Kingdom Hearts: Kingdom Hearts: Light Chaser

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Take sighed, a little annoyed that there was yet another change of plans that they were going to have to work out, he wondered why they were being called by the "superiors of the masters" rather than them coming to help him, but a part of him remembered how the council worked in his homeworld, it's not like they'd jump into war when one was being had. The boy looked at the others before shrugging, "Alright, I can trust that." he looked towards the portal and braced himself just in case something happened, but went for it anyway.

The portal appeared on the other side outside the steps behind the current group there and for a moment, no one seemed to go through for a bit until Take had stepped through. He blinked a bit because it got brighter compared to where they were and when his eyes settled he was looking up towards a castle with tree covered mountains. Mountains. There was a feeling of comfort he felt just being in the presence of cold mountain air as he stared a bit at the pink sky. But not too long, because he could see a group below his immediate field of vision and he looked down to see the group. Mostly of unfamiliar faces, though he recognized at least two of them, Atmos and Torrin.

He was holding his broken hand close to him mostly out of fear it might knock into something but upon seeing the group he spoke up, "Oh, hello. Everyone else should be just behind me..." he looked over and saw an older blonde in the arms of a boy with white hair, and next to him a blond male in armor. And they looked like they had a more immediate focus and he said with a bit of worry, "If I interrupted someone gaining immediate medical treatment I apologize. But I wouldn't pause on our account."

Nini had followed him in and upon getting a familiar scent, the little cat scurried it's way through the crowd and ran up towards Adalric and digging it's claws lightly into his leg, like the little cat was trying to climb up to the girl in his arms.

 

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"Superiors of the masters?" Everything about that statement just felt odd to Chrono. Til now he was under the assumption that all masters were pretty much on the same level of superiority, not that there were some even above that. Just what exactly was it that made it that way? "I sure hope so, otherwise I'm going to be asking a lot of questions." If he was to be honest, he would likely do that regardless of taking Master Choma's reassurance.

On the other side of the portal, the landscape that awaited him was different than what he was expecting. A castle surrounded by tree covered mountains, it somewhat reminded him of Master Atmos's castle. Didn't a thing to change the whole 'same level or superiority' mindset he still held onto. Having trailed behind Take, Chrono heard his voice speaking to someone else. He spotted the other group of people next, Master Atmos and Torrin being the ones he recognized and yet he didn't see Tinarah anywhere. Despite the pain that was there, he didn't let it get to him. Perhaps she was just someplace here and he couldn't see her yet.

"Hey." Was what he said, offering a quick wave before his eyes spotted the older blond girl being carried by the white hair guy. There was something familiar about the girl, Chrono couldn't figure was it was, but there was indeed something there. "Did something happen to her?"

 

Adalric came and saved the day by finally paying attention to Tinarah. "Jeez, took long enough for you guys to pay attention to the poor thing." she said, turning around on her left foot. She turned to look at Adalric and examined the poor girl. "I think we ought to get her to a room first. If we don't got one ready, just take her to my room. I cleaned it up earlier after studying, so it ought to be easy to navigate." she said, looking up at Adalric.

While she chose to ignore Boreas, Qamar didn't ignore Adalric's attempts at apologizing for her. "And you don't gotta apologize for me.." she said, frowning at him. "How many times do I need to tell you that before you stop?" she teased him, crossing her arms once more.

"Oh and armor boy? Please. I lived through hell." she added on to what Boreas said earlier. "5 years I've been training and Adalric even more. That doesn't matter, but I figured it'd help you understand we ain't tomatoes."

Master Aster spoke about taking Tinarah to a chamber in the east wing, to which Qamar agreed that that'd be a better idea. "Yeah uh...my room's dangerous now that I think about it...swords and stuff..." she shrugged. "Wait, more guests?"

Qamar blinked and looked at the people before her once again. More people meant she had to judge them. Judging this group was tiring enough. Master Aster mentioned them resting and that was one thing Qamar could agree with.

"Will they get to meet the other Masters?" she asked Aster. "If so, uh...don't tell Kide about uh...earlier." she told Aster under her breath.

From behind her, Qamar heard two more people and turned. She saw Take first and looked him over. Her eyes stopped on his hand and she jumped back a little. "Holy crap that must hurt." she said out loud. "Maybe you ought to follow Adalric and tinhead to get that checked out along with this Tinarah chick here." she pointed at her white haired comrade and Boreas.

Looking over, she saw a white haired boy who just spoke a few words and she honestly thought he was really boying looking. Nothing really stood out to her and that made her feel a little disappointed. They all looked weird in their own way, but this kid was the most normal out of all of them.

And a cat appeared. Qamar leaned down and tried to pet the cat. "Hey, do you want this girl in my comrade's arms? I can put you on her stomach, kitty." Qamar offered.​

 

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She was had. The sneaky tea dumping did not work. Aria committed tea murder.

Honestly, she didn't know what was going through her head at the moment of the crime. She was tired, she knew what Valerian was, she already drank some of it, she didn't think it could be saved because her germs were in it, and then dumped it. It was logical, right? Apparently it could've been saved, the root was in limited supply, and it ticked off Illiana immensely... Which made the girl feel shame burn hot on the back of her neck.

Things already moved on though, so Aria was forced to move on too. She would have to find some way to make up for the tea wasting... Man she could be stupid sometimes.

Aria was brought back to the current situation however when Jim and Silver accepted her bracelets. She was glad for it, and was even more glad when she was hugged by Silver. She tightly hugged him back, closing her eyes for a moment to silently let the old pirate know how grateful she was to him for the adventure. When the hug was done, her hair was ruffled, which she made a face and then laughed. Why does everyone need to ruffle my hair...

Soon, Jim said his goodbyes, and it was time to move on. She quirked an eyebrow at Master Choma when he said they were called to meet some very important people... superior of the masters. Honestly, Aria never heard of it. She glanced at her bracelet, wondering if this whole running in to the Light Chaser had caused some serious problems, and swallowed. She trusted her master though and nodded her head, following after Take and Chrono.

When she stepped out on the other side, she was taken aback by the new landscape and the feeling of solid ground suddenly under her feet. She stood a little ways behind Take, still keeping his intake of Valerian in mind, but also not sure what to do with herself. Her eyes landed on a large group in front of them, recognizing Atmos... And the guy that saved her from the Light Chaser... Or so that's what she wanted to believe for the time being.

She then saw the cat go up to a guy that was holding a blonde girl that looked to be around her age, gently trying to get the guy's attention. It was strange behavior to say the least, at least to Aria. Nonetheless, Aria gave the group of a newcomers a small wave. "You can pick her up," she said to Qamar when heard her talking to Nini. "She won't mind."

 

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"A change of plans?" Glyde thought aloud. A quick survey of his peers showed that some of them were confused by the prospect. He could admit that he might have been confused as well. It was difficult to be thrown off by a change to a plan when he didn't know what the original plan was going to be anyways. Even so, the thought of something coming up that would cause Choma to amend the group's next step was somewhat intriguing, and more than a bit concerning. Something significant was on the horizon.

Superiors to the Masters. That seemed to confirm that there were matters important enough to be addressed before they moved on to another world that needed saving. Glyde looked around a second time; visible signs of perplexity continued at the mention of people that governed the likes of Choma and Atmos. He wasn't effected so much by this revelation; his brief exposure this wider world of the Keybearers had left him with few notions and assumptions regarding a chain of command. When he considered the existence of Keyblade Wielders either more powerful, or with authority over those that were teaching students, it only made sense. An undertaking of such a span, with so much relevance to the worlds practically required a measure of centralization. Otherwise, someone such as Choma, or Atmos, could have liberty to stir up trouble without being held accountable.

Glyde followed closely as the party stepped through Choma's portal. He squinted his eyes against the luminous shine of sunlight; he hadn't realized how his eyes had adjusted to the dimly lit ships and underbrush they had just ventured through. When his eyes readjusted to the natural light, he gasped. The scene was something breathtaking: a mountainous landscape. peaks rising high into the sky; in the distance, a massive sea covered the distance beyond what Glyde could see. The feature that captivated him the most was not the natural landscape, but the man-made structure that they had all stepped into the shadow of. A massive castle, built upon what Glyde could only guess was the highest mountain for miles, its towers rising to touch the clouds themselves. "They can probably see everything from up there," he mused under his breath.

The conversing of others drew his attention back towards ground level. A party of warriors was approaching. As the two groups converged, Glyde recognized two of them right away: Master Atmos, and the other Keybearer that had assisted them in in Eventide Town. A third person, a blonde girl, who seemed unconscious, was oddly familiar, though without a name to put to the face, Glyde didn't dwell on it. "She looks exhausted," Glyde said, responding primarily to Chrono. "And not the 'gotta get some sleep' kind." ​

 

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Takehiko was a little thrown off by Atmos' sudden worry towards him, mainly because he didn't see his hand as an instant concern . The tea was also beginning to kick in a little and the boy blinked a bit sleepily before managing out, "Well, it's broken. But it could have been worse. That world was a lot more... explosive than I was expecting but.. ya know..." he blinked again, a little longer this time before he looked up and smiled slightly at Atmos, "I'm okay, really. Illiana gave me some tea for the pain that's a little... I'll get by. Really, I'd be more worried about..." Take stared at the blonde girl a minute before a realization hit him and he looked over at the girl and asked, "Wait did you say Tinarah?" the realization set in and the boy was struggling to process all the information going on, and Take was visibly distressed as he mumbled, "...so Choma's castle was nearly... killed by the Master of Masters because Tinarah was chasing a light?" he stared not sure if what he said was even right and he blinked again and looked up at Atmos and managed, "I don't like admitting this but I'm very tired."

 

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With the strange reunion going on, Aria wasn’t expecting her master to come talk to her. She glanced at him, realizing that she had one of the worst poker faces ever. She couldn’t hide her emotions even if she wanted to. “I appreciate it,” she said in a low voice to him so no one could hear, “but even if she gets over it, I want to make it up somehow. Homemade tea is hard to make... and she did it out of kindness. I wasn’t thinking clearly, and I was being rude...”

They couldn’t carry on their conversation for long though. Torrin introduces the blonde as... Tinarah?!

Aria’s hands flew to her mouth as it fell open. “No, it... it can’t be! He...” Aria felt sudden hurt and betrayal in her heart. The Light Chaser showed her that Tinarah was with Chrono and doing fine, which she found out to be a lie. But to see Tinarah in this state, nearly dead and broken, all childishness and any innocence gone, made the girl’s stomach churn.

I shouldn’t have let her out of my sight, Aria thought. Tears stung her eyes as she felt slightly responsible for Tinarah’s current state of wellbeing. She was just trying to help the girl get back to the others where she was more safe and comfortable. But it seemed like she sent her off to a more terrible fate. She was here now, and safe with them...

Aria wanted more than anything to run up to the blonde and hug her close, but she saw Master Choma go over and knew that Chrono was needed there as well. Aria decided she was going to give the girl some space given the current condition she was in. There was no need to overwhelm her after all...

Aria quickly rubbed at her eyes and sniffed to stop any tears of frustration trying to surface. It was then another voice started speaking to her, and she looked over to see that Torrin was talking to her. “Ah, th-thank you,” she replied and then cleared her throat to get rid of the lump that was trying to form there. She then hugged one arm close to her and looked on to the group. Maybe it was how she felt with what happened earlier, and it was silly, but she was starting to feel like all of this was...

Her thoughts were interrupted by Torrin. She quietly listened, absently playing with the bracelet around her wrist. The one the Light Chaser gave her. Her eyes focused on him the more he spoke, realizing that somehow he was taking blame for all of what was happening. Aria didn’t know all the circumstances, but she felt like he was being hard on himself. She was being hypocritical, but she felt like this guy was doing everything in all his power to stop things. To fight off Light Chaser apprentices, take her back to the others, and then go on more tasks... it seems like this guy hardly slept.

Her turquoise eyes landed on the golden chain and she yanked on it gently. It only tightened around her wrist until it ached and she let go, only to try it a couple more times while she talked. “I committed tea murder today,” she said solemnly. “We got out of a super nova and a black hole with Heartless running around and fire raining down on us, fought something called a demon tower, survived a mutiny, dealt with the craziest heartless monster ever that knocked out Take and Illiana at one point, got out of an exploding planet, Take’s hand got crushed on a loose canon during the explosion, and then I was given Valerian tea... which I used to drink to help me sleep as a kid, and I didn’t want to sleep yet... so since I drank it, I dumped it... so yeah, I committed tea murder and ticked off one of my friends- ow!”

Aria’s finger was pinched by the bracelet when she tried to pull too hard on it and she held up her wrist and glared at it a moment. ”Oh yeah, and the Light Chaser gave me this lovely trinket I can’t take off before you arrived and took me back... Apparently it protects me from most hits and attacks too. We think it’s a way to keep tabs on me and make sure I don’t... die I guess.” She then sighed heavily and dropped her hands to her sides. “So yeah, I agree... it’s been a day...”

It was then the girl noticed Take beginning to struggle and Aria spoke up. “Master Atmos, he drank a whole cup of Valerian tea. He’s gonna need a bed like, now.”

 

Boreas watched Torrin closely and was rather glad that his friend didn't draw his weapon and start a fight, as much as he would back up his friend in said fight regardless of the consequences. This master apparantly knew his name in some way as she instructed him and Adalric to get Tinarah to a room. It struck him as odd that she knew Torrin reasonably asked why they wouldn't immediately get the explanations. Aster pointed out that every would want to go fight and she hit the nail right on the head as he wanted to fight, he may have been underprepared but he wasn't weary from battle... well not from battling this threat anyways. He hated sitting around and that's why he had always gone on patrol when not in battle just to be doing something useful.

Before they left to bring Tinarah inside a little lad appeared soon followed by others a cat soon shot past his legs to dig his way onto Adalric's leg. Boreas recognized none of the people that appeared although they didn't seem to be hostile. The girl that had been going at both him and Torrin now snapped at the man carrying Tinarah for apologizing for her and then she told him they had been training for 5 years and been through hell before. Boreas knew what that was like for a certain extent, he had been training for longer than 5 years before being sent to war. More people joined them one with a rather bright haircolour told the girl that she could pick up the cat.

As everyone had arrived Atmos went looking after a student. Boreas listened as Torrin explained to Chrono that his sister had been recovered. When Torrin beat himself up over the trap he understood the way his friend felt. He too should have seen it coming. Boreas listened as a girl mentioned getting a trinket from the Light Chaser that kept her safe and they assumed kept tabs on her. He had heard Torrin mention her name and he recalled what he had been told by Torrin before about the Princesses of Heart. Perhaps a trick for morale damage, think they had recovered the girl, perhaps this was merely convenience for the Light Chaser to keep the girl out of his hair while he rounded up the others, he could then smash his opponents and take the last piece in one go and execute his plan.

"That does sound like a logical plan on his part, it would also mean that this is going to lead into a rather obvious trap, if I were him, I'd come back after retrieving the other princesses, smash the opposition retrieve you and finish up." Boreas said. "While it has helped keep you safe, the bracelet is a risk that must be eliminated as soon as possible. Perhaps the masters here have some tools to remove it, perhaps and I'm sorry to say we may need to take extreme steps..." Boreas said not going into detail. "I guess for now, we ought to keep an extra eye on you, what do you say Torrin?" It was cruel to treat an ally like a prisoner but to have someone with such an unknown factor by their enemy in the midst of their assembled forces and seat of their power. He'd play the bogeyman, just so no one else would have to.​

 

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Aria looked at Boreas with wide eyes when he mentioned taking extreme measures. “Wait, what...?” Her mind instantly flashed to ideas like being pushed off of a cliff, or a chainsaw being used to severe her wrist, or someone trying to yank her arm off.

It was then her wrist was grabbed and she jumped, half expecting it to be thrown on a chopping block and lobbed off. Instead, it was Master Aster holding her wrist and inspecting it. Aria winced when Master Aster pulled on it, which only made the bracelet pinch and tighten around her wrist. After all the other strange stuff the Master was trying but failed, Aria was relieved to hear she wasn’t being tracked. But hearing the Light Chaser knew where they were was unsettling...

And then it was discussed again extreme measures would be taken.

Aira gulped, but then Torrin took over and he tried to take it off. She gasped when she saw the darkness swirl around her wrist from Torrin’s hand, and resisted the urge to yank it away. It seemed to be working until it suddenly began to glow and Torrin had to let go, screaming something about hot potatoes.

The girl frowned as she glanced at Torrin’s hand and saw the injury from the bracelet. After listening to the exchanges, Aria gently took his burnt hand and studied it for a moment. “I can fix this,” she said quietly. She then summoned her keyblade and cast a cure spell that went around Torrin’s hand. She realized that it seemed stronger than normal, and kind of smiled to herself as she let the keyblade disappear in a flash. “There... hopefully that helps. Thanks for trying to take it off.”

She then looked to Glye and Illiana, and then stretched her arms above her head before sighing out, walking after Master Aster. “I don’t think I’m gonna fall asleep so easily tonight,” she mentioned to really no one. True, she hadn’t drank the tea, but she felt like her mind was swimming too much with her thoughts and events of the day. So much had happened in so little time, and seeing her friends hurt, or aged suddenly like Tinarah, and meeting all these new people was super overwhelming to her.

 

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Take heard Atmos' comment about the sheep and he held back a laugh. He was actually surprised that he wanted to laugh. The boy reached for his right hand to rub his wrist, reactionary. But was instead met with a situation. He couldn't feel his left hand, and it couldn't rub his right wrist. The sensation he became used to giving himself wasn't there. The ability to keep the sting from resurfacing, from appearing on his skin and feeling the pain he only received when he wasn't a good soldier. He may have been overthinking it, but he started feeling a pressure on his wrist that was beginning to grow cause he couldn't comfort it. The boy started to look like he was holding back an anxiety attack and couldn't explain how his mind was working.

He started at his hand and managed out, "Master... I..." he stopped himself, realizing it was pointless to bring up and shook his head and restarted, "Nevermind... I think I just need sleep... but don't worry, I'll tell you what happened tomorrow..." but the boy kept staring at his wrist as he walked. He wasn't holding his broken arm... the broken arm was holding his functioning one, "I am glad to know you okay. And Tinarah is okay. Older, but okay. That's so much good news I..." he tried to rub his wrist again to sooth a nonexistent sting but instead winced in visible pain as he managed out, "I am just glad to know things haven't gone completely downhill."

 

The man made something of a sour face at Qamar as she said to stop apologizing for her. "I'll stop apologizing for you when you stop making me." He sighed, glad that he'd narrowly avoided things coming to blows. Nodding to Boreas, he stammered out "Y-yes. Id very much appreciate that." Adalric paused for a moment, stopping to see these new arrivals. They also seemed to have gone through a fair bit of strife recently. One of them even seemed to have a broken wrist, and the blonde master who looked like his own rushed over to him, acting like he was her own child.

From what he gathered, he was her student. That made sense. It wasn't uncommon for masters to develop a familial relationship with their apprentice. Just as he was about to leave, he felt something like needles run across his calf. It didn't hurt so much, but it startled him and send a shiver up his spine as he turned around to see a small cat purring and looking up at him. Recovering from his heart attack, Qamar put the cat on Tinarah's lap.

He hadn't planned on everyone accompanying them to the west wing, but he didn't really have a problem with it. "Once you're all settled in, I'll bring you all something to eat. If there's anything you'd like in particular, please let me know and I'll do what I can to prepare it for you." Adalric said meekly, as he wasn't used to addressing so many people at once. This group of strangers made him nervous, but he was doing his best to be polite. They were guests after all. ​

 

Illiana felt her eye twitch as B.E.N. hugged her one last time. She sighed as the hug was still occurring. After several moments, Illiana walked off into the portal. As she walked out, she found herself in some sort of castle. She looked around and saw a young woman just barely conscious. She then saw Atmos run over to Take, concerned about his injury. Before Illiana could say anything, Torrin had notified the five that the woman was actually Tinarah. Her eyes widen for a second before returning to normal size. "Well well well....Guess Little Tina isn't so little anymore." As Tinarah was being carried away, Illiana looked over at Torrin, Aria, and some strange guy talking to one another. She didn't pay much attention to it as she shrugged her shoulders. Another stranger had then offered to bring dinner once they had settled in. Illiana had then spoke, "I'll pass on that. No offense to you." She then walked off to her room for a bit. She changed out of her dress and changed into some leggings and a t-shirt. She tied her hair up and began walking around. She came upon a small room and immediately walked in. She shrugged her shoulders then walked to a wall before doing a handstand against it. Illiana closed her eyes as she took deep breaths. She remained like that for several minutes before returning upright. Illiana had then began stretching for a bit. She then slowly got into a back bend before bringing herself back up from it. "Am I really that out of practice?" She sighed before doing some cartwheels. Illiana sat down for a bit. "It might be another sleepless night. I could make tea for that though I don't know yet." She lied down and sighed to herself before getting back up. She went back to doing a handstand against the wall for a bit.

 

Avra was right. In Chrys's panic over her resource management, she had failed to notice just how much they had been damaging the tree. Newly determined, Chrys rushed forward to attack their opponent. She swung her keyblade with a surprising amount of force, creating quite the sound effect as it met the bark.
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Chrys used Shield Break!

AP: 0/54

 

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There was a moment of disbelief as Chrono was told that the older looking girl was in fact Tinarah. There was no easy way for him to process that, it had been about two days since he last saw her and for her to change this much in so little time. It only made him all the more curious about this story that she had. "Alright, if you say so." he hadn't said that in the happiest of tones, but he wasn't quite annoyed either. Chrono just didn't like having no other choice but to take Torrin's word. Nothing against him, but this was his sister an he would like something more concrete than just 'She came back older and hurt and scared.' On the way to the west wing, Chrono nodded in response to what they were told from the man carrying Tinarah. "Thanks, I'm Chrono. Figured I should introduce myself."

 

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Amidst the slew of reunions, Glyde found himself caught on the fringes of the activity. Atmos rushed to Take's side to comfort him in the wake of his persisting injury. The Keybearer from Eventide gravitated towards Aria. Chrono and Choma were beckoned to accompany the unwell blonde girl... Tinnarah? He wasn't so shocked as, perhaps, the others might have been. Albeit on short-term, his memory of her was vague at its best; after all, he hadn't had a chance to interact much with her prior to her being whisked away. It was only after taking a longer look at her that he had even realized she had been present among the students only a short while ago. The greater share of his surprise was seeing her having clearly aged at least four years since the last time he had seen her. For her sake, he just hoped that she had at least gotten to experience those years in awareness of their passage.

As he processed the events before him, he soon felt a feeling of liquid trickling down his face. Suddenly aware of the droplet of water from his eye rolling down the front of his cheek, he hurriedly rubbed it away with his arm. Holding out against a new, swelling sense of longing, he fought back further tears with shut eyes; he didn't need anyone chiding him for getting emotional on them, and much less needed anyone prying on him just because he seemed vulnerable.

Reopening his eyes, he rushed forward to catch up to the caravan of Keybearers en route to the west wing. "Sure," he said, when their 'escort' for lack of a better of term, informed them that he would be able to bring them a meal before they turned in. "I'll take anything, as long as it's edible and, you know, not still alive." Before long, he was settled into a room of his own. It wasn't a grand space. But it was just the right size for comfort, and the simple furnishing and linens left it with as much of home-feeling as he could have asked for. He whipped off his travel cloak, dropping it neatly over a post at the head of his bed, and kicked off his footwear, stowing it under the bed frame. Turning back towards the door, he closed it, and, for the time being, secured the interior lock. He wasn't expecting an visitors beyond the eventual arrival of food.

"Not that that'll do much good," he mused, with a sarcastic chuckle as he remembered Illiana's lesson back in the brig. I'd hope that they'd be courteous enough to not invade our privacy. Stretching, he strode to the other end of the room, and peered wistfully from a window overlooking a deep valley.

They probably know, you know. What you did. I bet they don't miss a trick, this lot.

I'm the last of their worries right now. Besides, I didn't... really do anything?

Whatever you've got to tell yourself.

Groaning, he ruffed his hair, and took wide steps to his bed, falling onto the mattress.