Chapter 117: Traverse Town

Ramiel and Aqua duked it out on the water, magic and a keyblade crashing onto each other. "You aren't even a keyblade wielder!" She tried overpowering him, but his netherblade didn't budge and he shrugged.

"Can't have it all lady, at least not right now." Ramiel kicked Aqua on the abdomen and she skipped on the water like a pebble. She suddenly disappeared in a black portal and Ramiel just stood still, checking the surroundings for any spatial distortions.

Aqua appeared behind him a few ways away and started circling on him, creating clones of herself to try and confuse him. "That only works on kids you know?" He stomped on the water and massive pillars of water started to rise like geysers.

The huge columns of water then crashed on the surroundings and he sighed a cold breath, freezing everything in sight for kilometers on end. Aqua dodged in a pocket dimension again and she frowned heavily, reappearing back on the ice.

"Who are you? You are not normal." She tensed up and was getting anxious. "Getting scared? Where'd your valor go?" He chuckled and Aqua squinted her eyes. With her clones, they fired bursts of magic at him, but he just slapped them away.

"You can do better than that, or did darkness made you grow weak?" He raised his hand and she went wide eyed when she suddenly felt a force attract her to his arms. "Silence." He sealed her magic and spells and Aqua panicked.

With a burst of darkness, she took off her debuff and hid in her dimension once again. Heartless then started swarming the area and literal towers of the creatures formed, wriggling and flying. "Now you're thinking." He nodded at her strategy and he began the offensive on the heartless.

"Magneja, Graviga." The swarm of heartless converged and they were crashed by overwhelming gravity as the ice cracked below them. He then sealed the area away with a thick layer of ice as the rift closed up.

"Good try, again." Ramiel chuckled and Aqua appeared below him with a glowing keyblade that elongated like a plasma blade. He anticipated the trajectory of the slash and deflected it with his hand using Bang's martial arts.

Aqua clicked her tongue and circled on him again with her clones. The clones started casting magic and they were all real. A barrage of magic missiles, ice, fire, and lightning poured down on him and Ramiel casted a reflectja.

She noticed it too late from the visuals of her spells and a sudden magical explosion blew her away. "This is ridiculous. Are you a hidden keyblade master!?" Aqua was running out of ideas and he was dismantling her moves.

"No, not really. I just didn't spar with my friends. We actively tried to kill each other I guess, unlike you guys. We don't treat potential combatants like they're in a Mcdojo." He flew up in the skies with a strong flap of his wings. Hurricanes formed and Aqua had to cover her eyes.

Ramiel then concentrated and started raining down artillery of magic on Aqua. Making her dodge and weave immediately. Beams of energy fell from the sky and she tried a desperate move that used up a lot of her reserves.

Her clones popped up around him in the sky and attempted to overwhelm him with pure numbers. They teleported everywhere and used an omnislash against him, which was a bad idea. Considering Cloud is much more trained than her in using it.

Ramiel manipulated his biometalllic skeleton and infused his wings with it. He began parrying and blocking the attacks with practiced ease. Her smaller build and strength was a far cry from Cloud's. And he ended her string of attacks by checking the pattern of her teleports.

"Got you." He grinned, grasping Aqua on the neck as she squeaked like a mouse that got caught. He threw her back on the ground and she crashed on the ground, cracking the ice. "Ramiel, who is this woman? Should I kill her?" Esdeath of course woke up and went to the battlefield.

"Not really, beat her up though. She needs that darkness on her dispelled. I can't absorb much more or I will suffer some consequences." Ramiel teleported beside her and Esdeath immediately started pummeling Aqua with her keyblade.

After every hit, the darkness on Aqua disappeared. Overwhelmed by an even stronger one, the likes that Xehanort hasn't seen before. A person who wants chaos and discord to prosper in order to have eternal war and bloodshed.

"Okay, okay. That's enough." Ramiel sighed, seeing Aqua beat up black and blue by Esdeath. He healed her up and carried her on his shoulders. "Who is she?" Esdeath was curious. "Well, you can call her an unlikely ally in this place. She shouldn't be here, but so are we."

They returned to his tent and Esdeath put slab of ice on her face to wake her up. Aqua gasped and looked around immediately, completely ready for combat. "Woah, relax lady. You're fine, no one's gonna hurt you here." Ramiel calmed her down and she was shocked.

"P-people... In the realm of darkness? Impossible." Aqua patted all over his body, thinking she was dreaming. "Uhh, you should buy me dinner first." Ramiel sobered her up and she blushed heavily in embarrassment.

She then saw Esdeath and she had a keyblade on her. "A keyblade wielder!" Aqua thought that they were a rescue team sent to her. "Did you come here to save me? Were you sent by Mickey? Is Terra okay?"

"Silence, woman. We ask the questions here." Esdeath pointed her blade at her and Aqua was flabbergasted. "Okay, we should calm down. First of all, we aren't here to rescue you. We're trapped here as well." Ramiel explained and they introduced themselves.

Aqua visibly deflated when he told her the facts and she thought that her friends sent them to save her. "Don't fear, I have an ingenious plan!" Ramiel cheered her up and Aqua looked at him with hope. She then stared at him to explain what it was and he puffed his chest.

"Esdeath here will make a corridor of darkness and get us out of here. Isn't that right?" He put his arm over her shoulder and she nodded confidently, happy that he was relying on her. "Really? Then what are we waiting for, we should get out of here. I have been here for a long time now." Aqua was excited to get out of the dreary place.

"Well, that's the thing. She doesn't know how to do it yet." Ramiel smiled and Aqua's smile froze. "I will learn eventually, Ramiel will be my guide after all." Esdeath was still confident and Aqua started to lose hope.

Ramiel noticed and patted her on the back. "Come on, it won't take long. My Esdeath here is very efficient, talented, and competent! Isn't that right?" He patted her head and she giggled. Aqua felt weird about their interaction. "How long? And isn't that what the heartless use to traverse worlds? How can a keyblade wielder exactly do that?"

"You're thinking about keyblade wielders of light Aqua." Ramiel grinned at her and she started to get horrified. "Y-you're aligned with darkness!" She slowly backed off and Esdeath smirked at her with that sadistic look in her eyes.

"No, not really. We're more aligned to darkness right now. But that's because of circumstances, there's tons of darkness here right? And you even succumbed to it. The only difference between us is we are in tune with it, while you are not." He explained and she was still skeptical.

"Do not fear, we won't really hurt you. And hurting you will not be so pleasurable. I cannot make you scream and beg for your life." Esdeath sighed and Aqua wasn't really an enemy, so she can't torture her.

Aqua got even more scared and Ramiel flicked Esdeath on the forehead. "Don't scare her off, I kinda think that we will need her expertise on her tricks earlier." Ramiel remembered her using another dimension for cover and that might be the thing they need to enter the corridors of darkness.

"Sorry, I won't scare her anymore." Esdeath whimpered like a puppy and he stroked her hair. "Now, Aqua. Do you remember what you were doing when you were consumed by darkness?" He furrowed his brows and was betting on it.

She started thinking about it and remembered that he kicked her ass. "Y-yeah." Aqua confirmed and Ramiel nodded with a sigh of relief. "Okay, can you teach Esdeath here the mechanics of your teleportation. You'd suddenly disappear in our fight right? We'll use that to enter a corridor of darkness."

Aqua nodded and she thought that was their only hope to escape out of there. "Okay, I'll teach her as much as I can. But how about the heartless? They're going to be attacking us again soon, I'm sure of it." Aqua was worried, she battled off hordes of them in her time there. And they never let up.

"That's easy, leave it to me." Ramiel took Esdeath's keyblade and smirked at the sky. 'Take that, Schwarz. I can just use Esdeath's keyblade.' He scoffed and said goodbye to them, on a hunt to take down the heartless in the perimeter with his nigh perpetual stamina.

"Ramiel will take care of the heartless for us, he is much much powerful than you think. He is even encumbered right now." Esdeath explained to Aqua as she was worried that Ramiel would get tired out by the heartless.

"Then we start now, we can't waste any time." Aqua began teaching her the principles of her darkness powers earlier while Ramiel was dealing with the heartless. After a few hours, the coast is clear and Ramiel returned to their tent.

Esdeath was practicing and was trying to open portals made out of darkness, but her overwhelming darkness proved to be a hindrance and her portals would fizzle out from too much energy most of the time.

"Ramiel, please forgive me. I am not yet proficient in this so called darkness. So it will take some more time." Esdeath looked apologetic and he waved her off. "It's fine, let's have dinner okay? Aqua, you must have been starving yeah?" Ramiel smiled and set up a table.

He took out a nice and steaming hot new york pizza. Perfect for someone who had a long day. Or in Aqua's case, decade. "What is this?" She smelled the aroma of the cheese and sauce. Salivating already from the sight of hot food.

"It's a pizza, come on Esdeath. You've got to try it too." He patted their heads and they took a slice. The two went wide eyed at the taste of it and Aqua started wolfing it down. He then of course completed the quintessential pizza dinner with some soft drinks.

"This is so good!" Aqua smiled genuinely for the first time in years and Esdeath nodded. "I'm glad you enjoyed it, you two keep on it and I'll keep the perimeter clear alright?" Ramiel went out of the tent as he felt that the heartless were starting to converge on the area again.

"Esdeath, Ramiel said something earlier that you guys are more in tune with darkness. But I can't see him as anything but a warrior of light. He's kind and considerate." Aqua was confused and Esdeath put down her pizza.

"I guess I can explain it to you. For me, I have fought in many wars. My track record? I can't even count how many people I killed. I even turned a tribe's finest warrior into my dog once, made him lick my boots. That was nostalgic." Esdeath remembered and Aqua couldn't believe it.

"As for Ramiel, he is kind yes. But you don't know a thing about him. He'd assassinate you in a heartbeat if he thinks you're a major threat that needs to be taken care of. And he's a ruler of a whole world. If my guess is right, he has killed far more people than me. That's how much blood he has on his hands." Esdeath recalled Alexandra's stories, they killed millions upon millions of mutants. But they were still human underneath their mutations.

The bluenette was speechless and she couldn't quite pair him with a cold blooded killer. She felt warm when he was around, safe. And he's out there still taking care of hordes of heartless to give them a break.

In her mind, it was simply impossible. "Remember that there are always two sides on a coin Aqua, humans are capable of great evil. I'm a true testament to that. I enjoy torturing people and hearing them scream as they beg for their lives. It is like music to my ears." Esdeath smiled at her and Aqua thought she was insane.

"But enough of that, I do not feel comfortable here. This place is too dreary even for me, let's work on that skill yeah?" Esdeath started eating again with a quicker pace like there was nothing wrong. "Y-yeah. Let's go and do that." Aqua was still shocked, but priorities were in place.

A few more hours of practice, Esdeath started to reliably create portals with a 100% success rate. Surprising even Aqua with her competence and sheer talent. "Ramiel isn't here yet, can you call out to him with a skill or something?" Aqua wanted to get out of there immediately.

"I guess I can release a pulse of magic." Esdeath did so and they waited, in a few minutes. They saw Ramiel coming to them, but he was followed with a literal sea of heartless that he was keeping at bay.

"That's just... Ridiculous." Aqua saw the tsunami of heartless that he was killing off in real time and Esdeath immediately started on a stable portal. "Aqua, get ready. This needs to be quick." Esdeath knew they will be in for a rough ride.

"Girls! Go in the portal now! I will follow right after!" Ramiel shouted out and Aqua wasn't having it, but Esdeath grasped her nape and pulled her into the portal. "Stopja!" Ramiel stopped time and the heartless all stopped, he then raced to the portal that was starting to close.

"Come on! Just a little bit more!" He squinted his eyes and the portal was quickly closing. He entered the portal a bit too late and he got clipped by it. Chunking a bit of his shoulders. Aqua immediately went up to him and was horrified with his injury.

"Don't worry, that will heal in time." He sighed in relief and his wounds healed instantly. Having the genes of Boros' race. The portal closed and they started to get swept up by the corridor of darkness. With Esdeath not knowing how to control it. And Aqua losing the ability to do so.

Ramiel took out his wings and wrapped them up in it so they won't get separated. He then stabilized the space with magic. Seemingly making them swim in a current. Ramiel found some signs of familiar people in one of the paths and he followed that path.

After travelling for some time, they exited out of a black portal again and they were in some kind of small town. "Ugh, that was rough." Aqua shook her head to get rid of the dizziness and she looked around. Seeing a place that wasn't the realm of darkness made her froze. Having tears in her eyes in gratefulness.

"Ramiel, any idea where are we?" Esdeath checked out the area and squinted her eyes, wary of hostiles. "This is Traverse town, so that's why I felt someone familiar here." He looked around in wonder and thought it was where magical journeys started for a lot of kids.

"We need to find a base, and I know where we can get it." Ramiel smirked and changed his outfit as well as his hair color. Turning it into a platinum white. "Why'd you change your hair color?" Esdeath was curious. "Nothing much, just so I wouldn't be as identifiable later when I change back."

They then followed his footsteps and arrived at a little hotel. He started walking up to a room and the two were confused why he stood in front of one. He knocked and someone opened up the door. Immediately followed by a gasp. "Hello, Aerith. Remember me? I will never be a memory."

Ramiel smiled at the different version of Aerith and she immediately screamed. Other doors busted open and a more mature Yuffie appeared, as well as Leon and Tifa. They were all shocked when they saw him. "S-Sephiroth..." Alter Yuffie trembled in her boots with alter Tifa.

"Hmmm, where is Cloud? I have a score to settle with him you see?" Ramiel smirked at them and they immediately prepared for combat. "Shall I give you despair?" He raised his hand and one wing appeared behind his back.

Leon appeared as well and attacked him, but he grasped the blade of his gunblade and stopped it entirely. "Give me Cloud, I've thought of a wonderful present for him." Esdeath then pieced the puzzle. "Don't mess with them too much Ramiel, they're shaking in their boots."

Everyone was confused and Ramiel pouted at her. "Come on, it was getting to the good part. Fine, the immersion is broken now anyways." Ramiel sighed and turned his hair back to normal. Everyone then stared right at him and was still really cautious.

"Hello, my fellow fans. I am Sephiroth's good twin brother, Ramiel. Well, another version of him at least." He introduced himself and they were dumbstruck.

"Sephiroth's twin!? Don't screw with us! Why are you here!?" Yuffie prepared her shurikens and was ready to throw them any time. "Come on, it's true. Look at this." Ramiel took out his phone which was extremely out of character for the Sephiroth they knew and he showed them a picture of them all together.

"This is impossible... Is that Sephiroth?" Tifa looked at Alexandra closely and herself who was far taller. "This can be fabricated." Leon stared at him in suspicion. "Tifa, you have a mole on your left butt cheek right?" Ramiel asked and she was shocked.

"H-how did you know that?" Tifa blushed a brilliant red and he shrugged. "Of course I would know, you're my lover in my world." He scrolled through his gallery again and there was a picture of them hugging together.

Yuffie and Aerith's jaws almost dropped and Aerith knew he wasn't lying. She could feel it with her powers as a Cetra. "He's telling the truth..." She blurted out and Yuffie stared at her in disbelief. "Of course I am, Tifa also sometimes have inverted ni-" Tifa immediately jumped at him and closed his mouth.

"Inverted what?" Yuffie was curious and Aerith blushed. "That's none of your business Yuffie." Tifa squinted her eyes at her. "Wait a minute, what's going on here? Why do you know them?" Aqua was confused and thought they were from another place entirely from their stories.

"They're a parallel version of people we know, except this guy." Ramiel pointed at Leon like he wasn't important. "Then what is your purpose here if I may ask?" Aerith went up to them and she started to calm down.

"We were trapped in the realm of darkness. Where worlds get trapped and die due to the heartless." Aqua explained. "In short, we need a place to stay." Esdeath added and Ramiel smiled at them.

"Well, you can stay in this hotel." Tifa side eyed them awkwardly, especially because a version of her seemed to be Ramiel's lover. "I'm a keyblade master, and she's a wielder too. We need to go and find Mickey immediately." Aqua thought about their itinerary.

"We can find Mickey a bit later. Say, do you guys have any idea who Sora is?" Ramiel probed the others and they remembered him. "It seems that dream drop distance is next, that's why Aqua turned to darkness already." Ramiel thought of the best course of action.

"Shouldn't you be in Hollow Bastion right now?" Ramiel raised a brow at them and they should be the Hollow Bastion restoration community at this place in time. "Ahh, Cid is restocking here in Traverse town, and it will be complete in a few days." Tifa explained and he nodded.

The trio went to a room and Aqua felt embarrassed that she didn't have money. Luckily, Gil was the currency that is used there still. "What do you mean by we should find Mickey later?" Aqua questioned as she needed to tell him about Xehanort and his possession of Terra.

"Michael Mouse can wait, I think we should go to castle oblivion. The place where you left Ventus." Ramiel squinted his eyes and thought that their situations were similar. Ramiel's heart was severely damaged just like her friend. And he'll experiment on fixing his heart in order to mend a bit of his.

"Ventus!? Can you wake him up?" Aqua went up to him and was really passionate about it. "Woah, calm down. Maybe, maybe not. We don't know that for sure, but I do know a thing or two about hearts." He knew that Sora is the key and they just needed to take Ventus' heart back from him.

"I can probably wake Ventus for a few minutes at a time, stimulate his body and heart for a bit." Ramiel then advised them to rest for the day, Aqua hasn't fully recovered yet. Esdeath is still acclimating to her new change as well.

"You're right, we shouldn't be hasty." Aqua sighed and remembered the mess in the realm of departure and keyblade graveyard. If they had Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Yen Sid with them there. The results would change massively.

"Of course I'm right, that's because I'm patient and prudent. Sometimes... Anyways, sleep for now and we will continue this journey later." Ramiel put out some relaxing lavender scented candles, pairing it with some chamomile tea so they could chill out.

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Thanks for reading everyone, ciao.