AN: well now this was mildly entertaining to write xD plans for the next chapter are…in the works, and I'm under the weather again, so bear with me for the moment ;)
And yes, once again I owe much to HeartofFyrwinde in the plot, idea bouncing and sanity departments :P have as many virtual chocolate chips cookies as you like :D
Of Eidolons and Scions
The sun was still setting when they arrived home, bathing everything in a soft, warm light as the first stars prepared to make their appearance. Terra was glad to be back, and ready to fall into bed after something hot to eat. He tried to focus on what Mel had said, rather than on what he had seen when that heartless appeared in the arena. He had a nasty feeling that he was going to have nightmares about it now…
"Ugh!" Ven groaned loudly, stumbling up the stairs at a surprisingly fast pace. "So hungry!"
Mel slid from Leo's back and nearly collapsed, but Leo and Aqua caught her, and Terra shuffled over to see what was wrong. She tried to wave them all away, but she looked quite ill, and Terra started worrying over her. Leo sniffed at her to check she was okay before scuttling off after Ven.
"I think it's just that it's getting late, I've had a long day, and I'm really hungry," she said, hugging her stomach. "I feel sick when I go too long without food, and we did a lot of running around today."
Aqua massaged her temples. "I appreciate Sora's sentiment, but ice cream isn't that filling…"
Terra laughed, despite himself. "Yeah, but it sure tasted good!"
Mel managed a weak smile. "There is such a thing as having too much."
"Try telling Sora that," Terra grinned, and the two women had a good giggle over it.
Terra was about to suggest some left over soup before bed, but was interrupted by Ven and Leo tearing down the staircase, yelling and roaring loudly.
"AQUA!"
"Ven, I'm right here!" she snapped, tired and cranky. He'd have to watch his step around her at this rate.
"We've been broken into!" Ven stated, his eyes wide and troubled. "Someone's been in and smashed everything up!"
Leo whined in agitation, tail slamming against the stone steps and kept motioning towards the double doors, which Terra now saw were hanging from their hinges. He felt a cold prickle of dread on the back of his neck, and exchanged looks with Mel as Aqua ran on after Ven. The atrium was in shambles, as was the great hall; things had been knocked over, several windows were cracked or smashed completely, and there were scorch marks all over the walls and floor. Mel was edging around a section of shattered glass when she doubled over and nearly fell onto the splintered mass of fractured shards. Terra swooped down and managed to catch her before she landed in it, and helped her away from the broken glass before letting her sit down against a wall that had suffered less damage than most.
"What happened?" Ven asked out loud.
"Leo!" Mel said, trying to get up but unable to struggle past Terra's restraining hands as Leo nosed his way over to a broken window. "Don't go near that, you'll get glass in your feet!"
Aqua was staring with concentration around the hall, frowning deeply. Eventually after several tense and silent minutes she said, "Darkness has been here, but it isn't anymore."
Ven and Terra exchanged looks before he said, "We'd better stay in pairs. I'll go check the east wing with Aqua,"
"We'll go check the west wing then. C'mon, Mel." Ven said, helping her to stand up. Leo looked between the two groups before he scuttled off after Mel, surprisingly enough.
The library and the stores rooms were all a mess – things had been thrown around seemingly at random, but in the library there were distinct signs that methodical searching had taken place, and the havoc had been created to cover it up. Books were strewn everywhere, but there was a subtle pattern to the shelves that were knocked over, full of prose and novels, and the bookcases that were still standing, with their contents disgorged on the floor in piles, some of the books lying with covers bent and pages ripped out like confetti and festooned across the room. Aqua flitted around to check the extent of the damage, and Terra went to check the Master's Study next door.
They rarely used this room, mainly because it served as a painful reminder that Master Eraqus wasn't around anymore – it had been left pretty much the way he had kept it. Books were again tipped over and ripped apart, or flung across the room – tables upturned, a chair had been broken and left against the heavy desk that was scratched and scrapped, with the drawers all pulled out and their content smashed against the floor. Terra cringed from the sight and hurried back to Aqua, who looked edgy and close to tears as she lifted a couple of books that were only just salvageable.
"Did you find anything?" she asked, voice tight.
"Just more of this," he admitted, looking around the library. It felt like half his childhood had been spent in this room – it was deeply upsetting to see it in such ruin.
They hurried to the other wing of the castle, stopping to check rooms as they went. Leo's had been severely trashed, with the rack they had made to mount his saddles completely smashed to pieces – the saddles themselves had to be buried in the rubble somewhere. They moved on to the kitchen and common room; food was thrown all over the place, and the common room had been completely vandalised. Cushions slashed, water thrown into the fireplace, and someone had taken sticks of chalk and drawn huge jagged lines through the doodle corner so most of the pictures were more or less ruined.
Terra jumped as they ran into the corridor where the dorms were, but it was only Ven coming to look for them. "You seen the bathroom?" he asked in a somewhat deadpan tone, though his eyes were wide.
While Aqua went to her room, Terra went on ahead to check the bathroom for himself. The floor was slick with a contorted rainbow of shower gel, shampoo and conditioner, and bubble bath; some of the tiles were cracked, and a pane in the door to the shower was warped, which in turn distorted the panel.
Terra's room seemed to have faired pretty well in comparison to everything else he had seen so far; clothes were tipped all over the place, books tossed around, and the woodwork projects he had started on were in a heap under the window. He bent down and picked up a plank he had salvaged from a trip and planned to turn into a plaque – now snapped in half and shedding splinters everywhere. It was a shock to see his room in such disarray, but it could have been far worse. He looked at the slashed pillow dully and wondered if he could find a spare one to sleep with tonight.
Outside in the corridor he found Aqua standing in the doorway to her room, shell-shocked. In her hand she held one of the glass candleholders he had given her for her birthday, broken cleanly into three pieces. She looked at Terra as if she had just been punched in the stomach, but pushed him away when he tried to help.
"Just needs cleaning up," she said shakily, setting the broken glass down. "I don't think anything's been damaged too badly…" the blanket Mel had made had been ripped, and again all the books had been tossed around and the desk cleared off completely onto the floor in one big, sweeping mess.
Ven was hovering by Mel's door, agitated. He looked at Terra, a lost expression he hadn't seen on the boy's face for years, which more than anything else made his heart clench in fear.
"What is it?" Terra said urgently.
Ven just pointed inside, and he stepped over the threshold. Mel was on her knees, surveying the scene before her. Everything was broken – her owl wing rattle had been brutally snapped in two, the wing bent out of shape and hanging by the merest threads; the pot plants she had been growing with Ven's help had been tipped over and stamped on so the soil was ground into the carpet, and the plants beyond hope of saving; her sketchbooks and loose pictures had been torn up and left scattered across the room; the wardrobe had been attacked and her clothes lay in a pile, some of them torn, and her huge Bergen had been ripped apart with badges and key rings strewn among the rest of the objects on the floor; the bed had been upturned and the mattress had suffered a sharp blow, with springs poking through the gashes that had gone straight through the bedding and had probably been dealt by a knife.
But worst of all, the pouches and small boxes Mel kept her crystals and rocks in had been thrown against the wall where they had smashed, and most of the pieces inside hadn't survived the onslaught. One large blue crystal had been hurled repeatedly against the wall where it had fragmented and shattered before it was ground into a tiny, sorry looking ball that was then chucked to the floor and kicked under foot until it was not much more than thick dust.
It was…
There wasn't even a word for it. Somehow, seeing Mel's possessions, that had taken eleven years to collect and carry around, that served a healing purpose, that she so freely gave to help others, just so unceremoniously destroyed… it felt like a physical blow.
Mel ran her fingers over the owl wing, trying to straighten the bent and torn feathers. She was shaking her head slowly, completely stunned. Terra wanted to speak, say something – anything, but what the hell could you say to that? He retreated hastily back to Aqua, at a complete loss; she was sat on her bed, her head in her hands, but looked up when he came in.
"I just don't understand why," she said, desperately looking for a reason. "Why would someone do this? What were they after?"
"Dunno." Terra said, thinking back on what he had seen in the library. "But…I think they were looking for something. In the library, some of the books were just knocked over, but some of them looked like they had been pulled off the shelves on purpose. Only the fiction books were badly damaged. Whoever it was must have searching for something,"
There was a keening sound from Leo, and as they both rose to respond Ven ran past shouting, "I got it!" so they both sat down again.
"It's just…" Aqua leant forward and put her head in her hands. "Too much…"
On top of everything else today, it was just way too much. He reached for her and she put her arms around his neck, breathing long and deep to keep it even.
Terra yelped and jumped out of his skin as something crashed through the door, but it just Mel. Only she had a frantic look in her eyes and seemed close to tears – which was not like her at all. She always managed to face a crisis calmly, and keep it together for herself and everyone else; it was a shock to see her like this, just as much as it was to see the devastation to her room. It reminded him painfully of the onetime he had seen her lose it before.
"It's gone!" she cried, shaking violently as though she would collapse again.
"What's gone?" Aqua jumped up and ran to her, and she flung her arms around her.
"The box!" Mel started crying, and she looked terrified. "The box with the dragon book in it! I put Leo's eggshell in it and the baby feathers and his teeth and – and-! It's gone!"
Terra blinked as she dissolved into tears in Aqua's arms. "Are you sure? It might just be under a pile of-"
"I've looked everywhere! It's not in there, it's gone! I don't know what to do!"
"Calm down," Aqua said firmly, telling her just what to do, and she hiccoughed as she tried to stifle her sobs. "We'll go back and have another look. If it's there, it can't have gone too far."
"Mel?" Ven asked anxiously, hovering just outside the door, but he was pushed aside impatiently by Leo, who called for Mel in concern before he stuck his head through the door and tried to reach her.
Suddenly, something clicked into place in Terra's head, and he raced outside and grabbed Ven by the arm.
"Gah! What is it, Terra?"
"We need to check something, now." He didn't explain until the reached the library, and with the situation as dire as it was Ven didn't complain too much. "Check all the books over here, they were obviously looking for something, and we need to know what."
It turned out the undamaged books that had been scattered in a semicircle around their bookcases all had one thing in common – ancient and arcane lore, both magic and martial, as well as historic. The same went for the Master's Study; the books that had been picked from the shelves rather than tipped and thrown were all along the same lines in terms of content. They hastened back to the dorms, and found Aqua had brought Mel a mug of hot chocolate before going back to double check on something.
Terra left Ven with her and Leo before going to look for Aqua; he looked all over before he eventually found her in the Master's Study. She was slumped against the desk, head down and shoulders shaking; when he gently touched her arm she flung them both around his neck and sobbed, offering no explanation for her sorrow. He didn't have far to look – one of the drawers that had been smashed against the floor had been carefully laid on the desktop, and it was full of mementos the Master had gathered.
Two bent and damaged photo frames, one with the glass completely smashed, were on the top of the pile. One was of the three of them as apprentices – Ven in the middle and standing on a rock to make him taller than the others, grinning happily in the bright sunlight. Aqua had an arm around his waist, Terra an arm around his shoulders, having to stretch up to reach him, and they both held out their other arms and used their hands to create a heart shape between them; her eyes were closed as she laughed, and he was trying to reign his own laughter in as he gazed up at Ven's goofy grin. The second photo – the frame badly damaged and glass broken – was of them and their Master, convened on the stairs outside the front door. Ven stood in the middle at the front, grinning and cheerful as always; Aqua had one arm around Master Eraqus' own arm, and the other extended towards Ven, who in turn wrapped both of his arms around hers. Terra was leaning heavily on the Master's shoulder, grinning at the camera while the man bore their antics good-naturedly with a warm smile.
Around the photos were an assortment of things Terra recognised from years ago: a small wooden keyblade he had made, more like a toothpick than anything else that Aqua had teased him over; a skeleton leaf from the first autumn after Ven arrived, that he had come running to the Master to ask questions about when he found it; a picture Aqua had painstakingly drawn of the castle, the edges fading and crumpled with age; a little clay robin Ven had made that looked more like and red and brown blob, that Terra had said was vomiting up it's breakfast rather than carrying a sprig of mistletoe in its mouth; and loads more besides. Every single one of them had sustained some sort of damage to varying degrees – the leaf had fared best, but the robin had been smashed to pieces and was only identifiable by the colour and familiar shape of the splodges Ven had worked so hard to paint onto it.
Terra didn't know what to do, besides hold Aqua until her grief subsided. It hurt almost as much seeing replays in his head of everything that had led to the confrontation with Xehanort, of his own stupidity, to see his childhood so brutally attacked. His own tears mixed with Aqua's on her cheeks.
A long while later, after copious amounts of hot chocolate and buttered toast (all that could be made with any ease in the destruction of the kitchen) they all curled up together in the common room using Leo as a pillow. He seemed just as agitated as they were, and he calmed down considerably under Mel's gentle touch, and gulped down half of her drink in one go without her minding too much.
Terra lay awake for hours while the others drifted in and out of consciousness. Aqua tossed and turned, and woke up countless times; Mel only woke once, but she kept twitching and shifting restlessly in her sleep, and only stilled when Ven put and arm around her waist, and Aqua took hold of her hand, Leo's muzzled resting against her stomach. Ven himself lay mostly still, though he shuffled and shifted whenever Mel did, and his eyes kept opening to stare blindly ahead before he closed them again as if sleep eluded him.
When sleep finally did claim Terra, the nightmares started to hone in and he woke up in a cold sweat in the hour just before dawn to find Aqua stroking his face comfortingly. Neither of them said anything; she pulled him close and he curled up against her, his cheek resting just over her heart, the slow and steady beat lulling him into a restless but dreamless sleep for just a bit longer.
With the sun streaming in brilliantly through the windows, Terra got up, knowing he could sleep no longer, no matter how much he tried. They all had dark circles under their eyes, and lay in uncomfortably hunched positions; Mel was using her arms and a cuddly toy dog that usually lived at the foot of her bed for a pillow. Leo croaked feebly as Terra left the room to start on something for breakfast amid the chaos of the kitchen. He did the best he could, but a small helping of scrambled eggs between the four of them, and three tiny rashers of bacon for Leo didn't really cut it.
After they had risen and eaten, Aqua cleared her throat meaningfully and the tentative conversation died instantly. She looked at each of them in turn before she said, "We need to clean up, but we also need to figure out who did this and what they were after. I'm going to ask Master Yen Sid to help, so don't try moving anything just yet."
"'Kay," Ven said in an uncharacteristically small voice.
Terra made a noncommittal noise, and Mel just nodded. Leo edge over and rubbed his head against Aqua's side, and she pulled him into a hug as he crooned soothingly, the tip of his tail tapping against the floor.
XOXOX
Yen Sid considered the young woman with the glowing red and gold-flecked wolf closely as they others looked on with interest. They had been looking forward to this lesson, especially since it would be the first bit of good news in a while; what with the break in and trashing of the castle, followed by the Committee's failed attempts to catch the mysterious creatures on camera (something about the circuits being constantly fried by spurious circumstances): in short, they needed a good dose of optimism. Initial suspicions were that information on Leo was the target, but this had yet to be properly confirmed; Mel was so agitated that she wasn't able to dowse, or do any meaningful divining because she was far too concerned for Leo – dowsing essentially required impartiality, and she was far from impartial on the subject at hand. Aqua was just thankful that the far more comprehensive notes they had made between them had been divided up between Yen Sid and Ansem to read for themselves, and a few had been left on her own desk. The ones she had kept back were still rough and looked like they could be notes for any number of different subjects – they had been damaged, but not irreparably so, and she was certain she could salvage them without having to rewrite them all. It had half annoyed her when Ven cracked a joke about how her scrappy hand writing had saved the day, making the looters over look them; Aqua smiled when Mel burst out laughing at this remark, and then gaze at her wide eyed as if afraid she had hurt Aqua's feelings. She had pulled the blonde woman into her arms and hugged her tight, laughing herself – it felt good, normal, to laugh, even if it was at her at own expense.
Now, Yen Sid was over seeing this charm Mel had told them about, and they all waited for his opinion as he deliberated over the issue at hand. Finally, he turned to the group at large and said, "This is a very old, very high level branch of magic. Night Ghasts are indeed rare, and this is an effective method to tackle them, but it is useful for other reasons too. I think it would be wise for you all to learn this spell."
They got down to it right away, and Mel spent the first ten minutes explaining the mechanics behind the spell – the happy thoughts, the powerful focus of intent needed to bring the charm into existence and the lesser force needed to keep it going, and the how's and why's of the form of the projection. They were gathered in the great hall, which was now clear of debris and felt less ominous; Mel had managed to salvage a few things from her room (though she had made a trip to Radiant Garden to find some replacements for things that were beyond hope of recovery) and made an instrument to cleanse the Dark residue left behind through sound. It was a sort of bowl, with a makeshift pestle that she ran around the edges of the bowl to create a ringing sound that cleared the ambiance of the castle and put everyone in a decidedly more cheerful mood. Sora, Riku and Kairi had been aghast and greatly concerned about what had happened, but with the clear up operation mostly done and Mel's cleansing completed, it was hard to feel too gloomy. Especially when Sora was bouncing off the walls and ceiling – a considerable height above them at that – with the prospect of learning a new spell.
Rhiannon sat with poised dignity while sternly ignoring Lea and Lynn; he was sniggering and watching with playful condescension while Lynn's scowl deepened and she wracked her brains for a solution to the problem beseeching the camera trap project, not really focused on the task at hand. She had started the project off by boasting about her tracking and technical skills – and then it had all fallen to pieces, and she was at a complete loss to explain why. This was something Lea found hilarious, but she was more focused on fixing the problem than lashing out at him for his rather unhelpful comments on the situation.
"It could be any manifestation of any part of your being." Mel explained to the group at large. "Your soul, or your personality; your will, magic, any totems, power animals – literally anything, but it is always an animal form that appears. It can be an obvious one, like with us," she gestured at the wolf curled up by her feet, watching them with bright yellow eyes that held the exact same expression Mel herself had when she was quietly studying a person or situation. "Or it could be something random and unexpected. My grandfather was associated with lots of animals like the eagle for spirit and the element of air, and the mountain lion for leadership – and his Eidolon was a butterfly."
Lea snorted, and smiled sweetly at the withering looks he got from Lynn and Rhiannon. "Seriously?"
"Yes." Mel was surprised and startled that he thought it was so funny. "Butterfly Medicine is the Medicine of transformation, and it's a symbol for warrior courage."
"Huh?" Sora asked, wide eyed. "Really? How come?"
"Well," Mel bit her lip, caught off guard. She had been quite edgy and prone to unbalancing since the break in. "The world is a very different place outside the chrysalis… It takes a lot of courage to break free and fly away when your whole life has been spent bound to the ground."
Aqua smiled at Terra, who grinned back – you couldn't argue with Mel's logic when she put it like that.
After a quick pep talk and a lightning round of questions, they set up to practise the spell. It was a lot harder than Mel had made it sound, but she insisted that once it was done the first time, each time the Eidolon was summoned it was much easier – the initial forging of the link was the hardest part.
"I think I'll throw in the towel here." Lynn said dully, watching Rhiannon manage to bring a silvery cloud of something into existence before it dropped and disappeared, amidst cursing in an unfamiliar language.
"I'm sure you can do it," Mel said uncertainly, trying to show her how best to do it. "Everyone is different,"
"It's not that," Lynn frowned and took up a stance before she relaxed and gave up again. "I 'ent got a proper heart, have I? Not much use casting this spell from the heart if you 'ent got one."
The silvery cloud in front of Rhiannon dropped and she shot Lynn a dark look.
"Aw'right, keep your hair on!" she said defensively. When Rhiannon turned away, she went on, "I'm surprised by how light and airy this place is now." They had come to help with the initial investigation and clean up, and Lynn had commented on the nasty atmosphere left behind.
Aqua smiled and put a hand on Mel's shoulder. "Melody's pretty handy to have around. She has a lot of good ideas."
Mel looked up at her and smiled. "Glad I'm of such good use to you."
"Yeah, but what did you do?" Lynn looked intrigued.
"I used sound." Mel said. "A cleansing bowl made of crystal, though I had to use a different rod because my one was damaged so the sound wasn't right."
"And how does that work, exactly?" Aqua was all but used to Lynn's mannerisms by now; she sometimes flared brilliantly with one particular emotion, and the rest of the time was dispassionate and unreadable. When she gave what looked to be a distant and calculating look, it was merely her thinking face in the absence of any stronger emotions. Mel seemed completely oblivious to it, once she became acquainted with Lynn's ways.
"It's…hard to explain." Mel raised her hands to shoulder height, elbows tucked in and eyes closed. "The sound frequency of the crystal resonates at a particular pitch that cancels out negativity, or Dark energy, and amplifies positivity. Because like energies attract each other, when positive energy is amplified it draws more to it, which keeps the negativity from seeping back in quite so quickly. If that makes any sense whatsoever…"
"No, I get that. Kinda," Lynn frowned. "I'm just trying to picture it in my head…"
"Um…" Mel frowned herself before she started moving her arms and hands in a sort of dance, keeping the rest of her body still. "Like this? This is the frequency the crystal runs at when you hit it properly."
Lynn didn't get it at all, and Mel went to get the bowl so she could demonstrate, as well as another useful acoustic gadget she had made consisting of two metal dishes attached to a wooden plaque that could be struck and made two distinct ringing sounds each; one set in harmony with each other, the other off key.
"So, if you don't get the right angle it sounds wrong, like this," Mel demonstrated on the crystal bowl, and Terra and Ven nearby jumped at the sudden discord it entailed. "So it's important to get it right when you're cleansing, like this," the next note was loud and pure, and the boys relaxed again. "These ones tell you if the room needs clearing; it will sound in tune now because the hall's been cleared already, but if it wasn't the sounds would be out of tune and sound rather horrible."
Lynn was regarding the instruments closely, still frowning.
"Can you cleanse objects like that?" Aqua asked out of the blue, curious about the subject. She should have been trying her hand at the Eidolon's Call, but she was wrapped up in this at the moment since it had been brought up in conversation.
"Yeah, you can get bowls like this, with a raised mound in the middle, and you put objects on it to be cleansed. I don't have one myself; they're usually bigger and difficult to carry around."
"So like," Lynn tapped the metal dishes, listening to the sweet note that hung in the air. "Does this work on anything?"
"Well…I suppose so. It's worked every time I've tried using it. There was this boy I met who had a lot of problems with his computer. He was quite an angry and confrontational person, and that actually effected the hardware and software of his computer – like a focused power of intent. The more he got angry about something the more likely something would go wrong and his computer would crash. He was amazed when I got it to work again without having to take it to pieces and rebuild it, and all I did was run this around it a few times to work the negative kinks out of the system."
Aqua smiled and said, "I don't know what I'd do without you."
Mel turned to look at Ven and Terra, currently trying to throttle each other, good-naturedly. "Probably kill those two." She stated bluntly in her quiet and contained manner.
"Is it just these two notes that work or what?" Lynn asked, tapping the two metal bowls.
"Oh, lots of notes. That's why songs can be used to heal was well, especially drum music. As long as the notes are in harmony with each other, it should work. Happy songs are the best, sad ones can attract negative emotions that start building up energy that attracts the wrong sort of energy to it." When asked, Mel hummed a simple tune that went with the pure notes the dishes yielded, and Lynn's eyes grew very wide and her whole body stilled. "Have I done something wrong?" she asked quickly, startled.
Lynn almost swept Mel off her feet, having to bend down low to reach her properly since the difference in their height was almost ridiculous. "Mels you're brilliant!" she kissed the crown of her head with exaggeration before she turned on her heel and raced back to her rucksack on the floor and pulled out a notebook, which she proceeded to scribble into in short hand. In answer to the strange looks everyone around shot at her, she said, "The circuits are being shorted out by something, right? Joey builds a resonator into the system to protect it from harmful frequencies and boom!" she spread her hands with a grin, leaning her body to one side for effect. "We are so in there!"
"Glad to see some good has come out of today," Rhiannon snarled, glaring at her fists.
"I think I kinda got it," Sora said, frowning with concentration, screwing his eyes shut tight. "I can see something…"
"Keep trying. The first time is always the hardest, but once you know how to do it the spell is really easy." Mel said encouragingly. She merely had to raise her left hand above her head to summon her own Eidolon, but she was well practised in such magic, so it hardly came as a surprise. She said it could be done in a number of different ways, using gesture and sound to help – she even still hummed under her breath to aid herself on occasion.
Aqua tried several times with little success, and she sat down for a while to think and watch the others. Ven was the first to manage it, and she laughed with delight when she saw the form it took; a huge golden retriever bounded into existence as he pumped his right fist into the air, shouting, "C'mon!" the dog moved with the same energetic vigour that Ven himself did, and glowed with the colour of rich, golden butter.
Mel gasped when she first saw the Eidolon, and then she rolled her eyes upwards and smacked herself in the face with her hand. When prodded for a reason for her reaction, she just said quietly, "That explains a lot in my version of reality."
Aqua got up and tried again, but didn't get much further than before. She tried not to get frustrated, and allowed herself to get sidetracked by watching Leo who was staring at the retriever and wolf running circles around him, chasing each other. It made her smile, but then she turned back to the task at hand with a frown of concentration.
Kairi got the hang of it next, and hers was a beautiful, iridescent bird of shimmering white with gold tipped feathers that looked remarkably like a picture of a phoenix from one of the books Aqua had recently read. It hovered in the air above, around about shoulder height, and didn't settle on any solid surface apart from Kairi's arm.
"Whoa!" Lynn blinked at the bright light it emitted. "It's like an LED light bulb on steroids," the comment earned a round of giggles and titters, and Lynn gave Aqua a crooked smile in response to her raised eyebrow. "Well it does," she said playfully.
"That's so cool!" Kairi squealed with delight for having managed the spell, and also for mastering it before Riku and Sora – the fact it was a mass of glowing, shimmering white and gold light didn't seem to be the primary object of her amazement.
"Must be because she's a Princess of Heart," Lynn said when Yen Sid pondered out loud on the form her Eidolon had taken. Ven's golden retriever and Mel's red and gold wolf shimmered with a light of their own, but it was dim and paled in comparison to the brilliance of the shining bird perched on Kairi's shoulder.
"I believe you are right, Master Evalyn." Yen Sid said sagely, and she winced. Lynn had not been keen to see him again after so long, even though her situation had been explained and her sincerity vouched for. She wasn't entirely comfortable, though after Yen Sid had spoken gravely of his pleasure to find she was still alive and a force for good, she relented on her uneasiness a bit. She was still rather contrite for disappearing for four years without a word, and it seemed neither Yen Sid nor Rhiannon were going to let her forget in a hurry.
"How'd you do it?" Sora asked Ven loudly over the noise, puzzled out of his mind.
"Well, sort of just like," Ven thrust his fist into the air, "And I said 'c'mon!', like enough already," he grinned as the dog bounded back to him and sat back on its hind legs, tail wagging happily.
Sora looked at his own hand, slowly clenched into a fist. He raised it above his head and splayed his fingers out, shouting, "C'mon – light!"
Nothing happened.
"Aww man!" he despaired.
"Try again, Sora," Aqua said. "I thought I felt something for a moment,"
Sora looked at her, and then at his hands. "I know." He said miserably. Then, louder and with more force, fed mostly by his frustration, he said loudly, "I know you can hear me!"
"Gah!" Riku jumped out of his skin, and everyone else around took a sweeping step back as a shape exploded into being above Sora.
"Hey, wassup?" he asked with a dazed expression, and then he looked up in time to see the huge bald eagle come to settle on the ground by his feet. He jumped himself, but the shock wore off quickly as he gazed at his Eidolon with a mixture or astonishment and awe. "Whoa! Did you see that?!"
"Well done!" Mel was pleased with the progress being made, and smiled widely as Sora started interacting with the eagle – it settled on his arm and started preening his hair, much the same way Leo did. "It took me over a day to get this spell right, you're all doing really well."
Terra stared at the floor dejectedly. "I'm never gonna do it."
"Well you won't with that attitude," Lynn said disparagingly.
He shot her an annoyed look and said, "And why aren't you trying?"
"I'm a nobody. What good'll it do? Besides!" she said bracingly, wrapping an arm around Rhiannon's shoulders and hugged her tightly. "I've got myself a meat shield right here to take care of me should I ever need this spell!"
"Bitch!" Rhiannon snarled. "I almost had it, and you broke my concentration!"
"Oh, I do apologise. Most sincerely. Okay! I'll bugger off," she ducked and fled from the scene as Rhiannon got angry and went for her.
Riku spun his keyblade idly around in his hand, staring at the wall with concentration. He slid his right leg back and settled into a strong fighting stance, bringing his keyblade back into the ready position and pointing it forward, striking a pose almost lazily, and he jumped again as a silver blur ran past him and halfway towards Mel before it turned around again and stilled. It was a large wolf, snowy white and shot through with silver much the same way that Mel's wolf was peppered with gold and bronze as well as red. Its eyes were a deep, tawny yellow, and its nose was a stark black against the colour of its pelt. As Riku watched with awe Mel's Eidolon trotted over, tiny in comparison, and they rubbed noses; Sora's eagle took flight and landed on the white wolf's back where it settled comfortably, and closed its bright yellow eyes in contentment.
Aqua watched the two boys stare first at the Eidolons as Mel's wolf once again trotted away, and then at each other in amazement. Then in unison, they both grinned widely, and Riku leant over to push Sora squarely in the chest so he stumbled backwards.
"Hey-!"
"I can never get rid of you, can I? No matter what!"
Sora looked aghast. "Why'd you wanna get rid of me? Hey, Riku! Get back here!" he shouted, chasing after him while Kairi doubled over with laughter.
The two Eidolons followed the chase, circling and dodging around each other, but never seeking to outrun or escape – just simply bound together by some invisible but inexorable force while their humans fought.
"Keep trying Aqua, I'm sure you'll get it," Ven said happily, patting his dog on the head.
Aqua smiled as the red wolf brushed up against her leg as it plodded past. "I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong,"
"Nothing." Mel insisted.
Terra caught Aqua's eye, and by unspoken consensus it became a race to see who could call their Eidolon first. She tried very hard to focus on what Mel had said, but her concentration was shattered as Rhiannon finally managed to bring hers into physical form. Out of the silver mist she had managed to produce, a large strawberry roan stallion burst into being and cantered around the great hall before trotting up to her and lowering its head in submission to the person who it had conjured.
"Aww," Lynn said, mouth hanging open. "Awesome!" she breathed as Rhiannon grinned and stuck her tongue out at her.
"How d'ya like me now, Eaves?"
"Well, the cocky attitude is a downer, but don't get me wrong – that beast is massively impressive."
That just left Lea, Terra and Aqua now, since Lynn had taken herself out of the running.
Rather than forcing it, Aqua decided to try relaxing and letting go – her magic had come more easily to her when she first started training, when she didn't care so much about the outcome. Putting too much weight added unnecessary stress to the task, so she tried simply not caring.
It took a while, but when she heard gasps of amazement she opened her eyes and found herself looking down upon a beautiful mute swan stood before her; pristine plumage accentuated by the stark contrast of its black and orange bill that stood out against the white feathers. She looked up at Aqua, full of grace and serenity, and she felt the wonder of the moment. This was her, a part of her; a manifestation of her being. The swan encapsulated a part of Aqua's personality, and she now understood why the others had gazed upon their Eidolons as they appeared with such awe. It was such a personal thing, for others to see a part of you on clear display like that, and an even bigger surprise to see it for yourself. I'm a swan, she thought to herself.
Aqua looked up smiling, but she saw Terra's scowl and clenched fist, and she faltered. He was clearly upset that she had beaten him, and was annoyed at his inability to conjure the spell. Mel flitted to his side and put a hand on his arm, speaking to him in a low voice that didn't carry. He relented, and gave her a wry smile and said something Aqua didn't catch. Mel motioned for him to try again, and he did, frowning deeply with concentration.
"At least you can still beat Lea," Ven said bracingly, making Riku and Sora snigger behind their hands.
Lynn clapped Lea round the back of the head and said, "A'right, Red?"
Lea swore at her, causing all the youngsters to stare at him in abject horror with the severity of his chosen words. Lynn merely raised her eyebrows and took a dramatic step back, hands held in surrender.
"Well now," Rhiannon said with a smirk, patting the stallion's withers. "That escalated quickly, to be sure."
"Shut up," Lea snapped.
"Enough," Aqua said loudly, too used to breaking up fights by now to really stop and think about it. She felt surprised when Rhiannon gave her an offended look that became a scowl when Lynn laughed.
"Don't want the High Master pissed off with you, do we?" she teased.
"Evie."
"Lynn." She snapped in response, annoyed.
"Evalyn, don't make me-!"
"What, come over 'ere? Bring it slag, I 'ent afraid of you and you're My Little Pony familiar!" Aqua bit her lip, afraid she had caused the argument, but Lynn waved her worries away. "'Ow often is it that Rhi has to submit to a superior? Like never! This is hilarious!" she beamed at Rhiannon's scowl. "I think I'm a bit hyper. Whoa! Haven't felt like this in years!"
"What did you have for breakfast, pet?"
"Nothing yet. Didn't feel that hungry. I think I'm hyper because I has a solution to our problem now," she waved the notebook around in the air. "I feel great! Oi, shortie! C'mere, I have another victory hug with your name on it, you brilliant girl!"
"Oi!" Rhiannon said loudly as Lynn lifted Mel off the ground from behind with a bear hug. "Stop molesting Aqua's students and get your arse over here,"
Aqua turned her attention to Terra, stood in his usual hunched and brooding posture when he was annoyed with himself. Ven hanging off his arm and talking loudly probably didn't help matters, and Mel was busy helping Lea so she couldn't exert her calming influence. Aqua detached Ven and sent him to check on Leo, who was bored and sulking over being ignored in favour of the shiny animals, and hugged Terra's arm.
"Go away," he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, eyes closed.
"Nope."
"I hate you."
"I hate you too."
"You're obnoxious and a busy body."
"I'm trying to help."
"Then go away."
"I thought you could have a memory jogger."
"For what, exactly?"
Terra remained still as Aqua put her hands on his shoulders and leant up to brush her lips against his briefly. Despite his stubborn determination to remain obstinately gloomy, she felt him smile.
"Happy thoughts, Terra," Aqua said in a business like manner, smiling sweetly as she moved on to check on the rest of her charges, the shining Eidolon swan ambling after her. Showing her support in a measured amounts and giving him the space to be a grouch if he so chose was the best way to deal with Terra. They all made a show of joking about her elevated status, but really it was a bit weird still for her life long friends to have to defer to her so.
"Just keep trying," Mel said to Lea, who was steadfastly ignoring Lynn's snide remarks. As she cackled with laughter Mel turned to her abruptly and in her usual soft tones said, "You really shouldn't do that, it's effecting his concentration. That's not especially nice."
"C'mon, if I were still tryin' my hand in he'd be ripping it outta me. I'm just getting ahead while I can." Lynn said coolly, eyeing Mel up.
Aqua hid a smile. Mel may be tiny and soft spoken, but she was by no means a push over.
"Well, since you're here in Master Aqua's castle and this is my lesson at the request of Master Yen Sid, I ask you to either join in, or if not to be quiet or leave altogether so the rest of us can work in peace."
They stared each other down for a few tense moments; Lynn sizing Mel up, Mel merely standing her ground. With the barest flicker of acknowledgement Lynn turned to one side and head for her bag again.
"I'll be good," it was hard to tell if her tone was playful or mocking, but the smile she flashed Mel was good-natured enough. Rhiannon snorted into her hands, and Lynn turned her nose in the air.
"Maybe I'd get somewhere if I had a little encouragement." Lea said, looking down at his hands with a detached expression, puzzling it out.
Aqua couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at this; she caught Ven's eye and smiled at his grin. Was Lea actually trying to flirt with her? Ven seemed to think so, and apparently so did Rhiannon because she said, "Oi, quit flirtin' with my egit and get back to work!"
"I 'ent your egit!" Lynn proclaimed imperiously. "I'm Master Solomon's and no one else's!"
Mel walked over with exaggerated softness to stand before Lynn and put a finger to her lips before whispering, "We're being very quiet, remember?"
Lynn leant forward and cupped a hand to her mouth that merely served to amplify her stage whisper, "Are we huntin' wabbits?"
"Not today, sorry. Maybe some other time. We're hunting Eidolons now." Mel whispered back. She turned around smoothly and looked at Terra as Lynn and Rhiannon dissolved into giggles over a shared joke that was beyond Aqua, and she followed Mel's gaze just in time.
He was stood with his left arm held out in front of him, and as Aqua watched a flickering circle of light on the floor in front of him shimmered before the gathering shape hovering above it took form. A huge brown bear stood on its hind legs towering over them all, looking down its great muzzle at the one who had called it forth.
"Oh wow!" Kairi breathed, staring up at the enormous beast in awe.
Aqua was likewise entranced, but it was shattered as Ven nearly fell over laughing. "You're just a big squishy teddy bear, really!" he giggled, his own Eidolon bouncing around his ankles.
Terra shot him an annoyed look, the wonderment dropping off quickly, but then he smirked and sauntered over, the bear following on all fours with its head hanging over his shoulder protectively. He stopped in front of Ven, who folded his arms and smirked back at him, eyebrows raised. Mel raised her hands and hid her face in despair pre-emptively.
"Yeah, maybe. But that makes you a bitch."
There was deadly silence as they stared each other down. Ven flexed his right hand, smirking widening.
"Say that again,"
Terra grinned, baring his teeth. "Bitch."
They went for each other.
"Guys! Please…" Aqua sighed and shook her head as they paid her no attention.
"If ya don't mind me saying, flower." Rhiannon said helpfully, putting a hand on Aqua's arm. "You don't really come across as a High Master very well where these two are concerned."
"Take it as a compliment that they feel so at ease around you they can goof off." Lynn suggested helpfully.
"Why me…" Aqua moaned, hamming it up just a little bit, though her despair over the boys was genuine.
"I'm always the last one." Lea sighed. "I'm doomed to come in last every time we try something new,"
"Why's that?" Lynn asked, smoothing a wrinkle out of her top.
"Last to the keyblade, last to the Eidolon…"
"Aww, cheer up mate!" she slapped him on the back. "Slow and steady wins the race, and all that."
Lea looked up and gave her a lopsided smile. "Yeah, well sometimes coming last does have its advantages, am I right?"
Lynn's smile was fixed in place, but she delicately raised an eyebrow. "You serious?"
"What do you think?" he countered, leaning toward her.
Aqua put her hands on the sides of her head and shook it. There was too much randomness going on. Rhiannon stalked over with ire in her eyes as Lynn said, "If you think you can worm your way into my underwear this 'ent the best way to do it. And if you're seeking to just take the piss then congratulations cause I am well and truly hacked off."
"Maybe I am, and maybe I'm not," Lea began, but he was interrupted.
"Step off, dick head." Rhiannon snapped.
"I think I'm perfectly capable of telling people to piss off your meddling, tanks." Lynn said.
"Yes, and we all know the secret of gettin' you into bed. Couple'a pints of Guinness, and-"
Lynn turned around and swore rather violently at Rhiannon, making Sora and Riku stop and stare with wide eyes. Yen Sid cleared his throat when she finished and said, "Calm yourself, Evalyn."
"You see the abuse I put up with?! The slander!"
"Well it is true," Rhiannon smirked at her.
"Oh yeah? And what about that German douche in Budapest?"
Rhiannon's face went a bright red and she spluttered.
"Yeah, 'ent so stupid as you think!" Lynn grinned wildly. "And I can tell everyone here-!" she spread her arms wide to indicate the entire hall. "The secret of getting into your knickers too, to even the score up a bit if you like, so back off about my deep dark secrets unless you want me to ruin the illusion of respectability you 'ave for yourself here!"
Rhiannon fumed for a few moments before she went for Lynn. The up side was that Ven and Terra stopped trying to kill each other in favour of watching the two women try to kill each other instead. The down side was, they still had two keyblade wielders trying to kill each other.
"This is bad, isn't it?" Riku said glumly, scratching Leo behind the ears because he had been so neglected recently.
"What? We fight all the time because we're best friends! Isn't that what they're doing?" Sora pointed out.
Riku looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Not exactly the best role models though, are they?"
Ven and Terra snorted with laughter, and Aqua sighed deeply, closing her eyes and raising her hand before smacking them both around the back of the head, to little over all effect.
The violence turned merely verbal after a short while, but they moved themselves further down the hall and really tore it into each other – eventually Yen Sid convinced them to take their argument outside since it seemed they were picking open a lot of festering wounds between them. Aqua was concerned, but Mel remained rather placid and said, "I think this has been bubbling for a while between them. Best they get it out in the open together. We should stick around just in case,"
"In case they turn homicidal?" Ven sniggered, ducking around Aqua's swipe aimed at his head.
"Well, for want of a better phrase, yes."
Whatever transpired between Rhiannon and Lynn was their business, and Aqua made it quite clear they shouldn't stick their noses in it. By the time they had cooled off and come back inside, both with a conspicuous amount of bruises each, Lea had managed to summon forth his own Eidolon. He was at first annoyed, and then became quite calm, even cracking jokes while the younger warriors crowded around to help.
"Maybe it's like the keyblade," he said idly, raising his hand and staring at it as his weapon appeared. "A snap in the wrist…"
And then the brilliantly coloured snake – bands of black, red, yellow and white scales in a sprawling pattern with a distinctive black marking under each eye – materialised in a flare of light, draped over his shoulders.
"Oh." Lea said, somewhat deadpan, while Sora, Riku and Ven fell over themselves in surprise.
"Whoa!" they chorused together in amazement.
"Rhi!" Lynn shrieked, pointing at him with mock terror. "It's Voldemort!"
Rhiannon paused for a moment before she succumbed to laughter, and they clung to each other for support. Ven and Sora found it funny too, and were on their knees laughing while Lea played with his Eidolon.
"Pretty cool," he commented as Ven's golden retriever bounded around his ankles. "What's a snake for, anyway?"
"Transmutation." Mel said without missing a beat.
"In plain English?" Lea asked, looking straight down the snake's jewel bright eyes.
"The idea that, 'that which does not kill you makes you stronger'? Some shamans go round and get themselves bitten deliberately by venomous snakes, and over time they build up immunity to them. Snakes are also often associated with the element of fire, and a symbol of knowledge." She explained.
"Voldemort…"Rhiannon giggled, giving Lynn a shove. She had been staggering sideways at the time, and because of her slender frame she pitched over and landed on the floor in a heap. "You're such a spack!"
"I take great pride in my spackiness. It's taken me years to build up to this level!" she shook her fist at Rhiannon.
"Well, congrats everyone." Mel said, beaming. "You can all now perform the Eidolon's Call. Good work."
"Woohoo!" Sora bounced on the spot, and Leo trumpeted his approval, especially with Riku scratching his neck so he wasn't being ignored.
"We should celebrate!" Ven joined in with the festivities.
"With cake!" Sora added, looking hopefully at Aqua. "There's cake, right?"
"Sora!" Aqua laughed. "You're like a bottomless pit!"
"Careful, or you'll get fat," Kairi said, poking him in the stomach.
"Hey!" Sora squirmed and threw up his arms to protect himself.
Terra saw this and his eyes lit up with malicious glee. He caught Aqua's warning look and decided to ignore it.
"Sora, I had no idea you were ticklish," he simpered.
"Am not!" Sora snapped defensively.
"Oh yeah, he is." Riku descended upon him. "Wanna see?"
"Gah! Riku! Help! Kairi-! N-no! Not you too! I thought you were my friends! Go away! HELP ME!" he shouted at Ven, who was doubled over with mirth. Mel tried to come to his rescue as Kairi and Riku kept him pinned to the floor, but she wasn't strong enough to muscle through their defences.
They shouldn't have been scrapping, over something so trivial, but it made Aqua crack a real smile. Since the Night Ghast incident things had been…too negative. It was nice to feel almost normal again.
Lynn put her hands on her hips and studied them all as Rhiannon gently pressed her knuckles against the taller woman's cheek, in an exaggeratedly slow mock punch. They turned to each other, and said in unison, "Keyblade thing." They nodded once, and then Lynn clapped her hands together and said loudly, "I heard there was to be food of some description, gov."
XOXOX
"That's such a bummer," Sora said dejectedly, looking at the spread of things on the library table, mostly Mel's broken possessions. "But, why'd they wanna destroy rocks?" it was a puzzling thought, one that Ven had applied himself to ever since the break in. It just made no sense… Books and information on keyblade lore, and dragon lore was one thing. But the assembled pieces of a shaman's wares, gathered over a decade…why would anyone go after that?
"Maybe they were up to something that the rocks were interfering with?" Lynn asked, lifting a lightweight brass bowl and examining the dents closely. "Some of those rocks feel kinda powerful. You'd be surprised how much bother they cause the Heartless."
"Master Sol used to line the boundaries of our castle with certain crystals for just that reason." Rhiannon put in. She wasn't so interested in this apparently, and soon left for the Master's Study to speak with Yen Sid.
"Kinda thorough though," Lynn said, frowning. "It's almost like they were trying to…" she didn't finish the thought.
"Trying to what?" Ven demanded of her as Mel placed another box on the table.
"Well, be a dick, for one thing," she said lazily, turning the bowl over in her hands. "How many crystals survived?" she asked Mel, ignoring Ven's question.
Mel's face fell as she looked down at her hands on the lid of the box, biting her lip. "Not many," she said in a small voice.
"Aww mate," Lynn poked at an open box in which a few shattered remains of various crystals had been collected. "That bites. Well sucks,"
"But, a couple of things didn't get too badly damaged." Mel said, trying to remain optimistic. She turned to Ven and said, "I was meaning to tell you, I found this in the wardrobe – it got away unscathed, well mostly. I must have put some shoes in there on top of them by accident, because whoever broke in didn't go after these." She lifted the lid, and removed the two pairs of sandals lying on the top, placing them on a chair. "I don't know what possessed me to use this as a shoe box, but it looks like it saved them."
"Well, 'ent all bad news then," Lynn said, lifting a large, round orb of crystal from a pile of busted up wooden utensils rather like drum sticks. "Hey, this one just got a scratch. Whoa, kinda powerful,"
"Is it?" Mel asked distractedly, busy lifting the new rocks out of the box. "I thought it looked pretty, but it never really spoke to me. That's why it ended up in the box."
"Don't think I've seen these ones before," Ven commented, taking one out for himself and looking deeply into its depths. It was rather cloudy and dim, with something hidden in the core that he couldn't see through the grey vales in the blue crystal. "What are they?"
"Just…crystals." She shrugged helplessly. "I'm not even sure why I hung onto them, to be honest. I just…never found the right time or place, or person to give them to. I felt the need to take them with me, but not to use them. I figured I had to drop them off somewhere eventually for someone else, but the time never came."
"Y'know what? This kinda reminds me of something," Lynn said, staring down at the one in her hand broodingly. She set it down and started a rolling drum pattern on her legs, and Ven rolled his eyes. "Trust me, mate. It's an effective learnin' strategy."
"Kinda annoying," Ven said stiltedly.
"Yeah, and like a nobody gives a damn what you think of them." She countered smoothly.
Sora plucked one from the box Mel had opened and lifted it up so the sunlight glancing off it's surface. It was a deep, royal purple with veins of darker colour and thin cobwebs of gold shot through to the concealed depths.
"Kinda cool," Sora grinned.
"What's up?" Aqua asked, walking into the library and looking at the mass of objects on the table.
"I was showing Lynn some more of my things. She's quite interested in the idea of energy frequencies being used to protect the camera traps." Mel explained.
"Can we have some more cake?" Sora asked hopefully, giving her Ven's best puppy dog expression.
"You're gonna get fat, just like Kairi said," Ven said in a singsong voice, grinning.
"Then I'll just go run a few laps! Hey, when you eat after exercise you metabolise your food faster, so you don't put on as much weight!" He was proud of himself for remembering. "See?" he pointed at himself, beaming. "Riku says I'm going to fail at everything in life, but I can remember everything from that last biology test!"
"I'd hazard a guess that Riku merely enjoys winding you up." Mel said, sifting through the box.
"What's that you got there, Sora?" Aqua asked, joining them at the table.
Lynn moved up to make room, but she was still rolling our drum patterns and absorbed in her own thoughts.
"Dunno, it was in Mel's box of tricks."
Mel smiled and said, "They survived somehow. I was meaning to tell you, but Master Yen Sid came and I got side tracked. I kept these separate from the others because I didn't really know what to use them for, but I hung on to them for years."
Ven was playing with a wooden flute that had had its mouthpiece stepped on and snapped. Terra was convinced it could be fixed, and Mel was eager to try – it had belonged to another shaman who had given it to her, and she wasn't prepared to chuck it out just yet. He didn't really notice much amiss until he became aware that Lynn's drumming had ceased; she was staring at Aqua with a frown, and he followed her gaze. Aqua was staring intently at the crystal in Sora's hands, and her eyes widened in surprise just before the crystal flared with light. Sora yelped and nearly dropped it, and they all jumped with alarm as they heard an almighty crash from outside.
"The hell!" Lynn shouted, jumping to her feet and reaching for the bow that wasn't slung across her back, and cursed loudly. She didn't have her daggers sheathed to her belt either, so she snapped, "Fine," to herself before raising her hand and summoning her keyblade.
Ven wasn't the only one who turned to look at the sight with wide eyes. It was the first time she had even considered to, let alone summoned her weapon, whether voluntarily or not. It was a long blade, with a five pointed star made from delicate red tendrils chased with silver at the end that provided the teeth of the key shape. The stem was a slender straight line with two spirals, one bright red and the other warm yellow, forming a double helix that wound its way from the circular hand guard up the length of the keyblade to intertwine with the star. Ven wasn't sure exactly what he was expecting from her keyblade, though it struck him or very different it was to Rhiannon's; hers had a sweeping curve and the top resembled a horse's head and rearing front legs, much like her tattoos, and coloured in dark greys and white with silver and gold markings. He wasn't sure if he had been expecting them to be similar, but they were as different as could be.
"What are you doing?!" Ven demanded of her as she settled into a fighting stance.
Lynn scoffed. "Crazy shit we don't understand going down only the other day – got no other weapons on me and you expect me not to? You outta your mind?"
Ven turned to look at Mel, scowling to himself, and saw her rigid posture as she stared out of the window. He rushed forward with Aqua and saw what it was that had made her still.
Clinging to the outside of the castle walls, staring back at them, was a dragon. It was the same dark purple of the crystal Sora was holding, the scales edged with gold; the wings were stiff and metallic, coloured in red and orange with yellow alongside the gold. Between the enormous wings hung a disc like wheel, the spokes of which were spiral shaped and reminded Ven vaguely of the sun. It was as different to Leo as could possibly be.
There was a very long pause, and Ven just looked at Aqua, dumbstruck. She looked at him as if she didn't quite see him, her mouth wide open, and Mel sagged against the windowsill, eyes impossibly wide. They all jumped violently when Lynn moved; she ran for the door to the corridor, screaming, "RHI!"
The dragon let go of its purchase on the walls and floated down to the ground below gracefully.
"What on earth are you shrieking about now?" Rhiannon demanded, being dragged into the room against her will at top speed.
Lynn pointed at the window and shouted, "Scion! There's a Scion! Outside! Massive dragon Scion of Light!"
Rhiannon laughed at her and strolled towards the window, pausing to look at the expressions on their faces and faltered in her jaunty stride.
"What manner of power is this?" Yen Sid demanded as he hurried into library, eyebrows creased.
"There's a Scion of Light sat outside the castle – is anyone even listenin' to me?!"
"What's going on?" Riku skidded over the threshold as Rhiannon joined Mel's slumped posture. "Something just flew past the windows downstairs and we heard someone shouting,"
"Are you quite sure, Evalyn?" Yen Sid asked, remaining calm as everyone else around started to descend into panic.
"Look for yourself! That 'ent an ordinary dragon, or an ordinary anything!"
"Master Yen Sid," Rhiannon said in a tight voice, looking over her shoulder. "I tink you should come look at this."
"Is this the moment when we start panicking?" Riku asked, staring at Sora. "What happened?"
"I didn't do it!" Sora held the crystal at arm's length as if it might explode. "I don't know what I did! But I didn't do it!" he looked surprisingly put out when Yen Sid plucked the crystal from his hands as he walked past, studying it carefully. "Ummm…"
"Oh, so it's your fault? I might've known,"
"Hey!" Sora snapped, glowering at Riku. "I didn't do it! Not on purpose anyway!"
Terra skidded in behind Riku, almost knocking them both over. He looked from Ven to Aqua with a long-suffering and tired expression before saying listlessly, "Is there any reason why we have another dragon sat on the back lawn, or…?"
"Melody." Yen Sid said loudly, making her jump right out of her skin. "Where did you find these?" he gestured to the crystals in the box and scattered across the table, the ones still in tact.
"I-" she swallowed. "I found them. Two were in a market stall, and the others were just lying around in a riverbed. I…never found a use for them, but I didn't want to get rid of them, so I kept them, and…" words failed her.
"We must go outside and speak with him at once." Yen Sid said, deadly serious.
Aqua snapped out of her daze and ran for the door, Ven following closely on her heels. They raced down to the atrium and through the double doors to the courtyard where Leo was waiting for them, eyes fixed on the unfamiliar dragon. His stance was teetering on the edge of defensive; legs firmly planted, and neck arched backwards with his head held low to make himself less threatening – the usual tactic he used to placate someone he had annoyed.
Ven braced himself as he felt someone collide with him, and looked over his shoulder to find Sora and Riku scrabbling to regain their balance as they came to an abrupt halt, staring up at the huge dragon with fear and awe. It stood on two legs, and folded the other limbs like a pair of arms; the wings were held up stiffly and out at a slight angle so it gave the illusion of added size – although without them it was still far larger than even Leo, who stood taller at the shoulder than Terra now.
Yen Sid carefully cut a path through the crowd, carrying Mel's box with the other crystals placed carefully inside. Mel herself appeared from around Terra's elbow in the cramped space, exceptionally pale and eyes the widest of them all.
"That…" Rhiannon said slowly, raising a hand to point over Sora's head at the creature standing in the middle of the courtyard. "T'aint who I tink it is, is it, pet?"
Lynn sank onto a step behind Terra, able to see over his head clearly. She gave Rhiannon a rather frank if somewhat dispassionate glance. "Well and truly," she said, making a gesture in the air in front of her that Ven didn't understand. "Sweet, merciful Bahamut."
"Oh Christ almighty…" Rhiannon put the heel of her hand to her forehead. "What would the Master say?"
"Umm…" Lynn gave her a disbelieving look. "'Bloody hell', for starters?" she supplied.
Terra elbowed them both as Yen Sid got ready to speak, and they all fell quiet.
"Am I correct in assuming that you are Bahamut, the Scion of Light?" his voice rang out loud and clear across the courtyard. Leo's ears pricked and he extended his neck so his could nose closer, but he didn't move his feet.
Ven yelped, and wasn't the only one when he heard the deep voice that resonated not from the being stood before them, but from within his own head.
"Yes."
"Whoa…" Sora breathed, his eyes impossibly wide.
"It can talk?" Riku murmured, and yelped when the voice spoke again.
"I am capable of much more than human speech, young Master of The Keyblade." The mouth did not move, and nor did it need to – he was perfectly understandable without it. "Might I know the name of the Children of the Keyblade who now stand before me?"
Yen Sid introduced them all in official rank order, as was the proper custom. It felt a bit weird being placed before Terra, but that was the way the system worked – he had passed first time like Riku, and Terra and Sora had not.
Bahamut considered them all carefully for a while in silence before he spoke again. "My thanks to you. Long we have awaited the correct time to emerge once again."
"Am I correct in assuming that these other Crystals Melody was carrying with her are also the summoning stones for other Scions such as yourself?" Yen Sid asked.
"Correct, Master Yen Sid."
Mel nearly keeled over backwards, but Terra grabbed her arm and Lynn thrust out a hand to steady her back. It would have been hilarious, that expression on her face, if it weren't for the grave import this latest news brought.
"May I ask who else we have present here?"
"We number fewer than before, we have not all been reunited as I would have liked, but there are more gathered here than I could have hoped for, and for that, Apprentice Melody you have our deepest thanks."
Mel just nodded, not trusting her voice.
"The summoning stones of the Scions Alexander, Valefor, Leviathan, Gilgamesh and Ifrit are in that box."
Aqua's eyebrows shot up at this, and she looked first at the box, to Mel and back again, mouth working like a fish out of water. Those names registered dimly in Ven's mind, and he managed to recall a lesson where Master Eraqus had mentioned Alexander, a legendary fortress or something – it stuck out in his memories because he and Terra had been wrestling while Aqua eagerly asked questions that they both laughed at her for.
Ven wished he had paid more attention now…
"I see that the Keyblade's Dragon has returned to the world. That is brave news indeed. When the Darkness gathered we feared any eggs that remained would be lost. It is good to see fresh blood among the ranks."
Leo sat down unexpectedly on his hind legs and cocked his head to one side, eyes bright with curiosity. He bobbed his head forward again, making soft grating noises in the back of his throat, tail waving.
"And are you familiar with the Keyblade Dragon?" Yen Sid asked gravely.
"There has not been one for many a generation. This is all I can tell you; the time is ripe for new blood and he will be but the first of the new lineage. They will always and forever be fewer in number than those of the Keyblade's calling, but the time comes soon for a return to more than a population of naught. Dragons bound to the Keyblade were almost lost to the worlds forever, and it gladdens me that one has now hatched. Surely now others will follow, but you need the right Key to lead the way forward." Bahamut raised his head and looked directly at Aqua, and Ven heard her intake of breath. "You are truly worthy of your title, High Master, but you are not beckoned to the Dragons' Call, or the Dragons' Blade. That alone is for your Apprentice to find and keep. She needs guidance to take her to the place in body, mind and heart where she will be able to take what has been rightfully hers since birth." Here, Bahamut turned to Mel, and Ven thought for a moment she really would faint. He moved on and stared directly at Sora, who nearly dropped the crystal Yen Sid had handed back to him with alarm. "You are the boy the Stars speak of, soon to be a man if not already. My advice to you would be, to stay – just as you are. There you are of the greatest benefit to your friends and of the greatest hindrance to your foes. Much has rested on your shoulders and still much does; you will be called upon when the time is right, else much that was to be regained shall be lost, perhaps forever. But," he raised his head, as if tilting his chin, and Ven could sworn he was something like a playful light playing in his rather small, shadowed eyes that were impossible to discern the colour of from this distance. "A sense of decorum when the occasion calls would not go amiss, young Keyblade Master."
They all stood or sat in silence for a moment, absorbing what was said to them.
"I see there is much to think and discuss between you. I shall retire now. When you are ready, summon us forth. We are at your beck and call for counsel, protection and for battle as and when needed. Until then, Farewell, Children of the Keyblade."
Bahamut unfolded his arms, and tensed his body for a moment. A circle of light danced on the ground about his feet, that flared so brightly Ven had to raised his hands to shield his eyes. The great upright dragon jumped and launched himself into the air, circling upwards towards a pinpoint of light that engulfed him. A strong wind followed that ruffled their hair and clothes, and Leo bounded to the place where he had stood and sat back on his haunches, reaching up after him as if to follow. The purple crystal in Sora's hands shone with a light of its own as Bahamut disappeared into the sky, and then lay still and shadowed again.
"Whoa…" he and Riku gaped at it, and then at each other.
"That's…" Rhiannon's eyes were uncharacteristically wide.
"Well," Lynn made a show of nonchalance, clapping Terra on the back and mussing up Mel's hair. "I dunno 'bout you lads, but my mind has just been blown to smithereens. Fancy a gin, anyone?"
Aqua smiled with disbelief; a bit of a sad smile really, Ven thought as he edged towards her. "Another thing to add to the list."
"Melody." Yen Sid said, voice still grave.
Mel had sunk to the steps and sat down, and gazed at them all as if she didn't quite believe what she saw before her. She stood up surprisingly calmly, and took a few steps towards Yen Sid; he handed the box to Aqua for safekeeping and extended his hands to Mel.
"Had I known you had your grandfather's knack of attracting such attention to yourself, I doubt I would have been any less surprised."
She just stared back at him like a deer caught in the headlights.
"He must have known when he instructed you, that you were marked for a higher purpose."
"I'm sorry…" Mel squeaked, starting to tremble.
"Whatever for?"
Ven leapt up and crossed over to her, just before her tenuous grip on control slid.
"If I'd known it was a Scion of Light I wouldn't have used that crystal as a paperweight!" Mel stipulated with near terror in her voice.
By that point Ven had reached her, and pulled her into a hug, just as Terra and Aqua moved to join them. Leo barged his way past, nearly knocking the old Master off his feet in his haste. Mel was cocooned in the middle of the huddle, still trembling and weakly pleading her ignorance.
Ven looked up in time to see Riku and Sora exchange looks, and grin at each other.
"Ice cream?" he asked hopefully, and Riku nodded, before they both ran up the stairs, leaving Kairi behind.
"Here, flower," Rhiannon said.
"Bloody hell!" Lynn took the flask from her. "Actual gin?" she sniffed at it expertly before standing and offering it to Aqua with a flourish. "Milady,"
Aqua stared at her blankly for a moment before she laughed and took the offered hip flask.
"I fancy a real ale." Lynn said, rubbing her hands together and stretching her arms as if to dispel an ache. She turned to Lea and said, "How many can you sneak past Rinoa?"
Lea flashed her a smirk and said, "Enough."
"No booze up." Aqua said flatly, rubbing Mel's back soothingly as she struggled to speak coherently.
XOXOX