Chapter 9: Ominous Intentions

The Chroniclers flourished over the next several months. After some refinement, Balthazar and Velcia found a way to make the Sponsorship plan work out, though it never did seem to cause any leaps in power as drastic as Morgan dreamed it would. Despite this, it was enough to help tip the balance and allow Balthazar and Morgan to perform their duties more efficiently.

In addition, Morgan managed to convince several of her other friends to join the party, in the role Velcia now called Defenders. Having more Defenders meant that there were less sponsorship jewels per person, but thankfully nobody seemed to mind it too much. This increase in available Defenders, more than anything else, seemed to be just what The Chroniclers needed to start keeping up on things.

Word had started to spread among the parties of Daybreak Town that The Chroniclers were a good source of information, especially for Wielders who were struggling, and almost out of nowhere they'd become very busy with guests looking for information. This was exactly what Velcia had hoped that the party could be, but she very quickly came to realize that it required a level of sociability that she was simply not able to provide.

Maxine had found that she far preferred the office to field work, and very graciously began to take care of the social side of the party. This was a blessing to Velcia, who now spent most of her time on the book-keeping and compiling of information. She was now in many ways less directly involved with the day-to-day activities of the rest of the party, but was happy to still be able to help support the others and enabled them to keep up with their good work.

One evening, after spending several particularly exhausting days compiling the most recent Master Volume, Velcia found herself trudging through the front door of The Chronicler's headquarters. In the back office she could hear Maxine talking with Morgan, and after taking a moment to catch her breath she entered the room with her usual meek greeting.

"Ah! Velcia!" Maxine exclaimed, standing up. "You're back!"

"Uh-huh," Velcia nodded tiredly, walking over to the shelf and sliding the new book up into its proper spot. "The newest volume is finally done."

"That's great!" Maxine said, picking up a small notepad off the desk. "We've had three Wielders visit today that were asking about that new Heartless in the cliffs near the Dwarf Woodlands, that's in there isn't it?"

Velcia smiled, and tapped her finger against the spine of the book. "Yes! On page seventy-three, I think."

"Seventy-three…" Maxine repeated softly, jotting the page number into the notebook. "By the way, someone left a package for you earlier today. It's on the shelf over there."

"A package?" Velcia asked curiously, meandering over to pick it up. "Who left it?"

"I don't know, the Moogle brought it by. He said someone came by to leave it for you last night, but since we were all out, the Moogle offered to deliver it instead."

"Oh! How very curious!" Velcia said, pulling open one of the ends. There was a folder inside, and she pulled it open just far enough to see the writing on it - she recognized this immediately as Aspis' handwriting. She gasped softly in surprise, then put it back in the box to look at later.

"Well?" Morgan demanded. "Anything fun?"

Velcia blushed a bit, shaking her head. "Oh, um… I don't know what it is yet, I-"

"Fine, be that way," Morgan interrupted, mouth opening wide in a big yawn.

"I didn't mean to-" Velcia said, shaking her head. "It's just, I think it's something for me, personally-"

"I didn't really want to know anyway," Morgan said. "But hey, it's like, cool to see you here finally, you know? Like, it's so rare these days."

"Oh, well, I have been quite busy this week. I'm sorry I haven't been able to come visit."

Maxine shook her head. "We understand! You know, Morgan's been wanting to ask about something! Morgan, why don't you ask her about it now?"

Morgan gave an exasperated sigh. "I was wanting to ask Balthazar about it."

Velcia nodded. "Oh! Well, I know that I have been busy, but I can help."

"I kinda doubt that," Morgan snorted, and proceeded entirely ignorant of Velcia's surprised expression. "Alright, look. I think the sponsorship distribution is off for that stupid hedge maze in Wonderland, it needs to be worth way more than it is now."

Velcia bit her lip. "Well, I know that it used to be quite confusing, but we do have rather good maps of it now and the Heartless aren't that strong-"

"You wouldn't understand it," Morgan said indignantly. "Maps only help so much when everything looks just the same and there's swarms of pests everywhere. Look, like, no offense or anything, but you don't actually know anything about what these worlds are like."

Velcia's eyes widened and she began to wring her hands nervously. "I-i, um,"

"I don't know if that's really fair, is it?" Maxine asked. "Velcia works very hard after all."

"I didn't say she's not busy, I said she doesn't know about this stuff."

"I-i might not," Velcia said softly, "But I can talk to Balthazar about it."

"Yeah, uh, thanks, but even if you do I'd really rather talk to him about it myself anyways," Morgan said, swinging her hair back out of her face.

"I… I see…" Velcia said. "W-well alright, um… I'll just let him know you're looking for him next time I see him, then."

"There's a good helpful girl," Morgan said, placing her hand on Velcia's head and rustling it roughly around in her hair. "How about you go and like, get some rest or something, huh? You seem kinda emotional."

Velcia could feel her face warming, and her fingers tightened against the box in her hand. She couldn't figure out how to express it in words, but she thoroughly detested everything about what was happening. Part of her wanted to try to snap back and tell Morgan off, but even as she tried to think of what to say she could only imagine herself losing her composure and blubbering nonsensically. She took a firm step back, away from Morgan's lingering hand, and furrowed her brow.

"I hope you both have a good night," she said, then turned quickly to leave.

"Goodnight, Velcia!" Maxine called after her as Velcia left the meeting room.

In the next room, Velcia walked slowly towards the exit. She was out of sight of the others, and could feel her eyes welling up. She opened the front door of the meeting room, but heard a few other Wielders out in the hall. She didn't want them to see her crying, so instead she closed the door and sat down on the floor beside it instead.

Maxine and Morgan heard the door closed, and assumed that this had meant she'd left.

"You didn't have to be so mean to her," Maxine chided.

"I wasn't being mean, was I?" Morgan asked, seemingly shocked at the suggestion.

Velcia bit her lip, doing her best to restrain a sniffle and stay quiet. She didn't want anyone to find her right now.

"Yeah, you kinda were," Maxine said. "Telling her she didn't know anything-"

"It was the truth, and she knew it. She didn't argue with me about it at all, didn't you notice? And like, there's nothing wrong with me wanting to talk with Balthazar about it myself. I knew if I asked her about it she'd just go ask him anyway, what's wrong with cutting out the middleman?"

"Well, that's true…" Maxine admitted, "But you should try to be nicer about it anyway. Velcia's a very nice girl, you know, I just think we should be nice to her."

"Being nice doesn't make someone helpful," Morgan bit back. "Honestly, what's she even do around here anyway? You're just as good as she is at those books, it wouldn't take her so long if she weren't so pedantic about it anyways. And, like, she can't make any decisions without Balthazar anyway?"

Velcia's eyes began to well up, and she could feel the warmth of the tears beginning to make their way down the sides of her nose. She could hear the squeak of Maxine's chair scooting back from the desk.

"What's gotten into you today, Morgan?"

"Sorry, I'm like, just a little annoyed that she's always shooting down my ideas even though they always work. I get that she started the party at all, but she's not really leading it is she? It's just kind of annoying that some of us work so hard just to have her shoot us down."

"I think she does a good job," Maxine said softly.

"Like, I'm SUPER glad that you do, but you know, a lot of us think you're a much better leader than she is."

"What? That's ridiculous!"

"No, no, it's true," Morgan said, a certain enthusiasm coming into her tone. "You're always here, working hard, and you're the perfect face for Wielders who come in looking for information. Like, Velcia's cute and all, but she's too mousey. There's nothing wrong with her, yeah? But like, it just doesn't seem fair that you're, like, SO talented and get overlooked."

"Well… I don't really think of it like that," Maxine said. "But… you really think I'm that great?"

"Oh yeah, for sure," Morgan said. "So, like, sorry I was rough about Velcia, okay? Could you like, not tell her? I don't want to hurt her feelings, you know?"

"Oh… well, I don't either," Maxine agreed. "Well, just make sure you're nicer to her, okay?"

"I'll try. But like… if I end up making a mistake or something, just keep in mind that's only because I care about the party, okay?"

Velcia stood up slowly, legs and hands trembling. She opened the door quietly and slipped out, closing it behind her as softly as she could before bursting into a sprint down the hall towards the stairs. She hadn't wanted to eavesdrop, and she wished she hadn't heard any of it at all. She descended the stairwell as fast as she could with her tear-sopped vision, opting to take the back door into the small alley behind the building where she leaned against the wall and slowly slid to the ground once more as she sobbed quietly.

Balthazar couldn't help but feel a sense of pride as he emerged from the cavern in the now-familiar Olympian valley. He looked over his shoulder to see Chuck, one of The Chronicler's more recent recruits, following not far behind him as the two took their leave of the Underworld. This was Balthazar's first time heading down there by himself since that old trip with Touma and Talia, and much to his own surprise he'd managed to get both of them down as deep as the Maze of Tartarus and back out safely.

The orange sky began to darken, the tip of Athos' peak just starting to obscure the sun as Helios dutifully pulled it down behind the horizon.

Chuck shook his head, his moppy hair swaying wildly but ultimately settling clear of his glasses as he watched the sunset. "Wow, I can't believe we were down there so long! I'm ready to go home!"

Balthazar smiled. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Don't worry about turning in the sketchbook tonight, it's probably too late for anyone to be at the headquarters anyway."

"They're probably all having dinner!" Chuck laughed, rubbing his stomach. "And I don't blame them. Want to come with me?"

"Thanks, but I've got one last thing I want to look into while I'm here," Balthazar said, shaking his head.

"What, are you crazy? After all that?"

"It's nothing difficult, don't worry," Balthazar assured him. "I'm just going to go take a peek at the Coliseum and see if I can learn what any of our missing monsters are this month."

"Well, if you want to do all that walking then be my guest," Chuck said, shaking his head.

The two said their goodbyes, and Chuck made his way back to Daybreak Town through one of the Keyblade's exit portals. Balthazar watched him go, and then began to make his way down the winding path from the mountains into Thebes.

It didn't feel quite right to him to be here without Velcia, but she'd been very busy lately and he knew she wouldn't agree to come visit even if he'd asked. Despite her love of the World, she'd been surprisingly steadfast in her avoidance of it. Even so, she always seemed a little regretful when she knew he'd be going to Olympus without her, and so unless there was a reason to tell her about it he did his best to avoid mentioning it.

It wasn't too long until he made it to the city, and only another ten or so minutes after that before he reached the Coliseum. He made his way through the crowd, walking calmly but his eyes were alert and focused as he scanned the crowd. Going through the entrance, he made his way up the audience stands just far enough to peer into the arena and see if there were any new Heartless to be seen. He rolled his eyes and turned to leave - just a few flaming monkeys again.

This wasn't really why he was here, anyway. He left the arena, walking through some of the side hallways now. He'd only ever found that magic girl in the Coliseum's west end, and he wasn't sure why.

As he rounded the corner into the greater western hall, sure enough, there she was on a bench with her cousin. Balthazar smiled to himself, a sort of intrigued but puzzled sort of smile.

"Hello again," he greeted. "Another day of trials?"

The girl and her cousin both stood up, beaming at the sight of him. "Hello!" they greeted warmly. The girl chuckled, shaking her head with a smile. "We are here rather often, aren't we?"

"Hah, but so is he!" the black-haired boy said, hands on his hips. "But who can blame him, huh?"

Balthazar laughed. "There's quite a lot to see here! How are you two doing today?"

"Pretty good!" The boy exclaimed, motioning towards his cousin. "- here has been experimenting with some potions her dad made."

Balthazar bit his tongue, mentally stuttering over the gap where the girl's name should be. No matter how many times it happened it always threw him off. Something was being said, but it was no more fathomable now than it had been the first time. These two, whoever they were, didn't even seem to realize that it was happening at all, and waited expectantly for a response.

"Potions, huh?" Balthazar asked, shaking his head. "That's really cool. Wait, you say your dad made them?"

"Yes, and I helped!" the girl said. "My Papa teaches me all about potions, and he's helped teach me most of my magic, too!"

"That's amazing!" Balthazar said, holding his hand to his chin. "I've always wondered how potions were made."

"Oh! You should come by my house some time and we can teach you!" The girl exclaimed.

"You really should, it's so cool," the boy said.

The girl had taken her backpack off and was rummaging through it, and shortly pulled out a small glass bottle glowing gently with an ethereal pink light. "Here, take this! It's not very strong, but it's a healing potion that I made this morning!"

Balthazar took the bottle into his hand, rolling the smooth glass across his palms. "A-are you sure? I don't want to take something like this from you…"

"Absolutely. We do make them so that we could sell them, but I am still not as good as my Papa! I couldn't charge anyone for a potion like this. If you come visit, perhaps you can help me make some that are even better."

"Well, thanks," Balthazar said with a warm smile. "I wish I had something to give you in return."

The boy shook his head. "Heh, don't worry about that. - loves to share these things. Don't you?"

"I do! I'm always just so happy to help people," the girl said with a nod.

Balthazar lifted the bottle again, looking at the liquid inside it before nodding softly. "Thanks," he said. "It means a lot to me."

"I'm just happy that you like it, too!" the girl said, turning to her cousin. "Well, I'm afraid we must be going home now before it gets too late, or Papa will worry."

"Yeah… my mom's probably not going to be too happy about this either," the boy admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "Come one, -, let's go home. Goodbye, Balthazar!"

"Goodbye!" the girl said, bowing gently.

"Heh, see you two later!"

Balthazar watched them go, then realized that he needed to go the same way as them anyways. He began to jog after them, but when they reached the front gate up ahead they suddenly disappeared into thin air before his eyes. Balthazar blinked in shock, and ran over to the gate where he reached his hand out cautiously in anticipation of whatever strange phenomenon awaited; but curiously his hand passed through just fine.

"What…?" he muttered, stepping forward through the egress. Nothing unusual at all happened. "Where did they go?" he asked, turning in place as he looked around the rapidly-waning crowd in the courtyard. They were nowhere in sight - whatever had happened, they truly did seem to be have vanished in an instant.

Areshmin appeared near his feet in a small poof of smoke, his small hand held up to his fuzzy chin. "It is quite curious indeed, my friend. Tell me… do you still sense her presence?"

Balthazar looked down at him for a moment, then closed his eyes. "It's weird… I do, but she feels very distant. It's almost like…"

"A Heart Link," Areshmin said knowingly. "Yes, it seems as though you've begun to form a Heart Link with her. I noticed that she's appeared in the mural inside your Station."

"Really?" Balthazar asked, scratching his head. "But… she's not a 'real' person, right? She's one of the projected inhabitants of this world. How would that…"

"I do not know," Areshmin said, his plush shoulders scrunching into a shrug. "There must be some reason for it."

Opening his eyes, Balthazar shook his head. "It's weird. It doesn't feel like I can make the kind of connection to her Heart that I can to the others in Daybreak Town. When I tried, it just sort of felt like the magic between us was pulling me in… that direction," he said, raising his hand towards the city. "But… why?"

"Perhaps someday we will have to find out," Areshmin said. "For tonight, it is rather late already. Should we not head back?"

"Yeah, we should," Balthazar said, summoning his Keyblade to his hand in a flash of light. The familiar shimmering gateway to Daybreak Town appeared, and in an instant Balthazar stepped through it and onto the cobblestone streets. The cool air hit him all at once, sending a quick chill across him. It was early in the night here, just as it had been in Olympus, and the sun had set below the rooftop-laden horizon.

He began the journey back to the rooftop cottage, wondering how Velcia's day had gone. She'd been so busy the last week that he hadn't even had much of a chance to spend time with her even at night; her work only stopping when she'd fall asleep at the table or when she had the presence of mind to realize that her penmanship was starting to suffer. He hoped that she would be finished soon.

A frigid chill began to wash over him, and for a moment Balthazar tilted his ears to listen for the windchimes that always sung in the breeze - only to realize that no chimes were chiming, and indeed no breeze was blowing. This chill, he realized, was something rather less pleasant and natural.

He froze in his tracks, eyes scanning left and right before he turned around to look, and when he did he was dismayed to see one of the Specters standing uncomfortably close. He took a couple quick but careful steps back, brow furrowing.

The Specter looked at him curiously, its shoulders rising and falling softly as if it were imitating breathing. "You… have not been using your Magic," it said, its haunting voice echoing with both intrigued and amusement. "We are curious why you would forgo such a power."

"I don't need it," Balthazar said, resisting the urge to clench his fists. Everything in him screamed to fight, but he knew he needed to keep as calm as possible.

The Specter tilted its head, watching him. "Do you… perhaps believe that abstaining from your Darkness somehow hides you from us? As if… such a thing can be hidden."

"I already told you, I don't use it because I don't need it," Balthazar told it.

"The others of your kind speak to your wisdom, foolish one… do you forget that your form is composed of Darkness? It is your very essence. We have been curious why you would choose to deny it…"

"Yeah, well, not every question gets to have an answer."

The Specter laughed, and the terrible sound reverberated sickeningly through Balthazar's stomach. "This may be true for one who exists for so short a time… but nothing can stay hidden forever."

Balthazar swallowed thickly, his eyes flickering towards The Master's tower momentarily. The Specter didn't seem to acknowledge this.

"The power afforded to you by your so-called Master, these magic baubles that fuel these cheap Keyblades you wield… do you truly believe they will suffice? Know that your Master and his acolytes, whose power far surpasses your own… even they are unable to destroy Us. This is a fact that your Master understands."

"What, and you're trying to tell me that Dark Magic could?" Balthazar asked, his hands now clenched tightly.

"No… not at all," the Specter chuckled again. "This is what intrigues and amuses us so… we are interested to see what sort of game this is that your Master is playing with you, with us… It is a game that you play at our discretion. You cannot hide from us, any more than your own foot can hide from you," the Specter said with an alarming sincerity.

Balthazar inhaled deeply, cracking a small smile. "Yeah, well, we seem to be doing a good job of it so far. You don't even know how many more of us are out there."

The specter took a step forward, slow and deliberate. "Deceit… is born of the human heart, Balthazar. Humans so often associate it with Darkness, and yet it is you who chooses to lie so needlessly. Farah and Binh play the game better than you do, but ultimately their efforts will be no more effective."

Balthazar gasped, and immediately scowled and mentally kicked himself for it. He stepped back, eyes narrowing. "So what do you want from me then?"

"From you we want… nothing. You have nothing to give us, child of darkness, for all that you are is us. You are little more than a distracting plaything created by that man, for a purpose to which even you yourself remain ignorant," the specter said.

"I-" Balthazar started, but he found he had nothing to say. "Alright then… what now?"

The Specter said nothing, and began to take a few slow steps backwards. It began to fade as it did, slowly melting away imperceptibly into the night until nothing of it could be seen, and shortly after Balthazar could no longer sense its presence. He shuddered, wondering if this meant it was truly gone, or if it was somehow merely hiding its presence somehow.

He looked over his shoulder, North towards the road that led to the house he shared with Velcia. Did it know where he lived? Could he go back there now, and be sure it wasn't following him?

Something it said echoed in the back of his mind. He was no more able to hide from them than his own foot would be able to hide from him. Was that true? If so… it must always have some idea of where he was.

He took a deep breath, and walked towards the Eastern path. He could take that road for a short distance and loop around, and he hoped that doing so would help to clear his head and give him the opportunity to sense if the Specters was indeed trying to follow him.

Hopefully, Velcia wouldn't mind him being back a bit late.

Balthazar entered the cottage quickly but quietly, closing the door with the handle turned so as not to clack the latch. Once closed, he looked out into the small space and saw Velcia huddled up on one end of the sofa, and had fallen asleep without any blankets. Balthazar dimmed the lights, and made his way from one window to another to close the drapes after first inspecting the perimeter of the rooftop on which the little house sat. He hadn't sensed the Darkness at all since it left him in the streets, but he just couldn't shake the sinking feeling that it was still somehow watching him.

There was no sign of any of the Specters, neither through his eyes or his heart, so with one last deep sigh he closed the last curtain and made his way over to the couch. She trembled as she slept, and something about her breathing sounded a bit different to him; it was unsteady and sharper. He pondered for a moment if she was getting sick, or maybe was just cold. There were no blankets around, so he took a quick detour into her bedroom and grabbed one off the small shelf near the end of her bed and lay it across her when he returned to the couch. It was an old blanket, a bit worn and frayed near the ends, but soft nonetheless and still thick enough to be cozy.

Once this was set across her, and he had made sure to pull the corner over her wayward foot, Balthazar grabbed a book from a nearby bookshelf and turned back towards the sofa, noticing now a small package leaned against it. He tilted his head curiously, trying to see if it were addressed or marked in any way, but it appeared to be blank. At first glance it had looked similar in size to a certain box he'd had hidden in his own room under the bed - but much to his relief a closer inspection revealed it to be a very different sort of box. He would have to ask her about it tomorrow.
He lit a small candle on the side-table, then sat down and turned the book over to see what it was. It was a book he did not recognize that seemed to be about caring for pet cats. He opened this curiously to the first page, where he saw the familiar library slip inside the small pocket on the inside of the cover. There was a bookmark about halfway through the book, and he turned to this page to see what was so interesting. This section of the book was dedicated to dealing with particularly obstinate and ornery cats, which puzzled Balthazar greatly.

"Oh," he muttered to himself, shaking his head and glancing over towards Velcia with an amused smirk. "This must be about that Pete again… What are you doing this time?"

Balthazar turned the book back to page one, and began to read through it lazily. He wasn't particularly interested in the material, afterall he had no cats to care for, but it was nice to have something to distract his mind from the lurking Specters roaming the shadows of the twilight. And so, as his exhausted mind pondered over what it could be about this particular herb that drove cats so wild, he dozed off into a slumber.

When he awoke, the sun was peeking bashfully through the edges of the curtains. His legs felt heavy, and glanced down to see that sometime in the night Velcia had come over to his side of the couch and lay her head on him. He couldn't see if she was awake or not, but didn't want to disturb her; especially if she was feeling unwell. He let out a soft, tired yawn and leaned his head back against the cushion.

In a snap, Velcia sat up straight. Balthazar jumped in his seat, blinking and shaking his head as he woke up quickly.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, Balthazar! I didn't mean to fall asleep on you!"

With a yawn and a stretch, he slowly shook his head. "No, it's okay. I hope you're feeling better today. Have you been feeling sick? You didn't seem to be feeling well last night."

Velcia's head lowered a bit, and she sat down on the other end of the sofa again. "I… I wasn't feeling well last night, no… but I am feeling a bit better now I think."

"You've been working so hard on that book, you've hardly had time to rest. It's no wonder you're not feeling well," Balthazar said. "I think you should take a break when you're done. How much do you have left, anyway?"

Velcia gave a bittersweet smile. "I finished it last night, then… then I came home after putting it in its home with the rest of them."

"Thank goodness. It seems like an exhausting amount of work."

Averting her eyes, Velcia began to wring her hands together softly as the previous evening's incident played over in her head. That conversation had repeated in her mind all night long, both as she lay on the couch crying softly to herself and then yet again in her unsteady, lucid dreams. It was hard for her to remember anymore exactly what had actually been said, and what sort of things she only thought she remembered after such a fitful night.

"Um…" she started slowly, still keeping her eyes on the floor, "Do you think that maybe I um… what I mean is, do I waste too much time on them?"

"What? No. What do you mean by that?"

"Oh, I don't know," Velcia stammered. "I um, I wonder… am I too picky with them? Should I try to make them more simple than they are?"

Balthazar crossed his arms for a moment. "Oh, I see. Are you thinking about how to make it take less work?"

"Well, not exactly," Velcia said, clenching her hands in an attempt to stop her nervous wringing. "I just… if I'm wasting too much time, um… Well, I like them the way that they are, but if it takes too long, then…"

"No, don't worry about that," Balthazar said with a smile. "I think you have a good system for them. Everything's always easy to find and it's good to have as many details as you include. The others agree, too. Once they saw how detailed your Master Volumes are, the others started including a lot more in their reports, didn't they?"

"Uh-huh…" Velcia said, nodding softly. "So… you don't think they mind? They don't think I'm wasting time, or… being useless?"

"Of course not," Balthazar said, scoffing softly. "What would make you worry about something like that?"

Velcia paused, biting her lip. Morgan had sounded genuine in her criticisms of Velcia. She hadn't heard anyone else in the party say anything like that, but then again she wasn't supposed to have heard Morgan say those things either. She couldn't quite remember now exactly what Morgan had said to her directly, but… maybe those other things were just frustrated complaining. People said all sorts of things that they didn't normally mean when they were upset, afterall. She didn't want to try to tell Balthazar about it and potentially cause more trouble, especially since that seemed to be exactly the sort of thing that had made Morgan upset with her in the first place.

"Oh, um, I guess nothing really… I'm worrying too much," Velcia replied at last.

The lengthy wait for Velcia's reply gave Balthazar little confidence in the answer, but he didn't want to press while she was feeling so unwell.

"Well, if you're sure… how about you rest today?"

"I think I should," Velcia said with a nod. She glanced up at him, her brow furrowed hopefully. "Um, I don't really want to be home by myself all day. Do you think that maybe we can spend the day together?"

Balthazar smiled, sitting up straighter. "Oh! Yes, I think that would be fun. What do you want to do?"

"Anything," Velcia said quickly. "We can go look around, and have lunch, and maybe visit one of the Projected Worlds?"

"Olympus?" Balthazar asked.

Velcia bit her lip, then shook her head. "No, no, I still must not."

"Oh. Okay, we'll figure out a different one then," Balthazar said with a nod. His eyes lit up suddenly, and he stood up. "Oh! That's right, you finished your book! Hold on just a moment, okay?"

Velcia nodded, and watched with great interest as Balthazar ran into his small room and pulled a box out from under the bed. It was about the size of a shoebox, and didn't seem to be marked in any way. He returned with both this box and an extra large, excited grin that he wore ear-to-ear as he handed the gift to her.

"What is it?" Velcia asked, taking the box from him. She tilted it side-to-side curiously, trying to guess what it could be. She didn't hear the kind of rattle-y, roll-y sort of noises that usually came with art supplies, and the box didn't seem the right kind of shape for notebooks - but what else could someone hide inside a shoebox?

"Well, open it and find out!" Balthazar told her, sitting down with his hands on his knees.

With an eager smile, Velcia slowly pulled off the lid to find that in this shoebox were, of all conceivable things, shoes. And not just any, but a fine pair of Olympian sandals, just the sort that she'd wanted to buy all that time ago before the Moogle stopped selling them.

She let out a happy squeal of joy as she picked them up out of the box, feeling the leather straps between her fingers. She kept looking over at Balthazar and blubbered some syllables or other, failing entirely to make any words but succeeding well at making garbled squeaks.

"I've had some Jewels saved up to buy these," Balthazar explained to her, "Since you always put all your jewels towards the party. The Moogle just started selling them again last week, and since you were so busy with the new book I thought it might be best to wait until you were done-"

"Oh, Balthazar, I love them!" Velcia exclaimed, dropping the box onto the couch and leaning over it to give him a tight if slightly awkward hug.

"I hoped you would," Balthazar said breathily, feeling the squeeze quite strongly.

Velcia let go and sat up. "Oh, can I try them on?"

"I kind of thought you might," Balthazar admitted. "And if we're going to hang out today, you can probably wear them while we're out, huh?"

Velcia nodded and took off her long socks, then put a sandal on one of her feet and meticulously fastened the straps. "Oh, they're just the right size! How did you know?"

"Well, we do live in the same house," Balthazar said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Velcia squeaked happily once again, and put on her other sandal quickly. She stood up, getting a feel for them beneath her feet before she started to walk slowly around the room. "They are rather different than I am used to, but not in a bad way. Oh, I'm just so happy to have them finally."

Balthazar smiled. "I'm glad you like them. To be honest, I was a bit worried at first when I saw your box over there last night. I didn't know if you'd went and got them on your own."

"My box…? Oh!" Velcia exclaimed, hopping over and picking up the package from beside the couch. "No, this is something else! It's from Aspis!"

"Really?" Balthazar chuckled, shaking his head. "I never really got the impression he was the sort to send you stuff."

"He dropped it off for me at the Chroniclers' HQ the other day, but I missed him. I took a little look through it last night, but not for long… but what I did see was amazing, Balthazar!"

The young man raised a curious eyebrow. "Oh really?"

"Yes! Well, I told him about what I've been up to, and it looks like this packet has all sorts of information from a bunch of different worlds! There were all sorts of maps, and information about parts of the palace in Agrabah that are usually off-limits!"

This caught Balthazar's attention. "Really! I wonder how he got all that?"

"I told you, he is very clever," Velcia said with a nod. "I would very much like to look at it all and add it to our Master Volumes, but… I would rather spend the afternoon with you today."

"Heh… thanks. I'd understand, though-"

"No! I have had enough of books this week," Velcia said.

"I've been looking forward to hanging out today, too. So, where do you want to go?" Balthazar asked with a smile. "I'm fine with anything."

"Oh! Hm… How about we stay in Daybreak Town first, and go visit the lighthouse. The roads and pathways will be easy to walk on while I get used to my wonderful new sandals, and then we can decide where to go after that?"

"The lighthouse, huh?" Balthazar said, holding his fingers to his chin. "It's been a while since we've been there, hasn't it? We used to go all the time."

"I know!" Velcia said with a quick nod. "We've kept ourselves so busy that we don't usually go that far away anymore. Sometimes, when I'm walking through town, a breeze comes through and brings the salty air to me. I've thought about bringing the books there, but… well, it doesn't seem very smart to try to pull the wagon that far."

"Makes sense," Balthazar said with a nod. During the day, the town was a busy and frantic place, especially during times when large Heartless like Darksides or Behemoths managed to make their way through the barrier. This had been happening much more frequently lately, and Balthazar wasn't entirely sure why.

The two separated into their own rooms to get dressed for their day, Balthazar changing into another nice jacket and pants as he always did and Velcia changing out from her fuzzy pajamas and into her usual Olympian-inspired attire, cooing and chirping gleefully at how well it all looked now that she had the correct shoes to go with it at last.

It wasn't long until the two set off on their journey across town, taking deep breaths of the cool air and enjoying the sun. They traveled these streets daily, but were always in such a bustle that they seldom had time to really pay much attention to the town itself. Balthazar remarked with some exhausted amusement that this was his first time in a while even looking as high as the rooftops..

One of the crossroads along the way was one that they always took when going to their party HQ, and as Balthazar began to turn down this path absentmindedly he was stopped by a gentle tugging on his sleeve. He stopped and turned to see Velcia shaking her head forbiddingly, then burst into laughter when he realized what was happening.

"Oh goodness," he chuckled, shaking his head. "I wasn't even thinking about it… it's just routine now, I suppose."

Velcia nodded, but kept tugging him away. "Then it is a good thing I caught you. I do not want to go there today, if we can help it."

"Heh, no arguments here," Balthazar said, turning away from this road now before stopping suddenly. "Although… do you think we ought to let them know we'll be out today?"

"I-! Oh!" Velcia stammered, eyes wide. She wasn't at all pleased to admit it, but it did seem like the right thing to do.

A small poof of smoke burst out near their feet, and Velcia's Chirithy spun gently to the cobble street and clapped happily. "Don't you worry about it, I already went and told Maxine! She says she has everything covered!"

"Oh!" Balthazar exclaimed, perking up. "That's good news! Thank you, Chirithy!"

"Of course," the Chirithy replied.

Balthazar looked over at Velcia, who seemed lost in thought. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, um, nothing," Velcia said, giving a none-too-convincing half smile. "It's just, Maxine's been doing so much lately…"

"It's true. Everyone's been pretty busy… but I think you're the only one who doesn't take any breaks at all," Balthazar reminded her.

"I know, but…" Velcia trailed off, looking down at her Chirithy. "Um, was Morgan there today?"

"I didn't see her," Chirithy said.

Velcia nodded to herself, then knelt down and patted the small cat's head. "Thank you so much."

"Come on, that's enough party stuff for today," Balthazar said, patting the Chirithy on the head before gently pulling Velcia back up beside him. "Or am I going to have to make you take a break?"

Velcia smiled, shaking her head. "No! I want to go to the Lighthouse!"

Balthazar grinned, and the two resumed their walk.

"By the way… you should take more breaks, too," Velcia said to Balthazar. "You came back so late last night!"
"Ah…" Balthazar trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah, that was… I got distracted by something. A… a couple things actually."

Velcia glanced over at him nervously, noting the anxiety in his voice. "Was it one of those dark things…?" she whispered.

"...Yeah," Balthazar said softly, shivering briskly. "It's been a long time since I saw one, and this one came to talk to me."

"Oh, how horrible!" Velcia exclaimed. "It didn't push you in the fountain again, did it?"

Balthazar chuckled. "No, no fountains this time. Whatever these Specters are… they know a lot more than we thought."

Velcia's eyes began to dart around the street, looking into each shadow intensely. "Are you safe?"

"As safe as I have been, I think, though… it's hard to know how much that is. I think we're right that it doesn't know where Farah or Binh are, yet, but… it certainly knows their names," Balthazar said.

"Oh no…" Velcia whispered. "Does that mean it's time for you and the others to use that special plan now?"

"Not yet," Balthazar said with a sigh. "I get the impression it's known all of our names for a while now. If it's still having a hard time finding them, then I think we still have some time. The Master said we'd know for sure when it was time for his plan, so… I think we just have to wait for now."

Velcia rubbed her hands across her arms, trying to soothe the goosebumps that prickled across her skin. "Oh, I hate it so much."

"Me too," Balthazar said. He sighed, and held up his hands with a shrug. "But I don't know what else to do right now."

"Oh! Do you smell that?"

Balthazar lifted his nose, and found that the soft breeze that rustled the chimes under the awnings brought with it salty tidings of the sea air. "I sure do. I've missed that smell."

"Me too! Come on, we're almost there!" Velcia exclaimed, grabbing his hand and pulling him after her as she sprinted along.

The endless rows of white stone buildings broke, and opened up into the large grassy courtyard and the sea breeze blew past them as if greeting a long-awaited friend. To their right was a set of stone steps leading up to the bridge that led to the lighthouse, and flags waved and blew from along the circular wall around the grassy area below. Velcia let out a happy cheer and ran out to the middle of the grass, and Balthazar followed her.

"Oh, it feels so nice to be here again!" Velcia exclaimed happily, the ends of her Olympian robes flaring out as she twirled around in place.

"It does. It's a refreshing change of pace from the Projected Worlds I've been stuck in lately," Balthazar said, taking in a deep breath of the salty air.

Velcia nodded happily, and looked over at the brick wall overlooking the rocky beach. "Look! Our table is still here!"

"Did you think they would get rid of it?" Balthazar chuckled, walking towards it alongside his friend.

"Well, not really, I mostly just forgot about it," Velcia said, plopping herself down on the bench seat and leaning across the table to open the umbrella.

Balthazar sat down on a seat near hers, both of them positioned comfortably in the shade. Velcia pulled off her backpack and set it down on the table in front of her, and Balthazar watched with some interest as she dug through it. At last, she pulled out a small black medal - Pete.

"Heh, last time we were here you threw-"

Velcia startled suddenly, dropping the medal to the table and she frantically reached over to shush him. "No! No, don't say it!"

"But-"

"No, no you mustn't! Don't make him upset!"

"Pete?"

"Yes." Velcia's eyes narrowed as she watched him hawkishly, waiting to see if he was going to acquiesce or try to poke fun at her. Balthazar did chuckle to himself, but held his hands up in surrender. Velcia gave a quick, victorious nod then picked the Pete medal up off the table and stood up, turning towards the brick wall not far away. She leaned over this wall as far as she could, her feet lifting off the ground so high that Balthazar wondered for a moment if she was about to tumble over and into the rocks. She began to huff a bit, and he'd just started to reach out to grab onto her ankles when, with another mighty breath, she flung herself backwards onto her feet.

"So… what did you do?" Balthazar asked.

"I set him down on top of the rocks so he can watch the waves," Velcia said. "I have heard that sometimes cats like that. Maybe he will see a fish and it will put him in a good mood."

"You're back to trying to appease him, huh?" Balthazar said with a small smirk.

Velcia bit her lip, looking pensively towards the wall before speaking in a low voice. "I don't have a lot of choices. I can't get rid of him, and if I ignore him I get the most terrible luck. I've decided I must just learn to live with him. So, today, he gets to see the ocean."

"Well, alright then. Uh, if he needs to go for a walk or something, I could bring him with me on a mission," Balthazar offered.

"No! You would try to lose him, and it would only make him angry!"

"I could throw him into the Well of Souls," Balthazar mused, looking up at the clouds with his hand on his chin. "Or perhaps toss him into the lava in the Cave of Wonders."

"Lava… do… do you think that would work?" Velcia asked quietly. Balthazar shrugged, but Velcia's eyes went wide in horror. "Oh! Oh, no! I mustn't even think about it! No, I must be good to him now!"

"Well, the offer's on the table," Balthazar chuckled.

"And it will stay there forever," Velcia said surely. She thought for a moment, tilting her head. "...Have you really been able to go into the Cave of Wonders?"

"No. Sometimes I can see inside of it from a distance, but whenever I get close to it, it's closed up tight. I don't know what's making it open," Balthazar said.

"Oh, that's a shame," Velcia said sadly. "But… how would you have?"

"Tossed that fiend into the fire?" Balthazar asked, motioning his head towards the brick wall. "I don't know. If I thought it would help, I'd find a way to make it happen."

"Well, it would help. It would be a great help for the party to know how to get in there!"

Balthazar yawned, stretching his arms out. "Well, that's different. That's something for the party."

"It's for me too!" Velcia said.

"Eh, it's not the same," Balthazar said. Something out in the distance caught his attention, a small pastel-blue round thing bobbing in the bushes. He squinted, trying to figure out what it was, but it certainly did look as though it were trying to conceal itself.

"Oh, you can't just start ignoring me like that!" Velcia insisted.

"What? Oh, did I miss something? I'm sorry."

Velcia put her hands to her hips, pursing her lips angrily. "Yes you did. You can't just pretend that you got distrac- Oh my, what is that?"

"Beats me. It almost looks like a giant… egg, or something."

Velcia stood up, holding her hand flat over her brow as she too began to squint. "Oh! It's a summon egg!"

Balthazar shot her a questioning look. He hadn't heard of any such thing before, and if he didn't have a hopping egg Heartless scampering through the bushes ahead of him it would sound absurd.

In fact, even so it was still absurd.

"So they summon something then?" he asked.

Velcia nodded, and explained it to him. These small Heartless were all but incapable of aggression on their own, but soaked up darkness as they roamed the town until eventually they burst. Once this happened, the egg's demise would create a rupture that linked to the Realm of Darkness, letting a large Heartless break through into Daybreak Town. Velcia had long ago learned to keep a keen eye out for these eggs, as Lux-hungry parties were always sure to be tracking them down to prey on the Darksides and Behemoths that were able to make it into the center of town.

Balthazar eyed this egg trepidatiously now. "Should we go stop it?"

"No, if we destroy the egg it will burst and bring out one of those large Heartless anyway. I don't think we're strong enough to deal with one of those, it usually takes a whole party."

Balthazar frowned. "So we just let it wander around and wait for it to burst anyway?"

A voice shouted from atop the nearby bridge. "Where'd that egg go?"

Balthazar looked up to see a group of Wielders atop the bridge, looking down from over the wall in all directions. He stood up and shouted to them, pointing towards the bush. "It's over there!"

The Wielders turned to look, and as soon as they saw a glimpse of the small blue egg descended the stony steps. A dozen Keyblades flashed to the ready as they pounced upon the small Heartless, and in a moment the earth shook and the air began to crackle as the Darkness was released. It floated up into the air, forming into a large spiraling portal. A deep roar echoed out across the grassy field, and a large Behemoth soon stepped out through it.

Balthazar and Velcia watched with great interest, dropping back down into their seats silently. Velcia opened her bag again, grabbing her sketchbook so that she could begin to draw the valiant warriors. No sooner than her pencil touched her page than her Chirithy appeared on the grass beside her, and dashed off towards the fray to listen in. The efficiency of Velcia and her Chirithy's system was inspiring, but a bit amusing all the same.

As he watched the party battle the Heartless, something else caught his attention - another group of Wielders had arrived and was making their way over as well. At first he'd assumed that this was more of their party, but soon it became apparent that this group's arrival was neither welcome nor friendly; and the two groups suddenly seemed to be at odds with each other almost as much as anyone was with the Behemoth.

"What's going on…?" Balthazar muttered.

Velcia shook her head. "I don't know, but I have seen this happen a few times before. I think this other group wants to be the ones to beat it, but… I don't understand why."

Indeed, the newer group had managed to push out the first one, and was doing a surprisingly good job at keeping them at bay while their more powerful members fought the Behemoth on their own. The power of these Wielders was almost shocking to Balthazar, only six or so seemed to be fighting the beast but they were keeping it almost entirely stunned by the ferocity of their attacks.

It wasn't long until the Behemoth let out one final, furious scream and exploded, releasing a spray of the shining shards of pure light known as Lux. All the Wielders nearby held up their Keyblades to absorb this Lux, but the majority of it went to the new group. The Wielders in the first group were enraged by their paltry gains, but seemed hesitant to come to blows about it. Balthazar watched this with more and more confusion, but he was thankful when the two groups split apart and began to go their separate ways.

"I don't understand this at all…" Balthazar said, to no one in particular.

"I don't either. I thought we were all supposed to be working together," Velcia said.

One of the kids from the first group, a boy with dark black hair, trudged sullenly across the grass field to the brick wall. He placed his elbows atop the wall, his head falling into his hands as he let out a disgruntled sigh. Balthazar sat up a bit, wondering if he should go try to talk to him. Velcia stood up immediately and took two steps forward, before she suddenly found herself overcome with a halting fit of anxiety.

She turned towards Balthazar, her eyes quietly asking for help. He chuckled to himself and stood up, walking past Velcia and towards the kid. Velcia waited until he had passed her, and fell in line directly behind him once he did.

"Hey, is everything okay?" Balthazar asked.

The boy let out another frustrated sigh, rolling his eyes. "Ugh, not really."

"We saw what happened to you guys… why on earth would they do that?" Balthazar asked.

The boy shook his head, glancing over at them. "You don't know?" Balthazar and Velcia both shook their heads, and he returned his gaze out to the sea. "We're an Ursus party, they're from Unicornis. Do the math."

"Uh… um," Velcia stuttered, peeking out from behind Balthazar's shoulder. "But I don't understand, aren't all the parties supposed to be working together?"

"Sheesh, you'd think so," The boy sighed. "I guess you really don't know, huh?"

"No, whatever this is… I don't think we've heard anything about it," Balthazar said.

"Lucky. Well, a bunch of Wielders from Unicornis have decided to start preventing us Ursus Wielders from collecting Lux, so if they see us fighting one of those big Heartless they've been trying to scare us off."

"Why on earth would they want to do that?" Velcia asked, eyes wide.

"Well, you know, Ira's been kind of unreasonable to Aced. Just because Aced disagrees with him, I guess Ira's been trying to push Aced out or something. I'm not really sure about the specifics, other than those two have been arguing a lot lately. Well, Unicornis has themselves convinced that Aced's trying to get us to gather Lux for him so he can overthrow Ira, but that's ridiculous."

"Overthrow Ira…?" Balthazar asked, shaking his head. "I must have been missing a lot. No wonder I haven't seen Ava recently."

"Oh yeah, all the Foretellers are caught up in it. It's really only Unicornis picking on Ursus right now, but… I've been seeing some Leopardus parties starting to agree with them."

"That's… that's ridiculous," Balthazar said.

"That's what I think, too," the boy said, brow furrowing. "Honestly, if Ira's going to be such a jerk about it, maybe Aced should teach him a lesson. I'd sure like to teach those stupid Unicornis jerks a thing or two." He sighed dejectedly.

"...Huh." Balthazar looked back towards Velcia, who shook her head. She didn't seem to know what to make of it either. Turning back to the boy, Balthazar shrugged. "Well, sorry to bother you. Thanks for telling us about it. It's… good to know, I guess."

"Yeah, no problem… hey, steer clear of Unicornis, alright? There's just something not right with them."

"Uh, thanks, I'll keep that in mind. We tend to keep to ourselves mostly, anyway," Balthazar said.

The boy scoffed. "Yeah, we did too."

Velcia nodded. "Well, our party doesn't really collect Lux, so hopefully they won't bother us."

The boy turned towards her with a strange look that made Velcia wonder momentarily if something very terrible had happened to her nose, and she couldn't help but look down at it and touch it gently. The boy shook his head. "What kind of party doesn't collect Lux?"

Balthazar sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Ah, uh, we're more focused on helping other Wielders out," he said.

"That's right!" Velcia exclaimed happily. "Our party is The Chroniclers! We travel to different-"

"Chroniclers?" the boy cut her off, smiling a bit. "Ah yeah, I've heard of you guys."

"You have?!" Velcia said, nearly shouting.

The boy nodded. "Yeah, one of my friends said you guys helped him figure out how to deal with those chocolate gargoyles in the Beasts' Castle. Thanks for that, by the way."

"Oh, sure, happy to help," Balthazar said, glancing over to see Velcia locked up in a giddy silence. "We'll uh, we'll let you go now. Thanks again."

"Sure," the boy said, standing up a bit straighter. The sea air seemed to have done him some good, and with a last happy farewell he waved goodbye and wandered off.

Velcia watched him go, then turned to Balthazar. "Did you hear that? He knew about us! He said… he said we were helpful!"

Balthazar smiled, and bumped against her shoulder playfully. "Isn't that cool? I guess word's getting around."

"Oh, I'm so happy," Velcia said, clasping her hands together. They'd helped quite a few Wielders, and many of them had come because of a recommendation, but this was the first time Velcia had met someone out in Daybreak Town who'd heard of them. Something about it felt extra special to her.

She turned to her friend, wrapping her arms around his. "Balthazar… I'm just so happy about it. I've been so exhausted, and worried… but I think it's all worth it, isn't it?"

Balthazar smiled warmly. "Yeah, I think so. You're doing a good thing."