Hi, I'm back. Blame Persona 3.
"Let me go, let me go, let me go, nyoooooo!"
"Will you quit squirming?!"
From far away, Ashley looked like a bloody star; a looming threat from above that had all the potential to destroy it all. Looking at her up close though, she was anything but threatening. She looked disheveled. Her tangled mess of hair was even more twisted and knotted than usual. Her shoes looked worn from stomping, barely even keeping her comfortable from wobbling on the stick of her broom. She looked like she'd spent most of her time losing all her energy to angry fits since the last time they saw her. In other words, she looked desperate.
"One of our princesses is defective, so just be a good girl and let me capture you already!"
"Ash—mmpphhmmph."
Ah, yes.
Ashley looked down. In the middle of her attempts to rangle up the ten-year-old, the Keybearer and his cohorts had followed her to her arena. Just as she had planned. This was to be her moment. What better way to kill two birds with one stone than to take down the nuisance who'd been humiliating her for two whole months now?
What she didn't expect was for her own familiar to show up within the group as well.
"Hey, quit it." Red had tried to fly up to her himself, but was stopped by Leon's harsh grip. He tried his best to break free of the cage despite the man's muttering. "Can't you see how dangerous it is?"
The tiny demon's determination was much too strong for Leon to hold him back. With one thick headbutt, he flapped his way out and above and towards his beloved master. Finding her again had been his goal, but even then, he knew she'd changed. He stopped just barely above Leon's grasp; an infuriatingly safe distance from her.
"Stop, please," he called out in distress. "You've got me saying 'please', that's how bad things are right now. Just stop!"
Her face sneered in disgust. "Why should I?"
"This isn't like you."
Her sneer deepened. "What are you talking about? I've always been like this."
"I mean, yeah, you pull a lot of pranks to scare people, but this and back at the theme park, it's on a whole 'nother level!"
"I'm a witch!" She stamped on to her broom, causing it to bounce downward for a split second. "You are a witch's familiar. You should know this. This is what I'm supposed to be like!"
"What was all that back at MidiCity then?"
Ashley's eyes shifted slightly to the right. Cody was on the tip of his toes, his hands cupped to the sides of his mouth as he tried to butt his way into the heated conversation.
"You helped save the city, didn't you?"
"Yeah," Loudred added on. "Al and I saw you and the Plasmagica girls go into the building together."
"They all had really nice things to say about you," Mokona hopped atop Loudred's head and smiled gleefully.
"That was…" She bit her lip, and her eyes swung back and forth in a rhythmic pace. "That was all a huge mistake."
"You mistakenly saved an entire world?" Alakazam loudly retorted below.
"Shut up!"
That's what she's always saying these days, huh?
"Shut up!"
When was the last time she had any sense of dignity?
"Shut up!"
At this point, she could barely remember.
"Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up…"
It was a pathetic mantra, both captivating and pitiful. All they could bring themselves to do was to patiently wait out her tantrum like they were witness to a frantic child. Her teeth looked like they were ready to shatter each time they gnashed together, and the wobbles of her broom had gotten so unstable, they actually feared the off chance she'd topple off. Their empathy, their willingness to let her simmer off at her worst, it was all for naught. Their lack of action? All it did was make her angrier. Her rant lulled on and on, sharper yet shakier, like those two words were a spell.
Right in the front row seat, Dejiko, still tied up and wrapped in the floating Heartless pile, was the first to realize a switch had teetered on. Alongside a shrill "nyo", a blinding blast of red and light shot out of her eyes and shattered her living cage into black scraps that whittled off in the wind. It was her last ditch effort to escape, and it worked. Unfortunately, just as she tumbled and rolled to the ground, she realized she had unknowingly set off what she was so desperate to run from.
The witch was probably still shouting "shut up," but her crackling voice had gone beastly in tone. She barely even had to look over to the side to realize her captive had broken free. She barely even had to move an inch for the others to tell she had somehow gotten even angrier. With a quick turn of the wrist, almost the exact moment her catgirl hostage hit the ground, both her arm and wand sprung up like a rigid rake. The flaking Heartless threads that Dejiko had left behind swirled into a miniature storm. The cloud brewed and brewed, fueled purely by two simple words:
Shut up.
A rumbling clank shook the tiled grounds. The storm had released itself and out came a somewhat familiar sight. It was the gangly floating limbs of Guard Armor, only now, its purple shades had been repainted into bright reds, yellows, and blues over its tin toned base. Dejiko's newfound freedom proved to be short-lived. In that brief moment of time when everyone was too shocked at the boss monster's reappearance to think rationally on the fly, its rough, metallic claws scraped into the ground and nabbed the girl right back into the clutches of darkness.
It seemed for a second that chaos would reign on the scene as the Guard Armor swung around and Dejiko resumed her screeching. Even Leon grumbled in frustration at the turn of events. But forget the fresh new coat of paint. This was the same stupid Guard Armor from way before. Sure, their last encounter was pretty rough, but the past might as well have been forever at that point. The Keyblade gang jumped into action almost immediately. The disorganization and distrust from yesterday was long gone. Now, they fended off the armor's swings and stomps like it was nothing.
The four had come into this fight with built in knowledge, and the Guard Armor very quickly grew aware of that. They had already begun to attempt their same gambit from long ago, trying to toss and float Cody as high as they could to nail the head. It was like they could feel the oversized Heartless become frustrated in response. Dejiko, who was supposed to be a simple hostage, was now transferred to a shield as the claw quickly maneuvered her over itself each time Cody was inches away. If the creature thought it was being clever though, if it could even think at all really, it was sorely mistaken.
"Hey, Dejiko, turn around!"
During one meetup at the top, Cody gave one simple command to the younger girl, and she didn't even need him to elaborate to know what to do. If it worked for her the first time around, there was no reason it wouldn't work for her now.
The Guard Armor's head was pierced with a clean shot. Dejiko's laser eyes had stabbed right into its metaphorical skull. Once again, she was tossed off, and landed safely to the ground with the help of Al's telekinetic waves. Again just like that very first battle so long ago, Guard Armor staggered over drunkenly to the floor.
But for some reason, as its piece lay still in silence, it refused to fade out and disappear.
BONG!
BONG!
BONG!
…!
Their attention turned back to the near deafening clock tower. Right in front of the face, Ashley stood on her broom with her arm outstretched like the clock's hands. Her eyes and grin were in a demented and crooked slant. For the first time since anyone had set foot on the world, Traverse Town had entered midnight.
The rumbling from before resumed. The stray pieces of armor shook and teetered in a violent manner until they began to once again come together as one. Only this time, its claws took the place of its feet with its arms now hammers. Its body flipped upside down into a bulky upper build, and so did its head which, through the crevasse formed from Dejiko's laser bullseye, revealed the Heartless signature dead gold eyes. This was no longer Guard Armor. This was Opposite Armor.
"This is it," Ashley giggled in a highly unstable manner. "Just gotta kidnap the princess and then I'll be a real witch." She leered at her own monstrous ally and let out a graveled bark. "Grab her already!"
And so it obeyed. With its hands no longer the right structure to scrape and grab, it proceeded to slam both its hammer arms to the ground and drag them across the rocky pavement. They were headed towards the same pivot point; Dejiko. The action would more likely crush her to death than actually nab, but Ashley didn't seem to be in any right mind to realize that or care.
Gravel flew everywhere as the "hands" grew closer to their collision point. Everyone screamed desperately for Dejiko to run for her dear life, and boy, they did not need to tell her twice. She leapt like an animal prancing away from a burning forest, and just as the two hands met their screaming clang, Leon roughly yanked her right under his arm.
"Hey, let go of me, nyo!" Dejiko flailed around helplessly.
"Get your priorities straight here," Leon responded in annoyance. As if dealing with a whining Red secured around his fist wasn't enough. Even being caught in the danger themselves, these kids had no sense of self preservation.
Leon felt his feet involuntarily jump off the ground for just a second. Opposite Armor had lifted its arms back up and was raring to slam them down where he stood. His footing was just a little bit off thanks to a certain pair of brats, and if it weren't for a certain psychic Pokemon's telekinetic pushback, he probably would've went down. The armor proceeded to scrape its footed claws towards them in retaliation, but were blocked off by Cody, Loudred, and Mokona holding them back with all their might.
Leon calmly looked around and assessed the situation. Alakazam's face was completely covered in sweat. It was taking all of his concentration to hold the arms back. Along with him, Cody and Loudred's face were contorting into pained puffs desperate for air as they used everything within themselves to push against the limbs. Then there was Mokona who was acting his usual tone deaf self, plainly kicking one of the feet around like he wanted to send it off like a soccer ball. In the past, he would've seen this moment and bemoaned the quality of his allies. Now though…
He figured they probably had things under control.
Leon fled the area to usher the kids to safety, and the moment he did, the four finally gave in, and the giant armor proceeded to punch and kick them around with ease.
"It's probably the same weakness as before, right?" Cody gasped as he recovered from rolling through the bumpy ground. "With the head?"
"We can try to do the same thing as last time," Loudred hacked out.
"We can try," Alakazam added irritably. His drenched face had heightened into a waterfall with how quickly he was waving his arms around trying to ward the flurry of attacks away. "This thing got beat down already, and it's moving around like it's ready for a marathon."
"Well, you can just keep blocking it all off, right?" Mokona yipped.
"You!" Al's eyes bulged out, half out of rage and half out of relief. "Can't you make force fields too?"
He frantically lifted his smaller friend right off the ground, raised him to the sky, and gave a soft squeeze like he was activating a toy. A translucent shade of red bloomed out of his forehead gem, just enough to keep them from harm as they readied themselves for a comeback. Loudred leaned out just enough to send off an ear shattering Uproar, which threw the limbs' motions off ever so slightly, while Cody ran in for the kill. Al telepathically propelled him upwards towards the head. Things were going just the same as they ever did with this particular enemy, but falling to the motions proved to be their one big mistake.
Right as Cody met the head eye-to-eye, as if the Opposite Armor had waited specifically for this moment to laugh metaphorically to his face, the broken helm lowered to the very rim of its body and went out of view completely as the body flipped to its back. Cody, who had the Keyblade outstretched and ready to strike, raised his eyebrow in confusion. For what reason would the enemy choose to plop over and rest in the air?
To shoot a massive blast out of itself like a gigantic cannon of course.
The three below were at the very center of the blast site, and Mokona's shield just barely saved them from certain doom. The trio could be heard wailing in horror as the world around them became engulfed in throngs of unknown energy. Al struggled to keep hold of Mokona amidst the strength of it all, and Mokona struggled to keep his focus in check. It was delayed, but the three were soon flung off in all directions across the battlefield. The one above, Cody, met a similar fate. Al had lost his concentration a long time ago, and he fell just enough to graze the edge of the blast and get swatted off senselessly as well.
His teeth gnashed on to the hard cobbled pavement as his face skidded past what felt like several feet worth of pain. He did, of course, scream all throughout his flight which allowed his mouth to be wide open when he met his landing. He gagged like crazy the second he made a stop. His stomach had been acting up since before the fight even began, but he clearly had adapted a little too well at holding his nausea in because now he was practically choking himself with forceful coughs to try to get whatever the heck gravel germs he just inhaled out of him.
In between his hacks and coughs, he could hear a faint clicking that grew closer each time. He tilted his head. A distinct pair of ruby red Mary Janes were just in front of him.
Oh. Her.
He choked once more, this time out of horror. She had caught him while he was on all fours, forcing himself to throw up. Quicker than lightning, he stood back up and instantly swallowed up his half formed baby barf. She was already pretty pissed off, but seeing her upfront, she'd somehow gotten even madder.
She was still furious about what happened at True Cross, for sure.
"Uh, h-hey," he reached his arm out to her in a sorry attempt for a peace offering. "I know seeing me like that might've brought back bad memories, but—"
She sicced a ball of magic right where his head was, and he crouched to the side like he had just missed a fatal dodgeball injury.
"...I'm sorry?" He squeaked.
Another throw.
Yes, she was still mad about that alright. She was still mad about all the other times she ran into him too. She had just one simple job—take down the Keybearer—and she managed to fail…
Every.
Single.
Dang.
Time.
"Hey, guys!"
Ashley had resorted to shooting out a concentrated storm of flaming magic energy specifically at the lone geek and no one else. Cody attempted to flag the others over and shift their focus away from the Opposite Armor only to be greeted by the sight of his friends running away from the thing in a Looney Tunes chase scene in the background.
"Guys!"
BAM!
A pair of lasers flew by in the space between Cody and Ashley. The two both shared a collective round of confused blinks before turning their attention to a familiar shrill voice in the near distance. Leon was off trying to shove Dejiko and Red into the confines of one of the nearby buildings, and the two kiddos still refused to fall to safety. What they saw was probably a result of Dejiko's outburst.
Cody gasped. He had no doubt in his mind that the witch would be turning her attention to the supposed princess. He began to ease his way into a sneak attack while she was still distracted…but then he saw it.
It wasn't Dejiko she was looking at. It was Red.
A flash of red cut into the cobbled stone right by his feet. He glanced down with trepidation, and saw a flaming saber throbbing in the gravel. Ashley dragged the weapon back in her grasp. She had changed her wand into a sword-like form just like she had back at Death City. With her hands trembling from both anger and something else altogether, the witch glared deep into her opponent's eyes with the look of a wolf at the edge of a cliff.
…
Cody took a calm breath and readjusted his stance to match hers. If she was going to go into battle looking like that he at least owed it to her to follow along. The two raised their blades, and the clash of key and magic echoed off throughout the square.
oOo
"Let me go! I wanna smack at her too, nyo!"
"I have to talk to her, you jerk!"
Leon's grimace grew wider by the second. Why wouldn't these children just stop wriggling around already? With the same amount of might he would have towards an enemy monster, he threw the two far enough to hit the back wall of whatever random structure he'd chosen to shelter them in. He had carefully picked a building that just happened to have a more metallic frame, just so he could carefully weld the door shut with the flames of his Gunblade. He could hear Dejiko and Red slam the walls with their fists from the other side. No doubt Dejiko would be able to laser blast her way out of there eventually, but hopefully the battle would be long over by the time she could.
Finally free, he took a good look at the battlefield. On one side was Cody and Ashley's one-on-one clash. The intensity in their might and movements were a sight to behold. On the other hand, the rest of Cody's crew were struggling to even get a single hit into the living cannon monster. Even Leon had trouble avoiding its massive blasts when he had run around trying to get the kids to safety. With a disgruntled groan, he made his way over to where he knew he'd be needed most.
"Will this thing quit it for a second?!" Alakazam gasped for air. He was pulling double duty trying to shield everyone from oncoming blasts from the Heartless while also trying to shoot it back. Mokona would occasionally tag in for shield duty as well, but his body was way too small to seriously withstand the intensity of the blasts. Loudred usually acted as an emergency stun gun in these types of situations, but with the billowing gusts that rivaled even his Uproars, there was no point.
"I'm getting dizzy," Mokona droned weakly.
"Hang in there, kid," Loudred made a failed attempt at encouragement. "We've just got to…DUCK!"
The three hit the floor just as another cannon blast erupted a few feet off the ground. Their heads would've been done for if they stood even a second more. They could feel the sense of doom rise within them as the powerful breeze trickled past their skin and fur.
"This is impossible," Al held in a sob.
"Get up."
The three gingerly turned to their side. Leon charged his way over with his grip tight around his Gunblade.
"There's a little something right above us, you know," Loudred shouted back.
Leon paid no heed to the Pokemon's words. He ran and ran, and as he got closer to Opposite Armor, he made his way to the back. The armor quickly caught sight of him and slowly turned its body like a dial, the edge of the blast zone chasing after inch-by-inch. Finally, it had turned far off enough that there was no need for the three to duck and cover. The steel monster's helmet on the cannon's opposite end was headed towards them, and the trio immediately took this opportunity for a concentrated attack.
They had managed to land two clean hits each before the Opposite Armor was wise enough to reset its dial back. It raised its arm, and with the face of the hammer, forced Leon into a painful sweep into the others' location. Now, they were right back where they started; clinging to the ground as they tried their best not to raise the damage above a slight graze of the relentless cannon blasts.
"Thought I had something there," Leon jeered.
"Not so easy, huh?" Al said back, still trying to hold back a sob.
"I'm tired of smooshing myself," Mokona whined, his body like melted jelly.
"You're the smallest one here, kid," Loudred blurted out."I don't think you have to…"
Bingo.
With a quick apology, Loudred kicked against Mokona like a stick to a billiard ball and sent him far out of the blast zone. The little guy blinked in surprise the moment he tumbled to a stop. He was just small enough that the monster didn't even notice he had escaped. With his cheeks puffed out in an attempt to make a brave face, he made a beeline for the helmet, and shot at it completely undetected. The armor tried to retaliate the same way it had done earlier, but that only meant it was now open for strikes from the direction it came.
The Heartless was trapped. The others had spread themselves in a surrounding circle, meaning no matter which direction it shot at, there'd be at least one foe ready to tear in its defenseless head. The tables had turned, and the Opposite Armor had no choice but to let its own beat down commence.
oOo
To an untrained eye, they would see a fierce battle of blades with the Keyblade and the makeshift magic saber clanging back and forth between the two teens. To someone up close to the show, or especially one of the actors themselves, it was much more obvious how one-sided it was. It was the same kind of unhinged desperation their first sparring match had. Sure, Ashley's attacks were hard and rugged, and even Cody would admit to skipped heartbeats each time her strikes blew close to his neck, but that's all they really were. They were bare bones and predictable. Cody only needed to make a few deft head tilts and skips to keep himself from harm's way.
He could see how much angrier she got at him with each miss, and how much angrier she got at herself knowing this was all she had the mental capacity to do. He was stuck in a strange balancing act of very easily turning the tide and very easily getting seriously injured. There was a part of him that knew this was the right time to attempt what he tried back at Death City again; an honest conversation. There was also a part of him that knew that would be an easy way to get himself sliced.
The more foolish part of himself won over at that moment. "Hey," he griped right as her blade just barely glazed over the hilt of his key. He spoke with a wince like even he wanted to shut up his own mouth right then. "You don't actually want to do this, right?"
"HUH?!"
He'll admit, that slash almost got him. And still, he ignored the smarter side of his brain and continued. "You just feel like, uh…" She had just lunged right at him and sent them into a game of deadlock. "You're at the end of your rope here and this is your last resort."
She'd somehow grown redder than her own dress. "I am NOT!"
"Isn't this a bit much?"
"For the last time. I!" Slash. "Am!" Slash. "A." Slash. "Witch!"
Slash.
That last one was enough to toss him down on his ass. It's not like he didn't see this coming. Heck, he knew how dumb of an idea pushing her buttons was to begin with. He had a horrible track record with heart-to-heart moments, especially during combat. Why would it be any better now? But still, even as the witch raised her blade high above him, ready to shred his skull in half, he still couldn't help but look up at her with pitying eyes.
And she couldn't help but continue to grow all the more angrier at the sight.
"TAKE THIS, NYO!"
Yet another laser line flew past her eyes.
"Hey, don't you dare hit my master!"
"She kidnapped me! I'm gonna do more than just hurt her, nyo!"
The two looked to the side. In the distance, the safehouse the kids were thrown in was riddled with swiss cheese holes, and Dejiko and Red were out arguing over how exactly the two planned to intervene. Leon was probably blowing a gasket.
"Look out!"
And everyone's attention shifted once more. The rest of Cody's allies had successfully whittled down Opposite Armor's stamina little by little, and they had just seemingly triggered the boss monster's desperation mode. The oversized cannon began to shoot in random directions across the field in its final act of terror. And just as the two's heads turned to see its destruction, they caught it right as it was taking aim…
Right in Red and Dejiko's direction.
It all happened much too fast to even comprehend. Cody had already bounced right back to his feet, ready to do whatever he could to save the two. All he was able to accomplish was a single step forward. As quick as a snap, Ashley reversed her sword back into its simple wand form and shot a massive burst of ice that stabbed and sliced the armor in seconds. Just like that, Opposite Armor was gone. Its last remains fissured off into the night sky, and it was all over.
Everyone stood in stunned silence. Across the several feet between them, Cody and his four allies exchanged the same open mouths and dilated eyes amongst each other as if they were so shocked at what had just occurred, they were too scared to even check the source of it all herself for answers. Ashley failed to move another muscle for even she, the source and answer, was too stupefied to process what she'd just done. But she too scanned the scene with the knowledge of what was on everyone else's mind. Her face reddened once more, but it wasn't the same shade that fueled her throughout the fight. This one was flushed, vibrant, even a little bit pink.
Her eyes headed straight towards her familiar, Red. He looked back at her with the heartiest of grins.
With a quick flick of her wand, she made her escape. Faint poofs of black swirled in her place until they too disappeared.
And yet the silence still persisted.
…
…
…
It started off with just a choke and quickly grew into a hoarse fit of laughter. And out of all people, it came from Alakazam.
"We," he wheezed like it was taking everything in him just to form actual words. "We almost died like eight times alone." His fit just grew and grew until he collapsed hysterically on the ground. In a way, it was the same mood as before. The others in the area ping ponged their eyes around awkwardly at the sight until Loudred and Mokona decided to say, screw it, and join in on the hyena fest.
"I think he might be upset that that girl stole our kill," Leon clarified to a perplexed Cody.
"Oh, yeah?" Come to think of it, Cody had been completely preoccupied that entire battle. Being able to take a Heartless that big without a Keyblade around probably would've been a huge feat. He too was about to join in on his friends' hysteria when he caught two figures at the upper corner of his eye.
"Hey!" Yuffie waved from the rooftops. Now that everything had calmed down, she and Aerith had apparently climbed atop the barrier buildings to meet up with them all. "You guys!"
"Yuffie, Aerith, hey!" Cody greeted them excitedly. "We did it!"
"No, look!" Aerith pointed her hands feverishly below.
At first, the ground crew was dumbfounded. But as they took a better look around, they finally realized it. The building formations. It almost looked like…
The rest of the night was quite a trip. The shape was just a few nudges away from completion. The girls raced their way to the clock tower, and, once there, they pushed and shoved those hands to no avail. They called Cid over to help, but even the mind and arms of a mechanic were no good. Finally, it was Yuuko who was pulled all the way from the caverns to help. The three up with her heard her annoyed mumbles about how it was all under their nose this entire time when she finally managed to make things move with her magic.
The buildings made one final shift.
Cody daintily tapped the edge of his Keyblade on to the Keyhole; the streets of Traverse Town themselves.
Everything was engulfed in light.
It was well past midnight.
oOo
It was hard to believe Traverse Town was the setting of a near apocalyptic nightmare just a few hours ago. Despite the incalculable property damage, the residents were back to business as if the last few weeks were just a burden left behind. Perhaps it spoke volumes of the level of resilience the average Traverse Towner had after all the hardships they'd gone through.
All throughout the streets, people happily mingled as they quickly went to work to rebuild every inch of the city. Tidus, Katie, and Sadie took the lead and guided everyone forward. Anyone who knew the two girls could hardly believe how they seemed to suddenly manifest leadership skills out of nowhere. Perhaps sticking around an overworked Tidus had rubbed off on them. Tyler and Justin, who were still the new kids on the block at that point, were probably the most taken aback. As they sat through Bridgette's lecture on common sense, Tyler simply ignored it all to comfort his buddy who was too busy mourning the loss of his fan club.
The countless defenders who did all they could to protect the world were probably the rowdiest of them all. Izzy led the charge to their citywide celebration, and she sat proudly atop Owen's shoulders like the star of a parade float. It was through her suggestion that the crowds started cheering around, of all people, Eva. She came so late into the game yet she could've very well have taken all the Heartless on her own. She was being lauded as the newest hometown hero, and after having gotten everything out of her system during the battle before, she was living it.
Even the smaller pockets of celebration were infectious. After reuniting with Red, Duncan and Courtney had every intention to scold the shit out of him. But he greeted them with the widest of smiles as if he'd just experienced the greatest moment of his life. They weren't about to rain on his parade, so now they walked around like exhausted parents as their child jumped around at all the festivities.
And of course, there was one last celebration in the midst. One that was behind a newly haphazardly rebuilt closed door. Inside Cid's shop, a large gathering of some of the town's biggest names were huddled together around makeshift dining tables. The group, with mixtures of beer, juice, milk, and soda in hand, attempted to raise their glasses at one big "Cheers" but the large number of voices caused the call to muddle into one ununified mess.
"Come on, nyo," Dejiko huffed. "We just kicked serious butt. Put in more effort, nyo!"
"You got kidnapped, nyu," Puchiko plainly stated next to her.
"Yeah, gema," Gema floated on by with arms on his supposed hips. "You need to be more mindful of the trouble you caused, gema."
"Who asked you, nyo?!"
"Pipe down, would ya?" Cid squeezed the bridge of his nose with a creased face. "Don't make us regret having you back. Princess of Heart my a—-"
"Aaaaanyway," Aerith squeezed through with a milk jug in hand. "You must be tired from everything that happened. You kids want more milk?"
"Tired from screaming," Yuffie snarked playfully. A round of bickering erupted between her and the younger girl. But as the mood was joyous, so too was this sibling like ribbing.
"We're the ones tired here," Alakazam mumbled. The stark contrast between the first and second tables were almost comical. The first was what you'd expect from a small little party. The second, where the Keyblade gang and Leon sat, was more dour and awkward. After wasting what little energy they had left laughing their butts off back at the square, the group all looked more ready for a nap if anything.
Except for Leon. He was always like that.
"Come on, don't be party poopers," Yuffie chided them with a grin. "You, Loudred, put on music or something."
"Out of PP," he yawned.
"Mokona, say something quirky and random!"
He snored.
"Cody?"
"Uhhh—"
"You guys are no fun," she slouched against her chair with her arms crossed.
"Hey, if anything, this is the best time to rest," Aerith giggled. "I haven't felt this at peace in forever."
"Don't get too comfortable," Cid snorted. "Starting tomorrow, we're getting to work fixing this dumpster town up."
"Are you sure about that? There might not be a need for it soon. Wouldn't want to waste your energy now, do we?"
Everyone turned to the third, and smallest, table in the room. Yuuko had been silently downing an entire bottle of whiskey while looking on to others from the side. Truth be told, when they offered her an invite, none of them actually expected her to show up. The fact that she did meant she was there for business.
"Leon?" She edged her eyes over to the silent grump who nodded in response before he straightened his back.
"Really, Leon?" Aerith sighed.
"Oh, of course," Yuffie rolled her eyes. "'Ol Leon here would never join a party and have fun. He just has to show up with some big bad news."
"We might be at the endgame here."
That was all Leon needed to say for Table #1 to drop all their drinks and for Table #2 to wake the heck up.
"Here," Yuuko tossed a crinkled up notepad into Cody's arms. "All readable and summarized for your convenience."
Cody feverishly flipped through the pages. "This is…?"
"Ansem's journal. An abridgment at least," Leon finished off for him.
"You finished it?" Cid's mouth was agape. "Thought we were stuck in a mold block on that thing."
"The Heartless attacks weren't the only things this boy here was losing sleep over," Yuuko smirked as she downed yet another long sip of liquor.
"Everything you could ever know about Heartless," the man began. "Their anatomy, how he discovered them, but more importantly…" His tone suddenly lowered to a grumble. "...Where the current batch is coming from."
"It can take us to their nest?!" Cody's eyes widened.
"Sort of." He eyed Cid, Yuffie, and Aerith, and the three of them had known him long enough that they knew when he was ready to squirm. "There's notes on how to follow their pathway. We have reason to believe Maleficent might have taken base there. You should be able to get to the heart of it all if you reach those coordinates."
"And?" Aerith looked at him judgmentally. Both her and Yuffie could tell there was something he was struggling to spit out. "What else?"
"...It's our world."
Pure stunned silence.
"There's still a little bit left of the journal to recover," Yuuko piped in. "We can figure out the 'why' later. But for now…"
All eyes were turned towards Cody and his friends. Cody's hands were still gripped firmly to the notes, and now knowing all the new pressure that had built towards him, he could feel them start to shake. He at first shared eyes with his usual group, and then he shifted them towards the rest of the room, particularly Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, and Cid. Their faces were that of bated anticipation and anxiety; a hope for the finish line and a fear of what that could mean. He couldn't even count all the times they'd helped him. How many times they saw this sorry excuse for a Keybearer and pushed him forward. All those heroics he'd gone through? None of those countless people would've been saved if it weren't for them. If it weren't for them telling him everything. If it weren't for them picking him up during his times of need. If it weren't for all the pushing, all the yelling, and the words, both harsh and kind. He didn't just owe it to all the worlds to finally put a stop to this. He owed it to them.
His grip on the notes went tighter, as did his trembles. With that, he looked around the room once more and gave off one of his signature cocky grins.
"We'll save your world. Don't even worry about it."
oOo
"Couldn't we have waited a day before we left?" Alakazam rubbed his eyes.
"Now, that's not like you," Loudred let out a strange mix between a yawn and a chuckle. "Figured you'd be gung ho to get there as soon as possible like Cody is."
Almost immediately after their mini party, the gang had jumped straight back into the Gummi Ship with their new coordinates locked in. It was unusual Alakazam wasn't the one to shove them forward for once, but somehow, he might've still been the one with the most responsible head there. They were still overly exhausted from their battle. The lively conversations that usually filled the ship were nonexistent as they each individually chose to fight against their head bobbings and fluttering eyes instead.
"Mokona, can you get off me?" Cody lightly nudged the white rabbit who had chosen to take a seat on his lap. "You sitting there like a cat is making me more sleepy."
It was no use. Mokona was already conked out.
It was hard to tell how long the rest of them lasted after that. Loudred had slowed the ship to a crawl out of safety concerns which almost made their collective sleepiness worse. Time began to grow adrift the further they fought against their waning senses until it was too late. Cody could hear Loudred's thunderous snores and see Al's knocked out sitting position. There was no use fighting it. His vision began to blur. He could see traces of light and dark whirling around as his eyelids fell. The glowing stars, the faded surroundings, the glimpse of what looked like a large boat in the distance. None of that mattered now. For now, he'd rest.
"…Are you seriously going to sleep? At a time like this? Come on, Cody…
"Wake up!"