Battle of the Mages
"Give Me the Key"
A long time ago it was said that the worlds would fall to Darkness, swallowing every existence of Light that was known. In this time of peril, the one with the "key", the Keyblade's Chosen One, would appear to fight the Darkness and bring peace to the worlds. We've been here for hours and still...we've found nothing.
"Leon, what are we looking for again?"
"The 'Key'."
"How long will it take?"
"As long as it takes."
"Can't you give me an exact number?"
"Yuffie, like I can even tell you that much. And even if I did, and if we went about looking for that amount of time it took to not find the 'Key', you would be complaining that I said it would take the 'x' amount of time to find that 'Key', when really, I didn't know in the first place, and just gave you some random amount of time so that you could keep your mouth shut."
"Then why don't we just stop?"
The dragging tip of a dragging Gunblade stopped in its dragging track against a hard, cement ground. The blade was lifted from its low diagonal point so that it was straight up and down, and turned against the ground slightly, as the man who owned the Gunblade, Leon, turned to face his young, whiny partner with serious, cold blue eyes. The partner in question was a girl with short, black-brown hair, and uncanny attire that was easy to move in. She liked to claim that she was a ninja, but the only evidence that proved her claim was the headband that reached across her forehead and tied around the back of her head. If anybody caught her at first glance, they'd probably take her for a wannabe.
"You know we can't."
"And why not?" Yuffie demanded with such a stubborn pout. Leon, being the cool, silent type, merely pushed his fingers through his ratty brown hair, revealing the scar that cut diagonally across the bridge of his nose that he usually kept hidden behind his bangs. Yuffie's expression immediately softened. She, among all people, should know that whatever hope that came with this "Key" would be the recreation of all worlds, and the destruction of the Darkness that threatened the worlds. She, of all people, should know how important it was.
"Let's just go see if Cid's seen anything," Leon decided. The tip of the Gunblade moved, returning to the original diagonal dragging position it was in before he had stopped walking. Passing Yuffie, he expected her to follow, just as she always did, but stopped when he didn't hear the too-familiar footsteps of her orange-shod feet.
"Leon, I feel something," she said, staring expectantly in one direction. Leon repositioned his Gunblade, taking hold of it tightly in both hands instead of just lazily in one like he had been doing. Scanning the area, he expected it to be the Heartless that had been appearing more and more frequently, but he saw none, and especially didn't see what interested Yuffie so much. "Come on!" she ordered, running up the steps behind Cid's accessory shop and to the right where the door to the Second District stood hauntingly tall over the two allied fighters. She stopped just before the door, blinking once or twice and waiting for the door to open already, but gasped for breath when nothing happened and she realized she wasn't breathing.
"What was it?" Leon asked in approach to Yuffie. Yuffie turned and grinned at him, feeling so wildly accomplished as a ninja, that excitement had nearly completely blocked the ability to speak what was on her mind.
"Two energy signatures!" she said awfully loudly. "Two of them, and one of them, one of them -!" She took this moment to clench her fists and squeal with obvious excitement, while Leon, quite used to her fits of excitement, stared patiently and waited for her to finish. "One of them's the 'Key'!"
"Why didn't you say something sooner!" he snapped, running past, but she just stopped him, tugging on the back of his jacket like it was the easiest thing in the world. But as he was stronger and heavier than her, she stumbled after him and fell right into his back. Still, he stood strong and still. "What?"
"They're coming."
And just as she expected, the two energy signatures busted through the door, both of them running, but not from something that wasn't behind them. Yuffie and Leon both blinked. Both of them were kids, and Yuffie said one of them was the "Key"? He looked at her, and she looked back, shrugging.
"I'll get 'em," she said, jumping into the air. Leon narrowed his eyes and ran after the two kids, he not necessarily having the ability to jump onto buildings as easily as his partner was, but this was just their long-practiced strategy for trapping enemies, or anyone else as important.
"Haa, stop right there!" Yuffie shouted, landing easily on both her feet in front of the two kids that had busted through the door. The two kids stopped, the boy pushing the smaller, even younger girl behind him protectively. When two more footsteps joined the party behind them, the boy, spun around and pulled the girl in his arms just as protectively. As much as he didn't like strange girls falling from the sky, he hated strange men that appeared with large, deathly weapons even more. "Okay, that was easy."
"Who are you, and what do you want?" the boy demanded. The girl, being smothered by his arm, struggled to at least get her head free from his grasp. He loosened his grip, but wrapped his arms around her shoulders, which she still didn't appreciate so much.
"We've come for the Keyblade," Leon said, pointing his finger straight at the boy's head. The boy, looked at him wide-eyed, halfly wondering what the heck he was talking about, and halfly knowing exactly what he meant.
"What, you mean this?" he asked, a giant key forming in his hand in a glitter of gold and silver confetti light. Leon nodded, his face never changing from his ever-serious look. The boy glared, gripping the blade tightly and letting go of Tai. He moved in front of her, still very protective over the younger girl as he faced both Leon and Yuffie. "Why, what for?"
"Well, it's like this," Yuffie started, waving her finger in the air as she paced the space in front of the kids. "We take the Key, and you're safely free!"
"Whatever that's supposed to mean," grumbled the boy. Really, he could care less about what they were saying. They weren't taking his Keyblade, if that's what it was called, and they weren't getting anywhere near the two of them. While Yuffie spoke, he snuck his hand around the girl's own hand, holding it tightly and ready to run. If they could avoid fighting, they would, but if they had to, they would stand and fight.
"It's really about the Heartless. They -"
"Hey!" Leon shouted. Yuffie's eyes popped open to watch the two kids fleeing away from them...Well, really the boy was fleeing and the girl was being dragged behind him, not willingly, but not unwillingly either. "You let them escape!"
"I let them escape? You were watching them!"
"You were the one blabbing your mouth!"
"Well, excuse me for not liking being left hanging on a string of unanswered questions!"
"Whatever, let's just get them."
"Yeah, right."
Yuffie was the first to leave, again. She hopped into the air, on the rooftop of one of the few buildings in the First District. With both energy signatures memorized, she followed the two kids into the First District's square, where she jumped off the building, brandishing a large, over-sized shuriken that was her weapon and threw it straight at the little girl being dragged by the boy. The little girl, forcing her hand away from the boy's, spun around, a long black staff appearing from a swirl of water blue as she stopped the shuriken in its tracks. Yuffie was right on her afterwards, faster than a blink of an eye, and pushing the shuriken into the little girl's staff. Yuffie grinned, and the little girl...she just giggled with no smile.
With a sudden gasp, Yuffie's eyes widened just before she was blasted into the air by a jet stream of water. She landed right on the only part of her body with a built in airbag just at Leon's feet.
"That girl's creepy!" she jabbed with a shaky finger. The little girl's eyes narrowed, her knees bent slightly, and her hands spread across her staff pointed at Yuffie and Leon.
"Yeah, Tai, you go, kid!" shouted the boy from behind her. He wasn't there intentionally, but as he was in front of her when they were facing the other direction, he just so happened to stay behind her when they both turned around.
"Please tell me why you attacked her," Leon begged with his hand on his forehead. Yuffie blinked, staring up at him from down at his feet. She grinned a toothy grin, knowing she knew more than he, and taking in that feeling that she was quite special while he was simply normal.
"I know what she is," she said confidently. She stood, brushing off the back of her shorts from any dirt that happened to collect on the khaki color, and she disappeared in a swirl of windy grey. The boy gasped, hardly expecting the older girl to do something as amazing as that. Tai, who did, in fact, feel mild surprise, didn't show it as she spun around and jabbed at the nearly formed Yuffie before she disappeared again in the same windy grey. Before she appeared again, Tai pushed her hand in one direction where she knew Yuffie would be, another jet stream of water bursting out and shoving into the ninja-claiming Yuffie. Yuffie fell on her butt again, hurting more than just the built muscle. Hissing, she launched herself again at Tai, more in hopes of distracting her while Leon went for the bigger prize.
Sora was cheering Tai on when he happened to notice a fire ball flying straight toward him in some kind of murderous attempt...Well, maybe not that extreme. He forced himself to turn, Keyblade in hand, and waited for the flame to get closer before he held the Keyblade up to block. The flame bounced off the Keyblade and flew off into the distance before disappearing, and all he could see was the glaring blue eyes of the man with the Gunblade.
"Okay, I'm done," said Yuffie, finally settling down to take a break. Tai, having too much adrenaline running her mind, disappeared in a puddle, ready to appear again wherever she was needed.
Sora was fighting against Leon, Keyblade against Gunblade. Though Keyblade was quite strong, it had no experience against the mighty Gunblade. Leon easily saw through Sora's childish fighting skills. Sora never really learned how to fight, just learned how to swing a sword against another inexperienced player. Once Sora had been left open, Leon jabbed his Gunblade at the boy, but hit the staff of the younger girl that had appeared between the two.
Tai wasn't going to let Sora get hurt. He was the only person she knew; the only person she could remember. Besides, she had too much adrenaline to just stop fighting now. She shoved one end of her staff into the ground, shoving the other end into Leon's shoulder, who was forced to back up because of their close proximity. This time Tai was standing protectively in front of Sora, who merely grinned.
"You're so cowardly as to hide behind a little girl?" Leon asked from twelve feet away. Sora shook his head. That wasn't it at all.
"Nah, she enjoys fighting. Might as well give her what she wants," he responded from the other twelve foot distance.
"I'm warning you."
"Warning who?"
Leon didn't have time to answer. Tai was already in front of him, glaring up at him with strange, orange-yellow eyes that where drastically different from the clear, icy blue he'd seen before. He gasped in some mild surprised, but easily stopped a jet stream she had going for him. Though he was pushed back, he was now far enough away to point the Gunblade at her and release a fiery ball straight in her direction. She didn't waste time getting rid of the ball. She pointed her hand - palm face out - at the fiery ball, and concentrated a covering of water that completely incased the fire. The now-water ball circled around her and flew back at Leon, but as she wasn't watching, he was right behind her, blade held high. Tai spun around and shoved her block-positioned staff into the air to stop the attack, but when his Gunblade connected with her staff, she collapsed to her knees, trembling. Leon stopped his attack to check if she was alright, but even so, Sora was by her side first, holding her upright and shaking her gently so that she wouldn't close her eyes.
"Tai, it's not another fever, is it?" he asked, checking her forehead for any sight of fever. She shook her head, giving sign that she wasn't hot at all. "What'd you do!" he spat at Leon. Leon took a step back, too surprised at the force of energy this kid had to actually form an answer automatically like he usually was able to.
"I didn't do anything!" he spat back once he recovered. The two males glared at each other, each with their own thin, invisible line of challenge that attacked the other's line. "She's the one who was holding her breath the whole time!"
"She held her breath?" Yuffie wondered, walking up casually to join the group. With her hands on her hips, she showed no fighting intent, and just simply stared at the two kids on the ground. One was dizzily catching her breath, and the other was making sure she stayed alive long enough to do so. Yuffie screwed her lips a little and raised one eyebrow while the other furrowed close to the bridge of her nose. "Is it me, or does she always seem to be in his arms?"
"Do you guys mind? I'm taking her back to the hotel!" Sora said out loud. He stood, pulling the gasping girl up with him and made sure she wouldn't fall down again. Leon, ignoring his previous intent, stole the girl from Sora, and easily lifted her onto his shoulder, which didn't go quietly with Sora. "Hey, what are you doing! Put her down, now!" Leon simply ignored him and glared at Yuffie, who grinned sheepishly, because she knew that she should have felt their energies in the hotel, but she just didn't.
"Do you mind, I'm trying to help," Leon finally said to Sora, shutting him up.
"Yeah," Yuffie agreed with a nodding smile. "See, as you wouldn't stand to listen before, we only wanted your Keyblade because the Heartless - those black creatures - were using it to track you down. We really didn't want a fight."
"We just wanted to make sure our only hope wasn't the idiot to fall to Darkness," Leon finished. He started walking first, a Tai still on his shoulder without a word, and with no more gasps. Sora stared after her, then finally went to catch up with the Leon who took her on his shoulder.
"By the way," Yuffie started, following close beside Sora. "I'm Yuffie, and he's Leon."
"I'm Sora," Sora replied politely. "She's Tai."
"Does she talk?"
"Yeah, she does."
"Not very much, I suppose."
"She doesn't talk unless she's spoken to. I don't know why, but that's just how she is. Anyway, what exactly are the Heartless. I mean, I've seen 'em before, but what are they?"
"Beings created from the deepest darkness of the most fragile of hearts," Leon answered out of turn. Yuffie nodded, with that ever present smile that seemed to be there more than most of the time.
"They feed on the light inside peoples hearts, leaving only the Darkness to grow and consume that person, it changes them into a Heartless as well," continued Yuffie.
"It's the Darkness in peoples' hearts..." mumbled Leon with such a dark air. There wasn't much of a pause before Yuffie finished that sentence.
"...That's what attracts them."