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

"Protect!"Selphie cast a barrier around herself and Irvine. Sora and Riku watched Gexln charge, Sora unable to do anything. "Protect!"Riku said. but nothing happened... "no! No no no no NO!"he couldn;t believe his magic was gone. "Protect!"Valerie tried casting a shield on herself, hoping it would be enough.

OOC:SON OF A CHOCOBO, CURFIEW!DX

 

Still, Valdis swallowed Valerie whole, the protect spell keeping the human safe. It was nothing but darkness within the great pheonix, not a light anywhere. Not a sound, you couldn't even hear the outside.
Meanwhile, Valdis was hacking, trying to cough up the wretched human to properly chew her, but it was no use.

 

Gexln's eyes widened in shock at the sight of Valdis swallowing Valerie, and he quickly pulled back. He laid the Shadow Keyblade on the ground. "If i am to do this, it must be done properly" he stated. He looked over to Anti Sora and went to assist, but stopped. Something within hurt. If he had a heart, he would've sworn that's what was aching. Words echoed in his mind.

"Gex, I trust you. Just promise me, if I do become a heartless, put me back to normal"
"Okay"

He placed one hand on his skull, willing the voice to stop. He pushed forward towards Riku, intending to end the dark wielder once and for all.

 

Valdis sensed her Master's pain, but too busy trying to figure out her own.
To Valerie, in the darkness, there was a bit of light, but it was faded, and some parts were bright. Like it was hiding behind something with holes. It came from the center of darkness, which somehow seemed to be a vast area to the pheonix heartless.

 

Valerie kept up the protect spell, trying to find its way to the light... "Hold on, Eden..."

"Riku!"Sora took an elixir from one of his pockets on his belt, tossing it to Riku. Riku took the elixir, gulping it down. he shivered, feeling refreshed. "Sora, hang tight! We'll get these heartless out of your hair soon!"Selphie said. "I doubt 'soon', Selph.."Irvine groaned.

 

A wisp of warm steamy light encircled Valerie, weakly guiding her to a black shiny rock. It looked more like a beetle's black shell, but that didn't make it any weaker. There were fine lines that guided to the weakest point of it, the middle. The small wisp of a voice hit Valerie's ears. Please free me...
Valdis was becoming enraged, going into a frenzy that grew the more Valerie had gotten closer to her core. Ear splitting shrieks and infernos mimicking magma flows filled her breath. She tried to do something, anything to stop the pain.

 

Valerie winced, trying to keep up the protection spell in case the heartless tried anything. She took her daggers, using the lines as a guideline to the weakpoint. "Light..."at the words her daggers started to glow a glimmer of white. "Here goes nothing...!"She dug both of her daggers into the middle.

Sora gasped at the bird, hoping Valerie was okay. He was reaching his limits with the heartless attacking the barrier, not sure if his magic would last much longer.

 

And like the pheonix of the legends, this one exploded into ash. This frightened the heartless that hadn't been caught in the earlier fury, running away. And again, like the Pheonixes of myths, from the ashes were born a freed heart, and Valerie. The free heart morphed into it's original form, Eden with longer hair, Riku's clothing that she had borrowed before, and a few battle scars. With a heavy thump, she fell to the ground in a big tired heap.

 

"Eden!" Jeffrey ran through the ash remains of the Heartless towards his friend. He shook one of her shoulders. "Are you okay?" Without a response, he turned to Valerie. "We're gonna have to carry her, huh?"

 

"Did I do it...?"Valerie refused to open her eyes, covered in the ashes. Sora put down the barrier, residents gasping as the brunette passed out from exhaustion. "Way to go, Valerie!"Riku gave the young brunette a thumbs up. "She did it...by herself."Selphie was amazed. "Well whaddya know..."Irvine chuckled. Now all focus could go to Gexln with all of the fighters....

 

Eden groaned with pain, coughing at the intake of ashes that covered with her. "Sh-t man... Where am I?" she looked around, seeing Gexln, and a large ring of ashes covering most of the island. "What happened? Did Gex put me back to normal?"

 

"No. A heartless kinda possessed you and turned you evil. Gexln then betrayed us. The ashes are from battling you and the fires off in the distance are from the main island..."Valerie explained. "That pretty much sums it up."Selphie said. "What do we do about him...?"Irvine looked over to Gexln. With the heartless gone it was 10 against one, Riku smirking at the odds.

 

Eden glanced at everyone going to attack Gexln, and she weakly ran to help him. Standing in front of him with shaky knees, her eyes turned into dark orbs. "He's innocent." her voice was deep with echoing tones. She wanted to hear what had happened. Summoning her red Keyblade of Fire, she glared at the people before her.

 

The residents that were left cowered in fear, Sora's parents holding their unconcious son. Rikus mother looked at Eden, a bit suprised. "Eden, he killed so many with that beast.... How can you say he's innocent?"Riku snapped. Irvine went over to the residents, Selphie making sure Sora was okay. Valerie didn't say anything, wondering what was up with Eden after what had happened.

 

Eden groaned in her headache, her figure returning to normal, but the anger hadn't simmered. "He is innocent because he is a Nobody. I volunteered to house you, and he volunteered to take you out. He followed a request. But at the same time, while he has done good, he has also fought against us. He is neutral, as all nobodies are. They just want their goal, no matter how many good or bad deeds need to happen." She glared at Riku with ferocity. "He has saved our lives and almost ended them at the same time." she brushed away the ashes, coughing. "I know I was a Heartless, but it was just a heartless of myself that tried to help him reach his goal. That is what happened."
She again recalled on some thin memories, pertaining to Riku. "Don't you remember doing whatever you could to achieve your goal and revive Kairi? Even if that mean killing Sora and innocents everywhere?"

 

Riku winced, not wanting to recall bad memories. "I understand.... I guess I was just furious about the betrayal... I couldn't think clearly."he shook his head. "So uh...what are we gonna do about Gex? Take him back or let him go?"Valerie asked. Chester came out of the gummi, Rikus bag in its mouth. It was pretty sure it was safe to come out now... "eeep! One of the came back!"Selphie squeaked. "Easy there, Selph. I don't think it's a harmful one."Irvine looked at the Shadow.

 

Eden hardened her stare to Riku, but eased the tension on her body. She growled at anyone that would get too close to Gexln, making sure he had the time to react. "I don't want to have a war. Now all stand down." Her attitude and slightly grayed eyes seemed to feel higher and mightier then the others. How prideful.

 

Selphie put away her nunchaku, Irvine having already put down his rifle. "Come here..."Valerie picked up Chester. Riku sighed, looking over to Sora. "ooow....my heeead..."Sora slowly came to, feeling like he had gotten hit by a train.

 

OOC: Not ALL the heartless there had gone there of free will you know? One was summoned and not slain.

IC: Gexln stood still, frozen in place as he looked at the keybearers. He wasn't sure if he should help them or try to slay them. He held the blade in a defensive stance, yet was not as tense as he ought to be. His eyes widened in shock as a black keyblade was thrown straight past him, right at Riku. He looked to where it had been thrown from, only to see the three copies of Anti Sora standing there, a little TOO confident.

"You shall die now, creator" the middle Anti Sora said. The other two nodded in approval as all three advanced towards Riku.

Gexln took a step into the path of the heartless, wearily holding Darkness' Sorrow and fighting against exhaustion. "I started this mess..it's my duty to..to.." he said. He collapsed onto one knee quickly. He then took a deep breath and stood up. He was by no means capable of an intense battle. "Leave.." he ordered.

 

OOC:It's about TIME, Gex!XD
BIC:
"Protect!"The barrier around Riku blocked the dark blade, Sora seeing the Antis. "Oh great... They're still here."Riku growled. "Sure you don't want our help, Ri?"Valerie asked. Riku sighed. "Irvine, take care of the residents. Sora, you look after Gexln." "Gotcha." "Roger!" Irvine went to protect the citizens while Sora went over to Gexln. "You're not gonna try and kill us when I give you this, will you?"He took an elixir from another pocket on his belt.

Valerie took her daggers back out, staying by Rikus side in case the Anti Sora's tried anything funny....