LOST WORLDS
Chapter 14: The Stone Table
Written by: Lynx and Rebmakash and hosted through the generosity of Organization VI
Rating: G (K)
Summary: After the battle against the thousand Heartless at Hollow Bastion, a whole new ring of worlds appears for Sora, Donald and Goofy to explore.
Disclaimer: We do not own Kingdom Hearts II or any of the Disney movies shown here; they are copyright to Disney and Square Enix. Please see the first chapter for the full disclaimer.
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Sora couldn't sleep.
It was difficult enough sleeping as it was...he still couldn't get used to sleeping standing up, as he kept waking himself up with his head snapping forward. The first few nights in Narnia he'd had to lean against a tree just to get some rest. But tonight, there was something else keeping him up...some coldness in the air that was neither the Witch nor the Heartless, but still just as deadly. The trees themselves seemed to sense it, waving back and forth although there was no wind.
After hours of battling this insomnia, he decided to give it up. He remembered that on restless nights taking a walk could at least give his mind somewhere to go.
He stepped out of the tent that someone had generously modified for him with a strong central support. He faintly remembered a night at a crossroads, and where he had ended up last time he went for a walk like this. He still wondered how he had gotten from there, to the outside of a castle before ending up in a strange place...
"Perhaps just a little fresh air would be better," he whispered to no one. He stood, feeling the dew soak through the long hair of his fetlocks and chill his legs, but not particularly caring. Crossing his arms, he looked to the night sky.
It seemed the moon was a spectator to some somber event, and Sora sighed, unable to do more than worry for his friends. Shaking his head, he decided the scene was somehow more depressing than helpful, and he turned to re-enter the tent, only to catch a glimpse of tan along the tree line.
"Aslan?" Something gnawed at his heart, and he watched a moment, catching sight of what seemed to be the two girls.
Quickly he re-entered the tent, seeing Goofy awkwardly slung into a hammock and Donald curled up on a mat, looking amazingly comfortable.
"At least he still has the same number of limbs," the Keyblade master mumbled. "Hey guys? Guys? Somethin's up." He went over to Goofy, since he was afraid of falling onto the nearby Donald if he tried to kneel down. "Goofy?" Sora felt a hoof land on something uneven. "Goo-"
"WHAAAAAK!" Sora jumped higher than he thought possible in this form, moving aside to see that he had just stepped on the now-aggravated griffin's tail. "Watch where you're stepping, you big palooka!" Donald flapped his way to Sora's eyelevel.
"Shhh!!!" Sora's hands clamped Donald's mouth closed. "You'll wake the whole camp!"
"What's all the ruckus?" Goofy yawned.
"Aslan is leaving the camp, and it looks like Susan and Lucy are either following or with him."
"Think we should follow 'em?" the faun asked.
"Yeah, this is at least weird."
"Grab your stuff," Donald grumbled. "We're probably not going to be sleeping tonight."
Following them was easy enough. It was clear that the girls were following the great lion rather than doing otherwise, and their human bodies were nosier than the better-suited forms of the trio. The night was quietly lit by the subdued moonlight, and only the crickets, owls and other creatures of the night whispered their words though the air. It was as if they had noticed Aslan's disheartened padding over the rustling blades of young grass.
After a time of following, the lion paused, raising his head only slightly.
"Shouldn't you be in bed?"
Sora's heart beat faster, thinking they had been caught, but Lucy and Susan came out of hiding and approached.
"We couldn't sleep," came Lucy's gentle young voice.
"Please, Aslan...couldn't we come with you?"
"I would be glad of the company for a while." He turned his noble head as the two girls approached him "...Thank you."
The trio watched with a subtle sigh of relief and looked on. Gingerly Lucy reached a hand out toward Aslan, taking hold of his mane as one would take the hand of someone who had lost something dear. Just after Susan did the same, they slowly moved on for a time.
Something was very wrong, and a deep fear of the unknown began to eat at Sora's insides. It was like something he was missing, and whatever it was, it was urgent. He followed as silently as his hooves could move him, trying to ignore the blanket of dread that threatened to smother him.
The time came when Aslan stopped and turned to the girls, his visage clear in the moonlight. "It is time. From here, I must go on alone." He looked mournfully forward.
"But Aslan—"
Aslan stopped Susan's protest by looking back again. His eyes shined not with the light of his own life, but only with the cold reflection of the moon. "You have to trust me...for this must be done."
His eye line changed, and Sora felt his hair stand on end as it flickered in their direction, scanning them. It was a grave look, and he knew they had been caught, though considering the sureness of the gaze he wondered just how long Aslan knew they had been there. Lucy turned to look, but Aslan's protective voice pulled her eyes back.
"Thank you Susan. Thank you Lucy...thank you...and farewell." With that he padded away. Susan put a hand on a worried Lucy's shoulder, and the two walked off as well. However, Sora noted they didn't just turn back, but were taking up another hiding place to watch Aslan.
"Guys!" the Key-bearer whispered, motioning to follow. If the girls were there, he knew they should be at least. Finding another concealed location was easy, but it was far enough away from the girls that noise would be passed off as animal chatter.
But strange chatter was the first thing Sora noticed.
Looking over the ridge, the trio could see the screech's source. A large gathering of terrible beasts and a scene lit by sinister flames flickering in a clearing met their gaze. Heartless festered among the ranks. An ancient stone altar stood in the center of a circle of monoliths, brutally tribal in its appearance, with a rock table in front of the White Witch herself.
Aslan walked up the steps of the plateau, his mere gaze enough to frighten off a vile creature that seemed bold enough to try to stare him down. The beasts parted for him, but not without cruel snarls and growls. Heartless hissed at every step. Jadis, however, stepped atop the table, and a wicked dagger-like wand gleamed in her hands. Her atypically dark outfit sported a black wing on her right shoulder, though to whom it originally belonged to Sora dreaded to think.
Sora's heart nearly stopped. "No...no, there's no way it could..."
The witch spoke with a jeer. "Behold...the great lion!" Her words elicited hideous laughter from her crowd.
Some creatures approached, and Aslan snarled a warning.
What Sora guessed was a minotaur turned to his ruler. With a subtle motion of her head, the monstrosity struck Aslan alongside the head with his axe hilt.
The centaur's blood ran hot suddenly, and he gritted his teeth. Loud jeers became audible, calling Aslan a mere 'kitty.' "C'mon Aslan, don't do this. FIGHT!" he growled a whisper. Donald shushed him.
"Bind him!" ordered the wicked woman. Sora balled a fist as her orders were executed not only gladly, but with ease by Lance Soldiers and Armored Knights. Even Aslan's mouth was tied.
"Wait! ...Let him first...be shaved."
Jadis's words called squeals of delight from her horde. The witch's dwarven toady ran up with a knife, and, grabbing a fistful of air, sawed it off to hold it over his head as a trophy for all to see. The dwarf threw it away and greedily reached down to slice away more of his mane. More joined in the cruelty, and the sound of cutting hair against cold steal could be heard even at a distance.
"Bring him to me!" the White Witch commanded.
Dragging him by his ropes, the massive Aslan was hauled over the rough, uneven stone onto the table. He laid there, humiliated and bruised as the animals howled and screeched in excitement.
Holding out her arm harshly, the cacophony ceased, and a deathly silence ensued briefly.
"No. No, this can't happen; I'm NOT letting this happen!" Sora got to his feet.
Goofy piped up. "Sora?"
A single staff came down upon the stone.
Multiple staffs clattered on the rock.
And more and more began. Cries and vocals joined with other instruments in savage ritual; mounting intensity of fear that matched the rhythm of Sora's own heart. And as Sora's heart began to beat faster, the malicious music easily matched the pace. He watched as the self-proclaimed queen knelt down and put an arm over Aslan. Though Sora heard no words, he knew full well what disheartening things were surely being told to the caring leader. The centaur pawed the ground, and with only the slightest thought the Keyblade was summoned to his hand with a brief flash.
Standing, Jadis decried, "Tonight, the Deep Magic...will be appeased! ...But tomorrow, we will take Narnia...forever!" Primitive chatter and cheer fortified her declaration.
Sora's heart raced with the beat, and he reared. A fluttering form in his face and a faun at his feet stopped him. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" he roared at them, just avoiding coming down upon Goofy. "They're gonna KILL him!" His voice could barely be heard over the commotion.
"He's dying in Edmund's place!" Goofy cried.
"You can't help him! Don't you realize?! He's fulfilling his promise to make sure Narnia's in balance! We can't meddle, especially here!" Donald for once looked more distressed than angry with Sora.
"But...!" Sora's anger melted, and he felt powerless instead. He looked from Donald to Aslan with no way to say goodbye, and no time. Energy swelled inside of him with nowhere to go, and he felt a need to do something desperately. He panted, gritting his teeth as his eyes watered in some emotion he could not understand fully.
Beats pounded hard in both ribs and ears with deafening intensity.
"In that knowledge...despair..." She raised the wand high. "And DIE!"
The weapon sunk deep into the lion's body.
Aslan uttered a slight exclamation before sighing out his last growl and closing his eyes.
The world seemed to slow around Sora, and it felt as if a Heartless had succeeded in tearing out his heart. He collapsed, the pain of falling on his own legs dulled by utter shock. Only one arm held up his upper body. He gasped as a few tears rolled down his face. Sora's pulse disoriented the world, and adrenaline made him shake. "No...!" He looked to his comrades, who also looked crestfallen.
"The great cat is DEAD!" Sora could barely see her pose over Aslan's body.
The cheers of her army tore at the Keyblade master and added anger to his chilled blood.
"General, prepare your troops for battle."
The minotaur who first struck Aslan let loose a great bellow, and the cries and hisses droned out the witch's next words.
They moved noisily to ready themselves as the trio watched them begin to march out, thankfully going nowhere near the girls' hiding place.
"I should have DONE something!" Sora pounded his fist into the grass. "I was there, I could have SAVED him!"
"No, you couldn't have, Sora, you know full well he did what he had to do," Donald explained. "You can't be responsible for everything that happens in the world."
He looked down to his Keyblade and stood. "Yes, yes I can..." He suddenly snarled. "What good am I or even this thing if I can't even save one life?!" Sora threw the Keyblade into the grass with force, only to find it back in his hand again.
"...Why is this familiar...?"
"Aww, shucks, you've saved lotsa lives. You've saved Kairi, remember?" Goofy scratched his head.
"...I don't even know where she is. I wasn't there to protect her... Riku... I don't even know what's happened to him. I can't even save the ones I've known for so long..."
The faun put a hand on his shoulder. "Sora, remember what Aslan told ya. 'For all the power you have, you can't change everything.'"
The young man dismissed the Keyblade and crossed his arms. "I SHOULD be able to."
"Sora, you're human, just like the rest of us." The centaur gave the griffin an odd look. "You know what I mean! All you can do is try with all your heart."
"...All...my heart..." Sora took hold of his necklace and sighed.
The sun made its first hints of presence known with a pale light in the sky as the last of the army left. The sight of Aslan left on the stone table still ate at his heart, but he remembered their friends at the tents as a cold wind began to blow a couple gusts.
This would not be in vain.
"Susan and Lucy will be safe. ...C'mon. We have a camp to warn."
As they stepped somberly through the grass, Sora caught a glance of something being blown along the ground. Stopping to pick it up, he examined it; Donald and Goofy watching.
Once, it had been a bushy lock of Aslan's golden mane.
The Keyblade Master sighed and pursed his lips. Reaching down, he pulled a little cloth from his shirt out from under his belt, and began to tear it.
"What're you doing that for?! You need those clothes!" Donald exclaimed.
"...I've had Heartless claws go through this thing, and it seems the magic keeps repairing it."
"Then whatcha doin'?" Goofy scratched his head.
Sora tied one end of the strip around the lock. "I don't care if it snags while I'm fighting." He planted the end of his Keyblade in the ground, tying the other end to the loop at the end next to the keychain. "This is for Aslan."
He lifted the Keyblade to examine it, only to feel the grip grow hot in his palm. "YEOW!" He tossed it away, rubbing his sore fingers and glad that his glove gave him some protection.
"What'd you do?!" Goofy yelled.
"I-I don't know!" Sora watched as they Keyblade shook on the ground a moment, shuddering until the keychain that had been attached popped off. It lay there, silent for a moment.
Sora waited a moment, and watched as light slowly enveloped it when he called it to his hand.
When he looked to his hand, however, he saw something new.
"Woaaaaah...!" Sora's comment was echoed by his friends. It was of little surprise, as a new Keyblade had appeared. Sword-like in nature, the Keyblade's "teeth" had become not unlike a delicately engraved battle axe, with the image of a lion upon it. At the end of the hilt was another lion head. Cryptic runes marked the blade itself.
"Aslan must have had a lot of light in him to do that..." the faun knight commented.
"Yeah..."
"I guess you're going to name this one, too, aren't you?" Donald looked at Sora out of the corner of his eye.
"...Aslan took Edmund's place...because of his betrayal. This Keyblade came from that." He looked it over, noting the intricacy and nobility of the blade.
"...Traitor's Stead."
He looked to the horizon, and spoke while holding back a tear. "Long live Aslan."