The Boy Who Fell Through The World XII
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Neo screamed as the red section of her hair lit up and now red her glowed along with the Red King's.
Red pixels surrounded her body that began to turn dark purple, becoming emaciated with a pronounced spine. Her arms and legs began to grow long and slender with her fingers growing into bone-like claws. Her dark coat vanished under the red pixels, revealing a dark purple collarbone, shoulder blades, a ribcage and pelvis. A tail sprouted from the base of her spine.
As the red pixels reached up to Neo's neck and face, she let out on final scream as a grey, metallic mask covered her face and two sets of horns sprouted from the back of her cranium and lower skull. Neo's voice was muffled and became silent as the transformation was complete, leaving a Jabberwalker in her place.
The creature formerly known as Neo lurched to its feet, taking a hunched over posture as its head twitched strangely, leaving faint afterimages with each movement as it began speaking in the same voice as the clones had.
"Assessing…Maintaining…Multiplying." The creature said as it crawled on fall fours towards the Red King.
"You destroyed the original Jabberwalker but your strange allowed to recreate and subjugate it." The Red King said slowly, grinning in satisfaction as the beast approached him.
"Assessing."
"A creation of the First Two, created to end life and halt ascension. You recreated it so well, that they could devour and grow like the real Jabberwalker could. The Jabberwalker couldn't ascend when you destroyed but it was so integrated into powers, you might as well have taken it and absorbed it like the Great Tree would during ascension. Only now, the Jabberwalker's new purpose requires a form of ascension to suit its new purpose."
"Searching…Seeking…Evaluating…Assessing…" The creature muttered as the Red King placed a hand on its masked face. "Evolving…"
The hand glowed and red veins traveled down its body.
"Growing…"
"Purple is a color associated with red and I am the King of All Red." The Red King proclaimed. "Now, the Jabberwalker becomes…The Jabberwock!"
The created let out a roar as its form began to grow, dark scalers spreading down its arms and up its legs to cover the entire body, black feathery wings sprouting from its back. Its neck grew out, becoming long and the mouth section of its mouth opened to reveal multiple rows teeth and the 'eyes' of the mask/face began to glow red.
Ven and Terra were beyond stunned to see what the Red King had done to Neo. First, he had somehow changed her into some kind of creature called a Jabberwalker and then he seemingly evolved her into something else.
A strange dragon like creature now called the Jabberwock.
"Now the Jabberwock has been restored there is one other matter…" The Red King glanced around. "Where is the Cat?"
No one answered.
The Red King frowned. "I know the Cat cannot have ascended with the rest of the Afterans for it was never meant to Ascend itself. Only to help the rest Ascend while the Jabberwalker brought a find end. That means it is out there, somewhere."
Penny frowned, remaining silent.
"You." The Red King pointed at Penny. "You know where the Cat is, don't you?"
"I am sorry to say, you won't find the Cat around here anymore." Penny answered stoically.
The Red King narrowed his eyes.
"The Cat is not here because of the Great Change brought forth by the Keyblade Wielders." Penny answered, causing Ven and Terra to glance at her. "The others would not be aware of it, but I am and the unique nature of the Ever After makes it impossible to distinguish what has changed the past and affected the future."
"What is she talking about?" Ven whispered to Terra who didn't answer because he didn't understand either.
"The Great Change began when Aqua took her first steps into Remnant's past and began traveling through its history. The rest of the Afterans survived, hence why they were able to ascend and become what they are now through the chaos that happened when my friends came here. The Ever After does not perceive time in the same manner as we do so even though we remember it as it was before the Keyblade Wielders came and thus when history was rewritten, it also rewrote the Ever After's history as well." Penny explained.
The Red King was now glaring at Penny. "Impossible. The Ever After's past could not have been altered by you humans up to this point until…" The Red King paused and then remembered something. "That's right…You were not the first humans who came here and disrupted the Ever After. This started with…Alyx."
"Who?" Ven asked, shaking his head. "Look, I have no idea what's going on but turn her," Ven pointed to the Jabberwock as it waited with its fellow winged Afterans. "Back to normal."
"I think not." The Red King coldly retorted. "Her penance is to become the new Jabberwock of the Ever After for the damage she caused. Originally the Jabberwalker was meant to destroy life here to allow new life to exist, to grow and to ascend. Too much life and it spirals out of control to the point that the world would not be able to handle it.
The Jabberwalker served as a counter, bringing a form of balance that ended when the illusionist destroyed it. Now she has been repurposed as will all you humans for bringing unending chaos into our home. You devasted the lands, forced our people to hide in terror as you fought with your powers, powers that came from beings birthed by the Great Tree itself." The Red King ranted, his anger growing. "And now, even more humans are arriving here and will bring forth more destructive chaos. The world has been thrown out of balance by your interference. I am here now to bring that balance back by any means necessary."
"Look, I can't say you're wrong about that and yes, more people than just my friend Ven have arrived here and maybe more will come, but trying to subjugate us in the same way you believe we have subjugated you is not the answer." Terra stated, lowering his Keyblade.
"You humans have no say in how I protect this realm." The Red King said, unsheathing his cutlass. "I have seen the chaos you will bring. It's better to subdue you now and then bring you to the Tree for ascension. Jabberwock!"
The Jabberwock raised its head and let out a loud and fearsome roar, echoed by its fellow winged beasts. It opened its mouth, and a purple light could be seen inside before an energy beam blasted out.
(Kingdom Hearts OST Enter the Darkness)
Terra transformed his Keyblade into a shield, holding it in front of himself with Ven behind him. The beam slammed into his shield, pushing him and Ven back. The power of the beam was so great that Terra could actually feel himself straining.
But he wouldn't give up.
Not when he was finally reunited with Ven.
He would not let them fall while Aqua was still out there.
"Terra!" Ven called out to his friend.
A green beam shot out and hit the Jabberwock in the face, forcing it to call off its attack. The Jabberwock staggered and let out an annoyed growl but it didn't seem to have been hurt at all by the blast.
"Who fired that?" Ven asked, turning around to look for where the attack had come from.
From the bushes came Oscar, holding the Keyblade Gungnir that cast an ethereal green glow. The Red King glared in Oscar's direction, his eyes flashing red at the sight of the boy's Keyblade.
Penny glanced in his direction and heard Ruby's voice inside her heart. "Oscar!"
"Who is that?" Ven asked. "How does he have a Keyblade?"
"His name is Oscar." Terra simply said. "He's supposedly got it from a Keyblade Master who visited this place long ago."
Oscar carefully looked around, seeing the many strange…beings that were surrounding Penny, Terra and a new boy he hadn't met before. Oscar could see he had a Keyblade, meaning he must be a wielder who had arrived while he was asleep. He looked over to the being who wore royal red clothing and figured he was the leader.
"The Red King…" Oscar muttered, his memories from Odin flashing in his mind. "But different…Much different."
The memories of Odin reacted to seeing the Red King, allowing Oscar to see him as he was before.
A wise king, benevolent and kind. He treated his subjects fairly and loved to play games. He enjoyed one game with Odin before the Keyblade Master had to leave and continue his journey.
The Red King, for his part, simply glared at Oscar, finding him to be another intruder, especially when he saw the Keyblade the boy had.
His memories of his previous life may have been lost but he instinctively knew that he had seen that weapon before.
"Dispose of the other two, capture the pretender." The Red King ordered the Afterans. "I will deal with this new intruder myself."
With that he vanished into the red grounder under his feet and reappeared right in front of Oscar who jumped back, holding his Keyblade with both hands. "Red King, do you remember me…Or do you remember Master Odin?"
The Red King didn't answer aside from a single twitch of his right eye as he pointed his cutlass at Oscar.
"I'll take that as a yes." Oscar muttered, seeing that avoiding a fight was not possible.
"You Keyblade Wielders have been responsible for a great deal of change in the Ever After, but that change has brought about chaos and anarchy to a level not seen since the First Two were exiled." The Red King brought up his sword. "This madness cannot be tolerated anymore!"
With that, he lunged at Oscar, swinging his sword through the air.
"Oscar!" Penny called out, moving to help but the Afterarn known as Humpty Dumpty shot at her, its mouth wide open and ready to swallow her.
Penny morphed into Ruby who used her Semblance, splitting onto a dozen rose petal that reappeared behind Humpty Dumpty and blasted it in the back with Crescent Rose's sniper form. Humpty Dumpty slammed face first into the ground and Ruby shot towards Oscar who clashed with the Red King.
"Look out!" Ven called out.
Ruby looked over her shoulder and spotted the Jabberwock open its mouth and fired its energy beam at her. Ruby dissolved into petals again, appearing several feet away and landed perfectly on the ground.
"The second I appear you aim at me." Ruby looked up at the towering beast. "Was that the monster's own decision or was that you somehow, Neo?"
The Jabberwock snarled as it began crawling towards her, its red eyes fixed on her.
"Guess even after everything she still holds onto that grudge." Ruby sighed, closing her eyes. "Well, you were made from Neo's Semblance, so I guess you probably share her feelings. Just because we stopped fighting doesn't mean we've forgiven each other and maybe we never will."
The Jabberwock snarled as it came within striking distance of Ruby.
"Still, that doesn't mean I'll leave you like this, Neo." Ruby opened her eyes and morphed into Yang. "After all, you rubbed it in our faces that you helped save our lives with Drasil. Saving your life now should shut you up."
Yang's eyes turned crimson, and her hair blazed as she shot forward, rearing a fist back. The Jabberwock raised a claw, blocking Yang's fist. The Jabberwock attempted to swipe at her, but Yang morphed into Blake, leaving a shadow clone behind as she jumped over the claw. Blake then morphed into Weiss who summoned a glyph behind her that then shot her at the Jabberwock's face, morphing back into Yang who delivered a right hook to the Jabberwock's jaw.
The Jabberwock snarled, not seemingly hurt, and swung its long head to the side, sending Yang flying back, crashing through several trees before she hit the ground. When the dust cleared, Jaune stood up, brandishing his sword and shield. He let out a battle cry and charged at the Jabberwock who opened its mouth and fired another energy beam. Jaune jumped and rolled out of the way as the beam shot past him.
He jumped up into the air, posed to bring his sword down on the Jabberwock but to his disappointment his sword barely even scratched its scales. The Jabberwock snarled and suddenly there was a flash of pink light in front of it that morphed into a figure that caused Jaune to turn pale.
"…Pyrrha?"
It was indeed Pyrrha Nikos, or an illusion that resembled her. She smiled and pointed one hand at her that began to glow black.
Before Jaune even knew it, he thrown back and slammed into a tree.
"What just happened?!" Yang shouted inside Penny's heart. "Why is Pyrrha here?!"
"It's not her. It's Neo." Ruby answered, eyes narrowed. "Or rather, the monster she's been turned into using her Semblance."
"You mean she actually created a copy of Pyrrha…and her Semblance?!" Weiss exclaimed. "How?! Why?!"
"It's the nature of the Ever After." Penny answered. "It amplified her Semblance as soon as she arrived in the Ever After. That's how she was able to create copies of the Jabberwalker after she defeated it."
"Amplified is not a word I'd use, considering she can create anything she wants from her own imagination." Ruby stated, staring hard at the image of Pyrrha standing in front of the Jabberwock. "And it's not just Pyrrha she can made but anyone she's ever known. For all we know, she could make an accurate copy of Salem right down to the magic."
"That's…insane." Blake muttered and shook her head. "How did you even handle her?"
"Maybe the Ever After boosted my Maiden powers but I was strong enough to handle her illusions when I started hunting her." Ruby explained. "As far as I know, she's been able to create copies of Pyrrha, Roman, Penny, Lionheart, Clover, Ozpin and Ironwood."
"Wait, she knows all of them and their fighting styles and Semblances?" Weiss asked with a skeptical look on her face. "How? Neo wasn't at the Battle of Haven so I doubt she could have known how Lionheart fought. Considering she snuck into Atlas, she could have been spying on us and the Ace Ops so that would explain how she would know about Clover, but did she even know how Ozpin fought and how strong he was?"
"I am not sure on that one." Penny admitted. "Perhaps Cinder told her about Lionheart, but I find it hard to believe she would even bother. Maybe the Cat snuck around your backs and told her, trying to set you and her up to fight and give Neo the information she would need to defeat you."
"Again with the Cat? What's so important about the Cat?" Weiss questioned.
"If we survive this, I'll tell you. Right now, if the Jabberwock can use Neo's Semblance, it is perhaps the most powerful thing in the Ever After. Possibly stronger than even the Red King." Penny answered. "Weiss, you're up. Your Maiden powers combined with your Semblance can counter Pyrrha's Semblance."
"Right."
Jaune morphed into Weiss who summoned her glyphs and let loose a barrage of elemental blasts on the Jabberwock and the Pyrrha copy before they could react.
BOOM-BOOM!
BOOM-BOOM!
BOOM-BOOM!
BOOM-BOOM!
In the meantime, Oscar was struggling for his life against the Red King who relentlessly tried slicing him apart with his cutlass. Oscar fell back, twisting, turning, and spinning his smaller form as if he were in a dance as he parried the Red King's slashes, even ducking under a couple before he had a slight reprieve. He tried to take advantage of that by firing a blast of green magical energy at point blank range.
BOOM!
There was only smoke and dust covering Oscar's vision for a moment…
Then a gloved hand shot out of the smoke, grabbing Oscar's hand. "Gah!"
The other hand holding the royal cutlass grabbed Oscar by the head and he was slammed into the ground. Oscar grunted, trying to pry the hand off his head, grabbing onto the arm with his free hand. The Red King batted the arm away and raised his sword to stab Oscar through the neck.
"NO!"
A spinning Keyblade was thrown, slamming into the Red King and knocked him off Oscar. The Keyblade vanished and reappeared back in Ven's hand. The Red King fell on his back, grunting from the surprise attack, getting up a second later to glare at Ven. Oscar retrieved his Keyblade and got back up, jumping away from the Red King and landing next to Ven.
"Thanks." Oscar said gratefully. "I almost saw my life flash before my eyes. All of them."
"You have more than life?" Ven asked, glancing at the former farm boy. "What you die and then you pop back up like in a game?"
"Not exactly."
The Red King growled, halting their conversation.
"I'll tell you later." Oscar quickly said, readying to get back into the fight.
"Right." Ven nodded.
The Red King glanced to where Ven had come from, seeing Terra fighting his way through the Red Knights, morphing his weapon between a mace, a giant shield and a…cannon?!
Terra fired the cannon at the Raven, blasting it through the air and causing it to collide with the Owl and the Gryphon before they could react.
BANG!
BOOM!
CRASH!
CRASH!
CRASH!
All three-winged beasts hit the ground while the Dodo charged at Terra, aiming to peck him to death but Terra simply changed his weapon into its mace form and with one swing…
DONG!
The Dodo flew back, crashing into the three downed winged beasts and let out a groan as it collapsed on them.
Four of the five Winged Beasts defeated in a manner of minutes.
How powerful were these Keyblade Wielders?
"Hey!" The Red King looked back at the two boys, glaring at Ven who had shouted at him. "You willing to give up now?"
"Not now. Not ever!" The Red King shot forward, swinging his sword at Ven who held his Keyblade up in a reverse grip, blocking the slash aimed at his head.
The Red King grunted as sparks blasted from the clash and jumped back as Oscar tried to stab him in the back. The Red King made a gesture with his hand and the very ground underneath the two boys broke apart and then shot up, four large pieces of red stone aiming to smash the boys into paste.
"Look out!" Ven cried out.
Oscar held his Keyblade and let out a battle cry as a barrier of green energy surrounded him and Ven just before the stone slabs crushed them.
CRASH!
BOOM!
The stone slabs shattered on impact with Oscar's barrier. The Red King growled, frustrated by the fact that no matter what he tried, these Keyblade Wielders refused to bend and break.
He was the Red King, reascended.
Gifted with the power to defend the Ever After and was the strongest being to emerge since the troublesome Brothers who had been exiled.
He had recreated the Jabberwalker, now reborn as the Jabberwock to aid in defending the Ever After.
He had been remade from the foolish and gullible king he had been before and that spoiled brat of a prince that had been absorbed back into the tree to save his petulant life from the chaos of the four huntresses.
These…humans.
They were all to blame for everything that had happened to him and his fellow Afterans, starting with the little wench Alyx.
Alyx…
Even though he had been ascended twice now, that name of that wicked child still burned its memories into his heart.
She had cheated in what supposed to be a fair game.
She had made him doubt his role as the wise, all-knowing ruler he had been made to be.
And for what?
A chance to get to the Tree?
She and that simpering brother of hers could have been at the Tree any time if they had no doubts in their hearts. They hadn't have had to cause all the chaos and damage in their wake.
But they still did.
Them and that silly Rusted Knight who went about playing hero until he suddenly stopped. The Maidens and their powers, along their very emotions had threatened to tear the Ever After apart. That was why he and the other Afterans had been ascended directly by the Great Tree and remade to help stop the chaos. But that was still seemingly impossible as more and more humans arrived, bringing their petty conflicts with them here and into the worlds the Brothers had left for.
'If only I could turn back time and somehow stop all of this chaos from happening in the first place…' The Red King thought and then his eyes widened. 'Perhaps I can.'
He looked over the Jabberwock as it continued fighting against the girl that had latched onto the Great Tree, still fighting against the still standing last member of the Five-Winged Beasts. The Jabberwock had summoned more humans to fight with it and was seemingly doing a better job than the rest of the Afterans he had summoned.
It seemed only appropriate that the Afteran reborn from one of these humans would somehow being doing better.
'Very well.' The Red King closed his eyes briefly. 'If I cannot bring the Ever After of the past back, I will return to the past and reject the future!'
The Red King shot up into the air just as Ven, Oscar and Terra surrounded him and he landed on the head of the Jabberwock.
"You wretched humans, you claim to be protectors and defenders, but you have constantly brought your fights to this world and beyond. I see now the path to remaking the Ever After as it was, is now closed to me and my people because your aggravating persistence. If I am unable to tame the chaos you have inflicted on this land, then I will just return to the past and from there I will protect my world from you before you infect it and from that point, any human that trespasses will be dealt with." The Red King proclaimed tapped his foot against the head of the Jabberwock. "By death and ascension, will you be made to understand what your kind has done to us and our homes. By all means, attempt to stop me or attempt to free the life of this one human who has paid the price for her transgressions. Choose wisely though, for no matter the path you take from this point forward, all of them will lead to one single end: yours as humans and reborn like your fellow humans who now stand against you."
The Afterans who were once humans, including the Jabberwock all shouted and roared in compliance to the Red King's claim.
"Never forget that you are all responsible for this. For that, I name you humans to be the destroyers of worlds!" The Red King proclaimed before he took off into the air. "Jabberwock, even if it costs you your life, finish these wretched humans off once and for all!"
The Jabberwock roared in compliance once again, lowering its head and glared at the Keyblade Wielders and Weiss. Then one by one, it summoned illusionary copies of people that Ven and Terra didn't recognize but the rest did: Roman Torchwick, the Malachite Sisters, Adam Taurus, Mercury Black, Emerald Sustrai, James Ironwood, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren, Ozpin, Clover, Qrow Brawn, and Cinder Fall.
"Oh boy." Weiss gulped from seeing so many friends and enemies appearing to fight her and everyone else. "…It's just never easy, is it?"
(Kingdom Hearts OST Enter the Darkness Ends)
