TN: Well, folks ... I know this one was a long time coming and supremely behind schedule. It's my fault. Life has been really hard, what with college coming up and some other things I'd rather not talk about ...
TN: But anyway, it's here and it's massive! over 13K long!
TN: Once again, I'm sorry.
TN: I really can't wait for book two.
TUH: Stop talking about book two, you still have another two chapters to write.
TN: I know, I know. So, we finally get to learn about the shattering and what it is.
TUH: And I had to pick up your slack.
TN: Yeah whatever.
TUH: Back to the pleasure cruise with me. HERALD AWAY!
TN: Enjoy!
*Disclaimer*
The Wesker fight goes out to Mike.
The Muzét fight goes out to Womack.
The Sephy fight goes out to Sri.
The Ganon fight goes out to MJ.
The Kefka fight goes out to Katy.
The Maleficent fight goes out to Garce.
(Chris, you get yours next chapter)
Chapter XXIII
The Shattering
The World That Never Was
September 30, 2010
"OPEN NOW AND FILL ME WITH YOUR DARKNESS!"
The ground rumbled, and wind buffeted the peak of the castle. Sora's body chilled, still locked in Maleficent's spell. Her allies shielded their faces, a bright light surrounding her, releasing a massive quasar of energy into the heavens. Her cloak snapped at the high velocity winds, her cackle was heard faintly over the wind, and her body rose in the torrent of energy. She hovered ten feet about the Altar, and then …
It ended.
The light was gone, the moon of Kingdom Hearts was smaller now, frail almost. In the air floated Maleficent. Surrounding her was a dark aura, something of a dark violet or purple. She twirled in the air, brandishing her staff, black and green flames sparking from the orb. Her eyes were as bright as the sun, and as dark as the pits of hell. She held power, Sora could feel it radiate from her.
"Yes! I can feel the power course through me! I am immortal! I am a GOD!" she screamed to the darkening sky above. Rain began to lash. She thrust her arms out in jubilee, and beams of dark energy were released from her body, each one blasting into one of her allies. They all cringed in what seemed like pain, their faces twisting into wrinkles of malaise. They doubled over as the energy infused into them. After a minute, it all ended, and they stood up, recollecting themselves.
"Go, my friends! Kill them with your new found power!" Maleficent screamed. Sora was suddenly released, as well as his friends. Sora thought he heard Mickey yell something, but it didn't matter to him right now, because what Maleficent said was far more attracting to his attention.
"But save the Keybrat! He is mine!" she shrieked in icy hatred. She vanished in a twirl of flames and reappeared beside Sora. Before he could even summon his Keyblade, he felt the orb of her staff strike him. What would normally not have phased him before, sent him flying off the Altar with a percussive force like an explosion, just from the contact. He hurled through the air and through the ceiling of a part of the castle, straight into it. He felt dizziness and nausea sweep over him, a thudding in his head and chest. He got to his feet and there she was, standing before him.
"Sora, you will die tonight. There is no stopping it. Why, I'll have you dead before midnight," she said. She flashed forward and hauled out with her staff. Sora summoned his Keyblade in time and deflected the blow, swerving in a counterstrike to her abdomen. She blocked it easily and thrust her free hand out, sending him flying twenty feet backward with out even touching him. He barely rolled out of a Firaga. This part of the castle was stone, so every time it was struck, chips of it would fly of and nick into you. Sora backpedaled away from Maleficent, trading blow after blow with her, neither of them gaining ground on the other. Maleficent parried an impact and then jabbed him in the gut. Her fist connected into his jaw and then she spun around—cloak splaying—and connected her staff to his shoulder, sending him through a wall into another room in a spray of rocks and debris. Just as she was about to climb through the hole, Roxas appeared in front of her, the Two Become One Keyblade in his hands.
"Ah, this will be fun," Maleficent said.
Sora got to his knees and wiped some blood from his mouth. He watched his Nobody begin to fight Maleficent in the hallway, and it looked like she was going to easily overpower him. Sora cast a Curaga on himself and proceeded to go back into the corridor. He swung into her shoulder and she hissed in irritation, not pain. She twirled and batted at Sora's Oblivion. In the same move after that, she blocked an attack from Roxas without even looking at him. Her speed was astonishing as she twisted back and forth between the two, blocking and dodging every arc of a blade thrown at her, every spell cast at her. She parried Roxas' sweep, letting the staff go, it bounced up to her other hand and she swayed right, quickly, dodging Sora's blade. She moved her left foot inward and struck him in the ribs, sending him into a wall, crumbling part of it. She waved her hand and dismissed Roxas' Firaga and used her fist to punch him, bringing him to the ground.
"Can't you understand? I am immortal now, you cannot harm me!" she shouted, nearly impaling Sora's head. Sweat beaded down his back, and his body ached in pain.
"What do you care? What do you achieve from any of this?" Sora asked, lunging forward and swiping horizontally. She sidestepped it and kicked Roxas from behind, springing off of him and launching an all out "swordplay" with Sora.
"I can dominate life, I can decimate it, I can rule all!" she screamed, Dark Firagas propelled at Sora, striking him multiple times, sending him down the hall and rolling into the stone. Maleficent turned and cast a Flare on Roxas, forcing him to retreat into Sora for the time being. She turned down the hall, and pointed her staff at him. He rose from the ground. She thrust her staff and sent him hurtling all the way down the one hundred foot passageway. He came to a stop and coughed hard. Roxas reappeared and they both cast Curaga, healing each other twofold.
"That means nothing!" Sora shouted down the hall, his voice slapping off of the stones. She cackled and raised her arms, wind blew through the corridor and the torches all winked out. Darkness flooded the corridor as the twin brothers stood side by side, a stone wall at their backs. The hall was wide enough for five men to stand abreast. Sora and Roxas gripped their Keyblades.
"Why can't you understand? There is no reason in destroying life! There will always be a light to outshine the darkness!" Sora shouted, his voice choked with emotion.
"I can smother all life and all light! I can reach into the pits of the Tower! I can take the Dark Tower and control ALL worlds! Don't you understand! Once I have the Dark Tower, and I have taken the power of Gan himself, I can create and destroy, rule and let leave! I can have all!" she screamed. She cast Dark Firagas down the hall. Sora and Roxas together blocked and dismissed them, but it strained on their will.
"The Dark Tower! The Nexus of all worlds! I just need to find it, and then it will be mine! None of you will stop me!" she screamed. The air, it seemed, was taken from Sora's lungs as she lifted her arms. Then, the spells came. Maleficent cast a torrent of water, which Sora blasted into the wall with an Aeroga as Roxas propelled a Firaga down the antechamber. She blasted into oblivion as a massive shard of ice broke straight through it, shattering into smaller shards. Sora cast up a wall of flame with Roxas.
"Why would I care if there is no life left when I drench the worlds in darkness? I can remake life in my own vision!" she screamed. Massive orbs of blue light flew through the hall, breaking the stone around it. Chippings of stone flew in the air, sparks flying.
"Shellga!" Sora and Roxas shouted. An orb of light surrounded them and the blast pushed them into the wall behind, cracking it fiercely.
"You can't win!" Sora shouted. "Darkness always loses in the end!"
"You sound like a broken record, boy!" she screamed. All the shards of stone rose and battered along the scorched walls. She concentrated them and shouted:
"Gravija!"
They flew with extreme velocity towards the twins. Sora and Roxas could only cast a small Protect spell. What was left, ate through the spell, but Roxas shielded Sora with his body.
"I'll be back in a bit," he explained, and vanished into Sora to recuperate. Sora found an ether in his pocket; he devoured it. Energy returned to him, but Maleficent had closed the gap.
"You will die like all of your precious friends!" she said. She pointed her staff at Sora and threw him into the ground, slamming him roughly into the stone. A bolt of dark, Kingdom Hearts-infused lightning struck into him and pumped into his body. For the first time in a long time …
Sora screamed.
His voice echoed off the walls, draining into the distance. The lightning caused shadows to jump about the walls. Sora's body rose from the ground, the lightning arcing into him. The light danced in Maleficent's sick eyes, and all he knew was the pain. His grip was like a vise on his blade, the muscles contracting. Tears ran down his face and he gnashed his teeth, screaming through them. He thought he heard Maleficent laugh. If anyone were to stand on the opposite end of the hall, they would see her dark silhouette, rapid, flashing light, and hear the screams of a dying young man. He felt weakness drench into him. Then something happened.
A blue aura surrounded him. It swirled around his body, mixing with the sparks of the lightning. Then, it began to focus itself, mixing and coalescing into his chest. At this moment, a ball of pure, ocean blue energy left his chest, and his screaming stopped. He breathed in, and it felt like his own soul had been removed, or maybe half of it. He felt empty, and his mind was quiet …
Minus the screaming that began again.
The ball of light floated upward and through the ceiling. And somehow, Sora knew. He knew what had happened. And amid the screaming, he thought:
Goodbye, Roxas.
A rumble shook the castle, and for a moment, that distracted Maleficent, because she had dropped Sora. He lay on the ground, panting and aching with extreme pain all over. He looked up with fading vision at Maleficent and watched as she picked him up without touching him. Her hand clenched into a fist as if she were holding him and then she thrust her fist outward, sending him through the wall and into another, small room.
In the room there were two suits of armor, each with gleaming, sharp swords. She walked through the hole, stepped on the rubble and lifted him again. She propelled him into the wall at the end of the room and held him there, pointing her staff at him all the while. With her free hand, she lifted a sword and hurtled it toward him. It went straight through him and impaled him into the stone. His body hung limply and blood began to leak out of his body. She approached him.
She took a finger and lifted his chin, smiling into his eyes. He felt the fire rage through his body and the ice of her touch. He felt pain that he had never felt before. Her voice was as soft as cotton and as smooth as silk. Ice dripped from it.
"Sora, you will die tonight. I told you I would enact my revenge, and the time has come. You and your precious friends will never see the light of another day, the rise of another sun. The darkness will overshadow the light, and as it ebbs away from you, as your life is sucked away by my power, I want you to know that you lost. I want you to know that you have failed to protect the ones you love, you have failed to save the worlds, and you have failed to stop me. I want you to realize this, in your final moments of breathing, in your final moments of despair. But, before I allow you to die … behold, and watch your friends die as well!"
And she showed him.
HoL:TS
What?
Roxas stood atop the Altar, fights raging down below him in different parts of the large area. He felt one hundred percent vitalized, and then he looked over and there was Naminé standing beside him.
"R- Roxas … I … I think we're-"
"Our own people," Roxas finished. He felt his real body without needing the Keyblade, just as Naminé felt herself, her face and arms. He felt his own muscles, his own breath, his own heart beating.
"How did this happen, Roxas?" Naminé asked with a shuddering voice, both out of shock and glee.
"I don't know, but we need to help," he said. She nodded and their Keyblades flashed to existence. But before they could rush into the fights, they were met by Wesker, who was walking toward them.
"Too bad we never got to know each other," Wesker said as he slowly took his shades off, revealing glimmering, red eyes. He threw the glasses toward them with incredible strength. Roxas naturally caught them out of instinct, and in that moment, Wesker had dashed forward with immeasurable speed and punched Roxas in the gut. He doubled over with wide eyes and Wesker kneed him, swatting away Naminé's blade in mid swing. He twisted around and swept Naminé's feet from under her. At the same time, he picked Roxas up with one hand, threw him up, and roundhouse kicked him into a pillar, which broke and gave way into the commotion below. Wesker caught his glasses and returned them to his face slowly, with a smirk on his face.
It all took about three seconds for Wesker to do.
Roxas' head felt dizzy, and his eyes caught a large fireball roar across the sky, along with a cackle that sounded like Kefka. Boy, if Mike and Chris were here, they'd have a handful to announce. He didn't know what provoked the thought, it just came about, and he didn't question it. Wesker was cracking his neck and he turned around to face him. The rain was riveting and lightning flared. Fierce wind blew his spiky hair forward, and his eyes squinted in to allow vision. Naminé walked up beside him, and he felt a reassurance with her presence.
"You two are persistent. Not many could handle that … not since Chris and Jill," he said, dashing forward. Naminé let off multiple Fire spells. They may have been weaker, but more of them were let loose, over a dozen racing towards Wesker. At this time, Roxas rushed to meet him, Keyblade gleaming in the night. Wesker flashed away from an orb and blocked a strike from Roxas' blade. Roxas lunged into Wesker, only for him to jump over another two orbs of fire; while in the air, he vanished and reappeared behind Roxas. He kicked Roxas in the back, disappeared and then reappeared in front of him, uppercutting him. He ducked from another couple spells and then, swept Roxas' feet from under him. Wesker vanished and appeared eight feet above Roxas. Naminé fired a Blizzara at him. He vanished and reappeared with his fist buried in Roxas' stomach, the stone underneath cracking. Roxas felt fire spread through him as Wesker removed his gloved fist. Rain battered his face as he watched Wesker stand and readjust his clothing. Roxas got slowly to his feet.
"What do you get from helping Maleficent?" Roxas asked, dismissing his Keyblade. His hands slowly curled into fists.
"I will attain the power to return to a world, any world, and call it my own. A place where I may purge the scum of life from it and make my own vision. I will use Uroboros, and even if that doesn't work, I can use whatever I wish!" he yelled, lunging at Roxas with a pointed hand. Roxas sidestepped and barreled his fist towards Wesker's ribs. Wesker vanished and reappeared behind Naminé. He grabbed her by the arm and threw her into Roxas on the other side of the alter, watching them crumble down and tumble down the stairs into an open area of more pillars. He ran forward and met them before they could reach the bottom. He threw them up into the air and began to pummel them in midair, flashing to and fro, punching and kicking them, using the momentum of his own attacks to keep himself and them up. He balled his fists and barreled them into the ground, connecting into the guts. He ripped his trench coat off and cast it aside as the rain picked up. Lightning flared and his eyes glowed.
"So weak … and to think Maleficent was afraid of her so called adversaries," Wesker said venomously. Roxas felt a Curaga rush into him. With his new strength, he vaulted to his feet and brought up his fists to fight Wesker.
"Hastega!" Naminé shouted, and Roxas felt the world slow down, or maybe it was himself speeding up. Either way, he could see the individual muscles of Wesker's jaw flex, his fingers tighten, his breath plume in steam.
"Oh, this is going to be fun," Wesker muttered. Heartless sprang all around them, leaving Roxas to fight Wesker by himself and Naminé to take care of the different Heartless, all of Wesker's creation.
A right hook flew towards Wesker's jaw, but he blocked it with his left wrist, his right coming up from under on an uppercut. Roxas "parried" the fist with his own and retaliated with a punch towards Wesker's ribs. Wesker vanished and reappeared behind Roxas. Roxas turned in time to catch a fist with his hands. He twisted right, making Wesker flip with the momentum. His feet planted into the ground and he revitalized the momentum and flipped Roxas, kicking him in the gut and slamming him into the stone, chunks of rock flying out from around Roxas. He rolled from a stomp and sprung up. HE ducked under a roundhouse kick and caught the leg, flipping Wesker over his back and into the ground. He went to stomp him but Wesker, disappeared. Roxas anticipated it and turned with a swipe of a right backhand. It connected with a newly appeared Wesker. They stopped.
"Oh, I will not let that happen again," Wesker said. He grabbed Roxas by wrist and threw him into Naminé, barreling through Heartless. Roxas felt his bone snap, and nearly yelled in pain. He and Naminé came to a stop in a tangle of wet bodies.
Bang.
"AHHH!" Roxas yelled, a bullet ripping through the tender flesh of his triceps. Blood sprayed out and onto Naminé, staining her white dress. He scrambled to the shelter of a pillar, a chunk of stone blasting apart just as he hid behind it. Naminé ran to another one. Roxas peeked around a corner to see Wesker unholster another gun and begin shooting at Naminé, keeping his eye on Roxas.
"I will kill you for simply touching me, a god among mortals," Wesker said icily. His glass were gone now, and the blood red of his eyes glittered with hatred.
"Wow, someone's a bit of a dick," Roxas said a little loudly.
"Scum!" Wesker shouted. Pulling both guns on the pillar, sawing through the beam, stone eviscerating into nothing. He blasted his own Heartless away into oblivion as the stone of the pillar eroded away. Naminé had ran up behind him while his attention was fully on Roxas. She raised the Keyblade from behind his head.
It whickered down.
Wesker twisted and took a devastating roundhouse kick to Naminé's head with a sick thud—boot meeting skull—sending her across the area, breaking through many pillars, the last one crumbling on top of her motionless form. Wesker flashed as the pillar he was shooting nearly crushed him. Roxas felt a gloved hand grab him by the throat and hoist him in the air. His Keyblade fell to the ground and the barrel of a silver pistol pushed into his chest.
Lightning flashed; they were but a silhouette in the dark, rainy sky.
The gun fired.
HoL:TS
"SEPHIROTH!" Cloud shouted, running forward at the former SOLDIER. Sephiroth smirked as Kefka and the Joker ran one way, the other villains another. Maleficent vanished, leaving Sephiroth all by himself. Cloud felt his muscles burn inside him as he surged forward the last ten feet, only for Sephiroth to dodge the blade. He sidestepped and turned, watching Cloud zip right by. Cloud did not stumble like some would, he was too trained for that. Sephiroth tilted his head right and saw a Blizzaga race toward him from Aerith. He sliced the chunk of ice in half, the pieces going on either side. He swiftly turned around and was faced with Cloud.
"You won't win, Sephiroth!" Cloud shouted, locking into Sephiroth's blade. Sephiroth merely stood there, smirking down at Cloud, holding his sword with one hand. Cloud's muscles exerted as he pushed into what felt like a solid wall.
"Firaga!" Aerith yelled, an inferno of fire raging at the silver-headed, fallen angel. Without looking, he waved his free hand and it dissipated into nothing. Cloud's eyes widened in shock and Aerith's staff faltered for a moment. Sephiroth chuckled. He released his grip and vanished, reappearing behind Cloud. He fired a ball of dark energy at Cloud's back. Cloud heard the spell, and rolled forward with his momentum. The spell whizzed over his head and smashed into Aerith, sending her fifteen feet backward in a smokey roll.
"Aerith!" Cloud yelled before snapping his head back at his opponent. "Sephiroth!" They locked blades again.
"Cloud, don't you realize it? I'm more powerful than you could even comprehend. With this-" he floated slightly in the air, an aura forming around him.
"New …" he continued between pauses, floating higher off the ground, his sword pointing downward towards Cloud. His hair began to defy gravity.
"Power …" The air trembled around Cloud and Sephiroth, rough chips of stone and dirt floating upward. The power and energy began to center at the tips of their swords.
"I will destroy you … or I will exploit your inner darkness," he said. The energy coalesced and imbued into Sephiroth's sword, and then there was silence save the breath of the wind … "Die."
A massive explosion rocked the Altar, sending Cloud flying a hundred feet away through the air, flying over enemies and friends alike. Sephiroth hovered over a crater in the ground before vanishing. Cloud hit the ground hard and rolled another twenty feet, his buster sword clanging away from him, his clothes smoking and holey in small spots. A large burn covered his exposed left arm and multiple cuts were found about his body.
"S- Sephiroth …" Cloud barely muttered. The worlds dimmed in and out, his vision blurred and sparkled. His blinked his eyes in rapid succession, just enough to see Aerith fly into a pillar next to him, the beam crumbling from the force. Bits of stone flew his way, but nothing big enough to hurt him. He rolled weakly away from a beam of energy that came forth from Sephiroth's masamune. Cloud reached our with nimble fingers and gripped his sword. He stood up and readied his weapon. Sephiroth merely looked at him like he was getting bored with a new toy.
"Cloud, I will admit one thing about you: you're persistent. Maybe that will be the death of you!" he screamed, thrusting forward and then vanishing in a whirl of feathers. Cloud whipped around, anticipating the former SOLDIER to be behind him … except he wasn't. Cloud suddenly looked up and saw the gleam of Sephiroth's blade. He backed up clumsily, only for Sephiroth to appear behind him.
Slash.
Blood dripped down Cloud's sliced back. He arced his muscles in when Sephiroth appeared in front of him. With a smile, the fallen angel uppercut Cloud high into the air. Then, the fallen angel was rising.
In a series of flashes this is what happened:
Cloud felt a sword pierce his arm, remove, then slash his stomach. They stayed in propelled in air as Sephiroth flashed around Cloud, hacking at his body in different spots. Blood sprayed and his clothes were tattered. Then, Sephiroth's blade disappeared, and it was simply replaced with his fists. Punch (and even kick) after punch (and kick) connected into Cloud's body like a freight train. Crack. He felt a rib break. Then, hands closed around his throat, and they soared into the sky.
"Cloud," Sephiroth said as his body began to glow again, his hair floating outward. Cloud looked up wearily. Sephiroth was barely even phased by the fight, by the exertion of power. "Cloud, I want you to know that you gave birth to me. I am your darkness, and that in the end, I WON!" In a cataclysmic explosion, Cloud was launched from Sephiroth. He flew through the air, heading back down to the alter, his clothes from the waist and up disintegrated, leaving burns all around his muscled torso. He slammed into the ground and then the rest became darker until it eventually went black.
HoL:TS
"Oh-wehehehe!" the clown cackled as he summoned very fiery Heartless around him, dancing with them while the Joker just looked at him.
"So this is Kefka?" Merideth whispered to Leon.
"Yeah. None of us have ever met him before. Only Mickey knew about him, and even then, I don't know how," Leon answered. Kefka twirled one of the Flame Shadow Heartless, dipped it, and then kissed it, the creature exploding at that moment. Another shriek of laughter.
"OH, how I just LOVE it when they do that!" he said in what could be described as an over excited girl's voice. Actually, that was pretty accurate. Merideth's bow was at the ready, an arrow nocked. Lea's chakrams were aflame, but she didn't see that as being useful for this; maybe for the Joker. Leon and Yuffie stood side by side, weapons ready.
"Looks like it's just me," The Joker said. He brought out ceramic baby doll. Merideth noticed it looked like something she used to own as a little girl. A ragdoll named Lady. They used to-
The Joker threw it.
The ceramic crashed at their feet. Merideth saw the cracks break the face apart, and then it exploded into a gust of gas. Tears welled and began to pour down her eyes, her throat stung as she hacked and coughed and her skin became irritated. Before she knew it, the Joker was in front of her, the gas dissipating. He sliced her stomach with a dagger, and then back flipped, kicking her chin up as he did so with his heeled boot. He landed and adjusted his purple pinstriped suit, and waved back his green hair. A scarred smile, a permanent smile, Merideth noticed.
"HEY! No having fun without ME!" Kefka screamed, feigned hurt on his face. His Heartless engaged Leon, Yuffie and Lea.
"Handle that newbie, bro," Kefka cackled, sending a massive fireball at the trio. After that, he skipped to his prey, singing Rain Drops Keep Falling on my Head. Merideth healed her wound and put her bow away, bringing out her two slim, long daggers. The sheaths were on her back, attached to her quiver and bow "sheath." She had replaced her sword with two longer-than-average daggers.
"Oh? We're gonna get close? I don't mind that," the Joker said as he ran forward at her. Merideth had been practicing her close-quarters-combat, but it seemed the Joker was good at it too, despite his middle-aged appearance. As they're blades connected, he began to talk to her.
"You know, Kefka and I were not on the same world for a long time. When he left his world, he came and found me in mine, and let me tell you, that was fun," he said as he ducked under a swipe from Merideth, popped back up and grabbed his coat. A flower on it then squirted a liquid onto her shoulder and neck. And it began to burn. It was acid of some sort.
"Ouch, that's gotta hurt," he commented. As her skin did no more than blister and burn, she readied as he brought the dagger down. With that, they began to practice their swordplay again. And apparently, The Joker continued his story.
"Well, in my world, I was forced to be around … the villainous type all the time. And on more than one occasion did I have to protect myself. Well, while getting my reputation, I had to learn. I had to get better," he said as she cut his arm. His face contorted into pain, but his scars kept that smile, that makeup kept it. He dodged another swipe and punched her in the gut.
"Too bad I can't do magic like my brother. Well … he did go through a lot to get it, hehe," he smiled even wider. Merideth found it hard to look at him, and he noticed. He swerved around another swipe and broke her right arm. He kicked the other blade from her left hand and held them close, bringing the blade to her mouth.
"Why do you look at me like I'm a monster? Do I scare you?" he asked exaggeratedly, pressing the blade into her skin, slightly. She whimpered.
"You wanna know how I got these scars?" he asked. She simply stood there, fearing her would giver her her own scars.
"I asked you a question," he said calmly, slowly cutting her mouth, making it a bit wider. She squealed and nodded. The pressure let off.
"My dad was drinker and fiend. Well, one night, he goes a bit crazier than usual, and he grabs the kitchen knife, and well, my mom didn't like that, not one bit. And just like you and I, he holds it up to her. And then there's little old me, standing there and looking at them. Daddy looks over to me and says, why so serious? Well, Merideth, why so serious!" he cackled.
"How do you know my name?" she said as he brought the dagger out. He chuckled.
"Cliché villain, baby. I know things. You were also on the roster for the Cup. That was the giveaway," he said, bringing the blade back up to her bleeding mouth.
"So, he tells me, why so serious? I didn't know what to answer, but I can show you what it felt like. He was all so serious. As he began to cut, oh so slowly," she shrieked as the blade sliced deeper. She kicked him away and the blade dropped from his hand. She healed her wound and felt it. No scar, and she was happy for that, but the fire of her broken arm flared. He sighed.
"I thought we were going to be friends, Merideth? Oh well."
And they continued to fight.
HoL:TS
A massive fireball flew at them. Leon dodged to his right in a roll with Lea as Yuffie went left. The blazing inferno soared past them, and Leon could feel the hairs on his arms singe from the intensity. Before Leon could even take another breath the Heartless were upon them. He continued to roll and sprang to his legs, slicing down a row of Heartless as he did so. They dissipated as more were incinerated by Lea. A circle of Neoshadows surrounded them, only for Yuffie's shuriken to cycle around and destroy them. Kefka merely watched.
"C'mon, let's see what you've got!" he cackled, summoning more and bigger Heartless. Flames erupted as fire versions of Invisibles appeared. Swords laced with fire hacked malevolently at Leon and Lea. Seeing as how Lea couldn't fight with his fire right now, he ended up using his chakrams normally and with different blizzard and water spells. Sparks ignited as Leon's sword scraped on an Invisible's. Sweat rolled down his face as the Invisibles swarmed around the trio, the heat coming off of them like a summer sun. Leon rolled forward with a slice to one of their abdomens, darkness leaking out. A kunai whizzed through its head as he engaged another Invisible.
Yuffie was using her signature shuriken in conjunction with another large on. She was disappearing left and right, throwing them through Heartless after Heartless, her smoke merging with the smoke of dead Heartless. Her shurikens were becoming too hot to touch, so a quick Water spell cooled them down. They hissed on contact with an Invisible's head. A sword whistled down. She back flipped and threw two shurikens in a crossing pattern. The Heartless disappeared as she landed, launching another three kunai. They hit their marks and her hands reached out knowingly, catching her shurikens from behind her back. She twisted around, engaging a Heartless in close-quarters-combat.
Lea was faring off quite well without his fire magic. Kefka continued to watch, but Lea noticed that Kefka was getting … impatient. The spikes of his chakrams punctured the heads and chests of different Heartless. He slew a Knight as Yuffie flipped over it. A bolt from Leon's gunblade blasted by. Lea twisted and ducked, bringing his chakram up into the "heart" of the Heartless. He hurled the chakrams down a row of fiery Shadows and destroyed them all without a problem. The last of the Heartless had been taken care of. The appetizer was over, and the main course was coming up.
"Oh, weheheh! Well done! But let's see even more, shall we? Here I come, ready or not!" he said in his high-pitched voice. He vanished in a whirl of flames and reappeared in the middle of the trio. He snapped his fingers with his other hand on his hip. An explosion rocked them all back away from him. He winked to nobody as he spun around and cast a Firaga at Lea. He snapped his fingers again, this time behind his back and threw Leon and Yuffie far away from him, summoning a lot of Heartless in between.
"Let's start with you," Kefka began. Kefka turned away from a chakram thrown his way. "Oh now that's a naughty boy," Kefka said. He threw a lurching tongue of flame at Lea. It smacked into him and flared, and then it dissipated. Lea was barely phased.
"Fire's my home turf," Lea said cockily.
"Well, I guess I might have to diversify!" Kefka said, launching a Watega, Blizzaga, Thundaga, two Flares, and a massive Quake to top it off … all at once. All the spells collided into Lea and crumbled him a meter into the ground. Kefka's face took on genuine shock.
"That was quick. How much of the power did the old hag pump into me?" he asked himself. He stepped to the right subtly. A kunai whizzed past his ear, the wind ruffling a strand of his hair. He turned slowly around to face Yuffie. Leon was dealing with a fiery Darkside.
"So, you want some, too, lassie? Well, okaaaay," he said. Eight pillars of flame erupted from the stone floor. They revolved around Yuffie at blinding speeds, suffocating her. They slowly closed in towards her. She coughed and hacked for air, falling to one knee and dropping her shuriken. The fire singed at her hair. She looked up with watery eyes to see Kefka walk through the fire as if it weren't there.
"Let's go for something a bit more spectacular," Kefka said. With one finger he picked Yuffie up off of the ground. The pillars closed in, but he launched her high in the air. The pillars all joined into one beam and he thrust it up. It blasted into her body in the sky in a grand explosion, the light gleaming in Kefka's eyes. Then, with a Graviga, he slammed her back into the concrete where she screamed in more pain. Her body was immobile, but her screams racketed the air.
"Oh, zip it," he said, snapping his fingers and duct-taping her mouth. Out of reflex, Kefka caught a bolt of fiery energy fired from Leon. He cocked his head and smiled a wide, happy smile. Slowly, he ate the bolt. Leon watched with incredulity.
"Oh, you thought something like that would hurt me? I'm too awesome for that!" he shouted. He stomped his foot into the ground. A fissure broke in the stone, fire spewing from it. Leon rolled away from it easily. He then surged forward and sliced at Kefka's leg. Kefka not only dodged it, but used the same leg to kick Leon in the cheek, forcing him to spin away and roll on the pavement. Leon stood back up only to reflect a Firaga. Kefka laughed as he danced forward, fire emanating from his hands. He began to spin in circles, launching a bolt of fire at Leon with every revolution. Leon swiped them away in the air, but now Kefka upped it to two bolts, then five, and now ten. It was basically being shot at by a machine gun. Leon was forced to keep a wall of a shell spell in front of him.
"That won't save you forever!" Kefka cackled. He stopped spinning, brought both his hands together and firing a continuous beam of energy into Leon's wall. Leon held it up as much as he could, now being forced back, his boots pushing into the ground, cracking the stone. Kefka stopped and stood up straight.
"Hmph," he muttered and flicked his finger as if he were ridding himself of a fly. A very small ball of light left his finger tips and propelled into Leon's Shellga wall. It blew up in impact and forced Leon to turn away. "That was f- ouch!" Kefka yelled. A chakram and shuriken bounced off of his skull. He brought a hand to the back of his head. Red covered his pale skin.
"What're you two doing back up?" Kefka asked as he turned.
"Elixirs," Yuffie answered.
"I guess I can't make that mistake again!" he said. He brought both his hands together again and-
"Ouch!" he shouted once more. Leon had fired a shot into his back. Kefka huffed in exasperation and turned to face Leon. "You're pretty annoying there, Scarface," he said and then laughed. He went to flick another ball of light when-
"OW!" he shouted. Both of Lea's chakrams had cut into his head.
"Wow, I guess he just got lucky earlier," Yuffie said.
"Yeah, he seems easy to deal with now. How much you wanna bet that he used up all of his energy?" Lea retorted. He and Yuffie shared a high five.
"Guys, don't get-"
"Cocky!? Oh, if it's one thing I hate, except for Mama's Boy, it's when someone does NOT know they're place!" Kefka roared in a very serious voice, a voice that could chill your soul. The ground trembled around him as he rose in the air. Lightning arced around him and fire burned in his eyes. Real fire laced around his hands and the air cracked with energy.
"I think we might have pissed him off," Lea muttered.
"Prepare to DIE!" he shouted. Meteors began to rain from the sky, crashing into the ground. Fire poured and he began to unleash his assault.
HoL:TS
She went straight for Hades.
Luckily for Kairi, everyone else left, too, leaving just Hades in her path. A smug grin was planted on his face, his arms crossed and his hair blew in the subtle wind, but never went out.
"So, back for round two, eh?" Hades asked as he uncrossed his arms and let blue fire encircle them. Kairi held her head up high.
"You won't win this time," she said defiantly, Destiny's Embrace flashing to her hand, her grip tightened around the handle.
"Well let's get to it!" he shouted. In a puff of smoke he was gone, only to reappear behind Kairi like he had in the Cup before he had nearly melted her leg off. She twirled away from him and connected her Keyblade into his stomach. He doubled over slightly, giving Kairi another opportunity to strike him. She brought the Keyblade up and cracked him in the skull. He backed up and shook his head. She lifted her eyebrows and smirked slightly. He huffed.
"Feel the heat baby and move your feet!" he shouted as he flung fire at her in different forms. Balls of fire, streams of fire, shards, pillars … anything. Kairi cast a Reflera for most of it, but had to roll away to dodge the rest. She cast a Blizzaga over her shoulder that went flying into Hades' chest. Heartless pooled up from the ground in front of her, slashing at her with claws, gnashing at her with teeth. Her blade stoically went through them, shredding them into nothing. She vaulted up and over a Large Body, twisting through the air. She landed, facing its back. With one very powerful blow, she sent it flying into Hades where it blew up in darkness. His face contorted into rage.
"Agh! You little brat!" he shouted, summoning a wave of fire to cascade upon her. She curled into a ball and cast a literal shell around her. The fire bathed it and then disappeared, leaving her to stand up unharmed. Confidence shined on her face.
"My turn," she stated. After watching Sora and Riku practice all of the time, she had picked up on a few things. She dashed forward and ducked under a fiery swipe from Hades. Her Keyblade crashed into his gut. Then in a flurry of swipes, she continuously attacked him, forcing him to back up and grunt in pain with every hit. Then with an almighty turn, she landed the haymaker, sending him in a sprawl on the ground.
He slowly got to his feet, fire literally burning in his eyes.
"Enough! PLAY TIME IS OVER!" he screamed. All around them, flames burst from the ground creating a high and impenetrable wall. She was cut off from her friends. His body flared into a bright red, flames sprouting from all over his body. Gargantuan meters of rock and fire flew her way. She ran this way and that, zigzagging through the projectiles. The heat was way too intense for Kairi, sweat beading down her face and back. She finally made it to Hades and cracked him in the head with her Keyblade. It merely bounced off.
"HA! You think you can hurt me now?!" he roared. He crossed his arms and threw them outward, launching her away from him. Then there was a massive rumble throughout not only the Altar, but the world. Cracks formed around the flooring. Kingdom Hearts flared brightly. While she was in the air, a ball of pure golden light was flung from her chest. She breathed in immediately, as if part of her had vanished forever. The form of Naminé began to form as it went through the fires unscathed. And amid Kairi crashing into the pavement, now bleeding from her head. All she could think of was …
Goodbye, Naminé.
She got to her feet and faced her adversary.
"What, you want more?!" he yelled at her.
"You bet I do."
And they fought.
HoL:TS
"Riku! Listen to me, I'll take this big fella on, you go to your pal!" Mickey exclaimed, spinning the Kingdom Key D into a backhand grip and taking a stand against the self-proclaimed King of Evil.
"But-"
"Go, I'll be there before you know it!" the King exclaimed, winking at Riku, who took a quick glance at Ganondorf, who was still sitting on his own chair, eyes closed, showing no interest in him whatsoever.
"Okay, see you in-"Riku began, soon vanishing into thin air, leaving behind a purple gash in space.
"RIKU?!" Mickey called out, only to have a soft voice whisper in his ear.
"I'll be taking him, I do need someone to test my new-found power… for the mission of course," added the sweet and seemingly innocent voice of Muzét as she vanished from behind Mickey and into the very front of the violet gash. "I trust you can handle him… "King of Evil"?" the ethereal young woman teased, her eyes locking into Ganondorf, whose red eyes slowly opened up, looking back at Muzét with an annoyed expression.
"If I must…" Ganondorf said, rising from his sitting position. Muzét giggled and vanished, along with the gash.
"No!" Mickey exclaimed, but it was too late, he realized that before rushing after Riku, he had one person to get rid of. "I'd ask why you are teaming up with Maleficent, but you don't look the talkative type! Let's hurry up, okay? Hoho!" Mickey exclaimed, pointing his blade at the warlock.
"An impressive-looking blade... But nothing more. Would you hear my desire?" Ganondorf asked the king, in his hand forming a sheathed blade. He took the shining handle and pulled it out, poising it in front of him. The sword was of the most pristine silver, glimmering in the failing moon. Its tiered handle was textured, like the flowing, curling hilt and guard that rested upon it. The razor-sharp blade extended about a few feet, resting at a tip that could glimmer in the darkest of nights. "To take this foul blade...and use it to blot out the light forever!" he roared, suddenly lunging at the King with speed unheard of for a man of his size. The shining blade came down, the wind physically cutting the clothes of Mickey even though he had dodged it, the impact causing a flood of darkness to erupt from the ground, clustering and brewing into a pool, whereupon a trio of skeletons arose.
"I must say, if nothing else, that woman has granted me with impressive power… not nearly as much as the one I seek, but impressive nonetheless!" Ganondorf exclaimed, pointing his sword at Mickey. "Stalfos, attack!" exclaimed the warlock, the bare bones of his fallen enemies animated to his will. They were nothing but remains of the armor of their former selves had worn, a large, meat cleaver-like blade in each hand, one that had been meant for Ganon no doubt.
The triple threat mobilized, clanking bones all aiming for the King. Mickey did nothing, merely took a deep breath and waited for them to come to him. They separated and tried to go for a triangle attack, one at the front and one on each side diagonally up. Seeing the pattern as it commenced, Mickey decided to stop the attack before it started. In a moment, he was rushing towards the Stalfos in front of him, jumping above the first sword swing and blocking the second one with a twirl of his blade. Boot met skull moments later as Mickey landed on top of the Stalfos' head.
"You want me? Come and get me, hoho!" Mickey exclaimed, knowing he was dealing with things without a literal brain. Sure enough, Mickey saw as both of them swung at him, chuckling and jumping out of the Stalfos, who got his skull smashed to smithereens. "And now… Light!" Mickey cried out, holding his Keyblade upwards. Suddenly, multiple orbs of the purest Light shot upwards from the tip off the Key, arcing midway into the sky, where they seemed to lock-on to the Stalfos, homing in on the skeleton soldiers, the impact of the Rain of Light leaving them with no articulations but their jaw. As Mickey landed, he found himself surprised to see two bodiless heads jump up to him, crackling for his ears.
"Stubborn, aren't ya?" he asked before eliminating them with a swift spinning slash. "Now, for that Ganondorf fella!" Mickey told himself. However, the King found himself unable to locate Ganondorf, the man having apparently vanished.
"Impressive… for a rodent!" Ganondorf half-congratulated, the dark king walking out of a twilight portal. The King darted his body around, barely having time to comprehend that the edge of Ganondorf sword was crashing down on him. He blocked it… and regretted it immediately. The sheer might behind the sword was too much for him to even slow down. Before he knew it, his small body had been crushed downwards, breaking through the floor and still plummeting at an unbelievable speed. It was only after breaking through not one, not two, but THREE floors of the castle that Mickey finally lost enough momentum to simply crack the ground.
"Holy moley that hurt…" Mickey gasped as soon as his senses return. A quick glance showed him to be at the center of Where Nothing Gathers, the thirteen chairs haunting them, still pristine, yet empty as their owners once were. The sound of flames fully awakened Mickey. He trusted his sixth sense and did his best to roll to the side, just barely escaping Ganondorf as he came crashing down on a divekick cloaked in dark flames. The ground exploded at contact, violet shockwaves hurling Mickey into midair, the mouse monarch hitting Xemnas' former chair harshly, barely holding on to his consciousness.
"You call yourself a King? You, like all monarchs I meet, cannot even grasp that name!" Ganondorf boomed, his foot being removed from the molten hole of violet it had created on its impact. "You are weak! Weak rulers create nothing but weak people! My might has created the Gerudo, the mightiest soldiers of all humankind, with this power I will create the mightiest soldiers of all existance!" Ganondorf exclaimed, walking—no, stalking—towards the highest pillar in the room. Mickey slowly came to notice that Ganondorf seemed to have a crack in his armor. A crack that was filled by the same silver light as his sword. "And contrary to that hateful princess… there is no fairy boy to come to your RESCUE!" boomed the demon king as he drove his boot into the pillar, dark lightning coursing through it and the white pillar for a mere moment before detonating into a massive blast. White dust and rubble covered the entire room, something that did nothing but hatch a plan into Mickey's head as he was tumbling down.
"Now you see me!" Mickey exclaimed, bolting out of the fog just to land one good hit on the side of the Dark King's torso and vanish again into the white mist that he had created. "Now you don't!" Just to take advantage of his superior speed and the lack of vision and get one good hit on that crack.
"Slippery little… RAT!" Ganondorf suddenly roared, swinging his right fist to his left RIGHT as Mickey had jumped out of the fog, aiming for the crack in his armor. Sound seemed to dissipate from the room and time slowed down for Mickey as the hand slowly pushed into his chest, cracking all the way through. With lightning and a shockwave that blew the dust cloud away, Mickey was sent flying at a supersonic speed against Roxas' pillar, annihilating the middle portion of it with the impact. Just afterward, Ganondorf cried out a battle cry, from his blade a ball of pure light erupting towards Mickey. Forcing himself to respond, the Kingdom Key D swung down on the magic blast.
"Right back at ya!" Mickey exclaimed, throwing the attack into his owner's direction with his own light enhancing it.
"I have seen that before!" Ganondorf boomed, darkness forming around his blade of light. With a roar that was not human, one that was far more terrifying, shaking King Mickey's heart and soul, he reflected the sphere, turning it completely black in the process. Mickey couldn't block the sphere, he could only cry out in pain as Light and Darkness sizzled his body. As if that wasn't enough, Ganondorf grabbed his neck midair just as the attack ended, ordering him: "VANISH INTO DARKNESS!" As he slammed Mickey into the floor with bursting darkness, cracking the entire room with its impact. Yet, it was his one, fatal mistake.
"G-gotcha now…" Mickey stuttered out, unclasping his hand from the Kingdom Key D. The Keyblade now stood right where he wanted it to be. Inside of the crack in Ganondorf's armor. For a moment, Ganondorf's face was one of not pain, but terror. He stalked backwards, grabbing onto the Key, but doing nothing to pull it out. He was trembling, and Mickey knew he won.
Ignorance.
"I… see!" Ganondorf shouted, breaking out into laughter. "I will not die with so little! I see! HIS power flows through me stronger than ever before! That witch merely unlocked it!" Mickey lay in silence at the display of both madness and joy, unable to respond. "I thank you Mouse Monarch! You have shown me the light! You have tested my powers, and for that, I shall give you the greatest honor!" Ganondorf's body darkened, bubbled, grew… molding itself. The sound of cracking bones filled the room. The sound of flesh sizzling and vanishing. The sound of creation and destruction. The cry of the cycle death and rebirth. A cry that became a roar. When it was all over, a gigantic colossus towered above mickey, its reverberating voice beckoning the Dark Ages.
"BEHOLD MY TRUE IDENTITY! I AM GANON, KING OF DARKNESS!" in the face of such a grotesque form, Mickey only uttered:
"Holy Ham Sandwich…"
HoL:TS
Riku's face made contact with the unrelenting floor below, the adrenaline making his body numb to pain. He stood back up in seconds, Way to Dawn in hand, studying the environment. He was in a… swirling white vortex of energy it seemed. Much like a whirlpool, the energy spun around while swirling into a center. Riding along the current were multiple gray platforms, destroyed remains of the world above, parts of buildings, the castle the street. At the center of it all was a single, large sphere of a material much akin to diamond, the slight transparency showing a brilliant red-toned object floating on the inside. Riku finally understood.
"The chamber of the World That Never Was' heart?" he assumed, a flash of azure crossing his eyes.
"My, aren't you humans knowledgeable nowadays? I am glad I took Maleficent's hand, how else would I stop you?" Muzét mused, the winged woman twirling in midair above Riku, winking at him before landing on the destroyed building floating next to Riku's piece of the pavement.
"The hell are you on about?" Riku exclaimed, gaining his fighting stance. Muzét giggled, leaning on her right hand.
"Now why would I tell a primate like you?" she asked in a tone you'd think she was doting over Riku, not toying with him.
"Fine, you don't wanna talk, I'll make you talk!" Riku blew up, rushing towards the edge of the pavement and soaring with a leap towards his enemy. Coating his blade with darkness, he slashed at Muzét, the girl sighing as he did. Before his very eyes, Muzét vanished into thin air, leaving no trail for him to follow. Landing on the building, Riku tried to look around for clues, but was instead greeted by a large amount of azure hair strands circling around his neck, arms and legs, locking them in place.
"Now, will you behave?" Muzét asked, her left cheek rubbing into Riku's right while she caressed his left one with her hand. "You know not of my mission, so I have no reason to end you. Just… use you." The very last line was said in a tone that reminded Riku more of Xemnas' emotionless speeches than the softness of the rest, it was tone that chilled body and soul. However, he was hardly impressed.
"So your power… is to control your hair? That's hardly threa-"
Splash.
Riku could not believe what he was seeing. A blood coated tuft of hair, thicker than his own fist yet sharp as his own blade, now traversed THROUGH his abdomen and waggled in front of him playfully, proceeding to caress his chin, staining it with Riku's own blood.
"You were saying?" Muzét questioned as Riku gargled in his own blood. "Now, why don't you go clean yourself?" With that, she commanded her hair to simply throw Riku off the edge of the building they stood and into the stream below. Riku, even in his shocked state knew that if he fell into that pool he'd be washed away into the heart of the world, being fully assimilated into it, so his own instincts propelled his hand to grab onto one of the windows on the side of the apartment, his feet being the only part of his body to ever touch the liquid energy bellow, even then he could feel his boots being corroded.
Ignoring his wound for now while still had the adrenaline going, Riku darted towards the top of the building as fast as his legs would carry him, pulling back his Keyblade and aiming it at where he knew Muzét would pop her head. As soon as he saw the beginnings of her hair, he wasted no time in hurling it with all his might, Muzét's shocked expression feeding into Riku's confidence…
Then she vanished.
Riku's Keyblade missed its vanishing mark and instead twirled around in the air to return to Riku's hand, the Keyblade Wielder landing on one knee on the crumbling roof, clutching to his gaping wound.
"Your darkness seems to be doing its work quite nicely. It is good that you didn't disappoint me," Muzét said, her eyes focusing on Riku's abdomen. Riku cursed inwardly when he realized she was right. Darkness had indeed taken over his body at that particular place, a dark mist dissipating from the now good-as-new torso. He disliked the methods, but he couldn't argue they had saved him. "Still you would kill me with that blade… I won't accept any apology!" the muse taunted from a nearby electricity pole, looking down on the kneeling opponent with mockery and glee. Before Riku could think of a witty comeback, he noticed that for the first time since he had landed, he felt… air. A multitude of green glyph lines circled the elf-eared girl in tandem with her chant:
"Gales of the mighty, carve through the wicked! Cyclone!" Crying out the name of the spell, Muzét summoned fourth a gigantic whirling gale of destruction. Doing his best to not be taken by the wind, Riku carved his weapon into the roof of the building as it and various other debris got ripped from the current and thrown into the skies. "Dance! Dance!" Muzét commanded, waving her hands to change the direction of the winds at her will.
Riku looked on the opposite direction of where the winds where going and then into the center of the storm, the electrical pole where his enemy lay. He smiled, nodding to himself as a large piece of pavement neared. He rushed off the building and leaped towards the diagonally placed pavement. The winds changed, yet they almost served Riku's purposes. He ran across the pavement and took another leap of faith, rebounding on a stray wall, swinging around on a telephone pole, landing on an upside down building while chanting a gravity spell in-between breaths, running through the reversed plateau like nothing. He knew he was approaching the eye of the storm with the amount of things being thrown at him. However, he didn't see obstacles, but steps. Kicking, flipping, jumping, rebounding, spinning, running, he used the pavement, walls, buildings and poles to finally get Muzét in sight.
"You picked the wrong guy to test your skills on!" Riku exclaimed, crashing down on Muzét, who instead of disappearing had to block his blade with a shield of her own strands.
"And why would that be?" she giggled, a tuft of hair grabbing onto Riku's ankle and throwing him back into the storm but this time, Muzét took flight to follow him. Using her hair as makeshift whips, she attacked Riku from all directions while flying across the maelstrom, yet the Keyblade Wielder not only blocked them all, but managed to distance himself from her, the two landing on opposite sides of a diagonally placed full building.
"Because I can use Darkness… and everything about you screams light!" Riku exclaimed, pointing his arm at Muzét, for the first time seeing an expression of shock and dare We say fear.
"No! Stay away!" she exclaimed, veritable spears of her hair erupting beneath Riku's feet. He had not seen the hair extend into the ground in time. However, his regeneration from the darkness mended his tendons just in time to allow him to dash forward faster than the hair could keep up. His hand flared up in Darkness as he awaited the best time to use it. Muzét's hair did one final stand, five tufts spearing towards him, yet, in an unknown control of the darkness for Muzét, Riku put it's all into a single teleportation spell, appearing right on the woman's front, mere centimeters away.
"DARK FIRAGA… BURST!" he roared, throwing the incandescent fist towards the woman's distraught eyes. He knew he had won. Nothing weak against Darkness could survive a point blank blast of this magnitude.
Until Muzét grabbed the attack with her bare hand.
"I'm sorry to disappoint…" she smiled gently as Riku's flames were consumed, no, absorbed into her. "But my sister is the Spirit of Light. I rule over DARKNESS!" with one sudden push, Riku's wrist had been broken backwards, the pain numbing his senses and getting him on his knees. "However, you are hardly a threat that necessitates my primary element. I shall end you right now!" Muzét boomed, flying towers in the center of the storm, red glyphs spiraling around her. As she reached it, she rose her arms into the ceiling and began yet another cursed chant: "Fly to the horizon and etch your name unto fate! Sunburst!" she called down not flames, she called down not a meteor, no, she called down a veritable SUN of smaller proportions from the gates of the magic, Riku unable to do anything but stare in awe as the miniature star cracked open and unleashed a cataclysmic torment of flames.
"Dark Barrier!" Riku cried out before being engulfed by the flames.
"This power surely is… incredible! With this I can finally accomplish my goal!" standing on top of the swirling ruins, the muse looked at her hands with glee, her power surpassing her wildest expectations. Suddenly, her ears twitched at the sound of breaking glass. From inside the remains of the building where they had fought, Riku slowly emerged.
"W-what kind of goal would make you shake hands with that witch?!" Riku cried out, demanding an explanation for all this.
"I see, so you used the apartment to shield you. Intelligent little human. Very well, I shall grant you a treat," said Muzét, shaking her hair back into her normal, slick and beautiful hairstyle before sitting on an inexistent chair, legs crossed. "I was created by my Lord Maxwell with but one purpose in mind. To keep any being from harming or discovering the schism, a certain area that keeps the balance of spirits and humans in my home world. However, humans as of late have grown… greedy, vile and most importantly, powerful. Maleficent offered me power beyond my imagination. One that I could use to smite humans and spirits alike that dared to grow beyond their bounds. And of course, I accepted. The mission is all. So said Lord Maxwell!"
Riku didn't know if to laugh or yell at the woman's sheer… disregard for anything other than herself. It was like she was trapped in her own little world, moving the rest like chess pieces on a large board. A chuckle escaped him.
"What is so funny?" Muzét asked, for the first time aggression slithering into her voice.
"It's just that… how can you be so damn ignorant? So self-centered! You'd give Maleficent power over all worlds just for your insignificant mission to keep balance in one world?! And to do it by force?!" Riku exclaimed, laughing yet burning on the inside. It was so sickening it had come full circle.
Little did he know, he had rattled the cage of a beast.
"My… life… is not… INSIGNIFICANT! I am the mission. It is my sole purpose! And you have far lost yours!" she shrieked like a banshee on its last legs, her eyes bloodshot and pupils dangerously dilated. Taking the hint, Riku knew he had to act now. "Oh tune of nature, follow my baton! Elemental Hymn!" she cried out, wings and arms shooting forward, creating four planetoid-like objects, one of the color of each of the basic elements, fire, water, wind and earth, all of them homing in at Riku. Riku dodged the first one and infused his feet with darkness as he jumped across the massive gap between him and Muzét. Kicking the side of one of the spells, he not only gained impulse but dodged the rest as they collided with each other. Then, again, he kicked the very air itself to gain even more impulse, barreling towards his opponent.
"If your element is darkness, take this, my light! Blade Charge!" putting all of his light and energy into his Keyblade, it flared up into a pillar of light that edged outwards like a blade. Riku released a battle cry and slammed it on Muzét's side… breaking it.
"Your light is weak, traitor!" Muzét sneered, appearing right in front of Riku, immobilizing his head with her hands and chanting: "Open and collapse everything into the abyss forever! Gravity Well!" a gigantic sphere of darkness formed around Riku, causing the gravity around him to increase thousandfold, Riku crashing into the ground, unable to move as Muzét looked down with a blank stare. "You humans are a threat…" she whispered, turning and looking at the world's heart. "I must eliminate each and every single one that has seen me with Maleficent…" It took a while for Riku to understand what she meant. His eyes bulged out and he made the king of all efforts to even speak, such was the pressure of the spell.
"W-what are you trying to-"
"Trying? You speak as if it is something even slightly challenging for a Greater Spirit to destroy a world's heart!" Muzét screeched, apparently really affected by even an insinuation, her head twitching to the side along with her eye. "You disgusting, dreadful, filthy, dirty, human!" It was by this time that Riku realized that she was, indeed, completely unstable.
"You'll kill us all!" Riku cried, his head then slamming on the ground due to the pressure.
"All of you that is… now Riku, watch as I show you the true power of Darkness!" Muzét exclaimed, her white energy turning black as night while she raised a single finger while floating above the world's heart. "All shall be purged…"a flicker of darkness appeared above Muzét's finger, quickly deflating into a large sphere of dark energy. "Eternity calls upon you…" as the ball grew, several smaller flickers of darkness orbited around it, as if it had become a star. "Your fatal prison awaits!" the sphere grew until it occupied more than half the cave, the screeching sound of glass cracking raping Riku's brain. "Event Horizon!" with those two words, Muzét shattered Riku's reality. The tidal explosion of concentrated darkness did not only completely consume Muzét and the heart of the world, but it cracked into and through the Space-Time continuum, opening up what Riku could only guess to be a gateway for the Lanes In-between.
Riku's thought process slowed down, his brain turning off all restrictions and any and all moral qualms, for a mere second as the cataclysmic explosion was nigh.
"Please… my Darkness… just this once…"
The Castle That Never Was was hardly exempt from the damage at the center of the world. If anything, it was the most affected party in the entire world. Moments after Muzét's final cry, the castle shook heavily, like the strongest of earthquakes had just hit it. But that was just the beginning, the explosion had damaged the very fabric of the realm the world was on, as well as completely shatter its heart, which lead to parts of the space inside and outside the castle to simple crack open and break, revealing pathways to places and realms unknown. As if that was not enough, after a few moments, the expanding blast finally reached the surface, destroying the entirety of the lower floors while also claiming the right wing of the castle instantly. It took nothing else to cause the building to start crumbling quickly.
HoL:TS
At Where Nothing Gathers, Ganon looked to the right, seeing the walls crumble due to the blast and even some of the space around him contort and crack. The beast snorted loudly, spitting:
"THAT WOMAN KNOWS NOT HER BOUNDS! VERY WELL, I MUST TAKE MY LEAVE, MOUSE MONARCH. MAY WE MEET AGAIN!" Ganon boomed, its entire figure becoming obscured by Twilight before warping away, leaving Mickey for dead.
Mickey knew he barely had the strength to move, let alone escape the castle or meet up with his friends. Under normal circumstances, he would be a goner. Yet, he had kept something with him since his days as an apprentice under Yen Sid. Something that had saved his and other apprentice's lives countless times. The Star Shard.
"Golly, I hate to just leave without making sure everybody's okay but… they are all grown up now, I'm sure they'll be back in one piece!" Mickey assure himself, holding up the azure object and closing his eyes as the light took him, bolting into the Lanes In-Between with merely a hope he'd land where he wanted to land, Disney Castle.
HoL:TS
Riku's eyes fluttered open inside the cockpit of the Highwind. His wrist was facing the wrong way, sending sharp twangs of pain up his arm. Blood leaked out of his abdomen and onto the floor. His first thought was:
How the hell did I get here?
His second thought was:
I have to get them all up!
Seeing as only he knew that the world was crumbling more and more by the second, he had to go to the warp room and beam everyone back up. The thing was, that he only had about five minutes. Now, as battered as he was, it would take him a while to get there. No energy or mana to revitalize himself or any potions or ethers to help. No, he just began to crawl. With his left wrist a shattered lump, he grabbed at the floor with his right hand, slowly moving out of the cockpit and down to the warp room.
The video game set was still on from where Lea and Yuffie had been playing. His blood trailed behind him as he picked up the pace, the cold air refreshing his lungs and body. He turned left and came into a long hallway.
Two minutes left.
He didn't notice it, but when he reached out, he fell down some stairs, his broken and battered bones taking even more damage. He coughed bloody phlegm out of his system. He wiped the sweat from his brow and he could feel his breath becoming ragged. He inched closer and closer to the warp room, now only having a minute left.
He turned into it, and luckily for him, the system was still on. He crawled to it with forty-five seconds on the clock. His hand snapped up and gripped at metal. Slowly but surely he got to his feet. The system burned brightly in his eyes, showing the world below. It was falling apart.
It was shattering.
Riku slammed the buttons to return everyone to the ship with only ten seconds to go.
Behind him appeared the forms of Roxas, Naminé, Merideth, Lea, Leon, Yuffie, Cloud and Aerith.
"Sora! Kairi! Mickey?!" Riku gurgled, falling to his knees as the ship rocked heavily. He looked around and watched as The World That Never Was became no more.
His heart broke.
HoL:TS
"See, Sora? You're friends are no more-" The castle shook, and it shook hard. "That puppet of a woman! What has she done!" Maleficent shrieked. Sora's vision flickered in and out. The sword stuck out of him and the blood kept on pouring.
"Well, Sora, what better way for you to die than to be swallowed by supreme darkness?" she asked, lifting his eyes to meet hers. Hate boiled in him.
"Even if I die, my friends will destroy you. They'll avenge me!" he stated. But could they?
"I will see to it personally that they all either die or become my slaves for all eternity," she said. In a wisp of shadow and flame, she was gone. Just then, the roof crumbled. The debris slammed into the floor and broke it, sending him down deeper into the castle. It was about three minutes later that he heard weeping.
"Hello?" he shouted out into the darkness. There was a gasp of shock, and then from around a pile of rubble, Kairi emerged.
"SORA!" she screamed, running to him. The sword lay dislodged about a few feet from his body. She saw his wounds and scrambled around in her pockets. She found a potion and an ether. It was enough to save him from dying. Sora was thankful as she propped his body up and against the smooth wall behind him. His hair lay down in bloody clumps. Dirt covered his skin, along with cuts and burns. He was a wreck. Kairi was also a wreck, just like him. And he smiled, because she still looked beautiful.
"Sora, come on, we've got to go!" she said.
"It's no use, Kai. There's no way out," he coughed, blood falling out and onto his shirt.
"Don't talk like that," she chastised.
"You're right, but where can we go?" he asked. She looked around and realized he was right.
"We just have to wait," she said. She got down beside him and laid into his shoulder. His head rested on hers. The world had about a minute left.
"Kairi, just in case we don't make it out …" he muttered as the world decompressed and rumbled.
"What?" she said, tears in her eyes. She looked at him long and hard. His small and weak hand graced her face. He smiled as tears cleaned his dirty cheeks.
"I've always loved you," he said. His ocean blue eyes wavered.
"I- I- I love you, too," she stuttered, as she began to sob. Her head leaned into his chest.
And they cried into the darkness, silently.
And then, something happened. And as quickly as it came, it was gone. In one fleeting moment, Sora and Kairi were enveloped in a bright, white light. And the next second, they were gone.
Without a trace.
HoL:TS
Maleficent stood in one of the highest council chambers of Barad-dûr. Rage boiled inside of her. She had to leave one final blow on her adversaries. With one finite command, she ordered Kefka, the Joker, and Wesker to lead her entire Heartless army to wipe out the Destiny Islands.
"Leave not a single thing alive," she muttered. And so they went.
TN: I just got a letter from Herald.
TUH LETTER: Before I forget, everyone, I wrote two fights in this chapter! Let's play a game!
TN: Oh no ... You all heard the letter, get to guessing!
TN: Oh, and there's a post script.
TUH PS: Nobody cares, Nathan.
TN: We'll see you in ...
Chapter XXIV: The Battle for Destiny Islands: Tears upon the Flaming Sand
May the Love of Anuwëy guide you when all Hope is lost
TorNathan
The Unknowing Herald