Kingdom Hearts: Kingdom Hearts: Light Chaser

Qamar quite enjoyed causing both of them to jump a little. She smiled thinking about it and clasped her hands behind her back. “That sucks that the bracelet’s still there.” she commented. Making the bracelet angry was certainly what he did, or at least that’s what Qamar felt he did. “Aw, that’s okay, but don’t forget about that. I’ve been itching to spar with somebody else lately. Nobody else is as fun…” she sighed.


Once she turned to leave, she heard the voice of an older gentleman speak. Qamar froze and turned to see a man she had only heard of and seen paintings of. A man she had no idea was still alive until very recently. Apparently he knew Aria as Qamar saw the girl call him grandpa and run to hug him.


He finally introduced him as the Master of Masters. When he bowed his head to Qamar, she immediately returned that bow, lower than she had ever bowed to a Master. When he spoke again, she looked up and listened to him. Was it really that long since there were other students before Qamar and Adalric? She wondered to herself as Master Gero mentioned food.


“I was...I was actually waiting for Master Kide to wake up…” she stated, scratching her head. “He likes to wake up last….”


She watched the group converse more as she started to wonder a few things. Crossing her arms, she tapped her chin and looked between Aria and Torrin. Being near Aria caused Qamar to squirm a little on the inside. It was like she was pure light. Pure and full of hope and love. The fact Qamar found her near Torrin and looking very happy confirmed it. Then there was Torrin and the fact he was from the Realm of Darkness. A Master of the keyblade, at that.


Once the two in question left, she commented about the two towards Boreas and Choma. “Don’t those two seem to be rather chummy? Like they really like each other?” she said, shrugging. “Maybe I’m looking into it too hard. It was nice to see you Master Choma.” Qamar gave a bow to Choma and nodded at Boreas as she left.


Qamar hurried down these stars and ran across the Main Hall towards the kitchen. She ran downstairs and gathered together ingredients. Instead of eating what was prepared already, she created a breakfast for herself and her Master from scratched. This was something she always did. She woke up, trained, and then would eat breakfast with her Master as they discussed the days activities. Some days Master Kide would be awake already or not want her to eat with him as he had special duties to attend to early.


She placed domes over the food and placed the plates on a tray. She carried a pitcher of orange juice and two glasses along with silverware, peper and salt, and napkins. She was ready and left the kitchen, hurrying back upstairs and running to the west wings. She passed by a few rooms before she stopped at one door and took a breath. Knocking, she smiled to herself. “I’m coming in, please have pants on this time.” she said. “Because I’m not going to wait.”


The door creaked as she walked into Master Kide’s room. She worked her way towards his table and chairs and began to set the table. She soon sat in front of her plate and rested her arm on the table. “Why didn’t you tell me Master Gero would be here this morning?” she asked her Master. “Oh and I made you your favorite breakfast...to make up for yesterday.” she spoke as he lifted the dome to his plate.


She looked down at her plate...pankcakes and 2 eggs. Along with wheat toast and one pad of butter on the pancakes. No syrup, of course. She nodded at Kide before she blurted out the next sentence.


“I didn’t tell you yesterday, but while I meditated today I decided to tell you. Before I even learned about Torrin being from the Realm of Darkness….I could just TELL he was from there. Like I knew him or something. But I’ve never met him before. It just made something deep down swell up and want to burst out and it scares me because it’s been getting harder and harder to keep that thing inside and I don’t want to hurt anybody.” she blabbed.​

 

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There was a lot to process in the story, a couple names she spoke with familiarity that he didn't know. Well, he probably knew more names than some people. He happened to recognize the name Stamatis, he remembered the strangeness of how they met in frozen time when a storm seemed to be approaching Atmos' world. But besides that, he didn't know who Fost or Gero were. As she explained her training for five years with Stamatis, he could tell she spoke about it almost bittersweet really. Then she began speaking about the future, the world being dark. About Torrin working with the darkness, killing Mika, before the escape. Hearing Mika's name made him visibly react, more than he probably should have cause he didn't want to bring it up now of all times, but he didn't really know when the best time would be... so the boy tried to slip it in without directly saying it.

Take was quiet to put together his thoughts for a moment before speaking, "After I had gone back to check on Atmos when we were in Atlantis, Nini had come up to Torrin and I in distress and I followed her to where she was leading and she brought me to the docks. A soldier was there and all he had was your violin, and he said a keyblade wielder had taken you. I assume now it was someone working with the Light Chaser... since then all we've done is travel to another world and Aria was brought back to us by Torrin." Takehiko went quiet again before he stopped at turned to her, "I don't know how things got to that future, or even what events happen in that future, but right in this moment Torrin's been helpful, probably more than harmful. I can keep an eye on him with you through that perspective because I don't know him very well. But I won't let a future like that happen, not when I can help it." he tried smiling at her reassuringly, it wasn't exactly a big smile or anything, but it was certainly more of a smile than he usually gave. Tinarah might now know that though, what with only having known her for the equivalent of a day. But Take still felt wrong about it, and reached for his hand again to try and rub his wrist, but his cast wouldn't allow it. Take just stopped smiling after a bit before he continued leading her towards the kitchen.

 

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Chrono returned the nod that he had received from Take as he walked off with his sister. It was only the second day that he's seen her and getting used to the fact that she was suddenly older was still a work in progress. Chrono walked over to Master Atmos's door and gave it a quick couple of knocks. "Master Atmos, I have a favor to ask." Hopefully she had something that Tinarah could wear or magic up some clothing. Seeing as this was outside his realm of expertise, any one of those methods of getting clothing would've been suitable as far as he was concerned.

 

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"Heh. Yeah." Glyde snorted lightly at Illiana's final comment to himself and Adalric. "Nothing suspicious about me at all. As straightforward and honest as they come," he mused in a hushed tone. "If only."

She'll be surprised when--
If.
That's a pretty big if. They'll start asking questions.
I'm not the one any of these Masters are interested in. Won't have to give them much more than a first name, if that.

"Wait, what?" He snapped out of his own thoughts and looked around at the now near-empty bedroom. Aria and Torrin had, clearly, taken their leave while he made his request for breakfast. Illiana, too, had just vanished from sight around the corner of the doorway. He stared, awkwardly, at Adalric, who had since been silent. He glanced around the room one more time, and drew in a deep, calming breath. "You look like someone that has a bit much on his hands right now," he said, with a slight inflection of inquisition. "And don't seem thrilled to have anyone in tow. My offer to help with meal delivery stands, if it's needed. But I won't bother you until then."

He edged around Adalric, backing out from the room and into the hallway. He looked in both directions, catching sight of Illiana as she climbed out a window. "Umm... I guess... send for me; or I'll find you; or not. Man, this is a weird morning." He turned towards the open window, and ran towards it. He had never been much for tree climbing; not for lack of wanting, of course; there weren't too many good trees to climb where he had been from. Haphazardly, he found his way over and down with a tumbling landing. "Oof." He jogged, eventually catching up to Illiana. "You're certainly one to chide people for being suspicious. You do know there are things called doors... and stairs, right? Or do you simply prefer the scenic route?"​

 

Boreas didn't pay too much attention to what Gero said but when the master mentioned privacy he already knew what was going to happen. The introduction told Boreas nothing he didn't already know about. "Yeah, it is..." Boreas said, he felt happy for her. While Torrin didn't finish his question Boreas could hazard a guess as to what he wanted to know and it was a question Boreas couldn't simply answer. Boreas was about to follow Torrin taking his leave when Gero stepped in and told Torrin he was going to have to come with him, he met Torrin's questioning gaze with a shrug as Boreas didn't know what the man wanted from him. Maybe it had to do with that other version Tinarah had mentioned but that was merely speculation. Boreas was curious as to why he wanted to speak to Torrin alone, Aria was easily answered, that presumably pertained to the nightmares. Torrin had been the first to respond and he had rescued her from the Light Chaser, meanwhile Boreas had simply been a small cog in the machine to get Gero here, he had served his purpose and that was the end of it, Boreas felt a saddened to be sidelined, but he tried to take pride in having done what was needed of him.

As Qamar, Choma and himself were left standing he looked to Qamar who made a remark regarding the two of them, that they seemed to like each other. Boreas shrugged. "I don't know really, but you're right they do seemingly get along rather well... I guess we just gotta wait and see what happens there." Boreas said, perhaps Qamar was a lot more adjusted to pick that sort of thing up, Boreas never had been good at the sort of thing, Boreas simply returned the nod as Qamar ran off leaving him with Master Choma. "Master Choma, I should have done this earlier but the apparant urgency of the situation lead to me deciding it could wait, but I am Boreas Thessalian, as master Gero hinted at I am from the Realm of Darkness, just like Torrin, I look forward to fighting alongside you." Boreas said offering his hand. "You probably have more important duties to attend to, but would you join me for breakfast? I feel like whatever is to be discussed between the three of them may take a while." If the master declined, he'd just take his leave and find himself something to eat and perhaps someone to keep him company.​

 

"I know things didn't go too well with the willow, but..." Chrys trailed off as she began to climb up after Avra. A part of her wanted to just try to talk to the princess, still clinging to the hope that someone out in the universe would understand them and their goal. However, that hope was becoming increasingly futile. Even if the princess listened to them, they wouldn't be able to hide the fact that they had fought and defeated the willow, not for long. Learning of the tree's defeat and possibly of it's disapproval of them, the princess would have very little reason to trust them.

"Never mind..." She had already nearly screwed up the battle for them, she didn't need to screw this up for them as well. Talking was something she felt was a surefire way to accomplish just such a mistake. So instead she remained quiet, following her fellow apprentices up into the higher branches of the Willow tree. She was vaguely worried about their climbing it so soon after it's defeat, but she figured that was something else to stay silent about. ​

 

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When Tinarah said she wanted to go back to that place, he was almost shocked. He knew that she probably had emotional investment wherever that was after being there for... five years in her time. But he still didn't know why someone would want to go back to a place like that if it caused them so much pain. He tried not to think about it too much for his own sake more so than hers. When he got the dish put in it's proper place and Tinarah asked about his hand. He was thrown off, since he hadn't expected it, but eventually looked to it and said, "Oh, in the last world we went to things got a little... intense. A cannon fell on it when I was pinned down. It seems to be healing up pretty quickly though, which is odd, but I'm not gonna complain too much. It's my dominant hand and I'm not liking being a righty right now." he tried flexing his hand a bit but it hurt, so he stopped.

 

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Aria was caught in a middle of a dispute it seemed. Although it seemed pretty one-sided to her to be honest. She was stunned to learn that Torrin had been hanging around her room throughout the night, given the fact she was pretty much left to freely roam in the other world with the others. Then again, he seemed more paranoid this time around than the time he took her from the Light Chaser and dropped her off with her friends. Something about the Light Chaser making Torrin and his small group to fall in a trap he set up...

When Grandpa Gero and Torrin started to threaten each other, Aria inhaled sharply between her teeth. It was time to step in. “Whoa, whoa! Okay, calm down everyone,” Aria tried to coax. She stepped up to the middle between the two that were arguing, gently taking the cane in her hand and lowering it gently while looking up at the older man. “It’s okay, Grandpa Gero... it’s okay...” She didn’t know what happened to him in the years that he was absent, but it seemed to have left a bitter taste in his mouth towards Torrin. Something about another him... Aria didn’t understand it, but she was going to do her best to defuse the situation.

“There’s no need for cane throwing or dropping-down old people,” she said to Torrin as she glanced over at him and then back to the elderly man. “And there’s no need to throw people out of the castle suddenly.” She sighed out and rubbed the back of her neck, feeling a little frustrated for being out of the loop of things. “L-Look, Grandpa Gero... I don’t know what happened... when you were gone. And I don’t know much about Torrin and his situation... but this Torrin that I’ve gotten to know for the little bit I have hasn’t hurt anyone. He saved me. The Light Chaser had me and made me believe that if I left a world I was stuck in a sleeping state that it would collapse because of my light... The Light Chaser also told me Tinarah was returned safely to my friends, which was an absolute lie. And this all happened... almost three days ago.”

She clenched her fist as she raised her hand and looked down at the bracelet. “But Torrin went to face the Light Chaser to get Tinarah back. And when he found me, he brought me back to my friends, even when I was scared the Light Chaser’s words were true. From what I understand, him and Atmos put their lives on the line to save just one person, even though that mission seemed impossible. The Torrin here has been going above and beyond for us... and when he found you and Tinarah, him and his friend protected you two when the trap fell in place...”

Aria was now standing between the two so they wouldn’t go at each other’s throats while she was talking. Her eyes soften as she looked to the elderly man and she carefully took one of his hands and held it for a moment. “Whatever this Other Torrin did... shouldn’t reflect on the one standing before us now...”

She squeezed Grandpa Gero’s hand and let go before turning to face Torrin. “We’re all worn out. We’re tired... we’ve been through a lot we don’t understand right now. We can either learn from each other and get stronger,” she said as she looked back to her old mentor, “or keep fighting with one another and get weaker...”

She looked to her arms and stroked the healed skin, then back up to Gero. “Something the Light Chaser told me really bothered me... that he wants to find a way to be rid of all the darkness in the worlds and in people’s hearts.” She pressed her hand to her chest and fell silent for a moment. “What if... that causes more destruction than somehow finding a balance? Like how the daylight and night time take turns rotating, or how people use the shade to cool off on a hot summer’s day... or needing complete darkness to see a meteor shower.”

Aria shook her head with a nervous smile. “I don’t know. Maybe I’m being silly... but I believe if we work together, we can figure out a way to understand the Light Chaser’s powers and his reasons why he is doing what he’s doing. And we need Torrin’s understanding of the darkness to see how, and if possible, Darkness could coexist with the Light...”

She let her arms drop and looked to the floor. “...I’m really scared right now too,” she admitted. “I don’t... I don’t understand about this whole thing about being a princess of heart. If I’m a princess of heart, a being of pure light, why am I having nightmares about this dark creature? Why is it suddenly appearing and able to physically hurt me but no one else can sense its pressence? I mean, it’s lashed out at me before, but I never ended up with marks or scratches... maybe if I understand why darkness has to be in the worlds along with the light, maybe I’ll find the tools to stop it and conquer it...”

 

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"Your violin? Yes, actually. When I had found it I carried it around for a bit, but I eventually gave it to Chrono. I... didn't think it was right for me to hold onto it. Especially since Chrono was so worried about you. But yes." Take nodded to her before continuing, "And Choma was worried about you." he didn't elaborate there, because he remembered Choma actually being more focused on Aria being alive and Mika being dead. But he wasn't exactly lying. He noted something that Tinarah said and managed to hold back a chuckle as he spoke, "Of course Stamatis would be into music. He was talking a lot about taking in a moment and meditating and music always seemed like something meditation-like to people. I don't know though, not really a music person myself. But, that sounds like it'd work." he thought about it a minute before looking at her, "Don't worry about becoming readjusted immediately, okay?" he rubbed the back of his head and said, "I don't... like to admit this. But, I still haven't adjusted to the ways of life outside of my homeworld. And it's been over a month for me. If you miss what you've called home for five years, that's okay. I'd love to hear any fun stories you had with Stamatis and uncle Frost if we ever get the time and you ever want to tell them."

 

Boreas returned the firm handshake he received from Choma, looking the man in the eyes as he did. "Thank you for having me." Boreas said following Choma's gaze, then gave him a knowing look, when the Master said he had nothing else to do really Boreas was a little bit surprised as he had been waiting outside of Tinarah's room presumably to speak with her. Then again he had delegated the task of looking after the girl to her brother and another one of the students. He followed Master Choma to the kitchen and listened to the question he was asked. "While we are prepared to fight, because of the everlooming threat of the Heartless the opening up of another front in the war especially in a surprise attack means we may not be able to hold our own. However thanks to Master Atmos' accidental appearance we have received a warning, but we can only be so prepared, I have already seen first hand that the Light Chaser is a good strategist, he'll hit us where it hurts, cripple us and then sweep everything else away. How he'll go about it I don't know, I can't imagine the seven of them will take the field against an army, I hope it will not come to it..." Boreas said starting to sound worried about his home, his family that were stil back there all the people there. "I'm not sure if you were informed but the Light Chaser attacked us when we were at your castle, I was told to get out of there I don't know how much damage was done..." Boreas figured just telling him right now, lest the man returned home to find it ruined. ​

 

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Chrono was caught off guard by the initial response he was given. When the door opened and Master Atmos had responded in a tone bearing a stark contrast to the one before, Chrono peaked past Master Atmos and noticed the hint of red on the cheek of her sister. Quite the debate then. He could've commented on how he didn't know she had a sister, but it wasn't a big deal or anything like that. "Do you have any...spare clothes that Tinarah could wear?" At no point did he ever think he'd be asking someone that.

 

She listened to her Master before she finally took a bite of toast. Qamar knew that there was darkness on her heart. Her own father saw to it that it was developed. Honed to be used for himself with no worry about what would happen to her. Sure she wasn't going to hurt anybody with it, but she knew it was there and it was tempting to use it .

"Maybe I should stick around Torrin. If I stay near him, I might learn some things." She said this and pulled a picture out of her pocket. "After all, my mom had a lot of darkness too. She told me not to hurt people with my own...I just want to..want to know why she had darkness."

Qamar ate her food without another word. Once she finally finished, she stood up and gathered the dishes. Sighing, she put the picture back in her pocket. "Did you ever figure out who the man in the photo could be? My dad said it was my uncle but mom acted like he was more special than that." She spoke to Kide. Heck, Qamar looked like she could be the man's kid. But she couldn't be that guys daughter. Her mom would have just told her so if he was.

"In any case, Master Kide...when will you and the Council decide if Adalric and I are ready to be Master's? We've been training a long time so I figured we might be ready by now..." she asked, looking over at Kide.​

 

Illiana continued walking as she heard footsteps come closer. She immediately grabbed her keyblade and pointed it behind her as she turned. When she turned around, in front of her blade was Glyde. She sighed as she lowered her blade. "You're certainly one to chide people for being suspicious. You do know there are things called doors....and stairs, right? Or do you simply prefer the scenic route?" Illiana put her hands on her hips before responding to Glyde. "And you do know that you shouldn't come running up behind people? Unless you want to get your head taken off. Besides, I'm not gonna walk down any stairs with these wedges on." Illiana paused for a moment before continuing. "Aren't you supposed to be eating breakfast or something?" She continued walking as she asked. She crossed her arms before continuing to speak. "Is there something you needed or do you intend to keep following me around?" Illiana stopped and looked back at Glyde. Several moments pass before Illiana sighed and then broke the silence. "Well do whatever you want. I'm not gonna tell you how to live your life." Illiana jumped onto another tree branch. She waved at Glyde before taking off into the trees.

 

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"Jeez. No need to be so aggravated." Glyde continued along, trailing behind Illiana a slightly wider distance; having been greeted by the business end of her Keyblade had left him both shaken and considerate to what he assumed was her personal space. "Breakfast is a bit of a ways from being ready... I mean, I've only just put my request in. The guy that took it seemed a bit taken aback by, well, everything from the broken door and on... Didn't seem too wanting of my company." Not wanting to be caught out on his own, he darted into the wood, walking beneath where Illiana was tree-hopping.

"I figure I might as well be in company; you know, rather than sulking about on my own like a lost, stray pup; you, as I recall, were the one that told me to stop having such a pity party." He paused, taking in the moment of silence that followed his comment. "And you just happened to be the only other person left converse with at the moment." As he spoke, he thought to how the last time he had followed Illiana had landed him behind bars. "So, I take it that jumping out of windows and climbing trees in wedges must be a less arduous undertaking than going down a set of stairs?"​

 

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Aria was relieved that things to see more calmer now, only to amp up again when Torrin threw in some arguments. Aria held back a sigh and instead pinched the bridge of her nose, listening to both bickering back and forth. "Okay, okay!" She raised her hand up in the air, trying to get them to stop. "Again, please. Stop fighting," she pleaded to the two of them. She looked to Torrin and smiled a little. "We don't know how light and darkness can coexist yet, given how corrupted the two sides can be... I mean, I've seen the heartless side with someone in the last world we visited, and I'm seeing the Light Chaser's side with it a bit. I can see why Grandpa Gero is hesitant."

She breathed out and rubbed her temples with her fingers. Processing all of this at once was giving her a headache. "For the longest time, my nightmares were just something written off as a childhood nightmare I'd grow out of. Aunt Anja said it's been around since I was an infant. Well, I'm seventeen, and it's still here. And just today, it physically manifested itself... As scary as it is, I agree, this needs more research."

Aria pressed her lips together and chewed the inside of her cheeks. "I don't want this to hurt anyone else... Whatever is going on. And I don't think dream travel is possible? Or even safe. What if my light hurts you badly, Torrin? Or almost kills you... Or what if you hurt me on accident? We'll just have to take this one dream at a time."

She remembered something else in her nightmares and looked down at her bracelet. "There's one more thing... Every time the dark creature is about to try to end me the last couple of dreams... Or keeps tormenting me... There's this voice that's been talking to me. A woman. There's this blinding light, and she seems to scare away the monster. Which is what happened last night... But when I woke up this time, that's when it manifested itself. I was in my room, but it was dark... There was no light at all. And it turned out I didn't wake up at all. But my dreams only started picking up recently, and the voice only started to come after I was with the Light Chaser and he gave me this." She held up her wrist for Gero to look at the golden chain.