It's almost time.
Her heart stirs at the edge of the forest. I can feel it from a mile away.
She doesn't see all the eyes watching her. She doesn't know she's about to step into a bloodless graveyard.
Part of Sora knows this. Will he warn her in time?
My source of darkness lingers. The purple flame is almost snuffed out.
There isn't much time left.
Come. Come to me, Kairi, and then this will all end.
~Vanitas
Don't Be a Gentleman: A Grave Army
After flying through a swarm of heartless we ended up crash landing into a tangle of trees. My eyes are open and wide, inches away from being impaled by a rather gnarly looking branch.
"Kairi, you okay?"
"I'm fine." I grunt, trying to move away from the branch only to slip and tumble through more limbs before collapsing in a pitiful heap in the dirt. The soil is completely dry, like a scattered compost pile. My side flares with pain, forcing me to turn over against my hip so that I don't aggravate it. The throbbing coincides with my heartbeat, and I shudder as a chill sweeps up my back.
I was too distracted before during our hectic flight, but without the snarling sounds of heartless in the background, the forest is eerily silent. No rustling, no crickets, just tall, winding black claws leaning towards the white fortress in the distance. It's extremely unsettling to say the least. But . . . it's also . . . vaguely familiar.
My side seizes up briefly before the pain washes away along with a green fluorescent light. I turn my head, staring right into the teeth of his glowing Keyblade. I mutter a quick "thanks," before pushing myself up slowly. I narrow my eyes at him briefly, staring at the other Keyblade in his opposite hand. "Why two?"
He looks away, avoiding my eyes while shrugging. "Just feels right."
I nod, deciding not to push it further, and start walking through the tangle of limbs. It's hard to see in the dark, but it almost feels like the trees are . . . glowing? No, that's the wrong word. I squint and glare at the branches longer and watch as I see my own dark eyes and messy blonde hair staring back at me. I flinch back. "There's something up with this forest."
Sora answers me, his voice low. "They're not trees. They're . . . " He frowns, holding his own Keyblades up, staring at the hilts. "They're Keyblades."
I gasp, stopping so that I can take in the trees around us more critically. Hilts, pieces of rusted metal, small patches of reflective steel, dwindling chains . . . it really is a forest of Keyblades. Except they're all compacted, pressed in together to form these menacing, lifeless trees. I swallow. "This doesn't look good."
"It's . . . a graveyard." Sora is staring at one of the trees now. "I can feel it . . . these Keyblades . . . have seen so many battles. So many hearts lost . . . for no reason." He touches the tree, leaning his head against it, mumbling, "I feel like crying . . . "
"Sora . . . where are you getting all of this?"
"I don't know." He pushes past me, shoulders tensing. "Forget what I said. We just need to get to the castle as fast as we can. Riku is waiting."
I sigh. "Right." It's probably not safe to ask him anything. He's already struggling to hang on to himself as it is. I can't push him, not like I did before. "Lead the way."
We continue walking through the makeshift Keyblade trees and I can't help but notice that Namine was being fairly silent. Course, since we were both starting to merge, I could always be thinking or speaking the way she does without realizing it . . . ugh, this is too much to think about. I just hope we can get to Riku before Sora and I get even more messed up in the head. Our time is limited now.
My musing eventually consumes me to the point where I'm blindly walking, which is why I've just slammed headfirst into Sora's back. "Sorry," I mumble, shaking my head.
When he doesn't respond I move out from behind him only to freeze in shock. In front of us was another suite of armor, similar to the ones we were wearing (minus the helmets, as they made it hard for us to see when we were riding through the heartless). The armor was a mixture of silver, bronze, and gold, melded peacefully into its arm and breast plates. The Keyblade itself was purple, a dark ominous color that blended in with the dirt and rusted Keyblade scenery surrounding us.
I don't know why I didn't think of a person when I looked at the suite; I could just tell instinctively that no one was in it. The unsettling pit in my stomach grew and burst the moment the inanimate armor rose from it's kneeling position, pointing it's purple blade towards us.
"Sora!" I summon my Keyblade, shaking.
He just nods quickly in my direction before getting into an offensive stance.
None of us can get out a word as the lifeless warrior races for us, narrowly missing Sora's throat as I roll to the side, muttering out a quick "Firaga," spell that shoots out a ring of fire at the armor. It collides unevenly, shrugged off for the most part as the warrior turns, sending its weapon in a sideways arc that Sora blocks with both of his blades. Sora then slams his heel where the stomach would be, sending the armor headfirst into a hard Keyblade wall of branches.
Sora and I huff out in the same breath. "You sense it now, right? That thing . . . it's moving on it's own!" Sora says quickly, a subtle amount of panic present at the end of his statement.
Yeah, duh, I think, but I don't voice it. "It's not the only thing moving." I stare wearily at the trees as I feel the ground sink underneath me.
He gets closer to me just as the Keyblade parts literally explode all around us. They spin, crash, and pop in the air, swirling within a hurricane of metal and chains. We block as much as we can, trying to keep the dust from getting in our eyes, but it doesn't stop the light cuts and bruises I feel swelling underneath my armor.
What in the world is this?
Get ready. They're starting to transform.
Namine?
"Kairi, focus!"
I turn, staring directly into his dark eyes. They narrow slightly and I nod once, showing him that I haven't zoned out. "As long as Namine is helping that's fine. But don't let her voice drown you out completely, alright?" he says, bluntly.
It's obviously Roxas talking here, but it surprises me that he would speak this way about Namine considering he's the reason she can talk to me in the first place. But I push the matter aside and prepare for the battle to come.
The myriad of Keyblade parts continue to fly around us. I cough and cover my eyes briefly, fighting to keep from dry heaving as a fistful of dust shoots into my mouth. The air eventually settles and the sounds of empty feet clattering all around us sends my adrenaline skyrocketing, jamming my nerves with a million different signals. I turn my head left and right to face dozens, no hundreds, of rusted armor with newly formed Keyblades walking towards us.
Sora mutters a lengthy explicit next to me and I only swallow, trying to see an end to the army we never expected. Their walk is unnatural, limited by mechanical joints and lacking the grace that human inhabitants would give within them. Some drag their blades against the ground, others hold them in a mirror of stances I've seen my friends take . . . and others I don't recognize at all.
"So . . . the plan . . . ?" I dare to ask.
Sora breathes in deeply as the bronze-silver-golden hybrid warrior walks towards us from the middle of the pack. "We just take them down. One by one . . . until the last one falls."
"Right." My chest tightens up and I stand up straight. "Or, we could run for our lives and try to reach the castle?"
He laughs against me, staring at the formation blocking our pathway to the fortress. "Sorry, Kai. Can't take the safe way out this time."
"You're only saying that because my idea sounds less cool," I say quickly, trying to keep the panic off my face.
"Yeah, that too." He stares in the direction of the purple Keyblade. "Think if we take out the leader all of them will disappear?"
I shrug. "Guess there's only one way to find out."
We both run toward the only armor that didn't have rust, watching closely as it lifts the only dark Keyblade, creating a white translucent barrier around the white castle in the distance. We are five feet away from it when the rest of the army swarm in.
I felt Namine's voice whispering inside me just as five Keyblades shoot light into my side. Only chaos will follow here.
I pitch my body backwards, narrowly avoiding a kick to the jaw (I knew better than to let that happen to me again. The first time I nearly passed out). There was blood streaming from my nostrils and a wound somewhere above my right eyebrow. I don't have enough time to cast a cure spell though, too many enemies for me to waste magic for something like that.
Sora is faring better . . . if you could call it that. Most of the phantom soldiers started ganging up on him after a few minutes. None of us have been able to get our hands on the dark Keyblade, which is our only ticket out of this fight.
The number of enemies are never-ending. All we can do is push them back, get in some breathing room, and then go back to blocking as they recover or build themselves up. Both of us have been preserving our energy but soon we're going to tire out. Throughout this whole fight Namine's voice keeps filtering in and out, getting louder and louder. My body is growing more numb . . . nothing good can come of that.
You can't take another lethal hit, Kairi.
I know.
"Kairi!"
"Yeah?"
He kicks one of the female suits toward me and I follow up with a strong palm to it's midsection, making the armor collapse and break down around me with a shudder. My fingers seize up, as if I just passed my hand through a ghost. "We need to stun them somehow! Destroy more than five at once! Once they start rebuilding, we'll nab the key from Bronze-head and make a run for it!" He shouts while simultaneously dismembering two magic wielding wielders next to him.
"Right! But we have to be careful which spell we use!" I block as I speak, avoiding about three beheading attempts. "We can't use too much magic, we haven't even reached . . . " my voice caught in my throat and I force it out, "your puppet master."
"We don't have a lot of options." I nearly jump as his voice crashes right next to me. He grips my waist, whispering, "You know what to do," and then he throws me into the air.
It's a move we've only practiced five times. Of those five I've messed up three times.
I flip in the air, sending my Keyblade down after coating it in a sheet of ice. Sora jumps and lands on top of the hilt with one leg, shooting out a barrage of blue firagas as my Keyblade explodes outward in a ring of deadly blizzard spikes. They reach a good five yards, destroying about fifty warriors around us. Combined with Sora's attack, about one hundred were decimated.
I land on the balls of my feet, rolling to catch the rest of my fall, then aim a gravity spell at the bronze soldier, the only one who withstood the attack. It waves one hand towards me, and I'm instantly sent back.
I hear Sora yell right before my back strikes the ground, knocking the wind out of me. I wheeze out a breath, coughing the rest of the way as I push myself to sit up. I wipe the blood from my nose, watching as Sora elbows the armor where the ribs would be, sending a breast plate off. He attacks again, aiming for the joints between the shoulder plates.
He's trying to make it drop the Keyblade, I realize before running back towards the pair. Fatigue claws at my shoulders as I watch the other Keyblade warrior suits reform themselves. "Sora, hurry!"
"Just be prepared to catch it!" His moves increase in speed and efficiency, a set of brutal swings that leaves the bronze warrior on the defensive.
"Right!" I propel my weapon around myself in an oval, creating a light shield. "Can't hold this forever." I stand across from the keyhole for the barrier around the castle, pushing back the mindless soldiers while I wait.
It's when I'm in the middle of reflecting a blast of light that it happens. "Aaaarrgh!" I clutch my head, or what's left of it because for all I know it could be on fire. Pain, tons of it, repeatedly stabbing my head. "Uhnnnn . . . "
Kairi! Kairi!
Stop!
You need to focus! If you stay strong, Sora will too! Please!
Stop talking! Get out! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!
This isn't real! Just keep fighting or we'll-
"NO!" My shout reverberates in my body and I hear a loud snapping sound before the pain shoots down my spine and explodes in my chest. By now the light shield has dispersed and the pounding of Keblades against my bruised sides is my only reminder of reality. But against the pain in my chest, the teeth slicing through my armor might as well be minute scratches. Something warm slides out of my mouth as I scream. The tearing continues.
Namine's voice is gone. Why does that sound like a death sentence?
"Kairi?"
Her voice . . . is outside of me?
It takes nearly all of my strength for me to lift my head . . . and in front of me she stands. It's almost the same as what feels like eons ago, when I first welcomed her back into my body before preparing to face Xemnas. She gives me a sad smile, a shield stretching out from her pale body. The warriors battle against it to no avail, blood splattering against invisible walls. Blood from the tips of their blades . . . wait, is that my blood?
"You're quite the stubborn one. You actually managed to split your heart again . . . and force me out here."
"N-Namine?" I shake, clutching at my wounds.
She gives me a small smile before lifting one finger, creating a portal of darkness beneath my body. "It's okay. Who needs some key . . . when the darkness can do the work for you?"
"Namine . . . I'm sorry." Tears slide down my face. If I wasn't in mind-numbing-agony, shame would have made me turn my head away. "I . . . I didn't mean . . . this isn't what I want."
"But it's what's best for now." She waves as the darkness wraps around my arms. "Wait by the castle gates. I'll make sure Sora makes it over the barrier, too."
"And . . . you?" I cough out a mouthful of blood.
Her smile disappears. "You're about to enter the Temple of Hearts. Only full hearts can stay in the castle. You won't be full . . . but you're a princess of heart. You're an exception."
I try not to gag again. "And . . . you." I try to smile but I'm sure it came out as a grimace.
"Don't talk." She opens up her hand, palm facing me, and the flames of darkness rise up, hiding her. I'm able to take in one last sentence before the darkness swallows me whole. "Your heart isn't meant to hold multiple connections . . . so protect the one that can."
Well, there you have it. Final battle stages: Part 1. Progress. Is. Being. MADE!
This chapter just had me stumped for so long. Battle scenes I swear.
Anyway, thank you all for reading and reviewing thus far! Until next time!
Justice T.