Chapter 44 A New Threat
Braig stood guard outside the front doors of the castle like every other day and like every other day he silently cursed Ansem the Wise. Its been about two weeks since he had returned to Radiant Garden after finding Keric for Xehanort and rejoined the guards of the castle. Ansem had of course noticed his absence and questioned him at length, not believing Braig's vague story of having to leave to deal with 'something that had come up'. The old man had been keeping a watchful eye on Braig since then leaving Braig with no opportunity to slip away and discover if Xehanort's plan had worked. Needless to say he is itching for news because he knows without Xehanort's success, he would never get any of the incredible power he had been promised.
As if walking straight out of his thoughts, Braig looks up to see the keyblade apprentices and their master coming towards the doors to the castle. His eyes widened in shock seeing the boy Ventus among them looking no different than when Briag had last seen him. As they approach, Braig makes sure to smooth his expression into one uncaring despite the warning bells going off in his head.
"His lordship is not receiving visitors today," Dilan, the second guard, says in a bored voice as the group of six reaches them.
"My apologizes," Master Eraqus replies in an even voice. "But this is an urgent matter. I must speak to Ansem the Wise at once."
Braig meets Dilan's eye and sees that the other man is looking to him for a decision. "I'd say let them in," Braig says with a shrug. "Old Ansem can refuse to see them if he wants." Seeing that Dilan is not going to argue, Braig turns to the keyblade wielders. "Right this way," Braig says with a cocky smile as he pushes open the heavy door. "Let's see what the mad scientists are up to today."
As he ushers the group inside, Braig finds himself the object of attention of the two youngest boys. Zola and Rikky? Skippy and Rufus? He can't remember their names, but their continued unabashed stares annoy him so he twists his face into an evil grin. Despite Braig's attempts to scare the children, they only see his expression and split into wide grins. Ignoring them, Briag looks around and spots the youngest apprentice, Ienzo, coming down the hallway in his too large lab coat.
"Hey short stuff!" Braig calls and the seven year old boy looks up from the ground to stare at him with the one eye not hidden behind his slate colored hair. "Come here Ienzo." The young boy complies and walks over to Braig without a word. "Where's Ansem hiding today?"
"He's in his office," Ienzo replies in a quiet voice.
"Thanks kiddo," Briag says slapping Ienzo's shoulder. He motions for the others to follow as he leads them deeper into the castle. Sora is the last in the group and as they turn a corner, he looks back and waves to Ienzo. He smiles hugely as the other boy hesitantly waves back.
"Sora!" Master Eraqus calls and Sora quickly hurries to catch up with the others.
…
"Ansem," Braig says as he opens the door to the small office without knocking. A older blond man with his long hair slicked back looks up with a raised eyebrow from his desk where diagrams of the different parts of a heart are spread out. "There's some people here to see you."
"I asked not to be disturbed today," Ansem replies in a low voice. He sighs. "Who is it, Braig?"
"It's-" Braig catches himself just in time. He of course knows their names, well most of their names, from spying on them with Xehanort, but he couldn't let them know that.
He sticks his head back into the corridor. "What'd you say your name was?"
"I did not say," Master Eraqus replies. "Tell Ansem it is Eraqus and his students."
"Righty-o," Braig says going back into Ansem's office. The older man's strange orange eyes puts Braig on edge like always. "Some guy named Eraqus and his kiddies," Braig says and Ansem smiles, putting down the papers in his hands.
"Show them in." Braig disappears into the hallway and returns quickly with the keyblade wielders in tow. Knowing Ansem would not allow him to stay, Braig leaves quietly wishing he could stick around and hear what they are going to discuss.
Ansem stands and walks around his desk. "Eraqus, my old friend, it has been too long."
He and Master Eraqus shake hands. "Too long indeed," Master Eraqus replies.
"You seem to have quite a few more apprentices with you now," Ansem says looking around at the apprentices. His eyes settle on Ven and his brow furrows slightly.
"I have," Master Eraqus says, bringing Ansem's attention back to himself. "Terra and Aqua." He indicates his two older apprentices. They shake Ansem's hand with polite smiles. "You met them when they were only six years old."
"Ah, yes." Ansem nods thoughtfully. "I remember; though I doubt they do."
"Sorry, no," Aqua says. "But it is nice to meet you."
Ansem looks down at Sora and Riku who were staying close to Terra and Aqua. "And who are these two young ones?"
"Sora and Riku," Master Eraqus replies indicating who is who. "They are our two newest additions." Master Eraqus beckons Ven forward and he takes a step closer to the others with a look of slight apprehension. "And this is Ventus. He is the one I came to ask your advice about."
Ansem moves to stand in front of Ven. Ven finds himself unable to tear his eyes away from the strange orange ones studying him. After several moments under his intense stare, Ven shifts slightly and Ansem decides to speak. "I can tell your heart has been severely injured recently," Ansem states not unkindly. He reaches out a hand, but pauses. "May I?" He asks Ven who nods watching him carefully. Ansem reaches out again and rests it over Ven's heart.
Ven feels a small shock and stiffens as an image of Vanitas' masked face flashes in front of his eyes. Vanitas lifts his hands to the bottom of the faceless helmet he wears. He starts to slowly pull it off, but before Ven can see his face, he disappears as Sora's smiling face replaces him. A second later, Sora is gone as well and Ven blinks in the bright light of Ansem's office. Ven stumbles back clutching a hand over his heart. Ansem's hand is on his shoulder now and he looks up to see compassion in the man's eyes.
"I'm sorry if that was painful for you, Ventus," Ansem says as he gently steers Ven to a chair in front of his desk. The others watch silently, afraid to interrupt.
"Did you see that too?" Ven asks and his suspicion is confirmed when Ansem nods.
"I needed to see who your heart is connected to." Ansem turns away from Ven. "Sora, can you come here?"
Sora walks over at Master Eraqus' urging and stands nervously, looking shyly up at Ansem. "May I?" Ansem asks Sora raising his hand to do the same thing he had done to Ven.
"Is it gonna hurt?" Sora asks with wide eyes.
"No," Ven tells Sora. "It's just weird." Sora's eyes are still slightly afraid Ven takes Sora's hand and squeezes it. "You can do it."
Sora looks back at Ansem and nods. When Ansem's hand touches Sora's heart, Ven feels the same small shock in his hand he had felt in his chest before and images appear again. He sees himself and then a flash of light. Now it is him beside Vanitas with their keyblades at their sides and the blades are crossed.
Sora gasps and pulls away from Ansem making the image dissolve. He grips Ven's hand tighter and looks at him in confusion. Ansem walks around his desk to sit in his chair. He is obviously deep in thought as he asks, "Who was the other boy?"
"Vanitas," Ven answers. "He was the dark half of my heart, but he is his own person now."
Ansem leans forward in his chair. "I think it is time for you to tell me the entire story."
Before anyone can talk however, Braig bursts back through the door. "Ansem! The heartless are back. They've been spotted in the Gardens."
"Not again," Ansem says sighing and closing his eyes. He then opens them and turns to Master Eraqus. "Would your apprentices be willing to assist Braig with this threat?"
"Of course," Master Eraqus says. "Terra? Aqua?"
"We'll eliminate the threat," Terra says confidently with a nod to Ansem. He turns to Briag. "Lead the way." Braig nods and hurries out of the office with Terra and Aqua following him.
…
"The Gardens are just outside the castle," Braig says over his shoulder as Terra and Aqua follow him out of the castle. They walk in silence for a little while, but Braig decides to risk asking a few questions as they turn down the path that leads them to their destination. "What are you and your friends asking Ansem about? If you don't mind me asking."
"Ven, he is the blond boy with us, his heart was hurt by an evil man a little while ago," Aqua replies. "We are hoping Ansem can help us understand what happened."
"That's too bad for your friend," Braig says trying to sound sympathetic. "If anyone's got the answers it'd be Ansem. The man might be a cold bastard sometimes, but he knows his stuff when it comes to hearts."
They have finally reached the gardens which consisted of three tiers of land. On alert for any sign of the heartless, Terra and Aqua summon their keyblade. Braig takes a moment to eye the weapons hungrily before pulling out his two arrowguns. He checks them briefly to make sure they are fully loaded before leading the keyblade wielders across the highest tier. They have only taken half a dozen steps when about twenty small blue creatures appear all around them. They form a loose circle around the three of them.
"Are these heartless?" Terra asks slowly. His eyes flicker around at the blue creatures seeing how quick their movements are. Most heartless are clumsy, but these creatures look completely balanced and ready to attack with almost no warning.
"They don't look like heartless," Aqua replies out of the corner of her mouth.
"Doesn't matter," Braig says. "They don't belong in this world." With that he fires his gun twice and two of the strange creatures fall and disappear. Despite this show of force, the rest of the creatures are undeterred and charge forward.
The creatures are small and quick, but Aqua is faster. She catches the first creature that jumps at her with a precise slash of her keyblade. Without pausing to watch it disappear, she spins around to meet a second one. She lunges at it, her keyblade passing easily through it and as soon as her feet touch ground again she cartwheels to the right, ending up behind three of the small creatures. They turn to face her, but before they can react she calls out, "Blizzaga!" Three ice chunks fly out of the end of her keyblade and head right for the blue creatures. Their small red eyes widen slightly and then the ice strikes them, putting an end to them right away.
Aqua spins around to see that the rest of the creatures had been taken care of by Terra and Braig except one. She frowns and charges towards it only to have her arm grabbed by Braig. She is pulled roughly to a stop and she yanks her arm back giving Braig a scowl. He however smiles at her. "Sorry Missy. Can't let you kill the last one. We still have to figure out what they are. Let's capture this one and bring it back to the castle. See what Ansem can make of it."
"That's a good idea," Terra says, but Aqua is still skeptical.
"And how exactly do you propose to catch it?" She asks Braig.
"Watch and learn baby," he replies with a wink.
"Watch it Braig," Terra says suddenly cold towards the man. "That's my girlfriend you're talking to."
"Whoops," Braig says with a grin. "My bad." He suddenly turns and shoots at the little blue creature which had been trying to sneak away unnoticed as they talked. The bullet hits the ground a few inches from it, causing it to leap back in surprise. "Trying to run, huh? As if!" He shouts at it before running at it with his hands outstretched. Terra is right behind him and the two begin to chase the quick creature around the top tier of the garden. Just as Terra is about to get his hand around it, it sinks into the ground like a shadow heartless and pops up a few paces away.
Aqua sighs and shakes her head. "Men," she says under her breath. "Never stop to think before they act." She is about to go assist them with a well placed Stop spell, but a movement out of the corner of her eye makes her turn away. Down on the second tier, is another of the creatures.
"Hey!" She calls to the other two, but they are too focused on the elusive creature so with a shrug she runs down the steps to take care of the one little bugger herself.
She reaches the second tier just in time to see a blue flash as the creature she is chasing heads down the steps to the bottom tier. Following it, she sees it running towards a young girl kneeling in a patch of flowers by a group of bushes. "Stop!" Aqua shouts and the girl turns startled to see the blue creature nearly on top of her. She squeaks in fear, but the creature freezes mid step as Aqua's spell hits it. Aqua quickly runs over and ends the small creature with a single swipe of her keyblade.
She then lets her keyblade disappear as she crouches down beside the young girl. Large blue eyes look at her in awe, framed by straight red hair. "Thank you for saving me," the young girl says shyly.
"Oh you're so sweet," Aqua says smiling. "My name is Aqua. It's nice to meet you."
"I'm Kairi. It's nice to meet you too!" Kairi grins happily as she gets to her feet and dusts off her white shirt and pink skirt. She looks past Aqua and gasps causing Aqua to whirl around. Creatures of all different shapes and sizes that Aqua has never seen before appear around them.
"Go hide!" Aqua says frantically to Kairi who obeys immediately, crawling behind the bushes. Aqua summons her keyblade and stands tall with it at her side. She glares angrily at the creatures and without any fear she charges forward to meet them head on.
A large, round, black and red creature is the first one she strikes and easily gets a combo on it. However, with every hit, the creature swells up slightly. On the last hit it gets even bigger and turns red. Now a perfect sphere, it starts to roll towards Aqua who slashes at it again with her keyblade. She feels a shock travel down her arm as her keyblade bounces off the now solid creature. She jumps back, but the creature keeps rolling towards her. The glowing red color grows stronger and Aqua tries to run out of its way only to find her escape path blocked by a group of blue creatures similar to the first blue creatures she had seen, but these have wickedly sharp claws. She readies her keyblade to fight them, but something bumps into her back. The rolling heartless! She dives to the side as the creature behind her explodes and when she hits the ground she quickly rolls to her feet. The blue, clawed creatures rush her all at once and she steps forward to meet them.
"Firaga!" She shouts manipulating the magic to pull off a move called Raging Storm. She feels her feet leave the ground as three pillars of fire appear and start to move in a circle around her. Floating half a foot off the ground she wills herself to move for forward and she does, the pillars of fire staying around her. The group of clawed creatures are instantly fried by the inferno and she quickly moves around the garden taking out as many of the creatures as possible before the time of the spell runs out.
Just as she takes out the last of the blue creatures, the fire flickers and fades as she falls back to the ground. A shadow falls over her and she looks up to see one of the red and black exploding creatures falling towards her belly first. She quickly cartwheels out of the way causing it to smack into the ground. It bounces right up however and moves to fall on her again. This time she raises her keyblade over her head and braces it with both hands. The creature hits the keyblade and bounces off, falling to the side of her. As it tries to pick itself off the ground, Aqua notices a yellow valve on its back that she hadn't seen before. In a split second, Aqua's mind flashes to fighting Large Body heartless where attacking from the front did nothing, but attacking from the back was devastating. Maybe these new creatures would be the same.
The red and black creature is back on its feet, but as it turns to her she jumps as high as she can and flips over it to land behind it. Before it can turn, she attacks the yellow wheel in a lightning fast combo noticing with satisfaction that her hits are not causing it to swell. One more hit and it disappears without exploding and Aqua turns confidently to the last three creatures left, the same type as the red and black one she had just figured out how to kill.
She runs towards them and jumps with a flip to reach the valves on their backs. However, as she attacks one's valve, the other two get too close and her keyblade nicks their fronts causing them to swell. As one of the creatures fades, the other two turn red and roll at her. She runs around the garden hoping to evade them, but they follow and keep pace. The glowing red gets brighter. Aqua skids to a stop and turns to face them yelling, "Stopra!"
The two creatures looking ready to explode are suddenly frozen in time. Aqua runs back across the garden and turns to watch as the spell wears off and the two creatures explode ending the battle.
"Aqua!"
Terra's worried shout is from above and she looks up to see him and Braig looking down at her from the second tier. She gives them a wave to show she is alright and they disappear from view presumably to take the stairs down to her level.
The snapping of a twig causes Aqua to whirl around thinking there are more of the creatures, but she relaxes seeing it is only Kairi crawling out of the bushes. "Are they gone?" Kairi asks looking around.
Aqua kneels down beside her. "Yes, they're gone."
Kairi smiles at her and thrusts out the hand she had been keeping behind her back. "Here!" She is holding out a bouquet of flowers to Aqua.
"Are these for me?" Aqua asks.
Kairi bobs her head up and down. "I picked you some flowers."
"Oh, they're lovely," Aqua says taking them and breathing in the perfumed scent. She hears footsteps behind her and turns, standing as Terra and Braig walk over. Braig has his hands clasped firmly around the small struggling creature the two men had been chasing before, pinning its arms to its sides. "So you caught it?" She says raising an eyebrow.
"I told you not to doubt me Missy," Braig says giving her a crooked smile.
Terra snorts and rolls his eyes. "I used a stop spell to freeze it," he explains to Aqua.
"What do you think it-" Aqua starts to ask, but she is cut off as a shock goes through her body starting from her hand still gripping her keyblade. It causes the hairs on the back of her neck to stand up straight and with a small gasp she looks down to see Kairi taking her hand off Aqua's keyblade with a confused expression.
"Aqua did you just..." Terra says slowly.
Aqua glances at him and then back at Kairi who is staring at her hands. "I think I did," Aqua says softly.
"Uh...missing something here," Braig says, but they both ignore him.
"Can I go home?" Kairi asks looking up at Aqua with her big blue eyes.
"Yeah...can I come with you?" Aqua asks. Kairi smiles at her and nods her head happily. "Alright I just need to talk to my friend for a moment." She and Terra move out of earshot of the others. Braig watches them with his eyes narrowed while Kairi resumes picking flowers.
"Did I really just give her a keyblade?" Aqua asks Terra worriedly.
"What did it feel like?" Terra asks.
"It was like a shock," Aqua replies. "Like a rush of energy."
Terra nods slowly. "Sounds like how it felt when I gave it to Riku."
Aqua's face pales slightly. "Alright. I have to think..." She starts to pace in an attempt to think straight, but her thoughts remain as confused and muddled as ever. Strong arms wrap around her and she looks up at Terra.
"Go back home with the girl," Terra says in a gentle voice. "I'll tell Master Eraqus what happened and he'll come help you sort this out, okay?"
Aqua takes a deep breath. "Okay. Thank you Terra."
"Anytime," Terra says with a grin and kisses her. She kisses back gently before pulling herself out of his embrace. They walk back over to Braig and Kairi hand in hand.
Kairi runs over to them and asks, "Do you want to see my doll Aqua? Her name is Destiny."
"I'd love to," Aqua says and Kairi grabs her hand pulling her towards the town. Aqua gives Terra a quick kiss before letting herself be dragged away.
Terra watches her go in deep thought until Braig says, "Gonna tell me what's up?"
Terra regards him for a moment. "No. Let's just head back to the castle and get the others to take a look at that thing." Without waiting for Braig to agree, he starts back towards the castle with Briag hurrying after him, muttering curses at the keyblade wielders quietly so only the blue creature in his hands can hear.
Xehanorto, Ruby Warrior Girl 730, and AquaTitaniaMiyuki guessed right that the blue flash Ven saw at the end of the last chapter was the first sighting of the Unversed (even though our heroes don't know that's what they are yet)
Dream For Tonight, Xehanorto, and ShinyGlaceon picked up on the fact that Ven no longer swears! (I'm actually a little sad about this fact considering I was enjoying his potty mouth and the trouble it would get him in)
ShinyGlaceon: Thank you so much! You really made my day :)
Since I'm sure you're wondering, Kairi is going to be sweet and girly like in the games, but she isn't going to be a helpless damsel in distress. She probably won't be as badass as Aqua, but she will still kick butt every now and then when she is older.
Braig fighting alongside Terra and Aqua...weird right? Don't worry, that will never happen again.
And someone (sry! I don't have time to search through the reviews to find out who) asked me before to have a scene of just Aqua fighting so here you go! Hope you liked it!