What Lies Within VII
It was Aqua, an image of her given the power of darkness.
Her hair was now bleached blue, her eyes had turned yellow, and her clothes had darkened and become tattered, with scaly texture appearance. Her arms and legs had also begun to darken, and her hands were now black with red fingertips.
A dark version of her Keyblade appeared in her hands and she glared at them as Dark Neo stood next to her with a smile. "Let's see you handle this."
Trivia was actually sweating even more now. "Oh crap."
"It's just a copy. It can't be stronger than the original." Yang remarked.
"You say that now but-" Trivia started but was cut off as Dark Aqua immediately attacked.
(Kingdom Hearts III OST Dark Dive)
(Information: Defeat Dark Aqua and Dark Neo once and for all)
Dark Aqua began the fight by summoning her Command Style Spellweaver, conjuring a blizzard as she spun and fired giant shards of ice at everyone, either hitting or barely missing them, shattering on impact and sending ice shards flying in every direction.
"AAH!" Weiss screamed as she felt a dozen shards hitting her in the back.
Yang and Blake summoned the elemental power of their Maiden magic still with them and sent a blast of fire and wind at Dark Aqua who disappeared…
And reappeared behind them.
SLASH!
SLASH!
"GAH!" Both screamed as they were sent flying in opposite directions.
Dark Aqua turned to face Ruby and Oscar, conjuring two images of herself before all three pointed their Keyblades at them.
"Ruby, get behind me!" Oscar plunged Gungnir into the ground and formed green spherical energy barrier around Ruby and himself.
Just as he did, Dark Aqua and her copies fired a single sphere of energy that hit the barrier and exploded. Roby and Oscar were pushed back but the spherical barrier managed to hold out, despite cracks appearing. Once it was done, Dark Aqua teleported all across the platform, hitting and striking everyone no matter how hard they tried to react.
"GAH!"
"AH!"
"OOF!"
Only Oscar and Trivia were able to dodge or defend themselves with Oscar even blocking a strike aimed at Ruby.
Oscar then shot forward, forcing Dark Aqua back with several slashes before turning to Trivia and Ruby. "I'll handle her. You take down Neo."
Trivia nodded and turned to Dark Neo, followed by Ruby. Dark Aqua then conjured illusions of herself, followed quickly by Dark Neo, projecting them all over the platform.
"You can't win." The Dark Neo illusions taunted.
The Dark Aquas then spun around everyone in a circle, conjuring giant shards of ice above their heads as they closed in, firing shards in all directions. Yang, Penny and Blake summoned their Maiden powers, using fire to try and counter the literal blizzards that surrounded the Dark Aquas while Weiss plunged her sword into the ground, summoning her giant armor and combined with her Maiden powers, released a shockwave of fire on the Dark Aquas. Jaune summoned his sword and shield, using both to either parry any incoming shards with his sword or block with his shield.
As soon as their attacks ended, the Dark Aqua illusions vanished, leaving only one behind in their wake.
Oscar tried locking onto her, planning to use a Shotlock of his own but Dark Aqua teleported before he could fire. In the meantime, Trivia charged at Dark Neo who easily blocked her Keyblade before kicking her back.
"Ha! Weak!" Dark Neo laughed.
"Is this weak?!" Ruby called, appearing above Dark Neo's head, summoning Crescent Rose before swinging it down…
CLANG!
Only to be blocked by a dark mirror that suddenly appeared, protecting Dark Neo as she looked over her shoulder with a taunting smile. "Yes."
The mirror shattered and Dark Neo somersaulted back, managing to kick Ruby in the chest and send her flying back. Ruby hit the ground, grunting from how hard Dark Neo kicked her.
It was even stronger than a kick from Mercury.
In the meantime, Oscar attacked Dark Aqua again and to the surprise of everyone a clock glyph appeared on his Keyblade and he suddenly moved much faster, striking with even harder force that sent Dark Aqua flying back.
"It's over!" Oscar called out as his Keyblade let loose a blast of green light…
BOOM!
And to Yang and Jaune it was exactly like the kind of explosion that Oscar used to blow up that Grimm Whale back in Atlas.
"AH!" Dark Aqua cried as she hit the ground but got up a moment later, glaring hatefully at Oscar as he landed on the ground.
She summoned two more copies again and fired spheres of dark light at him like before that he blocked. She teleported around the platform, doing the same to the others.
"Gah!" Yang grunted, raising both her arms to block the blasts aimed at her.
Penny summoned her blades and fired a blast of green light that cancelled out the attacks aimed at her.
Weiss created glyphs around her to act as shields while Jaune did the same with his own shield.
Blake left copies in her wake as she dodged each and every attack aimed at her while Ruby relied on her Semblance to split into a dozen rose petals, making herself impossible to be hit.
Meanwhile, Trivia and Dark Neo were still fighting, their blades clashing and their skills were equally matched. Despite having given in to Neopolitan since her childhood, Trivia was just as skilled as her dark counterpart was.
In fact, she seemed to be getting stronger.
"Just where did you get this strength?" Dark Neo wondered out loud as they clashed. "Don't tell me being friends with Bluey actually helped you."
"Why not?" Trivia asked while straining to push Dark Neo back. "She gave us more than we ever got from our parents or Cinder."
"And Roman?" Dark Neo asked, making Trivia pause.
Dark Neo took advantage of her hesitance pushed Trivia's Keyblade out of the way and elbowed her in the face, knocking her down. "Come to think of it, compared to Aqua I am not sure Roman loved us as we thought he did."
Trivia snarled as she got back up. "What's supposed to mean?"
"I mean come on. You don't remember how patronizing Roman was compared to Aqua. He ordered us around; she gave us a choice. He liked us for our silence and our Semblance enough to give us our Hush." Dark Neo recalled, tapping her chin with a finger. "Aqua offered us a Keyblade, even saying she wanted to trust us no matter how bad we might have been, even accepted out input when we were finally given a voice of our own. She gambled, believing we had more to offer than anyone believed, including Roman. Did Roman really see us as an equal?"
"Of course, he did!" Trivia barked.
"Then why didn't he listen to us when we suggest we up and flee when Cinder showed up? In fact, that was the only time we ever questioned him, and he waved us off, saying we would be okay no matter what. The rest of the times though, I have to wonder if he cared about us beyond our skill or did he have us pegged for hired help the moment we saved his life?" Dark Neo pondered.
"He called out for us when we were blown off that airship!" Trivia shouted. "He trusted us!"
"He trusted us to bust him out of prison. Doesn't mean he believed we were equals." Dark Neo retorted. "We thought we had freedom but we traded one pair of masters for just one."
"Shut up!" Trivia shouted, now swinging wildly at Dark Neo who simply smirked and easily blocked or dodged her attacks before jumping up and slamming her foot in Trivia's face, knocking her down.
The Way to the Dawn skidded across the ground near Ruby who turned and saw Dark Neo standing victoriously over Trivia, pointing her dark blade down at Trivia's face.
"Ruby, there is something else you should know." Penny looked to Ruby now. "That power you had…The one that helped stop Salem's Heartless. Do you remember when you first felt that power, during your battle with Neo?"
"Yeah, why?" Ruby answered and asked.
"From what I learned from Aqua and Terra, this power was awakened from what Neo told you about the Huntsmen and Huntresses that did not help her when she needed it. It seems to have awakened this power and even caused you to regain your drive and purpose." Penny spoke. "Before, you and the others were consumed by vengeance and grief."
Ruby along with sister and friends looked ashamed of the mention of that.
"And yet this power…According to Aqua, it is a power known as one seven pure hearts of light." Penny continued, surprising the group with what she had said. "It was able to destroy Salem's Heartless and I dare say that if that power combined with your Silver Eyes it would destroy Salem when she is reformed."
"Seven pure hearts of light?" Ruby muttered in surprise.
"Aqua and Terra told me that the seven hearts of light have the power to either expel darkness forever or open the door of darkness that would lead to Kingdom Hearts, the Heart of all worlds." Penny explained.
That was completely amazing for them to hear that. Ruby herself was stunned and speechless that she was now one of the seven pure hearts of light.
"Of course, Terra and Aqua called the seven pure hearts of light, the seven Maidens of Heart…" Penny smiled. "Or even a Princess of Heart."
"Wha-WHA?!" Ruby gaped with her eyes now wide as dinner plates. "I can't be royalty!"
"It's just a title, Ruby." Penny giggled. "You don't have to literally be a princess to be a pure heart. Then again, you don't have to be a princess to marry a prince either but you'd still be called one."
She turned to see everyone else still locked in combat with Dark Aqua who had summoned giant shards of ice that shot them at everyone, before teleporting and attacking all around them.
'As a Princess of Heart, Ruby has many powerful abilities.'
She remembered Penny explaining on what exactly a Princess of Heart could do. At first, Ruby wondered if it was similar to her Silver Eyed abilities.
'Think of it as two brands of soda, one original and one diet.' Penny attempted to explain. 'The Silver Eyes and the Grimm Pools are the diet while the Pure Hearts and Heartless are the original flavor.'
While the Silver Eyes would kill the darkness that made up the Grimm, the Pure Hearts could purify a Heartless into its original self.
"If I can get close enough, I could use that purifying thing Penny said I could do. It can turn Heartless back into people, right? It should fix Neo." Ruby muttered to herself.
She then shot forward, calling up on all the memories and feeling she used to activate the Silver Eyes before.
The night when Beacon fell.
The attack on Haven.
Standing up to the Leviathan as it approached Argus.
Summoning her eyes against Cinder again in Atlas.
Using them against the Hound in the Schnee Mansion.
Just Dark Neo raised her sword to finish Trivia off, she spotted Ruby shooting towards her. "Not this time, Red!"
Ruby solidified herself, sliding along the ground next to Triva and her eyes looked up at Dark Neo, releasing an ethereal glow.
"What?!"
Light exploded from Ruby, blinding everyone on the platform.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Dark Neo screeched in pain as the combined power of the Silver Eyes and the Princess of Heart burned the darkness from her.
The light slowly faded, and all was silent.
Dark Aqua had disappeared while Dark New fell to her knees, her dark aura fading and her hair becoming completely pink like before.
She looked up with a saddened smile at Trivia who slowly sat up and stared at her with a stunned face. "Perhaps it's true."
Trivia just looked on as Ruby sat up as well. The cracks along the mural platform were vanishing completely now as everyone took a moment to regain their bearings.
"You don't need anymore." Neo said before she started to vanish into a shower of pink glowing shards.
"Neo!" Trivia cried out, reaching for Neo who held out a hand that broke apart as soon as Trivia touched it.
"For the most of our lives, I was made to be the one friend you could have. Your Semblance gave me life and when it became too much I took over for you." Neo continued as the pink shards surrounded Trivia. "But now…It seems you've finally gained what you wanted."
"NEO!" Trivia cried out as Neo completely vanished into a shower of pink glowing shards before a bright light engulfed them all.
Xxx
Oscar, Penny and Terra stepped back, finding themselves back at the base of the tree of the Ever After while Neo slowly opened her eyes and sat up.
She looked over at them and they could see tears slipping down her cheeks. "Wh-What happened to me?"
Her tone of voice, the look in her eyes, everything about her seemed to different now.
It was like she was a different person now.
"Neo?" Oscar asked slowly.
"Neo?" The girl slowly grasped her pink hair. "Yeah...We're Neo…and Trivia."
"What do you mean?" Terra asked.
"I believe she means that the personalities of both Neopolitan and Trivia Vanille have merged. Before, Neopolitan was the dominant personality while Trivia had been submerged when the image of Neo had been shattered when she was young." Penny explained.
Neo slowly stood up and looked down at herself, feeling different than before.
"How do you feel?" Terra questioned.
"For the first time…" Neo brought her hands over her chest, closing her eyes as she contently smiled. "Whole."
"So, are you still Neo or Trivia?" Oscar asked skeptically.
She opened her eyes and looked at him. "Call me Neo. I might have made peace with being Trivia Vanille but I'm fine with either name."
Oscar simply nodded as Neo held out her hand and in a flash of light, her Keyblade appeared.
She smiled happily at seeing the Way to the Dawn back in her hand. "It's back."
"It never left." Terra stated. "It was just sleeping inside your heart, waiting until you had regained what you lost."
Neo looked at him before looking back at her Keyblade.
She felt like she had been born again, free from the madness that came with being Neopolitan and from the stifling life of Trivia Vanille.
Both were part of her…
Or rather she was actually both now.
The innocence of Trivia and the confidence of Neo now together.
With these, her perspective had changed completely now, almost as if she had been given a blank slate to sort out her past and her feelings.
"Hey Penny." She called out, not using any form of nickname she might have used as just Neopolitan. "You still wondering what happened to me in the Realm of Darkness?"
Penny shook her head. "I saw your memories in there. We have our answers now."
"Right, right." Neo sighed and shook her head. "I got to sort through all of these this stuff in my head."
"Though, I can see now why Aqua trusted you." Penny said with a kind smile that actually surprised Neo. "I understand now."
Neo blushed slightly and looked away. "Good for you…I guess."
Oscar and Penny chuckled and while Terra couldn't smile, he probably would be if he was still human.
Neo just playfully glared back at them. "So…now what?"
Xxx
"SAY WHAT?!"
Neo was gaping at the story she had just been told, unable to believe this had happened while she had been…unavailable.
"So let me get this straight: Aqua got…what's the word for this? Kidnapped, portal-napped, taken to this…place and got into a scuffle with those Brother Gods I've been hearing about. And then Knighty went to help her…AND THEY KICKED THE GODS' ASSES!?" Neo exclaimed at the end. "AND I MISSED ALL OF IT!"
While still choosing to retain her chosen name, Neo seemed to have no trouble shifting back to her old mind-set after being told what had happened in the Relic of Time.
"Yeah…Pretty much." Oscar nodded.
"So…Keyblade Wielders can actually take on Gods." Neo slumped down on the stump behind her. "…I don't know whether to be excited or terrified. And I missed out on it all!"
"You did have your own problems to work through." Terra commented, crossing his arms.
"Sure, I did but I missed out on so much. And if I knew having a Keyblade would mean I'm a certified God-buster I would have so jumped at the chance to get in on the action." Neo actually crossed her arms and pouted. "Let's see Cinder mouth off her so-called superiority after that."
Oscar had to chuckle while Penny giggled.
"Okay, so them Gods have been given a time out with the threat of fighting you guys if they get in the way again." Neo slowly recalled. "I don't have more than three voices in my head anymore and am pretty much as close to being declared legally sane as I'll ever be. So, what do we do now? Just sit back and watch Aqua's adventures? I'm all for my share of morning cartoons but that might take a long time."
"Yes, it would." Penny turned around and walked over to the base of the tree, seeing the portal that still showed Aqua in Remnant's deep past. "I believe it's time you three go to your destinations."
The three glanced at each other and then Penny before Terra spoke up. "What do you mean by that, Penny?"
"I kept the three of you here until you were ready. Oscar returned Gungnir to me so I would know when it would be needed again. Neopolitan's fractured mind and heart are now whole and you, Terra…You have as much a role in shaping Remnant's new future as Aqua." Penny explained.
Terra looked at Penny. "Am I going to the same time we just saw Aqua in?"
"Sadly, no. The best way to ensure both your safety along with the future of Remnant is to send you to a time when Aqua will need your help the most." Penny answered, closing her eyes. "And when Ven will need you."
"Ven?" Terra perked up. "What does he have to do with this? He's asleep in Land of Departure."
Penny smiled as she turned around. "Aqua's journey through the ages has longer reaching effects than you know, Terra. It's not just Remnant's future she is changing but the future of all worlds as well."
Terra uncrossed his arms. "What do you mean, Penny? Did Ven wake up? Does he come to Remnant?"
Penny nodded. "Yes. He will be the last of you three to arrive in Remnant."
Oscar and Neo traded looks as Neo whispered. "Did I miss anything else?"
"No, I think this is a Penny thing." Oscar whispered back.
Penny looked back at Oscar and Neo. "I can observe all the possible timelines regarding Remnant. In many of them I see so many changes, so many horrific outcomes matched by ones where Remnant endures. Drasil was not concerned with help Remnant before, only in helping herself but I believe I know enough to help both Remnant and the people from the other worlds that will appear there."
"People? As in more than just us?" Terra asked.
Penny nodded. "When Ruby and the others used the Staff, we didn't anticipate that opening a tear in space in time would cause such a change. It was a one in a million outcomes that Aqua would land here in the Ever After and the Heartless would come to Remnant…Because the tear we created opened a path as Aqua was falling into the Realm of Darkness. It's what attracted the Heartless and they swarmed Remnant before anyone could realize what had happened."
She could feel the pulse of guilt from Ruby and the others inside her heart.
"Though Remnant was restored, Salem remained as a Heartless, choosing to spread darkness all over Remnant again and thus proved that Remnant's future would be in constant danger because of our actions. Aqua agreed to undertake a journey to protect Remnant's past and travel into the future and if she can find the Keyhole and seal it before the Heartless appear." Penny continued.
"So even if the Heartless come in droves, they can't find the Keyhole." Terra caught on. "Of course, she's had her own share of bad luck keeping her from seeking out the Keyhole."
The biggest issue was the monster Sin.
And there was the matter of the three monsters that served a warlord turned into a demon that were now hunting Aqua for reasons unknown.
And of course, Salem.
Needless to say, Aqua had been very busy and it was only the start of her trip.
And now Ven and many others would be appearing Remnant now?
What had they all done to cause something like this?
Xxx
"So, she has to find this Keyhole."
The Brothers Grimm had not just been watching Aqua when she had returned to the Remnant. They had also been in listening in on the people in that…world.
"It appears so, Brother." The Light Brother conceded.
"The question is what do we do about it." The Dark Brother wondered.
"Aqua made her plan very clear. She is protecting the Remnant from darkness, as per her duty. This will allow Ozma to carry out his task." The Light Brother pointed out.
"And she could very well help him influence the final outcome." The Dark Brother replied.
The God of Light had to conceded that his brother had a point. He believed Aqua's reasons would ultimately help protect the Remnant but at the same time she could influence Ozma.
He didn't have a problem with that, as he hoped Ozma would reunite humanity when the Relics were back together.
However, he needed to keep the peace with his brother who made it clear he didn't want to return. At the very least, if he could prove humanity would not turn on them again perhaps his brother would consider returning with him when the Relics summoned them back for judgement.
"Then what do we do?" The Light Brother asked after nearly an hour of silence.
"…We do not interfere on the first world. But I doubt the Keyblade Wielders will care if we create outside of the Remnant." The Brother of Darkness answered after nearly thirty minutes.
The God of Light gave an impression of raising an eyebrow. "You wish to try creating again?"
"We have an opportunity here, Brother. The Keyblade Wielders believe the Heart brings the greatest power to exist, even greater than us." The Dark Brother replied. "We can use this to see if that is true. Can the Heart of mortals truly surpass the power of Gods?"
The God of Light considered this idea…
And was intrigued by it.
"Then we are in agreement. Let us see where this goes."
