Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Kingdom Hearts Route B ❯ The Counter Spell ( Chapter 6 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, nor any of the Disney Characters in this story. The following is purely fan made. Please support the original work.

 

 

Chapter 6: The Counter Spell

 

 

 

From far away, Agrabah looked like a giant had stomped on everything except the palace. Darkness oozed from the rubble. Black shadows chipped off cracked walls and broken pots, like ash after a fire. Sora, Donald and Goofy walked behind Aladdin, their eyes wide at the state of the city. Of all the worlds they had been to, none of them, not even Hollow Bastion had gotten that level of destruction.

As they walked deeper into the ruins, a cry ripped through the air. Rushing toward the noise, they spotted a woman and a child, cowering in the middle of a group of heartless. The creatures were peeling off the walls and the floor, creeping closer to the mother and her son. She shielded him with her body, and the heartless pounced.

Without waiting, Sora and Donald stretched Carpet between them and used it as a slingshot to send Goofy flying through the air. He got between the civilians and the heartless just in time to protect himself and the victims with his shield. Confused, the heartless didn't see Sora, Donald, and Aladdin creep up behind them. Donald fried the farthest heartless with fire magic, while Aladdin and Sora made quick work with the others, slashing them in half.

Once the danger had passed, Goofy checked on the mother and son.

"Thank you," she said, her eyes red with unshed tears.

Aladdin knelt down and put his hand on the boy's head. "You're safe now."

The child nodded at him, too stunned to speak.

"Can you tell us what happened here?"

The mother's voice shook as she spoke. "A red storm cloud crept over the city, and the next thing we know, those creatures are appearing out of thin air, destroying everything and everyone. The guards tried to save as many people as they could, tried to get them to the palace, but, we-"

She broke down into tears, squeezing her son's shoulders.

"Everything's okay now," Sora said, "we'll get you to the palace."

"But there might be more people in the city that need help," Goofy said.

Donald put up his hand, catching the group's attention. "Let's split up. Goofy and I will search the city. You two, get to the palace and see what's going on."

Donald handed Carpet to Sora.

"I think you should get Carpet someplace safe too."

Without wasting time, Goofy and Donald raced into the dilapidated city while Aladdin and Sora carefully guided the mother and son toward the palace. Heartless popped out of the air the further they walked. The darkness was thickest near the castle, blocking out the sun. Agrabah had gone from sweltering heat to freezing cold in minutes, but still Sora and Aladdin battled wave after wave of heartless while defending the civilians at the same time.

Just a few streets away from the gates of the palace, an army of heartless stood in their path. Aladdin told the mother and son to find a place to hide as they approached the army. The heartless twitched as the got closer, as if sensing danger. They stood with swords in their hands like a brigade of bandits ready to terrorize anyone still unlucky enough to cross their path.

Civilians cowered in front of the palace gates, and standing between them and the heartless as their only line of defense were Razoul and his men. A heartless jumped at Razoul and he defeated it with his scimitar, but the rest of the heartless swarmed at him, knocking him down, and then turning their attack on his guards.

The people cried out, covering their faces with their arms. Sora summoned up all the magical power he had in him, feeling electricity zing inside his bones. He grabbed Aladdin's arm and then threw his keyblade behind the two of them.

"Thundaga!"

The spell rocketed them forward at breakneck speed. Sora screamed over the wind.

"Get ready!"

Next to him, Aladdin grit his teeth, concentrating hard on the enemies.

They flashed through the heartless, gutting anything with sword and keyblade before they stopped inches in front of the crowd. Completely winded from the attack, Aladdin and Sora fell over, gasping.

"Did we get them?"

Aladdin rolled over, a weak smile on his face. "Yeah. But don't ever shoot me that fast through the air again."

"Deal."

Razoul, now free from all the heartless, stomped over to stand over them.

"Explain this street rat!"

"Explain what?" Aladdin flipped back on his feet. "How we just saved you, your men and all these people?"

"What? Are you expecting a thank you? For all I know, you caused all this!"

Sora's fury propelled him to his feet. "Hey, you big, dumb bum!"

"Forget it, Sora. Some people are too stubborn to change." Aladdin glared at Razoul. "Instead of picking a fight with me, maybe you should get these people to safety."

"I don't take orders from you," Razoul growled. "Men! Get these people to safety. And you two: go and clean up whatever mess you unleashed."

"One more thing, Razoul. There's a mother and son back there."

Razoul gave Aladdin a seething look, but went after the mother and her child all the same.

As quickly as they could, Aladdin and Sora herded the people into the palace. The gates had been ripped open, the inner gardens of the palace crackling with fire. Just as Sora and Aladdin reached the doors that led deeper into the palace, a horde of heartless popped right out of the air.

Sora readied his weapon, counting the number of heartless' emblems on each enemy. He jumped in the air and smacked his keyblade down on three heartless at once. Aladdin followed his lead and then the two of them danced, back to back, hacking and slashing heartless as they moved like a spinning top.

The last heartless fell and Sora, Aladdin, the civilians and the guards entered the palace. Despite all the destruction outside, the inside of the palace remained untouched and clean. They burst into the throne room, which was full to the brim with civilians. Jasmine was going around the room, soothing people with a smile even though her face was grey with exhaustion, and her legs trembled with every step.

Aladdin reached her in seconds.

"Are you all right?"

When Jasmine spoke, her voice came out in gasps. "Holding back the darkness is draining. Jafar and some thin man with a shadow have been attacking the castle for hours." She swayed, moments away from losing her balance.

The castle rumbled above, causing an echo of unease to ripple through the people. Razoul and his guards worked to keep the peace while Aladdin let Jasmine lean on him as he guided her to the throne to sit down.

"I don't know how much longer I can keep this up," Jasmine panted. "It's so much harder to keep the darkness at bay alone."

"You're not alone," Sora said. "We just have to go out there and take out Jafar and Dr. Facilier."

He raised his keyblade in the air and chanted. "Curaga."

Three bellflowers appeared in the air above Jasmine's head, sending out droplets of energy and warmth like a spring breeze. Her face brightened a little.

"That should buy us some time," Sora said to Aladdin, "but we should deal with Jafar before Jasmine's strength runs out."

Jasmine reached out and grabbed Aladdin's hand. "Be careful."

"When am I not?"

She smirked. "Really? You don't run head first into trouble without thinking?"

"I'm a street rat remember? I improvise."

"Sora, please watch out for him."

"I will."

"Hey," Aladdin said in a mock hurt voice, "I can watch out for myself."

Jasmine squeezed his hand. "I know that, but together, you're stronger. Go."

Sora put Carpet in Jasmine's lap and left the palace with Aladdin. A sandstorm raged right outside the castle gates. Shapes appeared through the brown air, rushing toward them. Sora and Aladdin drew their weapons, but then the figures came closer. A few more civilians passed them, rushing into the castle. Right behind them were Donald and Goofy.

They watched the people enter the palace. Donald and Goofy didn't question Aladdin and Sora. One look on their focused expression was all they needed.

The party moved deeper into the sandstorm. The tempest scrapped Sora's skin and he had to walk half blind, with a hand over his squinted eyes. Next to him, Donald chanted and then raised his staff. A gust of summer wind rose up from the ground, swirling around each of them like a barrier.

"Aeroga," Donald chanted.

Now protected, they moved faster through the brown blur. Then Sora caught it. A shadow moved across the floor. It stopped below his feet, smiling up at him and clapping.

"I must thank you," came Dr. Faciliar's baritone voice.

The shadow slithered behind them. Turning, Sora watched as Dr. Faciliar moved in an air bubble through the sandstorm. He took off his hat and bowed.

"Thank you, for opening the castle's door to this world." He brought Jafar's lamp out from behind him, and raised it in the air.

Aladdin rushed forward, trying to grab the lamp but it was too late.

"For my final wish. I wish for you, Jafar, to be free of this lamp."

The lamp disintegrated in Dr. Facilier's hand. Furious, Aladdin tried to slash Dr. Facilier with his sword, but the Shadow Man vanished into purple smoke. In his place, there was cruel laughter that rumbled in the sky like thunder.

The sandstorm turned from brown to red. It blew in one direction, amalgamating into a shape. The dust morphed from sand to smoke, blackening. It swirled and slowly shrank in size and then Jafar walked out of the smoke. His red and black clothes sizzled with dark electricity. His long, thin face twisted into an insane smile.

Jafar curved his long neck down at them contemptuously. "I must thank the Shadow Man for his kind gesture. Never would I have dreamed I'd get the chance for such sweet revenge."

He raised his cobra headed staff, and a beam of red light flew over the ground, splitting it in half, separating Aladdin from the rest of the group. Sora, Donald and Goofy charged, but Jafar took a deep breathe and simply blew at them.

Daggers of cold air flew at Sora, Donald and Goofy, and without having time to react they were instantly frozen.

"Chill for a while," Jafar cackled, "while I deal with the street rat."

Jafar's deranged grin widened as he flew through the air. Lasers flew out of his staff, searing the ground where Aladdin had been a second before. Completely outmatched, Aladdin could only use his agility to run and dodge.

Sora watched helplessly, feeling his fingers and toes tingle from the ice he was trapped in. Instead of shivering, he felt as though every bit of him were on fire. Every muscle in his body seized. He could barely breathe: the ice had covered his nose and mouth. It was creeping up higher to cover his hair.

The only thing he could do was move his eyes. Then he saw the end of Donald's staff. It was sticking out of the ice, red flames building up at the tip. Seconds later, Donald's staff was completely aflame, the ice melting from his arm, then his torso, and finally his face. He stumbled out of the ice, shook his head and then faced Goofy and Sora.

"Get ready! Fire!"

Sora gasped for air, only to exhale in a scream as his body went from burning from the ice, to melting from the fire. Goody jumped up and down, patting his smocking clothes. Donald came to the center of the three of them, raising his staff high.

"Curaga!"

The burns and blisters from the fire and ice erased from Sora's skin. Donald collapsed.

Goofy bent down to help him, but Donald waved them off.

"Go help Aladdin."

Goofy dug into his pocket and put a bottle filled with blue and red liquid in the ground next to Donald.

"I was saving this ether for an emergency. Drink it."

Sora gave Donald a potion. "Thanks Donald."

The duck was busy pulling the cork off the ether bottle, desperate to try and replenish his magic. "Stop staring at me and go," he snapped.

Sora and Goofy raced through the buildings, chasing the sound of Jafar's laugher and the cracks and booms of his attacks. They rounded a corner, and then they were in the market place. The broken stalls and wares were on fire, and several paces ahead, Aladdin was held down by a team of heartless. Hovering above him was Jafar.

"As soon as I'm finished with all of you," he hissed, "I will plunge Agrabah into a deep darkness!"

Sora jumped on Goofy's sheild and then was launched into the air toward Jafar. From above, he fired an ice spell that hit Jafar's cape. The heartless looked up, and didn't see Goofy's shield flying toward them like a frisbee. It hit one of the heartless, freeing Aladdin's arm. He reached for his sword and slashed the other heartless.

Jafar turned his attention to Sora and conjured knives in the air. They flew toward Sora, ready to skewer him into pieces. Goofy jumped up between Sora and the knives, deflecting the attack. Down below, Aladdin got rid of the last heartless and tried to slash Jafar, but the ex-genie disintegrated into smoke, dodging the attack.

Landing on the ground, Sora and Goofy regrouped with Aladdin, searching for Jafar. Seconds turned into minutes, and then the sound of footprints made the three of them turn around, weapons raised, but it was only Donald catching up with the group.

"Without your genie boy," Jafar's voice echoed above them, "you're nothing. You can't hope to stop me. Once I plunge this world into darkness and be like a plague over the others and the first thing I need to do, is get rid of the light protecting this world."

A look of horror crossed Aladdin's face. Sora, Donald and Goofy felt ice pooling in their guts. The only light standing in Jafar's way was Jasmine.

Aladdin screamed into the sky. "Picking on defenseless civilians, Jafar? Despite all your power, you're nothing but a coward."

"Yeah, ya big palooka," Donald added.

"Yer just a big bully," Goofy said.

"Yeah, you ugly snake," Sora bellowed, "come out here and fight!"

There was a chortle.

"Ssssnake? Now there's an idea."

The ground rose up like a typhoon ocean wave, sending everyone down to their knees. Any building that had been standing crumbled, leaving the entire area as bare as the desert surrounding it.

There was nowhere to hide.

The perfect place for a predator to strike.

A thick, muscular tube rose up from under the ground. The sand beneath Sora's hands and knees parted to reveal black and red scales. A mound of sand rose up, burst and then a giant cobra head popped out. It turned to face them, its hood flaring, its lips peeling back to show sword-sized fangs. The red, hatred filled eyes narrowed at them. It was Jafar.

The scales under Sora twitched. Without thinking, he pushed Donald, Goofy and Aladdin off before the snake tail bucked, throwing Sora backward into the sand. He landed face first on the ground, his chest and torso burning from the impact, his mouth grainy with sand. Pulling himself up onto his elbows, he spit, and only had a moment to notice the ground beneath him get darker as a shadow loomed above.

Sora rolled, barely dodging the snake tail as it sank into the ground where he had just been. Quickly, he got back onto his feet and slammed his keyblade down on the snake's back. It was like a flea biting a dog. Rather then rear back in pain, the snake tail swept the area, crashing into Sora and slamming him back into the sand. This time, he landed on his back and stars burst in front of his eyes, his body tingling from head to toe.

With Sora down, Jafar turned his attention to Donald, Goofy and Aladdin, hissing with laughter.

"Come on," came his slithery voice, "won't you stay for a bite?"

He snapped at the Aladdin, Donald and Goofy, making the three of them fan out to avoid his strikes. Donald aimed fire spells at Jafar's face while Goofy ran to Sora. Aladdin slashed at Jafar's mouth whenever he flashed forward to try and bite the street rat, but it only slowed Jafar down.

His attacks wouldn't stop, and he slammed his long, thick body so hard against the sand, it sent everyone flying. From the air, he caught Aladdin in his tail. Sora, barely coming out of his daze, had no time to help Donald and Goofy, who had been caught up in Jafar's attack and had fallen to the ground, completely incapacitated.

Too exhausted to get up, his friends out of commission, Aladdin gritting his teeth from being crushed in Jafar's scales, dread sliced into Sora's heart. Then he felt a light nearby and turned his head to see Jasmine racing toward them. She reached Sora, and a look of horror twisted on her face at the sight of Aladdin.

He was barely awake, his eyes almost closing.

Jafar opened his mouth, ready to swallow Aladdin whole.

Jasmine put her hand on Sora's shoulder, pushing past him without noticing the spark that traveled from her hand to Sora. He felt an energy pass through him that brought him back up to his feet. Before Jasmine could get too far, Sora reached out and grabbed her hand. A powerful force slammed through him and into his keyblade.

Jasmine whirled around, staring at their hands. She reached out with her free hand and put it on Sora's keyblade. The power coursed through Sora and into his keyblade like a fury of a thousand sandstorms. He and Jasmine turned, aimed the keyblade together at Jafar, and had to take a deep breathe to relax the sizzling, fiery energy coursing through them in order to say in the incantation.

"Mega Flare!"

An explosion of light and heat blasted from the keyblade. It passed through Donald, through Goofy, Aladdin, Sora and Jasmine like a gentle breeze. Only Jafar roared as the spell burned through him, making his body vanish as the white light from the explosion momentarily erased everything.

Sora's eyes burned from all the light. The power he just commanded flickered out and died, and he fell into nothingness.

 

 

 

A light in the darkness, a home to return to, a memory of a friend left behind, he was lost in the switching narratives of dreams. Yet, somehow, he had a feeling that he shouldn't be asleep, that there was so much he had to do in the waking realm, but something wasn't letting him wake up completely.

Then a voice whispered in the dark.

Stay asleep.

He didn't want to listen to the voice. He wasn't sure why. The voice was low and only wanted to give him comfort. Yet, it bothered him. He was tired of drifting in and out of consciousness, of thoughts that shouted that something was wrong, only to be forgotten a second later. There was something, someone, important that he just couldn't remember, and the more he felt that he was forgetting, the more his heart screamed in anguish.

The feelings flashed intensely one moment and then numbed out the next, as though something didn't want him to feel that way. Something a lot like...

Darkness.

Do not awaken. You are not ready.

He was standing on a round platform. It was pitch blade, but he knew that it wasn't supposed to be. Vague memories of a bright and colorful platform beneath his feet appeared in thoughts. This wasn't right.

"I want to wake up," he thought.

The waking world has no place for you.

"But I have something important to do."

You belong here, in the darkness.

That was a lie. He only remembered the stupid grin of a boy, and the giggles of a girl he once knew, but he knew that was where he belonged, with his friends, and not here, locked in a prison of nothing.

He fought against the dreams, against forgetting, but the power of sleep crept into his mind each time. Focus, breathe, repeat, he chanted. He didn't want to forget. He couldn't forget.

Just accept oblivion.

"No. I won't."

You have no choice. You are alone.

And the dreams took him again, but not before he swore to himself that he would wake up one day.

 

 

 

If they would stop shaking him he could sleep for five more darn minutes.

"Sora. Wake up."

Just a little longer.

"Aw phooey! This is how you do it."

Cold water slammed against his face. Sora sprang up, coughing. One look at the bucket that Donald held his hand explained what had happened.

"Why you!" Sora made a grab for Donald, but the duck was short and sprightly, hiding behind Jasmine's legs.

The princess smiled sweetly. "I'm so glad you're awake."

Goofy fell down to his knees and wrapped up Sora in a bear hug. "Gosh, I so was worried!"

Sora whipped the excess water off his face, leaning away from Goofy. "What happened?"

"You fainted after we cast that spell."

"The spell? Oh! What was that?"

"I don't know." Jasmine said. "But when I saw Aladdin in danger, I-"

She rounded on Aladdin, poking him in the chest. "I told you to be careful! You-"

She didn't say more. She threw herself at Aladdin. He "oofed" when she fell on him, but he didn't complain, wrapping his arms around her.

Sora and Goofy turned their heads, feeling as though they were intruding on a private moment. Only Donald stared with a silly grin on his beak, until Jiminy reminded him to be polite, making Donald turn reluctantly.

After a moment, Aladdin cleared his throat, telling everyone that it was safe to look again.

Sora spoke first. "Where's Jafar?"

Jasmine looked around the area. "Gone. I don't feel any darkness nearby at all, nothing like the power when he was attacking you. Agrabah's safe again."

"But how did we do that? I've never casted a spell that powerful before."

Goofy slammed his fist into his palm. "Isn't it because Jasmine is a princess of heart? Maybe her power and Sora's together is what got rid of Jafar."

"There's a lot we don't know about the light," Donald said.

And a lot they didn't know about the darkness, Sora remembered. Their enemies were getting stronger, he realized. He looked around Agrabah, or what was left of it.

"What about the city? Is it just going to stay like this?"

Aladdin sighed. "Razoul's going to find some way to blame me for this, I just know it."

"I'll deal with him, don't worry," Jasmine said. "We can rebuild Agrabah and who knows, if Genie comes back, we might be able to make it better then before."

Hearing Genie's name reminded Sora about Carpet and about how Dr. Facilier's attack had nearly destroyed the poor rug. Anguish turned in Sora's stomach, making him feel sick. Ever the attentive friends, Donald and Goofy leaned forward to look at his face.

"What's wrong?"

"Dr. Facilier. He thanked us for opening the castle door." Sora crumbled to the ground. "We brought Dr. Facilier here didn't we? He followed us. So, all this," he gestured to Agrabah's sorry state, "is our fault?"

Jasmine and Alice were right. He couldn't go to the realm of darkness to save Riku. Just by using Castle Oblivion's door, they had helped in destroying the home of their friends.

Jasmine poked Sora on the nose. "Did you plan to put this world in danger?"

"No."

"Do you want heartless to get out of the realm of darkness?"

"Of course not."

"Are you willing to face the consequences if they do? If a world get's destroyed, if the people you care about are in danger? These are questions a person with responsibility always has to ask."

Jasmine turned in a circle, pointing to her city. "Since I've lost my father, I've had to think about these things everyday. I've also made mistakes, but as long as one thing in my city is still standing, I will fight for it. Don't blame yourself for what happened today Sora. Dr. Facilier and Jafar did this, but you and Aladdin helped me to protect it."

"I don't know what to do. We're trapped in that castle and the only way forward is through the door that could, or could not, throw us into the realm of darkness."

"If that happens, then I want you to promise me one thing. Lock the door that leads to the realm of darkness with your keyblade. We don't need another person like Ansem, or Maleficent, out there destroying the worlds."

"Even if it means we might lock our friends in there too?"

"I think you should have more faith in Riku," Jasmine said, "you never know, he might just get out of the realm of darkness on his own." Jasmine smirked. "And when the two of you meet again, bring him back here. He owes me an apology for when he kidnapped me for Maleficent."

Sora looked at Donald and Goofy and the two of them smiled reassuringly at him.

"I think she's saying that she trusts us, Sora," Goofy said.

"Yeah, if we go to the realm of darkness, we'll just have to make absolutely sure nothing comes out," Donald added. "Besides, we have to defeat the Shadow Man."

"That's right. He made his third wish to set Jafar free. There's no telling what his second wish did."

Jasmine smiled at the three of them. "I have faith in you three. But don't forget that as keyblade master, you have a duty to keep the worlds safe."

"Of course, Highness." Sora bowed.

Just then something ran up to them. Abu jumped on Aladdin's shoulder. He was holding a thalassa shell in his hands.

Sora took the shell from the monkey. "We never did talk to that merchant."

 

 

 

Jiminy's Journal:

Jafar (First Appeared in Aladdin, 1992): The former grand vizier of Agrabah. His lust for power made him conspire with Maleficent to take over Agrabah in the past. His thirst for revenge was not enough to stand up to Sora and Jasmine's combined light.