Chapter 5: The edge of life

Sora and his group arrived at the village, seeing that everyone was walking around in panic. The original keyblade wielder approached one of the villagers, asking what was going on only to receive the information he suspected along with Rem. Sora and Rem both recalled the events with the children, seeing where they all could've possibly have gone until they noticed that one of the lamps that was keeping the village safe was unlit.

Rem quickly explained to the group that with the barrier broken, mabeast can enter as they please and attack the villagers. Just as she finished speaking, heartless began to appear around the village.

"Oh no, the heartless are here as well!" Sora spoke with concern in his voice. Felt, Rem, and Subaru all three asked Sora what the heartless were, which Sora quickly explained to them about what the heartless are. Sora and Subaru both summoned their keyblades and were about to help the villagers yet Felt pulled out her knife and said to the two, "You three should probably go and save the children of this village. I believe that my strength alone can take care of these creatures."

"Are you sure about this Felt? At least-"

"Sorry to interrupt Sora but you have to go save the children and I feel that you'll need all the help you can get. Now go you idiot!"

Felt swiftly charged at the heartless as she finished speaking to Sora, confident that she can take down the heartless on her own. Sora looked at Felt and wanted to help her out yet Subaru insisted that they should get moving, having a feeling that they should start going into the forest. Sora nodded and quickly alongside Rem they all entered the forest with Rem leading the way, attempting to look for the children with their scent.

As Rem was looking for the children, a couple powerful looking heartless appeared in front of the three. Sora was prepared to take care of the heartless with Kingdom Key since he felt like he didn't need to summon his stronger keyblades yet Subaru stepped in front of his master.

"Don't worry Master Sora, allow me to handle these heartless for you."

"Wait Subaru-"

Subaru quickly charged at the big ball looking heartless, confident in his strength and with all his strength he swung his keyblade directly at the heartless. He felt his keyblade hit the heartless yet he can tell that it didn't kill the heartless, which left him shocked. Why didn't it take damage? Isn't this weapon supposed to be all powerful? Subaru thought to himself in fear.

"Thunderaga!" Sora yelled, summoning powerful lighting bolts at the heartless, easily destroying them with one hit. Seeing this made Subaru annoyed at himself, feeling angry that he didn't do anything. Sora could tell that his apprentice was disappointed that he didn't one-shot the heartless. He patted him in the back.

"Don't be hard on yourself, you did some damage to the heartless yet you still need to get stronger before you can just take out heartless in one hit."

"I...I will get stronger Master Sora, I won't give up just yet."

Subaru grabbed his keyblade with a tight grip, still confident that he can gain that strength he just witnessed. He got up and nodded at his master; the two waited until Rem found the children's scent. Once she found the scent, she began to lead the way with Sora and Subaru both taking care of the heartless. Subaru was strong enough to eliminate the shadow type heartless and some of the soldier type heartless while Sora took care of the more powerful heartless. Once the three reached the children, they checked on them only to find out that they were each bitten.

"These children are cursed just like I was."

"Rem-Rem, do you have a way to cure these children?"

"No, if my sister was here then she could do something. We would need to return the children back to the village."

Sora looked at his keyblade, knowing that he could use it to heal their wounds but proven when he healed Rem, he couldn't get rid of the curse. He looked at every child closely but started to notice that the girl with blue hair and a blue dress wasn't around, he realized that they were missing a kid.

"One of the girls isn't here, she must be deeper inside the forest!"

"Then let us go rescue this girl, Master Sora."

Sora looked at Subaru and warned him that it'll be dangerous to which Subaru said that he won't get stronger without the experience. Being someone who was thrown into danger when the heartless attacked Destiny Islands years ago, Sora understood this and nodded at Subaru. He turned towards Rem and asked her if she could protect the children.

"Don't worry Sora, I can protect-"

"I say you might want to reconsider that, Sora." A familiar voice spoke to Sora, causing a small chill in his back. Sora turned towards the familiar female voice to find Elsa Granhiert, healed from their battle in Old Man Rom's building. Subaru was also afraid of seeing Elsa, having recalled the pain he was when he was in near death because of her. Rem looked at Subaru and seeing that he is scared reminded her of what Sora had said earlier, "Deep down he is scared."

'So he is scared…'

Rem thought to herself yet she couldn't put much thought into it, since a threat is right in front of them.

"Elsa, please. Don't you hurt these children. They are innocent."

"Oh I know Sora,but they have intestines that I have to see. Little children always have the cutest intestines."

"Shut up you crazy bitch!" Subaru said, angered at the idea of someone wanting to actually cause harm to children. He did feel scared but seeing that they need to protect the children, that fear was able to fade away slowly. He got himself into a stance he believed would be helpful in the fight with Elsa, showing that he is ready to face her.

"Master Sora, you should probably go save that missing little girl. I think Rem-Rem and I can handle this bitch."

"I agree. Natsuki Subaru and I can handle her together."

Sora looked at Rem and at first he noticed the weapon she was wielding, being a Flail before taking notice of what she said. He did felt concerned but seeing that both his friends were determined to work together for the sake of the kids was enough to convince him that he can allow the two to take care of Elsa.

"Just be careful with her you two, she shouldn't be underestimated."

"Don't worry Master Sora, Rem-Rem and I won't allow her to win."

Sora nodded at Subaru before going deep into the forest on his own, switching his keyblade from Kingdom Key into Jungle King, feeling as it fits since the forest reminds him of Tarzan for some reason.

"Well, I was hoping to have faced Sora again to beat him but I won't be complaining that I get to see the insides of a maid and the Keyblade wielder's lackey."

"Don't undermine me! Master Sora is training me to be a keyblade wielder, he is a Keyblade Master while I'm his apprentice, not a lackey!"

Elsa looked at the boy with some curiosity in her face, wondering why Sora would train a weakling and lackluster of potential such as Subaru yet she ignored the thought and quickly charged at the two, starting their fight.

Rem moved fast enough to use her flail to make sure she didn't easily kill Subaru in one attack. Subaru was barely able to see the movements, not having gotten powerful enough to move faster than the speed of sound. He looked at his keyblade and quickly relied on its power in hopes of being able to not be a liability. He closed his eyes and focused before jumping into the fight, somehow managing to deflect one of Elsa's attacks intended to stab Rem in the back.

Rem turned around and was a bit surprised along with Subaru and Elsa that somehow Subaru himself was able to move fast even if it was just pure luck. Elsa didn't hesitate and quickly kicked the boy away from both Rem and herself, sending him towards the ground where he hit his back real hard. He was on the floor for a brief moment, complaining that his back hurts before standing up again.

Rem continued to swing her flail around towards Elsa in impressive speed, allowing the bowel hunter to be excited that she was a worthy opponent of her time. Rem continued to go on an aggressive offensive, attempting to land a hit on Elsa yet she was moving too fast for any of her attacks to reach her. Subaru would jump into the mix, able to provide some cover for Rem yet he would be kicked away from the fight each time.

After many times of being kicked out of the fight, something inside of the boy felt anger which caused him to point his Keyblade directly at Elsa and some instinct told him to yell Fire at the top of his voice, visualizing fire. This led the keyblade to create a small fire ball to shoot directly at Elsa. She noticed this but before dodging the attack, the fireball Subaru produced was much darker than Sora's, as if his fire was a dark fireball. She dodged the attack and charged at him, trying to slice his gut.

Subaru closes his eyes and puts his trust on the weapon he has been training with, which somehow allowed him to deflect the attack off. Subaru started to get slightly cocky, going on the offensive towards Elsa in hopes that he can somehow do some damage to the assassin. Elsa notices this and can tell that Subaru is like Sora, no divine protection or martial arts. She easily dodges all of his attacks before kicking him hard enough that it took the air out of him. He was thrown to a distance before telling Subaru,

"You and Sora share the same thing, no divine protection and no martial arts. You both share that sword key but compared to him, you are a novice. A weakling."

"Leave Na- No, leave my friend alone!"

Elsa looked to her left side and noticed the flail heading towards her in great speed and quickly jumped high to dodge the attack. She looked at Rem a bit impressed by the maid's determination to save Subaru. She gained some distance while Rem stood in front of Subaru, leaving the boy surprised that the blue haired maid had just called him her friend.

"Subaru, I want you to get the children out of here while you can. I don't want you getting killed in this fight. Allow me to deal with the assassin."

Subaru watched as Rem started to glow on her forehead, leaving Elsa a bit curious on what the maid was doing. After a few seconds, a horn can be seen on her forehead which got Elsa interested.

"So the maid is an oni, I haven't dealt with an oni before. Now I must see what your insides look like."

Elsa spoke in a manner that creeped Subaru greatly while Rem just looked at her with bloodlust in her eyes. There was a moment of silence before Rem with great speed charged at Elsa, not hesitating in trying to kill the assassin.

During the battle between Elsa and a more powered up Rem, Sora continued to walk into the forest where he encountered a few giant monster dogs. Sora pulled out Jungle King and quickly went on the offensive, having a feeling that creatures are the mabeast Rem told them about. He took each one down without much of a problem, concluding that they are not the strongest of Mabeast.

He ran a little longer before he noticed the little girl he was looking for, causing him to quickly go towards her to check if she was bitten as well like the other children. Once he confirmed that she was alright, he was about to pick her up, he noticed that they were being watched. He turned around and quickly got himself ready for a fight. Multiple mabeast accompanied by heartless charged at Sora, all wanting to take the Keyblade wielder out. Sora waited until the Mabeast and Heartless were in range before saying, "Reflega!"

A shield appeared around both Sora and the little girl, protecting them and blocking off the mabeast and heartless attacks. After a few seconds the barrier disappeared with light balls appearing all around the area, causing light explosions. This helped wipe out all the heartless and mabeast.

Sora stood still for a moment before seeing that a lot more Mabeast had appeared with a giant one that had a head of a lion, the torso of a horse, and a snake-like tale had arrived to lead the back. The Keyblade Wielder knew that the fight was far from over and quickly changed into Valor Drive form. His clothing color had a darker red with black strips while he was wielding the Kingdom Key on his right hand and Star Seeker on his left hand.

Sora pointed Kingdom Key towards the giant mabeast to show that he is right for a fight, only to hear the mabeast roar before charging at him with all the other mabeast following their leader. The roar it gave reminded Sora of the time he changed into a lion to help Simba in his world, giving him a happy memory to think on before charging at the mabeast, ready for a fight.

All the normal mabeast jumped at Sora only to be easily taken down by one swift attack. The only one to have been the exception to this attack was the giant mabeast. The giant mabeast seemed to be resistant to such an attack, forcing Sora to go all out to assure that he doesn't get defeated just because he underestimated his opponent. Sora deflected the horns of the mabeast, feeling great strength before going all out with Star Seeker, hitting the Mabeast on the top of its head with extreme force.

Subaru continued to watch as Rem was keeping Elsa at bay, managing to force the assassin to be on a constant defensive side of the battle. At first it seemed like everything would be fine for Subaru yet he started noticing that Rem was beginning to lose herself, starting to go insane the longer the fight went.

'This is bad, the more she fights like this she will leave herself open for Elsa to outwit her and...' Subaru didn't want to think about the idea of Elsa killing Rem. He regained his resolve and summoned his keyblade again and returned back to the fight, being more cautious to not get in the way of Rem's attacks. As he interjected in, he managed to avoid a few of Rem and Elsa's attacks before swinging his keyblade at Elsa's direction.

With much luck he managed to land a hit on the assassin, causing Elsa to return her focus on killing Subaru. She attempts to take down the boy in one strike yet Rem's rampage is forcing her to go onto the defensive side. Subaru stepped back from the fight once he realized that he was not going to be able to help and was prepared to go take the children to safety, he saw Rem take a hit from Elsa's blade on her right shoulder. This damage allowed Elsa to kick her far away to the point where she ended up crashing to the ground, creating a small crater.

"Rem!"

"She is quite the fighter for a maid yet I'm still superior."

As Elsa was walking slowly towards Rem, she was surprised to see the blue hair maid get up after taking massive damage. She smiled with interest and was about to charge directly at the blue haired maid, preparing to end this.

Rem looked at Elsa with bloodlust in her eyes yet just as she was going to charge at Elsa, she felt a push which knocked Rem out of her demon mode. She looked at the direction she was pushed and saw Subaru there. Her eyes had returned to normal with her crying out, "Subaru!"

Subaru looked at Rem and smiled with satisfaction, feeling like he has done a heroic thing before feeling an intense pain in his neck. He couldn't feel his body and all he could think of is,

'Why does my entire body hurt? Why can't I feel anything but pain?'

Subaru looked around and the lastly he heard was Rem screaming his name in both pain and panic while the last thing he saw was Elsa smiling before everything went pitch black.

'Seems like a loser like me was always destined to die...damn it I really wish I didn't die...I never got to say goodby to Emilia...or to Master Sora...'

Eventually his vision went from pitch black to blurry until he was able to see Rem, Felt, and Sora in front of him. He looked at them with dead eyes for a moment and his hearing was muffled before he can clearly hear Rem say,

"Subaru, are you okay? Hey, Subaru?"

Sora moved Subaru's shoulder for a moment before he started to get a headache himself, which worried both Felt and Rem. 'What's going on? My head hurts but that's not what bothers me, why do I feel like we have already been discussing about the barrier and the Mabeast with Rem.' Sora thought to himself, uncertain on why he is in pain or why he is having deja vu.

'Where the hell am I? I thought I died by that bitch's hands...why am I back in the village with the others?' Subaru thought to himself, completely panicking. He looked around before asking where is Elsa, to which Felt asked him, "What are you talking about? That crazy bitch isn't here. The hell is wrong with you, Subaru."