All Good Things 18
Dec. 18th, 2012 09:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lumelleFor story summary, warnings, pairings, etc, see the first chapter.
Chapter: 18/25
Chapter title: Shadows of Past
Chapter rating: PG
Chapter summary: As Lea and Rapunzel venture further into the dark valley, they are attacked by a figure that Rapunzel finds frighteningly familiar. After the incident, Lea is convinced she should stay back while he confronts the monster in the tower.
"What's happened here?" Rapunzel is still staring at the tower, her eyes wide. "That — it's like the shadows have swallowed it whole!"
"Yeah, that seems to be pretty much what has happened." Lea sighs. "I'm not even going to ask why you seem to be so knowledgeable about what's supposedly a witch's tower, since that's really not what we should be focusing on now."
"Then what is it we should focus on?" She turns to look at him at last, and he's not sure if she's annoyed at him for his remark or desperate for answers. Well, he supposes she's got a lot to deal with right now.
"Well, your goal here is to find out what has happened to your husband, then get him back home. My goal is to find a keyhole and close it, then take care of any imminent threats from the Heartless." Lea finds his keyblade in his hand, though he has not consciously summoned it. Apparently it's reading the threat all by itself. That's probably not a good sign. "This is just a hunch, but I think the best plan for both of us is to investigate that tower thing."
"Right." Her face takes on a firm expression, one hand still holding onto her pan. "Let's get going, then."
"Let's." He nods. "Be careful, though. There's a lot of Heartless around here; I can feel them watching us. They probably won't be too happy about us approaching the tower."
"That's too bad for them, then." There's a fierce tone in her voice, and for a moment he wonders how even Heartless could be stupid enough to steal her husband, and whether the monsters possibly have some self-destructive tendencies. "I'm going to bring Eugene back."
"Oh, I don't doubt that for a moment." He pats her on the shoulder. "And we'll make those monsters wish they hadn't even thought of coming to this world in the first place."
"Absolutely." Going by the look on her face, the monsters are most definitely going to regret coming around.
They get forward all of three steps before they're attacked by a huge heartless.
It's not a type he's familiar with, but then it's not exactly the first time that a world has more or less unique monsters. This one looks like a hooded figure, with claw-like arms reaching far to either side, a glowing orb sticking close to the tip of one like a lantern to light its way in the darkness. Of course, because this alone isn't intimidating enough, it also happens to be roughly three times as tall as Lea.
This is going to be fun.
He takes a look at Rapunzel, finding that she seems to be frozen in fear. Not that he can blame her. She probably hasn't seen any Heartless bigger than what they'd faced in the forest, and this one is in another class entirely. Well, good for her that she didn't come alone after all.
Lea attacks the creature with his keyblade, only to have to leap to the side as it strikes at him, surprisingly fast for its safe. He deflects the strike just in time, bouncing back to place himself between the Heartless and the others.
Rapunzel still hasn't moved, and the horse has only barely stepped forward. Of course, that in itself is quite the accomplishment; most horses would have run off at the first whiff of danger. But then, most horses probably wouldn't work for the palace guard.
"It's her," he hears Rapunzel murmur behind him, the terror clear in her voice. "It has to be her."
"It has to be who?" Okay, so it probably wasn't meant for him to hear, but at the moment he'd quite appreciate any info he can get on the thing. Not that knowing the background is necessarily helpful, but it certainly can't hurt. Well, it can't hurt assuming they don't get targeted while standing around trading gossip.
"The witch, the one who lived in the tower. That must be her, some remnant of her." The fear is still there, but determination is creeping back now, too. "She must be the reason they took Eugene."
"I take it the witch had something against your darling?" He sends a fireball the way of the Heartless, succeeding in distracting it for a moment. "That would explain why it's so big. Dark feelings feed Heartless."
"She tried to kill him." Her voice is tight, but at least she isn't frozen anymore. "Well. More like she did kill him. I healed him, but… it was close."
"Right." Wonderful. So not only is the big Heartless likely some form of a lingering spirit from this world instead of something fled from another world that could still be disoriented, but it probably has a grudge against his lovely young companion, too.
He doesn't really want to think about what this would mean for the chances of Rapunzel's poor husband.
Before he can ponder any further on the matter, though, the Heartless steps back. Of course, Lea is under no illusion that it's actually going to back away. This probably means he has to look out for some kind of a big attack.
Well, then it's time for him to get out the big guns as well.
The Heartless draws its claws together before its face, the glowing orb growing. Lea raises his keyblade in turn, focusing. The fireball earlier seemed to at least momentarily distract the enemy, meaning it's not invulnerable to fire despite the eerie glow it carries. That means that when he unleashes his most powerful fire spell, something is definitely going to happen. Hopefully something that qualifies as incapacitating for the Heartless at the very least.
He barks out instructions, telling Rapunzel to get behind him, knowing he can probably take a lot more punishment through magic than she can. Of course, she seems to protest. He couldn't be so lucky as to get to deal with someone reasonable for once. However, as the orb between the dark claws starts crackling with energy and getting too bright to even look at, he hears the sound of her moving behind him.
They unleash their spells at the same time, Lea sending a huge ball of fire directly at the creature's chest, the Heartless releasing several smaller orbs from its focus, each curving away for a bit before correcting their course toward them. Thankfully, this small difference in strategy gives him just enough time to throw up a protective spell. It's not much, and he can still feel a sting on his skin as the small orbs crackle against his shield, but he somehow manages to keep up the spell.
The fire seems to have done something at least, as the Heartless stumbles back. It then gives an ear-rending screech, claws stretching out as it seems to grow wings all of a sudden, then flits through the air toward the tower. It's somewhat disappointing, as he was hoping to get rid of the thing, but at least it seems hurt enough that they should have a moment to examine the situation.
Right. He should probably start by checking on his companions.
As he turns around, everyone seems to be in one piece, though shaken. The horse is looking around with a wild look on its face as though trying to locate the disappearing enemy, while Rapunzel is on her knees on the ground, arms wrapped over her stomach. Frowning, Lea crouches down next to her.
"You all right?"
"I… yeah." Slowly she uncurls herself, offering him a faint smile. "Yeah, I'm all right. …Thank you."
"You're welcome." He stands again, gazing toward the tower. "I think I should follow it now that it's been weakened. It'd be just stupid to let it gather its strength again."
"Right." She nods, pushing herself up to her feet as well. "I'll come with you."
Lea pauses. "You know, I really don't think you should."
"And why not?" Her eyes narrow. This is not going to be easy. Of course not. It's not like he can catch a break.
"Because while it's really admirable you're running off to save your husband, and I'd definitely do the same in your stead, I'm not sure it's necessary for you to endanger the heir to the throne." He pauses. "Certainly not the unborn one."
Now, her eyes fly wide as she stares at him. "How did you…"
"Know? Well, it's not exactly simple, but I did manage to piece it together." He shrugs. "Your dress is the nicest I've seen in quite a while outside a royal castle, yet you're running around a forest without a thought to whether it gets ruined in some way in all the fighting. Unless your husband was was snatched right in front of your eyes and you ran off immediately, you would have at least taken the time to change into a more practical dress. You definitely don't strike me as the type who'd wear your best dress on a rescue mission just for vanity's sake. As such, this has to be just an everyday dress for you, not something special for big parties. Besides, your horse works with the palace guard but obeys your every order, and you certainly seem used to people doing as you say. I've seen princesses before, young lady. Certainly enough to recognize one in the wild, especially with your strange expression when I mentioned having dealt with princesses before." Oh, yes. Someone with his tendency of stabbing everyone in the back wouldn't have survived even nearly this far if he wasn't pretty damn smart, too.
"But that only explains your knowing about me being a princess," Rapunzel protests. "Not about…" She trails off, looking away. Probably still recent news to her, too. That, or she's one of the most bashful people he's seen, and that certainly contradicts all of their prior interaction.
"The monster launched projectiles at us," he says, deliberately softening his tone. It'd be a very bad idea to make her freak out now. "Instead of shielding your head or face, you curled around your stomach. That alone wouldn't be enough to go by, but since you made a mention of how your husband got kidnapped at a very bad time, it was pretty easy to put everything together."
"I hadn't even told him yet," she murmurs, eyes cast down. "I was trying to find a way to tell the news in a way that wouldn't make him freak out, but then he got stolen away. It was stupid of me to wait so long…"
"Eh, that kind of news shouldn't be rushed. You didn't know some monster was going to take him. And it's not like you've lost anything. You can now tell him when he's still all relieved from being rescued and won't have the energy to freak out at all."
"But what if he's hurt or something?" She bites her lip in a very endearing way. "I can't forgive myself if he's hurt and I never even let him know —"
"Hey. No freaking out allowed for you, either." He touches her shoulder, hoping it'll calm her down at least a little bit. "Everything will be fine, all right? You'll be fine, your man will be fine, and you can let him freak out as much as he wants to after you're both home safe."
"I can do this." So why does she sound so afraid?
"I'm sure you can. And I know you want to, simply because it's your man out there. Believe me, I know that feeling. However, right now you can't just consider yourself and your pride." He looks her seriously in the eye. "Those monsters love pure hearts more than anything. You're definitely more pure than me, and besides, you don't even have a keyblade. If they got you, even if we could save you, it'd probably destroy your child." He squeezes her shoulder. "Even though you might come out unscathed, it's simply not worth the risk. Not when I can handle this by myself."
"I can't just sit back and watch, though." She seems quite torn between her various responsibilities. Poor girl. "He's my husband. I should be the one to save him."
"Maybe, but you should also be the one to keep your baby safe." He lets his hand wander up to touch her cheek, a comforting gesture because she's obviously in distress. "You just focus on whacking down the little ones out here and try to find it in your heart to forgive me."
"Forgive you?" She frowns. Damn, a sharp one. "For what?"
"Oh, nothing much." He pauses, then murmurs, "Sleep."
Her eyes widen momentarily before starting to slide close, a faint murmur of protest escaping her lips before she falls into his arms. He lays her down on the ground, then stands up and turns around. Only to find himself staring right into the face of a very furious horse.
"Oh, don't look at me like that," he sighs as the horse gives him a glare that speaks volumes, mainly about mushing him up with heavy hooves and leaving him for the Heartless to snack on. "It was just a little sleeping spell, she'll wake up in just a moment. You can keep her safe until then, and I'll be gone. You wouldn't want her to risk her baby, either, would you?"
The horse seems to think for a moment, then shakes its huge head. Great. That officially qualifies it as more intelligent than most humans he's ever had the displeasure to work with.
"Right. So you stay here and keep Her Highness safe, maybe get her back to the forest when she wakes up, while I go and save her husband. I'll bring him back soon enough, I promise."
This gains him another serious gaze which he chooses to interpret as an equine form of "you'd better or you'll regret it." Because he's not under enough pressure already about keeping the pregnant princess and her unborn child alive without getting threatened by the four-legged palace guard.
Well. Hopefully he won't get killed by an irate horse for failing to return with the captive prince.
Chapter 17 - Idle Chatter
Chapter 19 - Duty of the Keyblade
Chapter: 18/25
Chapter title: Shadows of Past
Chapter rating: PG
Chapter summary: As Lea and Rapunzel venture further into the dark valley, they are attacked by a figure that Rapunzel finds frighteningly familiar. After the incident, Lea is convinced she should stay back while he confronts the monster in the tower.
"What's happened here?" Rapunzel is still staring at the tower, her eyes wide. "That — it's like the shadows have swallowed it whole!"
"Yeah, that seems to be pretty much what has happened." Lea sighs. "I'm not even going to ask why you seem to be so knowledgeable about what's supposedly a witch's tower, since that's really not what we should be focusing on now."
"Then what is it we should focus on?" She turns to look at him at last, and he's not sure if she's annoyed at him for his remark or desperate for answers. Well, he supposes she's got a lot to deal with right now.
"Well, your goal here is to find out what has happened to your husband, then get him back home. My goal is to find a keyhole and close it, then take care of any imminent threats from the Heartless." Lea finds his keyblade in his hand, though he has not consciously summoned it. Apparently it's reading the threat all by itself. That's probably not a good sign. "This is just a hunch, but I think the best plan for both of us is to investigate that tower thing."
"Right." Her face takes on a firm expression, one hand still holding onto her pan. "Let's get going, then."
"Let's." He nods. "Be careful, though. There's a lot of Heartless around here; I can feel them watching us. They probably won't be too happy about us approaching the tower."
"That's too bad for them, then." There's a fierce tone in her voice, and for a moment he wonders how even Heartless could be stupid enough to steal her husband, and whether the monsters possibly have some self-destructive tendencies. "I'm going to bring Eugene back."
"Oh, I don't doubt that for a moment." He pats her on the shoulder. "And we'll make those monsters wish they hadn't even thought of coming to this world in the first place."
"Absolutely." Going by the look on her face, the monsters are most definitely going to regret coming around.
They get forward all of three steps before they're attacked by a huge heartless.
It's not a type he's familiar with, but then it's not exactly the first time that a world has more or less unique monsters. This one looks like a hooded figure, with claw-like arms reaching far to either side, a glowing orb sticking close to the tip of one like a lantern to light its way in the darkness. Of course, because this alone isn't intimidating enough, it also happens to be roughly three times as tall as Lea.
This is going to be fun.
He takes a look at Rapunzel, finding that she seems to be frozen in fear. Not that he can blame her. She probably hasn't seen any Heartless bigger than what they'd faced in the forest, and this one is in another class entirely. Well, good for her that she didn't come alone after all.
Lea attacks the creature with his keyblade, only to have to leap to the side as it strikes at him, surprisingly fast for its safe. He deflects the strike just in time, bouncing back to place himself between the Heartless and the others.
Rapunzel still hasn't moved, and the horse has only barely stepped forward. Of course, that in itself is quite the accomplishment; most horses would have run off at the first whiff of danger. But then, most horses probably wouldn't work for the palace guard.
"It's her," he hears Rapunzel murmur behind him, the terror clear in her voice. "It has to be her."
"It has to be who?" Okay, so it probably wasn't meant for him to hear, but at the moment he'd quite appreciate any info he can get on the thing. Not that knowing the background is necessarily helpful, but it certainly can't hurt. Well, it can't hurt assuming they don't get targeted while standing around trading gossip.
"The witch, the one who lived in the tower. That must be her, some remnant of her." The fear is still there, but determination is creeping back now, too. "She must be the reason they took Eugene."
"I take it the witch had something against your darling?" He sends a fireball the way of the Heartless, succeeding in distracting it for a moment. "That would explain why it's so big. Dark feelings feed Heartless."
"She tried to kill him." Her voice is tight, but at least she isn't frozen anymore. "Well. More like she did kill him. I healed him, but… it was close."
"Right." Wonderful. So not only is the big Heartless likely some form of a lingering spirit from this world instead of something fled from another world that could still be disoriented, but it probably has a grudge against his lovely young companion, too.
He doesn't really want to think about what this would mean for the chances of Rapunzel's poor husband.
Before he can ponder any further on the matter, though, the Heartless steps back. Of course, Lea is under no illusion that it's actually going to back away. This probably means he has to look out for some kind of a big attack.
Well, then it's time for him to get out the big guns as well.
The Heartless draws its claws together before its face, the glowing orb growing. Lea raises his keyblade in turn, focusing. The fireball earlier seemed to at least momentarily distract the enemy, meaning it's not invulnerable to fire despite the eerie glow it carries. That means that when he unleashes his most powerful fire spell, something is definitely going to happen. Hopefully something that qualifies as incapacitating for the Heartless at the very least.
He barks out instructions, telling Rapunzel to get behind him, knowing he can probably take a lot more punishment through magic than she can. Of course, she seems to protest. He couldn't be so lucky as to get to deal with someone reasonable for once. However, as the orb between the dark claws starts crackling with energy and getting too bright to even look at, he hears the sound of her moving behind him.
They unleash their spells at the same time, Lea sending a huge ball of fire directly at the creature's chest, the Heartless releasing several smaller orbs from its focus, each curving away for a bit before correcting their course toward them. Thankfully, this small difference in strategy gives him just enough time to throw up a protective spell. It's not much, and he can still feel a sting on his skin as the small orbs crackle against his shield, but he somehow manages to keep up the spell.
The fire seems to have done something at least, as the Heartless stumbles back. It then gives an ear-rending screech, claws stretching out as it seems to grow wings all of a sudden, then flits through the air toward the tower. It's somewhat disappointing, as he was hoping to get rid of the thing, but at least it seems hurt enough that they should have a moment to examine the situation.
Right. He should probably start by checking on his companions.
As he turns around, everyone seems to be in one piece, though shaken. The horse is looking around with a wild look on its face as though trying to locate the disappearing enemy, while Rapunzel is on her knees on the ground, arms wrapped over her stomach. Frowning, Lea crouches down next to her.
"You all right?"
"I… yeah." Slowly she uncurls herself, offering him a faint smile. "Yeah, I'm all right. …Thank you."
"You're welcome." He stands again, gazing toward the tower. "I think I should follow it now that it's been weakened. It'd be just stupid to let it gather its strength again."
"Right." She nods, pushing herself up to her feet as well. "I'll come with you."
Lea pauses. "You know, I really don't think you should."
"And why not?" Her eyes narrow. This is not going to be easy. Of course not. It's not like he can catch a break.
"Because while it's really admirable you're running off to save your husband, and I'd definitely do the same in your stead, I'm not sure it's necessary for you to endanger the heir to the throne." He pauses. "Certainly not the unborn one."
Now, her eyes fly wide as she stares at him. "How did you…"
"Know? Well, it's not exactly simple, but I did manage to piece it together." He shrugs. "Your dress is the nicest I've seen in quite a while outside a royal castle, yet you're running around a forest without a thought to whether it gets ruined in some way in all the fighting. Unless your husband was was snatched right in front of your eyes and you ran off immediately, you would have at least taken the time to change into a more practical dress. You definitely don't strike me as the type who'd wear your best dress on a rescue mission just for vanity's sake. As such, this has to be just an everyday dress for you, not something special for big parties. Besides, your horse works with the palace guard but obeys your every order, and you certainly seem used to people doing as you say. I've seen princesses before, young lady. Certainly enough to recognize one in the wild, especially with your strange expression when I mentioned having dealt with princesses before." Oh, yes. Someone with his tendency of stabbing everyone in the back wouldn't have survived even nearly this far if he wasn't pretty damn smart, too.
"But that only explains your knowing about me being a princess," Rapunzel protests. "Not about…" She trails off, looking away. Probably still recent news to her, too. That, or she's one of the most bashful people he's seen, and that certainly contradicts all of their prior interaction.
"The monster launched projectiles at us," he says, deliberately softening his tone. It'd be a very bad idea to make her freak out now. "Instead of shielding your head or face, you curled around your stomach. That alone wouldn't be enough to go by, but since you made a mention of how your husband got kidnapped at a very bad time, it was pretty easy to put everything together."
"I hadn't even told him yet," she murmurs, eyes cast down. "I was trying to find a way to tell the news in a way that wouldn't make him freak out, but then he got stolen away. It was stupid of me to wait so long…"
"Eh, that kind of news shouldn't be rushed. You didn't know some monster was going to take him. And it's not like you've lost anything. You can now tell him when he's still all relieved from being rescued and won't have the energy to freak out at all."
"But what if he's hurt or something?" She bites her lip in a very endearing way. "I can't forgive myself if he's hurt and I never even let him know —"
"Hey. No freaking out allowed for you, either." He touches her shoulder, hoping it'll calm her down at least a little bit. "Everything will be fine, all right? You'll be fine, your man will be fine, and you can let him freak out as much as he wants to after you're both home safe."
"I can do this." So why does she sound so afraid?
"I'm sure you can. And I know you want to, simply because it's your man out there. Believe me, I know that feeling. However, right now you can't just consider yourself and your pride." He looks her seriously in the eye. "Those monsters love pure hearts more than anything. You're definitely more pure than me, and besides, you don't even have a keyblade. If they got you, even if we could save you, it'd probably destroy your child." He squeezes her shoulder. "Even though you might come out unscathed, it's simply not worth the risk. Not when I can handle this by myself."
"I can't just sit back and watch, though." She seems quite torn between her various responsibilities. Poor girl. "He's my husband. I should be the one to save him."
"Maybe, but you should also be the one to keep your baby safe." He lets his hand wander up to touch her cheek, a comforting gesture because she's obviously in distress. "You just focus on whacking down the little ones out here and try to find it in your heart to forgive me."
"Forgive you?" She frowns. Damn, a sharp one. "For what?"
"Oh, nothing much." He pauses, then murmurs, "Sleep."
Her eyes widen momentarily before starting to slide close, a faint murmur of protest escaping her lips before she falls into his arms. He lays her down on the ground, then stands up and turns around. Only to find himself staring right into the face of a very furious horse.
"Oh, don't look at me like that," he sighs as the horse gives him a glare that speaks volumes, mainly about mushing him up with heavy hooves and leaving him for the Heartless to snack on. "It was just a little sleeping spell, she'll wake up in just a moment. You can keep her safe until then, and I'll be gone. You wouldn't want her to risk her baby, either, would you?"
The horse seems to think for a moment, then shakes its huge head. Great. That officially qualifies it as more intelligent than most humans he's ever had the displeasure to work with.
"Right. So you stay here and keep Her Highness safe, maybe get her back to the forest when she wakes up, while I go and save her husband. I'll bring him back soon enough, I promise."
This gains him another serious gaze which he chooses to interpret as an equine form of "you'd better or you'll regret it." Because he's not under enough pressure already about keeping the pregnant princess and her unborn child alive without getting threatened by the four-legged palace guard.
Well. Hopefully he won't get killed by an irate horse for failing to return with the captive prince.
Chapter 17 - Idle Chatter
Chapter 19 - Duty of the Keyblade
