Prince of Heart: Final Mix scenes…

Part 8: Blitzkrieg

Weeks had passed since Destiny Island was claimed by these strange, crystal beings. They had sought refuge inland, where the crystalline invaders had not shown any influence. Sakuzy had been elected as leader of the Keyblade Order by just ONE vote thanks to Depth.

Taking his leadership well, Sakuzy had tried several times to find the weakness of these creatures. There had been several attempts to try and find the crystal creatures' weak point, but so far, none of them worked.

One attempt involved luring out troops and knocking them down in hopes of reducing their numbers. This idea was discredited because, no matter how many troops they knocked down, the creatures would keep coming and coming.

Another attempt was to send scouts to find their homeworld in hopes of eliminating their source. But any scouts sent out via Gummi Ship never returned. Chances were that the creatures intercepted them and forced them into exile or they were killed.

Most members of the Keyblade Order that fought these creatures firsthand had been shot down. Among them were Bonn (the local Goth), Rouge (the tough girl), Joan (the hopeless romantic), and Victor (the Master's right-hand man).

Sakuzy looked back on the losses they had already suffered…along with his own. His parents had been killed by these crystal beings, and he didn't even try to save them or say goodbye. And Victor…even though he was a bad man, Sakuzy never would have wished such a fate on him.

"You cannot dwell on the past, Sakuzy." Sakuzy turned to the Master of all the Keyblade Order and the old man spoke again. "I know things are harder than they ever had been, but we must keep up hope. The war is long. Only by surviving it will we achieve victory."

"Well, if there is a way to kill these guys, I'm not seeing it." Sakuzy said, "They'll come no matter how many times we kill them and our order is so much less than what it once was."

"Do you think your great-grandfather gave up when he first achieved the Keyblade?" Sakuzy turned to see Maya giving him a VERY stern look. (Man, if looks could kill…) "He could have just left my grandfather to be alone in the darkness or to leave your great-grandmother to die, but did he? No. He kept fighting the Heartless, Nobodies, and many more to come."

"But I'm not him." Sakuzy said, glumly. Suddenly, a sharp pain shot across his face, leaving a raw, red patch.

"Don't say that." Maya said, strictly, "I know you're not your ancestor, but you have to keep trying. There IS good in this universe, Sakuzy. I would gladly risk my life for the safety of the universe. How about you?"

Sakuzy didn't answer, not because of him, but because of the powerful tremor that suddenly went through the entire building. And with an almighty "BANG", the door blew off its hinges.

At that moment, Joey shot out of the room, his hair still very damp from a shower. "What's going on here? And I want a logical explanation!" At that moment, new crystal creatures poured into the room. They resembled dinosaurs with four-clawed hands, sharp claws and teeth, and a trident-growth from their heads. "Oh man, I hate it when I'm RIGHT!"

These crystal creatures roared their challenges, then sprang like raptors at the Keybladers in the current area. Sakuzy had barely summoned Eagle Feather when the dinosaurian creature's head came free of its body. The Master had summoned an Ultima Weapon Keyblade and slain the creature.

"They're here already?" The Master said in astonishment, "This can't be possible…"

"Oh, but I'm afraid that it is." A sophisticated voice filled in. All in the room turned to meet a man…with blonde hair and a mustache-beard combo. The main difference was that he now had a golden robe and a yellow crystal where his right eye should have been.

"Victor?" Sakuzy asked. It couldn't be him…he had seen him shot dead.

"DON'T EVER refer to me as THAT! Victor was a weakling, but I have been reborn…as Topaz." the man that was once a Keyblader roared, "I have seen the truth. The Crystalli have shown it to me. And soon, they will show you, too."

Joey took a step back. "Whoa. By the way what are these Crystal…things?"

"They are the Crystalli." Topaz answered, "And they will be the key to the cleansing of the worlds. They have redeemed me…as well as a few friends."

Topaz snapped his fingers, and three other people stepped into the room. One had black hair with a white streak, one had bright red hair that was almost waist-length, and one had shorter, red hair that was just shoulder-length.

Sakuzy would have spoken, but the truth soon hit them. The crystal creatures had corrupted these people just as they did Victor. He had spotted crystals on different parts of their bodies.

"Wait…" Sakuzy said, remembering that his father had been shot by these…Crystalli. "Where's my father?"

"I'm afraid that…the Crystalli did not see him fit to live." The woman who had once been Joan said with mock-sadness.

"Didn't live up to expectations." Said the girl who was once Bonn.

Sakuzy couldn't believe it. These…monsters…had killed his father without consent. "No…" he said with a soft whisper, but then it turned into a roar of fury. "YOU MURDERERS!!!" Without any regard for his safety, Sakuzy took Eagle Feather and thrust at Topaz.

"DON'T!!" The Master warned, but it was too late.

Sakuzy's blade pierced Topaz's midsection, going right through to the wall behind Victor. For a moment, Topaz pretended to be in pain, blood trickling down his middle…blood the color of liquid gold. Then, Topaz actually smiled.

"That's one of the things the Crystalli have given me…" Topaz said, smugly, "I am now immortal."

Topaz pulled back a fist, then smashed it into Sakuzy's face, sending him backward. Topaz then pulled Eagle Feather out of his midsection and looked at it in disgust. "Such a FILTHY weapon. It's a disgrace to living beings everywhere…" With a very furious grunt, he tossed the Keyblade to his side, the weapon clattering across the floor.

Sakuzy got up and saw the wound that his Keyblade had inflicted on Topaz. And to his astonishment, the wound began to heal over at a phenomenal rate. Topaz held out his own hand and, in a flash of yellow light, a broadsword appeared in his hand.

"Take them." Topaz ordered.

In a few more flashes of light, the women summoned their own unique weapon. One that would later be known as Turquoise summoned a pair of forearm blades. The host known as Ruby summoned a pair of chakram. And finally, one known as Spinel summoned a heavy, metal gauntlet on her right hand.

Sakuzy called Eagle Feather back to his hand, then said, "You want me? Come and GET ME!"

"GET HIM!" Spinel ordered.

"Darn. That never works…" Sakuzy cursed. He couldn't say anything else because Topaz just couldn't wait anymore. He had sprung.

Sakuzy met him head-on, parrying his attack and pushing with all his might. But within seconds, he realized that was a horrible mistake. Topaz was far bigger and stronger than him, so challenging him to a fight of strength was a big mistake.

Sakuzy was soon on his knees, but he had one ace in the hole. Victor, when very angry, didn't stop to think things through. Apparently, the same went for Topaz. So, when Sakuzy stepped to the side, allowing Topaz's heavy sword to come crashing down on the ground. Sakuzy used that time to sharply bring his Eagle Feather slamming into Topaz's jaw, sending the gold-clad man to the ground.

Sakuzy bolted for the door, but at that time, a pair of the same soldiers that invaded the island appeared. They cocked their guns at him and would have opened fire if a blade hadn't pierced each of them. One was fired on a long chain while the other appeared to have been thrown. Joey and Maya had saved him from ending up like Topaz.

However, it looked like they wouldn't get a second chance. Soon, Joey was met with someone who resembled the lovesick girl; Joan…now armed with a pair of chakram. And now the girls that resembled Bonn and Rouge had backed Maya into a corner.

"Where do you think YOU'RE going?" the person once known as Rouge asked, flexing the metal hand.

Suddenly, something pierced the side of Rouge and deftly kicked Bonn away. It was the Master, using moves beyond anything Sakuzy had ever seen.

"GO!" the Master barked, "I'll hold them off!"

Sakuzy shook his head as he went to try and help his mentor. "Master, NO!"

"GO!!!" the Master barked again, "Your lives are more important than mine, now GO!!!"

Sakuzy was about to help the Master, who was now fending off all three warriors single-handed. But Sakuzy had barely taken a step forward when Joey and Maya seized him by the arms and began to drag him away.

Sakuzy knew the Master was an expert fighter, but he also knew he wasn't without weaknesses. Using magic required more energy than it would a younger person, and the Master was, after all, not a young man. His spirit was virtually limitless, but his body was another story since he was over sixty years old.

Sakuzy eventually came to his senses and began to get on his own two feet. He ran as fast as he could…and he didn't look back.

--

Sakuzy and his friends continued sprinting through the city refuge as fast as their legs could carry them. When he was running, however, he noticed something other than Crystalli that were against them.

"Oh no…Heartless!!!" Maya said, wide-eyed.

It was true: several black things were among the Crystalli and chasing those with Hearts. The hearts of the fleeing townsfolk were VERY obvious bait for the Heartless; fear, sorrow, and pain. The Crystalli, however, didn't seem to fear the black beings. They were mindless soldiers, following orders from some outside source. If they had hearts, it didn't show.

Sakuzy saw an Armored Soldier try to impale a person clad in a violet cloak. However, the person raised a hand, as though focusing something at it. The Heartless backed off completely and, with a scared-sounding shivering noise, began to cower away from the man.

The man lowered his hood, sensing someone's presence, and Sakuzy suddenly recognized that familiar lavender hair. To confirm it, the man turned and was none other than…

"Adrian?" Sakuzy asked in shock.

The being that was once Adrian scowled at Sakuzy, then summoned a scepter made of pure crystal into his hand. "YOU." He growled.

Sakuzy then saw Adrian's eyes…they were no longer yellow, but the color of a fresh-cut amethyst. "Oh no…"

"Don't EVER call me that name." The young man ordered, "It's Amethyst. And it's time for me to take back what should be MINE!"

Sakuzy noticed that Amethyst's glare wasn't on him, but the girl right behind him. Maya shook her head at him, then raised her Keyblade in a defensive position. And at that time, Joey took a step forward.

"If you want her, you'll have to go through us first." Joey said, showing bravery that Sakuzy hadn't seen from him.

Amethyst scoffed. "I won't." he said, strictly, "They will."

Amethyst stepped to the side and a beastly Heartless sprang from nowhere to bowl Joey right off his feet. A quick swipe of Chain Thrasher disposed the beast in an instant, but in seconds, another one was on him like a hungry dog. Yet, as Joey repelled the Heartless, more began to come. Soon, he was on the ground, thrashing to get them off as the Heartless tore at his body with tooth and nail.

Soon, Joey's entire body began to leak of darkness, his limbs still thrashing wildly to dislodge them. Suddenly, he froze, as though he had been stabbed through the gut with a sword. And slowly, a pink heart began to levitate into the sky.

"NO!" Sakuzy screamed, and with a fluid movement of his hand, he tossed the Eagle Feather in a Strike Raid.

The Keyblade-turned boomerang cut through all the Heartless, coming back to Sakuzy's hand in an instant. He ran to Joey, but he was too late. His friend's body was slowly dissipating into darkness. In a last-ditch effort to save his friend, Sakuzy jumped up and seized a piece of the heart. For a while, it was a stalemate…until the heart actually snapped.

For a while, Sakuzy stared at the heart fragment in shock, but then he was shaken back to his senses. Maya had shoved him.

"COME ON!" she shouted above the Heartless, "There's a Gummi hangar not far from here!"

Sakuzy looked into Maya's sea-green eyes, then at the Heartless. He'd take his chances at staying alive…

Sorry for the wait. Writer's block and moving was such a drag.

Still, R&R.