It was daybreak in the Land of Mountains and two soldiers were patrolling around the perimeter of Mt. Bernstein of the Vice Norden. They soon came across the frozen corpse of the messenger, his body preserved by the snow's frigid temperature.

"He's one of the messengers, isn't he?" One of the soldiers bent down and shifted his hands through the snow. He soon found a letter stained with blood, containing the messenger's dying words for Four. "I knew it. We need to deliver this message immediately, this could mean trouble for the Lady."

The soldiers returned to Lindblum in frantic search for Lady Four, but ended up running into Decadus instead who was visibly suffering from hypothermia.

"Hey, you're Lady Four's disciple, aren't you?" The soldier asked.

"Th-That I am. H-How may I be of s-service?" He said between chattering teeth.

"I need you to deliver this letter to Lady Four. It's very important that this gets to her!"

"I- I see. Fear not for L-Lady Four's wellbeing, I-I will make sure she receives this!" With the letter in his possession, Decadus made his way to the Inn. After talking to the Innkeeper, he found her room in no time, then knocked on the door. However, the only response he received from the other side were muffled panting noises and the sound of her bed creaking.

'Lady Four must be up to her private affairs. I shouldn't disturb her, but I must deliver this paramount news and accept whatever cruel punishment she'll have in store for me.' Excited by the inevitable discipline he would receive from Four, he pushed the door wide open and caught Four in a compromising position.

Needless to say, she completely lost her shit. "DECADUS! YOU DISGUSTING PIG!" Four picked up the nearest items she could reach and practically threw the entire Inn room at him. "GET OUT OF HERE! NOW!"

"Y-Yes of course!" He quickly shut the door, then only opened it again when Four properly called for him. The moment he stood in her presence, he immediately groveled before her. "Deepest apologies my Lady, I am truly and utterly a failure of a disciple, and I ask, no I insist that you give me your absolute worst- Oo-ooohhh! I'm ecstatic to endure whatever unbearable pain you have in store for me...uuuugh."

"Would it kill you to shut up for once." Four held her hand out, then impatiently tapped her foot. "Well? What was so important that you had to burst into my room?"

"This letter my Lady."

After she skimmed through the letter, she tore it up right in front of him. "Why are you wasting my time with this foolish nonsense? I know full well that Zero is hunting me and that most of my forces are dead, this isn't anything new. Don't you have any relevant news like- oh, I don't know, where the heck Riku went?!"

"Uh I- erm I did see Riku leave the village late at night and based on the information from the message, it's likely he ran into Zero. Hence his absence."

All the color drained out of her face and a sickening feeling came over her like a punch in the gut. "No no no no no! I knew he hated me after I told him everything! I knew it! This is why I never tell the truth! Ugh - no no..."

As she tried to grapple with the reality that everything she worked so hard to build up was now falling apart in the span of a day, her mind served as a safety net to protect her from a full-on breakdown. "Th-This isn't really because of what I did. This is just another case of men being unfaithful! He probably went crawling back to Zero because she's objectively prettier than me and his tiny dick couldn't see my brains over her beauty! That's all! Right, Decadus? Tell me I'm right! Please tell me I'm right!"

"Yes, of course. You're never wrong Lady Four."

"See?! I'm right! I'm right! He's just stupid! Everyone's just stupid!"

"Uh...Lady Four? Are you alright?"

"Ha ha, I'm better than alright! Why don't you prepare for flight?"

"If we're fleeing, then where would we set course to? It seems all of our military bases have been compromised."

"Oh no, I won't run with my tail in between my legs. Those two traitors will find me soon enough and when they do, I'll lure them into a trap! They won't even know what hit them!"

While Four raved on, at the end of the hallway, Dito listened in. "Huh, sounds like Four's completely lost her shit. Better stay away from her."


Beardsley: As toxic as their relationship would be, "Stalemate" by love-sadKiD would 100% fit

LordNoobReview: I'm definitely excited for Two's storyline, I think you guys will like what I have in store for her ;) And I'm super happy that you like Four-Riku's interactions, writing her was certainly a trip ngl. She's like the worst person trying very hard to be nice. As far as the Intoner's use of the heartless, I mostly saved the evil stuff for Three and I like your analysis for the heartless as to what they represent. Looking forward to Three though, gonna be on some crazy shit coming up. And tysm for liking my art and stupid memes, I got more mutated heartless coming up.

Centurious the Azure: Five was slightly less of a bitch then Four, yeah XD Ah yes, Dito will certainly bring a new dynamic to the team.

Lucerious: I'm glad you feel things for Five, she was done dirty compared to Four. I'm starting to think Two's a fan favorite, damn, any love for my girls Three and One?

Raxiums: Having issues would be an understatement

Keybladelight: Ehh, rather not repeat too many story beats from NieR: Oblivion. Since this story will have the different timeline endings, Five maaay come back in some form or another. I did consider the idea of having the little Utahime girls but I thought of something else more draekngard-y.

Anon: Sora's just a special boy, Riku could stand to learn a thing or two. Apple doesn't fall far from the tree, right? Mikhail got his stupidity from somewhere close lol. "You know that would probably explain why they have bones sticking out of them" now you're thinking like drakengard. Decadus absolutely reflects Four's sadistic nature and I love that. Riku would never entertain any of the Intoner's advances anyways. The first thing Three did was use her song on them so she could play with them so you can imagine Land of Forests is a hellscape right about now!


"I Want You For A Lifetime"

The next morning, Zero woke up in a dimly lit cave across from a campfire. "What? How the hell did I end up here?" She heard the echo of footsteps approaching and tried to look around the cave to see who it was, but the fire's light could only penetrate so much of the surrounding darkness. 'I don't get it. There's no one who would ever want to save me.'

When Riku was the one who emerged from the shadows, Zero swore she felt her heart skip a beat. He was the person she least expected would ever want anything to do with her and yet it still made perfect sense all at the same time.

"You okay?" He asked, lowering himself down on the cave floor.

She scoffed. "Why would you care?"

"Maybe because I'm not a jerk. As much as I don't like you, I wasn't going to leave you out to die."

"I'd rather be dead than look at your scummy ass anyways."

"Really? I'm the scummy one after you left me the way you did?!"

"At least I didn't go fuck your worst enemy."

"I would never do that stuff with her! You just made up a reason to be pissed off at me because you can't own up to your actions!"

"It's not like you're any better! I know you're just waiting to kill me at some point! There's no other reason why you would save me, so come on! Stab me in the back already!"

"See this is your problem, Zero. You always think I have it out for you and that's why you don't ever want to accept my help!"

"God, this is why I fucking LEFT you! I never wanted your help! I know I deserve to die so why do you always keep getting in my way?!"

"Because I don't want you to end up like I did! I've destroyed my world before! I've almost destroyed myself! Sorry for thinking no one should have to go through that path of darkness, but you know what? Forget it. I'm done trying to get through to you. I don't care anymore, just do what you want." He stood up to leave.

"Good! Fuck you for caring about me! I don't need you and I never fucking missed you every night you were gone!"

"Uh- what?"

"You heard me! I'm not sorry and I'm not the biggest asshole for leaving you either. And... I definitely don't want you to still travel with me despite everything I did to you."

He crossed his arms. "I'm getting mixed signals here. So you're sorry, but you're being obnoxious about it?"

"Yeah...I guess I am."

"Well it sucked. You need to work on your apologies."

"I tried, okay? I'm new at the whole 'feeling bad for stuff I did to people who are still alive' thing."

"Whatever. Look, this doesn't mean I forgive you, but I do need you to help me deal with Four."

"So you finally want to kill her, huh? Took you long enough."

"No, I want you to help me contain her since you're the expert on Intoner powers. I want to try to stop the darkness from taking over her heart. Otherwise, she's like this girl version of a psychopath."

She rolled her eyes. "And you're the guy version of a moron. The 'darkness' isn't what's making her do bad things, she's just fucked up in the head."

"That's not the problem here. It's the heartless she'll turn into if the darkness corrupts her heart. I already saw what happened to Five, I don't want it to happen again."

"Wait ...so Five's dead now?"

"Yeah, I had to uh... destroy her."

"Gotta admit, kind of ironic that you ended up killing her instead of me."

"Not the time Zero. So are you with me or not?"

She shook her head. "Oh, you're actually serious? Yeah, not gonna happen. Four has to die, I'm not negotiating with you on that."

"No she doesn't, I just told you there's a way to save her."

"I don't care. You're not getting involved with any Intoner shit, okay? Just shut up and follow me around like what we used to do."

"No, I asked you to help me deal with Four, not the other way around. If you're not on board then we're done here."

"Heh, you've definitely grown a pair since I last saw you, but you're not getting in the way of me killing Four. It's not like that virgin bitch doesn't deserve what's coming for her either so I don't get what your problem is."

"You don't get it Zero, I'm just...tired of failing everyone. So many people lost their lives because I wasn't there to save them from the darkness, but I won't lose another person. As horrible as she is, I'm saving Four, she at least deserves a shot at finding her light before it gets taken away from her."

"Look, you don't know what the hell you're dealing with when it comes to Intoners so stay out of it! They're my problem, not yours!"

"I already told you that if the heartless are involved, then it's my problem too. As long as I wield this keyblade, then I'll protect the light."

Rather than keep arguing with him, Zero let out a disgruntled sigh in defeat because Riku had that stupid look on his face and she knew no matter what she'd say to him, he wasn't going to listen to reason. "God fucking damnit...FINE!"

"So you'll help me with Four?"

"Sure whatever. Knock yourself out and when you're ready for an adult to step in, I'll kill her." She got up from the ground, then balled up Riku's jacket and threw it at him. "And don't get any ideas either. I'm only going along with this because you saved my life already."

"Great to hear you're still the same. What about Mikhail? Haven't seen him around."

"I was looking for that idiot until I got jumped by those heartless. Sure he's nearby, he couldn't have gotten that far from here."

The two left the cave and ventured back out into the mountains. Now that the blizzard had died down, they had an easier time navigating around the area. "Surprised you don't want my sisters dead after all the time you spent with them. Must've been a pain in the ass."

"No worse than you."

"You know I'm only gonna let you make a few more potshots like that before I slit your throat."

"You walked yourself into that one."

"You're gonna walk yourself into my sword soon."

"Makes sense. You did want me to cut my arm off anyways."

"...Goddamnit, why'd you have to bring that up?"

After trudging through the snow for a while, they encountered a signpost pointing to Lindblum alongside a makeshift bridge they had to walk across. "Huh, we're actually going in the right direction," Zero said.

"Because I'm leading," Riku said.

"Shut up. We still haven't found my dumbass dragon and we're almost at the village. That's it-" She cupped her hands around her mouth. "HELLOOOO? HEY, STUPID DRAGON! WHERE ARE YOU?"

"Bad idea to yell, Zero."

"Heh, forget how chicken you are."

"Whatever you say."

Her loud yells reached all the way to the mountaintops, inadvertently causing a massive avalanche that swept Zero right off the bridge. On the other hand, Riku had the foresight to jump away before the wave of snow could take him out, then once everything settled, he dropped down to Zero's position as she was burying herself out.

"What? It's not my fault that stupid pussy snow came out of nowhere," Zero said.

"Kind of is."

"Well, you could've at least warned me, dickhead!"

"I did and as usual, you didn't listen to me."

She crossed her arms. 'I fucking hate when he's right.'

They scaled the walls of the mountain back up to their original position where they ran into a horde of enemy soldiers.

"It's the she-devil who murdered the generals!"

"And the demon slayer! Are they working together?!"

"We'll kill them both for the honor of our generals and Lady Four!"

Riku summoned his keyblade. "Here we go."

"You should uh... sit this one out," Zero said.

"What- why? I can still fight!"

"You'd only get in the way." Gripping her sword in her hands, she made wide sweeping slash attacks to quickly mow through the soldiers and threw in a few sword jabs to spice it up. When Zero turned to meet Riku, he looked pissed off at her.

"Just because my arm's in a sling doesn't mean I can't fight anymore. Did you forget that I saved your butt out there yesterday?"

"God, can't you just be happy that I did a favor for you?

"Look, if this is about-"

"What? I can't hear your bitching right now, there's a bunch of soldier guys up ahead."

"Zero!"

But she already ran away to the empty plot of snow.

"So where are these soldier guys you have to kill again?" Riku asked, walking up behind her.

"Well, obviously they got scared and ran off."

"Yeah right, they weren't even here to begin with! Though, I do sense the presence of a slimy creature nearby."

"Heartless?"

"Them too."

It took a moment for her to register his subtle insult and she took it unusually well. "Heh, I'll admit, that wasn't half bad, but you've officially pissed me off so you better watch yourself."

He rolled his eyes. "I'm terrified."

"I'm this close to shoving my sword down your throat."

All of a sudden, they heard a booming voice rupture through the skies. "—HUH?! RIKU?! IS THAT REALLY YOU?! Zero too BUT MOSTLY RIKU!" Mikhail descended from the white clouds and landed in front of them. "It is you, Riku! Riku's here, I- I looked for you! I looked everywhere for you!"

Riku couldn't help himself from smiling like an idiot as he ran to Mikhail. He reached over to pet his head, but Mikhail ended up knocking him down in excitement. "Come on Mikhail, you have to pull yourself together!"

"I'll be okay now that you're here! I got so much to tell you about all the stuff that happened while you were gone!"

"I can't wait to hear it. Looks like we'll both have plenty of stories to share with each other!"

While the two reunited, Zero was rolling her eye so hard, she thought it would fall to the back of her skull. 'They're so happy it's disgusting.' "Did you two idiots forget we have shit to do?"

"Hee hee, I didn't forget about your sister Zero. Come on, hop on my back you two, let's go find Four!"

However, just as they boarded the white dragon, a titan sized soldier buried itself out from the heaps of snow. It was such a massive enemy that the size of just one of its sword-arms rivaled Mikhail's entire body.

"At least it's not a heartless," Zero said.

And it was a heartless.

"FUCK!"

"I'll take care of this one," Riku said.

"Yay! I can't wait to see Riku's cool moves in action again! Maybe we can even try a combo move or something," Mikhail said.

"Sure, buddy."

"Whoa-whoa- a nickname that's not mean?! I didn't even think that was possible."

"Both of you shut up, no one's doing shit. Just keep flying, dummy."

The Titan swung its enormous sword-arms at Mikhail who luckily managed to fly just under the blade, but its attack wasn't over quite yet. Due to the darkness that was coursing through its body, the Titan was able to detach its arm and control it from afar. The sword changed direction mid-air so it could have another go at trying to slice Mikhail in half.

"Looks like running away's not an option. Besides, it'll cause more destruction if I don't destroy it now." Riku jumped off Mikhail, then clashed blade-to-blade with the Titan's colossal sword.

"Wow! That was so awesome! Let me help you too Riku!"

"No, you idiot! We have our own fight to worry about!" Zero screamed, pointing at the other sword arm that was spinning right at them.

'I hope my body doesn't get sliced in fucking half by doing this.' Zero readied her sword and prepared to strike, but Mikhail caught her completely off guard by clamping down on the blade with his teeth.

"What...the fuck?"

"Watch me do something cool too you guys!"

With the sword clenched tightly in his jaw, Mikhail flew all the way to the Titan, then struck the sword straight through its armored body. The darkness holding the armor together collapsed in of itself. To put an end to its existence once and for all, Riku released the hearts from the darkness with one final sword strike, then returned to Mikhail.

"Nice! That was awesome, Mikhail," Riku said.

"Thanks! I just followed my heart like you told me!"

"Gross. You two are gonna make me barf," Zero said.

"So did I convince you that you don't have to worry about me anymore or do we have to fight another titan?" Riku asked.

"The only thing you convinced me of is that you're a dumbass with a death wish. It's like losing your arm wasn't enough for you to quit."

"Because I'm not a coward who turns their back on people."

"Yeah I get it, you're the self-righteous hero and I'm the shitty one, but people like you are the ones that die first. All that 'strength' you have will mean fuck all if you're dead."

"I know, that's why I won't die."

"That's...not how it fucking works, but whatever. I can't stop you from being an idiot." She turned away from him. "Hey dragon, I hope you're flying in the right direction and not wandering around!"

"I'm not wandering around! I promise! It's just really hard to sense Four's presence right now."

"She's in some place called Lindblum so head there."

"Got it...uh where is that again?"

"Just head north, I'll tell you where to land."

"'Kay!"

Mikhail ended up locating Lindblum, but he wasn't able to safely land anywhere due to the entire village now crawling with heartless. "Me and Zero will go down, just stay up here away from the heartless Mikhail," Riku said, getting ready to jump.

"You got it, bro!"

Zero's face scrunched up. "Never say that again."

"But I wanna say cool nicknames like you guys!"

"Can't go wrong with dumbass..." She muttered.

"I heard that!"

"I didn't! What'd she say? What'd she say?"

"Don't worry about it. You should start calling Zero 'annoying' and 'obnoxious' since that's all she ever is."

Zero responded by shoving Riku off of Mikhail, then jumped down next. She already knew he was going to be pissed off at her, but seeing his brief 'oh shit' face was worth it. As soon as she landed on the ground, Riku got back at her by dumping a huge pile of snow on her.

"Thanks, asshole. I was already freezing my tits off."

"You deserved it."

"And you deserve death. So where's Four supposed to be?"

Riku led Zero to the Inn, but when they got inside, it looked like a scene from a horror movie. Blood was splattered all across the walls and all the residents, including the Innkeeper, were dead, their corpses being fed upon by heartless. "No...did I come too late?" He rushed over to Four's room only to discover that she was gone and her space was completely trashed.

"Damn, this place is a mess. Sure you two didn't have sex?" Zero asked, kicking away shards of glass.

He glared at her.

"Okay, I guess that's off the table then. Four's probably still around this area though, we'll just have to keep looking."

"—If I were you, I'd give it up."

Riku and Zero turned around to find Dito standing in the doorway.

Zero looked him up and down. "Who the fuck are you?"

"Name's Dito. Used to be a disciple of Five, now I'm Intoner-less. You're that Zero Intoner I keep hearing about, right?"

"Yep."

"Did you see where Four went? And what happened here?" Riku asked.

"Four went crazy, then a shitload of heartless attacked the place. I could fend for myself, but the other guys weren't so lucky, I mean did you see the Innkeeper? Her fuckin' guts were-"

"Did you see where Four went or not?"

He shrugged. "Nah, but I did hear her talk about wanting to lure you guys into a trap so I wouldn't even bother finding her."

"Like I'm scared about whatever pussy trap she has. We're finding her virgin ass," Zero said.

"Alright, alright, geez. Just giving you a heads up."

"Then let's get going, we got all the information we need from this place. Oh, and Dito, you're coming with me."

"Eh, sure, but let me look at that Innkeeper one last time! Stuff like that gets burned into your brain!"

"NOW!"

"Fiiiiiiine."

As the three left the Inn and were on their way back to Mikhail, Dito decided it was a good time to bring up awkward conversation. "Sooo you two aren't like...'together' now, are you?"

"What- NO! No way in hell," Riku said.

"You don't have to sound so disgusted, asshole!" Zero said.

"Huh, wouldn't have guessed it. Pretty boy here was talking all types of shit about you, figured you two went through a messy breakup or something."

"Wait, this prick was talking shit about me?!" She whipped her head to him. "I wasn't even talking shit about you!"

"I barely said anything about you and when I did, it was nothing I didn't already tell you to your face."

"Like I believe that garbage! What the fuck did he say about me, Dito?"

'Man do I love causing shit.' "You know, I did hear the bitch word thrown around a couple of times, I couldn't believe it myself either. He seemed like a pretty decent guy."

"I knew it!"

"He's lying! Also, are we forgetting that you're the biggest jerk here?"

"Second to you!"

Due to their loud arguing, Mikhail didn't have a hard time finding them and was flapping down to their location. "Aw come on, I leave you guys alone for a second and you're already fighting again!"

"-You're lucky he's here," Zero hissed.

He rolled his eyes.

"Oh cool! You made a new friend Zero!"

"Don't get too excited. He's just a disciple."

"Hey, don't sell me short already! I'm Dito, what's yours, big guy?"

"Mikhail!"

"Gotcha. Gotta say, must be cool having a dragon as a partner."

Zero eyed him. "You're on thin ice."

"Wh-oa, get your mind out of the gutter, Z. I meant as a friend, but I wouldn't put it past ya if this isn't the only time you're riding him."

"Whaddya mean? Zero rides me aaaaall the time!"

"Wait- seriously?"

"Yep! Every day!"

"Shut up! You don't know what you're talking about you idiot!" Zero barked.

"Hmph! You don't have to be a meanie! So where do you guys gotta go anyways?"

"I saw a fortress up ahead. Four might be holed up in there," Zero said.

"Doubt it. She travels by airship so I think we should check the sky first," Riku said

"The sky? Never even thought of that. I knew there was a reason why I kept you around."

Mikhail ascended higher, sailing past the clouds. "Riku's right, I do sense an Intoner's presence now that we're way up here!"

"Good, let's find her as soon as possible. I'm freezing," Zero said.

"Really, you're cold? Feel's great up here to me!"

"Unlike you, I'm not made of blubber and scales."

"Could've had me fooled," Dito said with a chuckle.

"You wanna die?"

"Yikes, someone's in a bad mood."

"Nah, she's always like this," Riku said.

"Do both of you wanna die?"

Mikhail slowed down. "Uh-oh, looks like there's danger ahead!"

"What is it this time?!"

What could be described as a giant, red ball of flesh came flying at them with its small wings. A disgusting site for sure, but it was on par for the enemies in Midgard.

"Holy shit! Whatever that thing is, it looks so gross!" Dito exclaimed.

"Why do you sound so happy then? Kill it, dragon."

"Sure thing!" He breathed out scorching flames that should've easily taken care of the flesh ball, but small, dragon-like creatures began peeling themselves out from the ball one by one until there was an army of them surrounding the trio.

"Those guys dragons?"

"They aren't dragons! They're WYVERNS!" Mikhail gasped. "No good, scumbag, dragon-wannabes!"

"At least they're just regular enemies," Zero said.

And they were all heartless.

"FUCK! Why do I even bother?!"

"Four must've mutated more heartless. This could be the trap she was talking about," Riku said.

"Heartless or not they're still stupid wyverns! They can't even talk, or understand language! Now that's pretty stupid if you ask me! And don't even get me started on those pathetic wings!" Mikhail ranted.

"Damn, didn't know dragons could be so racist. Hate to be a wyvern right about now," Dito said.

"You'd be surprised. Most dragons are pretty damn proud, though mine is just a dolt most of the time," Zero said.

"If you guys don't hate dirty-stinking wyverns already, you will today! I'm gonna roast all these dragon-wannabees! I'm gonna roast 'em ALL!" Mikhail shot out a round of fireballs at rapid-fire speed and deadly precision, wiping out all the wyverns within the vicinity.

"Maybe take it down a notch, Mikhail," Riku said.

"Wha- but why?! I gotta give them what they deserve!"

The wyverns Mikhail thought he destroyed were all reborn again from the darkness.

"Oh, that's why."

Just like before, the wyverns fused together to form another pulsing ball of flesh, but this time around, darkness began seeping out of it.

"Not good! Watch out, Mikhail!"

"Don't worry about me! Those wyverns can't touch me!"

The ball of wyvern flesh spun around, shooting out an onslaught of dark fireballs that came barreling at Mikhail, so he used his wings to guard against the attack.

"How are you just now starting to become competent?!" Zero grumbled.

"'Cause I'm not letting no-good wyverns beat me! Okay Riku, we gotta work together so we can DESTROY these guys!"

"Mikhail, just get me close to them and I'll handle the rest," Riku said.

"No problem!" Mikhail flew to the ball of wyverns, then propped open his mouth and sunk his fangs down into their flesh so he could hold them in place. "Ish thwis gwood enuff Wiku?"

"Uh...yeah." Even Riku was startled by how headstrong Mikhail of all dragons had suddenly gotten. "Nice work."

Running off of Mikhail's head, Riku dug his keyblade into the ball of wyvern flesh, slashing at it multiple times, then finally ending its miserable existence with Zantetsuken.

"Woo-hoo! We did it! We did it! We beat all those slimy wyverns!"

"Gotta hand it to you, Z. Your dragon's pretty metal," Dito said.

"Save the ass-kissing Dito, we still have an Intoner to find."

"—You got it all wrong, my wayward sister. I'm the one who's found you." Four's airship cut through the clouds like a knife, with the Intoner of the hour standing at the ship's deck. She snapped her fingers together and a green enchantment circle enclosed around Mikhail. "Ha, I knew you dolts would fall for that."

"What the hell is this?!"

"You'll see, just sit back and watch! You two disgusting traitors are in for it now!"

"Listen to me Four! Stop this, now! The only reason why I'm here is to help you!" Riku yelled out.

"And why on earth would I listen to the man who ripped my heart into a million pieces, then shat all over it? As far as I'm concerned, you're dead to me Riku!"

"Man, what'd you do to her to piss her off like this?" Dito asked.

"Nothing!"

"YOU LIAR! You abandoned me when I needed you the most, then ran back to my sister because you think she's prettier than me!"

"None of that is true! I'm sorry for leaving you, but I came back to help you fight your darkness! If you don't end this, you're going to get destroyed!"

"I don't care if this is the end! If I can't be happy, then NO ONE WILL!" Four started screaming at the top of her lungs, commencing her Intoner song.

"Behold, the Fourth song: Impenetrable Shield of Antiquity! The rare power granted to our own, the stout citadel that protects us. Cast your blighted sins upon these very skies! I, Decadus, summon thee in my name...Armaros, Uphold!"

ARMAROS

Verse 1-4

-Reprise-

Until the day I disappear, I must hide myself from the world.

For all it brings me is shame.

Until the day I disappear, I must always kill my wandering heart.

For all it brings me is shame.

A gigantic citadel emerged from the heavens with a force field and chain links of Intoner magic surrounding it.

"Wow, Four's daemon sucks more than Five's," Dito said.

"What's going on?" Riku asked.

"Four just summoned her daemon," Zero said.

"What?!"

"Yeah, guess I should've told you about this earlier."

"You think?!"

Zero unsheathed her blade. "Well, we tried everything, time to kill her."

"We're not doing that! Whatever this thing is, we can stop it!"

"-NO YOU CAN'T! You said I had a lot of darkness in my heart Riku! Remember that?! Well, now I'm sharing that with the whole WORLD!"

The skies turned pitch black from all the heartless that were now circling around Armaros as if the daemon itself was a beacon for darkness. If that wasn't bad enough, due to the Intoner's song, hundreds of heartless were now mutating as well.

"I can never hope to be as good of a person as you are! I can't even pretend to be! So why don't you all just DROP DEAD?"

"Fuck! Get out of here you dummy! Now!"

"I- I can't! I can't fly away from her magic circle thing! This is super scary guys!"

The turrets on the citadel were aiming themselves at Mikhail who couldn't fly away, so if they didn't think of something and quick they'd be shot out of the sky soon.

"Damn it! I'm not letting it end like this!"

Verse 6

I become nothing as I am unwound by death,

Each rebirth, I lose myself, little by little

But to destroy the flower that harbors death,

I must lose everything I hold dear

The power of Zero's Intoner song far exceeded that of Four's and she was able to break the magic that kept them imprisoned, allowing Mikhail to fly away at the nick of time. Despite the close save, their fight was nowhere near to being over.

"Any bright ideas, keyblade? We're kind of impending death right about now."

"I'm with her. Seeing other people die is cool and all, but it sucks when it happens to you," Dito said.

Zero glanced back to Dito. "You're pretty sick, aren't you?"

"I'll take that as a compliment."

Then she looked over to Riku. "Well? We're waiting on you."

"Bring me to the castle as close as you can."

"Alright. Ready, dummy?"

"Yep!"

Mikhail weaved past the approaching cannonballs and was now flying over one of the four watchtowers that contained an eye of Armaros. "Aah! We're gonna get sucked into that thing!" He furiously flapped his wings in an attempt to escape, but the Intoner's song was especially powerful now that they were close to her daemon.

"Just calm down and watch where you're aiming!"

"I'll just jump off here," Riku said.

"You'll WHAT?! What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

"Someone has to get through to Four, I'll find her and you take this castle down! Watch out for the heartless!" Jumping off of Mikhail, he used airstep to safely land on the citadel where he was immediately targeted by automated turrets. Although it was hardly a challenge since he was exceptionally fast with his keyblade and deflected all of the bullets as if it were nothing. However, it was the mutated heartless infiltrating the citadel grounds that posed much more of a threat.

At first glance, the heartless appeared to be base-level Red Nocturne enemies albeit with one too many heads, but when Riku threw his keyblade for a circle raid attack, one of them combusted like a bomb upon impact. The explosion started a chain reaction that resulted in a blazing explosion.

'What the heck are these heartless?' Riku's keyblade protected him from the explosion, but the citadel itself now had a giant crater carved into it. 'This is crazy!'

After running further down the citadel, he finally spotted Four's airship flying away. 'Of course she'd try to run from the own mess she created, I'm not letting you get away.' As fate would have it, Four too fell victim to the heartless as a swarm of mutated flying soldiers began to target her.

'I guess that worked out in my favor. Change of plans then.' Riku had a running start right off the edge of the citadel, then soared to her airship with airstep.

When Riku landed on the deck, he destroyed the mutated heartless, but Four was already lying on the ground next to Decadus, spraying out blood from the parts where her body was bitten into. Even more alarming was the darkness seeping out of her, signifying that she would soon begin her transformation into a heartless.

Decadus lowered his head. "There were so many of those demons...I just couldn't keep up and wasn't able to protect her. Oh, if only it could've been me who bore their attack instead. What a worthless disciple, I am. Now all is lost."

"No. There's still time left to save her and I know just what to do." He pointed his keyblade at her chest. "Let's see who you really are, Four."

.

.

.

After successfully using the Power of Waking on Four, Riku was falling down into a black chasm where the only light that waited for him was a stained glass pillar serving as Four's station of awakening. He touched down on the pillar, careful to watch his step, then looked around. Representative of her own heart, the stained glass was full of so many holes, he couldn't even see her portrait.

'This is about what I expected for her.' As Riku walked towards the center, black tendrils snaked over the pillar, filling the holes with darkness. When he tried to find the source of the darkness, all he could see was a black flower in full bloom that was leeching off the edge of the pillar.

"A...flower?"

That is how I appear to mortal eyes.

'It's speaking to me?' "So...what are you exactly? Are you just a manifestation of Four's darkness?"

No, far more than that. I am her very essence.

I am why she's allowed to live and breathe in this world.

If you're here to destroy me, then so will you destroy her.

"I'm not here to destroy her darkness, but I am here to stop you from corrupting her heart."

Riku summoned his keyblade, then shot at the black flower, dodging its black tendrils along the way. He swept his blade up high in the air and was about to bash its petals in when the tendrils snatched his body, immobilizing him.

I sense the dark power sleeping within you.

Yes...you are perfect.

You are the one who will destroy this world.

And all worlds to come after.

"No! You're wrong! I won't destroy this-" The tendrils slithered around his face, covering his mouth first, then his eyes and everything went ██████████ "No! I'm not falling back into the ███████████ "...I'm not..." █████████████████████████████████"No..."

"Aw, c'mon, Riku. You've been hanging around darkness for too long. You gotta try and think positive."

"Riku, you're not alone. Listen careful now, Riku. The light'll never give up on you. You'll always find it, even in the deepest darkness! But you have to believe!"

Even in the depths of darkness, Riku found his light and escaped from the black flower's clutches. He landed back on the pillar, then flipped his keyblade around in his hand. 'Something's different now. I can feel all of my magic coursing back through me.' He pointed the blade at the black flower. "Bind."

Golden chains manifested from his keyblade, then wrapped around the black flower until all of its darkness was contained within the spell. "That spell may only be temporary, but it won't be long before Four's light outshines your darkness."

You're mistaken.

The light was restored, and yet there was something deeply wrong. That's when Riku came upon a horrifying realization. The right arm he thought was gone forever had miraculously restored itself as if he never lost it, and worst of all, embedded within the palm of his hand was a black petal.

I will give you the strength to carry out your desires.

So as long as you remain bound to me.

Once the black petal had sunken into his hand, the roman numeral 'IV' appeared on his forearm like a tattoo. It was a symbol of the newfound darkness he now carried within him.

If you want to be this world's savior, so will you become its martyr.

.

.

.

While Riku was in the trenches of Four's heart, Mikhail was flying towards the airship.

"-Ah! Zero!" Mikhail exclaimed.

"What?"

"Something's weird...I can't sense Four's Intoner presence anymore!"

"That is weird. No way Riku had the balls to kill Four off and I doubt she'd kill herself either."

"Heh, we're not that lucky," Dito said.

"I'll check this out myself. Dito, watch my dragon."

"Hey! I didn't sign up to be a dragon-sitter!"

"Just shut up and watch him!" She dropped down to Four's airship and was surprised to find Four was still alive. Although her being covered in blood from head to toe and Riku being the one who was lying cold on the ground didn't give Zero the best impression so she reached for her sword. "What the fuck did you do to him?!"

"Nothing- nothing! I swear, he's just asleep!"

"Why the FUCK is he asleep?"

"I don't know! That's what I'm trying to figure out...he saved my life."

"Well, I'm about to end it!" She marched over to her.

"H-Hold on Zero! I-I know you hate me, I don't blame you, but please don't kill me! A-at least not yet! When Riku wakes up, I want him to know that whatever he did...changed something inside me. And it would be in your best interest to know what happened as well."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I believe I lost my powers as an Intoner, either that or they've become suppressed. I can feel it, I no longer have the power of song, and I bet my mark as an Intoner's disappeared too." She pointed to her forehead and sure enough, the 'IV' tattoo had vanished.

She shook her head. "None of this is making any goddamn sense. How the fuck are you still breathing?! You're not a real fucking person! Oh my god..." Her mind was going into overdrive trying to process everything.

Fortunately, right before Zero could develop a migraine, Riku woke up from his slumber having returned to the Realm of Light, or as close to the light as Midgard to get.

"YOU!" Zero forced him up off the ground, then grabbed his collar. "Explain to me what the hell's going on!"

"I dove into Four's heart...?"

"I'm serious! Is this some type of exorcism shit or whatever?"

"What? No, I just- never mind. You wouldn't get it. All you need to know is that Four won't be a problem anymore. Her darkness won't destroy her."

"And for that, I owe you my life." Four walked up to them, then got down on her hands and knees in apology, shocking them both. It was probably the first time she'd shown an ounce of genuine humility towards anyone. "I...I don't even know where to begin. I've caused so many terrible things...I just want to make things right again."

Riku approached her. "You've already pretended to be a good person before, so why don't you actually try being one for a change?"

She stood up then held her hands together as if they were in chains. "Then I-I'm willing to offer myself up as a prisoner to repent for my crimes, do your worst to me, I don't care!"

"No slow down, I meant that you should fight to protect the light in this world, not push it closer to darkness. You still have this whole country you messed up, you should be doing everything to help your people."

"Uh...let's just say they weren't exactly my people to begin with. So if they haven't lost their minds already, then surely they're lining up to claim my head."

"Yeah, I don't blame them," Zero said.

"P-Perhaps there's another way I can help! Our other sisters are still causing destruction and I'm afraid what Three's been doing to her people in the Land of Forests far exceeds my crimes. I'll be happy to take you to her location, hopefully you can even save her like you've done with me!"

"That's a good start," Riku said.

"I'm still not buying this I'm-not-an-Intoner-anymore bullshit." She stepped up to her. "If I so much as hear a rumor of you using your Intoner powers again, you can bet your ass I will be splattering your virgin guts all over the ground. Do you understand?"

"Y-Yes, ma'am! And I promise I won't ruin this second chance you've given me! I'll work hard so I can be the type of person Riku is!" She sent him a smile in his direction.

"Whatever, just get out of my face after you drop us off. And I'll be taking your man too, not like you ever used him to begin with."

"By all means, I have no need for him. Suddenly, I no longer harbor any salacious thoughts or feelings."

"Didn't ask." She waved over for Decadus. "Go clean up. Front AND rear. We'll meet tonight."

Decadus slowly fell down to his knees, his breathing heavy. "F-Front AND..." He could hardly spit the word out. "R-rear?"

"Yep. Hope you're not too tight back there."

Meanwhile, Riku had departed from the Intoners and was once again leaning on the guardrail. In typical Riku fashion, he'd fallen into deep thought as he tried to puzzle everything together. 'Zero's hiding something crucial about her sisters. She doesn't actually want to kill them for their actions, but because of their Intoner powers, and I think they're linked to that black flower.'

He put his fist into his palm. 'That's right. A black flower also sprouted from Five's heartless so that means all Intoners must have those flowers in their hearts. Zero knew this, that's why she kept insisting that she didn't want me to get involved and now I know why. I just wish I could ask her about this, but if she finds out what really happened, then there's no doubt in my mind that she's going to kill the rest of her sisters.'

Riku looked up at the heartless infested sky, then summoned his keyblade in his newly restored arm. "That's right. I have to think positive now, don't I? I'll figure out what to do along the way and make sure this world doesn't fall to darkness."

When all was said done,

The Keyblade wielder and the Intoner believed they'd won.

The light had been restored

The Fourth Intoner was no more.

But...as they'll soon come to find,

They were closer to their demise now more than ever before.

Flowers for the Dead


A/N: Ok , I'm soooo sorry this took way longer than I expected to get out, but I have some artwork on ao3 to make up for it:) Consider this chapter a finale to the Land of Mountains, next chapter will be a semi-filler content then to the Land of Forests.