Kingdom Hearts: Dream Team

Chapter 28: The Day of Reckoning 💜

The battle seemed as if it would play out alright. If I used my Foresight on the Boss Heartless, defeating them would be as easy as cherry pie. However, these Heartless looked especially powerful. Cyrena possibly modified these ones on account of my "gift". Still, I had to at least try to fight. The plan was in motion.

"Okay, here's the plan," I stated. I lowered my voice to a whisper as not to be overheard. "We have to take out the Heartless first." Of course, everyone objected to this because of the fact that Cyrena could possibly summon more. "I've already accounted for that," I hissed. "These are probably the most powerful heartless she has ever summoned. If we defeat them, it might encourage her to fight us herself."

Hopefully, I was right and my plan would work, but if it didn't work, I would blame Cyrena. What? She can anticipate my planning. Anyway, my plan seemed to be working perfectly. All of the Heartless seemed to be going down easily, perhaps too easily. What I mean is the Heartless didn't even seem to be putting up a fight. It was almost as if these were these were the most powerful Heartless she could summon. Boy was I right.

Those Heartless wouldn't stop attacking us and their weak spots were well hidden. Obviously, this meant that I was forced to use my foresight to find their weak points. However, just when I found those vital points, the Boss Heartless attacked me forcefully, knocking me backwards. My armor protected me from receiving critical damage. "The darkness will destroy you!" Cyrena shouted over the chaos around us.

"You're wrong, Cyrena!" I screamed back, remembering Sora's lines from the first game. "The darkness may destroy my body, but it can't touch my heart!" And I was right about that.

Heartless Aislynn had been appearing in dreams for months now. Sometimes I was fighting her and sometimes I was her. However, there was one thing I knew now that would help me get over the fear of losing my heart. My Heartless self was a physical manifestation of all the things I hated about myself. The only way to truly defeat something like that is to embrace it and move on with your life. As long as I kept that in mind, Cyrena could never get me where it hurts.

When all of the Heartless were defeated, we were all panting and exhausted, but we had to keep fighting. After all, it was time for the ex-reaper to face us herself. "All of you are no match for me," she declared. "When I win this fight, these two will die." She pointed to bot me and Joshua. I smirked, ready to hit her with all I had. "I wouldn't be too sure about that. If you could beat one pair of players that had made a pact, I'd like to see you beat three pairs." Unfortunately, I was about to eat my words.

Even though I was prepared for every eventuality, Cyrena had prepared ten times in advance. She had accounted for everything, including my foresight. Not a single move I made was left unblocked or un-countered. But I didn't give up! There was no way I would let my friends die at the hands of this she-devil. Eventually, she had us all pushed against the wall of the theater; we were having trouble standing.

"You are pathetic, Aislynn," Cyrena taunted, trying to get under my skin. "Your Dream Team is just as pathetic." Those words reminded of Shayla, who had been bullying me ever since I had started school. The moment I realized that, the answer hit me. Cyrena was nothing more than a schoolyard bully who picked on those that she believed weaker than her. Really, though, she had more insecurities than me. But the two of us are not the same. Why? Because I can embrace my mistakes and learn to forgive myself, but she cannot!

"You know what?" I raised the question, knowing very well that Cyrena would hate the answer. "You're right. I am pathetic. I am a loser, but I have learned to embrace that sort of thing. I may even stop being those things someday. But you will never be able to change who you are, Cyrena." I heard a twinge of fear in her voice as she asked my meaning. Knowing she would ask that question, I already had the perfect response prepared.

I gestured to my team. "These people were willing to forgive me even though we've only known each other for a few months. Because of them, I love myself now. But you, Cyrena, will never change because you have no friends to help you. No real friends, anyways." 

"Our friends can bring out the best in us," Joshua added.

"They may drive you crazy sometimes," said Neku.

"They may make you doubt yourself," said Shiki.

"But we need friends," Rhyme stated, "because they open us up to the world."

"Someone as dark as you will never understand that, yo," Beat finished

"And that is why you will never win!" I screamed.

She stood there in shock, as if we had just dropped an a-bomb on her head. In an instant, that shock turned to anger and she was ready to blast us with dark energy. Something amazing happened before she could, though.

Five lights emerged from each of my friends as they joined hands, each light coming from their chest: Right over their hearts. They moved towards me, finally converging at my keyblade. The light began to glow brighter and soon, my weapon was pure light. Some new strength filled my body as Joshua grasped my hand; a voice in my head - I don't know if it was my own voice or the King's voice - told me exactly what I needed to do. I raised my keyblade over my head and shouted the words that made Cyrena tremble in her boots.

"DREAM BLASTER!"

I realize the name sounds weird, but it was the first thing that popped into my head. In that moment, a straight stream of pure light burst forth from Keeper of the Heart and headed straight for Cyrena. She tried to blast pure darkness back at me, but the light was too strong. My light was more powerful that her darkness. No, our light was stronger than her darkness. She screamed as it collided with her body.

"Ahhh!" Cyrena shrieked at the top of her lungs. "You foolish brat! This isn't over, Aislynn! I'm warning you... this is only the beginning! A pure dark aura radiated off of her as she faded away. Within moments, she had completely disappeared.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The keyblade armor had vanished; who knows if we'd ever see it again. Joshua was waking up in my arms. "Aislynn," he mumbled. "Is Cyrena gone?" I shook my head. " She is, Joshy.  You guys don't have to worry about her anymore." A smile spread across his lips and he did something I never would have expected in that moment.

He kissed me! Right on my lips. The first real kiss I had ever received from a boy. At first, I was a tiny bit scared, what with how sudden it was. After a moment, though, I decided not to fight it. I never wanted that kiss to end.

When we finally came up for air, we saw that everyone had a somewhat different reaction. Shiki and Rhyme seemed happy. Neku and Beat looked grossed out. Still, I was happy either way. I had finally gotten my first kiss. Unfortunately, the moment was spoiled when a portal appeared.

That's right, a portal! A man I had never met before stepped out of it. He looked to be in his late-twenties at least and wore a pair of sunglasses. This man seemed pretty chill, but he moved like a man with a purpose. Joshua broke away from me as soon as he saw the newcomer.

"Mr. H!"