Captain Nexumair

Sora wondered where he was. He seemed to be in a bed. But I died, didn't I? That girl killed me he thought. Then he remembered! He had beaten her with the help of his friend's heart energy. It had saved him in the end. Now, where was he? He opened his eyes and saw a high ceiling above him. Then a face entered his vision.

"Ahh!" Sora screamed and batted at it. His fist connected with one of its eyes and it screamed. It was only after that that Sora realized, with a flush of shame who he'd hit. It was Aerith.

"Oh my God" Sora said. "Aerith, I'm so sorry."

"That's alright Sora" she said, nursing her eye. It's just good to see that you're alright. We thought that you were going to die. It was a very near miss, too. You lost quite a lot of blood in the Marketplace, and we were afraid that you weren't going to make it. A lot of people didn't make it" she said somberly. Sora looked around and saw that, once again, he was in an infirmary. This time there were no patients in the beds.

"When can I get up and running?" Sora asked. "I have to get back to Disney Castle. The King needs to know what I found out!"

"Don't worry," Aerith said. "There will be plenty of time for that. Merlin already sent a message to His Majesty to let him know what Donald and Goofy found out."

Sora slumped back under the covers. "So…so the King knows…about…"

"About Tine, yes" said Aerith. "As do we." She sat down on a bench next to the bed. "We all felt a presence steeped in darkness and evil. When the King arrived, we all went to the Marketplace. We got there at the same time as Donald and Goofy and saw…well, we saw you Sora, and for a minute we thought you were dead."

"Yeah, you can say that again" Sora said. "I mean, about the darkness and evil part. Tine's a monster. She wanted to kill me just because she could. She said she was made to kill the Keyblade Master. Is that possible?"

Aerith shook her head. "I wouldn't know. I don't support genetic engineering and never have. It's an abomination against Nature. But tell me Sora, did you kill Tine?"

"Huh?" Sora asked. "What do you mean, did I kill Tine?"

"No one can sense her presence anymore. Before, her dark aura was wrapped around her like bat's wings. But now..." she trailed off. "That's what everyone wanted to know. You were the only one there, so only you saw. I wouldn't allow anyone, even the King himself to see you until I was sure you were in stable condition. But Leon asked me to question you as soon as you woke up."

Sora raised himself up on one elbow. "No" he said. "I didn't kill Tine. Unless she died in another place after she escaped. She sounded mad though, not like she was dying."

Aerith sighed. "I was afraid of that. How did you defeat her?"

Sora rubbed his hair. "I don't know" he said. "It…I…I used my friend's heart energy, the ones I had the most connections to. Then I sort of focused it in a concentrated ray of light. It hit her, right here" Sora pointed to his chest above his heart. "And then she went flying backwards. She got all transparent and I could see the darkness inside her" he finished. "Then she cursed me out and said she would kill all my friends." Sora sat up and winced. His torso was covered in bandages. So were his back and his shoulder and his left leg, and his right forearm. His five wounds. "Jeez" said Sora. "Can I please get up and walk around. I want to see Bastion Castle for myself. Besides, I have to talk to Maleficent. She made Tine---she'll know what to do."

Aerith sighed. "Alright. Even though this goes against my judgment as Head of the Healer's Guild, I'll let you go. I'll go outside while you get changed."

"Oh! My clothes" Sora said. "That outfit Yen Sid made me was torn up, and soaked with blood."

"You mean this?" Aerith said, holding up his outfit, as good as new.

"But….how did it…that's impossible!" Sora sputtered.

"Never underestimate magical clothes" said Aerith wisely. Then they both burst into laughter.

"This place is huge!" Sora said as they walked down the red marble hallway. The hallway was bigger than anything Sora had seen. It reminded him of some weird cross between the Emperor's Palace at the Land of the Dragons and Disney Castle. Tall chandeliers spilled light over all. "How did you do all this in a year?" Sora asked.

Aerith smiled. "Well, we had some help. King Mickey was very generous; he donated millions of munny to our cause, to create this place, and for the buildup of the city. Now, only the lands beyond the Great Maw are unsettled…that and" Aerith gave a snort of distaste. "Villains Vale. And appropriate name for that vile place."

Sora didn't ask Aerith any more questions. He was too busy taking in the sights around him. King Mickey must have donated a lot of dough to build a place this big. After a little while of walking, they reached an area that was marked by two huge doors made of white Marble. The sign of the bird and gears was emblazoned on it, as it was on the armor of the Bastion Knights.

"It's me" Aerith said. The tall doors creaked open with an ominous sound. Sora looked to see a large room in which a group of people were seated around a long glass table. Sora recognized Leon, Yuffie, Cid, and Merlin. Donald and Goofy sat there too, along with the King. Riku and Kairi stood leaning against the wall. But the person in one of the chairs to the left was a mystery to Sora. He appeared to be fourteen, the age when Sora had received the Keyblade. He had long silver hair that was tied back in a ponytail. His wore a blue shirt and gray pants. Various bits of armor covered both. A total of six swords, elegant sabers, were strapped to his back in their scabbards.

"Sora!" cried Riku. "You're alright!"

"Guys!" Sora said running toward them. "Of course I'm alright! You didn't expect a freak brewed up in some lab to beat me, did you?"

Kairi shook her head. "We were all afraid that you'd…well, died."

Yuffie hit Sora in the head. "Don't scare us again like that, you jerk! Aerith had to work all night and all morning to keep you alive. You were almost past healing magic's abilities."

That sobered Sora up. He realized just how close he had been to the brink of death.

"Well, it's nice to see you're alive and kickin' kid" said Cid. He shook Sora's hand firmly. "But, as you can guess, we didn't bring you here just to talk about how well it is to see you. That…thing you beat. Do you know what happened to it?"

Sora gave them the same answer he had given Aerith. Then he told them about his plan to talk to Maleficent.

"What?" exclaimed the King. He looked at Sora as if Sora had just proposed opening all the Keyholes again. "What are you saying, Sora? Maleficent, help us? She's been nothing but trouble ever since she arrived at Disney Castle!"

Sora gaped. "Maleficent used to live at Disney?" he said.

"Yes" King Mickey began. "She was the court magician, and---"

"Perhaps we can relate that story later" said a voice from the left. Sora looked to see the boy he had seen earlier at the table. He was sitting straight up in his chair. His green eyes focused on Sora. "Lord Keyblade Master, allow me to introduce myself. I am Captain Nexumair Nevy of the Bastion Knights. He walked over to Sora. "Forgive me, Your Majesty for interrupting, but I had a question. This Tine creature was created by Maleficent, correct? Could the sorceress have instructed the creature to lie about its intentions? She could have sent it to kill you, and merely told us a lie about having free will. If she failed, Maleficent would lure you to her stronghold. That would be a perfect trap."

Sora looked at Nexumair. "Well" he said. "I guess you could say that. But it's just…she was so sincere when she said it. I don't think she was lying. She meant it. She hates Maleficent and Pete."

"Yeah" said Goofy. "She made a imitation of her voice too."

Nexumair sighed. "Perhaps the Bastion Knights should handle this" he said. "We would patrol the areas of the city to make sure that Tine does not reappear."

Sora shook his head. "You don't understand. She's strong, stronger than anything I've ever seen! She'd kick your butts if she came here."

"But you injured her, didn't you?" Nexumair pressed.

"Yeah!" Sora said. "But she's still probably powerful."

"Let's stop all this arguing" said Leon. "I understand that we're all stressed out, but we should really begin talking about how we're going to manage the damage the Heartless caused. That and the morale of the people. Everyone's s scared now. Who knows when the next attack could be?"

"My point exactly" said Merlin. "With Tine around, the wards are useless. The people will have to be informed of the new threat to their safety!"

"Hardly" said Nexumair. "It would just cause panic if people knew about that Heartless had a new master."

"He's right" said Yuffie. "We'll just tell them that Merlin's wards faded for a little while, and that we're getting them back online. People have to stay inside after a certain time and we'll have a curfew."

"I like that idea" said Cid. "It sounds like a plan. Have those pixies spread the word."

"Meeting dismissed" said Leon. Everyone got up and began to walk toward the doors.

Sora caught up to Riku and Kairi. "You were right, Riku" he said. "That thing was powerful. I barely beat it."

"I know" said Riku. "Next time, could you be a little easier on the heart energy snatching? You were so rough."

Sora grinned with embarrassment. "Sorry, I didn't really have a lot of time. I thought I was down to my final few minutes. Then it was the Underworld for me!"

"Yeah" said Kairi. "Sora, how about just going back to the Islands? That's where Riku and I are going. Just tell the King that you're sorry, but you're not doing anymore of these missions. This thing is probably dead or dying; you injured it pretty badly."

Sora shook his head. "She's still alive, Kairi. She's just disguising her aura. She probably broadcasted it earlier because she wanted me to sense it, to lure me. That was why you had that attack", he said to Riku who nodded. "But now, she's hurt, and she knows that I'm a bit tougher to kill than she first thought."

"So what?" said Riku, almost angrily. "Are you going to seek her out or something?"

"That's exactly what I'm going to do" Sora said with a final decision. Then he shook his head. "But let's talk about other stuff. What's this place like? Who was that Nexumair kid, and how did he get to be Captain of the Bastion Knights?"

"Well" Kairi said, "Radiant Garden is ruled by the different Guilds. Merlin controls the Mage's Guild, Aerith Controls the Healers Guild---they're in charge of hospitals and things---Leon controls the Warrior's Guild, and Cid controls the Craftsman's Guild. They fix stuff around the city. Oh, and Yuffie! She and Nexumair control the Bastion Knights, although she follows Nexumair's orders"

Riku added "As for Nexumair…I don't know. I talked to him. He's not from here. Like so many others, he was displaced from his world when the Heartless attacked it. That's all I know. That and his fighting skills are second to none. He's a master of the blades, and he moves so fast that sometimes there's a small sonic boom."

"Wow" Sora said. He hugged them both. "Have a good vacation. I'll be back, as soon as I can. I have to talk to Maleficent. She'll know what to do, if Tine really is out of her control. I know it."

"I still don't like it…but I guess I can't do anything to stop you, short of beating you up…and we all know how that ended" Riku said. He and Kairi walked down the hall. Sora suddenly felt and terrific sense of loneliness, and when he touched his face to move his hair out of his eyes, he realized he was crying.