"I'm glad to see that you are in better shape captain."

With the fighting in Traverse Point over, arrangements had been made to meet with the leaders of the Local resistance. But beforehand, the Marshal found himself conversing via video with Captain Gage, who admittedly looked worse for wear. " Thank you sir, though I'll admit, this was one of my more... Unpleasant missions."

"Heh, I believe it. Can you tell me what happened?"

"Bastards overloaded their engines in a suicide attack. I don't know if the Legacy is salvageable, but I can say for certain it's in no condition to fight."

Welp, this wasn't good news. But all that could be done now was hope that reinforcements came quickly. "Well captain, go ahead and get some rest. Something tells me this is only the beginning."

"On that you are correct."

This new voice belonged to an old man in simple blue robes and a stupidly tall pointy hat that appeared out of nowhere, taking Logan by surprise. Though he regained his composure quickly as he ended the call before turning towards the old man. "Where the hell did you come from."

"Here, there, everywhere? That is not what matters. What matters is the issue of the Heartless."

"So you know what they are?"

"That and so much more. But come, come! Let's meet up with the others first, don't worry though, all possible questions you may have shall be answered."

...

This was surprisingly small for a dedicated resistance cell. He could only see a handful of members, all of them in various forms of civilian wear and differing states of exhaustion. One in particular, a girl with a messy mop of brown hair andwielding thelargest shurikenhe had ever seen, appeared much to young to be fighting. But he knew he wasn't in a position to mention that, given he was only fourteen when he was only 8 when he was conscripted into the Spartan 3 program. Before histhoughts could descend down that dark hole, one oftheoldermen sittingat a computer terminal spoke. "Some brief introductions before we begin. The name's Cid, I handle tactical operations, Leon and Yuffie are our frontline fighters and Aerith is our medical specialist, which is she isn't with us at the moment. And it seems you already met Merlin, the resident expert on these Heartless."

"A pleasure, tell me though, where might I find the rest of your organization?"

Leon was the one to answer this. "The bulk of our strength are still at the city of Hollow Bastion. the five of us were sent out in an effort to take back some lost ground and secure resources. Needless to say, there were way more of these things crawling around then we thought. Would have been overrun were it not for Silver and his troopers."

Logan stroked his chin at this, it was good to hear that there were far more survivors that previously thought, and they now had a location, but the attempts to link up with them will most likely result in heavy fighting. That was something he'd have to plan for after this meeting. "I see, and were you able to learn anything about these Heartless."

"Well we can definitelysay that when it comes to them, there's a method to the madness."

"Really? Elaborate."

"We haven't found out what it is or even where, but they have some sort of commander variant that's leading the invasion. At least according to Merlin."

Said individual pushed up his glasses and let loose a chuckle "Indeed, the threat of the Heartless goes back farther than you might think,back to the time of the Forerunner Dominion tobe exact. The Keyblade you possess, a critical weapon in this fight."

"I'm aware of how crucial the Keyblade is. It was the only way I could fight the Kaiju classes for crying out loud. But you're saying the heartless could strike other worlds at this time?"

"That is a way to put it, yes."

"Shit... is there at least more of these keyblades around? I certainly can't be everywhere at once?"

"But of course, at the peak of the old war, there were hundreds of thousands of them, though I do not know the location of any potential wielders, I do know how you can find them."

"Alright, go ahead and show us. Afterwards I'll gather my command staff and we'll meet back here to see if we can organize a push towards Hollow bastion. Dismissed."

Alright, first chapter that didn't have any fighting in it, but things are only heating up. More worlds are going to come under threat, and so more Keyblade wielders will need to be discovered, if you have any suggestions for potential candidates, feel free to submit them in the reviews, doesn't matter the franchise.

(Shameless plug incoming)

While you wait for the next chapter, perhaps check out my Youtube "World Archivist" I upload on there once a week.