OOOOOh! I'm so excited!
I've been waiting for this!
Enjoy!
(and Mattman, answers to your questions are at the end of the chapter)
Kingdom Hearts © to Disney and Square Enix!
My OCs © to me!
Other OCs © to their respective owners!
Chapter 34: Lost Masters
"Phinehas? I thought… Wait, Chirithy, what are you doing here? And what did you mean by that? You've seen a Keyblade forged before?"
The minister grinned. "Seen them. I've forged them myself actually. Six in particular were my finest works." He strode over to the duffle bag beside Kairi and pulled out what she thought to be the bottom layer of cloth.
The cloth unfolded as he slung it around, slipping his arms into sleeves.
"Now, it has been a long time since I wore this." He zipped up the zipper. "And might as well drop the face." He pulled the black hood over his head; just before his face vanished from sight, Kairi saw magic fading from it. His mouth and chin changed to an entirely different shape(1)."
"Wh-who are you!?" She demanded, brandishing her new Keyblade.
The man, now dressed in a long, familiar, black coat laughed. His voice sounded different too. "Who am I!? Well, most people would call me," he spun around, posing dramatically, "the Master of Masters!" He paused. "You haven't heard of me?"
"No…"
"Darn…" He pouted. "Well, basically I'm a suuuuper ancient Keyblade master from before the Keyblade War. Actually, my students and those under them actually were in that war."
Kairi looked down at Chirithy. "Did… did you know this?"
"No. When he was disguised as Phinehas I didn't know. I've only come into contact with him here in the tower, and the tower dampened my senses. It wasn't until he entered the cave that I realized who he was."
The master puffed out his chest. "That's right. I didn't want to ruin the surprise. Chirithy here would've known me right away. I made the little guy after all."
"You made him?"
"That I did." He clapped his hands. "Sorry about the deceit, but had to keep up the whole Phinehas thing. I jumped worldlines, but I was unable to get back, so I've been stuck here. And let me tell you, setting up a fake life that detailed is not easy. But hey, it paid off! Though, I had a feeling someone would come here eventually, and I could go back with them… call it, intuition."
He bounced toward Kairi, the girl taking a slight step back. The coat made her very uneasy.
"And you came! I've been watching you this whole time. Watching you grow as a wielder, and giving you a little nudge or two." The master sighed. "You remind me of another girl I trained. Little optimist she was. A bright yellow dandelion."
Kairi stood ready to fight. She didn't trust him, not yet. "If you were watching me, why not help me more?"
The master put his hands on his hips. "What good would that have done? Thing is, I could've told you how to do this whole thing from the beginning. I could've even made the Keyblade for you. But then you wouldn't have grown so much and come so far. Sometimes, a good master knows it's best to step back and let the student learn on their own. Sure, I gave you advice and hints when I knew you wouldn't be able to find it on your own, but I let you do the leg work." He laughed. "And now that you know, I can help you so much more! You've come this far, but there is still some ways to go before you can open that door and save your man."
"What's stopping me from opening the door right now? It's right here?" She pointed at the doors in question.
All she had to do was turn around.
Sora could be with her now.
"This." The master walked around, putting himself between her and the door. "This world is in danger. If you rescue him now and leave, this world will die."
"How do I know you're telling the truth?"
"Kairi," Chirithy hopped over, "you can trust him. And even if you don't, trust me and what I say."
The girl looked down at her friend. Chirithy was right…
She didn't trust him, but Chirithy seemed to. She'd follow the dream eater's lead then.
For now.
"So, what is this danger." She loosened up, lowering her Keyblade, but not dismissing it.
"The LLE of course. The leader is hellbent on destroying this door. Not only is this the way you need to get to your boy, but it's the side of darkness here. Light and darkness are two sides of the same coin and-"
"One cannot exist without the other."
"Exactly. He destroys this door, and the world goes poof. He'll destroy it outright. He knows it too, and is planning on it. Oh, and he's the guy who hacked Stella as well."
"Why blow up the door?"
"Not sure, but he wants it gone, and he will do anything to make it happen." The master sat on the rocky ground. "Thing is, I haven't been able to find his identity, but I do know one thing for sure. He's close to the military and royal family."
Kairi gasped. "How?"
"By the way he hacked Stella." He stretched his arms. "Stella is just as good as him, but she just doesn't know it yet. He got into that office and would've had to get into her system directly to hack in. So, he's someone who can be in the base and has access to her computer."
"You keep saying 'he'. Are you sure the LLE leader is a guy?"
The master nodded. "Unless he's using a voice changer, I've heard his voice once. Definitely a man's voice. So, we need to take him down. Agreed?"
Well, the LLE did need to go down. And Kairi wasn't about to let anyone destroy this world on her watch. So-
"Agreed."
"Great!" The master jumped up. "I've got a list of suspects I'll check out. But, I'll need you to be my eyes in the military. Don't trust anyone now. Trust no one but yourself, and Chirithy here."
Trust no one?
She trusted Yozora, Aegis, and so many others.
"I don't know if I can do that."
"You have to try a little. Otherwise we may not catch this guy." He snapped his fingers. A wave of magic washed over him before he removed the hood, revealing the face of Phinehas. His fake face. "You and me, we're a team now."
"I guess so."
"And, seriously good job on forging that Keyblade. It's stellar! What's it called?"
"Kingdom Key-Q."
"Q for queen I assume."
"Yeah…"
He slipped off the coat, putting it back in the bag. "Meet you outside!" He vanished in a warp spell.
Kairi immediately turned to Chirithy. "Was he serious!?"
"I don't know about the LLE stuff, but he is the Master of Masters all right. He made me. I would know him almost anywhere. I think you can trust him, for now at least."
"Wait," the girl paused, "you don't trust him?"
"Not fully. I've seen what became of his orders before. I'm not sure what his motives are, but I think in this particular case we can trust him."
"Is he good?"
"I don't know."
"That's not comforting…"
"He's a strange one. No one can really read him, and he doesn't speak in a straightforward manner most of the time. If you want to understand what he's doing and why, you will have to watch him. Trust what he does, not what he says(2)."
"Guess so."
Kairi turned back toward the door.
Sorry Sora. You'll just have to wait a little longer.
And it wouldn't be right to go find him and Maris without Yozora anyway.
The girl jogged back through the cave and up the stairs to the door. She knocked.
"Is it done!?" Phinehas opened the door, the puppy-like glimmer in his eyes.
Almost like it was real, like the Master of Masters wasn't even there.
But he was.
"Y-yeah…"
She walked out, followed by the man, who closed the door behind him. "Boys we've done it! Now let's scram before the king gets back."
"About time!" Magia yelled.
"How long was I in there?"
Aegis tapped his notebook. "Three hours."
Three hours!?
Didn't feel that long at all.
"Phinehas is right." Yozora cleared his throat. "We need to go now."
"Alright." Kairi got into the elevator.
"Phinehas, you coming?"
"I'll take the next one up!"
He waved, but his eyes stared directly at Kairi. Reminding her with a stern gaze.
Trust no one.
Trust no one.
Gula sighed as the wind blew through his hair. It felt nice to walk around without that mask on all the time.
Now, where was it?
His green eyes roamed the woods outside of Twilight Town. According to that one blonde boy with the beanie they should be living out here.
"There." Through the trees, he saw the tall mansion. "Pretty fancy place…" He walked up, hands in the pockets of his brown cargo shorts.
Had to look like he was just visiting.
Outside the mansion he saw a few people; looked like they were sparring.
A tall man with brown hair who carried himself like a master stood talking to a boy with frizzy blonde hair. Probably giving the boy a few tips on form. Kinda reminded Gula how Aced used to do the same for him.
"Hey. Who's that?"
A boy with spiky blonde hair pointed at Gula.
Wait…
Was that?
"What is it, Ven?" A woman with blue hair came over, looking at Gula.
Ven.
Guess it was Ventus(3) after all. But how did he get here?
"Who are you?" The brown-haired man walked toward him.
"No one special. I just heard there was an abandoned mansion out here, and I wanted to check it out. Though, it doesn't look abandoned to me."
"Our friends live here." The blue-haired woman said as she approached. "Though most people in town know that already. Why don't you?"
"Wait," the man narrowed his eyes, "you were the boy who tipped us off during the fire that Riku was heading back toward the mansion. Then you disappeared."
"Was that me? I don't remember such a thing."
Dangit.
"Terra, you've seen him before?"
The man, apparently named Terra, nodded. "Yeah. I recognize him now. He even mentioned the mansion when I met him then." He turned back to Gula. "Who are you?"
This Terra guy was very much trying to look imposing. But Aced was way scarier than him.
"Let's just say, I'm a person interested in you and your friends and leave it at that. Don't worry, I don't mean any of you any harm. I just want some answers."
"About what?"
Gula turned around and began walking away. "That, well, you'll have to figure out on your own." He strode into the trees, tossing a folded piece of paper over his shoulder like trash.
"Hang on!" Terra chased after him, but as he entered the trees, he couldn't see the boy any longer. "He's gone…?"
Ven walked over and picked up the paper the boy dropped. "What's this?"
Hayner walked over from the mansion. "Think he's friendly?"
"Not sure. Ven, may I?"
The boy handed the note to Aqua. She unfolded it and read aloud.
"To whom it may concern, I am in the quest for knowledge, knowledge I have no other means of finding. I was told once to trust no one but myself, but it appears that I may have to trust you. I have some clues about a matter that most likely involves one if not all of you, and this knowledge will be of use to you as well. So, please tell me what "sigil" means something to you? Place the response to this note inside the hole in the tree nearest the sewer entrance. I await your response. -A Lost Master"
"A lost master?"
"He couldn't be referring to the lost masters, there's no way?" Aqua mumbled. "But this means he does know something about the history of Keyblade wielders. But what does he know?"
"And the sigil he asked about… what does he mean by that?"
"Sigil? The reclusants sigil?"
"Maybe." Aqua folded up the letter. "We need to tell the others."
"Yeah."
From atop the branch of a tree, Gula watched them walk inside.
Now, all he had to do was wait.
Wait and hope they had the answers he was looking for.
So many mysteries!
And the MoM!
Hope you enjoyed!
For Mattman:
1)No, I do not intend to write a sequel. This is set in the canon universe, so I'm letting things play out in the games from there. But I do plan on going back to my Xehanort fanfic when this story is done.
2)I'm leaving Kairi's grandmother out of it due to the theory that Vor in Dark Road is her. I don't want to make an assumption yet as to whether she is or isn't, so I'm just not dealing with it.
3)As for the wild card. We shall see, won't we.
4)And sure! I'd love to have this fic on TV Tropes!
Footnotes:
(1) This is the spell Ava used in UX to make herself look like another foreteller.
(2) This is basically what the MoM told Xehanort in ReMind.
(3) I'm going off the assumption that Ven was in Gula's union.