//------------------------------// // CH46: The Final Choice // Story: Kingdom Hearts F.I.M: Rise of The Elements // by Spirit Shift //------------------------------// “Wh-what do we do?” stammered Pinkie, her eyes glancing around. She was the first to notice that not a single one of the revived characters moved at all, and that their heads were lowered while staring vacantly at the grounds. "They look like zombies... Do we fight them or… or do we go after the bad guy?” Asuna grit her teeth, her eyes wide and alert. “We can’t just leave them! But... if there’s any chance he’s lying though--” Kayaba’s voice echoed from the end of the hall. “Oh, Asuna, dear, you really think I would lie at this stage of the game.” Lowering his head, Kayaba closed his eyes and let out a low chuckle. “Give me some credit as a game master. Each of these characters will vanish from one or two hits of your weapon. However, only from an intentional strike. Shoving past and indirect attacks will not work, I’m afraid.” Lifting his head, he looked right down the middle of the room and locked eyes with Kirito. “Tick, tock, Kirito.The countdown will begin.” With a snap everyone’s head snapped up to see that the clock had turned from 30:00 to 29:59. Immediately, all of the characters heads snapped up and focused at the group. With another tick all of them began running forward. Twilight was the first to react by thrusting her Keyblade forward and channeling her magic. “Mine shield!” With a golden flash, four rows of bright orange circles appeared. The first row immediately detonated, knocking back the first wave of enemies and forcing the rest to hesitate. Twilight looked at Kirito. “That’ll give us another minute. What’s the plan?!” Kirito, seeing his companions, began gripping on his swords tighter than ever before. However, in an effort to control his anger, he quickly broke eye contact with them and turned to the group. “Regardless of how mad he is,” he began, “we have to assume he’s telling the truth.” Slowly, Kirito sucked in a deep breath. And as his anger subsided, he resumed, “We need to spit up and… 'attack' as many of them as possible. Even if we go the entire thirty minutes, I’m confident that with all of us here we can take on Kayaba at the end.” He chanced one last look backwards and his steeled look softened into genuine empathy by the time he turned back to the group. “So… please… save them from this hell.” With Kirito’s orders given, the group burst forth, spreading out in a single wide line. As she dashed forward, Twilight watched as the last row of explosives detonated. As she expected, none of them were injured. Raising her Keyblade, she entered the fray and struck down two characters on the way. As soon as her attacks hit, the two characters vanished, shattering into brilliant golden light. “Magic probably counts as indirect attacks… so I can’t use any,” she observed, holding back her instincts to use magic. Dodging a dagger strike from a character in a black cloak, she quickly glanced around for the others. She found Rarity, rushing through the army, her body surrounded by multiple spinning blades and nearly a blizzard of golden shards. “Looks like Rarity can still use her ability. But…” Jumping into the air, Twilight back flipped out of the way of a character who had been in the midst of swinging a large claymore at her. Coming down with her weapon she slashed him from behind and spun to take out the dagger user who tried again to stab her in the back. As Twilight struck the assassin down, she caught sight of Dash just as she delivered a sick right hook to a iron clad soldier twice her size. While impressed, Twilight couldn’t help but wonder why she wasn’t using her Keyblade. Raising her own weapon up, Twilight nearly buckled under the weight of two blades clashing against hers. “I guess this probably isn’t the time to be worrying about the others.” Summoning more strength, she shoved the two off of her and spun around, arm outstretched. By the time her blade stopped moving, several characters who had surrounded her had been reduced to golden shards. “I need to concentrate!” Asuna, tears welling in her eyes, backflipped several steps out of the crowd and took a moment to stare at the faces coming towards her. So many of them she knew, so many of them she could remember having her back. Biting her lip, she spread her legs and took a wide stance facing sideways. Kicking off of her back foot, she shot forward and tore through multiple bodies with her rapier. However, as fast as she tore through them, in her eyes, she could only linger at each face she passed. Asuna bit her lip as her mind filled with memories. Deep in a lizard filled cavern, a tall pale knight with crew cut hair stood back to back with Asuna. His curved sword held tight in his shaking hands. During a raid on a new dungeon he had been too nervous to leave her side. But though he was nervous, he would still give her a wide smile and a thumbs up. A young girl whom had stormed into the guild hall and demanded to be put on the front lines. She was so confident and surprisingly strong. She had only just began to make a name for herself as a quick footed swordswomen. Asuna could still remember how she selfishly gave her life to save an innocent pacifist character from dying. A cowardly swordsman who had never wanted to fight but had been forced by his party to participate. Asuna could remember him always hiding near the back of the guild during raids. She could remember how he had saved half the guild's life by alerting them to a surprise back attack by some clever mobs. They were saved now… they would live. Asuna’s snapped back to reality in a flash of golden shimmers. Turning her foot she skid to a stop in the middle of the army. Her straight path quickly filled back up as characters closed in on her once more. With glittering eyes she began muttering under her breath as her resumed her attack. With each thrust, she saved another one, with each thrust Asuna recalled another name. “Kain, Charlie, Shinji, Michael, James, Kritical, Alice, Kryss, Rose…” Soon enough tears began to mix in with the falling golden shards. Eventually, Asuna’s attacks slowed down and she frantically looked around. “I…” she stammered, head turning this way and that as people began to cautiously move closer to her. Finally, her head snapped up towards the large red clock the continued to count down. Breaking down, Asuna fell to her knees. “I can’t save them all!” she screamed. “You don’t have to!” Kirito screamed back. Asuna’s head perked up and she struggled to locate the direction of his voice through the sound of the clanking of metal and steel. Through the crowd, the area littered with golden shards and the sounds of metal clashing, Kirito’s voice sounded. “You don’t have to save everyone, because we can’t,” though she couldn’t see him, she could feel the somber emotion in his words. Under the anger at Kayaba, he was probably just as torn up as her. “But at the very least… save the ones you can, save the ones you care for most.” Another voice cut through the din. “But how will you choose, Kirito, Asuna? Of all the friends allies and people you’ve met in this world, how will you choose who to let die.” Suddenly, several flashes of light burst through the crowd and at least a dozen character were sent flying. In the middle of the suddenly clear area around him, Kirito stood, swords outstretched in either direction and both glowing brightly. He let out a small sigh before gritting his teeth, almost as if he already regret what he was about to say. “I don’t have to choose who to let die… because everyone here is already dead. But that doesn't mean I can’t take up your offer and choose who to save!” The glowing from his swords fading Kirito kicked off and rushed back into the fray. Unlike everyone else who had chosen to kill as many as possible, Kirito flew through the crowd with little regard to spending energy except to kill anyone directly in his way. As the black haired swordsman’s eyes dance around in their sockets, and his head swooped back in forth, it became increasingly apparent to Kayaba, who could only smirk while he watched, what Kirito was aiming for. “Who are you looking for Kirito!” he called out. Kirito cringed but ignored him while he continued zig zagging up and down the hallway. “Who are you so obsessed with finding? Who are you so pressed to give a second chance to?” Kirito’s eyes continued to pass by each and every face in the crowd. “Where are they?” he muttered. “Where is she?” “See!” called Kayaba. “Even you have someone you’re looking for. But are you sure that she’s still here?” Skidding to a stop, Kirito’s eyes went wide. “What?” he gasped. Back by the far wall, Kayaba shook his head sadly. “Like I said earlier there were more people here, but my experiment forced me to discard a few hundred. So… if the person you’re looking for was one of them, your search might be for nothing.” “Shut up!” Kayaba’s head snapped up, his mirthful smirk gone for the first time. Deep in the crowd, Kirito stood, hunched over and growling. Slowly, his blades began glowing once more in a soft yellow colour. “You gave me this chance, don’t pretend that you’re so great to just take it away… just like that. I have 25 more minutes… and I’m going to use them… whether she’s here or not.” Several more flashes erupted from Kirito’s position, and Kayaba, wide eyed in surprise looked on. After a few seconds his smile returned, this time more empathetic than before. He lowered his head and muttered. “So be it then. I’ll wait, just as I have been.”