The screen flickers for a bit before you see the author and a smaller cloaked figure watching...Avatar?
The author notices you before making a sushing motion with his finger.
The screen flickers once again before the author reappears in a different room as he was closing a door and speaking to someone outside
*Sorry but I have got to take this!*
Once he closed the door he sighed and turned to face you.
*Sorry about that, was caught up in watching this with my baby brother.*
*Anyway guy Hakuorofan7 here and welcome back to another chapter of From No One to Someone. Released the day after the newest trailer dropped and that is leaving me curious to see how this will go from here.*
*Speaking of which a ton of good games being dropped this year and I can not wait to play all the ones I have on my list...and I have got quite a long list at that already.*
*But anyway I will keep this intro short and begin the chapter shall we.*
*First I do not own Kingdom Hearts.*
*Secondly just sit back, relax, maybe put some music on, and enjoy. I will see you all at the end of the chapter.*
The author snapped his fingers and the screen flickered as the chapter began.
Cacophony of the Unversed
"And that should be just about done." Luxu said as he finished tracing the runes he had found in Master's room.
He had taken a break from designing arks and overseeing their construction before coming into his 'office' in Scala ad Caelem.
As much as he loved his Master, he needed to do this.
In order to ensure that his siblings will make it out this accursed war alive. he needed to do this.
So he was working the spell he saw on the Master's desk.
A spell from the looks of it was able to communicate through with someone in a different era, most likely the future as the spell required two points to properly function.
If this was meant for him, an experiment, or something else entirely he wouldn't know unless the Master told him.
As always he was tight lipped about details concerning the future unless he wished to diverge it.
After all knowing too much about the future can greatly affect someone.
But right now he did not care, if this can all work out alright that was all that mattered.
So if the Master wouldn't accept his idea, then there was someone that could.
The spell had no specific secondary point, so unless focused he could probably end up communicating with some random person in the future.
So with a little modification he made it to work on a loop that focused on one person alone, himself.
The lead Unversed gestured to Terra, getting the Killer Quartet to split off once again.
With the original Unversed and the triangle player going after Roxas, while the harpist and pianist went after Terra.
"Okay it is official, this is worst then the Crimson Prankster." Roxas said under his breath as he brought up he teleported out of the bell wielder's strike.
After all if his idea worked, who better to understand then his future self.
"Just set a fixed point for the second point to activate...how about here..." Luxu said as he traced some more runes as they turned azure as the coordinates had been set. "Perfect, now to test this spell out."
Luxu applied some magic to the runes before they glowed azure and floated off the paper before wrapping around his arm and vanishing, covering his body in an azure aura.
It lingered on him for a few moments before it faded and he sensed a connection.
"Perfect, now to focus on it and get some answers." Luxu said.
For about 10 minutes Luxu tried to make a contact to no avail, no matter what he tried.
He was not what was going on.
There was a connection that was for sure, but there was no responses.
If he was not dead, otherwise their would be no connection.
So something else going on.
"I'll try again later, maybe it was too much to hope it would work on the first try." Luxu said as he sunk in his chair and went back to work.
It would be counterproductive to everyone if he took too long off of the arks. He would try again later, before his planned date tonight.
"Now then, how do I turn this spell of?" Luxu asked himself while looking over the notes and working.
He could still feel the connection and if he couldn't find a way to turn it off the feeling with no response it was just going to bother him all day.
Braig just chuckled as he shook his head.
"Sorry kiddo, now's not the correct time." He said as to himself as he cut off the connection.
"Just need to see if this is the correct timeline first." Braig said as he opened his book and did not see anything else being activated.
After all, it would be bad to get his past self's hopes up if things didn't play out accordingly.
And the way things were going right now, that wouldn't be a problem.
Terra's prayers were answered and he did not encounter another Unversed as he. walked to the Tremaine manor.
It was a nice quite walk to the manor. It was a beautiful night out and the forest, minus the Unversed swarming it was pretty serene.
However he turned a little anxious when he heard the sounds of a woman crying in despair.
He wasn't used to something that and was even more anxious when he sensed the woman's heart.
It was a heart of pure light, just like with Snow White.
Walking a bit further he saw her crying into a stone bench underneath a large willow tree back of the manor. Wearing the remains of a pink and white dress that had been torn to shreds.
For a few moments he stood there and waited for Roxas to arrive before sighing and began to walk towards the woman in order to comfort her.
Terra was not used to this kind of situation.
The last time he had seen a woman cry was Aqua for when Ven was still comatose. He tried and couldn't really do anything then to really help her, and probably not with this crying girl.
But at least he could try, despite how anxious about this situation.
Still hopefully he could not truly mess it up once again as he did with Snow White.
"Is there something wrong?" Terra asked the woman as he kneeled down next to her.
It was obvious that something was wrong, but the eldest Keyblade apprentice figured that it was the best place to start.
"It's just that my friends made me the most beautiful dress, but my stepmother and stepsisters ruined it." She cried out between sobs. "And I was so looking forward to the ball tonight."
As the woman continued to cry out, Terra just looked stunned at her.
This woman's own family was willing to do this to her?
To tare apart her dress on the eve of the ball for some unknown reason. He couldn't even imagine that someone could do this to their own family.
First Queen Grimehilda and Vanitas and now this...the worlds were just a bit darker then he had first thought.
But he quickly shook his head of those thoughts.
Terra could focus on the dichotomy of the balance of the worlds another time. Right now he had to focus on getting her at least lighten up a little.
If only he could figure out what to say in order to help out.
After a few moments of pondering, one of Master Eraqus's lessons came to the mind.
Terra thought it might be the perfect thing to say, but he decided to reword it a little.
This situation seemed like it required more of a delicate touch.
"You have to be strong. If you let your heart become wounded from their actions, in the end they will only prevail. However with a strong heart and a little help we can still do this." Terra said while sighing. "You said your friends made this dress for you, then perhaps their is still time to mend it. Both me and them, I am sure we can fix this up before the ball ends."
"Are you sure about that?" The woman asked between sobs, turning her head a little to face him. Her eyes so full of despair and with the tiniest speck of hope that it made Terra's heart quench while looking for it.
But his resolve held firm.
"Of course, I mean I only know a few things about sowing from my Master and Aqua, but if your friends were able to make that dress for you then we can patch it up while the ball is still going on." Terra said, hoping that will help her.
Honestly he just knew about the basis to mend his clothing in case of it getting torn while training and making it look seamless.
So it shouldn't be too much harder to do with a regular dress if he had help, right?
"Thank you..." The woman sobbed out, her eyes filled with even more hope then before.
Before it was. crushed by an overwhelming sense of negativity as she began to cry even harder.
One Terra was all too familiar with by now.
"Unversed!" Terra growled out as he summoned Earthshaker as a large group emerged from the forest around them.
Four Scrappers, a couple of Hareraisers, and a pair of Bruisers.
All of them closing in on the woman as she continued to cry, their target clear to the Keyblade wielder.
"You're all going to pay." Terra said as he braced himself.
They had just robbed this woman of what little hope she had and were now probably going to take her heart.
Not if he could do any about it.
Roxas had just been patrolling along the edge of the Tremaine manor when he had sensed Terra approach Cinderella.
Figuring that the older apprentice could at least help her out, and judging by the condition of the light in her heart he was right.
What ever Terra was doing with her, it was working.
Until the light in her heart dimmed considerably, followed by the sounds of fighting breaking out.
His concerns were proven right and he was thankful Terra was right there when the Unversed struck.
Seeing as he wasn't that far from them, the Nobody summoned Oblivion and rushed towards them.
Unaware that along the the roof was a trio of Floods prowling along the roof of the manor, all under the command of Lady Tremaine.
They had been following him under her orders and had left him alone for the most part. But that was no longer an option.
There was another Keyblade wielder here now and swarm of their kin was now attacking them and going after Cinderella.
Weighing in their options, they decided to take out their target first before dealing with the bigger Keyblade wielder after he exhausted himself with their kin.
If they were correct then they were going to take Cinderella away and they couldn't have that.
Lady Tremaine was quite clear what she would do to them if she were to have escaped.
So the first one of the trio kept after Roxas, intent on attacking him in the back.
Only to be bisected by a silver blade of energy and vanish in a puff of darkness.
"Now then I suggest you too listen to me unless you wish to end up like that idiot." Kier said while appearing in front of them, scarring the other Unversed into compliance. "Good get any of the other Unversed that are under Tremaine and tell them their king is displeased with their actions. Normally he would have had you all return to the swarm after dispatching you all himself. However he has told me that he has a better plan for all of you. Gather them all and I will share everything our king has planned."
The two Floods nodded fearfully before sinking into the roof, getting Kier to nod before contacting the rest of the horde.
'Second wave wait for me and prepare to engage in my mark, I am going to fulfill our king's wishes before continuing our main mission.' Kier said, getting feedback from the rest of the nearby horde before cutting itself off from them and sinking into the roof.
The first of their king's plan was simple enough, turn Tremaine's Unversed against her
A little force and the reminder of who created them was enough.
The rest of the plan was a little more complex, but their king was confident that it would work. So Kier had faith that it would work.
Still for now it would be dealing with the wayward Unversed, then back to it's true mission.
Back to absorbing the temporal energy from that interesting human, and possibly evolving further.
Terra dodged a strike from a Scrapper before swinging his Keyblade into it. That sent the Unversed flying into a nearby Hareraiser, causing them both to explode into a puff of darkness.
"Blizzard!" He casted as the spell hit a Hareraiser that was approaching the still despairing woman. Terra morphed his Keyblade into it's whip form and wrapped it around the frozen Unversed and chucked it into a Bruiser, knocking it down and shattering the ice.
Terra panted as he readied himself for whatever attack came next.
He had managed to wipe out a good portion of the Unversed with a few left. But he heard some more coming his way from the sound of it from nearby when he saw.a Hareraiser launch himself out of the way.
Terra slid out of the way and struck the smaller Unversed towards the source of the noise.
Only for it to be battered away by Roxas's Keyblade and into the same Bruiser from earlier, downing both Unversed.
"Sorry about that Roxas." Terra said as he struck a Scrapper that was trying to the woman.
"It's alright, you were defending Cinderella from a bunch of Unversed." Roxas said as a Hareraiser cartwheeled towards him and blocked it with Oblivion.
"Cinderella, so that's her name. Never got a chance to ask her that." Terra said as he swung Earthshaker down onto the Scrapper and buried it's head into the ground. "So how do you know her name then?"
"The driver told me." Roxas lied as he pushed the Hareraiser back, before it started to spin midair and rain down lasers. "Reflect!"
A barrier of light came between the Nobody and Cinderella, blocking the laser and sending them flying elsewhere. Including one of the other Hareraisers.
"So didn't you think to get her out of here before the Unversed attacked?" Roxas asked as he took down the barrier and threw his Keyblade at the airborne Unversed, ending it's existence.
"I tried too, but been busy dealing with them to make sure they don't harm her." Terra said, getting Roxas to nod as that was a valid point.
The eldest apprentice charged a lightning bolt at the end of his Keyblade.
In his mind it was time to finish this.
"Thundaga!" Terra casted.
He launched it at the remaining Unversed, it erupted and split into multiple bolts of lightning around it, vaporizing the Hareraiser s caught in their path.
But the final Bruiser powered through the spell and rushed towards Terra, intent on landing at least one blow on the Keyblade wielder.
It's strike was blocked by Earthshaker, getting Terra to smirk.
"Counter Hammer!" Terra shouted as he raised his Keyblade up before slamming it into the ground and producing a shockwave that sent the larger Unversed flying into the air
Only for it to be cut down by Roxas throwing his Keyblade.
"Nicely done Roxas, hopefully that should be the last of them." Terra sighed out, before he saw something moving along the ground.
"I think you spoke too soon Terra." Roxas said as he saw at least six shapes moving along the ground.
"Hate to say it but I agree." Terra sighed out, before he stepped back to avoid an ice shard landing in front of him.
Two Blue Sea Salts flew above them, raining down ice shards on the two and driving them closer together by raining down ice shards at the two. Assisted by Floods jumping out of the ground or clawing at their feet from the going back under.
This had taken both Keyblade wielders by surprise.
Compared to the last swarm these ones were much more organized and were only targeting them and not Cinderella.
However they quickly for over their shock and started reacting accordingly.
Terra deflected an ice shard towards an a Flood that had launched itself and felled it. Roxas then trained Oblivion towards one of the Blue Sea Salts.
"Fira!" He casted, launching a fireball that launch straight into it and destroyed the Unversed.
Terra swung Earthshaker down upon the head of a Flood going towards his feet before slamming it into a nearby Flood.
The older apprentice braced himself for another attack, only for Roxas to groan out in pain.
He turned to see a Scrapper had joined the frey while they weren't looking and had struck the Nobody square in the back with both of its claws.
Roxas quickly composed himself and slammed Oblivion into the Scrapper's head, stunning it as it retreated back.
"Are you okay Roxas?" Terra asked as he felled another Flood.
"I'm fine nothing a little healing can't fix." Roxas said, silently casting Cure on himself. A little annoyed that he had been attacked like that.
Sure he was used to Heartless doing that to him, it was still annoying all the same.
"Alright then." Terra said, launching a fireball that clipped the remaining Blue Sea Salt.
It staggered mid air before launching a small twister of ice that sucked up the remaining Floods.
Terra just trained his Keyblade towards it as the tip lit aflame.
"Firaga!" Terra casted, creating a big plume of fire in front of him that dissipated the ice storm and defeated the Floods.
The Blue Sea Salt tried to launch another attack, but Terra coated himself in fire and rushed at it. With one more hit of his Keyblade the Unversed was defeated.
The Scrapper reappeared and tried to strike at Roxas once again, but the Nobody was more then ready for it this time.
He blocked it's attack with Oblivion before pulling back and delivering a heavy blow to it's head and staggering it.
One quick slash of Oblivion and it was finished.
Roxas let out a sigh of relief that it was over, but not before he and Terra did a quick sweep of the surrounding area incase anymore Unversed showed up.
After a minute of looking they could see no more approaching on their location, but they knew they would be back soon to go after Cinderella.
Unaware that of a pair of flickering golden eyes on Roxas's back as Kier got comfortable and began to siphon more temporal energy.
"There is nothing left to believe in..." Cinderella sobbed out, getting Terra's heart to ache and Roxas to be shocked.
The Cinderella he knew though Sora was nothing like this. He knew that her stepsisters had caused this, but this...was not what he was expecting.
She sounded so broken, so filled with despair...
This was something that he couldn't just let be.
"Roxas, we are not leaving yet." Terra said firmly, getting the Nobody in question to nod.
"You didn't need to say anything. So how do you suppose we help her?" Roxas asked.
Before Terra could even suggest anything, a soft, misty glow surrounded them soon followed by specks of light appearing all around like miniature stars.
"Terra was it, I must thank you for trying earlier. I am afraid those monsters have only made a mess of things." A voice sighed out through the glow as it gathered around Cinderella.
The glow began to gather around Cinderella and take shape.
"There is nothing to believe in anymore...nothing." Cinderella cried out as the glow gathered together to form an elderly woman in a lavender hooded cloak. Cinderella cried into her lap of the elderly woman while she gently rub her the back of her hair.
At first Terra was a bit apprehensive to this but upon seeing the woman's actions, he decided to calm down
Roxas though knew what would happen as soon as he could sense her heart.
It was mainly one of light, but it held a certain radiance that he and Sora had encountered quite a few times.
The same one that was in hearts of Maleficent, Tinkerbell, and the Gullwings.
This woman was a fairy.
"Nothing my dear? Oh you don't really mean that." The fairy said soothingly.
"Oh...but I do. It's just no use." Cinderella cried out.
"Nonsense! If'd you truly lost all of your faith, than I couldn't be here. And here I am." The fairy said as she helped Cinderella up. "Oh come now, dry those tears. Can't be going to the ball like that.
"The ball? Oh, but I-" Cinderella tried to say, her sadness draining away with each word said. But the fairy cut her off.
"Of course you are. Even miracles take a little time." The fairy said with a smile.
"Miracles?" Cinderella asked, getting the fairy to nod.
"Exactly, but that is not all my dear. Sometimes miracles require a little help, and I believe your friends are willing to help out in any way they can." The fairy said gesturing towards the direction of the two Keyblade wielders.
Roxas heard some rustling behind him and instead of Unversed saw some animals approaching them.
A horse, a dog, some birds, and mice wearing clothes.
The later two of which were staring at him and surprise.
"Ven is that you, when did you get so big?" He heard Cinderella ask in surprise.
Oh right, the Master did tell him about that.
"Wait did you say Ven, he was here?" Terra asked, getting Cinderella to nod. "We have been looking here all day for him, but why did you mean by get so big?"
"He was as big as a mouse when I saw him and him out of a mousetrap. Are you too friends of his?" She said getting Terra to look in shock for a moment, before recomposing himself.
"We are, my name is Terra and this is Roxas. And before you say anything yes there is a resemblance between the two and no neither of us do not know why." Terra said, already figuring out what she was going to ask next. "But from the sounds of it he already left didn't he?"
"He left earlier this afternoon, but I have no idea where. He left after helping the rest of my friends make my dress while I was doing chores for my stepmother." Cinderella said, getting Terra to chuckle.
"Ven making a dress, never thought that he would have it in him. Still all the more reason to help you out. Any friend of Ven is a friend of mine." Terra said, getting Cinderella to look happy before rushing towards the older Keybaldes wielder and hugged him.
"Thank you, thank you all so much" Cinderella said, almost crying out once again.
But instead of sadness, it was for joy.
"It's no problem. You are a friend of Ven so I would be happy to help in any way I can." Terra said, secretly enjoying the hug.
It had been far too long since he had gotten a hug from someone besides Ven that he didn't have to mind them not to fracture his lungs.
"And don't thank us quite yet my dear. You still need to get ready for the ball. Now watch." The fairy said before she began to look for something.
"Where did I put that magic wand, I was sure it was right here?" The fairy said as she looked in her dress before looking in the surrounding area.
"A magic wand?" Cinderella asked in amazement.
"Why yes, now where did I put it?" The fairy said as she continued to look.
"Then you must be-" "Your Fairy Godmother of course." The Fairy Godmother interject Cinderella's realization and gave her a quick smile.
Terra and Roxas had no clue what the fairy meant by that, but from the look on Cinderella's face she knew and was awestruck at what was happening to her.
"Now I swore that I had that wand around here somewhere." Fairy Godmother said before she gave herself a quick bop on the head as she seemed to recall it. "I forget. I had put it away."
With a shake of her hand and a downwards motion, her wand appeared from thin air.
It was a simple silver wand about as wide as her forearm. Nothing special to look at, but to Roxas his senses were starting to bother him a little.
While it appeared to be a simple wand, it deceptively hid a massive amount of pure magic radiating from it.
The Nobody put himself just a step back in cases anything happened.
Perhaps he was overreacting a little, but he didn't wish to take any chances.
"Now let's see, the first thing that you need is a..." The Fairy Godmother said as she inspected Cinderella, who grabbed the helms of her tattered dress. "Is a pumpkin."
"But a pumpkin?" Cinderella asked in confusion.
"A pumpkin?" Terra asked, equally as confused.
"Precisely. Now then the magic words..." Fairy Godmother said to herself, trying to remember what they were before she nodded.
She tapped her wand against her free hand as a small trail of glittering light began to emulate from the tip.
"Sala gadoola menchika boo la bibbidi bobbbidi boo!" The Fairy Godmother casted in a singsong voice, waving her wand with every word as trail of glittering light left her wand and traveled to a nearby pumpkin.
"Put 'em together and what have you got, bibbidi bobbidi boo!" She continued as to everyone's astonishment the pumpkin's vine's and leaves seemed to grow and turn into makeshift limbs that caused it to bound over to them
"Sala gadoola menchika boo la bibbidi bobbidi boo!" The Fairy Godmother continued, although now it seemed like she was caught up in her own rhythm.
Or maybe it was to help Cinderella to raise her spirits a little bit more.
Roxas thought it was both, but he could clearly see that Princess of Heart was enjoying the whole thing.
The pumpkin bound over to them before land where the mice where, causing them to scatter as it sprawled it's leafy limbs onto the ground.
"It'll do magic believe it or not. Bibbidi bobbidi boo!" She said to amazed looking Cinderella, confirming the Nobody's theory.
The pumpkin began to pulsate with magic as the makeshift limbs began to grow into vines that curled at the end that kept getting bigger. So much so that the dog and horse had to back up as one of the vines rapidly got close to them.
"Now salagoola means what menchika boolaroo. But the thingmabob that gets the job done is bibbidi bobbidi boo!" The Fairy Godmother said to Cinderella, whispering the second part to her.
After that she began to approach the pumpkin as the vines reached a large enough size. With a swish of her wand it began to grow in size. On the third swish it turned white. On the fourth and final swish it turned into an immaculate white carriage.
"Impressive I have never seen transfiguration magic like this before, have you seen anything similar Roxas?" Terra asked as everyone inspected the carriage in awe.
"Nothing like this before." The Nobody said honestly.
"It's beautiful." Cinderella said, getting the Fairy Godmother to smile.
"Yes, isn't it." She said with a smile. "Now with a elegant coach of course, we are going to need..."
As she trailed off, the horse came around to her and puffed himself up in pride. Glade to be pulling the coach.
"Mice!" She said, shattering the horse's pride and getting him to sulk.
"Mice? Can't wait to see how this one plays out." Terra said with his arms crossed.
"Why we will have a coach and four when this one is through. Bibbidi bobbidi boo!" The fairy said as a trail of magic went towards the mice. One of the mice ran out of the way and the rest of them where turned into pure white horses.
"I was sure that there was four of them?" She said in confusion as she began to look for the fourth mouse. "There should be one more."
Then she noticed the mouse hiding underneath one of the coach's wheels.
"There you are." The Fairy Godmother said, pointing her wand at the mouse.
It ran away from her, only to be caught in a bowl by a fat dark brown cat.
One whose heart was incredibly dark and foul, almost as mush as Lady Tremaine's. Something that surprised both Keyblade wielders with how dark this cat's heart was.
However one look a Roxas caused all of the cat's bravado to turn to horror as it proceeded to run away from him. Not before the Fairy Godmother sent a small ball of magic after him.
"Good riddance." The Fairy Godmother said with a huff. "Why I have never seen such a vile hearted animal in all my life. No wonder your stepmother keeps him around."
"I know, but can you please no be so hard on poor Lucifer for tonight. He's been especially jumpy since he meant Ven earlier." Cinderella said kindly, getting the Fairy Godmother to sigh.
"Guess that is why he ran away from you then Roxas. Never thought that Ven could put such fear into a heart that dark." Terra said, sounding a little proud before sighing. "I bet he has already grown past the same Ven that I had seen days ago and neither myself or Aqua had been able to see him. I just hope that we will run into him soon."
"Same here Terra, I am sure it is only a matter of time til we see him again." Roxas said, trying to reassure the older Keyblade wielder.
"Your right, hopefully next time we see him we can all be able to share stories like we used too. Cause I really want to hear the story he has about this world. After giving him a proper scolding for running off like that." Terra said, getting Roxas to nod at that.
Ven did deserve it for making them all worry so much.
"My dear you are too kind, especially to those who you should not be kind towards." Fairy Godmother sighed out, figuring there was really nothing she could do.. "Now then where was I?"
She noticed the mouse sneak out from under the bowl and smiled.
"Oh right, bibbidi bobbidi boo!" She casted, turning the mouse into a horse. "Now all that is left is the finishing touches"
Cinderella once again gripped her dress and smiled, waiting for her Fairy Godmother to cast her spell.
"You can't go without a horse and dog." The Fairy Godmother said as she used her magic to levitate said animals into the air, only getting Cinderella to look confused.
"Do you think that we should tell her about the dress?" Roxas asked Terra, getting him to shake his head.
"Give her a minute, I am sure that she will remember...I think?" Terra said unassuredly.
"Now for once Major you shall take the reins and Bruno you shall not be left behind. For night you will be the coachman Major and you will be the footman Bruno. Bibbidi bobbidi boo!" The Fairy Godmother casted, turning them both into humans and settled them down into their respective positions. Both Max and Bruno looking at their new forms in amazement.
"Well, well hope in my dear. We can't waist time." The Fairy Godmother said, gesturing to the coach
"But I-" Cinderella tried to explain, but was cut off by the elderly fairy.
"You don't have to thank me." She said happily.
"I wasn't. I mean I do, but what about my dress?" Cinderella asked, getting the fairy to nod.
"It's lovely dear, lovely..." The Fairy Godmother trailed off as she finally got a good look at Cinderella's dress. "Good Heavens child! You can't go looking like that."
"Told you she would remember." Terra said as the fairy inspected Cinderella with her wand.
"Something simple, but daring too. Oh leave it to me and what a gown this will be." The Fairy Godmother excitedly while waving her wand. "Bibbidi bobbidi boo!"
As the spell washed over her, Roxas noticed that her dress and hairstyle had changed to exactly the same way Sora had meet her in Hollow Bastion, the glass slippers included.
In fact, she even looked just a little younger then she was then.
How was that possible?
Maybe it was the same way with Kairi and her heart when she hide it inside Sora, Cinderella's body must've gone into a stasis like state when her world fell.
Still the Nobody decided to put those thoughts away while Cinderella was admiring while new dress in wonder.
"Don't those hurt?" Terra asked, looking at the glass slippers with a wince.
"Not at all." Cinderella said as she continued to inspect her new dress. "Why it's like a wonderful dream come true."
"Why yes my child, but like all dreams I am afraid this can not last forever. You must understand my dear that by midnight the spell will be broken. On the twelfth stoke of midnight everything will return to what they once were." The Fairy Godmother said, getting Cinderella to nod.
"I understand, but it is more then I could ever hope for." She said as she clasped the fairy's hands with her own.
"Bless you my child." The Fairy Godmother said as she released her hand's from Cinderella's as she lead the Princess of Heart to the coach. "Now you must hurry my dear it is getting late."
"But what about Terra and Roxas?" Cinderella said as Terra summoned his Keyblade.
"Well follow you and make sure you get to the ball at least. I did promise to help you after all." Terra said, getting Cinderella to smile.
"Thank you all." Cinderella said happily before climbing into the coach with Bruno closing the door.
"Your welcome dear, but hurry up so that you won't be late. And boys please keep an eye on her with all these monster's roaming around." The Fairy Godmother asked, getting the two Keyblade wielders to nod.
"Don't worry about it, well make sure nothing happens to here." Roxas said as Terra summoned his Keyblade glider and the two of them climbed on.
"Thank you my dears, it eases my old heart to hear such a thing. Now off you go, all of you. Dance, be happy! Off you go, you are on your way!" The Fairy Godmother shouted as the carriage and Keyblade glider departed at the same speed. Both Keyblade wielders and Cinderella waving her goodbye as they vanished off into the distance with the old fairy doing the same thing.
Once they were out of view the Fairy Godmother adopted a thinking pose.
"I swore that I forgot to tell Cinderella something." She said to herself, trying to think for a few moments before it finally clicked in her mind and she smiled. "Now I remember, I just know she will love my gift to her."
With a flick of her wand the Fairy Godmother faded into a sparkling shower of light, knowing the joy Cinderella was going to have tonight before and after midnight.
In an empty hall in the castle a Corridor of Darkness opened up and out walked Vanitas.
However instead of of his usual bodysuit, he was wearing a suit similar to most of the people of this world. With black pants, a black suit jacket with a red trim, and a crimson undershirt. Also without his helmet at hand, leaving his face exposed but with his hair being matted down.
After all while scouting this place out he didn't notice anyone else with spiky hair. That and he was trying to blend in after all.
Tonight he was just going to cut lose and enjoy the ball.
After he provided some entertainment of his own of course.
'Kier are they on their way here?' Vanitas asked through their connection.
'They are my liege, and I have completed your task. All the Unversed at the Tremaine manor are back under your control and are awaiting your orders to turn on her.' Kier said, getting Vanitas to grin.
'Excellent, soon everything will go according to plan. Now tell the horde not to attack them for now. Wouldn't want to ruin exhaust them even more for the big show tonight.' Vanitas said.
'It shall be done my king.' Kier said before the connection was cut off.
Nodding at that Vanitas summoned up a large puff of darkness, before cloaking it with the wave of his hand.
"Just float around for a while until Roxas and Terra show up. After that wait for the signal and start things off a little slow before giving these people the show of a lifetime." Vanitas said, getting the unseen Unversed to nod before carrying out his orders.
With that Vanitas walked towards the ballroom, whistling a jaunty tune all the way.
It had been far too long since he had time to relax and enjoy himself after all. So he might as well do so before continue with his plans and punishing Tremaine.
A while later Cinderella's coach had arrived at the castle's entrance, long after everyone else had arrived. Causing the greeter at the entrance to look at his list in confusion.
"Odd, I thought that everyone was already here?" The greeter said as he inspected his list.
They were here, then who was this woman and why was she so late?
"She's with us and there is still plenty of Unversed in the forest." Terra said, having just landed with Roxas and heard the greeter talking out loud too himself.
This startled the man, causing him to jump up and the guards to tighten their grips on their weapons.
Until the man remembered what the Grand Duke had told him about two men whose descriptions matched the people in front of him.
"You two wouldn't happen to be Terra and Roxas, would you?" The man asked, getting the both of them to nod.
"That would be us." Roxas said, getting the man to look at them skeptically.
"Prove it then, we have had several people try to pass themselves off and their selves off as the duo that was taking care of the monsters and they had-" The man was cut off by the two of them summoning their Keyblades.
With Roxas having an amused grin at the greeter's reaction.
"...Okay I believe you. So are the two of you changed your minds about a reward from our king?" The greeter asked, getting Terra to shake his head.
"No we are here to enjoy the ball for along with our friend before leaving to continue our journey." Terra explained, gesturing to Cinderella.
"Hello." She said kindly getting the man to nod.
"Alright all three of you can come in and enjoy the ball." The greeter said as he gestured to the guards who opened the door and the three of them walked through the doors.
"Are you ready for this?" Terra asked Cinderella, getting her to nod.
"I am, but there is something I wish to ask the both of you? But I am not sure if it is too much to ask?" Cinderella asked as the three of them walked down the halls.
"Not at all, we promised to help you after all and your dream is almost complete. So at this point, feel free to ask anything." Terra said, getting her to smile.
"Thank you Terra. What I ask that...can you please don't tell anyone anything about me." She said shyly.
"You want to make sure your step family doesn't find out." Roxas said bitterly, getting Terra to frown and Cinderella to meekly nod.
"Don't worry about it, we will make sure they won't find out. As far as they will know, you will still be at home." Terra said, getting Cinderella to smile and bring the both of them into a hug.
"Thank you two, tonight has been the best night nod my life and it is all due to my friends, the both of you, and Fairy Godmother." Cinderella said, almost crying out before Terra hugged her back while Roxas was shakily doing the same.
"It's alright, you don't have to thank us for this. Enjoying your dream will be good enough for all of us." Roxas said as he seperat d himself and took a few steps back.
Terra nodded as he separated himself from her as well.
"He's right, so no more tears at least for now unless they are tears of joy. Tonight is your night, till midnight anyway. So let's just continue on otherwise it will all be over soon." Terra said, getting Cinderella to nod happily as she wiped her tears.
With that the three of them continued to walk down the castle's halls, unaware of a a blur jumping off of Roxas's back and slinking down into the ground.
Kier sunk along the ground at as fast as it could, going unseen by everyone around it save for the occasional flicker of its golden eyes.
It's king had summoned it and had given the sentient Unversed his location.
So it was easy enough to sneak along the floor through halls and eventually onto a balcony overlooking the ballroom.
Where it saw it's king sitting on a chair eating some grapes.
"Glad you arrived here, Kier. Saved you a prime seat to the events to come. Might take some time though for it all to play out." Vanitas said as Kier tried to jump onto the chair.
The ancient Keyblade wielder watched as the Unversed struggled to climb the chair with it's stubby legs before sighing.
"Here you go." Vanitas said as he grabbed Kier by the scruff of its neck before plopping it down onto the chair.
"So when does the main event start my liege?" Kier asked, getting Vanitas to sigh.
"When ever Tremaine's negativity reaches her boiling point, her and her daughters. Until then just sit back and relax, after giving me more of Roxas's temporal energy. Then we just watch the start of Tremaine's downfall." Vanitas said as he summoned four Floods and signaled them to sink into the floor.
It was all part of his plan of revenge on Lady Tremaine, she was just as bad as the projected version he had encounter so many years ago. If not worse.
That and she thought she could control the Unversed here on this world and use them as her own army.
So his revenge will be simpler then his plans against the old coot and Luxu.
To give her a glimmer of hope, and then watch as it all comes crashing down and blowing up in her face.
And he will be there every step of the way.
Roxas just stared off into the distance, not sure on what to do.
It had been quite a while since the three of them had arrived at the ballroom.
Cinderella had gotten the attention of the prince and it looked like she was currently having the time of her life dancing with him.
Terra was currently getting some food, and declining some offers from some women to go dancing.
Him, well he was off to the side watching the whole ball unfold.
Mainly because the Nobody didn't really know how to dance at all. So he did not know what to do at all except stand by the walls.
Except for keeping an eye on Lady Tremaine and her daughters of course, for two of their heart's were spiking in darkness and one of them was actually muddled in a sense to say the least.
Where it had once been mostly darkness, it was now an odd blend of light and darkness. Both sides either struggling to reach a balance or to surpass the other. Roxas had never seen anything like that in his short existence.
However he was caught off guard by the sight of something shimmering near them, similar to the Lurkers back in Radiant Garden.
There was a large Unversed in the room, in front of hundreds of people.
It was a recipe for disaster.
Quickly Roxas began to rush towards the Tremaine's, dodging through people in the crowd. Until he was stopped by a firm hand on his shoulder.
"What's the rush Roxas, I take it you sensed something did you?" Terra asked, holding a plate of crab legs in one hand, getting Roxas to nod.
"We have to get everyone out of here, there is a large Unversed in here." Roxas said, pointing to over to the Tremaine's and saw that the shimmering. Along with a quartet of Floods appear behind them before all four sunk into the floor and the shimmering headed to towards one of the balconies.
Specifically the one where the king was watching the ball from.
"You have got to be kidding me! Roxas I will head to the balcony and warn the guards, you make sure none of them head towards Cinderella." Terra said, getting Roxas to nod as they both went their separate ways. Ready to do their est to prevent anyone from getting hurt from the chaos to come.
"Mother are you sure about this?" Drizella said frightfully.
Normally she would follow her mother's orders, and she was quite used to seeing her mother taming monsters.
But this one, this one far surpassed them all.
They were all were upset by this unknown woman taking the prince that in her mind, she or Anastasia deserved. So while she asked mother what to do.
When it appeared, that large monstrosity had appeared and bowed to their mother, but it seemed like only they could see it. It gestured to the unknown woman with it's baton before vanishing from sight.
It was clear as day this monster intended to deal with the woman personally and would do so for Lady Tremaine.
Drizella would have been okay with that, but this monster was far larger and most likely far more powerful then any monster her mother had controlled before. This could backfire badly and it could actually kill someone easily, other then the unknown woman.
She could die for all the younger Tremaine sister could care, but anyone else not so much.
"Of course my dear, this monster has sworn feality to me with that one gesture alone. But we are going to leave this room, just in case." Tremaine said, already starting to move.
While in her mind she knew the monster was loyal, even she could tell that it was too powerful to control. It was best to leave the room in order to not be a potential suspect.
Still the possibility that such a monster existed meant there was a chance there was other one's of a similar power existing in the forest. Tomorrow she will sent out her monsters to look for a monster of such stature and power, but less so then this one. A monster like that would be the crown jewel of her army and her main offense if her daughters were rejected tonight.
If this monster didn't do here job for her tonight.
Either way, everything seemed to be going in her favor for now.
"Mother where is Anastasia?" Drizella asked with worry in her tone.
Except for that.
Looking through the crowd she saw her eldest daughter shifting through the crowd towards the prince.
"Either she is going to warn him, or she is going to use the chaos to her advantage. Preferably the later." Tremaine said, a slight bit of pride in her.
Knowing that her daughter would never do anything against her, she was going to take this chance to warm her way into the prince's heart.
Honestly she was a little happy her daughter was taking incentive for once, but over all she could careless.
"Drizella we should leave right now, if Anastasia has a plan for the prince then she has one to escape as well." Tremaine said, caring that she at least made it out of here with at least one of her daughters.
Drizella nodded a little sadly before following her mother, hoping that her sister would be alright. Knowing that it was better to do so then to argue with her mother.
Unaware to what Tremaine was thinking, Anastasia wasn't going to do anything for the prince.
In fact she wanted to be as far away from here mother at the moment.
She had been uncaring if she was alright after nearly being attacked attacked by monsters and only cares if she or Drizella manages to marry the prince.
The giant monster that could vanish from sight helped her decision as well.
Sure she would like nothing more then this unknown woman to just be gone, if only for her or Drizella to get the prince. Preferably her so she could be out of her mother's influence if she decided it came down to it
But she didn't want to see her get killed for that to happen.
Considering what she saw those monsters due to trees while her mother practices her control over them, their is no doubt this single monster was much stronger then they all were.
So Anastasia decided to do one thing once she saw boy who had saved her heading towards the prince.
Warn him of the monster, as he was the only person she knew that could possibly stop it.
She approached him and was not that far away from i and the prince when she got a good glimpse at the unknown woman and stood in shock.
The woman, it was Cinderella!
How did she even get here and where did she get that dress! It was a little old fashioned, but it was more beautiful then anything Anastasia or Drizella owned!
She was dancing with the prince, something that was supposed to be for her or her sister.
How dare she -!
Anastasia was cut off from her thoughts when she noticed a familiar shadoew travel along the floor with several others towards the prince and Cinderella.
She took a breathe to calm herself,
She could tear into her stepsister later.
Right now she needed to save both the prince and Cinderella.
Cause as much as she hated her stepsister right now, she still did not want her to be killed.
And if the recent actions of her mother was of any indication, she would kill Cinderella herself if she knew that she was ruining her plan.
That, and Anastasia had a feeling if anything happened to Cinderella then she would be the one doing all of the chores around the house.
There was no way she was going to be doing that after all!
So when she saw one of them lined up behind Cinderella, she ran as fast as she could.
Anastasia managed to arrive and push both Cinderella and the prince out of the way, much to the shock of the former.
Only to end up in the path of the Flood's attack.
With a quick swing of Destiny Rewritten, Roxas ended the Unversed's attack.
With a sigh he lent a hand to the downed Anastasia as the ballroom started to panic.
"This is the second time I have had to save you tonight, please be more careful from now on." Roxas sighed out as he helped her up while the prince did the same to Cinderella.
"I will." Anastasia stammered out, still a little shaken up and a little surprised by herself.
She had meant to warn them, not push them out of the way. Then why did she push them out of the way?
"Guards, get the guests to safety! There are monsters in the ballroom!" The King bellowed from the balcony, getting the guards to move into action as the other three Floods emerged from the floor.
"Come, we need to get to safety and make sure everyone is alright." The Prince said grabbing Cinderella and Anastasia and getting the former to nod.
Cinderella was surprised at what Anastasia did and was wondering what was going to happen, but her stepsister sent her a look that promised one thing and one thing only.
They were going to talk about this later.
The Princess of Heart could only hope that this would not be the end of her dreams.
"Roxas, please be careful." Cinderella said as the three of them started to run away.
"I will, I have got Terra here with me after all." The Nobody said giving her a reassuring smile before turning his attention to the Floods who sunk back into the floor after Cinderella.
They might be small fry compared to whatever monstrosity was hidden among them, but they were still a nuisance that needed delt with.
Roxas backpedaled as they rushed at towards him before all three of them jumped at him.
But were all felled by one strike of Roxas's Keyblade.
Four Unversed down and one to go.
And if this one was like the Lurkers in Radiant Garden, this was going to be a difficult fight even for both him and Terra.
"My liege isn't it about time to truly begin?" Kier asked, getting Vanitas to nod as he a hand.
"Just sit back, relax and, enjoy the music the Killer Quartet plays for us Kier. It should be entertaining while it lasts." Vanitas said as his hand was covered in darkness and dispelled the Unversed's concealment.
Terra was in the king's balcony, Earthshaker in hand and ready for whatever this Unversed was ready to reveal itself.
Convincing the king to leave had been... problematic.
That man was stubborn and dead set on having the ball continue.
It wasn't until he noticed the four shadows on the ballroom floor that he began to consider it.
Even after they appeared he told the Keyblade wielder in a dead serious tone, that if they didn't kill the Unversed by the time the guards had finally calmed the guests that he would personally lead the charge on the monster for sabotaging the ball.
And for possibly ruining the chance of his son finding a wife and giving him grandkids.
Terra didn't really know how to think on that last part, except that man was determined in what he wanted.
Shaking he shook his head of the thoughts as he saw the shimmering in front of the balcony fade away to reveal the Unversed.
It was a large human like Unversed that was nearly three times as tall as Terra was. It was wearing a uniform similar to a marching conductor while holding a golden, lightning shaped baton in its right hand.
It raised it's baton and Terra braced himself for anything.
Except for three plumes of darkness to spawn copies of it!
Each copy was only twice as tall as Terra, missing the shako the original had, and each one wielded a different instrument.
A violin, a drum, and a trumpet.
"Okay this might be a problem." Terra said as the Killer Quartet stared him down before the lead Unversed lowered it's baton and the other three blasted the older Keyblade wielded with a burst of music.
Terra stood his ground for a few moments before teleporting out of the way and next to Roxas.
"You alright Terra?" Roxas asked as the Killer Quartet floated towards them.
The Nobody hoped that this didn't turn out like when he fought the Crimson Prankster Heartless. Damn that was annoying facing the both of them.
Now they were facing four powerful Unversed, this was possibly not going to go well in their favor.
"My ears are ringing a bit, but I am alright." Terra said as he tightened the grip on his Keyblade, getting Roxas.
The instrument players of the Killer Quartet blasted the two Keyblade wielders with a burst of music, getting the two of them to dodge.
The Unversed split off into two groups, the baton and drum wielders went after Terra while the violin and trumpet wielders went after Roxas.
Terra dodged the baton wielders strikes as the drum wielded produced shock waves with each tap of its drum.
While with Roxas the trumpet wielder unleashed bursts of sound while the violinist unleashed a flurry of musical notes that shot all over the place, forcing the Nobody to cast Reflect in order to deflect the attack.
Terra was having less luck with the Unversed, with the drum player's attacks treading along the ground forcing him to dodge and opening him up to the baton wielders attacks. He kept trying to dodge them for a bit until he finally found an opening.
The drum player pulled back as the baton wielder broke the baton into pieces and rained them down onto the elder Keyblade wielder.
Terra just slid out of the way as he charged electricity at the end of his Keyblade.
By the time the baton had re-formed, Terra smirked as his Shotlock was fully charged.
"Thunderstorm!" Terra casted, unleashing a burst of electricity that split into multiple bolts that struck both Unversed, stunning them.
He unleashed another four salvos of the same attack before rushing to the drum player.
It quickly recovered and unleashed a few shockwaves with it's drum.
But Terra jumped over them and and pointed Earthershaker behind him.
"Zantetsuken!" Terra shouted as he unleashed a blinding slash before landing behind the Unversed.
The drum player turned towards him, it tried to unleash another shockwave.
But the drum was split in half and the Unversed was destroyed in a plume of darkness.
Terra let out of a small sigh of relief before facing the baton wielder and taking a step back in surprise.
The baton wielder was surrounded with an aura of darkness and for a brief moment Terra sensed something that surprised him.
This Unversed, it was far more powerful then it was letting on.
It quickly dispelled the aura before it reformed around it's baton and with a swing of it sent a wave of darkness towards Terra.
The older Keyblade wielder slide out of the way before launching a fireball towards the Unversed, only for the baton wielder to swat it out of the way. It made a come hither gesture with it's hand before Terra rushed forward and the two of them began a clash of Earthshaker and baton.
Meanwhile the barrier around Roxas before he rolled out of the way as a few musical notes sailed past him, the two Unversed being bombarded by bursts of light. While they were distracted, he trained his Keyblade on the violinist.
"Water!" He casted, releasing a stream of water that caused the Unversed to be pushed back.
The trumpet player recovered and unleashed a salvo of sound blasts which Roxas blocked with his Keyblade's barrier.
The violinist recovered and went to attack Roxas in the back. It tried to play it's violin, only to produce a horrid noise instead of musical notes. Despite this it continued to play much to the irritation of the surrounding Unversed. So much so that the trumpet player hit it with a blast of sound just to make it stop playing.
With the Unversed's attention off of him Roxas dispelled the barrier and trained his Keyblade towards the two Unversed.
"Thunder!" Roxas casted as a trail of thunderbolts rained down in a line towards the two Unversed. One of them clipped the trumpet player as it backed away. The violinist was it by several bolts and was fried.
Roxas rushed at the violinist and managed to land several hits on the violinist before it recovered and unleashed several musical notes all around, forcing him to teleport away from the attack. Once he reappeared Roxas took aim once again, directly at the violin.
"Aerora!" Roxas shouted, launching a piercing wind lance at the Unversed, followed shortly afterwards a silent fireball. The wind spell cut through the violin and into the violinist before the fire hit it square in the head, downing the Unversed.
However the trumpet player sent a blast of sound that slammed into the Nobody and pushed him back quiet a bit before sending another one he barley managed to roll out of the way of it.
Roxas dodged multiple bursts of sound before one clipped his legs and sent him into the air.
But not before throwing Destiny Rewritten.
As Roxas landed on the ground with a groan, the trumpet player was knocked back as the Keyblade hit it square in the head.
He summoned his Keyblade after picking himself up.
"Cure!" Roxas casted as the Unversed got back up. It sent another blast of sound, but was blocked the Keyblades barrier.
For the next few moments Roxas blocked the attacks as the Unversed began to move around to get a better shot at him and kept attacking.
Eventually the barrier had reached it's limit and it dispelled, covering the Keyblade with a violet aura. Roxas dodged another burst of sound before training his Keyblade directly at the trumpet.
"Blizzard!" He casted, the spell traveling into the trumpet and clogged it up. The Unversed tried to launch another attack, but it blew back into it's face.
The trumpet player staggered back a few steps before Roxas rushed forward and unleashed his Keyblades power, covering the blade in a violet light that doubled it's length. Roxas then began a series of slashes, laying into the Unversed. Soon enough the aura vanished and with one more hit the Unversed was defeated.
Meanwhile Terra was struggling to dealing with the baton wielder, as it kept repelling most spells that he had casted and it kept matching him in pacing with it's baton.
As soon as it noticed that it was the only copy left, it vanished in a puff of darkness.
Terra looked around for the Unversed along with Roxas as the two of them joined back up and kept all eyes out for the Unversed.
"How are you holding up Roxas?" Terra asked.
"A little bruised up, but I am alright. What about you?" Roxas asked.
"A little exhausted but that's given, this Unversed is stronger then any other I have fought before. Just make sure to keep your eyes open, I have a feeling this one has a some more nasty surprises for us." Terra said, getting Roxas to nod.
It wasn't long afterwards that the Unversed appeared underneath the king's balcony. In a puff of darkness it summoned a marimba and it began to play itself. With each key being played it created lines of darkness that rushing towards the Keyblade wielders.
Terra and Roxas split up and came at the to Unversed from the sides, with the marimba keeping them back whenever either of them got too close.
After a few moments they pulled back as the Unversed started to approach them, blasting them all the way with the marimba.
Eventually they noticed that the marimba didn't fire off any attacks when it moved into position. The two looked at each other and shard and Terra sent a knowing nod as the two rushed back to faced the Unversed. It kept up it's offense before Roxas got to close it and summoned Destiny Rewritten's barrier. As the Unversed moved it's marimba towards Roxas, but Terra slide towards to the Unversed at blinding speeds.
"Sonic Blade!" Terra shouted as he continued to batter into the Unversed and the marimba multiple time at blinding speeds, so fast even Roxas had a difficult time keeping track of him. The Unversed eventually recovered and block Eathshaker with it's, getting Terra to smirk.
"Now we got you, Aeroga!" Terra casted as whirlwind appeared above them and sucked the Unversed and the marimba up into the air and both were bing cut apart by the winds.
However a dark aura began to cover the Unversed's baton as it began to bat at the whirlwind wildly as it tried to free itself and it seemed to be working.
"Roxas if you are going to do something do it now, not sure how much longer until it breaks out of here." Terra said a he charged up fire at the tip of his Keyblade.
"On it." Roxas said as he dispelled the barrier and charged lightning at the end of his Keyblade.
"Firaga!""Thundra!" Terra and Roxas casted, unleashing a large fireball and multiple bolts of lighting onto the Unversed. Burning it to a crisp and destroying the marimba.
The whirlwind died down and the Unversed landed with a loud thud on the ground, with a few bolts of lighting bolts of striking it.
It got back up and broke its baton before throwing the pieces at the two Keyblade wielders, getting them to jump back before the Unversed vanished from sight.
Both Terra and Roxas kept a lookout for it, before the later heard a ringing and saw Terra fly past him and into a nearby wall.
"Terra!" Roxas shouted before he heard the ringing and brought up his Keyblade's barrier.
Just in time to block the Unversed's attack, with a large bell in it's hand.
As the bell made contact with the barrier, it produced a large shockwave that pushed the Nobody back a few feet before the barrier dispelled.
Roxas jumped back as it tried another strike before it pulled back and covered itself in a plume of darkness.
When it dispelled it had reformed the Killer Quartet, except this time the copies wielded a triangle, a harp, and piano keys floating around the final one.
The Killer Quartet split up once more with the lead Unversed and the triangle player going after Roxas while the harpist and the pianist went after Terra.
"Ok, this is worst then the Crimson Prankster now." Roxas said under his breath as he brought p his Keyblade's barrier to block the bell wielder's attack.
Meanwhile with Terra he picked himself of with a groan as he noticed the two Unversed approaching him.
"You have got to be kidding me, Thundara!" Terra said, launching the spell at the pianist. In unfurled it's piano keys from around it and folded them into a makeshift shield that block the attack.
It unfurled them once again and the pianist rained down piano keys as it played while the harpist unleashed a salvo of musical notes with each strum of its harp.
Terra slid out of the way of the as the keys slid past him, but was hit by the music notes and noticed with each note hitting him, he felt tired which soon turned to drowsiness as he started to slow down.
He dodged another salvo of musical notes and piano keys if only barely before launching a few fireballs to push the Unversed back.
"Esuna!" Terra casted with a yawn, shaking off the drowsiness before rushing towards the harpist.
The pianist began to play even faster and moving it's arms from side to side, getting the ends of the keyboard to move like a great serpent as the Unversed rushed towards Terra.
He dodged the strikes and the flying keys as the harpist launched another salvo of music notes. Terra morphed Earthshaker into it's whip form and wrapped it around the pianist's arm and pulled it into the way of the musical notes.
As the pianist was getting drowsy Terra rushed past it and trained Earthshaker onto the harp.
"Blizzaga!" Terra casted, launching a large ice shard that froze the harp before launching a smaller one at the Unversed's head.
He preceded to land quite a few fits on the harpist before to his surprise it faded away in a puff of darkness.
This copy was weaker then the last one, though it was also true for the other copies then.
Though by how the pianist had shaken off the drowsiness and started launching keys at the elder Keyblade wielder, it was still not going to be easy to take them down.
Back with Roxas he rolled out of the way as the bell user landed right next to him and created a dark shockwave.
While Terra had been dealing with the two other Unversed, Roxas had soley been dealing with the original. The triangle player had been hanging behind it all the time.
Each time Roxas tried to strike it, the original Unversed used itself as a shield.
So the Nobody was especially wary about what that would be, but the bell wielder was the more imminent threat.
It kept up the attacks and when not being a shield for the triangle player it attacked with either it's bell or jumping up and creating dark shockwaves.
Either way it had taken quite a bit of damage and Roxas had to down either in order to replenish his magic.
Now though the Unversed looked to be close to it's last legs, he just needed to deal some more damage on it and he was sure that it would fall.
The lead Unversed jumped into the air and raised the bell to pslam on top of him, but Roxas was ready.
"Blizzaga!" Roxas casted, creating an ice mine where the Unversed was going to land before rolling out of the way. It detonated when the Unversed landed, freezing it's legs in place while producing a shockwave.
As Roxas got up, it tried to swing the bell at him only for the barrier to block it and fully charging the Keyblade.
He unleashed it's full power and tried to swing it at the trapped Unversed.
Only for the triangle player to start playing it's instrument,creating a triple layer barrier in between Roxas and the bell wielder.
The barriers held against his attacks and if he moved to strike anywhere else, so did at least one of the barriers to block his path. Yet it seems like that each barrier had a limit as by the time the built up power had nearly ended the final barrier fell and Roxas was art least get a good slash in before violet aura ended. He tried to get in one more hit in, but the triangle player summoned the barriers back.
The Nobody jumped back as the bell wielder took another hit at him before using the bell to free itself from the ice.
Roxas looked between the two Unversed and Terra to notice the older Keyblade wielder was currently preoccupied with the pianist Unversed and wasn't look ing in his direction. He quickly summoned Oathkeeper and trained both Keyblades at both of the Unversed.
"Fira!" Roxas casted, launching a fireball towards both of the Unversed.
The triangle player summoned the barriers again, with one protecting the original Unversed and two for itself.
Yet they failed to work as the fireballs simply broke through the barriers without much resistance and hit the both of them.
Roxas did the same trick two more times before throwing his Keyblades at them, Oathkeeper felling the triangle player and Destiny Rewritten knocking the original Unversed to the ground.
He caught the both of them before dispelling Oathkeeper and going after the original Unversed, who brought up it's bell to block his strike and to resume their clash.
With Terra he kept dodging and trying to land hits on the pianist Unversed, only to notice something.
Every time it blocked or attack, the massive keyboard kept getting smaller and smaller.
Meaning their was a finite amount and Terra knew how to expend the rest of the amount.
He pulled back as he dodged another strike from the keyboard before charging up a bit of lightning at the tip of Earthshaker.
"Thunder!" Terra casted launching a bolt of lighting at the Unversed, who blocked it with it's keyboard before retaliating with it's keys.
Terra dodged them before charging up some more electricity before it sent some more keys at him, getting Terra to dodge out of the way before launching another bolt of lighting. This little back and forth continued on for a another minute before the Unversed launched another salvo of keys, only to realize that it had run out. It looked between itself and Terra before raising it's hands in surrender.
He only shook his head at that and sighed.
"No can do, Thunderstorm!" Terra casted unleashing the Shotlock.
Four bolts of lightning hit the unarmed Unversed, destroying it.
The final one hit the original Unversed as it was about to strike Roxas, destroying the bell and giving Roxas the opening to strike the Unversed down to the ground once again.
Terra rushed towards the two as the Unversed tried to get up only to be hit upside the head by Roxas. It summoned it's baton and tried to strike the younger Keyblade wielder, only for it to be blocked by his Keyblade.
And leaving it self open to Terra.
"Blizzard Edge!" Terra shouted as he jumped into the air and slammed it down into the ground with Earthshaker along with an ice pillar impaled it through the chest.
The Unversed twitched for a minute before it crumpled into the ground exploding in a puff of darkness.
Terra let out a sigh of relief, hoping that was over.
Only to regret it as a massive pillar of darkness to erupt where it once was.
"My liege what is going on?" Kier asked as the pillar of darkness erupted.
"Simple, after modifying the Unversed a little to make the Killer Quartet I realized that I had made one fatal mistake. I didn't account for the power to be too much for the Unversed to handle and weakening it's durability so much. So I figured that I would give it one more feature that could make up for this weakness I added a second chance so to speak." Vanitas said as he finished the last of the grapes and leaned back into his chair. "So just enjoy the Symphony Master's encore performance, it will be brief but it will be a show to remember."
The pillar of darkness cleared up to reveal that the Unversed had been revived along with a few changes.
It's coat was now pure black, it was missing it's shako, and it was only twice as tall as Terra now.
Both Keyblade wielders were on edge now as it summoned it's baton before all eight instruments where summoned behind it in clear barriers. All eight of them trained on both Roxas and Terra.
"Scatter." Terra shouted as the Symphony trained it's baton on them and all eight instruments released a large burst of sound at the two of them. Both Keyblade wielders barely dodged it.
After that all the instruments started to rain down their projectiles in a cacophony of chaos.
Bursts of sounds, musical notes, shockwaves, lines of darkness, and piano keys.
For the next few minutes the rain of projectiles never seemed to end for the Keyblade wielders as they tried their best to dodge all of them, but a few of them managed to hit them. Both Roxas and Terra had tried to manage to at least attack the Unversed or the instruments, but the barriers around them seemed to be unbreakable. As for the Unversed itself it either deflected spells with it's baton or use the triangle's barriers to block an attack before countering with a massive blast of sound.
"Hey Roxas, I got an idea!" Terra said as he dodged some more projectiles.
"I'm up for anything Terra." Roxas said as he used Destiny Rewritten's barrier to block some musical notes from the harp.
"Good, then follow me and prepare for an opening." Terra said before running up to the Unversed with Roxas following suit.
The Symphony Master continued it's barrage as the two ducked an weaved through the projectiles, with Terra training his Keyblade on the Unversed with the tip aflame.
When they got in close Terra unleashed his Shotlock.
"Flame Salvo!" He shouted as he started to started fireballs randomly from Earthshaker, causing the Symphony Master to block them with the barriers or it's baton. While it did manage to block each fireball, it was seemed to be in a desperate frenzy in order to do so. After the initial frenzy of fireballs Terra coated himself in fire and proceeded to launch even more at the Unversed.
Roxas caught up to him and and noticed the opening the older Keyblade wielder had said to prepare for.
The Nobody prepare to cast a spell, but a shockwave from the drum traveled across the floor to him, forcing Roxas to jump into the air. And for him to simply settle on throwing his Keyblade at the Unversed. It sail past it's barriers and nailed it right in the head.
The Symphony Master let out an ungodly sound as the marimba was destroyed and it ran away in a frenzy, unleashing another massive burst of sound towards the two before recomposing itself and unleashing another barrage of projectiles at the two.
"Roxas did you see how it reacted once landed a hit on it and destroyed that instrument?" Terra asked as the two kept dodging projectiles, getting Roxas to nod.
"The instruments must be what is keeping the Unversed alive, just hit it enough times and I am sure that it will be destroyed for good this time." Roxas said, nearly getting hit by a piano key.
"And I got an idea on just what to do." Terra said as he pulled out a ether. "Make sure that you magic is full and encircle the Unversed. After that unleash that spell we both worked on earlier."
"Are you sure Terra, I still have difficulty using it safely?" Roxas asked as he pulled out an ether and prayed to Kingdom Hearts this spell would not hit Terra.
"Don't worry I believe in you, now lets finish this." Terra shouted as he downed his ether and rushed towards the Symphony Master with Roxas doing the same shortly after.
The both of them rushed towards the Unversed as it started to launch projectiles like crazy at the two in an attempt to keep them at bay. Yet however the both of them managed to weather out the barrage and encircle the Symphony Master.
It summoned the triangle's barriers in an attempt to defend itself, but it would pointless in what came next.
"Firaza!" Both Terra and Roxas casted, creating two massive plumes of fire with the Unversed in the center and the plumes passing by each of the Keyblade wielders as they could feel the sheer heat from it.
The Symphony Master let out more ungodly sounds as the two Keyblade wielders kept up the assault as the instruments started to disappear one by one.
Even then it quickly became apparent that it was not going to go down quietly as it turned it's remaining instruments on the Keyblade wielders and unleashed another barrage on them.
Both Roxas and Terra dodged them as best they could while preventing the Symphony Master tried to get out of the flames.
However Roxas felt his arms start to ache and his magic starting to burn out faster then he expected. Before today he had never used a spell quite like this before.
Eventually a few moments later he ran out of magic and the spell end and the Unversed escaped. But with only the triangle and keyboard left at it's disposal.
"Are you alright Roxas?" Terra asked, sounding a little exhausted.
"Out of magic, but alright." Roxas said, getting Terra to nod.
"Then take an other ether while I hold it off." Terra said, readying himself for what came next.
Except for the ballroom's doors to be forced open by the king and his guards as the burst into the room.
"You are going to pay for this monster!" The King bellowed out furiously with sword in hand as he lead the charge against the Unversed.
But the Symphony Master had found an easier target in them and turn its instruments directly towards the king and unleashed a massive burst of sound towards him. The king and his guards slowed down as as the attack approached them.
Only to be blocked by Roxas using Destiny Rewritten's barrier, but was struggling to do so.
Seeing that the Unversed was willing to do such a thing caused Terra to growl as whisps of darkness surrounded him before rushing towards the Symphony Master. It summoned the triangle's barriers to defend itself, but once again it proved to be pointless as Terra covered his Keyblade with lightning.
"Voltaic Piercer!" Terra casted, ramming his Keyblade into the barriers as a massive amount of lightning discharges off of the barriers and went everywhere and striking himself as well. Eventually the electricity traveled through the barrier at a straight line as it reached the Unversed, getting it to let out even more ungodly sounds as electricity surged through and pierced it, exiting like a spear of lightning.
As the spell and attacks ended both Terra and the Symphony Master crashed to the ground, the later exploding in a puff of darkness as the last instruments were destroyed shortly afterwards.
The Unversed was gone for good this time.
As the king and guards were in shock Roxas dispelled the barrier and rushed to check on the older Keyblade wielder.
When he got there Terra was lying on the ground, slightly singed from the spell, and groaning but he would be alright.
"Did we managed to get the Unversed this time?" Terra asked with a groan.
"We did, but you did do quite a bit of damage." Roxas said, looking at the large scorch mark on the floor from all the electricity.
"Still need some work on that spell then..." Terra said with a groan. "Do you mind giving me an ether, used my last one when I came up with that plan?"
"Sure." Roxas said, rumamaging through his bag until he found an ether and pulled it out of his bag.
And accidentally pulled his red tulip from Kairi.
It fell out of his bag and he tried to catch it, but Terra was the first to do this.
"A red tulip, when did you get this?" Terra asked as he traded the flower for the ether.
"This morning, I thought that it looked nice." Roxas lied as he put the flower away.
Terra studied him as he drank the ether.
He knew Roxas was hiding something and he knew the true meaning of the red tulip.
Eraqus had taught his students gardening and cultivating plants as the was where they got most of their food from. Terra had done a bit of extra reading on it when he was younger as when it was just him and Aqua, he was the only one he truly knew how properly do so before she got better.
So he knew the meaning of the flower.
If Roxas got it this morning then he picked it up for one purpose and one purpose only...
Roxas looked on in confusion as Terra started to laugh a bit before clutching his ribs.
"Hurts to laugh." Terra groaned out before looking back at Roxas. "Sorry I wasn't laughing at you, just remembered something."
"Okay..." Roxas said, not entirely convinced of what the older Keyblade wielder was say, especially he noticed a certain glint in his eye.
"Now then let's go check up on Cinderella and everyone else...after I apologise for damaging the ballroom floor." Terra said, getting Roxas to nod as the two walked towards the king and his guards, the later of which was cheering them on for defeating the Unversed.
Vanitas sighed as he opened a Corridor of Darkness.
"Looks like the prefermance has come to an end. Kier just continue with the plan and absorb more temporal energy from Roxas. I will contact you soon." Vanitas said, getting Kier to nod before jumping into the Corridor and it closed behind it.
Vanitas walked out of the balcony with a smirk on his face.
His plan had started and if everything went right, then by tomorrow morning Lady Tremaine will be finished.
After his test for Roxas of course.
Outside of the ballroom things had finally calmed down once word of the monsters had been delt with.
They were starting to let people back into the ballroom but there was still a lot of people nervous and were acting uncooperative.
The prince had left to help calm everyone down, promising to be back for Cinderella.
Leaving her and Anastasia alone, a deafening silence between the two of them for the past few minutes.
Until Anastasia final snapped.
"What do you think that you are doing here, you are supposed to be back at home doing chores and working yourself to the bone." She snapped out, albeit quietly.
It would be bad for word of Cinderella to spread out into the open.
"I just wanted to go to the ball, I already have and I was having such a wonderful time too. Hopefully the rest of the night could be like before the attack." Cinderella sighed out, getting Anastasia to growl.
"Speaking of which how did you even get here or where did you get that dress...as much as I hate to say it it is beautiful. We tore your last one to shreds you little thief.'" Anastasia snapped out, getting Cinderella to sulk and surprising her stepsister.
She had never seen Cinderella like this, ever. No matter what she was put through, she had never seen Cinderella so much as sulk ever.
"I am not a thief, the dress was the only thing of my mother's that I had left. Everything else was from what you and Drizella had thrown away... I just wanted to have one night to enjoy myself and to do so in my mother's dress." Cinderella said.
Anastasia wanted to tell her that she was wrong...but as much as she hated herself for thinking this, Cinderella was right.
The stuff she took from them were from her room, but she had thrown them away in order to make the perfect dress for the ball for the night. So knowing Drizella then she would have done the same thing. And the both of them would have denied her all they had ripped off of her dress.
And Anastasia didn't really mind that they did it for that reason. Though now that she thought about it Cinderella could have at least asked for a few of the things that she took, the rest not so much. The both of them would have not allowed her to come to the ball though.
But she did feel bad about ripping apart her mother's dress.
She knew the feeling quite well as she made sure to his a few of the things here father had given her when her mother gotten rid of a large portion of which when she had remarried Cinderella's father.
For a brief second Anastasia wondered if she was starting to become like her mother, before shoving that thought out of her head.
With how callous she had been to her and effectively leaving her to the monster, she was certain that she was not like her.
"I am sorry about your mother's dress, but that is it. Everything else I am not sorry about." Anastasia said with a huff, getting her to face away from Cinderella when her stepsister looked at her in surprise. "Don't look at me like that, I am sorry to ruining such a beautiful dress. Speaking of which, where did you even get this new one or how did you get here?"
Cinderella was unsure of how to answer that question, taking a minute or two before deciding to answer.
"Magic, but it only lasts until midnight." Cinderella said simply, getting Anastasia to look at her blankly before sighing out.
Considering that her mother could control monsters and she had been rescued twice by a boy with a key like sword tonight so she supposed that it was believable.
But still she realized one take away from this.
"Are you say this will last to midnight?" Anastasia said, getting Cinderella to nod.
"Yes, but after that the magic will disappear and everything will return to normal. So I will enjoy my dream until it ends and I have to leave. Though I do hope to meet the prince before I have to go." Cinderella said, getting Anastasia to look shocked for a moment before hiding it.
She had been dancing with the prince and she did not know it?!
Anastasia wanted not to believe it, but considering she knew Cinderella it was the truth.
Add into the fact that the spell ended at midnight then there was a chance that either she or Drizella could still be able to win over the prince after she left.
Or he could wish for Cinderella and ignore them like before.
So it was a tough choice, but upon noticing that her mother and sister where approaching from across the hall, there was only one to do.
As much as she hated to do so.
"If that is the case, then I suggest you head out now Cinderella before mother finds you and I will not say a thing. But know this, the next time I see you tomorrow we are going back to the way things are alright." Anastasia said, not wanting her to die by her mother at the very least.
And she was surprised when she was hugged by Cinderella.
"Thank you so much, Anastasia." Cinderella said before giving her a smile and making her way to the ballroom.
Anastasia just stood there in a daze for a few seconds, and secretly wished for her step sister to to be back.
The last time she had felt a hug that...warm was before Cinderella's father died...
It was nice...not that she would ever admit it to Cinderella of course.
"Anastasia, I am so happy that you are alright." Drizella said as she hugged her sister.
"So am I Drizella." Anastasia said as she hugged her back.
"But without the prince Anastasia." Tremaine asked with her face neutral.
"He is busy helping to calm the guests down, I have seen him several times since then along with that woman helping others." Anastasia said, getting Tremaine to study her before nodding.
There was truth to her words, despite how much it displeased her.
Still Tremaine was at least pleased by one notion her daughter did.
"Anastasia while you have failed to get the prince, you have managed to at least earn us a favor of the royal family." Tremaine said, surprising Anastasia.
"What?" She asked.
"You didn't know, the king was busy but he sent the Grand Duke to tell us that for saving the prince's and that mystery woman's that he was willing to give our family a decent reward as the key sword wielders turned it all away for beating that monster. We will be talking with him about it tomorrow in the afternoon." Drizella said, getting Tremaine to nod.
While it wasn't one of daughters marrying the prince, still a favor from the royal family was something no one should take lightly.
Still that would not stop her from moving up in the heiarchy.
"We will discuss this later. Anastasia, Drizella they are allowing the guests back into the ballroom and there is still all night for one of you to win the prince's affection." Tremaine ordered, getting her daughters to nod as the followed her.
Unaware to Lady Tremaine, Anastasia was thinking that if the favor was going to her, then she knew right away what to do.
Get away from her mother, and maybe just maybe bring Cinderella with her.
It had been an hour since the Unversed had been vanquished and currently the ball had been brought back into the swing of things.
Though it was a tension in the air as the people were afraid the monster would return.
But that was mitigated by the precense of even more guards on the ballroom floor.
"And the guests where just enjoying themselves too. I do hope that things do not turn out like that for the rest of the night." The Grand Duke said as he was sweating nervously in the king's balcony. His king's threat still on his mind if the prince didn't find someone to marry soon. "Still are the two of you sure that you must leave after midnight?"
"Of course we still have to look for my brother after all. But we are going to the ballroom once Terra is feeling back in shape." Roxas said from next to the throne. "Speaking of which how are you feeling Terra?"
"Still a little sore even after using Cure and potions, but I should be fine in a minute." Terra said while he was trying to make himself comfortable in the throne.
The king had given it to him to use for the rest of their time there as he was the one who defeated the monster and in his words added character to the ballroom floor as they wouldn't accept any other reward.
Not even a knighting, which surprised the king.
Still he didn't question it as they saved the ball, the guest's, his son, and lastly his own life from the monster.
He soon retired for the night, having enough excitement for one night, leaving the Grand Duke to watch over the ball in his stead.
"Well I hope that at least the activity of the monsters goes down, they haven't been this active since they arrived with that masked demonic boy." The Grand Duke said worriedly, getting both Terra and Roxas to look at him.
"Does this boy where a black glass mask?" Terra asked, getting the Duke to nod.
"Yes he did, do you nothing anything about him besides controlling these monsters. We have been looking for him for quite a while now." The Grand Duke Asked, getting them to shake their heads.
"All we know about him is his name is Vanitas and he attacked me the other day. I do not know what he would have done if Terra didn't help me out." Roxas said, getting the Grand Duke to sigh.
"I see, guess it was too much to hope for some answers about him then." He sighed out as Terra got up from the throne.
"I believe that I am all good now, so are you ready Roxas?" Terra asked as he and Roxas exited the balcony.
"Sure, but to tell you the truth...I never learned how to dance." Roxas admitted, getting Terra to look at him in surprise.
"Really, with the way you fight I was certain you at least knew how?" Terra asked getting Roxas to shake his head.
"But you do?" Roxas asked, getting Terra to nod.
"Master taught us to help incorporate it into fighting with a Keyblade. Believe me the skill is underrated and quite handy in helping your form. I will give you some pointers once we reach the ballroom, with your footwork I am sure that you can get it in no time." Terra said, getting Roxas to nod as they walked down the hallway.
Until they stopped when they heard something break and mend itself and sensed something that made Terra's heart stop for a second.
"Aqua." Terra said as the new Keyblade Master walked over towards them.
"Terra, I see that you have found Roxas." Aqua said as she went to Roxas and gave him a hug and getting the Nobody to squirm in her grasp. "Roxas do you know how much Master and I have been worried for you? We feared the worst once you were dragged away. I am so glade that you are alright."
With that she hugged him even harder, getting Roxas to send Terra a pleading look to help him get lose.
But the older Keyblade wielder just grinned at him with a certain glint in his eyes, much to his confusion.
Pushing those thoughts aside, Roxas just focused on getting free from Aqua's hug before she cracks his ribs again.
"I'm sorry for worrying you Aqua, but can you please let go. I need to breathe." Roxas wheezed out, getting Aqua to gently put him down and Terra to chuckle.
"Sorry Roxas." Aqua apologized as he caught his breathe.
"It's alright, but please stop doing that?" Roxas asked, getting Aqua to nod.
"I will try." Aqua said, before hitting Terra in the shoulder. "Stop that, it isn't funny."
"Well his reaction is a little." Terra said before he stopped chuckling. "Still I figured Master was out looking for him and Ven after Vanitas dragged him to the Dwarven Woodlands. I tried to bring him back to the Land of Departure but we couldn't go in. So do you know where Master is?"
"I do not know, we split up to look for the two of you and I haven't seen him since." Aqua said while shaking her head. "But still what is this Vanitas?"
"Guess we have some explaining to do then." Roxas said, getting Terra to nod.
"including your actions at the Dwarven Woodlands, I heard what you did but I wish to hear your side of the story Terra!" Aqua said, giving him a stern glance and getting the older Keyblade wielder to sigh.
"Alright I messed up I know, but let's all talk while we walk to the ballroom." Terra admitted, getting Aqua to nod.
"Then lead the way Terra." Aqua said as the three Keyblade wielders began to walk down the hallway and began to talk with one another.
The screen flickers for a bit before the author reappears.
*Hey guys Hakuorofan7 here and I hoped that you enjoyed this chapter.*
*It took me longer then I expect to get this chapter just right, but I think I did it just right especially with the fight with the Killer Quartet/Symphony Master. Just gave the later the ability to duplicate itself and a few extras bells and whistles literally. So I hoped that you all enjoyed that.*
*Now then I have one thing to say before.*
*Once again thank you all for the support, over 260 favorites and 300 followers on this story, quite an achievement if I have to say so. I couldn't have done this without you guys so once again thank you.*
*Now then next chapter should be out before the month ends and to put it simply it will cover the ball, a vision of the past, and the beginning of Vanitas's test so I hope you all will enjoy that...*
*Though I could use some help on how to write a waltz, if anyone is willing to that is. If not I can understand.*
*Anyway if you have any questions leave a review or PM me and I will get back to you when I can. So until next time ciao!*
The author waves goodbye as he opened the door and stepped outside with the room fading to black shortly afterwards.