Chapter 41
You charged forward as you summoned your lightning blades to your hands. A keyblade formed in Vanitas' hands, which he used to guard your first strike before narrowly dodging your second. You had never seen a keyblade like it. It was so dark, void of any light, almost looking like a monster itself.
You didn't have a lot of time to ponder the makeup of his weapon as he launched his counter attack. He swung his blade with purpose, a strength and determination in his eyes. You refused to let it over come you. You were determined too. You crossed your blades in front of you, catching his keyblade were they met before repelling it back by quickly spreading your arms. Instead of leaving yourself open you continued the movement of your left arm in an arc, coming back to strike at him. Your right arm followed fluidly slashing toward his torso. He dodged the first strike easily but that was the whole purpose of the second. He wasn't quite able to move back in time as the blade grazed over his side only lightly slicing into skin. A wicked grin glossed over his face, his yellow eyes shimmering like an animal.
"Now that's not playing very nice," he clicked his tongue in distaste before mounting his counter strike. He swung at you in a rage. Pelting you with strike after strike. All you could do was back up toward the wall behind you as you moved your arms as fast as you could to block each strike. It took you a while to notice, what with his flurry of strikes and all, but he seemed to be striking only with the back of his blade.
Even in his rage he had no intention of seriously wounding you. Interesting to know. With your thoughts slightly off topic, you didn't notice the presence of the wall closing in behind you. In a second there'd be nowhere to run...
~Meanwhile on the other side of the wall~
"-----!" Ven called out to you but had no opportunity to intervene before Vanitas sent you through the ice wall.
"You can save her in a minute. We have to deal with this first!" Junpei exclaimed as he dove in front of Ven to defend him from the Dark Thorns incoming strike.
"Pay attention," Mitsuru scolded as she used her persona to attack the Dark Thorn with ice magic. "If you can't protect yourself how do you expect to protect others."
"Right," Ven shook his head clear before taking up his fighting stance, keyblade at the ready. He charged at the beast using wind magic to increase his speed. On his approach, he flipped himself into the air, rising high above its head. One strike, two strikes three strikes. Each connecting on the top of its head, stunning the Dark Thorn as he sailed through the air before landing defensively behind it.
Unfortunately, the beast was only stunned for a few seconds before it's shock turned to anger. In seconds, the Dark Thorn flicked out of its form and began darting through the hall, flying through the shadows in a dark purple haze. It moved so fast the eye could barely follow it. Out of nowhere it would rematerialize just to charge through one of the three before shifting into the shadows again.
They were taking a serious beating, none of them quite fast enough to interrupt its endless onslaught of attacks. Ventus couldn't think fast enough. His mind just kept traveling to the thought of being unable to save you. He wasn't focused. Junpei was doing all he could just to keep his sword in front of himself to block the full brunt of the Dark Thorns blows but he could only keep it up for so long, his stamina fading fast. Mitsuru was using a jagged block of ice to try and shield herself while scratching at the beast with each of it strikes. While it was making some impact, it wasn't doing enough damage to take down the beast before her magic energy ran out.
At this rate, they were done for.
"Found you," Came a quiet voice into Ven's ear. His eyes immediately widened as he recognised the voice coming through his earpiece. Zexion.
Before Ven could react, Zexion appeared in front of him, and beside him, and next to the others as well. In fact, there were forms of Zexion spread all through the hall. The Dark Thorn charged straight through them, each one flashing out on contact before being replaced by an identical copy.
"Who are you?" Mitsuru called out to one of the many Zexion's but none of them responded.
"He's with me," Ven called back to her and she relaxed a little but still remained on alert.
Zexion kept up his trick, quickly wearing down the Dark Thorns stamina. He seemed to be luring it toward the opening of the hallway. It was following his form in that direction taking each one out as it went, only this time they weren't reforming. When it reached the end of the hall it finally took out the last Zexion and with that he was gone.
"Holly crap! That thing just killed your buddy!" Junpei exclaimed as the Dark Thorn, now in full form, turned its attention back to the three of them. It roared in anger ready to take down the rest of them. As it was readying itself for its next attack, a great big buster sword struck it from behind. It let out an all mighty cry before collapsing to the floor revealing the owner of the sword behind it. Cloud struck down at it one last time before it burst apart into shadows. With that Tifa spoke up from next to him.
"Where's ------?"
Ven looked at the ice wall over his shoulder, "She's-"
~Meanwhile back with you~
Your back was to the wall, sword up to block his next strike when a ball of fire whizzed between the two of you causing Vanitas to jump back. Your attention snapped side ways to see Zexion standing just off to your left. How the hell did he get in?
"What the-" Vanitas was just as shocked as you were as he continued to jump backwards dodging an array of fireballs Zexion had aimed for his feet. With each ball he threw, Zexion stepped toward you until he was standing directly in front of you. You watched as he continued throwing fireballs at Vanitas, none of them connecting. Odd. Evidently Vanitas thought so too as he thrust his hand out straight through one acquiring no damage.
"These are illusions," he looked surprised. "That's one step shy of shadow manipulation. You're a dark mage!" Your eyes widened just as much as Vanitas'. If Zexion was a dark mage how did he survive in a government school so long without being caught? Zexion didn't reply to Vanitas and you didn't have time to string together any of the questions floating through your head before Zexion grabbed your arm.
"Let's go," was all he said before he tugged you through a dark portal of his own. It was official. He was a dark mage. The two of you popped back out just down from a four-way hall intersection where Cloud was standing with Tifa.
"Where's ------?" Tifa asked.
"We're here," Zexion tugged you into the middle of the intersection to stand next to the others. You got to the hallway just in time to see Ven looking over his shoulder and the ice wall shooting up in flames. Vanitas strode straight through the flame wall, looking like the devil himself.
"Now that's not very nice," He spat as he stalked forward filled with as much rage as the scorching flames behind him. Ven was closest to him, sat on the floor. On Vanitas' approach he scrambled back away. Vanitas continued until his foot struck something on the floor. He stopped his stride to look down on it. You couldn't see it from where you stood but you noticed his demeaner soften a bit. He bent down and picked it up, the wall of flames behind him began to die down before finally flickering out. It was then you noticed what it was. Ven's doll.
When Ventus saw it in Vanitas' hands he let out a gasp and went to move toward him, wanting to get it back.
"Don't Ven," you called out to him and he halted in his movement. Vanitas was just looking down at the doll in his hands before he let out an all mighty sigh like all his anger came flooding out of him. His eyes shot up to Ven before he gently tossed it over to him. Ven caught it and quickly shoved it into his pocket glancing nervously at Vanitas as he started walking forward again. Just before he reached Ven, Vanitas slipped into a dark portal, coming out of one a few feet behind you. You, Cloud, Tifa and Zexion all jumped to attention. Vanitas just let out another defeated sigh before reaching into his jacket pocket and taking something out.
"I'm returning this," Vanitas said as he tossed the object over to you. You caught it and looked at your hands. It was a little doll identical to Ven's except for the fact it was a faded yellow colour. Looking at it, you felt your eyes well up a bit but you didn't know why.
"What's this?" You called over to him, blinking away the tears in your eyes.
"It's me keeping our promise." He turned to walk away from you.
"I don't understand," you yelled back in frustration, he paused.
"The next time we meet, you're coming with me. Both of you." With that he continued walking down the hall.
"I'm not finished talking to you," you yelled, going to run after him.
"I don't think that's a good idea," Cloud grabbed your arm to stop you. Vanitas had turned down another hall and you'd lost sight of him. You just tugged your arm free and took off after him anyway. Just before you got to the corridor he turned down you felt a massive dark energy leave the tower. When you turned the corner all that greeted you was a green glowing circle on the floor, similar to the one that sent you into the tower. You spun around to see the others coming up behind you. You glanced back toward where Vanitas had disappeared, complete frustration taking over you.
"Damn it all!" You screamed in frustration kicking the wall before sliding down it as the others gathered around unsure of what to do. You just sat there holding your head in your hands raking your brain trying to remember. Trying to remember anything. But nothing came.
"Anyone else have absolutely no idea what just happened," You glared out at Junpei from between your fingers, his voice breaking your chain of thoughts. You let out an exasperated sigh.
"It's over. Let's just go."
A/N: Hey guys. Evidently in the last chapter when I said I wanted to post again before the new year I meant the next new year... Whoopsa-daisy. But seriously it has been way to long since I last updated and I'm very sorry about that. To all of you who are still enjoying my story even after my six-month hiatus, thanks. It makes my day every time I see someone has enjoyed my story. You're all legends. See ya in the next chapter~