirited away from them…or more common, perish', he listed with a dismissive hand, 'So I suggested to Verstael, that perhaps if he could create thousands of MTs using his cells…then why not create an Oracle of the empires?', he explained, 'And lo and behold, he managed to do it'.

He frowns playfully, however, 'But there was a problem he couldn't solve~ You see, to recreate the Oracle as perfectly identical to the real thing, he would need more of divine blood to make her'. He laughed. 'Not that he didn't try mind you…but many of her "sisters" didn't share the same fortitude as the real one, and tragically, many of them were put to…rest, as it were'.

Aranea scoffs in disgust while Kairi and Prompto stared at this loathsome excuse for a man, speaking so playfully about the lives he and his partner had destroyed. "How many of these clones of Lunafreya existed, and what made this one so unique?", Kairi thought, griping her keyblade tightly as Ardyn's frown went upside down and returns to the smug looking grin. 'Oh? But wait, how did he manage to keep this one together without her radiance, you ask?', he teased.

The color drained from Kairi's face as realization hits her like she was splashed by a bucket full of cold water, feeling a horrible irritation on her arms. Ardyn sees the girl putting the pieces together, smugly addressing her. 'Oh don't be so shocked my dear. You and the Oracle are the perfect match when blood is involved', he mockingly assured. Kairi turned back to the experiment behind her, a sensation of bile raised in her throat, knowing her blood was coursing through that abomination.

'What the hell is he on about?', Aranea growled, spear sparking with lightning. Ardyn raised a hand before his smile turned sinister. 'I could tell you…but perhaps a test run is a more…preferable option'. With a click of his fingers, suddenly the Lunafreya clone inside her tank opened her eyes as the darkness within her home surged and coiled around her. The entire room shook as alarms went wild, suddenly machines activating and over the group were more tubes that were all linked to the machine.

Through the glass tubes, they could see black liquidation of the blight pumped into the tube of the false Oracle, likely including Verstael's corruption. The machine begins to go wild with electricity sparking from it, the ground shaking as the metal floor beneath their feet begins to groan and break apart. Before they could do anything to escape, the ground gave away and the three fell, Ardyn's cheery farewell drowned out by the sound of steel falling and machines exploding above them.

Aranea dives and grabbed Prompto during their fall while Kairi used Flowmotion to bounce off the falling debris and leaped to a wall. She stabbed her keyblade into the wall and allowed herself to descend with the others, sparks exploding from the fall as Aranea dived to the ground with Prompto in her arms.

Their fall ends with them finding themselves in an open space with many steel girders and structures falling around them, breaking and crashing into the ground. Kairi jumps off the wall while yanking her keyblade out of the wall and landed before the dragoon and gunner. She erects a barrier around them to protect them from the falling objects and structures. Luckily the heaviest thing she had to protect them from was a large chunk of the floor they stood on before their descent, broken tubes falling around them and some even spilled the blight oozing out the machine-like blood leaking from an open wound.

Only when silence and tremors were ceasing, they looked to see slowly descending from above like an angel of darkness was Lunafreya. Now donning the same dress the real one wore in Altissia, except it was covered in a web of darkness and the blight up to her chest, where the heartless emblem glowed red and violet. Her arms looked more monstrous and beast-like with horns on her back elbows, two curved horns on her shoulders like pauldrons, her left face entirely covered in the same veiny surface of the blight with her eye being red.

Even her hair was black as sin with a touch of cranberry within the black void of her hair. With her right arm out, she summoned a black trident that was a far cry from her original weapon, where it was adorned by light and held a holy air, this was a poisonous as the blight and looked closer to a trident. She stomped the bottom of the trident in the ground, darkness burst forth from it and slowly expanded, covering the entire place in shadows.

The moment the place took the resemblance to the realm of darkness, yellow eyes begin to peer and spectate the battle that was about to unfold.

Kairi feels her body go cold as if she was thrown back out to the frozen wastelands again, it felt so unnaturally cold here. Even the dragoon hissed in discomfort. 'Not gonna lie, kinda preferred the Oracle when she wasn't…this, ya know?', she joked without any semblance of humor.

Without another word, Aranea rushed forward to make the first blow the killing blow, her spear outstretched while bursting with lightning. She thrusts her spear forward, but the Oracle lifts her left hand and the next thing they saw was Aranea getting swarmed by a demon tower that sucked her and threw her aside. The dragoon slammed onto her back with a heavy thud, grunting in pain as the tower of heartless begins to soar around the battlefield, hovering near the corrupted imitation of the Oracle.

Kairi grunts in desperation, considering just how much this imitation had the advantage over the trio. For all she knows even if they do take down the tower this Oracle could spawn more, maybe even hundreds. The false Oracle stared at her like she was actively taunting the girl on just how bad their predicament is and she reviled in her struggles. The princess could feel her eyes bore into her heart, but then she feels a hand on her shoulder and turned to Prompto.

With a smile and a wink, he says: 'We're not gonna let this faker stop us, right?'. Kairi looked into his eyes and sees the strength he obtained, the resolution to push onwards return. Clutching the necklace around her neck, the crown that poured the hope and warmth into her heart, seeing the smiling face of the one person she wanted to be with more than anything shine in her mind. Kairi nodded to Prompto with a smile before they both turned to the fallen imitation.

'We're going back to where we belong, and you're not gonna stop us!', Kairi says.

The heartless took offensive to that, hissing at her and calling the tower to remove these beings of light from her gaze. The tower reeled around the Oracle and charged forth to the two, but Aranea jumped on top of the tower and stabbed her spear into the main body of the creature. The spear infused with the power of red lighting blasted the top of raw energy, causing a small explosion to detonate and decimate a few shadows from the tower.

Aranea leaps into the air as the tower twists and turns to fly higher into the air, no longer fixed on the gunner and princess but now out for Aranea's heart. The woman during her jump gave the two a salute and nod, encouraging them to leave this fight to her and deal with the true threat before them. Nodding in agreement, they turned to the heartless that stood before them, the last obstacle that would deny them the chance to reunite with their loved ones.

Kairi runs in first, meeting the heartless' trident with Oathkeeper. Sparks fly from their clash, Kairi's quick footwork and parries against the longer weapon while Prompto covers her by firing at the heartless from the side. The heartless spun her trident at the girl while erecting a dark pillar to eat Prompto's bullets.

With a thrust of her weapon, the heartless Lunafreya's trident catches Kairi's keyblade with its prongs. Kairi had the keyblade yanked out of her hands and thrown aside, disarmed as the fallen Oracle stabbed at her. She evaded and sidesteps the attacks long enough for Prompto to jump in with his short blade, with a leap he brings the trident down onto the ground just as Kairi steps back. His weapon was thrown off the trident as the heartless sank into the dark depths below them. She reappears six feet from the, aimed her left hand and fired thorns of the blight at them.

Prompto rolls away just as Kairi re-summon her keyblade, quickly shifting into her Element Form. Kairi's keyblade didn't change into the bow form however, as she shifted it into the second form the transformation granted her as the thorns reached the princess of light. In a flash of light, the thorns were slashed and cut to nothing more than ripped pieces of paper as Kairi swung in a single arc that shoots the wind up with the thorns being torn apart as if they sucked into a hurricane.

When the thorns were no more, in the princess's hand was a steel glaive that had Oathkeeper's design, the weapon is as tall as Gladiolus, the pole have white and blue designs of Oathkeeper all the up to the long-curved blade, the edge was light blue. Kairi grips the pole with both hands, lowering the blade down to her left foot and with a single stroke, the swings the weapon upwards with such strength it creates a gust of wind so forceful it made the Oracle throw weapon up to block the gale.

'Prompto!', Kairi yelled.

Prompto rushes in quickly, calling upon his machinery weapon, the Drillbreaker. Before the heartless could react in time, Prompto had jumped at her while discharging a fully charged blast into the would-be Oracle. The heartless was thrown across the dark depths and bounced off the ground before vanishing into the dark depths like before. Prompto and Kairi looked to see her shooting out of the depths and flying into the air above them.

She lifts both hands to summon a giant sphere of darkness, much like a Darkside's attack. It levitated over her head before it slowly crackles with red and violet lightning, then she lets out a cry of rage and throws it at them. The sphere descended onto them slowly but it created a vacuum that sucked them towards it, Kairi shifting her weapon back into a keyblade and jumped to the sphere. Brandishing her weapon with light from her heart, Kairi begins to slash and swipe at the sphere like a wild animal.

Her blessed attacks cut away the giant sphere bit by bit until she reaches the core of the sphere and stabbed into it. The keyblade fires a beam of pure light that pierced through and flies to the ceiling of the place. The sphere dissipated into nothing, out charging from it was Lunafreya, grabbing Kairi's neck as she charged back to the ground. Kairi is slammed onto her back with a powerful thud, but the Oracle wasn't finished yet. She lifted Kairi with her blighted hand and throws her into the air with inhuman strength.

Lunafreya's hands glowed with darkness, she claps them together and then four thin pillars of darkness rise and wrap around Kairi's wrists and ankles, trapping her in the air like a sacrificial victim. As the Oracle readied for the killing blow, likely, she was blasted in the back by something strong enough to stagger her. Turning around in time to catch a bullet with her right hand, she sees Prompto with a sniper rifle, imperial made, aimed at her. He takes another shot at her, this time it was deflected to the side by her right arm.

Prompto dismisses his weapon as the heartless rushes for him, her darkness seeping into her right hand and creating another weapon of choice. He drew the short sword just at the heartless is within cutting range. Now in her right hand was a scythe that was as tall as her with a large black steel curved blade that was ripe for harvesting the hearts of humans.

Prompto ducked and hops over the attacks, swinging his sword to deflect the attacks albeit in a clumsy fashion given how little training he had using this type of weapon. It didn't take long for the Oracle to get close enough to strike him in the jaw with the butt of her pole, spinning him around while making him stagger forward from the woman. He narrowly avoided the steel splitting him in half by leaping clumsily from her.

Slamming on his stomach and quickly rolling onto his back, he summoned his sub-machine gun and unloads a barrage of bullets onto the woman. Two managed to hit her before she threw up a wall of darkness to protect herself, least it gave him comfort that the bullets do indeed hurt this monster of a heartless. He quickly gets to his feet, plucking out one of the grenades he looted earlier and throws its right in the center of the four black pillars holding up Kairi.

The device detonates and destroys the four pillars holding Kairi prisoner. The girl wastes no time and dashes in the air to strike at the Oracle while she dismissed her wall. The woman spins around with her scythe swung at Kairi, but the princess of light meets it head-on with her keyblade, yelling. Her holy weapon strikes the dark weapon with such power it rings out in the dark realm they were in, and shatter the blade of the weapon into shards.

Back on her feet, Kairi struck at the Oracle with several hits from her keyblade before with a spin of her divine weapon she swung it upwards, hitting the Oracle in the jaw and sent her flying. Payback can be a royal pain indeed.

She leaped into the air to clash with the Oracle, the latter now drawing a black and red saber akin to Ravus' weapon. Together in the air their weapons clash and ring out in the realm, flashes of light with each collision of steel. Light and darkness battling for supremacy as Kairi puts all her training to good use and fights in the air against the corrupted imitation of her friend. The dark lookalike eventually smacks the keyblade out her way and aimed her corrupted hand at Kairi and fires a blast of darkness.

Striking Kairi in the chest and sending her flying. Kairi flips in the air via backflip and landed on her feet, digging her heels into the ground to hold herself in place. Prompto joined her side instantly, patting her and gauging her wounds, to which he only sees her clothes suffered small burns of the dark, the light of clothes downed the flames quickly. The Oracle above snarls and flies towards them like a fall Valkyrie, changing her saber back into a trident.

Seeing this, Prompto summons his revolver and aimed it. 'Let me brighten up your day!', he shouts, firing a Starshell at the Oracle. The dark being swerved to the right, dodging the shining ball of light, stabbing her trident at the two. Kairi steps up and swings her keyblade to meet with the corrupted blight infested weapon, blocking it and halting the flight of this would be angel. With her weapon caught by the princess, this left the heartless exposed and Prompto took the chance to turn the odds against her.

'Smile!'.

Next thing the heartless knew she was on the other end of Prompto's second-deadliest weapon on his person, his camera. At point-blank the lens flare was so bright it blinded the Oracle long enough for Kairi to dislodge her weapon from herself and throw it aside. Kairi then struck at the heartless with two heavy hits before she swings hard enough to throw the woman away from them. The Oracle digs her heels into the ground, halting her momentum and snarls at Kairi with hatred.

The Oracle's hands surged with darkness, sucking up the shadows around them until her entire body was covered in a miasma of shadow and blight all in one. Her face now completely encased in the corruption of the blight, teeth sharpening into an animalistic set as horns begin to grow on her forehead, along with black vampire wings outstretching from her back. Before the two was now a true daemon Oracle.

She flies up into the air, crossed her arms before stretching them out as a vortex of red and black appeared before her, slowly creating hundreds of black tridents levitating behind her. Prompto's jaw fell and Kairi's eyes widened. There was no way they could outrun that, and if Kairi was fortunate she could keep them safe using a barrier for the first ten hits…

Kairi looks at Prompto, before creating a barrier around them. 'I've got an idea', she said, looking at him. He glances at her and sees the trust in her eyes. 'We've got only one shot, make it count!'. Nodding, Prompto grasps his revolver with both hands as Lunafreya fires her rainstorm of tridents upon them. The tridents strike Kairi's barrier, making the princess flinch with each hit rivaling a runaway train at full force. Instantly she falls to one knee in pain but kept her hand up for the barrier to stay up.

More and more tridents struck the barrier, cracks in their dome of protection grows and extends along the shell, making Prompto grit his teeth in anticipation as the gun grows heavy in his hand but he stilled his shakes. If Kairi puts this much faith in him to help pull their rears out of the fire, then he'll be damned if he lets her down now.

Kairi lets out a yelp of pain as another trident hits the barrier, the cracks representing a spider's web as Kairi's strength begins to wane. To Prompto's shock he starts to see blood running down her nose and plop on the ground beneath their feet, sweat ran down Kairi's face as she struggled to keep it up. She even dismissed her keyblade to lay a hand down on the ground to keep herself up, shaking with exertion and pain.

The final trident struck the barrier, and when it shatters from the impact, Prompto took the shot. He quickly stands up and fires one single bullet that raced towards the emblem of the Oracle. The bullet struck home, the emblem cracking before it shattered completely. 'KAIRI!'.

As quickly as her body could, Kairi summoned her keyblade and with one hand, aimed it at the Oracle. A blue circle formed around the tip before condensing into a small light on the tip and then fired a beam of light straight for the exposed chest of the Oracle.

The beam pierces through the Oracle's void body, uttering a gasp of shock as the light strikes her. Slowly light begins to pierce all over her body, shining brightly as the creature lets out a banshee-like screech of pain as the light expanded all over the body, consuming her. Her cries were silenced as the light purged the darkness, slowly evaporating the darkness they were all in.

As Aranea lands the final killing blow on the tower, she falls to her feet and sees the two younger fighters, weary and exhausted but alive. When the light disappeared, it took the heartless with it. At least in a way, whatever the creature was, Kairi hoped it would find the peace it never would have found in this world. Her keyblade disappeared as she falls on her hands, panting and coughing, spitting the blood that leaked into her mouth out. She looked to Prompto, who gave her a tired but relieved smile.

'W-We won…', she gasped, smiling weakly at him. 'Yeah…we did it', he concurred.

Basking in their victory as Aranea went to check up on them, the two smiled at the other as their confidence grew that day. Even without the others, they could still hold their own together. And now more than ever, did they believe they could follow the others.

It was time to bring the group back…

*After reaching the surface*

Once they healed up and after some placements of explosions to rid the world of Verstael's notes just so no other fool would be cruel enough to repeat what horrible atrocities occurred in this place, the trio of friends found themselves on the road once again.

After Aranea checked Kairi again before they part ways, the dragoon looked at them both. 'You sure you guys know what you're doing?', she asked one more time. 'Nope! Never do!', Prompto laughs, clapping his hands excitedly. Kairi rolled her eyes while folding her arms to mock glare at him, 'That doesn't encourage me to let you drive us to the capital…', she chastised. Prompto gave her a look of hurt before he ruffled her hair, making her whine.

They both turned to Aranea with smiles. 'This is what we want, we promise', Kairi says comfortingly. The dragoon smirked at them, nodding. 'Then say it like you mean it, kid. You both did good today', she praised/lectured. Prompto pats Kairi's back good-heartedly as the redhead smiles softly at him, then turned to Aranea. 'Thanks, for helping', she said.

'Yeah, big time', Prompto agreed. 'We… *I* wouldn't have come this far without you two'. Kairi patted his back warmly and sisterly, smiling at him as Aranea waved off his gratitude, looking away. Kairi could see the faint hue of red on her cheeks and even saw her lips twitching for a smile but for the sake of having this moment of companionship she decided to keep her mouth closed.

…until she found the others anyways.

'Well, we better go catch up to Noct and the others. We've still got a friend to save', Prompto said as he and Kairi approached their new snowmobile. 'Who knows? Maybe we'll save Sora before they do!'. Kairi grinned and said: 'Course we will! Heck, we'll even save the world before they show up!'. Aranea scoffs at them with a smirk. 'Don't get too cocky, brats', Aranea stressed, somewhat worried about their inflated confidence.

Prompto touched the handlebars of the mobile, hesitating for a moment. Kairi's smile drops when she sees the look on contemplation taking place on his pretty looks. He glanced at the tattoo, but then Kairi gently grips his arm, prompting him to look at her. In her beautiful eyes, he sees the faith and unwavering loyalty in their friends, it sparked something in him. Looking back at the mobile, he said: 'I don't know for sure if they'll accept me for what I am…but I guess I won't know until I tell them, huh?'.

Kairi grins at him, nodding excitedly. 'Looks like the boy's become a man', Aranea says, proudly. 'Gralea is straight ahead if you go down this road', she stated, pointing to the direction. They both nodded and hopped aboard the mobile, Kairi wrapping her arms around Prompto's waist as he started it up. They gave the dragoon one more heartfelt thank you before they speed off to the capital.

In the snowy plains with Kairi's light shining to protect them from the daemons, insuring their journey would at least deprive them the dark monsters. '…thanks', he says softly. Kairi looked at him with confusion, then she saw his lips curve into a smile. 'Thanks for not giving up on me, Kairi'. She smiled back warmly, patting his shoulder.

'…they'll accept you; you know that?', she says kindly. Gently she placed a hand over his heart. 'Because it's not the tattoo they'll look at, it's the heart of the person they know'. Hearing the level of faith from her to him, Prompto grins as they drove to the capital.

Nearby watching them, however, Ardyn watches on with coy smirk, singing a small tune. He looked at his hand, remembering that the girl driving off in the distance had harmed him…and now, he needed answers.

He believed it was time Xigbar explained himself as he disappeared into the dark corridor.

A/N:

I am so sorry this took me ALL week to get done. I was literally struggling to finish it without being abrupt or ya know, trash.

That's all the episodes for now, Kairi and Prompto are heading for Gralea as are Noctis and the rest of his party. Next time we're gonna see Sora…and hopefully no one will hate me for what comes next!

…I'm doomed…

Questions:

Q1: Thoughts on this chapter?

Q2: How was Prompto and Kairi?

Q3: Kairi's new weapon? Like or hate?

Q4: What do you wanna see later?

Q5: Thoughts on the final fight?

Update: For those wondering, I changed Kairi's weapon to a glaive. The reason for this is after reading KakeruPB's review, I can see why the choice doesn't fit the keyblade given its significance.

As always, thanks for reading, stay awesome but more importantly stay safe!