Kingdom Hearts: Kingdom Hearts: Light Chaser

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Takehiko listened to Illiana speak. Listening to her attempt to lecture him on a "divide and conquer" strategy bothered him immensely. If there was anyone who knew the benefits and losses to that kind of tactic, it was Take. But what bothered her the most was when she said he 'can't hide behind Torrin and Atmos forever'. The boy paused for a minute to make sure he didn't just go and start getting irrational. But before he could even speak, Illiana had left the room. And that pissed him off even more. Take crossed his arms and murmured to himself, "I am not, nor have I ever hid behind anyone..."

Maybe the stranger who jumped in to ask Atmos for training literally a day ago should try to get to know her peers first before she runs off to do whatever she does alone. Mope to herself? Meditate? Arson? I don't know, but her walking away after trying to act like she's some wise sage is annoying, and unhelpful.

Take looked between the rest of them, he wasn't getting the impression anyone else felt the same way. It... made him feel weak. He didn't like that. Take straightened himself up, and his face went back to it's normal blank slate state and Take spoke in a distant monotone, one he had been hoping to abandon for quite some time, "Alright, whatever you say, Master. Can't make any promises you'll come back with all of us though but-" Take shrugged and turned around saying, "-guess there was never that guarantee anyway." and Take left the living room before anyone else could say a thing.

 

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Chrono was quiet as he listened to what Atmos was saying to them. Torrin had taken it up to himself to inform her after their missing teammates. After that he had gone back to his thought, trying to put together why the Light Chaser would want a princess of light in the first place. Not that there was much about them that he knew in the first place, but still what did TInarah have to do with any of that. Seeing that Atmos had turned her attention directly to him, he refocused in on what she was saying to him.

"What do you mean I'm not ready!?" The words practically flew out of his mouth. Wasn't ready? He didn't care if he was ready or not right now, if there was a way to find where his sister had been taken to then he was sure that he would go. Chrono had once more clenched his fist in the new found anger that was building up. "Just what about me isn't ready?"

 

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Not ready...

The words cut like a searing knife through Glyde's already uncertain mind. Normally, such words would be little more than a setback, a minor inconvenience that could be overcome by simply proving the person that spoke them wrong; that could only work if the person being spoken to was not convinced of their lack of readiness. To someone thoroughly sold on their unpreparedness, however, the damage they could deal came in spades. Glyde was one of the latter sorts of people when he heard Atmos say 'not ready.' Though he knew that she meant for the specific task she was to take up, the front of Glyde's thoughts took it more generally, applying it to the overall situation, and the road that stood ahead of him. Her words confirmed for him what he had told himself he already knew.

"We're not strong enough, maybe?" he said aloud, speaking up for the first time since the confrontation in the throne room. "It took all of us, plus someone even stronger, to defeat that Leviathan. Besides, two people can keep a low profile better than eight, or ten, or however many of us there are." He didn't wait for any responses from his peers. He stepped forward from the group, pursuing Atmos. "Master..." he spoke awkwardly, and with a lengthy pause. "I wonder... is there anything you can show or tell me as far as... actually fighting? The whole hack and slash approach... err... hasn't exactly been working for me. And I'd be disappointed to not be able to offer much when we're in danger."

 

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The truth behind Atmos's words had struck Chrono hard, but instead it redirected his anger. His lack of power was the reason that he left to be trained in the first place. So to hear that his progress was lacking, no matter how true, was disheartening. A sigh was the sign that he had relented. "Right."

 

Illiana stopped in front of a bench that was nearby the abode. She sat down on the bench and released a sigh. She looked up at the sky to see the stars shine bright in the night sky. Illiana looked back on the events that had just occurred back at the abode. Was she a little harsh on Take? Probably. "Ugghhh....Sometimes I hate having a conscience. However...if we're focused on the worse to happen, nobody is going to be able to save anyone let alone help." Illiana sighed before closing her eyes. Moments passed in silence before she opened her eyes again. "Koa...Where are you? Something doesn't feel right but I can't determine what it is yet." Illiana paused before sighing. She stood up and fixed her dress. She picked up her umbrella and began making her way back to the abode. Once she returned, Illiana walked up to Master Atmos and Torrin before they retired for the night. "Pardon me Master Atmos but I have a favor to ask of you." Illiana took a deep breath before speaking once again. "Should you find the person responsible for Tinarah's disappearance, can I ask that you deliver a message?" Illiana paused before looking at Atmos and Torrin once more. "Oblitus dicere salve ad te iam soror?" Illiana stepped back before bowing. She rose up once more before walking to her quarters for the night. She looked back at Atmos and Torrin once more. "If my theory is correct, they'll know what it means. I would appreciate it if you didn't translate that sentence. Many thank yous and pleasant dreams to you both." With that, Illiana walked out of the room. She had passed by where Take was and stopped for a moment. Did she want to say anything right now? She shook her head before continuing to walk. If I say anything right now, he's just going to get angry. Best to let him collect his thoughts and calm down. I'll probably say something tomorrow before we head out. Illiana lied down before resting her eyes for the night.

 

Chrys made no attempt to hide her scoff.

"It would be uncharacteristic, but... people will do what they feel they must." She seemed to go from scornful to sad in an instant, sighing tiredly as she filed away the information about the Heart of Atlantis for later. Hopefully Dentro was right in his assumption and the crystal had been kept out of the wrong hands.

"Whether or not it's him, we're going to be having a long road ahead of us." She wasn't sure she had ever felt so tired in her life, and at only the idea of what lie ahead; but she made a show of playfully punching Dentro's shoulder anyway. "I'm gonna hit the sack. I... have a lot to think about." She playfully smiled his direction as she waltzed out the door. "If she wakes up, try not to get eaten! A headless Dentro would just look plain gross!"

 

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Takehiko was up just before what would have normally been sunrise. That was normal for him, and he pretty much never changed that. The boy sat outside staring up at the castle trying to finally take in just how beautiful this place was. The way the homes were built and how softly everything just seemed to glow a bluish color. He didn't exactly see a lot of blues in his homeworld, perhaps the sky if he dared to look up at it in the day when dragons weren't constantly coming at him. Take took in a deep breath to let the fresh air into his lungs before the cold turned into warm, and he reached into his pocket to pull out a small stone that was carved into and dyed to look like a red swirl. It was not a perfect swirl, in fact the corners of it seemed to be slightly off and the swirl jutted out to make a tiny tail towards the end. He tossed the stone around in his hands a little before unconsciously bringing it up towards his heart. He held it there for just a bit before he put it away and stared at the scenery once more. Waiting for their orders to leave, or for someone else to interrupt the quiet.

 

Illiana opened her eyes as the light of morning shined in the room. She sat up and rubbed her eyes before looking at her surroundings. She swung her legs over to the ground and stood up, stretching out her arms. She looked out the window for a brief moment before picking up her umbrella. She walked out into the hallway and made her way to where Take was. Illiana sighed for a moment before whispering to herself. "I really don't like having a conscience sometimes....No matter." Illiana walked in as Take was looking at the scenery. "I'm guessing you didn't get much rest if you have that look on your face that says 'Reflecting Time'." The girl felt the tension in the air for a moment before speaking up again. "Do you have a minute to spare?" Illiana waited for a moment before speaking up again. "It's about what I said yesterday."

 

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Take turned his head towards Illiana when she had walked out into the area. When she mentioned his sleeping he thought about it, he didn't think he had too little sleep, he was used to getting up this early and he would have felt weird sleeping in. When she mentioned speaking about yesterday, he thought about it for a second before saying, "I don't have time to 'spare', I consider a conversation like this essential time." he spoke with a rather flatly monotone voice, one he was rather used to speaking around those he considered strangers. He shifted a bit so if she wanted to sit near him, or just lean back against the wall that she was able to and he asked, "So whaddya wanna say about yesterday?" he was not sure how this conversation was going to go exactly, so he'd rather sit back at let her have the reigns on this one.

 

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Following his somewhat early waking, Chrono had found himself a quiet place to sit. Ideally he didn't want to be bothered right now, but after everything that had happened yesterday it wouldn't be surprised if someone had walked up to him after seeing him. The passing of the day had given him time to truly calm himself, but it didn't fix how he felt about the overall situation. Outstretching his hand, he briefly called forth his keyblade long enough to get a quick look of it and proceeded to let it vanish in the same flash of light that had summoned it. He may not have known just how much progress he needed to make to not be a liability in the event they came across the light chaser and for all he knew it could've been an impossible gap to close in short time. Chrono slowly reached into his pocket and pull out the pocketwatch that he kept on hand, perfect for moments like this. The slow, constant ticking had started to ease a bit more of the doubts he held. Breathe Chrono, just take this one step at a time.

 

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The sudden knock on the door made Aria sit up with a snort. She sat there dazed for a moment, smacking her lips and looking around the room in a sleepy manner. She did not even see the sun up yet, and wondered what time it was. Granted she was used to getting up at early hours in the morning because her life on the farm, but she didn’t have the best sleep. Her night was full of tossing and turning, thinking about everything that had happened yesterday in a short period of time. She was finally in a deep sleep when it was suddenly disturbed, but she figured she got all the rest she needed.

Groaning softly after stretching her arms above her head, she slipped out of bed. Finding it to be a bit cold, she grabbed the quilt on top of the bed and wrapped it around herself. She padded to the door with the quilt dragging on the floor, and opened it partway. When she saw a familiar face, she smiled a little. “Oh, hi Koa.” Her hair was a mess, sticking up in various areas, and her eyes looked rather tired. She yawned and turned her head away to save him from the potienal morning breath. “What’s up? Is it time to go?” She asked as she hugged the quilt around her body and then ran a hand through her messy mane.

 

Illiana scratched her cheek for a moment before replying to Take's question. "I'll admit I may have been a little too harsh in regards to what I said." She placed her hand on her hip while her other hand was holding her umbrella. She paused for several moments before speaking up again. "Some of my words and actions may have hurt you and for that, I apologize." Silence filled the air once more. Illiana was processing her next sentence before she would even speak again. After another few moments, the girl spoke once more. "However..." She paused. "You shouldn't let the worst case scenarios impair your thoughts or actions....If that's case....Whatever's eating at you, don't let it become a war in your head." Illiana sighed before scratching her head. Few moments went by before Illiana spoke up. "Just trust Master Atmos' plan. It might not be the ideal plan but we can cover more ground this way. Besides she'll be with Torrin so she won't be completely alone." She paused again than continued. "Alright that's enough of the serious gloom for one conversation....Judging by your face yesterday, I'd imagine you have some questions for me so out with it. " Illiana placed her free hand back on her umbrella awaiting for any questions Take may have for Illiana.

 

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Takehiko took the apology fine, he wasn't exactly sure if he was even angry at that little bit anymore, but he must have been since he knew what she was talking about. If it was genuinely something he didn't care about, being reminded of it would have made him not feel anything. But it didn't matter. She kept mentioning looks on his face and he touched his own face thinking about it, he didn't exactly think himself an extrovert. Not by choice, but by necessity. He only recently started giving polite smiles to people he trusted, he never laughed, he knew his anger got out without him liking it, he never cried, he tried not to worry... but concern on his face was apparently very easy to spot and he never could quite get over it. Take thought about her question and said out loud, with his voice cracking slightly as he attempted to break the monotone, "Who... are you?"

Take paused for a minute and he realized what exactly he asked and he waved his hands slightly as he said, "Like... not the basic hello my name's Illiana I mean like, who are you?" Take realized that might not have gone through and he rubbed his head in frustration over himself, "Like... where are you from? Why do you want to be a keyblade master? Um..." Take seemed to kind of stare off at the city for a moment trying to think of another question and asked painfully, like it was question he didn't exactly go out of his way to ask, but was trying to get into the conversation, "What... do you do for... fun?" He almost asked it more like he was trying to figure out of the word 'fun' was the correct word to use there and his eyes shifted awkwardly as he heard a little mewl and Nini hopped on up from their hiding space onto Take's lap and he gave her some scritches, "I uh... I'm not good at asking questions... Master has been trying to help with that... I've always kind of just... done things without question... so... it's very new to me."

 

Illiana listened as Take began to ask his question. "Who... are you? Like... not the basic hello my name's Illiana I mean like, who are you?" Illiana placed a finger on her cheek as if she was thinking. She took several moments before Take asked another question. "Like... where are you from? Why do you want to be a keyblade master? Um..." Illiana continued to think before finally opening her mouth. "There's only so many answers for just one question. Buuttt......I'm from a place called Stella Nihil...A world that resides near my old home, Solara Lua." Illiana paused for a moment before speaking again. "As for the keyblade master reasoning....that's....." Illiana paused once more for dramatic effect. Seconds passed before her voice ringed out again. "Classified info!" With a hand on her hip, Illiana smiled to break the serious moment. Take continued to ask his questions once more. "What... do you do for... fun?" Illiana pondered once more before coming up with her answer. "Well to answer that....anything to keep me from being bored!" Illiana raised her arm up to her shoulder, having her palm facing up. She looked up at Take as he spoke once more. "I uh... I'm not good at asking questions... Master has been trying to help with that... I've always kind of just... done things without question... so... it's very new to me." Illiana placed her free hand back on her umbrella as Take finished his sentence. Illiana walked around while she spoke. "Well it's a start. Just keep at it. Oh! I forgot there was a question I didn't answer yet!" Illiana stood in front of Take once more before answering the remaining question. "The Divide and Conquer thing I said yesterday, it may be a bad plan in terms of the current situation but it's the best thing we can do for now." Illiana began to make her way back inside. She turned around and saw Nini on Take's lap. Illiana looked at him before speaking once more. "Only reason I bring that up is because.....I speak from experience. Now as for who I am......allow me to reintroduce myself....you are in the presence of Lieutenant General Illiana Salavic of Solara Lua's Imperial Army." With that, Illiana went back inside to see if anyone else had woken up. Before she went through the door, Illiana looked back. "We should probably head back inside Tacky. Don't stay out for too long." Illiana went back inside the abode.

 

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"Hm? Oh yeah, I'm peachy," she said as she leaned against the door frame. She slipped and flailed her arms, catching herself as she wrapped the quilt tightly around her again. "Oh, he did? That's nice," Aria said with a nervous chuckle as she could only imagine what she looked like to Koa right now based on the look on his face. She blinked and then lifted her eyebrow, looking down to see the gold bracelet. "Ooo, pretty... That's really nice too," she said quietly as she took it from him. She studied it for a moment, wondering if she should take a gift from this unknown being... But it would be rude not to. He did save her life after all, which hung over her head.

Shrugging to herself, she moved inside of her room and laid her wrist on a dresser. The quilt fell away from her shoulders and landed in a pile on the floor, yet there was nothing to hide from. She was in her clothes from the night before, having changed out of them, only to change back into them once more just in case she had to leave in a short notice. "Koa, do you have a hard time sleeping? Cause I sure did last night." She stuck out her tongue as she concentrated on making the clasp fit on the other part of the bracelet on her wrist. "It's probably cause I'm away from my teammates and Master Choma... And I'm still a little confused on everything..." She sighed out and blew a lose strand of hair from her eyes and then tried the clasp again. "Like... how exactly does the Light Chaser see me as a princess of light? Can he read auras or something? And how do I know for sure I am what he says I am... If he'd told me I was a chicken, I'd half-believe it right now, you know?"

 

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Take listened to her explain her homeworld, he was a bit annoyed by how she wouldn't say why she was becoming a keyblade master, and her fun answer was relatively generic but he didn't know what else to expect from that. Take heard her response about the divide and conquer and when she mentioned her rank he was taken aback. A lieutenant general? That wasn't exactly a rank to sneeze at, it may not have been at the top of the totem pole but it was something that he definitely had respect for but something was... off about her. For one, her discipline was virtually nonexistent and he refused to believe that she was even in the army with the way she carried herself. Takehiko listened to her decide to go inside, and he watched her shut the door and he sighed a bit and leaned back.

She didn't care about him or his past, she just wanted to talk and make sure they were on good terms. Take almost didn't like that, but he at least understood it. He was hoping maybe this would lead to a back and forth, for him to be able to try and connect with her, but she didn't. Maybe that was her military discipline kicking in where she didn't want to divulge more than necessary and kept herself from forming connections with partners? He didn't actually know.

Take sat in silence for a bit and looked down at the purring Nini and whispered low, "Am I doing this whole thing wrong, Nini? Should I be trying to connect less with people in this way?" the tiny black cat didn't respond, but she did hop off his lap and walk over to the door to claw their way inside.

She must have been hungry. Take understood. So the boy picked himself up and said, "Alright we'll try to get you a meal in quick before we head out... I probably should eat too anyway." and he walked back into the house with the cat in tow. Nini mewled as she sprinted across the room towards the kitchen and Take sighed and said to the cat, "Meowing won't make the food come faster, it'll just make you angrier."

Nini meowed back and Take saw the whole group gathering in the living room and stopped, "Oh, you're awake, Are we already heading out?"

The cat meowed even louder and Take cringed up and said, "I'll be back in a second."

Take came back not long after with a well-fed and happy cat sleeping on his bag and he had an orange peeled already he was very happy to munch on with some toast as he smiled a bit at everyone and said with his mouth a bit full, "I'm all set."

 

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Right when Chrono had chosen to put the pocketwatch back in his pocket, someone had spoke to him. That wasn't a surprise as he had fully expected someone to check on him should they spot him sitting by himself. The surprise was in who had walked up to him. Torrin. Chrono still had some concerns regarding them, but they weren't the highest priority right now. "Of all people, I didn't think you'd be the one to find me." Chrono got up from his seated position and turned to face him. Come to think of it, despite being a lower priority for the time being, there was still something on his mind that he needed to ask Torrin. "One thing first, back in Eventide Town were you looking for the Light Chaser or one of his comrades before you ran into us?"

That was among the many things that he wanted to Torrin earlier and didn't have the chance to do so and this may not have been the time to ask all, if not most, of the questions that he had. At the very least he would ask that one and decide if the rest needed to be asked depending on what answer this question was given,