Chapter VI: Mirage of Nightmare: Cyril's Onslaught
Nightshroud: Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter. To answer Magic713, yes, some Disney villains will be making appearances. To answer Kanjilearner3309, I know it seems like maybe the cause isn't worthy cause they're human, but think about it. These guys are using dark magic to steal people's hearts and bring about the ressurection of an evil empire. I think that could be considered a worthy cause. And to answer Mrfipp, yes the romance is ReynaxKai. At first I was going to have it ReynaxTyson, but it made me think of SoraxKairi too much, and I wanted to make this different. Oh and sorry if Reyna is sometimes referred to as Alexis. I have changed her name liked forty times, and sometimes I missed editing it. I went back through and double-checked, and I think I got all my mistakes. If you happen to see any, let me know. So thankees!
Reyna, Tyson, and Namé continued through the corridors till they reached a room with a control pannel.
"Huh...Gate mechanism, it's switched off."
Tyson flipped the switch, and the gears in the room started moving. Reyna looked farther down the passage.
"This must be the way to the castle gate," she said. They followed the passage into watery tunnels. As they walked through, Namé cringed.
"What's wrong, Nam?" asked Reyna.
"I hate these dark, slimy places," she whispered back. "First the Rogue Town sewers, and now this."
"Hey, it'll be okay," said Reyna with a grin.
Tyson stopped suddenly. "Dead end," he said with a shrug.
Reyna examined the pool in front of them. It seemed to stop right in front of the dead end wall.
"I have feeling this is the only way," she said, looking sympathetically at Namé.
"Oh no no no no no," she said, backing away.
"How pathe-owww!" said Tyson, interrupted by Reyna's kick to his shin.
"We'll do it together. C'mon."
Namé nodded, and the three plunged into the cold water. After a little more than thirty seconds, they emerged out in the open. They were in an icy area, with the castle looming high above them.
"Look, a lift!" said Reyna. The three ran when Darkballs suddenly emerged. Tyson pulled out his keyblade and jumped at them, slashing wildly through the air.
"Fire!" called Namé, shooting a fireball at a wall of ice, causing it to collapse on the Heartless.
"Let's go!" said Tyson. They ran to the lift, which carried them up to the castle gates.
They found the gates open and went through into the entrance.
"Looks like that gate mechanism worked," said Tyson. As they neared the steps, Defender Heartless appeared. The one threw his shield at Tyson, who leaped to the side, then slashed through it. The other shot a ice crystals from its shield, which Namé blocked with a reflect spell, alowing Reyna to finish it with her whip. They ran through to the next lift, which took them outside to the area opposite the gate. Tyson spied the next lift, and up they went. As they traveled up, the cage was suddenly rattled.
"What was that?" asked Namé.
Tyson looked down. "Uh oh, some new Heartless."
Wyvern Heartless were swooping down and attacking the cage, trying to throw it off the course.
"Cast some magic or something, Namé!" Tyson yelled.
"I'm trying!" she replied with frustration. She concentrated and thought. Then her face suddenly lit up.
"Stop!" she called. The Wyvern suddenly stopped, frozen in place.
"Let's hope that holds," said Reyna.
"One more input code and...there!" said Leon. The lights on the machine flickered, then slowly dimmed till they were off.
"Nice going, Leon!" she said with a grin.
Leon nodded, then suddenly frowned. Yuffie noticed and sighed.
"You're worried about them, huh?" she said quietly. He nodded.
"I wonder how they're doing," he said thoughtfully.
The three passed through the Great Crest, and had taken another lift indoors. They reached a large outside balcony of sorts, and hurried up the large steps, fighting off Wizard and Defenders. They forced open the doors to the castle chapel and ran in. The room was dark, with a very eerie presence to it. As they walked in, the doors shut behind them.
"So you finally made it," said a familiar voice.
Cyril appeared, his arms crossed and a smirk across his face.
"Cut the talk. We're here to take you down!" said Tyson.
Cyril laughed. "Let's see you try."
He suddenly vanished and appeared behind Tyson, backhanding him. Tyson stumbled back a few steps and lashed out at him. He pulled out his weapon, which he morphed into a shield and blocked the attack.
"Not good enough," he said with a cocky smile. He disappeared, then suddenly they were encircled by multiple Cyrils.
"Can you see through my deception?" he asked. The three moved together, with their backs touching.
"Now what?" whispered Reyna. Suddenly the Cyrils put their shields down, so that they could not be seen. Then the shields began to spin, getting faster and faster till all they could see was a blur.
"I can't see what's going on!" said Namé with frustration.
Suddenly a blur shot from the ring, and grabbed Reyna.
"Reyna!" said Tyson. No sooner had he said that when Namé was swiped from behind him. The circle stopped, and Tyson could see one Cyril holding Reyna and another with an axe to her neck, and one holding Namé and another with a swork to her throat.
Cyril (all of them) smirked, and said, "Now, who should I kill first?"
Tyson bared his teeth in anger. He had to get both of them out of this, but how? He looked over to Reyna, who seemed to be telling him something with her eyes. He nodded, and then threw his keyblade at Namé's captors. At the same time, Reyna summoned her whip and slashed through the two Cyril's holding her. Now that all of them were free again, they stood back to back again, watching for Cyril's next move.
Cyril appeared in front of them, with another smirk on his face. "How convenient. You're all in the same place..."
He suddenly grabbed his fragment of the Kronos Stone with his left hand, and outstretched his right hand.
"Ancient Stone of Kronos, activate the sacred seal and encircle us!"
All four were suddenly encircled by the red seal (which is a circle with an eight pointed star on the inside). No one can blame the three if they were suddenly struck with fear. They had seen this evil seal in action before, but they had never actually been inside of it. Cyril seemed to get shadowy, then disappear, but they could hear the echo of his voice as black smoke seemed to fill the seal.
"Embrace the Mirage of Nightmare..."
Namé blinked in shock as she found herself standing in the lonely tunnels beneath the castle. Tyson and Reyna were in front of her, talking to themselves. As she stepped forward, they suddenly laughed and ran off.
"Guys? Wait, don't leave me!" she called. The lights seemed to dim even further, and she found herself all alone in the damp, dark passage. She suddenly felt overwhelmed by loneliness, and sank to the floor in tears.
Tyson meanwhile was standing on the beach of the Destiny Islands. The sky was dark, and the beautiful trees and flowers were dead and blackened. Houses lay destroyed and in ruins, and there were bodies lying in twisted heaps all around. As he looked around in terror, Reyna and Namé emerged from one of the ruins. At first he was glad to see them, but suddenly he noticed something wrong with them. There faces seemed pale, there were circles under their eyes, and they were in rags.
"You couldn't stop them. You couldn't protect any of us," said Namé eerily.
"N-no, it wasn't my fault," he said.
"You let the islands be destroyed, and you let everyone die. What use are you?" said Reyna.
Tyson sank buried his face in his hands. "No, it can't be...please, forgive me..."
Reyna found herself back at home, in her very own bed.
"Was this all a dream?" she wondered aloud. She ran downstairs to see her mom, dad, and brother standing b the door. They opened it, but Reyna couldn't see who it was. Suddenly, Reyna saw the glint of a sword, and in a flash of red all three of her family fell to the ground dead. She could see Kai standing in the doorway laughing over the dead bodies.
"Kai! What have you done!" she cried.
Suddenly Tyson and Namé came in.
"What's going on?" asked Tyson. Suddenly Kai whipped about and slashed right through both of them. Reyna sank to her knees in horror.
"Kai, why did you do this? Why?"
He smirked and licked the blood from his sword. "Don't feel so bad. You'll be joining them soon."
Suddenly Kai seemed to waver, and split into two. One stepped away and stood to the side.
"Reyna, see through the deception. Sense the darkness, and strike at it."
Suddenly she was no longer seeing the horrifying image, but in a cloud of black smoke. She remembered Kai's words, and she summoned her whip. She hesitated a moment, then lashed out. Suddenly the smoke blew away, and she could see Tyson and Namé with vacant looks in their eyes, staring into space. They suddenly blinked and found themselves back in the chapel.
"Wait, what's-"
"But, I was just-"
"No, you weren't," she said. "It was all his illusion."
They could see Cyril at the far end, clutching his chest where Reyna had struck him. He smiled cockily and suddenly replicated until the formed a circle along the edge of the seal.
"You may have overcome my illusion, but I'll finish you nontheless."
Reyna suddenly held up her hands and said, "Binding Halo!"
One of the Cyril's was encircled by a glowing white halo, that bound his arms to his sides.
"What?! But how?!"
"All I had to do was see the darkness in your heart, and it was easy to see through your illusion.
"Impressive, indeed. But-"
He suddenly vanished and appeared behind them. "It's too late!"
As her swung his sword, Tyson slashed with his keyblade. Cyril staggered back and fell to his knees.
"No, how could...I lose..."
Suddenly the seal drew inward towards Cyril. In a moment they found themselves outside of it, and they could see it encircle him.
"No, it can't be! It wasn't supposed to end like this! Aaaaah!"
The seal glowed, and a red light shot from it into the sky. Then Cyril fell to the ground lifelessly before his body disappeared.
They stood silently for a moment, then ran for the door on the right. They still had to seal the keyhole.
"Fifty one! Fifty two!" called Tifa as she punched through each Heartless.
"You're counting how many you kill?" asked Cloud with a chuckle as he slashed through another.
"Eh, why not?" she said with a grin.
Suddenly a Morning Star came at her from the side. She didn't have enough to counter its attack.
"Tifa!" Cloud yelled.
"Reflega!" Aerith called. The Morning Star butted into Aerith's shield and was thrown back before Cloud leaped up and slashed his blade down the length of it.
Tifa sighed. "Thanks, Aerith."
She smiled and nodded her head. Cloud walked over and shook his head. "I hope those heros of yours hurry with that keyhole," he said.
Aerith looked at the castle in the distance and smiled. "Have faith in them."
Reyna, Tyson, and Namé ran up the steps in the Grand Hall and up to the large, glowing keyhole. Tyson lifted his keyblade, and a shaft of light shot from it, making a distinct locking sound. Then Reyna was slowly lifted into the air, transparent wings barely visible on her back. Then her heart glowed a pure white, and the keyhole was sealed away.
"Yes, we did it!" said Tyson. The two girls nodded, and the three ran down the steps. As they made it to the lower part, Reyna stopped and looked to the sides at the glowing chambers.
"This is where the Princesses of Heart opened the final keyhole, and where dad became a Heartless...I hope you're looking out for me, dad."
"Reyna?" asked Namé. She blinked and looked at the blond girl.
"Oh sorry, it's nothing."
"C'mon, you two!" called Tyson. They ran from the chapel and came outside into the open. They were surprised to see Cid and Leon with a strange space ship.
"Thought we'd give you a lift," said Leon with a smile.
"We'd like to thank you for all you've done," said Aerith, "So we got you a few things. Leon stepped forward and presented Tyson with the Lionheart keychain.
"Here, equip this to your Keyblade. It will make it stronger." Then Yuffie stepped forward.
"I'd like to present you all with these compact communicators. You can contact us any time you need to with these."
Cid coughed and stepped to the side. "I'd like to introduce you to your new means of transportation, the gummi ship, Highwind. Ain't she a beauty?"
"Oh awesome!" said Tyson as he ran over to it. The others laughed, then suddenly quieted.
"Well, I guess this is goodbye," said Reyna sadly.
"Don't let it be," said Aerith. "Come visit us whenever you want."
Reyna nodded with a smile, and the three said goodbye to Merlin, Cid, Cloud, Tifa, Yuffie, Aerith, and Leon. Reyna, Namé, and Tyson climbed aboard the Highwind. Once they were settled in, they waved goodbye and set off on their journey.
"I have a little mission for you? Are you ready?" said a figure in a gray cloak, wearing a black mask with glowing yellow eyes.
"Of course. I'm up for anything."
"Good, you're to open the keyhole here, understand?" he said, pointing to a world in his mirror. The other person nodded and left the room.
"Do you really think you can do it?" asked the figure standing next to Amnael.
"Have faith in me, Raphael. I know what I'm doing."
"Of course, Master Amnael."
Cyril-
Number XIII in the Organization. Cyril is a smooth talker, and one who appreciates the finer things. He seems to think he's above the other Organization members, as they are a constant annoyance to him. He uses the element of illusion in battle, able to create multiple copies of himself, morph his weapon, and create a person's worst nightmare.
Cloud-
A lonely fighter who goes from world to world, seeking the embodiment of his darkness, Sephiroth. He frequents Radiant Garden, and is good friends with Leon, Yuffie, and especially Aerith.
Tifa-
A strong spirited woman who follows Cloud as he seeks out his darkness. She doesn't push herself on him, but is always there to serve as his light.
Nightshroud: Another chapter down! I hope you all liked the fight, and I'm sure you love the teaser at the end, though it's not going to come in play till the chapter after this next one. Any guesses on who the unnamed person was? Hehe leave a guess with your review.
Next chapter: Hassle in Disney Castle