Kingdom Hearts: SfE Part 2 - The Final Keyhole and the Mark of Mastery

OOC:NOW the bird sides with us?!XD

 

ooc: Eq realizes something is wrong with Gexln, and isn't quite himself. So he will try to knock him out.

 

OOC:Fine with me...XD
BIC: Roxas got to his feet, shaking off pain. "Are you alright?"Kurix asked, concerned. "Yeah...I think so..."Roxas said. "Great... Heal!"Sora cast a quick cure spell on himself and Riku. "Light..."Valerie got her daggers ready to fight, not needing to heal or rest just yet.

 

The Darkness laughed as Equius charged at it. "You're pitiful!" it shouted. It leapt up into the air, landing a foot on Equius. Then it pushed down hard with the foot, attempting to force Equius to the ground as it leapt into the air and launched another dark firaga at the gummi.

 

Feeling quite winded from the attack, (it had almost hit his neck!) the great bird did fall for a small period of time. Sadly, the bird-brain was NOT down and out of the ring. After a few constricted breaths, he tried to jump up and drag Gexln down by the foot and slam him into the ground.

 

Roxas took another blow from the dark firaga to protect the gummi, feeling quite winded. Kurix looked at Roxas and then to the fight, taking a deep breath for courage. "Roxas, we gotta help them!"he said. "what do you think I was trying to do when I tried to summon my keyblades..."Roxas growled. "I-I'll get some weapons from inside!"Kurix went to get weapons from the gummi ship. "Hey! Leave the chocobo alone!"Valerie charged toward Gexln with her daggers. "Val!"Sora and Riku went in as her protection.

 

The Darkness slammed face first onto the ground, the body it was using weakened after the fight. In that very moment, two things happened. A small trickle of blood came from Gexln's nose, and The Darkness became dazed for a moment. Not very long, but long enough for Gexln to push the darkness aside and regain control. The Darkness screamed and bashed against Gexln's consciousness, demanding to be released once more, but Gexln held strong. He could still feel the seed of darkness in his body, and he feared what it would do if it stayed inside him much more, but he was exhausted so he couldn't do anything about it. Emotionally, he was destroyed. Physically, he was exhausted. Gexln had seen many things during the time the darkness had taken over, some of which were his victims' memories. He buried his head in his hands, and sobbed, not caring whether Valerie and the others ended his life or not.

 

You feel baffled by your subject. Sobbing? Was he SOBBING?! "UNACCEPTABLE! You are one of the dark! My dark! And a nobody! How could you be allowed this much emotions?!" Slamming your hand on your throne, your knuckles cracked and bled a bit from how dry the skin was from the cold of the darkness. You look at it, not caring about a new body and just trying to get out of this one. It was too weak for you to promise her survival. And that won't due.
You go to your storage, seeing one heart beeping words of encouragement to the broken one. You exit the female's body, and go back into dear Terra's. You clench your fists, much more happier with this strong body. You leave the other with its heart, smirking in the thought of any escape.

Life. Eden breathed in, sucking in as much air as possible but avoiding choking. Her eyes were blurred, slightly at the pain of coming back. She stared at Xehanort leaving, taking the heart with her. "Don't worry Terra." She stared at her hands, cringing at the fact some orange remained. Even silver highlights graced her hair, causing her to immensely frown. Traces of Xehanort were still within her... and it would take a lot of light to force it out. She walked around, pressing a hand against the walls of her cell, trying to punch it. It did nothing, though some darkness did steam off her hand. Xehanort's probably.

Equius nipped at Gexln's ear a bit, trying to comfort him. A sobbing humanoid was something he wanted to make sure to keep safe, it seemed like something Master wanted.

 

Valerie skidded to a stop, Sora and Riku crashing into her. "Is...he okay?"Valerie asked. "I dunno... What the heck happened back?"Sora looked over to Riku. "Don't look at me, I don't have any idea to how that happened... This is just great..."Riku groaned in annoyance. "Sora, try some fancy keyblade trick."Valerie said. "What? we don't even know whats wrong!"Sora snapped.

 

Equius nipped at Gexln further, trying to calm his fears.

Within the Dark Void of Xehanort's, Eden had been thinking of ways to escape her prison with Terra. She pressed a hand against the walls, finding they didn't hurt as much as she would have thought. That thought didn't please her. Putting the heart in her pocket, hoping the magic wasn't interfered, she tried to light herself up. Sadly, it was like lighting up in a Dark Firaga, and she immediately put herself out. "Damn...." She muttered, but felt surprised it was in the tongue of the dark. It wasn't harsh and glitchy with normal english like Xehanort's, but it wasn't without some trace of imperfection. The darkness around her still recognized it as their master's voice, allowing her to pass through. "Yes!" she clambered on out, looking for more hearts to rescue. Practically diving within the dark felt like thick water, and her body remembered quite well the trials of Australia's oozing dark sludge. It was somehow easier to move within, but then again she herself was immersed in the same darkness. She found plenty of poor unfortunate souls within the depths, plucking their hearts like wilted flowers. Few shone brightly, but some felt familiar... She could feel tugs to certain hearts, one that was painfully dark and another that kept flickering like it wanted to give up but it kept trying to find reasons to fight.
"Don't worry, I gotcha..." She plucked both hearts, grabbing a smaller one that still burned bright. She looked at her bounty, 30 normal hearts, and 3 special ones. She would have to find a way to purify them, and bring them to life. She "swam" up, leveling herself on the ground. "Time to leave."

 

Gexln stopped. Self-pity wouldn't get him anywhere. Wearily, he stood up, leaning on Darkness' Sorrow as he lifted himself to his feet. The cut on him from the fight with Blaige hurt more than he had realised. Upon remembering Blaige, he quickly scanned the area trying to find him, just in case he had to fight again. He noticed Valerie, Sora and Riku standing there, watching him. He swallowed. Quickly brushing away the few tears that were left, he spoke in an arrogant tone. "Haven't you got anything better to do than stand around gawking all day?"

 

Blaige groaned in pain, his hook trying to substitute hands to pick himself up. With a great groan, he flumped, unable to move with his pain-riddled body.
Equius gave a small sound, trying to calm Gexln down. He tried gently nipping his ears, in a kind gesture.

"Gexln. Come back... something is amiss." You slammed your fist upon you throne, getting up to find out where the darkness was shifting. Nothing should be moving, everything should be just as you wanted it.
"Shiz!" Eden squeaked, running to whatever could be deemed safest. That wasn't so easy here, and that slam sounded awfully closer than she'd like. So down into the depths she went, trying to keep hidden within the dark waters.

 

"Are you okay, Gexln?"Valerie asked, tilting her head. Sora and Riku realized how rude they were being, going to tend to their battle wounds more.

 

"I'm fine" Gexln said, ratehr gruffly. Amiss? What could possibly be amiss? he wondered. He opened a dark corridor. He turned to face the dark corridor, and now had his back to Sora, Riku, and Valerie. "Sooner or later, he's going to come for you. Sooner or later, he'll get you, Sora" Gexln warned as he stepped into the dark corridor leading to Xehanort.

 

"Well, at least he gave us a warning."Valerie said. "Right. we need to get to work."Riku said. "uh...doing what, exactly?"Sora asked. "Sealing worlds off that we haven't been to before. the worlds we've been to have pretty much been sealed away to where heartless don't have much acess. so that just leaves unexplored areas."Riku explained. "I like this idea. Lets go!"Valerie entered the gummi ship. Chester had stayed there the whole time, unaware of anything. Kurix and Roxas were in the gummi ship, Roxas telling Kurix that the weapons were no longer needed. Sora gave a small sigh, getting a sleeping Kisa while Riku gently carried Blaige into the gummi while he was unconcious.

 

Equius chirped a bit, following Gexln, just as Master would have wanted him to.
Within your world of Darkness, you sense something lurking about, hiding from your nose. "Come out..." You hiss, the darkness uneasy by your angered spirit. You notice Gexln coming in, not even caring about the bird he brought. "Someone is here. Lurking about, trying to escape. Find them and bring them to me."
Eden kept "swimming" within the darkness, trying to escape her captor. She kept the hearts safe, plucking more as she progressed. Protecting every heart she could was the best of ideas right now. It was a goal she could not fail.

 

"Any ideas where to start looking?" Gexln asked, wondering who the escapee could be.

 

"Just look anywhere that the darkness is shifting. Shifting with light." You order, going south to look.
Once she felt that he let for a far enough distance, Eden poked her head out of the seemingly level looking floor. She got out of it, walking as if on land once more. She was 20 paces west of Gexln. Looking around, she kept making sure that all the hearts were as safe as she was. Her eyes, tinged a golden yellow from Xehanort, locked with Gexln's own. Equius gave a little snipping noise at the sight of Master, running to her.

 

Gexln froze in place, unsure what he should do. He wasn't sure if Xehanort could see or hear him at that moment. "Eden? What happened to you?" he questioned, wondering slightly if it were the real Eden or an illusion Xehanort had sent to test him.

 

"Gex!" This Eden ran straight for the nobody, hugging him tightly. "Xehanort let me have my body back! Though... It's obvious some changes occured." She slightly tried to smile at him, but she looked more sad then anything. With a great sigh, she continued in the forced dark tongue. "Anyway, we gotta get out of here! I got your heart! You can be Glen again! But things are not looking good for the hearts, they are flickering out."