A/N: Glad to see there were a couple of people who liked the first installment. I know I have a bad habit of making fanfics REALLY confusing, so I promise to try and be good this time! ducks rotten fruit So, yeah, this chapter is focusing on Auron and LiS again, but I'm planning on bringing in the Organization and the Destiny Island trio really soon, next one or two chapters probably. Thank you all for your patience!
Disclaimer: Indi owns nothing of this fic except for her own characters and the Launch-Rotten-Fruit-At-The-Author-O-Matic. (Go ahead and use it if I get too cliché, I'm pretty thick-skinned.)
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"Right this way Auron!" The Athenian walked along the village's paths as he lead Auron and LiS to the town's central square. The first thing Auron noticed was the Gummi Ship. It was medium sized and mainly adorned with bricks of black, white, and red. There was a circle of villagers around the ship and it's pilot, a young woman dressed in black with long, dark brown hair. She turned to the two of them and smiled warmly.
"Hello! You must be the two men that everyone was saying I should meet here. My name's Tifa Lockheart. It's Auron right, and LiS?"
"That's true Miss Lockheart!" LiS spoke up, "How may we help you?"
"Oh, just call me Tifa. I heard that a close friend of mine stayed here a while ago. He's been acting odd, so I came by to find out more about the time he spent here. His name's Cloud, carries a big sword, has spikey blond hair?"
"Nope." Auron shook his head. "But I've heard about him from some other guys who live here. I'll take you to them if you want."
"That would be great, thank you."
The three of them walked together towards the stadium. Auron stayed quiet as LiS and Tifa chatted. LiS was more open and cheery than usual; Auron attributed it to the fact that this was the first time he could really talk to some one his own age.
"So, where are you from Miss Tifa?"
"Please, just Tifa. I'm from a world called Radiant Garden, although it was known as Hollow Bastion until just a little while ago. What about you?"
"I… I don't know. I've lived here for a few months, and before that, darkness."
"Everyone's got problems with darkness these days it seems."
LiS chuckled. "From what I hear you're right."
"So, what about Auron? Where's he from?"
"Oh, him? He's my zombie bodyguard!"
"Beg pardon?"
"Hang on, I'll explain it." Auron sighed, the kid definitely wasn't gifted with words. "You know how the Underworld is near here? Well I was just a ghost lost inside of it once, until a naïve kid with a Keyblade came by and helped set me free. Now I'm trying to fill in the holes left in my story. One thing I do know is that I was called a Guardian. Some guy came here a while ago, brought LiS with him, and said that the guy needed some guarding. If I knew what a dork he was then I would have turned them down, but there you have it."
"I understand. Well, I think I do.."
"Hey! If you haven't called us crazy by this point then you understand better than anyone else we've talked to."
"I guess, where I come from, a lot of stranger things have happened. Still, I've never met a dead guy before. I'm glad I decided to travel then. I mean, I mainly went to help out my friend Cloud, but it's great to see new places and learn about things I would have never known about otherwise."
Auron chuckled. "Yeah, I can understand why you wanted to travel. I guess now would be the best time to tell you. I want to go with you. There's still a lot I don't know about myself when I was alive, and I think I've found out everything I can in this world. I need to leave in order to fill in the rest of my story, and you're the first way out that I've found in months."
"And your friend?"
"LiS'll be coming with me. I promised I would protect him, and no self-respecting guardian goes back on a promise like that."
"Really?" LiS stumbled but steadied himself. "You want to take me with you? I.. I thought you'd just leave me here and I'd be living alone. I mean, it's not like I really need a bodyguard."
"But you'd want to go? Or would you rather stay here?"
"No! I'd love to travel!"
Tifa smiled. "Well, I'll definitely take you guys on the ship with me back home, I don't see any reason why not to. But I can't promise you anything once we get there."
Auron replied. "That'd be fine, maybe some one there knows a bit more about LiS and where he came from. Here, there's the stadium."
"Ok, thanks so much!" Tifa smiled as she stepped through the doors. "You guys don't have to come with me, I don't want to bore you."
"Oh, I'm sure it won't be boring at all! Don't wor-mrph!" LiS struggled as Auron clamped a hand firmly over his mouth. Tifa giggled before finally leaving the boys.
"What was that for Auron?"
"You idiot, this is obviously private business. She wouldn't want us in there."
"And how would you know?"
"Just trust me." Auron sighed. LiS grumbled seating himself on a piece of the old stadium. Repairs of the damage from the Hydra's attack were going quickly, but there was still work that needed to be done. "Honestly, if we do go to other worlds then you'll have to learn some more manners. I'm not getting kicked out anywhere thanks to you being stupid."
"Yeah? Well you- hey! What's that?" LiS pointed to something about thirty feet away. It looked like a spontaneously generated pool of darkness.
"I'm not sure, but I don't think it can be good. Approach it with caution."
"Right…" LiS slowly crept up to the strange artifact, which expanded into a dark archway tall enough for a person to fit through. A girl stumbled out; she was careening around widely like she was about to lose her balance and fall over.
"Hang on!" LiS grabbed the girl's right hand and steadied her. She looked up at him and smiled gratefully. Auron took note of her. She had short, messy dark brown hair and hazel eyes. She was wearing a black bodysuit with a white tank top, white shorts, and tan boots. She was far from being a beauty, although she wasn't hideously ugly. "Are you ok, you aren't going to fall over now are you?"
"Oh!" She blushed and looked around, a little surprised at her surroundings. "No, I'm ok, thank you very much kind sir."
"Hey, it was nothing. Is there anything else I can do for you?" Auron smiled in spite of himself, LiS was pretty good with getting people to like him.
"Well, um, I'm supposed to be looking for a one-eyed swordsman dressed in red. Any idea where he could be?"
"Right behind you?" The girl turned and saw Auron.
"Yes! That's probably him!"
"And what did you want with me?" Auron raised a puzzled eyebrow. Maybe he would get some pages to his story sooner than he thought. The girl cleared her throat as to make an announcement.
"Ahem, 'The closer you get to the light, the stronger your shadow becomes. Don't let it overtake you.'" There was an awkward silence.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I dunno, I'm just supposed to memorize it. Also, I need to find the one-eyed swordsman wearing red and stick with him. Um, I guess it sounds kinda stupid now. Sorry about that…"
"You, stick with me? You've got to be kidding." This wasn't what Auron wanted, another kid he had to baby sit.
"I'm sorry, I'm not."
"Ok!" Tifa was striding out of the stadium's doors, waving goodbye to Hercules and Meg. "I've got the information I need, now- who's that?"
"We were wondering the same thing ourselves."
The girl shook nervously. "Um, I'm Nobody really. It's kinda a long-ish story."
"Hey, don't worry!" LiS grinned. "We'll find some time for you to tell it!"
