Namine smiled to herself as she emerged out of the Keyblade portal into Radiant Garden's central square, holding hands with Elrena.
"We're here now - thanks, bestie!" Namine said brightly, letting go of the woman and starting off for the ramp that led up out of the sunken plaza.
Elrena sped up and grabbed her arm, fast as lightning. "Okay, one - bestie? And two: you know what Luxu says - no running off by yourself! Or did you actually think you were going somewhere?"
"Since when do you care about listening to anyone else's orders?" Namine said, twisting around under Elrena's grasp to glare up at her.
"Hmmm, let me see now - when was it...? Oh, that's right! Since I got my Heart back," Elrena retorted. "Don't like it? Tough tits, kiddo. We're besties, and this bestie is going to be keeping you out of danger, no matter how big of a baby's tantrum you want to throw about it."
Namine bared her teeth, then made a fist, pulled her arm back, and drove that fist into Elrena's gut.
"OOF!" Elrena gasped, releasing Namine and stumbling backwards, her eyes wide with shock. And hurt... "W-what- the hell...?!"
Namine spun on her heel, preparing to stalk off from the woman - to go and be by herself - but she stopped when, suddenly, another Keyblade portal appeared in the square of Radiant Garden - right in front of her.
Who could it be? Luxu and Roxas, changing their minds? Kairi and her friends, maybe?
Well, it wasn't any of those people who came out of the portal: but it was a handful of familiar figures!
Luxu's friends - the other Keyblade Masters: Ira, Invi, Aced, and Gula...wasn't that their names? The Foretellers?
Elrena gasped from behind Namine, and then the woman's hands were on her shoulders and yanking her backwards - almost throwing the girl off her feet!
Namine stumbled and tried desperately not to fall over completely. She threw out her arms and windmilled before righting herself. "What the hell, Elrena?!" she exclaimed, whipping her head back up in a flying mess of blonde locks.
Elrena wasn't even looking at her, though - wasn't even facing her. She held one arm out behind her, in front of Namine, while her other arm was extended out ahead of her - holding her lightning-bolt themed Keyblade. Elrena was pointing that Keyblade out at the four new arrivals. She had...put herself between them and Namine...even after Namine had just...?
"What are you worms doing here?" Elrena spoke sharply, her voice dripping with venom. "We agreed that you'd keep your worthless hides away from us-"
"This isn't Scala Ad Caelum - and we aren't here to cause trouble," Ira spoke evenly, raising his hands to her.
"Bastards!" Elrena hissed. "Answer me, then: why are you here? What, did you come to try and drag us back into another war to fight for you? Or is it that you realized we still have some more friends you can kill? Oh, no, it's the kids, isn't it?! More kids for the grinder - your favorite!"
"Elrena, we didn't come here to-" Invi began softly.
"Shut up!" Elrena thrust her weapon out at the woman with a snarl, and a bolt of lightning flew out to carve a burning line into the ground. Invi took several swift steps back to avoid the strike. "It's not low level thugs you have to worry about, Namine: it's these fuckers. They'll lead all your friends to their deaths, destroy your whole world, and all the while they'll convince you it was for some greater good! That it was necessary for them all to be cut down, and blasted into itty bitty pieces!"
"Look, we're not-" Gula started, stepping forward.
Elrena swung her Keyblade, sending out a wall of lightning - not just yellow, but blue as well! It swept out across the square swiftly; but just as swiftly, the woman called Invi drew a Keyblade of her own and gave it a fierce horizontal swing. A beam of hot white energy split Elrena's lightning attack, causing it to sputter and die before it reached Invi and her friends.
"Enough!" Invi yelled out, stepping out her friends and holding her weapon in both hands before her. Her face was sharp, and her long hair was fluttering in the winds. "You need to see reason-"
"See REASON?! That, coming from you?" Elrena shrieked out, with high laughter. "WHAT IN THE HELL IS THE REASON WHY ANY OF YOU MISERABLE FUCKS GET TO LIVE AND NO ONE ELSE DOES?! THE ONES WHO ACTUALLY DESERVED TO SURVIVE?! YOU EVIL, SELFISH, COWARDLY, PATHETIC-!"
"Elrena!" Lauriam was suddenly there, leaping down into the square and bypassing the ramps, with Strelitzia hurrying along behind him! "What is going on here?"
"What's going on here? I'll tell you: they're here, they started this - it's time someone finished it!" Elrena said harshly. "They're the ones who should have died with the old world, not us! They don't deserve to be here, they don't deserve to live...any more than I do!"
"Elrena..." Lauriam gazed at her for a long moment, and then he grabbed her shoulders and pulled her forth into a strong hug - crushing her arms, and her Keyblade, flat at her sides. "You deserve to be here - you deserve to live!"
"I-it was just a lucky coincidence!" Elrena protested, as suddenly tears fell down her face! "I was j-just in the right place at the right time...I never deserved to- I was some selfish loner girl who never really-"
"But you were a kid - an innocent kid, like the rest of us," Lauriam interjected. "And that kid deserved to live just as much as any of us! And she did! And there is no...shame in that. And I'm - glad, Elrena. I'm glad that you're here. I'm glad...that I've had you by my side for all this time, even through time and loss of memories and even our Hearts! If you never cared, how could such a bond have survived against all odds - so impossibly strong and true inside of you...and myself? In both of us? You are special, and strong, and beautiful, and you must never think anything different. Please..."
"Huh?" Elrena squirmed in his arms, drawing back to stare at him with disbelief. "D-did you just call me beautiful?!"
"Your- H-Heart- I meant-" Lauriam stammered, his face flushed.
"Nooo, no, you said beautiful, plain old - you weren't talking about my Heart," Elrena refuted. "Back me up here, bestie, would you?" she added quickly, glancing to Namine.
"I heard it too," Namine confirmed with a grin. "He totally said it!"
Elrena tore one arm free and stretched it out down to Namine from afar. "Thank you, Namine!"
Namine gave her a solid, resounding high-five. "You're welcome, Ellie!"
Elrena's face twisted with disgust. "Ugh - and now it's ruined - never call me that again!"
"Sorry!"
"Oh, whatever..." Elrena sighed, returning her focus to Lauriam. "So, you seem preeeetty content not to let me go just yet - not that I'm complaining or anything..."
"What? Oh - apologies - I-" Lauriam quickly released her, stepping away and raising his hands. "Are you alright now?"
"I'm...better," Elrena murmured, looking past him, to the Foretellers. She quickly wiped at her eyes, letting out a scoff. For them, or for herself? "But I'm still mostly of a mind to wipe these pieces of shit from the face of the world."
"Not here," Lauriam said firmly. "Not like this. There are innocent people here. Haven't we, ourselves, hurt enough innocents...?"
"I hate you. And I hate having a Heart again..." Elrena mumbled, letting her Keyblade disappear with a crackling of electricity.
"Hey, is everything okay over here?" Ventus's voice, as he came onto the scene - with Terra and Aqua behind him.
"What happened?" Terra spoke. "We heard-"
"A fight," Master Aqua finished, her fierce, cold blue eyes sweeping over them all. Taking in the two groups divided by a scorched stone ground. "Explain just what is going on here!"
"She is the one who started it, not us," spoke Aced, raising a strong arm to jab a finger at Elrena. "She attacked us without any provocation!"
"You literally killed all our friends: your existence is provocation enough!" Elrena snarled out.
"We just came here to offer our aid to the people of this world," Ira spoke loudly. "But I can see our presence isn't welcome. The last thing we want to do is cause more harm to anyone - people we've already hurt so much-"
"Again, you literally killed all our friends!" Elrena shouted, her face reddening all over again. "You're just chalking that up to 'hurt' and 'harm'?! You're a pack of murderers, and I'll fucking-!"
"Elrena, enough. Not. Here!" Lauriam said firmly, grabbing her arm and pulling her back again. "We can have this battle somewhere else - anywhere but here. We can settle this, but not here. In fact, I know the perfect place," he went on, his furious blue eyes narrowing at the Foretellers. "The Keyblade Graveyard."
"The site of the war...?" Invi spoke hesitantly.
"Well, we don't care what any of you people do," Aqua said, her voice hard as she began striding down the ramp. "Just as long as it isn't here. This world has suffered enough, and I won't see it suffer any more. So all of you: get lost! NOW!"
"And who do you think you are to order us around?!" Aced exclaimed furiously, glowering at her.
"I am Master Aqua - Keyblade Master and Lord of the Land of Departure," she stated, stalking straight past Namine, Strelitzia, Lauriam and Elrena - out into the middle of the square. She strode right up to Aced, and she looked him in the eye. "Who is it that you think you are, again? Because all I see is a 'Lost Master' acting like a stomping, petulant little boy. Were standards really so low back in your time? I'm so relieved we've advanced so far since those dark ages."
Aced's lips drew back, a deep growl escaping his throat. His fists trembled at his sides as he drew himself up to his fullest height.
Aqua continued to hold his gaze. She cocked her head. Then, her lips tugged into a smirk.
Aced swung his arm out viciously, a massive Keyblade appearing in his grasp - yet he wielded it with one hand! "ENOUGH!" he roared, slashing for Aqua horizontally.
Aqua threw herself backwards into a low split, avoiding the blow by inches. Then she sprang back up and twisted around, roundhouse kicking Aced in the face! He yelled out and swung at her again - Aqua raised her hand, and a thick, glowing pink barrier dome of hexagon magic panels surrounded her. Aced's Keyblade came crashing down on her barrier, striking it near the top of the dome - and then a blue light flashed from the barrier, momentarily blinding everyone.
Namine blinked, rubbing her eyes. Then, she stared in amazement.
Aced was rebounding from his attack, but...slowly. At a crawl! Inch by inch, his arm moved backwards, his body being thrown off balance. His face twisted with rage - but his eyes were wide with shock.
Aqua curled the fingers of her still-raised hand, and her barrier swirled and compressed itself down into a single, thick magical panel in front of her palm. It shifted and morphed into a swirling pink energy sphere, which began to grow in size rapidly, until it was the size of a large beach ball. Aqua lowered her arm, and the sphere evaporated into pink swirls on the air around her. But she wasn't done. She stepped in toward the almost-frozen Aced and seized the front of his tunic, pulling him forward. "No - this is enough. If anything like this ever happens again - I won't show you this same level of mercy."
Aqua let Aced go and whirled away, stalking off back toward Namine and the others. She stopped suddenly again, turning to look at Elrena. "And the same goes for you," she added, before continuing on to rejoin Terra and Ventus. "Either you exist in this space together without issue, or you leave it. All of you. Understood?"
"Y-yeah..." Elrena stammered, her jaw agape. "Completely..."
"You'd all do well to listen to her," Terra began, in casual tones. "She is the one who's fought Xehanort to a standstill, after all - while he was using my body, too."
"I know she made Xemnas run like a little bitch back at Castle Oblivion, but she seriously...?" Elrena breathed.
"Uh-huh," Terra said, still casual. He put his hands in his pants pockets, grinning now. "Now you know why we try not to get on her bad side."
"Yeah, what he said!" Ven added, grinning too. "Aqua, that was the coolest thing I've ever seen..." he added to the woman under his breath.
"Thank you, Ven." Aqua said simply. She looked at Elrena, and then at the Foretellers. "So, which is it? Stay or go?"
"Graveyard - you, us - five minutes," Elrena hurled out at the Foretellers, spinning around and raising her Keyblade to summon a portal. "If you don't show up, like the cowards you are, I'll just have to hunt you down. And I am begging you to make me go that route!"
"Elrena..." Lauriam started.
But the woman ignored him, striding off into the portal alone.
Lauriam stood fixed to the spot. He looked to Strelitzia, then to Namine. "Both of you, stay here. Master Aqua - if you could prevent them from doing anything overly stupid-"
"Of course," Aqua stated. "Both of you girls: come here. Now!"
"N-no way, L-Lauriam, you can't-!" Strelitzia started, lunging to grab her brother's arm.
Lauriam smiled down at her, shaking his head. "I'm not going to join Elrena in the fighting - I'm going to make sure she doesn't do anything too overly stupid. That's all. Believe me when I say we'll both be leaving before anything like that can happen."
"That'd better be a promise," Strelitzia said fiercely. "I can't lose you either...being brother and sister goes both ways!"
"Promise," Lauriam said firmly.
Strelitzia let him go, stepping away. Lauriam quickly disappeared through the portal.
And nearby, the Foretellers also disappeared into a portal of their own - Ira gave a now-unfrozen Aced a push in the back, sending the man through first before the rest followed!
"Well, I want to go so I can help Elrena fight," Namine stated loudly. "And nobody's going to stop me!"
"Oh, you don't want to bet on that, trust me," Aqua spoke, stepping forward and putting her hands on her hips. "You're not going anywhere."
"Make me, bitch," Namine hurled out, raising a hand to show off her middle finger. She backpedaled, then turned and threw out her hand to conjure a Dark Corridor. She took a step toward it-
And she suddenly found herself unable to move as a wave of bluish energy rippled over her body!
The clacking of heeled shoes resounded on the stone, as Master Aqua came around Namine and into view. The woman bent down low before Namine, placing her hands on her knees. "Done. Now, I think it's time you got home to Master Luxu. He'll want to hear all about this, I'm sure..."
Namine screamed every obscenity she'd ever learned at the woman - in her own head!