Authors Note: I thank all those who have reviewed. I hope that my story has been good so far. Well now that the group has beaten Kurt Zisa things will start to get even more interesting. Anyways here is the next chapter.
Disclaimer: We all know I do not own anything involving Kingdom Hearts or final fantasy except for this fanfic and I make no profit from it.
Chapter 9A challenge
Sephiroth found himself in darkness; he had now grown tired of it. He hated the darkness but he knew it was a part of him. He walked alone in the shrouding veil of shadows with Masamune beside him.
'Why does this always happen? When shall it end? Is this torture punishment for my sins?' Sephiroth kept questioning himself over these thoughts and more, however, only one thought stood out further than any other. Aerith, just thinking of her made Sephiroth feel pain for he knew that she would never want him, Strife is the one for her. He deserves her more than anyone, especially Sephiroth. Sephiroth stood still after a while and felt a presence behind him and he knew whom it was. In one fluid motion Sephiroth drew Masamune and slashed behind to hear a loud clang as it collided with another sword, the buster sword.
"So," said a voice "You want my Aerith huh? You want to ravish her until dawn, well your not going to be able to! I'll kill you!"
"Strife! That is enough!" commanded Sephiroth and swung Masamune away from the Buster sword and leapt back. Cloud leaped forward and even though the two could not see each other they could tell just where the other was. Sephiroth raised and then lowered his sword to try and catch Cloud off guard, but Cloud was abnormally fast for a human and leaped to his right and dodged his blade and countered. Sephiroth managed to leap back once again only further this time and landed but he nearly fell over when he discovered there was a ledge just behind him when he landed. He then noticed that the darkness around him started to fade into light and he saw Cloud standing before him, Clouds blood red cloak flapped around as if it was windy but the was no wind.
'How pathetic,' said Cloud 'you can't even defend yourself let alone defend anyone, Aerith will never want you. No one would want a freak to love them.' At hearing these words Sephiroth felt both pain and anger building up within him and then Cloud slashed at Sephiroth and he managed to block it but Cloud's attack was too strong and Sephiroth stumbled backwards over the ledge and was falling into darkness.
Sephiroth woke up once again with a slight coating of sweat on his face.
'Why do I keep dreaming of such things?' He thought to himself.
"Your finally awake huh?" asked a familiar voice and Sephiroth turned his head to the left to see Sora beside him looking at him.
"Yes, I am" replied Sephiroth.
"Well, we have reached Neverland and are going to have to sneak onto the pirate ship again. We can then meet up with Peter and we can get a report from him."
"Good," said Sephiroth "let us hurry then." Sephiroth looked through the window of the cockpit as the ship travelled into the world that seems so different to him. It took a little while to find the pirate ship and Sephiroth was intrigued by it. Never had he ever seen such an overgrown boat fly without wings or engines before. "How can that thing fly like that?" asked Sephiroth
"Come to think about it, I never thought of that" replied Goofy as the ship just barely hovered beside the pirate ship. Donald managed to be able to programme the autopilot of their ship to follow the pirate ship until the group returned. The group got on the ship only to be greeted by Heartless. The group drew their weapons and once again another battle began. Sephiroth took note of these Heartless and noticed that some of them wielded swords that were quite heavy for them so he took this to his advantage as one approached him. It looked at Sephiroth and swung it's sword at him but Sephiroth effortlessly swung the sword away with the Masamune and the Heartless could not control the weight of he sword and he fell backward and remained stunned until Sephiroth finished it with a single sweep to decapitate it.
The battle ended quickly and the group then moved on. Sephiroth noticed the sudden increase of strength and skill within Sora.
'Sora seems to know his way around quite well' thought Sephiroth as they progressed through the cabins of the ships until they reached a certain cabin that had someone within. Sephiroth looked at this person and realised it was only a boy who wore green all over. This boy also had red hair that had a cap on it with a red feather. Sephiroth looked along the boy's belt to see his only weapon was that of a dagger 'this boy must use speed to his advantage in battle' Sephiroth thought.
"Take your time coming here why don't you," said the boy "what kept you?"
"Well we had to fight the Heartless again and search the whole ship to find you" Sora replied. Sephiroth looked beyond the boy to see a little light in the form of a small woman with wings. The boy then noticed Sephiroth and pointed to him.
"Who's he?" he asked.
"Oops, I haven't introduced you to him. This is Sephiroth, he's the greatest swordsman around, he's here to help us against the Heartless" said Sora.
"Well pleased to meet you, I'm Peter Pan" with that he stuck out his hand to Sephiroth and He went to return the greeting but Peter suddenly pulled his hand back. "Anyway me and Tink here went about and saw something I think you might want to see at the Clock Tower."
"Sephiroth," said Sora "can you fly?"
"Would this answer your question?" replied Sephiroth as he twitched his wing slightly and he started to levitate just above the floor.
"Well, I guess it does" said Sora as he was scratching the back of his head like what he would normally do.
"Anyway we gotta get moving so lets go" said Peter and the group navigated their way back up to the Gummi ship.
Donald had been able to programme the Gummi ship to follow Peter and the little light beside him to where a huge city lay before them in the darkness of the night lit by only the pale moon. Sephiroth looked ahead to see a huge tower standing above everything else in the city. Sephiroth saw that there were clocks on each side of the tower and was fascinated by how huge this clock tower was.
"Well we should get out there and see what this problem is" said Sora as he got up and walked towards the top door hatch on the ship.
"Shall we" said Sephiroth to Donald and Goofy and followed Sora. Goofy and Donald looked at each other and then back to where they last saw Sephiroth.
"I've got a bad feeling about this" said Goofy.
"Yeah me too" Donald replied and made the ship float still and stay there and then the two followed Sora and Sephiroth to fly over to the clock tower.
Sora was enjoying the familiar views around him while trying to find what this 'problem' was when something moved to his side. Sora looked to his right to see nothing but a cloak with no face flying beside him then it dashed ahead in a speed that Sora had never seen before.
'That must be the problem' thought Sora as he summoned Ultima Weapon Keyblade and flew forward to try and meet the cloak in combat. Sephiroth saw this and drew Masamune and teleported to Soras' side.
"I think we found the problem" said Sora.
"Indeed. It is a form of Heartless. It has the symbol of them on it's back. I think we should come from both sides."
"Let's go!" with that the two warriors each went to a side of the Heartless and then they both flew towards the Heartless and it simply flew upwards to avoid the two attackers. However it did not see the fireball that managed to hit it from behind and make it fall lower slightly. Sephiroth looked to where the fireball had come from only to see Donald, Goofy and Peter.
"Let's get him!" Donald yelled as he lead the other two beside him to fight the flying Heartless.
The Heartless noticed that it was being surrounded by the five warriors and charged straight for the boy with the Keyblade. The boy held his weapon to prepare to defend himself and the Heartless then noticed the warrior by him with the one wing and then flew up. Sora then noticed a strange little orb underneath the Heartless with a blue heart in it.
'I wonder?' thought Sora and he gave chase to the Heartless. Sora came close to the Heartless when it suddenly stopped and turned to fight him. Sora then put his theory to the test. "Blizzaga!" he yelled and held his weapon before him and several bits of ice in the form of cones came out of the tip of the Keyblade and scattered far. The Heartless noticed this happening and swerved to avoid the spikes of ice but only had its weak point in the form of a heart be hit by one spike. If it were able to it would have screamed in agony as it twisted itself in pain from the ice freezing the heart. The Heartless then looked to Sora in pure hatred and fury as it thought of a good way to deal with him.
"Sora!" Sephiroth called as he flew to where Sora was while watching what was happening to the Heartless "what was the point in doing that?"
"It's weakness is the heart below it's cloak form" Sora explained as Sephiroth looked and saw the blue heart change to red "what we need now is a fire spell. We have to match the colour with a spell".
"I understand" Sephiroth said then he saw that the Heartless was rushing towards them then he simply pushed Sora behind him and flew towards the Heartless. Sephiroths' left hand gripped Masamune as he flew to the Heartless waiting for the right moment. 'Wait for it' Sephiroth thought to himself again and again as he came closer to the flying Heartless. The Heartless continued to fly towards Sephiroth in rage of being hurt then Sephiroth raised his right hand then a wall of fire appeared around him and the Heartless went too fast to stop and went straight through the fire while it's red heart was being scorched by the flames of Sephiroths' attack. Sephiroth also was too fast to stopped and soon found that he too can be affected by his own attack as he passed through the firewall and his face and exposed skin became burned and he gritted his teeth from the pain of his own attack.
"Sephiroth!" Sora yelled as he flew passed the Heartless as it twisted and turned in blind rage and pain and reached to where Sephiroth was. "Hold still" Sora commanded and he rose his keyblade high "Heal!" he yelled and Sephiroth soon felt the familiar peace and relief of a Curaga spell being cast on him. He could feel his skin and wounds being tended to and restored, it felt weird but it also felt good. There was no pain anymore on Sephiroths' body as it was healed. "Thank you" Sephiroth simply said and looked to the heartless only to see that heart below it turn yellow.
'Yellow!' Sephiroth thought 'yellow is mainly connected to-'
"Thundaga!" yelled Sora as he pointed the Keyblade towards the Heartless and a small cloud appeared above the Heartless and bolts of lightning appeared around the Heartless from the cloud striking it and hitting the yellow heart below it. The Heartless writhed in agony once more as he was struck again and again by the small thundercloud. The Heartless then raised faced the clock tower and pointed to it. Sephiroth then heard small whispers of chanting the noticed the minute hand of the clock that the Heartless faced started to move.
'Could this be what I think it is' Sephiroth thought to himself and looked at each of the people he was with. He looked towards Sora then to Donald, then to Peter and finally when he saw Goofy his face started to pale as he figured out what was happening.
"Stop that clock!" Sephiroth yelled to Sora "Goofy is affected by the Doom spell!" Sora then flew towards the clock tower and thought of a way to stop it.
"Stopga!" Sora yelled as he raised his Keyblade up high and then several symbols surrounded the moving clock piece then with a small flash the piece stopped.
Sephiroth released his breath and looked towards the Heartless and was confused for a moment. The heart was white.
'What spell involves white?' Sephiroth thought to himself 'what about Holy?' Sephiroths' faced then paled as he realised that they cannot win for they do not have any way to cast Holy. Sephiroth then noticed Sora flying towards the Heartless gripping his Keyblade.
"Sora! Stop now!" Sephiroth yelled. Sora just simply ignored him. His plan had to work; he had to test his thought for the colour of white on the heart of the Heartless. He gripped his keyblade firmly as he flew towards the Heartless. The Heartless noticed the boy flying towards him and charged towards him in blind rage from being so badly wounded. The two combatants flew towards each other in extreme speed then they flew past each other, the Heartless used the claws it had hidden beneath it's cloak like form as Sora swung his Keyblade hard then the two stopped on opposite sides to where they were before. The Heartless then writhed in pain once more only this time small streams of light appeared out of it then slowly it was engulfed in light and slowly vanished along with the white heart that was with it. Sora saw this happening as he turned then suddenly he felt pain along his left side on his chest near his heart as he slowly succumbed to the wound he received during the final charge. Sora slowly plunged down towards the city and the last thing he knew was a familiar flash of light followed by blackness along with a hint of silver and a pair of emerald green eyes.
Sora was running in the darkness. He continued to run until he ran into something solid. He felt around to find that he was against a wall of some sort. He then saw something strange through the wall. He saw two beings fighting each other. Each being had a single wing and they were both fighting at extreme speeds so Sora could not see who they were. He then saw that one of the beings that seemed shorter than the other was overpowering the taller one then the taller one had it's weapon knocked away by the shorter one. A light seemed to appear and Sora was then shocked by what he saw. He saw the fighter at the Coliseum known as Cloud with the huge sword only without the bandages standing above Sephiroth who was on his knees from exhaustion and then he saw a woman running towards the two warriors. Sora remembered this woman to be Aerith and he saw as she came between the two trying to stop the fight. He could see she was saying something to Cloud but he could not hear.
Sora stood there watching as Aerith was saying something to Cloud then watched as Cloud's eyes widened then seem lifeless as he raised his sword above his head.
"NOOOO!" Sora yelled as he watched Cloud lower the Buster Sword down onto Aerith, slicing through her flesh and spilling her blood everywhere. Some blood covered both Sephiroth and Cloud then Sora noticed a strange thing, above the two a huge translucent head appeared. It looked like a woman who wore a black hood that hid her eyes and had black hair showing through the hood.
'You will not stand in the way of the return of the One Winged Angel,' said a voice inside Soras' head. 'If you do then this is what will happen and you will join them. Let Sephiroth return to me and you and your friends will be spared. My special agent awaits him.'
"Who are you? Why do you want Sephiroth?" Sora asked before he heard footsteps behind him.
"You will not live to find out" said a voice. Sora turned to see red eyes and silver hair.
"Ansem!" Sora yelled as he tried to summon the Keyblade but couldn't. Sora watched helplessly as Ansem summoned a weapon to his hand. It was a sword in the shape of a bat wing. Ansem took a step towards Sora with a menacing look on his face and he took another step towards Sora then Sora charged towards him but he then felt agony within his stomach as Ansem stabbed him with his weapon. Ansem then pulled his weapon out and watched as Sora collapsed to the ground and slowly but surely died painfully.
Sora woke with a jump as his head was covered in sweat. He then felt a hand on his right shoulder and he looked to see Hercules there holding him down.
"Relax, you are fine now," said Hercules "it has been a few days since you passed out. The others managed to get you safely to the Coliseum and now you have recovered fully" Sora was surprised to see that he was in a chamber in the Coliseum. He looked around to see the familiar yellow blocks that serve as the walls.
"How ya doing kid?" said a gruff voice and Sora looked to see none other than Phil standing there by his bed. Sora smiled as he looked to the end of his bed as he saw Donald and Goofy standing there with a familiar figure behind him. He can recognise him by his wing as none other than Sephiroth. Sora then thought back to the dream and thought of what the woman said to him
'What did she mean by what she said?' Sora thought. Sora then decided to try and get up and found that Hercules was right. There was no pain where that flying Heartless had struck him. Sora then turned to the people in the room. "I'm ok now," said Sora "we have to get going to Hollow Bastion" Sora walked towards the door when a sword blade swung out in front of him and almost struck him in the face. Sora looked along the blade to see that it was Masamune being held by Sephiroth.
"No you won't," Said Sephiroth "You'll have to prove that you can handle yourself. I challenge you to a duel, if I win you will stay here until you get better, if you win then you may continue with your mission with me accompanying you. Agreed?". Sora saw that there was something in his eyes that meant what he said.
"ok fine your on!" said Sora then Sephiroth sheathed Masamune and walked out the door.
"Sora, we don't have time for this!" yelled Donald. Sora simply shrugged his shoulders and walked out the door.
He watched with amusement at what happened.
'So the one winged angel has challenged the Keybearer to a duel. This would be fun' he thought to himself then he noticed that his 'partner' had arrived. "Ah Jenova, things are going better than planned. It wont be long now until we both gain what we both wanted."
'yes, but this would only be the beginning' said Jenova 'and you will acquire the power and knowledge of the darkness you seek Ansem'
Ansem smirked when he heard what she had said.
'Ah but dear Jenova this too would only be the beginning for me'
Ah well I hope you enjoyed that. Sorry it took so long to write. I have been getting writers block. Please review and let me know if you like it or not. Remember that things will get better after next chapter. I promise.
