Kingdom Hearts: Kingdom Hearts: Light Chaser

​

"You can't let him take your Light... it will kill you..."

If there were pictures next to each word in the dictionary, Take's face would be right next to the word "confused". He had readjusted to holding the plate, and certainly wasn't expecting to witness the scene he ended up walking into. She seemed fine a few minutes ago, a little nervous and out of it, but not to the point of this apparent psychotic breakdown. He walked a little closer to place the plate down on a table before holding his hands up and saying, "I just came back here to bring you breakfast. But I think you might need to breathe. No one's here to hurt you, we all just want to help." he looked over at Qamar with absolutely no recognition over who she was. He had a feeling he might have met her when he was sleeped up on the tea. He thought about whether or not this girl was here to hurt Tinarah but he refused to think it out loud, worried he might panic the poor girl.

Take thought for a moment and suggested, "Maybe fresh air before the shower? The landscape of this place is pretty cool, and cold mountain air is always good for the mind. Or even the food first. Either way, I think we might need a different approach to.. whatever is going on here."​

 

​

Aria knew Illiana was going to be persistent about getting to the bottom of what was going on. She was about to open her mouth to speak when, Torrin took her by her arm and pulled her up to her feet. She was perplexed by the sudden turn of events, and even more confused with the explanation he gave about why the door the way it was.

She felt the nudges from him to move forward, and walked towards the door opening. “About... the new recipe for hot chocolate I came up with?” She played along, knowing full well she was so bad at lying but was going to go with it anyways. “Yeah, maybe it’ll lift everyone spirits more if it tastes like s’mores. You know, remind you of a cozy campfire under a blanket of stars.” She smiled to herself and then made her way out the door. “We’ll catch up later,” she promised to Illiana and Glyde before she started to make her way down the hallway to get away from her room. Her hair was a mop bucket of mess on top, but there wasn’t much she could do about it at this point. She would have to brush it out later, maybe style it differently per usual.

Once they were far enough away from her room, she looked over at Torrin and smiled a little. “Thank you... I didn’t want to tell them what happened until we have some kind of idea of what it is...”

 

Qamar moved her hand away when she saw Tinarah's arm move. Luckily she dodged the swipe, but she soon heard the door unlock. Yet again, Qamar stepped over to Tinarah. The door swung open and Tinarah stopped, looking a little calmer when she saw her comrades. When the younger boy spoke to Tinarah and suggested fresh air, Qamar shook her head. "No, no. A shower first. Look at the dirt on her body and hair." Qamar said. "Or better yet, how about that food you've got? I think she's starving. I mean look at her, she looks like an animal."

Glancing up at Chrono, she nodded at him. "In any case, Tinarah, please. Calm down and do something other than lash out at me. I'm sorry you've been hurt. Please trust me when I'm saying I'm only here to help you. If I wanted to hurt you, I would have and you wouldn't even be seeing your friends. Honestly, I just wanna know what the heck happened to make you this way." she spoke earnestly. At this time, all Qamar wanted to do was help Tinarah. She may be doing a bad job, but she sure as heck wasn't going to back down now.

"I can offer some clothes from my wardrobe?" she suggested. "I'm rather skinny and we're kind of the same height? So perhaps the clothes would fit at least somewhat decently."​

 

​

"I guess it's my turn then." Glyde looked to Asalric, thought for a second, and made his request. "I'll go with scrambled eggs and toast as well; might seem odd, but if you've got any sort hot sauce, a light drizzle of it on the eggs would be good for mine. Any fruit you have will do, though I'm partial to berries... kind of a back-home thing. And... yeah, I'll go with a hot chocolate as well. I'd say some water for all of us too. Sorry to bog you down with so much; I can help bring it over if you won't mind; I could use a little tour of this place."

Awaiting Adalric's response, Glyde looked at the latest guest in the room: Illiana. "Really, everything is fine. This is just, kinds where the three of us happened to fall in this morning." ​

 

Boreas listened to the explanation that Choma gave him, he had been right on the money with his assumption not that it was a very hard. While he could kind of see why they wouldn't want to commit to a fight without a plan, to let worlds burn over it was something he couldn't understand. "Well on the one hand it's sensible to commit to battle without a plan it prevents unacceptably high casualties but it is unacceptable to leave those you are charged to defend defenseless, it is easier to create and execute missions on the operational level defending people, while an overarching strategy is formulated, it's better than doing nothing atleast that's how I see it." Boreas said offering his two cents on the issue.

As they crossed the hall to get to the next stairs they were met with Master Gero, luckily they didn't have to ascend all the stairs to get to the top of the castle, while Boreas was in good physical condition he was glad to be saved the time sink of ascending every single set of stairs to get to the top as from the outside it had looked like quite a hike, provided of course that the master of the castle almost litterally sat on top of the whole pile of the council. The man didn't seem to harbour any animosity towards him, having seemingly forgotten about the incident at Choma's castle where Boreas lashed out although he still wasn't sure whether his blow had connected with the man in front of him. Boreas simply stood by and listened to the exchange, mirroring the bow of respect as the master adressed him, after all he was the one who got them away from the Light Chaser. Boreas was visibly surprised by the fact he had knowledge of the fact Torrin was a Prince and had met other people from the Realm of Darkness, it made sense now that he mentioned it though, he seemed rather old and as Master of masters he must have extensive knowledge at his disposal.

The remark about the armour didn't strike him as odd other than the having met other people from his own Realm, he too was rather fond of his suit of armour, it had kept him safe countless times and he wore it so much it felt strange not to wear it. To him it wasn't too big a mystery that Torrin didn't have armour anymore, with six years away from home, a year of fighting against the Light Chaser with such power armour could only do so much and it too had a breaking point and against someone like the Light Chaser he wouldn't be surprised to hear his friend tell him he lost his armour early on. "We are indeed rather fond of our armour as back home it is almost a necessity and wearing it so much makes it feel like a second-skin if that makes sense, I imagine Torrin's armour got destroyed, he hasn't been home for six years and atleast one of those he has been fighting the Light Chaser, I hope mine survives all this." Boreas said. "If I may inquire how have you come to know these things about Torrin?" He figured that the knowledge of the Master of masters didn't extend to him and he was perfectly fine with that he was just curious about it.​

 

​

Chrono was equally as confused by the what awaited them on the other side of the door and what Tinarah had said. Yet another thing he wanted to ask about, but knew it would be best to wait. "Either way we should give her some space." He wasn't fond of how the other girl had said that she could hurt Tinarah if she wanted too, but he didn't make any comments on that. His sister's condition was the bigger issue at hand. Really any of the suggestions made would help in some way and he was more inclined to lean towards her eating something first. He turned to face Tinarah, asking. "What do you want to do?"

 

With the battle ended, Chrys was slightly ashamed that her tendency to be cautious had caused the fight to drag out for far longer than necessary. It had even very nearly been their undoing. Listening silently as Avra recommended they wait for the princess, Chrys brushed a strand of her hair from her face.

"Alright then." ​

 

Qamar watched Tinarah move to finally eat some food. While her offer for some fresh clothes was turned down, Qamar shrugged and turned towards the door. She looked long and hard at both Take and Chrono. They both were Tinarah's friends. At this point, Qamar was going to give up on even trying to be friendly with Tinarah. It was obvious that was a pretty bad idea. By this, Qamar knew she probably was getting nowhere, so she walked towards the door. "I'm going to go check on some things." she said, slipping right past the two boys.

Frustrated, Qamar made her way to Aria's room again, glancing in at the destruction of the door, she shook her head and continued forward. She managed to walk into Aria and Torrin, causing Qamar to smirk. She stepped quicker and managed to get in front of the two. Qamar placed her hands on her hips and smiled at them. "So I see you two are having fun. How's the bracelet thing? Did it fall off yet?" she asked. "This guy uh....Torrin? He did a lot of work so I figured it'd at least have loosened some."

Listening to them a moment, Qamar closed her eyes and looked to Torrin. "I do have one thing to ask." she started. "Would you like to do a friendly little sparring match? I'm curious how a Master from the Realm of Darkness handles themselves, honestly." For a brief second, her eyes glanced at Aria before returning to Torrin. "Unless you're...scared?" she teased.​

 

​

"I could bring it to the kitchen for you, if you'd like." Take shrugged, watching Nini attempt to climb herself down to come back over to Tinarah and rub up against her. "It's no problem to me at all." he also couldn't tell if Chrono wanted to talk to her alone or something, so if he scooted himself out of there it would be less awkward than being a third wheel on a potentially private conversation. He wasn't sure if she necessarily wanted that though, so he added, "Or I could show you where the kitchen is? 'Course if you'd rather actually take a bath then don't worry about me taking it." he kind of wanted to actually go outside for that fresh mountain air as well.

 

​

“I’m really bad at lying,” the girl admitted a smile they walked. Aria then giggled at the second question, trying to straighten out her messy mop on top of her head. “It’s kinda always been like this? As far as I know. Although my aunt says it was like a lighter purplish-pink when I was a baby... and where I’m from is Amerath. It’s kind of a quiet little world, with mountains, a town, and farms. I grew up on one of the farms with my aunt and uncle.” She furrowed her brows in thought and frowned a little. “... I don’t know why. My parents are alive, or that’s what I was told. I just couldn’t be with them for some-“

She was caught off guard in mid-sentence when Torrin suddenly tensed up and Aria jumped when a girl with black hair and a purple bow hopped in front of them. It was unsettling to say the least, given the scare that Aria had earlier. She had to pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t having a third dream within a dream... within a dream. Aria watched the exchange between the two of them, sensing the tension in the air. She raised her eyebrow at the girl when she suggested dueling with Torrin and gave the guy... wait, no, did she hear that right? Master?

She didn’t have time to dwell on it though when she sensed more people had shown up. She looked up, and saw-

“Grandpa Gero...?” Aria whispered out loud with disbelief. She couldn’t believe who she was seeing before her. He looked more worn and older than what she remembered, but the eyes were the same.

As he came to the bottom of the stairs, Aria grinned widely and tears of happiness flowed freely.”Grandpa Gero!” she exclaimed, running up to the old man and throwing her arms around him in a warm embrace. “It’s you! It’s really you!” she laughed through the tears as she hugged her hero close to her. “I hadn’t seen you since I was ten!” She pulled back and wiped her tears away with her finger, smiling up at him and brimming over with joy. “They told me you were dead... I knew they were wrong. I just knew it.”

Aria pressed her lips together, her chin quivering and her feet dancing a little in place. She went in for another hug to make sure he wasn’t going to disappear on her again. “I missed you so much!” Her shoulders shook as she sobbed softly, digging her fingers into Gero’s cloak while hugging him tightly to her. She didn’t care who was looking on or if she was making a scene. This was her idol growing up, and she was very lonely and sad when he vanished for years and years on end, no one really knowing what happened to him.

 

Boreas followed the two masters, Choma had fallen silent in the company of Gero, was this like the rule Nora enjoyed hammering on in court? That they only were to speak unless spoken to? No Choma would have called him out for it if it was wouldn't he? That Torrin was in line for the throne was indeed not a trivial matter as the man wasn't a direct descendant of the current ruler while not a unique case, it was certainly a rare one. And Boreas had been enduring almost endless debates and arguments on the subject. He probably heard it all at that point regarding the issue, he just got annoyed with the arguments at this point and generally excused himself if the next episode broke out. He didn't want to hear all the arguing and smearing of someone who wasn't even there.

As they descended the stairs they ran into Torrin, Aria and Qamar. He hadn't had a great first impression of her, she reminded him of Nora a little just as much a hellcat as she was. Either way it mattered little, first impressions weren't everything. What took Boreas by surprise though was Aria calling Gero her grand father, she seemed overjoyed to see him. Boreas smiled at the sight of it, moments of happiness could be far between and his mother had taught him to always share in them even if it wasn't his own. When Aria said she hadn't seen him since she was ten, he understood that joy of finding someone that you hadn't seen in years, with sporadic reports claiming Torrin had died he understood like no other, he just wasn't as impulsive as the girl on the matter. He walked over to Torrin. "Here they are, as requested." Boreas said in a low voice as to not ruin the moment for Aria.​

 

​

Aria had dried away most of her tears and had regained control. She sniffed, and smiled up at Gero, beaming with pride when he commented how strong she was now. She had worked hard to get up to this point, even with Master Choma kinda telling her to take it slow.

What was said next surprised her. Her Grandpa Gero... was the Master of Masters? She felt her jaw gape open and then closed it just a quick. She had so many questions swimming around in her head all of the sudden, and then realization kind of struck her.

Oooh... that actually explains some things...

She straightened to attention when Torrin tried to excuse himself, only to be stopped by Gero. And hearing Master Choma not being invited, or anyone else for that matter made Aria wonder why Grandpa Gero needed to fall to her and Torrin at the same time.

She looked to her master and nodded her head, and then followed up after the two. She stayed behind the old man and walked along side Torrin. She glanced at the young man and shrugged her shoulders with a raised eyebrow, wondering what was going to happen exactly.

When they ventured far enough away from the others, Aria finally spoke up softly. “Did they... tell you what was going on with me?” She asked as she continued to follow. “About the... weird nightmare thing?” Her eyes looked to Torrin and then back to Grandpa Gero as they continued forward. “Torrin was the one that woke me up from it... and helped me calm down. I was really out of it earlier.”

 

Illiana raised an eyebrow as Torrin spoke to Aria as they left the room. Illiana crossed her arms before looking over to Glyde as he explained why he was there. She looked at both him and the other stranger before turning around. "You two are less suspicious than a rock. So go nuts. Torrin and Aria literally have suspicion written on their faces." She pauses as she looked over at Torrin and Aria. "But I'm not gonna investigate it. Don't ask about my business and I won't ask you about yours. A policy of many which I have." With that, she began walking away. As she did, she spoke out once more. "By the way, I'm skipping breakfast. I'll see you two eventually." She waved at the two as she continued walking away. She started to wonder just where she would be walking to. She looked outside the window and climbed on the window sill. She looked over to see a tree just a couple feet away. Illiana jumped and landed on the branch. She jumped onto another branch and climbed down. "Exploration time I guess." Illiana began to walk around and really see the area around her. "I wonder if anyone know if I'm gone if I step out for awhile..." Illiana continued walking as she spoke to herself.

 

​

In the end the answer to his question had been to eat. Chrono just stood there idly as Tinarah commented on the food, not much there that he could actually comment on himself. Chrono was just content in seeing his sister eat something in her current condition. It was a relief to the long list of concerns that he had. "I could find someone that could provide you with clothing, if you want." He offered having recalled what the other girl had said before she'd walked out of the room. Most likely he'd go find Master Atmos and see if she could help at all.

 

​

Take picked up the dirty plate while Nini hopped up into Tinarah's arms expecting her to catch and carry them. He tilted his direction in the door for her follow before he headed on towards the door, to have her follow him. Before he left he simply nodded at Chrono, almost a bit apologetically for basically at this rate 'kidnapping' his sister.

As they walked down the hall with the plate, Take looked towards her over his shoulder asking, "So um... if you don't mind me asking... what exactly happened? The last thing I knew about you, Aria said the Light Chaser sent you back to us which uh.. I know that didn't happen. But, I can't imagine whatever you went though was easy... what I'm trying to say is if you want to talk about any of it, we're here for you." he wasn't sure if that was reassuring but he was trying to be.