Jump 310: Kingdom Hearts (final)

Jump 310: Kingdom Hearts
>The Hierophant: Being supportive, sympathetic and loyal.
>Age: 23
>Location: Free Choice (Traverse Town)
>Identity: Drop-In
>Drawbacks: Castle Oblivion (+300), Summon Gem (+300), Part Of A Whole: Nobody (+600)
"Oh, that is just messed up."
>"I have faith in you! Give us a good show for the end of this story arc!"
"A good show?! There's a Nobody who has ALL OF MY POWERS! And I can only use one at a time!"
>"Not ALL of your powers. Just the ones you most commonly used lately. And the gear you commonly use."
"YOU GAVE HIM THE GAUNTLET?!"
>"NOT that. That's something like twenty different things you somehow fit together anyway, that would have been pushing it and I don't want two of those in the multiverse."
"Oh thank goodness. Now take a deep breath, everybody, this next part is going to be fucking LONG."
>Tema Del Jumper (Free)
More soundtracks for myself! By now I'm pretty sure I have enough music to play for DAYS without repeating.
>Tema Di Mondi (2100)
I kind of feel like this is worth paying the extra points to keep post-jump. A sixth sense via music, and having that music fit everywhere I go... it's just neat.
>A Heart To Call My Own (1900)
Being able to pay enough attention to something to give them a heart... a soul... that's an interesting power. I've sort of emulated something like this but it was far from easy. Now, I have it outright. It will take years of investment, certainly, but... yes.
>Double Jump (Free, Drop-In)
I can... double jump? Huh. If I jump horizontally, for a moment it feels like flying. That feels familiar.
>Protagonist's Endurance (Free, Drop-In)
Being here without this is probably not a good idea, to be honest.
>You Are Never Alone (1800, Drop-In)
Being able to transfer abilities to others, even if it IS temporary, can be a very useful thing. Though perhaps not so much while I'm here, sadly.
>Time Keeper (1650, Drop-In)
Flat-out immunity to any and all time shenanigans. Full stop.
>Cerberus Jumper (1450, Drop-In)
With this and Genre Savior from Evangelion, I plan to change a large number of jumps to NOT be craptastic. Places where it shouldn't be possible to change the setting? Yeah, I'm going to definitely be changing that.
>Our Hearts are Connected (1250)
When I wake up and have the most vague idea that there are eight others out there, on different worlds, looking for me... well, that's going to be pretty damn interesting, no?
>Team Diagnostics (1150)
Oh. I can actually see their health bars. That's... a thing. Wait, do I have a health bar too?!
>Hyper Healing (750)
I would not have taken a certain drawback if I couldn't have something like this. Near-immediate recovery from minor injuries. Broken bones repaired DURING a fight. Limbs regrown in a DAY. HELL YES.
>Don't Ever Change (450)
This is a helpful thing to have, when one is dealing with a memory problem. At least at the end of the day I know I'll be staying who I was, who I am.
>Scan (400)
Huh. I guess EVERYBODY has health bars?!
>Black Coat (Free, Drop-In)
This seems a little bit much. I mean, I guess if I got cold I could put on the gloves. In the meantime I'm going to leave the hood down and roll up the sleeves. Might even see whether I can reduce the length of this thing by about half. I don't mind a longer coat, but come on, man.
>Jiminy's Journal [100cp token]
Ooh, neat, a journal that tracks everything I've done! --why is everything before today static? I wonder if they'll fill in as I learn more about my past?
>Re:Coding [100cp token]
I have a feeling I'm missing something. What's a warehouse?
>Deck of Cards [50cp token]
Huh. The things on these cards seem vaguely familiar... oh, I'm sure it's nothing.
>Potion (Free, Drop-In)
>Mega-Potion [50cp token, Drop-In]
Five mega-potions. Though they reappear after two days. Still, I can see this being quite useful in a pinch, considering it can affect allies; too bad it's an upgrade and not simply separate from the potions.
>Ansem Reports (300) [200cp token)
What's all this stuff? Ansem the Wise? That sounds familiar... oh yeah! Have you ever heard the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise? I thought not...
>Red Staff [100cp token]
Huh. Seems like something useful to practice with.
>Summoned Weapon: Ironwood Slugger [100cp token]
Now this... this immediately brings back memories. Memories of the Hundred Acre Wood. How is it that I can summon a baseball bat out of thin air, of all things?
>Trinity (Free)
>My Friends By My Side (0)
It's nice that I've got all eight of my companions to bring along with me. Too bad they've all been scattered to different worlds.

I found myself wandering around Traverse Town. Much of the wandering I was doing was basically aimless, though I got more than a few odd looks, at first. But of course... although confusion lingers, the quiet never lasts. It wasn't more than a couple of hours of wandering through the city admiring the sights before there was an attack by some sort of strange... shadow creatures. There were a small number of people defending against the attack, certainly, but there's no harm to jumping in to try and help. And despite that I had a staff strapped to my back, I found myself jumping into the fray with a baseball bat.

And despite some people yelling at me that it wouldn't do anything... it did, in fact. The bat was sufficient to dispel the Heartless, as they were later identified to me, and after momentary surprise by the other defenders, the attack was routed handily. I pulled a mega-potion from my pouch to see to it that everyone was able to rapidly recover from the worst of their injuries, before some locals came over to help everyone else.

One of whom I recognized.

"Aeris?"
>"Aerith," she corrected gently. "Do I know you?"
My head... stung. In the same way that it stung as I looked at the bat in my hand. It slipped from my fingers and fell onto the pavement, and I followed suit. "I... don't know. I don't know where I am."
>"This is Traverse Town," she offered. "Are you all right? Did one of the Heartless knock you in the head?"
"Heartless? Is that what they were?" I shook the cobwebs out, frowning at the bat... and then banishing it into the nether. I had no idea how I did that, but such thoughts didn't even occur to me at the time. "They didn't seem... right. I... ugh. Where's... Cloud and Zack?"
>Aerith cocked her head, perplexed. "I don't think I know a Zack. Cloud is... trying to find himself. You know him, too?"
I frowned, shaking my head again. "I think... or someone he used to be? Blonde, spiky-haired, has a big sword?"
>"That's the one," she said with a nod. "So... who are you?"
"I'm not sure," I admitted. "I... something with a C. Chris? Crux? Yeah, Crux, I think."
>"Crux it is then." She offered me her hand, which I took, standing back up. "You helped beat back the Heartless, let me show you around, we'll see if we can get you someplace safe to lay your head."
I chuckled. "As long as the beds aren't worse than they were in Kalm, I'm fine with that."
>She looked back at me and quirked a brow. "Kalm?"
I nodded. "Small town outside Midgar, we went there after we left the city, met the rest of the gang and... this doesn't make sense... ow. I don't suppose you have any aspirin?"

And so it went.

As the week progressed, I was able to put more details together. I summoned the bat again, and I knew where I got it. From Christopher Robin, in the Hundred Acre Wood. No one from there was in Traverse Town to confirm it, but... I started putting pieces together. Pieces that didn't fit. The Hundred Acre Wood maybe, but... I wasn't a stuffed animal, I was a person. I started remembering more about my time in Midgar and Aeris-not-Aerith, and none of those details fit either. And I had this... vague sense of others out there, somewhere, looking for me.

It was very strange.

Stranger was the second attack by Nobodies - less that they attacked, but more that one of them dropped some sort of gem. It seemed strange, but something about it reminded me of Midgar again.

And then I picked it up, my eyes glowed, and I felt unnatural power in my muscles.

The rest of my memories of that place flowed back. Memories of working to save the world from giant creatures, Aeris laughing off being impaled, Zack and Cloud cutting Sephiroth to ribbons, a world-dominating corporation growing a conscience.

Memories of telling the others where I was from. Where I was going. The others with me on my journey. It all snapped into focus, and my vague sense of my companions was suddenly a sharp one.

I thanked Aerith for her generosity, gave her the short version, and set out to find the rest of my friends.

...

Four years later... I found myself standing on a battlefield. Companions behind me. Friends I'd made along the way backing them. All of them wielding the any number of artifacts that I'd kept stored in the warehouse in case of apocalypse. All of them wielding universal materia that they'd taken the time to learn and become proficient in.

On the opposite side of the blasted landscape... a Nobody. One who'd left me near death the first time we'd skirmished, and that was when I had the strength of a Soldier of Midgar, my only saving grace. Him and a none-too-small army of Nobodies of all shapes and sizes behind. Sure, Organization XIII (those goddamn edgelords) had been eradicated by the keyblade wielders by now, but the lesser nobodies that had been their foot soldiers had needed somewhere to go. And the opponent on the other side of the battlefield, the one who loomed far taller than anyone else, had been the one to gather them until now. To draw us out to a battlefield of his choosing.

The poor bastard would never know what hit him.

A pair of wands, wielded by a pair of pink-haired girls, pointed across the battlefield. The rest of my companions followed suit with their wands. A cheerful chorus of "Explosion!" later, the front line of nobodies abruptly strewn about, and the battle was joined.

I left everyone to focus on what they needed to focus on. My focus was on the large one. The one who, despite being pale, wore my face. That swung the same sword that I had in my left hand, the only thing that would let me fight him as an equal, and the reason I couldn't let him disengage me and attack anyone else. While he had little other special equipment... I had my armor. Green power armor, hard-won from Mars and upgraded thoroughly, though used sparingly unless the situation merited it.

He had power unified. I had a full head of memories, a woefully incomplete catalog of abilities, but I had the warehouse and that at least meant even odds.

With the summon gems that I had in my possession, I switched between them with a speed that belied belief. Our battle raged across the field, and I did my level best to keep steering him away from my allies as they steadily worked to defeat the squads of nobodies, supporting each other.

"You don't get it, you're a shadow of who I might have been," I told him, teeth gritted, even as his sword cracked my armor, the battlefield seemingly grown silent but for us, our blades glancing off each other after that blow. "I know what you draw on, and I haven't been that person in centuries. You've embraced the monster I never was."

The Nobody's voice was a sibalant hiss, reminding me uncomfortably of Voldemort. "Companions... barely useful as tools. It would be better to simply use clones and empties!" And with that... dozens of smaller replicas of him appeared. The rest of the combatants rejoined the fray, fighting the weaker versions of him as I kept pushing him across the battlefield, the grass reducing itself to ash around him.

"No," I said, more calmly than I felt, slicing him arm but failing to disarm him. A black ichor leaked from the wound, hissing and bubbling where it landed on the ground. "My companions are my friends. My family. My-"

"Convenient hole!" raged the Nobody as he slashed, shattering the glass of the armor's helmet, cleaving a horrifying wound across my face that the helmet barely saved me from. I stumbled back, throwing the helmet away, lifting the sword once more to deflect what would have been a killing blow. It seemed angrier now than it had been.

"You're just jealous that you don't have the hardware!" I taunted, then stumbling back again as a kick from the Nobody shattered the chest of my armor. "I love them. They love me. Especially Gaia and Ceci. I've had a wonderful life with a wonderful family and if I died now my only regret would be not getting to spend more time with them!" And with that, I started flicking through the catalog of powers, abusing abrupt bursts of speed to try and strike him from different angles, aiming to whittle down his defenses. He was raining blows upon me, but I was giving as good as I got.

"No one has value except me! I am what you should have been! Remorseless! Relentless! I'll murder you, I'll murder THEM, and take your place! She'll grant me her favor, and I'll murder this world and every other that I step foot in! Crack them open and suck them dry of life! What you WANT to do, but your morality won't let you do!"

Apparently the Nobody had the Boss Speech down. And I had to admit he wasn't entirely wrong, at least as of recently. And it seemed that the rest of the battle was dying down, but the others were keeping their distance. And for good reason. I'd warned them that this was an opponent that I had to fight alone, no matter how it ended.

"You remember the monster you used to be," it taunted, slashing at me, casting magic to try and sap my strength, even as I parried and countered his attempts. "Don't tell me you don't remember how their blood sung in your veins. How their souls still empower you... how they should empower ME! How many lived have you ended to heal your wounds? Tell me, how many breads have you--"

"One thousand, nine hundred and eight-one!" I shouted at it, swinging the sword, snicker-snack. The blade glanced off the bone of the Nobody's face, chipping it, sending it backward screaming. "I remember every single one of their names," I continued as I advanced, unrelenting, a blind blow from it cracking my armor into uselessness - a quick switch of powers let me dismiss its remains to the warehouse to give it time to repair - and kept switching powers, pushing my advantage. Slashing its tendons, crippling its speed. "You don't know remorse. I do. I've done MUCH that I regret, but always, I was first and foremost a monster that preyed on other monsters. Monsters like you! Monsters I swore I'd never be like!"

The Nobody shrieked wordlessly, slashing at me with claws, carving shallow holes in my skin and shredding my shirt. I refused to relent, even as I swung one final time at the duplicate of my own sword, shattering it and throwing mine to the side. Assuming one final set of powers.

"You want me to be a monster," I told the shrieking Nobody, my form growing dark and indistinct, fog spilling across the battlefield. "Fine. I'll give you a monster-" As it swung at me again, I grabbed its arm, snapping it with inhuman strength, listening to the Nobody howl in rage. "You, who dreamt the usurpation of the lives of everyone and everything in the multiverse! I am the Eater of Dreams, you pathetic waste of flesh!" The Nobody howled once more, a weaker one, a denial, as I continued to bat back its attacks. "You didn't want a monster. What you wanted was oblivion. And I shall give it to you."

The fog obscured the battlefield, but the Nobody's horrified shrieks could still be heard until they were cut off abruptly.

---

The fog cleared as I reverted forms, panting, looking down over the vanquished form of my opponent. After a delay, the Nobody's form faded into oblivion, and I fell backward to the ground, landing painfully. Though my companions rushed forward, some of the others stayed back.

"Is that really true? Has he really killed people?" asked Aerith. And that was one that really hurt to hear.

Ceci helped lift me to my feet, my daughters casting spells to heal my wounds, though the slash across my face refused to stop bleeding. And, after a delay, I nodded to her. "I was not always a good person," I told her, "But I will say that I've never killed an innocent soul. I've been both saint and sinner in my time, but..." I trailed off and sighed.

Sora... bless his heart, he had already lowered his keyblade, and his voice was quiet. "Two thousand people? Why?"

I closed my eyes, wiping some of the blood off of my face. "You have to understand... the worlds that you have here... compared to some, these are paradises. Even WITH the threats you face. I'm a very old man, even if I don't look it, and my journey is far from over."

"How old?" Aerith asked. And I smiled. Leave it to her, even her analogue is direct, even if she's less playful and more supportive.

"Less than a thousand centuries, but not by much," I answered. "I... am both more and less than a man. But I started out as one, and I hope to end my journey with as much of my humanity intact as I can. That's why I have my family, here." I motioned to Ceci, to Elodie and Louise, to Gaia and the rest. "They've traveled with me, they help keep me grounded. Heck, two of them WERE me, once. Long story. As I said... they're family."

"So where will you go from here?" asked someone else.

I wasn't sure who, honestly, and I shrugged. "Honestly? Figured I'd track down Cloud and give him a hand, he seemed like he could use the help. And after that... I don't know. I'll be leaving here in about six years to continue my travels. Maybe see if there's a little slice of Costa del Sol hiding somewhere and get a tan?"

"You... you killed that thing, and now you want to go to the BEACH?"

Ceci chirped, "We shall capture it for Chaos!" The rest of my companions all stared at her flatly, until she broke into giggles. They were contagious, nearly everyone else started laughing as well.

Costa del Sol wasn't anywhere to be found, but Sora was kind enough to find us a beach to relax on. He never quite looked at me the same way again, though, and that made me more than a bit sad.