Final Fantasy XV - Kingdom Hearts
Part 94
Summary: Two warriors of Light, the Chosen King and Keyblade Master, face an unseen Darkness.
*Final World*
Stirring himself awake, Sora opens his blue eyes to witness the world had fallen to the night. Above him were an endless sky of stars that twinkled and shines down on him, he feels the cool water against the back of his neck. He looks left and right, confirming he was strangely back in the Final World, but at night.
"This place…didn't we leave it?", he asked himself, slowly sitting up. Confusion running in his mind while he stands up, taking in the massive difference in the world's appearance. It reminded him of the world where he met the princess of light with long hair, but the stars here paled in comparison to the awe and wonder of this place. "What happened? I was sure I used the power of waking to go home…", he says to himself.
Sora looks around and sees he is all alone, Noctis, Lunafreya, or Naminé nowhere in sight. Frowning with worry and a reluctant sigh escaping him, he at least took some solace that maybe it was just him stuck here. But still, he wondered why the world has suddenly changed into the night, somewhat certain time wasn't part of the rules of this place. He crossed his arms in wonder and tries to think about what could have possibly brought him here. He knows the power of waking was still a risky use without a doubt, and maybe Aqua's warnings about misusing it played a part in why and how he ended up here.
But he's only used it twice to rescue two lost hearts, so surely that wouldn't have been much of a taboo to use right?
He looks forward and decides to see if he is truly alone. Cupping his hands on each side of his mouth, he yells: "HELLLOOO? CAN ANYONE HERE ME? IS ANYONE THERE?". He cupped one ear and tries to hear if anyone had responded to his cries for someone. Slowly he feels himself droop in disappointment when nobody called back…until…
"Hey".
A low and muffled call out but Sora perked up when he heard it again with more clarity and even hopeful. "Where are you?", the voice called out. "Over here!", Sora says with a grin and runs towards the voice. He could see someone walking towards him while he ran, hearing the person confirm they could see the boy. Finally, someone else who might be in the same situation he was in, and potentially someone who could help him find a way back to his world. But when Sora could finally fully see this person, he paused.
"Wait…aren't you…".
Before Sora stood a boy who was possibly just as old as Noctis, his eyes are heterochromia iridium, with his left eye being red and his right eye being blue. Short silver hair, which spikes backward, and wears similar clothes with more black colors. He wears a black, hooded jacket that he keeps unzipped, with short sleeves; with a studded crown and emblem on each sleeve, gold buttons, and a checkered pattern at the hem. Underneath, he wears a black sleeveless shirt with a red V-neck. He wears black cropped trousers that are hemmed with the same checkered pattern as the jacket, black glovelettes on each hand, and black high-top boots.
Before Sora was someone he had seen in the past…
"You know me?", the boy before him asked, a little surprised. "Yeah…you're Yozora, right?", Sora asked. He tries to hide the confusion from appearing on his face, because as bizarre as this was, Sora was sure this guy couldn't exist. Not in the nobody sense or because he was a being of the darkness, but because as far as Sora was concerned, "Yozora" is a character from a video game. In his travels to find the missing hearts, he ended up in a world where toys had come to life and had seen Yozora on a video game box.
One of the inhabitants even mistook Sora for this boy. But no, here is the very boy from the video game cover standing before him in a world where only hearts were ready to return. "How do you know that? Who are you?", Yozora asks. With a smile, Sora gestured himself with his thumb and says: "I'm Sora. And actually…there's something I have to ask you-
"Sora? You're Sora?", Yozora asks, stepping forward slightly and even looked a little relieved. Confused, Sora asked if the silver-haired boy knows him, and he claims he has heard of him. This made the boy suddenly tense up unknowingly, wondering how this guy could have heard of him, considering he's never been to a world where Yozora resided, and even then he was certain he HAD no world of his own. Then again, stranger things have happened since this journey started. Deciding he'd risk looking like a doofus, Sora asks: "But if you're here…then this can't be the real world, right?".
"But if you're here…then maybe you are real…".
"Are you done?", Yozora asks with indifference. Sora looks at him as the cool and composed look on the older boy's face shifts into more of glare and silent determination. "This isn't the real world, and I am here", he clarifies, then gestured himself with his thumb, "But this isn't what I look like". At Sora's confused look and tilted head, he asked how Sora recognized him as "Yozora", to which Sora gave him a very confused "huh", and to add further confusion to the pile growing in Sora's mind, he asked:
"And why are you using Sora's name?".
"Because…I am Sora?", Sora answers, "Who else could I be?". Yozora stares at him, cupped his chin thoughtfully, and then scoffed, likely deciding thinking why and who isn't important right now. "If you are who you say you are, and if fate has brought us here then…my path is clear", Yozora says, clenching his fist. A sudden reddish-orange light shines and now in his right hand, a strange gun appears. Sora steps back with a grunt as any attempts of making friends with this guy had been thrown out of the window, and only when Yozora aimed the strange gun, now turned into a crossbow, confirmed Sora's worries.
But before a fight breaks out between them, the ground beneath them turns from water to a Station of Awakening, Sora's. He gasped as the world shifts and turns into a city, buildings surrounding them in all manner of sizes, some small, medium, and some scrapping the skies while they were atop of a round building as the station disappears. "What? What's going on here?", Sora asked, lost. Yozora huffs and says: "I've accidentally wandered here and went through a few trials here and there. And then…I was told to "Save Sora", explains the silver-haired youth.
"Huh!? Then what's with the weapon!?", Sora accused. In Yozora's left hand is now a saber, going from compact size to a keyblade long sword with an orange glowing edge. "Time to end this", states Yozora as he takes up a stance. Strangely his stance wasn't usually like all his former enemies, Sora could even go so far as to say he is stance was so indifferent and confident he didn't even show his opponent the respect of taking it seriously. "Do yourself a favor…and just go down", Yozora commands.
Sora calls for Ultima and takes up his stance, regardless. "No way…you wanna "save" me, then you're gonna have to fight me!", Sora challenged. "…whatever…", Yozora sighed.
*Subway*
Walking through the suburban subway that was more empty than a pub without beer, Noctis takes in his surroundings with equal amounts of confusion and worry etched on his face. "Where the hell am I now?", he asked himself as he walks on the platform, straining his ears for someone. This world is felt so bizarre to him, almost in a strange sense of it being alien. He couldn't feel anything here, there was no light nor darkness within this world. Worst of all he couldn't find Lunafreya, Naminé, or even Sora, only making him feel closer and closer to losing his mind.
He tries to remember what exactly happened that could have led him to this place, but all he did recall was a bright light from Sora using the power of waking to bring them all home, but then instead of returning to the graveyard, he found himself waking up sitting against a wall like a beggar. The first thing he tested was his powers and being able to summon the keyblade, which he could. Least wherever he was he wouldn't be powerless to protect himself. Noctis had been walking through the subway and he has yet to meet anyone here.
For such a large place it was close to a ghost town than a sprawling overpopulated city. No staff member, no conductor, no civilian, and not even hints of life here. Which for a subway, this would be ideal for anyone in a rush but for the king, this felt more unnerving than comforting. He comes to a flight of stairs leading to the night fallen city and sees several more lights ahead of him. "Maybe I can find someone up there…", he says to himself, "Better than waiting around".
"Sheesh…and here I thought trains would be on schedule today".
Noctis jumped and spins his head around and sees someone walking up to him casually. With his hands in his pockets, wearing a black jacket with short sleeves, a pair of white pants with black teeth shape patterns from hips to his knees, a pair of black boots while wearing a pair of biker gloves. On his head was a short top hat of sorts, resting on his fiery red hair with brownish eyes. "Yo, looking for someone?", he asked in a friendly and even cheerily. Noctis lifts his foot off the flight of stairs and turns his body properly face him.
"Who are you?", Noctis asks, keeping his tone even while gauging this guy. "Name's Magia, at your service…?", bowed the stranger with a bright smile. "…Noctis…", introduces the king. "Oh? Pretty posh if ya ask me", teased the man, tipping his hat's rim to push up, "And those clothes tell me somebody here's a good old member of the royal club!". Noctis hated this man's deduction skills were scarily accurate. Magia rubbed his chin as Noctis debates whether he should ask about where they were, but he couldn't even contemplate it.
There was something off about this man despite his friendly deposition and even casual demeanor. It reminded him too much of Ardyn, but there is no real evil or harmful intention behind his sunny persona. "So Noctis? You didn't say who you were looking for", he reminds with swagger towards the king. "A friend of mine…we got separated", Noctis says slowly and cautiously. "Aww shame, no fun being on your own, huh?", Magia pouts, "What's the name? Maybe I know them". "Sora…spiky hair, blue eyes, black and red clothes?", Noctis described.
"OOOH…that guy?", Magia says. Suddenly Noctis felt his blood go cold and body tensing up when Magia's smile vanished and a look of regret, yet callousness took over. "Damn bud…talk about rotten luck…see, our commander? He's trying to save him", he explained. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?", Noctis questions, "What's with that saying? You're acting like we have a hugely different meaning of the word "save". Magia breathes a weary breath and shook his head before shrugging, "It's just…gotta be the way it is, ya know? Nothing personal but…well…".
Noctis growls and turns back to the stairs and runs up them, ignoring Magia's yelling. "If Sora's here, then he's probably fighting that "commander" or something…least I-
The next thing Noctis knew, he is suddenly suspended in the air. Looking down he is three feet from the stairs and then before he could even blink he's yanked down the stairs before he even made halfway to the top. He slammed on the ground and rolls on to his side with a grunt, raising himself to see Magia's hand lose a violet glow, an apologetic yet devoid of any sympathy on his face. "Hey now, I didn't say you could get in the way", he ridiculed, "Seriously dude…". Noctis growls and got to his feet, glowering.
"You don't want to get in my way…", Noctis warns. "Oh no doubt buddy, pretty sure you're something else…but ya know? I got a job to do, and if our commander wants to save Sora, then like it or lump it, I've gotta do what I gotta do", Magia says with a smile. Raising both hands, he snaps his fingers with both limbs and suddenly blue frosty light shines. Then two thin swords form in his hands, made of steel with blue light etched around the circular hilt and to the tip of the swords. He spins them in his hands and aimed one at Noctis, still carrying that happy smile.
"So buddy, unless you got a weapon, I don't see-
With one wave of his hand, Noctis unleashed the first base form of the Armiger and white crystalized weapons surround him, Night's Sky called to his hand. "Last chance to walk away, Magia", threatened Noctis, "Get in my way, and I can't promise we'll both walk away". Magia clicked his tongue and with a carefree grin, brandished his blades and takes up his stance. "One walks away alive, got it", Noctis grunts.
Noctis fires two royal arms at the strange man before warping behind him. Magia cuts down the two blasts with ease and turns to block Noctis' back attack with his left-hand blade. He throws the king off and with one thrust of his right blade, almost plunges the blade into his ribcage, only missing because of Noctis' superior evasive skill. He flipped in the air and throws more arms at Magia, five this time before he lands on his feet.
Magia dances around the attacks with the grace of a dancer and even slides underneath one just narrowly missing his chin. As his slide ends, he aims both swords at Noctis and fires two whirlwinds of fire at him. They merged into one giant hurricane of roaring flames and demolished a brochure stand near them along with a map stand. Noctis calls for Shield of the Just and slammed the bottom of it into the ground and held against the blazing fire. He could feel the heat seeping even into the handle of the majestic weapon.
When the flames stopped, he only had just a fraction of a second to react to the sudden appearance of Magia appearing on his left. He almost got a taste of steel in his mouth before he lifted the shield and smacked it into the magic-user. His strike managed to hit him hard enough to lose balance and with a spin while summoning Mace of the Fierce, Noctis slammed the weapon right into Magia's stomach with the force of Gladiolus directly punching someone without restraint. Magia goes flying through a stone pillar and even then his momentum doesn't stop until he crashes into a wall. He breaks halfway through it and slumped into the broken wall.
Noctis huffed and ceases his Armiger before jogging back to the stairs and climbs it.
Reaching the surface, he slows down and begins to take in the surrounding buildings. Tall buildings, some even taller than half the buildings back home, the strange colors of this world filled his eyes with this otherworldly sensation within his heart. He finds himself in what looks like the center of the city, with several crossroads with buildings surrounding him, one building was massive, tall, and wide building with the number "104" glowing in neon light. "What…kind of world are we in?", he asks himself.
He took a step forward to the building, but he spins around and quickly splits apart an icicle with his Ultima Blade. The two halves of the ice fly in two different directions while he stares down Magia walking up to him with his sword outstretched at him. "Well, now that was pretty rude! Running off like that before we finished?", Magia chastised playfully while spinning one sword. Noctis hissed angrily, the man was barely hurt at all, but he could sense his mana head been spent a good deal of his mana to heal himself.
Magia chuckles before he rushed towards Noctis with both blades and upon closing the gap, he begins to strike at Noctis with amazing speed. They begin to strike at each other with blinding speed, shined by the sparks of their weapons while Noctis is being backed thanks to Magia's relentless tenacity. The man was swift and almost swung swords as if they were made of paper with how swift they were. He then stomps on Noctis' chest and backflips from the king, then aimed both blades at him and shoots a torrent of fire with icicles from the other.
Noctis quickly tosses a lightning flask at the two elements and throws his keyblade towards a building. He managed to escape the blast after fire and ice meet lightning, blowing up and sending Magia flying into the air. Noctis uses the Flowmotion upon materializing on the building and runs up it until he reaches the top of the building. He turns to see Magia already racing up the building while shooting more magical icicles at him. Noctis aims his hand and channels his magic, creating a large ball of fire, and drops it upon Magia.
But the ball is suddenly halted as red and purple magic shines around the giant roaring ball of fire and the next thing Noctis witnessed is the ball charging back towards him. He jumps back from the edge and throws one of his daggers at the ball of flames, detonating it and creating a fiery wave of hot wind that knocked him onto his back. He rolls back onto his feet just when Magia leaps from below the building and front flips onto his feet on top of the building. Noctis cursed quietly when Magia starts to walk toward him.
"Come on Noctis…can I call ya Noct? Anyways, look, you're not exactly doing yourself or anybody any favors keeping this fight up?", Magia teases. Noctis unleashes his Armiger once again, defiantly. "Then how about you do me a favor and tell me where Sora is?", Noctis challenged. Magia rolled his eyes and offhandedly says: "I said you do yourself a favor, I never said I would". In response, Noctis just smirked at him and next then the red-haired man sees, Noctis is right in front of him. Before he could even yelp in surprise, Noctis places both hands on his chest and yelled: "FORCE!".
A powerful blast of force magic throws Magia over the ledge of the building and five feet from it. But before he could even retaliate against Noctis, the king appears above him, and with Mace of the Fierce, he slammed the giant weapon down into his stomach and sent him careening down to the ground like a meteor. Noctis then aims his hand and calls all his Armiger's power to summon all his weapons and yelled: "Heal this!". He fires all his weapons at the red-haired man just when he slammed into the ground and soon within range, there is an explosion with blue smoke and fire.
Noctis huffs and warped back the edge of the building, panting from the attack's draining. "And stay down", he growled. Before he turned away, his eyes widened in shock when the smoke clears and a large green barrier dome surrounds Magia. Noctis tries to see if Magia was standing, but through the dense barrier, he could see someone else was holding the barrier up. "Who the hell?", he asked. But his question is quickly answered when Magia is suddenly rocketing up to him. Noctis jumps back from having his neck slashed by his swords and he lands back on the rooftop.
Magia chuckles when he lands on his feet as another joined his side. "Magia…you're wasting time again", commented the newcomer. He was tall though only two inches taller than Magia and even Noctis, wearing a dark green sleeveless jacket with a vest within, green cargo pants with brown combat boots, his hair was short and unkempt copper brown while wearing specs nearly identical to Ignis'.
"Aegis…man, I've got this", Magia teases, "I mean-
"You were nearly crushed, exploded and from what I saw, he's more than a match for you", Aegis grunted after pushing his glasses up, "I'd say you have this as much as you had a chance with a woman". "Okay, ouch!", Magia groaned. Noctis stares down Aegis taking a step forward. "Listen to me, Noctis…", he says but Noctis called Night's Sky and aimed it at the man. "If you're gonna say what your buddy over there said already then shove it", Noctis growls, "You can either tell me where Sora is, or I'll just beat it out of you!".
Aegis sighed tiredly and pinched the bridge of his nose, but when he lowered his hand, his eyes glowed with silent determination and carried a look that reminded Noctis of Gladiolus. The same fierce fiery will to press on for the sake of his king. "That won't be happening", he declared, raising his right hand, "And for the commander's sake…I can't let you stop him". Materializing in his hand was a giant blade much like Yozora's own sword, but instead of it being orange, his was green. "Stand down…or we'll put you down", Aegis threatens.
Noctis growls as he calls his Armiger again and then flies towards Aegis, summoning the Sword of the Tall and lifting it over his head. He yells as he brings down the giant royal blade upon the man, but Aegis raised his sword to guard himself and a giant dome of green energy erects itself before him. The green dome easily repels Noctis' attack so greatly it throws both the blade and king off the building. Noctis falls six feet down the building before he managed to warp himself to the ground before slamming into it. He rolls onto his feet as Aegis and Magia leaped down after him.
Noctis calls his keyblade and Ultima Blade and then flies towards them again.
Above the ten-four building digging his feet into the metal floor, Sora holds up his keyblade against the roaring hot red laser fired from Yozora's crossbow. He grits his teeth in a struggle while Yozora creates two more portals and fires two more additional lasers at Sora. All three pressed against Sora's keyblade and pushes him further and further close to the ledge. He struggled against them before he gathered up enough magic to enter a form change.
With a flash of light, Sora enters his Ultimate Form and the many swords carried by him to slash Yozora. The silver-haired youth flips around them, stopping his attacks and freeing Sora from this onslaught. Taking control of the fight, Sora dashes after the mysterious boy and when he catches up to him, they exchange blows with their respective swords. Their blades locked in a brief second before Yozora phases in red light and reappear further from Sora.
He shoots more lasers at the boy, forcing Sora to dash to evade them. He guards against the red lasers but when Yozora fires a blue laser at him, Sora uses his swords to block this one. Except for the laser phases through the wall of swords and strikes Sora head-on in his chest. Sora yells in pain as he lands on the ground and rolled onto his side, groaning in pain as his clothes burn with his flesh. He aimed Ultima and shoots Yozora back with a laser of his, piercing the blue laser that tried to strike again. His keyblade's light pierces through but Yozora dodged it.
He aimed his hand and then his sword's edge appeared behind Sora, and only for a split-second Sora had enough time to react by raising his keyblade to guard it. He pushes it off himself and then rolled to his feet, dashes back to Yozora. The silver-haired warrior meets with Sora's keyblade with monstrous strength and inhuman speed that put everything Sora had ever learned to the test. His strikes were against one-handed while he used two, showing off who was physically more powerful, and with each strike from Yozora, Sora could feel his form losing power.
One final upward strike from Yozora sends Sora upward as his form ends and he reverts to his regular form. While in the air, Sora flips and sprinkles small balls of lightning and then stabbed his keyblade in the center of the star pattern. The lightning sparks and whirls in place before firing a more powerful laser of lightning at Yozora. In response, Yozora aimed his hand and created a dense reddish orb as the beam hits. He was absorbing the attack and when he gained enough of Sora's attack, his sword plunged into the orb and with a spin, he fires a large projectile of his and Sora's power combined.
Sora dives down to the ground and narrowly avoids the attack as it rockets to the sky. He lands on his feet and quickly blocked another onslaught of Yozora's attacks. When he does manage to parry him and got an opening for a slash, Sora's keyblade phases through a reddish hologram of Yozora. He searches the field for him but only his senses picked up and his urge to run kicks into overdrive. He dashed forward and is spared from being skewered by Yozora's energy spikes. Sora dashes and dodges these pinpoint strikes as best as he could, but he's suffering from several hits ranging from nicks to slashes.
By the end of it, he is slashed in the left shoulder and just barely moved enough to avoid having it piercing bone. He staggered as his shoulder runs red with his blood and using a bit of his magic to heal himself, he pants and grunts wearily. This boy was nothing like Xehanort or anyone he's ever fought; everything seems to be thought of on his end and it's like nothing Sora does can't be countered by him. His strength and speed were on par with a keyblade master, his versatility is unparallel with anybody he's fought, and with all his strength it was like he is being toyed with.
Sora spins around and sees Yozora hovering towards him with his crossbow. Sora is pulled by suction of energy and as he is levitated in the air, he feels his strength being taken away and grows even weaker. When it was finished, Yozora swung his blade and this time contacts Sora's chest and throws him up in the air. Sora slammed onto the ground with a thud and grunts in pain, rolling onto his side as he struggles to get onto his feet. He groaned in pain as he gets to his feet, stabbing the keyblade into the ground.
He turns to Yozora's gaze and quickly changes his keyblade into Oathkeeper and he pulls all his power together to Formchange in Dual Form, Oblivion joining his hand as he spins them both keyblades in his hand. Yozora scoffed at the boy's determination, yet he raised his weapons again against the boy. He dashed around Sora, dipping his sword in the air before vanishing again and leaving triangle-shaped droids in his place.
Four in total fluttered in the air and began to chase after Sora, forming a pyramid around him and soon red lasers began to shoot out and connect like a puzzle piece. Sora quickly dashed outside of it the walls of the pyramid shined down. But Yozora catches Sora during his escape and strikes him again with his sword and knocks him a few feet away from him. Right into the pyramid as it takes form and entraps Sora in it. He is levitated and trapped in the air as lasers fire out and strike him while bouncing off the walls.
It detonates and blasted Sora across the field, but he bounced in the air, and during his flight, he backflips and blasts towards Yozora. Yozora shoots several arrows at Sora, but he slices through them and closed the distance between them. He strikes at him and slammed Oblivion into his side and with Oathkeeper he smacked him below his jaw and throws him into the sky, leaps after him, and begins to wail on him with what strength he had left. Each blow from light and darkness shocked the silver hair youth and when Sora crosses both keys over the other, he opens them up to simultaneously strike him.
Yozora is thrown higher into the air and with Sora going down, he aims both keyblades and fires rays of darkness and light at him. The two opposing forces fly towards him and strike him in the chest, earning a groan of pain from the warrior of an unknown world. Yozora falls just as Sora lands on his feet, but the just front flips and he too landed on his feet, and then raised his gaze to Sora. Coldly he raises his crossbow and sword and then vanished before his eyes. Too weary to catch him on time, Sora could only turn around and see him aiming his crossbow at him.
Sora is then trapped in a small dome of Yozora's strange power, helplessly hovering in the air within it. Yozora jumps over the dome and plunged his sword into the dome and breaks it. Sora falls to the ground while his keyblades spin in the air before they are enshrouded by the orange data energy of Yozora's and then condensed into his weapons with their design. Sora reverts to his normal form and shakingly gets to his feet but when he sees his very own weapons turned against him, he feels his power, what little remains, fade away.
"This…can't be…how could I…lose…?", Sora asked as he stumbled to his knees, defeated. "Sorry…but I don't lose", answered Yozora. A crystallized surface appeared beneath Sora's hand, slowly encasing his hand and slithers up his arm. He couldn't even muster enough power to resist it or gasp out from the coldness of the crystal, his body had reached its limit. "I…can't…I can't…", Sora struggles, "Not until…I…see her…". Yozora approaches the slowly crystalizing Sora with a composed look and sighed.
"Good effort, Sora…but I never lose", Yozora bragged as Sora's entire arm is crystallized. Even as his body succumbs to the crystal his thoughts go to the people he couldn't see again, the future he had been so close to seeing, the promise to that person who is the owner of his heart he will never be able to fulfill. Gritting his teeth, Sora tries to get to his feet, hissing as his body ached and burned with pain and exhaustion with his arm weighing as much as a hundred tons, but even with all this, he couldn't back down.
Even Yozora's eyes widened with surprise at this display of determination to persevere and fight on. "The hell? How? How are you still going?", he asked. Sora faces him as he managed to get onto one foot as even as the crystallization still infects him. Burning with his refined and steeled will, Sora faces Yozora with the fire he used against Xehanort. "Because I don't break my promises, no matter what", he growled as he finally stood on his feet. Yozora scoffs, amused, and even shows a smidge of respect to the boy, however futile it is.
As Sora's body is nearly completely crystallized, his heart reaches out…
Slammed into a building wall and being embedded into it, Noctis slumped in his new throne as Aegis and Magia pant from their attacks. "Ha…ha…he's… something, huh?", Magia laughed stabbing one sword in the ground while laying the other on his shoulders, "Whew…but hey, we won". Aegis huffed in agreement, rubbing his neck and grunting. As the two unknown warriors bask in victory, Noctis tries to keep himself awake and digs deep into his heart for power to keep going. Yet he couldn't find it, and even if he could he was only going to spurn it fighting these two.
They were the best of his royal and worst of his worst adversaries, their teamwork is on par with theirs and their powers are greater than any of the organization. Magia's nearly unlimited magic and Aegis' near-impenetrable barriers combined with raw power and inhuman speed, even with the Armiger was pushed to its limits. Running on fumes doesn't help him and with each counter, he had for them one of them would retaliate and catch him off guard or beat his body.
He clenched his fists in the wall, rubble breaking and racing down his body as his body glowed with faint Armiger light. His eyes opened painfully as they caked in withered rocks; his eyes glazed towards the ten four building with mild interest. But as he stares, he could feel that call reaching out to his heart. Desperation and plead, he sensed something had happened to Sora. "So...ra…", he grunts in pain, but when he closed his eyes, he feels Sora's light.
"W-What?", he thinks. He could barely feel his heart, it was like a tiny candle reaching the end of its life span and slowly growing dimmer and dimmer. "Sora…is he…going to…die?", he asked himself. "No…". Gritting his teeth as he opened his eyes, now glowing with a blue light that shrouded his spheres as the building begins to crack and tremble from his resonating heart. Magia looks at him as Aegis' eyes widened. "No…I won't let it end like this…", he growls as the building begins to fall apart.
"I'M NOT GOING TO LET YOU DIE!", he roars as his Armiger skyrockets to a new level of power. The blue light roars to a fiery cloak surrounding the king as the building is demolished by his power, a shockwave bursts forth with so much power Aegis had to grab Magia and create a dome to protect them. Noctis launches himself from the destroyed building as it collapsed on the two tormentors of the king, like a blue arrow of light.
In less than five seconds, Noctis arrives at the top of the building with his keyblade in hand, bathed in the blue fiery aura like his body, he charges towards Yozora and Sora with a roar so great it was like light itself had taken the form of a demon. Yozora turns around to Noctis while swinging his newly acquired keyblades, but they harmlessly were halted by Noctis' aura as he brings Night's Sky to meet Yozora's sword. The blow from their attacks nearly destroyed the building they were on, windows on each building within a hundred-mile radius were obliterated and there was a monstrous earthquake thanks to this.
"T-The hell is this?", Yozora growled as he even struggled against Noctis' rage. "The man who's going to kick your ass, you knock off!", bellows Noctis. He calls two of royal arms and fires them at the trapped keyblade and slashes them, freeing them off Yozora's control. He then breaks the lock between the two warriors and slammed his right palm against Yozora's chest, blasting him with Armiger unfused fire that knocked him back. Noctis then turns around to the near completely crystalized Sora and cried his name, aiming his keyblade at him.
He fired a beam of light at his heart but that was suddenly stopped when Yozora's crossbow shoots the keyblade from Noctis' hand. The king turns back to Yozora, now dashing towards him with the same suction attack he used on Sora. "Gonna need to take that key of yours", he says. But when Noctis was entrapped in the dome, he calls his weapons to break it apart and then clashed with him. Enraged by this man, Noctis roars and calls Blade of the Mystic and with his keyblade, begins to unleash a storm of attacks upon the man who claimed to never lose.
All the while Sora slowly is encased within the crystal as he weakly watched Noctis fighting for him. He turned his eyes to the two keyblades now uselessly laid before him, trying to muster the power to call them to his hands but with nearly his entire body trapped within the crystal, Sora couldn't even call them. He tries magic or even a form change yet nothing would be granted to him even in his most desperate moment of helplessness. How long could Noctis go up against somebody like Yozora alone?
"Come on…something…give me something!", he pleaded to whoever could grant his greatest wish. "Please…help me…just so I can see her again". Closing his eyes in dismay, he thought he'd find himself in darkness but instead a beautiful light shines ahead of him. This light wasn't his, but it felt so pure, so untouched by any the smallest darkness. He cautiously raised his hand to it, his fingers brushing against it and when he feels its warmth seeping into his fingers, he gently closes his hand around it.
This light…
"Kairi?".
"No matter where one of us goes or what we see…we'll always come back together", her voice echoes.
He holds the light close to his heart and feels her arms around him. Opening his eyes, he willingly takes this light within his. "Lend me your power, Kairi".
Striking at Yozora with all the rage contained within his heart, Noctis slammed his keyblade into this stranger's sword with great force it knocked him off the building and straight into another building a stone's throw away from the ten four building. He aimed both key and royal arm at him and fires a barrage of sword-shaped energy blasts at him like a machine gun. The blasts managed to land home on the building, breaking it apart and striking Yozora several times before a green barrier erects itself and shields the warrior.
Noctis turns his enraged eyes onto Aegis and Magia standing on another building, covered in dust and grime but no less wary than they were prior. Noctis growls before he managed to warp away from Yozora's attack, his sword swinging at a blue hologram of Noctis. He looks up to see the king flying a few feet above the damaged building his and Sora's battle took place, his aura roaring with power. The three men jumped onto the building as Noctis descends in front of Sora's crystallized form protectively, baring his teeth.
"Okay…and this is?", Yozora asked, annoyed. "Some man named Noctis…gave Magia a run for his money", commented Aegis with a huff, "But he was nowhere near this difficult earlier". "Yeah, looks like he's protective of that Sora kiddo", Magia laughed, "I mean sheesh! Look at the buildings, if ya didn't hold him back I think this city would be a step closer to a dump!". Yozora scoffed and aimed his weapons at the king, saying: "Doesn't matter…take him down, and we'll call it a day".
"Right boss", Magia chirped.
"Understood commander", Aegis hummed.
Noctis growled but he looks and sees a golden light shining from Sora's crystallized form. "Wha?", he growls as the light shines brighter than any he had ever seen, even forced him to cover his eyes. Glass breaking rings out as the power of light sparked within Noctis' senses, and when it no longer blinded him, he witnessed Sora's newest form. His body was shrouded with light that didn't belong to him yet somehow feels natural, ghostly angel-like wings on his back with Oblivion and Oathkeeper back in his hands.
Even his eyes were glowing with the divine light, giving him this divine aura.
Noctis flies beside him, and with a smile, Sora nodded to him. "No more delays, we're going home, right?". "Damn right", Noctis confirms with a smirk. They both stared down at the three men and raised their weapons. "Sorry…but today is the day you lose, Yozora!", Sora declares.
Noctis and Sora both charged forth like two arrows of light and instantly Aegis erects a barrier to protect them. But his defense was broken by one stroke of Sora's keyblades, shattering his defenses and before Magia could stop Sora from taking Aegis out of the fight, Noctis cleaves his two swords in half with a single stroke of his keyblade. "Not this time", Noctis growled. He blasts Magia with a burst of magic while Sora struck down Aegis and together both fall off the building and land on another.
Leaving only Yozora to contend with.
Silence looms over them as together all three take up their stances, two keyblades raised high by Sora while Noctis channels every bit of the Armiger within his heart and body to empower his keyblade and finally, Yozora draws whatever unlimited power he controls, his sword and crossbow glowing in the orange light. Three incredible powers clashing for dominance, a light given to the one who opened the door, the chosen king who defied his fate, and another boy whose true destiny is yet to be unveiled.
All three roared as they dashed forward with their very beings on the line and a clash that could be heard throughout the worlds took place.
The two guardians blasted past Yozora as he flies past them, the building crushed under the weight of their powers, tumbling and collapsing beneath them. Yozora grunts in pain for the first time as to his shock, both sword and crossbow break apart as he falls with the building while Sora and Noctis' powers fade away from the attack Yozora struck them with, their powers absorbing the most lethal of his attacks just to stay alive, but Sora collapsed on his knees and hands, the light evaporated from his body while Noctis' Armiger is overwhelmed by the strain. But as the building collapses beneath them, he quickly grabbed Sora and throws him over his shoulder before he jumps off the building.
Using the final remnants of his strength, he warps them both back to the ground safely. He stumbled and falls to his knees with Sora still on his back, grunting and groaning with pain. Sora crawls off Noctis' body and together they both fell to their knees, exhausted and hurt. "Think…we got him?", Noctis groaned. "I…dunno", Sora grunts. They both turned around and see from the settling dust, Yozora walking towards them, beaten and battered as he is. Noctis immediately rises to his feet while Sora slowly stands to face him again.
But instead of fighting, Yozora looks at his hand as blue light shines around him, his left-hand evaporating into the light. "Huh…guess my powers aren't needed yet", he mused. Noctis looked at him oddly before Sora asked what he meant. Yet Yozora shrugged indifferently and says never mind. Then he gave them a friendly smile before he disappears entirely in the light as it expands and swallows the world around in the light.
The next thing both boys knew, they were back in the Final World, in the daytime. Looking around, both boys slump onto the watery grounds to allow themselves to finally take a breather.
Noctis runs his hands through his hair and breathes a weary breath, then sighed. "Well…that sucked…", he huffed, "Nearly got our asses handed". Sora remained quiet and stared at the skies, before he takes out Kairi's good luck charm, cracked and felt so brittle in his hand. A sudden fear struck at his heart; how much longer will this charm keep itself together before it shatters to pieces like broken glass?
His thumb gently brushes the surface as he held it delicately in his hands, Kairi's light brought him comfort and saved him yet again from a terrible fate. And it might be the last time she could save him…and he could hear her again.
"… it's not fair", Sora said quietly. Noctis glanced at him and sees the tired and downright defeated look in his eyes. "We did everything…saved the worlds, saved our friends…but we're still not going home yet", he lists, "And now…who knows how long it'll take us to go home". Noctis frowns in sympathy, the sudden realization that maybe they were going to be away from the others for much longer than either had planned and for all they knew the other have as much idea on how to save them as they do.
But even as bad as their current predicament was, the king smiles.
"They can take your world. They can take your heart. Cut you loose from all you know. But if it's your fate...then every step forward will always be a step closer to home", he says. Sora looks at him and the king smirked. "Sounds like something I'd be hearing from you, Mr. Positive", he teases as he ruffled his hair. Sora chuckled at him and pushed his ruffling hand aside, both starting to chuckle together before laying down on the ground.
"…we'll find our way home…", promised Noctis as he finally allows himself some sleep. "Yeah…back where we belong…", concurred Sora, closing his eyes.
*Mysterious Tower*
Finishing her report alongside Mickey, Aqua, and Riku, Lunafreya waits with bated breath alongside the others who gathered in the extension of master Yen Sid's room thanks to the Tower's unlimited magical capabilities. Yen Sid had his head down as he gathered the information up in his mind, before exhaling a deep sigh of remorse.
"So Sora and Noctis used the power of waking to restore yours and Naminé's hearts", he says, looking at Lunafreya and the ghostly form of Naminé, eyes riddled with guilt. They nodded as Aqua, supported by her brothers due to her weakened state, speaks: "But it has been nearly two weeks since they left and three days since Luna and Naminé had returned", she argued, "And we've no idea how to get into contact with them either".
"Without another who wields the power of waking…but as you are Aqua, you will not be able to use it without your body and heart facing severe consequences", Yen Sid warns, and then turned to Riku and Mickey, "You cannot afford to go without leaving your kingdom vulnerable, your majesty, nor can we afford to lose our strongest master currently". Riku opened his mouth to object but one look at Aqua silenced his voice and halted him from arguing. He clenched his fist in anger however and looks away as the others take in this terrible news.
"If Kairi were awake, she would have been enough to find them…", Yen Sid laments, "But…". All eyes fall onto a devasted Lea, who returned from his venture with far less pleasing news than the team needed to hear. He looked to the team and spoke: "Her light…is missing from her heart". His journey to Twilight Town and Isa had given him the answers he had sought, but they were far worse than anyone could ever imagine.
*Several days ago…*
"What do you mean?", Lea asked, horrified.
"Exactly what I mean…she will not awaken", Isa repeats with his eyes boring into the ground. "What she has done with her light requires a price, and she unknowingly paid it". Lea clenched his fists as Isa explained. "Princesses of light carry the purest light, but it isn't impossible to grant their light to those closest to them, requiring a special bond as it were". Lea's eyes widened as realization takes over his emerald eyes.
"And who could have such a bond with this princess of light?", Isa asked rhetorically.
"Sora…", Lea gasped…
*Present*
"He said…unless Sora comes back…Kairi isn't going to wake up on her own", Lea gasped as tears run down his cheeks. Held by Roxas and Xion, two of them quietly sobbing into him as the others tried to hold their tears. Riku just leaned against the wall and tried not to break down in despair while the royal guard held their heads in shame as Lunafreya comforts Naminé, crying into her. "This…can't be how it ends…", Mickey says, "After all we've done…".
Prompto grabbed his head and just yelled: "This is bullshit! We can't do anything!? Are we supposed to just move on and accept we're gonna lose them!?".
No dared to answer that question…
*Outside*
Without any more help from the old master, the guardians of light all gathered outside as the Highwind hovers by. Aqua walked alone for a bit without the aid of her brothers, as many argued what to do while some kept their voices locked away. She stopped walking and speaks up.
"I know we're all angry…heartbroken and worse…", she says, stopping all the arguing and gaining everyone's attention. "But as things are, as many of us…we're not able to help our friends for now, and maybe that's how it will be for a very long time…but I refuse to stand idly by and do nothing". She walks to the ship, saying: "I'm going back to Land of Departure, not only to regain my strength again…but there has to be something within the archives that can give us an idea about the power of waking".
"Well…me and Terra are coming too", Ventus says, but Aqua shakes her head and turns to them. "No…right now Kairi's safety is our biggest concern as of now", she speaks wisely. "Aqua's right. If someone like Maleficent learns about Kairi's state or anyone else of her caliber, she will be in greater danger than when she was conscious", Ignis concurs, "We need to relocate her somewhere safe and where she can be monitored".
"Radiant Garden maybe? With the RC, Ven, Terra, and Riku, she couldn't be in safer hands if we tried", Prompto offers. "Perfect", Aqua nodded, "Then we relocate her back to Radiant Garden, maybe Ansem can help her or at the very least Aerith can keep an eye on her should anything change". Riku quietly accepts it as he waits for the next part of her plan before Roxas stepped up. "Then we'll head back to Twilight Town, maybe there's more on that computer about Sora, or maybe me and Xion".
"Isa's probably got a better idea than us, maybe he'll give us a hand if I bribe him", Lea hummed with a smirk. "…Isa likes things?", Xion asked innocently. "…maybe?", Lea sheepishly answered.
Terra and Ventus looked at Aqua with worry, not liking the idea of her being on her own while she was still weakened and vulnerable. Sensing this, Aqua gave them confident assuring smiles and tries to assure them she'll be safe before Ignis says: "Then I suppose we should return to Eos and see if we can help restore Insomnia, perhaps fix our world while we're at it". "Be a nice welcome home present for Noct, that's for sure", Prompto chirps with a smile, "Plus, Luna could help out". The former Oracle looks hesitant before casting it aside and nodded.
"I will do whatever I can to help restore our world, though I fear many would have questions regarding Noctis' disappearances and why I am suddenly guiding Insomnia", she says, hating the fact she's technically taking the throne. "Just say Noct trusted you to help out and poof, problem solved!", Prompto joked. "Plus with myself and Prompto, two of the royal retinue backing you up, that should alleviate some fears and concerns for the people", Ignis assures, "And if some more persistent folk need more persuading, I've no doubt Naminé could change their minds".
Naminé blinked worriedly while Lunafreya contemplates the suggestion. "Making them forget would be easier to help out with the restorations…", she muses. "Luna!", Naminé squeaks.
"And Gladio's going with Aqua, right?", Terra asked, "I mean just in case she needs help with heartless?". Gladiolus opens his mouth to argue, but almost everyone agreed, more so Aqua. "Hang on a second…", he starts before Xion chipped in. "But you and Aqua would have that place ALL to yourselves, it's like a honeymoon!", she cheers. This causes the ashen haired woman to go scarlet while Gladiolus muses and then grinned. "Alright, sounds good to me!", he cheered.
"Xion!", Aqua growls while the girl innocently smiles. "Peace and time with your man, how lucky can ya get?", Prompto teases.
"But ya know…no sense in not, visiting now and then", Lea says, "I know we've got a lot ahead but…Twilight Town gets dull, ya know?". "Without a doubt, I agree visitations and weekly meetups would do our mental states wonders", concurs the Oracle.
With all agreeing to the plan, arrangements were made and Kairi was soon transported to Radiant Garden while the others separate and perform their tasks.
Their journey was far from over…
A/N:
We're here…we're done…WE'RE FINALLY DONE WITH THE FIGHTS!
Oh my god I've never been so happy with a post!
So confession, for those of you who don't know, Magia and Aegis were the two characters who appeared in the Verum Rex trailer in KH3, they have no character. So this was just me combining Ignis, Gladiolus, Prompto and Ardyn into these two so sorry if they weren't anything impressive.
But hey, we're done with all the canon kh stuff. So Sora and Noctis are still missing, Kairi is stuck in a coma until Sora comes back and now the guardians are forced to separate to find ways to help them or restore their homes, what comes next?
Well…three chapters remain before we close this story off.
Anyways: QUESTIONS!
Q1: Thoughts on this chapter?
Q2: Yozora and co?
Q3: The fight?
Q4: Rage Mode Noctis?
Q5: Kairi's situation?
Q6: Sora and Noctis?
Q7: How do you feel about the guardians' new objectives?
Q8: Excited to see this story end?
As always everyone, thanks for reading! Stay awesome but more importantly stay safe!
