Chapter 22 The Dark Messenger: Can Garland Destroy Vanitas's Remnant

Disclaimer: Again don't own shit

Alexandria

Steiner drew his sword and pointed it at Kuja "Princess you must leave now" he said keeping his eyes on Kuja, "Calm down Rusty" Zidane said annoyed before turning back to Kuja who had returned to his game of Sudoku.

"What does he mean by the end is coming?" said Zidane, Kuja looked at him stupidly "What do you think? They know how to activate the Devils Machine now; it is too late for you. You may as well just give up, it's the easier way trust me" said Kuja.

Zidane cursed in frustration "God dammit" then he turned to Kuja "All right Kuja enough with the bullshit, where is Garland? Maybe you've given up but I've not and I need to speak to Garland to help my friend" he said.

Kuja sighed but gave up "It's your own funeral, he's in The Iifa Tree" he said, Zidane frowned and nodded "I thought as much" he muttered before turning to the rest "All right guys pack your bags because tomorrow we're heading to the Lifa Tree" he said grinning, "See yah" he quickly said to Kuja and left the cell "Zidane" said Kuja standing up and looking through the bars, the others left and Zidane was left along with his brother, "…Good luck, you'll need it" he said.

"What's the Iifa Tree?" Riku asked Garnet as they walked out of the prison and back into the castle gardens, "It's kind of hard to explain but it's basically a giant tree that's used to filter souls from another planet onto this one" said Zidane, Riku looked confused "A soul filter?" he said. "Trust me it's way too complicated to have you losing your lunch over it, all that matter is it's where Garland is and hopefully we can find out how to help Sora" said Zidane.

"But there's something I don't understand" said Garnet to Zidane as they went up to the throne room, "Huh? What's that?" said Zidane, he had his arms behind his back in a pose that reminded Riku of Sora, "Well wasn't the Iifa Tree destroyed when we defeated Kuja?" she said puzzled. Zidane stopped and pondered "Well yes and no, while it physically stopped working due to Terra's destruction and it did collapse in on itself, I'm still pretty confident that it'll still lead down to the centre of the planet" said Zidane.

They reached the throne room, it looked like one of those old Victorian rooms Riku had seen in book but much more impressive than he had imagined "This is your home?" he said looking around impressed, Xion was marvelling at all the dresses and jewels Garnet had in her room. "Yes, horrible isn't it? I much prefer my little cabin in inside the Prima Vista" she said looking around the room with a sad look on her face.

Riku chuckled "You are the strangest princess I've ever met" he said amused, "Queen actually" she said, and then she grabbed Zidane's hand "Oh! Zidane lets go see everyone, I bet you've missed your fellow Tantalus members!" she said excited, Zidane scratched the back of his head "Aye alright, you guys coming?" he said to Riku and Xion. "Yeah why not" said Riku, Xion wrapped her arms around his "Let's go sightseeing Riku!" she squealed.

"The end of the world might happen tomorrow, may as well have some fun while it lasts" joked Zidane, Garnet shook her head and dragged him away "See you guys at Ruby's place, you remember where it is right?" she said as the left the throne room and back to the main entrance.

"Yeah, kinda" said Riku, in all honesty he wasn't really sure where it was but he would ask someone if they got lost, "Awsome, catch you there in a couple hours?" said Zidane. "Yeah, see you there" said Riku grinning before he and Xion ran off, hand in hand. "They make a sweet couple" said Garnet, Zidane noticed they were still holding hands "Yeah they do" he muttered, she then pulled him into the streets.

ROS

DW Academy

Maximus's Room

"You cannot be serious" shouted Terra as she watched Maximus pack his things into a small rucksack, his room was emptied, all the posters had been torn down and anything he didn't need he had sold to earn some extra munny. "Well I'am being serious Terra, so just deal with it" he said as he finished packing and threw his back pack on. "You can't leave us like this!" she said as he left his room.

"Why not? I have to find her and I don't care how long it takes or where I have to go, she's alive Terra. I just know she is" he said, Terra clenched her fists "Its cause you love her more isn't it!" she shouted. "Ahh don't be so fucking stupid!" he shouted back at her appalled at the idea. "Well then why?" as she grabbed his arm, he snatched his arm away from her violently.

"Cause it my fucking fault she's gone!" he shouted, she lost her cool and stared tearing up "It's not your fault, it's mine. I'm the one who encouraged her!" she said in frustration. "Let me go with you" she said and grabbed his hand and it looked like she wouldn't take no for an answer.

He sighed and looked at her seriously "It'll be dangerous" he said, she laughed "I don't care Max! I want to be with you, I want to help you. I'm coming with you and that's final" she said. She hugged him tightly "We promised each other we'd never be apart" she whimpered as he removed his backpack and hugged her back, burying his face in her hair.

"What I said before about you loving Aht more than me, that not true is it?" she said, he looked down at her, she looked ashamed and sad. "Aht's my partner, my best friend, I love her but not like that, besides Terra she fifteen" he said amused, she groaned and buried her face into his chest "How embarrassing" he teased as he played with a strand of her hair.

She punched him lightly in the chest as he laughed, then he pulled something out from his pocket and slipped a ring onto her finger, she looked down at it in shock "Max is this a…." she said, "Does that prove that I love you more than anything else, Terra Branford I love more than anything in the universe, will you marry me?" he said gently.

She grabbed him and kissed him "Oh Max, I love you so much! Yes! I will marry you" she squealed and she kissed him, gently at first but it quickly escalated to a full out make out session until they were suddenly interrupted.

"Damn, Max and Terra, you guys sure get to second base quickly" came a voice behind them causing them to both jump in surprise "Damn it Racoon!" said Maximus as Terra sorted out her blouse. In front of them was a three foot tall racoon with two pistols holstered behind him, he was wearing a blue and white space suit that covered his entire body except for his head and tail.

The racoon grinned cheekily "Rocket Racoon of the Guardians of the Galaxy at your service" he said bowing sarcastically as Maximus picked him up and put him in a head lock "Did you miss me you little ball of fluff?" he said laughing as Rocket tried to break free

"Get off of me or I'll shoot you in the face" he said half serious, Maximus laughed and put him down only for him to get picked up by Terra who started squeezing him against her chest.

"Ohhhhhhh Max he's so cute!" she squealed as she hugged the poor animal to death "Terra let go of him" Maximus said as Rocket waved him hands "I'm not complaining" he said as his face was pushed against her breasts. She eventually let him go and he had to massage him neck "Damn Max that girl can hug tight" he said as he sorted out his ruffled ears.

"Sorry, she gets like that whenever she see's something small, cute and fluffy" said Maximus as Terra pulled out a small fuzzy moogle charm and started cooing over it like a little child. "Anyway, I'm guessing you and the others got my message?" said Maximus to Rocket, "Yeah and as a part time member of the Guardians we are more than happy to assist you in your little "recovery"" he said.

Terra perked up "Their helping us?" she said as she calmed down and reverted back to her normal self "We're old friends Max and I and the rest of the Guardians, he helped us on a rather difficult kafuffle on Planet Zebes a few years ago and since then he and Aht had become part time members of the Guardians of the Galaxy" said Rocket, at the mention of Aht's name Maximus's face turned sad.

"Sorry" said Rocket quickly, Maximus shook his head "It's fine, that's the whole point of this anyway. To find her" he said, Terra squeezed his shoulders "I'll go get ready" she said quickly and ran off to her room. "She's coming too?" said Rocket, Maximus sighed and nodded "Yeah, sorry I'll make sure she behaves" he said as the racoon chuckled "As long as she doesn't start hugging me every five seconds I'm cool with it, my wife would kill me"

ROS

Alexandria

The town of Alexandria was certainly one of the most beautiful places Riku had visited, after fighting off demons and aliens and giant monsters it was nice to just visit a calm nice city where people did their ordinary things and not have to worry about imminent danger. It gave him and Xion the chance to just walk around and explore.

They had only been to the city once and that was at night but know they could see just how amazing it was. They went into every shop and just marvelled at all the different things they were selling, everything looked so exotic. They tried all kinds of food and drink and Xion bought many pieces of jewellery and clothes for her and Kairi. Riku explored the weapons shop with swords of all shapes and sizes, they all looked impressive and the armour shop was just as impressive.

"This place is so cool" said Xion as they walked around the main square, they're were children playing jump rope, people selling things out on the street and street performers singing tunes that Xion and Riku didn't recognise. There was a stand in the centre that had "Theatre Tickets on sale now! How I Want to be Your Canary by the Tantalus Troupe" plastered on it.

"Wait Tantalus, isn't that what Garnet said Zidane was part of?" said Xion as she read the banner, "Didn't think Zidane was the acting type" said Riku chuckling at the thought of Zidane performing on stage. "I wonder if he'll be in it this year" she said as Riku approached the banner, before he did a little kid ran up to the stand but tripped and landed at his feet.

"Wow, you ok little buddy?" said Riku as he helped the young boy to his feet, he was surprised to see his face was totally black with the exception of two yellow eyes, it reminded him of Shadows. "Sorry mister" the boy said quickly and peered into the stand, "What can I help you with son?" said the cashier, the boy looked nervous and handed over what looked like a ticket to the man.

The man inspected the ticket "Hang on there's something odd about this ticket, why it's another fake! You see so many nowadays" he said, the boy lowered his head in disappointment "No" he wailed as the man gave him a look of pity "Sorry son but here's some cards to make you feel better" he said and handed over what looked like trading card to the little wizard who seemed to perk up, he thanked the man and ran off down the street.

"Can I help you?" the man said to Riku who had been watching all of those events unfold "How much do ticket cost?" he asked, the man shook his head "Sorry son, they sold out earlier this morning" he said, Riku sighed in defeat and left the stand. "Out of tickets" he said to Xion, she looked disappointed but shrugged "Oh well, hey lets go find Zidane" she suggested.

The asked a local where the Motorhouse was and arrived there a few minutes later, almost as soon as they entered they heard Zidane call their names and they walked over, Riku had to stop for a second to look over what he saw.

Sitting at the table with Zidane where several other people and they were the strangest group he had ever seen, there was a young girl with blue hair and two small wings on her back as well as a horn on her forehead, a big tall man with red dreadlocks that covered the top half of his face, he had huge fists and his skin was slightly blue.

There was a humanoid that looked like a rat but Riku could tell she was female and finally there was a large fat white creature with a big long red tongue hanging from its wide open mouth.

"These are my friends Riku and Xion everyone, say hello, that's includes you Amarant" said Zidane, Riku could tell he'd had a few drinks because his face was red. The man with the red dreadlocks nodded to him "You can call me Amarant" he said in a gruff voice. "Freya Crescent, it's a pleasure to meet you" said the rat woman.

"I Quina, you from other world yes? Any tasty yummies there?" said the white thing "Errrr no" said Riku confused, finally the girl with blue hair stood up and winked at him flirty "Hi handsome, I'm Eiko its really nice to meet you" she said, Riku chuckled nervously as Xion sent her a death glare.

"Eiko, Riku and Xion are in a relationship" said Garnet sternly, Eiko groaned in disappointment and sat back down with a pout "How come no man is ever interested in me?", "Your annoying, obnoxious, have a lousy sense of humour and fat ankles" said Amarant calmly, Eiko grabbed one of her books that where sitting next to her and slammed it as hard as she could on his head, he didn't even flinch "That's didn't hurt" he said calmly.

The group laughed as Eiko huffed with a pout and Riku and Xion sat down with everyone else, "So did you enjoy the sights and sounds of Alexandria?" said Zidane with a grin.

"Yeah it's very nice, its defiantly the biggest town I've ever been in" said Riku impressed to Garnet who smiled, Zidane laughed "It's nothing compared to Lindblum"

The rest of the day consisted of Zidane and the others telling Riku of their own adventures, how Garnets mother Queen Brahne had declared war on various different regions with her army of black mages and later eidolons that she extracted from Garnet.

Zidane told him how Kuja had revealed himself to be the mastermind behind everything, having manipulated Brahne and having his own schemes in taking control of the most powerful eidolon Bahamut which he used to kill Brahne.

They ended up travelling to their planets, Gaia, twin planet Terra where they met Garland who it was revealed was the creator of Zidane and Kuja and that they were brothers, Kuja killed Garland after Garland revealed to him that Kuja had a limited lifespan and he would die soon, Kuja then used Trance to destroy Terra and then planned to destroy the entire world by destroying the worlds crystal, they were able to stop Kuja and he was able to save them after some help from Zidane, Maximus and Aht had also been present during this which is where he and Zidane first met and Garnet realised she could turn into a weapon, Terra had been with them too.

"And ever since then, me and Zidane have been with the Academy" said Garnet finishing off the story of their world, by this point it had become late and everyone was getting ready to leave, Zidane stood up and stretched his arms "Get plenty of rest Riku, tomorrow could get ugly" he said, Garnet stood up with him "Pleasant dreams" she said kindly before the two left the inn, Riku and Xion were the only ones left in the tavern and Xion was nearly falling asleep.

Riku scooped her up in his arms and carried her up to a room he had booked while in the inn, he rested her gently down on the bed, "Riku" she said gently as he climbed into bed with her and took her in his arms "Yeah?" he whispered, she curled up closer to him.

"I'm worried about Sora" she said, he sighed and kissed her on the head gently "I know, I'am too but Kairi's looking after him and I doubt she'll let anything happen to him" he said, she nodded and then went to sleep, he looked out the window to the moon which shined in the night, he had the feeling things were about to go from bad to worst.

ROS

The Iifa Tree was a on another continent and the group used the Hilda Grade III airship to travel there, Riku had to admit it wasn't his favourite way to travel but he preferred it to Instant Transmission as he had almost puked when Sora had used it to transport them to the Cell Games. As they got closer Riku saw why it was called the Iifa Tree, in the centre of a huge crater was many roots which seemed to dive right into the surface of the very planet.

"We'll have to travel the rest of the way on foot" said Zidane as they landed, Riku decided not to complain as he wasn't really sure where he was or what he was supposed to do "Just follow me and don't touch anything, the last thing we want are the unhappy spirits of the dead wailing on us" joked Zidane as they left the airship and set off on a path toward the tree.

They ran as fast as they could towards the entrance to the tree, when they approached the end they found themselves on the edge of a huge crater, below were many roots that had formed into a path for them, they was an ominous green glow coming from the core that Riku found very unsettling.

"Man this place is still creepy" said Zidane holding the Orechalcon in his hand as he looked around, Riku also held his Way to the Dawn in alert in case they were ambushed. The tree however seemed to be devoid of life, as they moved further through they began to notice large stone structures that began to appear, on each stone was a drawing of different creatures and people, some of which they recognised.

"Ridley?" said Riku as he recognised the dragon in one of the stones, "Cell, Freiza, Slenderman, hell even Kuja's here. What's going on?" said Zidane as he looked at more stones, then he turned round and shouted "Garland, I know you're here! Show yourself!" his shouts echoing through the tree, darkness began to materialise in front of them and out step an old looking man encased in black armour.

"Zidane, I have been expecting you" he said as Riku raised his blade towards him, he looked to Riku with his blank white eyes and Riku shuddered "The boy of darkness, Riku, how nice to see you again" he said in his deadpan emotionless voice, "Cut the crap Garland, I don't know how your still alive after all this time but honestly I really don't care, you're going to help us and we're not leaving until we do"

"He was given a second chance at life through the master of all things, his power exceeds that of even the gods" said a second voice and out appeared a man with long black hair dressed in a gold and green with long curved horns coming from his helmet "Loki?" said Zidane as he pointed his blade towards him "I thought Thor took you back to Asgard for trial?" he said as Loki grinned.

"And that would have been my fate had I not ran into this delightful group that freed me in return for my services and now, with my help, we stand on the brink of total universal domination" he said, Garland silenced him with a wave of his hand.

"I know why you are here Riku, your friend Sora. The darkness inside him has grown far beyond his control and now you want me to help you destroy it forever, such is not an easy task" he said as Riku tightened his grip on the Way to the Dawn, "You're the one who told us that Vanitas couldn't take control of Sora anymore, you lied to us Garland, I don't like being lied too" he said darkly as Loki armed his sceptre.

"It was not by my hand that the darkness inside the child resurfaced, all darkness inside us stays hidden, it can never be forgotten about, you of all people should now this. However I was not aware of just how powerful this being is and I obviously greatly underestimated his power and for that I'am sorry" he said bowing his head, "I'am a man of my word Riku, I will help your friend" he said, Riku eyed him suspiciously "Give me one good reason we should trust you Garland? After all you're hanging out with antler boy and his gang of goons" said Zidane, Loki snarled at him and aimed his sceptre at him "Watch your tongue around me you dull creature, I'am a god and you should do well to remember it"

Zidane glared at him and sheathed his knife back into its holster and started shouting at him "Dull creature? Is that what you think I'am? Let me tell you something Loki of Asgard I've seen entire planets burn to nothing, I have fought against creatures more powerful than anything in the universe, I saved an entire world from being destroyed and I can do this!" and with that he screamed and his body glowed and he entered Trance, the room began to shake, Loki stood back in fear as Zidane unleashed wave after wave of aura at him "I may not be as strong as Maximus but I'am by no means weak and I have been through just as much as he has and more, you would do well to respect me, you snivelling coward!"

Loki held up his hands to try and calm Zidane down "I meant no disrespect" he said in panic as Garland produced and small capsule from his hand, it floated over to Riku who caught it and eyed it suspiciously "And this is?" he said as he examined it. "Take that to Sora and it will know what to do" said Garland, "Really? No bullshit?" said Riku, Garland nodded.

Loki gave him a poisonous look "Spare me your glares Loki, I speak the truth" said Garland, "He will be most upset for your insolence Garland, pray your death is a quick one" said Loki before teleporting away. "I died a long time ago, now this old man is all that's left" said Garland.

Riku looked to Zidane and saw that his face changed for a brief moment, almost a look of sadness "Garland" said Zidane in confusion as Garland started walking to the edge of the room and looked down into the endless abyss "I'am a shell and now that my duty has been paid it is time for me to go, properly this time" he said, he then turned to Zidane and his red chest glowed and shot out a beam which hit Zidane, it didn't hurt him and he became elapsed in its energy.

"Garland, what is this?" said Zidane in amazement as he examined his glowing red hands "The power of the Genomes, use it wisely" said Garland, Riku could almost swear he saw a tear come out of the old man's eye before he fell back into the never ending abyss. "Garland" shouted Zidane as he ran to the edge but he knew it was too late, "That's the second time I've had to see him die because of me" he said grimly.

Riku grabbed his shoulder "Come on, we need to get this to Sora" he said as he started away from the shrine, "Zidane are you alright?" said Garnet as she turned back into her human form and took his hand "No problem my princess, now let's go save Sora" he shouted enthusiastically and he ran after Riku, she shook her head but smiled to herself and ran after him.

A/N The finale is approaching us, Maximus and Terra travel with the Guardians of the Galaxy to find Aht while Riku and Zidane must heal Sora but Sora's mind is a deteriorating mess and Kairi may be the only hope he has. The Alliance are about to awaken the Devils Machine and unleash all kinds of terror into the universe, can our heroes stop them? Find out in Chapter 23 The Guardians of the Galaxy: Asura's Wrath?