"In the depths of every heart, there is a tomb and a dungeon--"

[caliginose]

Who: Terra, Riku, Joe, Aslan, and Master Xehanort
When: Late evening, progressing throughout the night
Where: Dead Horse Cove
Summary: The culmination of the events that began with the theft of Terra’s body - or, arguably, with Xehanort’s arrival in Siren’s Port - that will once and for all put an end to the villain’s reprehensible plans. A goal

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[caliginose]

Stage Four: Riku, Terra, Aslan

“--then pray that your grieves may slumber, and the brotherhood of remorse not break their chain.”

How fitting, how tremendously appropriate.

It all came back, always. He thought of Braig's cleverness, of that cycle continued on forever, and wondered if the man knew far more than even he himself was aware of. Did you know it would be this pair, this place, this night? Or is it Fate, a true being after all with a hand in the passing of the days, and is there any time left at all to wonder.The battle was begun; all opportunity to search and speculate had passed

[walkthedawn]

Things were as they should be.

A suit of armor stood at his side, enduring despite all that Xehanort had thrown at him. The both of them were tired, bruised and battle-worn, but he could feel no sign of letting up in his limbs. The gravity and weight of the power around him was crushing; were he any less of a Keybearer, any less of a fighter, he might have buckled under that weight. Terra's presence in whatever lingering form he had was a blessing and a pillar. He drew from the strength the man had and used it as his own, pushing past the pain and the strain in limbs.

He kept his arm in the familiar stance he always held, his breath coming short. His eyes fixed on Xehanort's from underneath a razored curtain of ruffled silver hair, gaze determined and expression calmed. They could do this. They could.

Let us go together!

No.Riku couldn't stop him from pitching the earth upwards. He nearly lost his footing, anger flooding through him once more. He would not allow his emotions to rule his hand, but he refused to let him win. He

[todomarishi]

Things were all wrong.

He had known it the moment he'd tracked Xehanort down, picking out the pooling of darkness that surrounded his figure and heading straight for it, certain that he would find his target, sure of what he felt in a way he hadn't been over the many weeks he'd spent searching. Too long he'd been led astray by less familiar shadows. Too long but no more. And so he'd found Xehanort and fought him. No holds were barred in his quest to destroy the man. To see him fall was his everything. He'd tore into his enemy's armor, the brunt of his heavy blade borne by blue and white metal. He'd trusted the flesh and bone beneath the shell would feel each blow, would know pain in a way he no longer could. He couldn't relish the thought, couldn't reap satisfaction from each attack of his that landed, but nor could he suffer frustration or despair when his swings missed their mark. There was only a steely determination from start to finish, a resolve that would not be broken regardless of the damage his armor took

[caliginose]

From the city, it looked as though a storm had gathered offshore

[todomarishi]

It was a moment suspended in time for the Sentiment. The minutes could only be measured by the number of strikes traded between the three Keybearers and the spells cast by their polished blades. The battle seemed to draw on for an eternity to his hollowed existence. Still he fought, amidst air charged by their clashing and over ground scorched by forces turned murderous. In an intricate and violent dance, they went about, the elements at their beck and call. He would not lose. Not this time. The nacreous glint of light pierced through the dark that allied itself to Xehanort's great strength, dashing shadows that lent themselves as weapons. Fire blazed, thunder magic carved jagged streaks from the rocky floor of their arena to its glowing dome ceiling, ice froze solid in patches, reflecting in its sheen the chains overhead and the occasional glimpse of a blanket of shadows. Energy flowed forth from the Sentiment, heeding his will as it would have any other wielder. He would not lose

[aslandish]

Even in the distance, rolling thunder resounded in the stillness, light and dark streaking together like so much stained glass. A chapel, a refuge for those who would seek to find it, the midnight hour had long since passed before something at its heart began to stir.

A strong wind blew, from leafy columns to lacerated shores, beyond the spire that reached to towering heights, the chains of power provided no more resistance than the air itself. For though the word had not been spoken, it had long since been determined that neither height nor depth, nor powers nor principalities would bar him from keeping his promises.

I will not forsake you.

A moment marked by silence rather than cacophony, the world itself appeared to stand still, turbulence quieting in response to his coming. Present, suddenly, where mere seconds ago he was not, he stood in their midst, a quiet radiance all about him. Golden eyes turning to meet the other's, he fixed the master with his stare, solemn yet piercing in that way all his own.

The end was come.

[walkthedawn]

The youngest of three, Riku had honed his skills for two years now in preparation for battles he knew would come. His first goal had been to defeat Xemnas, long ago, which was something he couldn't do while standing in the body of a monster. He knew this. And when he had broken free from that shell again, it had been easier to use the body he knew better to destroy his enemy and protect Sora. Since then, he's been alone and working towards an unknown and unattainable goal. Why did he train? Why did he continue? It had always been with the idea that one day this - a foe like Xehanort, trying to destroy a world - would happen. And that was why he had been ready

[caliginose]

The children (more intricately tied to him than family, betrayers and progeny both; it was a war of generations now, one so long in the making that he felt a mad, undeniable love for it) with their pitiable limitations would never be able to comprehend the true measure of the disaster delivered to them by a summer’s breeze. How could they, when in their innocence and ignorance they could only see his shape and could only feel his warmth? They had in them no worthy sense of scale and so they did not know, as he did, in the moment when the wind changed and all that he had labored and battled for was instantly and irrevocably put into jeopardy

[todomarishi]

The Sentiment found himself facing what might as well have been a wall of light, his charge stopped cold by the immense presence that stood before him. He gave way to its power instinctively, neither advancing forward when it came upon them nor throwing the might of his will against it. Aslan. It was him, he had come. The Sentiment could grasp that much, could recognize that reality as easily as he could familiar hearts and Keyblades, but there was no place for the why's and how's in his mind. Still, the lion's arrival affected him. Clashing emotions surged through the energy lying within and beneath his armor. He couldn't truly feel them, but they were so much a part of him, he couldn't rid himself of the surprise and the relief, nor the fear and the shame that came to rest near his rage, each feeling waiting for such a time that they might be realized and acted on

1/2

[aslandish]

He didn't waver, the veritable eruption of malevolence leaving him unmoved as the master raged at him from across the platform of stone. Truthfully, this was not an outcome he would have chosen. Had the circumstances been anything other than what they were -- an attempt to disrupt the very existence of this world and throw the rest into chaos -- his intervention would not have been needed. As it was, the stakes were too high for him to look the other way, not just for this Creation and others but also for those he had come to know so well.

Acknowledging the presence of the Sentiment beside him, Aslan shifted his gaze, watching him. Though unspoken, the request resounded clearly, a plea that he had no intention of dishonoring. Briefly, he inclined his head, the warmth in those golden eyes no less than it had ever been.

It shall be so.Before that moment could come, however, one thing yet remained. Undeterred by the surge of dark energies seeking to drive him out, he padded forward in silence, every step somehow seeming to shake

[aslandish]

The master would have the chance to respond as he chose, but short of the man standing down (he would never), Aslan's response would be the same.

Dragging the claws of his right forepaw across the ground, streaks of light rent the swirling blackness, cutting to the very center of the man before him.

Terra.

Another slash of brilliance.

Awake.

And another.

It is time.

A sound more terrible than any other ripped through the enclosure, filling it with fury as it reverberated across the heavens. Aslan roared, and with that singular act, two hearts already beginning to fracture apart were rent in twain.

[caliginose]

Five years away from home.

Five years of training.

Five years of caution. A lifetime of wanting. A single moment when all was clear and a hand on his shoulder that told him no. Wait. Don't.

“Always protect yourself before stepping into the darkness. If you do not, it will take you as it has taken many others. I would not lose my apprentices to such a fate.”

Oh, but he hadn't known! He hadn't seen! The depth, the grandness, the power and knowledge and the opportunity to be had for those that dared to step into the void! There in the blackness all limitations fell away and existence itself became pliable, a tool in his hands, a weapon, a scepter, a crown! He could have wept for them and their ignorance; he could have wailed in pity and impotence while they denied the truths that he held out to the universe with open arms. They were afraid and they were unaware and at every crossroads a cloaked figure pointed the way to truth but it remains infinitely simpler to turn away and choose the safer path. That way was ruin,