In Land of Departure, a large purple snake is curled around one of the mountains that dot the landscape, seemingly sleeping, but the moment it senses someone arriving at the place where future Keyblade wielders have been trained for thousands of years. It moves its head and stares down at the entrance leading into the castle. The purple snake narrows its eyes, but it does not move from its spot; instead, it stays and watches things unfold.
Ventus arrives back home but is far from happy being here, his mind troubled by what Master Xehanort has revealed about what tool he's supposed to be. He does not want to confront Master Eraqus, but he needs answers; he needs to know if… his Master knew about this and was the reason why he was never allowed to leave. Master Eraqus arrives, surprised to see him alone. "I thought Aqua would— well, what matters is that you're home." Eraqus speaks, taking a hold around his shoulders that should've been comforting, but now Ventus can only feel the firmness in his Master's grip. "You don't belong outside this world yet. You need to stay here where you can learn—"
"in your prison?" Ventus interrupts him but is too upset that his dreads have been proven correct. Caring about being respectful towards his Master is no longer a priority. "That's your excuse… for keeping me imprisoned here, isn't it?" He demands.
"What did you hear?" Master Eraqus asks the upset boy.
"That I'm supposed to be some weapon…" Ventus replies, going into a battle stage towards the now tense man. "some kind of…. "X-blade"!"
He feared as much when Xehanort brought the comatose boy to Ventus. His friend— he just couldn't let it go… he is obsessed with the legends of the Keyblade War and the X-blade, the talk of the destruction of the worlds; the true light will return back to them. Eraqus tried to stop him back then, but it ended up with Xehanort scarring him. He had hoped Xehanort had dropped this whole thing; that's why he invited his old friend to the exam, but… it turns out he was gravely mistaken. "I had the chance to stop him and couldn't do it." He eyes Ventus, such a sweet boy but he is part of Xehanort's plan of mass destruction. "But I will not fail again." Eraqus summons his keyblade, pointing it at the now nervous boy.
Caught off guard and afraid, Ventus did not expect such a reaction from Master Eraqus. "Master! What are you…"
The snake on the mountain tenses up at what it is seeing; it looks up to the sky, calling out to one who can stop the destruction of the boy, as it is not allowed to meddle directly in this.
Someone else gets the call and hurries to this world as fast as he can.
"The X-blade has no place in this or any world. Xehanort has made his purpose clear…" Eraqus explains to Ventus. He hates to do this, but for the sake of the worlds. "and I am left with no choice. Forgive me," he charges up his keyblade, "but you must exist no more!" and fires at Ventus.
Seeing that right as he arrived, "Ven!" Terra has never moved this fast before, but it does enable him to block the attack aimed at his young friend. In disbelief of what he has just stopped Master Eraqus from doing, "Master, have you gone mad?" Terra demands enranged of what has just happened.
"Terra! I command you— step aside!"
But even if he hadn't earned the title of Master, Terra's answer would have been the same: "No!" he dismisses his armor as his Master asks him, "You will not heed your Master?" and Terra replies he won't, telling Eraqus hard. "I won't let you hurt my friend!"
Master Eraqus drops his head in sadness that Terra refuses to obey and sees that this is necessary. "If you don't have it in your heart to obey… then you will have to share Ventus's fate." He tells the young man before him. A single tear falls at this great sadness, but he is more set on never letting darkness win than the bond he shares with these two. Eraqus attacks and Terra keeps refusing to let him near Ventus; jumping back, he unleashes a powerful light attack, which knocks Ventus unconscious while Terra only gets pushed back.
Seeing his friend hurt enrages Terra, more so when Master Eraqus is set on killing them both in his delusional thoughts. He can feel the darkness stirring, but this time, he does not fight it; taking a deep breath, he allows this anger to rise, for he is going to need it in this unavoidable fight.
"You may be my Master… but I will not…" darkness surrounds him for a moment, wanting to turn his anger into rage, but he won't let it. This time… he will ride on this anger, it won't control him. For the light in him demands that he protect one of those close to his heart. "Let you hurt my friend!" Terra shouts at Eraqus.
Seeing the darkness swirl around his student, the deep anger in those blue eyes. "Has the darkness taken you, Terra?" Eraqus demands appalled.
Terra opens a portal and throws his friend in there. At least there, he won't be in harm's way of Eraqus. With the portal closed, Terra goes to his Master; this time, he does not hesitate, using the darkness of his anger as a weapon.
Master Eraqus honestly tried, but he did not stand much of a chance against him. Not only has his new view on darkness given him better strength to fight, but he has also gained full access to these future sights, and it allowed him to see his Master's attacks before they would arrive. A sight of a strike that would seriously hurt Eraqus, and Terra forces himself to stop. To quell his anger, he takes a deep breath to calm himself. Still angry at his Master, though. "Master, what is the point in all of this?!" He demands Eraqus. "Why did you attack Ven? You always said you saw us as your kids, but what kind of father strikes at his children?!"
Struggling to stand, baffled at how strong Terra has suddenly become. "W-Where did you get such power?" He asks his student. "it was darkness, and yet, you controlled it." which should have been impossiple when it overtakes a heart like that.
Terra sights and walks over to his wounded Master. He reaches out and helps him to stand. "I learned that darkness is part of every heart, powered by negative thoughts such as rage, but it's alright." He smiles weakly to his Master. "I am in control of my darkness now." The smile does drop, but it has to be addressed: "Master… my darkness, it was powered by my fear of failing you. Later… this fear turned into rage."
"I see… no one to blame but myself for how out of control your own darkness had become." Eraqus feels terrible that his teachings have almost made one of his students fall into darkness. He lets Terra help him towards the castle, "and now I've done worse… in my own fear towards the darkness, raised my keyblade against you and Ventus. My own heart is darkness…!"
Terra smiles weakly. "Someone taught me a very important lesson about darkness." He pulls up the bear totem, "a Lost Master." Eraqus's eyes wide at what he has said, and he opens his mouth, but with a sudden jolt from his Master, to his horror, Eraqus collapses onto the ground, revealing a large wound on his back, clean around the edges, only one kind of weapon could make such a wound. "Master!" Terra cries and tries, but he uses up all of his magic during their fight. He cannot close this wound! All he can do is helplessly watch Eraqus bleed out; his Master reaches out to him, whispering weakly, "…Take…. my… strength…" Terra takes the hand and closes his eyes when letting his Master's heart inside his body. The body disappears in light, a reaction to no longer having a heart or spirit keeping it in this world.
Terra opens his now tearful eyes, for even if he allowed his Master's heart inside him, Eraqus is still dead; all his heart can do is offer him support for a future he keeps seeing but is planning to stop from happening.
"What a sight."
Terra glares up at the one who struck his Master down, still with tears in his eyes, sorrow, and rage building up as his Master's murderer has the gall to ask him, "Why do you trouble yourself with remorse, Terra? The man was bent on doing harm to your friend, his own pupil!"
"Why Xehanort?!" Terra demands, darkness surrounding him for a moment. "He was changing his view on darkness! Isn't that what you wanted?! To have balance!"
Xehanort turns away from the enraged and grieving young man, pleased to see him allow darkness to engulf him this easily now, but, "You know, at times, I find your progress quite striking. But you still fall short." He walks away, urging this young man to stop fighting back on the anger he clearly has inside his heart. "Give your heart over to darkness!"
Terra jumps on his feet and summons his keyblade, declaring to one he now is certain is an enemy: "I am in control of my darkness! I will not give in to it!"
"Still so blind." He keeps trying to resist, but that is no chance for this stubborn boy to change his destiny; it has been sealed the moment he failed the exam. "But I will make you see. Come to the place where all keyblade wielder leaves their mark on fate— the Keyblade Graveyard!" Xehanort summons his keyblade and gives Terra the reason to come. "There you will watch your dear Ventus, and Aqua meets their ends, and the last light within you will die!" He aims the keyblade up to the sky and opens a massive portal to the Realm of Darkness. The weather changes instantly into stormy clouds, and large chunks of this world get dragged into the other realm. Terra can only helplessly watch as the place he has called home gets torn to pieces by what Xehanort did, his mind unable to comprehend how many townspeople in the valleys will either get hurt or, worse, killed because of this old Master's action.
At the mountain where the purple snake was before, now a woman dressed very much like Aqua, though the armor on the arm looks more like Terra's, stands in its place. She narrows her eyes as this world gets torn apart, yet being one of the Core worlds, its heart will endure this onslaught.
Xehanort is not yet aware of this; he thinks a Core world will fall like any other world if introduced to the Realm of Darkness. "You won't need a home anymore where you're going!" He declares to Terra and before the young man can stop him, he leaves by a portal.
The bear appears and turns to the distraught Terra, revealing that this world will endure, but repairs will have to wait. Terra forces himself to look away from the destruction going on around him, instead turning to the bear, nodding, "You're right. I have to stop Xehanort."
The bear reminds him that Xehanort is too strong of a force to change his destiny, so he should be ready for this great test of endurance. The bear continues that thanks to his better understanding and thus control over his darkness, Xehanort won't have as tight a grip around him as he would have if not taught this crucial lesson.
Terra nods slowly, "Whatever it takes…" and after having turned the bear back into its totem form, Terra leaves home, painfully aware he won't see it for a very long time.
,
In a search through another world, Elrena encounters Lauriam, and by the frown he got, this must be serious. And indeed, it is. "Tarsha got my sister." That is enough explanation, and she joins him in the search; during this search, he tells what Tarsha said, musing, "Is she doing all of this to prove a point?"
Elrena is very positive that this is the case. "It won't surprise me; you and the others were a bit messed up." She voices her opinions with no regard for insulting the other leaders from Traverse Town. The only one who wasn't this all righteous: "Only Ephemer was semi-normal, and that's saying a lot when it came to you leaders."
"He was chosen to keep the rest of us from straying from our role." Laurium replies, and now that he thinks about it, Ephemer often acted out, which confused him and the others, but they listened to his words, and maybe that's what kept their group from falling apart during their time there. And what Elrena said, "What do you mean by "messed up"? Do you agree with Tarsha?"
"As much as I hate to say it, yeah, I agree that how you are acting this very moment is really messed up— how you and the others reacted to things in the Dream World." Elrena eyes her friend, and he watches her curiously. She does, at times, wish he could get a better reaction than just raising a brow at her offensive words towards him. "Lauriam, I care a lot for you. But there is a reason why I find other people funnier to play around with. You barely react to anything, and it's boring as hell. If I hadn't known you better, I would've thought you didn't care about anything and only do things for the glory."
He ponders on her and Tarsha's words for a moment, back to all of the friends he lost because of the darkness. He isn't sad; he simply accepts they are gone, and he has to move on. He sincerely wants to save his sister, but if she is to die. Then Lauriam knows he will do the exact same thing as he did when losing friends and even their parents. And the glory part? Maybe it is for the glory; all Lauriam knows is that everything he does, his training, strength, and title, is what people expect of him, and thus, he will continue to walk down this path. "My heart is pure light. All I fight for is to defend those who can't. I cannot understand why people get so worked up if they fail their duty or the people close to them fall. Doesn't they know that the time spent with them is what matters?"
"Is that how you're going to view it if Tarsha slays your sister?" Elrena asks him; she does not look happy at all about this conversation. Maybe because they are wasting precious time.
Lauriam lightly touches his chest. Parts of him are aware that Elrena wants him to say that he will act differently, but that would be lying, and his close friend does not deserve such treatment. "I have lost a lot of good friends. Some to war, others to time itself. They are all part of my heart." Elrena huffs and looks away. She's tense, and he figures it's because they are stalling. "We better hurry; Tarsha is seriously going to hurt Strelitzia." and takes the lead once again.
Elrena sighs but follows. She has long accepted that Lauriam is unable to feel certain emotions; he is pure light, and thus, pain is not part of his vocabulary. His strengths are earned from those he has served, and he has never once asked for them. Simply given because of his deep devotion. Elrena can see why someone like Tarsha would be jealous of her friend. If she didn't know him this well, then Elrena is certain she, too, would have a chip on her shoulder. Still, Lauriam can be incredibly infuriating in how he lives his life. He was given everything on a silver platter, and his life is perfect, yet he is annoyingly indifferent about those people close to his heart.
Lauriam may not be capable of rage, but Elrena is, and she fears that if they are too late. She will unleash a fury worthy of a lightning storm, never be able to forgive herself if that bitch hurts that sweet girl.
,
"You used to be too broken to talk back."
And those words from Vanitas trigger something inside Ventus, memories of him being under Master Xehanorts training, surrounded by black monsters with yellow eyes, the great fear he felt, how Xehanort told him to unleash his darkness if he wanted to live. He was too afraid and got almost killed by those creatures, and then… Ventus saw the truth as to why this Ira fella called Vanitas his 'brother of the heart' because he IS part of his heart, the darkness of his heart. Ventus also saw the guardian Ira spoke about; it looked like a light-purple feline with draconic features. It died when the bond was severed as his darkness was sifted away from his heart.
Ventus struggles through the major headache this sudden burst of memories brought back, and he turns slowly back up to Vanitas, the personification of his darkness. "You're… you're my darkness."
Vanitas nods and reveals to him, "How long I have waited to get back what was stolen from me." Spreading out his arms down to Ventus. "Little Light of mine, I will give you a reason to clash your blade with mine. You're gonna see me choke the life out of Terra and Aqua unless you stop playing the pacifist and forge the X-blade with me. Your beloved friends will die at my hand." And with those words, Vanitas leaves.
"Wait!" Ventus calls but cannot reach his darkness fast enough; he has no choice; he has to go to this place in order to stop Vanitas from hurting his friends.
He arrives at this dreadful place; it feels like a frozen memory of rage and hatred but also a terrible fear. Each of those keyblades, even in the stage of his training, can feel that these countless keyblades lying around have utterly lost their power; they are not much stronger than an ordinary weapon. He dreads knowing the history of this place. Quietly, he moves on, searching for his two friends.
In the middle of a crossroad created by countless keyblades, all but six have lost their powers. Six keyblades, all different in shape but with two things in common, the keychain has a demonic blue eye, and each has a head of an animal. Cobra for the purple with leaves, fox for the rainbow-colored, leopard of the lightning-based blade, white and having waves as the handle got a unicorn, a grey with purple flames have a scorpion, and lastly, the biggest with blue rocks got the bear. Terra recognizes that one and wonders,'What made him abandon his keyblade here?'But that question is most likely never going to get answered.
He glances at Aqua, who briefly touches the keyblade, having the fox at the start of the handle, but like him, senses these keyblades are not theirs to wield, so she lets them all be.
Ventus approaches his two friends, both leaving those six mysterious keyblades be and when close enough to them, he sadly explains what he has discovered: "Xehanort wants me and Vanitas to fight and make some kind of "X-blade." But the Master said we can't let that happen… and he tried to kill me for it."
Aqua gasps, Terra did tell her that Master Eraqus attacked Ventus, but straight out wanting to kill him?
Ventus continues, "I still don't know exactly what it is. But… it scares me to death. Even just the thought of it." He is scared of what would happen if this X-blade gets forged, but he is also scared of the thought that he might have to destroy his own darkness— one who has suffered ever since his creation— to keep that from happening.
Terra steps over and puts a hand of comfort onto Ventus's shoulder, assuring his young friend, "Relax, Ven. We're here, and we're gonna take care of you."
"I may have to fight Vanitas after all." Ventus muses, for Vanitas, was set on forging this thing, but he gets this weird sense that his darkness just wants to go back to him. But… he does not think that's possible anymore… they have been separated for too long. "If I do, guys… I want you to—"
"The three of us can never be torn apart, all right?" Terra interrupts his young friend, not going to hear whatever terrible thing Ventus is going to ask them. "I'll always find a way." his hand on Ventus's shoulder tightened; he may not be able to escape his fate, but he sure hell is going to keep Ventus from facing his. Aqua kneels down before their young friend and gently puts a hand on his cheek as a sign he also has her support.
But Ventus does not need comfort; he needs an assurance that this X-blade will never come to be… he removes both of his friend's hands. "I'm asking you, as a friend…" he has trouble meeting their eyes when asking them this, "just… put an end to me and Vanitas." End both of their suffering, once and for all.
Neither Aqua nor Terra can make them even consider doing what their young friend requested; the sheer thought is incomprehensible. A shift in the wind makes them turn, and down one of the roads created by these countless of keyblade, Master Xehanort approaches.
A brief pulse of darkness and Vanitas arrive as well, already having a keyblade in hand.
Stopping before the three, Xehanort gestures out to the sea of keyblades surrounding them. "Behold. These lifeless keys used to be full of power— united with the hearts of their masters. On this barren soil, keyblade wielders and mighty beasts of legend were locked in combat… as a great keyblade war raged."
Terra, Aqua, and Ventus briefly look around, getting a grander view of how many keyblade wielders of the past have perished and how the landscape around them bore deep scars from this ancient battle.
"countless keyblade wielders gave up their lives, all in search of one ultimate key. And it will soon belong to me." Xehanort points at Ventus. "X-blade!" the three respond by summoning their armor. Ventus moves but is stopped by Terra, who charges at him. Xehanort stops this reckless boy by making a cliff burst up from the ground. This whole place is very susceptible to being manipulated around, and Xehanort uses that to his very advantage. He makes another, taller cliff and, by the power of wind, takes hold of a lot of keyblades, though the six, looking much like his, refuse to budge; no matter, he sends these dead keyblades at Aqua and Ventus.
This took the three very much off guard; they all tried to get away from these waves of keyblades, but all got hit at one point. Aqua's helmet got thrown off when another wave of keyblades hit her from below, but she did not have time to check for injuries; Terra was in trouble. Calling his name, Aqua fires a shield spell at her friend, saving him from being pummeled down by those rusty but still dangerous keyblades.
Ventus hurries over to help Terra. He easily reaches the spot, but his attempted hit on Xehanort fails as the old man sees him coming and catches him around the helmet. No matter how much he struggled, he couldn't get free.
Seeing Ventus trapped in Xehanort's grip, Terra runs over to protect his friend but gets thrown off the cliff by a wave of the fallen keyblade wielder's weapons; Terra struggles onto his feet, enraged and afraid as he has seen many visions of what his fate will be if he fails. Yes, it is doubtful he can avoid it, but he will give his all to prevent it! If not… he will hurt Aqua, manipulate people, and throw their hearts into the darkness, unleash the Dark Realm into this realm, and drag so, so many worlds into darkness. He will harm that cheeky boy… harm so many innocent people. Terra will not let that happen! "Give me your strength!" he calls; the totem activates, and the bear jumps into the air, scaling the cliff wall with its stone element while he is riding on its stony back.
Xehanort freezes Ventus with magic and drops him. Terra was just about to jump after him, but when Aqua caught their young friend and brought him safely down to the ground. Terra decides to finish the very person who has been the source of so much pain and misery.
The creature lands hard on the platform where Xehanort and Vanitas are standing; it straightens up, and both it and Terra turn their glaring eyes to the two.
Xehanort seems surprised by the bear's arrival but recovers quickly as he speaks in his calm but misleading voice: "Admirably done. I knew this was a journey you could make— over the unseen wall that divides darkness and light." The old Master eyes the bear once and declares with a large smirk, "And I was not wrong, Terra!"
Terra sneers; he jumps off the bear, stepping right before it in a manner so the large beast can tower behind him like a totem of the strength he is going to need. "My friend Ven," he summons his keyblade, "you tell me Xehanort— what did you do to him?!"
"Why, I did him a favor and freed the darkness inside of him. Alas, poor Ventus never had the fortitude for such strenuous trials." Xehanort replies, in other words, this man is the reason why Ventus was nothing more than a zombie when he first came to Land of Departure, why his friend cannot remember anything from before. Xehanort is the reason so why Ventus begged him and Aqua to strike him down! "Xehanort!" Terra roars, closely followed by the bear roaring at the two.
Along with the bear, Terra runs at the two, aiming for Xehanort and letting the bear take care of Vanitas. The old man is powerful, but his age is making him slow, and Terra is counting on him. He strikes with everything he has on the man, not holding back as he will not allow Xehanort to do whatever magic to make him hurt innocent people.
A sudden flash of the future vision shows Terra how Vanitas will strike at his head, which would make him disoriented for the rest of the fight. Terra snaps his head and sees the dark boy has dodged the bear's rock strikes, and if not for that sight, he would've been hit. Terra jumps back in the last second, and before Vanitas can get him. The bear turns into a stone ball and rolls right into the masked boy, throwing Vanitas into the air. Terra turns his attention back to Xehanort, blocking the dark ice shards, but does not have any chance to block the rapid and incredibly powerful slashes of the old Master's blade. Another sight and Terra reacts by throwing his keyblade, stunning Xehanort before he could even do a Shot lock on him.
Xehanort is not sure how Terra does that, but the young man seems able to predict certain attacks before they even happen. It is making it difficult, and that bear is not making it easier. Looks like he has to summon it. "Awaken!" Xehanort calls, waving his hand over the blue eye of his keyblade that seems to come to life.
Terra stops at the portal and arrives behind Xehanort; he knows what is about to come: "Oh no!" but he has no chance of stopping it from coming. But at least he can stall that thing. "Help me out!" he calls for the bear. It strikes Vanitas once with its claws before charging over to the portal. It steers, and its paws strike onto the metal horns of a dark grey goat, bearing the same symbol on its back as the bear does on its shoulders.
The goat struggles against the weight of the bear; then, the metal vines on its front legs move to the sides, and the bear roars as those four vines stab into its hind legs. The goat then bashes the bear away, turning its full attention on Terra, glaring at him with its single eye while the right one gives a disturbing view into a void of purple and blue. Looking at it makes guilt spike for a moment at the reminder of what he did to that man, though he quickly brushes it off as the sights prove that the raven-haired man is a villain. Terra readies himself as the goat charges at him, but just to his luck, Vanitas jumps onto the goat's back and right as the large creature tries to headbutt him with those horns. The dark boy jumps off and fires several dark fireballs at him. Terra yelps in pain and tries to retaliate, but the goat just won't let him. Its metal vines slash at him, and Vanitas follows suit by hitting him with the keyblade.
The bear cannot help, for Xehanort is keeping it busy.
After many powerful hits, the bear dissolves back into its totem form. "No!" Terra cries, only to scream in pain when the goat slams him to the ground by headbutting him and keeps him down by repeating its attacks.
Xehanort picks up the rock that looks like a bear's head but drops it when the being inside emits great hostility against him. "So, you refuse to submit to me." He muses and wonders how Terra got this kind of creature— no matter, he will soon have that one when he claims Terra as his vessel. Xehanort leaves the totem and walks over to the goat that keeps on attacking Terra; that's the reason he rarely summons it. That creature has no self-control; all it knows is fighting. He eyes Vanitas, telling the boy of darkness, "Go take what Ventus owes you." adding, "and take Aqua's life."
"No!" Terra cries and blocks the goat's attack with his keyblade, but that thing just keeps repeating its attacks; he does not have any openings!
"you see how powerless you are to save them?" Xehanort speaks between metal horns hitting his keyblade.
Terra has enough! He will not let Xehanort take his friends as well! "Wasn't my Master— no, my father not enough for you?!" he roars, and right as the goat comes at him again, Terra strikes, tearing past the metal and slicing his dark-infused blade into its head, revealing that this creature's whole body is made of that strange magic.
The goat screeches and falls, dissolving back into Xehanorts keyblade. Terra lands, and with darkness from his deep rage gushing out from him, "Leave my friends alone!"
Xehanort has the nerve to taunt him, "Yes, more! Let your whole heart blacken with anger!"
He is so close to letting out all of his rage, but those visions he got before of him not only hurt Aqua but so many innocent people. It's making the light of him; the need to protect dampens his darkness, if only just slightly. Terra runs at the old man, "You won't hurt any more people, Xehanort!"
Meanwhile, down below the cliff, Aqua is holding a deeply frozen Ventus. He is unable to move, but fortunately, this deep freeze Xehanort did to him hasn't left any permanent damage.
Suddenly, a new voice speaks: "How about you leave the popsicle with me," Aqua looks up and sees a man dressed like one of those guards from Radiant Garden, though he has the extra thing of a torn red scarf. Not to mention he is missing the right eye, and the left cheek got a nasty and still healing slash scar. "so you can go and have your little fight with Terra? You can't be too happy about him deep-sixing your Master." The way this man smirks, Aqua has a strong feeling this guy is on Xehanort's side; it's the only way he could've known.
"Who are you?" She asks, and the man's yellow-eyed stare intensifies; Aqua blinks when she suddenly feels a spike of a heart's power. Is it… coming from this man?
"You think you two have some grand role to play." This man smirks wide slightly. "As if. You're only here so that when I finish you off… Terra will succumb to the darkness. So… who wants to go first?" He asks them cocky.
This deeply enrages Ventus; never before has he been this angry at someone like this guy. "Shut up!" he shouts at this scarred man. The man makes a mock gesture he is scared of him, not making it better with the words: "Oh, so this kiddo thinks he's a full-fledged keyblade wielder?" which only makes Ventus glare harder at him. "He got the angry look down."
Aqua is not as angry as Ventus; the last conversation with Terra has assured her that he has better control over his dark impulses: "Go ahead if you want to waste your time. Keep trying to drive us apart with your mind games." She tells the man hard, gently puts the frozen Ventus down, and prepares herself for battle. "Terra will prove to you he's stronger!"
"Ha! I have seen his strength, and it's not the power he lacks." The man points at his missing eye, hinting that it was Terra who did this. "It's self-control. Lose one's temper in the heat of battle, and people are getting hurt."
"Enough!" Aqua snaps and runs at the man. He summons his two crossbows, and right when she is about to hit him with the keyblade, he teleports away, "Nice try!" and hits her with several bullets. She manages to block some of them, and as he runs around, shooting at her shield, Aqua notices that this man is adept at space magic. She notes that she should keep an eye on her back. Shooting several ice shards at him, the man teleports off, gets upside down, and, putting his two crossbows together, creates one larger bullet. She dodges it, activates a boost of fire, and blasts several fireballs at him; a few of them hit, but, to her utter shock, this guy slaps one of them away with his mere hand. This takes her off guard; space magic shouldn't be able to do that, and not even she would have the power to hit a fully powered spell aside as if it were a novice spell.
"How did you—" The man appears behind her and forces her to the ground with a gravity spell; it shocks her how powerful it is; how is a mere guard able to do such magic and at such a level? She eyes the man; the smirk on his lips fades, and the eyes flicker for a second. Right there, she feels the spell break and not waste a second, for this guy is a lot stronger than he appears. Aqua goes at him. Then he jumps away, and fires several bullets, but when he jumps into the air to hang up there, he grunts in pain, drops to the ground. He's wheezing and struggles to get back up. Aqua blinks, but then it hits her: 'He used up all of his magic on those two spells.'
That makes sense; they were incredibly powerful and would've drained any other normal person. She has the advantage of being a keyblade master; having a keyblade grants one extra boost in magic. She fires a mirage of spells at him, and with him drained of magic, unable to use his space abilities, this guy is quickly defeated.
Jumping away, breathing heavily for air. Still, he smirks cocky "I keep forgetting— don't mess with keyblade wielders. But you know what? That just means I choose the right path!" Aqua goes at him again, but he does not seem bothered, really. "Well… he wanted me to buy time, and I'd say he got it." And with those words, he turns heel and runs off, much to Aqua's confusion. That last part he said worries her, though. "Ven!" she calls and runs over, fearing this man spoke about hurting her frozen friend.
Still struggling to get out of his frozen armor, he forgets about it when he sees his darkness speed down from the cliff, going right at Aqua. He tries to warn her, but Vanitas strikes her; blood flies everywhere from the slash he made over her face and chest. Ventus stares in horror. Aqua drops to the ground, unmoving, and only the sound of the chest plates moving shows she is still alive. Ventus truly begins to struggle against his frozen state as Vanitas approaches her, painfully aware that his darkness will kill his friend. Using the light within him, he melts through the ice, and right before Vanitas, he is about to piece his keyblade into Aqua. "STOP!" Ventus shouts, glaring with all his might at Vanitas. At this very moment, he does not care that Vanitas is his darkness— and is still suffering; he dared to hurt his friend and is going to pay for it. Ventus fights with all of his might, and although it's the toughest fight he's ever been in. Ventus does, in the end, defeat Vanitas.
"You've done it, Ventus." Vanitas praises his light and allows Ventus to see his face. It is not Ventus's face but of a boy with longer spiky hair, raven black, and his yellow eyes filled with an immeasurable cruelness. "Now that my body is about to perish… you and I will have to join together! The X-blade will be forged!" Ventus is so surprised to see another face underneath that mask that he doesn't have the time to say that he still refuses to forge that thing. Vanitas wasn't giving him much of a choice, for right there, darkness surrounds him, and out from them, several Unversed pins Ventus down.
Ventus tries to fight them off, but they are not budging. "The Unversed… come from you?" he asks, his darkness shocked.
Vanitas chuckles lightly, that menacing smirk not faltering for a second. "It happened when you and I were split into two. By the destruction of the guardian, and the negativity of what I feel took shape as these monsters." Ventus's eyes are wide in horror at hearing that the guardian of theirs had turned into the Unversed, and what's worse: "They are what I feel— a horde of fledgling emotions under my control. I released them in all the worlds I could, and with that little push, you went out to fight these perfect opponents to make you stronger. And better yet, no matter how many times you defeat them… their negativity flows right back into me."
"You mean you felt every Unversed we destroyed?"
Vanitas nods but does not look bothered by it one bit; what bothers him is the look of pity in his light eyes. The smirk is replaced with a scowl. "Is that pity I detect, oh Ventus, always so naïve." He puts a hand on Ventus's chest. "This was what got us split in the first place!"
It was a hard fight, but Terra managed to defeat Xehanort. Still, he did not let his guard down, knowing that those visions might still come true.
A sudden explosion makes him prepare his weapon, ready to fight, but by Xehanort's words, he turns around and sees a pillar of light and darkness.
"The X-blade has been forged!" Xehanort declares victorious.
"Ven!" Terra cries. He doesn't see this in his visions, but when Xehanort speaks, the strongest of his visions flashes over his eyes. "And now, Terra, it is time for the final union!" Terra freezes up, shakes out from it, and spins around like a nasty déjà vu; he sees Xehanort has released his own heart with his keyblade.
"Now it is your darkness that shall be the ark that sustains me!" Xehanort declares and makes the heart go straight at him. Terra knows that instant that he cannot escape, so instead, he activates his armor and focuses his heart and mind on his friends and those innocent people from his visions. It will be what will keep him from fully succumbing to Xehanort's heart; it will make him continue to fight.
Terra isn't the only one who fights for control of his own body; Ventus is doing the same, not caring that he might end up killing himself for the sake of his two friends; he will destroy that X-blade in his darkness hand.
"It's all about your friends, isn't it?" Vanitas asks, mocking during their fight for control of his body.
Slashing out after the X-blade, Ventus retorts back. "At least I have some!" He jumps over the strike his darkness is trying to land, telling him hard, "I've become a part of their heart, just as they've become a part of mine. My friends are my power, and I'm theirs— yours as well, for you know what: you are part of my heart!"
"Then join me!" Vanitas beckons him.
"I will not!" Ventus retorts back, both with words and keyblade, "I won't be his pawn, and I know, deep down, you don't want that either." He gets hit by Vanitas, and the dark boy glares coldly at him, demanding: "How do you know what I feel? You haven't felt me since he saved your scrawny hide." No idea who his darkness is talking about, but Ventus needs to get through to him somehow. They keep attacking one another, trying to overpower the other, till finally, the X-blade breaks, along with the shared pillar that is their heart. Ventus can feel his heart leaving his body and looking at Vanitas, who finally shows his true emotions. Desperation and fear. "Vanitas!"
Ventus reaches out and catches the other one's hand.
Vanitas snaps away from the breaking X-blade and over to the light that has continued to deny him. Seeing pity in those eyes and knowing he will fade away because of this idiot, he snaps. "Stop looking at me like that! I do not need anyone's pity, least of all from a weakling like you!"
And Ventus is quick to retort back. "I may be weak, and you can hate me all you want, but I will not let go!" his grip around his darkness tightens, keeping him from fading away, and instead brings Vanitas with him into the unknown. "We are brothers! We are connected, whether you like it or not!"
Vanitas blinks in confusion, "Brothers?" he smirks, for the first time, in acceptance. "Heh, well then, brother, I look forward to the day we will meet again."
Both their bodies disappear in light and darkness, leaving the body together.
Among the shattered parts of the platform representing Ventus' heart, a spark and, for a moment, a portal to a new realm opens.
The armor of Terra, now holding the will to fight his possessed body and one day return, walks over to the bear totem, which one Xehanort, even with his body, was unable to claim. The armor picks up the totem, and with only the promise, 'One day, I will make this right.' The armor goes into a kneeling position, waiting for the day that his body will return to these lands. When that day happens, the Lingering Will of Terra will reclaim what belongs to him.
Alongside Mickey, Aqua has been battling Ventus's possessed body, and with her keyblade, growing in size at the strength of her heart, she breaks the X-blade the possessed Ventus held, and when he drops it,
the X-blade starts going haywire. Ventus cries out, light and darkness surrounding him, before he collapses onto the ground, unmoving and in danger of getting hit by the going haywire X-blade. Aqua tries to get over, but the powerful puling from the breaking apart X-blade keeps her from doing so. Then, the pool of darkness appears, becomes a sphere, and when it disappears, an Unversed looking very much like a Flood has arrived; it does have more the shape of a cat and is not as edged in features as a Flood usually is. This Unversed falters on its feet but, for some reason, is determined to get over to Ventus. "Get away from him!" she cries as it reaches him. She gasps when this Unversed tries to shield Ventus from the X-blade energy beams.
Mickey, who has been helping her in defeating the possessed Ventus, is startled to see this as well. "Is it…" to then jump in surprise when the Unversed suddenly takes a bigger form, holding Ventus in place as the X-blade sends out a powerful shockwave, and when that blade finally shatters, this Unversed collapses beside Ventus, retaking its smaller form and weakly crawls onto his back.
Baffled by what she has just witnessed, Aqua slowly approaches her friend and this very strange Unversed. She tries to push it off, but it refuses to move, and its whistling turns into growling, and it gets more and more set on protecting Ventus. Sensing this Unversed wishes no harm to her friend, Aqua decides to leave it be. She picks both Ventus and the cat looking Flood up— that has stopped glaring at her. She turns to the just as confused Mickey, and he takes them all away by the Star Shard.
Lots of jumping around, and the plots from earlier chapters and even past stories are revealing themselves.
I would like to draw more to Change of Fate, but I am having trouble figuring out what. so if you have ideas, feel free to suggest them.
Feedback on the story itself is also greatly appreciated. Although the overall plot is laid out, I would love to know what you, dear readers, want to know more about so I can add or focus more on whatever it may be.