The clothes were the same. They fit, they were comfortable and they gave him a look he enjoyed. The matching pants and shirt were lime green with a trim of gold triangles at the sleeve and leg openings. He had a belt fastened around his waist, covered in large white gems. Over his shirt, he had a dark, olive green jacket with the sleeves torn off. He put on a pair of fingerless black gloves and put on his large black boots. Then, finally, he put on his headband, replete with ear flaps, like the form of hat called the chullo, keeping his long hair out of his face and his ears warm. He was merely dressing as he usually did.

So, why did it feel like he was preparing for battle?

He looked outside. The sun still showed no intention of rising. He was beginning to wonder what was happening as a cold wind rocked the house back and forth.

He stepped out of his room, not sure if he would ever see it again.

He looked to Hino and Koori, both of whom were looking at him expectantly. He debated what he should say, what he should do. Something inside him told him he should run.

He found no reason to disagree.

Kingdom Hearts: Origins
Written by Ryan Griffin
Kingdom Hearts and all elements within are the properties of Square-Enix and Disney. All characters from the Final Fantasy series are the properties of Square-Enix. Kaze, Hino, Koori, and Prince Walt are my own creations and may not be used without my permission.

Within seconds, the three of them ransacked the house, bringing as much food and water as they could stuff into their pockets. The final stop was the garage.

The car left was small, not much larger than a dune buggy, but it would have to do. As Hino and Koori piled in, Kaze looked for something they might use as weapons.

Lying on the side of the garage was a sledgehammer, and hanging on the wall was a replica saber, sheathed and ready. Kaze took them both and placed them by his side as he started the car.

"Can you even drive this thing?" Koori asked.

"Not well, but yeah…" Kaze said, "Can you do any better?" At their silence, Kaze put the car in drive, "The sun's not going to rise. People are going to start destroying things…" As if on cue, an explosion rocked the small street, "Rioters are going to be everywhere. We have to get out of here…"

"Where are we going to go?" Hino asked.

There was a pause.

"Anywhere that isn't here," Koori said, "As long as we keep running, we should be fine. I don't want to stick around one place waiting for something to lop our heads off…"

Kaze nodded, and pulled the car out of the driveway. He began to drive, erratically at first, but eventually gaining a sense of where he should go. After a while of driving, he said, "That's odd…"

"What?" Koori asked, but Hino answered for him.

"No one else is on the road…"

Kaze drove to the bridge leading out of the city limits, then swore as he saw bridge in utter ruins. He turned quickly, trying to find another pathway. He shook his head at the fire and ruin that seemed to spread throughout the area, then cried out in anguished realization.

"There's only one way to get out of here with the bridge out…" Kaze said, "And it's through the city."

He waited for Hino or Koori to say something, to tell him to continue or to stop, but before either could answer, another house exploded in flame.

"Go!" Koori yelled.

Kaze complied, flooring the gas pedal and speeding through the city.

The journey into the city was a lot less eventful than they imagined. The city seemed to already be ransacked, and no rioters were present. The city was in eerie calm. For a time, they simply continued to drive through the empty streets. Unfortunately, this came to an end.

Eventually, they were forced to come to a halt at a massive crowd of people filling the streets. Oddly, these people were not fighting or looting or even moving, simply standing stock still. It was odd to say the least.

And, unfortunately, they were blocking every possible exit from the city.

Kaze turned off the car, and pulled out the hammer and saber as he did so. Hino and Koori stood to his side. Kaze handed the hammer to Hino and the saber to Koori as he took a step towards the crowd.

In unison, every face turned to face them. Kaze jumped back, but still stayed beside his friends. He looked into the faces, utterly and totally blank. He fleetingly recognized some, to an extent, but even those seemed to fade into a uniform face of the crowd.

Suddenly, in the middle of the crowd, a black geyser erupted, and a wave of black fog enveloped the crowd. As it subsided, the crowd was no longer a mass of people.

Instead, it was a massive collection of the shadow creatures.

Shocked, he looked to Hino and Koori, "Do you remember those things?"

With a look of dawning comprehension, Hino nodded as Koori said "Yes" in a mystified tone. And, with that, Hino held her hammer threateningly as Koori drew the saber.

While thankful he gave Hino and Koori weapons, he wished there was something he himself could use. And, seemingly in a flash, it came to him…

Hearts were the most powerful weapon of all.

He concentrated hard, tried to see if he could pull a power from his heart, tried to imagine the all-enveloping light that sent him from that odd tunnel into this nightmare.

"Darkness. Balance has been upset… We need a light…" he held out his hands, not sure if it would work. He was trying to summon his staff, as ineffective as it might have been.

What he received was much better.

It was a massive key, half as long as he was tall, looking as though it could be wielded as a sword. The hilt was gold and hexagonal, the blade rounded and silver. On the end was a "tooth", the pattern of which seemed to be a crown shape taken out of a block of metal. From the end near his hand, a chain was attached, ending in an odd symbol, a large circle adorned with two other circles, like odd ears. The word "Keyblade" echoed in his mind.

Surprised, he tested the Keyblade, giving it a practice swing. The shadow creatures saw this, and rushed forward en masse.

Controlling his bladder as he did so, Kaze rushed forward and swung the key as the front line of creatures, dissolving them in black smoke upon contact. He tried to dodge another attack, which led him into another. He kept swinging, destroying the shadow creatures with much less effort than he would have imagined. He then realized that, beside him, destroying any attackers that would have come from behind, were Hino and Koori, smashing and skewering whatever shadows leapt at him. Flashing a thumbs-up, Kaze kept rushing forward, cutting a swath through the creatures, destroying ten of them for every one of them that landed a hit. However, as he continued to battle, a sense of futility crept into his being.

"We need to do more than just this!" Kaze yelled.

"To the clock tower!" Hino cried. And with that, the three began to run full speed to the largest building in the city, Kaze cutting through the shadows along the way.

The lights of the city were usually dim at best, but the light of the clock tower shone as bright as ever. Kaze gritted his teeth as he felt a voice bubble into his head.

Enveloped in the darkness.

The loss of hearts.

The heart of this world.

The heart of all worlds.

Darkness overtakes it.

And the light only remains in three…

Kaze yelled, "What the fuck ARE you!"

The bubbling voice laughed.

The light exists in your hearts… but I wonder, if you are this strong, if the you are so close to the light…

At this, Kaze felt the presence of something large behind him.

How great are your shadows?

Kaze turned. Behind him was a gigantic creature, humanoid, but still one of the shadows. Its head consisted of tendrils, and, Kaze realized, it continued to rise, rising from his shadow. Its chest was hollow, missing a chunk of shadow-flesh in the shape of a heart.

Behind it, he saw two others, erupting from his friends.

"Terrific," Kaze spat. And, without a word, he leapt at the massive shadow.

The world seemed a blur, and each flash was an attack. The creature swung its giant hands at him, he jumped to avoid it. He ran, escaping violet bursts of energy shooting from the gap in the creature's chest. He struck at the creature's wrists and, at the times he could, the creature's head. Jump. Roll. Slash. Parry. Duck. The world had become monosyllabic as he fought the creature.

Only one thing managed to break him out of this deadly, mind-consuming dance, and that was a scream.

He couldn't tell who it came from, but the scream was a dash of cold water on his head. He looked left and right, seeing both Hino and Koori struggle, and lose, against their own monsters.

Without a thought, he leapt up and drove the Keyblade into his monster's head. As it fell over and seemed to melt back into the shadow, Kaze leapt into action.

He truly wasn't thinking, he just jumped at whichever monster moved first. As luck had it, it was Hino's. He growled in rage as he sprang at the creature, whacking its wrist out of the way as Hino struck the other wrist with her hammer. Hammer and Keyblade met the monster, seemingly in unison, until Kaze managed to slash once and drive the creature to its knees.

Not even looking to see if this monster was down, he ran towards the last, leaping forward and bringing the Keyblade down on the monster's head in a single strike. The monster, dazed, stepped back, and, without word or plan, Koori's saber, Hino's hammer, and Kaze's Keyblade all struck the creature's head, and it too fell to the ground, dissolving into shadow.

The three of them managed to get in a single shared grin, before suddenly, the world shook. More and more geysers of black erupted into the sky, pouring out shadow monsters as it did so. Cracks formed in the roadways, and the sky became a maelstrom of darkness.

Kaze felt himself being lifted up, and, in doing so, he grabbed Hino and Koori before he was thrown into the sky. Each one of them held onto the other two with all their might as they were tossed upward and twirled around through shadow and light.

It was a credit to their determination that they held on as long as they did, but it was to no avail. Their grips failed, and the three of them were scattered.

Kaze screamed their names in anguish until he blacked out.

Nanaki patrolled the dark streets. It had been several months since his group of survivors landed on the abandoned world and by now, the settlement of Traverse Town was a bustling community. One of the worst aspects of this new world, if only one could be settled on, was that it was always night. No sun ever shown on Traverse Town. The stars were all bright and close, sure, but it paled in comparison to daylight. An electrical system had, as of that moment, not been created, although Cait Sith, an expert engineer, was working on one. As such, only candlelight illuminated the town's streets. Nanaki, with a torch built into his tail, had volunteered to do nightly patrols of the city.

Nanaki sniffed the air. There was a recent disturbance in the air. He could not identify exactly what happened. All he could decipher was that there was an unfamiliar human nearby and that he was not there a second ago.

Nanaki had known that the shadows could appear at will, and perhaps they could allow others to do the same. He ran to the source of the smell.

Almost instantly, his anxious worry faded, concerned worry taking over. Lying in an alley, breathing, thankfully, but with sharp, irregular, ragged breaths, was a young male human. Nanaki realized that, in human years, he was about as mature as he was, even though his years on the planet were about one-third of his. Gently, Nanaki nudged the boy with his paw. "Are you all right?"

The human groaned, before saying, "I've been better" in a hoarse, tired voice.

"You look it," Nanaki said, looking at the dust on the human's blue and green clothes, "Something bad must have happened."

"I'll say…" the boy rolled over, trying to block out consciousness.

"Well, you will be safe here in Traverse Town…" Nanaki tried to reassure the boy.

This had the opposite of the intended effect, instantly, the boy forgot his pain and looked frantically around, panicking as he realized the sights were unfamiliar. Then he turned to face Nanaki.

He screamed and scooted himself to the wall of the alley.

Nanaki looked surprised, "What's wrong?"

Instantly, a weapon appeared in the boy's hand as he tried, with minimal success, to look threatening. "Stay back! I don't know exactly WHAT you freaks did, but I'm not going to let you do it again!"

Nanaki turned his head. "What are you talking about?"

"The shadow monsters! You stole their hearts! You broke it! God damn it, you broke the world!"

Nanaki understood, and was shocked, "The Heartless! They destroyed your world, too!"

The boy blinked, though his grip on the weapon did not waver. "What? Heartless? That's what they're called?"

Nanaki nodded, "They have no hearts, and consume the hearts of others, turning them into creatures like themselves. If they breed so intensely, the world collapses, falls into Darkness…"

The boy sank to his knees. When he finally spoke, it was but a whisper, "Everything's gone… My parents… my friends… everything I ever knew has been erased…" he turned to face Nanaki, "And they did that to your world, too?"

Nanaki nodded.

"Are all people from your world talking lions?"

Nanaki chuckled in spite of himself, "No, I'm an oddity even on my home world… Come, this is Traverse Town, a place for refugees. I'm Nanaki."

"Kaze," the boy replied.

"Let's see if we can't get you settled in, Kaze."

The bar was not Rosa's ideal hospital, but the town being in development, she had to make do with what she could. With her current patients taken care of, she began to

The bell above the door chimed, signaling the door being opened. Rosa saw the familiar shape of Nanaki saunter in, followed by a tense looking boy dressed in blue. The boy relaxed upon seeing Rosa.

"I wasn't expecting another human, after seeing Nanaki…" the boy said, his relaxation instantly fading to a haggard expression. He then took a seat on the barstool, "If you could give me something strong, I'd appreciate it."

Rosa raised an eyebrow, "You don't look a day over fourteen, kid."

"Fifteen. And since my world just ended, I think that means I've aged about ten years in the last five minutes…" and with that, his head hit the bar and he seemed to have no inclination to raise it.

"I found Kaze in an alley. He's another refugee, like us. The Heartless got to his world, too…" Nanaki stated.

Rosa gasped, "Poor thing…" Taking a hand, she lifted Kaze's face to meet hers, "Listen, I don't think the right thing to do here is to drown your problems in alcohol… but I'll tell you what, perhaps if we can get some food and drink in you, you'll find yourself better able to cope?" Rosa said.

Normally, Kaze would have balked at such treatment, saying it was too childish, but now, he found some comfort in it, "That… that sounds nice…"

Rosa left, Kaze stewing in silence. When she returned with a hefty slice of blueberry pie and a chocolate milkshake, Kaze ate them with the fervor of a starving man. Rosa looked on with surprise, but took it as a compliment. As the boy started wiping up the crumbs and eating them, an idea struck him.

"Am I the only one from my world here?" Kaze said.

"As far as we know," Nanaki said.

"I don't know how exactly I came to be here, but two others were in the same place as me before I blacked out. Both girls. Hino's shorter than me, reddish brown hair, green eyes, really…" he tried to find the polite way to say it, "…well endowed. Koori's taller than me. She's got blonde hair, blue eyes, and skinny as a rail. Did either of them show up here?" Kaze said, quickly.

Rosa processed that information, before shaking her head, "No one like that is here… though we will tell you straight away if anything happens…"

Nanaki went to the door. "I'll go back on patrol."

"I'm going, too," Kaze said, getting up.

Nanaki blinked, "What?"

"The chance that anyone besides me survived that cataclysm is slim, but if I ended up here, there's a chance someone else did. If I go with you, then there's a chance we might find them."

Nanaki looked at the boy, who went from scared little boy to hardened warrior in the span of five minutes, then chuckled, "You seem like you're bipolar, kid. But, yeah, you're right. Let's go…"

They started to saunter over, but the door busted open, and a large black man with a gun for a right arm entered the room, "We've got trouble!"

Nanaki's gaze hardened, "Heartless, Barrett?"

Barrett sighed, "What else is there?"

Nanaki turned to Kaze, "Can you fight?"

Kaze formed a fist, and his Keyblade appeared in it unconsciously, "I can try…"

Slash. Block. Parry. Dodge.

Prince Walt was no stranger to fighting. The weapons master called him a combat genius, and was ranked highest in combat practice. Unfortunately, there's a difference between practice and real life.

Scowling as two creatures rose from where he had previously destroyed one, Walt flung his rapier through one and clobbered another with his shield. His ears twitched, and he did an impressive back flip over a shadow that was trying for a sneak attack, then plunged his blade into the monster's head.

"Do…" he slashed another monster, "you…" he blocked one's claws, "things…" he struck another, "ever…" he grunted as one nearly knocked him on the head, "STOP!"

Suddenly, a fireball struck one of the shadows, which dispersed in a cloud of smoke.

"No, they do not…" Said the one who threw the fireball, a red beast. Behind him, a human boy gripped what looked like a large key.

Instantly, the two of them joined the battle.

Walt could only stare at the two of them as they ripped through the creatures. The red beast was no stranger to the field of battle, and his claws and teeth tore through the shadows with expert strength. The human boy, however, was totally new to the art of combat. Luckily, though, his key-weapon was unbelievably effective. He barely swiped at the monsters and they disappeared en masse. It took about a minute for them to clear the town square of monsters.

All three were panting heavily, before the boy looked to him and said, "Are you okay… whoa!" he apparently only just noticed that the person he was saving was a three-foot tall humanoid mouse, wearing a purple and blue uniform.

Walt grinned, "I'm fine, thanks to you… I'm Walt."

The boy nodded, "I'm Kaze."

"Nanaki," the red beast responded.

As soon as the introductions were done, however, more creatures appeared.

"Never give up, do they?" Walt said in a tone that was half jovial, half exasperated.

"Heartless never do," Nanaki said solemnly.

Kaze felt a twinge of fear. These new Heartless made the creatures he just obliterated look like kittens. They stood about as tall as Walt, and were covered with armor, their hollow yellow eyes peering out from metal knight's helmets. He swung at one and scowled at the fact that it wasn't destroyed. Resigning himself to fate, he kept clobbering it.

As he continued to fight, he began to realize there was a problem… the monsters were getting too many hits on him, he was bleeding, he was tired… he almost felt like he would once again pass out…

"Kaze!" a green light shone on him, and Kaze found his wounds healed and his energy restored. He looked to the source, Nanaki. Grinning, he set about destroying the rest of the hordes.

It didn't take long for them to clear the district of the Heartless once more, and Walt pulled out a green energy drink, offering two more, "Potion?"

Kaze took one, feeling unbelievably refreshed afterwards.

"That was too easy…" Nanaki said.

"You were obviously in a different battle than me…" Kaze said.

"No, you haven't fought Soldier Heartless as long as I have. They're different from Shadow Heartless, stronger and more determined. They put up less of a fight… So either their weakening or…"

"Or?" Walt pressed.

"Or that was simply to wear us down for something bigger…"

And, with that, both Nanaki's and Walt's ears twitched, "Something's coming," the mouse said.

"What?" Kaze asked, then he heard a resounding crash. A creature he previously thought was fantasy now stood in the town square. It was a dragon, about twelve feet tall, a poisonous green color with yellow belly scales. Its arms and legs ended in tapered claws and a long, zigzagged tail emerged from its back. Two utterly useless wings emerged from his shoulders. Its face had a large underbite and huge fangs protruding from it. A shock of purple hair emerged from its top, along with two long ears. Most distinctive were its chest, which sported a symbol of a stylized black heart with a red X through it, and its eyes, which were a hollow yellow.

It was a Heartless Dragon.

Immediately, it struck, opening its mouth and unleashing a breath of fire that threatened to engulf the three warriors, at least, if the three of them had not dodged.

Kaze growled and charged, swinging the Keyblade to the dragon, slashing the symbol on its chest. While it seemed in pain, the dragon merely turned and smacked Kaze out of the way with his tail. Kaze was sent flying.

Tensing up, Nanaki sent another fireball, heading straight to the dragon. This gave the monster much more distress, causing it to stagger back. In doing so, Walt, with speed that surprised everyone there, charged forward and stabbed the dragon with his rapier.

The sword instantly broke in half.

Choking in shock, the mouse then brought his shield up to block the dragon's claws, then threw the broken sword away, struggling to figure out what to do next.

Nanaki jumped up and slashed at the yellow eyes with his claws, enraging the dragon to cause him to stumble back. Kaze ran up and slashed the dragon's belly multiple times as the monster stumbled back. Suddenly tired of taking the damage, the dragon swatted Kaze away, sending him sprawling.

Kaze groaned as he got up, and found himself face to ugly face with the dragon, its mouth open and tongue licking its lips, it surged forward to bite him.

Kaze tensed, anticipating a bite that never came. He heard a CLANG! sound, and looked up to see that Walt had sprang over. The dragon was now biting down on the mouse's shield. Enraged, the dragon reared up and tried to shake the mouse off. While he was thrown like a rag doll, the mouse's grip on his shield never wavered.

Nanaki sent forth another fireball, causing the dragon to spit out the shield, throwing the mouse a great distance.

Kaze reached forward and caught Walt before he would have landed on the hard stone surface. Kaze then whispered, "Trip him up."

Walt looked oddly at him, but figured it was worth a shot. The dragon then began charging forward. Walt then ran straight at him, then took his shield and, using the momentum from his charge, threw it on the ground and slid like he was on a sled.

As they were about to meet, Walt then took his shield and lifted it up, causing the dragon to hit it with his left leg, sending him careening forward.

As this happened, Kaze then jumped onto the dragon's back, slicing it up, the dragon wailing in pain. It tried to roll over, but as soon as he tried, Kaze jumped off.

"Guys! Its belly is heavily guarded, but its BACK isn't! Hit him from behind!" Kaze yelled.

Instantly realizing the reason behind the boy's experiment, Walt whistled towards the dragon and gave it a rude gesture. He took off running as the dragon followed in pursuit.

Nanaki fired a series of fireballs to the dragon's fading back, all connecting and sending the monster stumbling, before Kaze ran up and continued to hit it with the Keyblade. He felt the monster turn to bite him, but Walt, bless his agile soul, jumped up to the dragon's head and began pulling his hair. As the dragon roared, Nanaki reached to its back and sunk his claws and fangs into it, reaching up, Kaze sent another strike into the dragon.

Instantly, the dragon squawked and landed on the ground with a ferocious THUD! As it lay there, a giant luminescent heart rose from its body, causing the dragon to fade into nothingness.

Immediately, all warriors sank to the ground.

"So, you all come from worlds that have been destroyed by these Heartless?" Walt asked in between bites of food.

Barrett had come back with reinforcements, just to see the tail end of the battle and see one of his best friends and two unfamiliar beings destroy a giant dragon. Slinging them over his shoulders, he brought them back to Rosa's bar to replenish their strength. After their injuries were evaporated with a quick Cure spell, Rosa set to cooking them up a delicious meal.

The woman could cook. And, as Kaze saw while being flung over Barrett's shoulder, she could fight, too. She had, using only eruptions of a white and green energy, destroyed an army of the Soldier Heartless while they were returning to the bar.

Heck, it reminded Kaze, strikingly, of Hino. Their eyes, their equal abilities in the home and the battle field, their… he stopped those thoughts before he had a nosebleed. He grabbed a biscuit and nodded to Walt's question, "I just got here, in fact. The Keyblade I wield seems to destroy them."

Nanaki swallowed a large piece of meat, "They conquer other worlds and move on to the next. They're like a plague on all worlds. We set up this town as a refuge for those who lost worlds to the Heartless."

Walt looked thoughtful, "We don't have these Heartless on my world, but we do have problems. The ruling class on our world recently all succumbed to an illness, and we're teetering on the edge of civil war. I came to find a place to import those who wouldn't want that…"

Barrett got up, "We ain't got no problems with you bringin' people here. We'll welcome anyone. We need help getting this dump together…"

Walt stared into space, "I've got a ship… it's very experimental… I don't know how many people I could bring onto it… but it could take me back to my home world and bring back some people who don't want war."

Kaze blinked, then turned to Nanaki, "Wait a minute, you said those Heartless things spread from world to world… Do you know of any others?"

Barrett responded, as Nanaki was eating, "Went all over the freaking universe tryin' to find the right world. Almost all of them were up to their ying-yangs in Heartless. Or else, they were getting there…"

Kaze summoned the Keyblade, "I can use this thing to destroy them… Maybe…" he turned to Walt, "Could I use your ship to go to these other worlds and save them?"

Walt balked at such a request, "What! Why do you…"

Kaze puffed up his chest, "The Heartless destroyed my world. I can either sit here and live here till I die of old age, or I can go places and make the Heartless pay for messing up my home, and prevent anyone else from having to lose their home and all their friends…"

There was a pause, and Nanaki said, "I'm coming, too."

Everyone stared at him, and Barrett exploded, "You crazy! We need you here, you furry little bastard!"

"I too want to prevent the Heartless from taking any other worlds. I'm sorry, Barrett, but I would rather deal with the root cause of this problem than just the symptoms. I'll prevent the Heartless from making new refugees, rather than just protecting the refugees…"

There was a pause, and then Barrett said, "Y'know, Red, you always manage to put me in my place. Hell, I'd go WITH you now, if only I wasn't needed here…"

Walt stared, and said, sternly, "So, you're here, planning on going to other worlds, only out of the goodness of your hearts, to save other worlds with no benefit to yourselves. And to do so, you're relying on me to forego my own people to chauffer you along in my ship from world to world, and risking my own neck to help you two battle Heartless. And you expect me to agree to this?"

Kaze and Nanaki stared, before Kaze said, sheepishly, "Uh… yes?"

Walt smiled, "Sounds good, I'll do it."

Kaze and Nanaki were both shocked.

"You know that battle we just had? That was the most fun I've had in a long time. And if not for you two, I'd have been killed, if not by the Shadows, then by the Soldiers, or by the Dragon. I owe you. And I intend to give on that debt," Walt sighed, "And, to tell the truth, my intentions in coming here weren't as altruistic as they seem. I really just wanted to save my own hide…"

Nanaki started, "But you said that–"

Walt raised a hand to interrupt, "I know what I said. But the truth is that there's an infinitesimally small number of people on my world who'd be willing to escape until there's a total, all-out war, and even then most will be stubborn and stay there. And my ship is too small to really carry my people here en masse. I've been saying that this is for my people, but that's wrong. It's just for myself… You two actually want to do this for others. That's something I want to be able to say. So, yes, I'll take you."

They all paused, then Kaze said, "I have two friends. They were with me when the world was destroyed. I know if anyone from my world survived, it was them. I may want to destroy the Heartless and make them pay, but I really want to find them. So, I'm just not some hero who wants to save the world. I really want to find them…"

Nanaki joined in, "My race has protected Cosmo Canyon, a village on my world, for millennia. I am the first to ever fail to protect it. It isn't altruism for me, it's guilt. Guilt that I failed, guilt that I want to erase…"

They all looked at each other. Then Walt said, "Well, if we're all selfish bastards, it make me feel better for being around you. What do you say?"

They all nodded, and Walt said, "But before we go… I've got to replace my sword…"

They all got a chuckle out of that, and then proceeded to finish their food.