Chapter 26: Gravitus I: Indomitable Will
The last staircase was both the shortest yet the longest to climb. It was a straight forward walk. No twists. No turns. It seemed too good to be true. But for once, that's all there was too it. An easy climb before the hardest fight.
Though for the last paces to the Neo Drive, Mew was expecting at least some kind of spectacle. Turns out that was more or less what he'd find at the very top.
The last step out of the staircase led to his eyes being covered in a curtain of bright rainbow light. The flash subsided, the curtain parting to draw Mew into the chamber of the Neo Drive. The walls shared the build of the prior floors but appeared to be painted over with a glossy, wavy glow akin to the Northern Lights. The colors slowly shifted along the rainbow spectrum, starting red, ending on purple.
The glow rose like steam off the ground, guiding Mew to the stained glass ceiling. Ten hands stretched out towards a round, rainbow colored object. Their energy went into the object, not the other way around. Mew deduced that this was the last known depiction of the Neo Drive's creation.
And speaking of the Neo Drive, there was a chrome pillar at the opposite end of the room of which the glow pulsated from. The energy that came from it felt like pure positivity made real. There wasn't any doubt coming in that the Neo Drive would feel powerful, but Mew more-or-less expected that feeling to come after it had been activated.
Finally, standing before the ceremonial pillar of worthiness was the man of the hour. The one who was least worthy of being here...
He stood tall, as tall if not taller than Gabriel. His hair was pitch black and shaggy, tied into dreadlocks past his shoulders. The rest of his back and in turn his body was covered by a thick, dark green cloth cape.
He did not move. They hadn't even made eye contact. But this one look Mew got at the man shook him to the bone. He held the tremors off outwardly seeing as Kairi was slowly walking up beside him.
He leaned his head towards her and whispered, "So that's him right?"
Even ignoring the obvious, Kairi freezing up and her pupils shrinking spoke volumes. Mew pulled his head back and saw that Kairi was having trouble breathing let alone speak. Was she having difficulty coming up with something to say? She must have never imagined that she would have made it this far.
This one man ruined everything for her in the span of a day. The urge to yell at him was high, but the man's presence intimidated her from speaking.
Yet her fists started to clench, her teeth clamping down and chattering. Before Mew blinked, Kairi pushed herself forward and exclaimed, "Y-You bastard!"
She kicked her feet up to run at the man. Mew blockaded her with his right arm to her gut and quietly told her, "Hold on, that's exactly what he wants!"
She tried shoving past Mew but his will held out in the end. She leaned back, growled, and kept leering angrily at her mortal enemy. Mew stepped up to the plate and swung his arms out, proclaiming in a fake, cheery tone, "Yo! Aren't you gonna greet your guests?!"
"Ah yes, where are my manners?"
Mew had gotten a sneak preview of the man's voice but was now finding out how restrained it was by the wonders of technology. In person it was far more baritone and exuded power and confidence.
The first step he took to turn revealed a long, jagged, triangular foot made of sleek, metallic onyx. The jagged, mechanical appearance extended up to his waist and then his chest and arms. He had a broad chest that protruded a bit forward.
His fingers were somewhat crooked and sharp like the tip of a pickaxe. There were glowing green lines across his body that was reminiscent of those on Saturn's suit. But while her aesthetics were an extension of her body, his appeared to be what kept him alive.
The skin around the base of his neck was a little tattered and stitched into the mechanical suit. His face was rugged like a middle-aged man's with his cheek bones well-defined and his beard thick and clean. And finally his eyes, which were as blue as a summer sky, gazed not towards but down upon Mew.
"At long last we meet face-to-face, Elemental Overlord." He was slow to speak but direct in his approach.
"I wish I could say 'Its an honor' buuuut..." Mew narroed his eyes and his arms flopped to his sides, "I don't givbe compliments to tyrants, Gravitus."
The man shut his eyes and bellowed a simple, humored chuckle, "I am not surprised that Auris has corrupted your point of view ahead of time."
"Eh, we'll see what's really corrupted soon enough." Mew glared at Gravitus' overall appearance and nudged his head up with a smirk. Then, he leaned into Kairi and whispered, "Is it just me or does he look almost nothing like his statue?"
"Y-You're right..." Kairi replied, her eyes clearly locked onto and disturbed by his neck in particular.
Mew swung his head up and thrust a finger towards Gravitus, "So what's up with the suit of armor?"
"Lets just say I had a terrible run in with a would-be king and was forced to adopt this new body." Gravitus gave the answer and opened his eyes before jumping straight to the next subject.
"Aaah...When I look at you it reminds me of 'him' and his naivety." His lips crept into a mild smile. He then gestured a hand up from his waist and remarked, "So, you are here to make an attempt on my life?"
He was humored by this. And he had every right not to take Mew seriously, given the power he was able to casually flex just by standing. It was almost as crushing as standing on one of Jupiter's moons.
"Pluto wasn't joking...This guy's a monster..." With an uneasy smirk Mew told himself, "But I can't lose focus. Gotta stick to the plan."
He raised his brows and turned up the sass as he asked Gravitus, "Actually...I was curious to hear your sales pitch. You know, the same thing you told the other Planetary Aurians?"
"Oh?" Gravitus' eyes perked up and he looked at Mew a little more directly than before.
"W-What are you doing?" Kairi whispered in utter shock.
"Just trust me!" Mew hissed from the corner of his mouth before turning his attention to Gravitus.
"Yeah. I want to hear it straight from the horses' mouth..." Mew thrust a pointer finger straight out, "What does the great and powerful Gravitus want?"
"Interesting," Gravitus drew one of his hands towards Mew and had a little more intrigue in his voice going forward, "Perhaps there is hope for you yet, Elemental Overlord."
"Gee, thanks." Mew spat back sardonically.
Gravitus propped his hands up by his chest and curled his fingers inward, "Heroes. Villains. Labels given to the false idols who govern the course of their world's histories through unaccountable acts of 'good' and 'evil'."
He raised his hands towards his shoulders and looked up at the ceiling, his growing louder, "When heroes and villains clash, who suffers the consequences worst of all but the common masses?"
He pointed one finger at Mew and indirectly labeled him a target of his disdain, "I bore witness to the rise and fall of the Elemental Overlord and Dark King. I watched as the Ten Sages played with their own people as pawns. But little did I know that my world carried but a mere fragment of the corruption plaguing the universe."
Gravitus leaned in a bit and laid his open palm out, his voice refusing to yield to tones of outrage, "People latch onto the concepts of heroes and villains because their roles appear so clearly defined. Follow a hero and you shall reach salvation. Obey a villain and you may yet survive. Both lines of thinking are derived from the same emotion – fear."
"Fear, with no hope of an alternative to bring them peace," Gravitus paused to raise his head and return to looking down upon Mew, "But that all changed with my birth. I AM that alternative. A solution unmarred by pre-defined, outdated labels. It is by my hands that the common folk shall know peace without disruption. Freed from their false idols, the people will learn to find the strength within themselves to achieve their dreams."
He then smirked at Mew and softly asked him, "So what do you think? Was that to your satisfaction?"
"So, the little worm has found his voice..." "D." crawled out of the woodwork to comment on, his cackles trickling coldly down Mew's spine.
"This is normally where I'd tell you to be quiet, but..." Mew bit and pulled back his lower lip, his eyes quivering somewhat as he looked towards the iron clad man.
"So this is the voice that drew in eight of the strongest Aurians to his cause," As he stood there pretending to be defiant, he was betrayed by his feet, which felt like they were stepping closer, "I got to admit, its easy to see why. He talks like he means it..."
What kept him out of Gravitus' hands, however, were the many doubts that had built up over the course of his time in Sancturia. But for that moment it was scary to Mew just how close he was to throwing all those doubts away and accepting Gravitus' ideals.
He tilted his head at Kairi to reaffirm why he had come this far, then gazed at Gravitus to finally answer his question.
"All that sounds pretty good. Really selling me on your deal..." He threw in a bit of looseness in his tone to try and ensure Kairi he had a plan, "Buuut I hope you don't mind if I ask you a few questions?"
Gravitus brandished his hand out as though offering a ceremonial goblet and replied in kind, "Ask away."
"Boy do I not like how quickly he answered there..." Mew squinted his eyes and started simple, "So how does Sancturia's changes fit into your plans?"
Gravitus withdrew his hand and gave a short, snappy response, "Purpose."
"Purpose?" Mew replied with mild confusion.
"Yes. Purpose," Gravitus' smile creased out as he gazed towards the ceiling, "Aurians of old were treated as little more than sheep in a flock. The Ten Sages their shepherds. Religious bibliography and sanctimonious prayer made the Aurians feel as if they were part of something greater."
He lowered his head and brushed one pointer finger out by his waist, "They weren't allowed a chance to decide for themselves until I came to liberate them from the masters that led them astray."
"Like you're any better...!" Kairi tried to push ahead, her teeth locked in an utterly nasty scowl. Gravitus failed to flinch, and turned his gaze upon her with a humored chuckle.
"How am I, pray tell?" He dismissed her opinion as that of a child's and kept going, knowing she would say no more.
"I have given Aurians purpose. The individual can become what they want without fear of the whole. My Sancturia is devoid of the hive mind mentality that plagued the old," Gravitus then briskly laid his hands out from his hips and remarked, "So consider what you're seen here a preview of what I have and will accomplish on all other worlds, Elemental Overlord. A universe where anyone can accomplish their dreams without fear of being misled. Can you imagine a more beautiful universe than that?"
Mew narrowed his eyes. There was something that felt off about Gravitus' speech but he couldn't peg what it was. So he thought to try and lure that out via another question.
"People should have the right to follow their dreams if it won't hurt anyone else," Mew raised his fingers accusingly towards Gravitus, "So now I'm left wondering why a guy who's soooo in love with peace is making their people still learn how to fight?"
"The answer's simple..." Gravitus murmured.
"Oooof course it is." Mew groaned in his head.
"Actions speak louder than words. That's a common human idiom, no?" Gravitus raised his head and had a little sneer on his face, "How ironic that they invented the phrase, considering how little they follow it."
"Speeches on podiums. Promises in advertisements. Your leaders often litter the planet with these 'words'...But when it comes to actions what do they accomplish on their own? Even your greatest men and women have sent others to die in their place for the sake of progress."
His choice of words spoke to Mew on a level he was not comfortable with, but he didn't find the strength within to make him stop.
"There is no place in this universe for peace without violence. Not yet anyways. Heroes. Villains. Any who follow their false platitudes. They will deny what I have to offer and in turn attempt to hurt me through my people. So I allow them to learn how to fight so they can protect their dreams on their own."
Gravitus leaned his head back slightly and punctuated his answer on a rather personal note, "Even the original Elemental Overlord knew that much."
"There it is again..." Mew grimaced as he trembled at the knees, "That feeling that something's wrong."
He glared at Gravitus and saw in the man's stature a figurehead depicted in ancient scriptures, a legend come to life. He fully, truly believed that he was born for this purpose.
"But maybe...maybe I'm just wanting him to be wrong," Mew shook his head, slapped his cheeks, and told himself, "No, focus. Just keep going. If I'm right, he'll slip up eventually."
"And you want the Neo Drive because...?" Mew leaned his head in and held onto that last word for a bit.
Gravitus chuckled and closed his eyes, "How much did Auris tell you about the Neo Drive?"
"That it requires the bloodline of the Ten Sages and a certain amount of worthiness?"
"But nothing about what it does..." He whispered with intrigue, "The one with the farthest seeing eyes has the tightest lips, after all."
"W-What is he...?" Kairi turned to Mew but he waved his hand out to whisper, "He's just trying to unnerve you."
Gravitus hummed then took a couple steps to the right, his feet dragging like lead. Behind him lied the pillar, the center containing a massive influx of rainbow energy behind a simple panel of glass.
Gravitus turned head and hands towards the pillar and raised his voice with mild ecstasy, "Marvelous isn't it? This pillar has functioned for more than two-thousand years without flaw to contain this ultimate power, which is no bigger than a thumb...The ultimate power...The Neo Drive..."
Gravitus reached his hand towards the pillar and began to squeeze his hand. But then he dropped it by his hip. A little too late, as Mew was never going to miss that.
Gravitus faced Mew and told him with a smile, "Our Drives are filed under five tiers. But the Neo Drive is in a class all on its own...Tier X."
"X?" Mew inquired.
"In Earth terms, the 'X' refers to the multiplicative factor. Or in Roman numerals, ten. That's because those who wield the Neo Drive have their power multiplied by ten," Gravitus slowly walked in front of the pillar and drew his hand out towards Mew, "And there are many other powers the likes of which have gone unheard of in any other Drive."
Mew squirmed and narrowed his gaze towards Gravitus before saying bluntly, "So, this is all about getting more power?"
"Yes. It is." Gravitus' answer, like all the rest, was frighteningly fast. That was the one question, however, where Mew expected him to pause and think about.
"What?!" Mew widened his eyes and broke character for a moment to express genuine shock. Gravitus stopped pacing at the very center of the pillar and locked his firm gaze upon Mew.
"This should come as no surprise to you..." He said with a deep laugh as he leaned his head back, "As the Elemental Overlord you are familiar with the kind of power is out there lurking in the shadows of space, right?"
That was way too personal sounding of a question. Mew refused to dignify that with a response and spent that time recomposing himself after he nearly blew it.
"Haaaa, perhaps not..." Gravitus then took the chance to mock him with a smile before placing his hand back underneath his cape.
"There are entities out there that made even the original Elemental Overlord kneel to their beck and call. And those entities are still alive to this day. Sitting. Lurking. Waiting."
"Waiting for what, exactly?" Mew remarked with a scoff.
"For one to stand and attempt to defy their undeserved reign. They who lurk in the shadows demand nothing more than perfection from their universe yet allow imperfections to run free. But I will not just be the one to defy them, I will be the one to eliminate them."
"And what makes you so damn certain that you're the one?" Mew asked with his head leaned back and his eyes mustering up their best narrowed glare.
Gravitus stood completely still and raised his right hand up. Mew lurched back and drew his hands out, his heart skipping a beat. But the man merely clenched his fist without any aftereffect and brought it to his chest, close to where his heart once was.
"Because I was born."
His response was simple and almost insulting after all the other detail he had put into his other speeches so far. So for the sake of his own higher expectations, Mew turned to the man and asked him with a laugh, "That can't seriously be all there is to it?"
Gravitus unfurled and waved his fingers up his face, dismissively turning his head away from Mew as he replied in full, "Forgive me, I sometimes forget that you were handed your power on a silver platter."
Mew clammed up and slanted his brows towards the man, who deigned to face him with a smirk as he brought his hand right back down to his hip.
"My entire life from the day I was born has been a trial of endurance. My power was so great that my mother died in childbirth. My own father demeaned me and beat me. The Ten Sages denounced me as a person and treated me as their slave," Gravitus then stretched his arms out and presented himself forward, raising his voice a couple decibels higher than his norm, "But I endured. Because I was born to be a survivor. My power, an anomaly among Aurians!"
His expression cracked a more wide-eyed grin as he declared with booming certainty in his voice, "Make no mistake...I AM worthy of the Neo Drive. Perhaps not in blood, but that has merely proven to be another test for me to endure and triumph over."
Mew brought himself back upright and his eyes slowly widened all the way open. This was not a cry of insanity. Gravitus believed every word he spoke and nothing could be said to challenge his viewpoint.
"This guy IS for real..." The man's voice left a haunting chill crawling down Mew's spine, a feeling whose intensity raised as Gravitus steadied his body and raised one finger towards him.
"Now, since I have answered so many of your questions you better not have any qualms about answering one of mine..."
Mew grit his teeth and fired out a quick "Go right ahead..."
Gravitus withdrew his hand to beneath his cape and asked, "What have you ever accomplished as an Elemental Overlord?"
Mew went silent and the man went right ahead and interpreted for him, "That's right. Nothing. You were given great power and with it have done nothing to change your world."
"Ah don't chap my hide, I've done some things for the planet." Mew spat with a mild bit of anger leading his thoughts.
"Watering a few plants? Shooing away a few hurricanes?" Gravitus smirked as Mew's body lurched back and he paused mid-gasp, "Oh yes. I know quite a bit about your...achievements."
He put his hand to his mouth and let out a dry cough, then wiggled the hand before his chest and remarked in a more pitying tone of voice, "All the good your powers can do, going to waste as you lounge in your home."
Once he was done shaking his head Gravitus stared at Mew with a deceptive smile and told him, "That is because you are cursed as a 'Hero', so you believe that you can only flex your powers when faced against a 'Villain'. You do not care for the common folk."
Mew twitched and then firmed his glare towards Gravitus. He felt that feeling again. Now there was a point to listening to that man again as he extended his hand towards him and asked, "But your powers should not go to waste. Join me. Forgo your identity as a 'Hero' and become someone who can truly make a difference."
Kairi suddenly stepped ahead of Mew, stamped her feet firmly in the ground and screamed so loud to demand that she be heard, "You're full of shit!"
Gravitus grimaced and tilted his gaze towards the girl whom he had barely the need to acknowledge so far, and listened to her rant and rave, "You say you care about people but that's all a lie! You don't care about anyone but yourself! Y-You're nothing but a scoundrel!"
She was trembling from head-to-toe but had thus far gave the strongest act of defiance towards Gravitus. Even Mew had to admit he was a little jealous of her and ashamed towards himself.
Gravitus closed his eyes and trembled with laughter as he smiled. He then let out a long sigh as he remarked, "I will get to you eventually dear child, do not worry. But for now..."
He returned his hand back towards Mew and repeated himself in the form of a question, "Do you accept my offer?"
Mew had to pause and think so he closed his eyes and crossed his arms against his chest.
"I don't think you're wrong Gravitus. There's a lot of heroes out there who waste their time on the spectacle of their job over worrying about the common folk..." Mew thrust his eyes open and continued with a firm sense of renewal in his voice, "But just because there are some heroes who are bad at their job doesn't make it an outdated concept. Heroes can still inspire greatness in people."
"They can, certainly. But why risk that one-in-a billion chance when the common folk should be given the freedom to become great by their own merits?"
"I don't know the answer to that question. You're asking a guys who's total novice at his job, remember?" Mew then pulled his arms off slowly and said, "But there's one thing I do know..."
He turned his body to the right and brandished his left pointer finger straight ahead at Gravitus, kicking up wind to brush up the bottom of his cape as he yelled, "No matter what you say my heart won't escape these feelings of doubt towards the kind of man you claim to be Gravitus!"
Gravitus closed his eyes and carelessly brushed the upper shoulder of his cape free of dust. Then he lowered his hand to his hip and leaned his head back with a smile.
"'No' it is then," He then shook his head and remarked, "A pity that your heart has led you astray, Elemental Overlord."
"What're you gonna do? Kill me?" Mew smirked as he clenched his fist confidently, "Face it Gravitus! You can't even get the Neo Drive! Your plan was shit outta luck the moment you were born!"
"As you threaten the peace I have worked so hard to create I will do what I must..." Shockingly there was no hesitation in his voice. He raised his right hand and once again made Mew assume that a battle was to begin. But then he curled all but his pointer finger inward, aiming it right at him.
"But do not mistake my actions as ones born of hatred. In fact, I wish to thank you."
"Thank me?" Mew was as confused as he'll ever be, "For what?"
"You speak as if you have denied me access to the Neo Drive..." His finger glided from Mew over to Kairi, his tone of voice dribbling with a mild satisfaction upon saying, "And yet, you brought my daughter right to me."
The air in the room fell stagnant. Mew's heart went feint, and he could feel the color leave his skin. His heart then thumped loudly, a drum beaten with sticks of rage.
"W-What did you just say...?" Mew gasped stoically. He slowly turned to the right and saw Kairi frozen up, her knees locked together and trembling. She curled her fingers up by her chest and shook her head.
"No...no..." Kairi raised her head back and pulled away from Gravitus biting her teeth and her skin as pale as fresh ice, "Y-Y-You're lying...! You...you can't be...!"
"I am. And you are," Gravitus took one step forward and with a gesture of the hand and smile that he believed was an act of courtesy said, "I cannot even begin to describe what an honor it is to meet you at last...My child."
Kairi tripped on her heels and fell on her butt and palms. Her teeth were trembling, and she scraped her skin along the ground to try and retreat. She continued to shake her head, her thoughts riddled with confusion.
Mew shifted his head towards Gravitus and his glare narrowed. His irises started turning yellow as he growled, "If this is your attempt at a joke its not funny..."
"I do not joke, Elemental Overlord," Gravitus leaned back into himself and held his head high with pride, drawing his hand out towards Kairi, "My daughter is the culmination of years of research and patience. And I have waited so, so very long for her to arrive here."
"Do you think I'm stupid?!" Mew proclaimed as his hands clenched into fists, "I know how children are born...And if you expect me to believe that Auris willingly-!"
"But she did," Gravitus replied with not a hint of detachment in his voice, "She accepted her punishment quietly."
"...Punishment?!" Mew was barely audible in his fury, and the tint of yellow in his irises was burning bright.
"That woman is no saint. She has committed crimes beyond compare. But she knows what kind of monster she is. So, it was only natural that she would accept her penance in whatever manner that I saw fit for her to receive..."
"It has been so hard to love my children. They are living proof of my failures as a person..." Auris' words repeated in Mew's head. Over and over they echoed the pain in her voice and misery spanning centuries of time.
Mew saw darkness in a haze around his field of vision. The demon's whispers begging him to "Let it go". His seething rage boiled over, threatening to snap his mind in two. But with what little sanity he had left, he drew his sword in his right hand and flicked the white trigger.
With a brief flash of light he charged straight at Gravitus in his angelic form with his katana drawn back and an echoing proclamation of, "YOU BASTARD!"
Gravitus stood still and flicked his left hand out from behind his cape. His hand glowed green and the next thing Mew knew he was locked completely in place, surrounded by the same green glow. He grunted out of his tightly grit teeth and was a second away from swinging his katana down upon Gravitus' head.
But the man just stared at him with all the effort it took to survey a statue, mocking him with cold, emotionless words, "Why do you insist on hating me so, Elemental Overlord? How have I ever done you any harm?"
With a gentle flick of his fingers Gravitus threw Mew straight back into the wall above the staircase and kept him pinned there. There the forces of gravity slowly collapsed upon Mew's body, digging into his arms and legs first. Mew was offered freedom only so his grunts of agony could fill the air.
Kairi's head slowly wobbled back to stare up at Mew. His strongest form, made helpless in the blink of an eye...
"There. Now you can hate me." Gravitus wore a mild smile and kept his hand aglow by his hip as he took a couple steps towards Kairi.
Her head jolted towards him as his shadow was cast upon her fallen body. He stood in place and looked down at her with an unnerving smile.
"You even have my eyes..."
She opened her mouth but failed to even let out a gasp. She curled her fingers into her palm, her fingernails scraping against the ground. Gravitus extended his hand towards her and said, "Stand up my child. It is time to accept your destiny."
"I-I-Its not me..." Kairi whispered in meek defiance.
"It has to be you. There can be no one else," Gravitus lowered his hand for a moment and closed his eyes, "Ah. But your mother kept you ignorant for this long. I can almost understand your confusion..."
"The requirements for the Neo Drive are simple on paper, but harder to reach in execution. Regarding the bloodline. It requires a descendant whose blood is purely that of one of the Ten Sages. There were many methods used by their predecessors to keep the purity intact. Magic...DNA Splicing...Even incest. But by the end of the Elemental Overlord's era there was only one Aurian alive that still carried the blood of the Ten Sages."
"That's right. Your mother. But if any other blood mixed with hers it would sully the genetic requirements necessary to obtain the Neo Drive...Or so I thought."
"Your mother is afflicted with a particular curse, though...I am sure she told you all about that. It was that very curse that proved to be my blessing. Her curse keeps her body free of impurities. And that extends to her reproductive organs..."
"Shut up..." Kairi clamped her hands against her ears and buried her head down against her legs, "Shutupshutupshutup!"
"The Anti-Genesis Theorem purged the impurities from my sperm but kept the reproductive materials intact. The gestation process proceeds without a hitch, and from the embryo a child pure with the Ten Sages blood is born."
"That was step one. Step two was merely a natural extension of step one," Gravitus laid a hand on his chest and said with an earnest belief that he was saying the right things, "My raw power combined with your mother's mastery over aura. With our natural talent combined there could be no child more worthy of the Neo Drive than that."
Gravitus raised his head and indulged himself with pride, "It took two-thousand years and countless attempts for everything to stick perfectly into place but of this I have no doubts..."
He looked down at Kairi and murmured softly with joy, "You are the one. My perfect child."
Kairi loosened her hands from her face and they dropped to her hips. She could not ignore his voice no matter how hard she tried. Everything around her felt like it was collapsing upon her, leaving her little room to breathe. Her staggered breaths resounded like echoes in her ears.
There were only two people in this compressed space. Her, and the man she utterly despised with every fiber of her being...The man who, after all this time, turned out to be her father.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Kairi snapped and rose to her feet. She drew her staff and smashed it down upon Gravitus' body. She then pounded him over and over and over again, her finger bones cracking under pressure as she proceeded to not even leave a dent in his frame.
Gravitus flicked his left pointer finger up and shoved Kairi back to the top of the stairs with gravity. He then took a couple steps back and remark in a cold tone of voice, "I do not believe for a moment that that's all you're capable of."
Kairi's hung head rose up with a fire in her eyes and she charged straight at him again, her feet tearing up parts of the floor as they pounded down. She rammed her staff into his chest and pounded away again to no effect. This time however, Gravitus tried to speak to her on a personal level.
"I too understand what its like to be denied one's purpose for so long. You are angry. You are scared. But you are not alone. The truth is not a burden you need to bear on your own shoulders. Trust in me. And together we will bring peace to the entire universe."
Pure rage guided every action Kairi took. She grunted and gasped for air as she continued bashing Gravitus' body. The man perked his brows and flicked a finger up again to push Kairi back.
She came running at him some more. Only this time Gravitus wasn't quite as amused.
"...Perhaps I need to put forth a little more effort myself..." Gravitus drew his right hand straight down from his cape and the palm opened up. A metal rod shot out, extending to the length of five feet once gripped in his palm. Then a foot long scythe blade made of green aura shunted out from the top, its tip pointed at the ground.
As Kairi jumped in to attack she was blind to the weapon being swung at her. Gravitus sliced straight upward, the blade cleaving through her dangling headband while the force of his swing blew her away.
Kairi hit the ground hard on her back and her staff fell out of her hand. Her whole backside felt sore as she pulled herself up and punched the ground with her right fist. Then she felt something missing from her neck and scrambled to pat the area around it.
She swung her head around then looked at the ground. The headband lied at her feet in two clean, perfect halves. She pulled herself forward and grabbed one half in each hand. For a second that the halves were hung, a stone dropped out and tapped along the ground.
It rolled in place, stopping and facing Kairi with the inscription of a pair of angelic wings safeguarding a person upon it.
"I-Is this a...D-Drive...?" Before she took a look at she felt something odd about the broken headband. Her thumbs rubbed up against the side of the plates and gently pushed the fabric up. It wasn't something like a minor tear either. By putting a little more effort into it, more of the cloth could be lifted up.
And underneath, the two halves of the headband had something written on them. With her hands still shaking from a combination of pain and rage it took Kairi a moment to piece the two together to make a complete sentence.
"You have always been my light shining brightly in the darkest sea. I may not be the mother you've always wanted, but you have always been the daughter I needed. And you never had to prove that to me. Sincerely, your loving mother...Auris Aurora."
"Mo...mom...?" Kairi curled her bottom lip and her eyes started to swell with tears. A message on the headband. An Aurian Drive hidden within. Both of these gifts delivered to her in what was about to be her darkest hour.
Kairi brought the cloth on the headband to her eyes to dry the tears that flowed constantly down her face. The voices surrounding her saw differently what was happening to her at that moment.
"R-Run Kairi! Get out of here while you still c-can...AAGHH!" Mew tried to resist Gravitus' power but the man tightened down, then turned his attention towards his child.
"You will stand. And you will show me your power."
These were noises that were easily drowned out. Alone, Kairi floated in her subconscious. There was nothing but darkness, and silence.
"What am I supposed to do?"
"I can't do it."
"I'm not worthy."
"I'm a screw-up."
"Shina...help..."
"...Ah." Kairi pulled the headband away from her face, the cloth now soaked with her tears. She turned it around, and saw her big sister's broken reflection on the metal plate.
"...After all this time...I still keep asking you to help me," One tear trickled down her cheek as she raised her head away from the headband and felt she was staring out into the darkness, "But...you aren't here anymore."
A light no bigger than her pinky pierced the endless darkness, calling to Kairi with the gentle sound of wind chimes. Her knees pushed off the ground and her hands pointed down, with the headband sliding off onto the ground.
"But just because you aren't here in person...Doesn't mean that you're gone." Kairi stood on her feet and started to walk past the headband. Memories of her time with her mother and Shina passed her by as phantoms, while the light at the end grew bigger and brighter.
"All the memories I have...Is the proof that our time together was real. That you loved me...A-And I loved you." Kairi's feet kicked up the pace, the memories passing her as blurs in the wind.
"And...I understand now. That that's all I ever needed to keep going forward. All this time, I thought you had abandoned me...But you never did, did you? You, mom, Gabriel...M-Mew...Even if you're not at my side, you will always be a part of me."
A shadow of Shina's visage stood between Kairi and the bright passageway at the end. Without pausing to blink, Kairi held her right hand out and pushed right past the shadow. For a brief moment, the shadow closed their eyes and wore a proud smile as she stood back-to-back with her little sister.
Kairi bit her teeth down, her heart fluttering as the light ahead began to wash right over her.
"And that's why..." She opened her tear-dripped eyes as wide as she could. The shadow behind her turning to light and attaching as faint wings on her back.
"I'm finally ready to stand on my own two feet!"
Kairi widened her eyes as she snapped back into reality. She looked around, her eyes now dried of tears and her body feeling light as a feather. She looked down at the ground and found that she was standing up with her arms crossed before her waist and one hand covering her bracelet.
She stared at her hand and slowly peeled it back. The Aurian Drive hidden within the headband was now on it, a glinted streak of white swiping over it for a brief moment.
Kairi's body was trembling. The pain of the last two years now felt like a shadow that she had cast off her body and left in the darkness where it truly belonged. All that was left was her, and the man responsible for all that pain.
"Gravitus...!" She swung her head up and gnashed her teeth at the iron-clad tyrant as he stood with a smirk plastered over his slimy face.
"A second Aurian Drive..." Gravitus' smile turned into a grin as he uttered in splendid glee, "Auris, you crafty minx..."
"That's right Gravitus. This is...!" Kairi thrust her arms out before her waist and slammed down on her new power without hesitation, "My Angel Drive!"
A bright white light exploded out of the Drive and covered Kairi's body in a chrysalis of aura. Her cap was blown off and her hair untied itself. The light lasted mere seconds but captivated Mew with an agape look of shock and awe.
"K-Kairi...?" He stuttered as the veil was unraveled and Kairi stood there, transformed.
She now wore a white silk, buttonless blouse with sleeves ending under the armpits. White metallic feathers adorned her shoulders and wrapped around to her chest, which was covered by a thin protective plate. A knee-length white skirt with a green trim around the bottom was kept in place thanks to a leather belt with the headband's plate adorned on the center. A green cloth sash wrapped over her shoulders and levitated in place. Her legs were protected by leather grieves with tight green velcro straps.
When Kairi opened her eyes her irises were full of white light, and a flash of six angelic wings appeared around her back. She stood tall and swung her body to the right, summoning her staff straight into her hand.
Gravitus' grin turned upright as he murmured with ecstasy, "Yes. This is more like it. You are the one."
"That's right you bastard...!" Kairi thrust her staff out alongside her waste and proclaimed, "I am the one...who is going to kill you!"
"Kill me...?" Gravitus chuckled and tightened his hand around his scythe, his fingers cracking like bones, "You are still young. But you shall come to see things my way in due time, my daughter."
"You tormented my mother! You took my sister away from me!" Kairi steadied her body towards Gravitus and proclaimed at the top of her lungs, "You...ARE NOT MY FATHER!"
She lunged herself straight at her mortal enemy, who braced himself with little care shown in his posture...
Next Time: Crawling Darkness