Chapter 10: Times of Wonder…& Cookies!!

Patrick's P.O.V

Pulling. My body felt like it was being stretched. Then it stopped. I looked around seeing nothing but darkness. I felt water beneath my feet. I walked forward.

"Anyone there? Heeeeeeeeeeeeeellllllllooooooooo." My voice echoed in the darkness. I felt like a fool. It was obvious that nothing could exist in this. "Why does the worst case scenario have to happen to me?" I whispered.

"I am here." I jumped as a new voice, a woman's, pierced through the darkness. "How may I be of service?"

"Service?" I questioned as the darkness changed to a twilit scene. I was standing on water, & there wasn't even a piece of land in my view.

"Yes," The voice said. "You called me." I gasped as a beautiful woman appeared in front of me about four or five feet away. She was about level with me, her blue hair rain down to her shoulders. The fabric she wore looked as if it was made of water, though it was turquoise. She walked towards me until she was about half a foot away from me. Her movements were graceful, like she was water itself.

"I did?" I managed to gasp the word out, unaware that I had been holding my breath.

"Yes, you have." She said placing a hand on my cheek. I gasped. Her hands were cold. "When you fought the Behemoth fiends, you called upon my power." She placed her other hand on my shoulder & embraced me. "I'm thankful though. I finally am able to be bound to a kind spirit."

"What do you mean?" I had gotten used to the cold touch of her skin but I still shivered. "Bound to me? I don't understand." She let go & looked at me. I could see that her eyes were red…she'd been crying. I looked down to see that where her head had touched was a wet spot.

"Our spirits will be bound together." She said. "My power will belong to you. Please," She looked down. "Do not disappoint me as others have."

"I won't" I shook my head. "After all, it's bad karma to make a girl cry. You have my word. I will not abuse the power I receive from you." She embraced me again, after several seconds she looked at me & kissed me. Needless to say, I was shocked. Especially that after she did, she took a step back & disappeared! Small little blues sparkles replaced her & they hovered towards me.

"I trust you, Patrick." I heard her voice in the air. "My name is Merian." The stars hovered around my body eventually seeping into me. I felt…revitalized. The water ran over me. I lifted off of me & levitated it into my hand. It wrapped around my body yet again, making an armor shape around my body. I felt the water become denser, more solid. I looked at my hand & closed it into a fist.

"Thank you, Merian." I looked up at the sky, closed my eyes…& fell back into the water. I opened my eyes to find I was in my room.

"It's three fifteen…ugh!" I said getting up & looking out the window to the moonlit grounds of Eternia. "What a weird dream…" I sighed remembering the face of that girl. "Merian…"

"Yes?" I heard an all too familiar voice. "You called?"

"Merian! Where are you?" I looked around frantically.

"I'm part of your spirit now, remember?" She said in her graceful voice.

"So, I can't see you then?" I sighed. "That sucks."

"No, you can see me." She said. "Go to a mirror." I did as she said & I noticed my reflection change from an image of me to the image of her.

"Merian…" I said feeling a smile spread over my face.

"Yes?" She asked, a curious look on her face. "What would you like, Patrick?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to know that it wasn't a dream" I said feeling relieved that I wasn't having weirder dreams than the ones I already had.

"You should go back to sleep." She said smiling. "Don't worry. I'll still be here in the morning." I sighed & very reluctantly, went back to bed.

Slate's P.O.V

The male shouted as I grabbed him, pulling him out of the way of a car that was going way to fast down the road.

"Y-you saved my life!" He exclaimed.

"It wasn't a big deal." I said walking away.

"Is there anyway I can repay you?" The man said. "You saved my life, let me at least return the favour by doing something." He grabbed my shoulder to stop me. "I'll do anything I can to repay you. Honest." He said, pulling out a wallet.

"Anything?" I asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Yes." He gulped, probably regretting his decision.

"Okay then." I looked around for anyone nearby. "There is one thing I need."

"What?" He said, looking at my hand as I moved it around in my pocket. I took out my hand & placed it on his mouth. "What are you…" He started as he passed out. I picked him up & dragged him into the nearby alley. I made a small cut on should & looked at the blood as it slowly started to seep from the cut. I made the cut wider & slightly deeper so more blood would come out & I began to feed. After a couple of seconds I stopped. I listened for his heartbeat. It was there, faint, but there. I took out my cell phone & dialled 911.

"Hello. I've found someone in the alley. He's lost a lot of blood, please send an ambulance! He's in an alley on East Avenue, near the Antique store!" I cried out into the phone. As the person on the other end confirmed that an ambulance was on the way I hung up & left. I wondered if Raziel hunted Humans like I did. Though, that guy wasn't particularly tasty like the one before him. He may have been a vegetarian.

Zephyran's P.O.V

I entered the sparring arena looking for my brother shortly after my little 'incident'. He was there talking to Sora, Cloud, & Squall.

"You mean Leon." Razphyxen said. "He doesn't go by Squall remember?"

"I don't care." I told my Nobody. "I'll call him what I want. Besides, it's not like he can read minds."

"Hey Zeph!" I heard Squall call to me. "It's been a while."

"Yeah." I said walking over to them. "Last time we saw each other was…"

"A couple of days before we took down Organization XIII." Lloyd finished for me. I nodded, remembering the battle.

"Hey, guys!" I heard a voice behind me. "What's up?" The voice was Yuffie Kisaragi.

"Hey Yuffie." I said. "Not much, just talking about the past."

"Look what I got." She pulled out a bag full of golden circles. "Would you like them?"

"Oatmeal cookies!" I shouted. "Awesome!"

"Here ya go!" She said as she threw me the bag. "I made them from scratch."

"Thanks Yuffie!" I gave her a hug. "You're the best!" I took a bite out of one of the cookies & shivered with satisfaction as I let the taste of the chocolate run over my tongue. I watched Yuffie leave the arena as I snacked upon another cookie.

"Dad! Where are you?" I heard a girl yell as a black hedgehog sped through the arena. "If I don't find you soon you're gonna regret it Dad!" A girl hedgehog with a mix of pink & black quills came through. "Hey, have any of you seen a black hedgehog with blue & silver streaks, with red lines in the upper corners of his eyes?" I nodded over to the weapon cabinet. She nodded back. "Fine, you're gonna regret this Dad!" She started to silently walk over to the cabinet.

"Scale of one to ten…" I looked at the half eaten cookie. "I'd say it's a seven point five. Maybe an eight." I took another bite of the chocolaty oatmeal goodness. "Yep, definitely eight." BOOM! A large explosion happened behind us & we saw the afore mentioned hedgehog running away from the other.

"Now, now Riana" The black hedgehog stopped running & was waving his hands up in front of his face. "Calm down."

"You promised to be at my class!" She shouted as a beam of light shout from her hand, turning the weapon cabinet a pile of rubble. The black hedgehog, though covered in dust, was seemingly unharmed. "I'm gonna tell Mom on you!" She turned around & started to walk towards us & the door.

"Wait, Riana!" He said grabbing her arm. "I'm sorry I missed your class alright?" She sniffed. "Something came up. You know I can be busy sometimes during the day." She turned around to look at him. "I promise. I'll show up tomorrow." She nodded.

"Hey, Dad…" She said her frown turning to a mischievous grin. "Wanna have a quick sparring match? After all, we're in the arena."

"I really don't want to fight against you." He said shaking his head.

"Aww, what's the matter?" She taunted. "Is the great Dimethos afraid of a girl?"

"You wish…" He said getting into a fighting stance. "Hey, you guys over there…" Dimethos looked over to us. "You are welcome to join in & I would recommend it cause soon…" He smiled. "There won't be a safe spot in this arena."

"Alright, gimme a sec." I pocketed the bag of cookies, & felt my Keyblades appear in my hands. I looked over to see Cloud, Squall, Sora, & Lloyd prepared to fight. "I hope this will last more than a couple of minutes." I laughed, I noticed that Lloyd enjoyed that little comment. The door opened & I noticed that a black haired Human walk in carrying a Dual-Edged Blade.

"Hey guys, mind if I join?" He asked, twirling the blade in his fingers as he advanced. "My name is Patrick."

"Not at all." I heard Dimethos say. "Just as long as you don't mind losing." Patrick chuckled.

Zephyren's P.O.V

I heard from Kratos that Cloud & Squall were in the sparring arena. I needed to meet up with them to see if they could help prepare me for the next stage. I had a feeling that I was going to be asked to fight in the next match regardless of whether or not it was a strategic match. But I was unprepared for what I saw when I entered the room. Everything was in disarray. Everyone was fighting each other all at once, I noticed that the people fighting were: Dimethos the Hedgehog, Riana the Hedgehog, Squall Leonhart, Cloud Strife, Sora, Lloyd Raideka, Zephyran Raideka, Patrick Flaherty, Tifa Lockheart & Zell Dincht. I didn't hesitate to join in myself, this would be a great way to get stronger & prepare myself for the Instructor match ahead. I ran in wielding my blades, going for Dimethos first, who was blasting at Tifa with Chaos Energy. He quickly turned & kicked me in the ribs.

"You are too slow." He said warping to where I landed, & grabbing me by the neck. I winced as the fabric pulled at the stitches that needed to be removed. "Ahh, the Prince." He lifted me up so I was standing. "I see you're doing well…" He looked at me as I adjusted the shirt so it wouldn't pull the stitches. "Here, let me fix that." I kneeled down & let him touch my arm. His hands glowed green & I felt a surge of relief as he removed the stitches & healed the wound.

"Thanks, Dimethos…" I said rubbing my arm. "That's a lot better. Now, where were we?" I picked up the blades. "Hiya!" I swung the blade at him, watching him jump out of the way. I jumped to the left as a beam of energy shot at me from the right where Riana was standing.

"Hey Zephyren! Are you actually gonna fight this time?" She taunted. "Or are you going to run away since I'm a girl?"

"You're not worth my time Riana." I shouted back to her & jumped at Lloyd as he fought against Zephyran.

"Oh yeah?" I heard her whisper in my ear before I was thrown into Cloud. "Then I guess I'll just attack you till I am!" She jumped as Patrick swung at her. I rolled as Cloud swung at me.

"Gravira!" I heard Sora shout, finding that immediately after that I couldn't move my legs! I blocked a slash from cloud & then another coming from Sora behind me. I ducked another strike from Cloud & felt the vibration of the two swords clashing just centimetres above my head.

"Esuna!" I cried, feeling my legs go back to normal. I rolled out of the way as Sora attacked again. I looked up to find the Raideka twins advancing on me. Great. Two Dual-Wielding Keyblade Masters advancing on me. I decided to make the first move & launched a fireball loaded with electricity at them. Lloyd slashed it sideways but received the shock from the electricity, & dropped one of his Keyblades. That momentarily stopped him at least. Now for Zephyran, who was now changing into a black creature. His Keyblades had disappeared as he charged forward on all fours, moving blindingly fast. He ran behind me & I barely had time to jump away from him as he swiped at me. I had to get him to fight someone else, I couldn't handle something like this alone. Luckily for me, Squall jumped at us with light enveloping & extending his gunblade. I ducked & resisted the urge to cheer as I heard the blade hit Zephyran square in the chest, & knock him against the wall. I rolled backwards & steadied myself as I looked at Squall.

"Thanks for that, Squall!" I smiled & glanced back over to Zephyran, who was back to normal & shaking his head. "You helped me out, though I don't think that was intentional."

"You're right…" He said, getting into a ready stance. "I was aiming for you!" He charged dragging the gunblade & letting sparks fly. This match had just begun!

CHAPTER 10 END!