"WHAT?!"
Clair and Jason were absolutely shocked by this revelation. Chase's jaw dropped while Dylan's eyes widened.
"H-How?!"
"That's what I'm trying to figure out..." Merlin stroked his beard. As he pondered to himself, he noticed the blood on Anne's clothes, so he cast a spell to remove the bloodstains, making her outfit clean again.
"B-But we're from different worlds!" Clair stammered.
"There's no way that can work." Jason said with denial, trying to comprehend what they were being told. How could they be related to someone who was from a different world?!
"Unless..." Merlin turned to them. "How well do you two know your family tree?"
"I don't do genealogy." Jason said, giving a shrug.
Clair pulled out her holoscreen. "I did some research on our family, once..."
She began looking through the files on it. "There was an ancestor on my dad's side... Her name was Regan Barron. She had a sister, but... it says she vanished one day and was never seen again."
"That's my mother's side, too." Jason realized.
The two looked at each other, still incredibly shocked. "You don't think...?"
"How many generations ago did this happen?" Jason asked Clair.
"About... 6 or 7..."
"Whoa." Chase whispered with awe.
"We need to ask Anne when she wakes up." Clair said
Looking at her, Dylan said, "I've known Anne a long time, and I don't think she's ever shown any interest in her family tree."
"So you don't think she'd know of anyone from six to seven generations ago who'd fit the alibi." Jason deduced.
Dylan gave a shrug. "Possibly not."
"I kind of remember her mentioning her grandpa talked to her about her family tree once..." Chase then mentioned.
"How long ago was that?" Jason asked him.
"About... a year ago?" Chase looked at his brother. "Wasn't she talking about how her grandpa kept telling her about this one ancestor of hers?"
"I think so." Dylan remembered, thinking back to that moment.
"What did she say...?" Clair asked cautiously.
"She told us that her grandpa said according to the records, a woman mysteriously showed up one day, talking about tales where she was from another land far far away, as if it was... a world apart from our own. Most people didn't believe her, but one guy found her very interesting and ended up falling in love with her and married her..."
"That can't be a coincidence." Clair said.
"Did she say what her name was?"
Dylan wracked his brain. "Um... I think it was... Alicia? I can't recall her maiden name though." He added.
Clair hesitated before she checked her holo screen again, looking at where she left off. Her eyes widened when she saw the name of the sister who had vanished: Alicia.
"The name of the woman who vanished was Alicia." Clair said breathlessly.
"What was her maiden name...?"
"... Alicia Barron."
Sora ran through the roads of Radiant Garden as he was fighting off stray Heartless while searching for the others.
He managed to find Donald and Goofy holding off a pair of Heartless, so he charged in to help them out. He threw his Keyblade at one of them, nailing it in the side and drawing its attention.
It saw Sora running straight towards them as his Keyblade reappeared in his hand before he jumped up, attacking the Heartless again before it could react. The Armored Knight staggered, then attempted to stab the spiky haired teen with its blade-arm, only to be parried by Sora's weapon.
"You guys okay?" Sora asked his friends as he faced the Heartless.
"We're fine, don't worry!" Goofy told him, blocking an attack from the other Armored Knight.
Donald regained his footing and focused. "BLIZZAGA!" he squawked, completely freezing the Armored Knight solid. Sora attacked it while it was vulnerable and slashed through the Heartless. As that one was defeated, they moved on to attack the other together. Donald swung his staff at the Armored Knight's leg, knocking it flat on its back.
Goofy then jumped and slammed his shield down on its head as hard as he could, leaving it dazed. As it struggled to get back up, Sora jabbed it forcefully, then delivered an upwards slash. As the Armored Knight laid on the ground weakened, Donald used a Firaga spell, leaving no trace of the Heartless left.
The trio let out a sigh of relief as they caught their breath. "Sora, are you alright?" Donald asked his friend.
Sora let his Keyblade hang by his side as he turned to the king's magician. "I'm okay."
"What was that scream earlier?" Goofy inquired. "Did ya find out what it was?"
Sora nodded. "I did. It was Anne who was screaming. By the time I got there, I found where she was, Jason was fighting this guy who... had a Keyblade."
"He WHAT?!" Donald and Goofy yelled, their eyes bugging out with horror.
The spiky haired Keyblade wielder had a grim look on his face. "He did... and he hurt Jason and Anne. I helped Jason fight him and the guy, Josh... he got away."
"Rats." Donald muttered. "Where'd you think he went to?"
"I have no idea... he used a Corridor of Darkness to escape." Sora told them.
"If this fella's got a Keyblade, then who knows what kinda trouble he'll try to stir up?" Goofy noted. "We should probably keep an eye out for this Josh."
Donald gave a nod of agreement. "Was he with the Organization?"
"I don't know." Sora replied, giving a shrug. He then noticed a pair of Heartless trying to scurry through the streets. "Looks like we got some more unwelcome guests. You guys ready?"
"Let's get 'em!" Donald yelled before he, Sora, and Goofy charged in with their weapons to deal with the Heartless.
Aurora grunted, attacking another one of the creatures that had lagged behind. She, Stella, and Nash were currently trying to make their way back to Merlin's while they fought against some stray Heartless.
Stella spotted a Crimson Jazz getting ready to attack a civilian that was trying to run away, so she attacked the Heartless from behind. The monster twitched, turning its attention to her while the civilian ran away. As it charged up a fireball, it also set out a few mines. Stella's eyes widened as she jumped away from them, but to her surprise, a couple of the energy mines followed her.
They began to glow, which Stella quickly figured it meant they were about to go off. The teenager dove and rolled away just as the mines following her exploded. The Crimson Jazz prepared to also shoot the fireball, but Nash jumped up and stabbed it with his sais.
The sudden attack caught the Heartless off guard as it flinched, then swung its entire body at the black haired teenager, slamming Nash into a wall.
"Gah!"
With a groan, he fell to the ground while the Crimson Jazz tried to recover from the blow it had received. Aurora decided to attack the Heartless while it was currently paying attention to Nash and slammed her Keyblade into its side as hard as she could. The flying Heartless ended up spinning around uncontrollably from the blow as it went towards Stella.
She readied her Keyblade as it was trying to stop spinning, then made her move as she attacked the Heartless. The strike was enough to finish the monster off, releasing the heart it held as the heart floated up and out of sight.
Nash winced quietly, his back aching as he slowly started to get up. As he lifted his head, his eyes widened as he saw another Heartless trying to sneak attack them. "Watch out!"
Aurora whirled around just in time to see the Heartless lunge at them, but she quickly blocked its attack. The Armored Knight put more force into its attack, attempting to force Aurora down. The black haired teen gritted her teeth as she planted her feet firmly in the ground and pushed back with her Keyblade. Stella ran to help her out as she attacked the Heartless in the side, making it flinch from the blow.
As it left itself open for attack, Aurora forced the monster away, kicking it square in the chest. The Armored Knight stumbled, then swung its arm to try and land a hit on her. It managed to cut her on the arm, making her grimace in pain.
Nash then got an idea and pulled out the summoning gem he was given, focusing as much as he could on it. "Hawkeye!" he cried out as it began to glow. The teen tossed the gem up and a moment later, the archer himself fell down, landing on his knees with his bow and arrow in hand.
Barton looked around, blinking as he saw his surroundings, but noticed the three teens. "Hey there. Need my help already?"
"Kind of, yeah!" Nash told him, gesturing to the Heartless they were dealing with. The archer drew out an arrow as he aimed, then fired as the arrow hit the Armored Knight in the side. The monster turned its attention away from Aurora and directed it at them before it charged forward. Nash and Hawkeye dove out of the way, tricking it into crashing into the wall.
Hawkeye shot another arrow at the Heartless, which turned into a net and trapped it. While it struggled to get out, Stella cast Cura on Aurora and Nash to heal them of their injuries. As soon as they were healed, the Heartless used the blade on its arm to slice through the ropes and free itself. It turned towards the group, ready to attack again, but it was clear that it was on its last legs.
The Armored Knight staggered on its first few steps before it charged at them. Nash threw one of his sais at it, nailing it right in the chest, which caught the monster off guard yet again. As it stumbled, Hawkeye drew another arrow, taking aim before firing. The arrow pierced its shoulder, but it didn't seem to affect the Heartless that much. However, the archer just relaxed and began to count down. "Three... two... one."
The arrow suddenly exploded, severely damaging the Armored Knight. The monster fell to the ground, unable to move any further. Seeing this, Aurora jabbed her Keyblade into the monster and destroyed it. While the heart floated up into the sky, Nash picked up his sai and turned to Hawkeye. "Thanks for the help."
"No problem." the Avenger shrugged, then seemed to realize something. "Looks like I gotta head back. See ya." he announced as he vanished. The summoning gem landed back in Nash's hand as he looked around for any more signs of danger.
"Looks like it's all clear here." he announced.
"Then we better keep moving." Aurora told him before she began to move on ahead with Stella and Nash following her.
Riku, Kairi, and Cloud were in another part of the town making their way through trying to rendezvous with the rest of the team.
Cloud saw a Morning Star ahead of them getting ready to launch itself in the air. "Watch out!" he warned the teenagers. The teens saw the Heartless jumping and preparing to slam its spiky body down on them, so they quickly jumped out of the way. Some gravel was kicked up as the Morning Star crashed into the ground.
It then used its arms to try and attack them with the spikes attached to its hands, spinning around as it moved towards them. Kairi readied her Keyblade and aimed it at the Heartless. "Thundara!" she cried out, zapping the Morning Star with the spell.
The armor clad Heartless twitched violently as it was electrocuted. Riku ran towards a wall and jumped onto it, running across it and towards the monster while it was stunned as he raised his Keyblade and slammed it into the Morning Star. He jabbed it again as Cloud charged forward, swinging his buster sword in a downward strike and landing a blow. The Morning Star flinched from the hit, staggering back and nearly falling over just as Kairi leaped in, delivering a downward slash.
As soon as she landed on the ground, she attacked again, finishing the monster off with a Firaga.
Cloud watched as the body of the Heartless vanished and the heart floated up into the sky. However, he then sensed a presence behind him and turned around, blocking a surprise attack from a Bookmaster that had appeared.
The Bookmaster prepared a fireball and tossed it at Cloud, only for the man to dodge it as it hit the area where he once stood. Riku and Kairi saw the Heartless and prepared to fight again. Kairi made the first move and charged to attack, only for the Bookmaster to use its book to knock her away. The red-haired Keyblade wielder managed to land on her feet, skidding a bit as she regained her balance. Riku moved to help her out just as Kairi moved to attack the Bookmaster again. Seeing that she was about to attack again, the Bookmaster threw out its book, only for Kairi to dodge it.
She swung Destiny's Embrace and nailed the mage-like Heartless in the side. The Bookmaster spun around from the hit, but slowed itself down as Kairi ran to attack it again. This time, it threw its book out and cast a defensive spell on itself, so when she hit it again, the blow didn't do much damage.
Riku then ran at the Bookmaster, swinging Way to Dawn at the Heartless and landing a hit. It then attacked the Keyblade Master using its book as a melee weapon to smack him away. The silver haired teenager grunted in pain, but flipped himself upright before he hit the ground. He leapt back at the magic using Heartless and jabbed at it before delivering a slash. The monster flinched from the blow, then tried to attack Riku, who blocked it just in time as the book bounced off his Keyblade.
While it was focused on fighting Riku, Cloud moved to attack it from behind and slashing at its back. The Heartless flew forward from the sudden move, sending it straight towards Riku, who then sliced at the creature and destroyed it.
Kairi let out a sigh of relief, but then heard the sound of footsteps. She whirled around, mistaking it to be another Heartless trying to ambush them, but instead, she saw Sora, Donald, and Goofy running towards them.
"Riku! Kairi!"
"Sora!" the two exclaimed with relief, running to greet their friend. Kairi engulfed him in a hug, which he returned, though he was blushing quite a bit.
"Are you guys okay?"
"We're fine, don't worry." Kairi reassured him as they broke the hug.
Sora then noticed Cloud and blinked with surprise. "Cloud?"
"Sora. Donald. Goofy. It's been a while." the man nodded in acknowledgement.
"Have you seen the others?" Riku inquired.
The spiky haired teen gave a nod in reply. "Yeah. I ran into some of them when they were fighting this one guy. But... he had a Keyblade."
Riku's blood ran cold while Kairi gasped. Cloud narrowed his eyes at that. "A Keyblade...?"
"Yeah. Jason and Anne were having a tough time fighting him, but I got there in time to help them out. He escaped, though..." Sora explained to them. He was just as concerned as they were with the fact that there was another Keyblade wielder wanting to do harm out there.
"This can't be good..." Riku muttered to himself. Sora nodded in agreement.
"You'd better find the rest of your group, then." Cloud told them. "They'll need to know about this."
"Right." Sora nodded, looking back at his friends. "Come on, we gotta find the others!"
Cloud, though, turned on his heel to head in a different direction, catching Sora's attention. "Where are you going?" he asked the older man, raising an eyebrow.
"You go on ahead. I'm going to make sure that there are no other Heartless left in town." he told the group before him. Sora gave a nod of understanding before he and his friends took off down the path.
Dylan had stayed by Anne's side in Merlin's house while Jason sat in a nearby chair deep in thought. Clair was pacing around the room. She couldn't believe this...
They were related to Anne? They were family?
It was... incredible!
This whole time, they were traveling with another family member! What were the odds of something like that happening?
There was a lot they'd need to talk about...
Suddenly, Anne's fingers twitched ever so slightly before slowly closing around Dylan's hand, clasping it in her own. He took notice of that, sitting up straighter. "Anne?"
That also got Clair and Jason's attention as they turned towards them.
Very slowly, Anne groggily opened her eyes, with the first thing she saw being Dylan's relieved face. "Anne!"
"D... Dylan...?" she asked weakly, still lying down. Her vision was a bit blurry, but it was slowly clearing up.
"It's me, Annie... I'm here. We're all here..."
The brown haired girl blinked tiredly, feeling like she had no energy. The last thing she remembered was sitting against that wall in that area after Sora and Jason chased off Josh. "Where... are we?"
"We're in Merlin's house right now. We brought you here."
"What happened? Where's... where's Josh...?"
"He got away..." Jason frowned.
Anne frowned slightly as well. Then she struggled to sit up as she weakly asked, "Why do I feel like I got hit by a Large Body?"
"You lost a lot of blood, but Jason gave you some of his through a blood transplant. He saved you." Dylan told her, then helped her sit up.
"Really?" She looked at him with a grateful expression. "Thank you."
Jason gave a nod, then exchanged a look with Clair. "We, uh... have something to tell you..." Clair said, deciding they should tell her what they had found out.
Anne blinked, slowly sitting up with the help of Dylan. The black haired boy offered her a cup of water, which she accepted. "What is it...?" she asked after she had taken a sip.
"When Cid's computer was scanning my blood for a match... it not only found a match with the blood, but with your DNA and mine."
Anne blinked. "What are you saying? That we're related?" She laughed a little, which then turned into a coughing fit. "Nice joke, guys..."
She then saw the looks on her faces as the realization settled in. "... you're serious?" she asked, her eyes slowly widening.
"Merlin and Cid have the evidence, and DNA doesn't lie." Jason said. Anne's eyed widened as they showed her the proof, gesturing to the files on Cid's computer.
"That's... how?"
"Anne, do you remember when you told us about your grandpa when he was talking about your family tree?" Dylan asked gently.
"Y-Yeah..."
Clair showed Anne her holo screen as she pulled up the ancestors. "Was one of your ancestors named Alicia Barron...?"
"Yeah, Grandpa wouldn't stop talking about how she showed up one day talking about weird stuff, like how she was all mysterious and-" Anne cut herself off as she saw the two sisters and her eyes fell on one of them. She stared at the image for a moment, then recognition flickered in her eyes. "... t-that's her... "
"But... that means... she wasn't crazy like people thought." Clair realized.
"T-Then... all that stuff about her saying she was from another far away land was true?"
"Did your grandpa ever say that she mentioned a sister? By the name of Regan?"
"... yes..." Anne whispered, stunned by everything.
"Then that seals it. She was telling the truth. She was from Harthyn... she somehow ended up on your world."
Anne looked at Clair and Jason with wide eyes, unable to believe what she was hearing. "We're... family? This is..."
"Unexpected." Jason finished for her.
Anne gave a nod in reply as she looked at her newfound relatives. "You can say that again."
Clair then gave Anne a hug, much to her surprise.
"What's with the hug?" Anne asked.
"Because a lost branch of our family tree has been found." Clair said. "It may be a distant relationship, however many times removed, but that doesn't change the fact that we are family now."
Anne was surprised, but after a moment, slowly cracked a smile. She hesitated for a moment, but hugged Clair back. Clair then looked at Jason, and motioned for him to join in.
Jason hesitated for a moment, but she motioned again. He then walked over and wrapped his arms around them.
Chase and Dylan watched on as the scene took place before them. "Yay, family reunion...!" Chase said quietly, making Dylan roll his eyes at his brother's joke.
"Maybe we should give them some time alone..." Dylan whispered, nudging him. With that said, they left the room as the three reunited family members continued to hug.
Meanwhile, Sora, Riku, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy were rushing through the streets as fast as they could. They could hear the distant sounds of a battle, so they were rushing in the direction they had heard the noise come from.
They eventually found Lea dealing with a pair of Neoshadows. The pyro jumped back as one tried to claw at him, then shot a flurry of flames at the humanoid Heartless, scorching it. The other Neoshadow lunged to attack him as well, but Lea used his Keyblade to block the hit.
While he dug his feet into the ground to push back, Sora leapt into action, attacking the other Neoshadow as soon as he was close enough.
"Hey, welcome to the party!" Lea managed to quip just as he shoved the Neoshadow he was fighting away.
"How much did we miss?" Kairi asked.
"Ah, not that much, really." the pyro shrugged, but had to block another attack from the Heartless as it sunk into the ground and attempted to ambush him.
Goofy used a spin attack, whirling around with his shield and hitting the Neoshadow a couple times. The Heartless sunk into the ground again to avoid another blow as it slithered behind Goofy once he stopped spinning.
Seeing his friend was about to be attacked, Donald reacted quickly and shot a Blizzaga spell at the Neoshadow, freezing it solid within a block of ice before it could even claw at Goofy. Now that it was left open for attack, Kairi slashed at the Heartless a couple times, then delivered a strong jab and took it out.
Riku moved to attack the remaining Heartless with Way to Dawn, slashing at it, but missed as it flattened itself. He kept his eye on it as it moved around to try and ambush him. The Keyblade Master waited for the right moment, then struck once the Neoshadow popped back up.
Sora lent his friend a hand, using Strike Raid and throwing his Keyblade, hitting the Heartless and stunning it for a moment. Riku attacked it once more, using a flurry of strikes until the Heartless was no more.
Once the Heartless were defeated, the group took a moment to relax. "So, how was it going on your end?" Lea questioned.
"We fought a buncha Heartless around the town." Goofy told him.
"And before I caught up with Donald and Goofy, I found this guy attacking Jason, Dylan, and Anne. He had a Keyblade." Sora said, much to Lea's surprise. "I think he might have caused that explosion we heard earlier. He ended up making Anne loose a lot of blood before I got there. We fought him, but he got away."
"Great, another nut with a Keyblade." Lea muttered. Looks like they had another problem to worry about, now.
Sora gave a sigh, nodding in agreement. "We'd better find the rest of the team and head back to Merlin's, then."
It was then they heard the sound of footsteps, causing them all to tense and draw their weapons. However, they eased up as they saw it was only Aurora, Nash, and Stella running around the corner. Stella blinked when she saw them. "Guys?"
"Hey there." Kairi greeted, dismissing her Keyblade.
"I take it you took care of the Heartless on your end?" Aurora asked, banishing her Keyblade as well.
"Yep." Sora confirmed with a nod.
Stella rose an eyebrow, taking a quick look around. "Where are the others?"
"They've gone back to Merlin's since Anne lost some blood. I think they're all still there."
"We'd better catch up with them, then." Aurora said.
The others gave nods of agreement before they began to take the road that led back to the wizard's house together.
As the group headed through the town, they could see that people were already starting to recover from the aftermath of the attack, even pitching in to try and help out setting things back up. Among those people was Scrooge, who was helping fix up someone's stand.
"Lousy Heartless. They've got no respect, I tell ya!" he was saying. He hoisted up a crate, but it seemed rather heavy. He nearly lost his balance and would have fallen over if it weren't for Donald who had rushed over and helped him out. "Ah, Donald!"
"Are you okay, Uncle Scrooge?" the court magician asked. "Do you need a hand?"
"I'm fine, don't worry, lad. Though helping me help this lad out would be nice." the elderly duck replied. Donald started helping him, as did Riku and Nash. The vendor was grateful for that as their stand was being restored.
"At least we were able to take the Heartless down." Goofy quipped.
"Aye. I just hope they won't be causing any more racket around here for a while." Scrooge dusted his hands off after setting the merchandise back on the table. "Ah, there we go! Good as new!"
The vendor thanked them for their help as he went back behind the counter.
Scrooge then prepared to head back to his own stand, but then turned back to the team. "You all be careful, now. You never know when trouble will happen again."
"You got it." Sora nodded before he and the rest of the group resumed their trek to Merlin's.
In the wizard's house, Anne, Clair, and Jason were currently talking with each other since Dylan, Chase, Cid, Aerith, and Merlin gave them their space.
"I still can't believe this..." Jason admitted.
"Does... this makes us cousins, then?" Anne inquired.
Clair gave a nod. "I think it does." she said. "But what do we do with it?"
"I... I don't know." Anne admitted as she sat up in her cot.
"Maybe... bond?" Clair suggested. Since their friend was revealed to be their relative, then maybe they should take the chance to get to know each other better.
Anne looked up at that. "That sounds like a good idea..." she agreed as she looked at them.
"So... what do you like?" Clair asked her newfound relative.
"I like music... comic books, anime, dogs, pop..." Anne spoke up.
"We haven't had comics on Harthyn for years." Jason remarked.
"Seriously?" Anne rose an eyebrow. Jason gave a nod as he took a seat. "So, um... what else do you guys like?" Anne asked them, then added,"I know that you like reading, Clair."
"I've never really liked anything." Jason shrugged.
"You haven't?" Anne blinked. "Are you sure?"
"If I did, I forgot what."
Clair looked at him with sympathy, as did Anne. Deciding to change the subject to a lighter one, Clair asked, "So, what are your parents like?"
"Mine? Well... Mom's very caring. And Dad..." She cracked a smile as she remembered them. "He is, too. He's also pretty protective. I think if he knew I was dating Dylan, it'd probably end up like some comedy."
Clair couldn't help but giggle at that. Anne hoped that if he did find out, then he wouldn't freak out.
The music loving teen then chuckled. "You know, there was this one time where we were having a cookout and Dad was using the grill. But for some reason, it wouldn't work. So he tried kicking it a couple times, and when that didn't work, he opened it up and got a face full of soot..."
"Grill?" Jason asked with confusion. "What's a 'grill'?"
"It's this thing on our world that's used to grill stuff like hot dogs, steaks, and hamburgers..." Anne said, trying not to laugh at the memory of her dad's face comically covered in soot.
"We don't have food like that on Harthyn." Clair noted.
That took Anne by surprise. "Wow..." She then looked at Jason. "What's your mother like...?" she asked him, since he already told her about his father.
Jason sighed as he looked down. "She... she wasn't much help against Dad... cause, you know... but she always knew how to give me peace."
"She sounds very caring..."
"She is." Jason nodded.
"And your father is the devil's brother." Anne said.
"More like the son of Zadiph." Jason muttered.
Anne blinked at that, tilting her head. "Who?"
"The opposite of Gri." Clair explained.
"Where I'm from that essentially is the devil."
"Wow..." Clair commented.
"That's accurate, though." Jason said.
"As for my parents..." Clair gave a smile as she spoke. "They're the best. Mom makes sure I know about my ancestors from both sides of my family, and always told the best stories."
"She sounds cool." Anne commented with a smile.
"And my Dad is awesome. He's an expert on history and mythology. And he may not look like it, but he also loves extracurricular activities."
Anne smiled lightly. "I'd like to meet your parents."
"If they're somewhere out there, I think you might be able to." Jason told her.
"And after all of this is over, I'm going to introduce you to comics again." Anne added.
Clair smiled. "Thanks..."
Anne moved to get up, but they stopped her. "Whoa, what are you doing?"
"Getting out of this."
"You should get some more rest." Clair advised. "You're not ready to be up and about. You just had a blood transplant."
"Guys, I'm feeling fine." Anne insisted as she started to get up again, but felt light headed, so she had to sit back down before she would fall.
"It'll be okay. As long as you get the rest you need, you should be able to get back on your feet, soon." Clair tried to reassure her.
"I guess..."
Jason sighed and crossed his arms. "We'll need to be on our guard more now."
"Why?" Anne asked.
"There's a psycho out there with a Keyblade. Well, another psycho. We'll need to be on the lookout if we run into him again." he pointed out.
Clair shuddered at that. By what she had seen in the graveyard in Halloween Town and recently, she did not want to run into him again anytime soon.
"I get a feeling we may run into him sooner rather than later." Anne said grimly.
Jason frowned. "Then we'll need to be ready..." he said, though he looked like he had something else on his mind.
"Jason?" Clair asked, raising an eyebrow.
He snapped out of his thoughts as he glanced over at her. "What?"
"Are you okay?"
"... he nearly killed a couple of us, and we couldn't do anything about it."
It was then the door opened up as Sora and the rest of the gang returned. "We're back, guys!" the Keyblade wielder greeted, then noticed the three. "Was Merlin able to help?"
Anne nodded from where she was sitting. "Jason was able to do a blood transplant to help me."
"Now I just need to rest and I'll be good as new."
"That's good to hear." Goofy nodded, then rose an eyebrow as he noticed their expressions. "Is somethin' wrong?"
"Um... no, not really." Clair replied. "We found something out recently, though."
"Is it bad?" Donald asked.
The teen shook her head. "No. It's... Actually something good."
"Well, don't keep us in the dark."
Clair, Jason, and Anne all exchanged a look. "Well... after Jason gave some blood to Anne to save her, we found out that.. well, Anne is related to us." Clair explained to them.
A lot of jaws dropped from the news they had heard.
"Wait... what?" Aurora finally asked.
"We're related. We're family." Jason told them.
"HOW?!"
"Well... we had this ancestor on my mother's side that had a sister, but one day, apparently, that sister vanished from Harthyn and ended up on Anne's world. And there, she started a family, and Anne's descended from that family."
"Wow..." Sora then gave a big grin after a moment. "That's awesome, you guys!"
That was not the reaction Jason was expecting. "Um... thanks?" he asked, not knowing what to say.
"That's all you have to say? You're a family being reunited." Sora said gleefully.
"It's still hard to wrap my head around."
"I don't blame you. It's almost like when I learned I was from Radiant Garden." Kairi remarked.
"Wait, what?" That earned her some surprised stares from some of the team.
"What?" Kairi shrugged at their expressions. "I lived here when I was a little girl, then ended up on Destiny Islands after it fell to darkness."
Aurora rose an eyebrow. "And why didn't you say this before?"
"You didn't ask."
It was then Merlin, Cid, Aerith, Dylan, and Chase had reentered the room.
"Guys! You're back!" Chase greeted them. "Are you okay?"
Lea gave a nod in reply, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Yeah, just catching up."
"You're not gonna believe what we found out!" Chase began. "Clair, Jason, and Anne are-"
"Related?" Riku finished for him, giving a nod. "They just told us that."
Chase's jaw dropped before he slumped over. "Way to ruin my surprise."
Clair couldn't help but giggle at her boyfriend's antics. Even Sora, Donald, Goofy, Riku, and a few of the others chuckled a bit as well.
Merlin then adjusted his glasses. "Now, I'm going to assume the Heartless attack has been dealt with, yes?"
"Yeah, we took them out." Riku confirmed.
"Barely." Aurora added, crossing her arms.
"I see." Merlin walked to a desk, setting down a couple of books. "Well, since Anne here is going to need some time to rest, I suggest that you all should take some time to wind down."
"And do what?" Jason inquired from where he sat.
"Perhaps get some rest as well, or you could walk around outside for a bit." Merlin told him before he headed back downstairs. Before he did, though, he turned to Aerith and asked, "Aerith, do you mind if you help me organize some herbs?"
She nodded and followed him down the stairs, leaving them alone.
Jason was silent for a moment, then headed to the front door.
"Jason? Where are you going?" Clair called to him.
"I... this is a lot to process. I need some time alone. I'll be back, soon." With that said, he was gone.
Sora then looked back at the rest of the team. "What do you guys think?"
"I could go for some relaxing." Nash shrugged, flopping down onto a chair. The battle had exhausted him and he was ready to take a long nap. A couple others gave murmurs of agreement, as they too were wanting to take a break and save up their energy for later.
"While some of us do that, then maybe we can see what the damage from the attack was." Kairi suggested.
"That sounds like a good plan." Sora nodded, heading towards the door. "I'll go check. Anyone wanna come with me?"
Kairi, Lea, Riku, Donald, and Goofy joined him, walking over to the front door as well. Riku glanced back at the rest of the team. "In case anything comes up, let us know as soon as you can." he advised.
"You got it." Chase nodded.
"Will you guys be alright?" Sora then asked.
"I think so." Clair replied.
Anne just sighed and laid back down while Sora's group stepped out of Merlin's house. She hated the fact that she would have to stay in this cot for a while, but by the looks of it, if she tried to get up, nothing good would happen.
As a couple of the others headed off, Dylan knelt down by Anne's side. "It'll be okay, Annie. You'll be back on your feet in no time."
"And hey, you can use this time to hang out with your family members." Chase added, giving a smile to Clair.
She gave a nod at that. "That sounds like a good idea, Chase..."
