Chapter Two: The Best Laid Plans…

London, on the first night of February…

One inky-black leg trod silently through the door to the balcony box, that compact throne room reserved for the most prestigious guests at the Royal Opera House, and then the rest of the shadow-man followed suit. Beady yellow eyes held their gaze on the silver-haired man a short distance away, his attention drawn to the performance below and his back completely turned. The blue-haired young woman beside him was likewise oblivious. And in the intruder's mind, he cursed the name of the wretch who first cursed him: Xehanort. He still appeared young and healthy after all these years, just as captive Vanitas informed him.

The encroaching figure of dark mist conformed to the build of a gentleman garbed in black attire fitting of his elite surroundings. His hair was long and ebony, his face adorned by a long, wire-thin moustache, and in place of a left hand, the appendage he drew from his coat pocket was an iron hook. Once in close enough proximity to his target, James Hook raised the bladed prosthetic overhead and swung down for the kill—

—only for "Xehanort" to bolt upright from his seat and turn to intercept the hook mid-fall, clutching what remained of the captain's wrist with one gloved hand and seizing his throat with the other. And when Hook saw the face of his strangler, he knew at once he'd been deceived.

"What?!" he choked, "You're not—!"

"Expecting somebody else?" Terra seethed.

Shoving his chair aside with one leg, platinum-haired Terra pressed forward in his hold on the assassin, forcing him to arch painfully backward. Hook tried breaking the grip on his throat with his free hand, but he hadn't counted on facing one as strong as this.

"Wh—ere is Xehanort?!"

Aqua had risen from her seat and joined Terra at his side. Even in the evening gown, she proved intimidating as ever when she chose to be. "The Master knew about your schemes and planned this for some time. As we speak, he and Ven should be commandeering your ship right about now."

Gagging in Terra's grip, Hook faced considerable difficulty calling on his dark powers to free him, though the panicked black wisps emanating from his body didn't go unnoticed. Aqua drew her Keyblade, Rainfell, and held the magically-charged edge only inches from his face.

"Don't bother," she said. "You'd be gone the second you tried. You've lost, Hook. And don't think we'll be through with you so quickly."

A decrepit smile formed on the Captain's mouth. "Don't count me out just yet, my dear. Do you really think I didn't come prepared for a turnaround like this?"

Concentrated on keeping their assassin-turned-captive powerless, Terra and Aqua never observed a duo of winged, jet-black Invisibles materializing on the verge of the balcony behind them, their swords drawn and their targets vulnerable. Only through honed intuition was Aqua startled at how easy this all seemed and turned with barely a moment to spare before the Heartless plunged their blades at the Keybearers. In that moment of panic, Aqua shrieked while instinct compelled her to raise her signature magic dome to guard against the assault. Had she responded even a fraction of a second sooner, the barrier wouldn't have formed around the Invisibles' swords, trapping the enemy weapons midway through the rapidly weakening shield and halting them only inches from Aqua's face.

"Aqua!" Terra turned his head to check on his friend. It wasn't often he heard her shriek. At the sight of the daunting Heartless purebloods and at how close he and Aqua came to dying just then, fear momentarily surged through him…

…Just enough for Hook to catch his breath and draw a flintlock pistol from his black overcoat. Terra snapped his attention back to the captain at hearing the gun primed and found himself staring down the loaded barrel. Hook pulled the trigger. Terra's blood splashed in the air.

"Terra!" Aqua cried again, fearing the worst as the Invisibles finally shattered the dome and went for the kill. At the echoing gunshot and the screams, panic swelled through the Opera House and many guests bellowed with terror and scrambled for the exits. Given the crowded state of the building and inconvenient nature of the rows of seats, the mass exodus would take a while.

But Terra had survived the gunshot. His quick reflexes cost him only a deep, jagged line of flesh running along the left underside of his jaw to the surface of his cheekbone. The bullet came dangerously close to his eye before it passed through the balcony's roof. And Aqua's own skill had saved her as well. As the magic dome was destroyed, she'd just as hastily used her Keyblade to parry the twin assailants' swords, but now she was left to battle them alone.

And Hook had fallen back-first onto the floor after Terra released him, but scrambled to his feet and, just as Terra tried to refocus his attention on the one who scarred him, the evil captain caught him again in a visceral uppercut with his hook-hand, bucking the Keybearer's head back and sending him bellowing down to the blood-stained carpet as he clutched at the fresh wound. He would be lucky if anything remained of his right eye.

Caught helplessly in the onslaught of the two Invisibles, Aqua knew she had no time for fear, for guilt—yet, being helpless to save her friend inspired those emotions within her regardless and her performance suffered for it. Hook fled for the still-closed door, gradually transforming to a figure of shadowy mass to cross through again, but after only one foot stepped into the other side and before his alteration was complete, he paused to seize the opportunity he'd been granted. Terra bleeding and powerless on the ground, Aqua distracted by the Invisibles and completely exposed from the back… If I can't have Xehanort, I'll take his kiddies instead!

And so the pirate summoned from a haze of darkness a volatile explosive wrapped as a present that hung on his hook. Terra caught sight of the captain's move and alarm had renewed his vigor. Face still dripping with blood, the silver-haired Keybearer leapt to his feet and called Earthshaker to his grip.

"No!" Terra furiously cried and a bolt of dark firaga shot from the edge of his Keyblade, to his shock—Is that…supposed to be fire?—and the captain's. The dark missile collided hard into Hook's face, launching him through the now-splintered door he once stood inside and against the wall of the hallway beyond just as the bomb was tossed. But though Terra's interference altered the trajectory enough to save himself, the bomb landed mere feet away from the dueling Aqua and the two Invisibles. A wave of dread overwhelmed the four in that final moment and, before Terra could so much as call his friend's name, that far half of the balcony exploded into flame and Aqua vanished from sight. The shockwave threw Terra against the back wall and left him disoriented for some time.

Then, it was Terra's turn to suffer the fear, the guilt of being helpless to save his best friend from the enemy they were meant to apprehend. When he came to, he shocked his remaining eye open and bolted for the charred edge of the balcony, using a wind spell to clear away the enveloping smoke. He gaped down the long two stories, searching for Aqua amid all the other casualties and what remained of the still-dispersing crowd.

"Aqua, please…" he continued to scan feverishly from the vantage point until he finally saw her, motionless, parts of her flesh scalded, and sprawled atop shattered seats, on the brink of death or already there, beside a dying Invisible still fading away (the other must have been obliterated on impact from the explosion). Terra thrust his Keyblade in her direction, "Heal!" and the ephemeral green light sparked atop Earthshaker and instantaneously enveloped the broken woman. In seconds, her breathing steadied and the severity of the burns she sustained diminished. He didn't have enough to mend the other casualties, let alone his own face, but if it meant saving Aqua, any price was worth it. Relieved, Terra wiped off some of the blood from his face to the gloves and sleeves of the tuxedo Xehanort had lent him, no longer concerned with the consequences of tarnishing them. He was prepared to leap down beside Aqua and carry her back home if need be, their mission a bitter half-success, were it not for the unexpected rustling behind him.

He turned to the splintered doorway and saw Hook struggling to return to his feet, his entire head scorched and his hair burned away, though his powers were attempting to restore him. The demon pirate shot every shred of malice through those baleful eyes and Terra returned with the only eye he had left, furiously clutching Earthshaker with a blood-soaked hand as the captain leveled his pistol once again.

"You bilge rat!"

He fired, but the bullet was parried aside by a swipe of the Keyblade. Hook gawked a moment at what Xehanort's apprentice was capable of, then squeezed the trigger again. Another effortless deflection.

Hatred swelled within the young Keybearer and he slowly approached his target. "I'm going to make you pay for what you've done here."

Another bullet fired and reflected.

"You dare to assume I'm responsible for this?!" Hook screeched, "Have you any idea what your master's done to me?!" He fired and again was denied. "Promised me an escape from my ageless prison, riches and treasure beyond belief in the Door to Darkness, only to leave me and me crew to die when we crossed the other side!" Once more he pulled the trigger and once more the bullet was intercepted by Earthshaker. "'Corridors to infinite worlds,' he said! 'Wealth greater than any mind could dream of!' And you know what we found?!" A sixth crack of lightning from the barrel repelled by the Keyblade and Hook scurried to reload. "Only living death! The Heartless cursed us and we became vessels for their blasted crusade! Neither living nor dead—only becoming slaves to darkness just like them, and all because of Xehanort!"

Hook finished and aimed the gun again, only for a concentrated beam of frost from Earthshaker to render the weapon useless in a case of ice. The gap between demi-Heartless and Keybearer became dangerously small. Hook took a moment to examine the young man before him—the silver hair, the tan skin…

Hook frowned. "He looks a lot like you."

With that, he slung the useless pistol at Xehanort's reflection. Terra only craned his neck to the side and the frozen projectile sailed right past as Hook fled into the hallway, hastened by dark powers. Terra snarled and dashed after him.

Two floors below, Aqua stirred from unconsciousness amid the rubble, sore, wounded, and unsure how she survived. Her eyes shot open and she bolted upright, ignoring the surging pain.

"Terra!"

She gaped at the devastated balcony where she last saw him, but he was far away, abandoning the opera house to pursue the target through streets of snow and cobblestone under a gloomy sky while he left her behind as collateral damage. She hadn't seen him leave. She didn't know he left. She wasn't even sure she saw him mobile right before the bomb. Already wounded as he was from the gunshot and the hook—is he even still alive?

Rainfell was still in her hand after all that. She looked to her side and saw the final remains of the dying Invisible beside her fade away into darkness. Amazing it took that long—Aqua pondered.

"Excuse me, Miss, are you alright?"

Aqua peered over her shoulder and saw a unit from Scotland Yard tending to the wounded caught in the destruction. One of the officers had rushed to her side.

"Just give me a second," Aqua groaned. "Heal," she mumbled weakly and the soft light emanated from Rainfell and restored her and those injured in near proximity. At once, the patients knew their health was returning—perhaps not completely, but just enough to stand again—and the policemen marveled at the sight. The Keybearer stood, never minding what minor abrasions remained, and stared longingly at the ruined balcony. She saw no emerald glow up there when Curaga was cast—it was a spell that only worked on the living. Please, Terra, get up…

A circlet of dark fire slowly fathomed about the Keybearer, a signature technique of a Heartless she'd become all too familiar with, and the civilians and policemen panicked at the strange happening. Aqua instantly assumed the battle-stance and raised the magic dome to repel the enclosing globes of flame. But the ring of dark fire proved only a distraction. While Aqua protected herself, the second Invisible—the one assumed obliterated on impact by the explosion, but clearly still existent—burst from the rubble and plunged its hand through a policeman's heart. The others shrieked, but their cries were silenced as the pureblood's sword seemed to gain a will of its own and ricocheted through the air, passing through the hearts of every officer and civilian in the small gathering. There were fifteen victims total. And as the flames around Aqua diminished, she was met with the gruesome spectacle of innocents being corrupted and contorted by dark energy until their hearts shattered and they became Heartless. Midway through their lives' end, the wounded Invisible stretched forth its hands and absorbed the still-transforming victims into its own being through a chaotic stream of shadowy tendrils connecting the pureblood to its prey.

As Aqua readied a defensive position and activated her armor (her formal dress both a hindrance and long since ruined), the Invisible, aided by the essences of those raptured, steadily transcended into a more powerful breed—an Orcus—and then continued to grow tremendously in size, its enhanced physique rippling with coursing red veins and emanating a volatile aura. The Giga Orcus hovered at three times its original stature, wielding a blade far more imposing than it once carried.

Momentarily awe-stricken at the unexpected magnitude of the Heartless, the armored Keybearer clenched her teeth—Guess Terra will just have to wait—and leapt into battle.

-Psst!- Notice anything familiar about Terra's facial wounds? ;)