Chapter 123: We are One
As soon as night had fallen, Heartless had begun to invade the Pride Lands, infecting all of the life while they marched their way to Pride Rock, a group of lionesses following behind. It was bad enough to find that Kiara had literally managed to dig herself out of Pride Rock so that she could go after Kovu, not having any knowledge of where she is, but now they had to protect the kingdom from the shadowy invaders. Ventus could only shiver in fear as he fought some of the Neoshadows, he could only just manage to fight the heartless, stepping back from them, making sure that they were not surroundings him, losing his grip on his keyblade every now and again from the appearance of a heartless. He could see that Simba and his lionesses were taking some out, but they would only return unless he defeated them.
He slashed at the Neoshadows, watching them disappear, before he saw the group of mud cover lionesses heading towards them. "Simba!" Ventus shouted for the King, his fur soaked to the bone as battled against the Heartless Lions and Neoshadows, the rain falling just as heavy as the enemies' strikes. He could only watch as the Lionesses jumped the King of Pride Rock viciously. "Light!" The blonde cub embodied himself with light, spearing his way through the heartless to reach Simba's side, fighting away most of the Heartless as the leader of the invasion stood, laughing manically. Ventus turned sharply to face them, rain dropping down his face as the light faded from him. "What do you want?" Ventus demanded.
"What do I—WHAT DO I WANT?" The ring leader yelled, her body dripping with mud. "The fall of your rule! I've dreamt of nothing else!"
"Last time, Zira!" Simba growled. "Go home."
The lionesses only laughed manically as the Heartless began to attack once more, along with her lioness. "I am home." She smirked.
From Pride Rock, Snake could only watch his work in pride. Not only was he able to use Zira to distract Simba and the keybearer but he had distracted the petty Storm to going after his sister without any protection to saving himself. He chuckled at this, whether Zira succeed or not, he would have already unbalanced the world for her fight to be in vain, the pride will destroy itself and the very nature of the world with it. And once he was done, Ventus would be too tired from his fight with the heartless to deal with him as well, allowing the Endless to grab him and take the final element to his dear Dark Master. He turned into the cave where the lions sleep and slammed his claw in the ground, creating blue shadows to cover the walls, covering every rock until the keyhole shone. The Persistence Endless smirked at the sight, "The lions eat the prey and then the Endless kill the lions." He chuckled. "All that is due in time as the GREAT circle of life." His claws lifted to the unbalanced keyhole, beginning to unbalance the world to its last stage.
"Shield!"
Snake was shocked to see that a blue shield covered the keyhole, blocking him from messing with the realms on the world. He growled at this as he turned back, only to see a silver colour teen lion, glaring at the transformed humanoid. "So you finally came down..." Snake adjusted his hat before looking back at the cub. "You don't stand a chance against me."
"It doesn't matter if I beat you." The silver cub snared. "The minute Simba and Ventus finish with the invaders, they will come here."
"They could be fighting all night." Snake pointed out. "A pride that is not united will fight until there is no one left."
"Do you just point out every bad thing?" He said with annoyance.
"It's my nature, boy." Snake told him before pointing his sword at him. "Now, let me direct you to yours."
"Bring it." The cub smirked, summoning his Way to Dawn.
BOWBOWBOW
"Hikari…."
"Hello!" Hikari called out in the dark, her sight gone, the sound of the voice that was calling out to her was her only path out of the darken road but the more she followed the voice, the more the voice sounded of pain, as if the voice was calling to her for help. "Can you hear me?" She shouted, halting in the dark and she needed to gather her strength, struggling to keep the unconscious Sora on her back.
"I—I'm sorry…"
"Sorry-" Hikari could only blink before shouting in the darkness. "WHO ARE YOU?" All she received was the cold silence in the darkness, as if the voice never spoke. She sighed, exhausted, dropping to the ground and she felt Sora's weight roll off of her. Her eyes locked onto Sora, noticing his claw beginning to shine rapidly, creating a small amount of light. "Sora!" She forced herself to his side, beginning to shrug at the teen cub to wake up. "C'mon Sora. Wake up."
"Noo….." Sora muttered in pain.
Hikari only took this as a sign of worry. She could tell that the infected soul was bothering him but it was nice to know that he was only in a sleeping state now, slowing coming back to the conscious world. "Sora! Follow my voice. Fight this!"
"I-it's no use Hikari."
From the small light given, Hikari turned around to the source of the voice, seeing the wet face of a grey snow leopard being barely lit up, his body hid in the darkness. She looked at the leopard in confusion before recognizing similar features being the leopard's eyes and grey infected claw. She didn't move as she glared at him. "Sakuzy." She simply said; no emotion behind his name.
"You're in danger." He told her. "I can help you out."
"Why should I believe you?" Hikari questioned him. "You betrayed us."
Storm only huffed at the comment, groaning slightly as his claw flashed rapidly, creating a small amount of light himself, his infection had grown more across his feline body, covering most of his chest and shoulder area, as well as reaching up to his neck. "A simple lie to get me in the Order. You find out the Order's secrets." He looked at his sister deeply. "I would never betray you."
"Why attack us?" Hikari cut him off, not wanting to let her guard down. "You attacked my friends."
"Snake wanted me to get rid of Brian before he found out the truth here." Storm explained. "I don't know why he wants Brian gone but Snake is determined to outdo the Colonel."
Hikari quickly turned away in thought. She knew the basic history of the Order members. Snake's persistence had always infected him, thinking low on some things and members; as well as knowing the egotistic pride he holds to lead. There has always been a grudge for the Colonel's command from him, she knows that much. But why try and get rid of Brian, there had to be a reason. There had to be another reason Snake was here. She turned back to Sora, stepping towards him as he groaned in pain. "Sora…"
"We have to move." Storm quickly stepped in between Hikari and Sora, his soaked infected body fully exposed to her. He didn't want to waste time with explaining things. "The longer we stay in the Outlands, the sooner we lose ourselves." He said before pushing her away from Sora.
"W-what?" She stepped away from him as she looked at him in confusion. "What about Sora?"
"What about him?" He said coldly, continuing to push her away from the unconscious Sora. "He's doomed anyway. You still have a chance."
"You're leaving him?" Hikari growled at him, not expecting those words to come from her brother.
Storm only growled with annoyance, his claw flashing. "Hikari! We don't have time to waste."
"I'm not leaving without Sora!" Hikari protested. "It's my fault he's down here in the first place."
Storm ran up to Hikari's face, growling viciously his sister's face, catching her off-guard. "Stop being stupid, Kari! I'm your brother! You have to listen to me!"
"Why should I?" She held her ground, though the thoughts of fighting her brother were nerve wreaking altogether.
"Because Sora will kill you!" He roared, his voice echoed through the gorge, the shout leaving Hikari speechless. "He will kill you and everyone else. You saw him at African Depths, he lost himself. I will not let you get killed." The rain continued to fall, their fur heavy from the raindrops. The sounds of the dropping water and the groans of pain covered them as the two remained in silent; one stared in disbelief while the other waited for a response.
Hikari shook her head before pushing the leopard aside, looking back at him. "The Endless of surprises." She chuckled. "They got you down to the bone." She said to before looking away. "My brother would never leave anyone behind. I clearly remember dragging him away when Zidane was staying behind to stop the Heartless. But you have forgotten that…you have forgotten who you are."
"I am who I am." He clearly said.
"You are." She nodded, looking back at him. "You are Storm, one of the Endless' Order members." With nothing else to say, she turned away and headed back over to Sora. She knew that the virus had consumed her brother, all that she was looking at was his virus, oblivious fulfilling the heart's last wishes, knowing that some Order members have some honour to their originals. She kneeled beside the aching Sora, trying to get him back on her back to continue her journey into the dark. She didn't want to give up and she defiantly didn't want to leave Sora on his own, she had to get back to the gummi as fast as she could. Only when she fell down again, she felt the weight of Sora behind lift off of her. She looked back up, to see the infected Storm placing the white-brownish cub onto his back, as being a slightly larger leopard allowed him to carry Sora with no problem. "You're helping now?" she questioned.
"I'm sorry, Kari." Storm said with sorrow as he made sure that Sora wasn't going to fall off. "I don't have much time and I just want you safe." He told her. "There's just one thing I want you to promise." He said as he placed his claw forwards, creating a small selections of lights, lighting up the gorge.
"What's that?" Hikari asked.
"Aghhhh!" Sora's yells over cut the Shock Endless off, his painful screeches were painful to the feline ear and the Keyblade Master simply jumped off Storm's back and ran through the gorge, his body turning into shadows.
Storm could gasp in shock. "Damn it." He cursed. "The soul's torments must have sent Sora to his anti-form mode."
"We have to stop him." Hikari began to run after the Anti-lion cub, only to halt and look back at her infected brother. "Are you with me or not?" She questioned.
Storm didn't waste a second to follow.
"Aghhhh!"
Brian and Kairi quickly halted, their feline bodies soaked to the bone, only minutes after separating with Kovu and Kiara by the water dam. Brian's ears was the first to perk to the sudden noise, quickly looking down at the darken gorge, only to see small lights form at the ground. "Kairi! I found something."
Kairi quickly rushed over to Brian's side, looking down at the small lights being formed. The Princess of Light didn't waste time summoning her Oathkeeper and pointing her keyblade down there. "Holy!" Six spheres of light entered the gorge, lighting the path up. "There!" Kairi pointed out the three figures. The first was a shadowed lion cub covered in white markings, heading at a great speed to the water dam while two snow leopards followed its trail, the larger one being nearly covered in grey shadowed markings.
Brian quickly looked at the scene. "Hikari!" He sighed in relief before turning to watch the shadow lion crash into the water dam. "Crap! Not again!"
Sensing Brian's worry, Kairi turned to face him. "What do we do?"
"We can only be support for now." He growled with annoyance. "The important thing is to make sure the dam doesn't break." He said as he pointed out that the Anti-Sora was beginning to clash at the dam. "If that dam breaks, they'll get washed away."
"What about Hikari?" She questioned.
Brian looked down again, seeing Hikari summon her Eternal Blade while the leopard beside her summoned Shadows' Grave. He knew that he couldn't interfere in this one, only if things get really bad. "This is something Hikari has to do." He said before summoning his staff. "Get ready to heal."
"Right." Kairi could only nod in agreement, seeing to recognize the other leopard.
Hikari and Storm cornered Sora into the wooden dam, looking up within the lit up gorge to see two red lion cubs at the ready. Hikari could only smile at the help and sight of her friends. "We need to stop Sora." She said to him, her weapon ready.
Storm grinned at this, having his weapon flying around him. "Like old times."
"Yeah." She smiled. They only watched Sora turn to face them, weapons ready as he turned to pounce.
BOWBOWBOW
"EARTH!"
"EARTHAGA!"
Riku could only groan in frustration as he tried to keep his strength in his magic attack against Snake, as the earth moved wrathfully, the template of Pride Rock itself shaking. It was only when Riku slipped in footing that he lost grip of his spell, the earth hitting him rapidly before sending him crashing outside into the pouring rain, gasping as he tried to catch his breath. "I-I won't lose." He groaned trying to get up.
Snake only chuckled as he adjusted his hat, walking into the rain. "There is no point in fighting." He told him. "After all, the final showdown with the Pride leaders is about to begin." He could only chuckle.
"What?" Riku looked up at the scene in the distance, only to feel a strong presence enter him, hacking his mind and emotions as he only crashed to the ground, looking at the scene in defeat. "We're gonna lose.." He gasped in shock.
Snake could only smirk at his ability effect, placing his boot hard on the silver cub, crushing the animal underneath him as he spoke. "You might as well watch this world fall before I take you out." He only chuckled, watching the battle himself.
On the battlefield, all of the heartless lions had been overcome, falling to the blade of the Wayward Wind and the lionesses. Ventus looked around to see that all of the lionesses had stopped fighting as they all turned to the same point. The Keybearer only looked into that direction to see that Simba and Zira pacing in circles, growling at each other, ready to strike. As the claws rose up, Ventus was surprised to hear sudden roars coming from behind him. He could only duck as a brown lion and golden blonde lioness jumped over him, landing in between Simba and Zira, preventing at the fight. "Kiara! Kovu!" Ventus only sighed in relief; it was looking as if the two had a plan as Kiara faced her father while Kovu faced Zira.
"Move." Zira glared at the brown lion in front of her, only to receive a deadly glare back.
"Get out of the way, Kiara." Simba told his daughter.
"Daddy, this has to stop." Kiara told him, making the Lion King look at her in confusion.
"You're even weaker than I thought. Get out of the way!" Zira demanded Kovu.
"You'll never hurt Kiara…or Simba." Kovu told her before growling. "Not while I'm here." His words seemed to have shocked his dear mother.
"Stay out of this." Simba told his daughter.
"A wise King once told me, 'We are one.'" Kiara began to tell him, she looked around to see that Ventus was smiling back. Seeing that someone could already see what they were trying to do, she continued. "I didn't understand what he meant…now I do."
"But…they.." Simba still seemed confused by his daughter's words.
"Them? Us?" Kiara showed her father the lionesses that were fighting, from both sides. "Look at them. They are us." She told him before facing him again. "What differences do you see?"
Ventus watched the scene with a smile; he could now understand why Rafiki was trying to set the two together in the first place. Seeing as the young generation had no reason to hate each other, they could come together and show the world what a pride supposed to be, to show what the world supposed to be; having Light and Dark become one, to balance the world. For this world, it was a good thing, for Vanitas, Ven knew that Light and Dark becoming one was a bad thing.
Snake could only look at the scene in disbelief, his attention being drawn away from the silver cub. "What's going on?" He questioned out loud. "Why aren't they fighting?" He looked up to see that the rain had stopped and the sun was coming out. "What? The balance?" He looked back at the keyhole, to see that the keyhole was beginning to blast away the blue unbirth shadows. "NOOOOOO!"
"Take this!" Riku quickly dashed towards the distracted member and shot a beam of light at him.
Snake quickly dived out of the way of the beam, growling at the keybearer before summoning a portal and stepping back into it. "This ain't over." He simply said before disappearing into the portal, the portal itself crumbles like rocks.
"Damn it!" Riku cursed. He was so close to balancing Snake. He looked back at the keyhole, to see that the heart of the world wasn't fully revealed yet. He pointed the Way to Dawn to the keyhole, only to see that the keyblade wasn't reacting. "That's strange." He said, quickly running outside, looking over to the battle in the distance. "What's going on over there?" he said out loud.
Ventus could only watch Zira glare angrily at Simba and his daughter; her lionesses had seen reason in Kiara's words and have joined over with Simba and his pride, their pride. Zira was the only one who couldn't accept what everything had become, the wisps of shadows appearing around her. Simba stepped forward. "It's over, Zira. It's time to put the past behind you."
"I will never let it go!" Her body began to transform into shadow, her eyes turning golden. "Never!" She raced forward Simba.
"Wind!" Ventus quickly bounced the Heartless Zira back, keeping her back with his spell.
BOWBOWBOW
Anti-Sora remained silent with his attacks, slamming the fighters away with his quick strikes before running into the log dam, each slam causing more water to leak. His actions were halting every now and again, grabbing his head in pain before turning back to the dam. He turned his sight back to the two snow leopards, looking exhausted for a minute until an selection of green vines cover them both, leading them back to their feet once more. He looked up the gorge to find the two red cubs, their attention turned to the dam. The cub roared angrily as he turned to the dam, summoning a number of orbs filled of light around him.
"Take this!" Storm didn't waste any time after being healed, using his wind ability to lift Sora into the air. "Air! Attack!" He cast, watching as he used the wind to attack the heartless lion cub; his claws glowing viciously.
Hikari watched as the shadows began to drop from the attack, seeing that Sora must have gotten control over himself again, only to notice that the blade like attacks continued. She quickly turned to Storm, only to see his claw and marking flashing rapidly. "Sakuzy! Stop this!" When he simply ignored the request, the snow leopard dashed herself into the Endless, making him lose control of the attack.
Storm only growled as the wind picked up around him, roaring with anger, the power of his roar forced his sister and the falling keybearer fast into the wooden dam, a number of cracks from the dam being formed after the impact. His teeth snaring at the two, his eyes being consumed from the infection on his body. "Why Hikari? I can save you now! Come with me." The dust around him began to move rapidly through the gorge.
"Because she cares for her friends!" Brian yelled from above, looking back at the fallen two as he and Kairi tried to make their way down. The sound of the wooden dam breaking slightly caught their attention, seeing that the dam was on the urge of collapsing, the sight of seeing the ground become wet to walk on within the gorge proved their thoughts. "Listen Sakuzy! If you just try and save Hikari, the dam will take you both. Fight your virus for this last minute and help us!"
"You don't think I'm trying?" Storm roared, the wind picking up from his shout. He simply shook his head before quickly running towards the dam and began removing the pieces of wood that covered Hikari and Sora. Halfway in digging them out, he watched as the Aversion Endless skidded down and began to dig as well. "This is my doing! I'll save them." Storm growled.
"Will you stop changing your mind every two seconds and just help?" Brian yelled at him, his element bursting through him as he began to burn the wood away until reaching Sora. He quickly bite into Sora and began to pull him out of the dam, the water following after him. He looked back up at Kairi. "Call the gummi! We need to be beamed back to the ship."
"I'm not leaving Hikari." Storm turned to him; the dam began to leak more.
"Come with us, Sakuzy." Kairi shouted down, making the snow leopard look up. "We can help you."
Storm only huffed at the suggestion. "If I enter Little Devon, I'll reveal the world to the Order." He turned back to face Brian and the unconscious Sora, only to watch the two disappear in the beam. "And her life is without me now." He said with realisation, pausing in thought before moving more of the logs to find Hikari barely awake, gasping in pain. He looked down at his sister, placing his head near hers before saying. "Take me out, promise me this." He didn't waste time to look at Hikari's confused expression as he watched Kairi make her way in the gorge. "Take Hikari. I'll hold the dam back."
Kairi's eyes widened at the suggestion. "But Sakuzy—"
"My life has been played. I will not regret this." The wind began to pick up once more, the Shock Endless looked back at the Princess of Heart as he handed her his sister. "Go!"
"Don't do it." Hikari simply moaned in pain. "Not again."
"You know I'll be back then." He smirked before forcing his fenine body to stand on his back legs, a strong wind holding the water back. He quickly looked back, only to watch his sister disappear from his sight. "Dear sister, place me in peace when we next meet." He said softly, keeping the dam stable.
BOWBOWBOW
Ventus pointed his trusted Wayward Wind at the Heartless Zira, charging his attack as orbs of light began to surround the blonde cub. As he watched Zira claw Simba back, the keybearer realised his attack, teleporting to the shadowed covered lioness, striking her with powerful light attacks while teleporting I different positions, preventing the Heartless to strike him. The cub appeared above the Heartless and began to spin within the air with his keyblade in his mouth, creating a bright, light tornado surrounding the two. It didn't take long for the Heartless lioness to be crashing to the ground, collapsing to the ground. Ventus looked over to the Lioness with caution, keeping his keyblade in case of being tripped. "Is she done?"
Kovu over sighed at the sight of his mother. "I wish that it didn't come to this." He said sadly. "If only she wasn't filled with so much hatred."
A crack in the dam seemed to catch the Pride's attention, seeing that the wooden log dam was close to breaking. "That's where Brian and Kairi went…" Kiara muttered before facing to tell her father. Her sudden thought dropped as she jumped into action, preventing Zira to jump Simba while the Pride and the others were distracted, they could only watch as Kiara and Zira fell over the edge into the gorge.
"Kiara!" Simba called down, quickly following after her.
Ventus quickly ran over to the side, along with Kovu and Nala, as he watched Simba jump from rock to rock to reach the two lionesses. A crack of wood caught Ventus' attention once again, making the blonde cub look down the gorge, only to see the sight of a snow leopard holding back the cracking dam. His eyes widened at this. "Hikari?" He gasped out, beginning to make his way across the edge of the dam, he could only halt in shock as he watched the dam break, allowing a huge wave to consume the gorge. "HIKARI!" Ventus shouted, looking at the scene in disbelief. Why was Hikari down there on her own? Where were the others? Were they taken out by the dam too? He could only look in disbelief, only looking back to see that Kiara was trying to help Zira from falling into the speeding waters. He could only watch as the Heartless Zira laughed at the Princess' kind gesture to help as she simple dropped into the raving rapids, sending the lion to their doom.
BEEP BEEP
"Ventus. This is Kairi. We're back on the gummi." The communicator called.
Ventus quickly came back to focus as he answered the communicator. "Y-you are?" He gasped in surprised. "Is Hikari with you?"
"Brian took Hikari and Sora to the medical room." Kairi told him, making the keybearer sigh in relief. "You saw the dam break, right?" she asked.
"Yeah." Ventus nodded. "I thought she was still down there." He said before looking back at Pride Rock, seeing a spark of light near the entrance. "Who else is down here?" he asked, wondering who could have balanced the world.
"Riku. He reported that he encountered Snake but he got away." Kairi told him. "He should be by Pride Rock. He said he was looking for you."
"Right. I'll go find him." Ventus said before shutting the communicator off. He could easily guess who the other snow leopard was in the gorge now that Hikari is up in the gummi. He just hope that they can support the young tomboy.
A/N: YAY! One more Lion King then that's all the Disney worlds ^^. I hope you guys are still enjoying this story :D.
Kingdommad