Episode 9: Finding Our Way:

The Land of Departure – Throne Room

August 9, 2015

Aqua smiled as she greeted everyone warmly in the throne room. While not every Keyblade Wielder in the known worlds was available for this meeting on short notice, there were enough that the majority of them were present for the discussion they were about to have. Sora and Kairi were still on their "vacation cruise" as Riku called it (and in Aqua's opinion the two had more than earned it), and Vanitas, who'd joined the Coalition's new intelligence network to make up for his actions in aiding Xehanort, was off helping the other spies scope out the locations being given to them for bases. After taking a deep breath to calm herself, she began.

"Thank you all for coming on such short notice," she began. "With Master Yen Sid's passing, eleven of us now remain in the Realm of Light. As Keyblade Wielders, it is our duty to defend the worlds and maintain the balance between Light and Dark. In ancient times, the ability to wield a Keyblade was passed down from Master to Apprentice in a lineage going back thousands of years. However, much has changed in the last thirteen years. Where before each Wielder studied under a Keyblade Master, a significant number of us were self-taught. Times have changes, and for us to do our jobs effectively, we need to change with them."

"With all that said," she went on. "I have called you all here to discuss exactly how we should change. While we're all friends with each other, we still need a proper chain of command so that in times of crisis we can remain organized. We need a leader who will coordinate plans and keep track of information. Before his untimely demise, Master Yen Sid filled that role, and now we must decide who should take up that mantle now." The blue-haired Master took a breath as she finished her speech. It was time for the discussion to begin.

As she sat gingerly on Master Eraqus' throne, she opened her ears to the ideas and suggestions of her comrades in arms. These were not decisions that should be made lightly. Terra pointed out that since both light and Darkness should be in balance, Master Eraqus' bias towards the Light proved that they couldn't just rely on Light alone. After throwing around a few ideas, Riku suggested that the Order of the Keyblade would be lead by a triumvirate. While membership of the triumvirate would be based on experience for the time being, future apprentices would be encouraged to follow whichever path their heart lead them towards.

Once the meeting adjourned, Terra lead everyone over to the kitchens where he'd ordered enough pizza to feed the whole group. While Mickey congratulated Riku and reassured the young man about his doubts, Ven and Roxas quickly hit it off. At first Roxas was a little frustrated about the fact that after spending most of his life being treated as an extension of Sora, even his face was copied from someone else's. But Lea and Xion pointed out that even if Roxas looked like Ven's identical twin, he did in fact have something to call his own: his memories and bond with his friends.

While that conversation was happening, Terra and Aqua were animatedly discussing what Terra was going to do now that his chosen successor had become a Master. Terra wanted to retire and cast aside his Keyblade, feeling that after everything he'd done, he no longer deserved the right to wield it. Aqua, on the other hand, reminded him that none of what Xehanort used his body for was his fault. He was a pawn as much as Riku had been.

"Besides," she said with a supportive chuckle, "there's no way I'm letting you retire until you've been a Master for at least a few decades." That managed to get a laugh out of Terra, and his mood brightened considerably after that. Meanwhile, Ventus had to ask Roxas a question that had been weighing down on him for a few days now.

"Can your friend Namine still mess with people's memories?" Ven asked nervously.

"She doesn't really like talking about it," Roxas answered hesitantly. "But she does still have the power. Axel, Xion, and I are trying to help her get over her fears about it and show her that she can use it for more than just mess with people's minds like the Organization forced her to. She could use her power to help people with amnesia, or remind people of things they're forgetting."

"The amnesia part was actually why I wanted to ask about," Ventus said. "I don't know if Lea told you, but I have absolutely no memory of my life before I met Terra and Aqua. I can't remember how I became Xehanort's apprentice, or where I came from. I can't even remember my parents."

"And you're hoping Namine will be able to sniff around inside your head and dig those memories up," Lea surmised as he cut into the conversation. "I can understand that. I can't say if it'll work, but we'll talk to her and see if she's up for it. Just don't get your hopes up."

"I'll try not to," Ven replied. While he didn't want to be too optimistic, he was hopeful that even if Namine couldn't recover all of his memories, she'd at least be able to find some clue as to where he came from. He thought of Terra and Aqua as a family already, but since coming to the Land of Departure all those years ago, he'd lie awake in bed some nights wondering whether he had parents out there in the worlds outside, scared and wondering if he'd ever come home. After a few hours, most of the Keyblade Wielders present cleared out. Riku and Mickey headed out first to go spend time with their families. Lea, Roxas, and Xion followed shortly afterwards, heading back to their cozy little house in Twilight Town.

Ven headed back to his room with a yawn, saying goodnight to Terra and Aqua on the way. Things had changed a lot in the last thirteen years, but now that Xehanort was gone, they could finally live in peace. While he knew that conquerors like Maleficent would always rise up to oppose the balance of the universe, it was good to know that it wasn't just up to him and his two surrogate siblings to stop them alone. They had friends would help in every way they could, Keyblade or not.

I figure at some point the series should explore Ven's history and how he ended up with Xehanort, so I decided to include that conversation at the end. And a lot of people are speculating on how Roxas might feel about looking exactly like Ven, my opinion was "he might feel a little apprehensive at first, but he'd probably understand once he heard the full story." As for why Roxas refers to Lea as Axel, 1) he and Xion knew him as Axel for the longest, so they'd naturally keep calling him Axel out of habit, and 2) it's a call back to KH3D when the exact same happened when everyone keeps calling him Axel.

The part about Ven trying to recover his memories is going to be addressed later on. Suffice to say, where he came from will indeed be significant. Not so much to the overall story, just towards the universe in general.

Up next: Maleficent and her allies lick their wounds as they hunt for a new base.