Kingdom Hearts: Kingdom Hearts: Light Chaser

As they walked Torrin informed her that they had rescued Aria already. There was a smile on her face to hear that. "Good... I couldn't keep my promise." She sounded a bit upset but kept going. Walking through the portal she felt the chill as they go to the mountain castle, before they warmed getting closer and in through the door. She relaxed as they were in the warmth but she was still shaking a little bit. "The Light Chaser... he sent me back but.... I was on a bridge and Chrono found me. I tried to tell him about Aria, but he got mad cause I wouldn't calm down. He threw me off the bridge..." Tinarah repeated the same basic story she told people when they asked, it was all she could think to do, not knowing how to expand on that at the moment.

Boreas asked where to bring Master Gero and while he was asking Atmos, it was Tinarah who lived here a while before. "Upstairs, last room on the left is my room...." She offered. She then leaned more heavily against Torrin. She hated having to rely on him like this, even tried to push off and move on her own. A couple steps had her near collapsing again as she caught herself on the wall and looked to Atmos for help before she finally tried to tell them what she needed right about now. "Food..." Her stomach grumbled almost in response. She didn't know how to explain that she hadn't eaten for a week, but she didn't know how much longer she could go like this. ​

 

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Torrin watched as Atmos rushed to get Tinarah something to eat while he watched over her. "Come on. Have a seat." He said, helping her into the main hall where there stood the chair of the master of the castle. He helped Tinarah sit, figuring no one would mind the slight breach of protocol. It felt strange to be back in a castle. Despite the fact that the decor was different and that this belonged to a master in the Realm of Light, the halls and the air about the place brought back memories of home. Perhaps it was the way Tinarah seemed to look at him but something about this situation reminded him of something that happened a long time ago.

Spoiler

Episode Torrin
Fear
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Torrin extended his down to his Holt to help him up after their training session. Despite being a year younger than Torrin, Holt was just as tall and almost as strong as the fourteen-year-old. Still, Holt was not as tough nor as skilled as Boreas which meant Torrin had little difficulty knocking his cousin to the ground.

"You're getting better. Maybe one day you might even beat me." Torrin encouraged though Holt hardly seemed happy as he threw off his training gloves out of the marked circle and stomped out of the ring.

"First Nora, now Holt. Very good, my nephew. My children would do well to learn from you in the ways of unarmed combat." His uncle, a massive man towering over all of them clapped his hands together. "Still, the way of the keyblade is your destiny and you should not neglect it. Sparring with wooden swords will get you only so far and I've noticed your footwork still needs improving. But good work, Torrin. Keep at it. I'll see you tomorrow." King Joch passed Torrin, patting him on the head as he did so with Holt following the man with his head hanging low.

He had hoped to see his other cousin still there but she had left after losing her match to him saying that she felt better with a sword or spear than a fist. Sometimes she was temperamental around him and once in a fit of rage she had told him that it was because he was chosen by the keyblade yet neither she nor her brother had been chosen. He never held it against her but the words still stung to hear coming from someone who might as well have been his own sister.

Torrin pulled off his gloves and turned to head out from the castle grounds to retire at home for the day when the gentle sound of rustling grass caused him to pause and look around. His brow furrowed but he saw nothing when he searched his surroundings and so he shrugged and continued to walk.

"Torrin! Come here. I want to show you something." Torrin smiled on hearing the voice of his cousin Nora who was two years his senior. He rushed over to the girl who had been waiting around the corner of the castle walls and grinned at her. She motioned with her head to follow her back to the castle's grand hall. Uncle Joch's throne was placed close to the back, behind it were stairs that lead up to the chambers of the royal family. Torrin once lived here while his mother was still alive but the memories of actually sleeping in the castle were vague and all he knew of life there was what others told him like how he used to chase Nora through the halls. The memories of his mother, however, had more clarity to them but often left him in a state of melancholy.

"What are we doing?" Torrin curiously asked his cousin, having to raise his gaze slightly to look into Nora's eyes. The corners of her mouth curved upwards into a mischievous grin as she ran over to the other side of the hall, her footsteps echoing in the stone room, as she crossed to retrieve something she had stowed away behind one of the pillars.

"We're going to spar with something a little more entertaining. Come on, it'll be fun." She held a sword in each hand, each clearly shining brighter than the dulled swords he had seen used in training sessions by the castle guard.

"Seriously? A sword isn't a toy so put that back in the armory, Nora."

"What? Are you afraid you'll get cut?" She teased.

Torrin rolled his eyes knowing that this wouldn't stop unless he played along. Besides, he knew how to handle a sword and Nora was not about to get the upper hand on him. "Fine. Gimme. Just one round, okay?" He spoke figuring that this would end quick and easy and he could go home to catch up on his studies.

"Yeah sure. Whatever." Nora responded casually as she handed him the other sword and twirled her blade deftly in her hand a few times in some kind of attempt to intimidate him.

He gripped his blade with both hands and lunged forward aiming the tip of his sword for her hand hoping that just poking her would cause her to drop her weapon and give up immediately. Nora twisted her sword to catch his blade on her crossguard and suddenly closed the distance between them to kick Torrin square in the stomach knocking the air out of him and sending him reeling. "Too slow!"

"Not fair! Use your sword! Don't kick! There's no kicking in sparring with swords!" He complained as he released the sword from the grasp of his right hand to place on his stomach and wince. "Ow..."

"You think anyone on the battlefield would care about rules?"

"No...but we're not on a battlefield!" Torrin lunged again only to have his sword parried effortlessly thanks to his haste and in trying to recover to strike again he felt his leg give out when Nora kicked him near his knee which caused him to grit his teeth to prevent from yelling out. "What gives!?" He growled and glared up at his cousin.

"I heard about that little game you played yesterday with one of the royal guard. You pulled out your credentials and said something along the lines of being the heir to the throne and therefore he had to fetch you a glass of water. Do you recall doing that or not?"

Torrin blinked, confused as to why Nora would be bringing up something so unrelated to anything while berating him for calling her out on the etiquette of sparring. He slowly rose back to his feet and resumed his defensive stance once more but before he could question Nora on her behavior she began an assault of her own, her blade cutting through the air with ease making a high swishing sound with each swing. The force of her attacks and the speed at which they came forced him to back away and his concentration had been so focused on keeping her from hitting him that he could not stop to ask her to calm down. Eventually, as he noticed that he was being backed into a corner, he knew the only way to make her stop was to retaliate and on the downswing of her sword he kneed her in the gut, stunning her, and used the opportunity to drop his weapon and pry her own from her hand.

Nora fell to her knees and hunched over, coughing and wheezing as she struggled to catch her breath. Torrin's eyes widened and guilt overcame him as he moved to her side. "I'm sorry! Are you alri-"

Almost instantly Nora jumped on him and made him hit his face against the cold stone. Her weight pressed on his back and he felt his right arm being twisted behind him as she gripped it tightly. Pain seared through his arm as hot blood dripped from his nose. "Stop it! Why are you doing this!?"

"You don't get it do you!?" Nora screamed in his ear. "You're supposed to be our king one day and you're acting like a stupid child! Did you get a kick from that damn prank of yours just knowing you had power here? Where do you get off smirking at my brother and looking down on him like he's some kind of weakling?"

"What are you talking about!? I'd never-Ah! You're hurting me!" His arm was twisted further behind him and no matter how much he struggled he could not break free. "Boreas dared me to-" The sound of bone breaking followed by his scream interrupted his words. He stopped struggling, tears now staining his face and pooling on the floor his face was still pressed against.

"Coward! Hiding behind your playmate is a coward's move! You don't deserve the throne. You don't deserve to be a part of my family! You're an honorless disgrace to our people!"

"S-stop...please..." He begged but only more pain followed as she twisted his arm again.

"You never deserved the keyblade. All my father does is talk about how proud he is of you and how strong you've grown but look at you now. You're weak and gullible. You'd be dead if you were on the battlefield with how gullible you are. You actually looked concerned for me. Pathetic." Nora chuckled. "When I tell father how Boreas abused your power I'll make sure to have him and his family cast out. How's that for a joke?"

"No...don't..." Whether it was true that she could do it or not, the thought of losing one of his only friends there was too much to handle. The only response he received was another laugh from Nora. Torrin closed his eyes the feeling of powerlessness overwhelming him even more than the pain he felt and when he felt he could fall no further into despair that was when he grasped the feeling of a stronger emotion boiling from within rising to its limit. Torrin gave into it and allowed it to take hold of him.

A black aura enveloped Torrin. Nora yelped in pain as the darkness exploded off his body, knocking the girl back clear across the entire hall. Torrin stood up, his rage fueling his desire to make her hurt just as he had. Torrin looked down at the two swords laying on the ground then at Nora who now sat up gazing at her burnt palms as she trembled. Her eyes met his which were now alight with a crimson fire. His keyblade came to his hand and Torrin began to slowly approach her even as Nora tried to inch backwards and shake her head.

"No Torrin please...I'm sorry!"

"Now who's weak?" Torrin grinned and raised his keyblade but before he could bring it down on her he hesitated on seeing the fear in her eyes, her lip trembling as she broke down sobbing.

"I'm so sorry...please! I'm so sorry...I'm so sorry..." She curled up and buried her face in her knees. The aura that swirled about him vanished as soon as it came, his eyes now back to their usual shade of blue.

Whatever feeling of power he had in that moment was soon replaced by shame. He looked at his keyblade, the object that had driven his cousin into a jealous rage and threw it to the ground before turning to run out the castle.

Atmos returning with something to feed Tinarah snapped him back to reality. Soup. Torrin raised an eyebrow, wondering if he had zoned out for that long or if Atmos was just really good at making food. Either way, food was here now and the scent of steaming bowl made his own stomach growl. Torrin looked over at Atmos and narrowed his eyes at the woman but she already had a hand to her mouth to muffle her laughter. Torrin sighed, not pleased to be an object of anyone's amusement.

"I think I can fix it." Jim answered Illiana.

"Yes well it doesn't appear to be in too rough a state."

"And I'll lend whatever assistance you need." Doppler spoke up enthusiastically.

They climbed the mountain of gold and climbed onto the boat, B.E.N. needing Jim's help to be pulled up over and onto the old deck of the abandoned ship. The robot looked around. "Do you know what's strange? I can't tell you how frustrating this is...'cause there's something just--it's nagging at the back of my mind."

Seated on top of a pile of gold and jewels at the center of the deck was an alien skeleton wearing a dusty torn up uniform and captain's hat. Jim's eyes widened in surprise. "Captain Flint?"

"In the flesh! Well, s-sort of, except for skin, organs...or anything that--that--that resembles flesh...that's not there. And yet it's so odd. you know? I remember there was something horrible Flint didn't want anyone else to know but I just can't remember what it was." B.E.N. once more gave in to despair and began to sob. "Oh, a mind is a terrible thing to lose!"


Silver fell to his knees and ran his fingers through the gold pieces, savoring the experience. "A lifetime of searching. And at long last...I can touch it." The sound of a pistol being fired could be heard even from the marooned ship. Silver yelled in pain and fell over clutching his side.

The pirates had now gathered around Silver one of them holding a gun, still smoking, at their former captain. From behind the crowd Scroop stepped forward. "We'll be taking our share now."

"You blasted traitor! I swear when I get my hands on ya you'll pay for this! All of you!"

Scroop begain to approach Silver, his claws snapping at the old pirate to hold him down. "Do say hello to Mr. Arrow." Once more, streams of darkness began to rise from the red alien as he attempted to choke the life out of Silver, a grin crossing his face as he held the man down with his pointed legs.


Jim had rushed over to the edge of the ship, looking down the mountain of gold to see Silver being attacked. His hands clenched, remembering everything Silver had put him through but even though he had been betrayed the old pirate had still tried to reconcile with him. As hard as he tried, Jim could not deny that he still saw Silver as something of a father to him. "Hey! Can you fix the ship without me?"

"Me? Why yes, of course I can. This is what I do best!" Doppler responded.

"Guys, I need your help. I can't explain it but Silver is in trouble and we need to help him!" Without any further explanation Jim jumped off the side of the boat and slid down the mountain of gold before running back to the pirates.

 

Being lead to the table, once again by Torrin while Atmos walked away, Tinarah felt a little alone. She couldn't bring herself to trust Torrin, and the way he questioned her only made her feel worse about things. At least after Torrin helped her into a chair he seemed to zone out and pay no more mind to her. It felt weird, sitting in Master Choma's chair, a place where she had never been allowed. While Tinarah sat there, waiting, she summoned her keyblade to her, just staring at it for the longest time. Having her own back, not Chrono's it felt weird, and it felt like she had finally fully just let her brother go, moved on from that part. That being said the other family she wanted to turn to, might not even know who she was here, she knew that she might be on her own for a while until she managed to get stronger and send herself back to a world that needed help, a world that would one day be controlled by him.

By the time Atmos returned Tinarah found herself glaring at Torrin who was in his own little world. The longer she sat the more the aches in her stomach subsided to a mere whisper of what they were before, to a familiar feeling of emptiness that she had become used to during her time in prison. She knew she had over exerted herself earlier while escaping, likely causing her to really feel the hunger again, but she did what she needed to in order to escape. It was the only chance she got and she had to take it.

When the soup finally arrived she sipped on it slowly, careful not to eat too fast. The pain started to ease and ever so slightly did a little bit of colour seep onto her overly pail face. It took nearly half of the bowl of soup before Tinarah could bring herself to say another word, and at the pace she was eating, the others would have likely finished. "You might want to bring soup up to Gero for when he awakes. My bread was barely enough to sustain him." She informed Atmos before turning back to her soup, if only to try to hide the anger that she harbored towards Torrin at that moment. ​

 

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"Of course. Thank you for lending it to me." Atmos said as she returned the activator to Boreas.

"I don't suppose you have more for Gero, do you?"

"Already on it." Atmos was already holding another bowl and left to head up to the find the old man. At the speed which she reacted Torrin wondered if she was using her magic to aid in her cooking. A thought that never occurred to Torrin to do whenever he made food for himself. He wondered how many burnt meals he would have saved himself from eating had he used magic all this time instead. Too many to count, probably.

"Being gloomy is kind of my thing now." Torrin joked dryly as he folded his arms and looked over to Tinarah. He could sense some kind of negativity coming from her that was directed at him but he wasn't sure why. Given what she was talking about he could only guess that maybe she had hallucinated some version of him too that...also threw her off a bridge? "You don't need to give us the full story right now. It'll save you some breath to do it when we're all reunited."

"Before your...little time skip what was the last thing you remember?" He asked, trying to tone down the intensity of his voice. Given the way she spoke about the others it was hard to believe that she was anyone but who she said she was. He just wanted to see something from her that would confirm it though he wasn't sure what would really convince him.



Meanwhile...

Scroop yelled in pain when the electricity ran through his body. The pirate was knocked off his prey before he could recover and stared at the children with hate in his eyes. "You! You'll all pay for that!"

Jim sprinted over towards Silver and helped the old cyborg up to his feet. "Thank you." Jim looked at Aria. "All of you." He directed to everyone else.

"You came back..?" Silver spoke in shock. "Jimbo..."

"Not now. Let's get you to the ship you rusty pirate." Jim chuckled and started to walk with a limping Silver to safety while the others had Scroop covered. "Be careful. Please."

"No! You brats! I've been waiting too long to get my chance to get my claws on you. No one's going to help you now." Scroop threatened the group when they refused to let him pass to get to Jim and Silver. He snapped his claws at them and began to tremble, grunting in pain as something in his body began to change. His shining yellow eyes narrowed at the group. The darkness coming off his body only continued to grow. "I'll kill...kill...all of you yesss...crush your bones..." His voice lowered into a low growl. "Kill...Crush...Ki...Cru...." His words were no longer coming out clearly. As the darkness continued to build the other pirates who betrayed Silver panicked and began to flee. Soon there was an explosion of dark energy that obscured the red alien.

When the darkness faded there only remained a Heartless twice the size of Scroop and twice as hideous.

A BOSS BATTLE COMMENCES

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D-Links are ready!

Bright Eyes: 400/400HP

 

Boreas came down soon after she had spoken the first time. He had put Gero in Master Choma's room, which she supposed was more appropriate than her room. It wasn't like it mattered that much where he stayed just as long as he had a place to rest and food to eat, food that Atmos was soon delivering to him. She really hoped that Gero would be alright, Tinarah had done all she could to help him at this point, there wasn't much else she could offer at that point, it wasn't like he had any other choice to get them out of there, Tinarah had never been taught about portals, and she knew she would never be able to outrun Torrin with Gero, it would probably end up worse than Gero putting so much energy into opening the portal.

Boreas started speaking to her and Tinarah slowly looked up at him, trying to stop her glaring as she thought through all those two had put her through. "Look, I don't know. I don't know what happened anymore. I only found out last month, while locked in prison, that I was in a whole other realm, not just another time. When I saw him, that was Chrono, I would recognize my own brother. I was getting upset because he wasn't listening to me and he got mad. Chrono doesn't usually get mad, but I don't know I was never supposed to follow him in the first place, maybe he really was mad at me and let his emotions get to him. I was told I was being sent back to the others and I saw my brother, what else was I supposed to believe." Tinarah glared at Boreas again, her hollow looking eyes drilling into Boreas as she seemed to already be a bit out of breath from that rant.

From there Torrin continued to ask questions as well. Of course it was natural for them to want to know what happened, but Tinarah at least wished that it was Atmos, not the man... or a version of the man who had tormented her for the last few months. Tinarah let out a sigh as she pushed away her empty soup bowl, her stomach starting to feel a little better already. "I remember helping the people in that world. I was on a boat fighting heartless with a guard. I think I got knocked off the boat protecting the guard. After that a boy took me to Eventide town and I met the Light Chaser. He brought Aria too me but said she couldn't go home. He was going to send me home and I promised to bring her help. After that The Light Chaser opened a portal for me to go back to the others. I was on a bridge, saw Chrono, we got in a fight, and I was thrown off the bridge. When I woke up I was in a different time line." Tinarah gave him a quick explanation, clearly still not impressed with the questions. Tinarah looked at the bowl, wondering if she should ask for seconds, but a odd gurgling in her stomach told her that while she was hungry, eating too much after not eating at all would be a very bad idea. She put a hand on her stomach, starting to feel at her ribs that were more pronounced than they should have been. When she was training she kept in decent enough shape that she was reasonably thin, now though, even though it had only been just over a month, she was clearly underweight and just being able to feel that, it bothered her. ​

 

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Torrin folded his arms and thought over what Tinarah had said, picking apart her story. Her details describing her disappearance seemed to fit everything he had already heard but the mention of another realm and being imprisoned were what caught his attention. Nothing in his training from either the Realms of Darkness or Light ever told him of the existence of any other realm. With the exception of the Realm Between but that could not have been where she ended up. Not with the kind of portal she emerged from.

"Calm down, Boreas. It's alright for her to be on edge. After all, I nearly attacked her and her brother when we first met." Now it was his friend who had started pushing Tinarah for details and, though Torrin agreed with him on the assessment of the situation, felt that he was being too harsh to a girl who had seemingly nearly starved to death.

"Did I hear that correctly? You were in a different timeline?" Atmos jumped in having returned from leaving something for Gero to eat when he regained consciousness. "Master Gero will recover. He's stronger than he looks. Much stronger."

"Mm. Yeah. Also, apparently Tinarah was in another realm and imprisoned. Seems like a lot to go through for being gone for...what? Two days?" Torrin shrugged.

"So you're convinced she's the real deal?" Atmos raised an eyebrow and approached Tinarah, kneeling beside the girl to touch a hand to her forehead to make sure she did not have a fever from the ordeal. "I can make you some more food when you're ready."

"Pretty sure she is. I'm just...confused right now. We'll get you to the others as soon as you and Gero are ready to travel."



Meanwhile...

Bright Eyes roared as it was attacked and swatted two of its four claws at Chrono, knocking him over before charging forth towards the Take while its arms swung wildly in its wake. Illiana would have managed to block one of its angry claw swipes. Aria was knocked back in its attack and Bright Eyes stopped upon kicking Takehiko with one of its spiked legs. The Heartless screeched and snapped at the group with its four large claws frantically, shooting up gold in a sparking shower whenever it missed and buried its arms in the mountains of treasure.

Chrono took 10 Damage! (35/45HP)
Takehiko took 4 Damage! (56/60HP)
Aria took 7 Damage! (38/45HP)
Illiana Guarded the attack! (25/25HP)

Bright Eyes: 337/400HP

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The thing was, Tinarah at the time wasn't sure how bad The Light Chaser actually was. It was his student that saved her life, he healed scars no one else could. He rescued Aria when they had all left her for dead, then he offered to let her go. Tinarah didn't trust him fully because he refused to let Aria go, but still she was confused and conflicted about her feelings towards him when she left and Chrono found her. She wanted to say something, wanted to explain it all, but she didn't think he would take it that well, and Torrin warned Boreas to back down a little bit.

Boreas continued to push her on why she was looking at them how she was and Tinarah's mouth went dry as she opened to explain it. "Because you... you wouldn't stop him. You helped him kill the keyblade masters, you let him kill his wife, you let him kill Mika." Tinarah was about ready to cry as she stared at Boreas a moment longer before Atmost showed up questioning what she was overhearing. Torrin answered for her, which was fine, except that lead into a conversation that had Tinarah feeling like she was invisible. Right in front of her questioning the legitimacy of it actually being her. They couldn't have waited until she had gone to sleep even? It was making her rather uncomfortable.

Coming over Atmos checked her temperature as she offered to make Tinarah more food, but Tinarah shook her head. "I am not feeling well. I think I am just going to rest." Tinarah informed them as she excused herself from the table. She was still feeling weak, but the food had helped a little bit, and at this point she just needed to get out of the room. All the talk, how they doubted her and how they looked at her, it didn't sit well, even though Tinarah glared at them back. She needed time to clear her head, and there was still something she promised to do.

Heading to her room, Tinarah shut the door behind her and sat on her old bed. She caught herself staring out the window for a moment,daydreaming before finally summoning her keyblade. Placing it in the floor in front of her, Tinarah closed her eyes, picturing the kind face of the man who trained her. "Master Stamatis." She whispered sitting there anxiously until she heard a voice come through. Instantly she realized that she didn't know what to say, but she had to say something, she didn't even know if Stamatis would know who she was.

"Master Stamatis? I know you might not know who I am, or this sounds crazy.... but my name is Tinarah. I am...trained with you in the past, but it was another realm as well. I just needed to hear your voice, know that you were okay. Uncle... Master Fost as well. I need to know you are both alive and okay even if you don't know who I am. I am sorry to disturb you for something so stupid, but I just needed to hear your voice again, after all that I have been through." Tinarah tried to explain. She knew, she knew she sounded stupid, that is why she hoped somehow these connections that Gero said they would still have, ran deep enough for him to remember her. She felt alone with Torrin, Boreas, and Atmos, she needed someone on her side. ​