Kingdom Hearts: Kingdom Hearts: Light Chaser

Boreas gave Torrin a look that said suuuure when he claimed that he only needed something to drink and it was the magitec affecting him. Aria then returned with a mug of this hot chocolate stuff everyone seemed to be so excited about and Boreas thanked her before glancing to Chrono sitting across from him. "Well let's see what all this is about..." He muttered more to himself than anyone else and took a sip. The rich creamy flavour was rather nice, he had to admit it was very nice. He quietly contemplated the whole situation they were in. They had been attacked here while Torrin, Take, Adalric and himself had walked into a trap and with the device still in place they were being set up with a situation once again and Boreas clenched his fist silently as he once again thought that their opponents was playing with them.

If they had attacked here once already they knew they were here, it wouldn't be the end of it. With the machine in place they were forced to rest here which provided a very easy opportunity to attack them again. It would be the easy thing to do, attack in the night or the early morning. Aria and Take walked back into the kitchen, Boreas glanced over when Take mentioned the Magitek was affecting him too. Boreas didn't want to admit it too much but he too was affected by it feeling a little weary and he could use some rest himself. He silently sipped hot chocolate, as Aria set about cleaning the cups and talking to Chrono. Edna told them all to go to bed and rest, bu Boreas had no intentions of sleeping, with no centralised decision to organise a system for keeping watch Boreas took it on himself to simply keep watch.

"Good night, you sleep well too." Was all Boreas said as Aria left. Boreas finished up his hot chocolate, cleaned up his own mug and went to find a room. He summoned his keyblade and sat down on the bed closing the curtains but keeping a nightlight on. He sat against the headrest of the bed, wrapping the covers around him and resting his keyblade against his shoulder, he held his legs close. He was going to stay awake for the night, it had been a while he had held watch and he didn't have to do it on his own in this days. He wouldn't be surprised if they attacked in the night or at dawn to deny proper rest, he wasn't going to let that happen and softly started to hum the tunes to a few songs he had picked up in the army. He was in for a very long night on his own.​

 

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The remainder of the evening found Glyde lingering in an off corner of the living room, catching the bits and pieces of the discussions between his companions. Drifts of talk regarding Aria's nightmares accounted for the majority of what held the eventual silence at bay. In the moment he thought of bringing up his own sleeping dreams as an anecdote of some sort; he decided against this, chiefly due to the clear difference between his and hers: Aria's were true night terrors, while his were mere reflections of moments past. He had no ground for similarity as far as he could tell. Even if he did... there was little inclination in him to steer her problem into his. Thus, he resolved to a sombre silence as he listened in, taking sips of his hot chocolate until the mug emptied.

The treat left him relaxed to the point of drowsiness. Glyde, a s surely as the others, felt worn from the day. For his part, he also felt quite defeated; had it not been for Mr. Incredible being turned on them, he might've been good for a short while longer. As soon as Edna pointed them to their rooms, Glyde was, without word, down the hall and into one towards the end. He would barely recall falling into bed as he fell rapidly into a deep slumber.
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Qamar looked at Torrin when he came in and she sighed. "And yet you've done nothing to even help her a little. Except maybe being there after the fact, at least we'd help her just a little bit. But whatever, you're the master, you obviously know more, dont' you?" she snarked, turning her head and walking towards the broken window. Edna had told them there were plenty of rooms, but Qamar wasn't tired. She was fine as far as she knew, so staying up all night wouldn't be too bad for her. Besides, she had a few tricks to keep herself awake longer so long as she didn't overexert herself the next day. If she got too tired, she'd sleep tomorrow, but tonight she decided to keep watch and hopefully let Torrin sleep.

Once everyone walked off to their rooms, Qamar turned and headed down the hall. She happened to see Torrin standing in front of a door after passing a note underneath. She raised an eyebrow and leaned against the nearby wall. "Just so you know, I can stay up tonight and keep an eye on her. You're better off sleeping after the day you've had." she suggested. "If anything happens, I'll wake you up, Master." she said, her arms crossed.​

 

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Take heard some sort of conversation going on outside of the room and tried to listen in on it, but only really heard Torrin's part of the conversation clearly. He peaked out when he heard things starting to get a little more heated and he poked his head out and looked at the two, "Are you two having a moment out here? There are fourteen rooms and you could share it along with your side agendas in there instead of in the middle of the hallway."​

 

Qamar listened to Torrin and tapped her chin. "Well, you're sounding pleasant. What, did I hit a nerve? If anything, you're being an a** right now. Certainly not acting very Masterly to me." she stated. "Of course, you don't have a Master. So how did you become a Master if you don't have a Master?" she asked, not really expecting an answer. "And a specific set of skills...sure, and that helped you so far? If you have those skills, why haven't you solved her problem yet?"

Qamar cocked her head to the side. "As it is, you're being really mean for no reason, Torrin. Perhaps stepping back and taking a deep breath before attacking somebody verbally is a good idea. Besides, I don't think Aria would be too happy if her boyfriend was making enemies with everyone." she said, not moving. "Look, don't take this the wrong way, but I can swear to you that I can protect her. If you're as capable as you say you are, sleeping after talking to her is your best bet. I understand your worries, but you'll die if you don't sleep."

Take had poked his head out by now, but Qamar ignored him. "And that particular skill would actually be nice to have explained to somebody before you go in there and f*** up Aria somehow. Thallasa won't know, I'm not a damn whistle blower." she muttered to him, trying not to let that part be overheard. "And I"m serious. You need to learn to accept help from somebody before you really do mess something up."​

 

Illiana opened her eyes as she woke up from her nap. She looked up at the sky and saw the moon was higher in the sky than it was when she first fell asleep. She stood up and stretched a little bit. "Well at least the headache is gone. I bet everyone is off in snooze-land." She scratched her head and pick up her water bottle. Illiana walked down the stairs and went into the kitchen. "Nobody will die over a missing bag of popcorn, will they?" After a few seconds, she waved her hand. "Nahh. Nobody's gonna miss it." She grabbed the bag of popcorn and placed the bag into the microwave. While it was still going, she grabbed a popcorn box and went back to the microwave. After putting the popcorn into the box, she started to walk out of the kitchen when she heard some voices in the hallway. Being the curious cat that she was, she went into the hallway to see what was going on. As she walked in, she saw Torrin and that purple dressed girl in what appeared to be an argument. "Ooo! Just in time." She whispered to herself as she began to eat her popcorn. Take had then walked into the room a little bit after. She tried not to laugh as Take spoke and continued to eat popcorn. She debated whether or not to say something for a few moments. She shrugged her shoulders and ate another popcorn. "Wow. This is better than cable. And here I thought nothing interesting was gonna happen." She continued to eat popcorn. "By all means, don't let me stop this conversation." Illiana sat down and ate more popcorn.

 

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Take heard the conversation escalating, and Illiana only contributing to the toxicity of the situation and he was starting to get a bit worried, and since he had taken off his jacket he was clearly in ready for bed mode, but with what was going on, he wasn't liking where this was going. He walked out in between the two holding his arms up and saying, "Woah okay, I was kidding. Can we not fight right now? Please? Especially over something involving Aria? I'm sure she wouldn't like it. And if it's more than just that we need to... well, we don't have to be friends but we should at the very least be in a cooperative mindset. And fighting when should all be trying to get some rest isn't going to help us. In fact, I'd say it'd do the opposite." Take wasn't looking at either in particular, he kept trying to look between them, "Maybe there's a reason he isn't telling you what this... particular skill is. Maybe it's better for less people to know about it than more. I don't know. But people keep things on the down low for a reason. Hopefully good reasons. Just... just trust each other. On a base level at least." he looked back at Torrin and said to him specifically, "Don't feel you need to ask help, but know that you can... cause you're not alone here."

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Aria was concentrating deeply on her bracelet making when she heard the rustle of paper behind her. She stopped and looked up, seeing a note on the floor. “Hm?” She stood up to go retrieve it, only to bump the desk and tip over a bag of beads. Colorful jewelry pieces rolled out, bouncing everywhere on the floor.

“Agh!” Aria snatched up the bag before more spilled out. She was about to shout to whoever was at the door she’d be a minute, but then heard voices outside. She scratched her head and stayed still, listening to the voices outside. She fell silent as she listened to the banter going back and forth as she subconsciously gripped the pouch in her hand. Why did she have to cause so much contention? Why did she have to make everyone worry about her so much? She wanted so badly to prove she could take care of things and help everyone else, that she wasn’t going to be dead weight.

Spoiler: Tales of a Princes: Children Can Be Cruel, Part 1

Age 10

The months seemed to have been stretched for an eternity. Yet the world still changed, and time went on as it should.

Aria was now ten. She had grown taller, almost stocky even. No matter how much her aunt tried to feed her, it seemed to evaporate in her stomach. Her light colored hair had grown longer, and almost changed to an odd purplish, pink color. She had grown more quiet than usual, but she was still friendly and kind to those she came in contact with and accept her friendship. Which seemed as though very few did lately.

She was sitting on the edge of her bed, dangling her legs. It was around daybreak, but Aria had been up earlier than that. Her nightmares had almost been the same, forcing her to wake up and stay up. She felt she was too grown up now to go to her aunt and uncle about the monster that haunted her in her sleep. She was dressed in light brown leather riding chaps, dark denim pants, a dark purple flannel shirt with fingerless black gloves on her hands, her hair done in a single braid with a flat cap resting on top of her head, and brown work boots on her feet.

There was the sound of floorboards creaking in the house, and Aria brought her head up from looking at the floor. She could hear the familiar heavy, miseven footsteps walking down the halls, and then the shuffling, slow steps down the steps. Aria sucked in a breath of air and then stood up, hurrying to her bedroom door with quiet feet. Though they were a bit noisy still with the boots. The girl slipped out and glanced down the hallway, seeing that the bedroom door was closed part way and knew her aunt was not up just yet. Aria smiled to herself and then tiptoed down the steps to the kitchen.

There was her uncle, still the large man that she remembered. He was currently adding fire to the stove to heat it back up and went to the ice box to grab some fresh eggs and butter out. He turned to place the butter on the table, only to look up and see his niece there. “Aria…” He smiled at her and then folded his arms over his chest. “What are you doing up so early?” he asked with a raised brow.

“I couldn’t sleep,” Aria answered honestly as her eyes darted to Lanar’s arms. One was mechanic with working limbs while the other one was still the normal one. His face had old scratch mark scars on them running down his face, and he stood a little bit uneven on his feet. It would’ve been hardly noticeable save if anyone saw what was under his pant leg on one side. He was spared from death that horrible day, yet it was a long road to recovery and many painful procedures to get her uncle back on his feet.

“Mmm…” Lanar went back to making breakfast as Aria sheepishly stood in the doorway. “You’re dressed as if you’re ready for adventure…”

Aria cleared her throat and rubbed the back of her neck. “I’ve been getting better with the bow and arrow, and my spear throwing has been improving…” Lanar kept his back to his niece as she talked, and she felt as if he was already shutting her out. “I really want to help, and I can keep up. There’s only three farms left out of the nine, including ours, and the boys of the other workers get to-”

Hands were placed on Aria’s shoulders, stopping her from talking. Lanar knelt down to her height, looking into his niece’s eyes from under her flat cap. “Aria, how many times have I told you? You need to stay here… It’s not safe out there anymore-”

“Which is why I want to help!” Aria protested as she stopped one foot on the ground. “It’s not fair that I am the only kid who can’t help out on the fields somehow!”

“Aria, listen to me.” Uncle Lanar shook his niece a little, grabbing her full attention now. He sighed out as he loosened his grip on her shoulders and looked intently into her eyes. “We were chosen to protect you even before you came to us. If something was to happen to you like it did with me, I’d… I’d never forgive myself.”

The ten year old felt her neck become hot with shame. She could feel her uncle’s sincerity in his voice and see how badly he wanted to protect her. Her eyes glanced to the mechanical arm that had replaced the one he lost to the wrenfel. She remembered when he was first fitted with it how he yelled and screamed in pain. Her aunt had to take her out of the house while the older woman tried not to cry.

“I just want to help,” Aria whispered softly. She closed the gap between her and her uncle, hugging him tight. “I feel like… I’m not doing enough. And there’s been talk that all of this happening lately is my fault. I want to fix it-”

“Shh, shh.” Uncle Lanar hugged his niece close, his heart nearly breaking for the girl. “You do enough, I promise…”

There had been rumors going around that because Aria was an outsider, she was attracting the wrenfel lately. The monsters had been acting out of character of late, and his mind went to the day when Aria was just an infant and was almost bitten by that snake. There had to be another reason for it though. After the day Aria came to his rescue three years ago, there had been hardly any monsters spotted on the property. It couldn’t be Aria attracting the beasts, could it?

No, he refused to believe it.

“None of this is your fault,” Uncle Lanar concluded as he pulled away from Aria. “Grandfather Gero said so the last time he was here.” He smiled at Aria and pulled her cap down over her eyes playfully. “And Grandfather Gero is always right, you know. Don’t listen to them… they’re, scared, confused and upset while trying to find blame for their situation… because that’s all they feel like they can do. What’s been happening… it’s just a strange happening. Okay?”

Aria chewed on her bottom lip and shrugged her shoulder. She felt like if she started to protect the farm too like the older boys of the other farmers working for them, she wouldn’t be seen as such a nuisance. She shrugged her shoulders, which prompted her uncle to rub Aria’s hat on her head all messily.

“Come on, I bet some hot chocolate and breakfast will cheer you up,” Lanar said with a small smile.

The voice of Take sounding off in the hallway and hushing everyone made Aria come out of her thoughts. She felt herself breathe out in relief when he defused the situation, or at least tried to. Aria looked at the beads scattered on the floor, and then to the door. She saw the little note and picked it up, seeing the picture on it and the single word. She carefully folded it up and put it in her pocket before opening the door slightly.

“We’re... all good, right?” She asked, sticking her head out slightly. “No one’s heads are going to pop off?” She chuckled nervously and then her smile faded after a moment. “Take’s right... I don’t like it when you guys fight, especially when it involves me. This why I was really hesitant to tell anyone what was going on.” She stepped in the hallway a bit, closing the door partway behind her. “I’m not expecting instant fixes with this nightmare problem. It just happened today. And I don’t want to be treated like I’m... fragile. Maybe that’s not the right word. But just cause I’m happy and into rainbows and whatnot doesn’t mean I had a sheltered, completely carefree life. I’ve dealt with things. Things I had to face on my own and had to grow through them. I had to take care of myself sometimes and not rely on other people. So please, like Take said... just... don’t fight.”

She sighed out and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I know we’re all on edge right now. Everything is confusing and seems really hopeless... and maybe it’s the optimism in me, but one way or another, we’re going to get through this. I’m going to be okay. We’re all going to be just fine so long as we work together and stop trying to hiss and to claw each other’s eyes out.” She looked right at Qamar and Torrin, directing that last statement to the two of them. “Okay...? Let’s just go get a drink of water, take some deep breaths, and try to get some rest...”

 

"Thank you, Master." Chrys bowed politely. "We'll report back to you tomorrow morning. Have a good evening." With that simple comment, she turned around and effectively exited the conversation. She also found herself leaving the building shortly after, heading in the general direction of where she remembered the inn to be. Chrys walked in silence, something that had become commonplace for her. As she trailed down the road, her thoughts turned once again to her brother, as well as to the situation she had found herself in.

She found herself wondering, not for the first time, why her brother hadn't been the one to gain a Keyblade. As one who was once a crystal, he surely was possessed of a stronger light and purer heart than she was. Surely the mystical blade, in its wisdom, could see that his brother was just as much a living being as she was. Surely it could feel that he had a heart of his very own? Then again, she supposed she didn't know what exactly had happened to her brother after the two of them were separated. She supposed he could very well have a Keyblade of his own... wherever he was.

Eventually, she found herself at the inn, sporting a large sign that read: "The Earthbound Papas." What the heck was up with that? "The Black Mages" had at least made sense. This new establishments name was something she found completely confusing... yet she somehow felt that this one would also be a band name. Go figure. With a shrug of her shoulders, Chrys went inside to get a room for the night. ​

 

Take had intervened and honestly, Qamar listened to him. Take was right about this and it was obvious by now that Torrin wasn't budging. When he explained himself, it at least helped Qamar understand a little better. "Fine...I understand now." she said, looking at Torrin. "And...I'm sorry, Torrin. I think I get why you're adamant about it now...if it's truly important, anyway. Just...try not to be so secretive? I want you to trust me and not treat me as an enemy, okay?" she asked of him. "Trust me in knowing I just want to help. Just don't listen to the words in your head telling you otherwise."

Qamar looked back and saw Illiana. "Alright peanut gallery." she commented and looked at Take. Qamar then put a hand on his shoulder. She was still a little tense from the argument so she looked at him softly. "Let's go talk a little, hm? I want to learn a little more about that stone from earlier." she said, trying to indicate that was code. She then walked with Take.​

 

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Take was grateful this was eased so quickly but when Qamar was trying to seperate themselves from their conversation, he was a bit confused why Qamar was leading him away from his room, but figured she must have just wanted an excuse to get away so he just walked with her and said, "I mean, I explained the stone earlier, there's not much else to tell. I don't think he made it on a particular day or anything, I think he just made it at a picnic or something and gave it to us. I don't remember it being anything big it's just more the association is all..." he continued to mumble on about it as they walked, just basic stuff nothing to spectacular. He was just explaining what he thought was a relatively normal day. Heck he even managed to mention smaller dragons flying about in a casual manner as if it was nothing. But he just used it as an excuse to help her get out of there.
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Illiana had finished her popcorn as Aria had spoke out. "Nightmare? Well this is new." Illiana had threw away her popcorn box and then returned to the group. She continued listening as each person spoke. She shrugged her shoulders and turned toward the living room. Before she could walk anywhere, she heard the girl speak. "Alright peanut gallery." She felt her eyebrow twitch slightly. She turned around and then using the handle of her keyblade. As the girl was walking away, She quickly used the handle of her blade to trip her a bit while making sure Take didn't get caught in the crossfire. "Sorry. My bad. A mere accident." A convincing fake smile had donned on Illiana's face. "Though let that be a lesson that I don't take it very kindly to be called 'peanut gallery'. Understand? Good." She then walked away toward her room. "Have a pleasant night!" She waved as she walked away. She walked into her room and immediately began looking around the place. She walked over to the window and sat on the windowsill. "No point in sleeping now. At least I got some rest earlier." Illiana continued to look out her window for a bit.

 

Qamar walked with Take back to the living room and she immediately felt her foot bump something. While she did trip a little, she ended up kicking the keyblade in frustration. "Yeah a total freaking accident, you slimy wench!" she said in exasperation after Illiana had left. Now that it was only Take and Qamar, Qamar walked around the room in utter frustration. She started to rant.

"Why does he think he can handle everything? Why won't he let anybody help him or something? I want to help too! I hate being left to the sidelines. I thought leaving the castle would let me be able to help people more and get some actual friends instead of a practically mute and antisocial acquaintence." she groaned, not even caring if that last part was unfair to Adalric.

"I just want to help people and be friends with them. Why won't he at least put a little trust into me? I'm trustworthy? Right?" she asked, looking at Take. She ended up glaring at a pillow still on the floor. She then kicked it, watching it zoom out the open window and off into the night. The sound of glass breaking in the distance echoed through the night. "I need to punch something" she said, looking over Take, walking towards him. However, Qamar stopped and sighed.

"I'm sorry." she said, looking at him and seeing the utter confusion in the boys eyes. "He got me really riled up. I don't understand Torrin. I just want to help him....."

Her eyes welled up with tears. "I don't want Aria to get hurt or lose her." she said, her eyes wide as tears fell down her face. "I've seen way too many people hurt already."​

 

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She was taken aback with the sudden urgency in Torrin’s voice. “Uh, s-sure, hold on.” Aria looked at the mess of beads on the floor and realized it would probably take two or three long minutes to find all of them and put them back into her bag. She pressed her lips in a thin line and then closed the door softly behind her. “Never mind, it can wait.” She smiled a bit and then nodded to Torrin, seeing the small crowd had already dispersed. “Alright, let’s head out.” With that, Aria led the way to the door, venturing outside in the cool night air. It was still somewhat warm though, which made it perfect to be out in.

Aria inhaled deeply through her nose and hugged herself as she turned to Torrin. “Alright, what’s up?” She asked while her lips turned upward enough to give off a friendly appearance. She was strained, but being outside was relaxing enough for her to feel a little at ease.

 

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Takehiko certainly was not expecting this conversation to go this route, but he listened anyway. When the pillow went flying and he could hear glass breaking, he raised an eyebrow and looked towards her just in time for her mentioning wanting to punch something. When she looked at him, he wondered for a moment if she meant she wanted to punch him. Maybe that raised his questioning whether in fact she was trustworthy. Then she apologized right away, and the switch in emotion was odd, but not unexpected. Then she was crying.

Take was also worried about Aria's well being, but not to the point of being this upset about it. At least he didn't think. He could tell she was good at taking care of herself, he had no reason to doubt that she would make the right decisions, and even if she didn't... well, who made perfect decisions all the time? He tried to figure out what to address first and finally found a point he was comfortable with. He placed a hand on Qamar's shoulder and said,"You have a right to be concerned, but Aria's made it this far and is still alright. I trust her to make the right decisions, you should to. As for Torrin, well, I think he's so used to handling stuff on his own, he doesn't know how to have others help. But sometimes people don't want help, and even if you want to, you need to respect that people want to be able to make their own decisions."

Take let go of her shoulder and shrugged a bit, "I also wouldn't take it to heart too much. Some of us have been in the same group since the beginning of this and still don't trust each other." he looked over in the direction of where Illiana had been, "Completely..." he looked back to Qamar and scratched his face, "But if I'm completely honest here, which I'd rather be. The first time I met you, you were freaking Tinarah out by having just walked into the bedroom. And every time I've seen you talking with people you've been trying to cram your way into friendship or bringing them into personal convos. I wouldn't... do that. You gotta make a fou... found... baseline... foundation! Foundation for the house first before you build it, ya know? Most people don't like to talk to... no offense, strangers, before talking about personal stuff. I know I'm not completely comfortable talking my homeworld without at least getting to know someone beyond their name and what they look like."​

 

Qamar looked down at Take while wiping her eyes. "Y..Yeah you're right...I'm...not very good at social interactions. I try to force myself into situations and don't really think ahead." she said, taking a deep breath. "Your attempt at saying foundation was also very adorable, by the way. Are you sure you're old enough to be adventuring with us?" she teased. "I'll try to not be so...uh...that." she said, referring to her earlier actions.

She then sat down on a couch and leaned back. "I don't really think I've said my name, but I'm sure you heard it from Master Aster. My name is Qamar. Aria tells me your name is Take, correct?" she asked. "I just need some talking to help myself sleep...I got really worked up so..."​