The Age of Fairy Tales:
The Fairy King III
They say the greatest stories always begin in tragedy and sadly this story is no different.
The story of a boy who had lost everything around him at one time, opening his eyes to the cruelty and the injustice of the world and so sought to change it all.
(The boy is shown again, before morphing into a more imposing figure)
The Fairy King's motives had seemed evil to the people of the world but in reality, his methods were driven by desperation and grief.
Though, I suppose that was little comfort to the people he had conquered.
(Villages were shown burning)
The Fairy King lived by the creed that the world had been unfairly structured so that mankind would always be living in fear of things like the Grimm, a crutch by the Gods to perpetuate the belief that mankind must always live in fear and sorrow, hiding behind masks of happiness and joy just to enjoy life as long as they possibly could.
(The Fairy King was shown sitting on a golden thrown now)
To that end, he came to the conclusion that mankind must not just rise up against the Grimm, but even to evolve into something greater.
(The Fairy King stood up from his throne.)
His plans were not limited to conquering Remnant alone.
(The sky was shown next with countless stars)
But to reach out to all worlds.
"I couldn't believe it when I made contact with this so-called Kingdom Hearts but I feel…Amazing." The new being looked down at his new form. "It transformed all my desires from mere fantasy…Into reality. That's what it can do. Break down the barriers between fantasy and reality and grant a person's true desires."
"Maxwell…" Aqua said carefully.
"Maxwell…" The being seemed confused before smiling. "Ah yes, my former name. The name I left behind with my old life when I chose to merge with this great Heart. I no longer answer to that name or face. From now on, you may address me as the new king of this world, a new God: Oberon!"
Down below, Ambroise reached out to his daughters as they began to tremble.
The being known as Maxwell, now calling himself Oberon gently descended to the ground in front of the monastery, followed by Aqua who landed a few feet from him, her Keyblade in hand as she stared alertly at the new being.
Amarilla pulled out her weapon, that being a staff with axes at both ends, while Ambroise stayed back, keeping his daughters behind him.
Poppy was just staring in frozen shock at what her fiancé had become.
The entity took a deep breath, smiling in content. "It's felt like it has been an eternity since I last breathed actual air."
"Maxwell." Aqua spoke up, earning the being's attention. "What have you done?"
"Did I not make it clear of what you are to address me as?" The being scowled at Aqua. "I am Oberon, the new king of this world."
"Pardon her if we don't see it that way." Amarilla spoke next to Aqua. "She asked you a question. What have you done?"
"Fulfilling my destiny." Oberon answered simply.
"And what is that?" Aqua asked.
"For too long, the Creatures of Grimm have plagued this world. Villages burned to the ground; its people slaughtered with their bodies torn apart with no respect. A world where monsters and false gods rule over the supposed weak and exploit us for their own benefit." Oberon noted that Ambroise flinched from what he had said but ignored it. "But no more. Now I have the strength and will to eliminate the Grimm from this world completely. With the power given to me by this Kingdom Hearts I will change this world for the better."
"And all of us?" Amarilla questioned with narrowed eyes. "What about Poppy?"
Oberon's features softened for a brief second before he answered. "You think I am a monster now? That I am like the tyrants that came before?"
"You're not exactly giving us a reason to not think that." Aqua retorted.
"I suppose I am not, so it is understandable. You might not remember my former self but we met years ago, in the burning remains of my village."
He then looked at the two females who had saved his life while they stared back for a moment…before turning away. He fell to his knees, watching as they walked around the village, looking for supplies. When the blue haired woman stopped in front of him he lifted his head and looked up at her, seeing a beautiful face staring at him as she held out one hand to him.
He simply stared.
The hand hovered in front of him for a moment before the woman sighed and lowered her hand. She turned around and walked over to her companion who watched in silence. They packed whatever supplies they could find and continued on their way, leaving the one man who survived the massacre to watch them as they left.
All he could do at this point was just watch.
"All I could think of at the time was how powerless and weak I was, watching my friends and family die to a monster that slaughtered us no matter how hard we fought. And then, when it seemed my time had come, I was saved and the monster was so easily dispatched as easily as swatting a housefly."
"I remember." Aqua recalled with a solemn look on her face. "I offered to let you come with us but…I couldn't force you to come with us, not when we were going to be facing even greater danger. I am sorry we failed to reach your village in time to save it."
"Your apology is unnecessary even if I welcome it." Oberon replied stoically. "The knowledge I was left with nothing left me as still as a statue some time before I finally regained a small sense of self. By the time I did, you and Poppy had already left and continued on your journey to defeat evil and make the world a slightly better place."
Aqua raised an eyebrow, noting the tone at the end of the being's sentence. "Is there a problem you have with me?"
"Not personally, Keyblade Wielder." Oberon remarked with a small smile. "But I know, given your moral rules and authority if things were different, you would have let this world suffer on its own."
"Excuse me?" Aqua balked.
"Don't deny it, Master Aqua. I know enough to understand how you Keyblade Wielders work. Travelling to other worlds, protecting them from the Darkness that seeks to invade and consume the hearts of the people. An almost poetic and thrilling fairy tale." Oberon chuckled before scowling. "And you would do nothing to solve the problems of the worlds you walk."
"Do you even know anything about me?" Aqua narrowed her eyes. "I have done more than you know to protect this world. Yes, I might have intervened more than I should have but it's not the duty of myself or other Keyblade Wielders to solve the problems a World has. That is up to the people themselves to come together and work out their problems."
"So, in other words, a glorified way of saying you will not but in." Oberon chuckled. "I suppose in some manner that is noble. At the very least, it means you shouldn't intervene when I am done."
"When you are done?"
"Yes, when I have removed the dark tainted touch of the Grimm from this world." Oberon remarked, bringing a hand to his chest. "Just as you and Poppy should have done."
"So, you've been planning this the whole time?" Amarilla growled. "Using her and us?"
That seemed to shake Poppy out of her stupor. "You…used me?"
"Oh no, this was never the exact plan, but I know I would have the chance if I stayed close. It was never my intention to harm or deceive you, Poppy. Truthfully, I did see a future for us when you gave me the chance to gain a Keyblade of my own."
Aqua glanced at Poppy through the corner of her vision but said nothing.
"Sadly, I could never gain a Keyblade of my own since for some reason the power rejected me. All I could do was sit back and play the kind and faithful man you came to confide in. Though my intentions at the time were genuine, you could never truly understand how I felt to know I could never have the chance to stand with you, wielding the same weapon and power as you as your equal. When I buried the rest of my family, what was left of them I mean to say, I vowed never again would this happen to me or anyone nor would I ever be as weak as I had been since then.
"I traveled for a long time before I came upon Poppy by chance and since then I have been here, working to understand the strange powers she and you wielded against the Grimm and their master. When she brought me here, introducing me to the children of that witch, it was when I began to learn everything." Oberon proclaimed smugly. "The truth of the Gods, the pretenders whom you had defeated, your Keyblade. It took me some time before I finally accessed the restricted section and learned the truth. I even read the fabled story of a king of fairies, hence how and why I have chosen my new name."
Aqua's eyes widened. "You mean…"
"Yes, I know who you truly are, Aqua. What your weapon is and what it is that I merged with." Oberon pointed out smugly. "Kingdom Hearts, a source of infinite power and wisdom. More than enough to end the threat of the Grimm, once and for all."
"That wasn't the real Kingdom Hearts." Aqua shook her head. "It's just a forgery of Hearts who lost their bodies to the Heartless in that village. You've stolen them, taken them into your own Heart without their consent!"
"And they will understand once I have used the power they have given me to save this world." Oberon retorted.
Aqua glared at the mad man. "That won't happen."
"Are you sure?" Oberon's eyes settled on Ambroise. "You may be powerful, Aqua. But I know your greatest weakness."
(Kingdom Hearts III Fragments of Sorrow)
With that, he held out his right hand and fired a crimson beam that shot straight at Ambroise…and his daughters.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Aqua leapt out and conjured a barrier spell around herself and Oberon's targets.
The beam collided with the barrier and there was a struggle as the beam pushed the barrier back but Aqua managed to hold it back as she looked over her shoulder at Ambroise. "GO!"
Reluctantly nodding, Ambroise turned and motioned his daughters to start running away. Seeing the family was making their way down the mountain, Aqua turned to Oberon who hovered in the air, crossing his arms and grinning down at her.
"Amusing that you would put your life on the line for him, considering he's the reason you are trapped here on this world, forced to vanish and reappear every time he dies and reincarnates. And for what? Because he was sent back by the so-called Gods to unite all of humanity when in reality he only accepted this task to be with the witch who used to be the love of his life? The very woman who came up with the scheme to pretend to be Gods and he went along with it because he thought it would be easier to unite everyone under his banner?" Oberon taunted with a cruel smile. "And best of all, Ozma, you were fine with conquering all of Remnant to do it. How many kingdoms did you invade for the wishes of your dear wife? How many lands were forced to endure war because of your misguided attempts to bring peace and harmony?"
"And how is that any different from what you plan to do?" Aqua retorted.
"It is different because my plans are against the Grimm themselves, the children of the God of Darkness. I will not be bound by false promises and conventions set forth by a pair of children masquerading as gods. I will be a true king, a just God, I will be the one to lead mankind out of the darkness of the Grimm. There will be no need to ever unite the Relics and bring those wretched beings back." Oberon proclaimed.
"Fire!" Aqua shouted, starting the fight off with a blast of fire.
However, Oberon waved it away with a simply gesture of his hand. With another gesture, pillars of light surrounded Aqua, morphing into arrows that shot straight at her. Aqua teleported in time, disappearing and reappearing outside of the cage of life. Amarilla leapt up and swung her weapon down on Oberon…
Who stopped it with just one finger.
Amarilla was so shocked by this, she didn't have the time to react as Oberon knocked her away with an invisible pulse, sending her crashing down onto the ground.
"You truly think you can stop what I have become?" Oberon asked with a taunting smile. "It seems you truly do not understand what I have become."
"MAXWELL!"
Pausing, Oberon looked over his shoulder and saw Poppy glaring at him, looking enraged beyond words as she summoned her Keyblade. "Poppy."
"YOU SICK DEMENTED BASTARD! YOU USED ME!" Poppy snarled as a dark aura surrounded her, causing Aqua's eyes to widen. "I LOVED YOU AND YOU USED ME!"
"Poppy-"
Poppy let out an enraged scream as she charged straight at Oberon who remained composed, crossing his arms and easily dodged every slash Poppy unleashed on him. In her anger, Poppy was easily forgetting the lesson Aqua drilled into her about fighting.
"You would be right to be furious with me, Poppy but not everything I did was out of malicious intent. If anything, you and I are the most similar due to both of us losing our families and villages at a young age." Oberon remarked, his body hovering above the ground and literally flying out of the way of each slash. "That is why we were drawn together but also because I know deep down you feel the same way as I do."
"SHUT UP!" Poppy shouted, thrusting her blade forward while Oberon angled out of the way.
"You want to do so much more for the world to ensure no one would suffer as you suffered when the Chill wiped out your village, possessing your brother and then your parents and leaving their lifeless bodies for you to find." Oberon continued, gesturing to the markings on Poppy's skin that had not faded even after all these years. "But you hold back these feelings, keep them bottled up inside you out of respect for the mentor who saved you and took you in, becoming the second mother you needed to help you."
"I SAID SHUT UP!"
"I will not hold back the truth." Oberon held up his hand and an invisible blast knocked Poppy back. "You know this to be true because you confided your feelings to me. After having been together when your mentor vanished, you needed someone else to hold you together when you felt like you were alone once again."
"Get away from her!" Aqua lashed out with one hand and suddenly Oberon was blasted by an invisible force.
Over the decades she had been on Remnant, traveling the lands and defending villages and kingdoms from Grimm, Aqua had worked to hone and master her magical skills. She remembered how Xehanort was able to telekinetically create an entire mountain with just a gesture of his hand the day she and her friends confronted him and Vanitas in the Keyblade Graveyard. If he was able to do it then it was likely as a Keyblade Master herself, Aqua was capable of doing the same. It was difficult at first as the magic had to be focused rather than simply conjured like a basic Fire spell and it a deeply focused mind.
Luckily all she was time to hone and perfect this skill.
The results…
She pulled her hand back and Oberon was sent flying towards her with a stunned look on his face.
"HA!" She slashed at him, sending him flying back and crashing into the ground.
Almost perfect.
Oberon grunted, getting up and then bending back, barely avoiding Aqua's Keyblade as it sailed right over his face, missing his nose by just a few inches. Aqua rushed past him and spun around, using her Keyblade to block a magical blast fired by Oberon at point blank range. The force of the blast sent Aqua through the air, but she somersaulted and landed perfectly on the ground. She looked up and spotted Oberon lunging at her with a fist reared back.
She jumped back, avoiding the fist as it made contact with the ground…
SMASH!
And left a small crater in the ground.
Oberon stood up, raising his fist that showed no injury, glaring at Aqua who stared back with an even look.
"Interesting use of your magic, Aqua." Oberon commented raised a hand and pointed to the sky. "Allow me to try. Flame Rain!"
Aqua looked up and paled to see the sky darken as flames fell from the sky towards her. "Defend!"
She conjured a barrier around herself, blocking the flames from hitting her but as she looked back at Oberon she saw he had vanished.
Where did he-
Aqua gasped, falling to the ground as her form slowly became transparent. 'No, he didn't…'
(Kingdom Hearts III Fragments of Sorrow Ends)
As soon as his Flame Rain spell was cast, Oberon teleported away from the battle. He understood it was unlikely he could best Aqua in a direct battle, given that she was far more experienced in combat and magic than he was so he decided to distract her and go after her one weakness.
Ozma.
The old man was still hurrying his children down the mountain and through the town. They were just at the town gates when he appeared before them. Ambroise gasped and quickly moved his children behind him.
"You must truly be afraid if you think I would strike down innocent children." Oberon remarked. "We both know I only have one target here, Ozma."
"Then do it but leave my daughters alone." Ambroise spread his arms out and gripped his scepter. "Let them leave. They have nothing to do with this."
"I wouldn't harm them, but I can't let them leave either. They hold the gift of magic, a chance for a new magical humanity to be reborn." Oberon stated. "That alone makes them the most valuable to me outside of Poppy and Aqua."
Ambroise glared hatefully at him. "Just like Salem. You want to replace humanity with a so-called superior breed."
"Are you sure that was what Salem wanted?" Oberon asked with a small smile.
"What?"
"I find it odd, given what you told Aqua who later told Poppy who would later tell me of Salem's wishes at the time. You who only went along with her plans of being Remnant's new Gods so you could carry out the God of Light's task, still serving the old Gods who abandoned Remnant and would have destroyed if not for Aqua's intervention. Then when you learned your daughters you feared Salem would commit genocide because she said you could now replace humanity." Oberon's lips curled into a smile. "Only was it actually humanity she was talking about?"
Ambroise paused.
"How could just four magical humans replace an entirely non-magical race? Did the two of you suddenly plan to keep more magical children after your four daughters? Did you even stop to think that was the case?"
Ambroise's eyes slowly widened. "What are you saying? Of course that was her plan! How could you know, you weren't even there?!"
"Good point. Let's find out." With that Oberon teleported in front of Ambroise and grabbed his head.
Ambroise's eyes widened as memories of his past life flashed before his eyes.
"So, where should we go now?"
"Wherever you'd like."
"What do we do now?"
"Whatever we like."
"Don't you see? None of that matters anymore. Why spend our lives trying to redeem these Humans when we can replace them with what they could never be?"
"Ah, so there it is." Oberon let go and Ambroise fell to the ground. "So now I have the full picture…You really are a fool, Ozma."
Ambroise grasped his head as his daughters knelt down next to him, hugging him as they glared up at Oberon. "What did you do?"
"I searched for the truth which is what I have done ever since the day I lost my home and family. I have to say, Ozma you are more deceitful than I could have imagined. After all, you supported Salem's plan to manipulate humanity while at the same time you were manipulating her into helping you carry out the God of Light's task. It was only after your daughters were revealed to be magical that you started questioning and even then it was because you realized it was against what the Gods would have wanted." Oberon shook his head, looking disgusted now. "And if Salem truly wanted to kill humanity don't you think she would have long since done it? Her control over the Grimm would have allowed it long before you or Aqua had returned. No…Salem's true goal back then was to replace the Gods themselves!"
Ambroise's eyes went wide again, becoming completely still from the proclamation that Oberon had just made.
"Yes, it seems she and I weren't so different after all. But you and your everlasting loyalty to them, you couldn't commit to the idea, so you tried to back out and steal your daughters from her. And you turned to Aqua for help because she and Salem had already parted on bad terms the last time they had met. You were counting in that, weren't you?" Oberon chuckled bitterly. "You used her as much as you used Salem to clean up your mess. If only she was here right now to see this. Would she even bother to help you out of this right now?"
"I…I…" Ambroise shook his head. "It was still wrong to try and impersonate ourselves as Gods! Even if what you say is true!"
"It was but unlike you I am able to back up my claim." With a wave of his hand, Oberon pushed Ozma's daughters away. "And now, you can die again as recompense for your mistake in this life! Incinerate!"
Ambroise barely at the chance to blink before his body was engulfed in a pillar of fire, his body burning away and leaving nothing in its wake.
Not even any ashes were left behind.
Aqua held up her hand and watched as it began to fade. "No…Not yet. Not now."
But there was nothing she could do.
Ozma had died again.
And with him, Aqua's bond with his heart was now forcing her to follow him into his next life, whenever or wherever that would be.
"Not like this…Not like this…" Was all Aqua could say, losing all senses as she fell to the ground.
She could barely make out someone screaming her name, seeing someone rushing to her side…
And then there was only darkness.
Aqua had vanished from Remnant once again.
'Present' Time
Beacon
"The Fairy King began his reign, ruling from his kingdom known as Avalon. Though he considered himself a just ruler, in his quest to ensure a so-called peaceful world, many kingdoms and villages were burned to the ground and his rampage across the world in attempting to wipe out the Grimm led to catastrophe of his own making."
Professor Ozpin closed the book labelled 'The Fairy King' and placed it on his desk. He remembered those dark times well.
Another mistake to be added to the long list of mistakes he had made.
Even after all this time, Oberon's words rang in his head, and he could only ponder if he had learned from them at all.
"You either die or a hero or live long enough to become the villain."
