And now, PROPER introductions of the characters appearing in this.

Chapter 2: The Five Sleepers

Sakuzy dressed himself in the outfit, finding that it was...oddly familiar. He found himself in a house and opened the door, finding an alleyway. The sky was dark and there was an eclectic collection of buildings set up across it. While dark, it had the warm light of lamp-posts.

"What is this?" he asked.

With a series of flashing lights and the sound of hammers and saws, words slowly formed

Traverse Town

It then faded in slowly flashing lights.

"Excuse me?" Sakuzy asked, tapping a man's shoulder.

"Um, yes? What is it, sir?"

"I just woke up, half-naked in a chamber of water and have no idea how I got there. Do you know me?" Sakuzy asked. The man's response was to back away slowly, "Huh. Guess he didn't…"

Sakuzy wandered the streets, still not sure where he was or what was going on.

"This isn't real, this can't be real..." A gentle sounding voice said in a worried tone. "This is all just a dream, I'm gonna wake up any second now..."

Sakuzy looked around, trying to find the source of the voice.

Crouched down behind a crate, was a girl with short orange hair and freckles adorning her cheeks. She was wearing a green outfit that looked like a dress mixed with a tank top. "This isn't real, I'm gonna wake up and be back home..." muttering to herself as if she were crazy.

"Hey." Sakuzy said, catching her attention, "This might sound weird, but...do you know me or where we are?"

"Huh?" The girl asked, looking up at Sakuzy. She gasped quickly and stood up! "Oh! Uh, sorry you had to hear that..." She said as she quickly fixed her hair and adjusted her outfit. "Sorry but, no... I'm just as lost as you are. But tell me, are you real or a dream person?" the girl asked, just to be sure.

"I'm real, yeah." Sakuzy said, nodding, "I'm Sakuzy. And...not gonna lie, I have no idea what's going on here. Who're you?"

The red haired girl smiled a bit and regained her posture as she hastily replied, "Lucy."

"Nice to meet you, Lucy." Sakuzy nodded.

"Two're out kinda late, aren't you? It's really dangerous to be out here this late." said a deep, sonorous voice.

A man had (somehow) snuck up on them. He was tall, heavily muscled, had dark brown skin, gray eyes, and short black hair that came down his face in thick side-burns and a short beard. He wore a black jacket over a green shirt, a loosely-buckled belt, cargo pants, and boots.

"Uh...hi?" Sakuzy asked.

POHPOHPOHPOHPOHPOH

After getting dressed, Becca opened the door, exiting into the hall. She walked out looking around for guards or something. She found nothing but an empty hallway.

"Hello? Anyone here?" Becca called, "I'm…uh, I'm sorry if I'm intruding!"

There was a long silence before she walked to the door at the end of the passage, "Becca, you've got no memories of anything and your biggest worry is about trespassing. You've got bigger…worries…"

She looked out and saw the town outside. The sudden lights and stars took her aback. Out of everything she was expecting, it wasn't this…

"Boy, took your time getting up and out." Came a voice from...above Becca? It then said, "Oh wait, wrong guy. He's usually a deep sleeper, though, so...not too surprising."

Becca decided to correct that thought. She looked up and found the source of the voice. Sitting on the ledge of a building was a young man with jet black hair tied in a ponytail, purple eyes, wearing a pair of black slacks, and a dark top with a long sleeve on his right arm.

"But I guess you'll do." He said, jumping off with a spin in the air before landing in front of her, perfectly, "How about a little introduction first? I'm Joyex."

"Um…Becca" Becca said looking at this strange man. Joyex grabbed her hand and shook it.

"Nice to meetcha, Becks." Joyex said.

Becca took her hand back and looked a little edgy, "Yeah, it's mutual…"

"Now, welcome to Traverse Town. If I seem awkward, don't mind that. I only just woke up in a container full of water a few doors down."

Becca hadn't expected that, "Wait, you too?"

"Saying you did, too? Small world." Joyex said, "Reminds me, have you seen a friend of mine? 'Bout so tall, reddish-brown hair, wears a red cape, and has something like that?" Joyex pointed to her Wayfinder.

"I don't think so…" Becca said, "But if you want I can help you look."

"Sounds good to me! Let's go find the guy!" Joyex said, folding his hands behind the back of his head as he turned to leave.

Becca hesitated. She was unsure if she could trust this guy. Something about him was strange but she couldn't put her finger on why. On the other hand, though…what else could she do?

"Follow this weirdo it is, I guess." She mumbled before following after Joyex.

POHPOHPOHPOHPOHPOH

Yozora pushed the door open with a grunt and stepped outside, immediately greeted by the warm flash of neon lights and warmth from the large, nighttime town he was greeted by.

It was…cozy, he admitted. The vibes in general were just so COZY as he strode into the illuminated streets, eyes wide in awe.

"Wow…" he murmured, "This place is…what even…where even AM I?"

He suddenly felt a hand grab his shoulder.

"It's Traverse Town, boy-o!"

"Wha, WHOA!" He hastily turned and, with surprising reflexes, balancing on a single leg?

Span around and delivered the mother of all roundhouse kicks.

With a sudden yell and a series of rather painful-sounding hits, the man he saw earlier was now lying out in the street with what looked like more than a few broken bones. He winced.

"Sorry!" he called out, "Reflex! You need a hand there?"

"No, no! I'll do it myself! I've got pride, y'know." The man said. With a series of sickening cracks, he stood up, looking…about the same as before he was kicked. The young man looked MORE than a little confused at the sight, just blinking twice.

"Dude." he blankly said, "How did you DO THAT?"

"Well, see I got abducted by this sorceress who may or may not be the Mistress of All Evil, corporatekindawafflesonthatwithmorerecentadditionsthatwerequestionableatbestbutIdigress." He said, mumbling the last part, "And she shoved Materia into my chest, giving me a body full o' healing and a head full o' dreams! …Or was it hallucinations? I asked my therapist about that…and he said, 'You don't have a therapist'. Thank you, I'll be here all week. Oh wait! INTROS!"

He handed the young man a card he stored…somewhere, but it was unclear where, "Hi! I'm a legally safe knock-off of an R-rated character for this E10/T-rated fanfiction! But most folks call me Crescent, Crescent Sykotara!"

The card read:

Crescent Sykotara: Moon-themed ninja for hire. Does assassinations, reconnaissance, bar mitzvahs, and birthday parties. Accepts bacon as an alternate form of currency. Must be crispy or no deal.

And the young man realized that the ink was still wet.

"Okay... maybe I should take a dip back in the tank," he thought with a groan, his hands now covered in ink. Wait, what was that about a Mistress of Evil?

"Crescent Sykotara," he repeated, slowly taking it in, before he smiled broadly. "Well, Crescent, nice to meetcha! I'm…" he stopped, "Uh…"

He scratched his head, trying to wrack his brain for something, ANYTHING, a name. But…

"I've got a name…I'm pretty sure, at least, I've got a name. But, uh…"

"Oh, I know that." Crescent commented, "Can't say, 'cuz I've been sufficiently bribed by someone to not spill the beans. Name rhymes with 'Mokari-Seal'. Also told me to knock-off everyone who remembers Lord of Souls. Next name's this 'Shishio' guy, but told me to wait on that, let the fear sink in a bit. Wasn't going to, 'cuz who wants a story where you just have everything spelled out for you? It's called 'Twilight' and it SUUUUCKED. Yeah, just made an incredibly dated reference, but thing is? I don't care. So, what sounds right to you, broseph?"

After about five minutes of proceeding what…what THAT even was, the young man rubbed his chin in thought. His gaze flickered around the various windows of homes and stores…before his gaze flickered on one in particular. On its front shelf, it had a game console and was advertising some video game about this mysterious looking dude in a fancy chair with a laser sword. He tilted his head as he slowly walked up towards it, reading the title aloud-

"Verum…Rex?"

"Into games? Should probably hang with Blader…reminds me, if he asks where his leg is, I was never here." Crescent said, "Just a heads'-up? Bahamut's stupidly difficult to beat. I mean, the original was bad enough, but the Final Mix seems to WANT you to die. Still waiting on the third game, though. I just wanna see what happens to Yozora."

"Yozora…"

"Yozora…"

"Yozora…"

"Yo-I'll stop now." Crescent said…until now, he had been repeating it in a low, ominous voice.

"Yozora…y'know…that…sounds about right." He then turned and grinned widely, "Let's start again," he extended a hand, "Nice to meet ya, Crescent! I'm Yozora!"

"Hi, game rip-off, I'm comic rip-off. Huh, two peas in the pod!" Crescent grinned, shaking Yozora's hand eagerly.

"So, you said this place was called 'Traverse Town'?" Yozora asked slowly.

"Yeppers!" Crescent said, "Best place ya could ask for...at discount price. For folks who don't have anywhere else to go, 'cuz their own worlds got swallowed up by Lovecraftian dark monsters."

"'Cuz their what got what by who what now?" Yozora did a double-take. "Okay, that needs a LOT MORE context than you are giving me!"

"Right, right, gotta slow down for the newbs." Crescent said, "Right…so…what do you know about other worlds? 'Cuz that world…border thingie? Total bunk."

It…clicked. Very loosely. It wasn't particularly an eye opener, but there were bells beginning to ring.

"I know…that other worlds exist," he slowly said with some certainty, nodding carefully.

"Well, sometimes worlds are like people; they're born, they live, then they stop. Except for me, to the irritation of a clown guy in an ill-conceived plot line." Crescent said, "When they do? They're usually spat out here. It's the place for wandering hearts…huh, sounds like a pop song."

"So…when a world…'stops', what survives is whisked here…" Yozora repeated, folding his arms in deep thought, "Hmm…but…what causes worlds to just 'stop' like that so suddenly? Those 'crafty' things you mentioned?"

There was something about all of this…

"The Heartless…" Crescent said in a spooky voice, complete with wiggling fingers.