ToL: Chapter 14

[Consumed by Jealousy]

Author's Note: All three (technically four if you want to count the dream someone had) scenes happen around the same time. Look back at the previous chapter to know how this chapter starts. Thanks!


Ebony and May were glaring at each other before May made the first strike, swinging her battle scythe towards Ebony, which she quickly dodged out of the way so she would not get hit by it.

"May, please stop!" Ebony started to shout to her opponent, "I KNOW Belindra is controlling you! You need to snap out of it!"

May said nothing to her at all, her eyes were still glossed over from Belindra's influence. She made another big swing to Ebony, this time with faster swipes back-to-back without stopping. Ebony was trying her best to dodge every swing but eventually got hit by the last swipe. She gasped before letting out a scream as she could feel the scythe cut through her left shirt sleeve and into her lower arm near her elbow. That was when May continued attacking Ebony with her scythe, making more cuts around her arms and legs until she could no longer stand up. Ebony collapsed to the ground in pain.

"Ha! Is that really all you got, Marci?!" May taunted Ebony, looming over her with a smirk on her face.

'I-I have to get up!' Ebony thought to herself, trying to ignore the pain she was in from all the cuts she took from May's attacks, 'I need to save them both from Belindra! I don't want to lose anyone!'

It took all of Ebony's strength to stand back up to face May, a sad look could be seen on her face as she held her broadsword in an attack position. That was when Ebony did something that May did not expect. Ebony impaled her sword into the ground before running up to May, slapping her very hard across the face, "SNAP OUT OF IT, MAY!" Ebony cried to her in desperation.

Ebony could see May standing there after her slap, dropping her scythe to the ground, and turning away from her in recoil, rubbing her face where she was slapped. She then glanced back to where Ed was, the dark chains that blinded him were now gone as he began to gently float back down to the ground; he was still asleep from the spell that was cast earlier.

Ebony smiled when she saw they were alright, "Good… n-night."

She then collapsed to the ground, blacking out from what happened; the injuries she sustained finally took their toll on her. May continued to stand there, blinking a lot from the slap she took. The gloss in her eyes was finally gone, she was no longer being controlled.

"Uh, what happened…?" May questioned herself, looking around from where she stood in confusion before noticing a girl that she did not know on the ground in front of her. The girl was unconscious, bleeding a lot from several deep cuts she took from something. May noticed there was a big scythe to her side on the ground.

May widened her eyes as she went over to the girl on the ground, "Are you okay?!" she asked her, bending down to her to shake the girl on the shoulder to make her respond.

Ed could feel himself starting to come to his senses from the sleeping spell he was under, waking back up with a bit of a groggy look on his face. He sat up from where he was, only to see May trying to wake someone else up. His body froze when he saw May was here, his fear of her was starting to come up again before realizing who she was next to. May was trying to wake up Ebony, who he could see was hurt.

"E-Ebony…?" Ed questioned with a gasp as he got up from where he was, quickly going over to Ebony's side. Even though May was also next to Ebony, he tried his best to not freeze in fear because of her presence.

Ed could see how badly Ebony was hurt, widening his eyes in horror at the blood she was losing. Ed then remembered something important; he reached toward the pouch that King Mickey gave him the other day, quickly pulling out a potion to try and give it to Ebony. He turned Ebony upward and lifted her into a sitting position, giving her the potion to see if it could help her.

May could only watch Ed as he tried to help the girl she did not know; she had no idea what was going on. How did she get here? Why was this girl hurt so badly? Why was Ed here too? May had so many questions she wanted to ask but had a feeling that now was not the time to ask questions.

Ebony began to cough a little after Ed gave her the potion; they could see that some of her wounds were beginning to heal and close a little, but not for any of the deeper cuts she sustained. The potion could only help so much right now.

Suddenly, a group of Shadow and Soldier Heartless began to come up from the ground in front of the three teens. Ed widened his eyes before making a glare at the Heartless as May yelped in shock, "What are t-those things?!" she asked.

Ed gently placed Ebony back on the ground before rising to his feet, "… Um, C-Can you look after Ebony? Please?" Ed asked May, trying to avoid looking at her.

Ed summoned his Keyblade in hand before rushing off to fight the Heartless, letting out a fire spell to one of the Soldiers before slicing a few of the Shadow Heartless in front of him. This only left behind two Soldiers in front of him. Ed was breathing a bit heavily before he thought of a new attack he could do; his Keyblade began to glow a little before shouting, "Strike Raid!"

Ed threw his Keyblade like a tomahawk toward one of the Soldiers, killing it in one strike. His Keyblade then came back to him like a boomerang, hitting the last Soldier before the blade returned to his hand. The last Soldier did not die immediately from the blow; the creature rushed over to Ed and slashed him across his right arm with its claws, almost where his scar was.

Ed widened his eyes, yelling in pain from the injury.

"Curaja!" a familiar high-pitched voice yelled out. Ed could feel his wound being healed, turning to see that King Mickey had arrived at his side to help, along with Riku and Kairi.

Riku struck down the Soldier that attacked Ed very easily as Kairi went over to Ebony and May, "Curaga!" Kairi shouted, pointing her Keyblade to Ebony to heal her wounds.

Everyone could see Ebony's wounds began to heal, even more so than what the potion did a moment ago, but Ebony was still out of commission from what happened. Ed rushed over to Ebony's side, still trying to ignore May, but quickly realized he could not keep doing that, "T-Thanks for h-helping look out f-for her," he finally said to May.

King Mickey looked toward the other two Eds and their situation; one of them being a lot more dire than the other after hearing a roar coming from Katrina and Iris's fight, "They need our help! Come on!"


Shayla was glaring at Marie, who currently had a smug look on her face.

"Aww, what's the matter?" Marie asked in a taunting tone to Shayla, putting her right hand on her hips, "Are you mad because I got my boyfriend back on my side, and you don't?"

Shayla gripped her dual daggers, restraining herself from saying anything to the possessed girl in front of her. She clearly remembered what Double D told her yesterday; Marie used to be someone Double D feared until he forcefully told her to stop bothering him, which eventually led him to become Marie's friend when he felt bad about how sad she became. Shayla knew Belindra was controlling Marie through her jealousy.

'There has to be a way to try and reason with her without fighting her!' Shayla thought to herself, looking around quickly to see what she could do, 'Or maybe there's a way I can reach him if I can! Double D could probably help her more than I could!'

Shayla looked back to where Double D was trapped; he was still tied up and under the sleep spell that was cast. She noticed the dark ropes had a part of it above him like it was hanging him in the air without it being attached to anything.

Before Shayla could think more about it, she heard Marie laugh at her, "Either way, I think it's time we settle this!" she stated as she reached towards the whip she had on her belt; this time the whip was made of chainmail and not leather.

Marie made the first move, trying to swing at Shayla with the whip a few times. Shayla dodged the attacks easily, using her daggers to swat away each attack. It was while Shayla was trying to avoid Marie's attacks that an idea came to her!

Once she put a bit of distance between her and Marie, Shayla held out her hand towards the direction underneath Double D, "Aero!" Shayla shouted out.

A big gust of wind swooshed over to where Shayla held out her hand, a mini whirlwind was left there in the spot below Double D. Without wasting any more time, Shayla gripped onto her daggers before rushing off to the whirlwind she made, continuing dodging Marie's attacks. That was when Shayla hopped into the whirlwind; the wind gave her an extra boost to make her slightly airborne! Once she noticed that she was high enough, Shayla used her daggers to slice the dark rope that was above Double D, setting him free from his binds! Shayla quickly grabbed him by his wrist before he could fall any further, landing back on her feet with him in her arms.

Shayla was breathing heavily at what she did to save Double D. She could hear him beginning to stir as she laid him down on the ground, he was starting to wake up.

"Don't you DARE steal him away from me again!" Marie growled to Shayla in anger.

Before Shayla could try and move out of the way, Marie swung her whip toward Shayla's ankles. After the whip was wrapped around Shayla's right ankle, Marie pulled her back toward where she was standing; Shayla made a loud yelp as she was dragged over to Marie.

Shayla was now pinned to the ground by Marie, who was giving her the harshest glare. Marie reached into her back pocket to grab something; the hunter knife she had yesterday, "THIS is what happens to ANYONE that gets in my way!"

Double D groaned a little as he began to wake up because of all the shouting near him. He sat up and looked in the direction of the noise, only for him to widen his eyes in sheer horror. Marie had Shayla pinned down and was going to use the hunting dagger she had in her hands!

Double D quickly rose to his feet as he rushed over to the two girls, "M-Marie! PLEASE STOP THIS!" he cried out to her in desperation, summoning his Keyblade to his side.

Both Shayla and Marie widened their eyes as they saw Double D get in between the two girls, "Reflect!" Double D shouted.

A strange barrier of some kind began to form around Double D and Shayla, right as the hunting dagger was about to strike its target. The spell Double D cast made the dagger bounce off the barrier, making Marie fall from the impact of her attack as the hunting dagger she was holding fell out of her hand. Marie hit her head on the ground after she fell, knocking her out at that moment.

Double D's breathing was a bit trembly from what he had to do; he never expected himself to attack something or someone that was not a Heartless, let alone someone he knew from his past… It did not matter how Marie used to treat him when he was younger, he was usually too much of a pacifist to hurt anyone.

Double D made a gasp before turning to Shayla, who was still on the ground behind him, "Shayla, are you okay?!" he asked with worry as he reached down to help her up.

"Y-Yes, I'm fine…" Shayla replied as she took his hand to help herself stand up.

That was when Double D hugged her tightly once she was back on her feet, surprising her, "Thank goodness you're alright!" he said with relief.

Shayla could feel herself blushing before brushing that feeling aside. Once Double D lets her out of his hug, he looks back toward Marie, quickly walking over to her to see what he can do to help her. Shayla also walked over to her just in case Marie was still possessed by Belindra when she woke back up.

Double D checked to see if Marie was okay, making a small sigh as he did, "Marie seems to be fine, just knocked out…"

Suddenly, the two teens heard a very loud roar near them, making them jump in shock at how sudden it was. Double D and Shayla turned to where the roar came from, only for them to widen their eyes in horror…


Darkness was all that Eddy could see in his mind as he could feel himself floating; it felt like he had been here for a while. He started to open his eyes as he came back to his senses. Eddy could see what was in front of him as he landed on his feet. He was standing on a desolate beach; the sound of the crashing waves of the sea could be heard to his right.

"W-What…?" Eddy muttered to himself as he looked around. He could see there was a tall cliff a little further away with a cave at the bottom. Eddy began to walk over to the cave before noticing something to his left; a field full of blue iris flowers, along with five spots on the ground in front of the field that had recently been dug into. He noticed one of the spots in front of him had several flowers from the field in front of it that were laid there; he could see so many of them, with most of them having wilted away already from being picked.

Eddy's heart started to beat faster and faster with both panic and familiarity at the sight as he realized where he was and what he was looking at; he was in one of Alexander's memories again, "T-This is…"

Eddy widened his eyes in disbelief as he covered his mouth with both shock and nausea for a moment; he was looking at the graves of Irene and their friends. Just like Iris told them when they met, only she and Alexander were left at this point on the island they were stranded on. He could tell the grave with all the flowers placed over it was Irene's.

Eddy bent down to Irene's grave to pick up one of the petals of the many flowers there, but his hand passed through it like he was a ghost, "Oh, right… This is a memory. Had a feeling I couldn't interact with things."

He looked back towards the cave nearby, "That's gotta be where they lived while they were here… I don't see a house or a hut anywhere."

Eddy started to walk towards the cave again, only to hear something that surprised him, the sound of a very loud and painful cough. He widened his eyes, remembering what Iris told him again when they met; she was very sick and dying before she blacked out, somehow waking up in both another time and world. Eddy was now rushing to the cave in a panic, hoping to see if Iris was alright. It was when he got to the entrance that he saw what was going on.

Iris was there in her old clothes; a blue dress that was torn a bit, lying on a hay bed with a tattered blanket over her. She was coughing a lot from where she was lying down, her body was violently shivering. She had not aged a day, meaning this memory of Alexander's must be very close to when she was sent to the present.

"Iris!" Eddy yelped as he ran over to her; he did not care if he could be seen by her or not. He sat next to her from where she was on the ground, only to see how sick she was. She was deadly pale in the face and breathing very heavily as if she was in pain, "… I-Is this how everyone died back then?!" he questioned in disbelief.

Eddy then started to remember the day he and the others saved their friends in Atlantis, and even the days before that when they were captured. Katrina was also suffering from a fever at the time. The fever Katrina had turned very deadly because it was untreated for several days at that point. It made her start to cough up a lot of blood, even when she transformed into her dragon form; she lost so much blood from coughing in both states, which eventually killed her. Honestly, if it was not for the Phoenix Amulet that Adam and Olivia found months ago to help her, she would STILL be dead. History would have repeated itself, 'That's probably why I was panicking so much more than the others back then; because of Alex's memories of what happened to Irene and the others here…'

He then could hear footsteps behind him. Eddy turned around to see Alexander coming back home, walking over to Iris with some water in a wooden bucket and a rag. He sat down next to his daughter, phasing through Eddy as he did. Eddy backed away to see what he was doing; Alexander was trying to help Iris cool down from her fever, putting the rag he had in the bucket of water before placing it on her forehead. This was the first memory Eddy had seen of Alexander with Iris; he could now see why she thought he was her father at first glance, despite the major age and height difference. They REALLY did look alike, even at this point in Alexander's life in his late 30s.

Iris groaned as she looked up at her dad in both sadness and pain, her breathing was starting to become shallow, "Father…" she muttered weakly.

"Please don't talk, Iris. Save your strength," Alexander said to her calmly, even though his face said otherwise.

Iris could see how upset her dad looked, "I-I'm so sorry…" she started to say, closing her eyes with a few tears in them as she did, "I love you, d-dad," her head limped a little to the side after that sentence.

Alexander widened his eyes, realizing what was happening, "Iris, please stop this!" He started to say in despair, shaking her shoulders, "You're all I have left to live for! Please, don't go!"

Iris did not respond to her father; her face had lost its color, and she was no longer breathing. She had died in front of him.

Eddy could only watch the scene in front of him with sadness and horror, 'S-So, Iris did die back then… But how did Alex revive her and bring her to the present?'

Eddy could see Alexander's body start to tremble, tears were falling from his eyes, "I… I'll save you again, Iris! And send you to a safe place once and for all!"

Alexander stood up from where he was, standing next to Iris's body. Eddy could see him summon his Keyblade in a flash of light, holding it over her. The appearance of his Keyblade was the same as the one Eddy uses.

"Rewind!"

Suddenly, the scenery around them stopped in its tracks, surprising Eddy as he could feel a strange force around him, Alexander, and Iris. Once the strange feeling passed over, Eddy looked back to Alexander, only to see something that shocked him.

Iris was coughing once more; she was alive again but still seemed very sick. Alexander still had his Keyblade summoned in his hand, but Eddy could see Alexander's hands and body continue to shake, breathing heavily and sweating bullets from the spell he did. It looked like Alexander used his time magic to rewind the area around Iris to a few minutes before she passed away.

"I knew this day would eventually happen, but not like this! I wanted to send Irene and everyone to safety along with you, but it's too late for them… I-I can't keep doing this!" Alexander stated to himself, closing his eyes in sorrow, "I've done Rewind for Iris six times now, with this being the seventh! It keeps weighing me down, a-and if I die now, no one can help her survive!"

Eddy looked at him when he said that, noticing the determined look on Alexander's face when he opened his eyes again, "Iris must leave this place now! She needs to live!"

Alexander pointed his Keyblade towards Iris again, "Zettacure!"

A soothing green light came forth from his Keyblade, hoping the strongest Cure spell he knew would help relieve his daughter's pain, even if it was temporary. Alexander started to breathe heavily again before shaking it off. He pointed his Keyblade toward Iris once more, "Zettastop!"

A very weird distortion could be seen and felt once again, but it looked like it was all focused on Iris. She was now in stasis.

Alexander smiled at his daughter as he sat down for a second, bending over to her on his knees to hug her tightly, "I'm so sorry, Iris… I wish Irene and the others were with you for this… But I wish you the best."

Alexander then let go of Iris, standing back on his feet before turning his Keyblade to himself. Eddy widened his eyes in horror at what happened next. Alexander took the Keyblade he held and stabbed himself in the chest with it, right at his heart.

"P-Please, I beg of you…" Alexander started to say as he glanced at the Keyblade he held, he could see and feel himself disappearing with a lot of light particles around him, "Take Iris to my future self, to a safe place other than here! PLEASE!"

"What?!" Eddy yelled out loud at what he heard; Alexander KNEW about him?! "H-HOW?!"

Alexander looked back to his daughter lying in front of him, smiling at her once again, "Eddy, Katina, everyone… Please, take care of Iris for us… Transcendence!"

Eddy could see Alexander disappear into so many lights in front of him after yelling out the name of the spell he used, his Keyblade falling to the ground as he did. The Keyblade he left behind then started to glow a bright light next to Iris as the light particles that Alex turned into landed on her, before disappearing into her. Iris began to pulse with a strange light as she and the Keyblade shined very brightly, blinding Eddy for a moment. The light then died down, only for him to see that both Iris and Alexander's Keyblade were now gone.

"So, t-that's how it happened…" Eddy muttered to himself in disbelief, "I-I…"

Suddenly, he could feel himself coming to his senses, beginning to wake back up from the sleeping spell he was under… He could hear a booming roar as he did.


Lee was smirking at Katrina, who was standing in front of Iris to protect her. Iris began to back away to get to a safer place.

"Alright then, grannie girl, show me what you're made of!" Lee taunted Katrina, pointing out her white hair as an insult. She had the mace from before resting on her right shoulder before taking and gripping the handle of it into a battle position.

Katrina tightly gripped onto the staff she held, biting her bottom lip in fright before glaring at the tall girl in front of her who held Eddy hostage, 'I-I need to do this! I got to be strong for him!'

Lee began to make a massive swing toward Katrina with her mace, which Katrina managed to barely avoid by jumping out of the way in time. Katrina turned back to Lee, only to see her quickly recover from the swing she did; Lee was very strong, considering how well she was handling the mace.

Katrina then thought of something to give her some time to think, "Blizzard!" she shouted as she pointed to the ground in between her and Lee. A big, solidified wall of ice started to form in front of Katrina, spreading tall and wide enough for Lee to not easily walk around or climb over.

"Heh, that's clever of you!" Lee commented to Katrina before she began to swing her mace at the ice wall, "Thankfully ice can be crushed easily!"

Katrina could feel herself begin to panic before noticing something. The summon stone that she received from Merlin was beginning to glow in her pocket! Katrina took the summon stone out of her pocket; she could tell that the summon was ready to be used if she so desired… The sand inside the gold stone began to stir, glittering very brightly.

Katrina narrowed her eyes in determination, gripping the summon stone in her hand as she recalled the name of the person inside, "Please, I-I need your help!" she began to shout, "Atem!"

A bright flash of golden light came forth from the summoning stone. The light then began to die down, leaving behind a person who was now standing close to Katrina.

The person was a young man. He had spiky, multi-colored hair and eyes that looked sharp and serious, despite being closed right now. He wore a white shirt underneath a blue jacket that he wore like a cape, a pair of blue pants, and black shoes. He had an extremely strange device on his left arm along with a necklace that was made of chains, a weird upside-down pyramid object was at the end of the necklace, and an Egyptian eye could be seen on it.

The man opened his eyes to look around for a short moment before turning to Katrina; his eyes were an intense magenta-red color. Katrina felt a little intimidated by him but shook away her fear, "U-Um, sorry for disturbing you, but I-I've summoned you to help me, Mr. Atem! I can try to explain things in a minute, but can you help me save my friend? Please!"

The man named Atem looked at Katrina's appearance with a small bit of shock before nodding his head with a look of determination, deciding to roll with it until things calmed down, "Of course. This is not too unusual for me to deal with," he replied to her with a deep voice, "What is troubling you?"

"My friend is being held captive by someone attacking me; I've stalled her for a short moment, but that won't last long," Katrina explained as she then gestured toward Eddy, who was still in his binds up in the air, "Is there anything you can do to free him?"

Atem looked over to Eddy, who was still under a sleeping spell where he was, "Yes, I have something that can do the trick!"

Katrina made a smile at him, "T-Thank you so much! I'll distract the person who's holding him hostage."

The ice wall that was in front of Katrina came crumbling down, Lee had smashed her way to the other side.

"Hah, looks like you can't even fight on your own," Lee commented when she noticed the man beside her, "That's really pathetic!"

Katrina glared at her, trying her best to not lose her cool. She began to dash away from Lee, trying to lure her away from Atem so he could help Eddy. Thankfully, Lee fell for it, running after Katrina to continue the fight.

Once he saw Katrina dash away, Atem held out his left arm as the strange device he had opened, almost like it was a mechanical blade of some kind but not exactly. The man pulled out a card that came out from the device, smiling a little at what he pulled, "Gaia the Fierce Knight!" Atem shouted out as he held the card out in front of him.

A flash of light came from the card he held as the device on his arm began to make the creature on the card come to life from the light! The creature looked to be a knight of some kind riding on horseback, holding a lance to his side. Atem directed the knight to Eddy, asking him to slash the energy that was bound around the boy to set him free. The knight nodded his head before rushing over to Eddy, slicing the energy around him and setting him free. The knight disappeared as Eddy gently floated back down to the ground.

Atem went over to the teen boy to check on him, "He still seems to be asleep from something…"

Meanwhile, back with Iris, she could only watch as Katrina and Lee clashed with each other, feeling overwhelmed by what was going on. Despite knowing that her parents and their friends used to be warriors before she was born, seeing anyone fight like this was nerve-racking to her.

'I-Is there anything I can do to help?!' Iris thought to herself, closing her eyes as she did, 'I don't know how to fight, but I want to keep everyone safe!'

Suddenly, she heard a small yelp from Katrina nearby. Iris snapped her eyes open, only to see that Katrina had been pinned to the ground by Lee, her staff was now out of her hands and was tossed aside, so it could not be used.

"Finally got you!" Lee stated with a smirk, "You put up a decent fight there, but it's not enough!"

Iris widened her eyes at what she was seeing, noticing that Lee was beginning to grip her mace to swing it at Katrina. Before she could think about what she was doing, Iris began to run over to Katrina's side to help her, "MOTHER!" Iris screamed in terror and desperation.

Suddenly, as soon as Iris got to Katrina's side to stop Lee from hurting her, Iris's eyes began to glow white before her whole body began to shine. Both Katrina and Lee widened their eyes before shielding them as they were both blasted away a good distance from Iris. Katrina recovered very quickly while Lee was knocked out from the sudden blast. Katrina looked back to Iris, who began to scream in pain as the white light coming from her eyes began to engulf her body.

That was when Katrina realized what was going on, widening her eyes in horror at what was about to happen, "Oh god… I-Iris! NO!"

Katrina could only look on in horror as Iris's body began to morph into something bigger. Once the light died down around Iris, all that remained was a dragon in her place. The dragon was the color of snow and looked very similar to Katrina's silver dragon form, but about a half smaller in size. The snow-white dragon that Iris turned into made a roar, catching everyone's attention around them.

It was by this time that all the fighting had come to a halt, leaving everyone to focus on what was going on with Iris… Or at least try to think of a way to help her return to normal!


Author's Note (March 18th, 2024): AHHHHHH! About freaking time I got this chapter done! Too much stuff happened in this chapter, but it was all important! I can't wait to start typing out the next one!