Chapter 12
Yen Sid was sitting at his desk at the top of his tower when he heard the mirror linked to The Land of Departure begin to activate, grunting softly as he stood, he walked over to the mirror and allowed the call to come through. A woman appeared in the mirror, with shoulder length blue hair and eyes. She smiled and bowed at the elderly man, before her gaze became serious.
"Master, I looked into the Foretellers like you asked, many of the texts that we were able to find had scarce mention of them, only their names and the ancient unions they once ruled over in the time of fairy tales. But I'm confused, how can people from before the first Keyblade war be here now, terrorizing the worlds they so wanted to protect?" Yen Sid had no answer for the young woman, and before he could tell her as much a portal opened in the middle of the room and Jayson walked out of it, a small smile on his face.
"Ah, Jayson, I see you have returned, did you have something to report?" Jayson's smile grew and he nodded enthusiastically, he noticed the mirror and stood next to Yen Sid, bowing at the image and then at the master himself.
"Who is this, master? Is this one Riku and Kairi's…" Jayson's face fell at the mention of his missing masters, and the atmosphere of the room dropped slightly, before Jayson bounced back up and began to explain what had happened on the world of Agrabah.
"...then I found this Keychain in the sand before coming here, I'm glad I was able to meet Aladdin and Genie, they helped me see what I had to do." Aqua smiled softly before asking,
"So, how do you know this Ava person? If she's a foreteller like you said, then why was she helping you? On that note, what did she mean by 'fly away and escape'?"
"I honestly don't know, I don't know who Ava is, but she must be good if she's betraying her allies to save the worlds!" He sounded almost hopeful, ready to find her again so he could ask her himself. It was a strange thing, seeing the downcast wielder so hopeful and excited after seeing his dejected self from before. Yen Sid assumed that he had found something out while in whatever world he had traveled to. It almost reminded him of Sora. The thought of the selfless boy sent a pang of guilt through the elderly master, he should have stopped him from doing what he did, but knew that it was futile, as that was what fate had in store for the boy. He quickly dashed those feelings away and turned his full attention to the child in front of him.
"You must go and find this woman and see what she has to do with the Foretellers and their plans, while you are out and saving the worlds." Jayson nodded, bidding the two masters farewell and creating a portal for himself, which he stepped through. Aqua sighed before bidding the elderly man farewell and cutting communications off. He turned and sat back in his seat, stroking his beard in deep thought. Was the fate of this boy still written, unchanging, or did he have his own path to carve? No one could say, not even Yen Sid himself knew.
As Jayson stepped through the portal, he felt a new wave of energy, and began to sprint down the darkened corridors. Midway through his run he was suddenly struck from the side, falling as a dark voice spoke to him.
"You know nothing of yourself, you are filled with darkness." Jayson clutched his head and began to scream as images flooded his mind, of a town bathed in light, worlds and confusion, and a being of darkness. It was filled with malice and destruction, and it wanted him dead. He fought it and defeated the beast, but at the cost of a piece of himself. He then saw a battlefield, thousands upon thousands of people fighting to the bitter end, spilling blood on the ancient, sandy stone ground beneath their feet. The pain erupting from his mind was too much to bear, and he fell unconscious upon the ground. As he lay there, water began to fill below him, and he was washed away into an unknown world.
"Do you think he's still alive? And why do we have to use my bed for this? He's ruining my perfectly good dirt collection!"
"Zip it, mole, he's up anyways, stop your complaining!" That voice was feminine, and Jayson awoke to see several people surrounding him, one was a blonde woman, dressed in combat gear, another was a man with a bushy mustache, a plate over his torso, and a red stick in his hands. One of them was wearing a strange thing on his head, and he wore white scrubs. Sitting close to the bed was a round… thing that looked like a mole. An older man who didn't look his age was eyeing Jayson darkly from across the room, and in the corner, a beanpole of a man, hunched down and reading a book of some sort, muttering strings of words that Jayson could barely understand. He stood up and had an array of weapons pointed at him, one of which was the red stick from the man. The older man walked between them all and stood before the bed. He cleared his throat and began speaking,
"Who are you, and what is your business on this vessel?" Jayson was taken aback slightly, very few people question one extra person, these people must be on some sort of mission, so he responded in kind,
"My name is Jayson, and I can't tell you why I'm here, I only remember waking up on this bed." A gleam in their eyes, they didn't believe him one bit, but before they had a chance to press, a man came through the door and screamed before going still, limp, and his body dissipated as a heartless took its place. The doctor sprang into action, hacking the heartless to bits with a flurry of cuts. Jayson hurriedly asked,
"Where did that guy come from?"
"The main bridge, we got to go! Milo, come on, your book will help us out, hurry!" They all fled the room quickly, with Jayson not far behind. As they made their way into the main bridge, several men were already taken and turned into heartless. they were made of water and used their bodies to attack the other crew members. The mustached man used his dynamite, the doctor man had a hacksaw and his fists, the blonde woman was using a pistol, as was the older man. The mole man and Milo were further back, the mole man was chucking dirt and Milo was using his book to swat feebly at them. Jayson, deciding his Keyblade would raise more questions than he was willing to answer now, began using his magic instead, several shots of fire later and the group had beaten the impending hoard. They all turned to Milo.
"Anything in your little book say anything about creatures that turn men into more of their own?" The older man didn't wait for a response as he turned to Jayson with a fire in his eyes.
"And you! What was that hocus pocus mumbo jumbo you just pulled off?" Jayson winced, knowing this would happen, he sighed before speaking.
"Before I answer that, can I ask some questions of my own after I tell you?" The man nodded and Jayson continued,
"So, I'm a guardian, I help people who need my help, those creatures are what I deal with, you can defeat them, but they won't go away permanently unless I use this," He flourishes his Keyblade into his hand. "It's called a Keyblade, it can open any lock and I need to find a seal a lock hidden somewhere in this world, or else this place is going to be destroyed." They all blinked at him several times, Milo spoke up first,
"Well, I can't not believe in what I saw with my own eyes, if you can help us survive the trip then I'm fine with letting him on board."
"But what if it's a trap? He said he had amnesia when he first woke up, I don't think that's something we can overlook!" The blonde woman spoke calmly, but the doctor seemed amused.
"Honestly? He helped us fight those monsters, so I say he's fine, but I won't trust him."
"You don't have to trust me; I'm going to help regardless. and It seems like I'm stuck here anyways, now can we answer some of my questions?" Milo snorted before quickly trying to cover it up. Everyone rolled their eyes and the older man responded,
"Within reason, now ask."
"Who are you people? And what's your mission?" Milo responded quickly,
"I'm Milo, the doctor is Joshua Strongbear Sweet, the mustached man is Vincenzo Santorini, but you can call him 'Vinny', the mole guy is Gaetan, but we just call him 'The Mole', the blonde woman is Helga Katrina Sinclair, and the older gentleman is Commander Lyle Tiberius Rourke. We're looking for the lost city of Atlantis using this book!" Milo lifts the book up for Jayson to see, and quickly Jayson can read the page, it mentions something about a guardian of the city they must pass in order to get in.
"That's… interesting, so when's the guardian gonna show up?" The crew looks at him, astonished, he turns to them, uneasy. "What? is there something in my teeth?"
"No, it's just that, the book is written in Atlantean, Milo spent years of studying just to be able to read it, and here you are, just read the page like it was second nature to you!" The doctor smacked Jayson on the back, knocking the wind out of him and he chuckled nervously as a result. Milo looked just as astonished and slightly… hurt, but before anyone could say anything else the submarine rocked hard after being hit by something. A giant mass swam past the window and Jayson dismissed his Keyblade, looking worried.
"Guess we just found our guardian."
GummiPhone entries:
Milo: A meek man with a large intelligence and a knack of the unknown and supernatural, he guides the expedition to Atlantis with an ancient book filled with Knowledge.
Joshua Strongbear Sweet: The doctor of the expedition, a kind man with a big heart and a sharp hacksaw.
Vincenzo 'Vinny' Santorini: The Demolitions expert on the expedition, he uses sticks of dynamite to blow up his enemies.
Gaetan 'The Mole': While Vinny uses demolitions to carve a path, Gaetan uses drills and his hands to dig his way to his destination, he collects dirt and is very inappropriate.
Helga Katrina Sinclair: Second in command of the expedition to Atlantis, she seems levelheaded and calm.
Commander Lyle Tiberius Rourke: The commander of the expedition to Atlantis, he is suspicious of Jayson, and he seems to harbor some secrets of his own…
The Guardian: An Atlantean guard for one of the entrances to Atlantis.