I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters.
Traitors
Tyler watched as the Atlanteans stood around them, watching curiously. Kida, the woman who had led them to Atlantis and who, apparently, was the princess of it, had led them to a clearing where they could train without anyone bothering them. On the other hand, three outsiders wielding weapons and abilities that even the Atlanteans had never seen seemed to draw a crowd.
"Pay attention Tyler," Lightning said, making him look back toward her. "Now, remember that before you can cast a spell, you need to tap into your magic energy, and when you use it all, you're going to feel exhausted until it recovers. If you try to use a spell when you have no magic energy left, you'll die."
"Understood," Tyler nodded.
"Now focus," Fang said. "Try to tap into your magic energy."
"How do I control what spell I use?" Tyler asked, eyes closed as he searched.
"That you control with your mind," Lightning said. "It takes practice, but you will the magic to form into an element, whether it's fire, ice, water, wind, lightning. A specific element should be easier than the rest. It's called your affinity element."
"I see," Tyler nodded, opening his eyes. "I think I found my magic energy."
"Try casting a spell," Lightning said. "For example, try to send a fireball at the ground over there."
Tyler nodded, focusing on the spot and imagining a fireball launching out of his hand as he swung it, the same way Lightning did. Instead, a purple light shone from his hand as a dark sphere with tiny spots of light, looking like a sphere of the night sky, appeared in the air, sinking into the ground for a moment before bursting in a flash of white light.
"What the hell was that?" Tyler blinked.
"That...that was gravity," Lightning said. "It's celestial magic. It's supposed to be difficult for even experienced keyblade wielders."
"That didn't tire me out at all," Tyler said.
"Celestial affinity," Fang mused. "Kid's full of surprises."
"Try healing next," Lightning said, taking her glove off and cutting her palm with her gunblade.
"Are you sure?" Tyler asked.
"You've already done it once," Lightning smiled.
He nodded and focused, his hand flashing green before her hand glowed, the wound sealing itself. He sighed in relief and turned back to the spot on the ground, focusing. He glanced at the keyblade before holding it out, a green flash shooting off of the tip and a sphere of wind appearing at the spot he was aiming for and exploding outward. He sighed. He had been trying for an ice spell.
"You'll get the hang of it," Lightning said. "Want to try sparring?"
"With magic?" Tyler asked, eyes wide with surprise and fear.
"Oh god no," Lightning said. "With our blades."
"Oh, that," Tyler sighed. "Sure."
Lightning nodded, darting forward and slashing at him, Tyler blocking it, only for Lightning to slam a kick into his side, making him stagger away. As he slowed to a stop, she slashed again. He twisted out of the way but lost his footing and crashed to the ground, Lightning putting her sword to his throat.
"You're still not watching your footing," Lightning said. "Would you prefer to fight Fang?"
"Nope," Tyler said, pushing himself up. "Again."
Lightning nodded and stepped back, Tyler following and slashing. She knocked his keyblade aside and he spun, slashing from the other side. She blocked it, now standing behind him, and push-kicked him, knocking him to the ground. He tolled over to find Lightning's sword again at his throat.
"You're making sloppy mistakes," Lightning said. "You're better than this."
He sighed, summoning his keyblade to his hand again and knocking her sword away before standing and slashing at her, Lightning leaning back out of the way then kicking him back to the ground and sighing.
"Fang, your turn," Lightning said, turning and walking away.
Tyler scrambled to his feet and spun in time to duck out of the way of a jab from Fang's spear. She spun, swiping at him from the other way and he blocked it, the other end of her staff flipping down under her arm and up at him, Tyler stepping out of the way again. Then, he stepped forward, slashing at Fang, who bent backward under it and spun her staff, the shaft of it cracking him under the jaw. He crashed to the ground, rolling to the side and getting his feet under him in time to swipe a jab aside. Then, he stepped forward only for her staff to break apart into three sections. His eyes widened as the other end swung around and slammed into the side of his head, knocking him to the ground as she put the blade of the staff to his throat.
"Not bad," Fang said. "Where was that skill while you were fighting Lightning?"
Tyler looked up at her, seeing the knowing grin, and pushed himself up, clearing his throat and looking around at the crowd, the males all grinning. He would love to see any of them try and fight one of the girls. As he turned, he caught movement to his left and leaned back in time to lean out of the way of a jab from Lightning. He jumped backward, landing on his feet before diving to the side and out of the way of Fang's staff, landing in a roll. He stood, turning and blocking Lightning's sword before her foot collided with his chest. For all their talk about how good he should do against Lightning, it was hard to fight against her when she was constantly kicking him. He was just glad she wasn't shooting him. He rolled backward as Fang's staff smacked the ground where he had been, then turned, catching a kick from Lightning and blocking her sword. He turned, pulling Lightning's leg and making her fall to the ground before twisting and deflecting a swipe from Fang. As soon as he did, he jumped, flipping to the side and stabbing the keyblade into the ground to complete the flip, Fang's staff smacking the flat of the blade on Lightning's forehead.
"Ow!" Lightning said, rubbing her head.
"Oops," Fang said, shrugging and turning after Tyler, finding him holding the keyblade to her throat, breathing hard. "Impressive."
"It was a fluke," Tyler said.
"It's improvement," Lightning said, standing just as several strong-looking males walked over.
"You are very good," one of them said. "But perhaps we could show you how a real man fi-" He stopped speaking when Lightning grabbed his hand, stepping around him and putting him in an arm-bar, slamming him to the ground and pressing on his elbow.
"Yield?" Lightning asked.
"Yes!" the man shouted.
Lightning released him and Tyler shrugged as he stood, working the pain out of his elbow.
"Okay, so maybe you're better than we thought," the man said. "Will you train us?"
"I've got it," Fang said. "You keep teaching Tyler that the keyblade's not his only weapon. Maybe take it away from him for a bit."
Lightning nodded, putting her gunblade away, Tyler letting the keyblade disappear as Fang walked a short distance away from them with the men that wanted to be trained, all of whom held their spears. Lightning spent an hour or so training Tyler to fight barehanded before beginning to beat him to a pulp. He wasn't good at fighting barehanded, and she had no intention of being gentle. Finally, as the sky began to darken and the atlanteans had all left, the commander arrived with several of his gas-mask-wearing troops and Milo's friends, all of them carrying guns.
"Hey, what're you carrying guns for?" Tyler asked as Lightning's hand rested on her gunblade.
"Well it's quite simple," the commander said. "It's like I told the king. They're to remove obstacles we find. And we have found an obstacle."
"You're going to shoot the king?" Tyler snarled, summoning the keyblade.
"That fancy sword of yours won't do you any good," the commander said. "You take a step, and I put a bullet in your pretty friend with the pink hair's head."
"Commander-"
"Call me Rourke," the commander said. "Commander is so...formal."
"Rourke," Tyler said. "If you do this, you have no idea what kind of problems you'll cause."
"Relax," Rourke said. "Milo is about to get back and tell us. Now let's go. It's a bit of a walk."
Tyler glanced at Lightning who nodded, hand still on her gunblade. Tyler sighed, nodding and turning walking away from the soldiers, Lightning and Fang following. "We don't know where we're going."
"Straight ahead until you hit water," Rourke said. "Can't miss it."
A few minutes later, they stopped at the edge of the water just as Milo resurfaced, staring up at them.
"Hello Milo, have a good swim?" Rourke asked.
"What's..." Milo trailed off, staring at the guns.
"They're going to shoot the king," Tyler said.
"I'm so stupid," Milo sighed. "This is just another treasure hunt for you."
Just then, Kida surfaced, only to be dragged out of the water by the hair. She fought back instantly, taking two soldiers down and drawing a knife to kill one, only for Rourke to shoot the knife out of her hand, a pair of soldiers dragging her off of the other, Kida kicking him in the groin on the way.
"Don't be like that Milo," Rourke said. "After all, you're the one that got us here. You led us right to the treasure chest. Sorry we didn't tell you but it was on a need to know basis. And now you know. We just needed to be sure you were on our side. Welcome to the team sport."
"I'm no mercenary," Milo snarled.
"Mercenary," Rourke snorted. "I prefer the term 'adventure capitalist.'"
"You don't know what you're dealing with Rourke," Milo said.
"What's to know?" Rourke asked. "It's big, it's shiny, it's gonna make us all rich."
"You think it's some kind of diamond, I thought it was some kind of battery," Milo said. "We're both wrong! It's their life force. That crystal is the only thing keeping these people alive! You take that away and these people will die!"
"Well, that changes things," Rourke said. "Helga, what do you think?"
"Knowing that, I'd double the price," Helga said.
"Rourke, don't do this!" Milo pleaded.
"Academics," Rourke said. "You never want to get your hands dirty. Think about it. If you gave back every stolen artifact from a museum, you'd be left with an empty building. We're just...providing a necessary service to the archeological community."
"Not interested," Milo snarled.
"You're an idealist, just like your grandfather," Rourke said. "Do yourself a favor, don't be like him. For once in your life, do the smart thing."
"You'd never escape alive," Tyler said. "Legend has it Atlantis was swallowed by a flood. Maybe the flood, as in the biblical one. If that's the case, what do you think is keeping that same flood from finishing the job today?"
"The stone cavern we're in," Rourke said.
"Stone cavern huh?" Tyler asked. "No. We left the stone cavern when we reached the bridge. It's hard to tell here because the crystal simulates day and night, but we're not surrounded by stone. It's water."
"Well, by the time the crystal stops holding the water back, we'll be on our way out," Rourke said.
"We'll stop you," Tyler warned.
"As I said before, you move, your pink-haired friend dies," Rourke said. "And I suppose we've also run out of options for negotiating with Milo, haven't we?" He snapped his fingers.
Kida shouted in surprise as she was shoved to the ground, the soldier aiming a rifle at her.
"Let's try this one more time," Rourke said, holding out a piece of paper to Milo. "Read."
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