-1- Departing Refrain

Roaring wind and swirling blacks and purples blanketed everything. His eyes were squeezed shut as the world stretched and tore; pulled backward through the Space Between, there was nothing that could be done as the island was ripped into infinitesimal pieces beneath his feet. His brown hair was matted down hard around his face, damp and freezing against his forehead. His arms were pressed to his sides as he traveled, though he wouldn't have had the strength to fight whatever was pulling him along if he wanted to. He ground his teeth, pulled faster and faster through the darkness, feeling as though his legs might be left behind if it didn't slow down.

Bright white light suddenly burst through the tiny gap in his eyelids. The blue eyes snapped open as the urgent pulling sensation gave way to gravity; his arms and legs came free, his neck swung up to see what he was flying toward as he was blasted from the portal. A sizzle filled the air as long black claws raked out after his body, snaking through the air toward him, as if it were going to snatch him like a fish on a hook and send him whizzing back the other way. Arms came up to shield his body unnecessarily; the short-lived portal snapped shut only moments after his exit, the shadowy claws bursting into wisps of smoke before his eyes. His relief was cut off by the wall he slammed against. Sneaky buggers, walls.

His body clung to its yellowed surface for a moment, leaving the former Keyblade Master to slowly peel off and fall to the dirt with an unceremonious thump. Pain reverberated through all his limbs, spreading from the back of his head through his limbs, pulsing in his marred fingertips. His bare hands were scraped and already covered in dirt and sand. They were shaking as he tried to bring his arms under him to bear his weight. His head rose slowly, the soaked brown spikes clinging to his face as he tried to gather himself. His voice was a hoarse whisper, barely able to reach his own ears, "No... No, no!" He coughed, his whole body shuddering once as his arm slipped, bringing him back down to the earth.

Lying on his stomach for minutes that felt like lifetimes, he closed his blue eyes once more as he silently wished himself away from his dirty resting spot. As he teetered on the edge of consciousness, his mind forcing him to relive the confrontation once more.

He had been sitting on the floor of his house, back against one of the couches in the living room, that silly ear to ear grin spread over his face. His hands were wrapped around a spiky auburn haired young boy, both of them laughing as they wrestled on the floor. A typical summer night, it seemed; roughhousing on the floor, shooed inside by an oncoming storm. As dusk wove into evening, and his son was ushered on to bed by his wife. The retired Keybearer took a moment to relax on the carpet, letting his head sink down into the cushions of the couch, staring up at the ceiling fan as it spun hypnotically. The smile still on his lips, he pushed himself to his feet. "Dad?" The shaky voice of a younger girl echoed down the stairs to him. As she asked him to come up, he was already taking two steps at a time, for no particular reason other than he could! He hopped around the corner, poking his head into the room. Another auburn haired kid was kneeling on the bed in her pajamas, pointing out the window to something. Sora chuckled, pushing some of his own light brown locks out of his eyes as he walked over to the window to see what was so startling. He ruffled the long red-brown tresses that made her look so much like her mother as he spoke, "It's just a squall; you remember how they turn the sky funny colors." He took a look for himself, despite his own assurances. Blinking a few times, he pushed off the edge of her bed, standing frozen at the window for a long moment.

Before he'd fully registered what he was doing, he'd raced to his room, thrown on actual clothes and barreled out the door; he wore just a pair of jeans and a plain white t-shirt. His old adventuring outfit didn't exactly fit him anymore. The Keybearer was in a hurry in any case. He never would have been any the wiser if he hadn't looked out the window. Just woulda gone to bed, and woken the next morning none the wiser.

He skidded to a halt in the grass in front of the mayor's home, fists clenched tight as he glared up at the figure perched at its apex. It was as black as the sky all around it, like a shadow in a dark room, and the only thing lighting it up was its hands held up to the sky: thin white bolts of lightning were arcing up every few seconds, becoming more and more frequent until the moment Sora arrived. The man on the rooftop lowered his arms to his sides, the hood peering vacantly downward; its contents were a mysterious void in the dark. As they stared each other down, the skin on the back of Sora's arms was crawling, spreading slowly up to his neck and seeping down his spine. How had he managed to miss such overpowering Darkness?

His bright blue eyes fluttered open again, bringing him back to the bit of dirt he was recovering on. His head was still aching, pain pulsing throughout the rest of his limbs, but he managed to control his arms enough to bring his body upright. He leaned back on his wall, which still bore his imprint, blinking slowly at the world he'd arrived in. "The Land of Departure...? Aqua!" he murmured to himself, pushing off the wall and stumbling up the hilly path that led to the main building. His bare feet slid along the grass and the rough edges of the dirt road, the cool, itching sensation drawing him back into his nightmare again.

He was back on the grassy field in front of the mayor's house, golden flashes all round his hands as both Fenrir and Sleeping Lion appeared. The hood jerked backward, as if the person underneath had let out a derisive chuckle. Leaning forward, the cloaked figure was off the rooftop in an instant. Gloved fingertips, arcing white sparks, were centimeters from his face before Sora even realized he needed to move. Leaning back, he swung Sleeping Lion hard, connecting awkwardly against the Man in Black's hood as he fell to the ground. The hooded figure vanished into a puff of shadow, leaving the Keybearer to stare at it for a moment from the ground, wondering what had just happened before white light lit up everything above him. His head snapped forward; the man was suspended horizontally in the air, spinning around to focus on Sora. The gloved hands pressed together, wild arcs of blue static shooting off to the empty air around him as he brought the hands to bear. As Sora tried to roll away, he felt something brush against the backs of his legs. There was a sudden release of pressure in the air for a split second, and everything went silent. Just for a second.

Sora was sent skidding backwards over the grass, his heels catching on something as his momentum carried him along, sending him spinning and tumbling back until he finally rolled to a stop on the edge of the beach. Water rushed through his fried pant legs, two still-smoking handprints on the back of his calves where the connection was made. The remnants of the attack were still making him twitch and spasm when he heard slow, deliberate footsteps moving steadily closer. His ears were still ringing as Sora pushed himself over onto his back. The walking shadow nearly standing on top of him, his silhouette ruffling in the gusting wind. He could see the lips moving in the darkness of the hood, the slow, monotone voice of his enemy impossibly clear in the storm, "To think, that that is all the force to be mustered by the strongest of the Wielders."

A divot in the dirt caught his foot. He was brought back from the troubling memory to stumble. Sore fingers caught on the doorframe that led to the lower corridors. His soaked jeans weren't helping at all as the slightest breeze sent chills up his spine, making Sora feel even more lifeless than he thought possible. He called for anyone, receiving no reply as he tried to make his way along the corridors and up staircases. It seemed the Wielders in training had already fled, and Master Aqua had gone with them.

As he mounted the final spiral staircase, he was leaning heavily on the banister, and nearly toppled back down when he finally came to the landing. Doors up and down the dormitory were left wide open, the contents of some strewn out into the hallway; one door looked like it had been blasted or torn off its hinges. The heavy oak doors at the end of the corridor were barely cracked open, but scorch marks marred every inch around them. His voice was caught in his throat, reaching out to push on one of the handles, which looked as though someone had tried to melt it away, the barrier creaking slowly as he entered. "Empty... What could have happened here?" His mumbled words gave away his despair as he sunk down inside the Master's bedroom, his back pressed to the door, and his palms pressing to his eyes as he waded through the catastrophic fight again.

The points of his Keyblades were digging hard into the sand as Sora used them to prop his body upright, two more scorched hand prints on his back. He was panting hard now, his whole body weighed down with water. Shaggy brown locks sticking across his face and forehead as he stood at the edge of the island, his bright blue eyes just barely able to make out the curved tree where he and his friends had spent so many carefree days and nights wondering up the unforgettable experiences they might have on other worlds. Half-lidded and trying to wipe sweat and a sticky crimson substance from his eyes, he heard another boom of thunder from across the main island, bringing up his Keyblades as he waited for the shadow to strike once more in hopes of catching it off guard and landing a lucky blow. A hefty gust of wind rushed past, a precursor to the danger that was causing it. Sora gritted his teeth hard as he waited for sudden pain. "What good are you?" The voice was hard and hushed, the sand around the shadowy figure's feet swirling around him as he came to a sudden halt, making the Keybearer stumble backwards as he tried to figure out where his opponent was coming from so quickly. "Well... No use wasting time. Hardly worth the effort. Doubt you're going to save anyone." The hood turned, looking down along the dunes, catching sight of the woman with her long auburn ponytail flowing in the breeze. "Least of all, your family."

Another boom broke the clouds above them, and everything began to swirl. Pieces of houses were already being pulled in, ripped out of the ground as winds immediately started to gust over the islands. Sora took off down the beach toward his home, all thought of the battle gone, only wanting to reach her before everything was ripped apart again. The ground shuddered; a column of earth shifted up in front of him, leaving his section of beach to sink below the raging waves, foaming as they rushed in toward him. He leapt up, managing to drag his worn out frame onto the shard of land above him.

Almost there... Just a bit more...

His feet sank into the sand as he ran, hopping over fractures that were appearing all along the island, yelling for her to grab the kids and go, to run, to get away. Wind rushed around him as another boom echoed across the shattered landscape. A palm wrapped around the back of his head, pushing him forward into the sand. It wrenched his head back by the long, brown spikes, holding him down to watch what was going to happen. The monotone voice hissed in his ear, the flapping hood muffling the words, "Ah, my favorite part. The sappy goodbyes..." Twisting and trying to fight away from the grip on top of his head, he felt a knee crash down between his shoulder blades, and the hand bunching up in his spiky brown hair yanked hard. Pops issued all along Sora's spine as he felt the pain spread like wildfire down his back. The earth shifted again, the house suddenly dropped down several feet, before the whole piece of land started to lift away. The swirling clouds, glowing bright yellow in the middle and turning purple along the outside edges, were a sickening whirl of color overhead as they drifted toward the unsettlingly black eye. The movement was enough to unbalance the shadow. Sora's arm whirled around over his head, actually feeling the connection this time: Fenrir managed to catch right along his attacker's chest, knocking him flat on his ass. The Keyblade Wielder scrambled to his feet, ready to try and jump the gap, but then he saw the look on his wife's face. She'd made it outside again, his son and daughter holding onto her tightly, both of them calling for him to hurry. It was the sad little smile, the one she hadn't worn in years, and that slight shake of her head that kept him standing right on the edge of the abyss. "Remember what I said?! I still mean it!"

His eyes open once more, still sitting alone in what had been Aqua's bedroom, his back resting on the door and his legs sprawling out across the tile floor. His body no longer shook as he rose once more, testing his grip as he turned to a wardrobe next to the entryway. He pried it open, finding nothing but a gold plaque inside, with a simple sentence etched into it: Step Right Up. He pulled at the remnants of his tattered clothes, the hand prints on his back and chest making it flimsy to the point of almost disintegration, and did as he was told; his last words to her were ringing in his ears as he shut the door, feeling warmth surround his body. Being electrified and shot through a portal can make it easy to forget who you are sometimes.

The doors sprung open again, giving him enough light to see what had been done. He flexed his glove-covered palms, looking over the scuff marks on his fingertips, the only visible reminder of the events that had transpired. Sora said the words one more time, a quiet murmur in the broken halls, "I'm always a part of you, too. And I'll come find you; always will..." The leather squeaked as he clenched his fist, a weary smile slipping back onto his face as he straightened out his jacket. Throwing the doors wide open, he strode back down the mangled corridors. "Kairi. Riku. Just hang tight. I'm coming to find you."

The gilded hem of the long, taupe coat trailed along at his heels as room after room went by again, the flames embroidered along the back flicking and shining near enough to make them look alive. His freshly gloved palms ran over the burn marks that were scattered throughout the dormitory hallway. Under the scuffed and sore tips of the Keyblade Master's fingers, the stone felt so brittle he thought he might have been able to break a piece off. It looked as though a dozen or more explosions had rocked just that part of the castle, leaving everything blasted and broken in its wake. The damage wound erratically up the steps to the Great Hall, and left a pile of rubble and kindling at the base of the stairway. The fingers curled into a fist, slamming it down on the center of a scorch mark. The stone around it groaned under the unnecessary force. Shafts of light filtered through a hail of dust and debris that shook loose form the wall, coating Sora down to the shoulders. It blew off swiftly as he stumbled blindly toward the stairwell that led to the Master's Hall.

Resting his palms on his knees, panting hard and letting his head sink down, he felt the remnants of the palm prints tingling on his chest, parting gifts from his opponent. The one who had destroyed his home and taken him away from his family. It was him. His blue eyes stung as he looked at the door blocking his way, looking over the blocking bar snapped cleanly in two as if someone had gone through it with an axe and the burn marks left all around the outside masonry. There was no one else he knew who could do anything as terrible as this. His tired legs caught on the edge of a step, sprawling him flat onto his chest. He should have known when he saw the Man in Black from the start of the fight until the last moments, which were still replaying in his imagination.

Riku had been right...

Wind ripped through his hair again; fingers dug hard into the collar of his shirt, yanking him back. Sparks arced across every one of the man's free fingers, the deep black cloak whipping around his waist as he stood before the distraught Keyblade Master. Without hesitation, the hand came down, and lightning cracked the sky once more, illuminating everything in terrifying relief for the briefest of moments. The Man in Black straightened up, leaving the spiky brown haired man to lie battered and broken in the damp earth, finally beaten on the sandy shores of his home. The earth creaked and groaned beneath them, waves lapping up to them suddenly as they sank a foot, but then their sundered bit of land started to lift away from the rest. They were moving up toward the bright yellow clouds, swirling furiously with reds and purples as bits of the Destiny Islands were finally swallowed up into the pitch black at the very center. Tipping his head back to the rain, the Man in Black spoke softly again, rousing the broken Keybearer from his shocked stupor. "Honestly. How you ever managed to save anyone is a bit of a mystery."

The hood twisted down to look at its target, the rush of movement still pulling at the hem of his cloak as they made their way skyward. Sora's whole body felt stiff as he lay on the ground, pain pulsing across every shocked and frayed nerve ending. He was barely able to shift his body as the Man in Black peered from the shadows of his hood. "Look at your home. Broken. Destroyed. And never going to return. And those poor people. Think of it: you couldn't save a single one. Not even your own family." A gust of wind nearly took the hood away from his face, a tuft of brown hair the only piece of his head that became visible before gloved fingertips caught the edge and pulled it down tight once more, scoffing as the Keybearer twitched at his feet. "'Keyblade Master Sora'." The gloved hand reached down and pulled Sora up to his feet, letting them look at one another for a moment. The spiky haired man struggled at his challenger's wrist, trying weakly to free himself, but froze as the Man in Black hissing his last words, "You should have listened to Riku."

He was suddenly in the air, the shadowy figure standing on the hunk of earth far below him with his hands pressed together, sparks building all over his fingertips, arcing like some kind of Frankensteinian machine. A tiny glowing orb suddenly pushed his palms apart and sparks shot out into the air all around his hands. Even as Sora was hurtling away from the man, he could feel the tingle of static in the air as if a massive bolt of lightning were about to strike. There was a whisper of air unlike the rushing wind all around him; Sora looked up just in time to see a dark portal split open above him and to hear the Man in Black below him bellow his displeasure as his target flew across the threshold.

He felt like he could still hear the angered scream ringing in his ears as his mind came back to the Land of Departure. His fingernails dug into the spaces between the stone blocks on the wall, the knuckles turning white as the Keyblade Master pulled himself upright again. His breath hadn't completely come back to him. His left hand pressed to the burns hidden underneath the steely gray vest that enveloped his torso and the zipper along the front chilling the skin between the aching palm prints on his skin. He pushed off the wall, his knee nearly giving way after the first step though Sora managed to steady himself, and stepped around the corner into the Master's Hall.

The stained light from the glass above the intricately carved wooden thrones of the three Masters illuminated the room, freezing Sora as he stood among the rainbow of scattered sun shafts. His feet began to move again; the shuffling steps echoed in the silent space. The left chair, where he'd sat during his tenure, had been kicked over, tossed aside carelessly. The sun shone through the hollowed spaces around his selected emblem, charred entirely black on one side. He reached the foot of the dais, his legs unwilling to push him up the few steps onto the platform. The blue irises slipped to his right, the second Master's seat, Riku's seat... It had joined much of the wooden accents in the lower parts of the keep as a sizable lump of matchsticks and kindling that had been hurled into the nearest wall with pieces scattered around the base of the platform. The Keyblade Master forced his body each step up to the very center of the platform.

Cracks formed a spider web all around him, the remnant of a blow so strong it spread out a few feet from the epicenter. The high-backed throne that had been set in the middle, the Grand Master's seat, was pushed back from the battle, sitting in the shadows underneath the stained glass. He stepped off the far edge, his aching limbs catching him and letting him stumble. His bare fingers found the arms of the chair, digging into the wood as he held himself upright. Sora did his best to breathe deeply, his whole body shaking as he exhaled. With a sudden effort, he started to pull the chair out of the shadows.

Grunting, Sora managed to drag the thick wood into the light, illuminating the damage Aqua's attackers had inflicted. The back had been cleaved in two all the way to the seat, the two halves creaking eerily as he dragged it back toward the platform. He stopped to breathe again, panting as he ran his fingers along the back and the sides, feeling scorch marks all over. He lifted, groaning and wheezing until the feet scraped back onto the cracked masonry, sliding back into its proper place. The Keyblade Master looked up at the shorn back as he caught his breath and brushed his palms off on the flowing legs of his pants. Looking back to the corner of the Great Hall, to the third armchair that nothing could be done for, he stepped around to the side where the remaining seat was. He reached out carefully, brushing his fingers along the scorch marks for a moment. They felt different than the ones in the dormitory, and as he looked closer in the colored light, the pattern was entirely different. It flowed around everything, blazing hotter in some spots than others. The lightning spots were mazes of burn marks, and as he looked around the chamber for further evidence, he felt his heart sink. There were both the swirling fire spots and the arcing lightning strikes. "He's not alone." Sora mumbled, his hands working without instruction to pick up the throne and set it next to the other. His spikes bounced as he stood back, his irises moving back and forth to both empty chairs.

His coat lifted as he turned in place, a gentle breeze rolling through the stone hall and whistling in the corners. "And I've managed to lose everyone." The words startled even the Keybearer, blinking as he felt the loneliness creeping forward again. His fingers searched around his neck, closing tight around the silver emblem and golden band that he'd worn for years. His legs started to shake once more, falling back into the empty throne. The wood gave a screech of protest as it was pushed back under his weight, coming to a stop in a crack before it toppled over and tipped him out backwards. The Keyblade Master set his elbows on his knees and leaned forward. His fingers let the charms go to rest against his chest, warmed in his palms so he couldn't feel them on his skin anymore and brought his palms up to rest over his eyes. The breeze whispered through again, teasing the legs of his jeans and the hem of his coat, but eventually even that died down.

There he sat. The last of the Keyblade Wielders, alone in the Light, and waiting for the Darkness to fall.