Pyros lay on a ledge in the Land of Departure. Of course, he didn't refer to the world by that name. He referred to it as home, even though he had only been living there for about four years. He had come after his previous home had been destroyed. He didn't really remember the details, only that he had been with his former teacher, Master Kendra, when a horde of monsters had appeared. Even with the two of them, they were grossly overpowered. She had told him he had shown the Mark of Mastery, named him Master and then saved him by pushing him into a Lane Between, to where he is now. He hadn't seen her since, and could only logically assume she was dead. She hadn't exactly given herself good odds, as she had given him her Keyblade so that he could dual wield thanks to the perfect balance of light and darkness in his heart. Yeah, a lot of good that did either of them. The Land of Departure was a safe place for Keyblade wielders and world wanderers alike.
"Wow…" a voice said dreamily from somewhere just out of Pyros's current field of vision. He recognized the voice as Ventus's, a younger Keyblade wielder he was helping to train with Master Eraqus, the other master that lived in this world.
"Sup, Ven?" He asked, acknowledging the young boy's presence, not looking at him but nodding my head in his direction. He walked over wordlessly and sat next to Pyros with a sigh.
"Why does this seem so familiar?" Ven asked nobody in particular, laying back. Pyros tried to inquire what he was talking about, but the other boy was asleep in a matter of seconds.
A few minutes later, Pyros heard someone approach. He looked over, recognizing the blue hair and black and blue outfit of Aqua, a prospective Master who would be taking her exam the following day. She settled over Ven, and Pyros nudged him awake. He sat up, not noticing the girl standing over him until he lay back down after a wide yawn. He jumped back up to a sitting position, then turned around and rested on his knees.
"Give me a break, Aqua." He said, in a mix of exasperation and friendly teasing, sending the other two into a small chuckle.
"Ven, you hopeless sleepyhead. You know you should've at least brought a blanket." She scolded lightly, smiling at him.
"Ah, give him a break, Aqua. He was only asleep for a few minutes." Pyros stated, still chuckling slightly.
"But… did I dream that place up?" He asked, once again to nobody in particular. "It really felt like I'd been there before, looking up at the stars." Pyros wondered what he was talking about, while Aqua ruffled his hair.
"'Cept you've always lived here with us." She said smiling. Pyros felt bad for deceiving him, even if it was for his own protection as Eraqus had said. The truth was, Ven wasn't from the Land of Departure, like Pyros. In fact, he had come to the world only about two weeks before Pyros. But then, he had been lifeless, emotionless. He had no light or life behind his eyes. Eventually, he gained it naturally through a combination of Aqua's continual niceness, a constant flow of information from Pyros and Eraqus, and a sort of brotherhood with Terra, the other prospective Master.
"Yeah…" He whispered. "I know." He stated a little more confidently and assertively.
The Ven stood and walked over the edge of the cliff with Aqua, Pyros following closely behind. They sat looking at the stars for a bit before Ven said, "Hey, Aqua?"
"Hm?"
"Y'ever wonder what stars are? Where light comes from?" He asked curiously.
"Well, they say-" She began to say, before being cut off by another person behind them.
"That every star is another world." The person said matter-of-factly. Everyone turned to look.
"Terra," Aqua greeted, smiling. Pyros gave a curt nod of respect. Terra returned the nod. The two weren't usually on the best of terms, and almost never saw exactly eye to eye on anything, even if they agreed overall on something. It didn't mean they didn't respect each other, as both greatly respected the other, Terra to Pyros for his ability to become a Master at such a young age and Pyros to Terra for his drive to become the best.
"Yep. Hard to believe there are so many other worlds out there like our own." The brown-haired boy stated, walking over to where we were. "The light is their hearts, shining down on us like a million lanterns."
"What? I don't get it." Ven said.
"In other words, they're just like you, Ven," Terra stated.
"What does that mean?" Ven asked, getting a bit flustered.
"You'll find out someday, I'm sure." The taller boy teased.
"But I wanna know now," Ven complained.
"You're too young to know now." Terra teased further, speaking in a matter of fact tone to aggravate Ven.
"Stop treating me like I'm a kid!" Ven exclaimed.
Aqua began to laugh. The pair turned to her.
"What are you laughing at?" Terra demanded.
"I can't help it, you two would make the weirdest brothers." She laughed.
"It's true. You would." Pyros threw in. The entire group began laughing, then Ven and Terra sat back on the ledge. The four of them sat there for at least a half an hour, just telling jokes. By the end, one would even think Pyros and Terra were the best of friends.
"Oh yeah, Terra, you and I have our Mark of Mastery exams tomorrow," Aqua said after a while, standing up. "I made us good luck charms." She declared, pulling out four necklaces each with a star shaped charm on the chain. "Here!" She said, throwing a crimson colored one to Pyros and a green one to Ven. Terra got an orange one and Aqua kept the blue one. Pyros blushed slightly but turned away so that nobody saw it.
"I get one too?" Ven asked, surprised.
"Of course, one for each of us." She stated. "Somewhere out there, there's a world with a star-shaped fruit. The fruit represents an unbreakable bond. So as long as you carry a good luck charm shaped like it, nothing can ever drive you apart." She explained. "You'll always find your way back to each other. Technically, I think you're supposed to make them with seashells, but I did my best with what I had."
"Oy, sometimes you are such a girl." Terra teased.
"Hey, what do you mean 'sometimes'?" She asked sassily. Pyros snorted, but it went unnoticed.
"So this isn't a real good luck charm?" Ven asked.
"That remains to be seen," Aqua stated. "But I did work a little magic on it." She added, winking slyly.
"Really? What?" Ven inquired excitedly.
She smiled. "An unbreakable connection." She said simply. The four stood talking for a little bit. Pyros didn't really pay much attention, until Terra brought up some last minute sparring before his and Aqua's exam the next day. Everyone agreed, and Ven stood to face Terra while Pyros and Aqua stepped away for their own battle.
"Ready?" The blue-haired girl asked, summoning her Keyblade and holding it at the ready, the end pointing at the ground away from her.
"I should be asking you that question, fledgling." Pyros teased, summoning his Keyblade, Wildfire. He pulled his Keyblade into battle position, in both his hands in front of his chest and his body turned to the left. He turned his head to Aqua.
"What do you mean, 'fledgling'? I become a Master tomorrow." She smirked, running at him. She swung her Keyblade at him horizontally, He parried, then swung back vertically. She jumped back.
"If you pass." Pyros teased further.
"What do you mean 'if'?" She cast Blizzard at him. He cast Fire, which melted the ice magic harmlessly. He followed up by using Fire Raid. She dodged the first but didn't anticipate the return attack. She was sent flying, and rolled to the ground and stopped on her back. Before she could react, Pyros had his foot on her chest and his Keyblade at her throat.
"My win." He grinned smugly.
"That's what you think!" She declared. She moved her empty hand up to his Keyblade, summoning hers along the way. It solidified just in time to knock his away. At the same time, she used her other hand to knock his foot out from under him and knock him off balance. She didn't anticipate that he would fall on her before she could roll clear, however, and his shoulder ended up ramming in between her breasts, knocking the wind out of her. "Yep. Your win." She gasped.
"Well, not a bad move. If it had worked it could have been a serious reversal on me and you'd likely have had a chance." He said, ending with yet another tease while offering his hand to help her up after getting off her.
"What, I didn't have a chance otherwise?" She glared at him jokingly.
"'Course not, but you should take it as a compliment. Most people don't even have a chance to have a chance." He teased even further, prompting her to punch him in the arm, hard but playfully.
After Ven's and Terra's battle was done, they switched off. Terra stepped towards Pyros and assumed his battle position. He rushed Pyros, slashing powerfully as was his style. Pyros ducked under it and aimed a kick at his ankles. Terra jumped and took the opportunity to slash downwards with the extra strength of gravity helping him. Pyros held up Wildfire to block, placing his free hand near the tip of the weapon for extra support. Terra's Keyblade struck the very center of Wildfire's blade. Terra hit with so much force that Pyros's arms nearly buckled when the Keyblades made contact. However, now that Terra had lost momentum, Pyros decided to use this to his advantage. As soon as he regained balance, Pyros sprang back forwards, knocking Terra off balance. He rammed his shoulder into Terra's chest in a similar way as he had with Aqua, except this time it was intentional. Terra fell backward, already having been off-balance from Pyros's previous maneuver. Pyros placed the tip of his Keyblade to Terra's throat as he had with Aqua.
"Two for two." He declared. He dismissed Wildfire and offered his hand to Terra. The brown haired boy took it and stood up grinning slightly. "Not bad, kid." He said teasingly.
"Kid? I'm only a few months younger than you are!" Terra laughed a little bit, fist-bumping Pyros.
The two of them walked back over to Aqua and Ven. "You two are gonna rock that exam tomorrow with extra flying colors!" Ven exclaimed, pumping his fist after high-fiving the two prospects.
Aqua and Terra began walking towards the path back to the castle. "Hey, we're gonna head back," Terra called back,
"Yeah, me too," Ven replied. He looked at Pyros, who shook his head.
"I'm gonna stay out for a while longer," Pyros told the young blonde boy. Ven nodded and ran off to catch up to the other two. Pyros walked back over to the cliff edge and sat down. He watched the meteor shower that had been going in the background of the entire interaction between the four wielders. It was dying down now, almost complete, but would still continue for at least a few more minutes. Pyros wouldn't see the end of it, as he would be asleep within seconds. He had lost track of time and hadn't realized it was nearly sunrise already and had passed out.
A few hours later, he awoke to a burning sensation in his chest. He sat bolt upright and stood once the initial pain had passed. He turned to head back to prepare for the Mark of Mastery exam that he was helping administer. However, upon completing the turn, he found himself face to face with a pale boy he'd never seen before. He had black hair, lifeless navy blue eyes and wore an emotionless expression. He had on a black leather jacket over a white t-shirt, with dark blue jeans and black tennis shoes covering his body. His sudden appearance startled Pyros, so that he took a step back and instinctively summoned Wildfire.
"Who the hell are you?" Pyros demanded, assuming his battle stance.
"Hmph." The boy rolled his eyes, as if this was boring him. He summoned a black Keyblade covered with purple thorn-like protrusions, and three sharp purple spikes forming the crown of the blade. The charm was a broken heart.
"I said, who are you?" Pyros demanded again, gripping Wildfire tightly. He'd have to be prepared to block instantaneously, since he couldn't dodge without risking falling off the edge, likely to his death.
"That's not for you to know yet, weak-willed heathen." The boy said simply.
"I don't know what that means, but I'm gonna take it as a backhanded compliment." Pyros glared defiantly at the boy. He was sure he could defeat him easily, if not for the precarious position he was in.
"Ugh… Fine, if you must be gnostic about it. I go by many names, the Dark Master, Evil Mastermind, blah blah blah, but the name I was gifted upon birth is Oren. But after today, you shall have no need of that information, nor any information. There is no use for knowledge amongst the deceased." Oren rambled. Pyros didn't understand most of it, but he heard the name Oren and assumed that to be his name.
"Okay. Oren was all I needed. What are you doing here?" Pyros inquired, a little less forcefully.
"I have come here to fulfill a certain desire of mine, that has been irking me for quite some time. I am here to fulfill my purpose or die. The purpose of sending you to the other side." Oren stated plainly.
"So… you're here to… kill me?" Pyros said, slowly putting things together.
"Put simply in layman's terms yes, exactly that." He said simply.
"Well, I can't let you do that. I've got stuff planned." Pyros said, dismissing Wildfire and sidling around Oren. "Important stuff. See, I'm proctoring a Mark of Mastery exam today, so I need to be there."
"That's perfectly fine. I didn't intend on clashing with you in this place anyways. I have matters of my own to attend to before that can happen. In the meantime, I hope you'll be training to your fullest extent in anticipation for the day we meet in battle. I most assuredly shall be." Oren smirked, disappearing into the darkness within seconds.
"Wait… so he came all the way here, to tell me he was going to kill me… later? Ugh… I must have been dreaming or something." Pyros decided. He began to walk back to the castle under the newly risen sun.