The Sapphire Sorceress

Disclaimer: The rights to Kingdom Hearts belong to Disney and Square Enix.

Act 75: Deep Drive

"I know it's a lonely place, but you'll be safe. Terra and I will be back to wake you up before you know it."

Badlands: Keyblade Graveyard ( Aqua's POV )

This vast desert filled with the lost keyblades belonging to fallen warriors, an empty vast land devoid of any life besides the Unversed, such a setting is where my final journey with Terra and Ventus would take place. There, the friends I cared about would be lost forever...

"I was told...the Master was struck down." Erqaus, the man who helped guide us during our earlier years growing up into becoming warriors of the light. Now, lost in the darkness was the man who guided us through our most dire moments up to this point.

"Yes...that's right. I was stupid and helped Xehanort do it. The Master - he tried to hurt Ven. I only fought him because I wanted to protect him. But I was tricked. Xehanort set the whole thing up-" Terra that wasn't your fault if he tricked all of us as I remembered how his hand balled up in anger about that. "all so he could awaken the darkness inside me. You were right, Aqua - and so was the master. I did need to be watched. I went astray - but no more."

That look in his eye made me feel concern about his feelings at this moment. The end result took him deeper into darkness, and despite my words to him at this moment before our last battle with Xehanort, it didn't change the outcome.

"What else is darkness but hate and rage? Xehanort is feeding the dark fires within you—making you fight. You'll go astray again. Tell me—how does that honor our Master's memory, Terra?"

Ven! You're gonna be okay, the horrible master who's been using all of us won't take you away from me! His body was so cold to the touch.

"How 'bout you leave the popsicle to me, so you can have your little fight with Terra." Braig! He was Xehanort's pawn as well, the man who helped bring about this horrible event being display above our heads as Kingdom Hearts shined in the sky creating a rift in the clouds.

"You can't be too happy about him deep - sixing your master." That eye...I remember all of this. This pivotal battle between students and "Master" Xehanort in this graveyard of keyblade wielders. We were being used just to fulfill his warped agenda, his actions ruined our home and took away Master Erqaus from us there is no way I will ever forgive him!

"You think you two have got some grand role to play. As if. You're only here so that when I finish you off...Terra will succumb to the darkness." Even if I knew what I wanted to believe that would indeed be the case no matter how much I tried to stop that from happening. Fighting Braig in this place for the sake of my friends was an ordeal, but that was only the opening act for the tragedy that was yet to come for us three...

"Correct. I am not Ventus. His heart has become a part of mine now." Ven's face had the eyes and twisted smirking expression of Vanitas instead of that gentle smile that warmed my heart.

"This x-blade will open a door - one that leads to all worlds! Then, Keyblade-bearing warriors will flock here from each and every one of them, to battle for the light within Kingdom Hearts. And just like the legend says, the Keyblade War will begin!" Seeing that body that belonged to my friend consumed by his own inner darkness was almost too much to even look at, but I knew that if I didn't save him another disaster would fall onto the universe. So, I made my choice to fight Ven to save his soul even if in the end he would only be sent into an endless slumber of sleep.

"It is almost as though his heart has left. Should it return, he may very well wake. Should it not, then he may sleep like this for all eternity."

I made it my vow to keep him safe from harm until the day I would be able to see those beautiful eyes of his open up once again. With the others from my master, his instruction made it clear what I had to do with Ven and where he should be kept safe from those would try harming him. I would seal him up inside of the room that would soon be considered the Chamber of Waking. Rather an ironic name for such a place like this...

My own actions helped shaped the former Land of Departure into Marluxia's future castle that was renamed Castle Oblivion. With that task finished there was only one thing left that needed to be done, and I eventually found Terra who was actually waiting for me in that gloomy garden that was once a bright place of happiness for us three.

Again, such despair and hatred lie in those yellow eyes that continue to haunt me even in the present.

"Such a terrible...darkness...Fight it. Terra, please!" Despite his grip around my neck I hoped to reach out to my friend who was submerged in Xehanort's influence only to find more soul-crushing despair.

"Terra's heart has been extinguished - smothered by the darkness within him." A void of sadness sunk me further into depression during my fight with Terra under the possession of my former master. I had to fight my own feelings just to keep on struggling to save my friend's soul from that horrible man who ruined all of our lives, but in the end, all I could do was take away those memories of who he is when Xemnas told me about him.

"Ansem the Wise took in that man who called himself Xehanort so that he could raise and teach another man about his research creating a new student along with the other ones who would eventually become the founding members of Organization XIII." Meanwhile, the world seemed to forget about the three of us moving along like we were just a mere footnote in history compared to the current generation...

That...is not fair! ! !

The World That Never Was: Where Nothing Gathers ( Auxaq's POV )

"That is my story and my side of things."

Grinning, that girl who become my chosen successor despite not even realizing it glared at me with those blue eyes that reminded me of her friend and my own Ven. Despite my need to respect Xemnas and his position, I couldn't say the same for Xigbar or Braid, which is why I decided to plant myself right in his "chair" in our old Round Room. I knew Xemnas had to deal with that pack of intruders, so I decided to pick a more private setting for my duel with Kairi. Rather appropriate as well considering I merely was giving Kairi the answers she's been demanded out from me all this time about how I came to be in this position.

"You had to go through all of that plus remain in that Realm of Darkness?"

She actually seemed to understand what kind of trauma I had to endure because of those events...too bad I can't really feel bad about that stuff anymore. In fact, such memories don't even make me feel the slightest amount of sorrow, anguish, or even despair to me now. I was grateful about this hollow shell I now reside in because those moments of failure don't even phase myself these days. Without a heart those moments can't hurt me...in a way, I finally understand why Larxene didn't want her old self to return.

"Yes those were truly the worst moments of my former life, but that was merely the girl you knew as Aqua."

This new me wasn't anything like the girl who was given the rank of Master in a dire situation where I lost everything due to the whims of destiny. Still, this existence was not complete without the most important component in a person's body not including the brain and other vital organs. That beating heart that once filled me with compassion, love, and joy was now an empty piece in this undead corpse of mine.

"You've just given up on even being that person everyone admired as a Keyblade Master?!" Given up? I was only given the position because of the circumstances that affected Terra and Ventus! Chances are if Xehanort never acted out his scheme one of those two would have gotten that position.

"Eraqus, the former master of mine only entrusted me with his plans because I was the only one left to help him. I was merely a pawn to him in order to get back at the man who betrayed him, so why else would he try and destroy my friend Ven?!" My voice almost got raised higher than normal, but looking down at that confused girl who didn't know everything I went through until I explained my past my mind realized those emotions can't truly be expressed by myself.

"That can't be true from what you've told me! He might have made some mistakes like Ansem the Wise, but he likely just wanted the best for you and your friends."

"So, what of it? No matter how he truly felt, in the end, he lost himself to the darkness along with his three students..." We all were defeated and left to ruin thanks to Xehanort, but when I left my soul I finally got out of that horrible world that kept me imprisoned for so long. Losing my heart was the only thing keeping me stuck in the Realm of Darkness, so now that I was free the last thing I wanted is to lose everything that I have left at this point.

"It doesn't matter at this moment, so tell me are you going to destroy me like Demyx unless you can't really fight without Sora by your side that is..."

"I'm not here to destroy you, but I can't let your leader fulfill his insane plan!"

"Bet Xigbar, Saix, and Luxord would have liked to hear that before you two wiped them out." Sneering, the Princess of Heart looked defiant at me while showing off that weapon that she now uses against the darkness or those like myself who must exist in nothingness.

"They wouldn't get out of the way, and they hurt my friends along with others in the universe! The fact you've been helping them is something that hurts me, but I am willing to give you one last chance to understand what you're doing by helping Xemnas." One last chance? Sounds like this girl has gotten to know how to use those nails of hers, so much that I wouldn't be surprised if Namine was behind this new-found confidence in Kairi.

"What will you do should you finish me off like the others? Continue down this path to become a Keyblade Master like my somebody?" Would she follow in my footsteps or perhaps find her own way and identity when this whole situation is over with either for these heroes or myself and Xemnas, again much like with their first journey throughout the universe's many worlds.

"I will just be myself. No one else or become your replacement like you must be thinking. The only thing I wish for is everyone gets to live in peace without the threat of the darkness harming their worlds for a while..."

I couldn't help the smile that came on my face, even if I knew this was not a real gesture on my part that I felt happiness come over me when hearing this response.

"Spoke like a true heroine of the light, with the resolve that I used to have when facing trials in front of me. Unfortunately, we don't have any more time for such discussions like this." Indeed, the both of us clearly have reached an impasse over who is right and wrong meaning there was only one way to settle this issue between us! My eyes shined with false happiness as my voice was filled with a fake tone of delight.

"Show me how strong your belief truly is!" Snapping my fingers, the old armor that I used fell down in the center of this room making Kairi jump back in surprise. Oh, she had no idea what I had in store for her in this duel.

"Guessing you won't listen to me at this point," She looked at me with an expression of pity like I should have let this girl take away my only remaining hope of becoming a human again?! "If I win can you let me out of this place?"

"Of course, but should you lose that precious heart of yours along with that body will remain here forever..."

A true battle of life and death that we both were ready to enter for the sake of defending our beliefs - even if one of us will be proven wrong after this fight. Still, I felt like playing with this "student" of mine by taking advantage of my old armor with the full power of my Lore ability that I've been working to perfect over this past year. This power to move an inanimate object such as this armor would have been impossible during my first days as a Nobody, but much like mastering the keyblade time and experience helped me make such a thing rather easy to accomplish.

"Why don't you just fight me yourself!" That would be too easy, and besides, you've only pulled through in moments when you were at your most desperate and weak. Even if my armor wasn't equipped with a keyblade it was certainly sturdy enough to block all of Kairi's attacks with little trouble while I observed this battle from on high on my seat in this room where nothingness gathers.

"If I had a heart this is where I would truly be laughing watching such a fight taking place!" Giggling out of fake delight Kairi continued trying to break through the armor that was moving due to my influence despite not putting a dent in my Keyblade Armor. Moving the fingers around, a fist connected with Kairi's face as I couldn't afford to hold back even if deep down in this lifeless body I had some amount of humanity left. She had to become strong enough to battle me, and she couldn't afford to have any hesitation in her heart.

"Don't tell me you've come this far only to fall at the hands of a metal suit of armor!"

She felt my words sting her soul as she got more willing to destroy the lifeless shell that was managing to hold her back from fighting me in person. Watching on the edge of my seat quite literately, she was able to use her keyblade much more effectively than before with no mistakes in her blows or strikes. My armor was knocked back and Kairi was making headway by hitting back the left arm and leg of my old armor.

"Not bad, such a demonstration needs a round of applause. So, let me clap my hands..." And snap yours as my one-armed suit grabs and squeezes your hand until it breaks! Not that Kairi would let that happen without a fight as she knocked herself into my armor to actually stab into its chest breaking up the other pieces and making them fall onto the ground.

"Tch, now you have no more reason to stay on that throne of-" Guess again on your victory; you've not quite done with this warm-up fight just yet. My ability can hold the complete gravity, and the weight of a person or object allowing me total control for a period of time depending on how strong a person's will can be to resist my power. That is why my armor was now floating around despite getting not having someone wearing it in this fight giving it a very special advantage over Kairi. No matter how many times she would strike and toss around my armor pieces, the pieces would simply float back up under my power to continue fighting back.

'Either she would pass out from fighting an endless battle or break down and try climbing up to face me instead.' She chose the latter option by trying to blast me with some magic, but once again I took advantage of my old armor using it as a shield by moving it in front of the Firaga spell.

"Stop messing with me like this!" Then, come up here and stop me if you can get past my old self in a sense. Watching her begin to climb up on the pillar I was sitting on brought me some amusement, yet my smile was hiding a lack of caring about what happens to the universe anymore.

So, when I watched Kairi try and fire off more heated fireballs in my path I moved my hand around to grab her throat with my armor's left arm while jumping up to dodge those blasts from her magical reserves. She's become quite formable over these past few months, but she still had much to learn and not a lot of time left to get through that last barrier keeping her back from reaching her true potential.

"Huh? What are you..." Using my armor hands to grasp the girl my legs, torso, and head began to pound into the girl while she is restrained by my power like a marionette under the control of strings with no way of breaking free of such control.

"Why are you torturing me," She couldn't even finish as I used my arm to hit her in the face in the middle of her outburst. "like I'm some plaything of yours. What..did I do to "earn" any of this?!"

"Simple. You fight against the darkness; which is why you suffer this pain for trying to defend the light!" This is how I got to become so respected by someone like you, Kairi. Only through such misery can your real power be found, and this punishment you're enduring is necessary for you to finally grow into a proper warrior! Seeing her cough out after some more blows to her chest while trying to break showed her desire to live. Her words were only as powerful as her conviction to support those ideals.

"You...are...not...keeping...me...here!" Hearing the girl shout out my eyes widen as she managed to break out of my armor's grip while firing off several blasts of fire at the suit to badly scorch it forcing me to let go of that suit for good having served its purpose in this fight. Jumping down to attack with the element of surprise, her hands actually took hold of my armor to put it on?! Was she trying to mock me by wearing my old form of protection?

"Shame you let go of this kind of stuff, Aqua." My keyblade connected with the metal arm now shielding this girl from my attack, even if the suit was too big to actually cover her entire body. Clever girl. "You never know how useful things are until you discard them!"

She threw my own helmet at my face in a taunting motion, but when I used my power to hold it up in the air she actually got in close enough to connect her now armored hand with my face sending me into the pillar behind my back. Is she trying to make a fool out of me?

She tried hitting me again, but I quickly deflected the attack with a barrier while grabbing her arm to hit it with my keyblade to make her protected arm vulnerable by removing that metal covering on it. Finally, I jumped over her to strike at her back with my keyblade while she was distracted cutting a line through her pink outfit in the process causing her to flinch in pain.

Ramming her head into the pillar a few times, she counted by moving her own keyblade at my arm to force my hand off her head forcing myself to draw back into the center of the room. Guess it was time to get more serious...

Moving around my keyblade I laid a few landmine explosives with my powers from when I was a somebody, but in the meantime, I fired off some ice shards at Kairi to lure her near me. A major benefit of fighting in such a limited space as this room is my abilities was capable of being utilized without needed to be far away from my opponent. Kairi can't afford to get trapped in such a space as this in order to survive, and even now she is trying to run away from my attacks rather than fight back due to my plan of fighting her at the moment.

'Either she comes towards me to get hurt or keep away losing more of her strength by running around this place.'

Her choice between both methods would end up the same, her body suffering, even more, torment at my hands as Kairi decided to jump over my mines to hit me with her blade only to get quite a nasty ice shard in that left arm for her troubles. When I noticed a few drops of blood coming out of her wound I grasped onto her right that was trying to remove the shard in her keyblade-wielder arm to send her into the mines I set up near my location.

"Argh!" She naturally felt the full impact of my explosive mines when she activated them just by her foot touching them, which had weakened her even more, however, I knew better than to attack when could still surprise me this early into our duel. That said I wasn't exactly impressed with Kairi's progress if this is all she's able to show me thus far.

"Is this where you begin to realize how deep your situation is despite that drive you showed to defeat me a few seconds ago." Her eyes glared at me like she burning a hole through my hollow chest. Instead of remaining still her reaction was to grab the shard in her arm to fling it in my direction before charging at me once again with her now blood-covered arm to fight me in keyblade combat, even if her arm was beginning to wobble from the pain she must have been feeling.

"How courageous, but foolish all the same." Blocking her strikes to my chest, a simple move to swing my blade upwards caused her to get unbalanced while I landed a blow to her chest knocking her down off this platform. It would seem I might have stacked the deck against this girl a little too well...

"You're truly out to destroy me this time and crush my heart," I didn't want to seem quite kind with letting Kairi get a breather, so I took hold of her by the neck before casting some healing magic over her wounded hand. "And yet you are not trying to finish me at this moment. Why?"

"I want to defeat you in a spectacular fashion not when you're unable to even fight back, and if that means helping you out that is exactly what I must do Kairi!" As she looked confused about my sudden explanation for my actions, the next thing I did to help her to clinch her arm to fling her behind my back as my keyblade launched out several fireballs in the area keeping her from trying to come up with a plan of striking back against me.

'This battle must become more challenging in order for Kairi to fight me at her true level of strength.' Pushing her even further along with her anger and hate that lie within her heart my magic charged up to create three flame pillars that would follow me around. Can she overcome my overwhelming force to find a new way of relying on her powers in this situation?

This girl quickly responded in a correct way as Kairi began to counter with some ice blasts to remove my fire pillars surrounding my body while I tried slashing at Kairi with my weapon only to see her block it with her own keyblade. I decided to try out a Firewheel maneuver that managed to singe her arms while she tried blocking my body that was moving around with the flames that followed my movements. She quickly tried blasting me again with more Blizzara spells to cool me down, but this time my body moved faster than her spells.

Running over to her location my feet connected with her keyblade that she used to block my physical strike, an unexpected thing happened when I saw her take hold of my leg to pull me down when I tried jumping over her body again showing that she was learning my attack pattern. Seeing her try and stab me I grasped the blade when it hovered over my chest, such a move showed how much I'd underestimated this girl but I quickly took advantage of this move by kicking my opponent in the chest while tossing her weapon into the center of the room while pointing my weapon at her head in retribution.

"C-Come...on..." She was trying to reach over to her keyblade despite it being far out of her to reach much like Sora was in his battle with Xion and Roxas, yet I knew better than to not expect Kairi to summon her weapon into her hand like that somebody of Organization XIII's "Key of Destiny" Nobody turn traitor. Sure enough her eyes had sparked with determination, which gave her the power to bring her keyblade into her clutch while striking my own weapon to force my boots off her right arm.

"That's the spirit! Show me that fire, passion, and will that fuels your mind and heart!"

She tried blasting me with a thunder spell while throwing her keyblade at my face despite my magical barrier that was quickly cast to knock away the tool away before it truly hurt me. My next move was to charge at Kairi with barriers in place to keep her from getting in damage while pinning her body against one of these tall pillars surrounding the room - to my shock Kairi was able to jump onto the platform and begin to fire off many shots of magical spells from all three elements forcing me into a defensive position.

'She's taken the high ground in this fight how could I let her get such an advantage like this?' No matter, the loss of that positioning won't truly mean Kairi will emerge the victory not when I've yet to use my full strength. Twisting my lips into a smirk, the next move I made was, in fact, releasing some of that untapped power my moving Stormfall into the air creating a huge spiral of magical energy that was shaped like a whirlwind sucking up everything around it. She stuck her keyblade into the floor while grasping it to avoid getting sucked into the center of my Command Style: Spellweaver.

When the move was complete I used three homing Firaga spells that were enhanced in their magical strength due to my last move after Kairi forcing her into rolling around to avoid the blasts coming her way letting me jump back onto the platform to strike her with my keyblade in the right leg forcing her onto her knees. This time Kairi took advantage of my need to draw out my keyblade, her foot managed to hit my own leg hard enough to force myself down as well before she tried cutting off some of my blue hair with her weapon.

"You're trying to make me fight you with everything I have, but why?!" She was really trying to understand my own motivation for engaging this fight to end our bitter-filled rivalry in such a worthy fashion like this when everything was on the line for both sides of this conflict. It was like back in that graveyard in that empty desert filled with the abandoned blades of many fallen warriors. Would Kairi join them at my hands or...

"Don't give into doubt now!" Lunging forward I continue trying to hit her chest with my Lore-manifested version of my old keyblade while she was not only keeping up with my attacks, but her stance and counter-blows were becoming more powerful despite her body losing its strength. This was to be expected of course, but in this state, not even Sora would be fighting back with this much anger in his heart like in Castle Oblivion.

"I am sick of this argument! Either you're gonna win or myself! That is why we should be fighting, the final confirmation if I was ever worthy to hold a keyblade, that moment when you passed down this "gift" to me is when we had been destined to battle like this!"

Her determination was beginning to make me slip out of my confident stride, and just like this our simple dance was indeed becoming a true battle when I felt her jam that keyblade into my shoulder while I cut up part of Kairi's pink outfit revealing a gash in her left side. Was this my own past pride of being a Keyblade Master kicking on right now, such a thing shouldn't matter to myself in this hollow existence I've endured, but perhaps that was fueling my desire to continue "living" on for the sake of some kind of future.

Grasping onto Kairi's arm I decided to make a change in the scenery we were fighting in right now, so many options ran into my head about where I could take this fight towards in this castle.

"Want to see your friends in a losing fight against the darkness ready to consume the universe once more," Glaring into her eyes she didn't look phased by my taunt over the many invaders from the other world struggling against the armies of heartless and lesser nobodies outside along with her friends dealing with "The Superior of the In-Between" himself. Despite the loss of the others, his dream along with mine was almost a reality by this point in the game! "Tell me what is your greatest fear?"

"Not being strong enough to save the ones I care about by losing to you..."

Ha! Ha! Ha! Those words should have been said by me, and not by this person who I unknowingly had chosen to take up arms in my absence in the Realm of Darkness.

"Guess we've had quite a bitter realization about our fears once the outcome of our fight is decided, but let's shake things up a little my little protege!"

Yes, the final backdrop of the battle for our hearts must take place in the light of our sky's own "radiant moon" growing ever brighter by the second. Pushing this girl into a newly made Corridor of Darkness I made a deep drive into another place in this castle where our confrontations would finally end for either Kairi or myself. Ven, Terra, I will be with you soon no matter the outcome the universe had in mind for both of us.

[ I wanted this to come out during Labor Day Weekend, but I had lots of stuff to handle IRL. At least it is updated now, and the final battle with Kairi and Auxaq will end in our next update. That means it is done to Xemnas and the ending for this storyline that I'm grateful is now wrapped up I've enjoyed going on this ride with all of you guys, but I hope the ending is worth it to all of my readers who've been so wonderful. ]