Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and Disney are owned by Square-Enix and Disney, not me.

-A-D-

Light's Growth

Epilogue

The moments followed the sudden removal from the battlefield of the six Keyblade Wielders who had defeated the Decimator Heartless were some of the most chaotic Tidus could remember ever experiencing. No blitz game had ever been so nerve wracking, and even seeing his father become the Final Aeon inside the belly of Sin was only slightly more terrifying. What made the whole situation even more incomprehensible was that the weapon in his hand was not the one he'd been fighting with since the day his home town had been destroyed. It looked similar, but it wasn't the crystal-blue sword called Brotherhood.

In Tidus' right hand rested a Keyblade.

He wasn't the only one, either. Looking around, Tidus could see at the least six other Keyblades in the hands of the members of his company, and all of them appeared to be just as clueless as he was to why they had suddenly appeared. Both Kia and April had gotten them, too, and theirs looked a lot more like bows than they did swords.

In front of the walls, the army of Heartless and Nobodies advanced once again, this time with Maleficent's most powerful servants in the front, leading their dark troops forward. Surviving orcs and wargs from Sauron marched next to Minotaurs and evil dwarves from the White Witch alongside Tismetrx, the Minotaurs carrying with them a battering ram as they headed for the gates.

Defenders ran this way and that along the walls, panicked shouts and orders being hurled into the air with extreme urgency.

"Lieutenant Winters, sir," Tidus spoke quickly, finding his platoon leader, "what do we do?"

Winters didn't answer; Major Akkan, their CO ever since Sobel was replaced, did. "I'm going to tell you what you're going to do, Easy Company," he said. "We're going to stay right where we are, in front of these stairs, and we're going to hold this part of the wall. Do you hear me? We went through hell down there and all of you got through it! We're going to go through hell up here and we are going to hold!"

A great flash of light appeared in the dark sky, with the rumblings of thunder following closely. Everything stopped; even Maleficent's army. Lightning crackled above them, and suddenly numerous bolts of it struck the earth, many of them behind the walls and one directly in front of Tismetrx and the gates.

Eyes of the defenders rushed to view the spots that had been struck, and all of them were awestruck by what they saw. While the ground was scorched and the snow (if there was any) had been melted away, there was a human figure kneeling on the ground where each of the lightning bolts touched. The one Tidus was looking at in front of the gates slowly stood up.

He was a giant of a man, at least six and a half feet tall if not taller. He was garbed in a simple bronze breastplate, leather skirt, and sandals. On his head was a bronze helmet with a plume of horsehair that alternated in vertical bars of black and red. In his hands was a spear with a bronze tip, and a mammoth shield that only a giant like him could carry, yet he appeared to bear it easily.

"You go no further today," he said to Tismetrx in front. "This gate is not your opponent, I am."

"Shut up, fool!" Tismetrx answered quickly, readying his polearm. "Who are you to be telling me who I'm fighting?"

"My name's Ajax," the warrior replied. "And I brought some old friends with me."

-A-D-

To be continued…

May the Grace of the Valar Protect You

Shire Folk