Kingdom Hearts: Daybreak Academy
Chapter 13: Familial Face-Off
Astrid found the door she was looking for: a dark background with a large bronze emblem imprinted on it. Its appearance vaguely resembled a heart. The metallic sheen glimmered in the cool light of the blue crystals lining the walls of the tight corridor.
Starlight appeared in Astrid's left hand and rose to point at the door. A white light filled the room as a thin beam fired directly at the emblem. The gears activated and the door split apart. When Astrid entered the room, she found the room to be completely empty. There was no sign of Master Gula or even Dani. Not a single breath released into the chamber until a familiar and obnoxious cackle echoed throughout.
"So it's you that they've sent to guard this riffraff. Of course it didn't really matter who that street rat sent, but you can never be too careful."
Elrena seemed more concerned with inspecting her nails than by having been caught in some unauthorized act by the younger blonde. This did not sit well with Astrid. She narrowed her eyes as she retorted, "It sounds to me as though you were afraid of one of the Leopardus Keyblade wielders. That's pretty sad."
That retaliation landed bluntly as Elrena scoffed and snickered, clearly unfazed. "Oh, please. What's sad is that you think you have what it takes to make a Lancicorn Spirit."
Astrid looked at her with worry. She had never mentioned to Elrena which Dream Eater she intended on synthesizing. "How did you…"
Elrena revealed a folded up piece of paper caught between her fingers. Astrid recognized it to be her recipe list by the pinkish hue of the paper from a specially requested notepad she received at the beginning of her tenure at the academy.
"I found this on the floor," Elrena explained. "It doesn't seem all that important for you to misplace it so easily, actually." Without a moment of hesitation, Elrena tore the note clean down the middle not once, not twice, but three times.
Astrid just watched in disbelief as hours of research fell apart right in front of her thanks to her venomous cousin as said cousin cackled like a hyena. Elrena reveled in the misery she brought upon the younger blonde. Her obnoxious laughter reverberating through Astrid's eardrums. Even when the shredded pieces of paper were the only thing Astrid could see through tunneling vision, Elrena's irritable howling burrowed to the forefront of the Brightcrest's mind.
Icy eyes froze over with disdain as they slowly rose to meet Elrena's vibrant green optics. That look only made Elrena's banshee voice strengthen in volume and resonance and that only made Astrid more bitter. Her grip hardened around Starlight as she lunged forward with a wide swing aimed straight for Elrena's head. A Keyblade flashed into the Unicornus member's hand to intercept the Starlight's blunt blade. It resembled a single-edged chokuto with golden yellow spikes around the guard and teeth of the Keyblade.
Elrena smirked as she glared directly into Astrid's eyes, once again clearly unfazed even now that a Keyblade had just been swung at her head. "Did I strike a nerve?" She asked smugly. "I wonder…" Elrena pressed her weight forward, forcing Astrid to take a step back. "What are you going to do about it?"
Astrid pushed their interlocked weapons upward to free her Keyblade from Elrena's and followed up with a two-handed strike. Elrena sidestepped the swing and lunged forward with the lethal two-pronged thrust of her Aubade. The blunt side of the blade sparked against Starlight. Astrid managed to bring it down for a downward parry as she shifted her weight to her right foot. After placing her hand on the base of her Keyblade, Astrid used the additional force to push forward with a thrust of her own. A bright ray of light formed around Starlight's sphere tip to increase its piercing power.
Elrena practically faded into a blur as she leapt backward, evading Astrid's thrust including the additional six inch ray of piercing light. The honey blonde's lightning fast reflexes allowed her to flash forward as soon as her gray boots made contact with the floor. Astrid had little time to prepare a block, let alone a counter. She barely managed to guard with Starlight as the Aubade reached past her arm, making a small cut that tore through the fabric of the blue dress.
Astrid whined from the discomfort. While the shallow wound did not place Astrid's life in danger, it certainly did sting. As did the subsequent cuts that would progressively appear all around Astrid's body each time Elrena went for a strike. Astrid did her best to parry her cousin's attacks, but Elrena was incredibly fast - too fast for the fledgling Keyblade wielder. Astrid managed to avoid any life-threatening injuries, but Elrena was wearing her down quickly. Lifting her arms became more difficult. The drag on her swings provided larger openings, any of which Elrena could take advantage of for a retaliation. Sinister green eyes curved to match the mischievous sneer plastered upon Elrena's face. She knew she could strike Astrid down at any moment, but she wanted Astrid to know it herself.
Starlight continued to pass through the air, hitting nothing with its shiny silver arrowhead. Astrid swung it once again, but could no longer hold her Keyblade upright anymore. A straining burn surged through her arms preventing her from resuming a combat stance, instead holding her Keyblade low to the ground as she glared up at her cousin.
Elrena snickered triumphantly. "Is that all you have? That's disappointing, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised. There's a reason you weren't asked to join Unicornis. You're weak. It's embarrassing that we're related."
As much as Astrid wanted to retort, she knew that she had been defeated so effortlessly. Still, the ire and contempt she held toward the older blonde was clearly present within her bitter expression.
That last bit of retaliation irked Elrena. She pointed the sharp tip of her Keyblade at Astrid's face. "You have no business being here. If you're going to keep trying to fight me, raise your Keyblade. If not, get out of my face."
Astrid did neither. She knew there was no point in fighting Elrena at this point, but she also refused to take orders from the arrogant blonde. She just continued glaring at her.
A small scoff slipped through her smirk, though it only appeared for half a second before morphing into a sour scowl. "Fine." She lifted the Aubade over her shoulder and swung it down to strike through the young Brightcrest girl.
A shockwave rocked through her arm upon impacting, though there was no recoil. She could not pull her blade away if she tried because it was caught between the teeth of a large black dog. The rottweiler's growls pulsed through the blade, sending small vibrations up Elrena's arm.
"What the-?"
"Good going, Epee!"
Two young women approached from behind the large canine: one being Dani and the other the dog owner. She was only slightly shorter than Dani with dark violet (borderline black) hair pulled into a low ponytail that reached the middle of her back. A curtain of her dark hair kept one of her light blue eyes hidden while the other had a twinkle of pride in her accompanying pet. Aside from the pieces of armor on her shoulders and hands, the girl had a fairly simple adventuring outfit with her pants and boots paired together with the comfortable black long sleeved shirt and blue short sleeved zip up hoodie. The dog owner used a fencer's stance to wield the wooden Keyblade in her hand, one with a lionhead emblem on the guard and a hooked tip: The Circle of Life.
After recovering from the initial astonishment, Elrena leapt backward, leaving her Keyblade within Epee's jaws for all of half a second. The Aubade disappeared from within the hound's teeth and reappeared in Elrena's hands. The honey blonde examined the silver blade and cringed when she realized that Epee left some saliva on it.
"Ugh!" She swung the Keyblade to fling the droplets of saliva off. "Your stupid mutt slobbered all over my Keyblade. How disgraceful. I'll need to disinfect it when I get back to my dorm. I wouldn't want to spread its rabies around."
Even outnumbered, Elrena took the opportunity to throw a jab even at someone she did not know. She much enjoyed getting a rise out of others, but she would quickly discover none to be had here.
"Don't worry, you can't catch rabies if you already have them." The retort came flying out of the new girl's mouth so quickly that Elrena needed a second to register it.
When she had, her glossy lips curled into a wicked smirk. "Oh that's just precious. This mutt must be yours. That explains how you would know that."
"It's common knowledge, really," the girl answered. "There are a lot of things money can buy, but intelligence isn't one of them, I see." She was quick on her feet and quite the wisecracker.
Elrena's eye twitched. This girl proved more irritable than she expected for a Leopardus member, which Elrena figured because of the emblem on the right side of the girl's neck. The blonde found it in poor taste, but that was something she did expect from someone in that union. It didn't take long for Elrena to reply, "It also can't buy skill. No amount of money could fix that poor stance. I mean, really. You're just embarrassing yourself."
Dani chimed in before her union member could continue this back and forth. "You're not supposed to be here, Elrena. Get lost before you regret it. It's three-" Dani stopped herself to examine Astrid's condition. Despite the altercation she walked in on, she second guessed whether Astrid would even help two members of Leopardus even if she were in the condition to fight. Dani corrected herself, "-two against one."
"Ahem." It was the girl with the dark violet hair that cleared her throat as she looked over at Epee.
"Right, three against one. You aren't walking out of here unscathed, but that's completely up to you."
Elrena glared at Dani clearly agitated by the position she was in. While she had very little respect for Leopardus, Dani spoke truthfully. Even if Elrena defeated all three (four if Astrid jumped in to help), she had already garnered too much attention as it were. Aubade disappeared from her grasp. She flipped one of her twin braids to the side and started walking around the other young women in the room. "That rubbish isn't worth all this trouble."
Elrena disappeared through the door, leaving the room in silence until the remaining Keyblades disappeared with a brief chiming sound, Dani's sounding like sand dropping to the ground while the other girl's resembled the rustling of leaves. Dani turned to Astrid, still on the floor and covered in small yet bothersome cuts.
The brunette sighed and reached into the waist bag nestled into her lower bag. Pulling out a glass bottle of blue potion, Dani offered a drink to the kneeling blonde. "You should drink up and head back to your room."
Astrid scowled. "I don't take orders from you. You aren't my superior."
"Apparently, you don't take orders from your superiors either so what does that matter?" Dani responded. "I can't imagine that Lady Ava asked you to return here. I'd ask you to explain yourself, but I don't have the time. Just go get some rest and we'll deal with all of this nonsense in the morning."
Having said the last word, Dani turned toward her union member and said, "Macy, I'll leave you here with Galeo. Hopeully you won't need to stay all night, but in case you do, take turns with Epee keeping watch throughout the night
The dog owner nodded. "You can count on us!"
"I-" Astrid forced herself to her feet, grunting as she overexerted herself. Though her knees wobbled, she found her footing and stood as tall as possible through the fatigue as she proudly stated. "I'm not leaving. I'm not finished gathering Dream Pieces."
Dani sighed and rolled her eyes. "I don't have time for this. If I have to take you back myself, I will. What will it be, Your Highness?" The ire in her voice simmered along her tongue.
Macy cut in before Astrid could reply. "Wait a minute."
Dani didn't have a minute. Each one spent there cost her a minute of slaying heartless. She sighed again, growing irritable. "What?"
"Just leave her here. I mean, what's the worst she could do? All she wants to do is gather materials for a Dream Eater."
"Last I checked, she tried to attack another Keyblade wielder in the Realm of Sleep and you want to just put her back into her dream?"
"Yup."
Dani wanted to scream, but she knew that would accomplish nothing. Instead she took a deep breath as she raked her hand through her brunette strands of hair. "Fine," she hissed. The Leopardus union leader turned to Astrid and said, "You can go back, but if you try anything again, Macy is pulling you out of the dream, and you and I will have a serious conversation later, only it won't be over hot tea like a conversation with Master Ava. Do you understand me?"
Astrid avoided eye contact and refused to answer.
"Brightcrest." Dani's stern tone rattled the young Vulpes.
Astrid's eyes snapped toward the harsh voice. She gulped, but the dryness irritated her throat. "Yeah, whatever."
That would be the best answer Dani could expect from Astrid. She glared at the blonde before whipping her body around and zipping through the door, leaving only Astrid, Macy, Epee, and Galeo's peacefully resting body. A deafening silence hung within the Ark Chamber for several seconds until Astrid finally put her body into action. She walked to one of the lifeboats and placed her Book of Fantasies on the Dream Navi pad. The machine hissed as the casing parted for Astrid to inhabit the single-person pod.
As the pod closed, Macy stood over Astrid's encased body and gave her a thumbs up. Astrid rolled her eyes and then shut them so that she could drift into sleep.
When Astrid reopened her eyes, she found herself falling through the dark fantastical sky that led into the world gate of Traverse Town. She encountered several Nightmares, slaying each of them with ease. Soon she reached the portal and a bright flash consumed the world around her. When it faded, her eyes slowly adjusted to the dim yellow lights of Traverse Town's first district. The large wooden doors behind her closed, signaling that she had officially entered the town. Now she just needed to find…
As Astrid stepped forward, she tripped over something. The collision with the ground sent shockwaves of pain through her body. Astrid's physical body was worse for wear and her metaphysical form in the Realm of Sleep wasn't much better. She'd had no time to rest the latter since her last visit to Traverse Town.
Turning her head to examine the culprit for her fall, she'd find Galeo's body on the floor. The panchod boy squirmed as he stirred from his sleep, bellowing a mighty yawn while stretching. "Huh? Oh, hey! Astrid! You taking a nap too?"
Astrid blinked twice, unsure how to react. Who was this guy? He acted as though Astrid hadn't just tried to strike him down the very last time they saw each other. "I…you…" She sighed and shook her head.
Astrid's mind went back to the conversation she had with Ava. While the Vulpes Master had not asked again for Astrid to investigate the strange boy, she would do so willingly this time. As the next in line to inherit the Brightcrest legacy, it was her duty to protect Daybreak Town. She would learn the truth about this Galeo. Wasting no time, Astrid picked herself off the ground. She looked down on Galeo with scrutinous sky eyes. Turning her back to him, she walked away, taking about ten steps before stopping abruptly. Then, she turned her head enough to see him in the corner of her eye. "I have things to do. Are you coming or not?"
Galeo's deep purple eyes sparkled with excitement as he jumped to his feet. "Yeah!" He followed the blonde up the stairs. When he caught up to her, he asked, "So where are we going?"
"To kill every Nightmare in sight."
Author's Notes
The old bait and switch! I know I had some of you guys worried about how far Astrid would take things after the last time she and Galeo were face-to-face. Galeo doesn't seem to be worried though. Guess he's just happy to have someone around after all that time alone in the wilderness. Still, Astrid hasn't fully come to trust Galeo, let alone like him, and she's clearly just tolerating him out of obligation. I wonder where this turn in their acquaintanceship takes them next.
Question of the Chapter (QOTC): What stood out to you the most from the October 30, 2023 Kingdom Hearts Missing Link teaser trailer?
Responses to Reviews:
Antex-The Legendary Zoroark: Sadly, it had indeed been a year between Chapter 11 and 12. I apologize for making you wait so long, friend. I hope this much quicker update begins to make up for the delay. As for your choice in favorite Foreteller Keyblade, I think it's a perfect fit for a bulky wielder like Aced, but I'm not quite sure that the Keyblade itself shoots the spatial rends. I think it's Aced himself.
WolfieRed23: It's hard not to be on Astrid's side. Yeah, she might not always have the best actions, but who does?
Silver Kitsune Lunaria: Ava's is such a majestic looking Keyblade. I hope was able to accurately depict just how gorgeous of a Keyblade it is last chapter.