Kingdom Hearts ~another side~ Ch. 11

[Hayate]

Even in the purest light, darkness may take hold… And the radiance will fade away…

Kingdom Hearts ~another side~

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~ Report 11: Vanishing Radiance ~[/b][/u]

The Gummi Ship NORA descends from the fuchsia midday sky upon a world of white not unlike Ciel’s own Aubade Town. But with the grand yet twisted citadel standing in the center of the city and the lofty stone walls circling it, this world more closely resembled a fortress than a town.

Just beyond the outer city gates, Ciel makes his landing at a small hangar that accommodates a number of other Gummi Ships, each with a unique design that Ciel hadn’t seen before. As the ship lands, Ciel disembarks and takes his first steps onto this new world. Gazing ahead, he looks at the citadel in the distance; strangely, it was both beautiful and terrifying.

“Caught yer eye, did it?”

Turning to the voice, Ciel is greeted by a grown man with short blond hair and facial stubble. He wore a white T-shirt, carrot-orange waistband, baggy blue pants, and black shoes -- all of which were coated in traces of soot and motor oil. The man had a distinct ‘grease monkey’ look to him. “Say again?”, Ciel says back.

“Saw ya eyeballing the castle, kid. That there’s Hollow Bastion, pride and joy o’ the Radiant Garden. …‘Course, it ain’t much to look at nowadays. You shoulda seen it a year past, shinin’ like the bloomin’ sun.” With a hand wiped clean of oil, the man extends a handshake to Ciel. “Name’s Cid.”

Not to seem impolite, Ciel accepts Cid’s handshake and returns with, “Ciel.”

“Heh. This sure is somethin’ else. We don’t get visitors here often, and today we got two.”

“Two?”

“Yup. Other ship showed up not long before you did. Nice piece o’ work she was… And the ship weren’t too bad neither! Hehehe!”

“What other ship?”

“That one over yonder.”, says Cid, pointing to his rear with his thumb.

At the other end of the hangar, a standalone Gummi Ship sits. Its familiar design strikes a chord with Ciel in an instant. “…The Nautilus! Then Marin is…!?”

“Yeah, that’s it. ‘Marin’, she said her name was. Came here lookin’ for someone, if I recall.”

“How long ago did she arrive!? Where is she now!?”

“Uh… Goin’ on half an hour, I reckon. She asked me where the town was, and I pointed her in that direction. It’s just past the square.”

“Thanks!” Wasting no more time with idle chat, Ciel turns north and races through the gates.

“Be careful, y’hear? There’s Heartless about!”

Ciel sprints over the sett-paved road toward the central square, hopes of finding Marin all that urge him forward. ‘Marin’s here!’, he mentally exclaims. ‘I can’t believe I’ve finally caught up!’

Just then, as if to mock him further, a group of Heartless emerges from the darkness to bar his path. Faces new and old comprised its ranks.

“Typical…!”, the teal-haired one grumbles. Refusing to break his stride, he takes the Pierce the Skies into his left hand. “If you think I’m stopping just for this, you’re dead wrong!”

Meanwhile… “…Where do you think he came from?”

“Who knows? What I wanna know is how he got in here.”

“Hey! See if he has any cool stuff on ‘im!”

“Yuffie!”

“Kidding, kidding…!”

“…Look! He’s coming to!”

With a groan, Roche regains consciousness and awakens to the sight of three kids of varied ages. The first -- a teenage boy, apparently the eldest of the three -- had short brown hair and wore a white undershirt beneath a black jacket, black gloves, black pants, and black shoes. A number of black and brown loose-fitting belts wrapped his hips, and his accessory of choice was a silver lion’s-head necklace. The second -- a lovely teenage girl, slightly younger than the boy -- had long brown hair drawn back into a braid with bright red ribbon, and was dressed in a pink dress that stretched down to her ankles and brown boots. The third -- a youthful girl of 7 -- had short black hair and wore a green and yellow hooded vest over a white singlet, white shorts, white shoes, and a white headband. The kids all stand over Roche with looks of interest. Feeling discomfort by their proximity, Roche rolls around on the floor some to sit upright and shies away to the nearest wall, giving a look of apprehension.

The 7-year-old girl takes pleasure in this for some reason. “Heh-heh. Look, he’s afraid of us.”

“Yuffie…”, says the other girl reproachfully. Approaching Roche with care, she extends a warm hand. “It’s okay. We’re not gonna hurt you.”

“Well, we won’t. But Squall might.”, Yuffie teases.

Slowly rising to his feet (but keeping his back to the wall), Roche utters, “W-What’s going on? Where am I? How’d I get here?”

“You tell us, kid.”, the teenage boy curtly replies. “One minute we’re minding our own business, and the next you come in through a hole in the ceiling and hit your head on the bookshelf.”

Roche brings his hand up to the top of his head and winces at the touch of a sore bump. “Agh! Yeah, that explains that… Last thing I remember, I was in Never Land, I opened up one of those weird white portals, and… Argh! My head!”

“Here, let me--”

“Aerith, stop! We know nothing about this kid!”

“He’s a little boy in pain! What else is there to know!?” The girl named Aerith steps up and puts her hands to Roche’s bump. “Hold still, okay?”, she says softly, applying a bit of Cure magic to the sore spot. “…That better?”

Roche rubs the spot a little to find most of the pain had left. Meeting Aerith’s eyes, he blushes a little. “Y-Yeah. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”, says Aerith with a smile.

Little Yuffie has a silent giggle at this while the brown-haired boy folds his arms in contempt.

“So…what is this place?”, Roche asks.

“This is Radiant Garden. You’re in the house of Merlin the wizard. But Merlin’s away right now, so we’re using his house as our headquarters.”

“Headquarters?”

“That’s right!”, Yuffie leaps in with. “I’m Yuffie. You’ve already met Aerith. And this bundle of joy over here is our fearless leader Squall. And together, we’re…” The girl jumps to her feet and strikes a dramatic pose. “…the Radiant Garden Heartless Extermination Squad!”

“…That’s still the stupidest name I’ve ever heard.”, Squall comments.

“Moving on… So what’s your name?”

“Uh, I’m Roche.”

“How’d you end up here?”

“The same way I ended up in Never Land, to be honest. I’ve pretty much been jumping from one place to the next trying to find my friend Ciel and sister Marin and get back home. Pretty sure me ending up here was just a fluke.”

“Well, Roche, however you wound up here, you’re more than welcome to stay. As long as we’re around, it doesn’t get much safer than Radiant Garden.”

“If we’re just about done playing around…”, Squall interrupts, “…Cloud’s expecting us over in the Aqueduct. Says a bunch of Heartless are in there cutting off some of the water supply.”

“You’re off to destroy Heartless? I can help!”

“Kid, over the past year or so, I’ve had to deal with the disappearance of Ansem the Wise and an army of Heartless. And now Merlin’s gone -- the useless old man. The last thing I need is a little kid slowing me down.”

“I won’t slow you down! I can fight the Heartless too! Look!” Roche reaches out his right hand and summons the Superquake into his grasp.

All eyes in the room besides Roche’s fall upon the weapon. “The Keyblade…!”, Aerith whispers in awe.

“Cool…”, Yuffie adds.

Propping the Keyblade on his shoulder, Roche boasts, “Yeah. Suddenly I’m not so little, am I?”

“…” Saying nothing, Squall turns and makes for the door, opening it to let the sun in. “…Your funeral.”, he finally utters before departing north.

“Awesome!”, Yuffie exclaims. “We’ve got a Keyblade master in our ranks! Nothing can stop us now! Heartless Extermination Squad, move out!” With this, the 7-year-old bolts out the door and after Squall.

Her hyperactivity left an odd taste in Roche’s mouth. “…Does she always act that way?”, he asks Aerith.

“Pretty much.”, Aerith answers with a shrug. “Come on. If you aren’t in much of a hurry to head home, your Keyblade would be a big help against the Heartless.”

“Sure! Leave it to me!”

Elsewhere, as Ciel fights past hordes of Neoshadows and Armored Knights, he makes his way to the central square within minutes. Here, he takes notice of three paths leading further into the city: to the north -- past an evidently locked gate -- was the always magnificent Hollow Bastion, and two additional paths each led east and west. Which path led to the town, Ciel could only guess. “Now which way!?”, the boy whines. “Leave it to Cid to give me poor directions!” With the Heartless bearing down on him, Ciel was forced to make a decision. “Aw, man!” Throwing caution to the wind, he bolts toward the west.

Just then, as he leaves, who would enter the square from the east other than first arrival Marin? Seeming worn, she enters arms crossed and head down and heaves a sigh. “Well, I’ve officially been all over this city, and no sign of Ciel, Roche, or Relena. Big surprise there.”, she mutters to herself disillusioned. “The more this search drags on, the more it feels like a wild goose chase. What’ve I really accomplished on this journey? I’m no closer to finding my friends than when I left Aurora’s world. …Hmm?”

Picking herself up from her self-pity, Marin glances ahead to the middle of the square and finds three ducklings -- each wearing a long-sleeved turtleneck and baseball cap of a particular color -- being harassed by a trio of tall beagles -- each wearing a red shirt, blue pants, brown shoes, and a green cap. The duckling in the red shirt and cap is held up by his collar while the ducklings in blue and green are hoisted by their skinny ankles. “Let go o’ me, you big palooka!”, squawks the duckling in red.

“Here’s the deal, pipsqueak.”, the shortest beagle starts. “You tell us where yer ‘Unca Scrooge’ hides his loot, and we’ll let ya go and be on our merry way. Don’t tell us, and we’ll have to get a little more…persuasive.”

“I ain’t telling you nothing!”, the duckling in red openly defies.

“Heh. Have it your way.” As he bears a wicked grin, the short beagle cracks his knuckles.

“…Hey.”

Turning their eyes east, the beagles observe Marin with the Deepest Blue in her hands. “Yeah? What you want, bright-eyes?”

“Do we have a problem here, gentlemen?”

“‘Problem’? Yeah, I got a problem. Some redheaded floozy’s buttin’ in on Beagle Boy business -- that’s my problem.”

“Alright, I’ll make this simple for you, boys. Drop the ducks and walk away…or else I’ll make you.”

“‘Make’ us? That’s a laugh! The Beagle Boys don’t take orders from nobody -- especially from some out-of-town broad! Now hit the road, sweet cheeks!”

“Uh, b-boss?”, stutters the second of the Beagle Boys, drawing attention to the fact he was now floating off the ground. Courtesy of Marin’s Zero Gravity, he’s suddenly hurled into the air and toward the fountain court, his panicked scream echoing across the Radiant Garden sky.

“Burger!”, the first Beagle Boy cries to his airborne brother. “…Grrrr…” Dropping the duckling in the red shirt, he steps toward Marin with balled-up fists. “Alright, doll! You now have my full and undivided attention! Bouncer!”

“Right behind ya, Bigtime!”, says the tallest of the three Beagle Boys, dropping the ducklings in blue and green and stepping up to his diminutive brother’s side. “Mess with one Beagle Boy, you mess with ‘em all!”

“Hmm… Okay.”, Marin simply says, sending Bouncer Beagle the way of Burger Beagle before him. As the burly thug flies off, Marin looks down on Bigtime Beagle with a smirk.

It’s at this juncture that the Beagle Boy leader shows signs of trepidation. “Um… H-Hey, can’t we talk about this? You know, civilized-like?”

Losing her smirk, Marin puts on a scowl. “‘Civilized’? I’m surprised that a lowlife like you even knows the meaning of the word. If there’s anything I hate more than Heartless, it’s bullies.” With a third show of Zero Gravity…

…Bigtime is lifted off the ground. “W-W-Wait a minute! I-I don’t do HEEEEEIGHTS!” Like with Burger’s scream, so too does Bigtime Beagle’s cry echo as he’s shot into the air.

A grin of satisfaction returns to Marin’s lips.

“Quack-a-rooney!”, the duckling in red exclaims as he rushes to Marin’s side. “You sure showed them!”

“Hmph. Nothing to it.”, Marin, in a brief state of overconfidence, remarks. “You alright?”

“We are now! Thanks a lot, lady! Listen, my brothers and I are opening up our own shop in town today. If you ever stop by, we’ll be sure to give ya a discount, okay?”

“Heh-heh. Sounds good.” The duckling in red soon joins his brothers, and Marin waves farewell.

“Now that was a great show. Didn’t think you had it in you, ‘Red’. I’m rubbing off on you a little, aren’t I?”

“!!!” The voice from afar would come to Marin as naturally unwelcome. But rather than turn to face its source, she tightens her grip on the Keyblade… “…Hah!” …and spins around to create a towering pillar of ice behind with Blizzard. Unfortunately, she had caught nothing with her spell.

“Pretty quick on the draw there, ‘Red’. Not quick enough, but still.”

“…Stop hiding.”

“…Fine.” Just a few feet away, alongside Marin’s pillar of ice, Marin appears from the darkness to greet her. “…Yo.”

“…Relena.”

The ice shatters and dissipates, and Marin and Relena stare each other down as silence falls upon the square.

Racing west out of the square and toward what he believed to be the castle town, Ciel soon finds himself in the royal gardens. Smooth paths of concrete, lush beds of grass, a multitude of trees, and the scent of hundreds of assorted flowers greet him as he enters. Momentarily entranced by the landscape, Ciel slows his sprint to a casual walk. At the far southwest end, beneath one of the many trees lining the gardens, he sees a little girl picking flowers and humming a soft tune. She had short, deep-red hair that barely reached her shoulders, and wore a simple white shirt with a blue floral design, a pink skirt, and white slip-on shoes lined with pink and purple. Stepping onto the grass to approach her, Ciel addresses the girl. “Uh, hey there.”

“Hmm?” Her humming interrupted, the child turns around and looks upon Ciel with her big blue eyes. With a bundle of flowers in her hands, she rises to her feet. “Oh, hello. I haven’t seen you around here before.”

“What’re you doing out here by yourself?”

“Just picking some flowers for my Grandma.”

“You sure that’s safe?”

“Mm-hmm. It’s always safe with the Heartless Extermination Squad around.”

“The what…?” Before Ciel could question what this ‘Heartless Extermination Squad’ was, the girl’s silver bead necklace catches his eye. He kneels down beside the girl to take a closer look. “That’s a nice necklace you have on.”

“Thanks! My Grandma gave it to me.”

Reaching out his hand to touch the necklace, Ciel is suddenly overwhelmed by warmth. ‘Such a powerful light… Who is this girl…?’

“Uh… You okay, mister?”

“Huh? Oh. Yeah, I’m fine. …I’m Ciel. What’s your name?”

“I’m Kairi. Nice to meet you!”

“Tell me, Kairi. Have you seen anyone else today that you haven’t seen before? Maybe someone with long red hair and it’s in a ponytail?”

“Mmmm… No, sorry. You’re the first new face I’ve seen today.”

“Hm. Okay then.” Defeated, Ciel stands upright and prepares to move on. “Well, thanks anyway. It was nice meeting you.” He turns to the northwest and climbs the steps toward the castle. “Oh! And if you see a woman with blond hair, green eyes, and wearing a white cape, stay away from her!”

“Uh, okay. Bye.” Kairi dwells on the peculiarity of Ciel’s words for all of five seconds before going back to flower-picking.

“…Why, Relena? Why are you doing this?”

Cut back to the middle of Radiant Garden’s central square, where Marin and Relena stood across from one another. The Deepest Blue vanishes from the redhead’s hand; her expression wasn’t so much of anger but of desperation. “I don’t want to fight you, Relena.”, she says to the blonde-turned-Heartless. “I want to understand what’s making you do the things you’re doing.”

“Oh? Where’s this coming from?”, asks Relena with her hands planted at her hips. “I thought I was ‘sick in the head’. ‘Psychopathic’ even. And now you want to ‘understand’ me?”

“I just… I just can’t believe someone could go from being one of my best friends to being…well, you.”

“Do we need to revisit the whole everyone-kicked-me-out-of-my-own-world thing again? ‘Lost cause’, remember? My own parents called me a ‘monster’ and threw me on the street! You have no idea what that’s like!”

“Okay, so your beef is with everyone in Aubade Town. If that’s the case, why not go and finish what you started? You have the power to, and nothing’s stopping you. Why drag it out?”

With a shrug, Relena rationalizes, “What can I say? The heart’s a mysterious thing, Marin. Call it old habits; call it savoring the moment. You know how when you hit a cockroach with your bare hand but it doesn’t die? It just kinda…lies there, using whatever leg power it has left to get away. But no matter how hard it tries, it can’t get away fast enough. And even though you want to, you can’t look away, because a part of your brain is going, ‘Go! Go! Go!’ You’re subconsciously cheering it on. You want it to try and get away. Why? Because you enjoy it. You relish the joy of the hunt. It’s the only thing keeping you from putting the wretched thing out of its misery, and then it’s nothing but an afterthought. So to answer your question, Marin: Why do I drag it out? Because the lives of those bathed in the light are those of cockroaches. And I surrendered myself over to the darkness for the sole purpose of making them suffer before I snuff them out!”

Marin was at a loss for words. Relena became a Heartless of her own free will? Such an act was beyond mere insanity, she thought. Had Relena’s heart truly given in to the darkness completely? Was a Heartless beyond salvation? With such questions burning in her mind, Marin takes hold of the Keyblade once more. As she raises her head, tears trickle down her cheeks. “…Guess nothing else needs to be said.”, she mutters. Assuming a stance, she prepares to go on the attack.

All of a sudden, a mighty tremor nearly knocks Marin off her feet. Relena, however, stands firm throughout the quake as if it were nothing.

“Now what!?”, cries Marin, having lived through enough earthquakes in one lifetime. Glancing to the south, she observes what appear to be dozens of Heartless pouring in from the outer garden entryway and even more appearing from the darkness itself. “What the…!? Where are all these Heartless coming from!?” Her immediate assumption: the sadist standing across from her. With a glare, she barks, “Relena!”

“This may come to you as a shock, but my hands are clean in this.”, the blonde defends. “But if I may direct Milady’s attention to yonder stone wall…”

Marin turns to the south once again and this time focuses a little higher, to the top of the stone wall that circled the city and castle. And in the light of Radiant Garden’s evening sun, a figure comes into view: a figure with horns atop its head and a robe as black as night. Marin’s eyes go wide with terror. “!!!”

With green-orbed staff in hand, Maleficent looks upon the square with scorn. “Well, well… And here I was, wondering what it was about this place that was making my skin crawl, and lo, I have my answer.”, sneers the mistress of evil.

“Maleficent!”, Marin shouts through her teeth. “What are you doing here!?”

“Did I not vow to become ruler of all worlds? I stand by that vow even now. I still may not have means with which to obtain the hearts of the Princesses of Heart, but I am no stranger to biding my time. Three of the seven have been safely tucked away, and I need only secure the remaining four.”

“What do you mean ‘tucked away’!? What did you do with Princess Aurora!?”

“Aurora, as well as the other Princesses, is, shall we say…hibernating, her consciousness locked into a state of deep sleep for me to bring her out of should the situation call for it. And the rest of her miserable realm…done away with.”

“No…!”

“And now that my powers have returned in full, I am in need of a castle more suited to my tastes. And this…Hollow Bastion looks simply exquisite. …But I’ve no need for this eyesore of a town beneath it. Let the Heartless do with it as they please.”

Marin’s grip on the Keyblade tightens even further. “You witch…!”

“And you, Keyblade wielder, shall have the distinct honor of bearing witness to my rise to power firsthand!” Raising her staff, Maleficent fires upon the sky with a beam of black light, opening a portal to the darkness. As it swirls with black and electricity surges within it, it takes the shape of a massive sphere. This sphere acts as a vacuum that attempts to pull everyone and everything in the city into it. The wind around Radiant Garden suddenly picks up, engulfing the entire city in a cyclone.

Marin screams, “MALEFICENT!!!”, her voice slightly muffled by the heavy winds.

With a second wave of her wand, the evil sorceress summons a mammoth Heartless to the square grounds to keep Marin busy. Predominantly slate-grey in color, the Heartless bore sky blue flame patterns on its back and legs, black two-toe claws, two large, curved, blue-tipped tusks sprouting from its lower jaw, a dark-red pointed horn on its forehead, a Heartless emblem on its chest, and the same piercing yellow eyes that all Heartless are known for having. The beast towers over the area, appearing to be at least ten times Marin’s size.

As Maleficent vanishes to parts unknown, Marin stares down the threatening gaze of a Chaos Behemoth.

“Well, that’s my cue.”, Relena finally speaks up. “Best of luck, ‘Red’. Let me know how it all turns out.” With a wink, the blonde sadist takes her leave as well, disappearing into the darkness to leave Marin to fend for herself.

Marin grasps the Keyblade with both hands and meets the Behemoth’s eye again, yelling out an aggravated “Why me!?”

…As the Aqueduct trembles around them, the Heartless Extermination Squad members find it difficult to stay on their feet, let alone challenge the Neoshadows. “W-What’s going on!?”, yelps fearful Roche, his knees knocking together.

“Yuffie!”, Squall calls out from the copper catwalk. “What do you see out there!?”

On the path outside where her allies stood, Yuffie looks over the wall and sees entire packs of Heartless amassing near and around the reactor. “Whoa… That’s a looooot of baddies…”, she comments. Looking to the sky then, she sees the giant sphere of darkness sucking everything up. “And that doesn’t look too good either…”

At her feet, Aerith notices cracks starting to appear in the ground. An omen, to be certain. “The entire city’s breaking apart…! We have to get out of here now!”

Squall, however, argues, “And allow the Heartless to have their way with our home!? Never!”

Just then, the light within Roche resonates with the light of another some distance away, drawing his gaze southward. “What’s…?”

{Come on! Give me your best shot!}

“…Sis?”, says the boy in a hopeful whisper.

Noticing his odd behavior, Aerith calls, “Roche? What’s the matter?”

{Agh! Come on, get it together!}

Roche’s feet start to carry him forward. “Is… Is that you, Sis…?”

“Roche, what is it?”

“…Sorry, guys, but…I have to go!” The youth with golden-brown hair breaks into a dash back toward the castle town.

“Wait! Roche, where are you going!? Aah!” The shaking-loose and fall of stone fragments above her prevents Aerith from pursuing. “Come back!!!”

…At the base of a flight of stairs leading to the castle doors, Ciel too has a hard time keeping his balance in the middle of the tremors and gale force winds. And the sudden onrush of Heartless made things no easier for him. “Argh! It’s Aubade Town all over again!” At that moment, just as Roche had before him, Ciel detects violent fluctuations of light not far from where he stood. “Is that…?” The irregular sensation turns his eyes to the south, past a locked gate and to the central square at the bottom of a staircase. “…It’s gotta be!” With the unlocking properties of the Pierce the Skies, Ciel does away with the gate lock and races south.

Marin, holding out the Deepest Blue, pelts the leathery hide of the Behemoth with a continuous barrage of Fire, Thunder, and Blizzard, maintaining this pattern for a solid twenty seconds or so, but to little effect; the spells do little more than scuff its skin. “What is this!?”, Marin flusters. “None of my spells are working against this thing!”

With a confrontational growl, the Behemoth picks up its right fore leg and swings it down upon Marin, knocking the Keyblade out of her hand.

“Ah!”

Then, with that same leg, the beast smacks Marin into a wall with the back of its claw.

Marin lets out a pained groan, as that smack was felt to have dislodged something. She would need a moment to get her strength back, but with the Behemoth bearing down on her, a moment was more than she had. Raising its left leg this time, the Behemoth makes ready to crush the girl beneath the weight of its claw. And with her right hand briefly rendered numb, Marin was unable to defend herself. The Heartless’ colossal claw drops; Marin could practically count the number of milliseconds it took for the attack to connect… “!!!”

“AEROGA!!!”

A fierce gust of wind suddenly envelops Marin like a protective shield; as the Heartless’ claw connects, it’s met by a sensation akin to dozens of sharp-edged blades cutting into its skin, and the beast backs away.

“?” As the spherical tempest enshrouds her, Marin glances around her vicinity and spots a boy with teal-colored hair standing off to the side. “Ciel!”, she happily exclaims.

“Curaga!”

Following this, Marin is bathed in a warm orange-yellow glow and an illusion of flower petals and leaves rain upon her from above. In the warmth of this light, the injuries she’d sustained thus far are mended. Looking around her once more, Marin spots a little boy with hair of goldenrod standing at a ledge behind her. The redhead almost wept at the sight of him. “Roche!”

Not to be ignored -- and still in some amount of pain -- the Chaos Behemoth roars its loudest at the three.

Marin rises to her feet and recovers her Keyblade as Ciel’s Aero wears off. “Hmph! Looks like the reunion’ll have to wait! You guys with me?”

“Always!”, Ciel replies.

To which Roche adds, “You know it!”

Standing shoulder-to-shoulder and with Keyblades at the ready, the trio confronts the bellowing Heartless as Radiant Garden crumbles all around them.

[BGM: Unforgettable]

The Chaos Behemoth leaps forward to stomp its claws on the ground. Ciel evades to the beast’s left side while Roche and Marin dash to its right. Pointing the Keyblade out to his side, Ciel fires upon the enemy with bullets of air. However, the bullets only disperse into harmless wisps of air upon impact. Opting for a physical approach, Roche attempts to rip into the Heartless’ side with Ars Arcanum, but fails to get past even the first strike as the Keyblade clangs against the beast’s skin like steel connecting with rock. With a horizontal swing of its fore leg, the Chaos Behemoth smacks Roche away. Marin comes back around to the Heartless’ front, leaping up and swinging the Keyblade at its face. In a manner similar to Roche, the attack deals little damage, and the monster seemed more annoyed than hurt. It hooks its great tusks into Marin’s shirt and flings her over itself. As she goes flying, Marin takes aim at the Behemoth’s back, firing upon it with a hail of Ragnarok. The beams of light that connect with its back do as little as expected, but when one strikes its red horn, the Heartless winces and growls. Marin raises a curious brow at this. Upon returning to the ground, she dashes toward the Behemoth’s backside, jumps onto his back, and delivers a fierce vertical slash to its horn. Like before, it lets out a pained growl, shaking Marin off with a head jerk.

“The horn!”, Marin cries while airborne. “Go for the horn! That’s its weak spot!”

With this knowledge, Ciel and Roche spring into action. The two dash around the beast’s stomp shockwaves, and when an opening reveals itself, Roche summons a meteor to strike the horn from above. As the Chaos Behemoth reels from the spell, Ciel jumps up and adds to its pain with a furious Windcutter. The Heartless lets out a weak howl as its legs wobble, struggling to keep standing. Leaping to a nearby ledge, Ciel focuses his sights on the horn and prepares to launch a Strike Raid attack, but not before the enemy puts its foot down (quite literally). With an angry stomp, the Chaos Behemoth calls down a storm of bluish-violet lightning to strike where Ciel, Roche, and Marin stood. One collective scream in agony later, the trio falls over. As they lie immobilized, the mammoth stomps a few feet forward until it stands over Ciel. It gathers dark energy between its tusks and gets ready to release it unto the fallen Keyblade master. But at the last second, the Heartless’ head is drawn forcibly rearward, causing it to release the accumulated dark energy into the sky to become one with the giant sphere of darkness hanging in the sky over Radiant Garden. Atop the Behemoth’s back, Roche uses its tusks like reins and rides it about the square, and the Heartless attempts to throw the kid like a bucking bronco.

“Leave my friend alone!”, Roche shouts, trying to maintain his grip.

Ciel rises to his feet and brandishes the Pierce the Skies, wrapping the blade with slicing winds. “Roche, move!”, he calls out.

The Chaos Behemoth shifts its head on one direction, and Roche lets go of its tusks and springs to safety…

…while Ciel executes his intended Strike Raid. With the blade encased in wind, Ciel guides the weapon through the air toward the Heartless’ head. Then, with a quick swipe of his arm…

…the spiraling Keyblade severs the Behemoth’s horn clear from its base. The beast cries out in agonizing pain a final time, and as its collapses, Marin moves in, diving under its legs, sliding across the ground to its underside, and thrusting the Deepest Blue into the heart of its emblem. In mere seconds, the giant Heartless that menaced the square would be nothing more than particles in the blackened air.

“Sis!”, Roche wails, running up to embrace his dear sister Marin. “I thought I’d never find you!”

“Roche, what on Earth are you doing here!?”, Marin shouts, not that she wasn’t happy to see her little brother. “And Ciel! I thought I told you to stay at home and look after him!”

A flustered Ciel responds, “It’s not my fault! Roche disappeared around the same time you did, so I went to look for him! I was just…trying to keep my promise…!”

“…Alright, whatever. We’ll save this for later. Right now, we’ve gotta get to the ship before this place completely falls apart!”

“Gotcha!”

One ordeal down. Ciel, Roche, and Marin turn to the south and bolt toward the hangar.

…As the earth trembles beneath their feet, the anxious populace of Radiant Garden is led aboard Cid’s Gummi Ships, each ready to transport its group of passengers off Radiant Garden and to somewhere safe. Outside one such ship, Cid directs one crowd of people with arm movements. “That’s it! Single file, one at a time! And no shovin’! There’s room for everybody!”, he instructs. Looking to the city for a moment, he watches it get dragged into the darkness in chunks. “…Tch! Can’t believe this is happenin’!”

“HYAH!!!”

Defending the crowds from the Heartless as they evacuate are the members of the Extermination Squad, braving their numbers with sword, gunblade, and shuriken. “Darkness-loving bastards!”, snarls Squall as his blade cleaves a Darkball in two. “I’m not going down without a fight!”, he continues…unaware of the evil lurking behind.

With a gasp, Aerith shrieks, “Squall, watch out!”

“!!!” Squall spins around to meet the eyes of a pouncing Armored Knight. He brings his weapon up to guard, but all goes blood-red in an instant when the Knight brings its sword down upon the brown-haired teen, delivering a deep diagonal cut across his face. “AAAGGGHHHH!!!”

“SQUALL!”

Squall drops to his knees in excruciating agony, pressing his palms to his face. Above him, the Armored Knight raises his sword to strike a second time…

…but succumbs to an unforgiving Blizzaga, courtesy of Roche’s Superquake. “Squall, are you okay!?”

Aerith rushes to Squall’s side to tend to his wound. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of him! Just get to the Gummi Ships!” As Ciel, Roche, and Marin run by, Aerith looks to the city and watches in silent sadness as Merlin’s house is pulled away from its foundation and into the sky. ‘…Radiant Garden… Our home is…!’

The Aubade Town trio race past the city gates and halt before the fleet of ships. “Cid!”, Marin calls out to the Gummi Ship engineer/pilot.

Turning to face the three, the grown man snaps, “Well, it’s about time y’all got back! What were you doin’ -- takin’ the scenic route!?”

“Are the ships ready?”

“All gassed up and rarin’ to soar! And I suggest ya do it quick before--”

“Cid!”, hollers a fellow pilot as he approaches. “One of the residents is missing! Kairi’s nowhere to be found!”

“!!!” The news of Kairi’s absence had struck Ciel like a lead pipe to the skull.

“Say WHAT!? Are you positive!?”

“Absolutely! I even double-checked!”

“WELL, CHECK AGAIN!!!”

“…Roche, take the NORA! I’ll be right back!” Motioning a swift about face, Ciel zips across the outer gardens a third time in the direction of the central square.

“Wha-- Ciel!? Where are you--!? CIEL!!!”

The teal-haired Key bearer ignores the city crumbling around and goes to search for the missing Kairi. And he knew just where to start looking. ‘…Kairi!’

By this time, the city below Hollow Bastion was reduced to little over a quarter of its original prominence; only the outer city limits, central square, and royal gardens remained. And from the looks of it, the royal gardens would be next to go, making the situation all the more harrowing for a certain 5-year-old girl with burgundy hair. As she clings for dear life to the garden steps, Kairi watches with fright and horror as her favorite flowers are carried into the sky to be wiped out of existence. Into the fiercely blowing gales, the little girl cries out, “Grandma!”

“KAIRI!!!”

“Ciel…?”

Through the garden entrance emerges the boy in the yellow hoodie, blowing past any Heartless who dared to obstruct his path.

Kairi’s eyes begin to well up. “Ciel!”

As he enters, he spots the girl in the white floral shirt and a pink skirt across the way. “Ah! There you are! Thank--” Just then, as if the boy had jinxed it, a tremendous quake jars loose a large portion of the gardens, and it’s carried up into the sky -- and Kairi with it. “No!”

Kairi lets out a terrified scream as she falls further away from Ciel.

Positioning himself below her and holding out his arms, Ciel directs, “Quick! Jump down!”

“I can’t! I’m scared!”, Kairi shouts back through her tears.

“Don’t be! I’ll catch you! …Hurry, before you’re too high up!”

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Kairi rises to her feet, struggling to keep her balance, and takes a most literal ‘leap of faith’ from the elevating earth, keeping her eyes tightly shut as she fell.

“…Gotcha!”

She lands with a soft rebound, having felt two arms catch her in midair. Opening her eyes, she finds Ciel at the end of said arms.

Through his grin, Ciel says, “Heh. Told you I’d catch you.”

“Hehehe…”

Back at the hangar, the last of the civilian ships pulls away from the crumbling Radiant Garden; all that remained were the Nautilus (piloted by Marin), the NORA (by Roche), and Cid’s personal Gummi Ship with Squall, Aerith, Yuffie, and Cloud onboard. Squall and Aerith sit side by side in a pair of passenger seats, with Aerith applying a bandage to Squall’s injury. “There. You’ll be alright now.”

“Thanks, Aerith…”, Squall says to her dejectedly. Looking to his left, he glances out the window and watches as the royal gardens are reduced to nothingness by the black sphere in the sky. “…” Seething his teeth, he pounds the window with his fist and curses his own powerlessness.

Outside the ship, Cid squints his eyes to see if Ciel had yet returned. By now, the outer gardens were no more than a thin bridge connecting the entryway and the hangar, and before long that bridge would be nonexistent. “Dang it! Where is that boy!?”

“He’ll make it! Don’t worry!”, Marin assures through the cockpit loudspeaker.

“…Tch! To heck with this!” Unable to wait any longer, Cid boards his ship, closes the hatch, and begins powering up the engine.

“Mr. Cid!?”

“Sorry, folks. No disrespect, but I got a ship full o’ young’uns, and I gotta get ‘em to safety. I’m hightailin’ it outta here, and I suggest y’all do the same.” Having said his piece, Cid takes off, wishing his other-world friends the best of luck.

While Cid and the others take flight, Marin looks to the square entryway, beside herself with heart-pounding anxiety. ‘Come on, Ciel… Hurry up…!’

“…Sis! I think I see something!”

“!!!” Gazing into the distance, Marin strains her eyes to see two figures sprinting across the outer garden ‘bridge’ to the hangar. She bears a smile of overwhelming relief. “…It’s them!”

Hand-in-hand, Ciel and Kairi make a mad dash for the ships, the remnants of Radiant Garden collapsing at their backs. Ignoring their shortness of breath, the two run as fast as their legs could carry them.

Marin and Roche power up the engines of their respective vessels and prepare for takeoff. As the Nautilus’ engine purrs, Marin pokes out of the hatch and extends a hand to the nearing twosome. “C’mon!”, she calls to them. “Just a little farther!”

Ciel reaches a hand out as well, and for a moment it seemed that escape was all but a certainty…

…but as the last piece of the ‘bridge’ gives way, Ciel goes white with dread. Marin’s hand felt just inches away, and as the earth beneath his feet breaks away, he now plummets helplessly into oblivion with Kairi.

An identical dread washes over Marin as she witnesses this. “CIEL!!! KAIRI!!!”

The hangar -- Radiant Garden’s last remaining isle of land suddenly and most violently shifts. “W-Whoa!” Marin is hurled back into the Nautilus, and the hatch swings closed with a deafening clang. As the hangar tosses and turns, it’s forcefully pulled from its orbit and into the sphere of darkness swirling overhead, causing both the Nautilus and the NORA to be thrown to the oceans of the worlds.

And all is consumed by black.


…A short time later, Ciel, having been knocked unconscious due to being tossed so harshly from Radiant Garden’s surface, awakens to find himself and Kairi drifting aimlessly in the Lanes Between, safely housed in a sphere of white. In his arms, young Kairi still lies lifeless. “Hey… Hey, Kairi…! You okay? Wake up!”, he quietly shouts, attempting to stir her. As he places his hands on her shoulders to shake her, her light reacts to his own, causing Ciel to be blinded by its intense brilliance. “Aah! What’s…!?”

One day, when you’re in trouble…
The light within you will lead you to the light of another…
Someone to keep you safe…

“W-Who’s…?” Within moments, the blinding light dies away, and Ciel reopens his eyes, quickly realizing the white sphere protecting him and Kairi had divided into two halves: him in one half, and Kairi in the other. Placing his hands upon the bubble’s inner wall, he shouts to her again. “Kairi! Kairi!”

In that instant, a repelling force between the two spheres launches the two in opposite directions, sending them flying across the blaze of stars to separate ends of the galaxy.

Where a haven of sun, sand, and sea awaited one…a foreign, as-of-yet uncharted world awaited the other.

~ Next Report: Diverging Paths ~