Of Mind and Soul
As Alan and Nadia arrived yet again from travelling the worlds, Aranse seemed to be in a major dilemna at the moment as he kept grunting. Alan then asked abruptly, "Is there a problem Aranse?" The giant orb then said, "It's the Viraltroopers, even with your valiant efforts, they just claimed yet another world. I can't say which though." Nadia then looked hopelessly at the ground saying, "That's terrible. We can't just let them get away with that." Then Alan said, "We won't then. If we hurry, maybe we can catch up with them." Aranse then yelled, "Wait!! Let's not act rash about this boy. A true warrior thinks before he acts. I can't risk getting both of you hurt until I know for sure which world it is. In the mean time though, the Doors of the Heart have been glowing more peculiarly once more." Alan and Nadia looked upon the Door to Happiness glowing yellow, the Door to Sadness glowing blue, and the Door to Fear glowing black. He then said, "It's all up to you now boy. Make your decision. Which door shall it be?" Alan looked left and right saying, "For once Aranse, I don't think I can decide. I know after what Nadia and I have been through in Destiny Island, it's not worth it to feel any Sadness or Happiness, but we don't any Fear creeping up on us either." Nadia put her hand on his right shoulder saying, "Oh Alan!" Aranse then replied, "A warrior must do what's in his or her heart my boy. Now answer me this: What is your heart telling you?"
Alan put his left hand to his heart and then said, "It needs cheering up. Especially after we lost poor Marcus and Annabelle. We owe it to them to keep going with no frowns." Aranse then added, "You both look like you need cheering up so go to it my boy. Enter the Door to Happiness." As both Alan and Nadia entered, the Doors of the Heart were acting up even more. Aranse then said, "It must be the commotion coming from the worlds. I'd rather not say which one it's coming from." Alan then replied, "You don't have to old friend. I know." Alan took out his keyblade and struck it at the ground and as he held the handle, he gently laid his head down on his hands and on top of the keyblade as a sign of both respect and remorse. Nadia then replied saying, "Alan, this isn't like you at all. What's up?" Alan then said, "Maybe all we did was for nothing you know. We tried and gave it our best shot. Yet I felt as though we lost." Nadia then raised her voice saying, "I can't believe this. You're going to let what that silver knight said get to you. He's wrong and you know that. What we're doing isn't a total waste..." Alan then said raising his head, "At what cost? We were out saving some other world that barely even had Viraltroopers and meanwhile the world that was in the most amount of trouble just falls. How am I supposed to feel about that?" Nadia then replied, "It doesn't help beating yourself up, I know that much for sure. So what if they're in darkness? We saved Earth just fine when it fell. We didn't realize it fell until just after we got back from the ruins of the Rulius Court. So I ask you now not just as your partner, but as your friend, will you help me fight them off? For Annabelle and Marcus."
Alan then rose up and said, "For Annabelle and Marcus!!" Aranse then replied saying, "Quite Excellent. I shall see you both later when you all return from Destiny Island." The youths nodded and Alan pressed the yellow button and soon they disappeared. Meanwhile, the silver knight had his arms crossed near the front lobby of Castle Darkhand as he leaned against the dark, black ooze coloured castle walls. In Castle Darkhand, it was so dark, there were shadows in every single spot of the castle itself so barely any light shone through since their was barely any sunlight from the clouds outside. Thus covering the silver knight in darkness, Grogonopse then appeared from the shadows with a new engine he just built. It looked like any old car engine, but it was for a very special machine he was making. He then asked the silver knight, "Feeling okay?" the silver knight replied, "Not that it matters to you, but I have just claimed Destiny Island for our master, which is more than I can say for you. You lost both Azeroth and the world of Africa to those children. I am bushed from all that fighting I had to do by myself. It isn't easy fighting a whole army of ten thousand." Grogonopse then said, "What makes you think that those keywielding kids won't just free them up like they did to the others. Even when Pyraine took over their homeworld of Earth, they freed it up." The silver knight uncrossed his arms and revealed himself from the shadows as the silver knight of the Knights of the Realm and said, "Let's just say I have a little surprise for those little pests when they do arrive in Destiny Island."
(Weir stuff yet again in this chapter. All will be explained in time, but yet I want to expand on Alan's mixed feelings about fighting. He seems bummed out, but in reality he'll get over it. In the same way, I can see it for the worlds of BBS in which Ven, Terra, and Aqua will have to confront some pretty tragic stuff in this new dark game. More to come yet again.)
(Next Time: Return to Destiny Island.)
(Review.)