Guardians' Tales

Chapter XII: Cracked

Era: Tranquil-Mystic Calendar

Cycle: July 13, 2548

Time: 22:43 Galactic Standard Time, 14:00 Resident Time

Star Cluster: HUB

Location: Ragnarok Medical Bay

Naminé's POV

"Aqua!" I shouted into the communications panel. "Something is happening to Roxas!" I looked over to the sleeping blonde, he started tossing violently in his sleep and sweating profusely just a moment ago. I'm still in a panic from his sudden thrashing. I barely managed to rush over to the intercom to call Aqua.

"What's going on, Naminé?" Aqua called back through the intercom.

"I-I don't know! He just started thrashing and moaning, then his temperature spiked and I can't get it to go down."

"Get a wet towel and try to keep him cool. I'll be there shortly." Aqua ended the call from her side and I hurried to the nearby sink, grabbed the nearest empty bowl I could find, and filled it with cold water. I quickly grabbed a wash cloth and took it over to Roxas.

I sat the bowl and cloth on the stand next to his bed. He was still thrashing around, turning from one side to another. 'I can't place the towel if he doesn't hold still.' I leaned over and tried to steady him so he lay on his back, but he suddenly shot up, his cerulean eyes now the size of saucers and somehow shifted to a lighter shade with amber shrieks scattered around his iris, like tears in a sheet of paper that was held up in front of a sunset, and his pupils were no larger than a pin prick.

Roxas grabbed me by the shoulders so quickly that all I could do was pull my hands to my chest and stare at him in wide eyed astonishment and fear. "Where is Oblivion's Heir?!" He shouted at me suddenly, his voice was laced with fear and a strong sense of urgency. I was too taken aback by his tone to properly register his question.

"What are you talking about, Roxas?" I asked him again, trying to keep the panic in my voice to a minimum.

"Oblivion's Heir!" He shouted again, squeezing my shoulders in a painful vice. "He'll kill us all if I don't-AGH!" He wailed suddenly and released my shoulders, opting to grip his head instead.

"Get back, Naminé!" I heard my name call from the door way and before I could look two blurs of blue and black respectively rushed past my vision and Aqua and Leon were already restraining Roxas while Rinoa gently pulled me out of the way. "He's Hysterical!" I heard Aqua shout. "Get me a sedative." I felt Rinoa's hands leave my shoulders and saw her move toward Roxas with a syringe in her hand.

"Let go of me!" Roxas shouted again as he managed to stumble forward, despite my sister and Leon holding him in a firm grip, he managed to pull them both off of the bed and continue to struggle against their grasp. "I need to stop him before it's too late!" He shouted again, causing the two upperclassmen to fumble and almost lose their grip. Given that being a wielder of the Keyblade made Aqua stronger than the average male and the fact that wielding a gunblade took no small amount of strength and dexterity, I just had to wonder if Roxas was running on adrenaline or if he was actually that strong.

"Tifa, we could use some help here!" Aqua shouted as she and Leon held one of Roxas' flailing arms.

"On it!" Tifa shouted as she put Roxas in a full nelson.

"Hold him down!" Aqua shouted and they lowered Roxas down to a kneeling position. "Now, Rinoa!"

"Let go of me!" Roxas shouted again as he struggled to raise his head and meet Rinoa as she made her way to the arm Leon was holding since it offered the least resistance. Rinoa was about to inject Roxas when he jerked again with a grunt, more violently than the last few times.

"Keep him still." Rinoa urged.

"What do you think we're doing?!" Tifa shouted as she struggled to keep Roxas on the ground.

At this point I still had no idea what I was supposed to do. Roxas was flailing like a madman and the four upperclassmen that were accompanying us were now trying to restrain the shyest person in the dorm. I'm not even certain that was the same Roxas I had grown fond of during our stay here at SOLDIER.

As I continued to watch my Sister try to keep Roxas still long enough for Rinoa to sedate him, I had an idea flash through my mind. I'm not certain if it will work, but it was the best option I could think of to keep Roxas calm long enough for him to get help.

I timidly took a step toward the thrashing blonde, being careful not to startle him. When I was close enough to Roxas, I kneeled down in front of him drawing the eyes of Roxas and his handlers. I shrugged off the extra eyes and focused only on Roxas. I knew if I let the extra attention get to me, then Roxas may not calm down.

"Roxas." I started as gently as I could. "Look at me." He was already eyeing me, but I was trying to distract him from the others long enough to give Rinoa a chance to give him the sedative. "Tell me, what is Oblivion?"

"A black key with a trapped crown at the end." He replied in an anxious, yet mesmerized tone.

I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye and knew it was Rinoa moving to give Roxas the sedative. "What is this key meant to do?"

"Flood the world hearts with darkness." He replied again, still maintaining the same tone, but held a sense of urgency about it that caused his body to twitch again.

I saw that Aqua was about use more force to hold Roxas down, but for some reason my body moved on its own and my hands reached out held his face between them. "It's alright, Roxas." I'm sure he was going to respond with something like: 'It's not alright!' but I needed to keep him calm right now so I cut him off. "And what do you mean by Oblivion's heir? Is someone looking to obtain this key?"

"Yes! He's-UGH!" He winced when he felt Rinoa prick him in the arm with the syringe. I watched as she slowly put pressure on the end and injected the fluid into Roxas' arm. "Bro…ther…" Roxas stammered out as he slipped out of consciousness.

I just sat there stunned, staring at Roxas' limp body. I could feel my heart still pounding from the whole ordeal. "Get him back into bed." I heard Aqua say as she, Leon, and Tifa released Roxas from their hold. Tifa hefted him onto her back and carried back to the medical bed.

I had not realized I was still kneeling on floor until sometime after Tifa had put Roxas in bed and bound his arms and legs with leather straps, when Aqua had come to sit next to me. "You okay, Nam?" I heard her ask me in that motherly tone she had managed to perfect after years of looking after me and Kairi.

I just turned to look at her, my heart slowly returning to a normal rhythm. After I regained some sense of being, I managed to respond to her. "W-what happened?"

"I'm not completely sure." Aqua told me, "but you did well, Naminé."

"I just did-I don't know what I did. Something just told me to do that."

"And it worked out in the end." I felt her urge me to my feet. I didn't fight it. I was too tired from the whole ordeal after my adrenaline wore off. "Come on. We'll be disembarking soon, so how about you hang out with the others."

Xion's POV

Game the announcer blared as Fox appeared on the screen once again. Isaac was not kidding when he said that he had been playing the character for a long time. This was his fourth win in a row.

"Damn it, Isaac. Stop winning!" Kairi shouted at our dread headed dorm mate.

"I can't help it if I have Tiger Blood in my veins." Isaac replied with as much amusement as one could muster before he went full blown cocky.

"First off, no." Shin replied immediately. "Secondly, I've never seen Fox move that fast."

"That's because you've never seen me use Fox."

"Attention passengers!" Tifa's voice called over the ship speakers. "We will be landing on Resident momentarily. Make sure you have everything you brought with you or we'll throw it away!"

Tifa is certainly enjoying herself. We made our way back to the passenger viewing station, Terra keeping herself upright by leaning on Shin's shoulder, we strapped ourselves in so we didn't get thrown around by turbulence. We watched as the heat shielding slid over the windshield and waited for the inevitable shaking that followed immediately afterwards.

We shook briefly, my skeleton felt like it was going to fall apart, before a sudden vertigo overcame us and my insides lifted straight toward my chest. The Ragnarok slowed and soon we touched down.

"Attention passengers, we have landed." Tifa called again. "Grab your things and wait for your chaperons at the bottom of the ramp."

We did as we were told, grabbing our bags and making for the exit, Isaac opted to carry both Shin and Terra's bags since Terra needed help to just walk.

"Are you alright?" We were greeted by Headmaster Eraqus.

"Mostly." Squall called from the boarding ramp. He along with the rest of the upperclassmen were wheeling Roxas down the supply ramp.

"What happened?"

"The exact thing we tried to avoid Master." Aqua replied. "We were ambushed by three cloaked hunters."

"Three?" Eraqus repeated, placing a hand on his chin, his voice laced with concern and reluctance. "I had hoped that you meant an illusion spell. To find that there is at least four figures in cloaks…" He gave us a glance, apparently remembering something. More likely that we weren't supposed to know we were being targeted.

"There's no use trying to hide it now, Master Eraqus." Aqua told him as Squall and Rinoa wheeled Roxas out of the dock. "They already figured it out."

The Headmaster just released another sigh and walked closer to us. "I was hoping that you would not learn of recent developments. Seeing as that is not the case, I want you all to return to your dorm and wait. There is much for us to discuss."

"You're telling us." Sora commented.

"What about Roxas?" Naminé asked.

"He will be examined by the school's doctors. He should be fine given time and rest."

Naminé fidgeted slightly at the response. Is she concerned about something? Roxas' condition shouldn't be that serious. That's what I thought at any rate.

As we turned to exit the port, I heard Naminé whisper under her breath: "I hope so…"

We returned to our dorm without incident, I immediately flopped down on the couch. I really didn't feel like climbing stairs for any reason right now, Terra was laid on the couch as well. The rest of the dorm went to place their bags in their respective rooms.

"Hey…Xion…" Terra called to me.

"What is it?"

"Why do you think those guys were after us?"

Good question. Aside from that weirdo that was after Terra, I have no idea what they could possibly want with the rest of us? Yeah I can manipulate three different elements, but that isn't enough to warrant anything from me. Sora and Kairi both wield light elements, that in and of itself would go against what those guy would want just because they utilize dark magic. I don't even know what they would want with Isaac, Shin, Riku, Naminé, or Roxas. Isaac can't even use magic without nearly killing himself.

"I don't know. You think anyone from the dorm comes from a wealthy family?"

"Not that I know of."

"Maybe they just wanted someone to experiment on, like that weird blonde with the shield."

Terra visibly flinched at the mention of that creep. "Let's forget about him for now. I know he's going to haunt me dreams for a while. I'd like to forget him while I'm in the waking realm."

I just nodded in compliance. I think we've discussed those guys enough for one day.

"You doing alright, Terra?" I heard Shin from behind me. He was leaning on the couch with his hands.

"A little tired, but feeling much better." Terra replied, her voice still sounded drained, but color was returning to her face, ever-so-slightly.

"You're still pale. Would you like some juice?"

"That would be nice, thank you."

Shin just gave a small nod and made his way to the kitchen. "Terra!" We heard the voice before the door was abruptly thrown open, I'm fairly certain there is a hole in the wall now. Rydia charged through the opening with Headmaster Eraqus, Terra (the boy), Sazh, Doctor Smith and Headmaster Xehanort following behind her. I noted that Rydia's dress had changed, the jade stitching now missing, exposing her sides, stomach and thighs for all to see, and I had to admit, she definitely had a figure to show.

"Terra, are you okay?" Rydia began lavishing Terra with attention, placing a hand on her head, checking her pulse, looking down her throat, and everything else you can imagine. "You aren't hurt anywhere, are you?"

"No, Sis."

Shin returned to with a cup of apple juice. "Here."

"Thanks, Shin."

"Master Eraqus." Aqua said from the second floor.

"Call the rest of your Residents. We have things to discuss." Master Eraqus gave an uneasy glance to Master Xehanort, who looked more displeased than nervous.

Aqua did as told and soon we were all assembled in the main room, minus Roxas, with Asili sitting in Isaac's lap. "It is good to see you all back in one piece." Master Eraqus started. "I know things did not go as well as we had hoped."

"Understatement of the month." Kairi replied, earning a stern glare from Aqua.

"Show some respect, Kairi." Aqua warned sternly.

"Having a hard time doing that since we almost died on some Cosmos forsaken planet!" An uncomfortable silence fell over the room, but the Headmasters did not react, not even the twitch of an eye at Kairi's comment. "We went on this thing unprepared and two of us almost got lost in space, one of them is in a coma."

"We should at least have been told about the break in." Shin added.

"We had no idea of knowing that you're pursuers would be after you. Or even why data regarding your dorm was taken." Eraqus replied, keeping his tone calm. "Telling you any details without any concrete knowledge would only lead to unnecessary distractions."

"We should've been told regardless!" Kairi replied.

"I recommend you calm yourself, Miss Kokoro." Master Xehanort finally spoke, his tone cold and commanding. His voice sent a chill down my spine and I felt the rest of us tense just from him speaking. "I understand you are…upset, with the current situation. Rest assured we did not send you off into the great unknown without taking proper precautions."

"The planet you were sent to investigate is on the edge of colonized place," Doctor Smith added. "Far enough out of the way for pirates to pay no mind, but close enough for you to return should an emergency arise. The Ragnarok ship you were assigned had an emergency warp drive. It would use up all your fuel, but would return you back to resident faster than any regular ship."

"So…" Isaac slowly spoke. "Do you know anything about what those three were after? Anything at all?"

"Unfortunately, no."

"Well that's just great." Riku added. "We're being hunted, and nobody knows why. Can things get any worse?"

"It is regrettable." Master Xehanort spoke again. "All we can tell, is that your dorm was one of many details taken from the school's computer. What is perplexing is that your dorm has no connection to the files that were stolen."

What? What was that supposed to mean? My curiosity piqued, I just had to ask: "What do mean, Headmaster?"

"Just some old research documents. Nothing pertinent to your current situation." Master Eraqus replied, trying his best to alleviate our concerns, I'm sure.

"With all due respect," Isaac interjected. "You thought it best to keep the break in a secret from us. I don't need to remind anyone of what resulted from that decision." He motioned to Terra lying on the couch. "If information regarding our dorm was included with anything else, don't you think we should know about it? At this point anything could give us an advantage. Especially if you plan on sending us on field missions."

"I don't think we can put this issue to rest with a few well-placed words, Eraqus." Xehanort said in that teasing grandpa tone that all old people seem to use.

Doctor Smith agreed given the solemn nod he gave. "I don't think I could dodge this bullet. It's like trying to outrun an Angel with a blindfold on. You're just asking for trouble."

Master Eraqus just sighed in defeat, visibly slumping from the stress. "I can't say much on the subject. Just that the information taken pertained to four different subjects. The Light of Kingdom Hearts," That old bedtime story? "The Planet of the Dead, the Astral Archive, and the Dahaka."

"That's just perfect." Riku stated. "No one knows anything about Kingdom Hearts, and I've never even heard of the other three!"

"Which is exactly why we thought it was best to keep this from you. At least until we had something less obscure to go on."

"At least it's something." Sazh added.

"So what do we do now? Are we just going to stay on Resident for the rest of the year?" Shin asked with a little bit of condescension in his tone.

"As much as we would like to keep you here for safety," I don't like where Master Eraqus is going with this. "The fact that we had a break at the Institute proves that we cannot truly keep you safe."

Master Xehanort took a few steps forward. "We have decided to intensify your training on your days off. As well as sending you on tougher missions than your class level would allow in order to sharpen your skills as quickly as possible until this threat passes."

I heard most of the boys groan at the prospect of more work, everyone but Isaac anyway. He seemed to be lost in thought about something, whatever it was he thinking about, it was definitely getting to him.

"In order to do so, we will have to specialize some of you more than others." Eraqus pointed at Sora and Kairi. "I heard from Merlin that the two of you are Light Bearers, which means I'm the only teacher who can train you in the proper use of your powers at the moment. Starting tomorrow, you two will come to the main gym every day after your classes are done with."

Sora repressed another groan, probably to avoid sounding ungrateful or rude.

"Riku." Xehanort called the silverette. "You will follow the same regimen with me since you have the power of a dark seeker." Master Xehanort turned to address the rest of us after receiving a reluctant nod from Riku. "Aside from that, you will learn leadership skills starting with your next mission. Each one of you will be placed in the role of leader for each mission. Your objective? Learn to keep calm under pressure and listen to those around you. First up as leader will be Shin, followed by Riku, Kairi, Xion, Roxas, Naminé, Sora, Terra, and lastly Isaac. Any questions?" No one responded, the Headmasters took that as answer enough.

"We will make a stop by the hospital to check on Roxas' condition." Eraqus added. "He should be released soon now that he has accessed to better facilities." The Headmasters turned and left out of the door, closing it behind them.

"I should also mention." Terra Xein added. "You will be accompanied by upperclassmen and high ranking SOLDIER operatives. For added security."

"Do you know who will be accompanying us on our next mission?" Naminé asked.

"So far, it's going to be me. Hopefully two Keyblade wielders will make those guys think twice before going after you guys."

"I wouldn't get my hopes up." Riku added, moving up the stairs. "I'm going to bed."

"Yeah, I think I've had enough excitement for one day." Sora added as he and Shin went to their rooms.

"Same." Shin added. "I don't think I can handle any more plot twists." Shin opened the door to his room and we suddenly heard a lot of cooing coming from within. "What the actual hell?!"

Eraqus' POV

Xehanort and I made our way across the campus to the school hospital. The news about young Roxas Gainsborough is most troubling. Memories of similar incidents flowed into my mind immediately, two separate occasions that leave me wondering if there was anything differently I could've done.

"It is strange that Roxas showed any sign of dark corruption." Xehanort asked me as we entered the ten story tall building. "His Magical aptitude showed he had no affinity towards darkness."

"I had expected Riku to show signs of instability. His solitary attitude does not bode well for his future endeavors." The fact that Riku has not had any incidents involving his dark magic is a positive sign, one that should not be taken for granted, but the whole point of the magic evaluations was to find natural wielders of dark magic as soon as possible to reduce the likely hood of a Dark Lord rising. If the evaluation cannot identify these individuals, then I fear we know less about dark magic than we initially thought.

"If anything, this makes me more concerned for Master Yen Sid's warning."

"Especially with those cloaked individuals running about."

"Dark forces are at play, Eraqus. We need to take precautions if we are to be prepared…for whatever may happen." I just nodded my agreement with Xehanort. He of all people would understand the flow of dark magic, though I am still concerned with him being anywhere near it.

We eventually reached the ten-story building, the entire exterior made of glass, I always have to bring my old sunglasses during summer. We entered the building and ascended to the fourth floor. We walked down the long white hallway, rounded a corner, and continued till we came to a door at the very end of the hallway. I turned the handle and pushed the door open, upon entering I saw two people, both of which I had expected to see.

"Checking on our patient?" I said, gaining their attention. I approached the bed next, moving past Aerith and Cloud to examine Roxas. "Has anything changed since his admittance?"

"No, Headmaster." Aerith replied, worry gripping her tone. "He hasn't so much as twitched."

"What happened out there?" Cloud asked, keeping that hard edge in his tone. I swear that boy needs to lighten up.

"The report says that he was exposed in a vacuum for a few moments." Xehanort replied, standing at the foot of the bed. "Afterwards he should signs of Hysteria."

"Hysteria?"

"But I thought Roxas had no aptitude for dark magic." Aerith eyed Roxas cautiously, Hysteria is the first sign of corruption amongst Dark Seekers.

"We, too, believed that to be the case." I replied, eyeing Xehanort. "Which is precisely what we are here to find out."

I exchanged places with Xehanort, letting him stand next to Roxas. Xehanort took off one of his gloves, revealing his aged and battered fingers. He placed his hand against Roxas' forehead and closed his eyes, controlling his breathing.

"What is he doing?" Cloud asked me.

"Xehanort is checking for any trace of dark influence in Roxas' being. Next to Master Yen Sid, Xehanort has the most experience handling dark magic. He'll know if Roxas is a Dark Seeker, or something else." I noticed Aerith holding her hands in front of her chest, a worried expression on her face.

"I understand your concern Aerith, but I urge you to remain calm." I saw her clench her jaw and nod reluctantly.

Xehanort released a lengthy sigh. He placed his glove back on his hand and took a seat in the corner of the room. "What did you find?" Cloud impatiently asked, earning a stern glare from Xehanort. A glare that most people would crumble under. Cloud seemed to fair well, but I could see the color drain from his face.

"Roxas is a peculiar child." Xehanort replied. "I sense no darkness within him, so there is no need to panic." Aerith released an audible sigh of relief. I heard that Roxas had a run in with Heartless when he was younger, she must be worried that encounter had adverse effects on the boy. "I did sense a stirring within the boy, however. It could be a spike in energy in response to oxygen deprivation. Hysteria can arise from spikes in magical energy due to survival instincts."

"So he'll be fine then?" Aerith asked.

"He should be awake in the morning." Xehanort rose from the chair and made his way to the door. Something seemed off about his walk, however. He found something in Roxas, the fact that he did not mention it to Cloud and Aerith troubles me greatly.

"You two take care. Roxas should be fine."

I exited after Xehanort, catching up to my aged companion. "The boy is a complicated one." Xehanort did not need me to prompt him for a question, he already knew what I was going to ask him.

"I assumed as much with how tired you were."

"Roxas has a second soul residing in his heart. From what I can tell, it is a powerful individual from the Keyblade War."

"The Keyblade War? Are you certain?" I hope the anxiousness I was feeling did not show in my tone. The Keyblade War is the most infamous event in galactic history, though oddly enough, it is the one we know very little about. It gave Keyblade wielders a stigma at one point in our existence that is matched only by the Celestials today. Though we do not know if Keyblade wielders had a Orphanim Imperium to rally behind, or if we were just naturally blood thirsty.

"As certain as I can be." Xehanort stroked his goatee, closing his eyes in contemplative thought. "I need to do some research. In the meantime, we will have to keep an eye on the ARK Dorm."

"This is certainly shaping up to be an interesting year."

"If only we had more Keyblade Knights."

Isaac's POV

"Shin?!" I shouted as I ran to Shin's room. He was busy freaking out about something, I'm not sure what it was, but the high pitched cooing emitting from his room gave a few ideas.

"Okay, okay, no need to freak out." Shin was repeatedly telling himself. "Sword…the sword!" He suddenly exclaimed as Asili and I reached his door. He bolted into his room and I heard the metallic sound of a sword's blade being unsheathed. When I peered into his room I was surprised by what I saw, it looked as though a tornado had blown through it and…is that half of an egg?

"Is that what I think it is?" I heard Terra speak next to me. I'm surprised she managed to make it up the stairs with how tired she was, let alone sneak up on me.

"Be quiet. I don't want to startle it." Shin said in a stern whisper. He was holding a long silver blade with a golden hilt. He turned back to the source of our shock, a small silver tail sticking out from under his pillow. I could hear very soft and muffled cooing coming from that same direction. I'm not sure what it is. The fact that Shin was holding an extremely sharp sword made me think it was hostile.

"Are you going to kill it?" At that moment, Shin turned and gave a stare that told me he was not in the mood for jokes. Granted he rarely ever cracks a smile, but he's at least more sociable than Riku. This on the other hand? It was as if I just threatened to kill his…child…I think I see what's going on. I took hold of Terra's arm and moved her to the side of the door, out of sight of the creature with Asili close behind.

"What are you doing, Isaac?" Terra, understandably asked with no little amount of confusion.

"I think Shin is trying to imprint on the creature." I replied, trying to keep my voice down. "I'd rather not startle it if that's the case." This seems similar to how we bond with our companions back home. I remember Asili being particularly difficult to connect with.

"Imprint?" Terra pondered the word for a moment, her eyes widened an instant later and I could see that she understood my meaning. "So Shin's gonna be a father?"

"Technically Mother sense that will the first thing any child sees."

Terra began giggling at the thought muttering all the while, "Mama Shinryu, that's funny."

"Either way, we need to give him space. I'm not sure what that thing is and I don't want to mess anything up."

Shin's POV

'Okay, Shin. The egg is broken, your room is a complete disaster, and there is a baby Rathalos hiding under your pillow…at least it's not trying to kill me.' I approached the bed with my Rathalos blade in hand…I seriously need to name this thing. Hopefully it will recognize its parents' soul in the blade, last thing I need to do is try and learn wyvern speak in next three seconds.

I made my way as slowly to the bed as I could, trying my best not to make any noise. To my astonishment, the baby that had hatched from the egg was a Silver Rathalos. Pretty rare, even if the father itself was a Silver Rathalos. The baby was cooing, no doubt looking for something to eat, quite possibly milk. The moment I reached the bed, the baby Rathalos jolted up and the pillow flopped over, revealing the infant in its entirety. It was small, it scales smooth, and none of the rougher features of its species were even hinted at.

The infant gave a tiny shake and furled its wings soon after. I just stared at it, completely at a loss for how words. 'This is a Rathalos, a Silver Rathalos. And yet it looks so docile, so vulnerable. You wouldn't believe that it would grow into one of fiercest monsters on Finibus.' The Rathalos swiveled its head, its eyes squinting and blinking rapidly as it tried to adjust to the sudden lighting change. It eventually caught sight of me, its deep blue blues starring into mine with naïve curiosity.

I knelt down next to the bed and placed the sword on the blanket, laying my hand on the blade. "Hey there." I carefully began, trying to coax the infant into a sense of security. It looked at me with the same curious blue eyes, tilting its head to the side, Rathalos are incredibly intelligent, close to that of humans, probably trying to discern what my intentions were. It soon stumbled forward and leaned in toward the blade. I heard it take a short inhale through its snout, it sniffed the length of the blade a few times before it reached my hand near the hilt. 'Please let this work.' At this point I wasn't sure if it would take me as a surrogate parent, I'm not even the same species for crying out loud! After a minute of the infant sniffing my hand it looked up at me and gave a high pitched cry before affectionately rubbing against my hand. Its tiny head slipping under my fingers and rubbing up against my palm. "Looks like I'm a dad now."

"Congratulations, Shin!" Terra called from the doorway.

"How did you even get that through customs?" Isaac asked me just as well, behind him, the rest of the dorm had assembled as well, including our Overseers.

"Tell me you didn't smuggle that in through your cavities." Doctor Smith asked me to which I just scowled.

"I don't think I could fit that egg anywhere on my person that no one would notice." I stood up and took the infant into my arms. "Right now, I need to get some milk for it," I felt something poking at my arm and I instantly knew that I had a son, "him to drink."

"I'll get it!" Xion excitedly, nearly squeeing, bolted down the stairs.

"But we don't have any bottles." Naminé added as I moved past her.

"It's a baby Dragon, Naminé." Kairi replied. "I think we can use a bowl for a little while. We let our own children use bowls sometimes."

"More importantly~," Aqua cut in. "What are you gonna name the little guy?"

Good question. I haven't really thought about it. "What about Fang?" We all shot Sora a glare at that. "What?"

"I'd rather it be something creative." I replied.

"What about Phillis?" Tifa suggested.

"It's a boy, Tifa." I eventually reached the kitchen, where Xion had set up a bowl of warm milk for the infant to drink on the table.

I set him down on the table and watched as he hobbled over to the bowl and enthusiastically began lapping at the warm liquid. I just sat there and thought over and over again about a name for the little guy. As I stood there and tried to think up a name for him, he suddenly looked up at me and tilted his head to the side, giving me another look at his deep blue eyes. I took in his silver form and glowing eyes and then a word popped into my head. I don't know where the word came from, but for now, it fit perfectly in my head.

"Caelum." I said aloud, earning a lot of glances. "His name is Caelum." I leaned in and looked him directly in the eye. "What do think of that, Caelum?" Caelum cooed at the name, spreading his wings wide with joy.

"Aww~." Every girl in the room cooed in response.

"Then Caelum it is." Sazh added. "Congratulations on parenthood, kid."

"Yeah, congratulations…" Isaac snickered. "Mom."

I shot him a glare, about to rebuttal when I realized something. The thing any infant sees, it assumes to be its mother so that means: "Holy, Cosmos. I think I just gendered confused my son."

Congratulations, Shin!

Well this took longer than I had intended. Sorry for the long wait everybody. A lot of things ended up happening that I was not expecting in the real world, but I am happy to say that things will pick up from here on out. you may notice a few changes throughout the series, namely that Isaac's wolf is named Asili.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and as always, let me know what you liked and didn't like.