Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ A Fragmented Tale ❯ The Memory of Van ( Chapter 14 )

A/N: Here's the next installment! Sorry for the wait.

 

 

A Fragmented Tale by cursed l0ve

 

Chapter Fourteen: The Memory of Van

 

“Ah!” Sora yelled, jumping sideways in surprise as a red fireball shot past him. Riku saw it coming just as the brunette let out his cry and pushed Aleron out of the way in time as it whizzed past his bare arm.

 

“Are you okay, Aleron?” Riku asked, pushing himself up with his arms. He made the mistake of putting pressure on his left arm and fell back on the girl under him yelling in pain. He rolled away to his right, sitting up slowly and glancing over to see the burn on his left arm. “Damn it…”

 

Aleron sat up, supporting herself with her elbows. She looked over at Riku in worry. “I'm fine,” she said, taking a breath. “Thank you, Riku. But, are you okay? Did it hit you?” He looked down at her and nodded. She noticed him cradling his arm and grabbed it and looked at it. She saw him begin to protest, but he let her take it once he saw her glare. She muttered something under her breath and her right hand began glowing blue.

 

Riku watched nervously as the blue glow came closer in contact with the burn. He quickly withdrew his arm and kept it away from Aleron. She frowned disapprovingly, and with her other hand, she motioned for him to put his arm back in her grasp. He shook his head.

 

“Come on! I'm trying to heal it for you! You're so stubborn!” Aleron hissed, reaching over. “And hurry up, or you'll have to fight with it. Sora's barely managing to keep Van at bay, look over there.” She looked at Riku with a pleading look in her eyes and he sighed, giving in.

 

Riku rolled his eyes, why was he afraid of her trying to help him? Maybe because he'd seen her glow a strange color too many times as the Dark Aleron. He watched Sora and Van carefully from the corner of his eye. Sora was trying to distract the man so that he wouldn't dare come after him and Aleron. He caught Sora mouthing; “Hurry up!” before turning around again in time to block another fireball whizzing at him.

 

Aleron smiled as he let her take his injured arm and apply her glowing hand over it, healing the burn in seconds. She patted it in approval and grinned at him. “See, that wasn't so bad, was it?”

 

Riku shook his head and quickly stood up just as Sora stumbled in his path. Riku caught his best friend and steadied him so that the brunette could stand. Sora mumbled a quick thanks and glared coldly at the man in front of the trio.

 

Van's stare was on the girl just beginning to stand up beside the boys. He smirked and swiftly unleashed another fireball. Aleron looked up just in time to see it coming straight at her in an unbelievable speed. Her eyes widened a fraction and ducked low just before it managed to hit her in the face. Straightening herself up, she clenched her fists and made a frustrated sound in her throat.

 

“You're getting on my nerves!” Aleron yelled, unleashing the Oblivion in her right hand. Before either one of the boys could stop her, she ran ahead of them, swinging the black keyblade high over her head.

 

Van chuckled before jumping out of the way just as the blade came down at him. “My, my. It's funny how you think you can defeat me,” he smirked. Bringing his glance at the keyblade in her hand, he raised his eyebrows. “And, how have you gotten that particular keyblade in your possession?”

 

“We will eventually kick your sorry ass. And for this keyblade, Kerri handed it over to me earlier,” Aleron spoke sarcastically.

 

Van stood rigid, eyeing the girl in disbelief. “Kerri? Or did you mean Keaira?” he asked in curiosity.

 

“Keaira? I don't know any Keaira!” Aleron retorted.

 

Van smirked, deciding to explain. “Heh. Keaira is my so-called wife. Kerri is her Nobody. I believe I saw you kill the Nobody, Aleron. If I'm not mistaken.”

 

“Huh?” the girl stood there, looking dumbfounded. “What? So, the one helping us earlier… was Keaira?”

 

“Yes,” Van nodded, before chuckling. He had gotten them off guard, so why not start another round now? He fiercely threw fireball after fireball, watching the trio dance.

 

“Hey! Wait a minute!” Riku yelled, jumping to his left just as a fireball came at his feet. He caught another coming at his left, he twirled out of the way, accidentally bumping into Keaira, who was dodging one coming at her. He grabbed her before she fell to the ground and braced himself for another attack. He eyed the man in puzzlement. “So, if Kerri was Keaira's Nobody, and Keaira is your wife…” he dodged another fireball by ducking his head.

 

“Speak your mind!” Van laughed mischievously, throwing a bigger one at the silver haired boy.

 

Riku unleashed his Way to Dawn and slashed at it, dissolving it. “Then,” slash. “Does that mean,” slash. “You're Donovan?” slash. Riku straightened himself up as he studied the enemy.

 

“Heh. So, you're not dumb after all,” Van smirked, pausing his attacks for a while. “Yeah. The thing is… Donovan is not the Nobody, I am.”

 

“WHAT?” Sora yelled in disbelief. “Then… then… but…”

 

Riku cut in, “Why was he following around with Kerri, then?”

 

Sora retained his composure and fiercely glared at Van, who was standing there, smirking. “You! Just what is it with you?! Tell us now! What is your story?” Sora hissed angrily.

 

“Because we were trying to stop him, but we couldn't because of Maleficent controlling us,” a new voice spoke up behind them, answering Riku's question.

 

Everyone spun around, staring in surprise at the woman standing in front of the trio. She brushed back her dark plum hair and blinked her silver eyes. “Hello, I'm Keaira,” she greeted, smiling at their expressions.

 

“Not you!” Van yelled in anger. “Why must you always get involved with everything I do?!”

 

“You're the evil one here, I have to stop you, don't I? I don't know how or why Donovan was deceived in the first place and created you, but he wishes to destroy you and fix everything,” Keaira said, walking past the group towards the Nobody.

 

Van hissed in a murderous way. He clenched his fists and began charging towards the woman. Keaira simply evaded the attack and sent a punch into his stomach as he came forward. He doubled over in pain, kneeling in the sand.

 

“You were already defeated! Why don't you just go back to nothingness? You ceased to exist in the first place! You were never supposed to be here, as Kerri was! I don't know why Donovan created one for me, but now that she is gone. I'm thankful.”

 

“You- you…” he sputtered, standing up slowly. He regained composure. “WILL- NOT- DEFEAT- ME!” He looked up with hatred in his eyes. Keaira took a deep breath before letting it out and rolled her eyes.

 

“Well, unfortunately for you… you are done,” Keaira said simply. She looked a little over Van's shoulder before nodding and looking back into Van's malevolent eyes.

 

Sora, Riku, and Aleron all gasped as Keaira turned around and walked back towards them. Van had looked over his shoulder in puzzlement and found a blinding light engulfing his whole being. Once it had dissolved away, Keaira grinned at the trio.

 

“Don't worry about Van anymore. Focus on the real battle before you. Your friends are getting tired,” Keaira reassured them, before turning around to reveal the reason of Van's disappearance.

 

“Donovan!” Sora yelled in shock. He didn't know whether to be happy or angry with the man approaching them.

 

The curly-haired man smirked at the brunette. “Hey Sora,” he said, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. “I just wanted to say that I'm sorry about everything. I shouldn't have started this whole nonsense in the beginning to start with. I'll tell you, but first. Go defeat the beast, and quickly. There's not much time left.”

 

“Come on Sora!” Riku was yelling. They had already started running towards the beast after Keaira spoke. Riku had both his weapons out and Aleron held the Blade of Hope and the Oblivion in both hands.

 

Sora nodded up at Donovan and rushed towards the center of the ancient battlefield.

 

 

 

Kairi stood inside the withering barrier, battling inside herself. She wanted to go out and help them. She couldn't leave them fighting hopelessly with the Great Beast, could she? No, she was going to go and fight! She helped fight off the smaller ones during their journey, hadn't she? Yes, so she was going to prove them she could help fight the bigger one! Making her decision, she ran out just as the barrier faded.

 

She looked back in utter surprise, “It's a good thing I decided to fight, or else I'd be stuck worrying about the barrier!” Taking a breath, she turned forward, facing the battle at hand. She was going to defeat it, with or without Aleron's help.

 

“Merlin! Leave now! You cannot continue!” King Mickey yelled, running heavily towards the fallen magician.

 

Merlin looked up at the royal mouse with pain and exhaustion in his eyes. “Your majesty, I must stay and fight… I know- I can…” he panted after every word, before going into a coughing fit.

 

“No! Go home now! We will defeat it, I don't want you to die out here. Think of King Arthur! What will he think?!” His majesty reprimanded.

 

Nodding, Merlin sighed before closing his eyes and disappeared with a poof.

 

King Mickey stood up again, clenching his golden Kingdom Key and eyed the battle warily. How long was this going to take? He wanted to know. Looking over to the side, towards the Southern path, he noticed the three others running their way.

 

“Finally, Van is gone.” King Mickey mused in his mind in relief. His eyes widened as he caught a glimpse of Aleron. “And Aleron is back? So, this battle shouldn't last any longer, then.”

 

“Aleron! You're back! You know what you must do, right?” King Mickey yelled, rushing towards them.

 

Aleron paused from running, looking in the direction where she'd heard the King's voice. She saw him coming and smiled. “Yes, your majesty. I know what I must defeat it with this…” she raised the Blade of Hope for the mouse to see. “But I don't know how exactly to do it….”

 

“Ah, you're the Key, remember? So, you must have some great power hidden within you. You just have to find a way to unleash it.”

 

“But, we found out I wasn't really the Key?” Aleron spoke up, confused.

 

King Mickey shook his head, “No. You are the Key. Whatever was said before was to avoid any other problems. But it still happened, didn't it? So, you are the Key. I believe in you, and I know you will find the power within. Now go!”

 

“Oh, okay. What else was false, then?” Aleron asked, raising an eyebrow.

 

“Nothing else. Donovan will explain the truth after the battle. Now go!” King Mickey shook his head again before pushing at Aleron's legs to bring her forward into the battle.

 

Riku and Sora had already gone ahead, allowing Aleron time to talk with the King. Riku ran to help Ryo, while Sora went to check on Enya and Matty. It wasn't going good. Enya had a couple slashes that broke her armor. She was struggling to get out of it while evading the beast's attacks. Matty was in front of her, trying to protect her. Sora rushed to take Matty's place.

 

“Matty, go help Enya! And take her out of the way! We'll take care of it!” Sora yelled over his shoulder, holding his Kingdom Key in his usual battle stance. His left hand was empty, he had lost the Excalibur earlier. He kept in his mind to find it afterwards.

 

Matty nodded and ran to the older girl, bringing her farther up the Northern path and setting her down. Quickly, he helped her unbuckle the various straps that held her armor in place and slipped each piece off with ease. He took a sharp intake of breath once he saw how bad her wounds were. “Damn it, Enya! We gotta get those treated right way!” he spoke harshly.

 

Enya looked up at him sadly, “Yeah, but we cannot go anywhere until this battle is finished. Give me your shirt, we might as well stop the blood flow until then.”

 

Matty sighed and began taking off his armor. Since they weren't going back into battle, there was no use in keeping the armor, was there? And his was broken from the massive number of hits he took from the beast's swiping claws. Tugging his shirt off over his head, he handed it over to Enya, who in turn, took it from him and began ripping the cloth into long thin pieces.

 

He helped her wrap them around her leg, arm, and stomach. He sighed, looking back at the battle. “Defeat it… for Enya's sake.”

 

 

Riku ran under the beast, continually slashing at its stomach. It was no use; it had put up a protective barrier not too long ago to avoid any more injuries. He sighed in frustration as he jumped out of the way before the beast sat on him. The silver haired boy looked over at where the Chaser leader was.

 

Ryo was obviously exhausted. He could barely evade any more attacks. Riku watched in fear as Ryo finally fell and the beast was beginning to place a final blow on him. Shouting his name, Riku swiftly ran to the man, pulling him out of harm's way. He heard the beast roar in anger as he brought Ryo to where the other two Chasers were at the moment.

 

“Ryo!” Enya yelled. “Wake up!”

 

Riku sighed sadly as he watched them shake Ryo, trying to see if he would wake up. “You two take care of him. I'll be back,” Riku said, as he turned down the path.

 

He saw Sora running all over the place, trying to keep the beast distracted. Something was nagging at him. There was something missing in this scenery. He gasped and frantically looked around. Where was Kairi?

 

“KAIRI!” Riku roared, running around looking for her. “WHERE ARE YOU? KAIRI!”

 

Sora froze hearing his words. Kairi was missing? “NOT AGAIN!” he mentally yelled. He gripped his blade tightly, peering around at the surroundings, keeping mind of the attacks.

 

“KAIRI!” Sora joined in with Riku.

 

“I'm up here!” Kairi yelled.

 

The two boys looked at each other in shock. They both looked up at the beast. Sure enough, Kairi was on the beast's back, holding on for her life, while attacking it with her Oathkeeper.

 

“KAIRI! WHAT ARE YOU DOING UP THERE? GET DOWN HERE!” Sora yelled in a possessive way.

 

“Sora! I can fight! STOP BEING THAT WAY!” Kairi yelled angrily.

 

“ALERON IS HERE NOW! SHE CAN DEFEAT IT! YOU GET DOWN HERE NOW AND STAY WITH THE OTHERS!” Riku yelled.

 

“GOD! You guys are so annoying!” Kairi yelled, sliding down the beast's arm. She ignored them as she ran towards the others.

 

“Thanks Riku,” Sora said, relieved. Why did Kairi want to fight? She knew better than to go by herself like that. What if she got hurt? He'd never forgive himself if something happened to her.

 

“I think she really wanted to fight. Remember how mad she got when we were away for so long?” Riku said, taking a deep breath.

 

“Yeah… but I don't want her to fight in this battle.”

 

“Me neither. Come on Sora; let's join the others. This is Aleron's battle after all!”

 

“Okay!” the brunette nodded as he looked over at the beast. He grinned. Everyone certainly exhausted it. It shouldn't be too long now. The beast was strange. It seemed like it was caged in to the center. His blue orbs widened. “WAIT! Did you notice it seemed caged in?”

 

Riku looked around before focusing on the tan scorpion-like monster. “Ah, you're right… I guess it was because you and that Aleron didn't finish the spell back there. So it was only able to appear around here instead of being completely free,” Riku said, crossing his arms.

 

They were both standing on the North path, watching as King Mickey came bouncing in their way. Once they were all on the path, the mouse conjured a golden barrier around them.

 

They were left, to watch Aleron battle off the Great Beast.

 

 

End Chapter Fourteen.

 

A/N: Like it? I couldn't go into the battle between Aleron and the beast yet… Hehe. I noticed that even though I wrote an outline earlier… my imagination keeps going in a different direction! Arg! It's interesting this way, though. I think I have too many twists…

 

Next time—Chapter Fifteen: The Rise of the Heroine

 

BTW- SEE the pattern in the chapter titles?

And if you haven't yet, go check out my other story- A Simple Crush. Be warned, I don't think I'll be updating that for a while. I gotta think of a plot and stuff and make an outline for it. There are 2 chapters already, so read if you're up to it. ^-^