Aqua and Si'Lea's race to the world barrier ended up in a draw, but that didn't matter to them much. Soon they were flying casually through the stars towards an unknown destination.
"So Si', where are we headed to first?" Aqua asked as Si'Lea tapped her armored chin.
"There's one world I need to check up on first before we go anywhere else. One of the few worlds still standing and also the only world I know of that's practically Heartless free." Si'Lea replied.
"Really? What world is that?" Aqua asked as Si'Lea chuckled and pointed ahead of them.
"That one there." She replied as their Keyblade Gliders flew towards the barrier of another world. As soon as they did, they found themselves flying through a sudden explosion of purple colored fire.
"We're under attack!" Aqua yelped but Si'Lea just laughed.
"No we're not, those are fireworks! They set them off every night!" Si'Lea replied as she veered downward, Aqua following after her, but as the nose of her Keyblade Glider moved downward she beheld a sight unlike anything she had ever seen before. It was a city that was literally aglow with sparkling electric lights. In the dead center of the city was a large, circular domed stadium.
"Welcome to Steadfast Stadium!" Si'Lea shouted as they flew over the glowing city streets until they found an empty courtyard and touched down, dismissing their armor. Aqua immediately began marveling at the city around her. Neon lights covered several buildings along with countless Digital billboards that advertised many of the city's many attractions. She then heard Si'Lea start to chuckle. Aqua turned around and saw Si'Lea with her hands on her hips.
"Well are you just going to stand there with your jaw scraping the floor or are we going to have a look around?" Si'Lea asked as Aqua crossed her arms with a smirk.
"Yeah-yeah, come on let's go." Aqua said as they set out, walking towards the center of town where the stadium sat. Soon they reached the stadium steps. Outside the stadium stood three figures in clandestine black suits, white shirts, and black ties each one of them different in some way. The first was a bald man with sunglasses, a hardly noticeable goatee, and with his hands in black gloves. The second was a man with fiery red hair, goggles worn around his forehead, two red marks over his cheeks, and with his jacket open and his tie missing. He was resting a metal nightstick against his right shoulder. The third was a girl with curly dark orange hair holding a large, red, four pointed shuriken. The red haired one seemed strangely familiar to Aqua. The same man then spotted Si'Lea and Aqua's approach with a grin.
"Yo, Si'Lea! Been a while, hasn't it?" the man asked as Si'Lea chuckled.
"It sure has, Reno. Cissnei, Rude, good to see you two also. Is your boss in by any chance?" Si'Lea asked as Reno (Final Fantasy VII) retracted his nightstick like it was a telescope, attaching it to the side of his belt before crossing his arms.
"I'll let you know on one condition." Reno said with a grin. Si'Lea arched a curious eyebrow.
"Oh? And what condition would this be?" Si'Lea asked as Reno slid over towards Aqua, putting his arm around her shoulder with a suave grin.
"Under the condition that this angel tells me what heaven she came from." Reno said as Aqua blushed, completely blindsided by Reno's advances.
"Reno, let her go already." The woman, Cissnei (Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core & Before Crisis) said.
"Quiet ya lil' weasel, I'm on a roll here." Reno whispered to her through clinched teeth.
"…." Rude (Final Fantasy VII) said, pointing towards Aqua. Reno turned before paling and sweat dropping as he realized he was now grasping Aqua's right breast with the hand that was around her shoulder and Aqua was emanating a murderous aura of impending doom as she glared daggers at him. Reno quickly removed his hand and hid behind Rude and Cissnei. Si'Lea watched this with an amused smirk.
"Axel! I thought that was you! What are you doing here?" Aqua roared as she continued glowing.
"Whoa-whoa-whoa, who's this Axel you're talking about? This is Reno, one of the Turks." Si'Lea said, catching Aqua's attention.
"Reno? But this guy looks, acts…and even sounds like a pervert I know, named Axel, from back home." Aqua replied as Cissnei chuckled.
"You'll have to forgive Lea, ma'am. He's a real womanizer." Cissnei said as Reno peaked out from over Rude's shoulder.
"Cissnei! Did you just call me Lea again?" Reno asked indignantly. Cissnei whirled around to face him.
"Well that's your name isn't it?" Cissnei asked as Reno groaned and ran a hand over his face.
"But it sounds so lame! Reno is so much cooler!" Reno argued. Aqua in the meantime was mentally counting something on her fingers.
"A-X-E-L. L-E-A. Add the X, rearrange…Axel! O-M-G! You ARE Axel!" Aqua exclaimed in surprise, interrupting the bickering Turks.
"…" Rude said, confused.
"Me too buddy." Reno muttered.
"Aqua, what are you talking about? Who is this Axel guy?" Si'Lea asked.
"Axel's another former member of Organization XIII only he's on our side and he's got a heart now." Aqua explained. Si'Lea seemed to put it together from there.
"Ah I see. He's another of those Nobodies you mentioned. So you think Reno's his other?" Si'Lea asked, ignoring the Turks for the moment.
"I figured it out when Cissnei mentioned his real name was Lea." Aqua replied, earning a groan from Reno.
"I hate that name." Reno mumbled.
"Well that aside, would your boss happen to be in by any chance?" Si'Lea asked as Cissnei smiled and nodded.
"Oh, yes ma'am. I'll take you straight to him." Cissnei said as she turned and led the two Keyblade Masters up the steps and into a corridor. After a couple minutes of walking through the corridor, they reached a pair of green double doors with a gold colored lining. Cissnei didn't even hesitate and opened the door for them.
"Excuse me Mr. President but Master Si'Lea is here to see you." Cissnei said as they walked into the room. It was a simple square room with sky blue walls, fluorescent ceiling lights, white carpeting, and the entire wall opposite the door was one large glass window with a small control panel in the center of the window. In the center of the room was a large oak desk and sitting behind it was a dashing man in his early to mid forties with long shoulder length black hair and green eyes. He wore a baby blue button-up shirt with khaki slacks and sandals. Aqua could also see a pair of dog tags dangling around his neck. Next to him was a young woman. She had long black hair with a few caramel highlights. She was wearing a long, sleeveless, blue-hued rib-knit duster sweater that had a pair of white wing designs on the back along with matching rib-knit arm warmers, a black halter top, a denim button up skirt, a black ribbon on her left arm, and black bike shorts that had zippers going down the front with a pair of silver buckled black boots.
"Hey-hey! 'Lea! Long time no see!" the man behind the desk said with a friendly smile as he stood up.
"Laguna! It's good to see you again." Si'Lea said as the two firmly gripped each other's hands in a handshake before pulling each other into a hug. Aqua watched silently, politely waiting for an introduction. She happened to glance towards the young woman nearby who shrugged with a smile on her face. Aqua returned the smile and shrug in turn. Cissnei silently excused herself, shutting the door behind her.
"So how've ya been? You never write any more." Laguna (Final Fantasy VIII) said as he leaned against the front left side of the desk with his arms crossed over his chest.
"I've been busier than you wouldn't believe. The Heartless situation in Sublime has been bad." Si'Lea said as Laguna shrugged.
"Well I can't complain about my job in the Heartless aspect, but I can certainly understand the busy part." Laguna replied. Aqua then coyly glanced away while clearing her throat.
"Oh, where are my manners? Laguna, I'd like to introduce you to a very dear friend of mine. Keyblade Master Aqua. Aqua, may I present President Laguna Loire of Steadfast Stadium." Si'Lea introduced as Aqua extended her hand towards the president.
"A pleasure to meet you Master Aqu-ACH!" Laguna yelped as he dropped down onto his left knee in pain.
"Are you alright?" Aqua asked worriedly. The younger woman nearby quickly moved to help him.
"Yeah. Just a leg cramp. Ooh it's a bad one. Ah!" Laguna replied, cringing in pain. Si'Lea however rolled her eyes.
"Laguna how many times have I told you to stop giving strange new women the lingering eye? This happens every time!" Si'Lea said, confusing Aqua.
"Wait you mean he was looking me over?" Aqua asked, almost offended.
"Not in the bad way, Aqua. Relax I know how you are with perverts, but Laguna's a gentleman. I mean he gets super nervous around beautiful women. Heck he even got a leg cramp when he and I first met years ago." Si'Lea said with an amused snort.
"It's true. My apologies Master Aqua." Laguna said as he hoisted himself onto the desk, with some help from the other woman.
"It's alright, Mr. President. No harm done…well…to me at least." Aqua said with a forgiving smile.
"Call me Laguna. Oh by the way, I don't think either of you have met my friend here." Laguna said as the girl turned towards them with a smile.
"I'm Ren Heartwing. I'm Mr. Loire's assistant." the girl said.
"I'm Keyblade Master Si'Lea and I've already introduced Aqua. So what brings you to Steadfast Stadium?" Si'Lea asked curiously.
"I just kinda wound up here a little over a year ago. My world fell into Darkness and when I woke up, I found myself here. Mr. Loire took me in. Turns out he knew my mother years ago." Ren explained.
"Really? When?" Si'Lea asked. Aqua seemed to be lost in thought.
"Before we even met, 'Lea. Man, Julia was something else. She could play the piano and sing like it was no one else's business. To this day I can remember her voice. Ren here just happens to look a lot like her. I mentioned it to her and whaddya know, Rinoa is Julia's daughter." Laguna said with a smile.
"You mean Ren." Si'Lea corrected. Laguna looked at her with a confused expression for a moment before pointing to himself curiously.
"What did I say?" he asked, genuinely unsure.
"You called me Rinoa again." Ren replied sweetly as Laguna buried his head in his hands with a groan of light frustration.
"Who's Rinoa?" Aqua asked. Ren giggled slightly.
"I am. My real name is Rinoa Heartilly but when my world fell into Darkness and I ended up here, I took the name Ren Heartwing. I swore that I'd never use my real name again until I found my way home." Ren explained.
"That sounds almost like someone I know from where I come from." Aqua said, tapping her chin.
"Who's that?" Si'Lea asked curiously.
"A guy named Leon Squallblade. Sora, my former Apprentice, says he changed his name after his world was consumed by Darkness a year ago. Well the world's long since come back but he hasn't changed his name back for some reason. I don't know why." Aqua explained. Rinoa looked thoughtful, mouthing the name "Squallblade" to herself.
"Hmm. Interesting. So what brings you two here?" Laguna asked as Si'Lea casually put her hands in her pockets.
"Pretty much just checking up on the Stadium. Aqua and her former apprentice are searching for a friend of theirs that the Sisterhood of Seven kidnapped. A girl named Namine." Si'Lea explained.
"Oh yeah? Can you give me a description of her?" Laguna asked as he whipped out a writing pad from his back pocket.
"She's about yay high with long blond hair. We don't know what she's wearing anymore but she usually prefers a white dress and blue sandals. She looks to be about fifteen years old and her favorite hobby is drawing." Aqua explained as Laguna wrote everything down.
"Alright then. I'll get word to the Turks to keep an eye out for anyone matching her description." Laguna said, ripping the paper out and handing it to Ren who put her fingers to her lips and whistled. Almost instantly a dog came running in that looked to be a half German shepherd, half Border collie female. The dog happily approached Ren, sitting down on her hind legs with a happy expression. Ren immediately knelt down and lovingly scratched the dog's fur while sticking the message in the dog's collar.
"Good girl Angelo. Go on, take the message to Cissnei." Ren instructed. Almost instantly the dog barked before turning and hurrying out the door.
"Well who was that?" Si'Lea asked, amused.
"Angelo, Ren's dog. She's very smart, much like her master." Laguna said with a chuckle.
"It would seem that way." Si'Lea remarked before noticing a curious look from Aqua.
"What's the matter Blue?" she asked.
"I'm confused about something. Is the whole city named Steadfast Stadium or is it just that arena out there?" Aqua asked.
"Both actually. The city didn't have a name so we decided to name it after its most attractive feature short of Ren here. Steadfast Stadium, the center of arena combat sports for this side of the universe. Legend has it that it used to be a training arena for Keyblade wielders but a city just happened to grow up around it." Laguna explained as he and the others walked up to the window. There was no one in the arena so the stands were empty save for a single box seat where a man clad in armor stood looking out over the arena's surface. Aqua took notice of him.
"Say, who's the guy in the box there?" Aqua asked as Laguna smirked.
"Oh him? He's the new guy. Showed up a few months ago. Come on, I'll introduce you." Laguna said as he led Aqua and Si'Lea out of his office, leaving Ren behind, and through a number of secret corridors to a door leading into the arena. The passage they took went directly into the box. It appeared to be a private box for what Aqua assumed was VIPs but the abundance of monitors and controls said otherwise. The man in the box was clad in grey armor with a black cape on the back that had an oddly familiar symbol on it in red. Aqua could swear she had seen him somewhere before.
"Hey Judge! I'd like to introduce you to some people." Laguna called out. The man turned around, revealing his helmet with curled demonic horns. The man gasped in surprise when he spotted them and immediately dropped to one knee in a reverent bow.
"Hail Master Aqua of the Keyblade!" He declared.
"Judge Gabranth? Is that really you?" Aqua asked as the armored man removed his helmet, revealing the Archadian Judge's face underneath. His hair had grown a little longer and curly, reaching the back of his neck.
"You know him?" Si'Lea asked surprised. Laguna appeared equally surprised.
"Gabranth fought against me in Mirage Arena a few months ago. He was working for a guy named Mateus and thus Xehanort by proxy but he had a change of heart once I beat him." Aqua said as Gabranth (Final Fantasy XII) approached.
"Before we fought I allowed the hatred in my heart to guide my actions as well as my blade. But when she told me that her drive was of love for her friends and comrades and proceeded to defeat me, I realized that there was a greater drive than hatred. Master Aqua, I am eternally in your debt for what you have shown me. Thanks to you, I have been granted a second chance." Gabranth said with a humble bow.
"Gabranth, you don't need to thank me. I'd do it again if I had to." Aqua said.
"Then at the very least, allow me to give you a token of my appreciation." Gabranth said as he reached into a back pocket and pulled out a small pendant with a symbol on it that matched the one on the back of his cape (Archadian Empire symbol).
"What's this?" Aqua asked curiously as she took the pendant.
"Should you ever need aid in battle, you need only use this pendant to summon me to your side." Gabranth said with a humble bow.
"Wow…not even here for an hour and already you've got the loyalty of the Stadium's Judge." Laguna said with a smile.
"Oh so that's why you quit sending me urgent letters asking for me to send you someone who could preside over the fights here." Si'Lea said as Laguna shrugged.
"Well hey when the guy introduces himself as a Judge, I'll take it." Laguna said.
"So it sounds like you're making an honest living for yourself now." Aqua said as Gabranth smiled and nodded.
"Yes Milady. I even get to participate in some of the matches as well should I so desire." Gabranth said as Si'Lea tapped her chin in thought.
"Hmm, you know it's been a while since we last sparred, Aqua. I imagine being trapped in the realm of Darkness for over a decade has made you rusty." Si'Lea said with a challenging grin. Aqua smirked back while crossing her arms.
"You've probably gotten too old and slow to handle my still youthful speed and agility grandma!" Aqua taunted as Si'Lea grinned and cracked her knuckles.
"Oh it's on now! Laguna, set us up!" Si'Lea ordered as she and Aqua leapt over the edges of the box into the arena below with their weapons summoned.
"Hah! Now it's a party!" Laguna said as he pressed a few buttons and immediately deployed a number of small flying pill capsule shaped camera robots with forward swept wings near the back. Outside the arena, a number of the digital billboards in town suddenly switched to live footage of the two Keyblade Masters as they stared each other down. They both shrugged off their respective Master's Haori, revealing their armor pieces on their shoulders.
"Gabranth, I hope you can remain impartial with this match." Laguna said as Gabranth smirked.
"I can remain perfectly impartial with every match, although a part of me is hopeful that Master Aqua succeeds." Gabranth replied as Laguna smirked.
"Want to make it more interesting?" Laguna asked, dangling a small coin pouch full of munny between his fingers. Gabranth merely glared daggers at him, clearly saying no. Down in the arena, the two combatants summoned their Keyblades.
"Hope you can keep up with me old lady." Aqua said, playfully taunting Si'Lea who smirked and summoned her armor, sans helmet.
"Ah you underestimate me, Aqua. I've been an active Keyblade Master for over eleven years. How long have you been active? Oh right, not even a year." Si'Lea retorted as Aqua summoned her armor sans helmet. They then dropped into their battle stances ready for the fight before them…
End Chapter 14.
The background music for Steadfast Stadium is "Nautilus" from Final Fantasy XIII because I was envisioning something similar to Nautilus when coming up with Steadfast Stadium, and the music for the city is pretty good.
Reno, Rude, and Cissnei, are each from Final Fantasy VII (although Cissnei is from Before Crisis and Crisis Core), Laguna Loire, Ren Heartwing/Rinoa Heartilly, and Angelo are from Final Fantasy VIII, and Judge Gabranth is from Final Fantasy XII. Fans of Reconnect Kingdom Hearts should remember Gabranth. One reviewer in particular (you know who you are) was asking me if Gabranth would make a reappearance and so I happened to notice that no arena is complete without a judge so I figured…why not?
The inclusion of Laguna is actually (and surprisingly) NOT a Dissidia reference. While he IS in Dissidia 012, I had Laguna on the cast list for this story long before he was listed as a confirmed character in Dissidia. I was reading on both the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts wiki pages that when they were creating Mirage Arena, they were going to have Laguna be the guy in charge but in the end decided against it so I figured, why not just have him be in charge of this arena? Dissidia just happened to make writing his character much easier. Oh and for Dissidia 012 owners, he's wearing his second alternate outfit. His President's outfit.