The Heavy Duties Of A Keyblade Master part 9

The dark clouds over the war-torn graveyard seemed to tremble every time Terra's keyblade met with Master Xehanort's. Sparks of blinding light flashed about them, and the ringing echo of metal on metal never ceased. With each swing, Terra could feel a bolt of adrenaline pump through his veins; he kept thinking about Aqua, over and over again, and how he had been forced into killing her by this man in front of her. True, it wasn't Master Xehanort himself who had committed the sin, but he was still Vanitas' teacher and the one who wanted to fill the universe with darkness.

"Those eyes...you blame me for it, don't you? Aqua's death?" Xehanort's voice was raspy and deep, as if he were speaking through some kind of thick filter.

Terra did not reply. He swung his keyblade again, and just like before, the older man blocked it with relative ease.

"If it eases your worries any better, my boy, then you should know that I had no part in it. Vanitas was conducting his own little experiments against my orders, but after witnessing the results, I must say that I'm quite pleased with them! I should have thought of doing it myself!"

"Shut up! I won't let you or your apprentice get away with this!" Terra could feel something boiling over inside of him. It was his darkness; it was getting even worse than before. He had given himself his first true taste of the dark power when he was forced to kill Aqua. His fear of having to use it again and possibly slipping into its firm grasp was great, but at the same time his anger drove his emotions out of control and he wouldn't be able to get the upper edge against Xehanort unless he relied on that evil strength. Terra didn't know what to do; he was desperately conflicted. He knew that if Aqua were alive, she would be able to help him somehow. She was always a dependable person.

Master Xehanort blew Terra away with a sudden swipe of his hand. He flicked his wrist and the ground beneath his feet steadily rose higher and higher into the skies. Terra quickly pushed himself back onto his feet. He was about to pursue after the old man when a living whirlwind of keyblade sent him spiraling. Terra rolled a few feet away, battered, but definitely not out just yet. He stood up once more to face the elder master, who smirked down at him from his looming tower of earth.

Riding atop the keyblade whirlwind was Vanitas, and following close behind him with an aero spell was Ven. Like Terra, the blonde boy was also just as determined to exact vengeance, but there was no darkness to be found bubbling within his heart. His heart was one of pure light, and this was exactly how Vanitas wanted it.

"C'mon, Ventus, aren't you going to put up more of a fight than this?"

"I've only just begun! I'm not letting you get away, Vanitas!"

Ventus flew in a little closer and struck Vanitas across the face with his keyblade. The attack shattered the glass covering of Vanitas' mask, revealing his boyish face. For a moment, Ventus was taken aback by a strange feeling of familiarity from seeing the face, but he immediately caught himself back into focus again. He couldn't let anything distract him; he had to win for both the galaxy, and for Aqua. Vanitas let out a grunt of discontent, and hopped off of his keyblade, causing the whirlwind underneath him to dissipate. Ven skidded to a stop, and pounced at his opponent once more.

Vanitas blocked Ventus' attack with ease, pushed him back, and then thrust the tip of his own sword against Ven's chest. Even though it appeared to be a simple attack, the amount of force Vanitas put into it was enough to send Ven reeling backwards into a large pile of debris. Such power would have easily shattered the spine of a weaker opponent, but in the end it simply left Ventus with an aching stomach. Of course, he had only avoided taking full damage thanks to luck and the hardiness of his armor. Vanitas snickered as he watched his light-heart self struggle up from the crumbled rocks.

"This isn't very fun. I don't think you're trying hard enough, Ventus."

Ven didn't know what he could say at this point. There was no use in trying to make a witty retort; nothing would shut this guy up. The only way to make him clam that big mouth of his was to defeat him for good. Ven prepared his keyblade for the next assault. Vanitas responded by doing such as well. He knew quite well that there was the slight chance that a push-over like Ventus could find the power inside of himself to get ahead.

Meanwhile, as all of this took place, Braig waited impatiently on the side-lines. There was nothing to do; according to the plan, Xehanort and Vanitas had to confront Terra and Ventus directly, without interruption. Of course, it was his job to prevent anyone from butting in. However, it wasn't very likely that someone else would appear in such an out-of-the-way place like this. This was a waste of time, Braig thought.

'Dammit, this is so boring...what's the point of me being here? When will I get that keyblade that Xehanort promised me? And...did the really kill that Aqua girl? She was so fat, and hot...a damn shame...'

Braig looked skyward, and his one good eye grew wide. He could see something glowing in the distance, and it was steadily approaching closer to their location. He stared a little longer, and he was able to make out that there were three lights in all. He cursed under his breath; he was really hoping he could get away without doing any work today. He cocked and loaded both of his arrow-guns, took a forlorn glance at the battles raging behind him, and rushed towards the tumbling lights to intercept them.

-----------

"We're almost there, Master!"

"Are you ready for this, Aqua?"

"Yes!"

"Good to hear; so am I!"

Aqua and Master Eraqus rode their keyblade gliders swiftly through the planet's atmosphere, entering into a thick blanket of clouds. The blue-haired chubbette could only see mountains and vast, dry open space as far as her eyes allowed. She assumed that the entire planet was like this due to the war that took place in this very spot many, many years ago. The amount of violent destruction to the natural habitat had been an immense one. As they went further downward, Aqua noticed that they were being intercepted by someone from the ground. The first projectile narrowly brushed against the right side of her helmet.

"Watch out, master!" She shouted, swerving her glider to avoid a full barrage of glowing, pink needles. More and more of them came in rapid succession. Due to their keyblades themselves being the gliders, Aqua and Eraqus were unable to properly deflect them, leaving them at a disadvantage to the enemy's attack. Eraqus picked up speed, and Aqua followed; they needed to land as soon as possible. More and more needles flew all about them like ascending raindrops. As Aqua came closer, she suddenly recognized their attacker as the same man who had helped her against the Unversed at Radiant Garden.

Aqua leaped off of her glider in mid-flight, transforming it back into its keyblade form. She landed directly in front of Braig; the tremors resulting from her obese body hitting the ground nearly knocked the sharp-shooter off balance. However, he was more concerned with pondering just how much her belly shook against the armor's tight confines. It had been the first time Braig had seen her in a long while, and she was even fatter than he remembered. Her breasts were bigger, her stomach hung lower, and her thighs were clenched together permanently. It was a delightful image to see standing before him. For a moment, Braig even forget it was his job to kill the intruders. He pulled himself together.

"Hey! You two don't really think I'm going to let you pass, do you? My boss told me to keep you from interrupting his little plan, and I'm the one guy you definitely don't want to get in the way of!"

Aqua held her keyblade out towards the man, its tip just inches away from his chest. "I know you...just what are you doing here? Have you been working for Master Xehanort the entire time?"

"That's not something I can answer easily, sweet-cheeks,"

Master Eraqus stepped off of his gilder, and turned to his obese apprentice. "Aqua, I'm going to need you to take care of our friend here; I have to hurry to Terra and Ven's aid as soon as possible!"

"Don't worry, master; you can count on me with this!"

The next few moments took place before Braig could even properly react. In one second, the arrow-gun had been knocked out of his right hand. The next, the older keyblade wielder was already speeding past him, and now he was left alone to confront with Aqua. Even worse, he only had one arrow-gun left. Braig groaned; was it really the keyblade that made these people so powerful, or were they just freakin' inhuman?

The two of them stared each other down for some time. And then, suddenly, Aqua removed her helmet, revealing her face. Her chubby cheeks jostled from the slight movement, and her flabby triple-chin gushed over the slab of armor covering her neck. She looked like she was stuffed into that outfit of hers, ready to burst open soon enough.

"You know," the young woman started to say, "I never did get to find out your name, or even tend to that eye wound of yours."

"It wasn't your business...I had it under control! And my name means nothing either; we're enemies, in case you forgot!" Braig spontaneously reached up to his eye-patch, lightly touching it. It still stung whenever he thought about the eye that had once been there. He looked into Aqua's own eyes now; surprisingly, he saw little hate in them. In fact, there may have even been sympathy, or at worst, pity for him. Braig wondered why he didn't just shoot her and get it over with. It's not like she would simply let him do it, though. And a part of him didn't want to hurt her.

"I wanted to at least thank you. I would have been killed if you hadn't shot it and distracted it long enough for me to land that last blow."

"Whatever, toots."

Aqua continued to hold out her keyblade as if she were going to thrust it through his chest. "Are you really going to help Master Xehanort with his plan? Don't you know that this will only end with the darkness devouring you and your heart?"

"I don't give a damn," Braig shrugged, "I was promised the power of the keyblade in return, and that old man better damn hold up his end of the bargain. No one who's ever gone behind my back gets away with it!"

"You don't understand; this is something far different, and far worse from anything you can imagine! The darkness...if Master Xehanort and Vanitas obtain what they're looking for, there isn't going to be much of a chance for you to do anything against him! He'll probably remove you from the scene as soon as possible, just to ensure YOU don't betray HIM! You're just a pawn to him...like I was to Vanitas..."

Braig was stunned, but he kept himself looking composed on the outside. Aqua's words did make some sense, he had to admit. Master Xehanort was clearly a dangerous character to deal with. Those beady, yellow eyes of his were enough to make Braig's very soul quiver with discomfort. Just how likely could it be that the old man would follow through with making him a keyblade wielder? Braig owed the man for giving him a job and the eye-patch, but little else. He wasn't stupid enough to throw his life away just because he was asked to. Braig was someone who always used a situation to his advantage. Right now, as the battles of keyblade wielders raged behind him, he was caught in a compromising spot. However, he wasn't easily convinced by the one who was his opponent.

"Look, lady, you're wasting your time trying to win me over with all this bullshit...I know what I'm doing, and I'm doing it well! You're not taking a step past me, and that's a fact!" Braig raised his arrow-gun, but Aqua did not falter. Instead, she took a step closer to him.

"Is there...anything I could possibly do to convince you of the error of your ways?"

"Not a thing." Braig looked Aqua up and down, taking in every curve, every bulge. He licked his lips. Fortunately for Aqua, she had noticed it just in time. This wasn't nearly what she had in mind, but she may have finally found a use for her flab like Master Eraqus had said she would. Although she was definitely going to hate herself for it afterward.

"Are you so sure about that?"

"Huh?"

"You know...if you help me out around here, I can...well, I can give you some things in return, right? It's only fair!"

"What the hell are you going on about?"

Aqua sighed, and she reluctantly disengaged her armor, returning her clothing to normal. Her gigantic, wobbling pale gut burst out far in front of her, barely holding against the mighty gravitational pull. She tugged at as much of the flesh as she could, and began teasingly rubbing it all over, keeping her attention locked on Braig the entire time. She ran her chubby little fingers through each fold, each crevice that she could find. She gently kneaded it like dough, causing ripples and waves to break out all over the creamy surface. Although the bluenette was mortified that she was doing such a thing in front of a man like this, she actually found herself feeling slightly aroused too.

"...You like my belly, don't you?" she asked in an overly-sensual tone of voice. So sensual that she was clearly faking it, but Braig still fell for it anyway. He wasn't stupid around scheming old men, but he was still a total dipshit sucker for beautiful fat girls.

"Yeah, I suppose. You don't see many women with guts like that anymore..." Braig remarked, smirking at her. Aqua cringed a little inside.

"W-Well, look, if you help me out here, and make the right choice...then you can play with my belly when this is all over with. If you really want to."

Suddenly, Braig burst out into a short fit of laughter, and Aqua's plump cheeks turned a bright shade of red.

"What's so funny?"

"C'mon, girlie," Braig replied, stifling another chuckle, "You can't honestly believe I'd give up this job just because you said you'd let me play with your belly? Sure, I think it's hot, but I'm not someone you can win over so easily! I'm a man of principle! I-"

"Okay, how about all of my Gil too? The Unversed drop alot of it, for some reason."

"How much do you have?"

"About 10,000?"

And that was it.

Braig shrugged his shoulders, and, picking up his other arrow-gun, gave Aqua a curt nod. "Okay, then. A fat babe's belly and a shitload of gold sounds alot better than being devoured by darkness, if you ask me. Plus it's more than the old man offered me! Let's go!"

"T-Thank you!"

"It's no problem...as long as you hold onto your end of the bargain..."

Aqua quickly put back on her keyblade armor and hurried alongside Braig. She still felt like her skin was on fire, she was just so embarrassed. There was no way she was actually going to go through with this 'promise' of hers, but as long as Braig helped them out in this battle, then it was worth the humiliation she had gone through. Master Eraqus would be able to help Terra with Master Xehanort, so she and their newest ally would aid Ven. Aqua had more than a few things to say to Vanitas, after all.

--

Ventus let out a cry as he skidded backward, his helmet shattered and one of his arms totally exposed. The various-sized pieces of armor laid scattered about in disarray. An apathetic-looking Vanitas was walking towards him, swinging his keyblade back and forth like a guillotine. Any moment it was ready to tear through the boy's neck and separate his head from the rest of his body. Ventus tried to catch his breath, but it was difficult. He had been fighting all-out from the start yet he had hardly injured Vanitas at all so far. It was incredibly frustrating.

Vanitas raised the keyblade, prepared to bring it down. The guillotine, the harbinger of death. Ventus braced himself. Fortunately, the strike never came, as the blonde boy heard a sharp bang, and then Vanitas' keyblade-wielding arm was blown into pieces. Ven looked over his shoulder, and his jaw dropped; someone, a very large someone, in Aqua's keyblade armor was running onto the scene. She wasn't wearing a helmet, so he could see her face; she looked just like Aqua, except the swollen cheeks and flabby chin threw him off. It gave Ven the necessary jump-start to get himself back on balance. He immediately accosted this stranger that so closely resembled his dead friend.

"You...who are you? Why do you look like Aqua, only fatter?" But then Ventus released his grip on the obese girl, and took a step back, looking horrified, "No...this can't be...I...I killed you...this has to be a trick...and why would you be so fat too? What's going on-"

Before he could go on further, doubting his very eyes, he felt the woman's plump arms wrap around him in a tight hug. He instantly knew right there and then that this was the true Aqua.

"It's okay, Ven...it really is me. I'm here, and I'm alive."

"Aqua...you're...you're really not dead?" He only asked this because he was still so shaken; he knew that it was her, and his heart told him so. But he just wanted to completely confirm it from the woman's words themselves. All of the anger, the sorrow, the agonizing feelings inside of him seemed to vanish. It was like he was wrapped inside the comfort of a thousand fluffy clouds. Nothing could make him feel sad again.

"Don't worry. I'm not. In fact, I know deep in my heart that it was thanks to you and Terra that I'm even here right now. Thank you, Ven."

"Oh, Aqua...I'm so sorry...I really thought I did something terrible. I'm so, so happy that you're alive. It just...you don't know how relieved I am. But, there's...there's still one thing I don't understand..." Ventus sniffled. It would be a shameful thing for him to cry in front of one of his friends.

"What is it?" Aqua replied, even though she already had an inkling about what it was.

"Why are you so fat now?"

"Oh...I guess it's not hard to notice, huh?" Aqua blushed; unlike Terra, Ven had never ran into Aqua at all since they left the Land of Departure. This was his first time seeing Aqua after her incredible cross-world weight gain. There was little the bluenette could properly say to describe her bizarre transformation, but thankfully, Braig interjected into their conversation all on his own.

"Hey, half-pint, aren't you even going to thank me? I was the one who just saved your ass!"

Ventus threw a hateful glare at the eye-patched man. Braig couldn't help but snicker at it.

"Ha, you look like I just drowned your goldfish or something! It's a good look for ya! But we have bigger problems too; the bastard's already regrown his arm. Look out."

Deciding to save their talk for a more peaceful time, Aqua and Ven broke away from each other, and turned their attention to the immediate threat before them. Vanitas was one again holding his keyblade again with a new arm, just like Braig had said. However, Vanitas wasn't looking at the keyblade wielders. Rather, his cold gaze was fixated upon the traitorous sharpshooter.

"Braig you made a big mistake going against us. You gave up your last chance of survival pretty easily, huh?"

"Heh, I'm a working man. It's all about the money for me! I offer my services to the highest bidder, and the chubby cutie over there just out-bid you! And I'm not stupid enough to believe that old fart could really give me a keyblade just because I asked!"

Braig fired a projectile into Vanitas' face, it piercing his right cheek. Braig pulled the trigger again and again. Vanitas' arms, torso, and his left leg were riddled with the sharp, glowing needles. However, this did not impede the boy's progress at all. In fact, he continued walking towards them without so much as a limp. Braig cursed under his breath; he placed his arrow-guns together, and fired off an incredibly powerful shot. A perfectly round hole was blown through the center of Vanitas' chest. And still, the boy shrugged it off.

"Is that it?"

Vanitas waved his hand once, and the projectiles vanished, and his body reformed itself. Braig could say nothing in response.

"My dark power is at its peak right now. With Terra awakening to his own dark power, being so close to my other half, and the lingering energy that clings to the surface of this dead planet...I can feel the power flowing through me. Your pitiful little guns are completely useless against someone like me, Braig."

"You...you...you son of a bitch!"

"Well, no point in delaying this any further."

Braig prepared to fire more projectiles, determined to press on despite the hopelessness, but it was too late now. An Unversed sprung out from the earth and knocked Braig unconscious. More and more Unversed soon followed, surrounding Aqua and Ventus. They summoned their keyblades in preparation for battle. Vanitas snapped his fingers. A large unversed, one that seemed to resemble a living wad of purple gum, materialized into thin air. It grabbed hold of Ven, and threw him at the feet of its master. Aqua cried out for the boy; she tried to waddle to him, but the Unversed continued to block her path. Unfortunately, she was stuck. Every Unversed she struck down was replaced with two more. She could only watch, distraught, as Vanitas approached his light-half. The dark-haired boy had on a smile that would make a slasher jealous. Aqua already knew that Vanitas and Ventus were just two parts of a whole person. They were destined to return to one another, to reconnect their hearts. But just who would be the one in control then?

"Ventus!"

Vanitas placed his hand upon Ventus' chest. A moment later, the two boys erupted within a sphere of pure, white light. The sphere grew larger and larger, engulfing everything within its path, even the Unversed. Aqua didn't know what to do. There was no way she could help Ventus now; she had failed, and just when she was so close to ending this. She held back her tears. She had to run. Unfortunately, even though the Unversed were gone, she couldn't just leave Braig to die either. In her fattened state, she wouldn't be fast enough to escape the explosion while also carrying his unconscious body. Aqua simply stood in place as the light steadily approached her. She felt numb, paralyzed, shell-shocked.

All she could think about was the look on Ven's face before Vanitas had taken him. Had she really failed him? Was there nothing she could do?

And then the mouse stepped in front of her, a keyblade in his hand. The mouse muttered a phrase under his breath and both Aqua and Braig's body were encased inside thick bubble-like shields. He had made one for himself as well.

"This is going to be a bumpy ride! Get ready for it!" He had an incredibly squeaky voice. Before Aqua could ask what he had meant, the light hit them, and their bubbles were sent spiraling high into the air. The impact had felt like they were slamming into a wall at over hundred miles an hour. Aqua could barely keep herself conscious. She forced her eyes open and looked around. The bubble was spinning wildly; she had no control over it. However, she did get just enough time to witness a shocking image from down below. As if things couldn't possibly get any worse.

It was Master Eraqus, being struck down by Terra.