Funny how a memory can seem so distant. It wasn't but a few days ago that I met the other heroes in the prophecy, but it feels like I've known them my whole life. In a way I suppose I have known them my whole life-but I knew that they were somewhere in the Light World. All I could do was wonder what they would be like, and wait for the time when I'd finally get to meet them.

Then came the day when the second Dark Fountain began to flow. I knew sooner or later everything that was destined to happen would come to fruition. And so, two Lightners arrived in my castle, one a Human and the other a Monster. Both of them defied my expectations.

The Monster-Susie-she was fun to deal with. At first, she saw nothing to the Legend, and wanted no part of it. She actually abandoned the Human and myself in my castle, and we had to find her. Evidently, she also saw nothing to acting or being a pacifist. Her ax in hand, she chopped through everything that stood in her way for longer than a second. It broke my heart a little to see how scared and how hurt everyone was. I did my best to heal them with my magic, and promised them that we'd find her and stop her somehow. So we did, at the edge of the field. She was trying to bust her way into the Great Board, but the path was sealed by the lock of a puzzle. We told her that she'd only ever get on if she solved the puzzle beforehand, and with a certain amount of reluctance, she came with us and helped momentarily. But every single time she saw anybody, she'd be absolutely convinced that they wanted to hurt us! The Human had an idea: we could warn everyone we came across so that they'd know to watch Susie carefully and dodge her ax. It worked wonderfully, but Susie seemed to get more and more annoyed with each swing that missed. It worried me greatly what would happen if someone were to get hit by her rage-infused strikes. Then as we made it across the Great Board, we finally met someone not afraid of her. K. Round took her hits well, and healed himself when he needed to. But after we had won by sparing him, my limit had been absolutely reached.

I might have said a few things to Susie, called her "a bad hero," and I definitely should've held my tongue. She admitted that she was a lousy hero, and since she was so bad she simply joined Lancer's scheming. For a moment I thought I ruined everything, blinded by a rage that was so unlike me.

But soon I came to love what I had done. In getting her close to Lancer, she mellowed out quite a bit. I think it may have been the first time Susie ever actually had a friend. Of course, being with Lancer, she did all she could to impede our progress, going so far as to fight us at one point. She promised that if we beat her in the fight, she'd be back on our side. And so we did what we do best, and we found a way to spare the both of them. She didn't think of it as a win, but she joined us anyway.

It was then that I could truly see just how much she had changed, she was willing to listen to what the Human said; even acting sometimes. She's a wonderful friend, she just needed a bit of guidance. I knew she was a hero!

The Human-Kris-he also defied my expectations. But unlike Susie, he was so much more than what I could ever ask for. He was a bit quiet actually, I didn't know whether to chalk it up to simple shyness or something like it, but that didn't bother me. He didn't talk, but he did listen. Where Susie opted not to listen to the Legend, or to me in general, Kris eagerly nodded his head when I had asked if they would hear my tale. Susie didn't believe a word of it, thinking it were all some fairy tale-I could not stop her. Kris accepted what I had said, and stayed when Susie had left. Humans cannot use magic of their own, but they tend to make incredible leaders and their skill for acting is impeccable. I told Kris he could lead, and for a moment I could've sworn I saw him hesitate, but a sparkling light appeared in his eye and he nodded. Thus the adventure began.

I didn't know how well they were with fighting, so I asked if they needed a lesson with the training dummy just beyond my castle. Despite their fight with Lancer, Kris took the opportunity. I had to generate a few weaker pellets to teach Kris how to dodge, and luckily he seemed to be a natural at it. It would've hurt me more than him if he actually got hit by anything of my own prowess. Then came the time to teach him how to fight. He had a sword, I was more than sure he knew what to do with it, so all I would do was watch him take a swing and maybe offer a few pointers if it wasn't very good. But then came the most amazing thing I had ever seen: he ran up to the dummy, sword in hand, and hugged it. He didn't attack at all! It was unexpected, but if that was how he wanted things to be, I'd be more than supportive-there's no reason for violence. There were only a few more things to say, mainly about myself and what magic I could do, but that wasn't the last of his surprises. Right before I called it a victory for us, he came over and gave me a big hug. I couldn't fathom why, maybe he wanted a lesson on hugging? But it was so warm and kind, I couldn't force him away. Eventually I just gave in and let myself be hugged, and that seemed to satisfy whatever desire ran through his head.

It seemed to be a victory more for me than for him, it was like he knew everything already. But he went with it anyway, never once speaking against it.

Right before we headed outside the lands under my control, I had to ask him if he were actually prepared for this whole journey. He flashed a wonderful smile, and spoke the first words I heard from him, "I can handle anything." The confidence in his voice reassured me in every way it could've, and so we stepped into the field.

Susie had already been through here. Only a few Rudinns were actually brave enough to try and stop us, and he managed to spare each and every one. I learned that he was observant, as he found a way that led to a small chest. Inside was a white ribbon, something I knew to be armor. I told him that he'd look lovely with it on, and that it would probably have benefits other than that. Next thing I learned was that his kindness was not reserved to our enemies. He came over to me, and tied the ribbon in a bow around my hat. "I think you'd look cuter in it than I would, Ralsei," he told me with his smile. I could only hope that my blushing wasn't too extreme. His laugh said that my hope probably wasn't true. I suppose he enjoyed seeing me like that, there was no way I wasn't blushing crazy earlier when he hugged me.

As a Darkner, my purpose is to help Lightners. Make them happy, assist them with some task, anything they need. I couldn't bring myself to tell Kris that him wearing the white ribbon would be more beneficial for him than me wearing it.

We went on. Kris still didn't seem to be much for conversation and I was starting to run out of things to say. Eventually Kris came to a dead stop and turned around to look at me. I was a bit confused by this, I had no idea if he saw something I didn't or if he sensed something, but he closed the distance between us and I got nervous. "Don't stop! You have a wonderful voice." I didn't even realize I was humming, but apparently it was loud enough for Kris to hear. But he said he liked it, so I started again with what I thought I was humming, and he simply smiled and started walking along.

Humans are odd. But not in a bad way, so I just continued with Kris.

When we found Susie, he seemed to be a bit more than just nervous. I had to wonder if Susie had done something to him that I didn't know about, but whatever the case was, I took over. Kris whispered 'thanks' as we went to go solve the puzzle that Susie didn't and Kris and I couldn't with only the two of us.

Then came the Great Board, which Kris weaved through its traps with ease. Lancer made an appearance, and he said he wanted to know what he should call us since up until that point he had been calling us clowns the entire time. He had a bucket for some other plan of his, and so each of us but Kris put a suggestion in it. Lancer told Kris to choose, and he picked mine! But Susie didn't approve of it at all, not surprising since she hadn't approved of a single thing I said up to that point, and so she shortened it down to the "Fun Gang." I actually was okay with that, and so was everyone else.

Then came K. Round, and Kris brilliantly found a way to spare him. But Susie wouldn't help us at all. When I had finally snapped on Susie, Kris came over and placed a hand on my shoulder and told me that what I had said was entirely justified. He told me that everyone in the Light World, himself included, they all wanted to tell Susie something along the lines of what I had. I still had an extreme amount of doubt, and I think he read me like an open book. He gave me another hug, telling me that he knew everything would work out in the end.

We travelled through Scarlet Forest, and Kris was being extremely patient with what Lancer and Susie were doing. I had such high respect for Kris in those moments leading up to the time of our fight with the two that called themselves the "Dark Fun Gang." Kris had another moment of brilliance. Remembering when we were fighting Ponmen in the Great Board, my singing would allow me to pacify them, but it was also put Susie to sleep. So he told me I should sing the same song as I was before, a simple lullaby that my parents used to sing to me, and it worked beautifully. Susie was practically taken out of the battle, leaving us to Lancer. Having fought Lancer once before, he knew that complimenting him seemed to do something. By time Susie woke up ready to fight, Lancer had no desire to fight us anymore.

When all was said and done, Susie and Lancer joined the Fun Gang. As a token of friendship, Kris gave us all a treat. I got a Dark Candy, which I loved, Susie got one of the cookies shaped like Lancer's face, and Lancer got a Hearts Donut from the bake sale earlier. We sat down and ate for a while and enjoyed each other's company. Susie and Lancer started a conversation of their own at some point, so I pulled Kris to the side. I wanted to talk.

"Not eating?" I asked, it did worry me that he wasn't eating.

"Not hungry. We have a bit of food left, if I wanted something I'd take it," he said.

"Oh… okay," I didn't pester him about it.

"Did you want something else?"

"Um… yes, actually. This might be an odd question, but… What do you think of me, Kris?"

It was something plaguing my mind. I had no idea when the thought appeared, but I knew it was there. There were quite a few people that didn't like me, Lancer and Susie being prime examples. Other times, there'd be Darkners that lie to me and pretend to be friends. I needed to know if Kris actually felt anything about me.

"Ralsei, what kind of question is that?" he almost seemed angry about me asking.

"I'm sorry… I just, um… I just don't think I'm all that liked by others. You see how Susie and Lancer treat me, a lot of Darkners think the same. My castle is empty besides me, I never could find anyone who'd want to be around me that long. I just…"

"Ralsei," he said emotionlessly.

"Yes?" I prepared myself for the worst.

"You are the most amazing, the sweetest, kindest, most perfect person I have ever met, Ralsei. Don't you forget it," he said, enveloping me in another hug.

If the seeds of love hadn't been planted yet, they definitely had been as those words were spoken. I think my feelings skipped all the way to when the flower bloomed, to be perfectly honest.

"Hey lovebirds! We're done over here, you wanna get going soon?" Susie yelled over.

Kris released me and I instantly missed the warmth I knew only a second before. But with a newfound energy, we continued on the road to Card Castle.