Notice: KH is owned by Disney and Final Fantasy (franchise) is owned by Square Enix.

The 13th Fantasy – Chrysalis Part 2

"You can take a seat over there." The soldier pointed to a chair on the other-side of a small dining table.

"Thank you." Cecelia took a seat. And waited on the young lady to sit down and ask questions. She looked, irritable, but kept herself relatively calm, and took a seat opposite Cecelia.

"Okay, so who are you lady? You definitely don't look like someone from this world." She was terse, and did little to hide her resentment.

"Me? I'm just a mother trying to find her son and his friends. My world was destroyed a few weeks ago, and I've been searching for my boy since then."

"Okay...and why are you here?"

"Hmmm...I was drawn to this realm. I initially landed on what your people call Gran Pulse, and did a survey of this world. Then a few hours after my research was first conducted, I sensed the opening of a trans-dimensional rift. So, thinking it might be related to my son, I rushed to Cocoon."

"Hmmm. I've had some practice sensing good from bad, since being in that other world, so I can tell you have good intentions. Though you're keeping things close to your chest...right?"

"Of course, I won't spill all my secrets to someone I've only just met." Cecelia chuckled.

"Anyway why not introduce ourselves? I gave you info first, so it's only proper you start."

"The name's Lightning. Friend's call me Light. This is my house."

"So is that moniker of yours a testament to your power and skill?"

"..."

'So...not someone who boasts about her power. Good.'

"And your name?"

"Cecelia. Friend's call me Cece." The Keyblade Master held out her hand to the soldier called 'Lightning.' Reluctantly, Lightning took her hand.

"You're a reticent one aren't ya?"

"You making fun of me lady!"

"No. Just stating a fact. I'd be surprised if your friends wouldn't say the same about you."

"Hmph."

Cecelia knew this conversation was going nowhere. Small talk wasn't working with Lightning, so she changed tact.

"Okay. So where did that portal lead to?"

Lightning's eyes darkened, a far off look coloured her expression. 'Okay, must be a tough one to think about.'

"A war-zone. The biggest war I ever fought in, with high stakes. Good vs Evil and all that."

"Hmmm...sounds like your side won, if you're here in one piece – relatively speaking."

"Probably. I wouldn't know since I...wasn't around." Cecelia took that as code for 'I was dead before the end.' She definitely understood the horrors of the battlefield. She'd fought in wars on other worlds. Nothing compared to the Keyblade War of legend, but still – brutal. It was one of the reasons why she hung up her mantle as a Keyblade Wielder and settled on the Destiny Islands.

"Lightning. Would you mind if I set up some equipment in this house? Probably being closest to where the portal opened will give me a better read of the phenomena."

"Have at it lady. So long as it doesn't take up too much space."

"It will be pretty low profile, just a few sensors and my portable computer." Lightning nodded and Cecelia proceeded to grab her items out of storage. She actually had two storage containers, and these were the earrings she wore. She detached her left earring and then tapped it. The jewellery expanded and changed form into a large box with latches. Cecelia opened the box and pulled out her surveying equipment.

Lightning's interest was piqued when she saw this process in front of her.

"You a magician or something? Cause I've never seen magic, or tech like that."

Cecelia grinned, while shuffling through the box. "Yeah...something like that."

/A little while later

Taptaptap...clickclickclick...tap!

[Reports available]

"Good. Now to look over this data!"

Click...click...taptaptap...Click

'Hmmm, according to these reports the portal was opened by a divine being. Unsure as to who they were, but likely the one that sided with Lightning here.' The Keyblade Master glanced over to the reticent woman.

'And it looks like Lightning was correct in that where she fought, was a war-zone. The readings indicate battle remnants in that dimension, and very strong powers. The residual effects of which are slowly fading away.'

'Oddly enough, that dimension seems like a hodgepodge of other worlds put together. I've got at least 13 different readings besides the base energy reading of that dimension.'

The scholar in her was very intrigued by all this information. It reminded her of the days she used to read in Scala's Librarium, finding historical records, esoteric research and the like. Fond memories for sure.

'Actually...13?' Cecelia knew the significance of this number to Keyblade Wielders. 13 was the number of darkness infected hearts that were needed to forge the X-Blade. About half that number of light filled hearts were needed to clash to complete the forging. She remembered that the traitor, Xehanort had sought the X-Blade, and tried to use Ventus and his darkness to re-create it in the physical plane. What she didn't understand was how this 13 related to these realms. The world of Gran Pulse, that she currently resided in was far removed from the great light of Kingdom Hearts. Sure it was part of the Greater Omniverse, but Kingdom Hearts' reach was only so far.

'Maybe that's the reason why this world has gods directly presiding over it? It's to fill the void of something like Kingdom Hearts? So then, why does only one of the gods have the people in mind?' Though she already knew the answer. On many worlds, the gods do not treat the people very well. Even though they are meant to fairly preside over their charges, gods normally treat people like mere toys. This is one reason, why rebellions against gods happen. However, she wondered why this...Etro, cared so much? From the notes it detailed her as the goddess that presides over the afterlife. 'Maybe it's like a caretaker eventually caring greatly for those they are charged with protecting?' She can understand that, seeing as she's a mother.

Cecelia was so focused on her data sifting, that she didn't realise that Lightning was staring intently at her. The young woman, had done odds and ends around the place: cleaned, oiled and resharpened her gun-blade (it needed the work), tidied up the apartment and meditated to refocus herself. This took a few hours and by then she had gotten bored and consequently curious about the older woman's tech work. The only person in this world that had a face like hers with tech was that boy, Hope. And she was pretty sure even he would be impressed by how focussed she was on that screen of hers. Every so often, the older woman would mumble something incoherent or express a series of emotions, from excited, to amazed, to thoughtful and so on. Another couple of hours passed before Lightning wanted to know what the woman had found. So...she indiscreetly tried to get the other woman's attention.

"So...what have you found!?"

Click...click...taptaptap...Click...tap!

"...oh, yes. Well, it's quite fascinating. You see I think I learned that the portal that brought you back here had both spacial and temporal properties, meaning that..."

Taptaptap...Click!

"...whatever that other world was, it gathered things from many realms, across space and time. Your god, Cosmos had gathered her warriors from different points in their lives. Some, were at the pinnacle of their strength, while others were in the process of growing. For you...I'm not sure at what point in your life she took you from..."

"Wait...space and time!? SO we were right! Some of us thought that we were from the same world but at different points in time. Like this soldier boy and gun toting weirdo. They looked kinda...similar. There was also this boy on Chao's side who was confirmed to be the son of one of our warriors."

"Yes, it seems that way. It wasn't a random transfer either. The gods there likely latched on to the strong energies of your worlds, and summoned the warriors who had the greatest historical impact. I'd say the greatest heroes vs the greatest villains. More or less." Cecelia gave a shrug, while still being glued to her computer screen. The information she gathered from analysing the residual rift energy was...fascinating.

13 energy signatures. 13 worlds to explore. She couldn't wait.

End of Chapter Notes: Cecelia now has a new quest, which may help her in her search for Sora and co.