Chapter 10: What a Friend Is

~/~

I would've thought that I was smart enough to know what I wanted by this point. Control, normalcy, stability, freedom—I thought I had figured it out. I thought I knew what I wanted, what I was searching for by following Master Xehanort's request. I thought I knew my goal: get control over my darkness, and win the Mark of Mastery.

It turned out that I didn't know myself as well as I thought I did. The thing I'd really been missing this whole time was them.

But by the time I understood that, it was too late: I had no way of knowing that my actions were only going to drive me further away from the two friends who I missed more than anything.

~/~

The portal closed behind me with a snap, but I didn't hear it over the hum of my Keyblade Glider and the sound of air—or whatever it was that the Lanes Between held—rushing past my helmet.

Dodging open portals came as second nature to me as I watched the lights of further-off worlds speed by.

Nothing but stars and the portals were anywhere in sight. In the moment, it felt as though I could continue on forever, just flying through the Lanes, streaks of lights flashing by, too fast to be caught by anyone or anything. In the moment, I felt removed, totally, from my life, even from the guilt which continued to churn in my stomach.

Nothing seemed able to touch me. I had space to breathe, space to think. It was peaceful, and yet I knew that it was only superficial. I felt untouchable, but it was only a matter of time before everything caught up with me.

My responsibilities wouldn't stay away forever. They never did. Not long before the Mark of Mastery, I would've been pleased at the thought. It had always been pleasing to know that I was trusted with duties. Now, I just wondered if Master had made a huge mistake in taking me in, all those years ago. Wasn't I just doomed to fail at the tasks he gave me, hadn't I always been?

I shook the thought into the back of my mind. I would become strong enough to succeed. I had to.

I had let my mind go blank as I effortlessly navigated the Lanes, trying not to think about anything beyond what was directly in front of me, tried not to think about the future or how I would find Vanitas, or what I would do when I found him, or if I'd be able to defeat him with my darkness still so out of control. With every breath, I attempted to push dark fears further away, just like Master had always taught.

It succeeded, until I became aware of a clear stretch of space that loomed in front of me, one that was mostly devoid of portals and anything else—except there was something else in the Lanes. I'd never seen anything but portals and lights in the Lanes Between before, but it was hypothetically possible—I was intrigued until I was able to make out the things better: a colorful, seething mass of… blobs?

I unconsciously slowed my Glider, and peered at the crowd of blue, yellow, and orange… things. No, that wasn't right. As I got closer, I realized that they were Unversed.

If I was seeing right, it looked like the whole group was made up of the same type of Unversed, all with the same body shape, but they varied in color. If I had to guess, I'd say they looked like fat jellyfish, and they all had the same, black, crooked heart shape across their tops, leaving me no doubt that they were Unversed.

There were Unversed, even all the way out here? This was getting ridiculous.

While I couldn't use my Keyblade when it was transformed into my Glider, the rounded edges that protected my feet worked well enough as a weapon, and I could still use magic, so I fired my thrusters and flew towards the Unversed, adrenaline firing through me and tightening my muscles in preparation.

I felt my Glider slam into and through the first jellyfish, which was a lighter blue and dissipated in a flash of light. Then I flew through another, and another, scattering those that I didn't get a direct hit on, all so clustered together that just flying around the edge of the group let me slam through Unversed after Unversed.

I turned to again speed through the group, only to find one of the Unversed, glowing ominously, drifting above the rest and just high enough to clear my handlebars. Burning with the fiery magic, the Unversed clipped my shoulder before I could dodge.

The hit knocked my hand off the steering grips, and I spun crazily, feeling another Unversed slam into the same shoulder, and another grazed my helmet, jerking my head hard enough that I felt my neck crack. I managed to right myself, only to find that the attacks had been powerful enough to fracture the armor around my shoulder, even knocking off a plate near my shoulder blade.

I repressed a burst of fear in my chest, and refocused on the task. Though their attacks were strong, the glowing signaled that they were powering up their magic, so all I had to do was keep an eye on them and avoid the ones that were powered up. That was all. Easy, right?

No. I felt two, both blazing with ice magic, swarm my Glider, and I felt myself forced sideways, straight into another Unversed which rushed at my outstretched arm. Again, I was forced to let go of the handlebars, but this time managed to keep my Glider steady.

I was surrounded by the Unversed now, all around me, many glowing but mostly just floating, gently flowing through the space unconcernedly, countless enemies crowding closer and closer around me.

So I gritted my teeth, and summoned Ice magic to surround me, and sped further into the mass. The blue-colored jellyfish seemed unbothered by the ice, but the other two colors dissipated easier when they impacted on the Ice coating my Glider. It seemed that each was linked with a different element, and were vulnerable to the others. The knowledge bolstered me only until the magic faded and I had to summon more to force the horde back, and realized that my magic wasn't going to last forever.

And it certainly seemed that the Unversed colony was.

But I kept going, slashing through jellyfish after jellyfish, forcing more magic to appear whenever the surges would die down, until I could finally see glimpses of the dark Lanes between the mass of Unversed.

I had gained a few more dents in my Glider and cracks in my Armor by that point, but I refused to stop or try and summon a portal to flee. Unversed shouldn't have been able to get through the already-open portals in the Lanes, because they lacked Keyblades or the advanced magic necessary, but then again I wasn't sure how they got into the Lanes in the first place, so I couldn't be sure. I had to take them all out to make sure they wouldn't attack anyone else—my thoughts flew to Ven, and fear that he probably wouldn't be able to defeat these kinds of enemies in these numbers filled me, not when I knew Master had barely started teaching him to use his Glider. If he'd run into this group while he was traveling, I wasn't sure if he'd have been able to defeat them.

But I could, I thought. I hoped.

I had thinned their ranks considerably before I realized that my magic was nearly gone, but I managed to keep the attacks up until I had to start searching for the remaining Unversed. My passes had driven the few left in different directions, but that just made it easier to get direct hits, with specific targets instead of masses of them to attack.

It was with relief that I slammed into the last Unversed, feeling magic drain as though it constricted my lungs.

My Glider responded sluggishly as I turned, searching for an open portal. It would be easier if I didn't have to summon one, given that I wasn't sure I could after using so much magic.

But before I could find any, my stomach dropped into my shoes as I felt something huge move behind me; overhead, more accurately.

I kept my Glider shooting forward, but the tan something above me was faster. I tilted my head back as it drew ahead of me, sucking in my breath sharply in shock, though I couldn't make out many details, besides the shaded dark underside of something bigger than the castle of the Land of Departure. It was circular, other than two wings on both sides and a broad, short tail.

When my Glider shuddered beneath me, I first thought it was just my waning magic power. I glanced down, trying to steady the handlebars, but then I started to tilt: nose downwards, like something had seized the thrusters of the Glider and was lifting. I gasped, tightening my grip as my Glider flipped, drawn up towards the strange mass. Though I could barely orient myself, I saw vaguely that the thing above me had two, blue-white streams of light shooting from two tapered points near the end. A spacecraft?

This didn't make sense. But I couldn't think about it as my Glider continued to be pulled upwards, twisting me into a spin towards the craft. Even if I could've escaped, I had a bad feeling it was already too late: if I'd stumbled across people from another world, who'd found a way into the Lanes Between, I was already in over my head.

An unseen hatch opened above me, confirming my suspicions. This was a spacecraft.

As my Glider slowly righted itself, I mused that it wasn't entirely impossible that a denizen of a world could get to the Lanes Between—though, to them, it would be nothing more than the endless cosmos. Without a Keyblade or power over darkness, they couldn't portal to other worlds.

But whoever it was who had captured me with their tractor beam probably wasn't going to be someone I wanted to meet, not when I'd have to make up a lie about who I was and what I was doing.

What I really wanted to do was summon a portal and retreat to another world, but the burn in my lungs reminded me that I had too little magic to cast so much as a fireball. Instead, I prepared to fight as the hatch closed beneath my feet, and my Glider shuddered, released from the beam. I realized, dismally, that my Glider—and my Armor—weren't in the best condition after the fight. It would take a while, and a concentrated bit of magic to restore the cracks across my arm and shoulder, and my Glider was running low on magic power for the thrusters too. I couldn't fight like this.

I felt artificial gravity turn on in the bare, clean tube I'd been brought to, and my Glider dropped dramatically close to the floor. A circle of light which bordered the ceiling illuminated the metal-plated room, and a dark outline showed a closed door, one without a handle.

Wonderful. I had no way out, no way to know if my "hosts" were enemies or not, and no means of using my Glider or Armor for much longer.

There was nothing else for it, then. I banished my Armor to nothingness and stepped off my Glider, feeling it transform in a flash of light back into Earthshaker, which remained in my palm. I would have to face whoever came to get me with my Keyblade.

But, to my surprise, no one did. Instead, after a moment, a hatch next to the door opened to reveal a small blaster, which unfolded itself from the wall and shined a green laser light on my chest. I froze. The blaster didn't move, didn't shoot.

I swallowed, as the moment stretched, longer and longer. Was it motion activated? Something told me it was.

But I wasn't gaining anything just by staring at the alien-looking technology.

I took a tentative step to the left.

The blaster turned with me.

I stepped back to my right, and it mirrored me.

Slowly, warily, I raised Earthshaker.

Immediately, the blaster powered up and started to glow. I tried to move my Keyblade high enough to block, but it was too late.

With a strange ptt noise, a green bolt flew towards my chest.

I was unconscious before I even realized it had hit me.

I came to a vague consciousness what felt like a good hour later. There was a spot on my chest that throbbed, presumably where I'd been hit, but other than that, I was strangely comfortable. Whatever I was lying on was flat but slightly soft, and the air around me felt cool and clean.

The only troubling thing was that my limbs felt heavy, and when I tried to move, only my fingers responded, spasming weakly. The guns must have temporarily paralyzed me as well as knocking me out.

Several moments passed. I knew trying to move again before the paralysis wore off would just hurt more, so I stayed still, ears straining. If I could figure out what was around me…

An electronic whir interrupted my thoughts. It sounded muffled, and seemed to be coming from below me. The whir rose until it sounded about level with where I lay.

Though I didn't try to open my eyes, I felt at least two gazes rest on me appraisingly. I wanted to move and meet whoever it was, but my arms still felt like dead weights, and I decided to wait.

Then a raspy, slightly feminine voice spoke from where the whirring had stopped.

"Is he the one?"

She couldn't have been more than five feet away, though her voice sounded like it came through water, or glass.

Another voice, this one loud, deep, and slightly brutish, responded. "Yes, Grand Councilwoman." His voice came from higher off the ground than hers had. Taller? "I've confined him until we can determine what he is and which quadrant he's from."

A flash of surprise ran through me. What I am? There was no doubt they were speaking about me. Then the inhabitants of the ship aren't human. It wasn't unheard of. Every world was different.

"Keep me informed." The Grand Councilwoman (whoever she was) said curtly.

"Yes, ma'am." The other voice replied, then the whir began again.

This time, the mechanical sound went downward, before falling into still silence again.

I managed to pry my eyes open not long after that.

Gray metal panels formed a roof over me, rectangles overlapping in a rather slapdash manner, lit by a strange green light that came from my right.

As feeling came back into my arms and legs, I looked around the room. It was rectangular, and sturdy-looking. A green tinted glass wall blocked the only way out, which I assumed served as the door. There were no windows or decorations, just the thickly-paneled walls and ceiling. I managed to sit up, rubbing my chest, and found I was on a plain, white sheet that was draped over a slab of a bed.

In other words, I was in a cell.

Great.

My hopes of sorting things out with whoever had captured me decreased.

I shook my head to get rid of lingering fogginess, then stood. Outside the glass, I saw that the opposite wall contained row after row of cells just like mine, set into the wall. Most all were dark, but a couple were lit, as though occupied. I saw a moving metal platform glide down a row near the floor, carrying a creature about my height, but wearing a dark uniform, and with limbs as skinny as snakes. A guard.

I moved to the glass, looking down at the floor below me, hoping to catch a glimpse of this "High Councilwoman", hoping to be able to explain myself and get out of there.

Instead, a surprised shout made it through the glass, and I saw a small group of Unversed swarming across the floor, which was a good sixty meters below me.

There were two other, black-uniformed figures on the floor, both backing away slowly from the Unversed. One, which was easily two times as tall as me, shouted in a familiar, deep voice. "Take cover! Leave it to me to handle these fiends."

The shorter, who I guessed was the Grand Councilwoman, turned around and headed for the giant metal door to my right.

The huge guard held a yellow blaster like the one which had knocked me out, and had it pointed at the nearest Flood. "Whatever you are, you're under arrest…" The Unversed continued swarming around, ignoring him. "…Eventually!" He finished, then turned and ran after the other alien.

I scowled at the blue figures below me. Was there anywhere they hadn't reached? I saw the only other guard in the room sprint for the door, and the metal locked into place behind him, trapping the Unversed in. And me, I thought, scowling deeper. They weren't going to let me out of this cell any time soon.

I'd just have to get myself out. It might make me look like a fugitive, but I wasn't going to let Unversed run rampant.

I summoned Earthshaker and stepped away from the door. I brought my Keyblade up, and felt my magic, still depleted from my fight with the jellyfish Unversed, fizzle. It gathered at the tip of my blade, and then shot in a white beam against the glass. The door slid into the ceiling with a slight hiss.

Though there were only six floors to the ground, it seemed like a long way down. Unfortunately, none of the semicircle platforms which had ferried the guards around were anywhere in the vicinity, so I gritted my teeth and crouched down by the edge. I turned towards the back of my cell and grabbed the ledge.

Before I could dissuade myself, I let go of the ledge and dropped swiftly down to the next level, just able to grab a hold of the tiny metal seam of the bottom of the next-lowest cell.

There was a fanged, six-limbed creature inside. It stared at me in shock through three purple, slit-like eyes.

I didn't pause any longer before repeating the process to the next cell below me, and then the next. My fingers burned and my head throbbed at that point, so I glanced down, regretting it immediately, to see I only had two more cells before the bottom. Even though it wasn't that high, my stomach flipped uncomfortably.

I released a breath, then turned and shoved off the ledge. The ground rushed up at me, but I bent my knees and as soon as my feet made contact, rolled across my shoulder to a standing position.

With no time to get my breath back, I spun to find that all of the Unversed were congregating around the door, scratching and trying to find a way through. I knew that if they couldn't, they would turn to the few occupied cells to attack the prisoners.

I summoned my Keyblade again, and ran forward. "Looking for a fight?"

The nearest Bruiser turned to look at me, and its red eyes glowed eagerly.

"I'm right here."

With no magic, and the lingering effects of the blaster's hit still running through my veins, I expected that I would have a difficult time against the various Bruisers, Scrappers, and Floods scratching at the door.

And I would've been right, were it not for the fact that Bruisers evidently don't find metal as a large deterrent when they put their mind to getting through it.

I was halfway through the group, the Floods having sacrificed themselves while the larger Scrappers attacked the walls with their claws and the Bruisers lumbered around, before I heard a great crunching sound, and looked over to see a Bruiser-sized hole in the door, near the wall where the door was weakest. One of the biggest Unversed had already disappeared through it, and I saw several Scrappers slip through the hole after it. I tried to stop the next Flood that went for the exit, but it had sunk into the ground and zoomed away before I could attack.

But that still left one Bruiser and five slinking Scrappers to deal with.

I started with the Scrappers, knocking one into the nearest wall and setting another aflame with little difficulty. Two rushed me at once, and I ducked back, then slammed them into each other with deft strikes. The one I'd thrown into the wall returned with a gleam of claws, and I easily speared it, though my breath was starting to come in swift patches, and my chest still hurt from the blaster.

The one remaining Scrapper was hiding behind the Bruiser, as I expected, and I had to force the bigger Unversed back with a rush of air summoned with the little magic power I'd regained, before I could dissipate the last of the medium-sized creatures.

Only the Bruiser remained in sight, and it regained its feet just as I turned to face it.

When it did nothing for a long moment, just sway dreamily, big fists held out to its sides, I flicked my Keyblade up in a challenge. "I don't have all day."

In compliance, the Bruiser leapt towards me, landing with the familiar magic shockwave that I jumped over, and attacked twice at its exposed belly before stepping back to avoid the meaty fists of the Unversed.

The Bruiser took a few, hurried steps closer, but I dodged at a diagonal and swiped through its belly as I passed, stumbling the big creature. Two more swift attacks, and the Unversed scattered into nothingness.

No other Unversed rose to challenge me, and the rest of the group had disappeared down the darkly lighted corridor, leaving me alone in the green-lit cell block. Well, alone other than the few shocked, gaping prisoners in the cells, but I didn't give them much thought.

Now I just have to find those other Unversed and get out of here, I thought, and turned towards the giant metal door. Before I could make a move to leave, however, a rough voice interrupted me.

"Very impressive display," There was a thick, four-limbed alien in the cell to my right. He was decked in the gray striped prisoner outfit, and had four yellow eyes and a large mouth.

I didn't answer, and looked away from him. It would be best not to get mixed up with any of the other prisoners. I peered through the break in the door, seeing only an empty metal hallway, and started walking, reflecting that now I would have to wait even longer before I would have enough magic to summon a portal.

"Wait! You help?" The muffled voice now sounded frantic. I still didn't stop.

"I—I have been imprisoned on ridiculous charges!"

Despite every common sense I had, I halted, just long enough to say, "Is that so?"

"I am but innocent scientist," The alien jumped at the opportunity, and he sounded sincere. "Who happened to create galaxy's most destructi—aha, uh… constructive species of all times." His fumble didn't exactly inspire confidence in me, but I looked over my shoulder at him anyway. "Why, my experiment could annihilate creatures you fought so hard!"

That caught my attention. If there was a species here that could take care of the Unversed, then I wouldn't feel bad leaving to continue searching for Vanitas.

When I didn't say anything else, the scientist continued. "He is bulletproof, fireproof, and can think faster than supercomputer. He can see in the dark and move objects 3,000 times his rather diminutive size."

Sounds dangerous, I thought, but also impressive. A creature like that might stand a chance against the Unversed.

"And for reasons preposterous," the alien continued, sounding angry, "the Federation Council fears him. They take him away from me, and throw me here, in small, stuffy, rather badly-lit cell."

I spoke up before my mind sorted through his words. "Because he's so powerful?"

The scientist turned his angry gaze on me. "Exactly. Everyone always gets antsy in pantses when somebody more powerful is in the neighborhood." He looked intently at me, and his eyebrows went up, in hope. "You understand, perhaps?"

I unconsciously gripped Earthshaker's hilt until my fingers ached. People becoming nervous, untrusting, when a new power challenged theirs? It wasn't just a personal experience. I could think of countless examples from Master's history lessons. Of course, many times, the suspicion against new power was warranted, but there was a part of me that whispered that being powerful didn't automatically brand someone as corrupted.

The scientist took my silence as a yes. "We must rescue him, or he'll be banished to far reaches of space, to die alone. He has committed no crime."

I stared wordlessly at the scientist for several seconds. It would be nice to know that there would be someone here who could take care of Unversed so I could get on with my hunt for Vanitas. I may not trust this scientist yet, but his words made sense, and something in my gut told me he was telling the truth, at least mostly. I could always just see what this creature that the alien described was like, and whether it could help defeat the Unversed… And I needed someone who could find their way around the ship, since I had no idea where to find the other Unversed.

"I'll help you. Take me to him."

I strode forward, and before the alien could say a word, unlocked his cell with the last of my magic power.

The large, dark alien clambered out, taking deep breaths. He looked at me out of the corner of his eyes.

"Experiment 626," he said, with no other explanation. When I raised my eyebrow, he continued.

"Is name I give to adorable, fluffy creature you are helping for to rescue. And I," he said, raising one glove-like hand to his chest. "Am genius scientist who created him, Dr. Jumba Jookiba."

"I'm Terra," I said, hoping I wasn't going to regret helping him.

"Pleasure is all ours." Jumba said, and gestured out the door. "626 is this way. We must hurry!"

The alien doctor wasn't actually that fast, but as I would only advance through the hallways once sure there were no guards nearby, his slowness didn't hamper us too much. Thankfully, it seemed that the Unversed had driven most of the occupants of the ship away from the cell bay, which meant we had a straight shot to the room where Jumba said 626 was being held.

Or, a mostly straight shot through dark curving corridors, and more hatches and sharp turns than I could count. Without the doctor with me, I would have been hopelessly lost in the abundance of doors and side halls, all filled with the flashing lights and eye-catching displays of the alien technology that formed the ship. Thankfully, between Jumba's knowledge of the technology and my Keyblade, we were able to make it through all of the doors. While all of the hallways were made of the same, dark metal, most of the rooms we passed were startlingly different from each other. We went through a room lit with reddish-purple light, in which the artificial gravity malfunctioned often, according to the doctor, and another full of colorful, giant boxes.

The alien kept up a string of conversation as we walked, even when I tried to shush him when I heard noises nearby, and when I stopped responding in more than one syllable, seemingly content to blather on. It seemed that he'd been in isolation for a long time. I wasn't quite sure how mentally stable he was.

But he got us to the curved hallway several floors below the cell block eventually, where he said 626 was being held. I unlocked the door with Earthshaker, my magic having finally replenished somewhat.

The door slid open to reveal a circular room, lit with the same green light as the prison cells had been. Inside, glass beakers and sealed racks of small, colorful balls lay on metal tables that extended from the pale walls. But in the center of the room, a circular machine was set into the floor, one that gave off a faint hum. And right above it, hovering, was a silver platform with a glass dome extending from the base to contain what could only be Experiment 626.

626 was rather small, only as big as a Flood, with two big, beetle-black eyes. It had a large, blue nose and two slim antennae next to its large ears. It had six arms with sharp claws, and the two it used to stand on were encased in cuffs attached to the bottom of the cage. Like its creator, 626 wore a prisoner jumpsuit, though this one was orange and had yellow upside-down triangles with alien writing decorating the chest and arms.

But the most shocking part of its appearance was the wide, teeth-filled mouth that it bared at the world, shouting gibberish that was muffled through the glass, its pink tongue rolling and saliva dripping.

"Amazing, is he not?" Jumba, like myself, had come to a stop inside the door, taking in the room. But now he stepped forward, and approached the glass cage containing the shouting 626, his voice eager. "Such tremendous power in such itty-bitty package. Truly, he is the one and that's the only—" 626 turned to look at him, his ears perking and eyes lighting with something like intelligence as Jumba got close enough for the experiment to see him. "The mightiest creature in all of galaxy."

The blue prisoner watched Jumba, finally ceasing its howling, and the doctor reached out a four-fingered hand and spun the platform that the cage rested on lazily, so that 626 whirled around in mid-air, wobbling slightly.

"And his only, singular instinct: to destroy everything he touches!" 626 had jumped when his cage began to spin, but then he fell down into a crouch, and watched the room go by until Jumba grabbed it again and brought him to a halt.

"What?" Jumba must've been as crazy as he had sounded back in his cell. His voice had been alight with a strange, manic joy as he spoke, and I switched my gaze to the big scientist, fingers suddenly itching for Earthshaker's familiar weight. Behind Jumba, 626 looked around the room in sudden interest, his fit of craziness fading as Jumba become more energized.

And Jumba did look crazier than his experiment, in that instant. His yellow-rimmed eyes had crinkled with a sinister smile, and he leered at me for a moment before deftly tapping several buttons along the side of the platform, and said, "See?"

Before I could do anything else, the glass around 626 shone brilliant white, then disappeared in a flash, then the cuffs around his feet unlatched.

The creature flinched, and turned to look around him, and I saw that the spines along his spine had risen in delight. He let out a sound like a laugh and then a happy howl.

Then his eyes lasered to me.

I didn't even have time to summon my Keyblade before there was a flash of blue and 626 leapt off the platform and onto me, sharp claws digging into my shoulder and then across my back. I almost yelled in surprise, but recovered and grabbed him. But 626 just twisted out of my grip and twined himself around my arm, then jumped to crawl across my stomach towards my leg.

I turned and tried to snatch at him again, but he was on my back then, and I felt his ears brush across my face as the creature looked over my shoulder to peer at my face, teeth inches from my eye, all the while cackling in his high, almost-human voice.

Just as I reached up to throw him off, the weight of 626 disappeared. I spun, and saw that the creature was clinging to the ceiling, eyes glittering, but there was something else glittering up there with him, clutched in his navy blue claws—something that swung at the end of a simple, brown string.

Something orange and star-shaped.

My Wayfinder.

"When did you—" My hands flew to my pocket, where the charm was—but the pocket was empty, and I stared back up at 626, heart speeding up. "Give that back!" It was just out of my reach as I stretched my hand up.

The charm winked cheerily at me as 626 wiggled it back and forth in front of me, mouth in a grin.

"Too late," Jumba spoke up behind me, and I glanced at him quickly, afraid to look away from the experiment for too long. "Is already marked for destruction."

True to Jumba's words, 626 had turned the charm over, examining, then opened his mouth wide, like he was going to swallow it.

"Stop!" The creature froze briefly, and I felt his eyes move to me, and for whatever reason, it felt like a questioning glance. "My friend gave me that!"

The words drew both me and the alien up short. I hadn't even thought about them—just seeing the little charm in the creature's claws had gotten me frantic, and they'd come out before I had a chance to think about them.

The words were true, though I wouldn't have been willing to admit that, before that moment. Aqua was still my friend—she'd always been. And the Wayfinder was the only thing that I had of her, the only thing that I'd brought with me to remind me of her and Ven.

626 perked up at my words, and he closed his mouth, lowering the Wayfinder to gaze at me confusedly. Then, he looked back down at the charm, tilting it back and forth in his claws.

"'Friend'?" Jumba spoke again, laughing uproariously. "Are you joking? Such concept is totally lost on 626."

The creature in question glanced up at his name, then delicately back at my Wayfinder. For a long moment, he just stood there, upside down on the ceiling, with Aqua's last gift to me in his paws, and my heart refused to slow.

To my surprise, 626 dropped the Wayfinder with a disgusted sound, and turned tail to scramble down the wall, towards the open door. "Go, little one! Destroy the ones who caged you!" Jumba cackled behind me.

But I wasn't watching 626's descent. As soon as the orange charm had clattered to the floor, I rushed for it. I gathered it up in one hand, eyeing it for any scratches or cracks, surprised to find that it was still rather warm. Just like it had been after Aqua had tossed it to me, on that night. Aqua. The bitter memory of the last time I'd seen her suddenly seemed different. Instead of accusing, now I thought she'd looked worried, concerned, like she usually was—like the normal way she usually obsessed over me and Ven, making absolutely sure we were safe. I felt sudden regret pierce me for how I'd shouted at her. At my friends. Because she was—she'd always been, would always be. I had to exhale in relief, and in a sort of twisted humor. Funny… I thought, my breath finally slowing. This whole time I've been telling myself I want to be stronger, more independent… But the second I let my heart do the talking, I find out how little I really know myself. I find out what I've really needed this whole time. Unconsciously, I tightened my fingers on the Wayfinder, until the wire cut into my skin. And how much I miss them.

626 had disappeared out of the open door when I finally looked up.

"That experiment of yours…" I looked over at the scientist, assessing. "You sure that he's only interested in destruction? Maybe, in his heart, he's got the same desires as the rest of us—for something more than just destroying things."

Jumba stopped his eager examination of what I could only assume were the rest of his experiments and gear in lockdown, and he scowled at me. "Impossible! Pshah! He has no actual feelings—only destructive instincts I have carefully chosen for him. You doubt? Perhaps you need another demonstration of my evil geniusness!"

Jumba stuck out a hand to the closest table, and flipped the cover back on one of the racks full of colorful spheres. He chose a yellow one and held it up between his thick fingers, almost tauntingly.

"Hey," I began, but before I could finish the doctor had grabbed a beaker from the same table, and dropped the yellow ball into the clear, runny liquid inside.

I called for Earthshaker and stuffed my Wayfinder in my pocket. I wanted to run, but the sphere had begun to glow, neon, and then brighter and brighter until it was like a tiny sun in the bottom of the beaker.

Jumba covered his eyes and held the glass as far away from him as his arm could reach. "Meet Experiment 221—he should be able to show you just how wrong you are about 626."

And the beaker shattered, but instead of liquid and the ball bouncing back out, out dropped a small, yellow creature, just the same size as 626, but pure gold and with longer antennae. With four, stout limbs, and tube-like ears, the new experiment seemed much less intimidating than 626 had, until it blinked violently blue eyes at me and bared fangs in my direction with a cackle like that of a small child.

"You're going to be arrested anyway, Jumba," I locked eyes with the big alien, and tried to ignore the tightening feeling in my chest. "No need to make things harder for yourself. I doubt the guards will take kindly to you setting another one of your creations loose."

But the scientist just laughed, and 221 shook itself like a dog, then crawled towards me with a grin very similar to its creator's. "If you can't defeat him, I doubt they can—" He laughed, a great belly laugh that rang through the room louder than the growls of 221. Then he gestured at me contemptuously, and 221 sped towards me, lightning crackling between his two antennae.

I dodged out of the way of his rush, letting the creature zoom past me and slam into the table to my left. Several of the beakers fell and broke on the floor, but the puddles left behind just spread like oil across the metal and as soon as 221 touched one, lighting shot through it. I took an unconscious step backwards. Jumba chortled, but I didn't look at him.

221 was no Unversed, but I would defeat him anyway.

With another yowl, he ran again at me, and again I stepped out of the way before he impacted, only to find that he had learned his lesson, and skidded to a stop before he ran into anything, and turned to face me with another cackle.

I looked, and tried to find any traces of the intelligence I'd sensed in 626 in his blue eyes. But the only thing there was maliciousness, and I prepped Earthshaker, adrenaline jumping through my veins faster than electricity zipped between the creature's two antennae.

221 snaked closer to me, but stopped a few feet away and, with a yell like a maniac, arched his back. Lightning snapped across the floor, in a circle around the creature, and then exploded upwards in a dome of pure electrical magic. I stumbled back at the proximity, only to have 221 jump and attach itself to my leg, growling like far-off thunder.

Lightning raced through my body, pain shocking me into stillness for a too-long moment. I was able to shake the experiment off, back into the puddles of liquid across from me, but my leg felt numb, and when I clenched my fist, I felt leftover electricity zap through my fingers and arm.

This time, when 221 pawed forwards, I went to meet him, swinging my Keyblade in an upwards slash that knocked the small creature back in an arc to land against the cage that had held 626. "Come on, little one!" Jumba shouted as 221 shook himself and rose again, and I shot the scientist a glare out of the corner of my eye.

I didn't get a chance to respond before the yellow creature was racing towards me again, so I just raised my weapon in a low block that just missed the alien. It flew past me, landing sprawled only to yowl inhumanly and leap up to headbutt me in the back. Again, electricity shot through my body with a violence unlike any other pain I'd felt, leaving me stumbling.

I forced myself to spin as he dropped away, and leapt for 221 with a double strike that slammed him backwards. I chased after, forcing the pain and irritation away, and managed two more hits before 221 once again sent up a dome of pure lightning, one that forced me back, close to the puddles of electrified liquid near the tables. Jumba laughed louder, but I just readied Earthshaker as the yellow creature returned.

Too much speed behind him sent 221 sprawling when I jumped over his rush, and once again he slammed into the wall, this one actually phasing him, if only for a moment. Then the blue eyes focused back on me, and the experiment attacked with a snarl of challenge.

But I was prepared for his fighting style now, and easily avoided his charge, calling frost to the edge of my blade with my returning magic energy. With the ice coating my blade, the next impact I felt through Earthshaker caused the small creature to howl with pain, and it only took one more strike for the experiment to stumble to a halt.

With that final hit, 221 collapsed, then shuddered. Before my eyes, he started to glow just as brightly as a star, and when the glare faded, all that remained was the small neon sphere he'd begun as.

Jumba hurried over and fell to his knees next to the experiment. "Oh… you'll be all right, little one. I can fix yo—"

He faltered to a stop as I stepped closer to him, and looked up at me with fear in his eyes.

But before I could say anything, there was the clack of claws on the metal nearby, and I looked over to see 626 next to the door, watching Jumba and I intently.

The scientist at my feet rose slightly as he looked at the blue experiment. "What is it? Why have you returned?"

626's only reply was a great babbling yell, and the creature fell to its paws with a sharp glare of warning. Or, it was what I thought was a glare of warning. After the babble, 626 stood back up, eyes still slitted, but his mouth was closed and the spines across his back were lowered. He seemed to be looking at me.

"Maybe he's got something else in mind—other than destruction." I didn't bother to look at Jumba as I walked away from him, drawing closer to 626. I approached slowly, dismissing my Keybalde and trying not to look threatening. Other than a short blink, the creature let me come closer with no reaction.

I ignored Jumba's murmured "Ridiculous."

I stopped about three feet away from the blue alien, and got cautiously to my knees. "I'm Terra," I said, enunciating carefully. In response, 626's eyes widened back to their normal size, and he gazed at me intelligently. After a moment, he opened his mouth and repeated "Ter…ra."

I felt a grin cross my features, and I nodded. "Were you wondering about this?" After only a second's hesitation, I pulled my Wayfinder out and showed it to him again. 626 looked at it with something like longing. "This charm is something from my friend. And that's why I didn't want anything to happen to it. But I can't quite explain what a friend is, unfortunately. When you feel it, you'll know it."

626 blinked, black eyes full of understanding, almost. But Jumba had stepped up behind me as I was talking, and he stomped past me towards his experiment. "Not if I have any say in matter! You are only meant to think about what it is you will destroy next. I will fix what is wrong with you, before more goes wrong."

This time, the eyes that 626 narrowed at Jumba were clearly angry, and the babble he spouted was as violent as any curses.

The alarm blared. Over the loudspeaker, I heard a mechanical voice. "Red alert. Red alert. Two prisoners escaped from the cell bay, and lockdown breached. Security, locate the fugitives immediately. Repeat. Two prisoners escaped from the cell bay—" The message didn't have time to repeat before 626 had turned tail and ran, out the open door.

"Not so fast!" Jumba called after the creature, and jogged after 626.

I wasn't going to stay there and get caught, and it wasn't worth it to try to trap 626 or Jumba. Hopefully the guards would take care of the scientist, and hopefully 626 would be able to get away in time.

Earthshaker appeared in my hand in a flash of light, and I summoned a portal with my replenished magic energy. The blue-black field expanded into being across the room, lightning flashing around the portal with jagged strokes.

It took a bit more concentration than usual, but I summoned my armor and Glider, and sped forward in a burst of my thrusters.

The darkness of the portal consumed me, and then snapped shut behind me, leaving me alone in the stars once again. Just like nothing had happened, like I'd never met any mad scientists or mostly-destructive experiments.

The stars speeding past turned my thoughts to the two friends whose absence suddenly felt gaping. I would find some way to make things right with them, for them. To do otherwise would be to betray Ven and Aqua more than I already had, and there was no way I could stand that.

Just thinking about them brought a stabbing pain. I missed them. Both of them. I may not have parted well with Aqua before, but I knew she only cared about me. I had seen it in her eyes. Her absence, and Ven's, was like a knife in my side.

Without thinking about it, one of my hands left the handlebars of my Glider and went to my pocket—or where my pocket would've been, if I wasn't in my Armor.

I wanted to hold my Wayfinder again. It was a pale imitation of Aqua and Ven, but the simple charm held a magic Aqua had never cast: memories. I couldn't think of the charm without remembering the falling stars, and Ven's laughter, and Aqua's gentle smile. Just for a second, the thought made it feel like they were there with me.

AN: I'm not actually sure how much I like this, but I'm going to post this anyway, because I only have so long left in my summer break and I need to get through as much as I can before it ends...
Same as the past few, this chapter has not been edited by anyone other than me-if you find any errors/contradictions/misspells, please please let me know! I will attempt to fix whatever is off.

Chapter 11 may be up in the next month or so, perhaps sooner if I get my act together. Once I have a better idea, I'll update my profile.

.

Thank you, TerraxAqua, for reviewing so constantly! You are a great encouragement.

And thank YOU for reading this!

.