OOOOO
She Will Light The Way
Chapter 15
The Graveyard
Somewhere in the Realm of Light, lay a world long forgotten by time and the people of the Realm.
A blighted, blasted hellscape tucked away in the deepest, darkest corner of the universe, it existed on the absolute fringes of reality, to the point where one could say it didn't exist within the Light. But within the meridian that divided Light from Darkness instead
This vast and empty world, this world of death, was once sight to the greatest and most terrible war ever seen; a conflict that literally tore the fabric of existence asunder. But the din of battle and calamity were nothing more than distant echoes now. This dead world had long fallen silent, though there were still some fresh scars that had been engraved on the ground in recent times...
And a specter from the recent past still lingered on the world. Watching. Waiting.
In a burst of darkness, a tall and imposing figure clad in a hooded black cloak took his first steps onto the dead world. Riku took a moment to survey his new surroundings, as the last of his Dark Corridor withered away. Seeing it in his mind's eye – a fevered hallucination, really – was one thing, but being here to experience this wasteland in person was something entirely different. For miles and miles in all directions all he could see was the same dusty brown and rusty red soil and earth, cracked and barren and lifeless, the endless planes of earth jagged and uneven. Sharp peaks and valleys rose and fell along the horizon, with literal chunks of the world seemingly torn and ripped away by...something. Riku didn't know what this world was or what happened here, but this was beyond the simple destruction rendered by the Heartless or Nobodies or your garden variety darkness users.
Nowhere could Riku see any signs of life or habitation or civilization. Not even ruins or remnants.
This was downright apocalyptic.
In the corrupted and dying body he currently possessed, Riku began to move deeper into the world, in search of what called him here. He took caution to keep his breaths steady and measured, to avoid inhaling the dry, dusty air. Every footstep he took left heavy indentations in the crumbling ground, even as he took care to tread lightly. It seemed that the very foundation of this world was in the process of breaking down. And then there was the very atmosphere of this place; it's presence, it's aura. It was heavy and oppressive, Riku could feel it weighing him down. Death and destruction sat heavily in the air of this world, the claws of a great and twisted beast that held the dying world in it's grasp.
Not to mention this feeling... it doesn't feel like I'm in the Realm of Light. It's almost as if I'm back in the Realm of Darkness...
Cresting over a high ridge overlooking and expansive plateau, Riku caught sight of something else he had seen during his vision, but didn't believe what he saw was real. Until now.
Keyblades. Many of them. A field of blades stretching on as far as the eye could see. Numbering in the hundreds, possibly in the thousands. Discarded and in disrepair, they were all staked deep into the earth. Some were merely scarred and tarnished. Others had their once shining blades covered in rust and corrosion. A select few had suffered terrible damage, with broken guards and hilts, shattered blades and missing teeth. But, regardless of the state of the blade, each and everyone of them was lacking the keychain that normally dangled from the butt of the hilt.
Deep unease settled into Riku's heart, as he both took in the enormity of the sight, and at having part of his world view challenged.
There were this many Key Bearers at one point? Literally thousands of them... He had always figured being crowned a Bearer was special and rare. Certainly, there were only a handful of them existing now. Sora and Mickey. Riku technically was a chosen wielder, but he had never been able to manifest his own, only steal Sora's. Kairi, too, he remembered. He often forgot his longtime friend now possessed such a weapon and was in the thick of things. And Roxas. Don't forget Roxas just because... because I led him to a death sentence...
Regardless, the field of broken keys caused the mind to boggle. There were once many, many people in the Realm who carried Keyblades. And it seemed they all came to this world and died. It wasn't hard to fit the pieces together from there.
Something terrible happened on this world that left it like this. There's no way this much devastation is natural. And all those blades in the ground, they look like grave markers. Riku knew there was traditions in some cultures for the comrades of fallen soldiers to create makeshift tombstones with the weapons of the deceased. That all matched up. There was some kind of battle here. A war. And all these Key Bearers fought and died.
But what were they fighting against? What were they fighting for? And did they fail or succeed?
After staring at the macabre sight for far too long, Riku forced himself to move away. He had better things to do here.
In truth, while he knew what he was looking for, Riku had no idea where to look. The world was so large and everything looked the damn same, there was no way he could get a decent baring on his location. Or the location of the sentinel. A part of Riku felt like he was just wandering aimlessly, keeping an eye out for anything that stood out amongst the wasteland. After all, how hard could it possibly be to find a suit of gleaming armour standing in contrast to all this dead rock?
But, another part of Riku figured that, because it was his heart that connected him to this mysterious being, then there was only one way he would ever come across them. He would have to listen to his heart and let it guide him.
Now I'm starting to sound like Sora... Riku thought, woefully. Not to mention me following my heart's desires seems to have only ever made things worse... How much different would the lives of himself and his friends be if he was just a little less anxious to escape his home? If he had shown more restraint and wasn't so willingly to blindly jump into the abyss? My wants and ambitions are wrong and harmful. He told himself, as he trudged along the wasteland. I have to put them all aside if I want to help my friends.
Riku kept walking, only taking short breaks whenever his body was so wracked with pain he was practically paralyzed. The pain emanating from the remains of Ansem was getting worse. More frequent. At this rate, he wouldn't last much longer until he would basically become an invalid, suffering from such agony he wouldn't be able to move at all.
All because of another one of my impulsive actions. I wanted Sora back so badly, I even believed DiZ' lies. That fusing him and Roxas would accelerate the process. But Roxas was too strong, The only way I could beat him was by tapping into the malign darkness. Again, he couldn't help but wonder how different things would be if he had just let his pride and obsession fall by the wayside. If he had let Roxas leave the Organization and not steal him away in the dead of the night. Sora would have woken up normally. The two of them could have met. The others could have become friends. Brothers. Kairi would never have been thrown into this conflict. Namine wouldn't have to live with the guilt of being involved in Roxas' death.
"All my fault..." Riku uttered, just loud enough for his words to bounce off the winds and canyon walls. Speaking back to him. Repeating his lament. Mocking him.
He growled and pressed onward.
Riku couldn't tell how long he had been wandering this dead world. Despite the skies being relatively clear, there didn't seem to be a sun or a moon for this world. Just a blank, endless expanse of sky, empty save for some dark stormy clouds that hung out at the edge of the horizon. Was this world so dead and broken that even time had forsaken it?
But, no matter how long or short it took him to come across his goal, Riku did find it, eventually. Set atop a titanic plateau of rock jutting high above the earth, Riku could see a vaguely humanoid figure. The distance between them made it impossible to distinguish finer characteristics, but it was the only thing Riku had seen all day that wasn't a crater, a rock formation, or a dust cloud, so he was willing to take the chance and investigate further.
Scaling the jutting precipice was a more difficult task than first blush would suggest. The earth here was no less crumbling and desiccated than the rest of the world, not to mention the awkwardness of Riku's current body. Having transformed shortly after officially turning sixteen, Riku knew he had a bit more of a spurt to go before growing into his full adult height, but suddenly transitioning from a half-grown teenager to having a body with the height and weight of an adult made everything just a little more awkward than it would be.
And, considering he was assuming the form of his archenemy and this body was slowly killing him, it was already plenty awkward to begin with.
Still, after much struggling, Riku finally ascended to the top of the flat bluff, seeing that his effort wasn't in vein. Kneeling before him was a suit of armour, gleaming in whatever thin light illuminated this world, unblemished and spectacular, despite the dust and winds howling around it. Bright copper and gold plate over a glossy black body suit, with an impressive and intimidating helmet crowning the suit – twin fins crested high above the apex of the helm, with an angular visor of opaque glass jutting forward – the sentinel made for a magnificent and foreboding sight.
Clutched tightly in it's grasp was a Keyblade, bigger than any Keyblade Riku had seen before, equaling in length and size to a claymore. Uneven flanges jutted from flat, wide blade, all made of a solid, earthen bronze colour, with an elaborate steely blue guard surrounding the entirety of the hilt, pommel, and chappe. Just like the discarded blades on this world, this Keyblade lacked a keychain.
Riku felt a ping of recognition when his eye fell upon that Keyblade. It seemed so familiar, but he couldn't recall specifics. In fact, there was something greater about this armour that resonated with his heart and mind. But why? Something clearly reached out and called him to this place, to meet with this thing, but he still didn't have the foggiest clue as to the who, the what, and the why. Deep soul pains began to shoot through his being, different than the crippling agony that came from Ansem's shadow. This was...
Riku caught himself staring at the armour for a full minute before realizing he couldn't sense anything coming from it. No light. No darkness. No heart. Not even the simplest signs of life like a pulse or breath. The thing remained completely still. He figured there was an off-chance this armour might be alive or possess some level of sentience, but it disappointingly seemed to just be inanimate.
"So, then, how did you manage to reach out to my heart?" Riku asked, fully expecting only silence in return. "There has to be something more here. More than what my eyes and even heart can perceive." Riku took a step forward.
Xe...
Riku stopped.
No one spoke. Nothing had spoke. There were no sounds save the earth crunching beneath his feet and the wind whistling between crags and canyons. But he still heard something. Not a word, but a single syllable. Something raspy and horrible, like the gnashing of metal, that sounded within his heart and spread through his whole being.
Cautiously, Riku watched the armour.
Xe...
Again. That same horrific sound again. Soul Eater came to Riku's hands, as he felt the air grow even thicker and more dangerous.
Ha...
Very carefully, Riku continued his approach. The wind began to pick up, carrying thick blasts of dust and detritus with it.
Nor...
"You didn't summon me all this way out here to mutter syllables to me, did you?" Riku snarked, out of frustration more than anything else.
Xe... Ha... Nort...
Xe...Ha...Nort...
The sound was rising, like the drums of war. Harsher and louder, Riku could feel it thundering in his heart. But what was once garbled and indistinct was becoming all too clear. One word. One dreadful name.
Xehanort...
Limbs and joints creaking from what must have been years of disuse, the armour came to life, moving from a kneeling position to slowly rising to full height. Towering well over six-feet, possibly six-and-a-half, and his titanic blade now looking much larger now that it had been pulled out of the ground, the armoured sentinel stood threateningly before Riku.
Xehanort...
That name again. Riku gnashed his teeth. He knew from DiZ that Xehanort was the name of the man who eventually became Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, and Xemnas, Superior of the Organization. His former apprentice and pupil who stabbed him in the back and stole everything from him. Well, that was according to DiZ, but that bastard was so delusional and obsessive Riku took each of his claims with a grain of salt.
That horrid, grinding metallic sound continued to screech in his heart.
You... who are you...?
Xehanort... But you're not... Different... You heart... Two hearts... Two darknesses...
"I'm not Xehanort!" Riku shouted over the howling winds and grinding steel. Sure, the armour was ambulatory, but he still wasn't sure what intelligence it possessed. Whether it could hear him. Whether this was what was speaking to him. "My name is Riku. You called me here and-"
Riku...? No... No... Not Riku...
"Now you're telling me who I am?"
Riku... Strong will... Promised me... You're not him...
I promised this...thing? Well this certainly lent credence to the theory that Riku had some sort of connection to this being, but the greater details still eluded him.
The armour took a lumbering step forward, holding his great Keyblade to bare. Clearly, Riku wasn't going to get out of this without a fight.
No... Xehanort... Can sense it... Feel it... Xehanort...
Riku swore that this presence grew colder and more venomous every time it uttered "Xehanort".
I have been waiting... watching... knowing you would return here...
How long... How long... Irrelevant. I still remember...
My father... My sister... My brother... You took them away from me...
You stole my body... subsumed my heart... but my will lingers all the same...
The earth began to rumble and quake, as a deep and dark shade began to form around the armour, brilliant black and crackling crimson. Whatever his thing truly was, Riku could sense a great and terrible power dwelling within.
No, beyond that... this is... immense! Riku couldn't recall being in the presence of such power before. There was nothing comparable to what he was feeling. Not Maleficent or Ansem or Roxas or an Organization Nobody. Not even when standing on the threshold of the Door to Darkness...
The power of the Lingering Will was truly monumental, beyond anything else in existence.
My wrath, my hatred... That is all that has kept my will going...
No matter what form you take... no matter what bodies you steal and lives you infect... I will always see through it...
XEHANORT!
Riku took a guarded stance, preparing to parry and counter as needed. He didn't come to this place looking for a fight, but if he needed to beat an answer out of the sentinel, so be it. His heart drew him to this place, and we wasn't leaving without a -
In less time than it took to blink, the Lingering Will closed the distance between itself and Riku, a cracking sonic boom following in it's wake. Even faster than it's feet was the speed of it's swing, as it delivered a hammering blow that caught Riku right in the chest. Somehow, Riku's sternum didn't cave in from the monstrous strike, and his innards didn't turn into a gelatinous ooze, but he was buffeted all the same; thrown clear off the raised plateau and into the scarred valley below. The point where his body crashed into the ground left another gaping crater in the rocky surface, before the darkness user bounced like a child's ball, skipping across more of the desolate surface.
By all rights, that one attack should have killed Riku. Hell, it would have killed anyone! That he was certain. Yet, by some miracle, he was still alive. His cloak had been torn to shreds in an instant, pain coursed through every inch of his being, and, worst of all, his hood had been knocked off, revealing his likeness to Ansem. He had done his best to keep the hood up at all times, to conceal what he truly was and -
Lingering Will appeared in the air above him, Keyblade held in both hands in a downward thrusting motion.
One half-second, there was only empty air above Riku. The next, this sentinel. The mind boggled at how fast an animated suit of armour could be...
Still, this time, Riku was able to react to the blazing speed of his opponent, if only barely. He quickly sidestepped away, as Lingering Will plunged his Keyblade into the earth, the ground exploding in a cloud of shrapnel and dust, the shockwave generated from the blow being enough to stagger Riku and force him backwards.
Relentless, the sentinel charged out of the cloud, swinging wildly at the source of it's all-consuming enmity. Riku noticed how wide and crazed the motions of it's attacks were while back-stepping away; everything was focused on offense, on annihilating what stood before it, but there was nothing held back to defend itself. The arcs of the Keyblade were wide and dramatic, but they left the armor wide open, and it blindly pressed forward. Riku could use that fact.
Weaving into an area choked with stony pillars, Riku began to slide in and out of the fray, his foe still giving chase. Attacking with such reckless abandon, Lingering Will seemed entirely unaware of the change in environment. Or it just didn't care. It's Keyblade still came in wide, cleaving blows, but now they were in an area surrounded by rocky outgrowths, pillars with which to catch his Keyblade and slow down it's onslaught. Lingering Will reared back to lash out with a vicious strike, only for the teeth of it's great Keyblade to be caught within a pillar. That momentary delay of it having to tug the weapon out of the stone gave Riku the reprieve to retreat further into maze of pillars.
Stones flew through the air, as the sentinel retrieved it's weapon and thrashed about wildly, having lost sight of it's prey, hacking more and more spires, but the ferocity and rapidity of it's blows being greatly reduced. Riku flared his own dark aura into existence, compressing it into his hand and launching out a wicked dark flame at his opponent. The Dark Firaga sailed through the air, hitting Lingering Will square in the chest... yet the purple and black fire simply washed over the armour like a gentle summer breeze. The sentinel didn't even flinch or slow down. The attack had done nothing.
Except for revealing Riku's current position to the relentless monster.
Lingering Will rushed towards him, no longer wasting his time wildly swinging about – Riku realized grimly that this thing did have a bit of intelligence to it – darting forward along the straightest path towards the darkness user. Riku stood his ground, conjuring a wall of shadow to defend himself, only for his defenses to be immediately shattered by a single blow. Lingering Will smashed through the barrier with a brutal punch, the follow-through connecting with Riku's gut, sending the teen flying into the horizon, yet again.
Instead of giving chase, though, Lingering Will remained motionless, feet firmly planted in the earth, as it lashed it's Keyblade out. The once solid, sturdy blade morphed and shifted into an impossibly long whip, the cord snaking out through the air right towards the still flying Riku. With the lash latched around his ankle, Riku went through the disorienting sensation of having his momentum halted and reversed in one, fluid motion, as the sentinel forcibly dragged him back to his prior position, utterly helpless.
Reeling in his catch, Lingering Will reared it's free arm back, waiting in anticipation for Riku to fly back towards him. The armoured fiend lunged forward when Riku finally returned to it's range, swinging an armour-plated arm and taking down Riku with a vicious lariat! The clubbing blow caught the darkness user in the stomach, the impact causing him to do several flips in the air before collapsing at Lingering Will's feet.
Pain flared through Riku's body as he tried to collect himself and stand back up. The dull, throbbing pain of combat. After weeks and weeks of the searing, electric agony caused by Ansem's darkness, it was almost a welcome reprieve. Regardless, Riku realized how much trouble he was in, as he barely managed to dodge a serious of overhead chops that severed the earth beneath him, and would have surely severed whichever body part they came into contact with. Fighting defensively wasn't going to cut it, the sentinel could just smash through it with ease. If he was going to come out on top, if he was going to survive, he would have to fight with as much fury and fire as his opponent.
Riku dodged another wild swing, before lunging forward, thrusting Soul Eater at the breastplate of the armoured sentinel. Even with all of his strength, the point of his dark sabre skidded off the surface, not even leaving a scratch. That was fine. It was an exploratory strike anyways. Just a test to figure out how durable this thing was.
Participating in more deadly dodging, Riku unleashed a flurry of rapid attack, strong and precise slashes aiming at the joints of the armour. Elbows, shoulders, knees, and neck. Logically, those should be the weakest points of the armour, the easiest places to pierce. In reality, though, Soul Eater continued to feebly bounce off the metallic plate, leaving nothing for it's efforts.
Physical strength isn't going to be enough. Riku jumped backwards to avoid a twisting, spinning slash that whipped up a funnel cloud of soil and stone. Just like with Roxas, I'm going to have to push myself if I want to win...
Another shade formed around Riku's body, the dark energies drawing in the waning light of the world, as Riku waited for his moment to strike. The momentum of the spinning strike stopped, the armour coming to a halt, a brief window between the end of this attack and whatever it's next, inevitable assault would be. Like a viper lunging at it's prey, Riku darted forward, transferring all the shadowy energy of his aura to his left arm, before delivering his own vicious punch to his enemy – a brutal left jab directly to the head. This was the kind of attack that could shatter stone, annihilate Heartless, and injure even the heartiest of opponents.
Lingering Will barely budged as Riku's fist and the megaton of darkness energy smashed into it's helmet.
The gauntleted left hand of the fiend shot out, snatching Riku by the wrist, before counterattacking. Metal and glass met flesh and bone, as the sentinel headbutted his opponent, repeatedly. The first blow dazed Riku, while the second bruised and split the flesh, fell black blood rupturing from the wound. For a second, Riku completely forgot who he was and why he was here, his entire world simply being the chocobos circling around his head.
Lingering Will helpfully chased those birds away by spiking Riku into the ground, with enough force that his body skipped and skidded across the dusty land.
The years have made you weak, Xehanort... My rage has kept me strong... Waiting for this moment...
The sentinel plunged it's Keyblade into the earth, ripping through the ground as it swung the blade in an upward arc, unleashing a jagged fissure which raced towards Riku.
"I told you, I'm not Xehanort!" Riku hoarsely replied. The darkness user jumped back to his feet and dove to the side, avoiding the growing chasm and the edgy stones erupting in it's wake. "Why are you attacking me? You summoned me here, didn't you? Why? Why!?"
The knight did not respond, seemingly uninterested in solving the queries of it's mortal enemy. Once more, it's Keyblade spontaneously turned into a whip, the length darting outwards to snag at it's foe. Riku could not avoid the lash, but he wasn't wholly helpless this time, either. As Lingering Will pulled him back in, he forced his own body low to the ground, managing to duck under a second lariat and baseball sliding in between the gap between the sentinel's legs.
Bellowing a deep and weary battle cry, Riku unleashed more and more of the shadowy flames, the flurry of Dark Firagas raining down on Lingering Will, but having the same effect as before. The hellish inferno impacted with the armour and then snuffed out, Riku desperately backing away, while the armoured fiend marched in determined fashion towards him, unerring and unstoppable.
"What is the answer here!? What do you want from me!?" Riku had reached his breaking point and was beginning to panic. Had this all been a mistake? Was Namine right in that coming here was nothing more than a death sentence?
I... I want to believe my heart was right, but it's led me astray so many times...
To bring my family back... To take back the years you stole from me... To have my revenge at long last... To see you suffer and die... Xehanort...
"I can't die! Not here, not yet!" Riku bellowed, as Lingering Will broke past his guard, rushing through the screen of black fire and taking another swing at him. Riku scrambled to dodge and get away, to put keep some kind of distance between him and this invincible beast. "I still have to make amends for all the horrible things I did! I hurt my friends, and I need to make it up to them." The mass of shadows cloaking Riku rippled and roared, growing in intensity and sheer blackness. "I don't care what happens to me, but I need to see them again and tell them how sorry I am!
"I need to protect Sora and Kairi!"
The scintillating aura of pure darkness slithered it's way up Riku's arm, responding to it's master's impassioned plea, before gathering around Soul Eater. Riku held his dark weapon aloft, holding it in both hands – this was it, now or never, do or die, glory or death – as the shadows attached to the sword shot into the air, a blazing blade of impossibly dark energy! With his thoughts fully focused on Sora, Kairi, and home, Riku charged forward and swung at Lingering Will with every last ounce of might and then some. Even as a child, he never gave up, never backed down from challenge, never let any obstacle stop him. He always had the ability and the talent and the drive to do anything he set his mind to. This would be no different!
For the entirety of the fight, Lingering Will never bothered to try and defend itself, to block or dodge Riku's attacks, instead choosing just to tank the blows. Letting each and every strike hit it, harmlessly bounce off of it, seemingly confident in knowing that whatever Riku could do could not wound it. In response to the coming sword of stygian shadows, however, the sentinel raised it's free hand and caught Soul Eater in it's clutches. Riku would not be dismayed or denied by such an event, growling and roaring, as he forced more of himself and his might into the swing, pushing downward and driving his slash deeper.
Metallic clinking chimed through the desolate place, as the armoured fiend shook and buckled, knees beginning to bend under the strain of the attack. Dark smoke began to waft off of his his gauntleted glove, as the shadows deeply burned into the alien metal. Riku's face screwed up in anger, the visage of Ansem looking absolutely demonic, as he pushed even further, forcing his foe backwards, as he advanced, leaving divots in the dead, dusty ground where Lingering Will's feet were once planted.
Wooziness struck Riku in a flash, as he began to crash up against his limits, but the dark warrior ignored it, focusing on what was before him. His dark blade was still locked within the ironclad grasp of the mysterious knight, but he was gaining more and more advantage. Lingering Will was almost brought down to one knee, with it's left arm falling more and more, the blazing shadows rippling around Soul Eater coming precariously close to biting into the crown of it's helmet. One good, solid blow, that's all Riku needed to turn the tides of battle. This attack may have been born from desperation, but where it came from didn't matter, so long as it ended in victory! Just a little more.
Fingers of blackness licked against the helmet of the sentinel, slightly marring and scuffing the visor. The first sign of Riku's resistance.
Just a little more!
Unexpectedly, Lingering Will dropped it's Keyblade, now seizing onto the sword with both of it's hand. With all of it's strength at it's disposal, Lingering Will was able to push the sword away ever so slightly, giving it some reprieve, though it remained stuck in it's crouching position, trapped under Riku's hellacious power.
Then, like a flash fire turning into a raging inferno, the rage of the sentinel ignited once more.
Riku could feel it reverberate in his heart. A decade of hatred in the form of a booming thunderclap.
Xe...ha...NOOOORT!
Armoured hands enclosed around the blackened blade, the shadowy flames snuffing out in an instant, while a loud, brutal CRUNCH sound rang out. Riku was so taken aback by the sudden turnabout, he was unable to react or defend himself when Lingering Will lashed out with it's Keyblade, the bronze flanges catching him in the midsection and leaving a jagged cut through leather cloak and flesh. Riku barely had time to choke out painfully, before he was booted in the sternum, knocked backwards once more.
Two things came to Riku's realization, as he stood back up. The first was the bleeding wound running across his stomach. He gasped in pain – just the latest in a litany of sources of pain in his life – while holding a hand in a vain attempt to staunch the bleeding.
Lingering Will marched forward, like the implacable juggernaut it was, Riku holding Soul Eater up to defend himself.
The second thing Riku realized was that Soul Eater had been destroyed, the dark blade snapped in half, leaving a short, stubby blade with a jagged edge, as opposed to the wicked scimitar it was prior.
Riku's heart sank, as the gravity of everything crashed into him.
Namine... Namine was right... I'm going to die here. I-I... I have to get out of here...
Quickly, Riku conjured a Dark Corridor, five feet to his right, and darted to it when it was still only half-formed. Lingering Will's blistering speed came into play again, the armoured fiend intercepting it's retreating foe and blasting him in the temple with the flat of it's Keyblade. A second hammering blow caught Riku in the jagged wound on his stomach, dark blood gushing outward, as he fell to the ground once more.
You escaped me before. No. Not again. You will not flee my wrath...
At his wit's end, frustrated by his lack of strength, battered and bruised and broken, Riku slammed his fists into the dirt. Pulled at his long, white hair. Screamed and cursed and raged at the heavens. After all he had been through, after all he and his friends had suffered, was this it? Was this the end for him? Was this the penance for his sins? Had he fought and died and come back to life only for this?
"I don't understand!" Riku bellowed, Lingering Will looming over him, watching in the totality of it's menacing silence. The sentinel could finish him at anytime it so chose. "I was called here! I saw you. I saw that warrior from so long ago, the man who made me want to see beyond my world... Why? Why!? He said he chose me. He said that I would find my path if I came here. Where is he? What's happening!?"
Through bleary, agony filled eyes, Riku looked up at the terrifying titan, the knight barely registering his tirade and his demands. Wherever that warrior was, whatever his connection was to this... thing, Riku would not find his answers here.
Lingering Will reared up it's Keyblade, the tip aimed downward at Riku's heart.
Then, in that brief moment between wind-up and strike, a great rumbling roared within the depths of Riku's heart. Darkness poured forth from him in a tremendous tide; a flood of shadows that began to take shape, as it slithered over to the animating armour, pooling around it before rising up in the form of a fiendish servant. The demonic presence of Ansem's Guardian loomed over Lingering Will, wrapping it's malleable being around the armour, binding it in place. Even though the arms of the menacing knight were free, it seemed wholly paralyzed in the grasp of the enigmatic Heartless.
Despite all the darkness flooding the area, painting the armour, a soft haze of light surrounded it's form; a gentle halation looking out of place against the sentinel and the shadow.
One of Riku's golden irises turned bright aquamarine, just for a flash of a second, as he saw him.
He saw him.
The flickering image of a brown-haired man, tall and noble and strong, overlayed itself across the armour of Lingering Will. He stood perfectly still, eyes shut tight.
It's... him!
The mystery warrior that had beckoned Riku to this death world stood before him, between him and Lingering Will, in the form of a ghostly image of fading light.
Buried memories, only half-remembered and dreamed of, came flooding back.
It was sundown. Sora and I had been out on the play island. His dad had just called us back, to row us home for the evening...
The memories flickered in and out, perfectly clear but not quite making a complete picture.
"Did you come here from the outside world?" A young, six year old Riku asked the stranger.
"Smart kid." The stranger praised him when he laid out his logic as to why he knew he was a stranger. "Must be hard, huh, being struck in one place." He had said next, cutting right into the heart of Riku's want and obsession.
"So, how did you get here, anyway?" If there was a way in, then there must be a similar way out.
The man answered Riku's question with a question. "Is there a reason you're interested in the outside world?"
"Yeah. I wanna be strong one day."
The Riku of the present cursed his naivety. He knew full well that mindlessly grabbing at strength would only burn you. The young, innocent boy would suffer for his wants.
"I know it's out there somewhere – the strength that I need."
"Strength for what?"
"To protect the things that matter." Was Riku's quick response. "You know, like my friends."
Protect.. what matters?
The memories were interrupted by flashed in Riku's mind's eye. Sora. Kairi. Mickey. Namine. Even Roxas.
His friends. The things that mattered
Was that what had started him down this path? Not the desire to be the best or the strongest? To prove himself or outdo Sora? Was it something so innocent and pure and childlike and he had just forgotten in all that had happened?
Within the memory, the stranger considered Riku, before approaching him, summoning a great weapon. A sword shaped like a key. Riku stared at the Keyblade with wondrous intent. It was splendid. The weapon of a great hero.
Gazing at that marvelous thing, the boy vowed to himself to bare a weapon half that great one day.
"In your hand, take this key. So long as you have the makings, then through this simple act of taking, it's wielder you shall one day be. And you will find me, friend – no ocean will contain you, then. No more borders around, or below, or above, so long as you champion the ones you love."
Riku stared at the stranger, as he uttered the solemn vow, offering the hilt of his weapon to the young boy. With only the slightest hint of hesitation, Riku reached out and took hold of the Keyblade.
A spark igniting, nestling itself within the deepest recesses of the boy's heart. Ready. Waiting. One day.
Riku couldn't believe what he was seeing. What he was remembering. It felt like a dream, but it also felt so real. Was that how it all started? Is that why he has the ability to wield the Keyblade?
Sora called Riku over, the stranger promising Riku to secrecy, "Otherwise all the magic will wear off". And so, Riku left, the stranger departing, this meeting and this power being buried beneath the sands of time and the haze of memory.
"So... you remember now." Terra said, eyes still held shut. "Riku."
Time had slowed to a crawl. Reality had faded around them. All there was were the two young men, reunited after so many years.
Only, Terra has a phantom, and Riku under the guise of his worst nightmare. The results of their own dark, twisted paths...
"You..." It was so much to take in and comprehend, Riku found his words failing him. Not to mention, while the world faded away, the pain in his body had not. He breathed, laboriously, looking up at the elder Key Bearer in amazement.
"I'm sorry that this happened to you." Terra hung his head in dismay, sighing. "I would have never thought that boy I met all those years ago would make the same mistakes I did..." A pang of shame struck Riku, as if he had failed a longtime friend or mentor. "But... there's still hope!" Terra looked to Riku, or looked in his direction, as his eyes never opened. "Where I failed to save Aqua and Ven, you can save Sora and Kairi. You still have a chance!"
Did Terra really believe that? Honestly, Riku wasn't sure if himself did anymore. He had tried so hard, but time and time again, he had only made things worse. Still, beyond that, a question entered from the corner of Riku's mind.
"Terra... what happened to you?"
The figment cringed and clenched his teeth. "I... the Xehanort you know of if not the true Xehanort. The original poisoned me against the people I love and, in my moment of weakness, stole my body." First Ansem wasn't Ansem, now Xehanort wasn't Xehanort? Just how many false identities and other iterations did this mad man have? "All that is left of me in the Realm of Light is my emotions. My rage, my hatred, my determination... all of that grafted to that armour, existing only to find Xehanort and make him suffer." Terra then blindly considered Riku for a moment. "Or, anyone carrying his essence."
Managing to stand up, taking advantage of the breather this timeless, spaceless place bought him, Riku stared at Terra once more. In wonderment. In hope. In dire need for salvation. Without thinking, he reached forward to claw at the stranger who once fueled his dreams, only for his fingers to phase through his illusory form.
"...You called me here, right?" Riku finally asked, after a too long silence. "Not the armour, you." Terra nodded, solemnly. "What do I have to do, then, to find my path? To find what I need to protect the things I matter?"
Terra chuckled, raising a hand a pointing a finger at Riku's chest. The same point Lingering Will was aiming at before this all happened. "All you need to... all you've ever needed to do, is listen to your heart."
The simplistic nature of the answer made Riku want to bark with laughter.
Listen to my heart...
"I've done that! That's what I've always done!" Riku chose to dig further, rather than deny the lifeline outright. He was going to need some kind of help to get him out of this jam. "Listening to my heart has only ever made things worse!" Listening to Maleficent. Stealing the Keyblade from Sora. Letting Ansem creep into his heart. Choosing to attack and kidnap Roxas. In the moment, those felt like the correct decision, but they caused nothing but problems for himself and others.
"But were you really?" Came Terra's response. Riku studied the blind warrior for a moment, perplex by his deflection and questioning. As if he could read Riku's mind, Terra honed in on the worries running rampant within him. "Or did, deep down, you know what you were doing was wrong, but you pushed it aside. Buried those feelings. Killed your heart, and pressed forward, regardless?"
Did he? Did he do all that? Riku poured over his memories of those days, trying to divine meaning and truth from them. Did he know turning against Sora was wrong, but convinced himself otherwise? That it would be better letting Roxas be and calling DiZ out on his lies, but acted on fear? Nothing was coming to mind, as Riku continued to drift down the spiral of confusion.
"There was a reason why I made you my inheritor, all those years ago." Terra spoke again, his voice managing to snap Riku out of his self-inflicted daze. "Because, even as a child, you knew what mattered. You knew the true meaning of being strong and being a hero. You had something special in your heart."
"Yeah, but I-"
"And it's still there!" Terra quick interrupted, again, as if he could read Riku's mind and perceived his response. "What's more, even if we made the same mistakes, you're already better than me." Riku blanced at the praise. Even if he couldn't remember specifics, he always had vague memories of the tall hero who visited him as a child, with deep respect and admiration directed to that mystery man. "We both suffered from the darkness, but you stared into the abyss and you didn't blink, Riku! You conquered your fear and made the darkness your own." A sad smile spread across the face of the Key Bearer. "I... people I love only ever saw the darkness as something to fear. Something to be contained or destroyed. But you proved Aqua and Master Eraqus wrong. You... you're my successor, and you're beginning to rise above my generation and even my Master's."
A million questions entered Riku's head. Or, maybe, they were already there. He had no idea how Terra knew all this about him and the others. Who these people were or everything that had happened. He had come here to find answers about himself, but now... there was an entire lost world he had discovered. Terra and his friends. The conflict with the true Xehanort.
He needed to know.
But, before Riku could speak up, the phantom image of Terra began to fade away. Slowly. Vanishing from the feet up, his being unraveling before Riku's eyes.
"No, wait!" Riku called out in shock. "You can't go, yet. I have so many questions! I still don't know -"
"Yes. You do."
Terra's eyes opened, at long lost, revealing the dark blue orbs. There was great strength within this eyes, but they were focused and calm. Gentle and noble. Eyes of a protector and a hero.
Eyes of the man Riku idolized.
"The answers you seek, the strength you need, the power I left with you... all of it lies within your heart."
Terra turned away, closing his eyes again, as Riku could only watch on, forlornly. The lost Master was growing dimmer by the second, he felt like he should say or do something, but everything failed him.
All could manage was to quietly croak out, "Thank you... Terra."
"I'm glad we got to meet again, Riku." Terra returned, a smile appearing on his lips. "I'm glad I could help you, too. Now, do me proud..."
In a flash, Riku returned to the living world. To the deadlands he had came from.
He was now standing before the imposing figure of Lingering Will, Keyblade still raised in anger. Other than the sudden absence of the Guardian, it was as if nothing had changed. As if he had never left.
Answer, strength, power... all of it lies in my heart...
Strangely enough, the armour was not moving, only holding it's weapon up in a threatening manner. Wound up and ready to strike. As if the Guardian was still had it within it's clutches. As if it was more than willing to give Riku the time to deliberate on what he had learned.
Was it just Terra's rage, or was there something more to this thing...?
Figure that out later, Riku... you have more important things to deal with.
The power Terra gave me... that's the Keyblade, obviously. I can wield one because of that ritual he performed. That answer was obvious enough, at least. The strength I need is for Sora and Kairi and Namine's sake... And the answers... Terra called me here so that he could help me find them and... and awaken those memories!
The Keyblade! His Keyblade. The unformed weapon buried within his very soul. That was the key to everything.
But... Riku had never been able to summon his Keyblade, before. Only steal the one Sora wielded. Even if he was meant to bear one, had the potential, it didn't mean he deserved it. Back then.
That was a year ago. I am a completely different person than the jealous boy I used to be...
So then, why did the Keyblade originally reject him and pick Sora? Because Sora had a strong heart? Because his motivations were more pure? No, no... that felt wrong...
Because... because...
"I'm not afraid of the darkness!"
Those words echoed in the recesses of Riku's mind. Words spoken by an all too ignorant youth. He had come to accept and tame his own darkness, but in doing so he had come to learn something. There was the natural and usually benign darkness which existed within the hearts of every beings, and then there was the malignant, destructive darkness wielded and used by the Heartless, by Maleficent...
By Xehanort!
Riku looked down at himself. At the form he was taking. Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness; Xehanort's Heartless.
He looked at his wrecked weapon in his hands. Soul Eater. Forged when he started his service in Maleficent's employ; forged from the twisted shadows that followed the dark faerie wherever she went.
But, in Riku's mind, his current form and his weapon were shackles holding him down. Keeping him trapped. Preventing him from realizing his true potential. Cancerous shadows that were strangling the life out of him.
A glint of sunlight bounced off the coppery armour of Lingering Will, causing Riku to look up at his still frozen assailant.
And this thing... it's only after Xehanort. It only exists to fight and destroy any pieces of Xehanort it encounters...
This was the answer to the dilemma that had long hounded him.
I just hope it's the right answer...
Riku cast the destroyed sword aside, staring down the rampaging sentinel before him, arms widespread, inviting the knight to attack him.
Lingering Will plunged it's Keyblade into Riku's chest.
Riku screamed, long and loud. But whatever sound he made was consumed by the howling winds of this accursed world.
It is always darkest before the dawn, and we always suffer greatest before we achieve salvation. Such is Riku's path.
One of the things I set upon myself when I started this project WAAAY back when was to try and keep the beats of the story in-line with the canon Kingdom Hearts II as much as possible; to prevent things from getting wild and crazy and out of hand. But, while I would try and keep things parallel to a point, I also made it so that, as things progressed, the story would become more and more divergent. Kairi going to a world Sora hadn't visited was a big break from the story beats, but more in a cosmetic one. This here – Riku on the Graveyard, meeting Terra and Lingering Will – that was meant to be the first very very big change in terms of story. Massively divergent in Riku's arc (which, as I have mentioned before, I am not a fan of Riku's arc in II; why is it Riku always gets the shaft in the numbered games?) but something I think fits in line with the character and how things could have gone.
On another note, it honestly does bug me that Terra never ends up being a part of Riku's arc/growth/motivations/anything. You spend all this time in BBS setting up connections between characters, but nothing comes of it. The trigger is never pulled. And part of that is, I feel the characters are no longer allowed to exist outside their original circles; their development and moments are confined within pre-conceived relationships. Kairi only gets moments with Sora; the BBS trio only exists within the BBS trio; Roxas is stuck with his toxic-ass friendships and being slowly choked out.
Anyways, beyond all that, you can probably gather – now that Kairi has crossed paths with Aqua and Riku has met with Terra – that Sora and Ven will share a conversation, as well. It's all a matter of when and how, now isn't it? Stay tuned on that front...
While the Keyblade Graveyard is a little bland in terms of gameplay design and aesthetics, it's reveal in the secret endings for KH II was nothing less than astounding, and I'm glad I took the opportunity to write about the world. Tried my best to convey the sheer dread this world contains. Because those videos, the original build up to the Graveyard... it's just perfect! In a handful of seconds, upon seeing this barren land and all these discarded Keyblades, you get an immediate sense of the scope of the Keyblade War – it's size, the lives it took, the damage inflicted – all without a single word of dialogue or narration. Picture perfect visual storytelling, and any attempt to create a narrative around the Keyblade War following those images would only serve to undermine their power and ruin any mystique they held.
So what did Square do? Why, they created an entire narrative – an entire sub-francrhise – dedicated to detailing the events of the Keyblade War following the images of the secret endings, undermining the power of those images and ruining any mystique they once held.
Womp womp.
That will do it for me for now. Be sure to drop a line – leave a review or comment if you could please – about whatever is on your mind. What you liked. What you didn't like. Any predictions going forward. Anything and everything would be dearly appreciated. I know it's wrong of me to be doing this solely for praise and feedback, but I am starting to get a little frustrated by the deafening silence my works seem to beckon.
Until next time, let the light guide you on your path forward.