The air was thick with tension! It had all come down to this! Kyle was now finally head to head with Jexana, and now, the coming battle would determine Ventus' fate! But the problem with this was the fact that Ventus himself was participating in this battle as well, which made this a very difficult obstacle for Kyle to overcome! But even with this potent obstacle, Kyle still stood strong, and he wasn't going to back down now! Not when he was finally so close to freeing Ventus from Jexana's hold! Emmxett and Tsumugi, who had been repelled by Kyle's barrier, remained just outside said barrier, closely keeping their eyes on the battle at hand! Braig remained where he was, and he was quite amused by everything that was happening. Apparently, he wasn't going to make his move yet!
"Heh, let's see how well you do against your own dad and my little sister...this'll be an interesting match-up..." he said to himself.
And so, Kyle, Jexana and Ventus remained standing there momentarily, and an eerie silence befell them. It seems as though they were all waiting on who would make the first move! After a few more seconds, Kyle decided that he would be the one to make the first move, as he leapt up and delivered a powerful Blitz attack that made both Ventus and Jexana whirl backwards defensively! Kyle immediately then took this advantage and then proceeded to launch multiple streams of Dark Light energy, trying his best to make sure he could concentrate all his fire on Jexana! He only fired at Ventus when it seemed as though he was going to attack him! Otherwise, he kept a closeful watch on him and kept him in place with a Bind spell! But, with Kyle's attention split, Jexana took the initiative and then used her power of darkness to extend out her hand, causing a darkened, clawed hand to extend from her arm and straight towards Kyle! On instinct, Kyle instantly got out of the way, therefore his attack was stopped! That's when Ventus launched himself towards Kyle, as the two clashed! His face was grim and full of determination to protect Jexana! Kyle clashed with Ventus over and over, until they reached a stalemate!
"I don't want to hurt you, Dad! Please, come back to your senses! You've got the power! I know you can break free!" he exclaimed, hoping he could knock some sense into Ventus! And for a moment, it seemed as though Ventus was trying to fight back Jexana's hold over him!
"Kyle...this is too risky...I might end up killing you...please, go to our friends...forget about me!" Ventus said, trying his best to hold himself back from attacking Kyle! Jexana caught wind of this, and her face immediately flared up with anger!
"Not a chance! I'm not going to abandon you!" Kyle proclaimed, and then, he broke the stalemate and cast Slow on Ventus, the spell succeeding in slowing him down! Jexana quickly launched a dark claw at Kyle and managed to grab him, then proceeding to pull him towards her! Just when she was about to use her free hand to form a dark blade with which to pierce through Kyle, he immediately broke free of her, and then backflipped away from her dark blade! Jexana then gritted her teeth and cursed under her breath! Things were falling out of control fast!
"This isn't good...this stupid boy has too much determination....he's breaking through to my beloved....if this fight drags on, Ventus will leave my side! I can't let that happen!" she thought to herself as she clenched her fists! Her anger was apparent, as darkness was seeping out of her intensely! She then summoned forth two dark longswords and propelled herself towards Kyle, and the two started to clash violently! They both kept up to each other, in terms of speed and strength! Jexana was baffled by the fact that Kyle still had this much energy within him, even after having endured a battle with Stralus! The fact that Kyle was still at full strength was something that irritated her greatly! She wasn't going to stand for it, and so she increased the output of her dark energy, therefore giving her longswords a greater reach! She managed to slice Kyle up a bit, but just barely! Kyle leapt back and seemed to be affected by the attack! Jexana smirked and chuckled to herself.
"Well, it looks like you're getting a bit rusty...I'm not going to let you get out of here alive...you will die by my hand!" she shouted! Kyle touched his abdomen, and he felt a slight sting from the attack Jexana had just delivered to him! He kept himself calm, and he took a deep breath.
"I always knew this wasn't going to be easy...now, all I have to do is keep focusing..." he thought to himself as he took another deep breath! Within a few seconds, they clashed anew! Emmxett and Tsumugi observed the battle, and they were impressed by the fighting on display!
"It seem as though Jexana's going all out on Kyle...she's unleashing all of her strength, little by little. Who wins this battle really depends on how Kyle goes about it..." he thought aloud. Tsumugi looked at him and tilted her head in curiosity.
"What do you mean?" she asked. Emmxett glanced at her momentarily, and then looked onward to the battle again.
"You see, the stakes here regard Ventus. As you already know, he's the boy's father, and the fact that he's battling both Jexana and Ventus himself gives the boy quite the challenge. He's trying to fight with his full strength, while making sure he doesn't harm his father fatally. At some point, Jexana's going to exploit that, and when she does, the boy is done for." he answered. Tsumugi nodded.
"I see. Then the boy is in quite a fix..." she replied.
"Indeed." Emmxett nodded.
A few seconds later, the Slow spell that had been cast on Ventus had now worn off, and he was now back into the fray! He dashed towards Kyle and then attempted to strike his back, but Kyle was able to notice Ventus' attack and leapt out of the way! Ventus then attempted to attack Kyle with Strike Raid, but Kyle managed to block the attack, and he counterattacked with another Bind spell! But this time, Ventus was able to avoid it, and he quickly performed his Flame Salvo technique! Numerous streaks of flame started to shoot out from Ventus' Keyblade as he encircled himself in flames, and the flames, in turn, headed directly towards Kyle! Since they were so numerous, Kyle simply stayed in place, and then he closed his eyes and focused his energy, and when he opened them, he raised both of his hands, and a giant piller of ice was summoned, and it managed to stop the attack some, but even so, some streaks of flame passed through, but Kyle was able to absorb these with his Keyblade! He then delivered them back as Firaga missiles and aimed them straight at Jexana! Ventus immediately got in the way, though, and batted the missiles away! Kyle cursed under his breath! He should have expected this!
"Damn...this is a lot harder than I thought it would be..." he thought to himself, but even with the situation at hand, he remained level-headed, and he made sure to keep his focus on the battle!
Taking a moment to think of his next move, he decided to go on the defensive, and so, he cast Shell and Protect on himself, therefore raising his defense! He then charged at Ventus and Jexana with Ars Arcanum, delivering each strike of the attack with fatal precision! He made sure not to hurt Ventus too badly, while he added extra force when a hit landed on Jexana! But Ventus was blocking each strike, as was Jexana, and when Kyle finished his attack, Ventus and Jexana countered with one of their own! A combined attack in which Ventus cast Aeroga, sending Kyle up into the air! While in the spell, Jexana teleported herself up towards the spell and then dived into it, filling it with darkness, concentrating its energy so it would sap Kyle of his strength! She then summoned forth her dark knives and started to hack away at Kyle! For the moment, he was defenseless, but thanks to Shell and Protect, the damage was halved, and therefore, he didn't get as seriously injured as he might have otherwise been, had he not cast protective spells on himself! As Kyle landed on the ground, he attempted to cast Stopga, but Jexana immediately caught wind of this and summoned forth her dark serpents to seize him!
"Oh no, you don't! Not on my watch!" she hissed, as she moved her hands in rhythm with the dark serpents! She controlled their actions, and when she clasped her hands together, the two serpents merged to form a giant, dark cobra! It hissed as its yellow eyes gleamed menacingly, and Kyle was now blocking each attack the dark cobra landed on it! It even cast Poison, but Kyle managed to dodge each attempt the dark cobra made at poisoning him! Jexana was determined though, and she was pouring all of her strength to ensure Kyle would not have an opening!
"Witness my power, you fool! Witness as your foolish attempts to separate Ventus from me end in total and absolute failure!" she proclaimed confidently, as she swung both her hands down, causing the cobra to open its mouth wide! It managed to get to Kyle, and it bit him, and he yelped out in pain! His left arm was now covered in Jexana's darkness, and as such, it was paralyzed! Jexana smirked and gave out a satisfied cackle as she saw Kyle wince in pain!
"That's it! Feel the pain I am inflicting on you! Feel every ounce of it, and die!" she shouted, as she kept swinging her arms in different directions, causing the dark cobra to move with swift agility and attack with great ferocity! Even with his limp left arm, he was able to dodge the cobra's attacks successfully, and as soon as he could catch his breath, he cast Esuna on himself, which slightly improved his left arm's condition! But even so, it remained limp! Kyle scoffed.
"Yeah, I should have figured as much...but still, at least my arm's a bit better now...." he thought to himself, and then he glanced briefly at Ventus, who was heading towards him!
"Come on Dad...come on!!!" he thought to himself, as the two of them clashed anew! Jexana soon joined the clash and therefore forced Kyle to hold the two of them back! He was being overwhelmed by them, but when he took a deep breath, he let out a burst of Dark Light energy, which sent Ventus and Jexana falling back! Then, Kyle imbued his Keyblade with Dark Light, increasing its attack capabilities! He was thinking of going into his Feral form again, but he thought it was too soon, given the fact he had used his Feral form against Stralus! And so, he decided against using his Feral form, and instead relied on his current strength!
"I can do this...I need to do this!!!" Kyle whispered to himself in determination!
Braig watched as the action unfolded, and he was smirking, almost on the brink of laughter! He had his arms crossed, and he was enjoying quite the view of the battle! He clapped his hands and felt pleased by what he was seeing!
"Heh, this kid's already doing a good job of ticking my little sister off! Looks like I might not even have to step in, after all! But I'm probably giving the runt too much credit..." he thought to himself, but then he shook his head. "Heh, as if! There's a reason the Key Of Balance chose him...and I'm going to keep my eyes glued to this fight until its over!" he thought to himself as he continued to smirk!
Jexana made it her priority to ensure that Kyle wouldn't be able to attack, and so she pounced on him, delivering fast and fatal strikes, which Kyle was managing to dodge and block, but just barely! Jexana then leapt back and slammed her fist into the floor, causing numerous dark spikes to burst from the floor! In addition to the dark cobra she had summoned, Kyle was being heavily pinned! With no other option, he simply braced himself for the coming attacks and then took them head on! Due to the protective spells he'd cast on himself, the damage wasn't all that fatal, but it did prove to stagger him quite a bit! After he dropped to the ground, Ventus quickly followed suit and attempted to subdue Kyle with a powerful Quick Blitz attack, but Kyle managed to dodge it with a somersault and then he kicked Ventus, sending him crashing on the barrier wall! Kyle then propelled himself and struck through the dark cobra, desintigrating it! Jexana was momentarily caught off guard, and it cost her, as Kyle managed to graze her shoulder quite a bit! She leapt back, though, and thust managed to prevent herself from being harmed any further! She took a moment to glance at her wound, and she gritted her teeth as she saw blood dripping from her shoulder!
"You will not win, Kyle! You will die, YOU WILL DIE!!!" Jexana exclaimed, now enflamed by anger! She dashed towards Kyle at insanely fast speeds, and she managed to break Kyle's block, and then she delivered a series of insanely fast strikes and jabs, and then she summoned her dark knives and stabbed Kyle repeatedly! At this point, Kyle's protective spells had worn off, and so now, he was feeling the full pain the attacks were inflicting upon him! He grunted and shouted in pain, and Jexana, noticing she had the upper hand, smirked and kicked Kyle furiously in the abdomen, causing Kyle to momentarily feel out of breath! He crashed on the floor with a sickening crack! He quickly stood up and cast Curaga on himself, but even so, his wounds were still great, and while the Curaga spell did greatly numb out the pain, it wasn't enough to close up the wounds!
"This is not good...I'm not getting anywhere here..." he thought to himself as he eyed Jexana and Ventus, who was heading towards him! Jexana smirked and crossed her arms.
"Ventus, my love! Finish this fool who would separate us!" she commanded, and Ventus nodded grimly, and in an instant, he dashed towards Kyle and performed Thunder Surge, managing to shock Kyle and send him tumbling down on the floor again! Before Kyle could stand up, Ventus kicked him and stabbed his right arm! Had Ventus' aim been a bit higher, he would have beheaded Kyle! At this point, Kyle entered into a momentary state of panic! His own father had almost killed him! Before he could say anything, though, he noticed that Ventus' eyes were struggling to turn back to normal! He was fighting back!
"Kyle...I'm so sorry...I almost killed you!" Ventus said through gritted teeth and frustrated tears! Kyle smiled and grunted in pain, and he removed Ventus' keyblade from his arm and slowly stood up.
"Don't worry, Dad...just hang in there a bit longer!" he said! Jexana saw what was happening, and she growled in anger and then prepared to cast a powerful spell on Kyle!
"Ventus, don't hesitate! Take him down now!" she shouted, and unfortunately, Ventus reverted back to his grim self, and he attempted to swing his Keyblade at Kyle, but this time, Kyle was able to cast Bind successfully, therefore forcing Ventus to stay put where he was! In addition, Kyle cast Stopga as well, thus disabling Ventus from moving at all! That's when Kyle knew that he had the upper hand! Jexana gave out a desperate, infuriated shout, and she unleashed a powerful Zero Graviza spell on Kyle! The force behind the spell was so great, that Kyle found himself barely walking! The weight of the spell was so much, that he was almost crushed into the floor! But he stood strong, and he ensured that he wouldn't let this spell stop him! He pushed through it, and then he cast Aeroga on her, causing her to whirl left and right with the trajectory of the spell! He then concentrated his energy and then flung his Keyblade! Jexana was just about to block it, and that's when Kyle smirked.
"I have to tell you, that's not going to work." he said. Jexana raised an eyebrow.
"What!?" she demanded! She then unwillingly found herself being pulled forward towards Kyle! That's when he braced himself to prepare another attack!
"It's a new technique I was practicing called Magnet Raid! It allows me to pull up close any enemy that's too far away from me to reach! And luckily, it seems my technique worked like a charm!" he said, as he delivered a devastatingly hard punch to Jexana's stomach when she finally came close to Kyle! Her eyes opened wide as she felt out of breath, and then she found herself being pushed back, and then pulled back towards Kyle again! This time though, when she came close to him, he grasped his Keyblade and delivered a deadly powerful strike that managed to deal significant damage to Jexana! She screamed in pain as she fell to the ground!
"No!!! Impossible!!! I won't die here!!!" she shouted through frustrated anger! Emmxett and Tsumugi were shocked at what was happening, for they couldn't believe Jexana was being bested! Whereas Emmxett was starting to get desperate, Tsumugi was feeling very much hopeful inside! She closed her eyes for a moment and felt quite relieved!
"He's doing it...he's actually doing it...he's defeating Jexana! Once he defeats her, he'll be able to free his father! And perhaps I can finally break free as well..." she thought to herself. She quickly snapped back to reality, to make sure Emmxett wasn't looking at her! Luckily, he was too busy worrying about how the battle was turning out! Braig remained where he was, and he was definitely impressed by what he was seeing! Kyle was delivering quite the amazing battle, and Braig was all the more pleased for it!
"Yep...the Key Of Balance chose him wisely...that kid's got great power...and I'll have it all for myself once this battle's wrapped up." he said as he chuckled to himself. He then looked at his right hand and closed it in a fist, clenching it with determination! "Soon...I'll finally have a Keyblade...and I'll finally be able to spring my plans into action. Working with Xehanort may have left me empty handed, but that won't be the case this time...this time, things will go my way, and I'll be the one to claim victory in the end!" he thought to himself, feeling very confident with the way things were turning out!
"The Keyblade will soon be mine..."
---
Meanwhile, Dawn had bid her farewells to her friends in San Fransokyo, and now that things were settled and the surviving citizens were to be picked up by Cid, she was ready to head back to Alaya's temple, alongside Yen Sid and Xion! They were in the outskirts of the city, and Dawn was looking at her surroundings! A great emotion of sadness weighed on her, and Xion could definitely sense it grasping her. She walked towards Dawn and then put her hand on her shoulder. Dawn was startled a bit as she glanced back, for she seemed to have been thinking of something. She then offered a sad smile quickly afterward, and Xion smiled back.
"I know things are rough...but we'll make sure to set things right." she said. Dawn nodded silently, and said nothing. Fred's death had been something that was still weighing on her heavily. She was right beside him, and she hadn't been able to protect him! That fact haunted her! And then, almost as if Yen Sid had been peering into her mind, he cleared his throat to speak.
"Dawn, you did all that you could to defend this world and its people. Should you have given in to despair, things would have taken a far more drastic turn..." he said. Dawn clenched her fists and gave out a sigh.
"That may be...but people still died on my watch...and that's something I know I have to carry with me...but I'll carry this weight...for it's mine to bear." she said, but this time, her face was full of determination! "I'll see this through to the end, and once we finally bring an end to this war...all of the departed can truly rest in peace! Until then, I shall bear the responsibility of their deaths..." she concluded. Xion and Yen Sid were so impressed by Dawn's determination, that they did not question her! Yen Sid then walked forward, and with a wave of his hand, opened a portal! He then glanced back and looked at both Xion and Dawn!
"Now then, are we ready?" he asked. They both nodded, and then he nodded as well.
"Very well then...let us proceed." he said, and with that, the three of them went through the portal, and after a few seconds, they arrived at Alaya's temple! They noticed that quite the battle had taken place, for the entire temple and the surrounding area was in bad shape! They headed towards the entrance of the temple, and once inside, they saw Alaya, who was sitting at the bottom of the stairs leading upwards! The others were nowhere to be seen! Alaya took notice of them arriving, and then she stood up, with a smile of relief on her face!
"Ah, you have returned, Dawn. I am relieved to see that you are safe. Xion, Master Yen Sid, I am glad to have you both here as well! Welcome to my temple!" she said as she stretched out her arms cordially. Yen Sid bowed his head and Xion gave a smile. Dawn simply nodded.
"Thank you Alaya...any word on the others?" Dawn asked. Alaya pointed towards the resting quarters.
"They are all currently resting. Such is the toll this war has taken on them, and I told them that while we waited for all the bearers of the Key Of Balance to gather, we would rest up and heal our wounds. It is good to have you returned safely here." she said as she bowed down respectfully. Before anyone said anything else, Kairi came through the entrance as well, along with Maleficent, Pete, Armored Eraqus and Guardian Xehanort!
"We've returned! Thanks to Maleficent and the others, I was able to get my Key Of Balance. Plus, we were able to stave off an immense invasion of Arendelle! I'm sorry for having come later than expected!" Kairi said as she bowed apologetically. Alaya shook her head.
"No, there is no need to apologize, Kairi. The important thing is that you are here now, and you helped keep one of the many worlds safe! Tell me, is everyone in Arendelle alright?" she asked. Kairi nodded.
"Yes! It was hard, but I was able to convince Lilith Valkyrie and her Knights Of Yggrdrasil to withdraw from Arendelle. It wasn't easy to convince them to leave, but thankfully, I was able to help drive them away without meriting violence. I say that was a job well done!" Kairi explained. Alaya agreed and crossed her arms.
"I am truly grateful that Arendelle didn't have to suffer a grim fate. For now, that world shall be safe, but if things keep progressing at an alarming rate in terms of our enemy's plans, it will only be a matter of time until we are all drowned in the chaos of this conflict..." Alaya said with a worried tone. Maleficent scoffed.
"Hmph, all of you are insane if you think you'll be able to take down the impossible odds standing against you...but since we're here to assist you, I suppose we have no other choice than to face the impossible odds, no matter how disastrous the end result will be..." she mentioned as she closed her eyes. Pete had a worried face, and he scratched his head and gave off a nervous chuckle. It seemed as though he wanted to say something, but was contemplating on whether or not it was wise to speak his mind! Armored Eraqus and Guardian Xehanort simply remained silent and stood near the entrance, keeping a watchful eye outside! Pete then decided he needed to get his thoughts off of his mind, even if Maleficent scolded him greatly!
"Well, er, pardon me, everybody, but this whole situation screams hopelessness! I think the wise thing to do here is to run away and live to fight another day! After all, sometimes doing that is best, if we wanna survive, that is..." he suggested. Maleficent quickly gave him an intimidating glare and shook her head in disapproval.
"You dimwitted oaf! I will not have you running away! You will stay by our side and face the inevitable! Do not think you will get out of this situation! This war is everywhere! Even if we did run, there would be no safe haven for us, for we would face war at every turn!" she barked back! At that, Pete squirmed a bit and looked down to the floor and kicked the ground.
"Y-yeah, I know, I know! I was just speaking my mind is all..." he said to himself softly.
"I know that things are greatly intimidating...but we must not lose heart...now go rest. There is still one more chosen who has not returned. Go rest now." Alaya said, and everyone then bowed in appreciation and went upstairs towards the resting quarters! Only Dawn and Yen Sid remained. Soon after, Cid's airship came, and as soon as it landed, denizens from many destroyed worlds started to walk out of the airship! Those, along with the citizens from Disney Castle, all went into the temple, weary and distraught and filled with sorrow! Alaya then stepped forward and walked towards the incoming homeless people, and she gave a bow of welcome.
"Welcome, one and all, to my temple!" she greeted. She let those words sink in, as everyone stared at her. She gave a soft smile and looked at the tearful eyes of all the homeless people that had been stripped of their home worlds because of the darkness of the Keyblade War!
"My dear people...I know that right now, this is a time of great strife and grief for one and all! I understand that all of you come from worlds which have been destroyed by the darkness, ravaged by the fires of the Keyblade War...and I know that this is not easy! But rest assured! Here you shall find sanctuary, and as long as I draw breath, no harm shall come to you! We will protect you and ensure that you survive this harrowing conflict! Our honor and our word is our bond with all of you. We shall do our best to end this war, and ensure that all of you can behold a new tomorrow! But until then, rest, for your minds and hearts and souls are weary. My sincerest condolences go to all of you..." she said as she bowed once again. It was obvious that Alaya's words held great power, for her words had seemed to strike a chord in everyone who entered the temple, and even though their sorrow could not be erased, at least their hearts were now filled with hope! And so, Alaya tended to the newcomers and guided them to their resting quarters. Cid, along with Aerith, Yuffie, Leon and Merlin, walked towards Dawn and Yen Sid.
"Whew! Well, that's that! We saved as many people as we possibly could!" Cid said with an exhausted huff, as he sat down near the set of stairs leading to the resting quarters. "I gotta tell ya...seeing all these people with so much despair written all over their faces is a tough thing to watch...it hasn't been easy...but luckily, we were able to save as many people as we could, and that's what counts!" he said. Aerith, who was standing by Cid's side, clasped her hands together.
"Even though everything seems to be going wrong for everyone, in the end, everything will go back to normal!" she stated, as cheerful as ever! Dawn could tell the sorrow Aerith was hiding, though. Aerith was insanely good at masking her emotions, and right now, this whole situation was hurting Aerith deeply. But, she put on a brave face to stay strong for everyone! Dawn couldn't help but feel a strong sense of respect for this woman! Yuffie stretched her arms out and stretched her back as well, giving out a huff!
"Well, I'm telling you, the Heartless and Unborn are growing by the minute! In all the worlds we went to, they were swarming by the thousands! Heck, I could even say millions! Thank goodness we were able to come back, though!" she said as she sat down on the floor, not able to hold back her exhaustion anymore! Leon was a little apart from the others, and he had his back leaning against the wall.
"We have to make our move soon, or otherwise, things will take a turn for the worse. And right now, we're already neck deep into this whole chaos...we need to play our cards wisely..." he said as he closed his eyes, as he lost himself in his thoughts. Merlin came over and sat down by Cid's side, and he put his hands together and looked at everyone grimly.
"Well, there's obviously no sugarcoating it...things are bad! But...let's hope we still have a plan of action!" he said as he stroked his beard. Yen Sid agreed.
"Yes...we must have a clear plan of what to do before we can proceed any further..." he remarked. Dawn was about to say something, but from the corner of her eye, she noticed someone, and she couldn't help but look at whoever was coming down the stairs! When she saw who it was, her eyes opened wide!
"Father!!!" she yelled! Kosaku immediately noticed Dawn, and his eyes opened wide, and the two of them ran towards each other and embraced each other lovingly! The others smiled, for they knew that in this time of crisis, Dawn needed all the rays of light that would appear before her. Kosaku was one such bright light! They both embraced each other and then pulled away from one another, and took a few seconds to eye each other over. Kosaku had a proud smile on his face.
"My dear daughter...I am very happy to see you safe and sound. Words cannot even begin to express how happy I am to see you!" he stated, and it was apparent by the look on his face that he was indeed happy!
"And I'm so happy to see you doing well, father! Tell me, how have you been since the last time we spoke?" she asked.
"Well, life has been quite busy as of late. I, along with my comrades, have taken to traveling the worlds and protecting them from insurging threats. After what happened with Xylek, I decided that the Order Of The X-Blade needed to be more active, and so we set out to patrol the worlds and ensure their safety." he answered. "But lately, things have taken quite the turn, for the Keyblade War has stirred quite the chaos everywhere. I cannot tell you how horrible this whole affair is, and my comrades are all equally perplexed by all this. For even with all our efforts, the worlds have fallen, and more keep falling as time passes...I blame it upon myself. If I had acted sooner, then things would have been different, and..." he drifted off, but Dawn held his face and gave him a sad smile.
"Father, please don't burden yourself with the past. I know that you regret what's happened, but the best thing you can do to atone is to act. And that's what you've been doing! You've been doing all in your power to help us in our fight against Jexana and her fleet! You don't know how much I appreciate your help!" she said. Those words apparently struck Kosaku, for his sad expression had changed into a smile! He embraced his daughter once again, and they both held their embrace.
"I love you very much, my dear daughter." he said. Dawn smiled, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"I love you too, father!" she replied! Kosaku then pulled away, and he motioned his head upstairs. Dawn was confused for a moment, and then Kosaku leaned closely and nudged her shoulder.
"I'm not the only one who's been wanting to see you." he said with a soft chuckle. Dawn then noticed Riku, who was looking at her with a smile on his face! Kosaku then lightly put his hand on her shoulder. She glanced back. "Go. He's been waiting for you." he said. Dawn nodded and smiled, and then she ran towards Riku, and the two of them embraced tightly, and then they kissed each other with loving passion! It had been a while since they had seen each other, and now, they just didn't want to let go of each other! They wished this moment could last forever! After a few seconds, they pulled away from each other, and they looked into each other's eyes.
"I've missed you..." Dawn whispered with a hint of lust in her voice. Riku chuckled and held her close.
"Easy there, girl. Heh, I've missed you too." he replied, as they both enjoyed the moment they were sharing together now.
---
Back at Jexana's airship, the battle was intensifying by the second! Jexana was now resorting to using increasingly brutal attacks, extending the range of her spells and using the power of darkness to summon multiple dark snakes! Kyle was now beginning to have a tough time keeping up with Jexana, as she wouldn't let up! In addition to that, Ventus, who had freed himself from Kyle's spell, was also attacking, and it wasn't helping things in the least! Kyle was getting cornered now, and he needed to do something, and fast! He briefly glanced all around him to see if he could use anything in the surrounding environment to his advantage! But sadly, he couldn't look anywhere for long, for he was being met by multiple attacks, courtesy of Jexana and Ventus! He gritted his teeth as he felt frustrated!
"Damn it...this battle is dragging out...if this keeps up, I'm going to get exhausted...I can't let Jexana defeat me! I need to free my Dad!" he thought to himself! He tried to think of something that would help him gain the upper hand anew! But, unfortunately, no ideas came to his mind right now, for he couldn't think too long, due to him being bombarded constantly by attacks! Jexana smirked as she realized that she was cornering Kyle!
"Ah, not so tough now, are you, little pup!?" she taunted, smacking Kyle's face and then proceeding to stab through Kyle! Kyle himself was shocked for a moment, but when he realized that her dark dagger had pierced through him, he noticed that it didn't leave any scar on his body! He was beffudlded by this and swung his Keyblade with great fury, causing Ventus and Jexana to both leap back and dodge his attack! Kyle then looked at his hands, and slowly, his veins started to glow a bright purple! It was then that he started to feel weak! He knelt on the ground and felt his breath escaping him, and he was feeling suffocation! He went limp and fell down on the floor! He could still see, but his body was immobile! He glared at Jexana, who was smirking, victory in her grasp! Ventus remained emotionless, standing by her side. Jexana then walked towards Kyle and stomped on his body repeatedly! Jexana let out a satisfied laugh!
"Ha, and here I thought you were going to best me! It seems that you were wrong! It looks like all your plans failed, you stupid boy! Did you really think you could defeat me!?" she asked as she laughed. Kyle cursed under his breath and gritted his teeth, helpless to do anything!
"What have you done to me!?" he demanded! Jexana simply put her foot on top of Kyle's head and then kicked him violently!
"Well, it's quite simple, actually! Instead of killing you quickly, I decided to use my dark daggers to poison you with my special brand of darkness!" she answered. "As you can see, my mastery of darkness has allowed me to use said darkness as a weapon of poison! And well, since snakes are poisonous, I thought that would be the perfect animal to symbolize my power!" she proclaimed! She then knelt down and looked at Kyle, who was furious! "I mean sure, I could have killed you then and there, but I decided that it was best to make you endure a slow, painful death! That way, you could feel your utter failure, and you would be reminded of it constantly until you die!" she finished up, and she gave out a satisfied laugh! "Heh, and I'd say this was quite the success! Now, in just a matter of minutes, you'll finally die, and I'll be here to witness it, along with my dear Ventus!" she said! Kyle couldn't do anything to change what was already done! And so, he closed his eyes and fell into despair!
"This is it for me...I tried my best...and I still couldn't save you...Dad..." he thought to himself.
"No!!!!!" a familiar voice rung loudly! At that, Kyle's eyes opened quickly! He couldn't believe what he saw next!
Jexana turned around and noticed that Ven's eyes were normal now! His face was full of rage and determination! Could it be that he had finally broken free of Jexana's hold!? Kyle was hopeful this was the case, and Jexana was all too fearful to find out! Emmxett and Tsumugi were speechless, and even Braig found himself quite surprised at this sudden development!
"Oh ho ho...looks like my old friend's made a rebound! How very interesting..." Braig remarked as he smirked. Jexana, on the other hand, was shaking! She shook her head and couldn't believe what she was seeing! Ventus was walking straight towards her, his face plastered with anger! She shook her head and clenched her fists, refusing to let this go on!
"No...I'm not going to let you get away from me! You are mine, Ventus, and you will always be mine! You will not be separated from me again!!!" she yelled out as she attempted to control Ventus again! Kyle despaired, for he thought that Ventus would unfortunately fall again, but to his surprise, he found that Ventus wasn't falling! At the very least, he was trying his hardest to resist Jexana's powerful control spell! Jexana was now panicking, for she saw that her spell wasn't working on him! Kyle smiled of relief, and he instantly felt as if a gigantic worry had been placed off his shoulders! He was still immobilized, but now he had confidence that his father could take care of things from here.
"I knew you'd come back...Dad..." he thought to himself, as Ventus kept walking towards Jexana!
"Damn, this isn't good! He's going to kill her!" Emmxett said worriedly! Tsumugi pretended to feel worried as well, and she feigned to act nervously!
"We can't break through the barrier...I'm afraid we shall have to prepare for the worst..." she said. Jexana's eyes flared with rage and she summoned forth dark swords and attempted to jump over Ventus in order to kill Kyle!
"Damn you, boy! You will pay for this!!!" she shouted, but was immediately stopped by Ventus, who leapt back in her direction and then pushed her back with his Keyblade! She landed on the ground roughly, and Ventus placed himself in front of Kyle, in a protective stance! Jexana's eyes teared up as she saw that Ventus was indeed free!
"My love...please don't do this to me! Please come to me...I need you!" she pleaded, almost innocently! Ventus could feel his mind falling to Jexana's spell, but his heart was now ironclad, and even though he was almost pulled into her spell again, his heart kept him strong, and he resisted the spell!
"That's enough, Jexana! For so much time now, I was helpless to do anything! I could only watch as you used me, as you made me hurt the people I love! But no longer! You no longer have any control over me, Jexana! And now you're going to pay for hurting my family!" he said with ironclad determination apparent in both his voice and his eyes! Jexana punched the floor in rage.
"No, this is unacceptable! I refuse to let this happen!" she exclaimed! Ventus immediately healed Kyle to the best of his abilities, and while the poison was healed, his body still felt numb, so while he was able to stand, he wasn't able to put up much of a fight. Ventus then pulled Kyle into an embrace, and the two held each other's embrace, and they both began to cry!
"Dad...you're back!" he sniffed as he kept embracing his father! Ventus nodded.
"Thanks to you, Kyle...you kept fighting, even when I was helpless to do it myself...thank you." he said, as he then turned around to face Jexana.
"Now then...where were we?" he asked. Jexana shook her head, still refusing to believe that this was happening to her!
"Damn you, Kyle...you will pay!!!" she screamed as the attempted to charge at Kyle, but Ventus charged towards her! But just before he was able to land an attack, a portal opened midway, and it pulled both him and Kyle inside! And just like that, they both vanished! Jexana fell to the floor in shock, and the barrier vanished! Emmxett and Tsumugi immediately came to her aid, while Braig remained where he was, speechless!
"Jexana, we're here for you!" Emmxett said, trying to help her up, but she immediately rejected the help and stood up of her own accord. Her face was full of shock, anger, sadness and all out frustration! She clenched her fists, and tears started to roll down her cheeks.
"Damn it...this can't be! He's been taken from me!!!" she exclaimed! Tsumugi immediately tried to make something out of this situation and cleared her throat.
"We shall go on the hunt for them straightaway..." she said, but Jexana extended her hand and shook her head.
"No..." she answered. At that, Emmxett and Tsumugi both glanced at each other, and Jexana simply turned around, walked into her quarters, and slammed the door shut! Emmxett shook his head.
"I knew that this would happen inevitably...but she refused to take heed of my counsel..." he said, and then he sighed. "May this serve as a lesson to her..." he said. "Anyways, Jexana obviously looks like she won't be coming out of her quarters, so I shall see to the troops! We'll perform a raid on one of the worlds soon, so we'd best prepare." he explained. Tsumugi nodded.
"Right away, sir." she said, and the two of them went to see to the troops! Braig came down from where he was and slammed his fist against the mast, obviously angered by the outcome of this battle!
"Damn it! That little brat! Because of him, Ventus was able to free himself, and my plans went into a downward spiral! This didn't go at all like I had planned!" he exclaimed through gritted teeth! He clenched his fists, but then he regained his composure and shook his head. "Heh, as if! I'm getting ahead of myself! This isn't over yet...not by a long shot..." he thought to himself, as he gazed up at the stars.
Jexana, in the meantime, was in her quarters, and she wasn't happy at all! She had just lost Ventus, and now she had rage, sadness and utmost hatred fueling her very being! She clenched her fists hard, and tears rolled down her cheeks, but she didn't yell, she didn't do such a thing...she kept her tears to herself. She then looked down on her hands as she loosened them up, relaxing a bit. This wasn't over yet, and she knew that she'd have Ventus again by the end. She was sure of it! Things had to go her way! Or so she thought...
At that same moment, Ventus and Kyle came out from the portal that had just suddenly appeared before them, and now, they landed directly in front of what seemed to be a temple! Kyle and Ventus hadn't been here before, so they didn't know what to make of this place! Even though it looked in quite bad shape, for some reason, there was no hostility or danger nearing this place! Kyle could have sworn that he felt a familiar presence around! He looked at Ventus, who was sitting on the ground. He knelt by his father's side, and they both smiled.
"Well, it looks like we got lucky...we came out alive!" Kyle mentioned. Ventus nodded.
"That's right! Even though I wanted to settle things with Jexana...I think in the end, it was best for us to have gotten out of there...otherwise, we might be in a sticky situation right now..." Ventus commented, as he thought of what had just transpired! He then slightly leaned to the right, for he noticed that Kyle had lumped himself on him, and he was crying, his head dug on Ventus' shoulder! Kyle cried for a long while, and Ventus did too, and he gently petted his son's head as the two remained there, after such a long time apart...
"My son...we're finally together again..." he said. Kyle nodded.
"That's right...you've finally come back! I knew you'd come back!" he said as he gave a smile! Ventus looked up at the sky and gave a deep sigh.
"Well, that's more faith than I had in myself...because for the longest time, I was beginning to accept the fact that perhaps I'd never be free...but here I am now. Thank you for not giving up on me, Kyle..." Ventus said as he embraced him! Kyle embraced him tightly, and then, when he saw the temple laying before them, he noticed someone come running down! It only took a mere few seconds for him to recognize who that person was! Immediately, his eyes teared up anew! Ventus seemed to have noticed Kyle's surprise, as he glanced back and he too, started to tear up! The two of them stood up, and they started to run towards the person!
"Ventus! Kyle!" Trish shouted, running towards them with a tearful smile on her face! Ventus and Kyle couldn't find words, and when they reached each other, they all embraced each other tightly, as if they had never embraced anyone before in their lives! They began to bawl out tears, as they held each other closely! Finally, after all the hardship and hell these three went through...they were finally reunited! No words could accurately describe how happy they were to see each other again, and they only kept embracing each other for the longest time! A few seconds later, the rest of the Keyblade Wielders came out, and they remained at the temple entrance, all of them smiling and remaining silent, knowing that Ventus, Trish and Kyle deserved this moment of happiness! A few of them were tearing up, too! A few minutes passed, and then Ventus, Trish and Kyle pulled away from their embrace! Trish smiled and touched both of their faces!
"Two of the most important men in my life have finally returned to me! Thank goodness you two are back! I feared that we'd never see each other again!" she exclaimed, a few sobs escaping her! Kyle laughed and put his arms behind his back, as Ventus would normally do!
"Well, here we are, Mom! We're a family again!" he said, and Ventus leaned down his head and knelt down before Trish and Kyle. The two of them were surprised by this sudden action!
"Dad, what are you—"
"Trish...Kyle...I don't think any words will be enough to tell you how deeply sorry I am...for everything! I tried my best to break free of Jexana's control, and yet, through my best efforts, I still managed to hurt the both of you!" he said, his head bowed down to the ground! "Trish...I don't expect you to forgive me...Jexana and I..." he started to say, but Trish immediately put a stop to his sentence and pulled him up. They both looked into each other's eyes intensely, and Trish slowly shook her head.
"Thath witch made us both go through hell...this isn't your fault. Please remember that!" she said.
"But...I was conscious of what was happening! Even though I was helpless to stop myself, I was still conscious of..."
"I said that it's okay!" she interrupted him again! "That's precisely why this isn't your fault. You were bound inside your own body...there wasn't anything you could do...I know that. I forgive you." she said. Ventus remained silent. Kyle put his hand on his shoulder and nodded.
"Mom's right, Dad. This wasn't your fault." he said. At that, Ventus began crying anew!
"Thank you...both of you!" he said, as he kept crying, and they embraced once again!
The others were watching this unfold, and they remaind silent. Alaya stepped forward and glanced at everyone, and then she looked up at the sky.
"The third chosen has arrived...soon it will be time..."
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And so, a family has been reunited again after enduring perhaps its most horrifying ordeal yet! Now that all the Keyblade Wielders are reunited, and the three chosen of the Keys Of Balance are in place, our heroes will now take the initiative and go all out in their attempt to stop the Keyblade War from bringing more destruction! What will happen next? Stay tuned for Chapter Thirty Two: "A Brief Respite."