The Path to the Body
Chapter 10: Castle Crashers
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters involved except Kira and Aubren
Kira and Aubren made their way up the small valley that led to the castle. As they turned the corner they found themselves in the courtyard, a squad of Armored Knights standing between them and the gates.
"Looks like there isn't another way around," Kira said as she summoned her keyblades.
Aubren nodded, summoning his keyblade.
The pair stared down the Armored Knights, no one stirred for what felt like an eternity, and then one of them rushed forward. The rest of the knights followed behind it, their bodies clanking loudly with the movement.
"Ready?" Kira asked.
"Right behind you."
She let a smirk slide across her face before aiming her keyblades forward.
"Blizzara!"
A huge chunk of ice emerged from the tips of her weapons, shooting forward before colliding with the leading knight and shattering, sending razor-sharp ice shards slicing through the group.
Aubren was right behind it, as the heartless staggered from the initial blast of magic, he followed up with a dazzling display of slashes and slices that shredded the unsuspecting heartless. In a few seconds, they all dispersed. Aubren sighed as he let his keyblade disappear.
"Not bad," Kira said as she jogged up to him.
"You gave me a good opening is all," he replied.
"No need to be so modest," she grinned, giving him a light punch on the shoulder.
He went to reply, but they were interrupted by the clanking of more heartless echoing to them from inside the castle.
"Come on, we're not done here. We still need to find Aerith and Tifa," he said.
She nodded and let him lead the way into the castle doors. They advanced quickly through the maze-like series of hallways and corridors, dispatching heartless as they came across them. Eventually, they emerged into a large room, on the far side they saw Aerith slumped against the wall while a dark-haired woman in a black outfit fought off approaching heartless.
Without thinking the two leaped forward. Kira tossed her keyblades to her sides, grasping the chains as she shouted "Fira!"
Fireballs appeared around her body as she sailed through the group of heartless, cutting a path to break up their reinforcements. Aubren fell upon them from behind, dispatching them one after the other. As he cleaved a way through the group he dropped into a crouch, holding his keyblade at his side, almost like he was going to draw it from a sheathe. Then, in a flash, he dashed through the group, his keyblade slicing them all in half at the waist before they began to disperse. The woman delivered a brutal punch to one of the heartless, staggering it back. As it fell she stomped down on its chest, dispersing it. The trio looked around the room, searching for any more heartless, but when they saw none they relaxed.
Kira and Aubren dispersed their keyblades as they approached the woman.
"Are you Tifa?" Kira asked.
She nodded, "And I take it you're Kira. Leon's told me a lot about you. As for your friend…" Tifa turned toward Aubren.
"Aubren, at your service."
He held out a hand, Tifa nodded, taking it in her own and nearly breaking his knuckles with her grip. As he pulled his hand out of the handshake he limply shook it to regain feeling, which made Tifa giggle.
"Sorry, sometimes I forget to not squeeze so hard."
While they were speaking, Kira approached Aerith and kneeled to examine her.
"Is she going to be alright? I saw her take a hit from one of those heartless and she went down. I got so busy keeping them away from here I wasn't able to check," Tifa said as she crouched down on Aerith's other side.
Kira nodded, "She'll be fine. It must've been a big hit to knock her out like this. Just to be safe."
Kira held her hand out over Aerith's head, "Cura"
A soothing, green light appeared from her hand and cascaded down over Aerith's still form. The other girl stirred briefly but remained unconscious.
"We can't leave her here, not with all the heartless that are coming out of this place," Aubren said as he looked around, expecting more heartless to appear.
"Good point. You two keep going, find out what's happening. I'll get Aerith out of here," Tifa said as she tucked her arms under the other girl.
"You sure you'll be alright?" Kira asked.
"Yeah, you two cleared the way as you came in right? There can't be too many stragglers left behind."
She gave them a mischievous wink before setting off down the hallway they had come in from.
"Well, we'd better get to it. She had a point, we're the only ones who can stop the heartless," Kira said as she stood and dusted off her knees.
Aubren nodded as he scanned the room, looking for any sign of more heartless.
"I don't see anything…" he said.
"I don't either, so let's just pick a direction and go from there."
His eyes settled on a hallway to the right of where they had entered from. He lifted his arm and pointed it out to Kira.
"That's as good a way as any."
She nodded agreement before setting off down the hallway, Aubren right behind her. The two continued their way through the hallway before arriving in another large chamber. As they arrived they stopped in shock. A group of nobodies was engaged with a squadron of Armored Knight heartless.
"Have you ever seen them fight each other before?" Kira asked.
"No…"
The two stayed back as the nobodies dodged and weaved through the knights, dispersing them with ease. As the last heartless was destroyed the nobodies looked around before weaving through the air and disappearing down another hallway.
"Seems they're the bigger threat," Kira whispered.
Aubren nodded, not wanting to risk being overheard. He stood up and moved slowly into the room, keeping his eyes on the hallway the nobodies had disappeared into. Once he was sure the area was clear he waved Kira forward.
"Where to next?" She asked as she came close.
"Not that way, what about…" he turned and noticed a door in the other wall.
"It's not a hallway," he said.
"Something different for a change."
Kira approached the door, summoning a keyblade in her other hand as she reached toward the handle. Nothing happened as she wrapped her fingers around the thin, brass handle. She waited, then pushed it open and rushed inside. She stepped to her left to allow Aubren room to follow her in, and the two stood with their keyblades raised, but there was nothing inside the room.
The room itself was circular, with bookshelves lining the wall alongside the door and on the opposite side. A small, circular desk was set in the middle of the room, and books were haphazardly scattered on the floor.
"What is this place?" Kira asked, dispersing her keyblade as she began to explore the room.
Aubren took the time to slowly, and quietly, close the door behind them.
"I don't know," he said once the door latched shut behind them.
Kira paced the room, walking in a half crouch to examine the books. Aubren knelt and picked up one of the books from the floor. Flipping through its pages he quickly realized something.
"These are journals… research notes. Someone was conducting experiments here," he said.
"What kind of experiments?" Kira asked as she approached him.
He skimmed the tome in his hands, muttering to himself as he read. Kira only caught every third word, and decided it was best to just wait for him to finish.
"I can't believe it…" he said.
"Believe what?"
"The person who owns this study… it's Ansem the Wise."
"Ansem the Wise? Is he related to Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness?"
"I don't know who that is, but maybe? They have the same name after all. But Ansem the Wise was the leader of Hollow Bastion before it fell to the Darkness. To think he was conducting experiments on heartless here the whole time…"
"Experiments on heartless? What was he doing with them?"
"Sorry, I misspoke. He was researching the heart, and as a consequence, the heartless. From what I read it looks like he was trying to find a way to help dispel the darkness in people's hearts."
"A good idea, but it didn't work," Kira said as she looked around the room, "Hollow Bastion still fell to the Darkness, and it's only just now beginning to recover."
Aubren nodded, slamming the book closed he walked over to the desk and deposited the book on its surface.
"Where to next? There doesn't seem to be anything here," he asked.
Kira wandered around the room, humming to herself as she looked.
"Are you looking for something?" He asked.
"I'm not sure. I feel there's something more here… something we're missing."
Aubren looked around before his eyes settled on the wall to the left of the desk. He walked over and then began to examine the wall. After a few minutes, he found nothing, but as he turned to walk away he noticed something; the light reflected off a small sliver of the wall.
"What's this?" He asked as he reached out and put his hand on it.
A beep echoed through the room, and the wall slid up revealing a hidden passage.
"Good going, you found it!" Kira said with a smile.
The two entered the passage, and quickly found themselves in a massive canyon, with a glass walkway leading into a small room. Inside the room was a console on one side, and a massive device built into the wall on the other.
"What is this?" Kira asked, looking at the massive device.
"I don't know, but I think this is a… computer? I've never seen one like this before though…"
"You think we should get Cid?" Kira asked.
"No time, we need to figure out how this is connected to the heartless and stop it."
She nodded agreement, walking over to stand beside Aubren and examine the console.
"Any ideas?" she asked
"No. You?"
"Not a clue, I barely understand how Cid's works."
"What if we tried… typing into it."
Aubren reached forward and began to tap away at the keys, after a few words the system began to emit an alarm.
"Attention User: This system has detected an unauthorized interaction. You have been warned. Further use of this terminal will result in immediate defensive action."
"Did that thing just talk?" Kira asked.
"I am not a 'thing'. I am the Master Control Program. I oversee this system, you will disengage from this terminal and leave immediately."
Kira looked up at Aubren.
"We need to find out what's going on, can you tell us?" Aubren asked.
"I am not permitted to interact with unauthorized users except to warn them that interaction with this terminal is prohibited."
"Load of help you are," Aubren said with annoyance before kicking the terminal.
"Offensive action detected. You are now under arrest."
"Arrest?!" Kira shouted in surprise.
Before either of them could move, a light shot from the large device behind them, and frozen them in place. It then proceeded to scan their bodies, and as it finished, they disappeared, leaving the empty room behind.