Chapter 134: Patience
Riku ran through the pathways until he had reached their quarters, seeing that Sora was about to enter the house. "Sora!" He called, halting his friend from entering as he turned to his friend. "Look! I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. We're just worried about you."
"Worried in what way?" Sora questioned him. "Are you worried that I would lose control?" He glared. "After everything we've been through, I thought that I had your trust." He shook his head as he turned to the door.
"We're worried about your life, Sora." Riku stood beside Sora as he talked to him. "You said it yourself, we don't know whether this cure works or not but it's our only hope. At the end of the day, we don't want to die."
Sora looked back at Riku, seeing the same look of concern and worry on his friend's face. He sighed at this. "I'm sorry." He told him. "I'm just not in the mood to celebrate anymore." He placed his claw on the door handle. "Go back to the festival with Hikari and the others."
Riku gulped nervously at this, "I can't do that."
Sora looked at him with mild suspicion. "Why not?" He asked while twisting the doorknob to open the door, only for the door to fall completely off its hinges and slam to the ground, doorknob remaining in the Keyblade Master's hand. "That's not supposed to happen." He blinked as he looked at the doorknob in confusion.
"We repaired that earlier when Hikari kicked it down." Riku raised an eyebrow in confusion as he passed Sora into the house, only to look in the room in shock. "Oh no…"
Sora quickly stepped in to see that the house looked like it was on the verge of collapsing. The sofa was ripped to shreds, the furniture was broken to pieces and the support frames in the house was making an uncomfortable breaking sound. The most shocking thing was that Donald and Goofy stood within the living area, completely frozen as if they were statues. "Donald! Goofy!" He ran over to his frozen friends, checking their frozen bodies to see if there is any sign of life, seeing their eyes move within their frozen state assured him a bit. "Kairi…" He muttered before shooting his attention back to Riku.
Reading his friend's expression, the Wielder of Dawn quickly burst into Kairi's room, only to find it empty. "She's not here." He said, looking around in the strange neat room. "There's no sign of damage in here though." He told him coming back in the damaged living area. "She might have gone to get help."
"Fire!" Sora summoned his keyblade at his friend's frozen state, trying to get rid of the ice, only to find that the spell had no effort. "Sorry guys! We'll find help."
Sounds of collisions and screaming could be heard from outside. The two keybearers looked at each other in concern. "Something's up. C'mon!" Riku quickly rushed out of the house, followed by Sora, seeing smoke emerge into the sky. "That's back at the festival!"
Sora and Riku summoned their respected keyblades as they run over to the pathway, getting blown away when a blast of ice nearly strikes the two, blocking the path to the town square. "Huh?" Shocked by the think, iceberg that blocked their path, he turned around to see the culprit upon the roofs of their quarters. "Nikolai…" Sora looked in surprise.
Who Sora and Riku were looking at was not the Nikolai they knew. The virus has made its effect known within him as his dark blue infected claw had turned into an ice clear claw arm, being two times the size of his arm; his short black hair had parts of it turned into light blue hair/white; his garments were ripped and clashed. He remained silent as he looked at the two, as if inspecting them before speaking. "If one has no purpose, no happiness should be expressed." He clicked his fingers.
Before Sora knew it, he felt something grab him and carry him to the other path opposite them, throwing him away into the pathway. He got up to see Nikolai shielding the pathway behind him, preventing him to help Riku, all he saw was an orange blur spinning around him before halting in front of him. "Time to run!" The blur faded to reveal a familiar face, smiling back at him.
"Jun?" He gasped in shock. So Jun had become an Order Member after all.
"Follow the light!" She told him before speeding past him, leaving her unique orange blur behind.
"Jun!" Sora quickly looked back through the frozen ice, hearing the sounds of weapons clashing and ice smashing against the ground. With the iceberg in place, there was no way to aid Riku. "Riku can take care of himself." He reminded himself before following the remains of Jun's speedy blur. "I've gotta find Kairi." He told himself as he raced through the pathways.
BOWBOWBOW
"Quickly! Run!" Ventus told the fleeing public before turning back to the enemy on the rooftops, summoning his keyblade. Seconds after Wayward was placed in his hand, he felt the eyes of the Wrath Endless lock on onto him. He turned to see the dark teen morphed into the shadows, appearing out of sight. He quickly shot around, swinging his keyblade in front to prevent the rigged blade from striking him, being face to face with the young member. "You! You were the one that Vanitas took!" Ventus quickly recognised him. "Why follow him?"
"I'll get to kill all of your kind!" Crush hissed in his ears as he pushed forward, leaning into Ventus' face. "I will not stop until all of the keyblades in the world are buried into the ground!"
"Then you will be fighting for a long time because your master will just bring you down!" Ventus pushed him back and blasted him away with a light spell, only to be shielded by the ground shooting between the two fighters.
Hikari and Max looked over to see Major Snake making his towards Crush and Ventus, making to two move. Max jumped on his skateboard and dashed towards the Persistence Endless, turning his bow into blades as he slashed at his legs. He turned around to see that the attack had grabbed his attention, his snake sword in hand. He kicked up his board to block the whip attack as he quickly dashed in and began attacking the Endless. He was quickly pushed away like a bug as Major Snake sent him flying.
Hikari threw a potion over to Max before running over to Snake, dodging the whip strikes at he was striking at her. She flipped out of the way and jumped over Snake, slicing at his head. When she landed, she turned to see Snake holding the top of his head, as well as holding his cut Stetson in his infected scaly claw. "Oops. Did I cut your hat again?" she mocked the Endless, she wasn't surprised when she began to feel the ground shake as Snake went into his lizard Outburst form.
Brian and Scott were clearing out the residents from the festival, as well as dealing with any Unbirths approaching them. While Brian dealt with the flying and the range enemies, Scott crushed them to piece with his close range axe. "I don't get it." Scott huffed, dealing with his shoulder injury and the Unbirths charging at him. "Why aren't our defences taking them out?"
"I don't know." Brian replied while sending some bats down with a thunder spell. "They shouldn't even have entered this world."
"What if?" Scott vertical sliced through the enemy. "They followed you through the portal home?"
"Do you really thing this is the time to discuss this?" Brian turned to his brother and shouted at him, only to get struck by some of the Unbirth Bats.
"Brian!" Scott rushed over and slapped the bats away from his little brother before destroying them. "Daniel, Kyle and Takeru had been working crazy on making sure the defences were working, especially for the last couple of days." He told him as he helped him up. "We have to check on them."
"What about the others?" Brian questioned, watching Ventus battle with Crush while Max and Hikari dealt with Snake in his outburst mode. He also noticed the child size Chocobo getting chased by some Unbirths. "Steve!" Brian called before following them through the pathway to the Devon's House.
"Brian! Wait!" Scott waved to grab his attention, only to hold his shoulder in pain, following his brother down the pathway.
As the two brothers made their way, they didn't notice the reaper following their trail, scythe in hand.
BOWBOWBOW
The Devon's House was now in pieces, its entire roof had been blown off, the walls scattered across ground, sparking from the cut electricity as only half of the house stood. Daniel and Kyle breathed heavily, weapons in hands, as they stared at the Endless opposite them. "I'm not sure what to be more surprised of, the fact that Colonel Devil and Vantias actually worked together or that you betrayed your own sister!" Daniel snared at the Endless.
Storm stood there, slamming the pale skinned Takeru to the ground as he stared back at the brothers, Shadow's Grave in hand. Takeru hadn't been as lucky as the brothers as he laid there without a breath of air to his name. "You were the ones that betrayed me!" He proclaimed, stepping on Takeru's body. He smirked as Kyle held Daniel back. "You promised to take care of her! YOU PROMISED!" His shout had blown strong winds; as if a storm was coming in. "And for your mistrust, I'm sure that showing the Order how to summon your portal is good payback. I have to admit thought, the sudden appearance of Colonel Devil with his members were somewhat of a convenience." He smirked.
"I should have killed you when I had a chance!" Daniel growled at him.
Storm huffed in laughter at this. "You couldn't even kill Mako without Angel dying." He aimed Shadow's Grave at Kyle. "So watching your brother die will bring the real challenge out of you." He said coldly.
"Bring it, Sakuzy!" With Devon's Soul in his hand, Daniel rushed towards Shock at a great speed, slamming his weapon against his. The world's leader stood against the strong winds as he kept his keyblade in hand as he kept his force, glaring back at the Shock Endless with a deadly expression. "I'm not going to let anyone who threatens my family go unless their last breath draws!" He said deadly.
"Then we're on the same page." Shock smirked.
Suddenly, Storm's figure disappeared as the sound of a loud sonic boom was heard, blowing Daniel away with a punch. A speeding form of cloud surrounded Storm as he moved around the area at high speed, dodging Kyle's gravity bubbles to try and halt his attacks. He manages to land a couple of fast strikes on Kyle until getting caught in the spell, revealing him once more.
"Take this!" Kyle aimed his automail at the concealed Endless as a light shined up. The bubble that Storm was concealed in began to close in around him, in an attempt to crush him. He crushed his metal fist to increase the force of the crushing ball but the more pressure he placed in the ball, the more out shaped and shiny it looked. It wasn't until he noticed the abnormality; the gravity ball ripped apart like plastic as a huge amount of wind blew out, making the mage cover his eyes.
Daniel looked up through the bursting winds, slamming his fist down in anger getting up from the floor, keyblade in hand. Using the pushing wind, Daniel quickly placed orbs of water around the wind sphere before quickly dashing to the top of the damaged house looked below. There was a dip in the wind that was being cast. "Thunder!" He shot his keyblade into the sky, striking the wind cloud until hitting the centre a couple of times, clearing the winds up and revealing Storm once more. "Strike!" Daniel began to move his keyblade as if he was in control of an orchestra. As the composer, he moved the numerous amounts of orbs to fire, following Strom's movements until they were either destroyed or striking at the Endless.
Storm glared back up at Daniel, who was casually leaning on the remains of the wall on the second floor of his broken house. He looked back down at Kyle while wiping off the water of his face, seeing that he was waiting. "How about you two stop going easy?" Storm shouted at them in rage, charging towards Kyle, only to get jumped by Daniel from above, his sword out of hand, a keyblade to his neck.
Daniel hummed as if he was in thought, holding down Storm as he tried to move. "How about you just give up and tell your new friends to get out of my world." He suggested.
"Never!" Storm spat in Daniel's face. He felt his face get smashed from Daniel's arm as a response.
"KYLE! DANIEL!"
"Woah! Are we redecorating?"
Kyle looked away from his brother to see Brian, his chocobo Steve and Scott running towards them, concern filled his face he saw Scott's injury. "What's happening in town?"
"The Order came out of nowhere!" Brian huffed as he picked up Steve and ran over to Kyle. "Snake and Crush are in the centre, Ventus, Hikari and Max are dealing with them." He looked at the house, a part of him felt sad that the house was gone; there were many memories in the house. "What happened?" Brian's eyes wandered onto Takeru passed form.
"Scott! Keep guard!" Kyle quickly instructed him, making the teen roll his eyes and turning around. He looked back at Brian. "We were working on the cure when the lights went out and cut our defences. We didn't get to find out who did it when our old friend decided to blow the house down and attack us." Kyle pointed to Storm, who was now being held on his knees with Daniel's keyblade to his neck. "It's took us this long to deal with this one, if we are going to protect this town, we need to get the defences back up." Kyle told him. "You will need to check up on Kairi at the quarters and see where Sora, Riku, Donald and Goofy are."
Storm laughed madly at Kyle's instructions. "There is no point, Devons!" His laughter halted as he felt the point of Daniel's blade at his neck. "Look! You should have figured it out yourself. We could not have gained entrance in this world, knowing the password or not, without the defences being stopped."
"What are you hinting?" Daniel glared down at him. "That one of our own people with betray us?"
Storm chuckled at this, "Betrayal hurts does it?" He laughed before smirking. "I am going to guess that you feel a bit of regret for throwing me away like nothing because of a virus, like you did for all the other people that got affected here."
Daniel slammed into his face once more. "Tell me, Sakuzy!"
Scott sighed at his outpost before turning around back to his brothers. "Tie him up!" Scott told him, annoyed by the arguments. "We need to get things going." He watched Kyle and Brian's expression turn into shock and fear. Scott only smirked at the reaction, "That's right. You guys should listen to me more! I'm not as idiotic as you think I am. I can easily save this family on my own."
"Scott!" Brian dropped Steve before he began to run towards him.
"Brian!" He waved his arms but as he watched Brian, he noticed that he still wore that fearful expression. Feeling concerned, he turned around to quickly check the pathway once more. The first thing he noticed was a shimmering purple light.
Everything was slow motion for the brothers as they watched Scott turn around to face Link, who had appeared from the shadows with his scythe rose high. It only took the pilot to turn to him before the attack was made. The blade cutting through skin. The groan of the victim. The satisfied smirk written on the reaper's face. The cries of agony as the heart were struck.
Scott shook as the pain across his entire body, looking at the Remorse Endless with anger and pain. "Why me?" He begged.
"This is for ruining my execution in Sherwood Forest." Link whispered to him before pulling out his blade, everybody watching the pilot drop to his knees, lights began to form off him. "At least this way, you will be appreciated more for your noble sacrifice." With his last words spoken, he slashed at him once more, watching his body form into lights.
"NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Kyle and Brian cried out, watching their brother disappear in front of their own eyes. Brian glared at the calm Endless, his fist clenched. "You rotten…"
"Your brother deserves some happiness." Link simply said. "Having everyone underappreciate you for some past mistakes can take its toll." He clicked his fingers to dissolve his helmet, revealing his face. "I've done you a favour."
"You're sick!" Kyle shouted at him.
Daniel remained silent, looking paler than usual as he looked shocked. He kept his eyes on where his brother stood moments before, his keyblade still to Storm's neck. His voice was shaken, parts of his long dark blue hair was split, his eyes straining. "Scott…" He spoke in disbelief. His little brother was gone.
Storm snickered at this as he glared up. "Now we're even." He told him before pushing him away, using his shock as a discomfort. He picked his sword back up and slashed down at Daniel, striking down the keybearer. His Keyblade skidding across the ground.
"Daniel!" Kyle shot around to face Daniel.
Brian looked down at Steve, seeing that she was shaking her feathers as she hid away. He looked behind to see that Storm was approaching the fallen Daniel. He quickly looked at Link to see that he was just observing everyone, like a vulture. He ignored it for the time as he turned to Storm and Daniel. "Storm! You're alive!"
Storm halted his actions as he turned deadly towards him. "But what of my sister?" He asked. "WHERE IS SHE?" He shouted.
"Fighting with us! Where else?" Brian looked at him in confusion.
"I don't believe you." Storm said coldly to him.
"What's not to believe? Brian looked at him in disbelief. "She's fighting Major Snake as we speak-" Words were left unfinished as the wind currents quickly took him off his feet.
"ENOUGH OF THIS!" Storm turned back to the fallen Daniel, one who has become very still. The Shock Endless raised his sword above him. "You won't be seeing your sister where you're going." He laughed as he slammed down at Daniel. When the sword struck, Daniel's entire body collapsed as his clothes were left, his body turned into water. "What the-" Storm looked completely baffled, stepping into the puddle of water and expected the clothing. He kicked the armour out of anger. "WHERE ARE YOU, DEVON?" Storm shouted.
Brian was left just as baffled as Storm was, slightly freaked out that his oldest brother had just turned into a puddle of H20. He turned at Kyle, to see more worried than shocked. "Kyle, what's going on?" He whispered before looking behind him, seeing that Link was watching with amusement. Did he know what was going on?
Kyle kept quiet, keeping his eyes on the water before he looked over to him with a paled expression. "Run!"
The puddle of water blasted the Shock Endless up into the air, looking more like a burst from a water pipe as the amount of water grew. The water followed the Endless in the air and formed into an giant fist as it grabbed Storm and slammed him down back to the ground, flooding the ground completely despite the cracks in the ground. From the flooded surface, a humanoid form began to form the water, gaining it's shape as Daniel's garments slowly floated towards the water being. As soon as the garments were in place and the shape was form, the water exploded from the being, revealing its scaly nature.
"Brian!" Kyle told him again. "I said run."
He couldn't run though, he was too shocked.
The brothers could tell that Daniel was this strange being, with his long blue hair and facial features. His entire body had turned into wet scales, ones that look as if they came off fish, being the mixed colours of blue, white, red and yellow. Both of his hands hand turned claw and he had small horns from atop of his head, just visible from his hair.
He remained silent as he summoned his keyblade once more, which had turned into rotten, seaweed version of Devon's Soul. He aimed at the wall and created a dark portal before he lifted one of his claws up. From this action, Storm was lifted up again with the water, despite his struggles to try and use the wind to blow the water back, was violently shot into the portal before it was closed off.
"What's going on, Kyle?" Brian demanded from him, looking at the Demon Daniel in disbelief.
"It's quiet simple." Link spoke up, grabbing their attention once more. "His father had turned him into a monster. For a chance to create his ultimate heir to the Endless World." He explained, looking back him. "Water is patience, calm but deadly and deceiving. You could even say that this demon in front of you is Death itself."
"Death?" Brian questioned. He watched as Daniel slowly turned his attention towards Link; the water began to form a current, creating a wave that started slow but was picking up in speed at a fast rate.
"Brian!" Kyle pushed him, making the teen turn to him. "Go now! Find Kairi and the others!"
"What about you guys?" Brian looked mainly at Daniel, who was looking deadly at Link.
"Don't worry about us!" He told him, quickly grabbing Steve and passing her to Brian now run.
"Fine!" The Aversion Endless ran to the pathway with Steve in his hands.
Link watched Brian left the area before shaking his head. "Two grieving brothers. Must be my birthday." He smirked as he stepped into the water, feeling the waves against his feet before looking back at the silent demon and his brother.
"You're not gonna win!" Kyle told him, adjusting his automail for battle, standing by his brother's side.
Link huffed at this. "On the contrary." The Remorse Endless turned to where he watched Brian leave the area. As soon as he stepped out of the area, Link pointed his scythe over to the entrances and created a shadowy purple barrier. "You just assured our mission." He said coldly.
A/N: SAD DAYS! Where is Kairi? Where is Sora being led to? What will be the fate of Little Devon? Tune in next time for Kingdom Heart: Balance of Worlds.
Kingdommad