By The Light of The Moon
It's dark here. Much darker than they ever pictured it in any of the games. Shadows pressed in from all around, reaching ... watching. The only source of light on the streets were the neon store signs and, of course, the pale heart shaped moon in the dark sky.
Tall buildings rose all around us, stretching up toward the sky. Although lights shone from the windows of several buildings, there was no signs of life. No one making their way around the city. No one loitering along building walls or down alley ways. Stranger still, nothing crossed our paths. No heartless... no nobodies...
"This is a ghost town." I stated, warily surveying the area we were passing through."We've been here a good ten minutes and nothing has attacked us. It troubles me..." I expressed, catching up to Riku.
"What? You want to be attacked?" Kaity proposed.
"She means that it feels like a trap." Riku explained for me.
"Oh," Kaity gasped, catching on. "Yeah, that would be bad."
Shaking my head, I fell a bit behind the others to cover the back. This whole situation just reeked of an ambush. They had to know that we would come after Sora. It would be foolish to think otherwise. It would also be foolish for us to not expect them to be setting us up. Which also means that I need to watch my back. They know that I would come after him so they might try to catch me as well. Going into things like this are much more difficult when you're at the top of the bad guys most wanted list.
The question was, if this is a trap... who would we run into?
I could only think of one.
Our pace quickened as we passed through each area. Not meeting any resistance helped us hastily move on. With every area we ran through, though, I became more and more anxious. The blood pounding away in my ears. I knew where he would confront us. It was the only place in this world with a decent space to brawl in.
Whipping around a bend, the three of us came up against the Twilight Tower. Not the tallest building in the city, but the brightest. Stretching over twenty stories above our heads, all of the windows shone through the darkness along with the many blank television screens place atop the structure. A series of steps led up to the front glass doors of the tower, stone railings running along them. Many battles had been fought here and as we slowed to a walk I thought about the battle that would be fought here tonight.
My eyes trailed up the building to the sky beyond. The heart moon was rising behind it, its light still concealed by the building. A jolt ran from my heart through my veins. "Oh!" I gasped, stopping to clutch a hand over my chest. A familiar warmth spread over my skin and burned my eyes. The others noticed that I had stopped and turned back.
"Sam..." Kaity said, halting before me. "Your eyes are gold again."
"Yeah," I gasped. "I know." God, it felt like I ran a marathon or something. I had hardly enough air in my lungs to breath. "Something's... wrong..."
"Sam?" Kaity said, her voice rising in alarm.
Suddenly from behind me I felt a wave of darkness hit me. I fell forward, my knees giving out. Riku ran forward, catching me before the ground could. I fumbled for balance. That was a ton of darkness. No one could posses that much and still be able to function.
"Lost something, have you?"
The three of us snapped our heads up to the base of the tower. There, standing at the top of the steps, was Divan. Our eyes met, mine gold, his a breath taking blue. A new strength coursed through my veins and I was able to stand, never breaking eye contact. I knew my face was a mask. I knew that he couldn't see the storm of emotions under my skin. But he smirked at me as if he did know.
"You rat! Where's Sora?" Kaity shouted, taking a step toward him.
"Sora, who?" He smirked darkly.
"That son of a-" Kaity snarled, marching toward him with murder in her eyes. Fear gripped my heart as I ran forward and gripped her arm, holding her back. She didn't try to break my hold, but I could feel the heat of her anger on her skin. My eyes trailed back to Divan, who had focused his attention to me now that I made my presence known. A smile slid across his lips that strung a cord of unease in me. My eyes turned to the darkness moving across the ground toward us.
"Ah, Sam," he cheerfully called, "So nice to see you again! Still fighting on the losing side, I see."
Ignore him, ignore him...I chanted in my thoughts. If he provokes me and I attack him... all Hell could break loose. Besides that, I don't trust myself to have enough control over the darkness that I felt strengthening me. This was very dangerous. I needed to get away from here. My eyes were fixed on the darkness now boldly working its way toward us.
I skittered backwards, still holding onto Kaity. My wide eyes looked to Riku who had summoned The Way to Dawn and was preparing to beat back the slithering shadows. I wasn't usually this cowardly. When overcome with fear, I usually become witty and rebellious. It's just that the darkness... it has a hold on me that truly frightens me. It could turn me into someone I'm not... Give me a strength that I'm afraid I might not be strong enough to deny...
Riku stepped up, keyblade in hand. "So the old coot sent you to greet us, did he?" He snorted. "Not much of a welcoming party."
"Oh, not at all. You see, that's where you are mistaken, Riku." Divan drawled. "I hardly came alone."
They came from the shadows, the buildings, and the sky. All of them lining up around the plaza, blocking any route of escape. Upon each of their chests were heartless emblems.
"Is that... Are they...?" Kaity breathed in astonishment. I couldn't speak. I let go of Kaity's arm and I was stumbling over my own feet looking at all of the familiar faces.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Divan shouted to the air. "I'd like to present to you... the Heartless Organization XIII!"
My knees gave out and slammed into the stone ground. Riku and Kaity backed up into each other, gathering nearer to me.
"We... are so screwed." I breathed, already defeated.
"What do we do?" Kaity hissed through her teeth. "We've got a four to one ratio here!"
Riku didn't say anything, but I could tell that he was trying to figure out what to do. His face was pale and I could see the white of his knuckles as he gripped his keyblade. There were just too many of them. We would die before we threw in a second move.
My eyes flew to Divan. My own panicked gold eyes met cold blue ones. He was watching us writhe under the threat of what was going to happen. And he was enjoying it. A new fire rushed through my veins, filling me with disgust and rage. This wasn't fair.
"No!" I cried out, jumping to my feet and storming toward Divan. I halted before the darkness. "We are not going to fight an unfair battle! If we go up against all of you, we wouldn't have a chance!"
The dark haired boy was silent as he stared blankly into my livid gaze. Then his eyes flickered to the circle of heartless. "Fine." He sighed a moment later, waving his hand toward one cluster of heartless.
I moved back to Kaity and Riku, watching our opponents step away from the shadows. The first was a tall, pale man with extremely angular features and long blonde hair. It was the heartless of Vexen, The Chilly Academic. The next to step out was a man covered in scars, had long, tied back, salt and pepper hair, and an eye patch. Xigbar, The Freeshooter. I narrowed my eyes at his approaching form. All through the game, I always thought he was a bastard. The final heartless to step forward was a tall and lanky man with wild red hair.
Axel.
The three of us glanced at each other. "I'll take Vexen." Riku offered, turning to the pale man.
"And I've got Axel." Kaity stated, summoning a katana. I grabbed her shoulder and spun her to face me. "Are you sure?" I asked, voice low. "This is Axel's heartless, Kaity..."
"Are you trying to say something?" She snapped angrily.
I held her gaze a moment longer before letting her go and stepping back. "Holler if you need back up." Spinning back to face her opponent, she took off in a spur of anger. I just hope it doesn't get her killed.
Taking a deep breath, I turned to face my own enemy. Xigbar was one of my least favorite villains in Kingdom Hearts II. It figures that I'm stuck having to fight him.
Smirking like the bastard he was, he whipped out his Arrowguns and disappeared into the space around him.
Crap, I forgot about that.
Activating my bow, I crouched and spun about, searching for the scarred man. The sounds of Riku and Kaity's battles reached my ears. At least they were fighting something and not looking for an invisible enemy.
A flash of red caught my eye and I dove forward just as a stream of red arrow bullets hit the pavement behind me.
"Damn it!" I cried, propelling myself further still as another round was fired at me. My eyes searched for somewhere to use as cover, but then I remembered that this area didn't have any such spot. God, this all just sucks.
Turning around, I held my bow like a bat and as the next bullet came toward me, I swung at it. The red streak ricocheted off, back toward the source. A second later, a surprised Xigbar fell from a window ledge with one of his own arrows in his right arm. I aimed at him as he picked himself up and let loose a flurry of light arrows. I stared wide eyed as he deflected every one of them.
With only one good arm left, Xigbar raised his left arrowgun and fired. I blocked most of them and dodged the others. As I hit away another with my bow, I took a step back and hit a wall. No more than a second later, a piercing pain erupted in my left shoulder and then another in my right side, just below my ribcage. I screamed at the hot iron pain, dropping my bow to clutch at my side.
Raising my head, I looked up just in time to see the arrow gun pointed in my face. Terror seized me, and my survival instincts had my legs throwing me down to the ground. I missed the shots, but another moment later and the same gun was back in my face.
"Say Goodbye, little girl." The heartless smirked above me.
I don't know what happened, but I suddenly didn't have control over my body.
Xigbar was standing above me, ready to shoot me down, and then I was round housing him to the ground and shoving him into the wall behind me.
"Goodbye."
Okay, that so wasn't my voice.
The next thing I knew, electricity was pouring through me and shooting out of my hands. The waves washed over Xigbars body and his screams filled the air around us. When the cries stopped, my hands let him go and his body fell to the ground, crispy-fried.
I stumbled backwards, hands raised in shock. I was shaking. All over.
I just killed someone. with my own hands. My breaths started to come short as Xigbars form began to fade into darkness.
What just happened? What did I do? I knew that I would have to defeat him in order to move on and save Sora, but I didn't think that that was how it was going to happen! I mean, oh my God! I just electrified him to death!
I fell to my knees in shock, staring at my hands. How did I do that?
But it wasn't you, a small voice thought. That voice that came from me... that wasn't my voice.
Somewhere beyond me, a shrill cry rang. I snapped my head around to see Kaity flying through the air into the side of a building. Her body fell down the brick, rolling away and stopping completely motionless. Lea stood away from her, chakrams raised before him. The fiery haired man stepped up to Kaity, raising his weapons, preparing to strike his final blow.
"No!" I cried, launching myself toward them, snatching up my bow on the way.
I watched in horror as Lea brought down his weapons. Throwing all my strength into my legs, I propelled myself threw the air in a great leap. With the end of the chakrams just inches from Kaity, I slid beneath them, blocking the move with my bow. The strength of the strike hit the long wood of my bow. For a moment, Lea and I stayed like that, trying to overcome the other with strength alone.
Then there was a crack... and a bright light flashed before us.
Panicked, I kicked Lea's feet from beneath him and rolled to the side. Kneeling upon the ground, I watched in horror as my bow shattered in my hands. The pieces fell to the ground and disappeared into light.
"What..." I breathed, pushing myself to my feet. "How..."
"Looks like this will be easier than I thought."
I snapped my eyes up to meet Lea's, but was instead confronted by the Xaldin and Luxord look-a-like heartless. My legs stumbled back in surprise. Glancing over at Riku, I saw him fighting off two additional opponents as well. Whatever happened to fighting a fair fight?
"I wouldn't be so quick to judge." I bit out.
Bringing my arms up to block my face, I took a fighters stance. My bow was gone, but I still had my electric ability. I wasn't completely powerless. However, before I could summon the crackling waves, something cold and wet fell upon my hand.
Oh, no.
Looking skyward, I saw the dark clouds beyond the tall buildings. Rain began to fall softly and picked up momentum with every passing second. A chill crept up my spine. My eyes fell to the three heartless before me, ready to bring me down. I did the math.
Enemies + electricity ability + water = Really bad.
Crap.
Weaponless and now powerless, I stood before my enemy. I'm sure the fear was written across my face. I couldn't call Riku for help, he was being beaten down as it was. But how am I supposed to fight like this? Kaity was still down for the count, lying just behind me. I retained my stance, paralyzed as I waited for something to happen.
The three heartless watching me realized that I was powerless, the corners of their mouths tipping up. "Well, well, well..." The Luxord look-a-like smirked.
"Give up girl," the Xaldin look-a-like advised. "You've lost."
God, I really don't like them.
"Haven't you all figured out by now that we don't give up?" I scoffed.
And then I attacked.
The encounter didn't last long. I knew it was a lost cause from the start with my inability to properly fight back, but I tried. I kicked, I punched... But in the end there were three of them and only one of me. Which left me beaten into a brick building and thrown down to the stone ground.
Rain hit the stone, splashing into my face. Even in the darkness around me, by the light of the neon signs I could see a dark pool swelling from where I lay. Blood from the cuts, scrapes, and deep wounds that covered my battered body. The coolness of the rain actually felt nice, numbing the pain just a bit. Pushing myself onto my hands and knees, I coughed up the blood pooling in my mouth. Before I could move further, rough leather gloved hands grabbed me from both sides and hoisted me up by my upper arms.
Beaten and bruised, I didn't make a move of protest as they dragged me God knows where. From beneath the wet strands of hair in my face, I could see Riku still battling it out. But his moves were slower and were becoming careless. He was dealing out about half as many hits as he was taking. I still didn't see Kaity, but I heard high pitch cries as another battle started somewhere behind me. The two of them were so wrapped up in their trials, I bet they haven't even noticed that I've gone down. Which left me to think of what to do on my own...
We were going up some steps into a lighter area. My heart gave a start as the Darkness leapt at my boots. My eyes widened and I tried to pull away from the iron grips pulling me into it. My efforts must have been pathetic because a low chuckle was all I got from whoever was holding on to me from my left.
The two gorillas released me and I hastily caught myself before my face met the concrete. I landed on my hands and knees, the movement scraping my already bruised knees and palms. Wincing, I pushed my weight back and brought my hands up to wrap around my middle. My clothes hung heavy on my shoulders and my hair drooped around my face in wet strands. It was appalling, the way I was right now.
A pair of leather boots stepped into my line of vision. I balled my hands into fists and narrowed my eyes.
Where the boots stood, a leather clad knee came down to rest on the slick cement ground. A hand dangled from the other knee, bent, but still off the ground. His other hand snaked forward and gently gripped my lowered chin and forced my eyes to rise and meet his.
Divan's face held no expression as he took in my appearance. The pale, clamminess of my skin, the blood I was sure stained parts of my hairline and the corners of my mouth, the cold loathing in my gold eyes...
And yet no other emotion came over him. But his eyes... I was woozy from blood loss, but I swear there was something there... in those blue eyes...
Was it... anguish?
No, I thought half-hearted. How could he feel such a thing?
He looked like a fallen angel. Seeing him now made me think back to the night when he broke into my and Kaity's hotel room. The rain didn't make him look like a drowning cat, like I'm sure it did to me. It made him look mysterious, sensual ... and deadly.
"Now do you see?" He whispered as his other hand pushed away the hair in my face. "Fighting is hopeless."
"There is hope." I muttered. "We're trying to save him."
Divan took that in and looked at me for a moment in silence. Suddenly he moved his face forward, motioning like he was going to kiss me. My heart pounded in a panic, but at the last second he moved swiftly to put his lips next to my left ear.
"What if there's nothing to save?"
Gritting my teeth, I turned my head slightly toward him. "Go...to Hell." I hissed in his ear before spitting at the side of his face.
Divan jerked away, finally letting go of me. I watched him wipe the side of his face and I saw the anger rise. However, I did not expect the stinging slap to my face that sent me completely to the ground. I didn't dare try to move, least he strikes me again. I admit, spitting at him was a pretty stupid move, but I felt better.
I heard him stand and turn to whoever was still behind me. "Dylan, take her to Master Xehanort." He ordered, irritated. "The rest of you... finish them off."
What?!
My eyes flew open at that and I was twisting on the ground, trying to get up. Kaity and Riku would never stand a chance against so many. Cries of pain were already filling the area. I was able to push myself to my elbows, but every time I tried to push myself up, I collapsed back to the ground. "No..." I groaned, turning to watch them fight to the death. Strong arms slipped around me and I wasn't on the ground anymore, but draped over the right shoulder of the Xaldin look-a-like heartless. "No!"
I wish I could've fought back, but too much blood had left my body. Too much energy was gone from me. I had to do something. If I don't, Kaity and Riku will die.
Throwing all common sense to the wind, I placed my palms flat against the great ape's back and closed my eyes. Pulling from my middle, I forced the wild waves of static over my skin and into the heartless. I screamed at the pain washing over my already dying senses. I didn't even notice when Xaldin dropped me to the ground.
Once the waves of electricity died away, I opened my eyes to stare at the sky. The dark clouds were beginning to part above the twilight skyscraper. From beyond the darkness, a bright light shone down. It was the heart shaped moon.
My eyes fixated on the shining celestial object. A dimness began to creep into my line of sight... slowly taking me away from the waking world. I'd lost too much blood and I was going to faint from it. A numbness began to spread across my aching muscles and the stinging from the darkness in my eyes began to ebb away as well. But the moon... the light around it seemed to be getting brighter... how odd...
"What's going on?" Divan shouted from beyond me. His voice sounded far away. Too far.
I don't know if it was my sense of hearing going with my consciousness, but the shouts and cries of fighting began to die away. Instead cries of surprise filled the area as a massive wave of energy burst from above and raced to the ground. When the energy hit me, I felt a rush of warmth in chest where my heart was. The remaining energy around the moon turned a brilliant white and began to gather in the center of the moon.
Then...everything changed...
The energy gave off a brilliant flash and then it just shot out a beam of light toward us.
Toward me.
Before it could strike me, the light halted about six feet above me. Like it had hit a barrier. In the same second, the beam exploded in a flash and the energy began to spread all above me. It looked kind of like a sauce being poured over something shaped like a dome. It cascaded down around me in a half sphere, trapping me where I was. The bright white of the light dome turned transparent. All that was left where dim glitters of light floating in the air all around me.
Warmth spread all over my body. Soaking through my skin and into my muscles and bones. There was no more pain. I didn't feel drained anymore. In its place was an energy I'd never felt before...
Wary, I stood inside the dome with my eyes trained to the moon. What was happening?
From outside, various sounds of exclamation echoed. I turned just in time to see a wave of pure Darkness crash into the dome of light. The pitch blackness spread all over the bubble before settling with surrounding the bottom edge of the dome.
My anxious eyes flitted out past the dome to the figures beyond. Closest to me was Divan, who was starring at everything in a furious wonder. Next I found Kaity's wide, fear bright eyes. She looked like hell with all of the bruises and wounds from fighting. Tiny orbs of light began to fall from the sky, like the rain that had stopped moments ago. I raised my hand to the dome wall, wishing I could be with her.
The moment I touched the light, a blazing heat flooded my heart. I snapped my gaze to the moon. More light was gathering in front of it. No more than a second later, another, thinner, beam shot down toward me. But this one didn't hit the invisible barrier around me.
My breath escaped my lungs as the thin light struck me in the chest. The fire in my heart inflamed. I crashed to my knees, my hands clutching my heart. My face was blank with shock as the liquid fire engulfed my heart and flooded to my eyes, washing over my skin.
Then my world changed... forever.