AN: Sorry for another shorty one lol. xD I debated combining it with the next one buuut...works better standalone. Gives time to breathe and stuff. :) Next one's gonna be another doozy anyways lol soooo yeaaaah...prepare your butts. xD Someone makes a long-awaited return...
"No way!" Kairi protested loudly, her voice echoing through Land of Departure's throne room in the silence of night. "Not in a million years!"
"Look, a memory doesn't paint the full picture," Luxu said calmly. "If I can get up close with it myself, I'll be able to actually examine it - figure out what its' deal is. Using all of my senses and powers. I can help you."
"I'm not letting you- enter my Heart!" Kairi retorted, glowering. "Aqua or-" She froze. She looked to Terra. "You can do it, can't you?"
"I wish I could," Terra replied. "but I haven't learned the Power of Waking yet. None of us have. It's...not exactly the most pressing ability that most, modern wielders need to learn. It's rare that you stumble upon a situation where it would be needed."
"Fine - what about your Master? Shouldn't he know it? And he's already existing as a Heart, so it should be easier for him to...move over to mine, shouldn't it?"
"I'd need to ask him, but...you might be onto something there," Terra replied carefully.
"There. You can keep your hands to yourself!" Kairi told Luxu.
"If that's what you want; I was never going to do anything without your say-so," Luxu said easily.
"Sure. Just like you didn't force me into a fight while a world was dying around us," Kairi responded sarcastically - spitefully. "Because that never happened before!"
The man winced. He looked away. "I'm sorry about that...if it helps."
"Not really," Kairi said honestly.
"So either you trust him, or the guy who went crazy and tried to kill Ven and Terra - you're really between a rock and hard place with this one, Kairi," Riku spoke.
"He didn't-" Ven started, anger on his face.
"Riku, I know you're worried about your friend, and I appreciate that, but-" Terra cut across Ven firmly.
"Hey, I'm just saying. What if he finds something in there he doesn't like, and decides it'd be better to destroy her too? You were his apprentices: she's a stranger," Riku went on. "If he's capable of that with you, he'd be more than willing to do the same to Kairi. And, look, I've already faced the thing, and it wasn't a picnic. It was like something out of a nightmare. So...so someone might get it into their heads that it's too much of a risk to let Kairi keep living, as long as she has that thing inside of her."
Kairi gazed at Riku in the ensuing silence. She smiled at him in earnest, for what felt like the first time in a long time. "You can be really sweet when you want to, can't you, Riku," she said affectionately.
"Ugh..." Riku turned away, his face flushing. "I was just making sure you...knew all your options?"
"Well, if it's between two bad options, I'll still take the less bad one," Kairi stated. "But thanks," she added.
"There might be a third option," Terra said, thoughtful. "We'd have to introduce you, but they might be someone you'd be more comfortable with."
"Who?"
"Mickey's Master - Master Yen Sid. If anyone would know the Power, it's him."
"Okay. Where do we find him?" Kairi asked.
"Mysterious Tower," Ven said. "Terra or I could take you there." He smiled a little, adding, "We might run into Mickey again there, too."
"Let's go, then," Kairi decided, giving him a smile of her own. "You can take me there, Ven!"
Ven gave a grin, scratching at his head. "Sure thing! C'mon, then." He paused, looking to Terra. "Uh, if that's alright and all - Master?"
Terra huffed, then nodded. "You're going to start treating me like Aqua now? Or like our Master?"
"Well you are technically two Masters in one now," Ven joked.
Terra laughed, shaking his head. "Just go, Ven. And try not to get into any trouble."
"No promises," Kairi put in, stalking forward and grabbing Ven's hand. "Come on already!"
"Woah - hey - okay!" Ven exclaimed, stumbling in her wake. "We're goin', we're going...!"
"Good luck, guys!" Sora told them, with a grin that looked so similar to Ven's, and a thumbs-up.
Aqua sat in the mouth of the underground cave, her back to the rocky wall, her eyes on the small fire in front of her.
The smoke rose up into the night sky, joining the stars.
The tall grass swayed with the winds - as did the branches of the tall trees surrounding the cave entrance, and the small moss-covered cliff it was set into.
Across from her, sleeping on the cave floor like it was nothing, was Natsumi. The woman was curled up on herself. Her weapon lay beside her, detached from her waist belt.
Aqua was amazed, really, at the level of sheer trust the other woman was putting in a stranger - someone she'd just met, on a dark and lonely night.
But then...the woman had read Aqua's mind. The full extent of which had become more clear to Aqua over the past few hours of their time together.
Another thing to be envious of, Aqua supposed...
She sighed, leaning her head back, and gazing up at the stars outside the cave mouth.
Don't be envious, be grateful. The kindness of a stranger...it's a wonderful thing.
Aqua was grateful - really, she was.
But...
She shook her head and closed her eyes.
She had to stay focused. There was a journey ahead of her, once morning came. Natsumi had been kind enough to tell her where she was in the world - and where she was in relation to where she wanted to go (the perks of mind-reading; Aqua hadn't needed to tell the woman where she was trying to get to).
Aqua had been relieved to learn she was on the right continent, at least...though she was a long ways off from where she wanted to be. Too far east, for one thing. She was going to need to pass through arid deserts, canyons and plains along the way, at some point, after leaving the mountains and forests of this region. At best, her journey was going to be a couple months. At worst...longer. Since she didn't have her Keyblade anymore - and so, her Glider - she would have to do this completely on foot.
At least she still had her more than modest sum of money on hand. She might get lucky and find a place to buy some form of transportation that would be within her price ranges. Not that she knew how much any form of transport would cost...
But she'd cross her fingers and hope.
At least, if she had nothing else...she had hope again.
She would always be grateful for that.
She didn't know what her future looked like anymore - but she could always hope it would be better than what it was before.
In the morning, her journey began. A journey not just in the physical sense, she thought to herself, but also...
A journey into a world of experiences and places she'd never been before.
It was going to be...interesting.
"Hey, Namine..."
Luxu wasn't sure where the idea came from.
It just sort of hit him.
He wasn't going to analyze it all too much yet - he was just going to...do it.
"What?" Namine asked, looking up from her desk and turning. A spread of photos laid out, and rough sketches on various pages around them - copying them.
Luxu lingered in the doorway to the girl's room. He hesitated. "Your powers...they work on people you have a connection with - or the people who have connections with people you have a connection with?"
"Yes. Why?"
"Do you think it would be possible for you to access the Heart of- Young Xehanort?"
Namine stared. She thought for a minute. "I might be able to? I could trace the threads between Ven or Terra's Hearts, and then to their Master's, and then to Xehanort's from there. Or, I could try to bond with Amaya and do a direct link from her to him, since they probably already have a really powerful connection on their own." She scrutinized him. "It might even be possible to do it with you - from when you were friends with him and everything."
"That wasn't real, Namine. I was just playing a role, and I kept to myself more than I-"
"It still might have created a bond, even if you didn't want it to at the time. You still hung out with them and stuff. You fought Heartless with them."
"...Right. Good point. The Heart does what the Heart wants."
"What do you want me to do? Read his memories? Break his Heart into little pieces?" Namine said eagerly.
Luxu stared at her. "Can you actually do something like that?"
"Well, since I can rearrange and repair people's memories, like I did to Skuld, Lauriam and Elrena," Namine began. "I already thought about it a while ago, back in the Organization, if that didn't mean I couldn't also pull them apart - put someone into the same state as Skuld or the others, on purpose. If I wanted to. But I've never actually tried it on anyone; I did threaten Vexen with it, though!" she concluded brightly.
"As tempting as it might be to let you test that theory on the guy," Luxu said. "that's not what I'd like to ask you to do here."
"Then what is it?"
"Something a bit more basic - something you already have lots of experience with."
Luxu told her what he wanted her to do - if she could. If she was up for it. He tried to stress that she didn't have to say yes, and that it could even be dangerous in some way. He couldn't guarantee a hundred percent safety.
Namine agreed in an instant, because of course she would.
Luxu led her into the room of the old cabin - a place she'd been before, to help Skuld.
Namine bounded inside, her eyes immediately finding him. "So this is the giant asshole everyone hates?"
"From the past - yeah."
"Cool. Hi, asshole."
Young Xehanort blinked at her from his place on the old bed, his face empty.
Namine smiled, sitting in the familiar chair and opening her sketchbook in her lap.
"What is this now?" the man remarked. "Are you going to draw me a picture?"
Luxu knelt down beside Namine, gazing at Xehanort. "She's going to show you some memories today. And by 'some' I mean a loooot."
"For what purpose?" Xehanort said, his voice sounding like he already thought it was for a really stupid one.
Luxu glanced up over at Amaya. He met Xehanort's gaze again. "It's a bit of a hail mary, I admit it, but if life's taught me anything lately, it's that sometimes a hope and a dream can pay off. The impossible can become possible. You can break through, break free, even after so long in a rut. A pit of endless despair and apathy. So...what I'm hoping here is that what we do today might have some small affect on your Heart. It might earn a minutia of trust, or respect, or something like that. I don't know. And personally, i don't really believe it'll do a damn thing - but I'd like to hope it could."
"Get to your point, whatever it is."
"The memories I'm going to show you today...are mine."
Xehanort's eyes flickered. "You're hoping to manipulate me."
"No, I'm hoping to show you some honesty and transparency."
"How will I know that whatever you show me is real? And what reason would you have for it, truly?"
"Because you - or your older self, at least - should know that's not part of Namine's abilities. That's not how her powers work. She can't just craft memories out of thin air. All she can do is look at them in others' Hearts, or push them along a connection to show someone else some memories. Like she did to Xemnas, a few months back. You heard about that little incident, didn't you?" Luxu responded. "As for the reason - I already told you. But if you want something a bit more practical and logical, how about this: I already told your older self some top secret, hefty shit back when we had our battle in the Keyblade Graveyard - so I don't see much harm in revealing more to you now. There's nothing in there that you could use against me in any way; there's nothing I really mind you seeing. It's all...in the past."
Xehanort gazed at him in silence, his face a mask.
"Alright, Namine, when you're ready - start at the beginning, and go on up till Daybreak Town's destruction," Luxu said, grasping the back of her chair. "Sit tight, buckle up, grab some popcorn - because this is going to be a looong story," he added to Xehanort, flashing a grin. "You want to learn about the Keyblade War so badly? Then alright: I'm giving you the full course. You'll have a Master's Degree in this era of history, by the time we're done."
"The beginning beginning?" Namine questioned. "Like when your Master first found you, or-"
"Further back than that. Back when I was with my parents," Luxu stated evenly. His eyes bore into Young Xehanort's.
"Are you sure? I mean - what about everything else you saw with the Union Leaders and-"
"Show him everything. Don't leave anything out." He paused, glanced at Amaya. "And show her, too. She deserves to be in on this. They all do, really, but for right now...just the two of them."
"Why would you show your greatest enemy such things?" Xehanort asked, pressing again.
"You mean the old man? I'm not: I'm showing you these memories," Luxu answered. "Trust me, kid, you're no threat to me."
Xehanort scoffed. "You don't think that the moment I get free, I'll return to him and inform him of all that I've learned?" he retorted, ignoring that last part.
"Oh, I'm sure you would," Luxu shrugged. "But it doesn't bother me too much."
"I don't see your strategy here."
"There is no strategy," Luxu stated. "Honestly, if I could have my way, I'd just tear your Heart out and send you packing, back to your own time. It'd remove one annoyance from all our hairs, and it'd rob your older self of a strong, talented minion. Not to mention, we could reuse that Replica body of yours, and give it to someone more deserving of it. But I haven't done that - and you know I could. Instantly. You'd be helpless against it. But instead I'm sitting here with these two, and I'm trying this. What does that tell you?"
"Nothing that I can fathom as of yet."
"Namine - hit it," Luxu said.
Namine glanced at him. "That was a figure of speech, right?"
Luxu laughed. "Yep. Figure of speech. His mommy here probably wouldn't take it too well if you actually hit the guy."
Amaya's face flashed - with annoyance, and then...it just held resignation and weariness. "I wouldn't hold it against the child; I'm sure she'd have a good reason for it," she told Luxu quietly.
"Awesome! I think he needs a good punch in the face for what he did to my mom when she was little, don't you?" Namine said, rising from her chair and raising a clenched fist.
"Hey, simmer down - and sit back down!" Luxu caught her arm, yanking her back. "If anyone's going to do anything to the guy, it should be the Princess herself. Don't take it from her before she gets her shot at it."
Namine let her arm drop, sitting down again and nodding. "Alright..." She shook her head, brushing at her hair. "Just let me find the right memories, then. You have too many of them; it's really hard to go through your Heart..."
Xehanort's expression (which had not even changed when Namine had been about to strike him), suddenly did, briefly, his silver eyes revealing anticipation and curiosity...