Once upon a time, many moons ago...
There was a land known as Midgard that was devastated by demons from another world called the heartless.
Each of the sisters who ruled over Midgard succumbed to the heartless due to deficiencies in their own heart. Be it they were driven by greed, vanity, curiosity or even happiness, they all fell victim to the darkness and not only endangered themselves, but the world at large.
Except for one, the first Intoner.
She was the sharpest among all of her sisters, where they often lacked restraint or foresight, she made up for with her vast intellect. She could see the danger the heartless posed since the first day they arrived in her country and thus had no desire to use their power.
After all, One was the ruler of Cathedral City, a well-populated and competently run country that flourished under her rule. Why put her people in danger for creatures she did not fully understand yet?
However, with no one willing to command the heartless, they acted on their own natural instinct to devour as many hearts as possible. What were initially just bothersome pests, eventually grew in number by consuming the hearts of those from the smaller, under-protected villages and the problem of the heartless became too large to ignore.
By this time, she had heard the rumors of the famous Demon Slayer, but scoffed at the idea of requesting his help. She believed him to be many things, but a hero he was not, especially not when he sided with the traitorous Intoner Zero. So she took on the burden of defeating the relentless demons herself.
"It can't be impossible. I'll think of a solution," She said.
How could she be wrong? After all, she was an Intoner. A goddess. She had solved many of the world's problems before and this one would be no different.
...Right?
Raximus: You already know :)
KadoyaOkami: I 100% get that, it's depressing at times and I do lean heavily into the Drakengard themes more so than the Kingdom hearts ones, but I'm writing Branch A with the intention of making it a sad ending so the plot sort of ends up becoming a "anything that can go wrong will go wrong" scenario. In Branch B it'll be more kh themes.
Anon: Chapters where it's just fighting are so easy to write, everything else is not ;_; . Never thought I'd see Riku being compared to Toucan Sam lol. I actually got inspiration from AoT for the fight. Kinda sad that accurately describes Zero and Mikhail's relationship, at least she gets better over the branches. Lol I wanted Octa to have at least ONE moment and that was his time. Luckily I have a name and a design up, hope y'all will like it.
Reader: I went for fallen rose after you gave me the idea from fallen flower so thanks! This is only the end of Branch A so there's a little more story after this, but you'll see all that goes down in these next few chapters.
Keybladelight: I did, I mean he's just in regular pants in shoes. Accord's just kind of watching everything go down in the sidelines. I actually have possessed-Riku designs so I'll post those when the time comes. The flower's more like a foreign parasite than something he would ever allow inside his heart so I'm certain Riku wouldn't say 'I'll miss you' to the flower after it leaves him. Idk when I'll ever play Nier: Replicant lmao, I'm so poor.
"Passion"
Before they set off to Cathedral City, Riku checked up on Yuna once more now that she was finally beginning to wake up. "You doing okay?"
"Probably..." But in reality, it was like waking up into another nightmare. It was hard enough for her to look at her hand and see a bandaged nub where it used to be, but it was even worse when she saw Two again sitting at the opposite end of the camp. Everything came rushing back to her in an instant and without even thinking, she jumped to her feet and shot straight at Two.
Despite being bedridden for the past couple of days, the adrenaline surging through her gave her strength to pin Two down into a chokehold.
"Why Two?! Why did you betray me?! Couldn't you see how much I adored you? How much I wanted to be you?! You were EVERYTHING to me! But I was SO wrong about the woman I thought you were! YOU'RE A MONSTER!"
Everyone was taken by surprise by Yuna's sudden action, but Riku was the first one to react. He forced Yuna off of Two before she could kill her, then held onto her as she screamed and thrashed around in his arms.
"LET ME GO! LET ME GO RIGHT NOW! I'LL KILL HER! I'LL KILL THAT DEMON!"
"Hey, it's okay...it's okay. She's not going to hurt you anymore. Promise."
After there was no more energy left to sustain her anger, Yuna broke down into tears.
"Great. She's gonna slow us down with this shit," Zero said.
"Don't be so hard on her! We can figure something out."
She shot him a glare. "Like what?!"
"...I have an idea." Two stood up, her voice was shaking. "I...I caused this s...so... I'll-I'll make things right." And then she ran away.
Cent's first instinct was to chase after her, but he stopped himself.
"Go after her!" Riku said.
He rubbed his arm. "I can't...I'm...I'm just an idiot. My words would be wasted on her, you should be the one to go after her. She'll listen to you."
"No, she needs to hear it from you! You messed up and hurt her, but if you want to be better, you can't abandon her like this! You still want to make her happy, don't you? Then this is your chance to do it for real. No Intoner magic, no heartless, just talk to her."
"How do you know I won't just make her feel worse?"
"Because I wouldn't of told you to go after her if I did."
"Right...you're right. I have to do this. Oh, and you don't have to wait for us here, next time we'll see each other will be in Cathedral City."
Far and away, Two was trying to outrun the nasty thoughts forming in her head as she fell deeper into a mental relapse.
Life's a bitch, huh?
But, come on, it's not like you didn't see this coming.
"Wh- What're you talking about?"
Don't act like we're strangers now.
They very monster she was desperately trying to run away from manifested right in front of her.
"What do you want with me?!"
She wrapped her fingers around Two's scarf, then pulled her close. "For you to admit the truth to yourself, silly."
"The truth is that all I wanted was to be happy! And I hated the person I became after I accepted you into my heart!"
"Bitch please, you can fool everyone else, but you can't fool me. After all, I AM you and I know how much you secretly loved saying exactly what was on your mind and acting upon all of your ugly inner desires."
Two pushed her away. "That's not true!"
"Oh but it is, and that's what you don't want to admit to yourself. The darkness didn't change you, it only amplified the parts about you that was already there from the beginning. Face it Two, the ~victim~ narrative doesn't suit us. So own up to it. We're monsters inside and out."
"Shut up! SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!" She screamed.
"You're only angry because you know it's true. Once you accept it, you'll be a lot better off, trust me."
Tired of hearing that sickening voice, Two stopped running and fell to her knees. With trembling hands, she took out her sword, then held it to her chest.
"—Lady Two! Lady Two, I'm here!"
She lowered her sword back down into the sand, then turned to face him.
"Cent...you've seen the worst parts of me. Do you think that deep down...I've always been that monster?"
"Of course not. We all have parts about ourselves that we're not proud of, but that's completely normal. It doesn't make you any worse of a person."
"But what I did wasn't normal...I acted upon it. Just look...look at what I've done with these hands."
He wrapped his hand around hers to stop them from trembling. "The only thing you've ever done with those hands was love other people. Mine are the ones that are stained because I've taken all of that away from you. Heh, it's funny...you don't understand because you're so hard on yourself, but it quite literally took demons possessing you for you to say one mean thing about someone else. That's way better than anyone else I know."
She almost smiled. "Maybe, but it still hurts knowing that I was capable of such evil and...that it'll always be apart of me. Even though I know it wasn't my fault, I don't think I'll ever fully forgive myself."
"That's okay. Take however long you need to heal. There's no rush."
"...You should too. You put on a brave face, but I can tell you're all torn up inside."
He squeezed her hands tight. "It's hard not to feel that way, but I suppose we'll both have to learn how to live with our demons...So, what do you want to do now, Lady Two?
"I don't know...everything still hurts. I just...I just wanna lay here for a while."
He laid down next to her. "Then we'll do just that. For however long you want."
"Only for a little bit...we still need to go to Cathedral City."
"Are you sure you should push yourself like that? You've already gone through so much."
"I know, but I promised myself that I was going to see this through to the end and I'm so close that I can't give up now. I owe it to all the people who ended up getting hurt. Especially to Four...I'm going to keep fighting for something better so that when I see her again...she'll know she had an older sister that was worth looking up to."
Cent put his hand on her back. "I understand, then we'll leave whenever you're ready."
"...Thank you, Cent."
It was nightfall by the time they continued their journey and it took until the next morning for them to finally reach the regal and imposing...
Cathedral City
Unfortunately, they'd come too late.
Cathedral City, once the shining beacon of Midgard, was now a former shell of itself. There were so many heartless running rampant across the land and skies that it appeared to be nighttime even though the sun was out.
Two stared in disbelief at the omnipresent heartless. "Oh no...what happened here?!"
"Do you think Lady One is okay?"
"Of course! She's One, there's no way some heartless could actually..." Not wanting to dwell on it any further, Two threw caution to the wind and rushed forward, determined to find her sister amongst the darkness. She slashed through a shadow that lunged at her just for another to come from behind that Cent protected her from.
"I got your back Lady Two, now let's find your sister!"
They fought their way through every heartless imaginable, but even with their strength combined, it proved too much for them to handle.
"Argh...this can't be happening! It can't be! One's supposed to have everything under control, she can't be gone too!"
"I'm sorry Lady Two, we did all that we could've done."
As the darkness was closing, an intense fire surrounded them and burned the heartless into ash. They looked up and saw a large dragon slowly descending from the sky.
"It's Gabriel! Then that means it has to be-"
One made her grand entrance before them, jumping off from her dragon and landing right in front of Two.
"One, it's you! It's really you!" Two squeezed One as hard as she could and for the first time in her life, she didn't have to worry about holding back her strength in fear of hurting her. For the first time, it was just a normal hug. "You don't know how happy I am to see you again!"
"...Two? I thought you were...never mind." She hugged her back. "I'm happy to see you too."
Although their time apart was relatively short, there was a world of difference in One that Two could tell just by looking at her face, and that was it, she could tell. One was never an easy person for her sisters to read, but the constant stress of dealing with the heartless wore her down considerably.
"One, what happened here? Are you okay?" Two asked.
"No, not at all," She said, not even attempting to sugar coat the situation. "I lost most of my people and my soldiers to those demons. There were so many that I had to flee the cathedral."
"No way, don't tell me Three's already here?! Were we too late..."
"Three? Why would she be here? Well, I haven't received correspondence in weeks so I might be behind on a few things."
"Oh, wow. There's...a lot I need to catch you up on. Do you have time to listen?"
"Absolutely. I'm all yours, Two."
It took a while but Two thoroughly explained everything that happened in the past month or so, even the stuff that was hard for her to talk about. She'd hoped after sharing her plight, One would be more than willing to lend a hand, but that was a rather optimistic expectation.
"Wh- What's wrong One? You're giving me that disappointed look..."
She furrowed her eyebrows. "This is far worse than I imagined. I'm truly sorry all those awful things happened to you, but do you know how much danger the world is in right now because of this Demon Slayer?! He's clearly using his abilities to steal our Intoner powers away and destroy us yet you're siding with him and Zero?!"
Two was shocked because One had never raised her voice like that at her and she struggled to find her voice at first, but when remembered the promise she made, she found the courage to speak out against her sister. "No, you got it all wrong, Riku's here to help everyone! You haven't even met him before, but I have and he saved my life! Doesn't that mean anything to you?!"
"You're not seeing the bigger picture here. He didn't save you, he stole your powers and made you into a mortal so it would be easier to control you. I see now...the reason why he brought these heartless here wasn't just to terrorize Midgard, but also to turn us against each other."
"What're you talking about?! Were you even listening to me?! It's like you didn't hear a word I said!"
"Calm down and listen to me. I know it seems like that man is your friend, but you don't understand how truly dangerous he is and the threat he poses to this world. But don't worry, we're going to make things right. Just tell me where Riku and Zero are so I can dispose of them and then we can figure out how to save Three from his influence by ourselves."
Two stepped back from One, turning the other way. "...Forget it. I guess I was wrong to rely on you." She started to walk away but One grabbed her hand.
"Stop this, you don't know what you're doing and I don't want to make you my enemy."
"Then trust me! I don't get it, we're sisters, aren't we? So why don't you trust me?!"
"Because you're naïve and you fall for things too easily! And that's why you could barely control your own powers!" Realizing how hurtful that sounded, One tried to take back what she said. "No...I'm sorry, it's the stress... I didn't mean to say that you."
Two snatched her arm away from her. "Too many times I've had my own decisions made for me...and maybe you're right about all of this. Maybe I am making a huge mistake...or maybe this is exactly what the world needs, but at least it'll be a choice that I made for once! Riku is my friend so I'll fight for him like he's done for me, and if that makes me your enemy, then so be it, I'll be your enemy!"
"You are making a mistake. Either you stand down right now or I'll have to force you to."
She responded by getting into a fighting stance.
"Fine then. You're really no different from the rest of your sisters!"
Two threw the first punch at One, but due to her small stature, she was able to easily duck under it and punch Two's jaw.
"Lady Two! Are you okay?! You don't have to do this!"
One's punch was strong, way stronger than Two ever could have anticipated, which let her know that One was dead serious, but so was she. "Please stay out of this, Cent!"
"You should listen to him, you've lost a considerable amount of strength since you let Riku steal your powers. There's no way you'll be able to beat me."
"I don't care! I'm not giving up until I get through to you!"
After that failed first attempt, Two tried to go for a kick instead, but One blocked the attack with her forearm, grabbed her leg then yanked it hard so she would fall on the ground.
"Enough of this! Just give it up already, I...I don't want to fight you anymore!"
Even as blood filled up her mouth and dribbled down her chin, Two didn't waver. She just wiped it off and kept going. "You brought this on yourself! Some older sister you turned out to be...hah...hah. You don't get it 'cause...you never listen to us. So you don't understand how messed up we all are! That's why I wish I never had to be an Intoner!" Barely able to stand on her feet, Two threw a flimsy punch at her face that One didn't even bother to dodge.
"Wh-why would you say that?"
"Look at us! Really, look at us One! You may be the perfect one, but the rest of us were all so irresponsible with our powers and it ruined so many lives...and that's not anyone's fault, but our own!"
One stared at Two's face, bloodied and bruised, then at the hands that caused it. Finally, she admitted the truth to herself. "...I know."
"Wh- What?"
"I knew that the power of song would've done irreparable damage to you all and the world at large."
"If you knew then why didn't you do anything?"
"Because I didn't want to kill all of you! Maybe that would've been the right thing to do, but honestly... I ...I couldn't bring myself to do it. I guess that means I'm no better than the rest of you."
"One..."
"You were right about one thing, Two. I've been so distracted that I haven't been much of an older sister lately. Look at you, I can't believe how much you've grown up right before my eyes...I'm so proud of the young woman my little sister's become." One usually kept her emotions under lock and key, but in that moment, she couldn't stop herself from smiling at Two.
After grappling with the guilt and nightmares that constantly whittled away at what little sanity she had left, Two didn't know how much her heart yearned to hear those words and see that smile on her face. Before she knew it, tears were rolling down her face. "I'm sorry...I shouldn't..." She kept on rubbing her eyes, but they wouldn't stop.
One came up to Two and wiped her tears away. "You've gone through more than enough and I should've been there for you during those times. I'm still hesitant about trusting Riku, I don't know if he wants to bring peace to this world or destroy it, but I am willing to listen to find out. I can do that much for you... and I mean it this time."
"Thank you, One."
"In any case, once you're ready, we'll find Riku and Zero first instead of waiting around in Cathedral City since it's not safe here."
With the stage set, the three of them prepared to leave Cathedral City behind. Meanwhile, Riku, Zero and the others were only an hour or so off from reaching the city themselves.
"Hopefully Lady Two and Cent have already talked down Lady One by now," Decadus said.
"Doubt it," Zero said.
"She's not the type to listen to reason?" Riku asked.
"She's the type who always has to be right about everything even when she's completely wrong."
"Oh, so like you?"
"Shut the hell up. My point is that it doesn't matter what Two said to her, she'll probably make up some bullshit to try and kill us anyways."
"We did put a lot of faith into One, but it's not like we have any other options."
"Who knows, maybe if you butter her up and tell her she's pretty enough that might change her mind."
"Lady One won't be so easily swayed by words alone, now if we start offering services to her, ho ho ho, that'll be a whole different story," Octa said.
"Yeah, I'm sure she'll drop everything so you can hit it from the back."
"I meeeean, I've never seen her with a disciple or anything before so she might be desperate enough to take it from Octa," Dito said.
"Hmph, I'm growing quite tired of being everyone's punching bag when I'm the great and not to mention handsome O...Oh! What on Earth is that?!"
They were swallowed whole by the shadow of a dragon flying above them, the second Zero realized who it was, she reached for her sword. "Here she comes."
But once Gabriel landed down before them, One showed her lack of hostility by holding her hands out. "...I have a proposition I'd like to make."
"And why should we trust you?!" Zero yelled.
"I know you have your reservations and so do I, but I can admit that I've been wrong about a few things. I've been kept in the dark for far too long so I want to fully understand what's going on in this world right now so that I can save it."
"What's your proposition?" Riku asked.
"I've been made aware that Three plans to kill me and rule over Midgard with her heartless army, but apparently the 'Demon Slayer' is supposed to be our last best hope." Her crimson red eyes gazed up on Riku. "My sister claims you're a good man, but all I see is a power hungry fool. If you don't believe that, then I welcome you to prove me wrong."
"What'll that take?"
"Help me save someone important from my cathedral. I'll judge your character for myself and determine whether or not you're good enough to save this world. Should I deem you worthy, I'll assist in this fight against Three in any way I can, but if not, I'll kill you on the spot. Those are my conditions."
"I'll do it."
"You're just gonna go along with that?!" Zero argued.
"This is our best option right now. Besides, I'm always up for a challenge."
"Fine, then I'm coming too. Knowing her, this is all just a trap anyways."
"It seems we've reached a stalemate then. Neither of us trust each other..." One weighed out the options, visualizing every possible outcome in her head. "Zero, I was told that you no longer want to kill the Intoners, so let's put that to the test, shall we? We'll both throw ourselves into each other's lion's den, you and I."
"Heh, you'd like that wouldn't you? Guess we're playing a game of chicken."
"I suppose so, but I am curious about one thing. Tell me, I really want to know why you decided to trust Riku and not kill the rest of your sisters."
"...um..."
She eyed her suspiciously. "You don't have a single reason as to why you went against what you so strongly believed in prior?"
"Heh, probably because she wants to suck his di-"
While Zero was wringing Dito's neck, One let out a quiet sigh. 'No, it has to be deeper than that. So much is on the line for this one man.'
"Excuse me Lady One, if I may speak on Riku's behalf," Decadus said.
"Go ahead."
"I've traveled alongside Riku for quite some time now and I've seen all the good he's done. He changed Lady Four's life for the better and if she were here, she would absolutely attest to that!" He thumped his hand on his chest. "Riku is a fine young man indeed!"
"And if I may add, Riku gave me life-changing advice that made want to become a better man both in and out of the bed," Octa said.
"I highly doubt that last assertion," One said.
"But don't you see Lady One? Riku really is a good guy, better than any of us anyways," Cent said.
"You guys..." Riku said.
"I'll see how 'good' he is on my own terms."
Two came up to One as she was heading back to Gabriel. "...I guess we'll have to wait for you guys to come back."
"I'm sorry we have to part ways again so soon, but it'll be far safer here in the desert than in Cathedral City."
"Yeah I know...just be careful out there, okay?"
"Will do, I'll be back soon."
They shared a goodbye hug, then One joined Riku and Zero.
"Who's this important person we're saving anyways?" Zero asked.
"He's my partner, that's all you need to know."
She raised an eyebrow. "Is the dick that good for you to be risking all of our lives for him?"
One pinched the bridge of her nose, already regretting letting Zero tagalong. "Partner as in someone who fights alongside me as a friend. Now, enough prattle, we're losing daylight."
Gabriel lifted up from the ground, then took off to the skies. It was smooth sailing while they were still in the Land of Deserts territory and since they were in a relatively safe position, One decided now was a good time to chat up Riku.
"I have a question for you Riku," One said.
"What's up?"
"Why is it that you can destroy the heartless whereas others can't?"
"It's a long explanation."
"That's not something that deters me."
'I should be careful about how I answer her, she seems like a really perceptive person.' "Basically, I come from a place where we have swords—keyblades—that are specifically made to destroy heartless. So as keyblade wielders, we get rid of the heartless that invade other lands."
"Did these heartless originate from your homeland?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
"So they're an invasive species."
"You catch on quick, unlike some people."
Zero whacked the back of his head. "Asshole."
"Allegedly, you didn't bring the heartless to Midgard yourself, but then why did they appear here all of a sudden?"
"Not sure. Wrong place, wrong time maybe."
"You're not making a great case for yourself."
"I mean it could've been from the Flower, whatever it is, it has a lot of dark energy that attracts the heartless so maybe that's why."
"The Flower's existence predates history itself and you're saying now, of all times, they decide to show up?"
"I know you may not like the answer, but that's how they operate. Midgard's just one of the unlucky places they targeted."
"Then how did you know they were here?"
"I didn't. I came through this place looking for a friend, but when I realized the heartless were here, I stayed."
"So you claim the situation we're in is nothing more than a series of coincidences? I find that very difficult to believe, if you can understand."
"I get what you mean, but they attack me too so that should be proof that I don't control them or benefit from them in anyway. You'll see once we face more challenging ones."
Zero rolled her head back. "Fuck, listening to you two is so boring."
"Need I remind you that you volunteered to come along."
"Yeah and I'm starting to regret it. For once I actually want the heartless to attack."
"Then hopefully you'll be its first victim," She said under her breath.
Once they breached Cathedral City, Zero's wish was granted because now they were under constant attack from heartless, not that it bothered her, she preferred listening to their ghastly screeches than endure another painfully long exposition dump. Although, she wasn't able to bask in the moment for long because the closer they flew to the cathedral, the more vicious the creatures of darkness became. Even with Gabriel and Riku working together, they were getting overwhelmed by the sheer numbers that were thrown at them.
Eventually, One had no choice but to make a rather risky move in order to get them to the cathedral. "Everyone hold on," She said as she clutched onto the reins of Gabriel. "We're going to make it through, no holds barred!"
One drove Gabriel straight through the hordes of heartless and crash landed right into the entrance of the cathedral. After the dust settled, One somehow managed to sustain only a few minor injuries while Riku and Zero weren't so lucky in that regard.
Zero wiped off the blood rolling down her forehead. "Were you trying to kill us?!"
"You're still alive so clearly not."
"Keep that up and you won't be for long!"
"If you think you can take me on then be my guest."
"Hey, there's already enough things here that can kill us, we don't need to be at each other's throat too," Riku said.
"...You're right. We need to make haste, I'm not sure how long he'll be kept safe from the heartless."
Mercifully, inside the cathedral was at least more manageable than the hellscape that was outside, Riku was able to clear path through the hordes of darkness without much of an issue, but One wasn't exactly convinced by this display either.
"They don't seem to pose much of a threat to you at all," One said.
"These guys are nothing."
"So be it. In any case, we only need to pass by this next room, then we'll go down a corridor that'll lead us to where my partner is being kept." With that, she ran ahead of them.
Riku let out a sigh.
"You good?" Zero asked.
"Not really, I feel like when all of this is over, I'm still not going to prove myself to her and so much is riding on this."
"I told you she'd do this. It'll bruise too much of her ego to admit she screwed up this massively."
"Still, it sucks knowing she thinks I'm this terrible person and it's not like me killing a few heartless will drastically change her mind." He slipped his hands into his pockets. "If it were Sora who ended up here, he could've convinced One with just a smile. He has that quality about him. Me, on the other hand? I'm nothing like that."
"Hey, you convinced me to be friends with you and that's worth a medal."
"Then why did you freeze up on me like that when One asked you why you trusted me?"
She shrugged. "Because...maybe it's hard for me to admit stuff like that out loud. One's still breathing right now so that should tell you enough about how I feel."
"You're right, I guess I was worried for nothing."
"Just do some of your typical Riku bullshit and she'll be lining up to get that keyblade of yours. But if that doesn't work, we'll just kill her."
"We're definitely not doing that."
"—Are you two coming or not? We don't have all day."
They caught up with One who was walking into another wing of the cathedral. Unlike the rooms before, the church hall was devoid of the typical heartless fodder, which meant they would be up against a far more dangerous foe.
"Don't lower your guard. There's definitely something here," Riku said.
"If we just walked into the boss room, then where's the fucker at?" Zero asked.
All of a sudden the tapestries along the walls were cut in half.
"That answer your question?"
Being well accustomed to the presence of heartless by now, Zero ducked under an incoming sword slash, the blade barely grazing over her head. She rolled back then clashed swords with her attacker; the Invisible heartless. While their blades were interlocked, Riku came up overhead and drove his keyblade down the midline of its body.
After a strong opening move from Zero and Riku, the Invisible was pushed into using its trump card attack earlier than usual. It stuck its sword into the ground then vanished into thin air.
"Is that it? Are we done here?" One asked, approaching them.
"No, it's still here, this is just one of its attacks," Riku said.
A ring of dark fire circled around One and she let out an annoyed sigh. "What is this?"
"The ring of fire attack." He pointed to the number that was counting down above her head. "When the timer runs out, you have to jump out of it or it'll explode on you."
"That works out perfectly for you, doesn't it?"
"I'm serious, that attack is bad news if you get caught up in it."
Before their argument could progress, they were cut off by an onslaught of dark energy spheres that spiraled towards them. Although they all avoided the attack, they were now faced with another Invisible heartless. It picked up the sword left in the ground and dual wielded both swords.
"Tch, pain in the ass," Zero muttered.
This Invisible was far more aggressive than its counterpart and rushed in on One since she was the one most vulnerable. To make matters worse, several Angel Star heartless surfaced from the darkness, overwhelming them even further.
"You okay back there, One?" Riku yelled.
"I'm fine, I can handle this one myself!" One kept the dual-wielding Invisible preoccupied, standing her ground against its vicious attacks. As a testament to her nerves of steel, she waited until literally the last second to give a signal to Gabriel to finally attack. In the short time frame she allotted herself, she rolled out of the ring of fire just as flames engulfed both of the heartless, taking one of the Invisibles out, but the dual-wielding one managed to evade the fire entirely.
"Great..."
On the other hand, Riku and Zero had just defeated the Angel Stars and was about to regroup with One when a ring of fire suddenly appeared around Riku.
"Crap!"
The ring of fire wasn't the extent of this Invisible's abilities either. Both of its sword levitated from the ground and began flying across the church hall, cutting through the overarching pillars decorating the hall and causing debris to fall around them.
"This shit's getting old." Zero anticipated where one of the swords would fly next and just grabbed the blade like it was nothing then pitched it out of the window. Predictably, the other sword gunned her down so she once again snatched the blade up and discarded it.
In the meantime, successfully dodged rolled out of the ring of fire before it could explode. With the Invisible left defenseless, Riku made quick work of it and freed its captive heart.
Riku brushed the dirt and debris off his clothes, then went over to Zero. "Saw what you did back there. That was actually pretty cool."
"I've picked up a thing or two over the years."
"Impressive. So the heartless do bite the hand that feeds it," One said.
"Is that enough proof for you that they aren't on my side?"
"And how do I know this wasn't all just an act?"
"He's not smart enough to pull off something like that," Zero said.
"Wow, thanks."
"That's not exactly a compelling argument. Let's just continue onwards."
One located a secret passageway at the end of the church hall.
"It's just through here. Stay here Gabriel, we'll be back soon."
They went down a confusing corridor with many winding paths, then up a flight of stairs where they entered a seemingly empty chamber.
"Is this it?" Zero asked.
"No." She went up a specific area then pressed her hand against the wall. An ornate crest, her insignia, etched itself into the stone and brought forth a hidden door. When she opened it, however, that room was empty too.
"What...he should be here?" She scoured the small room as if she would miraculously find him hiding under the bed or behind the bookshelf.
"He's probably long dead by now," Zero said after a while.
By this point, the cracks in One's composure was starting to show. "Shut up! Because if he's dead then it's on YOUR head!"
"So it's our fault you left him here?! What the hell did you expect with all these goddamn heartless around?!"
"It's not like I had a choice! They all came out of nowhere, I didn't have time to..." In that pivotal moment, there was another truth she had to admit to herself, but she refused to face that reality. Her hands grasped at the stack of papers that had scattered all across the floor, remembering what they were and she skimmed through them.
Dear sister…
With you being - I've run out of things to do.
I decided- maybe that would -
One shifted through the papers, trying to find a date that was closest to the current day.
"This one is from yesterday."
Dear sister…
I know this is- but I really want want to -
I made a mistake- I'm going to fix it- sorry
I'm leaving-
They listen- I'll be okay- see you again
Latching onto the journal entries as some sort of concrete evidence of his survival, she stuffed the papers inside her pocket then stood up. "He's not dead, I refuse to believe it. He's in this cathedral somewhere, I- I just have to find him!" She pushed past Zero and Riku, then hurried back down the staircase.
"-One hold on! Don't run off on your own, it's way too dangerous!" Riku tried to chase after One, but she knew the cathedral like the back of her hand and he already lost track of her within the corridor. By the time him and Zero finally navigated their way back to the church hall, One and Gabriel were both long gone.
"I'd say just let her die, but I already know you're gonna go after her anyways," Zero said.
"That's the plan. Come on, they couldn't have gotten too far."
It didn't take long to locate them since all they had to do was follow the panicked screams, but when they finally arrived, they could see why there was such a panic in the first place.
One and Gabriel had the misfortune to come across a Darkside heartless, a massive entity that usually served as a novice keyblade wielder's rite of passage, but to those underprepared, it was a different beast entirely. One's loss of composure proved to be her greatest downfall because instead of making calculated assessments of the enemy before engaging, an enemy she likely could've defeated had she been in the right mindset, she was frantic and desperate. Gabriel had to cover for the mistakes she made and he ended up getting pinned down by the Darkside heartless. Meanwhile, One struggled to defend herself now that she was no longer able to rely on Gabriel's protection and before she knew it, she was swept up by a wave of shadows.
As the eyes of dozens of heartless stared down at her, craving the delicious meal her heart would make, One strangely found peace inside this darkness. She was alone with her thoughts and that gave her time to reflect.
'I suppose this was inevitable, I went against my better judgement and now I'm suffering the consequences. Yet...I don't feel like a victim of circumstance at all. I've made so many choices that cost so many lives, all to keep my own integrity. Now I see all of their eyes staring back at me, wondering if I made the right choice. If I'd done something different, maybe it wouldn't have ended this way.'
'After all, I was the one who forced my soldiers to fight against the heartless day and night while I holed myself up in that library, trying to search for answers I knew didn't exist. I was slow to evacuate my people, had I done so sooner, many of them wouldn't of lost their lives when my own soldiers turned against me. I stayed in this cathedral knowing the heartless would knock down my doors and I put Gabriel and my own brother in so much danger because of it. Why? Did I think I would miraculously come up with a solution? How foolish of me.'
'...So is this it? Is this how I should accept defeat? Die full of regrets and leave what little family I have left behind? No, of course I can't. There's still so much I need to do and a reason why I need to keep going.'
Out of sheer will power, One tried to crawl out of the darkness, but the heartless wouldn't let her go so easily. They clawed at her body, attempting to drag her back down into the abyss, fortunately she wasn't alone in this fight. A hand reached out amidst the shadows and pulled her into the light.
"I got your back," Riku said, his keyblade formed in his hand. "Now leave the rest to me." Wanting this fight to be a quick one, Riku went into Intoner mode, the hundreds of heartless he slayed along the way being more than enough to fuel his power.
Verse II
I look through a rose-tinted window with longing
Wondering if life will ever be the same again
Aided by the power of song, Riku's strength increased tenfold and he effortlessly sliced off the Darkside's arm that was holding Gabriel captive. He immediately followed up with zantetsuken, chopping off both its legs in one clean slash, then completely butchered its body once it toppled over on the ground. After that impressive display, he took care of the shadows that were still scurrying around with a mere thunder spell.
One was convinced she already knew the type of person Riku was, but after she watched him fight against the Darkside, something clicked inside her mind. What she was so blinded to before about Riku was now obvious because she finally saw in him what the others did. She decided right then that she would stop running away from the truth and the first step was for her to swallow her pride.
It embarrassed her at first, to walk up to Riku after she'd been so antagonistic towards him, but she knew it had to be done. "...Thank you," She said with sincerity.
"No problem. We should keep looking for your friend."
"That won't be necessary. It would be selfish of me to put any of you in danger for someone who I'm sure is already dead. Let's just return to the Land of Sands, you've more than proven yourself to me, Riku."
"Thank god we're done here," Zero said.
"Hold on...I don't think your friend's dead. Ever since we entered this cathedral, I've felt a strong presence of darkness. At first, I didn't know what it was exactly, but after I defeated that Darkside, I'm sure of it now. It has to be him."
Her eyes lit up. "That's...good to hear, thank you. Of course you're more than free to leave now if you want, I won't force you to accompany me."
Riku put his hand on One's shoulder. "No way, we're all gonna make it back to the Land of Sands together."
"...I truly was wrong about you Riku. You're a kind man, that's rare in a world like this."
He turned to Zero who looked disappointed, but not surprised. "Sorry to drag you into this."
She put her arm around him in a threatening manner. "Don't worry. You're gonna owe me big time for this~"
"I don't like where this is headed..."
One led them down to the place where she was originally trying to go before the Darkside showed up, confident that's where her brother would've went if he was searching for her. With bated breath, she opened the heavy wooden doors to the library and sure enough, there he was, surrounded by a pile of books.
When her brother saw her, he dropped the book he was reading on the floor. "...Sister?"
They say Pride is the root of all sin,
And none was more prideful than the first Intoner.
Pride is ultimately what blinds us to the reality of the world,
And leads us down a path of destruction.
Flowers for the Dead
A/N: Well it's been over a year since I released this story, thank you all for reading and supporting me throughout. Ik my update schedule is terrible, I'll try to get better on that. Anywho, artwork of Riku's new outfit is up on my ao3 plus memes.
