A great land sweeps out before you, barren of vegetation... but covered in a field of... of Keyblades.
Three people stand at a crossroads. You... you've seen them before, in other Visions. Something in your heart pangs at seeing them together, here. Aqua... Terra... and Ven, you think. The older two have a hand on each shoulder of the younger blond. He... he looks just about your age.
"Guys, I want you to-" The boy's voice cracks with despair.
"The three of us can
never be torn apart. You got that?" Terra interjects, gripping Ven's shoulder reassuringly. "I will
always find a way."
The boy is silent and still for just a few seconds, before grimacing as he pushes their hands away from him. "I-I couldn't stand it if that... that
thing were to be made... because I know you'd be its first victims. So I'm asking you, as my friend, before that happens, just... just kill me. The Master was right... it's the only way."
The two stare for a few seconds, shock and pain in their eyes... but Aqua recovers first, her face hardening. "We need to get out of here. We'll head back to Master Yen Sid, we'll regroup, and figure out what to do. All together, right here, we're only vulnerable." Aqua summons a Keyblade, and points it forward. A beam shoots forth, stopping only a few feet away and expanding into some kind of... portal...
And then the portal shrinks into nothingness.
"Wha... B-but that could only mean... oh no. Oh no." Aqua grits her teeth, raising her Keyblade, gathering some kind of distorting energy around herself and the others. "... Teleporza!" The world around them suddenly jerks, strains... and shatters, knocking all three of them to the ground. She tries again, and the world inverts in colors all around them. "Warpza!" The world again shatters. "No. No, this can't-"
"Let me try." Terra growls, climbing to his feet as darkness gathers around his clenched left hand.
"Terra, don't, it won't work, it's not worth letting the darkness out-" Aqua pauses as he suddenly and forcefully opens his grip. Nearby, a pillar of darkness coalesces into the same kind of portal you've seen others use... before dissolving into a fine mist. "... We're trapped."
"Of course." An old, gravelly voice mutters, echoing over the field. "Did you really think it'd be that easy? I placed a seal on this place long before you arrived, as I was meant to. It was decided, long ago, that we would meet here, and our destinies would be fulfilled. And fate is
never wrong,
never left to chance."
The ground suddenly shifts below them, and they are tossed aside, away from each other, as many pillars rise up.
"It was here that our predecessors clashed in a great Keyblade War, and left their mark on fate... and it is here, again, that we shall leave ours, and start the war anew."
The world, and your Vision, is chaos, as you watch the three scramble about a battlefield constantly in motion, using some kind of magic to cover themselves in cloaked armor. Earth rises and falls, and the thousands of Keyblades you saw before fly through the air, guided by the wind in terrifying streams. Ven and Aqua, you notice, are caught in a running battle with a boy in black.
Terra finds himself smashed into by one such stream, screaming in pain and rage as it carries him up a cliff... only for a small light to fly to his chest and expand in a bubble.
"Barrierza!" You hear Aqua's voice call out, and the bubble solidifies and deflects the stream for several seconds... before caving in. Terra is tossed from the stream and lands atop the plateau, struggling to get up. His cape is shredded, and his armor is chipped all over. His jaw in particular is exposed, blood streaming from his lip.
"Damn you..." He mutters, and the source of the voice... the old man you saw in a vision so long ago... smirks back at him. The old man draws a wicked, cruel-looking Keyblade, and brings it to bear.
"I knew this was a journey you could make, Terra, over the unseen wall that divides darkness and light."
"My friend, Ven... you tell me right now...
what did you do to him!?"
"I did him a favor, and released the darkness inside him. Unfortunately," The old man smiles. "Poor Ventus never had the fortitude for such... strenuous trials."
Terra roars, and charges the man, clashing with his Keyblade several times. Even as he's distracted by the fight, the magic the old man commands to shift the world around him does not falter. He smirks as he dodges a slightly overextended attack, and with a swipe of his free hand Terra drops his Keyblade, his arm (or at least, the armor covering it) frozen solid.
"TAKE THIS!" Ven's voice shouts from just behind the old man as the boy himself appears, moving at
insanely high speeds. The old man simply steps aside, and catches Ven's cape in his hand, before freezing the entire boy solid.
"Surely you learned better than to shout when making a sneak attack, boy. I'm disappointed." He tips the boy over with a slight gesture, and kicks him off the cliff.
"VEN!" Terra screams just before a stream of Keyblades smashes into him from above, pushing him to his knees and chipping away at his iced-over armor. The man smiles, and creates a ball of darkness which he then fires into the sky. The clouds part... revealing a heart-shaped moon.
Your vision leaves Terra's side, electing to follow Ven as he falls, his now-brittle cape, leg-armor, and helmet shattering upon catching on outcroppings of stone.
"Ven! WATERGA!" Aqua calls out, forming a pillar of water to catch the boy and let him down more easily as she runs to his side. You can see that, worse than just his armor, his
skin is a chilly, pale blue, and his entire body appears stuck in place, except his eyes, which are darting about anxiously. "Ven! Are you okay-gh!" She winces as a beam of darkness hits her back. "What-" She turns and sees another coming. "Reflectza!" She sends the beam flying back, watching it's destination... where there is no one to receive the redirected attack. "Where..." She pauses, and points her Keyblade at something you can't see. "THUNDAZA!" A
huge barrage of bolts of lightning fly out, converging on something... but when the dust settles, there's no one there. "Tch... Just a sec, Ven. I'll get you out of this in no time. Es-" She suddenly stops, and changes the spell mid-casting. "Reflectza!" Another beam bounces off her barrier. "... Errrgh. Have to find cover. Can't use
that, I'd risk it being destroyed... Where are you...?"
Your Vision returns to Terra. The old man is now accompanied by a boy in black, and Terra's armor is cracked horribly. His left arm's armor is all but
gone.
"Hmmm... I think we need to speed this along." The man smirks. "Vanitas, go take back what the boy owes you."
"And the girl?" He replies in a jovial voice that is far,
far, far too similar to your own for comfort.
The old man only smiles.
"... Right." He sounds
just like you do when you get exactly what you wanted for your birthday.
Terra struggles, raising his Keyblade to shoot several pellets of darkness at the boy's back. Vanitas turns in midair, swatting them away easily. He waves with his free hand, and is gone off the cliff.
Your vision shifts, somehow, and you see, overlaid over the scene you now see, that of Aqua and Ven. Aqua relaxes as a Reflect finishes off. "I got you that time..."
"AQUA!" Ven manages to call out. In the same moment, you notice Terra shift, looking in the direction Vanitas jumped from.
Aqua turns... and is met by a point-blank blast of dark fire from Vanitas. "And I got you."
She cries out, and is sent reeling, her helmet shattered. She doesn't get up. Terra jerks again at the sound of her scream, and your Vision elects to return fully to the scene.
"You see how powerless you are to save them?" The man asks. "Just like with poor Eraqus, you were worse than worthless. Does that make you angry, Terra? Savor that rage, that hatred. Let it
empower you. Go ahead! Break free of your bonds, and seek what you desire -
revenge!"
Terra
roars, scattering the endless stream of Keyblades as a great dark aura bursts out of him, engulfing his bleeding left arm. As he stands again, the last pieces of his armor finally falling away, you (and only you, you're certain) hear the old man whisper, a triumphant smirk on his face:
"Only now have I
truly won."