The Heart of Everything

Prologue: The Insiders

By: RikuLuvr

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Traverse Town: the epicenter of rest and restocking for worldly travelers. The bustling trading town has seen its share of travelers, from wooden youngsters to dark entities, so when a pair of worse-for-wear travelers walked in through the large, oak doors leading from the ship yard, not a single eyelash was batted.

The pair was a couple of young men in their mid twenties. The taller of the two had long, cool blue hair that partially fell over his shoulders and spiked off on the top. A 'X' shaped scar sat across his face. He was wearing a long blue coat, a small crescent moon detailed into the left side and at the buttons on the sleeves. His pants were a blue tinted white and he wore navy colored shoes. The other traveler had fiery red hair that shot into the air with gravity-defying ease. He wore a sweatshirt, unzipped, colored red with the sleeves turning black at the elbows. Underneath was an orange tank top and a yellow stripped scarf. His pants were tan in color and his shoes were red and black high-tops.

The red head bee-lined to the café tables, his companion following at a leisurely pace. Green eyes rolled as the taller of the two watched the red head stalk to the furthermost table in the café and sit, turning the chair backwards. The shorter man growled and slammed his chin against the table as he slumped forward.

"Lea…" The red head's companion said, sighing, as he took a seat across from him. "Acting like a child will not make this situation any better."

Lea looked up, his blue tinted green eyes slanted in a glare. "Doesn't mean I can't, Isa. You know how pissed off I am by this." He put out a finger to the flame of the everlasting candles of the table. He pulled off a small part of the flame, dancing it around his fingers. "We finally gain what we desired the most by a mere chance and just when we think life will return to normal, HE just has to show up and take it all away – by force even!"

Isa sat there, letting his friend vent his displeasure. When he was sure that Lea was finished, Isa ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "Yes, yes, I know that. But all we can do now is go along with his plans…"

The dancing flame grew as the heat behind Lea's glare intensified. "Go along with it!? Why the hell would we do that?!" By now Lea was standing and the flame had engulfed his hand, threatening to consume the sleeve of his sweatshirt. "You saw what he did to Ienzo, Medy, and Lorud! How can you possibly follow a bastard like that?!"

"Lea, calm down!" Isa started to explain. "You know what I meant. The only way we can survive is to follow his order, unless you WANT to become 'Axel' again…" He sent a look to his friend that said 'You know I'm right'.

Lea's anger was doused by Isa's words as he sat back down and the flame disappeared from the pyro's hand. Isa continued talking when Lea made no move to retort. "We need to do something, though, to deter his and that witch's plans…" he muttered, leaning back in his chair. "What we need are Keybearers…"

Lea's eyes were traveling around the center square when he suddenly stood up, an exclamation of "That's it!" as his justification. Isa sat up, startled, and watched as the red head dashed over to the café owner.

"Miss, do those mailboxes deliver to other worlds?" Lea asked.

The young woman nodded, slightly startled. "That they do, all you need to do is write down the world along with the address. Those mailboxes do the rest." Lea offered a quick "Thanks" and dashed back to the table, picking up his pack and pulling out a pen and paper.

"Lea…." Isa asked warily. "What are you doing?" An eyebrow was raised as emphasis.

A grin was plastered for ear to ear across the red head's face. "Isn't it best to report a notion of rebellion in a country to that country's king?"