Seek the Stars

XXIII

Naminé fired bullet after bullet into the throng of Enigma, catching some in the head and slowing others down long enough for Roxas and Tenkuu to cut them to pieces with their Keyblades. Roxas’ Oathkeeper and Oblivion flashed with deadly precision, cutting off limbs one second and skewering and eviscerating the next. Tenkuu mostly kept to watching Roxas’ back, taking on the Enigma that managed to get past the Firaga spells Naminé had set at the center of the Moon Gate.

Their onslaught consisted mostly of Heartless, with several Enigma thrown in to liven up the mix. As the Moon Gate seemed to be on the side of Darkness, the Enigma and Heartless seemed rather upbeat and lazy about fighting the two Keyblade Masters and the Princess of Heart. It was sheer numbers that their enemies were relying on, and their ploy, whether Naminé, Roxas, and Tenkuu liked it or not, was working.

Even Naminé was hard-pressed to protect the boys, but she kept trying. She even exhausted her Evoker bullets, each one now needing to regain its strength before she could use them again. It seemed like a downhill battle.

Naminé’s pistol clicked empty.

“Roxas! Tenkuu!” Naminé yelled. “Fall back! I’m out!”

Roxas glanced at his Princess and then to Tenkuu. Whatever passed between the pair Naminé wasn’t privy to, but she understood a moment later when she had retreated to the sigil and the boys had not.

They were going to die to protect their Princess.

Naminé screamed as she watched a wave of Heartless crash over Roxas and she held out her hand to him as if she could rescue him if she just reached a bit farther. Oathkeeper broke out first, then Oblivion, and Roxas came out of the fray in a rising spin, crashing down feet first on an Enigma’s spine. Naminé couldn’t breath a sigh of relief as Tenkuu was swept under a wave of Heartless and a single Enigma. Roxas was quick to get to Tenkuu’s rescue, but the smaller brunette sported a fresh wound across his forehead.

Naminé was shaking. She had been in combat before and was no stranger to it, but she and her friends had always come out on top. They had been stronger, faster, smarter. Now, they were the ones that were weaker, slower, stupid. They were the ones losing and they had no means to turn it around. They were helpless. Naminé clutched her hands together to try and quell her shaking, to put aside the fear in her heart and try to think of a way out of this predicament.

“Roxas! Tenkuu!” Naminé screamed but her warning was too late. The Enigma rose up on its hind legs, front claws ready to crush and tear the boys.

Naminé stopped thinking. Her Evoker was in her hands, aimed at the Enigma. She pulled the trigger. The sigil beneath her feet ignited and a fierce white-blue light shot from the pistol, crashing into the Enigma. The light didn’t stop; it went through several more creatures before it hit the Moon Gate.

Almost immediately, the Gate began to glow, and the lioness atop the structure began to move. Beyond the Moon Gate, the darkness began to recede, revealing thousands upon thousands of open doors. Roxas grabbed at Tenkuu and dragged him up toward Naminé just before the lioness shook her head and roared. The boys reached the sigil just before the first Enigma exploded. The three watched the chaos in awe as one by one the doors beyond the Gate began to slam shut, sparking out of existence like lightning.

Naminé grabbed Roxas’ hand. “Come on!” she yelled. “Remember what the Watchers said? When we see the lightning, we’re supposed to go back!”

Roxas whipped his head toward the blonde girl and stared at her for a moment. “Right.” He said weakly. He tugged on Tenkuu and the three began to jog at a light pace until their wits were back about them. They hit the halfway point and gave a collective yell as a beam of light shot overhead, straight at the central Gate. Hurrying, the followed the light and passed through the shimmering wall of viscous fluid to land in a heap before the Gate.

“Naminé!” Kairi yelled, running over to her Nobody. She slid to her knees beside her and helped Naminé up. The blonde Princess looked around at Sora and Kaoru and leaned against Kairi for support as Tenkuu and Roxas regained their footing.

“Where’s Riku?” Naminé asked in a whisper.

As if in answer, the Gate on the center hill began to glow as the two beams of light came together and the lion poised on top of the gate shook his great mane. Naminé and Kairi clutched to each other, and the entire group watched as the lion’s great paw lifted to open the Door as wide as it could go. Within the Door was naught but Darkness with only a small single star in the distance.

Roxas grabbed Sora before he could run into it. “No, Sora!” Roxas hissed. “This is Riku’s fight.”

“But he’s alone in there!” Sora yelled back, standing limply in Roxas’ hold.

“He’s not alone.” Kairi said softly. Her hand tightened around Naminé’s. “We’re never alone, because we’re always with each other, even when we’re far away. We’re friends.”

Kaoru lifted his head and smiled slightly. “We have to believe in him.”

Sora looked at Kairi and the others, and Roxas finally let him go.

“Yeah.” Sora whispered, nodding. “Yeah. Come on, Riku! We’re waiting for you!”

Above, on the Door, the Lion shook his great mane and roared.