For Skuld, nothing had been greater than finding that she was a Keyblade wielder. She had nearly been bouncing on her toes when she was shown her new home in Daybreak Town. She tried hard not to squeal at the Foreteller as they explained the roles of the Unions. She trained and studied her new weapon of light with an eagerness befitting any newbie of something exciting. Skuld had even started her own party, in an innocent hope of making friends while they worked together to gather lux.
It took a week for that excitement to wear down. Perhaps even a little time before that; during those long, tireless days of gathering lux, but no one joining her party. She still kept busy- continuing to work on her skills as a wielder. But the nagging feeling of being ignored by other wielders started to grow. Did her lack of knowing other wielders stop them from joining? Maybe it was the party name she chose- she kinda figured it would be too hard to pronounce earlier. Maybe she should change it to something more witty, or memorable. Although she really liked the name it had now. She spent a good portion of an afternoon coming up with it. But if it was a reason why people weren't joining…
No, she decided with a shake of her head. People didn't care about names when it came to the parties they were a part of. It was the people in it that could make or break a group. As long as Skuld kept her party high enough in rankings, people would come along eventually and offer to help her out. Hopefully. It was honestly the only thing she could place faith in. That, and consistency. Even if no one came to visit her, or asked to join her party, she still waited at the same spot in the event someone did want to join.
And one day, someone did.
"Is this where Einherjar Gundan is meeting?"
Skuld jumped. She turned her attention to a boy not much older than she was. His skin was fair and brought attention to a head full of fluffy white hair. Sparkling blue eyes that held a clever curiosity looked over her as he studied her reactions.
"Yes, it is!" Skuld agreed as she got to her feet. "My name is Skuld, I'm the party's leader."
The boy nodded, then took a small look around. "Excuse me for asking, but is there anyone else in your party besides you? I noticed that your party came up pretty high in last week's rankings, but there's no one else here…"
Skuld flinched. "No." she said, her voice a bit more quiet than before. "I started my party not long after becoming a Keyblade wielder, but no one's wanted to join yet."
"How long have you been a wielder?"
"A month."
"Oh…" was all the boy could say. He gave a small cough into his fist before straightening back up again. "You mind if I join, then?"
Skuld's head snapped up to look at him. "You are serious? Of course I don't mind!"
The boy smiled at her eagerness before adjusting his red scarf a bit. "You're not going to ask me what Union I belong to?" he casually asked her. He ran a hand through his hair as he looked back at her. His smile was still unwavering.
"No?" Skuld wondered, completely thrown off by the question. "Why would I do that?"
The white haired boy just gave a smirk. "No reason." he claimed with a roll of his shoulder. "Now, grand leader, what are we doing today?"
Skuld blinked. "I don't even know your name yet."
Now it was the boy's turn to blink at her. "You don't?" he asked. He let out a sheepish chuckle as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry about that. The name's Ephemer."
"Skuld." Skuld nodded, holding out her hand for Ephemer to take. He took her cue immediately, placing his hand in hers and giving a firm handshake.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Skuld." Ephemer said. "Now that we're properly introduced, we're back to the original topic at hand- what's our mission, chief?"
It was at this point that Skuld realized that she had no idea what to do when she actually had people working with her.
"We should start small since it's just the two of us," she decided. "How about the Castle of Dreams? The Heartless there have a moderate difficulty to them."
"Sounds perfect." Ephemer agreed. "Lead the way."
Skuld looked at Ephemer, as if she expected him to say that he was only joking with her- as if he was going to say that he didn't actually want to be a part of her party. But she could see -she could feel- his sincerity. Finally, she let her fears wash away as she summoned her Keyblade. She opened up a portal to a new world, and the two of them went on through.
On the way to the Castle of Dreams, Ephemer and Skuld better refined their mission. Both agreed that taking out the Heartless was a more reasonable goal than collecting a certain amount of lux. To make things a bit easier on both of them, they would share the total defeated instead of making individual totals. That way, there wasn't any competition between them. They were a team, and they were going to work together as one.
Working with someone else did not feel much different than being alone, though. Or maybe it was just because there were still two of them. Regardless, taking down the number of Heartless they agreed to was a snap. Something else in the area seemed to think so too. The area was cleared of Heartless, but the atmosphere grew more dark and tense. A Raid Boss had given the duo its grand appearance. Seeing it made Ephemer grin from ear to ear.
"How are we taking down this thing?" he casually asked Skuld, readying his Keyblade for the command.
Skuld gave him a wary glance before turning to the Heartless. Easily identifiable as a Jewel Princess, with its crystalline body, crown, and scepter. It hovered a good distance away from the duo- almost like it was waiting for their first move.
"Let's attack its lower body." she decided. "Speed attacks should be our priority."
"You got it!" Ephemer agreed before heading in. Skuld gave herself an affirmative nod before attacking as well. As the Heartless fought back, and while the duo wore it down, Skuld couldn't help but wonder if she would have been able to face the Raid Boss alone. Ephemer was a big help, and in dealing with the Heartless earlier, they both knew enough of each other's attack patterns to compliment the other.
When the Heartless was defeated, Skuld instinctively let out a sigh of relief. She walked over to Ephemer (who was still in a battle stance, just in case) and put a hand on his shoulder. She could feel him jump a little at the touch.
"Thank you." she told him. "I don't think I could have taken that Heartless down alone."
Ephemer turned around, a grin etched onto his face but his hand absently rubbing the back of his neck.
"Don't discredit yourself," he told her. "Your speed attacks were far better than mine."
Skuld smiled at the compliment.
"What should we do next?" Ephemer then asked. Confused, Skuld gave him a wary glance.
"What do you mean?"
"We got our goal done for the day," came the cheerful reply, "So what else are we going to do?"
This was another thing that Skuld had failed to plan for. Sheepishly looking away from him, she offered, "How about we meet up again tomorrow? Same time, same place?"
"Sounds great!" Ephemer agreed. He brought his Keyblade up to summon a portal. Before stepping through, he turned to give Skuld a small salute. "See you tomorrow, leader." And with that, he was gone.
This became Skuld's new routine over the next few days. She and Ephemer would meet up, go out with some goal set, and then come back with the promise to meet up again the next day. When others started to notice the effort Skuld and Ephemer put into their party, they too wanted to join. In just a few week's time, Skuld's party was at its max capacity. It was both thrilling and disappointing that her party had gotten large enough that she had to turn others down. But it was with this sudden growth that it became hard to keep track of everyone. There had been fighting, people Skuld had to kick out because of their actions, and a small handful would leave without any kind of warning. As Skuld tried to keep her party organized, she saw Ephemer less. The only time they were ever able to talk was when he gave in his daily lux totals. Other than that? They were as good as strangers again.
The day Ephemer pulled her aside and announced that he was going to switch Unions (and by extension, leave her party), Skuld was in a state of shock. She asked if it was because they didn't talk anymore, but Ephemer denied it.
"You're strong on your own," he had told her. "Keep at it and we'll meet again. May our hearts be our guiding key, right?"
She had nodded, agreed with him, but a part of her wanted to fight it. She wanted him to stay. In time, she would find that Ephemer had been right. She had her own strength- she just needed to see it for herself. And even to this day, she knew she had Ephemer to thank for all of it.