AN: Daily updates will continue through Part 8. Then it'll depend on how often I get them written, haha!

Now they knew about the cracks in my heart. It seemed I was worried about nothing because not much changed for me. Malik stopped being suspicious about my behavior. My parents seemed to check up on me more, but largely my routine stayed the same. Malik would still skip days of study. I continued going into town to keep learning all the skills I thought could be of use. Eventually the accessory shop owner let me even try forging my own tools and accessories. They were low quality and didn't do much, but I was satisfied with them as a beginner. They were still an accomplishment to me.

Months went by and I continued to train and study to improve myself. One day Malik told me to study magic on my own and come back when I learned a new spell on my own. I practiced the day and went back to talk to him when I had learned Thundara. He then scolded me for choosing to simply upgrade a spell I was already really good at rather than pushing for something new. I argued it was still something new and if he wanted something else, he should have been more specific. We went back and forth about it for a while but neither of us would back down on it.

That had been the closest we had come to a real argument so other than that we were still getting along well.

I'm still not sure what lesson he expected me to learn from that.

Malik had settled nicely into his new home. He said it was much different than constantly traveling. His confidence and charisma seemed to help him make friends easily. He was especially fond of finding women to spend his time with and always seemed to have a couple of them hanging around during his free time.

Before I knew it, we were coming up on a year since the Heartless had first attacked the castle. This was how I was keeping track of it. It also aligned with another important date, but oddly enough I had almost forgotten about it.

"What do you want to do for your birthday, Vye?" My mother asked one morning.

I blinked at her, confused at first. We were eating breakfast in one of the smaller dining rooms. My father gave me his full attention as they waited for an answer to her question. Malik was at the far the table eating and was keeping to himself.

"My birthday?" I asked.

"Your birthday is coming up," Mother chuckled at me. "You haven't said what you want to do."

I paused, thinking that over. I hadn't thought about the anniversary of the attack being the day before my birthday for quite some time. My seventeenth birthday was coming up in a couple weeks and I hadn't even thought about it.

"We had that party arranged for you last year," Father remembered. "But after everything that happened… we didn't get to celebrate you turning sixteen. We would like to do something this year."

"We don't have to do anything," I insisted. "It's just a birthday."

"Nonsense," Mother persisted. "We almost lost you last year. Let us celebrate still having you with us."

"There must be something you want to do," Father agreed. "We can throw another party for you if you want. A grand feast. A magic demonstration maybe?"

"Some kind of special gift you might ask for?" Mother added. "Give us something we can do."

I went back to quietly thinking. My birthday wasn't important anymore. Not really. I had other things I'd rather do. But my parents wanted an answer and it seemed rude not to give them anything. I only had one thing I could think of. Malik didn't seem to be paying much attention to our conversation and started drinking some milk out of a cup.

"I want to fight a Heartless," I announced.

Mother and Father both went wide eyed in surprise. Though, it was Malik who had the biggest reaction. In his surprise, he started to say something but as his moth was full, so it didn't come out right. He must have been mid swallow because he then started coughing uncontrollably.

My parents and I just watched him cough and wheeze for a moment. Once he started to recover, he turned and looked at me.

"Y-you want to what?!" he struggled, still coughing a little.

"I have been practicing for almost a year now," I pointed out. "I want to see what I can do in a real fight."

Malik took another short time to recover completely, then started shaking his head.

"At best, you've only been training a year," he said. "You aren't ready for a fight."

"Why not?" I asked. "I've gotten pretty good."

"Yeah," Malik corrected, "for a beginner. What exactly makes you think you're ready to actually fight a Heartless?"

"It sounds dangerous," Mother interjected worriedly.

"They are already drawn to you," Father pointed out. "Putting yourself in a fight is going to just put you at more of a risk."

"The whole point of me learning magic in the first place was so I could defend myself," I argued. "I don't care if I have to start with one of the little ones. I just want to see what kind of progress I've made."

"You've gotten better," Malik offered. "That's all we need to know for now."

"No, it isn't!" I continued. "Practicing against targets isn't enough anymore. Even if you teach me what I need to do in a battle, I won't know how I would function until I try it out."

"Then I'll tell you what would happen," Malik suggested. "You'd do some damage to it, it'd rush you, you'd panic, and then I'd end up having to destroy it before it took your heart."

"You don't know that's what would happen!" I tried to insist.

"Yes, I do," he defended. "I get it. You're tired of practicing against mannequins and wooden targets. You want something alive. You know a few good spells and see the kind of damage you cause so you think you'll get the same results in a fight. You're letting the power go to your head."

"I'm not!" I maintained. "I know I'm not the greatest spell caster out there. And you might be right. I might end up freezing up when I actually go out there. But that's exactly what I want to see. I want to test and push myself. That's what you want too, isn't it?"

"I want you to be patient," he corrected. "You won't prove anything by putting yourself in danger."

"And I can't learn anything if I'm always playing it safe!" I complained.

My parents just kept shaking their heads at me. Father was exasperated. Mother was nervous. Malik was doing most of the talking.

The four of us went back and forth like this for a while. It was not a productive conversation. I was trying to hold my ground, but I was outnumbered and wasn't in any position to change their minds.

"I don't need your permission to fight a Heartless!" I pointed out stubbornly. "They'll come to me anyway! I can go out and find one myself!"

"I'm not letting you go out alone," Malik declared. "If you try to find a Heartless, I'll take it out before you can even try!"

"Then you better be ready to fight Heartless from here on out!" I challenged.

"I'm always ready!" Malik promised.

True to his word, Malik didn't let me go anywhere alone after that. For the first time since he had started teaching me, he had something for me to study each day. We would work all day long and then at night he'd leave me with the bodyguard my parents had insisted on. The bodyguard would stay outside my room, and I overheard Malik tell him to report to him if I tried leaving.

We continued going in circles about the issue again in again. I wanted to fight a Heartless and Malik said I wasn't ready. Neither of us were backing down so we weren't getting anywhere. Eventually he'd stop talking about it and we'd try to continue on his lesson as best we could.

A few times Heartless would come into the area and Malik was quick to destroy them as normal. He always seemed to have me focused on something else when they came by, so I never got to see them first. He usually destroyed them before I even had time to notice.

Keeping me away from the Heartless was one thing, but this was also keeping me away from continuing any of the lessons I had been doing in the city. When I confronted him about this, he did let me go into the city for a day but only if he went along with me. He kept a close eye on me while I visited my normal stops around town.

After leaving the accessory shop, Malik walked out right behind me. He followed me in silence as we made our way back towards home. We both had our arms folded and hadn't said much to each other all day.

"Your over-protective side is getting really annoying, you know that?" I said to him finally.

"And so is your stubborn side," Malik returned.

"What's so wrong about being stubborn?" I asked. "That's what you are all the time."

"Because this is the first time you've tested the limits of what you're permitted to do," Malik answered. "You aren't getting your way yet you're still fighting. If someone in your position doesn't back down, they do something reckless. I have to stop you from doing whatever that's going to be until you come to your senses."

"Ever consider you're the one being reckless?" I asked. "All you're doing is following me around like it's going to solve anything."

"You'll give up eventually," he offered.

"Or you will," I attempted.

"Wouldn't count on that," he mocked.

"Why do you care so much about this?" I demanded.

"Why do you?" He retorted.

"I asked you first!" I snapped.

"Because I'm sick of staying in cheap hotels," he admitted. "Teaching you gets me a cushy room and three meals a day. You lose your heart, and I can kiss that goodbye." He held a hand up to me. "Now you answer!"

"Because I've been practicing all this time so I can help protect this place," I told him. "I'll never know if I can do that if I never fight!"

"You will fight someday," Malik told me. "Just not now. I'll be the one who will say when you're ready, not you."

"So, when will I be ready?" I insisted.

"Someday," He answered vaguely. "Now let's hurry home and get some dinner."

"But-" I tried again.

"Ah, ah, ah," he interrupted. "Dinner time. That's all that's worth talking about right now."

The argument was left unresolved yet again. We just made our way home and went to get our dinner as we normally did.

Unlike Malik, my parents seemed to be completely ignoring the idea of me fighting a Heartless. Even when I tried to bring it up, they'd act like they didn't hear me or start a completely different topic. Since they weren't cooperating with me, I knew there wasn't a way I could get them to make Malik change his stance. I stopped trying with them after a while and just let them plan my birthday on their own.

I really didn't care what we did for my birthday anyway. I did get them to keep it small. It seemed likely we were just going to have a special meal with family members. My parents told me to invite my friends as well… but I still didn't really have any.

The anniversary of that first Heartless attack on the castle soon came. It had been a year since I was carried off by the Heartless and my heart was broken. My seventeenth birthday was the next day, but I still wasn't concerned with that.

My parents had arranged for a memorial service to be held in the evening for the city to gather and honor those who had lost their hearts that night. I was planning on attending to pay my own respects.

But first I had something reckless to do.

If Malik was so convinced I was going to do something, I was going to go ahead and do that something. In my mind it was so I could prove him wrong.

Not sure if that was very rational or not. I just didn't care.

I woke up a bit earlier than usual. I had already made my preparations, so I just got dressed and went right to work. I had managed to get a rope and a hook without Malik taking notice. That and my staff was all I was going to need.

Instead of leaving through my bedroom door, I stepped out onto my balcony outside. The sun was only just coming up at this point. I scanned the area briefly. There were guards patrolling the outside wall and the courtyard below, so I waited until they weren't facing my direction. Fortunately for me in this case, my room faced west so this side of the castle was mostly in shadow.

The room beside mine was my brother Vander's. Right now since he was away, it was unoccupied. All I needed was his balcony.

The distance between the two balconies was too far for me to jump. At least it would have been normally. I carefully climbed up on the stone railing surrounding my balcony and faced Vander's.

I took a few deep breaths to prepare myself. I had the rope around one of my shoulders and was holding my staff in my other hand. With as much effort as I could muster, I jumped towards Vander's balcony.

As expected, I only made it partway before it seemed I would fall. As that happened, I pointed my staff downward.

"Wind!" I said quietly, casting an Aero spell beneath me.

The gust of wind that blew out of my staff lifted me up again. I landed on the railing around Vander's balcony. I soon lost my balance though and forced myself to lean forward. This made me fall towards the balcony instead of away. I managed to land on my feet at least and only stumbled a little bit. Still had to let out a heavy sigh from relief though.

With me safely on Vander's balcony, I then looked upward towards my next destination. Directly above Vander's room, on the next level up, was another room that also wasn't being used at the time. It was a long row of guest suites for when we had important visitors. The reason I had picked that one was because it was its turn to be aired out by the cleaning staff. The window directly above me was currently open.

I took the rope off my shoulder. I had already tied the hook to one end. I swung it around a few times and threw it up towards the window, hoping to snag the open windowsill. I missed.

A few times.

And a few more times.

This was the only part of the process I hadn't really been able to practice much, but I was hoping it wouldn't be this hard. It was probably a good thing I wasn't in direct sunlight of I'm sure I would have been noticed. I managed to keep the hook from making noise by keeping it from hitting the balcony at least. I either managed to catch it or used the rope to yank it away from anything.

After a few minutes of trying, I managed to hook the windowsill. I smiled as I tested the rope. It was secure.

I then spent the next few minutes climbing the side of the castle so I could reach the next floor. Not too surprisingly, some Heartless had gathered below me and had attracted some guards. This actually had proved to be a good distraction for me and I'm sure I would have been seen if not for them.

I peeked through the window before climbing through it. The door to the guest suite was open and I could see two members of the castle staff outside in the hall. They were standing with a cart of clean linens and cleaning supplies. I was worried they were about to come clean this room and my whole plan would be ruined. Luckily, they turned to the door across the hall and went inside that room instead.

With no one else around, I climbed through the window and into the room. I gathered up the rope again and unhooked it from the window.

I quietly stepped towards the door. I needed to check the hall before I went out into it.

"Mr. Malik!" A heard a female voice squeal. "Good morning!"

In a panic, I pushed myself up against the wall next to the door. Apparently, there were more workers in the hallway, and Malik was there too. Malik had been given one of the suites on that floor, so it wasn't all that surprising to find him there.

It was just a little annoying.

"Good morning, ladies," Malik greeted smoothly.

"If it's okay with you," the woman said, "we'll do your room next."

"It's all yours," Malik assured them. "You always do such a nice job."

"We always do our best for you, Malik," another voice chimed in.

I rolled my eyes. I honestly hadn't been sure when Malik woke up in the morning. I only knew that lately he had been waiting for me when I left my room. I had done a good job with my timing so far it seemed. I just had to make sure no one saw me.

"I am undeserving to have such fine young ladies look after me," Malik charmed them. "Please let me know how I can return the favor."

The two of them giggled giddily. I don't know what kind of things Malik had said to them in the past to win them over, but it had been effective.

"Oh, it's our pleasure," one of them told him.

"Have a good day, Mr. Malik," the other said.

"Good day to you, ladies," Malik said.

The two women giggled again. I heard footsteps out in the hall and held my breath. Soon the sounds became softer until I couldn't hear anyone nearby.

I slowly peeked out into the hall to be sure and was glad to see Malik and the women were gone. The hallway was empty.

My plan was going smoothly. I quietly snuck down the halls and met no further delays on the way to my last stop.

I rounded the corner and found the next hallway was also empty. I hurried down to the end of it. This hall had a door that led outside to a long, corridor. This corridor was open on one side and faced inward to a courtyard on the center of the castle. This courtyard had a garden with trees and plants meant for the royal family to enjoy. The corridor had columns along the outside of it but had long open stretches with nothing closing them off from the outside. Essentially it was half open to the outside and half inside of the castle.

I had made it to where I wanted to be. I put the rope down and leaned my staff along the wall next to it. I then sat down on the stone lining one of the openings. I turned so my legs were dangling over the courtyard.

With no one else around, the air around me was silent and still. It was rather relaxing.

It was there that I waited to see what would happen next. I knew I was probably going to be there for a while and was ready for this. I think it was about half an hour before I heard a commotion coming from the hallway I had just come from. I assumed someone had finally opened my room and found out I wasn't there. I wondered briefly what Malik's reaction had been.

I continued to wait. Eventually down below I saw a guard run through the courtyard looking around. He apparently never thought to look up and never noticed me there. He soon disappeared back inside the main part of the castle.

Some more time passed. The sunlight was starting to get brighter, and it was getting a little warmer. I wondered how long it would take for them to find me there.

Eventually, I heard footsteps approaching and glanced towards the source. It was actually Malik. I wasn't sure if he had found me himself or if someone else had happened to see me there and reported to him. Either way, he was walking towards me rather calmly.

Malik stepped up to me. We stared at each other silently for a few moments. Then he folded his arms and sighed.

"And what is this supposed to prove?" He asked.

I turned my head to look out into the courtyard. "You know, there were some Heartless outside earlier," I reported. "I could have fought them, and you wouldn't have been able to stop me."

Malik turned and casually leaned against a nearby wall.

"Yeah? And?" He muttered. "You trying to show me that if you wanted to fight some Heartless that I can't do anything about it?"

"Not exactly," I corrected. "I wanted to show you that while I could have fought Heartless without you, I didn't. I could have done it, but I choose not to. I'm not as 'reckless' as you seem to think I am."

Malik took a short moment before responding.

"And so, what?" He challenged again. "Seems to me this only proves you are going to wait for my permission to fight. If that's the case, how is sneaking out going to show me that you're ready? You are apparently willing to wait so you should be waiting."

"Yes, I want you to give permission," I sighed. "But that's not all. I guess I want to know that you can believe that I can do it."

Malik sighed as a reponse. "If you fought a Heartless," he said, "most likely you would defeat it without a lot of trouble."

I looked over at him. He continued.

"Assuming it was one of the smaller ones," he added. "You might be able to take one of those big round ones too, but probably with a lot more effort."

I stared at him. "Then why…" I started asking.

"Keeping you safe is important," he acknowledged. "But that's not the only thing I have to consider. You began learning magic to be able to defend yourself. You've learned the basics of how to do that. I have no doubt you can win at this point. What I'm not sure of is how that win will affect you."

I wasn't sure what he meant. Malik hesitated briefly before he went on again.

"Magic takes time and effort," he pointed out. "You've seen that. You have to want it to work. You have to have a reason to keep pushing forward and getting better. Your goal was to fight Heartless. If you find out you have already reached that goal, I don't know if you'll keep continuing with your studies as diligently."

I tilted my head at him in my confusion. "You think I'd just quit?" I asked.

"Maybe not at first," he defended. "You'd get a buzz of excitement when you see you've accomplished something. But then after you fight a little more, you'd see how easy it is and then get lazy. You'd lose focus."

I looked out into the courtyard again. The two of us were quiet for about a minute or so.

"Am I your first student?" I inquired.

"…No," Malik answered slowly. "And before you ask, yes, I've seen it happen before. Magic is exciting to learn at first but as you get stronger, the spells just become harder. If someone loses focus on the reason they began in the first place, they often quit after they reach your current level."

I pondered this for a moment. "Are you afraid I will stop trying because I should keep getting stronger?" I asked. "Or are you afraid if I quit that means you'll have to leave?"

"Little of each," Malik admitted. "I told you. This is a good gig for me."

We went silent again. Malik was the first one to speak up this time.

"Fighting is…" he struggled to explain. "Fighting is a necessity at times like these. It can be dangerous. It can also sometimes be satisfying when you know you won and saved yourself or others from harm. Still, you shouldn't be seeking out a fight. You need to fully understand the ins and outs of a fight so you don't get in over your head. One wrong move and everything goes bad. Maybe for you. Maybe for whoever you're protecting. Just because you can fight doesn't mean that you should. People who want power just so they can go out and fight either become lazy when it becomes easy or become violent and twisted. I don't want either of those things to happen to you."

Malik sighed again. "True strength comes with time," he said. "True understanding of that strength takes even more time. You've been training a lot and you have learned a lot. What you need right now is more time. Magic does not reward the impatient or the overconfident. Seeking out a fight whether or not you will win will not prove anything. Do you understand?"

I frowned. "I understand," I responded softly.

Malik stood up from the wall. "We'll get you ready," he promised. "Not just power wise, but mentally as well."

"Yeah…" I puffed.

Malik didn't say anything further. Before either of us could though, I heard more footsteps coming from the other side of the corridor from where Malik had entered. I didn't bother looking at them as I just expected to see a guard or another member of the castle staff looking for me.

"So here you are," a familiar and cheerful voice greeted. "What's this I hear about you running away?"

I perked up and turned to see my brother, Vander. He was smiling at me with a broad smile. Like me, he had brown hair and green eyes. Vander was almost five years older than me, putting him in his early twenties. He was a tall and muscular, fully grown adult.

"Vander!" I cheered. I turned and climbed down to the floor. I rushed at him, and we embraced each other. "You're home!"

"Wanted to make sure I didn't miss your birthday this year," he told me.

Unlike me, Vander had grown up responsible and kind. From an early age, he had been preparing himself to be a good leader. For the last three years, he had been spending most of his time away visiting other kingdoms to learn their cultures and introduce himself as a future king. He had been working hard to expand our allies and kingdoms we traded with. He had come home now and then, but usually left after a week or two.

Vander had been home briefly over the last year since that first Heartless attack, but this was the first time I'd seen him in months and hadn't expected him to be back.

We released each other. Vander smiled at me before looking over at Malik.

"So," he asked me, "has Malik been a good teacher for you?"

"No," I insisted teasingly. "He's lazy and we should get rid of him."

"Hey!" Malik blurted.

"Yeah," Vander remarked. "That makes sense." But he just smiled again and looked back at me. "C'mon, I haven't seen Mother or Father yet. Let's go find them and get something to eat."

"All right," I agreed. I picked up the rope and my staff again.

Vander and I lead the way down the corridor. Malik followed after us after muttering something under his breath.

Vander and I chatted on the way downstairs. Vander took the rope from me as I explained my story of my escape to him. He just chuckled at it. As it had been a little while, we were excitedly catching up. Malik stayed with us but didn't have anything to say along the way.

We intended to go the dining room. We started walking in that direction after reaching the bottom floor. Before we got there though, a strange rumbling sound filled the air.

The three of us came to a stop glancing around. I felt a tremor shake the ground briefly beneath my feet. Then it fell silent.

No one said anything for a moment. We were looking around apprehensively.

"What was that?" I asked.

Malik stepped up closer to us. "Stay close," he warned.

A low boom then rung through the hair. It was followed by another, yet weaker tremor. We all looked in the direction the sound came from. It seemed to be coming from outside.

"The courtyard?" Vander muttered.

Vander started walking towards one of the doors leading out to the inner courtyard. I stayed close behind him and Malik stayed close behind me.

We stepped outside into the courtyard. As we looked around, the air was still and quiet. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. We waited there a moment but nothing else seemed to happen. No more tremors. No more sounds. Like nothing had ever happened.

"Earthquake?" Vander offered quietly.

"Not like any I've seen," Malik noted lowly.

I didn't see what happened next clearly. I heard a whizzing sound and Vander was knocked backward through the air. Before I could even react, Malik had put an arm out in front of me as if to keep me back.

"Vye, get-" he started.

There was another whizzing and I saw a purple blur fly into Malik and push him back as well. He was flung backward near where Vander was. I turned to look at them. They had crashed down several meters behind me.

It all happened so fast; I wasn't keeping up. I couldn't move or react before I saw a flash of light emerge from the ground between us. It dimmed slightly but a glow pulsed upward from the original source on the ground. It was creating a line around outer border of the courtyard. My brain finally caught up and I flinched and ran towards Malik and Vander.

"Malik!" I cried. "Vander!"

I knew what the glow was but was hoping I was wrong. Malik started getting to his feet and saw the glow just as I was reaching it.

It was a shield. A barrier. I reached out and touched it. It wouldn't allow me to pass through. It was hard and solid. It had a faint glow to it still, but I could see through it easily.

Malik gasped as he realized what was happening. He went up to the shield on the opposite side from me, looking around wildly.

"Vye!" He yelled. He started feeling his hands around the shield. "Dang it! Where did this come from?!"

Vander got up and went up to Malik's side, studying the shield as he approached.

"What do I do?" I asked him.

"Hang on," Malik said. "We'll get you out of there. Just-"

Vander's eyes suddenly went wide. He started looking up in the air above me. Malik seemed to notice the same thing and was having a similar expression.

"Oh crap!" Vander uttered. "Vye! Look out!"

I whirled around. I wasn't alone in the courtyard anymore.

Until that point, the Large Bodies had been the largest Heartless we had seen, and they were pretty rare. This Heartless though, it was taller than they were. Its body was mostly purple and silver. It was shaped somewhat like armor and had a helmet, gauntlets, and boots. The gauntlets and the boots weren't visibly connected to the main body in anyway. Their similar coloring mad them seem together but they were all detached. Each piece of the armor seemed able to move and float around on their own.

But it was indeed a Heartless. Just one I had never seen before. It had a Heartless emblem on its barrel shaped chest.

I stared up at it in surprise and terror. I was in no way prepared for something like this.

I turned again and looked at Malik in my panic.

"Wh-what do I do?!" I pleaded again.

Malik glanced at me briefly before looking back at the armor. He grunted and hit a fist against the shield and looked back at me again.

"We-we'll look for another way in!" He insisted. "It's going to be okay! You have your staff. Defend yourself however you need to until we can get you out!"

It surprised me what he was suggesting. I turned and looked up at the armor nervously.

He expected me to fight this thing?!

"It's a good thing you wanted to fight a Heartless!" Malik told me. "Because now you're going to have to!"