Certain affirmations

"Oh come on, Demyx! It's not like I'm asking for the moon!" Elrena said, irritated.

"You might as well be, considering who you are asking." Demyx said with a shrug.

Elrena huffed. "As things are we would need every keybearer we can get our hands on. Especially since Lauriam and I might be leaving the neighborhood soon. Xemnas said you are one too. Which means you could pitch in if you chose to. So I don't get why you're fighting me over this. Got to be better than just being an errand boy for the lab folks. Even you can't be lame enough to think that satisfying work."

"Come on. Looking at me do you see a hero? A knight in shining armor that rushes in to save the day? You're barking up the wrong tree for that. I'm a coward, I'm chicken. And these Foreteller guys? Sound like way too bad news to take on." He replied. "And what on earth made you want to ask anyway? I seem to remember you hating my guts when we were still back with the Organization."

"Yeah, and you once again trying to slack off isn't exactly improving my opinion of you. In the middle of a potential crisis no less." She countered.

She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Look, I couldn't care less if you're hero material or not. I'm not looking for that. And I'm not looking for you to be my buddy either. I just think we ought to have all hands on deck in a storm. You obviously could do a whole lot more than you're doing now. So damn straight I'm going to be asking you to pull your weight. Because things are tough enough without someone dragging down the team."

"Come on, I can't be doing keyblade wielding! I gave up that stuff way back when. Don't know how Xemnas even figured out I used to be one. Thought it was too long ago for him to catch a whiff of it."

"Anyway, I can't even call on the keyblade now." He added embarrassedly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Huh? You can't?" Elrena asked. She had not expected that.

"Nope. Tried it a while back, just for old time's sakes. But I couldn't get it to materialize." He confirmed.

"I figure it might be because I never got recompleted. This me grew its own heart instead. So I'm not even the one you're looking for. Just some guy with his memories. Hence why I'm sticking to my Nobody name." He mused.

"You sure you tried hard enough? You might just be a little rusty. Or maybe you don't trust yourself to do it after so long not calling it. It was that way for me. So if you keep at it you might still be able to do it." She suggested.

Demyx grimaced, shrugging. "Nah, I don't think so. Not meant to be I think."

"And you probably don't want to make a serious attempt at it now, when it might land you in a tricky spot. Or, light forbid, mean you have to put in a meaningful, serious effort." She thought sourly.

"Alright, maybe not a keyblade then. But you can still fight in other ways. And don't try to tell me otherwise. I've heard all about how nasty an opponent you can be if provoked. In fact I seem to remember you boasting about that very thing to me. So can you at least provide that to the team? Or are you really so much of a letdown you'll allow others to get hurt or killed because you were too lazy to do your part?"

"And since when do you care so much about that, anyway?" Demyx asked pointedly.

"Funny you should ask. I've been doing that a lot lately. More and more. And it doesn't bother me nearly as much as I think it should." She thought to herself.

"I can be a team player when I see the need. This Foreteller business? Definitely counts. I may have grumbled a lot, but no one ever caught me slacking on the job. And at this point I'm going insist that no one else does either." She said aloud.

Demyx gave an exasperated groan. "Okay, okay, fine! If there is a genuine emergency I'll think about it, if that will get you to stop pestering me."

"Think about it? I really can't get a promise to do something out of you?" She asked incredulously.

She threw up her hands. "You know what? Never mind. Not sure why I expected any different. You just… do you I guess. Useless lazy bum…"

She was about to walk away frustrated, when she turned back. "One other thing that's eating at me. Everyone and their grandmothers now know the story of Lauriam, Ven and I. But what about you? Where the heck did you come from? Because I'm pretty sure you're not from our time. Near as I know the only ones to survive the war were the Dandelions… and the Foretellers it looks like. And of the Dandelions the only ones to get out of the Data Daybreak Town were the ones who used the lifeboats."

Demyx grimaced rubbing the back of his head. "Ah… that's a bit of a longer story. Ask me another time, maybe?"

Elrena rolled her eyes. "Fine. Don't tell me."

"Unbelievable. Utterly useless. Just what is the point of his existence?" She muttered to herself as they went their separate ways. Still, for a brief moment she considered going back and pressing further. Just to try securing his cooperation for the Guardians one more time.

"No, no, NOPE! Nu-uh. Won't happen. Not wasting any more time on that idiot. Besides, I've got places to be." She told herself, shaking her head furiously. She had arrived here with Lauriam, and they had been talking with the scientists when she had dropped out of the group over this random idea. Now she needed to catch up. This meeting was not one she wanted to miss…


"So this is what you intend? Another replica?" Lauriam asked in the laboratory portion of the castle.

"Yes, but of a unique construction." Even said, motioning at the marionette-like construct on the table between them.

"Even and I have been building this replica specifically to trap Darkness within itself. In that way we hope to give it a physical form that can then be destroyed." Ienzo explained.

"And you are confident it will work?" Lauriam asked.

"Within reason. I am forced to admit there are still a number potential complications." Even said.

"Meaning?" Lauriam asked. Meanwhile Elrena entered through a door, causing a brief pause in their discussion.

"Well, I'm still working on this, but there is a concern that the replica will only be able to contain the Darkness for so long. It is after all just an empty vessel. Its ability to contain the Darkness is based entirely on structure and the materials used. That can only get us so far. So the window of opportunity to eliminate Vanitas will be limited." Even explained.

"How much of a window?" Lauriam inquired.

"A few minutes with the current configuration. But I will of course keep on refining it until the last possible moment. If time permits I am confident that I will be able to raise the threshold to at least fifteen to twenty minutes."

"I know, that is not a lot of time. And I will of course do my best to get past this hurdle." Even said.

"Truth to be told to truly make this work we would need something more, something with will. A second heart, the stronger the better." Even mused. "But of course none of us here are willing to attempt anything so unethical after our past experiments. We will make do with what we have."

"Indeed we must." Lauriam said with a nod.

"How we will we get Vanitas into the replica body?" He asked.

"That is something where we will need help from you keybearers. We will have to begin from the assumption that Vanitas will know to expect a trap, and so will not willingly occupy the replica. And we have no way to make it enticing enough to overpower his caution. So it will be necessary for you keyblade wielders to manually extract his heart and insert it into the replica. " Ienzo explained.

"A potentially dangerous moment to be sure. But we don't see an alternative way to proceed." He added.

"I see." Lauriam said thoughtfully. "And what would that mean for Ventus? If Vanitas has grafted himself into his heart…"

"That… remains the weakest part of his plan, regrettably." Even admitted. "I've tried to find a workaround but I've been unable to find one. Separating Vanitas will cause damage to Ventus's heart. That seems unavoidable."

Lauriam gave a concerned sigh, looking down at the replica.

"However, it occurs to me that this is not the first time this separation has taken place. I have come to believe it will be necessary to follow in the footsteps of that first incident. Ventus was able to survive his ordeal by finding refuge in another's heart, wherein he rested until his heart was healed."

"So you'd need one of us to house his heart until it can be returned to his own body?" Lauriam guessed. "If you need a volunteer then you have one. Absolutely."

Even nodded. "I am pleased you're so quick to offer. I'm sure any of his other friends would happily do the same too. And should we run short on time we will be taking you up on that offer, naturally. For optimal results however, might I suggest someone whose heart has already housed him on previous occasions?"

"You mean Sora." Lauriam guessed.

"His heart offers the greatest chance of success. He and Ventus are clearly linked for some reason. And from Ventus's story, Sora has already succeeded in this venture on two different occasions. It stands to reason a third attempt would also work." Even confirmed.

"So… we need that boy back. I guess we have even more reason to go to Quadratum." Elrena mused.

"You mentioned that we might run short on time?" Lauriam asked.

"I did. Ventus's situation… well I'd need a third measurement to be absolutely certain but… I estimate it's a degenerative condition." Even said.

He produced a pair of pictures, passing them to Lauriam and Elrena. "These are visual representations of the readings we got from his heart during our examinations of him. The first was from the time he first came to us. The second from when he returned to us after that incident with Master Aqua. See how the dark area has slightly expanded in the second image?"

After a few moments of studying the images Lauriam nodded, his expression turning worried.

"Now, Ventus's heart is highly resilient thanks to its purity. And he has had breaks, either due to Vanitas being removed from his heart, or his heart being put into a state of dormancy. But it appears Vanitas has been able to slowly expand his influence over your friend's heart, most probably ever since Ventus's reawakening for the keyblade war." He added.

"We believe that over time a Darkness like Vanitas can overtake even the strongest of hearts. At which point he would be able to seize full control of Ventus. And it might be possible for him to escape and render himself formless once again, put himself out of our reach. So certainly we must take action before any of that can happen." Ienzo echoed.

"How long does Ven have then?" Lauriam asked.

"Difficult to say. So many variables, all of which come back to his willpower over Vanitas. Our current data suggest he is still holding his ground. But a sudden emotional turmoil or a disruption of his heart from the outside could lead to a rapid deterioration. And needless to say excessive delays should be avoided. The more foothold this Darkness gains, the more damaging the extraction might be to Ventus's heart." Ienzo explained.

"I see…" Lauriam said, his expression thoughtful.

"Even so, I do think having him recover within Sora's heart would still be the best course of action. We will be monitoring his condition as often as possible, of course, and will alert you if we estimate we can afford to wait no longer. In that situation we will make do with what we have available.

Lauriam nodded his understanding. He grasped his chin, settling deeper into his thoughts.

A pause.

"…Say, these replicas… do you think you could make more than one of them?" Elrena asked.

A surprised look from Even. "I… suppose such a thing might be possible with enough time, should the need arise. Though I'm not certain why…?"

Then he paused, narrowing his eyes. "…Except you aren't talking in hypotheticals, are you? How any replicas were you hoping for then?"

Lauriam looked at Elrena.

"I believe… around seven more would be the best. So eight in total. Though if it can't be helped I could make do with just one more." She said.

That certainly surprised the two researchers.

"S-seven more? What on earth do you need that many replicas for?" Even sputtered.

Elrena took a deep breath, biting her lip. "It's for the Foretellers. You see, knowing they carry these Darknesses as well, if possible we'd like to help them as we're planning to help Ventus."

"You… wish to help the Foretellers?" Even repeated slowly.

"We would like to see if there is a way to avoid killing them while destroying this darkness, yes. We would at least like to have the option on hand when the time comes. So please, provide us the means, and we will see what is possible." Lauriam said.

"And… is this you two who are asking, or the Guardians as a whole?" Ienzo inquired.

"For the moment it's just us. Some of the Guardians already know though. The rest will be made aware." Lauriam said.

"In the meantime there are still some complications that ought to be ironed out." He changed the subject. "You see, I have a concern that Vanitas might be able to break free during his transfer into the replica. The same might happen if we fail to eliminate him within the set time limit. So in other words quite a few possible points of failure, which could lead to disaster. So I thought we might add an additional layer of security, in case something were to go wrong."

"Interesting. And how might we manage that?" Even asked.

"By borrowing a passage from the story of our past." Lauriam said, beginning his explanation.


"Quite an idea you had." Elrena commented later on as they were exiting the lab. "Ought to work though, provided the eggheads can set it up."

"They're familiar with similar systems. Ansem the Wise particular. So I'm confident they'll manage." Lauriam said. "If it improves our chances of defeating Vanitas, I'll take it."

"Say, did I see you going to have a chat with Demyx when we arrived?" He then asked.

"Yeah. Happened to remember he used to be a keyblade wielder too, and thought I could convince him to help the Guardians hold down the fort while we're away." She replied.

She shrugged, giving a dry smile. "Not one of my brightest ideas, unfortunately. All I got was a vague promise to think about it, and me left sufficiently frustrated to nearly bite his head off."

Lauriam chuckled. "Best we be on our way then, before that happens. Might make the researchers unhappy."

"O-on the other hand there is no rush, is there? I mean, there's no imminent crisis that we know of. And the others can call us if something develops." She said hastily.

Lauriam raised an eyebrow, looking at her curiously.

"I had another idea you see. Something I thought we might do before heading back." She explained.

"Oh? So what is it?" Lauriam asked.

She smiled. "That's a bit of a surprise you see. For now… you know the tallest tower in this castle? Meet me up there, and I'll take care of the rest."

"I'll be just a moment. See you there!" She said, waving him goodbye before going on her way. With some puzzlement Lauriam went in another direction to locate the route up to the tower.

Once he had found his way he had to wait some twenty minutes, after which Elrena joined him atop the tower, looking to be hiding something behind her back."

"Whew. You'd think they'd have an elevator here. So many steps… I suppose they just don't come up here a lot." She commented, glancing back the way she had come.

"I suppose they don't. Which does make me rather curious as to why you wanted us to come here.

"Well, that is mostly for the view. Because I kinda figured it would be a key element in completing the experience of, well, this!" She replied, and with that she produced two ice cream bars from behind her back. "Ta-da!"

"Ice cream?" Lauriam queried, raising an eyebrow.

"*Sea-salt* ice cream." Elrena corrected. "Yeah, so I keep hearing about how good this ice cream is. So I figured what the heck, might as well find out what all the fuss is about. And remembering how the Twilight Town gang always liked to hang out at that clock tower, so I assumed its part of the experience."

"Not an exact match of how they do it, but I think close enough." She said, offering him one of the ice creams.

Lauriam smiled, accepting the ice cream. "I think we will manage."


"I have to say, I'm glad Blue has finally come around on taking control of her darkness." She said later as the two of them were sitting at the edge of the tower, slowly eating through their ice creams. "It's been… surprisingly tough, watching her hurting from this. Even more once we figured out what might work, only for her to balk in taking the action. I'm super happy for her that she finally worked up the nerve to go for it."

"I wish her all the best in sorting that out. She deserves to." Lauriam said with a nod.

"To me she did still seem a little worried about the idea though…" He added.

"Yeah. But that is to be expected. A big challenge ahead of her." Elrena replied.

"She'll get it done." She declared. "That's… what I need to believe about her. You know what I mean?"

"Of course. You want to have a happy ending to her story. I get that. I want to believe she'll be able to as well." Lauriam said.

He leaned his head back, looking up at the sky. "She has made good progress, I'll give her that. And I'd say we've had that a lot recently, on many different fronts. This idea the scientist have for Ventus… it has its risks, but I do believe it could work. Plus we've done our part in trying to mitigate the danger involved."

"And I think it might be what you need for Invi too." He added.

"Uh-huh. Now I just need to figure out how to get word to her about it." She agreed.

"I think once Kairi has had her Mark of Mastery exam and Aqua has brought her darkness under control, it's time for us to leave for Quadratum, as soon as we have the means. It's more important than ever, since we might need Sora to help out with Ventus." He said.

"And delays won't make his situation any better." Elrena agreed.

His face still turned upwards, Lauriam closed his eyes. "We're almost there. Just a bit longer, and I might see her again. After all these years." He said, smiling widely. He did not see it, but Elrena's smile was a lot less enthused.

"And then what?" She suddenly asked. Lauriam turned his head to look at her, puzzled. Immediately after she retreated a bit into herself, like she had not meant to ask the question.

"And then what… what?" Lauriam asked.

"I mean… that was what brought us together right? Asking after her was the reason you sought me out, that day in Daybreak Town. That clue my Chirithy had about her was what brought us here. And that project has been our focus for years. We may have taken a few detours and gotten ourselves hopelessly lost a couple of times, but that was still the goal we were trying to move towards. Even when we couldn't remember why that was what we were about. And looking at you… it's been a big part of who you are." She explained.

"And now we're on the cusp of having it all finished. So… what then? What does one do when their life's goal is… done?" She asked.

Lauriam shrugged. "Well, assuming we survive everything that is going on, there is plenty more to be done. Things to set right, rebuilding to do. And, well, I don't think any of us have had a chance to live what I would call a normal life. So I suppose we will get to try our hand with that, figure out how it all works. How to fit it together with our role as keyblade wielders."

Then he stopped, giving her a long look. "Except… that was not what you were talking about is it? This… is this about… us?"

"Wait, wait, wait. You're… worried?" He then realized.

"I… no, of course not! Why would I be?" She said dismissively. But her bluff didn't fool anyone.

"Light above… you are! You think she might somehow end up coming between us. That once we have found her I won't have any more time for you and I'll toss you aside? You really think I could do something like that to you?"

"I mean, not really, but…" She stammered, averting her eyes.

A momentary pause as Lauriam pondered how to approach this.

"…So you wish to know what finding my sister will mean between the two of us. Here, let me show you." Lauriam said.

Elrena was then surprised to feel his hand on the back of her head. And even more surprised when he leaned in and kissed her on the mouth, a muffled gasp escaping from her. Her grip on her sea-salt ice cream loosened, the treat sent tumbling towards the ground.

The kiss was a long one, both of them panting for breath when their lips did finally part.

"H-holy…" Was all that she managed.

"There will always be a place in my life for you. Do not doubt it. Finding my sister won't be the end, but a beginning." He said, smiling softly at her.

But that smile disappeared when he realized she was crying.

"Woah… was that wrong? Not what you wanted?" He asked with concern.

"No, no, it's nothing like that. I'm just… happy. I didn't think…" She said, doing her best to dry the tears from her eyes.

"That day we met, after that first talk we had… I was drawn to you pretty much from that sitting. I knew instantly that I wanted to help you. As much as I could, in any way I could. And the reason why… had a lot more to do with you than it did with her." She said while looking down, her hands clasped together on her lap.

She chuckled to herself. "Love at first sight is supposed to be a myth. Well, maybe true for a rare few in the worlds we visited. But not for us plebeians, certainly, even if we were keyblade wielders. But… I don't know how else to describe what happened in that moment."

"I dunno why exactly I felt so strongly about you. Maybe because you cared about a missing person where so many Daybreak Town folks refused to. If you could care about someone with that passion… then apparently I decided I wanted some of that for myself. It was all so sudden… it honestly kind of frightened me."

"You felt that strongly from the beginning?" Lauriam asked, to which she nodded.

"But I remember you not wanting to use the lifeboats. You only agreed after I asked you." He pointed out.

"Budding survivor's guilt on my part." She replied. "I knew that if I came with, someone else would have to stay behind. And they might never get out. It didn't feel right to take someone's place when my reasons to be there were so selfish. Lauriam, the only reason I was there was because I was going through the most epic crush in the history of crushes and I wanted to drop off the clue I had stumbled upon. And the next thing I know I'm part of an emergency evacuation from a world that is ending."

She shook her head. "Honestly, that was the weirdest thing ever. Me, a random Dandelion wanders in, knowing next to nothing about what was going on. And then I just seamlessly slide in with the lot of you, like all of you had simply forgotten I wasn't originally involved in the whole thing. And then everything was happening so fast you barely had time to explain any of it. I hadn't even fully wrapped my brain around it all when we made the jump."

A pause from her. "…Besides… I wasn't sure that this *us* thing was even real at that point. I was quite sure you had not noticed how I felt at that time. All your focus was on your sister. You came to me for information about her. That is all. Beyond that I'm rather sure I was quite invisible to you."

"That was how it was, isn't it?" She asked, studying his expression.

Lauriam bowed his head.

"You don't need to feel bad about it. What I felt… it shouldn't have been possible. Not that fast. I knew all along it was unlikely it had happened to you. And I went along anyway." She soothed him.

"I didn't know if you'd ever feel the same way I did. I didn't know if I had it in me to make you feel so. Damn it all, I wasn't even sure I'd have it in me to confess to you how *I* felt. I think if you hadn't seen through me… I might have never said a thing. I was prepared to do that. I thought it might be better to keep the feeling and not reveal it. Because I was scared."

"Scared of what?" He asked.

"The illusion shattering. I thought that if I told you'd just say no. That it wasn't how you felt. And then… nothing. Nothing at all. That day… I found out everything I had rebuilt of my life was dying all over again. It might have been easier to just fall with it. To end. But I chose to leave it behind for you."

She smiled dryly at herself. "Throwing their life away to chase after their crush… it's the kind of impulsive behavior people are warned against doing. Though few can say they literally jumped through space and time for someone."

She turned serious again. "I once opened my heart to another, let her in on my secrets. And she… wasn't who I thought she was. And that mistake caused a chain reaction that destroyed everything I had in my life. See, that was what I was afraid of here. I was scared I was making the same mistake again. After the flower… it didn't really make sense I suppose. But it looks like my brain rewired itself to find a new way to keep on being worried."

"You are the biggest gamble of my life. I cast the dice, and I was so afraid of the result I didn't even want to see how it landed." She concluded.

"Except… now I know. I know how the dice landed. The illusion… isn't one. This is real. It's really real…" The tears reappearing in her eyes.

"Yes. Yes it is. Your gamble paid off." He said, stroking her cheek.

Then he took note of her empty hand. "Oh. You dropped your…"

"Whuh…? Ah, so I did." She said, looking down.

She shrugged. "Oh well, no biggie. Found something better."

With that she captured his face in her hands and kissed him again. This time it was Lauriam's turn to drop his half-eaten ice cream, the text *winner* visible on the stick as it spun towards the ground.