Venuts: Anna, where's Crystal?
Anna: Well...
(In the distance Crystalmaiden62 is running away from Blair)
Crystal: I'm sorry I haven't updated your story! My spring break was filled with homework!
Blair: Then what is this?
Crystal: I already told you, this'll be updated fasted because I already have most of it done already!
Anna: Aren't you gonna do your disclaimer?
Crystal: Oh right.
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. I only own Anna and Lunar. And please, no flames.
Blair: Get back here!
Crystal: Gotta run!
Chapter 6: New Friends and Radiant Garden
We flew off in complete silence, Ven must have a lot on his mind but I don't blame him. After what he heard from Maleficent, he probably knew that the darkness inside Terra's heart is getting stronger and if he doesn't get control of it he'll hurt people without meaning to and now it's getting stronger; just like how Master Xehanort wanted it. There must be something I can do to stop the darkness from taking him over or at least find away to protect Aqua and Ventus. I need to know how to control that light power. Suddenly, a black and red figure flew passed us but when he turned I wasn't surprised to see a familiar helmet mask.
"Him again!" Ven exclaimed as Vanitas warped ahead of us. "Come on Anna, let's follow him!" He really didn't give me much choice because he warped too and I followed. I know for a fact that Ven can't win a fight against Vanitas by himself right now and neither can I but if I don't do something Ventus may get killed. We warped right into the desert of the Keyblade Graveyard, the battleground of the last keyblade war many years ago. We dismissed out gliders and armor and land smoothly on the sandy ground. We're getting better at this. "Where's he hiding?"
"Behind us." I said not, bothering to check. I could feel him staring at the back of my neck and it's not a nice feeling. Ven turned and gasped to see I was right. I turned too to see Vanitas really hadn't changed since I last saw him; still the same helmet and outfit, it's a wonder how he can even breath in that thing.
"Alright, what did you mean by Terra being a different person and Anna will disappear."
"Wait, what do you mean?" I asked Ventus who glared at his unknown darkness.
"He said that you'd disappear if I let you go off on your own." Ven said looking very upset. "That's why I wanted to stay with you, in case something happened."
"Ven…"
"So tell us, what did you mean?" Ven asked looking back at Vanitas.
"Exactly what I said idiot. The Terra you know will be gone forever and because of that Anna will vanish." Vanitas said taking a few steps toward us.
"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" Ven yelled and I'd have to agree.
"Yeah, Terra will always be Terra and like hell you'll do something to me!" I said summoning my keyblade to get on the offensive.
"Stupid or true." Vanitas said, not really caring about what it meant to us as he held out his hand. Ven looked confused but it all made sense when a black and red keyblade appeared in Vanitas's hand.
"A keyblade?"
"Get ready Ven." I said not taking my eyes off of Vanitas. My friend nodded and summoned his reverse keyblade, now ready for anything.
"Good, let's see what you're made of." Vanitas said as I glared at the helmet because I couldn't see his face.
"You'll get more than that!" I yelled charging at him but he dodged and grabbed my wrist.
"I don't need to test you so get out of my way." I really didn't expect him to throw me let a lot as far as he did; I landed a few yards away from Vanitas and Ven.
"Anna!" Ven yelled and glared at the boy in black and red. "You'll pay for that." Ven charged at him but Vanitas was just as fast. It was rather difficult to keep track of the two while fighting, Ven was running and dodging at great speeds but he wasn't fast enough to dodge all of Vanitas's attacks, both by land, underground, and air.
"Leave him alone!" I yelled, aiming a spell at him and again the light spell came out and hit Vanitas. Surprisingly, Vanitas seemed to be really affected by this spell and looked worn as he flew a few feet into the air and landing hard on the ground.
"This is really pathetic." Vanitas said as Ven ran to my side though Vanitas struggled slightly to stand. "I guess I'll just have to finish this." He jumped into the air so fast but I knew what attack he'll do.
"Ven, guard!" I yelled, raising my keyblade to defend myself just in time as a barrage of lightning came right at us. Because I protected myself, the damage wasn't so bad but Ven, who didn't react in time, was blown back a few yards by the impact of the spell. "Ven!"
"That really all you've got? Man, you are worthless." Vanitas said walking up to the barely conscious Ven. "I'd be going against the master's orders but so what. As far as I'm concerned, your job here is done." I felt scared, more than I've ever been in my entire life as I saw Vanitas aiming a blue fireball at Ven with his keyblade. I can't run fast enough to make it to Ven!
"Ventus get up!" I yelled but he didn't budge and my heart stopped when Vanitas fired his shot at his other half. But to his surprise and my relief, he wasn't there where the fire ball made contact.
"Don't worry, you're safe." I turned and saw a familiar mouse with rather large ears as I got up. After healing Ven and making sure that he was awake, he turned to face Vanitas with a glare that could have meant more danger if it wasn't suck small thing. "Tell me where you got that! Keyblade are not something you use just to bully somebody around! Here, I'll show ya!"
"And we'll help!" Ven said as we joined this familiar mouse against Vanitas.
"Let's show this guy the power of three keyblades." I said as the mouse nodded.
"Let's team up!" Ven and I stood back to back with our new ally and used the focus inside the keyblades to shoot Vanitas with all the power we had together, which ultimately beat him. Sadly, I was expecting this to be a bit longer but everything isn't like the game, the number of Unversed for instance is a dead giveaway. Still, it must not have been strong enough because he did a dance like spin kick and landed on his feet as we got ready for another fight.
"Alright, you win." Vanitas said, summoning at darkness portal and turning away from us. "But consider yourself on probation, Ventus." With that, he disappeared leaving a very confused Ven.
"Probation for what?" He looked at me with a pleading look that just spelled 'please tell me'.
"He needed you for something but you weren't strong enough, that's why." I said as Ven looked a bit upset. "What's wrong?"
"It's just, I couldn't help you when that guy hurt you and I couldn't even protect myself."
"Ven…"
"I told you I'd protect you but I can't even protect myself." I sighed and shook my head.
"Isn't my job to be protecting you Ven, not the other way around? Even with my little stage light spell issue."
"I know but…"
"Don't listen to that guy." I said patting his shoulder. "We'll always be a team, you know that right?"
"Yeah." He said and we both smiled. Like we would let Vanitas get in the way of our friendship. The two of us turned to face the familiar mouse as he turned to look at us too. "Thanks for before, we owe ya."
"My names Anna and this is my friend Ventus. What's your name?"
"I'm Mickey." Mickey, well King Mickey to be precise, said happily.
"I see you've got a keyblade." Ven said kneeling down to get a closer look at Mickey's keyblade.
"You must be Yen Sid's apprentice then, I doubt that Master Xehanort has many apprentices running about." I said as Mickey nodded.
"Yep, I came back to him for some more training." Mickey said looking at my keyblade now. "Is that the Lunar Wish?"
"Yep."
"Then that makes you the Destiny Keeper, you're so young." Mickey said as I rubbed the back of my neck a little embarrassed.
"So what brings you out to this place?"
"Well, Master Yen Sid found out that the worlds were in trouble, an' I sorta took off without tellin' him." Mickey said rubbing the back of his head now.
"Well, that makes both of us. I ran off, too." Ventus said looking a bit happy that he wasn't alone in running off.
"Yeah, well Master Eraqus will be more furious at me than you since I let you follow me so I'm in way more trouble than both of you combined." I said as Ven gave me a sheepish smile. "But how did you get here, we got here by gliders."
"All I hafta do is think it, and the star shard will take me anywhere I wanna go." Mickey said as he took out a blue start shaped with a lighting bolt sticking from the top gem with some yellow stars inside the jewel. "At least I thought it would. I haven't quite got the fine points yet, like when or where… It just kinda kicks in whenever it wants to. But I wouldn't have met you two if it hadn't brought me here."
"Then I guess it's a good thing." I said as Mickey nodded happy at this thought.
"Ya know, it might not be an accident. Maybe it starts workin' 'cause it's reacting to something." Mickey said as the three of us looked down to see the jewel. All of a sudden, the star shard began to glow with a blinding light that I've never seen before. It was so bright I even passed out from the sheer brightness.
"Anna, Anna, wake up!" I didn't want to wake up thought; I don't like waking up in the morning. "Seriously Anna, wake up." I grumbled and opened my eyes, expecting to see my mom but gasped and shot up.
"Aqua, what are you doing here?" Sure enough, it was Aqua looking both confused and happy.
"I found you here, you were nearly attacked by the Unversed. Anyway, where's Ven?"
"He must have gotten separated when the Star Shard activated." I said as Aqua helped me up. "Don't worry, if I got here so did Ven. Anyway, what brought you here?"
"I followed Terra here, but Anna, did you know that Terra wouldn't become a master?" And here we go.
"Aqua, I still have hopes for Terra no matter what I see. I know what'll happen but I have to hope; I don't want Terra to get consumed by the darkness inside him." I said a little sad.
"But why didn't you tell us?" Aqua asked both sad and confused.
"How was I supposed to say that I know terrible things are coming that could destroy everything we know and love?" I asked as Aqua stared at me. "Besides, I honestly wasn't really supposed to be involved much. I mean, this entire universe was just a video game to me a week ago and now I'm living every Kingdom Hearts fan's dream but I've got to make sure everything stays the way it is. It's absolutely killing me right now to hear all the stuff people have said about Terra and not being able to tell them the truth! I've only been able to tell Ven my secret on the condition I can't answer him fully since I don't know what'll happen and even that's hard because I'm putting everything onto Ven as well! On top of all that, I have some weird light power that I have no idea about and Lunar isn't telling me anything about it!" Aqua just stared at me as I took a deep breath after my long yelling monologue. I really needed to get that out. "I really didn't want to hide it from you guys honestly, its just I didn't know how to say it to you guys." I think I watch too much anime because I went to far as to bow in respects to Aqua. "I know you must be angry at me and I'm willing to accept anything you through at me. I haven't been a good friend if I kept something like this from you guys." But instead of a scolding, I felt a hand on my head.
"It's okay Anna, Master Eraqus already told me everything and why you couldn't say anything. I won't pressure you." I looked up at Aqua and I almost felt like crying. Aqua is like an older sister to me and I'm really glad that she forgave me. "Come on, let's go find Ven and Terra."
"Right." I said and followed her to the middle of town and saw another familiar character from the world of Disney. Scrooge McDuck, the business tycoon and ice cream maker was walking into the area; his top hat clearly visible making it easy to identify him.
"Excuse me." Aqua called out as she and I ran to the rich duck. "We're terrible sorry to bother you, sir."
"Do you think you can help us find our friends, sir?" I asked politely as the old duck smiled at us.
"Ach, what well-mannered lassies ye are. I'd be pleased as punch to help ye, if I can." He said as Aqua and I kneeled down so we could look at him in the eye.
"We're looking for two boys who's not from around here. Have you seen them?" Aqua asked kindly. She's always so polite.
"Hmm, I think I know just who you're walking about but I've only seen one so far." Scrooge said thinking a bit. "He scampered off toward yon castle in a right hurry."
"That must be Ven!" I said, at least he's okay. I stood up and gave a thankful bow. "Thank you so much, mister." Scrooge nodded and walked off looking pleased. "Ven's probably looking for our friend, he was with us when we got separated. At least Ven's safe."
"But it could also be Terra." Aqua said looking up at the castle. "Ven, Terra, I hope you're still there."
"Then we'd better hurry if we want to catch up with them." I said and we ran off towards the castle. I already knew that the front gate that we saw wasn't open so I ran to the gardens and sure enough a few Unversed were waiting for us. "It's a miracle that the towns people are able to grow such pretty flowers while having all these annoying Unversed popping up faster than daisies."
"You seem to be annoyed by them." Aqua pointed out and I gave her a look as if daring to say anything more. All we ever do is fight off Unversed and they keep trying to attack us when we least expect it; it's so annoying! We finally reached the castle after fighting about three-dozen Unversed. I'm enjoying the time the Unversed weren't trying to do us bodily harm as we walked up the stairs when we heard a child scream. Oh well, time to go back to work. I ran as fast as I could, faster than Aqua up the stairs to see a small red headed girl wearing a white and purple dress and carrying a small bouquet of flowers running away from some Flood Unversed.
"Get down!" I yelled and the girl ducked just in time as I hit the Unversed in the air and landing in front of the girl. She looked up at me as I got my keyblade ready. "Hurry, let's get you away from these monsters." She nodded and took my hand as we ran back to Aqua but not before noticing something strange about this little girl. She possessed a light similar to Snow White and Cinderella; of course I knew who she really is but I never expected to feel her light to be so strong even at this age of her life. I made sure she stood between Aqua and me to protect her from the Unversed but this was going to be tricky. Not only were there Unversed in front of Aqua but also more were forming on the stairway, blocking our path down.
"There's no way we can fight like this." Aqua said as I felt the little red head take my hand, whimpering in fright.
"Don't worry, I'll keep you safe." I said raising my keyblade, ready to do what ever it takes to protect this one girl. An Unversed came at me and I managed to slash it before it could get near us but it was the girl, who was now gripping my sweater, which alerted me to the new comer. I turned and I was pleased to see Mickey was there looking well.
"Hurry, Anna! Ya gotta get that girl to someplace that's safe." Mickey said ready to fight again.
"Who are you, and why do you have a keyblade?" Aqua asked confused.
"That's my friend I was telling you about, the one that was with Ven and me." I piped up as Aqua turned to stare at me.
"I'll tell ya later. Right now we gotta stop these things!" Mickey said before looking to me. "Anna, hurry and make sure that girl gets some place safe!"
"Right." I nodded and took the girl's hand. "Come on, let's go." She nodded and we ran to the bottom of the stairs, fighting Unversed along the way. It wasn't that bad actually, they were only floods and it's like playing whack-a-mole. It may be the one time I can enjoy fighting these things. We finally got to the bottom of the stairs and I kneeled in front of the girl. "I need to get back to my friends."
"But what'll happen if the monster's come back?" The girl asked, clutching onto my arm, she's so cute.
"Don't worry," I said as I raised my keyblade to form a barrier around the girl, thank god for all the hours of magic training with Aqua, "this will protect you till the monsters go away. You'll be safe as long as you stay inside, okay." She nodded and I ran back to join Mickey and Aqua in battle. I just arrived to see an Unversed approaching Aqua from behind. "Aqua, get down!" I yelled aiming my keyblade at it. Thankfully, since Aqua knows I like to uses spells like fire, which turned into a light spell, she knew not to duck but to jump out of the way. I don't know what the light would've done to her but at least she got a lot of dodging practice during our magic training. Sadly, however, that was the last Unversed so I really didn't get a chance to fight along side Mickey again. "Guess you guys finished without me, that's okay since I helped protect the girl but I didn't get to help much after that."
"It's okay Anna, you did a lot already." Aqua reassured me, as the girl came running back looking very happy.
"You're okay." She said hugging me. "And those monsters are gone now, thank you." I couldn't help but smile down at her.
"Anyway, thanks for helping us Mickey, I guess I owe you two now." I said sheepishly as the girl took my hand while in her other hand she had her flower.
"My name is Aqua, I train under Master Eraqus." Aqua said kneeling down to Mickey.
"And I'm Mickey, I used to be Yen Sid's apprentice. I came back to him for some more training." Mickey said as Aqua nodded in acknowledgement.
"I sense light within this girl, just like Anna. You think that's why they attacked her?"
"Wait a minute, what do you mean by light?" I asked as Aqua stared at me.
"You mean you haven't noticed?" Aqua asked as I shook my head. "There's a powerful light inside of you, similar to the princesses of heart, if not stronger. It must have to do with the fact you're the Destiny Keeper."
"Yep, I think ya might be absolutely right about both those things." Mickey said as I turned to look at him. "If you ask me, she must be somebody pretty extraordinary, just like Anna." The girl seemed to like being similar to me and smiled up at me as I smiled back.
"Yes, I'm quite certain she's someone we're supposed to protect, exactly like Anna. I'm sure she will do what ever it takes to keep her safe." Aqua said as she, Mickey, and the girl stared at me.
"Wait a minute, are you sure I can protect her?"
"Please?" I looked down to see the girl giving me the puppy dog look and I hugged her.
"Okay, I'll protect you."
"Yay!" Aqua laughed as I let go of the girl and we looked back to Mickey.
"Say Mickey, have you seen Ven? He wasn't there when I came to." Mickey shook his head.
"But I'm sure he's somewhere if we're here; don't give up hope." I nodded with a small smile on my face, Mickey's so nice. "Anyway, let's join forces." He said holding out his hand to Aqua. But before Aqua could even raiser her hand, the Star Shard in Mickey's pocket stared to activate. "Oh no, not now!" The three of us covered out eyes to shield it from the light and with a little chime, Mickey turned into a bouncing shooting star and started off but not before calling out 'I'll be okay! See ya real soon!'
"So that's what I looked like when the Star Shard activated." I said looking up at it. "It's a wonder how I didn't get sick."
"Here!" I felt a tug on my hand and looked to see the girl holding out her flowers to Aqua and me.
"Are these for us?" I asked as the girl nodded.
"I picked you some flowers, thank you for saving me." She said as Aqua and I took the flowers.
"Oh, they're lovely, you're so sweet."
"They're really pretty, thanks." I said, admiring the flowers, this is the first time someone has ever given me flowers as thanks and it feels good for a change.
"My name's Kairi, nice to meet you."
"Please to meet you Kairi, I'm Anna and this is my friend Aqua." I said as Aqua nodded.
"Kairi, about that light…"
"Kairi!" We looked to see an old woman who was undoubtedly Kairi's grandmother.
"Oh grandma!" Kairi called out, ready to go with her grandmother.
"Wait, Kairi, just a minute…" Kairi turned to Aqua as she raised two fingers to Kairi's necklace. When she did this the necklace glowed slightly with a pure light. "I just cast a magic spell on you. One day when you're in trouble the light within you will lead you to the light of another. Someone to keep you safe if Anna can't be there."
"Thanks!" Kairi said but the looked to me. "Does this mean I'll never see you again?" She looked really sad about this and I shook my head.
"Lets make a promise then." I held out my pinky to her as she stared at it. "This is called a pinky promise, it binds our promise with the red string of fate so that I'll have to keep my promise or I'll have to swallow a thousand needles." Well, I hope not to swallow a thousand needles.
"Okay, what'll you promise?" Kairi said, linking our pinkies.
"I promise to come see you again and we'll be best friends then." I said as Kairi smiled.
"Forever?"
"Yep." I said as Kairi's face lit up with the biggest smile I've ever seen.
"Okay, but you've got to keep that promise or you'll have to swallow a thousand needles." Kairi said and ran off to her grandmother.
"There you are, its time to go."
"'kay! Oh." Kairi turned and waved to us. "Bye, make sure you come back to keep your promise, Anna!" Kairi called as we waved back out before walking away with her grandmother hand in hand. "Hey, grandma?"
"Hm, what is it dear?"
"Can you tell me that story?"
"Again, dear?"
"Please?" Even Kairi's grandmother couldn't resist Kairi's cuteness.
"Very well, dear." She said as Kairi giggled in happiness. "Long ago, people lived in peace, bathed in the warmth of the light. Everyone loved the light. Then people began to fight over it. They wanted to keep it for themselves and darkness was born in their hearts. The darkness spread, swallowing the light and many people's hearts. It covered everything and the world disappeared. But small fragments of light survived, in the hearts of children. With these fragments of light, children rebuilt the lost world. It'll the world we live in now, but the true light sleeps, deep within the darkness. That's why the worlds are still scattered, divided from each other. But someday, a door to the innermost darkness will open, and the true light will return. So, listen child, even in the deepest darkness there will always be a light to guide you. Believe in the light and the darkness will never defeat you. Your heart will shine with its power and push the darkness away." It truly was a heart-warming story and it's hard to believe that someday that story will come true. The light within the darkness, I wonder if…
"Kairi… something tells me, we didn't run into her by accident." Aqua said looking at the flowers she gave us.
"Yep, Kairi really is something else." I said as Aqua turned to look at me with a certain look in her eyes.
"Anna, what is Kairi? You act as if you'll see her again."
"I will see her again, Aqua. She's one of the princesses of heart after all." I said as Aqua stared at me with wide eyes and back to where Kairi walked away with her grandmother and back at me. "What, its true." I said as Aqua shook her head with a slight smile on her face.
"Lets keep looking, Ven and Terra should be around here somewhere."
"Right." Sadly, our cheerful time ended thanks to the Unversed again, a large flying Unversed that reminded me of a helicopter to be accurate.
"Unversed, it never ends!"
"Hurry before it gets away!" I said and we ran back to the gardens and made our way up a different flight of stairs that lead of a broken metal door that wasn't there before. We managed to get there to see Terra already there but when we arrived so did a certain blonde boy.
"Ven!"
"Terra, Aqua, Anna!" We looked up at the sky to see three different Unversed but they began to combine into one, very powerful Unversed.
"Strike the arms and legs first!" I yelled aiming a few blizzard spells at the legs. "We need to weaken it piece by piece!"
"Right!" Aqua joined me in casting spells while Ven and Terra went on the offensive and started slashing at the different body parts. We still had problems though; when the Unversed separated it separated us making it easier to pick us off. 'We're gonna lose if this keeps up!' I thought dodging a laser beam. 'I need that light power or we'll end up gone!'
Then call it up. I jumped back and managed to get out of the way as the legs of the Unversed tried to ram me. It's about time you learned about your light, now use it!
"How?" I asked but I didn't have time for an answer. Ventus was hit hard and fell to the ground and the Unversed made returned to its normal single form. Terra and Aqua looked worn out and the Unversed was slowly making its way to Ven. "No!" I thought of Ven, Terra and Aqua. I don't want to see them hurt! They're my closest friends!
That's it, think of your friends and the light will help you! I heard Lunar yelling in my ears as I ran toward the Unversed. It may not be your true light but it's still a light! So use my spell!
"Lunar Light!" I yelled and the light ball came shooting out of Lunar and hitting the Unversed hard.
"Anna, how did you do that?" Ventus asked as I helped him up.
"Never mind that, Let's go Aqua!" I yelled, charging at the Unversed for a final blow.
"Terra!"
"Ven, now!"
"C'mon!" Aqua and I were the first to land a blow, Aqua attacking from above and me from the side. Terra and Ven worked together to hit a double diagonal on the Unversed, ultimately destroying it.
"Got 'im." Terra said as we ran to meet with Ven.
"We make a good team." Aqua said, happy to be fighting along side her friends again.
"Sure do."
"You know it." Ven and I said as we looked at each other while Terra and Aqua laughed and soon we joined it. Ever since that night, the four of us haven't shared a laugh so I'm glad we've gotten this chance.
"What was that spell you did, Anna?" Aqua asked, looking at my keyblade.
"I think its spell that is powered by the light inside me." I said, feeling that warm feeling again. "I think it works by thinking of the people that are most important to me or people I need to protect. I'm still trying to understand it." Ventus looked happy that we finally figured out what that light was but I still feel like there's more to it. Lunar did say that it wasn't my true light. I wonder what that means…
"Oh yeah!" Ven said and pulled out four tickets labeled 'Disney Town' from his pocket. "I got you these tickets."
"Thanks Ven but what are they?" I asked, taking mine.
"Life time passes to Disney Town. He said to," Ven said handing out the tickets to Terra and Aqua, "he said to take two grown-ups and a sister."
"You mean us?" Aqua said as I laughed.
"Aw, I didn't know you thought of me as a sister."
"Hey, get off." Ven struggled as I hugged him.
"Listen to me, Ven… we need to get you home." Aqua said, returning to her mission.
"It's okay, Aqua." Ven said looking to me. "Trust me, that guy in the mask is history. He'll never bad-mouth Terra or try to hurt Anna again." At this Terra looked shocked and gripped Ven shoulder.
"You saw the boy in the mask? Both of you?" He looked to me, concern was written all over his face.
"Well, yes." I said, timidly. I never liked it when Terra was mad.
"Vanitas…" Aqua looked at Terra then looked at me but I shook my head.
"Ven, you let Aqua take you home. I'll keep watch over Anna."
"What?"
"No way, I wanna go with you guys. I already promised to keep Anna safe." Ven said as I looked to him.
"You can't. We have a dangerous task ahead of us, I don't want you to get hurt, and Anna needs someone strong to protect her from the boy in the mask. That light power may not be enough."
"Wait, what do you mean by that? Are you saying I can't take care of myself?" I asked as Terra shook his head.
"Sorry Anna, but you're the Destiny Keeper and a target of the Unversed. You need to be more careful." Terra said patting my head but it didn't feel like Terra. It felt like the hand of a stranger rather and a person who's like a brother. And how am I a target for the Unversed?
"And what is this dangerous task Terra?" Aqua butted in as Terra removed his hand. "It doesn't sound like the what the Master told you to do."
"Aqua…" I whimpered, feeling the tension in the air.
"It might be a different route but I'm fighting the darkness." Terra said calmly but I'm sure he doesn't know the danger he's putting himself in.
"I'm not so sure." Aqua added as Ven and I looked from one to the other. "I've been to the same worlds as you and I've seen what you've done. You shouldn't put yourself too close to the darkness."
"Aqua!" I cried, this was way too far now.
"Listen to yourself, Aqua." Ven said positively shocked by our friend's words. "Terra would never…"
"You mean you've been spying on me?" Terra accused, staring at his female friend. "Is that what he said to do? The Master's orders?"
"He was only…"
"Aqua…" Ven said, his hopes of this being lies were fading fast.
"I get it." Terra said turning away.
"Terra…"
"Just stay put!" I stopped right in my tracks at Terra's forcefulness. "I'm on my own now, all right?"
"Terra, please!" Aqua pleaded as Terra walked away from them. "The master has no reason to distrust you, really! He was just worried." Still Terra kept walking away from us and a sudden wave of loneliness filled me. This is the start, everything will fall apart only to be pieced together in the end to only have tragedy.
"You're awful, Aqua." Ventus said as I looked at the ground, not wanting to look at Aqua at the moment.
"So now you know the truth, but the Master loves Terra, and you know that too." Aqua said as I shook my head. Things are so confusing now.
"Were you also 'ordered' to take me home?" Ven asked but her silence as she turned her head away was answer enough. "Aqua… now that you're a keyblade master, you've let it go to your head."
"Lets go find Terra, Ven." Ventus nodded and we ran off to catch up with Terra.
"Ven, are you angry with me too?" I asked as we walked through the waterway.
"No, you helped me without the Master's orders and I'm sure Terra knows that too. Its just Aqua…"
"Aqua's just doing her job, she promised Master that she would return with Terra and when she does he'll have what it takes to be a master as well." I said but Ven still seemed upset. "Come on, or we'll lose Terra."
"Right." We ran as fast as we could, bypassing all the Unversed along the way. It was only till we reached the castle town that we stopped as a man dressed in blue robes, a pointed blue hat, and a long white beard came out. It was Merlin, the wizard from the Sword in the Stone.
"And just as I thought, the third comes with the second." Merlin said as he looked at me. "The book's inside if you want a look." With that Merlin returned to his house and I turned to Ventus.
"What was all that about?"
"Not sure but you can look through the book if you'd like." Ven said and I nodded and walked inside the house. The room was similar to the one Merlin will have in a few years time and on a table was the book I knew would be there. Winnie the Pooh and his friends locked in their own world but soon that world will shatter and be put back together again. I opened the book and a strange warm feeling filled me. It was good feeling, perfect for relieving the bad feeling of what happened a few minutes ago. It felt like when I used Lunar Light. 'Maybe this is the light she meant.' I thought but shook my head. 'No way, too simple.' At least everything was in order, then when I return for the next game I'll have to put it back together. I walked out to see Ven waiting for me.
"You actually waited for me." I said as Ven nodded.
"It's not like I'd ditch you. We're friends after all, the only one I can count on now." He said and I couldn't help but smile before taking his hand.
"Come on, let go catch up with Terra." He nodded and we made our wait to the Central Square. But when we got there, we saw a young boy about ten, with grayish black hair and wearing a lab coat, surrounded by Flood Unversed.
"Run!" Ven yelled as we ran to defend him. He didn't seem sure he wanted to run away but he did anyway.
"Magnet!" I yelled casting my spell to attract the Unversed into a single area as Ven and I attacked. During the battle, I spent most of it trying to use spells normally again to some success, at least I can slightly control the Lunar Light spell.
"Why did you do that Magnet spell, Anna?" Ventus asked when the battle ended.
"Because that big Unversed that looked like a balloon would have exploded if we didn't defeat it like we did and I don't want to have any burns." I said as Ven stared at me.
"If you know how to defeat the Unversed why are you so annoyed with them?"
"They just annoy me, well all accept the Floods; they're cute." I said as Ventus laughed while the boy came walking up to us. "Hey, are you alright? Those things didn't follow you, did they?" The boy just shook his head and I finally got to have a look at him. It was Zexion before he was turned into a Nobody; the way his hair was only covering one eye was a clear sign.
"Ienzo, where are you? Answer me!" We turned to see a man dressed in a white lab coat with long dark blonde hair behind us but turned when he noticed the boy, Ienzo. I know by his voice who he was and I didn't like him. It's Vexen before he became a Nobody and like his Nobody, he was interested in science too; I think his name is Even. "Ah there you are. Did I warn you not to wonder off, child?" He said as Ienzo walked up to him then looked to us. "I see we owe you both our thanks."
"It was nothing, we were just helping." I said as the Even gave me a creepy smile, one that spelled he wanted to experiment.
"We have done our best to raise the boy since his poor parents aren't here to do it." Even said in a low voice. I think this might have been to make sure Ienzo wouldn't get upset about his lost parents.
"Oh, you're on your own then, huh?" Ven said a little depressed as I looked up at Even.
"Excuse me, can you tell us if you've seen our friend. He's a tall guy with dark brown hair and has a crest similar to the one we have come by here, have you seen him?" I asked politely.
"Hm, perhaps I did see him in the Outer Gardens. Just follow this road." Even said and I nodded.
"Okay, thank you sir." I said with a small bow.
"No, thank you both, for keeping Ienzo out of harms way." Even said calmly but there was still something creepy about him. "And…well, let's say I have a feeling we are destined to cross paths again." Ven and I looked at each other, confused. Ven was confused on what he meant and I was confused on how he knew about this. He'll be seeing me in Castle Oblivion and someone similar to Ven ten years from now; how could he possibly know about it now? Did he have connections to Master Xehanort as well, then again I really don't like him very much so I'll be glad to see him go. With that the two left leaving both of us very confused.
"Let's hurry, we don't want to lose Terra." I said breaking the silence as Ven nodded. So we ran down the stairs, through a small waterway, and to the Outer Garden just time to see Terra.
"Terra!"
"Hey, wait up!" I yelled as he stopped to look at us as we ran up to him, stopping just in time to stop right in front of him.
"Did you have to run so fast?" I gasped, I'm not good at long distance running; I'm better with sprinting.
"Take us with you!" Ven said desperately.
"Preferably with not a lot of running involved. I think I lost a couple pounds being with Ventus." I said nearly getting enough air in my lungs as Ven laughed at me.
"I can't do that, Ven. I can only take Anna." Terra said as Ven looked shocked at this.
"Why not?" Ven asked completely depressed.
"Yeah, and why do I have to be the only one to travel with you?" I said folding my arms. It's not like Terra to be so protective of me. He would have loved to take Ventus along for the trip and I know Master Xehanort planted a lie in his brain but what did Master Xehanort say to make him want to keep an eye on me.
"I just…" Terra said, trying to find the words to explain his actions and I can tell he was really thinking because he doesn't want us to know what's really going on or at least what he believes is going on. "When I really need you, Ven, I know you'll be there and keep Anna safe." Ven seemed pleased by this and I was a little happy too. The Terra I knew was still there deep down and Master Xehanort can't do anything about it.
"Well, why wouldn't I? You're my friend." Ven said as I nodded.
"I may not like the whole protecting thing but I'm gonna stay by Ven no matter what." I said as Terra smiled at me, so Master Xehanort didn't plant the idea of me being an enemy; that's good. Terra seemed to think for a bit before looking back at us.
"Yeah, you're right." He said looking to us. "Thanks guys."
"Any time." I said with a small smile. Terra nodded and patted his protective pad, activating his armor, jumping onto his glider, and flew off. "Man, that guy keeps going and going." I said as Ven nodded by my side.
"We'd better tell Aqua."
"Huh?" But I didn't really get much choice because Ven grabbed my hand and dragged me back to the Central Square. When we got there, we saw Aqua just standing there; obviously just finishing her fight with Vanitas. I wonder what he told her before he vanished, with my arrival I'm sure all the lines are much different now.
"Aqua!" Ven called as we ran up to her.
"Ven, Anna!"
"Boy, are we glad you're still here." I said as Aqua stared at me.
"Were you able to find him?"
"Yeah, but…he's gone." Ven said looking sad as I placed a hand on his shoulder for comfort.
"Right." Aqua said looking away. "Then I can't stay here."
"Let us go with you, Aqua." Ven said regaining his happy air.
"No, Ven." Aqua said, finally looking at us but this time with a stern look. "Do as I say and go home. If not, Anna, take him home."
"What?" Why dump this on me? I let him come with me because he needs the exposure rather than being locked up in that castle all his life. Ven, returned to his state of slight depression now that both of his closest friends are leaving him behind. The only one who hasn't told him to go home is me; but I didn't want to tell him to go home. He was having so much fun and learning a bit as he went. But the thing that stopped me most was the disappointment for Ven if I tell him to go home.
"Why won't you let me?"
"I don't want to put you in harms way." Aqua said and placed a comforting hand on Ven's other shoulder. "You understand?" Ven just grabbed my hand and held it tightly as Aqua let go to activate her armor and left.
"Ven, you wanna sit down?" He nodded, looking really depressed. So we sat us against the wall near the flowers as Ven took out a wooden sword. "What's that?"
"Terra's old practice sword, he gave it to me a long time ago." Ven said swinging it slightly. "Terra, Aqua, and I would practice all the time and when my sword got too roughed up, he gave me his."
"You guys must've been tight."
"Yeah, I just wonder what's happening to us." Ven said as he started flipping the wooden keyblade. But then he fumbled and it landed at the feet of a boy passing by and picked it up. I couldn't help gasp as I saw who it was. It was Axel, well soon to be, when he was younger and still human; he's real name is Lea. Next to him was another familiar face but much younger and a lot nicer; Saix but here he's called Isa.
"This yours?" Lea said looking at Ven who just nodded, not really wanting to talk to anyone.
"Lea we don't have time for this." Isa said a little inpatient
"Lighten up, Isa. It'll only take a sec." Lea said walking up to us. "You still play with toy swords, that's cute." He handed it to Ven who just glared at him for his comment as Lea tossed it. "Now this right here, Tada!" He pulled out what seemed to be a version of his chakrams. "Whaddaya think?"
"Not a whole lot."
"Are those plastic?" I asked as Lea pouted slightly.
"You're just jealous. I'm Lea, got it memorized." He said looking at us. "What's your name?"
"Ventus." Ven said without so much as a single emotion in his voice.
"I'm Anna, nice to me you and your toys." I said as Lea glared at me but I could see Isa smile slightly.
"Okay, Ventus. Let's fight!" Lea said at random and even I stared at him. I knew he was blunt but seeing it in person is so weird.
"Fight? Why would I wanna do that?"
"You scared of losing?" Lea teased as I shook my head. "C'mon." He jumped back ready for a fight now. "Hope you're ready!"
"Is he always like this?" I asked Isa as he sighed but gave a nod. It took only a few seconds for Ven to grow back his smile and face Lea with his wooden sword.
"Yeah! Now we're talkin'."
"You're gonna be sorry." Ven said now ready for a friendly fight.
"I call next fight!" I said as Ven and Lea started their fight. It didn't take long for Ven to push Lea to his limit so within only three minutes Lea was on the ground panting while Ven didn't even break a sweat.
"You…had enough? 'Cause I'm willing to…call it a draw if you are." Lea said panting for breath.
"Huh?" Ven said but a sudden smirk grew on his face. "Right…"
"And the winner is Ventus!" I called out as Lea glared at me.
"Hey it's a draw, right Isa?" Lea said looking to his best friend for support.
"From where I stood, the only thing you drew was a big 'L' on your forehead for 'Loser,' 'Lame,' Laughable'…" Isa said walking up to his fallen friend.
"Wha- isn't this the part where ya…cheer me up or something?" Lea said looking up at his friend. " 'You're just havin' a bad day' or 'that's what you get for pullin' your punches!' Some friend."
"Oh, you mean I was supposed to lie." Isa said and I couldn't help but laugh at this. What the heck happened to him to turn him into such a jerk when he became a Nobody?
"Ya see what I gotta put up with?" Lea said lying down, his hands behind his head and looked to Ven and me. "Sure hope you guys don't have friends like him." Ven started to laugh and before we knew it all of us were laughing. Man, laughing is just as contagious as yawning.
"Lea, we have to go."
"Okay."
"What, leaving already but I wanna fight too." I whined. I've always wanted to see what fighting Lea was like ever since I arrived in this universe.
"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll fight some day and I'll be way better then. After all, we're friends now." Lea said as I nodded. Boy, if only he knew. He's like one of the most awesome characters in the games. "Get it memorized."
"Okay, Lea." Ven said with a nod too.
"Sure thing, I'm sure I won't forget." I said as Lea grinned at me before walking away and started talking with Isa. "Man, now I see why he chooses the weapon he has when he's part of the organization."
"Huh?" Ventus asked looking to me. "What's that?"
"Can't tell," I said placing a finger to my lips but I think the effect was ruined with the smile on my face, "it's a secret." Ven just laughed and looked up at the sky.
"Must be nice…" Ven said as I stared at him, "knowin' who you're friends are."
"Wait does that mean you don't think of me as a friend?" I asked, slightly offended and slightly teasing.
"No, its just Terra and Aqua." Ven said as I took his hand.
"They're just going through a rough time, we'll patch things up. You'll see." I said as Ventus nodded. "Now then, let's keep going to new worlds."
"But Aqua…"
"No buts, you still need more friends and see more places. Besides, you're my friend and I'll be turned into goat before that happens. Besides, she never said when to take you home." I said as Ventus smiled at me.
"Thanks Anna." I nodded and tugged on him slightly.
"Come on, let keep going."
"Right." I knew these times with my friends are limited but I'm going to make the best of it while I still can. I'll find out more about this 'true light' and maybe it can help me protect my friends.
Crystal: Well that was chapter 6. Man, I've got a lot of work to do. At least the summer is coming up soon. Well, hope you like it.
Blair: CRYSTAL!
Crystal: Shoot! (Runs Away)