"Aagh… this darkness…" I muttered to myself, finally opening my eyes. The darkness had wholly swallowed me, and when I opened my eyes…
"This is… from that old video game that Lance, Roy and I liked so much…" I muttered to myself, looking around. "This is… um… what's it called again? Oh, yeah! The Radiant Garden."
I began walking around. I was in the Bailey, just a bit away from the Borough. I went there, though the town was nearly devoid of people… I didn't see anyone anywhere until I made it to the Borough. Aegle was there with her curtain rod, stamping it into the bricks until I walked up.
"Jake! What happened?" she asked.
"Like I know. This place is a little familiar, though," I commented. "It's from a video game my brothers and I used to play a lot."
"Um… um… Kingdom Hearts, isn't it?" Aegle asked me.
"That's it! That's the one!" I exclaimed. "But what are we doing here?"
"Who knows? At any rate," I said, finally sheathing my sword, "we need to find out what's going on. I'm scared…"
"Of what?" Aegle asked angrily. "You're the one with the sword."
"I've never been in a real fight…" I muttered. "I didn't have anyone to teach me how to fight… so I'm afraid I'm not strong enough."
"To do what?" A mysterious voice asked.
I turned around to see a silver-cloaked man standing atop a building. He had his hood up so I couldn't see his face, but I noticed he was carrying some sort of sword. And there was something familiar about him… something I couldn't quite place my finger on.
"So that's what she meant by 'the Divines…'" he muttered to himself, totally ignoring us. "What to do, what to do…"
"Hey! Who the hell are you?" Aegle angrily shouted at the man.
"I've got to end this pointless Keyblade War before anyone else gets involved… but there's so many," the man continued muttering to himself. "Can even I take down this many?"
"HEY! WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?" I shouted at the top of my lungs. The man finally turned so it looked like he was looking at us.
"So, you're relatively untouched by the darkness, too? Odd… I haven't seen you in a long while," he said to me. "Hm… looks like things are more complicated than I thought."
"What are you mumbling about? Who… are you?" I asked.
He seemed lost in thought for a moment, so I asked for his name again.
"…Ike," he replied after a lot of hesitation. "And just so you know, I don't need your name. I don't have time for this," the man said, then began dashing across the rooftops.
"Hey! Come back here!" I yelled, running after the enigma. Aegle shouted something at me, probably cursing and stamping her curtain rod into the ground as I ran off, but I didn't care. I needed to know who that man was… he was so unsettling… so familiar…
I managed to catch Ike just as he was about to go through a stone archway that led out to the Courtyard. He was taking slow steps. Closer up, I could see he was also wearing hand wraps that went down to his knuckles. His sword was odd… it had some sort of red handguard and a golden scabbard.
"Who… are you?" I asked, breathing heavily.
"Somebody that doesn't really matter," he replied, still walking and not turning around.
"You… you said you didn't need my name? How's that?" I asked, having regained my breath.
"I already know your name, Jake," he replied to my surprise. "And don't get involved in my affairs. You wouldn't like it. Trust me."
The man… Ike then walked through the dark stone archway, his silver cloak shimmering in the sunlight. I hesitated, then followed him after a few minutes…