Here's chapter sixty - seven. Thank you caitlinkeitorin for reviewing last chapter!

Chapter Sixty - Seven: Beginning of the End

Tollun's eyes glittered as he read through the journal that was brought to him. "I see…" he commented, silver eyes thoughtful. "So to create the X - blade, a heart of pure darkness and a heart of pure light must clash."

"That seems to be the gist of it, sir," the Light Army Keyblader who'd brought the journal reported.

The man nodded, snapping the book shut. "Excellent work."

The man allowed himself a small smile at the praise, but it fell away soon after. "Sir, Master Trevor was captured at the battle."

Tollun was unconcerned by this matter. "That's of no importance," he responded, waving his hand as if to brush it off.

"But…sir-"

"He sacrificed himself for a noble cause," Tollun interrupted impatiently. "We must make sure it wasn't a waste."

The Keyblader hesitated, then nodded. "What would you have us do, sir?"

Tollun's silver eyes narrowed. "Who do you think would have a heart of pure darkness?"

The Keyblader lifted his eyes slowly. "The Dark Army?"

"Yes," Tollun agreed, the beginnings of a smile pulling on his lips. This was it; his chance for greater glory than he'd ever imagined. He'd destroy the Dark Army, and become the greatest hero there ever was. "Organize the others; in two days time, we shall attack them."

"Sir!"

Neither of them knew about the spy lurking in the shadows.

"A heart of pure darkness and of pure light…" Viril murmured thoughtfully.

"That's what the Light Army was saying, sir," the Dark Army spy replied, still hunched over in a bow.

Viril drummed his fingers against his throne, red eyes flickering with suppressed anger behind his long bangs. I will destroy the Light Army. He remembered once - seemingly so long ago now - that he'd been one of their ranks. Then he'd been wrongly accused of a crime he didn't commit, and was stripped of his armor. The Dark Army had been kind enough to take him in after they'd found him; now, he wanted revenge on the bastards who'd betrayed him. And he would get it. "What did they say they'd do?"

"They'll attack in two days, sir."

"Then mobilize our forces," Viril ordered. "We will meet them in two days' time."

The man nodded and stood to leave, then hesitated. "Master Viril? Do you know where Xuren is?"

The leader of the Dark Army didn't; however, he didn't have time to think about it. "It doesn't matter," he growled, swiping out a hand. "Just make sure that everything is ready in time."

"Damn it, you got us lost!"

"I got us lost? How did I get us lost?" "You're the one who was giving directions!"

"I'd know where we were going if we weren't flying!"

Gillick's eye twitched behind his helmet. The two of them had flown through the night and now, as the sun was beginning to rise, both were tired, irritable, and lost. "You can still see-"

"Hey, wait!"

The girl jerked in his arms, causing him to pull up abruptly and tighten his grip around her. "Do you want to fall?" he asked irritably.

Mala ignored his comment, pointing and saying, "I think that's it!"

Gillick followed the direction her finger was pointing in to the sight of what looked like a camp. He snorted, and without further preamble flew down towards it.

He heard alarmed cries long before he'd even landed. In hindsight, he realized it hadn't been his smartest idea to come back to the Silver Fang still wearing the armor of the Knight. From the look on Mala's face, she was having similar regrets. "Wait!" she called out as Gillick landed. Struggling out of his arms, she called out, "It's alright! He isn't going to hurt you…this time." She glanced back at him with a sheepish expression; they both knew how unbelievable those words sounded.

"Mala!"

Both heads whipped around to see Riun hurrying their way. At the sight of Gillick, however, he slowed, looking cautious. "Relax," Gillick said, rolling his eyes despite knowing no one could see the gesture. "I can control this now." Hopefully. He could still feel the Knight's power, though the temptation to use it had dwindled since the end of the battle in Xeiruwe.

Riun's blue eyes lit up. "I knew you could do it!"

"Well, now isn't this a surprise." He turned his helmeted head towards the dry voice. Allia was standing a few paces off, one hand on her hip and a wry smile stretched across her face. "Honestly, I didn't think you'd manage it. But it's a good thing," she said, cutting his protest short, "considering the fact that the Light Army's been causing a little bit of trouble."

"That's an understatement," another Silver Fang warrior interjected. He glanced warily at Gillick, then slowly continued, "They killed Silver."

Mala and Gillick both stiffened at the revelation. "What?" they exclaimed in unison, looking at the man in shock.

The Silver Fang warrior nodded. Allia snorted. "Hmph. You make it sound terrible."

The man glared at her. "It is terrible."

"Not completely," Allia responded. She motioned for the others to follow. "Come on; there's something I need to show you." Wordlessly, the trio followed behind her.

The assassin led the way into the tent. Gillick stiffened the moment he entered. The boy who knelt across from him, hands tied behind his back, looked at him with blue eyes stretched wide. "Wh-what's that thing doing here?" he exclaimed in shocked fear.

"Trevor?" Mala's voice exclaimed behind Gillick. She pushed quickly past him, looking at the light Keyblader in surprise.

Trevor's blue eyes flashed to her. For a moment, they held an odd expression. "Mala…" Then his gaze suddenly hardened, and he struggled against his bonds. "Let me go! We have to fight that thing before it kills us!"

Gillick slowly clenched his fists. "Shut up, Trevor."

His struggling ceased in an instant. He slowly lifted his head to look at the form of the Knight, eyes wider than what the older boy had thought was humanly possible. "…Gillick?" He snorted, and answered by allowing the armor of the Knight to return to its holder. The runes on his arm dimmed as the power of the Knight receded. Trevor was still looking at him in shock. "My brother's…the Knight?"

Gillick couldn't help remembering his battle against his sibling back at the Dark Army prison. Eyes narrowing, he responded coldly. "Brother? I have no brother."

"Gillick!" Mala protested, and Riun's innocent eyes stretched wide at the remark.

Trevor dampened considerably. "…I see," he said slowly. His head lowered, though his eyes continued to focus upward. "I'm not interested in being related to a monster, anyways."

"Trevor…!" Now Mala turned on him, looked appalled. Gillick glared at him, wanting to make an angry retort.

However, he knew he didn't have time for that. Inhaling deeply, he turned to Allia and asked, "Did the Light Army get Silver's journal?"

"I didn't see it on her," the assassin reported.

Gillick's amber eyes narrowed. "Damn it." He kicked at the ground. "Damn it!"

"Gillick…?" Riun asked, looking at him nervously.

His eyes flicked to his companions. "They know how to summon the X-blade now."

"I think we'd figured that out," Allia commented dryly.

"You don't understand," Gillick protested immediately. "If they try to make it, they'll only end up destroying everything."

"What are you talking about?" Mala asked.

"The weapon's broken," he informed her. "The Knight holds half its power. It's unstable the way it is, and is the key to a gate with a lot of power behind it. If its summoned, that power's going to rip us apart."

There was silence in the tent for several minutes. Then there was a quiet, acidic laugh. "Right," Trevor commented. "And why should we believe you?"

"What'd you say?" Gillick hissed, glaring at the younger Keyblader.

Trevor slowly met his gaze. "You are the Knight, after all."

Anger flashed through him. Acting on impulse, he stalked forward and grabbed Trevor by the collar of his shirt, ignoring Mala's protests from behind him. He dragged the boy out of the tent and some distance away from the camp before whipping him around to face him, brining his furious face up close to the younger's. "Don't act like you know everything," he growled. "You don't know what the hell you've gotten yourself into."

Trevor looked at him for a few moments before turning away. "What does it matter?" he muttered. "Nothing matters anymore…"

A fist collided with the side of his face. The boy's blue eyes widened in shock as Gillick shook him forcefully. "You. Damn. Idiot." He vibrated with fury. "You're giving up on everything, just because your precious Master abandoned you? Even after I warned you?" He drew his younger sibling closer, forcing him to look him in the eye. "The people who were really loyal to you were the ones you pushed away, and you kissed the feet of a snake-hearted bastard. Well, guess what, little brother? Now you don't have anyone to turn to." He threw him to the ground, summoning his Keyblade. Trevor's eyes flickered with fear briefly, but then he looked away.

Gillick slashed the weapon down, cutting through the bonds and leaving small wounds on Trevor's hands in the process.

The younger boy looked up at him with eyes stretched wide in surprise. "You're letting me go?"

"There's no point to keeping you captive, right?" he growled. He released his Keyblade and turned away, but hesitated before he left. "You're always relying on other people to help you be strong…when are you going to realize that you have power, too?"

He left his younger brother to ponder his words, not wanting to admit to himself the part of the that still cared.

"Alright, everyone, move along in an orderly fashion!"

Gillick walked slowly along the outside of the group, eyes narrowed. After revealing what he knew to the Silver Fang, a brief outbreak of panic, and an annoying argument about who would lead the Silver Fang now, a rough plan had been formed: the warriors would simply go into hiding. They could think of no alternative to avoiding getting caught up in the terrible onslaught that was sure to come, and believed that perhaps, if they hid themselves well enough, they could avoid being hurt by the malfunctioning X-blade.

Gillick knew that wasn't true, but could think of no better alternative and so remained silent.

Well…no better alternative except one. It's a ridiculous plan, he told himself again. There's no way it'll work…even the Knight can't defeat the Armies.

He knew that, if he flew in as the Knight, he might be able to do a little bit of damage; but, realistically, he wouldn't win. He would die, that was certain, and the Armies would most likely end up destroying the world. But it was the only faint light of hope they had.

An odd, melancholy feeling entered his heart, along with a large amount of resentment. Why? he wondered. I didn't ask for any of this. Why did Keybladers have to ruin everything?

…But he was a Keyblader as well. If he stayed back, out of this, he'd be just like them.

That didn't mean he wanted to do this.

I don't want to die.

He'd been a warrior for a long time; he'd long since accepted that the risk of death came with the job. Every fight he'd ever gone into came with that risk. But never once had he attempted to go into a fight knowing that there was no chance he'd survive. All his instincts rebelled against this; he could hide with the Silver Fang; maybe their plan would work.

His heart told him they'd fail, and he'd already been running too long.

Gillick looked at the tunnel the Silver Fang were filing into. Mala and Riun glanced back at him. "You coming?"

He shook himself out of his thoughts. "Yeah." He headed into the depths, the two close behind him.

As they walked, he realized the tunnel was sloping underground. Like the one I found Senn in, he realized. A faint hope stirred inside him; that this was a place with magic imbedded in it, and that they really would be safe here. However, upon entering a larger cavern, he saw no glowing water, or any other sign of magic, and that fragile hope shattered like glass.

"I can't believe it's come to this," Mala muttered. Gillick murmured his agreement, and Riun edged closer to both of them. The thief girl shook her head. "The possible end of the world…" She turned wide eyes towards them. "It's hard to grasp."

Gillick felt his heart sink lower. "No kidding."

There was a long stretch of silence before Mala and Riun began to head away. Gillick watched them go, conflicted. The last thing I wanted to do was get involved with the Armies again, he thought bitterly. He looked after the two, and relented silently. But I have to protect them.

It wasn't until things had settled down and the members of the Silver Fang had fallen asleep that Gillick slipped out of the cave and traversed the tunnel into the outside world. The night air touched his skin as he slowly reached for the panel on his shoulder. Stay where you are, he silently begged Mala and Riun - his friends, he admitted to himself. We don't all need to die in a suicide mission.

Then he slammed the panel. He took off into the night sky the moment his armor had settled around him, his heart resolved.

I am ready to die.

That'd be the end of chapter sixty - seven. We're nearing the climax! Please, review?