This chapter is going to hold the final time skip for the entire story. There will be a few time skips in the companion story to this fic that covers Vanitas' fight against the Unchained Legion forces on Earth, but there will be no further time skips for the remainder of Kingdom Hearts 5. This will be the last short chapter for the story, and also the last filler chapter. After this it's all normal-length chapters and action sequences.
Chapter 10: Moment's Reprieve:
Agarabah – D.E.S. Nathalis; Nine Days Later
"What a pitiful world," Malekith observed as the Nathalis began its descent into Agrabah's atmosphere. "I might not have even considered it worth the effort to destroy it if we did not have to sell our deception to Maleficent." With catlike poise, he leaned against the command console of the bridge and pressed a button signaling the pilots of the drop ships to take off. They would eliminate the world's defenses and keep the Coalition armies from interfering with his mission. Once the Aethir had turned this world to dust, they would return to the nine realms and claim the Soul Stone themselves.
"Forgive me for asking, my king," Algrim began. "But if the Soul Stone is not found here, then where is it?" Malekith took a deep, slow breath as he considered how to answer. While he did not doubt his second-in-command's loyalty, he did not want to risk a leak. After Seymour's execution, he was wary of the possibility that Demona would sell him out to Maleficent to save her own skin. He had ordered her to remain behind at the under construction base, but Dark Corridors enabled one to eavesdrop without physically being in the room.
"The last place Maleficent expects it to be," Malekith answered. "Guarded by a warrior whose devotion to his post is unfailing." But before the conversation could continue one of the drop ships collapsed in on itself with the distinctive hallmarks of the Dark Elves' black hole grenades. So she's finally decided to take the gloves off, has she? He thought to himself as he relayed the order to the troops heading for the ground to search the dropships for any sign of hidden bombs. But by the time he gave the order, half a dozen more dropships had already been destroyed.
A loud beeping noise alerted Malekith to the activation of the warship's proximity sensors. A cursory glance at the console revealed that a fleet of Coalition Gummi Ships were heading for the Nathalis on an intercept course. Under any other circumstances, Malekith would have ordered his people to press the attack and destroy this world. But not today. Today, the destruction of the world was secondary to their goal of deceiving Maleficent as to the Soul Stone's location. Since that had clearly failed, attacking Agrabah was no longer necessary. And with the battle to come, Malekith would need every Dark Elf he had to bring the Mistress of All Evil down.
"All pilots, fall back!" the elven king commanded. "Maleficent has declared war against our people, so we shall leave this world to be targeted by the Unchained. If it's a fight that witch wants, it's a fight she'll get." Cannon fire from the Nathalis shrieked past the bridge's large central view port towards the Coalition fleet. Malekith was not worried about destroying the Gummi armada. He was more concerned with providing cover fire for the drop ships as they returned to their docking bays. As soon as all ships were docked, Malekith ordered the ship's pilots to cloak them and activate the warp drive.
Once they had escaped from Agrabah, the Dark Elf king collapsed into his chair with a stunned slump. Their tenuous alliance with the Hellfire Club had been broken. And the black hole grenades aboard his drop ships made Maleficent's intentions very clear. Once again, the Dark Elves were fighting a war for their very survival. But then, Malekith figured, they had never stopped fighting it in the first place. Ever since Bor began his genocide against them over five millennia ago, the Dark Elves had been fighting. They had devoted everything they had, everything that they were, towards one singular goal. To assert to all sentient life in the universe that they had a right to exist.
Their brief period of gathering allies for Maleficent had been little more than a lull in the action, and now that Maleficent had declared her intentions to remove Malekith and his people from existence, the fighting had begun again in earnest. Steeling his resolve, Malekith reached over and pressed a button on his forearm gauntlet that sent out a coded message. Hundreds of thousands of light years away, a red-haired, blue-skinned Gargoyle received the signal and smiled. Without another word, Demona stalked off through the warrens of the Hellfire Club's last remaining base. It was time to get to work.
New York City – United Nations Headquarters; Two Days Later:
"Wow," Jake Long commented as Rose's fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents finished catching them up on everything that they had missed while they were gone. "I did not see that coming. I figured that with how prevalent S.H.I.E.L.D. was the magical world would have been exposed sooner or later. I just never expected we wouldn't be there to see it." A lot had happened while they were away from Earth. Beyond the magical world being forced out of hiding by HYDRA, which was earth shaking enough on its own, the S.A.C.K. had stepped out of the shadows as well, educating the public on the history of the Keyblade War. The remnants of HYDRA had been wiped out for good. The most shocking things to the Longs, however, were the resurrection of the Huntsclan and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s discovery of the Unchained Legion.
"I'm sorry I never told the team about it on my own," Rose told Daisy as they sat in a small break room in the United Nations Headquarters while Aqua's delegation met with the General Assembly. The U.N.'s awareness of the Coalition had forced Vanitas to act as an ad hoc ambassador, but the diplomatic emissaries that came with Aqua were able to come up with a more formal treaty to prepare for integration with Earth's existing geopolitical structure in preparation for the day that the shattered fragments of the world merged back together. Sora was off taking his fiancé on a tour of the city, while the Avengers had all returned home to be with their friends and loved ones following a briefing with the U.N. security council where they described what had happened during their sojourn to space.
"Don't sweat it," Daisy "Skye" Johnson replied. "We all totally understand. It's not like you could have just walked into the office and said "I'm an immortal Keyblade Master who defected from a secret army of immortals trying to shape the world towards a narrow view of perfection." Rose chuckled at the humor, but the tension did not entirely ebb away.
"It's not just that, Skye," Rose went on. "I didn't want everyone to see me as this ancient monster who did terrible things in the name of "perfection"." Black Widow had left S.H.I.E.L.D. a whole packet of files and documents on the past, present, and future of the Unchained Legion, but Rose didn't exactly want to bring up the Atilan Sieges in front of an actual Inhuman.
"Look, Rose," Daisy interrupted. "We've been friends for years now, and you being a reformed immortal cultist who brought down the Inhuman Empire isn't going to change that. Romanov left a whole debriefing packet that explained everything about the Keyblade War and the roles you both played in it. Honestly, from what I know of Inhuman history, the Unchained probably did the world a favor. I mean, sure Emperor Boltagon wanted to protect his people, but he was willing to team up with the people trying to tear the world down. Now, the Inhuman population is smaller and we aren't ruling any empires, but having the Avengers and magic around has helped the world accept us when the elders of Lai Shi finally decided to come out of hiding. I think things turned out all right in the long run. Sure, I'm pissed that Inhumans aren't as common as they used to be, but I'm not mad at you."
The conversation turned towards more cheerful topics as the two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and the dragon talked about everything from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s response to the existence of the supernatural community to their plans to combat the Hellfire Club and the Unchained Legion. As the meetings upstairs drew to a close, more S.H.I.E.L.D. agents came in and threw their hats into the conversational ring. For a moment, their concerns about the rest of the world faded away, and instead of a group of warriors preparing for the next battle, they were just a bunch of friends catching up over coffee.
The Lanes Between – U.W.S. Ava:
"Have all the preparations been made?" Skuld asked as she stood at her favorite spot in her command chamber aboard the Ava. The last two weeks had been marked by frantic production and careful maneuvering of the Unchained Legion's remaining forces. It wasn't as much as she would have wanted for the Endgame, but it would have to be enough. With Gao's research division obliterated, Stick leading the Chaste in Stone's absence, and Gonzalles' arrest by S.H.I.E.L.D., all that remained of the Unchained forces were four fifths of the Legion's fleet and roughly five thousand Keyblade Masters. But thanks to their efforts to cull the rebellious elements of the Legion, those who remained were personally loyal to the Novus Imperator alone.
"Everything is in position, Imperator," Aurilam reported. "Strike Team Omega is prepared to strike at the Vaults of Asgard the instant the Hellfire Club makes its move, Strike Team Beta is in position to storm the island where we've confirmed the real Gauntlet is being kept, and Strike Team Alpha is prepared to steal the Hellfire Club's Infinity Stones on your command."
"We've finally done it," Skuld breathed in exhileration."It's taken eight thousand years and careful manipulation and planning but we're finally ready to execute the Endgame. We can finally put the world back on the right path." But despite the elation in her voice, the raven haired Keyblade wielder could not bring herself to feel as happy as she sounded. Despite eight millennia of compounded cynicism and general paranoia, she couldn't simply ignore the fact that millions of people would either be executed or used as slave labor in order to fulfill the Legion's idea of a perfect future.
Though she gave no indication of her continued doubts about the righteousness of their cause, Aurilam and Lerena exchanged glances. They knew that the Novus Imperator's resolve was weakening, and the idea that Skuld would allow eight thousand twenty-three years of planning and preparation to go to waste over misplaced sentimentality made their blood boil. That could not be allowed to happen. While the they trusted her to use the Infinity Gauntlet to accelerate the restoration of Earth, afterwards was where they were preparing for the worst. If she didn't have the nerve to give the order to purge the corrupt and decadent from the world, then Lerena would be forced to execute her and take command of the Legion herself.
The three of them had been close friends for thousands of years, and Lerena didn't want to force her to reincarnate, but the Endgame needed to be accomplished by any means necessary. The two former Organization members' contingency planning was cut off when Skuld asked them a question about their other plan that Aurilam had been working on for over a decade.
"Are you certain that we have to resort to Dr. Faustus' methods for reeducating him?" Skuld asked. "I would rather not have to rely on methods developed by Maleficent's lackeys."
"I'm afraid so, Imperator," he replied with false regret. He'd been looking forward to having that particular warrior under their thumb for years now, and was not about to let anything stop him this time. "Our previous attempt to bring the Keyblade Master to our side failed because of The Witch's attachment to him. I detest using our enemy's methods as much as your do, but we cannot allow his particular blade to be used against us. Having him under our control is a far better alternative than keeping him prisoner."
Skuld sighed. It appeared that now she finally had no other option than to proceed with the Endgame. She had hoped to have beaten her doubts into submission by now, but with each passing day, her unease grew greater and greater. Now she was faced with one of the most sadistic choices imaginable. To cleanse the world of the impure to achieve a brighter future at the cost of millions of people who, despite their impurity, had either done nothing wrong or did what they did out of love or desperation. Or to allow all those people to live, knowing that the world would eventually tear itself to shreds over petty concerns such as bathroom access. And despite her doubts, Skuld couldn't tell if she was even qualified to make that decision.
Gonzels' arrest, and the revival of the Huntsclan are elements that will be explored in the next story of the saga: Cloak and Dagger. I know, I know. The name changed again. First it was Earthbound, then it was S.H.I.E.L.D. and C.I.N., then S.A.C.K., S.H.I.E.L.D., and C.I.N. That particular fic has always been an integral part of the Acolytes of Chaos saga since I overhauled it after I wrote The Xehanort War. The only thing that changed was my inability to come up with a good title. Now I've made up my mind, and Cloak and Dagger will be the finalized title of the story. That fic will cover Vanitas' adventures on Earth in detail, and all of those things that happened while Sora was off in space will be expanded upon.
Things are looking tense within the ranks of the Legion as well, it seems. Skuld is having doubts, and Marluxia and Larxene are apparently devoted enough to the Unchained cause that they've prepared a contingency plan if the Novus Imperator can't follow through with the Endgame. Dr. Faustus is a reference not to the play but to the Marvel comics character who appeared in Agent Carter's first season and whose methods of brainwashing and mind control were used by HYDRA in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 2. For those of you who put the puzzle pieces together for what the Unchained have got planned, and for who, be afraid. Be very afraid. *Cue maniacal laughter*
Uh oh. It looks like Maleficent's plan didn't work. We're getting close to the final battle now, so things are going to be getting more intense. Malekith has given up all pretense of playing nice with Maleficent, and the inner conflicts of the Hellfire Club are about to explode. Since this chapter was entirely villain centric, next chapter is going to bring things back to the heroes for one last fluff chapter before we kick off into the last five chapters of the story. There's not going to be an epilogue for this chapter because I want to leave you all in suspense during the wait for Kingdom Hearts 6, since I won't be starting that until around Thanksgiving.
I think I've pretty much spelled out where the Soul Stone is being hidden. For those of you who haven't figured it out yet, google the T.H.A.N.O.S. Theory. The theory basically suggests that all of the Infinity Stones or their containers start with a letter that combines to form the acronym THANOS. The space gem is the Tesseract, the Aaethir is the reality gem, the Orb is the power stone, and the Scepter is the mind stone. The theory then goes on to suggest that the time stone is located inside a Necklace of some kind, possibly the Eye of Agamoto from the Doctor Strange comics. As for H, well, no prizes for guessing who that would be.