Kingdom Hearts: Daybreak Academy
Chapter 10: Heal
7 Years Ago
After her swordsmanship lesson, Astrid went to the gardens just as Celestia had told her too. She had changed into a simple gray dress with a white ribbon tied around her waist into a bow on her back. Her shoulder-length hair had been combed back and held out of her face with a black satin headband. She walked in a militaristic fashion, keeping her shoulders square as she placed one foot in front of the other with each step. Her hands were kept to her side and her fingers were pointed outward like a proper lady.
The little girl walked through the labyrinth of perfectly hedged rose bushes in search of her grandmother. "Nana!" She called periodically. As she crossed underneath an archway made of leaves and roses, a spray of tiny droplets sprinkled onto her.
Astrid lifted her hands to cover her face and she squealed. "Ah!" Through her fingers, she saw who had surprised her. It was none other than her grandmother. "Nana!" the girl whined.
"Now, now. You mustn't let your guard down, dear child," her grandmother said wisely. She spoke in a regal manner, yet her tone was mischievous. In her hand, the silver-haired woman carried a small staff with an intricate headpiece that resembled a globe. The headpiece consisted of several silver rings around a golden core. A bright yellow star stuck out from the axis.
Astrid stood with her hands behind her back. "I know…" she said shamefully. Her gaze was trained on her shiny black shoes.
Celestia looked down at her granddaughter with a tender face. Her dull hazel eyes gazed upon the young girl as the old woman doted on how her granddaughter was in the prime of her youth. It saddened her to see how hard Astrid was on herself at such a young age. The madam stepped forward to be side-by-side with Astrid. She held her gloved hand out and asked Astrid, "Would you care to water the flowers with me?"
Blue eyes beamed up at her as Astrid nodded politely. "Mhm!" She took her grandmother's hand and allowed the woman to guide her.
When they reached the budding mallows, Celestia held out her wand and began to spray the plants with a stream of water. She had held back her powers earlier when she surprised Astrid and seemed to be doing so then as well. While casting her water spell, Celestia asked her granddaughter, "Tell me Astrid, have you been practicing your magic?"
"Yes, I have, Nana! Can I show you?"
"Of course you can, darling."
Celestia took a step back from the bushes and allowed Astrid to concentrate on gathering her magical power for a spell. The little blonde closed her eyes and focused. She uttered the word, "Water," and thrust her hand forward. Nothing happened. Astrid's eyes cracked open slowly. She looked at her hands with disappointment and tried to explain herself. "I-I-I have been practicing, Nana. Really I have. I just…"
Celestia knelt down beside the girl and held both of her hands with her own. "Do not worry, my darling child. It takes much time to master the elements. You are still young…" She removed her right glove. With her left hand cuffing Astrid's right hand, Celestia dragged a finger against the girl's palm. It slid across the slippery surface "...and yet you show great potential," she said with a keen smile. "Do not ever doubt yourself."
Celestia released Astrid's hands, but the girl held them in place long afterward. She stared down at her palms, amazed by the beads of water she had not noticed earlier. Celestia stood up and continued walking. "Come along, Astrid darling. We have many more flowers to water."
"Okay, Nana!" She said as she followed her grandmother.
Astrid had begun to follow the old woman, but stopped when she heard a pained chirping. It came from a nearby rose bush. The girl walked over to examine it, finding a bird caught in the thorns.
"Nana!" she cried. "There's a bird trapped in here!"
"Oh dear," the woman said with concern. "Let's see if we can get it out safely." Celestia knelt down slowly to examine the situation. It stood perched on a branch, but did not flap its wings. She looked down at her grandaughter and asked, "If I spread the branches apart, do you think you can reach in and pull the poor thing out?"
Astrid smiled. "Yeah!"
"Alright then. Let's see…" She carefully grabbed the branches and parted them to make an opening for the little girl to rescue the bird. "Be careful now, darling."
"Okay, Nana," Astrid said as she slowly reached in to grab the bird. It panicked as Astrid grabbed it with her hand and pecked her as she pulled it out. Astrid dropped the bird, which broke its fall by flapping its wings enough to slow its descent to the ground. The girl began to cry from the pain and the sudden shock of being pecked.
"Oh dear," Celestia said as she pulled her granddaughter's hand up to examine it.
Astrid sniffled quietly.
Celestia looked up at her granddaughter and softly explained, "No need to cry, darling. There's no puncture, see? The bird just startled you." She gently rubbed the girl's hands and then wiped the tears from her cheeks.
"Why did it do that, Nana?"
"Well, it was afraid. Remember when you saw that large spider in the stables last summer?"
"Mhm…"
"What did you do?"
"I…" Sniff. "I threw my helmet at it."
"Exactly," she said calmly. "You wanted to make what scared you go away. But did you want to hurt the spider?"
"N-no…"
"The bird didn't want to hurt you either. It just acted on its fear. Come, my darling child." She led Astrid over to the bird, which struggled to fly away. Its wing had been injured. Celestia gently lifted it up and held it out for Astrid to see. "Show me your hands."
Astrid hesitated. She feared being pecked again.
"It's okay," Celestia said. "The bird will not harm you. I promise."
Astrid nodded and offered her hands. Her grandmother slowly placed the bird into Astrid's palms. As Celestia said, the bird did not peck Astrid's hand, but it trembled terribly on the surface of her palm.
"It's shaking," Astrid noted.
Celestia nodded. "Yes. Do you see now, my darling? It was just afraid."
Astrid then noticed a slight red mark on her grandmother's hand. "Nana!"
Celestia noticed it herself and smiled. "It felt threatened by me too." She placed her hands over the bird, hovering them high enough to keep out of its reach with its beak. Then her hands began to glow softly with an emerald green gleam. Astrid gasped audibly as the light engulfed her hands too. After a few short moments that they stood with their hands that way, the light faded. Celestia lifted her hands and the bird flew away.
Astrid stared after it in awe. "Wow! Nana, what was that?"
Celestia laughed softly. "There is much you will one day be able to do with your magic, my darling." She then took Astrid by the hand and led her along the pathway they were walking. As they did, Astrid looked at her grandmother's hand and noticed that the red mark was absent.
When Astrid came to, she found herself in a room with beige walls and green floor and ceiling molding. She still felt a bit lightheaded but she could sit upright on the bed. It took her a moment to realize she laid on a soft mattress and not the cold cobblestone floor that she had fallen on when she passed out.
"What the-?"
"Hey! You're awake!"
She recognized that voice. It came from her side. Right beside her, to be exact. He was in the bed with her! Seeing Galeo on the mattress next to her made Astrid panic as she stumbled off of the bed, falling once again.
"Y-you vile creature!"
Galeo peered down at Astrid over the edge of the bed. His expression evoked cluelessness. "Huh?" Then realization set in. He sprang to his feet and turned around with his Keyblade flashing into his grasp. "Where are they?" he asked as he scanned the room.
Astrid stood up, rubbing her head. Now she was confused…and in pain. "What are you on about?" She asked. "I was talking about you."
Galeo turned back around and asked, "Me? Why me?"
"You were in the bed with me!" She yelled while pointing to said bed.
"Yeah. So? Was I not supposed to be?"
"No!"
Galeo did not realize why she was so upset. He stared at the bed for a moment until it occurred to him. "Oh. Oh! W-wait, no! You and I- we didn't! Look! We both still have our clothes on!" Now he was the one yelling and stammering as he tried desperately to clear up her misconception.
Astrid looked down at her own clothes. He told the truth. Even though he was a stranger, she had a feeling that he wouldn't take advantage of her. Still, his mere presence upset her, so without saying another word, she exited the room.
"H-hey, wait up!" He said as he followed her out of the hotel. As soon as they walked through the sliding door, a group of Nightmares greeted the duo of Keyblade wielders.
"More of these things?" Galeo asked as he summoned his Keyblade. "I thought I cleared out this entire area when I brought you here."
Astrid silently reacted to his comment. He defeated all of the Dream Eaters in this area by himself while taking care of her unconscious body? Impossible! The thought was laughable. He must have only been talking about a small group of enemies that got in his way while trying to get her to the hotel. Either way, it was inconsequential.
Astrid too summoned her Keyblade and stood tall with her proper battle stance. "They will keep coming," she explained. "In the Realm of Sleep, the Nightmares are as plentiful and endless as the Heartless are in the material world. They will never stop coming. It makes no difference, though. I will slay anything…" She took a second to glance at Galeo from the corner of her eye, "...or anyone who gets in my way."
The implication seemed to go over Galeo's head as he smiled and said, "Yeah! Same here, Astrit."
"It's Astri-!" One of the Nightmares, a reptilian creature coiled its long body into a wheel and rolled toward Astrid. She held her Keyblade out in front of her to defend against the rolling attack, but she stumbled to the side as Galeo quickly pulled her away.
"Phew! That was a close one," Galeo said as he held Astrid close to him. He held his Keyblade out in front of them defensively.
Once again, Astrid pushed him off of her. "Will you stop interfering?!" She stood up quickly and ran forward to strike the reptilian monster, the Hebby Repp, on its scaly hide. The Nightmare fell over to its side and rolled a bit from the knock back. Astrid continued her charge with a spin, gathering her magical power into a small whirl of water to strike a nearby Meow Wow.
Galeo followed after her, grabbing the Hebby Repp by the tip of its tail. Much like he did earlier with the Pricklemane, he hurled the monster at its allies, however, something unexpected happened. To break its own fall, the Hebby Repp curled up into a wheel. It could not control the direction it rolled in quickly enough to avoid slamming into one of the Meow Wows, making the two tumble over.
Astrid saw the proximity between the two Nightmares as an opportunity to take them both out with one attack. She created a cast of Water magic and shot it at them, causing a small concussive explosion of water. Both the Hebby Repp and the Meow Wow faded away, leaving the other bouncing bubble of a Nightmare as their sole opponent. Galeo swiftly dispatched it with a quick lunge and a downward strike.
"Woo hoo!" he cheered. "We make a pretty good team, don't you think?"
"No, I don't think we do because we are not a team. You shouldn't even be here right now."
"But I am," he said defiantly. "And I'm here to help."
"Help? You've done nothing but get in the way since you've gotten here. I don't know how you got here, but you need to leave."
"Hold on. I protected you while you were asleep."
She bit her lip and took a deep breath. "I only got knocked unconscious because I had to protect you. If you weren't around, I would have been fine. I was doing fine before you showed up. I do not need your help. I don't want your help. Leave."
With each declaration, Astrid took a step closer to Galeo until her face was inches away from his. Though not at eye level, her cold blue eyes emanated a deep frost as she glared into his vibrant violet eyes. Her breath was heavy both from the exhaustive combat and from her brief yet heavy tirade.
Galeo peered back into her eyes. The two were silent for a moment. Then he spoke, but his response changed the current in the air. "How do I leave?"
Astrid blinked twice. The gears in her mind had slowly begun turning again after overheating from her verbal attack. She quickly turned around and began walking to the large doorway that separated the First and Second Districts of Traverse Town. "I'll show you the way out."
As Galeo had begun following her, he noticed something zoom in his peripheral vision. He turned left and started looking around. There didn't seem to be any noteworthy activity inside the shops with their bright lights shining through their windows and nothing stirred in the lower level of the courtyard. His eyes floated up to the roof. He saw nothing upon first glance, but the second he looked away, a shadow moved. This time, Galeo caught a figure leaping from one roof down onto a balcony across the alleyway, landing with a roll.
"Huh? Hey Astren, hold on a sec."
"For the last time, it's-!" Astrid had whipped around like a furious lash, but came to a complete stop mid-turn when she saw Galeo leap down to the lower level. "Wait!" Her call fell on deaf ears as he sprinted toward the building near the alleyway.
"Hey!" Galeo's call, on the other hand, startled the figure, who quickly jumped down to the alleyway and ran into it.
Galeo turned the corner in time to see a shadow pass by the next corner, so he rounded that one too. The door at the end of the alley closed. A small group of Nightmares appeared in the narrow space. Galeo leaned toward the right wall and kicked off of it. He had leapt further than he thought he would, which made him lose focus long enough to miss an opening to attack. Sticking the landing with a slight stumble, Galeo quickly turned around. He realized that his surprisingly long jump had allowed him to bypass all of the enemies. He could go straight for the door. He did so, but he stopped right at the door when he heard Astrid's footsteps approaching from around the corner. The young blonde appeared on the other side of the walkway, looking visibly irritated, moreso when she realized she needed to get through this group of enemies before she could give the stowaway a piece of her mind.
The Dream Eaters also turned when they heard Astrid approaching. Now with their attention on her, the mob of monstrosities charged. Galeo ran after them to help her.
The first to attack was a Hebby Repp, which had rolled toward Astrid at high speed. Astrid twirled around, coating her Keyblade with a steam of water that she used to deflect the incoming Nightmare with more concussive force. The strike redirected the Hebby Repp's course, and she continued with her spin, bringing her Keyblade overhead to lob a blast of water up into the air at the bouncing Meow Wow. She had knocked it back, but now she remained wide open for the Pricklemane to pounce onto her. She fell onto her back, holding the Pricklemane at bay with her Keyblade in its jaws.
The girl struggled against the Nightmare as it pinned her down with its spiky fibers digging into her stomach. Holding the monster back with her slender arms proved to be a challenge alone, but the unshakeable pain drained her stamina meaning it would only be a matter of time before her arms would give in to the Pricklemane's efforts. Fortunately, the feline rolled off of her, having been knocked off of Astrid's petite form before her endurance faltered.
Galeo stood over Astrid, offering her his hand. She refused to take it, but the boy acted without her consent, grabbing her by the wrist to pull her up.
"Ow! Ow!" Astrid lurched forward clutching her stomach with her free hand as Galeo tried to pull her up to her feet.
"What's wrong?" He let go of Astrid's hand and watched her carefully as she struggled to lift her head.
"I'm wounded," she answered. "Just hold them off until I can heal." She uttered a single word and her hand started glowing a bright green color.
Galeo looked on with amazement as Astrid began to heal herself with her own magical power. "Woah," he said softly.
"Will you stop staring? I thought I said to hold them off!"
"Huh? Oh yeah!" Galeo quickly turned to face the Dream Eaters. He stopped the incoming Hebby Repp by guarding with his Keyblade. Sparks began to fly as the reptile combusted with fierce flames. Galeo's grip tightened on the handle as he pushed off with all his might, leaving the Hebby Repp airborne and vulnerable for a follow up attack. He could not do anything, though, because of the other Nightmares that came at him. He delivered a few powerful strikes to the Pricklemane, but stumbled when a Meow Wow pushed him aside.
The Pricklemane then dug its mace-like tail against the ground to tether itself as it swung around wildly. Its orbital path around the end of its tail was misshapen at first, but the more the monster spun, the closer it got to Galeo.
Astrid pulled herself up to her feet and ran toward Galeo and the group of Dream Eaters. She staggered a bit in her stride, but she made it in time to parry the Pricklemane, leaving it vulnerable to a forward thrust that she reinforced with a ray of light magic. The thrust landed a critical hit and destroyed the Nightmare.
"Woah…" Galeo said behind her. "You're really good!"
Astrid huffed and rolled her eyes. "Just because I passed out once, doesn't mean I'm not capable. And let's not forget that it wouldn't have happened if you hadn't interfered earlier."
The Hebby Repp rolled toward her again. This time, she side-stepped it, but slid her Keyblade into the interior of the Nightmare's form. Using a twisting motion, she spun around and flung the rotating Hebby Repp toward the Meow Wows. It left a blazing streak on the ground that it rolled on like a trail of gunpowder. When it collided with one of the Meow Wows, it exploded into a large cloud of fire. The final Meow Wow, though outnumbered, was a scrappy little creature. It growled at the two Keyblade wielders, and sprang forward only to be met with crossing swings before disappearing in a small cloud of dream energy.
With no enemies left in the alleyway, Galeo and Astrid were alone again. The two wielders stood side-by-side victorious. Their breaths were heavy from battle.
Galeo looked over at Astrid with a big triumphant smile. "Hey, I know you don't want to admit it, but I think we make a pretty good team."
Astrid rolled her eyes, but as she did, the pain in her stomach returned. She had not fully healed from earlier and the pain made her stagger sideways. Though she caught herself by pressing Starlight against the ground, Galeo kept her from total collapse.
She grunted in displeasure. "What are you doing?"
"I'm helping you," he said as he threw her arm over his shoulder.
"I don't need help. I'm a Brightcrest." Astrid pulled herself away from Galeo, just to stubbornly stumble down to the ground.
"Woah, there!" Galeo knelt down beside her and dragged her back up, carefully avoiding placing any pressure on her injury. He expected an earful, but there was nothing but bitter silence as he helped her to her feet and slowly led her toward the door.
Galeo broke the silence by asking, "What's a Brightcrest?"
"You wouldn't understand," Astrid said flatly. She then muttered, "...outsider."
"What was that?" Galeo asked softly.
"Nothing."
"Oh. Well, about what you were saying earlier, I understand that whatever it is, you don't seem too happy about it."
Just as they reached the door to the Third District, Astrid said, "Like I said. You wouldn't understand. You have no family legacy."
"A legacy?" He did not seem to know what she meant.
She rolled her eyes. "Something handed down from one generation to the next."
"Like this?" With his free hand, Galeo held the edge of his poncho up.
Astrid looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "What? No, I mean something that matters."
"Hey!" Galeo's eyes hardened. "This matters. This is the last thing I have from my mom. How could you say it doesn't matter?"
Astrid realized that what she said actually sounded very harsh. She bit her lip and looked away from him. "What I mean by legacy is…nevermind. Let's just go. We can get back to the First District by cutting through the Third District. Then you can leave."
"Okay."
Galeo opened the door and the two Keyblade wielders walked through. On the other side of the door, Galeo and Astrid found themselves surrounded by some more residences. This district had a cooler feel to it with the soft blues and greens on the architecture. Its fluorescent yellow lights glowed softly so as to not take away from the calm ambience.
Astrid asked, "Why did you even come this way?"
"Huh? I saw another person. If I left, I didn't want to just leave you here all alone with someone else. What if they tried to hurt you?"
"Everything here is trying to hurt me. I'll be fine."
As they stepped around a corner, they found a set of stairs that led down to an open and wide lower level. In the corner sat a fountain that depicted a scene of two dogs touching noses. It was quite the lovely view, but the sudden appearance of even more Nightmares disturbed that view.
Galeo looked at Astrid as if to ask if she would be okay on her own. She nodded and he released his hold of her, making her lean more heavily on her Keyblade. The boy charged forward with his own Keyblade, slaying the small mob of enemies. Among them were Komory Bats, who would have provided him with a bit of a problem had Astrid not taken care of them from afar with casts of Water magic. When the first water bullet crashed into a floating Komory and splashed droplets all over Galeo, the boy turned back to see Astrid doing her best to stand on her own with her Keyblade pointed at the airborne monster. He looked back with a smile and then set his gaze back on the grounded enemies, knowing she would cover him.
Among the enemies stood a breed of Nightmare Galeo had yet to see, a ram-like beast with two large instrumental horns poking out of the side of its head. The Yoggy Ram, as it was called, was a powerful creature, one with high mobility that made it difficult for Astrid to hit accurately in her condition. A water bullet missed as it strode across the courtyard and rammed into Galeo, knocking the boy back against the door.
Galeo clutched his ribs as he tried to stand back up. He couldn't. The Yoggy Ram began dragging its feet against the floor, preparing for a devastating charge attack. Astrid saw this and sprang forward. She ignored the pain at her side and leapt onto the large beast to ride it, much like she would the horses from her family's stables. The girl gripped the horns firmly and pulled with all her might as it sprinted across the district. She redirected it to the left, making it slam into a star-shaped panel. The giant gate behind Galeo opened, causing the boy to fall back from his sitting position.
The Yoggy took a few steps back and shook its head. It had taken quite the hard hit itself and needed a moment to recover from the head trauma. When it realized that Astrid still rode on its back, it tried throwing her off, but she held on as tightly as she could. Unfortunately, her injury left her weak, so her endurance could not outlast the ram's. It raised its hind legs, throwing Astrid forward. When she finished rolling, the Nightmare had begun another charge. This time, Galeo rescued her, moving both of them out of the way as the Yoggy ran by, only stopping when it crashed into the oddly shaped mailbox in the First District. As the mailbox tipped over, a hole appeared beneath it.
"Look!" Galeo said as he pointed it out to Astrid. "We have to get down there!"
Galeo flung his Keyblade to the center of the plaza, making the Yoggy Ram look in that direction. His trick had fooled the savage creature long enough for them to stumble their way into the hole in the ground. Where did it lead? Somewhere Astrid could not possibly imagine.
Author's Notes
*Drops in*
Hello there.
Yes, I had to do the Obi-Wan line because his show recently dropped on Disney+ and I'm absolutely loving it so far. As of writing this, I have seen up to Part 3 and I'm excited to see what the second half of the show has in store for us.
I hope you guys can say the same regarding this current storyline revolving around Astrid and Galeo in Traverse Town. As the two spend more time together, they will come to understand each other more and so will all of you. I know you guys are loving the Astrid backstory deep dive and are clamoring for Galeo's backstory, but I can't explore it just yet. I will soon, however. I promise. Until then, keep a watchful eye for any details I might let slip regarding where he came from and what he's been through.
Question of the Chapter (QOTC): How would you feel about Star Wars in Kingdom Hearts?
Response to Reviews:
WolfieRed23: Thank you for the compliment about the fight scenes. I hope you enjoyed the ones in this chapter as well! Yeah, I remember we talked about the Anniversary event the day all the trailers launched and I shared the same excited for a certain someone who showed her face.
Antex-The Legendary Zoroark: Yeah, all of those things are super exciting. If I'm being completely honest, I wasn't surprised that we were getting a KH4 trailer for the 20th Anniversary event because Nomura did say last year that after the year long "break" that they took, that they would bring us something big in 2022. Which foreboding words are you talking about from Eraqus in KH3?
ShadowWolf223: Her childhood wasn't ALL bad, but of course, I didn't reveal that until this chapter. Still that doesn't change that the time spent with her grandmother was just the tiny solace that Astrid could enjoy in her childhood. But even that couldn't last for long.
Silver Kitsune Lunaria: As always, thank you very much for the constructive criticism. If my writing gets to be a bit too repetitive in other ways than just my over reliance on passive verbs, please do let me know because I want to make sure my writing is exciting and engaging for all of you.
