Hello all. I know this is a filler chapter, but it is important, so DON'T SKIM! There's a lot of politics in here, so I'm going to give you a quick review of the Council of Nine. Keep a list, I know I have to.
Danthus – dead, killed by Isalena (duh.)
Isalena – do I really need to explain this one?
Garrison – my personal favorite, Bruixe's foster father.
Rondot – dead, killed by Sora (with a little help from poor Riku)
Velkin – a supporter of Isalena and the bad guy who tortured Bruixe :(
Nester –another supporter of Isalena
Aeson \
Laurene - three very good friends, and supporters of Danthus and Garrison.
Striask /
Hope that helps. Enjoy.
She's glad for one day of comfort
Only because she has suffered
Here she stands today
In her brilliant shining way
Fully alive, more than most
Ready to smile and love life
Fully alive
-Flyleaf, "Fully Alive"
Their welcome back at Garrison's home was unlike any other.
Sora and Hanna stumbled in the door first, exhausted, dirt-streaked, but unhurt. Kairi and Ren were on them almost immediately, smothering the two in hugs.
"Not now," Hanna told her sister. "You're gonna want your hands free for this."
"What?" Ren asked.
"Hey, chica," Bruixe called from the doorway.
Ren's eyes lit up as if all the light of Kingdom Hearts was behind them. "Bruixe?" she choked, lunging forward to wrap her thin arms around the bigger girl's waist. "You – you're alive! You're okay!"
"More than just okay," Bruixe said, returning the hug. "Never been better."
"I watched you die," Ren mumbled into Bruixe's shoulder. "I – I saw it."
"I know," Bruixe replied softly. "I'm sorry you had to see that."
"How?" Ren demanded.
"I – I don't really know," Bruixe admitted. "But I'm back."
"Hey, I'm alive too," Riku pointed out.
Kairi and Sora crushed him into a bear hug. "Don't ever scare us like that again," Kairi ordered.
"No promises there," he told his friends. "Scaring people is what I do."
"That's not even funny, man," Sora said, punching him in the shoulder.
"I thought you left me," Ren said, still sobbing into Bruixe's shoulder. "Everyone does. Mom… Dad… only Hanna stayed."
"Hey, I'm still here," Bruixe reassured her.
"You were dead," Hanna whispered, "but you came back. Does that mean… can Captain Terra…?"
Bruixe released Ren but kept one arm around the smaller girl's shoulder. "I don't know," she said truthfully. "I…"
"His battle was already over," Riku answered for her. "Long ago. This – what's happening now – this is our fight. Terra's was done – should have been done – when Xehanort the Cruel fell. He fulfilled his duty here. He deserves his peace, now. Bruixe… Bruixe's fight wasn't finished yet."
Hanna nodded sadly.
"Sorry," Bruixe said.
"It's not your fault," Hanna told her.
Sora cleared his throat. "Well, someone had better go tell Garrison you're all alive," he said.
"I'll do it," Bruixe said.
She found Garrison in his private study, bent over a sheaf of paper. Unsure of what to say, she settled for, "Hey."
Garrison looked up, and the lines seemed to disappear from his face. For a moment, he was once again her foster father, not the aged general he had become.
"Bruixe," he whispered, and stood, and it was like being a kid again, and she stumbled forward and into his arms, the father she'd never really had.
"Sorry I worried you," she told him.
"You'll be the death of me," he agreed.
Bruixe pulled away and looked at the floor. "Not just… about dying, and coming back. But before… I know I was… different. Not in a good way."
"I must apologize as well," Garrison replied. "It was unfair of me to ask you to fight, when your heart was broken as it was."
Bruixe shook her head. "I understand. You needed me."
"Not only that," the Councilor continued. "When you were young, I… was not always there for you as I should have been. Perhaps if I had been, things might have been different."
"I never faulted you," she whispered. "And… I'm happy now. Even though sometimes life was hard… I wouldn't change it for the world. It's made me who I am. And I've met a lot of people, people I might not have."
"You've made some wonderful friends," Garrison agreed.
"Understatement," Bruixe told him.
"Well, since you are back, it is high time we regrouped," Garrison said. "Bring everyone to the parlor. There is much to discuss."
Within minutes everyone had assembled in the parlor. Bruixe and Riku were crammed in the middle of one sofa, Ren and Kairi on either side of them. Sora sat on the armrest next to Kairi, and Hanna was seated on the floor, her head against Ren's knees. If the other soldiers in the room found their arrangement odd, no one mentioned it.
"Thank you all for coming on such short notice," Garrison began as the room quieted. "We have little time, so on to business. Several events have come to my attention that demand explanation. Lieutenant Hanna, if you would give us an account of your encounter with Lady Isalena, beginning with the reason for your departure?"
"Of course, sir," Hanna said, standing and clasping her hands behind her back in a relaxed attention stance. Always the soldier, Bruixe noted, although even on her feet, she barely topped the heads of their seated comrades. Bruixe stifled a giggle.
"Two days ago, I had been looking for my sister when Bruixe came in from her… watch over the forest," Hanna said, carefully not mentioning Bruixe' previous brooding mood. "Bruixe informed me that she had spoken with Ren some hours ago, yet Ren had not returned to the manor. We had reason to believe that she may have gone out on her own, to the ruins of Xehanort the Cruel's manor."
Ren shifted uncomfortably in her seat, and Bruixe moved the hand that wasn't wrapped around Riku's waist to pat her friend's hand in reassurance.
"Bruixe and I set out to track her down," Hanna continued. "We caught up to her not a mile from Xehanort's mansion. We were going to come back… but we were ambushed by the former Councilor Isalena and a regiment of Chasers. She was armed with Bruixe's Keyblade, the Fallen Angel, which possesses the power to create new Chasers. This is no doubt the reason behind the great numbers of Chasers we have seen of late, numbers beyond what Bruixe had created while imprisoned.
"Lady Isalena stepped forward to fight us herself, leaving her Chasers to ensure that we would not escape. I… I engaged the Councilor, against Bruixe's wishes. I was… soundly defeated. Bruixe engaged the Councilor to protect Ren and I. And… Isalena defeated her, as well. She… she stabbed Bruixe. Through the heart."
Whispers broke out through the room.
"I cannot explain it," Hanna said. "But I watched it. I watched Bruixe… die." Her voice faltered, and she fell silent.
"Bruixe?" Garrison requested. "Have you an answer to this quandary?"
Reluctantly Bruixe stood, sliding out from under Riku's arm thrown around her shoulders. "I do," she replied simply. "But… I have to warn you all, a lot of this story doesn't make sense, even to me, and it does sound very far-fetched. I'd like everyone to keep an open mind, please, and remember the facts: I died. I… I know this to be true. Hanna and Ren tell me that they saw it. And yet here I stand."
With that said, she launched into her story, beginning where Hanna had left off, with the blackness caused by Fallen Angel plunging into her chest. Those behind her on the sofa leaned forward unconsciously. She had refused to tell any of them before now, not wanting to repeat the story more than once, so only Riku had ever heard the full version.
She left out the mysterious voice's exact words, wanting to keep that memory private. She told her comrades only that it had charged her with 'unfinished business' and sent her back to the realm of the living. Its words of love and strength she kept to herself.
When Bruixe had finished, her listeners sat in stunned silence, no one able to speak or move. Feeling awkward, she nodded to Garrison and took her seat. Riku settled his arm around her shoulders again.
"Thank you," Garrison said finally, and whispers broke out again. Though Bruixe didn't catch all of the talk, she did hear the words 'goddess' and 'immortal'. She chuckled to herself.
"Funny?" Riku muttered.
Bruixe nodded, lowering her voice so only he would hear. "Me, a goddess. Stupid."
"Let them talk," he whispered back.
"I also have news to report," Garrison announced, "since many of you do not know of what else occurred on that night. I do not know how else to say this, so I will do it bluntly, with your pardon. Councilors Aeson and Striask are dead."
Gasps went up across the room.
"It is my belief that Isalena was in fact setting out to destroy the Councilors when she encountered our ladies." Bruixe rolled her eyes at being called 'lady'. "Shortly after Lieutenant Hanna and Miss Ren returned to the city, I received the reports. My contacts in the Councilors' homes inform me that the two were killed in similar manner to General Danthus. One of them actually encountered Lady Isalena. Private Aylen, please step forward."
A soldier whose head was swathed in bandages, covering his left eye, stood.
"Please tell everyone what you told me," Garrison requested, not unkindly.
"Sir," Aylen replied. "I… I was running an errand for Lord Striask, and when I returned… she was there, that ice-witch of a Councilor, and Lord Striask was… he was – pinned, sir, to the wall. With a great rapier through his heart. I… I couldn't help myself, sir, and I cried out, and she turned and saw me. It's true what the lieutenant says, she has Lady Bruixe's old Keyblade, and she came at me, and I couldn't move, sir, it was like being frozen, I was so scared. She gave me this – " he gestured to his wounded face – "and I thought I was going to die, but she told me, she said, 'Tell Garrison that I will not stop here.' She said she was coming after all the Councilors, sir, and then she let me go. Soon as I could walk, I came straight here."
"Thank you," Garrison said, and Aylen took his seat, clearly shaken.
Garrison cleared his throat and resumed speaking. "The Council of Nine met last evening – or shall I say the Council of Four, with the recent occurrences. Both Councilors Velkin and Nester – longtime allies of Lady Isalena, if you will remember – have agreed to surrender command of their armies to the Eternal Watch, and have resigned their positions as Councilors. This leaves only two Councilors in charge of the Eternal Kingdom – myself and Lady Laurene, who is in quite the state of shock. Lords Aeson and Striask were very dear friends of hers, if you will recall. Therefore it falls to me to ensure the safekeeping of the Eternal Kingdom.
"I fear the government of the Eternal Kingdom may not recover from such a devastating blow," he continued. "If the current method of government is to continue, seven Councilors must be replaced. Such a thing is unprecedented in all of the Eternal Kingdom's history, and would no doubt cause panic among the citizens of Kingdom City. Lady Laurene and I shall do our best to come up with a resolution to this crisis, but until then, I must ask you all to keep this information in confidence, and not breathe a word of what has been said in this room to any not present."
"Sir," chorused the Watch.
"That said," Garrison finished, "it seems we are in need of a plan of action. Lady Isalena must be defeated, not only for the good of this world but many others."
Think, Bruixe told herself. She's got to have a weakness.
Within seconds the answer presented itself to her.
"Lord Garrison," she said, standing. "With your permission… I have an idea."
oh buddy! she's got a plan! brace yourselves!
mwahaha. I know what it is… and you don't… not even you, Lauren…
review pls.
