The Sapphire Sorceress
Disclaimer: The rights to Kingdom Hearts belong to Disney and Square Enix.
Act 36: Reviving Hollow Bastion
"For your light? Don't lose sight of it."
Agrabah: Vanishing Isle ( Aqua's POV )
If someone had told me that I would be fighting alongside people who lacked the heart to express emotions, come to find a sacred treasure which turns anything into gold, and the fact I would be fighting someone who claimed to be a sailor in order to protect a self-proclaimed "king of thieves" I would have thought they took too much Golden Chocobo to drink, which according to Luxord was the best way of getting into trouble.
'I'm sure he would not want to share a glass with this backstabber trying to fight us.' While there were three of us now fighting this wave of bandits, the goal of Sinbad was to obtain the Hand of Midas which meant he could easily try running away during the battle. We also had to protect Cassim since he was now the only other person who knew where we might find this treasure in this sunken place below the sea.
Looking at the greedy man I tried to predict his next move, the game of chess is something I knew many people played before including Sinbad who told me no one has been able to beat him besides Aladdin.
"The game of kings, and while I know you likely don't play this kind of game my apprentice there might be a time when learning how to maneuver an army to capture a king. Some choose to sacrifice their pawns to win the game, but I think each piece on the board is just as valuable as the king and queen." Eraqus knew how to play the game quite well as Luxord would also say, and he even beat "Master" Xehanort on a few occasions which stunned all three of us when we heard about that. Seeing the calm look on Sinbad's face I knew he was likely going to attempt an escape while we weren't looking at him.
"Xion the heartless will be your priority, Axel keep Cassim safe, and I'll bring in Sinbad myself..."
"Hold on a minute Auxaq why do you get to have fun with the sailor!" Damn it, Axel, you probably know what you were implying with that line...which is just sickening to even think about. Shaking my head I realized Sinbad was about to send out another command, so I made the first move striking the staff with my weapon but only hitting him arm instead making the Staff of Arba fall on the ground.
"Damn it that stings, and you could have cut off my arm with that damn weapon!"
"That's the least you deserve for throwing away your comrade's lives to fulfill your selfish desires." Xion was handling herself pretty well, the heartless were clashing with her weapon, and yet, she was able to stand her ground to fight them off. Seeing how much progress she's made in combat since getting thrashed by Lexaeus was amazing to watch. Hearts began to float into the sky, which really got under Sinbad's skin and that was fine by me.
"Tch, you've made enough of a mockery of me today. Now I will ascend to my throne as the king you peasants!" Suddenly the area began to quake around us, the water surrounding this island began to swallow up the turtle meaning we were going under the sea...
'He's getting away!' There was not much we could do with the land working against us, so with Sinbad fleeing I figured we could at least take care of these heartless before finding the Hand of Midas.
"Axel, Xion let's handle these stragglers first!" They followed my idea since we had nothing else to do, and I jumped into the fray with a somersault over a large heartless spitting out fire. While Axel deflected his element I took a few swipes at the giant heartless bandit to draw his attention, so Xion could finish it off with her keyblade adding more fuel to our Kingdom Hearts.
"I don't believe it the keyblade really does work against these monsters. Hold on if you're a user just like Sora then you must know about my son Aladdin!"
"Sora? I...no I don't believe we've met before." Neither did I until the events that happened in Castle Oblivion, but I wondered if Cassim knew anything else besides how to find our target Sinbad was trying to steal.
"Look we can share bedtime stories another day let's handle the small fry first!" Nodding in agreement I slowed down a few of the sword bandits letting Axel cut them up with his weapons as Xion was swiping through some more heartless, but then I noticed a few were beginning to draw Cassim into a corner. The fact we were now moving down at a high speed made things more difficult for us, as I saw him trying to hold back the monsters with a long staff.
"Don't worry about me just find the Hand of Midas before Sinbad!"
"We can't without your help Cassim, the guide to this place just abandoned us leaving you as our only hope."
"I can't do much for people I don't know that well..."
"Then do it for your son Aladdin, the man who I'm sure wouldn't want to hear about his father passing away like this." If this man truly was the father of this "Prince" then he should not abandon his child so easily. My words must have given him the strength he needed to hold on a while longer, but I had to reach him before the heartless got their hands on him. That's when the whole area moved up and down as it sounded like we just hit something hard like perhaps the ocean floor?
'We must be close to the destination this beast is heading.'
This also meant we didn't have much more time to spare, the more these heartless keep us here the better chance Sinbad has of finding that treasure before us. Axel said we should just make a run for it, and I decided to go with that gamble rather than hope we can fight off the rest of these heartless. Taking Cassim by the arm since he was still limping after what happened earlier we couldn't just shimmer into a portal without knowing where to go next.
"The turtle has reached the point where the sunken treasure can be retrieved. While I do know the pathways in this fortress, the traps put into place are something I'm not sure about finding correctly..."
"Wonderful, but I guess a vague map is better than none at all." Axel shared my thoughts once more as we moved through the halls of this place hoping the heartless aren't following our trail. Cassim explained we shouldn't touch anything that seems out of place or step on certain panels on the ground.
"Well hell, why don't we just stand around if anything in this place can trigger some kind of bobby trap then!"
"That might also set off a trap...what it was a joke!"
It certainly was not funny considering this place could have that kind of trick set-up. Following the path explained to us I noticed while we had indeed submerged into the sea there was no water floating in this fortress on the inside, the outside area on the other had revealed a swarm of fish moving past the window in a formation.
"Amazing isn't it? While we should be drowning being under so much water this place was designed to ensure no one inside this fortress can truly be submerged, and in the process allowing someone to enjoy the beauty of the world below the land."
"Seems more like the perfect place to send our personal musician, Demyx. Then again I don't mix well with water, to begin with you old timer." Axel wouldn't do well on a beach trip then hehe.
"Old? Believe it not I'm only in my early 50's, but you all do seem like a bunch of teenagers except for you little one hiding under that hood of yours." He's not able to see her face much like I couldn't under she trusted me. Was it because she placed her hood back over her face, which could mean she is shy around strangers like Cassim or is it something else...
Continuing on through this labyrinth I saw a bunch of holes in the ground; the room seemed a lot smaller compared to the last one as well plus the walls had tiles on them, unlike the main pathway. Cassim being our guide grabbed a small rock and toss it at the floor only for a set of spikes to come up right out from the ground, his comment about the traps being in place was confirmed to us by this visual image of what could happen to us.
'I doubt we would die from getting impaled however it would not be a good thing if we revealed ourselves as being emotionless shells of a bunch of somebodies.'
Cassim noticed the hooks on the ceiling, his hand went into his back of tools revealing a grappling hook. Axel had some...issues with this idea.
"Oh no, I'm not doing a swinging move like some ape in a forest!"
"Go ahead with the foot acupuncture then. Be my guest!"
I had to admit for a thief Cassim was pretty entertaining with his words and taunts. To be honest with myself I was not exactly thrilled about moving myself over a big spike trap myself, but Aladdin's father explained we can think about something to distract us from looking down. I pretending that Terra and Ven were watching as I gripped onto the rope to swing over to Master Eraqus, their smiles and laughter were enough to help me cross in one go, just us four - together once again.
"See, that wasn't so hard now was it? Okay, gang let's move on and get out of here bef-" There was a sudden rumble in the area, the tiles on the ceiling began to fall into the pit of spikes which meant the rope could fall down as well. Axel made his turn after me and Cassim leaving only Xion on the other side of the room. Unlike her nature, during the battle, she felt much more hesitant about this action.
"Xion, don't worry you'll be just fine."
"W-What if I fall and can't reach you all..."
"That won't happen to trust me. All you have to do is not worry about failing, think about something that will calm you down, and just grab the rope in front of you."
"The ceiling is caving in, and what if-"
"Just grasp the rope and move forward...that's all you need to worry about." I had to speak gently in order to not scare her into moving rashly despite how things were looking in the room. Xion is still young compared to the rest of our organization, but I truly did look out for her well-being along with Roxas and Axel. Axel nodded in agreement knowing that I was trying to build her confidence, which also meant keeping her from seeing the bad things that could happen right now.
Finally, Xion made her swing across just before the ceiling caved in with a giant heartless crashing down into the spiky pit evaporating it. Before we could even leave the room I noticed a few drips of water pour into the room causing me to get concerned about this place being destroyed by the heartless.
"These beasts must be attempting to sink this place to stop us from getting the Hand of Midas. We have to hurry!"
As we moved downward I could see a few scythes hanging up on the roof put into a certain position to move down, and we almost got cut in half if not for Cassim's warning about the trip wires. Then we ran into a place that had a few parts of the floor that rose up and down in a crushing motion.
"The people who made this place must hate getting any visitors..." Axel suggested as he dusted off his shoulder trying to ease the tension in the room.
"Some speculate not all of these traps were created by man's hands." Cassim's words didn't matter to me since we were running out of time. It was unfortunate for us more of the bandit heartless showed up to get in our way, but I figured we could use the room's trick to our advantage against the enemy. Otherwise, we would be forced to waste more valuable time fighting the heartless.
"Axel, scatter them away into the right spots. Xion, wipe out enough to clear a path for me and Cassim."
While the instincts of a heartless were fearsome they lacked the coordination of nobodies like us to plan out a strategy like this to overcome the odd stacked against us. I thought that I was going to get crushed under one of the pillars until Cassim moved me out in time when I was distracted by a heartless. Why am I getting so reckless today?
Once we get out of there I noticed the next circular area looked pretty wide compared to the rest of this island, and the only way out seemed to be a small hole in the ground. Then I looked at the giant silver balls set up ready to fall down like it was part of another trick. Sure enough, as we began our descent several of the huge spheres began to move around us, and while we could teleport out of the way Cassim could not do much besides hanging around the side of the room. The key to this place must be the timing of these spheres since after a while they actually stop moving around for a second.
"Incredible...either they are being controlled by some force or this is indeed a mystically created trap."
"You never thought these legends were real before all of this, your majesty?"
"Ever the spitfire eh youngster, but I did know what I was getting myself into when I abandoned my son. It was meant to help him out later in life..."
"Can we discuss this in a non-life threatening situation guys!"
While I could appreciate these kinds of conversations now was not the time when several different spheres were moving around to perform bodily harm on us. Using my physical state despite the black clothing hindering my movement I was able to avoid quite a few of these balls while Axel and Xion were having more trouble moving around them.
"Auxaq, I don't think we have much of a choice anymore..." Damn it Axel was right, and even if we could survive this room acting as "somebodies" we would likely get found out once we found the Hand of Midas. At least things would be easier with the pretending to have real hearts like Cassim would help move this search along. I sighed as my partners began to show off their real power, the both of them simply disappeared out of existence while I slowed them down with my Lore ability.
"What...just happened to your friends?"
"They'll be back in a second. I'm just taking care of this annoyance." With a smile I knocked the ball in front of me over to the entrance, moving over to the next to do the same thing along with Axel who was enjoying not holding back anymore. Xion was not powerful enough to use this kind of force so she was protecting Cassim from getting hurt while I and Axel took care of the imminent threats rolling around in the room. Naturally, he would start to ask several questions, and I couldn't blame him one bit for doing just that.
"Look we could spend time here telling you what you want to believe, but that will let Sinbad get something that should not be in his grasp. We can talk about this later, so can you please help us find the room where the treasure is..." I spoke up for Axel and Xion since he didn't want to hear a response from either of my partners. Between Xion's nervous look and Axel's angry stare I knew it was up to me to act as the peacemaker here.
"What makes me believe you're aren't just like Sinbad since you were hiding that kind of power from me?"
"I could tell you, but I doubt you would even believe my story. We don't have much time to speak anyway so you can either trust us or let Sinbad win it's your choice."
"..."
"Just tell me are you going to help us or not!"
I looked right into his eyes that were moving around, his face was sweating likely pondering what to say and decide on. He eventually nodded telling us the item we were seeking lie beyond this room; the last part was the easiest part of the search compared to finding the room where the treasure lies according to him. It's also where our second "guide" would already be in attempting to steal the Hand of Midas. The pathway down seemed pretty long in length as each of us fell into the void, which seemed to have no real end in sight.
"Hey, Cassim! Do you know how far down this hole goes exactly?!"
"I don't know honestly. We might end up in the center of the earth when we land on solid ground!" Looking over at Xion I knew she was very worried about what might happen once we land down, wrapping my hand over her glove I gave her a gentle expression hoping it will calm her down as we were still in the middle of this fall through the air. As I moved my hand through the air, suddenly I thought I saw someone waiting at the bottom with open arms like he was about to catch me. Reaching out towards this person I could faintly see the appearance of Terra looking up at me.
"I've got you Aqua." Taking hold of my hand I felt my body lightly move down onto the ground feet first instead of landing into the dirt. The room was filled with all kinds of gold items, statues, and many other objects shining in this darkened place. The different figures in the room looked rather strange, their faces had expressions of pain and fear despite looking like golden statues, and their clothing seemed unique when I compared them with each other.
"Terra? Where did you go?" Shaking my head around Terra was no longer staring at me, the vision of my friend was replaced with the sight of the others slowly getting back up off the ground. Helping up Cassim with my hand I tried to see where Sinbad was, the place seemed empty besides all of these creepy figures cased in gold.
"Huh you know for such a wanted to treasure the room where it's been kept certainly doesn't have the inviting look." Axel made the first comment about this place as Xion put her hand under her chin.
"Those statues look like they were frozen in mid-place. Do you think they were somehow frozen by this item?" With a second glance it does seem like they all suffering a ghastly fate of being frozen solid. At least this does mean we are in the right place now, but the only question is where could the Hand of Midas be hidden?
"Hehehe, finally I've located the key to building a whole new world!" Sinbad, so he's managed to beat us here after all! We all moved in the direction of the laughter echoing throughout this chamber as we saw the sailor looking at a huge statue with several golden statues placed around it. Blinking twice I only saw a weird man with only one hand facing outward, but I guessed that must be the fabled treasure everyone seems to desire to have.
"What luck you all have to come into this place in one piece, but you're all too late to stop me. Now I'll begin my first steps into making a new kingdom of my own making." We can't let that happen!
"Everyone grab him!" I knew that using our powers was the safest bet in this situation, but then there was a sudden rumble in the pile of coins we were standing on. A huge roar revealed the image of a giant heartless with a lion-shaped face on itself that looked more powerful than the bandits we've had to deal with getting here.
"All of you deal with that beast. I'll take care of Sinbad!" I wanted to object but the sandstorm that was building up interrupted my thoughts. If this issue was a matter of trust then I suppose we will need to have trust in Cassim to stop Sinbad, the target was now changed to defeating this heartless.
'A sand-user...I wonder if it's possible to get water in this place.' I couldn't think for long once the first sand attack was headed in my direction making me pull out a barrier, Axel was able to burn away the dirt and Xion simply dodged the attack. Before we could strike back it suddenly pulled itself underground, the area once more was shaking around violently as I tried to figure out some sort of strategy in defeating this monster.
"How can we serve you now, your highness?"
Oracles? How did they get here unless my subconscious asked for them...forget it I don't have time to ask these kinds of questions.
"Do you think you can find a way to bring water into this place?"
"As you command!"
While they did that I looked at the ceiling; compared to the detailed designs in this place the top part seemed like another cavernous area with jagged rocks pointing downward ready to...fall! That's it!
"Axel, Xion we can use the rocks above to force this heartless out of the ground!"
Following my lead I jumped up to the highest level we can reach, and I took a glance at Sinbad and Cassim wrestling for a foothold on the giant statue in the room. Once we got up high enough our attacks were pointed upward, the idea being to launch the rocks downward in order to piss off the heartless drilling underground. While Axel was having the time of his life doing this I noticed determination on Xion's face.
'She reminds me of how strong Ven and Roxas can be...'
The cracks formed, the weight was too much to bear, and finally the jagged pillars moved down striking the ground hard to pull out the beast who was struck in the back with one of these rocks. With a smile I asked Axel to push Xion forward with enough speed to strike immediately, the both of us took the youngest nobody by her arms and threw her down with the plan of letting her hit the lion heartless while it was unable to move.
"Man I love going on missions with you guys! I haven't had this much fun in a loooong time!" In those brief moments I thought there was a beating sensation in my chest, but then I saw a beam ray head in our direction from the heartless, destroying parts of this cave along with striking the Oracles who were messing with a pile of rocks near the entrance.
"We have fulfilled your orders highness..." Then I saw it, the slow leaking of water into this chamber that would likely result in the area being submerged under the water.
"No! What have you, done you selfish witch! Now everything will be lost here...except for the hand!" I watched Sinbad tackle Cassim onto the statue ready to finish him off as he was hanging on the edge of the statue's hand when something odd happened.
"W-What's happening? Why can't I move my body...don't tell me this is the Hand of Midas!" Just like with the other people in this room his body slowly transformed into solid gold taking his life in the process. He didn't have to bear it much longer as the Antlion suddenly threw rocks at Sinbad sending him into the floor below.
"I need help this heartless won't stand still..."
I also noticed it was using sand to make things harder to see, which could make defeating it all the more difficult for us, so I decided to take advantage of the water slowly pouring around the room. With Monsoon I used the spell of gravity to pull out the liquid, sending the water into the sand building up near the beast, Axel meanwhile was using so much heat that it was actually turned the now liquid sand into glass.
"Now Xion strike it down!"
"I don't know if I'm strong enough..."
"You bear the same weapon used by many other keyblade wielders, Sora, Roxas, and even myself were once in your same position. Just focus on removing the heart from this monster, and that weapon will take care of the rest!"
"Like Sora and Roxas?"
"Exactly like those two kiddos. Now take down this big fella, so we can all go home together!" With Axel's words and mine Xion's eyes grew more brightly as with a flash of light she managed to impale the beast sending it into the water below, the liquid hampered it from moving around as finally the heart was released from its captivity. Now our attention was focused on Cassim.
"Don't worry about me losing a hand to stop this is something I'm fine with." Losing a hand? His right one was now gold just like Sinbad and the other statues. Moving over to the statue I tried to help him, but he suddenly asked us to leave acting like his situation didn't matter.
"This is exactly the way I wanted things to happen, and believe it or not I'm grateful you all did this. I said I would see my precious boy again, but that can't happen until I keep things like the Staff of Arba or this hand from being used by people like Sinbad. Drowning this island to ensure no one can ever find this Hand of Midas is sheer brilliance."
"That wasn't our intention actually."
"I'm aware of that however sometimes you have to sacrifice things even if you don't want to..."
"No that shouldn't be the case...right?" Xion being the more inexperienced of us likely never came across this kind of situation before her time as a nobody. I wanted to disagree, but I realized we couldn't get involved in everything that happens in all of the worlds since it was not our place.
"Such is the duty of a keybearer, the duty of protecting the world, and yet they cannot get personally involved in the matters of the world." Eraqus always did tell me this when I thought about visiting other worlds.
"This matter didn't concern you, and while things might not have gone like I thought at least I can be at peace knowing this hand will abuse no one else..."
"What does he mean by that?" Xion was still unsure what was going to happen, but I had a bad feeling about what was coming to Aladdin's father.
"It means we can't do anything else for him if he refuses our help. I think we need to leave now." Axel was passionate about helping which didn't surprise me.
"You can't be serious about that! We went through all of this to find this stupid treasure, and I'm not going to abandon someone like this!"
"You do realize we can only help him by hurting him, Axel. He doesn't want us to help him either if he sounds like he's at peace with this fate!" Looking over at Cassim I saw him nod his head to my reply...even if I didn't want to be right about this.
"You sure about this old man?"
"Each of you said I needed to trust you right? Then you'll have to return the favor and go home..." Looking at the rising water I knew our time was up since this island was sinking into the water; the fabled Hand of Midas would truly become lost in history and time under this sea. As I opened a portal I knew while this mission ended in failure at least we managed to prevent greed in the hearts of mankind to succeed today.
"It was an honor to meet you, King of Thieves." Aladdin would be proud of you Cassim...
Destiny Islands: Mainland ( Kairi's POV )
- Days 97- 100- Transfer
Today I can safely say one thing about my life, and that is I don't know what to expect next. With the results of the S.E.E.D exams up me along with the rest of the academy students crowded around the list during the start of our lunch break. I was worried about what was going to happen since I was unsure how well I would do even with my studying over these past few months. Lighting was acting pretty confident in her scores while Zidane was just curious about which "lady" did the best in the scores, and my friends just didn't want to stay at school during extra nights for make-up lessons.
"Remember students, whether or not you pass of fall so long as you did your best that's what important." Quistis while being inspiring with that comment only brought more dread to my mood as I finally got my chance to look up the scores, the results will mean I have more work to do in school or I can put more focus into my training as a future keyblade warrior. Okay Kairi...focus and just look at your name on the paper...just relax and read if you're doomed or not.
"Kairi. Grade Score 82%" So, that means...I passed?! Sure it wasn't a great score compared to Zidane who actually got an 87%, but it also meant I passed the grade requirement for this test! Oh my god, I can't believe it oh how did my friends do on the exams realizing what was going through their heads: fear and disappointment for possibly not passing the tests. I thought perhaps they did better than I expected as my eyes scanned through the list for their names.
"Tidus. Grade Score 71%"
"Wakka. Grade Score 65%"
"Yuffie. Grade Score 58%"
Oh...they didn't as well as I thought. Looking at their faces I could tell they felt disappointed in themselves, and knowing I passed only made my sadness for them much worse. Before I could say anything "Claire" was beginning to show off her grade to everyone in a very loud voice.
"Hah! I told you all I would get a 90% grade! Who's one of the elite students here that would be me and certainly none of you!" That doesn't make you better than any of us Lightning. While she might have passed the tests it does not make you a better person, and if you're going to act like this then you still have lots to learn. Going to my locker I wondered if I should get to meet with my friends unaware of the hand now embracing my shoulder.
"Squall! I-I mean Leon what are you doing here?!" I knew he's been doing things off the school campus lately not to mention he's been giving me some time off with my training in using the keyblade. I figured it must be related to that with the exams not over with until the next semester. His cold expression certainly lets me know it was time for another lesson in the field of being something besides a school student.
"We have to leave today. I'll have you back in a day or two, but we need to meet someone who will help you with the next phase of your training."
"Leave? Umm okay, I wanted to speak with my friends through so do you think we can do this-"
"No, you and I need to leave here as soon as possible." Oh, come on you can't tell me this person can't wait a while for me to handle my daily life. Sighing I asked him if this would take a while only to get a curve ball.
"You don't understand Cloud can only be reached via Gummi Ship. Until recent events, the walls around the worlds remained sealed up, but something has changed this. I know you've never driven in a ship before, so I asked for some help in this matter with Chip and Dale answering the call. You're going to have to drive this ship, Kairi."
"WHAT!"
I never drove a regular vehicle to anywhere let alone whatever this Gummi Ship my friend Sora drove up to cross into other worlds, so how was I supposed to drive it on my first try?! Looking at Squall's expression I knew he was pretty serious about this...even if he looked like that during birthdays and happier occasions. Now here I was dressed in my school uniform looking at one of the strangest sights I've ever seen in my life, the "ship" looked more like a huge block that was made by a child and this is what I would be driving around the universe in? The fact it was hidden in the middle of the woods only made this even more bizarre.
"Believe me I've driven stranger things ever heard about Balamb Garden? Your friend Sora also didn't mind driving around despite calling saying it had the worst color design he's ever seen...Whatever you won't be heading into this alone I'll be traveling with you, Yuffie is already at the destination Cloud is, and I believe you will enjoy this trip when it is over."
"Do you mind telling me where it is we have to go that requires me driving in this so-called shape ship then?" Traverse Town? Neverland? Agrabah?
"Hollow Bastion or what the world currently knows it as..."
Wait a minute that was the castle where I was during Ansem's control over Riku. Why did we have to go back to that dreadful place? As I plopped down into the cockpit the view screen revealed three small windows on the screen. There was a blonde man with very strange eyes in the middle, while in the other two monitors were...chipmunks?!
"Good to see you again Squall, and this must be Kairi the next chosen keybearer. Your ship support will be Chip and Dale the animals that are making you freak out. As for me, I'm Cloud Strife a good friend of Yuffie Kisaragi. So are you ready to fly?"
[ Kairi will get more of the focus next time don't worry, but I felt like the Agrabah content would need more time in this update to help flesh out what's going on plus a shout-out to one of the major bosses in 358/2 Days. Also next time we reach the 100th day more meaning we are closer to the end of this arc, but I don't know how many chapters I have left in me before the end of the year. I'll let you know when this story updates again thanks for sticking around readers. ]