Chapter 34: Civil War:
Radiant Garden – Heartless Manufactory:
Silence reigned as both sides stood off in the bowels of Ansem's laboratory. Organization XIII's former number eleven held in her hands the special container Coalition scientists had been using to keep the Tesseract's massive power contained. Lea held his remaining chakram in his freehand while he held his Keyblade towards the Savage Nymph's head while Dilan and Aeleus slowly circled around the platform until they jumped down onto the ramp leading down to the abandoned containment cells where they and Xehanort used to perform their experiments, cutting off the intruders' escape.
Vanitas and Cloud flanked the enemy from the side while Violet hung back and brought up her largest force field yet to encompass the platform and cut off the only exit. Even brought up a barrier of ice behind Dilan and Aeleus to seal off access to the Chamber of Repose. Kairi, Amelia, and Rose stood directly in front of the enemy troops, ready to charge in and fight. After a few more moments of silent tension, the former Organization member finally spoke. But only this time her comments were not addressed to Lea or any of the warriors and spies of the Coalition, but to the newcomer.
"Hello, traitor," Lerena remarked as she turned her attention to Rose.
"Long time no see, Lerena," the former Huntsgirl retorted.
"How exactly to you two know each other?" Lea interjected.
"Because we fought together during the Keyblade War," Rose replied. "Allow me to introduce Lerena, Warden of the Unchained Legion." The Savage Nymph snarled in response.
"Gee, thanks for pulling back the curtain on us," the woman formerly known as Larxene snarked. "Although I'm surprised given how quickly you spread your legs for a – " whatever insult the former Nobody was about to spew at the younger woman was cut off by a Waterga spell to the gut that sent Lerena flying down the ramp leading to the Chamber of Repose. The other Unchained warriors formed up around her in a defensive formation while the containued used to house the Tesseract clattered to the floor in the middle of the formation. The Unchained all slipped into combat stances as they got ready for the battle everyone in the room knew was coming.
"Remember when I said I'd kill you myself if you made offensive comments about my husband again?" Rose asked rhetorically as she advanced towards her fellow Unchained, Keyblade in hand. "Well the same thing applies to calling me a slut for marrying someone who isn't human. And I have had a very stressful week being abducted by Aurilam and held captive aboard the Anguis, so go ahead. Give me a reason to vent my frustration. Make my day." For a few tense moments, Lerena glared at her old friend, as if expressing doubt that Rose would ever follow through on her threat. The rate of attacks from the Hellfire Club had slowed down considerably if the extended periods between quakes were any indication. Recognizing that her only option left was to cause enough chaos to cover their escape, the woman who used to be Larxene narrowed her eyes.
"Just because you're not part of the Legion anymore doesn't mean nobody cares who you spread your legs for, Rose," she remarked with a deliberate smile on her face. With an enraged snarl, Rose charged forward and the chaos began. Rose, Even, and Lea raced forward and engaged Larxene herself, while Kairi, Dilan, Vanitas, Cloud, and Aeleus stated battling the other Unchained. Now that they knew the true nature of the mysterious Legion, the heroes began to piece together bits of vague comments and writings into a vaguely defined but more clear than before picture of the Unchained Legion's motives. Braig's comments indicated that the Unchained sought to restore the original world by any means necessary. How that involved mass mind control or Night Howlers was another matter entirely, but Kairi supposed that she could always ask Rose later.
The fighting was fierce and intense as the battle raged on. Facing three opponents meant that Lerena had to stay on her toes and move as quickly as she could, even employing her doppelgangers to buy herself some breathing room. But while everyone fought valiantly, the Unchained had eight thousand years of experience over everyone else in the room, and quickly retook the upper hand. After dodging a particularly brutal looking ice shard from Even (who evidently still held a grudge for the disrespect and insults she sent his way back in the Organization), Lerena put her fingers to her mouth and whistled, giving her fellow immortals the signal. On cue, the other Legionnaires fired off Firaga Burst spells that buffeted their opponents with streams of fireballs while they all ran for a Corridor of Light that the former Savage Nymph created at the edge of the platform.
"Even, Strife, Parr, with me!" Vanitas ordered as he drew his Keyblade and charged towards the corridor in pursuit of the runaway Unchained. "We follow them back to their base and hit them where it hurts." Before he passed through the portal, each of them fired of quick texts to their family members (or his boss in Vanitas' case) to let them know what they were doing. They had no idea where this portal would lead or how long it would take to return, but Vanitas was the highest ranking officer there, and he knew an opportunity when he saw one. This was their chance to return fire and strike back at the Unchained Legion. With any luck, they could gather more intel on the Legion at the same time. But the Legion had been keeping them on the defensive ever since they showed up. It was time to turn the tables.
The Land of Departure – Forecourt:
Contrary to Terra's expectations, Ventus and Yuffie were able to hold their own. Thanks to their smaller size and greater agility enabled them to weave their way through the attacking Keyblade Wielders like snakes through grass. They blocked and parried every strike that came their way and retaliated in kind, using Aeroga and Mega Flare spells to clear themselves some breathing room. Ven healed himself while knocking opponents off the mountain with Salvation spells, while Yuffie would throw her shuriken to get away from an enemy combatant before using a Curaga spell on herself to heal her wounds. If they had been facing Heartless or any other opponent, they might have actually been able to win.
But unfortunately, they weren't facing Heartless, or Hellfire Club troopers, or even just ordinary soldiers. They were facing the immortal warriors of the Unchained Legion. And because every time a Legionnaire died they were reincarnated (granted they had to wait just over two decades for their memories to return but still), the Unchained could afford to throw everything they had into this attack. For every Unchained Ven and Yuffie knocked over the edge with a Blizzaga spell, two more came charging up the mountain slope into the courtyard. Like the Earth terrorist organization HYDRA, they always came back. And the young couple were quickly being overwhelmed.
Eventually, the pair were forced into the middle of the stairs leading up to the castle. They were surrounded by Unchained on every side as they hastily brought up Reflega shields to protect themselves against the relentless barrage of spell fire and energy blasts from the Legionnaires' Keyblades. One spell after another impacted against the glittering shield as Ven and Yuffie stood inside the large spherical barrier. Both of them were worn down and exhausted. At this point, they knew that even with the aid of Coalition Reinforcements, it was only a matter of time before one of the invading Unchained got in a lucky strike.
"It looks like this is the end, Ven," Yuffie admitted with tears in her eyes as she fed him a continuous stream of Hi-Ethers to keep the shield up. But even that wasn't enough. More and more cracks appeared on the shield every few minutes. Sooner or later, the barrier spell was going to collapse. "I wish there was a way out of this but there's nothing we can do." She looked at her boyfriend and found that he too had tears flowing down his cheeks.
"At least we made the end memorable then," he replied as he blinked away the tears. "We bought Terra the chance to get his kid and the Stone out of here, and delayed these guys long enough for reinforcements to get here in time to stop them from getting the Infinity Stone." He leaned over and kissed her. "I love you, Yuffie," he whispered hoarsely as the Reflega spell cracked even further.
"I love you, too," the "Great Ninja" whispered back as she embraced her boyfriend for the last time. With one last Mega Flare spell, the Reflega shield shattered into a million tiny pieces. The Unchained held their fire as their commanding officer advanced up the steps, curved scythe in hand. Ven and Yuffie could have gone out with one final fight, but they didn't have the energy to do little more than die quickly. And the Glider-mounted Unchained hovering overhead blocked all avenues of escape. At least this way, the last thing they saw would be each other. Ven and Yuffie remained intertwined with their lips locked and eyes closed as Aurilam's scythe ran them through.
Deep Space – Morag; Unchained Base Camp:
Lerena fumed as she stormed down the corridors of the Unchained compound on Morag towards the command center. All around her alarms blared and the sounds of combat echoed through the facility. That wretched demon, Vanitas, and his troops had followed her hit squad through the portal back to base. Now they were wreaking havoc all over the place. This was bad, but she trusted her fellow Unchained to hold them at bay and keep them from accessing any truly vital information while she reported the status of the mission to N.I. With a slam of the door, she marched into the command center and stormed over to the communications console. Pushing buttons violently, she put in a call to the supreme commander of the Legion aboard the Ava.
"Get me the Novus Imperator," she demanded as the call went through. "I've got the cube."
Earth – Siberian HYDRA Base; Winter Soldier Chamber:
There's too many of them, Sora thought as he reversed out of the way of a blow from one of the Winter Soldiers. Without Thor, we're toast. And indeed, that seemed to be an accurate assessment. Thor had left for Asgard for some formal meeting that he was required to be home for, and while the Hulk was able to handle one or two Winter Soldiers, but when they went up against all five of them, the Avengers were quickly overwhelmed. Since Leroys had been captured at the battles in Lagos and Vienna, even Stitch was having trouble avoiding the fast and furious kicks and punches from the villainous super soldiers.
The Avengers had arrived at the Siberian HYDRA base to find the entire compound seemingly deserted. After combing the corridors for any signs of life, they soon found that not to be the case. They had reached the chamber containing the stasis pods where the Winter Soldiers had been stored to find the five super soldiers and every HYDRA agent in the facility waiting for them. Falcon, Black Widow, Scarlet Witch, Kim and Ron were busy dealing with the mortal HYDRA forces, leaving Stitch, Pietro, Iron Man, The Hulk, Sora, and Bucky to deal with the other Winter Soldiers on their own. And so far, they weren't doing so well.
Captain America was busy facing down an old foe. The Red Skull himself had taken charge of the base, and had been looking forward to a rematch with the Captain ever since their duel aboard the Valkyrie all those decades ago. Their punches flew fast and furious as they brawled back and forth across the cramped and crowded battlefield. But after years of combat training, the original Super Soldiers were too evenly matched to actually do any damage to each other. Meanwhile, Sam, Natasha, Wanda, Kim, and Ron were being slowly but surely overwhelmed by the increasing amount of henchmen. Reinforcements from S.H.I.E.L.D. were at least half an hour away, but Sora didn't think that the team would last much longer if help didn't come sooner.
Suddenly, everything stopped as a glowing portal of light appeared in the middle of the room like a rainbow in the dark. Sora and Natasha immediately tensed, recognizing corridors of Light as the primary method of transportation for the Unchained Legion. But one of them cheered up as they recognized the faces of three of the four new arrivals. Sora's, on the other hand, held an ear to ear grin as Vanitas, Cloud, Even, and Violet emerged from the portal and took stock of their situation. The logo of the soldiers Sora and his associates were fighting was an exact match for the Hellfire Club troops present at the Battle of Knowhere. And the man with the mutated, skull-looking face was clearly the enemy's leader. That left only one course of action.
Before anyone could react, Vanitas warped over to the Red Skull and drove his Keyblade through the HYDRA leader's chest. The terrorist leader's minions all stood still in shock as their leader slumped to the floor with a gaping, bleeding hole in his upper torso. This was all the opening the Avengers needed. With HYDRA's agents too shocked to do anything, everyone else in the room struck. Bucky felled the Winter Soldiers with five quick bullets to their heads, while Pietro ran around knocking out the normal HYDRA troopers with a single running punch. With the aid of Vanitas and his team, the battle was over within ten minutes. Once all the fighting was done, Sora and Vanitas cast Sleep spells on the fallen foes to keep the ones still living unconscious.
"Van!" Sora greeted warmly, happy to see a familiar face. "It's great to see you again. What are you doing? How'd you get here?"
"I was about to ask you the same thing, Sora," his older brother's dark half retorted with a friendly smirk. "How about we find something decent to eat around here and we can all trade stories and figure out what's going on. Sound fair?"
"Took the words right out of my mouth," Tony interjected. "So, Sora, this is your older brother's not-evil-anymore twin. Why the hell does he look like a younger version of you?" Vanitas only quirked an eyebrow in response. Six years of making friends all over the Coalition had taken care of his Xehanort-induced self-esteem issues, so Tony's bluntness did not even remotely faze him. That didn't mean he was okay with being referred to as Ven's "Not-Evil-Anymore twin." He shot Sora a look silently demanding to know why he'd been referred to as such in whatever conversation he'd been discussed in.
"Don't mind Tony," Sora apologized. "He just says whatever comes to mind with no filter between his brain and his mouth." Vanitas smirked in satisfaction as Tony protested only to admit that the accusation was mostly true. "Anyway that sounds like a plan to me." With the tension broken, greetings were exchanged as S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents arrived to take the captive HYDRA troopers into custody and clean up the bodies of the Red Skull and his empowered goons. Once all the post-battle cleanup was taken care of, the two teams piled into the Quinjet and headed off for some Shwarma. It was time to catch up.
And so the true nature of the new villains is revealed. More information will be revealed later on, but now you all know the main villain of the Acolytes of Chaos saga. Maleficent's not going to stop being a treat through. I'm going to be treating Maleficent's alliance the way that Remember the Tides treats her. The Hellfire Club and the Unchained Legion will both be major, credible threats throughout this saga. The Unchained will just become a more serious threat as the heroes learn more about them and their overall goals.
Now you all know the meaning of Madame N.I.'s name. It's Latin for New Emperor and ties into the Unchained Legion's overall goals. But the meaning of the acronym isn't going to give you all any hints about her identity. But I've left enough clues for you to guess who she is. She's not a marvel character, and she's only a part-Disney character (a Those Lacking Spines reference that basically means she an existing KH-original character). But if you figure it out, hold your tongue, for all shall be revealed in time. Muwah Ha Ha Ha! Anyway, joking aside, Lerena's mention of doppelgangers is a reference to Larxene's ability as an Absent Silhouette Battle in Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix to create clones of herself to distract you.
Rest in peace, Yuffie and Ventus. You will be missed. I didn't want the heroes to make it through every fight unscathed in this fic. That meant killing off a major Kingdom Hearts character or two in order to demonstrate how powerful and numerous the Unchained Legion really are. And since as much as I love Ventus and Yuffie, I felt that they were the most expendable. After the end of this story, I'll be doing a prequel called "Before the Storm" that will have some scenes of Ven and Yuffie in the years leading up to the beginning of the Acolytes of Chaos storyline.
The "rainbow in the dark" line is a reference to an amazing punk rock urban fantasy comic series with that title that I discovered at Honolulu Comic Con yesterday. It's a really interesting story with themes about the nature of reality and of freedom vs. conformity. It's really entertaining and really addictive. I picked it up and couldn't put it down until I bought my own copy. It's self-published by author/artist team Comfort Love and Adam Withers, so you can only get individual issues from them at conventions, but the complete omnibus edition is available on Amazon.