Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Kingdom Hearts: A New Threat ❯ Pulling Out of Darkness ( Chapter 8 )

Chapter 8:

“Are you sure it needs to be five for it to work?” Sora asked Merlin.

Everyone was gathered in the library (with the exception of Riku), and those that weren't present in the room when Merlin's plan was conceived were being filled in.

Merlin nodded, “I am totally positive.”

“He'll never agree,” Sora muttered, shaking his head and he buried his face in his hands, “he's too damn stubborn.”

“Why is he so pissed off anyway?” Yuffie asked.

“He's mad at me for what I had Iona do,” the King admitted guiltily.

“But why?” Tifa asked.

“In a nutshell, Riku was reminded of his time in the Darkness, and he's upset with the King for subjecting someone else to that kind of torture…or at least that's what we think; he hasn't said more than two words to anyone,” Kairi said.

“And you explained to him that he'd help her get better, Kairi?” Daisy asked.

Kairi nodded, “He just needs time to let it sink in.”

“And therein lies the problem; we don't have time,” Merlin explained. “If we don't do this within the next twenty-four hours, Iona's chances of waking up are slim to none.”

“Fine,” a familiar voice from the door way spoke, “I'll do it…but only because I don't want someone else lost to the Darkness.”

Everyone turned to see Riku leaning against the door frame; his arms crossed tightly against his chest and his long, silver hair falling into his glowing blue eyes.

“Excellent,” Merlin said, standing from his chair and quickly making his way out of the room, “then let's all do this now. I ask that only the King, Sora, Donald, Riku, and myself go and the rest of you stay here; this takes a lot of concentration on our parts.”

The others nodded and the aforementioned five left and headed towards Iona's room. When they arrived, Merlin locked the door and began giving directions.

“Alright,” he said, “I need you all to pay attention because one wrong move and this won't work, and may in fact worsen the situation.”

The group nodded, and Merlin continued.

“Your Majesty, I want you to stand to the right of Iona's head; Sora, I want you to stand to the left of her head; Donald, I want you to stand to Sora's left; I will stand to your right, Your Majesty; and Riku, I want you to stand at the foot of the bed.”

The others nodded and they moved into position.

“Now, Your Majesty, Sora, Riku, I need you to produce your Keyblades; Donald, please produce your staff.”

The items were produced, including Merlin's wand, and Merlin continued.

“Now, on the count of three, I want all of you to point your Keyblade--or staff--at Iona and cast the strongest Curaga you possibly can. I want you to continue to cast until I tell you to stop; that's very important. No matter what happens, wait for my word to stop. Can you all promise me that you will wait for my signal to stop?”

They nodded.

“Alright,” Merlin said, raising his wand, “weapons up.”

One by one, the others around the unconscious girl raised their respective weapons towards Iona, Riku being the last.

“On three,” Merlin said, “and remember; don't stop until I tell you to. One…two…three!”

All at once, green beams of light emitted from each of the five weapons, and soon Iona was surrounded in a neon green glow. Each one could feel their energy slowly draining, but no one moved an inch. Riku had his eyes firmly fixed on Iona's, looking for any sign that she was awake. But he quickly shut his eyes when Iona's back suddenly arched off the bed and a blood curdling scream emitted from her throat. She began thrashing about on the bed, and Riku wanted desperately to hold her down until whatever was causing her pain passed.

“Don't stop!” Merlin yelled over Iona's screams.

Everyone nodded and continued casting the spell, trying to ignore Iona's screams of pain. Riku heard people banging on the door; it was the girls, Cloud, Cid, Leon, and Goofy, demanding to be let in. But no body moved from around the bed to open the door. What felt like an eternity later, Iona's screams finally stopped and she collapsed on the bed. Riku watched carefully as Merlin's wand dropped, then--taking it as a sign to stop--he dropped his Keyblade and leapt over the ornate wooden footboard onto the bed. He picked Iona up and held her to him; she was deathly pale and was breathing in short gasps. Riku glared up at Merlin.

“What did you do to her?!” he yelled.

“Relax, dear boy,” Merlin said, holding his hand up.

“No!” Riku yelled. “Tell me what's wrong!”

Merlin sighed, “If I'm correct, when she was fighting the Heartless in the dungeon, the Heartless got a few blows in as well.”

Mickey nodded, “A couple…but Iona quickly got him to back off.”

Merlin shook his head, “It doesn't matter. You see, whenever someone gets any kind of injury from a Heartless, a little more Darkness invades their heart. The combination of that and her drained energy from her Keyblade completely knocked her out, and she was lost in Darkness. The reason she was yelling just now is because we had to pull her back out of the Darkness, which can be quite painful. She is out now, but needs to get her energy back. You see, the Darkness wasn't letting her heal correctly. Now that we've freed her from it, her body needs to heal.”

Riku looked down at the small girl in his arms, then back up at the King. This was all his fault. He glared at him as he carefully laid Iona on the bed and stormed from the room, the open door revealing the others. He rushed past them and out of sight, too angry to speak to anyone.