"It's a meteor shower!"
Futaba jumped in surprise as Ven peered over her laptop. His bright smile had far too much energy for the lateness of the hour. She knew everyone else had gone to bed hours ago. "Okay. So what?"
Ven's face fell. "You don't want to see a meteor shower? Haven't you ever seen one before?"
Futaba considered this for a few moments. She couldn't remember the last time she looked up at the night sky at home. Besides neon signs, there wasn't much to see anyway. "…No, I don't think so."
Ven smiled. "Then you've got to see this one! Come with me."
Futaba grinned at his enthusiasm. "All right, you win."
She wished they didn't have to walk so far to the training field to see it, but Ven insisted the lights were too bright in the castle. She had no trouble seeing where she was going, at least. The air smelled fresh and cool, with a steady breeze that ruffled her long orange hair. All around her, she heard the ruckus of frogs and insects, and it was surprisingly pleasant.
On the training field, she marveled at the thick cluster of stars in the black sky, hundreds of thousands of them, each a bright twinkling light. She gasped when one arced across the sky and disappeared, and Ven chuckled.
"Wow," she whispered. She'd never known stars could look so alive.
They perched on a steep outcrop and continued to watch as handfuls of meteors soared through the night. It looked to Futaba like a vast ocean, with each star a glistening fish, and she said as much to Ven. Not that she'd seen much of the ocean in her short life either, but it was more familiar to her than the stars.
"Terra says that each of those stars is another world," said Ven. "Do you think that's true?"
Futaba remembered Eraqus mentioning worlds, and her own gameplay of Chain of Memories from long ago. What was a world, anyway? How big could a world be? Tokyo? Earth? "I don't know." She shrugged. "Maybe." If so, this universe must be enormous. Who's to say her own small corner of it wasn't twinkling from one of those tiny lights somewhere?
"Tell me about your world," said Ven. "Where you and the others came from."
And Futaba found herself describing the café and her room in all the detail she could remember, while Ven paid rapt attention. She described the time that she and Akira watched a movie in Shibuya, and looked at electronics in Akihabara. She hadn't realized how much she missed those places until now.
"There's a lot of loud noises and strange people there," she said. "It was real scary without a friend."
"Someday, I'm going to travel to all those worlds," stated Ven, his eyes shining with determination. "I want to see everything."
And Futaba realized she wanted the same. "Me too," she said. "Thanks for bringing me out here. I didn't know what I was missing."
And as Ven replied, time seemed to freeze. She heard a distinctive voice in her head saying,
I am thou, thou art I… Thou hast acquired a new vow.
It shall become the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chain of captivity.
With the birth of the Aeon Persona, I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power…
She was quiet during the walk back.
Akira was enjoying the downtime in the Land of Departure. It was certainly well-deserved after everything he and the other Phantom Thieves had been through. And yet, he worried about the dangers Igor had mentioned. This wasn't a vacation, it was a mission, and the consequences for their failure could be dire. It was imperative that they find the palace and change the owner's heart, as soon as possible.
Though time was as always difficult to determine here in the Land of Departure, Akira was sure several weeks had passed since their arrival. Though they had plenty, if not too much, downtime, they had also devoted long stretches of time to training, with Terra, Aqua, Ven, and Eraqus focused solely on helping the newcomers improve their performance. The results had paid off handsomely, though not equally. Yusuke had proved by far the most adept at adapting his persona skills to the new medium of the Keyblade, and had made the most progress. Sumire, Morgana, and Akira himself were not far behind, and rapidly catching up. The others, however, had a lot of trouble adapting, none more so than Futaba, who still had trouble with anything except heal. She had proven much more adept in other areas, however, such as gliding.
Because their training had taken so much time, Eraqus had postponed the Mark of Mastery exam for Terra and Aqua. Today, though, he announced the others had caught up enough to work solely under Ven's supervision while he worked with Terra and Aqua. He apologized to the Phantom Thieves for that, but said once Terra and Aqua became Keyblade Masters, there would be more time to spare on training for the rest of them.
Akira, however, felt they needed to leave the Land of Departure and look for the palace owner, as well as possible locations. They had exhausted all information available there, and with the vast number of worlds, it could take a long time to find the palace. In private, he had talked strategy with Makoto about this. They had agreed it seemed logical for at least some of the Phantom Thieves to follow Terra and Aqua when they left on whatever master duties they had. Then, when they had their bearings when it came to travel, they would split up to widen their search.
Futaba let them know the following day what had happened between her and Ven. Akira, who had noticed most of his own cards had 10 stars with a handful of exceptions with none, asked to look at Futaba's cards. The Fool card was leveled up, as was several of the Phantom Thieves cards. What stood out, though, was that her Aeon card, which she hadn't noticed before, had a single gold star on it. None of the others' decks had that. Akira realized they had to be connected, that the cards truly represented the bonds they had with their friends, including their new ones. He reminded everyone they needed to hold fast to their bonds, undoubtedly their new ones as well.
"Key items for the Keyblades", quipped Futaba.
By that time, most of the Phantom Thieves had experienced what they called the confidant phenomenon with at least one of the four, though most of their quality time had been as a group. With so little time left, it led to a lot of demand from them on their new friends' free time, especially Aqua. It was becoming clear that most of the Phantom Thieves had a favorite person among the new confidants. Futaba and Morgana spent most of their time with Ven, Ryuji mostly hung out with Terra, and most of the other girls preferred Aqua's company. Yusuke, for his part, seemed drawn to Master Eraqus, and it wasn't hard for Akira to guess he saw in the stern but kindly master a mentor who could guide him better than Madarame. Akira, as usual, got along with everyone equally.
Akira's most noteworthy bond was Aqua showing him how she made the Wayfinders. That morning, Akira woke early due to a nightmare about his interrogation, and chose to stay awake and make coffee for everyone. In the kitchen, he was surprised to see Aqua already awake, painstakingly sorting shards of stained glass from a box. She jumped on hearing footsteps, almost cutting her hand on a shard, but relaxed when she saw it was Akira. While he busied himself preparing coffee and a pot of curry, he asked her what she was working on. She explained these scraps of glass were leftover from when the windows were made, and she held onto them because she had been using them to make mosaics. This time, however, she had a more substantial project in mind, one she wanted to keep secret from Terra and Ven so she could surprise them. Akira listened with patient interest as she explained she wanted to make necklaces like a legendary star-shaped fruit, to symbolize an unbreakable bond between the three of them. His eyes gleamed with ideas of his own as she talked, and he simply asked if he could watch.
Over several days, Akira observed while Aqua made the Wayfinders. She carefully cut the edges using pliers and soldered them with lead and copper. She also used gold and silver to shape the symbols in the middle, carefully melting and shaping them with magic. Akira had never seen anyone use such extremely precise magic before, and the effect combined with physical labor was truly stunning.
Akira asked questions throughout the process to make sure he understood how each step contributed to the whole. He also asked if it was true that red stained glass is made with gold, and she said that was true according to Master Eraqus. Because of that, it is quite a rare color, and she didn't have many pieces. The few she had were quite small, and she used them to make flowers in her mosaics. She showed him one she had made when she was younger, depicting a broad field dotted with flowers, with green mountains in the background.
Akira had never made a mosaic before, but he shared a time his parents collected a series of black and white tiles to make a pattern in a coffee table. As a child, those tiles made delightful playthings, until he was caught. He laughed at the memory. He also shared a time he had accidentally dropped a clay bowl. Instead of throwing it out as his parents had wanted to do, he spent an afternoon painstakingly repairing it with strong glue. The result, while not perfect, held together remarkably well, and he used it to store fruit. When it fell again a few months later, he fixed it again, dubbing it the "twice-broken bowl". It lasted over a year in that state. When it broke a third time, however, he finally let it go.
He felt the air stop as Aqua laughed. A familiar voice echoed in his head:
I am thou, thou art I. Thou hast taken a new vow.
It shall become the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chains of captivity.
With the birth of the Hope persona, I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power.
He admitted he'd mainly repaired it the first time to see if he could, like it was a three-dimensional puzzle. But, he also didn't like to throw anything away just because it was broken. The flaws make it unique. This experience first introduced him to kintsugi, an ancient Japanese technique of fixing beloved items and painting the seams with gold or silver powder, highlighting that the flaws made it unique.
He became thoughtful, remembering Maruki then. By erasing the pain the Phantom Thieves went through, they had been stripped of their connection with one another. He believes they made the right choice, but he still grappled to this day how to reconcile that with wanting to end as much suffering in the world as possible as the Phantom Thieves. Especially now, as they have been tasked with changing the future to prevent ruin, just as they have before in their own world. The irony of their current situation was not lost on him.
He decided, and explained to Aqua, that he wanted to make some Wayfinders for his own friends. He added he didn't want to use the same materials as hers, knowing there weren't enough and not wanting to compete anyway. Instead, his idea was to make them from clay. He explained his ideas for their design to Aqua, and she promised to help him put unbreakable connection magic on them as well.
The night before the Mark of Mastery exam, he gathered all the Phantom Thieves in the dorms, away from everyone else. He knew they'd been on edge lately, worrying about how the Mark of Mastery would go and what would happen after. Ann, who was particularly intuitive, was so worried she'd accidentally burned the castella cake Aqua was helping her make by setting the temperature too high. Hilariously, after charring the outside to near-charcoal, Terra tried a piece, insisting it was better than Aqua's usual cakes because it was less sweet.
Joker surprised all of them by giving everyone unique Wayfinder necklaces, each with a distinctive pattern reflecting their abilities and main colors. For example, Ryuji's was bright yellow with red lightning bolts. Yusuke helped hand them out, revealing he had designed the patterns and painted them, while Joker had shaped the clay and applied the glaze. Both had observed their firing in the kiln. Joker had, with Yusuke's help, also added an additional touch by separately shaping and adding the top hat and mask symbol that had come to symbolize the Phantom Thieves, elegantly painted in red and black. Each had a cord painstakingly braided from silk yarn.
Everyone loved their Wayfinders, exclaiming over how detailed they were and how much they fit their outfits' color schemes and their powers. Everyone insisted on trying them on right away. Akira slipped his on, too, feeling the unexpected weight. It felt comforting, knowing that no matter where they went, they would remain connected. He wasn't sure what Aqua meant by unbreakable connection magic, but he trusted her completely.
It was only after everyone had gone to sleep that he clasped the one Wayfinder he hadn't shown anyone besides Aqua, even Yusuke. He was relieved she hadn't counted them or asked why there was one extra. He had painted this one white with red bless and curse symbols. It lay in his pocket next to a single dark glove.
The morning of the Mark of Mastery, all the Phantom Thieves woke up with excitement, though on edge. Master Eraqus let everyone know he expected the newcomers to appear early in particular, as there was a visitor they needed to meet.
Ventus slept in, so it was they, along with Terra and Aqua, who met the mysterious visitor in the throne room, a bald man dressed in black and white. He looked instantly suspicious to Akira, but he tried not to judge.
"This is Master Xehanort," said Eraqus.
Instantly, eight phones from the Phantom Thieves' positions around the room chimed, one after the other, "Candidate found."
Around the room was total silence.