Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep Zero-Book 1:Part 2-Terra's Story, Chapter 21:
NOTE: Sorry I haven't updated in about two weeks, I've had writer's block for too long.
"Stupid Unbirths!" I scathed with anger after I was scratched by a Dawn. I had been fighting them off for what felt about an hour, and I was about to fall over and die from exhaustion. Well, I may be exaggerating just a little bit, but you get the point.
"Hiss!" The Unbirth sneered back with hate and bit my right arm.
"Damn it! You just had to bite the arm I hold my Keyblade with, didn't you?" In reply the Unbirth clapped it's silvery and blue hands in happiness as I tightened my grip on the four teeth marks that oozed with blood.
"You won't be clapping for long, you little-" My threat was stopped from sudden interruption.
"Hey, Terra! Need some help?" To my relief Ven had come to the rescue with his Keyblade in hand.
"Yeah, help would be pretty nice right now!" I yelled back to the teen who was trying to get to me but was coming slowly because so many branches from the trees slapped his face. By the time he had finally got to me his face looked like a peppermint candy.
"What was taking you so long to get back to the castle?" Ven asked as he swung Divided Fate around in a full circle. Ashes blew away in the wind as three Dawn Unbirths melted into nothing.
"Was it really that bad?" I had used a cure spell and my arm was ready to help me fight once again.
"Yeah. You were gone for like, two days by the time I came here." Just then, Ven began to stab one Large Nightmare over and over again repeatedly. Before the monster could even fade away into ashes, Ven froze it with a powerful blizzard spell, which must have been the next level up called Blizzara. The enemy was frozen solid as the teen's body and Keyblade began to glow a yellowish color. Once again he stabbed the enemy countless times but this time many bolts of lightning shocked the Unbirth. The monster's harsh death was nothing compared to how Ven destroyed all of his other enemies.
"Where's you learn how to do that?" I asked once his body turned back to a normal fleshy pink color.
"Oh, it's just a trick I picked up." He admitted with a casual tone of voice.
"Wow." That was the only word I could say after seeing the most awesome offensive attack I had ever seen in my entire life.
"Yeah, the world I went to was really weird; let's see, first there was this talking rabbit who kept yelling "I'm late!", and then there was this fat bitch who tried to get her card guards to kill me. Oh well, at least I got to hit with a Thunder spell before she could catch me. Her face was even uglier than before after I was done with her." He shrugged in delight.
"Wow." I repeated with awe.
"I told her that I knew someone she should hook up with if she was into creepy old men." Ven pulled on his ears and made his eyes slanty, "You little cockroach! I should turn you into a cockroach!" He mocked the elder with glee.
"Aqua said that her world was a town in the middle of a desert, and that she had to help some poor boy named Ali, or Alad, or something like that." Ven informed me.
"Well then, I guess my world was the most boring one. I had to help this girl named Belle find her father."
"Did you?" Ven glanced at the creaking gate up ahead with nervousness.
"Kinda. I mean, well I did help her get here, and I did protect her by telling her that she should go on while I defeat all of the monsters here. So, I guess I did as she asked."
"We should get back then." He thrust his dominant left hand out to summon a portal.
"Okay." I jumped into the portal before he did.
"Welcome, Terra." An elderly voice met my ears as a hot deserted wasteland came into view.
Wait, this isn't Castle Celest. I glanced around the area and saw number one on my hate list: Xehanort.
"Of course it isn't Castle Celest, cockroach." He sneered with disgust, "Why would I ever feel to go to that pile of rubble?"
"Why did you leave us? And where is that annoying little apprentice of yours?" Looking around my surroundings I noticed that Igneous was no where in sight.
Suddenly a gust of sandstorm blew past us with fury as I struggled to find my footing. I finally got to my feet and saw that Master Xehanort closed his eyes and bowed his head in apparent shame, "Those that submit to darkness are not qualified to wield the Keyblade."
He opened his eyes slightly and I saw a twinkle of deception, "Already, Igneous is monster infused with darkness."
Xehanort had finally let one of his hands out from behind his back and held it towards me, "Defeat the darkness, and correct my mistake." His boots tussled the sand as he walked closer to me with his amber eyes glowing.
"So you're saying Igneous is a monster of the darkness?" I asked while trying to fool Geezernort into thinking that I actually cared.
He nodded with his eyes closed.
"And even though it's not my fault, you're saying that I should kill him because you were too lazy to watch him as he became one?" I summoned my Keyblade and prepared to go into battle stance at any time needed.
"How dumb and foolish do you think I am?"
"You fool! How could you selfishly make an old man like me kill his own apprentice? It would sicken me so much to see that all the effort I put into training was wasted away by my own hands."
"You were probably the one who turned him into the monster!" Now was the time to get into a battle pose, so I raised Eternal Horizons from my side and held my left hand out in front of me.
Xehanort gasped in a very fake way, "Me? Why would I ever want to do that?" He started to smile maniacally as he came to the realization that I was catching on to him.
"Do not lie to me." I ordered and slanted my eyes with hate.
"So, you are more intelligent than I thought. It's such a shame that you didn't become my apprentice instead; you would have served a better purpose." The empty wasteland was filled with echoing, slow, and evil cackles as Xehanort closed his eyes and turned his head to the sky.
" You'd really turn your own ally into a monster mercilessly? You're even crueler than I thought!"
"Igneous was becoming too intelligent for his own good, so I put his sane mind to rest and turned him into my slave. What do you think is so cruel about that?" His sharp canines gleamed in the beaming sunlight as he lowered his head and smirked. All of the sudden a swirl of darkness appeared as Igneous entered our sight. Instead of his orange and spiky hair sticking up above his head like the Eiffel Tower, he had on a black and purple helm that concealed his entire face.
"Terra, meet the new Igneous." The teen nodded his head in agreement and summoned his Keyblade also.
"He's even uglier than before." I mumbled to myself in disgust.
"Now then, my apprentice, obliterate this unworthy fool before I hurl from the resonating light that is seething out of him!" On Xehanort's command, Igneous readied himself into a battle stance.
"So carrot-top and want a fight, huh? Well then, you've got one coming!" At my warning I began to run towards Igneous with a slow pace; my feet kept tripping in the rolling sand.
"You run like a turtle!" Geezernort called from the sidelines before I snarled back, "I'd like to see you try it yourself, Lord Geezer."
Just then, Igneous caught me off guard and gave me a searing cut about a foot long on my arm.
"Good job, Igneous. You don't have to cook for me tonight since you already put a smile on my face." Xehanort praised the dark teenager.
"You even make him cook for you? You are the most pathetic and useless old fart I have ever-" I was interrupted as my opponent once again slashed my arm with an even longer scar. I would have guessed maybe about two feet long.
Now both of my arms were oozing with blood furiously as my thoughts strayed back to Ven.
How did he learn such amazing battle techniques within just one day?
A gushing noise sounded as a long cut was created from my tailbone to the top of my neck.
"Ah!" I fell to my knees at the sudden rush of unbelievable pain.
"Igneous has cut you three times now, and you haven't even raised your blade; it seems that you're losing your sanity quicker than I thought."
"Quicker....than you thought? What is that supposed to-ah!" Gasps of out came out of my mouth as yet another cut was made on my skin. This time it was in the shape of a heart.
Crap, why did he have to make a heart? I look even girlier than I did with just the ribbons.
The next few moments were of Igneous catching me off guard for the fourth time and his Keyblade making multiple cuts all over my back. Pain melted through my torso without mercy as I watched Master Xehanort clap in achievement.
"Very well done; you've left him a scar that he'll never forget." As Xehanort said the word "forget", even more unbearable pain pulsed and made me cringe, grit my teeth, and tighten my fists.
"Now, to make sure that the wind doesn't blow even more sand into it, I'll cover it up for you." The elder offered as he waved his finger at me. Instantly the black material grew back into shape without any fractures.
"What?" That was all I said before Xehanort and his apprentice entered a portal and left me there in the hot and suddenly cloudy desert.
"I need to make it back to Castle Celest." I reminded myself as another strong gust of sand made me close my eyes.
"But how can I even get on my feet?" Asking this made me instinctively struggle to stand up. It took me about ten minutes to actually arrive at that goal. Sadly, my efforts were wasted as I fell over from a slightly powerful breeze.
Maybe if I just summoned a portal here and called into it....I summoned a portal on my silent guess and began to call Ven's and Aqua's names desperately.
A familiar voice came to my relief, "Terra, is that you?"
"Aqua! Please help me!" I called in answer.
The swirling portal shimmered as the blue-haired girl came through with concern in her eyes.
"Terra, what happened to you?" I explained that Igneous and Master Xehanort had ganged up on me, and that they had just left through a corridor of darkness. I also told her about Igneous's new look and day job.
"You need to see Master Oni right away." She urged without seeming the slightest bit caring about how I might need to see a nurse right away as well.
Before the portal could disappear completely, Aqua dragged me as she floated with stunning strength.
"You found him?" Master Oni's voice drifted me into consciousness.
"Yeah, he summoned a portal and called through it." The blue haired girl nodded at me and then added, "He's been injured badly."
"From what? Unbirths?" His eyes then twinkled with suspicion.
"No. It was Igneous and Master Xehanort." At that, Master Oni gasped with disbelief, "You are not kidding, are you? How is that even possible?" The crunching of leather could be heard from the elder's tightening fists.
"I told you the truth. Master Xehanort and Igneous were the ones who attacked me. Just look at the cuts on my arms and my back; they couldn't have been made by a normal Unbirth judging by the fact that they are purple and black." I pointed to the dark gashes on my arms that looked like flowing streams of black water.
"Yes, but those probably just came with the cuts, like a bruise for example." His distrust in my word made Aqua glance at me and shrug with confusion.
"And you don't believe me because?"
"Well, it's just that Xehanort would never do such a thing. He may have his bald skull shoved up his rear, but my brother would never harm anyone without reason."
What is wrong with him? He doesn't believe his most trustworthy apprentice just because he thinks that his stupid brother would never "harm" anyone. I muttered in silence.
"Geezernort has tried to harm me countless times; like when I was trying to mind my own business while taking a nice shower, and he came into the bathroom, pulled me out of the bathtub, and dragged me to your office. And I assure you, it felt like I was living in a nightmare." My shoulders shuddered with the memory's return.
"Yes, but that was not physically harming you. It was only socially harming you by embarrassment, nothing more to it. You probably are just angry at the fact that you're wasting your effort by trying to lie to me." Now Master Oni was starting to get on my nerves even more as he chuckled with pity.
"So you think that going out to find him was just a waste of effort? You think it's funny how I'm running my ass off and almost get scratched to death just because I'm doing the dirty work you would be better off doing?" I overpowered my injury's refusal to get up by letting my frustration fly.
"No, it's just that I think that you should give up on lying to me. Hah! Who would've thought it? Xehanort trying to kill you? Who thinks up these insane statements that they drill into children's minds these days?"
"I think that you've got the wrong idea here, old man." I warned without giving him the respectful greeting of 'Master'.
"You dare to address me without proper respect!?" Master Oni had begun to do exactly as I wanted. His anger began to fly as his hand became enveloped with a light so pure that it almost blinded you just by glancing at it.
"One more disrespectful reply out of you and I'll make sure you never see the light of day again." Aqua and I stood awed at the summoning of Master Oni's Keyblade. Like it's entrance, it was mostly silver and white with a little bit of blue at the edges. The hand guard was an opalescent white and oval with somewhat of a strand of silver metal that winded around it. In the middle of it was a navy blue handle that came out of the top and faded into small, silver wings. Like most other Keyblades, the weapon also had a silver rod that protruded on the top and went on for about five feet until it met the tip. Around the rod were two strands of periwinkle snaking and twisting around until the two met the tip also. On the outsides of the strands were the two sides of the blade; they were shaped like even more wings that folded until they once again met the tip.
"Are you impressed?" A maniacal grin that matched his twin's appeared suddenly on the elder's face.
"Somewhat." I mumbled back.
The first attack against me was a simple blizzard spell. The chunks of snow and ice whizzed past me without even coming close.
"What was that?" I asked the elder with pity at the pathetic attack.
"I was just getting warmed up." Just then, I was mobbed by rushes of spell of every kind; flame, ice, lightning, wind, and even gravity flew past as soon as the Keyblade Master summoned them.
I gasped as one of the blizzard spells hit my leg.
"Numb." My hand rubbed the outside of my pants in order to make sure that I wasn't bleeding from any of the shards of ice.
"It seems that my blizzard spell immobilized your leg." He surmised with a smile.
"To save me the trouble, why don't you just give up and apologize before I have to turn you into an iceberg, hmm?"
"Do you really think I'm going to give up just because you told me to?" I raised my head to meet his blank stare with boldness.
"Either that, or I'll have a charred husk for an apprentice." The hall was filled with his deep rumbling laughter before he added, "And we wouldn't want that, now would we?"
"Terra, just give up. You're no match for him." Aqua whispered from the sidelines.
I helped myself up and summoned Eternal Horizons. No matter how tough and painful this battle was going to be, my stubborn and confident attitude told me to do it anyways.
"Very well, then. If you insist...." The battle had begun. As the elder had done before, many uninterrupted blasts and rushes of spells flew past me surprising agility. Almost all of them struck me and caused me to falter and descend to my knees from the throbbing pain. I solely spurned the urge to yelp in pain in order to make Master Oni foolishly think that he had so easily won.
"Stand up so I don't waste any more time on destroying you." The command echoed through the hall as soon as it was called. Ignoring the pain to stand up proved immensely difficult. I decided abruptly to figure out a new plan; was it to run away, or should I have tried to outwit Master Oni? Considering the fact that in a contest of wisdom a seventeen-year-old against a one-thousand three hundred and sixty eight year old man probably wouldn't be too pretty, the outwitting approach didn't seem like the best option.
Run away; you'll be called a coward, but it's better than being turned into a crisp husk of charred bones. On my silent command, I finally managed to push the annoying calls that my body desperately yelped out as I ran away as fast as I could. Master Oni's rumbling laughter echoed in mockery as I turned a corner. The odd material on my shoes caused me to slide endlessly across the marble floor until I hit the opposite end. After recovering from my slight dizzy spell, I turned around to become face to face with a familiar, wrinkly smirk.
"Well hello, young friend. How was your brisk little jog?" Rubble flew where my head had been as I dodged Master Oni's Keyblade; a huge chunk of of marble was missing from the wall.
"Crap." I mumbled with a nonchalant tone.
Pieces of the white rock made me trip and stumble as they covered the hall. The elder had made many futile attempts to strike me but all ended up hitting solid wall.
"You can't possibly run forever, and don't even consider hiding." Master Oni twisted the original saying, "You can run but you can't hide" in order to strike me with hopelessness. Luckily it didn't work, for the countless times where I had run away from Xehanort had proved him wrong.
"Where did that little cockroach go now?" Master Oni's words struck me with realization. This was not the elder I had known since a year ago.
This was number one on my hate list.