Hopes and Dreams
The Keyblade Wielders gathered on the beach, watching as the massive tree in the center of the island continued its transformation, growing larger and the light in the center shining even brighter.
"There's no doubt…Drasil's using the power of the Maidens." Aqua muttered, watching the transformation.
The Wielders and Ansem had gathered around a fire.
"I sense a surge of magic like what I sensed from those four girls…She's strengthening herself from their powers and somehow they get strengthened in return." Aqua turned around and sat down in front of the fire. "A form of symbiosis that I've never seen before."
"If Drasil is as powerful as you suspect, she can likely enhance the powers of those connected to her and make them stronger in return." Ansem brought a hand to his chin. "You said she is connected to many worlds, correct?"
"At the least she is connected to the worlds made by Izanagi and Erebus." Aqua nodded.
"So what does she want?" Terra asked.
"I'm not sure…Drasil was the one who sent me to Remnant where I met Izanagi and Erebus." Aqua rubbed her chin.
"Which was long before I and those moody Maidens were even born." Neo added in.
"And so far, even since I had met she was nothing but helpful to me when I was looking for a way to return to the Realm of Light." Aqua continued. "But she never gave a hint that she was planning something."
The island shook again and the four looked off in direction of the massive tree, watching as it continued growing.
"So what do we do then?" Terra asked.
Aqua stared at the constantly growing tree before looking at the ground. "…I am not entirely sure…But I think we need to stop Drasil. That light we felt…I think she has a Princess of Heart."
"A what?" Neo looked at Aqua.
"A Princess of Heart is someone, a female with a Heart of pure light, completely devoid of darkness." Aqua explained. "There are only seven in existence but if the legends say if one were to collect all seven Princesses of Heart, they could be used to open the Door to Darkness and gain power to reign over the worlds."
Neo thought back to her fight with Ruby and remembered the power she had sensed. "…Of course. Little Red…"
"Excuse me?" Aqua asked, slightly confused along with Terra and Ansem.
"Little Red, Ruby Rose is this Princess. A goodie-two-shoes with a hard on for doing the right thing even if she likes to make a big mess." Neo scoffed while rolling her eyes. "Figures she would get this super power you are talking about."
"Ruby is the Princess of Heart?" Aqua questioned, looking surprised.
"Yeah, if being a Maiden wasn't enough for her now she has this." Neo pouted, resting her cheek against one hand. "And as for what you plan to do… I thought you couldn't interfere with other worlds' affairs or whatever, so why are you messing with Drasil?"
"Normally, you'd be right. But things are different now. Drasil is messing with a Princess of Heart and one of our sacred duties is go keep the Seven Lights from beings like Drasil... if she wanted to keep us out, she shouldn't have involved Ruby. She inadvertently gave us a reason to intervene." Aqua answered.
"As Keyblade Wielders we are sworn not to intervene if a world is not being threatened by outside forces…But that rule can have exceptions when a world has someone like a Princess of Heart in danger." Terra continued with a nod. "If Drasil uses the power of a Princess of Heart, she could bring the entire world into danger."
Neo looked at the two and then at Ansem who nodded and just sighed. "Fine…It'll give me bragging rights when I save Little Red." She actually smirked. "Something I'll never let her or her friends live down."
The island started shaking again and a booming voice echoed from the tree.
"YOU WOULD DARE SEEK TO DISRUPT MY GRAND DESIGN?" The voice from the tree boomed across the island. "KNOW THIS, KEYBLADE WIELDERS, YOUR POWER AND STRENGTH WILL NOT BE YOUR VICTORY IN THIS FIGHT."
The Wielders stood up, summoning their Keyblades while Ansem hung back. As much as he wished to assist, he was not a fighter like the others and his dark powers had been destroyed when he had been sent back to the Realm of Darkness. From under the roots of the massive tree, came more of the serpent monsters like the one Aqua had faced when she had first arrived here.
"We're going to have to fight our way to that tree." Terra stated as his Keyblade morphed into its Ultima Cannon form.
"I agree." Aqua nodded, glancing at Ansem. "When we get there, you focus on freeing the girls or finding a way out while we take down Drasil."
Ansem nodded. "Very well."
With that, Aqua and Terra transformed their Keyblades into their vehicle forms. Ansem sat behind Terra while Neo held on to Aqua. Once they were all onboard, the vehicles shot straight towards massive tree.
"YOU THINK YOU CAN STOP ME NOW?"
Massive tree roots shot out of the ground and a great cloud appeared over the tree. Terra and Aqua sped and swerved all around the massive roots that tried to grab or spear them. A screech was heard from above and they looked up to see giant black bird like monsters flying at them.
"Nevermores! She's conjuring Grimm!" Neo summoned her Keyblade.
But it wasn't just Grimm.
Neo spied a blast of fire from the cloud that Aqua dodged but the fireball exploded behind them, sending Aqua and Neo swerving down to the forest below. Aqua grunted as her vehicle morphed back into its Keyblade form and she summoned a barrier around her and Neo, protecting them as they crashed into the ground. As soon as they were safe, Aqua dropped the barrier and stood up along with Neo as a familiar mist covered the area around them.
A familiar chuckle was heard that caused Neo to freeze. "You shouldn't have threatened me…"
Neo's eyes widened and narrowed as a familiar woman stepped out of the mist, her single amber eye blazing. "Cinder…"
The woman who took Roman from her stood before her and Aqua, grinning as she summoned glass swords in her hands. Aqua was prepared to fight when Neo held out a hand that stopped her.
"No." Neo snarled, glaring at the woman with visible hate. "She's mine."
Aqua looked ready to argue when another dark laugh echoed around them. "Sure. They can play while you and I get to play again."
Aqua spun around, watching as a familiar figure in a black and red body suit and glass mask emerged from the mist with a dark Keyblade in his hand. "…Vanitas."
The dark clothed boy chuckled, pointing his Keyblade at her. "Well, Aqua. Want to play?"
Aqua and Neo stood back to back as they stared down their surprising opponents but said nothing.
Only glance at each for a mere second…
And then immediately went on the offensive.
Xxx
"I don't believe it. I'm back."
Oscar stood on the beach of the island on the other side from where the Keyblade Wielders were located. He looked up and see the ever twisting and growing form of the tree, Yggdrasil.
"Drasil." Oscar's eyes narrowed as he now remembered her. "I remember you now. When the Heartless destroyed Remnant, it was before my merge with Oz was complete. I couldn't gain access to all his memories at the time and I reincarnated as myself in Jaune."
Just as Drasil wanted.
"You needed me out of the way…Because I sealed you here as Keyblade Master Odin and made sure you couldn't interact with the outside world." Oscar clenched his hands into fists. "You used our attempt with Ambrosius to reach out and keep the path to Remnant open long enough for me and the Maiden powers to find our way here to Ruby and the others and then sat back and watched us tear each other apart."
He glared at up the glowing light at the top of the tree.
"Not this time, Drasil. I'm ending it here and now."
With that said, Oscar took off running through the forest, running to the base of the giant tree. As he ran, a mist seemingly covered the entire island and he realized what was happening.
'Drasil must be conjuring something. Is it something to fight me?' He wondered to himself but so far nothing was coming after him.
He reached the base of the massive tree and much to his delight and relief, he saw it.
"Gungnir…" Oscar muttered, feeling a kinship with the weapon before him much like the Long Memory.
The Keyblade in question had a three pointed end like a trident, resembling a spear of sorts with a circular curved guard around the hilt and the symbol of a clock for a keychain.
Oscar gently reached out and touched it, feeling the great and familiar power wash over him as he slowly and firmly pulled the Keyblade out of the pedestal it was in.
This was caused a reaction of some kind.
Green markings appeared on the surrounding bark and roots from the massive tree that was the physical manifestation of Drasil.
And they immediately shattered.
Xxx
Drasil's eyes went wide as she felt the seal over her physical body break. "Someone has removed Gungnir…"
Who was it?
One of the Wielders?
'I had planned on letting one of the Maidens do it for me but this is perfect.' Drasil grinned to herself. 'The bindings over my physical body have been broken, meaning all I need is the portal to open and I will finally enter Remnant!'
'Not if I have anything to say about it!'
Xxx
Deep within Penny's heart, on the platform known to Keyblade Wielders as the Station Penny was using everything she knew from her days in combat against the spirit that was harvesting with inside her, hoping that she would figure out a way to stop her. During the few moments of fighting, she possessed no Aura so she's vulnerable, making it easy to strike her except her being was phasing in and out from her physical form and mist.
Penny could touch her if she's phasing in and out from her attacks. The only thing she had to do was try to blindside her. She even tried to make more weapons to get behind her without her knowing but Drasil managed to negate them from her behind. It was even hard to get a good lock on her using her blasters from the blades she was using on her.
She wanted to help her friends but right now she needed someone desperately to aid her in her fight.
The spirit had blasted Penny's weapons away. Drasil then glanced back up at the projection outside within her.
"Soon enough my goals for humanity will become reality." Drasil sounded satisfied.
Penny looked back at the projector of the sphere of her friends helping Drasil. 'I must find a way to stop her.' Penny thought desperately and as she tried figuring out a way to defeat this manipulative possessing spirit.
She cannot handle this fight alone.
Soon enough a fog swarming around her was holding her down. Unable to move Penny looked up at the Spirit, glaring at her undermining technique. The spirit returned her sights to the girl, keeping a strong hold on her.
"What's the matter little puppet? Lost your interest in fighting in me?" The spirit spoke to her in a taunting fashion. "As well I'm still in control there is nothing you...GAH!"
SHINK!
The next thing she knew, a blade was sticking out from her chest, having been impaled behind Drasil. Both were surprised of seeing this alternative event.
"Maybe so but with the strength of others like myself nothing's impossible. Especially a friend cuts off the strings that you're holding on her."
As the spirit look back and saw the being before her that impaled her.
"O-Ozma!" She gasped. "How are you back when there's no other vessels to possess for you?"
"Wrong again! You may have got him in limbo in Remnant but not me. I'm Jaune Arc, and I'm here to get you out of my friend!" Jaune declared as he channeled his aura inside his blade forcing the spirit being pain feeling the part of her being forced out within the being of Penny's heart. "Penny! Now we have the chance! Blast her!"
Penny shook her stupor off of her and did what she was told charging fast using the wind to increase her speed, while creating a blade in her hands and charging up to piercing Drasil torso. And when she did she channeled energy throughout the spirit's body, stunning her as she let out a scream. She struggled but Penny used the electrical currents to paralyze Drasil while Jaune kept his blade stabbed through her to hold her down.
Now is her chance to take control.
Xxx
Penny's eyes shot open and she found herself stand in the center of a giant platform overlooking the island from the top of the tree. Looking around, her eyes widened to see Ruby and the others channeling their powers into four wooden pillars with branches sprouting out and forming a spherical wooden cage around the platform and the massive sphere of light that was right above them.
"Ruby! Everyone! Stop! Drasil is lying to you!" Everyone stopped, staring at Penny as she rushed over to Ruby. "She's trying to take control of Remnant and everyone else! Drasil possessed my body and used me to trick you! If she gets to Remnant she'll take control of everything!"
"What?" Ruby gasped, staring in shock at Penny with confusion and hope in her eyes. "But…How do we know it's you…The real Penny?"
"Ruby, it's me." Penny reached out and grasped Ruby's hands, pulling them over her chest. "It's the real me."
Ruby's eyes began to water as she held Penny's hands. "Penny-GAH!"
Wooden tendrils shot out and grabbed Ruby, pulling her into the wooden pillar she had been channeling her power into.
"Ruby!" Penny shouted, ready to summon her power…
Only she didn't have it.
The powers she had used against Drasil in her heart were a representation of her inner strength, taking the form of what she had as the previous Winter Maiden.
Now she was awake and only a human.
No android body with built in weapons.
No Maiden powers.
She was just Penny.
An ordinary human who was forced to watch as her best friend was absorbed into the tree, leaving only her face exposed and she screamed as her eyes flared with the power of the Fall Maiden. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"RUBY!" Penny screamed, rushing and tried to break through the bark to set Ruby free.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Penny looked over her shoulder to see Weiss, Blake and Yang being absorbed into the wooden pillars like Ruby and having their powers drained to continue the process.
"I was hoping not to resort to brute force but you seemed to have forced my hand."
Penny spun around and glared hatefully as the spirit form of Drasil appeared before her. "You…"
"I had hoped to let the Maidens channel their power through me and allow me to strengthen them to the point we could open the door back to Remnant but you breaking free and taking back your body was an unforeseen miscalculation." Drasil spoke with a calm but furious look on her face. "Now it seems I will have to extract the powers and open the way to Remnant by force."
Penny was about to say something when Ruby and the others screamed even louder. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"RUBY!" Penny turned around, looking at Ruby as she forced to channel more of her power into Drasil and in turn was forcefully given even more power.
"DRASIL!" Penny spun around and lunged at Drasil with an enraged look on her face.
Only she found herself frozen in mid-air with Drasil holding out a single hand to her. "That's right, you wouldn't know."
Penny was then slammed into the ground, hard. "UGH!"
"I embedded a piece of my physical being inside your body in order to not only possess you but to also restore your body to life." Drasil explained as she grabbed Penny by the neck with one hand and lifted her off the ground. "You may have forced me out and regained control of your body but you're still connected to me. You're a part of me and without me you would still be dead."
Penny gasped for air as Drasil started chocking her. "..Wh..yo…"
"It's an interesting sensation, isn't it? Feeling the only way you can breathe air slowly and forcefully being closed." Drasil noted casually, as if she was talking about the weather instead of choking an innocent girl. "Another weakness bestowed upon you by your friends when they made you human. You could have been so much more as both an android and the Winter Maiden. You allowed your human friends to lead you around with an invisible collar around your neck, deferring to them and ignoring your own beliefs and desires. You trusted them and in the end, your trust in them is what killed you."
"That's…not…true." Penny managed to gasp out.
"Isn't it? You made the choice to become the Winter Maiden to save the power from being taken by the False Maiden. You chose to stick with your human friends and stood by while Salem attacked and destroyed Atlas to get to Ambrosius' staff. You, a being made of metal with a mind carrying all the scientific knowledge of Remnant, it should have been you using the staff to save Atlas." Drasil brought Penny closer to her to the point their noses were almost touching. "You should have taken control of Atlas and rounded up its army to fight against Salem when that fool general chose to run and hide himself in the sky at the expense of the rest of the world. You did nothing…Aside from offer yourself up as a living sacrifice."
Out of disgust, Drasil tossed Penny away and watched as the former android and Maiden skidded across the platform.
"And what did you think would happen here?" Drasil asked, slowly approaching Penny as she struggled to get back up. "That you would tell your friends the truth and suddenly I would be defeated? We both have seen what happens when one tells the truth so carelessly. Just ask your friend, Ruby."
Penny stood up, glaring at Drasil with what she pretty sure was hate.
"She came to Atlas, holding the secret about the fact that Salem could not destroyed and she not only chose to lie to that fool Ironwood but she lied to you as well. From the very moment you were reunited, she held your life and all of Atlas in the palm of her hands and did absolutely nothing but watch as the kingdom tore itself apart."
"That is not true!" Penny shouted in pure denial.
"Isn't it? She would claim you were both best friends but she never even confided the truth in you. Instead, she tried to control your fate before and after you became the Winter Maiden." Drasil taunted. "In the end, she's is as weak as Ozma and Ironwood. Unable to find a way to win yet so desperate to keep some form of control in her life, even at the costs of her friendships."
"SHUT UP!" Penny shouted and charged at Drasil again.
The spirit turned into a mist that Penny passed through and coughed as she fell to the ground.
"You truly have become a real human being, haven't you?" Drasil reformed herself behind Penny, grabbing the back of her dress and threw her several yards away. "Irrational, hot-tempered, unable to accept the truth when it is staring you right in the eye."
Penny groaned as she tried to get back up. "And what truth do you offer? A world of lies and false dreams? Keeping everyone happy with illusions and killing anyone who questions or defies you? What kind of a world is that?"
"My world." Drasil simply answered as she approached Penny again. "A world the Brothers could only ever dream of making. A world Ozma could never make a reality because in the end, he is too soft, even towards Salem to do what must be done."
Just as she raised her hand to finish Penny off, a voice stopped her. "DRASIL!"
Eyes narrowing, Drasil slowly turned around to see Oscar standing on the other end of the platform, holding a very familiar weapon. "…Ozma. So you not only came back but you were the one who removed Gungnir from its pedestal."
"That's right." Oscar simply answered.
"By doing so, you've removed the lock on my physical form." Drasil smiled as she faced the boy. "Now all I need done is to restore Remnant to waking world and then I can finally merge myself with the First World. Yet another grand mistake you have made."
"A mistake…Maybe but it's to fix another one." Oscar pointed Gungnir at Drasil. "You're not going to Remnant."
"Am I?" Drasil gestured grandly to their surroundings. "Look around you, Ozma. Your Maidens are mine, their powers will open the way to Remnant. The only thing left is to fully awaken the world that sleep. Surely you would not keep it and everyone there dreaming forever, just to protect those Relics, would you?"
"They're safe for the moment." Oscar grasped Gungnir with both hands. "So I can defeat you before returning home with my friends."
Drasil frowned as wooden tendrils slowly sprouted from the surrounding ground. "You will find that harder to accomplish than last time. As the Maiden powers flow through me, the very nature of this realm, my realm forces their Semblances to evolve. Semblances…"
BOOM!
A pillar of blue fire exploded from Drasil, knocking Penny back and forcing Oscar to cover his face from the sheer heat.
'That's like Yang's Semblance!' He lowered his hand and looked at Drasil who was slowly strolling towards him.
"That I have access to." Drasil finished as two duplicates of her appeared on either side. "This time, I won't leave behind anything for you to latch on to!"
She raised her hand, sending a blast of magical energy at Oscar who immediately blocked with his Keyblade.
The battle for the future of Remnant, both in the physical and dream worlds had begun.
Xxx
"There is no doubt about it. This Dusk is like the other ones we have found but much older and more powerful. It has already chosen its form as a Sorcerer."
Saix and Vexen stared upon the Dusk Nobody that had been brought to them by Larxene who was hanging back, leaning against the wall as she listened. The Dusk she had found had a woman's face and figure but also resembled a Sorcerer Nobody that was commanded by Xemnas. Like the other unique Dusks that had been found it had hair that was long and tied into a large bun with six offshoots.
"It is more powerful than any Dusk I have seen and it seems to be immune to most levels of harm, It would take a great amount of power to slay this one." Vexen noted. "What should we do with it?"
Saix stared at the woman like Dusk. "It is from the world with the Lost Master. Perhaps it can lead us to her. The real question is if a Nobody this powerful exists without retaining its human form, where is the Heartless?"
