CHAPTER XII

Poisoned Hearts will Never Change

(NOTE)

Second to last technical chapter! So it's getting down to the wire, and I'm writing this right now because there's no way in hell I'm getting to sleep right now. XDD I hope you like it, I promised it to be longer than the others, and I hope I stick to that promise; Heh; I'll try my best! Mmhm. So here it is, chapter twelve!

(/NOTE)

The truth was, she couldn't decide at that moment whether she hated Calypso or not. As she lie on the ground, all she could think of was how similar they really were. The people around Calypso went through pain for what she thought was a good cause. It sounded familiar enough. Although Calypso wanted to kill Charity, it was only so she could live a functional life of her own. She had a reason behind everything she did, which was what angered Charity the most.

"This is the last time I'm getting up." she warned Anton. It was almost scary how strong he had gotten in the period of three years. Her right leg was gashing so badly with blood that she had some kind of idea that she would either die from loss of said blood or from shock if it ever healed up. Charity soon became afraid to put her hand near the gash.

"I hope." he replied. As he charged at her with his keyblade that resembled a setting sun, Charity pointed hers out straight towards him.

"Gravira!" she shouted as loudly and forcefully as she possibly could.

Darkness.

Embrace it?

It was so close to the real thing. Anton waited for Charity to try again.

Sure enough, Charity tried another Gravira.

He was falling, falling, falling into darkness. Smiling at Charity before he left, he uttered two words that were so simple but Charity just couldn't understand through all of the moments she spent thinking about it: "Thank you."

Everything was black. She could feel herself lying on the pavement, but at the same time, she couldn't get herself to wake up. All that Charity once thought balance was about; one outdoing the other, dark and light, everyone born equal, seemed so wrong. The truth was, not everybody was born equal. You didn't see everyone running around with a keyblade. The lucky ones were at home with no idea that Heartless, Nobodies, Organization XIII, Kingdom Hearts, any of that even existed.

Yeah.

They were the lucky ones.

Her hand trailed down her keyblade to the keychain; the keychain was the only thing keeping that keyblade what it was. What would it become if she were to take away the keyblade? This wasn't the last battle. Calypso was around the corner. She couldn't think of this right now; she just needed sleep. They would find her, in or out of the darkness.

xxxxx

"We're almost there." Naminé said cheerfully to everybody, especially the groaning Broden who seemed like he'd rather be doing something manly like watching football and burping at the same time. How very manly that all seemed.

"What's that?" asked Roxas, pointing forwards at some pile on the smooth pavement at least a half of a block ahead of them. All of the buildings seemed to be thinning out; did they really make it this much more like a city since the last time that Roxas had traveled there on his own?

They approached the heap slower.

It seemed kind of familiar.

"It's Charity!" Nessa said, genuinely shocked. She ran up to the girl on the ground, and lifted her head from behind with her hand. Riku was the next one over, kneeling and clenching onto her hand tightly, hoping for her to wake up.

"Is she dead?" asked Broden.

"No, she's not dead!" Kairi scowled.

"She's got a pulse." Riku said, checking her wrist with his fingers.

"Wake up." Nessa commanded the, seemingly unconscious Charity. A strange expression came across Charity's face that Nessa couldn't exactly read.

"I've been awake. I've just been thinking. I fought Anton... he went back into the darkness. But he thanked me. Why'd he thank me...?" she asked nobody in particular. Riku shook his head, and put a hand on her waist as he lifted her up.

"Obviously that fight took a lot out of you." Nessa told her friend, "It's okay, we can go on without you. Stay here and rest."

"No!" she heard Charity shout even through a voice that sounded drunken. She opened her silvery-clouded eyes, still the same as Calypso's, and looked over at the two of them. "All for one and one for all. One goes down we all go down, I won't let that happen." She let Savior of Balance reappear in her hand, and stood herself upright.

"Yeah, but it's different when your injured, isn't it?" asked Sora, putting his hands on his hips.

Charity shook her head. "Calypso's somewhere up there miles from here. We can't just portal there because none of you are Nobodies anymore, so I'm going to walk the whole way there with all of you and hopefully fight just like I usually do."

Riku felt for the important item in his pocket, but nodded at Calypso. "Not yet." he mumbled to himself, but only loud enough for himself to hear.

"But you're taking it easy." Nessa decided for Charity, unwilling to hear anything else from her. They continued on their way down the road.

xxxxx

"I wonder how they're doing." Leon mumbled into his own hands, which were folded to hold up his head. "They haven't needed us almost this whole time. I'm starting to think that they're a little overconfident in their abilities."

Aerith took a seat next to him. "So you're unconfident?" she asked him, as sternly as someone like her could ever seem to manage.

"It's not that I'm not confident in them. I hold all the confidence in the world for those kids. But they remind me of back at the..." he couldn't get himself to mutter out the rest of the sentence. Aerith shook her head and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"But you came back." she smiled. "Charity brought Riku back from his last disaster, just like Rinoa brought you back."

"In a way," he lifted his head from his hands, "it is sort of like I was lost in my own darkness, isn't it?" he asked her, earning a nod. "So why am I so worried?"

Aerith laughed lightly, "Because Charity's like a daughter to you."

Leon smiled. "She is." He didn't even have to tell himself that it was only since Leander died; the truth was that even before Leander's, quite sudden, death, they had already bonded because they were always up earlier than anybody else.

"Speaking of darkness..." he said aloud, staring outside of the house. Camel was acting up; which was odd, because he was usually very quiet. Leon darted outside, followed closely by the curious Aerith.

"We're finishing this here!" the familiar Cloud screamed to someone that Leon had only heard about a trillion times; Sephiroth.

"Fool." The one-winged angel muttered, rushing in for an attack.

xxxxx

"The Nobodies are flooding this place!" Charity complained, destroying as many as possible. Most of the stronger Nobodies were left to the members with the most stamina at the time, which happened to be Sora, Riku, and Broden.

"That's because Vexen's weak." Sora clenched his fists. He remembered when Naminé had given him back the memories of Castle Oblivion. Vexen certainly had not been the strongest Organization member he ever had to fight, but he used resources more than wisely.

"It's Calypso we'll have to worry about." Riku called back, stabbing an Assassin straight in the middle, sending it into nothing.

"Calypso, eh?" asked Broden, "If she fights anything like Charity, I wouldn't be too scared." He laughed a little bit, before he received a keyblade hilt to the gut from Charity herself.

"Oops." she said airily.

"The Castle that Never Was." Riku unintentionally broke up the quarrel.

"Already?" Sora asked nobody in particular, walking up to the door, "Finally, we're done with the Dark City..." Nobody seemed to enjoy that place.

"It's gotten worse here." Charity admitted as they walked into the castle. "I think it was all the time it spent shrouded in darkness. The Heartless count was even up, and not to mention the crazy amount of Nobodies Vexen found it... appropriate... to summon."

"It could've been Calypso." Sora reminded her, "Don't forget that she's half of your Nobody." He kicked a random area of the ground. It was all the more surprising that there were hardly any Nobodies in the castle.

"Nevertheless," started Charity, "whoever's bringing in the Nobodies could have managed them better. They probably wasted them all outside of the castle so they can't protect themselves in here." She only grimaced, staring on the inside of the castle that seemed way too empty.

"Don't start wishing for them to send more in here, though," Sora told her, "I kind of like a few moments of peace."

The idea of 'Moments of Peace' was disturbed the second they walked into The Proof of Existence. Expecting to have to defeat members of the 'Organization', Sora had readied his keyblade immediately, but found himself faced only with Vexen. The scholar smirked at all of them.

"Where's Calypso?" Charity shouted over to Vexen, "We have no business with you, I need to see Calypso."

Vexen only laughed and pulled out his large, icy shield. "She's not here. She hasn't been here for a long time."

Charity practically dropped to her knees just seconds after hearing this. "So... we came here for...?"

"Nothing?" asked Vexen, and laughed slightly at seemingly the simple thought, "Not at all. Even without a heart for a reward, I'm going to prove to Calypso that I'm strong enough to defeat the precious Savior of Balance."

"Precious?" Charity hissed. Her knees immediately locked up again and she pointed Savior of Balance right in Vexen's face. "One on one then, you and me. Then we'll see just who's the better fighter, the precious Savior of Balance or a once destroyed Barnes and Noble wash-out." She couldn't read the expression on Vexen's face; it was something between confusion and anger.

"Charity!" Nessa scolded, "I said that you're not going to overdo it!" She stared at her friend angrily; she might have had the temper, but Charity had a bad habit of thinking that she could handle anything that was thrown at her.

"Save your strength for Calypso," Riku practically pleaded to the side, "that's when we'll need every little bit of it!"

"Trust me!" Charity shouted angrily at everyone in the group who was yelling at her to stop. "Three years ago when that keyblade appeared in my hands for the first time, when that Heartless first attacked us, and when Leander explained everything," Nessa looked down at this, "I was so scared. I thought for sure that I was too weak to go through any of that. But at the same time, I realized something so important; that's what I was put on this earth for."

At that, Nessa looked back up at her friend.

"I was put here as the Savior of Balance, not to wield it. I am the Savior of Balance, and I'll do whatever's in my power to get rid of the last surviving Organization member, even if it means being destroyed myself later. That's a risk I have to take. I appreciate you all worrying about me, I really do, but it's not necessary." She turned back around.

"How heartfelt." Vexen practically spat. His temper was worse than Nessa's, Charity could already pick up from the man.

Charity raised an eyebrow, "How would you know?" In a second, the talking had ceased and Charity and Vexen were at each other, shield on keyblade. During the whole battle, Charity didn't seem much worried at all. If Calypso couldn't choose the last surviving member to be somebody stronger, she couldn't have been that smart herself. Then again, that wasn't much of a compliment to herself considering Calypso was more of her than she was.

xxxxx

Cloud was bleeding hard. Still, he refused to back down and hacked at Sephiroth with all of his strength. His attacks were near unbeatable; how in the world was he supposed to get rid of this 'man'? Leon was trying to help, but just hurting himself in the process. He didn't know Sephiroth like Cloud knew him. It was not safe for him there.

"Enjoy the fact that you're still bleeding. Embrace the fact that you have the ability to do just that." Sephiroth told, no, commanded Cloud.

"I'll embrace this when you go to hell." Cloud threatened, pulling out his large weapon from where it had been knocked into the ground just a second before.

"Light alone won't save you." Sephiroth reminded him, disregarding the last statement.

"And darkness won't make you any stronger, either." Cloud really couldn't come up with anything else. After what seemed like hours of fighting; hours of trying harder and harder, Cloud finally managed to pierce his weapon straight through Sephiroth.

Expecting him to rip the weapon right out from inside him and throw it to the ground like a child's toy, Cloud was more than surprised when Sephiroth just stood there in shock. No blood poured, no expression crossed his face except pure and utter shock.

"I called you here," Cloud reminded Sephiroth, who now seemed to be gagging in darkness, "to finally defeat you. Killing you means killing off my own darkness."

Sephiroth gasped, "and... somehow." he looked over at the young, blond warrior. It wasn't the weapon that was destroying him. It was something deeper. What was it? "You have." he finished. Falling to the ground face-forward, the weapon only stuck farther through Sephiroth, stained an unmentionable color.

"It's over..." Aerith sighed, one hand on her face when Sephiroth fell to the floor. She ran up to the weak and bloody Cloud, and wrapped her hands around him tightly. "It's all over now. It's over." she couldn't say it enough. It really was; it was over.

xxxxx

The Chilly Academic was an understatement. Her fingers were so frozen that she could hardly move them from their clutching the keyblade handle, and her senses were all failing Charity's self. Her hearing and sight were the worst of. Vexen, however, was the one who was on his knees on the ground, gasping for breath.

"Tell me you give up," Charity said, "and I'll leave you. You won't have to fade into the darkness." She truly felt bad for him; he was in terrible shape. Before she could think, Charity extended a hand out to Vexen.

Surprised, Vexen took it, but then smirked. Charity tried to pull her hand away, but no luck. "I'd rather fade back into darkness." Suddenly, darkness in the form of spider webs or shadows began to surround the academic. Before she knew it, they began rolling over Charity's wrist and hand herself.

"Charity!" Riku shouted, running up to his girlfriend and pulling her out of Vexen's grip. He seemed displeased with himself as he faded back.

"Tell me!" Charity shouted, "Where is Calypso?"

With his last bit of energy, Vexen looked back up at her and responded, "Where else but where you would least expect?" With that, he disappeared into the darkness that was surrounding him; the darkness that had been surrounding him and every other member in the Organization for the longest time. Just the sight of this made Roxas back away. It was one thing when he wasn't there when Organization members were being destroyed, but watching it, witnessing those that he once worked with disappear, he didn't want to experience.

"Hmph." Nessa folded her arms. "Riddles."

Charity put her hand to her right leg; apparently the gash that she had earlier from the crash that had finally scabbed over ripped back open. It only started searing with pain when she acknowledged that it was there at all.

"I don't think it's a riddle." Kairi admitted, stepping forward to help Charity up, who had just fallen to her own knees. "Think about it. The one place that we wanted her to restore; it would be the place that we least expect because we don't think it's restored yet. Right?"

Nessa slammed her fist into an open hand, "That's right!" she exclaimed happily.

"What...?" asked Nessa.

"It's... Azure Daybreak." Charity coughed. Blood came out. Her throat was cut slightly on the inside. How that happened, she didn't even want to ask, unless she had truly swallowed so hard when it was still cold that it ripped a layer of skin off. "It has to be. Calypso's back at Azure Daybreak. She probably thinks we're dead by now. We have to go..."

"No," Roxas shook his head, "first we have to spend a night at Hollow Bastion. You've gone a bunch of worlds in a row plus surviving a Gummi Ship crash and an Organization member trying to drag you into the darkness."

"He's right." Riku nodded. "We're going back to Hollow Bastion first."

"How?" Sora's mouth became lopsided, "How would we even get to Azure Daybreak? Our Gummi Ship's busted."

Growl. Squeak. It sounded so familiar that Charity didn't even have to open her eyes to see what was there.

"...Camel?" asked Nessa, looking up at the big, Heartless dragon. As if it was nodding, it bent its neck over to let everybody on.

"How'd it know to come?" asked Broden.

"It probably knew Charity was in trouble." Sora told him, getting on the dragon himself after helping Charity up.

"But... how?" Broden asked.

"Heartless have instinct, too." Kairi responded, and they all made it on Camel. Camel took off and into the atmosphere of space, and Charity finally realized what was so special about this Heartless that made it different from the rest; it made a circular barrier around them, letting them breathe.

"It's like a space dragon." Charity murmured to herself.

"Just shut up!" Nessa shouted over to Broden.

Charity chuckled a little bit. "Thanks, Camel." she cooed at the dragon, and got a little bit of a moan in response.

xxxxx

"I swear, that was a miracle." Leon shook his head, helping Aerith to tend to Cloud's wounds right outside of Merlin's house. "That was one of the strongest enemies I think I've ever even tried to battle."

Cloud sighed. "So I really let my darkness get that strong."

"Speaking of miracles," Aerith smiled, and saw the group flying towards them on the giant Camel, who had just taken off not too long ago after perking up for no apparent reason. Landing swiftly and bending his head over to let everyone off, Camel seemed to stand in place as if waiting for a cookie of some kind.

"Calypso wasn't there," Charity told her, "but we have so much to tell you."

"Heya!" Cid's voice came from inside the house when he stepped outside, and immediately, his huge smile turned into a frown. "Where's tha' Gummi Ship?"

"We drove it through at least a layer of darkness into The World that Never Was and crashed it into the surface." Charity murmured as if it was nothing.

Cid smiled again, too widely in a very scary fashion. "Care ta... repeat that?"

"CHILDREN!" came a booming voice. None other than Merlin poofed onto the scene, wearing a strange grass skirt and coconut bra.

"Not now, Merlin." Sora shook his head.

"Let's not procrastinate!" he exclaimed happily to the group, "Oh goodness! You're hurt! I can fix that! Teehee!" He pointed his, now quite oddly-shaped, wand at Charity.

"I'm okay... I'm okay!" Charity shouted at the man, limping away as fast as she could. "I'll take a potion! I just need a potion!"

"Nonsense!" Merlin shouted, laughing like a little girl once more, "Hockety Pockety Wockety Wack..."

Author's Note: And here we go! Next chapter's the last, and then the epilogue, and the special secret chapter. XD I guess it's not really secret because you didn't have to beat anything special in a game to get to it, but it is special. See you next, last chapter!