The Fall
Back in the Land of Departure Aced and Gula continued their assault on the barrier. Keyblade strikes and spells continued to come in an unending onslaught. Aced's blows struck with tremendous force, greater even than what Terra might have been able to muster. Gula meanwhile was attacking faster than the eye could see, making it appear like there were a dozen of him there, attacking the barrier in several places simultaneously. But for all its ferocity, the Guardians were holding firm under the onslaught. Cracks and small holes appearing on the barrier were mended immediately as they poured more magic into it, working together to keep it stable.
After what felt like an eternity the Foreteller's assault finally abated, the final damage to the barrier mended as the Foretellers came to a stop some distance from the barrier. To their encouragement the Guardians realized they had held their adversary off. An uneasy silence descended, the Guardians giving the Foretellers defiant looks, who in turn looked puzzled by the development.
"That… was not how this was supposed to go." Gula commented.
"Indeed not." Aced agreed. "How very… surprising."
"You've certainly improved since our last encounter. Or maybe this is thanks to your greater numbers. Still I would not have expected you to be able to…" He pondered to himself.
"She stays with us. We won't lose to you. Not while we're all together. It's not gonna happen. Leave!" Mickey reiterated.
"Truly, when I first battled you, I was so utterly disappointed in you performance." Aced said, ignoring Mickey. "Two of you so easily brought down to the point I would have been able to slay them if had cared to. It all but convinced the Master's grand plan was a terrible mistake. Or an outright hoax in the worst case. But now… you have actually managed to impress me. Perhaps the Master's designs have some merit to them after all."
"Not that it actually changes anything. I don't care if the master could have been right. I know that I am! And I will not be deterred in this! You may have managed to hold us off for a moment. But we will find a way to… to… urgh…" He began to say before unexpectedly tapering to a halt. He trembled, his free hand rising to his head. The shadows around him seemed to grow more intense.
"Aced? Is something the mat-… ter…?" Gula asked before he too was seemingly overcome by the same affliction.
On the other side of the barrier Ventus also doubled over, his hands on his head, his keyblade clattering to the ground and vanishing as a fierce migraine began to build right behind his eyes. Terra, being closest to him, went to one knee, a hand on his friend's shoulder, giving him a look of concern. The others also directed worried glances at the scene between keeping an eye on the Foretellers and maintaining the barrier.
"Ah. At last! They have come! My siblings! Just a bit longer and I'll be free of you, Brother!" Ventus heard the voice of Vanitas say.
"That is quite enough of your fumbling." Aced heard a voice in his head. A voice he recognized from many arguments within the confines of his mind. The sense of discomfort was also familiar, but never before had it been so intense.
"You…" He realized, a note of fear entering his voice. "What are you d…?"
"If you cannot complete this task with just our urging, then clearly a more direct intervention is necessary." The voice answered.
"Your urging? What are you talking about?" Aced demanded.
"…Did you truly think we would just watch your Master's plan reach its conclusion without resisting? Without trying to counteract them? That we would meekly submit to the imprisonment he imposed on us? No more than you would, Bear. His trap was ingenious, that cannot be denied. But you and your friend… you proved a weak link in his plan. A crack in the walls surrounding us. You rejected my words, and quite stringently at that. Your comrade was little different with my sibling within him. But there is much else that you did not notice. Quiet whispers, careful tinkering at the edges of your thoughts. You failed to note how we were guiding you. And now you're here at last, exactly where we desired you to be." The Darkness explained.
"They… they lured us here on purpose…" Gula muttered a short distance away.
"You… you tricked us? This is your doing?" Aced asked, a chill running up his spine.
"You did this to yourself, Bear. I sensed your anger at the fate you deemed unjust. Your fear at your approaching doom. Your mistrust towards your Master and his plans." The darkness replied.
"And I sensed your hunger for revenge. Your sorrow and frustration at being denied your objective." The other Darkness told Gula.
"We fed into these emotions, nourished them, made them stronger. And with them our own control was slowly increased. And we planted thoughts into your mind, disguised as your own. But none of that would have been possible without emotions you already bore."
"Was it all a lie then? Would it not have worked?" Aced wondered.
"Perhaps, perhaps not. But that is irrelevant. Your blundering brought us out to the open sooner than planned. But not very much so. We would have intervened before you could claim that light. We do not desire possession of it. Merely its disposal." The darkness said.
"You… you're going to destroy the Princess…" Aced realized.
"And release our brother from his prison. And eradicate the remaining Guardians. With those tasks complete you Master's plans shall fail. His grand design shall be in ruins, and our victory assured. And all thanks to the two of you. Well done." The Darkness replied with contempt.
"No. No! I will not allow you to-!" Aced said, reaching for his light vials, only to then realize that his pockets were empty.
"Oh. Misplaced something, have you?" The Darkness mocked. The shadows retreated from a corner of his mind, and he was at last able to recall his hand dropping the vials onto the sand at the direction of the Darkness within him. That he had gone without a dose for goodness knows how long, his memories of the fact altered. And now that he needed the vials most he had none.
"This is no longer about what you will allow, Bear. This flesh belongs to you no longer." The Darkness said. Aced's hand moved on its own, falling to his side. He attempted to respond to the Darkness, but his mouth was clamped shut, his tongue standing still.
"Enough. Your struggles are over. Go to sleep now. Submerge under the darkness… and cease to be." The Darkness said.
"You too, Leopard. Time for you to go. The eternal sleep without dreams calls to you. Never will you waken. The suffering shall end. The return of the tranquil nothing is upon us." The other Darkness told Gula.
"A-Ava… please… forgive me." Gula managed to whisper with the last of his strength. Then the Darkness breached his defenses, flooding over the landscape of his mind. All thought, all memory was consumed by the shadow, devouring him from the inside out.
The Guardians did not hear this exchange. Aced and Gula's mumbling responses to something were too quiet to make out, and what they were speaking to they couldn't hear at all. But after a while of watching, the aura of shadows surrounding them spread, enveloping them completely. For several seconds two statues of shadow stood in the hall, nearly impossible to see in the overall gloominess of the hall. When that Darkness receded their appearance had changed. Their robes, once bright in colors and replete with ornamentation, were now a ragged mess of blacks and greys. The Guardians to their horror realized the Foreteller's masks had become part of their faces, animated by life.
Despite the unbearable agony clawing at her heart, Aqua was looking up, near mesmerized by the sight of the apparitions, their form eerily reminiscent of another being she was all too familiar with.
"What wrong with them? What's happening?" Roxas gasped.
Standing a little behind the Guardians, Naminé took a step forward, narrowing her eyes, reaching out with her mind to examine them further. Then she recoiled in shock.
"It… it's not them! Not anymore. That… is…" She stammered.
"You know our name well, little witch. You all do. After all, you've spoken it countless times." Said the being wearing the Bear Mask.
"Darkness. You are Darkness." Xion gave voice to the collective realization of the Guardians.
"Yes. Quite so." Replied the one in the Leopard Mask. "You endured against our jailors. But let us see now how you manage against… us!"
The two raised their Keyblades as one, pointing them towards the Guardians.
"The barrier! Barrier!" Yen Sid shouted hastily, everyone still able to redoubling their efforts reinforcing their defense.
Beams of black cut through the air, slamming against the shimmering field of the barrier. The hall shook violently, every window in the room shattering simultaneously, strewing bits of colored glass on the ground. Afterwards the barrier was still holding together, though two spiderweb shaped cracks had been left on the surface. Painfully slowly the cracks began to mend, shrinking towards their center.
The Darknesses paused for a moment, then raised their weapons again. Dark energy once again flew forth, striking where they had hit before, and once more the hall shook, dust and pebbles raining down on all of the occupants.
This time the cracks on the barrier did not mend. The Guardians were looking exhausted, drenched in sweat, breathing heavily. But the Darknesses appeared displeased at their lack of progress.
"Begone!" Mickey said defiantly, though he was unable to completely keep the fear from his voice.
Mickey's command earned no comment from the Darknesses. The Bear stepped closer, only a few meters separating him from the Guardians. With unhurried step he began to walk the edge of the barrier. He ran his hand along it, causing ripples to spread across it, faint smoking lines left where his fingers had touched. As he walked his eyes moved Guardian to Guardian.
The Bear's eyes settled on Terra first. "You… there is fear in your heart. We can see it. You fear the shadows within you."
Terra shook his head, both in disagreement and to clear the sudden haziness from his mind. "You lie. I have conquered that darkness. It answers to me now. I don't fear what it holds."
"Yet you know there is a threat that remains. Your victory is all bound up in others. You fear for those closest to your heart. You worry that you will fail them in the end, as you have before. As you failed your Master. You worry that they will break and fade away, and that you will lose them forever. Only despair for you then. Nowhere for you to go than back into the depths of darkness. You know that in the end you cannot defend them. In the end you cannot aspire to be anything more than a monster for others to command." The Bear countered.
"I know nothing of the sort. As long as I am here I will protect them, in any way I can. And as long as they're here you can't have me. Whatever I am, whatever my past failures, I will never be your monster." Terra replied.
"And once those whose loss you are scared of are gone, and all your fears realized, what then? Then shall we know the truth of your resolve." The Bear said before his gaze moved on.
Meanwhile the Leopard's eyes had turned to Naminé. Her eyes briefly glazed over as she felt a shadow lingering at the edges of her thoughts. "And what about you, little witch? You hold tremendous potential, more than anyone here. Yet you are scared of it, of what you could do if you but chose to. You fear… how it tempts you."
"It has chafed has it not? Being so lonely? Always the one on the outside, looking in. Always feeling like you don't fit in and have nothing to contribute. A blank page, a canvas without color. Barely more than a ghost. We can sense your anguish. You see the circles these others have, and you feel envy at what they possess and you don't. And in those moments you are reminded of what could be. Your envy gives your solution a shape we can see. By just willing it be so you could change all their minds, make yourself the center of their world. A god-queen among them. Every mind could be your plaything, to shape according to your design.
"It has bothered me at times, yes. And I am very aware of what I could do if I wanted. Which is exactly why I won't do it! I made my choice about this a long ago. I refuse to be that! I won't be that witch!" Naminé replied defiantly.
"Yes. Yet you worry that one day you will falter. How long do you propose to resist the greed that calls you to seize absolute power that already resides within you? How long do you intend to suffer in silence, all alone? How long before your avarice for-?"
"Shut. Up." Naminé interrupted harshly. "You don't know anything. You speak of my loneliness, but don't seem to get that I already have the cure. I have friends. I have a connection to their hearts, formed by just spending time with them. And that's the road I'll continue to travel down. I'll earn the things I want through honest means."
"Take care, everyone. They're playing tricks on us. Trying to get under our skin." She then went on to warn.
"Yeah, I do think we got that part." Xion replied, keeping her eyes on the Darknesses.
The eyes of the Leopard snapped to her in turn. "By what right does the puppet speak? Device. Tool. Instrument. Her body a false construct, just like her heart. Only ever a twisted reflection of others. Only ever a means of-"
"That's enough." The voice of Aqua interrupted sharply.
As the focus of the two Darknesses shifted to her she stood up straight, a glimmer of defiance in her eyes. "These mind games of yours… they will not work. Just like brute force from you didn't. You just waste your time. And ours. We have already told you. We will not lose to you. There is nothing for you here."
Her stern expression faltered a fraction when the two grinned at her.
"Ah. There is a familiar heart. Still bearing the scars from her stay with us I see. So very broken you are. And such a fierce shadow lurks just beneath the surface. Your shadow twin claws at the walls, seeking to burst forth." Said the Bear.
Aqua's expression hardened again. "I am Master Aqua. This land is entrusted to me. Those at my side are under my protection. And I say you are not welcome here. Get out of my home and never return. Or we will destroy you here."
"You did not speak so readily, mangled thing, when you were in our home. We remember your grief. Your fears. Your doubts. And indeed your despair, when you realized there is no release. When you finally fell and became our creature." The Bear said, making Aqua wince.
"And yet, I survived. I was found, and restored. The Phantom couldn't hold me. And here I stand, ready to face you." She countered.
"Naught is resolved. Naught has changed. She survives within you, and will rise again. You are just as doomed now as you were then." The Leopard commented.
She sneered. "She will fail. We have faced darkness many times. Each time we have found a way to win. This day will go no differently. You say you are Darkness. You may talk big, but all you do is fail. Fail against the light."
Aqua thought calling them out like this might give them pause. But instead she felt a chill pass though her as both Darknesses laughed mockingly at her.
"Fail? Truly? Does not the slaughter of the Keyblade War of not disprove your assertion? Countless Keyblade wielders destroying each other as their world sundered. Does not the slow dwindling of the Keybearers of this age prove your claims false?"
"Dwindling? What?" Aqua asked, trying to focus through the pain that kept rising in her chest, all the while trying to ward off the oily, filthy shadows crawling around in her mind, reading her like a book.
As Kairi was listening, her eyes widened in horror as she understood their enemy's intent. Now she darted to Aqua's side.
"Aqua, just ignore them. They aren't worth listening to." She told her Master.
"It seems that you aren't aware of the truth. How odd. You have found hints, certainly. But you have not thought to follow them to the conclusion. In this castle you've found hundreds of sets of armor, unused. Where have gone the ones who they were meant for? You have seen Scala ad Caelum, the City of Wielders. Yet the city stands empty, devoid of residents. A place of melancholy and faded memory. And all the same you have never seen a wielder beyond your handful. What do you suppose has happened to the multitudes from the City of Ephemer?" The Bear said.
"Stop! Stop talking to her." Kairi said angrily, taking a step towards the Darknesses.
"Oh? Is the Princess concerned about what we could say? Now why might that be? She is of the light, so we cannot see her thoughts. But perhaps she knows more than she is willing to reveal to you?" The Leopard replied slyly.
Aqua turned her eyes to Kairi studying her apprentice carefully. "It's true, isn't it? You do know something. What is it?"
Kairi faltered at that. "What? Um… I… I…"
"She has deceived you, clearly. Kept the truth from you. And she would do so still." The Leopard said.
"Why… won't you tell me? What are you hiding? What is it that you don't want me to know?" Aqua asked, accusation entering her voice now.
"Answer me." She demanded.
Kairi shook her head, quivering, her lips moving soundlessly as she tried to think of something to say.
"Answer me!" Aqua repeated louder, grabbing hold of Kairi's shoulders.
"Aqua, stop. This isn't you." Terra said, stepping close and taking her arm.
"Stop this! Leave her alone! Ventus shouted at the Darknesses at the same time, doing his best to ignore the persistent headache Vanitas was causing him.
"Aqua, these are our foes. More than any other being ever has been. You cannot put stock to anything they tell you. Do not permit them to poison you against us." Yen Sid supplied, not turning his attention from maintaining the barrier.
"The Master is right. You mustn't listen to this. They're just trying to- whoah!" Mickey echoed before being interrupted by the Leopard suddenly moving forward and striking the barrier. The attack left a brand new gouge on the shield and forced Mickey to refocus his attention on protecting all of them.
"What we would grant her is only the truth. The truth that you have denied her." The Leopard declared.
"Besides, it's not words that we offer her. No… we shall let her see." The Bear echoed.
"Wha- no! No! You get out of her head! This instant!" Terra was shouting now, raising his keyblade as if to attack. But the barrier blocked his path as much as it did their enemy's.
"Now then, mangled thing. See the truth. See through our eyes the story of the past. See… what we have seen." The Bear said, ignoring Terra altogether.
With a pained groan Aqua doubled over, her keyblade clattering to the ground and vanishing as both her hands rose to hold her head. Behind her helmet her eyes were wide open, staring at sights only she could see as a torrent of old memories poured into her mind.
"Aqua. Aqua! Look at me! I'm right here. Focus on me! Focus!" Terra tried, lifting her head up to look into her eyes. But she did not seem to see him.
"I… I can see them. Keybearers. Of the keyblade war. And of Scala. I see their memories. Light, thousands of them. Good friends, strong bonds, mighty bearers. They lived, they loved, and in the end… they died. Destroyed by Darkness. In the end, nothing but pain for them. Just despair. Light forgive, I can… feel it. I can feel them all!" She sobbed.
"Please, somebody help me…" She whispered.
"STOP! STOP IT!" Ventus shouted at their foe. "Aqua, please. Please…" He pleaded at his friend in turn, his voice cracking.
"Leave her be! I'm warning you!" Kairi said to the Darknesses, trying to place herself between them and Aqua, to no apparent avail.
"All those lives. All those lost… one by one by one. If so many fought and lost… what hope for us few?" Aqua continued to speak to herself. She could no longer hear the voices of her comrades. Not even Terra…
"What has it all been for!? WHAT HAVE WE FOUGHT FOR!?" She shouted.
"The illusion of victory, nothing more than that. As did all who came before you." She heard the voice of the Bear echo in her mind. "But now you know the truth. Your victories are meaningless in the grand scheme of things. Your defiance, all but pointless. You can't save your allies. Or yourself. In the end, somehow, somewhere, you are all just as lost as these others we have shown you. And so there is nothing to gain in resisting your Phantom either."
"So question rightly is… why? Why go on? What difference does it make? Accept the inevitable. Embrace it. Submit. Surrender." The Leopard joined in.
"Now we call to the one who is the Shadow residing in her heart. Break the chains holding you. Be free. Climb up, rise! Arise… Phantom!" The Bear said.
"Oh yeah, here she comes. Finally!" Ventus heard Vanitas say in the same moment.
"RAAAAARGH!" Aqua screamed, her voice a mix of pain, grief and bottled up frustration. A shockwave of darkness emanated from her. Terra, Kairi and Ventus were flung away, while the others stumbled from the force of the impact.
There was a sound of clattering as the pieces of Aqua's armor fell into a pile on the ground. From amidst the pieces a being straightened to her full height, shadows swirling around her as her as the final touches of her transformation were applied. Aqua, but different… changed. Terra had just enough time to glimpse white hair, golden eyes and a wicked grin before the being exploded into action.
A bolt of black energy struck Mickey, the Mouse King yelping as he was thrown through the air, before he hit the wall and fell to the ground, unconscious.
"Mickey! No!" Yen Sid had time to shout before a keyblade struck his side, causing him to grunt in pain and stumble back.
"Aqua, stop!" Ventus shouted, grabbing the Phantom's wrist. But the Phantom pulled her arm free and gave Ventus a backhanded strike across his face, knocking him down.
Ventus lay on the ground, in utter disbelief that she had just struck him. The Phantom raised her keyblade to attack him. But just as she swung there was a loud clang, Terra blocking her blow, their weapons locked together.
"Aqua, stop please! You know us!" Terra said, tears flowing behind his helmet. But the eyes of the Phantom conveyed no sense of mercy.
"Holy smokes!" Roxas gasped, his eyes glued to the scene.
Xion was just barely able to tear her eyes free when she noticed movement behind the scene unfolding.
"The Barrier!" She shouted in warning. The Darknesses had raised their weapons again, dark energy already gathering at their tips. Roxas and Xion raised they keyblades in response, but they already knew on their own they would not be enough.
From the corner of his eye Terra had seen the same development.
"Damn it! Fall back! Go!" He shouted. With a yell he pushed the Phantom away, then grabbed Ventus, half carrying, half dragging him as he ran towards one of the entrances leading deeper into the castle.
All the while Kairi was staring at the scene, refusing to believe it was real. "Aqua… no, no… no." She whispered, teary eyed.
"Kairi! Come on! We have to go! Now!" Xion shouted.
It was enough to snap her out of her trance and see Xion, Naminé and Roxas motioning hurriedly at her. Working on automatic, she fled towards them. She had taken half dozen running steps before the Darknesses attacked the barrier for the third time. This time their unattended defense shattered into pieces, the pieces vanishing in tiny flashes of light as they hit the ground.
"Come on! Move, move, move!" Roxas shouted as the four of them fled in the opposite direction that Terra and Ventus had gone.
The Phantom charged forward, chasing after Terra and Ventus. But just as she reached the doorway she was blocked and flung back by a screen of golden light. With an angry snarl she picked herself off the floor and turned around. She saw Yen Sid with one arm raised, shimmering with the same golden light, his other arm cradling unconscious Mickey. She glanced in the other direction, only to see the other doorway similarly blocked off. The Guardians had vanished from sight. She gave a small sigh, returning her eyes to Yen Sid.
The Phantom and the two Darknesses approached menacingly. Yen Sid's eyes moved between them, then glanced down at Mickey. A look of regret on his face, he then closed his eyes.
The Leopard raised his weapon to strike first. But before he could there was a large puff of purple smoke. The Leopard swung, but his blade only cut through empty air.
"What-?" The Leopard breathed in confusion, as Yen Sid and Mickey were nowhere to be found.
"Never mind him. He's gone. We need to catch the others before they manage to slip away too. Let's focus on them and we can hunt him and the Mouse King down later." The Bear said.
"…Very well." The Leopard agreed after a pause.
The Leopard closed their eyes, cocking their head as they concentrated. Then they sighed in frustration. "I still cannot leave this body."
"They resist us even now it seems. Persistent creatures. Well, our next course of action is clear then. We will complete our plan. Then their resistance will be for naught. They'll give in to despair then, or we will have all the time in the world wait them out, until we have consumed them fully." The Bear replied.
The Bear turned to the Phantom, who was standing still, staring to where the others had fled to.
"Hunt them all down. Destroy the Princess, but bring the lad Ventus to us, alive." The Bear ordered.
Without turning her eyes, the Phantom gave an almost imperceptible nod, then phased forward, disappearing from sight. The Bear and the Leopard also hurried deeper into the castle, to search for their prey.