Space dust brushed past a spaceship flying at high speeds. Yet there wasn’t a single sound to be heard from the outside in the vacuum of space. A constant hum echoed inside the ship. Lights swirled around the small spaceship in varying colors, a small indicator of its faster-than-light velocity. It had quite a gentle look, curvy at the back and with a cockpit for the driver.
Yuuko Aozora moved her head to the right, staring out into the vast darkness of the airless space around it. The constant rumble of the ship resonated in her ears. The sensation of the ship shaking made her stomach flip, the only stirring motion besides the occasional twist and turn of the vehicle. But as Yuuko looked around, she felt her heart beat at an irregular pace. ‘Please… please let this place be alright.’ She brought her right hand to a necklace resting against her chest, her upper body rounded slightly but not overly extended out.
Out in the endless space in front of her, there was a slight flicker of movement, which she tilted her head at. She gasped at a darkness that swirled over hints of light. There floated the world she had been searching for. ‘No… am I too late?’
She pulled the joystick towards her, and the space dust breezed by her at a much quicker rate. Yuuko grunted while she held the small ship onto its course. There was a quick blinding light; she brought a hand to the upper part of her helmet to block some of it out. She brought it down moments later, only to gaze upon the world below. “No… it can’t be.” She slowly halted the vehicle to hover above the ground a mile high.
(Stop Music)
The ground below was bland gray. Dust covered the earth below for miles on end. She looked up into the sky and saw dark clouds rolling overhead, yet no rays of light ever broke through the overcast. “What… what happened?” A flash of light consumed Yuuko before she reappeared moments later below where she had hovered. She landed on the dirty ground below in a crouch, coughing as some of the dust floated around her. Even her helmet didn’t stop the debris from entering her lungs.
She stood up, and her helmet disappeared in a flash, revealing her frown underneath. She breathed some of the air; tasteless and gritty with an added chilly touch of the cold winds that howled around her. “No…”
She raised her hand to cover her eyes and brought the other one to pull her hood back past her blue-and-purple-streaked hair, tied in a ponytail which flowed in the strong wind. The girl scanned her surroundings. The trees leaned with the wind while remaining in a bent position. The few grass stalks standing vertically were also at the mercy of this world’s wind.
Yuuko stood in the middle of this windstorm, but her clothing was certainly not appropriate for the cold weather around her. In the wind she stood there with a short halter top, with a pair of shorts that left her shivering.
There was a pitiful portion of light that shone in that direction. She whimpered a little. Her arms wrapped across stomach, sad that there was so little light in the world. ‘Please… let someone be alive.’ Slowly she took a step forward and walked through the wasteland to the point revealed by the light. Time felt like it was at a complete standstill. From the gray and bleak hills to the dust that littered the ground below her feet which formed into small clouds with every step she took. She felt the chances of anything that used to live here grow dimmer by the minute.
She stumbled as she kicked something. There beneath her was the roof of a broken and scattered house. She looked down and closed her eyes, unable to look at the wood sprawled over the dirt. She took a couple of steps and stopped as she felt something soft underneath her foot. A tiny squeak yet pathetically weak ringed beneath her. She looked down, and stared for what she felt was the longest time.
There below her foot was a small teddy bear, light brown and covered in the dirt below her foot. She knelt down and picked it up, slightly shaking the dust off while it faded away into the strong wind. Her heart ached with sorrow at what little boy or girl had lost this before their time was cut short. She brought the teddy bear to her chest and mouthed a few silent words, all she could manage, in the hopes that it would at least honor their memory.
She slipped it gently into the pocket of her shorts. Yuuko returned her attention to the broken wood debris scattered in front of her. From the cracks in the wood’s structure to the pale and dark undertone from the dust, she could guess that the scene had taken place a long time ago, yet she could not tell how far back. She knelt down again to run her hand over the cracks of a small slab of wood. The splits and open crevices in the wood were jagged and uneven, but none of the rough ends were sharp or had multiple splinters sticking out. She closed her eyes, stood up and shook her head.
She raised her head up and saw more pieces scattered across a farther swath of the land. The place, possibly a village, had been destroyed and could have been like this far longer than she thought. ‘With how old the wood looks… this village could have been left barren for about a century… maybe even longer.’ If that was the case, then why had her friend told her it was in immediate danger? But something must have happened to bring a place like this to such disarray.
She gasped and stopped in her tracks at the sight before her. Far away stood a castle, or what was left of it; the central building was all that remained, and even that looked to be in deep disrepair. “No… no, no!” She brought her hand out in front of her, and a moment later a flash of light erupted close to her fingers in a flurry of white feathers. Her Keyblade appeared in a sheathed-like state before she gripped its handle.
She threw it into the air, and it spun around, gathering light around its figure, before it flashed in a bright sudden burst. The engines roared as it came back around in the vehicle form of her weapon. The cockpit opened up, and she jumped into the pilot seat and lay flat on her stomach. She reached for the joystick and pulled the right one towards her. The jets thundered behind her, and the wind shrieked around her weapon’s vehicle form.
Yuuko’s frown grew deeper as she approached the ruined castle. ‘Please let there be survivors… please, I need to know what happened, and why this place is such a wasteland.’ Engines roaring, the wind battled against her vehicle, but with the slim design, she was able to withstand the force and keep it from being forced into the ground.
Once she came close enough, the vehicle disappeared around her in a flash of light. The girl rolled across the ground before she stood up and ran across the dusty field, dirt flying up underneath her feet and into the windstorm blowing around her. But as she approached, she slowly faltered in her step. Her eyes widened at the sight before her.
Before her lay the remnants of a collapsed gate, its metal bars slightly covered underneath the gray-beige dust. Marble walls that stood several feet high were only just a few feet taller than the bars now, having been worn away by the passing of time. With a small gulp, she took a few steps forward, ushering herself onward even at the peril of being exposed to the disaster she could not avert.
Stepping over the brown, rusted gates, she ventured forth into what she thought was barely a third of what was left of a once-great civilization. She brought her right hand over her lips, overwhelmed by the ruinous state of the buildings that were still standing. Roofs were torn off in bits and pieces from the top of houses and a few slightly larger buildings. Whatever this place used to be, Yuuko imagined it could have been a great city, maybe even the capital of whatever nation of sentient beings that could have lived here.
Yuuko turned forward and made her way toward the standalone palace, but she noticed small remnants of other buildings that used to be around it, now piles of rubble upon the dusty ground. She stopped and noticed another bit of marble standing out, ascending onto some old stairway. It had an oval shape that went up to the single tower. With each step, she kept an open thought about what it could be. ‘Given that this is leading up to the tower… maybe it might have been an important part of this culture’s history?’
With one last step, she reached the top of the staircase and looked at the opening to the tower. Deep inside the tower was a large chair, one that took after a throne, with a deep layer of dust covering it. She shivered at the cold air around her, looking from one side to another in a slow pace.
Isolation was a word she couldn’t even begin with to describe the desolate feeling of this place. ‘But… Ashina… she told me this place was in danger.’ But there must have been some clue she could find, some little hint as to what happened to this society. Yuuko looked from the ground to the walls and higher up to see if there was some message left behind. She looked up and saw broken stained-glass windows depicting the remnants of what could have been the sentient beings of this civilization.
‘Horses?’ Yet she couldn’t doubt herself about this. She scanned over one of the images and saw two of them circling over a globe that represented the sun and the moon; both had horns of unicorns and wings of pegasi, a kind of equine she had no familiarity with. But the two had clear differences: the one on top of the sun had a larger stature and had a white coat, with a techni-colored mane of green and pink with a slight hint of blue with the same going for her tail, while the one circling underneath was a little smaller, with a dark blue coat and different hues of blue on her mane and tail. But that was all she could see.
‘I guess… that’s all I can get from this.’ With a sigh, she walked towards the throne and kneeled down on one knee next to the chair. Raising her right hand, she brushed it over the armchair, dust slightly lifting up as it was disturbed from its resting place. An idea popped into her mind, one she thought that might work. ‘Maybe… there’s something on this chair?’ Although the chances were somewhat slim, she couldn’t shoot the thought down so quickly.
Yuuko then ran her hand underneath the armchair. She raised an eyebrow as she brushed a circular object, then gently pressed it. A small door slowly opened from the bottom area of the dusty marble wall. She took a couple of steps and kneeled down on one knee, then waved her hand through it with a cautious shake.
She tilted her head as her hand brushed past something with the same texture and roughness as the wooden rubble from the village. Yuuko grabbed it and pulled it out from its dark hole. Walking past the throne, she made her way to the entrance of the ruinous building. Her Keyblade brightened up a little with the light that was available from the north. Her heart felt like it skipped a beat at what she saw.
There in her hand was a picture--a photograph that showed a few of the ponies she saw in the throne room. She could see three of the ponies, all three with different coat colors which ranged from white, to a dark blue, to a light pink. Another odd feature was that she saw the same thing--all three had horns and wings. ‘W-what does that mean?’ Two of the ponies seemed to have ethereal manes and tails, one consisting of dark blues with a bit of light blue in there, while the other one had a wider range of light pink, light blue and even a light green. The third pony did not have an ethereal mane or tail, but the colors only consisted of warm pink, warm violet and light yellow colors with her mane wrapped in a ponytail.
They also wore some kind of royal wear, with crowns, chest pieces, and even bedazzled horseshoes that covered their entire hooves. “So… these ponies were sentient…” She turned her gaze to the ground and simply stared at the gray dust below. “I can’t believe… I…” She closed her eyes and kneeled to the ground. It was hardly believable, to be honest, that she didn’t make it. Or the fact that she seemed to have been late by a much longer period. Ashina had told her that a world--this world, to be exact--was in danger.
‘But why… why did she lie to me?’ Yuuko opened her eyes and scanned the area around her. “You told me this place was in danger. That the darkness was threatening it,” Yuuko murmured to herself. “Was… was that all a lie?” The answer should have been obvious already, but she couldn’t just accept that fact. The one person she relied on for this type of information had told her a lie. But Yuuko felt there would be time to figure this all out later. She had to report to her master and tell him the unfortunate news. ‘He’s… he’s not going to like this.’ She sighed and brought the picture to the front wall of the lone palace building and gently placed it against the wall. She stood up and walked down the steps of the main palace’s stairway before she stopped at the bottom of the staircase.
Yuuko held her hand out and watched as her weapon materialized in a show of light and feathers as before. She clenched her hand and kneeled down to throw it into the air to summon her vehicle form. She stopped and slowly stood up straight. Yuuko could hear whispers behind her, voices that previously had not been there before. She frowned and glanced over her shoulder, only to quickly bring her right hand to the grip at the sight of three dark portals.
What came out of them, however, was something she could barely fathom. She watched as those three alicorns from that picture walked out from the dark portals. ‘H-how can that be?’ Yuuko loosened her grip on her weapon, but she kept hold of it just in case. She looked over the three alicorns and quickly noticed right away that they did not look the same. The dark colors they had were considerably darker, and the same reversed for the lighter colors.
She looked at the tallest one in the middle and widened her stance. “Who are you?” the pony in the middle asked. “What business do you have here? Invading our home and defiling it with your presence.”
Judging from the tone, Yuuko could only assume that they were not as friendly as she would have hoped. “My name is Master Yuuko Aozora. I thought your world was in danger. And as a wielder of the weapon of light--the Keyblade, as it is known across some worlds--I came here to help you.”
The pony raised an eyebrow, which Yuuko took as a sign that she had no clue about her weapon. “If it is the light you wield, you will find there is none here to be found.”
“You see, light bearer, we have no tolerance for the light anymore. It has proven to be a weak source of strength.” Yuuko turned to the smaller pony, whom Yuuko noticed was the second tallest of the three. “We were… but still assume our roles as defenders of Canterlot. The ponies you speak to desire a more royal generosity than what poor show you have here.”
“You say you’ve forsaken the light?” Yuuko’s frown only seemed to deepen at the comment that pony had made. “Why would you choose darkness over light? The light is the source of all strength and unity.”
“We looked to the light once.” The shortest of the three ponies spoke, her voice sounded gentle yet held some deep animosity to her words. “But now we’ve found the darkness to be more suiting to our needs.”
“So with what little information you have been given, I suggest you leave.” The tallest one lowered her eyes. “Otherwise we shall force you to leave our home.”
Yuuko knew she had this one chance to leave this place. But that wasn’t what she had in mind. “I… would have accepted your peaceful courtesy. But unfortunately, that is not who I am.” She tightened her hand around her keyblade’s handle. “I have sought out to free the light from any dark place and rid worlds of their dark powers so I can free those who are oppressed by its hideous powers.”
The tall pony shook her head. “Then you leave us with no choice. In order to make sure that our home is safe from beings like you, my sister, Princess Luna, and my niece, Princess Cadance, shall make sure you are buried here where nobody else will be able to find you.” Her eyes glowed brightly as she lowered them into a glare. “A promise that I, Princess Celestia, shall make sure that I uphold!”
Yuuko noticed a light from the tip of Celestia’s horn and quickly jumped out of the way as the dark ball shot towards her. The force of the explosion pushed her farther, but she righted herself in the air and landed on her feet. She brought a hand to the necklace and tapped the center. A light quickly surrounded her entire body as she stood a farther distance from the three dark princesses. The light dispersed around her and revealed Yuuko in a suit of armor. “I am Master Yuuko Aozora. And the darkness shall never win! I will make sure of that!”
Princess Celestia smirked at her words and shook her head. “We’ll see if you can keep that promise, wielder of light.” The three princesses disappeared in a flash of their dark-colored auras. Yuuko slowly scanned the area around her, watching for the slightest movement that would reveal them to her sight.
Yuuko grunted and felt the world tumble around her. Quickly, she flipped herself in the air and in a flash of light, the blade hidden within her Keyblade’s sheath flashed to form. She landed on one foot and propelled herself forward, blade in the air as she brought it down on Luna, who guarded it with her own two swords appearing from thin air.
With multiple swings, Yuuko tried to break through Luna’s defenses, but the mare matched her speed swipe for swipe. She felt something explode on her right side, and the world spun around once more. She caught a quick glance as Cadance charged at her with a single sword. While in the air, Yuuko blocked the strikes from the princess’s swipes, then knocked the sword upwards. With an opening, she hit Cadance a few times before knocking her down to the ground below. Still seeing that she could hit her again, she pointed her keyblade at the pony.
A bolt of lightning flashed down upon Cadance, who yelled out from below. As Yuuko watched the ground come closer to her, she felt another explosion and yelped as she hit the ground. Dust and rocks flew around her as she skidded across the ground. With a quiet groan, she laid there briefly before she quickly got back up. She hastily scanned the skies and saw Celestia, whose wings flapped slowly as a halberd floated by her right side. “You can’t hope to beat us three. Your strength is overmatched here.”
Yuuko stood there staring at the three princesses with her eyes hidden from their sight. “No… so long as there is darkness, I shall not stop fighting. I’ll give up my life in order to make sure that the light will not expire, and that darkness will go back into the shadows where it belongs!” She sheathed her keyblade and spread her feet across the ground. Her cape billowed in the wind as a light flickered from inside the sheath.
She glanced to the side and watched Luna fly low to the ground, quickly closing the gap between them from where she stood. With a yell, Yuuko pulled the keyblade out. A wave of light rushed towards the princess, but she stopped and moved upwards. Yuuko brought her keyblade back into its sheathe and quickly stepped back as Luna brought one of her swords down. She kept dodging over and over before she blocked one of the strikes with her sheathe.
Yuuko yelped again as she felt a blow to her stomach this time. She skidded across the dusty ground and looked to see Celestia standing by her sister, before the two disappeared in a flash of light. Yuuko reput her keyblade away and scanned the area around her. She would not allow them to surprise her like they did before. Too much was at stake here. If this kept up, she knew her armor wouldn’t last any longer.
A sudden cry sounded in front of her. She raised her sheath and blocked an attack from Cadance, her legs buckling beneath her as she held against the overhead attack. With a cry of her own, Yuuko pushed back and pulled her keyblade out, but each swipe she swung was blocked by Cadance’s own sword. Yuuko gasped as she brought her sheath up and blocked one of Luna’s attacks before she blocked an attack from Cadance.
But a flicker of light glinted from her right, and she saw Luna raise her other sword with her aura, forcing her to dodge the second attack. A sudden stinging sensation hit her shoulder, feeling it push her back slightly. She looked up and saw Celestia again but couldn’t dodge the next attack. A barrage of stinging sensations quickly grew worse over time as Yuuko felt the three ponies simultaneously began to lay down their own combination of attacks. From her stomach to her chest to arms, she could feel the armor being chipped away.
Suddenly, she was bodily thrown into the air, then kicked in the stomach and sent tumbling into the ground. Arms against her chest, she shakily stood up and got her footing back. She turned her gaze to the three princesses but could hardly see them through her cracked and shattered visor.
She sheathed the keyblade once more and raised her right hand up to her helmet. With a quick pull, she yanked it off and dropped it to the ground by her right side. She took a moment to look at her armor; it was bent here and there, with parts shattered and near breaking open. Her torn cape flapped loosely behind her. “As I said, you are overmatched here, wielder of light,” Celestia said as she and the other two ponies took a few steps forward.
Even if she had the chance to leave, Yuuko would never leave such darkness here. Their dark energy had to be wiped away, and she wasn’t going to leave here without making sure that they were completely gone. “No… I have a job as a keyblade wielder to uphold the values of protecting the light. I will not give in… I shall never give in!” She raised her sheath up into the air. A flurry of bolts rained down upon the three princesses. However, all they did was flinch at the rain of electricity, and when it ended, they all glared at the girl in front of them.
Celestia, Luna, and Cadance disappeared in a flash of light again. Cadance reappeared right in front of her, and Yuuko brought her sheath up again to block one of Cadance’s attacks. This was the same trick they had tried on her before, and Yuuko, seeing how it would go, was not going to get caught in it again. She knocked Cadance back with a kick and rushed forward, unsheathing the keyblade and landing a few strikes. She brought the sheath in her left hand and swiped at the princess' chest.
With the combination of the keyblade and sheath, she laid down a flurry of attacks and launched Cadance into the air, then jumped up, twirled around, brought the sheath upwards, and smacked it against Cadance’s jaw, sending her upwards into the air. With one final swing, Yuuko threw her keyblade as she descended back to the ground and watched it strike the mare one last time. Cadance let out a high-pitched cry and disappeared in wisps of shadows.
“No!!” Yuuko looked up as Celestia and Luna reappeared in a flash of light. Their glares had intensified as they stared down at her. “You’ll pay for this!” Luna quickly descended towards Yuuko with a flap of her wings.
Seeing the second princess moving quickly towards her, she brought the keyblade to its sheath and prepared herself. She leaped back as Luna slammed her two swords into the ground, cracking it into a large crater. If this alicorn had been hiding her strength and was just now showing her the true extent, she would have to deal with her in a quick fashion.
Yuuko regained her footing on the ground and lunged forward, unsheathing her keyblade and thrusting it forward. One of Luna’s swords deflected it, while the other sword slashed across her armor, sending Yuuko sliding back across the ground, feet still firm on the surface of the dusty earth. She looked up, only to cry out as Luna slammed her two swords into her chest. Flying across the ground, Yuuko twirled in the air and brought her keyblade back into its sheath before she put her hand to the ground and skidded back.
She lurched backwards but found her footing, finally coming to a stop and looking up to the sky to see both Luna and Celestia next to each other. Their horns lit up in their dark aura until they brought their horn tips together, and a huge dark blast shot towards where Yuuko stood. With no time to spare, she quickly sheathed her Keyblade and spun the sheath in front of her. A bright, clear shield surrounded her in an instant, seconds before the dark blast finally hit its mark. Yuuko grunted and held on for her life, but the shield held against the blast until the darkness that surrounded her finally dispersed.
With that out of the way, Yuuko looked up and saw the two sisters flying right towards her. With a small smile, she waited for them to come closer, and as they were just a few feet away, she lunged forward. The shield around her disappeared before forming into small white balls that surrounded her, blowing up in a color-filled light that knocked the two sisters away from one another. Seeing her chance, she lunged towards Luna, keyblade unsheathed as she landed the killing blow, slicing across the pony’s neck. She heard a gurgled cry behind her before Luna dispersed into shadowy wisps as well.
“Luna!” Celestia cried out at the sight of her younger sibling disappearing right before her eyes. Yuuko turned around and saw the faint frown, the despair in her eyes that glimmered vividly. But it didn’t last for long; she shot a deathly glare at her and cried out as a dark aura completely surrounded her. Before she knew it, Yuuko felt something hit her stomach, knocking all the wind from her lungs as she hurtled across the ground. She tried to right herself, but Celestia appeared right above her and slammed her into the ground with a blast from her magic.
She could hear her armor crack and break as she hit the ground hard. Moments later she finally stopped skidding and shakily stood up. The air felt colder than it did before; she looked down and saw that all her armor had finally been destroyed, leaving her back with her normal clothes from before. “You’ll pay.” She quickly turned around, grabbed her keyblade’s handle, and gave a toothy frown as she stared back at Celestia. “You’ll pay for what you did to my sister, wielder of light. Mark my words for your last breath shall come from the tip of my halberd!”
Yuuko drew her blade and blocked an overhead swing, but Celestia shot a dark beam of magic at her, the blast hurting more than it did when she had her armor on. She skid on her back across the ground, lying there after she stopped as the stinging ache traveled across her body. Her chest rose up and down, and every muscle screamed in protest for her to stop, but Yuuko shook her head and got back on her feet, supporting herself with her keyblade as she slowly stood up.
She looked up to Celestia and saw the burning glare from her eyes. Yuuko shook it off and stood still, sheathing her blade before she closed her eyes. ‘I can’t… keep going like this. I just can’t…’ If she didn’t end it here soon, then she knew that there would be more trouble awaiting her. Yuuko brought her blade out from its sheath and slowly began to draw a circle in the air. That circle began to glow brightly as she circled the blade in a much quicker pace. With a roar, she swung the first circular blade at Celestia, then with another, another, and a dozen more.
But as she watched them near Celestia, the princess simply knocked one aside with her halberd and took to the air. In an odd sense, Yuuko thought she was watching some angelic being move quickly through the air, dodging each ring with a swift flap of her wings or knocking another ring aside with a quick strike of her halberd. With this artful display of skill, Yuuko quickly felt that this tactic wasn’t going to work.
Celestia knocked the last one aside and flew straight towards Yuuko, halberd pointed straight towards her. When she was just inches away, she swung at the girl, each strike of which Yuuko blocked. But Celestia kept twirling the halberd around in her magic aura, ready to strike again and again, never giving Yuuko a moment’s rest. Sparks flew from each strike as the two weapons made contact upon the other.
Yuuko brought her blade and swung it against the halberd one last time, which locked the two blades in a tense and shaky struggle. Yuuko and Celestia met inches away from each other’s faces and glared fiercely at each other. A bright yellow aura slowly began to ascend around Yuuko, mixing in with the dark aura of Celestia’s as the two continued to push their weapons against the other.
In that moment, Yuuko felt her energy slowly return as she summoned all the might she had left. In one quick swoop, Yuuko roared, and their blades finally disconnected. Quickly, she put one foot on the ground and jumped forward. She could see the surprised gaze of the princess, eyes wide as Yuuko raised her blade upwards. With one final movement, she brought the blade downwards and struck the final blow against Celestia. The princess only uttered a small gasp. She slowly but surely disappeared in a wave of wisps, the shadowy tendrils floated away before she dispersed entirely.
(Stop Music)
With the sight she saw before her, Yuuko slowly fell down on her butt. Her breaths came in an erratic fashion. She closed her eyes and eased her breathing. Slowly her chest began to move in and out less and less. “It’s over… the light will always triumph in the end…”
A slow clapping noise echoed around her, Yuuko quickly scanned the dusty courtyard in hopes she could find the source of the noise. She turned around and watched as a dark portal opened in front of her. “Well done… well done indeed, wielder of light.”
The voice who spoke had a tone and creepy gentleness that were eerily familiar. ‘A-Ashina Rei…?’ The portal closed behind her, and the dress she wore slowly glowed in the light that surrounded them. Her friend wore a surplice sleeveless blouse with a hood flapping in the strong wind, but unlike her, even with the shorts accompanying her she didn't seem to flinch at the cold at all.
“I’m a little surprised you were able to hold your own against those three, Yuuko Aozora. Then again, you are a master of the keyblade.” Ashina kneeled down with her hands to her knees, a bright smile on her lips.
“W-what are you doing here?” But her eyes lowered as she shakily stood up, supporting herself with her keyblade. “You… you told me this place was in danger. You told me that these beings needed my help.”
“Well…” Ashina squinted a little as she looked up to the dark-and-light-mixed-colored sky. “You see, the thing is that these creatures… ponies if you will, were in need of help. However, that was quite a long time ago. Hundreds of years ago, to be exact, but I’m guessing you already know that bit.” She simply shrugged after she spoke.
“Why… why did you lie to me? I thought we were friends. I thought that--”
“You see that’s quite an assumption right there.” Ashina stood up as she interrupted Yuuko, slowly circling her as she sat on the ground. “If I was truly your friend, I wouldn’t be standing here, talking to you about how I fooled you. How I made sure you believed the story and came here believing that those three corrupted princesses would destroy you, and instead I’d actually try and help you up and get you treated for your bruises.” She chuckled a little. Her two ponytails swung in the air as the wind blew past them, and her dark scarlet hair slightly glowed in the dark light around the two girls.
“You… I can’t believe this… but then again, I should have known. You were always too close to the darkness.” Yuuko raised her sheath and put the keyblade back in its place. “I guess you came here to sink this place further into darkness, didn’t you? The darkness needs to be destroyed!”
Ashina rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Actually… you see, that’s a problem. I mean, look around us.” She gestured to the dark and bleak world, yet filled with some light here and there. “This is the perfect example of what a world could be: a world where both light and darkness rule in equal shares.”
“But that destroys a world in the process.” Yuuko glared at Ashina and pointed to the building behind her. “This is what happens when the world is put into a position like this. You want all of its inhabitants to die like this?”
Ashina just rolled her eyes again and brought her hand out. A dark pulse of light whirled in her hand until it flashed in a small bit of light. The weapon itself had a normal shape like many of the original keyblades; however, its guard had a heart shape to it with the shaft extending down to a pointy diamond set of teeth. “You know… sometimes a planet needs to restart its life cycle anyway… and that can either take a long time to happen, or can be sudden…”
Yuuko suddenly felt a stinging sensation across her stomach as the world rushed past her again. But she felt the gravel underneath her back fly up as she skidded across the ground. As she got up and saw that Ashina had disappeared, she gripped the handle to her keyblade in preparation for when she would appear. Yuuko turned around at the sound of rocks tumbling down the stairs to the throne room but still no sight of Ashina.
She let out a yelp as she felt another slash, this time across her back. Stumbling forward she quickly turned around and saw Ashina lunging again, which she brought up her keyblade’s sheath to block the attack. She pulled her keyblade from its hiding place and tried to strike her, but Ashina simply moved out of the way. With a roar, Yuuko tried again, only to have the next attack blocked. Ashina kicked hard against her stomach, knocking the air from her lungs.
But she caught a glance as that smile of Ashina’s disappeared, replaced by an emotionless expression as she brought her keyblade downwards. Yuuko felt an endless string of painful sensations after each hit, the energy she used to have almost completely gone with her muscles still screaming in agony. ‘No… I-I’m not giving up!’
Yuuko raised her keyblade and stopped one of Ashina’s blows from landing. She roared and swung upward, knocking her off her feet before she swung the blade in a rapid sucession of blows, scoring multiple hits before sending Ashina flying back. She fell onto her back but quickly disappeared right in front of Yuuko’s eyes. “Wow.” Ashina’s voice echoed around Yuuko. “I can’t believe you still have some fight left in you. Too bad…”
She froze as a new sensation came to her. Slowly, she looked down and saw Ashina’s keyblade had punctured through her chest, before it was violently yanked out from her own body. Yuuko cried out as an overwhelming stream of pain went through her nerves like a wildfire. “Your final moments have arrived,” Ashina murmured without a trace of emotion.
Yuuko fell to the ground with a thud, clutching the area where Ashina’s keyblade pierced through her body. She looked down only to find that there was no blood. But that was the thing about the keyblade: it was never meant to actually draw blood from body itself, but to damage the vessel and destroy it so the heart could no longer exist in the body. And unfortunately, she knew that was what would come next for her. “Well… I’m not going to say I was disappointed,” said Ashina. “You were weakened by those three shadow versions of the princesses… too bad, right? Otherwise I’d actually have trouble beating you. Guess they did come in handy as a backup plan.”
“W-what… what are yo--”
“Oh right, that. Well, you didn’t really need it. After all, I did have a bit of trouble corralling those three and corrupting their spirits. But of course, the effort was worth it in order to weaken you.” Ashina let out a short giggle before she turned around and opened up a dark portal in front of her. “Well… I guess this is what our master did tell you. Your vengeance against the darkness would get you in trouble. And now here you are… your body is ready to die, and your heart will be released. Having so much light as you did brought you too close to the darkness, and now you’re doomed from here on out… it was a ‘pleasure’ knowing you, Yuuko.” With that somber farewell, Ashina disappeared inside the dark portal, which collapsed into wispy shadows before it finally disappeared.
Yuuko let out a quiet cry as she lay there on the ground. She shivered as her body soon became cold, starting at her feet and slowly traveling up her legs. “I… I c-can’t believe this…” Tears trickled down her face as she let out short, quiet sobs. She turned herself onto her stomach and slowly began to crawl her way up the stairs of the ruined palace building. With every pull, she could feel her body’s heat fading away.
But at this point, it felt like she should have already keeled over and died. ‘I… I don’t want to die… I d-don’t… I just don’t…’ Was this what her master had warned her of? That this was the fate of those who put themselves too close to the light? Either way, it was a question she felt had already been answered, and a memory that would be too painful to go back to. The shadow of the building in front of her consumed her as she slowly crawled into the throne room.
She looked up and saw the chair at the end of the room, and slowly made her way to it. If she was going to die, she would have rather spent it somewhere different. ‘It would have been… s-so calm… and I would have accepted it somewhere where the light shines the strongest… now I can’t even have that…’ She pulled herself up to the chair but felt her arms finally give in to the cold feeling that soon began to encompass her entire body. Now there was nowhere to go, and no one except Ashina would have known where she lay.
Yuuko rolled onto her back and looked up at the ceiling. The tears still trickled down her cheeks as she quietly cried. She then slowly reached her hand into her pocket and pulled out the teddy bear she had found from earlier. She stared at its fluffy and fur-like fabric, a faint smile on her lips. “I just wish it wouldn’t have ended this way… I-I really wish things could have been different…” She felt that talking to herself would help her not lose herself to the sorrow that seemed like it was going to overwhelm her any minute now.
She brought the teddy bear to her chest and gently pressed it against herself. “I… I don’t know who ever owned this… but I’m so sorry… I really wish I could have been there for you… to make sure that you grew up to see the real light that this world could have deserved…” Yuuko raised one hand from the stuffed animal and held it upwards. Her keyblade flashed in its bright yellow colors until it fully formed. ‘I… no longer have a use for it…’ Yuuko placed it beside her, resting it against the chair. She then reached for the necklace around her neck and gently pulled it off. ‘And now you…’ She laid it on top of the keyblade’s guard and quietly sobbed once more.
Bits of light slowly began to form around her, forming into circular orbs. Tears streamed down her face as she murmured,. “W-well, Dad… I, I guess I’ll be seeing you soon… and I hope to reunite with you… and Mom…” With one final breath, her body slowly began to fade and become yellow light particles. As she closed her eyes, her entire body shone for a brief moment until she completely disappeared, leaving only her keyblade, her necklace, and the stuffed bear behind. Another light had been snuffed out, and the future of the world's seemed to only get bleaker as one less wielder of the weapon of light had vanished.