Chapter 60
The Lost Masters
The Ratty Rat chased its prey down the street, its wheels bouncing on the cobblestones. Both hunter and prey were illuminated by evenly-spaced street lamps. The terrified woman ran as fast as she could, but the Heartless was confident that she was not fast enough. The woman ran around a corner, and the Heartless followed. It promptly exploded when it zoomed straight into the teeth of the Kingdom Key.
Sora swung his Keyblade back up and struck a Turquoise March, sending it flying. Noticing more Heartless on a nearby roof, he hopped onto a nearby stack of crates and the jumped up to the roof of the house beside him. He ran across the roof and leapt over the street to reach the next roof, where he confronted a trio of Armored Knights. He parried the first sword strike and retaliated with three swings, destroying one of the Heartless on the finisher. One of the other Knights cut into his back. Sora tumbled forward, but spun around and swung a wide arc at the third Knight, obliterating it. He took a Potion out of his pocket and drank the contents. Instantly, he felt the gash close up and the pain vanished. He also faintly heard the self-repairing fabric of his shirt weave itself back together. He turned around and matched blades with the final Knight. They parried each other's blows until the Knight put some extra weight into one swipe, pushing Sora back. It proceeded to spin on one pointed foot and make its way toward Sora, but the Keyblade wielder swung his weapon down, landing a direct hit on the flat of the blade, causing his foe to fall down. Sora then swung a final blow right onto the Heartless' head.
Donald allowed all bystanders to get to a safe distance before he cast Thundaga, shocking and annihilating a half-dozen Turquoise Marches. He cast Blizzard to defeat a Red Nocturne and a similar-looking Heartless with an orange hat and a black body with orange edges. He was not quite sure what the difference between the Red Nocturne and the Scarlet Tango was, but he did notice that the Scarlet Tango's orange fireballs flared longer and were more likely to ignite the flammable wood. That meant they had to go, and fast. He could not waste a single spell. He rearranged the items in his pocket so that his ethers and elixirs were in easy reach. He launched a Blizzaga spell that encased a Scarlet Tango in ice. He jumped and used it as a stepping stone to launch himself higher, then summoned a hammer which he brought down on the head of another Tango, sending it exploding into the ground at the same time that the frozen Heartless shattered against the cobblestones.
Riku came across a new variety of Heartless that looked like the Lance Soldiers, except that they were unarmed, their armor was grey, and their shoulders were covered in purple epaulets. The Heartless squatted and stretched back up like springs. One of them jumped, then stretched itself to its full length and closed its legs together, creating a pointed spearhead with its feet, aiming itself directly at Riku. Riku jumped out of the way and struck back when it pierced its way into the roof's shingles. His Keyblade pierced the knight and, after about five swings, destroyed it. He ran after the other Piercing Knight and swung his weapon at it, but it stepped back with a bounce to avoid him. Riku threw a wide strike at it, but it crouched down as far as it could go, then bounced back up, striking the rim of its helmet into his chin.
Riku was sent flying backwards into a bakery. He brought himself to his feet, using the worktable as support. The Piercing Knight ran up to him, but soon realized that it could not use its jumping attack due to the low ceiling of the section they were in. Riku swung his Keyblade, but the Knight ducked and rose back up, bumping the Keyblade with its shoulder into the ceiling, where it was pinned. Riku tried to force his weapon free, but to no avail. The Heartless drew its arm back for a punch. Riku reached around behind him for something he could use and found his hand wrapped around the handle of a bread knife. He picked it up, spun it in his hand so that he held it upright, and jammed it into the Heartless' side. The Knight stumbled in pain, allowing Riku to move his Keyblade again, though it ended up slipping out of his hand by mistake and falling to the ground. Unperturbed, he grabbed the Heartless and spun around, slamming it onto the table. He then placed the tip of the bread knife on the table and pulled it, sawing through the Piercing Knight's neck in three strokes.
Sora and Donald found Riku in the bakery, wiping off the knife even though all remains from the Heartless had vanished when it was slain. "Heartless all taken care of?" he asked without bothering to turn around.
"All clear," Sora answered. "The guards are looking for stragglers, but I doubt there'll be anything more than a Shadow or two."
"Good work," Riku replied. Satisfied with his not-quite-necessary cleaning job, he put the knife back down and willed his Keyblade to vanish.
The three of them turned around when they heard footsteps and saw a portly man whom they presumed to be the baker.
"Are you the ones who fought off those monsters?" the baker asked. Riku, Sora and Donald nodded. "Well, thank you. You really saved us all."
Sora waved it off. "Don't mention it."
"I should repay you for what you've done," the baker said, walking past them and into the bakery.
"Oh, uh, that won't be necessary," Sora said.
"No, no. I insist." The baker opened a cupboard and examined its contents. "I don't have much, but I'm certain you will like this." He grabbed a tray off of the table and pushed a bunch of bread loaves, pastries, and other baked goods onto the tray until there was a sizeable pile. He then carried the tray over to the three heroes, who were quite taken aback by this gift.
"Whoa! Hey, uh, don't you need these to sell?" Sora asked, nervous but also inwardly flattered that this man was willing to offer such a handsome reward for their deeds.
"Don't worry about me. I have plenty extra," the baker replied. "You could use a snack after all that. And take some for the road. I insist."
Hesitantly, with some silent encouragement from Donald, Sora and Riku took the tray from the baker. "Thank you," Sora said politely.
"Thank you," the baker reiterated. "And be sure to let me know how you like it."
Sora munched on a Danish, savoring its delectable taste. Riku and Donald enjoyed slices of bread, which Riku had sliced with his Keyblade. They had estimated how much they were going to eat right there and set those loaves and pastries on the table at which they currently sat, then slipped the rest into one of Sora's magic pockets to bring back on board the Gummi Ship.
"Okay, I've got to admit," Riku said after swallowing his bite. "This stuff is really good."
"Yeah," Sora agreed, not following Riku's example in table etiquette. "He puts a lot of effort into making everything delicious, and he still manages to turn out a lot of food."
"You know," Donald interjected, "something's been bothering me about the attack tonight."
"How so?" Sora asked.
"The guards said that up until now, the Heartless haven't been causing too much trouble," Donald explained. "But suddenly, they're swarming all over the place and overwhelming the guards."
"You think they sensed we were here?" Riku wondered.
Sora shook his head. "That could be true for the fight in the ballroom. But we didn't even set foot in the town before the attack.
"And there were a lot of Heartless that could start fires," Donald added. "It's almost as if they were more interested in causing a scene than actually hunting for hearts."
Sora and Riku contemplated what Donald said. He had a point: the Scarlet Tangos started a few fires, and there were few reported casualties. For the most part, the Heartless seemed to allow the civilians to run and cause a panic. "So, maybe they were trying to lure us out here?" Riku guessed.
Sora nodded. "So it looks like they are organizing," he affirmed. "Which most likely means that someone from Maleficent's club is around here."
"And that would mean that they're looking for the artifact," Riku agreed.
"You think it might be at the castle, or out here?" Sora asked.
"The Heartless were causing chaos all around town without a care in the world," Donald argued. "We already figured that they know roughly where the artifacts are, so if they were trying to find it in the town, the attacks would be more focused on a single location."
"And from what we've seen around town, there isn't really anyone who would be so important as to be the one guarding it," Riku added.
"So they could only have been attacking like this to lure us away," Sora muttered, understanding. "Maybe the Heartless attack in the ballroom was supposed to be their advance scouts. These guys were supposed to draw away the castle's defenders."
"It's a good thing we left Mickey, Kairi and Goofy in there," Riku said.
Sora nodded in agreement, then noticed something in the distance. Some black stubs stuck out over a pile of crates, and he thought he saw the tip of a large shoe sticking out of the side. He wondered what that could possibly be.
"But that means whoever is here will be heading up to the castle, if they're not there already," Donald pointed out.
"Then we should head back," Riku said. "If there are Heartless there and some avoid a fight, we can follow them and see if they lead us to the artifact."
Sora nodded, returning his focus to the conversation at hand. "And if not, we can ask for a tour of the castle, and keep a lookout for anything that fits the general shape," he added.
He heard a shuffling sound up ahead and looked back at the crates, but whatever he had thought he saw was gone. He was apprehensive, but he did not feel any sense of creeping danger. He pushed it to the back of his mind. He did not want to worry his friends until he knew something was wrong.
They finished their food and got up from the table. Sora thanked the baker and told him that the treats were delicious. Riku tossed a tip onto the worktable and they left before the baker could protest. They found the guards and told them that they were heading back, and two of the guards agreed to accompany them. They walked through town and through the woods until they came upon the castle. From looking up at the clock at the top of the castle, they could tell it was ten minutes until midnight.
As they entered the ballroom, they heard something that caught them by surprise and filled them with worry.
"Your Majesty, what's wrong? What happened to them?" Kairi asked.
Sora, Riku and Donald ran up to Kairi, Mickey and Goofy. They noticed that Mickey had his eyes lowered, sadness and shame on his face. He refused to even face Kairi and Goofy. Something was not right.
"What's wrong?" Sora asked. "What happened to who?"
Mickey remained silent. Kairi answered for him. "There were three other Keyblade wielders that the king knew about a decade ago, Terra, Ventus and Aqua," she explained. "I think something bad happened to them."
Sora crossed his arms and looked up pensively. "Ventus? Oh. Maybe that's who Jaq was talking about when he was saying 'Venven'," he said to himself.
Kairi nodded. "Yeah. Cinderella said that she met him," she confirmed.
"Aqua… That name sound familiar," he mused. He shrugged lightly, figuring he would worry about that part later. He turned to Mickey. "So, your Majesty, what did happen to them?"
There was no dodging it now. After a minute of hesitation, Mickey sighed and began the story.
"Terra, Ventus and Aqua were Keyblade wielders being trained by a Keyblade Master named Eraqus. He was an old friend of Master Yen Sid's. I think they trained together, along with a man named…" He hesitated, feeling a swell of embarrassment and shame as he reflected on the connection between those past events and the more recent years.
"Along with who?" Riku pressed him.
"Xehanort," Mickey finished his sentence.
"WHAT?!" Sora, Riku and Kairi blurted. Could he be the same person as the man who they knew as Ansem and Xemnas? No, he would have been an old man by now, whereas the Xehanort they were familiar with was much younger and was even the real Ansem's apprentice. But could there be a connection?
Weakly, Mickey raised his head and turned around so that he was at least looking at them. "Yen Sid sensed the worlds were in danger from creatures he called 'Unversed', so he told Eraqus, who sent Aqua and Terra to investigate. Ventus went off on his own to follow Terra. I had also run away from my training to figure out what was going on," Mickey continued. "I ran into Ven when he was in a fight with a masked Keyblade wielder named Vanitas. We got separated shortly after, and I ended up in Radiant Garden. There, I met Aqua and we fought the Unversed to protect Kairi. We decided to team up afterwards, but I was pulled away to another world by the Star Shard—that's the thing I was using to travel between worlds. After a few more jumps, I was ambushed and taken prisoner by Vanitas, who was working for Master Xehanort. Xehanort wanted to use me as bait to lure Ven. I didn't really make out the full conversation, but I was told later that Xehanort wanted Ven and Vanitas to fight and create the χ-blade."
Sora, Riku and Kairi looked at each other in utter confusion, as they did not understand that statement at all. Even Cinderella, Prince Charming and the Grand Duke were befuddled. Did they not already have "Keyblades" of their own? Was there something special about this new "Keyblade"?
Mickey did not notice their expressions, so Sora took it upon himself to address the problem. "What do you mean by 'the Keyblade'?" he asked.
"Oh," Mickey gasped as he realized his mistake. "Sorry, fellas. The χ-blade, they "key" sound being written like an ancient letter, shaped like an X—" he drew an X in the air with his finger to demonstrate "—was older and more powerful than the Keyblades we use. It serves as a counterpart to Kingdom Hearts. Never mind, I'll explain it all later.
"Anyway, at some point afterward, I was thrown into the Lanes Between. Aqua rescued me and brought me to Yen Sid's tower to recuperate. When I woke up, I learned that Xehanort had manipulated Ven and Terra so he could kill Eraqus, and was luring them to this place called the Keyblade Graveyard for the final showdown. Yen Sid warned me that I was not well enough to go, but I ran off to help them." He sighed deeply, the memory clearly proving to be difficult for him to discuss. "But I was too late. Vanitas had already merged with Ven and created the χ-blade. Aqua and I fought him, and the χ-blade broke. The whole place was engulfed in an explosion. I found Aqua and Ven floating in the Lanes Between and brought them back to Yen Sid's tower, but we realized that Ven's heart had broken and disappeared. Terra was nowhere to be found.
"The last I saw of Aqua, she had gone to take Ven to a safe place before going to find Terra," Mickey concluded his story.