Hello, everyone!
I hope you've all had a great first week of school!
Sorry it took me all summer before finally uploading the next chapter. I've been working all summer and whenever I wasn't working, I was either sleeping or working on this other project that I want to complete within the next month. Now that school is about to begin, I feel like I'll have a bit more time to write, even though it may still be a bit longer than I'd like between each chapter, considering my English class requires me to read nine books during this semester. It's Young Adult, so it's not that bad, but it's still a pile of books to get through.
Anyway, I have been so excited to get you guys this chapter! A lot of things in this chapter include speculation about the past in Kingdom Hearts and I have just had so much fun thinking about little things I could include that could serve as explanations as to how certain things were in the previous games, especially Kingdom Hearts 1.
For example, I have my own explanation for why the bell in the Gizmo Shop was boarded up in Traverse Town. That explanation is elaborated on in this chapter.
Something I wanted to warn you guys about: this chapter jumps from past to present with every grey line. Sorry if it's a little jarring, I tried to make as smooth as possible.
So, with that being said: enjoy!
"Where do you want us to start?" Skuld asked Nightly.
The girl in question sat on the top step of the Mysterious Tower, holding Chirithy in her lap, the warmer air making her glad she had changed herself and Aqua's clothes back to normal before they had gathered on the stairs. Skuld sat on the step below her, Ephemer at her side. On the step below them sat Aqua, Kairi, and Sora, while Mickey, Riku, and Axel took up the bottom step.
Nightly paused in thought before answering, "Start from after the bell tolled. When we were talking to Master Gula?"
Skuld nodded to herself, her eyes wandering to the sky in thought as she began to speak.
"After we spoke at the fountain, I joined the Dandelions in a meeting at Fountain Square. That's where Master Ava told us all about the War. She told us that we needed to 'fly away to the world outside'. Someone asked what she meant, and she told us the World as we knew it was going to be destroyed, and that we needed to be somewhere else until the damage blew over."
"Where did she tell you guys to go?" Nightly inquired.
Ephemer answered, "A little town called Traverse Town. Master Ava told me to go there before everyone else, so I was already there at the time."
"Which is why we couldn't find him," Skuld continued, punching him playfully on the shoulder.
Ephemer hopped over the small wall of the walkway, landing nimbly on his feet to look around the plaza of the Second District. His gaze trailed upward, taking in the size of the Traverse Town clocktower. He had heard the Moogle in the store call it the "Gizmo Shop," yet he couldn't see why.
He himself had traversed the inner workings of this "Gizmo Shop," but he had found no shop of any kind, just gears and cogs and pendulums keeping the clock at the top of the center tower ticking.
Ephemer stepped onto the stones in front of the mural, looking up at the clock as it ticked to 6 o' clock. The solitary bell below rang out six monotone chimes. Ephemer heard the gears turning behind him, and looked over his shoulder as the mural turned from one with a red background and flowers to one of an underwater scene. Fish, seaweed, and bubbles populated the mural in front of a purple background.
Ephemer crossed his arms, smiling to himself as he observed the new mural. It was the third one he had seen: the first being a white background with ten butterflies and what had appeared to be a tulip blooming in the middle.
'They turn every six hours. It's all part of their system,' he figured.
'I can't wait for Nightly and Skuld to get here and see this place.'
"How long had you been waiting there, anyway?" Nightly questioned. "It had been weeks before I met Skuld and we found Master Ava. She was the one who told us about all of that in the first place."
"After we discovered what we did at the Daybreak Town clocktower, I went back there by myself that night," Ephemer explained. "That's when I ran into Master Ava, and she told me everything. She told me to leave then, too, to greet everyone else when they got there."
"So, you had no idea what was happening at Daybreak Town?" asked Nightly. "You had no idea I never joined the Dandelions?"
"Yep," Ephemer replied with a sad nod.
"I was still holding out hope that you would change your mind," Skuld admitted. "Needless to say, I was almost panicking when I went to the final Dandelion gathering."
"When was the final gathering?" Sora asked.
"Just a few minutes before the War," Skuld answered. "It was a few days after our conversation with Gula."
"The War started 4 days, 5 hours, and 57 minutes after the bell tolled," Nightly said, her eyes gazing straight forward, the dead look overtaking them again as she hugged Chirithy close to her chest.
A moment passed, and she blinked, her eyes regaining focus once again. She looked down at her friends, who were looking back with concern.
She looked away shyly, explaining, "I kept track."
Skuld shouldered her way through the small crowd that had formed at the fountain. She stood on her toes, her eyes first landing on Master Ava before she began scanning the heads around her, desperately looking for braids of brunette.
"It is time," Ava announced, the sky darkening with every second. She put a hand out to either side of her, two Corridors of Light appearing with the motion. "These Corridors will take you to the refuge town called Traverse Town. Someone is already there to greet you. Stay there for a few days until the War has reached its conclusion. Only then may you return to Daybreak Town."
Skuld watched as the Dandelions around her looked between themselves before filing one by one into the Corridors. She moved to the side, scanning the faces for any sign of Nightly, feeling dread fill her heart with each passing face.
'Time's up,' she thought to herself. 'Where is she?'
When only a few Dandelions remained, Skuld approached Master Ava.
"Master Ava, I can't find Nightly," Skuld said frantically.
Master Ava stared back at Skuld. Her lipped tugged upward slightly. "I had a feeling this would happen," she said sadly, shaking her head.
"What?" Skuld asked, the last Dandelion entering the portal, leaving Skuld and Ava alone.
Ava hesitated before saying, "Nightly has made her choice, there's no changing that. If I see her on the battlefield, I'll try and convince her one more time. But I can't guarantee she'll leave. If she doesn't, then that's it, there's nothing more any of us can do. Understand?"
Skuld swallowed hard, fighting tears as she nodded. "I can't believe this is happening," she said tearfully.
"Neither can I," Master Ava agreed, thankful her mask could hide her own tears.
Skuld stepped up to the Corridor with leaden feet, looking back at Ava one more time before stepping through.
"So, you disobeyed a direct order from Master Ava herself to get me?" Nightly questioned.
Skuld nodded, "Yeah, pretty much."
Nightly shook her head in disbelief, a smile playing at the edge of her mouth. She paused, the smile tilting downward, her gaze falling.
"I wonder if Master Ava knew she was a Princess of Heart," she mused.
The sentence caught everyone off guard. "What?" Sora almost shouted, almost jumping off of his step.
"Nightly, what do you mean Master Ava was a Princess of Heart?" Ephemer asked slowly.
Nightly looked back and forth between Ephemer and Skuld. "You didn't know?"
"No!" the two of them exclaimed.
"I knew as soon as I saw her," Nightly said, perplexed. "I chose her Union because I was drawn to it. When I saw her, I knew she was…different, but I couldn't put a term to it. I could feel the pure light in her heart. I felt it again in Snow White when I met her in Dwarf Woodlands, but didn't know what it was until Chirithy told me she was a Princess of Heart.
"That was another reason I refused to be a Dandelion. Along with knowing she was a Princess of Heart, I had this…I don't know what to call it—this feeling that I had to protect her, no matter what. To me, stopping the War was the only way to do that." She stopped before continuing, "But, stopping it was a lot harder than I thought it would be."
Nightly looked around frantically, desperately trying to find flowing robes of pink and white.
She heard footsteps rapidly approaching her from behind. Her movements slowed slightly from the new weight of her Vulpes Union armor, she turned just in time to block the angry wielder in Unicornis Union armor.
"Stop this!" she shouted. "We shouldn't be turning on each other, don't you see how pointless this all is?!"
"All I know," he replied, "is your Union wronged mine." He pressed in closer. "This is vengeance."
Nightly pushed back, the two jumping back away from each other. "How did we wrong you?"
The boy held up his Starlight, ready to fight again. "You stole our Lux."
"Lux?" Nightly gaped. "Is that what this is all about? No one stole anyone's Lux!"
With a shout, the boy charged, Keyblade raised, ready to strike. He swung down on Nightly, and she dodged. Without missing a beat, he swung at her again, once again missing her by a hair as she threw herself backwards.
Nightly stumbled, falling back. The boy stepped toward her, Keyblade raised and ready to bury in her chest. Before she knew what she was doing, she raised Starlight and shouted, "FIRE!"
Nightly held Chirithy close to her, silent tears tracking down her face.
Silence passed through the group on the stairs. "Was he…?" Ephemer began, not wanting to finish the thought.
"He was the only one," Nightly said, her voice barely above a whisper. "I refused to raise my Keyblade after that." She closed her eyes, still seeing her reflection in the last dying glints of his Keyblade as the boy's heart rose into the atmosphere. She added, "I didn't want to fight the Foretellers, either, but they wouldn't let me talk."
Another moment of silence passed through, before Riku asked, "How many died that night?"
Nightly shook her head, her voice even quieter as she replied, "I don't know."
"Seven-hundred fifty-two," Ephemer replied. It was his turn to look around at everyone's bewildered expressions before saying, "I counted the Keyblades after the War."
Kairi addressed Skuld and Ephemer, trying to make the topic a little less depressing. "So, where were the two of you at the time?"
Skuld picked up, "I had just gotten to Traverse Town, and saw Ephemer for the first time in months."
Skuld blinked against the change in scenery, seeing the dark sky above her and the Dandelions before her.
Her gaze landed on a familiar silverette just as he said, "There you are! I was getting a little worried. Is Nightly with you?"
Ephemer hugged Skuld tightly, though she didn't return the embrace, her welled-up tears from before finally spilling over.
Ephemer felt this in his friend, holding her at arms-length as he observed her expression. "Are you okay?"
The question snapped her out of her trance. The next second, Ephemer was rubbing his shoulder from the punch Skuld had landed there. "Ow, what was that for?!"
"For leaving us alone, you jerk!" Skuld cried, landing another hit to his chest, tears falling down her face in rivers. "You just had to go it alone, huh? You couldn't have just waited along with the rest of us? If it wasn't for you, Nightly would be here right now!"
Ephemer paused, looking at his friend with a worried expression. "Wait, Nightly isn't here?" he asked, his mind catching up with everything Skuld had said.
Skuld just shook her head, angrily wiping her tears on her fists. Ephemer felt cold dread twist in his heart. "She never joined the Dandelions," Skuld explained through the hiccups in her breath.
Ephemer looked out to the crowd of Dandelions, his expression falling as his legs felt as if they could no longer support him.
"Is that when you came to get me?" Nightly asked.
"No," Skuld answered. "We…had a bit of a situation to deal with first."
Ephemer held Skuld in his arms, the weight of losing a friend heavy in his heart. He looked up to the Traverse Town clock, watching the time tick from 11:59 to 12:00. He heard the familiar gears, but refused to turn around and watch the mural turn to one of a white background with butterflies dotting the foreground.
He heard the mural thump into place, but kept hearing movement and shifts from below the cobblestone. The shifts quickly turned into murmurs; the murmurs quickly turned into tremors.
Skuld and Ephemer broke away, looking at each other in confusion before the ground lurched, sending the two of them as well as the other Dandelions to the ground.
Ephemer twisted on the ground, propping up on his elbows, gaping at the mural as a light began to shine from it. The beam coming from the mural blinded him, and he held a hand up, the ground continuing to shake.
"Ephemer!" he heard Skuld shout amongst the panic.
"I'm right here," he assured her, reaching his hand toward her. He felt her take his hand, and he squeezed it tightly.
They held onto each other as the ground continued to shake, jump, and shuffle beneath, the light behind Ephemer getting brighter and brighter.
As quick as it started, it stopped.
"That must have been when the World split," Mickey observed. "Did the two of you notice if there were anymore stars than usual after that happened?"
"A couple nights later, yes," Skuld said.
Ephemer picked, "But we were a little too busy with what happened next to notice."
The light dimmed, the ground ceasing its tantrum. Ephemer looked up, meeting Skuld's eyes. Her eyes held his for a second before she looked a little above him. "What's that?" she asked.
Ephemer turned over on his side, looking to the mural. There was no longer a light over the butterfly mural, but glimmering in its own light in front of the mural was…a keyhole.
Ephemer observed it a moment, the only thing he could muster to say being: "What?"
Before anyone or anything could answer, his sight was interrupted by a ball of darkness, which was then replaced with a giant, purple metal boot.
The boot rose from the ground, hovering over Ephemer.
"Watch out!" Skuld screamed. Ephemer felt a grip on his arm, feeling someone jerk him out of the way before the boot slammed to the ground, sending a small shockwave of force outward from where it landed.
Ephemer looked up, seeing a breathless Skuld gripping his arm. "Thanks."
She glared at him in return, summoning her Keyblade and running to join the already-forming-up Dandelions in their giant Raid Boss party.
Ephemer bit his lip, knowing she was still mad at him. He got up, summoning his own Starlight and joining the Dandelions in the fight.
The Dandelions at the front of their Raid Party let out an onslaught of combos from either the ground or the air, a few sliding various medals forward to unleash their Special Attacks.
Once the first dozen had finished their turns, they backed up, letting the next dozen go as the Guard Armor's hands sent punches to the first group, only hitting a few as the first Dandelions either dodged or blocked the metal fists. The second dozen did the same, and Ephemer's grip on his Keyblade slackened as he watched the Guard Armor's HP grow smaller and smaller with each hit.
Before the second dozen Dandelions were done with their attack, the Heartless's health was reduced to zero, and it collapsed in a heap of lifeless metal.
Cheers rang out from the Dandelions, and a few jumped as they high-fives their friends. Ephemer offered a smile to Skuld, and she looked back at him with concern in her eyes.
"It didn't disappear," she stated.
"Hm?"
"It didn't disappear," she repeated. "Look."
Ephemer followed her finger, his brow furrowing as he realized what she did. The Armor just lay there in a heap, with no sign of the usual "fade to black" that was supposed to occur now that the Heartless was defeated.
"You're right," he said, "something's not right."
No sooner than he said it, the Guard Armor began to tremble. Ephemer felt the light from the Keyhole shift, and looked behind him to see it beginning to ooze a deep purple mist.
"Darkness?" He asked aloud. Skuld, hearing him, turned around and gasped at the sight.
By now, the Dandelions had also noticed the Guard Armor's movements, and murmurs of uncertainty began to pass through the small crowd. They all watched as the Guard Armor floated back into the air, piecing itself back together as it did so.
The Dandelions summoned their Keyblades again, collectively re-preparing to battle. The Guard Armor stood once again in front of the small army, almost slouched over, before its hands struck the ground with enough force to make it shake. Its feet rose before pincering to make warped two-fingered hands that hung at its sides. The head clunked back down onto the upside-down torso before the face mask dropped, revealing the two, yellow, soulless eyes that awaited behind it.
Finally, it began to attack.
"Yeah, I remember that thing from Traverse Town, too," Sora said. "At least you guys had a whole team to fight with."
"Not that it did any good," Skuld snorted. "Our entire way of fighting was thrown off. It was like the Heartless had evolved, or something. It started attacking randomly when the Heartless we were used to fighting would just wait until we were done attacking it to attack us."
Ephemer picked up, "So, since the way we were used to had gone out the window, we had to think outside the box."
Ephemer shot a blast of fire at the Guard Armor, clenching his teeth as another plasma ball powered up from the torso of the Heartless. He jumped out of the way just in time for it to hit the ground where he had just been standing.
He looked around at the remaining Dandelions. They were either fighting as best they could, or tending to their friends who had fallen.
'This is nuts!' Ephemer thought. 'We need to do something else if we want to beat this thing.'
He looked around, his gaze falling on the clock tower. An idea formed in his head, and he ran across the square, grabbing Skuld by the arm.
"Skuld!" He shouted over the fighting, pulling her away.
"What do you want?" She scoffed.
"I know you're still mad, but I have an idea," Ephemer explained. He pointed to the top of the clock tower. "We need to get up there and jump while this thing's over there. We'll hit its head from above with some Special Attacks. That ought to do something."
Skuld followed his fingers to the clock tower, staring at it for a second. She huffed a sigh, "Alright. But I'm not through with you."
Ephemer gave a sheepish smile before breaking into a sprint towards the stairs leading to the upper walkway.
"Just follow me," he called back to Skuld. "It's a little confusing, but I remember how to get to the top."
He shoved open the doors to the Gizmo Shop, leading Skuld through the halls of ticking clocks, spinning gears, and whirring sprockets. In moments, they found themselves overlooking Traverse Town's second district, the Dandelions and Opposite Armor fighting below them near the mural, where the Keyhole was still bleeding Darkness.
"Crap, it's too far away," Ephemer said.
"What are you gonna do now, genius?" Skuld fired.
Ephemer's eyes scanned the small crowd below him before shrugging, "Call for help, I guess."
Skuld watched as Ephemer cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted to the others below, "Hey! Over here!" Ephemer waved his arms over his head, and Skuld couldn't help a swell of relief when she saw someone noticing his efforts.
A boy looked up at the two on the top of the clock tower, giving a confused wave. From so far away, Skuld could only make out short blonde hair and a jacket of black and white.
Ephemer continued to shout, "Bring the Heartless over here!" He moved his arms in a big circle to put his words into motion.
The boy below seemed to tilt his head before nodding in understanding. He turned to the others and seemed to shout before pointing up to the waiting duo.
Altogether, the Dandelions began running toward the clock tower, firing rounds at the Heartless as they went to draw it towards them. It took the bait, chasing the children as they traversed the plaza to the tower.
Ephemer backed up as it got closer. "You ready?" He asked Skuld.
"As I'll ever be," she replied.
"Well, by all means," he said, gesturing to the edge, "ladies first."
Skuld raised an eyebrow at him. "Charisma will get you nowhere with me right now."
"Hey, I'm upset, too, you know."
Skuld growled, "I don't want to do this right now."
"Neither do I," Ephemer fired back. "In fact, the only thing I want to do right now is go to that battlefield and bring Nightly back here with us."
This made Skuld pause. She looked at Ephemer in shock as she processed what he was suggesting. "Are you serious?"
Ephemer put a hand on her shoulder. "Absolutely."
A smile lit up Skuld's once-gloomy face as she stepped toward the edge. Her Keyblade appeared in her hand before she said, "Then let's kill this thing so we can get our friend back."
In three strides, she leapt over the edge, aiming for the Armor's head as she slid a medal forward.
Those on the ground saw her disappear before reappearing briefly in a blur as she left a golden slash across the Heartless's head. After five more slashes appeared in quick succession to make a six-pointed star, Skuld appeared for a final time on the ground, kneeling. Her head snapped up and the six lines across the Opposite Armor's head burst into a flash of light.
Hearing the commotion, Ephemer took it as his cue to run to the edge as well. He slid the medal forward, leaping off the edge of the tower and aiming his Keyblade to the sky, where seven swords of light rose from his Starlight in succession. He threw his Keyblade downward, the force sending him down onto the Armor's head, where the seven swords of light met at the same point as where his Keyblade landed.
Ephemer jumped from the Opposite Armor back to the ground. He turned back around as the Armor fell back to the ground in a heap. He sighed in relief as he saw the wisps of Darkness form around the Armor's limbs.
The Darkness consumed the purple armor, and it vanished, a large heart floating away into the night as the Dandelions watched, catching their breath.
With the threat gone, the hoots and hollers returned, and Ephemer felt a few hands clap him on the back, snapping him out of his stupor.
He looked to Skuld, her eyes meeting his. They held each other's gaze for a moment, before a smile from Skuld broke the stare. She crossed to him, taking his arm. "We need to go."
He blinked, snapping out of the spell. "Right," he nodded, an excited smile on his face. He quickly addressed the Dandelions, "Okay, everyone, let's get some rest. That fight took a lot out of us."
The Dandelions turned to tend to their friends, dispersing from their impromptu Raid Party.
Ephemer gripped Skuld's hand. "Let's go," he whispered in her ear.
"A couple days after that fight, some of the Dandelions boarded up the bell and helped the Moogles shut down the Gizmo Shop so it wouldn't turn the mural anymore and bring back that Keyhole. The Heartless numbers were a lot fewer after that, too," Ephemer elaborated.
"Huh," Sora thought aloud, exchanging a knowing glance with Donald and Goofy, who smiled slyly back.
"Wait a sec," Skuld said suddenly, picking up on what Sora said earlier. "How come you three fought that thing? If the tower bell was boarded up…"
"We…kinda…destroyed the boarding so we could turn the mural to find the Keyhole," Sora explained.
"Why?"
"Because we needed to connect the worlds, okay?" Donald offered.
"Yeah," Goofy agreed. "It was the only way to get to the End of the World and bring all the fallen worlds back to the light."
"Huh, weird," Ephemer said.
"So, did it take you long to find the Wasteland?" Nightly asked, trying to get the conversation back on topic.
"No," Ephemer said. "We…well, the two of us, at least…were already told where the Wasteland was."
"What do you mean?"
Ephemer and Skuld shared a look, shrugging to each other. "Well, that's something Master Ava told us to keep secret," Skuld said. "But now, you're the only one who doesn't know."
Nightly raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't know what?"
"Well, Skuld and I…and three others…we were asked to lead the Dandelions as the next leaders in place of the Foretellers," Ephemer explained.
When they didn't hear a response from their friend, Ephemer and Skuld turned, seeing her dropped jaw as she gazed at them in bewilderment.
Nightly tried to put her thoughts into words, but wasn't entirely successful. "You two…y-you actually…but that would mean…what?!"
Skuld nodded, understanding her friend's surprise. "Yeah…you know, it feels good to get this all off our chests."
"I knew it would," Aqua said, a smile on her face and a sparkle in her eye.
The two teens chuckled, refreshing smiles gracing their features.
"And if that wasn't enough to blow your mind, get this," Ephemer said to Nightly. "Ventus? The guy asleep upstairs? He's one of us, too. After the War, he was the third one to show up."
"Wait a second," Skuld said, staring at nothing in thought. "Ephemer, he was the one who led everyone to the clock tower so we could hit the Guard Armor!"
"Woah, really?" Ephemer thought back, bringing back the image of the boy from below. "Now that you mention it, that was totally him!"
"So, you're saying," Nightly began, trying to get her thoughts in order while also digesting everything that had already been given to her, "that you two—and Ven—were just…given the role of leader after the War?"
"Yeah, basically..." Skuld trailed.
"…That must've been so hard for you." Nightly empathized, looking between her two friends.
Ephemer shrugged. "Honestly, not really. All five of us would talk about what we needed to do, we would come to an agreement, and Brain—he was the smartest out of all of us—he would set to work on whatever we needed, and Lauriam would help him. It really gave us a lot of time to…well, you know…"
Nightly looked between her friends, seeing their guilty, crestfallen faces. "Ephemer, Skuld, I understand why you did it." The two looked up at Nightly. "Yeah, I don't agree with the way you handled it, but I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't want to protect either of you from memories like the War."
Nightly smiled kindly at her friends. They exchanged with smiles of their own before continuing their story.
Ephemer's and Skuld's feet pounded the earth below as they sprinted toward the battlefield. Skuld's eyes glanced skyward, and she felt her heart sink as she saw the uncountable amount of hearts rising in the distance.
'Please don't be Nightly, please don't be Nightly,' she internally pleaded.
The hearts disappeared behind the rocky wall the two had come across. They slowed as they tried to navigate the craggy tunnel, before stopping as they heard what sounded like the sky splitting in two.
The rock shook slightly, and dust fell from the ceiling. Ephemer and Skuld exchanged a worried glance before continuing their pursuit. They banked right, seeing a small flash coming from ahead of them and to the left, right where the tunnel opened back up again.
The rounded the corner, seeing a path lined with dying Keyblades leading to the center of the battlefield, where a solitary wielder in pink and yellow armor lay, their Chirithy fading into existence as it lay on their chest.
Skuld realized who it was first. "Nightly!" she cried, taking off toward her. As she drew near, the clouds parted, and a brilliant blue light shone from above, covering Nightly's fallen figure almost angelically.
Skuld fell to her knees, her hands reaching for Nightly face, her eyes closed peacefully against the light, lips curved in a soft smile.
Skuld pulled her hair away from her face, gently calling her friend. "Nightly. Nightly, please wake up. We're here."
Her heart almost leapt from her body when she saw Nightly's eyes open, a dead, blank stare gazing at the sky before moving to Skuld. She blinked lazily, her smile deepening ever so slightly as she brought her face to Skuld.
"Skuld…" she slurred.
Skuld smiled through her tears, scanning her friend's body , seeing her armor broken at her side, blood oozing from the open wound. "Nightly…" she cried.
She felt a hand on her shoulder. In a daze, she moved out of the way as Ephemer took a knee by Nightly. Skuld watched as tears brimmed Nightly's eyes as she saw Ephemer for the first time in months.
She felt heartbroken when she heard Nightly say weakly, "We…we made…a promise." Nightly's breath hitched in her throat.
Skuld looked away, her teeth clenched as she heard Ephemer try to soothe Nightly. "I know," he said, "I didn't forget."
Nightly joked, "You're late…" The giggle that followed turned into a light cough.
Skuld turned her gaze upward, not wanting to look at her broken friend. She ended up looking at the source of the light, her brow furrowing as she saw a ginormous heart-shaped moon peering down at the three, almost as if it were quietly observing their endeavor.
Ephemer's voice cut through her thoughts. "Let's go home. Together, okay?"
Skuld looked back down at Nightly and Ephemer, offering an encouraging smile to the two. Ephemer held Nightly's hand in his own, smiling brightly down at her. Nightly smiled back, her eyes drooping as her head lulled to the side.
Ephemer used the hand he was holding to pull Nightly up, draping her arm over his shoulders as Chirithy hopped near her feet. "Skuld," he said, snapping her out of her stupor.
Skuld jolted, springing into action. She grabbed Nightly's other hand, pulling her other arm over her shoulders. Together, the two gently carried their friend off the battlefield toward the awaiting Corridor of Light Ephemer summoned to take them back to Traverse Town."
"After we brought you to Traverse Town," Skuld continued, "we bandaged you up and just let you rest. Your Chirithy kept watch over you while we had to go and meet up with the other wielders."
"Yeah, Skuld tried to be sneaky about it because she didn't realize I was chosen, too," Ephemer joked.
"I don't know why it didn't cross my mind. Of course, the one dandelion sent before everyone else was one of the five. I guess in all the chaos that idea just went out of my head."
Nightly chuckled, a small smile on her face. Aqua watched Nightly's face, the girl had gone quiet when they had mentioned the sky-splitting noise. Now, Nightly just shook off whatever unease she may have been feeling and asked another question, continuing the story.
"How long was I out?" Nightly questioned, her brow furrowed as her eyes darted curiously between Ephemer and Skuld.
Ephemer huffed a breath in thought while Skuld bit the inside of her jaw. "A couple weeks, maybe?" Ephemer replied.
"A couple of weeks?" Nightly asked, exasperated.
"Well, you were out for a week and a half before…" Skuld clarified, her words trailing off. She gathered herself, finishing, "and then you were out for the rest of the time."
Nightly looked between the two sitting in front of her before almost glaring at Skuld. "Before what?" she asked, a little forcefully.
Skuld locked eyes with Nightly, searching. Her eyebrows raised as she asked, "You don't remember," she stated, shocked.
"Remember what?" Nightly asked, worry now tinting her voice as she looked between Ephemer and Skuld for answers.
"Uh…" Ephemer replied, chuckling. "Apparently, you walked all the way up Traverse Town's clock tower in your sleep."
"Ephemer!" Skuld yelled, busting through the door in the Second District apartment.
"What? What is it?" Ephemer asked, bewildered, jogging around the corner of the sidewalk.
"Nightly's gone," Skuld half-screamed, pulling Ephemer into the room to find the bed empty.
Panic fluttered through Ephemer's heart before he forced himself to calm down. "Okay, where could she have gone?" he thought out loud, trying to think rationally while also calming down Skuld.
"Oh, I don't know, Ephemer, you tell me," Skuld replied, now in hysterics. "She's never even been here before, and she gets up—from a coma—and wanders off!"
Her rant was interrupted by a small puff of magic as Nightly's Chirithy appeared on the table beside the two. "Would the two of you calm down?" he asked, metaphorical eyebrow raised. "I know exactly where she is."
"After Chirithy told us you were at the top of the clock tower, we got up there as quick as we could," Ephemer continued.
"You were still really dazed out, just staring off at nothing, sitting on the edge," Skuld explained. "We sat with you, just in case you came to your senses…and then the weird thing happened."
Ephemer leaned forward, sharing a silent nod with Skuld in front of Nightly before the duo settled down on either side of their friend.
A moment of silence passed before Nightly's tired voice lilted through the air. "I like going up to high places. No one can see me, but I can see everyone else. I can just observe in peace."
The words sent an odd feeling through Ephemer and Skuld. They looked at each other, this time behind Nightly, before she continued, "But you two saw me this time. Not only that, but you followed me, too."
Nightly's head turned to Ephemer while the rest of her body stayed absolutely still. Ephemer met her eyes as she asked, "Your Ephemer, right?"
Ephemer's eyes flicked to Skuld, thinking the question to be a joke, before his eyes locked on Nightly's again. Skuld watched his brow knit together in confusion as he stared into Nightly's eyes.
What once had been a deep, cheerful brown was now a bright, intelligent green. Nightly's now-green eyes looked into Ephemer's, their previous question completely genuine.
Ephemer blinked, asking, "Are you okay, Nightly?"
Nightly didn't respond. Instead, she just stared, her face drooping slightly as if she had fallen back asleep, only her eyes were still wide open.
As if her brain had been shocked, she jerked slightly, and starting from the tops of her eyes, the previous brown coloration of her eyes bled back into the green. Ephemer watched, both mesmerized and horrified, as all green tones left her eyes, their color returning to the brown they used to be.
Once every speck of green had left, Nightly's body drooped. Ephemer and Skuld scrambled to grab the once-again-unconscious girl before she would have pitched over the side of the clock tower.
"My eyes were green?" Nightly asked, her brow narrowing in concern.
"Yeah," Ephemer replied before adding, "And, before, when you started getting your memories back? Your eyes switched from brown to blue before going back to brown again."
"But…why would they do that? My eyes have always been brown. That's one thing I never changed about myself." Nightly nervously hugged Chirithy to herself. After a moment, she mused, "Maybe it has something to do with…" she trailed off, not wanting to finish the thought.
"Nightly?" Skuld asked.
Nightly stayed silent for a moment. She breathed a sigh before saying, "There's something I need to tell all of you. But before I do, I want us to make a promise."
"Okay…?" Ephemer and Skuld exchanged a glance before looking back up at Nightly. "What promise?" Ephemer asked.
Nightly looked up, holding her friends' gazes with her own. She stuck out her pinkie finger to her two friends. "No more secrets."
Ephemer and Skuld smiled, nodding to Nightly before locking their pinkies with hers. "No more secrets," they agreed at the same time.
Nightly smiled to herself, nodding before pulling back her hand. She took a deep breath, opened her mouth, clenched her teeth. A tear rolled down her cheek.
"Nightly?" Aqua asked.
"It's just…really hard to say," Nightly said, tears in her voice. "It's the last memory Nightmare Chirithy gave me."
Everyone paused, waiting for her to gather her courage. She wiped her tear, refusing to look anyone in the eye as she said six painful words.
"I lost my heart that night."
Nightly gasped, clutching her right side, where Master Aced had landed blow after blow when she was down. She held on tight to the handle of her Keyblade, the head gripping the dirt as she trudged forward to the center of the battlefield.
She looked up. "No…" she cried, watching the last dozens of hearts float gently—almost peacefully—into the sky.
She stumbled, tripping on the head of her Keyblade and falling on hands and knees to the earth. She cried out in pain, the impact jarring her hurt side. She gave herself a moment to sob, the gravity of the empty battlefield weighing heavily on her shoulders, the only thing accompanying her cries being the rain that fell all around her.
In the distance, she heard another, familiar voice. She lifted her head, bringing herself up on shaky legs as she looked around, trying to find the source of the other voice.
"…la, please." She looked up, eyes widening as she saw Master Ava and Master Gula at the top of a cliff near the outside of the battlefield.
Master Gula stood at a higher point than Ava, and faced her. Nightly strained her ears, trying to hear what the level-headed Foreteller was saying. "…told you…ly way…im back."
Master Ava stepped forward, gripping his sleeve, near-shouting, "But you'll disappear!"
Nightly once again strained her ears, but couldn't hear what Gula said next. She could only watch as he jerked his sleeve away, turn, and bring his Keyblade up.
A beam shot from the tip, streaking into the clouds above him. Nightly heard a shout, but saw neither Ava nor Gula standing on the cliffside.
She looked back up at the clouds in time to hear a sky-splitting sound and see a pulse of blue quickly descending from the sky.
Nightly stood mesmerized, unable to move as the pulse tore through the atmosphere. For the first time that night, she felt fear chill her heart as it headed directly for her.
She tensed as the pulse reached her, passing directly through her to the dirt at her feet.
Immediately, she felt it.
Her heart lurched in her chest, sending pain throughout her body. She grabbed her chest, stumbling at an odd dizziness that sent the ground sideways.
Her legs no longer able to support her, she tipped backwards, landing painfully on her back. She gasped, moans escaping her throat as she tried to suppress whatever pain she was feeling.
The pain crescendoed, and she shut her eyes against it, clenching her teeth against her cries.
The pain suddenly subsided, leaving Nightly with an empty, cold feeling in her chest. She opened her eyes to see another heart floating directly away from her into the night sky.
It took her a second too late to realize it was her own. She threw her hand up, desperately reaching for the orb of light that used to reside within her, now two inches too far from her fingers.
Too weak to stand, too tired to cry, she let her hand drop to her chest. She watched as every heart, including her own, made a beeline for the clouds, where they vanished.
She stared up into the storm, feeling nothing but the rain as it fell onto her face.
She felt Chirithy appear beside her, hopping onto her stomach. Holding her face in his paws, he said, "It's okay. You're going to be okay now." Nightly could hear the tears in his voice, and pulled him close. He buried his face in her chest, and Nightly ignored the pins and needles she began to feel along her legs as she drifted off to Chirithy's tiny sobs.
She was only disturbed by a scream.
"After that scream," Nightly continued, "I suddenly felt whole again, but I still felt like I was dying. I didn't understand, everything was hazy, and then you two appeared. Did you guys hear it?"
"No, we didn't," Skuld replied slowly. "And it wasn't either of us."
"Nightly," Ephemer asked, "are you sure it wasn't just your heart returning to you?"
"Positive," Nightly said. "I asked Nightmare Chirithy why I'm still here, and he said to ask you two. But if you two don't know, then…"
The group of friends all grew silent, none of them knowing what to say that could help the situation.
That is, until Lea broke the silence.
"Hey, maybe we should go to Radiant Garden," he began.
"Lea, I don't think now is the time—" Kairi started.
"I'm being serious," Lea interrupted. "Ansem the Wise did a lot of experiments into the heart at Radiant Garden. His apprentice, Ienzo, he might be able to help you out. At the very least, he might have a few theories about all this."
"That…that'd be nice," Nightly said. "It'd be nice to get some kind of answer, even if it's not a full one."
"Okay, so…should we go now?" Ephemer asked.
"No," Nightly answered, a sheepish smile tugging at her lips. "I…I'd like to sleep first." She chuckled at herself. "I'm exhausted."
"Well," Skuld agreed, "We've all had a long day. We'll go to Radiant Garden after we've all slept."
"Sounds good to me," Sora chimed in, stretching his arms up, peels of chuckles going through the group.
"You guys go on up," Mickey said. "I'll let master Yen Sid know what the plan is."
Aqua lay on her back on her bed, observing her Wayfinder. She couldn't keep her worry at bay. 'I know Nightly seemed okay, but…what if she's not?
'I don't want to wake her up, but what will we find out tomorrow? Will she be okay then?'
Aqua put her Wayfinder on her nightstand, closing her eyes to try and get some sleep.
"So she is without heart," Yen Sid said to himself, closing his eyes in thought.
"It seems that way," Mickey replied. "But I didn't think anyone could survive—much less live—without their heart."
Yen Sid hummed. "One may survive without it, but may not be active. Take young Ventus, for example." Yen Sid gestured to the sleeping teen behind his desk. "He is without heart, yet is still alive. His Will sleeps within his body, but it is his heart that will reanimate him."
Mickey held his chin in thought. "So, if all it takes is a heart to make someone wake up from a sleep like that…who's to say that specific person's heart is needed?"
Yen Sid nodded in agreement. "As long as a heart and Will reside within a body, a person may live and move, though they may not be the person they think they are."
Mickey took a moment to let the theory sink in. "If that's the case, then who's heart does Nightly have?"
Aqua's eyes opened when she heard a near-silent knock on her door. A little confused, she got up and crossed the room to her door.
She opened it to find Nightly and Chirithy standing outside the door. Nightly's gaze rested on the floor while Chirithy looked up to Aqua.
Chirithy explained, "I can keep nightmares at bay now, but…she doesn't want to be alone."
Aqua blinked, looking to Nightly as she looked up to Aqua. The beginnings of held-back tears rimmed her eyes, and Aqua immediately knew the smiles and laughs from before were to just keep Ephemer and Skuld at peace. Now that she was left alone, all of her true feelings and fears were beginning to pour out of her.
Nightly opened her mouth to say something, but her breath was already hitching in her throat. Aqua pulled her in before she needed to say anything.
Aqua held Nightly tight as her tears started up again. Chirithy hopped out of Nightly's arms so she could hug Aqua back.
Aqua sat on her bed, pulling Nightly close as she lay down, her arms a cocoon of warmth and safety for the crying girl.
'It's okay,' Aqua thought to herself as she drifted off to sleep, 'I've got you now. And I'm never letting you go.'
You know you're really attached to your own story when you cry just writing the darn thing.
I was fine until Nightly broke down only in front of Aqua. Looks like Aqua's gained a little sister, heheh…
When I first started this story, I thought in passing that it would be cool if Aqua and Nightly became surrogate sisters, but after this chapter, I'm completely sold. I hope you guys are, too.
So, I don't know when the next chapter will be out, but I will begin it's production within the week. Stay tuned for the next chapter, where we will finally get some answers to these bizarre questions!
See you then!