Chapter 20
As Jayson awoke later the next day, he could hear birds chirping outside and the sounds of kids running amok in the hallways. Though bleary-eyed, he noticed that his sleep wasn't marred with the usual strange dreams or visions of the past like it normally was. He stretched and after getting washed up and dressed for the journey ahead, heard a knock at his door. He opened it to reveal a small child, maybe seven or eight, she had silvery white hair and red eyes with flecks of gold sprinkled in. Her skin was a caramel color and she had on a small shirt and shorts. She looked around bashfully before speaking in a soft voice,
"Ven-Ven said he wants you to come get lunch before you head out on your adventure…" Jayson smiled and patted her head.
"Thanks for coming to tell me, have you hand lunch yet?" The girl shook her head and followed Jayson, correcting him when he veered off track and after about ten minutes, they finally made it to the mess hall. As they entered Ventus saw them and waved them over. He thanked the girl, named Penelope, and she skipped away happily towards her friends. As Jayson sat down next to Ventus he spoke,
"You've got a worse case of sleeping in than Lea does!" Ventus chuckled at his own bit of banter before digging into his lunch. Jayson did the same and small talk ensued. He was the first to broach the topic of travel,
"So, how are we getting to other worlds? I have my portals, and I'm sure we can both use them, but if you have any other options, I'd be willing to hear them." Ventus chewed on his food thoughtfully before answering.
"I thay we uthe the portals, ifth you're worried about darkneth, just usthe the armor, it wards it off." Jayson began laughing at Ventus' innate lack of table manners before eating his own food in kind.
"Awrite! We'll uthe the portals!" Jayson waved his fork around for added effect and it had the both boys rolling with laughter. The conversation died down to small talk once more as the meal went on, after finishing his plate Ventus excused himself to go pack the rest of his things and left the table. Jayson left shortly after, heading towards the main entrance only to find Terra of all people standing near the door, looking around before his eyes fell onto Jayson's. He uncrossed his arms and approached, the mountain of a man imposing and menacing as the natural serious set of his face didn't let up as he neared the boy.
"I don't know all that much about Ven's past, but you were a part of it, right?" Jayson only nodded, he had bit's and pieces, but not a whole lot to go off of, he knew the major points, anyways. The war, the infighting, the Foretellers being mysterious. "Good, then you should already know that you should protect him at all costs, cause knowing him, he'll try to take a death blow for you…" The older man's eyes lost some of its luster. Jayson put an arm up to his bicep, since he only reached the older wielder's broad shoulders, and gave him a massive smile.
"I promise to protect Ventus with all my heart, no matter what!" Terra saw another boy at that moment, however, and was too stunned to speak as Ventus came riding down the bannister of the stairs, hooting loudly that he was ready. As the two young wielders walked away from the shocked Terra, he could only think to himself: "It's almost like… Having Sora back…"
As Jayson opened the portal out in the courtyard, he and Ventus slammed their palms down on their pauldrons and changed into their Keyblade Armor. They turned to each other and nodded silently as they walked over the threshold, and into the sea of darkness that awaited beyond.
GummiPhone Entries:
Penelope: One of the many, many wielders that live and train in the castle of the Land of Departure, she's part of Ventus' group of trainees. She is seven. She also likes to refer to Ventus as "Ven-Ven". She is also 7 years old.