Chapter 20
*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*
Sora groaned as he awoke, eyes still closed and brow furrowed. He knew that beeping noise; everyone in the multiverse knew that beeping noise. Sora's eyes fluttered open and he sighed, wondering just what had landed him in the hospital. We were in Hollow Shades, he thought. Luna challenged me to a fight. We got through the warm-up mostly unscathed. Then I activated Final Form and...
Sora bolted upright and regretted it immediately as the room began to spin. He leaned forward, holding his head in his hands as he tried to keep down his last meal. He felt bandages wrapped around his forehead, which at least explained the dizziness and nausea.
Luna must have whacked me pretty hard to have gotten through Shadow Form's defenses. He lifted his head and looked around, finding himself in a nearly deserted hospital room. He was a little surprised not to see Luna sitting or sleeping at his bedside, and even more surprised when he found her in the hospital bed across to him.
Sora threw off the covers, getting shakily to his feet and walking over to Luna's bed. He picked up the medical chart that hung at the foot of her bed and began to read it.
Wow. Sora winced. I really did a number on her. Bruised back. Two fractured legs. Lacerations across her chest. Wonder how they finally pulled me off of her? He shook his head, replacing the chart before summoning the Kingdom Key. "Curaga," he muttered, twin spirals of green magic forming around him and Luna. Sora's headache and dizziness cleared instantly as Luna's injuries healed. He dismissed his keyblade, taking a seat in the chair next to Luna's bed. "Some great defender," he muttered. "Put myself and the mare I love in the hospital over a sparring match. And things were going so well here, too."
He tenderly began to unwrap Luna's bandaged forelegs, trying to let her sleep. "You must have been terrified," he whispered, placing the bandages to the side. "We still haven't talked about what really happened that day. That form you saw." He leaned back, staring up at the ceiling. "It's called Shadow Form. It happens sometimes when I try to go into one of my other forms. The more I go into them, the greater chance that it'll go Shadow."
"Why risk it, then?" He imagined Luna asking him.
"One, it's powerful," he explained. "More raw power and ferocity than even my Final Form usually has. That, and there's the issue of time. If I go too long without going into any form, Shadow Form will be the default when I do eventually need to transform."
"But why?" he imagined. "Why would a being of light have such a dark form?"
"Because even I have darkness in my heart," Sora admitted. "And the closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes. That shadow needs an outlet, but the light of the keyblade generally suppresses it." He chuckled, looking back to Luna, meeting her eyes. "At least, that's how it works for me. In the game it was just a mechanic to keep you from relying on Sora's Forms too much."
"I see," Luna said, sitting up. "And why did you never tell us?"
Sora shrugged, looking away. "Thought it was just too complicated. Plus..." he hesitated before continuing, "the Darkness has caused all of us so much pain. I didn't want you to know that I had it at my disposal to use."
"...you feared our reaction?"
Sora sighed, nodding. "Verily," he replied, recognizing the "our" that Luna had meant. "We thought it wise to keep it from you and your brother. E'en when we believed you would not turn on us... we had been hiding it for so long. 'Twas not an easy subject to broach. And I did not desire to speak of it 'pon my return, for fear of laying the guilt of my imprisonment upon you."
Luna was silent for a moment before Sora heard the rustling of fabric and the creaking of springs. Luna's hooves hit the floor, clopping loudly as she made her way around the bed to Sora's side. "Old habits do not break easily," she said, laying a wing across Sora's shoulders and pulling him close. "We cannot blame you - blame thee - for not giving us thy trust at the first, nor can we condemn thee for keeping this secret. We spoke for some time with our brother on this matter before we left. We do not blame ourselves for acting on the information that we possessed at the time. Twas no more than an accident. As for these days..." she sighed, squeezing Sora tighter, "the blame lies equally on our shoulders. We should have brought it up before the issue reared its head once more."
Sora looked up, taking Luna's face in his hands and pulling her gaze down to meet his. "I still should have told you."
Luna smiled sadly. "I should have asked."
"Oh, will you two just kiss already!"
Sora and Luna's heads jerked back as they turned to face the now open doors. Strongheart and Coco were glaring at Jazz as Fancy gave a brief chuckle. Jazz looked between the angry mare and cow. "What? We were all thinkin' it."
Sora chuckled, giving Luna a quick peck on the cheek before he stood up to face them fully. "I hope I didn't ruin the festivities for you."
"Quite the contrary," Fancy said, waving him off. "After your and the princess's match, the four of us became minor celebrities. Everypony wanted to ask us about you and that dark form of yours."
"Shadow Form," Sora corrected. "What happened after I transformed?"
"You don't remember?" Coco asked.
Sora shook his head. "I never do. The last thing I remember is facing Luna as I was about to go into my Final Form. Then, black. Must have been pretty bad, judging from Luna's injuries."
"Y'all could say that," Jazz muttered. "Ya see, when you started to transform..."
The previous day
Beams of light shot out in every direction, forcing everyone to look away. Luna frowned, holding a hoof over her eyes. "Something is wrong," she muttered. "The light is usually gone in an instant."
No sooner had she spoken than a few beams of light began to darken, turning from white to gray. Luna lowered her hoof,
staring in astonishment as more and more of the light darkened, the rays turning one by one into rays of darkness. Once all of the light had turned, the darkness began to wrap around Sora, forming bands of darkness that layered over each other, obscuring Sora's form from view.
"I do not like this," Luna muttered, holding her blades out defensively. The sphere of dark energy pulsed once. Twice. Shattered! Shards of darkness shot out, dissipating harmlessly as they struck the shield and Luna's armor. A figure stood where Sora had previously, its skin and clothes as black as the space between the stars. The only color to be found was in its eyes, yellow eyes that stared blankly at Luna. The creature cocked its head to one side, observing her curiously.
"Sora?" Luna asked, taking a step forward. "Sora, is that-"
CLASH!
Luna barely got her blades up in time to block against the attack, the creature's claws grating against her weapons. It leapt backwards, flattening into a pool of darkness as it landed. Luna charged her horn as the shadow darted forward, firing several rays of energy. The shadow juked left and right before rushing between Luna's legs. Luna gave a single mighty flap,
propelling herself upwards. She winced as she felt two sets of claws tear through her armor and slice into her chest. She quickly came in for a landing, not wanting to aggravate the wounds further, and lashed out in a buck.
The blow struck the creature in the head as it leapt at her again, sending it hurtling backwards into the barrier. It fell to the ground and shook its head before charging at Luna again, who turned to face it. She brought up her forelegs, crossing them in front of her chest and pooling her magic into shielding them, confident she could withstand the strikes.
Unfortunately, the creature didn't attack with its claws. It slammed bodily through the shield, hitting Luna's legs with little force lost. Luna's scream almost covered the twin snaps that came from her legs, her shout cut off as her back hit the barrier. She looked up and her eyes went wide as she saw the figure flying through the air towards her. Desperate and injured, she cried out, "I yield!"
As if a switch had been flipped, the creature stopped its aggressions. It landed beside Luna, turning to regard her curiously as the barrier around them fell. Several ponies charged forward, only to pause as they saw that the creature was no longer attacking. Luna stared up into the creature's featureless face and empty yellow eyes. "S-Sora?" she croaked out. "That... is you in there, isn't it?"
The creature regarded her curiously before tensing, looking up and around. It dashed off, several ponies crying out as it passed by them. It ran into the forest and out of sight.
"Wh-what the hay just happened?" Jazz shouted.
"I-i-is Sora a h-h-heart-" Coco whimpered, unable to finish the thought.
"I... do not believe so," Luna said, staring off in the direction that the creature had run. "This has happened to Sora before,
at least once. When my brother and I first saw it, however, we did not realize that it was him. We used the Elements to seal him in stone for over a thousand years."
"Aros!" Fancy exclaimed, stomping his hoof. "That's what that was! And that's why its statue disappeared from the gardens at the same time as Discord's! It seems the nobility was on to something for once."
Luna nodded, trying to get to her hooves. She gasped in pain, collapsing again and hissing as she glared at her legs. "And unfortunately, I have no idea how to turn him back. I've been meaning to ask him about it, but-"
Ann alarm went off, a wailing siren that interrupted Luna and sent the entire town scurrying. Several flashes of light heralded the summoning of an equal number of keyblades as the keybladers of Hollow Shades rushed for the Eastern edge of the woods, the edge where Sora had run off.
Strongheart grabbed a passing pony, forcing them to stop. "What's going on?" she asked. "What's that alarm?"
The pony, a dark green unicorn, shrugged her off before summoning a Kingdom Key. "Heartless swarm," he said, twirling his blade in his magic. "That siren means they're East of town and approaching. If you can fight, we'd appreciate the help."
"Of course," Luna said, nodding. "Strongheart. Jazz. Coco. Go with them and help. I have a feeling Sora will be there fighting as well. Fancy," she winced, lying down, "get to me to the hospital, if you would? It seems my legs will not support me."
Today
"We got to the edge of the forest lickety-split," Jazz said, "but the fightin' was mostly done already. Your Shadow Form was leapin' from heartless to heartless, tearin' them to shreds." She shivered, looking away. "It was actually kind of scary."
"You drove them off almost by yourself," Strongheart added, "but as soon as they were gone, you turned back to normal and fell unconscious."
"But they said you only had a minor concussion," Coco finished.
Sora nodded, rubbing his head. "Yeah, that sounds about right. If Luna bucked me full force, not even Shadow Form would take it without injury." He sighed, shaking his head. "I guess my objective was to win the match against Luna."
"Objective?" Fancy asked.
Sora nodded. "Whenever I go into my forms, I need to focus on an objective, a single task that I need the power of the form to accomplish. Usually that amounts to, 'fight off all of the heartless,' but in this case it was to beat Luna. I'm just glad it was able to recognize a surrender."
"So, you're sayin' that your shadow form will keep goin' after that 'objective' until it gets it?" Jazz asked. "And you can't do anythin' to stop it?"
"Pretty much," Sora said. "I always have to be careful when going into my forms, just in case my Shadow Form comes out. By the way, how'd the town react?"
"Not very well," Strongheart replied, looking down. "They seemed really angry at you for some reason."
"I overheard a few of them calling you a hypocrite," Coco muttered, glaring to the side.
"I see." Sora sighed, sitting down and resting his head in his hand. "I guess that makes sense. Not only did I viciously attack Luna, but I used darkness to do so. I've always preached staying away from the darkness; there's always been an enmity between me and Hollow Shades because of that. They enjoy a close association with the darkness, drawing upon its power almost as much as they draw upon the light."
"Wh-what?!" Fancy shook his head before staring out a nearby window towards the town. "But, how in Equestria do they manage not to become heartless?"
"Because we know how to keep ourselves in line." Everyone turned to see Midnight Dance standing in the doorway, glaring at Sora. "Unlike some people who apparently just hold it in until it bursts out of their control."
"It's more complicated than that," Sora said glaring back at her. "Even my heart isn't void of darkness, and that darkness tends to accumulate rather quickly in contrast to my forms."
"We have had this discussion already," Luna interjected, placing a hoof on Sora's shoulder. She met Midnight's eyes, her face patient but unwavering. "He has explained the nature of his Shadow Form to me. It will be no further trouble. It would have been none whatsoever had it not been for a slight error in judgement on his part." She sighed before adding, "And that error is one that I share."
"Wh-what?!" Midnight took a step back, her eyes wide with shock. "What do you mean, Honored Grandmother?"
"I challenged Sora to the duel," Luna answered. "I knew that we would be fighting at full force, and that that may well result in injury. It was also I who failed to confront Sora earlier about the nature of Aros. As I said," she held up a hoof to halt Sora's protest, "the blame is shared. Both of us foalishly avoided the discussion."
"I... see." Midnight was far from convinced, but didn't dare to confront Luna about the matter. "And what is that 'true nature?'"
"That is none of your concern." Sora stood, crossing his arms as he glared down at the mayor. "The High General of the EKA does not need to excuse himself to everypony he meets. Know that your Princess is content with how things stand and be done with it."
"Oh, I see how it is," Midnight sneered. "Our ancestors spoke of this as well. We lowly peasants are expected to trust your orders when you clearly despise us, but the great and holy Warrior of Light doesn't need to-"
*SLAM*
Fenrir embedded itself point-first in the ground, the floor cratering around it and cracking to the edges of the room. Sora's eyes glowed with baleful light as Biter, Ponderer, and Reaper hovered around him like a deadly halo. Midnight fell to the ground, cowering before the display as Sora hovered before her, clothed all in white.
"DO NOT QUESTION THOSE WHO HAVE SEEN GENERATIONS PASS IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE!" Sora roared, the whole building trembling and groaning as if his presence and power were all that kept it from collapsing all around them. "THE WARRIOR OF LIGHT AND THE PHANTOM OF THE NIGHT HAVE GIVEN THEIR WORD ON THIS MATTER! IS THIS NOT SUFFICIENT? DO YOU REQUIRE THE TITAN OF THE SUN TO GIVE HIS WORD AS WELL? WOULD YOU COMMAND LAND AND SEA TO BEAR TESTAMENT TO YOU OF OUR NATURE? WHAT RIGHT HAVE YOU TO QUESTION THE ASSURANCES OF TWO BEINGS WHO REPRESENT THE VERY FORCES OF THE COSMOS?!"
Midnight didn't dare respond. She trembled before him, belly to the floor and legs trembling, her eyes filled with terror. The others in the room fared little better. Strongheart and Jazz held each other tight as Fancy slowly backed away. Coco had drawn Lightest Touch and was one snapped nerve away from summoning help. Only Luna seemed untroubled, her face a neutral mask as she watched the scene unfolding.
Sora slowly lowered to the ground, the orbiting blades vanishing. "LEAVE US!"
Midnight had never flown so fast. Sora heard her crash into several walls as she fled the hospital. He sighed, allowing his power to fade as Fenrir vanished. "Well, that's that then. I really hoped we could avoid it this time."
"It seems your clashes with them are inevitable," Luna agreed. She walked over and draped a wing across his shoulders. "At least this one ended relatively peacefully."
"If that is a 'peaceful ending,' I shudder to think of what you'd term a conflicted one."
Sora winced as he looked back at Fancy and the others. "Sorry about that, everyone. Every generation here in Hollow Shades seems to rebel and chafe against my authority and, in their eyes, hypocrisy. I consider it to be a good omen when they only attack me with words, rather than blades."
Jazz swallowed nervously. "Don't sound like the sort of town we should be stayin' long in."
"Indeed not." Luna sighed, nuzzling Sora before walking back to her bed. "Trains do not arrive during the day here," she said, climbing into bed and lying down. "It would be best if we rested until nightfall. We shall take the first train of the evening and continue on to Neighagra Falls. I assume you have been given a place to stay?"
Jazz nodded. "Eeyup. Got a few hotel rooms set up for us." She trotted over to the window and glanced up at the sky. "Reckon it's about 3 o' clock now. After all the excitement last night, I think we should all be able to manage a few winks."
"A few winks? Ha!" Fancy trotted to the doors, a smug grin on his face. "It seems that my Canterlot breeding will finally show its superiority. You see, unicorn nobles possess the rare and astounding gift to be able to fall asleep whenever it suits them. The better to attend every meeting and party that could possibly bolster our reputation."
"Funny," Jazz muttered as she, Strongheart, and Coco followed him out. "I thought that trait belonged to cats."
"And where do you think cats learned to be so opportunistically lazy?"
Sora chuckled, walking back too his bed and lying down. "Amateur. Who does he think taught the nobles?"
*****
"So, they have returned. After a thousand years."
Sora frowned, staring around at the void. All was black in every direction, yet he found himself able to see himself perfectly. He knelt down and rapped on the ground a few times, the shallow tapping revealing a thin floor and the lack of an echo betraying the enormity of the void. He stood back up, holding out his hand and frowning in frustration when his keyblade failed to materialize. "Obviously a dream," he muttered, "but I'm always able to control my lucid dreams. So why can't I now?"
"That would be my doing." The voice sounded again from every direction, female and light, but hollow. "Forgive the obscuring nature of your surroundings, but I would rather you not see me at this time. Though I sense that my presence shall soon be required for the good of Equestria."
Sora sighed, crossing his arms as he closed his eyes. "If you have a message for me, spit it out. My mare won't like it if she discovers you mucking around in her domain."
A hollow chuckle sounded from around him, sounding almost forced. "No fear of that," the voice replied. "My claim and skill are at least equal to hers. Possibly more so now, seeing as she has been absent for a millennium." A slight tremor passed through the void. "I must take my leave. We shall meat again."
"Wait!" Sora's eyes flew open, this time latching onto a figure moving through the darkness. "Who are you?"
The figure paused as the darkness began to fade, a light growing behind Sora. As the light reached the figure, Sora froze. A tall equine stood before him, draped in a black cloak with a silver chain hanging low across the neck. The tip of a light blue horn was barely visible beneath the hood, a flash of teal eyes shining beneath.
"I am nobody."