AN: Now for an update on a few important and literally in-universe neglected people lol... :D
Aced paced before the large window, looking out over the ocean, and all the rest of these sprawling cities built up on the sides of mountains. So many buildings and citadels had been built up now that the natural rock and greenery of the actual mountains were hardly visible underneath it all.
He stopped to gaze out the window, toward the main city, connected to theirs by tram system. That was the city that the Dandelion survivors had "claimed" for themselves weeks ago. There had been a great argument over it all, with those wielders not wanting to share even a city with the Foretellers - their former leaders! In the end, Luxu had "mediated", and the Foretellers had agreed to remain in a separate city of their own. It was the best sort of truce those Dandelion students could come to - although the woman named Elrena had fiercely argued for her opinion of, "We should just kill them for everything they did".
But it hadn't only been Elrena who had expressed that if the Foretellers ever set foot in their city, there would be an outright fight about it...
Aced looked away from the distant city. He of course didn't want to risk anything like that, but even so...the way things had been these past few weeks...
"We shouldn't just be sitting around here doing nothing!" he spoke out, turning to face the others in the well-polished lounge area.
Ira, Invi and Gula looked over at him at the outburst.
"What else would we do?" Gula said lazily, sprawled on the neat white sofa.
Aced set his jaw as he looked back at them. He raised a hand, clenching a fist. "We should be out there tracking down this Xehanort character - that's what! If he's half as dangerous as Luxu and the others in this era have claimed he is - if he's come so close to his goal before, several times over - then we need to be out there looking for him! We need to put the pressure on him, bring the battle to him! A man who's gone so far for the sake of power, split himself apart, caused so many worlds already to have fallen into darkness...!"
"Well...feel free to go out and look for the guy," Gula replied, raising a hand. "I'm sure you'll have found him within the week."
Aced growled, lowering his fist and stamping forward. "Don't patronize me! I've had enough of that from all of you over the years!"
Invi frowned, rising and holding up her hands. "I'm sure Gula didn't mean to insult you. But the fact is that these worlds are many and vast, and scattered - and searching for one man among them..."
"All we might do in attempting to look for this man out there is to draw attention to ourselves - to alert him to the fact that we're actively looking for him," Ira spoke calmly. "We might even end up just giving him the chance to pick us off, one by one."
Aced stared at Ira, then at Invi. "You two, always together, aren't you? Even now."
"That's-" Ira began, looking discomforted.
"-not the real issue, is it?" Invi cut across, narrowing her eyes at Aced. Her long lilac hair shimmered as she took a step forward. Aced wished she were still wearing her mask and robes (and that he was still wearing his). "What is it that's really troubling you, Aced?"
Aced sighed, dropping his head. "We have to do something," he said firmly. "We can't just sit around and wait for everything to come crashing down on our heads! We lost everything, we lost our world, and now we're just-!"
"That's no one's fault but our own," Invi said tightly. "We destroyed everything we ever had - and we are the ones who led all of those children to their deaths. And we did it because of exactly that kind of thinking: that we couldn't just wait before the supposed inevitable. Do you want us to make those same mistakes again, in a new era? To become so caught up in our own thoughts and feelings, our own ideas, that we end up bringing disaster and death in our attempts to-"
"This is- this is different," Aced spoke roughly - and yet a lot more quietly than he usually spoke. "That was the Master, that was - he set us all up, he pitted us against one another, made sure we couldn't even trust each other! This is one enemy, one man, one clear and present threat! And we...we are going to be united against him...aren't we?"
"As long as we don't end up butting heads and bickering again," Gula remarked, quiet as well. "And hey, that seems to be going pretty well, huh?"
Aced looked at him, surprised. Then he let out a slow breath, and moved to sit back down with the others. He brought up a hand to press to his forehead. "I'm not trying to rile everyone up, or- or set us against each other again. I'm not trying to start another war. I just...I feel lost. No, trapped here. We have no Master, no Book, no guidance, no...there's nothing! What are we supposed to do? What are we supposed to do with ourselves now? The moniker that history's given us is as true as can be: we really are Lost Masters."
"I understand how you feel - we all feel the same way, I'm sure," Ira said softly, reaching for Aced's shoulder. "But we can find new purpose together - a new mission. Our duty as Keyblade wielders has always been the one clear thing, hasn't it? To protect the world, and the people in it? We just need to find a new way of doing that, in this new world. And maybe that won't always involve charging headfirst into battle against some great enemy." He paused. Hesitated. Then- "Did you even have any plans for what you'd do with yourself if you had won the war, and brought peace back to the world?"
"No...I didn't," Aced admitted, cringing. He sighed, straightening. "I'm sure I would have figured...something...out, though."
"How about we figure that something out, then - together?" Ira spoke on, smiling. "We're all here, we're all at peace - and we all need to adjust. You are right: we stopped trusting each other, stopped confiding in one another. Our bonds became weak, until they snapped outright. But we can mend that now. Remember when we were younger, when we were first brought together?"
Aced gave a silent nod.
"We can have that again, now. It might take some work - on all our parts - but I'm sure we can manage it if we try," Ira said firmly. "And together we can get through this, and find a new direction for our lives. A new path to walk. We just have to talk to each other - not argue. Not...a fight. Never again, between us."
"Maybe Aced is right - in one sense, at least," Invi spoke, finally returning to her place on the sofa (right beside Ira). "Maybe something we need is a...change of scenery. The others have been visiting that 'Radiant Garden' world, lending their aid to the people there. Maybe we could join them in that."
"At least it would get us out of this world - keep us busy," Gula agreed, sitting upright.
"I think it would also be prudent to explore a few more of these worlds - to get a lay of the land," Invi went on. "We don't want to alert this Xehanort to our movements, but we'd be better off for it if we knew something about these worlds."
"Hmm. We should start with familiar worlds, then - maybe just the ones that these new wielders reside in," Ira nodded. "We've already visited the homeworld of Masters Aqua and Terra, of course, but there's still Radiant Garden, as well as whatever world Luxu's been staying in for the last few weeks now..."
"Excellent! Let's go now, then," Aced said, jumping up. "No time like the present, eh?" he added with a grin. He paused, glaring at his friends. "Eh...Ehhh? The present- come on, you guys!"
The other three collectively groaned, shaking their heads empathetically.