Act X: Magic

They were finally on their way. Nothing blocked this path anymore. "You know," Akio said, "It worries me, these areas where there is nothing around. Are we lost? Or could it be something even worse?"

"What could be worse?" Haru said. "The worlds can't just be gone… can they?"

Akio shrugged. "I have no clue. You know more than I do about the last time the Heartless were around."

Haru was lost in thought for a moment. "Actually…" He said, horrified. "I think she said that worlds had disappeared for a while. But they came back; she never said what happened, just that it was something that your dad had done."

"Well crap," Akio said. "I hope that's not happening again… If it is, then I think our job just got a lot more complicated." He sighed. He thought that things were at least on a decent path. Now it looked like there was more than he expected.

"Hmm," Haru said, visibly thinking. "Maybe we'll figure it out on our way to find our parents. And if not, they can probably help us… or they could take over." Haru chuckled. "I mean, they are the Keyblade Masters and we've only had ours for a couple of months. We certainly don't have their skills."

"I'm not counting on it," Akio said while looking at the map. Being optimistic was hard. He was rational; it was unlikely that their parents would be alive if they even found them… it had been at least a decade since they disappeared. No food for that long… well, there would definitely have to be some kind of magic to keep them alive and he had yet to see evidence of magic existing… Maybe the Keyblades, but that wasn't much.

"Come on, Akio," Haru teased. "You've got to try to be more positive. What's the worst that can happen?"

Akio looked at him blankly. "Do you really want me to answer that?"

Haru's laugh became nervous. "Um, I'm thinking not since you put it that way."

"Sorry," Akio sighed. "I'll try to be more optimistic… I'm just a bit of a pessimist. Then when something good happens it's a pleasant surprise."

"I guess that's one way to look at it," Haru considered, "But then you're just anxious all of the time, which isn't good. So I'm going to be the optimist in this situation." He grinned.

Akio smiled weakly and looked out the windows. "There's nothing on the map, but I think I see something out there! Maybe a world?"

Haru quickly turned his head that direction. "It does look like a town. Let's head that way, so that we at least have somewhere to get our bearings."

Akio agreed.

They approached a town. It was darker than Radiant Garden was, but that made sense, with a name like 'Radiant Garden'. This starlit town seemed fairly peaceful, and the path was once again blocked. "I guess we have to stop here too," Haru said with a defeated tone. "I'm tired of these detours. Why can't we just get where we're going?"

Akio rolled his eyes. "Because nothing is ever that easy… Besides, we don't really know where we're going. Who knows, maybe there's something useful here."

"I'll admit that's a good point." Haru took a deep breath. "Well, let's go check things out."

"Yeah, but be careful. Who knows what's down there?"

"Relax," Haru said, heading down the ladder. "There's no sign of danger. You shouldn't be tense all the time. You'll drive yourself crazy."

Akio followed closely behind. "Or I'll be ready for whatever happens."

"Come on, Akio. Two sets of eyes are better than one," Haru insisted. "You need to calm down. Tension might make you notice the small details, but it can hide the big stuff."

Akio huffed. "I'll try to relax," he said, "But I don't really see how that makes any sense… not that I've paid attention in psychology. So you might be right."

"It really will be okay. We'll protect each other, alright?" Haru reached the bottom of the ladder and offered a hand to help Akio down as well.

"Okay," Akio said with a sigh. If only Haru knew how much more relaxed he already was now than he had been. He had a whole new outlook; things had been so much worse before.

He scanned his surroundings carefully as he reached the ground; it didn't matter what Haru said, he knew that there was always a chance that some kind of enemy could be lurking, waiting for their next step. Caution was important… but he'd try not to obsess over it. The coast was clear, but there were no people, let alone Heartless. Without the bright lights and neon signs, the town would seem empty and lifeless. Even with those, there didn't seem like there was anyone there to control them.

It was like this world had appeared out of nowhere while they were traveling. The emptiness seemed to reinforce this concept, no matter how strange. It seemed impossible but they'd seen enough to know that anything was possible.

"There's a sign over there," Haru said. "It says 'Traverse Town'. I guess that's where we are… or as good of a guess as any."

Akio tilted his head and looked around. "You know," he said. "I feel like I know this place somehow…" He paused in thought. "Oh! I remember. I have a postcard back home of this park-type area here. It's one of the few things I managed to hide from my aunt and uncle to help remember my parents." Finally: an explanation for this déjà vu.

"Huh." Haru shrugged. "Hard to say… but it's possible. I mean we've at least found out for sure that there are other worlds. I don't see why we couldn't find one that we recognize." He chuckled. "I guess we should get going; hopefully we' find a clue here."

"And maybe we'll run into that Origin guy. I'd like to get more information out of him, you know?" Akio started walking. "I mean, he mentioned our parents. He's the only real lead we have."

Haru shrugged. "You think we could take him?" he asked.

"We were doing pretty well before, weren't we?" Akio reminded him. "I can't see why we couldn't again."

Haru nodded. "I guess…" he said, still seeming pretty skeptical.

"I thought you were telling me to think positive!" Akio said, laughing.

"Ha ha, very funny." Haru rolled his eyes.

They walked in a comfortable silence up another set of stairs and to an enormous set of double doors. "Ready?" Akio looked at Haru.

"Yeah." He nodded, pushing the door open easily. "That was light," he said, surprised. They crossed the threshold, only to find themselves face to face with a bunch of Heartless. "Well crap."

Akio brought out his Keyblade, flinching as he saw not his father's blade, but the one that he received in the dream. "Whoa."

Haru looked over quickly. "How'd you get a new Keyblade?" he asked. "Never mind. Tell me later." He dodged an attack from a kind of Heartless he didn't recognize from past battles.

They managed to dodge most attacks, but these enemies were swift. There was no way around taking some hits. "Damn it!" Akio said, swinging his blade at an enemy. To his complete shock, a powerful current of electricity surrounded his weapon, hitting multiple Heartless and getting rid of the last enemies. "Uh…" What the hell just happened? He stared at the key in his hand. "I think I just used magic?"

Haru looked over. "I really saw that?" he asked. "I thought I was imagining things."

"Nope. I really electrocuted those dumb monsters somehow." Akio carefully swung his blade away from them, testing whether it would happen again; it didn't. "Weird."

"Yeah." Haru carefully looked at Akio. "You're bleeding."

"So are you." Akio shrugged. "Nothing too serious though. We should be fine."

"I don't know what we'd do if they were dangerous anyway. We don't have medical supplies or training." Haru sighed. "There I go, not thinking positive." He laughed.

Akio joined in. "I guess we traded attitudes." He put a hand on Haru's shoulder. "You sure you're okay?" he asked. A flash of green light came from his hand. He immediately retracted it from his arm. "That was weird. Did I hurt you?" he asked, worried.

"No, actually," he said while looking himself over, "I feel a lot better. Look." He held out his arm where there was once a wound. "It's healed."

"What?" Akio asked in confusion. "How did I—?"

"I don't know." Haru shrugged. "But I'm definitely not complaining. Do you think I can heal you? It's a longshot, but…" He put his hand on Akio's shoulder… and nothing happened. "Dang it."

"It's okay," Akio said, pushing Haru's hand gently away. "It doesn't hurt that bad…" Crossing his arms, he began to feel the pain subside. He looked down to find that glowed with the same green aura that came from his hand before; he was healed as well. "Well, that works too."

Haru stared before shaking his head. "I guess magic is real. Who would have thought?"

"Eh, it's whatever." Akio wasn't overly surprised. He'd seen many stranger things lately. How much of a big deal was another?

Encountered many more enemies, each set becoming easier to defeat as they learned the creature's attack patterns. The town was strange; so empty and dark. It was uncomfortable. He had a very disturbing feeling while he looked around. They were surprised when they descended a set of stairs into a lower, wide-open area. A small fountain behind was them near the door that led here. It was beautifully adorned with an intricate butterfly mural and emitted a strange serene feeling. Haru slowly walked over and put a hand to the mosaic.

Akio wheeled around as he heard a noise from behind. He was now face to face with a gigantic Heartless resembling a suit of armor. The limbs and head were separate from the torso. "Haru!" he yelled to his friend, who quickly turned around. Each summoned their Keyblade. "Try to get up the stairs! I'll hold him off; then you can distract him while I come up there too!"

Haru ran at the stairs only to be bounced back by an invisible wall blocking his path. "Do you have a Plan B?" Haru asked in distress.

"Yeah," Akio said. "We fight!" He ran at the enemy, swinging his blade, focusing on the electrical energy from earlier; he willed it to come. It actually worked! His Keyblade caused more damage as it collided, fueled by the power its electrical charge.

Haru joined in combat. This battle wasn't as simple as most previous ones. The new enemy had a unique pattern to learn and was far larger and faster. It was difficult to dodge its assault. Suddenly, a limb fell to the ground and disappeared. "Hey!" Haru yelled. "Try focusing on one limb at a time! They seem separate."

Akio nodded. Focusing on the same areas, the machine was disassembled limb by limb. When it was gone, Akio released a huge breath, leaning against the wall. "Geez, I'm not used to so much movement." He crossed his arms compulsively. Many of his wounds disappeared. He walked over to Haru, placing his hand on his arm. Some of his injuries healed as well. "Huh. Maybe I'm getting the hang of this whole magic thing."

"Good," Haru said. "It might come in handy…. We can use any additional power we can get."

Akio nodded, beginning to walk once more. "Let's go this way. No time to waste. We can't exactly go back to the ship; we'd have to backtrack, and then we'd be wanting go back again, and on and on."

"You're right," Haru said with a sigh. "Sucks though. I'd like to rest, that's for sure."

"Me too," Akio agreed. "But we need to keep moving. We have to figure out what's going on." He turned to Haru. "We have to do more than just find our parents; we also need to try to find out why the Heartless are back, and we have to do our best to stop them."

"Why's that our job?" Haru asked looking concerned. "I mean, we aren't Keyblade Masters like our parents were. We just are starting out. Can't they do it when we find them?"

Akio shook his head in annoyance. "We aren't sure we have that long! If we can figure it out while we are searching anyway, it's better." He paused, not wanting to say that they might not find them at all. He chose a different way of phrasing the thought. "We don't know how long it will take to find them; we could run out of time to stop the Heartless from destroying everything if we don't look for signs. We're traveling anyway. It's not like we have to make extra stops or anything." Why does this feel so personal?

Haru looked skeptical, but he slowly nodded. "That sort of makes sense…"

They resumed walking.

Haru walked behind Akio, watching their backs as best he could. He didn't know what to think about the new addition to the plan, but he supposed it didn't hurt anything if they didn't change their focus; he still felt that it was more important to find their parents first, since they might be able to help them… It was only fair to let Akio have his input.

Haru had noticed a change in Akio; he had couldn't explain it, but he seemed a little happier, slightly more relaxed, and a bit… brighter, was the best word he could think of. He certainly was taking charge now. Haru wasn't going to complain; this way relieved him of complete responsibility.

It was nice seeing this new energy of light in his friend. They were growing close, and it was becoming more miserable to see him suffering constantly. Depression remained even away from the source of his pain. Haru understood to an extent; abuse left deep emotional scars that never completely disappeared: his mom told him that. She was abused as a child; that was why she was so cautious to help Akio and decided it would only make problems worse if she stepped in. Haru disagreed, but since he was the child, he didn't have much of a say on the situation. All he knew was that he needed to help him now.

Akio's mood and energy improvement seemed to make them more powerful. Haru was grateful for that. Things just were getting harder and harder to deal with. He wished that he could help more. Akio deserved a break as much as anyone else. Still, Haru knew he couldn't do more than to learn new things about his Keyblade and any hidden powers that might hold.

They continued through a door that led to an alleyway. There were small canal type areas, not very deep, wide, nor long. One led to an open tunnel in a wall. "That's as good of a place to head to as any. It seems suspicious enough." Haru jumped into the water. It was shallow enough to stand with only their feet and ankles submerged.

Akio paused before following. "I guess the worst that could happen is it is a dead end. Hopefully you're right and it leads to something useful." He headed towards the dark entryway. Haru followed closely behind.

After an area of complete darkness, they entered a strangely lighted cave, partially filled with water. They managed to make it across the cave to dry ground. "Guess it's lucky we know how to swim, huh?" Haru joked.

"Haha, yeah," Akio said, looking across the water. Haru turned as well. There was a strange mural of the sun across the room. It almost seemed like source of the dim glow breaking through the darkness. Akio shrugged. "This place reminds me of the Secret Place."

Haru nodded. "Has a similar atmosphere; peaceful." He stared at the mural. It was almost hypnotic.

Suddenly he heard a sound behind him; he turned quickly to see Akio with his Keyblade drawn to face the mysterious man from before: Origin. "How did you weaklings end up here?" Origin asked in an aggravated tone. "One would have thought those Heartless could have easily handled the likes of children: and even if those small fry weren't enough, the Guard Armor should have had no problem dealing with you."

Haru took a defensive stance, ready to attack at a moment's notice, but he hesitated, hoping to draw more information out of the sinister presence. "We're tougher than we look!" he responded, not knowing what else to say.

Akio glowered at the enemy. "What do you know about our parents?"

Origin raised an eyebrow, staring back ominously. Akio didn't flinch. "Why should I tell you? It won't matter; you'll join them soon anyway." He summoned his strange, circular-saw like weapon, throwing it at the pair. Akio jumped, knocking the blade to the ground. "Hm… I find it difficult to believe that such inexperienced fighters would be attuned to my attacks. Fascinating. The Masters were easy prey, yet I can't seem to get a bearing on you." His weapon returned to him. He lunged towards Akio, who jumped out of the way and attempted to get a hit in while he was vulnerable. Although he only grazed him, Origin jumped back in surprise. "You managed to hit me!" he said in shock. "But— nothing can harm me! That's impossible!" He glared. "That Keyblade!"

"Uh, you're just insane," Akio said as he struck at the man once more, the attack charged with electricity. It stunned him for a moment. Haru tried to take advantage; but his attack went through as if nothing were there. Origin quickly recovered, making a hasty escape through a dark portal, which disappeared behind him.

Akio sprinted towards the area, but Haru grabbed his arm. "He's gone," Haru began. "But you shouldn't run after him on your own! You could have been ambushed or something!"

Akio shrugged. "Sorry. I didn't think about it; I didn't want him to get away." He sighed. "What do you think he meant by 'nothing can harm me?' I mean, we obviously hit him, right?"

"Actually, I never did," Haru said shaking his head. "I guess we have to find him and try to get more information; but where could he have gone? Is there any way we can know?"

"I would have sworn you hit him… but I don't know," Akio admitted. He examined the mural again from the water's edge. He waded into the pond. "I'm going to take a closer look at this thing."

Haru followed. "Be careful. Something could jump out of it or something."

"What happened to you being an optimist? Seriously." Akio laughed. "In your words, 'you need to relax'!"

Haru laughed too. "You're right. It's just weird how you relax as more happens and I get more nervous."

Akio shrugged. "I guess it's just how people react to things differently." Walking up the the mural, he placed his hand on it. The glow slowly subsided, exposing another keyhole. "This is all so bizarre," Akio said.

Haru nodded in agreement. He raised his Keyblade to the opening. Akio joined, and a beam of light came from each of the weapons. The clicking sound of a lock could be heard once again. "We'd better go back to the ship and see if the path's open," he suggested dully. "The sooner we get going the better, right?"

"Yeah," Akio agreed and began walking towards the exit of the cavern. Haru followed slowly, turning back to look at the wall. The mural of the sun now depicted the moon instead. He wondered what the future might hold. Who exactly is Origin? He continued to follow Akio. Why is this happening now? He sighed and ran to catch up. He didn't want to fall behind and leave his friend to face danger that might lurk beyond the corner alone. Because if nothing else, Haru knew one thing; he was glad to have Akio as a friend, and he wasn't going to lose him if there was anything he could do about it.

The danger that lurks within

Is the most powerful we face.

And the bravery we hold

Can backfire in an instant.

I want to understand

But I'll never understand.