On the hunt

Elrena followed the sound of hammer hitting metal: Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! The rhythmic sound led her to where a blacksmith was plying his trade. He looked to be a slightly older man, with grey streaks in his hair and wrinkles around his eyes. He was well built for his age, but in a few more years he might be too old for this job. For now there was still strength in his arms though.

"Uh, excuse me?" She said, raising her voice a little to be heard over the noise. The hammering abruptly stopped, the smith turning to look at her.

"If you have a few moments then I'd like to ask you a few things. I'm looking for someone." She said.

There was a pause, then the man grunted, nodding at her. Then he gave her a long puzzled look. "You're not from around these parts are you?"

"No. I'm from somewhere far away. You wouldn't know the place." She said. "But the person I'm looking for… she's someone who has been missing for a long time. She is called Strelitzia. She has coppery red hair which she had in these really long pigtails, and green eyes. Last we saw her she was wearing a white dress." She then described.

The smith shook his head. "Can't say I remember seeing anyone like that. Is she supposed to be someone who has lived here a long time?"

"Possibly, though she is not originally form here. She may have also been visiting. Like I said, she has been missing for a long time. And… we aren't really even sure this is the place we are supposed to look for her. It's just one more place we are hoping she might be found in."

"You're searching blindly? Sounds like you might have a really tough time finding anyone specific like that. Big world out there." He said.

She had stop herself from chuckling. How true that was. Far more so than this man even knew.

"We know. But we need to keep trying. And we are trying to find clues to narrow it down." She said aloud. "So if you haven't seen her then have you seen strangers in elaborate robes and animal masks? We believe they might have had something to do with her disappearance."

"Strangers in masks you say?" He repeated, scratching his chin.

"Yeah. Or a stranger in a black coat introducing himself as Luxu? If any of them were around here you could not have missed it. They'd look like no one that normally lives here." She said.

"Well I can't say I've seen anyone in a mask. But I do remember seeing someone in a black coat only recently." He said.

She perked up at that. "What? Where?"

"In the market square, about an hour ago. I went to buy coal and saw them there. They were easy enough to spot, since like you said, they looked to be very out of place here. Didn't catch a name though. Sorry."

Even so she nodded. "I'll go check that." She said and was about to turn away.

"You might also want to ask at the castle near here. The owner isn't the friendliest sort and there have been some… misunderstandings in the past, with him and another village hereabouts I hear. But if you ask nicely it could be the people there could tell you something." He said.

"There is someone else looking at the castle. But thanks." She said.

"Sure. I hope you find her. And that the monsters haven't got her or something." The smith said to her, then resumed his work.

As she walked off Elrena also hoped that wasn't the case. Strelitzia had a keyblade, and would know how to handle herself against the Heartless. But she knew that was no guarantee of anything. Everyone in the Unions had had that same knowledge to some degree, and look what had happened to them.

She knew this was a possibility. That they would never find her. She knew Lauriam well enough to know he was aware of this as well at some level. But he was never going to acknowledge that outcome, no matter what. It would destroy him to do that. And because she refused to lose him, she would not accept that possibility either. And at this point there was no reason to let doubts eat away at their resolve.

This someone with a black coat… it did offer some hope besides. Was it possible they finally had a lead? She considered calling up Lauriam, have him get over here. But she decided she should not disrupt his work until she was sure. Plus this world was pretty low tech. If someone saw her use a phone it would cause questions.

She arrived at the market square and began to search for her target. *An hour ago* wasadmittedly enough time for the trail to go pretty cold. But she hoped the mysterious black coat could still be found somewhere.

…And as it happened she was the one who was found first:

"Larxene? What on earth are you doing here?"

Her expression turned to one of annoyed disappointment as she turned to face the voice. "Actually it's Elrena these days. I'm human again. Didn't get it memorized I take it? Hello there… Axel."

"Well in my case it's Lea. Though I don't actually mind people calling me Axel either." He said. "But you didn't answer my question. What are you even doing here? I believe you were told to stay off the worlds where Princesses of Heart were."

"Sure. Which Belle is no longer. And our deal said nothing about former Princesses of Heart. Honestly a condition like that we would have found too limiting. Only so far we will allow ourselves to be constrained to make you lot feel better." She countered.

"I'm… not sure the others will buy the distinction." He said.

"You can bet they do. Part of this whole arrangement was that we tell Aqua every time we switch worlds. She knows full well we are here. And she didn't protest it when we told her either. So I guess we've got the green light. Good enough for you?" She said.

"Not really. But I guess I just have to accept that since others have." Was his response. "But man, does it feel weird working with you two again, even if it's not directly."

"You're telling me. Think about how it feels for us, considering you turned Sora on us back at Castle Oblivion. And I'm pretty damn sure you didn't know we were going to come back from that. I haven't forgotten it." She said.

"Well yeah, that did happen. But I'd say you did have it coming." He said dryly. "This going to be a problem?"

"Only if it's going to happen again." She said, the warning implicit in her voice.

"Not going to, unless you mess with my friends." He replied, just as serious.

Elrena nodded. At least they had an understanding of the rules of engagement. Good enough for him and them to do the jobs they had. Cool but civilized. Professional. She could work with that. Yeah. For sure.

"So what about you? What are you doing in these parts? Looking for signs of the Foretellers hopefully?" She then asked.

"Yeah. But just so you know I haven't actually found anything yet. I'm starting to think this is some hare brained scheme of yours." He said.

"I wish it were. But if you need confirmation then talk to Ventus or his Chirithy. Or Naminé. They'll confirm everything we've said. Ask for the drawings she has made and you'll have truth right in front of you." She pointed out. "Unless you're saying you don't trust them either?"

"Well I do… but I'm not even sure if proof matters at this point. I… just didn't want to end up dealing with this kind of icky jobs again. We beat Xehanort. Fair and square. That was supposed to be enough. We were supposed to get Sora back and start living our lives. I've had my fill of everything else, thank you very much." He said.

"You'd rather focus on taking care of your friends? Fair. But listen: This mess is a freight train headed straight for you. Try to ignore it and you're in for a nasty shock when it runs you over. So take this seriously. Do it for your buddies at least." She told him.

"How are they doing by the way?" She suddenly asked.

"Huh? Why do you want to know that?" He asked.

"What, I'm not allowed to be curious about my former coworkers?" She replied.

"That depends. But they're fine as far as I know. Isa is looking for a way to lend a hand since we've managed to land ourselves in another big mess." He said.

"It figures he'd want to make amends too. Which of us don't?" Elrena said.

"And Roxas and Xion are keeping busy on their guard jobs. Not much to report yet, except a whole lot of Heartless that are bothering them." He continued.

That made her frown. "So they're noticing it too. I guess it wasn't my imagination then."

"Hm?" Axel hummed, raising an eyebrow.

"Lauriam and I also noted there seem to be a lot of them around these days. More than before I'd say." She explained.

He became thoughtful at that. "Well, they bothered me too when I got here. And they were a common pest in Twilight Town too."

"They've attacked us a lot too. And it's been the same is in every world we've been to." She said. "Has it been like this for long?"

"There's always heartless around, yeah. But this… does feel like an uptick from what is used to be before Sora disappeared." He said.

"Any theories what might be causing it?" He then asked.

"Nope. Not a clue. Could be several reasons. I hear Kingdom Hearts was opened for a while before you got it closed again, so maybe that's the reason. Or it could be something else. I don't know. I just hope it doesn't get worse. Not even you Guardians could be everywhere at once if their numbers grew further." She said.

"Anyway, I came here because I got a tip of someone in a black coat around here. But I guess that must have just been you?" She said.

"Still using yours I see." She noted.

"Yeah. Technically I wouldn't need to. We got outfits from Master Yen Sid that work the same way. But I guess old habits die hard. Somehow I felt more comfortable going to a new world with it."

"Better safe than sorry when it comes to Darkness." She agreed.

"But the weird part is I got a clue like that too. You still have yours? You're dressed differently now." He said.

"You approve?" She asked, smiling mischievously.

"Um… sure. It's a good look for you." He replied.

"But yeah, we decided we didn't want to wear those coats all the time. Especially not where the Organization was active once. Could be that someone might still remember Xaldin." She continued on. "You… might want to keep that in mind if you're wandering around in this world. Might save you some trouble."

"Noted." He said.

"That said, we do use the coats still, since we need the protection. We just took them off and stashed them nearby. Could be someone saw us before that, then told you about it." She said.

She sighed. "It looks like we managed to get in each other's way…"

"Looks that way. Let's try to avoid that in the future. Got it memorized?" He said.

"Yeah, yeah, sure. But we've both got work to do now. So let's get back to it, shall we?" She said.

"Right, another time then." Axel said. He went on his way, and Elrena started looking for the next person she might ask about Strelitzia. As she walked she took note how the sky had turned grey. There was a flash of light followed by the sound of thunder.

A smile tugged the corner of her mouth.


Lauriam was trudging along a forest path, heading back to the village. He would have gladly used a portal to skip the walk. But without the coat even such a short trip was risky. Apparently there were some downsides to not wearing it at all times, but oh well…

As he put one foot in front of the other he shook his head in frustration. Another day of finding nothing but dead ends. He knew it was unrealistic to expect solid clues the first few tries. But it was still frustrating.

"Be patient." He reminded himself. "Persevere and in time you'll find something. You've waited this long to find her, you can keep on waiting if that's what it takes. For as long as it takes."

As he neared the village where he had agreed to meet with Elrena a drizzle began falling from the sky, which soon grew to a heavy downpour. The road beneath his feet soon turned to a mess of mud and puddles. He tried not to let that bother him and pressed on.

He found Elrena standing right at the edge of the village, face turned up towards the sky. She was smiling as rainwater poured down her face and through her hair. When thunder rumbled overhead again he could see her shiver with delight.

Seeing her made him smile as well. She actually looked quite beautiful this way…

"You seem to be enjoying yourself." He commented.

She opened a single eye to glance at him, clearly pondering if she should explain herself or not.

"…Back before I was a keyblade wielder I lived in this really small fishing village at the edge of the sea. It used to rain a lot there, with big storms sweeping in every few months. And whenever I heard there was a big storm coming in I used to go to the cliffs right at the edge of the water and just… listen. I always liked to listen to rain and thunder. It makes me feel… powerful." She then told him.

"Was this a very common thing where you were from? Going out to listens to thunderstorms?" Lauriam asked.

It was an innocent enough question, meant as small talk. But just like that Elrena's smile disappeared. "No. Not at all. Quite the opposite actually." She said, her expressions sour.

"I didn't find anything worthwhile here, unfortunately. I had a tip about someone in a black coat but it turned out to have just been Axel. We chatted for a bit but he didn't have anything useful to add either." She told him in a businesslike tone. "I assume you didn't fare any better?" She asked.

Lauriam shook his head. "Sadly the castle staff did not know anything either. And as such I didn't think there was much point in asking the owners."

"Then I think it's enough for one day. We've visited the most promising sites in this world and have come up with nothing. I think we ought to return to the Land of Departure for a rest, then come back here tomorrow to check the less promising regions. Or move on to another world if that is what you prefer. Do you agree?" She said.

"I… suppose…" Lauriam said, though he was very confused by her shift in mood.

She nodded and walked to where they had stashed their things, some distance further away from the village. Without saying a word she handed him his coat and began to put on hers.

"Elrena… about what I asked… do you want to talk about it?" Lauriam asked.

"No. Leave it be." She said tersely.

"Oh… I'm sorry. I'm not sure where I went wrong. I wasn't trying to upset you." He apologized.

"It's fine. I just don't feel like talking about it." She replied.

"Okay… okay…" Lauriam said quietly. Elrena opened up a portal and stepped through first. As he followed her in he shook his head at himself.

"Way to go Lauriam. You completely ruined her mood." He scolded himself. "Though how exactly I was supposed to avoid that particular mine I don't know." He conceded. The mood swing had caught him completely flat footed. He supposed this was a story she was not willing to tell him about. Better he leave it be, like she suggested…

As the portal closed behind them a figure watched from the nearby forest. Their one good eye gleamed yellow as a grin spread on their scarred face. They turned around and walked into a Dark Corridor.