Hearts of Darkness, Chapter 24

Chapter 24: Family

    “Well girls, I gotta say.” Phil said as he paced inside the Vestibule. “I never in a million years woulda thought a couple of pipsqueaks like you would get this far…”
    “Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence…” Tala snorted from her spot on a bench. Earthshaker jostled her arm.
    “But I can’t deny it. I’m impressed.” The satyr continued on, ignoring the comment.  “You’ve done incredibly well getting yourself to the finals like this. So I’m gonna give you ladies three worlds of advice: focus, fight, watch out for your partner’s back, and don’t give up.”
    Lita stared at the satyr confusedly. Wasn’t that way more than three words?
    So far, Lita and Tala had cleaned up with their matches. They had faced Heartless and humans alike. Some of their most interesting matches were between other humans like a summoner named Lulu and some guy named Noctis. Tala had a lot of fun fighting him on account of the man’s ability to summon multiple swords around him. Both matches were difficult, but the girls had won in the end. This had given them a ticket to the finals.
    Right now, the girls, Riku and Earthshaker, Myde, and Lightning were all gathered in the Vestibule during intermission. Let’s just say that after all the matches; the arena needed a major clean up.
    “Can I see it, please?” Tala clasped her hands together and looked expectantly at Lightning. The pinkette stared at her for a second before sighing and whipping out her gunblade.
    “Why the sudden fascination with my weapon?” she asked as Tala leaned forward to examine it.
    “We don’t have many gunblade wielders back home.” She replied. “I’ve been trying to learn how to use one of these for a long time, see. I have the older models down, but these newer, transitional models make no sense to me…” Tala looked up at Lightning in wonder. “This is the Blazefire model, right? You must have had to practice a lot with this.”
    Lightning watched silently as the brunette went back to examining her gunblade. She had watched these two girls closely in their battles and found Tala’s special ability interesting. It was a rare trick indeed to be able to summon the kinds of things she did, and yet the girl was still ambitious to take her power to the next level. She reminded Lightning of someone she knew.
    “Catch.”
    Tala fumbled as Lightning tossed the gunblade to her, trying not to catch the blade of pull the trigger. The weapon was lighter than she thought it would be, but the intricacy in the triggers, folding mechanisms, and the blade itself made her head spin.
    “The key is making your movement fluid.” The pinkette dictated. “Don’t hesitate in your attacks. The second you start worrying about the weapon, you lose.”
    Tala looked from the older woman to the weapon and nodded. With the Blazefire in gun-mode, Tala got into her battle stance and breathed in deeply. She held it up and imagined taking a few shots at an opponent before hitting the trigger which would bring the blade out and tossing it in the air. She flipped around and held her arm out to catch it in her back-handed position.
    And jerked her hand back with a small yelp. The gunblade clattered noisily to the ground as the teen clasped her wrist to her chest, hand fixed on the long cut that began to drip crimson blood.
    “Tala, are you alright?!” Lita shouted, drawing everyone else’s attention. Tala nodded, biting down on her lip.
    “Idiot.” Lightning grumbled. “Don’t you know better than to toss a blade that you’re unfamiliar with?”
    “Well, excuse me!” Tala shot back. “I thought I could catch it.”
    Earthshaker sighed as she picked up Lightning’s gunblade and wiped the blood off of it before returning it to its owner. The woman stared at her weapon and then to Tala’s arm with a frown.
    “Here, let me see.”
    She pulled Tala’s arm away and examined the long cut along the inside of her arm. Luckily, it didn’t seem too deep. Lightning pulled out some medicine and a long cotton bandage from her bag.
    “Why would you try something like that?” she asked as she dressed the wound. “You won’t get anywhere using a gunblade like that. Can’t you fight traditionally?”
    Tala snorted. “Of course I can. I just don’t. Fighting back-hand is much more challenging than traditional-style.”
    Lightning chuckled. This girl had spunk, she’d give her that.
    “Challenge or not, some things only work one way. You can’t let personal pride get yourself in trouble. Never forget.” Lightning glared down at the ground.
    Lita and Riku exchanged glances. They both recognized the look in her blue eyes. Lighting both spoke and looked like someone who had let her own pride get in the way.
    “Hey Lightning.” Riku walked up. “What are you doing here anyway? You…you don’t look like you’re from this world.”
    He watched as Lightning’s face took on a guarded look.
    “I’m…looking for someone…”
    Lita cocked her head. It seemed like everyone was looking for someone these days. Why did people have to get separated from others? Why couldn’t friends, family even, just stay together?
    It isn’t fair, she thought grimly.
    “Welcome to the club, honey.” Earthshaker leaned up against a wall and smiled dryly. “I think I could make a fortune on all the missing people we’re supposed to be finding. But go on and tell us, who are you looking for?”
    “Yeah, maybe we can help.” Lita offered.
    Lightning just stared at them, her cold blue eyes gauging them all with one sweeping glance. What choice did she have?
    “My sister. Our home world was destroyed a few years back. But when it was returned Serah…” Lightning’s fists clenched. “Serah wasn’t there. So I set off to bring her home. I will not go back until I find her…”
    Lita frowned once Lightning was quiet. Missing loved ones was something she knew all too well, and even now the pain still burned in her heart. And a missing sibling, that really cut deep.
    Lita bowed her head as old memories began to play in her head. Old, precious memories of her childhood. And voices. His voice.
    ~Come on, Lita! Let’s go down to the beach today. ~
    ~Why today? ~
    ~I promised to show you something cool, didn’t I? Come on! ~
    ~Haha! Okay, let’s go! ~
    “Lightning…” Lita began when the door slammed open and Hercules came trotting in.
    “Hey, Lita, Tala! Break time’s over. Your next match is up!”
    Tala jumped up and smiled brightly. Turning to Lightning, she held her hand out.
    “Thanks Lightning. And don’t worry. You’ll find your sister, trust me.” Her smile turned into a smirk. “But don’t let that mess with your head now. Lita and I are going to make it to the finals, and want to see you here. I’m going to take you down!”
    Lightning met her smirk with a dry smile. “We’ll see, kid. L’Cie aren’t easy to take down.”
    As the two walked out of the vestibule, Riku turned to leave when he notice Lita was still in her crouched position, head down. He walked over to her and tapped her shoulder, causing her to jump.
    “Your next match is up, didn’t you hear?” he asked.
    Lita lifted her head and Riku was worried by the look in her eyes. Lita tried to hide it, but there was a haunted sadness lurking in her eyes, as if she was remembering something painful. But Lita leapt up before he could ask her what was wrong and ran towards the door.
    “Come on then, Riku!”
...
...
    In the arena Lita and Tala stood patiently in their corner of the ring, waiting for their next opponents. Phil wouldn’t tell them much about their opponents, except that they were both human and pretty strong. So in taking precautions, both Lita and Tala decided to wear their armor. However, it was hard to see with their helmets on, so the two left them off.
    Up in the stands, Myde was bouncing up and down excitedly while Riku and Earthshaker tried to weasel out information on the mysterious duo.
    “Alright Myde, spill it.” Riku said. “I know you know who it is. Now tell us.”
    Myde turned a cheerful smile on the silver-haired teen.
    “Oh, that’s right! I keep forgetting you guys aren’t from here. The next match is between Lita and Tala and my sister and one of her friends.  This is great!” he cheered. “Really, you guys are in for a show.”
    Earthshaker’s ears twitched in curiosity. “Really? How so, honey?”
    Myde smirked conspiratorially. “You’ll just have to see for yourselves!”
    “Ladies and gents!” Phil called out. “We now reach our first of the Finals round! The winning team of this match goes up against the victor of the other bracket in a winner-take-all fight! And you know what that means after! That’s right! The winner gets to take on the Champ himself, Hercules!”
    Hercules stood up and waved to the crowd as they went wild.
    “And now, let’s get on with it! In this corner, you’ve seen these feisty girls clean up against the strongest opponents with grace and charm. Give a round of applause for Tala and Lita!”
    The girls waved and brought out their Keyblades as the crowds cheered their names. This was it. Tala didn’t have any doubt that this was the only thing standing between her and a fight with Lightning. She could practically taste victory!
    “Let’s do this!” she shouted.
    “And in our other corner, you’ve seen them fight against all odds in the other bracket, ladies and gentlemen. Now we see if they’ve got what it takes to be heroes! Can they take it, or will they melt under pressure? Now it’s time to steam up the place!”
    Lita sunk into her battle stance as the gates on the other side of the arena. Out walked to figures, teenagers judging by their height, both clad in armor similar to theirs. One was a girl in light blue and silver armor, hunched inwards nervously. The other stood tall and proud in pitch black and indigo armor. Even at a distance thought, Lita could see that his armor had seen many battles.
    The two armor-clad pair walked up to the middle of the arena where the girl in the blue gasped.
    “L-Lita?” The girl removed her helmet to let blonde hair fall around her face.
    “Sitara!” Lita grinned. “I didn’t know I’d be fighting you! Cool!”
    “You know her?” Tala asked.
    “We ran into each other earlier. Sitara, this is my friend, Tala Argoterra.”
    Sitara bobbed her head quickly while mumbling quiet greetings. As she did so, Sitara noticed her partner had stiffened. Glancing over, she could see his hands clasped tightly into fists.
    “S-Sol? A-are you alright?”
    “Lita.” A strained voice spoke slowly from within the armor. “You are…Lita Nightshade?”
    Lita started. “Uh, yes? And you are?”
    A gasp came from the mysterious man. Shaky hands reached up and slowly removed the helmet from his head, muttering something about not being able to see clearly from the scratched up visor. Short, black hair tumbled out and fell shaggily around a pale-skinned face. The bright afternoon sun shone on it, revealing flashes of red in the black. A small carnelian bead hung from an earring on his left ear. The teen’s eyes opened, shocking Lita with what she saw. Instead of emerald green, this teen’s eyes were bright blue. And they glowed…
    Even though his eyes were different, Lita couldn’t help but stare on in shock.
    “Solus…” she breathed. “Brother, is that you?!?”