Social Suicide Side B
Title: Social Suicide Side B - Part 6 - Part 5 - Part 4 - Part 3 - Part 2 - Part 1 // Social Suicide Side B
Author: lostscore
Rating: PG-13 ish. (T)
Warnings/Pairings: Side B is a side story that is not necessary to read to enjoy the main tale. It follows a Keyblader sent by Terra and the Radiant Garden Keyblade faction to try and protect some of the strong hearts on other worlds who are targets of the newly formed ‘Organization’. Contains speculation on where and who and what the Neophytes of the Organization used to be. Gen, does not contain pairings. Depending on how one views the creation of a Nobody, contains character death.
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is the intellectual property of Disney and Square Enix.
Summary: As war rages in Radiant Garden, long before Sora was ever the Keyblade Master, the former research assistants and a a Keyblader race to get their hands on the owners of strong hearts to reenforce the quality of their ranks.
Author’s Notes: …nothing in particular here.
The Gummi Ship was boxy and handled about as impressively as it was built. Nonetheless, it was carrying its occupant between the worlds; a feat that had heretofore only been accomplished by the King of Disney Castle and she supposed, the Apprentices nowadays. Maybe she should have felt excited and proud that she was given this honour by Master Terra and Radiant Garden, however presently Una felt utterly ridiculous. In order to keep the ship flying, her face was painfully stretched into a big stupid smile, more appropriate to attending a party she didn’t really want to be at in the first place.
“Whoever thought it would be a good idea to run a ship on happy faces?” she muttered, but kept on smiling anyway. Crashing the ship because she was actively questioning her orders was definitely not the accident she was interested in having.
Landing was an even more tricky procedure, but in the end she managed it. Exiting the ship, Una felt she had never seen a more defeated looking world. Unlike Radiant Garden which was being torn apart as Terra and the other Keybladers struggled in their war with the Nobody faction, this world was evidently under the iron fist of a dictator.
“Looks like I’ve got my work cut out for me.” She said to no one in particular, gazing balefully around at the bleakness. Not a single part of this world seemed like it was allowed to be cheerful or fun or unique in any way.
As in response to her statement, there was a shout and a scrabbling of feet that shook Una from her thoughts. A man came barrelling down the street. He was in too great of a panic to take note of the fact that the woman he had nearly mowed down was dressed dramatically different than he was. “Run away! You have to run away, right now!” he gasped, catching her hand and trying to pull her along with him.
The reason for his panic was made immediately clear; three Heartless punctuated his statement by coming into view in pursuit.
“It’s okay. I’ll help you.” She explained in what she imagined to be a calming voice.
“No! You have to-“
The appearance of Una’s keyblade was enough to get the man to stop his frantic rant, and he watched with an unflattering expression of disbelief as Una quickly and efficiently dispatched the three Shadows.
“Are you okay?” she asked the man kindly, who seemed to be having a rather bad day all around.
“Yes.” He managed, after a lengthy pause, apparently coming to terms with what he’d just seen. “Thank you! You killed them. You actually destroyed them! The most the palace soldiers can do is beat them back. How?” he answered his own question as his gaze strayed to the Keyblade in her hand and without warning he grabbed her wrist to look at it, in spite of the invasion of her personal space. Una allowed it. Even back in Radiant Garden many were curious, including the other keyblade bearers themselves. Each weapon was unique to his or her user.
“I’m a Keblader.” She gave her wrist a little shake to indicate her weapon. “A type of soldier myself. I’m here to protect your Prince.” The moment the man had touched her hand, the Keyblade had reacted. A positive reaction, deep and lingering and with a shock she realized she’d had that exactly same reaction one other time, when Aeleus had visited a training procedure and she had gotten to shake his hand. He’d asked to see her keyblade then, to take notes for research.
She chewed the inside of her lip, grateful for the man’s preoccupation while she thought. Eventually she dismissed the occurrence. It meant he was an uncommonly good person was all and so was Aeleus before those experiments. This guy seemed like someone other people liked and listened to. “Uh, my name’s Una.”
“Dyme.” His gaze turned guarded and he adopted the shifty-eyed look of someone who didn’t wish to be overheard. “I’m a bard. Not a palace bard, the regular sort. If you’re here to protect the Prince however: good luck.”
“Thank you, Dyme, I’ll keep that in mind.”
They parted ways after that. The brief exchange with Dyme had given her rather a lot to think about. The first issue was that her initial impression about the state of the monarchy seemed to be correct. This Prince bloke was definitely no Ansem the Wise or King Mickey. The second issue was that funny feeling she had gotten around Dyme. It was still bothering her in spite of her decision to put it out of her mind. She thought back to the other apprentices. She’d met Braig once or twice too, but she hadn’t been carrying her keyblade with her then. Hadn’t Dilan once come out to watch the training? She hadn’t gotten near enough through the crowd of other Keybladers to shake his hand or anything like that.
There was one more. Sai, or Saix as he must now be called. He’d sparred with her dozens of times during practices. No, Sai had never ever given her any of those sorts of reactions. A tiny corner of her mind nagged at her that deep positive feelings were not what she would be focusing on during a fight, but she couldn’t afford to think of it any longer.
***
She was on her way towards the palace, working out in her mind what kind of explanation she would give to get inside and see the monarch when she was approached by two men in full body armour and perched atop horses. As they drew closer, she could see that the one on the left had two riders.
“Is this the one?”
Dyme looked down at Una apologetically. “Yes, Sir.”
“The…what did you call her?”
“A…um, key…”
“Keyblader?” Una asked, perking up as she began to understand what was going on. This could actually work in her favour.
“So you don’t deny you are the one who defeated the black creatures?”
“Yes, I did and I am further capable of demonstration.”
“She saved my life!” Dyme felt obliged to point out, much to Una’s pleasure. The Bard really was making life a lot easier for her.
“You will come to the palace immediately. The Prince wishes to speak with you.”
Una climbed up behind the second rider and made a noise of protest as the first turfed Dyme out of the saddle like a sack of flour. Before she could become indignant on his behalf, the soldier spurred the horse forward into a gallop towards the castle and she had to act quickly in order to find a handhold so she could stay aboard.
***
Una felt more like a prisoner under interrogation than someone who represented some kind of protection and hope. Nonetheless, she was a Keyblader and this was her mission, whether or not she liked it.
“I am Prince Andrew Edwards Latmos III, ruler of this world. I am charging you with the job of protecting myself and this palace.”
No, Master Terra gave me the job of protecting you.
“I accept.” She said, struggling to keep her voice under control. Una was normally quite a calm person, however the instant this Prince Andrew-la-di-da-di-da-roman-numeral had opened his trap, he had grated on her nerves.
Here was a text book case of a dictator and a spoilt brat. He was…conventionally good looking, she guessed. She’d never had too much interest in the opposite gender but fact was fact. He also had wealth and money and power and the opportunity to abuse them as he liked. It was no wonder this world was overrun with Heartless.
“You will prove to me that you are capable of a competent job.” He continued, standing and crossing the room to get a better look at her. She had to tilt her head up to do so, suddenly glad she’d gotten in all that practice on the gummi ship in looking heaps more enthusiastic than she was feeling.
“You are kind of scrawny for a sword-wielder.” Was his only comment before sweeping off. “You’d better put on one hell of a show.”
Lots of experience.
***
It was even worse when the guards marched her down a hall. Evidently this was where they had managed to contain the shadows, as the back courtyard they showed her that was probably once some palace ‘gardens’ was crawling with them.
Una sighed. She hated flashy theatrics. Keyblading by the book was safer and more efficient. However, the Prince wanted to see the kinds of things that fascinated the young Keybladers, the ones who signed up because they figured destroying Heartless would be the kind of flashy show that Masters Terra, Aqua and Ven had made it seem, when they fought gigantic Heartless in the maw. Sure, the flashy stuff was useful against a sixteen-foot Darkside. Wasting your time with aerial acrobatics against a Shadow was liable to get you a claw in the heart.
Nonetheless, Una was well trained. She took a deep breath and started off quick, dispatching the Shadows first and firing off a few spells to take out the aerial elementals, then leaping into the air to perform a flip past a leaping Soldier type and cutting it down. She swung the Keyblade in a wide sweep, allowed one to get close enough she had to backflip out of the way and in spite of the utter waste of mana, unleashed a spectacular magic radial attack that instantly destroyed the few weak Heartless left.
“Excellent.” The Prince was nodding approval. “You are clearly worthwhile keeping around. You will clear this world of Heartless as soon as is possible.”
Una resisted the urge to growl under her breath. Did the man have NO regard for her prior engagement? He wasn’t even going to give her the chance to explain about the dangers of him losing his heart and the Apprentices showing up. At the very least, her ship was still available to her. She’d just have to leave without warning if Xehan…Xemnas and his crew didn’t bother to put in an appearance.
She was no research assistant, but it was clear that this man’s heart had clearly been touched by Darkness and was well on the path. “Very well. However, Heartless - that’s the correct name for your ‘Shadows’ - usually breed because of Darkness and they are attracted to it.”
“Darkness? There is no Darkness here except at night. You are utterly foolish, woman. Save whatever feeble powers your mind possesses for the crude tasks you are best suited to.”
Una ground her teeth. All she could do was wait for the hammer to fall.
***
A quick patrol of the surrounding village revealed more than just Heartless. There was no shortage of actual productivity from the subjects, but all that they created went to the Castle. They existed only to feed the monolith. The whole situation utterly repulsed her.
Like Heartless gathering hearts.
It was several different kinds of rotten and vile. Una had no idea how to turn this around. She was at least marginally good at keeping her temper under control and she made friends well, but she wasn’t charismatic like Master Terra or a leader like Master Ven. Nor was she great at coming up with plans that weren’t immediately obvious.
She stopped by a roughly lettered missive adorning one of the doorways in the market part of town. Apparently this ‘Dyme’ she’d run into was performing tonight. Well, that was alright then. Maybe these people did get some entertainment after all, if they were putting up posters about it.
There were a lot of Heartless, but they were hoards of little ones. She hadn’t seen anything more frustrating than a Neo Shadow all day. Had she been a lesser Keyblader, this would have worried her more than it did. Una wasn’t cocky, but she had a reasonable sense of her own ability. Neo Shadows were not beyond her.
She couldn’t shake the feeling of ‘calm before the storm’ however as she returned to the palace. Maybe she could even hear the concert from there. That might make the stay with Prince Andrew somewhat tolerable.
“The infestation is heavy, but its production is weak. Those smaller Heartless are nowhere as big as they could be. The important thing is to find out where they are coming from.” Una noted that Prince Andrew seemed somewhat interested, though it could potentially be the two glasses of wine he’d drunk at dinner. Either way, they’d gone at least twenty minutes without aspersions being cast on her intelligence. Perhaps he could be made to listen.
The revelation and the crash came at the same moment. Stupid Una, hadn’t you just said it yourself earlier? They were feeding…”We’ve got to get out of the castle!”
“What…the?” small pieces of ceiling tile rained down on the Keyblader and the Prince as the castle shook around them. “What is going on here?”
“The Heartless responsible for your world’s infestation is UNDER YOUR CASTLE!” Una screamed, unable to restrain her ire any longer. “I told you they were attracted to the Darkness, and your heart is filled with it!”
The tower they were in began to pitch, so any reply Prince Andrew might have had was caught up in a yell of surprise as he started to slide towards and out of the open window. Una cursed brilliantly and threw herself after him.
She caught him, but also got a good look as to just was outside. A massive black dragon, flashing yellow eyes up at them both and ravaging the base of the tower, trying to dislodge them from their precarious perch.
“Get me back up! What kind of bodyguard are you?”
“I’m trying my best!” Una hauled back hard, then immediately dropped one hand to summon her keyblade. She dropped it directly down where it glanced off the beast’s head and returned to her hand. It roared in pain and confusion and took its eyes away from them for a few moments. She readied it for another strike, even though the arm supporting the Prince screamed in protest at her.
“Oh!” the sensation was back. The surprise of that deep feeling running through her, just as it had with Dyme was such a shock that she froze. Everything froze for a few moments, and it all went wrong at once.
Her hand convulsed, the Prince’s grip slipped from her abused arm and he fell down, straight into the gaping jaws of the beast.
Una stared in utter horror at what had just occurred but she prepared to leap over the edge and slay the thing anyway. Maybe there was still a chance. Before she could even start her run to take a good strong leap down however, the Heartless burst into flame, incinerating itself from the inside out, a pink heart spiralling away into the sky.
“Guess he didn’t taste very good, even for a Heartless.” Una peered down into the ashes and destroyed rubble and dirt but she couldn’t see anything of note.
She recovered quickly. Maybe she hadn’t been able to save the Prince however she had learned something about her instincts. It wasn’t over yet. With a concert in full swing, there was a powerful heart in danger, and a veritable feast for the Heartless to find.
“I hope you still know how to run away, Dyme.”
***
As Una raced back towards the village, she didn’t stop to see if the handsome redheaded man sitting outside the castle was alright, nor did she see the figure in a black hood who stopped to speak to him.
“So who are you? Death?”
The man laughed. “Nah, not a chance. I’m working on my second life…and by the looks of things, so are you.”
“A second life, huh? Who are you?”
“Name’s Xigbar. I’ve come to offer you a job.”
“I am Prince Andrew Edwards Latmos the Third. I definitely am not obligated to anyone’s employ.”
Somehow, he didn’t expect Xigbar to be impressed. He wasn’t disappointed. “I don’t think you’re that guy anymore. Plus, I don’t think you have much of a talent for keeping up a Kingdom. You do however seem to have a talent for destroying things. I thought that might be a wiser career move.”
The man thought about it. “Yeah. That sounds like more my deal. Sure thing, Xigbar.”
“Oh how fun.” Xigbar drawled sarcastically. “By the way, Im’ma name you Axel. All those fancy names are too annoying to remember.”
The newly dubbed ‘Axel’ gave the portal Xigbar opened up a cursory glance, shrugged and followed him through.
The screaming hit her ears right outside of town and Una winced, pressing further forward. People pushed by her and she helped where she could, destroying Heartless. Some Dusks were already there, looking around in confusion.
“Dyme!?”
A dusk turned to her.
“Ugh, get out of here.” She swiped at it with her keyblade and it swooped around her. No. She had to be right. Dyme would be like Saix. Like the others. Like that Prince would have been if he hadn’t got himself….eaten.
The portal opened on the other side of the amphitheatre made her look up in alarm, but there was a man down there, sitting up and looking around him in confusion. It was hard to tell from back here.
“Dyme!” she shrieked. “Dyme! Run away! Run away now!”
The figure that stepped from the portal looked over at her and waved, walking down towards Dyme.
“RUN! AWAY!” Una leapt the benches, struggling to get to where she was going before the man in black did.
“Two from this world? Not bad.” He pushed his hood down.
“Braig, get away from him!” Una didn’t care what asinine new name Braig had now. She was not failing anyone else from this world.
The gravity trap closed around her, slamming her hard into the stone floor of the world’s natural open air theatre. She gasped as the wind was knocked out of her lungs. Since when could Braig do THAT?
Casting an Aero spell, she struggled to her feet, shaking off the worst of the shock.
“Hm, not bad.” Something appeared in Braig’s hand out of the darkness, and for one wild moment she imagined he had summoned a keyblade. “But, the Superior said to go fetch, so here I am. I just wasn’t expecting to find a bonus.”
“The Superior?” Una was really at the end of the rope at this point. “Is that what you’re calling him now? What are you, Number Two?”
“Right in one.” Braig took aim at her.
“Braig, this is utterly stupid. You don’t have to follow that madman! He was creepy then and he’s creepy now! Just leave Dyme alone.”
“I’m real sorry Keyblade girlie, but it’s Xigbar now.” He glanced down at Dyme, thinking hard. “Hmmm, I wonder if Xemnas will go for ‘Demyx.’ I think it has a nice ring to it.” He raised his eye back to the target. “Now, let’s see if they teach you keybladers how to dance.”
The steady stream of fire kept Una occupied, but she fought her way forward, deflecting the bullets to reach Dyme. “Come on…let’s get out of here.” Her fingers closed on his shoulder and it was cold to the touch. The warm electricity that had once buzzed in her body when she’d touched him now was gone.
Her hand flew off of him, cold revulsion flooding her. She was overcome by the strongest urge to strike him and actually backed away before one of Xigbar’s bullets graze her arm, making it bleed.
“Get out of here Keyblade kid. I’m not gonna kill you today unless you make me. This is supposed to be a search and retrieve mission only.” He stopped firing, disappeared briefly and appeared right next to Dyme, who stood.
“C’mon kid, you’re gonna be Organization’s Number Nine. S’either that or hanging around waiting for this world to die. Given the competency of it’s keyblader, I bet that’s not long. ‘Course, I’m real interested to know how old Ansem got one of you down here, but if you were the best he had to spare, y’can’t be doing all that well.”
Una recognized defeat when she saw it. Xigbar was right. This world was doomed, and she herself had done it.
So this group of Xemnas’ had only nine members. There were hundreds of keybladers in the wings waiting to take her place and there were three more targets who were still out there. Nine would be the very last member.
She let her keyblade dissipate and plunged back into the night, missing the last words of Demyx.
“She’s leaving? I kind of wanted to go with her.” He eyed the black portal with trepidation. “I don’t think I trust that thing.”
To Be Continued
Author: lostscore
Rating: PG-13 ish. (T)
Warnings/Pairings: Side B is a side story that is not necessary to read to enjoy the main tale. It follows a Keyblader sent by Terra and the Radiant Garden Keyblade faction to try and protect some of the strong hearts on other worlds who are targets of the newly formed ‘Organization’. Contains speculation on where and who and what the Neophytes of the Organization used to be. Gen, does not contain pairings. Depending on how one views the creation of a Nobody, contains character death.
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is the intellectual property of Disney and Square Enix.
Summary: As war rages in Radiant Garden, long before Sora was ever the Keyblade Master, the former research assistants and a a Keyblader race to get their hands on the owners of strong hearts to reenforce the quality of their ranks.
Author’s Notes: …nothing in particular here.
The Gummi Ship was boxy and handled about as impressively as it was built. Nonetheless, it was carrying its occupant between the worlds; a feat that had heretofore only been accomplished by the King of Disney Castle and she supposed, the Apprentices nowadays. Maybe she should have felt excited and proud that she was given this honour by Master Terra and Radiant Garden, however presently Una felt utterly ridiculous. In order to keep the ship flying, her face was painfully stretched into a big stupid smile, more appropriate to attending a party she didn’t really want to be at in the first place.
“Whoever thought it would be a good idea to run a ship on happy faces?” she muttered, but kept on smiling anyway. Crashing the ship because she was actively questioning her orders was definitely not the accident she was interested in having.
Landing was an even more tricky procedure, but in the end she managed it. Exiting the ship, Una felt she had never seen a more defeated looking world. Unlike Radiant Garden which was being torn apart as Terra and the other Keybladers struggled in their war with the Nobody faction, this world was evidently under the iron fist of a dictator.
“Looks like I’ve got my work cut out for me.” She said to no one in particular, gazing balefully around at the bleakness. Not a single part of this world seemed like it was allowed to be cheerful or fun or unique in any way.
As in response to her statement, there was a shout and a scrabbling of feet that shook Una from her thoughts. A man came barrelling down the street. He was in too great of a panic to take note of the fact that the woman he had nearly mowed down was dressed dramatically different than he was. “Run away! You have to run away, right now!” he gasped, catching her hand and trying to pull her along with him.
The reason for his panic was made immediately clear; three Heartless punctuated his statement by coming into view in pursuit.
“It’s okay. I’ll help you.” She explained in what she imagined to be a calming voice.
“No! You have to-“
The appearance of Una’s keyblade was enough to get the man to stop his frantic rant, and he watched with an unflattering expression of disbelief as Una quickly and efficiently dispatched the three Shadows.
“Are you okay?” she asked the man kindly, who seemed to be having a rather bad day all around.
“Yes.” He managed, after a lengthy pause, apparently coming to terms with what he’d just seen. “Thank you! You killed them. You actually destroyed them! The most the palace soldiers can do is beat them back. How?” he answered his own question as his gaze strayed to the Keyblade in her hand and without warning he grabbed her wrist to look at it, in spite of the invasion of her personal space. Una allowed it. Even back in Radiant Garden many were curious, including the other keyblade bearers themselves. Each weapon was unique to his or her user.
“I’m a Keblader.” She gave her wrist a little shake to indicate her weapon. “A type of soldier myself. I’m here to protect your Prince.” The moment the man had touched her hand, the Keyblade had reacted. A positive reaction, deep and lingering and with a shock she realized she’d had that exactly same reaction one other time, when Aeleus had visited a training procedure and she had gotten to shake his hand. He’d asked to see her keyblade then, to take notes for research.
She chewed the inside of her lip, grateful for the man’s preoccupation while she thought. Eventually she dismissed the occurrence. It meant he was an uncommonly good person was all and so was Aeleus before those experiments. This guy seemed like someone other people liked and listened to. “Uh, my name’s Una.”
“Dyme.” His gaze turned guarded and he adopted the shifty-eyed look of someone who didn’t wish to be overheard. “I’m a bard. Not a palace bard, the regular sort. If you’re here to protect the Prince however: good luck.”
“Thank you, Dyme, I’ll keep that in mind.”
They parted ways after that. The brief exchange with Dyme had given her rather a lot to think about. The first issue was that her initial impression about the state of the monarchy seemed to be correct. This Prince bloke was definitely no Ansem the Wise or King Mickey. The second issue was that funny feeling she had gotten around Dyme. It was still bothering her in spite of her decision to put it out of her mind. She thought back to the other apprentices. She’d met Braig once or twice too, but she hadn’t been carrying her keyblade with her then. Hadn’t Dilan once come out to watch the training? She hadn’t gotten near enough through the crowd of other Keybladers to shake his hand or anything like that.
There was one more. Sai, or Saix as he must now be called. He’d sparred with her dozens of times during practices. No, Sai had never ever given her any of those sorts of reactions. A tiny corner of her mind nagged at her that deep positive feelings were not what she would be focusing on during a fight, but she couldn’t afford to think of it any longer.
***
She was on her way towards the palace, working out in her mind what kind of explanation she would give to get inside and see the monarch when she was approached by two men in full body armour and perched atop horses. As they drew closer, she could see that the one on the left had two riders.
“Is this the one?”
Dyme looked down at Una apologetically. “Yes, Sir.”
“The…what did you call her?”
“A…um, key…”
“Keyblader?” Una asked, perking up as she began to understand what was going on. This could actually work in her favour.
“So you don’t deny you are the one who defeated the black creatures?”
“Yes, I did and I am further capable of demonstration.”
“She saved my life!” Dyme felt obliged to point out, much to Una’s pleasure. The Bard really was making life a lot easier for her.
“You will come to the palace immediately. The Prince wishes to speak with you.”
Una climbed up behind the second rider and made a noise of protest as the first turfed Dyme out of the saddle like a sack of flour. Before she could become indignant on his behalf, the soldier spurred the horse forward into a gallop towards the castle and she had to act quickly in order to find a handhold so she could stay aboard.
***
Una felt more like a prisoner under interrogation than someone who represented some kind of protection and hope. Nonetheless, she was a Keyblader and this was her mission, whether or not she liked it.
“I am Prince Andrew Edwards Latmos III, ruler of this world. I am charging you with the job of protecting myself and this palace.”
No, Master Terra gave me the job of protecting you.
“I accept.” She said, struggling to keep her voice under control. Una was normally quite a calm person, however the instant this Prince Andrew-la-di-da-di-da-roman-numeral had opened his trap, he had grated on her nerves.
Here was a text book case of a dictator and a spoilt brat. He was…conventionally good looking, she guessed. She’d never had too much interest in the opposite gender but fact was fact. He also had wealth and money and power and the opportunity to abuse them as he liked. It was no wonder this world was overrun with Heartless.
“You will prove to me that you are capable of a competent job.” He continued, standing and crossing the room to get a better look at her. She had to tilt her head up to do so, suddenly glad she’d gotten in all that practice on the gummi ship in looking heaps more enthusiastic than she was feeling.
“You are kind of scrawny for a sword-wielder.” Was his only comment before sweeping off. “You’d better put on one hell of a show.”
Lots of experience.
***
It was even worse when the guards marched her down a hall. Evidently this was where they had managed to contain the shadows, as the back courtyard they showed her that was probably once some palace ‘gardens’ was crawling with them.
Una sighed. She hated flashy theatrics. Keyblading by the book was safer and more efficient. However, the Prince wanted to see the kinds of things that fascinated the young Keybladers, the ones who signed up because they figured destroying Heartless would be the kind of flashy show that Masters Terra, Aqua and Ven had made it seem, when they fought gigantic Heartless in the maw. Sure, the flashy stuff was useful against a sixteen-foot Darkside. Wasting your time with aerial acrobatics against a Shadow was liable to get you a claw in the heart.
Nonetheless, Una was well trained. She took a deep breath and started off quick, dispatching the Shadows first and firing off a few spells to take out the aerial elementals, then leaping into the air to perform a flip past a leaping Soldier type and cutting it down. She swung the Keyblade in a wide sweep, allowed one to get close enough she had to backflip out of the way and in spite of the utter waste of mana, unleashed a spectacular magic radial attack that instantly destroyed the few weak Heartless left.
“Excellent.” The Prince was nodding approval. “You are clearly worthwhile keeping around. You will clear this world of Heartless as soon as is possible.”
Una resisted the urge to growl under her breath. Did the man have NO regard for her prior engagement? He wasn’t even going to give her the chance to explain about the dangers of him losing his heart and the Apprentices showing up. At the very least, her ship was still available to her. She’d just have to leave without warning if Xehan…Xemnas and his crew didn’t bother to put in an appearance.
She was no research assistant, but it was clear that this man’s heart had clearly been touched by Darkness and was well on the path. “Very well. However, Heartless - that’s the correct name for your ‘Shadows’ - usually breed because of Darkness and they are attracted to it.”
“Darkness? There is no Darkness here except at night. You are utterly foolish, woman. Save whatever feeble powers your mind possesses for the crude tasks you are best suited to.”
Una ground her teeth. All she could do was wait for the hammer to fall.
***
A quick patrol of the surrounding village revealed more than just Heartless. There was no shortage of actual productivity from the subjects, but all that they created went to the Castle. They existed only to feed the monolith. The whole situation utterly repulsed her.
Like Heartless gathering hearts.
It was several different kinds of rotten and vile. Una had no idea how to turn this around. She was at least marginally good at keeping her temper under control and she made friends well, but she wasn’t charismatic like Master Terra or a leader like Master Ven. Nor was she great at coming up with plans that weren’t immediately obvious.
She stopped by a roughly lettered missive adorning one of the doorways in the market part of town. Apparently this ‘Dyme’ she’d run into was performing tonight. Well, that was alright then. Maybe these people did get some entertainment after all, if they were putting up posters about it.
There were a lot of Heartless, but they were hoards of little ones. She hadn’t seen anything more frustrating than a Neo Shadow all day. Had she been a lesser Keyblader, this would have worried her more than it did. Una wasn’t cocky, but she had a reasonable sense of her own ability. Neo Shadows were not beyond her.
She couldn’t shake the feeling of ‘calm before the storm’ however as she returned to the palace. Maybe she could even hear the concert from there. That might make the stay with Prince Andrew somewhat tolerable.
“The infestation is heavy, but its production is weak. Those smaller Heartless are nowhere as big as they could be. The important thing is to find out where they are coming from.” Una noted that Prince Andrew seemed somewhat interested, though it could potentially be the two glasses of wine he’d drunk at dinner. Either way, they’d gone at least twenty minutes without aspersions being cast on her intelligence. Perhaps he could be made to listen.
The revelation and the crash came at the same moment. Stupid Una, hadn’t you just said it yourself earlier? They were feeding…”We’ve got to get out of the castle!”
“What…the?” small pieces of ceiling tile rained down on the Keyblader and the Prince as the castle shook around them. “What is going on here?”
“The Heartless responsible for your world’s infestation is UNDER YOUR CASTLE!” Una screamed, unable to restrain her ire any longer. “I told you they were attracted to the Darkness, and your heart is filled with it!”
The tower they were in began to pitch, so any reply Prince Andrew might have had was caught up in a yell of surprise as he started to slide towards and out of the open window. Una cursed brilliantly and threw herself after him.
She caught him, but also got a good look as to just was outside. A massive black dragon, flashing yellow eyes up at them both and ravaging the base of the tower, trying to dislodge them from their precarious perch.
“Get me back up! What kind of bodyguard are you?”
“I’m trying my best!” Una hauled back hard, then immediately dropped one hand to summon her keyblade. She dropped it directly down where it glanced off the beast’s head and returned to her hand. It roared in pain and confusion and took its eyes away from them for a few moments. She readied it for another strike, even though the arm supporting the Prince screamed in protest at her.
“Oh!” the sensation was back. The surprise of that deep feeling running through her, just as it had with Dyme was such a shock that she froze. Everything froze for a few moments, and it all went wrong at once.
Her hand convulsed, the Prince’s grip slipped from her abused arm and he fell down, straight into the gaping jaws of the beast.
Una stared in utter horror at what had just occurred but she prepared to leap over the edge and slay the thing anyway. Maybe there was still a chance. Before she could even start her run to take a good strong leap down however, the Heartless burst into flame, incinerating itself from the inside out, a pink heart spiralling away into the sky.
“Guess he didn’t taste very good, even for a Heartless.” Una peered down into the ashes and destroyed rubble and dirt but she couldn’t see anything of note.
She recovered quickly. Maybe she hadn’t been able to save the Prince however she had learned something about her instincts. It wasn’t over yet. With a concert in full swing, there was a powerful heart in danger, and a veritable feast for the Heartless to find.
“I hope you still know how to run away, Dyme.”
***
As Una raced back towards the village, she didn’t stop to see if the handsome redheaded man sitting outside the castle was alright, nor did she see the figure in a black hood who stopped to speak to him.
“So who are you? Death?”
The man laughed. “Nah, not a chance. I’m working on my second life…and by the looks of things, so are you.”
“A second life, huh? Who are you?”
“Name’s Xigbar. I’ve come to offer you a job.”
“I am Prince Andrew Edwards Latmos the Third. I definitely am not obligated to anyone’s employ.”
Somehow, he didn’t expect Xigbar to be impressed. He wasn’t disappointed. “I don’t think you’re that guy anymore. Plus, I don’t think you have much of a talent for keeping up a Kingdom. You do however seem to have a talent for destroying things. I thought that might be a wiser career move.”
The man thought about it. “Yeah. That sounds like more my deal. Sure thing, Xigbar.”
“Oh how fun.” Xigbar drawled sarcastically. “By the way, Im’ma name you Axel. All those fancy names are too annoying to remember.”
The newly dubbed ‘Axel’ gave the portal Xigbar opened up a cursory glance, shrugged and followed him through.
The screaming hit her ears right outside of town and Una winced, pressing further forward. People pushed by her and she helped where she could, destroying Heartless. Some Dusks were already there, looking around in confusion.
“Dyme!?”
A dusk turned to her.
“Ugh, get out of here.” She swiped at it with her keyblade and it swooped around her. No. She had to be right. Dyme would be like Saix. Like the others. Like that Prince would have been if he hadn’t got himself….eaten.
The portal opened on the other side of the amphitheatre made her look up in alarm, but there was a man down there, sitting up and looking around him in confusion. It was hard to tell from back here.
“Dyme!” she shrieked. “Dyme! Run away! Run away now!”
The figure that stepped from the portal looked over at her and waved, walking down towards Dyme.
“RUN! AWAY!” Una leapt the benches, struggling to get to where she was going before the man in black did.
“Two from this world? Not bad.” He pushed his hood down.
“Braig, get away from him!” Una didn’t care what asinine new name Braig had now. She was not failing anyone else from this world.
The gravity trap closed around her, slamming her hard into the stone floor of the world’s natural open air theatre. She gasped as the wind was knocked out of her lungs. Since when could Braig do THAT?
Casting an Aero spell, she struggled to her feet, shaking off the worst of the shock.
“Hm, not bad.” Something appeared in Braig’s hand out of the darkness, and for one wild moment she imagined he had summoned a keyblade. “But, the Superior said to go fetch, so here I am. I just wasn’t expecting to find a bonus.”
“The Superior?” Una was really at the end of the rope at this point. “Is that what you’re calling him now? What are you, Number Two?”
“Right in one.” Braig took aim at her.
“Braig, this is utterly stupid. You don’t have to follow that madman! He was creepy then and he’s creepy now! Just leave Dyme alone.”
“I’m real sorry Keyblade girlie, but it’s Xigbar now.” He glanced down at Dyme, thinking hard. “Hmmm, I wonder if Xemnas will go for ‘Demyx.’ I think it has a nice ring to it.” He raised his eye back to the target. “Now, let’s see if they teach you keybladers how to dance.”
The steady stream of fire kept Una occupied, but she fought her way forward, deflecting the bullets to reach Dyme. “Come on…let’s get out of here.” Her fingers closed on his shoulder and it was cold to the touch. The warm electricity that had once buzzed in her body when she’d touched him now was gone.
Her hand flew off of him, cold revulsion flooding her. She was overcome by the strongest urge to strike him and actually backed away before one of Xigbar’s bullets graze her arm, making it bleed.
“Get out of here Keyblade kid. I’m not gonna kill you today unless you make me. This is supposed to be a search and retrieve mission only.” He stopped firing, disappeared briefly and appeared right next to Dyme, who stood.
“C’mon kid, you’re gonna be Organization’s Number Nine. S’either that or hanging around waiting for this world to die. Given the competency of it’s keyblader, I bet that’s not long. ‘Course, I’m real interested to know how old Ansem got one of you down here, but if you were the best he had to spare, y’can’t be doing all that well.”
Una recognized defeat when she saw it. Xigbar was right. This world was doomed, and she herself had done it.
So this group of Xemnas’ had only nine members. There were hundreds of keybladers in the wings waiting to take her place and there were three more targets who were still out there. Nine would be the very last member.
She let her keyblade dissipate and plunged back into the night, missing the last words of Demyx.
“She’s leaving? I kind of wanted to go with her.” He eyed the black portal with trepidation. “I don’t think I trust that thing.”
To Be Continued