First chapter of the year!
Just like in a previous chapter, you'll see what the three main Keyblade wielders are doing.
I don't know what's going on with the site, every time I wanted to go to "Manage Stories" an error popped out.
Reviews' answers at the end of the chapter as usual.
Chapter IX
New and Old Teams
1500hrs, July 26th, 2024
Magnolia Town, Fiore, Earth Land
After Aqua and Terra left to Radiant Garden, Sora and the mages took a train to Magnolia, the town where the Fairy Tail Guild was. As always, Natsu got dizzy as soon as the train started moving, which made Sora feel bad for the Dragon Slayer, but he couldn't do anything about it, so Natsu had to resist until they arrived. Two hours later, they arrived in Magnolia, and now they were heading to the guild.
"Not that I'm complaining, but…are you sure you don't want part of the reward, Sora?" Lucy asked as she and the others walked to Fairy Tail. "Your Guild Master might get upset if you return with empty hands."
Sora chuckled. "Don't worry, I'm sure he won't mind, and besides, we all agreed to not accept any reward for defeating Heartless."
"That's very noble of you," Erza said, although she didn't expect less from Sora and the other Keyblade wielders. "I remember you didn't want any of the rewards of the jobs we did the last time you were here, and Kairi and Riku didn't want theirs either."
"Aye, thanks to you, Lucy could pay the rent of that month," said Happy, who was carrying an unconscious Natsu.
"Yeah, but our guildmates had to use it to paid their debts to Twilight Ogre," Lucy said before sighing.
"You're still having problems with your rent, huh?" asked Sora, somewhat amused, and Lucy poked her tongue playfully at him.
"Then, how are you going to make money?" Gray asked. "I mean, you'll need it sooner or later for food and that kind of stuff."
"Well, I hope that people sent us requests that don't involve Heartless," Sora said, scratching his cheek nervously. "We'll have to work hard to get some reputation around the worlds."
"I'm sure that won't be a problem for you," Carla said. "It took you only one day to be known in Fiore, so it shouldn't be too complicated now that you're more Keyblade wielders."
"Yeah, you're right," he said with a tiny smile on his face.
"I'd like to know the other members of the Light Guardians," Erza commented, curious to know how the other Keybearers looked like. "You should bring them to Fiore someday."
"I'll make sure to tell them that," Sora said, and then he noticed that Wendy was looking at him with curious eyes, so he started to look at her too, which surprised her and made the girl look at the ground. "What is it, Wendy?"
"Ah, sorry, it's just…I…I'm kind of glad you haven't aged as much as the others," Wendy said shyly.
"I have to agree with her," Lucy said, and Sora looked at her. "It would have been weird to see you older than us."
"I guess you're right…" Sora said, and they he started thinking about the blue-haired Keyblade wielder. "They and Aqua went through the same thing…trapped in a place where time flows differently…it must have been hard for them…well, at least it was for their safety."
"You okay?" Erza asked when she noticed the pensive look on the boy's face.
"Oh, yeah, just thinking about Terra and Aqua," Sora said since he didn't like to talk about what happened to Aqua very much.
"Well, here we are," Gray said when they arrived at the entrance of Fairy Tail. Sora raised his head to look at the big building, and a smile appeared on his face. Looking at it brought the Keybearer good memories of his last visit, the two weeks he spent in Fiore were amazing, as long as you don't count what happened in the capital of the kingdom.
"It hasn't changed much," Sora pointed out.
"You should have seen the one we had before," Happy said, referring to the building Fairy Tail used before winning the Grand Magic Games. "It was really small compared to this one."
The group crossed the door and entered Fairy Tail, and when they were inside, they could all the mages and employees of the guild talking and hanging out. They didn't notice the group that just entered the guild, but there was someone who was always aware of Gray's presence.
"Gray-sama, you're back!" said a young woman with long blue hair, who Sora recognized as Juvia. The boy had to admit he liked the change in her hair style, it suited her quite fine. The Water Mage jumped to hug Gray, but he moved aside and Juvia fell to the ground.
"Geez, don't do that so suddenly," Gray said as Juvia looked at him and laughed a bit embarrassed, but she stopped laughing when she saw the boy who was standing next to Gray.
"Hello, Juvia," said Sora, waving his hand at the blue-haired woman, whose eyes went wide when Sora spoke.
"Sora-san!?" she said, covering her mouth out of surprise and loud enough for the other people in the guild to hear, and all of them were now looking dumbfounded at the Keyblade wielder.
"Hey, am I the only one who's seeing Sora over there?" asked a man with dark blue hair and a prominent mustache on his face.
"Sora, is it really you?" asked a man, who had brown hair and a thick, pointed beard on his chin.
Sora smiled and nodded, glad to see Macao and Wakaba, although it saddened him a little to see them that old. All the mages started smiling, happy to see the Keyblade wielder who saved Fiore.
"Sora!" said someone with a happy voice. The Keyblade wielder turned his gaze and saw that the one who called him was a girl with shoulder-length blue hair, who Sora recognized immediately. Behind her, there were two men, one with orange hair and the other one had black hair, and Sora recognized them too.
"Levy, Jet, Droy!" said Sora, smiling widely when he saw the teenage girl and her two partners. Jet and Droy grinned and waved their hands at the boy, but Levy tackled him into a hug instead, just like Lucy, Wendy and Happy did.
"Welcome back, Sora!" the bluenette said very happy, and Sora caught her while laughing a bit. The two of them were really glad to see each other since they became good friends when Sora visited Fiore to protect it.
"Come on, this is exaggerating a bit," he said smiling, and Levy's partners looked at the two, surprised by the girl's action.
"There she goes, hugging him again," Droy said, kind of depressed. "We didn't get a hug when she returned from Tenrou Island…I wonder how he does it."
"Just forget about that," Jet said.
While hugging Levy, Sora noticed someone who was looking at him from the second floor of the guild. It was the black-haired Dragon Slayer, Gajeel, and his Exceed partner, Pantherlily. The two gave Sora a smile, although Gajeel's was more like a smirk, and Sora returned it.
Then Levy let go of Sora and noticed that there was something wrong with Sora's appearance; he wasn't as old as he should be after seven years. It was obvious that he grew up since he was now taller than Levy, probably as tall as Lucy if she didn't wear high heeled boots, but the Solid Script Mage knew that something happened to Sora.
"Sora," said someone before Levy could ask Sora about his age. The spiky boy turned his head to the left and saw a short, elderly man looking at him with a smile.
"Master Makarov," said Sora, looking at the Guild Master of Fairy Tail.
"I've always believed…" Makarov said.
"Huh?" Sora looked at the elder man confused.
"I've always believed that you were able to do it," the Guild Master continued. "We found strange that you didn't come to visit us in all this time, but now that I see your appearance, I guess that you've got a lot to tell us. Anyway, you can fill us in later…welcome back, boy."
"Right, thanks, Master," Sora said, and then he crouched and shook hands with Makarov.
"Now, I think we owe you a party," the old man said grinning. "I don't know if you saw the request we put in your pocket before you left."
"Yeah, I read it," Sora affirmed smiling, he remembered that the request said that if he returned to Fiore after defeating Xehanort, the mages of Fairy Tail will make him a party. "I think I'd like to have that reward now."
"All right then…LET'S PARTY!" Makarov exclaimed and everyone cheered.
"As you can see, despite having aged, everyone is still the same," Erza said to Sora.
"Yeah, and I'm glad of it," Sora affirmed. Now he wanted to enjoy the party since he couldn't stay for the one they wanted to celebrate when Fiore was saved from the Heartless. He also wanted to explain the others about what happened after he left, but the party was first.
-TLG-
1505hrs, July 25th, 2024
Train Station, Disney Town
When Kairi and Ventus returned to the guild, Yuffie and Cid explained what they did to detect the sphere that were in the Heartless, and told that Sora left with Terra and Aqua to Earth Land. Cid's computer detected another sphere as soon as they finished talking, so Kairi and Ven decided to go there. The two decided to use the trains Scrooge mentioned, the ones that are able to take people to other worlds.
"It's been a while since the last time we're here," Ven said as he stretched his body after he got out of the train. "These trains are awesome. We got here really fast, as if we used a Gummi Ship."
"Yes, Donald's uncle is doing a great job," Kairi said while talking a look at the train station, and then she and the blond boy headed to the exit of the station. When they exited the building, they saw that there were a lot of people in Disney Town, and the Keyblade wielders could tell that some of them were from Radiant Garden.
The two continued walking around the town, waiting for the Heartless to appear, but there weren't any in sight. Ven thought that they could appear near the Disney Castle, so they started to walk towards that place, and then someone bumped into the boy, sending him to the ground, and the person who bumped into him fell to the ground too.
"Ven, are you all right!?" asked Kairi, and Ven started to get up.
"Yeah…it was nothing," the boy answered, and then he looked at the person who was still on the ground, groaning in pain. Ventus was surprised when he realized that the person who bumped into him was a boy who looked like certain Captain of the Royal Knights of Disney Castle.
"Aww, man," the boy said while standing up, and when he was on his feet again, he looked at Ven with a guilty expression on his face. "I'm sorry, I was in a hurry, are you okay?"
"I'm fine, don't worry," Ven assured, waving his hand. Then, Ven saw a skateboard next to him, and he supposed that it was the boy's, so he took it and handed it to him. "This is yours, right?"
"Yeah, thanks," the dog boy said before noticing the redhead girl who was near Ventus. "Hey, I've seen your faces before. You're Kairi, right? And you are…how was it…Ventus?"
"That's right, how's that you know us?" Ven asked a bit surprised.
"My father told me a lot about you, and I've seen a picture where you are with other people, and with my father and his friends," the boy answered.
"Your father?" asked Ven, who had the feeling that he knew who the dog boy's father was.
"Yeah, the Captain of the Royal Knights, Goofy," the boy replied, and Kairi and Ven looked astonished at him since they didn't know that Goofy had a son, although Ven already knew there was something about the dog boy who reminded him of Goofy.
"Wow, we had no idea Goofy had a son," Kairi said, and the dog boy let out a small chuckle.
"Well, I guess he didn't have much time to talk about it, I know he was really busy while he was out there with that other boy, saving the worlds and stuff," he said. "The name's Max, by the way, it's a pleasure. Did you come to visit them? My father and the others, I mean."
"More or less," Kairi answered, not wanting to talk about the Heartless since it could cause a ruckus in the town. "They're in the castle, right?"
"They should be there, yes," Max replied as he put one foot on his skateboard. "Well, as I said, I'm in a hurry, so see you around! Say hello to my father from me!"
"Sure, see you, Max!" Ven said as he saw how Max left, using his skateboard. "He's nice, don't you think?"
Kairi laughed slightly. "Well, he is Goofy's son after all," she said, and when Max was far enough, she decided to explain Ven about why she didn't mention the Heartless. "Listen, we shouldn't talk about-"
"I know, I saw that you didn't tell Max about the reason we're here, good thinking," Ventus said, and Kairi smiled and nodded. "Anyway, let's go to the castle and tell the others about it."
Kairi sighed. "It's a pity that Riku didn't return to the guild, we could've asked him to come with us. He and King Mickey are really good friends, and I'm sure they'd have liked to see each other again."
"Yeah, where do you think he is now?" the blond asked. "He's going to be alone when he returns to the guild."
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that," Kairi assured. "I'm sure he went on a mission as soon as he arrived at the guild. Probably Cid could find another sphere, and Riku went to defeat the Heartless that has it."
"If that's the case, I wonder where he will go," Ven said, wondering about the places where Maleficent sent her Heartless.
-TLG-
1510hrs, July 27th, 2024
Middle East, Earth
When Riku returned to the guild, nobody was there, which confused him, but Yuffie told him about what Cid could do with his computer about the spheres that attracted the Heartless. The blond man told Riku where the others went, and he wished he could have gone with one of the two groups since he'd have really liked to see Mickey or the members of the Mages Guild he joined, Lamia Scale.
He thought about going to Disney Castle, but Cid detected another sphere, and it was in the Earth, the world where Sora, Kairi and he were from, more specifically, the sphere was in the Middle East. The young Keyblade Master didn't like much the idea of going to the Earth since if people saw him fighting against a big dark monster, they parents could find out through the news, and he wouldn't like that to happen.
Anyway, he couldn't ignore it, so he went to that place as soon as Cid prepared a Gummi Ship for him. Now he was walking through the streets of a city, but there weren't any people in the area where he was, which puzzled him. He was wearing his black coat with the hood on since it was really hot, and when he used that outfit, he couldn't feel heat or cold, besides, there weren't any people around so he didn't have to worry about looking suspicious.
"According to Cid, the sphere was in a building called Advent Palace," Riku thought as he walked. After a few minutes of searching, the silver-haired boy spotted a four story building, and in a board he could see the name of the building, it was the one he was looking for.
Riku crossed the door that led to Advent Palace's hall, and started to investigate. The building was abandoned, but the Keyblade wielder noticed that there were a lot of broken things and it looked like as if someone had fought there recently. He continued investigating, and he reached the last floor without facing any Heartless, however, he heard a small noise coming out from a room, so he approached the door that led to that room.
"I don't feel any Heartless, but better safe than sorry," muttered Riku before summoning the Way to the Dawn and pushed the door lightly. As the door slowly opened, Riku crossed it as he looked at the room that was behind it. When he crossed it, another noise could be heard from his right, and he quickly turned to see what it was. The door he crossed suddenly closed, which alerted him, but before he could turn around, he heard someone saying something to him.
"Drop your weapon," the person said. This surprised Riku at first, but he remained calm and raised his arms since he heard the sound of a firearm. By the sound of the person's voice, Riku could tell that it was a boy, and no older than him, which intrigued him. Then, the boy told the Keyblade wielder to drop his weapon again, and Riku obeyed this time. He could escape if he wanted to, but he didn't want to hurt that boy while doing so.
"All right…" Riku said as he put the Keyblade on the floor. "Here."
"Hey, Kid, have you noticed what he's wearing?" asked someone. This confused Riku since the owner of the voice was really near, but he was almost sure that the boy and he were the only ones who were there.
"Yeah," said the boy by the name of Kid, and then he addressed Riku. "I didn't know there were still people like you."
"Does he know about the Organization!?" thought a surprised Riku, and then more people appeared from Riku's left. They were a boy and three girls, all of them wearing different uniforms, but all of them were white and blue.
"Kid, what are you doing?" said one of the girls, the one with ash blonde hair tied into two pigtails, before noticing the cloaked person in front of Kid. "You are…"
"You guys are still alive!?" said the white-haired boy who was with the girls. Much to Riku's surprise, the boy transformed into a Scythe and landed in the ash blonde girl's hands. The Keyblade wielder could swear that he had heard about people transforming into weapons before, but he couldn't remember where since he had something more important to worry about at this moment. The girl with the scythe got into a battle stance, but before she could do anything, one of the other girls put her hand in front of her.
"Huh?" the pigtailed girl said. "Jacqueline, what are you doing?"
"Wait a moment," the girl called Jacqueline said, and then she saw Riku's sword in the floor and walked to it. The black-haired girl crouched and grabbed the sword, which returned to Riku's hand after a few seconds, and this surprised Kid and the girl with pigtails.
"A Keyblade?" asked Kid, but he was still aiming at Riku with the two guns he had.
"Are you friend of Sora?" asked the third girl, the one with pink hair, and as soon as he heard Sora's name, Riku dismissed the Keyblade.
"Yes," the cloaked boy answered, not sure if they were going to believe him, but it looks like they knew his best friend, and that relieved him. Then, Kid approached Riku to remove the hood that covered his face, and he was surprised when he saw the Keyblade wielder's face.
"Riku," he said as he lowered his weapons. The boy who transformed into a scythe turned back to his human form as soon as he heard the Keyblade wielder's name.
"Do I know you?" asked Riku after lowering his arms. He turned around to see that the boy called Kid had black hair and three peculiar white strips on it.
"I don't know if the mayor of your home told you that he asked for some organization to look for her daughter and two of her friends," Kid replied.
"Oh, right, I think he told me something about that," Riku said, and now that there weren't guns aiming at him, he could remember the name of the organization. "You are from Shibusen, right?"
"That's right," Kid said, and suddenly, the guns he had in his hands transformed into two girls. This time it didn't surprised Riku since he knew about Shibusen and the kind of students it had.
"Well, I think we owe you an apology," said the taller girl. "We shouldn't have done that to you."
"Yeah, sorry for that, Riku," the shorter girl said, smiling apologetically.
"I'm sorry too," the girl with pigtails said, scratching the back of her head embarrassed. "I didn't know you were Sora's friend."
Riku smiled. "It's okay, don't worry about it. Actually, it's my fault for wearing this," he said, and then he looked at Jacqueline and the pink-haired girl. "How did you know that I know Sora?"
"Well, he told us that every Keyblade wielder that fought against Xehanort has a coat like that, so we supposed that you were a friend of his," Jacqueline explained. "Besides, if you were a bad guy, surely you would've attacked Kid."
"When was that? He didn't tell us anything about the coats," the white-haired boy asked.
"He told us after we arrived in the Witches' Realm," the pinkette said. "He even wore it while we were there, but he took it off before returning to Shibusen."
"These must be some of the people Sora befriended while he protected Death City," Riku thought, and then he looked at the girl with ash blonde hair. A few days ago, Kairi told him about a girl of Shibusen who was friend of Sora and could perceive the heart, an ability that he also developed.
"W-what is it?" asked Maka nervously when she noticed that Riku was looking at her.
"Your name is Maka, by any chance?" Riku asked.
"Yes, I'm Maka Albarn," the girl answered kind of surprised. She wondered how Riku knew her name, and she thought that maybe Sora talked about her to his friends, and that made her feel a bit happy for some reason.
"If I'm not mistaken, you can use Heart Perception too," Riku said, and Maka blinked.
"Oh, yeah, I can use it," Maka affirmed. "Wait, do you mean that you too…"
"Yes, I have that ability too," Riku said. "Couldn't you tell that I was a Keyblade wielder?"
"Oh, you see…I haven't used that ability in a long time," Maka said. "But I started practicing after Sora's last visit, although I still can't see other people's heart for some reason…"
"Well, it only works when you want to detect hearts that are 'different'," Riku explained. "Like the heart of a Keyblade wielder, or one that has a lot of darkness in it. Since Heartless are created from the darkness in people's hearts, you can also feel their presence with that ability."
"I see," Maka said, touching her chin, and then she smiled gratefully at the Keybearer. "Thanks for the information, Riku."
Riku smiled and nodded. "No problem, I'm sure you'll get the hang of it soon," he said, and then he removed the coat since he didn't feel much heat now, besides, he noticed that the others didn't like it very much, and he didn't want to bother them. When Riku removed his coat, the tall blonde girl, the one who could transform into a gun, saw that Riku had a small silver crown on his belt, just like the one of Sora's necklace.
"Hey, isn't that Sora's crown?" she asked.
"Oh, right," the Keyblade wielder said, touching the crown badge. "I suppose he told you about the guild he wanted to create, right? This is our guild symbol."
"Kairi told us about it," the white-haired boy said. "So, you guys are official now, congratulations. If your symbol is that one, then I suppose Sora is the leader of the guild, right?"
"That's right," Riku said, nodding his head.
"Does that mean that Sora is like Shinigami-sama now?" asked the girl with short blonde hair, looking at the one who was taller than her.
"It sounds kind of strange if you say it like that," the tall girl said.
"Great, now I'm imagining Sora acting and talking like Shinigami-sama," the white-haired boy said, and the others laughed. "Anyway, the name's Soul, it's nice to meet you, Riku."
"Oh, right, we didn't introduce ourselves," the black-haired girl said. "I'm Jacqueline."
"Kim," said the pink-haired girl, giving Riku a small smile.
"My name is Death the Kid, but you can call me Kid, and these are Liz and Patty," the young Shinigami said, and the two sisters smiled and waved her hands at the Keyblade wielder. Maka didn't say anything since Riku already knew her.
"Right, it's nice to meet you too," Riku said smiling.
"So, what are you doing here?" Kim asked. "I though you guys would be protecting other worlds from the Heartless."
"Sora and Kairi are in other worlds doing that with other Keyblade wielders," Riku replied. "Besides, this world needs some protection too."
"There's a Heartless around here?" Kid asked.
"I think so, but I haven't found it yet," Riku replied, "and how about you? Why are you here?"
"Traitors," Kid answered without hesitating, he knew that Riku was someone he could trust, so he could answer his question. "At first, they were just individuals who ventured into the limits of Death City, with the singular purpose of challenging those affiliated with Shibusen in order to test their strength, through means of combat."
"But they got more dangerous these years," Maka continued. "Now they kill Witches, which endangers our alliance with them."
"Sora did well in going to the Witches' Realm then," thought Riku. "I haven't seen anyone around here apart from you, are you sure there are Traitors in this city?"
"There should be," Kid said. "The members of Shibusen who work in this country told us that they saw some Traitors using this building as a meeting place, but we haven't seen any. I sensed a soul with my Soul Perception ability, but…"
"It was me," Riku finished for Kid, who nodded. Then Kid's expression changed, and Maka's did too, which alerted the others.
"How many of them are coming?" Soul asked, as if he knew what they felt.
"More than twenty," Maka replied, and then the group of Shibusen looked at each other and nodded.
"It looks like it's time to fight," Kim said, and Jacqueline, Soul, Liz and Patty transformed into weapons. The three Meisters grabbed their partners and walked outside the room while looking around so the Traitors couldn't attack them from their back, and they stopped when they saw a group of people arriving at the floor where they were. The Traitors were wearing a black body armor with a black combat vest and black face shields, which didn't let other people see their faces.
Kid and the others covered behind a wall, so the Traitors couldn't see them. The young Shinigami saw that Riku was at the other side of the space that was on the wall, also covering behind it.
"Riku, are you coming with us?" Kid asked slightly surprised.
"Of course," Riku said as he summoned his Keyblade. "I know this has to do nothing with me, but I'm not going to stay here without doing anything."
Soul chuckled. "Working with a Keyblade wielder…this brings back good memories."
"This might be interesting after all," Kim said with a smile on her face. "So, what's the plan, Kid?"
"These guys are the elite soldiers of the Traitors, so attack first, think later," the young Shinigami replied. "We'll use the stairs and get out through the back door on the first floor. We'll change the route as necessary, got it?"
"Got it," Maka and Kim said, and Kid nodded.
"This is the second time we've got a real live Keyblade wielder working with us, so we'll have to do a good job," Kid bantered, and Riku let out a small laugh. They waited a few seconds, and then Kid spoke again.
"Move!" he said.
-TLG-
1600hrs, July 27th, 2024
Fairy Tail, Fiore, Earth Land
Everyone in Fairy Tail was now celebrating Sora's return to Fiore. They even put a welcome banner on a wall before the party started. Natsu started a ruckus, as always, and some mages started to fight against him too while Sora was welcomed by other members of the guild.
Sora was amazed when he saw Macao's son, Romeo, and how much he grew up. The boy was now a mage, and could use several types of Fire Magic. Romeo asked Sora if he could teach him some the Fire spells Keyblade wielders use, and Sora said that he knew a Keyblade wielder who was an expert in Fire Magic, and that he would ask him about it.
Cana was still the same, not having aged due to the events in Tenrou Island, and she still had her usual drinking habits. Gray was next to her, and told Sora about Gildarts being Cana's father, which surprised the Keyblade wielder. Cana threw her mug at Gray, annoyed at him for saying that, but Sora could calm her down.
Alzack and Bisca were seven years older, and they even got married, much to Sora's surprise. They introduced her daughter, Asuka, to Sora, who played with her a little. He carried her on his shoulders while he walked around the guild to talk with the other members.
Mirajane and Lisanna hadn't changed either, and the two were really glad to see that the Keyblade wielder was all right. Both of them made a comment about how cute Sora was now, much to his embarrassment. Elfman, however, grew much more muscular physically, so Sora made sure to handshake with him instead of hugging like when he left since he'd rather have his back intact.
After talking with almost every mage and employee, since Sora also talked with Kinana, the Keyblade wielder started explaining to Makarov and some other mages the reason he wasn't as old as they expected him to be. He told them about the battle between the thirteen seekers of darkness and the seven guardians of light, and how Xehanort could open the door to Kingdom Hearts.
"Kingdom Hearts?" asked an intrigued Lucy.
"Long ago, in the ages of fairy tales, the World was filled with light," Makarov replied. "A gift many believed, from an unseen power known as 'Kingdom Hearts'."
"It is the heart of all worlds, and a source of great power and wisdom," Sora added.
"Something like that…does it has something that protects it?" asked Erza.
"Yes, it has," Sora replied. "Kingdom Hearts was protected by its counterpart, the 'χ-blade', so that none could ever lay hands on its mysteries."
"The 'Keyblade'?" asked Gray. Sora noticed the confusion in his voice, so he created a projection of the word, just like Yen Sid did when he explained Donald, Goofy and him about the Nobodies.
"The letter chi from the Greek alphabet," Levy said when she saw the projection.
"Many came to desire the power of light contained within Kingdom Hearts," Sora continued. "These warriors crafted 'Keyblades' in the image of the original χ-blade, and waged a great war over Kingdom Hearts. We call this the 'Keyblade War'."
Then Sora showed the mages a projection of the Keyblade Graveyard, the place where the Keyblade War took place. The mages were shocked when they saw the amount of Keyblades that were in that place and wondered how many Keybearers died in that battle.
"What happened at the end of that war?" asked Lisanna without moving her gaze away from Sora's projection.
"Those Keyblade wielders wiped out the entire World's light as a result," Sora replied. "But, legend has it that the worlds we know today survived from the last glimmers of light within the hearts of children."
"What happened to the χ-blade?" asked Happy.
"It didn't survive the battle," Sora answered. "The two elements that created it, one of darkness and one of light, shattered into twenty pieces…seven of light and thirteen of darkness."
"And what about Kingdom Hearts?" asked Carla. "If those Keyblade wielders wiped out the entire World's light, then it's because something happened to it, right?"
"Kingdom Hearts was swallowed by the darkness, never to be seen again," Sora replied. "And as long as it remains there, even the brightest world will have its dark corners."
"After all, light begets darkness, and the darkness is drawn to light," Makarov said. "For this reason, some decided to use the Keyblade, a weapon designed to conquer the light, to defend the light instead."
Sora nodded. "These were the first heroes of the Keyblade."
"People like you, Sora-san," Wendy commented, and the brown-haired boy smiled.
The mages were impressed with Sora, he looked so serious when he talked about Kingdom Hearts and the χ-blade, it was as if they were listening to a different person.
"Wait…the χ-blade was shattered into seven pieces of light and thirteen of darkness," Lucy said, and then she realized it. "Then, the seven guardians of light and the thirteen seekers of darkness…"
"Perceptive as always," thought Sora, and then he created a projection of the old Xehanort and twelve people in black coat. "Yes, Master Xehanort believed that darkness and light should exist in perfect balance, and for this reason, he sought to conquer Kingdom Hearts and recreate the worlds according to his wishes. He needed the χ-blade to open the door to Kingdom Hearts, so he gathered another twelve darknesses to have the thirteen seekers of darkness."
"So this geezer is Xehanort, huh?" Gray asked, and Sora nodded.
"He looks kind of scary," Wendy commented.
"Then, he wanted the seekers of darkness and you, the guardians of light, to fight in order to create the χ-blade," said Jet.
"Wouldn't have been easier to refuse fighting against them?" Droy asked.
"Well, the Guardians of Light actually aren't the ones who are the seven pieces of light," Sora revealed. "We were the ones who were in charge of protecting the seven lights."
"The Princesses of Heart," Makarov said.
"That's right," Sora said.
"The Princesses of Heart?" the mages asked their master.
"The Seven Princesses of Heart are maidens with hearts of pure light, devoid of darkness," Makarov answered. "Their hearts were created with the seven pieces of light of the χ-blade."
"Say, Sora, do you know who they are?" Lucy asked.
"Yes, I know," he replied, and then he started to create projections of them as he said their names. "They are Belle, Snow White, Aurora, Alice, Jasmine, Cinderella and Kairi."
"Kairi is one of them!?" Levy asked astonished, and Sora nodded. "Then, she was a Guardian of Light and a Princess of Heart at the same time."
"Yes, although she's not royalty like some of them," Sora said.
"Then, what happened during the battle?" asked Erza.
"We fought against the Seekers of Darkness in the Keyblade Graveyard, and with the light of our hearts, and the darkness of theirs, the χ-blade was forged," Sora said, which shocked the mages. "Xehanort could use it to open Kingdom Hearts, and he started to alter it with his powers, so the darkness and light existed in perfect balance."
"Please tell me there's more," Lucy said, really concerned.
"He's here, so you know they won, why are you so worried?" Gray asked, and Lucy lowered her head embarrassed, and Sora smiled.
"Just as he started altering Kingdom Hearts, the χ-blade, for some reason, rejected him and came to my hand," Sora continued. "I used it to close Kingdom Hearts and stop Xehanort from changing the worlds."
"The χ-blade went to your hand?" asked Makarov, who didn't expect that at all.
"Yeah, it was really weird, but I won't complain since I could stop Master Xehanort thanks to it," Sora said. "Then, I fought him with the χ-blade and…"
"Did you try to make him come to his senses?" the Guild Master asked. Makarov was a friend of Yen Sid, so he knew about Xehanort more than the other mages.
"I'd lie if I say that I didn't try," Sora replied with a serious voice, "but during the battle I realized that it was no use…I…I had to put an end to him."
"Sora…" Lucy muttered.
It was obvious that, even if it was Xehanort, he wasn't very happy with having killed him, although it was necessary. Sora looked at his right hand, the one he used to destroy Xehanort's heart, so he couldn't turn into a Heartless or transfer it to another body, like he did with Terra.
Everyone remained silent, waiting for Sora to say something, but since it looked like he wasn't going to say something, Gray decided to break the silence.
"You can't let that bother you," the Ice Mage said. "Who knows what would have happened to the worlds if you hadn't stopped him?"
"Gray's right, you can let that affect you, it was for the good of everyone," Erza said.
"One sword keeps another in the sheath," Levy said. "Sometimes, the threat of violence alone is a deterrent. Sometimes, by taking a life, others can be preserved."
"What's that?" asked a puzzled Sora.
"It's the code the samurai lived by..." Levy replied, and Sora started laughing.
"Do I look like a samurai to you?" Sora asked between laughs, although he had to admit that he liked the saying.
"Hey, I was trying to cheer you up!" the bluenette said pouting, and Sora stopped laughing.
"I know that, thanks a lot, Levy," Sora said, looking gratefully at the girl, who smiled since she was able to cheer up the boy. "Anyway, some worlds were affected when Master Xehanort started to mess up with Kingdom Hearts."
"What kind of changes?" Erza asked.
"I know that a world was destroyed, but luckily, its residents ended up in a world called Radiant Garden, which increased its size for the same reason. As for Earth Land, it looks like the flow of the time was altered during that time."
"So that's why you're younger than you should be," said Warren, the mage who used Telepathy.
"Or maybe you're older than you should be," Sora countered with a smile. "But yes, that'd be the reason."
"How old are you now?" asked Carla.
"I'm seventeen," Sora replied. "There was a difference of five years, but now it looks like the time flows normally again."
"That's why you asked me the date of today, right?" asked Lucy, and Sora nodded.
"You're the same age as Levy and me then," Lisanna said. "I wonder how you would look with twenty-two years old."
"I made a picture, if you're interested," said the Picture Mage known as Reedus. He was the one who made the picture of the guild that Sora received before he left Fiore the last time. Sora just talked with him once two years ago, but they got along pretty well.
Lisanna took the picture, really curious to see how Reedus pictured Sora of twenty-two years old. The other approached her to see the picture too, and Sora just looked at them, not sure of what to say.
"Wow," was the only thing Lisanna said.
"Oh my," Mirajane said surprised.
"Damn," said Cana. "This makes me wish the flow of time didn't change."
Gray snickered. "Dude, you look so weird."
"He looks…cool," Lucy said, and Sora could swear that she had a tiny blush tainting her cheeks. He was going to say something to make them stop looking at the picture, but before he could say anything, Makarov spoke.
"Say, Sora," Makarov began, "I suppose old Yen Sid gave you the title of Keyblade Master after the battle ended, right?"
"Oh, yeah," Sora said with a grin on his face.
"Sora-san, you're a Keyblade Master now?" asked Wendy, feeling happy for the brown-haired boy.
"Congratulations, Sora!" Lucy said smiling at the boy.
"Do we have to call you Master Sora now?" Happy asked.
"Please don't do that, I sound weird coming from you," said Sora. "Besides, I didn't hear you calling Riku a Master the last time."
"That's true," Carla said.
"Hey, Sora, let's fight now!" Natsu exclaimed as he fought against other members of the guild.
"Here he goes again…" Lucy muttered, and Sora laughed. Fortunately, Erza could knock out Natsu before he could attack Sora, who looked bewildered at the Fire Dragon Slayer who was lying on the floor.
"I knew there was something different about you," Erza said, touching her chin while looking at Sora. "Aqua and Terra…they're also Keyblade Masters, right?"
"Yes, they are Keyblade Masters too," Sora replied.
"Aqua and Terra?" asked Levy curiously.
"Sora was with two other Keyblade wielders before coming here," Lucy said.
"Ah, Eraqus' pupils, right?" Makarov said.
"You know Master Eraqus, Master?" asked Sora.
"Of course," Makarov replied. "He and Yen Sid are good friends of mine, and some time ago he told me about Aqua and Terra, and I know about Ventus too. Say, how are they?"
"They're fine, the three are in Radiant Garden now, the world I told you about before," Sora replied.
"Talking about Radiant Garden, we heard that there was a Keyblade wielders Guild there," Max said. "I suppose you are one of them, right?"
"Yeah, I'm one of the Light Guardians," Sora said grinning. "The guild has been official for twenty days, so we're still working on being known around the worlds."
"I have to say that it surprised us to see that there was already a Keyblade wielders Guild," Warren said. "I thought you guys were going to wait longer to create it."
"Who's the Guild Master by the way?" asked Makarov, kind of curious to know about the master of the Light Guardians. "Is it Yen Sid, or Eraqus?"
"Both of them are retired, and besides, we don't know where they are at this moment," Sora replied with a small smile on his face. "It's possible they're in Yen Sid's tower, but the Guild Master is more active."
"Is it Yen Sid's last apprentice…what was his name…Mickey?" asked Makarov.
"Nope," replied Sora, shaking his head.
"Wait…Aqua and Terra had a silver crown badge just like the one of your necklace, and they said that it was their guild's mark," Carla said. "Then, the Guild Master is…you, Sora?"
"Bingo!" said the Keyblade wielder with a grin on his face.
"YOU!?" exclaimed everyone in disbelief, even Natsu, who woke up when he heard that.
"Hey, thanks for the vote of confidence," Sora said, crossing his arms.
"Woah, you're awesome Sora, a young and good-looking Guild Master," Kinana said, which caused the Keyblade wielder to blush, and Makarov looked a bit affected by that comment.
"You're even younger than Sting," Erza said with her arms crossed. "If you're a Guild Master, then I'll have to refer to you as one."
"Master Sora," Wendy said, bowing at the boy.
"Hey, you don't have to do that, really," Sora said.
"Even if you say that, I can't help but look at you differently," Lucy said.
"I don't want you to treat me differently," Sora declared. "I'm still a normal member of Fairy Tail."
"Well, you're everything but normal," Levy joked.
"Very funny," Sora said, and the girl giggled. "Anyway, Lucy, you could see that Terra and Aqua treat me as if I was a normal member of the guild, and surely the others will do it too."
"Yeah, even if he's a Guild Master or a Keyblade Master, Sora is still Sora," Natsu said to the others.
"Thanks, Natsu," Sora said gratefully.
"The first Guild Master of Fairy Tail was also very young when she created the guild, so the age doesn't matter," Makarov said. "Maybe you'll be the next Guild Master of Fairy Tail."
"I think that's a bit much," Sora said. He could deal with the other Keyblade wielders since they were just nine, but if he had to add up the mages of Fairy Tail, it would be too much for him.
"Anyway, I'm sure you'll do a great job, Sora," Lisanna said, winking at him.
"You think?" asked Sora, feeling kind of flattered.
"Of course, you're the best Keyblade wielder we know, so it's obvious you'll be a good Guild Master for the others," Mirajane said.
"You even looked like a wise when you started explaining us about all those things," Gray said smirking. "Just don't let it go to your head, okay?"
"I'll try to remember that," Sora said smiling.
"You know, it surprises me the amount of things you just told us," Erza said. "The last time you seemed more…reluctant."
"Well, Master Xehanort's gone, so I don't have to worry about involving you with him," Sora said.
"Now that you've told us what happened, I think we should tell you what happened here while you were gone," Makarov said.
"Oh, Natsu already told me about it," Sora said. "The S-Class Mage Promotion Trial, the incident with Grimoire Heart and Acnologia in Tenrou Island, the seven years gap, the Grand Magic Games, the Dragons, Hisui and the Eclipse Project-"
"Wait a moment," Lucy said, "Hisui?"
"Yeah, the princess, right?" asked Sora before realizing what Lucy meant. "Oh, she told me to call her just by her name, if that's what you mean."
"Oh, really?" asked Lucy with a playful voice, one that Sora didn't like one bit.
"What is it?" asked Sora, not sure if he wanted to know the answer to that question.
"It looks like you have a way with princesses~," Mirajane teased, and Sora understood immediately who she was referring to.
"She llllikes you~," Happy said.
"H-hey, you got the wrong idea!" said Sora, blushing because of the teasing.
"My, you haven't changed when it comes to these things, how cute~," Lucy said, covering his mouth and looking at Sora with teasing eyes, and the Keyblade wielder groaned.
"What about you and Kairi?" asked a drunken Cana.
"We're just friends!" Sora exclaimed.
"Oh, so you're still single, uh? That's good to know~," Lisanna said, and then she giggled at the face Sora had.
"What the-" Sora didn't know what to say, but luckily, Makarov came to his rescue and changed the subject
"Sora, have you considered performing the Keyblade Inheritance Ceremony with someone, now that you're a Keyblade Master?" asked Makarov.
"Uh…no, not actually," Sora said after regaining his composure. "Maybe I'll do it someday, but I don't know with whom."
"What's that ceremony you're talking about, Sora-san?" asked a curious Wendy.
"The Keyblade Inheritance Ceremony is a trial in which a Keyblade wielder on the level of a Master chooses a person to inherit the power to wield the Keyblade," Sora replied. "If the Keyblade accepts the inheritor selected, that person will become able to summon their own Keyblade whenever attempted."
"That sound pretty neat," Gray said. "How is the process?"
"All the master must do is test the strength of the one they have chosen by allowing him or her to hold their Keyblade," Sora explained. "If the Keyblade also approves of the heir, it will stay in the heir's hand and not automatically return to the master. The Keyblade can be also accidentally inherited if someone with a strong heart makes contact with it."
"I remember that you handed me your Keyblade when we were going to Freesia Town the day you joined the guild," Erza said, looking at the hand she used to grab Sora's Keyblade.
"And Gajeel grabbed it too while we were dueling, but it returned to my hand, so you're not Keyblade wielders," Sora said.
"Then, Masters can only have one successor?" asked Carla.
"No, Terra and Aqua received their Keyblades thanks to Master Eraqus," Sora replied. "Riku is a Keyblade wielder thanks to Terra, and Aqua performed the ceremony with Kairi accidentally."
"And what about you?" asked Lucy. "Who's the Keyblade Master who performed the ceremony with you?"
"Actually, I'm the only one of the group who got a Keyblade without an inheritance ceremony," Sora replied, which surprised the others.
"Wow, so you were destined to wield a Keyblade," Happy said.
"You could say that," Sora said. "Maybe that's why the χ-blade went to my hand...because I was destined to wield a Keyblade."
"Now that you mentioned that blade," Max said. "After defeating Xehanort, you could have used the χ-blade to gain control over the worlds using Kingdom Hearts, right?"
"Yeah, control all the worlds," said Sora, looking at his hand, and then he closed it and chuckled. "But, why would I want to do that?"
The mages smiled at the Keyblade wielder, and then someone approached him and said his name, so Sora turned his head and saw Freed, Bickslow and Evergreen, the members of the team known as the Raijinshū.
"It's a happy day, baby!" Bickslow said, showing his tongue as always.
"We're glad to see you're all right," Freed said smiling.
"Welcome back, Sora," Evergreen said.
"Ah, the Raijinshū, it's good to see you!" Sora said.
"Why is everyone causing a mess now?" asked someone who was behind Freed and the other two. It was a young man with spiky blond hair, and he had a distinctive lightning bolt-shaped scar on his right eye. The Keyblade wielder recognized him immediately since it was the man he assisted in the desert of Fiore when an Antlion Heartless attacked him.
The blond man continued walking, but he stopped when he saw the brown spiky boy that was on his left. The two looked at each other, and this caused the other mages to look at them, even Natsu, who started another fight, stopped fighting with the other members of Fairy Tail when he saw those two looking at each other. There was tension in the air, but then Sora broke the silence.
"Laxus," he said.
"Sora," Laxus said, surprised to see the Keyblade wielder.
"EEEEH?" said everyone in the guild except for Sora, Laxus and the Raijinshū.
"You two know each other!?" Lucy asked dumbfounded, and the others were really surprised too, even Makarov.
"Yeah, remember that day I traveled alone?" Sora asked. "I met Laxus in the desert, and the two of us fought against a big Heartless."
"So that's why you talked with the Raijinshū that day," Makarov said.
"It's good to see you in one piece," Laxus said, looking at Sora with a small smile. "We heard rumors about a boy finishing off a giant dark monster, so I suppose they were talking about you."
Sora chuckled. "Yeah, that would be me."
"Dark monster?" asked Warren. "Don't tell me there are Heartless here again!"
"Calm down, Warren," Erza replied. "Sora and the other two Keyblade wielders took care of the Heartless already, and besides, Sora closed the Keyhole of Earth Land, so we don't have to worry about our world being destroyed."
"Erza, there's another request, similar to the one you took before," Mirajane said, handing the request to the redhead. "I knew there was something familiar with that request, but I didn't think that it was the Heartless."
"We also fought with some them," Laxus said. "It was a big group, but we could take care of them easily."
"It could be more Heartless," Erza said after she read the request.
"Yeah, I think I felt one of those things while we were on our way here," Sora said.
"Things?" asked Levy. "What things?"
"Surely you guys remember Maleficent, right?" asked Sora. "The last time, the Organization stopped her from conquering this world, but all the Heartless she sent here stayed and we had to destroy all of them."
"How could we forget that?" said Lucy.
"Yeah, that was one hell of a battle," Gray said.
"Well, it looks like now she's trying to conquer the worlds again, now that Xehanort is out of the game," the Keyblade wielder said. "I fought some Heartless that have a magic sphere inside them, which attract other Heartless when they're inside of another one."
"That's the sphere Terra and Aqua mentioned," Erza said, and Sora nodded.
"So, we just have to destroy that magic sphere, so the Heartless don't come here, right?" Natsu asked.
"Exactly, it's very simple, but you have to do it fast, so the sphere doesn't attract Heartless that also carry another sphere," Sora answered.
"But, what do you mean when you said you felt one of those spheres?" asked Levy. "If their function is to attract the Heartless, then why do you-…oh…"
"It seems you forgot about that…" Sora said, looking at the bluenette with a small smile.
"Yeah, I'm sorry…" Levy apologized.
"It's okay," Sora said reassuringly.
"So, you still can…well, you know," Gray said, reluctant to say what Sora was able to do since not everyone in Fairy Tail knew about it despite having being mentioned in the court where Sora was judged the last time he was in Fiore.
"These years, I've been training and trying to control it," Sora said. "I managed to transform voluntarily a couple of times, but I tend to lose control if I'm transformed for too long."
"I see…" Gray said.
"What are you guys talking about?" asked a curious Max.
"Yeah, why are you all so serious suddenly?" asked Warren.
"You wouldn't want to know…" said Lucy.
"Anyway, forget about that, it'd be better that way," Sora said with a reassuring smile.
"Erza, where is the supposed Heartless?" asked Makarov.
"Crocus, the capital…" the redhead answered.
"That witch must be trying to do what she couldn't that time," the old master said, and then he looked at the Keyblade wielder. "Sora, I don't like to ask you for this again, but…"
"Then don't do it," Sora said, and then he grinned. "I was going to go there even if you didn't ask me to do it."
"Sora-san," said Wendy, looking at the Keyblade wielder with admiration.
"Do you want to come with me?" Sora asked, looking at Team Natsu.
"Come on, Sora, do you really have to ask?" asked Lucy as a smile appeared on her face.
"Yeah, we were going to go with you even if you didn't ask us to do it," Gray said smirking.
"I don't think you need our help, but we'll go with you anyway," Carla said, and Wendy nodded in agreement.
"I'd like to work with you again, Sora," Erza said smiling.
"Let's show them what we're made of," Natsu said as he engulfed his fist with flames.
"Aye, let's kick their butts!" Happy added.
"All right then," said Sora grinning. "Let's go!"
-TLG-
Well, that was the chapter 9, I hope you liked it!
Ventus and Kairi are in Disney Town now, so surely you know who's going to appear in the next chapter.
Riku is in the Earth with the some members of the Spartoi Unit, I thought it would be nice to make them work together since Riku didn't go to Death City.
Sora is still in Fiore, and now he and Team Natsu are going to work together again.
Talking about Fairy Tail, the continuation of the anime will start in april, I can't wait! And the second season of SAO (third if you read the novels) Gun Gale Online will be aired this year too!
To JMG16: Thanks! The guild will have more Keyblade wielders for sure, and I was thinking of making a rival guild for them in the future, Keyblade wielders of the Realm of Darkness probably.
To Sunny Lighter: I'm glad you're liking the Fairy Tail part of this chapters! Also, thanks for reminding me about the reward, I almost forgot it.
To AnimeMasterDub: (1) You need to be patient, rushing me won't make me write the chapter faster. (2) I still haven't finished Highschool DxD, so I can't write about it yet. (3) I doubt I'll make them appear, besides, the only way to go there, is with Anima, so they can't go there.
To Otaku-san32: I'll see what I can do with One Piece since I don't like to break the canon events.
To Great fan-M: (1) They know it, and Sora knows they know it, but they're not going to say anything, at least not yet. (2) Happy New Year to you too! (3) He'll escape thanks to someone, and If I remember correctly, the time in the Digital World flows differently, so Sora won't lose much time of sleep.
To Erick-Genryusai: Surely the other characters of P&B will appear in the story, especially Doofenshmirtz. About Donald meeting Excalibur, I'll write a scene about it during the tournament I've planned to write, but don't expect it soon. Regarding Kim, I never said it was something bad or anything, I just wanted people to see the scene instead of reading it, I think it's one of those scenes where a picture is better than words, and besides, Kim can't tell the way she opens the portal to people who aren't witches, so I preferred not to write it.
To Guest: I'm not sure what idea you're referring to, but thanks anyway!
To Anthony627AA: Thanks, I hope you liked this chapter too!
To kingdom hearts guy: Don't worry about that, I've already the name problem covered. Regarding the tournament, who knows who will win? There are a lot of powerful teams, so I won't give the Light Guardians the victory so easily if I were you.
To A Paper Flower: You're Coolgal342, right? Well, I'm glad you like Terra and Aqua, they didn't appear in this chapter, but I'll try to make them appear again as soon as possible.
To anon: You should try to write your suggestions in less reviews, you covered one page with your reviews. Anyway, I don't like to ask people to write stories, so I won't do that. I don't like the body swap idea, and about the transformation magic, I don't see it to be honest.
To Daxen123: As you could read, this takes place after the Grand Magic Games.
To KH-Hardcorefan4483: Glad you liked it! I need to finish Highschool DxD so I can add it to the story, so many animes to see, and so little time...
To TigerOfGuy7139: Sure, thanks a lot! I don't think I'll have problems writing about the story itself, but all the stuff about Personas is a bit complicated. Anyway, whatever happened to you, good luck and don't give up!
To animelover276: Of course, I wasn't going to let them out of this story! And, who knows where Lea is? :P
To csyang1317: Digimon (1 and 2), new FF characters and FMA will be in this story, about the other series I don't know. And sure, I'll take a look at your story when I have time.
