Prologue, part 2
4 years later…
Inside a room which had a small fireplace with a single empty glass and a small yellow-coloured weighing scale next to the glass above it, a semi-large rectangular wooden table with a mask, two small boxes, some papers and books on it next to the small fireplace, a wooden bookshelf with dozens of books in it next to the table and with a yellow-coloured telescope facing out the windows in front of the bookshelf (while both the table and the bookshelf is leaning back against the right wall which had some papers glued or pinned on the wall with strange symbols drawn on the papers) while several odd-looking items, a wooden shelf built on the top left corner of the wall (while the left wall also had more papers glued/pinned on it with more strange symbols drawn on them) which had a light blue-coloured toy submarine, a single pot of plant and an empty birdcage on the wooden shelf.
The young, spiky blonde-haired boy (who's wearing a black-coloured T-shirt with a button-up grey-coloured, vest-like shirt over the black T-shirt, a kind of short-sleeve jacket which is black in colour on one side, white in colour on the other over the vest and the T-shirt (while the collar of the jacket is pleated, folded down and is red in colour) and with a pair of black-coloured straps that criss-crossed over his jacket with a silver-coloured emblem in the center of the criss-crossing straps, a kind of dull green and dark blue-coloured armor tied securely on the left sleeve of his jacket, a white and dark grey-coloured pants and a pair of shoes that matched the outfit the boy is wearing) is currently lying on his back on a slightly large single-sized bed near the windows inside his room before he sat up from the bed, let out a small bored sigh then he turned his head to his left to look out the windows and he gasped in surprise when he saw several shooting stars flying across the night sky filled with thousands of bright stars.
"A meteor shower!" said the spiky, blonde-haired boy in an excited tone of voice before he quickly turned around and jumped off the bed, run out of his room, turned to his right and he accidently run and barreled straight into a fair-skinned, long titian hair, blue-eyed young girl (who's wearing a short-sleeve white-coloured T-shirt with a pair of dark purple-coloured straps that criss-crossed over her T-shirt with a silver-coloured emblem in the center of it, a pale yellow and dark blue armor tied securely on the right sleeve of her T-shirt, knee-length magenta-coloured skirt and matching magenta-coloured flats) before they fell with a slightly painful thud on the floor.
"Ow! What's your hurry, Ventus?" said the long titian-haired, blue-eyed girl as she scowled at the spiky, blonde-haired boy named Ventus for suddenly running out of his room then barreling into her and knocking them both to the floor.
"Oh, sorry for barreling into you, Josette." Ventus apologized to the long titian-haired, blue-eyed girl named Josette before he stood up and hold out his right hand at her to helped her up.
"Apology accepted, Ventus. So what's your hurry?" Josette asked Ventus after she clasped his hand and stood up from the floor.
"That's because I just saw some meteor showers flying across the stars in the night sky outside the windows in my room, Josette! So I'm going to head out to see them right now!" Ventus told Josette excitedly before he run past her down the hallway toward the front door.
"Meteor showers, huh? Been quite a while since we last saw them." thought Josette in her mind before she decided to turn around and followed after Ventus (who didn't look back and saw that Josette is now following slightly far behind him since he run toward the front door first).
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Ventus opened and run out of the large front door then run down the long staircase of his home (which looks like a large white and gold-coloured castle with 5 of its own buildings connected side by side with each other, dozens of tall and sharp-looking spires protruding out from the tops of each 5 buildings and with 2 huge and thick-looking gold chains that wrapped around the castle and connected it to the top of 2 tall and twin rocky peaks which is covered with green mosses to keep the castle close to them and to the grassy mountains and the flowing river), run across the large circular forecourt, run down the grassy mountain path and run across a small white-coloured bridge until he stopped running when he reached the training ground and saw the 2 wooden training equipments with some large, circular, gold-coloured chained rings hanging on the 2 wooden equipments.
"I've got some time to spare!" said Ventus as he smirked at the wooden training equipment in front of him and summoned his Keyblade out (which is black and yellow-coloured and is called "Wayward Wind") before he began attacking the single gold-coloured chained ring hanging on the wooden equipment with his Wayward Wind Keyblade (while still unaware that Josette had followed and caught up to him and is now watching him attacking the ring silently behind him).
After Ventus's done in attacking the single chained ring hanging on the wooden equipment for a few seconds, he turned and walked away from the first wooden equipment and stopped in front of the second wooden equipment (which is a tall and huge wheel-like wooden equipment with 4 large, circular, gold-coloured chained rings hanging around it).
"What? You want a piece of me too?" Ventus taunted the huge wheel-like wooden equipment in front of him before he began attacking it (which caused it to swung its 4 rings round and round when Ventus's attack struck one of its rings head on).
"Oh, Ventus." thought Josette as she slowly shake her head at what Ventus just spoke out loud to the wheel-like wooden equipment in front of him (before he began attacking it with his Keyblade) before she make her way toward him. "Looks like you're getting better at your training, Ven." Josette told Ventus.
"Really, you think so, Josette?" Ventus asked Josette as he ceased his attacks on the wheel-like wooden equipment and turned to glance at her.
"Uh huh." said Josette as she nodded to Ventus, who smiled at her.
"Wait, what am I messing around here for?" said Ventus suddenly to himself when he finally realised/remembered what his initial goal is. "I'm gonna miss the meteor showers! Come on, let's go and see them, Josette!" Ventus told Josette before he reached out and grabbed hold of her hand and he bring Josette with him up a grassy/rocky path toward the large, grassy summit field/cliff together (which had 5 or 6 bright lamps standing on the edges of the summit's cliff around the large summit field and a single white-coloured bench near the edge of it). Once both Ventus and Josette reached the large summit field/cliff, they slowly walked forward and stopped in their tracks near the edge of the field/cliff (and near where the bench is) before they raised their heads to look up at the thousands of bright stars shining while also seeing some more meteor showers flying across the night sky.
"Wow…" said Ventus with an awed look on his face.
"Wow is right, Ven. Those meteor showers that flew across the night sky are always beautiful." said Josette as she let out a small, happy sigh before she sat down while Ventus lie down next to her with his hands behind his head on the ground near the edge of the field/cliff.
"Yeah, you're right, Josette. But still… Why does this seem so familiar to me?" Ventus mumbled to himself and to Josette (who turned to glance down at him in silence) before he closed his eyes and fell asleep.
"Ven, you look so cute and peaceful when you fell asleep." thought Josette with an amused look on her face when she saw that Ventus had fall asleep before she heard the sound of 2 soft footsteps coming toward her and the slumbering Ventus from behind. She turned to look behind her and saw that it's 2 of hers and Ventus's close friends, Aqua (a fair-skinned, short blue-haired, blue-eyed young girl who's wearing a black-coloured, high collared sleeveless halter-top with 2 pink-coloured straps which criss-crossed over her chest with the same silver-coloured emblem in the center of it, long white-coloured bell sleeves on both of her arms with a dark-blue and yellow-coloured armor on the left bell sleeve of her arm, dark grey-coloured fingerless gloves on her hands, short black-coloured pants, long black stockings and short silver/black-coloured boots on her legs and 2 long blue and white-coloured cloths wrapped securely around her waist) and Beaufort (a tan-skinned, short light brown-haired, blue-eyed young guy who's wearing a dark blue-coloured T-shirt with 2 light blue-coloured straps criss-crossing over his T-shirt with a golden-coloured emblem in the center of it, a dark grey and yellow-coloured armor on the right sleeve of his T-shirt and a long black-coloured jeans and white/black-coloured shoes on his legs).
Josette raised and held her left finger over her mouth at both Aqua and Beaufort while raising and pointing her right finger silently at the still slumbering Ventus lying on the ground next to her, silently telling both Aqua and Beaufort that Ventus's is currently asleep and that they need to approach her and Ventus silently. Both Aqua and Beaufort nodded to Josette before Aqua let out a small chuckle while Beaufort had a mischievous smirk/look on his face when they saw Ventus sleeping on the ground before they quietly approach both Josette and Ventus.
A few seconds later, Ventus woke up from his short slumber, sat himself up from the ground to look up at the night sky filled with bright stars for the second time before he yawned and stretch his arms a little.
"Had a nice nap, Ven?" Josette asked Ventus.
"Yeah, I sure did, Josette." replied Ventus before he lie back down on the ground and saw both Aqua and Beaufort suddenly appearing and looking down at him from his upside-down view.
"Whoa!" Ventus cried out in surprise before he quickly sat himself up from the ground and rolled over onto his knees to glance up at Aqua and Beaufort with a pouting look on his face (while they and Josette smiled and chuckled at his surprise reaction). "Gimme a break, Aqua, Beaufort!" Ventus told Aqua and Beaufort before he turned to scowled at Josette. "Why didn't you wake and tell me that they're behind us, Josette?" Ventus demanded of Josette.
"Because it's more fun to see how you'd react if you didn't know that we're behind you, Ven." said Beaufort in a mischievous tone of voice to Ventus.
"Ven, you hopeless sleepyhead." said Aqua to Ventus. "You know that you should have at least brought a blanket with you if you're going to sleep out here."
"Yeah, Ven. Like what Aqua just said, or you might catch a cold." said Josette while Beuafort nodded in agreement.
"But… Did I dream that place up?" said Ventus to himself as he lowered his head to look down at the ground. "It really felt like I'd been there before… looking up at the stars…"
Both Josette and Beaufort exchange confused glances with each other when they heard what Ventus just said while Aqua hold out and placed her hand on Ventus's head to ruffled his head a little.
"'Cept you've always lived here with us for the past 4 years now, Ven." said Aqua as she smiled at Ventus.
"Yeah… I know, Aqua." said Ventus as he smiled back at Aqua before both he and Josette stood up from the ground, turned around to walked toward the edge of the field/cliff with both Aqua and Beaufort following closely beside them and all 4 of them sat down on the edge of the field/cliff together.
"Hey, Aqua, Josette, Beaufort?" Ventus began talking as he glance left and right at Aqua, Josette and Beaufort and they glance at him. "Do the 3 of you ever wonder what stars are? Where light comes from?" Ventus asked them.
"No, we don't, Ven." replied Beaufort.
"Hmmm… Well, they say…" Aqua began saying to Ventus as she glance away from him to glance up at the night sky.
"… That each and every stars shining up there is another world." the voice of yet another of their close friend finished Aqua's words suddenly from behind the 4 of them before they turned to glance at their friend (which turns out to be a tan-skinned, short spiky dark brown-haired, blue-eyed young guy who's wearing a high-collared black-coloured T-shirt with 2 red-coloured straps criss-crossing over his T-shirt, a pair of long dark grey/yellow-coloured hakama pants with a golden emblem at the top center of his long pants, dark brown-coloured boots on his feets, a black wristband on his right wrist and a golden, brown and dark grey-coloured armor on his left arm).
"Terra." both Aqua and Josette greeted and say his name while both Ventus and Beaufort smiled and nodded their heads at Terra.
"Hello, you guys. And yep, hard to believe that there are so many worlds out there besides our own." said Terra as he make his way toward the 4 of them and stopped in his tracks in front of them. "The light is their hearts, and it's shining down on us like a million lanterns."
"Wow, Terra. Those are quite the smart and poetic words that you just said to us." said Beaufort as he smirk at Terra.
"Hey! What do you mean by that, Beau?" said Terra as he scowled at Beaufort.
"Oh, not a thing, Terra." said Beaufort with a feigned innocent look on his face while Josette chuckled a little at Beaufort messing with Terra a little.
"What? I don't get it." said Ventus with a confused look on his face.
"In other words, they're just like you and Jo, Ven." Terra told both Ventus and Josette.
"Like me and Ven?" said Josette in a confused tone of voice to Terra.
"Yeah." said Terra with a nod of his head to Josette.
"What does THAT mean?" asked Ventus as he stood up from the edge of the field/cliff, turned around to approach and stop in front of Terra.
"You and Jo both will find out and know about it someday, I'm sure." replied Terra.
"Why don't you just tell us now, Terra? Don't keep the both of us in suspense." said Josette in a pleading tone of voice to Terra.
"Yeah, I agree with Josette, Terra. We wanna know now." Ventus demanded at Terra.
"Sorry, no can do, Ven, Jo. The 2 of you are still too young to know now." said Terra.
"That's so not fair of you, Terra!" said Josette with a pouting look on her face.
"Yeah, Terra! Quit treating the both of us like kids already!" said Ventus as he scowled at Terra.
"The fact that you and Josette just acted like kids proves that you 2 are still kids, Ven." said Beaufort to Ventus, causing both Ventus and Josette to turned and scowled at him.
"Beaufort, not you too!" said Josette in a disbelief tone of voice at Beaufort, who smirked back at her.
Aqua watched her 4 close friends started bickering, teasing and messing with each other in amused silence until she can't take it anymore and began laughing. Her laughter caused Terra, Beaufort, Ventus and Josette to ceased their bickering and all 4 of them immediately turned to glance at her.
"Hey, what are you laughing at, Aqua?" Terra asked/demanded at Aqua.
Aqua ceased her laughter for a moment to answer Terra's question while she glance at them. "Sorry, I can't help it. The 4 of you would make the weirdest brothers and sister." said Aqua in an amused tone of voice to Terra before she resumed laughing at them.
"Huh?" said Terra, Beaufort, Ventus and Josette in confusion at Aqua's words before they drop their bickering/messing attitude and started to laughed with her before all 4 of them sat down on the edge of the field/cliff with her to glance up at the stars together after they're done laughing.
"Oh yeah! Terra, you, me and Beaufort have our Mark of Mastery exams tomorrow." said Aqua suddenly to both Terra and Beaufort (who turned to glance at her, same goes for Ventus and Josette) before she stood up and stepped away from the edge of the field/cliff while staring at them and putting her hands into her pockets to pull out 5 different coloured, star-shaped trinkets with brown strings on them and showed the 5 trinkets to them. "I made us some good luck charms!" Aqua told them with a smile on her face before she threw the orange and purple-coloured charms toward both Terra and Beaufort, who quickly stood up from the edge of the field/cliff and caught the charms easily (while both Ventus and Josette stood up as well and stared in awed at the 2 orange and purple-coloured charms in Terra and Beaufort's hands). "Here's both of yours, Ven, Jo!" Aqua told Ventus and Josette before she threw the light green and dark pink-coloured charms toward both Ventus and Josette, who also caught the charms easily.
"Me and Josette get one too?" said Ventus as he smiled widely at Aqua.
"Of course, Ven. One for each of us." said Aqua as she hold out her own good luck charm to show them (which is blue in colour) and Terra, Beaufort, Ventus and Josette hold their charms out near hers.
"Wow, thanks for these good luck charms, Aqua! They're beautiful." said Josette happily at Aqua.
"You're welcome, Jo." said Aqua as she smiled at Josette before she turned to look away from them and glance down at the blue-coloured charm in her hand. "Somewhere in 1 of the worlds out there, there's this tree that grew star-shaped fruits on it… and it's fruits represents an unbreakable connection. So, as long as you and your friends carry good luck charms shaped like it, nothing can ever drive you apart. You'll always find your way back to each other." Aqua say and explained to them about it before she turned to glance back at them. "Technically, I think you're supposed to make them with seashells, but I did the best with what I had."
"Wow, really, Aqua?" Josette asked Aqua.
"Yeah, Jo." replied Aqua.
"Oy, sometimes you're such a girl, Aqua." said Terra.
"Hey, what do you mean "sometimes", Terra?" said Aqua as she scowled at Terra.
"I agree with Terra, Aqua. Because sometimes girls like you and Josette would think, do and make such things." said Beaufort to Aqua and she turned to scowled at him, same goes for Josette.
"So, these charms you just gave us aren't real good luck charms?" said Ventus in a sad/disappointed tone of voice to Aqua.
"Well… that's yet to be seen, Ven. But I did work a little magic on them." Aqua told Ventus.
"Really? Like what?" asked Ventus curiously.
"An unbreakable connection, of course." said Aqua as she smiled at Ventus and hold her charm high in the air above her. Terra, Beaufort, Ventus and Josette smiled at her before they put their good luck charms inside their pockets.
"Well, like Aqua just said and reminded us, tomorrow's the exam." said Terra to Beaufort, Aqua, Ventus and Josette as he walked forward and stop a few feet away from them. "Anyone of you want to do some last minute spar?"
"I can take ya!" said Ventus as he summoned his Wayward Wind Keyblade out while Terra smirk at Ventus then turned around to faced him and summoned his own Keyblade out (which is a blue and dark brown-coloured Keyblade named Earthshaker).
"Good luck, Ven! You'll need it!" said Josette in an encouraging tone of voice at Ventus.
"Try not to hurt Ven too badly, Terra." Beaufort told Terra.
"Yeah, I know, Beau." replied Terra before both he and Ventus began charging across the field toward each other. Ventus swung and slash his Wayward Wind Keyblade swiftly down on Terra several times while Terra used his Earthshaker Keyblade to blocked and defend himself from Ventus's swift attacks.
"Quit goin' easy on me, Terra. You're not gonna win unless you stay on the offensive!" said Ventus, which caused Aqua, Beaufort and Josette to sighed and shake their heads at him.
"Okay, if you say so, Ven." said Terra before he charge toward Ventus and swung/slash his Earthshaker Keyblade several times down and hard on Ventus, who quickly dodged and blocked against Terra's hard attacks with his Wayward Wind Keyblade before they jumped backward away from each other.
"Okay, Terra. That's enough sparring you had with Ventus. It's time for mine and Aqua's turn to spar against him and Josette to see how's their training is." said Beaufort as he, Aqua and Josette summoned forth their own Keyblades (which is a black and blue-coloured Keyblade named Vagos Maestus for Beaufort, a silver and dark blue-coloured Keyblade named Rainfell for Aqua and a white and orange-coloured Keyblade named Helianthus for Josette) before the 3 of them walked forward past Terra (who nodded then dismissed his Earthshaker Keyblade, turned and walked away to let the 4 of them spar) and both Beaufort and Aqua turned to faced both Ventus and Josette before they charge across the field toward each other and they swung, slashed and blocked their Keyblades several times at each other until they had enough of their spar and moved backward away from each other.
"Not bad, Ven, Jo. Both of your Keyblade trainings have improved." said Beaufort as he smiled proudly at them.
"Thanks, Beaufort." said Josette as she smiled back at him.
"Yeah, thanks, Beau! And trust me, you, Terra and Aqua are definitely ready and you 3 are gonna clean up at the exam tomorrow." said Ventus.
"I hope it's that easy." said Terra as he make his way toward Ventus and Josette.
"It's like the Master said. Power is born within the heart. When the time is right, both you and Josette need to look inside yourselves… and I'm sure that you 2 will find it there." said Aqua as she and Beaufort make their way toward Ventus and Josette as well.
"Yeah, exactly, Ven, Jo." said Beaufort.
"Thanks for saying such encouraging words to me and Ven, you three." said Josette as she and Ventus smiled at Aqua, Terra and Beaufort (who smiled back at her) before they dismissed their Keyblades.
"Well, time for us to head back now. It's getting a little late." said Terra to Ventus, Aqua, Beaufort and Josette before he turned and walked away.
"Yeah, we know, Terra." thought Josette with a nod of her head at Terra's retreating back before both she and Beaufort turned and followed behind him.
"Wait for me!" said Ventus as he turned and followed after the 3 of them while Aqua continue to glance up at the starlit night sky for a few more seconds then turned and followed after the 4 of them.
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That would be the last night we ever spend time together beneath the same stars.
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Meanwhile, in another world…
A short, fair-skinned round-faced mouse guy with black round-shaped ears above his head, white eyes with black pupils in them and a black nose and wearing a black and grey-coloured T-shirt with matching shorts on his body, black shoes on his feets, white-coloured gloves on his hands and a long and thin black tail behind his back is currently trying to balance the large opened book under his feet as the ocean water under the opened book swayed vigorously back and forth and also left and right.
Then a sudden gust of ocean water swept the opened book and the mouse guy straight forward and round and round a swirling water cyclone before the ocean water swept both the opened book and the mouse guy up into the air and the ocean water under the mouse guy abruptly vanished to reveal a large circular room with yellow-coloured wall which had several wooden shelves built on the wall with books on them and a wooden door, several yellow-coloured pots leaning against the wall on the green-coloured floor and under the book shelves and the mouse guy glance down at the floor under him with a surprised look on his face before he fell face down with a painful thud on the floor.
"Aw, looks like I failed once again." said the mouse guy sadly to himself.
"Oh, don't say such sad words, Mickey. I'm sure that you'll pass my grandfather's exam with flying colours next time." said a fair-skinned, long blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl who's wearing a sleeveless, knee-length dark green-coloured dress with a white-coloured bolero jacket over it and brown-coloured boots on her legs reassuringly to the mouse guy named Mickey as she hold out her left hand and helped him up from the floor.
"Yeah, I guess you're right, Kallima." said Mickey as he smiled at the girl named Kallima, placed his gloved hand on hers before he stood up from the floor and they turned to glance at the elderly man (who's wearing a long sleeve blue robe with a long blue hat on his head with the golden symbols of a crescent moon and a star on it) sitting in a long green-coloured wooden chair behind his rectangular table.
The elderly man glance silently at his granddaughter and the mouse guy standing in front of his table for a few seconds before he closed his eyes and lowered his head a little. "Kallima… Mickey…" the elderly man began speaking to them both.
"Yes, grandfather. What is it?" said Kallima.
"I cannot shake the feeling that something terrible is about to transpire." the elderly man told both Kallima and Mickey, who glance and exchange confused then worried glances with each other after they heard what the elderly man just told them both.
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Through and outside the huge star-shaped window of the elderly man's room, six bright stars is twinkling away in the night sky.