Final Fantasy XV - Kingdom Hearts
Part 88
Summary: Two warriors of Light, the Chosen King and Keyblade Master, face an unseen Darkness.
*Keyblade Graveyard*
Hours passed…and yet no seen of their two friends, nor any signs of transport on the way. The day shifted to nightfall, clouds parting to give way to the stars from above as the moon slowly goes higher in the sky.
Maintaining a clear head while pacing around under the guise of keeping watch for any heartless or any other monsters, Ignis was rubbing his wrists occasionally whilst patrolling. He tried to hum a tune to keep his mind off Noctis and Sora disappearing to rescue their lost friends, but when he wasn't worried about the two, his thoughts fall back on the party members who were in desperate need of proper medical attention.
Many of the party were far from ready for more fighting, most of them too exhausted to even stand and most of them desperately needing help. Himself, Prompto, and Gladiolus were at first in better conditions for patrolling and guarding the others, but when heartless started to sneak up and ambush them, a total of six ambush parties in separate times, they were pushed to their limits. His leg was still aching from Xehanort impaling it and if it weren't for Mickey healing it, he'd fear that leg may never function right again.
Gladiolus had taken a bad hit on his chest and almost had his shield arm broke from one defender, only by Ventus carrying one spare potion in his pocket did he prevent Gladiolus from being put on the bench. Prompto's gatling gun had been destroyed by a wizard heartless' thunderbolt, overcharging the weapon and nearly detonating it and almost took him with it. Now without any of his gun arms, he was stuck with just his pistol, and even still he too weary to fight, and with so much blood loss he wouldn't be able to hold out.
Donald and Goofy were barely staying awake from their beating from Xehanort, the duck having used all his magic to heal the most severely wounded party with Mickey's aid, and because of this both magic users were depleted. Goofy had been one of the few who managed to stay off the heartless, despite how weary he was. But one smack of an iron golem's axe was enough to finally take Goofy off the battlefield for the remainder of their adventure, and he was reduced to a dog constantly fighting off sleep.
Mickey was their last healer and even then he was pushed to his magical limitations, having healed most of the team just to prevent them from perishing and healing the brothers of the king of Eos just to keep them all safe. He had no more magic to offer, and without any ethers on their end, they were limited to only potions and the only thing to replenish magic was to wait for them to gather it up.
Roxas and Axel were being tended by Xion who used some of her limited magic to heal the two, but no sooner did the poor girl finish healing some of the team, she almost collapsed and fainted. Roxas being the most stubborn between the three, he was still fighting anything that came close to them, while Axel watched over Xion.
But their true concerns lied with Aqua and Kairi. Aqua was still grey-haired, with nary any source of energy be it strength to stand or any magic to call her keyblade. The woman was on the ground, cared for by Terra, and watched by Ventus, who was trying to use his small spec of magic to replenish her strength with little to no result. She was barely conscious and coherent, trying to stay awake but so weak she could barely utter a word lough enough to even equal a whisper.
Kairi had fainted entirely and held in Riku's arms, the girl's blood loss was far too much for any regular human to survive, and because she used the last bit of her light to help Sora and Noctis to stop Xehanort, she had absolutely nothing to stand on. In Riku's arms, with pale skin, barely alive with almost no signs of waking up. After Sora and Noctis left for their journey, an hour later Kairi had collapsed and despite Donald and Mickey's attempts to wake her up, she remained still.
With their party on death's doorstep and the constant attacks from the heartless, Ignis suggested they contact Cindy for aid. Many voiced their agreements with the plan, only if they could remain close to this world so that they can keep an eye on it when the four returned. Since then Riku and Ignis had been feverishly contacting Cindy and the other members of the RC for transport. The problem is only Riku and Ignis' phones weren't destroyed in the battles, and neither was having any luck getting through.
"Blasted Cindy…the one time you don't pick up…", Ignis grunts as he dropped his phone after the sixth attempt to get her attention. He turned to Riku who dropped his phone arm with a loud huff, shaking his head while holding Kairi, cursing lowly. "What I wouldn't give to use the dark corridor…", he sighed turning to the former nobodies, "Roxas, any of you three know how to open the dark corridors?". Roxas shook his head while Axel scratched his head, glancing at Xion.
"Xion? Don't suppose Isa taught you?", he asked. The girl shakes her head, weary and unable to speak. Not that anyone could blame her, fighting all day long and being pushed to her very limit with healing and fighting it was a miracle she didn't end up like Kairi. "…hungry…", whined Xion, looking at her stomach. Axel chuckles weakly, patting her head while Roxas smiles at her with an eye roll, at least she was too weary to concentrate on their main problem. At least she wasn't despairing like the rest of her.
Gladiolus turned to the students of Eraqus, Aqua still barely conscious, Terra is holding her up and trying to keep her conscious. "How's Blue…?", he asked slowly and hesitatingly. "She's not looking like she's gotten better…we're gonna need someone with stronger magic than use to help her out", Terra laments as Ventus sits down near him, groaning with exhaustion. The younger boy looks to his sister with a guilty look and fear in his eyes, never seeing Aqua in such a poor state.
"I've never seen Aqua like this before…even at her worst she wasn't like this", Ventus laments, gently squeezing her shoulder. Mickey heard this and turns to the worried boy, sadness decorating his face. "Aqua pushed herself beyond even Xehanort's power, her new armor too did more damage to her than even she predicted", he explains. "No kidding!", Prompto exclaims while he fiddles with his robotic limb, "She fired one of those GIANT beams against Xeha-Jerk's super attack and BEAT it!".
"A spell like that would've killed anybody else…shows us whose the best mage, huh?", Riku asked rhetorically, looking down at his sleeping friend's peaceful face. Gladiolus approached the trio, eyes cast on Aqua with worry in his eyes as she still has little to no coherency on what's happening. Terra gestures him to kneel and once he does, he helps settle Aqua into his arms. "Maybe she'll be a little more reactive when she feels your arms again", Terra says with a playful smirk, "Just…save the corny stuff for later".
"To hell with that, the moment she can stand I'll kiss her until she says stop!", laughs Gladiolus. "Ugh please don't…I don't wanna see my sister sucking face", Ventus says with a mock gagging face. Gladiolus glared at him playfully while Axel says: "Pfft, she'd probably argue she kisses like a princess!". Terra rolled his eyes at the banter, again happy for Aqua finding a significant other. But as the team indulged in brevity, Ignis calls out the team.
Ahead of them, a dark corridor opens, and immediately anyone who can pick up a weapon and fight joined the advisor's side while everyone who was unfit for battle readied themselves to shield their weaker friends. "Damnit…why now?", Ignis curses as Prompto aims and Roxas calls his keyblades. Strangest of all, nothing was coming from the corridor, and even as they waited there was still nothing coming through.
Until…
"WILL YOU HURRY UP AND GO!?", a voice calls from within.
Suddenly with a yell, Demyx is thrown from the corridor and lands face-first on the ground with a groan. He quickly scrambles to his knees and holds his hands up saying: "DON'T KILL ME! I'M NEUTRAL!". He freezes, then slowly lowers his hands and opens his eyes, wondering why he wasn't killed yet and sees the others and a very unimpressed Ignis. "Oh…guys, how's it going?", he asked with a sheepish smile.
"Demyx…it is a begrudging pleasure to see you again", Ignis sighed, dismissing his daggers while Prompto heaves a sigh of relief. Demyx pouts at him but then sees Roxas and then grinned. "Roxas? Hey man! Where'd you come from?", he asked, getting to his feet. "Oh uh, after Sora connected with my heart, ya know how it goes", says the boy with a cheerful smile, happy to see another old friend. Demyx then stands up and turns back to the corridor and yells: "Clear!".
Running from the corridor, Rikku and Paine come throughout weapons out for any more surprises. "No heartless…", Paine confirms, but then turns to the wounded party with worry in her eyes, "Oh crap…you guys…".
"VENNY!".
A yellow blur blazes past the three fighters and immediately envelops Ventus in a very protective hug. "Venny! Are you okay!? Did someone beat you!? Who did it!?", she asked, fussing over the state of the poor young man. Ventus, flustered and blushing, tries to assure her he was far from dead but to no avail. All the while Terra and Gladiolus smirked away at his embarrassment as Rikku fusses over the youngest member of the team, while Paine approaches them. "What's wrong with Aqua?", she asked, frowning at the incoherent state.
"Blue overdid herself today, according to Mickey she's not in a good state", Gladiolus said. "She needs healing, as well as Kairi", Terra added, gesturing to the sleeping girl. Paine nodded and puts two fingers on her ear-piece and says: "This is Paine. Cindy, we're in position, teleport us and get our healers up, we've got wounded". But then Prompto pales and slowly gets to his feet, and asked: "Uhh…Paine? D-Did Cindy fix the teleporter thingy? So we…DON'T end up in a dog pile?". Paine's eyes widen slightly as Rikku stops fussing and swears lowly.
"Gladio, Riku!", Ignis yells just as a ring of light surrounds the party.
*Ship*
The flash of light booms in the loading bay, and then when it fades, several yells of surprise followed by a crashing sound of collapsing people boomed out of the room, followed closely by groans. Cindy and Aerith rushed down to the loading bay and find the guardians all tumbled and smothered with each other, several of them groaning in pain or cursing. The only difference was Gladiolus had Aqua in his arms on top of him at a fair distance from the others while Riku was standing up with Kairi in his arms.
"Again with this…", Axel groaned, Roxas and Xion laying on his back in that order, "Also guys? Can ya get off my back?". Roxas groaned with a sleeping Xion on his stomach, grunting in pain. "I would if Xion didn't fall asleep on me…", he groaned. Gladiolus sighed in annoyance as the pain in his aching body started to act up again and taking another look at his girlfriend only reminded him of her condition, prompting him to carefully get up with her in his arms. He turns to Aerith whacking Cindy on her head with the staff, glaring at her.
"You said you fixed this stupid thing!", Aerith chastised, "If one of them has a broken bone because of this, I swear on my mother's grave I will put YOU in the medical ward!". Cindy rubbed her bruised noggin and quickly nodded to her boss, surprised she had such a whacking power in those thin arms. As many of the guardians disentangled themselves from each other, Ventus finds himself pinning Rikku on the floor by accident, making him blush profusely while she was grinning like a cat, wiggling her eyebrows.
"…you planned this didn't you?", he asked weakly. "Guilty as charged!", Rikku teases with a wink. He groaned and gets off her, much to Rikku's displeasure before joining him, but they both looked and saw in a strange twist of fate or ironically, Terra and Paine were in the same position they were, with the roles reversed. Paine was staring at Terra's sheepish smile and nervous chuckles, saying: "Uhh…your welcome?". Paine doesn't say a word and just gets off him, going to check on the others.
"Huh", Rikku muses while folding her arms, "Weird". Ventus looked at her oddly, prompting her to respond. "Paine…didn't punch him", she says casually, "Any time a guy does get within reach of her, WHAM! A punch to their face!". "…maybe she figured Terra was already beaten up?", Ventus offered with worry in his eyes. Rikku hummed with a musing look on her face before she shrugged and says: "Eh probably".
After everyone was brought up to speed, many of the more severely wounded guardians were taken to the medical wing with several healers from the community healing the lesser severe. Kairi is immediately taken into intensive care when Aerith saw her back while Aqua was taken to another care room designated for magic-users with the assurance of Fairy Godmother coming to check on her. Most of the guardians were healed, namely, those who didn't fight Xehanort, but those who did were put into bed.
Gladiolus being the first to finally succumb to his injuries and be put to sleep for rest while Prompto was being monitored by Cindy as the Highwind XV would remain within the world's orbit, stationary. Ignis had chugged down an elixir smuggled in by Demyx, one the last ones on standby, allowing him to require only some pain killers and a healing spell from Aerith. At his instance, he wanted to remain conscious to help, and more to wait for Noctis and Sora to come back.
Donald and Goofy had fallen asleep no sooner than the moment their heads hit the pillows while Riku was taken to another room to recuperate, his darkness acting up and Ignis was selected to be his carer and to monitor him should something occur. Everybody else was treated for wounds and other severities before Aerith's staff gave them all the all-clear but heavily instructed them to be on respite as opposed to going back to the world and be attacked by heartless.
"Sheesh, even healed up you still look like crap", Rikku comments as she helped Ventus to her room. That was her being kind if anyone looked at him, he not only looked like he was put through the worst but even with the healing he still felt like he put through the wringer. So tired and drained from all the fighting, only getting worse when the adrenaline of keeping his magic flowing to help Aqua had come to end did his body realize how worn out he is. His armored clothing was ruined and in need of repairs, so he was dressed in an over-sized T-shirt and a pair of shorts.
Once Aerith assured both Ventus was suffering from exhaustion as well as a few aches from physical strain as well as magical drainage, he was discharged and allowed to be "monitored" by Rikku. So with that, she decided he needed some exceptionally long, overdue, and well-deserved relaxation. And what better place for him to have some peace than her room?
Entering her room, which was an almost replica of her room back in Radiant Garden, save for the wall-paint and a few dressers. "How did you get this room to look almost exactly like yours?", Ventus questions as Rikku closes the door behind them. "Oh simple, made a bet with Yuffie, won, and poof, free decorator!", Rikku explains. Ventus looked at her with confusion, she shrugged and smirks like a cat, her mischievous nature gave him the answer. "Bur first, if ya wanna nap, you're gonna shower!".
He looks to the bathroom door which she gestured with her thumb, "No way you're getting in my bed stinking from all the fighting buster!", she chastises playfully, wagging her finger. Ventus opened his mouth, but then looks at himself and somewhat feels a little self-conscious about his body odor. Ventus dropped his arms and nodded, "Sure, thanks" he says. He approached the door and grasped the knob before he pauses and turns to Rikku with a questioning look.
"Wait for a second, if I shower I'd have to wear these again", he says.
"Ooh don't worry~ I already asked Yunie for some guy clothes and had then put in the bathroom", she says with a smirk, "Including your boxy boxers~". Ventus blushes profusely and almost choked on his on salvia, trying to maintain some tiny piece of his composure while Rikku grins like a very smug cat. Just when he thought he was starting to get used to her antics that often drew color to his cheeks, she somehow found another way.
He weakly and shyly thanks her as he opens the door, but then pauses. An idea suddenly comes to his mind, a brave, ney, BOLD idea. Ventus turns to Rikku and mustering up his courage and fighting his blush, he says: "Rikku?". She tilts her head, curious. "Would you, like to join me?", he asked. He was expecting a witty comment about his bravado, something naughty to his question, or even giggle profusely at his lame attempt to be suave or sexy.
He did NOT expect Rikku's smile to disappear, NOT expect her cheeks to go redder than even his cheeks, and he most certainly did NOT expect her to stammer a response. "V-V-V-V-VENNY!", she squeaks, flailing her hands with shock and flusters. Ventus snickers and claps his hand to his mouth to keep his laughter in check, before saying something about next time and enters the bathroom. On the other side, he burst into laughter, sliding down the door and laughing to his heart's content.
Revenge at long last…
*Intensive care*
Resting outside of the intensive room where his long-time best friend was currently being cared for, Riku had his hands clasped while resting his elbows on his knees, head bowed in thought as he tries to clear his mind. His magical clothing was being mended and cleaned by the three fairies who created the very same clothes for the guardians, especially after Kairi's was practically torn asunder. Now wearing a simple black vest with a pair of baggy blue pants with noticeable scars on his arms and even one below his neck.
So tired and still feeling the dull aches in his body, yearning for sleep and respite from today's events. It is still bizarre to him to think that only two days had passed, but only three days prior a year had passed within the strange forest. It feels like the Keyblade War had taken more than a day for him, it is as if they had been battling a never-ending battle and being on the other side of it feels like a dream come true.
But of course, no victory comes without a price.
The wounds their bodies homed were expected, none of them were going into the battle with the delusion they'd come out scot-free of pain, and while some scars may be permanent or even forever remind them of what's happened to them on that day. But the worst of it all comes just when they were so close to finishing it, Lunafreya and Naminé giving their hearts to save the guardians and give them a second chance to save the realm of light.
Nearly losing Noctis to Xehanort, Aqua almost dying to save them all, and Kairi using herself as a shield to protect the one person who could stop Xehanort. And now two of their treasured friends are intensive care, while two more were gone to find their lost friends. It ripped his heart in two at the thought, wishing he'd had done with Sora and Noctis just to find the two lost hearts, but staying back and serving as one of the few masters remaining was the best option. There is a possibility Maleficent might have been watching the events go down and without any substantial guardians to guard the realm of light it'd be all too easy for her to take over.
"Riku?".
He glanced from his musings to see Aerith with the door opened and peering from it. He did not like the look in her emerald eyes, and he could feel his heart twist and turn as millions of thoughts ran through his mind. "Would you, come in here for a moment?", she asked, pulling back into the room without waiting for a response. Taking a deep breath, Riku got up from his seat and entered the room. Inside the intensive room, he was welcomed by the smells of what he thought were flowers, but their names escaped his memory.
The room was light green with a few machines all around the room, pristine cleanliness with a large window showcasing the stars and cosmos, the fan above rotating slowly. Kairi within a large bed with an IV connected to her arm, the green blanket covering to her neck while her skin was still a touch pale and circles under her eyes. Riku approached her bed and gently brushes a bang from her face, grimacing at the coolness of her skin.
"Did she…wake up, at all?", he asked, unable to look at Aerith. "No. She's been like this ever since she was brought in here", Aerith reveals with a frown, "And Riku…I, I don't think that's going to change for a while".
Riku turns on her with worry in his eyes and mouth slightly open, a sense of numbness overtaking his body. "What do you mean? D-Didn't you heal her?", he questioned in an exceptionally low tone. "We have done everything we could to heal her wound but…the damage done to her goes beyond just physical wounds", Aerith explains, "We cannot entirely decipher what exactly it is wrong with her, but based on what's transpired with her in the battle, we fear her use of her light along with Xehanort's attack may have been too much for her".
"I fear…she will remain like this".
"A-A coma, you're saying?", Riku whispers, before he clutched her shoulders, "H-How long!? A few days, weeks, months!?". "I don't know…", Aerith confessed, unable to answer his question. Riku drops his arms from her, feeling them losing strength and even his legs felt ready to collapse in despair. He shook his head, unable to believe this was Kairi's new state, and suddenly a dark part of him was grateful Sora wasn't here to hear this. There was still so much unknown about a princess of light's powers, and for all they know, Lunafreya might have been the only one who could figure it out…
"Riku, I swear to you we will continue to do what we can to figure this out. Maybe her light is healing slowly or maybe the strain just overwhelmed her", Aerith insists, bravely and kindly. But her words do nothing to help Riku. If nothing else, he feels hopeless and defeated. He weakly excused himself from the room, unable to breathe in the room, and without another word, he leaves the room. Walking down the hallway of the ships.
Traveling down the hallway, barely acknowledging those who went past him. He just couldn't believe how things had turned out, how they just kept getting worse and worse with each event. It never seemed like there would be an end for them, that the happy ending they're all desperately fighting for was nothing more than a foolish dream they all shared or a pathetic justification to keep fighting on against the odds.
He finds himself alone in the hallway after taking a few turns, and then leaned against the wall, slides down it, and sits. Head buried in his hands, Riku tries to stay calm and think better thoughts, but every time he does it goes back to the loss of their friends, Aqua and Kairi's state, Sora and Noctis going off to unknown worlds beyond where they cannot follow. For all he knows, those two might never find their way back to them.
Is this how things are going to be? No matter how much they give to protect the realm of light they will always be apart? Are they cursed to just always be isolated from each other no matter how much they try to stay together? Anger began to swell in his heart, thoughts of what's happened to his two friends throughout the past three years, four technically counting the forest. Everything they survived through, fought their way through, and endured being separated for so long, was it all just so they would be apart again?
He slammed his fist into the ground, leaving a dent in the metal floor, and created a light tremor throughout the ship's halls, hitching an angry hiss as his eyes burned. Before he punched the ground again, a pair of hands clasped his raised arm and prompted him to look. There before him was Iris, giving him a friendly if strained smile. "I uh, asked to tag along in case you needed-
He clings to her tightly, pulling her into an embrace. She holds him close to herself, feeling his shoulders shake before he buried his face into her shoulder and quietly sobbed. He was so tired from all this, the fighting, the pain, losing friends and possibly losing two people who practically made of almost all of his heart, and for once throw away the guise of keeping himself together for the sake of being selfish and just letting himself finally let out some of his anguish. Iris quietly holds him while stroking his head, not saying a word.
"Sora…please, come back to us…", he begged in his mind…
*Castle Oblivion*
With one final strike from his keyblade, Sora brings down the false Riku at last. The replica staggers backward before he collapsed on his back and slowly his body perishes into nothing, the only thing remaining is a shimmering shard of Naminé's heart.
It floats in the air and when Sora stretches his hand out to it, it flutters to his grasp. He clenched it and it disappears into his palm, likely storing away until he finds the other shards. Sora takes a short breath as the arena disappears around him, taking him to another part of the memory of the castle where he could hopefully find the next shard as soon as possible. Though he was dreading what was coming next, more for Naminé's sake and his mental state…and temper.
His fight with this replica, however, turned out to be a rather nice break from all this madness. And even still, calling it a fight with this replica was a joke. Maybe it was because he had grown way stronger than he was when he fought here in the past or maybe this Riku just wasn't as strong as his other foes, but he breezed through this fight like it was just a shadow heartless. Not that he was complaining, at least it was a nice break from getting his backside kicked or just straining himself to break his limits.
The world changes strangely into another world and one that held great significance to the other side of his heart. Twilight Town.
Looking around he sees he was in the middle of the main square, the marketplace. Walking around the orange city, he frowns with confusion. "Wait…I didn't go to this world on my first journey", he muses to himself. Spectating some of his younger self's journey, he understood that each card is given to him (which still puzzled him why they used cards) would recreate a world he had visited before as an illusion of his memories.
Each one he had seen was all from his first journey and while the scenario did play out differently as opposed to how he did remember it, they played out like separate events, they were still full of the people he met there and the world.
Except for the jungle world, weirdly.
"Nope, definitely never been here on the first run", he says to himself, putting his hands behind his head. He spins around and sees himself with his two long-time companions and like himself, the little version admits he's never been to this world before. At least they were on the same page he supposed. He sees the two followers of the king slouch in worry when Jimmy Cricket, who he had forgotten tagged along, hopped out of Sora's hood and spoke up about their memories almost being non-existent.
"We'll be okay. See, look at this", young Sora says, pulling out a star-shaped charm from his pocket. The older version of himself looks at the star, pulls out Kairi's good luck charm, and sighed, wondering if Naminé had a hand in the change of charm. He knows without a doubt he only carried Kairi's charm throughout his adventures and judging by how the other him held it so carefully, a gut-wrenching feeling tells him that was Kairi's, warped.
The younger him then starts to talk about a memory that wasn't entirely false, about how when they were kids, himself, and Naminé, she got scared and asked what if one of those meteors from the shower would fall from the sky and hit the islands. In response, Sora promised if one comes close he'd smack it back to the stars with his sword. The older one smiled nostalgically at the tale, but it wasn't with Naminé.
When he and Kairi were small, there was a meteor shower that happened a few months after they first met her. He remembers she got scared and asked the same question Naminé asked, and he promised he'd keep her safe. Whether it was to show off or perhaps to cheer Kairi up, he picked up toy swords and started to swing in the air.
It hurt his heart that a memory that was special to him, one that reminded him about days when they were kids and how it was the first time he and Kairi hung out, had been warped into a convoluted mockery of his youth for Naminé. As the younger version finished his story, he said Naminé gave him the charm as thanks, and then he reveals she just left the islands suddenly. And what was worse is when he looked forlorn and says he let her down.
Honestly, Sora never knew how much pain Naminé had inflicted on him and was still trying to wrap his mind around it. He honestly believes she was forced into doing this, and after seeing the punishments Marluxia would have put her through if she disobeyed him, he knows she had no choice But even knowing that, seeing how easy it was for himself to believe she was the most important person to him, how easy it was to swap places with Kairi with herself, left a bitter taste in his mouth.
The world began to change and shift again, this time taking Sora back to the castle again. Now he saw himself facing down Riku again, only mentioning something about being "free" from someone's control. But what puzzled Sora, was when Riku started to tell the same story he told Donald and Goofy. Some alterations sure, showing more of Riku being "mature" and "tougher", but it was almost word for word.
When Sora called him out, he showed the charm Naminé gave him and a bigger twist? Riku had the same charm as he did. This time Sora glared at the two, disturbed that they both were being used to fight each other, all to push himself to go deeper into the castle. Once again, he defeats Riku, and no sooner did their fight end, Riku flees the scene, something looking back Riku did a lot back in the day. It only gets odder when Sora picks up Riku's charm and then it turns into a card.
"So Riku's was a fake…but only because of Kairi's charm mine was real", he mused to himself.
It only got worse from there, as he watches himself lash out at Donald and Goofy who to their credit were being thoughtful and cautious. Donald voicing everyone's worries about what's happening, even trying to get young Sora to think about what's happening around them, how nothing was starting to make sense, how both him and Riku couldn't have the same memory of an event one of them could only be part of.
Then when young Sora started accusing them of believing he was lying about his memories, demanding they don't think about it and just go after Naminé, which tore his heart apart to see. It made it worse when Goofy of all people asked just what was happening to their dear friend, saying he got extremely sensitive when it came to Naminé. Both had pointed out to him that before they came here he couldn't remember her name and now she's all he thinks about. They pleaded with him to just stop and think about all this, but he took this as them abandoning her.
He lashes out and even leaves them, calling them selfish and abandons them for Naminé. Watching his younger self run off like that, after exchanging some harsh words with two people who want nothing but the best for him and are just begging him to think, this turned his stomach and doubts began to surge within. The world fades away and there he is taken to another part of the castle.
He finds himself on the ground, wounded and beaten while Riku was on his knee, hurt and likely just coming out of a fight with him. Judging by the distance, Sora had an idea Riku pulled a sneak attack on him when he tried to help him, he was grateful those underhanded tactics were things of the past. Before Riku could finally put him out of his misery, Naminé screams for him to stop and suddenly a loud noise resonates and Riku staggers, before collapsing like a puppet's string being cut.
And of course, Larxene shows her face again, and as he expected, started to mock the entire trio. Here she reveals to Sora all his memories of Naminé were, as he thought, lies. They had never met before, they were never friends, and up to now everything he had thought about her were either lies or her taking someone else's spot for Sora's heart. Larxene bragged and mocked about the boy, even teasing him that the precious girl was nothing more than a little liar.
She even taunted Naminé, cupping her chin and bragging despite how sweet she may look, she has done some nasty things that not even Maleficent was capable of. Sora gritted his teeth, remembering this horrible woman was one of the two who forced her to perform these awful acts, torture and threatening the blonde girl. But it turns out as Sora figured, Naminé had somehow interrupted their plans for taking over, that because she had reached out to Sora and gave him some clarity about the false memories, he started to break away from the lies.
When and how he wasn't sure but somehow he knew Kairi must have come into the picture at some point.
Even still, even back then he wore his heart on his sleeves and followed it dutifully because he got up and even called Naminé's name out of concern when she was thrown aside. She bravely stepped in between Larxene and Sora, pleading her to leave him alone. But she must have forgotten Larxene had the shortest temper next to Donald and smacked her aside like she nothing but a pest. She even had the nerve to remind Sora his memories of her were lies, that they were false. But even still, he said they were real to him, as was the promise.
That further enraged her, and before she could finish him off, Donald and Goofy stepped in to defend the boy. Even after what he had said, their first words were about protecting him that it was always all three of them against the odds.
No sooner had Larxene finished her threat, they were taken to the same arena he had fought Riku in, and she smirked cruelly at the boy. Sora called his keyblade and said: "Not gonna lie…when we fought back at the graveyard, I was a lot nicer to you than I should have been". He then changes into his Ultima Form and decided for the first time he had met someone he disliked; he was going to let loose.
"You're not gonna like this", he warns before unleashing his full potential.
A/N: …well this was late wasn't it?
I'm really sorry these chapters are getting later and later, but honestly I'm just not really getting much from this arc. But hey, everyone's enjoying it so can't complain, and we've a few more to go.
I know I did focus more on the guardians and Sora than Noctis but he's getting a fight chapter so I figured he can wait a little longer.
Also for those wondering why Sora didn't get a fight scene, he's not going to get one for a while. The reason for this is the people he's fighting are not even on par with him by the end of KH2, so it'd be extremely one sided and dull.
Questions!
Q1: Thoughts on this chapter?
Q2: What did you like the most of this chapter?
Q3: How was Sora's side?
Q4: Thoughts on Kairi's coma?
Q5: Ventus and Rikku swapping roles?
Q6: Wanna see more of the guardians?
Also if anyone wants to read a few fluff stories, I've posted the shorts collection last week so if you want, check it out and let me know what you wanna see in future.
As always everyone, thanks for reading! Stay awesome but more importantly stay safe!
