Chapter Three: ...And Cast Into The Light
A/N: Not much to be noted here this time honestly other than the last chapter was a bit rough on editing. Unfortunately, editing while massively sleep deprived is not good I'll go back and mend it (and note in chapter once I do). (Edit: I edited the edits I said that I would edit, so that is mended) Anyways, May as well dive headfirst into this chapter. I don't own anything other than OCs and if I did, I don't Think I'd be working for minimum wage.
P.S: Im so so sorry for the insane delay but life absolutely kicked my sorry ass. Like in need of surgery and constantly in severe pain since.. February? Ish?. All kinda a blur at this point and time. welp. I'm alive now and semi functional through the insane amount of meds. enough to write a tad bit. On to the story!!
Let it be said. By me. Many, many times if I have to, that flight is both hard as hell as well as pretty damn Confusing. Cid, being the gracious soul he is, decided to teach me exactly how to fly a space ship. He started easing me into it, showing me the ropes.. and gave me some general tips..
"I SAID GO LEFT DAG NABBIT!"... all by throwing me headlong into it without telling a damn Thing about flying. Learn by doing he said, it'll be fun he said. He's lucky he's not in here, being behind the radio saved his bacon, cheeky bastard.
"Cid, I would lovee to go left if I fucking know HOW TO DO THAT" I shouted at him through the speaker as I came to a stop outside the World's Border. Somehow I managed to get this damn thing off world without pancaking into the ground. Then I heard something. It started small and got louder very quickly. Laughter. Cid's laughing.. at Me. Motherfu-
"Oh boy, that was fun. Kid. Hit the switch titled pointless lever" He told me, still cackling like a mad man though a bit more tame. Deep breaths, Em, just don't try to stab him through the radio. Ugh..
"If I die, I'm haunting you old man" I told him as I reached across the endless sea of buttons and switches to flip this one tiny little switch.. for it all to fold back into the panel and be replaced by a set of Control sticks with some buttons on them and some pedals... I hate you Cid... So so much. "Cid. When I get down there, you and me are going to have a Very long talk." I told him only for my words to be immediately followed by him laughing deeply through the radio.
"Ah.. ha.. Gonna say, completely worth it kid". Let's see if he thinks that once I shove my sword up his a-
"Anyways" He said, cutting off my mental tirade before he continued. "The sticks are independent for the controls of left and right respectively; the pedals for forward or backward movement and the buttons are for your guns. On a side note, that ship doesn't have as much Actual power compared to most so you'll need to use the bigger guns sparingly. Big guns are the buttons on top of you press both at the same time, and the little ones are the triggers on the back of the sticks, again, if you press at the same time. I wired them like that so misfires don't happen. Also, you should have a readout of your shields and hull integrity in your right, can you confirm?" Holy mother of Info... My head...
"Uh... is it the little picture of the ship in green?" I asked as I looked at a screen on my right with a blue and green bar beneath the picture of my ship. Huh. I have a spaceship now. Go figure.
"That's the one. The picture itself should tell you where anything is damaged on the ship itself and also give you a general Idea of where you're taking fire from."
"That's awesome.. but uh.. why do I need all this stuff? I thought space between worlds was, well.. Empty?"
"Ha! The space between has all sorts of nasty surprises! From wormholes to giant whales; not to mention the Heartless got ships of their own kid. I think those Nobody Fellas do too to be honest. Not sure, haven't flown about in quite sometime to be honest." The mindless, world-consuming Dark monsters mastered space flight... I call so much bullshit and yet I can not even bring myself to be surprised anymore.
"I'll... keep that in mind then Cid." I told him truthfully. Honestly don't think I'll be able to forget that piece of info even if I tried.
"Also, next to your Ship's Readouts should be the auto pilot. That's gonna be your best friend, because sometimes trips can take quite a while. The ship will sound an alarm if anything comes up so you can take the reins. Basically you'll only realistically have to fly for take off, landing, combat and if something weird comes up."
"Cid, what could be stranger than wormholes and a giant flying whale?"
"Do you really want to know that kid?"
"..yeah forget I asked Cid, like at all. So should I bring it around to land?" I asked the mechanical genius. Say what you will, but he couldn't be anything else but a genius to literally put together a working space ship along with his little prank he had for me, In only 1 singular week to boot! Guy is smart as hell, if only a little eccentric to go with it.
"Her. The ship's a Her, and no. I'mma run you through some flight drills and basic combat." Ah. that makes sense, may as well get into it.
Several hours later..
"...And touchdown. Good job kid. I'd say you're an ace in the making. 'Cept for that asteroid you bumped."
"I Barely touched it!" I yelled through the radio, earning a chuckle from Gramps.
"Still touched it, anyways, swing by later before you head out. I got something for ya to do. One last favor if you don't mind kiddo" He told me as the line cut out, my ship powering down on the hidden landing pad in the Garage near the shopping district. Wonder how they even built all this.. eh, Cid probably did most of the heavy lifting here. Damn crazy old mechanic. Welp, may as well be productive and grab my new meds while I'm in the area. With a soft click, I got out of the harness for the pilots chair and made my way through the ship towards the exit.
"I Wonder how Cid crammed a Kitchen, Bedroom and bathroom into this thing? Maybe he borrowed Merlin for it..." I thought aloud to myself as I opened the airlock to the right of the kitchen before stepping off into the garage. My ship, which I really should name something, cloaked itself as I got further away from it to the point of complete invisibility. Huh. Cid wasn't joking about the world order and all that. And I know for a fact he grabbed Merlin for that. That screams his magic in a nutshell, Both of those guys are utterly nutters I swear.
"Hey Kupo! Over here!" A familiar voice called out to me. Huh. Must have walked over to the Moogle's shop without even thinking about it.
"Hey, how's business man?" I asked him as I searched my pockets for my wallet. He gave me a so-so gesture before floating out of sight to the back of his store, probably to get my new and Very Expensive medicine. God I hope I don't have to sell organs to afford this.
"Here you are!" He cried out happily as he set down a fairly large box "It's about a months worth of medicine. It does the same thing as your old one, but isn't going to shorten your lifespan. There is one minor downside however" ah crap.
"And that would be?"
"Your old meds helped to suppress the Dark by aiding in keeping... less than happy thoughts at Bay. This... does not do that. I tried my best but all I could manage was a straight up Dark suppressant. I'm going to throw in a book or two on mediation and mindfulness free of charge to help you do that without the aid of those meds. I recommend keeping them as a last resort, however, just in case of the event you begin to spiral I've added in about a dozen doses of those. it is better to be safe than sorry after all" Huh.. that could be alot worse. Welp.. better figure out How much I owe.. I'm scared. ha.
"So.. what do I owe you for all of this?"
"About 2,999 Munny. I used a lot of recycled materials for research so it could have been much worse" Oo just barely had enough. I set the Munny down for him to count and held up my 1 single Munny... fuck I'mma have to do more work before I leave. Can't fly without food or basic provisions. Especially if it is a long trip. Ugghh damn you health problems! With a wave and stuffing all my shit into the box, I walked back to my ship to drop it off before making my way to Merlin's. Thankfully enough, the trip was mostly calm other than a dozen or so Shadows interrupting me. A short fight, and some mild healing later, I got to Merlin's in one piece. Huh.
"Door's cracked open.. That's not good" I mumbled under my breath, my blade Flashing into my hand quickly as I slowly made my to the door. As I got ready to make my way inside, I heard Merlin talking quietly to everyone else. Ah good, they're safe, it was just me being paranoid. I should probably make my way in, eavesdropping isn't exactly a good thing to do. Although, I wonder what he has to say? He's been especially quiet. Eh, I won't snoop. I loudly stomped my feet on the mat in front of the door before walking into the house.
"Hey brat, how'd you enjoy the flight?"
"Aside from a grumpy old man trying to kill me with his prank, I'm very well." I told him, earning a confused look from Aerith. Oh this will be good. I turned to her and put on a bit of a show, telling her all about how "mean" he was to me and how his prank almost made me crash. Hell I faked tears and everything! It was All lies really but it did the job perfectly. Cid of course was denying it all only for Aerith to cut him off mid sentence.
"Cid?" She stated quietly.
"Y-yes?"
"Me and you need to talk" She told him as she physically Dragged him to the back rooms, Cid clawing and trying to escape all the while only for it be in vain. The door to his room slammed shut behind them and only then did I finally let out the laughter I was holding in.
"Emily? He wasn't actually mean to you was he?" Yuffie asked quietly, breaking the silence that fell over the room.
"Who Cid? Oh no. He just pulled a prank on me and this was better than any type of hurt I could do to him." I told her as I cackled lowly. Surprisingly enough, it got the ever stoic Leon to smile. Actually, when did he even get here? Eh not my problem. Ahh good times. Wonder if she'll refrain from killing him?
"Remind me not to upset you then! Aerith can be one scary lady!" Yuffie said with a Nod.
"Is it bad that she scares me more than Leon does?" I asked myself aloud, which earned a snort from the man leaning on the wall.
"You shouldn't be afraid of us to begin with Emily. While those two are busy, I have a job for you to do. I know you want to head out as quickly as possible but this is important" Leon told me as he stood up off the wall and walked over to me.
"Sure sure, just tell me what needs doing?" Hey may as well help the guy. He hasn't asked about anything unlike the rest of these folks.
"I need you to head past the Bailey to the castle. Clear the path and see if you can unblock the door into the castle. Some rubble blocked it off last night and I need it cleared so we can continue efforts in rebuilding everything." He said as he reached into his back pocket and handed me a slip of paper- no wait, and envelope? With a quick tear, I reached into it and pulled out.. A paper?
"That's a map for the area and where to Avoid. Some parts haven't been looked at by us yet and may hold some nastier variety of the Heartless. Also at the bottom is how much we will pay you." That's.. okay I'm really doing this now. 2,500 Munny is alot. Although..
"What's the catch? You guys are stronger than me and to be frank, that's not a small amount of Munny to be throwing around"
"To be blunt, we are barely holding off the safe zone here, even with the defense system going full speed. For one of us to go there for so long could endanger everyone in town." Ah. Fair.
"Consider it done, but if I die, I'mma come back as a Heartless and eat you." I told him as I slipped the map into my pocket before heading to the door.
"Good luck" Leon called out, ignoring my threat as the door clicked shut behind me. Okay.. I'd say it's go time. Ugh why do I feel like this is a terrible idea. With a shrug and a hop, I made my way to the Bailey. Only having to stop but twice to gut some Soldier Heartless and... a really fat one. Thing moved way faster than something that big had any right to. Cheeky demon that was. Nonetheless, I made it and was welcomed with the gates once more, thankfully they were unlocked so made my way inside.
"Man... this place still makes my hair stand on end" I thought aloud. Uh.. Maybe talking to myself isn't the best sign. Possible lapse in sanity aside, I walked to the window overlooking the Great Maw... man it's still so damaged from when I first got here. I wonder how the committee will fix all.. that. That being the slowly growing horde of Heartless and Nobodies. At least they off each other when they get too close to one another.
"Marvelous isn't it?" ..ah fuck I don't like the sound of that voice. Turning quickly, I laid my eyes on the person who spoke. Oh... Black cloak. Oh I'mma get me some answers.
"Who are you?!" I call out as I summoned my weapon angrily, my blade crackling into my hands in a violent Flash.
"Now is that anyway to introduce yourself? I suppose I shall have to teach you some manners then.. won't I. Or...?" She stated calmly as she snapped her fingers, with numerous Heartless appearing in response. Wait heartless? I thought these guys summoned Nobodies? "I'll let them do it for me, trash can handle trash after all. If you survive I'm sure I can answer all the questions you want" She let out a dark chuckle as she summoned a Dark Portal.
"You are not getting away from me!" I screamed at her as I charged, a thunder spell wordlessly flowing from the tip of my blade towards her just to be intercepted by a Shadow.
"Who said anything about you ruining the game? Play fair and I will too. Have fun~" The woman purred as the Portal closed with her in it, her laughter echoing as more Solders and a few really fat Heartless came crawling out of the Dark. Fuck.
"Who said this is fair! Damn.." I muttered bitterly, slowly backing up to a wall to take in how surrounded I am. And well... I count at least 25 of the things at a glance. I suppose my sour mood enticed two of the Shadows to leap at me from opposite sides. Ducking under the small heartless, I cast a Reflect to push them up and away from me, their little bodies smacking into the ceiling hard enough to immediately dispell. Huh.. they seem weaker than normal. With a nervous shrug, I bolted headlong into the fray, gathering my Mana into my blade in the process. A Fatbodied heartless dove at me, knocking over a few of it's comrades in the reckless charge. A quick dodge and slash at it's fleshy back put me right square in the middle of the horde. With a breath I lifted my blade into the air, and used nearly all my Magic on this one spell.
"THUNDER!" With a cry and a bright flash, an Overcharged Thundaga screamed down over the heads of the many dark beings; It dispelling the smaller shadows and some of the Soldiers too. Unfortunately, the fat ones seemed mostly fine. I stepped forward only to immediately fall to a knee in pain.
"F-fuck.. too much at once" I ground out through clenched teeth, rising to stand again only to have to immediately use my sword to block a fist bigger than my head from a fat one, the blow knocking me back and Through a soldier into the gate opposite the wall I started at. Huh. Never thought I would be used as a projectile weapon. Essentially peeling myself from the gate, I crouched down into a sprinters stance, my weapon dispelling after a quick cure healed the worst of my injuries, though it almost ate up all of what little mana I had left. Definitely running on fumes now, so I need to change strategies.
'I hate doing this' I thought bitterly to myself. While I can go Very fast on my own; The experience is both disorienting and rather painful afterwards, but no time like the present I guess. A deep breath and a push was all it took for me to fly into the crowd, my weapon Flashing to life angrily as I swung into and through multiple Soldiers, leaving only but 3 of the Fatbodied ones. Planting my foot hard, I abruptly changed direction into the back of a Heartless. It poofed into nothingness with a hard swing of my blade; my limbs aching in protest at the action only for them to practically scream in agony as I planted down my foot and changed direction in a heartbeat; My weapon almost crying out on it's own as it's burst into flames as I swung directly into the belly of the second Heartless. Now.. it did poof away once it was set aflame, however, it's belly bounced my weapon, and in turn me, rapidly away from where it once stood, almost at the same speed I had prior to being pinballed. Oh Fuc-
"I got ya!" A voice cried out as felt a pair of arms catch me.
'Wait, the gate was closed.. uh oh' I thought as I tensed up. Looking up to view my rescuer, I immediately relaxed as the familiar face of Yuffie came into view. How did.. never mind, worry how she got here later, kill the bastards in front of me now.
"Thank you.." I told her as I stood up, a bit woozy already but nothing super bad yet.
"You're welcome! You know you're not supposed to hit their front right?" She asked as she poofed behind one of the two remaining Heartless to stab it with her throwing star.
"I do now!" I told her with an annoyed sigh, mostly aimed towards myself that I needed a save. I am supposed to be better damn it. Yuffie's only response was to laugh before finishing off the Heartless she maimed, leaving the last one for me. Crouching down for hopefully the last time, I bolted towards the Fatbody, my sword seemingly crying out again before bursting into flames once more. The Heartless swung at my head as I approached only to miss as I ducked below it to veer behind it to plant my now Throughly on fire weapon into it's back; the Heartless lasted all of a second before essentially exploding like a balloon, leaving behind some Munny and various little boxes. Wonder why Heartless go and grab this stuff? Eh, it's probably not my problem.
'Now.. how the hell did I do the fire sword bit? And why is the world moving?' I thought slowly as I felt something slam into my back, my head bouncing off it a bit painfully. Oh.. that's the ground. May have pushed too hard. I went to Cast Cure only for the spell to falter and fail.
"And I'm out of Magic. Awesome" I grumbled out as someone stood over head, though I couldn't make out who from how blurry everything was.
"Emily! Are you okay?!" Fuck they're loud..
"I'm fine Rose.. mM'm fine. Swhow sdid you get here?"
"Rose? I'm Yuffie! Oh geez did you hit your head again? I think I have a Hi-Potion somewhere" She said as my vision cleared a bit, fuck I shouldn't push like this again. My thoughts were rudely interrupted by a bottle being jammed into my mouth and the contents emptying rapidly down my throat, leading to me damn near choking on it. After coughing hard enough to clear my lungs, I glared at the now un-blurry form of Yuffie.
"Give me some warning next time, will You? Please? You almost drowned me in a healing potion. The sheer irony that would have been! Damn Ninja." I berated her, earning a sheepish grin from the Young woman. Her response, which I'm sure would have pissed me off more, never came as a portal formed across the Bailey from us; The Black-Robed woman walking out with a small clap accompanying her.
"Aww, someone didn't play Fair. You brought in help, now I have to be unfair now too" She Said as she appeared in front of Yuffie and myself, backhanding the Ninja away before grabbing me by the throat to pin me to the wall. She was forced to let go and jump back as I summoned my weapon, unless she wanted to be impaled.
"Mm.. Smart. Most would uselessly flail and try to pry the hand killing them off." She praised me, I think, as she stood up and summoned pure black rod that was sharpened to a point. In an instant, she flashed forward and only throwing myself onto the ground saved me from being made into a smear on the wall. Holy hell! And I thought I moved fast! With a grunt and some force, I leapt up from my position to try to kick this bitch in her stupid mouth, just for her to lean back and punt me into the ceiling.
"Too slow~" She sang with some of what I'm gonna call fucking crazy in her Voice. Thankfully, she got cut off by Yuffie planting both feet into her chest, launching the mystery woman away as I peeled off the ceiling. The woman made to come at us again as soon as I hit the floor, only to stop and slump slightly.
"Seems someone ratted us out. Mmm... we will talk later, Little Shadow! I Simply just can't not wait to see you again!" The Robed bitch purred out as she leaned back into a portal, laughing the whole way; Her laughter continuing to echo throughout the room. Seriously, fuck her. Yuffie, the ever pleasant company that she is, gave me a concerned look as she sat next to me.
"I.. don't think I even want to ask what her deal is. Any idea why she's so.. interested in you?" She asked, shuddering lightly afterwards.
"You know, I don't and I don't think want to find out any time soon. Or Ever for that matter, I'm about 70ish percent sure my bruises are gonna have bruises in the morning. Who the hell kicks someone into the fucking ceiling?" I told her, my short rant being cut off as the gates swung open behind us to reveal Leon and Aerith arriving together.
"You guys okay?" Leon asked shortly, his weapon out and his eyes looking around for any sign of a threat. Aerith.. wasn't even armed? At least not that I could see.
"Eh, what's some bruising and cracked bones, am I right?" Yuffie told him way too chipper for someone who just got backhanded across a fucking enclosed Bailey. That statement alone earned a weird look from me, a concerned look from Aerith, and Leon.. I can never tell with him. And now he's looking at me.
"You wanna tell me what happened?" He asked as Aerith moved to heal Yuffie, focusing more towards her upper body with what seemed to be a base Cure being cast.
"Honestly Leon? I would like to forget this happened but I know you won't drop it since miss chipper here got banged up with me. Ran into a Black coat, she summoned some Heartless and after we killed them, slapped Yuffie across the Bailey and kick my ass Into the ceiling." I told him, only for Aerith to cut off his retort.
"I... don't think that's how the saying goes Emily." My only response was to point from my sprawled out position on the floor to the spider web crack in the ceiling I made by slamming into it.
"Oh... Are.. you okay?" She asked as moved to heal me once she finished fixing whatever injuries Yuffie sustained after being backhanded hard enough to ragdoll.
"Probably not, but I don't feel it right now so it can't be that bad" I told her as her hands lit up green and a Curaga was Cast on me without even an intone or focusing weapon. Damn she's good. Wonder if she knows any offensive spells..
"At least you don't feel it," Aerith told me before continuing after healing me, "but I would rather be safe."
"Fair enough... Soooo... How did you guys know how to come here? Not complaining but it's a bit odd how you knew exactly how to get here when we needed your help"
"Cid told us the security system here went down, so we came to investigate; only to find you and Yuffie beat up and facing off against Someone." Leon Stated a bit tense, though that his entire being at this point. Tense and on guard. Wonder if he ever mellows out.
"While that does explain how you and Aerith got here, it doesn't explain how you knew to come her Yuffie" I stated as I turned my head to her, or tried to before the woman healing me held me still and glared lightly... message received Aerith.
"I sensed the danger!" Yuffie called out as she poofed into a cloud of smoke. I turned my head to the other two occupants of the room only for them to both shrug lightly. My attention was called away from the now absent Ninja by Aerith patting my shoulder with a smile.. that was a tad too wide.
"Take it easy okay? Most of your injuries looked to be self inflicted from pushing too hard. If I see them again, we'll have a talk. Okay Emily?" She told me with a smile promising nothing but pain. I simply gave a quick nod to avoid her wrath and, with a low groan, sat up from the floor. Aerith helped steady me out before I fully stood on my own. With a short nod to them both, I made my way to finish what I started. I mean, it cant get much worse than this right?
A Few Hours later:
Let it be known, tempting fate with 'it can't get much worse' is fucking asking for it. I really need to quit doing this to myself. It took me 4 Hours to get to the castle entrance, Four. Hours.
It wasn't actually Hard getting here, nothing I ran into was actually challenging to kill. It was the sheer Quantity that was an Issue. 10 or 15 shadows are no big deal at one time, getting 40 at once multiple times in a row though? Yeah fuck that. Now the fun part.
"How do I actually clear you?" I asked no one in particular. The 'you' in question being a massive pile of debris blocking the entrance. Hmm... Ah. maybe a Firaja spell... well shit I've never actually cast that but one time and I had to set up an entire array for that. Fuck it, I got time and effort.
"Let's see If I remember this right... step one.. circle" I mumbled lowly as I set a piece of wood on fire with.. well a Fire spell to turn it to ash to use to mark the floor. 10 minutes later and... a semi-decent circle had me standing in the middle of my handy work, my blade in hand.
"Step two... Mana into the circle. Well, here goes nothing!" I said with a shout as I Pushed Mana through my blade and into the drawing on the floor; It lighting up a Red-Yellow-Orange in response. The ash blew away, leaving the array spinning above the floor as it began to glow brighter with power. Time felt as if it slowed to a crawl as I closed my eyes with a breathe to focus before finally...
"FIRE!" I yelled, the array disappearing with a flash as the runes of my sword absorbed the light before a massive fireball flew from the tip, Taking the light with it. It flew right into the debris and detonated Violently, throwing me back harshly into the stairs behind me. This unfortunately led to my head doing it's best ball impression and smacking off the pavement; hard enough to leave my vision a blurry mess, and my limbs feeling like they were made from Lead. Thankfully, or unfortunately, not quite sure; I stayed awake through it enough to dig through my pockets for a potion to down it to get back onto my feet. Dusting myself off, I glanced at the debris.. Er.. the smoldering ash and charred stone where it was. And... damn I'm drained, I really don't wanna do that again for A while... or ever really. I'm just not attuned enough for offensive spells to reasonably do that.
Looking over my work once more to see the smoldering bits put themselves out, I nodded to myself and turned back to go collect my reward.
'I'm so ready for this day to be done.' I thought to myself as I started to make my way back to the Bailey. Rounding the corner leading up to the stairs, I was in the home stretch when I Catch sight of Merlin, wand in hand walking down the steps in a bit of a hurry. Upon seeing me, he relented in his a pace a bit and the frown that settled on his face vanished.
"Ah Emily! I'm happy to see you're in one piece. Ah. Tell me, did you cast a large spell right now?" He asked as he relaxed a bit. oh... Being a master wizard he probably felt me cast that array and was coming to investigate.
"oh yeah, that was me. I had to clear the way into the castle so I set up an array for a Firaja" I told him, which earned a puzzled look off of Merlin.
"Why that spell? Why not Gravity or even Magnet? Both would have worked far better. Even Aero would have done the trick."
"I... I don't know those first two spells yet. And I only really know how to cast Aero onto myself."
".. Miss Emily, you and me are going to sit down and chat when we return" Well that ain't good.
"Am... am I in trouble?" I asked the old wizard as we made our way back up the stairs to head to his place.
"No. This merely to satisfy a.. curiosity of mine. To help me make sense of something is all." Oh.. then it can't be that bad. Wonder what it is he is ever curious about, can't be me.. right?
As lost in my thoughts as I was, I didn't notice us getting close to Merlin's house until we were essentially in the door. We said our hellos to the folks that were there before heading into his study. Which.. yeah that's just all books. The only things even in here other than that is a small table big enough for maybe 2 people to sit down and bed partially buried in books.
"Geez Merlin, ever think about getting rid of some of these books? You don't seriously need all of this, right?" I asked as I took a seat at the table. He immediately responded after having a chair poof into existence for him to sit on
"No! Never my dear! Each book is a wealth of knowledge to be called upon when you need it! Why get rid of them?" He responded, looking horrified at the thought of throwing out anything. So note to self, don't hurt the books. Shaking that thought from my head, I spotted a teapot and cup that was definitely Not there a second ago. I glanced at Merlin to see him make a small gesture to help myself so I did. Not a fan of Tea but it's nice to have from time to time.
"So dear, tell me. What spells do you know?" He asked me after I got fully settled.
"Fire up to 4th tier using an array, 3rd tier Blizzard, 3rd Tier Thunder, 2st tier Aero, 3rd tier Cure, and Esuna." I finished with a breath. Too much talking at once. Nonetheless, Merlin looked contemplative before he locked eyes with me and frowned.
"I hate to say this dear, but your 3rd tier offensive spells barely can classify as a weak second. The only exception is your Thunder being Mid 2nd. Forgive me for prying but... your magic teachers.. were they kind to you? Or even your Trainers for your sword play?" ...abort mission. Run. Escape. No. No. LE-
Merlin's PoV.
A quick Stopra ended her escape and confirmed my fears I've had since almost a week ago. Now. how to make her calm. Hmmm... Maybe an altered Esuna can do the trick? A bit of focus and..
Emily's Pov
Oof!! Ugh.. why am I on the floor.
"Now dear, I wish to discuss this but having you run like the wind does not help Me understand. Nor does it help me help you" Merlin said as he Lifted me with a spell back onto the chair I had just essentially ejected myself from. Shit. I definitely can't run. I don't wanna talk about this...
"Can we just... not talk about this Merlin?"
"If it is that uncomfortable for you, then yes. However, before you leave on your journey to find your friends and family; We are going to take time to reclassify your spells and correct any poor form when casting or fighting. Leon Has agreed to help me and before you get upset, no I have not told him anything. I'm... sorry that I made you so uncomfortable dear. And I do apologize for hitting you with a stop spell. If you ever decide to discuss what has happened I shall be here, okay?" I nodded though slowly worsening blurry vision, ah shit don't cry in front of the wizard, stuff it back down!
"Thank you.."
"Think nothing of it. When you feel well enough to begin, meet me and Leon out front. And do not worry about need to stock up before heading out. I will take care of that for you dear." He said, which earned more than a confused glance from me
"Not that I'm not thankful for setting me up, but why?"
"As an apology for upsetting you. And because you won't be leaving for a few days until we finish. I don't feel.. comfortable sending you out into the many worlds as unprepared as you are. Hence me and Leon getting you back up to snuff." I... okay that's fair. Been beat into the ground a few too many times for them Not to worry.
I thanked Merlin and, after asking for some time to myself, finally was alone. My vision blurred again as my heart started to pound harshly. Everything that has happened over the past week and a half has been nothing short of disastrous. Everything shoved down and locked away in the box broke free as I finally broke down and let myself Cry. Laying my head onto the table, I sobbed hard and just let myself feel for the first time in a while.. What felt like hours passed as I cried before finally pushing myself away from the table, wipe my eyes, and make my way out of the room to go probably get my ass absolutely handed to me my a old wizard and edgy swordsman... why can't shit be simple?!
A/N: Oof.. Yeah no excuse for the insane delay other than life deciding it did not kick me in the nuts hard enough. This chapter was So difficult for me to write due to simply The amount of time between writing sessions. But it's here and it's done! We are reaching the end of the set up here in Hollow Bastion just about and soon will be departing to new and exciting worlds (you know.. the ones in the game) On the topic of Emily's magic and Merlin essentially telling her her spell power was utter Shite for the tiers* she said she knew, she's still a kid. a teen at that but still not fully grown. Of course with little real world combat she's not gonna be casually tossing out a Thundaga. And on the topic of the Array mentioned earlier in the chapter, if you played KH3,
*spoiler* If you remember Donald setting up to cast Zettaflare, he had one going before ControlAltDeleting a bad guy. *end spoiler*
So think of Arrays like a big magical focus for spells magicians can't cast normally on their own.
And for tiers of magic. it's basically the spell, spellra, spellaga shitck. So that about does it for this chapter. Onto the next that hopefully doesn't take me nearly an entire year to yeet out of my brain. Have a good one folks, leave reviews or PM me if you have questions, constructive criticism, or just wanna talk about something you liked. Toodles!