He could only shake his head as 'Terra' walked past the two of them. "It's equally as amazing as how foolish you are if you think that any of our friends would just agree to help you." Kel retorted as he remained firm before turning to maintain eye contact. Should these 'negotiations' turn to combat, then he wanted to be as ready as possible to react. "Our goals may be the same right now, but beyond that, I don't trust that you don't have some form of ulterior motive."
Even though Kel could see the logic behind his words, there were two main factors that were truly hindering it. The first had been the overall tone he'd spoken in. It wasn't a deal he was giving out of the kindness of his heart, but one to further his own plans. PLans that could come back to bite them later. The next was the general lack of trust Kel had for him. So when Orion looked away from Karina to him, he took in a breath before giving his answer. "Information like that is very given and take. You said you wanted to be part of the seven lights again, that Terra needs to be trained to 'your standards', and what about after that? Who's to say that you won't demand more of us in exchange for the knowledge you're offering. Information like that may be of great use to that, but I won't make a deal with the devil to achieve that. Even if it means forsaking an easy means of getting rid of this damn mark Nequa put on me!" He'd rather deal with that than condemn everyone else to dance in yet another person's hand just to advantage one of the many issues that daunted over them.
Unlike Karina who had her suspicions about Terra laid bare, Kel's own suspicious had been slowly growing throughout the conversation. Certain points did make sense, such as being unable to leave this world as it was the same reason they were unable to use their own gliders to traverse the worlds. Then there were the inconsistencies such as his earlier claims of escaping now turning to him having just woken up here. Not mention the so-called secret exit that sounded way too convenient given what they had to do the leave this world a year ago. "Say we did take you to where Master Eraqus was, what then? You still won't be able to leave this world."
He just escaped? Ven had been turned evil/stuffed into a suit of darkness, Aqua was still MIA and yet Terra was able to escape. It sounded odd to him, but for the sake of not starting any pointless arguments right now, he would keep those doubts to himself. The same sentiment was not shared regarding what Terra had said next. "Warn them about what exactly?" Kel asked, dismissing his keyblade as its purpose had been served. It couldn't have been good and with Ven now tagging along with them, it would affect the rest of them now as well.
As much as it sucked to admit it, Karina did have a point. Their defeat had been sound and it had been proven time and time again that their enemy was more than capable of beating them in combat. Nothing about this really made sense, but he could only hope that it wasn't part of yet another scheme that they were walking right into unknowingly. Just as he was about to speak they were greeted by someone else, them being completely unfamiliar to him and also having a keyblade as well. He couldn't up to raise a brow in surprise when the man introduced himself as Terra. "To answer your first question I'm Kel, that's Karina and as you can see we don't plan on harming you otherwise we would've done so already." He summoned forth his own keyblade to further show that they all were keyblade wielders. "As for your second question, both Ventus and Eraqus are here. I can at least tell you that."
Kel waited to see if anyone else would take him up on his offer, but when it showed to just be Karina, he simply turned and headed off in a random direction. That random direction had ended up taking them to the training grounds and along the way, there wasn't a single sign of a creeping shadow nor person. At the very least the lack of people could be explained by the meeting. "To put all that effort into taking this place only to just up and leave does not put me at ease really."
Now that the meeting had started he would need to find something to do to kill time until it was over even though when it did end it would still be better if he didn't know what was talked about in there. His eyes scanned the immediate area, admittedly still finding it a bit odd that there was no one else here besides them, then looked to Karina. "I know DJ said that there was no one here beside us, but I'd feel a bit better if I could confirm that for myself. Wanna tag along?" It was directed at her, but anyone that was just hanging out while the meeting was going could tag along should they desire.
"Well other than Nequa and her group, there's also The Hellfire Club and No Heart. He and his followers led a massive attack on this place the last time we were here. We had managed to hold off against the first massive horde of heartless, but we were forced to retreat after the next wave showed up." All the more reason why after all of that this place being a ghost town was unnerving, but if after all the precautions being taken and still nothing up was found, then he would allow himself to relax a bit more. Seeing Eraqus again after this long was a different kind of surprise. "I'd like to think he'd love to see you first thing when he wakes up." Kel said to Ven.
Kel really could only nod after Karina glanced at him. "None taken. I'd rather not be in a meeting like that unless we can somehow stop her from spying on me." However that would work, he still wasn't sure how that brand on his shoulder allowed for her to hear everything he did. He looked to the group that they currently had and nodded again. "I'm going to agree with Karina that they are probably our best bet as representatives."
From the moment they had arrived to the now empty halls of Central Haven, there was this sense of unease that lingered. It had been a whole year since they last been here and fought that massive horde of heartless and yet now there wasn't a single sign heartless here. Just remembering that incident sparked the dull pain in his back once again. "It feels like we're being allowed to get in this far." Kel whispered back, his eyes still scanning around in the event there was something that stood out beyond the silence.
"That makes sense, a wooden weapon is much safer to practice with." Unless your instructor doesn't hold back of course. Much like Ven, Kel at first didn't have much luck in finding clothing that interested him. Most of what he found was pretty standard save for the last that he had grabbed. Before potentially making this purchase he was certain to try on the outfit that he had picked out and for the second time doing so, they fit him well. So he paid for them and put them on once again before catching up with Ven. "I'm a master, haven't been one for long though." He said as he led the way back to the ship.
"Hmm, yeah I can see that." It was a certain vibe he got from the few times he actually spoke to Master Eraqus "Well, my dad did teach me how to fight, more with a wooden sword and less with a keyblade." He wasn't entirely sure how much about the keyblade his father even knew about, though that distinction was never a problem with how he could just transfer that to fighting with a keyblade.
"A clothing store, just as soon as I can find one." The task itself shouldn't be too hard to find as most of the places were good about displaying to some degree what their wares were, or there was just a sign that did the same. In some cases, there were signs with a picture on them, such as the one he would just barely make out in the distance. "What kind of teacher was Eraqus by the way?"
For having just agreed to head back to the ship and wait for everyone to regroup there, Ven was the only one who actually attempted to walk back there. It was a good attempt, but one clear wrong turn would've left Ven going the completely wrong way and so he quickly went to catch up to him. "Since everyone else is still roaming about, mind if we make a quick stop before heading back?" He may have still questioned the hair thing, but at change of clothes could help at least.
And just like that Ven was now officially a part of their team of misfits. "Don't worry about slowing us down, you'll do fine when you get the hang of things." After all, he did only recently wake up and likely still had a bunch of questions, in general, to be answered later. Kel then looked to AJ after he had suggested looking for the others. "Wouldn't it be better if we just waited back at the ship for everyone to return?" He didn't know who else had actually walked off the ship nor where they would've gone. If they went back they would be saved a massive search in this world.
After Luna had left Kel looked back at his reflection in the mirror. First, he focused on his eyes, then to his hair, wondering if by obscuring his vision that it would hinder what Nequa could see as well. To do that would mean to somehow get his hair back to how it was when he was a kid when it often ended up covering his eyes. He hated that, but it was something that he might consider depending on how much thought he gave it. He was surprised to see that Beuce had approached him, even more, when he spied Ven waving at him. Kel listened to Ven asked the first batch of his question, taking time to recall what he knew before answering. "I don't know the specifics, just what your Master, Eraqus, told me when I first arrived. You, Terra, and Aqua were all abducted by masked keyblade wielders, Nequa, Vanitas, and one other we haven't see in a while." He decided to do Aux a favor and not inform Ven that Aux did just to work with the one who kidnapped his friends. "We only just found you out of sheer chance, but nothing on your other friends. Sorry."
Kel didn't have anywhere particular in mind when he had left the ship, so he'd ended up making his way through the middle of District 2. There were a fair number of shops around him and he found himself eyeing the various wares through the window as he walked. A few things did catch his eye, but for now, he had no intention of buying anything. Luna walked off the ship and proceeded to look around her new surroundings. She decided to take the time to walk through the whole town and see what it had to offer. The girl walked into the 2nd District saw various shops lining the streets. As she walked along the streets, she saw Kel just up ahead. After all that had transpired aboard the Sanctuary, Luna was a bit concerned about him and how he was feeling about everything. She took a moment before walking over to Kel. “Perusing the shops, are we?” Luna looked into the window to see what items they were selling with a small smile on her face. She looked back at the boy. “Was there something you were going to purchase?” "Oh Luna, not really. Really just looking for some sort of distraction." That being said, it wasn't accounting for any other store that he might walk by. This was only the first shop that he's been to and it was slightly tempting to purchase something. "What about you?" The last time he saw her was before he was briefly taken at the summit and immediately following that he was way too lost in his thoughts to really notice anything else. Luna listened as Kel was perusing as a distraction more than just mere window shopping. She shook her head before answering Kel’s question. “I merely wished to take in the sights this town has to offer. “ The girl looked around the streets once more before looking back at him. After everything that has taken place, it made sense why Kel would want to take his mind off of it. Luna didn’t have much to say on that subject. It was more so she couldn’t find what words to even offer. Luna looked up at the stars before speaking. “It’s truly a wonder how such a beautiful sky such as this could connect to other worlds.” A small smile came across her face. “Wouldn’t you say so?” Luna looked over to Kel as she asked her question. Kel looked up to the stars above and found himself stricken by the same sense of awe he had felt upon seeing a waterfall for the first time. Thinking about it, this was the first time that he's taken a look at the stars with the knowledge that there were other words out there. It was a magnificent sight to be able to take in with all that in mind. "It is, I won't deny that." Kel then let out a sigh. "It's a shame that Nequa can see this sight as well." Kel agreed with Luna’s comment on the starry sky. Luna kept her eyes on the sky before Kel let out a sigh. She turned to the boy as he kept his eyes on the stars. He then mentioned Nequa able to see the same stars through his eyes. The princess lowered her head and cast her eyes towards the ground. She wanted to say something immediately, however, she knew if she didn’t choose her words carefully, the conversation would not end well. Luna took a couple of moments to gather her thoughts before opening her mouth. “Let her take in this sky.” She paused before speaking again. “Allow her to fill her own eyes with this wonderful sky. This very sky will continue to share its wonder with everyone.” Luna rose her head and looked at the sky once more. She took a few more moments to gather her thoughts again. “Answer me this Kel...” She paused. “With all these events that have occurred, what are you feeling?” She was definitely worried about him regarding everything that has happened. Perhaps Luna would be able to help Kel, even if she wouldn’t be much help, she wanted to try. He turned his attention away from the stars above and back to Luna, it was easy enough for him to surmise his feelings right now. "Conflicted and uncertain. I feel like me being with you guys could end with someone getting hurt if not worse because of it." Messing up was nothing new to him, but the severity of these circumstances was not doing him any favors. He felt bad enough when he'd learned that he was doing so unwillingly and to do so without some sort of means to preventing it sucked just as much. Luna listened as Kel went on about his feelings about the events thus far. She nodded her head before turning her head forward. She took a few moments to collect her thoughts again. What could she say to him to try and ease the conflict he was feeling? On the one hand, she couldn't really understand what he was going through. On the other hand, she could sort of understand. It was almost the same feeling she felt when Mira's soul was still confined in her body. The fear of hurting someone unintentionally, the fear of committing heinous crimes that you weren't able to stop yourself. Luna cast her eyes down before opening to speak. "I can almost relate to that feeling in a way. It's very understandable why would be feeling that way." Kel had no idea what it was Luna intended to tell him once she had heard his feelings on the matter, but whatever it had been it was safe to say that he hadn't thought that she would be able to relate to that at all. "You can?" He was aware of the weight that she did have upon her shoulders by being an actual princess and having a whole kingdom to look after and protect, but from what he knew she wasn't alone in that regard. She had both her brother and Koa to assist her whereas he wasn't sure how anyone could help him. Luna nodded her head. She expected the confusion in his voice when he asked. She took a deep breath and tried to figure out how to best explain her situation. "Well...I did say almost." Luna scratched her head before continuing. "There was some complicated circumstances that went on prior to my being with you guys. It even went on during our time together." She closed her eyes and recalled her days with Mira. "To put it simply, when our kingdom was first born, a war broke out, in which we called 'The Tragedy'. During the first Tragedy, a rampaging murderer went on and on. She wasn't always like that, mind you. When she was getting out of hand, our first queen separated her soul from her body." Luna paused for a moment. "The queen sealed her body away in a place nobody would find her. Her soul, on the other hand, the queen took it upon herself to keep her soul safe. She cast a spell that made sure her soul would be protected by royal blood until the day the criminal's soul would reignite once more." The princess looked up at the stars, recounting a few memories. "Emphasis on Royal Blood." She chuckled for a moment before looking to Kel, giving him a few moments to process her story. The blue hair teen stood attentive for the tale Luna had to tell and at first, wasn't sure what to make of what he was being told, but he listened all the same. It wasn't until the end of the story in which pieces started to fall into place into one coherent picture. A picture that had rendered him speechless at first and only speaking when he had drawn his conclusion. "The murderer's soul was put inside of you until it reignites again? What's going to happen to you if it does?" Luna kept her head up, with her eyes still gazing out at the stars. It had seemed like he was putting the pieces of her story together as a look of confusion spread across his face while coming to a conclusion on her story. Kel asked his questions, questions Luna expected him to ask. The princess nodded her head as she closed her eyes albeit for a brief moment. She opened her eyes and turned her head to the blue-haired boy. "To answer the first question, yes. As for the second..." She paused before turning her head up again. "That problem has already been rectified." She closed her eyes and turned her head down. "There was more to the First's spell than what has been spoken about." Luna looked at her left hand, palm up. "In order for her soul to reignite, one requirement must be met." A slight smile spread across her face. A few moments passed before she spoke again. "The bearer must under an extreme amount of despair or upset." She paused. "Then and only then will her soul awaken once more. Once that happens, the bearer's days will be numbered if her soul is not expunged immediately." The princess grabbed her right arm before looking back at Kel. "But no need to worry. The situation has been resolved." There had been a moment where Kel was concerned for Luna's well being as the rest of the spell had been explained to him, but she had said that it was resolved so those concerns faded slowly and his body did relax. It was good to know that the soul of his friend wasn't at risk of being overtaken by the soul of a murderer. "That's a relief and here I thought having someone permanently eavesdropping on me was the worst that could happen, but that certainly takes the cake." At the end of the day, he was still in control of his actions, something that couldn't be said if the whole soul issue with Luna hadn't been apparently resolved. As Luna finished explaining, she saw Kel's body relax a bit. Considering she never really went into detail about her situation, she understood the relief that went through Kel as she informed him of the resolution. She chuckled for a moment before answering. "It was definitely something. But it wasn't exactly a 'walk in the park'. If I'm using that phrase right." She put her thumb under her chin with the rest of her hand over her mouth as she pondered for a moment. "She had her control over me a rare amount of times but if I recall right the only people who would've seen that would be Steel, Karina, and..." Luna tried to recall the last person but their name wasn't coming to mind. "There was one more person but for the life of me, I can't recall who they were." Try and try she did but nothing bore fruit. The princess shook her head before speaking again. "I'm sure it'll come to mind eventually, however, it kind of saddens me that I can't recall them." She took a deep breath and shook her head again. "Anyway, despite all the trouble I went through with her, deep down, all she wanted was someone to listen to her. To let her vent out her frustrations, to have a shoulder to lean on." She paused. "And I was more than happy to do just that. I still am. Regardless of what had happened in the past, that doesn't mean she's forbidden from getting a second chance. To live life on her own terms, on better terms." She walked forward a little bit before turning to Kel. "The point of our story is that regardless of what your circumstances are, you are still you. You still have a hold on who you are. You get to decide how you move forward. Only you. No one else can make that decision for you. When things get difficult, you know you are never alone. You have people beside you who will be more than glad to help you carry your burdens." Luna walked up to Kel and place a hand on his shoulder. "All you have to do is ask and help will be right around the corner." She smiled at him, hoping her words brought even the slightest comfort. He could only imagine just how badly that must've gone if Karina had been one of the first people to see it. Steel he couldn't imagine reacting too negatively nor positively to that either, just not as strongly as the way Karina would've. Kel did give Luna some time to try and remember the mysterious third person, but when nothing came to her he left it as is. Everything about this reminded him of when they had done the same back on Pocahontas's world. It hadn't been too long since then and yet here he was already being roadblocked with another issue. One step forward and two steps back. He was getting good at that song and dance, annoyingly so. "Yeah, knowing that I have you guys does help." Which was also why it bothered him so much, he didn't want to lose the people dearest to him because of his own mistakes. All of this built up and lead him bringing out his keyblade and looking at it. Resolute Heart, supposedly a sign of his resolve to move onward without looking back. A task he did manage to keep to even with all of the hesitations. "If only I can decide how I want to move forward, then I'll press on without letting this cause any of you guys harm." It wouldn't be easy, but that was why he had them to lean on if the going got tough. The girl nodded her head as she listened to Kel's resolve. He knew the road ahead would not be an easy path but he knows he won't be bearing that burden alone. It had seemed as if Luna's words were able to get through to Kel. She smiled at the boy before turning away. "It would seem those feelings of uncertainty aren't as strong as they were before, are they?" She turned her head back to the boy as she chuckled for a moment. She turned her head back toward the front, with her arms behind her back, hands linked together. Luna started to walk away before stopping in her tracks. "Miravel." Luna spoke, pausing for several moments. She slightly turned her head to Kel. "Her name is Miravel Salavic." Luna paused again. "And she's one of the most honest people I've the honor of calling a friend. I'm more than happy to tell her story again and again if it means I can help someone, even if I can only help a little bit." The princess smiled again. "I'm always around if you're ever in need." She nodded her head before she walked away.
It shouldn’t have been any surprise that the first thing that awaited Kel as he attempted to clear his thoughts was an endless fog. What was supposed to be a clear path could hardly be seen. Not the most inspiring of sights and that alone was the least of his problems. Form within the fog a singular voice echoing out, sowing its own seeds of down "We're still watching Bravo... ain't nowhere you can go without her knowing..." The chilling reminder from Hotel had stuck with him, creating this fog of uncertainty that he was now venturing through. Even with the decision to keep tagging along with his friends something that he didn’t want to take back, but the potential consequences of these actions were the true hindering factor in all this. Enough to the point where the fog of his mind only got thicker the deeper he went with the words of Hotel continuing to ring out around him. This attempt to clear his own head was met with little success as he was soon brought back to reality by the announcement form Shiro that they had arrived at their destination. Kel’s eyes opened to see a pretty average sight. Everything seemed normal, outside the voices of the kids they had run into back on Montro and Beuce leading Karina into an alleyway. Something that would’ve worried him a bit more is it not for everything that was currently going on in his head. Eventually, he got up from his seat and walked out of the ship, waving at the trio to show that he did in fact notice them. Here seemed like a good place to find some sort of distraction from everything.
Having already said his farewells to his dad there wasn't anything that Kel had left to do before heading aboard the ship. While not intentional, he'd ended up taking a seat that wasn't near anyone for the time being. It was something that could change quickly when everyone else started boarding. For now, though he would have the time to attempt to sort out his thoughts. The choice of just up and leaving or sticking around was no longer running about in his head, the same could not be said regarding any doubts. He took in a breath and closed his eyes to allow his mind to focus on his thoughts. Doubts were the main thing on his mind. A Siegend never loses his cool How true that was he really couldn't say, but he's done a pretty poor job at that all things considering. If that was the case though, then he should start trying to uphold that. Baby steps to be done alongside everything else.
It would be easy to just right it off as them messing with him, but all the evidence that pointed towards that made it hard to just do so. Still, to take back their base of operation? It was a course of action that Kel hadn't really considered them doing at all so to suddenly hear that from Shiro was surprising and yet still did nothing for the internal crossroad that he found himself in. Something he could do however was to properly speak to his dad again before possibly leaving again. "Hey, kiddo not exactly what I had planned for your first day back, but here, always tomorrow right?" He smiled patting his son on the back. "Unless of course... tomorrow needs a raincheck?" "Yeah, about that." Kel found himself taking in a breath. He couldn't back down now and this was something that he did know he needed to do. "For as better or worse this maybe, I'm going to continue traveling with my friends in this adventure of ours. I need to see this through to the end." "Yeah, kinda figured that's where you were headed... wouldn't be my son if you didn't," he smirked. "I'm proud of you, son... drop me a line when you come out on top, will yah?" He pulled him in for a tight hug and hardy pat on the back. He put his hands on both his shoulders. "You sure everything's gonna be okay?" Something about being told that he was proud did help left his mood a bit. Just enough for him to be able to crack a smile. "I will and I'll explain why I left when I do." He owed his dad and especially his mom that much. "Honestly I'm not sure. We've gotten lucky this far, but even that hasn't been without losses." Each comrade's face still remained in his head...right? Odd, it felt as if there was a blank slate in his head but the reason seemed to have been lost on him. "Well, I have faith in your son. And if you ever feel in distress, just remember... A Siegend never loses his cool... very important with women also," He chuckled Kel chuckled at that too. "I'll definitely keep that in mind dad." The doubt still lingered, but this talk did make him feel better about the decision to keep going on this adventure of theirs.
