Kingdom Hearts 2 Lingering Will Novels & Stories

The chain was adjustable, allowing Aqua to wear the pendant at just the right length so that it rested over her heart. As she wore it, Aqua noticed the stone's clarity, reflecting her calm and balanced state of mind. Whenever she felt at peace, the pendant remained clear and pristine. However, when her emotions stirred, the pendant would change. A slight hue of blue appeared when she felt sadness, while a warm golden tone emerged during moments of happiness. If anger or fear took hold of her, the gemstone would darken, turning a deep, unsettling black.

“Shall we continue then?” The elder asked, looking between the two of us with a soft look. We both nodded in unison without breaking eye contact. The elder cleared his throat and the crowd went silent . “Lucian Silvermane, do you take this woman as your mate, allowing her to mark you and become one with you, your second half for all eternity. To love her, to comfort her, to guide her and to honor her for as long as you both shall live?”

She staggered, gasping, as the two forces—the temple’s seal and the Heartstone—merged like twin storms colliding within her. The world faded at the edges. “Luna!” Rowan shouted. But she didn’t fall. She opened. Visions flooded her mind—half memories, half glimpses of the future. A woman clad in moon-silver armor. A battlefield engulfed in shadows. A wolf formed of starlight. And behind them… a man adorned with a crown of bone and fire, his eyes ablaze with ancient longing. The foe they dreaded. The foe coming for her. Luna’s legs weakened. The light from the symbol surged up her arm into her chest, intertwining with the Heartstone’s glow. Her fingers quaked as she gripped the stone floor.

Not just to survive this demotion, but to prove myself, if not to Sebastian yet, then to me. Hours passed. The sun shifted across the window, highlighting the sterile walls. My fingers ached, my eyes stung, but I couldn’t stop. Not yet. Not until I had control again. A text from Lily appeared: Lunch? I’ll bring it to you. I smiled faintly, a small comfort. “Thanks,” I typed back. Not hungry anyway. The door clicked again. My pulse jumped. But it was the cleaner, whistling softly as he moved down the hall. Nothing to see here. I straightened in my chair, posture perfect, expression neutral. Calm and calculated.

My wings were gone, leaving my back raw and exposed to the sudden frost. Inside me, the silence was worse. The frantic beating of the child’s wings had stopped. The second heartbeat was a void. "Restart," I whispered, my fingers digging into the slush. "Please, restart." I crawled toward Kael and Ronan. They lay three feet apart, their bodies already beginning to coat in a thin layer of white frost. Their shared ledger was a dead line, a wire with no current. "Amara, get up." Liora’s voice was high and tight.

Slumping against a boulder, I booted up the encrypted communicator to send out my final transmission. Then, I thought of so many people. I thought of the lonely streetlamp outside the orphanage, of the New Year when Nathan and I shared a single bowl of instant pasta, of him kneeling by my hospital bed and saying, "I only want you." I also thought of the view of his back as he carried Veronica out of the fire. In the end, I thought of my parents and of the words carved on their tombstone. "My body belongs to the nation, and my heart belongs to you."

The drug took hold, and her world slowly faded to black. Through the haze, she saw Matthew vanish into the shadows of the factory as Olivia let out a faint cry.

The two things were entirely different. Yet the king of Velmoria had not said so. He had told her, very plainly, about the wolf-debt. He had not uttered a single word about the secondary pulse in her chest, even though it was currently the loudest thing in her body in the soft yellow light of the blue chambers. And the King of Velmoria—who had carried her for three days west across his kingdom in his own arms, who had measured her shifts by candlelight in a forest clearing, and who had personally ordered the gowns in her wardrobe—was not the kind of observant man who would fail to notice a second heartbeat in the chest of the woman he held.

“Why didn’t you leave me alone? You crept me for weeks and made me have nightmares… Horrible ones.” “We, Lingerings, are wishes from the past. Born from hatred towards the world. We feed on the lively and sleep in the shadows. I want my will to be realized; the one who died giving birth to me had a wish, he wanted. If you don’t help me, I will stick to you until you do.” “What can you give me in return? What kind of help can you provide me?” I frowned smiling.

“Whatever’s inside… it was meant for a Dragonheart.” Rowan unrolled the parchment slowly. The edges were scorched, but the ink was still bright, written in deep crimson that shimmered like blood in firelight. Her eyes scanned the first line—and her breath stilled. “Kai,” she whispered. “Look.” He leaned closer. The First Dragonheart shall rise when the world burns… But the Second shall rise when the world breaks. Rowan’s heart thudded hard enough to shake her ribs. Kai’s jaw tightened. “Second? As in another one?”