Keyblade Master Terra gazed out across the icy grounds, looking to Sora, and to Ven, and then, to the third, unknown person - a girl with red skin and hair...
Ven was unconscious - but alive. So was the other girl, it looked like. Terra cast Cure on both of them...but they didn't wake. It would take more, then, to help them.
And Sora...there were particles of orange light drifting off of the boy's body now, that hadn't been there a few seconds ago. A sign of critical condition. Fading energy, magic, and life soon...if left untreated...
Terra stretched out his hand, casting a Curaga circle around the boy, pushing a great portion of his power and magic into the spell.
The green energy swirled around and beneath the boy's form...and then, he saw the particles of light cease, and the glow around his body faded.
Terra let his hand fall, relief flooding his chest.
He glanced back at Xion, and raised his hand to create a Light Portal directly around her.
The light swirled and burst, briefly, before fading. Closing shut - and causing her to disappear with it.
He raised his Keyblade to aim out at Ven, doing the same for him. Then, Sora. And lastly, the unknown girl with the red hair.
Finally, he looked straight ahead - at the twisted image of a dark and corrupted Kairi.
This girl, this enemy, had simply stood there the entire time - letting him get his friends and pupils to safety. An act (or non-act) that spoke volumes to Terra already.
A girl whose scars glowed with energy, whose eyes were like dark stars, and who wore an outfit strikingly similar to Vanitas.
A girl whose very aura was billowing around her form, casting off invisible waves that reached Terra - and told him of just how great a strength she possessed.
But not an insurmountable strength. This wasn't a boast, or arrogance - he just thought he had a proper measure of that power against his own...at least, at first read.
Terra raised his Keyblade up slowly, and then held it out in front of him in one hand, shifting his stance, one leg back, one forward. His body turned to the side.
"Did you do this to them?" he spoke out to the girl, hard.
The girl responded with a tilt of her head, and a smile. "I did," she admitted freely, in careless tones. "It was too easy, honestly. But they insisted on forcing a fight with me. I was willing to leave them alone. But if none of you are going to leave me be..."
She even sounded exactly like Kairi, Terra thought to himself with shock. It didn't read as an illusion, either. Some kind of magical trick. It was a real, physical girl standing before him...who looked and sounded exactly like Kairi.
"Who are you?" Terra spoke again, staying his blade...for the moment. Of course his every, raging instinct coursing through his veins, flooding his body, wanted nothing more than to throw himself forward and tear this girl apart...but he was a Keyblade Master, ten years stronger and wiser now. Not that headstrong, emotional young man anymore. Ten years in the desert did a lot to teach a mind patience and restraint...
"You don't recognize me? Oh. Of course you would not - not like this. We met before, recently, in that Tower. You tried to cut me in half, if I recall correctly."
"You're that Ancient Darkness?" Terra said, shock going through him. "But you have a form now. How? And why does it look like Kairi?"
"Because this is the Princess of Heart's body itself," said the Darkness, raising a hand to their (her?) chest. "And I must say, I think it suits me."
Her...body itself...? They- she- must have gone back to the Tower, then, and taken it without any of us knowing. Of course, none of us detected...her before, did we? Only Xehanort...was able to do that...
Maybe Terra needed to pay the man a visit soon...to ask him about how he even was able to do that when no one else could. There were a lot of things Terra wanted to confront the man about, to be honest - but he'd prioritized the worlds and the mission (and Masters Eraqus and Yen Sid's wishes) over pursuing personal feelings and matters.
But, back to the matter at hand: If that was Kairi's body...then he couldn't risk hurting it - her - could he?
No, as much as he wanted to just destroy the girl in front of him and tell Kairi she could reside in a Replica body like her sister...
No.
He was going to get Kairi her body back, and he was going to force this Darkness out of it - one way or another. Even if he had to knock her out, tie her up in chains, and drag her back to Land of Departure and throw her in the same Chamber as Master Xehanort himself.
He'd made a promise to Kairi's father that he would do everything in his power to protect her, and to bring her back home safe and sound.
And Terra was going to keep it.
"If you're having second thoughts about hurting this-" Darkness began.
Terra crossed the distance in the blink of an eye, a trail of billowing darkness behind him. He swung his Keyblade within a millisecond of getting in range of the enemy - twisting it aside as he did.
The girl vanished in a flicker, her expression changing to one of genuine shock.
Terra flickered forward again instantly, right in front of her, his hand lashing out - grabbing the front of her top. He turned and pulled - slamming the girl face-down on the ground. He aimed his Keyblade down at her, and golden chains exploded out of it, wrapping around her form and tightening.
The girl thrashed and flipped herself over, staring up at him with wide purple eyes. Darkness flowed out of her, to no avail. "What- how are you-" she gasped out, her voice flooding with pure emotion now: real fear and panic.
Terra flashed his palm down at her, pulling up another huge portion of power and magic he had in him. "SLEEPGA!"
A swirling blue magic circle formed beneath the girl, and a blue clock shimmered in the air above her. The hands of the clock rotated rapidly, a furious ticking noise filling the air, speeding up, faster and faster...
The girl let out a growl, her eyes fluttering. darkness flaring around her wildly as she resisted it (impressively, to Terra, really). Then, she fell to it; she dropped down to the ice, flat on her back, her eyes closing. Her chest rose and fell, shallow and calm.
Terra stood over her, gazing down at her. Watching her.
Slowly, he knelt down next to her, his armored knee sinking into the ice and cracking it. He reached out a gloved hand, touching her cheek-
Darkness erupted out of the girl with sudden, wild fury and force!
Terra was blown backwards, skidding on the ice, his armored boots digging grooves into it with a loud scraping noise. He bent forward and crouched down, cancelling his momentum and coming to a halt by slamming his gloved fingers straight down into the ice itself.
He lifted his head, seeing a dark barrier flash to life around the girl's form.
She rose up into the air, the dome becoming a complete sphere. Purple lightning crackled over its surface, and orange and white energies swirled.
The girl rotated upright again, and her eyes flashed open.
Her arms came to meet in the middle of her chest...then she threw them out away from herself, as darkness exploded out of her once more. Waves flew off in all directions, along with zig-zagging lines of energy.
The girl gazed down at Terra directly...and her head cocked, and a smirk came to her lips. She raised an arm to the sky...
Terra followed the motion, looking up - and froze at what he saw.
High above, ringing the edge of the whole crater, dark orbs were shimmering into existence. One after another, dozens upon dozens, traveling along the edge. The orbs burst, tendrils of darkness swirling, and Heartless appeared in their place. Dozens, a hundred...? Several hundred?
Terra turned on the spot, looking all around him to keep track of them all.
They were all the same: Neoshadows. But...larger than the ones he'd seen before - and different, too. They had rougher forms, like they were made of thick, interwoven tendrils. There were blue, glowing lines on their faces and down their arms and legs, which ended in dark purple claws. Their antennae were purple and magenta colored.
"Don't be afraid," came the girl's voice - Kairi's voice. Amused. Mocking. "They won't hurt you unless I tell them to. They recognize True Darkness when they see it, even with no greater will or intentions of their own. They recognize the Greater Darkness they spawned from, so long ago now. It was we who gave rise to them, in our attempts to create our own forms again. But, even after we did, we still learned the painful lesson - that it would not save us from degradation. These dark shapes are inadequate for the task; they cannot hold us, protect us the way we need them to. Only a true, human form or Heart can do that."
Terra clenched his weapon tightly, turning to gaze up at the girl now, directly - straight back - through his helmet's visor.
"But they are useful in their own ways, still," the girl spoke on. "I can call on them, I can create them myself, or I can reshape them. I can do anything I want with them. And what I want to use them for today..."
"What are you going to use them for?" Terra called out to her. He didn't want to - a part of him feared the answer. But if she answered truthfully, it might help him fight her on it.
"Power."
Tendrils of darkness shot out from the dark sphere, in the hundreds, rising up into the air like serpents - and finding their way to the Heartless on the cliffs above. The dark tentacles shot into the Neoshadows' chests...and then the Heartless began to glow with a magenta light, to vibrate violently. Then they started to disintegrate. Peeling away, and evaporating into nothingness. The dark tendrils pulsed, shifting from purple to that same magenta color, as they flowed back...into the dark sphere.
No: into the girl inside of it.
The Heartless soon were all gone - only the girl remained.
The dark barrier vanished in a flash of light, and the girl floated down to land on solid ground again.
Her body rippled now with a magenta aura, tinged with blood red closer to her skin. Her purple eyes shifted color, becoming a burning scarlet.
"Now..." she spoke out to him, meeting his gaze with a blaze of anger. "Let's try that again. You will not catch me off guard this time."
No, I don't think that I will, Terra silently agreed.
He steeled his Heart, grasping his weapon tighter, and gathered the power within...
The girl flew forward across the distance in a glide, a swirling red, curved barrier in front of her, billowing out around her and trailing behind like a comet.
Terra shifted his stance and leapt out of the way, skidding and turning-
The girl vanished - and reappeared overhead!
Terra rolled out of the way as she came crashing down onto the ice.
Her barrier sunk down into it by several feet, caving it in. Dark energy flew out beneath the ice and exploded, causing chunks and pieces to fly up into the air (ranging from small fragments to house-sized masses).
Dark energy shrouded the airborne pieces of ice - and then they came shooting down for Terra like meteors.
Terra cloaked himself in an aura of golden light, turning and blasting off to the left, gliding over the shattered ground. He zig-zagged, avoiding her attacks as they rained down for him! He glanced back quickly as he dodged and kicked off of a house-sized mass of ice-
And saw a new, purple, icy mass, the size of Land of Departure's very castle, lifting free from the frozen lake now - rising up higher, and higher...
The girl herself appeared above it, in a swirling dark cloud. She glowered down on him.
It was in that moment that Terra considered the possibility that he was actually in over his head a little.
But he had his promise to keep...
What about the duty you have to your apprentices? And to Sora now, and even Kairi, now that Aqua isn't around to be their Master anymore? You have to live, you have to make it back to Xion, to be able to protect her, and give her the care she needs. If you disappear here today, fighting a battle that doesn't need to be fought...
Terra twisted to the left and flew upward - he slashed through a car-sized chunk of ice, fragments pelting his armored body. Kairi needs her body back.
But not this second. Survive, and come back with more force of your own than this Darkness can handle - like she called these Heartless to herself to gain the power to overwhelm you...like she's just about to do. You're a Master now - you need to think like one, remember? Not every fight has to be won, here and now...to call it a victory. And not every victory comes immediately. Sometimes you lose. Sometimes you have to wait. Sometimes...it takes a long time, to come back and do it right. To set things right. But if you're patient...if you endure...if you just hold on...someday... Come back again when you DO have the strength to protect the things that matter. Come back with your friends, with your allies, with everything you need to assure that victory. We've already waited ten years...we can wait a little longer.
Terra dodged and ran up the side of the second house-sized mass of dark ice, leaping off it at the top to soar away with a burst of wind and speed. I know that - but I can't just give up yet. Not yet. This isn't all of my strength, or skill. I'll retreat after I've given the most of myself - for Kairi's sake.
For her sake? Or is it yours? Can't live with yourself if you don't, can you? You don't want to carry more guilt, more shame, more regrets. Your Heart's already so heavy with them, burdened, for all these years...whether it was while we were trapped in Xehanort's Heart - or alone in a dusty, barren desert of death and ancient weapons.
Terra gritted his teeth inside his helmet, letting out a roar and a burst of dark energy as he formed a massive purple crystal blade from his actual Keyblade - and slashed it down with burning purple energy for the third, house-seized ice mass. It split in half as it bore down on him, crashing down to the ground below and shaking the world.
And all the while, that massive castle-sized hunk of ice loomed above him still.
What was the girl even waiting for? That Darkness...? Why not just send it down at him - crush him here?
Terra flew up high, curving past and around that massive mass of ice - coming level with the girl herself, above it now. He gazed across a great distance at her; she didn't seem concerned or upset that he'd just bypassed her great threat of an attack. He tossed his Keyblade up and formed it into his Cannon Transformation; he charged up the energy...and unleashed a massive beam for her.
It struck a crimson barrier, beams of light flying off left and right - but not piercing it. Not hitting the girl at all.
Terra reverted the transformation and held his Keyblade before him vertically, gathering darkness, feeding it, burgeoning it in massive amounts, billowing out of him in an aura of his own now...
The girl's face, across the distance, flickered now. She looked...curious. Maybe even a little confused, if he was reading the face of Kairi right...knowing her looks and expressions so well by now...
"This isn't going to work against her. Her powers are far stronger than yours!"
Terra froze, losing focus for a moment. He turned his head left and right.
He'd just heard a voice - but where had it come from?
It hadn't sounded like anyone he recognized...
It had been a girl's voice - lofty and low. Assured and slow.
A cold feeling went up his spine - one that had nothing to do with the weather of this world.
He unleashed his power in a massive torrent, a swirling stream of energy bound for the girl.
"...I did warn you," that voice came again.
Terra's attack slammed into his enemy's barrier again. A purple light flashed, and a shockwave of force and energy went out across the sky.
The girl's dark aura grew higher, and then it seemed to...separate from her. A second cloud of darkness was rising up over her head now...and then the dark cloud faded into the shape and form of a giant Heartless.
The Heartless was a huge, lanky wolf creature, jet black with glowing yellow eyes. It had pieces of black armor on it that glowed red. Its tail was a bush of purple flames behind it. Its claws were dark purple, as well. It opened its mouth, revealing sharp purple teeth and roiling dark flames.
The girl turned herself into a dark cloud, that rose up and seemed to enter the Heartless...then she came floating up out of its back...and sat down on it like a trusted steed.
"Say hello to Hyrrokkin!" the girl declared, with an actual grin on her face now. Yet it still looked nothing like the Kairi Terra knew - there was no real joy that reached her eyes.
Terra was confused by the girl's whole phasing act, staring at her. Then he noticed the Heartless had a new, thin red aura around its body.
But what did that mean?
"Oh, here we go..." came the mysterious voice again, with a sigh of annoyance. "Yes, go and help the idiotic meatsack throw himself at the vastly superior and empowered Darkness, and her incredibly powerful attack dog! Fantastic idea!"
"What?" Terra responded finally, aloud, in pure confusion now.
"Hold still, PLEASE."
"What are you-"
A dark aura flared around him - washing over him - and then shrinking in on him!
It curved around him, it swirled and shifted...taking him into a world of pure darkness...
And then it was receding, revealing a familiar world of light.
The Land of Departure's throne room?
Terra stumbled forward - out of the Dark Corridor (for that was what it had been). He reached up and tore off his helmet, casting it aside and turning back.
The Dark Corridor's exit disappeared into wispy tendrils.
He stared for a moment, then looked back out across the chamber.
No sign of Xion, Ven, Sora, or that other girl. No sign of his Master, either...
That didn't mean they weren't here - in fact, it probably meant something better: that the Master had moved them for better care.
But that voice, and that Corridor...
Terra shook his head, letting his weapon vanish, along with his armor. He started forward across the room-
Only for the sound of a new portal to erupt behind him.
He whipped back, seeing the Dark Portal rise from the ground. He summoned his Keyblade back, wary.
"Aaaaaahhhhhh!"
A familiar voice echoed in the room, as a familiar blurry figure came flying headfirst out of the portal - landing flat on their face in front of Terra with a meaty thud.
The portal evaporated - and then that voice from before filled the room.
"There. You can thank me later. Or now, if you'd like. I know I'd prefer it. Humans are such idiots; you might forget, if we wait too long!"
"Who's the...racist now, huh...?" Riku groaned out from the floor, responding to the voice as he pushed himself up, touching his nose gingerly. He froze, his head turning wildly - then focusing in on Terra. Blind blue eyes blinked up in the direction of Terra's face rapidly. "Wha...? Land of Departure...Terra...? Oh you've gotta be kidding me! You did not, Cognis!" he erupted furiously, falling back onto the floor and slapping a hand to his forehead.
"Hm. I did," came that lofty girl's voice - now sounding incredibly smug and pleased with herself.
"Riku...what's going on here? What was all of that? What is...this?" Terra asked, trying to reach for calm and patience as he stared down at the boy. His apprentice. The only thing stopping him from being more on his guard was the fact that Riku wasn't freaking out, or scared, and was seemingly talking to this...omnipresent Voice as if they- she- were another one of his friends. Otherwise...
Riku swung himself up to sit, cross-legged, dropping his hand to his lap. "Whatever...fine...we're already here. Let's just...get this out of the way first..."
"Wait! First he has to promise not to try and kill us."
"He wouldn't do that to me," Riku protested against the voice. He hesitated, then ducked his head. "Hey, you wouldn't, would you...?" he hedged out to Terra.
"I think every Master's had a time when they wanted to kill their students," Terra spoke. "But I'm not feeling particularly murderous right now, no."
"Seriously," Riku insisted. He sighed loudly, raising a hand to thread it through his long, messy hair. "And- and your Master is a literal, actual example of that. So if he freaks out and wants to try and-"
A part of Terra was sad, upset, even, to think that that was how these kids saw his Master. But, then, it was natural, wasn't it? One terrible mistake could define a person - erase a whole legacy of good. It was so difficult to rebuild, from something like that, to claw back trust or faith. And he told himself it made sense, in that these new wielders...had never even known his Master the way he had. They hadn't seen him at his best, his most caring, his patience, his gentleness...his warmth. For all the years he'd raised Terra, and Ven, and Aqua. The way he'd always held Aqua's console, and silence, in face of Terra's attempts to break it... The man's respect and compassion, and his humorous and goofy side that sometimes emerged (a surviving remnant of the boy Terra now knew he'd once been in old memories - practically a class clown!)...
But these kids knew none of that. They had none of those memories or experiences.
All they had...was how it had all ended.
And as for the other part of Terra...
"Whatever's happened, whatever's going on here," he began, firm and hard, kneeling down in front of Riku, and reaching out for his shoulder. "I would never let him hurt you. Understand? Even if it meant going against him, fighting him...I've done it before, and I will do it again. But I don't think anything you've done out there...could make things come to that. Okay? So just tell me...what's going on with you."
Riku turned his head aside, taking in a nervous, long breath. Then he let it go. "Alright...Cognis? You can show yourself to Terra. He's...cool."
"I'll be the judge of that," came the voice again. The girl...named - Cognis?
A dark form shimmered into existence next to Riku - resolving itself into a vague, human shape with a rippling aura of purple flames.
Terra tensed - and breathed. "Riku..."
"Her name's Cognis - she's a Darkness, yeah!" Riku started, swift and stumbling. "But, apparently she's...she said she came from me. My heart. My darkness. She's- she's good. She's helped people out there. She's- she saved me from Ansem. Err, Xehanort's Heartless-"
"WHAT? How is that-"
"It's not actually him, it's a piece of him, I guess," Riku amended. He raised a hand to his chest. "In here. Cognis - she locked him away, saved my life, when he came back and tried to take over my body again. And ever since then, we've been traveling around, helping people who've been falling asleep - fighting these weird monsters out there-"
"Those are Nightmares."
"Huh? Oh...that makes a lot of sense now, actually," Riku said. "Right. So...Cognis and I...have been saving people from Nightmares. Waking them up. One of them was even a- Princess of Heart. Or, former Princess, I think? All Cognis wants is to help people. And I mean that's all she wants to do. It's sort of annoying, really. But that is all she's done - she's never done a single bad thing to anyone. She's even been helping me 'see' again. Describing places and people to me, you know? I took your advice, about- swallowing my pride and just asking for help, and I asked her and she did it for me. She's good, she's- kind, even. Considerate. Sort of overbearing about it all, too, now...it's like having a second mom with me out there."
"Yes, it's such a terrible thing, having someone to force you to eat and drink what you need to keep living," the girl's- Darknesses'...Cognis's voice came, in exasperated tones. "Or to make sure you don't run into a wall, or embarrass yourself by tripping over a barrel, or a table. Or-"
"See what I mean?!" Riku exclaimed, throwing his hands up with a groan. "She never shuts up!"
Terra fought against twitching lips. "I think I do, actually, yes..."
"Anyways, look, I didn't believe her at first either," Riku spoke on hurriedly. "But after seeing her save people, seeing her interact with people who just- see her as another Heartless, a monster or a demon...I believe her now."
"I believe you, Riku." Terra said quietly, after a long minute of silence, and thinking. He looked to the rippling dark figure. Where eyes of a face would be. "It's not like I'd think you had some long-standing, mass hallucination, or that you made all of this up for some reason, is it? If what you've seen, and felt, and heard out there - from her - is the truth...then it's the truth. If you trust her, and you're vouching for her...then I'm willing to extend the same hand of trust. From one person to another - darkness or not."
"You mean it?" the boy said, sounding so hopeful and earnest for a moment - and like a boy.
Terra gave a resolute nod. "Yes. I mean it. I'll give...Cognis, a chance - until she proves me wrong for it. But until I have a valid reason to do so, I'll protect her from anyone who thinks different. If you say she's done good, saved lives, then that's all that matters - not what she is."
"Alright...thanks," Riku murmured. "And what about- your Master? I mean, I get it, he's not the biggest fan of darkness - most people aren't. And it is for a good reason, right? But-"
"You should probably go somewhere else while I...ease him into the idea," Terra said delicately.
He wasn't looking forward to it at all. Like Riku had said: his Master had valid reasons to fear. And more reasons to hate...from childhood memories and experiences...
But Terra would have to make him see differently.
And if his Master was steadfast, stubborn, refusing and resolute in his stance and views...
Terra thought that he might even be willing to pull a page from Aqua's book, if it came to it.
Take his apprentice...and leave.
If that was what it took to keep him safe.
It would mean leaving the other children, but if they, at least, would still be welcome here...
Terra hoped they'd understand.
He also hoped it just wouldn't come to something as drastic as that.
AN: The paths are converging! xD Weird. That's not supposed to happen, is it?! :D
Chapter honestly went through some heavy last minute revisions, because I got some way better ideas and decided not to blow my load on this one chapter. xD Why don't we just let things cook a little LOL...I'm onto something here! :D
The advantages of having flexible plot outlines! xD