Luxu threw out a barrier in front of Aced and Invi, flying forward with Keyblade raised.
He slung it casually forth, spawning hundreds of copies all around Bahamut; they shot at the Astral in an endless barrage, piercing and exploding in flames on impact.
While the monster was distracted, Luxu pulled up short in front of his enemy, focused his mind and Heart, and then stabbed it forward - straight into Bahamut's chest.
A circle of light formed on Bahamut's chest, at point of contact, and golden energy began gushing out from his body.
Luxu gripped his weapon in both hands, pushed his magic through the weapon, and then began to pull.
Bahamut roared, raising a swift clawed limb to swipe for Luxu-
And then the limb fell, limp and lifeless, as a huge orb of swirling energy emerged from Bahamut's chest.
Luxu drifted backwards, then swung his weapon out into the void.
Casting that Heart away from him - away from the body it had come from.
The Heart of Bahamut soared through the darkness...and then it blinked out of existence.
The body left behind began to disintegrate into particles of light, shuddering and breaking apart.
Luxu lowered his weapon, and let the breath go that he'd been holding for the last thirty seconds now.
Even with the battle to weaken the Astral, even with his own millennia of experience in this area of Keyblade abilities, Luxu had still expected much more resistance from Bahamut. A great and powerful Heart that would have resisted being ripped from its body - that would have fought back in some way.
But - that was it, was it? Nothing more?
I'll take it.
Luxu looked to his friends, and cocked a grin as he conjured up a portal of light in the void of space. He beckoned them with his head alone, turning and shooting off into the portal first. He emerged on the other side, back on the planet of Eos again - back in the streets of Insomnia, grand capital. A moment later and his friends emerged in his wake, touching feet to solid ground again.
"I'd ask if you failed, but you look far too smug for that to be the case," came the familiar voice of Master Aqua.
Luxu turned, caught by surprise. The young woman was standing there, hand on hip - along with Master Terra, Ventus, and King Noctis. And...the man known as "Adagium", of course...
"What're they doin' here?" Ventus spoke, his eyes flitting between Luxu's friends, narrowed and cold. Icy blue. That familiar glare.
"Just risking their lives to save this whole world," Luxu replied casually. "You're welcome," he added, with a nod to Noctis.
"You really did it, then, huh?" Noctis said, amazed. "You guys defeated Bahamut?"
"It wasn't a picnic, but, yeah," Luxu answered honestly, shrugging.
"Well, I guess that's that, then," Ardyn said heavily, dropping to the ground without ceremony.
"Even if his Heart has been banished for a time, in time he will return - as I did," came a voice, along with the familiar, true and blue form of the Astral known as Shiva - drifting along through the air. "But it will take time. And, like myself, and my Ifrit, he will inhabit a vastly weaker form. But a form that should be much more easily combated, even by mortals."
"Then we'll be waiting for him," Noctis vowed. "Him, and Xehanort," he added, with a look to Aqua and the others. "I seriously owe you guys for this one - so, any time, any place, just ask, and I'll be there."
Aqua blinked at him in surprise. Then, she gave a small smile, and a firm nod back. "Alright. We'll keep that in mind."
"So, what's to be done of me now?" Ardyn spoke up again, raising a hand to Noctis like a student in a classroom. "Lock me away in the darkest hole you can find and forget the key again? Erase me from history once more?"
Noctis gazed down on him, stepping forward. Then he let a breath go, shaking his head. "Not this time. It's not going to be fun for you...but I think we can put you to better use. Give you a chance to help set things to right again." He paused briefly before going on. "And I'll make sure the true history of this kingdom is known to all."
"Well now, that's going to cause quite the unrest..." Ardyn said, with surprise on his face.
"We'll deal with it," Noctis refuted, firm. "Whether it was the darkness, and the betrayal, and the torture that twisted your mind - in the end you chose to keep going, you chose to do all the things you did to the world, and to its people. All for revenge. Petty, spiteful, cruel revenge. And that, I can't forgive or forget. But if you're willing to make things right, now, and to give those feelings up...to take responsibility..."
Ardyn looked down at himself. He held his hand before his face, staring at his palm. He sighed, curling his fingers. "You're right, of course, Your Majesty. Though the path of blood and darkness was the one fated for me, it was one I chose to remain trapped within. I'd decided to myself that nothing truly mattered. The gods above, the men below. To hell with it all. All that mattered to me...was that shot at revenge - and peace, through death. An eventual end to this curse of immortality. But I see now that I needn't have continued walking that road at all, really..."
Luxu startled internally at the man's words; they told a tale that was way too similar to his own. True empathy twinged in his Heart (though he kept it from showing on his face).
For his part, King Noctis gazed at Ardyn, silent, appraising.
Ardyn let his hand fall, looking up to Noctis once more. "Want to know another piece of history lost to time - or, rather, concealed by your ancestors?"
Noctis just nodded.
"I was a Healer," Ardyn spoke softly. "My original mandate by the gods was to go around the world and heal the people who were afflicted with the darkness. I did this by taking it all into myself instead."
"I see..." Noctis said simply.
"If you'd permit it...I rather think I'd like to get back to healing people now, rather than harming them," Ardyn stated.
"If you mean that...we can work something out. You'll still be spending most of your time behind bars, but I can promise you that it won't be anything like before."
"I have your word...?"
"I'm not my ancestors," Noctis said, his voice rough.
"No...no, you aren't. I see that now, too. Very well - have at it." Ardyn put his wrists together and thrust his arms forth.
Noctis just shook his head. "Stand up. Come on."
"Seeing as we both know normal bars aren't going to do a thing to contain me, I presume you plan to use the Wall to imprison me," Ardyn said conversationally. "You're a young, fit king in his prime - and it would take a trivial amount of lifeforce to maintain a barrier around a single prisoner compared to an entire kingdom."
"Just walk," Noctis ordered. He looked to the others. "Feel free to stay - help out - or head back home. Uh...thanks again, by the way. And - sorry for dragging you guys into this," he added on hurriedly, looking awkward and pained.
"It's okay; we were happy to help," Aqua said. "But...I do think we've done enough for one day. We should be going now."
"Of course," Noctis said back.
Luxu looked to his friends again, gesturing. "Come on."
"To where, now?" asked Invi.
"My place. Figure you guys can have some R&R after the work you just put in. That was some real good work," Luxu answered, already calling up a new portal of swirling light.
The four of them followed him without another word.
"Punish us later - we need to have a team meeting, please," Kairi had interrupted Aqua, immediately after the woman had returned to Destiny Islands with cold fury and disappointment on her face.
Aqua's anger gave way to confusion and surprise. "Has something happened?" she asked quickly.
"Something..." Kairi muttered, sharing a look with Sora.
They left the beach, and their world, behind for Land of Departure. Kairi had asked for someone to go and get Luxu and Namine, too; Terra had volunteered, and headed over to Twilight Town alone. After a few minutes, he returned, with man and girl in tow.
"What's going on?" Luxu spoke, stepping out of the portal, his eyes finding her immediately.
"If I knew, I wouldn't need you," Kairi responded, looking to Namine instead.
"Haha...good one," Luxu intoned (Kairi continued to ignore him).
"Do you need me to find some new memories?" Namine said, smiling at Kairi and holding her hands before her.
"Not exactly," Kairi replied. "I just need you to do that thing you did before - the sharing memories thing? There's a memory I think everyone should see. It happened while you were all helping Noctis - after Luxu sent me and Sora away from his world."
"If that's an accusation of some kind-" Luxu began.
"Shut up," Kairi said idly. "I wasn't talking to you."
Luxu shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets. "My bad. Namine, why don't you help her out, and let's see what this is all about."
"Sure!" Namine stepped forward, gazing at Kairi, her eyes furrowing with concentration. "Just let me find it..."
Kairi stood waiting - but she still wasn't prepared for it when the world flashed white, and just totally changed on her. Changed from the Land of Departure's castle throne room, back into the beach of the play island again.
She watched herself wake up on the beach, Sora still asleep beside her.
She watched the events play out again - along with the others, too, standing as phantoms in a memory. The encounter with that woman who called herself Hina.
After it was over, Kairi turned right to Luxu.
"Did that woman look or sound familiar to you at all?" she asked.
Luxu stood for a moment, considering. Thinking. Then, he shook his head. "I might have been around the block a few times, but that doesn't mean I know everyone. The whole point of my mission was to keep a low profile, remember?"
"Right. I was just hoping..." Kairi sighed.
"There was something very interesting about her, though - a few things, actually, that I picked up on..." Luxu went on, holding up a hand.
"What things?"
"Well, she was wearing a black coat - to protect herself from darkness - and she shined a pretty strong light at the end there," Luxu started, slowly. Thoughtfully. "But there was also..."
"Okay, please stop beating around the bush," Kairi huffed, giving a small glare at the man now. The better to hide the little welling of anxiety in her Heart right then.
"Sorry," Luxu said instantly. He reached up to scratch his hair, giving a little shrug. He drew a breath - paused. Then he raised a hand and thrust his palm out.
Before him, suddenly, magical, glassy letters appeared to float in the air. They formed a single word. A name. The name the woman had called her...
"Hikari," Luxu stated, letting his hand fall to his side. To a hip. He gazed at the letters, scrutinizing them strangely for a moment. "This name, this word, it is one I've come across before. It's been found in many different worlds, in dozens of different languages and cultures all throughout history. Sometimes the spelling or the pronunciation is different...but the meaning is always the same."
"What's the meaning?" Kairi said impatiently.
"Light." Luxu looked to Kairi. Into her eyes. "Light, bright, sun, star...the commonality is always there, at its base."
"So - was she mistaking me for...one of the other Princesses of Heart?" Kairi asked. "She sensed my light somehow and thought I was maybe someone else?"
Luxu held up his hand again. His lips formed into a frown. That had to be one of the worst things Kairi could ever see on the man's face. It made her Heart plummet right into her stomach. "There's something else I noticed."
"What...?" Kairi almost squeaked out now. Almost.
Luxu sighed. Shook his head. Rubbed his neck. Then he thrust his arm out - his finger pointing at the letters.
The letters glowed, swirled around each other...and then stilled again.
Now, they spelled something different. Different, but intimately familiar, of course.
It read, now: K.A.I.R.I.
And the lone remaining letter, the H, was off on its own, apart from the rest.
But still...it was clear as day - like the woman had said.
It was an anagram. An anagram with one extra letter taken away from it - or, maybe added into it (so eerily similar to the Organization's naming scheme).
Everyone stared at the letters with various degrees of shock and incredulity.
"So - so what's this supposed to mean, huh?" Kairi demanded of Luxu.
Luxu gave another useless shrug. "No clue, princess. Kairi - sorry."
"No, she thought I was someone else - she said I felt familiar - and that name and my name happen to be one letter off and an anagram away from each other?!" Kairi erupted furiously, her mind working itself into overdrive now. "And she said I wouldn't remember her - she said she was going to try to wake me up! It can't all be some coincidence. She wasn't just crazy, or mistaken, was she? This...means something."
"We don't know what it means," Luxu said firmly, looking her in the eye again. "If it means anything at all. You don't need to go jumping to conclus-"
"Namine, when you've been in my Heart before, looking around my memories," Kairi began, ignoring him in favor of turning to the girl. "did you ever find anything that seemed like...like maybe...it didn't- belong? Like it was- someone else's...?"
Namine didn't hesitate to shake her head, causing some small relief to flutter in Kairi's chest. "No - never. It wasn't like finding Ven's memories inside of Sora's Heart...or the way Luxu's memories were all so different and strange - like different people's. It wasn't like Skuld, Lauriam or Elrena's fragments either. And I definitely never found anything in there like when I reached out to Terra's Heart, and there was just so much darkness that it actually attacked me and tried to pull me into it." She looked Kairi in the face, flashing a little smile, finishing with: "Your Heart's always just been yours - there was never anything else in there."
"But there could be," Kairi said softly. "I still don't remember everything about my life in Radiant Garden, and I doubt you went through every single memory with a fine comb, did you? And- and Ven was with Sora since he was little, and Sora..." She looked to the boy in question. "You never realized it, did you? You grew up never even knowing he was there?"
"Well..." Sora frowned. He nodded, crossing his arms. "Yeah. But he was asleep that whole time - he was hurting. It wasn't until Vanitas showed up that he woke up, inside of me."
"What if there's someone inside of me, too?" Kairi replied, quiet. "Someone sleeping, so deep down inside of my Heart that I don't even know they're there - like you and Ven? What if they're hurt - healing, too? Or...or what if I'm like...some kind of Nobody, myself?"
"Not possible," Luxu spoke, shaking his head at her. Flashing her a look of either pity or sympathy. "A Nobody can't make another Nobody."
"But a Nobody can regrow their Heart - or grow one of their own," Kairi insisted. "What if that Heart fell to darkness, and then-"
"Still wouldn't work," Luxu countered flatly. "Trust me."
"No," Kairi bit out, before she could stop herself.
Luxu just nodded. "Fair enough. But you wouldn't have asked me if you didn't trust the knowledge I have, would you? And I'm telling you: there's no way you could be someone else's Nobody, or another Nobody's Nobody. That isn't how it works."
"Namine is supposed to be impossible, too, though, isn't she?" Kairi persisted, slow and hesitant. "A Heart of pure light making a Nobody without even becoming a Heartless - because I used Sora's body and Heart for the process instead of my own. So who's to say something similar couldn't have happened before, and I-"
"Of course it's not impossible that you and Namine aren't the first to break the rules of reality that way," Luxu said patiently. "It's possible that, in the long history of all the World, that that same perfect storm of people, Hearts, and circumstances all came together to create a Nobody of a Princess of Heart before. But I think it's far more likely that you two were a first - a totally unique situation and act of chance."
"Kairi, I'm sure you're...you," Sora spoke up. "You have all those photos of your- uh, when you were a baby and everything! You can't be a Nobody, or even some kind of Replica! Not that anything would change for us if you were!" he added swiftly, passionately. "But it just doesn't add up. Not that way, anyways. It could still be something like me and Ven's situation, though..."
"Okay, Namine, I'm going to need you at my place for the next few days - impromptu slumber party time," Kairi stated, rounding on the girl. "I want you to go through my memories - all of them - and see if you can't find something in there, like with Sora and Ven. Look into my Heart for any kind of...connection, or something hidden. A sleeping Heart, maybe."
"Alright!" Namine said, beaming, despite the situation. Her blue eyes filled with excitement. "I love slumber parties; Strelitzia and I have had a few before, and they're so fun! Oh, and I'll get to meet your dad!"
Kairi smiled too, despite herself. Giggled a little. "Right, you still haven't met him yet. He's going to lose it when he sees another girl that looks like me." She paused. "I hope you don't mind sleeping on the floor - and/or couch. We really just don't want to risk me absorbing you into my being, you know?"
"I can sleep anywhere," Namine said confidently. "That's okay with me."
"She really can," Luxu informed, rolling his eyes a little.
"So you're going to let us do this?" Namine said to him.
"It's for an important cause," Luxu replied. "And, hey, I would like a break from you for a change. It's been a while since my last."
Namine gave a small grin. "As if! You could never get sick of me!"
"Keep telling yourself that, kiddo."
Even scribbled out furious number equations before tearing the sheet off and setting it aside - atop the rest of the pile of failures.
He was close, he was certain of it! Very close! He just needed to get around this small snag, this roadblock in the conversion of magical energies into true physical-
He heard a strange warbling noise behind him, familiar immediately, and whirled around on instinct.
He stared in shock at the floor of the lab.
Three figures were in the process of materializing into existence there, the air itself warping around them.
He identified one as obviously being Dilan, the other, the flaming-haired Lea, and lastly-
"Ienzo..." he breathed, as a multitude of emotions swelled up in his Heart.
As a scientist, he could admit he'd often taken human emotions for granted during the course of his life. And then, as a Nobody, he could also admit that he had fully believed he was better off without them - without morals or conscience to hold him back in his pursuit of science. His research, unrestrained and unlimited.
However, at that moment...he allowed himself to revel in every ounce of human emotion inside his recently regained Heart.
AN: Okay lol that is the end of the little Noctis mini-arc. xD Now everyone can shut up about it lol! :D We're moving on. To FUN stuff, actually. Kinda scatterbrained, but fun. Hopefully. :D Gotta live up to the actual SLICE OF LIFE tags and shit. xD