Breathe in. Breathe out. In. Out. Count. One-two-three-four-five-six. One-two-three-four-five-six. Move your foot here. No, wait, here. Your hand should be flat and your elbow bent at this angle. No, a little straighter. Take in your stance. Is it perfect? Again. Again until it's perfect.
Sora practiced. A lot. It was all he could do when DiZ and Aqua were going through their "rough patches." Aqua was in no position to train him and DiZ was even worse. He would snap at Sora when he didn't understand or seemed ignorant to a common thing in the outside world. He lost his patience much easier and it made Sora not want to learn.
So, Sora would step away from them. They'd be in sight and earshot. But he needed to be away from them. Practicing his forms made it easier to calm down. He knew he shouldn't be angry. They were being affected by this place. With each exhale he let go of his negative feelings. He was never angry for long.
Sora watched his hand as it turned so carefully. This form was used for meditation. How could it help him? As Sora thrust his hand forward, the Keyblade shimmered into his palm. He brought it back, turning so carefully and precisely.
Kingdom Key. That was the name of his Keyblade. He wasn't sure how he knew. Aqua had told him that all Keyblades had names. That was how they worked. It was like a whisper in the back of your mind and a bond began forming.
The Keyblade was an extension of yourself, he was told. But… what if it could extent further? He mulled over the idea. He thought of the moved "strike raid" and how the Keyblade always came back to him. What if… maybe… he could modify it to stay close. In proximity so he could still grab it, but at the same time, strike an enemy just out of reach?
He focused. As he extended his arm, he opened his palm and the metal continued to extend. He did it! He blade hovered just beyond his fingertips. Don't lose focus. Keep going. Step. Pull back. Lunge. Turn. Keep going. Just a tiny bit farther. Good. Nice form. Again. Again. Next form. Again. Again. He messed up. Once more.
"Sora, what are you doing?"
The blade dropped into the sand with a heavy thunk. Sora cursed. Aqua broke his concentration.
"Extending my reach," he explained as he lifted the Keyblade.
"Yes, but how?"
This was clearly not a technique Aqua knew of. Her wide eyes clearly expressed that. And the fact she didn't reprimand him for using such language like she usually would. Maybe she just hadn't thought of it yet? She could always learn, he figured.
"I just… I guess modified strike raid a bit. Thinking, you know, this could be used for closer enemies. But still stay within arms reach."
"Show me."
Sora inhaled as he slid back into position. Exhaled as he lunged as he stretched his arm out, the Keyblade continuing. Yes! He was able to do it again! He went through the moves once more, taking the Keyblade in his hand as he finish.
"See? Easy."
"No, Sora," Aqua walked up to him, pride gleaming in her eyes. "That's an incredibly advanced technique. Master Eraqus couldn't do that. That was… amazing. It was like… like telepathy."
He couldn't imagine it being that difficult. All he did was focus. Yes, he needed every ounce of willpower to move the Keyblade that far, but it still wasn't that difficult. He was sure if he walked Aqua through it, step-by-step, she could do it, too. He even tried. He tried to get her to listen to him and she humored him by allowing him to teach her for once only for her to fail. He insisted they kept trying and they did. She didn't get it. She didn't pick up on it. She was this great and powerful Keyblade Master who didn't get this simple technique.
So, Sora continued to try and master it. He practiced until it was the easiest thing in the world. Then, he pushed further. And further. Then, attacked. He kept at it until he could attack with a simple thought and wouldn't have to move on step towards the enemy. He still had to move his arm and body. He imagined it like a long and flexible arm that gripped the Keyblade, moving it where he commanded.
It only amazed DiZ and Aqua. But this was only the beginning of it. They adjusted their training to suit his abilities, which were rapidly growing. He learned new attacks with ease and spells were a piece of cake to master (whatever cake was).
He only wanted to better himself. He thought he was nowhere near as amazing as Aqua. When he watched her fight, he became mesmerized. It was like watching the flow of water. She was so graceful it hurt to know he'd never be that smooth when fighting.
She allowed him to help dispose of the creatures more and more often. If they weren't the big baddies, she'd even let him take care of them on his own. DiZ eventually realized they had a name. They were called "Heartless." Sora wasn't sure why since whenever he defeated one a heart would rise from the remaining, yet quickly fading, black cloud. They most certainly had a heart.
They had been caught up to again. It was just the little ones, so Aqua was kind enough to let Sora take care of them. It was easy. He'd done it a million times before. He'd sent Kingdom Key out to take care of the monster so he could practice his distance. It plowed through the lesser beings way too easily.
One snuck up on him. It scratched him from behind. Ouch! Those claws hurt so damn much! He almost lost concentration. Turning to the Shadow, he grit his teeth. He needed Kingdom Key back right this second. Oh, man, what he wouldn't give to have a second Keyblade right now. That would make multitasking so much simpler.
The second he thought it, a Keyblade appeared in his hand. One slice and the monster was done. Sora gripped the hilt with both hands, thinking how different it felt for a brief moment until he realized… Kingdom Key was still out there. As it was about to slice through the very last Heartless, it dropped to the ground with a clatter. But… what was he holding…?
That could wait. He lunged for the Shadow and quickly was rid of it. He picked up Kingdom Key and turned to Aqua and DiZ who were both very, very still. DiZ had his hand half-heartedly in front of Aqua, as if he were about to block her from rushing in to save him like she usually did when he was injured, then got distracted.
"Two?" Aqua breathed finally.
Sora looked down. Two. Two Keyblades. One in each hand. Kingdom Key rested in his right, and in his left… Missing Ache. He raised the second one to take a closer look at it. Where did it come from? Why was he able to wield two? It made zero sense to him.
DiZ was the first to speak, though it was not of what had just transpired. "We should get moving. Quickly."
"Right," Sora agreed. They began their run.
As they ran, Aqua cast Cura on him. The scratches down his back felt much better, even if the blood was only growing stickier. When they ran, he sweat and as it mixed with his blood, it only became more uncomfortable. They needed to find a place for him to bath and wash his clothes.
As he grew older, it became increasingly difficult to find fabric to make clothing for him out of. Aqua used one of her sashes to make him a shirt a while back, but he had grown out of it. What fabric they had was used to make pants that fit him comfortably. He didn't mind running around without a shirt, but sometimes the places they went were a bit chilly….
Sora carried his new Keyblade feeling apprehensive. This was weird. If he could imagine extending his reach, he did it. If he could wish for a second Keyblade, it appeared. Was that normal for a Keyblade wielder? It didn't appear so, since Aqua was still silent. Her furrowed brows told him she was still trying to figure out what happened.
It was another mystery to solve at a later date. Strangely, it wouldn't be the last.
It only snowballed from there. As Sora's training was adjusted, so did he. When he became comfortable with one thing, another was thrown at him. Another being stronger magic. He manipulated the magic he knew to create new attacks and defenses. It came so naturally to him.
Well, learning the attacks did. Making them up did. But it so quickly depleted his energy. He could use maybe five magic attacks consecutively (depending on how much magic they needed) before he collapsed with exhaustion. Simple ones like Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder could be used limitlessly. Once he stepped up and made them stronger, even they used all that he had in very few attacks.
DiZ tried his hardest to push Sora's magic stamina further. Aqua's was on such a high level, why wasn't Sora's? Aqua had to explain that magic didn't always come easy to people. It wasn't their first nature, like it was hers. She had been practicing since she was a child and Sora was only fairly recently. Strength was Sora's strong point. Magic, his weakness.
This only made Sora try harder. He learned more magic, even when he knew he wouldn't be able to execute them like he would like to.
DiZ and Aqua had high hopes for him. They did not want this prodigy to go to waste. He should be out there, helping people. DiZ soon became convinced Sora might actually get them out of there, only if he told him in confidence. DiZ knew Aqua wouldn't agree. But, if DiZ thought it were true, Sora did, too.
As he grew, so did the amount of Keyblade he was able to wield. No, not by name and two at a time. All of them. At one time. It seemed Sora was a glitch in the matrix. His drive to better himself only grew his abilities. The first time an extra Keyblade popped up, they thought it was just part of the same mystery as to why he could wield one in the first place. But, the second time… three Keyblades?
When he and Aqua were fighting off some big baddies, it happened. He had two in his hands. He threw one at a Neoshadow that tried to get Aqua from behind while, at the same time, trying to finish a combo while dual wielding. He figured he'd trip and fall and just mess it up. Instead, he regained his balance as another appeared in his free hand, allowing him to finish off the Darkside. This one's name was Divewing.
This was most certainly not a fluke or a gift. This was downright absurd. Where were these things coming from?
The number grew by a considerable amount. It was too much for the boy to handle. He had no idea how he was supposed to wield all of these. Why would he have the power to if he couldn't actually do it? It made zero sense. Once, DiZ asked him to summon them all. All of them. He wanted to count them. He did, and then they all collapsed. He couldn't carry them. He was quick to put them back before DiZ had a chance to. Sora didn't care how many there were. He didn't want to know. He knew he'd only wield what he was capable of, just like Aqua suggested.
There was a specific Keyblade that intrigued Aqua. It was the one that Sora held with his left hand, backhanded. Sora was much more comfortable with the two handed stance, but this one… felt right. Sora was by no means ambidextrous. His right was his dominant hand. But this Keyblade… Sora wanted to practice more with it, just to get a feel for it.
It came easy. Too easy. If he tried with any other Keyblade, it didn't work so well. It was uncomfortable and unwieldy. This was the exception.
"That's… different, Sora." Aqua said quietly as she leaned against the doorframe. There wasn't much left to this old… "church." Just some broken down stones and cavernous, roofless rooms. Sora wasn't sure what a church was. He was told it was a place of worship. He couldn't quite wrap his head around the idea of it. Why would people worship something they had no proof existed?
"Right?" Sora said as he swung it in front of him to block. "It's kind of cool. At least now I have a range, right? Something unpredictable. It's called—"
"Wayward Wind."
Sora stopped, facing her. "How'd you…?"
Her eyes filled with tears as she covered her mouth. "That's Ven's Keyblade."
Oh, no. He hoped she wasn't falling into one of her episodes.
The darkness really took a toll on Aqua. More than she ever let on. There were times when she'd forget where she was and when she forgot who Sora and DiZ were. Well, not really Sora. She'd believe he was someone else entirely.
The first time she called him Ven, he panicked. He thought he was losing her. She embraced him and cried and begged for forgiveness. He didn't know what to do. He tried so hard to tell her he wasn't Ven, but she wouldn't listen. She told him all the things she would have told Ven when he woke up. It was sweet. Sora lost the heart to tell her who he was.
When she finally came down from her delusion, it almost broke her. She lost the friend she tried so hard to protect. She thought she was finally home.
It happened more and more often. It happened the most when she woke up from her sleep, almost like she wasn't quite done dreaming yet. Sora tried to avoid her when she was in that state. He nor DiZ knew how to handle her. Sora usually just let her think he was Ven. It didn't hurt him in any way and it made her happy, if only for a little.
Sora looked at the Keyblade. "How'd I get it, then?" he wondered aloud.
Aqua wiped her eyes, smiling at him. "I don't know." He had heard that way too many times. Nobody seemed to know anything about him anymore. He almost wished for simpler times, like when he was younger with just a really bright heart. Now, he was more than just a child with a star in his chest. He was an enigma with more power than he could manage.
Maybe if it made itself known when he was younger and it became gradual, so he could learn step by step. But it became too much too fast. He could carry up to five at a time and he still couldn't keep track. There were times when he'd whack himself in the back or cut himself on the sharp teeth of the blades.
DiZ wanted to train him to wield them all. Aqua felt taking it slowly was best. The man wanted to jump right in. He had dropped Sora's education in favor of intensive training. Even though Aqua wanted to fight it, Sora agreed to it. He felt that if he had this power, he should be able to use it.
It was just a matter of time and perfecting it.
Sora spent a lot of time meditating and focusing on holding more Keyblades at once. During one of his battles, he felt he would get a better view if he were higher. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to fly? So, he tried. It became one of his focus points as he meditated.
Float. Rise. Ascend. You can do anything you put your mind to. Everything you can do is proof of that.
And he did it. At first, it was only a few inches and for less than five seconds. It was harder to lift himself than it was to lift the Keyblades. He kept at it and kept at it. He manipulated Aero magic to keep him aloft and it worked. He commanded the winds to support him and they did.
"Hey, guys!" Sora called to attention when he had become sufficiently proud of his work. "Look what I can do!" Sora held up his hands. Inhale. Exhale. As he breathed out, he felt himself lift from the stone flooring. He rose a foot in the air before he allowed himself to stop and grin at them.
Nothing surprised them anymore. In fact, the more he learned, the more proud they became. They asked him about his process and urged him to better himself.
"Practice perfection until it's as subconscious as that smile of yours," DiZ would say.
So he did. He would perfect one thing before moving on to the other. The ones that raised him found it so hard to keep up. They had to keep changing routines in order to challenge him. Sora begged for more. He created his own challenges. He needed constant work to keep him busy.
It made Aqua wonder what drove him.
"I've… I've lost so much," Sora confessed when he was as tall as DiZ. "I've lost almost everything except for their names. Kairi and Riku. But…" He stepped back, his arms wide. "Look at me. I'm big now. They must be, too. They've probably long since forgot about me." He laughed. "I don't even remember what they looked like and I still care about them." His smile only widened. "I always will. And… I hope to someday reunite with them and show them how much I've grown."
Aqua returned with a sad smile. Oh, he knew she hurt for him. He was still this small child lost on a dark realm to her when he was almost as old as she was. "We'll return to them," she agreed. "Someday. And they'll be as proud of you as we are."
I know a lot of this seems out of left field, but I've def been trying to set it up throughout the previous chapters. If you've been paying attention, you'll probably know where a lot of this comes from. Also, canon helps to drive it.