It had been so long since One had slept together with her sisters, but that night reminded her why she always preferred to sleep alone. Five had the problem of both snoring and moaning in her sleep while Three kept tossing and turning so much that she ended up kicking One in the face more than a few times. Two was slightly more tolerable in this regard; her only crime was being a habitual sleeptalker, but she paled in comparison to Four. That girl went to bed early, never stirred an inch in her sleep, and One could wake her up without a fuss. If she had to share a bed with any of her sisters, it would be her, not 'moans-a-lot' Five or the equally unbearable 'needs-to-be-tied-to-a-chair' Three.
"Mmmmm...no Terra...my clit's right there sweetie...lemme show you..." For no reason other than to further One's torture, Five decided she'd also start sleeptalking on top of her already obnoxious snore-moaning. "Ahh~ you're right there ...just come a little closer..."
One saw Five's hand hovering above her face and had to immediately swat it away for her own safety. Whatever Five was doing in her dreams, she wanted no part of it, so she sat up and accepted the fact that she wasn't getting any sleep that night, at least not in that room. 'Note to self for future reference: Five MUST get her own sleeping accommodations, that's non-negotiable. In the meantime, I would like salvage what remaining sleep I can get. The couch downstairs looked comfortable enough, but how can I get down? Maybe I should try dragging myself out of this room and down the steps?' She placed her hand over her face. 'What am I thinking? If only I could use my legs...'
In the midst of her sulking, the bedroom door flew open and she heard a loud THUD followed by a slew of curse words.
"—Gabriella!" It was Two's voice. "Are you okay? Remember you have to bend down under the doorway because you're so tall!"
One turned her head back as Two and a much taller, older woman burst inside the room. "Two...? And who's that...woman with you?"
"Can't you tell it's me?!" Of course that was Gabriella, no mistaking that snappy voice from anywhere. Her new human-like appearance was a pleasant change, but something One would have to get used to.
"Is there something wrong?" One asked, taking note of their panic-struck faces.
"Yes! And it's a good thing you're already up because we need you to help diffuse a situation!" Two said.
"Understood. Let's leave at once."
"Wait...you're not even gonna ask what the situation is?!" Gabriella asked.
"I trust that it's of great importance if you're bringing it to my attention at this time of night." 'In reality, I just want to get out of this room. Hopefully, it's nothing too severe.'
"Great! We'll explain everything to you on the way!" Two said.
All the commotion they were making woke Five up from her sleep. "Wh...What's wrong... s'everything okay?" she asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
"It'll all be fine. I'll sort things out like I always do. You just go back to sleep," One reassured.
"'Kay...if you say so." She fell back on the mattress, picking up right where she left off. "Mmm...sorry to keep you waiting Daddy..."
"Please get me out of this room," One said.
Gabriella scooped One up in her arms, then brought her down to her wheelchair. Soon after, they rushed out of the house with Two pushing One down the cobblestone street and Gabriella ditching her heels so she could run barefoot. On their way to the gate, Gabriella and Two took turns explaining everything that happened, but nothing they said came as any surprise to One. She knew this was where Midgard was heading ever since she received that letter from Cent, and tonight, all of Four's actions were finally coming to a head. Naturally with Four herself absent, forcing One to bear the brunt of her consequences.
Once they reached said gate, the soldiers had drawn their weapons out and were positioned in a way that suggested they were about to charge at each other. They were fortunate to arrive just in time before a full-out war broke out, but the real battle; the one where words were traded instead of blows, would be the determining factor if Midgard would still be in one piece by the end of the day. It was monumental pressure bestowed upon One and while certainly not how she imagined her night would go, she supposed settling civil conflicts was at least marginally better than staying in bed with Three and Five. Besides, leave it to Gabriella or any one of her sisters and they would be waking up to mountains of debris where Traverse Town once stood.
"—It's Lady Two and Lady One!" yelled a soldier.
"—Have they come to aid us against Four's army? With two Intoners on our side, we're sure to crush them!" yelled another.
One motioned to the crowd. "Lower your weapons and cease this violence at once. Four has already surrendered, there's no reason to escalate this conflict any further."
"What do you mean 'no reason'?! The reason's standing right in front of us!" A crazed soldier pointed hysterically at Rosa and the elves. "Those savages and their demons destroyed EVERYTHING! Now we're stuck in this...this purgatory! We have every reason to slaughter the filthy lot!"
Rosa squeezed the handle of her bow so tight her knuckles went white. "All of what you see is Four's doing, it has always been her doing! You are either too bigoted, too foolish, or a dangerous mix of both to see it! But I'm tired of repeating myself! I'm tired of defending my existence to people who don't acknowledge it! And I'm at my wit's end!" Her hand trembled as her index finger ran along the edge of the arrow shaft. As she was positioning her arrow into place, she rolled her eyes back to meet One's gaze. "So what'll it be... One? Do you fight for us or will you continue to enable your sister's actions? Your move."
"For all that Four's done to Midgard, she isn't the one who sunk the world into darkness. The was the Flower, the demon you saw in your last moments on Midgard," One explained.
"Ohhhh yeah, GREAT, so that makes everything all hunky-dory now, huh? Hey, did you hear that guys? Four didn't destroy the world herself, she just did everything that led up to it!"
"That wasn't meant to excuse her, only to explain the situation. There are bigger forces at play here that led to the world ending than any one's individual actions. However, I completely understand your frustrations."
"If you understand so well then have your sister rightfully executed for her crimes!"
"I can't do that."
"Tch...of course you can't...your sisters are more important to you than the world itself."
"No, the world is just as important to me! I assure you, Four will be dealt the full brunt of the law; she will lose sovereignty over her nation, serve a lengthy sentence for her crimes, all of her assets will be seized, and—"
"—I don't care about any of that, I want Four DEAD! I want her gone from this world! And if you won't help, then I'll burn this entire town down if that means finding her! Maybe then ...when you watch your sister die a slow, painful death, you can understand a fraction of my pain!"
"Not over your cold dead elven bodies would you have our Lady Four executed! Stand with us Lady One if you value the life of your sister! We'll protect her until the bitter end!" One of Four's soldiers screamed.
A soldier from the Land of Sands spoke up. "Oi, you've been awfully quiet Lady Two, don't tell me you'll stand with those mountain scum after everything they've done to you and your people!"
"This is getting bad!" Two held onto the arm of One's wheelchair. "No matter what we do or whose side we take, it'll end in conflict, and if that happens, there won't be a Midgard left to save!"
War and propaganda were dangerous tools that Four played with, and now political destabilization would have a far more devastating and long-lasting impact on the longevity of Midgard than any single act of violence she committed. The weight of the world felt heavy on One's shoulders and she knew whatever words she spoke next would carry with it the fate of countless lives in Midgard, including her own sisters. "...What Four has done to Midgard is unforgivable, which is why I do not ask for your forgiveness. Not toward her, not toward any of us, because the truth is..." Hesistation caught her throat, never in her life had she been so afraid to simply speak, but never in her life did her words hold as much power as they did. Right now, they were on top of the world, but she knew in the next sentence she spoke, it would all come crumbling down. "...The truth is that for years now you've known us as the Intoners: infallible, immortal goddesses, but that was not the case. We were closer to demons than saviors."
One of the soldiers shook his head, his face visibly disillusioned. "What...what are you talking about? The Intoners can't be demons...e-even you Lady Two?!"
"All of us were capable of what Four did, she's just the one who went through with it," One continued. "If you're frightened right now, rest assured, we've already lost our powers, and they will never return again. We're mortals now, no different than the rest of you, and together we can strive for a better—"
"—I've heard enough," Rosa cut off. "We were told that you were goddesses that descended upon this land and now you're telling us you were demons this entire time?!"
"That...can't be true... can it?" Basch asked.
One nodded solemnly.
"So everything the Partition has written about the Intoners, were those lies?"
"Whatever I felt was necessary to spread the gospel of the Intoners, the Partition put into words."
Rosa pivoted to One, aiming her bow and arrow at her head. "To think... I thought you liberated us, HA! How foolish am I? This entire time...we were under the thumb of demons..." In one breath, Rosa's voice was fragile, as if it were about to break at any moment. In the next, she snapped, firing an arrow at One's head.
Gabriella snatched the arrow in her mouth, still retaining those cunning reflexes she had as a dragon, then snapped it in half with her teeth. "That'll be your head next if you don't back off!" she growled.
Clearly, Rosa was far past the point of reasoning, unsheathing a dagger from her sleeves and lunging at the dragon woman who was twice her size. Gabriella responded to Rosa's perceived threat with untempered, feral rage; she extended her claws and hunched her shoulders so that as soon as Rosa got within reach, she could immediately snatch the elf girl by the throat. "What did I tell you, little girl?" Gabriella dug her sharp nails into her throat. "I could end you right here if I wanted to."
"Gabriella, that's enough!" One said.
"I don't want your pity!"As Rosa struggled to break free from her hold, she continued to scream and spit at One. "You're disgusting! Just as foul as your hellspawn of a sister! You fed us all those lies and had us die on behalf of monsters! You belong in hell!"
"If you think my death will bring you satisfaction, then go ahead and kill me, but I assure you it won't," One said.
"...You're right...it won't. Nothing in this life will ever make me happy again, but knowing that someone else is suffering alongside me might make this pain more bearable. That's satisfaction enough!"
One stared down Rosa. "...I know the eyes of a killer when I see one, but when I look into yours...all I see is fear and sadness. Listen to me, you don't have to suffer alone. If you allow me to, I can help you."
"You're wrong! I AM a killer. D- D- Don't you see?!" Her breathing became erratic. "...I killed them...my little bro and sis...I killed them with my bare hands when they became demons." She swung her head down. "I killed them...I killed them...I killed them..."
While Rosa's mental state spiraled into insanity, shock, and terror spread rampantly amongst the soldiers like an infectious disease.
"—Unbelievable, so we've been livin' under the thumb of demons this whole time?!" A soldier hollered.
"—But they've been so kind to us, how could they possibly be..."
"—Kind?! They're prolly the reason why we're stuck in this town!"
One expected as much, after all, the world both figuratively and literally got turned upside down. She was even prepared for the entirety of Midgard to turn on them, but what she didn't anticipate was for an ominous, dark haze to swirl above their heads.
"—LOOK! It's those demon sisters attacking us again!"
"Wha...What the hell's going on?!" Out of nowhere, Gabriella felt Rosa's body go limp in her hands, then her head snapped backward. This caused Gabriella to drop her on the ground where she started convulsing, spinning and twisting her body around, and frothing at the mouth. And it wasn't just Rosa who was displaying abnormal behavior, but dozens of other soldiers who had all seemingly lost control of their own bodies.
"This is a shitshow! One, we gotta get out of here!" Gabriella turned around to try and run back toward One, but Rosa snatched her by the ankle, and she fell over on the ground.
"̵̘̅̎Í̸̧̹ ̶̜͆͂w̴̼͑ò̵̤̫ṅ̶̼̇'̶̰̤̀ẗ̴̗̙́̽ ̸̗͓̀l̷̮̓̄e̵̻͋̾t̷̜̭̀̚ ̴̘͗y̴̯̹̋ö̴̘͕́u̵̘̓͗ ̷͕͊̾l̶̘̀̎é̷͈a̷͔̘͊̌v̴̛̙̐ẽ̸̫͋.̴͎̤̍"̴̦͌̓ There were strange markings all over her body and sunken, yellow 'heartless' eyes.
"Huh?! Get the fuck away from me!" She kept kicking Rosa in the head until a heartless that looked like nothing more than a ball of gas seeped out of her mouth. "Ew, yuck! That's just nasty!"
"Nice going Gabs, we can take this small fry!" Two unsheathed her sword, then swung it at the heartless only for it to vanish into thin air. "Ugh, so it's a slippery little guy! Where did it go now?
While One was bound to her wheelchair, there was little else she could do aside from watching Two and Gabriella fight against the peculiar heartless. She never imagined she would be its next victim, but then the little gaseous creature popped up right in front of her and the next thing she knew, her vision went dark and hazy. She felt something squirming around inside of her, and it was moving her limbs against her will. It was a terrifying sensation, made even worse when she was forced to stand on her legs again and drag her twisted feet toward Gabriella and Two. 'What's going on, and why can't I stop this?' Much to her horror, One's arm reached behind to grab her chakram. "̵̹̘̘̌͛̐"̷̢̪̟̏G̴̬̼̈ë̸̖͙́̒t̴͇͐ ̵̫̩̾̏͜͝o̵̡͚̙͐̀̆u̵̞͇̾t̵̡̯̦͂̈́͠ ̸̤̽̕͝o̶̲͙̊̓͝f̸̞̋ ̸̰̀̾t̴̳̻̯͝ḧ̴̟́e̴̖̣͝ ̷̠̙̍̓̅ẘ̴̺̀̆á̵̟͓̃͘y̷͚͓̔̓!̴̱͂͗͠ ̷̜̦̱̈̈͌Ŕ̶̞̥u̷̩̪̒n̷͚̱͛!̸̮̦̎͝"̶̬̰̌ She cried, but her words came out as garbled nonsense. 'No! I can't even speak to warn them...please just let this nightmare be over soon.' She flung her chakram at Two, thankfully, Gabriella yanked her out of the way before her head could get cleaved. 'Thank God, but I still have to regain control of my body somehow.'
"Looks like it can take control of just about anyone..." Gabriella muttered.
"Oh no...I don't want to have to hurt One to save her..." Two said.
One could feel her arm swing back again. 'Damn it! Why is it that all I can ever do is watch? I'm so helpless that I can't even take back control of my own body.' It was fortunate that a keyblade came crashing from the sky like a bolt of lightning to stop One from any more self-loathing. Her body was already lost to this creature, she didn't need to lose her mind too.
"LOOK OUT!" When the keyblade struck the ground, it generated a thunderous earthquake so powerful that it knocked everyone off their feet and forced all of the heartless out of their hosts.
As One lay helplessly on the ground, she saw Terra land down beside her. She hadn't known much about him other than he was quiet and strong, but now she knew he was quite heroic too. It seemed like that was a trait shared among Riku's friends.
"Possessor's, huh? What a nuisance," he remarked. Terra picked up his keyblade, then took a moment to size up the heartless before throwing his sword at them. His blade flew around in a circle, eliminating all the aptly named 'Possessor' heartless in one swing.
Terra caught his keyblade as it came flying back to him then turned to the others. "Hey, you guys okay?"
"Hell no!" Gabriella sat herself up, rubbing her lower back. "Almost broke my goddamn spine with that stunt!"
"Sorry, that was just the first thing that came to mind." Terra offered his hand to Gabriella. "Here, take my han—"
"What makes you think I want your help?! Ohhhh I get it, I'm just some old crone, huh?!"
"Wh-What? No, of course not!"
Two waved her hand. "Aw, don't mind Gabs, she's just a little grumpy. We're fine, promise!"
"That's good, but your sister probably needs help getting back into her..." It was a nice gesture, but One had already crawled herself back into her wheelchair by the time he mentioned it. "Nevermind. You girls are tough."
"You could say that, but you came at just the right time. I would rather not have been on the receiving end of one of Gabriella's punches," One said.
"Yeah, that's for sure! So, Terra, how'd you know we would be here anyway?" Two asked.
"Your sister Five was worried about you guys being gone for so long so she asked me to check up on you. Didn't take long for me to locate you guys either because I heard a bunch of commotion coming from here and figured it was some type of heartless attack."
"When is it not the goddamn heartless?! Sick and tired of those freaks," Gabriella mumbled.
"I know it's frustrating dealing with them constantly, but you're safe now so try not to worry about them."
"I'm afraid it's not the heartless we should be worried about, but the target I've painted on our backs. We should leave before our soldiers gather their bearings," One said.
"If you're in danger, then let's head back to the house and we can figure out where to go from there."
"That's not necessary. It's late out so we should retire for the night." She placed a hand on her forehead. "Dear God...how am I going to break the news to Three and Five that I upended their lives for good?"
"Don't look at it like that! If these last few months have taught us anything, it's that what we did as Intoners ended up having a lot of repercussions for Midgard. We'll have to rethink how we approach things in the future or the world's just gonna get destroyed again," Two said.
"...You're right. Midgard will rise again, and when we return to our home, we will rebuild it a new."
keybladelight: Yeah they'll be getting new-ish outfits soon, I'm not an outfit designer by any stretch of the imagination so if I do make something it'll probably be a bit basic. Oh yes I do plan on having Accord meet Riku and Zero so don't worry about that.
Centurious the Azure: Well I had everyone live then so I could kill them off later one by one obv XD Lol I think Zero would kill Two before ever sharing her man with her. Yeah funny that you mention not going back to Midgard bc the rest of the chapter explores the consequences and blowback from the rest of Midgard reacts to being cast into Traverse Town. Ohh idk maybe the Intoner weapons are made from dragonbone too but then you'd think Zero would comment on that since that would make dealing with her sisters that much more deadly.
Thank you so much, it means a lot to me and I'm glad I've kept you entertained just as you have with your story which I'm wondering when the next chapter's gonna get released, like ik I take forever to release a chapter but you're leaving me in a drought here lol
ian12091995: I'm really sorry to hear that, I hope you're doing better now!
Phoenix keyblade: I'll be honest, the thought never even occurred to me so it's not their fault. I went back and re-edited the chapter though because I felt like that was kind of an oversight, thanks for pointing that out.
Anon: lol not even an issue, you got the best version of the chapter since I ended up making 2 major edits post-release. "It's been a minute since Armsiael was used in this story." omg I could've sworn it was in the previous chapter but it's been a minute. Oh no not 39 chapters straight of failing omg
Riku: I'm stopping the Flower this time I swear
you: Ok grandpa time for bed
I thought about it a bit longer and I thought Ienzo and Three would probably make an interesting pair like he's really talkative, she's not, both into science, both antagonists I honestly can't believe I didn't think of it until now. There was just so much content that I didn't necessarily have the time to flesh out so Two's plot kinda had to be sidelined a bit and I hoped the dialogue would've been enough for people to put two and two together. Yes def looking forward to everyone meeting back up with Riku and Zero again for hijinks to ensue
J Geil: Yeah, pacing was one of my biggest criticisms for the previous story. Even though it was meant to be more fast paced and plot driven, clearly what resonated with people the most were the characters. If I could go back, I would've liked to add more character interactions.
That's a good question! So to clear things up, there's N:O, then immediately after is N:O2 and some time later is FFTD.
Omg what type of raunchy story do you think this is? But to answer your question, I feel like you'd be putting yourself in danger from doing so. Maybe Zero wouldn't care but Riku would do there's that
Imo Zero's whole backstory reads as very French, especially with all the rebels and lords stuff. But I can see Germany or Denmark too. Can't see any British in Zero tho I'm sorry. As for the KH characters, your guess is as good as mine. Anime characters are difficult to determine nationality-wise. At least Eraqus is 100% JP and Ansem is 100% white British guy. Everyone else I'm sure Nomura designed them in the image of JP people but idek
I'm so happy that you enjoy it, it makes writing so much more worth it!
ScruffinMcguffin: Lol my chapters haven't been that short in some years, but I'd say that's a yes.
"This Silence is Mine No. 1"
Opening Act
Morning came, or some approximation of it, and One realized she hadn't slept a wink because she'd spent all night worrying about the state of Midgard and her sisters. She waited and waited for a blazing fire and a mob of soldiers to come marching up and down the streets, but neither came. She even drafted a peace treaty in response to what she thought would be the inevitable backlash, but there was none. Not yet, anyway.
In sharp contrast to her own neuroticism, Three and Five were as carefree as ever. After a long rest, the odd pair were up and about, exploring the house and finding amusement in the most mundane things. They were particularly fascinated by the idea of running water and kept turning the sink and bath on and off, shocked by the seemingly endless supply of clean, temperature-controlled water. At least Two was attentive enough to ask how One was doing, but all she could do was robotically nod her head up and down, too exhausted for words. Eventually, she wandered downstairs to find Three and Five.
Surprisingly, despite all the noise everyone was making, Gabriella and Mikhail didn't actually wake up until the delicious smell of greasy bacon, fluffy pancakes and runny eggs drifted upstairs into the guest room, kicking their feral instincts into high gear and stirring them awake.
"What's that yummy smell?!" Mikhail asked, already drooling.
"It smells like pork," Gabriella took another whiff of the aroma, then added, "and eggs."
There was a knock at the door, One and the others turned back to see Ventus poke his out of the doorway. "Hey guys, breakfast is ready! Get it while it's hot!"
"BREAKFAST?!" Mikhail zoomed out of the guest room like a hyperactive puppy.
Despite the offer for food, One continued to work at the desk. "Now what page was I on...?" She saw Gabriella's hand covering the stack of papers she had been working on for the past few hours. "...what are you doing?"
"You sound tired as hell." Gabriella grabbed the stack of papers off her desk, skimming through the contents. "This is a whole lotta paper. What even is this?"
"It's a peace treaty...it's 77 pages long. This is my 44th draft so far. It contains everything..." she yawned mid-sentence, "...updated policy, economic and legislative changes, new land delegation, reparations as per section 8 of the—"
"—Girl, if you don't give it a rest already! You already told everyone you guys are demons, it's not like you can dress that up in fancy words or walk back on it! I thought you were sure about your decision—"
"I am!" One insisted. "I am...I just don't want Midgard to regress back to being under the thumb of corrupt lords. That's all."
"One, listen to yourself."
"This is important!"
Gabriella bonked One on the head with the stack of papers. "Don't be stupid! You're stressing out about things that MIGHT happen years down the line. Right now, Midgard doesn't exist, and people just found out what happens when you rely on a bunch of moody teenagers to lead their country. The only thing they're concerned about now is surviving the next day in a place that doesn't even have a goddamn sun! Our priority is bringing Midgard from the darkness, nothing else."
"You're...straight to the point as always, Gabriella."
"Only to stop you from getting in your head so damn much!" Gabriella lifted One up, holding her in her arms. "You look awful. Get something in your belly first or you'll pass out before long." She brought One down to her wheelchair at the bottom of the steps, forcing her to join everyone at the dining table.
The dining table was lively and vibrant, that's what first stuck out to One. Three and Five were hovering above Ventus' shoulders as he showed them something on the gummiphone, Terra was leaning back in his chair drinking coffee, and Mikhail was bouncing up and down in his seat. Although no one was quite as happy as Two, who was cooking breakfast with Aqua in the kitchen, they even wore adorable matching aprons. One couldn't remember the last time she saw a bigger grin on her younger sister's face and wished she could capture that smile forever.
"Oh. My. Gosh. Ooooone! I'm so glad you're finally here!" Two skipped over to One, then rolled her to the kitchen. "You won't believe what this kitchen has! There's no fire in this oven, but it still gets really hot!" She ran up to the giant rectangular box in the corner. "And this thing is called a re... fridge-something, I don't really know, but it gets suuuuuper cold without any magic! And- And-" she pulled out a glass bottle of milk and a block of cheese, "look at this!"
"Milk and Cheese?" One replied.
"MILK AND CHEESE! No cows in sight! They get all their food from a 'grocery store'! Eeeek- I feel like I died and went to food heaven!"
"Yes, Two. It's nice." She returning to the dining table.
"Oh, lighten up, One! Just admit this world is amazing and take it easy for once! Here, I bet this will bring a smile to your face~" Five pressed a button on the gummiphone and a bright light flashed in her face.
"Five, get that thing away from me!" she snapped.
"Jeez, calm down, all I did was take a picture of you and you look so...oh..." Five brought the gummiphone closer to her face. "Did you get ANY sleep last night, One? You could go shopping with all those bags under your eyes."
"Sleep is essential," Three said.
'YOU TWO ARE THE REASON WHY I DIDN'T GET ANY FUCKING SLEEP LAST NIGHT.' One took in a deep breath. "I'll have a good night's rest when we're back in Midgard."
Five rolled her eyes. "Boo! Would it kill you to relax a little? The world's already over, I mean...honestly, what more do we have to lose at this point?"
"What more do we have to lose?" Five had a nasty habit of not thinking before she spoke and One's lack of sleep was only contributing to her temper. "We could die at any moment! Did you suddenly forget that we're mortals? Not to mention the entire population of Midgard hangs on a thread!"
"Uh..what are you talking about? Or are you just being paranoid again? You know, those masturbation techniques I showed you have worked wonders on relieving my stress, just saying."
"—Let's have appropriate conversations at the table please," Aqua said.
Five was damn lucky Aqua came in with breakfast when she did because One was on the verge of shoving that gummiphone down her throat. Before even attempting to answer Five again, she took an angry bite out of her eggs and chugged down some of her orange juice. "...Impressive. This is quite delicious. Well done."
"Yeah, you outdid yourself, Aqua! 'Specially with these pancakes," Ventus said.
"Oh no, that was all Two," Aqua smiled in her direction. "My compliments to the chef."
"Aww!" Two put her hands on her cheeks. "You guys are gonna make me blush! I'm just glad it turned out well!"
One pointed her fork at Five who was shoving heaps of bacon into her mouth. "I'd enjoy it more if someone remembered her table manners."
"Ugh!" Annoyed, Five dropped her plate on the table. "...I thought at least with Four gone I wouldn't have someone nagging at me all the time."
"You're not a child anymore so stop acting like one."
"...Whatever. You still haven't elaborated on what you were talking about earlier."
She set her utensils down, then dabbed her face with a napkin. "We'll talk about it when we visit Four at the clinic. All of you need to hear this."
"Ooooo! This is about what happened last night, isn't it? Two's been awfully tight-lipped about it and I've been dying to know why you ladies were up at such ungodly hours. Wait let me guess..." Five leaned across the table, whispering, "...It was an orgy wasn't it?"
Aqua glared at Five and she sat back down.
One, thankful that Aqua was equally as level-headed as her, simply shook her head. "It was a political conflict. It was nothing of that... nature, but I had to make a critical decision for the sake of Midgard."
"It sounds like you girls were pretty important people," Terra said.
"Of course, back when we had our powers, we were goddesses."
Ventus nearly spit his orange juice out. "G-Goddesses?! Like crazy power mythical being type goddesses?!"
"Yes. Though we are mere mortals now, back in our prime, we were formidable leaders of several countries." One shook her head. "But that was in our past... a story for another day."
"You girls are all so young, it must have been a heavy burden to lead a country," Aqua said.
"It was, especially with the Flower. Many mistakes were made, and so much unnecessary blood was shed. We are long overdue to face the consequences of our actions."
After breakfast, they went to the clinic and came to the receptionist's desk where a strange white creature that looked like a cross between a bear and a stuffed animal greeted them. "Hello! You must be here to see Four, kupo! You came just in time, Dr. Mog's seeing her right now!"
One nodded slowly, confused as to what exactly she was looking at, but deciding to go along with it for the sake of her sanity. On the other end of the spectrum, Three was captivated by his apparent cuteness and attempted to touch him only for him to swerve away from her hand.
"Moogles don't really like to be touched like that," Ventus gestured to the Moogle's head. "Especially not their pom-poms."
Three clicked her tongue. "...Annoying."
—
["The answer is yes. It has always been yes. I would die for you, Lady Four."]
["One, tell us what we should do! Or...or more of us will die!"]
["...I can stop the blood. Can't fix the arm."]
—BEEP—
—BEEP—
—BEEP—
Four sprung up from her bed, hyperventilating. She felt like the walls in the white room were closing in on her and the wires and tubes hooked up to her body were trying to squeeze her. "No! One, please, PLEASE don't leave me! I can't live without—"
"—Four! Are you alright?" Aside from herself, there was someone else in the room with her; a small, furry white creature that she learned was called a Moogle. His name was Doctor Mog, and contrary to what his adorable appearance would suggest, he took himself quite seriously and spoke in a deep, sophisticated voice that always made Four want to giggle. He was perhaps one of the strangest creatures Four ever met, but she'd be lying if he didn't give her the best medical care she ever received before.
For a painstaking number of hours, he tended to her wounds while she was waking in and out of consciousness, not once leaving her side. He gently cleaned her wounds, sewed her arm closed, gave her medicine to make the pain go away, and talked with her throughout the entire process, explaining to her everything he knew about the world. And for that, she was deeply endeared to him, and Moogles in general. With Doctor Mog by her bedside, she managed to calm herself down and give him a nod of affirmation.
"Another nightmare I take?" He listened to her heartbeat with the instrument around his neck. "Ah, there's definitely a spike in your heart rate, kupo."
Four twisted her blanket in between her fingers. "...It's the same one, except now the hellhound ends up killing Aqua and Mickey."
"I see." He scribbled something down in a notebook. "A clear symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD for short."
"Wha...What is that?"
"It's a mental health disorder that can be triggered by experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event."
"A- Are...you saying I'm...'crazy' now? Because I'm not, I'm perfectly sane!"
"No, not at all, it's quite common, kupo. As a resident of Traverse Town, many of my patients suffer from this disorder due to how traumatic it is for them to lose their home. I assure you, this is a very typical response and it would be far more abnormal for you not to show any signs of trauma after everything you've described to me thus far."
"...That's good."
"If this continues then we'll have to consider using a Soothing Crystal to temporarily mitigate these nightmares. You haven't been able to get more than five minutes of rest since you were admitted to my clinic and I'm afraid your consistent lack of sleep will negatively impact your health, kupo."
"Ah...I understand."
—knock-knock—
"I'm sure those are visitors. Please, come in, kupo!"
The door opened and a large group of people poured inside the patient. Her sisters were at the forefront, but there were others she didn't quite recognize. There was Aqua and two men beside her who she assumed were her friends, but she was totally stumped by the weird boy and the even weirder older woman standing around her sisters. 'Who are those two freaks and why are they here? And why do they have horns and sharp teeth, it's kind of scary. No, I shouldn't dwell on them, my sisters are here and that's all that matters.' "Sisters! I'm so happy to see all of you!" she cried.
"The feeling's mutual," One said.
"Totally! We really missed you, Four!" Two said.
"And you look as stunning as ever," Five said.
Three smiled, which was a rare sight to see, and Five even held back from her usual petty insults, which made their reunion that much sweeter.
One directed her attention to Doctor Mog. "And you must be the doctor, correct?"
"Correct. Greetings, my name is Dr. Mog, kupo. I'm happy to report that Four has made an excellent recovery since she was presented to the clinic."
"That's great news. How are you feeling, Four?" One asked.
Four smiled at her sisters. "I feel great, especially now that you're all here!"
"That's so nice of you to say, Four!" Two set down a basket of food on the nightstand. "We thought you might be hungry, so we brought you some breakfast."
"This is far too kind...thank you."
"How's your..." She moved her arm up and down. "...You know?"
"I'm ...still getting used to it, but I think I can adjust fairly quickly! Anyway, how have you all been? I've missed my sisters dearly."
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there's an urgent matter we need to discuss," One said.
Doctor Mog hopped off his stool, then made his way to the door. "In that case, I'll excuse myself so you can all have some privacy. Let me know if you have any questions in regards to our treatment plan, kupo."
"We should leave too. Meet us in the waiting room whenever you're ready," Aqua said.
With that, they left the sisters, and the two oddball humans in the patient room.
"Oh...those two are staying here too?" Four asked, gesturing to the oddballs.
"Oddballs? Oh, you must mean Mikhail and Gabriella," One corrected.
"You got a problem with us being here or something?!" Gabriella snarled.
"N- No! I'm sorry, I just didn't recognize you two at first, but now that you point it out...I'm embarrassed that I didn't realize it sooner...Anyway, what is it that you wanted to tell us?" Four asked,
"Last night..." One let out a sharp exhale. "A conflict that most likely would've escalated into a full-out war nearly broke out due to your actions. Your propaganda split the Land of Mountains against the rest of Midgard and the only way out of it without bloodshed, at least the only way I saw, was to tell everyone the true nature of our existence."
"What does that mean?" Five asked.
"It means that to the people of Midgard, we're demons who've wreaked havoc on the world."
"Mmm hmm, but...isn't that what they already thought of us before we killed all the dissenters and brainwashed the rest with our Power of Song?"
"Hardly news," Three added.
"Yes, but..." she dragged her hand over her mouth, "...when you put it like that, I see how much of a complete and utter fool I've been. I let my pride get the best of me and cloud my judgment."
"You weren't a fool, One! Your dream was to bring peace to Midgard and you did that, we just couldn't sustain it for very long because of the Flower." Four sat herself up from the bed. "But now we all have a chance to start over and even if the whole world's against us, that's never stopped you before, so why should it now?"
"Four's right, and hello! Did you forget about Gabs? No one's gonna kill us as long as we have a giant dragon by our side!" Two said.
Mikhail raised his hands. "Oh-oh! Don't forget me too!"
Two ruffled his hair. "Of course not, little guy!" She lifted her head back up to One. "See? We'll be fine, we're with you no matter what! Right girls?"
Four and Five shared a smile with each other while Three grunted, which was about as much acknowledgment as they were going to get from her.
Finally, One smiled. "Then I should count myself lucky to have all of you as my sisters!"
"If that's all you wanted to discuss, then I was hoping you girls could fill me in on well...everything that's happened so far. Dr. Mog fed me bits and pieces, and I at least know we're at Traverse Town, but I'm afraid that's the extent of my knowledge," Four said.
"A world that never sleeps dwells in an endless abyss," Three said.
"Pardon?"
"You're better off asking Terra, Ventus, and Aqua for a more thorough explanation," One said.
"Terra and Ventus? I take it those were the two other people besides Aqua, right? They said they would be in the waiting room so let's not keep them 'waiting' any longer." Using her IV pole for support, she scooted off the bed and stood up on her feet.
"Uh, Four...should you really be up like that?" Two asked.
"Oh, don't you worry about me! Dr. Mog gave me this medicine called a panacea that made me stop feeling the excruciating pain in my arm so I feel better than ever!"
"That's great!"
"And I only stopped blinking for a few hours!"
"That's...not so great. Are you sure that was medicine he gave you and not ...something else?"
"I want some," Three said.
"Me too!" Mikhail said.
One pinched the bridge of her nose. "This is exactly why we need to leave this world as soon as possible. Four, if you're able to walk then follow us to the waiting room."
Four did as told and joined them inside the waiting room.
"Oh! Four! Is...everything okay?" Aqua asked.
"Yes...what's wrong?"
"I- I'm sorry I just thought you'd be more...uh," she shook her head, "nevermind. I have some good news." She went up to them with her gummiphone in hand. "Mickey just texted me and said he'll be returning soon. It shouldn't be long now before we can return to Midgard."
"I'm sorry if this is a redundant question, but how long would that be?" Four asked. "Perhaps this is me just losing track of time here, but it's odd that it feels like I've been here forever and yet it's still the dead of night."
"Oh, that's just a weird quirk of Traverse Town, and this place isn't even the weirdest world out there, trust me!" Ventus said. "But I guess since each world is so different, that's why time flows differently too, right?"
"It's a possibility. Each world is effectively on its own axis so the passage of time differs from world to world," Terra said.
"Then it could be days before Mickey returns..." One said.
"Nah, it won't be that long! Mickey's our king, it's basically his job to be on top of the flow of time between different worlds," Ventus said.
"...You admitting to being ruled by a talking mouse doesn't exactly bode well with my consciousness...but you've given me no reason to doubt you so if you say he'll be here soon, then I'll just have to take your word for it."
"Nice! And since we have time to kill, why don't we check out the Fourth District together? There's lots of cool stuff down there and I feel like I'd be doing you guys a disservice if I can't even show you the best parts of town!"
"Ven, I'm not sure that's a good idea. They've already been through so much, let's try not to pile so many things on them at once," Aqua said.
Terra ruffled Ventus's hair. "Yeah, you'll have to excuse Ven. He doesn't know how to act around girls his age."
"Shut up!" Ventus slapped Terra's hand away, then sheepishly stared at the ground. "...Sorry, I just thought seeing the Fourth District might take your guy's mind off of everything. I didn't mean any harm."
"Well, perhaps taking a break and...'relaxing' is in order after all that we've been through," One said.
"Do my ears deceive me or did I actually hear One say she wants to relax? Are you sure you're our older sister and not an imposter?!" Five asked.
One rolled her eyes. "Yes, Five, I think we can afford to take a short break as long as everyone's on the same page..." She turned back to Four who smiled in response.
"I think it's a wonderful idea! We'll probably never see this world again, so we might as well take advantage of being here while it lasts," Four said.
"—Absolutely not!" Dr. Mog butt in. "Your condition's only just stabilized, you shouldn't even be up on your feet right now!"
"Thank you for your concern, but I'm fine!" Four insisted. "Besides, losing limbs is a very common occurrence in Midgard!"
"I don't know what absurd claims you're making, but as a doctor, I cannot, in good conscience, let you of this clinic. You may feel fine, but losing a limb is a very traumatic experience that requires extensive therapy and counseling, kupo. Don't forget what we talked about!"
"I know... but this is the best for both of us. Trust me" Four said.
"Yes, it's far safer for her to be with us than in this clinic alone. If even one soldier finds out she's staying here, then she would be in grave danger," One said.
"Bah! We have patient confidentiality here, no need to worry about some soldier!"
"But I'm telling you that her staying here poses an unacceptable amount of risk, not only to the patient but to the doctor which is why I suggest..."
Four watched One go back and forth with the doctor, starting to feel awkward while she stood around in her medical gown. 'Dr. Mog means well, but I can't stay here for weeks and do physical therapy! Maybe if I express this to him calmly he'll understand.' "Excuse me, Dr. Mog, I just wanted to say tha—" Mid-sentence, Three came in and plucked the Moogle right off the ground, holding his plush body in her hand like a doll.
"Let me down! I'm not a plaything, kupo!"
"You look like a stuffed animal. I wonder if it's stuffing inside of you...or guts. I'm afraid there's only one way to find out." She snapped her scissors together, terrifying the poor creature.
"I-I-I assure you my body composition is no different than yours, k-k-kupo!"
"Three, let him go!" Four demanded.
"Hm. Let's run tests first." Three completely ignored her and caressed Doctor Mog's head in an attempt to soothe him. "Don't worry. I'll be gentle."
"That's it!" Dr. Mog pulled himself out of Three's grip and flew out of the waiting room.
"That was awful! You can't just do that to small things!" Four said.
"Yeah! You're supposed to be nice to little guys, not scare them!" Mikhail said.
She shrugged. "I was on my best behavior."
"At least your creepy girl antics saved us a lot of trouble. So are we leaving now or what?" Gabriella asked.
"Sure! I'll just go change into my regular clothes and we can be on our way," Four said.
"In the meantime, I'll pay the..." Aqua trailed off, realizing the receptionist had fled the scene long ago. "I'll just leave the munny on the counter."
Four underestimated how difficult getting dressed would be with only one arm and decided to request the assistance of Two. She was mortified at having to ask her sister for something so personal, but Two was very kind and understanding, which made getting dressed a relatively quick and painless process. Now that she was back in her regular attire, the group went ahead and followed Ventus to the Fourth District.
Although Four had swore up and down that she was ready to get back on her feet, that was nothing more than a front. Guilt squeezed her throat every time she so much as felt down on herself, and it wasn't something she could casually bring up to her sisters either. After all, who was she to go run to One about her arm after breaking her legs? She might as well be asking to break her arms too at that point. It would be best if Four just kept all of her problems to herself, so as not to burden her sisters, but apparently, she was physically incapable of doing that much. Not even a dozen steps in and she was already stumbling around, and of course, Two ran in front of her with her hands held out.
"Here, Four, I got you!"
Four steadied herself the best she could, then waved her hand down. "Oh no it's fine, really, thank you, Two! Besides I have to learn how to be independent, I can't rely on my sisters for everything, you know?"
"Maybe in a few months down the line, but definitely not right now! Let me help you so you don't feel like you're on your own!"
It's not as if Four didn't consider taking Two's offer, she wanted to more than anything, but her desire for affection was always overridden by her guilt. She couldn't even look directly at Two, let alone hold her hand because all she could see was her sister's gouged eyes and her face wet with blood. Then she would feel worse for looking away at all because it was her hands that inflicted so much pain and she couldn't even confront it. It was an ugly, self-perpetuating cycle that she felt was best if she disengaged from her sisters entirely, so she said, in a strained voice, "No. I'm okay."
Two studied her face for the longest time before smiling back at her. "That's okay too! Just let me know if you need anything, I'm always here for you!"
Four watched Two leave to chat with Aqua, she tried to grab her own arm, but remembered she couldn't, so she squeezed her fist instead to relieve the tension that was building inside of her. 'Two's always so quick to forgive. If I was nicer like her, then maybe—no stop getting in your head Four! Stuff like this is why I fell into the darkness in the first place. Maybe it would be better for everyone if I just—' She was getting so lost in her own head that she didn't realize there was a curb right in front of her and nearly tripped again, but this time someone else caught her before she could fall. A boy, the younger one out of Aqua's friends, whose name escaped her. All she could say about him was that he was kind of cute with his blonde, wind-swept air and doe-eyed baby face, but— 'Wt, why am I even thinking about that? Stay focused, Four.'
"You okay?" he asked.
"Yes, thank you." She walked away from him, but the boy caught up to her.
"Hey, wait a sec!"
She only spoke to him out of common courtesy. "...What is it?"
"How come you don't want anyone to help you out? You clearly need it."
"I don't see how that's any of your concern."
"Aqua told me about how you lost your arm and it's been on my mind ever since. I can't imagine how that felt...it... must've been terrifying," he said quietly.
"I-It was... I thought I was going to—" she caught herself, "ugh, why am I telling you any of this? I've said enough."
"No, that was good! That was good! You shouldn't keep your feelings bottled up like that!"
'He is so annoying, how do I get him to stop pestering me? Well, Five always said the best way for me to drive a man away is to just be myself so maybe that'll work.' Slowing her brisk walking pace down, she gave her full attention to him. "Remind me of your name again."
"Sure, I'm Ventus, but my friends call me Ven!"
"Then I'll call you Ventus."
His face flickered with annoyance. "And your name's Four, right? Orrr do you go by 'for'? Hey, maybe you like 'fore' better?"
"What are you..." She thought about it for a moment, then rolled her eyes. "Oh, I see what you're playing at. You must be the fool amongst your friends."
"Aw come on, even you have the admit that was a pretty good joke!"
"Maybe for someone of your intelligence."
"Guess you're not a fan of puns, huh? Well, I think they're the pun-nacle of humor, ha ha!"
"..."
"Hey don't give me that look! Okay, okay, I'm done. I don't wanna pun-ish you with any more lame jokes!"
"You really are the court jest—"
In the middle of their conversation, a bright white light flashed in their faces.
"Ah!" After Four was done rubbing her eyes, she saw Five holding the gummiphone with a mischievous grin on her face. "Five? Wha...what in the world was that?!"
"It's called a picture! Ven showed it to us, you just push this button right here and it makes a super detailed painting of the real world!" Five squeezed in between Four and Ventus to show off the picture she took. "See? Amazing, right?"
"Oh gosh...I've never seen anything like it before it's as if I'm looking at a mirror!"
"Take any more pictures?" Ventus asked.
"Mm hm! I took One's picture, but she looked awful in it so I had to delete it. Luckily, I have something even better!" Five went to the photo gallery where she proudly showed off the other photos she took. "I've been taking these fabulous pictures all day long! What do you think?"
Four's eyebrows scrunched up. "Um...Five?" There were dozens if not hundreds of pictures of Terra, mostly of his butt, but his other features were given attention too. And sure, Terra was handsome; he was tall, muscular, mature, and probably single, but this was going a little overboard. "Does...Terra know about any of this?"
"Oh heavens no! That would be mortifying!"
'Five's not the type to get crushes easily so I suppose she would get really intense about this one, but still... hopefully, I wasn't this embarrassing around Riku.' Four thought.
"Wow, you, uh, really, really, really like Terra, huh?" Ventus said. "So how did we get the honor of being a part of the butt gallery?"
"I'm so glad you asked!" Five playfully pinched Four's cheek. "You see, my dear older sister Four never talks to guys her own age. Honestly, I thought she was into sugar daddies for the longest time, so imagine my surprise when I see you two together! I just had to save the moment, it may never happen again!"
"Ugh, that's not true Five! You're lying!" She whipped her head back to Ventus. "She's ly-ing!"
"Sorry, I'm a little lost here. What's a... sugar daddy?" Ventus asked.
Five raised an eyebrow. "You don't know? Aww, you poor, sweet innocent boy! Remind me how old you are again... 12?"
He blushed. "...17."
"Oh...Oh..." Five curled her lips inward and diverted her eyes, probably to not make it so awkward, but she didn't understand this actually made it 10 times worse and that much more humiliating for Ventus.
"Five, don't make that face! That's rude!" Four hissed. "And for the record, I've never had a sugar daddy! The only older guy I've ever talked to before was..." She went quiet and her face became sullen. "...Never mind."
"On no Four, I didn't mean to—"
"No, Five, don't apologize. Seriously, it's fine!"
"...Okay, but you'd tell me if something was wrong, right?"
"Of course!" she lied.
Five seemed to buy her acting and so turned to Ventus next. "And by the way, there's absolutely nothing with being a virgin!" She wrapped her arm around Four. "Four's a virgin too and she gets along just fine!"
"Gee...thanks for putting that information out there for the world to know," Four said.
Ventus seemed to buy Five's acting and was back to being all smiles again. "Glad I'm not the only one! I don't see the big deal in all of that stuff anyway."
"I suppose if you've never experienced something, then you have no frame of reference on how 'good' or 'bad' it is either," Five mused.
"Wise words from the 'ever-insightful' Five," Four muttered sarcastically. "Anyway, so Ventus, when are we reaching the Fourth District? It feels like we've been walking for quite a while."
He looked around the various locales they were walking past. "It looks like we're in the Third District, so it shouldn't be much farther now!"
"Hold on." Terra stopped abruptly, holding his hand out in front of the others.
"Terra, what's wrong?" Aqua asked.
"You don't smell that?"
"...Now that you mention it, it does smell like something is burning."
"Something's not right..." Terra scaled up the side of a building, presumably so he could have a better view of Traverse Town. When he came back down, there was a grave look on his face. "There's trouble. I could see smoke coming out from the Fourth District...my guess is heartless."
Aqua summoned her keyblade. "Then we need to go!"
By the time they reached the Fourth District, the fire had already spread rapidly; flames swept across from building to building and acrid fumes saturated the air. The few buildings and shops that remained were vandalized by rioting soldiers, evident by the shards of glass and splintered wood scattered across the street. Whatever the Fourth District looked like before must have been a sight to behold if the burning remnants of the town were anything to go by. So many artsy signs were blackened by ash and the once colorful lights and fixtures were now dripping onto the ground in puddles like hot wax. It was a horrific sight. Four covered her mouth with her hand, slowly shaking her head back and forth. "Oh no... all of this is my fault."
"No, it was mine," One insisted. "It was a tactical error to reveal the truth and exacerbate an already precarious situation."
"You were only forced into that situation because of me! I'm to blame for this destruction!" Four cried.
"No time to worry about that," Terra said, his voice stern and commanding. "Right now, we need to focus on stopping this fire and saving as many people as we can."
Aqua nodded. "We should divide into groups, that way we can —"
Suddenly, something enormous crashed down in front of them, they heard bone-chilling screams and then a lull of silence. Whatever it was that landed in front of them, lifted itself back into the air, leaving behind a massive pool of blood on the ground.
"Wh...What was that thing that attacked us just now?! All of this blood...no way it could've been a heartless!" Ventus yelled.
Terra fixated on the blood-soaked ground. "If it's not a heartless...then what else it could be?"
"Let's find out." Aqua aimed her keyblade at the creature, then said, "Thundaga!"
Bolts of lightning rained down from the sky, both electrocuting and illuminating the creature that stood before them, but perhaps it was better left shrouded by darkness because it looked like something out of a nightmare. Its entire 'body', if it could be called that, was composed of hundreds of human bodies stitched together into a single unit; some were still alive, but with faces horribly disfigured or even scraped off from constantly being smacked around against the buildings and walls. Most were dead.
Terra grimaced at the creature. "More Possessor heartless... there are probably hundreds of them in that thing holding all those bodies together."
"I...I've never seen a heartless so...gruesome like this before," Aqua said.
"We need to defeat it quickly to save all those people from their suffering. It looks like this monster is slow and unintelligent, it shouldn't take much to lure it into the fire. Aqua, Ventus, if you could both use some of the magic you have to create a thick sheet of ice, then Terra generates another earthquake, that should be enough force to make it fall over. In the meantime, the rest of us can evacuate as many people as we can," One said.
"But what about everyone stuck in that weird heartless creature? We can't just let them all die!" Ventus argued.
"...With the rate at which the district is burning, we need to prioritize saving the civilians first. Besides, they'd most likely all die anyway, even if we put all of our efforts into saving them."
"No, I'm not accepting that! There has to be a better way! There always is! Right, Terra, Aqua?!"
"Ven's right. We should exhaust all of our options first before we go to extremes," Terra said.
Aqua nodded. "We have a vast array of magic and other techniques to use at our disposal. We should be able to reach a solution that doesn't end in the loss of countless lives."
"...So be it," One said reluctantly. "You have my full attention and cooperation for whichever alternative plan you have."
"If your assessment is right and they are Posessor heartless, it'll be difficult drawing them out from its host without also hurting those people trapped," Aqua said.
"Yeah, Quake probably won't have much of an effect on it either due to the sheer size of it," Terra said.
"Oh! How about we cast a bunch of Magnet spells and it can draw all the heartless out? That way no one has to get hurt and we can knock them all out in one go!" Ventus suggested.
"Actually...that may just work. Without the heartless, it'll collapse and all those people will fall, so we can use Aero to cushion their landing," Aqua said.
"Removing the immediate threat and immobilizing the enemy is a sound plan that we can work with. In the meantime, my sisters and I can help evacuate the district," One said.
Ventus gave her a thumbs up. "Awesome! Then let's not waste another second!"
"Ven, why don't you lead the attack against the heartless? Terra and I can put out the fire," Aqua said.
"Seriously?! But your magic's way stronger than mine!"
"Which is why I rather focus on putting out the fire since it'll be harder to contain, but you're a formidable keyblade wielder in your own right and I trust in your abilities," Aqua said.
"Plus it's your plan, so you should take charge," Terra said.
Ventus's face lit up. "I won't let you guys down!" He hit the emblem on his shoulder guard and a white light shrouded his body, transforming his usual attire into a sleek suit of armor with a matching helmet. Though, this 'armor' was unlike anything Four or her sisters had ever seen before. His black undergarments were plated with gold and steel-blue sheets of metal that covered his chest and limbs; a far cry from the slabs of metal, rust, and prayers their soldiers wore. To top it off, he threw his keyblade high up in the air and it remodeled itself into what appeared to be a flying apparatus that he was able hover around on in the sky.
"What's that?" Three asked, snapping a picture of him.
"It's a keyblade glider!" He waved to his friends. "Alright, I'm heading out!"
"Let's also get to work," Terra said.
Before Aqua left with Terra, she yelled to the sisters, "Be careful out there, girls!"
Once they departed, One looked back to her sisters and the dragon pair. "If everyone's ready, then we'll leave together..." she turned to Four. "Except for you. It's best if you stay behind."
Her eyes widened. "Wh..What?"
"It's dangerous, and you're still recovering. Just stay by the entrance and we'll be back soon." Four watched as One led her sisters, Gabriella, and Mikhail into the destruction to rescue the people they could from the fire.
'How is that fair?! I caused all of this, but I can't even do anything to help?!' Feeling another tremor, she squeezed her hand again. 'No. No more excuses. I won't be left behind, and I won't leave my sisters to clean up the mess I created!' Four ran ahead into the district, between the raging fire and the battle against the enormous homunculus-like heartless, she thought it would be best to cut through one of the alleyways so she could avoid the rioters and shield herself from the intense heat of the fire. But that alleyway proved to be nothing more than a short detour, and before long, she was back on the main street. Across from her, she saw an open flame licking the wall of a building, as if to taste it first, before consuming it whole. Four thought the heat was already bad enough, but now it was unbearable and she considered turning back around until she heard a cry for help.
"—Ahhhh! Someone...anyone...please..."
'Someone needs help, I can't turn my back on them.' Covering her nose and throat with her elbow, Four cut through a corner and ran into a small plaza where she saw an elderly man stuck under a pile of burning rubble. She rushed over to him and grabbed onto the rubble from the bottom to try and lift it up.
"—Ugh... you're Four..." The elderly man grumbled. "...Y...You're only here... so you can kill me later...aren't you?"
"No, I'm here to help you!" But without her other arm, she was struggling to lift the rubble out of the way. 'This is so heavy, I'm not sure if I can even...'
"Just ...leave me here to die...don't want your help anyway."
"I'm helping you whether you like it or not!"
"̴̠̀Å̶̲h̵͖͐͛͊ä̶̡͚̱́h̸̨̀͊â̵̛͔h̶̙̟͎͑̚h̴̰̄ͅa̵̧̩̘̍͑̎ạ̸͎͂́h̴̖̎͆͑h̶̺̀̈ẖ̸̜͂͜h̸̛̦̾́h̸̞͐h̸̡̗̗͆͂́h̴̠̯̫̓̍̄h̷̜͂̇A̷̮͌̎͗a̵̮̭̺͊̆h̵͕́́ą̵̠̔ẖ̸͊̉̂a̷͎̘̾h̷̘̪̱͂͌̕a̷̭̹͍̍̅h̵͎̥̿̐̏ā̸̪̗́͝"̸̿͜
"̷͍͓͒H̴̛̼̐̓ͅe̸͉͖͉̚l̷̦̆̅̆p̴̬͛̉̽.̴̧̪͎̿́̀.̵͎͈̤̀̔.̸̨̮̌̋H̶̢̲͆e̸̱̝͌͘ͅl̴̠̬͛p̵̡̾́.̶͕̅̊ͅ.̵̼̪̂.̵̢̪̂"̵̜̏́̕
̷̛̱̺̻̐"̴̞͖̉́̒I̴̫͊̀̏ ̷̖̤͛̑w̵̞̓̽à̵̞̯̟͋n̸̩̰̈́t̵̛̙͋̅ ̸̞͌̿͝t̸̩̏ó̷̡̰̠̓̚ ̶̇ͅd̶͇̗̾͆í̷̼e̷̜̤̤͊̋.̸̧̱͈̊͠.̸͇̤̑.̷̗̅̋͂p̴͔̼̃ĺ̵͓̎̓e̸̙͕̜̅̈́̓a̸̭͊̇s̶͈̤͎͐͗͘e̸̺̠̊ ̴͙̞́̀͗Ǵ̷̖͖̠̾̿o̸̿͝ͅd̸̥̦͊͝ ̵̪͙̬̔͊k̵͉̙̬̄ï̸̜̭͛͘l̶̠̂̉̓l̴͙̹̂̕͝ ̵̢͔̒̀͘ḿ̵͚̻e̸̦̓̈́.̴̛̣̜̼͐.̸̼̗͒̌͝.̴̤͙̟̂̎͝"̶̨͔̇
Four froze in place, her hand losing its grip on the rubble.
"Bah! Wh- What the hell is that thing?!" The elderly man cried out.
Four already knew what was behind her, but she was so afraid that she couldn't even turn around to look. Instead, she stood there, petrified, as their screams and wails wrapped around her.
̵̢͎̬̎̚"̶͎̉͝W̵̳͌ḩ̷͍͛̐̕ẏ̶͍̬̦͗.̶̠̘̬̀͒.̵͔̣̐̑̎.̵̢͈̽̒͜b̷̝̽ḙ̸̜̒͗͒t̶̹̎̕r̵̞̓å̵̲̺̀̿ý̵͕̬̼̚ ̵̲̾u̴͇̹̼̔̀s̷̭̲̾.̴̝̀.̴͔͍̇̈́̍.̸̩̣̎"̸͎͍̇̉
̷̦́"̴̰͋̄́W̸̡̧͎̕ȟ̶̨̲̤̈́͋y̵̫͓̎.̴̨̥̃̾͐.̸̞̠̀͗̃.̴̳̦̇̈͜?̴̫͖̟̄"̷̢̅
She felt several hands grasp her arm and head, moaning her name. She still couldn't turn around.
̶"̵F̶.̵.̴.̶o̸u̶r̸.̶.̵.̴k̷.̴.̴.̴i̸.̵.̸.̵l̵l̶.̴.̴.̶y̵.̶.̴.̶o̶u̴.̸.̷.̸k̶i̵.̷.̶.̶l̵.̸.̶.̸l̵.̵.̴.̸F̶o̶.̴.̸.̴u̶r̶.̴.̴.̴"̷
"Just take me." She felt herself getting pulled away. "It would be better for everyone if I didn't exist..."
More hands snaked around her body. She closed her eyes.
1.00 sec
I know I'm on the verge of losing my life so let's just get this over with already. I guess I'll start with Zero since I have the least to say for her. I never thought in a million years that I'd ever admit to this, but she was right about everything. She was right about me, the Intoners, the fate of the world...and rather than accept what she had to say for what it was I—
"Four!"
What was that? Anyway...rather than accept what she had to say I...I ...lost my train of thought. Crap. I was going to say something just now, but then that voice—
"Four I'm coming for you!"
Is that God speaking to me already?! No, it definitely has to be Satan, but since when did his voice sound so soothing? I guess I'll have to get used to it for all eternity huh?
"—FOUR!"
Four opened her eyes again, somehow she was in the sky and the arms holding onto her were warm and comforting. From the distance she was at, she could see the elderly man run free from the rubble, hopefully to somewhere much safer. 'I'm glad he's okay at least.' As for who saved her, she already had a good idea in mind, and when she lifted her head up, sure enough, it was Ventus.
He popped his helmet off to grin at her. "Came right on time, didn't I?"
"I... suppose I can't deny that," she said, trying not to smile. "...I'm surprised you haven't defeated that heartless yet."
"Try not to rub it in...it's just...not as easy to take down as I thought."
"Why not?"
"I was able to use Magnet on one of its arms, but I think it started to adapt because every time I try to use that spell on it again, all the heartless start rushing from one side of the main body to the other. That causes a ton of people to fall so I have to stop to save them. Plus it keeps using its hands to attack and..." he shuddered, "it freaks me out whenever they scream...I just don't want to hurt anyone when they're in so much pain already."
"I see...I'm sorry. I wish I could be of more help to you."
"Nah, don't sweat it, I can figure something out. If only I had someone to distract that heartless, then I could focus on—"
Before Ventus could get another word out, the creature shifted its attention away from him to instead attack an object flying around in the sky.
"Ah, that must be the King! Now's my chance!" With the creature distracted, Ventus was able to fly in closer to it and hover just above its head. "Alright, here goes nothing! Hold on tight, Four!" Holding her in one arm, he jumped off his glider, then it transformed back into its regular keyblade form. He caught his keyblade mid-air then took aim at the creature. "Magnega!" A giant purple vortex ballooned in front of them that sucked the heartless right out of the human bodies. Once enough of them were clustered together into a lumpy mass, Ventus shot a slew of fireballs at them, burning down the creatures of darkness until their hearts were set free. "Nice! I'm getting back into the swing of things!" With less and less heartless holding the creature together, large groups of humans were falling off the main body like ripe fruit falling from a tree, meanwhile, Ventus and Four were still plummeting from the sky, rapidly approaching the ground.
"Ventus!" Four clung onto his armor as they picked up speed. "Please tell me you're going somewhere with this and we're not falling to our deaths!"
"What?! Come on, have a little faith in me!" Ventus pointed his keyblade at the ground. "Aeroga!" A strong gale rushed out below them, not only cushioning their fall but also the other humans who were attached to the creature. "See? Told you, there's nothing to worry about."
"Other than you nearly giving me a heart attack with all those stunts you pulled?!" Four let go of Ventus, returning to the ground. She started to leave but turned back around to give him a piece of her mind. "It's one thing to perform silly parlor tricks for your audience, but another to force them to be a part of the act!"
He scratched the back of his head. "Sorry...guess I got a little carried away. I'll tone it down next time."
"Next time?! As if I would ever let you..." As much as Four tried to deny it, Ventus's boundless optimism was contagious, and his smile was like parting rays of sunshine amidst a stormy day. That, or maybe she was finally starting to lose it after wallowing in misery for so long. These days she couldn't really tell anymore. "...Well, I've had worse experiences, I'll give you that. Maybe I wouldn't mind something a bit...slower-paced."
"I'll keep that in mind." Ventus threw his keyblade up in the air so it could transform back into a glider. "Sure you'll be okay by yourself?"
"Of course I will. Besides, I need to get back to my sisters, I'm sure they're worried sick about me."
"Right...then I'll see you around!" He hopped on his glider, then flew back toward the creature to resume his battle.
'Ventus...you better not get yourself killed.' With Aqua and Terra dousing most of the flames and her sisters already making substantial progress on their own task, dozens of civilians and soldiers alike poured into the main street, all making their way to the entrance so they could leave the Fourth District behind. Four was careful not to draw too much attention to herself as she pushed her way through the crowd, she had to applaud herself for always wearing an oversized coat attached to her outfit because it made it easy to conceal her identity. Once she reached the entrance, she quickly found her sisters situated away from the crowds of people; though she figured that would be the least difficult part anyway. The real challenge would be convincing One why disobeying direct orders and putting herself in immense danger was actually a good idea.
Reluctantly, Four approached her sisters, expecting One to chew her up and spit her right back out, but to her surprise, she was... calm. Unusually so considering the circumstances, but rather than wait for One's mood to sour, she seized the opportunity to spill out an apology, "...One, I'm sorry, I know you told me to stay behind, but I couldn't just sit back and watch while the rest of you put your lives on the line for my own mistakes! I had to do something!"
"...I know, and I should've recognized how discontent you would be, but it was only for your own good. There's no shame in prioritizing yourself when necessary."
"All I've ever done is prioritize myself, for once in my life I want to put myself before others!"
"Not when you're still healing from a severe injury! Or would you rather lose your other arm too due to your recklessness?!"
"But you insist on fighting when you can't even walk anymore, why can't I do the same?!"
"Insist? You say that as if I chose to be confined to this wheelchair!" One pressed her hands into her chest. "I have to keep fighting regardless of my mobility because you forced me into this position!"
Ever since Four's brutal attack on One, there was a longstanding awkwardness between them that wasn't as present as with the rest of her sisters. Four knew how One felt about her, she said as much during her mental breakdown: 'you're a horrible person and even worse sister', she hurt her in ways that would take far longer to heal than any wound she inflicted upon her. Which is why it shocked her that One was already attempting to have a conversation about it with her so soon. Maybe a part of One felt guilty for cutting her arm off, but Four would tell her a thousand times that it wasn't her fault and that she fully intended to die for her in that moment. Or Four was just being delusional right now and it was something else entirely. There was only one way to find out and she was prepared for whatever outcome that came her way.
"...I'm sorry, I spoke out of turn. I shouldn't have made that comparison," Four said.
"Perhaps it wasn't a completely baseless claim you made...you follow by my example, which I can't fault you for. I just wish..." she met her gaze with Four's. "I wish you would stop needlessly idolizing me and putting me on a pedestal that I frankly don't deserve."
"One, I'm going to have to stop you right there because that's not true. We don't have parents and our eldest sister is a hot mess, so when I think of who to look up to, I think of you. You're my role model, you're the one who taught us how to fight, how to build a nation, and how to be a family all on your own, so don't say it's not deserved!"
"I can be all of those things to you, but I'm your sister first! I want you to confide in me, ask for advice, not go off on your own trying to emulate me!"
"You were always so busy with your work...I didn't want to waste your time."
"Don't be ridiculous, you could never be a waste of my time. None of my sisters are."
"Awww, that's so sweet of you to say, One!" Two said.
"And long overdue," Five muttered.
She elbowed her. "Don't ruin the moment!"
"No, Five is right...maybe I haven't expressed that enough, but it has always been true to me," One said.
"Thank you..." Four said quietly. "I won't soon forget what you've told me."
"Wow, let's see here: we have a successful mission, a death toll that isn't in the hundreds, and things aren't super awkward between One and Four anymore! I say this calls for a group hug!" Two said
Three rolled her eyes. "Ugh, no."
"I think you mean, 'ugh, yes'!" Two stretched her arms out. "Now stop acting aloof and come give your sisters a hug!"
"No, leave me alone."
Two started to reach out to Three, but was interrupted by the loud cheers coming from the crowd. The sisters were so caught up with each other, that they nearly forgot there was still an ongoing battle in the background—one that reached its conclusion when Ventus destroyed the last of the heartless and the creature finally fell apart.
"Thank God, that terrible monster is gone! Thank God!" An elderly woman cried.
A soldier next to the elderly woman embraced her, picking her up from the ground. "It's a miracle Gran-Gran! Looks like we'll stand a chance against the Intoners after all as long as people like him are by our side!"
One made a gesture to the growing crowd. "...Let's try to be discreet for now until we're out of danger."
"The others better come quick before the soldiers get all riled up again," Five said.
Fortunately, they didn't have to wait for long, they saw Ventus emerge from the crowd in his usual attire, along with Aqua and Terra right behind him.
"Ventus," One rolled up to him. "...I have to admit, I was skeptical of your plan, I thought it was far too optimistic and ineffectual, but you proved to me otherwise. You have my thanks."
"Yes, that was incredible, Ven! Nicely done!" Aqua boasted.
"Yeah, you were pretty good out there," Terra said.
Ventus grinned. "Good enough to take the Mark of Mastery Exam soon?"
"Don't push it."
"Heh, well, I guess it wasn't all me. It's a good thing Mickey came in when he did to distract that monster."
"The Mouse? I wasn't aware that he was already here," One said.
Aqua raised an eyebrow. "The 'Mouse'? I'm sure you mean Mickey Mou—"
"—Oh, there they are! Hey! We're here!" Mickey came running up to them with a large group of people the sisters had never seen before.
An older man with long, blonde hair and hands neatly folded behind his back was the first to approach them amongst the group of newcomers. "Why, hello. It's always a pleasure to be re-acquainted with the late Master Eraqus's prized pupils: Aqua, Ventus, and Terra."
All three of them bowed down to him.
"Likewise, it's a pleasure to see you again, Master Ansem!" Aqua said.
He nodded, then turned to the sisters and the dragon pair. "Ah, and you must be the enigmatic Intoners I've heard so much about. My name is Ansem," he swept his hand over the two men in lab coats beside him. "Even and Ienzo here are my apprentices. This may come as a surprise to you, but the 'Flower' entity has been on our radar for quite some time now. We've been intrigued by it ever since we were made aware of its existence by my dear friend," he gestured to Mickey, "and we would like to assist you in destroying that foul demon."
"And we're the Three Fairies: Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather! The Realm of Darkness is a most frightening place, and our magic will give you the proper attire in order to face it without fear!" Flora said.
"Hm? Faeries that actually want to help and not ridicule or mock us? Maybe we are in good hands," Five said.
"Yes, because we are good fairies! We only want to assist you in your travels!"
"Thank you... we'll need all the help we can get," One said. "As far as introductions go, my name is One and these are my sisters: Two, Three, Four, and Five. We also have Gabriella and Mikhail; our dragon friends who have been turned human."
"Great, now that we've all gotten to know each other, we can get down to business!" Mickey said. "When I told Master Ansem about the dragonbone keyblade, he thought it would be a good idea to take it a step further and re-design dragonbone weapons for all you girls!"
"New...weapons?" One asked.
"Yes. Admittedly, we did not know much about the civilization of Midgard, however, we've been given a few ideas on how to proceed," Ienzo said.
"We accept your offer. I can't see any downsides to having our weapons enhanced."
"Excellent." Ansem pulled out a giant contraption. "Then we'll get started right away!"
Remarkably, a time of peace,
A 'lull before the storm'.
But soon they will all be deceased,
And their bodies reformed.
Flowers for the Dead
Three's Heartless Profile
Given Name: The Creature
Official Description: Lots of humans stuck together by a bunch of heartless. Creepy, but cool.
Status: Defeated
A/N: HELLOOOOOOOO
I'm so sorry this took several months to get out but I've been working on a few side projects in the meantime.
First things first, I have some new art posted on my DeviantArt and I'll have more to come to celebrate the end of FFTD so check it out!"
Next up, if y'all are interested in voiced dialogue of some of the scenes in this fanfic , J Geil made some really good AI generated voice lines that y'all can check out on my YouTube channel! The channel name is Catch358, see ya there :D
