'The group picks up some things they left behind.'

Chapter Nineteen: Belongings

"You aren't supposed to still be awake."

Brain snorted, more amused than actually bothered. "Chirithy." He leaned away from the table, balancing carefully on the chair's back legs. "Thought you'd be used to it by now."

They might not be his Chirithy, but they seemed to be adopting the same exasperated sort of expression. Currently, only the two of them were awake; Meili had stayed up the longest, but eventually gave up needling Brain, going to bed and muttering something he hadn't quite been able to catch.

"What are you working on?" Chirithy asked, instead of making any actual protests about him still being awake.

Brain poked absently at the glass he'd borrowed—empty mostly, and probably not actually workable for his purposes, but he'd been hoping. "Remember what you told me about making Spirits?"

Their ears perked. "You're doing it?"

"Mm-hm. Or at least, attempting to." He shrugged, head tilted towards the ceiling, placing one hand on his hat so it didn't fall off. "We need some way to keep an eye on the bluebloods. None of us are probably sneaky enough for it—and even if we were, it could put us in a lot of danger. So. Spirits."

Chirithy picked up the glass, shaking and squinting at it. "I don't see anything in there."

Brain gently pulled it away. "That's because there isn't anything yet. Need the right materials. I just wanted to see if I could substitute anything." He set the glass against the table with a quiet sigh. "Guess I'll have to steal some supplies from the lab."

"Why not go get stuff from your apartment?"

He pursed his lips.

"It's all there! Or, at least, I think I saw it."

"Poking around when we were asleep, huh?" He tried to keep his voice light, and winced when something sour entered his voice, anyways.

"I didn't have much else to do!" They jumped onto his shoulder and squinted at him. "Why don't you want to get it?"

He poked their forehead lightly, pushing them off his shoulder and buying himself a little time to think up an acceptable answer. "Don't know where it's been. You heard that the stuff we used to try and make food glowed, right?" He huffed a quiet laugh, planting his chin on a palm. "It's probably been there since Ephemer's time."

(He could see it, almost—Ephemer double-checking the Book of Prophecies just to make sure he knew when Brain would arrive, carefully gathering items that he thought Brain would find useful or making note of things for the future, frantically trying to stockpile things in a safe place.

…He wondered if he'd tried to make the same arrangements for everyone else. If he'd known when and where the rest of them would arrive, and had put the same effort into making sure things were ready for them, because he knew he wouldn't get to see them again and it was the only thing he could do. He wondered if he was wasting a gift from his friend, if he didn't go back and take advantage of it.)

(Do you really deserve it? How much is because you're his friend, and how much because he had his hopes pinned on you?)

"Brain…?"

"I'll think about it." He poked Chirithy gently. "Don't you have better things to do besides bother me, anyways?"

"Skuld's sleeping alright right now." They moved closer, squinting down at his notebook. "What kind of Spirits are you thinking about making?"

Brain sighed, but it drew a tiny smile out of him, and he spun the notebook towards them. "Mostly, I'm just trying to see if I can recall the recipe. We don't have the Master's books anymore, but I might be able to find something…"

-Skuld wasn't entirely surprised to find that Brain had stayed awake all night, but she was a little surprised to see him and Chirithy talking about something. She blinked groggily at them, trying to piece together the mess on the table: aside from Brain's notebook, they had a couple of different glasses, several bits of paper, and assorted materials that came from somewhere, though Skuld couldn't begin to guess where. "What are you two doing?"

Brain started, but it was barely noticeable, his shoulders hitching just slightly; he tilted his head back her way, and she caught the dark circles under his eyes. "Morning."

"Making Spirits!" her Chirithy answered, waving their paws excitedly. They jumped into her arms when she stood to greet them, purring quietly as she stroked their fur.

"Spirits?" she asked Brain, and the thought brought a warm sense of nostalgia with it. "Like with the Dandelions?"

"More or less. Less focused on Nightmares, more focused on spying." Brain paused, expression thoughtful. "Though depending on how things worked out, we might be able to do something with the memory erasure…"

Skuld sighed and shook her head, tapping his hat a little lower and ignoring his protests. "And you needed to be up all night working on that?"

"Not like I was going to sleep much." And she had thoughts on that, but Brain continued before she could voice them: "It's just planning right now, anyways, until I can grab the right supplies."

"So you didn't need to be up all night."

Brain gave her an exasperated look.

"Or mess with my glassware," Meili grumbled, which was the first sign they had that the others were starting to stir. They squinted from across the room, still bleary-eyed with sleep. "What in the world's in there?"

Brain might've tried to answer, but was cut off by Kvasir's excited squeak. "What is that?"

It took a moment for Skuld to realize Kvasir was looking at her. Chirithy's ears twitched, and they sighed and shook their head. "Oh, boy."

"Did you make it?" Kvasir came closer, reaching out to touch Chirithy; they squirmed out of Skuld's arms and onto her shoulder, balanced precariously.

"This is Chirithy," Skuld said, trying hard not to laugh. "They're my Dream Eater."

"Dream Eater?"

"Mm-hm. All Keyblade wielders used to have them."

"The Master of Masters made us," Chirithy interjected, "to help guide and protect the wielders of Daybreak Town."

Kvasir edged his hand a little closer, then paused, looking sheepish, like he wasn't sure if he was allowed to pet them.

Chirithy answered for him, jumping over to his shoulder, much to his delight. A strange expression slowly slipped across his face as he rubbed their fur—something strangely bittersweet.

"Are you okay?"

Kvasir started, then laughed, waving his hands. "Sorry, sorry! I suppose I just…forget sometimes, but—you two came from a very different time."

Brain snorted. "Really."

"Ah, that's not really what I—I just mean that it doesn't feel like you did, most of the time. I know, logically, that you're both Union Leaders, but it feels like I could've gone to classes with you. It's easier just to think about you as my friends, and Daybreak Town as just a very different world, but…it's not." He smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, I suppose you already know that."

The reminder stung with familiar grief, but Skuld smiled, anyways, opening her arms for Chirithy as they jumped back to her. "It's okay. It's…weird for me to think about, too, sometimes."

Kvasir gave her a tentative smile back, then turned to Brain, something a little brighter in his expression. "Do you have one, too?"

Skuld winced.

Brain, thankfully, didn't react. "Nope."

"Oh. Is that what you're doing, then? Trying to make one?" Kvasir leaned a little closer.

Brain tried to shove him aside. "I'm not trying to—Spirits. They're Spirits."

"Similar to Chirithy," Skuld interjected, and Kvasir's eyes lit up.

"Can you make them for us?"

Brain groaned, running his hands over his face. "What," he asked, uncovering an eye to glare at Skuld, "did you get me into?"

Skuld shrugged, unrepentant.

"Mimir!" Kvasir whipped around. "Mimir, did you—wait why are you crying."

That was vaguely alarming, but when she looked at Mimir, they had a vaguely puzzled smile on their face, despite the tears. "I don't know," they signed. "It just…felt like I was reminded of something."

Skuld's eyebrows furrowed. She glanced at Chirithy, then took them a little closer to Mimir. Mimir flashed her a surprised look, and then started when Chirithy jumped into their lap. "It's okay," they promised. "I don't bite."

Mimir's eyes softened. They gently scratched Chirithy's head, shoulders relaxing slowly.

Meili sighed, pushing themself out of bed and giving Brain's 'workstation' a critical look. "Can we get back to the whole 'you're using our glassware for experiments' thing? What kind of supplies do you need?"

Brain's eyes flicked aside. "Materials to make them. Equipment to make them in. Things like that."

Skuld's lips twitched toward a smile. "Are you going to raid the lab?"

"That was the plan, yeah."

"You don't have the supplies yourself?" Meili asked with a sigh.

Brain's expression shuttered. "…Some," he admitted carefully. "They're just back at the apartment."

Skuld stiffened, just a little.

Meili stared at him like he'd grown a second head. "You…know you can go back and grab stuff, right? You aren't exactly banned from leaving."

"That's right," Kvasir interjected, but his expression had turned a little troubled. "None of us…really had the chance to grab things before coming here. It might not be a bad idea to go collect things—just so we have the necessities."

"Do I want to know what necessities are for you?" Meili muttered.

"It's not that much, Meili, really—"

Skuld tried to catch Brain's eye, but he wasn't quite looking at her. They didn't exactly…have much of anything, but admitting to that—

It felt strange. It made her feel almost guilty, even though she wasn't quite sure why.

Mimir, surprisingly, looked equally concerned—but then they lifted their hands to sign, and she realized it was probably for different reasons: "Is it safe to go back and grab things?"

The others weren't paying attention, it seemed like, so Skuld cleared her throat and repeated Mimir's question.

Kvasir's expression flickered briefly with guilt. "It's…probably fine. So long as nobody goes alone."

Mimir cast him a pointed look.

Kvasir lifted his hands defensively, giving them a sheepish smile.

Meili sighed, running a hand over their face. "Yeah," they admitted. "You can't exactly just hide in here forever. And it's not like all of you aren't capable, even if assassins are a bit much."

Brain rolled his shoulders, head tilting towards the ceiling. His expression was carefully closed off, like he was having a silent argument with himself.

"It'd make sense," Chirithy interjected. They jumped out of Mimir's lap, hopping on the table beside Brain. "You wouldn't have to draw as much attention to yourself if you grabbed stuff from your apartment."

Brain hummed noncommittally, but she guessed the logical part of him was winning.

"We'll just have to meet back here in…an hour, maybe?" Kvasir suggested. "That way we aren't gone too long. I can go with Mimir, since you two—well, you both probably have stuff to pick up in your apartment."

Skuld's mouth tasted like ash, but she didn't think she could really argue. "Right."

-There was something strange about being back in the empty apartment again. Skuld thought it should feel at least a little like home, but it…didn't. They'd barely made any impact here at all, even though they'd both used it as a home base basically since they'd gotten here. It made her feel strangely empty to look at it; there'd been a part of her that was frustrated by the emptiness before, but it didn't feel like it'd hit her how strange that was until she was coming back to it, looking for anything they'd left behind.

Brain stood awkwardly beside her. She wondered what he was seeing; this apartment had, after all, been meant for him. After a moment he shook his head, heading further inside at a brisk pace. "Is there anything you wanted?"

It brought a flash of anger, despite herself. "There's nothing here." Nothing for either of them—neither of them had taken the time to purchase anything, always half-convinced that this wasn't permanent.

(It was…exhausting, in a way. Like they couldn't settle—like they'd have to leave at a moment's notice. It hadn't been quite as pressing a thing, before they'd been forced to run. Now it just felt…frustrating.)

Brain hummed an acknowledgement. He dug through the apartment, carefully searching for whatever supplies he needed to make his Spirits. It gave Skuld time to wander, eyeing the carefully hidden books, the dusty shelves. (She wondered if it bothered him; he seemed almost relieved to be out of here, but…)

"Brain?"

"Hmm?"

He wasn't paying attention; he was muttering over some items, eyes screwed up in frustrated concentration. Skuld's fingers trailed across a desk and came away dusty; she brushed it away on her pant leg, words tacky in her throat. "I want to—go to the Market Place after this."

Brain's muttering stopped; she could feel him giving her a curious look that she didn't return. "Something up?" he prodded when she didn't respond.

"It's nothing. It's just—it's stupid."

"Skuld."

She flexed her fingers, clenching and unclenching her fists. "We just don't really…have anything."

She could almost feel Brain's confusion, and she was immensely grateful when he didn't press. "Okay."

"I just—I don't want to feel like—Ephemer helped build this place for us, and—"

"Skuld. It's okay."

"I'm just tired of feeling like I'm—I don't want to feel like I'm always running."

Something flickered across Brain's expression; she didn't know exactly what he'd realized, but he nodded, studying her carefully. "Alright. Market Place, then."

-Brain, despite himself, couldn't stop himself from being on-edge. It might be the fact that he knew there was still danger out there—the assassin, Darkness—or it might be the looks and occasional whispers they got—so scattered and intentionally subdued that they seemed strange in their absence. It made him want to leave, the feeling of being watched jittering over his skin.

He wasn't the only one; Skuld stood tense beside him, face white-washed. She took a deep breath and ducked her head, starting to turn away. "This was stupid."

"Skuld." He caught her arm and stopped her, stuffing down his own trepidation because this was clearly something that bothered her, and he didn't think it'd clear up just by going back to Meili's.

Skuld turned to him, looking caught between arguing and dropping the topic entirely.

He decided to cut her off before she had the chance to say anything. "It's not going to stop bothering you until we deal with it."

He wasn't sure if that was quite the way to put it, but it seemed to work well enough, anyways, because the argument drained from Skuld's expression. She pulled away from his grip carefully, heading through the Market Place with her head held high, like she was trying to ignore the way people kept looking at them.

(Brain couldn't quite ignore it; Scala ad Caelum felt hostile in ways Daybreak Town didn't. A foreign place, wearing the skin of a place that should've been familiar.)

"What do you think of this?"

Brain blinked out of his thoughts.

Skuld had picked up a small trinket—a little collection of seashells—and was staring at it with a complicated expression on her face.

"…Skuld. You're going to have to fill me in on what you're looking for."

Skuld set the seashells down with a sigh. "I'm—" She rubbed her arm and shook her head. "I don't know. I just—want something that feels like mine, maybe? Something like…home."

It made something twist in Brain's chest, and he tried not to think about it, because that wasn't going to be helpful at all. "Then you probably shouldn't be asking me what I think. Look for something you like and don't worry about me."

She gave him a rueful look. "I guess that's a good point." She paused, then gave him a tentative look. "You should—you can pick up something, too. If you want."

The idea made him weirdly uncomfortable (we're not staying, don't anchor yourself here, it'll hurt more to leave), so he hummed noncommittally, and Skuld didn't press.

They wandered through the stalls, Brain letting Skuld take the lead. It was awkward, at first—but Skuld seemed to relax slowly as she went, the tension bleeding away as they made it further through the Market Place without any incident. Brain wanted to make some sort of conversation, almost, but he didn't know what he was supposed to say. It felt like there was a knot in his chest—something tight and uncomfortable, pressing against his ribcage until he couldn't breathe.

Maybe that distraction was why he nearly ran into someone, and he cursed himself silently, turning to apologize—and then stopping, because he knew this person.

Runa blinked with surprise, but her expression softened slowly. "Well. Nice to see you again, I suppose. I hope that you found whatever answers you were looking for the other day."

Skuld had pulled away slightly; she didn't seem to realize Brain had dropped back.

"What?" Brain asked, and he couldn't quite keep the bitterness out of his voice. "You didn't hear about what happened? Guess I'm a bit of a threat now." (It stung, in a weird way—but it was fine. Really. It wasn't like they were staying forever, anyways. It didn't matter what they thought.)

Runa's laughter startled him out of his thoughts. "No," she said. "No, I'm not worried about that." She sobered a little, and something melancholy entered her expression. "I'm familiar with ghosts. We're all haunted—every single one of us. We carry around our grief and trauma like keepsakes; the memories of loved ones walk after us, popping up to remind us of what we've lost at all the wrong moments. It's hardly strange to think that a Union Leader, of all people, would struggle with their own ghosts."

It made something twist uncomfortably in his chest. "Didn't think legendary figures were supposed to have those problems."

"Well, then I guess it's a good thing you're human, isn't it?"

He blinked rapidly, looking away and tugging his hat low. Across the Market Place, he could still see Skuld, talking with a shopkeeper. She seemed…more relaxed than she'd been.

"Hey," he said. "You said you came from one of the abandoned towns."

"I did."

"How did you—?" He broke off, the words caught in his throat. It felt like he was admitting to something he didn't want to—something he wasn't willing to name, not even to himself.

It was to Runa's credit that she seemed to understand, anyways. "It wasn't…easy. For months, all I was worried about was surviving. I didn't have much time to grieve—my home or my loved ones. I had to try and find shelter, and food, and work to keep my head above water. It felt like I was running constantly from one thing, to another. And that didn't stop when I found a place with the storykeepers; even then, it felt like I couldn't stop, or some invisible thing might catch up to me." She laughed. "My ghosts, maybe."

(Brain thought of long nights spent working—of an empty apartment, of searching empty worlds—and then pushed the thought aside.)

"I don't remember when it changed. It wasn't like it was a single thing—there was no magic cure. I can remember—moments, maybe. A moment when I was laughing with some of my colleagues and telling stories about my lost family and I realized it didn't hurt. Accepting an invitation to spend time with them after work and deciding, 'Sure, why not?' Finally deciding to try my hand at raising plants because I realized I was bored. Realizing that I knew these streets just as good as the ones of home—better, even." An old grief entered her expression, weighing down the lines of her face, but she smiled, anyways. "I don't know if your ghosts ever leave you—but you learn how to live with them."

Brain hummed an acknowledgement. It didn't feel…satisfying, but he didn't know what else he was supposed to do.

"For what it's worth," Runa added, "I'm sorry you had to lose your home, too."

It was grating, in a weird way, and he tried to ignore it. "Well. Lots of people have. I'm not special."

Skuld stepped away from the shopkeeper finally, something wrapped carefully in her arms. Her eyes flicked across the Market Place, eyebrows furrowed with worry.

Brain stepped away from Runa. "Thanks for talking to me."

"Anytime." Her eyes sparked with amusement. "If you can put up with my stories, consider stopping by sometime."

He wasn't entirely sure if he'd take her up on that or not, so he didn't answer, heading across the Market Place to meet his friend.

Skuld's eyes lit up when she saw him, hurrying his way. "Hey."

"Hey." He nodded at the item in her arm. "What'd you get?"

She looked sheepish. "It's just a lamp." She pulled away the paper, and Brain almost laughed; it was a lamp, but it was covered in stars.

"Think maybe I should've guessed."

"Hey!" But she was laughing, and it drew a tiny laugh out of Brain, too. (She seemed…a little bit happier. A little less like the world was pressing down on her shoulders. And Brain—couldn't quite match that, not really, something uncomfortable turning his stomach once she'd looked away. But—he could at least pretend. If this was something that helped.)

-"You're, uh—you're moving pretty quickly."

Mimir paused to give Kvasir a glare.

Kvasir lifted his hands peaceably, looking slightly sheepish. "Sorry, sorry. It's just—you don't need to rush. You can make sure you have everything."

They didn't have time to waste here; they needed to get back to Meili's, where things were hopefully safer and they didn't have to worry about someone potentially coming to hunt them down. It wasn't like Mimir had much they needed for sentimental reasons, anyways; they had some things, but nothing they were attached to enough to bring with them. Mostly, they wanted their books; they needed to be able to study, both for the sake of their friends (who might need them to be better at heart magic), and for their own needs.

(They'd known that their search for their missing 'friends' was…probably a long-term project. A long-shot, at best. They didn't even entirely know what their relationship was to the vague people in their memories. But there was still something a little bitter, knowing they had to put their work on hold, when it had been all they'd been working towards for as long as they could remember.)

With a shake of their head, Mimir stuffed another book in their bag. They could feel Kvasir staring at them, but they didn't know how to explain this—not to him. He meant well, but they weren't sure that he'd really understand why this was so important to them. Still, he seemed to be trying to help, asking, "Is this something you need?"

Mimir paused, squinting at the book he lifted, then shaking their head and stuffing another book in their bag. I need to tell my mentor, they realized abruptly. They'd just…disappeared from school, basically. And maybe Master Freya knew what had happened—she did see a lot about the city, after all—but they hadn't actually talked to her about it.

(…They doubted anyone else had noticed.)

"Wh—wait, where are you going?"

"Master Freya," they said, the words sticky on their tongue. They were…a little frazzled, and they'd prefer not to say anything at all, but they figured Kvasir should probably still know where they were going.

"Oh!" They could almost imagine Kvasir's expression brightening, even if they couldn't see it, and heard his footsteps hurrying after them. "To talk to the Keeper? Yes, I guess that'd make—"

"Kvasir. Can you stay here and keep packing?"

Kvasir wilted a little, and Mimir almost felt bad, but they needed to make sure that they got out of here quickly, and—

(And they had questions for Master Freya, too. Questions about Kvasir's uncle. Questions that he probably wasn't going to want to hear, but that they needed to ask, because they had to know for sure what they were up against. And that probably wasn't going to happen in Kvasir was there to interrupt.)

"Oh." Kvasir forced a smile. "I—yes. Yes, I can do that. Of course."

Mimir bit back a sigh, then placed a hand on his shoulder.

Kvasir glanced at it, then gave Mimir a funny look.

Mimir searched for the words—but then, they'd never been very good with those. After a couple more moments they patted his shoulder awkwardly and hoped it was good enough.

Kvasir gave them a baffled smile, but patted Mimir's hand in return.

At Mimir—Mimir really didn't feel like they had much more time to spare, so they turned and hurried down the hallway, and hoped that they could speak to Master Freya quickly. They passed a couple of other students in the lower halls, but paid them little mind, hurrying up the stairs two at a time. They passed fewer people as they went higher, until the hallways were basically empty, silently trying to go over what they'd ask.

(Do you know if any other bluebloods want to hurt my friends? They're the only ones I have; please, I don't want to lose them—)

They nearly tripped over the steps when they reached for their magic and something registered. Another heart, closer than it should be.

They hardly had a moment to register it, turning with their Keyblade at their fingertips, before the heady magic of a Sleep spell washed over them.

The point of this chapter was a lot less plot-focused, and a lot more theme-focused. (Minus a couple of small bits, anyways—there is still some important setup for plot stuff this chapter, haha.) Runa's touching on the story's thesis statement a little bit, haha.

Also! I just wanted to give everyone a head's up that I'll be participating in NaNoWriMo this year, so Fallen Stars will be going on hiatus for the month of November while I do that. (If you're on Tumblr, you can watch me suffer all month, aha.) I wanted to let you guys know NOW, since I…don't 100% know how many chapters we'll have before that point? There are some pretty big chapters coming up (with some stuff that I've been VERY excited to get to), and I want to make sure I don't rush those. I'm guestimating two more before NaNo, but I'll make sure to let you guys know for sure!