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Sora rounded the corner, panting for breath. A throng of people surrounded him, but they were all running in the opposite direction. They were the smart ones, running from danger. He was the one racing towards it.
That was his existence in Quadratum summed up in one tidy sentence: run towards the danger everyone else runs away from. Always speeding faster, closer in the hopes he might keep these people safe and run so hard and fast he’d find his way home.
The hot, unforgiving pavement was rough against his feet. He missed the sandy beaches and dirt paths of home, the cobblestone streets of Twilight Town, the wooden slats of docks and boats and ships. Wherever the sea was in Quadratum, he sure hadn’t found it. He was stuck fighting in the same endless city blocks.
The Darkside loomed up ahead, a few stray cars already in its grasp. How many more Heartless would he have to fight? This never ended, happening over and over again like his entire life was an old CD stuck on repeat.
At last he was within grappling distance. He swung his Keyblade, and the keychain extended into a nice long chain and hook. The hook wrapped around one of the Darkside’s horn-like things, and with a sickening rush Sora was hurtling through the air and soaring towards it.
Releasing the hook, he landed a sharp blow on the Darkside’s head. It roared, the sound waves making a small boom and hurting Sora’s ears. He’d be lucky if he didn’t have hearing damage once he got home.
After another flurry of blows to its head, gravity was already working against him. He was falling, falling, and the Heartless swiped its giant claw. He broke into a roll and soon met pavement, then scrambled to his feet and ran behind the creature. Time to grapple back up to the top again—hits to a Darkside’s head were always more effective.
He’d fought so many of these things that fighting yet another one was more tedious than anything at this point. Grapple up to its head, land as many blows as he could, dodge, repeat. Oh, now it was time for it to summon its minions. Man, dealing with the small fry was always really annoying. The Darkside’s hand smashed into the pavement with a loud crack, and Sora wiped his forehead and waited for the little Shadow Heartless to come crawling out.
A shadow emerged from the cracks, and Sora gripped his Keyblade. How many would it be this time? Four? Five? But that didn’t happen. Instead, the shadow got bigger, and bigger, and bigger. Sora groaned when he realized what it was: another Darkside. Two at once? Ugh, this was really gonna be a pain.
Well, best to focus on the already-weakened one first. Once it was down he could take out the other one. He ran behind it and lodged the grappling hook into its head, then up, up, up he went. A loud bellow sounded out way too close to him, and he gasped and whirled around just in time to see the other Darkside’s shadowy claw coming right at him. Immediately he released the grappling hook and let himself fall to the ground.
Great, so they were protecting each other. This was gonna be tricky. Sighing, he pulled an ether out of his pocket to enhance his magic reserves, then cast a hurtling ball of flame towards the weaker one. That really made it roar, and he took off running again. The good thing about Darksides being so large was that they weren’t particularly fast. That would be his saving grace in this fight—if he could be faster than them, he would win.
He continued using magic for a while in the form of fireball attacks on the weaker one, then dodged the stronger one. Finally, finally he could tell the weaker one was about to succumb. Best to get close to finish it off. He prepared his Keyblade again, only to see both Darksides reaching their awful claws high in the air only to plunge them into the ground.
“Not good, not good,” he said, rushing through the air towards the weaker one’s head. Thwack, thwack, thwack, and—
Two more Darksides arose from the newly-formed cracks in the ground.
“Four? Four?? There’s no way!” He groaned and stared at his foes. He was already winded from fighting the first two, there was no way he’d be able to finish off the original two and these new guys. These Darksides were like the freaking Hydra, the closer he got to defeating them the more that appeared.
But then he heard screams, heard the screams of all the terrified people caught up in this mess. The people who were just living their lives and had homes and families and friends. Who didn’t deserve to die today. For them he’d have to fight, even if—even if it was the end of him.
He rested a hand over his heart. “Kairi, if I don’t… if I don’t win, I’m sorry.”
He really didn’t want to make her cry again. But this was just impossible. He could either run away and leave these people to die and turn against everything he stood for, or he could fight these Darksides for as long as possible and buy these people as much time as possible to escape.
The answer was obvious. But he needed to steel his heart to do it. So he thought of Kairi, thought of her warmth and light and how strong she made him feel. Thought of her smile, her laughter, her hugs.
There, he felt some of his energy returning. Sighing deeply, he raced back into the fray. If he could just take the weakest one out, then maybe he had a fighting chance of—
All four of them lifted their claws high into the air and plunged them in the ground. Sora didn’t wait to see what would happen this time, just stayed his course to the weakest one’s head. If he could wail on this one for long enough, then at least it would go down. Then maybe a few more people could escape. A few more lives might be spared.
One of the other ones swatted at him. He gasped as the wind was knocked out of him, then tumbled to the ground. It took him a few seconds to get up, and one of the other ones swiped at him again, sending him flying. He landed against a nearby building with a painful thud, then slumped to the ground.
His vision was woozy and his breathing was wheezy. His back ached where he’d hit the building, too. Not good, not good. With a shaking hand he reached into his pocket and pulled out a potion, then fumbled with the lid before chugging the green liquid inside. That rejuvenated him a little, and he stumbled to his feet and limped towards the danger.
If he could just—get that weakened one—
Summoning his Keyblade, he aimed the grappling hook at its horns. The hook lodged itself properly, and he let the chain guide him up, up, up towards it. One of the other Darksides swiped at him, but he dodged it. Closer, closer, he was so close now.
Another one grabbed the chain and snapped it. He gasped and started falling, then used his Keyblade to create a new hook. There. He caught himself, though the strain on his arms wasn’t fun. Up, up, up he went. He didn’t wait to get close enough to its head this time; he just summoned as much fire as he could and sent it hurtling towards the Darkside.
There. He smiled in satisfaction as it roared and then started to disappear into black smoke. One down, seven to go—
An awful smoky claw slammed into his face and hurtled him to the ground with so much force he knew this would be it. If he survived the fall, it would be with a broken spine and brain damage for sure.
Well, at least he’d taken one out with him. He closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable—
“Sora!” came a very dear, very familiar voice. Yeah, he must be about to die. No way Kairi would be here. His brain was just in its death throes and he was gonna see the light next or something.
Ah yep, there it was. A bright light shining above him and taking over his vision as he fell. This was just like that near-death experience his aunt had. Which other loved ones would he see?
“Sora!” came Kairi’s voice again. Huh, his aunt had said she’d seen her long-dead grandma. Kairi wasn’t dead, was she?
“SORA, GRAB MY HAND!”
He gasped. Kairi’s face was above him now, and she held out her hand. He reached for it, and their fingers brushed against each other.
She grasped his hand and shouted, “One Heart!” and he understood. He felt more than saw the big white wing burst out of his back, saving him from certain death by pavement just in the nick of time. Kairi’s wing extended too, and they swooped through the air, the wind rushing past their ears.
“Light!” he shouted, and together they sent an explosion of light hurtling towards the Darksides. Was it his imagination, or was Kairi’s light bigger and brighter than ever before? Fighting these guys would be way easier with her by his side. All the weariness and injuries he’d gotten melted away as they soared through the air and rained down attacks on the Heartless below.
At last, the final one dissolved in a cloud of black smoke, and he and Kairi floated to the pavement, their wings dissolving into specks of light. They were both panting for breath and sweating hard, or at least he was. She looked like an angel even without the wing. He couldn’t stop staring at her, taking in everything he’d missed in their year apart. Man, she was even prettier than before—something about her confidence and the way she carried herself. And that wasn’t even getting into her new look. Her hair was long again, she wore a stylish pink coat with a white blouse, pleated skirt, and long black boots, and her makeup was really nice.
They were still holding hands, and man he’d missed this. Her warmth, her touch, he’d had to content himself with ghosts and flickers of memories. But now the real deal was here. She searched his face like she needed a moment to remember everything about it, about him. Like she was seeing a dead man walking, only he wasn’t dead, not one bit, not anymore.
He smiled, and she wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his shoulder. “Sora…”
“Kairi,” he said, then wrapped his arms around her too. Tears filled his eyes as they clung to each other. He wasn’t sure how she’d arrived or why she’d come, but he was grateful she was here in his arms. There were so many feelings in his heart that he couldn’t put into words. But a gentle touch, a sweet caress, a tender hug, fingers wound together and hearts bound as one, that got close to getting his message across.
The rest they could figure out together. For now, he’d treasure this moment and make this new memory with her.