Kingdom Hearts: Kingdom Hearts: Light Chaser

Torrin had been about to tell him something, it sounded like something important that he had been thinking about for a while, perhaps his own return to the Realm of Darkness? It mattered not, not even the compliment that Torrin had given him about his good sense mattered. Something was wrong, very wrong and the two of them had abandoned the opportunity to talk with just the two of them for the first time in six years for whatever was happening inside and none of his training could have prepared him for the sight he beheld when he had entered the main hall. There was a man in a black cloak fighting Master Atmos and another man he didn't recognize. While he had seen fighters keep up with two opponents before he hadn't seen anyone simply block keyblade strikes with their bare arms. From Torrin's reaction, Boreas knew it could only be one person... it was the Light Chaser, their opponent was this powerful? Fighting two masters to a stand still while unarmed and doing so with an incredible ease... Torrin had fought against this for a year and not fallen? While Boreas had improved his skill on the field of battle he knew he was far from Torrin's equal.

Boreas derailed all the trains of thought when Torrin ordered him to get Tinarah and Gero as they needed to leave and quickly. Boreas activated his armour and summoned his own keyblade, if their enemy was here he might not be alone and Boreas wasn't going to let himself be caught even more unprepared. He should have seen it coming though, he had known that there was no sense in simply releasing Tinarah if only through a roundabout way to sow confusion, confusion among your enemies was useful but it should be capitalized on. Boreas went up the stairs taking a moment to drag Atmos back to her feet and rushing upstairs, he gave priority to retrieving Gero as a Master he was a capable combatant and a valuable asset. Boreas rushed for the room where he had left Gero, while wary of his surroundings prepared for an ambush. Arriving at the room, he found the master of masters still out cold, a shame but no matter. Boreas unceremoniously slung the older man over his shoulder keeping one hand free to wield his own blade.

Making his way through the Castle towards Tinarah's room he shortly arrived at her room, the door was closed. With no time for normal courtesy Boreas tore the door open and stepped through quickly scanning the room, finding Tinarah leaning against the wall. "Alright, Tinarah, unless you wish to die here, afraid and on your knees, I suggest you stick close to me. Torrin, Atmos and whoever the other person might be are combating the Light Chaser as we speak and they're outgunned, they're simply buying us time. We're burning sunshine here and gotta go, now, so follow me and try to keep up, I'll do what I can to keep you safe but we gotta hurry. I'd hate to have to explain to your brother how his sister got killed, so don't make me have to do that and go see him for yourself. You didn't make it through those five years just to fall short at the finish line did you?" Boreas said, wasting no time to turn around and lead Tinarah downstairs. If they were going to get out of here they might have to simply flee into the mountains and see if they could lose him there, after all Atmos had mentioned her portals didn't work so that's why she ended up in the Realm of Darkness, unless it was only the light portals that were useless, either way this was going to be either rather simple or a challenge and Boreas having seen the power and cunning of his enemy prepared for the worst. ​

 

​

Right when the desperation attacked looked like it was about to strike Chrono, everything had slowed down long enough for him to avoid being hit. Had this been the first time this happened, then he would've been confused and wondered about it more later. This was the second time however and the sole reason he was waiting was because of the Bright Eye heartless still poised to kill them. As such, he casted another thunder spell at the heartless.

HP: 23/45
AP: 28/28
MP: 4

 

"Maybe not..." Chrys began. "...But if we don't even try, how can we ever hope to accomplish anything?"

She burst forward with a jump attack.
​

OC:
Chrys Used Blitz

AP: 14/54
MP: 10/40

 

Illiana felt her body flying back as Bright Eyes hurled a dark orb at the group. Her body knocked back against a mountain of treasure. She stood back up, bringing a piece of her hair behind her ear. "You actually managed to mess up a part of my hair.....I'm not particularly fond when as so much as a single strand of my hair is out of place." Fire, once again, started gathering at the tip of her blade. She aimed it once more at Bright Eyes. "For that...burn you insect.." The fire that collected at her keyblade shot out towards Bright Eyes. Illiana then held up her keyblade in front of her to shield her from the enemy's attack.

HP: 16/25
AP: 30/30
MP: 2/20

 

​

The hit itself was hard enough, but after experiencing the gift of flight for 30 feet, Take didn't take the ground very well. The gold knocked up and nearly covered the boy and he began to feel faint, everything slowly turning black for a moment. Then he felt a warm sensation as he was healed and brought to his feet. A bit disoriented, he was surprised to see Silver stepping up. But once the cyborg ran ahead, Take couldn't help but smirk a bit at that, then the boy closed his eyes and used his keyblade to d-link. He felt a sudden connection with Atmos, even if she wasn't there, he felt himself surge with a bit more power and the boy lifted his keyblade to cure himself, then repeated that just the same and he took a deep breath and charged on back in once more, this time with even more force behind his swing and following it up with blitz and a couple more attacks. Then the boy leaned back into a defensive position to provoke him again.

HP: 25
AP: 10
MP: 0

 

​

Aria was hit back, but it wasn’t as bad as the other times. She saw Take and Illiana get knocked out badly and cried out for them, only for an unlikely hero jump in. “Silver!” It was a relief for someone else to jump in. She grinned and got to her feet, raising her keyblade in the air. “CURE!” Her cure spell went around Take and Illiana, helping them get up to better health again. She then charged forward, going all out with her attacks on Bright Eyes.

HP: 24/45
AP: 0 /22
MP: 4/20

 

​

There was little as a sliver of explanation given to Jim's dealing with Silver and his crew. Glyde, having made no attempt to veil his interest in knowing anything was, at first, disappointed and upset with the lack of a concise response.

It was a fleeting feeling, though, passing in and out in the same moment when the understanding came about from the continued conversation: Jim intended to lead Silver's mutinous band of pirates to the treasure. Glyde's thoughts defaulted to a sellout; Jim was going to let a rabble of thieves have their way. In a few hours, if not minutes, they'd dismiss any agreement of truce and execute everyone that had stood against them.

He struggled to shake this feeling off. He yearned to send a shot from his Keyblade straight to Silver's head... He might have done exactly that if he didn't have guns to the back of his own head.

After sometime flying, they had arrived at a cliffside. Amid hostilities from Silver, Jim opened the way to the resting place of Flint’s treasure. But there was no time to marvel at the wondrous mountains of richest around them. Almost as soon as they had passed through the portal, Scroop had dealt the (literal) backstabbing blow to Silver. A darkness enveloped the traitorous creature, and before his eyes, Glyde witnessed the transformation of an otherwise normal being into a Heartless.

With that, they had been drawn into yet another battle.

Glyde immediately rushed towards Jim, and retreated with him as he hauled Silver’s injured body to a safer distance. He relegated himself, then, to observing the battle from a distance; it seemed that there was little need for him to jump in at all, given that the other Keybearers seemed to be handling the fighting without much issue. Thinking it worthwhile to fall back further, Glyde began to step back, thinking to make a beeline towards the ship that they had planned to repair; if he couldn’t be of help in the fighting, he could at least do something to make sure that the repairs wouldn’t be hindered.

Then, however, a shot flew passed him on his left side and striking the Heartless. Glyde looked over his shoulder to see Silver, revitalized and fighting-fit. Hearing the rallying words of the veteran sailor, Glyde spurred on… not backward towards the ship, but forward, towards the battle. He knew he was late to get into the battle; but maybe that would be when he was most needed. He was, after all, unspoiled from the previous bouts, and the others had seemed to arrive at a recouping point, with cure spells being cast between one another.

Glyde, taking to a tactic that had seemed to work well for him in previous skirmishes, made a circling path aligning himself to the side of the Heartless Scroop. While still moving, he took aim, firing a Shot at the enemy. He continued moving, until he would find himself staring down the Bright Eyes’ back. Raising his Keyblade once more, he cast Fire, hoping that it could work to enough effect on a single target.
​

HP: 35/35
AP: 22/22
MP: 11/20

 

​

Chrono had been fortunate enough to block Bright Eyes's attack, something that could not be said about Illiana and Take who had each taken heavy blows. The sight of his two friends being hurt like that had caused him to gasp in shock just as Silver had arrived with words of encouragement towards them. His grip on his keyblade tightened as Chrono casted another Thunder spell towards the heartless. He followed it up with a blitz attack and one more strike with his keyblade.

HP: 23/45
AP: 8/28
MP: 6

 

Illiana felt the wind get knocked right out of her as Bright Eyes launched a devastating attack. Before she fell unconscious, Silver had immediately got her right back onto her feet. As she stood back up, she felt a healing light over her. She looked over to Silver and spoke. "Don't think I still forgot what happened back at the brig. I owe you nothing." She cracked her knuckles before grabbing her keyblade once more. She looked over at Bright Eyes and saw that it was growing weaker and weaker. She dusted off the dirt that landed on her shoulder and dress before a smirk crawled onto her face. Fire gathered around her blade once more. "I'm growing quite tired of this nonsense. And quite frankly, you're getting on my last nerve. So I'll be kind today and I'll be your savior and grant you a merciful death." With that, she casted another Fire spell. Illiana then ran over to the enemy and began striking it one hit after another. Strike after strike, Illiana unleashed a flurry of attacks, hitting Bright Eyes with every single hit she dealt. "It's over!!" With one last hit, Illiana landed behind Bright Eyes swinging her blade down and back at her side as she pushed her hair back away from her face. "As promised, a merciful death for you."

HP: 15/25
AP: 0/30
MP: 3/20

 

Spoiler: Episode Takehiko Part 3

A Matter of Time

Atmos had not shown up to give the lesson for the day. She had not been seen in the halls of the castle nor on the castle grounds but, at the same time, she had made no announcement that she would be leaving for business. That day, she remained in her room, her door locked, and speaking to no one.

Takehiko had been coming out of his shell a little bit more as the training progressed, it hadn't exactly been too long, but it still was leaving an impression on him. Or perhaps it was just being out of his homeworld environment that was allowing him to flourish. He truly couldn't tell. But he had been waiting excitedly and somewhat impatiently for the next part of his training, curious what possible thing he could learn today. But Atmos' seeming disappearance was odd to her, and he didn't remember the lesson being dismissed for the day or anything. So after waiting about an hour after the time declared, Take made his way over to Atmos' room and knocked on the door, "Master, are you in there?" he was at least hoping she was... well, okay.

Her room was nearly pitch black with the curtains covering the windows and the sole source of light in the room was a lone candle hovering in place in front of Atmos. When she heard the knock come at her door and her student speak she realized that she was late. She rose up, feeling that her knees were sore from having knelt down for so long, and went to the curtains to let in the sunlight. Her eyes stung.

Atmos snapped her fingers and caused a small gust of wind that blew out the candle and flew it over to lay on her drawer. She opened the door to greet Take. Directly behind her was a small portrait of a young blonde woman Take had never seen before clearly in view standing on the floor. It had never been displayed in her room before. "Apologies. I had not realized what time it was. I was..." Her eyes were red and her cheeks were puffy as if she had just finished crying. "I was distracted." She spoke quietly.

Takehiko was silent as he recognized the aftereffects of tears still on her face. The boy was more concerned about that, but his eyes did shift as he saw the picture of the girl. He stared at it longer than he probably should have, indicating something was amiss before Take looked back at Atmos and said, "It's alright... but are you alright?" his face showed clear concern as he added, "Cause... you... don't look alright. I just said alright a lot I'm sorry."

Atmos tilted her head, noticing that Take had noticed something in her room and used the opportunity to turn around. She sighed quietly and knelt down to retrieve the portrait before moving to place it inside her drawer where the candle was still smoking. "It's been two years to the day." She looked over at Take, a small smile on her face. "You would have liked her, I think. My sister. She was blunt, confident, hot-headed, but she always had the loudest laugh of my sisters. I hated it. She sounded like a hyena." She chuckled and shook her head.

It took a bit for the boy to realize the context, but one he did, he felt a pain in his chest and probably a lot more empathy. Take thought about the laugh comment and thought more about his relationship with his brothers. Iwao messing up his hair when he was little telling him that his laugh was stupid but it just made him laugh more. He knew he didn't laugh anymore, he didn't like the sound of his own laugh. He almost feared it. He walked a little further into the room only cause a distance had been created when she picked up the portrait. Take leaned a little against the wall and finally spoke up, sounding a bit nervous to ask about it, "What's her name?"

Atmos picked up the smoking candle and eyed it for a long moment as she remained silent. When the last wisp of smoke faded away she finally placed it back down and took in a deep breath. "Her name was-" Before she could answer the question there was a powerful gust of wind that caused dust and pebbles to pelt her window. Atmos raised her eyebrow and turned her head to look outside. She walked over towards the window and blinked. "Strange...the breeze here never gets that violent. There might be a storm coming. Take, tell Chrono that today's lesson is cancel-" Atmos froze in place, staring off into the distance. The wind that had picked up had ceased and the trees remained still. It was dead quiet.

Atmos did not move a muscle nor did she blink. Any signs that she was breathing were gone.

"Takehiko, I must speak with you. Please meet me at the courtyard."​

The soft unfamiliar voice belonging to a man rang out through the hallways of the castle as if it echoed from everywhere with no clear source.


Takehiko heard Atmos cut off and freeze in place, and he walked closer and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Are you alright?" then the voice rang out and Take dropped his hand and faced over towards the door. He then looked back towards Atmos and realized that everything was quiet. Everything had stopped. Take's face changed to hide his nerves a bit. Then he, reluctantly, began making his way towards the courtyard.

Take had run the whole way, making it there without having lost any breath over the run as Take immediately started looking around asking, "Hello?!"



"Hello there." A silver-haired man approached Takehiko from behind, his armor glistening in the sunlight. "Do not panic. I am not here to hurt anyone. My name is Stamatis. It is good to finally see you face to face after all this time, Takehiko. Are you doing well?" The man asked simply, clasping his hands together in front of him, his posture straight and still. He smiled at the boy.

"I know you must be wondering what I did to Master Atmos. She will be fine. I merely froze time to give us some peace and quiet so that we may talk for a while."

Take looked a little on edge at the man, well, knowing his name and he still backed away slightly even though the man tried to reassure him not to panic. He wasn't panicking but the boy was far from trusting. He tried to relax slightly before he responded, "I'm... doing fine..." he stepped another step back as he asked, "How.. do you know my name?"

Stamatis smiled at the boy and nodded, pleased with his answer. "We have never met." He tilted his head observing Take. "I was a student of the one who allowed you to wield the keyblade. Master Atmos is a capable woman. From the looks of it, we were right to choose her to train you." Stamatis turned to look off towards the trees and the dirt path leading away from the castle.

"Have you used your spare time to take a walk and enjoy the nature of this world? It truly is quite lovely. Not as forested as mine was but beautiful nonetheless." He spoke calmly, his attention still focused on the trees that were frozen in time as leaves were blown in the gentle breeze and stopped in midair. Stamatis plucked a leaf from the air and looked at it curiously. "Finding time to unwind and meditate is just as important as any physical training."

Takehiko was surprised by the man's reply, his eyes widening a bit when he mentioned that he was trained by, well, the man who had given Take the keyblade. Listening to the man talk made Take feel very out of a loop of some kind and for a moment, he didn't like that, he didn't like not knowing what was going on. But it didn't take very long for a part of Take to remind himself it wasn't his place to know. But he didn't necessarily trust this man, he didn't give him that. When the man asked about unwinding and meditating, Take simply stated, "It's not what I'm here for. The part of my life where I can waste my time doing something so pointless has passed. I don't understand how my master can wake up late in the day, let alone spending time to meditate. I can't stand still for five minutes without feeling like my time is being wasted." Take paused a bit and said, "We may be frozen in time right now, but that doesn't last." Take was speaking like he was someone nearing the end of his life, not nearing the beginning. It was like the boy was mentally prepared to die at any moment, and the question seemed to make him tense up even more.

Stamatis chuckled and twirled he leaf he had plucked in his fingers. "Ah yes. To be young and so eager to move at lightning speed." He released the leaf into the air where it froze in place once more. "Takehiko, you have time. You have so much more time than you realize. Meditation is not just about taking time to relax, it is about reflection. If you cannot see within yourself to find who you truly are, all other lessons are wasted on you. From what I know of your training here, that is one of the many lessons Master Atmos is trying to impart on you."

Take stared at the man after what he said and slowly moved to rub a spot on his own wrist as he said, "I already know who I truly am... I don't want to be that." the boy looked away and said, "It just makes things worse. I don't want to reflect on that...?" there had been a hint of certainty to what he was saying before, but in the end it fell apart as he made his last statement a question. Takehiko stopped rubbing the spot on his wrist and crossed his arms and finally just asked, "What do you want from me?"

"There's a more important question that you must ask yourself, Takehiko. One that every wielder must ask themselves. Some never truly know the answer but it is important that you at least ask yourself this." Stamatis's keyblade appeared in his hand. "What do you want from yourself?" His keyblade began to glow and every so slowly the leaves began to inch their way to the ground as time began to restart.

"Take care of yourself, Takehiko. You are in good hands with Master Atmos. It has been good to see you. Perhaps next time we speak there will be more important matters to discuss. But until then," Stamatis snapped his fingers and with that he vanished and time resumed its normal flow.

In the distance from within the castle, Atmos called Take's name...

Takehiko was a bit... confused to say the least at Stamatis' response and question... he was even more confused if the entire trip for this guy was to run over and just... small talk with him. Which on it's own would have been weird but would have been better if the conversation had a more solid conclusion. He reached out for a leaf when Stamatis was gone and held it, before he heard Atmos call his name and he turned back towards the castle. He realized that, if time froze, it all but looked like Takehiko had just vanished into thin air. Take let the leaf go and began to run back towards Atmos' room.

​

Take couldn't even breathe in the satisfaction of this victory, though he definitely wished he could since this one felt so worth it. But with only two minutes or so before the planet exploded. The boy let out a deep breath and mumbled, "Of course this is ending in an explosion." Take stopped a moment and looked back at where Scroop had been and he picked up a single coin, flicked it in the air a moment before placing it in his pocket. Just so he could savor the moment later with a bit of a souvenir, then he turned around and mumbled, "Well, we better run then..." and he ran on towards the ship

 

Tinarah had kept up to the best of her ability and while Boreas had hoped there'd be more physical strength left in her, he had overestimated how much strength she had left, as she reached out he made his keyblade disappear, took her hand and slung her arm over his shoulder, supporting Tinarah as he got her out of Choma's castle. "I'll get you out of here, even if I'll have to carry you too." Boreas said to her as he continued to lead them away from the raging battle, he hated having to leave Torrin behind fighting that, not that his contribution would help much in the fight and he'd probably die without purpose or contribution, but it felt wrong to run from a fight no matter how atrociously the odds were stacked against them.

As Boreas lead them out into the courtyard the weight of Gero on his shoulder started to slowly lighten up and Boreas soon was left holding nothing over his shoulder, he looked around him in confusion, the man he had fished out of the ocean at the edge of darkness was gone. He resummoned his keyblade with his now free hand and scanning around him, expecting an ambush just after this supposed Master had vanished, the Light Chaser had already followed Tinarah here, was this meant to divide them up even further to make them even easier pickings, but nothing of the sort came. "Tinarah, keep your eyes open, expect a fight as I am not at all liking this..." Boreas said slowly and alertly moving forward, blade in hand.

When Gero re-appeared in front of him, he lunged and swung his blade at him out of reflex, before he could stop himself and see who had appeared before him. Before the realisation of what had just happened could sink in he found himself pushed away and into a portal. Emerging at the other side Boreas looked around, Gero was gone, the other man fighting the Light Chaser was gone... He was left here with just Tinarah, Atmos and Torrin, wherever here was as the surroundings were unfamiliar. The castle looming in front of them was greater than any he had seen and imposing. "Are all of you alright? Where are we? And what happened back there?" Boreas asked them, sure how they got here was Gero using portals to get them away from there, but where were they sent? And what would stop the Light Chaser from following them here?​

 

​

It was over. The battle had come to an end by Silver’s hand, the Heartlessified Scroop put down with a markedly improved efficiency of Glyde’s teammates. Meanwhile, Glyde kept himself to ponder how his lack of action might have protracted the conflict. Of course it had come from a somewhat more noble place than his previous hesitations; all the same it had proven to be of little value in the long run of the altercation. Had he known Silver would rebound so quickly as he did, he would have been more forward in his approach.

It couldn’t be helped, he knew. He couldn’t predict and could only scarcely anticipate the future. But this only seemed to weigh on his conscience more heavily, telling him that he would have to expect such things.

There was no time to continue this introspective. Nor was there time for the others to celebrate in the wake of their victory. A violent quake shook the planet. Glyde nearly buckled and fell against the tremor, saving himself with the front end of his Keyblade. He pushed off of it just the same, propping himself with his Keyblade as a balance. It took a bit of doing against the shuddering ground underfoot, but he managed just enough to make a run towards the the ship, shielding his face from the surrounding explosions. He would come to converge into a jumbled formation of his fellow apprentices bounding toward their escape. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he spoke, forcing his voice over the din, in a tone begetting a confession. "Shouldn't have waited so long."​

 

​

Being relieved that the fight was over was an understatement. Seeing Bright Eyes disappearing into a cloud of darkness took a weight off her shoulders, but seeing the heart float up made her hold her breath for a moment. She ignored the negative thoughts that were trying to push through when it seemed like everything was going to explode all of the sudden. She ran after the group when they seemed to be heading for the ship, and that was when Glyde made the comment for not helping much. "Eh, everything turned out alright. Let's get out of here." She hopped on the ship and then turned to Illiana. "Way to finish off that last one!" she praised with a big thumbs up and then looked over at her master. He seemed to have handled things off on the side, which was good. She was just glad she was able to fight along everyone else and wasn't held back.

Spoiler: Tales of a Princess- Darkness on a Sunny Day, Part 2

7 Months Old

Same day as the previous episode, evening time...

“Black shadows?” Lanar asked. He was dusty from a long day’s work and his skin was gently kissed by the sun. He was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of tea in hand and watching his wife with concern.

Anja was worn out herself, her usually perfect bun messy and stray hair sticking out here and there. “I swear I am not crazy,” she said as she paced in the kitchen back and forth. “Th-the snake was going right for Aria. Which I recall from my studies, X-Xogus’ does not stalk prey larger than itself. I-It was as if it was fixated on Aria and trying to ki-”

Anja was so upset, she didn’t hear Lanar her up from the table. He embraced her tightly and gently rubbed her back while laying his head on his wife’s. “I’m here now,” he murmured and kissed her on top of her hair.

The young woman sighed out softly and forced herself to calm down. She nodded her head and pressed her head on Lanar’s chest. “I’m worried about her… Master Gero said she would be safe here, yes?”

“Perhaps we should let him know what happened,” Lanar thought aloud as he rubbed his wife’s back.

“But if we do, would he take her away?”

“I don’t think so,” he muttered and kissed his wife once more while placing his hands on her shoulders and bringing looking at Anja lovingly. “This was just a one time incident. Nothing else has happened in the past seven and a half months she’s been here. Everything is going to be alright.”

Anja’s eyes teared up as she nodded her head. She had grown attached to little Aria and didn’t want her little light to be taken away from them just yet. She felt for a moment she was an unfit surrogate mother, but she didn’t want to give up something she had been longing for years. She wanted to prove she could make it safe place of refuge for the princess to be.

—

Meanwhile in Aria’s nursery, the infant was fast asleep in her crib. Yet her dreams were far from peaceful. She could see the sharp fangs grow into more than two in a large mouth and see a shadowy form that had an air of danger about it. The creature opened its mouth as if to scream while holding on its hood and pulling it over its face in agony. No noise could be heard from it, but faint screaming could be heard in the distance and haunting moans of agony all around. The shadow looked to Aria and gradually let go of its hood, straightening up as it turned to face her completely. It then lifted a gnarly finger and pointed it towards her while creepily smiling with a set of pointy teeth on display.

Soon the image was gone as the babe woke up to her own crying. She felt herself being lifted out of the crib and rocked softly as a voice whispered softly to her in comfort. A finger gently wiped away her tears as they sat down in a rocking chair and began to be swayed back and forth in a calm motion. There was humming, and then words being sung in barely a whisper as Aria’s crying was beginning to die down. Her forehead was touched, and an image of light flooded within her mind. The infant could see butterflies, flowers, and feel warmth and happiness around her once more. She saw a blurry image of a man and woman wearing crowns and felt their love they had towards her.

The fussing and crying stopped all together, and little Aria had drifted off to sleep once more. Even though she was at peace, she was still rocked and hummed to far into the night to let her know she was safe and protected on this small farm.