Aria forgot that Illiana didn't like to converse as much as she did. The girl fell silent, feeling like she couldn't speak freely anymore. Speaking of family seemed to have struck a raw chord with Illiana and whilst Aria had her own opinion of practicing piano and then not playing it for a while, she kept that to herself as well. She didn't even know why Illiana wanted her to humor her right now if she seemed to not like talking to her much. It was then Chrono appeared and greeted them. She smiled a bit and waved. "Good morning. How are you Chrono?"
"N-No, I meant that it sounded like you've still been practicing over the years and hadn't forgotten how to play." Aria stood up when Iliiana told her it was time to head up and followed after her. "I think it's very important. I don't even know my own family. I mean, I know my aunt and uncle, but they're not really my aunt and uncle... I still love them like family. I know I have parents, but I never met them." Aria instinctively felt the family ring on her finger. She wondered where they were going to go or what they were going to do, but she figured she would know once Illiana took her there.
Since Aria was told not to break anything at least two times, Aria chose to sit in a chair and fold her hands in her lap. “It sounded like you didn’t take a break,” Aria chimed in with a smile. She looked around the room at the various photographs. She didn’t have any photos herself of her family. She didn’t even have one of her birth parents. “If you played early this morning, I really didn’t hear it...” because I was having a nightmare Aria wanted to say. But she decided not to bring Illiana into her personal problems. “I play pan pipes, and the flute! I haven’t played them in a while though...”
"I’m not hiding," Aria piped up. “I’m just quietly watching and trying not to disturb you. It was nice playing,” she said with a shrug of her shoulders. “And thank you...” Aria was prepared to leave the girl in peace, but Illiana asked her to tag along. Raising an eyebrow, Aria trotted after her, walking one step to the side of her. “Okay...? Not that I don’t like adventure and mystery, but where are we going?”
"So you think she came here herself?" Aria asked with a raise of her eyebrow. "Huh..." She looked out the window to see if she could spot the Flammie, but she seemed to be off and about. "Anyways... I'm going to take a walk around the castle." She bowed respectfully to Master Choma before she straightened herself. "It was nice to see you Master Choma. Maybe we can spare sometime? Help me get my skills sharp and ready to go, you know." She chuckled and then waved, turning around and headed out. As she walked down the hallway, her smile faded bit by bit. She sighed out heavily, and then lifted her head when she heard the piano music. Curious, Aria headed in that direction of the castle, wondering who could be playing. She knew Tinarah knew the violin, but she wasn't sure if she knew the piano too. After a moment, she found her way to the room where the piano was to see no other than Illiana sitting there. Aria frowned a bit, not wanting to bother the older girl based on the way she treated her in the previous world. But the music made her want to stay. It was kind of jazzy and catchy, making Aria's heart bounce a little. She leaned against the door frame, quietly watching and listening to Illiana play the piano
Aria covered her mouth and giggled when Master Choma referred to Gurgi as a dirty mop. "Gurgi. The dirty mop creature's name is Gurgi. He's an interesting sort of fellow, that's for sure. And I would never forget about you Master Choma! That acrobat training I did with you, it really came in handy on one of the worlds. I kicked a crazy evil clown in the face." Aria stepped back from Master Choma to do a round-house kick in the air with a smirk on her face only to slip a bit. "Oops." She caught herself and straightened to attention, saluting with a smile to show she was okay. "Only it was more graceful than that, and I jumped off a keyblade glider and did some flips in the air on the way down." She hadn't quite regained all of her strength from the nightmare attack, but she didn't want to tell Master Choma about it unless he was already informed. She was trying to carry on like normal to not worry anyone, even though she was near death much earlier. It was as if nothing had happened and she was her chirpy self and that was the way she was going to carry herself for as long as possible. "The dragon? She came with us from Prydain. I don't know how though... But she blasted through the ceiling at the Light Chaser. It gave Torrin time to get us all out of there. I think he called it a Flammie... So far she seems friendly."
Aria finished her breakfast and spent the rest of the time alone staring out the window. So much had happened that it felt like it was months from when she first started out on this adventure... but it had been only days. She knew she changed dramatically in that short bit of time, but there was a bit of her that she held fast to. She still held some optimism, she had her light, she was willing to fight no matter what, and she still cared for her friends. She saw Illiana walking back to the castle, and watched her a moment, wondering where she had went to earlier. She sighed out deeply, looking at the hills and mountains out there for a moment before she looked back at her ring on her finger. Would she ever want to meet her parents? She did feel like a piece of her was missing not knowing much about them and where she had originally came from. She loved her uncle and aunt deeply, finding herself being more grateful for the life she was raised in even though some times were hard, but she also longed to know of her birth family. Aria scratched her head, then looked at her long hair. There were parts that were singed from battle and damaged. Pressing her lips in a thin line, she decided she needed to take care of herself and get ready for the day. More strength had returned to her thanks to the breakfast Torrin brought her, and so she scooted off her bed, walking carefully to her bag. She dug around in it until she pulled out two pairs of scissors; one was large, the other small. Nodding in satisfaction, Aria walked to the wardrobe and opened it. She found her outfit, and a clean towel, a hair brush and a comb, and then went to the bathroom to begin her work. She showered all the grime and dirt off of her first, then took the time to wash through her hair. After a while, she turned off the warm water and stepped out to face the mirror. Wiping off the extra fog from the mirror, she started to detangle her hair. She was surprised to see that it reached clear past her bottom. She realized she hadn't done anything with it at all except trim it. But now it was ruined higher up, and it was time to say goodbye. Taking the large scissor in her hands, she hesitated for a moment before she began her work. The deed was finally done many moments later. Aria found a broom and dust pan and a garbage bag and cleaned up her mountain of hair she had collected. Once all of her mess was cleaned up, she glanced at herself in the mirror, feeling her hair. Her head felt so much lighter and she looked completely different. "Well... what's done is done..." She then dressed herself for the day, and styled her hair in a new way, still keeping a braid in it. Spoiler: New Look Aria slowly moved out of her room with the bag of cut hair in one hand and her empty breakfast plate and cup in the other. She could hear music floating through the air and smiled to herself as she made her way down to the kitchen. She found a large trash can and plopped the bag of hair in there before she looked up and saw Take and Qamar there. "Oh, good morning," she said with a bit of a smile. She didn't want to tell them about the nightmare attacking once again. Not unless somehow they already knew about it. It was still a thing her own mind was trying to wrap around, and she didn't want anyone else to worry over her so much. Seeing that they were conversing with one another, she then moved past them to not bother them, washing and drying off her dishes thoroughly in the sink before putting them back up. She turned to leave, only to see Master Choma had gotten up and was taking his dishes to the sink. "Good morning Master Choma!" she said with a bow of her head in respect and a smile. "Here, lemme take those," she insisted, taking the dishes out of his hands and began washing them the same way she washed hers earlier. "How are you? It feels like it's been forever since I last saw you."
Aria raised an eyebrow when Torrin told her to sit tight. She then giggled when he instructed her to call him if she needed help while she was gone. She thought it was kind of pointless with Boreas standing right there, but she figured he meant for when he actually left her be whilst he talked with Boreas. She watched him come in the room and put the plate down and then smiled warmly at him. “Thank you Torrin. It looks lovely.” And then she was alone. She carefully took the plate, still smiling as she saw Torrin’s attempt to make some sort of breakfast sandwich. It was a sweet gesture to say the least. He didn’t have to get her anything, yet he did so. Taking the sandwich in her hands, she began to nibble it a bit at a time, not minding it being slightly lukewarm. It was substance after all.
Training started today... there really wasn't time to lose with the Light Chaser practically on their doorsteps. Still, Torrin hinted that Aria was going to sit out for a bit because of her current condition... or infection as it was called earlier. She glanced up to see Boreas there, but Torrin was quick to say they were fine and dandy. Torrin mentioned breakfast, and with the door open, the smell wafted into her room. Aria's stomach growled loudly and she clutched it, smiling sheepishly. "It does smell nice," she said. But she didn't think she could get up and go get it herself. Feeling a slight chill in the air, her mind probably still playing tricks on her, Aria grabbed her blanket again and wrapped herself in it. "Why don't you go on ahead Torrin," she said with a smile. "I'll be alright."
Aria smiled a little when Torrin mentioned one of the good things was meeting others like her. His past life seemed difficult to say the least, maybe sometimes dull and overbearing. She wouldn’t know if she could handle that kind of pressure. Perhaps that was why Grandpa Gero wanted for her to grow up in a quiet place, away from all the politics and turmoils of the worlds. She didn’t know if she herself was an actual princess or not since the Light Chaser told her she didn’t have to be a princess to be a princess of heart, but she figured she was placed on a simple world to be raised accordingly; not knowing if her destiny or what she was. She sighed out a bit and then glanced to the window, then back at Torrin. “Well... how long until we start training...? If we have time, I can look at your coat and see if I can mend it. It may not look exactly how it looked before... but at least it won’t fall apart. And if you want, I can teach you to play the flute,” she said with a smile. She then pushed the blanket off of her and then made herself stand from the cold floor. She was a little wobbly and quickly sat back down on the edge of the bed. “Work you darn legs,” she said in a low voice to her lower extremities. She forgot that just a bit ago she almost froze to death... these brushes of death were starting to become common for her... which probably wasn’t a good thing. She looked at the chain on the floor, studying it carefully. “I don’t want to just throw that away,” she said softly, pointing at the broken bracelet. “Now that I know who it used to belong to... but I don’t know where to put it... and I don’t want it to get stuck on me like a finger-trap again if I touch it.”
She was starting to feel a little better talking with Torrin. She still wondered if she was going to be a problem, but if Torrin could sit with her and talk her out of her degrading thoughts, then she figured others could be patient too. Even though Master Kaio said she had an infection with the nightmare. "I grew up on a farm," Aria said with a shrug of her shoulders. "It was a very simple life... We raised chocobos, and we grew grain and hay." She rested her chin on her knees, snuggling in the warmth of the blankets that were wrapped around her. "I used to help out around the farm all the time. And when we had pests or predators, like the wrenfel I talked about a while ago, I helped keep the workers and the chocobos safe from them." She found a loose thread on her blanket and fiddled with it between her fingers, thinking back to those days. It seemed like so long ago even though it only had been a year. "What I did for fun... I used to ride my chocobo out on the farm, sometimes to hills and plateau swhere I could watch over everything and see the storms rolling in, or the sunsets and sunrises. His name was Dubble, my chocobo I mean. Usually chocobos have really fluffy yellow feather,s but Dubble had brown and cream colors mixed in his feathers." A small smile was starting to form on her lips as she talked about her previous life. "I used to play the flute a lot... well, I played it too at Master Choma's castle. That, and pan pipes. I liked to cook and bake too with my Aunt Anja. She taught me how to sew and make jewlery. That's why I make so many bracelets. It just... calms me. Sometimes I make art pieces too with nature... Just silly stuff." She looked over at Torrin. "Soooo, what did you do for fun? You told me you tried to ride this huge griffon heartless before. What else did you do? And where did you get that coat," she asked, pointing at the article of clothing Torrin had on.
"Well that's not very nice," Aria mumbled towards Torrin's comment of her not being so bright. "I seem to be hearing that a lot lately," she sighed out. She fell silent when Torrin placed a hand on her shoulder and she forced herself to look up at him. She nodded her head when he asked her if she remembered the day when Quietus attacked and knocked them both out. She listened as he spoke, her lips and eyebrow creased in concentration. Her aunt and uncle hadn't spoke much of her parents, or where she came from originally. It was always hushed hushed, and hardly ever did Aria think to ask to dive deep into her previous life before being on the farm. She was told she was barely a few days old when she came to Aunt Anja and Uncle Lanar. But to hear the possibility her mother was attacked by darkness and Aria herself was born with what hit her mother made sense to her. "That explains so much... I've been having the nightmares since I can remember. My aunt told me I had them ever since I was barely a year old. The thing would just make my dreams have a creepy vibe and only got creepier and scary as the years went on..." She took in a deep breath through her nose and adjusted the blanket around her. "If it can really be beaten... that'd make my life ten times easier right now," she said with a hint of a smile. "How can you help me help myself...?"
"Or when I'm most vulnerable," Aria said softly under her breath, referring to the time with Quietus. She then saw movements in the corner of her eye and felt warm hands touch her own hand and looked to see Torrin examining the Light Chaser's Bracelet. "What are you...?" But then he told her not to freak out... which made her wonder what in the world he was going to do. His eyes suddenly turned golden and the darkness seemed to grow around his hands. Aria almost yanked her hand away in fear, but Torrin's voice stopped her from acting rash. She nodded her head and took in a shaky breath, trying to steady herself as her hand trembled in Torrin's grasp. They met eyes for a moment, and then Aria looked down at the bracelet to see it glowing hot. Soon Torrin's power increased as well as the intensitiy of the glow, and Aria had to look away and close her eyes. She heard a snap and then the light faded all together, followed by a thump on the floor. Aria opened her eyes, glancing down at her wrist while Torrin was cheering about breaking it off. Indeed, it was gone. It felt weird not having it there right next to Mika's friendship bracelet, but it was a good feeling. "You... You did it." Aria breathed out with relief, rubbing her wrist as tears welled up in her eyes. She got off from the edge of the bed, kneeling on the ground as she gave Torrin a sudden tight hug. "Thank you," she half-whispered, her voice unsteady. She sat back on her heels and then her eyes landed on Torrin's hands, red from the heat and possibly burned. She sniffed and took his hands in her own, muttering the cure spell. Warm ribbons of green light wrapped around her hands before wrapping them around Torrin's, healing the wounds. "There... That's better." Aria forced a smile and then rubbed at her eyes to try to stop herself from crying. "Thank you so much, Torrin..." She sat back on her bottom, staring at the Light Chaser's bracelet now lifeless on the floor. "Master Kaio told me that belonged to someone close to the Light Chaser... Her name was Chryssa. She and the Light Chaser were students of Stamatis... and she was a princess of heart. Just like me. The Light Chaser was to keep her safe and had this for her... but something happened, and... she didn't make it. Not even with the protective spell on it..." Aria rubbed at her eyes with the heel of her palm, grabbing a blanket from her bed and wrapped it around herself instead of getting up from the floor, placing some of it on her head like a hood of sorts. "The nightmare... I couldn't scream... I was paralyzed. I couldn't move anything, and I kept seeing this small blue light here and there. Every time that blue light appeared, it got colder and colder... Master Kaio said Master Kide did something with the rooms, and they were keeping a close eye on me... He came in just in time and used some kind of heat magic to wake me up. He's going to tell Gra- Master Gero what happened..." Aria gripped the blanket tightly in her hand, fighting back the tears the best she could. "I don't know what to do, Torrin... I feel so helpless and vulnerable... I don't want to be a burden on anyone. I don't know why this is happening to me, where it came from... why it wants me. I'm scared..."
Aria winced when Master Kaio referred to her nightmares as an infection. He was being brutally honest, but it made her feel self-conscious. She watched him leave the room and hugged her pillow tightly to her, frowning deeply as she stared down at the bed. How in the world were they supposed to get rid of this thing? And how could she stay awake? When would she be able to sleep normally again? All of this mixed with the worries of being a princess of heart and avoiding the Light Chaser was heavily weighing down her heart. She then heard voices in the hallway, recognizing Master Kaio right away... The other one she figured she knew too, but she wasn't so sure. With Master Kaio gone, the heat left with him too. There was a slight draft in the room and she shivered as the cold felt like it went right through her. Scared to fall back asleep again, Aria tossed her pillow aside and scooted to get off the bed. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and stood up, only to feel super light headed and the room swayed in her vision. "Wh-whoa..." Aria sat down heavily again before the feeling went out of her legs and she held her head in her hands, taking in quiet breaths. A knock jarred her out of her thoughts and she looked up to see Torrin standing there. "Oh, Torrin. It's okay," she called to him. "You can come in..." She sat up a little as he walked in, trying to keep it together. She cleared her throat and then hugged herself, rubbing her arms to continue to bring back the feeling in them and stay warm. "I... wish I could say I'm fine... I had a nightmare again." She avoided looking at Torrin in the eye, and cleared her throat. "Can you... open the curtains and open the window...? I had them open earlier, but... Yeah, it had other ideas..."
“I figured as much,” Aria mumbled under her breath in response to Master Kaio explain his seemingly tough word to her. She resisted rolling her eyes at him as she shifted on the bed. She didn’t agree with him on his theory with the Light in her dreams. It felt just as real as the nightmare’s physical manifestations. Still, she wasn’t going to explain herself to this guy. She didn’t feel like he would get it. She felt a lot warmer now than earlier, the magic working well for her. There was still an ache in her being and she felt weak, but it was an improvement from being unconscious and almost dying... again. When Master Kaio said he would tell Master Gero what was going on with her, she frowned a bit. Then she remembered how different he was with her not that long ago. He wouldn’t always have time to talk to her personally, or spend time with her. He wasn’t the same man she grew to love growing up. “Thank you, I appreciate that,” she said as she rest her chin on her knees. “And thank you for staying with me. I’m feeling a lot better now.”
Aria laid there as she listened to the story, a small frown forming on her lips. She held up the bracelet to her view again, studying it carefully. This once belonged to someone the Light Chaser loved? She forgot such a foe could possess those kinds of feelings and was just as much human in emotions as the rest of them. Her eyes lit up a little as memories flashed in her mind. "There was something else, with the nightmares," she said in a soft voice. She forced herself to sit up, wincing as her bone seem to groan in agony. She took her pillow and hugged it to her to help with the aching, taking in a few breaths to allow herself to adjust to the new position. Finally, she glanced up at the master. "After I got this bracelet, sometimes there would be a light in my nightmares... It would call out to me. Or it would make the darkness shrink away..." She tugged at the bracelet, feeling it squeeze against her skin as she stared at it. "It sounded gentle... yet fierce. Maybe... Maybe it was her. At least, that's what I like to think. And I guess she hasn't appeared lately because I have others to help me through this right now." She looked to the door, wondering if anyone else had woken up. She didn't think she would be able to walk very far if she tried to get up right now though. She would have to join the others later. She looked to the man again and nodded her head. "Thank you, for telling me about the bracelet..."
“The original owner...?” Aria shakily lifted her hand with the LC’s bracelet on it, studying the simple golden band carefully. She recalled having to show it to Grandpa Gero and seeing him recoil from it as if it pained him. She furrowed her brow as she studied it a moment. It was sort of unsettling to her that this actually belonged to someone else. It wasn’t from one of the LC’s victims, could it? Did he kill anyone? She wouldn’t put him past it based on how everyone said how dangerous he was. She lowered her hand to rest back on the bed. “I want to know.” For some reason, Aria felt like she was treading in something she maybe shouldn’t know about. But if an explanation was presented to her like this, she didn’t see why she shouldn’t know about it if someone else knew what it was exactly.
So he knew about the nightmares. She supposed that Grandpa Gero said something to the whole council about it, which saved her from explaining herself over and over again to the masters. Aria shook her head again. "Never had anything physical happened," she spoke softly, "... The first night here was the first time it did anything to me." She was about to say it happened again in Hero's Sanctum, but then she remembered how that one turned out. Torrin went against orders to interfere with her dreams. She wasn't strong enough to sit up yet, so she wouldn't be able to get up and defend Torrin if one of the masters decided to storm off and give the boy an ear-full... Even if Torrin saved her in the end by stopping the thing from killing her. "I had the same nightmares since I can remember," she recalled. "A spooky figure... Not human, dressed in a black, ripped robe... Reeked of darkness..." Aria shuddered at the thought of it. "First it attacked others I didn't know or could see clearly... Then it gradually got closer and closer to me as the years went on... Then it went to grabbing me in the dream, then restraining me with darkness... trying to scare me I guess...? And now we're here..." She wasn't sure how much she should have opened up to this master since she didn't know him, but she figured he would relay her words to the others eventually. Or she would have to explain herself again.
Everything was gradually becoming clearer to her. She could clearly see the man now as he introduced himself. Right, it was the guy that told her she wasn’t so bright at the last council meeting she was in. She could hear the annoyance on the master’s voice, and she didn’t want to waste anyone’s time. Aria slightly shook her head to answer the question if she was injured, and then shifted her body. The feeling in her nerves hadn’t all returned and she winced as the ache radiated through her being. She swallowed hard and decided to stay put. “Just achy...” she honestly replied in a hoarse voice. She took a shuddering breath in, closing her eyes for a moment. “Thank you,” she mumbled. She felt like she was being an inconvenience to this Master, and sort of wished she could see a familiar face. At the same time, she was glad they didn’t see her like this. Still, she was grateful someone was here to pull her out of the nightmare just in time. Fearing to fall asleep again, Aria’s eyelids fluttered open. She wondered how Master Kaio figures out she was in trouble, having missed him saying outloud that Master Kide did something to the rooms, but she didn’t want to continue to waste the man’s time and stayed quiet.
Another wave of ice overcame Aria right when Master Kaio walked in. Her breathing was shallow and slow, the cold overcoming her being. She didn't respond right away to the magical heat that engulfed the room, and slowly was slipping out of her thoughts all together. Aria's body glowed with a pale blue light only to disperse sending icy shards towards the man interfering only to turn into flecks of melted water that splattered throughout the room. The frozen tear on her cheek melted, rolling down her face and on her pillow. There was a moment where Aria stopped breathing, only to take in a shuddering breath a few moments later. The warmth gradually wrapped around her being, coursing through her aching bones and muscles. She grimaced as feeling was returning to her once more, and then her eyes partially opened. Everything was all a blur, and the girl couldn't make sense of anything she was seeing. She saw a figure standing nearby, but he didn't appear to be solid with the heat waves surrounding them. She tried to talk, but found she didn't have the energy to even utter a sound for the time being.
