Chapter 16

Jayson began to sprint outside of the Palace, tracing his steps back from when he was brought up from the strange room, he landed in. As he made his way down, he passed Milo and Kida, bringing them up to speed as quickly as possible.

"We can help you!"

"No, Milo, if they're going after the Keyhole that means that the Commander is about to burst, he's filled with darkness, and you're the only one who can stop him!"

"W-what? Me!?"

"Yes, you! Now go! You can do it, I promise! We all believe in you!" And without saying anything else, he ran further down the stairs. Once Jayson had made his way back into the room. He noticed the faces were split apart from the crystal, hanging by the tops of their faces and billowing outwards. Fearing the worst, Jayson pulled out his Keyblade and pointed it towards the crystal. It responded with a glow of its own, and the Keyhole appeared, though it wouldn't seal like the others. Suddenly a voice spoke inside his mind.

There is someone inside the Keyhole, you must make haste, will we answer your questions as soon as you cross the threshold, please, hurry! Jayson didn't know how to do what they were asking, but he was suddenly enveloped in a bright blue light and lifted in the air. His mind began filling with memories, he was running through a town with his friends, a white-haired boy and a long black-haired girl, they all had Keyblades, everyone did. Then the War came. Their unions divided them up and fought for light selfishly. The visions came and went but they all processed in his mind one single thing: "I'm from before the first Keyblade war…" Jayson's vision began to blur into white until he was standing before five figures, four wearing robes and masks, with the one in the center wearing a dark cloak. Two of those masks he recognized as Invi and Aced. the other two, the Leopard and Unicorn, must be Gula and Ira, though he didn't really know which was which. At first Jayson didn't think they were real, until he was launched in the air faster than he could blink. He heard Invi shout a spell, but his senses immediately dulled, and he felt everything around him speed up. She had just cast Stopza on him as if it had cost nothing. He could feel the other four beating on him with their Keyblades, but he knew the pain would come soon, and no sooner than he thought that did the thousands of blows rain down on him and he was blasted to near unconsciousness. Someone screamed, he thought it was probably him as the last thing he saw before complete and utter darkness was Luxu summoning a shadow heartless, grabbing it by its antenna and tossing it into the void, as they left the world was engulfed with Darkness. He had failed, Jayson had failed to save this world and he knew that he was dead now, he let his mind drift slowly away as he thought of what to do next…

On the main island of The Land of Departure, Lea sat with Roxas and Xion, all eating their sea salt ice cream bars as they bantered about the days, they had spent training. When a white flash suddenly engulfed the sky, and a meteor plummeted down from the heavens into the training grounds, causing a loud explosion of dirt and darkness. They rushed towards the impact and when Lea saw what lay in the epicenter he gasped.

"Roxas, Xion, both of you get Aqua and round up the other guardians, now! We got a wounded wielder on our hands!" They did as he asked as he scrambled down into the center, cradling Jayson in his arms.

"Holy depths of Hades, kid, what happened to you?!" There were gashes nearly everywhere on his body, he was beaten, bruised and it looked like he had choked on some vomit at some point. Lea cast as many cures as he could on the kid before shouldering him and rushing him towards the castle. He knew there were some Elixirs in the infirmary for bad fights, but they may just have to use their whole supply to keep him stable! He rushed blindingly past several wielders, who gazed on in curiosity until he rounded a corner, then went back to their training.

"Bless everything, the infirmary!" He rushed inside and nearly tossed Jayson onto the cot, screaming at the attendant moogles,

"Craft as many Elixirs and Megalixirs as you can and shove them down this Kids gullet!" As they rushed to meet the demands Roxas, Xion, as well as Ventus, Aqua and Terra all burst through the doors, screaming in equal parts shock and disgust at the state he had been left in.

After several hours and manyElixir later, Jayson was finally in a stable condition. However, he wasn't waking up, no matter what they tried, he just wouldn't budge. They decided to wait to see if he woke up naturally before trying anything drastic.

Then the screaming started.

It happened on the second night of his stay, Aqua had taken first watch of him and was blasted awake by the noise. Jayson began to writhe and grasp at the air, screaming names at the top of his lungs that Aqua had never heard before. He also began screaming about failing someone, or something, and soon enough his screams died down to small whimpering. But they were still just as painful to hear coming from a boy who, last, she had seen, had been so full of determination and life. After a long night of repeated screaming and cries for help, Lea decided to take the next watch over him, resting during the day to prepare him for whatever was to come.

Later that night the screaming began once more, it hurt Lea on a level deeper than anything he's felt in a long while, he gave the kid advice. He felt as if his advice led him to this point. If I can't help the kid by sitting here, maybe I could investigate his dreams, see what's bothering him so much, it wasn't that hard when we did it to rescue Sora, right? Determined to help Jayson wake up, Lea concentrated with all his might on transferring to the sleeping realm, not sure of what he would face.

GummiPhone Entries:

Stopza: The highest tier of Stop magic. It is considered a grand magic and its mana cost is so great that most masters can't use it.

Land of Departure: The other training ground for Keyblade wielders. Aqua, Terra, and Ventus teach most of the classes, but Lea and the other guardians help from time to time as well.

Elixir: The strongest form of healing outside of Zetta Cure, it restores as much stamina and magic as the user can muster to heal at the time, usually it's a full heal, but in critical conditions it can only do so much before being ineffective.

Realm of Sleep: A mysterious realm where restored worlds sometimes reside, as they are too weak to fully return, and require a Keyblade wielder to give it the extra push to fully awaken. Riku and Sora took their Mark of Mastery exam in this realm. Sora needed to be rescued by the end of it.

Mark of Mastery: A test used to find Keyblade wielders who can take on the mantle of "Keyblade Master". Most of the guardians have achieved this status, except for Roxas, Xion, and Jayson. Sora was made an honorary master after the second Keyblade War.