I'm sorry I'm late. But there are some welcome surprises I think everybody will enjoy in here... yes, I'm convinced you'll forgive me... XD
One question. I'm working on my next R x N, and I'm going to begin asking you questions. XD Would you prefer if I wrote a more AU story, or something that sticks more to the actual game?
Anyway. Read on!
The young, blonde Queen sat, alone, at the edge of the largest fountain on the castle grounds, the water reflecting the blue in her eyes magnificently. She fiddled with her fingers, and twisted one of her many rings nervously. Normally, she would be perched upon her throne, her head tilted slightly upward in an impression of regality—but not today. Something was coming, and she knew it… sure, they had already been invaded, but something more terrible, more ominous was looming, and the Queen couldn't seem to shake the notion.
"Yuri?" Naminé peered cautiously around a tall, leafy hedge, attempting to be as minimally invasive as possible. "You okay?"
"Sure," she shrugged with a weak smile, lifting her legs out of their crossed position and hugging them to her chest as she continued to watch her rippling reflection in the water. "How about you?"
Naminé struggled for a moment. "I… killed somebody last night."
"Come over here," Yuri gestured toward the seat on the ledge next to her. "Let's talk, you seem bothered."
Naminé crossed the small patch of well-groomed, almost unrealistically green grass, and plopped down exhaustedly next to Yuri. Sadness in her wide, blue eyes, she said, "Well, wouldn't you be?"
Yuri gave Naminé a dry glance. "Sure, if you guys would just let me fight."
In response, Naminé snorted. "Right, like we'd put you in that sort of danger. Riku would never allow it, nor would any of the rest of us." Just as she calmed down, the idea of it prompted another bout of chortling.
Yuri brushed her hair behind her ears as she felt her cheeks reddening. Turning away, she sighed, "Of course, Riku's my caretaker. Or something."
"Or something," Naminé agreed with a small smile. "Hey, this may sound weird, but… has your magic been feeling strange lately?"
In one swift movement, she uncurled her legs and placed them back on the ground, simultaneously leaning toward Naminé. "Yes!" she breathed. "How did you—"
"Mine has, too," Naminé confessed, her worry easily showing itself in her pale, delicate features. Yuri knew that Roxas was on her mind, but thought it best to leave any suspicions about that unsaid. "Something's coming, wouldn't you agree?"
"An all out offensive, perhaps," Yuri agreed thoughtfully. "You guys aren't ready, are you?"
Naminé's response was swift and nearly emotionless: "Yuri, we were born ready."
It was silent for a moment, save the trickling of the fountain, and the joyful bubbling noise made by moving water. "Funny thing, magic," Yuri mused softly. "Do you know what type of spell currently protects the castle?"
Naminé shook her head. "No, I don't recognize it and you haven't told any of us much about it…"
Yuri smiled crookedly, and looked up toward the sky, where an invisible bubble of magical protection hung over and all around the castle. "One of my better inventions, I'd say. Nobody with the intent of harming any of us can penetrate it without great amounts of power... unless we let them in, which, as you can guess, is extremely unlikely to happen."
Naminé's gaze followed Yuri's toward the pristine blue sky, and she smirked to match. "You're right, I don't think anybody will recognize or guess that. But someone with good intentions could walk right through the enchantment, I suppose?"
"Precisely. It eliminates any difficulties you may have teleporting back into the castle, which was one of my main concerns. It also won't accept or believe liars, should anybody ever figure out what the spell is." Yuri seemed quite proud of the invention, and Naminé could completely understand why—it really was an extraordinary spell.
"I agree with you, though," Naminé said, "about magic. It really is a funny thing."
Yuri stood up abruptly, and quickly straightened her skirt. "Someday, Naminé, you and I both will understand it, I hope." Smiling warmly, she held out her hand. Without hesitation, Naminé took it, and Yuri helped her up. Slowly, they wandered back toward the castle in a comfortable, friendly silence. Somehow, Naminé suspected that Yuri hadn't been talking about actual magic…
Why the day Yuri had told her about the enchantment had suddenly flashed before Naminé's eyes, she couldn't be sure. Perhaps it was because her room was completely torn apart. The whole wall leading toward the balcony was blown out, and it seemed everything had been broken and dislodged from its correct place. Anger bubbling in the pit of her stomach, her eyes scanned the room as intensely as a missile searching for a target in an attempt to find the culprit. Riku's large mop of hair wasn't anywhere to be seen.
She dashed across the room, avoiding piles of rubble. Behind her, she heard soft noises similar to that of tinkling bells—keyblades were being summoned. Suddenly, the injuries she had were of little importance. Her throbbing, sore ankle had immediately ceased the moment she caught sight of Riku laying still on the balcony. She vaulted the remains of the wall, landing on her knees at Riku's side.
Sora, Kairi, Roxas, and Axel all suddenly joined her—she presumed she had forgotten others were there—and as she quickly examined him, Sora looked more worried than Naminé had ever seen him, and Kairi already had tears spilling over onto her cheeks. "Riku," Naminé murmured softly, probing quickly to discover his injuries. Broken hand, broken ribs… she quickly pushed back his eyelid and realized with a jolt that the dilation of his pupils meant that he had a concussion… the blankness in his aquamarine eyes chilled her, leaving her insides shaking in fear and anxiety. In a snap, she had thought of the correct spell for mending them all, and with a sigh of relief as Riku began to breathe normal again, Naminé's eyes searched for Roxas's.
He hadn't been watching Riku at all. His attention had been completely upon the dark haired man, seated against the railing, slouched over in pain. "Naminé, I think he's the one that did this to Riku."
Her head snapped in the direction of the accused, eyes zeroing in and already turning red. "What?"
Sora suddenly stood up, and together, he and Roxas rushed over to capture the criminal before he got away, anger etched in every worry line on their faces.
Yuri had decided to check the large chamber Leon had declared their 'headquarters' first. Sure enough, he and Cloud were huddled over a large computer talking strategy, while Aerith, Tifa, and Yuffie pored over enormous books of maps, charting out where the Adherence was rumored to be hiding. Yuffie had done a bit of undercover scouting work recently, and had already highlighted, circled, and decorated the map with colored pins, which signified where the Adherence had control. As Yuri appeared out of thin air right in the center of the camber, her hair blown about wildly and wedding dress gone, everyone turned to face her, immediately recognizing that something was wrong.
"What's happening?" Leon demanded sharply, standing quickly. Cloud was to his feet, and the girls had crossed the room in a frenzied bound.
"Riku," Yuri breathed. "He and Zexion, fighting, in my room!"
Leon turned to Yuffie, and nodded. "Tifa, go with Yuffie. Aerith, take Cloud. I'll come with you, Yuri," he ordered, rushed words falling out of his mouth before anyone had a chance to breathe or take in the information. Yuffie grasped Tifa's elbow and disappeared, shortly followed by Aerith and Cloud. Leon hooked his elbow through Yuri's, and they reappeared in her completely destroyed bedroom.
"What…?" she murmured, astounded by the mayhem. The ruins of many of her possessions couldn't hold her attention for long—she remembered what she was supposed to be looking for—
Her wall was completely blown out, save for a small layer of brick about knee height left. Naminé, Kairi, and a tall man with flaming red hair that she didn't recognize knelt around Riku's still body. She was beside him before anyone could blink.
Naminé was grasping one of Riku's hands firmly, while Kairi held the other, both red faced and upset. "Riku!" she shouted, terrified that he was… no, he couldn't be…
She propped his head into her lap and brushed his bangs from his face. "What's the damage?" she asked Naminé, beckoning Aerith come over to examine him. They were all headed purposefully in the direction of where Sora and Roxas were struggling with Zexion—Aerith quickly changed her course, and moved swiftly toward them.
"I've healed what was broken, so he should be all right," she said hoarsely, watery eyes wide with unabated fear.
"Should be," Yuri whispered to herself. She leaned forward, and kissed Riku's forehead softly. "Please… wake up…"
His eyes snapped open. "Where is that stupid…" he sat up, cheeks already tight with anger. "What… what is all this?" he looked from Naminé, to Kairi, to Yuri…
"You were hurt, idiot," Kairi shoved his arm a little, smiling weakly and crying tears of relief. "Never scare us like that again!"
"Thank you for worrying," he told them all gratefully, freeing his hands and standing up as though nothing had happened. His eyes caught sight of where Zexion was trying to hold Sora, Roxas, Leon, Cloud, Tifa, and Yuffie off with a shield spell. Riku dashed across the balcony, Yuri springing up and hanging at his heels, both summoning their weapons as they went. Riku saw the fear in Zexion's eyes as he approached. In one rushed movement, Zexion removed his shield spell, and sprang himself into the air. He landed on the roof of the castle, where he took off running.
"We have to catch him!" Riku shouted in command as both he and Yuri cast similar spells to propel them from the balcony onto the roof.
As his comrades all shot themselves like rockets into the sky and onto the roof, Roxas sprinted over to where Naminé was still kneeling on the ground. He collapsed onto his knees next to her, placing an arm comfortingly around her shoulders. "Naminé, what's wrong?" he asked gently.
She didn't look at him. "I just… I didn't want this to begin again…"
He gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "It'll be fine! Nothing is going to happen to us." His smile was impossible to resist.
She still somehow looked skeptical. "You better be right, Roxas. I don't know what I'd do if you got hurt…"
"I'm not going to," he said confidently. "Anybody that comes near you… I'll annihilate them."
For a moment, she seemed to be struggling over whether to say what was really on her mind or not. After a moment that felt like hours, she finally said, "I'm not angry at you, Roxas. It was really silly for me to get angry in the first place… one of us could be killed… but I'm so glad you've been along for all this…"
He smiled widely, elated. Finally, he was getting somewhere! "I just want you to know, I… I would never try to hurt you. I care so much about you…" The smile quickly vanished. He hadn't meant for that, exactly, to come out.
She looked at him, surprised. The redness of her face had faded to a soft, pink glow on her cheeks, giving her the look of being slightly flustered. Her hair had fallen loose from the ponytail, and despite the messiness of it all, she still looked more beautiful than Roxas could ever have imagined. Before he knew it, he was feeling a sudden rush of bravery. He assumed it came from a desire so deep and powerful that it was impossible to deny. He didn't want things to be like they were on Earth between he and Naminé… awkward friends, while he was too nervous to act on how he really felt…
Slowly, he removed his arm from over her shoulders, and grasped her hands in his. Together, they stood, and, facing each other, leaned their heads back to gaze at the sky, just as Naminé and Yuri had on that day, so long ago, that Naminé had suddenly remembered. Roxas's sudden and unexpected surge of bravery was pushing him toward her—slowly, very slowly…
She lowered her head, and said, "Thank you for this, seriously… I really care about you, Roxas…"
Roxas took this as his cue—with both of their hands still linked together in front of them, he leaned forward and kissed her.
The large group of fighters chased determinedly after Zexion, who was once again amazing Riku with his speed. Kairi and Sora were both explaining something quietly to the man neither Riku nor Yuri recognized as they ran, while Leon, Cloud, and Riku broke out to the front of the pack. Just as they were approaching the highest point of the roof, Riku heard Kairi give a surprised shriek behind them, and quickly twisted to make sure she was okay—she looked fine, but was waving her arms frantically. Riku suddenly knew what she had seen with her magic—
Upon reaching the highest point, he heard Leon whistle, and Cloud drew his sword. Moments later, Riku skidded to a stop, as well—an army of Adherence members were marching toward the castle. Yuri, Tifa, Yuffie, Aerith, Kairi, and Sora all caught up with them, panting.
"An army?" Sora breathed in disbelief. "Are you serious?"
"Afraid so," Leon nodded. "We figured something was going on when we felt you guys return, Sora… it was much too soon, which meant you had seen little opposition…"
Riku watched Zexion slide down the roof to meet up with his allies, and scowled. He'd get him… later. He felt Yuri at his side, and found her hand. As he held it, he muttered through gritted teeth, "I'll get him. Don't you worry."
She laid her head on his shoulder. "I'm just glad you're okay."
"Looks like we're going to have to fight," Yuffie commented loudly. "What do you say, Leon?"
"Thank you for pointing out the obvious," he replied, agitated. "Yes, we're going to have to."
"Everybody ready?" Yuri questioned quietly. There were swift, stiff nods all around, and Roxas and Naminé had suddenly joined them from behind, holding hands.
"Do not let them past us and toward the castle," Naminé instructed as they all drew their weapons. She released Roxas's hand, and her daggers sparkled from nowhere into her hands. "If someone is injured, teleport back into the castle, and barricade yourself in with as much magic as you can think of. If for some reason they begin to cross us and take the castle, everybody grab as many others as you can and teleport somewhere, anywhere. We'll meet up later. Any questions?"
Axel raised his hand. "Uh, yeah… What are all of your names?"
The tense air was suddenly broken with chuckles. "I'm just sayin', I'm Axel, for any of you that didn't know. Akiko's apprentice and master magician," he put in amidst everyone's laughter at his impeccable timing.
They quickly went full circle, stating names of each member of the group, and helping Axel quickly memorize them. Naminé couldn't stand still. Her anxious agitation was eventually squelched by Roxas, who placed his arm around her and carefully spun her around, so that she was facing away from the approaching army, murmuring a couple of choice words in her ear as they went.
At last, Axel was prepared to call out to anybody in their group during the battle, and he announced that Akiko had just contacted him. "She'll be arriving momentarily, and she's bringing friends," he announced.
Naminé squeezed her eyes shut in deep thought. "They're all wearing black and white…"
"Right… and?" Riku said expectantly.
"Let's all wear crimson and white," she suggested, eyes popping open with the arrival of her brilliant idea. "That way, we can identify everyone—is that okay?"
There was a general murmur of ascent, and, as if reading each others' minds, Naminé and Yuri quickly joined hands, and waved both of their free arms in arcs. Everyone standing on the roof was suddenly wearing all red and white clothing. Naminé's destroyed clothes had been replaced by a long red umpire-waisted tank top, and a pair of white leggings. Yuri wore something almost opposite—white on top, red on bottom. With everyone similarly dressed and the army drawing closer, Yuri finally decided to speak.
"Everyone… I'm sorry for all of this. Zexion was a mistake, and… I love you all. If you're in trouble, please, don't stay—get yourself out." Her voice didn't waver a bit. "Let's go."
They slid down the slope of the roof, and before long, they had reached the ground. Stealthily, they climbed to the top of the massive stone wall surrounding the castle, each spreading out, ducking below the ledge. The Adherence would sure be in for a surprise when they came close enough for them to begin launching spells…
As they marched, Hana's thoughts were launching an all-out offensive on her rationale. She knew what the Queen's spell on the castle entailed, after passing through it. The real question was, did Korin know? There was no way she would have been able to pass through, had it been an ordinary spell… surely, Korin had to realize that…
Either way, now that they had enough members, their boss had ordered, at last, an attack on the castle. Too long, she had said, they had left it be, without even an attempt to break in, save Hana's little adventure. Now was the time to kill the Queen, and now was the time to slaughter her warriors.
A lump rose in Hana's throat as she pictured the slaughter of any of them… and the thought made her sick. But what could she do? She was stuck as an Adherence member. Like Korin said, if you weren't ghostly pale with either black or blonde hair, Hollow Bastion was about to become a terrible place to live. One movement of betrayal and her hair wouldn't be blonde anymore…
Akiko had appeared with six other witches from around the world, all already dressed in red—Roxas assumed Axel had passed the memo along to her. He searched for Naminé, who was ducked down about 30 feet from his left. As he fervently prayed for her safety—what sort of luck would it be for her to die now?—he suddenly felt her magic as she sent them all a message.
Fire.
Just like that, spells shot over the wall and into the mob of black-clad enemies. Shrieks of surprise and dismay were mingled with screams of those that may have been unfortunate enough to have perished already.
Quickly, fire.
Again, they all shot spells down into the crowd. More shrieks, mingled with orders being shouted by their superiors. Everyone knew the attack from above had become useless, as they'd all be ready with magical shields for the next onslaught, and instead decided to jump over the ledge and land in a line right in front of the wall, heading the Adherence off. Suddenly, Naminé's magic disappeared, and was replaced by Yuri's.
One… Two… Three.
Roxas grabbed the ledge and launched himself over it, watching Naminé fly gracefully to the ground from the corner of his eye. They landed in front of the shocked Adherence, weapons drawn, and ready to fight.
Sure enough, Korin was leading them all, with Zexion standing at her side. Roxas felt Riku's anger, though he was quite a bit further down the line from him. "You're actually going to try to fight us?" Korin shouted. Her army had halted. She sounded hysterical with laughter. "You might as well surrender now!"
Nobody spoke. Roxas sunk into a fighting stance, and saw all of his comrades do the same. "If that's the way you want it, then!" Korin screamed. "Attack!"
A spell came flying toward Roxas, which he easily blocked with his keyblade as he ran forward. He sent a couple of his own flying, and saw Naminé catch a spell with her daggers and throw it back. Akiko and Axel were already teaming up and casting some powerful magic, which was shattering shields everywhere, while the glow of Naminé and Yuri's red eyes was already visible to their opponents.
As the army drew closer, it became clear whom everyone was gunning to kill. Korin made immediately for a fight with Naminé, and Riku was engaged with Zexion. Hana was fighting Yuri, while Cloud dueled at least four at once. Aerith was locked up with Tomoko, Leon with numbers similar to Cloud, slashing anything within reach. Tifa and Yuffie stood back to back, surrounded by Adherence members, and Akiko's friends were all fiercely attacking.
Roxas took his keyblade to a blonde girl that was rushing toward him, knocking her easily to the ground, as he hurried to help Naminé with Korin.
Woot, battle! That nice R x N surprise was probably great for some of you... :D Either way, I hope you enjoyed it. Please answer my question!
Thanks for reading,
Lulala