Squall ran through the corridors of the castle, searching desperately for Falcon. He broke into the last room he could find, and sighed in relief as he saw her there, staring out the window.
"The world is a strange place Squall..." she said without turning, "don't you think? Just now, I had it in me to go and help Xemnas defeat Sora and the others. But then I thought, hey, why the Superior? I know the entire Organization has been brought down. All the members are dead. I realized as soon as I saw Riku bring down Demyx that we had no chance. So even if I was to help Xemnas, and all of you died, what would I do? It would just be Xemnas and me alive, and by then the castle would be in ruins. I would still have allegiance to him, but what good would that be? So I figured out something, a solution that would be the answer to everything. I would let Sora and the others take care of Xemnas, and I...I would die avenging the rest of the Organization."
"You're crazy, something has messed with your mind," Squall said, "none of us are going to kill you. We're here to bring you back. I propose another solution. We let Sora and the others finish off Xemnas, and then you come back with us. Everything is happy again."
Falcon laughed, a laugh that somehow chilled Squall to his core, "happy? Happy, Squall? That's funny. You think all this is over. Once the Organization is dead, you think that I'll be happy and all will be normal. Let me ask you this, if Rinoa and I died, how would you feel. Even if everything was peaceful, would you ever be the same again?"
Squall hesitated for a second and looked down, unsure.
"Aha!" Falcon cried, "so you see. Axel is gone, along with Roxas, and Demyx. The entire Organization is gone. What is there left for me to do? I could go back and be tormented watching you and Rinoa, constant day-to-day torture. Or I could fight you here, and now, and die avenging the Organization. I have nothing more to live for." Falcon held out her arms and her double keyblades appeared with a shimmer, "so come, fight me. And don't hold back. Fight like you mean to kill." Squall frowned and turned his head.
"No," he said, "I'm not going to fight you. I won't kill you. Would Axel or Demyx want you to end up like this Falcon? Would they want you to live in constant depression and delusion?"
Thrusting her keyblade down through the air, Falcon's eyes blazed, "How would you know what they would want me to be like? You barely even know them!"
"But I also know that any decent guy would never want the girl they loved to be this way if they died," Squall said, being unusually patient. Suddenly there was a loud rumble and the ground beneath them shook.
"The battle against Xemnas rages on," Falcon said, "they are near the end." Without warning, a large chunk of marble stone crashed to the ground, and the another, and another. The castle was falling apart. Falcon lowered her keyblades and gazed at Squall.
"Go," she said, "you know I still love you, right? Go now. The castle is about to collapse. Save yourself and leave. Let me stay here. Go, before my love for you turns to hatred." She turned around and waited for him to go. After a minute, she turned back around, and he was still there, standing there, he hadn't moved an inch.
"What are you doing?" she cried, her rage rising to the surface again.
"If there's one thing I learned from the SeeD academy, it's that you never back out of a mission and leave it incomplete. You either succeed in the mission and are victorious, or you die trying. You NEVER back down," Squall replied, "I have to bring you back, or die trying."
Falcon growled, and unsheathed her keyblades once more, "then you'll die trying."
"Sora!" Riku cried, running up to him, and joining by his side, unsheathing his keyblade, "where's Donald and Goofy?"
"They got locked out," Sora replied. They faced Xemnas together in a vortex like room, all black and silver.
"If light and darkness are eternal, then surely we nothings must be the same, eternal!" Xemnas said.
"That's true, light and darkness are the same, but..." Riku began.
"That doesn't mean you're eternal!" Sora finished.
Xemnas smirked as the sabers appeared at his hands, "no more eternal than that radiance of yours." Xemnas rushed forward and grabbed Sora and Riku, throwing them up into the air.
"You will go together, to darkness!" he said, and unleashed dozens of black vines at them. Using their keyblade granted magic, the two of them managed to dodge them. Landing on the ground, they rushed for Xemnas, catching him slightly off guard. He quickly blocked with his two sabers, and suddenly split into two. Standing back-to-back, Riku and Sora tried to find the real Xemnas.
"Which one...?" Sora breathed. One of them rushed forward toward Riku, who did his jump twist thing and slashed it, splitting it in thin air.
"The other one!' he cried. They turned around as Xemnas circled around them, leaving these red laser things.
"Fire!" he shouted, and Riku and Sora just managed to block them in time, reflecting them. Xemnas then proceeded to warp all over the place, unleashing those annoying black vines at them. Finally Sora managed to catch him and unleashed a combo. Xemnas grabbed Sora and unleashed a lightning-like tremor along his arm, draining Sora's life away slowly.
"Sora!" Riku cried, but was thrown backwards by Xemnas's clone. Using his dark aura attack, Riku fended the clone off repeatedly, trying desperately to get to Sora to free him. Finally, just as Sora's strength was almost drained away, Riku intercepted the attack and broke the tremor, sending Xemnas flying backward with a slash his keyblade. Xemnas stood up and raising his arm, engulfed the two in darkness. Thousands of laser things came flying at them, and the two were forced to move around rapidly, fending the lasers off with rapid strokes of their swords. After a few minutes of doing this, the two were exhausted, and sat panting on the ground.
Xemnas took this opportunity and struck Riku backwards, and held his other saber at Sora's neck. He raised it and slashed downwards, but Riku ran forward and blocked it. Xemnas swung his arm around and caught Riku in the back. Sora ran to him, and took his keyblade. He charged at Xemnas, and swung rapidly at him, sending Xemnas into the air. Sora landed and jumped upwards, dealing a strong cross blow to his back. He landed again and ran to Riku. Generating the power of the two keyblades, the two shot a stream of light right at Xemnas, hitting him square in the chest. Then suddenly his sabers disappeared, and holding out his arm as if for salvation, his body disintegrated into shadow tendrils. The last of the Organization was dead. As the caste began to fall and crash harder, Sora helped Riku and stood up.
"Come on, everyone else is probably out there waiting for us. The castle collapsing," Sora said, and together they hobbled their way out.
Falcon charged at Squall with lightning speed, and he unsheathed his gunblade and blocked. Falcon continued to hack and slash away at his defenses. Squall stepped backwards and charged forward, meeting a resistance as Falcon threw him backwards with a cross blow. She stood above him, and raised her keyblade, and swung downwards. Squall raised his gunblade to block, and then spun around and slashed horizontally. Just in the nick of time, Falcon jumped backwards.
"I really don't want to do this," he said, "I'm not here to kill you."
"Either kill, or be killed," Falcon replied, and ran forward again. Squall deflected her blow, and slashed left and right, jumping up and slashing down. Falcon dodged and cut across with her left keyblade. Squall stumbled backward, clutching bleeding wound on his side. Falcon smirked and struck diagonally upwards with her right keyblade, catching Squall off guard again. She spun around and slashed him down, and stood over him.
"Say your last words," she scoffed. Squall frowned and released his grip on his gunblade.
"Sorry it had to come to this," he said. Falcon raised her keyblade, Bond of Flame, and cut straight downward. All around her, marble collapsed and fell, crushing the ground. Blood spurted around her as last words escaped Squall's mouth.
"Forgive me, Rinoa..." he whispered, and his eyes glazed over. Realization hit Falcon like a brick. She blinked once, twice, and looked down at Squall's still body. She stood up weakly and let her two keyblades clatter to the ground. She fell to her knees and though she was too frozen to cry, her whole body shook with terror.
'What...what have I done...?'
Sora and Riku rushed out of the castle just as a huge chunk of marble crashed down behind them. There they were. Donald, Goofy, Yuffie, Aerith, Tifa, Rinoa, Cloud, and...wait.
"Where's Squall?" Sora asked as he set Riku down.
"I thought he would out by now," Yuffie said, "is he still in there?"
"No!" Rinoa cried, charging forward, "he can't be!" She was dragged backwards by Cloud, "let me go!"
"No, he would be out by now," Cloud said, emotionless as ever, "if he's still in there, it means our ultimate mission has failed."
"He's..." Rinoa started, tears running down her face.
"He's dead," Riku said.
"But how!?" Rinoa cried, "how could he die? Falcon, she would..."
"I don't know, but if we don't hightail it out of here, we'll all gonna die!" Sora cried as he rushed for the gummi ship. Everyone followed, except Rinoa, who stood there, dazed.
"Come on Rinoa!" Tifa cried, "let's go!" Rinoa blinked and gazed at the crumbling castle once more, before turning and running.
Falcon crouched amidst the falling debris and clutched her head, screaming. Frozen images flashed through her mind. Axel, Roxas, Demyx, Squall, Rinoa...
"This can't be, why did all have to end this way!?" she cried, "there's nothing I can do now...in the face of death, can one not help but think of life?" Axel's warmth, the security and absolute happiness she had felt when with him. Roxas, had he not been one of the best ever. He always knew how to cheer her up in little ways that would seem insignificant. Demyx, his wisecracking jokes, and just being overall irresistible, acting all innocent, he could always make her laugh.
"Not anymore..." she whispered. She flashed Fenrir into her hand, and clutching it desperately, she brought it to her.
"Sweet ruptured light, it ends here tonight," she whispered, and pierced her heart with the point of the keyblade. Leaving it in, she felt no pain. After all, being with the Organization had left her as emotionless as a nobody.
"Never sleep, never die..." Falcon fell limp as her body disappeared into the shadowy tendrils, floating up into the nothingness of Castle Oblivion.
Last words escaped her lips as a wistful sigh, "Demyx...Axel...hold on, I'll be right there. Wait for me..." Then her vision faded.
6