'Brain had been warned that the end was still coming. That meant he should be able to prepare in time to save his friends. …Right?'
Fifty-Six: Master's Defender
(There was a part of Brain that recognized that by the time she died, he didn't really know Ava anymore. They had been best friends as kids, but whatever had happened after she had become a Foreteller had changed her. He'd never been able to bridge that gap entirely, and it left a bittersweet ache in his chest whenever he thought of times spent with his friend.)
"Brain! Are you alright?"
(There were times when he had to stop and comprehend the fact that he was grieving for someone he hadn't really known at the end. And there were others…well. There were others where he had to question just what those changes had meant in the long run—and if things would've been different if he'd realized things sooner.)
Brain groaned and pushed himself up, brushing dirt off his jacket. "Fine," he said, then flashed Ava a grin. "You've gotten pretty good at magic, huh?"
She had taken off her mask for once, her robes replaced with casual clothes, which meant that Brain could actually see her face scrunched up in worry, rather than have to watch her hands and shoulders and try to pick out what she was feeling. "I didn't mean to hurt you."
"You didn't. It's fine." He picked his hat off the ground, but couldn't hold back his wince when he went to stand.
"Brain—"
"Just bruised." A quick Cure spell fixed the problem. "See?"
"If you're sure…"
"I'm fine." He knocked his knuckles lightly against her forehead. "You worry too much."
She still looked doubtful, but her expression had shifted at least a little towards exasperation over worry, so he considered that some sort of progress.
Brain laughed quietly, setting his hat back on his head. "Bit different than when we were kids, huh? Getting to actually learn magic rather than throw mud at each other."
He realized he must've miss-stepped somewhere when Ava's expression shuttered. "Maybe."
His eyebrows furrowed as he searched her expression. "Everything alright?"
"It's fine." She flashed him a smile that looked as fake as her mask. "Did you want to spar again? I wanted to see more of how your magic was coming, but I kind of messed that up."
The wording felt off, and it took a moment for Brain to realize why. She's a Foreteller. Not mine, maybe—but she'd still want to make sure that I'm progressing. That's probably why she suggested this in the first place. The thought made him feel a little uncomfortable, and he twisted his Keyblade reluctantly. "It's not anything special. Just some basic spells so far."
Her eyes glimmered with mischief, and he had half a moment to wonder what trap he'd walked into before Ava said, "Really? Because I think I saw you asleep at the library with a few books on synthesis."
His face heated, but he huffed a laugh and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well. Reading about something and actually being able to do it are different things."
"You'll figure it out. You always picked up on things quickly."
"Mm. Well, I've got a lot of catching up to do, I guess."
Ava smiled, but it didn't meet her eyes. She glanced down, and they fell into an uncomfortable sort of silence that Brain found he didn't really know how to break. He tapped his Keyblade against the ground, then dismissed it in a flash and shoved his hands into his pockets.
"Hey, Brain? Can I ask you something?"
When he looked at her, he expected to be able to at least guess what it was by her expression and body language—but everything about her seemed closed off and distant suddenly, back straight, expression blank, hands clasped in front of her. She looked less like a person and more like a prop, and he tried to ignore how uneasy it made him feel. "Of course."
"Do you—could we—?"
He just barely caught sight of her shaking hands before she stilled them, and he pressed, worried, "Ava?"
Ava straightened a little. "If the Master had asked you to be a Foreteller—would you have accepted the role?"
It clearly wasn't the actual question she wanted to ask, but for the life of him, Brain couldn't figure out what her real question was. So he responded anyways, even if Ava likely already knew his answer: "Of course. We talked about getting out of town all the time—it'd be the best way to do it."
"That's the only reason?"
"Of course not. The Master is the strongest mage in existence. If I wanted to learn from someone—who better than him?"
"Right."
He couldn't tell if she was happy with his answer or not, and he gave her a sidelong glance, waiting to see if she'd pick up the thread of conversation again.
She didn't disappoint. "That's what I thought, too—but I didn't want to go without you."
It made something twist in his chest. "Don't be upset about it. You had an opportunity, you took it. Besides, we found each other again, right?"
"The Master said you wouldn't be upset," she answered, but something about the way she said it and the ironic twist of her smile made him feel like maybe that wasn't a good thing, and he wasn't sure why.
"Of course not. Besides, being a Foreteller's a pretty big honor, isn't it?"
"It's also a lot of work. We have to make sure that missions are organized properly and keep track of our Union members and—and make decisions that we don't want to make, sometimes." Before he could ask her to elaborate on that, she said, "I'm sorry, I didn't—this isn't what I wanted to talk about."
"Then tell me what you were going to ask before you changed topics."
Ava looked surprised a moment, but then her expression shifted to something soft. "It's—nothing. Don't worry about it, okay?" She glanced skyward, and her shoulders slumped. "I've got to go. The others will be wondering where I am. But I'll see you tomorrow?"
Stolen moments like these were hard to come by anymore, so he pushed his trepidation aside and said, "Yeah. I'll see if I can maybe last two seconds this time."
She laughed, and for the moment, that seemed like enough.
-Brain wasn't as surprised as he would've liked to be when he got to the control room and all of the gears started glitching.
It felt like something that had been building had finally come to a head—Ava's words, the portal that refused to close, the warning. For as much as he'd tried to fix the problem, he hadn't actually been able to stem the tide. Something was always going to happen eventually.
It was almost relieving, in a strange sort of way—he'd been waiting, and waiting, and waiting, knowing something was coming and trying to figure out how to prevent it. Now that it was finally here, there was nothing to do but manage the problem and hope that it was enough. Just one last thing. Just one last hurdle—and when we're past it, we're safe.
Master's Defender flicked into his palm. With another flick he'd unlocked the control room; the door slid open, and energy crackled across the floor and walls, pricking Brain's skin and tugging at his clothes. He winced and braced himself. The whole world looked grainy, and it took several blinks for him to realize that he wasn't just seeing things. A low humming noise rumbled through his ears; the control room almost seemed to be buzzing, the energy tingling up his legs when he tried to move closer.
The portal had cracked through the center of the room, jagged around the edges, wispy, pixelated bits splintering across the floor. Spilling from it were flickering, glitching Heartless that snapped from one space to the next with little regard for normal movement.
Brain gritted his teeth and moved, Master's Defender sweeping through the air and cutting down one Heartless, then the next. His footsteps felt strangely heavy, like whatever was within that room didn't want him to enter.
Brain swept his Keyblade around to point it at the portal. Master's Defender flashed; the portal started to shrink, just a little, then snapped back open, the cracks widening slightly with a dull tearing sound. Brain's breath hissed between his teeth and, before he could think better of it, he stepped into the control room and locked the door behind him.
His immediate thought afterwards was this was a mistake. Within the enclosed room, it felt like something was ripping at his skin, almost like it was going to tear him apart at the seams. The humming felt more like a physical force than a noise, pressing down against his back and making his knees buckle. The walls and computer screens flickered like static; the floor nearly gave out from underneath him, and Brain stumbled backwards.
More Heartless appeared at the edge of the portal, snapping and buzzing. Master's Defender hummed aggressively in response, and Brain's weapon snapped upwards, light magic flaring so brightly that he couldn't see for a moment. He didn't wait for the sunspots to clear from his eyes, casting a quick barrier around the portal and hoping desperately that it stayed.
Then he was moving, kicking across the room with a burst of magic.
The computer screen was still there, but it was flickering so much that sometimes Brain couldn't entirely tell where it ended and the wall began. The screen was too grainy for him to make anything out, but he had an idea of what he'd see.
Brain reacted on autopilot, fingers flying across the keyboard. Close the portal. Close the portal, and then figure out a plan from there.
A loud error sound blared from the computer.
Brain ground his teeth together and tried again, and again, and again, utilizing and discarding ideas almost too quickly for his fingers to keep up. Another attempt, another error. An attempted override. Programs he and Ephemer had tried to work out, tossed back and forth when they'd been trying to figure out why this thing kept opening. Error after error after error, the portal still stubbornly open behind him.
Alright, fine.
Diving into the portal itself, he assumed, would be too dangerous; it was unstable as it was, and even being in the same room as it made his skin prickle and his hair lift. But there were other things he could do, and he dug his way into the program. It had become almost familiar—he had created a copy of the world, after all, and he and Ephemer had explored that copy while trying to test things, poking and prodding and hoping to find answers. It couldn't be too different from the source—or at least, he hoped it wasn't. I just need to find a way to close it. Doesn't matter if something happens at this point—can't imagine the damage would be worse than just leaving this thing open. If I can—
Wait. What's that?
There was a low blaring sound, nearly buried underneath the sound of static, but it was uncomfortably familiar. The alarm system. But if it's going off now— He examined the room a little closer.
The world still glitched and flickered, but he thought he could make out something dark slipping into the seams. His fingers traced along it and shivered as something cold and almost sticky coated them, flicking his hands and ignoring the way that they stung. Where is this—
The portal.
His barrier was still up, but it flickered as much as the room, Heartless crashing against the inside. It looked murkier, shadows crawling up the edges like living things, curling over each other until it made it hard to see the portal at all. The ground underneath the portal seemed to crack and flicker, and Brain's attention snapped towards the shadows on the walls. Patches zapped and spat, so pixelated he couldn't make out what they were anymore.
He turned back to the screen with renewed vigor. That's it. That's what's causing the glitches. If I can find where it's coming from, then maybe I don't need to shut the portal completely.
Being in here was starting to give him a headache, and he winced at the pressure building behind his eyes. He tried to ignore it, scanning through the portal for something—
There. A backdoor—though where it had come from, he wasn't entirely sure. Was that Ephemer's doing? Or did something else make it to break in?
It didn't matter; if that's where the darkness was coming from, then he needed to close it.
Everything had started to feel…fuzzy. Brain moved on autopilot, half-focused, ever-conscious of the portal and the fact that it was letting things through, and that he needed to hurry, hurry, hurry, before the room fell out from under him—
The backdoor closed. The world became clearer. The buzzing stopped, the pressure lifted from Brain's back, and he stumbled, despite himself. He hadn't realized how warm the room had been until it suddenly cooled, sweat beading on the back of his neck.
Flickering Heartless still banged on his barrier around the portal. His Keyblade flashed, and the barrier collapsed in on itself, destroying the Heartless and forcing the portal closed in one smooth motion.
The room suddenly seemed very, very quiet. Brain laughed breathlessly, the sound echoing off the walls, and slumped into his chair. He ran a hand over his face, jostling his hat with the motion, Master's Defender slipping out of his hand and clattering against the floor. Well. That was…something.
He moved his fingers a little to stare at the screen. He caught occasional flickers, but nothing like what it was before. The portal still registered as 'open'—which meant, no matter what he'd tried, this world and that one were still connected.
Brain lowered his hand and tilted his head back with a sigh. Alright. Focus. Let's—let's think this through. Ephemer found the portal here originally, but none of us know where it came from or where it leads. The Heartless were coming from there—whether from the world itself or from the darkness leaking in. There's obviously an entry point in the portal leading to somewhere else—the world itself? Or was that Ephemer's route?
…There are still too many variables.
He groaned, lightly hitting his head against the back of his chair. He'd like it if things were simple, for once. Well. At least there's an easy answer for what to do next: explore whatever's on the other side of that portal, and hope that I've got it stable enough that it doesn't collapse in on itself.
It wasn't exactly something that filled him with confidence.
Brain leaned forward slowly, grimacing and shaking out buzzing fingers as he started to type again, double-checking the portal to make sure it was stable. His hands shook a little, and he tried to ignore it. We finally got to this point, huh? If we're not careful, then—
No. No, I'm going to change things. That's what I'm here to do. I haven't spent this long planning to fail now. And once this is over—
Then everything's going to be okay.
The thought made him pause for just a moment. He was so close, and now that it was here—well. He just needed to figure things out. It felt almost like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Almost there.
Still, that didn't mean things couldn't go wrong—he had to play it carefully. It's…probably better not to send one of us through the portal. If we're supposed to lead the Dandelions, it's going to be a problem if we're gone. (And if it was also because he didn't want to risk his friends unless it was absolutely necessary—well, that was his business.)
The door to the control room slammed open, and he nearly summoned Master's Defender before he heard a familiar voice: "Brain!"
In hindsight, maybe he should've expected the others coming to look for him. "Ephemer, Ven." He pushed himself out of his chair and turned to face them.
His friends rushed to meet him, expressions relieved—but Brain's attention went past them to the Dandelion that followed. "And you are?"
Ephemer introduced them, and it clicked into place. That friend. The one Ephemer and Skuld went back to save.
He studied them curiously. Maybe—if we needed someone to explore, then—sending them might work. It could be just like another mission. …Provided Ephemer doesn't decide to volunteer himself. He had a sinking feeling that his fellow Union Leader would be quick to offer to explore, both for the safety of the others and because of his own role in the portal's creation, and he'd much rather his friend stay here, where he didn't have to worry about him and he could help keep the Dandelions calm. If I can explain things—maybe he'll listen. He'll understand.
-He did not listen, and the only consolation Brain had was that at least he went with his friend instead of on his own.
"…Ven. Weren't you with Skuld earlier?"
"Uh, yeah, why?"
"She didn't happen to come up with you and just got sidetracked?"
"I don't think so…?"
Brain groaned and ran a hand over his face. He really, really wished Ephemer had stayed.
-It was rare for Ava to try and get Brain's attention in public—it would be easy for people to assume that one of the Foretellers was playing favorites, after all, and Ava wasn't anxious for either of them to have to deal with that sort of scrutiny. So it caught him by surprise when she marched up to him and grabbed his arm, still in full Foreteller garb, pulling him away from the party members he'd been dragged into conversation with. "Ava—"
"I need to talk to you."
His mouth snapped shut. He studied her for a moment, staring at the tense line of her shoulders, her shaking arms, her bowed head, and swallowed back concern, letting himself be dragged along without another word.
Ava took a sharp right, dragging them into an alley and finally letting him go. He wasn't sure if the location was planned or if Ava couldn't keep going further; he guessed the latter, watching as she paced back and forth, rubbing her arms like she couldn't quite get warm.
Staring at her, he found himself at a loss. He didn't know if he should reach out to comfort her or wait until she'd found her words.
Ava took a deep breath, turning towards him and opening her mouth like she was going to say something. Her chest shuddered when she breathed, and her mouth clicked shut again, her fists pressed to it. She started pacing again, paused, then shook her head, and finally Brain broke and crossed the distance, placing his hands gently on her shoulders; she could keep going, if she wanted, his grip loose and gentle, but it was enough to draw her attention towards him.
"There's going to be a war."
The words tumbled over each other, seeming more like they were blurted in panic than with any intentional thought, and for a moment, Brain struggled to process them.
Ava pulled away with another shuddering breath, practically falling into a sitting position, her hands clasped together so tightly that her knuckles went white.
The reaction made the words feel a little more real, but that didn't mean Brain knew what to say to them. "A…war?"
"That's what the Master said. There's going to be a great battle between light and darkness…and darkness will prevail."
"Darkness as in…?"
"Just—darkness." A note of frustration entered her voice, and she wrung her hands tightly together. "There are stories the Master told us. It's like—" She broke off, words garbled into a frustrated sort of noise.
She was still shaking, so Brain sat beside her, knocking his knee against hers.
"Did I ever tell you why the Master chose the six of us?"
It seemed like a non sequitur, but Brain understood this game enough to play along. "Presumably because you all showed a lot of promise."
"In a way. The six of us had very strong hearts. Strong lights. He wanted people that could help fight back against the darkness long enough to make sure there were survivors." Brain had barely had the time to absorb the implications of that before Ava continued, "All of us were given roles to help preserve the future. Mine is to find the strongest lights and make sure they survive."
Brain stayed silent a moment, turning over the information in his head. Ava didn't say anything, either—though whether to let him try and figure things out or because she was still grappling with this herself, he wasn't sure. "That's why the Unions were created." It should've been a question, but it didn't feel like one. "To gather as many candidates in one place. That way, it'd be easier for you to find the strongest lights."
"I didn't know."
"Didn't figure you did. You seem too shaken up to have known about this ahead of time." Quieter, he added, "Going to take a guess and say I'm one, or else you wouldn't be here telling me about it."
"Yes. I'm—I'm forming a group called the Dandelions. It'll include members from every Union, but without loyalty to any of them. Once more people start coming, we'll be having meetings to—to prepare everyone."
"…This war's definitely going to happen, then? No way around it?"
"I don't know. I don't want it to. The five of us are going to try to stop it."
"Five?"
"Luxu…left. I'm not sure where he's gone."
That was…a lot to process. A part of Brain wanted to drift off on his own—to sit down and think and try to place the pieces into the reality he knew. But looking at Ava—still hunched and shaking—he put his own feelings aside, tucking them away into a box to deal with later. "Well," he said, "how about an extra helping hand?"
Ava's head snapped towards him.
He flashed her a grin and pushed his hat up. "Figure you could use as much help as possible, right? Could help make things a little easier on you." His voice went gentler as he added, "And even if the war still happens, I have faith in you to lead us through it."
Ava went very still. "Brain," she said, quiet, careful, "I'm not going with the Dandelions."
Brain stiffened. The words registered but the emotions didn't, not right away, and all he could manage was a quiet, "Oh."
"I'm—I'm a Foreteller. I'm responsible for all of my Union members—not just the ones who will survive. I can't just leave them behind."
"You—if you stay behind. You wouldn't be able to…" He trailed off, because it dawned on him that that probably wasn't what she needed to hear right now, but…
"They're still my responsibility," she said. "I can't save all of them, but…I can at least save some." She turned towards him, and even with her mask on, Brain got the impression that she was giving him a pointed look. Me. She can save me. It made him wonder if he was really being chosen for his 'strong light,' or if he was being chosen just because Ava didn't want him to be a casualty.
(I can't lose you all over again.)
He steadied himself. "Well," he said, trying to keep his voice light, "it hasn't gotten to that point yet. Let's worry about that problem when we get there."
He thought he caught the ghost of a smile. "Right."
-"What do you mean they left?"
Brain ran a hand over his face. "I'm glad that's the part you're stuck on."
"Brain."
"They're both capable Keyblade wielders. They'll be fine."
Skuld didn't seem convinced, pacing and casting nervous glances at the portal.
Ven's head bounced back and forth with her, eyes wide. "Maybe I should've gone," he whispered.
"No," Skuld and Brain answered in unison.
Ven flinched.
Skuld seemed to make an effort to soften her expression. More gently she said, "I'd worry if it was you, too. And one of them would've gone anyways, and then the other would've gone, and then there'd just be three of you missing—"
"And I'd probably have to cast a spell to keep Skuld here," Brain added dryly. He gave her a pointed look. "As it is, I'm still not convinced."
"I won't go after them," Skuld responded reluctantly, but he could hear the unspoken 'yet.' "I just—" She released a frustrated breath.
Brain crossed the distance and rested a hand on her shoulder. "They'll be fine," he repeated gently.
Skuld groaned and rubbed the heels of her palms into her eyes. "So," she said, seeming to make an effort to drag herself away from the topic at hand, "this is what was causing the problems? The glitches, I mean."
"Near as I can tell."
Skuld worried her lip.
A look at Ven said he didn't seem to be fairing much better; his legs kicked back and forth, hands braced on the table underneath him, shoulders curled like he wanted to shrink in on himself.
"Look," Brain said, "there's not much else we can do for them now. Worrying isn't going to make them safer."
"You say that like you aren't worried."
"I am. But I'm doing all that I can already."
He wasn't sure if that actually helped comfort Skuld or not. "I'm—going to check on the Dandelions. They should know what's going on." She hesitated, then added, "Come get me if they come back?"
"I can do that!" Ven said, perking up just a little at having something to do.
She gave him a tiny smile. "Thanks, Ven." With one last, long look at the portal, she headed out the door.
It could've gone worse, Brain figured, though he wasn't sure how it went was really good. He sighed, leaning against the table beside Ven. "You need a task, too?"
"Oh, uh, I don't—I don't know. I think I'm okay?" He fidgeted a little. "I'm not sure what I could really do."
Brain hummed in acknowledgement. He wasn't sure he had an answer to that, either—for the most part, all they could really do was sit and wait. Guess it's back to that, huh? It meant he was left to sit and think, and he found himself staring at walls that had almost seemed to be bleeding darkness just a short while earlier. "Ven. You mentioned Darklings before."
Ven started. "Huh? Oh, uh, yeah."
"Did you—" Brain broke off, because he wasn't sure what he wanted to ask, really.
"…Did I what?"
("Are you trying to stabilize it?")
Brain shook his head. "Nothing. Just thinking." He glanced back towards Ven. "Want to grab cards or something? Probably better than just waiting around here."
Ven perked up a little. "Okay," he agreed, and hopped off the table.
-"You can change your Keyblade, you know. You don't have to keep the basic Starlight forever."
It wasn't exactly the conversation he'd been expecting to have with Ava, but he rolled with it, anyways. "Maybe I like it."
"It's not magic based—and you fight mostly with magic."
"I'm trying to challenge myself."
Even with her mask on, he could tell Ava didn't believe him at all.
"If you really want to know, though, I've been trying to make my own keychains." He flicked the one on Starlight for emphasis.
"Really?"
"Mm-hm. Kind of wanted something more unique to me." He knew it had to be possible—the other keychains had obviously come from somewhere, after all—but none of the books he'd found had any information on it. It had meant he'd done a lot of trial and error to try and figure out what worked and what didn't. So far he had a couple of keychains that were…decent, he supposed, but nothing that felt right. (Or worked right all of the time. It was still something of a work in progress.)
"You—oh." She fidgeted, shoulders bowed.
"What?"
"Nothing. I just—you might not want this, if that's the case."
"What, you have some special sort of Foreteller keychain to pass onto me?"
"I guess that's one way of putting it." She uncurled her fist slowly, revealing a small gray keychain coiled in her hands. Attached to the end of the chain was a stylized, almost heart-like symbol.
A part of Brain hadn't thought she was serious until he saw it. "This is really…?"
"You don't have to accept it. It's just—something I wanted you to have."
After a hesitant moment Brain reached out and took it from her hands. It felt warm between his fingertips, and he rubbed a thumb against it. "Don't think I've seen this one before."
"You haven't." He thought he caught the ghost of a smile. "Like you said—'special Foreteller keychain.'"
"Just allowed to give those away, huh?"
He'd meant it as a joke, but Ava clenched her hands tightly together, and he tried not to curse himself when he realized he'd miss-stepped. "Well," he continued, "might as well try it out, right?" He snapped the Starlight keychain off his blade and replaced it with the new one.
The Keyblade shifted. The shaft narrowed and turned gray; the hilt turned bulkier, blockier; the teeth of the blade twisted into something that almost resembled an 'e.' Something sang in his chest, light and warm and 's Defender whispered through his ears, the name humming with the reverberation of metal against metal, solid and steady, and he realized very, very quickly that this wasn't a normal keychain—and definitely not something that he was supposed to have. "Ava—"
"I can choose who I give it to," she interrupted, but it sounded more like she was trying to convince herself than him. "And I want you to have it."
"Ava," he repeated, quiet, "what is this?"
Ava didn't answer right away, and he tried not to get too impatient with waiting. "It's meant to help drive back darkness."
The way she said it made it feel like it was supposed to be important, even if that's what every single Keyblade could do, as far as Brain was aware.
"It's like a last line of defense, to protect the people who remain. To—to go with the Book of Prophecies."
Oh. "Because the Foretellers won't be here anymore."
"Yes."
She said it so calmly, and there was a part of Brain that wanted to scream (but he couldn't, he couldn't, this was her choice and he had his own role to play and he just had to deal with it—), so he swallowed and said, "Well. Guess I'll have to keep it, right?" Gentler, he added, "Thank you."
He hoped that she understood that he knew why she'd actually given it to him—and judging by her smile, he guessed she did.
He smiled tentatively back. "I promise I'll try to live up to your faith in me."
-Waiting in the control room somehow proved to be both very boring and incredibly nerve-wracking. There was very little for them to do, and so Brain had alternated between staring at the portal, trying to create haphazard plans for when the others came back, and talking to Skuld and Ven.
But the day had worn on to night, and Lauriam still wasn't here. It was just him and Skuld for the moment, Ven having left to search for Lauriam, and Brain found himself tapping at his keyboard anxiously.
"They're still not back yet," Skuld whispered.
Brain wasn't sure if she was talking about Ven and Lauriam or Ephemer and her friend. Either way, he answered, "I know."
"We should go looking for them, shouldn't we?"
"We said we'd wait until tomorrow for Ephemer and your friend. And you've been out to Daybreak Town plenty today."
He wasn't looking at her, but he thought he could sense her peering over his shoulder. "You've got the screens on Daybreak Town."
"Well, I have to make sure no other issues pop up there, right?"
"That's the only reason, huh?"
"Mm-hm."
It at least got her to laugh a little.
The mood didn't last long. He tapped at the keyboard, flicking uncertainly between the portal and images of Daybreak Town. He wanted to go down and check himself, but he couldn't, and Skuld had already practically worn herself out running back and forth. She was sitting on the table now, fingers drumming against it, but her shoulders were slumped, eyes heavy and fixed on the portal.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
Skuld started.
He gestured at the portal. "Not like we have much else we can do right now besides worry."
"So instead of worrying about them, you'll worry about me."
"Exactly."
Skuld's lips twitched just a little. "I—" She broke off, then sighed and turned back to the portal. She stared into it, fingers curling tightly around the edge of the table. "I'm not mad at them, I don't think. Not really. But I'm just—I don't want to lose them. And it just always feels like I'm going to. The Keyblade War, the Unchained state, Ephemer leaving—and now this."
Brain glanced one more time at the screens. He couldn't see any sign of Ven or Lauriam on them. I guess they'll have to wait, then, he decided finally, and moved to hop onto the table beside Skuld, wincing a little.
Skuld gave him a tiny smile and elbowed him. "Told you you'd been sitting too long."
He huffed a quiet laugh and elbowed her back.
Skuld's expression fell after a moment. In the dim lighting, her eyes looked heavy and shadowed. "You said that this world's still coming to an end?"
Ah. They were going back to that, then. "Ava gave me a warning, before the Keyblade War."
"Do you think this is it, then?"
Skuld's voice shook just a little, even if her expression was steely, and Brain stared at it and had the brief, terrified thought of, What if it is? What if I fail? He pushed the thought aside roughly. "I think it's supposed to be. But it's my job to stop it, right?" He laughed quietly. "Strange as it sounds, it's almost relieving that it's here."
"Because it's worse know that something bad's coming?"
"Because once we're past this, we'll be safe." Finally. Trying to figure out how to deal with this issue with the portal was big and terrifying but at least he finally knew what he was working with. He had something he could potentially find a solution to. And once it was over—that was it. They would likely deal with other threats, sure, but hopefully nothing world ending. He'd finally just be able to be with his friends.
"There's a lot I'd like to do," he found himself admitting, "once we're past this. See if there are improvements we could make to Daybreak Town. Experiment with some new synthesis recipes. Explore the other worlds."
"Map them out?"
"You'd help with that, I'm sure." He nudged her. "Ven too, probably."
"He could be in charge of actually talking to the people there."
"Probably be good at it, if his confidence keeps improving."
Skuld laughed.
Brain gave her a pointed look.
"What?" After a moment her eyes widened with realization. "Oh. What would I like to do?"
"Mm-hm."
Skuld paused, expression thoughtful. "I'm not…really coming from the same place as you. I didn't know there was a chance the world would end. But I'd like to see the other worlds, too." She swallowed tightly. "It would be…hard, probably. But we've seen what those worlds are like in the future. We know they end up healing and that people are okay. And seeing that in person would be—helpful, I guess." Her shoulders curled in a little. "And I want to see if I can figure out where everyone else went. I might not get answers, but—I have to try."
Brain could feel his expression softening. "Lauriam would be willing to give you some pointers, I'm sure."
"He'd probably help, if I asked. And Ephemer and—" She cut off with a shuddering sigh.
"Talk to them about it. When they get back."
"Yeah. Now might be the only time, right?"
"Not the only time. But a good time. Least it means they shouldn't go running off without you during," he gestured broadly, "this."
"I guess that's true." She cast him a curious look. "You really think we'll get through this?"
"I think we've survived worse."
The tension bled out of Skuld's shoulders. "Right. Okay."
They stayed there for a little while in companionable silence, but Brain needed to check the screens again eventually, and Skuld's restless energy would only let her stay still for so long. She seemed reluctant to leave the room entirely, pacing sluggishly around the table, eventually sitting again and leaning against the wall near the computer. Brain glanced at her and smirked when he saw her eyes drooping. "You're going to fall asleep there."
"'M not."
"Convincing. You know, you can go back to your room. Both of us don't need to stay here."
She shook her head and glared at him pointedly. "You're going to stay here all night."
"Yeah, but that's because I have to."
"You'd stay, anyways." She folded her arms, but she spoke through a yawn as she added, "Besides, I want to be here when the others get back."
He laughed quietly and let the matter drop.
-The first couple of times the Dandelions met, there were only a handful. Brain didn't know any of them—most of them looked as uncertain about this whole thing as he felt. He wasn't sure whether or not to approach them at first, sticking to the outskirts of their meeting area and watching as they interacted.
He'd expected the number to grow—and it did, but at a much slower pace than he expected. He wasn't sure when the Keyblade War was going to happen, but he would think that Ava would want to make sure that they got as many people on board as possible.
It's why he found himself pulling her aside one day after a meeting, asking quietly, "How are you choosing the Dandelions?"
The mask probably helped her avoid his eyes, but her head swiveled away, anyways. "I'm looking for people with strong lights. Strong enough to resist darkness."
"And this is all you're finding, huh."
He hadn't really intended to say it that way, and Ava responded sharply, head snapping towards him. "It's not that easy, Brain. I have to be careful about who I choose. I don't want to risk everything because I chose wrong."
He wanted to snap at her—You can't just judge people's lives like that—but he took a breath and stuffed the comment down. "All I'm saying," he said carefully, "is that it seems strange."
Ava stayed quiet for several long moments. When she spoke again, she said, "The Master told us stories of how the world came to be."
Brain wasn't sure he was anxious to hear a story right now, but he waited, anyways.
"A long, long time ago, light spilled out of the heart of the world. From the light were born the first hearts—tiny, fragile things that wouldn't have survived on their own. And so the world gave them bodies to protect them, and they thrived.
"But there are always shadows with light—and this light was so great that it created a terrible, powerful darkness. This darkness was nearly all-consuming, slowly eating away at the world's light. People succumbed to it, turning to monsters in its wake. And so some people sought to push the darkness back. They locked away the heart of the world to protect it, and have been fighting the darkness ever since."
"Guessing this is about us."
"The Keyblade wielders. Right." She turned towards Brain slowly. "I'm not sure how much of the story is true," she admitted. "Not even the Master is. It's just something he'd been told as a child."
"Then why tell me it now?"
"Because there's always a little truth in every story." She took a breath, then lifted her head. "That darkness the story mentioned—that's real. It's what creates the Heartless."
That…was news to him. "But darkness is just negative emotions, right? Might be difficult to deal with, but not inherently bad."
"This is a different sort of darkness, Brain. This is something ancient. This is something that has a will of its own—and it thinks very differently from us." Ava took a steadying breath. "If people are—if there are people who are more susceptible to wallowing in grief, or acting out of anger, or being so scared they hurt others—then this darkness can take advantage of that. It will sink into people's hearts and cause strife—it'll make people fight against each other until there's nothing left. And if it latches onto people—then it can even potentially hide within them."
He understood her logic, but it still stoked something angry in his chest. "Doesn't seem like the best way to deal with the problem is to let people manage it on their own."
"If this ancient darkness makes it into the future, then it won't matter. If the Keyblade War happens, then it needs to die there—that way, we can help others without—without worrying about how bad the consequences will be."
Brain studied her wringing hands curiously. "You don't want to do it this way."
Ava's lips pressed flat.
"Ava—"
"I have to. It's what the Master wanted. If this darkness goes too deep—it can get to the heart of the world itself. It'll drag the world into slumber—and everyone else along with it." She took a shuddering breath. "I'm still going to try and keep the Keyblade War from happening at all. But sometimes—sometimes you have to make hard choices to protect others."
Ava wasn't looking at him anymore, her hands shaking, and—she had good judgment, he knew. Should he really be arguing with her and making things harder? So he swallowed his protests and said instead, voice gentle, "Let me help."
Ava flashed him a tired smile; he wondered if she'd seen through him. "Thank you, Brain. Please—try to diffuse conflicts when you can. If more people are able to handle their negative emotions—then it'll be easier to recruit them to the Dandelions."
He nodded, but it still left a strangely bitter taste in the back of his mouth.
-"Brain. Brain, wake up."
Someone shook his shoulder lightly. He blinked open his eyes to a blurry screen. Images of Daybreak Town flickered across it, sunlight already brightening the sky.
Skuld hovered over him, expression pinched. "We fell asleep."
Brain pushed himself up with a groan. His back and face were sore, and he winced as he went to rub his shoulder. His fingers brushed a blanket, and he tugged at it, then glanced at Skuld curiously.
"You didn't get them, huh."
It didn't sound like a question. Brain didn't know if he should be amused or annoyed. "I'm going to have him gathering materials for the next month."
"Ven or Lauriam?"
"Both. Either. Whichever one of them came up here and didn't wake us up."
Skuld smiled, but it didn't quite meet her eyes.
"Guessing there's been no sign of Ephemer or your friend yet."
"I don't think so." She chewed her lip. "One of them probably would've woken us up if they'd come back. Just to let us know what was going on."
Brain hummed an acknowledgement.
"Brain—"
"I know." He sighed, running a hand over his face. "Don't think I can justify stopping you if you want to run after them."
Skuld didn't say anything right away. She searched his face, then glanced at the portal, then looked at the screens. "I want to make sure Ven and Lauriam are okay first. I mean—they probably are, since they were obviously here earlier, but—just in case."
"And then you could at least have someone to go with you."
"Right."
Brain wasn't sure he was happy about the idea of sending another group into the portal—but then again, he wasn't feeling very good about the fact that Ephemer and his friend weren't back yet, either. "We should all meet up here first. It'll help us figure out a plan." Just in case we need to rescue you, too.
Skuld's expression steeled, and she nodded. "I'll be back." She turned and left the room.
Alone now, Brain had very little to do besides check on the portal, scroll through the screens, and try and collect his thoughts. It bothered him that none of the others had come back yet—even though someone had clearly been up here last night. I don't want to run the risk of losing people. When he could act—when he could do things—it felt a little easier to deal with. But when he just had to sit and wait…
We just need to get past this one thing. Once we get past this, everything will be alright.
…But I need more information before I can make any sort of plan.
He made a frustrated noise, clicking through the screens. The Book of Prophecies felt like it burned, kept inside his coat, right next to his heart. Not for the first time, he thought about pulling it out to see what it said. Ava said I'd know the right time to use it. What other time could it be than this?
He didn't feel as confident about it as he'd like.
A familiar shape flashed on one of the screens.
Brain paused, honing in on the shape. He narrowed his eyes, then groaned, slumping back in his chair. Well. There's Ven. The younger Union Leader looked like he was chasing down a Darkling. Brain supposed he couldn't blame him for wanting to take care of a potential problem—but he still wished that he'd taken the time to come up here and let them know what was going on. At least I know he's alright.
And then he was left to his work, checking on the portal and making little adjustments to keep it stable, checking the screens to see if he caught sign of any of the others or any issues in Daybreak Town, running through haphazard plans that he knew he couldn't put into practice until he had more information, going back and forth between everything he had to do and just trying to be patient. He took a steadying breath and pressed his hand against the arm of his chair. Still here. We're all still here. It's going to be alright.
Footsteps sounded hurriedly outside the control room door, followed by a breathless, "I'm back!"
Brain stood, turning towards Ven and giving him an unimpressed look.
Ven faltered, looking a little sheepish, and Brain found himself softening. He's alright. Lauriam's likely alright. It's…hard to stay mad.
Still, he'd appreciate it if Ven told him that they were okay next time.
(And when he informed him of that—well. Ven had concerns of his own. About the Darklings. About what they were doing here, and why they kept following him, even if he didn't say the second part in so many words. And Brain had…ideas. It could just be that they were interested in going after the light the Dandelions held—they had, after all, been Keyblade wielders once, and when they fell, the last thing they'd probably been focused on had been on collecting Lux. But…there was another possibility. What if they were brought here intentionally?
…But by what?)
The portal flickered.
Brain's attention snapped towards it, and for a moment, he had the panicked thought that maybe it was destabilizing again. He was half ready to hurry back to the computer and make adjustments when a familiar person stepped out of the portal.
Ven perked up immediately. "Ephemer!" He launched himself at Ephemer before he'd even fully stepped out of the portal, and Ephemer caught him with a startled laugh and a quick greeting.
Brain could feel himself relaxing, tension he'd tried not to pay too close attention to bleeding out of his shoulders. "Glad to see you back in one piece." He glanced beyond Ephemer and frowned with a different sort of worry. "But you're missing someone."
"My friend wanted to do some more investigating," Ephemer hurried to say, and it helped to put Brain's mind at ease—or at least at ease enough to focus on the matter at hand. When Ephemer turned to him, a serious expression on his face, Brain got the feeling that whatever they were dealing with was going to be…difficult. "I think we probably have a lot to talk about."
Brain raised an eyebrow. "Well? Don't keep us in suspense."
Ven let go, bouncing away and looking at him with wide eyes.
Ephemer sighed, looking like he wanted to collapse, and Brain pointed out dryly, "There are chairs."
Ven seemed to take that as his cue to drag one over, and Ephemer laughed and accepted it. "Thanks, Ven." He almost fell into it, eyes shadowed, shoulders bowed and hands clasped tightly together.
Brain tried to stay patient, but his fingers tapped rapidly against his arm, a part of him ready to try and poke and prod the information out of his friend.
Thankfully, it didn't take too long for Ephemer to start talking. "So—you already know the portal led to a new world, right?"
"We've established that, yeah."
"Well it turns out, it's also a data world. Just not one that's in the Book of Prophecies."
Brain's eyebrows raised. "Want to explain that?"
"It's like—all of its residents are made of data. So's the world. It's just…unique. It's not a future world, exactly, it's just its own thing. And unlike the projections from the Book, everyone seems to know that they're made of data. There are…a whole bunch of different sub-worlds where they lived. All of them are games, basically."
"Woah," Ven breathed. He turned towards Brain. "Can we check it out?" After a moment he seemed to realize that might not be a good idea and added, "Uh, later, maybe."
"Later," Brain agreed, and the later felt grounding. "Provided you can convince Lauriam."
Ephemer laughed when Ven nodded enthusiastically, but it faded after a moment. "Brain—there was a place with passageways to a whole bunch of those different games. And one of those passageways led here."
A slow, tingling realization ran up his spine—the acknowledgement of something he'd already known, in a way, even if he hadn't really wanted to admit it to himself. "The same one you repurposed."
"Yeah."
A world made of data, connected to this world through a passageway Ephemer had only been able to find when he'd entered the Unchained state and gone to a different worldline. "When you used the Unchained state, you could've gone to any version of Daybreak Town—even the data one."
"Yeah."
"So it's possible you went there—went here by mistake."
"Um, didn't—" Ven broke off, looking hesitant, but when neither of them protested he continued, "Wasn't Master Ava the one who sent you here?"
"No." The word came out sharp, quick, and not entirely intentional.
Ven looked surprised. Ephemer didn't as much, but his eyebrows still furrowed. "It'd make sense, I guess. If she wanted to get us away to safety, I mean. She could make a place where we wouldn't be affected by the Keyblade War. Then we'd just…have to come out later. But it doesn't feel right. I don't think Master Ava would—she wouldn't do something like this, right?"
"She wouldn't," Brain said quickly, but a quiet voice in the back of his mind reminded him, Ava knew there was going to be a problem. How can you be sure this wasn't the plan?
It did make sense, was the thing. Ephemer was right; sending all of them to the data version of Daybreak Town would be one of the best ways to keep them all safe. If this had been planned from the beginning, then it made sense that she'd give Brain a warning. Because it doesn't look like we can get out, he realized. Because there's clearly something still wrong here, and the world could come crashing down around us.
But once I figure out a solution to getting us out—is that really all there is to it?
It felt too easy. It felt like there had to be some sort of catch, because Ava had still given him the Book of Prophecies and that list of names, which meant there was still something he wasn't seeing.
Still, it was a start, and he tried to ignore the idea that Ava had known they'd be trapped to focus on something else. "So the Heartless…?"
"Are coming from there, yeah."
"And then there are the Darklings…" Which shouldn't be here; they should've been left behind, destroyed in the Keyblade War. Brain's mind started to turn. The Darklings could've led the Heartless here—unintentionally, maybe, but they still could've been the primary problem. That backdoor I found—that might've been Ephemer's portal. It's basically their gateway into the data world. So maybe… "Ephemer. When you and your friend went into the portal, what did you see?"
Ephemer started. "Uh, well, it was kind of just a lot of cables. It was a lot like the portal we used to get here."
"Anything else? Another passageway?"
Ephemer frowned, eyes narrowing in thought. "There was—yeah, I think so. There was something off to the side—but it was kind of glitchy and deteriorated. It looked like darkness was leaking out of it when I went back to check."
Brain didn't hesitate; he went back to the computer and got to work.
"Brain…?"
"When the portal opened, there was a backdoor that was leaking darkness. That's what was causing the glitches—it was infecting the system."
"And that's what I saw?"
"I think that's your portal."
"What?"
"It's what makes the most sense. The Darklings shouldn't be here otherwise—and there wasn't any way they could get into the data world."
"Unless they found some other way in."
"Right. And if we can clean that up and repurpose it—" He broke off, but when he turned, he saw Ephemer grinning as he caught on.
Brain gave a decisive nod. "We can handle this." He glanced to his other side. "Ven. Can you—"
He cut himself off as the door creaked open. Two pairs of footsteps headed their way. "How's it going?"
Skuld. Looks like she'd finally managed to track down Lauriam, and Brain couldn't help his relieved smile. "Perfect timing!" He glanced at the screen a moment, then tore himself away long enough to look at them. "Ephemer just got back. And I was about to ask Ven to go get you two."
Skuld flashed him a grateful look, but her eyes darted back to Ephemer quickly, and then away again. Still searching for her other friend, he thought, and tried not to wince. Can't imagine she'll be happy to hear they stayed behind.
…At least one of them's back. And it's not like it's all bad news. He turned back to the computer and got back to work.
Lauriam seemed to be the first to be willing to ask questions, speaking up after a brief moment of hesitation: "Skuld filled me in on the situation. Did you figure out what was causing the glitches?"
Error. Brain frowned, but kept working. For this portal to work, we'll need to clear the darkness out of it. That might take time—but it's not impossible. But I should be able to get it open again…
"Sort of," Ephemer answered. "You see, before the Keyblade War…" A pause, like Ephemer was trying to think of what to say. Focus, Brain. Opening the backdoor could potentially be dangerous right now, he could admit—but it almost seemed like there was something blocking it. He dug deeper into the program, letting Ephemer's words wash over him: "Daybreak Town was recreated as data along with all the other worlds. That's why even though the worlds were destroyed, they're still connected to Daybreak Town…and we're still able to visit them—or at least their data copies."
Brain picked up the thread of conversation from there, only half paying attention. "It's precisely because they're data that a connection from the real world is possible. But now…a new world has aggressively forged a connection with this one." He paused in his work to give the others a pointed look, and saw when they realized what he was talking about. It meant they swiveled back to Ephemer for answers quickly, and gave Brain the opportunity to get back to work. There's something…there's something in the code here. What is…?
"My friend and I followed the Darklings there and did some investigating," Ephemer continued. "It looks like that's where the creatures that have been popping up in our world have been coming from."
Lauriam asked, "Do you think the Darklings guided them here?"
"Most likely," Brain answered, "but I can't imagine why."
Something itched at the back of Brain's mind. There was a slow, looming realization settling over him as he dug deeper. That's—that's not right. This is—there has to be a mistake here.
But it was hard to deny what he was seeing in front of him: the pathway was one way. Meant to let things in, but not out. That doesn't make sense. Ephemer and Skuld managed to get back out to get to their friend. (But that might've been a trick of Ephemer's magic, deteriorated over time.) We should've been able to get to the data Daybreak Town and back again. (But if this was the data world, then they'd clearly been here the whole time—wouldn't it make sense if they weren't able to get out?) But if that's true, then—
This had been designed as a trap.
"You know," Ven said, and Brain almost didn't register the words, "we saw a glitch that looked like Master Ava here in the tower."
Brain started out of his thoughts. His mind caught on the name, skipping like a record, and he found himself wondering: Did she know about this? …No. There's no way that she meant for us to be trapped here on purpose. There's no—
("We have to make decisions we don't want to make, sometimes.")
No. No, no, that's not—this can't be intentional. This has to be something someone else did. She would've told me if she'd known.
…Wouldn't she?
"These glitches…" Lauriam murmured. "They're showing up in town too. I saw one of Strelitzia."
Brain stiffened. "Your sister?" The sister that was…missing. The one who'd known about the Keyblade War, apparently.
"Yeah," Lauriam answered. "I came here because I thought you might be able to make some sense of it."
Sense of it. Right. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
(But it didn't take much thinking, really. He'd already come to an answer, after all.)
"According to Ephemer, the residents of the newly connected world are aware that they live in a data world. That got me thinking…We know the monsters from the new world can infiltrate our world…" He paused, taking a steadying breath. "Ven and Skuld saw a glitch of Master Ava, and Lauriam of his sister." He turned, finally, and gave his friends a serious look. "We were so sure we were in the real Daybreak Town…but all signs point to this being a data world too."
The room went very, very quiet. Ven's eyes had gone wide; Skuld had grown pale; Lauriam seemed almost queasy, the expression on his face hard to read.
Ephemer seemed the least affected—but then, he'd already had an idea of what was going on. He glanced at the others, then turned to Brain, seeming willing to try and focus more on what they could manage. "The real Daybreak Town still exists, right?"
Ven started. "What?" He hurried closer to Brain, expression pleading. "Please say Daybreak Town hasn't disappeared!"
He gave Ephemer an exasperated look, who smiled apologetically. "We have no way of knowing right now," he answered, trying to keep his voice gentle. "I'm fairly confident we were in the real world until this all broke out, at least." (Are you? something in him asked, and if he was truthful—no. He wasn't. Almost the opposite, really—but it wasn't what Ven needed to hear right now.)
"So we can't get back?" Skuld asked. "We're stuck here?"
There was something almost angry in Brain's chest—because there was a difference between knowing something was going to happen, and facing the potential that they'd been trapped here. Brain took a moment to breathe in deeply and tried to ground himself by reiterating what he knew: "We thought we had gone back, but it turns out we didn't…which means we can't go back the usual way." He turned towards the others. "But if you give me a bit more time, I might be able to figure something out."
It didn't seem to reassure them as much as he'd hoped it would. "Why is this happening?" Ven whispered, voice wavering.
"If I had to guess," Brain answered, and some of the anger leaked out, "there's someone behind all this. That's the only thing that makes sense. I don't know why…but this data world was probably made to be cut off from the real world from the start. There might not even be a reason for it, aside from being a means to some other end."
Lauriam had a sardonic sort of smile on his face. "We escaped the war, only to find ourselves trapped in a cage? Irony at its best."
"It couldn't have been Master Ava," Ephemer pointed out quietly. He gave Brain a serious sort of look. "She gathered us together so she could keep light alive. She wouldn't trick us like this."
He wanted to believe that. He did. But the Book of Prophecies felt heavy in his coat, and he found himself murmuring reluctantly, "At this point, we can't be sure of anything." He squeezed his eyes shut. "We don't know if Master Ava knew about any of this…or who's responsible for the program." Because it was possible that Ava didn't have any idea that they'd be trapped here, even if she'd intended to send them to this place. Maybe the Master had just told her to send them here and she hadn't questioned it. But that opens all sorts of other problems. Were we really just tricked into coming here? And why?
Brain shook his head, pushing himself pointedly away from the computer. "In any case, like I said before…I'm going to become a virus and overwrite it." He headed past them, making his way pointedly towards the door. There wasn't much he could do here if he couldn't fix the issues with the portal, but maybe…
"Where are you going?" Ven called
"Downstairs."
Ephemer shouted after him, "Do you have a plan?"
The Book felt like it was burning. "Not yet."
Outside of the control room, it felt a little easier to breathe. This was just—a setback. He'd known it would be hard; that didn't make it impossible. He just needed to figure out what he was supposed to do.
Slowly he reached into his pocket. The Book was a familiar presence, for all he hadn't used it before, and he found himself staring at it as the elevator lowered. "I wonder if there's anything written about this…"
Ava had told him that he'd know when to use the Book. If there was any time he'd need it, it was now. If there was a way to figure out how to get them back to the real world—maybe he'd find answers in here. But she made a point about no one reading what was in the Book except for a specific person. Why make that point unless there's something more to it?
…She stuck the list of names in here. Maybe that's the key. Maybe I could figure out who this was really supposed to go to—but then why give this to me at all? Something's not adding up. There's something else there, and I just don't have the last piece of the puzzle.
But I can't just ignore this. Not if it's the only way to save us.
He still couldn't bring himself to open the Book, and he found himself trailing back to the Foretellers' Chambers. He settled at his desk, staring at the Book for several long, long moments. He took a breath and reached out—then pulled his hand back again, indecisive. It's just a book. You need answers. Just open it.
He stared at the Book a little longer, then ran a hand over his face, eventually resting his chin on his palm. Nothing else for it. Whatever other clue she wanted me to pick up on—I guess it doesn't matter now. Maybe it'll make more sense later.
"Any ideas?"
Brain started at Lauriam's voice, then bit back a frustrated groan. He hadn't even realized he'd been follow, and turned and flashed his friend an exasperated look. "Are you kidding? It's only been a few minutes."
Lauriam looked almost apologetic. "True." He shifted, and from his hesitant expression, Brain got the impression that wasn't what he had actually wanted to ask about. "The others decided to stay in the control room a bit longer."
Brain searched Lauriam's expression. His eyes had flicked to the side, his fingers tapping against his arm, shifting from foot to foot like he wasn't sure what to do with himself. "Alright," he said, voice lifted pointedly.
Thankfully, it didn't take too long for Lauriam to get to the point: "I know it's not the best time for this, but I spoke with a friend of Strelitzia's. Apparently, before she disappeared, she talked about the Keyblade War…as if she was sure it was coming."
Brain's fingers curled tightly against the desk. For a moment, he thought he could see the ghost of Ava, smiling mysteriously at him from across the room.
("The Master also gave me this list with the names of the five Union Leaders. The one whose name is circled gets the Book. No one else should read it under any circumstances. I put it between the pages on which your fates are written.")
Lauriam looked towards Brain again, something uncertain in his expression. "You mentioned before that you couldn't figure out why Strelitzia wanted someone to join the Dandelions…when she'd been so hesitant to join herself. I think it's because she knew the Keyblade War was about to become a reality."
("Brain, I trust you'll understand my message when the time comes.")
Brain turned and stared at the Book. Pieces were slowly slotting into place, and he didn't like the conclusion he was coming to. "But all of the Dandelions knew about the war. They'd known for a while, even a latecomer like her."
It was a last-ditch effort to try and dismiss his suspicions, but Lauriam answered easily, "Right. She knew about it the whole time, so why would she suddenly try and get someone else to join?"
He wondered if Lauriam had figured out the implications.
"I see what you're getting at," he said, but his mind wasn't entirely there; it was thinking about what Ava had told him, and about how he'd been charged to figure out how to stop the end of the world, and about how there was one answer that made more sense than the others and this couldn't be right. This couldn't be what he had to do. "Something made her absolutely sure that the war was gonna happen."
"I think so."
Brain stared at the Book of Prophecies and, for the second time in the span of a few minutes, felt like something had cracked in his plan to save the world. No. No, you can't seriously have meant this—you can't really mean that one of us is—
('One of us.' Like there wasn't an obvious answer. Like there wasn't one of them who was much younger and inexperienced and didn't seem like he was supposed to be a leader at all.)
(You can't really be asking me to do this.)
But there wasn't any way to know unless he looked.
"…I might have an idea."
"What is it?" Lauriam asked, and he sounded so hopeful that it made something in Brain's chest twist.
His fingers ran across the Book's cover. "Can you give me some time alone to think?"
He could practically hear Lauriam's unasked questions, but all his friend said was, "Sure. Let me know if you need any help."
Brain tried to force a smile, but he knew it didn't meet his eyes. (His hands were shaking.) "Will do."
-"You been stuck in that Clock Tower all day?"
Ava started, then turned towards him with a tired smile. "Hi, Brain."
Brain examined her closely. Her shoulders were bowed, but that was the only sign he got that she was tired. "You want to do something?"
"What?"
"Can't spend your whole time working, right?"
She sighed. "Brain…" But she only fidgeted a moment before she nodded, falling instep beside him as he turned and headed through the streets of Daybreak Town.
Brain smiled, but the offer had been a spur of the moment thing, and so he really didn't have any idea of what they could do. Well. We could leave Daybreak Town for a bit. Outside of town always reminded him a little of the place he'd come from—and it felt like a strange thing to be nostalgic for now, after trying so hard to get away from it. He didn't think he missed it really, but—well. He thought maybe he missed how much less complicated things were.
"Hey! Knock it off!"
"Look, if he can't collect enough lux, it's a problem, okay? We're doing this to keep everyone safe."
"He's trying, don't be a dick."
Brain winced. And leaving town for a bit will get us away from that.
Ava's attention had tracked towards the argument, too; it looked like it wouldn't escalate into anything, the participants already leaving, but Ava seemed almost transfixed. "The arguments are getting worse."
"There are more of them," Brain agreed, quiet, and let the reality of what that meant lie unspoken between them. He sighed, turning. "Come on. Let's just…go."
She followed him, but he could sense her attention wasn't all there.
He cleared his throat. "Suppose I should've asked if there's something you'd like to do."
Ava started. "Huh?"
"Well. I figured it'd be better if you picked. Since—" (Since you won't be around to choose much longer.) "Since you're so busy."
"Oh." Ava hesitated. She looked…almost lost. "Right. I—"
When she trailed off, Brain offered hesitantly, "We could just hang out on top of the hill."
Something relieved flickered across her face. "Yeah. That would—I'd like that."
The hesitation was worrying, and Brain didn't really know what to do about it beyond leading them towards the hill.
The peace outside of Daybreak Town made it almost easy to forget how close the Keyblade War was. The tension seemed to melt off Ava's shoulders as they sat in companionable silence, and for the moment, Brain was able to push away thoughts of the war and the Dandelions and what everything meant. (But he knew it was coming—and for all that the war sounded terrible, a part of him just wanted it to come already, so that it could be over and he wouldn't have to sit and wait for the end to arrive anymore.
But there was a part of him—a part he wasn't quite ready to acknowledge yet—that knew what else that would mean. It would mean that Ava wasn't going to be here anymore—that she'd be going off to the war with the rest of the Foretellers, and—)
(Don't think about it.)
"You seem like you have a lot on your mind."
"Hmm?" He stirred, dragging himself out of his thoughts. Ava was watching him, but he couldn't tell what her expression was like behind her mask. "Sorry."
Ava smiled, ghost-like. "Are you going to tell me what you were thinking about?"
"What, you can't read minds? Thought you knew a spell for that."
"I work with illusions." There was laughter in her voice, but her shoulders were tense again, and Brain couldn't tell if he'd made a mistake or not.
"Well. You'll just have to guess, then."
"Alright, fine. I'm guessing…it's about a book."
"That's not specific enough."
"A book on magic."
"See, you're not even trying."
"I don't know what you're reading anymore," she said, and there was more genuine laughter in her voice now. "You've always got something new, every time I see you."
"Keeps things interesting."
Ava shook her head, but her smile looked a little more real, and Brain felt himself relaxing marginally. Then something in her expression softened, and she sighed, turning to look out towards Daybreak Town.
There was a resigned, sad sort of slump to her posture. She looked much less like the Foreteller she'd slowly molded herself into, and more like the friend Brain used to know.
"We should find more times to meet up."
"Brain—"
"We used to like reading together. We could do that. Or train. Or just—"
"Brain."
"I'm not ready to lose you."
He hadn't intended the words to come out, but he wasn't willing to take them back once he said them.
Ava wrung her hands together. "We all lose each other eventually. It just—comes earlier for some people."
"Staying won't save them."
Her lips pressed flat. "When the Keyblade War comes," she said, "I'll do my part." And then, very quietly, she added, "I'm sorry."
This wasn't how he wanted this to go. "Don't be. You're—doing what you think is right."
"Not just for that. For everything else. For what you're going to have to do."
His eyebrows furrowed.
Ava smiled, and it had a bitter edge that he didn't entirely recognize. "My hands aren't clean, Brain—and as leader, yours probably won't be, either."
The Dandelions. Brain's fists clenched, and he flashed a smile that he hoped looked determined, but he thought was probably a little too sharp. "I'm not planning on sacrificing anyone else."
"You might not have a choice." She let out a long, long breath, and before Brain could react, she was hugging him.
He started but hugged her back, glancing at her in concern. "Ava…?"
"…I—doing something again sounds good. We can just hang out in the library if you wanted?"
His hug tightened a little, and he tried to ignore the way her voice wavered. "Sounds like a plan."
(In the end, the war had come on too suddenly, and they hadn't had a chance to meet again at all.)
-Ephemer. Skuld. Brain. Lauriam. And—Strelitzia.
No matter how long Brain looked at it, the names stayed the same. Ven's name was missing.
Brain lowered the paper slowly. He tilted back in his chair, head towards the ceiling, and counted slowly to ten. "I knew it…"
His chair clacked loudly against the floor. "Chirithy."
The Dream Eater popped into the room, landing in his lap and leaning back. "Long time no see."
Brain tried to smile, but the shape of it felt too sharp to be friendly. "Yeah, but you're always nearby, right?"
"I guess."
He could hear Chirithy's wariness, and he took a moment to try and stuff that angry thing down deep, forcing his voice to be lighter when he said, "I know it's been a while, but I have a favor to ask."
"Seriously?" Chirithy jumped back, landing on his desk and giving him a disapproving look. "You could at least try and butter me up before asking me for something. Unbelievable…"
It drew a more genuine smile out of Brain, and he almost wondered if that was Chirithy's intention. "It's important. I need you to find Ven. You like Ven, right?"
"Of course I like Ven," they said dryly. "He actually talks to his Chirithy when he has problems."
"I'm talking to you now, aren't I?" He flicked their hat lightly. "Just find Ven and tell him to meet me on the hill outside of Daybreak Town." He paused a moment, thinking. "Actually, find Ephemer first. Give him the same message. It'll be easier than hunting him down on my own."
"Sheesh. What am I, a message delivery system?" But they disappeared a moment later, and Brain was at least confident that they'd make sure the others were found.
The Foretellers' Chambers had never felt quite so quiet before. It wasn't all that strange for one of the others to be in here, talking to him or each other, or for him to catch the sound of the others outside the doors as they passed. Now, the only sound was the quiet clanking of the gears.
"…Did you know?"
The words were feather-soft, but they fell with all the weight of steel.
Brain pushed himself out of his chair slowly. His fingers curled tightly against the desk, and the list of names blurred. "Did you know?" he repeated, voice turning rough and raw. "Is that why you gave me this list?" He gritted his teeth so hard he could feel them creaking. "Why didn't you just tell me? Why couldn't you just tell me what was going to happen, instead of being cryptic and hiding the list away in this stupid fucking Book?" He hit it for emphasis. "You had to know something was wrong because I wasn't supposed to get this in the first place! Did you just give it to me because we were friends once? Why did it matter for this and not everything else? We're trapped here—was that the plan? Because I don't think Ven knows. He's been out looking for Strelitzia, did you know that? He doesn't deserve this. None of us do. What was all of this to you, some sort of game? Or did you just decide not to think ahead and hope I'd be smart enough to figure it out?" He lifted the Book and had half a mind to throw it away then and there. "Well. I guess you were wrong."
The Book creaked in his grip. His breath shuddered, and he pressed his forehead against the cover, eyes squeezed shut. "I want to trust you," he whispered. "You were my friend. But I don't understand."
…He needed to get going. At this rate, the others would probably beat him to the hill.
"I'm going to save them," he said, "but I'm not going to hurt Ven. Chosen or not, he's one of us. If that's the only way to fix things—I'm going to find a different way." He slid the Book inside his jacket and tried to ignore how much it felt like it burned. Then carefully, pointedly, he turned and headed out of the Clock Tower.
-"It's really Ven, then?"
Brain let out his breath slowly. "Yeah." He gripped his wrist to still his shaking hand. The wind picked up a little, and Brain's eyes tracked a flower as it fluttered on it, carried towards Daybreak Town in the distance. He tried to focus on the rock underneath him, the sound of the grass rustling, the sight of Daybreak Town—still solid and real—in front of him.
It wasn't quite as grounding as it usually was.
"He's…always had the most trouble leading out of any of us." Ephemer sounded reluctant, the words pulled from his throat.
"I know."
A touch of frustration had entered his voice, and Ephemer must've heard it, because he could hear the rustle of grass as his friend turned towards him, voice a little louder as he said, "Hey, Brain—"
"I should have known."
Ephemer went quiet.
Brain's grip on his arm tightened. It didn't stop the shaking this time. "I should have known," he repeated. "All of the signs were there. Of course Ava wouldn't choose someone so young. He was timid. He didn't know what he was doing. He didn't even entirely understand the rules. If I had seen it and done something sooner—" He could have what? He could have stopped this from happening? He could have done something before they all got too attached to Ven and this became harder? He could have talked to Ven and figured things out without having to drag everyone into this?
(Ava, why couldn't you just tell me?)
"No one would've thought that one of the Union Leaders wasn't supposed to be here."
Brain gave him a dry look.
Ephemer winced. "Right. Book of Prophecies."
"Guess I couldn't put the pieces together fast enough, huh?" He took a steadying breath and leaned back. "Well. There's no helping it now. We've just got to figure out what to do."
"I don't think he knows. I mean—Ven's not really the type to trick people like this."
Brain's throat tightened. "I know. That's why I don't want to—it's not his fault." The anger stirred in his stomach all over again, and it took a moment to still his shaking. (Because Ven was a kid. Brain might not be entirely sure what Ven knew and what he didn't, but he couldn't help thinking of the kid who worried about them when something went wrong, who got excited over Spirits, who'd wanted so badly to avoid hurting others that Brain had to teach him a binding spell for the Darklings.
It didn't feel fair.)
"But we need to know what's going on," Ephemer finished, quiet.
"Right." Brain leaned back a little. If he closed his eyes, he could almost imagine he was here before the war, when he didn't know any of this was going to happen. "We just need to figure out what role Ven plays in all of this. And then we can—fix things." The words felt a little hollower than they had before.
"I'm back!"
Brain started, barely having a moment to reorient himself before his Chirithy landed in his lap. He leaned backwards almost instinctively to make room, wrapping his arms around the little Dream Eater to steady them.
His heartrate accelerated a little. Moment of truth, he thought, and he wanted nothing more than to stuff the words down and walk away—to tell Ven that it was nothing, that this was a mistake, and just go back and be done with the whole thing.
But I can't. Have to make the hard choices, huh?
Brain stood slowly, turning and setting Chirithy on the rock. "Great." For as much as he tried to inject some sort of levity into his voice, he knew he hadn't quite managed it from the way Chirithy narrowed their eyes at him.
Ephemer made a surprised noise, and Brain—well. He wasn't sure he was ready to face Ven, but he supposed he was going to have to at some point. If he had to do this, he was at least going to be looking at him.
But when he turned, he was surprised to see both Ven and Skuld coming up the hill towards them. Skuld looked troubled—and Brain wondered if she'd realized that there was something wrong. It wouldn't surprise him, all things considered.
Ven, on the other hand, didn't seem like he'd noticed anything different at all. It made something twist in Brain's chest when the younger Union Leader bounded up to them, all wide smiles and bright eyes. It drew an unwilling smile out of Brain, anyways, and he waved and tried not to think about what was coming.
Skuld's eyes snapped towards him at the motion. Her eyebrows furrowed in a silent question.
He made a stilling motion with his hand. Wait.
"Hey, guys," Ven said, breathless. "What's up?"
Brain stared at him, mind turning as he tried to figure out how to answer that question.
Ephemer saved him, thankfully—though not in the way he would've preferred. "You brought them both?" he whispered, giving Brain a confused, almost-accusing look.
I didn't, Brain thought, mildly annoyed, and gave Chirithy a pointed look.
Chirithy planted their hands on their hips. "I didn't have much of a choice, you know." They leapt into the air and disappeared. Brain just shook his head. Great. That's—great.
Footsteps rustled the grass, and when Brain turned, Ven was coming closer, looking confused but still not worried. "Hey, did you see? It was snowing!"
"But you didn't call us out here to talk about the weather, did you?"
Skuld. She was staring at him expectantly, eyes narrowed, and Brain could see how much she wanted to ask him what was going on right then and there.
His shoulders slumped. "You're right," he admitted, "I didn't." He steeled himself, straightening his shoulders, shoving his emotions down and locking them into a tiny box. He would have to deal with everything later, he knew, but for the moment, he needed to be focused. "There's something I want to ask you. Who told you that you were chosen to be a Union Leader?"
Skuld's eyebrows furrowed, but she played along: "Master Ava."
Ven nodded, looking lost. "Yeah, same here."
Ava talked to Ven, too? It jarred something in him, and Brain had a moment to wonder if she had known, if maybe this had all been part of the plan, if this was just a way to trick—
No.
Whether or not it was accurate, however, it didn't actually make things easier. He'd hoped, vaguely, that they'd have different answers and they could follow the line of logic from there. But if they'd both talked to Ava…
Ephemer exchanged a look with him, seeming just as lost as he felt. "Brain," he said carefully, "maybe we should talk to them separately."
Both Ven and Skuld made sounds of surprise.
Brain shifted and sighed, then turned back towards them reluctantly. "Where were you when she told you?"
Skuld answered just as easily, but her expression shifted, and a vague note of confused frustration entered her voice when she said, "We were right here."
Ven didn't answer quite as quickly, looking thoughtful. "For me, it was…near the Clock Tower."
That was…unexpected. As far as Brain knew, Ava had planned on telling everyone up here—close enough to town that her chosen Union Leaders wouldn't have to go far, but still far enough away to avoid prying eyes. "Interesting…" If Ven hadn't been told up here—maybe he hadn't talked to Ava, after all. Ava's not the only one who can use illusion magic. It could've been someone else disguised as her. Someone—or something.
Ephemer had a similarly troubled expression on his face. Brain couldn't help but wonder if he'd come to the same conclusion he had.
Skuld's expression shifted to something angrier, and took a protective step forward, shifting herself to stand in front of Ven. "What is this? Some kind of interrogation?" Her eyes flicked between the two of them, lips pressed flat.
Ephemer snapped towards her, startled, then quickly made a placating motion with his hands. "It's not like that, Skuld."
Ven had finally started to look a little nervous; Brain got the impression he hadn't entirely caught on to what was happening until this moment. For as guilty as that made him feel, he also couldn't help but be a little bit relieved. It means he probably really didn't have any idea of what was going on, then. "Are we being suspected of something?"
Skuld planted her hands on her hips and looked at Brain pointedly.
Brain met her gaze and his shoulders slumped. (His hands were still shaking.) "Ventus," he said (careful, careful, you can't let your emotions get the best of you, you can't—), "Skuld, let me explain. You see, Master Ava entrusted me with something."
The Book had never felt quite as weighty as it did now. He pulled it out of his jacket, slowly, carefully, and stared at the cover instead of his friends.
He heard Skuld's startled gasp anyways. "Is that the Book of Prophecies?"
"That's right." He wondered what they thought—if they wondered why he had it, if they wanted to know why he hadn't told them, why he hadn't used it—
But that particular reveal wasn't the hard part. He continued slowly, carefully, the words barbed in the back of his throat, because once he said them he couldn't take them back. "And inside it…Master Ava tucked away a note listing the names of the five new Union Leaders. The name of the one originally meant to receive the Book is circled."
He wasn't really surprised when Skuld caught on. "Originally? It wasn't you?"
"Nope." He sat heavily, hand running over the cover, and for a moment, he wasn't here with his friends, trying to explain an impossible sort of truth, but with Ava, taking the Book in his hands and trying to read between her words. ("The Master also gave me this list with the names of the five Union Leaders. The one whose name is circled gets the Book. No one else should read it under any circumstances.")
"I guessed as much when she gave me this."
("I put it between the pages on which your fates are written.")
"Master Ava wanted to defy fate and change the future, so she gave it to me instead." His voice wavered a little, his hands tightening around the edges of the book until it creaked under his grip.
("Brain, I trust you'll understand my message when the time comes.")
"But something else is off…" He hit the book of the Book, and the words hissed between his teeth: "The list of Union Leaders itself."
He could feel the others looking at him. He couldn't get out of this now; all he could do was press forward. "One of the names doesn't match up." He lifted his head, finally, and caught Ven's eye. "Lauriam's sister, Strelitzia, was supposed to be a Union Leader."
Ven's eyes went wide, and Brain wondered if that was because he was surprised Lauriam's sister was supposed to be here, or because he'd started to figure out what was going on.
"What?" Skuld asked, and Brain dragged his eyes towards her. "So Master Ava swapped out one of the leaders too?"
Brain turned back to the Book slowly. "I don't think so." He slowly paged through the Book, fingers running along the edges as he tried to find the list of names. "If Master Ava had planned to switch out a Union Leader…" He pulled the list free, clutching it carefully. "…she wouldn't have given me this note in the first place." In some ways, it felt like he was trying to convince himself of it. Because he didn't know, was the thing. He'd known something was wrong, but he hadn't known what, and Ava had obviously known something strange was going to happen. She might've just wanted me to know that she was trying to change fate. It might not be anything more than that. But—I can't be sure. Not really.
Brain stood, but his eyes were still glued to the list in his hand. "As for Strelitzia… it might be easy to suspect Master Ava might be involved in her disappearance…but I don't believe she is." The list crinkled in his grip, and he lowered his hand. His voice came out quiet, almost desperate—because he wanted to believe it, really. He'd known her the longest. She'd been his friend. "She's not that kind of person."
He couldn't quite look at his friends, but he could practically sense the change. Neither Ephemer nor Ven knew about his friendship with Ava, but he could guess that they still had an idea of what he was feeling; Ava had always been easier to reach than the other Foretellers, and she'd brought them together, so the idea that she might've been the cause of this wouldn't sit well with any of them. It was easier to believe that she wouldn't have done it. (It's what he wanted to believe.)
But Skuld—
"Maybe a replacement was chosen after Strelitzia went missing."
Skuld knew.
He knew that she was trying to be comforting—he saw the realization on her face when he looked at her, that she'd caught on to what this probably meant for him, and he wanted to tell her that he was grateful for it, but— "That doesn't add up either." His voice came out rough and raw, and Skuld's expression faltered. She looked almost scared, like she had an idea of what he was going to say and didn't want him to do so. Brain looked away, and when he spoke again, his voice came out factual, stripped of emotion as he tried to make it through his explanation: "Strelitzia was last seen just before the start of the Keyblade War…desperately trying to get her friend to join the Dandelions. We can assume this is because she heard from Master Ava that she was chosen to be a Union Leader and that the war was coming. If Master Ava wanted to switch her out for someone else, even on such short notice, she would have told someone." His restless energy finally forced his legs to move, and he trailed between the two of them, his voice shaking just a little as he said, "It would make sense to tell me at least…seeing as she trusted me both with the Book and the list of names that was about to change."
(He had to believe that, at least—that even if she wouldn't have told him as her friend, she would've still told him if it would've put the others at risk.)
"That makes sense…" Skuld said reluctantly. After a beat she asked, "Is Lauriam's name on there?"
Brain glanced back at her, and he saw her expression fall at whatever she saw on his face. Her eyes flicked to Ven and back.
He gave her a tiny nod.
Her eyes widened just a little.
Ephemer saved him from having to respond verbally, saying matter-of-factly, "Yeah, it is."
Skuld turned to him, then, and Brain turned back around, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to steady himself.
Ephemer's steady words washed over him, helping to ground him just a little: "We'll discuss this with him later, after we know more. He has a lot on his plate right now looking into Strelitzia's disappearance."
Brain's eyes opened again, the Book a little blurry, and he had to put it away to keep from throwing it. "We asked you those questions earlier," he continued, voice carefully controlled, "to determine whether or not the replacement knew about any of this." He finally turned back to his friends, and this, at least, he could say with confidence: "Ephemer and I agreed that even though we know the truth, we don't want anything to change between us."
Ephemer nodded. "That's right. And I think we got the answer we were looking for. Like Brain said, nothing changes—we're still a team. We'll keep working together to try to figure this whole thing out."
Brain's attention finally, fully, turned towards Ven.
The younger Union Leader was staring at him with an expression he couldn't quite read—hopeful and scared and worried and disbelieving, a collection of emotions so jumbled together that he couldn't quite organize them correctly. Brain forced his legs to move, but his footsteps felt heavy, and the closer he got to Ven, the more his expression cleared, a slow, horrible sort of disbelief washing over his face.
Brain's hand landed on Ven's shoulder, and for as much as he wanted it to be gentle, it felt weighty. "Ventus," he said, voice soft. "Your name isn't on the list."
For several moments, things were very, very quiet. Ven stared at him, eyes wide, lip wobbling, looking like he didn't entirely know what he was supposed to do.
Skuld hurried closer, bracing her hand against Ven's back, looking like she was half a second from dragging him into a hug.
"But…" Ven wobbled, and Brain had the sudden worry that he was about to faint. Skuld steadied him a little, but he didn't look like he was entirely aware of it, eye still trained unerringly on Brain. "Master Ava really did tell me I was a Union Leader. It's true."
"We believe you, Ven," Brain continued gently, because even if he had to tell his friend this horrible truth, he could at least assure him that they were still on his side.
Ephemer lifted his voice, asking, "So it was part of Master Ava's plan, then?"
The words hit something sharp in Brain's heart, and he snapped, "No." He took a moment to steady himself, finally releasing Ven as he collected his thoughts. He started pacing almost without thought, mind turning. "Unfortunately, Strelitzia is gone, and that's proof enough that it wasn't Master Ava's idea. If it was, she would have taken great care to make sure Strelitzia was safe, not sent her off to war without telling her what was happening." (Wouldn't she? something in his mind hissed, but—
But he could still remember how terrified she was when she found out about the war. Her desperation to try and fix things. Her promise that even if she couldn't save all of them, she'd still try and save some.)
"And Master Ava's definitely not the type of person to make someone disappear." He felt a little more sure about it now, and he wasn't sure if that was because it was what he wanted to believe or because it was true, but he decided it didn't really matter.
"Then who did Ven talk to?" Ephemer asked, and there was an expectant lilt to his voice that said he knew Brain probably had an answer.
This, at least, he'd been thinking about. It was a little easier to talk about something like this, rather than to speculate about what his friend may or may not have done. "Let's think it through," he said, stopping his pacing and turning to face the others. "Why were we chosen as Dandelions?"
"To keep light alive, right?" Ephemer responded.
"And what else might want to come along for the ride?"
The world went quiet again, but he could see Skuld and Ephemer's expressions shift as they slowly came to the same answer that he had. "…Darkness," Ephemer said finally, and Ven jolted.
Brain nodded slowly. "Darkness can hide anywhere. Even inside someone." He stared at Ven's back, and he thought of the Darklings, the strange sleepwalking, the forgotten memories, and wondered why he hadn't put the pieces together sooner. (He hadn't wanted to.)
Skuld looked between the two of them, like she wasn't entirely sure who she should be going to. After a hesitant moment she let go of Ven, approaching Brain carefully. "Darkness disguised itself as Master Ava?"
It was the most likely option, Brain guessed, and he gave her a tired look that he thought probably answered her question. Then he forced his shoulders to straighten, steeling himself. "Ventus."
Ven's head snapped up. He turned around, eyes wide, and for a moment, Brain's resolve faltered. No. You need to keep going. You…need to do this. For everyone. "Did you notice anything strange when you met with Master Ava?"
Ven's eyes darted between them, his arms and legs fidgeting, looking like he was about two seconds away from bolting. His eyes slid to the ground, fingers twisting as he mumbled, "Um…I don't know…"
Ephemer asked a little more gently, "What did she say to you?"
It took a long moment for Ven to answer, the words seemingly pulled from him slowly: "She said she wanted me to become one of the new Union Leaders…" He swayed a little, lifting one hand and bracing it against his head. "Then she gave me a rulebook…and told me to go to the battleground when everything was over, and the others would be waiting there."
"I recall you saying that when we first met," Brain admitted, and he exchanged glances with the others. They looked about the same as he felt. Reluctantly, he continued, "Anything else?"
Ven's eyes squeezed shut. He'd started shaking, and Brain tried to swallow the surge of guilt. "I remember…she told me to come to this old abandoned house."
"Wait," Ephemer said, looking startled. "Didn't you say you met at the tower?"
Ven's hand lowered slowly. Everything trembled, and he continued, "We met at the house first. Then walked to the tower while we talked."
He's scared. He's just a kid. He…didn't ask for any of this. Brain made an effort to soften his voice as he continued, "Can you tell us more about what happened?"
Ven stared at him with wide, wide eyes, then ducked his head, like he didn't want to look at any of them. "Okay…" he agreed, and there was something resigned and sad in his voice. (Is it worth it? Is this really what I have to do if I want to save everyone else?) "That day, I went to the abandoned house like Master Ava said…" His eyebrows furrowed and his expression tensed. "I think… that's when Master Ava showed up, and we left the house together. On the way to the tower, she told me I was one of the new Union Leaders."
"You 'think' that's when she came?" Brain repeated skeptically. "You're not sure?"
Ven's head snapped up, and his voice came out stressed and desperate: "I can't remember what happened before we left the house. But…I think we left as soon as she got there."
Brain flexed his fingers, clenching and unclenching his fists. He wanted to believe that his friend wouldn't have done anything—that this wasn't part of the plan, that she never would've intentionally sent someone off to war, that she at least would have told him—
But he didn't know. She'd known something, and he didn't know what or how much.
"The person who came to the house, was it really Master Ava?"
There was an ugly, sticky feeling in his chest. It made him feel like he was going to be sick, and he tugged his hat a little lower, hands shaking.
Ven made a pained sort of noise. It was enough to snap Brain out of his thoughts.
His eyes went wide when he saw Ven curled in on himself, hands on his head. Skuld had gone over to steady him, arms wrapped tightly around his shoulders. She turned towards Brain, giving him a helpless, frightened sort of look. "What does this mean?"
Something in Brain's chest broke. The fight drained out of him, and he crossed the distance, placing a hand on Ven's shoulder and trying to steady him. He felt…exhausted. "Let's head back to the tower."
Ven's head snapped up towards him. His eyes had gone wide, expression breaking, and Brain had a moment to think: I did this. This was my fault.
"I'm sorry."
He hadn't been expecting the words—but then again, maybe he should've. "Ven—"
"I'm sorry," Ven repeated, his expression screwing up, one hand flying to his head, and Brain got the sudden, distinct impression that he wasn't talking to them, "if I can just—"
His body twitched, and Brain moved almost instinctively to try and support him. "Ven?"
Ephemer rushed over, hands hovering around them like he wanted to help but wasn't sure how. "What's wrong?"
Almost simultaneously, Skuld asked, "Are you alright?"
"Ven," Brain repeated more urgently.
Ven had started shaking now, his fingers digging into his hair, his teeth gritted tightly. Brain barely had a moment to consider anything before Ven started screaming, his legs wobbling and giving out on him. Brain jerked, arms wrapping around his chest, and Skuld moved to try and keep him stable from behind.
And then, just as suddenly, Ven went limp, the hill falling deathly quiet.
Ven hadn't been the only one shaking, Brain realized, and he let go of the younger Union Leader, taking a few stumbling steps away.
Ephemer stepped into his place, catching Ven and dragging him into his arms. Skuld seemed reluctant to let go, her hands lingering on Ven's shoulders.
None of them spoke, and it took a while for him to realize his friends were looking at him. "I—"
(What was he supposed to say to this?)
"Back to the Clock Tower," Ephemer said, and he'd never been so grateful for his friend. "Right?"
"…Right."
"Skuld," Ephemer continued gently, "can you…?"
She started, but her expression steeled after a moment, and she gave a firm nod. A Cure spell flashed from her hands, and Brain got the impression that he should be doing something to help, but he kept staring at Ven's face and wondering, How much of this is my fault?
"I think—I think it's just stress," Skuld said quietly.
"So we'll let him rest. And then we can figure out what to do when he wakes up."
Brain tore his gaze away from Ven finally, tugging his hat lower.
The grass rustled as his friends stood. He let them lead the way off the hill, trailing behind.
Or, at least, he thought that was what he'd been doing, until someone's hand pushed his hat back up.
Skuld stood close to his side, giving him a worried sort of look.
"I thought you'd be—" But Ephemer had fallen back too, he realized, half-turned to watch him with that same worried sort of expression.
He exhaled slowly. "You two—" He broke off, his shoulders slumping.
They stuck close to his side the entire way back.
-Okay. Think. Just…think. Darkness is the one that's responsible for all of this. The first thing we need to do is figure out how to get rid of it. Then we'll have time to figure out how to get everyone out of the data world. It's just—it's just one last challenge.
…But how are we going to get rid of it if it's inside Ven?
All three of them had stayed very quiet since getting back to the Clock Tower. Brain had made a beeline for the Foretellers' Chambers once they'd gotten back. It wasn't that he hadn't wanted to check on Ven; it was just—
(This is your fault you should've handled this differently you should've figured this out sooner—)
He hadn't been able to stick around.
The door creaked open.
"You could've stayed with Ven."
When he glanced back, Ephemer gave him a wry smile. "Skuld's keeping an eye on him." He took a seat, but there was a grim expression on his face that Brain thought probably matched his own. "I'm—guessing you're here for the same reason I am."
Brain blinked, then shot his friend a sharp look.
Ephemer looked tired, but he answered the unasked question: "We're both kind of responsible for Ven remembering."
"It had to be done."
"I know."
They both sounded like they were trying to convince themselves at this point.
Brain ran a hand over his face, jostling his hat, and finally slumped into his chair. Alright. Focus. You know what's going on—figure out a way to fix it. …A spell, maybe. Something that could pull darkness—Darkness?—out of him. But would that hurt him? His fingers drummed against his desk. We can't exactly keep him trapped here. That's not fair to him. But what do we do?
Footsteps. Brain jerked, glancing towards the door. Skuld, this time, looking troubled—he guessed that she'd probably just left Ven to give them a head's up.
Brain glanced away. The Book sat in front of him, and his fingers trailed across it slowly. 'Virus,' huh? Well, guess it feels pretty apt at the moment.
"None of this is his fault, right?"
Brain started out of this thoughts at Skuld's question. He glanced back just long enough to catch her worried expression and found he couldn't meet her eyes very long.
When he stayed quiet, Skuld pressed a little more firmly: "Can you tell us what's going on?"
Brain drummed his fingers against the desk. "Well," he said with slow reluctance, "we still don't know all the facts. But going by Ven's story, we know he was there during Strelitzia's final moments. As for who's behind this whole thing…" He trailed off; he imagined they could fill in the blanks.
Ephemer didn't disappoint; his voice came out steely, and Brain got the impression he was as upset about the whole thing as he was: "…Darkness."
"What?" Skuld exclaimed.
Brain released a slow, steadying breath. "Yes. Darkness could be much closer than we thought, working right under our noses."
Everything went quiet. Brain clenched his fists, and found himself thinking of the initial warning, of Ven's sleepwalking, of everything. All that work to keep Darkness out, and it didn't seem to do much, huh, Ava? But I guess it's not like I have a better track-record.
"So," Skuld said, her voice too-loud in the quiet room, "if Darkness is behind this whole thing, it must be close by. But why hasn't it tried to harm us? What does it want?"
Brain pursed his lips. He wasn't really sure that was true; it might have been lying low, but it'd still been active enough to puppet Ven around, and there was really no better explanation for how the Darklings had found their way here. It'd just been…biding its time, he guessed.
"Do you think it's watching us?" Ephemer asked. "Waiting to make a move?"
Brain sighed, leaning back in his chair. "I don't know. I'm not even sure that it is responsible for all this. But it's the only theory that makes sense. If I'm right, and it's close, it knows we're onto it. It could be putting its plan into action as we speak."
"So it might come for us?"
Brain twisted, giving Ephemer a tired look. "Yeah," he admitted quietly. "Like it did for Lauriam's sister."
Skuld snapped towards him. "Is that what happened to her? But why?"
That was the problem, wasn't it? He just didn't have all of the information he needed; it felt like he was constantly working with only bits and pieces, hoping desperately that he could catch up. "I don't know why it targeted Strelitzia. I just—"
The door creaked open. Brain's mouth snapped shut as he twisted towards it.
Lauriam stood in the entryway, staring at him with wide eyes. Brain stiffened as his eyes trailed over his torn clothes, cuts half-healed along his side, bruises splotches across his face and arms. What happened to you?
"What…did you say?"
It took a moment for Brain to register the words—and a moment longer to realize what they meant. He doesn't know about his sister.
…He doesn't know about Ven.
(His hands wouldn't stop shaking.)
Lauriam took a few stumbling steps into the room. His legs gave out from under him, and Skuld and Ephemer rushed to his side, questions tumbling from their mouths as they tried to figure out what happened.
Brain stood slowly. It should be…him, he thought. He should probably be the one to break the news. He'd started this, after all. He should be the one to bear the brunt of this.
His legs were leaden, and he found himself approaching slowly, warily. (I don't want to do this.)
When Lauriam turned to him, his shock seemed to be fading into barely-controlled anger, eyes narrowing at whatever he saw on Brain's face. "'Targeted' for what?" he asked, and Brain wasn't sure if his voice was shaking from his injuries or his emotions. "What did you mean by that?"
I'm sorry. The words got stuck in his throat. You're sister's not coming back. Ven's responsible, even if he didn't intend to be.
Brain clenched his fists hard enough that his fingernails bit into his palms.
Lauriam's expression shifted as the silence lengthened, changing to something a little angrier, a little more frantic. He limped across the room, seeming almost oblivious to the way Ephemer and Skuld hovered nervously behind him.
Brain…couldn't quite meet Lauriam's eyes, he realized. He lowered his head, fixing his attention to a spot on the floor, and wondered why, why this was what he had to do.
(I don't want to hurt my friends anymore.)
(I want to go back.)
Hands curled in his coat lapels, twisting the fabric and dragging him roughly forward. Brain braced his hands against Lauriam's reflexively, attention darting to his face without conscious thought.
Lauriam's lips had curled into his snarl, his eyes narrowed furiously, and Brain realized this was the first time that he'd seen his friend really, truly angry. "What happened to her?" Lauriam hissed.
Brain's fingers wrapped slowly around Lauriam's wrist, and he shifted his weight as he tried to steady himself.
Lauriam's eyes narrowed a little further, and he dragged Brain a little closer. "Answer me!"
Someone appeared in Brain's peripherals—Ephemer, he realized, one hand gripping Lauriam's shoulder as he tried to pull him back, snapping, "Stop!"
"Get off me!"
With a twist Lauriam had thrown Ephemer free; he'd put more force than Brain would've expected into the action, and his eyes went wide as Ephemer went flying, Skuld shouting in alarm and chasing after him. His attention snapped back to Lauriam's face, staring at the angry way it curled, the desperation in his eyes, the way he was still standing despite his injuries, and Brain—
His mind started turning.
Strelitzia is Lauriam's sister. He loves her more than anything—and she was killed and replaced by a kid who wormed his way into Lauriam's heart. Into all of our hearts. What better way to tear us apart than to have us betrayed by one of our own, and then let us fight over what happens to him?
It'd mean we wouldn't be able to put up much resistance if Darkness decided to try anything. We're stronger together—but if we're fighting amongst each other, we might take ourselves out.
He almost, almost laughed bitterly at the realization. "So this is the plan. Clever."
Lauriam's grip tightened. "What plan?"
"Darkness's plan. Fear, doubt, anger…" He forced himself to lower his hands, his posture relaxing, his voice going gentler as he tried to de-escalate: "It's purposefully messing with our hearts and making us turn on each other."
He wasn't sure if Lauriam was responding to his words or his actions, but his friend's expression crumbled. His grip relaxed a little, his eyes darting to his hands like he'd only just realized what he was doing.
Skuld appeared at his shoulder, hands reaching for him, looking like she wasn't sure whether she wanted to forcibly pull Lauriam away or comfort him. "Lauriam, please!"
He turned towards her, and the anger seemed to crumble away. He finally let go of Brain, falling to his knees without the aggression to keep him standing.
Brain wobbled and fell himself, hitting the ground with a quiet grunt.
"I don't understand…" Lauriam whispered. He looked…lost. It made something in Brain's chest twist.
Skuld bent closer to Lauriam, hands gentle on his shoulder. "Please. Just listen."
Lauriam's eyes squeezed shut. "Tell me what happened to my sister…"
This was what it wanted. It wouldn't have needed to specifically kill someone to survive the war. It could've just come along with Ven. He wouldn't have even needed to be a Dandelion; he could've slipped in, and no one else would've noticed. But killing a Union Leader and replacing her gave it an opportunity to get closer and get more information. And it could also tear us apart from the inside—keep us from being able to stop whatever it had planned. Because Ven's one of us—and how are we supposed to tell Lauriam that?
Footsteps sounded near the doorway, and as Brain turned, he had the horrible realization that maybe the decision would be taken out of his hands.
Ven stood there, a wide-eyed, guilty look on his face as he crept into the room. "I…it's my fault."
Shit. Someone should've stayed with him. We shouldn't have all come back here.
Skuld turned towards Ven, looking almost confused. "Ven? What are you—"
"Explain yourself, Ven."
Brain's eyes snapped towards Lauriam. He sounded deceptively calm, but he hadn't missed the edge of anger, carefully buried.
"I'm sorry, Lauriam…" Ven whispered, and Brain straightened, because of course Ven would blame himself, of course he'd try to take responsibility, but that wasn't— "I'm responsible for what happened to her."
Ephemer and Skuld shouted protests, but Brain found himself staring at Lauriam. He had a complicated expression on his face, like he wasn't sure if he was angry or sad or disbelieving or something else. He straightened, slowly, and moved towards Ven, and Brain couldn't help but tense. No. I'm just—over-reacting. There's no way—Ven and Lauriam are close. He'll at least hear him out. Lauriam…wouldn't do anything to Ven. Would he?
(But Lauriam had always tended to be more rash when it came to his sister, and Ven was making it sound like it was something he'd been aware of, and—)
"Ven."
He was—quiet. Maybe things would be okay. Maybe Lauriam would—
And then Lauriam moved, grabbing Ven and dragging him closer, and Brain surged to his feet. "What did you do to Strelitzia?"
Ephemer was closer, and he moved to interfere first, snapping, "Lauriam, stop." His voice had a commanding sort of ring to it—something that Brain had only ever seen him use with the Dandelions before, and even then, only occasionally.
It didn't seem to have any effect on Lauriam at all. "Ven," he snarled, dragging him closer. "Answer me."
The action finally forced Brain into motion; he'd crossed the space in a heartbeat, gripping Lauriam's arm firmly and tugging him backwards. "Stop it! This isn't you."
"Stay out of this!"
He'd expected his friend to try and break free, but not quite so violently; Lauriam threw him backwards, and Brain stumbled, eyes going wide as he caught the glitter of a Keyblade starting to form around his hands. He moved, but there was the horrible realization that he wouldn't get there before the attack made contact—
But Ephemer could, and the sharp ring of metal against metal reverberated through the room. The two of them struggled against each other, blades locked a moment before Ephemer shifted, getting just enough leverage to throw Lauriam back. Ephemer placed himself protectively in front of Ven, shifting into a fighting stance—and Brain had the dawning realization that Darkness's plan was working.
(Even if we survive this—what's that going to look like for us? If we win, are we really still going to be able to…?)
"It…it wasn't me…"
Brain snapped towards Ven.
He'd hunched over himself, shaking, back arched. There was something writhing around him, twisting and snapping, and Brain found himself tensing reflexively, trying to ignore the way it felt like something was oozing against his skin.
He guessed it wasn't a surprise, really, that Darkness would show up now—with all of the chaos, it had probably started to feel threatened, especially if its chosen vessel was potentially in danger. In a strange way, it helped Brain to focus, allowing him to hone in on a more tangible, less emotionally-complicated problem.
So he wasn't as surprised as the others when Ven screamed, Darkness tearing itself from him and coalescing into a solid shape. Brain inclined his head, narrowing his eyes at it. "I see. You're Darkness."
The shadows shifted. There was something almost humanoid under them, though Brain couldn't make out any clear features. "Finally," it hissed, its words crawling over Brain's shoulders and down his spine. "It's about time."
Being in the same room was strangely unnerving. Brain bared his teeth in a decidedly unfriendly smile. "I have to say, I didn't expect you to look like such a cliché."
"So you say. But I have no form to speak of." The shadows disappeared, but the voice didn't, echoing loudly, and Brain got the distinct impression that it was intentionally messing with them: "We mostly go unnoticed, after all." Something flickered at the edge of Brain's vision, and his eyes shifted towards it—them? "What you see and hear now is for your benefit."
"What do you want?" Ephemer snapped, lifting his Keyblade and shifting to place himself in a better position between Darkness and the rest of them.
"Want?" Something that might've been a head tilted. "I want nothing. I simply am."
Brain's eyes narrowed. He doubted that—he supposed that Darkness could've simply wanted to continue existing after the Keyblade War, but if so, why help the Darklings break into the data world?
Darkness's voice turned towards something almost sympathetic, like they were trying to comfort a scared child: "It must be hard for you to understand. We're very different. Unlike you, our actions don't serve a greater purpose or goal."
Brain didn't take his eyes off Darkness, but he could hear the sound of Lauriam's hands tightening around his Keyblade. "Then why did you take my sister? Why Strelitzia?"
"It was his will."
Almost without his consent, Brain's eyes flicked to Ven. He was unconscious now, Skuld hovering over him protectively, and despite himself, a part of Brain wondered, Did he really know nothing…?
No. Whatever Ven wanted, it wouldn't have been someone dead. But maybe…
His attention returned to Darkness, eyes narrowed.
Skuld, apparently, had similar thoughts, because she snapped, "I don't believe you. Ven didn't even know her! Besides, he would never wish that on anyone."
"You're right."
It wasn't surprising to hear—but Brain had an unfortunate feeling he knew where the conversation was going to go.
"They were strangers," Darkness continued. "But what he wished for was power. I simply helped him fulfill that wish by making him a Union Leader."
So that's true, then. Darkness had been able to get to Ven somehow—how, he wasn't exactly sure—and preyed on and twisted his wishes into something else.
"Ven would never want that!" Skuld shouted, and Brain's eyes flicked away as Darkness disappeared again.
"Wouldn't he?"
A flicker; something almost mist-like weaved between his friends, their Keyblades flashing as they went to strike at it. Brain didn't move just yet, lips pursed as he waited for the tell-tale sign of—there. A tearing sound behind him. He tilted his head a little, eyes flicking towards Darkness, and smoke-like wisps drifted past his face. If they wanted to hurt us, they would've done so by now. Why stall?
"Even if he did," Ephemer said, attention turning towards the shadows, too, "he wouldn't go so far as to take it from someone, or steal their spot as leader."
"Power is power. How it's acquired is of no consequence."
They said it so casually—like the loss of life mattered very little to them. And, Brain supposed, maybe it didn't. He turned to face them finally, hands clenched tightly at his side. What are you here for? Why did you have to come with us and—
"Then…it could've been any of us?" Lauriam. "It didn't have to be Strelitzia?"
They're trying to bait you. Lauriam—
The shadows flared. "Yes."
"You—!"
Brain was prepared for it when Lauriam moved, bracing himself against the burst of magic. Darkness, apparently, was too; energy flared from them, crashing into Lauriam and sending him flying before any of them could react. He hit the wall with a painful thud, and despite Brain's trepidation, he snapped around to see if his friend was okay.
"Lauriam!" Ephemer moved, repositioning himself so that he could protect both Lauriam and Ven. Skuld hovered behind him, tense and ready.
Which left Brain alone to deal with Darkness.
He lifted his head, staring into the shadows and wondering if he could find some trace of a face. "I have a few questions," he said, voice carefully casual as he crossed the distance between them.
"Go on."
He thought Darkness almost sounded amused, but that was alright; it might make them more willing to play along. "Why Ven?" he asked, and he could just hear the edge of anger in his voice, no matter how hard he tried to tamp it down. He thought he could place on guess on Strelitzia—but Ven didn't seem to have anything about him that was particularly noteworthy. He was relatively unassuming, he supposed, but he got the impression there was more to it than that.
"Because it was decided."
What? "What was?"
"That he would harbor darkness."
There were implications, there—of someone else pulling the strings, maybe, or… "Your vessel was chosen?"
"Yes. It was written in the Book of Prophecies."
"You've read the Book?" He was careful to keep his surprise hidden, voice stripped carefully of emotion. He didn't need to give Darkness any openings they could take advantage of, after all.
"In a manner of speaking, yes. At least the parts that matter to us."
Keep them talking. Keep them talking until you can find an opening. "How?"
"We read the words as they were being written." They sounded…not smug, exactly, but indulgent, like they were explaining something to a small child, and Brain supposed he should be grateful for that, even if it grated against him.
But their words had all sorts of other implications. "In the Book?"
"Yes."
("Did I ever tell you why the Master chose the six of us?"
"Presumably because you all showed a lot of promise."
"In a way. The six of us had very strong hearts. Strong lights. He wanted people that could help fight back against the darkness long enough to make sure there were survivors. All of us were given roles to help preserve the future. Mine is to find the strongest lights and make sure they survive.")
If Darkness was there when the Master was writing the Book…Ava. Ava, did you know? Did you figure it out before the end? Or were you clueless right up until the war? "What exactly is your relationship with the Master?" Brain asked, and tried to keep his voice level, because if the Master had been behind all of this—
"We're old friends."
Brain…wasn't quite sure what to feel at that. Relief or anger or understanding or—something else. But that…makes sense. Ava must have at least figured out that something was going on, even if she didn't know everything. Maybe she didn't know enough to tell me—she just had to be vague and hope I figured it out.
Or maybe she didn't want to believe that her Master would do something like that.
"Friends?" Ephemer repeated, and Brain started at how close his voice was; he hadn't even known Ephemer had come up to join him. "Then you and the Master are on the same side?"
The shadows flared, and they surprised Brain by hissing, "We have no need to side with people."
There was a world of implications in that—though whether that meant Darkness and the Master were only temporary allies or whether the Master wasn't human at all, he wasn't quite sure. It would be…something to think about later. "Alright," he said, "next question. You've hidden yourself from us all this time. Why show yourself now?"
"You're wrong." The shadows disappeared, reappearing a little further away from them; Brain wondered if they were starting to feel pressured, or if they were still simply trying to put them on edge. "We haven't been hiding. You simply never noticed us before."
("Are you trying to stabilize it?")
"All that's changed is that you've finally acknowledged our existence."
Brain took a couple of steps closer. "Last question," he said, and tried to ignore the buzzing in his chest. "You keep saying 'we,' but what do you mean?"
"Shadows outnumber light."
It was an annoyingly vague answer, but it was simple enough to assume that they meant there was more than one of them. "Okay," he said, "last question. Are you the only one here right now?"
"Yes."
His smile turned sharp. "Good to know." Master's Defender snapped into his hand.
Darkness, apparently, realized exactly what was coming. Whatever solid form it had disappeared, turning into a swirling mass of shadows as it floated higher, higher, hovering above them with tendrils flickering.
Brain braced himself. They would need to deal with Darkness eventually, after all—and if it was out of Ven, this would likely be the best opportunity. Besides, he couldn't say he was upset at the idea of taking out something that aim to hurt both him and his friends. "Ephemer," he said, voice steady, "Skuld. You ready? This is gonna be rough!"
He moved before he'd even entirely finished speaking, Keyblade glowing as he leapt, swinging a spell towards the shadows and hoping to catch his opponent off guard. It wasn't as effective as he would've liked; shadows swirled, twisting wildly like a short of cocoon, the magic twisting around the side and boomeranging back towards him. A barrier spell flickered around him as he fell, called quickly. The light only blinded him momentarily, sliding with a flash around his spell. He landed awkwardly and turned, swinging his Keyblade around. Chains erupted from the tip, glowing bright, snapping towards the shadows and wrapping tightly around them, trying to drag them down close enough that they could hit the Darkness.
It wasn't; the chains constricted, but they passed uselessly through the shadows, hissing quietly as they clattered to the ground.
He wasn't the only one moving now, his friends catching up to his actions, Ephemer firing off a spell of his own, he and Skuld moving in tandem. The attack went to the left of the shadows, and Skuld took the opportunity to launch herself onto the bookshelf, attacking from the right. The shadows snapped, twisting and blocking Skuld's strike.
A Zero Gravity spell from Brain kept her from falling; a barrier spell protected Ephemer from an attack when Darkness lashed out again. His friends surged into motion, and together the three of them fought, moving at a hectic sort of pace, sending spell after spell at the shadows, strike after strike, light and darkness flashing so brightly that it sometimes felt like Brain could barely see. He kept himself at a distance mostly, utilizing whatever magic he could, sending bursts of light or running through various disabling spells in the hopes that something would work. Cures and barriers came just as often, and he found himself dragging his friends away from an attack with a Magnet spell or slowing their fall with a Zero Gravity spell on occasion, attacks striking where they would've been and leaving cracks in the floor.
Skuld and Ephemer were a surprisingly effective team together, and he wondered if that was because they'd fought together before; the two of them alternated in and out seamlessly, watching each other to see when one needed to attack or pull back, striking from above or below or where it looked like they might get an advantage. Skuld would launch into a flurry of strikes, Keyblade passing uselessly through the shadows, and Ephemer would leap to take her place when she came out the other side, wiping darkness off her face like it wanted to cling there. Brain would shift their positions slightly with spells when he could, and they seemed to take it in stride, using the momentum to keep them going.
The problem was that they seemed entirely unable to actually hit Darkness. Their attacks would pass through them uselessly or run up against a counterstrike; Brain found himself bracing against a burst of energy, catching his friends with a spell to keep them from flying away, or blocking against a strike that still licked at his cheeks and left them stinging. There has to be a way to defeat them. There's only one—at least, right now. They can't be invincible—but normal attacks aren't cutting it.
So let's try something else.
Magic hummed in his chest, familiar and warm. His Keyblade snapped around, and shadows whipped in response. It nearly knocked Brain off his feet—but thankfully, Brain hadn't actually been planning an attack.
A barrier formed around the shadows. A couple of strikes hit the back of the crystalline barrier, and Brain grinned viciously as it held.
"Alright!" Ephemer gave Brain a nod, then turned towards Darkness again, tense and ready.
"What now?" Skuld asked, tense. "That can't hold them forever."
"It can't. But it might be enough to put them in—"
Crack.
They snapped towards the barrier.
Hairline fractures ran across the glass-like dome. Darkness hissed quietly, expanding until it strained at the edges of the barrier, making them almost seem like they were going to burst.
Brain stepped into motion, binding spell on his tongue, frantically casting about for something—
And then the barrier exploded, and he switched tracks, dragging Skuld and Ephemer behind him and casting a barrier spell to block the force. Darkness split around the half-dome, passing harmlessly over them.
"Lauriam! Ven!" Skuld's footsteps pounded behind him.
"They alright?"
"Yeah. They're—I've got them."
Ephemer launched himself past the barrier as soon as it fell. Instead of heading directly for Darkness he cast a Blizzard spell, creating a track around the shadows, using it to dodge around attacks and try to find an opening.
This thing has to have some sort of weakness. If they're made of darkness, then naturally…
Brain glanced at the ice, then shouted, "Ephemer! Might want to move!" Light flared at Master's Defender's tip.
Ephemer glanced towards him. A feral grin stretched on his lips, and he leapt out of the way.
If this thing's supposed to be used to fight Darkness—well, I hope it has some powerful light magic, then.
"Close your eyes!"
The magic in Brain's chest was warm—not quite hot, but getting there, just on the edge of uncomfortable. Master's Defender glowed, and he swept his Keyblade upwards.
Light followed.
It tracked Master's Defender's path, rising up from between the icy pathway and cutting through the Darkness, reflected back by the glittering Blizzard spell. Darkness hissed and screeched, and Brain thought that finally, finally they might have gotten somewhere.
The light burned his eyes, but he didn't dare look away—not even when the spell started to fade, the sunspots slowly flickering out of his vision. His legs shook a little; the attack had left him feeling strangely drained, and he propped himself up on his Keyblade. "Don't suppose you could tell me if that worked?"
"I don't see anything," Skuld breathed, sounding almost hopeful. Then: "Wait, tell you?"
"Still a little blind at the moment."
"Brain."
Ephemer laughed, a breathless, relieved sort of sound, and Brain found his shoulders relaxing a little.
"I suppose I should give you credit. That was a worthwhile attempt."
Brain stiffened, a shiver running down his spine.
"What's—Ephemer, look out!"
Brain couldn't see Skuld move, but he could hear it, catching the clash of something. He blinked, and through blurry vision he thought he could see her standing in front of Ephemer, shadows reaching from the floor to curl around her Keyblade. Ephemer had swept around, back pressed against hers, warding off shadowy tendrils of his own. If they're both—then—
He tried to turn, but wasn't quick enough; the shadows struck, hitting him hard against the back and sending him sprawling across the floor. Master's Defender clattered against the ground; Brain didn't waste a second in calling it back, but he was still unbalanced when he scrambled to his feet, his quick one-two strike against Darkness nearly sending him back to the ground.
Ven and Lauriam are still back there.
Ephemer seemed to have the same thought; he lifted his Keyblade, calling down a Thunder spell with a shout, lightning bolts striking the shadows that were encroaching on them and forcing them to dissipate.
Skuld's Keyblade glowed red-hot. She swept it around, a ring of fire whipping from the tip and spiraling around her and Ephemer, cutting at the shadows.
It took Brain a moment to realize they were coalescing in front of him, and he had to brace Master's Defender with both hands, his knees nearly buckling under the pressure.
"You are not a Master."
Brain grimaced.
"It seems a foolish thing, to leave young wielders in charge of protecting the world. But I suppose that it is easier to mold them to a specific purpose."
Brain gritted his teeth.
"You know, don't you? Why you were chosen?"
(Because—)
Brain let himself fall a little, letting up on the pressure. Darkness fell towards him, and he cut himself and slashed, magic coating his blade and sending streaks of light with the attack.
Darkness parted around it easily, slipping past him and reforming. "It is powerful. But it is not enough. Not even with that blade of yours."
Brain stiffened—but when he thought about it, he supposed it didn't surprise him. Of course they would sense Master's Defender was different.
"We were chosen," he said carefully, "to keep light alive."
"It must hurt—to be betrayed by a friend."
Ven?
He wondered, for a moment, why Darkness would bring that up when he'd made it clear that he intended to fight to protect him—but then they continued, "To be chosen by someone you thought you could trust and find out the truth in this way—it must hurt."
Ava. But—no one should know about that but— But Darkness had been here this whole time. He didn't know how long they'd been watching—or what they'd seen.
"There is no way you can save this world. This was always the way things were meant to go. But you were given hope, weren't you? You were led to believe that you could fight against fate—that you could save these people you'd grown to care about. And when that hope failed, it would be much easier for Darkness to take advantage of you." The shadows flared. "You understand, don't you?"
"That's enough," Skuld snapped, and Darkness turned towards her just as quickly.
"And you—you are already angry. Angry at the Foretellers, at the Unions, at your circumstances. Angry at the futility of all this, no doubt. I'm sure that it must be grating, to know that for all your anger, you are just as much to blame as anyone else."
"We aren't—"
"You have kept the Dandelions in the dark about the danger, haven't you?" The shadows shifted. "But that was your decision, wasn't it? To have them forget about the Keyblade War."
Ephemer didn't say anything.
"All of us made that decision," Skuld hissed. "We're a team."
"But you are their leader, aren't you?" Darkness crept a little closer, curling around Ephemer's shoulders. He didn't flinch. "It was your job to bring them here—your job to make sure everyone was safe. Your friends followed you—and your decisions were ultimately what led to everything up to now." Darkness's voice turned sympathetic, and strangely, Brain got the impression they were genuine. "You were failed by the people who were supposed to help you. Why continue fighting for them?"
Ephemer smiled, and even if it was a little shaky, it was still stubbornly there. "Because we're not fighting for them."
The ground beneath him glowed.
Darkness recoiled.
Light flared, forming a blazing ring around Ephemer's feet. When it faded, he'd settled back into a fighting stance.
Darkness curled along the ground, slowly dragging themself upwards into a solid form. "…Very well."
Ephemer took a breath and moved.
Brain followed his lead, but for as much as he tried to focus, something inside him felt shaky, his strikes not quite focused, his magic not as sure. There has to be a way to save everyone. I can't have done all of this for nothing. This isn't—
Skuld shouted with alarm. A long cut streaked up her arm; a Cure spell flashed from her palm, and then she was back into motion.
But Darkness is…stronger than I expected them to be. I don't think we've done any damage at all.
Ephemer swept into the middle, Keyblade swinging around and around in a wild circle. Darkness scattered, then coalesced again, slamming him into the ground.
Why are they even still here in the first place? Clearly none of them could do anything to hit the shadows, so why stay and fight at all? They could leave just as easily and avoid the hassle, or take all of them out in a heartbeat. Are they trying to distract us from something? Are they unable to leave Ven? Or is there something else going on?
Skuld leapt, Starlight sweeping upwards in an attack. The shaft of her weapon hit the underside of the shadows, and she struggled a moment before the darkness expanded, sending her flying backwards and hitting the ground with a thud.
Brain barely had the time to slow, turning back towards her with a Cure spell on his lips, before the aftershock caught him, too. He couldn't quite brace himself in time, stumbling backwards, Master's Defender falling from his fingers. He fell, hitting the floor with a hiss.
Ephemer braced himself a little better, sliding back but standing upright. But his friend was starting to look a little worse for wear, shoulders rising and falling with his heavy breathing.
Brain sucked in a shuddering breath. His arms were shaking, and he wasn't sure if that was from exertion or from the dawning realization that they may not be able to win.
Energy pulsed; Brain winced as a wave of it washed over him, sticky and cold. Darkness still loomed over them, shadows swirling in a maelstrom he wasn't at all sure how to get through. When they spoke, their voice was surprisingly quiet: "It's over."
Ephemer glanced back slowly—towards Skuld, not unconscious but not up yet, either, and towards him, exhausted and worn. "Yeah…" He turned back towards Darkness with a grim sort of smile, but he didn't dismiss his Keyblade, shifting just enough that he could stand protectively in front of both of them. "I can't take you down alone. I'm not even sure I can wear you down."
Brain huffed an ironic sort of laugh, and he wasn't sure if it was directed at Ephemer's words himself for trying to fight shadows in the first place. "Fair point."
"Shall we call it done, then?"
Ephemer's smile turned a little sharper. "Oh? So you surrender?"
The fact that Darkness seemed to be waiting for them to finish fighting them made Brain laugh again, a giddy and breathless thing that made his chest shudder. "You claimed you aren't after anything," he breathed, "but I'm not buying it."
Darkness seemed to hone in on him, and he tried to ignore how it felt like something was pressing down on his chest and shoulders. "What?"
Brain shifted a little; he was still too exhausted to push himself up, but he braced a leg against his knee, giving Darkness a dry sort of look. "You seem pretty desperate to get in our way, showing up like this. I don't know if it's pride or fear, but there's a reason you're still here."
Darkness didn't respond to that right away—in fact, they were silent for so long that Brain almost thought they weren't going to. But then he caught the sound of a voice, quiet: "…Infection."
That…explained nothing. "Meaning?"
"Data transfer requires a signal. The same goes for the hearts and minds of you humans. You underestimate how easily the darkness rides on those signals…and spreads through this place."
He thought of the way the world had broken apart, darkness seeping into the cracks and seems. He imagined that it wouldn't be quite as easy to seep into the makeup of a physical world as it was a program. Maybe coming here was less about survival, and more about spreading. Growing stronger. "But then why hide inside Ven?"
"I told you," Darkness answered, sounding just on the edge of annoyed. "Because it was decided."
"That's enough."
Brain twisted.
Skuld was pushing herself to her feet, a grim, angry look on her face. Her legs and arms shook and her chest heaved, but she didn't fall.
"Skuld!" Ephemer's voice cracked with relief. "You're alright!"
She sent her friend a tight smile; it faded just as quickly, her attention drawn back to Darkness. She took a few steps closer, back straight, head high. "You're saying that because it was written in the Book of Prophecies," she growled, slowly, deliberately, "it was meant to be? Well, I don't care. You hijacked Ven and attacked Lauriam's sister." One hand swept to the side, Starlight flashing into her palms. "And now you're gonna pay for it!"
There was something almost comforting about his friends stepping up around him, ready to fight for their home. They were broken and tired and facing impossible odds—but they'd fight for each other, anyways.
Brain grinned fiercely, finally pushing himself to his feet. Master's Defender returned, thrumming between his fingers. Protect the others. That's what this thing is meant to do, after all. "That's right." He twisted his Keyblade, pointing it back towards Darkness. Don't count us out quite yet. We're Keyblade wielders; we're stubborn.
Darkness didn't have expressions, but Brain was starting to realize they still gave signals of what they were feeling—a pulse of shadows, flickering bits of darkness that nearly blended into the ground, swirling energy that could almost keep them at bay. This time the darkness expanded a little, and Brain got the impression that they were starting to grow frustrated. "We are many, and we are one. But to be one requires will. Through him, we could divide into pure darkness and light…willful and distinct. It was a sacrifice that needed to be made."
"So…Ven didn't attack Strelitzia. You did. Is that right?"
Skuld wasn't the only one up again, it looked like, and Brain glanced towards his friend in relief. "Lauriam!"
Lauriam limped towards the Darkness. Divine Rose came to his hands, and he braced himself, still shaky and injured from before but willing to fight. "I figured you guys could use some help."
"One more ally will make no difference."
"Then how about two?"
Brain started at the voice; it took a moment for him to understand who it was coming from, and when he did, he grinned, bracing himself as a portal opened and a figure leapt onto the battlefield beside them, Ephemer's voice rising in relief as he shouted their name. All here to fight against impossible odds. Brain shifted his stance, bracing himself for another fight as his friends hovered around him, just as determined to protect each other and their home.
Darkness, it seemed, was finally growing frustrated with them. "It's useless," they hissed, the words snapping against each other. "Even if you do manage to defeat us, you will still lose."
"I don't think so." Lauriam brandished his Keyblade with a cocky sort of grin. "We're taking you down and going back to the real world."
Darkness was silent for a long moment, but it was a different sort of silence—one that was almost contemplative. "And how do you plan on doing that?" they asked finally, and they were so strangely calm about it that it made a shiver go down Brain's spine. "With the lifeboat?"
The…what?
Lauriam didn't seem confused, but there was an uncertainty to his expression that hadn't been there before. "Yeah. Just like the evil fairy, right?"
Something like laughter rumbled around them, creeping into Brain's bones and making him shake. "You know nothing."
Brain's grip tightened around Master's Defender; his Keyblade was shaking, vibrating practically on its own, but Brain hissed at it to wait, wait, be patient. "How do you figure?"
"If you return, Daybreak Town will still succumb to darkness."
The words were smug, and Brain was struck by the force of them. That's—not possible. All we're supposed to do is defeat Darkness and get out. That was—that was all we needed to do to get through this.
"What have you done to the real world?" Ephemer, voice lifted, and the question gave Brain the brief, fleeting hope that maybe that was still true; they just needed to defeat Darkness, and then the world would be safe and his friends would be—
"Nothing." It was a single word, but it hit as hard as anything Darkness had thrown at them. "It was decided long ago. When the lifeboat is activated, this world falls to darkness." The shadows shifted, and Brain got the impression that they were staring at him. "It is already in motion. The beginning of the end."
"But…" But that can't be right. I was so careful—I tried to get ahead of things. I tried to make plans. I tried to make sure we were safe. There's no way that this could be— "Why?"
"The lifeboat is the last line of defense—to be relied upon in the event we cannot be defeated. Its use initiates the process to seal this world, and us along with it. The evil fairy's departure was the trigger. It cannot be stopped."
Brain reeled. He'd…known that this place had been a cage, from the moment that he'd found that bit of info in the code. He'd wondered if this had been meant to trap Darkness when he found out about Ven—but he'd thought they'd just be trapped here. He hadn't thought the world would fall apart.
This is what Ava meant, then. This is what was going to happen to us. If we can't defeat Darkness—if we can't all get out—then the world ends. Both worlds.
…Why did you send us here? Not for the first time, Brain wished his old friend were here so that he could ask. Did you intend for this to happen? You wanted to get rid of Darkness so badly—did you use us as bait to bring Darkness here and get rid of it forever?
"No." Ephemer's voice rang clear and strong, washing away Brain's thoughts. He snapped towards him. His friend didn't look as affected as the rest of them seemed to be; his expression was steely, his voice firm, head lifted to face Darkness without wavering. "I don't believe it. Master Ava is the one who brought us together. I don't know about the other Masters, but I know for sure that Master Ava wouldn't just throw us away like that!"
The words hit something in Brain's chest. He almost wanted to laugh; Ephemer seemed to be able to believe in his friend more than he could. But maybe it wasn't so much about Ava, he thought, as it was about them. We were the ones meant to lead the Dandelions into the future. The Foretellers aren't here anymore—but we are.
We can make our own future.
Brain shifted into a fighting stance, Master's Defender lifted pointedly. "Besides, it doesn't matter what the Masters may have had planned for us. We believe in our leader!"
Ephemer turned to him with a grin, for once not protesting the title. "Let's do this."
Brain swept into the motion with the rest of his friends, tugged along with the tide of battle. There was a part of him that understood that this was likely a hopeless fight—Darkness wasn't really wrong about that. None of them had managed to scratch them, after all. But he supposed he was used to fighting hopeless battles at this point, and at least if they were going to go down, they were going to go down fighting. And so he moved, casting spell after spell to support and protect his friends, Keyblade swinging, feet moving, heart pumping, everything a blur of motion that his body could keep up with but his mind couldn't.
(And what will you do after this? some part of him asked. What will you do if you win? It doesn't matter if you stop Darkness if you can't save your friends in the end. What's your plan?)
A flash of light. Someone shouting near him. A Cure spell cast in haste.
(If the world is already ending—then you're too late. This battle is pointless. Why not just give up now?)
A swing of his Keyblade and a scream.
(Because it's not over yet. There might be—there might be some way to salvage this. Somehow.)
A flare of shadows. Something burning, deep inside his chest.
(Even if it costs you everything?)
Darkness disappeared. Brain stumbled, catching himself at the last moment.
"Did we win?" Ephemer asked, breathless.
No. It felt too easy; after all of that, Darkness couldn't just be gone. He wasn't surprised when he caught the ripping, tearing sound of Darkness forming somewhere else, and whipped around.
Lauriam made a panicked noise that didn't seem entirely voluntary. Skuld's breath hissed between her teeth. Ephemer glared.
Darkness hovered over Ven—Ven, still unconscious, still defenseless, still—
"I am formless." Darkness's voice boomed, and Brain braced himself almost without his conscious input. "You cannot destroy me."
For half a moment, he thought that they would disappear inside Ven again—but that wouldn't make sense, because even if they wouldn't hurt Ven, being inside him would still make them vulnerable. But when Darklings appeared, hovering around the downed Union Leader, he realized there might be a different alternative: They could threaten Ven to get us to stop. Or simply set Darklings on us and go do their own thing.
We're…going to lose.
"You…"
Brain's attention snapped towards the Darklings at the sound.
They'd turned, slowly, towards Ven. The Darklings crept around him, heads tilting back and forth like they were trying to figure out some sort of puzzle, voices overlapping each other and rising to a strange, excited frenzy.
"The Darklings…they're after Ven?"
"But why?"
Brain narrowed his eyes. It could be because Darkness chose him as a vessel. But if he was chosen—
Ven stirred.
Brain snapped towards him.
There was…something different about him now. Something almost seemed to radiate off him, and it took Brain a moment to recognize that it was magic—powerful, like what he felt when he used Master's Defender, but less refined. It made him almost look like he was glowing, practically blazing under his skin, and Brain realized, This is why he was chosen—whether he realized it or not. He's…a lot stronger than any of us thought.
Light flared. Brain squeezed his eyes shut. When he cleared them, Darkness was gone—but he wasn't naïve enough to think they'd been defeated, this time.
Neither was Ven, apparently, because he strode past them without a glance in their direction. What's he planning? He can't fight Darkness on his own—he has to know that.
But Darkness came with him—maybe he knows something we don't.
The shadows coalesced overhead, and Ven lifted his head to stare at them, back straight, fists clenched. "If you're pure darkness, then that makes me pure light. If you used me to reshape yourself, then I can reshape you again."
Used him to—
"I'll give you a new form—" a flash of a Keyblade, a shift in his stance "—that we can defeat!"
No. Not hopeless after all, he realized, but the realization came too late.
Ven moved.
Lauriam shouted, reaching frantically after him.
And Brain was as frozen as his other friends, watching helplessly as Ven leapt to attack Darkness on his own. He tugged his hat down, eyes closed to try and shield himself from the light, bracing against the surge of energy.
He heard more than saw what happened next—Lauriam's panicked shout, hurried footsteps, a quiet thud. And then a name, repeated over and over with increasing desperation. Ven. Ven, Ven, Ven—
He sacrificed himself. Darkness is—he did the impossible. But it came at a high price to him. Is that what it's going to cost to save the world?
(What are you willing to give up in order to save them?)
Lauriam cradled Ven to his chest. His words had turned into an incoherent mess at this point, and something in Brain's chest twisted. He took a couple of steady strides closer, calling gently, "Lauriam."
Lauriam whipped towards him, face curled into a snarl. "You were the one who taught him that spell."
Brain stopped. His fingers curled slowly into fists, hands shaking.
"It's not his fault, Lauriam," Skuld said. She came to stand beside him, but she was staring at Ven, face pale. "Is he…?"
Lauriam didn't say anything; he turned away from them, cradling Ven closer.
"He's alive," Brain said, but there was a bitter taste in his mouth. "The spell shouldn't kill him."
Lauriam whispered, "How do we—what did it do to him?"
"I don't know." Brain's voice broke, but he forced it to steady as he continued, We'll have to wait until he wakes up to find out."
"What if he doesn't?"
Brain didn't have an answer to that. It felt like he didn't have answers to a lot of things, anymore. "You should probably take him back to his room."
"That's not an answer."
"Well, I don't have one," he snapped, frustrated. He took a moment to steady himself, then continued, quieter, "The only thing we can do for him now is let him rest. We'll have to figure out the rest later."
Lauriam stared at him for several long moments before his shoulders slumped, the fight seeming to drain out of him. "Right. I—right."
Brain's eyes flicked over Lauriam's hunched form, Ven still unconscious in his arms. It made something sick turn in his stomach, and he turned away, heading back towards his desk. Slowly, he heard the others move, footsteps slowly leaving the Foretellers' Chambers.
Darkness is—taken care of. If he thought about the facts too long, he thought he'd bend under the weight—so he didn't, stuffing it down for now, hoping to deal with it later, when hopefully his friends were safe. But if they were right—then I'm still too late to do anything. I can't stop the end of the world. I failed.
I—what am I supposed to do?
"Brain."
Skuld. He hadn't even realized she'd stayed behind. "Not going with the others, huh?"
"It's not your fault, you know."
"Well. Lauriam's right—I was the one who taught him that spell."
"Brain." Fingers wrapped gently around his wrist, and he finally paused and turned to look at Skuld. She gave him an earnest look, pulling a little on his arm like she wanted to drag him away. "None of this is your fault."
His eyes burned, and he blinked rapidly and tried to ignore it. "I knew."
"You got a vague warning and nothing else." Skuld's voice went hard. "What were you supposed to do about that?"
Brain's fingers trailed across the Book, paper rough against his fingertips.
Skuld caught the motion and her expression turned conflicted.
Brain huffed. "Should've used it sooner, huh?"
"You don't know what would've happened. Maybe Darkness would've just started things sooner. And then—" She broke off with a shuddering breath.
"This whole thing's a bit of a mess, huh?" he asked dryly.
Skuld gave a wet laugh. "Yeah."
They stood there in silence for a beat. Gently, Brain detached Skuld from his arm. "I'll be fine, Skuld. Go check on Ven—I know you're worried. Besides, I've got to figure out how to get us all out of here."
"You think I'd be too distracting?"
"Having spent a year with the four of you? Yes."
Skuld laughed quietly, then dragged him into a hug. "You'll figure it out. You're the smartest person I know." He could practically feel her smiling as she added, "You have to have that name for a reason."
Brain laughed, despite himself, and hugged her back. "This might be one of the last times we see each other and you make a joke about my name?"
"It was right there." Her voice turned a little more somber as she added, "And it's not going to be the last time."
Brain's grip tightened a little. "Right." If his voice broke, at least Skuld didn't comment on it.
After a long moment Skuld finally let him go. She gave him a tentative smile, hesitating for half a beat and scanning his face. Finally she turned and left, heading to catch up with the others.
Brain stared after her a moment. The room felt strangely lonely, with just him in it. He could remember a time when that's what he wanted—when he'd first gotten here, and his entire focus had been on trying to get them safely out. It felt like a very long time ago now.
There was a memory here, if he cared to make it. He didn't have time to go out to Daybreak Town, but he could still see it through the windows. The world had dimmed, scattered flashes of glitching data patterned across the ground and sky, but if he looked past that, things seemed almost normal. Some lights were on inside the houses. Snow had started falling again, and he was half-tempted to leave—to go out and catch a flake on his fingertips, or to find his friends and drag them out to play in it. Maybe they could drag the Dandelions in. Just one last thing. One last moment, before everything falls apart.
He couldn't, of course. There wasn't any time—not if he wanted to make sure he did this right. But he imagined it, anyways, pressing his hand against the glass and the image into his memory. He stared at Daybreak Town and tried to memorize an image of it as it was, and wondered, Is this how Ava felt, when she left for the Keyblade War?
When he turned, it felt like he was looking at ghosts—memories upon memories, of sleepovers and card games and meetings, laughter and tears and arguments, all blurring together. He ran a hand along the table—faintly scarred from the battle, but still standing, amazingly.
The memorial hadn't been touched—it rested against the back wall, hidden almost in shadow. His eyes caught on the pink ribbon around the edge; he knelt, fingering it, tracing a hand along the wooden edges of the memorial. After a beat he tugged one of the bangles off his wrist, twisting it carefully between his fingers. "Sorry," he whispered. "I don't have anything else I can use." Gently he placed the bangle over the Keyblade's wooden teeth. And then he simply knelt there, head bowed. His breath hitched, and he clenched his teeth and let it hiss between them.
One-hundred seventy-five. It wasn't a lot of people, in the grand scheme of things—but it was a lot to try and get out of the simulation in the time they had. He didn't know how many lifeboats there were, but he couldn't imagine there were that many. It's alright, he thought. The Dandelions will be okay. They'll just need someone to wake them up.
Which means someone will need to stay behind.
There was a part of Brain that wanted to scream. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair to have put them through all of this, to have made them (him) get attached, only for them to—
But there wasn't any point to protesting it now. The world was already ending. He couldn't stop it. He couldn't stay with his friends. But he could still save them.
He took a deep breath. Gently he laid a hand against the memorial. "Don't think we can take this with us. But it'll serve as a reminder that I'm still coming back." He thumbed some of the items hanging on it—star charms and wilted flowers and a collection of other items, carefully gathered over time. "I'll miss you."
And then he stood, near silent, and started planning.
-Brain hadn't been to the lifeboat chamber before. Skuld and Lauriam had tried to get him down here once, but he hadn't actually been able to find it when the Clock Tower still felt like a maze, and he'd dismissed it as unimportant in the grand scheme of things. Reluctantly, he could admit now that maybe it was more important than he'd though.
He imagined it hadn't looked quite like it did now, though. Lauriam, what the hell did you do here? He rested his hand against a broken lifeboat and pursed his lips. Only five lifeboats…wasn't ideal. It meant that he'd only be able to get a couple of them out right away. Unless we can reuse some of the lifeboats. I'll have to see if it'll work.
The computer still seemed to be working, at least, and it gave him the opportunity to pull up an image of their destination.
He could hear his friends coming to surround him—could sense their collective horror at the sight on the screen. Brain might not have been surprised by it, but he still felt his stomach drop at the sight of their home. The buildings were cracked and broken; the world had grown dark, a faint red tinge to the sky; collections of debris spiraled upwards, caught in a sort of cyclone, and more came free as he watched. That's what we're going back to. That's what the others will be escaping from.
…That's what I'll be staying in.
He stuffed his own horror down deep, exchanging it for something more clinical. (If he thought about it too long, he'd break. It was easier when the reality wasn't staring him in the face.) Limited seating. We need to figure out who goes. I'll need to be—careful. If they find out what I'm planning, I get the feeling they'll want to stop me. I'll…probably need to make sure I'm on the outside, if I want this to work.
So he played his part carefully, flashing sharp smiles and keeping his voice level, working his way through his own made-up script. He'd gotten used to talking to his friends about things, so it was almost foreign to go back to pretending—but then, he'd been keeping the secret about the Book and the world's end for months. This felt like such a little thing, in comparison.
He hoped his friends would forgive him. He wondered what they'd think, if they figured things out. Ven was unconscious; he couldn't protest. Lauriam was focused on his sister, so he might not even realize. Ephemer would…understand, he hoped. His friend wasn't very good at leaving people behind, but Brain was the one most likely to be able to save the Dandelions—and there wasn't any sense in all of them staying behind. He thought that maybe he'd get it, as leader. Skuld would be…angry, probably. She had a tendency to act recklessly when it came to her friends—and he knew better than to assume that someone who would run back to a battlefield to save their friend wouldn't try and save another one from the end of the world. But she cared a lot about Ephemer and their honorary Dandelion; if it came down to it, he didn't think it would be hard to convince her to choose them.
Of course, this plan would only work if they could all agree on who was going.
"I'm not leaving you two here."
Skuld. Brain almost wanted to groan—Ephemer's friend had just volunteered to stay behind, he thought they finally had come to a decision—but he wasn't entirely surprised. After everything that had happened, he couldn't really blame Skuld for wanted to stick close to her friends. And maybe it's easier this way. If they're all together—it might be easier to convince her to use one of the lifeboats.
"Well," he said, drawing their attention, "why don't we save one for later? I might be able to find a way to rescue all three of you at once."
Lauriam gave him a wry smile that didn't quite erase the exhaustion in his expression. "You already have something in mind, don't you?"
"Sure do."
Ephemer gave him a grim nod. "Then it's settled." Quieter, he added, "Lauriam, can you look after Ven?"
With a click, the lifeboats opened. Lauriam hesitated a moment, eyes scanning all of them as if he wasn't quite willing to accept that this was it. But there wasn't time for much more, really, and he headed towards the lifeboats with Elrena in tow.
And then Ephemer turned to him. "Brain, take care of everyone."
Brain's throat tightened. "Will do."
Ephemer gave him a tight grin, stepping up to take his place at the computer.
Brain shifted to get out of his way, but didn't leave quite yet—there was one thing he had left to do, after all. Master's Defender came at his call, the Keyblade warm and familiar in his hand, and he could see Ephemer's surprise for half a moment before Brain extended his Keyblade towards him. "Here," he said, quiet, "take it."
Ephemer just stared at him for several heartbeats. Hesitantly he approached, hands hovering uncertainly near the Keyblade without actually reaching for it. "But," he paused, giving Brain a befuddled look, "this is yours."
Brain huffed in amusement, pushing the Keyblade into his hands and trying not to laugh when Ephemer stumbled backwards. "It was meant for you." A last defense, to help protect the light.
The Book of Prophecies was a familiar weight inside his jacket, but it was one that was strangely freeing to be rid of. "This too," he said, passing it over, and he saw Ephemer's eyes slowly light up with understanding. Master's Defender disappeared, and Ephemer took the Book cautiously, almost reverently, a conflicted expression crossing his face. "I didn't end up using it," Brain continued softly, "but if you're ever lost, don't hesitate to have a look. It'll help you when you need it most."
Ephemer squeezed his eyes shut, breathing in slowly, and Brain just waited and watched, giving his friend the chance to collect himself. "I'll hold onto these for now," Ephemer whispered, but when he opened his eyes, there was something steely in his expression, "but as far as I'm concerned, they still belong to you. Master Ava entrusted them to you for a reason."
You still think there's a chance that we'll find each other again. He couldn't help his smile and exasperated laugh. Of course that's what Ephemer would think of—not the end of the world, or the fact that he had all the answers he could've ever wanted in his hands, but the potential of all of them finding each other again one day. "I thought you'd be happy," he said with a shake of his head. "Master Ava told me you've been wanting to read the Book for a long time."
Ephemer smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.
"Besides," Brain continued, voice softening, "I'm pretty sure she gave these to me knowing I would do just this." Well. Maybe not exactly. Some of it was just because she'd trusted him. But he wouldn't be surprised if she'd had some idea of what he'd do. She seemed to know him better than he knew her, at the end.
But he'd delayed long enough. It was time to go.
"May your heart be your guiding key, Ephemer." He gave Ephemer a soft smile. "Just like mine is for me."
Ephemer smiled back. "Thanks."
He lifted his head, smile turning a little more determined. "I'll be back for you guys." Because he would—whatever else happened, however things turned out, he wasn't going to leave his friends behind.
Ephemer nodded, that same determined expression on his face, and lifted his hand.
Brain huffed a laugh when he realized what he was asking for, but gave him a high-five as he turned to leave. Skuld gave him a wave and a tentative smile, and he waved back.
It was almost easy, to pretend that everything was going to be okay. He just needed to keep going. He just needed a little bit longer.
That was all.
-Being back in the real world was almost strange after spending so long in the data one. Brain stepped out of his lifeboat and took a moment to breathe, testing the ground beneath his feet. No glitches. But the world's still going to fall out from under us if I'm not careful.
Which meant he needed to get to work.
He'd crossed the room in a heartbeat; the computer was just the same as it had been in the data world, and his fingers flashed across the keyboard. He could hear the sounds of Lauriam and Elrena moving, sliding out of their lifeboats and coming closer, but tried his best to force the noise to the back of his mind.
Nominally, he was trying to figure out how to get the Dandelions out of the datascape—and he was looking, really. There had to be some way to pull them out; he just wasn't sure if he'd find it in the time that they had, and even if he did, it would be a lot harder to make sure everyone was safe if more people were out here. Can't have everyone using the lifeboats—and those are the only way to guarantee that people will get away. Which means that we can really only bring a select number of people out.
The Dandelions would be okay. If he survived this, then he could wake them up—and even if he didn't, all someone would need to do is find the computer again and reach out to them. But he wanted to make sure his friends were safe.
So he needed to stall just long enough for this to be believable.
"Any progress?"
Elrena, not Lauriam, but it gave him an opening, all the same. "Well…" He turned towards them slowly, and he almost wondered if they'd be able to see through him. "I tried looking for a way to get everyone back at once using the existing system, but it's not a viable option with the time we have."
Lauriam's expression twisted. "So that's it?"
He didn't know if Lauriam was worried for the Dandelions or for the friends still trapped in the data world—and it didn't matter, really. Brain had an answer ready, after all. "There might be another way." He turned back to the computer. Okay. Moment of truth. "Not for all of the Dandelions, but I think I can help Ephemer and the others at least."
A quiet hissing sound filled the room as the lifeboats opened. Lauriam made a surprised noise, and Brain couldn't quite look at him, voice measured as he said, "But before we do anything, I want you to hop back in the lifeboat."
He could hear Lauriam's hesitation, and when he turned to him, he could see the conflict in his expression. In hindsight, maybe it wasn't so surprising that Lauriam would be hesitant—he'd spent a long time looking after them, after all. Even with his sister on the line—he cared about them. He wouldn't want to leave them behind unless he knew they'd be okay.
(But at least Brain knew which buttons to press.)
"I need to work quickly to have a decent shot at this. But first, I'm going to get you out of this world."
"What's your plan?" Lauriam asked, and he sounded more resigned and less hopeful, like he already knew what Brain wanted to do and understood that he had very little choice but to go along with it.
"Return two of the pods to the data world. That way, the three of them will each have one."
"Will that work?"
"Only one way to find out." He hoped it would; it was the only way he could make sure his friends were safe, after all. If it fails—I'll just have to rescue the others when I rescue the Dandelions.
But we can't keep stalling. Lauriam—needs to get out of here. (Before he could change his mind.) "Get in."
Lauriam turned, very slowly, towards the lifeboats. He didn't move right away, shifting like he wasn't sure if he wanted to go to them or stay here with his friend. "Will you really be okay on your own?"
He just needs a little push. I just—need to convince him that leaving is what's best for everyone. "The only Union Leader who can escape right now is you." He took a couple of steps closer. "Ephemer gave me this chance to keep hope and light alive, and now I'm passing it onto you." Then, quieter, he whispered, "Let me do this."
Let me save you.
He wondered if something of his desperation had slipped into his voice, because Lauriam's expression finally crumpled. "Alright," he agreed quietly, but there was still reluctance in his voice and expression.
Brain swallowed tightly. This was—this was it, then. "I don't know when or where you'll end up," he whispered, "But keep your goal—your waypoint—etched in your heart."
It seemed to make Lauriam relax, just a little. "I will," he promised gently. When he spoke again, it seemed almost more like he was talking to himself: "I assumed people's data just didn't exist when I couldn't find my sister's. But I was wrong. It does."
It brought a slightly more genuine smile to Brain's face. "Then that will be the waypoint to guide you." Softly, he added, "I hope you get to see her again."
Lauriam surprised him by moving closer and extending a hand; Brain grabbed it, and Lauriam tugged a little, almost looking like he'd considered dragging Brain into a hug before deciding against it at the last moment. "I hope I get to see you again too."
He wouldn't—not unless the lifeboat didn't take him very far—but Brain appreciated the sentiment.
Lauriam must've seen something in his expression, because his fell, and Brain had a moment to worry that he might've just messed up the entire thing. But then he let go, and even if he seemed reluctant as he trailed towards the lifeboats, he didn't stop. Good. That's two down. Just two more to go.
Lauriam got into his lifeboat, turning and giving him a long, long look.
"May your heart be your guiding key." He hit a button, closing the lifeboats.
The building rumbled. Dust cascaded from overhead. Brain couldn't tell if it was from the chaos outside or the lifeboats themselves or what, but everything shook, and he had to throw a frantic hand out to brace himself.
"Brain!"
Lauriam. He glanced back long enough to catch sight of his friend's terrified expression, and he wished that he could give him a different final memory to hold onto. Guess sometimes things don't work out that way.
The lifeboats glowed. Lauriam was still shouting, pounding against the glass, as they disappeared.
The shaking slowly settled. Brain gripped the back of the chair tightly, taking steadying breaths.
Something prickled down his spin. It felt a little like he was being watched, and he whipped around, half-expecting to see Darkness again. "Who—?"
But it wasn't them. The figure that approached was unfamiliar to him, obscured entirely in a black coat. They approached slowly, calmly, and Brain had a moment to wonder, How much did they see?
"So it's just you?"
Lauriam and Ven made it out safely. But Skuld and Ephemer… Brain braced himself; without Master's Defender he was virtually defenseless, but that wouldn't stop him from fighting if he needed to. "That's right," he said, voice tense. "You are…?"
The hooded figure walked closer, footsteps strangely quiet. It felt a little like he was talking to a ghost, the only sound the faint rustle of fabric as the strange black coat brushed against the figure's legs.
The figure stopped, keeping a careful distance between them. "Luxu," they—he—said, and Brain's head snapped up. "One of the Master of Master's apprentices."
"Master Luxu?" Brain repeated incredulously. "I thought you disappeared before the Unions were created." It's what everyone said—that there were only five Foretellers because the last had gone missing. It's what Ava had told him, talking in quiet whispers about a friend who wasn't here anymore and that none of them had any luck finding. Where had he been all of this time—and why had he decided to come back now?
"None of that matters now." Brain wanted to argue that it did matter, considering the situation they'd found themselves in, but Luxu continued without giving Brain room to speak: "Tell me, are you a Union Leader?"
"Yes," Brain answered, still feeling slightly wrong-footed, "my name's Brain." And then, hoping to get answers—
"And you're the only one here, I see."
Brain's mouth clicked shut. He tensed, breathing in slowly through his nose, waiting and watching.
Luxu studied him a moment, then turned back towards the lifeboats. He lifted a hand, and it took him a moment to realize that the missing Master was counting them. "Where're the others?"
Brain's heart felt like it had jumped into his throat, but he kept his voice level as he answered: "One escaped, but two are still in the data world."
Luxu tilted his head, shifting a little to glance back at Brain. "That makes four. What about the fifth?"
The coat was almost worse than the masks; at least with the masks, Brain could see some of the speakers' face. The coat cast Luxu's expression in almost-unnatural shadow, making it impossible to figure out what he was thinking.
The silence must've stretched on too long, because Luxu pressed, "Are they gone?"
It was a bit of a gamble—but technically, Brain wasn't lying when he answered, "Yes…" It didn't take much to inject the appropriate amount of grief in his voice—it was his friend's sister that had been killed, after all. But he doesn't know about Ven. I don't know what he wants—but at least this way, I know one of them's not on his radar.
"I see." His voice was still surprisingly neutral, and he gestured towards the two remaining pods. "So that's yours then?"
Brain had responded almost before Luxu had finished speaking, voice cutting sharply across him: "No."
Luxu lowered his hand, and even if Brain couldn't see his expression, he could sense he was intrigued.
"Three of my friends stayed behind in the data world. I'm going to send both of these there, and with the one they already have, they can all get back."
Luxu folded his arms slowly. "Then what will you do?"
"Stay here and stay alive as long as I can." He kept his voice steady, allowing no room for argument. "I need to wake as many of the Dandelions stuck in the data world as possible."
"Wake?"
He faltered. Luxu sounded…strangely curious about that. It wasn't the part that he thought he'd question. "Master Ava taught us…that when a world becomes enveloped in darkness, it falls into slumber."
"It does," Luxu agreed, and Brain barely had a moment to feel relieved before he continued, "but the data world is different."
"How so?" He stumbled over the words, tripping into Luxu's sentence at the sudden, terrifying realization that he might have calculated wrong again. No. No, no, that has to be wrong, I can't have left my friends there to—
"That world was built as a cage to entrap darkness. If it falls to darkness, that's it."
It felt like the world was cracking underneath him. Brain reeled, trying to process what exactly that meant. But that's—that can't be right. This plan only worked because I could still get the Dandelions out. If I can't rescue them—
"And another thing," Luxu continued, and Brain marveled at how calm he could sound when he was tearing Brain's carefully made plans apart. "The lifeboat is incomplete. Whoever uses it needs two things at their destination: someone with memories of them, and a vessel to occupy. Were you aware of that?"
"More or less." No. No, he didn't know much about this at all. It'd been a last-ditch plan made because he hadn't had time, because he hadn't been quick enough, because—
"Do you have a plan?"
The words hit harder than he wanted them to. "Well, I'll figure it out, no matter how long it takes."
(It felt a little like he was drowning, clinging to the wreckage of an idea that had only been half formed to begin with. Lauriam and Ven are safe. But Ephemer and Skuld—and the others—there has to be a way to get them all out. I can't—)
Luxu studied him for several moments. After a couple of cautious moments he approached him, resting a hand on his shoulder. "You're pretty smart, aren't you? It's a shame this lifetime is the only one you've got."
…What?
"You mean something by that?" Brain asked, despair exchanged for caution. He carefully picked up Luxu's hand and removed it, taking a couple of steps closer to the computer.
"What if I told you that this didn't have to be the end?"
"It's not going to be."
"For the world, it is. And potentially for you as well, if you stay here. For your friends, for the Dandelions—for everyone. But there is a way you can live on. Fight another day. Perhaps be able to get the Dandelions out." Luxu paused, and then, more pointedly, "And maybe one day reunite with your friends."
It cracked a wall in Brain's chest that he didn't know he'd built. He couldn't keep himself from reacting if he tried, his breath catching, his eyes going just a bit wider, something like hope stirring in the back of his mind.
"You care about them a lot, don't you? Staying here—knowing that they would go on without you—must've been a hard decision to come to."
"Someone has to stay behind."
"For the Dandelions." Luxu went quiet. And then— "Staying won't save them."
The words echoed, and for a moment, Brain felt like he was staring at Ava, repeating those same words back to her.
"It's not a guarantee. I have no way of knowing if you run into the other Union Leaders again—but there's a chance, and that's more than you'd get if you stayed here."
"I—" He couldn't. He couldn't, he couldn't, he couldn't, someone needed to watch out for the Dandelions—but if the data world was falling into slumber anyways—
"Why are you doing this?"
"Making the offer?" Luxu seemed to turn that over. When he spoke, it felt like someone had punched Brain in the chest: "You were Ava's friend."
Brain sucked in a slow breath.
"I couldn't save her from her fate. I suppose this is one last favor to her." He hesitated a moment, then continued, "It's not all altruistic. I need—some assistance."
Ah. "So there's a catch."
"Of course. Miracles don't come for free. But wouldn't it be worth it, if you could live to see the people you loved again?"
The world shook. Brain grimaced, bracing himself. If he didn't hear Luxu out…he'd be stuck in this. He'd have to try and survive the end of the world all on his own. And if he couldn't save the Dandelions…
(…Maybe I'm not strong enough for this, after all.)
"I—want to stay with them. I want to stay with my family." He turned, slowly, and looked at Luxu. "What do I have to do?"
You know, it has…it has dawn on me that I've written the rough equivalent of three novellas over the course of the last six weeks. That's…hm. Yeah, I'm sure that's a totally normal thing to do.
Anyway: Brain! This chapter kind of split the difference between the last two; the beginning stuff was incredibly easy to write and had me convinced I'd be able to update earlier this week, but then I ended up having to fight my way through the ending stuff. (I think I'm going to blame the fact that I've now written a variation of the same scene three different times. …And I'm going to have to do it one more time for the next chapter.) Fun fact about the scene on the hill: I wasn't initially sure how much of that I was going to include in Brain's chapter, but when I rewatched the UX scenes to grab transcripts for the finale chapters, I realized there's A LOT going on with Brain during that scene—for probably obvious reasons! So I figured it'd make sense to include it. I left the ending kind of ambiguous on purpose, since I'm trying to keep this canon adjacent for as long as possible, and even if I have my theories about what happened to Brain, we don't really know for sure.
Next chapter's going to be the biggest. I'm pretty excited for some stuff in it, though I WOULD like to give a head's up that it might take longer to finish than the last three. Part of that is just because it's probably going to be REALLY LONG (the hope of keeping it under 100 pages is steadily waning…), and part of that is because, uh…I've written the rough equivalent of three novellas over the last six weeks and I'm starting to feel it.
Also, thank you jankitty13 and Lacan Shinn for reviewing last chapter! For the review responses:
jankitty13: Yeah, basically! He was torn between the two and in the end, that kind of ended up messing him up a lot. It…definitely made things harder for him in the future.
Lacan Shinn: Edited the author's note in the last chapter, but I'll also put here for clarification in case anyone sees it: the issue regarding PMs, your author's note, etc. was cleared up. Glad you liked the stuff with Lauriam versus Maleficent, and the stuff regarding Ven. I do feel like the ending of the chapter was kind of rough, but I kind of got to the point where I was like, "I'm not going to keep stressing over this; it's not perfect, but it's acceptable." You'll have to wait and see about the stuff with the Dandelions, but…I'm excited for it. Lauriam's 'bend over backward' line wasn't a reference to anything; just a standard phrase that I thought worked in this case.
