Chapter 25
Magic Flower
Sora summoned his Keyblade and lunged at the woman. However, she lifted her lantern, which shot a bolt of green fire at him. This caught him by surprise, and he was knocked back by the dark magic. He hit the wall and slumped to the ground. Kairi helped him to his feet. Riku shot a blast of Dark Fire to destroy the lantern, then ran in to strike Gothel. However, with a dark aura covering her hand, she blocked his Keyblade with her dagger, then threw him back with a shockwave.
"I had certainly hoped that I would never use the power of this Bangle again," Gothel lamented. "But if it means keeping my flower and putting an end to the meddling of Keyblade wielders—" Numerous Heartless appeared around her "—so be it."
She pointed at Sora, Riku and Kairi, and the Heartless began to move toward them. However, balls of Fire, Blizzard, and Light, as well as a spinning shield, destroyed the monsters.
"You know about Keyblades?" Sora asked, dumbfounded. He had recovered from the hit, though he felt a stinging sensation in his left shoulder.
"I have seen the fruits of your labors," Gothel answered. "I was there when hundreds of Keybearers gathered light, saying it was in the name of protecting the world from the darkness. I saw them wage war for their greed of the light. I watched them destroy the world in their selfishness. I had hoped to never see another Key. Well, I suppose this can be the last time."
Donald screamed and threw himself at Gothel, but she turned around and held her hand out. Her bangle glowed and a Blizzaga spell hit him and threw him out of the window, encasing him in ice.
"Donald!" Mickey called. Fortunately, the duck managed to use Firaga magic to thaw himself out. Unfortunately, he still fell seventy feet and hit the ground hard. He gasped out a Curaga invocation the moment he landed, so he managed to drag himself to his feet several seconds later.
Gothel snapped her fingers, and six Dandelions surrounded the duck. "Infernal creatures," the woman muttered. Goofy jumped out of the window and landed neatly on the ground below to come to Donald's assistance. Immediately following this, multiple Powerwilds and Emerald Blues materialized to engage the remaining heroes. Due to the tenacity of the monkey Heartless and the close quarters of the battlefield, Sora, Riku, Kairi and Mickey soon found themselves backed into the wall. Sora and Riku were forced to guard against attacks from several directions. Mickey fared slightly better, due to his own small size and mobility, however he was still unable to get free. Kairi did her best to fend them off and even try to go on the offensive, but her arm guard permitted little freedom to retaliate and the rapier, while also being poorly suited for defensive purposes, was not of the same quality and strength as a Keyblade, not to mention the fact that she had next to no experience in battle.
"Oh, don't worry, dear. Our secret shall die with them," Gothel remarked coldly. Rapunzel kept trying to run to Eugene's side, but she was still chained to the wall. "And as for us," Gothel continued while disconnecting the chain from the wall and starting to pull on it, "we are going where no one will ever find you again!" Pascal came to Rapunzel's defense, biting and pulling on Gothel's dress. But, since he was a tiny chameleon, the woman simply kicked him away. Rapunzel continued to struggle, refusing to go where Gothel pulled her, but the dark power in the bangle boosted the woman's strength. "Rapunzel, really! Enough already! Stop fighting me!"
Rapunzel's struggling managed to cause the gag to fall off of her face, allowing her to speak. "No! I won't stop! For every minute for the rest of my life I will fight! I will never stop trying to get away from you!"
This inspired the others into a boost of strength. Sora shouted "Aeroga!" which conjured a gust of wind that blew the Powerwilds away from him. He was surprised by this, as he had not used Aero magic in over a year; it was not a spell that he had re-learned after awakening from his memory slumber, but the third-tier level of that spell came to him naturally. However, he thought that the spell was supposed to create a defensive wall around him, but he shrugged it off. Riku conjured a planar shield to block the frontal assault of the Heartless, then took out the ones that came at him from the side. Kairi pushed back against an attacking Powerwild with her arm guard, then sliced the head off of another Heartless with her rapier. Mickey blasted his attackers away with a light spiral, while shouting "Faith!" However, the assault was still overwhelming: the Emerald Blues enemies were unaffected by the Aero magic and threw themselves at him while surrounded by their own wind funnel; Riku's shield came down and the Heartless in front came at him with full force; a Powerwild slid right at Kairi, knocking her off of her feet and leaving her vulnerable; as for Mickey, his foes just kept coming, leaving him no opportunity to retaliate in a similar fashion.
Rapunzel's breathing steadied, and she came to a decision. "But if you let me save him, I will go with you," she said.
Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Mickey gasped in horror when they heard this. "No. No, Rapunzel…" Eugene croaked, trying to crawl toward Rapunzel but being unable to do so.
"I'll never run. I'll never try to escape. Just let me heal him, and you and I will be together, forever. Just like you want. Everything will be the way it was. I promise. Just like you want." This horrified Sora even more, as he remembered her saying that she never breaks a promise. Rapunzel looked to Gothel with pleading eyes, conveying the utmost sincerity. "Just let me heal him."
"Rapunzel, no! Don't go with her!" Sora pleaded while pushing back against attacks.
Gothel thought for a moment, then, without a word, unlocked the manacle around Rapunzel's wrists. She went over to Eugene and locked the manacle around his wrist, connecting it to the wall. "In case you get any ideas about coming after us," she whispered to him. She looked over to see that the others were still occupied with a score of Heartless.
Rapunzel ran over to Eugene. He winced in pain. She moved his hand and opened his shirt, and saw the blood-soaked wound.
"I'm so sorry. Everything is going to be okay," she assured him.
"No, Rapunzel!"
"I promise, you have to trust me."
"I can't let you do this," he pleaded
"And I can't let you die," she replied, tears welling up.
"But if you do this, then you will die."
She placed his hand on his cheek reassuringly. "Hey. It's going to be alright."
He looked around the room. Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Mickey were busy fighting Heartless that refused to relent. As they fought harder in desperation to save Rapunzel from Gothel, the Heartless got stronger, apparently fueled by the dark energy seeping from the obsidian bangle around the woman's wrist. Eugene knew that they would not be able to intervene. So, he had to do something, in spite of the fact that he was about to die.
He felt around for something he could use and found something.
Rapunzel sighed and opened her mouth to start singing.
"Wait, Rapunzel…" Eugene muttered. He brushed back her hair, then grabbed the golden locks at a spot below her neck. With his other hand, he picked up a shard of the broken mirror and swiped it back, cutting right through her hair.
Having used the last of his strength, he dropped the severed length of hair as well as the mirror shard, his arms falling limp.
"Eugene…?" Rapunzel felt her now-short hair, which quickly turned brown.
Gothel gasped in horror. "No!" Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Mickey stared in shock. Fortunately for them, the Heartless had stopped fighting when they recognized their summoner's distress.
Rapunzel picked up one end of her severed hair, and watched it quickly turn brown. Gothel tried to gather her end up, pleading for the magic to not fade away, but in seconds it had turned completely brown.
"No! What have you done?!" the woman screamed, watching as her smooth-skinned hand turned wrinkled and decrepit. Her black hair turned stark white and her perfect features became wrinkled and sunken. She ran over to the broken mirror and looked into her reflection. She was horrified to see her gorgeous features fade away. She pulled the hood of her cloak down in shame. Her wails of agony turned into a roar of anger as dark fire flared all around her body.
Brought back into focus by the woman's wails, Sora raised his Keyblade backward, his weapon wreathed in fire. He threw it, and it went straight through three Powerwilds. Those Heartless exploded in fire, annihilating the other nearby creatures. Riku spun around, slicing through each of the Heartless, then lunged through three more, blinking out of sight as he did so. The Heartless surrounding him exploded into smoke. Kairi delivered quick stabs into the Heartless in front of her, then ran over to check on Rapunzel and Eugene. Mickey jumped over his opponents and cut them down from behind.
Gothel picked her dagger up, and it was covered in a dark aura so thick that it turned completely black. "You insolent—" she screamed as she delivered nine powerful spinning strikes. However, Riku called up his barrier and Sora cast Reflega. When the darkness-charged strikes were finished, the spell dispersed, blasting Gothel with retaliating force.
Gothel, her resilience enhanced by the dark power emanating from the bangle, stood firm and tried to stab at Sora. However, he cast Fire, knocking her back and igniting her cloak. She screamed in pure hatred, the fire of her bangle burning hotter. Kairi grimaced and held back a gag when she saw the woman's veins, painfully visible through her wasting skin and muscles, turn black.
Despite having already transformed beyond the age she was at when she originally discovered the flower's magic, Gothel continued to lash out. Swords of light materialized over her head. The swords, tinged with a dark cloud, flew straight for her enemies, but Mickey deflected them out of the air, and they dissipated into sparkles and smoke.
Riku realized that the bangle was the source of her power, its own magic fueled by her anger and hatred. He ran at Gothel and slashed at her wrist. The bangle broke open and a gash was cut in the woman's wrist. She gasped in pain as her power faded. Dark fire was still wrapped around her hand, but it was apparent that it was consuming it. In seconds, the already-frail hand disintegrated into dust. The dagger hit the floor with a clang.
Powerless and her anger left useless, Gothel stumbled backward in pain and terror, heading toward the window. Mickey stuck his foot out, causing her to trip and fall out of the window. Rapunzel gasped and reached her arms out, but she was too far away to catch her, and it would have been useless anyway. Gothel screamed as she fell, her voice fading quickly as she had no energy left to hold a breath.
Mother Gothel's flaming cloak hit the ground, laying open, flat and empty as a cloud of dust and smoke flew out from it. Donald, Goofy and Maximus gasped in horror at the sight, realizing what had happened. Goofy refrained from vomiting.
Rapunzel stared in shock for a moment, then remembered Eugene. "No, no, no, no, no, Eugene," she pleaded, lifting up his limp body. He coughed and his eyes opened briefly. "Look at me! Look at me! I'm right here. Don't go. Stay with me, Eugene!" She grabbed his hand and pressed it against her head. "Flower gleam and glow. Let your power shine…" She quickly realized that it was not working.
Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Mickey watched in horror. Sora raised his Keyblade. "Heal!" Sora called out. A green light fell over Eugene, but nothing happened. Frantically, he reached into his pocket and pulled out an Elixir. He made to uncork it, but Mickey put his hand over his.
"Cure and Potions can only do so much," the mouse said sadly. "The wound's too severe."
Sora's face fell, and he dropped the Elixir. A friend was dying right in front of him. And for the first time, he was helpless. For all his great power, he could do nothing to save him.
Eugene weakly touched Rapunzel's face. "You were my new dream," he whispered, his eyes barely able to focus on her.
Rapunzel grabbed hold of his hand. "And you were mine," she replied, despairing.
Eugene slumped, the last of his strength leaving him, along with his life. Rapunzel held him, unmoving, for several minutes. She weakly recited the Healing incantation. The others in the room mourned silently. Kairi sought solace in Sora's embrace, crying. He accepted, also seeking comfort. Donald and Goofy climbed into the room, having hurried up the inner stairway after seeing what was left of Mother Gothel. Goofy started to ask how everyone was but stopped when he saw what was going on.
Rapunzel finally broke down in tears. One of them fell on Eugene's cheek. It sparked into a golden glow, then faded.
Rapunzel heard a series of gasps behind her and turned to see what caused the others to react in such a way. She noticed that the wound in Eugene's chest was emitting a golden light. Yellow rays curled and spread about the room, all coming out of Eugene's chest. A light image of a flower appeared over Eugene. With his keen eyes, Riku could see a shifting underneath the pattern, and he realized that the wound was healing.
The waving rays dissipated and the glow died down. Rapunzel checked where it had emitted. The wound was closed completely. The bloodstains had even disappeared. She looked back over at Eugene's face anxiously.
Eugene's eyes fluttered open, and he breathed. "Rapunzel," he whispered.
Rapunzel gasped in delight. "Eugene," she whispered back.
"Did I ever tell you I've got a thing for brunettes?" he joked.
Rapunzel and Eugene hugged. Sora, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy cheered at the miracle. They went up to Eugene to ask how he was feeling, and Sora helped him to his feet.