Author's note: I must apologise in advance if anyone had been expecting a bigger chapter for this part, covering the recovery and training of Ephemer by a certain Werepyre that people who played Advennturequest would be familiar with. But the thing is, I'm not too sure how to go about writing the scenes with him just yet. Didn't want to delay this chapter any further. Anyway, once you've read this chapter, I hope that you'll see why I've decided to end it where I had. Thank you for your time & I hope you'll enjoy the chapter!

Wolfish Awakening Chapter 2: Coming Clean

"Y-You snuck back there by yourself? & got attacked by a werewolf?", Player stammered, choking up as he digested what he heard thus far.

Ephemer nodded.

"I should have been there," Player whispered. "I should have sensed something was off… Maybe we could have defeated it together."

"Maybe we could have… But what if it really did take only someone as strong as Master Ava to defeat it? We could have both died, or only one of us survived. That was something I didn't want either one of us to have on their conscious. Why I wanted to survey the way ahead first…" Ephemer told him gravely.

"But still!" Player protested. "It's nice that you've thought of me when you made that decision. But why didn't you allow me to choose? I waited for you at our chosen place, you know. I was worried sick when you didn't show up!"

"He's trying to be strong for your sake, you know."

A boom! And a puff of 'smoke' later, Player's Chirithy appeared before the both of them.

"Hmm? What do you mean, Chirithy?" Ephemer asked him quizzically.

"He cried that night when you didn't show up at all, you know," Chirithy chipped in.

"C-Chirithy!" Player stammered, blushing heavily. "What the peck?!"

"What? He wanted updates on your situation, so he should know that part too."

"R-Really? He cried that night when I couldn't make it that day?" Ephemer asked, his face now paler from the new nugget of information presented to him.

Chirithy nodded.

Oh lux, I'm so sorry, Player!" Ephemer told Player, his eyes filled with tears as he crossed the space between to wrap Player in a tight embrace.

"It's alright, it's alright Ephemer," Player assured him as he returned the embrace. Ephemer's skin was slightly cold to the touch. But what else could he have expected from the boy leaving himself in just briefs at night? "You're here now, That's all that matters."

Chirithy now turned back to the virtually naked Ephemer.

"Anyway, as I was saying, it wasn't just you who left him that led to Player crying that night. May I tell him?" Player nodded his consent.

"Before you, Player had attempted to be part of a party with a group of wielders. But it didn't take long before they vanished. Every one of them." Chirithy whispered that last bit.

"Then you came into the picture." Chirithy continued. "You were a bright spot in his life that day. He was feeling so cheerful when he was preparing to sleep that day too…"

"I was always so lonely, ever since I was young, even when I got Starlight. The task was cool, the places I saw, the people I helped; a means to cover up the pain & loneliness I felt inside," Player interrupted, his voice sad, but particularly clear. "Then you came into my life, appearing in my life when I followed the moogle's tip to the Invisible in the Plaza. You were there already, you fought that Invisible & got injured." Player now looked up again at Ephemer. "But even in that state, there was something, & it's still there, about your voice, & the way you are; that compels me to speak up. Your presence inspired me and changed me enough to qualify as a Dandelion, to help others because I sincerely wanted to. So thank you Ephemer. Thank you for being part of my life." Player told Ephemer, now smiling warmly.

Ephemer blushed at Player's confession. It certainly wasn't something that he expected to hear from his dear friend's lips, but there it was. He tried to bury his face under his scarf, as a force of habit, but he'd forgotten that his scarf was in his room. Still, bare bodied or otherwise, the sight of it was enough to further brighten up Player's face.

"Woah! I'm glad that I was an inspiration to you, Player. But man; that was out of the blue. I don't know what else to say!" Ephemer could only reply, waving his arms frantically and leaning backwards as he was also bound to do whenever he felt embarrassed.

"But all the same, I'm glad you spoke up on this first," Ephemer told Player, now resting his hands on the couch. Player looked at him quizzically, unsure of what his friend was going on about this. But he motioned for Ephemer to continue.

"The thing is, Player," Ephemer looked down at the ground for this. "You were my inspiration too."

If Player wasn't flustered before, He was now; blushing especially pink in the cheeks and turning to the side to avoid looking Ephemer in the eyes. After a few minutes of incoherent speech peppered with silence, Player managed to reply:

"R- Really? I was y-your inspiration? How? W-Why?"

"W-Well… You were on my mind ever since the day we met, Player. How neat you looked, the gracefulness of your footwork, the spectacle & beauty of your spellcasting… How cute you looked in your attire of choice… ohlux, thatwassuperembarassing…" Ephemer replied, chuckling off that last bit.

"Huh?"

"Remember the Spirit you received sometime back?"

…

"Oh! You meant Kitstar!" Player excitedly replied as he called out his Spirit buddy to feed him his dinner.

"Yep, he's doing fine. Had to go through a few lux barriers to get them, but now he's rainbow furred, with a necklace, helmet and opera mask to complete the look I want for him," Player happily declared as he now began stroking behind his pet's ears, earning some happy purring from the spirit.

"Skuld & I agreed to have the Spirits made for all us Key Kids, in part because we thought it would help you with the recurring nightmares that you had…" Player jotted up at the comment, leaving his Kitstar to leap from his lap and onto the sofa.

"So you've already found out?" Player asked. He had to know how much his two main friends had known…

"Yeah," Ephemer replied gravely. "Skuld & I had asked Chirithy to report on your situation for weeks now; ever since you... collapsed during training that one time. On many occasions since that time, he reported multiple instances of nightmare related incidents, that fortunately decreased soon after you received Kitstar."

"In fact, you were the number one priority recipient of Kitstar as soon as the dream eaters were ready because of those circumstances."

That was a partial lie & both Ephemer + Chirithy knew it. But it was a cover story they agreed to in lieu of refraining from discussing the Keyblade War. After all, as far as both of them knew, Daybreak town had no therapists or anything that can help him cope with the PTSD that came with fighting on the battlefield, much less the deaths, blood & other details that came with that, plus none of the worlds they visited thus far had the help they wanted to give Player whilst allowing him to maintain those memories. Sure, Ephemer & Skuld could not help but express awe that Player was the dreaded warrior in that war, who tangoed with four of the five foretellers, not just survived them, but impressed them enough to leave Player alone despite plans to put him out of his misery? It was a badge of honour that both friends wanted Player to know he had. But that knowing of this achievement meant he also had to deal with the nightmares? There was no way either of them would allow Player to suffer like that, especially without a way for Player to deal with the full package on his lonesome, so amnesia of the War had to do for now.

Player looked at his hands as he processed this new set of information. He collapsed during training, not to mention the multiple instances of nightmares? That could somewhat account for the keyblade scars he noticed on his body. Player could also attest to the multiple instances of nightmares, but he couldn't pinpoint the instances of him collapsing… furthermore, there weren't any recollections of receipts from sickbay stays or medicine collected either. He would make sure he had those records kept safely… So either he lost those, (not that possible), or Ephemer had not told him the whole story yet. A point he wanted to trust Ephemer to follow up on. That Ephemer (& Skuld) had also taken steps to make sure he was the first one to get Kitstar to help deal with his nightmares? It certainly warms Player's heart to know they did so much for him; so it falls on him to show his appreciation the best way he could.

With that, Player looked up.

"I see… Thank you. All of you, for looking out for me."

"No problem, Player. It's the least I could do for standing up on my behalf…" Ephemer started saying before he was interrupted by a gloomp by Player.

"I was alone for so long ever since I was young…" Player told Ephemer, now looking up to his friend's face with tears flowing from his eyes. "You & Skuld were the first real friends I had in quite a while. No… the two of you felt like family. The family I never had till now..."

"It's alright, Player," Ephemer assured him, patting the boy's back. "You need not say another word."

After waiting for Player to finish crying, passing along tissues in the meantime to help him dry his eyes, Ephemer continued. "I didn't know who my parents were either. I was alone too, living in an orphanage till the day I awakened Starlight. Then after, I was found and taken to Daybreak Town. Then on my first raid, I was rescued from defeat by keyblade wielders from different Unions. I've been thinking about why the Unions needed to compete so strongly for lux ever since. Initially, it was easy to help out fellow keyblade wielders whenever I came across them. But for the past year, with the animosity between wielders of different Unions, I was hardly able to help out without getting rejected or chased out. It got kind of depressing after a while…"

Player notioned him to continue.

"Then you showed up in my life. When I introduced myself & which Union I was from, I was actually nervous. Were you going to reject me like those others? When you didn't push me away, I was so happy that I had a friend beyond Party associations. Then we fought that Invisible in the Sewers & defeated it as a team. Concerns about raising the Foretellers' suspicions aside, the euphoria and fear of losing you made me want to solidify our friendship before it's too late. Then came the revelation as I was getting ready to sleep that night; I cared too much about you to want you dragged into the mess I started. That's why I snuck back into the Foreteller tower that night, why I worked so hard to make sure Kitstar was perfect & ready for the job it needed to do… Why I'm doing this current arrangement now…"

*Boomf!* Ephemer's Chirithy appeared. "Come on, both of you! The two of you have been at this for almost an hour now. Just call yourselves & Skuld brothers & sister already!", Ephemer's Chirithy told them, exasperated. "I agree," Player's Chirithy chipped in.

The two friends looked at the Chirithies, then at each other and blushed hard.

Ephemer made his move first.

"You know, they're right. We've both been worrying about each other's well being & looking out for each other too much to be just friends now."

Player nodded his agreement.

"I'm fine calling you my brother if you are, Ephemer. Brothers for life?" Player told him, extending his hand out in offer of the new arrangement given by both Chirithies.

Ephemer could only stare at Player. This was one of the few times he'd seen Player so vocal about anything. Sure, he'd heard from Skuld about the events that took place during the time Player took charge in going into the Foreteller tower after he was sent into the Unchained realm to help prepare the place for the dandelions; but this was a whole different level of energy altogether. Still, Ephemer himself had secretly hoped they could be a family: Him, Skuld, Player & Ven. & since Player had voiced his eagerness for them to be (Foster) brothers & sister, how could he say no?

His mind made up, Ephemer smiled & grasped his hand. "Yeah! I'm happy with this arrangement, Player," Ephemer now wrapped his other hand around Player in an embrace. "Through thick & thin, we'll watch out for one another, care for each other. More than just friends; now, we are brothers for life."