The following morning, Marie awoke to a pleasant sound from outside. She couldn't place what it was, but listened blissfully to it, but soon the delightful sound ceased. She longed to hear it again, and went out to investigate. She looked around, but only found Spirt. It dawned on her. "Spirit, were you singing a moment ago?" she asked. He looked up, blushing slightly.

"You heard..."

Marie nodded joyfully. "You were great, almost like your voice was magic!"

Spirit looked really happy, though he was still somewhat embarrassed. "I'm kinda shy about my voice... I had no idea I was that good." Suddenly, Marie rushed up and hugged him affectionately. "Sing again! I want to really hear you this time!" she said excitedly. Spirit nodded, and started singing. Marie was instantly sent into a state of pure bliss, just from the sound of his voice. He hit all the notes at the right pitch, following a constant rhythm, as Marie hummed in glee. When he was done, she opened her eyes once again, and said "Spirit, I didn't know you were a bard!"
"A bard?"
"You know, those who sing so much that there's a magic in their voice?" she said eagerly with a wagging tail. Spirit scratched his head, and looked to her.

"Sorry, I never heard of them..."
"Ahh..." she nodded "I guess you've never been to Rune Midgard?"
He shook his head. Marie looked at him and smiled.

"Then I know where we're going today!" she said, hopping up and energizing a portal "Get Sora, he'd probably like it there, too." Spirit nodded, and came back with him. They all went through the portal, and appeared in a lush, green forest on a soft, earthy path. The wind blew gently, as Marie closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath as she smiled, but soon got down to business.

"This is Prontera field. We'll need to disguise you two before going into a city." Marie explained. She then held her hands out, both casting a blue aura, and new clothes suddenly appeared on Spirit and Sora "There, now you're both ready."

Sora found himself in new, light armor, silver in color with gold crosses on his breast plate and shoulder pads. Along with the armor, he found a cape on him, a bright red color that swayed in the wind.
"Sora, I gave you the uniform of the lord knight" Marie said "The most powerful of Rune Midgard's knights, they have transcended beyond the normal knights of the king..." she turned to Spirit, who was now in leather clothing, a shirt under his vest, and long pants under his shorts, as well as a leathery cape "And Spirit, you have been given the uniform of a bard..."
She twirled around "As for me" her uniform was some leather dress that went down to her boots. It came with belts at the thigh, and light armor pads on her arms as she twirled around in glee.

"I am a swordie!"

Marie turned and pointed to a large city nearby "That's Prontera; the capitol city of Rune Midgart. Inside, there are places to eat, buy supplies, and teleport to other locations."

She then turned to Spirit. "There's somewhere I want to take you. Sora, why don't you check out the city?"

He smiled and walked off. "Guess the love birds want some alone time." Sora thought to himself. Marie then took Spirit by the hand, leading him into the entrance of town, as she walked up to a lady in a brown dress uniform.

"Two warps to Geffen, please" she said as the lady nodded. She gave her some coins, and beams of light surrounded the two, as Spirit felt the world fade away, soon replaced by a different set of cobblestone and buildings. They found themselves by a circle of benches surrounding a fountain, towards the city's center, a tower touched the sky, watching over the town and surrounding areas. As Spirit gazed on in awe, Marie tugged his hand, saying "This way, silly!"

He realized and blushed for a moment, following her outside the town. He found himself in another field, stretching onwards towards a lake as Marie kept a firm and gentle grip, suddenly blushing as she realized she didn't need to hold it anymore. Spirit didn't mind though, he looked to her and smiled, as she lead him on. They crossed a long, metal bridge, going up a few hills, and reached a stream of floating platforms leading up to the sky.

"It's right up there. Don't worry about falling, I'll catch ya." Marie said. The two then walked up, eventually reaching a mushroom-shaped object, surrounded by telescopes "This spot has the best view in the entire world. You can see everything from up here." she said in an emotional tone. Spirit looked around with amazement, totally forgetting he was afraid of heights.

"It's beautiful..." he said with the same emotion.

"Good thing we took the Kafra, or that walk would have been forever..." she said, looking to the sky as she leaned onto his shoulder, he nodded, saying "Who knew those ladies could warp people?"
"They're trained to as employees..." she said, staring off into the distance as a low rumble started in her throat, a purr. She wrapped her arms around Spirit in a hug, snuggling her soft cheek against his own, causing him to blush.
"Heh, wait til I take you to Juno..." she said with a smile.

Spirit joined her in purring, though somewhat reluctantly. He was always shy about his emotions, but there was something about Marie that made him feel safe. They both gazed at the sky with dream-like expressions. She then stood up and looked down at the bridge below.

"Everything seems so small from up here..."

Spirit stood up and joined her, looking across the water to distant towns and cities.

"Some people don't realize how beautiful something is until it's gone."

A brief moment of silence passed as they reflected upon their feelings, those of bliss and happiness, as each shyly looked up at one another and stared deeply into each other's eyes.

"Some day, when Zeetan is gone, when the chaos is all over... I want to take you to see the world..." Marie said with a smile and Spirit nodded. He wished this moment would last forever but it was soon cut short.

"Aww, how cute..." a mocking voice said, almost sourceless as they both turned around. Marie saw someone leap at her with a scythe held out, coming at her as it tore across her chest. She backed away, the scythe cutting through her clothes and bandages, as the assassin fully revealed herself.
"Kiza!" she yelled, as she backed away just far enough for the scythe to miss her skin, feeling herself trip backwards. Marie plummeted through the air, into the lake with a mighty splash, as the attacker disappeared into shadows.

"Marie!" Spirit yelled. He looked over the side of the platform, not seeing any sign of her. Just then, he lost his footing and went over as well. As he felt himself falling, he was suddenly caught by someone. Opening his eyes, he saw it to be Marie.

"You're okay!" he said joyously.

"Yeah, but we have to go. That was Kiza; a demon who has the only weapon capable of wounding a deity." she explained.

"Did she hurt you!" Spirit asked, tears forming in his eyes.

"No, just caught me off guard."

She flew to the bridge, setting Spirit down with outstretched wings, bandages falling off as a blue blotch on her chest shown. Spirit looked at it, trickling down her chest as he whispered "Blood?"
She nodded slightly, frowning "Don't worry, I always had this wound... but my mythril bandages..." she looked at them, sliced in half and blue-stained "And my shirt..." she took off the top of her swordswoman outfit, carrying the items in a pile "It'll take awhile to fix these... until then, my wound is open..."
She hunched over at the ground, holding outstretched hands as energy flowed around her clothes, and she set to work. Spirit watched as the threads in her shirt magically reattached themselves and sew back together. Marie then took her fixed bandages and began to wrap them back around her body.

"Can I help in any way?" he asked, a look of concern in his eyes. Marie smiled and handed one end of the bandage to him.

"It's kind of hard to get them around my wings without someone to help me."

Spirit nodded and wound the bandage snugly around her body. As he did this, Marie could feel something familiar about it. The care he took in wrapping them around her back and wings, trying not to squeeze her in the bandages, but also not to have them too loose, just perfect.

"Thanks..." she smiled, as Spirit blushed slightly "Let's go find Sora back in Prontera..."

"We should go to Juno... from that place, you can go to any town... and the view there is so magnificent!"
She sat up, taking out a pair of purple, shriveled up insect wings "These butterfly wings will bring us back to Prontera..." she held his hand, putting it in there as she squeezed her own, causing her to disappear in a white light. Spirit did the same, and appeared in the middle of a giant marketplace.

"Over here!" Marie said through the bustling crowd. Spirit ran over to her, bumping into a few people as he did.

"Did you find Sora?" he asked.

"I've only looked here. Prontera is a big city, and he could be anywhere."

Suddenly, the ground trembled beneath their feet. Looking around, they spotted a tall, lanky Heartless, with multiple faces stacked on top of one another, and a pair of long arms that were juggling flaming batons.

"It's a Trick Master!" a familiar voice said. Sora soon ran up beside Marie and Spirit, Keyblade in hand. As the heartless neared the town, merchants fled, making sure not to drop any of their handcrafted goods as some blacksmiths stayed for the fight. In Rune Midgard, everyone was a fighter, every man, woman and child. Knights came, fending off heartless swarms as some were overpowered on the streets, passing out until a priest would resurrect using the power of God. As the leading heartless came at the three, ready to attack, someone yelled "Falcon Assualt!" causing a mighty falcon with a helmet and ribbon to attack it with such force that the ground rumbled. The magnificent bird returned to its owner, one in a blue sniper uniform with hair to match.
"Aeon!" Marie yelled, coming into battle as he chuckled, saying "It's been awhile!"

He then turned to Spirit, looking at him curiously "What kind of bard are you? You don't even have a bow."

Suddenly, Spirit's sword appeared, but something happened. The blades pivoted around, and the sword took the shape of a bow.

"Um... Now I do." he said. Pointing it at the Heartless, a few golden energy arrows appeared along the transformed blades. They then shot off, each landing in the Trick Master's torso. The creature toppled over and exploded in a haze of dark energy. As the creatures dispersed, the blades returned back to normal position, becoming a sword once again, before fading away.
"That's odd" the sniper tilted his head, as he stared on, the creatures now gone "That weapon of yours, I never seen anything like it in all of Rune Midgard, or creatures such as those..."
"Yeah, they're Heartless..." Marie said "creatures of darkness, those without hearts... they intend to destroy all worlds, it seems..."
"And now they're on Rune Midgard?" Aeon sat a moment, looking up as he held onto his feet, hunching over like a dog (like Inuyasha XD) "Do they have a chance of destroying our world?"
Marie nodded "But Sora here has the key to seal the heart of all worlds, so if we find the heart of Rune Midgard, and seal it, then it keeps the heartless from destroying it..." she gestured over to the Lord Knight as Aeon paced around, inspecting him, saying "I'm guessing your friends are from other worlds?"

As they all talked, a familiar enemy watched from nearby.

"It appears I underestimated the young Gaia..." he growled. Just then, someone tried to strike him from behind. The attacker was Kiza, holding a massive scythe as she looked menacingly at the dark lord.

"Nice try, but power such as mine cannot be destroyed so easily." Zeetan laughed.

"You have total control over a power, therefore you must be a god." Kiza sneered, as she readied for another attack.

"Quite the opposite, my dear. I am a demon, much like yourself." he then held out one of his spectral hands, and a scythe materialized in it out of dark energy. "

We could fight each other right now, but there would be no outcome." He then hovered closer to the undead assassin.

"I'll merely control your mind!" Zeetan grabbed Kiza's forehead, and started infusing dark energy into her as she shrugged it off.

"You can't control what doesn't exist." she laughed, but then deviously smirked "But, maybe this'll be fun To join you, I need a few kicks, just on a few conditions!"Zeetan paused, wondering if it was worth it to barter with the insane demon "Name them.."
"First, the goddess doesn't die!" she said "Who else would give me a challenge? Also, I don't want to be a mere crony, but your right hand lady" she smirked, trying to control that ego "And I heard you can give your henchmen dark powers that amplify their strength, I want such powers... if you meet these simple demands" she raised her eyebrows, giving a wink "Then I am yours"

Zeetan nodded "I also have some demands. First, I want you to kill the Zarconian child. Also, there are four jewels I am searching for. Help me find them, and I promise you the dark power which you seek." Kiza looked at him skeptically.

"Kill a kid, and find some jewels... I can understand the first, but what's with the crystals?" Zeetan's eyes became even more menacing.

"They aren't mere jewels, they're Materia... The materia of the Apocalypse. The Gaias sealed them away from me long ago, and their power is enough to destroy existence."

"Sounds fun" she said, fox ears perking "But knowing how the goddess has special feelings for the Gaian, we'll have to separate them" she continued on "As weak as she may seem, every deity is unstoppable when enraged..."
She faded into the shadows "Give me one week, and I'll have those materia!"
Meanwhile, Marie was introducing her friends to the sniper, the falcon perched on his outstretched arm, as he gave it a bit of meat, it cawed and flew off once again over his head.
"Aeon, this is Sora, wielder of the keyblade..." she said, as he waved back, then gestured to the Gaia "this is Spirit, he and I have been friends for awhile..."
"Nice to meet you" he said with a cordial bow "And I am Falcon Aeon, a mighty trainer of falcons!"

"We were on our way to Juno when that Heartless appeared." Marie explained.

"If you want to go there, you'll first need to go to Al De Baran and find a Kafra that can warp you." Aeon said. Marie looked for a Kafra worker, but they had run off in the chaos.

"Great... Looks like we're walking..." Sora didn't look pleased by this news, but Spirit had a look of eagerness.

"That's fine. What's the use of doing something if you don't put any effort in it?"

Marie smiled at his optimistic attitude. It reminded her of someone, but she still didn't know who.

"Yeah, but it's a bit of a long walk... and there's many bug creatures..." she said "It'd be dangerous, and we could get lost..."
"Hum" Aeon said "How about we walk to Izlude, and get a warp there? The Kafras there can warp us to Al De..."
"Yeah..." Sora nodded "We best save our strength... besides.." he forced a smile "It's hard to walk in all this armor... so heavy..."
Marie chuckled, taking a twirl as she walked towards the southern streets "okies, onto Izlude"