Chapter Five- Friends and enemies
A week passed, and in-between running to help people with heartless and blowing thing up in class, life was a blast for Sora and pals. But this relative, er, peace, wasn't to last.
The big heartless attack happened with little in the way of warning one calm summer's day, as Sora and a large percentage of the school were sitting down to lunch in the Great Hall. Sora was relaxing after another disastrous Divination class. (The batty sometimes-seer had apparently decided Sora was at least as likely to die as Harry was, and thus made several colorful predictions. Unfortunately for her, Donald had taken her predictions as threats, and so preceded to attack her with a storm of angry cries and the occasional, painful thunderbolt…enough said.)
So Sora was enjoying a well deserved break after an interesting morning. He was chatting to Harry about evil teachers- i.e., Snape-when he suddenly felt a chill within his soul.
A shadow flickered.
Sora's eyes widened and he leapt to his feet with a yell, spilling books and his goblet of juice to the floor with a loud clatter.
"Dumbledore, heartless are coming! Lots of them. You need to get everybody out, I'll distract 'em!" Which immediately caught people's attention, and they immediately began to do what any student trained in the mystic arts about to be attacked by creatures wanting to rip out your heart do- they panicked.
Wasting no time, Sora was on his feet, vaulting over the table and flipping easily to stand in the middle of the hall, Keyblade shimmering into existence. He was aware of Donald and Goofy following as he waited, and he could feel the heartless creeping, shifting, attention focused on him, on his weapon and the brightness of his heart.
They hungered.
Sora was deliberately baiting them, trying to entice them after him while the teachers tried to help calm the stampeding students and get them out. He could here Dumbledore's enhanced voice cut across the insanity, but didn't hear the words. He was focused.
And then the heartless came. Springing from shadows under the tables, surging up from the floor and racing down from the roof, they all lunged towards the boy holding the big key. Screams filled the hall, but Sora and his friends never hesitated. Oathkeeper was a blur as he struck, Donald and Goofy fighting at his back.
Harry, Hermione and Ron were also back to back, standing near one of the doors, shepherding people out and keeping a watch on the heartless. For now, they were far more interested in the feast that waited in the middle of the room, the ultimate heart, but soon they would begin to hunt for others…
The teachers too, had taken their wands in hand, and as the students began to empty the hall, they fought this unfamiliar enemy from the fringes. In the centre was a boiling pot of chaos.
There were so many of them. Whoever was directing them- and with this many, there had to be someone- was evidently going for the kill. Sora swept his shining blade to the left, then to the right, then spun it in a figure of eight before himself, knocking heartless back from his chest.
From his heart. Not only were the small, simple versions of the heartless attacking, no, Sora could see many different types- flying heartless, spider heartless, and countless others. His mouth tightened, his eyes hardened, and Sora leaped forward with a defiant "Come on now!"
He needed a little space to do what he needed to, and he trusted Donald and Goofy.
"Go for a Trinity!" He yelled, hoping they heard him over the mayhem.
He felt the answering tingle of magic burning through his veins. He took a step back, then leapt high into the air with a yell, scissoring the Keyblade around him, ripping open a flying heartless and coating himself with dark blood. A shining heart lifted free. He fell, twisting, back to earth, and using all of his strength, and the strength of his fall, he brought Oathkeeper singing towards the floor.
"Trinity Limit!"
The teacher's of Hogwarts blinked as an explosion of light wrapped around the three, magic ripping fatally around them, snapping at the heartless. When it faded, there was a ten-foot radius of nothing around them where before there had been heartless.
Taking advantage of the brief lull, Sora shot forward, flinging fire spells at the monsters, killing a few of the weaker types and merely singeing others. Leaping onto Hufflepuff table, Sora used the added height to soar upwards, coming down on the backs of a few of the more irritating, and more dangerous, flying type heartless.
Yellow eyes followed him, hating and yearning.
Goofy and Donald were covering Harry and his friends, who were actually managing to hold their own pretty well. With the rest of the students finally out, Sora ran over the top of one of the tables towards the teachers.
They were causing damage, but not killing them.
"Get outta here!" He yelled to them when he was closer.
It was a waste of time, he knew. They were the adults, the teachers, they felt they needed to be here, when in fact they were mostly a liability. Except for Dumbledore. Whatever he was flinging at the heartless was slow, but worked.
Snarling in frustration over their stubbornness, Sora zigzagged in front of them, catching the attention of the heartless. He stopped running, spinning on his heel, and whipped the Keyblade through them like a whirlwind of death and causal destruction. (The Great Hall would need serious repairs. But then, they had magic.) A heartless managed to tear into his back from behind and he spun again, furious, and grateful for the protection of his magical clothing. They'd made a dint in the mob, but it was time to get serious. Sora took a breathe, and thought of Valor Form.
No, not enough. He needed serious firepower, for longer. He needed the two Keyblades the change brought, but mostly he just needed to end this now before someone got hurt. Sora managed a quick Summon, calling Tinkerbell out to heal anyone that had been hurt.
He'd managed to change, the other night, he thought as he whipped Oathkeeper though dark flesh. He'd known the Form, felt it's strength, but it had frightened him.
Did he dare?
He heard Hermione scream, heard Harry yell something and Ron curse.
He dared.
He reached, pulling. Magic whispered in his blood and then grew to a roar. His clothes shifted as he was lifted above the ground, glowing brilliantly. Donald and Goofy's strength joined his own, strength so often underestimated.
"Master Form!" Did he say that, or was it the magic?
It didn't matter. Oathkeeper in his left hand, Oblivion in his right, he was once again an army of one, a rage of strength and magic as he shot around the room at super speed, killing every heartless he touched.
Suddenly released from the transformation, he fell some eight feet from where he'd been blasting a flying heartless, somersaulted and landed in a crouch, swaying lightly. He heard Goofy regain his feet, assuming a guard position, and heard irritated mutterings as a certain duck wizard managed a weak cure.
Was it over? Sora lifted his head, still a little confused by his change, and saw a handful of heartless were left, menacing the golden trio.
Sora twitched, fists tightening. How dare they try to hurt his friends! Without hesitating he shot across the room to spin in front of them, and bared his teeth at the heartless, eyes glowing in fury.
Just innocent children…
He spun Oathkeeper, leaping into an Arc Arcanum, followed by another. He flung Oathkeeper into a strike-raid, knocking a heartless from the air. A low-built heartless tried to get in low under his guard, and Sora wiped it from existence with Oblivion, twisting the dark blade back up and across the chest of the last flying heartless, Oathkeeper guarding in his other hand.
And then it was all over, and Sora was panting lightly as he stood, still in a combat position, in front of his friends, head twisting around, senses extended, to find that nothing was left. Then he noticed the fact that he was holding two Keyblades, and his mouth fell open.
He wasn't in any of his Forms…
As he stared, completely flummoxed, Tinkerbell flitted overhead and flew around him, releasing magic as she did so. His back healed. He managed a smile of thanks as she lightly touched his cheek in concern, before darting off to check on the teachers.
--
With the danger passed, the teachers split, some heading off to comfort and control the student body, and the others walking towards the two trios.
Sora was still staring at his two Keyblades when Tinkerbell came soaring back, finished with her task and out of time. She spun around him again in concern, making a variety of sweet, tinkling sounds, before flaring brightly and vanishing.
Hermione cried out, and Sora twisted, whipping Oathkeeper up high and Oblivion down low. Her hands were clasped over her mouth and she was staring horrified at the spot where the little fairy had been. Sora let his breathe out in a rush.
"It's alright, Hermione, she's okay, she just couldn't stay any longer." Hermione managed to pull her gaze away from the empty air to stare at him.
"Are you guys alright?" The three were staring at him with something like awe.
"Sora, you, you were amazing. You moved so fast you blurred, and you were glowing, and do you have TWO Keyblades?!" Sora would have scratched his head in embarrassment, but he was still holding tight to the two Keyblades in question, hardly able to believe it either. He was holding Oathkeeper AND Oblivion, both at the same time, outside of one of his Forms.
Which was awesome, but also confusing. Someone cleared their throat behind him, and Sora turned and looked at Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick.
"Uh, hi?"
--
No-one had died. Sora felt his lungs finally cooperate, and beamed at the teachers.
"That's great." He couldn't get any of the rest of his thoughts past that relief.
"You risked a great deal, Sora," Dumbledore said sternly, though he couldn't keep his eyes from twinkling.
"What if you'd been hurt?" Sora stared at them in disbelief. Risked a great deal? Hello, he fought the heartless on a regular basis! It was his job! And even if it he didn't, they'd still come after him. And he had been hurt, though not badly, but he'd been hurt before and would be again. Luckily he had great friends, and he was an incredible fighter all by himself. He'd been in far worse situations.
Somehow, he didn't think pointing that out would help.
"We did what we had to, Professor. I risked nothing that I do not risk every time I get into a fight." He tried to think of something else to say.
"Er, did Tink manage to heal everyone?"
"Tink?" Professor McGonagall was very good at sounding incredulous, even after a good fight with her hair messy and her robes torn.
He was still a little smug that his clothes were self-healing.
"Yeah, Tinkerbell. The little blonde fairy I Summoned during the fight? She normally stays with Peter Pan, but she's traveling with us for a while, and stayed after Kingdom Hearts…" He coughed on his laughter at the looks on their faces as they processed this statement.
Pause.
"Peter Pan is REAL??" Right on time, Hermione.
"Wait, you've heard of Peter? Really?"
--
The teachers didn't take the news of a probable Organization Thirteen member orchestrating fights around Hogwarts well at all. They also didn't like finding out that Sora didn't know much about the mysterious group.
"Well, you see, me'n Donald and Goofy woke up in this mansion, and we'd been sleeping or something for ages, in these weird little flower-like pod things. And these guys in black cloaks have been running around. We don't know what they're doing exactly but we know it's something to do with Kingdom Hearts."
"…"
"Kingdom Hearts? Come on, I told you about it, with the Door and all…Big, epic-style type battle? Fought the Ansem guy that may not have actually been Ansem at all…" Sora rocked back onto his heels, staring at them all quizzically.
"I wasn't lying or just making up a story. We lived through it."
At least Dumbledore seemed to be following.
"Okay," Sora sighed. "Let's try this again. Heartless, Keyholes, Keyblade…"
--
Sora had only really seen the faces of a few Nobodies, like Axel.
Axel…Shivers shot down his spine. It wasn't necessarily the Nobody that scared him- although the flame-using, chakram wielding man was definitely worthy of fear. No, what scared him was the strange feeling that he somehow knew him. Sora tasted real fear on his tongue. Last time they'd met, he'd- Sora yanked his thoughts back on track. There was no point in worrying about it now. What came, came. He'd simply have to deal with it when it did.