Before Decadus could discuss what he had told them any further, he had everyone relocate back to the cabin room first.

"Well? Spill it already," Zero said as she closed the door behind them.

He spoke in a hushed voice. "...I don't think Lady One's been acting like herself lately. There seems to be something off with her...and, I dare say she may even come across as a bit suspicious."

"Thanks for stating the obvious. Anything else?"

"N...No."

Cent pat Decadus on the back. "Don't worry, I have no idea what we're talking about."

Zero put her face into her palm. "We're talking about One and how weird she's been acting lately."

"What is she acting weird about?"

"Everyone who's been fucking dying. Didn't you notice anything different about her?"

"Nope, nothing comes to mind in that regard, but fun fact about this whole situation we're in. Did you know that beast we were fighting earlier is called a 'horse'?"

"No, it was a deer."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Lady Zero."

"It had antlers on its head, idiot. What horses have you seen with antlers?"

"The ones you see in the forest, you know the skinny ones you're supposed to hunt down?" He waved it off. "Ah, you really do need to get out more."

"...Wow, greatest mind of our generation."

"-Ahem! If I may add my two cents, I'm glad you brought this matter to everyone's attention because I too sensed something not quite right with our fair Lady One, if I should even call her that," Octa said, twirling his mustache. "You see, after close observation, I've come to the realization that Lady One's chest is flat as the wall, and if you look at the right angle, she even has a slight bul-"

Zero cut him off before he could go any further. "Anyone else who doesn't have rocks in their brain want to share their terrible fucking ideas with the class? Riku, you haven't bitched enough yet, what should we do about One?"

"I want to say One's just acting weird because she's coping with the loss of her family but I've learned that it's usually the worst possible thing imaginable that ends up being the case with you guys."

"Glad you actually learned something, but for once, I don't think we can solve this by just killing her."

"Glad you learned something too."

"I'm only saying this because we still need her army to fight against Three. I don't even think you can perform that exorcism on her because her soldiers won't be under her song anymore."

"So we're stuck in a bad situation, like always. It does seem like she wants to stop Three and Mikhail so I say we just play along for now until the end of the battle."

"Pretty much all we can do. We'll just deal with One tomorrow after we kick Three's ass."

"And what will our plan be for tonight, Lady Zero?" Octa winked in her direction but she completely dismissed it so he tried again. "I believe we're long overdue for some rigorous-"

"Not now. You guys can all leave, I'll come by later."

Riku was about to leave along with the disciples, but Zero stopped him.

"Not you Riku...I need to talk to you about something."

"Aw, you're finally gonna confess your feelings to him? Don't blow it, Z," Dito mocked.

Decadus stroked his stubble in shock. "Wow... I had no idea you felt this way, Lady Zero! Well if he rejects you then you can always use me as a-"

"-Booty call?" Octa jumped in.

"No, absolutely not! I was about to say a punching bag."

"This isn't about that! Get the fuck out of here like I said!" Zero kicked them all out then slammed the door. She sharply turned back to Riku. "Don't get any ideas. I just wanted to ask you if you think Mikhail's okay."

"Yeah, I'm not worried about him at all. I know we'll save him tomorrow."

"You sound sure of yourself."

"That's because I feel like I can do anything now with this new dragon keyblade... and I have you to thank for it."

She rubbed the back of her head. "You shouldn't be thanking me. I'm the reason why you're in this mess in the first place."

"Eh, I don't really mind. As long as I get to help people that's all that matters to me and right now, Mikhail needs our help the most."

.

.

.

Deep within the heart of the Land of Forests, Mikhail lied cooped up in Three's shrine, waiting for when he would be called by the third Intoner. Unlike before, Three no longer held him under chains because the darkness did the work for her. All he did for days and nights on end was replay the events that happened during his last encounter with Zero and Riku over and over and over and over and over again in his head.

Zero...Riku...Michael...Mikhail...blood...blood...so much...blood...everywhere...and darkness...and pain...Three...and Two...then...I ate Riku...I ate his legs...so much blood...

"Mikhail."

Blood...everywhere...I hurt them...but...I don't feel bad...I just feel angry...all the time…

"Mikhail."

When Three said his name again, he snapped out of it. "Three? ...What do you want?"

She dropped a generous pile of meat in front of him. "Eat up, dragon. Preparations are almost complete and I can't allow any weakness from the vanguard of my army."

"I know. I won't fail you."

But as soon as Three left, those thoughts came back to haunt him.

Pain...and death... and violence...I just want this to end...

HOURS UNTIL OPERATION BEGINS: 12


Raximus: Your comment implies Santa does exist lol, Ig technically he does in kh world. Wasn't Uzaki-chan that anime with that weird-looking girl? Never seen it before.

Keybladelight: Ummmm idk, Riku's a nice guy but I doubt he'd abuse the power of waking to save the Intoners and lose his ife in the process, more of a Sora thing I think. The best way to save the Intoners is just to prevent them from losing their hearts to the darkness in the first place. I have no more ideas left after FFTD, this is taking all of my creative capacity XP

HelelBenShahar: How about 3? ;)

Anon: Two really is too good for the world :( Tbh I think Santa would just skip Midgard on his route for his own safety. Honestly, Cent's just incredibly dense, at least when he wants to be. Decadus does start to value his life just a bit more after Four dies. Lmao idk why but I keep cutting arms off in this story, think I'll just start cutting off heads next instead XD Riku and Zero's relationship is definitely a highlight for me to write, it's difficult at times but it's worth it. Two, of all people, knows her sisters the best. Last chapter was intense, but I'd describe it as the calm before the storm in comparison to the finale chapters.


"Cantata dal Silenzio No. 1"

DAY OF THE INVASION

It was so early in the morning that the sky was still scarlet, but One wanted them to be ready for anything as they were mere hours away from breaching enemy territory. She gathered everyone near the ship's helm and announced her plan of action. "Today is the day that Three's reign over the world of Midgard ends for good. Taking into account the damage this ship has endured, I've worked with each of my generals and the plan we laid out will ensure our victory."

One had Barret hold out a detailed map of the Land of Forests. "When we reach the Land of Forests, General Barret's ship will advance forward and act as bait to draw Mikhail out. I'm sure there will be a lot of heartless in the way so that will be the ship that Riku's on. The rest of you will remain on my ship."

She pointed to a location that was circled on the map. "After Mikhail is drawn out, your job is to get him as close to the ground as possible. When that happens, the remaining two ships will position themselves on the opposite sides of him and release harpoon cannons to shoot his wings which will detain him. I know that's easier said than done and the odds are stacked against us, but this is our best shot of making sure he remains out of our way without killing him."

"What about Three?" Riku asked.

"Assuming she'll be riding Mikhail into battle, once he's detained then the next phase of the fight will obviously be to defeat her. This will be a difficult fight and there will be casualties, but I believe in each and every one of you."

"Friends, if I'm among the c- casualties then I apologize in advance for not being useful enough...unghhh," Decadus said.

"You probably will be. Nice knowing you," Zero said.

"Don't worry Decadus, I'll protect all of you guys," Riku put his hand on Dito's shoulder. "You should watch your back though."

"Wait what?

The three airships converged with each other so that the soldiers could transfer to different ships and position themselves at their stations, which meant that it was Riku's time to leave. He gave Zero and the disciples a short wave, stood on the ship's rail, then airstepped to Barret's ship.

HOURS UNTIL OPERATION BEGINS: 0

"ATTENNNN-TION SOLDIERS! ALL HANDS ON DECK! The operation to invade the Land of Forests begins now! Get into your positions and fire when ready!"

When they returned to the Land of Forests, the darkness ate away at every bit of lush greenery the land was once known for and reduced it down to a wasteland where heartless roamed free. While they were able to clear out most of the heartless simply relying on the airship's cannon fire and other artillery support, they soon hit a blockade when they reached the shrine. Two giant Darkside heartless were guarding the base of the tree and the basic cannonballs weren't going to cut it anymore.

"Man these guys are annoying," Riku wound his arm around. "Get me as close as you can and I'll handle 'em."

"No need, this ship is equipped with hyper cannons. My men are already getting them ready as we speak, just hold on tight and save your energy for the real enemies," General Barret said.

"Got it."

With the constant bombardment of cannon fire destroying the base of Three's shrine, it wasn't long before they heard Mikhail's thunderous roar split the skies open and they saw his large, monstrous figure cast a great shadow over the land.

Barret let out a deep breath then held his sword to Mikhail. "Men, this is our final moment of glory! Our battle today will be told throughout history for generations to come! Now stand proud as we lay down our lives for our Intoner, Lady One! Ready the cannons and charge!" The airship fired on all cylinders and charged full steam at Mikhail.

However, amidst all the bravado and cannon fire, Riku couldn't shake off the feeling that something was deeply wrong. "Barret, what exactly is your plan to get Mikhail closer to the ground? At this rate, it looks like you're just gonna crash into him."

"Ha ha, that IS the plan, my boy!"

"What?! That's crazy, that'll just get everyone killed!"

"Yes, that's what Lady One instructed all of us soldiers to do. What she told you all earlier was...an abridged version of her actual war strategy."

"Wait- so she lied?!"

"No, she simply withheld parts of the truth. Ah, but don't be alarmed by this news, to die for our Intoner and to know that our sacrifice will save-"

"General, he already left."

Barret ran to the edge of the ship where he could see Riku falling back towards the ground. "What a foolish boy, he's going to compromise the entire mission!"

While Riku was falling mid-air he airstepped to the nearest tree and scaled all the way to the top where he could get a clear view of Mikhail. 'One really is insane if she thinks I'd ever go along with that. If I can take out Three now then the rest should be easy.'

He waved his arms around, trying to get Mikhail's attention since he was too far away to airstep to. "Hey! Mikhail! How about you come down here so I can fight you myself?! I've been waiting for a rematch against you!" That managed to be enough to get Mikhail to swoop down to him and shoot a slew of fireballs in his direction. Using Protega to shield himself, Riku airstepped to the dragon's head where he shockingly didn't find anyone riding his back. "Three's not on Mikhail? Then she has to still be in her shrine."

Before Riku could think of what to do next, Mikhail violently thrashed around until he threw him off his back, then continued on his rampage. Luckily, Barret's ship was still close by so he managed to land on the deck. Although he wasn't out of the woods yet, as soon as he got up, Barret marched right up to him and got in his face. "What the hell's wrong with you?! Your skinny ass nearly put the entire mission in jeopardy!"

"I'm not going along with some suicide mission! Besides, Three's still in her shrine, she's our main target and our biggest threat. If we want any chance of defeating the darkness then we need to find her first!"

"You may be the Demon Slayer, but I'm the general of this ship and what Lady One says goes! Most of the heavy artillery and weapons were loaded onto my ship so we could attack Mikhail with all of the firepower we could possibly have. The other two ships only have the harpoon cannons and a few regular cannons, they aren't equipped for long durations of attack. We have to get Mikhail into position now before the other two ships get here."

When he heard the full plan laid out, everything started to click and he squeezed his fists in frustration, disappointed in himself that he didn't catch on sooner. "...I get it. This plan was meant to result in as many deaths as possible, it was doomed from the start. I... I just have to think of something, there has to be a way out of this."

"There's no time for that! You must discard whatever ill thoughts you have of Lady One if you want to succeed. During the time I've known her, she's always had our best interest in mind. Our absolute faith in her has led us to countless victories and right now you must have absolute faith in her!"

The situation seemed hopeless, One had perfectly constructed a plan to kill all of them and there appeared to be no way out of it. One took everything into account, well, almost everything, there was one thing she forgot and that was her own self coming back. Just when everything was going to shit in the typical Drakengard-manner, Gabriel descended onto the Land of Forests and the real One, who was standing on top of her dragon's head, announced; "WHERE THE HELL IS MY BROTHER?!"

Mikhail reacted to the threat of Gabriel immediately and the two of them locked into combat with each other. Even though both of them had undergone drastic changes and were former shells of the proud dragons they once were, their old rivalry burned as strong as ever before. Usually, Gabriel would've easily overpowered Mikhail, but he'd become just as powerful due to the darkness unleashing the demon within him.

"Three's done quite the number on you Mikhail, you've become no different than Gabriel. I have to find a way to end this." One looked around, soon spotting an airship flying close by. "That should do it." Jumping off Gabriel, she landed harshly on Barret's airship.

Barret gasped. "L- Lady One?! What're you doing here, shouldn't you be on the other airship?!"

"The other airship? So that's where my brother is."

"Hey, turn around!" Riku yelled.

When she did, she was met with a keyblade shoved in her face.

"Just who the hell are you?!"

"Riku, I'm glad you're alive. I take it the others are too?"

"Answer the question!"

"It's me. I'm the real One." She smirked at him. "Didn't I tell you before that I wasn't going to die? I'm an Intoner for God's sake." It was her, undoubtedly, although her appearance from before was drastically different. Not only was she down an arm, but there was an eyepatch covering her right eye. Regardless, there was a way One carried herself that even her own brother couldn't perfectly imitate.

"Wh- What happened to you?!"

"It's a long story, I'll tell you all the finer details later when we're not in mortal danger."

He lowered his keyblade. "...Fine. So any good ideas on how we can win this?"

"Between Mikhail, Three and my brother, it looks like I'll have my work cut out for me, but I will ensure our victory. Right now we need to help Gabriel out." She turned back to her soldiers. "Listen up, forget whatever I previously told you, you all have new orders now. Keep this ship in as safe of a position as possible and shoot at Mikhail's head with your cannons. That's an order!"

The soldiers saluted her. "Yes ma'am!"

"I didn't see Three anywhere so I assume she must still be in her shrine."

"That's what I'm thinking," Riku said.

"It's just like her to be too lazy to show up to her own fight, but this'll give her a reason to come out."

Now that Gabriel was aided by the barrage of cannon fire from Barret's ship, it gave him the edge he needed over Mikhail. He sunk his jaws into Mikhail's neck then drove him straight into Three's shrine. The impact of two massive dragons crashing into the base of the tree caused a huge chunk of the shrine to collapse and if that wouldn't force Three out of hiding then nothing would.

"Gotta say, it feels nice to have someone who knows what they're doing on our side," Riku said.

"It's nice to be back and I believe I owe you an explanation for my disappearance as well."

"Yeah, what happened to you?"

"Back at the Cathedral, I gravely underestimated my brother's powers. He nearly ended up killing me but fortunately, I was saved by Gabriel and he flew me away into hiding. As soon as I could move my body, I immediately returned to the cathedral only to find that everyone was gone already."

She continued. "I wasn't sure whether all of you were alive or not, but I knew the next logical place either you guys or my brother would go would be the Land of Forests. I'm not sure what my brother is up to exactly, but he's working under someone."

"What do you mean?"

"While I was still at the cathedral I thought it would behoove me to read a few of his journal entries to figure out what happened to him." She took out a few pieces of paper from her person then handed them to Riku. "You may know more about this person he's referring to than I."

Dear sister…

I met this strange woman a few days ago,

She calls herself a fairy but she's not mean at all like the ones from the Land of Forests.

I wanted to tell her about you, but she said if I ever did she would disappear forever... and then I would be all alone again.

I'm sorry for lying to you so often, I'll introduce you to her one day, I think you two would get along.

"...There was someone I knew back in my past that manipulated me into accepting the darkness, but if she's here, that's a way bigger problem than what we're dealing with now," Riku said.

"I understand, we'll focus on one thing at a time I suppose. Oh, by the way, since it seems that you're okay then Two must be as well, I'll admit that I was terribly worried about her. I assume she's with Zero and her disciples, right?"

Even though One went through hell and back already, the last thing Riku wanted to do was keep the truth from her when she'd eventually find out anyway so he decided not to spare her feelings. "Two is dead."

"...What?"

"Two ended up turning into a heartless, and I'm almost certain...no, I know it was your brother's fault."

"I see." At the spur of the moment, One snatched up Riku's jacket collar in her fists and cried out,"You incompetent son of a bitch! She trusted you to protect her and you failed her! What do you have to say for yourself?!" Her hold on his jacket tightened. "Answer me! I let her ...I mean you, you let her down when she needed you the most, you don't deserve to be called anyone's savior!"

Riku removed her hands. "No, you're not gonna blame me for everything that goes wrong in this messed up world...and you're not gonna blame yourself either! We can always do more for the people we care about but ultimately it was your brother's choice to kill Two and that's no one's fault but his own. All we can do now is make sure he doesn't kill anyone else!"

"...You're right." She turned away from him. "Now all I have left is Three. I won't lose her too."

Meanwhile, the other two airships were just now reaching Three's shrine, but by then everyone had already seen the fight between Gabriel and Mikhail so there was no doubt on who the real One was. Zero and the others tore up the entire airship looking for him but Brother One had long since fleed and left no traces behind.

Eventually, Zero had no choice but to stomp back up to the upper deck. "Fuck! And the worst part is that Octa was actually right for once!" She let out a long sigh. "...What the hell are we gonna do now?"

Zero didn't have much time to decide as they were suddenly under attack by a swarm of mutated heartless, which could only mean that Three had finally arrived onto the battlefront. Despite being incredibly late, Three made up for lost time by raising her hybrid soldiers from their resting place and wrangling whatever stray heartless she could from the darkness.

Back on Barret's airship, One studied Three and her steadily increasing army closely, the amount of odds that were stacked against would've overwhelmed even the best military strategist, but she was confident they would win this, mostly because she was on the verge of insanity so all bets were off.

After analyzing all possibilities, One faced Riku and her soldiers. "Here's what we'll do next, Riku, you and I are going to face Three on the ground while the rest of my soldiers are going to support us in the air with the artillery we have left. It looks like Zero and the others have enough on their plate so it'll likely just be the two of us against her. You can handle that, can't you?"

Fallen Rose formed in Riku's hand. "Of course I can. I'd be more worried about yourself than me."

One took out her chakram. "...Let's just hope for the best."

The two of them dove off the airship and fell right into the belly of the beast. One was so used to the heartless that she wasn't phased by their presence, even as they crawled past her body she just pushed her way through and trusted that Riku would protect her from the darkness.

While that was certainly a tall order with the endless amount of heartless, Riku wasn't made a keyblade master just to fail a simple escort mission. With help from Barret's soldiers, not only was he able to protect One against every last heartless enemy type Three could throw at them, but he made it out all limbs intact as well. Once they reached the center of the darkness where Three stood, they were more than ready to take her down once and for all.

"Sister...it's been oh so such a long time. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Three asked.

"So this is what you've become. Two was right, you've completely lost your mind."

"Is that so? I say let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

"I admit that I may not have been the best older sister to all of you, but this has gone too far. Two is dead and I don't want to lose you too, you're all that I have left! So please, end this already and come back to me!"

She let out a dismissive yawn. "...Are you done? I believe we're already past the 'talking things out' part so save it and let me put both of you into a deep sleep." Her scissors made a sharp rattling noise as she snapped the jagged blades together.

"If that's how you feel then ...I guess this is goodbye."

"No, we're gonna save her. I'll get rid of the darkness in your heart whether you like it or not," Riku said.

Three burst out into cackling laughter. "Heh heh heh HA HA HA! GO AHEAD AND TRY!" She lunged at One with her scissors, which One not only blocked but she used the slot of her chakram as a hook to knock her scissors right out of her hand. After that rude awakening, Three quickly remembered who she was dealing with and re-adjusted her fighting style, immediately going into Intoner mode.

Verse 4-3

Suffer. I shall give thee thy punishment.

Suffer. There shall be no forgiveness.

Suffer. I shall give thee thy punishment.

The sweet scent of death is near.

"I'm glad you're taking this seriously now." One also went into Intoner mode as well so that the real fight could begin.

Verse 1-1

Once the sadness sweeps me away,

Time will mean nothing to me.

Now that both One and Three were powered up with their respective songs, it was solely a battle between the two of them, although 'battle' was a bit of a stretch. Despite the perceived weakness of One's disabilities, Three could barely keep up with her as they traded blows with each other. She was forced to use the darkness as a clutch rather than a tool to give her the edge and One was fully aware of how much her younger sister was struggling.

"Your skills have dulled Three! I suppose that's to be expected, all you've done is play around in the darkness while I've had to constantly fight my way out of it!"

During a time like this, Three would've simply called upon her heartless to do the fighting for her, but Riku slayed them before they could ever come to her aid. With her back against the proverbial wall, Three could only think of one thing she could do to try and best One.

"One...aren't you curious...about where our sisters are?" Three said as their blades were interlocked.

"What're you talking about?! They're long dead!"

"I thought so too, but I've been let in on a secret."

One pushed back on Three. "What do you mean? Who told you this secret."

"Heh heh heh, a little bird told me. So...what do you say One? Join me and I can tell you how to bring back our sisters. Don't you see you're helping out a traitor and a man who isn't of this world, don't you care about your real family?"

"Of course I do! That's why I'm doing this for you now!" In one finishing blow, One lodged her chakram deep into Three's chest. "Three's in position! Do whatever you need to do now, Riku!"

"Got it!" He pointed Fallen Rose at Three and used the Power of Waking on her.

.

.

.

When Riku dove into Three's heart, he expected to land on a stained glass pillar that represented her heart, but when his feet touched the ground, all he could see was bottomless darkness. 'I need to find Three's heart before it's too late.'

Using the light within his keyblade to guide him, he ventured into the abyss. However, after a while of running, it didn't seem like he was any closer to Three's Dive to the Heart than when he first arrived. "...That's weird. I'm pretty sure I did the Power of Waking correctly, so shouldn't it be here?"

He felt a tug at his shirt, when he looked down, he saw a younger Three standing beside him.

"Who are you?" She asked.

He bent down to her level. "I'm... someone who's trying to help you, but right now you need to help me out. I'm looking for a giant glass pillar with a bunch of pictures on it, have you seen it anywhere around here?"

"Uh-huh."

"Where is it?"

"Not telling."

"Why not?"

"'Cause you have to play a game with me first."

"I don't have time for that, just tell me where it is."

"...I don't get it...no one ever wants to play with me." She started to sniffle. "It's prolly 'cause everyone thinks I'm weird...not even my sisters wanna play with me."

"Hey, hey, don't cry. Uhh, I guess we can play a quick game, but after that you need to tell me where that pillar is."

"Okay! Then let's play with my dolls!" Two dolls manifested in her hands, then she gave one to Riku. "I'll be Three and you can be...my oldest sister Zero!" Amusingly, the dolls took the appearance of its respective Intoner.

"Great. I really have to be her?"

"Yes, you have to so we can play good guys versus bad guys silly! Three is the super smart Intoner who's trying to save the day and Zero is the evil witch who's trying to kill everyone, got it?"

"I think I can handle that."

Three moved her doll closer to Riku's. "Guess what Zero? The days of you trying to kill me and my sisters are over, wanna know why?"

"Why?"

"'Cause I got some new friends on my side!" She summoned a small heartless doll from the darkness. "There's no way you can defeat these monsters!"

"Oh no, what will I do?"

"Lame, you're not even trying to sound like Zero!"

"Fine-" He spoke in a high-pitched voice and did his best Zero impression. "HA! Those stupid heartless don't scare me-" He used the Zero doll to hit the heartless. "Dieidiediediedieidie!"

"Whoa that was pretty good- I mean, you wish you could kill them, but these monsters are basically immortal! There's no way you can defeat them so I win!" Three used the heartless doll to stomp on the Zero doll repeatedly.

"Ahhh no should've listened to Riku or I wouldn't have died like this! Ahhhh!"

"Aaand now that Zero's dead, me and my sisters can be happy forever and ever and ever and they'll wanna play with me every day!"

"Cool, so are we done here?"

"Yeah, I guess, you did play with me so the least I can do is help you. That pillar thing you keep talking about is what we're sitting on right now, see," She snapped her fingers together and the darkness beneath them erupted into a flock of ravens that revealed Three's Dive to the Heart.

Riku stood up. "Thanks. Now it's time to find that Flower."

"Already found me!" The younger Three waved at Riku.

"W- Wait, you're the Flower?! Why do you look like that?"

"So I could hide from-" Before she or rather it could finish, its head was impaled by the blades of scissors.

"...Found you." Three's shadow pulled the scissors out, then snapped the blades together.

Now that the Flower was destroyed by the darkness within Three's heart, there was nothing left to tether her to the world and her Dive to the Heart was shattered into pieces, Riku had no choice but to escape at that point.

.

.

.

Once Riku was back, he could see the heartless feasting on Three's body.

"Riku, what the hell is happening?!" One yelled.

"I don't know...I think I was too late. She lost her heart to the darkness before I could save it."

THREE'S HEARTLESS: 𝓔𝓤𝓡𝓨𝓐𝓛𝓔

Euryale was a heartless that took the appearance of a gorgon. Its body was that of a serpent and its head was covered by so many snakes that all they could see from its ghoulish face was its yellow eyes. Although Three herself might not have posed much of a threat, the heartless born from her heart was on an entirely different level.

Like a snake, it moved incredibly fast and attacked by using a combination of its venomous fangs and long, needle-like claws. If that wasn't enough, every time it moved, it left behind a trail of black spikes that were deadly to touch. Euryale also had impeccable perception, when One and Riku tried to close in on her, it used its claws to stab them on the spot.

"Okay, long-range attacks it is!" Riku pulled away and blasted Euryale with a series of mid-tier magic spells, testing to see which one would be most effective, but none of the elements he used dealt any significant damage. "Ah, so you're one of those types of heartless, let's try this-" Dodging Euryale as it tried to lunge at him, Riku shot it with Gravira and if nothing else it at least held it in place.

While it was forced on the ground, One launched her chakram at it, slicing off its neck. "Is that it?" She asked.

"Nah, it never usually is," Riku replied. 'I only got enough magic for a spell or two, I better make it count.'

They were able to stack up a huge chunk of damage on Euryale before its head eventually grew back, but when it did, it attacked them with more ferocity than ever before. Between having to dodge spikes constantly popping out of the ground and Euryale's fast-moving strikes, Riku and One were struggling to keep up and there was absolutely no room for error. Riku knew if his body sustained any more damage it would be forced to regenerate, then that would mean game over.

'I need to go for the power of song, it has to be built up by now.'

Verse III

If we part ways, will I still see you the next day?

The future will go on,

And the sun will rise and fall

But without you, it'll never feel the same

Just as Riku was going into Intoner mode, he saw One turn into stone right before his eyes, definitely strange but not outside the realm of possibilities. Moments before her statue could get shattered by Euryale, Riku swooped in and carried her out of harm's way.

"Don't worry One, I'll finish what we started then fix you up afterward." After Riku carefully set her statue down, he had to quickly parry an incoming attack from Euryale. Now that the ball was in his court, he wasted no time driving his keyblade into the gorgon heartless and ripping it to shreds. Intoner mode granted him invulnerability so he could rush in and be as reckless as he liked.

By the time his powers started to wear off, Euryale was already on its last legs and Three's heart was within grasp. 'Just one more hit should finish it off.' Squeezing the handle of his keyblade, he swung the blade back and was about to deliver the finishing blow when Euryale started begging and pleading for its life.

"̴͕̈́̃N̵͋ͅO̶̹̭̎̓.̶̤̝̌̀.̶̣͇̔.̷̜͎͂͝P̶͉̟͝L̵̫̽E̸̖͗ͅȀ̶̧Š̵̬̳E̸̩̮̕!̶̥͉̾ ̶̗̩͊̎Ĩ̸̫̇ ̷̮̾C̷͎̼̔̀A̷̗̺͋̈́Ǹ̷̖͕'̶̠̐Ţ̵̒͝ ̸̳̍L̸̨͈̑̇Ȉ̵̩̕V̸͍͊̓E̷̙̽ ̷̗͖͛W̶̻̍́Ī̷̲̉T̶͚̦͛͝H̶̗̏Ỏ̵͔U̸͑̽͜T̵̘̂͝ ̵̪͝T̵͙̀H̵͚͒͝ͅE̵̡̬͑̍ ̶̹̈̓Ď̷̞͘Ȃ̸͔͐R̸̰̮͛Ǩ̸͍̜̾N̸̘͎͌̃È̶̼̪̑S̷̭̐̓Š̶̝!̴̘̂̎"̶̳͝

"̵̣͝T̴̥͛Ḩ̶̽I̵̬͗S̷̠̓ ̸̻̃I̸̟͘S̶̨͂ ̴̰̀A̷͍̽Ĺ̵͜L̵͛ͅ ̵͇̏I̷̡̓ ̶̣̋H̷̢͠Ȁ̷ͅV̶̘͗Ě̷̥ ̵͇̾L̷͎̈E̵͙͆F̶͓̑T̵̡̈́!̸̝͑ ̵͍͝I̵̟̒ ̷͙̊D̶̢͌O̶͙͘N̶͇͐'̶̢̓T̴̩͘ ̵̼͋Ẃ̸̮A̶̪͑N̷̪͂T̵̥̽ ̵̱͗T̸̙̑O̵̰̎ ̴͑ͅḆ̵̾E̶̘̎ ̵̞̇A̴̮͝L̶̹̆O̸̲̿Ń̶̼E̸̖̓ ̷̠͊A̷͖̕G̵̼̔Ą̴̎I̸̜̽N̴̙̾!̴̘̔"̷͖̆

"̵̪̂N̷̾͜O̶̺̎Ỏ̴͜O̶̤͝O̶͂͜O̶̧̾Ó̷̥O̴̦̚O̴̜͛O̶̜̕O̵̘̔Ö̵̬́O̷͇̍Ȯ̷̩Ơ̸͈O̷͖̐!̷̼̋"̸̘͊

The black snakes from Euryale's hair slithered out of its head and wrapped around Riku's body, restricting his movements. That's when he made the mistake of looking into's gaze, its petrifying gaze, and just like One he was turned to stone, making it easy for Euryale to crush his body into pieces.

Of course, that technically wasn't the end of his life, he was still an Intoner and his powers activated to regenerate his body, but now he was stuck in an endless cycle of life and death like he feared it would be. The moment his body would be pushed out of the Flower, Euryale would kill him and force his body to regenerate all over again. Because he only had a portion of the Flower inside of him, there was no telling when he would eventually just stop regenerating altogether and with One still petrified, it did seem like that would become his reality before long.

Fortunately, as Euryale was about to kill Riku another time, a massive harpoon launched straight into its body and pinned it to the ground. Shortly after, Zero and the other disciples came down to the battlefield and when Zero saw Riku lifelessly lying on the ground, she immediately rushed over to him. "You're so goddamn useless. Now come on, get up and finish that thing off, that's what we came here for!"

She shook him back and forth when he didn't respond. "I told you to get your ass up off the ground! We came this far already and now we're almost done with this shit!"

As she kept yelling at him, the growing fear that Riku was already taken over by the Flower was slowly creeping up to the forefront of her mind until it became a real possibility to her. "Fuck, Riku, this entire time I've known you, you've never given up so don't start now! Don't start now when I wanted to spend more time with you...like you promised me back in the forge!"

"...fine...just stop yelling at me already." With Fallen Rose in his hand, he used it to stand himself up then dragged himself over to Euryale where he struck the gorgon heartless through its chest and forced the darkness out of Three's heart once and for all.

Finally, the darkness plaguing the Land of Forests returned back to the shadows, marking the end of the invasion.

Relieved and grateful to just be alive, Riku went back over to Zero and hugged her. "Thank you Zero...you helped me find my light. Now I just need to help Mikhail find his."

It had been such a long time that anyone had ever held her like that before that she genuinely couldn't even remember the feeling until now. To Riku, it was a simple action, but to Zero, it took her back, all the way back to her childhood when she used to foolishly believe she would find true love, have a family and a mother that actually loved her.

Of course, she'd worked hard to bury those feelings away, for years in fact, and she wasn't going to let him change all of that so she pushed him off and pretended like she wasn't just enjoying it a second ago. "Gross, I don't want your blood all over me!" Then she balled up his clothes and shoved them in his face so he wouldn't see how red she was turning. "And put something on first you goddamn creep!"

He pulled off his pants from his head. "Good idea, sorry."

"So... is Lady One okay?" Decadus asked.

While One was no longer encased in stone, she was collapsed on the ground.

"Yeah, I think she's just unconscious from all the blood loss. She deserves to rest, she's done more than enough to help us out." Not that Riku was in much better shape himself, he almost fell on the ground but Zero caught up and held him up.

"Thanks. Didn't expect that from you," Riku said.

"Shut up. Let's just...go to Mikhail together, he's my dragon."

"Fine."

As they were both walking towards Mikhail, Riku turned to her and asked, "Did you mean what you said back there about wanting to spend time with me?"

She scoffed. "So what if I did?"

"Nothing, just glad you can admit it."

"You're lucky I don't hate you anymore or I would've dropped you by now."

"Yeah, I know."

She started to smile only for her eyes to suddenly grow wide as the tip of a blade poked out of her chest.

Brother One, who had just stepped out of a dark portal from behind them, ripped his sword out of Zero's chest and she fell into Riku's arms. "Sorry, I have a deadline to meet and you guys were taking too long. Now Riku, that should be enough for you to show me the power that resides within you."

"Whatever, like that's gonna kill her." He shook Zero's body, but she didn't move. "Come on Zero, what're you waiting for?! Start regenerating already!"

Blood spilled out of the corners of Zero's mouth. "Fuck...the one time I actually wanted to...Riku... take care of Mikhail for me..."

"Stop messing with me, you can do that yourself! The Flower should be saving you by now!"

"No, it won't. I stabbed her with a sword made of a dragon's bone. She will die shortly and permanently," Brother One said.

"Shut up, y- you're just lying. You're lying! Right Zero?! Get up so we can kick his butt together like we always do!" When Riku felt Zero's body go limp and watched as she no longer breathed, that's when reality set in and tears started pouring down his face. "Zero- no, ZERO! Why- why would you do this?! Why would you kill her?!"

"If you must know, I was sent here to force the Flower out of you. Nothing else seemed to work so I thought killing the one you cared for the most would do the trick."

He could barely get out the words that were stuck in his throat, "Y-You killed...y-you killed her...just to...to get to me?!"

"Yes, that was what my master requested of me. You can either come along willingly or we can do this the hard way. I suggest you don't make it any more difficult on yourself."

After everything, after losing Zero and failing to save a single one of the Intoners like he originally set out to do, Riku finally lost his mind. He let the Flower he once worked so hard to keep at bay control him because he didn't care anymore. He didn't care if he lived or died, he didn't care if anyone lived or died and he especially didn't care whether the world would fall to darkness or not.

The only thing that mattered to him was killing Brother One.

Riku discarded Zero's body on the ground then slowly stood up, keyblade in hand. "I'LL RIP YOUR FUCKING HEART OUT!"

"I guess it'll be the hard way."

Away on a business trip, I'll return next chapter

-Accord

Flowers for the Dead


A/N: I'm so sorry this took like 3 months to get out, I was having severe mental health issues that made me give up for a while, but I'm doing much better now! So thank you all for waiting patiently, the finale of Branch A should come out shortly and then onto Branch B.

As far as how long this story will go on, it'll be around the same length as Nier: Oblivion so it's a little more than halfway done rn. The next half of the story will be pretty fast-paced and condensed, if there's anything you want me to explore more in the future branches then lmk now.

Edit: Artwork of Wednesday is up on Ao3 is Catch358~