Sup? Back again. Disclaimers. On with it.

I tried to break eye contact with this Margaret to take a better look at my surroundings, but couldn't. Her yellow eyes kept mine captive and didn't seem to let go...

"You are Minato Arisato, correct?" She asked me. I simply nodded in response. "I'm here to help you and the many others bound to this place through their quests."

The questions began popping in my head. So many of them at a time, I was having a hard time picking one. "There are others here...?"

She finally allowed me to break away from her eyes, and I took a more careful look around. Yes, there were other people there... all of them faces I didn't recognize, coming and going through doors set around a round flight of stairs, or talking to each other while standing around.

"You've signed the contract, just as them. You are now bound to this place until you fill your purpose. You will always come back here, no matter what happens to you. You cannot escape this place."

"What do you mean I cannot escape this place...?"

"Even should you reach the limits of your body, your blood will bring you back here, and you will stand again."

... what...?

Then I probably did die in that battle... and that wasn't a dream. That fear came back to me once more, at least a fraction of it.

I shivered, still.

"What is this quest you are going to aid me with...?" I asked, to keep my mind away from that dread.

"You've been given the weapon. It represents your heart. Follow it, and it will bring you to your destiny."

Why were there no clear answers...? I sighed. "Where do those doors lead?" I asked, scratching my head. That place was huge... it towered so high up, I couldn't see the ceiling. Outside of the flight of stairs where the doors were arranged, there was another set which went up and up, forming rings which I was going to assume that lead to the floors above.

"They lead to the worlds connected to this place. In those worlds, you'll be presented choices, challenges, and the chances to prove yourself."

"Also, you're here to help me... how will you do that?" I figured that was rude of me to ask, but... really. Questions needed answers.

"Each hardship will strengthen your heart. In exchange for strength of heart, I'll lend you power," she said, with the ghost of a smile, now. Perhaps...

... No. I cast the thought aside.

Strength of heart, though...? Did she mean the sword?

"I hope you can remain sane through your hardships. Do not lose heart. Farewell." She said as she opened a door... which was not there before. And entered.

And the door vanished.

What was she...?

And I was left on my own in that place full of people.

What would I do...? Where would I begin?

I took a few steps forward, analyzing the doors and the place. The doors were all big and white, there was nothing different about them but their names...

I couldn't understand them, however.

"Boo." I heard behind me, and I literally jumped. I must have been too caught up in my thoughts, because even my sword was raised in a guard without me noticing.

... When did I pick it up off the ground...?

Regardless... the brunette girl in front of me now had her arms up as if threatened, but still had a playful smile on her face. "Hey, come on, I was just joking! Take it easy..." She then extended a hand. "I'm Chie. You're new here, right?"

It took me a while to lower my sword, mostly because I was still stuck in a daze. I eventually did and took her hand, though. "I'm Minato... nice to meet you."

"Same here." She replied with a nod as she rested her hands on her hips. I didn't see a weapon anywhere on her... "Say, have you been in the other worlds yet?"

I shook my head, thinking that'd be the answer that she'd expect. "Great. Me and a few others are forming a group to try and explore those. They're dangerous... So it's better not go wander alone in them. Do you wanna join us? I'll take you to meet the others."

That was actually a great idea. Dying once was already... I'd have to take a while to define how bad that was.

Dying was so bad, it reminded me of the blue I bled.

"Sure." I answered. She nodded and lead the way. We didn't have to walk a lot, she took me to two other people sat by the inner flight of stairs: one with short, somehow swept back black hair and the other with longish, untidy hair that almost reached his shoulders. The first one wore a scarf, and the latter wore some kind of tunic under his coat.

"Oh, you managed to pester the newcomer into joining us? Great!" The one with the tunic said with a grin.

"I didn't pester him! He agreed to come because he's cool..." the girl protested before sighing and turning to me. "Guys, this is Minato. Captain boring here is Eikichi, and this is our leader Nanjo." She motioned towards the two.

"Yo." The brunette guy threw me a two fingered salute.

"Glad to meet you. Also, please, call me Kei." The one with black hair spoke as he crossed his arms, before touching the bridge of his nose. Why? I had no idea. "Can I assume you gave him the short version, Chie?" He asked, turning towards the girl, who nodded. Her smile then turned a bit more sheepish. "I was hoping you could explain things better, so..."

"It's alright," he said with a small smile, as Eikichi sneered. It seemed those guys got along pretty well. "You see, Minato, it's quite simple. We're trapped in here until we overcome our challenges in these worlds. We do exactly that, only we agreed to do that together.

We're relatively new here, me being the veteran of the three, but not by much. We do not know exactly what ordeals await us, but we're sure that facing them as a group is more prudent than tackling everything alone. That said, we wish to have you in our group, as well. Would you like to join us?"

I'd already decided before, but there was no need to be rude. "Sounds like a plan. Sure, I'm in."

Eikichi fist pumped, Chie cheered and Kei nodded with his eyes closed. "One more for the team! Granted, it could have been a pretty girl, but still! Welcome to the band, man," the first exclaimed.

Even I couldn't hold back a small smile.

"Thank you. I hope we can work well together. I think the four of us should be enough to venture into Muladhara, again. What do you guys say?" Kei said.

Muladhara...? Chie must have caught my confused expression. "Oh, that's the name of this door. I forgot you don't understand the names outright..." she explained as she scratched the back of her head. Then she turned towards Kei. "I'm cool with that." She answered his question.

"I'm down. Would be cool to give Minato some experience, as well, I think." Eikichi was the one to voice his agreement.

He was actually right. I didn't know what I'd find out there, and I'd need to be ready in case something like that swordsman appeared again... I rubbed my right eye before I could catch myself doing it. "Good idea. I'll tag along. By the way... I'm assuming we'll have to fight, so, uhh... Can I ask what you guys can do?"

"Oh, no problem. I wield a two handed sword. I'm not as fast as Chie, but I do believe my strikes are heavier. I need to work on that, actually..." He touched the bridge of his nose, again. "That's gotten me killed once, already. I do not want to go through that again... Chie fights using kicks. Keeping up with her might be a problem, but that's a good thing."

"Aw, don't say it like that..." The girl protested before turning towards me. "But yeah, basically, I kick stuff into oblivion with mighty strikes and... just kidding." She joked with a smile. "I have to get up close though, so I have to look out for that..."

They were even thinking about ranges. They seemed to have their game under control and their wits above themselves. That was good, at least we wouldn't be huddling blindly at everything we saw. I wonder how they worked in an actual fight.

"And Eikichi has-"

"Time to rock this out!" The brunette exclaimed as he extended a hand. As if heeding his call, a blue guitar appeared in his grip. "Check this bad boy out! Isn't it awe-"

Kei cleared his throat loudly. "Eikichi can attack from a distance, but he doesn't do much damage and that ability of his drains him, slowly but surely. I do think your potential is up close, however." He said, then turning to the recently bummed out boy.

"Come on, man, did you really have to- Oh, really?" Eikichi was interrupted mid speech by Kei's affirmation.

"Yeah. You were the one who dealt the killing blow to that demon, last time. I believe you are stronger than me, wielding that huge thing."

"But this is heavy as Hell... no way I'll handle that effectively when it's go time..." he answered with his eyes a bit wide.

"Yeah, I think you're right. You're too much of a wimp to lift that thing up." Chie said with a nod.

"Oh, shut up, you! Go kick a tree, or something."

I sneered slightly. The sight of those two squabbling like that stirred something in me. I don't know what it was, though.

I just know it was good.

"Enough, you two. Well, Minato, how do you fight?" Kei spoke.

Well, I, uh... I didn't really have anything outstanding to talk about. "I..."

"Oh, I know that you have a sword. You use it with one hand, right?" Chie asked.

"Yep. I believe I'm pretty mobile, too, maybe I can dodge a thing or two. Outside of that... there's not much I can do."

"Don't think like that. I'm sure there's a lot you can do, we may just have to bring it out of you, is all," he said, trying to reassure me.

"Yeah, I bet you aren't useless like Chie here." Eikichi said, apparently still bent on getting revenge on her last remark.

"Don't call me useless!" She retorted, gritting her teeth.

"Oh, did I push a button? Little Chie is getting red with embarrassment...?"

"Little Eikichi is gonna get black and blue after I'm done with him if he doesn't quit being an annoying brat!"

I looked at them, then at Kei. "Are they always like this?"

"You wouldn't believe it." He said, massaging his temple. "Anyways, are you ready? We'll go in as soon as those two stop."

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Okay. I'll say this again, glad to have you on our team." He said.

I smiled at him. "Don't mention it."

That's done. This fic is intended to be more lighthearted than my other ones, mainly because I don't have a lot of experience writing that kind of scene and I'd have to start somewhere. Also, you may be weirded out by a few things here. Don't worry, I know what i'm doing. (I think)

Steven Cold: Hopefully, light as this fic is supposed to be, I do think it'll be a bit packed with battles and action. I hope you stick around and enjoy the read. Thanks.

Nightly7: It was the right one. :P Although I don't think there will be OP-ness, mysteries will be a thing, so... yeah. Thanks! It'd been a while since I'd written any battles before that one, so I'm glad it turned out alright.

Welp, hope you enjoyed the chapter. Opinions, critics, whatever in the review box below, I'm Raidou the 16th, and I approve this message. See ya next time.