A potential two-shot. But for now a one-shot because this was an absolute doozy. Worth it for the fighting practice and the pure sibling energy that Sabrina and Brain are slowly starting to share. No regrets!
Thank you for reading!
It was barely noon and Brain had finished all of his missions for the day. Such a great feeling knowing he had the rest of the day to himself as he went on back to Fountain Square. He almost felt like calling upon his Chirithy just to brag a little. He wouldn't though, although Chirithy probably would have liked to chat with him; even he knew to keep a nuance of subtle pride. It still would have been nice to just chat with Chirithy, since it had been awhile. Fountain Square was a good place to relax if no one else was there. At this time of day, everyone should have still been doing their missions. Unless they were like him and finished early, of course.
Yet, somehow Brain still found himself surprised to see a girl sitting on the fountain's lip. She had scrunched herself into a ball, and was muttering things to herself in a darkened tone. Brain titled his fedora up a little to get a better look at her. The girl couldn't have been much older than 9 or 10 years old- that grouchy look on her face did add about five years to the perceived age, though. What a weird little talent to have.
Chirithy would have to wait a little longer, this kid needed a friend.
Brain adjusted his fedora a bit before making his way over to the fountain. He smoothed out the leg of his pants before taking a seat not far from the grumpy child. She barely even acknowledged him- just a slight turn away as she continued to bitterly mumble to herself. Admittedly, seeing it up close made it seem rather cute. Brain put on a wide smile before teasingly asking her;
"What's that look for? Did a Heartless call you a mean name?"
The girl let out an undignified 'humph' before grumbling under her breath, "The only Heartless around here are stupid party members."
"I hear that." Brain agreed with a sagely nod. He casually leaned a bit on the fountain before rambling, "Some party members can be your best friends. Others it seems like you can't get along worth anything- makes you wanna leave and find some other folks to hang with."
"They're the ones that should leave."
"So you're having party troubles?"
But the girl shook her head. "I got kicked out of my party." she told him, her voice holding a quiet darkness to it. "Said I wasn't keeping up, so they got rid of me."
Brain gave a small shrug of indifference- parties dropping members because they had outdated medals was nothing new. If anything, with the rumors of the Foretellers distrusting each other, parties were starting to kick out members even faster than before. Everyone wanted lux. It was only a matter of time before their hunger got the better of them. But that wasn't Brain's battle to deal with, he was occupied with something else at the moment.
"Did you get your missions done for the day?" he asked her. When the girl shook her head, he then offered, "Then let's pair up. Just you and me for today. What do you think?"
The suggestion certainly got her attention. She picked up her head and gave him a rather suspicious glance.
"I think you don't even know my name." she refuted, even folding her arms in defiance.
"Fair enough." he shrugged. "The name's Brain. What's yours?"
The girl sat up a bit straighter. "Sabrina." she informed him. "It means princess."
"I'm sure it does." Brain teased as he started to stand up. "So allow me to be the brains of our operation, princess, and together we can be done with your mission in the next hour."
He adjusted his hat a bit before offering a hand out to her. Sabrina cautiously looked at his hand; a hesitation that Brain almost expected. Carefully, and in her own time, the girl took his hand and got off of the fountain as well.
"Now," Brain then mused, tilting his hat upwards in a playful manner to humor her. "What did you say your mission was again?"
. . .
No matter how much each of the Daybreak Town wielders tried to deny it, Agrabah was just a breeding ground for all sorts of Heartless. No shocker that Sabrina's mission was to take place there. Or, at the very least, she insisted that it had to be done here. By the way she acted, it didn't feel like it was due to any personal preference of hers. Brain wondered if this was a world her old party used to work in. Coming here to finish her daily mission was just a habit.
"So," Brain idly said as the duo walked through the endless sands, "Do you have a grand plan on taking down the Heartless, or do you like to make it up as you go along?"
"Of course I have a plan." Sabrina spat back in disgust. "I like to lure the Heartless away from larger hoards to take them on in smaller pieces. Most of my medals are ideal for groups, so I could do it the other way around- I just don't want to."
"I can see that." Brain agreed with a knowing nod. "Not a bad little strategy either."
The girl nodded, but stopped in her tracks. Her eyes narrowed at something a little further ahead. Brain took her cue to see a group of monkey-like Heartless called Powerwild. Almost immediately after, Sabrina took Brain's wrist and forced the two of them off to the side. The noise gained the attention of one of the Powerwilds, leading it to go investigate. Brain gladly took a step back to watch Sabrina cut down each Powerwild without too much effort. She didn't tend to rely on the medals placed on her Keyblade, which wasn't exactly a bad thing. It could have been done a lot faster if she had, though. Brain only came out from his safety spot when it looked like the coast was clear.
"Well done," he said to Sabrina, almost surprising her. But instead of some sense of pride, her face detailed anger instead. Sabrina opened her mouth to tell him something before something shot a projectile at her arm. The small sound of hurt immediately gave Brain an instinct to help her.
"Are you alright?" he asked as he all but took her arm to look it over. Sabrina stepped out of his way to glare at him.
"Yeah, I'm fine." she sharply informed him. Her attention then turned to where the projectile came from, even pointing her Keyblade at the offending party. It was a new breed of Heartless that looked a lot like the Powerwild, but was colored purple and carrying a slingshot-like weapon. "But that Sniperwild won't be in the next few minutes."
The monkey-like Heartless gave her a curious tilt of its head before letting out an ear-splitting screech. Both Sabrina and Brain flinched at the noise. When the two were able to recover from it, they quickly found that the single Powerwild had called in for more of its kind. Sabrina and Brain were completely surrounded by other Powerwilds with no easy way to lure them away.
"Well," Brain casually mused as he brought his Keyblade out, "This can't be good."
Taking it as a sign to move onward, the Powerwilds aimed their slingshots at the duo and let their endless ammo rain down upon them. In order to minamalize the damage made to them, Sabrina and Brain found themselves almost back to back. A small flicker of fear crossed Brain's mind. Sabrina had been good at the single Powerwilds earlier, but with this many Heartless that held an advantage at being at every angle? There was no way she (or himself, for that matter) could take them all on at once. They did try their best to guard against most of the Sniperwilds' attacks, but it wasn't going to hold them off for much longer. The Sniperwilds were closing the distance between them, their attacks coming in faster and closer with each step.
"Hey Sabrina," Brain casually said as his mind was otherwise running a mile a minute, "You wouldn't happen to know any off medal magic, would you?"
"Off medal...?" the girl repeated in confusion before blocking a projectile that got rather close to her face. Taking a moment to think about what he meant, she then said, "Gravira. I know Gravira without medals."
"Perfect!" Brain declared, as if a light bulb had flashed on inside his head. "Do you think you can target the Heartless in an alternating pattern?"
"I guess?" she agreed with a good trace of uncertainty. Brain wasn't blind to this, so he linked his arm into hers to reassure her.
"Trust me. I have a plan."
For a small, fleeting moment, Sabrina held Brain a bit tighter before letting the two of them go. The young child focused her energy into the spell before letting out a bellowing cry of "Gravity!" and trapping half of the Sniperwilds in a weak, but focused, gravitational pull. Knowing that he didn't have much time, Brain also prepared an attack of his own. He raised his Keyblade, and as he focused, cracks started to appear under the Sniperwilds not being held down by Sabrina. As long as the Heartless didn't move too quickly...
"Take this!" Brain shouted as he unleashed the attack- strong pillars of fiery light coming up from the cracks and immediately killing the Sniperwilds. Fire must have been their weakness. Too bad he spent almost all of his MP for that attack.
"Brain..." Sabrina spoke up, her voice slightly straining, "I can't..."
Apparently, Sabrina was at her magical limit as well.
"It's alright," Brain quickly told her, "Let them go and we can beat them the old fashioned way."
Sabrina did not need to be told twice at the command. She immediately cancelled the spell, just as easily dropping her exhausted arms like she had been holding a heavy weight instead. For a moment, Brain feared that she was going to pass out on him; or at the very least drop her Keyblade. The tenacious child didn't do either, instead taking a quick battle stance and waiting for Brain for the go ahead for the rest of his plan.
"After this," Brain then said in a voice that indicated he was speaking a thought, readying his Keyblade as well, "Let's get some ice cream."
"I'm picky." Sabrina warned him. Her grip tightening on her Keyblade as the remaining Sniperwilds ventured closer to the duo.
"Then I'll just let you choose at your leisure, and I'll pay for it all. Sound good?"
The child nodded, the duo using it as their cue to head off in opposite directions to attack the Heartless. Brain's attacks were more from a distance, whereas Sabrina almost got hit several times over from how close she'd get before taking the strike. She must have still been tired from trying to hold the Gravira spell earlier because her swings seemed just a bit off from each intended mark. But since she fought so close to begin with, it looked to be almost intentional. Working together, Sabrina and Brain cleared the rest of the Heartless in a few short minutes.
"Done." Brain decided before dispelling his Keyblade. Sabrina soon followed at the gesture, her body then sagging a little as she looked over the area. When Brain walked over and put a gentle hand on her shoulder, the child almost fell headfirst in surprise and exhaustion. She looked up at him with diluted eyes that silently begged to be done for the day. Brain chuckled a little at it.
"I can carry you back if you want." he told her, partially joking. Sabrina immediately let out a sound of disgust before taking a rather large jump away from him.
"No way!" she spat. "I can walk back on my own."
Again, Brain laughed at her. "Whatever you say, little lady." he teased with a tip of his fedora. Sabrina gave him another little 'humph' and folded her arms in annoyance. Almost despite himself, Brain gave a small smile at it all.
. . .
Say what you wanted about Brain, but he always held true to his word. He let Sabrina pick out whatever ice cream she wanted then he paid for it without a fuss. They found a bench to sit at to enjoy their frozen desserts in a comfortable silence. When they finished their ice cream, Sabrina in particular looked like she was ready to go to sleep. For a moment, Brain how to appreciate just how much of a kid this... kid was. Sure, she knew a spell that nearly drained her, but her tenacity? It was almost something to be admired.
"I don't see how your party kicked you to the curb." Brain smiled. "What you're able to do without medals is rather impressive. You've still got some pretty strong medals on you too. Well balanced ones, no less."
The child looked away from him. Her eyes darted to the ground with a malice Brain thought had left hours ago. In a cold voice, Sabrina told him, "Medals are a sham."
"Oh?" he curiously inquired back. "Do tell."
At first, Sabrina only grimaced. She soon extended her hand to call her Keyblade. From there, she brought the keychain on the weapon close to her. She plucked out the medal placed in the third slot, then dispelled her Keyblade. Carefully, she took the medal with both hands and tightly held on to it. If she moved it in a certain way, she could almost get a glimpse of the hero it was meant to draw its power from. Beyond that, all that she really knew was that it was assigned as an upright speed medal.
"They say that these medals are drawn from heroes in the future, and the abilities they learned." she carefully started to say. "Yet, we can't see who they are. We don't even know the name of the techniques they used. But the medals remember for us- we never need to know as long as we complete our missions." A faint grimace appeared on her face for a moment. "That's what makes us different from the Foretellers. They were taught to memorize every technique from every era after ours, while we are told not to."
"Fascinating theory." the older boy nodded. "But not entirely right- we're still free to learn magic and techniques without the medals' help. We can also learn the names of the medals' techniques too. Once we use a medal often enough, anyway. It's like learning your best friend's name."
"Best friend..." Sabrina repeated in a murmur. Her grip on the medal tightened a little as she contemplated telling Brain something, but ultimately kept it to herself. The moment's hesitation did not go unnoticed. Brain tilted his head at her before getting a closer look at the medal she was holding.
"You've used that medal a lot." he casually observed. "Do you know the name of its ability yet?"
"Air Flair." Sabrina summoned her Keyblade again to replace the medal in its slot. "It's a dumb name, but effective I guess. A bit too floaty for me."
"And your old party said you couldn't keep up." Brain snorted. "That medal's fairly recent."
"Not when the Heartless get stronger every month."
"You're not wrong." he agreed with a small nod. "But it's not the strength of the medal that truly counts. It's the strength of your heart."
Sabrina simply gave him an absent little hum of begrudging agreement. She slumped against the bench in what appeared to be the last of her will to stay awake draining away. Brain placed a hand on the back of the bench to make himself a bit more comfortable as well. Admittedly, at this point, he too was feeling more than a bit exhausted over the day's events. Not that he was going to regret it anytime soon. Getting to know someone new was always an exciting endeavor- let alone someone with as much spunk as this kid.
"Hey Sabrina," Brain mused- almost absently going to play with her hair, "Do you have any plans for tomorrow?"
The girl lazily looked over at him, her face in slight annoyance as she tried to swat his hand away from her hair. "Why?" she prudently asked. Even when she looked dead tired, this kid could still sass off whoever she felt like.
"You're still party-less, that's why." he informed her. He even gave her nose a playful tap. Brain openly laughed when Sabrina scrunched her nose up in disgust at the small gesture. "Besides, you haven't told me the story of how you even learned Gravira in the first place."
"You haven't asked about it."
"I didn't?"
"No."
Brain chuckled a bit before going to adjust his hat out of habit. "Then let's meet up again tomorrow." he decided. "You can tell me how you learned Gravira, we'll finish our missions together, and maybe once we get done, I think there's someone I'd like you to meet. Sound like a deal to you?"
The girl lulled the idea over for awhile before finally looking at Brain. "Deal." she agreed with a nod of her head.
He couldn't help it, but Brain started to grin from ear to ear.