Chapter 11: New Powers, Old Friends.

(Giegue Cluster; World Sanctuary, Dalaam)

The eight of them appeared on top of a floating island. Link and Zelda looked around with fascinated interest, while Akira just seemed confused.

"So...I'm guessing that it doesn't matter what universe we're in...Dalaam will remain more or less the same?" he asked.

"You'd be correct...I believe that in your world it was a mountain town, here, the powers of PSI have allowed it to become a floating country. Moon replied, citizens in Dalaam had taken notice to the eight of them now here with puzzled looks on their faces.

"This place is marvelous." Zelda said in awe. "To think that a whole floating island could be created just like that. This place is magical and wonderful.

Sarah felt something brush against her leg, she looked down to see the blue eyes Mr. Saturn with a green bow in its one strand of hair brushing its nose against her.

"Zoom!" it cheered. "Hello Momma Sarah! Hello Father Moon!"

Sarah smiled and picked the creature up, nuzzling her nose against its body. "Hello Astro." she said sweetly. "But...where's Dyson...or Petra?"

"Zoom!"

"Young Astro." A boy with a deep tanish skin color wearing a karate uniform with a mostly bald head save for his black braided ponytail approached them. He blinked in confusion for a bit before nodding his head.

"Ah, Friend Moon, Friend Sarah, I was unaware that you had finished your ordeal with the Super Smash Brothers...I assume that I should be addressing you-" Moon shot him a hush stare, making him fall quiet.

"We aren't here to stay." Moon replied, then, out of nowhere, he vomited up his blood, Sarah followed, after turning her head away from the Mr. Saturn in her arms.

The boy's expression changed quickly. "Well, you both know where to find Petra," he said calmly. "Who are our guests?"

"Queen Zelda and King Link of Hyrule," Moon said. "Akira Starr, Sapphire's son."

The boy nodded. "Please, hurry to my wife," he said calmly. "She was just making an extra dose, so you'll be able to get the rest you'll need quickly. I will see our guests are comfortable."

Sarah handed Astro to Paula before both of them ran inside of the grand palace that was standing behind them. Once they had disappeared the boy turned back to them.

"Friend Ness, Friend Paula, Friend Lucas," the boy said, bowing to them. "I am sincerely thankful that you three are all safe. When Friend Moon told us what had happened, Friend Poo wanted to go aid you...which we had to shoot down. Having Friend Paula with them was already bad enough."

"Where is Poo anyway?" Ness asked.

"Friend Poo is still undergoing a bit of training. I believe he said something about meeting up with Friends Jeff and Erick in Winters for a...hypothermic meditation?...is that what meditating at the bottom of an icy lake would be called?"

"Um…" Link said, alerting the four of them back to the other three's presence.

"Forgive me," the boy said to them. "I am Dyson, I was the Prince of Dalaam in my homeworld, since it's destruction, as I'm sure you are aware, I serve as an advisor to Prince Poo, my wife Petra and I are close friends of Friends Moon and Sarah...Petra plays a role with helping them deal with...their dark sides...I hate to take your time away, but if Friend Moon brought you here, it is best you stay here. You are free to look around if you wish. We will come find you if we need to."

"So...I guess that's that then." Ness said as Dyson took Astro from Paula and walked back inside of the palace. "We could show you around if you wanted."

"Um...Ness, forgive me." Zelda said. "But...is there any possible way I could learn about Moon? He's uh...he's been acting weird around me."

"Well...if I remember correctly, Moon and Sarah have entirely redecorated one room of the Palace for their visits here...they often use it to come and deal with matters involving themselves. You can probably find some stuff in there. It's actually down the hall behind the throne...just uh...if anyone asks...make sure you make it very clear that Moon brought you here...we've uh...had issues with his privacy in the past with citizens here."

"Thank you." Zelda replied kindly. "Come Link."

The two made their way down the hall, which was solid gold covered by a royal red carpet. They made their way past a large gold and ivory throne in the center of the next room towards an actual door within the palace, it wasn't elegant or royal...in fact, it actually looked out of place. It was just a wooden door with a brass knob, compared to the solid gold and silver that made up the walls and floors of the palace, it was very weird.

"Zelda, sweetie." she turned her head towards Link, her husband had a look of hesitation in his eyes...something that was usually impossible to see at any point in their...however many years of existence.

"Zelda...why do you feel the need to trouble yourself with the boy's past?" Link asked. "It's been eating away at you for a long time, and you've never bothered to tell anyone why. Not to mention, Moon is usually very private about whatever he does from what we've seen, and he doesn't take kindly to others poking at him. Just because he and his friends were booted from their homeworld do to a misunderstanding doesn't mean that-" he fell silent at Zelda's look of horror from his words.

"Zelda?"

"Misunderstanding?" she said in shock. "L-Link...the Triforce of Wisdom said they're entire world is destroyed, left uninhabitable, they were forced out because they didn't have anywhere else to go...didn't Ness explain that to you at those meetings where you were voting?!"

"Ness was unable to attend most of the voting meetings." Link replied. "He was only able to make it to the last one."

"You had 12 voting meetups over the course of only 2 weeks! You're telling me Ness was unable to attend for 11 out of 14 days? Why? He's never that busy!"

"I don't recall the reason...but we were legally allowed to continue without Ness as it was an issue relating to his cluster."

"Alright but...you were still lied to!" Zelda said. "They're world is destroyed! They can't go home because there is no home for them...that's why they're here."

"Zelda, for as tragic as that may be, there is nothing I...or anyone else, can do about it. I was talking with Byleth earlier. He's also been acting quite strange since Moon showed up with him. I was asking him what the deal was with Moon...it seemed as if Moon had been more confining in him than others."

"What did he say?" Zelda asked.

"You know, typical Byleth things, he said that he knows Moon's potential and that he was simply making good with an ally...whatever that's supposed to mean. He also said something about how Edelgard would be wanting him to do it, and that it'd be stupid to not play good with Moon. Not only that, but he also seems to be investigating...I think he's under the impression that Moon is actually from his world. Not that I seem to recall any blond hair blue eyes sword users with magical abilities ever surfacing from his world."

"Well, regardless of what you think Link, I still wish to know what is up with him." Zelda replied. She opened the door to the room and the two walked inside.

The inside of the room was fairly large, not as large as the many other rooms within the palace that they had seen thus far. However, it was still quite large, a royal bed was placed in the center back, being an elegant shade of sapphire blue on the right, and amethyst purple on the left. On the left side of the bed, there was a smaller bed, presumably for Astro. Around the room, there were several different objects that they couldn't quite place their fingers on for comprehension. Such as a pink teddy bear, which sat on the purple side of the bed, a black stuffed wolf on the blue side.

Around the room, there were even more objects and a few desks, compared to the rest of the palace, you'd think this room was a part of a normal house. Hung up on the wall was a silver frying pan with a purple star in the center. An ocean wave pendant hung next to that, alongside a crescent moon pendant and flame pendant as well.

Zelda looked around the room curiously, seeing as this was not the primary place where Moon and Sarah lived, it would make sense that not everything of importance would be here. Then, her eye caught something, above a small dresser there was a large framed portrait, the same portrait that the Triforce of Wisdom had shown to her, the one that showed Moon, Sarah, Astro, and their friends in Saturn Valley, on the dresser, there was a framed six by four photo of a girl with curly, flaming red hair. She had soft green eyes, and wore an olive green sweater with a white skirt.

Curiously, she opened the drawer to the dresser, inside, there was one fairly sizable light pink book. She took the book out and opened it, inside, she found a picture of Moon, standing outside a place that she could only assume was his house. He was with a woman who she assumed was his mother, a younger girl that she recognized as Tracey because of Ness, and a sheepish looking old dog.

Link looked over her shoulder and at the book. "Moon uh...looks rather...sad." he said. It was true, despite being next to his family, he seemed depressed. It was just him, with a rather emotionless face, he also carried a baseball bat instead of his sword.

She turned the page, on the left side, it showed Moon on his own now, he was in front of a bicycle shop, once again, he still didn't look happy, it still seemed as if he was nervous and depressed about something. On the left, it showed him in front of some wooden shack, this time however, Sarah was with him. While she looked nervous but also excited as she clutched a pink teddy bear, Moon looked a bit less upset than he had in the last two photos.

The next page showed Moon and Sarah in front of some sort of theatre. Moon, for the first time, had a smile, however, it was a rather weak one, almost like he was faking it, he also had his fingers out doing some sort of peace symbol. Sarah still had her teddy bear in her arms. The next photo showed the two of them, pretty puch copy and pasted, however, they were in front of a large tent in a rather gloomy looking town, there also appeared to be a zombie in the background of the photo.

The next three photos showed a boy with raven black hair, glasses, hazel brown eyes, and green dress suit. This was most likely Erick. In one photo, it was him, alongside a girl with light brown hair and dress that was similar to his suit. In the other two he was accompanied by a pink monkey in, one taken on a snowy peninsula with a purple loch ness monster in the background, the other in a cave by a sign. In both photos, the boy gave a thumbs up.

Then, there was a photo of Moon, Sarah and Erick, they were back in the gloomy looking town around a gravestone for someone named Satoru Iwata. Moon looked a bit happier and was still giving the peace sign, Erick giving the thumbs up, and Sarah had Moon's other arm around her holding her close. The monkey was nowhere to be seen.

The next couple of photos were all similar to the gravestone photo, only by a waterfall, in front of a mine, inside of a department store, and in front of a museum. The photo following that, showed Moon, Sarah, Erick, and Dyson in front of the royal palace they were now in. A girl with chocolate brown hair and eyes, wearing a yellow dress gown and a ruby crested tiara was also with them. The next photo showed just the four of them, now in front of a pyramid, Moon actually looked very happy in this photo. The next showed them in front of a large stone structure with a moss topped head and eye holes.

The next photo showed them with some cute little green creatures with twig-like arms. It seemed as if damage had been done however, as Moon's face looked rather stone cold, even if he was smiling, the girl from the palace photo was also with them. The final photo was the same one hung above the dresser. The one with all seven of them.

Zelda closed the book and put it back in the drawer, though there were no words in the photo album, Moon's facial expressions progressively got more happy throughout the book, meaning that he had shown great development and growth. The thought made her sad as she realized that this meant there was probably a time when he wasn't really sure about what he was doing, or if he would be a good person in the end.

"I'm sorry to bother you two...but...I must inform you that you are poking around with private property."

Link and Zelda turned to face a girl, like Dyson, she looked about a year older than Moon, Sarah, Erick, and the other brown haired girl from the photos. She wore a yellow dress gown, and ruby crested tiara, she had long chocolate brown hair that reached down to the center of where her waist would be, and her soft chocolate brown eyes looked at them with a caring expression, something that Dyson's eyes sort of lacked.

The girl did a little curtsey in front of them before approaching them. "You must be King Link and Queen Zelda." she said calmly. "I am Petra, ex-princess of Dalaam and wife of Dyson. It is a great honor to finally meet you."

"Weren't you supposed to be helping Moon and Sarah?" Link asked.

"I have finished my appointment with them, they are now resting up before they can head back out. Ness has told me that you wish to learn more about Moon. I have some information that pertains to use and importance to you. I can try to answer any questions that you may have."

Zelda looked at Link, her husband merely shrugged before nodding at her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before turning back to Petra.

"The girl in this photograph." she asked. "Moon showed me a memory with her...who is she?"

Petra seemed to flinch at that question. "Moon wishes to keep this information private, as he still struggles to cope with himself. However, given that I would have to explain her to you eventually, there is no point in hiding it." she sighed.

"Her name is Olive." Petra continued. "She was technically Moon's only friend until he met us. She spent the five years before Moon's adventure helping him try and cope with his dark side. Moon says he has told you about that. Anyway, if Olive hadn't stepped in, Moon would've killed himself under the amount of torture his own dark side inflicted on him as a child."

"I uh...I notice that she's the only one to not appear in any photo inside of the photo album or in that big picture of you guys in Saturn Valley." Link said. "What's up with that?"

"Olive was...murdered." Petra said hesitantly. "The Pokey from our world killed her right in front of Moon. Ever since then, Moon's kind of become the way you now know him. It's uh...it's not easy for him...Dark Moon uses her to torment him with visions, hallucinations, and voices."

"Moon doesn't seem like the type to be tormented by visions...frankly, the way he acts, it sounds like he'd just sit there, unfazed, because they aren't real." Link said, folding his arms. "He shouldn't care about her, much like he does everyone else."

Petra's eyes formed a bit of a glare. "Just because he acts like he doesn't care about something, doesn't mean he does." she scoffed. "Sure, Giygas may have destroyed his ability to care for anyone naturally, but that doesn't mean he can't learn, it's already bad enough that his mental and physical stability is slowly deteriorating as he helps all of you. The last thing he needs is more people jumping to conclusions about him and Sarah. You should actually be thankful that your life is tied to Zelda's, otherwise you'd be in grave danger if Dark Moon were to take control of your situation."

"Why does our linked life have anything to do with our safety, Moon told me that everyone would suffer if Dark Moon was in control."

"He lied about that...partially." Petra replied. "If you'd let me finish, you'll know that anyone who Moon does care about is unable to be harmed by his dark side. People like me, Sarah, Erick, and Dyson, have grown close with him. Ness, Paula, Lucas, and several others within our cluster serve as technical copycats of each other, therefore, they meet the same requirements. Akira is, by the weird logic of multiversal laws, Moon and Sarah's son, therefore, he can't be harmed either. Then there's you Zelda."

"So...what you are saying...is that if Moon were to revert to his dark side...he couldn't harm my wife?" Link asked.

"He can't harm either of you. Because your lives are connected Dark Moon is unable to kill either of you without killing the other one. If that wasn't the case, only Zelda would be safe, but since you two are...how should I say...soul linked...you both are safe."

"But...why me?" Zelda asked. "What makes me so different from everyone else."

"If I had to guess, it would be because you've shown him compassion and kindness. Even when he tries to push you away, you still try to show him you care."

"If that's all it takes to make Moon care about you...then could we not just all do that?" Link asked.

"Not quite." Petra said. "Your compassion has to be genuine...and with someone like Moon, it's very easy to tell when people do it out of fear or for their own personal gain...it's why he doesn't want the Smash Brothers to know...because then...he'd have to assume that everyone was faking their kindness."

Both Link and Zelda looked at each other. Then, they looked back at Petra. "So...what does that mean for us?" Zelda asked.

"Well, in the event something pushes Moon and Sarah over the edge...you and your husband would be able to retreat back to World Courage without worry. Any villain that Dark Moon aligns with will be given strict orders to not harm anyone who he can't harm himself. Anyone who did defy his orders would most likely be executed on the spot...You both have a gift that many people would kill for...I can only ask that you don't throw it away...Good day to the both of you." Petra did another curtsey before walking out of the room.

"Concentrate friend Moon, it is essential that you master this power at once!" Dyson said calmly. "If you wish to even have a chance of standing up to more powerful smash competitors, you need to master this power...we've been training you for this for months now." Both boys were standing in a training grounds room with several weapons hanging on the wall, there were sparring dummies and other types of equipment, like targets. Sarah sat down by the wall, watching them with interest.

"I'm...I'm trying." Moon grunted. "You've alway made it look so easy...why am I struggling?"

"The mastering of any sort of PSI that allows one to shapeshift is not easy friend Moon." Dyson replied. "Even with training, I still struggle to make Mirror function as it should. Even then, I'm giving you training to master PSI Mirror, which may not even be the shapeshifting power you have. We know it is possible for you to do this. Just...concentrate and relax."

Moon let out a sigh before taking a deep breath, concentrating his thoughts. Suddenly, a black and blue light surrounded his body. The light flashed very brightly, making both Dyson and Sarah cover their eyes, when they looked back, a wolf with black fur and blue eyes stood on all fours where Moon had been, on the wolf's back, there was a marking that looked similar to a sword with a blue blade and green hilt. On the wolf's front paws, there were several scars.

"Good work friend Moon." Dyson said. "Now...see if you can change into something else. If you transform in an already existing form, that will be most useful!"

The wolf nodded, another bright flash of blue and black light saw a 9 foot tall dragon with black scaly skin and hunting knife tail, with dead blue eyes in the room. On both of its large wings, there were markings of the sword. Then, in another flash of black and blue light, Moon was standing in the same position, Saphria had fallen to the ground.

Moon let out a sigh as he picked Saphria up off the ground. "I know." he said before Dyson could say anything. "I want to master all my abilities as well...if I'm going to fight a god...it'd be best to go in as strong as possible."

"Enemy Palutena is not going to be an easy foe for you to deal with." Dyson said. "Not to mention, that you'll most likely get teamed up on by other competitors. I believe you were telling me about something that had to deal with the ten competitors you'd be concerned about?"

"Yeah." Moon muttered. "The ten strongest smash competitors. Thankfully, the way I've been playing, I shouldn't have to worry about some of them."

"Remind me again...who would you be facing against?"

"Assuming my calculations and research are correct, in order from strongest to weakest, Kirby, Shulk, Bayonetta, the damn goddess, Ness, Ganondorf, Sonic, Samus, Mewtwo, then Ridley."

"We can mark off Friend Ness immediately though." Dyson said, folding his arms.

"We can also count on Ganon and Ridley not wanting a shot at it. Mewtwo probably won't want to pick a fight either. Assuming I've worked my ways well enough, Meta Knight will probably order Kirby not to fight either...Everyone else though."

"It would be hard for you...Samus and Bayonetta did help you...are you sure this is the right thing to do?"

Moon closed his eyes as he held Saphria in front of him. "Like Byleth and Edelgard, Sarah and I made a promise, we would fix these problems...no matter how dangerous or destructive or deadly it may be...I just…" his voice trailed off and became quiet. "Forgive me Dyson," he said. "There is something I need to do...alone...Sarah...stay here with Astro."

He walked out of the room and down through the royal hall. It was there that he came across Akira, who was sitting down, looking bored out of his mind. He approached the boy and tapped him on the shoulder. Akira looked up at him curiously.

"Time to go?" he asked.

"Not...Not quite." Moon replied. "Do...you uh...do you want to go home?" he asked.

Akira seemed to just blink in shock. "Um...why do you ask?"

"I...wanted to do something before we returned to the Imperium Cluster...and...since I need to go to World Hearts for it...I just thought I'd give you the option to see your mother."

(World Hearts)

Akira brought Moon up to a house somewhere off in the distance. It was...well...Moon wasn't sure how to describe it.

"Looks like there's no preschool duty today, thankfully." Akira said calmly. "Why did you want to come here again? I already told you where my father's grave is."

Moon's face flushed red. "It's uh...it's complicated," he said.

Akira shrugged and opened the door to the house. The two walked inside and towards the Living room. In the living room, a woman sat looking through a photo album. She wore a pink dress and her long golden hair was down to her waist. In all honesty, she looked like Sarah was twenty two years or so older. Akira approached the woman and tapped her on the shoulder. She looked up to his smiling face. Then, she sprung up and gave him a hug.

"Hey Mom." Akira managed to gasp out.

"Welcome home honey." she replied. "I didn't expect that Super Smash tournament to be over so soon."

"It's uh...it's not over." Akira said sheepishly, "We uh...ran into a problem...I'm only here for a short while...not much has changed...plus...that's not the main reason I'm here...I um...I found someone that may surprise you."

The woman stopped hugging him and looked over at Moon. Her eyes widened at the sight of him.

"Akira." she said calmly. "Could you...leave me alone." Akira nodded and left the room.

Moon gave an uncomfortable smile to her. "Hello Willow." he said.

"Hello to you as well." Willow replied. "If...if you came here looking for Sapph...he's um…" She didn't seem to be able to bring herself to say it.

"Dead...yeah, Akira told me...how have you been?"

"It's uh...It's been rough." Willow replied. "But, I've been holding strong, it's what Sapphire would've wanted me to do." the two stood there in an uncomfortable silence.

"So...did you uh...did you come here to kill me?" Willow asked after a while.

"You always were one for dark humor." Moon said, giving a weird sort of smile. "It's strange...I always wanted to see you and Sapphire again...now that I'm here...I don't have anything to say to you."

Willow smiled. "I understand that completely." she said. "Sapph and I always wanted to see you and Sarah again...even if you did...threaten to kill us. But, thanks to Anthony and Noct, we've come to take away a lot from our encounter with you. Sapphire would always tell Akira about your heroes not getting their happily ever after when we found out about the phantom thieves thing. I used that same statement to help Akira after Sapph died."

"I would've thought that you all would've forgotten about what I said." Moon replied. "No offense, but even towards the end of your adventure, you still had those childish aspects to you all."

"Believe me, for a long time, I always wanted to give you a little payback for what you did to Sapph. But, you and Sarah, you opened up our eyes to something, you praying for us was probably the last thing we ever expected."

"Oh...you uh...you heard all that." Moon said.

"Hey, if the Son of Giygas was willing to pray for our safety and apologize after nearly destroying us...then anything seemed possible...but enough about me...I want to ask you a few things...like, how did you meet up with my son?"

"So...um...Sarah and I are sort of helping the Super Smash Brothers, who have all been captured and placed under Giygas' influence."

"Did you come here to ask for my help then? Ant, Noct, and I would be happy to help you."

"No," Moon replied. "It's uh...it's getting dangerous," he said. "I feel obligated to help protect your son and anyone else from our cluster...which I don't really have the time to explain. In fact, I better start heading back to my ever loving decay into insanity. Hopefully I'll make it through all that. If uh...if Akira were to ever tell you what happens...I hope you won't think less of me."

Willow smiled. "Your instincts have helped you so far." she said. "No matter what you may become, whether you become a god or just return to what you've done. You'll always be better than Giygas, no matter what anyone tells you. Just remember that if you're ever feeling down."

Moon tipped the brim of his blue baseball hat down over his head. "Thanks Willow," he said. "I uh...I wrote you and Sapphire this letter a while back. If you ever want to read it, I'll leave it by the memorial you made in your house...I saw it on the way in. I'm going to add my own things there out of respect, then, Akira and I best be off."

Willow followed him down the hall. He approached a small room. It was mostly empty, within the room, there was a table with several different things that Moon recognized, like Sapphire's red hat, his baseball bat Casey, leaning against the side of the table. The Franklin badge, A pink Teddy Bear, a green yo-yo, and three photos, in the center was Sapphire with Willow and Akira, on the left was Sapphire with his family, and the last one showed Sapphire, Willow, Anthony and Noct as kids, then as grown ups. There were also a few posters of people like ACDC and a guitar. Lastly, there was just one giant portrait of Sapphire hanging above the table.

Moon walked up to the table and looked up at the portrait.

"I know that I'm about a year or so too late to say this, but, I'm going to forever regret that I couldn't see you again." he said, fighting down an evident urge to cry. "I promise, I'll make sure Akira returns to Willow." He placed the letter on the table and then placed his hand on the table, a bit of orange light flashed and a large sapphire gem now laid on the table.

"You're probably rolling your eyes up there...but...well...I just thought it was nice."

He shuffled his feet as he looked up at the portrait again. Then, from off in the distance, he heard Willow singing.

"Take a melody

Simple as can be

Give it some words and

Sweet harmony

Raise your voices

All day long now

Love grows strong now

Sing a melody of love

Oh Love."

Taking one last deep breath, Moon looked up at the portrait.

"Reach for my hand,

I'll soar away

Into the dawn,

Oh, I wish I could stay

Here in cherished halls,

In peaceful days

I fear the edge of dawn,

Knowing time betrays."

Moon stopped singing. "I think that's enough," he said. "I've got a Multiverse to save."

That's all for today's chapter, I hope you all enjoyed it. Sure, it was more or less filler, but I needed something to do with everyone who could not make an appearance in this story. The last song sang within this chapter is a few lyrics from a song in a different game, I would've done the whole thing as the song really fits Moon's personality, but, it may or may not have had spoilers.

Speaking of which, the first three chapters of Bound By Our Desires have been posted by Phoenix, I somehow failed to mention that for the past 5 or so chapters...my bad. I communicated with Phoenix a bit for this chapter's development, so hopefully I did it right. Whether any of the stuff I've done or mentioned makes it into Bound By Our Desires is up to Phoenix.

Anyway, I've been left to do my own stuff recently and I'm still managing to get these chapters out. Hopefully everyone has been enjoying this series as I've been looking forward to posting this. A lot was predetermined, however, I kept an open mindset to our DLC reps, which is why Byleth and Joker have gotten a lot of attention.

Well, not much more to say, check out Bound By Our Desires if you want, the story's been really good so far. Leave a review letting me know what you think, and I'll see you all next time.