'New worlds can sometimes come with unexpected surprises.'
Chapter Three: A Whole New World
Realistically, Brain knew Skuld would be fine. Thought she would be fine. Probably. It wasn't like she hadn't gone through the exact same things the rest of them had. She had a low tolerance for manipulation, anyways.
But Brain still found himself pacing around his sparse apartment like a caged animal. "I'm being ridiculous," he muttered, running a shaking hand over his face. "There isn't anything to worry about."
(Except they'd been manipulated before. All of them. The Foretellers, the Dandelions—the Master hadn't really spared any of them, if Brain had put the pieces together right. And if it'd happened once, it could happen again.)
"She knows what she's doing."
(And the council—they didn't stop. It was always something, infuriatingly, and she wasn't used to it, and—)
(And what if it worked? What if he was alone again?)
"It's going to be fine."
(…He could live in the Clock Tower if things went bad. At least he wouldn't have to deal with anyone.)
He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Chirithy?" he tried, cautiously. Calling the little Dream Eater hadn't ever worked before, but it would be…nice to have someone to talk to.
The room stayed, predictably, empty. Brain leaned against the couch, head tilted backwards. "Figures."
When he couldn't stay still any longer he went back to pacing; when he felt too worn to pace he'd try to find something to do, but almost all of his stuff was in the labs, so he had precious little to occupy his mind. It's going to be a while, he reminded himself. Frigga's supposed to be explaining what she's going to do. It's—
Someone knocked on the door, and he was almost embarrassed by how quickly he went to answer it. It's not going to be her, some part of him reasoned. It's probably Sigurd coming to check on me. Or someone found out where my apartment was. Or—
"Skuld?"
He barely had time to process the fact that she was actually there before she'd caught his arm and dragged him back into the apartment. His brief moment of surprised relief shifted to something a little more concerned at her tensed shoulders. "Something…happen?"
Skuld made a frustrated noise and released him, scrubbing her hands across her face.
"Guessing that's a 'yes'."
"I don't like Frigga."
Brain barked a laugh, and tried to ignore how relieved that made him feel.
"She's just—! It's like she doesn't think we can do anything. And she's related to Ephemer?"
Brain tried to stop laughing. He really did. But it felt like some sort of pressure valve had released in his chest, and all of his nervous energy had to come out somehow.
"And—and she started talking about how I was her 'favorite,' which was weird, and—and stop laughing, Brain."
"Sorry," he managed, pressing a hand to his face. "You really got the whole spiel, huh?"
"Did she tell you the same thing?"
"No. Mostly tried to appeal to my friendship with Ephemer. Surprised she didn't try that with you."
Skuld groaned. "She did." She gave Brain a pleading look. "All of his descendants aren't like this, right?"
Brain sucked in a breath. "Well. Some are alright."
Skuld groaned again, rubbing the heels of her palms into her eyes.
"Long day, huh?"
"And we still have to check out that world you mentioned." Skuld's expression twisted.
"Thought you'd be excited about that part." He was, now that the council wasn't in the way. It'd be a chance to get away from their prying eyes for a while.
Skuld sighed. "It's not that part," she said, then paused. "It's kind of that part." She slumped a little, and Brain was abruptly reminded that neither of them had exactly gotten much sleep last night. "But it's—Frigga wanted to send someone with us. As a 'gesture of good faith.'"
Brain tensed. "Did she, now."
"They're going to meet us at the pier, I guess. But it just—" She broke off, looking frustrated.
"It's like she's trying to keep an eye on us."
"We'd do just fine on our own. We were fine before. If people wanted to supervise us, they should've done something earlier."
Her shoulders were hunched near her ears, but her hands were balled tightly closed, expression frustrated. Brain understood the sentiment. "Yeah. They're like that." And then, "But it's not like we have to listen."
Skuld flashed him a questioning look.
He grinned, smile sharp around the edges. "We're Keyblade wielders. We don't exactly need to be at the pier to go off-world."
"That doesn't feel fair to whoever's being forced to do this," Skuld said, but some of the tension was bleeding away, an almost-relieved expression breaking across her face.
"Maybe. But the worst thing that'll happen is they'll end up waiting around for a while." Starlight flicked into his hands, and he raised an eyebrow at her, pointedly trying to ignore the way her eyes flicked to his weapon.
After a moment a small, impish smile tugged at her lips, eyes burning a little brighter. "Okay," she said. "You lead."
-Brain always kept a star chart in his pocket anymore—a habit he'd picked up once he'd realized how many other worlds were out there now. The council had been eager to share at first, and he'd spent several sleepless nights in the observatory, comparing his own observations with what the council had recorded to create his own personal map.
(He'd emerged after several days of isolation to inform them that some of their observations were wrong, actually; that was probably the first time they'd realized he wouldn't be quite as compliant as they'd hoped.)
He didn't technically need the chart for all his missions—he tried to memorize coordinates before he left—but it was still comforting to have, and when he stepped through the portal and onto the new world he pulled it out of his notebook, carefully double-checking to make sure he'd gotten the right place. Still very early in restoration, he noted absently, scribbling the thought down. The whole world was still half broken apart, chunks of earth floating at different heights, water spilling over the edges and into the spaces between. Even now, though, he could see some of the pieces gravitating towards each other, the quiet hum of magic present and alive underneath his feet. If he focused, he thought he might be able to feel the world's heart—still fragmented and slowly-beating, but strong enough to keep the broken world together.
Skuld's breath stuttered behind him, and he winced. Right. Probably should've warned her about this. "It's reforming," he explained, casting her a backward glance. "Not breaking apart."
Skuld stared at the place with a haunted look; she took a couple of steps forward, the sound loud in the quiet. She didn't say anything, face white, shoulders stiff, and Brain wondered what exactly she saw.
Uncertain whether he should say something or not, he opted to give her space, stepping away to take what notes he could. Looks like this place used to have a lot of forests, he thought, catching sight of a copse of trees hanging overhead. Don't know if we'll need to do something to help those grow back or not. He scuffed a boot through the dust, catching sight of something that looked a little like metal. Tracks…? There were people here, then. They were small enough they probably couldn't carry full-fledged trains; he had some ideas about which world this could be, but he wouldn't know for sure until it finished reforming.
"Are they all like this?"
Skuld's voice was hushed, but it still carried, and Brain paused his writing to glance back at her. "Not all," he said. "This world's still putting itself back together."
"But the Keyblade War…"
She trailed off, but Brain knew what she meant; he'd had a similar reaction when he'd first started exploring other worlds. "Yeah," he agreed. "Some places are slower than others."
He could feel Skuld staring at him.
He snapped his book shut. "You know the basics already: the Keyblade War broke the old world apart and split it into a bunch of smaller ones. What nobody told us was that it wasn't a clean split. There were a lot of little pieces that broke off—fragments that were too small to be whole worlds on their own." He ground his foot into the dirt. "Did you know that the old world had a heart?"
He didn't check to see Skuld's reaction, though he'd guess that she wasn't entirely surprised. So many stories had spoken of a 'Great Heart;' it wasn't too hard to put the pieces together, once you thought about it.
"Not so different from ours, I guess. The heart's what kept the place alive. But when the Keyblade War happened—"
"It broke apart, too."
He turned to give her a mirthless smile. "Not too hard to follow along, huh?" He gestured at the world. "The pieces were damaged and scattered. They couldn't reconnect with each other, but with time, they could start to heal. Create new hearts from the fragments, basically. And as they heal, they start to draw in what they can to protect themselves. Some were…more damaged than others." He tapped a foot against the ground. "That's what's going on here; this fragment's finally starting to heal, so it's starting to drag in some debris. It'll put everything together and either recreate a place from the old world or create something new from scratch. Just not done healing yet; that's all."
"What about…?"
She trailed off, and the silence stretched until Brain prompted gently, "About?"
"The people. Did everyone…?"
Oh. "They come back," he said. "Or some of them do. Their hearts are just in limbo, as far as I can tell. When a world's recompleted, some of them settle there."
"So if some of the worlds are still coming back, some people from our time might just be coming back, too."
It hit him, then. "You're looking for your family."
She gave him a tentative smile. "I just—I don't know. Ephemer's not around anymore, and the others—it'd just be nice. To have someone else."
Brain's throat tightened. "Yeah," he agreed. "Suppose it would." He glanced at his star chart. "Guess you'll have to learn how to make these jumps on your own, then, huh?"
"You don't want to look with me?"
"I can help. But—well, besides Ven and Lauriam, there isn't anyone else I'm waiting on. Besides," he added, forcing his voice to lighten, "didn't figure you'd want to wait around if I got stuck doing something."
Skuld looked, surprisingly, a little conflicted at that. "Yeah," she agreed. Then she took a deep breath and shook her head. "So what are we supposed to do here?"
It was a welcome shift back to something he knew, and he said, "Mostly map out the place. Take note of what's here—if there are any people yet, if it's complete, things like that. Wielders will be back to check on it periodically." He gave the world a sweeping glance. "Don't know how big this place is, but we might not end up being here long." It was almost disappointing; he'd hoped to have more to do.
They set off, heading carefully through the remains of the world. Brain made notes as he went, carefully detailing the different landmarks. Skuld didn't say much, but she seemed to take everything in, head swiveling and expression pensive. And then— "Do we need to see everything?"
He paused, notes about some of the plants still only half-finished. "As much as we can," he said, wondering where she was going with that.
It took a beat for him to realize what she was doing; magic glowed underneath her feet, and then she shot upward, landing on a ledge overhead.
"You know," he said dryly, leaning back to look at her, "you could've warned me."
"Are you coming up?" she asked instead of responding.
Brain sighed, then summoned his Keyblade with a flick. He twisted it towards the spit of land, a small, glowing chain flying from the tip and latching onto the edge. With a brief tug he pulled himself upward, landing easily beside his friend.
Skuld's eyes shifted towards his Keyblade again, then flicked away sharply. Apparently her eyes caught something else, because they widened, and she shot ahead, magic sending her flying upwards across a small copse of floating rocks.
"Skuld." He sighed, then whipped his Keyblade around to follow her, stringing the spell rapidly along.
He caught up to her at the very top—a larger block of land, spreading out across space—and didn't bother to correct his aim, crashing into her and sending them both sprawling.
"Hey!"
"You know," he said dryly, sitting on her with a smirk, "we're supposed to be taking notes on what we see." He tapped his notebook lightly against her head. "Not very helpful to just run around sight-seeing."
"Brain, get off." She twisted and shoved him, and he let her, intending to roll back to his feet.
She didn't let him; to his surprise, she twisted and grabbed his arm, and he had a brief, horrified moment to realize what was happening. "Wait. Hang on. I didn't mean—"
"Too late."
And then his face was pressed into the dirt, arm twisted behind his back. A part of him was annoyed; another could admit he probably deserved that. "Alright. Point taken. You can let me up."
"Nope."
"Skuld."
She laughed, and true to her word, sprawled across him, ignoring his quiet oomph! "You can take notes from there, right?"
"If you free my arms, maybe."
She shifted a little, and Brain dragged his arms forward. Starlight had disappeared in their brief skirmish, but he supposed that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, and he pressed his notebook against the ground. He glanced at the world around him; it looked like there were trees up ahead, something that looked almost like the beginnings of a mine shaft leaning against the mountainside.
"You can see the stars really well from here."
Brain paused briefly. "That's why you came up here so quickly?"
"Maybe?" She sounded sheepish. "I wanted to see if I could recognize any of the constellations. Everything seems…brighter."
"Mm. Think we're a little closer to some of them." He pulled his star chart from his notebook and twisted enough to tap it against her arm.
"Are you bribing me to let you up?"
"Yes. Get off. Please."
She laughed, but let him up finally, taking the star chart and looking at it with scrunched eyebrows. "These are all…worlds?"
"Not all. But some. Worlds all kind of look like stars, from a distance."
Skuld nodded, expression thoughtful. "You're right," she murmured. "I'm going to need to learn how to get off-world soon."
"Going to try and explore them all, huh?"
"I don't think I'd have time," she said with a laugh. "But…I want to see some of them."
"Guess I'll have to make you take us back to Scala, then." At her curious look, he added, "Probably the easiest way to learn. Besides, if we end up somewhere else, it's just an excuse to keep exploring."
"You sound like you don't want to go back."
The words sounded teasing, but they made something ugly and uncomfortable twist in Brain's chest. "Just means I don't have to deal with the council quite as much," he said, and hoped Skuld took that as enough of an answer.
She didn't. Of course she didn't. He could feel her watching him, eyebrows furrowed. "Brain—"
"Come on. Still got places to explore, right?"
Skuld gave a frustrated sigh, but she didn't pry, and he couldn't help the twinge of relief.
The world opened up a little bit, bits of meadows starting to pop up in the darkness. Absently Brain called Starlight back to his hands, using it to help him up a rocky outcrop.
"Really?" Skuld asked, sounding somewhere between exasperated and amused.
"Don't give me that. You're going to cheat, too."
She didn't deny it, and with a burst of magic, she'd shot over him, land on the ledge overhead.
"See?"
"I wasn't," she countered, "but I had to catch up."
"Sure." He used his Keyblade to anchor himself to the wall and pulled himself up beside her.
Skuld's eyes tracked his weapon; she worried her lip, then looked pointedly away, leading them across a broad patch of land, scattered bits of debris littered across the surface.
Brain watched her, then sighed. "Frigga has it."
Skuld stumbled.
Brain gestured with his Keyblade. "Master's Defender. I know you want to ask about it."
"That's not—I knew that."
"You did," Brain said, eyebrows raising.
"She showed it to me. But she's—" Skuld chewed her lip. "Why didn't you ever ask for it back?"
(Because I don't deserve it.)
Starlight disappeared with a flick of his wrist. "Didn't figure I'd get it."
"She didn't know it was yours."
She didn't? That was news to him, and he faltered as he tried to absorb that information. "Well," he said, trying to ignore how off-kilter that made him feel, "it's not like that changes much. Doubt she'd give it back even if she did."
Skuld made a face that said she agreed and wasn't happy about it. "Doesn't it bother you?"
Brain faltered. (Yes.) "Doesn't matter."
"Brain—"
"She has it now. There's nothing I can do about it. Not like I can fight her for it, unless I wanted to have the entire council after me."
He could feel Skuld staring at him. He tried to ignore it, carefully climbing over a piece of debris. His fingers trailed through the dirt, digging up a couple of small jewel fragments. Might be good for materials. I'll have to see when I…get back. He pocketed them and ignored the bitter taste in his mouth.
"What happened to you?"
"Same thing as you, mostly." He flipped open his notebook and carefully jotted down the materials. "The world ended, and I woke up somewhere I didn't recognize."
"After that," Skuld said, starting to sound frustrated.
"Don't worry about it."
"Brain—"
The shadows shifted. Brain snapped towards them, tense. His eyes narrowed. Could just be seeing things. But could be—there. Something moved again, inching just a little bit closer.
"What's wrong?" Skuld asked, tensing up beside him.
"Remember how I said the worlds weren't complete yet? Sometimes things slip through the cracks."
The shadow shifted and rose, back arching out of the ground, tugged upwards like some sort of puppet.
Skuld reacted before he'd even had the chance, weapon flickering into existence, a burst of fire shooting from her Keyblade and crashing into the still-forming Heartless. It scattered into tiny pieces, a ghost-like screech ripped from its mouth. Skuld released a long, slow breath. "Of course they're still here." There was something tense in her expression, her jaw set.
"Well, they were in the Book of Prophecies. Had to show up sometime, right?"
"They're…they come from Darkness, right?"
The way she said it gave him pause, and he glanced towards her, trying to read her expression. "Yeah," he said slowly, mind turning, pieces to an unexpected puzzle slowly starting to click together.
He caught movement out of the corner of his eye, and Starlight came in an instant. "Look out," he said, already moving to strike. A burst of light shot from his Keyblade, streaking across the ground and spearing the Heartless just as its claws scrambled out of the earth.
Dark patches shifted across the ground; sticky shadows pulled away from the edges, heads and long, spindly arms slowly taking shape.
Brain huffed a half-exasperated laugh, pushing his hat up a little. "Guess they're not going to give us a break, huh?"
Skuld shot past him, weapon swinging. Dust kicked up around her feet as she skidded to a halt between two of the emerging Heartless, Starlight cutting a bright arc around her. Shadows scattered, and Skuld flashed him a look that asked, Well? Are you coming?
For however much he didn't want to deal with Heartless, it was still a welcome distraction; at the very least, it meant Skuld wouldn't likely interrogate him about Master's Defender until later. He shot after her, familiar spells on his tongue, light spinning in loops.
(But he felt Master's Defender's absence starkly; Starlight didn't have quite the same power, quite the same feel, and every time he entered a skirmish he felt just slightly off-kilter, his movements half a second too slow, magic all bright bursts of cold fire, not the familiar hum of metal and rattle of chains.)
Skuld was fast—faster than he'd expected. He'd fought with her a couple of times before, but most of that was training, or—well. He hadn't had much time to observe during their fight against Darkness. But she spun around him, Starlight a blur, quick cuts and brief, tiny bursts of magic punctuating her footsteps. Brain kept an eye on her as he set up a ring around him, magic mines laid carefully. He grinned a little when a Heartless stepped onto one, flinging a chain from the tip of his blade to catch it and send it crashing into a small group of others. His stance shifted, twisting his blade to shoot another small burst of light at an emerging shadow. He tapped his Keyblade idly, waiting; the Heartless weren't particularly intelligent, it seemed, willing to risk his trap to get to him and finding themselves sent into the air. The ones that did figure things out and try to jump over the barrier he was ready for; with a quick swipe from his blade he caught one, flinging it back out over the edge and sending a burst of light after it. He kept moving, catching another on the edge of his weapon, snapping it sideways into a second; the two collided with his mines, and he refreshed the spell as they burst into smoke.
He caught sight of Skuld along the outer edges of the ring; the Heartless that milled there, uncertain, were sitting targets, and she picked them off without too much trouble.
Unfortunately, the Heartless had apparently realized there were Keyblade wielders nearby, crawling out of cracks and crevices to come and investigate. Brain bit back a frustrated groan, and tried to ignore the vague, anxious part of his mind that thought of—
(Darklings Darkness the end of the world—)
—of things he really thought he should've gotten over by now, his Keyblade cutting through a Heartless with a little more aggression than necessary.
Normally, battle was loud—but this world was quiet, and so he still caught Skuld's quiet hiss of breath. "You alright?" he asked, snapping towards her.
"Fine." One hand reached over her shoulder, touching the faint claw marks there. Her skin knitted itself back together, green and glowing, and she launched herself back into the fight with hardly a moment's pause.
Brain's eyebrows furrowed. He watched her a little more carefully, moving slowly around the edge of his ring. Her Keyblade snapped and spun, catching a Heartless on the edge, and flinging it aside.
A shadow squirmed out of the ground behind her, twitching and twisting. Brain tensed, and he knew he should be paying attention to his own fight, but—
That's too close. His Keyblade snapped up just as Skuld started to turn, light flashing from the tip. The Heartless burst into smoke, shadows spattering across the ground.
Skuld gave him a half-grateful smile. "Thanks, Eph—" And then she froze, name dying.
Oh.
Skuld shook her head, expression shifting from something lost to something frustrated, and then turned and, apparently, decided to take it out on the Heartless, Keyblade twisting to spear through the monster's chest.
Something hit his shoulder. Brain grunted, reaching a hand back to grip the Heartless. Guess I should be paying attention to myself, he thought wryly, trying to ignore the claws clutching at his chest, jaws snapping a little too close to his ear.
Something flashed near his face; he tilted his head a little closer to the Heartless than he would've liked, grimacing, and only realized a moment later that smoke was trailing across his eyes.
Skuld was looking at the space with an angry, scared sort of expression, but it shifted towards something sheepish when she looked at him. "I guess we're even?"
"Don't think that's how that works," he responded dryly. "But thanks." He rubbed his ear—raw, but not bleeding. "Cut it a little close, though."
"Sorry."
There was something in her expression he didn't like—something tired, something grieved—and he found himself hesitating, a question on his tongue.
(It's only been a day since the world ended for her.)
Another one of his mines exploded.
The two of them exchanged glances. "It's not too bad," Skuld said with a shrug and a forced smile. "Like missions. Right?"
"Right," he said with a quiet laugh. "Never liked going on those much."
"That's why you sent the rest of us out all the time?"
"Careful. One's coming." He lifted his Keyblade to shoot off a blast of fire.
"Brain." But Skuld didn't press him on it, shooting forward with a tiny grin.
Brain allowed himself a smile of his own, if only for a moment. And then he took a breath and tried to focus. Right. If she's thinking someone's supposed to be at her back, then I'm going to have to try and step into that. So he moved, shooting beyond the safety of his barrier to try and keep up with his friend.
Skuld paused, flashing him a grateful, if surprised, look, and he shrugged, trying not to think about it.
Skuld was…faster than him, he realized quickly. Her stance shifted with quick, strong strikes, and while she cast him the occasional uncertain glance she left space for him to fill. Wish I'd paid a little closer attention to how the others fought, he thought wryly. But I suppose it's a little late now. He lifted his Keyblade to fire off a spell, then cut it off with a muffled curse. Too close for that one. He flung his weapon instead, Starlight spinning over and over itself and cutting through a Heartless. He called it back as he turned, light flickering around his fingertips as another one crept up behind him—
Skuld was there before he'd finished, and he stepped out of her way on reflex, letting her spear it. He regained his footing and Keyblade in time to parry another Heartless as it lunged for him, bracing himself and setting his weapon on fire. The Heartless screeched as he flung it aside.
Skuld had started to move again, but hesitated, giving him a questioning look.
"Fine," he called, gesturing with his Keyblade for emphasis.
Skuld gave him an uncertain smile, then swept into motion again.
Brain shook his head, taking a breath and stepping back. Alright. That's enough. His weapon burned, and with an arc he flicked a familiar spell from the tip, chains twisting broadly around the two of them. Something untangled in his chest as the spell spun around them, cutting through Heartless or wrapping them tightly. Skuld had to duck to dodge the edge of the spell, but she didn't let it slow her down, sweeping her Keyblade upwards to catch one of the trapped Heartless. She whipped her weapon around with a shout, fire roaring from the edge and incinerating the shadows it came in contact with. Brain grinned, despite himself, closing one eye against the blaze and keeping his weapon steady.
(And if the spell was a little harder to manage without Master's Defender—if he could hear his Keyblade creaking from the strain—well, he wasn't going to think about it.)
Brain stepped back, tugging his Keyblade upwards, chains taut. Skuld ducked again, slipping hurriedly out of it, but the spell did its job; it collected all of the Heartless in one tight spot, strangling them into nothing. With a flick of his weapon the chains faded, and he repositioned his footing a little, pushing his hat up to check for more. Something shifted in the darkness, and he bit back a sigh. Of course. Can't just let us get on with our job, can they? He tapped his Keyblade idly against the ground, then swept it forward, light flickering in a shockwave from the tip.
Skuld adjusted her stance, slipping from forward-facing strikes to sweeping swings, cutting around her with the occasional bursts of magic to keep the Heartless at bay. Brain swallowed back a brief flash of guilt, his Keyblade glowing as he cast a hasty spell, spears of ice bursting from the ground in a half-arc. They caught a couple of Heartless as they surged towards him; others leapt over his partial barrier, dark shapes reflected across the ice.
Something flashed overhead. Brain snapped towards it, casting a barrier on reflex.
Skuld noticed at the same time as he did, kicking back towards him, slipping under the safety of his barrier.
Apparently, neither of them needed to worry; light rained down in bursts, but it struck the Heartless around them, dark smoke streaking skyward.
Brain stayed tense, even after the Heartless disappeared. There shouldn't be anyone but us here. Not when a world's still forming. Unless…
"What was that?"
"Don't know." He didn't quite relax, but he did dismiss his barrier, scanning for more Heartless before asking, "You okay?"
"Yeah. You?"
"Yeah."
Skuld nodded, but there was something frustrated in her expression. She glanced at the space where they'd been fighting, hand tight around the hilt of her blade.
"…Back there—"
"It's fine. It was just—I was thinking of—this place is like—" She made a frustrated noise. "I got lost in my own head. I'm sorry, I just—thought we were somewhere else. For a little bit." Thought you were someone else, went unsaid.
Brain gave her a searching look.
"It's fine. I don't want to talk about it."
He wasn't sure he was happy with that answer. He wanted to press her on it, but caught her stubborn expression and swallowed his words. Besides, he thought, turning as footsteps crunched towards them, I suppose we have other things to worry about.
The stranger wasn't someone he recognized, but they had to be from Scala—or at least, he assumed so, based on the training Keyblade still clenched in their hands. "Hey," he said, and tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach. He released his Keyblade and stuck his hands in his pockets. "Didn't think anyone else was supposed to be here."
Skuld snapped around, shaking her head as if drawn out of a trance. "Right. That's—who are you?" Her eyes flicked to the Keyblade, eyebrows furrowed in a silent question.
The stranger didn't say anything; their eyes scanned them, expression unreadable.
"Well?" Brain prompted finally. "You going to tell us what you're doing here?"
Their attention snapped towards him, and their expression turned almost reproachful. "Helping you."
"We had it," Brain and Skuld chorused, then glanced at each other.
"Thank you," Skuld said, and it sounded like she was carefully pushing her frustration down, "but we're okay. We've done this before."
The stranger's frown deepened. When they spoke, it was very deliberate, as if each word came with careful thought. "Master Frigga said you might have trouble."
Skuld stiffened.
Brain smiled, sharp and unfriendly. "Did she, now."
"You were supposed to meet me at the pier," they added, eyes narrowed accusingly. And then, eyebrows furrowing just a little, "You're my age."
Skuld's breath hissed out between her teeth. "Of course they followed us, anyways."
Brain tried very hard not to groan. Great. Just…great.
For Skuld and Brain's fight with the Heartless, I really wanted to try and emphasize like…the two of them might be friends, and they're both talented Keyblade wielders, but they aren't quite a team (yet) in the same way that Ephemer, Skuld, and the Player were. I kept tinkering with that scene, so hopefully I got the balance right.
And the Player's officially here! That's going to go over great, I'm sure.
