Terror and Power – Fallen Temptation
"The person I like is being stolen away from me by that red-haired Keyblader." Yuffie was telling Jafar all about herself. The genie had politely asked, and she saw no reason to refuse. "They always hang out together on the pretense of having to work on their teamwork, seeing how they're both Keybladers."
Jafar smirked. He loomed in front of her, his face full of false sympathy. "They leave you out because you are not one of them. The red-haired one is just after her because she's a Keyblader too."
Yuffie felt as if his words were arrows that pierced her back. Her anger clouded her mind. His words seemed right.
"They probably think you're worth less than they are…that they're so much more important because they're a little special." Jafar filled her head with angry thoughts.
And Yuffie fell for it. She longed for Olette so much that she couldn't think straight. Damn that Kairi! Why did Olette have to be a Keyblader anyway? Should Yuffie just wish her free from that burden? But if Yuffie did that, Olette would surely hate her.
How about the opposite?
"Can you make me a Keyblader?"
It wasn't that bad an idea. Nobody could blame her. More Keybladers were always good, and if Olette saw that Yuffie too was one…
Jafar saw another chance to get free from his cursed lamp. "I do not know. I have never tried before. It might be against the rules. It is worth a try, however, when you find the lamp. And if it doesn't work, you could wish me free, and I could try again."
Yuffie still didn't trust that wishing free thing completely. "I'll think about it."
They had reached one of the west towers—one of the few places they hadn't searched yet. But so far they hadn't found anything.
Jafar was getting impatient, but he kept his poker face. "If only I knew where he put my lamp! I am sure it is in the palace. I can tell at least that much." It was so tiring, keeping up the charade of the good genie.
"What about that place?" Yuffie pointed out a window, toward a tower that Jafar had not noticed before. It was connected to the palace, all right, but Jafar knew the corridors around there. There was no connection to a tower. Mozenrath must have secretly sealed it off.
"Give me back the wings. They were rather handy." Yuffie had kind of enjoyed being able to fly freely through the air. The wings felt a little odd, but they sure would be handy for battle and espionage purposes. "Let me keep them. I like them."
Yuffie watched as the genie pointed at her back. She felt the familiar pain of black wings growing from her back.
She turned and jumped out the window, first gliding on the strong wind, then using her wings to reach the tower. She could see that there was a fight going on down in the palace. Who was fighting whom was irrelevant—for now. Olette would not be beaten by anything. And Yuffie had to find that lamp.
- Valiant Hearts -
Kairi had met up with Naminé and they had just blasted a whole corridor of undead guards to smithereens. There was no sign of Jafar, and Mozenrath had vanished too. Olette was gone as well. Where exactly was everyone?
"I'm worried about Olette," Naminé said, and wished she were capable of sensing spells like Rydia was. It would be a great help locating others in this maze of a palace.
"She's strong, she can look after herself," Kairi replied.
She was deep in thought, trying to get a look at the general situation. Their goal was to get rid of Jafar and Mozenrath and to restore order to this world. It was not, Kairi knew, a good idea to kill the wizard before they got rid of the genie.
Mozenrath, after all, was the only one who knew how to operate the trapping crystal. But that crystal would be useless if they couldn't manage to get Jafar's attention. The genie was much too smart to fall for a simple trap. They could try to start up senseless destruction and lure him out in fear of his lamp getting destroyed, but that could very well backfire.
There weren't many other options. Since the genie hadn't yet shown himself, he most likely was on to them. Their best bet was to find the lamp themselves and destroy it. But how? This palace was gigantic!
Kairi knew they couldn't split up. It was too dangerous—Jafar was smart enough to create a doppelganger or worse to fool them and possibly kill them if they let their guard down. Mozenrath was quite smart too, from what Kairi knew of him. He, without hesitation, had asked the enemy of his enemy for a truce. A less intelligent or just pride-obsessed enemy would have tried to kill them, not ally with them.
Kairi couldn't put it into words, but there was…something odd about this whole mess. Something she couldn't account for.
Why would both genie and wizard want to get rid of each other? Kairi had an idea as to why Jafar would want to destroy Mozenrath, but it made little sense that Mozenrath would want to destroy Jafar. Mozenrath was the master of the red genie, so why exactly…
Naminé turned around and blasted a nearing patrol of undead guards with a fire spell. Kairi watched, startled and amazed at how merciless Naminé had gotten against enemies. It seemed like the experience of battle was working wonders on her.
"Let's move. It's too troublesome to stay here." They would look for the lamp for the time being. It was their best bet.
But where to start? There were several towers, lower levels, and countless rooms in the palace. Often, the least suspicious places were the ones right under one's nose.
Kairi and Naminé made their way to the throne room. Any guards on the way were dispatched by Kairi, as Naminé was under her orders to preserve her magic power. The guards were no threat at all. They were nothing compared to the masses of Heartless outside.
They had just left the castle and passed through a part of the palace garden when Kairi stopped and turned around. Right above them, looming over the palace doorway, was a tower—part of the structure. But there was no way to access that part of the complex. There was no door, and no stairs.
Tracking back, Kairi examined the walls carefully until she hit gold. Part of the wall seemed much newer than the rest of it. She sighed. Olette would have been useful for this, as Kairi lacked the brute strength to smash a wall.
"Naminé, blast this part of the wall," she ordered.
While Naminé bashed in the wall, Kairi again wondered where Olette had gone. Jafar was undoubtedly pulling some strings behind the scenes, but Kairi was absolutely sure that Olette was still alive. Olette was too strong to get captured or killed easily.
Behind the wall was a staircase that spiraling up into the tower. "Be careful," Kairi warned her fellow Keyblader, and took the first step.
There were no traps. The stairs ascended until almost at the top of the tower, where they found a secret laboratory. Whether it belonged to Jafar or Mozenrath, Kairi couldn't say.
They looked around. The room wasn't that big, even without all the objects in it. There were three shelves on the south wall, and there were also five tables, each in one corner of the room. On the floor were white and black lines, drawn to meet the five tables and form a large hexagram.
"Naminé, check the books to see if you find anything useful." Kairi herself went to look through the various objects on each of the five tables.
Naminé wasn't exactly skilled in reading books in the local tongue. She couldn't understand most of the books at all. There were a few that were written in runes that she recognized from somewhere, but the most she could read were a few lines.
She stumbled onto a picture of a giant crystal and something that looked like instructions. Naminé memorized whatever she was able to read and put the book back. More than fifteen minutes passed before she gave up. Most of these books were in a language she had never seen before.
"Kairi, there is nothing about Olette here." Naminé was still worried about her friend. She wanted to move on and look for her. Staying here was a waste of time.
"I agree. Take the stairs, I'll follow you in a minute," Kairi said, and waited until Naminé left to wait in the stairwell. The blond girl had long grown accustomed to following Kairi's orders on a mission. Kairi was their tactician, after all.
Kairi turned around and looked at the bookshelves. This room clearly did not belong in the palace. She targeted the shelves and fired several fireballs at them. It would be a matter of minutes before the room turned into an ocean of flames.
She met up with Naminé on the stairs. "We're leaving," Kairi said curtly.
They both hurried down the stairs, feeling the heat of the flames at their backs. Kairi ordered Naminé to destroy the entrance and the girl did, quickly chanting a lightning spell.
"Given that there are already secret rooms like this in the palace…I think it's useless to search for the lamp in obvious places." Kairi tried to think, but her mind was still full of thoughts about Olette. She could lie to Naminé, saying she wasn't worried, but she was very much worried. Something was wrong. Very wrong.
But other things demanded her immediate attention right now. Out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly spotted Jafar flying above them. He must have been more than fifty meters above them. That alone was enough to cause her to jump behind a corner, pulling Naminé with her.
But there was something else. Another shadow. Someone was with him.
"I was right," Kairi whispered to Naminé. "There is someone else here beside us, someone who's cooperating with Jafar. They just landed on top of the room we were just in. But whatever they wanted has probably burned to ashes by now."
Kairi decided that it would be wise to not be around when Jafar got angry. The only way to beat a genie was to outsmart him, to beat him in a game of the mind. It was completely impossible to even scratch a genie with conventional means…or extraordinary means.
"We'd better get out of here."
Not waiting for any stairs to mystically appear, Naminé nodded and blasted a hole in the ground. Lightning was, when concentrated at one point, a very useful tool.
Kairi leaned over and rammed her Keyblade into the inside wall of the hole, then grabbed Naminé and dropped downwards so that that they were dangling over the darkness. The hole was a lot deeper than Kairi had expected; she had to hold tightly to the Keyblade to stop them from falling.
Naminé, held tightly around her waist by Kairi's left arm, was focused on her job. Using recitation ice magic, the girl created small platforms that they then used to get down safely. The platforms would vanish in time, leaving no trace that the girls had passed this way.
The hole led them down to the catacombs that ran under the palace. Kairi stopped a moment to figure out their position and to think about what she had just seen, while Naminé sat down and closed her eyes to rest briefly.
Kairi had just remembered another problem. Mozenrath had said that as soon as Jafar was outside, the crystal would capture him. But that hadn't happened.
Why hadn't it? Had the wizard lied about the crystal? In any case, the genie was apparently free to go wherever he wanted. And the more pressing matter was…who was the outsider?
Kairi had only seen a glimpse of him or her for the matter of maybe a second. The only thing she could make out was that he was rather small and had large wings. He had looked somewhat like a human, but it was hard to tell.
"Naminé, let's find Olette first. If there's someone else we have to fight, we're going to need her."
Naminé stood and brushed herself off, ready to go, but Kairi's mind was still buzzing. Who or what was helping Jafar? The Organization? Who?
Kairi led them west, making sure to be quiet to avoid the eyes and ears of both Jafar and Mozenrath. Kairi was confident that they could beat the wizard without Olette, but it would be difficult. Kairi had an idea of a way to do it, but it was a pretty far-fetched idea and she didn't know whether it would work or not. It also relied on Olette's Hero's Crest.
She closed her eyes and tried to find Hero's Crest—her old Keyblade she had given to Olette. It was possible for a Keyblader to locate a Keyblade like this if he or she had used it for a very long time. For that, however, the responsible key chain had to be in use right at that exact moment.
But Kairi found nothing. She could only feel Monochrome, right next to her. Whether it was her ability that had deteriorated or that Hero's Crest wasn't being used, she couldn't tell. There were too many mysteries here. Cursed genie and wizards and their secrecy.
Suddenly, help came from an unexpected side. The flying cat—the one who had informed them about Mozenrath before—suddenly appeared at the end of the dark hall.
Kairi didn't know what to make of it. How in the world had it just appeared out of thin air? At least it didn't seem dangerous. For now, she took a cautious stance against it and held her Keyblade firmly. It probably didn't make much sense to point a Keyblade at such a magical being, but Kairi didn't care.
"Things have become a little…too predictable. Here is a hint—the lamp was never gone." The cat laughed and circled around Naminé a few times, who, unexpectedly, thought the cat was kind of cute.
Kairi figured it out right away. Mozenrath had the lamp. It had been an act all along, and she had fallen for it. But even so…they could not just attack him and destroy the lamp. If Mozenrath could control Jafar with the lamp, it would be a very risky battle. Too risky for Kairi.
It still didn't solve the problem of destroying Jafar and who that mysterious outsider was. It was time to find Olette. Kairi felt that would answer some of her questions.
She looked up to ask the cat, but it had vanished. The only person in the hall was Naminé, looking expectantly at Kairi.
"We'll find Olette. Let's go."
There was no other way than trial and error and systematic search to find Olette.
This would take a while.
- Valiant Hearts -
"My lamp is not here."
Jafar had quickly extinguished the flames and checked the room. This had been one of Mozenrath's private rooms. What it had been used for, he couldn't tell without restoring the room to its original shape. But he didn't care that much. He knew about Mozenrath's ploy and the extent of his abilities. There was no need to waste time looking through this room when the lamp wasn't here.
"Who started the fire?" Yuffie stood in the middle of the room. Whoever did this had left behind no trace of his coming and going.
"It must have been the wizard himself. He wanted to hide whatever he was doing here from us." Jafar knew that a Keyblader was responsible for the fire, but it was better to direct the anger of the girl towards Mozenrath for now.
"Why haven't I seen the Keybladers yet?" Yuffie was a little suspicious of Jafar now. Some things weren't making sense. "I want to see Olette. She's the Keyblader with two swords."
"I can feel all three of them in the palace. They are constantly moving, hiding. Even I do not know every secret passage in the palace. They are tricky. They do not want to be found by you."
Jafar's lies sounded no more strange than before and Yuffie believed them. Kairi was smart enough to lead the others around without Yuffie ever finding them.
"Can you bring them here?" Yuffie was sure he could. Such a small thing must be within the abilities of a genie who claimed to be so powerful.
"I tried, but it didn't work. I don't know why. I should be able to teleport most anything in this world." Jafar was lying, of course, but the girl didn't have to know that.
Yuffie saw something Jafar did not think of—the flaw in the genie's power. It was limited to this world. She and the Keybladers were from a different world, following different laws. Interesting.
"Well then, we've searched a big part of the palace. Where could the lamp be?" Yuffie was impatient. She wanted to be with Olette.
Jafar thought long and hard. If the lamp was this well hidden, there must be a trick involved. Ah, of course! Mozenrath was a liar and one tricky bastard. He must have been playing an act all along.
"The wizard must have lied to me. He must have the lamp and somehow used his magic to conceal its presence. He truly is evil, to do something like that to me!" Jafar put on a miserable face.
Yuffie thought he was exaggerating, but still believed him. "I'll get rid of the wizard, then. He seems to be an evil guy anyway, so everyone will be better off with him gone. I'm really not supposed to do that, but the Keybladers would take him out anyway, I think. Can you create something for me?"
Yuffie described one of her favorite weapons, a giant shuriken, to Jafar in detail.
Jafar laughed on the inside. Finally, he had found a way to get rid of the wizard and get back his lamp, all in one go. He snapped his fingers, and the same weapon that Yuffie had just described appeared before her.
She grabbed it and swung it a few times to get a feeling for the weight. It was well balanced and easy to use. The wizard wouldn't even see it coming. Yuffie hadn't killed in a long, long time, but this was necessary. She would get the lamp.
And she would get Olette back. Everything would be fine.
- Valiant Hearts -
Olette had been trying to get out of here for too long already.
She sat down on some stairs that looked like the other million sets of stairs in this labyrinth, exhausted. The stairs and doors led nowhere, and marking them was useless. This was not a dream. People didn't get exhausted, hungry or thirsty in dreams. Her legs felt like she was chained and her arms felt heavy. Her mouth was so dry it was hard to talk.
But there was no one to talk to here anyway. There was absolute silence, apart from her own steps echoing through the rooms. It seemed like every doorway she took led back to her starting point. Either that or the just kept coming upon another set of countless doors or hallways that looked exactly like where she'd just been.
She had never been good with these situations—alone in an unknown place, knowing that her friends needed her. But then again…if she was here, had she really died back then? The memory of dying was so vivid, it was hard for Olette to believe it was fake.
This wasn't good. Sitting around only made her think about bad stuff.
She got up again, only to realize that she was now standing on the ceiling. A thousand stairs, all leading up and down and right and left, surrounded her. A maze of doors led to hallways that led to doors that led to stairs that led to even more hallways and doors and stairs. Was this—whatever or wherever she actually was—was this was hell? She had imagined a few more pillars of fire, torment of souls, brimstone, that sort of thing.
Olette wandered around slowly, longing for some water. The hallways and stairs held nothing, only stone. And some doors made of wood so hard that it might as well have been stone.
Okay, Olette had had it. If following the maze wasn't going to work, she would just follow a straight line.
With a mighty smash, the first wall crumbled, and Olette stepped past the rubble. Another wall. A door. She continued to walk and crush anything in her way, already losing sight of her starting point. It wasn't until the dust of the crumbling wall got into her mouth and she again noticed how thirsty she was that she stopped. Everything looked the same. This could go on forever. Disappointed and depressed, Olette gave up and sat down.
If she was going to sit here, she'd have to keep her mind busy. She started thinking about the others. What were they doing? Did they know what had happened to her?
How would they react? Olette couldn't imagine it, and her thoughts swayed to something else—the happy times she shared with all of them, the first few days after leaving Twilight Town behind, the weeks of harsh training, their first mission. She remembered it all so clearly. It was as if she could see the images right before her eyes.
When it got to the happy days she spent with Yuffie, tears filled her eyes. If only she had been able to forget Kairi, none of this would have happened. But it didn't work out in the end. It had been wrong of her to slowly grow more attached to Kairi until it ruined her relationship with Yuffie. It was her fault that the girl had turned against her. That she was being manipulated by Jafar. Knowing Yuffie, she wasn't willing to let go. The girl was surprisingly devoted.
It was Olette's indecisiveness that had screwed everything up. She wished she could talk to Yuffie one last time. To tell her not to hunt after her. To tell her honestly that she couldn't and didn't want to let go of Kairi.
"You can, if you truly want to."
That was Yuffie's voice. A half-transparent version of her was sitting next to Olette, a version that was smiling and seemingly happy.
"She will be sad. She will be hurt. But life is painful. Because it is painful is the reason we seek out others, is it not?"
Olette nodded and felt tears run down her face. The image vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
She must be going mad, to be seeing hallucinations. The guilt was making her feel terrible. It had been terribly wrong to let everything escalate like this. She should have told Yuffie earlier. That she wasn't able to let go of Kairi. That she would chase her until she finally found a way to be with her.
But it was all too late. It didn't even matter if she was dead or not. She would never get out of this place.
Closing her eyes, Olette let her head rest on her knees. Maybe she would sleep a little.
It wasn't five minutes before everything around her became completely dark. There were no more stairs, or doors or hallways. No feeling of thirst, pain or guilt. Just the darkness that swept everything away.
- Valiant Hearts -
Kairi and Naminé had gotten lucky. Not only had they learned where the lamp was, but they also found Jafar's laboratory. But that was all unimportant compared to the third thing they found.
"She's coming to!" Kairi was sitting on the ground, resting Olette's head on her lap. "Thank God…"
Over twenty minutes had passed since they had found the room behind a massive wooden door. Olette had been nearly dead when they'd found her, and not because of wounds or poison. Her mind was giving in. The girl had been imprisoned in a magic crystal.
They had discovered that Olette was in there by pure chance. Naminé had detected some active magic nearby and had picked the crystal up. Inside, she saw a miniature Olette, trapped inside a small room with stairs and doors.
Naminé saw no way to operate the crystal. There was no switch, and there was no way of guessing a keyword. The only thing they could do was smash the crystal, but it proved to be surprisingly robust. Kairi had to repeatedly pound the crystal with her Keyblade to cause as much as a crack. Naminé couldn't just blow up the crystal and risk blowing up Olette with it, so Kairi kept pounding it.
Finally, the artifact gave in, cracked open, and filled the entire room with a disgusting-smelling smoke. On the floor, right next to the crystal, was an unconscious Olette.
Kairi was relieved. She had avoided crying, but she had been very, very worried. So much so that she hugged the still dim and dizzy girl. Naminé, too, was happy to have Olette back. She was near tears.
Olette had no visible injuries or signs of abuse, but her mind seemed to recover very slowly.
"I'm…not dead?"
Those were the first words Olette was able to say. Slowly, things came back into focus—the coldness of the ground, the air, the warm body that held her. The smell of Kairi, but also of blood, fire and death.
Naminé had come over, and now it was her turn to hug Olette. "You were imprisoned…you're safe now." Olette smiled and patted her head, almost in a trance.
It took another fifteen minutes until Olette could really talk. The whole time, she leaned against the wall, patting Naminé's head.
"Yuffie is here." Olette started to tell the other two what she had seen. "She's with Jafar. I don't know how, but he's manipulating her," Olette said, and then explained what happened afterward. Jafar was truly a master in manipulating the mind.
"I saw someone with Jafar," Kairi said. "But if that was Yuffie, she grew some wings. Still, it's definitely within the realm of possibility."
Kairi was more worried that Yuffie was helping out the enemy. What was she thinking? There was a definite limit to what Kairi tolerated, and this was way over the line.
"Before we go…" Olette got up and walked over to Kairi, who was standing against the far wall, deep in thought. Her heart was beating so fast that Olette felt like she was about to pass out. Taking a deep breath, she took the few steps forward. It was either now or she would never have the courage again for this.
Olette grabbed Kairi's shoulders and kissed her. And not just any ordinary kiss. Kairi could feel how serious and passionate Olette was about this. It made her blush. Not to mention the fact that Naminé was watching with big eyes.
When Olette finally pulled back, Kairi was panting and out of breath, eyes large and surprised.
"I like you, Kairi. No, I lo…l…oh dammit, I love you, Kairi! I've always loved you!" Olette yelled.
Silence filled the room afterward.
Kairi didn't know what to say. She remembered Olette confessing to her before, but this…this was different. She could tell that Olette was serious. Dead serious. What should she do? Her heart was beating fast, she was sweating, and she knew she didn't want to say no.
Naminé was watching them with great interest. When she couldn't hold back anymore, she got up and laid her arms around Olette.
"I don't mind, you know that," Naminé said, and leaned against Olette's back.
Kairi and Olette both had the same train of thought. "I'd like to be that carefree…"
"You don't have to say anything. I…need to talk to Yuffie anyway," Olette said. Now that it was out again, she was anxious for the reply. Naminé didn't mind, but that was the least of her concerns right now.
Olette took the topic back to the mission. "Yuffie is after the lamp. I have no idea what she is going to do with it, but I don't think she intends to destroy it."
Kairi was still a bit dizzy from the amazing kiss, but this woke her up.
"I'm pretty sure the wizard has the lamp. He played us all for fools." Kairi was a little angry that such an obvious thing had slipped right under her nose.
"Let's take him down and destroy the lamp before Yuffie gets there. I'm worried about her…she was…weird," Olette said, and summoned her Keyblades.
Kairi nodded, and so did Naminé. They knew where the throne room was and got there in a couple of minutes—but they were too late. Mozenrath was lying in a puddle of his own blood.
Kairi, Olette, and Naminé cautiously looked into the room and finally entered. They noticed her only when they had entered the room.
Yuffie. She was standing in the shadow of a pillar on the side, a few meters away from Mozenrath's body.
"I already took care of him." Yuffie held up the lamp and showed it to everyone. "I got the lamp," she said proudly, as if expecting them to praise her, to acknowledge her feat of taking out the wizard. But nothing like that was said.
"You've got to destroy the lamp, Yuffie!" Kairi said. She took a few steps toward Yuffie, who cautiously moved away from Kairi.
"You stay away!" Yuffie wasn't particularly happy to see Kairi or Olette right now. Not after what she had just seen.
She had used her first wish to see Olette. But Jafar had showed her Kairi instead, kissing the girl she wanted to get back so badly.
"She's right, Yuffie. The genie is evil. He already tried to take over this world once before," Olette said. She walked forward to stand next to Kairi.
"You two are nothing but liars. How long have you been doing this? Making out in secret, I mean." Yuffie shook her head angrily. "You're cruel, Olette, you know that? I loved you. I still do. But I don't want to be with you if that is your answer." Yuffie put the lamp into her pocket. "I won't listen to you."
Olette felt a wave of guilt crash over her. Yuffie…knew? All of it? That explained her behavior, but how…?
"I'm really sorry, Yuffie. I…just couldn't let go." Olette tried to justify her actions but found even trying to do so quite futile.
"Oh, really? Who would have guessed! That much is obvious to me now. Why else would you kiss her?" Yuffie shouted bitterly.
"We don't have time for this," Kairi said, and took a few steps forward, approaching Yuffie. "Give me the lamp. We can sort out our personal business later."
Kairi was worried about Jafar stopping them now that they were so close. Come to think of it, where was he?
"I said stay away!" Yuffie threw a handful of small shuriken at Kairi's feet. "I don't want you anywhere near me!"
But Kairi was determined to not let this chance pass and started running at Yuffie, who turned to run. Naminé, despite feeling bad about it, started to assist Kairi and tried to catch Yuffie. Olette stood, baffled, as she watched her three best friends fight each other. And she was powerless to stop them.
Yuffie used her wings and flew out of reach into the air. She pulled out the lamp. "Genie, my second wish! Tie those two up and keep them quiet!"
The red genie popped out from the lamp and snapped his fingers. Heavy iron chains instantly appeared around Kairi and Naminé, rendering them unable to even stand. Both fell to the ground, gagged with cloth by the genie.
Olette finally got a hold of herself when she saw Yuffie use the genie's power again. "Stop this madness, Yuffie!" she called. "They are right, the genie is evil! Can't you see he's using you?"
"Why should I believe you? You've been lying to me ever since we got together! Maybe even longer. Was there anything real in what we had? Or was it all just you toying with me until you could go back to Kairi?" Yuffie was growing angrier with every second. She landed on the floor again, eyes blazing. How stupid did Olette think she was?
Olette tried to reason with her. "Just give me the lamp, Yuffie. He really is dangerous, whatever you believe. He tried to rule this world by force and now he's trying again. Who do you think summoned all those Heartless outside?"
"I don't believe you. I can't believe you! Whatever you say, it sounds like a lie to me!" Yuffie moved away and Olette followed suit.
"Give me the lamp!" Olette shouted. She needed that lamp, and even if she felt sorry for Yuffie, there was no way she could let her personal feelings endanger them anymore than she already had.
"No!" Yuffie put the lamp in her pocket.
Olette had had enough. She tackled Yuffie, holding her arms and trying to reach for the lamp in her pocket. "Just give it to me!"
Olette's patience was running thin, but so was Yuffie's. The ninja tensed up and blocked Olette's hands from her pocket. Olette grabbed Yuffie's wrist and kept her grip tight so that the girl couldn't move away again.
"Look, stop being stubborn and give me the lamp. We can talk about this after that. Or if you really want, we can talk about it now, and then you give me the lamp." Olette didn't like the idea of resorting to violence, so she tried to appeal to Yuffie's intelligence first.
Yuffie wiggled out of Olette's grasp and slapped Olette's cheek as hard as she could. "What is there to talk about?" she yelled. "I know what I wanted to know. There is nothing else. It doesn't really matter why you did it, that doesn't change anything after all!"
Yuffie hit Olette's hand with her own and Olette eventually let her go. Yuffie jumped back in the air and stayed there, wary of what Olette would do.
"I don't want to come and take the lamp from you by force, Yuffie. Don't make me do it!" Olette's patience was just about finished. In this state, she could only hope to get the lamp as quickly as possible without hurting Yuffie.
Yuffie hurled her weapon at Olette as her answer in order to put some more distance between them. Olette defended herself with her Keyblade, shooting Yuffie an angry look.
"So it really has come down to this. The genie was right. In the end, you only care about her," Yuffie said, voice cold as ice. "I'll show you how much it hurt to learn how much you lied to me!"
Yuffie threw her weapon at Olette again, who deflected the spinning weapon by hitting it with her own.
Olette gritted her teeth and sighed. She didn't want to hurt Yuffie. Not anymore. But if she couldn't get the lamp away from Yuffie, things could go wrong. Very wrong. She couldn't let a whole world fall prey to Jafar just because Olette didn't want to use brute force to get the lamp.
Yuffie had a clear advantage in this fight, being able to fly. But she had to rely on those wings. Olette, on the other hand, was monstrously strong. A point-blank hit from Olette was guaranteed to knock Yuffie right out.
Yuffie flew around Olette with amazing speed, catching the deflected shuriken and throwing it again. Olette blocked the throwing weapon again by crossing both her own swords in front of herself.
"Snap out of it, idiot!" Olette yelled, and moved to turn the tables. Simply overpowering Yuffie, Olette jumped at her and attacked with a series of slashes that Yuffie only evaded by ascending higher into the air.
"Lightning!" Yuffie yelled and a green Materia in her arm glowed. Olette faced the spell head on and hit the lightning bolt with her Keyblades, destroying it. Yuffie really was serious!
The ninja's arms started glowing green and an inferno of fire, ice, and lightning started to flood into the room, forcing Olette to go into evasive maneuvers.
That was it for Olette. If Yuffie wanted an all-out fight, she would get one.
Olette hadn't gone through all that training with Tifa for nothing. She ran towards a pillar, jumped, turned in mid-air once, and threw a Keyblade at Yuffie, forcing her to pause her relentless magic assault. The next second, Olette had turned again and hit a massive stone pillar with full force.
It shattered and large pieces of stone fell to the ground. If Yuffie wanted to fly around like some crazy bat, Olette had no choice. Olette started throwing massive pieces of stone after the black-haired girl, who had her hands full evading all the missiles.
Yuffie knew that she couldn't outrun Olette forever and kept her main weapon in her hand. She would need it if Olette came at her at point-blank range…which happened seconds after she had finished dodging Olette's attacks. Olette hit the weapon with such force that the impact threw Yuffie against one of the pillars.
"Do you really think this is what I hoped for? I liked you so much, but I can't command my heart!" Olette shouted.
"I don't believe you! You went off with her, and I catch you secretly snuggling and kissing, and you tell me you loved me? You liar!" Yuffie shouted and got even angrier. Nothing but lies out of her mouth! This was all Kairi's fault.
Yuffie charged at Olette and threw a smoke bomb right at her face. Olette was quick enough to defend herself but lost all visibility. Next thing she knew, Yuffie had kicked her right in the face, only to vanish again. Her next attack could come from anywhere. Time to really get serious on this!
"Raid of the Lion!" Olette activated one of her special abilities. Naminé had helped her develop this. Olette could store magical energy from Naminé in her clothes and release it to greatly boost her next move.
Olette jumped high up with such tremendous speed that the smoke cloud was partially pulled with her. She quickly spotted Yuffie hovering to her left.
"Roar of the Lion!" Olette spun around a few times, pulling the dust cloud around herself. Yuffie was caught by surprise.
One after another, Yuffie dodged the Keyblades that flew at her and whipped past her again as they were recalled. Olette was using the enormous force of her rotation to throw the blades at at a brutal speed.
"I shouldn't underestimate her," Yuffie muttered to herself. But she couldn't dodge the next Keyblade and instead tried to block it. The force of impact was so great that she crashed into a nearby wall.
"Dammit, she's so strong…!" Yuffie couldn't believe her eyes. Everything seemed to happening now in slow motion. Olette was right in front of her, aiming for her chest with a punch. Yuffie kicked Olette but it had no effect. It only allowed Yuffie to move herself out of harm's way.
It was like one of Cid's bombs had gone off when Olette hit the wall. She was Tifa's student for a good reason. If Yuffie got hit by that…!
The wall came crumbling down and Olette faced Yuffie with a serious face. One girl stood, armed with two weapons, the other floated in mid-air, holding little vials in her hands.
Yuffie was well prepared whenever she went out on a mission, even now. But she was not made for a big fight against someone who was even faster than she was. In seconds Yuffie drank two of the blue vials, which surrounded her with a purple glow. This was a one-shot ticket—and she would feel the after effects later.
"Tetra Chaos!" Yuffie crossed her arms and six green Materia started glowing.
Olette didn't react in time. Fireballs, ice crystals, lightning bolts, everything came at her at once. Yuffie didn't have that much magical power on her own, so she must've drunk something. Tricky!
Olette got hit by an ice crystal which launched her into mid-air, where a fireball and lightning bolt hit her. The fire scorched her hair and face, the bolt made her feel numb. She landed hard.
Two could play at Yuffie's game. Olette got up and made her way towards Kairi and Naminé, who were still chained up and gagged. There was no lock on their chains, and they were outside the battle zone for now. But she wanted something from them.
Olette only glanced at them as she reached for something each of them kept on their waists. Key chains. Yuffie hesitated to attack Olette while the other two were in the way, and that was Olette's luck. From the corner of her eye, she spotted something outside, but ignored it. That would help her greatly.
"Union of the Lion!" Olette knew this was risky, and Naminé had warned her about doing it, but nonetheless…Olette threw both her Keyblades at Yuffie, who evaded the first two. The second wave, different Keyblades, slashed her on the left leg. Olette was breathing hard under the strain of keeping four Keyblades materialized.
Yuffie was cursing. "You monster…" she hissed. At least she had avoided a direct hit or a hit on her wings.
"Tetra Chaos!" Yuffie continued where she had left off. Olette started running, dodging the continuous multi-elemental attack and circling around Yuffie.
Yuffie ran out of magic power after the sixth salve and quickly reached for the next couple vials in her pocket. That was Olette's chance.
Jumping at Yuffie, bare-handed, Olette grabbed her arms and placed her feet right at her hip. "Time to sleep!"
Olette's head crashed against Yuffie's and the black-haired girl saw stars and colored balls. She barely managed to hang on to consciousness.
Olette jumped away, waiting cautiously to see whether Yuffie had had enough or still wanted to go at it.
"Monster!" Yuffie shouted, rubbing her forehead. A small line of blood was trickling from it. Olette's forehead was bleeding as well.
"Have you calmed down? Now give me the lamp, Yuffie, and we can discuss this peacefully!" Olette lowered her weapons, only holding two of them.
"Drop the act. What's there to discuss? You're going to stay with Kairi and leave me behind. That's the story, isn't it?" Yuffie got up and staggered for a second before going back airborne. "I won't hand over the lamp!"
Olette knew that Yuffie was out of control. The best thing would probably be to knock her out. Olette got into a fighting stance. She hadn't spent all that time with Kairi talking about fighting for nothing—Olette had a plan.
Yuffie pulled up another vial—this one with a bright purple liquid—and emptied it in one gulp. The next thing Olette knew, Yuffie had vanished from her view. An invisibility tincture? Impossible! But then…
Instinctively, Olette whipped around and smashed her blade with full strength against whatever was behind her. It was just in time; Yuffie had approached her from behind with ridiculous speed. Her surprise attack was thwarted, but she vanished from Olette's view again.
This was very, very dangerous. Yuffie had her own version of a haste spell to become so quick that she could almost become invisible. But having that speed meant nothing if she couldn't move freely. Olette looked up and chose a point that was as good as any other, and threw her Keyblades.
"Raid of the Lion!" Olette instantly vanished and reappeared right below the ceiling, the blades right above her.
Clenching her fist as hard as she could—this one was going to hurt—she smashed the ceiling. The impact was enough to destabilize the entire roof, which started to crash down. And there she was. Yuffie re-appeared for split seconds when dodging the rocks that came down. Olette was right. That kind of speed came at the expense of maneuverability.
Choosing the right moment when Yuffie was forced to stop for a split second, Olette took her chance. She appeared right behind Yuffie, who was surrounded by falling fragments from the ceiling, and she whispered something in her ear.
"I'm sorry."
Olette punched her with all her strength in the stomach. Yuffie instantly threw up and spat blood, but she was still conscious, so Olette put her hands together and hit Yuffie's back with a single hammer blow, sending her crashing into the ground.
Olette landed and quickly checked on the ninja. She was alive, and still conscious.
"You're way too tough. Enough of this already. I win." Olette knelt next to the immobile girl and searched her for the lamp.
"You should…know better…than that." Yuffie coughed up more blood before spitting it in Olette's face and crushing a little ball in her own pocket.
Olette was immediately engulfed by smoke. Olette reached for Yuffie's arms and legs, trying to keep the girl in one place, but she had already moved.
"I'll go through with this."
Olette's head snapped up when she heard Yuffie speak. Her voice was weak—she sounded like she was in no condition to fight.
"Genie! My third wish. You've served me well, but some things just aren't supposed to be, I guess. I wish…you free."
Jafar's monstrous laughter filled the entire palace. Olette dropped her head in shock. There was no hope of saving this world now. According to Kairi, once freed, a genie had no effective weaknesses.
"Time to get rid of a few uninvited guests!" Jafar laughed, and Olette heard the sound of him snapping his fingers through the dissipating smoke that still surrounded her.
Suddenly, Olette felt an incredible force pressing in on her, moving her. When she could see again, she was in a gigantic cavern full of gleaming piles of treasure. Kairi, Naminé, Yuffie, and Mozenrath's corpse were there too.
"Where in the world are we?" Olette moved quickly over to Kairi and Naminé to unchain them. They had seen everything, and Kairi immediately fell deep in thought. Naminé went to check on Yuffie, who looked as if she had collapsed after making her wish, and started using curative magic on her while Olette sat next to her and waited.
"I know this place." Kairi was anything but happy they had landed here and that they had to deal with a freed genie now, but it was better than being dead. That Yuffie was still alive and hopefully had had enough of her little revenge game was not bad, either.
Kairi hadn't forgotten the imprisoning crystal Mozenrath had talked about. It was just a matter of activating it. It was unlikely that such a thing could be destroyed by magic or by a genie.
Yuffie took much longer than expected to wake up. Three hours passed, and there was no sign of consciousness from her in all that time.
"I gave her a real beating, so she might not wake up anytime soon," Olette said, and sat down next to Kairi. Naminé was happily rummaging through the treasure, even though she knew she couldn't very well take much of it along.
But as it was, Olette and Kairi had some time alone. Both of them were rather busy trying to blame themselves for what had happened with Yuffie.
"It's not really your fault. I kept being indecisive, and this is what happened. When she comes to, I'll tell her…well. That things are as they are." Olette wasn't very comfortable with the idea of telling Yuffie she was breaking up with her, even after everything that happened.
"Listen, I…well. I've never been that good with words. Or feelings," Kairi said, and earned a short laugh from Olette.
"Oh, you don't say! I wouldn't have gotten that idea, ever!" Olette sneered, and got herself a harsh glare from Kairi.
"I'm trying to be serious here. I…do think this isn't…just one-sided." Kairi's face was turning fire-engine red. She really did suck at explaining her feelings to others. "But…well, I don't know if I could handle this…I know Naminé would be happy…but well, Naminé is…"
"Weird. Carefree. Naminé. Actually, Naminé should be some kind of alternative word for carefree." Olette tried with all her might to crack a joke to distract from the seriousness of the conversation.
"So…so…she would be okay with it. You know…well…" Kairi felt a little hot. There was a lava stream somewhere in this grotto but not anywhere near where they were sitting, and it was still so hot.
Olette had been playing cat's cradle with her fingers and some silk. She was so nervous that she almost ate the silk once or twice. She dropped the silk and sat on her hands to keep them still somehow.
"What about you? Would you…mind if…" Kairi couldn't really say it. She was a warrior. A tactician. A Chosen One of the Keyblade. But she was terrible with emotional things.
"I don't think so. Naminé…well, if I had never met you, I'd probably like her instead," Olette said, her voice trembling, and she was unable to face Kairi. What kind of place was this to have this conversation? But it kind of couldn't wait. Or rather, it would be awkward no matter where they went.
"You two are way too good of friends…to be okay with sharing the same girlfriend," Kairi said, and took a deep breath. Beating around the bush wasn't going to help. She already knew that, if anything, it would make Naminé happy to share her with Olette.
Naminé had come back and jumped on Olette's back. "I found something amazing!" She presented it proudly to the other two. It was a tiny key chain.
"Is that what I think it is?" Kairi asked and Naminé nodded.
"Watch!" Naminé grabbed the key chain and it transformed into an odd-looking Keyblade. "The name of this Keyblade is Wishes Lamp," Naminé explained. She pulled out a little piece of paper. On it was written:
To he who walks the stars, a blazing light shall illuminate your way.
"Where did you find it?" Kairi asked, taking the paper and reading.
"In a locked treasure chest. I was curious, so I opened it with Monochrome." Naminé swung around the new Keyblade like a toy and seemed quite happy. "I tried using two, like Olette, but I didn't even manage to make the second one appear." Naminé's skills with the Keyblade itself weren't anywhere as good as Olette's.
"It's a fire-aligned Keyblade. Try using some fire magic and show us the result," Kairi said, putting the paper down.
Naminé targeted a pile of gold coins at the other end of the room, whispered a short recitation, and fired a massive fireball at it. The pile exploded and most of the coins had already melted into liquid gold by the time they hit the ground.
"It amplifies my fire magic much better than Monochrome does." Naminé used ice magic next and found the result to be quite lacking. "But it's really bad with ice magic…"
"Keep it, it'll be useful." Kairi smiled and watched Naminé play around with it. Yuffie still hadn't come to.
"Kairi…I don't mind sharing you with Naminé." Olette moved a bit closer and took her hand. "It'll be weird but…I think I like the idea. It's sort of exciting, too." Olette's face was deep red.
Kairi thought about it. A year ago, she couldn't even imagine being close friends with anyone. Now she had the task of dating two people at once before her. It was almost comical.
"I…can't promise anything. But I'll try to treat you both the same way." Kairi spoke so fast that Olette could barely understand her. Kairi leaned over and gave Olette a short kiss before she got up and walked over to Yuffie, staggering slightly because she felt dizzy.
Olette left her alone for now and went to play with Naminé, trying to give her a few self-defense tips.
More than two hours passed. By now they were a little worried that Yuffie hadn't yet awakened. Olette had tied the girl's hands, as she was concerned about what might happen when she did wake up. Kairi also worried about Agrabah.
"If anybody has enough magic power to use that crystal, it's Naminé." Kairi explained their plan, regardless of what Yuffie would have to say when she woke up.
"Our only option is to trap him in there and then move the crystal somewhere else. Best would be if we could drop him into the Space Between Worlds."
Kairi had absolutely no mercy for Jafar, and though ditching him in the Space Between Worlds broke a Law of the Worlds, Jafar knew about the Heartless and everything, so there wasn't any harm done.
"Leave that to me." Olette was pretty sure she could move anything, given enough time.
Naminé spoke up. "If that crystal is really strong enough to capture a genie, it's bound to have some kind of runic activation coupled with a magic command." Naminé looked at Olette's confused face and explained further. "A command word while I use my magic." She giggled at Olette's ignorance of magic.
"Excuse me for having no magical talent!" Olette was a little annoyed, but then joined Naminé giggling.
"We can't simply challenge him to a fight. He's a genie, it'd be over before it started. So, anyone got a bright idea?" Kairi wasn't sure how exactly they were going to get back into the castle and operate that crystal to capture Jafar.
"He's smart, but arrogant. It should be possible to distract him somehow until Naminé is ready," Olette said.
"I'm going to need some time to find out the…activation command," Naminé added while looking at Olette, which made said brunette roll her eyes.
"How long?" Kairi wanted an rough estimation.
"Impossible to say, Kairi. I don't even know what that thing is made of. I can only do this because Garnet taught me an analytic spell," Naminé explained, only to have both girls look at her with even more confusion.
"Garnet. Lily. Dagger. Whatever you call her. Girl our age with long black hair? Jeez, you two need to get out more." Naminé was completely unaware of the irony of this statement and when the other two started laughing, she sulked a bit.
"Mozenrath is out of the picture. Yuffie killed him. The question is, what do we do with Yuffie? It'll be hard enough to get out of here on foot as it is. I hope she's gotten over her rebellious phase and we can talk some sense into her." Kairi looked over at the unconscious girl.
"There was no magic spell on her or anything. At least not when I healed her." Naminé had become quite skilled in detecting magic.
"Maybe she just needs some stimulation." Olette gritted her teeth. She was still mad at Yuffie for completely losing it. Olette walked over to her former girlfriend and slapped her face a few times. It worked wonders.
Yuffie came to moments later, dizzy and numb. It took her several minutes to recognize the others. She fixated her glare on Kairi. "So I lost. Are you gonna rub it in now? That Olette likes you better than me? That she's dumped me to be with you?"
Before Kairi could say anything, Olette slapped Yuffie across the face again. "Stop being stupid for a second, will you?"
Olette was tired of this. She had to resolve this once and for all. "If you're angry, I can understand that. You already had your chance to cool down, though. And you had a pretty good go at me, so I think you should cut it out. I have no idea how the situation escalated this far, but let me tell you that I genuinely liked you. I really did."
Olette was in a fury and Yuffie was in too much pain and surprise from the face slap to respond.
"But you're getting way too angry!" Olette continued. "I still liked Kairi, I think you should have noticed that somehow. But I didn't plan to cheat on you. I would have talked to you the moment we got back. But you had to lose control and cooperate with the enemy! What were you thinking?"
"I'm angry, all right, and I've got every right to be! Have you any idea how much I suffered these past few days? How afraid I was that you were going to leave me? And you really did leave me! You were with her in secret, and I had no idea whether you ever liked me or not! I couldn't just ask, could I? And don't tell me you wouldn't be hurt if someone did this to you!" Yuffie shouted back.
"That's enough," Kairi said sharply. "We're as much at fault as you are, Yuffie. We shouldn't have hidden this from you, but you shouldn't have overreacted like you did. However, the fact is that you freed Jafar. I think punishment is in order."
Kairi wasn't a particularly nice person to deal with if somebody turned traitor and switched sides. Yuffie knew that much. She took after Leon in that regard.
"Olette punished her already, so can't you forgive her?" Naminé stopped any further punishment from happening. "I don't want you two to fight with Yuffie. It's not right." Naminé's words had a literal "wake up" effect. All three stared at the ground.
Olette looked at the bruised and injured Yuffie. Well, Olette did have a pretty good go at her as well. They had had their fight, and maybe she should let bygones by bygones.
Yuffie was a bit confused by the sudden turn of events. Naminé really was a nice girl. Too nice. She now felt really guilty about what she had done, and even more when she thought about seriously she had fought against her former girlfriend.
"Let's just forget this ever happened. I don't think we have to report it to Leon. Right?" Naminé was asking so nicely that the others couldn't say no. Yuffie was a bit surprised that Naminé would defend her like this, even after what she had done.
Naminé proceeded to untie Yuffie, who was unable to face either Kairi or Olette. Even Naminé knew they couldn't be very good friends right away, but it was a start.
Kairi took the first step. It was not in her nature to be very forgiving, but but Naminé had a point. Nothing would come out of punishing Yuffie beyond this point. If anything, they were losing a valuable scout and spy.
"Yuffie. Did Jafar say anything about the crystal? Do you know how to operate it?" Kairi took the first step.
"He fears it. I know that much. The wizard was testing it at some point." Yuffie still hated Kairi for stealing away her girlfriend, but she knew that it wouldn't change things anymore. It would take time to get over Olette, especially since they saw each other so often.
Naminé stepped up and looked at Yuffie with shining eyes. Yuffie was a little weirded out by this sudden over-friendly approach. "What did he say to activate it? Did he do any special movements?"
Yuffie tried to remember. Her memory was kind of fuzzy after taking Olette's blows. She stretched out one arm and opened her hand. "It was something like this. And then…what the hell did he say…" Yuffie was a bit worried about what else she had forgotten. "Ix…Ix Dinar? No…it was definitely something…Ix De-something. There aren't that many letters, just try them all," Yuffie said.
"Okay, you'll be with Olette and me, keeping Jafar busy. Naminé probably needs some time to learn how to activate that crystal properly," Kairi commanded.
Yuffie was still annoyed at Kairi, but she did see her error. A little of it.
"I get it. You need to keep an eye on me, is that it?" Yuffie blurted out.
"No, idiot. We need every bit of help to stop that thing. That's what I need," Kairi snapped and rolled her eyes. "By the way…"
She moved behind Yuffie and pulled on the still-present wings. "Aren't those going to go away?"
Yuffie moved away and tried to rub the part where the wings grew out of her back. "That hurt, dammit! I don't know why they're still there. I'd have thought Jafar would revoke any magic used on me." She did like the ability to fly, though. Inside a cave, however, injured and without wind, she wasn't about to try it.
"Well, I'd assume they'll come in handy," Kairi said, and frowned, thinking of all the mischief Yuffie could cause when she could fly. But cutting these things off would probably be incredibly painful and there was no real justified reason to do such a thing. At least not right now.
"I think they look really cool!" Naminé interrupted. All three of them snorted.
"We're at the bottom of the Cave of Wonders. This is where Aladdin originally found his lamp and genie. It's a real pain to get out of here on foot. There are traps everywhere, not to mention the Heartless." Kairi summoned Oathkeeper and did a quick series of slashes to test if everything was okay. Olette followed her example. Naminé had no need to do so, but she still did it, although a bit clumsily.
"I'll lead the way. Yuffie, I suggest you follow my orders." Kairi took several steps forward and waited for the other three to follow. They had to get out of there quickly and stop Jafar.
- Valiant Hearts -
"Lord Xemnas, the preparations are complete. The troops are ready to depart. Xaldin and Saïx are with the Third Division. Luxord and Xigbar are with the Second Division. The First Division awaits your arrival, Superior." Demyx was reporting the current stand of things.
"Good. Soon, we shall have what we need. Very soon." Xemnas turned around and walked past Demyx. It would cost them a lot of their troops, but this plan was so simple, they could not fail. They would not fail.
Xemnas stood on a high balcony, looking down on his troops. Only a few Heartless were included in the forces. An ocean of silver, with slight purple and black spots in between, was before him. He was satisfied.
They had kept quiet for a while to gather their forces. It would be well worth the losses when they attained what they needed. Soon, very soon, they would no longer have a need for the pesky Keybladers and the people of Hollow Bastion. There would not be much left of them anyway.
"Tell Saïx and Xaldin to get in position. Demyx, I have yet to hear your report about Maleficent." Xemnas had grown weary of dealing with the witch, but she was a valuable asset in this plan, so she couldn't be ignored.
"She is set up with a force of currently over two hundred thousand. They will have nowhere to run, Superior."
Demyx was not too thrilled about this plan. They would suffer great losses. And he was not too sure that it was even going to work. It sounded glorious in theory, but whether Xigbar could really pull it off was questionable. In any case, there was no use refusing an order from the Superior. It would only spell inevitable death.
"How long will the forces take to get there?" Xemnas knew that it was a matter of hours before they could begin.
"About four hours, Superior. The Behemoth Heartless are quite slow." Those things were gigantic. Over ten meters tall and literal beasts, they were the perfect war machines.
Xemnas took notice of the time estimate and stretched out his arms. The forces spread as wide and far as his eyes could see. With a single push of his power, Xemnas opened up a black hole in the ground. It was a massive gateway to darkness, big enough to fit one of the Behemoths in it and still let two or three Nobodies walk next to it.
He stretched out his arms in the air, and the ocean of silver started to growl and scream. They were worshipping their master.
"Let the war begin!" he shouted, and the growls grew even louder. Soldiers raised their arms and called out to Xemnas.
The invasion had begun.
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