Chapter 67: The Tallest Tower
With a resounding crash, an entire section of Hollow Bastion's outer wall came crumbling down as Garland's massive armored body went flying right through it. Rubble and dust shot out in every direction. Across the thin battlefield, Leon had his hand on his wrist, his glove red-hot and hand smoking from a Firaza spell that he had fired at point-blank range. The spell was much more than anything he usually cast, and had drained him of most of his magic. And yet despite that, Garland stood perfectly straight in silhouette, his figure obscured by the momentary chaos. Leon bit back a string of curses as the dust settled and Garland retrieved his segmented broadsword from the floor.
Clenching his smoking hand tightly, Leon took in a deep breath and then gripped the hilt of his gunblade in both hands. He didn't give Garland a chance to speak, to taunt and boast as he knew the stalwart was planning, and charged forward with one finger on the trigger. But Garland saw him coming. Flicking his broadsword to his side with one hand, Garland dislodged the upper segments from the base and swung his chain-linked whip in a wide arc with a mighty roar.
The steel crashed through more of the wall to their side, carving a thick line into the stone and sending more debris flying. Leon kept running, but he couldn't outrun a large chunk heading his way. Holding tightly onto Revolver, he leaped into the air and pierced the first boulder to come his way. The chunk of wall was split in two, and as Leon fell back to the ground with his momentum keeping him going, he pierced the chunk that remained in his way. The instant his feet hit the ground Leon made another jump, making a spinning strike through the air and bisecting another piece of debris.
With the path to Garland clear, Leon released one hand on Revolver and held the weapon out to his side. Mechanisms within the gunblade activated, heating the sword up with fire magic until it was red hot. Holding out his free hand at his other side, Leon conjured up the strongest ball of flame he could with his low magic reserves. He launched the fire into the air and it scattered, each individual flame exploding on contact with the airborne pieces of what remained of the collapsing wall.
In front of Leon, Garland had retracted the chain and then flipped over the top half of his sword, transforming it into a vaguely hammer-like shape. "This is the cycle…" Garland swung the hammer in an arc in front of him and then hefted it above his head. "…of BATTLE!"
With an uproar of laughter, Garland slammed the hammer down onto the floor. Leon could swear the entirety of Hollow Bastion shook under the blow, and the sheer might of it sent the floor into upheaval. Fissures formed at the impact and quickly expanded outward, sending chunks of stone jutting up at awkward angles as it did so. A large one thrust out of the ground right in Leon's path, but he heated up his hand with the last spell he had in him and sent it on a collision course with the rock. Orange cracks spread across it and the object in his way shattered, sending searing-hot pebbles flying in every direction.
Leon jumped through the storm of superheated rock and landed in the middle of the upturned ground. Running over the fissures and around the stone spikes, he kept Revolver heated and swung upwards as he approached Garland. At the last second Garland's weapon returned to its original shape and he brought it up in front of him, blocking the red-hot sword with his own. As Leon struggled to push through Garland's defenses, his opponent stood stalwart and didn't seem to be pushing himself at all. This man's defenses were ludicrous! Leon watched as his free hand inched slowly forward, toward the hilt of his massive broadsword. With lightning fast speed he tore apart his sword at the hilt, forming it into two blades as tall as a man.
With barely enough time to register the massive weapon swinging down toward him, Leon jumped back and narrowly avoided being sent flying off the walls of Hollow Bastion. The instant his feet made contact with solid ground he jumped forward and rolled, avoiding another swing of Garland's sword and ending up behind the caped knight. Garland spun around and reconnected his swords, aiming for Leon with both hands at the hilt.
Leon parried the blow and both jumped to the side, Garland reacting first and thrusting his weapon forward. Leon sidestepped the thrust and replied with a horizontal slash which Garland blocked once again. Breaking away from the parry, Leon raised his sword up over his head and brought it down, but Garland deflected that blow as well. Roaring loudly, Garland lifted his sword over his shoulder and swung it out in a wide arc. Leon didn't dodge in time and was sent flying back, crashing against the far wall and landing dangerously close to the edge of the castle's outer walls.
Right, then… Leon thought as he climbed up to his feet. He held Revolver out in front of him and channeled what little scraps of magic he had left into the blade, charging the sword to its limits. The weapon transformed and shifted to a metallic blue, once more changing from Revolver into Lion Heart. Garland didn't seem to react to the change, though who knew what was going on behind that mask of his, but as soon as the blue light lit up their battlefield he charged forward with startling speed. This time, though, Leon would beat Garland at his own game. He didn't budge an inch.
With his finger on the trigger, Leon swung his gunblade and met Garland head-on.
Bang!
His slash was accompanied by an explosion which knocked Garland off-balance, opening him up for another.
Bang!
Before Garland could recover, Leon swung again, and again, and again, pulling the trigger each time. Explosions knocked his opponent around like a child's toy. After eight slashes and eight explosions, Leon held Lion Heart in front of him and ran a hand along its edge, charging the weapon with electricity. It was a risky move, he was at his limits, but Garland was a risky fight. Shooting forward with both hands, Leon slashed Garland one last time and, in that instant, pulled the trigger three more times. Explosions erupted all along the magical, supercharged slash that Leon had left in the air, and Garland collapsed to the ground.
But only for a moment.
As Lion Heart reverted back to Revolver, Leon turned around at the sound of soft laughter. Garland lay on his back, arms outstretched and his sword lying several feet away. Parts of his armor were scorched black, and there were visible cuts in it, but he himself seemed unharmed. Physically, anyway. His laughter was growing until he was cackling like a madman, made all the more unsettling as it contrasted with his deep, booming voice.
"Good… Good!" Garland climbed up to his feet, sweeping away his cape and revealing the tattered edges that still glowed with a few remaining embers. "You, Squall Leonhart, are exactly what I had hoped for in this battle of ours!"
Leon sighed and decided to humor him, at least for the moment. "Is that so?" With this momentary reprise, he slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out an ether.
"Certainly," Garland replied. "Though even so, you won't stop me. I will live to see my desire, and Maleficent will lead me to it. I will achieve my—"
"Your 'final fantasy', I get it already." Recharged, Leon ignited a fireball in his hand. "Don't you ever shut up about that?"
x-x-x
"Meteors of heaven, unleash thy fury!"
With boulders coated in green flame raining down and exploding all around him, Goofy leaned forward, held his shield up in front of his face, and charged. He weaved between explosions as the meteors impacted the Hollow Bastion entry room, coating the floor in craters aglow with green embers. When the rain of fire ended, Goofy leaped up at Maleficent—who stood atop the fountain—and slammed his shield right into her face.
Maleficent staggered, and Goofy took the initiative. Without giving her time to recover he swung his shield again, hitting Maleficent across the chest with the sharpened edges this time. Maleficent snarled at him and tried to smack him aside with the staff, though Goofy quickly brought his shield up in time to block the blow. Unfortunately for him, that seemed to be what Maleficent had been anticipating. With a wicked smile, the witch charged her staff with lightning that was sent coursing through Goofy's body.
Goofy let out a cry and was finally sent flying by an explosion of electricity that erupted out of the orb at the tip of Maleficent's staff. He crashed into the far wall and slid to the ground, briefly expecting a Cure from Donald's direction. But the brave knight shook his head; no, that wouldn't be coming and he knew it. As Goofy climbed up to his feet his gaze flickered to the back of the room, where Donald stood in absolute silence, focused not on the battle but on the white and blue glow in front of him. His entire body was tense, his fingers straining, sweat dripping down his face, as Donald focused everything he had into stabilizing the spell.
He needed more time, and Goofy had to give it to him.
"Thunder, light, and lightning strike!" Maleficent's chanting echoed.
Above Donald, a swirling storm cloud was beginning to manifest. Picking his shield back up, Goofy hurled it with all his might at the evil fairy. A perfect hit! Maleficent's spell was disrupted and she glared down at Goofy with unbridled fury behind her eyes. Turning toward him, Goofy met her eye to eye. Without looking up, without breaking his stare, he reached up and caught his rebounding shield.
"If that is how you wish to do things, then very well," Maleficent snarled. Gripping her staff in both hands, she slammed the bottom of the shaft onto the floor. A pulse of magic radiated out from it, kicking up a wind that tossed Goofy's hat off of his head and whipped his ears around. But Goofy didn't react to that, instead holding his shield up in front of him, ready for whatever came next.
The room rumbled and massive thorny vines erupted from the floor, snaking their way through the air and all charging right at Goofy. Goofy jumped aside as the massive plants thrust at him and crashed through the floor where he had been standing. An instant later they came crashing out of the wall behind Goofy, catching him by surprise and entangling him, tightening around like a snake and digging their thorns into his body.
"D…Donald…" Goofy gasped out as the thorns began to tear through his clothes and draw blood. "Now'd be a great time to finish up…"
"Just another minute, Goofy," Donald replied through grit teeth. The magic between his extended hands and stabilized into an oval shape, but it wasn't done yet.
"Into sleep you fall, forever!" Maleficent shouted as she sent another spell flying at Goofy. At that same moment, Goofy gasped as he heard a shattering sound rise up from one of his pockets. The thorns had pierced through his pants and found not his skin but a bottle of potion. The glass shards jingled lightly as Goofy swayed back and forth in the vines' grasp, the green liquid soaking into him via the hole that the thorns had left. Invigorating him.
Goofy ducked out of the way of Maleficent's spell at the last possible second, and it came into contact with the vines instead. The vines released their hold on Goofy and thrashed around like a beast with its head cut off, crashing into walls and knocking down the chandelier that hung in the center of the room. Green flames began to consume them, covering the room in an unholy glow as the vines turned to ash.
"No! It cannot be!" Maleficent vanished, replaced by a swirling storm of yellow and purple magic. It flew forward, knocking Goofy aside and aiming straight for Donald.
"Look out!" Goofy hollered with a toss of his shield. It passed through the spiraling magic harmlessly, but fortunately—orunfortunately for Maleficent, she didn't reach Donald in time. Just as the spell storm began to die down and Maleficent became physical once more, a brilliant explosion of light erupted out from in front of Donald, forcing Goofy to shield his eyes and sending the wicked witch flying back.
Before Maleficent could recover, Donald sent a barrage of fireballs flying her way. Lowering his arm from his face, Goofy's attention was caught by the glowing, undulating white and blue hole in reality where Donald had stood moments before. The duck kept up his assault, casting spell after spell at the witch and keeping her down.
"Donald, ya did it!" After all those weeks of practice, Donald had finally done it. He had opened the Lanes Between.
It had been only shortly into the battle with Maleficent when Donald and Goofy had both come to terms with the fact that no, they could not defeat her just the two of them. But they could distract her, and they could put her away. That was why Goofy had been riding solo for most of the fight: Donald was opening the Lanes. If they couldn't stop Maleficent, they could at least get her away from this world and worry about her another time.
"Hurry up and pull her inside, Goofy!"
"No, you shall not!" Maleficent shouted, smacking Donald aside and sending a downpour of lightning bolts his way. Donald didn't stop moving, outrunning the electricity chasing him, and keeping Maleficent distracted. With her attention on him, Goofy snuck up behind her and smashed his shield into Maleficent's wrist. The evil fairy dropped her staff and spun around just in time to see Goofy grab her in a great bear hug.
"Unhand me!"
"You need a time out!" Goofy shot back. With all his might he lifted Maleficent off of her feet and tossed her at Donald's entrance to the Lanes Between. Maleficent landed in front of it, not within it, but a powerful blast of wind from Donald knocked her the rest of the way.
"No! You dare to imprison me? The Mistress of All Evil?! I shall have you heads for this, you miserable—"
"Shut up!" Donald clapped his hands together, intertwining his fingers and lowering his hands in front of his chest. In response, there was a brilliant flash of light and the Lanes closed, trapping the screaming witch within them.
x-x-x
"Lea, move it or lose it!"
With only that as a warning, Yuffie tossed her shuriken at her airborne target. As it soared through the sky the materia slotted inside activated, kicking up a whirlwind charged with electricity around the spinning weapon. The lightning struck the black wyvern before the shuriken did, blue bolts dancing across Diablo's body as he rocked across the sky with such a painful spasm that he looked to be having a seizure. With a desperate roar Diablo tore through the air, his wings failing and smoke trailing from him as he grew smaller and smaller, feathers sprouting from his black scales. But before the dragon-turned-raven could crash painfully into the ground he was swept up by the tornado and tossed around while the spiraling shuriken within it slashed away.
Lea, who had narrowly avoided Yuffie's brutal attack at the last second, let out a low whistle as the wind died down and Diablo plummeted downward. While Yuffie jumped up to retrieve her shuriken, Lea jumped down from his perch and ignited his chakrams. A green bottle went sailing through the air and crashed to the floor inches from Diablo's prone form, the potion leaking onto the ground and pooling around the shapeshifter.
Before Diablo had completely recovered from the potion's effects, Lea spun around and sent one flaming chakram flying. The burning wheel struck Pete across the arm, stopping him from tossing a second potion Diablo's way. Lea called his weapon back into his hand and turned around once more just in time to block a claw swipe from Diablo in his bestial half-human form. Diablo struck out at him with lightning fast kicks and swings, and Lea did his best to deflect each one. Kudos to the rat with wings, though, he got a fair few hits in. And perhaps more importantly, he kept pushing Lea back.
Soon enough, the redhead was back to back with another redhead. Cissnei ducked under a swing from Pete's fist and slashed at his gut with her own shuriken. Lea caught Diablo's claws in the holes of his chakram, pulled his hands down, and jabbed the spike of his other chakram into the his foe's shoulder.
"Fighting to get up the castle, I think I liked it better when I was on Braig's side," he quipped over his shoulder to Cissnei.
Cissnei dodged another of Pete's punches and brought her knee up, jabbing him in the chest, then let her momentum carry her into a backflip as she delivered a kick to his massive jaw. "Feeling a little regret?"
"Nah, I can handle these punks." Lea grinned and spun his chakrams around in his hands. "Watch this!"
When Pete and Diablo came charging back at the two of them, Lea spun around in a circle and released his grip on his weapons. The chakrams caught on fire once again as they flew from his hands, but didn't stop circling around him; in fact, they rose up into the air as they did so. A storm of fire, a tornado, kicked up around the former Nobody and expanded outward, passing harmlessly over Yuffie and Cissnei but scorching Diablo and Pete and knocking the both of them back. Before they could recover, the two women tossed their shuriken out at them.
"Why you!" Pete shouted. He caught Yuffie's shuriken in midair, did a three-sixty spin on one foot, and sent it flying right back at her. Before it could chop her head off, a gunshot rang out and knocked the weapon off course, causing it to clatter to the ground instead. Cissnei quickly from the prone shuriken and fired her pistol at a bomb Pete had tossed while her back was turned, causing it to explode harmlessly in the air instead. The heat and force given off by the blast, however, did go somewhere…just perhaps where Pete hadn't hoped.
Holding his hands out, Lea mentally grabbed hold of the explosion and redirected it, sending it flying right back toward Pete. He gasped and threw up a yellow force field around his body, but while it prevented the damage it couldn't stop him from being knocked over and off the castle walls. Lea, Cissnei, and Yuffie all gasped and hurried to the edge, but Diablo reached it first. He sprinted and dived off the edge, shifting into a wyvern once more and grabbing Pete by the shoulders with his talons. As Diablo turned upward and made his way back to the battlefield, he opened his mouth wide.
"Heads up!" Cissnei cried.
A torrent of green fire shot toward them, and Lea conjured a wall of his own flames to block it. "Can only do this for so long!" he shouted to the others.
Yuffie was frantically digging materia out of her pockets and tossing them aside. "Uh, I should use water, right?!"
"Give me that!" Cissnei snagged a white materia from Yuffie before she had a chance to chuck it over her shoulder. Rather than slotting it into her shuriken or pistol, however, she held it in the palm of her hand, pulled it back over her shoulder, and then tossed it with all her might at Diablo.
"Hey, I only have one of those!" Yuffie shrieked.
The materia exploded on impact, releasing a blinding white blast of light that spiraled upwards and outward, striking at Pete and Diablo again and again and again. The immense amounts of wind conjured by the spell forced Lea to hold his hair down, and he could barely hear Yuffie's combined despairing moan at losing her materia, as well as awed laughter at the sight, over the roar of the magic occurring in front of them.
When the Salvation spell died down, Pete wasted no time in reaching for a potion and crushing it in his hands. Biting through the glass shards digging into his hand, Pete climbed up to his feet and curled his fingers into a fist. Diablo, however, turned toward a door that led inside the castle and silently narrowed his eyes.
"Give up already!" Yuffie taunted Pete as she sidestepped his fist and delivered a spinning kick to his back.
"It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings!" Pete brought a powerful uppercut to Yuffie's gut, knocking the wind out of her and sending her high into the air.
"Damn it, I can't sit still for one second!" Lea jumped up and grabbed her, holding her with one arm under her legs and the other at her head. When they landed and Yuffie recovered, she blushed furiously and punched Lea in the chest before jumping out of his grasp.
"Stop that, you creep!"
"Oh, like I have any interest in little girls!"
"Little?!"
As Lea and Yuffie began to argue, Pete took the opportunity and barreled forward with both fists swinging. Cissnei, however, dashed between him and her teammates and slashed with her shuriken then fired a bullet at his feet as a warning shot. "Not another step."
"I told you, this ain't over!"
"Pete, that's enough." Four pairs of eyes turned to Diablo, who was already halfway into a corridor of darkness. "Maleficent needs us. Now."
x-x-x
"Aaaahahahaha!"
A high-pitched cackle echoed from behind the walls, followed by a resounding CRASH that shook the foundations of the castle—literally. Before the laughter had finished the ceiling of the Chamber of the Repose came crashing down, crushing the throne and coating the pristine room in a layer of dirt and rubble. A blue ball shot down from above, rebounding off the walls before unfurling in the air and letting loose another round of high-pitched laughter.
"Ta-ta!" Stitch exclaimed as he held his hands up and stood proudly on the back of the fallen chair. Then, getting down on all fours, Stitch sniffed around like a dog while his ears moved back and forth. "Hm?" Tilting his head, Stitch stared at a spot of the room covered by the mess he had created and ran over to it, then effortlessly picked up a large chunk of the fallen ceiling and tossed it aside. Underneath, unharmed, was a suit of armor and matching weapon. "Ah-koo, wah." Stitch turned up to the hole he had made and hollered, "Maka maka!"
Five more figures jumped down to join Stitch in the ruined Chamber of Repose. "626, great job!" Aqua said happily, crouching down to rub him on the head.
Stitch accepted the rub, but shook his head. "Not 626. Meega Stitch!"
Aqua smiled. "Right, I still have to get use that." Then, standing up, she looked around the room with an unreadable expression. "It looks so much like the Chamber of Waking…"
"We found this place a while back," King Mickey explained as he moved aside the chunk of stone blocking the exit. "We didn't know its name until Braig talked about it when Xehanort was revived, though."
"And it's been here the whole time, huh?" Aqua made her way over to the abandoned armor and Keyblade, staring at it in silence. Her face seemed to darken; she must have been reliving some pretty bad memories, Xion figured.
"Is that really yours?" Riku asked. "We don't want to have come all this way on a false lead."
"No, it is. Don't worry." Aqua held out her hand and called forth Master's Defender. Xion, Sora, and Riku all exchanged glances; why was she using that when her real Keyblade was right there? Aqua took a deep breath and held the silver and grey Keyblade in front of her vertically. "Thank you for sticking by me all these years, Master Eraqus…" Her voice was soft. "I promise now I will finish what you asked me to do. I'm going to bring Terra home safe."
Flipping her old Master's Keyblade so the teeth pointed down, Aqua took another breath and plunged the weapon into the ground near her own Keyblade. She didn't look at it any further, leaning down and picking up her abandoned weapon from its prone position on the floor. The instant her fingers wrapped around the hilt, a bright glow emitted not from the Keyblade, but from Aqua's nearby armor. Before their very eyes, Aqua's armor shined brightly—and then vanished. Gone. Like it had never been there.
"What… What just happened?!" Sora demanded, shocked. His eyes were about to pop out of his head as he frantically looked back and forth between Aqua and the empty spot where her armor had just been.
Xion held her head in her hand. "Did we just screw up? Was this some sort of trap? Aqua, why aren't you more concerned about this?" Xion turned to the older girl, who was smiling at them softly, as if saying 'I know something you don't.' As Sora continued to freak out, Xion noticed something about Aqua, something…off. She looked a little different now. What was it? It was on the tip of her tongue…
"Wait a minute, were you always wearing those?" Riku asked. Xion and Sora glanced at him, and he was pointing at Aqua's arm. On both arms, just above her elbows, were two pieces of armor that definitely hadn't been there a minute ago. That's what it was, Xion realized. That was what was different.
"Not until just now, no." Aqua smiled that knowing smile again and raised up her right hand. "The armor wasn't destroyed, and it wasn't a trap. This is how Keyblade Armor works. Watch." Aqua brought her fingers to the yellow stone embedded in the armor on her left hand.
Ribbons of pink light spiraled out of the armguard, growing brighter and brighter with each turn and flying over Aqua's body. This was followed by a blinding burst of light, with Aqua at its source, which took up the entirety of Xion's vision and turned the Chamber of Repose even whiter than it had already been. When the light finally faded Aqua still stood before them, but different.
The armor was primarily a purplish grey, enveloping her entire body and not leaving a single inch of flesh exposed. Metallic blue stretched up from her wrists to her elbows, as well as from her knees to her ankles and over her chest down to her waist, where it became black at her hips. Silver wrapped around Aqua's knees and shoulders while also accentuating the purple-grey boots. Pale gold lines ran up and down for seemingly no other purpose but decoration. The black visor on her helmet hid her face from everyone, but Aqua's smile could be felt behind the mask nonetheless. For such a warm person, though, Aqua's Keyblade Armor was surprisingly dark colored.
And upon seeing it in all its glory, Xion bit back a gasp.
He looked over his shoulder—not at Xion, but at the next one to approach. It was a woman a few years older than Xion, that much was evident by the way the armor was built. Like the man's own armor, it was rusted and cracked. But Xion knew it had once been a vibrant blue and silver.
The dream that Xion had had while within the virtual Twilight Town, with who she now understood to be Master Xehanort speaking about the χ-blade while surrounded by Keyblades in a desolate wasteland. Of the three armored figures in Xion's dream, Aqua matched the second one perfectly. It hadn't even occurred to her that was who it must have been; she had seen Aqua's armor before having that dream when they first discovered this room, but she had never actually stopped and thought about it until seeing Aqua all dressed up now.
"Ready to go?" the King asked from the door that would lead up to Ansem the Wise's study, and from there their long trek up to Xehanort at the top of the castle. Stitch hopped up onto Xion's shoulder and the group began to make their way out into the Heartless Manufactory.
Aqua lingered behind them all for a moment. She dismissed Stormfall and turned back over her shoulder, gazing longingly at the Master's Defender embedded in the floor. "Just hang on a little bit longer, Terra…"
As their journey down the castle had been, the climb back up was quiet and uneventful. They didn't encounter a single Unversed, Heartless, or Nobody throughout their entire trip through the Heartless Manufactory, Ansem's study, or the basement's tunnel system. By the time the group emerged into the outside world at the base of the castle, the only sign of the massive war waging was the distant sounds of battle.
Down here, at the bottom of Hollow Bastion, Aqua—still in her armor—peered up at the tallest tower in the distance. "I think I know a way to get up there. We'll need to do it just one at a time, though."
The others didn't even have time to question her before Aqua summoned Rainfall and held the blue Keyblade out to her side. Her body went still for a moment, then she spun around on one foot and tossed the Keyblade high, high into the air. At the apex of its ascent it flashed brilliantly, and it wasn't the Keyblade that came back down. Xion and Sora immediately ran over to Aqua's strange new vehicle with the energetic curiosity of children, while Riku and the King stayed in the back.
Aqua called it a Keyblade Glider. It was two unconnected pieces, one hovering over the other. The black upper half resembled a bow lying on its side, while the blue lower half looked vaguely like a sort of arrowhead. Aqua briefly demonstrated the Glider's abilities for them, placing her hands on the bow piece and her feet on the arrowhead and then flying in small circles above them. Afterwards she brought everyone, one at a time, up to the top of the castle with her Keyblade Glider. It was slow going, but it was faster than walking up would have been. After they had made it to the top, Stitch's summon timer ran out. With a wave goodbye and a wish of luck, he returned to Traverse Town.
The group now found themselves in the old chapel, their last rest before the final battle; Xehanort, Braig, and Vanitas were sure to be waiting in the Grand Hall coming up. As they moved through the dark hall, barely able to see a few yards ahead of them, something—someone—came into view…
Riku froze. "Is that…?"
"KAIRI!"
Xion hadn't even registered who they were looking at before Sora took off faster than she had ever seen him run before. His feet pounded on the floor of the chapel, his voice echoed off the walls. The girl in pink at the far end spun around, eyes wide like a deer in the headlights. She opened her mouth and began to speak, but whatever Kairi was about to say was snuffed out when Sora quite literally jumped at her, wrapping his arms around her and hugging her tight.
"S-Sora…" Kairi tried to begin again, but Sora shook his head and squeezed tighter.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. His voice cracked, and while Xion couldn't see his face she was sure Sora was crying. "I am so, so sorry that I couldn't stop them from taking you, Kairi. But I'm here now. And I'm not going to let them do anything else, to anyone, ever again."
Kairi hesitated for a moment before replying. The look on her face was…hurt? But it wasn't directed at Sora. After that brief, barely noticeable display, Kairi reached her arms up around Sora and returned the hug. "It's okay." She rested her face in his chest. "I knew. I always knew you would come, Sora. Just like…you promised."
Slowly, Sora pulled away. He kept one hand in Kairi's and used the other to rub his watering eyes. "Yeah. And I'm not alone." Sora turned around to face the others. "We found a Keyblade Master to help us. Her name is Aqua, and she says she's met you before."
Kairi's brow furrowed and she looked to Aqua, who stepped up to the front of the group and removed her helmet, holding it in the crook of her arm. Kairi's eyes widened for an instant in recognition, and Aqua smiled gently. "Do you remember me, Kairi? You were really little when we last saw each other, so I wouldn't be surprised if you don't."
Kairi sucked in a breath through her teeth and averted her gaze. She nervously twined her fingers together in a surprisingly out of character gesture. "I do…" Relief washed over Aqua's face. "But…Kairi doesn't."
Relief was replaced by confusion and a silence descended on the chapel. Xion and King Mickey shuffled awkwardly as Riku, worry evident on his face, walked up to Sora's side. "What do you mean?" Sora asked, his voice cracking again—not in joy this time. "What do you mean you aren't Kairi."
The girl's feet shuffled slightly as she held her hands clasped in front of her. She wouldn't look anyone in the eye. Suddenly, Riku reached forward and took her by the chin. She gasped and took a step back, but Riku held firm, directing her gaze up into his own eyes. He, too, gasped, and his hand let go of her chin to hang in the air, Riku unsure what to do next. "Naminé?"
The world seemed to be pulled out from under Xion as Riku asked the question, and Sora looked like someone had just told him his parents died. That explained the bizarre nervousness; unfitting for Kairi, but just right for Naminé. But it brought up new questions. If Naminé was the redhead in the pink dress standing before them, then what had happened to Kairi?
Aqua looked between Riku and 'Kairi.' "Wait, the memory girl you told me about?"
"What happened?!" Sora grabbed Naminé by the shoulders and leaned in close to her face. "Naminé where's Kairi?!"
"Sora, you're hurting me!" This time, it wasn't Kairi's voice that came out of that body. Sora froze and then slowly pulled away, looking away.
"S-Sorry…"
"It's okay." Naminé lowered her hands—Kairi's hands—to her side and looked up at Sora in the eyes. "And Kairi's okay, too. Braig forced me up to the surface to fix Xehanort's memories, but Kairi isn't gone. She can see, feel, and hear everything. Trust me, Sora."
Sora stared down at his feet and his shoulders fell. "I…I do. And I'm sorry if I hurt you more than just physically, Naminé. I am glad to see you again. I mean it."
Naminé smiled that soft smile that only she could do. "I know. Don't worry. You came, just like you promised."
But not all the questions were answered just yet. "how did you know who I was, then, if Kairi doesn't?" Aqua asked.
Naminé turned to her. "I found Ventus's memories once, when I was fixing Xion's. They were linked to hers, Sora's, and Roxas's like a chain. In them I saw everything that happened all those years ago."
Aqua clutched her hand to her armored chest. "Even Terra…?"
Naminé nodded. "And I could feel Terra again when I was working on Xehanort's memory." Then, she hesitated and looked away. Red bangs fell over her eyes. "But…I'm not sure if there's enough left of him to save."
Aqua stood silent for a moment. She looked down at her hands, then her face turned hard and she put her helmet back on. "Even a little piece is still a piece."
King Mickey started moving down the hall. "Then let's go, everyone. Xehanort is just down—"
"Your Majesty!"
"Wait for us!"
The King turned at the two voices that rang out from behind him. Out of the darkness came Donald and Goofy, panting heavily. Goofy tripped up over his own feet and fell to the floor while Donald nearly followed suit, but caught himself and instead slumped down onto his rear. "We…We're here to help!"
Xion moved over to help them up. "But what about Maleficent?"
"We took care of her— Gawrsh, you found Kairi!" Goofy jumped to his feet and picked the surprised girl up in a big bear hug.
Naminé smiled and hugged him back. "It's nice to see you again, Goofy, but I'm not Kairi."
Donald perked up at her voice. "Naminé, is that you? What happened?"
"Xehanort happened." Sora tightened his fists and joined Mickey at the door to the Grand Hall. "Come on, everyone. Let's go. Xehanort's waiting for us."
"Right." Xion stepped up beside Sora, and together the two of them called their Keyblades into their hands. Oathkeeper and Two Become One rose up in unison, and then were brought down in unison. A brilliant light flew forth from the Keyblades and cleaved through the inky black fog that had shrouded the Grand Hall in darkness. The fog did not vanish, but the Keyblades' combined power left a path straight through to the stairway for the group to travel.
And travel they did. Aqua, with her armor protecting her from the darkness, and Riku, with his mastery over light and dark making him resistant, hung in the back of the group in case the fog returned to block their exit while Sora and Xion stood in the front. She didn't dare look back to see if it actually had swallowed up their tracks. Xion's heart was racing and a lump had long since formed in her throat. Warmth coated her hand; beside her, Sora took her hand in his own. Xion's face hardened as they began to climb the stairs, because she wouldn't show her fear. Lea, Hayner, Pence, Olette, Lilo, Stitch, and everyone else out there—they were counting on her. On them. Here at Hollow Bastion, the darkness that had plagued the worlds for years would be brought to an end.
Or would it be at Hollow Bastion?
"What is this?" When they reached the Final Keyhole, Donald asked the question on everybody's mind.
At the end of the Grand Hall, at the remains of the Final Keyhole, there was no Xehanort. There was no Braig, no Vanitas. There was only the crumbling ruins and broken piping against the back wall, over which hung a gateway the color of sunset that glowed dimly in the darkness surrounding them.
"Did he run away?" Goofy asked.
"Somehow I doubt it," Riku replied. "Anyone know where this thing goes?"
"Doesn't matter." Sora moved forward and motioned for the others to follow. "Guys, come on!" Without waiting for a reply, Sora passed through the gate.
Donald ran up after him. "Wait for us! Let's move, Goofy!" The two of them vanished beyond the orange-gold glow.
"Aqua…" the King looked up at the armored Keyblade Master, who stood perfectly still. "You feel it too, don't you?"
Aqua nodded. "Beyond here is…" whatever she was about to say, Xion couldn't hear it as she and the King passed through the gate themselves.
Riku stepped up to it and looked back behind him. "Xion, Naminé, come on."
Xion nodded after him and moved to follow, but when she had only made a single step someone grabbed her wrist and kept her from going. In surprise, Xion's Keyblade dropped from her other hand and clattered to the ground. "Naminé?" Xion glanced over the other girl, who seemed to stare right into Xion's core with an expression somewhere between worry and determination.
"You know that Vanitas is going to be on the other side," she said. It was still so strange to hear Naminé's voice coming out of Kairi's mouth.
Xion nodded slowly. "Of course."
Naminé looked down at her feet for a moment, but only a moment. She turned right back up at Xion and tightened her grip on Xion's wrist. "Xion, you should also know…if you want to wake Ventus up—"
"I know." Xion spat the words out harshly, harsher than she had meant to, but she didn't want Naminé to finish that sentence. If someone said it outright, it would be like it had become real. "…I know," she repeated, softer this time. More to herself.
Xion could feet Naminé's hand loosen, but her resolve strengthened and she now took the other girl's wrist in both hands. "Xion, you tried so hard to convince me not to merge with Kairi. To stay who I am—"
"You're right." Xion let out a humorless laugh and held her free hand up in front of her face. She stared at her palm, flexed her fingers slowly, furling and unfurling them. "You're absolutely right. I did do that."
Naminé's voice was desperate and on the verge of yelling. "Then why? Why do you want to kil—"
"It's like you said back then." At Xion's words, Naminé gasped. Her eyes widened, and her grip released. Xion lowered both of her hands to her sides and then slowly picked up her Keyblade from the floor. Without looking back at Naminé, she moved through the gate. "This is a decision I made for myself."