Chapter 24: Darkness of the Unknown
The world Kairi found herself in after walking through the door wasn't anywhere she had been before. It was barren wasteland, not an ounce of green in sight, only dry crag. Of in the distance, along the ledge they were on, were canyons. Off the ledge, far out beyond their reach, were devastated mountainsides, remnants of ancient battles. The lack of life, of light, of even darkness, was offputting to Kairi. This place... just felt dead. The way the mountains in the distance swayed and warped didn't help either, she couldn't help but wonder if what she saw was real or not.
"This place...," whispered Aqua, her voice hushed, "I've been here before... its... its..."
Kairi turned to glance at Aqua, surprised to see her look so... unsettled. She swore this was was the most emotion she had seen from the woman, and it wasn't the good kind.
"It's the Keyblade Graveyard," said Xigbar, "Or well, the old coot's recreation of it.
"Keyblade... Graveyard?" questioned Kairi.
Xigbar's eyes flickered to Aqua. "In a sense, you could say its the place Aqua won, and lost, everything."
"It's a dump," said Axel flatly.
"Ha, I suppose it is," said Xigbar, "Lets go, old coot and the witch wont wait forever."
The moment they started walking, a wind picked up, and in front of them, a second transparent Aqua appeared. Kairi's eyes went wide at the sight of her, the Aqua of her memories, her past, a whole person. The woman walked to the edge of the ledge they were on and stared out.
She held out her hand and summoned her Keyblade. "There will not be a second war. Not so long as I live."
The wind picked up again, blowing dust at them. When it cleared, the echo was gone.
Aqua walked up to where she had been. "I... remember that..."
She slowly raised her hand, mimicking the vision, as if to summon her Keyblade, but nothing happened. She lowered her hand, shook her head, and started off towards the canyons.
"Uh... what the heck was that? Is he trying to mess with us or what?" said Axel.
"Us? No. Aqua? Yes," said Xigbar, "He doesn't consider any of us threats, only her."
"His mistake," muttered Kairi.
"Kiddo, let me give you a piece of advice," warned Xigbar, "I don't care how strong you think you've gotten, don't ever underestimate that old coot."
Kairi went silent at that, merely moving to walk after Aqua, the other two doing the same. She kept her eyes peeled and her senses open, yet... there was just nothing. No, there wasn't nothing, off in the distance, she could feel him, Xehanort, waiting for them. Kairi kept a special eye on Aqua as they walked. She had never seen the Nobody look so... haunted. Echoes appeared here and there as they walked, showing the Aqua of the past walking ahead of them before vanishing. Each time, Aqua flinched a little. It was bizarre to Kairi, why was the Nobody reacting so much now? After so long of seeming so... apathetic?
They continued walking until they came to a small open area leading to a very narrow pathway through the rocky mountains, ominous light shinning down it.
Aqua paused at the entrance. "I remember... it's past here, isn't it? The crossroads?"
Xigbar walked up to stand next to her. "Yeah."
"Hold on a sec, you just happen to remember, again? That's twice now, isn't that... kind of a coincidence?" said Axel.
"Not with the old coot it's not," said Xigbar, "This place is inside Kingdom Hearts, it's made up of the hearts of countless people whose hearts were freed from the Heartless."
He glanced at Aqua. "That might include yours."
Kairi stretched out her senses, hoping to feel something 'Aqua' out in the world around them. There was nothing, if Aqua's heart helped to make up this Kingdom Hearts, she either couldn't detect it, or it wasn't anywhere close. Either way, she wasn't so sure Xigbar was right...
Aqua said nothing to what the man said, merely moving to walk down the pathway. Kairi followed suit, only to pause as Axel grabbed her arm.
"Kairi, you watch yourself when this begins, alright? It's more than your life at stake in there, got it?" said Axel, pointing at her heart.
Kairi stared at him for a moment before pulling away, muttering, "I'll try not to get Xion killed, thanks for caring."
Axel winced a little. "That's not what I meant and you know it. Just... I can't lose what's left of that kid."
Kairi sighed and started walking, silent as she walked down the pathway...
Her eyes went wide with surprise as they came out the otherside, into a barren open wasteland FILLED with hundreds if not thousands of Keyblades stabbed into the ground. "What... what is this...?"
"I... think... this is where the final battle of the Keyblade War took place," said Aqua, a hand up to massage her forehead, looking lost in a memory.
Kairi's eyes furrowed. "Keyblade War...?"
"Never heard of it kiddo? Don't they teach you kids anything these days?" mocked Xigbar, a smirk on his face.
Something about it was vaguely familiar. It might have been mentioned when she was told about the original conflict with Xehanort ten years ago, some of the details of that conversation were a bit... hazy... to Kairi. It had not been a good time for her.
They paused as another echo of Aqua appeared and approached a key, lifting it up. "Nothing, it truly is dead in every sense of the word."
She vanished, reappearing a ways away. To Kairi's surprise, a younger Terra appeared and began to talk quietly with her. She smiled softly to see the two of them embrace in a hug. Her jaw dropped when a MUCH younger looking Ventus appeared and started teasing his two friends.
"That's what Ven looked like as a kid? He's adorable," said Kairi, trying to suppress a giggle, "And much shorter."
"Terra... Ven...," whispered Aqua's Nobody, clutching the side of her head.
Kairi shot her a worried look. She was looking off-balanced, her eyes hazy.
"If he wins, I'm asking you guys... as a friend... just... put an end to me," she heard Ven's voice echo over to them.
Kairi stared at the echo of the boy, shocked and baffled. "What?"
"Kiddo there was part of the X-Blade," said Xigbar, "One piece of a pair, technically I suppose he should have been looked at as one piece of twenty, but the old coot got greedy according to Aqua."
The wind picked up and gusted down, the crossroads. However, instead of the echos banishing, two new echoes appeared, Xehanort and a boy in a skin tight red and black suit.
"Is that... um... the Vanitas the Master's mentioned?" wondered Kairi, wracking her brain.
Xigbar nodded. "Yeah, freaky kid let me tell you. Be glad you never had to meet him. You know how your pure light?"
Kairi nodded.
"He's pure darkness," said Xigbar.
Kairi paled a little. "Oh..."
Kairi watched as the echo of Xehanort and Vanitas approached the echo of her Master and her friends.
Xehanort held a hand out and slowly waved it over the area. "Behold. These lifeless keys used to be full of power, united with the hearts of their masters. On this barren soil, Keyblades of light and darkness were locked in combat..."
He thrust his hands into the sky. "...as a great Keyblade War raged!"
"Countless Keyblade Wielders gave up their lives all in search of one, ultimate key, and it will soon belong to me...," he continued before pointing a finger at Ventus, "X-Blade."
The echoes slowly vanished as they charged at one another, and in their wake, came the real Xehanort, his Organization coat blowing in the wind as he approached them. The presence he gave off was staggering compared to before, and made Kairi sweat with nervous anticipation. Ho boy... he had gained a lot of power by merging into this Kingdom Hearts...
Xehanort stopped a ways away from them and stared at Aqua. "Does it bring back memories, to be here again?"
"Yes," answered Aqua quietly.
Kairi sharply looked at Aqua. What was with the Nobody?
Xehanort studied her silently.
Kairi waited, quietly summoning her keyblades, Xigbar and Axel calling their weapons to them as well.
Aqua however made no move to call her weapon, her gaze was hard, an edge to her voice, "My friends... Terra... and Ven. You... took me from them."
"Did I?" questioned Xehanort, "I seem to recall it being your own foolishness that did that. You could have won Aqua, you could have ended it. Yet you didn't. Tell me, do you yet remember, with your own eyes, your own memories, what you did instead?"
Aqua was quiet for a moment before she answered, "Yes."
Xehanort's lips curled into a malicious grin. "You failed them Aqua."
"I know," she answered quietly.
"Aqua don't listen to him!" said Kairi, taking a step forward.
Aqua held a hand out for her to stay back. Kairi hesitatingly obeyed.
Aqua stared at Xehanort, her expression hardening. "I did fail them Xehanort. I can remember that very clearly now. Do you know what else I can remember?"
"What is it?" questioned Xehanort, almost smugly.
"My hate for you," she snarled out.
Xehanort grinned. "Yes, show me again that rage!"
They all tensed, ready to spring into action, but to Kairi's surprise, Aqua didn't act on it.
Slowly, the anger worked it's way out of her face. "And, I remember what that hate brought me. It brought me ruin. It cost me everything. It led to the creation of my Heartless, and drowned the Realm of Light in darkness for ten years."
Xehanort frowned intently at that. "..."
"I suppose the only 'good' out of it was that I met Olette," said Aqua before frowning, "If inflicting an emotionless woman on a child who so hungered for her approval and empathy can be considered a good thing that is."
Aqua slowly held her hand out to her side, the 'snap hiss' of her blue Ethereal Blade forming filling the air. "I'm not blind to what you're doing Xehanort, nor am I stupid. You think bombarding me with these memories will weaken me? Make me lose my sense of self as you so wish? I'd question how you have them to dump into my head, but if I recall correctly we shared a heart for a short time."
The woman narrowed her eyes. "I remember very clearly why you started my original self on the path to darkness. You needed her to be of a similar alignment to yourself. I also remember what Xigbar told us, you want to put thirteen copies of your heart inside of those who had none, and here I am, inside of your Kingdom Hearts, an empty vessel just waiting for your heart if my sense of self weakened enough."
Xehanort glared at her for a moment. "Hmph, I suppose you've at least learned something from your former self's mistakes."
"Maybe, maybe not, either way I wouldn't need years of wisdom to know a man like you never gives up on something he wants. After all, here we are ten years later with you still trying to create the X-Blade, and still trying to make a host out of me, some things never change," said Aqua.
"I suppose at least this time your trying to do it the right way by trying to make thirteen darknesses for the X-Blade," mocked Aqua, "Your last attempt was rather pitiful if I recall correctly."
Xehanort slowly held out his hand, a red Ethereal Blade sprang out of it. "Perhaps it was. I was overly hasty and lost sight of the correct method, I can admit that now."
"If I cannot use you as a vessel Aqua," said Xehanort, the ground starting to rumble and shake as his energy slowly began to crackle around him, "Then you will be removed from the chessboard."
"We wont let you kill her," said Kairi, stepping up to stand beside Aqua.
Xehanort scoffed. "Kill her? No, she'll rest in a prison of nothingness until I craft the X-Blade and open the door."
Kairi was taken aback. He didn't want to kill her? That seemed stupid, if she was imprisoned, there was always a chance she could escape and stop him. For what reason would he not want to kill Aqua's Nobody? Just purely out of spite to keep her locked up? That didn't... seem intelligent, was she missing something?
"Ha," said Xigbar, "Careful old coot, your getting risky with your words. Don't think you want her figuring THAT out, do you?"
Kairi's eyebrows furrowed. "Figuring what out?"
Xehanort his head to glare at him. "You, Braig, are a constant source of aggravation to me. I should have had you destroyed the moment I found you again."
"Woopsy daisy," mocked Xigbar, "Must be going senile in your old age."
"Agreed," said Axel.
Xehanort's eyes shone with annoyance as he turned his glare at Axel. "And you, I'd find immense satisfaction destroying you if my heart were complete right now."
Axel grinned before giving a mocking salute, "Nice to know I got under your skin Mister Superior Sir, I tried my hardest."
Xehanort scoffed before glancing briefly at Kairi. "And as for you, Princess, you and my Puppet need to be punished, severely. Ten years I spent crafting the Organization to the peak of it's power, and you two led to it's ruin in not even a tenth of the time."
"Just try it," spat Kairi, twirling her Keyblades, she was ancy to stop the talking and just END it.
Xehanort's lips curled into a grin. "Oh I will, and be warned, while I need the Princesses of Heart alive, there are many ways I can make you wish you weren't. Extracting what's left of the puppet from your heart and torturing it before you would be a good start."
Kairi narrowed her eyes. He had just threatened Xion.
She spoke with deadliness in her voice, "Aqua."
"Yes?" the woman replied.
"Are you done talking?" she asked.
"Hmph, I suppose," said Aqua.
"Yeah, timers probably run out with the witch too while we've been chatting," said Xigbar, cocking his guns, "Let's get this show in the road."
"Good," said Kairi, blitzing forward and leaping into the air to swing her Keyblades down at Xehanort.
The old man raised his hand, and the ground below them burst upward. Kairi yelped with pain as the ground faceplaneted her and continued rising into the air. She shook it off and staggered to her feet in time to see more and more pieces of the ground below shoot off high into the air, carrying the others upward. The ground broke off from below and began to levitate and circle through the air, creating a battlefield of disconnected floating rocky platforms. If that wasn't a clue to her that this world definitely wasn't real and didn't follow the normal rules, she didn't know what was.
It wasn't only the ground though that flew upward. The dead keyblades rocketed into the air and swirled overhead, darkening the skies with their number. Xehanort stood on the highest platform and raised his hand again, and then brought it down. The keyblades rained down on the battlefield towards the for of them, forcing them to dodge, weave, and parry aside the onslaught.
Kairi came to the edge of the edge of the platform she was on, hesitated for a brief moment, and leaped. She was pleasantly surprised to find her body disobeyed the rules of gravity just as much as the world around them. She leaped across the distance between her platform and the next, rolling as she landed and springing for the next.
ROAR
A immense gust of fire shot passed her towards Xehanort, courtesy of Axel if she had to guess. The man raised a hand and calmly formed a barrier, blocking the blast almost effortlessly, not even turning to look the way it came. Kairi followed the man's gaze, it was locked on Aqua as the woman began trying to close the distance. The storm of flying keyblades focused on her more than the rest of them, trying to keep her pinned and busy.
His mistake.
Kairi leaped again for a platform below and behind his before leaping up, keyblades raised overhead, and swung them down. Xehanort half turned, raised his Ethereal Blade, and blocked effortlessly. Kairi's eyes went wide with surprise as she hung in the air, staring down in disbelief at the crossed blades. The old man didn't even turn his head to acknowledge the attempt. Unreal... she knew he'd be a stronger with Kingdom Hearts, even an artificial one, against just the Cornerstone she had, but this...?
"Your time will come shortly Princess, wait your turn," he said.
He shoved her back and she back flipped through the air, landing and then rushing at him in anger. "Don't you ignore me!"
She swung her Keyblades, only to give a start as they went right through him, making him ripple and fade away. "What?"
SLASH
Kairi screamed and staggered as something hot ripped across her back. "Do not be concerned, I'm not."
Kairi fell to a knee and turned her head, hissing in pain, sighting Xehanort standing behind her. How?!
The old man chuckled at her. "Your power is impressive Princess, I'm not going to pretend to know how you managed to amplify it so much in so short a time. It matters not, for you can have all the power you so wish, but with the skills of a neophyte that you have, against one such as I it wouldn't make a difference."
Kairi focused her light and healed her back, standing up and turning to glare at him, Keyblades bare. "Shut up!"
"Do you deny it child? You've had but a simple month or so of proper Keyblade tutelage at the Land of Departure. You have so little knowledge and understanding of how to properly wield what you grip in your hands. You use it as if it were nothing more than a cudgel," mocked Xehanort, "Why, if the real Master Aqua were here, she'd be disappointed."
Kairi's face burned at that, grinding her teeth before charging at him in anger. "Well it's not MY fault you stole her from me! If you hadn't ruined her life she would have come back to train me!"
She swung her Keyblades in separate arcs, but Xehanort swerve his blade back and forth with lightning speed to parry them aside. "I stole nothing child, she made her own foolish choice. And does the thought not pass through your head that if it were not for me, you would never have met her?"
Kairi flinched at the awful truth of that statement, but that was exactly what the old man wanted. He swung his blade, bashed aside Oathkeeper, and made to stab through her arm and incapacitate her...
Only for him to suddenly vanish before he could deal the blow, and where he had been, a blue Ethereal Blade swept through seconds later.
Aqua had arrived.
"Block him out," warned Aqua, "His words are as effective as a weapon if you let them be."
Kairi didn't have a chance to say anything as the woman surged passed her after Xehanort. Kairi took a second to fume at being so easily manipulated before turning to join the fight. Xehanort and Aqua were locked in a dance of Ethereal Blades, red sparking against blue. However, it was very clear almost immediately to Kairi, which one was stronger.
Xehanort had the power of his artificial Kingdom Hearts pumping through him, Aqua didn't. She was hard pressed to keep up with the speed of his blade. Yet... Kairi noticed something odd, something that gave her pause. While she wasn't as seasoned as her father or Cloud in swordplay... if she didn't know any better it looked as if Xehanort was deliberately passing up on chances to land blows on Aqua...
Kairi shook her head and joined the fight from behind, trying to keep the man pinned between her and Aqua. Even with attacks coming from both sides, his blade moved back and forth at inhuman speeds. For an old man, artificial power increase or not, he was fast. He could move in a way, Grandma forgive her for thinking it, that an old person should not be able to.
"Here's one for ya!" came a cry.
The dance of blades and keyblades stopped for a short second at the call before a huge blast of energy shot at them. Xehanort had but a split second to form a barrier before the blast hit him head on, exploded, cracked the barrier, and sent him flying off the platform. Kairi and Aqua staggered a bit at the explosion, before glancing at it's source.
Xigbar knelt on a platform a ways away, his guns combined into a rifle that was smoking after the attack. The man had a grin on his face, and began charging power in for another massive attack and...
Kairi's eyes went wide when Xehanort suddenly appeared behind Xigbar, blade raised to kill the man. Only for Axel's chakrams to fly at him, one misdirecting the blade strike, the other slicing into his arm. Xigbar rolled and teleported away as Xehanort staggered, grunting in pain. Axel landed on the platform he was on, recalled his chakrams, and charged.
Kairi took a running leap off her current platform, Aqua doing the same. They rushed forward to help Axel as Xehanort recovered from his surprise and started driving the man back, his blade starting to leave light slashes across Axel's chest and arms as the man failed to keep pace. She came to his defense, leaping into the fray and parrying aside a blow that could have taken an arm, shoving him back.
"Support us at range, don't fight him head on Axel!" she yelled.
"Pfe," spat Axel, "Where's the fun in that?"
"Not dying would be the answer," she shot back, rushing at Xehanort as Aqua came at him again.
Xehanort leaped off the platform and made for another, going at a pace it was hard to keep up with. He didn't stop to engage them aside from redirecting the storm of Keyblades to attack them again. She struggled to think and dodge. She didn't understand, what was he up to? It took her a second after following his direction with her eyes to figure it out.
He was still after Xigbar.
The man kept teleporting to different platforms, trying to keep his distance and take pot shots at the old man. Xehanort was quick though, and kept up pace, no, he was gaining on Xigbar! Her heart skipped a beat. She might not know the man, or even think really well of him for manipulating Xion, but she didn't want him to die.
She picked up the pace and aimed at hand at Xehanort, trying to aim as she cried out, "Shock!"
It was to slow, by the time the light erupted at the location, he was already gone.
"Hey, I know you got a thing for me old coot," said Xigbar between teleports, "But give it a rest!"
WARP
Xehanort appeared right in front of Xigbar and drove his Ethereal Blade through the man's chest before he could react.
"Xigbar!" cried out Kairi.
Xigbar glanced back down towards them, a grin on his pain masked face. "Heh... that's the end... of that."
Xehanort placed a hand against Xigbar and blasted him off the platform down towards them. He landed with a heavy thud, his body already starting to disintegrate.
The man looked up at Aqua, chuckling painfully. "See you... on the other side. I expect... what you promised me... when we next meet..."
With that, the man disintegrated into nothingness.
"Shit man...," said Axel, "He and I weren't friends or anything, but..."
Kairi stood riveted in the spot, shaking in anger. And yet... also in the starting of fear. Xehanort had effortlessly been holding off her and Aqua, he only went after Xigbar because getting peppered by charged blasts like that might have been a danger.
"What are we supposed to do?" she whispered.
"What we must," said Aqua, "But... what he said..."
Aqua took a step forward, staring down at where Xigbar had faded away at. "See me on the other side?"
"Didn't think Xig was the religious type," said Axel, his head tilted upwards to eye Xehanort.
The man had made no further move, merely staring down at them, waiting.
"I'm not so sure that is what he meant," murmured Aqua.
Kairi gave her a curious look. "Huh?"
Aqua turned her head to stare up at Xehanort, and to Kairi's surprise, she saw a brief flicker of empty fear in the man's eyes. What in the world...?
"Kairi, take point," ordered Aqua, "I need to test something."
"What?!" Kairi exclaimed.
"Do it," Aqua ordered.
"Uh, I'd rather you not send her and her passenger to get diced thank you very much," said Axel grumpily.
Aqua didn't answer him, her head tilted towards Kairi. "Do you not trust me, my apprentice?"
Kairi froze, feeling like lightning had coursed down her spine at those words, those words she had hungered for over the last ten years...
"I remember you fully now, beyond what you told me when we first met," said Aqua.
She chuckled. "He thinks these memories would overwhelm me, distract me, make me question just who I am. But... he forgets exactly that, who I am, what gave me my power, and what drove me."
"Our friends, those we care about," said Kairi softly, "That's our power."
"Go," ordered Aqua.
Kairi didn't question it, she ran to the edge of the platform and leaping up, platform by platform. She took a giant leap and came to Xehanort's rushing at him fearlessly. She had her master back, or at least mostly, and she feared nothing anymore. She swept at him with newfound force, making him put up a little more effort to keep blocking her keystrokes. It frustrated her, that he could still easily manage her, but she trusted in Aqua, whatever plan she had better be good though and...
Xehanort parried aside Oathkeeper, slapped his blade against Kairi's other hand, making her yelp and drop Two-Become One, and made to skewer right through her shoulder...
Only for Aqua to come and shove her out of the way.
Kairi's eyes went wide with fear as she was knocked onto her butt. "Aqua!"
To her shock, Xehanort stopped his blade inches from puncturing through Aqua's chest. The woman made no move other than to glance down at the blade before slowly raising her eyes to meet Xehanort's frustrated one.
Slowly, a malicious grin spread across Aqua's face. "So I am right, aren't I Xehanort? It's why Xigbar didn't give a damn about dying. You truly don't want to destroy me, do you? I think we both know why."
Nothing short of a growl escaped Xehanort's lips.
Kairi glanced back and forth between them, utterly lost and confused.
"And that, Xehanort, gives us a great advantage," said Aqua, forcing his blade aside with her own and swinging at him, "Kairi! No quarter!"
Kairi rushed back into the fight, and what an odd fight it suddenly turned into. Aqua held nothing back and fought with a ruthlessness Kairi couldn't ever recall seeing. She made no defensive moves, leaving herself wide open to be countered, but Xehanort never did, merely trying to force Aqua back before trying to incapacitate Kairi. The strange dance of blades continued until Kairi noticed something off, an orange glow seeming to illuminate them, as if from a fire...
"Get BACK!" roared Axel.
Kairi and Aqua acted instantly, diving out of the way as a torrent of fire burst at Xehanort from Axel. Xehanort raised a hand and formed a barrier, taking the brunt of the damage with it. Kairi took a risk and dove into the inferno, coming at Xehanort from behind and slashing his back as the fire faded. Xehanort staggered a bit before he turned and booted her off the platform with a kick to her stomach. She yelped and fell through the air before landing a ways below. She laid there for a moment, stunned, before slowly rising to her feet, breathing in and out heavily. This... was starting to tire her.
She shook her head and began leaping back up the platforms, noting that Axel had joined Aqua fighting Xehanort directly, chakrams cloaked with fire making sweeps at Xehanort. Dammit! Stupid man, if he got himself killed... Xion would never forgive her. It would crush what was left of her heart. She put on a burst of speed as Axel took a hit, a searing Ethereal Blade slicing down his right arm, making him staggered back and fall to a knee.
Xehanort blocked an attack from Aqua before sneaking a hand under her guard to blast her point blank with nothingness, sending the woman flying back. The man turned to aim a hand at the downed Axel, glowing intensly with power.
"Begone!" he yelled, releasing a burst of energy.
"Axel!" cried out Kairi, an echo in her voice from Xion.
She dove and tackled Axel out of the way of the blast, both of them rolling off the edge and landing on a platform below, Axel on bottom.
"Oww... you're heavy, you know that?" said Axel.
Kairi bristled and resisted the urge to haul off and slap him. "Little gratitude Axel!"
WARP
Kairi gave a surprised cry as Xehanort appeared behind them, reaching down to grab the back of her head and hauling her up. She cringed painfully as he squeezed tightly, pressure making her head spin and her eyes water.
"I've had enough of this farce," said Xehanort.
Kairi screamed as he drove his blade through the back of her left knee and then threw her to the ground. She dropped her Keyblades and curled up, bringing her knee to her chest. IT HURT! IT BURNED!
"Get away from them!" roared Axel, rising to his feet and blasted Xehanort with a torrent of fire.
Kairi shakily brought her gloved hands to the searing hole in her knee, whimpering. She wrapped them around it and focused, pouring light into the wound. She took a ragged breath as a shadow stood over her, she glanced up to see Aqua staring down at her. The woman reached down and hauled her to her feet. Kairi wobbled a little, her knee still throbbing with pain.
Aqua offered no words of comfort or instructions, merely diving back into the battle. Kairi stood there, breathing shakily. She looked at the fight, Xehanort showed no signs of being tired. Any hits they had landed on him had little lasting impact. Aqua showed no outward signs of exertion, but Kairi could clearly feel the drop in energy the woman had. Axel was faring worse, and she herself was starting to feel exhausted. Fighting at this intensity... it was worse than fighting through the Shadowlands back during the Heartless Apocalypse.
Kairi started forward, recalling her Keyblades, before staggering as the entire area shook. All fighting stopped as the air began to slowly bleed red in the far outskirts of the battlefield. Kairi could faintly feel an echo of pain enter her heart. This... this was...
"Who dares defile my Kingdom Hearts?" snarled Xehanort.
It was far passed the ten minutes Maleficent had given them. The witch was acting, hungering for Kingdom Hearts.
And oddly enough, it gave them a chance.
She could feel power slowly slipping away from Xehanort, being tainted by the foul power Maleficent used.
But Maleficent wouldn't be any better, in fact, giving those things Kingdom Hearts would probably be even worse. They needed to end this, now, and stop the Ascended from merely picking up the leftovers.
Kairi took a ragged breath and rushed back towards Xehanort, leaping platforms, and restarting the fight with a swing of her Keyblades.
Xehanort was done toying with them however, she could see it. His victory was being challenged by Maleficent, he treated her intrusion and grasp for Kingdom Hearts more seriously than he did them. He was putting more effort into the battle, and even weakened, three on one, he still outmaneuvered and overpowered them.
Xehanort blasted Kairi back, kicked Aqua in her stomach, and turned to deliver a devastating slash down Axel's chest, dropping him to the ground.
"AXEL!" Kairi screamed, rushing back at Xehanort.
"ENOUGH!" yelled Xehanort, surging at Kairi, his blade raised.
Only for Aqua to once again throw herself in the way, shoving Kairi aside.
Xehanort didn't stop this time however.
Kairi watched, horrified, as Xehanort drove his Keyblade right through her chest. "Keeping your Nobody alive isn't worth losing my Kingdom Hearts. I'll deal with the repercussions when they happen."
Xehanort withdrew his blade and kicked her to the ground. Kairi watched numbly as she fell.
Kairi dropped her Keyblades and rushed over. "Master Aqua! NO!"
Xehanort paid her no heed, turning to walk away, hands held into the air in focus.
Kairi knelt down next to Aqua as the woman started to disintegrate. "No! Please... please no... I can't lose you again..."
Aqua stared at her, pained. "You're... not..."
Kairi stared at her helplessly. She didn't understand...
"I don't... know if she... will care for who... I cared for... when she comes back... so please... if she doesn't do so... look after Olette... for me...," whispered Aqua.
Kairi shook, tears streaming down her face, as the woman faded away into nothingness, she let loose an agonized scream, "MASTER AQUA!"
tremor
She lurched as the air began to whine around the area. She glanced up, through tear stained eyes, at the conflicting energy around them. Xehanort and Maleficent were struggling for control, each seeking to drive the other out of Kingdom Hearts.
"It's power and light are MINE," roared Xehanort, nothingness swelling around him.
Kairi despaired, it was over... one way or another... it was over...
"Kairi! Don't give up!" came a familiar woman's voice, "Don't forget who you are, and what it is they struggle over!"
Kairi froze. That voice...
"What is Kingdom Hearts?" the voice asked.
Kairi slowly stood up, a memory triggering in her mind.
Through the connection to her body, Kairi struggled to speak, struggled to get words out of the abyss of darkness Aqua's Heartless wrapped her heart in. "We... know the truth... about Kingdom Hearts... don't we... Sora?"
Sora's eye's went wide, and he smiled, "Yeah, we do, don't we? Kingdom Hearts... it isn't darkness..."
"What are you two blabbering about?" hissed Aqua's Heartless.
"We know...," began Kairi, squeezing Sora's hand.
"...without a doubt...," said Sora, squeezing back.
"...that Kingdom Hearts...," the said together.
The air trembled as Kairi reached out with her power, with her light, as they screamed together, "IS LIGHT!"
It was light.
And light was a part of her, as a Princess of Heart, that it was for no one else.
She closed her eyes and focused. She could feel Xehanort and Maleficent's wills and power struggling for control over the artificial Kingdom Hearts. With neither having complete control, it gave Kairi the opening she needed. She dove right into the fray between the two of them, grasping for the light of Kingdom Hearts. She rebuffed Maleficent's attempts to taint and control it and ripped as much of the Light of the artificial Heart of All Worlds away from Xehanort as she could.
The man whirled as Kairi leveled Oathkeeper at him and released a explosion of light. His eyes went wide and cried out in agony as the light washed over him.
"NO!" he roared, struggling against the power, "Kingdom Hearts... is... mine!"
"Kingdom Hearts," she hissed at him in rage, "Is no ones! Lest of all, YOURS!"
She put everything she had into it, and watched Xehanort burn, watched the light char his body and slowly break it apart into pieces. With a final cry, she unleashed one last burst of power and vaporized him before falling to her knees.
"Master... Aqua... that was... for you," she whispered, chocking and trying not to sob.
"K...Kairi...," came a pained whisper.
She glanced up to see Axel trying to crawl over to him. "Did... good... kid."
Kairi couldn't even bring herself to look at him. "Aqua's... gone..."
tremor
Kairi glanced up, feeling Maleficent's intrusion and taint start again, sighting the air start to turn blood red. "We... we have to get out of here, and finish it."
"Can... you?" asked Axel.
Kairi slowly stood up and walked over to him, propping him up against her shoulder and wrapping an arm around him. "I can't stop her from taking over Kingdom Hearts forever, even if I was at full strength, she's... she's something else entirely, I don't know how to fight against that kind of creature, that kind of pain. The only way to stop this, is to use Kingdom Hearts, or destroy it."
"How do we... destroy it?" questioned Axel.
"I don't know," said Kairi, focusing the part of the power of Kingdom Hearts that she controlled to warp them outside of it.
They reappeared, floating high in the sky over the World That Never Was, just under Kingdom Hearts, levitating with the Light that bathed over them...
Kairi cringed in pain and nausea as the tormented screams of the Ascended filled the air. She glanced down, sighting Maleficent at the center of the Alter of Naught, hand's outstretched in furious concentration, towards Kingdom Hearts. Kairi could feel them, hundreds and thousands of them in the castle and the world below. She couldn't feel a speck of Nothingness anywhere...
Every single Nobody...
Had been killed...
By the light...
All those people robbed of their second chance...
The weight of the loss nearly made Kairi lose control of the light levitating them. "Mom... dad... you and the others BETTER have gotten out alive..."
"Hold onto me Axel," said Kairi, letting go of him.
The man struggled to do as she said as Kairi raised an open palm to press against Kingdom Hearts. She felt for it, she felt for ALL of it. It was staggering, and threatened to drown her in a power and light so deep it overshadowed both her and the Cornerstones power, making them seem like ants before a giant, and this was just an artificial Kingdom Hearts.
She gazed down on the infested world, overrun by the Ascended. She aimed her hand down at the world below, and began to channel the Light.
Maleficent's eyes snapped open before she roared, "You DARE?"
Kairi unleashed it, she unleashed it all. Light exploded out of Kingdom Hearts, raining down in a massive beam of energy straight for the world's flesh. Maleficent gave a howl of rage before the woman fled, forming a strange red and black version of a Dark Corridor and running through it, Pete following suit. The energy of Kingdom Heart's hit the ground of the world and punctured through, burrowing deep into it towards it's core.
"K-kairi? The heck... are you...," began Axel.
So like a world being taken by Darkness, the world bucked and cracked, distorting as it started to come apart at the seems, consumed and destroyed not by darkness, but by light. "Hold on Axel!"
She held him tightly and formed a barrier around them as the world exploded, purging every Ascended still on it, and sending Kairi and Axel flying out into the Lanes Between...
Kairi came to some time later, floating in the Lanes Between next to Axel. She stared up silently into the star lit sky. She felt... exhausted... drained, and battered. Not as much as she had been after Aqua's Heartless had tried to eat her, but when she got home, she felt like she was going to sleep for a week straight...
She didn't have the energy to form a Dark Corridor. Instead, she summoned Oathkeeper and tossed it up, transforming it into her Keyblade Glider raft, and struggled to bring herself and Axel onto it. She weakly stood up and grabbed the steering wheel, slowly flying to the Land of Departure. She hoped, and prayed, with everything she had, that her family and friends would be there to greet her...
Instead, the courtyard was empty, save for Sora sitting on the steps watching them approach.
No... no... they...
Maybe... maybe they were inside! They... they had to be!
She landed her glider in the courtyard and fell to her knees as it vanished.
"Kairi!" yelled out Sora as he ran over.
"A heal would... be nice," she gasped out.
"Curaga!" said Sora, casting a spell.
Axel groaned. "Oh man... what the heck hit us?"
"Umm... your world exploding?" said Kairi sheepishly.
Axel rubbed his eyes for a moment before scowling at her. "Thanks for blowing up my home for the last ten years."
"Well, I don't think you wanted it anymore with what took up residence," she shot back.
Axel was silent before sighing, "Suppose not."
"Kairi, what the heck happened? Where did you go? And whose this?" asked Sora.
"Sora... just help us inside please," said Kairi.
Sora grumbled quietly to himself before wrapping both of their arms over his shoulder and helping them up the steps into the keep. Kairi glanced around feverishly, but no one aside from the Keybearers were at the thrones. The Nobodies of her family and friends were no where to be seen.
Please no...
"Sora... did... did anyone come here?" she asked, she begged desperately.
Sora gave her a confused look. "Huh? No one's come to the Land of Departure since Xion... showed up to help you."
Kairi gave a ragged sob, bowed her head and pulling away from Sora, falling to her knees. "No... they're... all gone..."
"Kairi?" exclaimed Sora.
That drew the attention of the others who came rushing over.
Riku gave Axel a hostile look before glancing down at Kairi. "What happened?"
Kairi said nothing, she just started sobbing, each word ripping painfully at her heart, "Leon... Yuffie... Cloud... Aerith... Cid... Tifa... Arthur... Barret... Rapunzel... Jack... Hiro... Stitch... and Mulan... they're all..."
"They're all dead!" she wailed.
"Kairi...,' said Sora, speechless.
"And Aqua... she... she died saving me...," said Kairi hoarsely.
"Aqua!?" exclaimed Terra, "What are you..."
"Her Nobody," said Axel softly.
"Aqua had a Nobody?!" exclaimed Ven.
"She... they all had a chance... to regrow their hearts... but I got them killed!" she sobbed out, feeling frayed beyond belief, "I got them killed... I..."
She started sobbing uncontrollably into her hands, losing focus on the world around her.
"Get her to bed Sora...," Terra's tired voice echoed around her, "I assume her 'friend' can give us a rundown."
Kairi couldn't focus enough to care as Sora picked her up and slowly brought her to her room. She curled up into a ball and sobbed at the loss until the pain carried her off to a fitful sleep...
Author's Notes:
Overall, I'm... somewhat satisfied with how this story came out. I still don't think, like with book 2, it was as good as book 1, but I feel that it was a bit more focused and less all over the place than book 2. IDK how well I stuck the final battle/end of the chapter. Unlike in cannon, the Artificial Kingdom Hearts never had a chunk blown out of it via Ansem's data machine thing, allowing Xehanort to try and control a fully powered KH. He'd need it obviously, to stand up to his four opponents.
Xehanort needed to:
A) Be strong enough to hold his own/overpower them.
B) Kill Aqua/Xigbar (For obvious reasons that most people in the story don't understand yet).
C) Still die at the end.
Not sure how well I finished it. Has a slight Deus Ex Machina feel to me, but, no more than book 2's ending I suppose. Though, that did happen in cannon VS Ansem SoD.
*shrug*
So anyway, rambling aside, tell me how you all think I did on book 3.
What went right?
What went wrong?
What could have been better?
Epilogue and Secret Movie coming up next.