Waking to a new day

The first thing to register was the warmth. It was warm. Very warm in fact. But it was not the same everywhere. There was a direction to it. A source from which it emanated.

Lying on the ground, back touching the surface. And the warmth came from… above? Yes. Something overhead. There was also a light breeze, bringing moments of pleasant coolness. Was this place outside? It felt like it.

Next came scents that took some time to identify. Two were most prominent. Flowers and… grass. Yes, those were the ones. Definitely outside then.

It all felt fresh. New. As if being experienced for the first time. *As if* because it was not so, but it felt like it. A feeling somehow so profound it moved one almost to tears. The stirring oh emotions also felt similarly profound, odd, fresh. Almost raw in its newness. Why did it feel like this?

Eyes dared to open, then snapped shut instantly, an arm rising to protect the face, the first quick motion since things began to be noticed. Too bright! Painful. Head turned and a second attempt was made. A more successful attempt, though it was still necessary to squint. There was green grass, bright colors from multitudes of flowers. Above a blue, cloudless sky.

Beautiful. Beautiful.

Why did the notion of finding something beautiful feel so… overwhelming?

Shortly the eyes closed again. Tired. Exhausted. Resting some more felt like a good idea. And so that was what was done. Sleeping, or not. It was a little hard to tell actually. Maybe a bit of both. Slow thoughts came and went. Mostly just unformed emotion, small registrations of the surroundings. Feeling the flow of fresh air breathing slowly in and out. Listening to the chirping of birds, the rustle of the trees in the wind.

Beautiful.

Seriously, why did every sensation feel like it was about to set off an overflow of emotions?

As time passed it started to get easier to think. Longer and more coherent thoughts began to be formed. Eventually an inevitable question surfaced: "What… or who… am I?

There was a name floating around, just barely within reach. L… Lar… Larxene? It was a name that belonged. It was hers. And yet it was wrong. Altered. Violated almost. Thinking of that name brought a wave of bitter resentment and a tightness in her chest that made her abandon it in haste. It would not do. But it was an alteration, right? So there had to be an original. She just had to think a bit further back.

Elrena!

That was her name! Her real name.

That name made her wince, hands rising to her temples as a torrent of memories poured in. All about Elrena.

There had been a girl. A warrior of the keyblade. She had spent her time defeating Heartless, collecting Lux alongside countless others. A union, one among five. Then she had been approached, offered a spot in the Dandelions, a special group being prepared for a special task. Only for the finest, most able wielders she had been told. How proud she had been to be chosen. After that there had been both relief and disappointment when the war they had been told to watch for had not come (only later she would learn it had in fact occurred, the memory merely stolen from her).

After that, new meetings, chaos… witnessing the end. Departing to a new world over a promise made. Losing her body in transit, then having it reconstituted. The one who had seen it done had taken her in. She could no longer recall who it had been. Had to have been either Xemnas or Xigbar, but there was a blank space where recognition should have been.

And then…

A memory so black and terrible she would never be able to recall it, no matter how she would try. All she could remember was the pain it caused, and the consequences born of it. Her heart had been taken by the dark. The empty shell of her body had remained in service to a new group. The Organization.

Starting from that point there were a bunch of odd memories. She could recall them, but not link any emotions to them. They were empty, hollow, much like she had been at the time. She had pretended emotions of course, quite convincingly too. But in truth she felt little, if anything at all. The feeble, half formed thing that had eventually started to take shape in the place of her heart had hardly been an adequate replacement.

The worst part was that she had agreed to become that shell. She remembered that choice. She had always had a habit of hiding the things she cared about so no one could take it from her. At that point she had also lost a great deal. Many faces she would never get to see. Many favorite things she would never get to experience again. And things she could still have but would likely be too cowardly to ever ask for. She liked to pretend not to care about any of them to soothe the pain. Losing all ability to feel had seemed like a perfect fit at the time. And the Organization offered resources important to someone she wished to help. The plan was to join, then seize the Organization for their own, so they could redirect it to their purpose. That plan had regrettably gotten sidetracked rather badly. The one he had followed had lost his memory in the transition, and she had lost the ability to care about those memories. Taking over the Organization was something they had eventually attempted though, but it had all come down to nothing.

A long time had passed in the ranks of the Organization, her body growing into adulthood in the absence of her heart, doing her duties. Eventually she had been struck down, and recompleted. At that point emotions flowed freely again, and she had nearly crumbled under the weight. Guilt over her actions, sorrow over what had occurred before all that, shame over forgetting why they had joined in the first place. All that and the need to stay close to her partner in crime had made her agree to a second separation when the opportunity was presented. She had once again escaped into the calm of not being able to feel.

She had become a Nobody once more. This time had been somewhat different, as her body had been chosen to store the heart of another. Even then she had been little more than a jar to be filled. The heart had not belonged to her, and had guarded itself very carefully. She could get nothing out of it, except how dark it was. A great battle had followed, and she had been bested yet again.

A person again, all her memories were reconnecting now. Guilt, sorrow and shame washed over her yet again, in painful waves. It was all too much, too excruciating, too quickly. Too much, too much, TOO MUCH! She felt like she was about to be torn apart and reduced to atoms. In that moment she wanted nothing more than to cast her heart back into darkness so she would be free of this torment. To be a Nobody yet again.

Rendered nearly paralyzed by her memories she lay there on the ground, staring numbly into the sky, tears pooling in her eyes. She always guarded her true emotions, but now she could not hold it in. She wept and wept without end over all that had been lost, over all she had done.

She had begun waking around midday of this world's time. Dusk was already approaching when she finally managed to regain some semblance of herself. She sat up, deciding she desperately needed someone to talk to.

"Chirithy." She called. Nothing responded.

"Chirithy?" She repeated, a bit louder. Then she remembered, her shoulders slumping, head bowing. They had not heard of their spirits after waking up here in this new age. Who knows where they had ended up, if they still existed at all? It had been one of the first hurts in this new world. Her Chirithy had been a friend, one of the only ones she had truly liked in her youth.

That was the moment she realized there was another person unconscious close by. Someone she recognized.

"Lauriam!" She gasped, going to him at once. Still fairly weak from her recent recompletion, her legs barely supported her, and she nearly collapsed on the way over. But she made it, sitting down next to him.

"Lauriam…" She whispered, her hand going to stroke his pink hair. He was the one for whom she had gone through all this trouble. She had crossed the ages, alternating repeatedly between being a person and a Nobody, and had left behind everything she had known before then. And all for him. He was the one thing she held on to, even as a nobody. Sometimes she still could not believe herself. There had never been anyone else she would have agreed to do so much for. Not even close. There were days she regretted having agreed to, but at the same time she knew she would do it all again in a heartbeat.

He at least was here. She would not be left all alone. Though what would become of them now she truly could not say.

She quickly snatched her hand back when she noticed him starting to stir. His eyes opened, looking straight into hers.

"Elrena… you've been crying." He told her.

She flinched and turned her face aside. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Where are we?" He asked.

"Dwarf woodlands I think. Makes sense. This is where we were first made into Nobodies." She replied.

"Huh. And how did we get here? What happened?" He asked next.

"We… we fought in the second Keyblade War. And we were defeated. Do you remember it?" She explained.

"…Yes. I do remember that. I…" He began to say before suddenly stopping as Elrena saw him come to a horrific realization. "Oh. Oh no. Oh, no…" With that he too began to cry. Her hands twitched in response. She wanted to take him to her arms and hold him to comfort him, to tell him it would be all right. She wanted to pull away his hurt and make it her own. Her own hurts had made her want to die, but she would gladly have taken his as well if it meant he would be free of it. Anything would be better than seeing him like this.

If only she was brave enough for a bold move like that.

She settled to holding his hand, waiting silently as his sorrow and distress poured out of him the way it had poured out of her.

"Elrena… what have we done?" He asked when the tears finally started to subside.

"It's… not our fault. Those were different us. We aren't responsible for the actions of our Nobodies." She said. Even as she spoke the words she was aware how feeble an excuse they were. "And the Organization we joined out of necessity. You needed to find your sister."

"For all the good it did. As soon as I became a Nobody I lost my memory. How could I do it, Elrena? How could I forget about her, of all people?

"Nobodies don't have feelings. Without them it's hard to care about past memories. I remembered better than you, but all my memories were just a tool to pantomime a normal existence. Or excess baggage." She told him. Again, feeble.

"What matters is that you remember it now. There is nothing we can do to change the past. We need to focus on the future." She added.

"Yeah. I suppose you have a point there." He agreed quietly. At that point he did note her holding his hand, but chose not to comment on the matters. Small mercies she supposed. Had he said something she might not have gotten through it without blushing.

"Do you…" He started before sitting up with a grunt. "Do you feel well enough to leave? I think we should leave from here before any locals show. I don't know if they'd recognize us, but for now I think it best to keep a low profile."

"Yeah. I feel fine. Let's get going." She said.

She helped him to his feet and they left the meadow, heading into the woods.

"So… what now?" She asked after they had walked for some time.

"I think the first order of business is finding some food. I don't know about you, but I'm rather hungry. Apparently the food you eat as a Nobody doesn't count when you get recompleted.

"Sounds good. But that also was totally not what I was asking." She said.

He nodded. "I know. For me the answer is clear. Strelitzia. I still haven't found her, so I need to keep on looking."

"I figured. But how though?" She asked. "The Organization is gone, and I think this time for good."

"I don't know exactly how. Not yet. All I know is that I want to continue the search. Until I've found her or can't continue anymore I've no intention of stopping." He replied.

"Though… that's my quest. You've done more than enough for me. If you have other plans now I wouldn't want to impose. I'd understand if you want to go your own way." He added.

She snorted. "Are you kidding? Listen here: I gave you my word. You basically have to pull my arm out of its socket to get me to promise anything to anyone. But once I make a promise, I keep it. So after coming this far I'm not wandering off now."

"Plus, what would I do with myself if I left? Whatever life I had… I left it a thousand years in the past, in a world that doesn't even exist anymore, same as you." She continued.

"And I am sorry I dragged you all the way here, away from so much." Lauriam said.

She gave a small smile. "I chose to come. Though there weren't that many options come to think of it, what with the world falling apart at the same time. But I chose. So I'm not going to accept that apology."

"I suppose I could find some remote world where no one would come looking for me, start a life there. But that's not what I want yet. There is something we need to get done first. And all I'm saying is we should come up with a proper plan. Otherwise our lifetimes might not be enough to find Strelitzia. There is no end to the worlds, and no way to know which one she might be on. We don't even really know where to begin. We didn't stumble across any clues while in the Organization. This is too big a job for two people. We're going to need someone to help us out."

"I suppose you're right. Well, there are other groups. For instance…mmph!?" He began to say before Elrena clamped a hand over his mouth and pulled him behind one of the trees. She raised a finger to her lips, nodding past the tree, her expression stern.

A dark corridor had just opened. And the people who stepped through left them both dumbstruck.

"You wanted to talk in private. So here we are. So what is it that you wanted to say?" Asked Master Ira.

"I just wished to get your bearings on this. What do you think of Luxu's claims?" Said Aced.

"Honestly? I'm still processing it all. It was a lot to take in." Ira replied.

"No question. I for one am not sure I even trust him. For all we know this could be some betrayal of his." Said Aced.

"That certainly isn't beyond the realm of possibility. He did have a slippery side to him. Probably why the Master picked him for his role. Yet somehow I don't think he has lied to us now. It would be an enormously long road to take for the sake of treachery. And the things we can verify line up perfectly with what he claimed. And the things he claimed we now carry… I can feel that part to be true for certain." Ira said.

Aced nodded slowly. "…Yes. I as well. But that bothers me more than anything. How were we so blind? I am ashamed I failed to notice what was happening in the days leading up to the Keyblade War."

"This darkness can clearly twist our own thoughts against us. And all of this was decided. We never stood a chance of puzzling this out. But… I regret my actions as well." Ira said.

"The Master should have told us his plan beforehand. This… it feels like a betrayal." Aced said, crossing his arms and shaking his head.

"Telling us could have spoiled the results. I'm sure he was just acting for the greater good." Ira said.

"And perhaps we should act for the greater good ourselves. In our own way." Aced suggested.

There was a noticeable pause.

"Back during the day I would have scolded you for harboring such thoughts. Now… I would still advice you to let go of such notions. Given the situation any attempt to derail the Master's plan could have disastrous consequences. We simply do not know enough. If it is as Luxu has told us, we dare not intervene. And I think such a thing quite impossible.

"Truly?" Aced asked.

"Yes. From the Book of Prophesies we know he can see events that have yet to take place. There is no reason to assume he has lost that ability in our absence. So any plan we might make has likely been anticipated and taken to consideration. Even if I supported such an idea, and I'm not saying I do, it would be a waste of time." Ira explained.

"So you would have us meekly march to our destiny? Knowing what he has in store for us?" Aced asked.

"I did tell you once: It is not our place to seek to change the events of the future. Our purpose in this is clear. We have our roles, and we have no choice but to see them through, no matter how we feel about them. Feel angry about it if you wish, but I don't think it will change anything."

"Perhaps not. But when the Master returns, I intend to demand some answers from him." Aced said.

"I think all of us except Luxu can agree with that. He owes us that much." Ira said.

"Come. We should return to the others and agree on the distribution of our tasks today. We must do our part to ensure things do not deteriorate too far before all the pieces are in place." He finished.

After the foretellers had departed, there was a stunned silence.

"That… what… huh?" Elrena tried to find the words, unsuccessfully.

"I… I'm not going nuts am I? You saw that too, right? Two foretellers just happened to appear out of nowhere right now?" She then asked.

"I saw. But I can barely believe it. Foretellers. It sounds like more than just Ira and Aced. From the sounds of it they might be waiting for their Master to return too." Lauriam said.

"You mean the Master? The Master of Masters? And some kind plan they've cooked up? What was that about things starting to deteriorate?" She wondered.

"Oh, this is just too rich. We have been people for less than a day, and now our old Masters are back after how long missing? And their Master too? And remembering what happened the last time he was making plans, it sounds like everything is set implode in our face yet again. This is so messed up! You'd think we'd at least get a break after being recompleted, but no. Seriously, foretellers? Of all the thing to run into…" She complained, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"There is also Luxu. I need to find him. Your Chirithy saw him or his Master escorting Strelitzia somewhere. He'll know where to find her, I'm sure of it." He said.

"Woah, woah. Hold your horses, champ. Even if you find him I seriously doubt he'll just tell you what you want to know. And if we try to go toe to toe with a Foreteller they'll flatten us for sure. You know how tough that bunch is." She said.

Lauriam gave an annoyed growl. "I guess now we have two reasons…"

"Huh? Two? What are you going on about?"

"Well, before we got interrupted I was about to suggest we seek out the Guardians of Light, convince them to help us in our search." He explained.

"The… the guardians!?" She exclaimed. "Lauriam, did you just decide to go crazy along with everything else right now? Or did you forget we were fighting that pack of losers the last time we saw them. Why would they do anything for us except hit us in the head with a keyblade?"

"We have one we can approach among them. Ventus. I saw him with the Guardians. Now that we are ourselves again I think there is a chance he will agree to help us."

"Him? You're sure that would work? He didn't say anything to us during the War. Maybe he doesn't remember us?" She asked.

"I don't think he saw our faces during that whole fight. He didn't know we were there. But if he doesn't remember us we will just have to jog his memory somehow." He replied.

"I don't know…" Elrena said, hesitant.

"Come on, we should at least give this a try. Ventus was a friend of mine. Hopefully he still is. If he remembers I'm certain he'll agree to help. At least we should bring warning about the Foretellers. Because like you said I don't think them suddenly showing up is a good sign. What have we got to lose?"

"A bunch of things, near as I can figure. But…ugh…fine. We have to start from somewhere. I just hope he remembers us. Or remembers you rather. He was already light's out when I got involved. I don't really know him."

"You'll like him. He is the kind of person it's hard not to like." He said.

She smiled. "It will be fun to find out for myself, that's for sure."

"So… if that is the plan we are going with, how do we find him?" She asked.

"That's easy. The Land of Departure. It's the same as Castle Oblivion, so we already know how to find it." He said.

"Yeah. Long trip though, and not through the safest places, either. It's a good thing we still have these coats. It sounds like we are going to need them. Now all we need is transportation."

"I believe we have that too." Lauriam said. He then closed his eyes and stuck out his arm, closing his hand partway into a fist, as if taking a hold of something. At first nothing happened. His expression became one if intense concentration, bead of sweat gathering on his brow. Then a flickering light appeared on his palm. Then in a flash his keyblade was in his hands, a vine of roses wrapped around a pillar.

"Wow. A lot harder than I remember." He said. "What about you?"

She gave a hesitant nod and reached out with her hand. She certainly could feel the connection between her weapon and her heart. It was still there. But it was an old, worn thing, rendered brittle by many years of disuse. Reaching for it felt like trying to walk along a badly overgrown path. Try as she might she could not get the connection stable enough for her keyblade to arrive.

After a while she lowered her hand. "Blast. Stupid thing. I can't do it. I'm sorry."

"You can." He encouraged her. "Your heart knows what to do. Put your trust in it."

"Hmm. Been a long time since I've done that…" She said. Even she was surprised at her contemplative tone.

"That's true for both of us. But that is the way. Just try it again." He said.

And try again she did. As before, she felt resitance, but persevered. Eventually she felt a tremor travelling down the length of her arm. When it reached her palm there was a sound of thunder. And there it was: A keyblade shaped like a lightning bolt. Her keyblade.

The sight of it made her smile with delight. "Yes! I did it! I really did it!" She had not realized it, but she had missed this familiar feel. It was good to hold her weapon once more.

Having a though, she raised her free hand as well, a score of knives appearing between her fingers.

"Ooh. Would you look at that? I still have these too. Nice. Going to come in handy." She said, then dismissed the knives. "But seriously, that was really tough. I guess we are a bit rusty."

"It'll come back to you. Like riding a bike." He reassured.

"Bad example, Lauriam. I never actually learned to do that." She said with a smirk.

"What? You haven't?" He asked, genuinely surprised.

"Nope. Too busy keybladeing." She said.

"Hmm. Maybe one day I could teach you then." He said. There was a playfulness in his eyes.

She blinked, caught by surprise. "I… uh… you would do that? I suppose that would be… alright." She stammered.

He smiled at her, then pointed his keyblade forward. A beam of light shot out of the tip, and a portal opened in front of them.

"Let's go." He said, then walked into the portal, lifting up the hood of his coat as he entered.

She lingered behind for a bit longer. She wanted to slap herself.

"Seriously girl? A simple suggestion and you glitch completely? Keep your mind on the job." She muttered, shaking her head at herself.

"Right. Let's get this show on the road." She said lifted up her hood and proceeded into the portal as well.