Fallen Away
The mood was lightening aboard the Longsword. Nearly home. Or nearly where home had been. None of them could exactly say that they expected to see anything there, still - but they had to look. There was no way around it. Working their way back, following map and rumour... if their calculations were right, this would be it. As it was, the viewscreen simply showed a symbolic representation rather than the world itself. A caricatured avatar for a whole planet.
"Returning to normal space in five, four..."
Three. Two. One. The vista changed.
"...there's something."
They scrambled for a better look. Ruins, scraps of ground that almost looked like glass, drifting debris fields - but something held it all together. Hard to see what from so far away.
Less than they'd hoped. More than they'd expected. Something, perhaps.
All the same - the first time they'd ever seen their planet from the outside was after it had been destroyed.
The Longsword pulled closer, carefully, manouevring around what wreckage had been displaced this far.
"Wait. Look." Something was moving more purposefully, it seemed.
"That's not ..."
"It's a ship." Breathless for a moment.
"It's Heartless," Cortana said. The signs were easy enough to spot. Dark contagion had even spread over the vessel's hull.
"That would seem evident," Spark responded. "The question is - why are they still here?"
"You already wrecked the place!" John yelled at the screen. "What do you want?"
"Yeah!" Kelly echoed.
The vessel turned. John swore. Cortana shot him a look, but this was hardly the time to tell him off for it - she understood. There was no time for any of that as the Heartless opened fire.
A brief skirmish compared to some. The Heartless sent away limping, but their own defensive systems down. What they found more intriguing was the way their foe left.
Kelly spoke up. "I'm not an expert, but you can't go into slipspace that close to a planet? Can you?" She sounded a little confused. Worried, even.
"Did you see what it looked like? They didn't take their ship through slipspace. They took it through darkness itself. It's just a bigger portal."
That was an idea none of them had imagined possible - but at the same time, it made a horrifying amount of sense.
"There's another! Really, quite persistent."
They pulled closer, trying to hide in the debris. Closer. The Heartless ship was moving quickly, but not so quickly that they couldn't catch it up.
Too close, now. Other ships popped out around them, above, below, as the first geared up to escape. A sphere. One way out.
"Follow them!" John found himself yelling. Spark looked surprised but did so... too late, they both realised their mistake.
The portal closed behind them. Nothing but the hull of the ship between them and pure darkness. No-one wanted to look outside. Kelly looked a bit sick.
"They trapped us."
"We're not trapped yet. Not as long as we can follow them out of here."
Spark kept at the controls, grimly chasing the Heartless for all it was worth. Cortana's hands rested on the ship's side, light pouring from them - a shield against it all. She looked almost translucent.
John and Kelly gripped hands tightly, with John holding onto his keyblade with his free hand, Kelly holding onto a pistol. Staying together through this.
He could almost hear something. That voice he'd heard once, when he'd been touched by the darkness, so low, so poetic...
I can see you. Come with me, boy.
"I'm not going to!"
"Uh, John?"
"...I'm not going to go anywhere. We're gonna get out of here."
He focused on the image of true space. Of stars, reality, of the ship making it safely there. He'd done this before... but on his own, borrowed darkness at his side. Not a whole ship. All the same... He couldn't let it affect him, now. They'd get through it.
For a second, Kelly thought John's eyes looked lighter - yellow, almost - but the illusion passed. Trick of whatever light there was, perhaps. She must have been seeing things...
"Returning to normal space in five, four..."
Three. Two. One. The vista changed.
"...there's something."
They scrambled for a better look. Ruins, scraps of ground that almost looked like glass, drifting debris fields - but something held it all together. Hard to see what from so far away.
Less than they'd hoped. More than they'd expected. Something, perhaps.
All the same - the first time they'd ever seen their planet from the outside was after it had been destroyed.
The Longsword pulled closer, carefully, manouevring around what wreckage had been displaced this far.
"Wait. Look." Something was moving more purposefully, it seemed.
"That's not ..."
"It's a ship." Breathless for a moment.
"It's Heartless," Cortana said. The signs were easy enough to spot. Dark contagion had even spread over the vessel's hull.
"That would seem evident," Spark responded. "The question is - why are they still here?"
"You already wrecked the place!" John yelled at the screen. "What do you want?"
"Yeah!" Kelly echoed.
The vessel turned. John swore. Cortana shot him a look, but this was hardly the time to tell him off for it - she understood. There was no time for any of that as the Heartless opened fire.
A brief skirmish compared to some. The Heartless sent away limping, but their own defensive systems down. What they found more intriguing was the way their foe left.
Kelly spoke up. "I'm not an expert, but you can't go into slipspace that close to a planet? Can you?" She sounded a little confused. Worried, even.
"Did you see what it looked like? They didn't take their ship through slipspace. They took it through darkness itself. It's just a bigger portal."
That was an idea none of them had imagined possible - but at the same time, it made a horrifying amount of sense.
"There's another! Really, quite persistent."
They pulled closer, trying to hide in the debris. Closer. The Heartless ship was moving quickly, but not so quickly that they couldn't catch it up.
Too close, now. Other ships popped out around them, above, below, as the first geared up to escape. A sphere. One way out.
"Follow them!" John found himself yelling. Spark looked surprised but did so... too late, they both realised their mistake.
The portal closed behind them. Nothing but the hull of the ship between them and pure darkness. No-one wanted to look outside. Kelly looked a bit sick.
"They trapped us."
"We're not trapped yet. Not as long as we can follow them out of here."
Spark kept at the controls, grimly chasing the Heartless for all it was worth. Cortana's hands rested on the ship's side, light pouring from them - a shield against it all. She looked almost translucent.
John and Kelly gripped hands tightly, with John holding onto his keyblade with his free hand, Kelly holding onto a pistol. Staying together through this.
He could almost hear something. That voice he'd heard once, when he'd been touched by the darkness, so low, so poetic...
I can see you. Come with me, boy.
"I'm not going to!"
"Uh, John?"
"...I'm not going to go anywhere. We're gonna get out of here."
He focused on the image of true space. Of stars, reality, of the ship making it safely there. He'd done this before... but on his own, borrowed darkness at his side. Not a whole ship. All the same... He couldn't let it affect him, now. They'd get through it.
For a second, Kelly thought John's eyes looked lighter - yellow, almost - but the illusion passed. Trick of whatever light there was, perhaps. She must have been seeing things...