Hi again! Don't you appreciate it when so much when you find something you forgot about or had sitting for a long time? Well, here's another part to Grandpa Ven that was just there, sitting slightly incomplete in my notes. It's not quite what you'd expect, since it's more dialogue and, ah, I'll just continue from my sub-ideas at the bottom.

Fair warning to you again, just some mentions of Daybreak Town, but nothing too deep this time. So now, let me leave you to reading, and enjoy!

Title: Grandpa Ven - Part 4

Type: Story

Summary: Ventus may not remember everything, but ever since Chirithy came into his life again, he's been slowly recalling stuff. But his words don't sound all new to his friends, if anything, he's starting to sound like a grandpa.

Idea: "Back when I can remember, we didn't have the fancy Keyblade Armor to keep us safe… Back in the day, we had to walk through the corridors, we didn't have keyblade gliders to help us to the next world." (Not exact dialogue, but that's the idea I'm basing this around.)

Sub-Ideas: Lea | Axel's POV -Look for the rest at the bottom.

-.

Date: July 18, 2024

.

Grandpa Ven Part 4: When In Doubt, Recon!

Now today was a new week and it seems like the trio decided to come and visit Twilight Town. Odd, they didn't mention they were coming around, unless they told Xion and Roxas first? Oh well, this was the perfect opportunity to—

"Um, Axel, what are you doing?"

He nearly jumped out of his skin at the voice.

"Roxas? Xion?" Seriously, why did he have to sound so Ven-like at times? As he looks back, he sees the trio of Keyblade wielders leaving the Moogle's shop and making their way uptown, most likely towards the clock tower train station. Probably off to go see Master Yensid then. Immediately he grabs the two, ducking behind the wall where they wouldn't be seen.

"Oww. What was that all about Axel?"

"Yeah, could have at least warned us."

"Sorry, just didn't want to get noticed today." Lea scratched the back of his head, looking away from his two pals.

Xion looked curiously at her friend, "By who, and why?"

"Them," he points over to the trio who were still making their way up the slope, "And because Xion, I'm doing some recon."

Both younger wielders were lost, "Recon? On Terra, Aqua, Ventus, and Chirithy?"

"Just Ven and Chirithy."

Roxas gave it thought before understanding came to him, "Is this about what happened during that one visit? The weird stuff Ven was saying was real and NOT fictional?"

"Got it in one! I've been trying to figure out since then what's making him act that way, and figure out why Chirithy does that."

"Wait, what does Chirithy have to do with Ventus' mix-ups?"

"Didn't you notice that day that, while everyone was lost and Roxas was saying it's just from a book, Chirithy told Ven that things are different."

"Now that you mention it…" Roxas was thinking now, "Chirithy never really dismissed it, but the way it was worded was rather passive."

"Exactly!"

That made Xion pause as well, "Well, since you brought it up..." The two look to her as she continues, "When you guys left us to go get sea-salt ice cream, Ventus and I had the weirdest conversation."

"About what?" Roxas asked curious.

"Well, we started talking about winter and how it wasn't as cold as he thought it would be here. Then, somehow it got into the conversation of seeing snow for the first time and how he said he could never build a snowman with me."

"Sounds, normal? So far at least?"

"But…," Xion hesitated, "the thing is, is that he thought I was someone else. He asked me when I cut my hair. Then that's when Chirithy intervened and mentioned that he was mixing me up for either Aqua or Kairi. Then I caught Chirithy quietly whispering that Ventus probably thought I was, "her." Whoever her was? I don't think I was meant to hear that part."

Axel looked at the two triumphantly, now becoming more solidified in his reasons to pursue this mission, "See, see? All the more reason to investigate! Now come on, it's time for some recon!"

Roxas and Xion looked at one another before nodding and giving Axel a small grin of agreement.

"Hey, it's kind of like our missions before we had to RTC."

"Ugh, don't remind me Xion. Tailing that guy, Pete, was hard, and don't get me started with the clock and candlestick we had to avoid."

"The what and the what? I don't remember this story."

"Later Axel."

"Right…"

Aside from the little distraction, the trio were successful in tailing the old school Keyblade wielding trio. Also surprisingly, they gleaned a bunch of new information from their trek up to the station. For one, Ven began talking a bunch with Chirithy about some of the things that they saw as they passed through the streets on the way to the station. Some of the information seemed mostly nonsensical, something about a sewer system of canals that could lead to the inside of the bell tower. He even spoke of a secret room and an elevator created with gears and cogs that allowed one to enter and exit. Chirithy had reminded him that Twilight Town's clocktower had only stairs, but vaguely hinted that the place he mentioned was just more advanced with its bell systems. Again, another comment that wasn't dismissive but rather avoidant to the answer. Aqua and Terra would turn to Ven and question him about other things regarding those lines of thoughts. Ven would pause again, that look in his eyes darting back and forth, searching, unsure how to explain it to them. His expressions furls into a grimace, his brows mildly scrunching close as he thinks. The answers were just there, somewhere lingering on the tip of his tongue, but when he tried to voice them, words failed to make sense.

.

Eventually, Roxas, Xion, and he had to stop following because they went into the station and took the train to the Mysterious Tower. Well, there goes this short lived recon mission.

"So?" Axel began, "Got anything new out of this?"

"Well, it seems that Ventus is still struggling with his memories, and that it's possible he's mixing fact with fiction?" Xion answers, although unsure.

"Okay, and you Roxas?" Said wielder was silent, hand to his lips, thinking. "Roxas?"

"You know, I might need to rethink what I said."

"What do you mean?"

"Roxas?"

"It's just… Those places he mentioned earlier, they uncannily sound like that one..."

"Huh?"

"It's that description he gave to Chirithy, it felt much more detailed than…"

Roxas continued mumbling to himself as the other two looked to one another, nodding and agreeing together, "SNAP OUT OF IT ROXAS!"

That made the blond duel wielder jump, "Ahh! What was that for!?"

"Sorry Roxas," Xion apologized first, "You just weren't making any sense. We couldn't follow along with it."

"Uh, right, what Xion said."

He gave a mildly skeptical look towards Axel while he gave an apologetic smile to Xion, "Sorry guys. It's just, okay, you're probably going to make fun of me again for this, but I went back to the tower some days ago and went into the historical nonfiction section. Apparently, Yensid has a bunch of old documents that were somehow preserved from the days of Scala Ad Caleum."

"You mean that place where Sora fought Xehanort?"

"Yeah, but not the sleeping world one we visited, the actual place which is probably more abandoned and broken down."

"Okay, so what did you read over there Roxas?"

"Other than the old papers filled with history, there were some that he kept which were copies of old blueprints of this place called, Daybreak Town. According to the design, it's sunken down somewhere underneath Scala. The place had a lot of the stuff Ven was talking about, even those obscure details such as the secrets of an old tower, In a lot of the historical fictions I read, they always mentioned a bell tower and how everyone always wondered what was inside of it."

Axel paused, "Okay wait, what you're saying is that…"

"About Ventus… Maybe… I was… wrong?" The two blink at him, surprised that he was admitting to it. Before he added, "Okay, I still think he's the one who's wrong and has a really historically accurate detailed imagination. I still do have my doubts. But you all taught me back during the Organization days that observation and listening skills are key. So, if his stories are starting to match up with the facts, even ones that are so obscure, he's either really mixing up his studies with fantasy OR, he really knows something about that past. Some of his choice of words were just, too specific."

Xion thought, "So, are you trying to say, Ventus went to the past when he was younger?"

Axel looked questionably at Xion, "You mean time travel? You think he went that far back?!"

Roxas shrugs, "I mean, Xehanort did go back in time and do all... that..." the trio nods awkwardly as he continues, "Ven could have done the same thing."

"But Roxas, don't you have to have a lot of things to travel to the past?" Xion thought, trying to remember those long droning speeches of the Xehanorts during her time among them, "Something like having your body and someone to remember you? If he traveled that far, who would know him? Or did he just go as a heart? Just like that moment Jiminy wrote in his journal, where Sora and Riku met him without a form."

Roxas scratched his head unsure, but it was Axel who cried out, "This is too much to get memorized! I'm beginning to have a headache!" To complete the moment, his tummy rumbled in hunger.

Xion and Roxas stared at one another and then to their friend before they started laughing, "Well, it looks like we won't get any answers now. Let's take a break and put the clues together after we've had a meal at Little Chef's Bistro."

"Sounds good, Xion."

"Alright, I'm game. Come on you two, let's go."

"Okay, Roxas, you're paying right?"

"Wait? I paid last time Xion. It's Axel's turn, right?"

"Huh? No, I paid for breakfast just yesterday. I'm pretty sure it's on you now Xion."

"But I've got the sea-salt ice cream to pay for today."

The three stare down one another, each unwilling to agree on who will be paying for the Bistro, before all came to an agreement.

"Saïx?"

"Saïx."

"Isa."

Now unanimously decided, the three went off to the old mansion to bother their friend for munny.

Though, as they enjoyed their meal, not because he gave a single bit to them, but because they helped Little Chef cook it, the activity was still not enough to distract from the main thoughts they all had. Could Ventus and Chirithy possibly be time travelers? If so, were they from the past or just visited it?

.

Sub-Ideas:

-Axel is at it again with his ReCon.

-Xion and Roxas join up.

-Ventus is surprisingly into architecture.

-Roxas remembers more of the stuff he read and reluctantly comes to the conclusion, he's most likely wrong. (He just doesn't want to admit it yet.)

-.

Yeah, this probably wasn't that exciting a chapter. But just like the one before, it's been sitting for awhile. This was written either before or around the same time I made the other chapter. Didn't date my writing properly for this one. I didn't like this part at the time, probably because Xion was originally just kinda there and didn't contribute much of her own thoughts? So I stopped and wrote the other one in more detail, coming back every once in awhile when I could muster up some form of inspiration to get my writing going again. At least, with what happened last chapter, she has more to add here.

Now going into it, the chapter more or less brings together the Days trio for a good old group recon mission. That whole game convinced me that Roxas was an amateur detective / a private investigator with potential. Detective Roxas as one of his many future occupations, please? So yeah, now that Roxas is more free, he's able to do what he likes and explore his interests. For this story at least, he's exploring through studying and research. Lingering memories of Data-Twilight Town and having to do homework may have something to do with his reasons for reading. Maybe?

Oh, and with Axel and Xion, they're finally coming together and divulging all they know and want to understand about Ven and his Chirithy. Hunger definitely distracts, but not enough to wonder.

Well, that's all I got. Thank you again for reading another little story idea! See you next time whenever a new chapter is up!