Kingdom Hearts: Kingdom Hearts: Light Chaser

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“I’m being careful,” Aria waved at Qamar as she held herself. “I don’t need to be carried anymore. It’s better to walk it off while I can at this point. If I sit around too much, I’m gonna get stiff and hurt more.”

Aria went quiet as Qamar seemed to blame herself fully for the death of the comrade she barely knew. She frowned slightly, not knowing how to comfort her at this point. She said she would be fine as soon as she could talk to the masters, so Aria decided to leave it alone.

Qamar then offered to take care of her and Aria blinked a moment, glancing at Master Thallasa. “Oh uh, thanks Qamar. But Boreas already patched me up, and Master Thallasa is going to take care of the rest. She is a Master after all...b-but I appreciate the offer. I’ll be fine. I’ll keep in mind you have a first aid kit if something happens again. But hopefully it won’t.”

She shot Qamar a smile and then looked to Chrono. “It’s... still around,” she mumbled. “When it’s going to strike next, I dunno. I’m kind of scared to go to sleep... but I’ll be fine.”

 

Illiana listened as Boreas explained the chain of events that had occurred while she was out cold. "We're still on the Plaza where we fought the chasers, the reason I am carrying you is that you were out cold and we're making ready to go to the Mode mansion, we couldn't leave you behind so I am carrying you. They tried to use magic to help you and Qamar patched you up but you remained out cold. If you want to try and walk lean on me if you need to say so I'll put you on your feet, if not just lay back." Illiana placed a hand on her side and shoulder as she felt the bandage around her. She sighed for a moment before looking back at him. "And Koa? What happened to him?" Boreas answered her question once more, recounting the details of earlier events. "He is not here anymore, he disappeared in a flash of light, both him and the other vanished when I had her on the ground." Her eyes widen for a second before looking away. "I see." Dammit....Disappeared again... She took a deep breath before asking one more question. "What's our plan now?" He then answered her. "We've all taken a beating today we're going to head back and rest up." She nodded her head. After a few moments, Illiana looked up at Boreas and saw how tired he was getting. She tapped his shoulder and asked him to put her down. Once she was back on the ground, she then asked him to help her walk over to Edna's mansion. Once they arrived, Illiana thanked him before walking to her room. She immediately took off the bandages to inspect the damage done, courtesy of her little brother. The wounds looked as if it would leave a scar. She was almost impressed. "Just how much power has that madman given you?" Illiana sighed before turning away from the mirror. She walked over to the door and locked it from the inside. She needed some time to herself, even more than what she normally did. She reached into her umbrella and grabbed a small drawstring velvet bag. From the bag, she grabbed a bracelet from it. As the bracelet hit the light, a small memory came back to Illiana.

Spoiler: Episode Illiana-Fragment 2: Until They Meet Again

It was the middle of the night and Ryden and Naomi were still awake. Naomi’s eyes had been slightly puffy. Ryden had been rubbing her back consolingly. Ryden looked at the clock and his expression remained the same, sad and worried. Both of their minds were preoccupied with what had happened that afternoon. “Ryden….What are we gonna do? We’ll lose Illiana if we don’t do something.” Ryden held Naomi to his chest as she spoke. He had no answer. What could he even say at a time like this? Nothing was said for a few minutes. Nothing but silence had passed between the two. After some time had passed, Naomi spoke up again. “What if we take the kids and run away? They won’t be able to take her or Koa if we run!” Ryden looked at her and shook his head. “We can’t do that Naomi. You know as well as I do that running away won’t solve anything.” As her parents were talking, Illiana has finished packing up her things. She wiped away the sweat that was on her forehead with her arm. She walked out of the room and made her way down the stairs. She looked into the room ahead of her and saw her parents clearly upset about the current situation. “What do we do then?! I don’t want to lose my daughter…” Said Naomi as tears began to fill her eyes once again. Ryden had then held his wife’s cheek as he spoke. “I don’t want to lose her either. I’m absolutely terrified. But what I do know is that running away won’t help.” He hugged Naomi once more. “You won’t lose me.” The two turned their heads immediately toward Illiana. The young girl walked toward her parents and continued. “I’m gonna come back home. I promise. I pinky promise.” She held out her pinky as a sad smile appeared on her face. Silence passed through the room for what it felt like a year. Both parents looked at one another before looking back at their daughter. They had hesitated for a few minutes before holding out their pinkies. Each parent linked pinkies with their daughter, tears filling their eyes. Even though it would be difficult, they trusted their daughter to come back home.


The next day rolled around, Illiana had her bags packed up. A wagon had arrived at the house waiting for Illiana. She looked back at her parents and her little brother who was still unaware of the situation. She hugged her parents before going over to hug her brother. “You be good for mom and dad while I’m gone okay?” Koa had a worried expression on his face. “No! Why can’t we both stay here? Where are you going??” Illiana kept a smile on her face, even though it was hard saying goodbye to her family. “I’m leaving to make sure our family is safe. Your big sister has to show these bad guys that you don’t mess with our home, especially our family. So I need you to promise me you’ll be good to mom and dad and make sure to do what they say. Even if it’s not fun, be good to them. Promise that okay?” Illiana held out her pinky finger. Koa nodded his head as he linked his pinky with her’s. Illiana pulled something out of her pocket, it was two bracelets that were a matching set. It was a yin and yang symbol but inside each was a dragon. One half was green and the other half was blue. She placed the blue one around Koa’s wrist and placed the green one around hers. “We gotta stay strong just like these dragons alright? We can do that can’t we?” Koa smiled as he nodded his head enthusiastically. She ruffled his hair before stepping into the wagon. As the wagon started moving, she looked back as she waved goodbye to her family. The wagon had now been making its way to the castle.
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~3 months have passed~​

Illiana looked at the little charm that was dangling from the bracelet. "Stay strong as this dragon.......What happened to our promise? Tell me little brother....Will things get worse from here?" Illiana looked at the open locket that was on the dresser. After several moments, she looked away and at the door. She grabbed her blade and immediately create a wall of ice against the door. "Not gonna have anyone try to give me a therapy session. Not in the mood for it." She lied down on her bed as she rested her left hand on her wound. "Koa.....I just want to talk to you again."

 

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The day beginning to wane upon the scarred, battle-worn city, the Keybears' party made their journey back to the mansion of Edna Mode. Running par for his course, Glyde held to the rear of the group's trek. Arriving back, the mansion casting its gaze over the metropolis from its hilltop perch, Glyde slowed to a brief halt, staring that the house, and then looking back to the city. He howled out a low yawn, and resumed his walk up to the mansion; this particular world's ordeals had left him drained, and considerably sour.

Entering into the foyer, his desire to seek refuge in his own room slipped away from him. Diverting what would have been a route straight to the comfort of a bed, he stepped into the sitting room, dropping into a seat on what had been left of a couch in the previous afternoon's wake. Upon his lap rested his Keyblade; towards this, his gaze came transfixed, and his train of thought immersed.​

 

Qamar frowned when Aria refused, but she didn't bother arguing. Aria had a point, so what was the use arguing it? She watched Master Thallasa heal Take and Tinarah. Soon it was Aria's turn and then her own turn. Qamar immediately felt better after the healing washed over her body. She rolled backwards and hopped up, landing on her feet and doing a few stretches to check things out. "Woo, I'm better!" she smiled. She placed a hand on her chest where the keyblade had left a gash and she smile sadly. "That's even healed." sighing, she looked at the first aid kit and grabbed it.

"Let's get to a bed and get some rest. What do you say Aria?" Qamar asked. "Or maybe we can rummage together a little of that hot chocolate?" Qamar looked at her legs and saw the various holes and sighed. "Thank goodness I keep a spare." she said, reaching into her magical corset thing and...not finding the spare leggings she had so carefully packed away. "Oh my god, I lost them, crap. Maybe Mode can help or..." she trailed off, glancing around and sighing.​

 

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When Tinarah thanked him for coming with her, he simply nodded and replied, "It was no trouble..." and watched her head off to her room for the night. The boy considered finally getting some patchwork started when he noticed Glyde sat on the couch staring off. Remembering how he had been a few minutes before being transfixed on the statue, he could only imagine something was up. Or maybe his mind was wandering. Either way, the boy wouldn't know until he asked.

Takehiko walked over towards the couch and looked to Glyde and said, "Hey." he paused a moment before asking, "Is... everything alright? I know the fight took a lot out of people so, I just wanted to make sure you were okay."
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Who are any of them to you? What is any of this?

Just another half-hearted attempt at a family tree, poised to break your leaf from their branches when the moment is best for them? ​

Or more people doomed to perish when you lack the resolve and strength to save them?

Are you growing to care for them?
Just a little, maybe? ​

This... What will you make of it? Hide from it? Run from it? Embrace it? How much longer do you ignore it?

How long will you stay in the Dark? ​

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Somewhere from the fogs of thought and memory, a light was beginning to cut through. The recesses of Glyde's mind were churning, as they had in the past week or more. With each passing plunge into his thinking, he was feeling as though a weight was steadily lifting from within his chest. Feeling a measure lighter in spirit than he had been earlier that day, Glyde rose from his deeply invested state. He blinked, maintaining his stare upon his Keyblade for just seconds more. "It's... I've waited too long," he whispered.

With a slow, craning motion, he raised his head, level with the opening looking out to the city. Then, with just as slow a motion, he brought the rest of his body up. He turned towards the entry into the living room, seeing Take before hearing him. "I'm... good, all things considered. Could be better; definitely could be worse though...

"It's hard to move forward when you're not sure where you're going," he practically blurted out. "Or even where you've been, for that matter. Ugh..." he rubbed the back of his head, as it felt sore all of the sudden. "Everything just feels a bit like a mess right now." ​

 

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Take nodded in understanding with his 'good be better, could be worse' response and stared a little confused and unsure at his response afterwards. He couldn't tell if what he was saying was supposed to be literal or metaphorical, but he wasn't much more metaphors so he went with the physical response, "Well, you're in the same boat as the rest of us. Or at least me. I'm not sure where we're going, only really the goal in mind... as for where you've been. I can't really help you there." Take took his left hand and massaged it slightly just to get a quick check on it before continuing, "As for it being a mess. I think that comes down to limited information. Something I'm not fond of..." the boy sighed and let go of his arm and looked back to Glyde, "But I've gotta live with for now."

The black haired boy had a sudden moment of realization over everything and said, "Oh shoot. I completely forgot that you were like... in a coma just a few days ago. Are you recovering well from that or is that part of the 'could be better, could be worse' response? I'm... sorry I didn't ask sooner. I really should have."
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"I mean... I don't know entirely." Glyde's vision wandered, desperately evading direct eye contact; he mostly drifted his gaze out towards the dusk gathering on the horizon beyond the city. When he spoke again, he was looking back towards Take. "My body is fine, strangely enough. I'm just not quite sure how I fit into everything. Like, why the Keyblade, and why me?"

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Take shrugged at his question and said, "Who knows why the keyblade chose you? I don't think anyone knows why they were chosen. Something about worthy hearts? That's what Atmos said. But really, it's anyone's guess as to why the keyblade chose any of us." The boy turned his head to look at the cityscape that Glyde had just looked at, he knew there were times he wished the keyblade didn't choose him. Wishing it had passed over to someone else who was more worthy of the journey. But, he was here and he knew that he was already on the journey and that he might as well keep on moving forward. Take looked over at Glyde's keyblade for a moment and then back up at him for a moment before he continued, "I wouldn't worry too much about how you fit either... but if you do keep worrying I can't stop you. But we're here for you if you need anything. Well, I am... that's like the second time I've spoke for others about that kind of thing. It's... it's the gesture?" he realized he might have been going overboard thinking about that and rubbed his neck, "Sorry."
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"I'm a bit too tired to make hot chocolate actually," Aria admitted. Usually she was all for it, but she was exhausted and didn't have much energy to mix stuff together and warm it up. She could still stand and talk and that was pretty much it. She then saw Qamar was upset about something to do with missing leggings and Aria had an idea. "Hey, I have some that might fit you. Be right back."

Aria was off to her room. Quickly she dug through her magic bag and pulled out a few changes of clothes, finding some black leggings that could work in the meantime for her. She then changed out of her yucky, scratched up uniform and into her normal clothes before heading out of the bedroom and heading back to the living room. It was then she paused by Torrin's door and glanced at it for a moment. He was hiding himself away, but she knew he was still injured. Hesitantly, she walked away and approached Qamar. "Here, try these out to see if these work." She then smiled gently and then looked back over her shoulder. "I, uh... I'll meet you in a little bit. Feel free to crash in my room in the meantime." And with that, she headed off to Torrin's room.

Aria felt better being back in her own clothes again. Her cut she had earlier was now just a thin silver lining on her stomach already, hardly noticeable and the bruises on her neck were gone. Master Thallasa was good at healing after all.

The princess of heart paused at Torrin's door a moment, pressing her lips in a thin line. Would he even want to see her at this point? After all that was said and done, she didn't want to push him to interact if he was uncomfortable with it. She was worried about the burns on his arms though, and she felt a bit of her magic reserves had almost returned to normal. Although he could be a big boy and ask Master Thallasa herself to heal him (since she was the better healer out of everyone), she wanted an excuse to try to talk to him. She took in a deep breath and knocked on the door. "Torrin? It's me, Aria... Can I come in?"

Torrin looked up from the ring he spun around in his fingers and hastily placed it back in his coat pocket when he heard the knocking on his door. He scratched the back of his head, wondering why Aria had come to his door. Though he worried a little over what she would wish to talk about, he knew she wasn't the time to hold it against him for a mistake despite the fact that he did. Still, there was some sense of excitement that came to him when he heard her voice saying she wanted to come in without a sense of urgency. Rather than saying anything in response he reached into another pocket and pulled out another piece of paper that he had taken from the Council's castle.

A piece of paper slid under his door into Aria's view.

Aria heard a rustling of paper at her feet and raised an eyebrow when she saw the familiar stationary slide under the door. She crouched down and picked it up, looking at the image that was scribbled on. She couldn't help but to cover her mouth as she giggled at how Torrin depicted himself and then folded it into her pocket with the other notes that had gather there. She then opened the door partway and peeked in. "Hello..." She greeted with a soft, gentle voice. "I uh... Wanted to check on you. Since your arms were burned pretty badly." She stepped further into the room, leaving the bedroom door partway opened. "Some of my magic came back to me. I-I know I'm not as strong as you or Master Thallasa, but I wanted to help in any way I can. So... can I?"

He waved slightly when Aria stepped in the room and slowly closed his hand and began to lower his arm. His hand opened again to scratch his cheek then awkwardly shifted to rub the back of his neck. "Hey." Torrin looked down at his hands when Aria commented on his burns and then looked back up at her, shrugging slightly.

"I mean, it's not as bad as getting stabbed. Ever gotten–no of course you haven't. That's stupid. But..." His eyes fell onto her stomach where he knew he had struck her. "I'm sorry about what happened. That was on me. If I had made better calls out there..." He sighed. "I know you don't blame me. That doesn't seem to be in your nature...but I can't really help myself." Torrin sat back down on his bed and stared at Aria intently, his eyes glowing in the dim lighting. "My magic hasn't come back yet. But if you want..." He rolled up his sleeves revealing skin that was red and raw. "Not exactly the kind of thing that would leave a cool scar." He joked darkly, lowering his gaze.

Aria frowned slightly and then moved over to the bed where Torrin sat and carefully set herself beside him. "It was confusing out there... I mean, I thought I was awake. And I really wasn't..." She hissed between her teeth and winced at the sight of Torrin's arms. He went through that pain and agony trying to protect them against the blast. She gently took his hands into her own and closed her eyes, exhaling quietly. Green light washed over his arms, healing what it could. "There... I'm sorry I can't do more for you."

She dropped her hands away from him, and then remembered something. "And now that I have the energy..." she gently thwapped him on the back of the head with the back of her head. "Stop it," she said with a little bit of a smile. "I know you can't help but to blame yourself, but stop it. I'm fine. I'm alive. If you hadn't come into my dreams sooner... I would have been dead before Take and Master Thallasa came along." That realization that she probably wouldn't have made it sunk in on her and she rubbed at one of her shoulders as a chill temporarily shivered up her spine. "You stalled it long enough for me to get enough strength to wake up, and for someone to help me from the outside, too."

He had almost forgotten that the pain was even there when Aria took his hands, feeling the searing sensation come back to course through his very bones even as the Cure spell took effect. The pain dulled once more and his arms began to look a little better. "Thanks." He spoke quietly. Torrin watched Aria and blinked at her as she began leading on with what might have been some course of action...and then she smacked him upside the head.

"Hey!" He spoke in a loud whisper, rubbing the back of his head with his hand. "Keep it up and you're losing your princess privileges. Wait, you'd probably enjoy that. Keep it up and I'll start treating you like a princess." He frowned at Aria. "I don't know how to keep you from having those nightmares again." He spoke regretfully, desperately wishing there was more he could do to help her. "You shouldn't have to go through this..." He thought for a moment, searching for anything that could possibly help when his mind recalled a few words Take had said the previous night. Torrin was not one to believe in superstitious concepts such as luck but at this point, anything was better than nothing.

"What about...a lucky ring?"

Aria crinkled her eyebrow at the thought. "A... lucky ring?" She had no idea where Torrin came across that idea and just shrugged her shoulders. "I mean... sure?" She looked down at her bracelets that were on her wrist. The one from Mika was almost too painful to think about, even though it was still right there. And the one from the Light Chaser was staring back at her in a sinister light. It saved them both from utter doom, but she still couldn't help but to not trust it completely. She reached her fingers around it and tugged hard at it, only to have it pinch and constrict her wrist momentarily. "Ugh..." She sighed out, pushing her hair back from her forehead. "You know, I used to have a ring, once upon a time. Gran-I mean, Master Gero gave it to me when I was little... He said it was from my parents. I used to wear it around my neck like a necklace since it was too big for my fingers... But I lost it while training with Master Choma. I was so upset about it. It's really the only thing I have from my parents... to be honest, I really don't know who they are. I know they're out there... But that's about it."

Torrin blinked and reached in his pocket for the ring that rested at the bottom, remembering the letters engraved on it. Torrin turned it over in his fingers, leaving his hand in his pocket as he began to wonder of the possibility of an absurd coincidence. Still, with the way fate had acted on him so many times this would not have been a stretch. "The word Dorin woldn't happen to mean anything to you, would it?" He asked out of curiosity.

Aria turned to Torrin in surprise. "That's my last name," she said quietly in disbelief. She wondered for a moment if he picked that up while he was in the Dream Realm with her, but it would be weird to think so.

 

Qamar looked at the leggings that Aria had brought her and she ran her fingers over the fabric. They felt similar to the ones she was wearing now. Maybe with some alterations it could look just like her old ones. Though she was upset that hot chocolate wouldn't be made, but perhaps later she could help make it. Aria wandered off and Qamar was left alone again. She glanced around the room and saw only Glyde, Take, and Chrono. While the only one free was Chrono, Qamar didn't actually know him that well and she kind of didn't have much to say to him. "I..." she started before sighing. "I'm bad at talking and honestly, Chrono, I think it's best I head off now. I got to fix my leggings and get some sleep after all of this. I'd love to talk to you later, though." she smiled to him. "See you later. Goodnight." Qamar turned to leave, but stopped and looked to Take and Glyde. "Goodnight, Take. Goodnight, Glyde!" she called, waving to them.

Her legs were still sore, so she didn't run, but she did hobble a bit past Torrin's door as Aria looked at a piece of paper. Qamar rolled her eyes and continued on, entering Aria's room and taking a look around. "I'm glad I don't have any bags to worry about..." she said, glancing at Aria's bag on the dresser. She then walked over to an empty chair and removed the corset and then her skirt. She looked at them and sighed at the small tears in them here and there. They laid on the arm of the chair as she removed her shoes and then her torn leggings. With that, she sat down and got to work, stitching up the new ones from Aria. She pretty much fixed them to look as close to her old ones as possible. A smile crept across Qamar's face at her handiwork. "Well, glad I got this fixed...now..." she spoke to herself, laying these ones to the side and tossing the remains of the old ones in the trash.

The skirt and corset were easy since the tears on them were small. For now, this would have to do before she got back home and could get changed. Once everything was mended, Qamar stood up and started to stretch. She ended up sitting on the floor with her legs crossed. She closed her eyes and pressed her fingers together, starting to meditate a little. This went on for a bit as she tried to not think about the day's events. Unfortunately, that was hard to do and she ended up frustrated as Aria came back.

"Hey..." she said, waving at the girl. Qamar stood up and took off her jewelry and gloves. "I think I'll sleep on the floor if I don't end up going to my room." she said. "I did fix my clothes and made those leggings look more like my own, though. I...I can get you some new ones later." she just realized that maybe she ought to not have altered them in the first place. It was too late now, however. Her hand slipped to her hair, grabbing the ribbon on her head and she yanked it out. With it, the hair tie keeping her hair together broke and so her hair fell down past her shoulders. Her hair was far down her back once it was settled and Qamar grumbled. "An....Anyway...um..."

Qamar sat on the bed and crossed her legs. "Let's talk a little bit...please?" she asked. "Mediation didn't not help me and I"m feeling pretty...useless..." she put her hands on her legs. "I...I don't know why but...I...I'm upset because...yet again, I couldn't help anybody and ended up losing two people. I know I"m a broken record..." Qamar looked up at Aria, tears falling down her face. "But I just can't get over this. I should have died, not him. At least he was useful. I just ran around and was a jerk to everybody. I seriously stood there and judged all of you ever since I met you. I can't even figure out why I'm like this. I thought...I thought it was a good idea...." Qamar realized she was rambling and she turned. "I'm sorry..."​

 

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"She's not that bad," Aria said with a smile. "She's just a little rough around the edges, that's all." She went to the door and then curtsied in a silly manner to Torrin to try to get him to cheer up more. She liked to the see the broody one smiling more than usual. "Good night, Torrin. See you in the morning! Oh, and thank you, again. You know, for saving my life and finding the ring for me." And with that, Aria carefully closed the door behind her and walked to her room.

As soon as she got into her room, she saw Qamar settling in her room already. "Oh, it's okay! I don't mind. I usually don't wear those anyways. I like these flower ones." As the girl talked, Aria listened with a slight frown and eventually moved over to the bed to sit by her. She listened to Qamar, making sure she got everything that she was trying to say to her. Finally, she moved over to Qamar and put an arm around her. "You're not useless," she murmured as she stroked the girl's hair to try to comfort her. She pulled away from her and looked into Qamar's eyes. "I know that it feels like it right now... Your emotions are raw and your world crashed down on you. You just lost someone you knew well right in front of you. But don't blame yourself..." It seems like she was giving the not blame oneself speech multiple times today. "And like I said before. It takes time to figure out people and how to interact with them." Aria reached over to her bag and pulled out a clean, blue handkerchief, handing it to Qamar with a smile. "You're strong, okay? The masters wouldn't have trusted you to come along with us if they didn't think you were ready. We make mistakes. It hurts when it happens... But that's how we grow, and that's how we learn. I probably mixed my words but I'm tired." Aria chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of her neck. "But yeah... Don't mind the others. They are a bit more sensitive and going through stuff. Ya just gotta be gentle with them. And... You know, you can probably drag one of the mattresses in here if you don't want to sleep on the floor. Or you can stay in your room. I don't mind. I feel safe with everyone around."

 

Qamar took the hankerchief and wiped her eyes, holding it carefully before she sniffled a tiny bit. "The thing is, I've lost nearly everyone important to me and I just...I don't know how to feel right now. I'm not heartbroken, but I'm also not unfeeling. He was there, now he's gone. There's only one person left that I care deeply about. I hope I don't end up losing em, too...." she looked at Aria. "Earlier I mentioned something about..made to do things that weren't nice. I feel like I need to elaborate a little on that...but I don't want you to think I did it because I wanted to, because I really didn't want to! I wanted to stay alive." She took a deep breath and turned to face Aria fully. "Lately, my memories have been kind of...fixing themselves. I mean, I'm remembering things I had forgotten that are true events and losing the ones I thought were true. For instance, I thought I lost my mother when I was five, but she really died when I was nine. i don't know why I got that mixed up, but I did. And the day she died, I watched her heart float away to wherever they go. Her body faded and left a tiny heart. That day, I remember my father starting to talk to me and...I don't know why, but I felt like I was compelled to listen to whatever he said. Like he was trying to mind control me somehow?" she scratched her head.

"But after that, I don't think my memory is straight, so I dunno what else to think. That sort of ties into the bad stuff, because I ended up opening a keyhole and on some world and he ended up staying and I left." she felt the tears return. "I destroyed an innocent world and so now, I try to do my best to help people and be their friends so maybe, I can make up for it and make myself feel better." She started to shake and felt her hands tremble. "But look at me, I wasn't able to keep one dear friend alive. What am I gonna do when it comes to you guys? I'll just end up losing all of you, too." she looked back at Aria, her eyes streaming tears. "I'm so scared I won't be able to protect you or Tinarah or anybody else I know. After Adalric and Master Kide, you guys are the closest friends I've got. I've already failed one of you...."

Qamar covered her face and sobbed, having a hard time accepting Aria's words. "I'm useless if I can't protect anyone else." she spoke,looking at Aria. "But...I shouldn't think like that....because I mean...you...you said it yourself, I'm not useless, right?" Qamar looked at Aria and wipe at her eyes with her hands. "I...god...I'm crying a lot. I...I'm sorry I'm like this, but thank you for letting me just...blurt it all out." she said to Aria. Qamar then reached over and pulled Aria in for a hug. "I appreciate it deeply. Now then, let's see... "Qamar looked down at the bed. "I don't think we need another mattress or I need to sleep on the floor. I think we could probably share this one if you wouldn't mind?" she suggested. "I'll just sleep on that side. I don't really move in my sleep anyway."​

 

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Takehiko shrugged when Torrin mentioned him not needing to take cleaning literally. The boy looked at Torrin and said, "On my world, when the village is destroyed by the dragons we bury the dead, stop the fires, and repair major damages to the houses. This was nothing to me. Also, I did not need sleep."

Takehiko sipped his tea once more and realized he ran out of it and frowned and said, "I'm gonna make more tea. Do you want some or something to eat?" he stood up and then Torrin would be able to see Aria was sleeping on the couch in a bundle of blankets and he looked over and asked, "Aria do you want cocoa?"
"C...cocooooa." she managed out before Take looked at Torrin and said, "I could make you cocoa too." he responded as he walked towards the kitchen.
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Aria had moved in the middle of the night into the living room where she could see the night sky and hear Take shuffle around the house. She would have helped, but having been nearly wiped out yesterday, her energy was gone and needed to be replenished from rest. She yawned and smacked her lips after Take walked off and snuggled under the blankets, cuddling up to a Shadow Heartless like plushie. She got as much sleep as she could, jolting awake a few times when she thought she was going to slip into a nightmare. She opened her eyes and rubbed the little crusties out, glancing up to see Torrin. "Oh, good morning-" she was interrupted by another huge yawn and then plopped her head back down on the couch. "Excuse me... Ack... How are you?" She was having a hard time opening her eyes fully and her hair was a mop of a mess on her head.

 

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Spoiler: The Previous Night

"I guess that makes some sense." His tone of voice was a mix of quizzical and skeptical, but Glyde, nonetheless, took Take's response as a satisfying answer. "... Maybe it's all been coming around faster than I can a grip on. One day, I'm a no-one on a fringe world, living a menial life. Suddenly I've got the Keyblade, and I'm getting into things I probably shouldn't be, prying open doors better left closed. Next i know I'm, halfway dead on some world I've never even heard of, and waking up days later in a strange castle, and just getting... pulled into a battle that's not exactly mine to fight--" He cut himself off, and shook his head.

"But I'm here anyways..." he trailed off, unsure of how to finish his thought. Giving a deep breath, he walked from living room, bidding Take a good night, and wandered back to his bed. I wonder if I started saying too much.

The remainder of Glyde's night passed with a well-deserved rest. Perhaps it was that he was starting to come to terms with where he was and how he had gotten there, or simply because he was too exhausted for his sleeping mind to conjure any imagery, but he enjoyed a seamless, dreamless sleep. Upon waking, he felt a sort of refreshed that he hadn't felt in what seemed like weeks. More spry than usual, he removed himself from his bed, dressed in full, and stepped out into the common areas. He poked about for a short moment, as he had heard the sounds of others moving about the house. Aria, Torrin, and Take, he found, had all awoken ahead of him. "Ah. Good morning," he spoke, as he ventured among them.​