CHAPTER: 5

Reno threw the bags up inside the ship's hold before starting off to pick up the last of the supplies from the hotel they'd stayed in the night before. Somewhere inside the large airship Hakujou was stowing the goods and making the pre-flight arrangements. Fuel was checked, and systems were put through a thorough analysis.

Lirael was standing out on the cobbles, basking in the afternoon sun. In her left hand she was holding the Keyblade, turning it over and over in her hands. It looked innocent enough, but the truth was that it had brought a lot of troubles down upon her over the past year since she had received it. Was she really ready to take such a quest upon herself? The thought that everything was going to rely on her success made her head spin.

And then there was Knave. She hadn't seen him since he stormed out of Merlin's house before daybreak. She had hoped that he'd turn up again before she left, but it didn't look like the blue-haired swordsman was going to show.

"Hey Lirael? Can you give me a hand with this?" Hakujou called from inside the ship, and she turned and disappeared up the gang-plank.

Inside the Gummi-Ship looked a lot less comical than it did on the exterior. Built from lightweight blocks made from colourful material, the ship had the appearance of a child's toy from the outside, but within was a much different story. Control panels and seats strategically arranged around a wide view-screen formed the front of the ship, and the rear had been stripped down for extra seating and cargo space. Hakujou was there in the back, struggling to push one of the larger boxes up onto a shelf.

"Wanna stop staring and give me a hand?" She grinned, her little wings flapping like mad to keep her from tipping over backwards.

Rushing over, Lirael's added weight enabled them to get the box loaded, just in time for Reno to return with the last of the supplies.

"We're all set." He announced and dropped them onto on of the chairs, much to Hakujou's chagrin, who lifted them up again and stacked them away neatly. "How's the pre-flight warm-up going?"

"No problems there, we can leave any time we like." Hakujou gave him the thumbs up.

"Then let's get underway as soon as possible." He suggested, and made his way through towards the cockpit area, Lirael close on his heels.

"Do we have to take off quite so soon?" she asked.

"Why? What's to hang around here for?"

"Lirael," Hakujou put her arm around the younger girl's shoulders "He's not coming back, it doesn't matter how long we wait for him,"

Reno snorted as he realised what was going on but refrained from saying anything, instead he continued to busy himself with the flight controls. Flipping three switches that started the engines humming gently in the background.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Lirael admitted. "Let's go."

The noise from the engines gained volume as Reno retracted the ramp and sealed the doors, then flipping another switch, the Gummi began to hover just above the ground. Dust kicked up off of the old copplestones on the ground beneath the ship and began to swirl around, obstructing the view through the main screen.

Out amidst the noise and the dust, Lirael thought that she caught a momentary flash of blue, but it was gone, swept up as quickly as it had appeared. Straining her eyes, she lent forward over the Reno in the pilots seat and tried to get a better look out of the ship.

There it was again, a definite figure out on the landing-pad, walking towards them. She didn't need to take a closer look to see who is was, Lirael was already punching the abort codes into the flight controls, much to Reno's shock and annoyance.

Knave was coming along.

"No, no, Lirael, we shouldn't," Reno began, as Lirael swept past him to open the door to the Gummi. It opened to reveal Knave standing there, his face-hardened with determination. Lirael matched his look, and held her hand out.

"C'mon, we haven't got all day."

He reached up and took her hand, and she pulled him in, just as Hakujou started up the engines again. Reno came back, and grabbed Lirael's arm, guiding her gently toward her seat. Then, he buckled her in as if she were a child, and kissed her forehead. Few words were said. No one wanted to really admit that they hadn't expected Knave to show up again.

The warrior took a seat beside Lirael, and buckled himself up. Lirael shot him a look that could've been one that was grateful, or something entirely different. He decided not to dwell upon it. Instead, he stared straight ahead, watching as the Gummi lifted off, and shot over the town, gaining altitude.

"You know how to get to this 'Balmb Garden,' right?" Hakujou turned to Reno, who nodded.

"I do. It's not hard." The gunner turned in his seat to look at Lirael, who looked slightly sick. Reno nudged Hakujou, who looked in a rear mirror to see the princess biting her lip, almost to the point of drawing blood.

"Lirael? Are you alright?" The girl nodded stiffly, and clenched her eyes shut. Hakujou immediately began to worry. Lirael wasn't one to get travel-sick. In fact, she loved flying. So what was upsetting her?

Then it hit the winged girl like a ton of bricks. The mission ahead of them, it was terrifying Lirael. They'd left her with her own thoughts for too long, both herself and Reno occupied with the Gummi preparations.

Reaching up, Hakujou snapped her fingers once. "Sorry, Lirael, but... you need to go to sleep." Hakujou snapped her fingers again, and Lirael's head immediately fell onto her chest, her body put to sleep instantly. Reno looked around to see what she had done.

"What're you doing? Won't she have nightmares now?"

"Nightmares I can deal with. Her being sick all over the place, I can't." Hakujou grimaced. "I'm no janitor, and I'm sure Knave doesn't feel like cleaning up after her either. Just relax. Let's get to this Balmb place and get this over with."

"Right." Reno flipped a couple of switches, and the engines roared. Switching to Warp Drive, Reno input the co-ordinates for the destination, and they were off.

---

Lirael awoke again as they entered the atmosphere of Balmb Garden, the whole ship shook as they passed through the heat and down into the afternoon sky. Raising herself back up into a better sitting position, she noticed that Reno's coat had been draped around her as a makeshift blanket. The gunner too busy to notice her smile at him, concentrating instead on landing the ship safely.

Ahead of them on the view-screen she could just about make out a blur of trees beneath them, and a large building that was growing in size as they approached it. Built from what looked like white metals in a shape that was basically circular, but layered up upon itself to resemble a strange tower, she guessed that it must be their destination. After all there didn't seem to be anything else in sight that could have been man-made.

Gliding in silently, they landed in what looked like a courtyard, and waited to be greeted. After a moment it became apparent that nobody was going to meet the new arrival, and so made preparations to leave the ship and enter the structure-proper.

"Don't forget that were looking for the Keyhole." Reno warned, "it's easy to get side-tracked on a new world, but we have a mission people and we can't afford to delay."

He glanced over to Knave, who just nodded and moved to the doorway, stepping outside into the light. The Blue-haired warrior hadn't said a word to any of them yet, and his silence was unnerving even to Reno, who had been keeping a close eye on the newcomer to their team. There was something about his manner that was unsettling, and he couldn't put his finger on it.

Perhaps it was the fact that Lirael – his girlfriend – appeared to have taken a liking to him. Reno freely admitted that he was an over-zealous man and tried to keep as many men away from her as was humanly possible, but this was something different. Lirael had just received a quest that was a perilous as it was important, and for her to accept this Knave character so freely into their close-knit party was worrying. They didn't know anything about him, not even his real name, and despite what he said their meeting hadn't been a coincidence.

Whatever was going on, Reno was going to be keeping a very close eye on the Swordsman. No way was he going to let Lirael become closer to him.

The courtyard was deserted. As Knave stepped out of the Gummiship the first thing that he noticed was a thick layer of leaves on the ground, a sure sign that it hadn't been in use for over a month. Walking slowly around the square area of the landing pad he checked to see if there were any other signs of decay.

Reno, his weapon drawn, moved directly to the large double doors that served as an entrance into the main building. He tapped the controls half-heartedly and then glanced around to see if there was anything he could use to lever them open. Settling on a large branch he wedged it firmly into position and pulled.

With a stiff groan, the doors opened wide enough for him to get his hands around and pull the rest of the way open. Glancing inside he could make out a well-lit hallway and hear the trickle of a fountain.

"Strange place." Knave commented after a moment.

Hakujou didn't look at him, instead glancing down the corridor as well. "I can't sense anyone at all. A place this size should be filled with people, but it's so still . . ."

Lirael, who had been the last one to leave the ship, looked left and then right before walking through the double doors and down into the distance. Her protectors exchanged a look of mutual caution and followed her.

Knave hung behind, letting the feeling of fresh air and sunshine on his face last a moment longer. The wind scattered leaves about his feet gently and he reached down to pick one of them up. The leaves were a rich green in colour, far too youthful to have dropped with the change in season. Instead small black spots, spread across the underside of the leaf, which faded away as he turned the infected side to the light, reappearing on the shaded surface.

Opening his hand and letting the wind take the leaf away, he looked around once more, trying to memorise his surroundings as well as possible, and followed the others down the corridor.

---

The hall was a lot shorter than she had at first expected to find, and after only a few steps it opened out into a wide circular room, large enough to house a small town. Glossy white marble was evidently the material of choice here, and aside from the ample use of silvery metal it was white that predominated the scene.

Set around a massive fountain that filled the centre of the circular area, there were six main entrances or exits situated around its circumference as well as a lift set directly in front of them that took passengers up to a second level above.

The three travellers stepped down a short staircase and stopped beside the lift, taking in the expansive scenery. For Lirael it was a first, this place was made using a level of technology that was far ahead of that on her own homeworld. Reno, who had visited before was unimpressed and lent against one wall with his arms crossed, never straying too far from her side. Hakujou was as silent as ever, if she was impressed or not was anyone's guess.

"I don't like this one bit." Reno commented simply. "It's too quiet, this place should be filled with people."

Lirael looked at him, "was it like this the last time you were here?" she asked.

He shook his head and then looked up and glared as Knave descended the steps and began to make his way towards the little group. His head constantly swung from side to side, as if taking in as much detail as he could.

Of course, this is one of the first places he's been since he lost his memory. Lirael realised, he's trying to remember as much as he can. This must all be so surreal for him.

"About time you finally decided to join us." Reno grumbled as Knave reached them.

The blue-haired swordsman didn't reply, he just pulled up short of them and continued to glance around. The lack of respect gave the gunner an urge to hit the dopey idiot, but he restrained himself in the light of Lirael's fondness for him.

"Something terrible must have happened here to empty a place of this size." Hakujou commented, "It's almost eerie."

"The power is out," Reno added, looking up above them at the walkways that criss-crossed the ceiling. "The command station for this place is somewhere on ground level if memory serves, maybe we should head . . ."

A sharp noise caused the group as a whole to turn. Amidst the strange silence of the room, it was a shock to hear anything other than the gently bubbling of the fountain. This sounded like someone was walking overhead, but the echo was such that they couldn't pinpoint quite where it was coming from.

Lirael was the first to react, she indicated the elevator and hustled the rest of them inside. Tapping one of the buttons she cursed when nothing happened, the power to the lift was like that of the doors when they had arrived – unoperational.

"Damn it." She pushed the button to ascend several more times before giving up and stepped back out of the confined space.

The noises above stopped suddenly, whoever it was had heard her speak.

Looking sharply upwards with a calculating glance, Hakujou turned to Lirael. "I can make that," she whispered so as not to be heard. Lirael stepped closer so they could converse in hushed voices, and the two of them quickly formulated a plan. Suggesting something, Hakujou listened and then nodded once.

The winged girl slipped one arm around Lirael's waist and braced herself, jumping upwards with enough power to lift the two of them up onto the gantry almost directly above them – using her wings to control the fall, she controlled her descent enough to land them safely with a soft impact.

Moving quickly, the two girls spun around in different directions, trying to catch a glimpse of the cause of the commotion. The Keyblade shimmered and appeared in Lirael's hand ready for action, but there was nobody to be seen.

"There!" Lirael pointed and they caught a brief flash as something disappeared around the corner to a far flung corridor and out of sight. Whatever it was, it didn't want to be seen. She looked over at Hakujou, who shrugged.

"I can't get any sense as to what it was." She admitted, "Whatever it is can shield itself from my magic. Maybe a Spellbreaker or another Caster?"

Leaning over the edge of the walkway, Lirael spotted the other two on the ground floor and waved. Reno, who had been watching them intently made a gesture that she should come back down.

"We're going to try and find out what that was." She called down. "You two go to the command centre and get the power back online. Don't worry about us, we'll be fine!"

That obviously didn't sit well with Reno, though she couldn't hear him she was certain that he was swearing. He stomped one foot in a childish gesture and watched them for another moment before they vanished from sight and began the hunt.

Turning around, he spotted Knave perched seated on the lip of the fountain, one hand trailing through the water. He shrugged and indicated that the gunner should lead the way. Drawing a sidearm, Reno indicated with a grunt that Knave should follow and started to move off in the direction of the command centre.

Great, just great, he thought. Now I'm stuck with the weirdo.

Knave, slipping neatly from his makeshift seat, followed along in silence, noting that the water in the fountain had taken on a rather strange tint of red.

---

"So what's the plan?" Hakujou asked as they left the main centre of Balmb and started down the little corridor that they had last seen their quarry take.

"Umm," Lirael missed a step and gave a worried grin, "I didn't really think much further ahead than this." She admitted.

Shaking her head in friendly desperation, Hakujou looked at their surroundings. There were cameras lining the halls that she assumed were similarly offline as the doors and the lift. This meant that they wouldn't have to walk too far before the next set of doors, and possibly a swift end to their search. It had taken Reno some effort to open the exterior doors, and she hoped that the ones inside were as immovable. If so then it would severely limit the choices of route their quarry would take, maybe even creating a dead end.

She expressed as much to Lirael, who agreed that it seemed reasonable. Continuing their search however, they found that one set of doors had been prised open and led through to what appeared to be a classroom or lecture theatre.

At the front of a long line of slanted desks was a huge video-monitor, upon which the image of a heartless had been called up, and notes made. Unlike the hounds that had chased her through the streets of Traverse Town, this one looked more humanoid in shape. Though squat and only about the size of a child, its eyes and claws were the same.

"I guess that explains what happened to the people here." Hakujou murmured, as she inspected the desks. "There' notes here about that thing, seems they were studying one."

Lirael made a face, "someone caught a Heartless?"

"According to the notes they wanted to analyse them as a species. This one says that the world they inhabit dictates the form they take, and some of their characteristics."

"I guess it pays to know the enemy." Lirael agreed, but was obviously less than keen to pursue the subject much further. It was obvious what had happened on this world, someone had caught and studied a Heartless without realising that where there was one there would be others. Hundreds or thousands of these creatures had probably turned up to free their comrade, killing everyone in the facility.

If her guess was right, then she wondered where the Heartless were now, they rarely left an area they had claimed without good reason. Of course if they were still there, then it meant that her and her friends would have to be extra careful.

After a little more examination of the room Lirael led Hakujou out again. Seeing the Heartless there had shaken her up, and she felt more jumpy than before.

The two made their way down a level, and wandered until they found another section of the Garden. It appeared to be a library of sorts. It was large and dusty with books scattered on the floor as well as the shelves. Lirael reached out and stroked a finger along the surface of the nearest shelf, and then pulled it away. A large coating of dust was stuck to her slender white digit. She stuck her tongue out and made a face.

"Yuck, it's so dirty in here."

Hakujou chuckled. "I don't think that's dust from age, dear. Something happened to make this building shake down to the very foundation, and it shook everything loose. See how it's not so dirty and grey as the stuff that's in your head?"

"Hey!" Lirael blew the dirt at the winged girl, but Hakujou glided smoothly out of the way and came to ground a few paces to her left.

"Let's try to find something of importance here, alright?" She began to pick books up from the floor, and Lirael sighed, bending down to do the same. She retrieved a few from the floor and sifted through them, but found nothing but statistics, and boring logs from what had to be an old ship of sorts.

"Hakujou, none of this stuff is interesting, it's just . . . hold on." Lirael bent down and pulled a book from beneath a shelf that looked like it was ready to collapse in the middle. She brushed the dust from it, and fingered the golden binding and lettering. The book itself was leather, but it didn't look at all old, once it was cleaned off. She opened it and the spine cracked ever so softly, but the book complained no more.

Lirael flipped through a few pages, and then stopped. It couldn't be.

"H-Ha-Hakujou... c'mere..." Lirael didn't look up as her friend joined her at her side, and peered down at the pages. Hakujou gasped when she saw it, too. A perfectly drawn replica of Lirael's Keyblade rested on one of the pages. On the adjoining page was a Keyblade that was similar. It had a golden staff and a silver hilt, but the Keychain was identical to Lirael's own.

"Lira, I think this book..."

"I was meant to find this. Look." Lirael turned the pages again until she stopped at an image of a young man holding the Keyblade. It was only a sketch, but the likeness was unmistakable. "My great-great grandfather... Sora."

"I know," Hakujou smiled. "He has the same look in his eyes in that picture that you get when you're faced with an adventure. There's no mistaking the family heritage." Hakujou wrapped an arm around Lirael's shoulders. "Keep looking, see if there's anything in there about the Keymasters that we can use."

Lirael flicked quickly through the book as if searching for something. When she was sure that Hakujou's attentions were elsewhere she ripped a page away from the spine and tucked it neatly into her pocket.