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For years the Avalon Defense Initiative had an ongoing secret program codenamed ARCTURUS. Working closely with Dawn's Overwatch, the conglomerate of the de Wynter family, Xion, the mages and creatures
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*cracks knuckles* ok.... Here I go. The calm, soothing sound of the ocean waves gently crashing onto the shores of Destiny Islands were barely heard through the walls of the gummi ship as the Noct
Roaring wind and swirling blacks and purples blanketed everything, eyes squeezed shut as the world stretched and tore; pulled backward through the Space Between, there was nothing that could be done as the island was ripped into infinitesimal pieces in the darkness beneath his feet. His brown hair was matted down hard against his head, damp and cold against his forehead. His arms were pressed to his sides as he traveled, though he wouldn't have had the strength to fight whatever was pulling him along if he wanted to. He ground his teeth, pulled faster and faster through the darkness, feeling as though his legs might be left behind if it didn't slow down.
Bright white light suddenly burst through the tiny gap in his eyelids. The blue eyes snapped open as the urgent pulling sensation gave way to gravity; his arms and legs came free, his neck snapping up to see what he was flying toward as he was blasted from the portal, long black claws raking out after his body, snaking through the air toward him, as if it were going to snatch him like a fish on a hook and send him whizzing back the other way. Arms came up to shield his body unnecessarily; the short-lived portal snapped shut only moments after his exit, the shadowy claws bursting into wisps of smoke before his eyes. His moment of relief was cut off by the wall. Sneaky buggers, walls.
His body clung to its yellowed surface for a moment, leaving the former Keyblade Master to slowly peel off and fall to the dirt with an unceremonious 'flumpf'. Pain reverberated through all his limbs, spreading from the back of his head. His bare hands were scraped and already covered in dirt and sand, and shaking as he tried to bring his arms under him to bear his weight. "No... No no..." He coughed, his whole body shuddering once as his arm slipped, bringing him back down to the earth.
Lying on his stomach for minutes that felt like lifetimes, he closed his blue eyes once more, silently wishing himself away from his dirty resting spot, his mind forcing him to relive the incident once more.
He'd been sitting on the floor of his house, back against one of the couches in the living room, that silly ear to ear grin spread over his face, his hands wrapped around a spiky auburn haired young boy, both of them laughing as they wrestled on the floor. A typical summer night, it seemed; roughhousing on the floor, shooed inside by an oncoming storm. As twilight wore into evening, and his son was ushered on to bed by his wife, the retired Keybearer took the moment to relax, letting his head sink down into the cushions of the couch, staring up at the ceiling fan as it spun hypnotically slowly. The smile still on his lips, he pushed himself to his feet. "Dad?" A shaky voice of a younger girl, echoing down the stairs to him. As she asked him to come up, he was already taking two steps at a time, for no particular reason other than he could! He hopped around the corner, poking his head into the room. Another auburn haired kid was kneeling on the bed in her pajamas, pointing out the window to something. Sora chuckled, pushing some of his own light brown locks out of his eyes as he walked over to the window to see what was so startling. "It's just a squall; you remember how they turn the sky funny colors." He took a look for himself, despite his own assurances. Blinking a few times, he pushed off the window sill, standing frozen in the middle of the room for a long moment.
Before he'd fully registered what he was doing, he'd thrown on actual clothes and was beating feet out the door; just a pair of jeans and a plain white t-shirt, as his old adventuring outfit didn't really fit him anymore. The Keybearer was in a hurry in any case. He never would have been any the wiser if he hadn't looked out the window... Just woulda gone to bed...
He skidded to a halt in the grass in front of the mayor's home, fists clenched tight as he glared up at the figure. It was as black as the sky all around it, like a shadow in a dark room, and the only thing lighting it up was its hands held up to the sky: thin white bolts of lightning were arcing up every few seconds, becoming more and more frequent until the moment Sora arrived. The man on the rooftop lowered his arms to his sides, the hood peering vacantly downward; its contents were a mysterious void in the shadow. As they stared each other down, the skin on the back of his arms was crawling, spreading slowly up to his neck and then spreading down his spine. How he'd managed to miss such overwhelming darkness...
His bright blue eyes snapped open again, bringing him back to the bit of dirt he was recovering on. His head was still aching, pulsing throughout the rest of his limbs, but he managed to control his arms enough to bring his body upright, leaning back on his wall, blinking slowly at the world he'd arrived in. "The Land of Departure, huh...? Aqua..." he murmured to himself, pushing off the wall and stumbling up the hilly path that led to the main building.
He was back on the grassy field in front of the mayor's house, golden flashes all round his hands as the paired Keyblades appeared. The hood jerked backward, as if the person underneath had let out a chuckle. Leaning forward, the cloaked figure was off the rooftop in an instant. Gloved fingertips, arcing white sparks, were centimeters from his face before Sora realized he needed to move. Leaning back, he swung Fenrir hard, connecting awkwardly as he fell to the ground. The hooded figure vanished into a puff of smoke, leaving the Keybearer to stare at it for a moment, wondering what had just happened before white light lit up everything above him. His head snapped forward; the man was suspended in the air in a spin, hands pressed together, wild arcs of electricity shooting off to nothing around him as he brought the hands to bear. A sudden release of pressure in the air for a split second, and everything went silent... Just for a second.
Sora was skidding backwards over the grass, his heels catching on something as his momentum carried him along, sending him spinning and tumbling back until he finally rolled to a stop on the edge of the beach. Water rushed through his fried pant legs, two still-smoking handprints on the back of his calves where the connection was made. The remnants of the attack were still making him twitch and spasm when he heard slow, deliberate footsteps moving steadily closer. "To think... that this is all the force to be mustered... by the strongest of the Wielders."
He reached the interior of the keep, still supporting his sore body on door frames and walls as he staggered his way up the hill. His soaked jeans weren't helping at all, as the slightest breeze sent chills up his spine, making him feel even more lifeless than Sora thought possible. He called for anyone, receiving no reply as he tried to make his way down corridors and up staircases. It seemed the masters in training had already fled, and Master Aqua was gone with them.
As he mounted the final spiral staircase, he was leaning heavily on the banister, and nearly toppled back down when he finally came to the landing. Doors up and down the dormitory were left wide open, the contents of some strewn out into the hallway; one door looked like it had been blasted or torn off its hinges. The heavy oak doors at the end of the corridor was barely cracked open, but scorch marks marred every inch around it. His voice was caught in his throat, reaching out to push on one of the handles, which looked as though someone had tried to melt it away, the barrier creaking slowly as he entered. "Empty... What could have happened here..." His mumbled words gave away his despair, as he sunk down inside the Master bedroom, his back pressed to the door.
The points of his Keyblades were digging hard into the sand, as Sora used them to prop his body upright, two more scorched hand prints on his back. He was panting hard now, his whole body weighted down with water, long brown locks sticking across his face and forehead as he stood at the edge of the island, his bright blue eyes just barely able to make out the curved tree where he and his friends had spent so many carefree days and nights, wondering up the unforgettable experiences they might have on other worlds. Half-lidded and trying to wipe sweat and a sticky crimson substance from his eyes, he heard another boom of thunder from across the main island, bringing up his Keyblades as he waited for the shadow to strike once more, hoping to catch it off guard and land a lucky blow. A hefty gust of wind rushed past, a precursor to the danger that was causing it, Sora gritting his teeth hard as he waited for sudden pain. "What good are you?" The voice was hard and hushed, the sand around the shadowy figure's feet swirling around him as he came to a sudden halt, making the Keybearer stumble backwards as he tried to figure out where his opponent was coming from so quickly. "Well... No use wasting time... Hardly worth the effort... Doubt you're going to save anyone..." The hood turned, looking down along the dunes, catching sight of the woman with her long auburn hair flowing in the breeze. "Least of all, your friends..."
Another boom broke the clouds above them, and everything started to swirl. Pieces of houses were already being pulled in, ripped out of the ground as winds immediately started to gust over the islands. Sora took off down the beach toward his home, all thought of the battle gone, only wanting to reach her before everything was ripped apart again. The ground shifted, a column of earth shifting up in front of him, leaving his section of beach to sink below the raging waves, foaming as they rushed in toward him. He leapt up, managing to drag his worn out frame onto the section of land above him.Almost there... Just a bit more...
His feet sank into the sand as he ran, hopping over fractures that were appearing all along the island, yelling for her to grab the kids and go, to run, to get away... A palm wrapped around the back of his head, pushing him forward into the sand. It wrenched his head back, holding him down to watch what was going to happen... "Ahh... my favorite part... the sappy goodbyes..." Twisting and trying to fight away from the grip on top of his head, he felt a knee crushing down on his back, and the hand, bunching up in his head, yanked hard. Pops issued all along Sora's spine. The earth shifted again, the house suddenly dropping down several feet, before the whole piece of land started to shift. The swirling clouds, glowing bright yellow in the middle and turning purple along the outside edges, were a sickening whirl of color overhead as they drifted toward the eye. The movement was enough to unbalance the shadow, Sora's arm wheeling around over his head, actually feeling the connection this time: Sleeping Lion managed to catch right along his attacker's chest, knocking the shadow of a man flat on his ass. The Keyblade Wielder jumped to his feet, ready to try and jump the gap, but he saw the look on his wife's face... she'd made it outside again, his son and daughter holding onto her tightly, both of them calling for him to hurry. It was the sad little smile, the sort she hadn't worn in years, and that slight shake of her head, that kept him standing right on the edge of the abyss. "Remember what I said?! I still mean it!..."
His eyes open once more, still sitting alone in what had been Aqua's bedroom, his back resting on the door and his legs sprawling out across the tile floor. His body no longer shook as he rose once more, testing his grip as he turned to a wardrobe next to the entryway. He pried it open, finding nothing but a burnished plaque inside: "Step right up." He pulled off his tattered clothes, the hand prints on his back and chest making the shirt flimsy to the point of almost disintegration, and did as he was told; his last words to Kairi were ringing in his ears as he shut the door, feeling warmth surround his body.
Being electrified and shot through space can make it easy to forget who you are sometimes...
The doors sprung open again, giving him enough light to see what had been done. He flexed his glove-covered palms, looking over the scuff marks on his fingertips, the only visible reminder of what had just happened. "Remember... I'm always a part of you, too. And I'll come find you; always will..." The glove squeaked as he clenched his fist, the grin slipping back onto his face as he straightened out his jacket, throwing the doors open and strode back down the mangled corridors. "Kairi... Riku... I'm coming to get you... Seems like our war isn't over yet..."
Edited by PaperWeight