![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
[OOM] Day 260
Apr. 27th, 2020 01:51 amEden wakes up Thancred first, the two of them slowly cutting a path through the Heartless, inching towards the gates to the Underworld. It isn’t long until Clare and Strelitzia join them, the four of them forming a moving island in the sea of Heartless. Eventually, though, their progress starts to slow. The endless flow of Heartless from the Underworld becomes too thick, too fast for them to keep up with, leaving them trapped in place.
“Is the whole damn place a breeding ground for these things?” Thancred mutters, hacking through a Heartless.
“It’s the dead,” Clare replies. “The hearts of everyone who’s ever died on this world have all been turned into Heartless. This was a trap all along: Lure us here, and then release the Heartless to swarm us.”
She exchanges a quick glance with her Chirithy. It gives her a reluctant nod in return, vanishing into smoke.
“That’d mean there’d be tens of billions of Heartless in there,” Eden says. “There’s no way we can fight through all of those, it’s impossible.”
“I don’t see that we have much choice,” Clare replies. She flicks her keyblade, gathering energy around it. “Limit Break: Legion of One.”
A flurry of attacks rain down on the Heartless, and for a split second, the four of them have room to breathe. But the dozens she destroyed are replaced in a heartbeat, swarming through them.
Eden’s fingers twitch across his keyblade. He probably doesn’t have enough energy for another Lion’s Roar, not yet.
Thancred leaps forward next, his keyblade flaring with fire.
“Limit Break: Rage of Halone.”
Once again, the attack scorches through the Heartless, clearing a few yards of ground, before the rest scuttle over and replace their fallen comrades. Eden gambles that they’ll collapse of exhaustion before they even make a dent in the Heartless’ numbers.
The wind picks up, and on three sides of them, off in the distant, Heartless start rising up, spinning in wide circles, clumping together, until they form vast hurricanes of shadow, swirling with Heartless and blackening the sky.
Eden sees Clare’s Chirithy reappear on her shoulder, whispering something to her.
Then, with a sharp crack, a Corridor opens above them, and four pillars of light blast downwards from it, landing amidst the Heartless and sending them reeling backwards. Eden sees robed figures materialising within the light, two tall and two short, their faces concealed by animal masks. Four of the five Foretellers. Only Ira, their nominal leader, is absent.
“You’ve made a mess of this,” Aced rumbles, hoisting his heavy keyblade across his shoulders. “Just like I knew you would.”
“I guess we … under-estimated … how many Heartless would be here,” Ava adds sheepishly. “Sorry! But we’re here to help!”
“Let’s just get this over with,” Gula says.
“We’ll clear you a path,” Invi says. “Once we open the way for you, make haste to the Underworld.”
Aced takes that as his cue to leap into the air, his keyblade glowing bright yellow before he brings it crashing down onto the ground. “Limit Break: Bear Claw!” With a rumble of shifting the earth, the ground shakes and deforms, dipping into valleys and rising into tall rock pillars, cracking apart and sending Heartless into disarray.
“Limit Break: Foxtrot,” Ava says. A hundred copies of her materialise from pink light, speeding outwards to start slicing through Heartless.
“Limit Break: Panther Fang,” Gula says, and vanishes in a streak of lightning, speeding through the Heartless in zig-zagging motions, cutting them down.
“Limit Break,” Invi finishes. “Serpent’s Illusion.” A barrage of magical orbs rain down around her, flaring into bursts of fire or ice or lightning. When the bombardment finishes, there’s a narrow path carved out for them.
“Let’s go,” says Clare, sprinting forward. Eden follows, speeding towards the gates to the Underworld.
---
Ardyn finds Mateus sprinting towards the dockyards, looking for a way to -- what, flee? As if a few dozen miles of water would save him from the swarm of Heartless flowing out of the Underworld.
“Looking for a boat? Well, they’ll not take you hence, I fear,” he says cheerfully, striding over to the other boy. “All long departed now.”
Mateus stares at him for a moment, before realisation seems to dawn, then an idea.
“Ardyn,” Mateus says. “Take me back to Daybreak Town. Your Chirithy can open a Corridor, yes?”
“Hm? Daybreak Town?” Ardyn asks. “I must be misunderstanding you. Daybreak Town is a town for keybearers.”
“I am a -- …”
“Your keyblade is broken. Just as I knew it would be,” Ardyn says. “Poor little Mateus. So eager for revenge that he can’t even tell when he’s being sold a bad idea. All I had to do was nudge you, and you were all too happy to run headfirst into calamity.”
Mateus scowls. “You -- why? Why would you want me to break my keyblade?”
“Two reasons. Reason one, I had a theory I needed to confirm,” Ardyn says, raising a finger. “And reason two, so that I could do this with impunity.”
His hand snaps out, closing around Mateus’ neck and dragging him in close. Mateus struggles, of course, flailing at him, trying to shove him away. Ardyn even sees him flick his wrist a few times, trying to summon a keyblade that just won’t come. He grips him tight, pulling him in until he can whisper into the boy’s ear.
“Do you want to know a secret? Something the Chirithies really don’t want us to know? You’re not Mateus. I’m not Ardyn. Mateus and Ardyn, proud keybearers of Ursus, have been dead for years,” he murmurs. “We are all of us just -- forgeries. Fakes without hearts, whose bodies remember the people we’re meant to be. It’s absurd, isn’t it? But the great advantage of being empty is that the voids within us can absorb all manner of things.”
His hand crackles with violet lightning. Bit by bit, Mateus’ body starts to break down, flowing into his until there’s nothing left. Ardyn feels the swell of power in his chest, the momentary high of integrating another person’s essence into himself, and then he just feels empty again.
“Well. Time to head to the Underworld, I suppose.”
“Is the whole damn place a breeding ground for these things?” Thancred mutters, hacking through a Heartless.
“It’s the dead,” Clare replies. “The hearts of everyone who’s ever died on this world have all been turned into Heartless. This was a trap all along: Lure us here, and then release the Heartless to swarm us.”
She exchanges a quick glance with her Chirithy. It gives her a reluctant nod in return, vanishing into smoke.
“That’d mean there’d be tens of billions of Heartless in there,” Eden says. “There’s no way we can fight through all of those, it’s impossible.”
“I don’t see that we have much choice,” Clare replies. She flicks her keyblade, gathering energy around it. “Limit Break: Legion of One.”
A flurry of attacks rain down on the Heartless, and for a split second, the four of them have room to breathe. But the dozens she destroyed are replaced in a heartbeat, swarming through them.
Eden’s fingers twitch across his keyblade. He probably doesn’t have enough energy for another Lion’s Roar, not yet.
Thancred leaps forward next, his keyblade flaring with fire.
“Limit Break: Rage of Halone.”
Once again, the attack scorches through the Heartless, clearing a few yards of ground, before the rest scuttle over and replace their fallen comrades. Eden gambles that they’ll collapse of exhaustion before they even make a dent in the Heartless’ numbers.
The wind picks up, and on three sides of them, off in the distant, Heartless start rising up, spinning in wide circles, clumping together, until they form vast hurricanes of shadow, swirling with Heartless and blackening the sky.
Eden sees Clare’s Chirithy reappear on her shoulder, whispering something to her.
Then, with a sharp crack, a Corridor opens above them, and four pillars of light blast downwards from it, landing amidst the Heartless and sending them reeling backwards. Eden sees robed figures materialising within the light, two tall and two short, their faces concealed by animal masks. Four of the five Foretellers. Only Ira, their nominal leader, is absent.
“You’ve made a mess of this,” Aced rumbles, hoisting his heavy keyblade across his shoulders. “Just like I knew you would.”
“I guess we … under-estimated … how many Heartless would be here,” Ava adds sheepishly. “Sorry! But we’re here to help!”
“Let’s just get this over with,” Gula says.
“We’ll clear you a path,” Invi says. “Once we open the way for you, make haste to the Underworld.”
Aced takes that as his cue to leap into the air, his keyblade glowing bright yellow before he brings it crashing down onto the ground. “Limit Break: Bear Claw!” With a rumble of shifting the earth, the ground shakes and deforms, dipping into valleys and rising into tall rock pillars, cracking apart and sending Heartless into disarray.
“Limit Break: Foxtrot,” Ava says. A hundred copies of her materialise from pink light, speeding outwards to start slicing through Heartless.
“Limit Break: Panther Fang,” Gula says, and vanishes in a streak of lightning, speeding through the Heartless in zig-zagging motions, cutting them down.
“Limit Break,” Invi finishes. “Serpent’s Illusion.” A barrage of magical orbs rain down around her, flaring into bursts of fire or ice or lightning. When the bombardment finishes, there’s a narrow path carved out for them.
“Let’s go,” says Clare, sprinting forward. Eden follows, speeding towards the gates to the Underworld.
Ardyn finds Mateus sprinting towards the dockyards, looking for a way to -- what, flee? As if a few dozen miles of water would save him from the swarm of Heartless flowing out of the Underworld.
“Looking for a boat? Well, they’ll not take you hence, I fear,” he says cheerfully, striding over to the other boy. “All long departed now.”
Mateus stares at him for a moment, before realisation seems to dawn, then an idea.
“Ardyn,” Mateus says. “Take me back to Daybreak Town. Your Chirithy can open a Corridor, yes?”
“Hm? Daybreak Town?” Ardyn asks. “I must be misunderstanding you. Daybreak Town is a town for keybearers.”
“I am a -- …”
“Your keyblade is broken. Just as I knew it would be,” Ardyn says. “Poor little Mateus. So eager for revenge that he can’t even tell when he’s being sold a bad idea. All I had to do was nudge you, and you were all too happy to run headfirst into calamity.”
Mateus scowls. “You -- why? Why would you want me to break my keyblade?”
“Two reasons. Reason one, I had a theory I needed to confirm,” Ardyn says, raising a finger. “And reason two, so that I could do this with impunity.”
His hand snaps out, closing around Mateus’ neck and dragging him in close. Mateus struggles, of course, flailing at him, trying to shove him away. Ardyn even sees him flick his wrist a few times, trying to summon a keyblade that just won’t come. He grips him tight, pulling him in until he can whisper into the boy’s ear.
“Do you want to know a secret? Something the Chirithies really don’t want us to know? You’re not Mateus. I’m not Ardyn. Mateus and Ardyn, proud keybearers of Ursus, have been dead for years,” he murmurs. “We are all of us just -- forgeries. Fakes without hearts, whose bodies remember the people we’re meant to be. It’s absurd, isn’t it? But the great advantage of being empty is that the voids within us can absorb all manner of things.”
His hand crackles with violet lightning. Bit by bit, Mateus’ body starts to break down, flowing into his until there’s nothing left. Ardyn feels the swell of power in his chest, the momentary high of integrating another person’s essence into himself, and then he just feels empty again.
“Well. Time to head to the Underworld, I suppose.”
