ToL: Chapter 2

[The Ties the Bind]

After running for a good few minutes, the group of teens led by Riku and Kairi came to a stop in front of the Cul-De-Sac, breathing heavily from the running they had just done.

"Man, why does all this bad stuff always have to happen to us?!" Eddy sighed in frustration.

"Seems like our past lives have a lot more in store for us than we imagined," Katrina stated with a bit of sadness.

"You guys!" called out two familiar voices to the Eds and the girls. They could see Adam and Olivia coming up to the group, "It's a good thing we decided to check on you all here instead of the school!" Olivia stated with a small sigh of relief.

Adam noticed the new faces in the group, as well as the unusual weapons that Riku and Kairi held in their hands, "I assume you helped them out?" he asked.

"Yes sir," Riku replied to him with a nod.

"We came here in search of three clues that would help us find someone dear to us…" Kairi started to explain to them, "But it seems like the man that's controlling the Heartless here has other plans."

"The Heartless?" everyone asked in confusion, "Do you mean the monsters that attacked us?" Ebony asked further.

"Yes, they are born from the darkness in people's hearts," Riku started to explain, but then stopped himself, "But right now, we don't have time to explain everything in detail."

As if on cue, a lone Shadow Heartless started to form behind the group without being noticed. The Shadow suddenly lunged towards Katrina; their claws ready to strike into her chest for her heart. Fortunately, the Shadow was noticed in time by Eddy.

"Katrina, WATCH OUT!" Eddy yelled out to her as he grabbed her right hand with his left while trying to shield her from the attack.

Suddenly, everyone was blinded by an extremely bright light that seemingly came out of nowhere. Once the light died down, everyone could see Eddy guarding Katrina while holding something in his right hand; a unique-colored Starlight Keyblade, the blade of the weapon was silver and had a blue frame around the handle along with a blue star keychain at the end. The Shadow's released heart floated up in the air, returning to where it needed to go and not back into the darkness.

Little did anyone know, this simple act of summoning his Keyblade to protect someone would trigger two major things for him. Things that would drastically alter his life.

"W-Wha…?!" Eddy muttered in confusion, looking at what he now held in his right hand as everyone else stared at him in disbelief. Suddenly, Eddy clutched his head in pain and collapsed to the ground, unconscious; the Keyblade he had summoned also disappeared.

"Eddy!" gasped Ed and Double D as the two of them and Katrina came up to him.


Eddy could still feel his head throbbing in pain as he opened his eyes, only to see darkness around him before another picture came into view. He was back in the kingdom of Atlantis before it was destroyed by the disaster that claimed many lives in the distant past. He could see the training grounds for the castle guards, and training in the middle of the grounds was his past self, Alexander; he was holding his broadsword and fighting against a target dummy.

Alexander wiped the sweat from his brow after taking a swing at the dummy, "That's enough practice for today," he stated aloud.

Suddenly, he could hear a single round of applause from behind him, "I see you have a lot of potential, General Alexander!"

Alexander turned to see who was clapping. Standing and watching further behind him was someone he had never seen before, a male figure in a black hooded cloak; he could not see the man's face.

"Who are you?!" questioned Alexander, holding his broadsword in front of him in an attack position.

"Whoa now! There's no need to get all defensive with me," stated the man, raising his hands to show he meant no harm, "I'm a friendly guy, once you get to know me; I promise!"

Eddy rolled his eyes at the cloaked man, "Talk about suspicious with a capital S," he stated while watching his memory unfold.

A few tense seconds passed between the two before Alexander lowered his broadsword, "Alright then, how did you get to the castle grounds?"

"Why, I simply walked in; like a normal person would do!" replied the cloaked man with a hearty laugh, "Don't worry, I won't be here for long. I just came to talk to you."

"… Talk to me?" Alexander asked in confusion.

"Yes," the cloaked man nodded, "I can sense the unease you hold in your heart about the changes in your king."

Alexander flinched a little at the man's statement before making an upset face, "I do not know what has come over his majesty," he started to say, "This dark magic he's been playing with can not be good for anyone; especially for the kingdom. I could lead to a lot of awful things."

"I agree!" the cloaked man replied to Alexander, walking closer to him until he was face-to-face with him; his face was hidden, almost like a void, "Luckily for you, I have something to help you out!"

"Wha–?!"

The cloaked man held out his right hand and it soon produced something there in a flash of light; a wicked-looking Keyblade with an eyeball on the top of the blade and the handle, "In my hand, take this key. You shall inherit its legacy, using it against the encroaching darkness you will face," the cloaked man said.

Alexander hesitated for a second, trying to process what was going on with this man, "I'm not sure I understand what is going on…" Alexander stated, narrowing his eyes to the cloaked man, "Why should I trust you?"

"… This is for Katrina; Irene's future self, as well as the future of someone else dear to you."

Alexander (and Eddy) widened his eyes in shock, "Wait a minute, w-what about Irene?!" he asked with worry in his voice, "Is something going to happen to her?!"

"Who can say?" the cloaked man replied with a shrug of his shoulders, "That's up to you to decide," he then gestured to his Keyblade, "Now then, will you accept this inheritance or not?"

"… Very well," Alexander stated, reaching out his right hand to the handle of the cloaked man's Keyblade. A small bit of light started to form in between them as soon as he did.

"And there we go!" the cloaked man cheered, dismissing his Keyblade from view, "Now you have the power to protect yourself and others from the darkness," he then leaned in towards Alexander's face; the man's face was still not visible at all, "At least, you can protect your loved ones from the future darkness millenniums from now."

"Millenniums?" Alexander asked in a baffled tone, "I don't understand…"

The cloaked man made another hearty laugh, "Oh, you will understand one day; don't worry about it!"

The cloaked man then cleared his throat, "Anyway, my work here is done," he stated, turning around to walk away from Alexander, "I bid you farewell, Eddy!" he said before a portal of darkness appeared in front of him.

Eddy widened his eyes in shock once again, "What the hell?! That weird guy knew my name!"

"W-Wait!" Alexander called out to the man before he could walk through the dark portal, but he was ignored. The cloaked man disappeared into the dark portal, leaving no traces of him behind. Alexander stood there for a moment, baffled by what had just happened.

"… Alex?" called out a familiar voice. Alexander turned to the voice, who was coming up from behind him; a woman with long, white hair that had blue highlights in it, "Irene…"

Eddy immediately noticed something different about Irene than the last time he saw her in his memory; she was wearing different clothes than last time, plus he noticed her stomach seemed a bit more pronounced…

"Is there something the matter?" Irene asked him with a bit of worry.

"I-It's nothing," Alexander replied to her with a sigh, "I think the stress I have is getting to me."

Irene only made a soft smile at him, "Please, don't stress out over your duties," she stated to Alexander.

"I can't help it sometimes!" Alexander replied to her, "It's my job as General of Atlantis to protect everyone," he looked away for a moment, "And most of all, I need to protect you and my–"

"Alex!" Irene interjected, clasping her hands into his right hand, "You know you're not alone anymore; you have Seth and Dimitri to help you out now as your second-in-commands!" she paused for a moment before saying, "And you have me to support you if I need to. I know cure, ice, and water magic, remember? Not that many people here have these skills."

"I know, but–"

Irene placed her index finger on Alexander's lips, "Hush now," she started to say, "Let's go get some food and rest for today," she glanced down to her stomach, placing her left hand over it, "Our child is not too far off from being born. I can tell."

Alexander looked at her with a smile of his own, "Alright, you win this time, Irene."

Soon the memory started to fade from Eddy's mind, leaving him standing around in the darkness. Eddy was trying to process what his memory was trying to tell him before realizing something, "… Wait a minute, was she going to have a kid back then…?! Did they – did WE really–?!"


Eddy yelled very loudly as he woke back up from being unconscious, gasping for air as he did. He looked around to see where he was; he was in his room, and the clock beside him said it was 10:15 a.m.

"Eddy?!" questioned both Ed and Double D as they and Katrina came into his room, "You okay? You made a scream," asked Ed with worry.

"I-I'm fine, I think," Eddy replied to them, hopping out of his bed to walk over to them, "How long was I out?"

"For about twenty-five minutes, give or take," Double D stated, "Everyone was worried about you when you collapsed like that."

Eddy scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, "Sorry 'bout that… I don't know what happened."

Katrina made a sigh of relief, "As long as you're okay, it's fine…"

"Anyway, we learned quite a bit from Riku and Kairi while you were asleep," Double D stated, "So now we need you to catch up to speed with what we found out."

Eddy blinked a little at him before remembering the events before he passed out, "Oh, right."

The four teens walked back to Eddy's living room, where we could see almost everyone; the only people absent were Kevin, Nazz, and Rolf.

"So, you finally woke back up, Eddy," Adam stated when he saw the four teens come into the living room.

"Yeah, really sorry about that…" Eddy started to say before asking, "Where's Kevin, Nazz, and Rolf?"

"We sent them all back home; after explaining some things to them, of course," Olivia stated to him.

Eddy then turned to the new teens in the room, "So, uh… You're Riku and Kairi, right? Can you tell me what's going on?"

"Yeah, at least the best we can," Kairi stated.

Riku and Kairi started to explain to Eddy what they already told the others; they were travelers from another world, searching for clues about a missing friend and his companions. They also explained what the Heartless were and why they started to show up in this world, as well as the unusual weapons they held, called Keyblades.

"Now that we've said our parts, can you tell us how you managed to summon a Keyblade?" Riku asked, "Usually, a Keyblade wielder has to inherit it from someone else while also having the aptitude for summoning it."

"… I don't know, honestly," Eddy stated, glancing down at his right hand for a moment, "I think it could have something to do with my past self."

"Really?" Adam questioned with surprise, "Do you mind telling us why you think that?"

"Uh, well… When I blacked out earlier, I had another vision from my past," Eddy started to explain, "Alex met this strange guy in a black hood, who kept saying a lot of weird things to him before taking out this odd-looking blade for him to hold… The guy then walked away into some dark portal afterward. It was kinda creepy."

"A guy in a black hood?" Kairi muttered a little, turning to Riku for a moment, "Do you think it might have been Master Xehanort?"

"No, I don't think so," Riku replied, "If Alex lived around 3000 years ago as Adam and Olivia said, I don't think that man could have been Master Xehanort. Even I don't think he was that old."

Eddy stayed silent at what was going on as he remembered the final part of his flashback; where it was revealed that Alexander and Irene were going to have a child. Another thought then crossed his mind: Did Irene turn into the silver dragon when the child was still inside her? If so, did she have her child later? Were they okay? What happened to them after that?

'… Wait a minute, why the heck should I care about that?!' Eddy thought, shaking his head a little, 'All that happened 3000 years ago, so it's not my problem!'

Little did he know.


Elsewhere, a few minutes ago in a faraway world called Twilight Town, we could see two teens sitting on top of the big clock tower in the middle of town, eating some sea-salt ice cream. They were Roxas and Xion. The two teens heard some footsteps behind them as they turned to see who was approaching them, it was two of their friends, Hayner and Pence.

"Hey!" called out Hayner to the two teens, "Lea and Isa asked us to find you two!"

"Huh? Is something wrong?" Roxas asked.

"We're not sure, they told us to tell you to go to the Usual Spot as soon as you can," Pence replied, "They didn't say why, but it sounded kind of urgent."

Roxas and Xion looked at each other with a bit of worry, "We'll be there soon," Xion stated.

The four teens then left the clock tower and traveled to their usual hangout spot, fittingly named the Usual Spot. When they entered their hideout, they could see Lea, Isa, and Olette standing around someone who was lying on the couch.

The person lying on the couch was a young girl who looked to be in her preteens, maybe around 11 years old. She had long, pale light blue hair that went to her waist and her skin tone was slightly pinker than everyone else, but not by much. She wore a simple, but ragged blue dress that went a little passed her knees and had a strange flower tucked under her right ear. She had no shoes or socks, which was weird to see around here. She looked like someone whose home world would be Olympus Coliseum; at least that was what Roxas thought at first.

"Oh good, you're here," Lea stated when he saw Roxas and Xion enter the room. He then turned back to the sleeping girl, "Isa and I went to the mansion a moment ago when we got a report that a suspicious man in a black hood was spotted there. But instead of him, we found this girl lying in front of the mansion gates instead."

"Wait, that's the location where Nobodies are born into the town, right?" Roxas stated, remembering the day he was born there, "Do you think she's a Nobody?"

"I don't think so," Isa replied, "She isn't a Nobody, but something does feel off about her presence…"

The girl on the couch started to stir a little before opening her eyes, revealing them to be a bright shade of blue. She groaned a little in grogginess, which caught everyone's attention, "F-Father…? I-I'm alive…?!"

The girl then jolted upwards in shock, catching everyone off guard, "Where am I? What is this place?!"

"Whoa, hey! Calm down for a moment," Lea started to say to the girl, "It's alright now."

The girl turned to the people in the room she was in, "W-Who are you?"

The other teens turned to each other before giving her their names, "Do you know your name?" Xion asked.

The girl nodded her head, "My name is Iris."

"Nice to meet you!" Olette stated with a smile.

Isa turned to Iris with a bit of a serious look, "Iris, do you remember anything before waking up?"

Iris sat there for a moment, trying to recall anything in her memories, "Yes… I remember being very sick and lying in my bed… I could feel myself getting weaker, I was dying," she glanced to the floor in sadness, "I could tell my father was very distraught, and it also made me upset. He told me he would save me by doing something, but couldn't hear what he said afterward when I blacked out… And now I'm here."

"Hmm, sounds to me like your dad saved you somehow," Isa stated, "But that doesn't explain how you made your way here to Twilight Town."

"Twilight… Town?" Iris questioned with a bit of curiosity, "Is that where I am now?"

"Yes."

'… A new place besides my home on the island?' Iris thought, 'Is that even possible?'

"Do you think the others should know about this?" Xion asked, "Something might be going on with them. Plus, we need to check on them to see how their search for Sora is going."

"Yeah, I'll go contact them soon," Lea stated, pulling out his gummi phone from his back pocket as he did, "I'll contact Aqua first, and then either Riku or King Mickey later."


Meanwhile, back in Peach Creek, the group inside Eddy's house could feel a bit of a small rumble coming from outside.

"Oh no, the King!" Kairi gasped as she turned to Riku, "We left him alone for too long against that guy!"

"I'm sure he's fine," Riku stated before narrowing his eyes a little, "But we do need to check on him," He turned to everyone else in the room, "You all need to stay here, it's not safe outside."

"… I'm coming with you," Eddy stated as he stood up from where he sat, shocking the people who knew him, "If Belindra is that desperate to destroy our town to try and get to us, then you're gonna need all the help you can get!"

"Good to hear," Kairi replied with a nod of her head before asking, "Do you know how to fight?"

There was a small awkward pause, "Uh, not really?" was Eddy's response before narrowing his eyes, "But that doesn't matter right now! I'll just learn along the way!"

"We'll come with you, Eddy!" Ed stated as he got up from where he sat, dragging Double D by his arm to stand next to Eddy, "You can't do this alone!"

"I-I agree, I'll try to help out if I can," Double D stuttered as he swatted Ed's hands away from his arm, "But there was no need to drag me like that, Ed."

"I'll go too," Adam stated, getting up from where he sat, "I finished off that tyrant before, and I can do it again if push comes to shove," he then looked towards the three Eds, "Besides, I need to keep these boys out of trouble."

"And I'll stay here with the girls," Olivia said, "I won't let anything happen to them, I promise."

The three Eds looked back towards their friends with a bit of a worried look, "Umm…"

"Don't worry about us," Shayla started to say with a smile, "We'll stay right here until you get back."

"Yeah, go kick that guy's butt for us!" Ebony cheered, "We'll be watching you by the window. We know you can do it!"

Katrina stayed silent for a moment, making a small smile at them, "Please stay safe, okay?"

"… We'll be careful, don't worry!" Eddy replied to them with a thumbs up. The three Eds and Adam turned to Riku and Kairi, "Let's go."

Riku and Kairi nodded their head as the six of them rushed out of the house to see what was going on outside. Once they left the house, everyone could see a few dark clouds above them hanging low in the sky.

Everyone then heard an echoing chuckle, "Seems you've finally come out of your hiding place," echoed Belindra's voice loudly.

Riku and Kairi summoned their Keyblades immediately upon hearing his voice. Eddy tried to do the same, trying to move his right arm and hand a little like how Riku and Kairi would summon theirs, but it did not form for a moment until a few seconds later; the unique-colored Starlight Keyblade reappeared in his right hand.

They then see a dark portal form in front of them in the middle of the parking circle, with Belindra stepping out of the darkness in his 'human' form.

"Hello again, my foolish knights," Belindra stated to the three Eds before noticing the Starlight Keyblade in Eddy's hand, "Seems like you remembered that you had that special blade with you, Alexander."

Riku narrowed his eyes to the man, "Where's King Mickey?!"

"What, you mean that mouse from before?" asked Belindra before making a smirk, "Don't worry about him, he's just taking a nap," he then made another portal in front of him, tossing an unconscious Mickey to their side with a bit of a flop, "The fight from before took a lot out of him, with me being the victor! I'll give him credit; he was very strong; it took me a while to win against him."

"Your Majesty!" Kairi gasped as they came up to the mouse king. She then held out her Keyblade towards him, "Curaga!" she shouted. A soothing green light came from her Keyblade, directing it toward Mickey which then covered his body. The green light then faded away as Mickey slowly opened his eyes, groaning in pain as he did, he seemed to still be out of commission.

"Now then…" Belindra stated as a dark blue and black aura started to appear around him, "I am not after you or my dragons today, my foolish knights. I will wait another day for that opportunity."

Belindra started to form twelve shadow-like tendrils from the aura that was around him, "Instead of going after you six…" six of the shadow tendrils went into the ground, "I think I will scatter the threads that bind you all together," the other six shadow tendrils then went into the ground, "Let me show you what I mean!"

The twelve shadow tendrils started to pull back up out of the ground, each of them holding a person in their grasp. Everyone widened their eyes at the sight. The tendrils were wrapped around people they knew! Kevin, Nazz, Rolf, Jonny 2x4, Sarah, and Jimmy were trapped, as well as Eddy's brother and five others they did not immediately know, presumably they were people that the girls knew. The ones trapped were all awake and conscious.

"ED!" Sarah yelled out in anger at what was going on, "What did you do now?!"

"N-Nothing, baby sister!" Ed immediately replied to her before it kicked in at what he was seeing, "Let Sarah go, Belindra!"

The Eds then heard the door to Eddy's house slam open, with Ebony and Shayla rushing out towards them with Katrina and Olivia behind them, "Liam! Ryan!" Ebony shouted out.

"Ebby!" yelled out two young voices in fright from where they were in the darkness, they looked to be twins, "Help us big sis, please!"

"Mom!" Shayla cried out with worry.

"S-Shayla?!" gasped out an older woman who was trapped in the tendrils, "What's going on?!"

While everyone that was trapped was shouting to be let go of their binds, Eddy locked his eyes on his older brother with a small glare, 'Freaking great, why did he have to show up?' He thought with irritation. His older brother was desperately trying to squirm his way out of his binds.

Double D looked on in fright at the scene before noticing the two others who were trapped; a woman with short, dark blond hair and a young girl with light brown hair. Something about the woman's presence kept tugging him to remember something at the back of his mind, but he did not know why.

"Evan?! Colette!" the blond-haired woman yelled as she tried to reach out to the young brown-haired girl close by, "Momma!" the young girl cried.

"There, there now; there's no need for everyone to make a scene," Belindra stated before making a smirk, "It's not like anyone will hear you in the worlds you will be going to!"

Belindra raised his right hand as a dark aura came from it. He then proceeded to snap his fingers. As soon as he did, all twelve shadow tendrils started to disappear, taking along with the people trapped in their grasp.

Everyone on the ground widened their eyes in shock as their blood ran cold for a moment.

"There we go!" Belindra turned his attention back to everyone else that was in front of him, "I've made an incentive for you to travel; I think it would be very boring for you to die so easily!" He then flashed an evil smile at them, "So go! Go and get stronger for our final clash if you can! If you survive the journey, I will be waiting back at my castle in Atlantis!"

Belindra then disappeared with another snap of his fingers as a dark portal formed underneath his feet, covering his body before dissipating. Everyone that was left behind only stood there in silence at what just happened in disbelief.


Author's Note (August 10th, 2023): Oh, I forgot I was working on this... Oops. I'll get back to both this and my other story as fast as I can! As well as the two Final Fantasy crossovers I started... I have way too many stories to work on and no time (or attention span) to do it.

Anyway, I've been doing okay. Not much is going on right now, but I have slowly been chipping away at Final Fantasy XVI and a few other games... Or maybe I should watch some of the Blu Rays I've bought... Geez, time is very much an enigma.

OH! I don't know if I ever mentioned this or not (not even in the bio update I did a few days ago, but I'll update it to include this), but I follow and watch a lot of Twitch streamers when I'm not writing anything down or editing videos for GMiLP. My go-to streams are ProtonJon, NicoB, KZXcellent, The8BitDrummer, TomFawkes, StephenGeorg, Shenpai, Lucah, Spoonee, CrystAAHHL, and GigaBoots. Those are the channels I usually watch the most, both live and on their VODs. If you happen to see me in any of these chats, feel free to say hi to me! My Twitch name is the same as it is here, so I'll be easy to spot. I also help mod NicoB's Twitch chat, KZXcellent's Twitch chat, Lucah's Twitch chat, and CrystAAHHL's YouTube chat; as well as in their Discord servers. I snipe spoilers for Nico's LPs.