A/N: So said chapter may or may not have been overly ambitious which led to me having to cut a few things down. This is still probably one of the longest chapters in this story though. Pretty much a pure action chapter here. Hope you enjoy!
Chapter 78
Battle of the Beasts
After being surrounded by nothing but white caps and ocean waves the entire night, a shivering Will and Astra were found in the safe hands of another ship. Climbing on board, they were led into the ship's cabin where they were set down and were both given a warm blanket and a cup of tea. The warm liquid ran through Astra's chest, warming her up.
"Strange to find a longboat out in open sea," the captain stated. He had introduced himself as Bellamy.
"What time is it? Where are we?" Will questioned.
"You're on the Edinburgh Trader. Time is…" Bellamy looked to the clock mounted on the wall. "12:38 PM."
"A full twelve hours then," Astra said before lifting the cup to her mouth again. Jones most definitely would have known about their escape by now.
Will's eyes scanned the room before settling on something. "Where did you get that dress?"
"Funny, that dress. We found it aboard the ship. The crew thought it to be some omen of ill-fate. Gave them quite a stir," Bellamy answered. Astra looked up to see a golden wedding dress lifted up by a hanger in the corner. With all its layers and beads, the word excessive came immediately to Astra's mind.
"That's foolish," Will replied. He stood up and walked over to the dress, taking the sleeve into his hand.
"Aye, well, the saying goes that bad luck happens when a woman is on board. The woman's wrath it's called." Bellamy eyed Astra as if he had been speaking mainly to her.
"Sorry, I forgot to bring mine with me," Astra joked. She was honestly too cold to be angry right now and after sleeping on uncomfortable wood and in such a small space for hours, she was just about ready to fall asleep in a place more comfortable.
"Aye, on the contrary, it brought rather good luck. The spirit led us to Tortuga where we made quite a bit of profit there… off the books," Bellamy whispered the last part.
Before Astra could reply, a man burst into the cabin, breathing heavily. "Captain, a ship's been spotted. She's not flying any colors, sir."
"Speak of the devil. Pirates!" Bellamy looked from Astra to Will before exiting the cabin along with the sailor.
Will looked at Astra with worry etched on his features. "You don't think…"
"We've put them in danger," Astra realized. She threw the blanket off and stormed through the door with Will following in tow. Astra went around the other sailors and climbed up onto the yardarm to get a better look. The Flying Dutchman was off in the distance, slowly approaching them. How had it even managed to catch up with them though? How did it know where they were? As much as Astra wanted to believe it was some coincidence that it was heading this way, she knew it wasn't.
The ship suddenly jolted to a complete stop, throwing Astra of her balance. She slipped from the beam she was on but held on with both hands and lifted herself back up. She carefully made her way back down onto the deck and found Will.
"What just happened?" she asked him.
"No idea."
"We may have just hit a reef," Bellamy said. He peered over the rail and looked into the ocean. The ocean's calm blue was the last thing he ever saw. Mayhem emerged out of the water in the form of a tentacle, wrapping itself Bellamy before pulling him into the water along with it.
There was bedlam among the ship crew, who scattered, trying to escape as the army of tentacles rose from the ocean and cut off their escapes before taking hold of them. Legs, arms, torso, neck, nothing was off limits to the creature as it thrashed about with its many tentacles.
Astra felt her body being spun around as someone grabbed her shoulders. "RUN! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE. IT'S THE KRAKEN!"
Astra didn't even have a chance to fully absorb what he was telling her. No sooner had the sailor taken his hands of her had a tentacle swooped in and lifted him into the air. The tentacle let go and the man flew into the air before falling once more. His head smacked against the railing right in front of her as he bounced of the ship and landed in the water. A glimmer of crimson on the railing was the only sign he had even been in front of her just a second ago.
Astra's hands were placed in front of her, unresponsive to her wants and needs. She had to get away, she knew that but… she had never seen this before. All her Keyblade training had prepared her fighting Heartless, fighting the darkness. Even worse, training with a Keyblade didn't prepare you for the grief involved when you failed. In the face of death, none of that training mattered. It all seemed to fly out of the window of her mind all at once and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't recall it. What she was feeling right now, this lack of control over her body, the feeling of her body becoming heavier… this was fear. She had failed in her responsibilities to protect the people in this world, and the guilt was crushing her.
Maybe… maybe I'm not prepared to go solo just yet, Astra thought. It was almost like she was seeing everything play out in slow motion, seeing the tentacle rise up from the sea in front of her, its tip aiming straight for her. Move. Move, you idiot. Luna, help me.
A hand took her and dragged her over just as the tentacles smashed into the ships' cabin, tearing into it. She looked up to see Will fending off a tentacle with the swing of his sword. She had never realized it until now but Will was actually a rather good sword fighter.
"You alright?" Will asked, after the tentacle retreated back into the water.
"It was just a bit of a shock. I'm fine now," Astra said, summoning her Keyblade. She held onto it tightly, afraid that she may drop it at any second. The tentacle that tore through the cabin emerged on their side and attempted to attack them but Astra aimed her Keyblade and cast Fire. The tentacle caught a flame before shrivelling up and dying in front of her. That at least gave her some confidence that she could make it out of this alive. The tentacle sloppily slithered back over the railing and into the sea and so did the other tentacles it seemed, leaving the ship in complete silence.
"Are they gone?" Astra asked, perhaps too hopefully.
"I wouldn't count on it," Will said. He soon proved to be right, as two giant tentacles cast shadows over the ship as it rose in the sky, blocking out the sun in the process.
"Oh crap," Astra mouthed as the tentacles came down on the ship. The Edinburgh Trader split in two from the impact, wood and splinters flying in every direction. Astra and Will felt themselves being thrown backwards and over the railing, landing in the cold water below. Other than Will floating next to her, an entirety of blue surrounded her. A huge silhouette over her head caused her to look upwards. The Flying Dutchman had arrived to assess the condition of its prey.
On their way to their destination, Luna, Donald and Goofy came across another person who claimed to be connected to Will. Jack was the one to introduce her to them—Elizabeth Swann, a daughter of the governor of Port Royal and was also engaged to Will before she and Will were arrested by the East India Company. It was through this that they came to a conclusion about Will's ulterior motive. He had been on board the Black Pearl in order to retrieve the compass and probably also Jones' chest for Beckett. This was in exchange for his and Elizabeth's pardoning.
"Luna, didn't you say that Astra met with one those guys in that group? You don't think she knew about it, do you?" Donald asked.
"What are you saying, Donald? Astra wouldn't keep that a secret. She wouldn't…" Luna looked off in the distance, unsure of how confident she was about them. The first time they met here, Astra went off with Will to talk about something in private. When Luna had asked her about it, she simply evaded the question and moved onto something else. Astra's hidden agenda… was she really planning on giving the chest to Beckett?
Luna approached Elizabeth with a look of worry. "You know Will, right? What would he do in this situation? Would he really hand the chest over?"
"Will is no Jack so I'm sure he'd do the right thing," Elizabeth replied, making quite sure that Jack heard her.
"I'm flattered, truly," Jack told her. Elizabeth looked down at the compass Jack had given her soon after they had boarded the Pearl in Tortuga and snapped it shut almost like she were angry with it for some reason.
She looked up at him questioningly. "Why doesn't your compass work?"
Astounded by this question, Jack raised a brow. "What do you mean? Of course it works. Look just there." He pointed at a small shape in the distance that looked like hills. "Isla Cruces. Just a little more and we'll be there."
"You know the place?" Luna asked.
Gibbs stepped in here. "Aye, most pirates do from stories. No one's ever dared travel on the island though. It's known as a plague island. You see, the Church once came to this island bringing along what it claimed to be salvation for the inhabitants. Real missionary stuff. Instead what it brought with it was disease and death. The entire island fell to the plague and the priest, unable to bear the guilt and loneliness that came with their deaths, hung himself in his despair."
"That's dark..." Luna replied, suddenly feeling quite uneasy. She could understand now why Davy Jones would choose this place of all places to hide his most sacred treasure. Who would dare attempt to trespass on such a location with a terrible history attached to it, much less anyone who believed in curses?
"Better lonely than dead, mate," Jack muttered with a slightly saddened expression, causing the whole group to look at him. Luna was not entirely sure she agreed with him but wasn't really sure she had it in her to oppose him either.
Instead she asked him, "Why do you think that?"
"Because dead men tell no tales," Jack replied.
The ship eventually came to a dead stop just outside the outer reef of the lagoon. Luna, Donald, Goofy, Elizabeth and Jack took to the longboat, also accompanied by Balthier and Fran who were carrying shovels for digging. Once again like the last time with the monkey, Jack had brought along something strange with him, this time a glass jar. It was anyone's guess what he intended to do with it, but they silently decided to not pursue the matter.
The boat soon hit the sandy beaches of Isla Cruces. Elizabeth immediately went to work, using the compass to locate where the treasure would be. Balthier spotted the church in the distance and pointed it out to Luna and Fran.
"For an island once plagued, at least the weather's nice," he commented. "Tell me, Luna, what do you plan to do with this chest after you find it?"
"I don't really need it. Plus, it's not like we can open the chest without the key anyway," Luna answered.
"Oh, come now, you can be a little more creative than that. You've been wielding a giant key all this time and you've never once thought to yourself that your Keyblade might work on the chest? Are you sure that Keyblade is yours?" Balthier teased.
"Oh! Hey, you're right. Maybe we don't need the other key," Luna said.
"That is what I said. And just maybe a certain hungry pirate who happens to be a few ways off from us also suspects this, yes?"
Luna sneaked a quick glance at Jack who also searching the beach although Luna couldn't really tell what he was thinking. She had enough on her mind wandering about Astra and now she had to think about the possibility of Jack bringing her along just to have her use the Keyblade for him. So was she supposed to be angry? She wasn't. It may have seemed like something to be angry about but for her it didn't matter. Even if she had been used, she was still getting to see more of the world. She had seen neither hide nor hair of the Heartless since she had first arrived in this world, so in some strange sense, being used didn't seem as bad to her if she still got to tag along anyway.
"If that's all he wants then so be it. I'm enjoying my time out here. Like you said, the weather's lovely," Luna replied, flashing them a smile.
"Just so long as you are made aware of the reason you might be here. It's best not to turn a blind eye to these things. You never know when someone might stab you in the back," Balthier said. She guessed he must have been speaking from past experience.
"As long as I'm here, I don't need a reason," Luna said with an absent minded smile playing on her lips. That was right. She didn't need a reason so long as someone gave her one. Because of this, she was fine with being used. In fact, she enjoyed it…
I… enjoy it?
Her eyes widened in horror as the thought crossed her mind. Why had she thought that? No, she was NOT fine with being used. Her existence wasn't defined purely by other people. What had caused her to think like that? No, what she had meant by her words to Balthier was- What she had meant to say was- What she had meant was- WHATSHEHADMEANTWHATSHEHADMEANTWHATSHEHADMEANTWHATSHEHADMEANTWHATSHEHADMEANTWHATSHEHADMEANTWHATSHEHADME-
"Luna, are you alright?" Fran asked, shaking her shoulder over and over again. Luna snapped out of it and looked at them in confusion. She didn't know how to describe what had happened. It was like her brain had just completely fried for… she didn't know how long.
"W-what happened?" Luna asked, feeling a slight headache coming on.
"You looked like a zombie for a moment there. It was quite the performance, had I not known it was real," Balthier explained. "Best for you to sit on the boat and wait for us if you're not feeling well. Or treat it as a vacation and enjoy a nice relaxing bathe in the sun. The choice is yours."
"Thanks but I'm fine. It won't happen again, I promise," Luna assured them. Neither looked all too convinced but before they could object and push further for Luna to rest, they heard Jack call to them, waving his arms up and down like a child.
"Found it! Time to start digging, you two."
"Yes, sir," Balthier mumbled under his breath. He gave a knowing look to Luna before leaving with Fran to dig in the spot Jack was pointing at. Luna actually took their advice and sat down next to Donald and Goofy, closing her eyes but sitting upright so as not to get sand in her hair.
It was another few minutes before she opened her eyes, the sound of metal hitting against iron unmistakable to her ears. She stood up and observed as Jack and Balthier lifted about a foot high chest from its pit and onto the sand. So this was the Dead Man's Chest, decorated with a pearl the shape of a heart on its surface but otherwise giving off every bit the vibe Luna expected from a chest belonging to Davy Jones.
"May this be the one treasure to eclipse them all?" Balthier asked.
"Hey, do you hear that?" Goofy asked. He pressed his ear against the box, withdrawing it soon after. "Yup! Everyone, come close!"
Luna leaned in and listened, her eyes widening the second she heard the thumping and beating known only to a heart. There was no irregular rhythm or anything like that. It beat just like any human's.
"So it's true then. It's really true…" Donald said, completely astounded. Luna could understand Donald's reaction. Even when told about it, there had been a part of her who hadn't really believed it to be true.
"Of course it is. Did you think we'd come all this way just to chase daisies?" Jack asked.
"With you, Jack, that wouldn't be much of a surprise."
Luna looked up at the surprise voice to see Will walking up to them from the shore, his clothes wet and heavy resulting in his bigger strides than normal. Along with him, and much to Luna's elation, was Astra whose sights never left Luna even as she and Elizabeth ran up to the two waterlogged newcomers.
"Thank you, thank you so much," Luna said into Astra's chest as they hugged.
"You know at this point I'd tease you by calling you Sea Salt but I think that description fits me more this time," Astra said with a chuckle. "Don't tell me you're crying, Luna."
"It's just… I thought that I would never see you again. I was so desperate that I almost tried to cause a mutiny on Jack's ship just to find the Flying Dutchman," Luna told her.
"Well, look who's got a little naughty side to them? I mean, I can't say I wouldn't do the same for you. Still, I'm glad you didn't go through with it. I told you I'd be fine, though we did run into a few complications," Astra said.
"What kind of complications?" Luna asked, adopting the look of a worrying mother.
"Oh, you know, a tentacle here, a tentacle there. It's a long story full of tentacles," Astra said, quickly moving to tickle Luna's vulnerable sides.
"Oh, no, stop!" A squirming Luna wheezed out in between laughs. Astra soon dropped her attack, leaving Luna to breathe for a few seconds. Elizabeth looked at her and smiled. Luna returned it with a grin sporting embarrassment.
The loud clearing of the throat made them all look Jack's way. "As much as I welcome a nice little reunion, I'd be interested to know how you two got here."
"The turtles, mate. Strapped a few to our feet to get us all the way here," Will said in a mocking tone.
"Ah, not very easy now, is it?" Jack said, he was about to turn back to the chest when Will continued.
"You know, I must say that even you sent Astra and I to the Dutchman purely to settle your own debt with Jones, I have to thank you nonetheless," Will said.
"You what?" Elizabeth left Will's side and walked up to Jack. "You told me he was captured."
"He's not wrong technically. We were captured… because of Jack," Astra said. "But at least Will got to meet his father because of it."
"Oh. You're welcome," Jack said with a warm smile. Astra summoned her Keyblade and walked past Luna, aiming it at the chest only for Jack to get in the way. "What are you doing?"
"This chest is now property of Moira's Crescent. I'm taking it with me," Astra said.
"Huh? Astra?" Luna called out in surprise.
Astra looked back at her and smiled. "Luna, you have to trust me on this. KRONOS… they need to pay and I'm going to use Davy Jones to do it. I'll have them destroy themselves from the inside."
"But how do you know Jones will listen?" Jiminy asked from Goofy's shoulder.
"He'll have to, if he wants to keep his position as captain of the Flying Dutchman. Don't you see? I've been thinking of a way to kill him all this time, but we don't need to. We just have to make him feel fear."
The chain of events that followed seemed almost humorous to Luna but instead just left her mouth hanging open in disbelief. Jack drew his sword and pointed it at Astra.
"I can't let you do that, Astra. You see the only way of calling off Jones' little pet beastie is if I have something to bargain with," he said. "William, hand me the key."
"I would but there's just one problem, Jack," Will said before drawing his own sword, keeping it trained on the pirate. "Astra made the better deal."
"I promised him I'd give him back the chest once I was done with it. If it means saving lives, I'm done playing the nice girl. I won't let anyone else get hurt," Astra said.
"Anyone else?" Luna repeated softly, but her voice was drowned out by the clangs of blades hitting one another. The sound of a gunshot seemed to bring everyone back to reality. They all turned to see Balthier pointing a flintlock pistol at them.
"All come back down to earth, have we?" Balthier asked.
Finally, a voice of reason, Luna thought.
"Now see here, that chest must surely be worth more than a pretty penny. Therefore, it's only fitting I acquire it instead. What's the old adage? Once a space pirate, always a space pirate?" Balthier finished.
Or not.
In this time, Jack fished the chest into his arms when no one was looking and took off for the jungle. His actions were enough to stun Astra, Will and Balthier for only a short while before they soon gave chase after him.
"Oh, that's just mature. Yes, just go and leave us here while you haul out your swords and start banging away at each other, because that will solve everything! Oh, but don't bother listening to my opinion!" Elizabeth screamed at the top of her lungs, kicking at the sand in front of her.
"Boys and their toys," Fran said.
"You're not wrong. Astra's basically a tomboy," Luna replied. "You're not going after him?"
Fran smiled. "Let them fight. I'll take this opportunity for a nice break. It annoys me less that way."
Luna grinned at her and turned to Donald and Goofy. Her smile faded instantly, not at Donald and Goofy obviously but at the person behind them.
"Donald, Goofy, get away!" Luna yelled. The two peered behind them and jumped in surprise before summoning their weapons. Fran also took out her bow. "It's you… Gigglymesh."
"GILGAMESH! How hard is it to remember a name?" the man yelled back in annoyance. He summoned two swords, not like the ones he had been using when they had last fought. "I've been waiting for this. After all these years of searching, the Keyblade will finally be mine. I don't care how many of your friends I have to cut through to get to you. Your weapon is mine!"
"Luna, you know this person?" Fran asked.
"Unfortunately," Luna said. Her hands found her pocket where two small syringe needles were placed. She had two chances to take him out, though she would rather only do it on the first try in case there was another Chimera nearby. She summoned the Dream Seeker instead and looked at Elizabeth. "Make sure Will and the others are alright. If you can somehow get the chest back to get them to stop fighting, even better."
"Okay, be careful," Elizabeth said to all four of them before following after the others. Gilgamesh wasted no time in sprinting forward. His arms and legs became more hind-like and furry as he went on all fours before pouncing at Luna.
"They're just up ahead!" Lea yelled. He switched between his chakrams and Keyblade as he, Riku, Kairi and Max cut through the Heartless that had ambushed them in the woods. Kairi flew forward and jumped from one enemy to another striking them with one hit and clearing the rest of the way to the Mansion.
They advanced forward to the Mansion entrance, only to stop just short of the gates. Pete was standing in front of them, a smug look on his face.
Riku stepped forward almost casually and countered Pete's grin with his own. "KRONOS is finished, Pete. We know every single member in your group thanks to the data from Syndrome's computer. Once we're done with you, we're going after whoever else is in that mansion."
"And we'll get back what you took from us," Lea added. "Or you can spare yourself the pain and hand over Roxas and Xion right now."
"Sorry, but I'm under strict orders from Kefka not to let nobody into this here mansion. If you want through here you're gonna have to go through my buddies here. Oh come out, Heartless!" Pete yelled, backing away as he did so. Kairi looked up as a pair of Heartless jumped off the mansion's roof and landed in front of Pete. She recognized them as the two Chimera she and Riku had fought back in Atlantis, the Lamia and the Nekomata. They were fairy tale creatures if Kairi had ever seen one, but they were not out of some picture book. She had vivid memories of her grandmother reading to her tales about such creatures of darkness being driven away by powerful lights. She would confront them now not through imagination, but through battle.
"We have to thank you, Pete. And here I thought we'd be looking everywhere for these two," she said. She pulled out one of the three syringes and showed them to Lea. "I need to get close enough to use them on those two."
"Ah, you get the easy job, I see," Lea said, pretending to feel hurt.
"I wouldn't call trying to get close 'easy'. Just keep them distracted long enough and I'll see what I can do," Kairi replied.
The Lamia slithered in, a group of Heartless appearing behind her. Max knocked the Heartless back while Riku and Lea split off, the former handling the Lamia while the other handled the Nekomata. The Lamia spit out what looked like venomous gobs of spit at her opponent. Riku quickly evaded the attacks but the green grass was not so lucky, drying up upon impact.
"Kairi, any time now!" Riku begged as the Lamia's mouth enclosed around the Way to the Dawn. Riku moved around and pushed back with both hands, releasing his Keyblade from the Chimera's grip in the process.
"Well maybe if you kept it still for a moment, I'd be able to do it," Kairi said through gritted teeth. She switched focus and watched as Lea had abandoned his Keyblade and, in its place, had begun wrestling with the Nekomata. He pulled his weight and lifted it into the air before throwing both him and it to the ground. The Nekomata reached out and dug its nails into Lea's back. He winced and closed his eyes for a moment but otherwise looked to Kairi to tell her he was ready.
Kairi hurried forward and danced through the wave of Heartless that were standing between her and Lea. She took out a final trio of Neoshadows in her way with Thundaga magic before quickly taking out the syringe needle and jabbing it into the Nekomata's neck underneath Lea's arm. The cat-like human's tail moved in a way that seemed like it was acting completely of its own will and struck Kairi's chest, sending her back a few feet. It retracted its claws from Lea's back and began clutching its own head.
Lea backed away and eventually found himself under Kairi. She gave him a firm nod and proceeded to heal his back with Curasa. The long slashes, a deep red in color, quickly closed up, as if they had never happened in the first place. And to think, if she had been in Alexander with Sora when he had been attacked by the Moira's Crescent member, she could have at least erased some of the scars that had formed on his body. The benefit of such high level magic was that it worked best when the wound inflicted was more recent. Of course, that meant that the magic could also be weak the longer the period between the wound and the casting. She was glad that Rapunzel's hair had been able to reverse Sora's wounds where she was unable to.
"Are you trying to get yourself killed? If you die here, you won't get a chance to rescue Roxas and Xion," Kairi told him as she lifted her hands off his back.
"Good point. Maybe I was being a just a little hasty back there but it worked didn't it?" Lea asked.
"Just a little, huh? How complacent," Kairi said. She turned away from him and watched with stilled breath as the Nekomata screamed out in pain. She felt sorry for it, but there was no known way that she could possibly ease its suffering. The lesser Heartless stopped attacking and looked at one another in a panicked state. Kairi had also learned from Luna about Even's current theory on the link between the Heartless and Chimera. Applying his analogy here, the Heartless, or soldier ants, were currently witnessing their mother, the queen ant, in pain. They were learning empathy, learning to evolve into something more, and Kairi had no idea nor did she want to know what the final outcome of that would be.
The Nekomata's tail soon shrunk out of existence and the claws soon followed. The skin became less and less blue until what remained was a fair skinned girl with strawberry blonde hair.
"Lea, get her to safety. I'll help Riku," Kairi said. Lea wasted no time in picking up the unconscious girl and carrying her into the woods. Pete, who had been giving them a scathing look the entire time, attempted to stop them but Max threw a shield at him. The spinning weapon struck Pete in the head and he immediately went stiff, falling backwards after a delay.
"No offence, Pete, but I've always wanted to do that. That one's for dad," Max said.
"Eyes to the front, junior," Riku stopped to remind him.
"Oh. Sorry," Max apologized nervously before focusing on taking out the remaining Heartless. Riku spun around and reflected the Lamia's venomous spit right back at it with a dark shield. This seemed to stun the Lamia for a moment.
"You know, you really have to stop and wonder when your opponent isn't resistant against its own attacks," Riku said. The chimera seemed to soon shake out of its paralysis and moved in when Riku was looking at Kairi. It wrapped itself around Riku and constricted, trying to crush its prey.
Kairi summoned the Keyblade and cut through the Heartless on her way to the screaming Riku. She quickly pulled out the syringe and was about to bring it down when the Lamia spun and released Riku, sending him crashing into Kairi.
"What happened to 'eyes to the front'?" Kairi groaned underneath Riku.
"Oh, shut it," Riku said, rolling off of her. Kairi tried to get back up and was only just barely on her feet when the Lamia slithered over to her within seconds and spit out another tract of fluid.
It all happened so instantaneously that Kairi, or any normal person for that matter, would have been incapable of reacting for a good while. Riku moved quickly and pushed Kairi aside just as the fluid was ejected, soaking him in the green liquid. His features began to turn pale and he looked over to Kairi, fear in his eyes. He opened his mouth but nothing came out. Nothing could come out. Before she knew it, Kairi was staring at a stone version of her previously living friend.
"Riku!" Kairi yelled. She extended her hand out even though she knew it wouldn't do a single worth of good. She called his name out again, but the statue remained unresponsive. How had this happened? They were doing so well and now this? The worst part was that she didn't even have time to grieve. The Lamia was fast approaching her. She raised her hand in front of her face to block though she knew it would do no good.
Max lunged forward and smashed his shield into the Lamia's body, knocking the creature away. He reached out and helped Kairi up before turning his back.
"I know it's difficult but we have to see this through to the very end, Kairi. Now's not the time to falter," Max said.
"I know I shouldn't but… we only got as far as we did because of Riku. I've said some pretty inconsiderate things to him over the past few days. We argued… a lot. But he was the strongest of us," Kairi said tearfully. "It's only when I'm standing here without those two that I realize I don't know what to do."
"Are you sure about that? I know... I could never be as strong as you guys, but that's okay. What's important isn't that I am strong but that I feel strong. Meet your own expectations first, then work even harder rather than trying to meet others' expectations. That's what dad told me the night before we left. So you can cry if you have to, but let it make you more determined. We have friends to rescue," Max said. Kairi felt pretty silly next to him. Wasn't she meant to be mentoring him and not the other way around?
Kairi wiped a tear from her cheeks and nodded. "Yes. I'll do what I can. Thank you, Max."
Max nodded before turning his attention back on the remaining Heartless. He performed a hurricane spin, taking out the four Neoshadows that were approaching them. Kairi smiled and ran forward. The Lamia lunged at her at the same time but she sidestepped to the left and lifted it into the air with an uppercut. Kairi backflipped away and flicked her wrist back and forth, keeping the Lamia suspended in the air with Thundaga. Waves of built up heat and energy fostered through the air like ripples. She jumped up quickly and brought her Keyblade down on her stunned opponent, knocking back to the ground.
Kairi pulled out the syringe needle and jabbed it in quickly, making sure the liquid had completely left the glass before pulling it out.
She backed away and smiled at Max. "You know, I do feel pretty strong right now."
"That's the spirit," Max said. With all of the lesser Heartless taken care of, he was left to watch over Pete who had yet to gain consciousness. Kairi supposed that was another KRONOS member successfully captured, though at the cost of losing Riku. She looked at the statue for a moment, wondering if Riku was still somewhere in there. She couldn't lose hope just yet. Perhaps Yen Sid knew of some way to bring him back to normal.
The sound of a human's groan sent Kairi looking in the direction of the Chimera. She anxiously waited for the Lamia to transform into whatever it had once been. The Chimera's reptilian tail began to take the shape of two separate legs and the body shrunk in general until it became that of a child's. It discomforted Kairi somewhat, knowing that she had just attacked a child, though she may not have been one at the time. She knelt down beside the young girl and rested her hair on her arms.
Luna shuffled backwards as Gilgamesh swung his swords wildly at her. His moves were rather reckless in nature, not that it mattered since Luna was unable to find any opportunity to attack by herself. Fran fired off several quick rounds of arrows from her bow but Gilgamesh turned to cut through them. Goofy threw his shield at the same time, but in a motion unparalleled by most humans, Gilgamesh's arms moved in a swift blur and knocked the shield away.
Luna slashed downwards but Gilgamesh guarded it with his other hand. She quickly ducked underneath their weapons and held crunched her hand up. She concentrated her mana into her fist and drove it forward into Gilgamesh's body armor. Gilgamesh tried to bring his elbow onto her head but him arms went up instead after Donald's well-timed Magnet magic. Luna's fist pushed forward until cracks in the armor started to appear. After a few more seconds, the punch broke through, shattering the armor. Luna jumped back with a victorious grin on her face and gave a thumbs up to Donald.
"Heh, heh, you are every bit the warrior I anticipated. I have to commend you on your skills… and for freeing me of my restraints," Gilgamesh said.
"Freeing you?" Donald repeated with a sceptical look. Gilgamesh parted his feet and tensed up before roaring out loud. Two more pairs of arms appeared underneath his first two, both wielding different swords.
"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me," Luna said.
"Luna!" Fran called to her, gesturing her over with her head. Luna walked around Gilgamesh while keeping her eyes on him and stopped near Fran. She whispered, "I have a plan. We lure him into the jungle and deal with him there."
"Good idea, the beach might be too open. We need to slow down his movements somehow, right?" Luna whispered back.
Fran nodded aimed her bow. "I'll follow your lead. He is after you, after all."
"Thanks for reminding me," Luna said sarcastically, before taking off into a run. She could hear growls and snarls coming from behind her, meaning that Gilgamesh must have transformed into his wolf form to chase after her. Luna glanced behind her and threw a Blizzaga at the ground, creating a wall of Ice. Gilgamesh stopped just short of the wall only to be hit by an arrow from Fran. He snarled at her and ran around the ice wall, continuing on his way to Luna.
By this point, Luna had made enough distance between them to focus on where she was going. The church that they had seen from the beach was her destination though she wasn't sure how much help it would do. She would figure that much out when she got there as she did with any other plan.
She weaved in between trees, listening to the sounds of Donald's magic and Fran's arrows flying through the air. She finally arrived at a green open field where the church was, or where it used to be, at least. Only a ramshackle building remained with most of its roofing broken in and moss growing in between the bricks. To the right of where the entrance had once been was a watermill. Luna couldn't see any water nearby so she assumed it must have dried up a while ago.
"And here I thought you would give me a challenge." Hearing his voice, Luna spun around to see Gilgamesh in his human form. He reached for his side and pulled the arrow out, disposing of it after. He raised his arms up and looked up to the sky. "Aaaahhhh, now that's the stuff. You have to feel pain every now and then, don't you think? Makes you feel alive. It's just unfortunate it lasts so short due to the Chimera's healing properties. Of course, you've been running from the pain for a while now, haven't you?"
"None of your concern," Luna answered. She turned her back and ran towards the church. If he wanted to believe that she was running, she would let him. She ran over to the watermill and climbed up to the top before jumping for the church entrance's roof. As soon as one of her feet touched the ground, the roof broke in and her leg fell in.
Gilgamesh laughed and ran one of his swords against the other in the adjacent arm. "We can take as long as we need too. I'm in no hurry."
Luna lifted her trapped leg up and down for a moment before watching as Gilgamesh climbed up the watermill. The support connecting the mill to the church suddenly broke, the wheel beginning to turn as it rolled away from the building. Determined to catch Luna, Gilgamesh leapt off the departing watermill. Just before his feet touched the roof, Luna pulled her leg out and jumped down. The roof, unable to support the force Gilgamesh had exerted on it, gave in entirely, taking him down with it. Luna wasted no time in pulling out the syringe she had and stabbed it into his chest.
"Argh!" Gilgamesh gave a mighty roar. He violently swung his arm, catching Luna in the face and knocking her away. He pulled the syringe out and looked at it before crying out, "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO ME?"
"You're human. You're on the same playing field as the rest of us. Just try and play holier than thou now," Luna said. From what Even had told her and the others, the new drug he had created was different from the previous in that the first used antibodies to target viruses within the body. The problem with that was that the Heartless coding and human coding were so well intertwined that it could potentially take out more than just the Heartless side. The new drug, still using Luna's blood, was an inhibitor which prevented the Heartless 'gene' from taking dominance. The host was technically still part Heartless but Even suggested further that because the body saw the Heartless 'gene' as having no use, it would eventually stop working and die out completely. Luna had to admit, for an incredibly creepy guy, Even was pretty smart.
Gilgamesh pushed the rubble off him and stood up albeit clumsily. He lunged forward at her only to stop and look down at his feet. The syringe had done its job.
Gilgamesh growled. "You'll pay for that!"
He advanced forward and swung forward again and again, alternating with each of his six swords. Luna backed away from each swing and deflected the occasional thrust before trying to swing upward. She stopped and looked on in confusion. Gilgamesh's expression was not normal. He seemed to be moving really slowly as if time had suddenly become distorted for him.
"For him, or you?" Abraxas' voice prickled in her ears. She closed her eyes and shook her head. "I think it's time you woke up."
Luna opened her eyes. She was sprawled out on a cold marble floor. Her eyes followed the trail of blood that ran across the floor and underneath the bodies of people in white lab coats, or what used to be pure white. They were tainted in crimson now. Luna lifted herself up and caught sight of her hands in the process. They were coated a deep red. Her heart started to beat faster as a wave of anxiety flooded her mind. She was soon gasping for air as if she couldn't breathe. When she finally managed to get something else out, it was an ear piercing scream.
A/N: And I'm sure you want to find out what happens next, right? Well you will... two chapters down the line from now. For the next chapter and the one after that, we return to Radiant Garden to see how Sora's doing. This is his story after all... isn't it?
