11.

Juste was surprised by how deeply he slept. He woke up in the same position he had fallen asleep in, and his body ached as he stood up to work out the stiffness. He still felt satisfied from the meal he had eaten, so he hadn't been asleep for too long. His magic levels were normal, and he felt awake and alert and ready to face the rest of the castle.

He didn't feel ready to face Dracula, however. Even the disembodied wrath that he'd faced four years ago had been a challenge, and though he had Aqua with him this time, he was still dreading facing up to a full-power Dracula.

He sighed and looked at the statue, which was glowing softly once more. "If Grandfather could do it alone while being consumed by a curse, then I can do it with Miss Aqua's help."

Hearing her name was enough to wake her. Aqua sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She couldn't wait to go home and get a full night's sleep again. For now, though, she was fine. "Everything okay?"

"Yes," Juste replied as he turned around to look at her, "everything's fine. Just thinking."

She ran her fingers briefly through her hair to lay it moderately flat after the grass kinked it into odd shapes. "All right. Well, I suppose we should get to it, yes?"

They walked out of the sanctuary, across the small room, and into the clock room where they had faced Death. Thankfully, no new monsters had appeared to take his place, and they made in through the opposite door into the next room in short order.

They stepped out onto a battlement of some kind with the moon high up in the dark sky above them, and the feel of Dracula's power seemed to weigh down on them.

"It reminds me of a few enemies I've fought before. Their aura just seems to press you down," Aqua commented, looking up at the impossible moon. It was disconcerting how it always seemed to be night in the castle, and with this strange full moon above them now.

"Those are terrible, aren't they? Just the feel of it makes a battle that much more difficult."

"You almost seem like you're moving slower because of it. It's rather agitating, really. I am not particularly looking forward to this one."

"Neither am I. Since Death sacrificed Marluxia, then Dracula is at full power, of that I am certain. It would be foolish of me to not be worried about what's to come."

"In any case, it's not like we have much choice in the end. He has to go down, regardless how strong he may be," she stated resolutely.

Juste looked at her, nodded, and then he continued on. The continued along the battlement, but not far ahead, he spotted something odd, which made him pause for a moment.

"Tombstones? Why are there tombstones on a battlement?"

"Those clearly don't belong. They're probably going to attack, if they're anything like the chests I've come across in places they shouldn't be," Aqua theorized.

Juste sighed and shook his head slightly. "Just when I think I've seen everything..." He continued forward, and true to Aqua's words, as he got closer, the nearest tombstone shook, and then it hopped up into the air and began to bounce towards him. It it wasn't for the heavy thuds that could be felt through the floor, he would have thought it no heavier than a child's ball. He sent the Vampire Killer streaking towards it, but the attack did not deter it, not even with a direct hit. He didn't want to think of what it would be like to have that thing land on him.

Aqua called lightning to her blade and leapt at the strange enemy, attempting to strike the stone head on and hopefully at least crack the headstone. Without waiting to see what damage the Thunder-strike had achieved, she backflipped away, using the tombstone itself to give her extra distance as she pushed off of it.

Juste landed another hit against the tombstone, followed by a Holy Flame spell. The tombstone then halted in place, shuddered, and then broke apart and crumbled into pieces.

"Now we just have to do that five more times." he said as he quickly counted up the rest of the tombstones, lined up neatly along the battlement on the path to the door at the end.

"What's the point of this?" Aqua wondered aloud with a bit of irritation as she launched herself at another stone and wished that she had more aptitude with earth magic like Terra did, given that it would be most effective in this situation. "It's not as though something like this is going to kill us. It just slows us down a bit. What's the point? Dracula knows we're going to face him soon enough; why not just clear the path for us since he's confident he'll win anyway?"

"Perhaps he's are hoping to wear us down?" Juste said as the next tombstone bounced their way. "Perhaps he's forgotten – somehow – that there are sanctuaries between us and him. Perhaps Dracula is just being his usual, irrational self. Or perhaps Dracula doesn't have as much control over his minions as we think and these things are acting independently of him."

Aqua sighed quietly. "I should stop asking questions I won't like the answers to." She dashed at the gravestone and slammed her keyblade into it, then cartwheeled out of range and fired a simple Blizzaga at it. The block of ice crashed into it and knocked it over, halting its movement for the moment.

Juste launched a fireball at the tombstone, shattering it. "Trying to rationalize the irrational is never good for one's sanity."

Two of the gravestones started after them in tandem, and Aqua shot a Blizzaga at each of them to knock them down for Juste to deliver a follow up attack on, since that seemed to be a useful combo last time.

Seizing the chance, Juste sent the Vampire Killer swinging across in a horizontal arc in front of him, catching both tombstones.

They crumbled to rubble as well. "Two left," Aqua noted, and charged the next one in line. She leapt over it and delivered a hard kick to its back, following it up with another chunk of ice to send it tumbling over to Juste.

"Having you here certainly makes things easier, Miss Aqua." Juste quipped as he landed a hit against it. It shuddered and broke apart as Aqua went for the last one.

Aqua followed the same pattern for this last one, unwilling to waste any more energy on annoyances. "Glad to be of service."

The last tombstone crumbled to dust, and they crossed the rest of the battlement unimpeded. A doorway led them into long corridor, constructed from stone that was white and various shades of gray. The walls were covered in ornate tapestries and intricate carvings and lined with suits of armor at regular intervals. Unlike the dilapidated castle entrance, however, this new area looked well maintained.

"The Castle Keep," Juste said as they paused to look around. "We're almost there. The throne room will be at the top of this area."

"It's certainly easy to see that their power is strong here," Aqua commented, noting the elaborate decor in good condition.

Juste hummed in agreement. "I imagine that if we allowed Dracula to continue on, the entire castle might eventually repair itself. As he grows stronger, so does the castle and the monsters under his control."

"I believe you've mentioned that before." She didn't see any immediate threats, but the area felt too empty to be safe, so she kept her blade out at her side just in case.

They walked through the first corridor unmolested, but that changed when they went through the door into the next room. The room they stepped into was at least two or three stories tall, with vaulted stone ceilings and ornate stone inlay floors. Statues in niches lined the walls, with tall windows in between them that allowed the moonlight to pour into the space. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling above, casting the room in a faint glow. Fireplaces were scattered about, each one taller than him, and despite the size of the room, the heat of them was enough to make Juste cough, though no smoke could be seen rising from the flames.

The sound of flapping wings came from above him, and he ducked and rolled to the side just as a trident slammed into the floor where he'd been standing. He rolled to his feet to see a large red demon, with tiny purple wings and backward curving horns pull its weapon out of the floor and dive at him again.

Aqua jumped back at the sudden appearance of the creature, grateful that Juste also managed to get out of the way. Since it was focused on him at the moment, Aqua grabbed the chance to get some distance to fire spells. Given the environment, she suspected ice would not work here, so she decided a different form would be necessary. She locked on to the enemy and fired a barrage of Meteor Rain at it.

As the creature dove at him again, Juste dodged to the left as he sent the Vampire Killer whipping across the space. The whip struck true just as Aqua's spell impacted the creature, and it let out a pained groan as it dropped the trident and faded away.

"Well, that was new." Juste said as he looked at the spot where the demon had been and wiped the sweat from his face. "I've never seen one of those before."

"Personally I'd like to know how it flew with such miniscule wings. I'm not saying flight by magic is impossible, because I've done it, but why even have wings to begin with if they don't do anything?"

"I quit worrying about such things years ago." Juste replied as they walked out of the room. "Doing so gives me a headache. Now, let's get this over with. Hopefully, this part of the castle isn't that large."

"I'm with you on that. Though, didn't that feel remarkably easy to you? I thought it would have been harder to kill."

"And I'm grateful for it. The easier the monsters, the faster we'll get out of here."

To Juste's pleasant surprise, they made good time through the keep. The place was packed with Dracula's minions as expected, but most of them went down fairly easily, with only the Liliths -

"Lesser version of the succubus and incubus." he explained to Aqua. "They feed off of the same energy, but they cannot shapeshift."

- and the Valkyries being the exceptions.

The Liliths were in the habit of waiting until one of them got too close and then diving in for a kiss. They managed to evade all of the attempts, and the demons died after only a few hits, but it was a tiring way to deal with them.

The Valkyries, the winged women of Nordic legend, moved fast and hit hard, making them difficult targets to hit, so Aqua and Juste were tired, battered, and hungry when they finally spotted the doors to a sanctuary ahead of them. Spotting a cracked wall nearby, Juste walked over to it and attacked it when the whip.

"I'll be honest, I didn't think Valkyries were the sort to attack people, or deal with anyone who wasn't already dying, but then again, anything in here will unfailingly attempt to kill us, so I should have expected it. Now I know that I didn't want to ever face those mythological women in real life," Aqua commented as they moved. She watched with confusion as he attacked the wall. When food was revealed behind it, she recalled his statement about finding food within the castle walls at times. "I can't believe that's real."

Juste reached down and picked up the massive drumstick that must have come from a Cockatrice or something similar. The delightful scent of the cooked meat made his stomach growl in anticipation. It was so heavy that he needed both hands to carry it through the sanctuary door. He had to touch the statue with his elbow to refill his magic, and then he sat on the grass nearby and set the drumstick down in front of him.

"I don't know if this is a hold over from Walter or not," he said as he used his dagger to tear off a chunk of steaming meat, "but I am certainly not going to complain."

"I can't believe this exists. Stasis magic can only hold for so long. This is ridiculous." She stared at the meat, uncertain if she actually wanted to eat it, but it did smell amazing.

"Sit down, Miss Aqua." Juste said after he'd chewed and swallowed. "I assure you, eating this won't hurt you, and since I'm certain we're very close to the throne room, so you'll want to have your body well fed to get through the battle to come."

She sighed, but knew he was right. She sat down and debated on how to eat it. She had a fork, but would that be sufficient? She wasn't sure if she had a knife in her pockets or not. She ought to, if not. She withdrew the fork and commenced stabbing chunks from the giant drumstick.

"I almost feel bad," Juste commented after he'd eaten another hunk of meat, "about how much of this is going to go to waste. There is more than you and I could possibly finish, and what we leave will vanish once we leave the sanctuary."

"Well, we haven't eaten anything else the castle might have hidden away. So there will still probably be other places later explorers could find, at least," she replied in commiseration.

"Hopefully we won't need anything else after this, and once we're out of the castle, we'll be able to hunt for game on our way back to town."

"I would certainly prefer that. So are we resting here or setting out straight away?"

"I feel fine, and I'm ready to get moving. What about you?"

"Sure. Let's keep moving."

Juste stood up and brushed the grass from his clothing. He then led the way out of the sanctuary and back out into the corridor. Just to their right were a set of ornate double doors, and he pushed them open to walk into the next room, with Aqua right behind him. His senses screamed in warning as they swung open, and he looked up and stopped when he saw what was waiting for them in the large, circular room.

"Grandfather?"

Aqua dropped instantly on the defensive the moment they opened those doors. The being at the center of the room was practically drowning with darkness. Juste's unexpected address made her glance at him immediately, and his expression was so horrified and confused that she nearly cringed. "Whatever this is, Juste, you know that this can't be your grandfather. You told me he died a long time ago."

"I... I..." Juste found himself at a complete loss for words as he stared at the figure in the center of the floor. It was Grandfather and yet... Sara crackled in rage, and he could feel the dark power rolling across the room, and it was undoubtedly Dracula's power keeping this... thing animated. It couldn't really be his grandfather – it just couldn't – but, the curse...

Whatever it was, it didn't move from where it was standing, which allowed Juste to get a good look at it. It was nearly identical to Simon Belmont. Even the hunting leathers with their myriad tassels and fur trim were the same. The hair was the same length, curling at the ends, but the bright red seemed to be washed out, faded. The skin was ghostly pale, and the body was thin, looking rather like the doppelgangers that they had faced earlier in the castle.

And then it spoke.

"Juste..." came a raspy, gurgling voice. "Help me..."

That couldn't be a good sign. "It's nothing but darkness. There's no way for you to help it. The only thing we can do is put it out of whatever misery it's in," Aqua quickly asserted.

Juste swallowed thickly and nodded. She was right. The darkness of Dracula's power drowned any light that a soul could have given off, so he couldn't tell if it was just a doppelganger or really his grandfather standing there, held in thrall by Dracula. He rested his hand on the Vampire Killer, and Sara's rage surged through him. There was no way to know if she was angry at the mockery made of one of her chosen or if her anger was due to Simon Belmont being held under Dracula's thrall. Either way, there was only one thing to do.

"Hydro Storm!"

The thing shrieked as holy water rained down in the room, and it snarled at him, its orange eyes glowing with hatred as it brought out its own mockery of the Vampire Killer and launched itself at him.

Aqua dodged back, away from the range of the whip, and sent a fireball at the creature. It hit, since its focus on Juste blindsided it, and it screamed, turning its attention temporarily to her. It snapped the whip toward her, and she attempted to parry it, but failed to account for the fact that a whip wraps around its target. The whip was intercepted by the keyblade, but it merely curved at the origin point and slapped her arm. She cried out and jumped back. Damn, she wasn't thinking.

The creature's scream felt like a blade in Juste's soul. Despite the raspy, wet quality of the voice, it even sounded like his grandfather. He heard Aqua cry out as it hit her with its whip, and he called up his magic and cast Startdust. With Dracula's power keeping it animated, their only hope of defeating it required that they hit it hard and fast to do as much damage as possible. Only then could they disrupt the flow of magic enough to stop it. Otherwise, Dracula would just keep feeding it power.

The Stardust spell turned it back towards him, and he saw it reach for its belt. He saw it grasp a small object and hurl it towards him, and Juste dove to his right to avoid the crystal vial as it arced past him. It shattered on the floor behind him and the carpet in that spot burst into dark flames. It snarled again and charged toward him, and he sent the Vampire Killer whipping out in front of him. The whip struck against the creature's right shoulder, but the blow barely slowed it down.

Aqua focused on fire, since that obviously hurt. She used Fire Surge to rush the creature from behind and avoid the whip, then while she was close, she coated her blade with fire and struck it dead on.

There was another shriek, and a dark aura burst into life around the doppelganger after Aqua dashed away. Juste halted his own attack as it rose off the floor and let out an enraged sounding growl. The lights in the room dimmed, and a corrupted version of his own Hydro Storm began to rain down upon them. Juste howled as the acidic water burned holes in his clothing and seared the skin underneath, and he dashed for the area under the mezzanine that went around the entire room. He saw Aqua doing the same, and they huddled there, waiting for the creature's spell to run its course.

"If you took as many shots head on, you'd go down," she grumbled. "It's completely unfair that the darkness can make something so durable."

Juste quickly quaffed a potion as the spell came to an end, and he tossed the bottle to the side as the creature dropped to the floor and looked around for them.

"Grandfather couldn't do that spell." he said as the creature spotted them and started moving in their direction. "Magic was never his strong suit."

Whatever Aqua had been intending to say in reply was lost when the doppelganger hurled its cross at them. They dodged in opposite directions, and the glowing red cross bounced off the wall and returned to its wielder.

Oh, so this was a super-powered version of his grandfather instead. Lovely. Aqua cast Thundaga to hopefully take the creature off guard and stun him for a moment, then sent another fireball towards him immediately after.

Aqua's fireball impacted the back of the doppelganger's head, and it hissed as its hair went up in flames. The fire also left the back of its head and neck severely burned, but it seemed to take no notice of it. Instead it only turned to Juste and charged at him again.

"It's me, Juste." it said as it streaked towards him, summoning a massive ax blade in front of it, intending to cut him in half. "I can't stop myself. He won't let me."

"My grandfather is dead." Juste replied as he dodged to the right and sent the Vampire Killer streaking after it. The whip struck right between its shoulder blades, and it whipped around to face him, swinging its whip as it went. Juste backflipped out of the way, but the distance was not enough, and the creature's whip caught him on his left arm.

His skin burned from the impact, and the arm hung uselessly at his side, numb from the site of the injury down.

"Look at what you made me do!" the wraith snapped at him. "I don't want to hurt you, but you've given me no choice!"

Juste wasn't able to freely switch between whip, subweapons, and magic with only one arm, and he swung the Vampire Killer out in front of him to keep the creature back while he tried to find Aqua. Hopefully her magic could...

The Vampire Killer stopped in mid swing, and Juste stared in shock to see the creature holding the end of the whip in one hand. Its hand smoked from the contact, but it only smirked at him and wrenched the whip from his grip and tossed it aside.

Damn, not good. She had to get over there immediately. To give herself time, she cast Ice Barrage directly beneath the creature, and the ice crystal burst up, throwing the monster into the air, then the second crystal erupted and tossed him higher, while she dashed to get there as soon as possible. If only a time spell would be effective on it, but she doubted it would be, and it would just waste her magic. Gravity might work though. "Graviga!" she shouted, and the monster slammed to the ground and was pinned down for a few moments. She reached Juste and cast a Cure spell on his arm. "Sara's over here, I don't dare touch her myself," she pointed to her as she spoke rapidly. The gravity spell was already wearing off, so she got ready to keep the creature occupied while Juste recovered.

Juste flexed his fingers as feeling returned to them. "Thank you, Miss Aqua." He dashed over to where the whip was lying, keeping one eye on the wraith as it got to its feet. He snatched up the Vampire Killer and spun around, swinging it in a wide arc in front of him, neatly deflecting the dagger that the doppelganger threw at it. It streaked towards him, and he wondered why it seemed content to ignore Aqua as he cast his Salamander spell. Two lines of flame rose up from the floor around it, and Juste used the chance to move away.

It was odd that it was determinedly fixated on Juste. It only paid her any attention for a few moments to get her off its back, then it went back to Juste. Well, it did make it easier to attack it with her spells. She cast Seeker Mine on the ground, knowing that it will zoom after the only hostile in the area in a few moments, and meanwhile she shot a Triple Firaga at the enemy. That missile-seeking aspect of it made it a very useful spell, she should use it more often.

"Why are you doing this to me, Juste!" the creature shrieked as Aqua's fire spell burned away part of its clothing and skin. The smell of burnt flesh was nauseating, and Juste swallowed as he hurled his cross at it. It bounced off the creature's chest, leaving a smoking rent before returning to his hand.

"If you are my grandfather," he said as he dodged an overhead swing of its whip that cracked the floor, "then the best thing is to set your soul free. If you're not him, if you're just a construct of Dracula, then I have to destroy you to get to him."

The doppelganger snarled at him and threw an ax in his direction. It arced up, and Juste dodged to the right so it embedded itself into the floor harmlessly.

Aqua nodded in agreement as she continued to back him up with additional spells. She paused to throw back an ether, then decided she was tired of fighting passively from afar. She dashed in and coated her keyblade with fire, then just tore at the creature's unprotected back.

It snarled and turned to face her, but Juste dashed forward and brought the Vampire Killer down in an overhead swing that cracked down on the top of its head. It screamed and stumbled, and Juste dashed away to avoid the counter that he knew was coming.

In the absence of its primary target, it spun and lashed out at Aqua instead, who threw up her barrier just in time to mitigate it. As soon as she let it fall, she delivered a hard Fire Strike to the wrist that directed the dark whip, with the intention of doing enough damage to interfere with its ability to use the weapon.

The wraith dropped its weapon, and Juste dashed in for the kill, aiming for the creature's vulnerable neck. Sara struck true, and a small burst of blood and bone chips erupted from the wraith's neck. It stumbled from the blow and struggled to keep its feet.

But Aqua was still there, and prepared. She chopped her keyblade into the opposite side of the creature's neck, and it could no longer remain upright. It dropped to the floor limply.

They looked at each other, and with a nod, both of them cast lightning at the still form, blasting it to small, charred pieces that then dissolved into the darkness whence it came.
"I think a visit to the sanctuary is in order." Juste said in a flat tone.

"Of course," she agreed instantly. He definitely needed a bit of time to recover from something so personal being cast irreverently in his path, forcing him to destroy someone that looked like family throughout the entire confrontation.

OOOOOO

When asked later, Juste couldn't recall the return walk to the Sanctuary. He touched the statue and flopped down on the grass. He then heaved a sigh and closed his eyes for a long moment.

Aqua let him have all the time he needed, and merely sat with her back against the statue, legs curled beneath her, and rested her eyes herself, the picture of tranquility despite the storm inside her.

"It was just a construct." Juste finally said after several minutes had passed. "No soul fled the creature upon its death, but still I..." He shook his head and took a deep breath. "Dracula is a master at finding your vulnerable areas and then using them against you."

"So it seems," Aqua replied softly. She hoped that was the last thing they would have to face to get to the vampire himself, because she was just about at her limit of what she can take. This castle was utterly exhausting. She couldn't imagine how the Belmont family had managed to fight it down time and time again.

Juste sighed again. "The first time Grandfather faced Dracula, he came home thinking that everything was right and good and he could live out his life in peace. What he didn't know was that Dracula had cursed him with his dying breath. Grandfather's wounds wouldn't heal, he began to feel tired and sickly, and he started to waste away. Eventually, the curse was revealed to him by an old medicine woman, who also informed him that if he died while under the curse's effects, his soul would belong to Dracula, to be used however the vampire wished, while his drained life energy would be used to resurrect him. Some accounts say that Grandfather's body was starting to rot like a corpse by then, but he had no choice. He went out, resurrected Dracula himself, and destroyed him, thus breaking the curse over him – or so we all hoped."

He shifted on the grass and looked up at the statue. "Even with the curse lifted, there was always that worry in the back of our minds: what if it wasn't gone? What if it hadn't been completely broken? When Grandfather passed, he was surrounded by priests and mages and as many magic users among the Belmonts and Belnades that we could fit into the room, to create safe passage for his soul to the afterlife. We all were fairly certain that we had succeeded in ushering him on safely, but there was always that nagging worry that we all had but never spoke off. What if we hadn't? Seeing that wraith standing there..." He shook his head. "I don't think I'll ever forget that."

"I'm sorry he put you through that." She opened her eyes and turned to look at him at last. "You don't deserve to be tormented this way."

He turned to look at her and gave her a weak smile. "It just makes me all the more eager to get to him and put an end to this."

"I agree. Are you ready to finish this, then?" Hopefully no more interruptions on the path. Surely he must have been running low on obstacles by this point.

He nodded and stood up. "Hopefully, the throne room stairs will be on the other side of that circular room."

Fates willing. She stood as well and brushed her half-skirt off. "Let's get going then."

No more words were said as they left the Sanctuary and walked back down the hallway and through the circular room. No monsters appeared as they went, and when Juste pushed open the double doors opposite the ones they had come in through, they were greeted by a crumbling stone staircase, with blood red carpet going up the middle of it. At regular intervals along the railings were taller stone poles, each with a fire burning at the top, lighting the way. The wind blew fiercely across the stairs, and the full moon, red as blood, shone from behind the throne room above.

That moon is so disconcerting. Aqua kept apace with Juste, blade at the ready. She merely hoped they could finish this quickly.

Dracula's power seemed to bear down on them as they ascended the steps, walking side by side.

"Since he possessed Marluxia," Juste said as they went up, barely able to hear himself over the screaming wind, "Dracula will be at full power. He won't look like he did back in the courtyard. Instead he'll look as he did as a human, only with any signs of aging wiped away. He often changes form once he's taken enough damage, usually into some kind of winged demon, so be prepared for that."

They reached the top of the stairs, and they paused with the doors right ahead of them. "Are you ready, Miss Aqua?"

She set her jaw. "Let's do this."

They pushed the doors open, which opened nearly silently on their heavy hinges, revealing an opulent room, circular in shape, that was dimly lit by candles all about the walls and hanging from the ceiling on chandeliers. The candlelight flickered off the polished stone floor, the mullioned windows, and the gilt frames of various paintings scattered about the room. A long red carpet ran straight down the center of the room, leading to a dais where a massive throne was sitting. Upon that throne, reclining comfortably as though he was merely contemplating what to have for dinner rather than about to get into a battle, was Dracula.

He looked nearly identical to the portrait of Mathias Cronqvist that hung in the Belmont family home. If it wasn't for the porcelain white skin, red eyes, and lack of any signs of aging – wrinkles, spots, gray hairs – one would believe that Mathias had returned as a human somehow. He wore a wool tunic that was finer than anything Juste had ever had, and it was intricately embroidered with fanciful designs and filigree. His dark hair reflected the candlelight as he sat up to look at them.

He smiled, and the sight of it made chills race up Juste's spine. "Greetings, so good of you to join us at last."

It was entirely unfair that someone so evil was also so beautiful. But Aqua had experience fighting beautiful men before, and it would not faze her. "What is it that you want, honestly?" she asked boldly, because she was also fed up with this entire thing. "Eternal night and fear of the masses? World domination? I don't know if this is news to you, but you're not the only megalomaniac in the universe, and all of them fall in time. So will you."

Dracula only smiled again as he rose from his throne. "What I want is make God watch as His humans suffer, as the world He built is burned to ashes, as I destroy His universe, piece by piece! I will have my vengeance, and I will start... with you!" He laughed then, vanishing into a column of fire as he teleported away.

"Here we go!" Juste called out. "He can appear anywhere, so be careful!"

Oh how wonderful. So he intended to destroy everything to spite a god that Aqua didn't even believe in. Brilliant. She rolled her eyes as she fell into a stance in which she could shift quickly to dodge aside.

Juste felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up, and he tucked and rolled away just in time to dodge Dracula's outstretched hands that tried to grab him. He rolled to his feet and spun around, swinging the Vampire Killer in a wide arc. It struck the vampire on the arm, but seemed to do little, if anything. Dracula laughed again as he teleported away, and as he did, the candlelight glinted off a sparkling red gem that was hanging from a silver chain around his neck.

"The Crimson Stone," he whispered, and then he called out to Aqua. "The stone around his neck is the Crimson Stone! Try and hit it!"

Ah, now she had a specific target. She took the opportunity while waiting for Dracula to reappear to charge up a Thunder spell that might stun him out of his teleporting. She hated teleporters. They were always such a pain. The second she saw him reappear out of the corner of her eye she let the charge go and lightning bolts struck the ground in a large circle around her.

Dracula only laughed at the hit, and he snapped his fingers. Blue flames erupted from the floor and then split into two, each stream following one of them. Juste cast Hydro Storm as he went, but Dracula teleported away before the spell had a chance to touch him.

Aqua knew her shield would have no effect on whether she would be cooked alive, so she ran from the fire, though she attempted to stall the flames with an ice spell. It simply melted through it and kept going after her. She then turned and dashed for Juste's storm, knowing the rain wouldn't hurt her, and the flames would be quenched in the water.

Dracula's laughter once again sounded in the room as he reappeared by the throne. "Over here." he said, and Juste spun on his heel and swung the whip overhead. It cracked down on Dracula's head, and he followed it by throwing his cross, which landed a hit against the vampire's neck. He then had to duck as Dracula held out his arm, and six massive fireballs flew at him and Aqua, which forced them to duck and jump to evade them.

Aqua sent a single ice block Dracula's way, knowing even as she did so that it wouldn't hit. She would have to be closer if she were to have any hope of that. But it was better than doing nothing as they dodged the vampire's attacks. "We have to work together on this," Aqua stated to Juste while they were nearer to one another. "We have to attack him on opposite sides at the same time or we're never going to do much damage."

"I'm certain that we are hurting him, even if he's not showing it, but I would like for this to be over as quickly as possible. What do you have in mind?"

"Not sure exactly, we just have to try. It's nearly impossible for me to get close enough to him when he's attacking you, so we should try to stay close for a bit so one of us can hit him hard while he's focused on the other. My magic isn't very useful when he's halfway across the hall; he can easily get away from it." This was followed by an irate, muttered, "I hate teleporters."

"It's as good a plan as any." The fire appeared in front of them, and Dracula appeared, laughing as he did so. That laughter was really starting to grate on his nerves. "And here's our chance to test it."

Aqua cartwheeled to the side, leaving Dracula to focus on Juste, then while he was distracted with him, she dashed mere steps forward with a frost coated blade and chopped at his neck from behind.

Dracula whirled around to face Aqua. "Who are you! What is that weapon you carry!" but Juste gave him no time to go after her. He sent Sara streaking over to him, and she connected solidly with the back of his head. The vampire snarled and teleported away, without laughing this time.

"I'd say that was effective." Juste said as they waited for him to reappear.

"Guess you should've paid more attention to Marluxia's memories before you absorbed him," Aqua taunted quietly as he vanished. "He might not let us manage that again, but let's try it anyway."

This time Dracula appeared at Aqua's side to burn her, but she leapt back before the flames could harm her. He stayed close, however, and then his arm snapped out to grab her by the neck. But ohh no, Aqua had had that happen to her more than enough at this point in her life and it was not going to happen again. Her parry came most swiftly, her keyblade cracking into his arm to smack it away from her before his fingers could close around her throat.

Dracula teleported again before Juste could get his own attack in. "Your soul will made a fine addition to my collection." he purred as he reappeared. He did not attack as Juste dashed in, but then the vampire began to glow with a hellish red light.

"Back away!" Juste screamed as he scrambled to the farthest part of the room he could reach. "Get as far away from him as you can!"

Aqua startled, but immediately did as warned, sprinting for the edge of the room and throwing up her barrier once she could move no further in case it could help at all.

Dracula began to shake as the glow increased. "Demonic Meggido!" he roared in a voice that sounded like it came from Hell itself, and an half sphere of pure, black magic, black at the floor and gradually transitioning red as it rose, spread out from Dracula, nearly filling the entire room. The mere proximity of it made Juste's stomach twist itself into a knot as sweat popped out on his forehead. The throne room shook, and the lights from the candles dimmed.

It certainly was not something one could defend against. The pressure of it made Aqua feel suddenly horribly nauseous and she had to brace herself against the wall so that she didn't fall to her knees, shuddering.

They huddled against the wall for what seemed like ages until Dracula finally released the spell. He then teleported away, laughing once more. Juste dragged himself to his feet and ordered his legs to stop shaking.

"He's early." he commented. "He normally saves that for later."

"You don't say," Aqua replied dryly further along the wall, after swallowing fiercely against the bile in her throat. She quickly withdrew an elixir from her pocket and took a sip of it, just to bring a flush of strength back to her body so she could move the moment Dracula chose to reappear.

"Hahahahahah!" Dracula's laughter was Juste's only warning when he suddenly appeared behind him. He went to dash out of the way, but his still shaking legs took just a second too long to respond, and Dracula's freezing cold fingers closed around his neck. He found himself turned around and hoisted off the floor as he called up his magic to defend himself.
"Soul Steal!"

Juste gasped as he felt his energy being dragged painfully out of him. His magic sputtered under the sudden assault, and the spell failed.

But Aqua flew in a second later, taking advantage of the fact that Dracula had to hold still for his spell. She delivered a particularly strong strike to his head, followed by a fireball directly in his face, and if that didn't disrupt that Soul Steal spell of his, she didn't know what would.

Juste gasped again as Dracula dropped him to the floor, and he scrambled away, fishing a potion out of his pocket as he went. He downed it, tossed the vial aside, and it allowed him to regain his feet just as Dracula teleported yet again.

He reappeared in the center of the room, glowed white for a second, and then triangular shapes, flashing different colors, flew across the room at him and Aqua. He jumped and rolled over and around them as he tried to close the distance for an attack. Once the final one had passed over him he cast Seven Saints, which set seven small crosses whirling around him, and he lashed the Vampire Killer at Dracula's head and neck. He landed two hits with the whip, and several with the crosses before Dracula teleported away again.

Aqua attempted to cast her direction-changing fireballs while dodging the pointy shapes, but unfortunately only one of the three made it through the barrage of triangles to hit the vampire just before Juste's own attack connected. She grumbled in frustration as she sought Dracula's next location, annoyed at how ineffective she was in this fight.

He reappeared in the exact same place that he had just been in, and he opened his cape wide. Bats, large ones, dozens off them, began flying out from under it, streaming towards Juste and Aqua. He stood up and spun the Vampire Killer out in front of him, casting the Gradius spell as he went. Two large spinning shields appeared, and he stopped his whip attack as the bats smashed into the shields, each hit causing them to shrink slightly.

Aqua, on the other hand, cast a large Graviga spell and sent a large majority of them smashing to the floor, plastered to the stone.

Dracula teleported again, and this time he appeared directly in front of Aqua. His hand was a blur as it reached out and wrapped around her neck. Juste heard her surprised yelp as he ran forward, but he was on the far side of the room.

Having only just finished her previous spell, she was unprepared to dodge or block, and he held her fast, as he bared his fangs and sank them into her neck. She screamed, the tear of vulnerable flesh and the withdrawal of her blood more painful than she could have anticipated, and she felt her body weakening as he continued, sapping the strength to fight free.

"Let go of her!" Juste was barely aware of his yell as he ran towards them, Sara flying out in front of him to strike Dracula directly on the back of his head. Bits of blood, bone, and flesh erupted from the point of impact, but they healed almost instantly as the vampire dropped Aqua and teleported away with another laugh.

Juste reached her as she shakily got to her feet, fished a potion from her pocket, and downed it in one gulp.

"Are you all right?" he asked her.

"I'll live. Time for something more effective," she growled.

Dracula appeared near the throne them, and the two of them were forced to dodge a long string of human sized fireballs for a moment. "I agree. Shall we try one of our accidental dual crushes?"

He cast his meteor spell, and she promptly cast one of her ice spells. The two spells met, combined, and ice meteors rained down on Dracula's head.

Dracula snarled and moved to the center of the room.

"Enough!" he growled in a tone that made the hair on the back of Juste's neck stand up. "Playtime is over!" The vampire rose into the air to hover near the ceiling as his red eyes began to glow. The lights in the room dimmed again, and a black aura flared into being around him. "Give. Me. Power!"
Juste skipped back away from him, and he looked for Aqua to see her doing the same. "This is his final form. He will be far more powerful this time, so never take your eyes off of him."

"Can he still teleport?" she asked instantly.

"He probably can, but no one has ever reported him doing it at this stage." Darkness had engulfed the vampire by then, and it slowly descended to the floor in front of the throne and drifted away to reveal and enormous pair of wings. Wings that then abruptly opened.
Dracula no longer looked anything resembling a human. He was now nearly twice as tall as them, and he had turned into some hybrid of a bat and a demon. Glowing red eyes stared out of a flattened face that had no real nose, his skin had darkened to nearly black, and great leathery wings seemed to fill the room.

Not the most frightening thing she'd ever seen, but it certainly made the short list. Shaking herself out of an almost spellbound state at the sight of him, she called up a barrier and cast Aeroga on herself in preparation.

Dracula flapped his massive wings, causing a wind that blew out the candles, and flew straight towards Juste. Juste backflipped just as a massive fist slammed into the floor where he'd been standing. The room shook, and cracks spread across the stone floor from the force of the blow.
He quickly regained his feet and sent Sara flying. The whip landed a solid hit against the vampire's right shoulder, to which Dracula responded by rising back into the air and smashing his hand down again. The second impact left a small crater behind in the floor as Juste backed up to get some room.

Aqua used the distance (and lack of teleportation now, thank the stars) to shoot rapid-fire flame spells at Dracula, aiming for the rather larger target he now presented. Several of them struck true, given that he was more restricted in his ability to dodge.

Dracula made no sound or other sign that Aqua's attacks had hurt him in any way as he spread his wings wide and began slowly moving from one side of the room to the other. Flames appears in the air in front of his outstretched wings and spiraled down to the floor, forcing Juste to dodge between then as he waited for the vampire to move close enough for a physical strike. He cast a Pinwheel at him, a small whirring flame that expanded rapidly when it touched him, but again Dracula made no sound that he had been injured, and there was no visible mark when the spell had ended.

Aqua really hated that little feature of his. She could at least tell whenever her attacks hit Heartless, Unversed, Nobodies, any of the countless enemies she had faced over her life, but this creature leaked no response whatsoever and it made defeating him infinitely more difficult. She dodged his area attacks as Juste had and continued to fire spells at him from afar, switching elements simply to see if anything seemed any more effective than the others. She quaffed an ether when her magic stores ran low and continued her steady onslaught.

Light formed several swirling patterns on the floor, tracking them, and Juste jogged across the room as the lights suddenly erupted in small explosions that made his skin tingle The vampire then flew to the throne and stood there, looking as though he was deep in thought as his massive wings suddenly stretched out to encompass the entire room. They then began to slowly tighten around them, forming an ever shrinking circle.

Juste dashed forward and began raining blows with the whip down on Dracula's head, who made no sign that he even knew someone was there. Still, the wings, with their massive claws, continued to close in on them.

This forced Aqua to move from her relatively safe distance near the edges to fall in closer, which she didn't particularly care for. But since she wasn't being given much choice, she shifted her strategy to match. She did her best to stay out of Juste's way while attacking Dracula with her keyblade. Yet the wings did not cease their entrapment, and finally Aqua cried out, "Faith!" and blasted them outward with a circle of light.

Juste had to laugh quietly to himself as he heard the smack of the leathery wings hitting the walls, followed by Dracula bringing them in and moving away from the throne. He streaked towards Aqua and smashed his hand into the floor again as she cartwheeled away from him.

Really, all brawn and no finesse. Guess he traded his brain for power. Aqua continued to dodge away from him. Now that his focus was her, thanks to that last spell of hers, it was rather harder to gain distance while his attention was fixated on smashing her in retaliation. But she hadn't made it this far in her life for nothing. She cartwheeled once more, twisted back to face her enemy, and threw her keyblade wreathed in fire straight at his face, then danced away again as it made the return journey to her.

Juste took a running slide right under Dracula's feet, and he stood back up and landed several hits with the Vampire Killer, and dodged away as the vampire turned to face him. Dracula rose up near the ceiling again, and threw his hands out, and blood began to rain down heavily in the room. Juste yelped as it burned holes in his clothing and produced small burns where it touched his skin. He dove towards Aqua, casting a healing spell on himself as he went.

Aqua, too, yelped as a few drops of the rain made contact with her skin, most of it thankfully whisked away by her Aeroga shield. She noted Juste coming towards her, and hurried to meet him, waiting to cast her barrier until he could be shielded by it as well. The blood hissed upon splattering against her spell, but it didn't pass through, and instead merely painted the pink shield red.

Juste sighed as Aqua cast her shield, giving them a place to hide from the falling blood. "This is a new one." he commented as the magic came to an end.

"Didn't have this lovely trick last time?" she replied dryly as she dispelled her barrier the instant it was viable, lest they be attacked while blinded by the blood coating the spell.

"Not at all, but I had it relatively easy last time." Juste cast his Ice Needle spell, and a large ice crystal formed above him and began firing ice at Dracula.

Easy would have been nice, but well, she'd take fighting a difficult enemy with a friend rather than a difficult enemy alone as she had so often been over the years. She hopped away from him, hoping to let Dracula focus on Juste again whilst she sent spells arcing across the room at him. It seemed fire and light, no surprise there, were most effective, so she focused on large flame spells when she could. Triple Firaga was a particular favorite here.

Suddenly Dracula drew back and raised his arms as though lifting something quite heavy, and a horde of Heartless crawled from the masonry. Aqua cursed quietly and redirected her own attention. "Focus on him!" she cried at Juste and set to work dispersing the teeming swarm of shadows and the various musically-themed spellcasters, interspersed with more resilient enemies, Neoshadows and Large Bodies. She began by spamming Meteor Shower, destroying many of the lowest ranked Heartless with a single ray of light. But there were so many, and she only had so much focus with such a majority to contend with. She leapt forward into the fray and released a few Thundaga spells in quick succession into the horde around her, using the moments of paralysis on those that were not killed instantly to wipe them out with her keyblade. The mass of Heartless seemed almost unending, but this was her true element, and she knew exactly what to do.

Juste kicked a small Heartless out of his way and he moved in to get a hit in, but he had to pause when he saw Dracula move back towards the throne, curl up on himself, and then throw his arms out.

"Die!" he roared in an impossibly deep voice, and a wave of pure energy flew across the room, which forced Juste to vault over it. The hair on his arms and legs stood up as the wave passed under him. His feet hit the floor, and he was running straight for the throne.

"Holy Lightning!" The magic erupted from his hand as the Vampire Killer whipped across the space between them, striking a blow right above the vampire's heart. Dracula only laughed and flew away to the other side of the room.

Aqua had little time to notice the massive wave from their boss cross the floor, but she did see it just in time to jump it herself, and as countless Heartless tried to follow her a beat too late, they were all obliterated by Dracula's own attack. She landed lightly and continued her assault, massacring the droves of Heartless still present. She used her magic to her advantage, to spin flames around her and coat her keyblade in various elements to further damage and destroy her enemies. Crystal hearts from the Emblem Heartless floated to the ceiling and disappeared, while the pureblood Heartless, of which there were far more, merely disintegrated into darkness as her keyblade put an end to them.

Juste turned and crossed the room just below a run, leaping over the few remaining Heartless as he went. Dracula swept his arms out in front of him, leaving a bloody cloud in the air to mark their passage, and Juste dropped down to avoid touching it. He cast Stardust as he backed away from the fading cloud and got to his feet, just in time for Dracula's hand to slam down to the floor right in front of him. The stone shattered, sending large shards of it flying in every direction. Most were deflected by his clothing, but a few smaller ones managed to break the skin on his legs.

"Fabulous." he grumbled to himself as he cast another healing spell. He then backed up to get some more space and summoned the Phoenix again. Fire rained down in the room, but Dracula seemed to ignore it.

It did, however, demolish the final Heartless, and Aqua shifted her attention to the vampire again at last, downing an elixir in her retreat to take care of her low magic reserves (once again) and ease the tired ache of her limbs from the nonstop attacks she'd performed. "I'm not sure how much more of this I can take," Aqua admitted wearily as she neared Juste again, preparing to back him up.

Juste quaffed a mana prism. "I, too, am growing weary of this." Across the room, Dracula laughed as he fired off several glowing lines of energy that honed in on them, forcing them to dodge.

Aqua didn't bother with a barrier, as she anticipated that light beaming straight through it. So she cartwheeled aside instead, continuing to move until they stopped coming near her. She darted a glance toward Juste, wishing she had a better sense of how they actually do their combined attacks. Typically if he didn't initiate it, she had no idea how to make them happen. Her lapse in attention cost her: Dracula shot another salvo at them and she was a little too slow on the draw, and one of the beams caught her arm as she attempted to cartwheel out of the way. She cried out as her arm crumpled from the sudden pain (and damn it, it's the same arm she injured earlier, it was already weakened), and she shifted quickly into a roll to at least take advantage of her momentum to stay alive and further unharmed. As soon as she gained a measure of safety, she looked to her arm and hissed at the burn damage. Seemed to be a laser burn; she remembered those from her trips to Deep Space. They instantly cauterized the wounds, making them harder to heal. She tugged a potion from her pocket and poured half of it directly over her wound, then downed the rest as she began to run again.

Juste darted forward as Dracula's laughter filled the room – he was really starting to loathe that sound. Thank goodness the wraith he'd faced before hadn't done that. He quickly landed several strikes with the whip, before a pillar of fire erupting from the floor forced him to roll out of the way to the side.

Aqua jumped back from the flames as well, quickly darting out of range and firing a Triple Blizzaga at Dracula, pleased to see that they hit their target even though the vampire had shifted.

Dracula then began to fly in a circle against the room's walls, and light swirled about around his hands before concentrating into a beam that swept across the floor. Juste jumped over the beam, and then had to duck and roll under it as it came by a second time, followed by another jump to clear it. The second jump put him close to where Aqua was.

"We need to end this now." he said as they leapt over the beam again. "Do you wish to try another dual spell?"

"Absolutely, go for it. The sooner he's gone the sooner we can leave this place and be done with it all." She was getting tired of so many high-energy battles, and her potion supply was almost completely wiped out.

They rolled once more, and finally the attack came to an end, only to be replaced by Dracula charging directly at them and trying to smash them with his monstrous hands. They backflipped out of the way.

"Something holy or light elemental would be best."

"In that case I've only got the one spell, so hopefully you can find something to match." They dodged back yet again.

"Just cast the next time he pauses."

They continued to stay out of his way, until they were given the opportune moment. Aqua cast Faith while Juste called forth Grand Cross, and when the two spells combined, the result was an explosion of white that threw them back into the walls.

Aqua blacked out for a moment, and came to to find her eyesight filled with black spots and ears ringing.

How in the world did that happen? Juste had time to think as he was flung across the room. He landed against the base of a wall somewhere and found his vision whited out for a moment. Magic crackled over his skin, far more powerful than he had intended, and he could feel his hair standing up on end, as though he was in the middle of a thundercloud.

A quick healing spell cleared his eyesight, and he stood up to see Aqua getting to her feet over to his right. He turned towards the throne to see Dracula – back in human form – kneeling at the foot of the throne. Juste got to his feet and walked over, and Aqua fell into step beside him, and they came to a stop in front of the stunned vampire. The window behind him had blown out from the force of the combined spell, and the darkness outside was beginning to slowly fade.

"You're done." Juste said simply, and the vampire looked up at him.

"For now." he said with a smile that bared his fangs. "I will be back, Belmont."

"Good luck controlling the darkness without one of my people to take over first," Aqua commented with a trace of disgust in her voice.

Dracula gave a rueful chuckle. "There will always be those willing to sell their soul for power. Marluxia wasn't the first, and he certainly won't be the last."

Sunlight, weak at first but gradually growing brighter, began to shine through the broken window, and as the rays touched the vampire, he began to dissolve into rivulets of black dust that drifted up towards the ceiling. Juste took a step back as the dissolution moved downward, until Dracula couldn't be seen through it. Finally it cleared, leaving Marluxia in its place. He was on his knees on the floor, and he swayed for a moment before he collapsed forward to the floor, not moving.

Aqua paused for a moment more to see if he would pop up again, but when he didn't, she drew closer and knelt to check for a pulse. "Gone. There's nothing I can do."

"He never had a chance once he let Dracula possess him." Juste commented as he stared down at the unmoving figure. "As much as it saddens me to just leave him here, we need to leave, now."

"I know." She rose back to her feet and felt the rumbling begin in the depths of the castle. "Any objections to skipping a race back through the halls? I have a faster way out."

The rumbling reached the throne room, and it began to shake as cracks formed in the walls, floor and ceiling. "Such an escape would be greatly appreciated." Chunks of stone and masonry began raining down from the ceiling. "We have to get out of here, right now!" He started for the door, stumbling as the shaking worsened, and the castle began to crumble.

"Not that way!" she called out, and threw her keyblade into the air. It transformed and came down to meet her. She jumped on and glided over to Juste, reaching out a hand to grab him and pull him onto the scooter behind her. Once he was secure, she raced across the throne room and straight out through the blown-out window, breaking into the sunshine as the castle crumbled below them.

Juste clamped his mouth shut to prevent the womanlike shriek that wanted to come out. Humans weren't meant to fly, yet here they were, hundreds of feet up in the air as the castle collapsed into a pile of rubble. He chanced a look down at it, and the view made his stomach sink to his boots. He slammed his eyes shut and tightened his grip on Aqua's shoulders as the wind streamed through his hair and clothing.

She dragged her eyes away from the fascinating sight of the castle falling in on itself when she felt Juste's hold on her tighten, looking back at him over her shoulder, and had to bite her lip to prevent herself from laughing. It wasn't fair to find his fear funny when this was as foreign to him as anything could possibly be. His world didn't have flight yet; it was natural to be afraid. She couldn't suppress it entirely though, and her shoulders shook in silence. But she didn't want to make him suffer long, so she angled her glider to the castle entrance and zoomed (slowly) there to let him back onto solid ground as soon as possible.

Thank you, Lord for the quick escape from the castle. Juste thought as soon as his feet touched the ground. And thank You again for making it short.

He stood there for a moment as the remains of the castle crashed to the ground amidst a billowing cloud of dust. Finally the debris stilled, the dust blew away on the breeze, and they were left standing by the ruins as the leaves rustled and the birds sang. The sun was warm as it shone down on him, and the entire area was quiet and peaceful.

"This place feels completely different now that the darkness is gone," Aqua commented.

"Indeed." Juste took a deep breath, smelling the water from the nearby lake, and the perfume of flowers that were littered about. "'Tis a shame that Dracula will return to spoil this place once more in time."

"I hope one day he can be defeated forever." Kingdom Hearts knew it had taken forever to finally eradicate Xehanort and all of his darkness. Thirteen vessels in the end, how did the man ever grasp such power as to accomplish that? They were never quite able to figure it out. But they knew he was gone for good at last. And good riddance.

Juste glanced up at the sky; it was late afternoon. "Shall we track down the horses and set up camp for the night? We can start our return journey in the morning."

"I would offer to glide around to find them but too much of that may draw attention, traveler benefits or not."

Juste repressed a shiver at the thought of being on that thing. "With Dracula's presence gone, they'll come looking for us."

She hadn't said he had to join her. "The horses? What makes you so sure?"

"Multiple reasons." He turned to face the trees and whistled. "They're well trained, they know the good food is at home, and finally -" He smiled when he heard a whicker of greeting, followed shortly by a second "- a well loved, well cared for horse will return that with their own loyalty and affection."

"I see," she said, blinking in surprise at the emergence of the horses from the nearby tree cluster.

Juste smiled again and reached up to pet a velvety nose for a moment before he turned to face Aqua. "Let's get settled then, shall we?"

OOOOOO

"Are you certain that you don't want to stay a bit longer?" Juste asked Aqua as they casually strolled away from town, so she could fly away without being seen. "We would be happy to have you stay."

"I appreciate the thought, but I really should be going," she replied regretfully. "I need to report back, and I've already stayed longer than expected. I'm not even supposed to interact with the native peoples any more than necessary, and we had quite a lot more interaction than I usually do on my missions."

"Well, in this case, I would say it was needed, and welcome. I rarely get help in these endeavors, and it was very much appreciated." The fact that he was able to learn some of her magic had just been an added benefit. It had taken him a few days to learn it, but he was now rather fond of the spell that she had called "Mega Flare"

She too had come away with new magic that she was quite pleased with, despite having quite a bit more trouble with the way she had to shape the magic to make it work. It was quite different from her usual brand, but she enjoyed learning everything he was willing to teach her. "I couldn't have done this without you, so I'm grateful we were together. Thank you so much." To be sure, she flared her senses out one more time, and found no sign of darkness caused by Heartless. With the death of Dracula and Marluxia, their pull into this world was gone, and there was nothing to draw them here without it.

"As much as I enjoyed working with you, I hope those Heartless never appear here again. Sadly, Dracula had been telling the truth; there will always people that are willing to sell their souls to him for power."

"Well, I can say that as of right now we don't know anyone else that would be willing to do so, so you should be left in peace for a time at least. But I can also say that unfortunately, we won't be able to intervene unless someone using the darkness comes back here to pull Heartless into your world again. We can't meddle in the affairs of other worlds," she repeated ruefully.

He smirked. "I won't tell, if you won't. No one needs to know just how much you and I interacted." He chuckled. "No one would believe me anyway. A visitor from another world? I would be laughed out of town, or thought insane."

She smiled. "Well in this event, our problems became yours, so it was important that we come to help. It was a good time, in spite of the difficult battles. I won't forget it, that's for sure."

"You're welcome to come back, any time, regardless of whether the Heartless return or not. That was... not fun... but having you along certainly made the journey more bearable and less tedious, and I will never forget that."

"I appreciate the offer," she answered, not making any promises. Unlike Sora, she didn't take pleasure trips to visit friends, much as she sometimes wished to. "It was good to meet you, Juste. You and your family take care."

"And you as well, Miss Aqua."

She smiled at him one last time, then summoned her keyblade, creating a portal in the sky. She triggered her armor, then hopped on her glider and shot off into space.

Juste watched her fly off into the evening sky. "Godspeed, Miss Aqua." He then turned and started for home, where his family was waiting.

Mission Report

Aqua looked back as she drew away from the strangely massive planet. For all the difficulties she'd faced there, she'd quite liked Juste. Perhaps it would be worth coming back sometime to visit, rules be damned. For the moment, anyway, she had to return to the Wizard's Tower to make her report to Yen Sid.

She delivered her information in her typical no-nonsense fashion, detailing the world, the castle, and the enemies she and Juste faced. She explained the lore of the castle, how it rose up every generation or two due to its undying master, and told Yen Sid all about how Marluxia had joined with Dracula this time to jump start the resurrection in a bid for more power. Marluxia was responsible for bringing the Heartless to that world, and he perished in thinking he could control Dracula, who proved him wrong in short order. "And yes, an actual vampire and someone who is at the very least an avatar of Death, if not the real thing. I know it sounds crazy, but it happened." She also spoke of how time was out of sync in the castle, as they spent the better part of a week at least inside but given Yen Sid's own account of days, it couldn't possibly have been that long outside. With anyone else (read: Sora), her report might not have been considered credible, there would be assumptions that her imagination got the better of her, but because it was Aqua, her word was enough. She was not one for flights of fancy. Those already remained firmly within her books.

Master Yen Sid stroked his beard thoughtfully. "So, the Heartless were drawn to that world by Marluxia's presence, and the Darkness in his heart. Recovering his heart did not seem to cure him of his attempts to grow more powerful."

"No, evidently not. When we defeated Dracula at last, I'm afraid Marluxia was dead. There was no saving him after he accepted Dracula into him like a parasite."

"Do you believe that there is a possibility that this Dracula could be a threat to the other worlds?"

"He certainly wants to be. He's very much the megalomaniac type. But the Belmont family is devoted to keeping him contained in that castle, and provide a hero to destroy him every time he's able to resurrect. They've managed it on their own every time before this. So I don't believe we need to interfere. This time he could have broken free due to his access to powers of Darkness, but provided that he doesn't get another one of our people again, there should be no problem. He can't access it on his own."

Yen Sid closed his eyes and bowed his head slightly. "Then we shall have to watch that world, if only to prevent another Marluxia. Dracula was correct when he stated that there will always be those willing to sacrifice for power." He looked at her. "You have said that the people there have no hearts? You are certain of this."

"Absolutely. I checked myself. They believe in the power of souls rather than hearts, and certainly seem to be correct for it. I had a much harder time gauging people's intentions there, as everything seemed to be more grey and intangible. Juste said he had a similar problem with me, since I have a heart rather than soul. He said that my soul seemed nearly nonexistent, certainly not like the rest of them. That's also why I don't believe Dracula can harness the power of darkness without a host with a heart to use. We use, and fall to, darkness through the darkness in our hearts, after all, so if you lack a heart, it seems to me that it would be very difficult to use the darkness. And we've already determined that Nobodies regain their hearts with time, so that's why they can use it to make corridors and the like."

"That is strange indeed. It seems that we still have much to learn about the other worlds."

"I agree. It does bother me that Dracula now knows definitively that other worlds exist due to Marluxia's interference, but I have faith that the world's occupants will keep a firm handle on things. If they're anything like Juste, I trust them entirely."