allsoend | A sacrifice remembered

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A sacrifice remembered

Who: Lea and Perry, but more can appear
What: The third memory in the next chain...where does it lead?
Where: Memory chains
Warnings: Some fighting is likely...

There are seven new sparks of light remaining in the darkness along with the others at the end of Sora’s last available memory. When touched, the light of this memory opens up onto a scene that no one will recognize, although it is obvious that it is dangerous.

They look to be outside of a temple, perhaps something that would be found at the world of the Olympus Coliseum, although this definitely isn’t the Coliseum. This temple is nearby a forest, and it is now nighttime. Three men stand outside of the temple, all of them armed, and for good reason: the area all around them is absolutely crawling with Heartless. There are both natural and manufactured ones, and many of them heavy hitters. One man stands in front of the other two as if to guard them, dressed in a long red robe and dark sunglasses, wielding an enormous sword.

From the feelings of anger and despair clouding the memory, it seems more than apparent that this memory belongs to him.

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Lea looked the scene over. It looked like a completely hopeless fight, but he was used to those. He wasn't sure how he could help, or if he was even supposed to, but he couldn't leave those people to fight on their own. He edged towards the men carefully; he didn't want to draw his keyblade yet, with the men so tense.

Perry had followed the red-head this time. He had no real reason for it, it just seemed like everyone else had had someone to go with them. Perry wasn't sure if he'd been noticed or not, either was fine with him really. But, he'd gotten something from the last memory he explored so why not try again?

This time he found himself somewhere completely different. He didn't recognize it at all or anyone in it. Well, except for the Heartless. THOSE he recognized VERY well. Perry scowled but kept to the shadows. He better see if he was needed first and not startle those three men in front of the temple. He'd make sure Lea didn't get hurt though.

The Heartless seemed to be waiting to see if one of the three young men would make a move, although they continued to step closer. One of the men, dressed in a long ornamental robe, looked at the enemies before them with resignation. If this is what the gods demand of me, then I will accept this fate.

The man in red, however, did not sound so convinced of his friend's conviction. He tightened his grip on his sword. But I can't! Where is the sense in this? It's my duty to keep you safe!

Meanwhile, a couple of straggler Heartless -several Shadows and a Morning Star- began to approach Lea and Perry from behind.

Lea heard movement behind him and turned. He made a frustrated sound; he could take those things out, but if there was an option here that wasn't getting slaughtered, he wanted to try that first. "Can't say much for gods that pit you against hopeless odds and leave you there," he grumbled. He winced; that had been louder than he'd intended.

Perry looked from the group of men, to the guy he'd followed, and to the Heartless. Okay, the last time he'd been in one of these Riku had suggested they wait and see. It was a memory after all and that had worked out fine.

Those Heartless, however, seemed to be looking at him and Perry was NOT about to fall to some Heartless. Not after all he had been through. Perry blinked when Lea spoke up though. He had apparently decided that watching wasn't the tactic here...but Perry wasn't so ready to reveal himself. He kept one eye on the Heartless and slipped a hand up into his hat. He needed to be ready, he was a cautious platypus not stupid.

The one in the ornamental robe could have been addressing either Lea or his companions; it was hard to tell. Regardless of what you think, it is my duty to restore light to this land, no matter the price that must be paid.

The one in red was insistent. I just can't accept that! You must live!

The third man in the back seemed to be the one who caught on that they weren't alone. Who's out there?

However, there was little time for a follow-up. The Heartless began to advance, concentrating especially on the robed man. The man in red grimaced, and swung his sword over his shoulder, ready to fight back.

Meanwhile, the Heartless crept closer to the two visitors, then finally lunged forward to attack. The Shadows slunk into the ground to creep up on them from below, while the Morning Star leapt into the air for a smashing attack.

Lea muttered about timing to himself and called his keyblade. He wasn't even sure it would work here, given the weirdness of this place. He dodged the morning star; it could do more damage than some shadows. Why these guys, anyway?

He didn't have time to check out how they reacted; if they were attacked as well, they'd be busy and he didn't want to distract them. He couldn't shake a feeling of sympathy with the man in red. Sometimes you tried to save your friends and it just didn't work out, but at least the guy wasn't giving up.

Perry hissed and dove to the side as the Shadows attacked. So much for staying concealed. He swung his tail around and swiped through the shadow. He had to dodge again though and this resulted in him finally being driven out into the open among the four men now also fighting Heartless. The platypus had no time to respond though and brought his paw up to his hat. He flicked the hat and the brim started to spin like a saw before he threw it at another of the Shadows advancing on them.

The three men were attacked as well, on all sides at once by a horde of Heartless. The man in red swung his sword in wide arcs at the advancing enemies, completely obliterating the small ones that ventured too close. But that didn't deter the others...a few more Morning Stars were spinning their way, followed by some Large Bodies and Soldiers. The man in red tried to cut a path through them for his friends (and the sudden new arrivals), but the Heartless closed in fast.

Go! While you still can!

I cannot leave this place.

The Shadows fell to Perry's hat, although more soon popped up to take their place. The Morning Star also just missed Lea, and tried to right itself so that it could make another pass at him. Meanwhile, two Soldiers clambered up to try and claw at him.

All the while, there was a rumbling in the ground around them...something big was coming closer.

Lea made a face; sometimes, the heartless just wouldn't let up. "Don't give up," he said to the guys. He'd wondered why the other keyblade wielders seemed to like saying that, and he thought he'd figured it out. You needed to remember that you could face the darkness. Lea called fire to engulf the heartless that were coming at the group and lunged towards the soldiers with his keyblade.

Perry wished he had taken the time to study magic at some point, but honestly spells weren't really his thing. He flipped over another of the Shadows, catching his hat as it returned, and made his way to Lea. He tackled one of the Soldiers that were gunning for him and used his hat once again as a buzzsaw-like weapon. He jumped up and landed on a spinning Morning Star heartless, careful of the spikes, and started spinning it in the direction of his choice (like one of those performers balancing on an overly large ball). He rolled over several of the Heartless in this way before steering the Morning Star into a tree.

Perry jumped off of the heartless and landed just as the ground rumbled again. Perry frowned, looking down at his paw.

Something's coming.

This was definitely one of those times when they had no intention on letting up, despite getting beaten pretty thoroughly by Lea and Perry's efforts. The Soldiers and Morning Star were all out of commission, but a few new things appeared...two Large Bodies, a couple of the small magical Heartless, and some Neoshadows. One of the Large Bodies ran forward to crash into them, some Blue Rhapsodies aimed blizzard spells their way, and the Neoshadows immediately sunk into the ground to come at them from below.

Similar enemies were converging upon the three men, even as the man in red cut through swaths of them with his sword. It seems like they weren't going to question the purpose of the two visitors...although one of them definitely seemed confused by the teal platypus. See? We can all get out of here!

But if one of us cannot, it needs to be me. It is my responsibility.

The rumbling continued to grow louder, shaking the nearby trees. It wasn't steady like thunder, but more measured...like massive footsteps.

Lea looked around. Getting out of here might be the best idea. He wasn't going to complain about help from any quarter, even if he hadn't really encountered Perry before. Whatever's coming can't be good. He winced at the blizzard spells; they didn't sting like they used to but it was still not the nicest feeling in the universe. Of his options, though, he took the route of jumping up above the large bodies to send fire shooting out again.

Careful! Some of them are coming up from below.

If we're going to get out of here, it should probably be before whatever that large thing is get's here.

Perry had a very bad feeling. He hated giving up as much as the next person, but sometimes you had to run to fight another day. It was also clear that they weren't going to be rid of the Heartless any time soon and in the middle of the jungle it didn't look like there might be anywhere to retreat to. The temple, maybe? Although, the Heartless might follow them inside. At least out here they had room to maneuver, but for how long?

The platypus could only focus on strategy so much in the middle of a battle like this. He was good at dodging and evading techniques, many of his moves he used to get the Heartless to blast each other -- especially those with Ice magic.

One of the Large Bodies stumbled about at being hit with the fire spell. At least those didn't require hitting it from behind. The other just barely escaped Lea's fire spells.

While Perry did manage to dodge the Large Bodies and the blizzard spells thrown by the Blue Rhapsodies, one of the Neoshadows jumped up halfway from the ground and grabbed him by the ankle, attempting to hold him still so the other could jump in to attack.

Finally, the source of the rumbling appeared: a Behemoth Heartless, stomping over the horizon. It roared and tromped towards the group of men, slowly but deliberately. Even the other Heartless began to move out of the way as it approached.

What is this?!

It's time to GO.

Lea was perfectly ready to cut and run if it meant living. Or almost living, in one very memorable case.

Why do you feel like you have to stay anyway?

Maybe that was kind of important. Most people would be running. Were they protecting something? Why else would you just stand by and die like this? What are you protecting?

Oof!

Perry went down as shadows grabbed his ankle. That wasn't good, especially when he didn't know how dying in a memory would work. Perry didn't want to take chances. As the Behemoth Heartless appearance distracted the other Heartless, Perry twisted his body and slapped the NeoHeartless with his tail.

The platypus popped up next to Lea a second later, head tilted up to stare at the monster sized Heartless. Now what? I still don't fully get what's going on, he sent this thought to Lea, but if the others picked up on it Perry didn't particularly care.

I am the priest responsible for this temple, and these monsters have defiled it. The gods have said a sacrifice is necessary to rid the temple of them, and therefore it is my responsibility.

Whether the man in the fancy robes was answering Lea or repeating the situation to his companions, it was still enough to enrage the man in red further. No! There must be another way!

The Behemoth continued to stomp closer to them, glaring down at the three men and two visitors. The man in red and the third of their trio tried to attack it with their weapons, but the hits just glanced off of the Behemoth's hide. This thing wasn't going to go down as easily as the others. It slowly raised an enormous clawed foot, preparing to stomp it down on them.

The smaller Heartless were determined to not let the visitors get away scott-free, either. The second Neoshadow, robbed of grabbing the platypus, made a move to lock its claws around Lea instead. A few more Blue Rhapsodies floated over to cast spells as well.

Lea managed to jerk free before the neoshadow got a good hold. He winced at the blizzard spells, but they didn't freeze him entirely. He sent fire at the Blue Rhapsodies again.

Neither do I, Lea admitted to Perry. Behemoths are hard to kill even on their own, though. With everything else here, I don't see how we can get out of here. I'm not sure we're supposed to.

He looked over to the men. Come on, don't throw your lives away. It won't stop them if you do.

So this guy thought he needed to sacrifice himself. Perry looked from him to the other two men present. He didn't want to question anyone's beliefs, but he had seen his world lost to Heartless before. They didn't stop with just one sacrifice. These other two men were fiercely loyal to their priest friend and didn't want to see him die.

Perry could relate in some aspects. He'd done everything he could to save Phineas and Ferb on that final day. They'd fought hard and Perry had tried in vain to get them to leave...but they'd stayed. Just as these three were staying now. And what had come of it except one more world blinked out of existence by the Heartless?

The platypus fought his feelings of hopelessness, focusing instead on the idea that he couldn't just throw his life away. They won't stop with just you. That's not how these creatures work.

See? There must be another way!

The gods have spoken. And this is the only way! It seemed like it wasn't going to be easy to sway the priest from his convictions.

The Blue Rhapsodies were destroyed thanks to Lea's fire, but the Neoshadows weren't completely down and out yet. The one shaken free again tried to pounce on Lea, this time from high above.

The man in red appeared to possess a great amount of strength, as when the Behemoth's foot came down, he managed to block it entirely with his sword. The Behemoth roared in a rage and took a step back. At first, it looked like the giant Heartless was reconsidering this attack, but it then charged straight at the men, its head bent low and horn protruding. It landed with a force that shook the earth all around them, and knocked the third man right off his feet.

The Behemoth was close to completely crushing the robed man when the man in red stepped between them, and swung his enormous sword at the Heartless's horn.

Auron!

Lea winced. Everyone was not going to get out of this, but they could still do their best. He managed to dodge the neoshadow and headed for the behemoth. They won't stop until your entire world is gone. What's the point of dying here if you can live and fight to save your people elsewhere? Is a temple more important than your families?

He wasn't the only one. Perry fell back at the sudden earth shattering attack. He tried to get back up, pushing up with his paws, but it certainly isn't in enough time to do anything. Instead, he can only watch as the man in red swings the massive sword and blocks the Behemoth once again.

Perry looked over his shoulder at the temple and then at the two men who were nearby. Could they get protection from the temple perhaps? He looked back at the Behemoth and frowned. Probably not. That thing would tear through it mostly likely. Perry sighed and pushed himself up. He wasn't going to stop fighting now, even if it did seem hopeless.

Although the Neoshadow missed, it turned and ran after Lea again. It seemed those things could never go long by themselves, as a second one sprang up halfway out of the ground to attempt to grab Lea around the leg and hold him there.

It seemed that Auron's stubborn fighting and Lea's words were having an impact on the priest, as he looked more distressed than before. Auron, please! This is my responsibility!

And YOU are mine! I'm your guardian!

The Behemoth roared in a rage at being stopped, in particular because Auron had struck its horn. It tried again to charge, but by then, its weak point was obvious. Auron ignored both his two friends and the two visitors, and focused on hitting the horn with his massive sword again and again. It stumbled now, and seemed to be getting close to going down...

Lea tried to head that direction, but dodging neoshadows would slow anyone down. He managed to keep from being pinned, but he wasn't sure he could get there in time to help. Why was he even here if he couldn't change this?

Perry got to his feet and rushed forward. He'd do what he could to push the beast back. He was having similar thoughts to Lea, though he didn't know it. Why were they here if they couldn't do anything? What was the goal here? Were they supposed to leave or something?

The platypus jumped and smacked his tail across the face of the Neoshadow. Maybe he couldn't take the beast, but he could help the other "visitor" to this nightmare of a memory.

The Neoshadow got disoriented by Perry's attack, and stumbled away from Lea. It sank back into the ground along with the other one, intent on trying again.

There may not have been time for it to try again, though. Another strike at the Behemoth's horns, and it began to topple over, defeated. The other Heartless all began to scatter.

But the Behemoth still had one trick left up its sleeve. As it went down, it summoned a massive meteor. The burning rock formed in midair above the Behemoth's vanishing body, and then hurtled towards the priest--

No!

--But was intercepted by Auron himself, who pushed the priest out of the way. The man stumbled aside, crying out in shock, as Auron readied his sword to face the meteor...but too late. There was a terrific explosion of fire and sound, the feeling of the memory intensified into that last painful burst of life, and then there was only darkness around them.

It seemed the memory had granted them one last gift, though...out of the darkness appeared another sparkling star-object, floating between them.

-------------------

[Congratulations, You've earned an Appeal! Specifically, an appeal of sacrificing oneself for a friend. This little representation of the memory can be kept by anyone and shared between anyone that asks for it, in the same 'space' one would keep a Keyblade. It's up to those present who would like to hang on to the Appeal for now.]

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A sacrifice remembered

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