Where Darkness and Light Collide

[The Heartless Army]

The Stingers were not that difficult to dispatch. Really, a single shot from any one of the attacking ships was enough to end the relatively short lifespan of one of the Battle Fleet's most expendable units. The trick, however, is not dealing the damage. The trick is to actually hit the target. Stingers were swift, agile, and deadly. To make matters worse, they were also on a constant shift.

While the ships were busy putting little dents into the forces of the Battle Fleet, the Carriers just beyond the line of Monoliths were keeping the numbers more than plentiful. Soon, there would be an utter surplus, unless the heroes suddenly got more effective at clearing out mass swarms of enemy ships. With each Stinger or dreadnaughtlike Monolith that went down, two more took their places. This was an excercise in overwhelming numbers at this point...

As for the effective strategy of swooping off to the Harbinger, the small gummi ships piloted by the Balamb SeeD and the Silver-Garbed Nobody would face more challenges than they would have expected. While the Monoliths were not incredibly difficult to PASS, they were extremely hard to kill, and while slow, offered the heaviest artillery. They would turn their cycloptic vision toward the passing ships, firing massive lasers which could easily cripple even the best-fortified gummi spacecraft. Considering there were more than six of them at this point, the streams of glowing red death which they each dealt could come in a fairly organized and constant manner...

And then, SHOULD they survive that, they had yet to cross the line of Destroyers and Tactics Stations which awaited. More heavy fire and from the front as well as the back...

But as for the Harbinger itself... the unexpected attack from within would have tragic reprecussions. The two had made landfall near the engines, and the blast of Holy magic was enough to rupture the outer hull, and permenantly ruining one of the massive propulsion devices. The entire ship would lurch to the left slightly, drifting sideways like a great beast which had fallen to sleep...

... but this great monster still had enough consciousness to strike back. That great, umbral power which had been building within had reached the boiling point, pushed over the edge by a sudden attack which agitated the sensitive machinery. The silvery mask which served as the front of the ship folded away to reveal the barrel of a massive cannon, large enough that even the sizable Rose could easily fly down its shaft, but NOT reach the end before it would unleash its fury.

Within, black light built, the power extreme and deadly. It drew in everything, light, sound... So that for a microsecond, all that existed on the battlefield was lost to total oblivion... and then erupted into blinding light and deafening thunder. The beam of piercing evil streaked through the dark skies of Hyperspace faster than a breath, previously aimed for the Rose...

But the drifting of the ship as a whole threw off the aim, and this death-beam of gargantuan porportions only ripped along the bottom of the ship, perhaps if it were lucky, taking a wing or a single engine, and continuing its death march to whatever existed behind the Flagship of Light...

That being Sherwood Forest.

The massive, penetrating laser dug deeply into the crust of the world, ripping away the "flesh" of the planet and plunging into its very heart. With a deafening "thoom", like an atomic bomb wrapped within a trillion layers of cushioning, the Heart of Sherwood Forest... died. Its fragile, celestial body bulged outward and exploded, hurling liquid magma and massive chunks of formerly land. In every direction they flew, becoming a hazard to anyone in the stratospheric levels of the planet... namely the Heroes of Light.

At the same time, the hull of the ship would be bombarded by the points of light formed of the Sister Ray's attack. Some of the guns were ripped from their places, and the skin suffered nasty scars, but overall, it remained intact. This was mostly a result of SIZE over power, as the sister ray still originated from a very small ship, comparably speaking.

Sherwood was lost... The Harbinger barely crippled... and any hope of victory was swiftly dwindling...

[Sai]

Sai noted the ships coming from their 12, combined with the threat at their 6. An assault on two fronts. Cute. It was a good thing, perhaps, that this was not a battle of merely three-hundred-sixty-degrees. He had an unlimited number of directions to go, and just because two were surely a disaster waiting to happen, did not mean he was out of options.

Jerking the controls backward, Sai rocketed the Gummi Ship straight up, attempting to turn Monolith fire on Destroyers and vice versa. Over the radio, he called out to Leon. "Make use of your enemy fire, if you can..." he muttered, seeming so out of place in the mayhem of an aerial dogfight. "They are intent to destroy us, so there is plenty avail-"

Before he could finish, the universe seemed to be darkening. Sai knew what this was. He had seen it before... and survived. He had to do it again now. Swiftly.

"Leon. Ignore last transmission. You will need to clear the space in front of the Harbinger quickly if you intend to survive," Sai calmly spoke to the ship assisting, then jerked the wheel sideways to take the entire vessel in a totally different direction. He hit the power as hard as he could, gaining as much speed as this simple, base-level Gummi Ship would offer, as everything turned to blackness... and silence...

He didn't know if they were still moving for the entire duration of that second. Funny how time is relative. What was but a blink of an eye to the villains attacking was as an eternity to the Nobody, who had before written time off as meaningless. Theory re-written, apparently.

"Cover your eyes," he told his crew, throwing a sleeve over his own just in time for the universe to erupt into pure, blinding blacklight, which was bright, certainly, yet was not light. He could feel the turbulence as the deathbeam from the Harbinger passed just behind, throwing their ship faster and further than he expected.

Righting the ship, Sai watched as the beam sliced past the Rose... and destroyed the planet behind. Sai was thankful. Thankful that he couldn't feel. Thankful that this tragedy meant precisely nothing to him. Without giving his crew time to digest the horror of the needless, wasteful genocide of an entire world they had just witnessed, Sai punched the thrusters again, attempting to swoop down on the Harbinger.

"No time to worry about what you've seen. Concentrate," he ordered unsympathetically... But that is war...

[Atticus the Fallen]

The blast had hit him... And no, it was not intended. Atticus had been so busy trying to get his house in order that he let the annoying white mage get the drop on him. A mistake... one that would not be repeated. The girls fled, and he flexed his arm to shatter the growing ice around his limb, ceasing it from becoming a problem.

Looking up, the Dark One saw that they were gone... but he already knew where they were. They were in a place that was doomed to start with... but perhaps there was still time? After all... he had to get his house in order.

Within the Rose, a corridor would open behind Ellin just in time for the vicious Keeper of the Heartless to witness what had happened. He knew he could use this. He watched her slump down and question everything that she held dear... and then he spoke to her.

"Poor, poor Ellin..." he muttered in that fatherly tone he reserved for the Heartless. "Such lessons learned are far worse punishment than even I could give..." he finished, staying inside the corridor as he spoke to her. "See now how the light can hurt? Do you understand, at last, why I have tried so hard to protect you from it? Why it must be eliminated if we are to have peace? No light will ever accept our kind, for we are darkness and we are just. Too. Different."

A pause, but Atticus would continue. "Come away from that unfeeling brilliance, my dear... Come home, and be safe in the dark with your family... Where the light cannot hurt you any more... Let's go back, little one..." he whispered... waiting for her to step through the corridor... and abandon this nonsense she'd been on about for so long.

It was time for her to give up the light.

[Hercules]

*Moments ago*

The BinShip dropped out of hyperdrive somewhere above the battlefield, observing the events below. Hercules had no idea why Gabranth had wanted to come here, and frankly was rather optimistic that they had come to help. After all, the man had more than his fair share of reward for his relatively few heroic deeds. Maybe now he was showing a little character?

However, as the ship just hanged there, Hercules slowly looked over to the armored guy, wondering what was going on. "So... what's the deal? Are we going in or what?" he asked, seeming anxious. He didn't like seeing their friends and allies getting peppered with enemy fire...

"Let's go, already!" Herc said, looking to his controls, gripping the firing mechanism eagerly...

[Gabranth]

While flying through void that is space, a battle could be seen a fair distance away. Seeing this, Gabranth decided to halt the ships movement and look for a new course.

"So... what's the deal? Are we going in or what?"

Grabranth continued to fiddle with the navigational systems about his console. He looked up at the battle being waged for a moment. He then glanced to Hercules after hearing his words and quickly back to his instruments. Deciding against rushing in. "We'll find a way around, I see no reason to interfere. Our part in this event is over."

Though in the back of his mind he started to feel that well maybe this had something to do with the words that Hephaestus spoke to him earlier.

[Hercules]

"We'll find a way around, I see no reason to interfere. Our part in this event is over."

The greek demigod looked to the armored man with a hurt expression. After all they'd been through, he had thought just MAYBE that Gabranth might have seen the benefits of sticking together, but apparently the man still would rather leave their allies to their own devices.

"You're joking!" Herc protested, pointing out the main window to the mayhem below. "Those are our friends out there! They need help!" Here, Hercules gripped at this controls, ready to open fire.

"They'd help us if WE needed it..." he added, hoping it might spark something with the cold-hearted judge on his left.

[General Beatrix]

But the drifting of the ship as a whole threw off the aim, and this death-beam of gargantuan proportions only ripped along the bottom of the ship, perhaps if it were lucky, taking a wing or a single engine, and continuing its death march to whatever existed behind the Flagship of Light...

After the launch of the Red Rose's very own Sister Ray, the inhabitants of Light would feel a rumbling...growing bigger and bigger, coming towards them. Since the Ray fired was brilliant white and blue light, the dark plasma heading their way would be mildly unseen, and would strike the ship's starboard side, tearing apart the main and secondary propulsion wings, as well as knocking away several of the East telepods on its journey to Sherwood.

"Alexandrians!!! Defensive maneuvers! Sylvia, recharge the Sister Ray with what we still have! Only Alexander knows just how much damage we've delivered so far! Your Grace, what do you see up there? Sai? Are you alright? And how about you, Captain Leonhart? What are our numbers?"

"I believe your Aether missile is still barreling through the enemy's flagship as we speak; I'm afraid I cannot see the damage due to smoke and dark smoke rising from its main cannon. It also appears that their blast directed towards us struck home on the world at our rear; I would get out of the way if I were you, Pirate-lady!"

"Fifteen casualties in the Eastern Sector's Launch Room! Six more injured and rising...it appears the laser they fired lingers...and I believe it's spawning Heartless!" cried Nadia, the commander of East Side. "We need reinfor--belay that! Master Vivi and some of South Side's platoon have arrived! Lt. Nadia, out!"


Covering his eyes when ordered to by their captain, the prince took some time to peek through the eyes of his trusted companion Locke, who, in turn, had his eyes on Wall-E from his perch on the Red Rose's bridge. Masheck sighed with relief to know that the two were alright and returned to his body, taking control of the laser throttle. "Captain, Monoliths, West!"

[Gabranth]

"Those are our friends out there! They need help!"

Gabranth had yet to grasp an kind of friendship since leaving the bowls of Tartarus. With having to deal with Hades and his chains, hunting down Hercules and decide to kill... or use him for his own freedom. Most of his journey had been trying to protect his freedoms investment and trying to find a way to destroy Hades grasp.

After hearing Hercules, Gabranth quickly turned to glance over his shoulder at the young man. "My friends, murdered at the hands of the empire. I saw no one come to my aid, and I recall having to save you more than one occasion." With a hint of hatred to his voice he slammed his fist to the console in front of him.

"They'd help us if WE needed it..."

Even with his hatred, Hercules still persisted trying to convince the Judge to help the stranded ship. Then a thought crossed his mind that he has yet to find a place in this new world. He wasn't one to serve those lower than himself, he was a Judge for a reason. Maybe this could be used as a stepping stone for him serving a higher order... Quickly, he slide his hand across the console flick on numerous switches in the process. "That has yet to be seen."

Now sitting back in his chair he positioned the console to is front and turning on monitors. "We'll make this quick. I have no plans to see Hades in the near future..."

[General Beatrix]

"General! When we moved I noticed another ship has re-entered the battlefield, but it seems to just be sitting there...it's hostility rating is at zero--I believe it's...I believe it's the AWOL recruits from bef--!"

The planet's destruction caused Hyperspace to keep at a controlled rumble, and the Red Rose went veering once more, and it was all the soldier could do to keep from falling over.

"Hm? Right! Soldier!" she called to Captain Gabranth of the ship above. "The Alexandrian Army welcomes your support ANY TIME NOW! Duke Brass, I need some readings and reports!"

"Sherwood Forest is gone," he said bluntly. "And I've got the Moogle-Golem Army launching from the torpedo bay as we speak! They shall take out the smaller Stingers, some will bombard Monoliths...and the rest will infiltrate the outer shell--and, afterward, the interior--of the enemy's flagship! We're all good to go, Curls!"

[Agrias Oaks]

There was much happening around them, and doubt began to form deep within the Light Sister's heart. Never before had she involved herself in such a war so out of her control. To her left and right, there would be chaos, and to her front an array of discord in the form of a massive ship and a cannon. There was communication happening between the vessels; living- breathing organisms made of Alexandrian Soldiers, The General, and the warriors of light. At one point, everything became so bright, the poor novice grew temporarily blind, and thrown back once the rumblings of the ship commenced.

She could hear her own breathing, how startling-- the feeling of her lungs expanding and collapsing within her chest with every breath. Amber eyes darted around to see a few soldiers forced away from their own counsels as they exploded, and she dashed to their assistance. The simple woman would help them up, and aid them back to their post when they were able to continue, or move them out of the way if they couldn't, so another would take their place.



"My God..."

"What...?"

"Sherwood Forest, It is gone, General!!"

-- There would be a collected gasp of the soldiers, it was then when Beatrix shouted out further instructions--

...

"The East Telepods have been obliterated, General!"

...

--She thought she also heard something with Abigail and Ellin, but was too distracted by what was happening in the bridge. She could also hear Boco squawking and ruffling his feathers wildly in the background, possibly fighting the small heartless that made their way into the ship and pecking them, and stomping on them so they would return to the shadows--

"Fifteen casualties in the Eastern Sector's Launch Room! Six more injured and rising...it appears the laser they fired lingers...and I believe it's spawning Heartless!"

...

"Starboard wings have been destroyed, General! Maneuverability has been reduced to 70%!!"

Agrias could only hear as the dangers erupted from the side unknowing of what to do.

"General! The Sister Ray is at 95%, but ... I don't think she will have enough force in the second attack! Our powers have been cut to 60%!" cried out Sylvia from her station, "At this rate, we will only be able to shoot it once before we are left with only 10% of power! I don't think even Alexander could help us then!"

"Alexander...." Agrias thought, looking about for some sort of answer, until Sylvia herself gave her one. If Agrias was good at anything in this state, it was to make up wild and crazy ideas! Her eyes sparked with a brilliant, although scary idea, before turning to Beatrix.

"Lady Beatrix! The Summon Stone of Alexander! Hand it to me immediately, I'll explain later!" She couldn't exactly wait and explain everything, so she reach down and reached for the General's boot, making the woman hop on one leg while she retrieved the precious red jewel. "Do what you can here!" When she had it within her grasp, she pulled it out of Beatrix's boot, and dashed away, out the bridge, and made her way to the engine room.

[Hercules]

Hercules smiled broadly when Gabranth finally seemed to relent to his logic. "Yes!" he said, then spun in place to man the controls. "I got the guns, if you got the steering!" he said, ready to blast some of those offending heartless ships down. That was about the time they were witnessing the big volley of blasts.

"Woah!!" Herc called, surprised by this, and the sudden disappearance of Sherwood Forest. "That's... crazy..." he said, then came the voice of the general calling for their aid.

"Right! We're on our way!" Hercules said, then nodded to Gabranth. "Let's do some damage!"

[Ellin Destroix]

Something was already hurting within the Dark Knights chest, but the pain would not end there. No, as she wallowed in despair and confusion, an all too familiar voice called out to her from the darkness. It was Atticus, placing within her heart further doubt of her position within the lights hold. She sighed quietly, shivering like a lost pup uncertain of her way. His poison was feeding into her heart what seemed to be... obvious somewhat.

The darkness has no place in the light... if you are of darkness, then there is no hope, no matter how kind and trusting you are.

Dark is dark.

"...Father..." she shook her head, frowning before looking up with her lavender hues at the creature before her starring intently at her through the dark passage, "... Atticus... it feels that all of this is wrong... that I have to follow my heart." she spoke timidly, "... m-maybe... maybe peace can be found... I can't turn my back on the idea of unity... if I can... just stay a little longer... just a bit longer to prove it."

The dark one raised a metal-wrapped hand up, making a fist, "I owe it to the little ones back home... I need to at least bring them a good story... even if it is frightening. I need to do this for them" she smiled a little, " I know... we want our kind to be safe... both of us... but we have different ways to go about it, you and I, don't we, Father?" her eyes grew teary, never wanting any of this to happen... but she was already too deep in to back out now.

" Let's... do our best, right? For the children....?"

The poor knight was a simple, ignorant child with a big heart. Perhaps she has yet to learn the harsh lesson of swimming, but goes head first into the bright waters anyway. It was a matter of time now, to see if the child would drown, or make it to the other side...

... but one thing was certain, or could be certain to Atticus:

She was growing up, for better or for worse.

[Atticus the Fallen]

" Let's... do our best, right? For the children....?"

So... this was her answer. They both wanted the same thing. Peace. Security. Above all, SAFETY for all Heartless kind. Yet, she could not see the harsh reality of it all past her own blinding optimism for those of the light. She couldn't seem to understand, no matter how many times it actively sought to HURT her, that there WAS no middle ground, no gray area. Light and Dark will never come to accept one another. They are, by their very nature, opposing forces.

"Naive child..." Atticus muttered, taking a half-step back as he watched her. "Your light is already on borrowed time... yet you still hold to these foolish ideals. They cannot and SHOULD not be saved, little one... They are murderers... thieves... war mongers... while we have done little more than survive, they thrive and openly attack our kind. Still you defend them. You want to find peace through a harmony that will never come to be. But so be it..."

The Dark One turned his back to Ellin, his head bowing in a strange and rare show of inner hurt. "The Endgame draws near. When that time comes... you will have to make a choice one way or the other. Do you stand with your family, or fight for THEM?" He sighed, and started walking away, the corridor slowly closing between himself and Ellin. "You have that long... but no longer. All Light will fade, yours included, and all will belong to the singular, perfect life that is the Heartless..."

The corridor closed with resounding silence... and within, a heartless beast felt the pangs of a father worrying for their progeny. But all children must eventually leave the nest, and for better or worse...

Ellin WOULD learn the cruel reality she made herself a part of.

[off to Shego!]

[Abigail Crescentlight]

Abigail was literally on her way back to apologize to Ellin when suddenly, the entire ship was jerked to the side. She slammed into a wall and gasped as she tried to get back to her feet. "What's going on out there??" she asked no one in particular, using her staff to keep her footing. The ship slowly righted itself once more, but there was a new problem!

Heartless! A lot of them! She felt somewhat guilty looking into their faces now, after all that she had shared with Ellin, but this was a battlefield, which meant that these were the soldiers. She didn't like it any more, but she knew she had to fight them. Whirling her staff, she kept at a defensive, not able to will herself to injure them to the point of disappearing. Maybe this was a mistake, or maybe not. Only time could really tell.

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

Kim was... horrified! She stared, completely helpless, as an entire world was destroyed. Just like that, thousands of lives were gone. She felt such a tremendous weight on her heart that she almost couldn't bring herself to manipulate the controls any more. It was just... too much! What good were they against something that could do that??

"No time to worry about what you've seen. Concentrate," came the weird silvery wizard guy's voice. Kim shook her head and tried to focus. He was right. They didn't have time to worry. If they didn't stay on task, they'd be next and then she couldn't help anyone. If she let her guard down, she might never see Ron or Rufus or anyone ever again.

Kim desperately just wanted to go home...

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

Outside, Wall-E was screaming. The blast was so huge, and so close to hitting him that he was sent spinning from the Rose, taking several blasts from enemy ships that did heavy damage to him before he could recover. Shaking his head, he tried to get back into the battle, so he could rebuild as he did before.

However, there was just too much going on now! There was a ton of debris on the field and he couldn't make sense of it any more. So, Wall-E did little more than fly around aimlessly, taking pock-shots at whatever passed him, and getting absolutely nowhere without any kind of direction.

If he knew where those monoliths were, he could probably rewire one or two to fight on the good guy side...

[Cloud]

That crossfire was bad news. Cloud already was a one-man ship with very little in the way of armor, so when super-radiated chunks of heartsteele and darklight come crashing in both directions, it's not really considered wise to be in the exact center of it.

Thankfully, Fenrir was FAST. Jerking backward and punching it, Cloud was able to clear the worst of the two attacks just in the nick of time. His bike would take some damage, but on the whole he was still in business. Plus, this upward motion gave him clear sight of his next objective.

Touching the earpad on his helmet, Cloud attempted radio contact with the rose. "General. I'm going for the carriers," he said simply, his tone calm from years of (perceived) SOLDIER training. Rushing upward, Cloud made his way toward the ships re-spawning stingers and monoliths.

Each was heavily armored, so he'd have to do a lot on his lonesome. Plus, his weaponry consisted of the swords he kept stocked. So, he'd have to get close. Still, he wouldn't complain or breathe a word of his worries.

It was just another job.