Riku carried Zero's limp body in his arms. "Don't worry, I'll get you out of here."
"—Oh you're not going anywhere."
He turned back to see Claudia along with two henchmen. "Claudia? What's going on here?!"
Claudia motioned with her eyes to Nero's bloodied and beaten body. "Well, it looks like an assault's taken place." Then she narrowed her eyes at Riku. "And I'm looking right at the culprit."
"What're you talking about?! Your brother's the one assaulting people! He tried to force himself on Zero!"
"Please, enough with the excuses. That whore was asking for it as far as I'm concerned, she probably would've even enjoyed it too if she let him-"
Riku set Zero down, then snatched Claudia by the collar in a fit of rage. "Shut up! Don't you dare talk about her like that!"
"Heh heh, awww look at how angry you are! What, are you gonna beat me up too like my brother?"
He ultimately let her go and summoned his keyblade to his hand instead. "...No, but you are going to explain to me what you're doing here in the first place!"
"Who, me? For starters, I'd like to take Zero off your hands."
"What for?!"
She winked at him. "That's for me to know and you to find out. As for your own punishment, hmmm, are you a fan of prison uniforms? I'm sure someone like you would have no problem pulling the look off."
"So what, you're gonna throw me into prison now?! But how could you do this?! We helped out you guys- I thought we were allies!"
"Honestly, I don't really care one way or the other how this so-called 'war' turns out. I only want to cause as much chaos and misery as I possibly can~"In a quite disturbing moment, she slipped off her top and started fondling her breasts. "Mmmm, just the thought of bringing this world down to ruin and madness is so...ahh...exhilarating!"
"What the- ?"
"My brother on the other hand, well, he's far more invested in the outcome of this conflict. Solely because of his personal vendetta against Four, all he wants is to tie her up and-"
"Enough! I'm not letting you put your hands on Zero, so either get lost or we can settle this now!"
"He he he~ if you wanna fight so bad, then let's go at it! I'll bring you down to your knees!"
Claudia pointed her finger at Riku and a powerful blast of magic shot from her fingertip, but he was quick to cast Reflect and negate the attack.
"Now it's my turn!" He swung his keyblade at her, when she dodged his attack and went behind him, he pivoted on a dime and slashed her across the chest.
"Not bad, you're fast! But you're gonna need to go a little faster than that to not bore me!" She grabbed the blade in between her hands as it was tearing through her skin to keep it in place, then shot several orbs of magic from her fingertips at Riku, who was now at point-blank range.
The magic orbs exploded on impact, and they were powerful enough to knock Riku down on his back, but just as soon as he was down, he got back up. Dark lightning surged through his keyblade, he then threw it at Claudia, and when she tried to dodge the initial attack, the keyblade followed her and made a deep cut down from her shoulder to her waist.
"Oh, you think you're so clever huh?!" 'Crap, I underestimated his fighting abilities, and it's not like I can go all out here. At any rate, he might actually-'
In a very favorable outcome for Claudia, however, a group of elven soldiers came running from the village and surrounded the two with their weapons drawn out. "—General Claudia, what's going on?! We heard a bunch of commotion all the way from the village and came as soon as we could!"
Claudia pointed at Riku. "This human is a Four sympathizer and planned to infiltrate the resistance to take it down from the inside! Have him thrown into Shaxor's prison at once!"
Riku could feel the front end of a crossbow get shoved into the back of his head. "No sudden movements or we'll be blasting your brains out, traitor!"
"Hey, easy, don't actually kill him. I want him to be my prisoner~"
"Yes ma'am. I take it the Intoner and the dragon were also colluding with him, should we send them in as well?" One of the soldiers asked.
"No, only the human. The Intoner stays with me and you'll have the dragon killed."
"Y-You'll have us kill a dragon, General?!"
"Hmph, you're soldiers, are you not? Besides, I've already neutralized the poor thing with my own blood." She tapped under her chin. "Just stick a few of the Commander's arrows at his weak spot and that should be more than enough to put him out of his misery."
"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Riku cast Aeroga, blasting the elven soldiers into the air, then used zantetsuken to not only close the distance between him and Zero, but knock Claudia and her henchman out in one go. After that, he picked up Zero, then rushed back to the village in search of Mikhail.
'Where is he?! It shouldn't be that hard to find him!' Pushing past the crowds of elves still drinking the night away, Riku was able to track Mikhail by his scent and eventually found him near the entrance of the village where he was tied down by heavy chains.
"Oooow R-Riku, is that you? " Mikhail wailed. "Wh- What happened to Zero...? Is she okay?!"
"Not sure, she's unconscious. What about you? You don't look too good yourself." Riku set Zero down, then got to work cutting off the chains binding Mikhail.
"This mean ol' elf lady stabbed me with something and- and I didn't feel so good after that."
"That must've been that blood she was talking about. Here, I'll try to fix you up the best I can." He cast Esuna on him. "Do you feel any better now?" 'Really hope that did work because I'm almost out of magic.'
"Yeah, kinda. Just a little bit though, I still feel kinda crummy." He stretched his wings and tail out. "But don't worry, I got enough strength to fly us outta here! Just say the word!"
"Nice!"
Just as Riku was about to pick Zero back and board Mikhail, he felt a shooting pain radiate from his back down to his leg and quickly realized he was getting shot at by incoming soldiers.
"—Ready men! Stop the traitors from escaping the village!" One of the soldiers ordered.
"—Watch where you're aiming! Be careful not to shoot the human dead! General's orders!"
"Oh, great." Riku laid Zero down on Mikhail's back, then jumped off, keyblade in hand.
"R- Riku what're you doing?!" Mikhail asked.
"This isn't gonna end until we get them off our backs, so I'm putting a stop to this now! But you need to get out of here!"
"But- But-"
"No but's, Mikhail, listen to me! I want you to fly back to that forest clearing and wait for me there! I'll meet you in 20 minutes, okay?"
"No! I'm not leaving without you Riku! So stop being a dummy and just get on my back already! I can fly away really fast! I can!"
A slew of arrows came spiraling at Mikhail's head that Riku stopped mid-air with a blizzard spell. "You're just not strong enough to protect all of us right now, so don't burden yourself with me and just get out of here! NOW!"
In the middle of their argument, a group of soldiers from around the perimeter surrounded Riku with their swords and crossbows drawn out.
"MIKHAIL!"
"O-Okay f-fine! Just promise me you'll be back in 20 minutes or you'll- you'll be a rotten egg!" With a giant flap of his wings, he lifted himself into the air.
"—Kill the dragon at all costs before it escapes! Prepare the cannons for a coordinated attack at once! Now! MOVE!"
Before Riku could even formulate a plan of attack, he received a heavy blow to the back of his head that hit so hard, it felt like his brain got rattled around in his skull. As he was trying to stabilize himself, he got tackled to the ground and pinned under the weight of a large soldier.
"Now sit tight, will you? You've been such a pain in the arse."
"Wahhh! Riku!" Mikhail cried out.
"—Alright men this is our opportunity to slay this dragon! All together now, take aim at the dragon's chin!"
Mikhail knew he should've been long gone by now, but whether it was from the poison still lingering in his system, the numerous cannons taking aim at him, watching Riku slowly get crushed, or all of the above, he became deeply afraid and paralyzed by his own fear. Just because he froze up, however, didn't mean the world around him wasn't still burning. The elven soldiers quickly locked in on their now immobile target and were already beginning the countdown.
"—Stand by to fire! Now on my count! FIVE..."
At the same moment, Riku could feel himself suffocating under the immense pressure of the soldier as he struggled to push him off.
"FOUR..."
Then his breathing got shorter.
"THREE..."
And the world slowly faded black as the fumes from the gunpowder burned his eyes and throat.
"TWO..."
'No. I'm not going to lose.'
'Not anymore.'
With as much strength as he could muster, Riku pulled his arm out from underneath his body, then positioned it at an angle.
"ONE!"
When Riku summoned Braveheart, it lodged itself inside the soldier lengthwise, tearing straight through the side of his body and shattering his spinal cord. As brutal of an attack as it was, it allowed Riku to finally push the soldier off of him. Then he rolled over onto his back and used the last of his magic to cast Waterga, dousing out the fuses of the cannons with a blast of water before they could fire.
This snapped Mikhail out of his daze and he at last escaped Elfheim without any further hesitation.
At least knowing that those two would be safe was enough for Riku, even if the same could not be said for him. "I'm sorry...Mikhail...looks like I won't be ...joining you..." Ultimately, he blacked out, falling into a pool of his blood.
Deeno3p0: Nooo not the you smell like Kairi bit, at least Riku would be the first to know if someone's cheating lol. I'm so glad you enjoyed the chapter, I gave up a apart of my soul to write all of that out but it was so worth it. Especially since the content from here on out is just gonna be gearing up towards the finale.
Centurious the Azure: Yeah I remember reading the Brother One manga and thinking that Nero did not get the shit kicked out of him nearly as much as he should've, so I had to rectify that
ScruffinMcguffin: The other elves I actually named based off of ff4 characters, but I see the similarities. And no, Nero won't be coming back, he's out of commission
Phoenix Keyblade: Hope the prior section cleared things up a bit in regards to Nero's "plan" or lack thereof
Anon: Ngl I would eat Two's food bc I know that would be the best tasting even if she would incorporate weird af ingredients. Oh Four is definitely in her genocide era, and more. Oml I had a bit in this chapter abt Maleficent and the faeries but I took it out, I'm gonna add it in like next chapter tho. I'd def want to take an idea like Kh meets DrakeNier cast and just make it a full on comedy bc I cannot do long stories like this again XD Three would def be interested in Riku and I'm looking forward to writing out their dynamic together
Gundam-Knight-Chris: Lol they'll have an actual romantic climax in the coming chapters, and it won't end in a friendzone or someone dying immediately afterwards, probably
Keybladelight: Nero ain't waking up, he played his role in the story
Ian12091995: c:
"Aethervox"
Desperately trying to get away from Elfheim, Mikhail flew straight through the forest, knocking down or outright burning all of the trees in his path. When he reached the forest clearing, he landed down on the ground and waited.
"Don't worry Zero! Riku's gonna come back any minute now and then I'm gonna fly us somewhere really far away! Ooh! Ooh! I know, what about the Land of Animals? Trust me you're gonna love it there!"
And waited.
"The first thing we're gonna do when we get to the Land of Animals is go see all the elephants! Have you seen an elephant before? They're SO big, not as big as a dragon of course, but still pretty huge! Then I wanna see all the furry cats and- and the horses with the reaaaaaaaaally long necks!"
And waited.
"Then after the Land of Animals, we gotta go to the Land of Fish, I heard that place was awesome! We can eat all the fish we want- er uh wait that's right, you kinda hate fish! Guess that's more for me and Riku then hahahaha!"
And waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. And —
"Okay Zero... I don't think Riku's coming and I hear a bunch of people coming-"
"—Oi! What the hell happened to the trees here?! Did a bunch of monsters go on a rampage or what?!"
"...Sorry Riku, I'll come back for you, I promise." Mikhail lifted himself back into the air, then flew away as far as he could. When he could no longer flap his wings, he ended up somewhere cold, snowy...and empty. "This place...it's the Land of Mountains, right? I remember you telling me about it, you said it was super cold. I'll be fine, but you'll get sick, won't you?"
"..."
"I'll take that as a yes, but lucky for you, you have Mikhail by your side! I know just what to do!" Carefully, he plucked Zero off his back with his mouth and set her on the ground, then he used his tail to knock a couple of trees down and smash them into a pile of wood.
"Just a teensy weensy bit of fire, don't wanna burn the whole forest down, you know?" After the fire was set, he nudged Zero closer to it so she would feel its warmth, then he curled around her. "...It's getting late and I'm pretty sleepy right now, but I'm not going to sleep until you wake up, you hear that? I'm gonna protect you no matter what!"
["You're just not strong enough to protect all of us right now! So don't burden yourself with me and just get out of here! NOW!"]
"...Actually Zero can I tell you something? I'm not really okay, I'm so...so mad 'cause you guys keep putting yourselves in danger and all I can do is watch!" He cried out. "I'm weak and I haven't been able to grow big and strong so I can't do anything to protect you guys and that makes me mad!"
Mikhail dug his head into a pile of snow and wallowed in his own misery. "I guess now I know why you liked Michael so much better than me...I'm useless to you...I'm useless to everyone. I'm just a ...just a big, dumb, crybaby."
As if things couldn't get any worse for the dragon, he heard the sound of footsteps crunching in the snow, growing closer and closer with each passing breath. At this point, he was so exhausted that he doubt he'd get very far if he tried to fly away, not to mention that it was already dark out, so he'd be bumbling around with no idea where he was anyways.
With few other options, he remained in his position and hoped that whoever was approaching, was just some traveler that would run away at the mere sight of a dragon. However, deep in his heart, he knew that whoever was coming, was going to bring trouble.
"—Hoo boy, I think I hit the jackpot!"
Eventually, Mikhail saw a young woman clad in a shiny set of armor and dragging a deadly claymore across the snow trudge towards him. He couldn't explain why, but she was eerily reminiscent of Zero, it could've been the pale white hair, no different than the snow falling on the ground, or the vicious smile sprawled across her face, but one thing was for certain; she was dangerous.
So much so, Mikhail could smell the stench of her uncontrollable bloodlust from a distance away and knew exactly what she was there for without her even having to say a word. So he stood up on his hind legs and presumed a defensive position, guarding himself and Zero.
"Umm who are you?!" He demanded.
"Ohh that's right you haven't met me before, have you? The name's Indigo the bounty hunter and I'm Rose's bestie!"
"Rose? Who's that?!"
"That's who you call 'Zero' before she became a goddess and went all-" She spun her finger around her head, as if to say she went crazy. "But hey, maybe she was onto something with the whole name-changing thing. 'Indigo' has lost its namesake, I should think of a new name for myself after I settle down...What do you think of 'Ashleighlyn'? I like the ring of it."
"I don't care about your stupid name, if you're her 'bestie' then how come she's never ever brought you up before?!"
"Dunno. Prolly 'cause you weren't worth the effort. Bet she's told Michael all about me though!"
"Th- That's not true! Y-You're a bad person, I- I can tell! You just came here to hurt Zero, didn't you?!"
"Great deduction skills, dimwit. You know, I've been camping out in this cold ass place for so long, just waiting for something, ANYTHING, that would lead me to Rose. I was just about ready to give up when I saw a fuck ton of trees fall down and so I decided to go investigate and hah- man, I'm happy as a pig in shit right now, wanna know why?"
"...Why?"
"Because I don't have to spare her worthless life anymore for some measly coins. The head of a dragon is more than enough to set me for life! I get to kill both of you, ain't it grand?!"
"I'm starting to see why Zero doesn't have a lot of friends! Good luck trying to kill us! I'm a dragon, remember? There's no way you can defeat me!"
"You mean a crybaby, right? I heard all of your bitching and moaning a mile away, don't worry, I'll put you out of your misery! But FIRST order of business, I'm officially going by Ashleighlyn, effective immediately!"
"Grrrr! Stop talking about your name already and take this!"
By the time Mikhail blasted a fireball from his mouth, 'Ashlieghhlynn?' was already under him, swinging her claymore at his neck. He quickly swerved his head back and then tried to lunge at her, but she was much faster than him and made a deep cut across his snout.
"Ouch! That hurt!"
"Yeah that's the point, idiot!"
'She's fast and hits hard just like Zero! I can't beat her like this, I have to go in the air!' And so he took off into the skies where he would have a natural advantage over her and started pelting fireballs at her left and right.
'Ashleylynn?' dodged his fireballs left and right like it was a game, however, he did substantial damage to the surrounding trees which were now all starting to burn. "Whoa there tiger, you're gonna kill Rose before I get the chance to!"
'She's right. I'm not good at aiming my fire, but I have to learn right now or I'll end up hurting Zero too! Okay, think Mikhail, what did Zero say? That's right, I have to figure out where the enemy will go next, that's how I can hit them!' He slowed down to study how 'Ashelynnlynn?' moved, then sent a concentrated fireball flying in the direction where he thought she would move next. While he didn't land a direct hit, he got so close to hitting her that the fire grazed her leg.
"Ha ha! I did it! I really did it!"
"Damn, you actually got me! You're getting better at this, guess I have to up my game too!" A dark aura enveloped the bounty hunter and with a wide grin on her face, she stepped forward, then disappeared into Mikhail's shadow.
"Whoa! What the- where'd she- GAHH!"
Dropping out of a dark portal from above him, 'Ashyleighlynn?' slashed the unsuspecting Mikhail across one of his wings, making him plummet back to the ground. "Nice! This new dragonbone sword I got really does work like a charm!"
Despite suffering a serious wound, he collapsed his wings and fell towards the burning forest so he wouldn't potentially fall on Zero. 'I'm in so much pain and now I can't even fly anymore. What do I do now?! If I don't do anything she's gonna kill both of us! What do I do?! What do I do?!'
"That the best you got, dragon?" Ashleighlyn stepped out of another dark portal, then set her sights on Mikhail. "You're not even half the dragon Michael was. He used to be a legend in Midgard, something to be feared, and now he's been reduced to nothing more than a petulant child. Pathetic"
"Maybe...maybe I'm not as strong as Michael, but that's not an excuse...I- I have to keep fighting and keep trying ...so that one day I am like him!" Mikhail swept his tail in her direction, but she easily dodged it.
"Ha HA, you missed idiot!"
"...No, I didn't." In a last-ditch effort, Mikhail applied what he learned about predicting the enemy's next move, so that when his tail crashed into the burning tree, it would fall right on top of 'Ashleighlyn' as she jumped away from him. "Heh heh...not an idiot now...ha ha..."
"AAAAAAHHHHHH! YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE! I'LL KILL YOU! ...Is what I would say if your attack actually worked." Despite Mikhail's best efforts, Ashleighlyn still managed to evade his attack at the last second. She shot out from a dark portal and was about to slash his snout, but her claymore got knocked out of her hand and sent tumbling to the ground.
"What the-"
"—Not bad, Mikhail. I'm glad something I taught you got through that thick skull of yours." Zero landed down in between Mikhail and Indigo, pointing her sword at the latter. "And I thought I told you to never show your face to me again."
"I know right? It's so embarrassing for us to keep meeting up like this! By the way, I'm not sure if you heard but I'm going by Ashleighlyn now. What do you think?"
"I think 'cunt' suits you better, but if you like the name 'asshole' so much then all the power to you."
"Tch, it's not asshole, it's ash-leigh-lyn."
"That's what I said."
"...You really haven't changed since we were kids."
During their seemingly idle conversation, Zero was tracking her yellow eyes and knew she was only waiting for an opening so she could make a mad dash for her claymore. Rather than continue let her stall for time, Zero took the initiative, sweeping her sword back around her shoulder to gather momentum before throwing her weight into cleaving Ashleighlyn's head off in one strike.
However, Ashleighlyn was fast on her feet, maybe even more so than Zero, and adjusted her body so that she would shoulder the impact of her strike, letting the blade pierce through her armor and lodge itself into her shoulder blade. Now that Zero was in close proximity to her, she banged her fist into Zero's stomach, sending her flying across the snow and slamming against the trunk of a burning tree.
"ZERO! GET UP!" Mikhail screamed.
Clutching her shoulder to stop the bleeding, Ashleighlyn staggered toward her beloved dragonbone claymore, monologing along the way. "I have to admit, you're always full of surprises, Rose. You know, when I first left you at the brothel all those years ago... I half expected you'd just end up dead or bearing someone's bastard child. Didn't think you'd become this notorious murderer...this is why I never regretted what I did to you. It made you strong."
"...Afterall, we were just some worthless girls from a brothel. Less than zero. We wouldn't have lasted a day in the real world, but now look at you. A hot shot with a dragon and some guy who gives a fuck about you. Before you went and became an Intoner, I had something going for me too—now I have fucking nothing. Absolutely fucking nothing because you took all of that away from me! Fuck that. Fuck the world! And FUCK YOU! Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you! I'm gonna fucking kill you and you're gonna stay dead this time!" After her long tirade, she reached for her claymore, but when she bent down to pick it up, another burning tree landed on top of her, but this time she didn't dodge it.
"Please... tell me ...that's over..." Zero breathed out, she was back down on the ground, barely able to move a muscle as exhaustion took a heavy toll on her.
"So...did you do it..." Mikhail said.
"FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU! FUUUUUUCK YOUUUUUUUUU!" Her screams soon died down and they thought that was the end of 'Ashleighlyn', but they were granted no such reprieve.
The ground turned an inky black color, like a barrel of tar had been poured over the white snow. Several shadows emerged from this darkness and together, they pulled out a giant skeletal creature. It wore a fractured suit of armor that had the heartless insignia plastered on the front, with beady yellow eyes shining through the helmet slats and two bony horns protruding from the sides. No longer Indigo, or 'Ashleighlyn', it now bore a new name; Odokuro.
The sight of any heartless was enough to send shivers down Mikahil's spine, but this one was particularly frightening and ghastly. In the past, he would've simply shut his eyes and waited until it was all over, but he couldn't, Zero was vulnerable and now it was his turn to protect her like she'd done for him so many times. 'I CAN'T be a crybaby right now, I have to focus on protecting Zero, she needs me now more than ever!'
With every last bit of strength he had, he dragged himself to Zero, leaving a bloody trail behind him. As he was making his way toward her, he could see the heartless surround her and prepare to feast on her heart.
"ZERO!" Before Mikhail could get any closer to Zero, Odokuro stood in his way and swung its massive claymore at him. In one swift movement, Mikhail snatched it up by its ribs, then crushed the skeleton in his jaws. "OUTTA MY WAY!"
However, it was already too late, Zero was nowhere to be seen and neither were the heartless. "NOOO! ZERO! I CAN'T LOSE YOU! I can't...please...please...I don't wanna be alone..."
Odokuro slowly put itself back together using the darkness. Once it was able to stand on its legs again, it heaved its giant claymore over Mikhail's head.
"Zero…" Mikhail sobbed. "I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough to save you...I'm sorry...I'm s-s-ssorry...imsorryI.I...Im sssorry..."
Verse 10
We dance in an endless night
Entranced by the Flower's song.
I won't forgive you, for this suffering
And I won't stop, until I see the light.
"-What did I say about repeating yourself?!" In the nick of time, Zero parried Odokuro's sword, then sliced the heartless in half.
"Z-Z-Z-Zero! Wahhhh I was so scared- I mean, ahem, are you okay? Should you even be fighting right now?!"
"I don't have a choice, but you sit back, alright? Let me handle 'em."
"But Zero! It's those...those weird monsters! How can you defeat them without Riku?"
"Just watch."
And Mikhail did just that, he watched Zero step forward to face Odokuro, and within seconds, shred the skeleton into a pile of bones. Each time it re-assembled itself, she would cut it back down over and over again. This cycle continued with Odokuro gradually taking longer and longer to put itself back together, until it eventually just stopped altogether and remained on the snowy ground a heap of bones and nothing more.
"What're you doing?! Keep getting back up you bitch, so I can keep killing you!" Zero glared at the remnants of Odokuro, waiting to see if it would move again in response to her taunting, but it didn't stir an inch. "...We should be good for now. The heartless can be defeated without a keyblade, their hearts will just turn back into heartless again after a while."
"Oh...you kinda sound like Riku."
"Please don't tell him I said any of that shit, okay?"
"Hehe, okay!"
Zero returned to Mikhail's side and caressed his horns. "I see you've grown a little since I last saw you."
"R-Really?"
"Yeah, really. So what exactly happened while I was out? It looks like you went through a lot."
"...Basically, I got poisoned and chained up by a really bad person back at that elf village, but then Riku saved me and he was carrying you in his arms and we were all gonna escape together, but then the bad guys came for Riku and he said he was gonna come back for us but...but he never did so I had to fly really far away." He took in a deep breath after talking so fast. "THEN, your bestie tried to kill us, she said her name was Indigo at first then she wanted to go by this really weird name, 'Asjkdsjal', or something and then - and then you came and -"
"You don't have to explain that part." She put her hand over her face. "Fuck...I screwed up so bad...I'm sorry."
"What're you saying sorry for?"
"It's my fault that you guys went through so much while I was out, and look at how badly you hurt yourself when I'm the one who's supposed to keep you safe."
"That's not true, Zero! It's s'posed to be the other way around because I'M the dragon! I'm the one that's s'posed to keep everyone safe! But don't worry, I'm gonna work really, really, really, really, really hard to be just like Michael, that way my friends can always count on me!"
"...Michael? No, you don't have to be like him."
"But I wanna be like him so you can trust me and- and tell me stuff that you only told him! Oh- and say my name too!"
Zero went very quiet, thinking about what words to say in her head, before opening her mouth again. "...You're not the problem, you never were. I am."
"What ...What are you talking about?"
"Look, when I lost Michael, it was really... hard for me. And then when you came, I didn't want to get close to you because I... I guess I thought I'd be betraying him or something, but that wasn't fair to you." She turned to stare intently into the dragon's innocent eyes. "So...don't ever change, Mikhail, not for an asshole like me anyways."
"D...Do you really mean all of that?"
"I wouldn't have said it if I didn't."
"Thanks, Zero! That means a lot coming from you! I'm so happy right now!" Mikhail tried to nudge his nose onto Zero like a puppy, but ended up smacking her down into a pile of snow.
When she buried herself free, she was taken out of the moment and reverted right back to her usual self. "Mikhail, you idiot! You almost cracked my fucking ribs!"
"Oh-oh-oh! That was the second time you said my name! Are you gonna call me Mikhail from now on?! Huh, are you?!"
"Not if you're gonna piss yourself every time I say it. More importantly, you should be getting yourself some rest so you can heal faster."
"But...what about Riku? I thought we were gonna go look for him."
"No, you're badly injured right now, he can wait." She went back up to him. "What, are you getting tired of me already?"
"No, it's not that. I'm just worried about him, y'know?"
"Don't be, he's pretty tough. We'll run into him eventually."
"Ha ha, yeah, you're right! And when we find him I can tell him you like talking funny too!"
"Ha ha, yeah, and then I can kill you!"
"Ha ha...ha...oh..."
"...In the meantime, how about I tell you a story?"
"What kind of story?"
"A long one, it's about a girl named Rose..."
—
The development of Branch B is proceeding as expected. At any rate, this Branch should be nearing its end soon.
I know my job is only to record the events of each timeline as they unravel, but I can't get what he said out of my head.
["...if you're so invested in the future of this world, shouldn't you be doing everything in your power to stop the Flower?"]
I've decided to do things a bit...unorthodox this time around. Currently, I've infiltrated the enemy's base in order to listen in on their conversation...
It is March the 14th, 1000 AD and the time is 13:13
M3210_E0021_QV: Begin Recording
Three's Shrine
-Foyer-
While war tore the Land of Forests apart, Four had seized Three's shrine as a base of operations for her army. There, she had made herself something of a second home inside the massive tree, so much so, that she even found it to be a suitable place to cut her rapidly growing nails. With having to manage two countries, she had neglected her daily nail-trimming routine and they had now gotten so long that they were beginning to curl downward, something that deeply disgusted her.
"Ughhhh, it's not fair! Five gets large breasts, Three gets long hair but I get these gross long nails? It's SO unfair!" Four grumbled as she lounged on one of Three's lofty chairs. Naturally, she used Decadus as a footstool who, of course, loved every second of it, especially when she'd flick her nails at the back of his head.
"...Be perfectly honest with me, Decadus, you think I'd look way better with a larger cup size and soft, pretty hair, don't you?"
"No, of course not! I sincerely believe you are the epitome of beauty and perfection just the way you are!" Decadus boasted.
She dug her heel into Decadus' back. "Don't lie to me you disgusting pig!"
"Y-You're so unghhhh c-c-cruel Lady Four! I would n-never dream of OH d...deceiving you!"
Just then, Four heard a chorus of footsteps drumming against the hollow walls of the shrine. She slipped her glove and gauntlet back on, then kicked Decadus away.
"...OooOOh!"
"—Lady Four!" Two guards marched in holding Claudia in their arms. "We had this 'visitor' attempt to enter the shrine, claiming that she was supposed to be here, so we decided to escort her to you."
"Claudia, you're looking a little worse for wear. Please don't tell me my guards are the reason for your...unkempt appearance."
"You can drop the act, princess." Claudia pushed the guards off of her, then looked around the shrine. "Where's Maleficent? Thought she'd be here by now."
"It seems like she's running late again, but I suspect she'll be here any minute now." She pressed her hands together. "While we wait for the others to arrive, why don't you tell me all about how your big, important mission went?"
"I don't have to report to you, fuck off."
Four rolled her eyes. "Well, it looks like you're empty-handed, but didn't Maleficent tell you to bring my dear older sister with you? So, why isn't she here?"
"I dunno, do you like fingering yourself with those freakishly long nails, or do you cut them down first?"
"W-Wait how did you- actually never mind, you're clearly just trying to hide your hilarious failure! So is being a disappointment an elf thing or is that a 'you' thing?"
"That's it! I'm sick of you, you prissy motherfucker!" Claudia rushed towards Four to strike her, only to get intercepted by Brother One's sword. "Huh?! When did you get here?!"
"Just now, and I see you're already trying to kill my sister again. You need to control your anger."
"She needs to control her mouth! I don't get how you Intoners claim to be such great people but you let your sister go around and be a filthy racist!"
"Here we go with the 'racism' accusations again," Four said with finger quotes. "You know it's racist to call someone else a racist, right?"
"How the fuck does that make sense?!"
"Don't be so childish, sister." Brother One said.
She let out a huff. "Oh alright. I do have to set an example for my favorite little brother!" She tried to pat him on the head, but he swatted her hand away.
"I told you to stop doing that," He muttered.
Claudia laughed at her, which struck a nerve in Four.
"Honestly, I wouldn't be laughing with that degenerate you call a brother running around," She said under her breath, knowing full well Claudia would hear her anyways.
"Uh-huh, my brother's the degenerate? Meanwhile, your sisters are all either braindead, whoring themselves away, or just generally making things worse for everyone else."
"And yet your brother manages to be all three at the same time, I guess it runs in the family."
"Tch, why don't you stop worrying about what we do and go hang yourself in the nearest tree? We're in the Land of Forests, so that shouldn't be too hard."
"Why you-"
"—Claudia, Four, that is enough squabbling from you two."
The atmosphere suddenly took a dramatic shift as black clouds began billowing across the floor, obscuring the ground. Moments later, an eerie, dark portal manifested from the ground up, and out walked Maleficent with Pete following behind.
Four clicked her tongue in annoyance. 'She's so needlessly dramatic. I mean the door's right there, why not just walk through it like a normal person?'
On her way to the center of the shrine, Maleficent kicked Decadus out of the way, who could hardly contain the groan that nearly slipped out, then briefly examined each person who stood before her.
"I see that most of you have all gathered here today, but it seems we're missing one person..." Maleficent's eyes stayed on Claudia's and held her gaze hostage. "Claudia, care to explain to me why Zero isn't joining us this evening?"
"Uh...um..uh, well you uh, it was just that, Riku..." Her head sunk and her ears folded back. "... I underestimated him. He intercepted my plans and compromised my brother and I's position in Three's army."
"I see." She approached Claudia, then stopped just in front of her, making the elven girl feel so much smaller in comparison to the dark fairy. "When we first made this arrangement, I recall you saying you would have no issue capturing and breaking her."
"And I could have if you allowed me to kill him!"
"SILENCE!" Her voice boomed, reverberating around the shrine. "The only reason why you were unable to bring Zero to me is because you are weak! You lack the strength to command even the most feeble of shadows! I see now that you are simply of better use to me as a heartless."
Four and Pete snickered at Claudia's berating while Decadus and Brother One looked on with sympathy.
"No- no I'm sorry! Please just give me another chance!"
"You are out of chances, I don't have the patience to be met with any more of your incompetence again!"
Surprisingly, Brother One actually stepped up to defend her. "Maleficent, if I could speak, before you do anything drastic...perhaps it's time to rethink our strategy here."
In stark contrast to Maleficent's absolute disregard for Claudia, when she addressed Brother One, she lowered her voice and softened her tone. "Pray tell, child, what is this strategy you speak of?"
"Trying to force Zero to tell you about the Flower is a plan that's doomed to fail. Frankly, she'd as soon as die than tell you anything, and no amount of torture or cruel actions will change that."
"Yeah pipsqueak? Then what do you suggest we do instead, huh?!" Pete asked. "I know all this dang footwork I've been doin' wasn't all for nuthin!"
"I suggest we cut the middle man and go to the source instead."
"Duh! That's what we've been doin' for the past timeline and a half, bozo!"
"No, you're mistaken. Zero isn't the source of the Flower. The ancient demon locked behind Mercurius Gate is."
Maleficent could only cackle at his seemingly innocuous presumption. "Yes, you've said those exact same words to me before once, and do you know what my answer was to you back then?"
"No, I don't."
"A locked door requires a key to open it."
"...Oh, I understand now. So everything's just been a means to an end?"
"It always has been, child. Still, I am inclined to agree that our plans thus far have ended in failure each and every time. Why do you think that is?"
"Because you would rather catch flies with vinegar than honey," Four said.
"Well you definitely ain't the honey, that's for dang sure," Pete muttered.
"Shut up, I wasn't talking to you! But back to what I was saying, I know my sister well, better than all of you anyways, and everything my brother said was true. However, that doesn't mean she doesn't have a weakness."
Maleficent raised an eyebrow. "That being...? Other than which we already know of course."
"It's love. Or more specifically, her love for others."
Pete snorted. "Yeah, it doesn't take a genius to figure that out."
"Okay, Pete, let me break it down for you so even someone like you can follow along. We should all know by now that threatening her or torturing her or whatever isn't going to work because she's suicidal, but Faris and Claudia both stupidly decided to go that route, and to no surprise to anyone, they failed. Obviously, that means we should target the people she actually cares about instead. By the way, if you were paying attention, that's why everything worked out so much better last time."
"So what, we just threaten the keyblade bozo and that wimpy dragon of hers and she'll be spillin' her guts?"
Four waved her hand. "No, that won't work either, she'll call our bluff immediately because she'll be expecting us to pull something like that. Besides, that stuff is so cliche, what we should do is turn that oh-so-precious 'love' of hers into pure hatred."
"What the- what the fuck do you think me and Faris were doing? We weren't torturing her for fun, I mean it was fun, but all of that was to push her into the darkness!" Claudia argued.
"No, you're still not getting it. We have to get Zero to hate Riku and Mikhail first, then she'll be able to be corrupted by the darkness, and then finally she'll tell Maleficent everything she wants to hear. It's that simple. Plus we'll have effectively eliminated our biggest opposition."
"How is that simple?! It's easy, no it's child's play, to kill, torture, maim, assault or do all of the above to someone, but to make two people hate each other? That's..."
"Also child's play. How do you think I made Three go 'missing' in the first place and fabricated this whole-" Four quickly covered her mouth with her hand. "Whoops, tee hee, don't want to reveal all of my secrets. Anyways Claudia, it's okay, you know that, right? You can admit that you're not smart enough to come up with a plan like that, no one's judging you... except me of course."
"Oh? It sounds like you're already brewing a scheme," Maleficent said.
"I do have something in mind, but you can leave everything to me for this one. You've already done so much for us, I wouldn't want to put any more on your shoulders." She looked over to Claudia. "...Mm, actually, there is one small favor I'd like to ask of you...spare this elf and allow me to take her in."
"For what reason?"
"She may be powerless, but her elven parlor tricks are just what I need to get you this 'key' you want."
"Very well, Four, I expect great things from you."
"Trust me, you won't be disappointed."
Notes So Far:
→In this Branch, the Fourth Intoner is far more sinister and involved with the destruction of this world. Curiously, however, she doesn't seem to have the white hair and golden eyes typically associated with the corrupting influence of the darkness. Her eyes are strangely the same color as the Second Intoner? *Study this phenomenon more closely.
→Maleficent has found a rather unique work around the password-protected Mercurius Gate. She doesn't yet realize opening this gate will result in, well to put it frankly, literally everyone dying. Typical of her character, I guess. Though I do wonder how that demon is back behind the gate. Shouldn't it have already been defeated?
→Oh and one other thing I'd like to debunk while I'm at it, there's a general assumption that the timeline "reset", but that's a misconception. The events of Branch A still occurred and are continuing to happen even as I write this report. What's happened is certain individuals have gained the ability to retain the memories of previous timelines, which is a truly remarkable phenomenon if you think about it. The ability to not only remember the history of oneself but all versions of themselves is sooo incredible oh my gosh ahhhh- sorry sorry, let me reel it back in because I do have a point with all of this.
→I bring forth the hypothesis that the reason Branch B is a reflection of Branch A is because time in Midgard is cyclical. I support this hypothesis with the following arguments based on both speculation and observation of the events I've seen thus far:
Argument A: There are far too many similarities in both versions of the Land of Seas to merely be deemed a "coincidence". Especially in regards to the character of "Faris" who is a mirror to the Fifth Intoner.
Argument B: Brother One has already been corrupted by the darkness, much sooner in fact than last time. This implies the conditions that allowed Maleficent to corrupt him in the first place have been replicated.
Argument C: Another war in the Land of Forests is being orchestrated, in part, by Maleficent and another Intoner. Though the key players are different, she wants to achieve the same outcome.
Alternative-Hypothesis: It's not that the same events are repeating by chance, but rather by force because Maleficent is attempting to recreate the desired effects from Branch A. It can be argued that Faris was intentionally selected since she is so alike to the Fifth Intoner's personality. Also, she wanted Brother One to become corrupted because he was a key part in Riku succumbing to the Flower's influence and the Land of Forests was where it all took place the last time so the logic goes that it should also take place at the same location with the same set of circumstances.
Null Hypothesis: The fact that many of the events from Branch A are repeating is a mere coincidence and should be taken with a grain of salt. In reality, there is an infinite possibility of timelines with an infinite possibility of storylines to follow. There are endless Branches that are identical or near-identical to Branch A and this one is no different.
Conclusion: Regardless of Maleficent's involvement or not, one thing is for certain: those who can control the past, control the future as well. With the severity of the situation at hand, I've put forth a proposal that may prove to be beneficial for both of the "singularities" based on the hypotheses I've just laid out. If the events happening are truly cyclical and my hypotheses are correct then the only way to stop this cycle is through "memories". More details on this later as the events continue to unfold.
'Okay, I think that should be enough. Now I need to plan out my next move.' When Accord turned around to leave, however, she was met face-to-face with Brother One.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Flowers for the Dead
A/N: Whew, just in time for the 20th anniversary of the KH1 NA release, my timing is always right! Kingdom Hearts is my favorite series of all time, Kingdom Hearts 3 is still my favorite game out of the series idc idc and I can't wait for what's in the store in the future. Anyways, a short dumb comic (unrelated to 20th anniversary) has been posted on my Ao3 (Catch358), I think I'll start a DeviantArt soon though
