DISCLAIMER: No, I don't own Kingdom Hearts...

Chapter 29

Retribution

"Revenge."

-DiZ, regarding what he wants

The dark portal opened in the old queen's castle in Fabled Countryside and the Huntsman stumbled out of it, gasping at his sides, not in pain but in anguish over what he had done. he had told Riku he understood the darkness more than he ever had and yet here he was…crying over the death of poor girl who did not have to die. What more was he going to have to do in order for victory to be theirs? The Keyblade wielders were nothing…they were the threats, but that girl…

His ears perked and twitched as he felt another portal open in the room amidst all of the ripped and torn paintings, the dimly lit walls where sunlight barely shone throne, and its cold stone. He made no move to acknowledge that Maleficent was indeed there, watching him. His hand was raised to his face as he vainly attempted to wipe the tears from his eyes over what he'd done. But Maleficent had seen…and she knew exactly what was happening to the Huntsman.

"Why do you feel such pain?" she asked him and he nearly threw her a loathing look, if he were not afraid of all the consequences that might follow if he did so.

"Maleficent," he spat, nearly throwing in distaste for the name. "You know perfectly well why I'm feeling this way! She was an innocent girl; she posed no threat to these worlds or our plan! Just as Snow White was blameless for her beauty so long ago, so it is with this girl!" Maleficent snickered at the Huntsman's comment.

"You misunderstand then." Maleficent stated simply, a flicker of the most dreadful malice contained in her smile. "That girl was an anchor to the boy…without her, he will most likely founder amidst the waves of fate."

"So that's it then…" the Huntsman said, beginning to quake with rage and hatred. "She had to die because she loved our enemy…a trait that neither of us have!" Maleficent cackled a bit and the Huntsman was sure it could ring across the entire world…and yet it had seemed that she did not care.

"Why should we love?!" Maleficent snapped incredulously. "Love makes the heart weak, unlike what those pestilential fools believe…it is no more than an illusion to carry our hearts to unprecedented heights…an emotion which let lives some, and crushes the rest!"

"What do you know?!" the Huntsman roared, all sense of pride, dignity, and composure forgotten. "Maleficent, every decision and every action you have had me taken has led me further and further away from what I was or have been!"

"One must change in times of war." Maleficent stated with simplicity and a wicked smile on her lips. "As I remember, you accepted that change wholeheartedly when I first offered it to you. Why should now be any different?" Maleficent leaned into the Huntsman and her long, nearly blood-colored nails stroked his face. He tried to shy away from it, repulsed by the sorceress. But Maleficent held him fast and spoke into his ear in little more than a whisper. "They will come to you…and when they do, crush them…and start with the boy, then I shall give you a place in my hall when I rule all the worlds."

The Huntsman finally broke free of her grasp and turned away. Maleficent chuckled a bit and then disappeared through a new dark portal. The Huntsman had been left with yet another task to perform in the name of Maleficent…but all he felt was remorse.

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The burial was short and simple for Demora…they had no time for anything else. Sora used his power and knowledge of magic to dig the whole where they laid her in the forest. Gentai had been too broken to dig the hole for her, though his veins were coursing with a rage and fury unimaginable. When the silent vigil was at last finished, Kairi hugged Gentai in order to comfort him. Meanwhile, both Sora and Riku sat aside in order to heal Sora's leg where it had been pierced by the Huntsman's deflected crossbow bolt. Riku bent over it himself as he set to extracting it so that Sora could heal it, and as he did he thought.

Sora had stood up from him. Even amidst all of the accusations that the man had made about his darkness, Sora had still been there for him. Was that always how it would be? That even when all the light had faded from his heart, Sora would still believe and fight for him. It almost pained him to have such a friend by his side.

"Sora, I…" Riku began after he just finished taking out the crossbow bolt from his leg. Sora grunted in pain as it was removed and immediately set himself to the task of healing his leg, ignoring Riku's comment. When at last, the wound was sealed up as best as it could be, Riku helped Sora stand up. "Hey Sora…"

"Forget it Riku. What's done is done." Sora said with a smile on his face but Riku could tell that perhaps now was not the time to talk about such things…Or rather, Sora was still in a slight amount of pain and was trying to do his best not to focus on it or let it be known to the rest of the group. Sora had to be the new pillar of strength for the group. He turned with a grimace, to face Riku. "Can you sniff him out?"

Riku bowed his head, and without a word, allowed his senses to be filled. Sora's heart was there, a faint amount of darkness but his light shining brightly, and the two hearts of pure light a short distance away…though something seemed slightly off with Gentai's. But he let it slip past his mind, it wasn't important right now. His scent expanded in the opposite direction from whence they had come, knowing that the Huntsman would not dare to go that way. It took very little searching.

"He's here…he must be in a building to the east." Riku said, his finger pointing in a direction that led to a lighter portion of the forest. "I guess we're going to take him down now, huh?"

"I think he's caused enough trouble already." Sora said, his features contorting into a face of anger…though there was no rage filling his eyes. Riku nodded and it had almost seemed that both Gentai and Kairi had at last realized what decision the two men had come to. Gentai seemed to be filled with a bit more calm than he had before and nodded his head solemnly. Riku therefore, led the group forward, quickly and silently.

No one in the group knew how long they had been traveling for…they only knew the fact that their final battle with the Huntsman was fast approaching. No words needed to be said. The pain that they all were suffering was running rampant in their hearts. But Sora, most of all, knew that they couldn't let it get into their head. After all, he knew the age-old saying: "Once it gets into your head, you lose." That's why he always had the strength to keep going…even if Riku had turned against him, or Kairi had been kidnapped. He had to let those thoughts remain in his heart but not cloud his head.

Sora's head looked up as the bottom of the sun seemed to touch on the horizon. Sunset was coming on fast and as Sora saw, so was the castle. The group was now only a short distance away from the castle and before long they had reached its doors, slightly rotted from old age, but still primarily intact. Kairi tried to open them but found them to be locked. Sora said no words and summoned his Keyblade, unlocking the doors quickly. They swung wide and admitted the party to the abandoned and hallowed halls. They had not made it very far into the entrance hall when they found the Huntsman there. However, unlike the last time, his back was turned to them.

The other three members of the party summoned their Keyblades as a precaution. Sora eyed the figure of the Huntsman warily, wondering why he had not yet said a word. Gentai jerked slightly behind him and Riku suddenly tensed up. Without warning, the Huntsman turned around fired off three crossbow bolts. Sora easily parried all three of them before firing a chunk of ice at him. The Huntsman merely raised his crossbow like a shield once more and blocked it.

Riku took this moment to pelt him with a few dark aura shots which the Huntsman, much to their surprise, deftly blocked. Kairi ran forward and attempted to take a swing at the Huntsman but he blocked it easily, however, not without a small grunt. He then lashed his le at Kairi who barely avoided it, only to have the Huntsman open fist connect with her stomach, sending her reeling backwards. Sora could almost sense the darkness at work as the crossbow changed and he lashed at Kairi. She managed to evade the brunt of the blow but part of the weapon nicked her wrist. Sora knew that she couldn't hold on like this forever and so he Quick Ran forward and blocked the crossbow with his Keyblade. The Huntsman whipped around and with a blunt edge of his altered crossbow he hit Sora on the side, causing him to double back. But the Huntsman would not be denied in putting Sora out of commission for a little. He jerked his crossbow up a bit and sliced across his cheek.

Blood streamed out from the cut and Sora grasped his cheek in pain. He stumbled backward just as Kairi leapt back into the action. She summoned a ball of light on the tip of her Keyblade and sent it flying into the air, where it dispersed into many different balls of light that surrounded and homed in on the Huntsman. He snarled a bit and flicked his hand upward. Instantly, a great wall of darkness arose to shield him from the barrage of light. But as soon as he dropped it, Riku came hurtling out of nowhere. The Huntsman twisted around and blocked his blow with a growl.

Riku leapt off of the Huntsman and fired off three shots of Dark Aura while rushing at him. This time the Huntsman merely evaded them before shooting multiple crossbow bolts at Riku, which he easily reflected with a Dark Shield. Nevertheless, the distraction bought the Huntsman enough time to recuperate before Sora came rushing at him, blood streaming from his cheek. He took a half-hearted blow at the Huntsman who dodged it and launched a roundhouse kick which sent Sora into Kairi, toppling both of them over. Riku gave another rush at the Huntsman but he waved his hand and a great wall of darkness was erected. He then pushed it forward and it in turn pushed Riku back until he was sprawled on the ground.

Riku looked up at the Huntsman as he walked over to them but could find no hint of a smile on his face, nor any idea that he had enjoyed the skirmish they had just had with him. In fact, it almost seemed as though there was sadness as he loaded his crossbow in preparation fire the fatal blow to Riku's heart.

But then there was a flurry of color as Gentai sailed out of nowhere, his Keyblade swinging with an unimaginable fury. The Huntsman was barely able to get his crossbow up in time. But he had had no time to change it and the crossbow was shattered upon impact. Gentai swept his leg around and knocked the Huntsman over before kicking him across the hallway. He then held his Keyblade to the Huntsman's neck as the trio of companions behind him began to get up.

But Riku sensed something different in Gentai's heart now. Gone was the feeling of the boy who knew what justice and kindness was…replaced by a man who was angry and wished for vengeance at all cost. The Huntsman attempted to stammer something out but with a cry of feral rage Gentai smacked his Keyblade across the Huntsman's head and blood began oozing out. He held up a hand.

"M-mercy! Please, I beg of you!" the Huntsman cried and all in the hall but Gentai could tell that he meant it with every fiber of his being. But Gentai's face was just one of twisted rage.

"MERCY!!!" he roared and all three of the companions knew that something was wrong. "Mercy?!! Like you showed my friends?!" He hit the Huntsman again. "Like you showed my parents?!" Yet another hit came, cracking the Huntsman's skull. Blood began to trickle out of his mouth but Gentai did not notice or care. "Like you showed my world?!" Once again he hit him, more force behind the blow despite the fact that the Huntsman of Fabled Countryside was already dead. "Like you showed Demora?!! I will show you no MERCY!!!" He roared and with a final feral roar, he stabbed the perished Huntsman through the heart.

All of the companions stared at Gentai as he drew his Keyblade from the Huntsman's body. But the body did not disappear and remained, blood staining the floor, as a testament to Gentai's actions. All of the breath in the place was being held…Gentai had gone too far in what he had done. Sora took a step forward.

"Gentai…" he breathed but without looking at them, he held his Keyblade out, pointing at them. Riku took a sharp intake of breath as he sensed the rage swirling around Gentai. "What did you do? This isn't what we do…"

"Shut up!" Gentai snapped, no longer caring anymore. "You're as much a cause of this as he is!" Kairi stepped up next to her fiancée with a look of disbelief on her face.

"You don't mean that Gentai…" Kairi breathed and he shot them the deepest look of loathing.

"No…I do…very much so." Gentai breathed out and all watched in horror as Gentai's black and white Keyblade inverted itself in colors, turning itself blacker. "If you hadn't fought Maleficent, if you hadn't angered her, she wouldn't have done this to me!"

"You know that's not true!" Sora yelled in protest but Gentai had no more ears for him.

"No…it's over, I will destroy anyone who had a hand in the atrocities I have suffered…and the worlds will know fear!" Sora and Kairi stepped back, as blood continued streaming down Sora's cheek. Riku took his own tentative step forward.

"I never thought I'd hear those words from you…" Riku said. "I've heard them from a lot of other people…but never you…"

"Oh shut up Riku, you're just as much to blame." Gentai said with venom piling behind every word.

"Then you leave me no choice." He summoned a dark aura quickly in his hand and let it fly at Gentai but he easily blocked it. Riku ran at him and leaped in the air, swiping his Keyblade downward but Gentai ducked to avoid it. He then did a slight flip and kicked Riku in the gut, knocking him to the floor. Gentai then held his Keyblade in front of him and opened a portal.

"You'll not be able to follow me with your scent any more!" Gentai then turned to enter the portal. Sora and Kairi were still frozen in shock as Gentai turned slightly towards the party. "I'm tired of playing the hero." And with that he walked into the portal.

The portal closed and the light at last disappeared into the now deepening darkness of the castle. And with it, so did their only hope in all the worlds for a better future.

Author's Note: Okay, do not tell me you did not see that coming! I mean, the title of the story IS Twisted Souls. After all, while I love character deaths (i.e. Demora), a character falling from grace is so much better (Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars, Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight, Kratos Tidalithan in Magician-oops, that's my own story…). Although, I admit, that's the cruellest that I will be to the characters for a few chapters, I promise. To clear up a fact, Gentai's heart still has no darkness in it despite the decision he just made. Yes, that will impact the rest of the story from here on out (now do you see why it's two separate stories?) Go on, bring on the yelling, I'm ready for it, but I built it up to here and I'm not about to change that. I hope you enjoyed my battle with the Huntsman as well as his discussion with Maleficent at the beginning. Yes, next up we go to Treasure Planet plotline!!! Also, as part of my emotional development for characters on that section I will further explore a subject I brought up in Part I, but I'll leave you to guess what that is. A thank you to Crazyfrog41 for reviewing. Please review and leave me your thoughts, and until next chapter, Dare to Be Silly.