"Oh man, this place sure hasn't changed!" Sora exclaimed. The quaint cottage, nestled in the corner of the residential section of the town, hadn't changed much since the last time Azami or Sora visited. The old wood was losing much of its color and some of the red shingles on the roof were missing. The chimney, sitting atop the pointed part of the roof was churning out smoke in full speed, showing that somebody was present within.
"We should hurry inside," Azami muttered. She felt darkness growing around her, no doubt the Heartless converging in on them. Casting a look around the area she made sure none of them managed to sneak up on them. It was then that her eyes connected with Riku's. He could feel it too.
"Is something wrong, Azami?" Goofy spoke up. He seemed to be the only one to notice Azami's and Riku's silent interaction. However, his question caused Sora and Donald's attention to be turned to the girl as well.
"Sorry," Azami apologized, breaking eye contact with Riku, "I thought I saw something; it must have been a trick of the light?" She chuckled lightly to throw them off her scent.
Sora, seeming to buy it, shrugged his shoulders and turned to look at Riku. "Did you see something too, Riku?"
"We should get going," the white haired male said, avoiding the question. He brushed past his long time friend and towards the wizard's front door.
"Hey!" Sora protested. He rushed after his friend and was prepared to object Riku's attitude when the front door to the cottage flew open and Leon, Yuffie, Cid, and Aerith ran out. Following their hasty retreat was a rather loud explosion. Azami and the others jumped back in surprise.
"Wha…what was that!" Sora exclaimed.
Smoke billowed out of the open front door and filled the surrounding area in dark clouds. Covering her mouth, Azami narrowed her eyes and strained to see through the smoke.
"That confounded wizard and his blasted magic!" a man's southern drawl shouted. "I told him to take his voodoo someplace else!"
"How many times must I tell you that my magic isn't voodoo!" an aging voice exclaimed. Seemingly from out of nowhere a large gust of wind began to blow and successfully managed to clear the surrounding area of the smoke. It was then that Azami and the others spotted the old figure dressed in blue robes standing before the cottage door.
The wizened figure was a rather tall one, covered head to foot in soot. A long white beard covered most of his kindly features, aside from his rather large bifocals that shielded his black pupils. A blue hat that matched his blue robes sat atop his head and sagged pitifully at the top. His long, awkward feet were covered by blue, pointed shoes.
"Well whatever you want to call it, it's messing with my work!" Cid, the man with the southern drawl, yelled.
He had short cropped blonde hair and beady blue eyes that were narrowed dangerously at the pale wizard. He chewed almost angrily on his toothpick, the stubble on his chin seemingly dancing with each gnash of his teeth. His outfit consisted of a white T-shirt with two buttons descending from the neck, baggy pants that were blue and had a very wide, orange waistband with thin, vertical stripes on it. He wore his pants rather high, with the waistband coming up to just under his ribcage. From his knees down he wore grey socks over his jeans and black shoes on his feet. Resting on his forehead were his goggles and around his neck was a necklace with a rectangular made of wood and secured by a rope.
"Your work?" the thin magician exploded. "Is that what you call it? I cant get anything done thanks to your infernal contraption! It takes up most of my beautiful home!" The two closed the distance between them and were prepared to escalate to a physical dispute but were quickly stopped by Aerith.
"Please you two, now is not the time to be fighting each other!"
The woman had soft, understanding green eyes and long brown hair styled into two long curls on the side of her face and one long braid in the back tied with a bright pink bow. Her bangs framed her face nicely, pushed to both sides so her round, pale face was visible. Her outfit consisted of a carmine pink and white top held up by a string that wrapped around her neck. Underneath that top, she wore a pink dress with a horizontal white stripe near the bottom. Underneath that dress she wore yet another dress, this one being white and slightly longer than the first. On her feet she wore brown boots.
The two squabbling men turned to face the stern face of Aerith and almost immediately ducked their heads in shame. Grumbles of half-hearted apologizes fell from their lips.
"What were you doing in there, Merlin?" Azami spoke up, bringing the magician's attention to her. His eyes widened in surprise to see her standing before him, apparently not noticing her before then.
"Why Azami dear, hello, it's been a while since I've seen you around here! I was working on my latest magic spell – fine tuning it and what not – when all of a sudden something went wrong with the mixture! It was like something, or someone had tampered with it without my knowledge. Next thing I know everyone's rushing out of the house and my potion is erupting in my face! But what about you dear, how goes it?"
"I'll tell you all about it another time, Merlin. I hear you and Cid have something for our journey?"
"Ah yes!" Merlin exclaimed. "I almost forgot! Please, follow me back into the cottage!"
"Are you sure it's safe in there?" Riku muttered. His doubtful mutterings reached the magician's ears.
"Why my good lad you must be the friend Sora has been going on about for ages! My name is Merlin young man, if you didn't already gather and it is a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance!" The old wizard grabbed hold of Riku's hand and shook it with enthusiasm not seen in most men his age. "Allow me to give you a grand tour of my humble abode!" Gripping the boy's wrist in a strong grip, the magician dragged him into the cottage with the others following him. Sora and Azami couldn't seem to hold in their laughter.
Preview:
"This is my best work yet!" Cid boasted. His grin increased as he turned to look at the awestruck Sora and Azami. "What do you think?"
"It's beautiful/amazing!" Sora and Azami exclaimed in unison. Cid grin grew even wider as he shot a cocky glance the fuming magician's way.
"Thought you might like it; now I made a few modifications to it so it's not like the gummi ships you've handled in the past. This little beauty here can travel through darkness itself and acts as a copy cat Keyblade against the Heartless' ships. The missiles are bigger and the ammo packs enough damage to take out a large meteor. I call her Lady Light!"