After the two men split from the group, the group made their way through the small town that was at the base of a large temple that was built into the Mountain called Bur-Omisace. Yue had to pull the two teens from the sights and the valleys below.
"Woah!" Sora said as he continued to look down from the temple plaza.
"You would never see something like this back on Destiny Island…" Mitsu said as she too continued to look down.
"Alright, children you can sightsee another time. We have important business to attend to," Balthier commented behind them.
"Oh right! S-Sorry," Mitsu stuttered as she pulled Sora from the plaza and to the temple doors.
"You two are like tourists," Yue muttered.
"I heard that," Sora scoffed.
As the group entered the temple, Mitsu felt her body tense and halted in her step outside of the temple. Sora, Yue and the others continued into the grand temple oblivious to Mitsu behind them.
"Why…am I hesitating?" Mitsu thought to herself as she watched the others disappear into the temple.
"Hesitation is usually a sign of fear," A voice came from behind her.
Mitsu quickly looked over her shoulder and turned as she saw a cloaked figure behind her.
"Who are you?" Mitsu asked cautiously, her heart drummed in her chest as she stared at the cloaked person. There was something about the person that felt familiar and yet unknown at the same time. She quickly rubbed her eyes to confirm that she was seeing an illusion and that she was talking to herself.
No. The person was really in front of her
"You are afraid girl…you are afraid of the darkness that lingers around your heart," the person spoke again.
"Wait what does that mean? Are you from my dream-?" Mitsu began but a large serpent-like creature that seemed to soar through the skies and towards her location but quickly ducked behind the mountainous pillars and clouds in the distance. She had focused on the creature for a split second and then back to the cloaked person.
"He's gone…" Mitsu thought to herself.
How far will you go? To change your destiny?
The person's voice spoke to her as if they were next to her, Mitsu turned to where the voice would have come from and found no one. Distraught, Mitsu clenched her hands into fists as she looked to where she last saw the cloaked figure.
"Am I afraid?" Mitsu murmured to herself.
"Mitsu,"
Startled, Mitsu spun around to face who had called her. "Yue. What's up?" smiled slightly.
"What are you doing out here?" Yue asked as he stood near her.
"Just...enjoying the view. You don't get to see a lot of mountains on Destiny…Island." Mitsu hesitated. Yue looked down at the blue-haired girl curiously.
"What happened?" Yue asked causing the girl to look up at him confused.
"I'm not stupid Mitsu,"
"I said I was enjoying the view. Nothing happened to me," Mitsu crossed her arms and looked defiantly up at the man. Yue stared down at the girl with a stern look.
"But I did see something flying in the distance…it looked like a serpent-like creature…or whatever," Mitsu added.
Unamused by the girl's attempt to hide whatever had happened to her, he crossed his arms and tapped his foot.
"Don't give me that look, you're not my dad," Mitsu huffed.
"I am still responsible for you regardless," Yue replied.
"What are you supposed to be? My knight in shining armor?" Mitsu scoffed.
"That's Riku's job, not mine," Yue quipped. Almost immediately, Mitsu's face turned a bright red.
"So my suspicions were correct," Yue smirked.
"You—" Mitsu began when suddenly Yue pulled her to him and quickly flourished his lance.
Show me how far you are willing to go.
The cloaked person's voice spoke to Mitsu once again and forced her into action, Mitsu speedily stood and held her ground behind Yue, Key blades in hand.
"Damn…it's heartless. Their in this world too," Yue cursed
"In front of a temple…sheez they live up to their name." Mitsu said as she spun her key blades.
Groups of heartless began to materialize some Mitsu were familiar with and others were sure to be innocent wildlife that had been preyed upon by heartless and transformed into the heartless creatures in front of them. Without a word, Mitsu and Yue began to destroy the heartless that thought they could prey upon them.
At that moment Sora ran from the temple followed by others who had ventured into the temple.
"Heartless!" Sora shouted and began to cut down the heartless that had begun to make their way up the temple stairs. The others took up their weapons and followed suite in destroying the heartless.
"Look! There's more in the town!" Penelo shouted as she saw some of the heartless as they skittered away from their destruction and into the town below
"C'mon we have to do something!" Vaan yelled as he ran towards the town below.
Riku gently placed the soulless Kairi down on a soft cushion and tilted her face up.
"Have you really lost your heart…Kairi?" Riku whispered as he looked into Kairi's empty ocean blue eyes. Riku gently let her head fall before he stood, with a sigh, he turned to see Kadaj and two older looking men.
Both of the men seemed like carbon copies of one another, they had the same fair skin, the same silver hair, the same piercing green Cheshire cat-like eyes. They looked similar but different.
"What do you want?" Riku asked bitterly.
"No need to be bitter," Kadaj smiled.
"It's sad that she's like that…A Princess of Heart..." The older man with longer hair commented.
"It's the likes of you who did this to her," Riku replied bitterly.
"You're wrong. We did no such thing," The man with the shortest hair replied.
"It was you who wanted the door to open and allowed her to fall into the darkness. You are the reason for her being like this." The long-haired man countered.
"Yazoo," Kadaj said firmly. Yazoo tilted his head up smugly as he looked down at Riku.
"Let's go," Kadaj said and left the room, Yazoo followed.
"Having power is great...but also think about what you lose also…" the unnamed shorthaired man commented before leaving the room. Riku cursed heavily before he stormed out of the room.
"What the hell do they know?" Riku hissed his eyes flashing bright green.
After the heartless outbreak within Mt. Bur-Omisace, the group had made their way back into the temple and spoke to the Gran Kiltas Anastasias. Upon hearing the wise wisdom of the Gran Anastasias they began to plan for their journey to the Stilshrine of Miriam.
As they formulated their plan, the Gran Kiltas spoke to Sora and Mitsu before they exited the viewing chamber.
Silently, Mitsu watched as the Gran Kiltas Anastasias imparted his wisdom, his guidance on to the troubled group. She learned what had happened in this world and how all the people in the group were pushed together in order to survive, to meet their own needs, or for a greater purpose.
Also, they had learned that the Gran Kiltas was a dream sage, and was able to enter the dreams of others. Mitsu wondered if the sage could enter her dreams and explain to her what everything meant, but at the same time, she wondered if it was real.
Everything that happened in her dreams felt real…or familiar even.
"Young Key blade wielder…" the Gran Anastasias began. Mitsu, Sora, and Yue stopped and turned their attention to the older man.
"I have had many dreams of your arrival…but your arrival is much too soon."
"You dreamed of us coming?" Sora asked confused. "How is that possible?"
"The Keyblade warrior lending his strength in the time of need. Connecting everyone's hearts…alas, you have much to learn my male hume child." The Anastasias replied.
"What do I have to learn?" Sora asked eager to hear what he had to say.
"Endure your journey across the worlds the wisdom and hearts of those you meet will guide you to those who you cherish the most," Sora looked back at Yue and Mitsu, Mitsu shrugged her shoulders as Yue nodded.
"Uh…thank you Gran Kiltas Anastasias," Sora replied unsure of how to address the older man. They turned to leave again but stopped when the Gran Anastasias began speaking once again.
"Female hume child,"
The smaller group stopped and turned to Mitsu, Mitsu looked at both Sora and Yue before she turned to look at the older man.
"Your dreams are disquieted with the bewilderment of another. Let your instincts be your guide and waver not." Mitsu looked at the man in shock.
"May your heart be your guiding key and your dreams are the pathway betwixt the darkness and light,"
"T-thank your G-Gran Anastasias," Mitsu stuttered a shocked response to the man. Yue bowed to the man before he ushered the two teens out of the temple. Although their paths differed, Balthier and the others made their way back to where Shige and Yasuto were.
After the group had explained the entire situation to the two men, the two teens could see that the two men's expression was grim, Yasuto sighed as he ran a hand through his hair.
"What's that sigh for?" Sora questioned.
"We can't get involved with this. This is out of our hands," Yasuto replied firmly.
"What do you mean? We're here we can help right now," Mitsu countered.
"Not to mention, it is against one of the laws of Cerun," Shige added.
"What?" Mitsu and Sora asked confused.
"I am adding a third notion to that as well. We should not be apart of this, this is not our war," Yue commented.
" I told them that I would help them," Sora replied as he looked at the three men in disbelief.
"Yeah! Aren't we supposed to help those in need? Clearly, they are in need," Mitsu added in an attempt to convince the three men.
"You didn't want to be a part of this to begin with Mitsu," Yasuto commented bluntly as he closed the electrical box of the ship.
"I changed my mind, I have the right to do that," Mitsu pouted.
"What are these laws of Cerun…what is Cerun?" Sora asked.
"Cerun is a world where His and Her Majesty, the King and Queen resides," Shige began. "There are many rules of Cerun and that applies to the King's Men that have been established by His Majesty, King Mamoru,"
"One of those rules is to never intrude on wars within a world," Shige added.
"Ok so it sounds like we just need to talk to this King Mamoru," Sora began as he looked to Mitsu to confirm his plan, Mitsu nodded.
"He needs to know that plan is wack," Sora huffed.
"I agree," Mitsu added.
"It doesn't matter anyway, you lose anyway," Yue added.
"I thought you would be in on this Yue," Sora looked up at the older man.
"No, This is a law that is followed by all the worlds," Yue replied.
"So…this King is the ruler of all of the worlds?" Mitsu asked.
"No. He helps establish rules and enforces them." Yasuto replied.
"Ah…the mysterious King Mamoru," Balthier said as he approached the group.
"Balthier we-" Sora started. Balthier held up his hand to stop Sora from continuing.
"I was already under the impression that this would happen," Balthier began. "The King's men are indeed compelled to follow their king's orders," Balthier said as he looked at the two men in front of him.
"But-" Sora began.
"We will be quite alright, with this ragtag group we'll make it and I have things that I need to do as well," Balthier said smugly.
"But…I wanna help," Sora whined.
"Your whining will not accomplish anything," Balthier scoffed.
Mitsu looked to the man and then to the group that was settled away from the ship, she knew that the situation seemed dire and yet they were being prevented from helping. She knew that they had just met this group but in her heart, she felt the need to offer any assistance she could
Balthier placed a hand on the girl's head
"We'll be fine, I promise, besides you know what they say about the leading man right? He never dies," the man smirked, Mitsu blushed in response.
"Balthier, we should make haste to the Stilshrine of Miriam," Vann called out to the taller man. Balthier nodded and turned to nod to both Shige, Yasuto, and Yue.
"We'll be back to help, I promise," Sora stated firmly to the older man. Balthier smirked and wagged a finger at the teen.
"You do what keyblade wielders are supposed to do. That is all that matters," Balthier said before he stepped back from the group.
"Make sure you take care of them...Shige, Yasuto, Yue,"
"Of course," Shige nodded to the man. Balthier gave them a casual salute as he finally turned away from the group and back to others.
"I feel bad…" Mitsu commented. "I feel like...we're abandoning them,"
"Yeah…" Sora trailed off. Yasuto sighed as he closed the electrical panel of the ship.
"I know how you feel...but this is something that we cannot go against," Yasuto replied.
" We understand honestly... " Shige replied. "We may be able to return later once the political climate has calmed a bit,"
"But it may be too late by then," Sora exclaimed as he turned to Sora.
"Even so...it is not our place...nor would we even be able to access the keyhole to this world," Yue began.
"You know where it is?" Mitsu asked.
"No, I'm just saying with the war going on...we probably wouldn't be able to do much without running into the opposing force and based on how our entry was to this world...I don't see us getting anywhere," Yue replied casually.
"That is another thing," Yasuto began. "The Archadian Empire is already on a thin line because they fired upon our ship which is a violation of the Worlds Treaty,"
"What are you going to do about it?" Sora asked.
"That's for us to know and you not worry about," Shige replied. Sora and Mitsu gave the man a disappointed look before they resigned to their defeat.
Sora watched the group as they disappeared down the path they once walked. He felt the same as Mitsu - as if they were abandoning them. It felt as if they were against what Shige and Yasuto had hammered into their brains before they departed Traverse Town.
It felt wrong.
"Don't look so glum, we'll return back here at a later time," Shige began as he lowered the stairs to the ship.
"What if it's too late then?" Both the teens asked.
"Didn't you hear what Balthier said? They will be fine," Shige reminded the teens. "Alright, everyone in," Shige and Yasuto climbed the ladder into the ship.
"We aren't going to be shot down again are we?" Sora asked as he headed into the ship.
"Sora! Don't jinx us!" Mitsu yelled at the teen and shoved him up the ladder.
"Listen here you little twit," Shige growled.
"Sorry!" Sora laughed called from the ship.
Yue stood next to her hand on the rail when he caught her gazing into the distance, opposite from where Balthier and his group once was. A soft sigh escaped her lips as she stood silently but seemed focused on something, Yue watched her silently.
"May my instincts be my guide…but they are calling out to the darkness," Mitsu murmured to herself
"Mitsu-"