Down the Twilight Path

The True Nature of Healing

A/N: Because I am an insane person, this chapter will feature a written staple of the Kingdom Hearts series: A boss battle. The context of the boss battle and the identity of the boss you will have to read to find out. So enjoy, my readers!

Scene 12: The True Nature of Healing

For the first time in many days, Jason closed his eyes while resting in his cot, and opened them to find himself standing on the Station of Delusion. The first thing that he did was look down at stained glass to see if the pattern had changed any since the last time he was there.

Indeed, to the left of Jason's depiction on the stained glass there was now a circle, and inside of it was a picture of Eileen with a gentle smile on her face. Jason slowly walked over to this new part of the stained glass platform, bending down to touch it.

"It seems the time has come for you to dive into yourself again. Are you ready?"

At this point Jason wasn't surprised to hear the voice of Dark Jason behind him, and so he straightened and said, "Okay, what do you want this time?"

"You tell me," Dark Jason said, his yellow eyes sparkling dangerously. "You should know that you only come here when it's necessary."

The last significant thing that happened recently was Eileen's visit to his cell, where the two of them plotted their next move together. Afterwards, Jason couldn't help but feel himself overflowing with love for his older sister, and that had been the last thing on his mind before he went to sleep.

"That's Eileen for you," Jason said affectionately, looking at her face on the stained glass. "Even an entire world away from me she finds some way to track me down and lecture me."

"It's a little more complicated than that," Dark Jason said. "The mere presence of your sister gives you strength - she is your family, after all. Yet at the same time, you worry for her in turn, and a part of you wishes she would stay away."

"Of course I want Eileen to keep away from this castle!" Jason shouted. "I know that spell of hers, and I know there's no way for her to defend herself when she's like that. If she got hurt I don't think I could do anything. If only there was-"

At that moment the circle began to glow with a mystical green energy, which seemed to flow towards the inky black sky in intertwined streams. Dark Jason noticeably backed away from the green energy, and Jason briefly wondered what would happen if it was pushed inside.

"Don't even try it," Dark Jason said, glaring.

Even so, Jason took careful note of this reaction; while he still didn't know what the true nature of this shadow inside of him was, learning about it would likely be very useful in the future. Instead, Jason decided to step into the stream of green energy himself.

Immediately the energy sunk through Jason's skin, his entire being vibrating intensely, while Jason stood his ground, willing himself to not succumb even when it felt like he was going to come apart at the seams from an excess of power...

Just as abruptly it stopped, leaving Jason with a warm tingling all over his body. While still looking down at his sister's face on the stained glass, Jason held out his right hand, and his bo staff appeared as if on command. Except his bo staff had an unexpected, unusual change: a single stripe of green now wound it's way from the bottom to the top of the staff.

"Congratulations. You've learned to wield the Paltry Panacea," Dark Jason said. "Out of worry for your sister, it seems your powers have responded to it accordingly."

"I wonder what other kinds of powers I have hiding inside of me?" Jason wondered out loud, concerned by how much the design on the floor was still obscured by cracks and inky darkness.