The Resolve of All
Chapter 20: Reunions
"Terra..." Aqua momentarily forgot that this was not Terra.
"Pitiful... You still believe he is here." Terranort stated as he placed a hand over his chest. "However, it will be rather amusing to fight you again..."
"Fine! I'll make sure Terra has his heart returned! I swear it!" Aqua proclaimed.
"-! You!" Terranort's eyes widened in surprise and he looked... scared.
"Huh?" Aqua turned around and she gasped at who it was.
There beside Master Aqua... was a Lingering Will... and after ten years he may finally get his body back...
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"Terra...?" Aqua was dumbfounded.
"Fools... do you really believe after all this time... Terra is still within me?! ...He has fallen into the abyss farther than anyone! Nothing can bring his heart to salvation!" Terranort declared.
"...Xe...ha...nort..." The Lingering Will bellowed. "Xehanort!"
"Right! Together we can rescue Terra and take back his body!" Aqua affirmed as she wielded her Keyblade. "Terra will be saved! I know it!"
"Talk all you want! But don't bother; you will be joining Terra as I cast you both into oblivion! Eeearrgggaahhh!" Terranort roared as he summoned his Guardian to aid him in battle!
The Lingering Will lurched forward in a fury, determined to retrieve his body while Aqua did her best to flank their enemy.
Terranort gave a smug smirk as the Guardian disappeared and he himself disappeared into the portal he created beneath him. Confused, his opponents searched the area on where he would pop up next, but a dark hand emerged from beneath Aqua and grabbed her with all of its might!
"Terra! Help!" She called out to her friend.
The Lingering Will complied as he dashed and sliced the shadow hand across the wrist, dismissing the attack and releasing the blue-haired Keyblade Master.
"Thanks." Aqua said in relief. Why wasn't she more careful?
The Armor nodded in response as they both stared down Terranort and the Guardian as they both emerged from the darkness in the other side of the room.
The Guardian then swung his powerful arms and launched his lightning wave attack at them. Aqua and the Armor swerved and dodged as they closed in on their enemies. The Lingering Will summoned a giant fire ball and launched it at the two, but the Guardian teleported in front of Terranort to take the full force of the attack.
Through the smoke of the resulting explosion, Terranort charged at Aqua wielding his own Keyblade. But before she could get away, the Guardian appeared behind her and grabbed her by both of her arms!
"Let go of me!" Aqua struggled against its strong grip.
But before Terranort could get to the blue-haired Keyblade Master, the Lingering Will intercepted with his back facing the charging enemy. As the Armor took the stab in his back from Terranort, the Lingering Will fired a beam of light from his Ends of the Earth which hit its mark right between the eyes of the Guardian resulting in Aqua's release.
"Terra!" Aqua yelled after she took notice that the Guardian had dissipated.
Then something weird happened next, Terranort's Keyblade was stuck in the back plate of the armor!
"...You empty husk of metal! Release me!" Terranort demanded while the Armor gave no compliance.
Then, as though a miracle had happened, the Armor enabled his Will's Cage ability and chains erupted from the back of the armor plating itself and it wrapped around Terranort, leaving him completely immobilized!
Then the Armor commanded the chains to pull in Terranort even closer together as a bright light began to shine between them! The light was so bright; it even blinded Aqua for a bit...
Was this... Terra taking his body back?
When the bright beacon of light faded from their battlefield, Aqua opened her eyes to see that she was all alone except for a little shard of light dancing across the room with a misty darkness clouding its shine.
"Xehanort!" Aqua sensed its darkness behind it as the familiar darkness she always battled before.
She then took it upon herself to destroy it and she did make quick work of the fragment of the evil man's heart. But now that she was alone... where was Terra?
"Terra...?" Aqua looked around the room for her friend, maybe even the Armor.
"Aqua!"
Aqua's ears perked up as she recognized the voice of her little blond friend and even the calls of that dog and duck.
"Ven! Donald and Goofy..." Aqua smiled as the three of them approached her.
"Are you okay?" Ven inquired.
"I'm okay Ven." Aqua assured her friends.
"Well come on! We hafta keep climbin!" Donald quacked as he sprinted towards the stairs to the next floor, Goofy soon followed.
"Are you sure Aqua?" Ven pried.
"...Let's just keep moving Ven..." Aqua stated sadly.
Ven finally nodded in agreement as they both made their way to the stairs...
"You two leaving without me?"
Aqua and Ven stopped right in their tracks as they turned around to meet their friend for the first time in ten years... he didn't look like he aged a day...
"Terra!" They cried as they both ran forth to embrace him...
"...My many selves are falling victim to those who guard the light..." Young Xehanort preached to the disgruntled Roxas and Xion. "However, only one of us needs to survive and then we can start anew. I cannot be destroyed for I can only return to my own time to begin all of these events which are meant to happen!"
"Are you done blathering? Or can we just plow through you already?" Roxas taunted menacingly.
"Such insolence..." Young Xehanort muttered in frustration as he raised a hand.
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"You all shall wander forever in the bottomless depths of darkness!" He bellowed.
"Get ready Roxas! Here he comes!" Xion warned.
"Begone!" Young Xehanort shouted as he summoned his Time Keyblade, No Name.
"Xion, let's go!" Roxas affirmed.
Roxas and Xion charged at the Xehanort from the most distant past. Roxas slashed down at him with Oblivion, but he merely dodged it and blew the blonde away with wind magic. Xion then flanked and landed a hit against his shoulder, however Young Xehanort spun himself around and slashed into Xion's side, batting her away like an annoying fly.
"Xion!" Roxas cried.
Xion landed across the room like a rag-doll, but somehow she found herself on her feet once more.
"I'm okay, Roxas!"
"Are you?"
"Huh?"
"I thought you were stronger than that Xion." Drex smirked as he placed a hand on her shoulder and cast a healing spell on her.
"Drex! You're here!" Xion beamed.
"Yeah I am." Drex said stoically. "Let's talk in a bit though, okay?"
"Right." She nodded.
"Prepare yourselves!" Young Xehanort growled as he fired a ball of darkness at Roxas!
Roxas was about to block the attack when a certain pyro beat him to the punch and knocked the energy ball out of the park to save his friend.
"Lea?!" Roxas questioned. "You're here too?"
"Seems like as good a place as any." Lea grinned. "Stay on your toes with this guy!"
Four against one now; Roxas, Xion, Lea, and Drex surrounded Young Xehanort wielding their Keyblades...
Drex charged at Xehanort and locked keys with him, holding him in place. Lea and Xion flacked them on both sides and dashed at him to perform a crisscross attack.
Young Xehanort jumped back into the air to avoid the two, but then he saw that Roxas was there and was flying right into him! Roxas performed a powerful combo on Young Xehanort and the blonde swung downwards and smacked him down towards the ground. Drex then set him back up like he was a volleyball and Xion came a blazing as she placed a lethal blow on Young Xehanort as well. Lea then conjured up a fire spell and launched it to finish him but Xehanort teleported away to avoid this attack.
He then appeared before the four of them, appearing to be weakened and wounded.
"How... how can this happen again?" Young Xehanort clutched his shoulder as he remembered his last conflict with these people.
"History tends to repeat itself." Lea smirked as he pointed his Keyblade at Xehanort.
"When all else fails, you have to stand by your friends..." Drex mirrored Lea.
"...and fight till the end with them." Xion copied her friends as well.
"Our friendship is stronger than anything you can throw at us. That's why we can..." Roxas raised Oblivion and Oathkeeper at Xehanort as well.
"Change our Fate!" They all declared as they fired beams of light at their enemy.
Young Xehanort put up his most powerful barrier in attempt to block the oncoming attack, but upon contact with the beams of light, the barrier shattered into a million pieces as their five beams pierced him through the chest... and before he even hit the ground... he faded away back to his own time, for good.
"We did it!" Xion smiled. "And my boys are back together again!"
"It's been a while since we all fought together like this, right?" Lea smirked as he put his arms around all of them in an attempt for a group hug.
"Get off of me!" Drex hissed as he pulled away from the other three.
"What's wrong Drex?" Roxas inquired.
"...You guys have no idea, do you?" Drex leered at them. "Do you?!"
"What? ...You mean your other friends?" Xion guessed.
"Just don't Xion. Please." Drex shut himself down at this.
"This isn't the time to have a meltdown Drex. We gotta find the others." Lea motioned him.
"Lea... I had to... kill Mona." Drex confessed.
They all tried to express their concern. But only Lea replied "...Oh... I'm so sorry I-!"
"Don't be sorry guys. I just... I'm so tired of everything..." Drex admitted depressingly.
"Well, we're almost through, okay? Just one more push and we can go home." Roxas comforted.
Drex sighed. "Alright. Let's go..."
The four of them reunited, they headed towards the last floor before the top of the tower...
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"Ansem!" Riku bellowed. "Where are you?!"
The Seeker of Darkness then appeared behind Master Riku as he reached out to grab his shoulder. Riku noticed this and he jumped back to face his own demons as well as this opponent to boot.
"My shadow still lingers within your heart. You will never be rid of me Riku." Ansem stated as he crossed his arms.
"It doesn't matter. You said so yourself that I'm resistant to the darkness." Riku replied.
"Perhaps, however... there may come the day where your heart will weaken and the darkness will ravage your entire being, you can make no mistake of that." Ansem responded.
"That's not going to stop me from defeating you! Here and now!" Riku proclaimed as he wielded his Way to the Dawn.
"Boy, if you do not heed my words then-!"
It happened so fast... Riku had sped to near light speeds determined to finally put an end to the being that has caused him such grief and suffering for so long...
Riku had effectively stabbed Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, in the chest... a deadly blow.
"You have grown stronger..." Ansem barely got out.
"This is... the end..." Riku growled.
"Hardly... You still have the Master to deal with..." Ansem stated. "You'll need all of the strength you can muster to stand against him..."
"I intend to." Riku simply replied as he pulled his Keyblade out of the fading Ansem. "We'll win and protect the light."
"...Your struggle is futile... the light will always be endangered by the everlasting darkness..." He weakly argued.
"Then we will always guard the light from the darkness!" Riku retorted as Ansem faded away into nothingness...
"Time to keep moving."
"Sora... Why do you and the Guardians continue to keep on fighting?" Xemnas inquired.
"...Because no one else will!" Sora affirmed as he slashed at Xemnas, but the man dodged it.
Sora gave chase to Xemnas around the identical room that everyone else was fighting in and eventually he caught up to him.
Sora got above Xemnas and slammed his Kingdom Key downward. Xemnas attempted to block with his guard ability, but Sora faked him out and used areo magic to swing himself around the barrier and uppercut Xemnas into the back. He then followed it up with a critically powerful combo. Xemnas winced in pain as he took refuge in a ball of darkness and moved himself away from Sora and back to the ground.
He then emerged back out ready for another round. "I will not allow it to end this way... not yet."
Xemnas then summoned his thorns of darkness which spurted from his hand and they quickly wrapped around Sora, incapacitating him.
"Arrgg! Let go!" Sora gritted.
Almost like before, Sora's power was being drained from the thorns and he was the mercy of Xemnas.
"...So much for the Keyblade Hero..." Xemnas said disappointingly.
And just like that, the thorns were cut, not by one but two saviors...
"Sora!" Kairi called out to him as he hit the ground from fatigue.
"Is he okay?" Namine worriedly asked.
"Yeah, he's fine." Kairi relieved when she noticed he was still breathing. "Sora! Wake up!"
"Huh?" Sora woozily woke up with his head resting in Kairi's lap then he jerked upward on his own feet. "Kairi, move! Xemnas is still here!"
"So... Namine you have developed your own existence as well?" Xemnas inquired.
"Yeah, I have." Namine stood proud. "And I'm going to use it to help destroy you."
"Are you? You and what army?"
"This army." Kairi grinned.
And Xemnas turned around to see Roxas, Xion, Lea, Drex, Terra, Aqua, Ventus, Donald, Goofy, and Riku standing before him as their Keyblades rose...
"...It looks like... my time has come..." Xemnas accepted.
And in another instant, Xemnas was vanquishd in an obliteration of crisscrossing light beam attacks. He would've made Swiss cheese look good. But then eventually, Xemnas faded away from existence as well...
"We did it!" Sora exclaimed.
"Not yet we didn't." Riku warned them. "There's still two more we have to take care of."
"Yeah, Master Xehanort." Ven piped up.
"And Xigbar." Lea added.
"You mean Braig?" Aqua chimed in.
"It doesn't matter, with twelve of us on the way, Xehanort doesn't stand a chance. We can do this! We can end this war! Who's with me!?
Everyone cheered in support of this cause as they all filed up to the top of the tower for sure this time... What destines would meet them in their final battle, they wouldn't know yet...
A/N- And so, Terra reclaimed his own body and he stands with his friends in the final battle. What could be in store for these heroes as they face their last surviving opponents? What could be the fates of Yen Sid and Mickey? Find out next time in The Resolve of All!
Let me give a shout out to my new friend ArcsageSaleth. Check out his awesome KH story, Bonds of the Heart, I certainly am. Review! :)