towerofanimus | dismiss (reprise)

Characters: Aqua (

prayerless ) and Master Xehanort (

capax_infiniti )
Setting: Floor 13, the cathedral -- backdated to end of March
Format: Action
Summary: Aqua finally encounters the one responsible for destroying so many lives. She isn't very happy.
Warnings: Violence, magic explosions, darkness mutilation to a degree. Will edit if necessary!

[Her talk with Riku had been alarming, to say the least. In less than a month, her status in the Tower had changed dramatically. That mysterious broken Ventus had come back, years older than he was when she first saw him. Vanitas had arrived and fought her Ven. Terra was finally here, and the three of them were together again. And Xehanort, the man responsible for ruining almost every timeline she'd encountered thus far, was here too.

It's a lot to think about. And there aren't a lot of places in the Tower that Aqua really feels comfortable thinking in.

Honestly, she doesn't feel comfortable in the cathedral either. But at least it's large, and not claustrophobic. And the stained glass almost reminds her of home.

So there Aqua sits, in one of the pews close to the front, in an almost meditative state. No spells have materialized around her, but the magical energy is thick around her -- she's reaching for it, holding onto it, seeing how long she can keep it without having to cast it off in the form of a spell. It's therapeutic. Something else to focus on besides worrying about how she's going to keep everyone else safe.]

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[The first combo connects and he staggers back, not catching the choked cry of pain before it escapes him. Her blade leaves long gashes across his chest and he wheezes, eyes narrowing as he brings his own up to block hers, allowing the darkness within him to pool and rise to the fore to grant him the strength to resist her blows until he can heal himself.

He watches the pattern of her strikes before shifting his grip, using the momentum of her attack against her in a retaliation strike to send her reeling back.

Just a split second is all he needs, clutching a hand to his bloody chest in a fit of concentration, pulling the darkess through him to summon several shadows, which quickly dart over to attack.]

[And reel back she does. Though her Keyblade hand is occupied, her other one isn't, and she's been practicing casting spells without a weapon. While she stumbles back, off-balance, she quickly throws out her free hand to shoot a Fire spell at him (it's all she has the concentration for at the moment).

The shadows take her off-guard, though; two of them have already gotten into attacking range by the time Aqua summons her barrier to ward off the rest. Even then, it flashes only briefly. She can't take much more of this, and the Heartless are closing in.]

[He catches the flash of the fire as she casts it, teleporting to the side to avoid its trajectory. The Shadows buy him enough time to summon the energy for a Curaga, the slashes on his chest closing and the other pains from his falls and the Transcendance fading away.

He turns back to her now, watching the shadows lunging and her barrier flicker. It's only a matter of time, now. He takes a step towards her, pooling more and more darkness to summon some Neoshadows, pointing at her with a leer to send them in to join the Shadows.]

[Despite her overwhelmed state, the arcs she swings Stormfall in are nothing but graceful, if a bit desperate. Most of the Shadows are totaled easily enough, but the Neoshadows pose more of a challenge.

They're too close. She can't handspring out of the way. She can barely swing her weapon. In addition to the claws and spry, rubbery bodies that assault her, she can feel the sheer darkness closing in. She hasn't felt this close to it since she was surrounded by it.

In a last, desperate bid to free herself from their clutches, she gathers the substantial rest of her magical reserves. Huge, dangerous crystals of ice absolutely explode from the ground around her in an Ice Barrage that sends stray frozen shards flying and settles coats of frost along any nearby surface that will accept them. Most of those Heartless are probably toast. Or she hopes they are, anyways.]

[The Neoshadows are much stronger than the Shadows, and most of them go down easily enough to the frozen assault. However, a couple manage to avoid the brunt of the attack and rush in amidst the shattering of their comrades, but instead of attacking they simply grab onto her arms, jerking them back in an attempt to hold her in place.

Xehanort simply watches in amusement, letting her burn herself out struggling against them.]

[A few weak flames flare up at her fingertips when the Neoshadows grab her, but that's all she can muster. She's spiritually drained, and without her magic, it's much easier to feel the physical effects of the fight setting in.

The sheer anger of being trapped like this provokes some ferocious wrenching of her body this way and that to escape the hold of the Heartless. They don't seem to be relenting, though, no matter how much she kicks and claws like a lion.

Her struggling eventually tapers to a well-placed yank of her limbs every now and then. She kicks out with the blades on her boots every now and then, but it's not enough to eliminate the Heartless binding her.

So she's forced to wait. There's only so much Xehanort can do in this tower. If he kills her, she'll come back to life. And he has no use for her heart, does he?

She might be humiliated if she wasn't still so furious.]

[A low, drawn out chuckle that slowly builds into full laughter. He begins to walk towards her, almost casually, looking her right in the eyes.]

Certainly we would have clashed at some point. You're far too formidable for someone such as Braig to have taken you down... ah, but this is not that time. It reminds me of something else, similarly foolish... perhaps a similar result is required.

[And he stops, raising his keyblade to point directly at her.]

Remember, Aqua, how little you truly understand...

[Darkness gathers at the end of his blade, bursting forward into a small arcing shot of darkness that streaks towards her. And another.]

[She doesn't want this to hurt. Just because she doesn't want to give him the satisfaction. Despite her last-ditch attempts to pull her limbs free, Aqua keeps his gaze steadily, eyes narrowed into a fierce glare.

She doesn't want to hear what he's saying. She just wants it to be over with.

And soon it seems it's going to be.

But the darkness doesn't take the course she thinks it's going to.

The first rips upwards from her jawline into her cheek, and she lets out a pained cry, squeezing her eyes shut -- which is probably the only thing that protects them from the second blast. That one takes a course vertically from her cheekbone to her brow, leaving marks both above and below her eye.

It hurts a lot more than she thought it would. The darkness festers and burns in the open wounds, that awkward temperature where she can't tell if it's scorching or frigid. The pain is so distracting that she doesn't even open her eyes to watch for the finishing blow.]

[The scene is almost too close, too similar... Eraqus, on his knees, screaming through the pain, his voice laced with anguish while his face too burns...

laughter rips through him again. Like Master, like pupil. Beautiful, poetic justice. He lowers his blade, his smile malicious as he studies his handiwork.]

How fitting.

[And he simply turns, walking away, walking down the aisle through the ruined remains of the cathedral, out the door. Only when the boom of the door closing rings through the cathedral do the Neoshadows finally release their grip, scampering away and disappearing into dark puddles to go terrorize others elsewhere.]

[She's forced to hear the words, but she doesn't process them. She can't process them past the darkness that sears twice as badly because of her affinity to the light.

Once the Neoshadows release her, she rubs the fabric of her sleeves over the wounds experimentally, but that just makes it burn even worse. The young Keybearer reaches, stretching herself as far out as she'll go, trying so hard to grasp even a tiny bit of magic that she can use for a Cure spell, even if deep down she knows it will be futile to reversing the damage that has been done.

She's crumpled in the aisle of what remains of the church with her face in her hands, with only the crackle of the blazing, smoldering debris to keep her company. And that's where she stays, her eyes hidden in darkness between her fingers.

She can't bear the shame of facing the light.]

dismiss (reprise)

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