Dual Pain

Sora glanced at the large elegant white sword that Ashe was carrying. "What's that?" he asked.

"It is called the Treaty Blade" the displaced princess said. "It was give to me by beings known as the Ochuria."

They gathered a little closer as Ashe began to tell more about her past. The stories that she had told them so far sounded like nothing he had ever heard before. The harrowing escape from the Leviathan made some of his own adventures look easy!

"So how did you get here again?" Goofy asked.

Ashe sighed. "I've already said it. I don't remember."

"But you have to remember what happened before you arrived" said Sora.

Ashe took a deep breath. Sora got the impression that she wasn't used to having to explain things in great detail. "I was reenacting a scene from a play…a play about how I, along with friends of mine had saved my kingdom. But I was hit by a sword…and there were those dark monsters…"

"Heartless?" said Donald.

"Yes…" said Ashe. Ramenui called them Heartless. It was he who struck me with his sword…and that was how I ended up here."

"Who is Ramenui?" asked Sora.

"He was…or I suppose is the son of a Judge." Sora nodded, Ashe had already told them about the Judges. "He was only fourteen…and yet he wields swords like a person who has known how to fence all their life. He came as a diplomat from Arcades. It was a trap, and he tried to assassinate me. Tried" she stressed, in case they argued.

Sora felt uncomfortable. As he looked at Donald and Goofy he could see that they were too. "Um…Ashe…" said Sora.

"What is it, Sora?" asked Ashe. She was inspecting a glowing green light that they could see in the distance.

"I hate to say this, but…well, the Underworld is the place where you go when you…kick the bucket" he said. "So…maybe this Ramenui…actually killed you?"

"He couldn't have" she said again, and walked past them.

"Guess someone's in denial" whispered Sora as he and his friends ran to catch up to the princess. "Look" he said, as they caught up. "Only one person down here's going to be able to tell us for sure…even though we're not exactly friends."

"Who is that?" asked Ashe.

"Hades" sighed Donald. "Oh boy. Why do we have to see him?"

"Well, we were going to see him about the Tournaments anyway, right?" asked Goofy. "So we'll just ask about Ashe too."

"So it's solved" said Sora. "We'll go and talk to Hades."

"Not the man with the…fire hair?" Ashe asked.

"You know him?" said Sora.

"I caught a glimpse of him while I was wandering in this miserable place. He isn't someone I'd prefer to meet."

"Look, do you want to find out if you're alive or dead, or not?" asked short tempered Donald.

Ashe stiffened. "You're right. I am being a bit foolish. After all, this Hades could be a perfectly nice person." She walked on, once again leaving them behind. The trio looked at one another and sighed. This was going to be a long day. This time they made no effort to catch up.

"I wonder how Riku and Kairi are doing?" Sora asked.

"Probably doing a lot better than I am" said a voice near one of the caves.

"Pete?!"

"O…kay…" muttered Kairi. She tried to stand, and then failed. "Just…calm…down…"

"Why should I calm down?!" Tine raged. An aura of dark energy flowed out of her, making the loose papers and trash swirl around in a mini tornado.

"Calm down Tine!" Riku called. "The King's on his way! Merlin told him you were a changed person---which you are! But if he sees you in this state, he'll jump to conclusions!"

"Then I'll snap his mousy little neck" Tine said in a perfectly calm voice. She looked at Riku and Kairi, then at the Keyblades they held in their hands. Help me Riku she thought. She could feel the red rage rising again, the urge to kill all Keyblade Masters, to ruin all things of light. Damn you Maleficent! I can't…it's bursting inside me…help me, Riku…she thought helplessly. Tine charged forward at them.

Kairi slashed at Tine first, but Tine knocked her out of the way. The cranberry haired Keyblade Master skidded across the street.

"Hurry lass! Get inside!" said heavily Scottish voice near her. She turned to see a duck in a blue suit and top hat next to her. He was trying to pull her into one of the shops where a dozen people were already hiding from the monster. "Alright, fine don't rush me" she said as she went inside.

Riku was slammed against one of the shops. A second later, a clear shield formed around him. Riku never was really sure why his dark shield always came a second too late. It was annoying, but he hoped that one day he could get rid of that problem. Tine's sword darted this way and that.

"Please, Tine" Riku said. He could barely avoid her blows. She was at full power and this was what Sora had faced. Plus, there was the added problem that he didn't want to get serious with her yet. She was in a rage and he could understand that. She had been mistreated terribly by the townspeople, and it was Sora's fault. Once again, Riku promised that he'd rip Sora a new ass when he got back.

"Please what?" Tine snarled.

"Don't do this…it's not you. You're not a monster, you have free will. You said so yourself in Twilight Town. You said that you had your own purpose and you weren't going to let anyone change that."

"All I want to do is use your intestines for a jump rope!" Tine yelled. She plunged her hand into Riku's stomach and out of the other side.

"Tine---" Riku's words came out stained with blood. He fell to his knees---then kicked her blue jeaned legs out from under her.

Tine recovered, but not before Way To Dawn slashed a gash on her arm. Ignoring what must have hurt like hell (a light based weapon to a dark creature, go figure) Tine brushed herself off, and switched her sword to her other hand. "Guess I'm going to have to kill you a different way" she said. Then she ran at him again.

Riku dodged and pulled a Hi-Potion out of his pocket. Drinking the sweet green mixture at once, he felt it heal his wound. He launched a blast of blue fireballs at her. Tine deflected all of them at once. Riku wasn't surprised. He had heard from Sora that this girl had caught an Organization member's lances and thrown them all back at him.

"I'll kill you all!" Tine roared. She rose up into the air, her body glowing with dark energy. She began to teleport everywhere at once. The entire marketplace was blanketed with a thick darkness that was impossible to see through.

"Agh! Oof! Arrr! Ahhhh!" Riku cried as he was slashed in several places. He sank to the ground. Riku waited for another blow. But none came. He looked up to see that the darkness had cleared. At first Riku's hopes opened. But then they closed shut with a bone rattling thud. King Mickey stood in the entrance.

"Are you alright Riku?" he asked, glowering at Tine.

"Your Majesty! No!" Riku said, running at Mickey.

"So this is the 'reformed' experiment?" Mickey asked. He directed his question at Merlin who had now regained consciousness.

"Well…that is to say…something happened, but I'm sure we'll get it sorted out in no time at all."

"That's what I'm hoping for too" said the King, making his Keyblade appear.

"No!" Riku said.

"You want to fight me?" Tine said. "This must be a gift from the darkness! So many of you damned Keybladers at once! I can't wait for this to begin---"

King Mickey jumped all the way to where she was. Tine swung at him, but the small King ducked under her and began to whack her mercilessly. Tine staggered back under the onslaught.

"Stupid mouse!" she said, firing a dark ball.

Mickey batted it back to her. It blew up the area where Tine was standing, and when the smoke cleared, she was standing on top of another building. Mickey frowned. "Hmmm….I guess I'll just have to go and get you" he said, his small voice serious.

Tine jumped from building to building. Mickey ran up the side of another one and the race began.

Riku ran through the streets, elbowing people out of his way, his eyes on the tall buildings that had replaced the small cottages that had filled the town in the beginning of the Reconstruction. Why aren't the Bastion Knights here?! he thought angrily. They should be coming out now to deal with this disturbance. I can't believe that they haven't heard something by now! His thoughts were interrupted by a group of Nobodies. These ones reminded Riku of the Samurai types…but they wore six swords attached to their backs. They looked like they could use them.

"Okay guys" said Riku. "You just picked a REALLY bad day to get on my bad side!" he lunged at them…but to his surprise, they didn't attack, merely grabbed him. their touch was not deathly cold like the Heartless…but it was not pleasant either. It was nothingness made flesh, end it at that.

"Let me go!" Riku snarled at them. But they refused to listen. It was as if they didn't want him to interfere with the battle raging between Mickey and Tine...

Mickey and Tine clashed back and fourth. The golden Keyblade and the black sword of the Dark Realm met with sparks and flashes. Both fighters were injured. Tine grinned. "What's the matter, mousy? You look tired."

"I…won't…give…in…to…you" Mickey panted. He launched a white ball of light from his Keyblade. It struck Tine in the chest. She uttered a cry of anger and pain and smashed into the air-conditioning rig on top of a building. She lay there for a moment and then teleported to another building.

"Still up?" said Mickey. "I knew you couldn't be trusted. You're a monster of the worst type."

"I'm not a monster!" Tine yelled, slashing at the King. "You are your Keyblades are! You kill thousands of Heartless! If it were people, you'd be chased out of every world, and your kingdom would be known as a place of barbarians. But no, I'm evil because I was created by darkness and genetically engineered---"

Mickey's Keyblade broke Tine's sword. The force sent the experiment to the ground. He lashed her again and again with the blade, finally sending her onto the street below. "Yes" he said quietly. "You are. That is what I believe."

"Tell me, Your Majesty" said a voice behind him on the roof. King Mickey turned to see Nexumair standing behind him. "How many hearts do you think are inside of her?"

"So you feel it too?" said Mickey. "That's another reason she has to die. I know what the Organization is---"

"I know you do" said the young captain smiling. Suddenly, two his six sabers flew into his hands. "That is a troublesome event, Mickey" he said. "Therefore, I must eliminate you." Before Mickey could object, his had been slashed across the face, chest, arms and legs. He too fell to the street, but on a different side than Tine. Nexumair glanced down at the bloody mess that had once been the King of Disney Castle. "My, my" he said. "We still haven't deal with Tine yet, have we my friends?" he said to his Swordsman Nobodies. What had once been Ramenui, son of Judge Ghis, teleported off to find Zexion and the others.