Chapter 22: The Keyblade's chosen ones

Marluxia began the fight by having his nobody that he fused with to charge at the two boys and their ground dragon, causing the three to move out of the way of the attack. As the three dodge, Subaru casts Fira at Marluxia's direction only for one of the scythes to deflect off the fireball. Subaru was surprised by this and quickly jumped onto the Patrasche with the ground dragon managing to get her owner out of there safely while Sora attempted to hit Marluxia directly only for wind magic cast by the Organization member to knock the keyblade wielder away. As Sora was sent away, Subaru tried casting Thunder yet it was to no avail as Marluxia took the hit without a scratch.

'Damn, if the Sin archbishop of Sloth wasn't tough enough on his own, this jackass is just much tougher.'

Subaru got Patrasche to lead him away from Marluxia for a moment to allow him to think of some kind of strategy in doing some damage. As he was figuring something out, Sora gets back on his feet and contemplates on using Ultima form to face off Marluxia yet he looks at his Kingdom Key and knows that he should defeat him with his own strength. He smiled and quickly charged at Marluxia once again, preparing to strike down the Organization member within a few hits. Marluxia moves the Specter nobody to counter all of Sora's attacks with its Scythes, showing Sora that the fight won't be as easy as it was in Castle Oblivion.

Marluxia smiles and quickly summons wind magic once again to send Sora flying again. Subaru observes this and quickly tells Patrasche to get closer to Marluxia, having a plan in beating their opponent. As they are getting closer, Subaru jumps up towards Marluxia to mislead him in an attack yet the Organization member simply grabs him by his head and punches his gut before sending him flying off. Subaru was at first in pain before giving him a smile, catching Marluxia's attention.

He looked around until he noticed that one of the scythes was destroyed. As this caught his attention, he quickly had the Specter nobody dash backwards to avoid Sora's quick attack. As he dodged the attack, he quickly summoned three flowers which blossomed within a few seconds to reveal that they are weapons that contain lasers. As the lasers fired directly at Sora's direction, Subaru quickly had Patrasche to push him back into the action, determined to prove his worth. As Subaru manages to get near Sora, he casts Reflect on both himself and his master in order for the two to not get hit by the lasers being shot by the flowers.

During this, Subaru and Sora both cast Thunder to destroy the flowers before the shield around them broke. As the two managed to land on their feet, they looked up and saw Marluxia attempting to fire wind magic directly at the two. Sora was able to counter this by having summoned Aero on himself and on Subaru. With winds blowing around them, Marluxia's ability went on another direction which allowed both Keyblade wielders to continue their pursuit on the Organization member.

While the two were holding their own with each one covering the other, Emilia and the others all simply watched as the two keyblade wielders with everything they got continued to pressure Marluxia into a corner. The children all were excited to watch Sora and Subaru in action, able to keep up with the speed in some moments while in others they couldn't see anything. Emilia looked up and all that was running in her mind was what Subaru said, how he loves her. This was a thought that made her uncertain on why he would love someone like her when she is nothing but trouble and even attempted to push him away when they first met. Why? Why would you say those words...Natsuki Subaru…?

As she thought about every moment she had with Subaru since the loot house and began to realize how much closer he wanted to be with her. How despite having a lot of training to do, he would always try to make time to hangout with her. She then remembered how he risked his life to save hers when they were facing Xigbar. She saw how despite being on the brink of death, he was happy that she was alive. All of this made her feel something for the young boy from another world but she didn't understand what the feeling was. She looked up and just focused on Subaru, seeing how hard he is working with Sora to take down Marluxia. This caused her to start cheering for Subaru and Sora, wishing both of them to make it out of the battle unscathed. The children all noticed Emilia cheering for Subaru and Sora, causing them to cheer as well. Not before long all the villagers started to cheer for the keyblade wielders.

The two keyblade wielders heard the cheers as Sora was able to break the other scythe the Specter nobody was using. The two quickly gained their distance with Patrasche by their side, all three giving Marluxia a look of determination as they are determined to save everyone. Marluxia smiled as he commanded his nobody to go up towards the high sky, getting everyone to be confused on what the Organization member is planning. Sora had a feeling that Marluxia was going to try to slam down to kill them all. He quickly went towards the direction Marluxia's nobody was going to slam on the ground and waited for a bit.

"What are you doing, Master?"

"Just getting ready to counter our opponent's little attack. Stand back, the two of you."

Patrasche and Subaru were both confused at first yet they listened to him, with Subaru riding Patrasche towards a safe distance. As he headed towards a place far away from the area Sora's at, Sora looked up high and waited for a moment. He observed very carefully the sky, making sure he built enough energy and strength to counter Marluxia's next attack. There was a moment of silence until Subaru saw the nobody that fused with Marluxia making its way straight down from the sky to slam the ground hard enough to kill everyone. Sora waited a few seconds before using his strength to jump directly at Marluxia, preparing to counter the attack with Kingdom Key.

As he jumped with all his might, Sora quickly thought about all the people he cared about in the new world he found himself in. He thought about Rem, Subaru, Emilia, Ram, Felt, Rom, Reinhard, and all the other people he met. All of these thoughts caused his keyblade to glow which gave the boy confidence that he can counter the attack. As his keyblade and the Scepter nobody collided with each other, a large shock wave was created which broke the barrier created by Marluxia to keep others out of the fight while also sending strong winds towards all the wagons.

"What's happening?"

"I don't know but protect her!"

Petra answered one of her fellow friends, causing them to hold Emilia to protect her, knowing that she is special to Subaru. Emilia didn't know what to say to this since she never thought that the children would care that much for her.

As the two managed to counter each other's attacks, Sora was sent flying to the ground hard and fast, creating a large crater with all of his body hurting. Subaru realized this and quickly cast Cure on his master in order to keep him from being knocked out of the fight. Sora got up and quickly jumped up towards Marluxia's direction while Subaru used Patrasche to throw him hard enough that he would reach Marluxia.

With the two keyblade wielders reaching their opponent, they both at the same time attacked him. As Subaru and Sora managed to land a powerful hit towards Marluxia which caused a bright light to be shining on the organization member. Both Sora and Subaru managed to land back on the floor on their feet. Once the two were nearby Patrasche, they both looked at Marluxia and thought that it was done as there was a light shining around him yet Sora had a feeling that it wasn't over. As the ground started to shake around them with the light starting to surround them.

"Your hopes are doomed to the darkness."

As the light engulfed everybody for a moment before revealing Marluxia with his Specter nobody on their Angel of Death form. As Marluxia revealed this, he sent his Specter to attack both Sora and Subaru. The two keyblade wielders noticed this and quickly dodged the attack without hesitation. As they managed to dodge a quick attack, something inside Sora made him feel that he had fought Marluxia like this before yet he is unsure while Subaru is annoyed by this.

"Damn it, what the hell is this? His true form?"

"Don't worry Subaru, we can handle this together."

Subaru nodded at his master before the two quickly charged at the Specter, both of them wanting to take care of the nobody before facing the Organization member himself. As the two were facing the nobody with both of the keyblade wielders helping each other, Emilia wanted to join in and help Subaru, she desperately wanted to make sure he was safe yet Puck reminded her that this was his and Sora's battle.

"But Puck, what if he gets hurt again?"

"I know you are worried for the boy, Lia, but he isn't the same as before. Back when we first met him and saved his life, he didn't have anything going for him until he met Sora and gained a power of his own. Now he has something going for him now. Have faith in the boy as he has faith in you."

Emilia looked at Puck for a moment before looking at Subaru and Sora, watching the two managing on their own against the Specter's attempts in killing the pair with a larger version of Marluxia's scythe. Subaru barely was able to dodge one of the attacks, having felt a slight hit on his left cheek. He jumps back in order to regain his composure while Sora takes on the Specter on his own, using all of his tricks to deflect each and every attack. Sora seemed to be holding his own yet a darkness started to surround the Specter nobody, making each of its attacks to speed up and to hit Sora's keyblade with much more strength than it was previously.

"You won't last forever Sora! In this world, I'm much more powerful than even you!"

"Don't underestimate Master Sora!"

Subaru disliked the way Marluxia spoke and quickly returned back into the fight, not wanting his Master to get hurt. Subaru managed to join into the fight and casted Thunder to land a proper hit on the nobody, causing it to lose balance for a second, missing Sora just barely.

"Thanks Subaru"

"No problem, now let's beat this thing!"

"Right!"

As the two were taking on the Specter with Sora doing most of the work due to being more skilled than Subaru. With the two barely holding their own, Subaru was eventually thrown up onto the air when he deflected one of the attacks, making him look around the area to see that everybody was watching him.

'Damn this is high...the view is damn good though...'

As he looked around the area, he could see Wilhelm and his forces managing to push back the Witch Cult while Emilia and the others watched Sora and him face off Marluxia. When he saw that Emilia was looking at him, all he wanted to do was prove that he was worthy of protecting her. He gave her a smile before he returned his attention onto the fight and he quickly swung his keyblade at the nobody's back, landing a decent blow on it before Sora managed to catch him and stop him from hitting the ground too hard that'll kill him.

"Impressive Subaru, you landed a hit."

"Thanks but that won't be enough. Go on and face it on your own for a bit, allow me to think of some plan."

"Alright but don't take too long."

"I won't, Master."

Sora nodded and quickly took on the Specter on his own while having confidence that Subaru will figure a plan in taking down Marluxia. As Sora was taking on the Specter nobody, Subaru looked around for a moment until he looked at the stones they had gotten from the wagon and saw that they were starting to glow, giving him the indication that the stones might explode at any moment. From what he recalled, Felix and Otto had warned both his master and himself that the stones were very powerful, should it explode it would be a small village size explosion. This made the keyblade wielder think of an idea to deal with Marluxia. He quickly turned towards Patrasche and asked her to bring them the bag of stones, which caught both Sora and Marluxia's attention. Sora looked at the bag and saw that it was starting to provide some smoke around it, making him remember the warning he received from Felix and Otto.

'So that's what you're planning, Subaru.' Sora thought about the plan his apprentice was going for and quickly charged at Marluxia in order to keep him distracted, going along with the plan. Marluxia noticed this and quickly teleported his Specter in front of him in order to prevent Sora from damaging him. While Sora was forced to fight the Specter once again, Marluxia quickly casts wind magic directly at Sora to assist his nobody in taking down the Keyblade Wielder himself. Sora noticed this and quickly jumped back without hesitation, barely managing to escape Marluxia's attack. He quickly returned to fighting off against the Specter, quickly deciding on using one of his drive forms to push the fight onto his favor. He quickly attempts to switch over yet the Specter was stopping him from changing forms, forcing him to constantly be on the defensive side.

"I watched you use a different form against Larxene, there is no way I will allow you to try that against me."

Sora looked at Marluxia with a serious facial expression before continuing on defending himself against the Specter nobody. With Sora keeping Marluxia's attention, Patrasche gave Subaru the bag of magic stones.

"Thank you Patrasche, now get to safety while you can. I don't want you caught on the blast."

Patrasche nodded at Subaru before licking his face, surprising the boy before he gave his ground dragon a smile. As the ground dragon ran to safety, Subaru put away his keyblade in order to hold the bag of magic stones with both his hands and started to run with everything he got, knowing that he only had a minute at best before the stones exploded. As Subaru was running with everything he got, all he could think about was the memories he treasured in this world. He remembered Emilia saving him from thugs, Sora in his final form facing against Elsa, when he first summoned his own keyblade, to the training sessions he had with everybody, to the fight against Marluxia with Yabuto and the other knights by his side, and towards the moment he saved Emilia from dying by Xigbar's attack. All of these moments build up Subaru's convection to take down the person that threatened the people he cherishes the most.

Even if this does lead to a dead end, I will still fight with everything I got. I won't allow anything to happen to any of you because you all make me who I am!

Subaru with all the strength he could gather threw the bag of stones directly towards Marluxia's direction. Sora turned towards Subaru and noticed that he threw the bag filled with magic stones ready to explode at any moment, forcing the keyblade wielder to quickly leave his fight with the Specter nobody to join his apprentice's side, preparing to cast Reflega as he feels that a normal Reflect won't be enough to stop the explosion from hitting them. Marluxia looked up at the sky and was pretty confident he could neutralize the attack with ease.

He held his hand up, ready to cast wind to destroy the magic stones but before he could do anything, a large explosion occured right in front of him, destroying the nobody in the sea of flames. Sora and Subaru saw this with Sora quickly casting Reflega to shield both Subaru and himself from the explosion. As the barrier was surrounding the two, the sea of flames covered them both which caused all the villagers and Emilia to shout in fear before the sound waves of the explosion reached them with violent winds. Marluxia in his final moments before he disappeared could only lament the fact that he failed to kill Sora in their long awaited fight since Castle Oblivion. He looked at his disappearing hand that was being covered by flames and could only feel annoyance at how it was Subaru's bomb that did the job.

'How annoying is this...the keyblade wielder's apprentice being the one to defeat me...I guess I did bring this to myself for being rash just like Larxene. Maybe next time I will actually get the job done...'

Sora and Subaru both attempted to hold the barrier as best as they can with the explosion managing to slightly breaking the barrier each second that passed by. As the two were doing everything they can, the two chatted.

"Seems like this is it, what do you think Master Sora?"

"Should this be the end, I just want you to know that I'm proud of you Subaru. You won back your keyblade and even managed to show that you have a strong heart."

"All thanks to you, I was a weakling before meeting you. I owe you a lot Master Sora."

Sora smiled at this before the barrier broke with the two being thrown far off into the distance with the two passing out.

'Where am I? What happened? Did I die?'

"Subaru! Sora!"

'I hear...a voice...is that Emilia's voice?'

"Where are you?! Subaru! Sora! Subaru!"

'Hehe...she said my name twice...she also sounds very cute when worried...that's a parallel world for you...'

Subaru smiled as he started to lose consciousness once again with his mind feeling at ease as he started to recall his journey from the moment he arrived to the strange new world all the way towards now. He knows that it took him dying a couple of times to reach the desired ending of being a hero with his first death being in the forest and his last being in that same forest but instead of Elsa killing him, it was Puck.

He then started to think if he should reveal Return By Death to his master should they survive this but he knew he would worry and if others knew, they would be constantly worried about him. At that moment in time he chose to truly keep Return by Death to himself since he doesn't want others to know the burden he will have to bear since he doesn't want others to feel guilty or any kind of pain for him. As he lost consciousness once again, he found himself in a strange place. He looked around and could tell that he was back to the same place he once was when he had to make a choice on the weapon and its power.

"What am I doing back here? What is this place anyway?"

"This place is your heart."

"Huh? Who said that? Who is there?"

Subaru pulled out his keyblade in case there was a threat nearby. As he looked around, he noticed someone in the organization's robes. This made Subaru very hostile only for the person in front of him to act very childish.

"Now come on, we just met and you want to fight me? That's not very nice!"

"You and your friends are the ones who want to harm my Master and my friends!"

"Oh right, you think I'm with them. Nope, I'm flying it solo."

"Stop acting weird, it is throwing me off."

"Me? Weird? That's just plain rude!"

Subaru couldn't help but giggle a little by the way the mysterious person in front of him was acting very child like. He lowered his keyblade and began to ask who was the man in front of him. The person looked at Subaru and crossed his arms as if he was thinking of the answer.

"That is a good question, who am I?"

"Oh come on! You know who you are! How the hell does someone not know who they are?!"

"Haha alright alright, I'll try to act serious for a bit but let's just say I'm a lost master."

"A lost...master? Like on the Book of Prophecies?"

"So you have read the book...hmm. Okay, I think I should get going now."

"What? Then what the hell did you want to know?!"

"Oh don't worry kid, I'll be observing you very closely."

The person in the organization robes snapped his fingers which caused a bright light to shine around, allowing Subaru to awaken from his slumber.

Subaru had his eyes open slowly with a bright light covering his vision for a moment before he was able to see Emilia's face.

"Subaru, you're awake? Thank goddess...I'm so glad."

Subaru was at first feeling warmth in seeing Emilia's face yet he started to puzzle that something felt amazing.

"Wait...I'm lying down, and Emilia is kneeling. And considering our distance and the heavenly sensation under my head..."

"You don't have to go through all that. Your head is on my lap. It isn't uncomfortable, is it?"

"I know of no finer, more divine pillow."

Emilia smiled at this, seeing that Subaru is back to his usual self despite having barely survived an explosion. Subaru smiled at the fact that he even made it out alive yet he started to wonder something.

"Emilia, is Master Sora okay?"

"I was wondering when you would ask about me."

Subaru turned his head slightly to the right to see Sora with his clothing slightly damaged yet nothing too bad. He smiled and gave his master a thumbs up, happy to see that the two of them survive the fight. Sora also gave a thumbs up before allowing Emilia and Subaru some time to themselves.

"Honestly Subaru, what is it with you always being the last waking up?"

"Wait, how long was I out?"

"About an hour or two. Sora woke up around thirty minutes ago."

"Dang, he still wakes up earlier than me. Haha oh well...is everyone together now?"

"Julius, Felt, and the others all joined us as well. We are all together."

"That's good." Subaru smiled as he felt that he reached a goal of having everyone survive, after the hell he was in for the previous loops, he was happy. He looked at the giant Flugel tree and all he could feel is joy.

"I finally made it back. I feel like I was having a really long dream. A terrible dream...No, it wasn't."

"A good dream, then?"

"A good reality." Emilia looked at Subaru's smile and spoke of how he feels, making her smile as well. The two stayed silent for a bit, enjoying the view before Emilia steered the conversion somewhere else.

"Do you miss your world? Your home?"

"I do, here and there but I feel like I am home with you."

"Hehe you are being silly, Subaru."

"I know but it is true, I feel like this here is my place."

"What about your parents? Do you wish to see them again?"

"I do. I want to show them how strong I have gotten. How I didn't just waste my life."

"Do your parents not see you highly?"

"Hehe I wish I knew that, maybe they did but I was in a dark place during those times until I was summoned to this world. Weak and pathetic until you saved my life. You gave me the hope I needed to push myself to where I want to go because I want to be someone you can rely on, someone who can protect you, someone who wants to be there with you even when you are having a bad day. I want to be special in your heart just like how you are special in my heart, Emilia. After all, I love you, Emilia. I want to be your strength."

Emilia's eyes were glowing when she heard Subaru speak of her that way, never before believing someone would care for her in such a way. She closed her eyes to avoid crying while speaking in hesitation.

"I'm a half-elf..."

"I know that."

"I'm a silver-haired half-elf, and many people hate me because I look like the witch. They despise me...They absolutely detest me!"

"I saw. I know. Those guys are all blind. Heck remember the capital during the royal selection? Master Sora did shut them up and scared them for having spoken to you in such a way."

"He has the same stubbornness you have."

"Haha, like master like apprentice."

"Well regardless Subaru, I don't have much experience with people, so I don't have friends. I'm naive and not very worldly, so I say strange things sometimes. And the reason I want to be the kingdom's ruler is really, really selfish."

"No matter what anyone says about you, no matter what you think of yourself, I love you. I really love you! Like crazy! I want to be with you all the time. If you name ten things you hate about yourself," Subaru began to get up to sit down right next to Emilia with a smile on his face. "I'll say two thousand things I love about you. That's the kind of special treatment I want to give you."

Emilia had tears in her eyes as she heard these words from the boy of another world she saved a while back, that she wanted to push away during their first day together. This made her so happy and she quickly expressed her happiness.

"That's the first time I've received special treatment that made me happy..."

Subaru smiled and quickly whipped the tear away from her left cheek which made her grab his hand with both of hers while asking,

"Why two thousand?"

"Because a hundredfold isn't enough to express how I feel about you."

"I'm happy...I'm so happy. I never even imagine I'd see the day that someone told me they loved me."

Emilia had Subaru's hand on her cheek, feeling her heart extremely happy yet as she never had dealt with this before, she doesn't know what to do with the feeling she has.

"What should I do? You've told me your feelings but I don't know what to do..."

"You don't have to stress over it. I'm not demanding an answer right away. As far as I'm concerned, it's written in stone that you'll give me an answer. And it'll be a positive one, at that." Subaru smiles at Emilia and makes a thumbs up, confident that he will win over Emilia's heart and be with her in the future. Emilia felt like she was being mean to Subaru since he has to wait for her answer.

"Is it really all right? For me...For someone like me to be given such happiness all the time? To be so overjoyed...I actually feel like it's indulgent."

"Sure, it is. Go on and be indulgent. You can never have too much happiness. If you have so much that it overflows, you can always share it. You can take your time, Emilia. You can take your time and slowly, steadily fall in love with me. I'll do my best to get stronger with my keyblade, to become a keyblade master, so I can walk by your side till the end. So you'll fall head over heels for me."

Subaru smiled before Emilia started to cry tears of joy, seeing just how much Subaru cares about her. She felt happy that after having saved his life, he got the chance to repay that debt in a way that she couldn't ignore.

"Thank you Subaru...for saving me."

Subaru recalled their first encounter, how she came in looking for her insignia only to end up helping him when she didn't have to. He now knows that the debt is paid with Subaru's goals being now to truly win Emilia over and to become stronger to always protect her. The two stood there together for a moment before returning to the group, all of them making their way towards the capital. As Subaru and Emilia went to the wagon with Petra and the other children, Subaru looked and saw that Sora was looking out at the tree.

"Subaru?"

"Hehe don't worry Emilia, let me just make sure Master Sora is okay."

"Okay." Emilia smiled and watched Subaru approach Sora to make sure he is alright. As the young boy approaches his master, he pats him in the back and asks him if he is alright. Sora looks at Subaru for a moment before looking up at the sky.

"Yeah, I'm just happy I got the chance to build a life for me here. I know that maybe I won't ever go back home to Kairi, Riku, Donald, Goofy...but I'm happy to have you all in my life. I'm glad I wasn't alone."

"I should be thanking you Master Sora, you helped me get stronger to be able to protect those I care deeply for."

"You are much stronger than you give yourself credit, Subaru, but you also helped me see that I can be a competent master."

"You are the best!"

Sora and Subaru laughed it off before joining with Emilia and Otto, leading all of the carriages towards the capital with the group all happy to have made it out alive.

After an hour of moving the wagon, the group got comfortable with Subaru and Emilia sitting side by side, watching the children all sleep and with Sora sitting besides Otto to chat with the merchant. During the chat, Petra quickly joined them and started to hug Sora's arm.

"Petra?"

"Yes."

"Shouldn't you be asleep with the others?"

"No. I want time with you, Sora."

Subaru and Emilia both noticed this and quickly caused Subaru to laugh a little along with Otto, both of them seeing Sora's face grow red quite hilarious. Subaru quickly warned Sora to be careful since he is aware that Rem has strong feelings for Sora.

"Rem-Rem wouldn't be happy to see you with another girl."

"Shut up Subaru!"

"Wait didn't you and Rem-Rem kiss?"

"Didn't Rem told you to stop calling her that?"

"Haha yeah but she isn't here to beat me up for it."

"I'm telling her then-" Sora was interrupted when Petra smacked him in the head, causing Otto and Subaru to laugh a bit and Emilia to giggle a little. Sora looked and could see a jealous Petra standing next to him.

"Did you kissed with someone?!"

"Hold on Petra..."

"No hold on me, who is this Rem?!"

"Wait..." Both Subaru and Sora reacted in the same way, a bit dumbfounded by the question Petra asked. Before either one could say anything, Emilia entered the conversation.

"I do find it funny but I also have to ask you two, who is Rem?"

Sora and Subaru both looked at each other as they heard what Emilia asked, making Sora confused and worried while Subaru was shocked by this since it had already happened before in the last loop, making his blood go cold with fear that something went wrong.

So this concludes the third Arc of the story. There will be an interlude which will be the longest I've written. i hope you are all enjoying the story and also Happy Thanksgiving to you all.