SOLDIERs of Night and Dayby clearshot01ChaptersChapter 3: Friends or foes?Chapter 4: Old Nightmares Die HardChapter 5: SOLDIER BattleChapter 6: First MissionChapter 7: SanguineChapter 8: Never too lateChapter 9: Chapter 10: Chapter 1: The villageChapter 2: Impossible?Chapter 11:Chapter 3: Friends or foes?A/N: Ok, quick thing, before we start, I’m gonna start using 1st Person POV for Noctis, occasionally switching to Die, and I’m also coding Noctis, Die, both siblings, Luna and Celestia’s speech. The Next Day... Die woke up with a start, her heart pounding. It was the same dream she’d been having ever since they’d found out what had happened in Nibelheim. It was always a replay of the battle between her and Akumu, except he didn’t hesitate with the final blow. She always woke up before his blade reached her, though each time it came just a little closer. Is it a sign? Is Akumu coming back? Or is it just a bad dream? And what’s with my body, it feels so strange. Die tried to get up, but the second she got to the edge of the bed she fell flat on her face in front of the mirror. Her room wasn’t very large, but it was well furnished. As she tried to get back up, she finally noticed herself in the mirror, and she froze. Staring her in the face, was the pegasus from her vision. Die raised her head, and the pegasus did the same. She pushed off the ground, the pegasus followed suit. Die turned her head away from the mirror to face the rest of her body. Sure enough, she had somehow turned into the pegasus from her vision, except the mark that had been on its flank wasn’t there. She started breathing and counting to ten in an attempt to calm down. What’s going on here? Why am I a pony? Ok, gotta stay calm, gotta stay calm. Gotta change ba- Die was cut off by a sudden surge of energy coming from all over her body being released in a bright flash, and she instinctively closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she saw her human self in the mirror again. What the hell was that? All I did was think about being human again and- She smacked her head as the realization hit her. I guess I have to will myself to change. Can’t believe it’s that simple. Well, now that I’m no longer freaking out, I guess I should go take a look around. Right after I see Celestia and Luna about this. Maybe they can tell me what’s going on with my body. Die stood up and walked out the door, heading straight for the throne room. She knew Celestia would be there, she wasn’t sure about Luna, since she didn’t see her before she went to her room. Wonder if she’s still looking for Noctis. I hope they’re alright. Upon reaching the throne room, she saw both Celestia and Luna talking to a strange blue pegasus with a dark brown mane and tail. The trio didn’t seem to have noticed her, so she made her presence known with an exaggerated cough. “Ah, Die, glad to see you are awake.” “Thanks, princess. So who’s that guy? Is he your boyfriend or something?” She teased as she walked towards them. It had the desired effect, both Luna and the mystery colt were blushing profusely. “Come on Die, can’t you go five minutes without teasing me?” Die stopped in her tracks, recognising the voice instantly. “Noctis? Is that really you?” She asked, taking several shaky steps towards him. He merely smiled, and suddenly, there was a bright flash. When Die opened her eyes, Noctis was standing in front of her, grinning. Die stood there for what seemed like hours before charging her brother and embracing him... __________________________________________________________________ Noctis’ POV starts here I laughed as Die hugged me, she’d never once acted like this before. She was always too proud. I guess being separated for a few days just made her worry that much about me. I turned to my head towards Celestia and Luna, who were both holding back giggles. “Uh, Die? You can let go now, It’s not like I’m gonna die. Besides, Celestia and Luna have something to tell us.” She let go, blushing at the fact that she’d hugged me, and in public. Granted we were siblings, but that didn’t make her feel any less embarrassed. She tried to change the subject rather quickly. “Uh, yeah, sorry about that. Anyway, you said that the Princesses had something to tell us?” She inquired, looking at the two. “Yes, we know you transformed last night as you slept, Die. We want to explain why.” She said, her expression stern and serious. “Ok then, I’m listening.” Luna began the explanation for us. “When we found the celestial orbs, they gave us the power to manipulate the sun, moon and stars. What we didn’t tell you is that before we found them, we were regular earth ponies. The orbs gave us our powers, but they also allowed our bodies to adapt so that we could control these powers. If we had tried to use them as earth ponies, they would have overwhelmed and destroyed us, so the orbs took the traits of unicorns, and pegasi, and implanted them within us, turning us into alicorns and making us immortal. Tia, would you care to finish?” “Gladly Luna. In your case, because you weren’t even ponies, and because the orbs were permanently bound to you, your bodies adapted in a different way. The orbs themselves turned you into ponies. Were they not bound to you, they would have made you pegacorns, a simple cross between a pegasus and a unicorn, at the very least, and alicorns at the very most, though the latter would have been very unlikely. They also made it possible for you to return to your human forms by willing it. Has our explanation been satisfactory?” Die and I nodded, and Luna began speaking again. “Now, we have a request to make of you both, Noctis and Die. Captain Shining Armor of the Solar Guard has left for his honeymoon with Princess Cadance, and we wish for you to help tr-” She was interrupted when a dark grey pegasus, with a light brown mane and tail, and a cutie mark of a sword coated in shadows, burst in, his eyes widened in fear. “Shadow Steel, for what purpose do you interrupt us?” She bellowed, and he shrank back for a moment. “Forgive me, Princess Luna, but I just returned from a scouting mission, and I saw something you needed to be made aware of immediately.” He was panting from exhaustion, and he looked ready to keel over at any minute. “Then speak, Shadow Steel. What is it that you saw?” “Yes, Princess. As I was scouting the outskirts of Canterlot, making sure there were no changelings left in the area, I came upon a small metal hut.” Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Please continue.” “I got as close as I could to the hut without being close enough to get spotted, and I saw something outside it, sleeping.” “Well, what was it Shadow Steel? What was this creature you saw?” “That’s just it, I don’t know what it was. It was sleeping ten feet off the ground, and what it was sleeping on, was pure darkness. The darkness itself surrounded the creature, so I couldn’t get a good look at it.” Celestia and Luna took a step back upon hearing this, while Die and I just shared a worried look. “Thank you Shadow Steel, we shall deal with this immediately. You may go, as it is clear that you need to rest.” “Thank you, Princess.” He walked off, barely managing to keep his balance as he left the throne room. Celestia turned to face us. “Noctis, Die, I hate to ask this of you, but could you search the area in which Shadow Steel found this ‘hut’. I know you can handle this if it turns violent, whereas the Solar and Lunar guards may not be able to do so.” Die and I smiled. “No worries Celestia. After all, If anyone can handle themselves in a fight...It’s us! The SOLDIERs of Night and Day!” Celestia and Luna smiled warmly. “Then go, we have faith in you.” Die and I nodded and turned to leave, but Luna stopped me. “Noctis, please be careful. I don’t want either of you to get hurt.” I just smiled, and gave her a salute, and she blushed a bit, before I left with Die, who was smirking at me. “Noctis, you totally have the hots for Luna, don’t you?” I nodded slowly, a light blush forming on my cheeks. “Yeah, but I can’t tell her, I tried, but I just couldn’t.” Die just punched me lightly on the arm. “Quit being such a baby. If you like her, just tell her. I could see it from here, she likes you, so just go for it.” “But what if others don’t like it if she has a relationship outside her species? What if they start to shun her because of it?” Die slapped me, hard, leaving my cheek stinging like crazy. “What the hell Noctis? Why should it matter if others aren’t accepting of your relationship? If you like her, and she likes you, what the hell does it matter?” Her eyes were filled with anger, and I realised she was right. God, I am such an idiot. I shouldn’t be afraid to tell her how I feel just because some don’t approve of our relationship, if it gets that far. Besides, if she does like me, then I should be happy, not worried. Anyway, it’s time to get going! __________________________________________________________________ Somewhere just outside Canterlot It took us about an hour to get ready, but only five minutes to find the area in which the metal hut was located. As he said, there was a creature sleeping above the hut, on a platform of what looked like pure darkness. I turned to Die. “You think it’s the result of some sort of Shinra experiment?” “Doubtful, how would Shinra even make it here?” “Don’t underestimate Shinra, Die. Who knows what they’re really capable of.” “Fine. I’ll confront it face to face, you sneak up around back. If it looks like I’m in trouble, then you know what to do.” I smirked. Same old Die, if things go bad, go all out and kick some ass. I proceeded to make my way around the hut, being careful not to be seen, while Die walked straight towards the hut... __________________________________________________________________ Die’s POV The moment I started walking towards the hut, the creature woke up, saw me, jumped off the platform and ran straight into the hut. I noticed two things about it. One, it had a symbol on its chest, a circle with a line through it, and its eyes were different colors, the left was gold, and the right was brown, which meant it wasn’t part of any experiments involving mako, though that didn’t mean Shinra wasn’t involved somehow. I heard voices, meaning someone else was in there with it. If they are with Shinra, they’re gonna wish they’d never come here. I stopped a few metres away from the house. just as the creature came out, and I finally got a good look at it. It was some sort of monster, like a dragon. It had a long black head of hair, and it was wearing strange clothes on it’s lower body. It’s upper body was completely bare, no fur, no scales, nothing. It had feet like a griffin, and large black wings. There were spikes on its shoulders and it had horns like a bull, only longer, on its head. It had some sort of scarf that looked as if it was made of black flames around its neck, obscuring its face from view. It was accompanied by two humans, one female, and one male, who was limping slightly. The female was the same height as the creature would be without the horns. She had red skin, green hair, orange eyes, and she was dressed in rags, with cloth sandals on her feet. The male was wearing a muscle shirt, but it looked to be made of some sort of strange material I’d never seen before. His pants were made of the same material, and they kinda looked like pajama pants. He wasn’t wearing any shoes, but I could somehow see that there was air surrounding his feet. His eyes were green, and they were slanted. His hair was short and blonde. His skin was somewhere between tan and caucasian, and he was sort of muscular. He was actually kind of cute. AGH! Focus, Die. Don’t get sidetracked. We’re here to make sure these guys aren’t a threat! I was a little surprised when the creature was the first to speak. “Greetings, wonderful day isn’t it?” It, he, shouted, the voice was undoubtedly male. I didn’t care, all I cared about was making sure he and his friends weren’t a threat. “Let’s just cut to the chase. Who are you, and what are you doing here? Did Shinra send you?” I said coldly. I couldn’t afford to let emotions cloud my judgement, just in case they were a threat to this world. There was no way in hell I would let anymore innocents be harmed. He looked at me with, confusion? and replied "The first two I can answer. I am Lumos, Demon of Balance, and these are my friends, Clare and Ventus. To answer the second question, I was training and I lost control of my power, next I knew, I was a few miles south of here. The third question I must respond to with one of my own, who, or what, is Shinra?" A demon? That’s new. And those two are his friends. But the last one, who is Shinra? Ok, he’s either lying on that one, or he’s been living under a rock his entire life, or something. “Don’t give me that bullshit. Everyone from my world knows who the Shinra Electric Power Company is. They’re responsible for making an energy source using mako, our planet’s lifeblood, and for creating SOLDIERs, their ‘living weapons’, as we’ve been called. Now don’t lie to me. Did they send you to eliminate me and Noctis, or just to bring us back for a public execution? Cause either way,” I drew Taiyo no me with my left hand, and charged the solar materia embedded in my right arm, “Shinra’s gonna be disappointed.” The whole time we were standing there, darkness was being exuded from his scarf, and from his pants. I didn’t know how, but I didn’t care. Lumos, as he called himself, face-palmed. “You think you’re on your own world? This...is going to take a while to explain." He said as he sat down. "Would you kindly put away your blade, and that... orb thing? Now that I think about it, why is it glowing, anyway? It looks like an ordinary crystal, yet it seems to have some form of magic in it...it’s a lot like my metal, actually." The girl, Clare, stared at Lumos angrily. "Are you kidding me?!?! She pulls a sword on you, and you don't even LOOK at it?! Seriously, if you won’t be prepared, I will be." She pulled a blade off her back and took a battle stance. Lumos jumped between us, "Calm down, deep breaths, Clare, deep breaths." He turned to face me again. "Sorry about this, she gets like this sometimes." I glared at him, but I complied and slowly sheathed Taiyo no me. “She’s smart then. When someone pulls a weapon out, you either run or get ready to fight. That’s how you survive. As for your earlier statement, I know I’m not on my world, Celestia and Luna already explained things to me. I just assumed Shinra found a way here and sent you after us. I still can’t be sure you’re not with them. And the ‘orb thing’, as you call it, is the solar materia. It enhances my abilities even more than the mako and JENOVA cells inside me, plus it lets me draw strength from the sun itself.” "Oh, OH!" The other guy, Ven, said, "I think I finally understand some of what you’re saying now," He turned toward Lumos, "She seems to be from whatever dimension Final Fantasy is from." The hell is Final Fantasy? Lumos gave him an ‘are you serious?’ look. "You sure?" Ven shrugged, "There is always a possibility, plus it would explain most of what she said." "...Fair point," Lumos faced me again, his demeanor extremely calm. "I think there has been a slight misunderstanding. You see, I ended up on this world months ago, due to a situation I would rather not talk about, my travel across the void caused other humans to cross, oddly, each one I caused got an... ability of sorts, just as I can control darkness, as you can see." I looked at the darkness swirling around him, and I thought of something. If he can control darkness, then what can his friends do? “I see. Well, I wield solar magic, and my brother, Noctis, wields lunar magic, thanks to the solar and lunar orbs. We can also channel it through our blades,” I drew Taiyo no me again, though I placed it in the ground, “Though we still don’t understand everything about them, or their limits. And two more things. What kind of powers do your friends,” I gestured towards them, “have? And just what is this ‘Final Fantasy’ crap you mentioned?” __________________________________________________________________ Noctis POV I was watching them talk from behind the house. I saw the darkness around the guy with the horns. Lumos, was that his name? Anyway, I could make everything out easily, but as they talked, I started to feel strange. The voice I heard in the wasteland returned, but this time, every time it spoke, I felt weak. ‘Noctis...’ “What do you want this time?” I whispered. ‘I want to end all life in existence, Noctis, and thanks to the horned one’s darkness granting me strength, I can do just that...’ “Screw you. You’re not taking anything. I’ll stop you, Die will stop you!” ‘So naive. How will you stop me, when you’re about to become a prisoner of your own mind...’ I tried to make a retort, but suddenly, I lost control of my body. It felt like my soul was still there, but someone else was in control. My body started to darken... __________________________________________________________________ Back to Die Lumos sighed, "If I told you what 'Final Fantasy' is, it would likely lead to you questioning your own existence, and possibly an end to all worlds." He then clapped his hands. "Now, to answer your question, Clare can use Gravity based powers, she can control the effects that gravity has on anyone, in any way. As an example, she can make gravity go up, down, left, right, and so forth, as well as changing how strong it is, it can be focused on a single person, or on a whole area. Ven here," He gestured to Ven, "Can control the wind, such as creating whirlwinds, flight, creating blades of air which can then be shot, said blades would be invisible, as they are only air. I have three abilities, the first is to create an odd metal, such as that which makes up the cabin, and our weapons, this can then be enchanted, and only those who have either created the item, or the enchanter, or enchanters, can touch it. My second ability is darkness control, I can not only create shadows, but also create semisolid armor, like that I'm wearing, or the platform I was napping on. My third, and final power, is the exact opposite of the second, light control, which is almost the same in what I can do, these, in combination give me control over the metal I make, known as 'twilight matter,' which even I cannot fully control, the metal itself will attack anyone who it doesn't recognize as its creator or enchanter. If you don't mind, I have a question of my own now. You keep mentioning this 'Noctis' person, who is he, and while I'm at it, who are you?" I facepalmed, realising I hadn’t introduced myself. “Die. My name is Die. And Noctis, as I may or may not have said before, is my older brother. Both of us are ex-SOLDIERs, 1st Class. And if you’re wondering, he’s somewhere around here, waiting, ready to go if you try anything. And as for the whole ‘questioning my existence’ thing, I’m in a land of talking ponies after apparently being caught in a giant explosion, at this point, I doubt anything else you say will surprise me.” I smirked. No matter what he says, I won’t be surprised. No way in hell. He turned to Ven and said, with a bit of a worried look, "Should we risk it?" Ven looked at Lumos with a calm expression, though I could see the worry in his eyes, "That's up to you." He sighed, and scratched the back of his head, "Well, I suppose we can blame her if it causes a paradox," He turned to me again and said, "Final Fantasy is a series created by a company called Square Enix. The series itself has at least 12 or so games, there may be more, but I don't know, I've been away too long to know, it takes place in... I actually know very little about it myself, Ven played it more than I did, I only played a bit of number 7, in which you play as a young man named Cloud Strife, an Ex-SOLDIER member, who is selling himself out as a mercenary. The 'materia' you mentioned are often found in the game, there are five main kinds: magic, command, summoning, support. The big bad guy of the game is named Sephiroth, according to most, he seemed to have a certain respect for Cloud and considered him unequal in power. He turned evil after realizing he might be a monster created by something called Hojo." He looked me in the eyes, gauging my reaction. "Does that answer your question?" A video game? So in their world, mine is just part of a video game? Meh, Weirder things have happened. I shrugged my shoulders. “I’ve heard stranger things that have turned out to be true, except Hojo was a person, not a thing. He was a Shinra scientist. And did you say Cloud? He was never in SOLDIER, though he was friends with one, Zack Fair. Before the Nibelheim incident, Sephiroth and Zack were our idols. We joined SOLDIER because we wanted to be as strong as them. After what Sephiroth did, and after Zack was killed, by Shinra no less,” I spat the name as if it were poison, “We decided that the next mission we took on would be our last, that we no longer wanted to be part of an organization that so willingly killed without remorse. Turns out, he wanted us to destroy a village filled with civilians.” I took a deep breath. “It was the Nibelheim incident all over again, except this time it was being sanctioned by Shinra. Instead of following orders, we evacuated the villagers and prepared for the army we knew Shinra would send. Noctis engaged them first while I finished helping the oldest and the youngest escape using a series of tunnels located nearby. Afterwards, I got there just in time to save his ass from a helicopter.” I chuckled, recalling how I took it down just as he was about to. “Afterwards, we finished off most of the Shinra troops, three more copters appeared. Noctis took two down, but the third fired an experimental missile, loaded with mako, at us. We took a risk, combined the powers of the solar and lunar orbs, and fired at it. The explosion destroyed everything, and dumped us in this world.” He just stared at me for several second, eyes wide open, before Ven broke the silence. "Wait, if the explosion sent you here, what’s to keep it from sending others here too?" He had a look in his eye that I couldn't quite tell if it was fear for the majorities, or fear for his friends, or just him being excited by a chance to fight all out against something, but judging by the way his muscles suddenly tensed, I'm going to assume it was the third. “It’s pretty simple. The solar and lunar orbs brought us here, they just used energy from the explosion to do it. The shinra troops, not so lucky, since the orbs were only targeting us. And even if they didn’t do anything, we would’ve been ok. Turns out, we’re immortal. Can’t die of age, can’t be killed. Or so Tia and Luna say anyway.” I grinned. “So anyway, you wanna meet my brother? Hey, Noctis, you can come out now!” I heard something coming from behind the hut, and Noctis stepped out, except something was wrong, with him. His skin was as black as pitch, and his pupils were sharp, his eyes glinting with malice. His blade was drawn and pointed towards us, and he was sneering at us. I was frozen. No, it can’t be. Not him. NOT HIM! I took a step back, and everyone looked at me, confused. “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING! GET AWAY FROM HIM NOW!” ‘Noctis’ looked at me, and smiled maliciously. “Aww, what’s wrong Die? Didn’t you miss me?”... Chapter 4: Old Nightmares Die HardA/N: If you haven't guessed yet, this is a crossover with Tales of Illumination: Book 2, by Cloud Nova. Noctis, Die, Noctis + Die, Celestia, Luna and Akumu I couldn’t believe it. How was it possible? “Akumu.” I hissed. “How are you here? You’re supposed to be sealed within Noctis’ mind, so how’d you break out of it?” “You can thank your new friend with the horns.” He said, pointing Tsuki no me at Lumos. “He was giving off darkness, and when you and Noctis were separated the seal was damaged, just enough for me to be able to absorb darkness from the world around me. He gave off enough for me to completely break the seal and take over your dear brother’s body again. So thank you Demon of Balance!” He laughed maniacally. I looked at Lumos, anger welling up inside me, not towards him, but towards Akumu for trying to take my brother away from me again.. “Lumos, Ven, Clare, I barely know you, but I need you to help me save my brother. Please. I can’t lose him. He’s the only family I have left.” I didn’t know if I could trust them completely yet, but for my brother’s sake, I had to take the risk. "Very well, I've been looking for an excuse to try this in combat anyway." Lumos placed his right hand on his left shoulder, and began to channel darkness from the platform above into it. After a couple seconds, he added, his face hardening into a scowl, "Besides, I know what its like, to lose your family." He knows what it’s like? I was interrupted from my thoughts by what happened next. His arm turned black, and he moved his right hand down to his left, gripping it so that the fingers were interlocked, and he pulled back with his right, severing the flesh, and tearing it into five sections. These parts then changed slowly, smoothing out, and regenerating to the point where they had become five black tendrils. Clare pulled off her spear, and got into a defensive position, and Ven pulled off his own blade and held it above him in one hand, while the other was held out in front of him. Lumos then used the darkness from the platform to make blade of his own, which gave off the appearance of a saw of the length of a claymore, with a sword handle. He took a position, his tendrils and hair flowing with the breeze, and his sword pointed toward a spot on the ground directly between Akumu and him. A single tentacle wrote, just outside his vision, so that only Ventus, Clare and I could see 'Do NOT strike the final blow, you two know why.' “No, don’t hold back. Like I said before, when our bodies fully adapted to the solar and lunar orbs, we became immortal. We can’t die, so there’s no point in holding back. Besides, Akumu didn’t hold back 5 years ago, when he used Noctis’ body to kill his best friend. All I need is to distract him long enough to grab Tsuki no me, then I’ll use it alongside Taiyo no me to perform the celestial seal on him. One more thing.” I took a deep breath. “I need one of you to go to Canterlot and inform Celestia and Luna of what’s happening. Worst comes to worst, they bring the Elements of Harmony here to do the job. Decide between yourselves who goes. Just be careful telling Luna. She might do something reckless when she finds out.” Lumos just laughed. "If what that Akumu guy said is true, we have no need for them." He looked right at me. "Controlling darkness isn't just shaping it, after all." He said with a crazy grin, writing 'Right, I forgot to mention that part to you... I can remove darkness from anything, and add it to myself, and discharge it elsewhere, or convert it into chaos energy, Light I can do the same with, only rather than Chaos, I convert it to the power of Order.' “Interesting power. How big a distraction will you need to get in range to use it? Cause I ca-SHIT!” Akumu had rushed us while we were talking, slashing at us wildly. We scattered. I stood in front of him beside Lumos, while Ven and Clare stood on either side, all of us with our weapons ready. “Ok, to those with knowledge of materia, then this one should be familiar to you.” “FIRAGA!” Several fireballs erupted from in front of me and charged towards Akumu. He just smirked. “Full moon shield.” A midnight blue barrier surrounded him, the fireballs bouncing off it harmlessly. He started whispering, so as not for Akumu to overhear, "I need to directly touch any part of his body directly with my right hand, due to my left being... well, in its 'tendril' formation. As for the shield, let me handle it." He angled all five tentacles in front of himself, and arranged them in a circle. A black pentagon formed inside them. A grin spread across his face, as he shouted "MIDNIGHT CANNON!" A pitch black beam shot from the circle,heading into a hole of darkness, another of which then opened up, aiming from the inside of the shield, strait up. As this was happening, Ven shot a lightning bolt from his blade towards Akumu. A huge explosion occurred from inside the shield, and for a second I thought he’d done it, I thought he’d managed to immobilise Akumu. Then I felt something sharp press into the back of my neck. I scowled, realising that Akumu was toying with us. “Die, Die, Die. Did you forget. I can turn into smoke and move around freely, without restriction, just as you can turn into light, though you only used that ability once. Do you even remember how to use it?” He started laughing. Wait, I could turn into light? Why can’t I remember doing that? “Guys, I suggest someone gets Celestia and Luna here. NOW!” Lumos sighed, "Fine, Clare! Go warn the princesses, while we can still fight! We may need a bit of help with this, remember, tell them exactly what happened, and DON'T STOP UNTIL YOU GET THERE." Clare looked at Lumos with worry in her eyes, but she nodded, lifted herself up with her gravity, and took off to Canterlot so quickly she was almost untraceable. I wonder, does she like him? Lumos moved all the darkness around him into his shoulder spikes. He got a bit of a mad glint in his eye, and shouted "Cover me!" to me and Ven. I didn’t wait to see what he was doing. I turned as fast as I could, knocking Tsuki no me away and punching him in the gut. He barely felt it. He grabbed me and tossed me into the hut, completely demolishing it. As I got back up, I saw Ven rushing him, using the air around us as a weapon on top of his own sword, launching lightning bolts at odd intervals. Akumu kept dodging them, smirking the whole time. Then he got serious. He moved so fast that Ven couldn’t dodge in time. He slammed his fist into Ven’s gut, winding him, before slamming his elbow into the back of his head. Ven slumped to the ground, unconscious or dazed, I couldn’t tell. Akumu raised his blade to strike the final blow. NO! This is just like my fight with him. Even together, we can’t do anything! Noctis, what do I do? I was struggling to think of something, anything, that would save Ven, when it happened. A small tornado appeared around Ven, growing rapidly, and as he got back up, I saw his eyes glazed over with hatred. He lifted his sword to the side, and began to charge the whirlwind with lightning. He shot Lumos a look that said "you know what to do." He nodded, stopped whatever he was doing, entered a dark passage, also appearing inside the whirlwind, and began to shoot a beam of pure chaos into the sides of it from his shoulder spikes, powering it enough to begin to destroy the ground we were on. He then harnessed it via the chaos implant, and focused it into a spherical barrier around Akumu. "Lets see you escape a high density chaos tunnel." He began to walk toward him. Akumu just smirked as Lumos approached him. What is he u-OH NO! “GET BACK NOW! IT’S A TRICK!” Lumos and Ven turned to me, giving Akumu the chance he was waiting for. The lunar orb embedded in his left arm began to glow, and he disappeared. The surroundings started to change, or at least it seemed to change. I recognised this move. It was one of Noctis’ most powerful moves. “Full Moon Rush.” We were still in the same place we had been in, but what we were seeing was a part of the technique. Instead of rocks and hills, we were surrounded by darkness. Gradually, stars started to appear around us, and the moon hovered from above. “LOOK FOR THE STARS THAT ARE FLASHING! THEY’RE THE ONES HE’LL ATTACK FROM!” "Thanks for the advice, but if we do that, he can stab us," He grabbed Ven, and ran over to me, stopping a few feet away, creating a flashing, multi colored orb around us, just as images of Akumu started rushing past and slashing the shield, disappearing as soon as they made their attack. Somehow, Lumos’ shield held. "Chaos magic is different. It's only limited by what you can imagine, and the amount of chaos used. This shield-which I call a 'Chaos field'- can't be passed through by anything, and nothing can warp inside it without my admission, so we should be able to live, the problem is how long I can hold it up, the slower the color changes, the closer the shield is to discharging." Lumos smirked, "The good news, is that I can convert the darkness Akumu just placed around us into chaos, thus weakening him, and keeping the shield alive longer, the problem is that it will weaken the shield itself a little bit. Wish me luck!" He sat down, and began to collect darkness with his left spike in the shape of a dark tornado. It then converted to chaos as it moved to his right shoulder, where it shot out as a flashing, multi colored beam, strengthening the shield, and keeping it alive. "One last thing about this: the way it discharges, is with an explosion, the longer it lives, the more powerful, so I say we have about 3 minutes if we don't want the explosion to take out Canterlot." I gathered all the power I could muster into the solar orb. My only focus was to stop Akumu, protect Lumos and Ven, and save my brother. Nothing else mattered. “3 minutes? Plenty of time. Lumos, do me a favour. If I don’t make it out of this, keep my brother from making an idiot of himself when he finally tells Luna he likes her.” I said as I walked outside the shield, despite his protests, and let the power from the solar loose, allowing my rage towards Akumu to build. Ok, Solar orb. Do your stuff. I felt the change, like when I had fought Chrysalis. My body became enveloped in flames like armor, and Taiyo no me glowed furiously bright. I stabbed it into the ground, and the shockwave dispelled Akumu’s illusion by changing the environment. See, in order the illusion to be maintained, the landscape has to remain exactly the same. If it changes even slightly from the way it was when the illusion was cast, it fails. I didn’t look back to gauge their reactions. I focused on Akumu, who was looking at me with genuine fear. “You mastered it? You mastered the Burning Soul technique!? HOW!?” I looked at him, feeling nothing but anger at this monster, this Nightmare, that dared to think it could take my brother from me. “So that’s what this is called? And as for how, I used it when I fought against this lady called Chrysalis. I almost killed her too. Celestia made me think though, and I realised I couldn’t kill anyone in cold blood. Anyone but you Akumu. This time, I’m not gonna bother sealing you away. I’m gonna rip your soul out of my brother’s body and watch as you fade away into nothingness. And I’m gonna enjoy every last second of it.” I smiled sadistically. This time, when I slammed my fist into his gut, he doubled over in pain. “That was for Chris. This,” I smashed his head into the ground, “is for Noctis. And this one,” I focused the solar orb’s power into Taiyo no me as I drew it. “Is for me.” Just as I was about to stab him and rip his soul out, he started laughing, and it was making me angrier, which made the flames around me burn brighter and hotter. “What’s so funny, you bastard?” “Oh nothing, just the fact that you’re about to kill your brother.” I frowned. “What the fuck are you on about?” “My life is linked to his. Unless you sever that link, separating my soul from his body will kill him as well.” His laughing grew louder as I dropped him. I can’t kill him without killing Noctis? No, NO!!!! "Can't... hold... it... anymore." I turned to Lumos, who was losing control over the chaos field. It exploded. He and Ven were unaffected, as they we were inside the field before it went 'boom', but it hit both me and Akumu with the force of a Shinra train going at full speed. The flames surrounding my body had completely disappeared. I couldn’t move. Akumu was right there, and I couldn’t move. I saw Lumos warp beside Akumu, and place his hand on him. I didn’t have a clue what was going on, but I prayed that he could help him. What I saw, more or less shocked me. It was like there was smoke being drawn out of Noctis’ body, and Lumos was absorbing it. His skin started to turn pale, and his pupils became round again. It was working, he was actually doing it. But of course, it all had to go wrong, just as it was about to go right. “HALT! STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING TO NOCTIS AT ONCE!” I mustered up enough strength to look up, and what I saw made me feel both happy and worried at the same time. Luna and Celestia were standing a few feet away from us, and Twilight and her friends were there beside them. Clare was standing behind them, looking worriedly at Lumos. I tried to get up to say something, anything, but my body was too weak to respond. I saw Luna stare at Lumos, standing over Noctis, and I saw her face contort in rage. “HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU HARM HIM! YOU SHALL PAY, DEMON!” Luna was charging up a spell, and judging from her anger, I figured it would be a lethal one. In a desperate attempt, I turned to Ven, who had made his way over to me. I just about managed to muster up enough energy to speak. “Hey, Ven. Can you use your...powers to get...me between Lumos...and Luna?” I whispered. It hurt to speak, but I didn’t have time to care about that. I had to stop Luna before she hurt Lumos or Noctis. “Yeah, why? And it’s Ventus. But you can call me Ven, if you want.” He replied. “I need to...stop Luna from harming...Lumos. He can’t do...anything while...he’s draining the...darkness...from Noctis.” He gave me a ‘you’ve gotta be kidding me’ look and said “You’re crazy you know that?” “So? You in?” Ven sighed and said “Alright. But this is gonna hurt!” I started to feel weird, like I’d suddenly lost weight or something. I saw Ven’s brow furrowed in concentration, and I could feel the air pushing me in front of Luna. She turned her attention to Ven and prepared to launch her spell at him instead. “Luna...don’t.” She faced me, puzzled. Angry, but puzzled. “Why, Die? They hurt you and Noctis. Even now, that one,” She pointed a hoof accusingly at Lumos, “Was trying to finish him off. Why would you want to protect them?” “I think I’ll...let Lumos...handle that...when he’s done. So Lumos...you finished...removing the...darkness from...Noctis yet?” “Darkness? What are you talking about Die?” “Like I said...Lumos can explain. So, you ready...to start yet...Lumos? Or should I call...you Umbra when...you’re in that form...since your power...revolves around...shadows when you’re...like that.” Lumos turned to me with raised eyebrows. "No, I'm fine with just being 'Lumos,' and yes, I'm done absorbing the darkness, I also managed to convert a small amount into chaos, and used it to seal up the cracks in that seal you placed between Noctis and that 'Akumu' thing. So I think I'm ready to begin explaining." At the mention of ‘chaos’, Luna turned to Lumos again, with anger in her eyes. “CHAOS! YOU ARE A CHAOS WIELDER!? GIVE US ONE GOOD REASON WHY WE SHOULD NOT STRIKE YOU DOWN!” “Cause..he just saved my life. That enough...of a reason...Luna?” Luna ran up to Noctis, knocking Lumos down, which I found funny, though I managed not to laugh, and she wrapped her wings around him as if both her life and his depended on it. “Noctis, you’re ok.” She turned back to Lumos. “Explain. Now.” Lumos cleared his throat and started talking. "Before I begin, chaos isn't something you should kill people over, it is, quite simply, a 'limit breaker,' meaning it allows the user to do anything, as long as they have the chaos energy required and a clear image within your mind. Law, or 'order' energy puts boundaries on chaos, creating harmony. Now, to explain what happened here, when I woke up on my dark platform, which as you can see is not here anymore, I saw Die approaching the hut. At first, she was accusing me of being here as an assassin of sorts, after explaining who I was, the best I could at least, she called her brother out, who, at that moment, had black skin, and was calling himself 'Akumu.'" He paused to rub his head. "Anyway, it turns out my scarf, lower body armor, and platform of darkness all were being absorbed by this being. Die asked me for the help of me, Clare, and Ven," He said, motioning to Clare and Ventus "And damn, he was, as odd as it is to say, stronger than Discord himself, and that you can trust, I've had a first hand experience fighting him, and I won too, but thats a story for another day. Back on topic now, after the battle, I accidentally caused a large chaos blast, which is what caused this crater, I then moved through what I call the 'dark world' to teleport to where he was. I removed his darkness, then you guys, almost stopped the process, which would have made all my darkness go into him, which would have been a very, VERY bad thing." He glared at Luna. "Thankfully, Die stopped you, allowing me to finish, and asked me to explain, and thats where we are now, any questions, both related to what I just said, and not? Just... one at a time, please" We stayed silent for a few minutes. Then, I spoke up. “I have one. You said you knew what it was like to lose your family. What happened to them? I understand if you don’t want to talk about it, but in my experience, talking helps. It doesn’t make the pain go away, but it does make it a little easier to bear.” Lumos sighed. "Very well, sadly, this is also the tale of how I got my first power: darkness control." He took a deep breath, and began. "I would rather not get into who my family was, but to say the least, I had a mother, father, and younger brother, all kind, all generally good people, despite their flaws. One day, back when I was still human, I woke up to find myself chained to a wall, in a dark room, then the lights turned on, and what I saw... It was horrible" He sat down and was hiding his face within his hand, "There were bodies everywhere, bodies whose body parts had been made explode without gunpowder, skeletons, the flesh of whom had been neatly peeled off, and their organs removed and put in a pile, so many organs. The worst part, the absolute worst part, was when I looked to the right, and I saw my whole family chained up next to me, then a man walked in, and slowly killed each one of my family, slowly, and painfully, first was my father, who he put eight metal bands on him, two on each limb, then he stabbed each one with a WASP gas injection knife, Its design, for those who don't know, is to move highly condensed air, through a small tube in the blade, and it causes whatever it stabs, to explode, he stabbed my father with it nine times, twice in each limb, and once in the chest, as I was closest, I was covered in his blood." He was trembling now, tears streaming from his eyes, but he didn't look up, or wipe them away. "Next was my mother, who he slowly peeled the flesh off of, followed by breaking every one of the 206 bones in her body, after that, he gut her, and began tearing out her organs, starting with her intestines, next her liver, the stomach, some others I don't know the names of, then her lungs, and finally, her still beating heart. Finally, was my kid brother, he was only 7, and he was crying his eyes out, the man then said only one thing, he said 'I hate crybabies,' And stabbed him in the throat with the knife, the explosion killing him instantly. At least he showed him enough mercy not to torture him." He was sobbing between words, not daring to look up at us. "Then what happened, is the part I remember clearest, I made a spike shoot out of the man’s shadow, killing him instantly, almost immediately some ball of light came through the wall, and complained about getting there too late, and that he was supposed to have arrived soon enough that my brother would be alive, and instead gave me what he was supposed to give to my brother: he allowed me to go to the world of Equestria, not this version, but a different dimension from this one, that part I figured out only five minutes ago, when neither of the princesses, nor the elements recognized me." I just stood there, silently processing what he just told us. After a few moments of silence, he said "Any other questions?” Noctis came up. “Yes. Your weapons. They all give off a different magical energy, but the signature of said energy is basically the same. What’s more, it’s similar to the signature given off by Tsuki no me and Taiyo no me. Any ideas as to why?” Trust Noctis to ask a technical question, rather than an emotional one. “Noctis, can’t you actually think of something more important to ask?” “Die, this is important. If we can understand more about the blades, then maybe we can unlock their secrets. We might be able to understand why they chose us. Don’t you ever wonder why the orbs and the blades chose us?” “Yeah bu-” Lumos stopped me. He shook his head to try to remove the emotions his story had reawakened, "Well, the first one, is because I made them all, and many more, including whips, bows, spears, katanas, and even my left hand, which is actually mechanical. As for why the energies are different, every human I caused to enter the Equestria I was in was infused with a small amount of Chaos, which formed itself into a power, each power, from what I've seen, has always been different, I have not seen two with the same power. Other than Clare, Ven, and me, there are 6 living humans in the Equestria I'm from. One of them has two powers, but other than him and me, all of them have only one. I am able to copy their power into the metal I make these weapons out of, but only at one time, after that, it will wound anyone else who so much as tries to grab it. There is no limit on the number of enchantments that can be placed on one object, but we decided four was the limit, as when I tried five, I lost my left hand, and had to create a mechanical replacement which you see now, the hand is the only one that can touch others without them becoming wounded in the process. I'm not entirely sure how it is different, though. As for the final part of your question. It is POSSIBLE that the blades are made of the same material as my weapons, but there is really only one way to find out, and personally, I don't want to try it, as it could lead to being encased in ice, burnt to ashes, blasted by one of those attacks relating to the heavens of yours, or simply stabbed by a sentient blade that knows I'm not it's owner. Although, you are right, the energy signature is only slightly different from those of your own weapons. However, yours seem to be of higher skill in enchantment, while mine are rather simple in comparison, not counting the Gate wand, the reason for me only having one hand." He yawned, and I looked to Noctis who was paying close attention, his curiosity peaking with the mention of this ‘Gate Wand’. Lumos noticed, and went into a little more detail. "The Gate wand contains light, dark, gravity, fire, and water enchantment, it can create up to two portals on any surface, so long as light is touching them. Taiyo no me seems to contain every energy, I can recognize fire, light, electric, and the lot, Tsuki no me seems to have light, dark, land, smoke, and even a bit of water within it, I can't quite tell if there are others in either of them, though. In short, the energy similarity is likely because, just like my weapons," Lumos looked right at my brother, "Your swords, are fueled by Chaos." So our weapons are fueled by chaos? That’s new. “So you’re saying that our blades, which we found in ruins with carvings and paintings of ponies, who live through harmony, are fueled by Chaos? Now I’m definitely gonna need to do some research on them, figure out just how they balance the scales, so to speak. And as for being harmed by them, you shouldn’t worry. As long as the lunar and solar orbs remain in close proximity to their respective blades, you should be safe. I know because Die wielded Tsuki no me along with Taiyo no me when she first sealed Akumu within my mind.” I looked at him, dumbstruck. “Noctis, you remember that?” “Yes, I do, because I never forgot about it in the first place. And before you ask, I never talked about it because I’d already resolved to become strong enough to face him myself someday, plus you never mentioned it. You remember what he said about the two of us being linked? Well he wasn’t telling the whole story. It’s true that you can’t kill him without killing me. But I can kill him. If your life is linked to another, only you can kill the one whose life you are linked to, and vice versa. In other words, if I face him from within the seal and win, he dies, and I live.” Is he crazy? How can he honestly believe that he can do that alone? “Noctis, forgive my callousness, but ARE YOU INSANE!? You just barely made it through this encounter with Akumu, and now you want to face him again! WHAT IF YOU GET HURT!? WHAT IF YOU DIE!?” Noctis just chuckled, much to Luna’s annoyance. “Don’t worry about that Luna. I’m not gonna be alone. As my mom used to say, no matter where you go, your friends are always standing by you, even if they’re not right there with you.” A smile appeared on Lumos’ face, “A fair point, and there is more truth in it than you think.” Noctis shot him a smirk, and said “Besides, we’ve got our new powers. How can we lose? Especially seeing as we’re not really human anymore.” Lumos didn’t seem to hear that last part, he just sighed loudly and shook his head. “You know nothing about ‘dark sides,’ do you? When you gain a power, they gain it on an equal scale.” Noctis flashed a brief smile, before adopting a stern expression. “I know that, or did you not realise I could see everything he did in that fight. I don’t give a damn how strong he is, I’m not gonna lose.” A small grin appeared on Lumos’ face. “Just being cocky won’t get you through this, but I am working on a few theories, related to making the battle... easier for you.” “Will they work if I’m not human?” Noctis asked. "Wait, what do you mean by that? You look human to me, genetically modified humans, but still humans." Luna smirked at him. “Looks can be deceiving, Lumos. Though they may look human now, that is no longer their true form. The celestial orbs saw to that. When they arrived in this world, they not only found the one place that the orbs could attain their full power, they were, changed, to be more suited to this world. Think of their human forms as a remnant, a memento of their past. Noctis, Die, show him.” I looked to Noctis nervously. Luna had released him from their hug, though they were still staring at each other, blushing. He eventually noticed my look, and nodded slowly. “Are you sure? I mean, you and Celestia are the only ones who’ve seen us in that form.” “It’s fine Die. What’s the worst that could happen?” I sighed, and focused on my other form. I saw Noctis doing the same. The flash associated with our transformation blinded all but Celestia and Luna. Needless to say, when the others saw us in pony form, there were dropped jaws all around. The first to recover from the initial shock, and speak was Clare, "... What the hell just happened?" Celestia put a hoof on her shoulder. “What you saw was a result of the celestial orbs granting Noctis and Die their blessing, as we prefer to call it. They bestowed that blessing on us, and that is how Luna and I became alicorns and were given the power to move the sun and the moon, though as the orbs themselves are permanently bound to Noctis and Die, they saw no need to give them a horn, as they only need to focus on the orbs to wield magic. Is that explanation satisfactory?” Ven raised a finger, and tried to summarize, "I think she means the orbs let them turn into ponies." A collective "oh," was made among us. Lumos spoke again. "This is unrelated, but I don't have a clue how I even got here in the first place. So we may be here for a little while. Is there a way you could keep most ponies away from a specific forest?" Clare gave him a look that shouted, 'really, there?', while Celestia looked at him, puzzled. “Are you sure you wish to stay there? I would be more than happy to grant you more fitting accommodations while we think of a way to get you back to your Equestria. Besides,” She gave Noctis and I a brief look, “I’m sure those two would appreciate having help training the guards.” Wait, what? “Uh, what do you mean, training the guards?” “Oh, that’s right, we were interrupted before we could explain. Luna and I wished for you to train the Solar and Lunar guards. You, Die, would train the Solar guards, and Noctis would train the Lunar guards.” “Ok. Sounds simple enough. But first, how many Solar and Lunar Guards are there?” Luna answered me. “There are a little over two hundred Solar guards, and only around two dozen Lunar guards. Why do you ask?” “Sounds like my kind of group. I could probably try and turn them into a covert ops unit. What about you, Die?” I chuckled. “Come on Noctis. You know I’m more of a head-on clash kind of girl. So I’d be turning each and every single Solar guard into a veritable one-pony army. So, what about you, Lumos, Ven, Clare? You interested in whipping the guards into shape?” Clare and Ven both agreed quickly, but Lumos just sighed. "I might as w-" Suddenly, he started clutching his tendril arm, and he looked like he was holding back a scream. What the hell, what’s with his arm? Clare tried to approach Lumos, but he shouted "STAY AWAY! IT'S TENDRIL, IT'S OUT OF CONTROL!" He started screaming as the spikes retracted into his shoulders, followed by the horns curving around like a ram’s, and all four of his wings turned white. As soon as he had transformed, light began pouring into his left arm, and tendril started slowly fusing it back into his left arm, with a stump at the end. Once ‘tendril’ was calmed, he collapsed, breathing heavily, but still conscious, and strong enough to say, whilst panting between words, "I might as well help out, just remind me never to change forms again, will you? Also, Clare, do you still have my spare hand?" So, I was right, he has separate forms depending on which powers he uses. Clare nodded, and ran over, it was right then that I noticed something: the mark on his chest had gotten larger. He took the metal hand, and placed it onto the end of his arm, and sat back up. “So, your tendril thing has a time limit? What happens if you exceed it? And why is changing forms a bad thing for you? Is it like Die’s Burning Soul technique, where her anger is amplified exponentially? Or is it like my Frozen Heart technique, where I become completely emotionless?” "First, if I exceed the time limit, I will lose my arm, due to the fact i infused it with some of that metal from my weapons. Second, its not that changing forms is BAD for me, its just that while i change, my senses are all amplified, increasing my pain from tendril. Oh, while I'm on this topic, in this form, I am Lumos, the god of balance, or god of shadows, if you prefer." He grinned at the last part. "Oh, yeah, forgot this, but yes, I will help with training the guards, preferably working with some of both, if you don't mind." “Alright. That sounds acceptable. Now, we can prepare rooms for all of you at the castle. Please hold still.” Celestia and Luna charged their horns, and there was a bright flash, along with the feeling of being pulled apart and put back together again... __________________________________________________________________ Noctis’ POV So that’s what teleporting feels like. Kinda glad Luna didn’t do it when she first found me now, my head is pounding more than my heart. All of us were in the throne room. Twilight and her friends were standing off to one side, staring at me and Die, probably still in shock after seeing us transform. Clare, Ventus and Lumos were standing around, looking at the stain glass windows, while Die was stealing glances at Ventus. Celestia and Luna were standing in front of us, smiling. “So, what do you think? Is it any different to the Canterlot of your Equestria?” Lumos smiled back. "I only see one difference, here, and thats that there isn't a stained glass window of Clare killing Discord by ripping him asunder." Celestia, Luna, Twilight and her friends paled at this, but Die and I just chuckled, trying to imagine Clare ripping someone apart. Something then occurred to me. “Hey, what does Discord look like? All you told me was that he was the God of Chaos here. You never actually said anything about his appearance.” “Well, Discord is a Draconnequs. His body is made up of different types of limbs, and they are, for lack of a better word, random and chaotic.” “Guess his body fits his style. So where is he in this Equestria?” Luna answered this time. “He is sealed in stone, and it was Twilight and her friends that did that to him, wielding the elements of Harmony.” Die and I took a moment to examine the six. Pinkie was bouncing in place, Fluttershy, Rarity and Twilight were blushing, avoiding eye contact, Applejack was rubbing the back of her head with a hoof, and Rainbow Dash was smirking. Die cleared her throat. “Ok, so those six wield the elements, cool. Now, how’s this training thing going to work?” “When they’re not on duty, we train them, and we keep training them until they’re as good as, or better than, 1st class SOLDIERs. Simple as that, right little sis?” I looked to Die, who was facepalming, realising that it was obvious. “Right, just like back when we were in SOLDIER, we were constantly training when we weren’t on a mission. Kinda glad the orbs make us mostly immune to fatigue, huh?” We both nodded. “So for starters, we’ll need to meet every single able-bodied guard, both Solar and Lunar, so we can make the announcement. How long will it take to gather them?” Luna smirked as her horn started glowing again. “Not long, Noctis. Not long at all.” Just before she teleported us, I saw Celestia’s horn glowing, and an aura of the same colour around Twilight and her friends, then everything went white... __________________________________________________________________ Canterlot Gardens When my head stopped spinning, Celestia, Luna, Die, Lumos, Ven, Clare and I were in the gardens, with every Solar and Lunar guard who was fit for duty standing in front of us. They were all standing at attention. Ok, either they were here all this time, or, well I don’t know what else, but whatever. Lumos shot a look at Luna, who just smiled in understanding, and said “Alright then.” Muttering under her breath, “You big baby.” eliciting a silent chuckle from me. It was only then that I noticed the absence of Twilight and the rest of the gang. “Um, where are Twilight and her friends? They were with us in the throne room, right?” Celestia smiled warmly. “I teleported Twilight and her friends home while Luna was teleporting the guards and ourselves here. The events of the past few days really wore them out. Now, allow me to introduce you to the Solar and Lunar guards.” She and Luna then proceeded to a podium, which I, once again, had failed to notice. She cleared her throat, and addressed the assembled guards. “Greetings, Solar and Lunar guards. You have been called here today for an important announcement. As you all know, yesterday, Canterlot was attacked by changelings, and we almost fell to them. What you may not know, is that we were aided by a visitor from another world. Her name is Die,” She gestured to my sister, who walked over and stood beside her, rubbing the back of her head with her right hand. “And she is a human. She and her brother Noctis,” She now had me stand beside Luna. My mind started to wander to thoughts of this world, how I had found friends in Luna and Celestia, in Lumos, Ven and Clare, I think. I almost didn’t notice when Celestia called the five of us up to address them. “Die, Noctis, Lumos, Ven, Clare, you may now address the guards.” She smirked as she added, “Just don’t make them soil themselves on the first day. My sister and I occasionally made glimpses into your lives after you obtained the orbs, so we’ve seen some of the things you’ve been through. As long as you don’t mention the darker moments, you should do fine.” With that, she left the five of us to either make an inspirational speech, or to make complete fools of ourselves. Lumos looked over at us, and said "May I?" in a tone that just screamed ‘PRANK!’ Oh god, this is gonna go so wrong! Against my better judgement, I let him go first. “I am Lumos, I have quite a few titles on the world I'm from. The first is 'Terra,' which is just a shortened version of my real name, which I will never utter aloud. Second is the God of Neutrality. I also have the titles of 'Lance Daemon,' which is Latin for balance demon. My final title, is 'The First,' as I was the first of my kind to arrive on the last world I was on. I will be working with both Solar and Lunar guards, mostly because I have been trained by the Wind Reapers well enough that I could easily take out a good three towns without my powers, at least, that's what I was told, but know this, my training," A sadistic grin spread across his face. "Is one of the most brutal things you will ever go through, Ventus here has been through the same training system as me, so he knows what I'm talking about, In fact, I lost three of my mechanical hands in one session once." He chuckled. "Anyway, my specialty is stealth training, and whoever I decide does the best, of each group, gets a... reward of sorts: a weapon made by me, with the powers of darkness and light infused within. Due to the difference in numbers between solar and lunar guards, there will be 2 rewards for the lunar guard, and 8 for the solar, each will be based off of a different achievement, 'most improved' is not one of them, they will be based off of your skills by the end of the next two weeks, which I will be testing then. Any questions?" A single Lunar Guard spoke up, "Yes, how will the training schedules work?" "... I have no clue, you have to ask Die or Noctis on that one." He bent backwards at an unnatural angle, looking right at us, and asked "Would you like to answer that?" I answered with a simple “Sure.” and took the podium. “First off, what Lumos says is true. This training will be brutal. You’ll be cut, you’ll be battered, and you’ll be bruised.” I took a moment to gauge their reactions. Not one of them even flinched. “But by the end of this, you’ll be either masters of covert operations, or one pony armies. As for your schedules, when you’re not on duty, you’ll be training. That means Solar guards and those who want to specialise in head-on combat will train during the night, and Lunar guards and those who want to train to be masters of stealth will train during the day. Any questions? No? Alright then.” I turned to walk away, then made one more line. “And remember, just because you’re going to be exhausted after training will be no excuse not to do your job. If I hear that any of you are slacking off, you’ll be running laps until you puke. No flying for pegasi, and no teleporting for unicorns. Otherwise you’ll be put in combat practice against me and Die for the entirety of your training.” Some of them scoffed at this, but soon became terrified when I moved right behind them in less than a second. “Am I clear?” They nodded fervently, and I walked back to the podium, standing beside Luna again. She was trying not to laugh, but it was a losing battle. She settled for muffling them with a hoof. Die gave the closing statement. “Alright, we’ve said what we have to say. If any of you are still skeptical of my brother’s, or my, skills, feel free to watch our sparring session in an hour. Just remember this,” She smirked maliciously. “You haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen a SOLDIER fight.” She walked off with a lazy salute, while I was facepalming. Really Die? We just got back and we’re sparring already? Oh well, at least it’ll be good training for when I face Akumu. She came back a few minutes later, smiling weakly. “Uh, which way to the training area?” Luna and I both covered our mouths as we chuckled. Celestia offered to show her the way, and the two walked off. The guards dispersed towards the training hall, though a few remained behind to speak with us. I saw some of them walk over to Lumos, though I couldn’t hear what they were asking. I ignored it and left Lumos with the guards. Ven followed me, while Clare stayed with Lumos... Chapter 5: SOLDIER BattleNoctis, Die, Noctis + Die, Celestia, Luna and Akumu Training Grounds Before we started getting ready for the match, I took a moment to take in the sights, though there weren’t many. It was a pretty simple setup. Large open area, soft grass, pony-shaped training dummies, a few circles in the ground, presumably for close combat training, or maybe wrestling. There was also an obstacle course. Not bad, a little simple, but not bad. Started with a tall wooden wall with a single rope for climbing it. Seriously? A rope climb? How are they supposed to use it? With their mouths? Die was busy doing her regular routine before any sparring match, which consisted of checking her equipment, taking a few practice swings at the dummy targets, and of course, a silent prayer to our parents to watch over her. With her ritual complete, she looked to me expectantly. I nodded, my excitement growing. I hadn’t had a proper sparring match with Die for over a year, and that was a mandatory combat skill evaluation. We weren’t allowed to go all out in case we caused unnecessary property damage. Not a problem here. Here, we can fight with no limits, not so much to put on a show for the guards, but to test our new limits. I’ve been feeling stronger ever since I got here, probably since the materia had found their way ‘home’, but the same went for Akumu. At least he’s not a problem anymore for now. And I don’t plan on giving him a chance to become one either. There’s no way I’ll let him hurt anyone else. After making sure I had my ‘secret’ materia ready, I practiced with my blade for a while, swift stroked against the dummy, all vital spots. My specialty was being fast and precise with my attacks, after all. Die can’t complain when I use these, I know for a fact she has her own with her, and I know for a fact she won’t have shown them to anyone, not even Celestia and Luna. If she has them ready, good. If not, this won’t be as fun, or as educational for the guards, but then aga-. “Hey, Noctis!” Die’s voice shook me from my thoughts. “Yeah?” “How about we make this more interesting?” She was grinning madly. Yup, she brought her secret stash. She never wants to make things interesting otherwise. “What’s the wager?” She smirked. “How about if I win, you not only reveal your full name, ask Luna out on a date.” Figures my full name would be part of the wager. Oh well, if she’s gonna make the wager interesting, I’ll have to make it just as interesting from my end. “Fine, but if I win, you not only have to reveal your own full name, you have to ask Ven, out on a date.” I knew I had turned the tables when she started blushing redder than a bomb, the monster, not the explosive weapon. “So, we got a bet?” She huffed, but nodded reluctantly. “Fine. You’ve got yourself a bet.” She leaned in, whispering “I hope you’re prepared to go public with Luna when you two end up in love. Cause you know I’ll win.” and she walked to the opposite end of the grounds, smirking. I took a deep breath, and walked to the other end. We drew our blades, and recited the pact we had made not long after finding the materia. I went first. “As long as we live,” Die continued, “And as long as we bear the eyes of the sun and moon,” and we finished it together “We shall protect the innocent, as the SOLDIERs of Night and Day.” Our oath recited, I charged, resolving to give it everything I had... __________________________________________________________________ Die got off the first shot, letting loose a Firaga attack straight away. It was simple enough to dodge the three orbs of flame shot at me, but I didn’t expect what came next. Just as I swung my blade, a shield of pure light knocked me back, and Die took full advantage of my surprise to launch a flurry of strikes to counter me. Damn, so she mastered light-based techniques. Oh well, now it gets interesting. The strikes weren’t very accurate, and the wounds were shallow, but they were enough to force me back slightly. Die continued to press the attack, not letting up for a second, and I kept moving backwards to avoid her continued onslaught. Each strike came a little closer, so in a last-ditch effort to get some breathing room, I moved back to the far edge quickly. When she saw I couldn’t fall back anymore, she rushed towards me with the Icebreaker, the wheels of ice and flame contrasting each other in a display that could be described as breathtaking, if you’re not on the receiving end. I was ready for it though. Just as she was about to strike, I disappeared into the darkness using the Shadow Slide, warping right behind her and quickly putting as much distance as I could between us. My chest started to hurt, and I dropped to one knee for a few seconds, gasping. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Shouldn’t have tried the dark techniques, they’re too dangerous while Akumu’s still around. When Die noticed me grasping my chest and the rapidly vanishing wisps of darkness, she started to run towards me, sheathing her blade. I noticed Luna out of the corner of my eyes, she was also rushing towards me, a look of fear on her face. “NO!” Both Die and Luna almost stumbled, caught off guard by my forceful reply. “Noctis, it’s not worth it if-” “I can and will continue. You already know that I’m every bit as stubborn as you when I need to be.” Die facepalmed, and Luna frowned, but returned to her position at the sidelines. “Fine, but don’t push too hard, and for the love of the Ancients, don’t use the darkness again!” I smiled weakly, the pain in my chest mostly gone thanks to a quick use of Curaga, and I stood back up as the green light enveloped me, pain just disappearing. “Deal. Now, shall we continue?” She nodded, and we took our stances again. Once again, I rushed her, but this time I didn’t give her a chance to even put up her shield. I slammed my elbow into her gut, and when she doubled over, I used her back as a springboard, propelling myself into the air. I knew my body felt lighter here, but I honestly didn’t think I could jump as high as I did. I was at least twenty feet in the air. I ignored the feeling of anxiousness at not knowing exactly what my new limits were, and loosed a Triple Plasma towards the ground. Of course, Die and her Light Shield managed to stop all three of the lightning orbs, but as soon as she blocked them, I tossed my blade right at her. She could only keep the shield up for a few seconds at a time, and unfortunately for her, the blade would hit after the shield went down and before she could bring it back up. Though, through some amount of luck, she managed to move enough so that it only tore her shirt, leaving her unwounded and me at a disadvantage. I was unarmed, while she still had her own sword, and the only way to get to mine, was through her. Well, I wanted it to be interesting... She smiled, thinking it would be a simple matter to beat me now that I had no weapon. She thought wrong. The second she charged, I knocked her blade aside, grabbed her arm, and twisted around, knocking her front foot backwards with one leg and using my momentum to throw her over my shoulder. I ran back and grabbed my blade just in time to block a strike that came out of nowhere. It wasn’t Die, she was only just getting back up. Someone had attacked me while we were sparring. I was pissed, not because someone had the gall to attack me while I was unarmed, but because they interrupted one of the few opportunities I had to see how much I’d improved compared to Die. I turned to see a cloaked figure disappear behind the wall on the far-side of the grounds. Not bothering to wait for anyone else, I ran towards, and jumped over, the wall, and I gave chase... __________________________________________________________________ Whoever, or whatever this is, they’re fast. It’s seriously pissing me off. I’d been chasing the mysterious figure for the past ten minutes, and they’d been trying very hard to lose me. I probably could’ve ended the chase a lot sooner if I used my materia or even if I used my pony form, but I couldn’t use the materia without there being a risk of civilian casualties, and I still wasn’t completely used to my pony form yet, so I didn’t want to risk losing them due to being unfamiliar with my limits. Anyway, the figure tried a few different tricks. It moved through crowds, which were easy to navigate, though I probably have to apologise later for using those ponies as stepping stones to avoid getting swept up in the group, and tore through alleys, knocking over trash cans. It was easy to dodge them with the parkour skills I picked up. Growing up with Die, you learn to traverse obstacles of all shapes and sizes. They definitely came in handy when hands made of darkness suddenly appeared and nearly grabbed both of us. We both managed to dodge them, but as we came to the city limits, a huge wall of darkness appeared in front of us. The cloaked figure scaled it like a pro, but just as I came to the wall, it just disappeared, and Lumos landed in front of us both, wearing black chainmail armour, and two balls of light in both hands. The figure froze, and I took the opportunity to jump them, and rip off the cloak. It was humanoid, but it’s ears were pointed. It was clearly male. He wore a green shirt, with some sort of a brownish red scale-mail shoulder pad on the left shoulder, and on his back was a great-sword, a quiver, and a bow that was longer than him. His shirt had no sleeves, and he wore dark brown fingerless leather gauntlets. There was also leather armor of the same color around his waist, and it went all the way up to his lower chest. His pants were made of slightly thinner, but just as strong, brown leather, like the gloves, and he wore boots of even thicker material. There was also more of the brown-red armor on the outside of his left leg, and all of his clothes were badly ripped up. He was about as tall as me, had short hair that looked rust colored. His eyes were sky-blue, and his eyebrows were thin. He had a pointed jaw, and a hateful look covering his face. The last thing I noticed was the scar on his neck. It was like the symbol on Lumos’ chest. “Alright, I’m only gonna ask once,” I said as I circled him, drawing Tsuki no me, and charging up the lunar orb, pointing both at him, “Who, or what, are you, and why did you attack me?” He glared at me with all the hate he could muster, saying nothing, and slowly reaching behind him for his bow. I sighed with disappointment and let off a small blast towards his feet. He just stared at me, dumbstruck. “How?” “Excuse me?” “HOW!? How can a human wield magic!? It’s impossible” he spat. I finally came to stand beside Lumos, who was watching my assailant. “So, suggestions?” I whispered. He just cleared his throat and spoke directly to our opponent. "So, how was Mirrodin, last you were there? Or should I call it by its new name, 'New Phyrexia'?" The elf's eyes widened, then narrowed with hatred. Ok, what? "How do you know about that?" He spat out. Lumos sighed in frustration, and pointed at his mark. "Your neck, you've been marked by them, haven't you?" He pulled off the top of his chainmail and pointed at his chest. "You're not the only one. I didn't even know what I was fighting until I was marked, stabbed right through the chest, thank god for light magic. Now, if you would kindly NOT attack my good friend here, I would be happy to explain." He looked at me, and said, "I'll explain it to you as well, as you don't seem to have ever seen an elf before." He turned back to the elf. "Do we have a deal? My explanation will include how I know of the Phyrexian invasion of Mirrodin, as well as how the human can use magic." The elf, dropped the bow, and Lumos picked it up. I placed Tsuki no me on my back, and allowed the energy in the Lunar orb to dissipate. “So, introductions. I’m Noctis, this is Lumos. You are...” “Erahaor Bonegleam. And I’m not interested in speaking to you, only to the marked one.” Great, he’ll speak to him because of his mark? "Very well, Erahaor, now, to start my explanation, how I know of Mirrodin:" Noctis created a ball of light, and shaped it like some sort of card, and began. "On my home world, there is a card game, known as magic the gathering, in which you collect cards to create decks of 60 of them, these cards are split into many types and subtypes, as well as what we call 'sets,' the invasion of your world was a full 3 sets of cards." He became serious, and his expression hardened. "This is the part I regret to inform you of, your world, has been corrupted beyond recovery, one of the cards, is this one," He slowly turned the card to show its other side. "This is what has happened to the very core, of your world. I know this is a lot to take in, but there is more," Erahaor looked at him with sad eyes. I wasn’t surprised, hearing that your home was lost is never easy to take. "There is still a group of pure people of Mirrodin, they are few, but when the sets of the Mirran/Phyrexian war was over, they still lived. They probably won't live much longer, though, you're lucky though, you escaped with only a curse mark, and the only Phyrexian for miles here has been turned to stone." Erahaor just stared at him warily. "He was the one to give me this guy, and with it came my wings, and a large amount of power, since I... absorbed him a bit." "Next subject, why Noctis can use magic, in a sense of the word," He faced me, "Do you mind if I borrow a materia, to explain. Elves have a... connection with magic, so to speak, it's really hard to explain." I sighed and shook my head. “Sorry Lumos, I can’t let you use them.” I let a small smile escape me. “I can, however, give a small demonstration and explanation, if you’re interested.” Lumos just shrugged. "It wouldn't help, I could explain them decently, and he's already seen what one can. I was hoping you could only let him touch it, even lightly, most beings with ties to magic can recognise an enchantment, but if we can't use them as an example, perhaps I could try an idea I've been forming since I saw them in battle when Akumu broke free," He turned to Erahaor, "Give me a moment," Lumos suddenly created two metal spheres out of nowhere, and, sighing heavily, said "Now for the hard part." He began to create a ball of chaos, barely around the tip of his finger. At the same time, he created a somewhat larger ball of light, and tried to place them both into a single orb. The orb let out a large magical aura before dying down. It shone a pure white, and had a circle embed upon it. He looked to me, and said, "Can you keep Akumu under control if I use a large amount of darkness for this one?" I shook my head. “No, but in about a week it won’t matter.” Lumos raised his eyebrows questioningly, but didn’t pry. He began the process for the darkness, and created an ebony orb along with the white one. Inside it, was another circle. He tossed me the white one and asked "Does this seem like an accurate copy?" I focused on probing the orb, searching for any similarities and differences between the orb and a normal materia. It was a perfect copy, other than one thing: it didn’t embed itself in my arm. Interesting. “As far as I can tell, the only difference is that it didn’t embed itself in my arm. And I know you’re itching to ask, ‘what did I mean by it won’t matter in a week.’ I can see it in your eyes. So go ahead. Ask. I won’t lie. Honestly, lying about it will just put others in danger.” Erahaor looked to Lumos, who just shrugged and gave him a look that said ‘Don’t ask’, before turning back to me, stroking his chin. "Lets see, from what you said after I drained your darkness, and the wisps of it I saw earlier, it probably has something to do with what you said about fighting Akumu in the sealed zone, right? Speaking of which, I need to examine the seal later, I think you may have broke it." I just smiled. "It's not broken, but in a week, it will be, whether or not you fix it. At that point, instead of just taking over, Akumu's gonna make a game of it. He'll challenge me for control, and if he wins, he'll let my consciousness exist just long enough to let me see him kill the one I care about most. And I'm guessing you know who I'm talking about." I stared at him for a few seconds, then Erahaor spoke up. "Um, excuse me humans, but I don't appreciate being left out of the conversation like this. Who is this Akumu?" "Two things: one, I'm not human, at least, not anymore, now I'm more of a strange cross between an angel and daemon. Second, Akumu is a being of darkness that resides within Noctis' mind. He is stronger, than the Phyrexian, who ran a blade of pure energy through me. I have fought him, alongside Noctis' sister, Die, and a couple other humans." Era was now eying me suspiciously, until Lumos continued. "I removed all darkness from him, and strengthened the barriar between the two personalities" "Anyway, on with my demonstration." Lumos picked up the dark orb, and tossed it in the air, it was about one and a half times the size of his fist. He aimed the orb straight up, and muttered, "Umbra Blaster," and a huge black beam shot out of it. Lumos nodded in satisfaction, and put it down. "These orbs are known as Materia, they are a condensed form of magic, where Noctis is from, it's made using the life force of the planet itself, I, however, simply infused my own brand of chaos into it with some of my own power. Apparently, the combination worked well, as it at least works, these orbs could hold many different powers, but only one general spell per orb, with the occasional exception, examples of basic ones are fire, thunder, Ice, and wind materia, as well as healing ones. There are also-" I interrupted him. "Non-elemental offensive, defensive, support, command and summoning materia. The only ones that don't fall under any one category are the Lunar and Solar orbs, since they're not really materia. They're also the reason your assassination attempt wouldn't have worked even if you had hit me. They made Die and I immortal." I waited to see how he'd react. Lumos shrugged. "It's as he says. Now, any questions?" Era looked deep in thought for a moment, before responding. "So, they are just rocks that hold magic?" "Exactly, though I prefer Infusing weapons and items for specific uses personally, like... like this." He said, pulling out a blade from out of nowhere "This blade I haven't named yet, but it is enchanted with fire, so I can do, say... This." He pointed the blade up, and a small whirlwind of fire came out the top. I was actually pretty shocked, and so was Era. "Interesting. You ever used it to perform the Fire Cross?" I asked. He chose to answer my question with a question, "... The what?" Era jumped at the new voice that appeared behind him. We definitely weren't expecting her to show up. "It's a unique fire wielder's technique. The user slashes vertically, leaving a vertical trail of flame and then across at the center of the vertical slash, leaving another trail of flame. Then, the two trails combine into a cross of pure flame, and the user propels the cross with energy. How far it can go before the flames disperse depends on how much energy you put into it. The more energy, the further they go." Lumos turned toward Princess Celestia, surprise obvious on his face, "Hello princess, when did you get here?" She chuckled. "I've been here for a while, you just weren't paying attention. Also, Noctis," She turned to me, and her expression was stern. "You do realise that both Luna and Die are going to have a talk with you regarding this, don't you?" Oh, crap. I was trying, but failing, to keep from shaking. "I am so dead..." Era gave me a confused look. "I thought you said you were immortal?" "Yeah, except I'm dead in the sense that Die's 'talks' always result in grievous bodily harm, so pray that she never wants to 'talk' to either of you. The princesses are exempt, not because they're royalty, but because Die doesn't 'talk', to girls." Lumos let off a small chuckle, before putting his shirt back on, though I didn't actually notice him take it off, and grabbing the artificial materia. "Well, good luck, my friend." He turned to Celestia, and asked, "Is there anything else, princess." She let her stern expression fade, and re-donned her motherly smile. "Actually, I was wondering if I could ask you more about the Equestria you came from. If I know more about it, it may help get you home sooner. Remember, nothing is insignificant." I sighed. "Well, if you guys need me, I'm gonna get my scolding over with. I'd like to hear a little more about your Equestria myself. Oh, and Lumos?" "Yes?" I smirked, knowing full well the consequences if the next sentence was ever relayed my sister. "If I can't beat Akumu, do me a favour, and look out for Die for me. In case you hadn't noticed, she and Ven are crushing on each other, so be sure to try and create some awkward situations for them. Try and put them in a situation where they have to admit they like each other." Lumos laughed, "I was already planning on it." He turned back to the princess, "I will gladly tell you about 'my' world, but I'd rather talk back in the palace, where less would overhear it." Celestia nodded, her smile never faltering. "Agreed. So, let's get to it, shall we?" I took a deep breath and started walking back to the palace with Lumos, Erahaor, and Celestia, who had cast a portable soundproof spell around us so we could all listen to Lumos' descriptions of the Equestria he came from and the adventures he'd been on since he first arrived there. All too soon, I had to separate and walk towards my doom... __________________________________________________________________ I won't bore you with every last detail of Luna and Die's 'talk' with me, but I'd never been in so much physical pain. Luckily, Luna was in a forgiving mood, and she healed my wounds not long afterwards, but only after I swore that I wouldn't, and I quote, 'Be such a stupid flankhole, charging off and almost getting myself killed'. Die then reminded me of our wager, and that since I had left during the fight, I had lost by default, and as such, had to reveal my full name and ask Luna on a date. When she said as much, Luna just blushed, and said she was very busy for the next few weeks, but maybe once the training of the guards was finished and she had some free time, she could take me up on it. I just nodded with my cheeks reddening as I realised she was basically saying I had a chance with her. Die just started laughing as she walked off leaving Luna and me alone, until she too left for her chambers. I waited a while, letting my blush fade, before I went off to my own room for sleep... Chapter 6: First MissionI woke up from a relatively dreamless sleep, to find I was not only in my pony form, though I don’t know how as I had gone to sleep in my human form, but I was not in my own room. My room was pretty plain, dark blue walls, a light blue carpet, and a blue bed. This one was decorated to look just like an indoor version of the night sky, complete with a full-moon. After noticing the small lump next to me, I realised that I wasn't alone in the bed, and where I was, and I started blushing profusely. Ok, what happened last night? Luna chose that exact moment to wake up. She was blushing when she realised I was awake, and you could cut the awkwardness with a knife. Eventually, she broke the silence. “Luna? What’s going on? Why am I in your room? Not that I’m complaining, but I-” She silenced me with a hoof to my mouth. “Um, Noctis, you mean you don’t remember how you ended up here?” She asked, removing her hoof from my mouth. I shook my head. “No, I don’t. The last thing I remember was going to sleep in my own bed.” She sighed before she explained. “Okay. Noctis, while I was in my room, I heard a very loud noise coming from yours. When I went downstairs and looked in, you were clutching your head and screaming in your sleep. The staff were nowhere near, as they’d been instructed to leave you alone, so I tried to wake you up myself, but I couldn’t. After a few minutes, though, you just seemed to calm down, and then you just suddenly switched to your pony form. I was worried it might happen again, so I brought you to my room so I could keep an eye on you, just in case. Are you angry?” Her lower lip was trembling, and her eyes were beginning to water. I wrapped my hooves around her neck and nuzzled her. Not in a romantic sense, just as someone trying to comfort a friend. “Luna, why would I be angry? You were helping me. You were worried about me. Back home, the only one who ever showed concern for me was Die. Everyone else saw me as a weapon, or a monster, something to be feared and hated, or used until I was no longer useful, and then thrown away. Here, I actually have friends. I have peo-sorry, ponies, that care about me, ponies that I want to protect. That includes you.” She nuzzled me with a small smile on her face. “Thank you Noctis. But there’s something more important we need to talk about at the moment." She said in a serious tone. I just nodded my head. "Ok, what do you wanna talk about?" "Well, I wan-” She was interrupted by the appearance of a strange portal of darkness. After a few seconds, Lumos stepped through, and Standing beside him were two figures. The one on his right was a human with short hair, and pure grey eyes that showed no emotion or life within. He wore a black suit, shirt pants, jacket, tie, all black, and leather shoes. The other figure was like nothing I had ever seen before. It had arms and legs like a human, as well as a normal torso, but they were covered in a mass of differently colored feathers. It's lower legs were similar to those of birds, but its hands seemed to be changing shape every few seconds, and it was wearing blue jeans. There were two wings of the same colors on the rest of its body. It had a human face that looked exactly like Lumos’, and its eyes... its eyes flashed in so many colors that they could give someone a seizure in a matter of moments. And the irises, they were the color of pure gold. For a good few seconds, we were just staring at each other, before Lumos slowly backed toward another portal, whilst saying "I'm going to leave for now, and come back when less weird shit is happening." I just smirked and said, "Alright, but your two new 'friends' will have to explain themselves first." "Wait, you can see them? Well, thats a surprise." "Yeah, I can see them. Why, shouldn't I be able to?" I asked. Luna gave Lumos a look. "Yes, why should we not be able to see your friends? Are you casting an invisibility spell on them or something? If so, you need to work on it a bit, they're more visible than Celly's flank when she eats too much cake." She said, grinning a little. Lumos rolled his eyes. "Well, to start off, their names are Mirum and Malum, they are my Conscience..." He gestured to the one on the left, "Mirum is the embodiment of my chaos. The other is Malum," He continued, making a gesture at the one on the right, who gave a slight bow of his head in respect, "who is the embodiment of my 'order' energy, I only became aware of them earlier today myself. The very fact that you two can see them means quite a bit, either you are both Naturally seers, or the Orbs have even more power than I originally thought." We were silent for a moment, and Luna spoke up. "Well, my sister and I are able to raise the sun and moon because of those orbs, so I'm guessing it's probably the latter of the two explanations. Also, why are they called Paradox and Evil?" Lumos gave Malum an angry look. "So THAT'S what you said 'wasn't important,' and 'inaccurate,' if it weren't a direct breach of our contract, I wouldn't let you have any control, damn mental contracts." Malum grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. Mouthing the word ‘sorry’. He then shot a glare at Luna, quickly replacing it with a raised eyebrow when I got out of the bed, switched to my human form, and placed a hand on Tsuki no me, all the while staring at him with a face completely devoid of emotion. "Ok.I’m running out of patience here, so I’m going to ask once. What are you doing here, and what’s this about a contract." Lumos looked me right in the eyes, with no readable expressions. “I guess I’ll answer your second question first, as I actually know the answer to it. I made a contract with them that requires them to control my body for at least 5 minutes a week each, or more if I need their help.” I raised an eyebrow curiously, “As for the first question, I was trying to use a dark passage, and... we each chose a different location... I’m lucky I’m not inside a rock or something.” Luna giggled a little, and the four of us turned to her. She almost burst out into full-blown laughter before regaining her composure. "I apologise, but you're not the only one that has happened to in the past." Lumos blinked twice, "Really? Who else has this happened to?" He asked, waving Mirum and Malum over. Her face became deadly serious. "You must swear that this conversation will never be heard by anypony outside this room. Not Die," She said, looking at me, "Not Clare or Ventus," She turned to Lumos, Mirum and Malum, "And most definitely, not, my sister." We all nodded silently, and she began the anecdote. "When Celestia and I were still relatively new to being rulers, we had just started learning to teleport, and she tried performing it with two young unicorns, one of whom was Starswirl the Bearded. However, they had never agreed on a destination before casting the spell, all of them thinking up a different location, and they ended up teleporting right into a concert hall in the middle of a performance. Starswirl and the young unicorn were unharmed for the most part, but Celestia, she got a cello stuck to her horn, and it took well over an hour to pry it off. It's why I call her Celly sometimes." Lumos stayed silent for about two seconds before saying "That’s... Interesting" Both Mirum and Malum suddenly burst into laughter. Mirum shouted, almost falling over. Lumos sighed and shook his head, watching them roll around on the floor, laughing their butts off. Luna and I rolled our eyes at their antics, before she held up a hoof for silence. "Now that your laughing fit is over, it's almost time for you to begin training the Lunar Guards, Noctis. Have fun." With that, her horn flashed and I found myself outside the training grounds, along with Lumos, Mirum, and Malum. My head only felt slightly on fire. "You know, I think she enjoys giving us headaches." I said to Lumos, who was still holding his head in his hands. He chuckled. "You're lucky, all you have is a headache, meanwhile, I'm about to puke." He said, clutching his stomach. "Do you mind if I take control of this training session?" I just shrugged. "Sure. If you want. Just call me when it's my turn to train them. In the meantime, I'll be taking a nap. I didn't get much sleep, according to Luna." Lumos' eyebrows rose at this, and he said jokingly, "Oh, is that so? I'm surprised your relationship has gotten that far already!" I narrowed my eyes at him. "It wasn't like that. Apparently I was screaming and clutching my head in agony last night, and when it was over I suddenly switched forms, which she said should only have happened the first time. She brought me to her room so she could do something if it happened again. Honestly, I already have a clue what it means, but I don't want to worry her. Anyway, wake me when you need me." Lumos rolled his eyes, and said, "Yeah, be right back," and then fell into a dark passage in the ground below him. When he came back, he was holding the hand of a very confused Clare beside him, while she staring at Mirum and Malum. He let go and said, "Sorry about this, as for those two, I'll explain later, could you please increase the gravity to 20 times that of this planet within these grounds for my training of the guards?" Clare did nothing for a moment, then nodded, and began to focus. I started to feel very heavy. He turned to me. "Brace yourself." I just nodded and said, "Sure, just wake me when it's my turn to train them. Oh, and if you start seeing any floating images emanating from me, that's just cause of the lunar orb. Sometimes it projects my dreams for some reason." before laying down for a nap. I sighed as I allowed sleep to take me into its embrace, completely unaware of what Lumos and his friends were going to see... __________________________________________________________________ Dream World Great, our first mission and we're crawling through a sewer system. This is not what I imagined when I joined SOLDIER, though I guess the dream I did have is unattainable now... I shook off the memories that were worming their way into my thoughts and snapped back to reality. It stunk, literally. We'd been walking on the very small, very narrow pathway overlooking the murky water and who-knows-what-else, for the past half-hour, and we'd still found no trace of the missing children we'd been sent to find. There had been reports of children going missing for over a week, there were at least 30 confirmed missing. We'd been sent in to find them, as a test of our abilities. The residents were more than helpful, already having made some investigations of their own, presenting us with several pieces torn from clothing apparently belonging to the children. All of them had some sort of slime coating them, and reports from the ones who found them said that the latest article was found near a sewer entrance. So naturally, Die and I head straight into the den of water and, other substances, to find them... "ugh, are we THERE YET!?" Die shouted. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply, immediately wishing I hadn't as I gagged on the putrid smell of the water and excrement. I got back what little composure I could, turned back to Die and whispered "Die, for the last time, no, we're not there. Now be quiet. Do you want to alert whatever creatures are down here to our presence?" Die shut up with a sheepish grin on her face and we continued walking, eventually coming up to a massive open area. What we saw, we prayed we'd never see again. Almost all of the missing children were there, but we had been too late. Not one of them had survived. Most of them were nothing more than piles of bones, but those who still had flesh on their corpses had been mercilessly disembowelled and dismembered, and judging from the blood in the cages, it had been done while they were still alive. Die and I fought the urge to vomit as we searched for the cause of their deaths. It didn't take us long. They were humanoid, except with a turtle-like shell covering their torsos, a slightly extendible reptilian neck attached to a gilled eel-like head with its eyes at its sides, long, reptilian tails, webbed feet, some sort of fur covering their shoulders and wrists, and claws. Most of them were carrying tridents. One word came to mind. Sahagin. They were gathered around something, and as we slunk closer to get a better look we saw, to our horror and rage, that it was the last child, who was around my age. She had been badly beaten, tears and mucus mixing with the blood seeping from the various open wounds on her body as she cried, desperately pleading for her life. The leader stepped forward, a sahagin king, basically the same in terms of physical description except for its height. It was much taller. It was carrying a large trident, caked in the blood of the children whose lives it had so mercilessly ended. I rushed forward after telling Die to stay put and only interfere if it looked like I was in trouble, but even if I had been as fast on foot as Bahamut in flight, I wouldn't have made it in time. All I could do was watch as the King brought the trident down on the child's throat, then raising it again and bringing it down on her chest, piercing her heart. I froze as I saw her look through the crowd to me. I could see words forming on her lips as she took her last breath, and my own caught in my throat as I realised what they were... 'Why?' I just stood there, paralyzed as the group finally started to notice me. None of them made a sound as they advanced with their own tridents raised while the King just stood there, studying me, probably determining if I was worth killing with his own trident. I didn't pay attention to them. I was too busy looking at the face of the little girl who'd died because we hadn't been in time, a solitary tear dropping from one eye. Because I, hadn't been in time. I was in charge on this mission, the responsibility ended with me. It was my fault she was dead, my fault that thirty children were dead. I had to be the one to inform them that their children, who should only have had to worry about school and chores, were gone, killed by these monsters. I had to go and shatter what little hope they had while more of these things did exactly the same thing the ones here were doing. While more innocent people die... No. NO MORE! I Won't let them get away with what they've done. No survivors. No MERCY! I felt a cold wind pass through, despite us being underground, but I didn't react. I didn't react as the sahagin started to shiver uncontrollably, or as Die called my name. I didn't react when my entire body was encased in ice, or when said ice started to cover my body like some sort of armor. I didn't react until the remaining ice exploded outwards, impaling some of them, and knocking back the majority. As I rose up off my knees, not even realising I had been on them, I uttered two words in a tone completely devoid of any emotion whatsoever. "Frozen Heart." And then I charged. It was a massacre. Most of them didn't even have time to bring their tridents back up to defend themselves before being bisected or decapitated or even just rapidly dismembered. Those that did only lasted a few seconds longer, their tridents bouncing off the ice-like armor covering me, as if they were rubber balls thrown at a brick wall, before I dispatched them too. This just terrified the creatures more, and several of them tried to run. They didn't get far. When I had finished the ones that actually tried to fight, I started dragging the ones who tried to run back to the center of the area, right where the King was standing over the girl's body, and one by one, I slit their throats. I watched as they brought their clawed hands to the wounds in a fruitless attempt to stop the bleeding, and I watched as the light eventually left their eyes. The whole time, I felt nothing. There was no anger, no regret, no sorrow. There was absolutely no emotion whatsoever. The King turned to me, his face had a look of rage, and he charged me, stabbing me with the trident in his hands. This one didn't bounce off. It cracked the armor. It didn't pierce it, but it came close. When he brought it back for another stab, I rushed forward and grabbed it with one hand while pushing him back as hard as I could with the other. He couldn't keep his grip on it and he stumbled backwards, just barely keeping his balance. I snapped his trident in half as if it were a twig. His only response was to spit water at me in a narrow, high-pressure stream. He smirked, or gave the closest thing he could to a smirk when he saw me being pushed back, but it soon turned to shock as the armor's other function kicked in. The stream started to turn to ice, and the ice was starting to overtake the water. He quickly cut off the stream before it reached him, but it was too late. With a single wave of my hand, the ice suddenly created several spears right below him, impaling him in several places. Somehow I had missed all his vital spots, but as the ice receded, I knew he wasn't going to recover. The holes in his body meant that his limbs were just hanging off him at various points. His Torso was intact, saved by his incredibly dense shell, and so was his head, but everything else was just dead weight. He looked at me, terror in his eyes, and he knew he was going to die. He knew that I was going to kill him without hesitation, remorse, or regret. He started pleading in the language of his people, knowing that it was pointless. I raised my blade, which was literally absorbing all the light around it, leaving only shadows. I made sure to make my aim just so. He, no, it, gave me one last pleading look. I brought my blade down, and its head rolled behind me, across the slime-covered ground. It stopped at the body of its previous owner's last victim, and as it did so, the ice around me broke apart and melted as it hit the ground. My head started throbbing, and I could feel my emotions again. I turned and walked towards the poor girl, picking up the bodiless head and tossing it away. Her eyes were still open, so I closed them for her, praying that she could find peace in the lifestream. I picked up her body, then I turned and walked past Die, who was still sitting there, wide-eyed with her jaw dropped, before she regained her senses and followed me back to the sewer entrance to inform the families of what we had found, and so that they could begin preparations for the children's funerals... __________________________________________________________________ I woke up with a slight start, I noticed all the present guards staring at me with a mix of shock and horror etched on their faces. After a few minutes of stillness, one of the lunar guards came up to me. "Sir, what was that?" I gave him the short version. "My first mission. That's what that was. Now, where's Lumos?" "Uh, Sir, he left. And he told us he wasn't to be disturbed." The guard replied. "Alright then. Everyone form up in groups of four." In less than a minute there were around seven groups of four, consisting of the 22 Lunar guards, and 6 Solar Guards, with three Lunar Guards and one Solar Guard per group. I took note of their complete lack of expression and movement once they were in their lines, and decided to give them a standard test for Shinra stealth units. "ALRIGHT, LISTEN UP!" My voice was booming with almost the same intensity as Luna's was when she saw Lumos standing over me, but the guards didn't react much, only flinching slightly. "WITH LUMOS, YOUR TRAINING SO FAR HAS FOCUSED ON STRENGTH, SPEED AND STAMINA! With me, you'll be training your stealth skills." I made the last sentence just loud enough for them to barely hear. "When this is over, most of you will be a part of a special unit under the direct command of the Lunar Guard. Solar Guards will still be part of their original regiment. The groups you are in will be your team for this next exercise, and will be altered if necessary to balance each one out afterwards. Now follow me." We started walking out of the training grounds towards the garden, followed closely by Clare and Ven, who had joined us a little while ago while I was still asleep. "What are the rewards, sir?" One of the Solar pegasi asked. "That, soldier, is a surprise. Just be patient, and don't mess up." I said calmly. Eventually, we reached our destination, a large hedge maze in the center of the garden. "Now, your training session will take place in this maze. Your job is to get to the center of said maze, retrieve the object inside, and get back out, without being detected. If you are seen, you fail the exercise, and will be made to do it again after everyone else. If you succeed, you can take a break from training if you so choose. You will succeed as a group, or fail as a group. Is that clear?" They just gave me a determined look. I channelled energy into the Lunar Orb, and focused on the maze. The drain was massive, but I kept it up until I was finished. The groups all had a few raised eyebrow "Alright. First group, you're up. Let's see what you can do." The first group that stepped forward consisted of two pegasi, a unicorn and an earth pony. But as they were about to begin, we were rudely interrupted by the arrival of a messenger, much to the chagrin of myself, the groups, and Ven and Clare. Seriously, am I ever gonna get involved in the training? "I apologise for interrupting, but Princess Luna has requested your presence immediately, all of you." He said, looking from me to Clare, to Ven, and back again. "She says that it is urgent!" He continued, quickly becoming breathless. I sighed, annoyed that training had been interrupted right when I was supposed to get involved, and nodded. "Sure. Come on guys." Ven and Clare just nodded, and the three of us followed the messenger leaving the seven groups to train alone... _______________________________________________________________ Site of Lumos and Akumu's battle A lone pegasus was flying around, just enjoying herself, when she saw something standing in a large crater. Being unable to make it out from the height she was at, she lowered herself to get a better view. What she saw terrified her, almost as much as the horrible roar that erupted from the thing's mouth. It was worse than being hit point blank by the Royal Canterlot Voice at full volume when it's amplified by several megaphones. It was more than enough to knock her through several trees, breaking bones and causing several large gashes all over her body. The poor mare barely managed to muster up the strength to limp back to Canterlot, but she did, wincing with every step, blood flowing profusely from every cut, as she made her way back to warn the city of its impending doom... Chapter 7: SanguineThe messenger leading us seemed all too eager to lead us through every twist and turn the palace had to offer, it was really pissing me off, and so was the constant sound of hooves and feet on stone. By the time we arrived at our destination, the entrance to the throne room, a couple of hours later, seriously, why so long?, I was ready to rip his head off, and that's saying something. So when he looked back and saw my face turning from irritation to outright rage, he quickly announced our arrival and ran off as if his life depended on it. On our entry, I noticed Die was here too, though she looked wrecked. Must've been woken up in the middle of a nap or something. I noticed the quizzical looks on both Luna and Celestia's faces. Before they could even ask a question, I said "I don't like being interrupted when I'm either training, or about to start training. I also don't like pointless scenic routes." Celestia frowned. "That is no excuse to nearly traumatise one of my little ponies, Noctis." "I didn't even do anything. Did I?" Ventus chose to make a smart-ass comment. "Well, the look you gave him could make Jason Voorhees run and hide." I gave him a confused look. "Who?" "Never mind." "Alright, may we please get back to the matter at hoof?" Celestia asked. When we nodded in silence, she continued. "Now, this meeting was going to be in regards to what happened last night," She began, and I immediately opened my mouth to interrupt, but I was immediately silenced by Luna, who gave me a glare that said 'Speak now, and you'll regret it for eternity.' Celestia ignored me, and kept going. "But something more urgent has come up." Clare raised an eyebrow. "What exactly came up?" Luna took her turn to speak. "About an hour ago, a pegasus named Bright Skies was found at the entrance to Canterlot, severely injured. She was brought to the hospital, but her wounds have been deemed untreatable. When asked what caused such wounds, she claimed that it was a wingless dragon..." She paused as she gauged our reactions. Die yawned, more out of fatigue than anything else. Clare and Ven shared a look, and I just raised an eyebrow. "So where exactly was this creature spotted anyway?" Celestia hesitated before answering. "It was seen at the site of the fight you had with your sister and your friends here." That caught me off-guard. I left the hall without a word, ignoring the calls of the others as I headed for my room to grab one last thing. I found it after a few seconds of searching, and, after making sure I had all the necessary equipment, slung the backpack over my shoulder. Instead of going through the door, I just jumped the window, not wanting to waste time wandering through the halls, preferring to get there quickly and without getting lost in the labyrinth that was the royal palace. My landing could’ve been better though. “Dammit!” I whisper-yelled, as I clutched my leg, before making quick use of curaga to heal the damage. “You know, human, you could have saved yourself the pain by just using a door like a normal person.” A familiar voice to my left stated. Who should I see when I turn towards it but Erahaor. “What’s up? You missing your friend Lumos?” I asked with suspicion. I still didn’t fully trust him after the whole ‘trying to kill me’ thing. “What makes you say that?” He asked with a raised eyebrow. “For one, he’s the only one around here you seem to trust, and he’s not here. If it were me, I’d be missing his company. And second, you wouldn’t talk to me unless it was important to you. I think a missing friend qualifies.” I stated. “Maybe so, but this is not about Lumos right now. I trust that he can take care of himself. No, this is about what Celestia said in the throne room.” He replied. I just smiled. “So, you were listening.” I said. He just shrugged in response. “So, you coming with me then?” Once again, just a shrug. “Ok, what happened to actually saying something?” “Why bother you already know the answer?” He replied with a smirk. “Fine then, let’s just get going.” I replied, grabbing my bag and tossing him some materia from it. The second they came into contact with him, his flesh started to ripple like a pool of water after a stone is dropped in it, and the materia slowly sunk into his flesh, their soft glow the only signal that they were there. “I thought you didn’t trust anyone with your orbs, human.” “Ok, first, quit calling me human. My name is Noctis. And second, if this thing is as strong as I think it will be, we’re gonna need as much of an advantage as we can get.” I replied. Erahaor’s smirk grew into a cocky grin, “Indeed, human.” I just shook my head in defeat and motioned for us to scale the wall, much like when he had taken his pot-shot at me. “Alright, while we’re moving, let me teach you how the materia that are now embedded in your arm work.” I said as we started climbing. “Ok, the materia I gave you are very powerful ones. Thundaga, Firaga Burst, and a summoning materia not even Die knows about. Mainly cause she’d laugh her ass off if she did.” We dropped over the other side of the wall onto a nearby roof and started running towards the city wall. Erahaor looked at me and waved a hand, signalling me to continue. “Ok, the summon is called Choco/Mog. Basically, it summons a chocobo, a large bipedal avian, being ridden by a moogle, which is literally a living doll. It has two attacks. Death-Blow, which is basically a suicide run where the chocobo literally explodes on impact, and Fat-Chocobo, which causes an enormous Chocobo to fall on the target.” I explained. Erahaor gave me a look that basically said ‘What the hell?’ “Trust me, its come in handy when I’ve actually been able to use it.” I replied. “Anyway, Thundaga causes lightning to shoot out of your arm and spread out in a wave pattern, while Firaga Burst summons a giant fireball which explodes into dozens of smaller fireballs that track the target you choose. In other words, you use that, and your opponent has nowhere to run.” At the mention of this, Era’s grin returned, but this time it had a mad glint hidden within. “Dude, you ok? You look like a pyromaniac with matches and gasoline.” I said. Upon pointing this out, he quickly lost the look, but the mad glint was still in his eye. He punched me on the arm, and I gave him a glare before realising we were at the city limits. We started climbing... __________________________________________________________________ (Later) “No way...” I trailed off, unable to find anything to say about the destruction before me. The entire town had been massacred, and the blood pool made a giant T. All that was left was rubble and corpses. Erahaor took it as well as, if not better than me. He kept up his stoic disposition without fault. I took a deep breath to steel myself, knowing my emotions would only burden me at this point. There would be time to mourn later. “Come on, we have to keep moving, the destruction continues that way.” Erahaor said. I nodded, and we started walking, following the trail of destruction left by the monster responsible. I swear, it’s dead. When I find it, it’s dead. After a while, we eventually came across another ruined town. This one was intact mostly, some buildings were damaged, and we were starting to think maybe he hadn’t reached this one yet. That was before we saw the bodies. Something was different about these ones though. These ponies looked like they had killed each other, but we couldn’t understand why. Or at least I couldn’t. Erahaor tapped me on the shoulder as I was looking around and said two words. “Mentality alteration.” “Wait, you mean their minds were-” “Exactly.” His face remained unreadable, but his eyes were another story. I could see rage behind them. “So, do you think whatever did this is still here?” I asked. “There isn’t a trail leading away from here, so either it left in a less destructive way, or it’s still here. Lets hope its the latter.” “Same here. This thing’s gonna die.” I said without any emotion, though I could feel my rage building under the surface. Out of nowhere, we started to hear music. “Hey, you hear that too, right?” I asked. Erahaor nodded and pointed to a nearby building, and silently motioned to follow as he walked towards it. We entered and started searching the rooms one by one. Eventually we came upon a room with a piano facing away from the door, and that was where we saw it. It’s entire body was enveloped in blood red scales, and its legs were covered in jeans of the same color. It had a full head of hair somehow, which was black, and reached the floor easily. It didn’t seem to notice us as it kept on playing, so Erahaor and I started to approach it from either side as silently as we could. Era drew his bow, and I drew Tsuki no me. Just as it finished the piece, Era let loose an arrow straight towards its neck, and I rushed it with my left arm charged up for a quick blast, only to get knocked back to the door with a swift kick as the thing picked up the arrow, which had just bounced off its scales, and tossed it lazily back to Era. Neither of us moved as we looked from each other to the creature, which was just watching, studying us with eyes as black as tar with a white ‘x’ in the centre. Then, it began to let out a mad cackle, which sounded quite similar to the laugh of a Hyena, before it started. It dug both of its feet into the ground, and began to swing it’s head like a pendulum while drawing a sword. The force of the movements slowly making him rock from side to side, further and further, until each time he went down to an inch from the earth. Suddenly, one of the time as it went down, it went forward as well, easily reaching Erahaor’s ankle with it’s sword. “AGH!” He shouted as he stumbled, only to be hit in the other foot by the blade next, the force of the blow causing him to fall over. The creature then released the grip it had on the ground, jumping overhead, blade poised for the kill. I didn’t hesitate, letting my protective-type mindset take the reigns. I threw my blade at it, disorienting it enough for its stab to miss Era’s ear by mere centimetres. Era gave it a punch, trying to force it off him, but with his legs so badly damaged that wouldn’t do much good. The creature just smiled, and shook its head, as though amused at his antics, before turning to me, and it gave me a grin that could rival Pinkie’s, if not for the teeth being so sharp. It pulled out a strange bladed glove, and ran forward with it on it’s left hand, it’s right still on its sword. I jumped over it and ran towards Era, stopping just in front of him and handing him my Curaga materia. Just like the others, it sunk into his flesh like a stone in a pond, giving off a faint green glow to symbolise its presence. “Curaga. Most powerful healing materia there is.” I said with no expression. “On your feet soldier, we’ve got work to do.” Era grunted in response, simply muttering “Curaga” under his breath. The results were immediate. His wounds started to fade, and his face, which was set in a grimace at the start, slowly started to become calm. The creature was watching this with what seemed to be curiosity in its eyes, before grinning again. It raised its gloved left hand, and slammed it into the floor, making the building collapse almost instantly, we barely had time to make it to the window before the building came down on top of us. As it was, we didn’t see the thing escape it, though I thought better than to count it out just yet. Era seemed to share the thought, nocking an arrow to his bow and aiming in any direction that he could. I got off my butt and went back-to-back with Era so we would have no blind spots. The ground then began to shake. The remaining buildings collapsed, and the air itself seemed to move in unison with it. The ground right underneath the miniscule space between me and Erahaor exploded as the creature jumped out, slashing at both our backs. This time with a huge, winged axe in his left hand, which barely nicked the back of my neck, Era had been faster to notice, and had somehow escaped unharmed by it. The creature then leaped toward me, and swung at my neck rapidly, trying to remove my head with each strike. I was barely parrying the blows, when an arrow hit it in its eye. The creature howled in pain, before tearing the arrow out, and its eye regenerated. In a desperate attempt to buy us time, I got back to Era and threw up a spherical barrier around us, one that extended into the ground, so it wouldn’t get us with that same trick again. The problem was that I could only maintain it until I ran out of energy. The creature walked around it, examining it with what looked like careful analogy, before walking right up to it, and placing both its hands on it, trying to tear it apart. Slowly, to my and Era’s horror, the thing began to make a small hole in the shield. “Dammit. This thing’s tearing the barrier like a piece of tissue paper. We need a plan.” “No shit.” Era said flatly “Too bad it’s almost through, to make a plan you need time.” “Then I guess I just have to buy us some.” I said, dispelling the barrier just long enough to slam into the creature, knocking us both to the ground, before recasting it around Era. The creature smirked, and a light appeared around its hand, forming into the ax it was holding a moment ago, followed by dropping into a stance, staring at me, waiting for me to make the next move. I took a deep breath, and looked to Era, who was glaring at me furiously through the barrier. “Hey Era, I know you don’t like me, but I need to ask you a favour.” I said calmly. He seemed to hear me, so I continued. “The technique I’m about to use will force me and the creature into a realm known as the Dark Zone. I probably won’t come back from it, so tell my sister I said goodbye, and tell Luna I’m sorry I didn’t get to take her out on that date I promised her.” I said, smiling even as a single tear rolled down my cheek. The creature charged me head on with a spear that seemingly came out of nowhere. I moved just enough that it would avoid a vital spot, and let it impale me until it was close enough for me to wrap both my arms around it, pinning it to me. To my surprise, it did the same, as though it knew what was coming. “DARK ABYSS!” I yelled, releasing every last scrap of the energy stored in the lunar orb. “NOCTIS!” I turned to see Die, as well as Celestia, Luna, Ven and Clare, running up to us. Die had never seen this technique before, but even so she still knew what it was, and what it meant. “Hey sis. You doing ok?” I asked, coughing up a small amount of blood. “YOU IDIOT! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING!?” “The right thing. This thing has to go, and Akumu does too. I’m killing two birds with one stone.” I said, still smiling. The darkness swallowed us up before I could even hear the response. __________________________________________________________________ Die’s POV That stupid idiot! Why did he do that? Why? Why did he leave me all alone? I couldn’t stop crying. The second he was gone I just broke down, right there and then. I just dropped to my hands and knees and let the tears flow. Luna had done the same, and Celestia had wrapped her hooves and wings around her, rocking her slowly and trying to comfort her as best she could. I knew she liked him, but it was another thing entirely to see her openly crying for him. “What was that?” Clare asked with confusion and fear. “That was my brother sacrificing himself to protect us. The technique is one of the two techniques we discovered that we forbade ourselves from using, due to their destructive potential.” I said, not bothering to look up. “They’re called Dark Abyss and Light’s Judgement. Dark Abyss swallows up anything in range and sticks it into the Dark Zone. Light’s Judgement forces punishment upon the target for every wrong they ever committed. It could probably drive someone insane at full strength.” I felt something fall on my shoulder, and looked up to see Ven sitting next to me, an expression of near-depression, with a glimmer of hope in it, “If thats what he did, then we need to find Lumos. Now.” “I don’t think that will be possible.” Celestia said in a calm voice with an undertone of sadness. “What do you mean?” Clare asked. “Think about it. Right after Lumos disappeared, this creature showed up. Luna told me that there were two beings with him that were actually a part of his mind. I’m saying that I believe the creature was Lumos.” She replied. “No,” Clare said, as the hope in Ven’s eyes died slowly, “That...” “However,” She continued, “There may be another way.” “What are you talking about?” I asked, afraid to get my hopes up. “Luna, you know that there is somepony who can travel there without restriction.” Celestia said in her usual calm tone. Luna’s eyes widened when she realised who her sister was talking about. “Tia, you can’t be serious. H-he’s too unpredictable! What if he tries to take over Equestria again!?” She protested. Ven got a confused look about him, before his eyes widened as well, “You don’t mean... Him, do you?” “I do, Ventus. While in your world, Discord was a true danger, causing deliberate harm to others, in ours, he never caused so much as a scratch to a single living creature, simply playing pranks, though they got out-of-hoof rather quickly. And when he refused to stop, despite the misery he caused, my sister and I sealed him away. I never forgot our friendship, and I kept hoping one day he would become as he used to be, a kind, carefree spirit, who, although a little random, actually cared about others.” Celestia explained with barely audible tone of hope in her voice. “So much for plot holes,” Clare muttered under her breath. “What was that?” Celestia asked in a dangerously sweet voice. “Nothing! Nothing at all!” Clare said quickly. “Very well then. Luna, I will need your help to free him.” “Sister, you know I am against this. It’s a bad idea.” “Wouldn’t some simple chaos wake him? If an argument could wake him up, I’m sure Lumos’ orbs could do the trick.” “That was because we were separated from the elements, so their power keeping the seal in place was gradually weakened. As long as Twilight and her friends are their new Bearers, the seal will stay strong, unless Luna and I deliberately undo it.” “So you’re saying that Discord is the only one who can save my brother?” I asked, standing up and dusting myself off. “Well then, let’s go get him out!” I said. Luna looked at me as if I was crazy, same with Clare. Celestia gave a small smile at my determined look. “Um... Die?” Ven said, “I don’t think it could be that simple to overpower the elements,” He turned to Celestia and Luna “Could it?” “Ventus, the Celestial Orbs were what created the elements in this world, and my sister and I were given our own powers by the Orbs. As such, I think we can handle it.” Celestia smiled. “Oh... nevermind then.” He said with a sheepish grin. “Yeah, where was that power when Chrysalis kicked your flank?” Die asked with a smirk. “Die, if you don’t want to spend some time on the sun, you’ll never speak of that again.” I just smiled and switched forms, following Celestia and Luna as they flew back to Canterlot... __________________________________________________________________ Dark Zone (Noctis) It was cold. That was the first thing that came to mind when I entered this place. The second was that I couldn’t sense anything for the most part. I could still see, I think, but all my other senses were useless. I could barely hear my own thoughts. What was getting to me though was the fact that I’d never see Die again. The darkness felt like it was closing in on me as I thought about it, so I did what I usually do when my emotions turn me towards despair. I shut them off completely. The technique was a deliberately weakened variation of the Frozen Heart I’d worked on in secret. Even Die didn’t know about it. I called it the Chilled Heart. All at once, a booming that came from no direction cut through my thoughts. The voice said. I couldn’t see it, but I knew it was nearby. “Where are you? What do you want, Creature? And how exactly are we able to communicate like this? Is it one of the Dark Zone’s hidden rules?” I replied in monotone. “Transformed? Into what?” “Heartless? Interesting name. Now why exactly is that supposed to scare me?” “I see. So Akumu is a heartless? And if that’s true, then does that mean Nightmare was a heartless as well?” “You know what else is rare?” “No, people who can actually fool me. The chilled heart allows me to think without my emotions clouding my logical process, so I can deduce things that others could not. And I know who you are.” “True. But still, the way you act is so different to your other self, the real you. So, why exactly are you talking to me, Lumos?” “It’s an interesting name, I’ll give you that. Now why don’t you live up to it and be silent so I can speak to Lumos?” “I see. Then where is this, ‘husk’, as you call it. Or do you even know?” “Hmm, I think he’d probably become something, unique, even among these Nobodies as you call them. He’s definitely more unique than you are for sure.” “Hmm, well, that’s the thing about Lumos. In the short time that I’ve known him, I’ve learned that he’ll never bow down to anyone. Even as a Nobody, he won’t change. He’s just too stubborn. Now, are you done, or are you going to persist in trying to talk me to death?” “Enough. Or did you not see the lack of emotions in my heart?” “The organization?” “Umbra, if you honestly think that Lumos won’t be as strong as them, you’re a-” “So why exactly are you telling me this? What purpose does it serve? Or are you just spouting lies?” “I’d wield swords, I know that much. Anyway, how are you so knowledgeable about all this?” “Yeah, no. That’s not gonna happen. And you already know why.” “Wrong. You’re not proof of it being false, you’re proof of it being true.” “Yeah, and you will never leave this place. I beat you, whether you admit it or not. I’m proof that the darkness can be beaten, my sister is proof that it can be beaten, LUNA IS PROOF THAT IT CAN BE BEATEN!” I’d disengaged the chilled heart to allow my emotions to give power to my words. “That’s where you’re wrong. The dark abyss is a very specific technique. And beings with dark hearts, or no heart at all in your case, are permanently stripped of any ability that would allow them to leave. I never had the ability to leave, so I’m all the company you’re ever going to have.” I smirked. The voice began to laugh, It asked smugly. “You’re lying.” I said. “Yeah, well then I’ll just have to make sure you don’t have the chance to leave!” I shouted, drawing my sword. The voice said, fading out. “NO, I WON’T LET YOU LEAVE!” I roared, letting my own darkness out just long enough for me to figure out his location and charge him, knocking us both onto the ‘ground’, if it could be called such. He glared at me with glowing golden eyes, as he grabbed a gun off of his hip with his gloved hand, and his sword with his other. “If you think I’ll die here, you’re sorely mistaken. I have friends, family, that I want to protect, and as long as you’re around, they’re in danger. THERE’S NO WAY I’M GONNA LET YOU THREATEN THEIR SAFETY!” It looked deep in thought, before grinning, and ‘saying’, before snapping his fingers, and the scenery changed. We were suddenly on a huge, blue tower, with a stained glass floor in the shape of someone I had never met before, wielding a giant key. Umbra seemed a little confused for a moment at how it looked as well, before shrugging. “Enough, are we going to talk, or fight? Hey, why can I hear my voice now?” I asked, confused as to the sudden reacquisition of my hearing. It grinned, still using its method of talking in my head, “I’d ask who Sora is, but I don’t have time. I’ll just assume that the guy in the mosaic is him. Now, prepare to die.” I said, brandishing Tsuki no me. The creature grinned, and sank into the floor, before splitting off into multiple pieces around me, as I heard his voice say “I don’t care. I fight to protect the ones I love. That’s all I need. I’ll protect them, even if it means you and I battle for eternity.” I said calmly. “Immortal, remember? I don’t need to eat or drink in order to survive.” and the darkness flowed around him, forming some sort of chain-bound creature. “Is this my opponent? So be it!” I said. I don’t know what this thing is or what it’s capable of, I can’t afford to underestimate it. Umbra walked over to the creature he created, and said, whilst breaking the chains It stood up, and held out a cage-shaped hammer, which caught fire. The creature jumped forward, swinging its now flaming hammer to the side. I jumped back as far as I dared, stopping just short of going over the edge. The creature snapped its fingers, causing a flaming cage to appear around me, lighting me on fire, as the thing then sunk into the ground. I tried breaking it open, but it was too strong for pure physical strength to work, so I tried another tactic. I charged up the Lunar Orb and let the power flow into Tsuki no me. Just as it reached its limit, I stabbed it into the end where the cage met the pole, and the pole shattered, along with a small portion of the cage, just enough for me to climb out. It was right then that I noticed the creature was right between me and it, while still within the ground, and came out in a huge explosion that knocked me into the back of the cage, which repaired itself, much to my annoyance. The creature then caught fire, and began to spin inside the tiny cage, lighting me on fire once more. This time I didn’t bother wasting time using the sword as a medium. I just let off a quick burst of power straight from the orb itself. Its focus wasn’t to just break the cage. This time, it was going to completely disintegrate it. The creature let out a howl of pain as the blast hit it and changed back into a black mist, which flowed back to Umbra, and absorbed into him. He let out a slow clap, “What can I say, I like to put on a show sometimes.” I retorted with a scowl. I replied with a simple “Blizzard,” dumping a single shard of ice on my head and putting out the flame. Umbra pulled back out his guns, and his other weapons, before throwing them all off the tower we were on, before turning to face me, his yellow eyes glowing menacingly. He took an odd stance. I placed Tsuki no me on the magnetic disc and took a stance of my own. “So, you ready?” I said calmly. and with that, we began. I rushed him with a quick right hook, followed by a flying reverse roundhouse kick. With the right hook he bent directly backwards at an impossible angle to avoid, and bent even further at the kick. he said as he let his feet leave the ground in a huge upward kick, forcing me to pedal backwards furiously, though I couldn’t avoid it completely, taking it to the chin and being launched a little into the air. He then ran forward on all fours, and lunged at me with an open hand. That was exactly what I was waiting for. “Too slow.” I said as I grabbed his arm and threw him even higher than I had gone. He righted himself in the air, and gathered the darkness around him as he dropped, The explosion shattered a large portion of the glass that made up the floor we were standing on, leaving holes everywhere. I was knocked off the platform, barely managing to grab ahold of the edge before I could plummet into the endless depths of the darkness below. Umbra landed not ten feet from where I was dangling and made his way over slowly, savouring his victory. He said smugly, he grabbed me by the hair, and held me up. “I won’t give up. Even if you toss me into the darkness I won’t give up hope. I’ll keep coming back and fighting until I can’t anymore, and even then I’ll keep going.” I replied, slightly afraid, but not enough that it was noticeable. He smiled, he threw me back into the arena and took his ready stance, “Fine, same to you.” I said, brandishing Tsuki no me and taking deep breaths to calm down. Two of the bladed gloves from before appeared on his hands. “So, no holding back?” I asked, charging the Lunar Orb and letting its energy flow into my blade. He let out a huge spiked grin, he said before charging, the blades on his gloves crackled with electricity and fire simultaneously. Striking out randomly at me every time he got close enough. On the fifth strike, I jumped over him, and used his body to propel myself into the air, letting loose the energy I had built up in both the blade and the orb. “I’m sure you know about the fire cross. WELL HERE’S MY VERSION! LUNAR CROSS!” I yelled as I created two trails of lunar energy, which I propelled at Umbra using the energy I had stored in the orb. He didn’t even move as it hit him and exploded in a shower of stardust. When the dust cleared, he was still standing there, with a small cut on his head. He asked before jumping at me, his flaming/electric blades aimed at my guts. I threw tsuki no me into the air and twisted my body, just barely avoiding getting disembowelled by the attack. In the short time he wasn’t facing me, I elbowed him on the back of the neck, raising my hand just in time to catch my sword and thrust it through his spine. Umbra let out a horrible shriek of pain, before smiling, and his flesh began to shift, slowly pulling the blade the rest of the way through, and he stabbed me in the shoulders with his glove-blades. I grunted as they dug into my flesh, and I pulled back before they could reach the bone, but the cuts were still deep. “I’ll admit I’m impressed. But you’re still nowhere near Lumos’ level.” I taunted, trying to rile him up. he countered. He wants me to prove I’m worth it, fine. “Let me ask you something. Did I ever tell you what kind of summoning materia I possess?” I asked. “Nah, I gave that one to Erahaor. The one I’ve got is a little more, interesting.” I replied, as my right arm started to glow red. “DRAW YOUR BLADE! YOJIMBO!” I yelled. At that exact moment, five creatures landed on what was left of the platform. One was humanoid, wearing a long cloak and a hat with a very wide rim, and a red dog dog at his side. The other three were in one shape, making up a giant suit of armor. The two of us stood at opposite ends, on the same side as the ones we’d summoned, Umbra with the armors, and I with Yojimbo and Daigoro. “So, do you think I could get a freebie this time?” I asked casually as I looked at the samurai. He gave me a look that said ‘Are you fucking kidding me?’ I sighed and reached into my pocket, pulling out my wallet. I had no idea how I still had it after everything that had happened, but I was glad I did. I tossed him 500 gil. He just gave me a blank stare, before pocketing the cash and moving to engage the armors. The armors moved first, its torso spinning and shooting lasers, while its arms and legs remained straight forward, the lasers barely going around Umbra’s head. Yojimbo ducked and weaved through the deadly light show with speed and grace, the kind that takes years of dedication and mastery to attain. Even I couldn’t move that well. As he closed the distance, the lasers started to come close to hitting him a few times, yet they never actually did. By the time they lined up a proper shot, he was upon them, drawing his short sword and slashing just in front of them. For a second, there was nothing. Then, the armors stumbled back as an invisible force slammed into every part of their bodies, slashing through them as if they were made of paper. Yojimbo returned to my side, shooting me a smug look. I replied with a shrug and a quick thumbs-up. “Yeah, well I wish you weren’t so ugly, but we can’t always get what we want!” he held out his hand to the side, and a giant key appeared in it. “What, you don’t want to see your creature lose?” I asked. “Fair enough,” I replied, mimicking his words, getting a grin from him, before drawing Tsuki no me again. “Ready to lose?” His grin grew, “Alright, but he’ll only fight if you pay him.” I replied. “And I’m all out of cash.” I concluded, smirking. “Oh? And that would be...” I thought for a moment, and I was surprised by what I thought of. “You’re insane, you know that? You really think I’ll let Akumu out just to let you have a challenge?” “Ok, then you’re really insane. I don’t really give a damn what others think of me for the most part. And I’m not letting Akumu out.” His key began to glow black, and he pointed it at me, “Not gonna HAPPEN!” I yelled, preparing to charge him. The darkness around his key continued to grow, and grow as I prepared. Just as I began, a beam of darkness shot out and hit me in the chest, and I started to feel dizzy, just like the first time Akumu took over. My vision started to fail, and I collapsed to the ground, clutching my chest. Just as the darkness was about to claim me, I heard a voice. ‘It is not yet your time, Night Guardian.’ What? Who.... ‘You still have friends you wish to protect, do you not?’ Yeah, but what does that have to do with- ‘Then you have a reason to stay, though not without cost.’ What kind of cost? ‘Your sword is bound to you, or to your human body, and it acts as a medium between you and the orb, granting you control over much of your power. However, you must cast both aside if you truly wish to protect those you hold dear to your heart.’ So, it’s either give up my human form and my sword, or give up my heart? No contest. The sword and my old self may be important to me, but if it’s a toss-up between them and protecting my friends? I’ll choose my friends every time. So, are you gonna help me gain the strength to protect them, or what? ‘Very well then.’ The voice faded away, and I saw a flash of pure light, before a presence entered my mind. I could feel it as if it was a part of me, as it pulled me away from the darkness. Then I started to feel as if a part of me was being taken away, not a physical part, but a spiritual part. Then I came to. I was still in front of Umbra, but he was looking at me as if I’d grown a second head. I soon saw why, as standing right beside me, was Akumu, in my body, looking just as shocked as I was. That was when I noticed I was in my pegasus form. “I don’t know. But the floor changed. Take a look.” I said, pointing to it. The top level of the dive had become a darker shade of blue. The young man’s picture had morphed into one of me in my pegasus form, the small scene of an ocean, clouds and a lone palm tree had changed to resemble Nibelheim to an extent, and the faces in the other circles shifted to show Luna, Die, Celestia, and my human face. Finally, the crowns in the outer rim of the floor had changed into symbols I had never seen before, except for two that I recognised as the symbols within the Celestial Orbs. “So this is my Dive to the Heart as you call it? Does that mean we’re actually in my heart or something?” I asked confusedly. “Yeah, well you’re gonna think this is even more incredible!” I said, as I let my heart react and bring forth a new weapon for me to fight with. Umbra shouted as he jumped off the pillar and into a dark passage. I turned to Akumu, who promptly followed Umbra through the passage just before it closed, leaving me alone with my thoughts. So, is this where it ends? Do I just spend eternity trapped in my own heart? ‘No. This is not the end.’ Oh, it’s you again. ‘Your journey is not over. You still have a task to complete.’ And what is that? ‘You must find the nobodies of your friend Lumos and his other self, Malum before Umbra and Akumu do. Unfortunately, the one known as Mirum has become a heartless rather than a Nobody, and there is little hope for saving him.’ Ok, so I have to save Lumos and Malum, and I also have to beat Umbra, Akumu, save Mirum if I can, and destroy him if I can’t. Does that about sum it up? ‘Yes. It does.’ Well, how am I supposed to do that? I can’t exactly leave this place, can I? ‘That is where you are wrong. You will be released very soon.’ Wait, what? ‘Apologies, but it is time for you to go home to your friends.’ Just like before, the voice and its presence faded from my mind, just as a tear appeared in the darkness above me. A hand, well, more like a paw, shot through and grabbed me, pulling me through to whatever awaited me on the other side... A/N: I know, I haven’t done ending Notes in a couple of chapters, but that’s cause I had nothing to say. The way this turned out the first time wasn’t exactly, good. Well actually, we erased it cause it was shit compared to this.Trust me, you don’t wanna see what we had before. But if you do, maybe I’ll consider showing it sometime. Then again, maybe not. I’ll leave it up to you to decide. PM me if you do want to see it. No promises though. Also: “It always runs but never walks, often murmurs, never talks, has a bed but never sleeps, has a mouth but never eats. What is it?” Chapter 8: Never too latePocket Dimension Office Woah, definitely wasn’t expecting this. I was sitting in a rather well organized office, with a man wearing a skull hat and a Polka Dot covered business suit, which was weird enough without the snaggletooth and mismatched horns growing on his head. After a few seconds of silence, I decided to see if I could still speak. “Um, thanks, I guess, for pulling me out of there. But who are you?” I asked. “Discord, spirit of chaos, though a better question is how did you get out of the realm of darkness?” he said “Don’t know. One minute the darkness was consuming me, then I heard a voice, then I was in what Umbra called my Dive to the Heart. And I thought it was called the Dark Zone.” I replied. “Different worlds call it different things, the void between worlds has many names, the dark zone, the darkness, the void, but... It’s been so long since I’ve heard that term, ‘dive to the heart,’ anyway, what did this voice say? Oh, wait, before that, would you care for a beverage?” He asked, snapping his fingers. Suddenly, a glass of a brown liquid appeared in front of me in a glass. “Thanks.” I said, trying to grip the glass, though it was kinda difficult with hooves. How do they do it? I thought as I repeatedly failed to grasp it several times. Discord noticed my plight, and said flatly, “Straw?” I nodded, and a silly straw manifested itself in the glass. “Thanks, again.” I said, before slurping the chocolate milk through the straw. “So then, what did this voice say?” “It said it wasn’t my time, that I had a reason to stay, though there was a cost. I had to give up my human form, and my sword, meaning I apparently lost the one thing that allowed me to control my powers when I used them. In exchange, I got this weird weapon shaped like a key. Umbra called it a keyblade. Then he ran off, then the voice showed up again and told me I had to find Lumos and Malum before Umbra and Akumu did. That’s when you showed up and brought me here.” “I see, and then what happened?” “Then I asked your name, you told me, you gave me some chocolate milk, and it’s awesome by the way, I couldn’t grip it so you gave me a straw, and here we are.” I said. “Interesting... Anyway, off you go, there are people and ponies waiting.” He said. “Wait, I have a question.” He sighed, “Yes?” “Why? Why did you save me? I don’t mean to be rude, but I don’t understand why.” I said. “I made a deal, if you got out, I got to be free again.” “I see. So it’s a chance at redemption, if you will.” “You could see it as that, now, out you go!” He said, snapping his fingers, and the world disappeared around me... __________________________________________________________________ Canterlot Gardens My vision was blurry, but I could just make out the familiar sight of the Canterlot Gardens. I only had a second to take it in before I was tackled by two blurs, one black and yellow, the other midnight blue. I heard a chuckle, followed by a voice saying “No brakes on the rape train.” “Shut up Ven.” Die said, briefly turning to flip him the bird, before slapping me, then embracing me again. “You idiot. Don’t ever do anything like that again, you hear me?” She said, and I could make out the tears as my vision cleared up, thanks to her slap, as much as I hate to admit it. “Got it sis.” I said, smiling. “So, what happened in there? Where is Lumos?” Clare asked. “Lumos’ darkness won. He became separated into what he called a ‘heartless’ and a ‘Nobody’. The heartless called itself Umbra. I don’t know what the Nobody is called, since Umbra said it was sent to a random place depending on what kind of Nobody he became. The same for Mirum and Malum. Mirum is a heartless now, and Malum is a nobody. Oh, and Akumu’s been separated from me and is with Umbra right now.” I said, completely calm the whole time. “Wait, wouldn’t that make you a nobody as well?” Asked Ven. “No. There was a voice, it let me keep my heart, but I had to give up my human form, and my sword, and with them, my control over the powers of the Lunar Orb. In exchange, I got this.” I said, removing myself from Luna and Die’s embrace, summoning my keyblade and levitating it in front of me, thankful that I at least could still use telekinesis safely. Ven’s eyes widened a dramatic amount upon seeing this. “Do you even know what that is?!?!” He asked, nearly a shout. “Yes. I do. It’s a keyblade. Umbra told me what it can do, how it’s the only weapon that can defeat a heartless. It’s called Blackout Prizm.” I replied. “Yeah, that about sums it up. So did the voice say anything notable?” “Yeah. It said we had to go and find Lumos and Malum’s nobodies before Umbra and Akumu do.” “Wait,” Clare said, “Why would Umbra and Akumu go after Lumos and Malum, and what about the other one... Mirum, was it?” “It’s actually very simple Clare. Umbra and Akumu seek to destroy their Nobodies to prevent them from regaining their hearts, and as for Mirum,” I hung my head sadly. “The voice said we probably can’t save him.” “Well,” Ven said, “As long as Organization 13 doesn’t find them...” “Yeah, Umbra mentioned them as well.” I said. “He didn’t go into too much detail, just said they were the strongest nobodies around, the only ones who keep their old forms.” “Yeah, thats one part of it, they are a group of thirteen nobodies, thirteen who didn’t transform, other than number 13, who was a fraction of two different people. I’m getting off track, anyway, the point is that they use keyblade wielders to hunt heartless, so they can use the released hearts to create a thing called ‘Kingdom Hearts.’” “So, we need to find Lumos and Malum before these ‘Organization 13’ creeps do, and help them get their hearts back.” “Well, if they joined the organization, then two things could happen that i know of: first, they complete kingdom hearts and both become whole, and leave the ‘world that never was.’ or they become two of the thirteen ‘darknesses.’ That are meant to start a huge war.” “War?” I asked, the word shocking me a little. “I don’t really know the details, but for a thing known the ‘keyblade war’ to start, there are meant to be 13 ‘darknesses’ which all hold one soul, the soul of the #1 of the organization, and seven different ‘lights,’ which I think are keyblade wielders, unless that storyline has already happened in this world.” “I see. So we’ll not only be trying to find and rescue, Lumos, Malum, and Mirum if possible, but we’ll also be trying to prevent a war?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. “Sounds good to me.” “The last part is a maybe on whether or not we have to, as that storyline might have already happened. But yes.” Ven said nonchalantly. “Wait wait wait, are you saying that you are going to try and stop a war?” Luna asked. “ABSOLUTELY NOT! You’ve almost died three times already, you are not going to tempt fate any further!” She yelled. “Luna,” Ven said, with an air of seriousness that normally isn’t there, “You don’t understand, this war will affect ALL worlds, and could very well end them. Every last one.” “But Noctis almost died again. I’ve already lost so many friends through my life. I can’t lose another. I can’t.” She said, wrapping her hooves around me again. I just wrapped my own around her and returned the hug, trying to stay calm despite the situation. Eventually, I managed to assure her that I wouldn’t leave her, and she released me, still sobbing a little. “Honestly, I don’t know how we would even get off this world...” Ven said, looking deep in thought. “I think I could help out a bit there.” A familiar voice said from above me. “Hey, Discord. I was wondering where you went.” I said, smiling despite the bone-crushing hug I had received. “So, why’d you come back?” “Eh, I was just in the neighbourhood, and happened to overhear.” he said with a shrug. “So, you can help us out? That would be awesome.” I said. Clare, who had been silent until this point, spoke up, saying “Why is it I’m the only one who isn’t following what’s happening?” “Don’t worry, you aren’t.” said Erahaor, who was standing a few feet away. “Ok, I’ll sum it up for you.” I said. “Discord saved my flank by pulling me out of my DtH into a pocket world, then he sent me here, we talked, got frustrated about being unable to travel to other worlds to find Lumos, Mirum and Malum, and Discord showed up again, offering to help us out. Does that sum it up for you Clare, Era.” I said smugly. Clare blinked a few times, before saying, “Yeah, it does.” “Ok then. So, Discord, do you mind if I call you Dizzy?” I asked. “I mind, yes, but if you want, I can’t stop you from calling me it.” “Ok. Well, are there any nicknames you do like? I won’t call you one you don’t like going by.” I said. He looked deep in thought for a moment, before looking up, and saying, “Nnope!” “Ok then. Well, how can you help us?” “I pulled you into a side dimension. I think I can handle moving you from one world to another.” “Good point. So, have you been to any worlds other than this one before?” I asked curiously. “Lots, I’ve watched tons of worlds, such as the one Lumos, Clare, Ventus, and several other humans were on before, their Equis.” “Cool. So, how would it work anyway? Do you just snap your fingers and open a portal to another world?” Discord scoffed, “Oh, please, that's too mainstream, we’re taking the Swagwagon.” He said with a joyful tone. “Swagwagon?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. Discord snapped his fingers, and a large ship appeared above us, “Yes, the Swagwagon battleship.” He said smugly “Woah. Cool.” I said, staring at the ship. “Is that a chocolate fountain mast?” I asked, confused. “Why don’t you see for yourselves?” he asked, obviously proud of the ship. “Don’t mind if I do!” Ven said, flying to the ship. “Be careful of the-” discord began before Ven crashed into something, “... force field.” he finished. Ven slid slowly down the field around the ship, before falling off it and catching himself after falling a few feet. I almost doubled over laughing. “So... how do we get on then?” Clare asked, curiously. “Teleportation.” Discord said. “Thats simple... especially for someone who often speaks in riddles.” Ven said, Discord simply shrugged. “Oh shut up and go make-out with Die.” I said, receiving a hard punch from my now blushing sister for my trouble. Ven glared at me, “Shush, nobody needs to know that.” I stared at him, wide-eyed. “You actually did!? Ha, I knew you two liked each other!” I shouted triumphantly. Ven blushed, and a small whirlwind appeared around him, followed by him flying off at amazing speeds. “Wow, I didn’t think he’d be that embarassed.” I said. “Well you just revealed he had a crush on your sister, from what I’ve seen, he normally doesn’t talk about anything personal really.” Clare said, seemingly bored. “So, he keeps to himself? How did he end up falling for Die, anyway? Was it a love at first sight thing or what?” “I honestly don’t know, as you just put it, he keeps to himself about that kind of thing. Although I did notice her sneaking glances at her shortly after the battle with Akumu.” “I see. I should go apologize, huh?” “Nah, he’ll get over it,” she lowered her voice, “Besides, now Die knows he has feelings for her as well.” “Uh, I think she already knew. After all, he did technically admit that he made out with her, though that may just have been male exaggerated bragging.” I replied. “Hmm... I haven’t really seen much of them for the last couple days, so it’s possible they actually were...” She looked deep in thought, “Also, why did it take Discord 2 days to find you?” It took a few seconds for me to register this information. “WHAT!? I’VE BEEN GONE FOR TWO DAYS!?” I yelled. “Yeah, Luna spent most of it staying out here, just waiting.” “But, I thought it was only a few hours. What the hell!?” “Well, different worlds should have different passing of time, shouldn’t they? It’s possible you’ve only been gone from your world for less than a second in their time.” “Hmmm. Hey, Discord, can you travel through time as well as space?” I asked. “Not at all.” “Do you have any ideas whose voice it was that I heard? I’ve been wracking my brain but I can’t figure it out.” I said. “Not a clue.” “Ok then. One more thing. Of all the worlds you visited, which one would be best for learning to control the power I’ve got. I need somewhere I can train without causing a lot of collateral damage. Plus, I kinda need to figure out how to walk, run, all that stuff.” “I could answer that,” Clare said, “Olympus Coliseum.” “Olympus Coliseum?” I asked. “Sounds good. What’s it like there?” “It’s best if you see it yourself.” She said. “Splendid. Now, shall we get going before worlds start disappearing?” Discord asked. “Sure. But who’s going and who’s staying?” “I’m going,” said Erahaor, “I can’t stand this world anyway.” “I volunteer,” Said Clare “And I know where we can get more ‘helpers,’ if we take a bit of extra time.” “I’m going.” said Die. “If you go, Ven is probably going too, so that makes a total of 6, since the princesses have to stay here.” “Actually, we shall be accompanying you as well. Discord, we were wondering if you’d be able to create doppelgangers to stand in for us while we’re gone?” Celestia replied with a small smile. “That wasn’t my reason.” Clare said flatly, “The first world we’re going to is an alternate version of this world, if you see yourself...” she trailed off. “That’s why we’ll be disguising ourselves. I am not abandoning my friends.” Luna deadpanned. “You’d better stay on the ship on that world anyway,” Clare said, “So Its 8 crewmembers so far. Noctis, Die, Celestia, Luna, Ven, me, and Era. So on ‘our’ world we could probably get others to help us.” “Ok,” Discord said, “Die, since you are the... closest to Ven, you should go get him so that he will come with us.” “Fine.” She said, before switching to her pegasus form and taking off in the direction Ven had gone. “So, do we get the grand tour?” Clare asked Discord, who gave a grin. “Yes, come right this way,” he said, and snapped his fingers. __________________________________________________________________ The good ship Swagwagon [one huge tour later] “Woah, I am definitely liking the game room.” I said, glad I’d managed to learn how to walk without stumbling every two seconds. “So, how long did it take you to make the ship?” “About a second.” Discord said. “Just wish Clare would stop playing the final fantasy games,” Ven said. He and Die had joined us a few minutes after we started, along with Celestia and Luna, who were content to just enjoy the tour in silence. “I dunno, I thought it was cool seeing Zack’s story, except for, y’know, the ‘incident’ onward.” I said. “It’s not that, its that I wanted to play some Kingdom Hearts.” He said glumly. “Well, we can come back to it later. I’d like to see just what a keyblade is really capable of.” “Easiest way would be to play the game, too bad you have hooves.” “You forgot about telekinesis.” I said. “Actually, I solved the whole ‘hooves’ problem by making a VR room.” Vens eyes widened, “Holy crap, really?” “Eeyup!” Discord said in a southern accent. He turned to Die and me, “Don’t. Tell. Clare. She would hog it.” “My lips are sealed. So, how does it work? Is there a helmet you put on or something, or is it something even cooler?” “No, its just Illusions, and minor shocks will go through injuries when you’re hit, you could use that for your training as well.” He explained “So, it is cooler than tech. Color me impressed Discord.” I said. “So... How long will the actual cross dimensional travel take?” Ven asked. “Depends on the dimension, if we’re going to an alternate version of the same world, half an hour, to a completely different world, at least a day.” “So, Ven, what’s your world like?” I asked. Ven just chuckled “You’ll see soon enough, we ready to go?” Die shrugged. “Sure, I guess. Hey, Discord, we’re ready when you are.” “WE GO!” Discord shouted as he slammed a paw onto a big red button that materialised out of nowhere. I tensed up, expecting a sudden movement but when nothing happened, I relaxed. “That, was surprisingly uneventful.” I said. “What did you expect?” Ven said. “I dunno. A sudden drop, or movement, or something.” I replied. “Exactly.” “Soooo....wanna get some training in?” I asked. “Eh, why not? If we come across any heartless it would help for you to be skilled with a keyblade...” “Plus, I need to learn control over my powers all over again. Without Tsuki no me, I’m a disaster waiting to happen.” I said sadly. “Well, if you don’t mind me asking, what did the Lunar orb actually look like?” “It looked like a support materia, except for the crescent moon symbol inside it. It acted like a magic materia with multiple spells available, but it was hard to control without using the blade as a medium.” I explained. “... and could I look at your keyblade?” He asked with a spark in his eye. I shrugged. “Sure.” I summoned it and levitated it over to him, but the second he touched it, it disappeared and reappeared next to me. “What the?” He facepalmed “Yeah, I forgot they did that... Anyway, the coloration is the similar to the orb, and it does have the whole ‘moon’ thing with it... Could the keyblade... be the orb itself?” “Wait, what? So the orb may have become this? Then does that mean Die’s Orb could do the same?” I asked. “Possible, though not likely. If her orb does have an alternate form, it would probably be a different kind of item. So about that training?[/green]” I nodded, and we followed Discord to the ‘VR Room’. __________________________________________________________________ ‘VR’ Room Ven stood in the middle of the chamber, reading the instructions Discord gave us on how to activate it. “Virtual Reality, On.” The room instantly lit up. “Run battle simulation: Basic Heartless attack.” The room grew dark, and the environment changed to a forest in the night, and tons of black creatures came out of the ground. Ven grinned, and said, “Create item: keyblade. Create ‘keychain’: Way to the Dawn.” and a Giant silver key appeared in his hand, and strange symbol, which he attached to the key. A large amount of light came from the keyblade. When the light faded, it had changed. “Ok, now what? These ones seem a little, tame, to me.” “One moment, and I’ll start it.” He looked up, “Create enemy: Vanitas.” A ball of darkness appeared, and out of it walked a guy in a strange outfit and a keyblade of his own. “Wait, Vanitas? Umbra mentioned this guy. He can create these things called Unversed, right?” “Yeah, thats him, you ready?” He asked, dropping into his ready stance. I nodded. “Simulation: Start.” he said, and ran forward, shouting “Ability disable: attack magic.” “Making it harder for us? Fine with me.” I said, levitating Blackout Prizm in front of me and charging towards Vanitas, who summoned several unversed, who divided themselves between attacking me and attacking Ven. The ones who attacked Ven lasted about a second. “My powers technically aren’t magic,” He said with a grin as he dispatched two more heartless and unversed. He leaped into the air, and dispatched another heartless, “That makes 20 heartless, 23 unversed. Change difficulty: pureblood heartless, level 2” More of the ‘shadows’ popped out of the ground, as well as taller ones that otherwise looked the same. (These, and these.) “Hey Ven, can I create an enemy for us to fight? There’s a specific one I want to go up against.” I asked. “Sure, why not? Pause simulation. Remove enemy: Vanitas.” And with that, the masked figure faded away. “Ok, my turn. Create enemy: Iron Imprisoner Stage Four!” I said, and the creature I had fought before appeared right in front of me, flaming cage hammer and all. Ven grinned, “Hm... All right, if we’re going with higher rank enemies. Create enemy: Guard Armor. Create enemy: Number 13: Roxas.” and with that, two more creatures appeared, one was a large suit of purple armor, and the other was a black cloak, and held two keyblades, one Light, the other dark. “Woah, two keyblades? Where’d he get those? And that armor, sorta looks like the Trinity Armor I fought, if a more simplistic version, that is.” “Trinity Armor was an unversed, the Guard armor was the original idea’s form, a heartless. As for the two keyblades, its a rare occurrence, anyway, meet Roxas, member number 13 of the organization, he is the Nobody of a boy named Sora.” “Wait, Sora? Umbra made a fake DtH that he said looked like Sora’s. Does he have brown spiky hair and wield a silver keyblade with a black handle and golden handguards?” I asked. “Yeah, he is the main character in the Kingdom Hearts games.” “Huh, this Roxas guy doesn’t look much like him, and from what Umbra said, Nobodies are supposed to look like the person they used to be.” “Thats because he is based off of someone else’s heart that was fused with Sora, coincidentally also named Ventus, and depending on where we are in the KH story line, you may meet him while he’s awake.” “Dude, you share a name with a video game character? That’s pretty cool.” I said. He grinned, “Why do you think I chose it? Unsummon pureblood Heartless and basic unversed. Change location: New York. Unpause Simulation.” He said and all the black creatures and all the unversed but the Imprisoner remained. I looked around, seeing us in a large open area with tall buildings on all sides. “Welcome to my old home, New York city.” He said as he blocked an attack from Roxas, “I’ll take this one.” “Ok then, I guess I get the imprisoner and the armor.” I replied, spreading my wings and flying above the Imrpisoner’s swinging hammer. Ven then said “Allow ability: Drive forms: anti form and final form.” and darkness flowed around him, making him look like a heartless as his keyblade disappeared. The now heartless-esque Ventus ran forward on all fours, and attacked Roxas with rapid attacks, moving so fast I couldn’t even see, it wasn’t until I took a hit from the guard armor that I remembered my own fight. I released a breath I hadn’t even realised I had been holding, and I used a technique I’d learned around 3 years after obtaining the Orb. I held BP to my opposite side and took a deep breath as I faced the Guard Armor. Cherry Blossom leaves started to appear and blow around us Suddenly, I disappeared in a blur of speed as I charged towards and past the Armor, making a single strike before reappearing behind it. “ZANTETSUKEN!” I said, as the strike caught up with the armor, completely bisecting it. It disappeared in a flash of darkness, leaving only the Iron Imprisoner for me to face. “Not bad.” Ven said, sitting on top of Roxas, who then faded out of existence. “Thanks. A lot tougher to use as a pony though.” I huffed, exhausted after what usually only used up a fraction of my stamina. “Think it’d be a bad idea to use it again?” I asked as I faced the Imprisoner that was charging towards us. “Ability activate:synch blade. Summon keychains: Oathkeeper and Oblivion” Ven said whilst dodging a flaming spin attack, and another keyblade appeared in his left hand, as well as two other symbols, he then attached the symbols to his keyblades, and they changed again into the same ones Roxas used. “Cool. Hey, if Die’s orb ever did become a keyblade, what do you think it would be called?” I asked, trying to imagine my sister with a keyblade. He shot a beam of light out of both keyblades, instantly destroying it, “Hm.. now thats a good question... Probably something like this... remove ability: synch blade, remove keychains, way to the dawn, oathkeeper, oblivion. create keychain: ignited heart” this time the ‘keychain,’ as he kept calling them appeared on the keyblade, instantly transforming it, and making it catch fire. “Ok, now that’s awesome.” I said, when suddenly, a random name popped into my head. “Create keychain: Infinity Spectrum.” A keychain with a sun appeared in front of me, and as I stuck it onto my keyblade, it completely transformed. “Cool, so mine can transform.” Ven grinned, “All keyblades can change shape based off of the keyblades.” “So, do you think I can keep the keychain?” I asked with a small grin. “Probably not, since it’s just virtual reality.” He shrugged, “How long have we been here?” “Lemme check. Display Time/Date, 12 hour system.” I said. Nothing came up. “Wrong command if you want to know that. Display ‘play’ time.” a timer appeared, saying 24:13 and went up every second. “Oh. Then how do I check the time itself then?” I asked, a little embarrassed by my blunder. “Display calendar.” and a calendar appeared, saying it was the fifteenth of June. “Huh, Lumos was right, the world is on a different clock.” “Ok. So, who are we going to ask for help when we get there anyway?” I inquired. “Oh, just the rest of our little human ‘colony.’” Ven said, “I know a few who definitely will join, and one who probably won’t.” “I see. So, can you tell me about them?” “Well, I don’t really know much about them personally, but I know what they call themselves, and their powers more so than them. To start, there are the first two, Shade and Aqua, they were sort of in a relationship at last check.” “Like you and Die? And don’t deny it. You like her, right?” I asked with a grin. He turned a deep shade of crimson, “Please stop bringing it up...” “I will when you and Die both admit you like each other.” I said with a small scowl. “Well you already know I like her, now will you stop pushing it?” “Did you tell her?” I asked. “... No, I haven’t... It’s just...” He looked like he was searching for the right words, “I don’t know how... and honestly, I don’t know how she’ll respond immediately to it, which is the part that scares me the most.” “Look, I know she likes you. We even had a bet before the fight that Era interrupted. If I won, she had to ask you out, and when I said that, she blushed redder than the Solar Orb. The problem is, you’ll never know how she’ll respond until you try, but I have the utmost faith that it will be a good one.” I said. “Fine, I’ll tell her, just... Not until we reach a specific world.” “Which one. And before you say ‘wait and see’, know that I’ll keep hounding you until you tell me.” “I won’t tell you the name because you’ll hound me to go to that world if I do, but I will tell you its the most likely world for us to be separated from the rest on, if I’m right. Anyway, we should be arriving any moment, so lets find the others.” “I won’t hound you to go. We’ll get there when we get there, and all that. All I want to know is its name. Is that so much to ask?” “Well, how about this: think of it as... a surprise for you as well as her. Besides, if you knew, you might act a little off when we get there, which could tip her off.” “I’ll give you that. Ever since that DtH incident, I’ve felt different. If I had to describe myself, I’d say I was more like, well, a pony, in regards to my emotional state. I feel more open than I ever did, and I find it a little easier to be happy about things.” “Yeah, makes sense. Anyway, lets go to the bridge.” “Ok.” I said, and we headed through the ship. “Hey Ven, you know I like Luna, right?” “We all do, dude.” “Yeah yeah.” I said in mock-irritation. “What I mean is, does she feel the same way?” “Is it not obvious?” “Well, she did hug me when I got back....but I thought it was just because she was worried. So she actually li--” “You two can talk about it later,” Discord said, appearing in front of us, “We’re here. Now, I’m only teleporting Clare and Ventus down. Everyone else has to stay on the ship, including myself, the environment apparently has formed some sort of thing that could harm off worlders since I was last there.” “Ok Cap’n Discord. I wish I could’ve seen what your Equis is like though Ven.” “Yeah, and I wish I was the one who owned this ship. Ok, Discord, anything I should know before you send me off?” Discord snapped his fingers, and a device appeared around his wrist. “That will let you contact me when everyone you can bring is with you, and we only have 4 spare rooms, so choose carefully.” He said. Ven did an overdone salute, before saying “Ready to go, sir.” Discord just snapped his fingers, and he disappeared. “Well that’s cool. And only four? Couldn’t you make more if you needed to? I mean, you can do practically anything, right?” I said. “True, but I don’t like dealing with too large of groups. Too much noise.” “Good point. Too many and it get’s way too hard to get things done too.” “Glad to know we see eye to eye on that, my pony friend.” “Thanks. Hey, can I ask you something?” “Sure, but there is no guarantee I’ll answer it.” “Ok, better make it a good question then. Hmmm....do you like Celestia? I mean romantically.” Without blush or any sign of bashfulness, Discord, just said “Yes, very much so.” “Ok then. I was gonna ask you about why I feel different, seeing as you tend to know things that not even Celestia could figure out, but I already think I know why, besides not having to worry about Akumu taking over my body anymore.” “Oh trust me, the trouble Akumu will be is far worse now than before. At Umbra’s side, he can travel to any world much faster than us, and spread heartless easily.” Discord said glumly. “Then we just have to take him down, don’t we?” I replied with a confident smile. “I wish it was that easy, there are only... I think 10 living keyblade wielders right now. One is currently in a coma, one is a statue, one is trapped in the world of darkness, three are children with next to no training with it, one just discovered his, one is too old to really fight well enough, one is a humanized mouse, and one is the guy who created the very first heartless, and by connection the nobodies.” “Ok then. So, do you have anything besides the games I could use to learn more about this Kingdom Hearts stuff, including previous keyblade wielders?” I asked. “I have a written collection of a group of items in the game called the ‘secret reports,’ and the guides to each game. As well as some of the research that, once stolen, helped create the first heartless.” “Awesome. So where is it? I wanna learn as much as I can before we get to where we’re going.” I said. “VR room: library mode.” Discord said, as though bored. “Not a fan of libraries?” I asked as the room became a huge library with books of all kinds. “No, I just don’t want people stealing my books.” “Dude, couldn’t you enchant them to trap any would-be thieves inside until you decide they learned their lesson?” “Yes, but this is easier. Plus they might like that kind of punishment.” “Not if they become a blank page or something. Then they’re not in the story, they’re just blank.” “Still, it’s easier to just make them illusions.” “I guess. So, is there anything you wanna do?” I asked as I looked through the various sections for information on the Kingdom Hearts games. “Got nothing to do, really, since simply leaving the ship may kill me. Also, Find related articles: Kingdom hearts.” The library shrunk to just a handful of books. “Cool. I should really start reading the instructions, huh?” I said. “It would be better if you just played the Kingdom Hearts games in VR mode.” “Maybe, but I like to read up on things as well before I experience them. Except instruction manuals. I always dive in without reading them and cause havoc as I try to figure out the controls by myself.” I chuckled remembering when I went with Die and my parents to the Gold Saucer, and getting addicted to all the games. “Well... In this version there are no real controls, since its true virtual reality, scents, sounds, sight, even emulation of touch.” I could hear the pride from his voice. “Dude, that is definitely awesome. Wish I could make something like that.” I said, more than a little jealous. “It’s magic. I don’t have to explain shit!” I chuckled. “I never said you had to explain it. I was just wishing I could make something as awesome as what you made, dude.” “Well you can’t cause you don’t have as large magic supplies.” I sighed. “Technically it’s because I can’t use chaos magic. The Orbs that gave Celestia and Luna their power reside within me and Die. Well, technically, my Orb may have become a keyblade. And I have to learn to control that power all over again. Hey, any ideas just how powerful the Orbs really are? I’m asking a lot of questions, aren’t I?” I said, giving myself a headache. “Yes you are. Enjoy the reading, and I do recommend playing some KH for a better understanding, as not much is written about the keyblade.” Discord said before disappearing. “I will. Thanks.” I started to go through the books one by one, in historical order, rather than in order of which game came first. “Man, Discord has definitely got an awesome collection.” I said as I went through the various books, guides and journals at hand... I mean hoof. __________________________________________________________________ Three hours later I’d fallen asleep about 3/4 of the way through all the books. I was completely wrecked. I was awoken by a voice I recognized as Ven’s came over the intercom, saying “Beam me up, Scotty.” I got up, turned off the VR, and headed straight to the bridge, where I saw several humans that I assumed were the friends Ven had talked about, and each was an oddity on their own. The first one was completely covered from head to toe, in a grey, loose fitting robe and face wrap, with a black stripe going up the front and back. Second, there was a guy who wore a simple business suit from the same material as Ven’s outfit, had neon blue hair, and was soaked in water. After that there was a woman secreting smoke from her hands somehow, who wore a t-shirt and shorts ALSO made of the same material. Last, there was a guy with Spiky Red and Yellow hair, who was wearing blue jeans, a red shirt, and a light blue one of those jackets than have fur coming out of the hood. I walked up to the four new arrivals and introduced myself. “Hi. Noctis, ex-SOLDIER, pony, and immortal, at your service.” They all stared for a few moments, before the guy in the business suit stepped forward said, “I am Aqua, that” he pointed at the woman secreting smoke, “Is shade, that,” he pointed at the robed one, “Is Tox, and finally, we have ‘Sparky.’” The man in the jacket glared at him. “Its ‘Jolt,’ not ‘Sparky.’” He said. “Well, it’s nice to meet you all. So, did Ven tell you about Lumos?” I asked. “About how he is now four beings, two heartlesses, and two nobodies?” Shade asked. “And about how one heartless, Umbra, nearly got to me, and released my own darkness, Akumu, who now exists in my human form, while I am now a pegasus and wield a keyblade ? Did he tell you about that?” I asked. “Well,” Said the one called ‘Tox,’ in a feminine voice, “We seem to be on the same page here.” “Alright then. So, you know we’re going after Lumos and Malum, and Mirum if it’s possible to save him that is. We have to find them before Umbra and Akumu.” “Yes, that we do,” Jolt said, “Anyway, Ven also explained who we would be traveling with beforehand, which is probably why Stan refused to come with us.” “Stan?” I asked. “One of the others who arrived after Discords defeat, he has earth based powers, and is a stereotype jock, and a sexist pig.” Clare said angrily. “Ok then. Good thing he didn’t come with you. Anyway, where are we off to first Cap’n?” I turned to Discord, who was in his human form. “Ask navigation.” He said, pointing at Ven. “Well?” I asked. “We’re going to the world every KH game has visited at least once: Hollow Bastion, also known as Radiant Gardens.” “Nice. So, what exactly are we hoping to find there? Think we’ll meet Yuffie and Cid?” “How do you know of Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee?” Ven asked. “I spent the past three hours reading up on Kingdom Hearts, that’s how.” I said smugly. “By the way, I really wanna obtain some of those keychains sometime. They look like they’d be handy.” “Well, they might have one or two in the shops there, thats one reason we’re stopping there. Also, we’re going to look for information on recent heartless attacks, maybe try to find other keyblade wielders, oh, and maybe meet with some people from your world. Though they probably won’t recognize you.” “Ok then. If I recall, the ones there should be Tifa, Cloud and Yuffie, right? And Cid, can’t forget that crazy flyboy.” I said. “Well, Cloud may or may not be there, depending on if the battle with Sephiroth has happened yet.” I bristled. “Don’t. Mention. Sephiroth.” I said, trying to calm down by taking deep breaths. “Got it, anyway, if that battle has occurred, then KH2 has already happened, if not, we may run into Sora if we wait near the Dark Depths.” Ven said. “Also, the information we do gather will decide the next location. So I’m only deciding which world to go to out of those available.” “Ok then. Hey, where are Die and the princesses by the way?” I asked, only just noticing their absence. Clare answered, “They are all in the game room, Die playing the final fantasy games, and the princesses are playing Halo, oddly enough we have an internet connection here.” “Ok then. So, got an ETA?” “One day two hours.” Discord said, and said, “Liftoff in five, four, three, two,” The people who just got on all grabbed onto something and tensed up, “one, and we have liftoff.” Ven chuckled at the antics of the other humans, and walked over to me, before whispering “Don’t tell these guys about the VR room either, Aqua would ruin it with his water secretion, shade would fill the place with smoke, Sparky would electrocute the damn thing in anger, and Tox would sit in there for hours playing card games with illusionary opponents.” “Is Tox a gambler in disguise?” I asked. “No, she plays Magic the Gathering, I’m pretty sure you’ve heard of it from Lumos.” “Yeah. Era, the elf who tried to kill me, was from one of the places that the game is set in.” “Yeah, I know, Mirrodin.” He said, “I’m gonna go play some KH in the Virtual room” “And speaking of Era, where’s he? And why do I keep failing to notice others being absent?” “Era has been in the ‘dark room’ since we left, as for the second question, you’re not very observant. See ya in a bit.” Ven said as he left the room. “Oh. Right.” I said, facehoofing. “And yeah, I’m not very observant anymore. It used to be hard for me to miss something. Now I feel like I have to reach that state of alertness all over again.” I said. “Um, Noctis?” Clare said, “He left.” “Oh. See what I mean though? I’m starting out as a complete amateur again.” “Yeah. I see. Maybe having Akumu was constantly keep you on your toes, which now would have to be metaphorical, made you more observant, and being without him, you’re relaxing to the point you stop noticing normal things? Damn, gave myself a headache.” Clare said, gripping her head lightly. “So because he’s separated from me, I subconsciously lowered my guard and as such, I’m much less observant etc. Well, at least I seem to regain that alertness in battle.” I said. “Eh, good enough, anyway, goodnight.” She said, and turned to leave. “Sure.” I said, before turning to Discord. “I’m gonna go train for a while. If I start spending too long, you have my permission to have whoever you want do whatever you want them to if it gets me to take a break.” I said. “Seems legit,” Discord said. “Aqua, Shade, Tox, ‘Sparky’.” I said nodding to each of them, smiling despite the glare Jolt gave me, before heading to the VR Room for another training session. Unbeknownst to me, someone was already there. As I walked in, I found myself in Hollow Bastion, the KH2 version. There, I saw ‘Sora’ battling against an army of heartless. ‘Sora’ charged forward toward the hoard, Kingdom key in hand, slashing through the first three that came his way. This was followed by charging through several, and letting out a wide slash, taking out a good portion of them. His body glowed, and he lept up, diving through the crowd of heartless and floating up several times, before landing again, and continuing his onslaught. About two minutes into the battle, one of the floating heartless began to create a blue energy. ‘Sora’ saw this, and jumped up and grabbed it. He then landed, and used the heartless to destroy the heartless in a wide radius. His keyblade then glowed red, and with a shout of “FIRE!” several fireballs began to orbit him for a few seconds, striking any heartless stupid enough to draw near. ‘Sora’ kept this strategy up until the rest of the heartless were all dead. At which a mechanical voice said “Battle of Hollow Bastion: Complete. Damage taken: light. Time taken: 4 minutes, 40 seconds. Kills: 1000. Reaction commands used: 2. Spells used: 1. Items used: 0. Overall Score: A” “Damn, I was aiming for ‘S’ rank... Shouldn’t have used Fire.” Ven’s voice said. “That was still damn impressive, and coming from a former 1st Class, you know that’s something.” I said as the Virtual battleground faded away. “Hey,” Ven said, “... How much of that did you see?” “Pretty much all of it. Never seen fire used like that before. Is that what a keyblade is really capable of?” I asked. “Hardly, Sora’s abilities are nowhere near those of any who have obtained a ‘Mark of Mastery,’ from what I understand.” “I remember. Master Aqua was able to completely alter the Land of Departure into what is now Castle Oblivion, where Ventus sleeps and Aqua’s armor resides.” “Also known as ‘the castle that never was.’ Another ability related to the mark of mastery is the ‘Keyblade inheritance’ ceremony.” “Actually, that’s not true. The inheritance ceremony can be performed by any keyblade wielder. Take Terra passing his on to Riku as an example.” I explained. “A fair point, and Riku performed it accidentally with Sora in KH1/” “And Aqua with Kairi in Birth By Sleep.” I reminded him. “I think you may have read more than needed.” Ven said with a chuckle. “Maybe I did, but right now I’m here to train. I need to get back to the level I was at before Akumu was separated from me. Ven grinned, “Well then, how about this? Change Scenario: Kingdom Hearts 2 final mix, hidden fight: Lingering Will battle, replace characters with Players, unlimited MP, all keyblades allowed.” “So, Lingering Will, huh? This should be fun.” I said with a mix of excitement and nervousness. “Create weapon: Way to the dawn. Create weapon: Halted Dusk.” Ven said, the keyblade of Riku appearing in his hand, and a reversed version in his left. “I’ll stick with my own keyblade for now.” “Sure you don’t want a keychain?” Ven asked. “I’ll stick with my own until we obtain some keychains. Then I’ll start learning to use those.” I said. “Fair enough.” “So, when do we start?” I asked. “Simulation: Start” Ven said, and the suit of armor began to attack relentlessly. _________________________________________________________________ Akumu’s POV Umbra asked, holding out his sixth attempt at making me an MP5. “You forgot the firing pin, again.” I said, rolling my eyes. he mind-shouted, throwing it at the nearest tree, followed by charging chaos into it, making it explode. “Umbra, calm the fuck down.” I said, drawing the sword he made me. “If it’s that difficult, just stop for now. It’s not like I’m gonna need it right now. Is Noctis here? Is Die here? Are Lumos or any of his other parts besides you here?” Umbra took a few deep breaths, before ‘saying,’ “Then I don’t need it right now. I want it, but I can wait until you can focus. Maybe trying to create all these weapons in a row was a bad idea?” I said calmly, though inside I was raging. Thank the darkness Heartless can conceal it as well as we can when we want to. “And besides, Lumos is probably nothing more than a dusk right now. He’ll be easy to kill, and once he’s gone, we can take all the time in the world to finish off Malum and Mirum.” “Well even if he did, and even if they do, we’re the most powerful Heartless that ever existed, except for maybe Ansem, but since he’s not around anymore, we’re top darkness dogs.” Umbra said with a sadistic grin. “Oh, do tell.” I said with a manic smile. “You didn’t need to. I guessed that was the one you used on Noctis to separate us, good job by the way, you couldn’t even kill him.” “What, we need seven or something?” I asked sarcastically. Umbra ‘said,’ his grin widening. “Oh, don’t keep me in suspense, where are we going? Also, why do you use that mind thing, why don’t you just create a mouth for yourself or something?” “Fine, then allow me.” I said, drawing my sword and advancing towards him with the intent of cutting him a mouth. “Yeah, well what about when you’re thinking about those magazines. I couldn’t get to sleep for hours cause you kept getting those damn images popping into your head and broadcasting them in your sleep!” “Oh, you sonova...No, not gonna let you win. I’m gonna calm down, and think about ripping Noctis’ throat open.” Umbra let out a low, barking laugh, one of the few sounds his mouth can make, “So, a new dark keyblade. And since we’re using the elements, how about we give it the name ‘False Harmony’.” I suggested. “Wait, what if the princesses of that world come after us for going after all of them? We’re strong, but I don’t feel like going up against the two who control the sun and moon just yet.” Umbra ‘said’ as he began to form something with his metal. “Not necessarily. Remember, the rules are always slightly different at the very least in each Equestria. They may be weakened by it here, but what if it has the opposite effect there?” <... A fair point, but then again, what if we go to a world where both are already dead?> “I would say you’re crazy, then I would say I’m in.” I replied, smiling like a fool. “Ha. Then we’ll arrive incognito, as they say. Let ‘em think we’re there to help or some shit like that, then when their backs are turned, slice, out with their hearts.” Umbra corrected “Well, Noctis only met those ponies briefly, but I’d say that Applejack bitch represents pride. I could feel it radiating from her. If she’s got as much pride in the world you speak of as she does here, then we’ve got our ‘Pride’.” “Oh, and how would a lazy bitch be a problem?” I asked, a little confused. “Ha. You said she’s sloth, she’d probably be too lazy to use it.” “Ugh, fine. So, calmed down yet?” He tossed me a small hand crossbow, “Yeah, and I can mod it later. Ah, the joys of knowing almost everything there is to know about weapons.” “We shall...” Umbra said, picking up a sword with darkness infused, and created a dark passageway with a single swing of it. “Ok, you have to teach me that.” He grinned, I shrugged and took the crossbow as well as the blade, and followed him through the passageway, with one thought on my mind. I’m gonna enjoy thi-FUCK IT’S COLD IN HERE! After nearly a minute in that frozen hell, we walked out of the passageway in the branches of a large tree. Thankfully, Umbra hand made a platform out of darkness right before I could fall. “So, where to, since I have no fucking idea where I am right now.” I whisper-yelled. “Ponyville? What kind of retarded name is that!? And who builds a library in a tree? What are they, elves or something!?” “Oh. Ok then. It’s still a retarded name, though.” “Oh? What’s the city called, and can we blow it up or something when we’re done here?” “I wasn’t gonna bi...well, maybe a little.” I admitted. “Seriously? I’ll just pop my head out and check.” I said, poking my head up only to be yanked back down by Umbra. “Then do it before I go stir-crazy!” Umbra said, as he slowly poked a sword through the branches, resulting in a single bit light coming through, “Alright then. Let’s get to...wait, where are we going again?” “Oh. Sounds more like the name of a brothel to me.” “Eh, when we’re done here, let's find a world where it really is one.” I said, jumping out of the tree and hitting the ground running. Umbra’s platform of darkness pulled out over me, and Umbra just shook his head. “I heard that!” I said, appearing behind him as I switched from my smoky form to my solid one. He ‘said,’ as small amounts of darkness wrapped around our feet, and the platform sped up at an astonishing rate. “So, where do you think little Knocky and his friends are?” He paused for a moment, before the darkness began to slow. “I doubt that C is true” He asked as the platform dissipated beneath us, and we dropped onto the ground. I gracefully landed on my ass. “Ow. Dammit, I am so outta practice. Stupid Die with her stupid seal, I should’ve been in charge of this body for six years, but instead, I get locked in the weakling’s mind, then you get me out, and I’m too new to using the body to be effective outside of combat.” I complained. he said, And with that, he put on a black glove with a white line down the middle of it. “Nice glove. Is a blade gonna pop out? Can it make stuff burst into flames if you touch them with it?” “It traps the soul of whoever you hit with it within the glove, correct?” “So, we’ve got a week to do it? Easy munny!” “We won’t need the extra time. Even if they find us, they won’t be able to do a damn thing.” “Well, I’m wondering why we ran from Noctis. I mean, I know he had a keyblade, but he’s a weakling, and he can’t even use that body, he has no practice with it.” “Yeah, but he didn’t know that.” “Even so, he’s still a weakling. But enough about him. Let’s get to soul stealin’!” Umbra ‘said,’ while walking over to a tree. “Oh, well I’m starving. So I’m gonna grab an apple now.” I said, reaching towards the branches and plucking a juicy apple from it. Umbra’s voice said, as he grabbed one of the brightest, shiniest apples off of a tree. I heard an angry roar come from behind me, and I turned to see a bright orange pony with a yellow mane running right at me, only for Umbra to appear next to her, and stick his gloved hand into her stomach. Her eyes faded a bit, and she collapsed. <’Pride’ captured. Creating sinblade of pride.> Umbra thought-spoke, as a ball of metal appeared in his other hand. The metal shaped itself into a misshapen black keyblade with a golden handguard. “Cool. Hey, since she doesn’t have a soul anymore, does that mean she’s technically a zombie? Can we order her around and stuff?” “Only if we ordered her to follow us. We could just order her t-” “Oh. Ok then.” Umbra said as he lifted us into the air on a new dark platform, which began to fly over the town. We were outside of an odd building very soon. “Why is it shaped like a darkness damned merry-go-round?” “Fuck the children if this is what they want!” Umbra said as he warped us inside with a dark passage “And you say you can’t do precise.” I smirked.. “Meh, whatever floats your boat. So, where’s this Envy girl anyway? I wanna do it this time. Gimme the glove!” He said, tossing me the glove he used to capture the last sin. “Oh yeah, bitch is gonna get punched!” I said as I started towards the stairs. Umbra told me as he followed me. “I don’t need to be quiet, I’ve got a soul stealing glove!” I retorted. “Maybe so, but if anyone else comes in, I’ll just kick their asses.” He replied, opening a door that led to a large bedroom, in which an ivory pony with an overly fancy purple hairdo was sleeping. I walked up to her, slapped her awake, and smiled as I shoved my gloved hand into her chest, revelling in the shocked face she made as I pulled her soul from her body. When her eyes were completely dull and lifeless, I took the glove off and tossed it back to Umbra. “That was fun.” “Yeah. I get the feeling someone’s letting us do all this. Like they’re pulling strings or something to make sure we succeed. I don’t like it.” He put on the glove again, and ‘said’ As a larger, jeweled keyblade appeared instead of the design of the last one. “So, Sloth next, since you’re so scared of being nuked?” “Again? When did you get nuked a first time?” “What does it feel like?” “Well alright then. We’ll just avoid ‘inspiring’ her.” “Hmm, I’m gonna go with attack at night. But we’ve gotta find her first.” “Alright then, lead the way. I wanna get this over with so we can get out of this shithole.” Umbra said as he warped us out and put us on another dark platform. “I just want to kill those idiots.” I said as we arrived near a ‘house in the sky’. “DAFUQ! How can a house be made of clouds!?” Umbra said “Yeah?” I said. “I would hope so, otherwise it wouldn’t be much of a challenge. Also, who would they get to help?” “Well, I already know who I like the most among them.” I said, grinning. Umbra said with a grin that was as creepy, if not creepier than my own. “Well, the poison user of course. Think we could use their own poison against them if they come along with the little ragtag group?” “How come?” “Ok, I officially hate Lumos.” I said as we finally reached the house. “Hey, will we be able to stand on these?” I asked as I put out a foot with the intention of testing it’s solidity. He grabbed me by the scruff of the neck as I began to fall through. “Dammit. I hate clouds.” I huffed. and then he fell through the cloud as he tried to step on it. a dark board rose up, barely large enough for him to stand on. “You don’t have wings. That sucks.” “Oh. Wish I could’ve seen that. It would have been awesome.” He ‘said’ as the platform I stood on began it’s decent. “Awww, I wanted to see you rip her soul out!” I complained as I stepped onto the hard ground. and with that, his dark board lifted him into the cloud house. I sat on the ground with crossed legs, wondering what had happened to my weaker half’s sword, when suddenly, it just appeared in my hand. “Well, this is interesting.” I heard Umbra’s voice say, as he landed in front of me, “Well, I got something to show you first.” I said, holding up Tsuki no me for him. “Yup. Idiot had to give it up, as well as his human form and his ability to control the Lunar Orb’s powers, in order to keep his heart. Turns out I got the blade.” Umbra asked. “Dunno. Lemme check.” I said, reaching into my arm and pulling out several glowing orbs. “Oh FUCK YEAH, WE HAVE MATERIA BITCHES!” “From what I can tell, every single one he brought with him when he went to kill you. That means we’ve got Firaga, Firaga Burst, Blizzaga, Thundaga, Shadow Flames, Curaga, and-SWEET, WE GOT YOJIMBO!” “Only if we can’t find his weak spots. We find those, all we need to do is kick ‘em and he’ll either do exactly what we want, or...” I started rubbing the back of my head. “He’ll try to kill us. “Noctis doesn’t know about it. Besides, he’s too goody-goody to ever use it even if he did know.” “No need.” I said, pulling out a small leather object. “I got his wallet!” “Are you kidding? Noctis has several million gil saved up from missions and such.” “Yeah. I really don’t like this feeling of invisible helpers, despite how lucky it makes us.” “Talk to the hand, cause the face ain’t listenin’.” “Sure thing bossless.” “Yeah, cool. So, to the tree again?” <Eeyup.> Umbra’s voice did a southern accent for that. “What’s with the sudden accent?” “I see. So he’s retarded?” “Sure.” I said as Umbra warped us back to the library. “So you have a second glove?” He said as he tossed me a left hand version of the glove he was wearing. “Nice.” I said, putting on the glove. “So, Wrath or Greed for you?” I asked. “I want to steal the soul of the one who shocked Die. Despite the fact that I hate her guts, I still desire revenge against the one who hurt her. Stupid remnants of Noctis’ emotions.” <... We could use those emotions, you know.> “Oh, how so?” He said before opening the window quietly, and jumping in. I followed him and opened the first door, in which slept a small purple unicorn and a titchy purple and green lizard. he said, putting himself over the dragon. “1.” <2...> I tensed up and waited a moment, before hearing Shouted in my mind, and seeing Umbra’s hand shoot into the lizard’s chest. “The fuck?” I said, before rushing the now awake unicorn and jamming my left hand into her, and pulling out her soul. Umbra said, an orb of metal appearing in his gloved hand, which became a metalic red, and formed a simpler keyblade, while another orb dropped into my own gloved hand, which formed a different blade of sin. “The fuck was that? Five?” “Well fuck Monty, and his Pythons.” “So, we’ve got four sins now. All we need is Lust, Sloth, and Gluttony, and we’re done. And it hasn’t even been one day yet? Seriously, this is definitely too easy.” “Fun. Hey, on the off chance that we lose, what happens to the sinblades?” He looked deep in thought for a moment before saying, “So we’ve still doomed a world by eliminating its heroes. I like it. Even if we lose, we win.” “Sure, so where’s she hiding?” “HI! I’M PINKIE PIE!” I jumped back as a pink pony, with a mane and tail that looked like cotton candy, jumped out from between us, completely defying the laws of physics. “Um, what are you talking about?” <... You can hear me? Even though I’m using private though-speech?> “OOOH, is that telepathy, are you psychic? Can you tell what I’m thinking-oOOH can you control my mind? Are you controlling it right now or are you making me think you’re controlling my mind or-OOOOH nice gloves!” She said at a mile a minute. Umbra let out a small grin, He asked. “Maybe later, right now I have to-*GASP*-, I totally have to throw you a party!” She said, bounding off, leaving an after-image. “Umbra.” “Actually, we could turn this to our advantage.” <... I see what you’re getting at, if we get ‘Lust’ before hand, we could get both ‘Sloth’ and ‘Gluttony’ at the party, right?> “Yeah. So, to Lust’s house?” “How so? Is she gonna try and seduce us or something?” he said as he opened up a dark passage under us, only to pop out next to a small hut at the forest’s edge. “Woah, that’s a lot of animals.” I said, a little creeped out by all the eyes staring at us. “Oh, come on, what harm could they possi-AGH, GETITOFFGETITOFFGETIFOFF!” I yelled as a white furball attached itself to my leg and immediately started chomping on it. Umbra pulled the rabbit off my leg, “Rabbit? RABBIT!? IT’S MORE LIKE A FUCKING SAHAGIN WITH THE WAY IT TRIED TO CHOMP ON ME!” he said as he crushed it’s throat. “Good riddance, now where’s th-” “ANGEL! YOU MONSTER!” A voice exclaimed. Umbra asked as he jabbed his hand out, stabbing it onto a butter colored pegasus. “So Lust is ours. Now we’ve got two to go.” I said as Umbra created yet another sinblade. Umbra shuddered. “Something tells me I don’t wanna know.” I said with a raised eyebrow. “Dude, I want to kill every living thing and even I think that’s fucked up.” I said, shivering. “Good point.” “Wait, if this is that universe, wouldn’t Gluttony have already turned Sloth into cupcakes?” “No, you said we’d leave and get them from another world, I pointed out that if this is that universe, then sloth is dead. Though I doubt that she is.” “Well, I think Sloth is alive here. Trust me, I know psychotic, and while Gluttony is crazy, she’s definitely not psychotic.” “Why did you say pullen? It’s pulled.” “Ah. Let’s get to wherever this party is before we die of old age.” “Oooookaaaaaaay?” I said, forgetting about the party in a moment of confusion. “Wow, that’s...weird. The moment he gives up, lady luck smiles on him? Does that happen to him a lot?” “Ok then. So where to next?” “Well, I’ll go back to town, maybe see if the library has some useful information, as unlikely as that is.” I said, walking towards the town. “If you need me, yell ‘I NEED AN ADULT!’ with that mind thing.” Umbra chuckled, “Wait, what? What do you mean flaming unicorns?” “Um, how would she do that without her soul? She’s essentially an empty husk.” “Ok then. Well, see ya Umbra. Don’t kill too many of the forest’s inhabitants.” He said as he flew off on a dark platform. “Ok-wait! I forgot to give you wrath back! Aw, dammit.” I said, as he was already gone. “Dammit, how do I make it disappear? Ah, forget it.” I just placed Wrath on my back as I walked back towards town, merely content with imagining the entire place burning to the ground as I navigated the empty streets. Eventually, after many, many detours, I found the library again. As I walked inside, I felt a presence. And then the lights came on. “SURPRISE!” “Aw, fuck.” Chapter 9: Chapter 9: Radiant Garden “Damn, I’m still aching all over. How is an empty suit of armor so damn strong?” “Magic and a soul.” Ven said plainly, while rubbing his bruises. I gave him a flat look. “Shut up.” “Fine. Still, I almost won, thats enough for me.” I chuckled. “Yeah. Seriously though, I was surprised when you got hit by that last energy ball. I thought you’d dodge it easy.” “Fighting for half an hour isn’t exactly helpful in dodging.” “Try fighting all day with barely even a second of rest in a barren wasteland full of dragons, among other things.” I said, recalling my less than amicable arrival into Equestria. “Yeah, you told me before.” He looked up, “So which shop should we go to first?” He asked me. “I’d say let’s go to a weapon shop first. Then we should see about finding Yuffie and the gang. Hey, if we’re lucky, we might be playing through the events of 3D and we could meet Lea.” “That would be interesting... I haven’t actually played that one myself.” He said as he walked up to the weapons store, with me close behind. The guy behind the counter looked up, and said “Hey, what can I... Is that a pegasus?” “Yes he is, anyway, I was wondering if you have any good shields, or keychains?” “Oh, we don’t sell keychains here, bro. Try the jewelry shop, as for shields...” He ducked back behind the counter for a moment, before hefting up a large, purple shield with green chains on it. “I’ll give you this for 400 munny.” Ven reached into his pocket, and pulled out a single bit, “And how much is this worth?” The shopkeeper just stared at the gold coin for a few seconds, before saying, “I’ll give you the shield for four of those coins.” “Hey sir, mind if I ask you something?” “HOLY SHIT IT TALKS?!?!” The shopkeeper shouted. I rolled my eyes and thought about summoning my keyblade, but decided against it. “Yes, I do. I want to ask if you know where we can find any of the following people: Yuffie Kisaragi, Squall Leonheart AKA Leon, Aerith Gainsborough, and Cid Highwind.” “Oh, you mean the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee? They’re normally holed up at Merlin’s place.” “Thanks. Oh, has a teenager named Sora been here recently?” “Yeah, a couple days ago, he bought an ability ring at the accessory shop.” “Ok, thanks.” I said as we left the shop with our new shield. “... Why did I choose the shield?” “Who cares, let’s go find Merlin’s house. I’m getting tired of all the staring.” I said impatiently as passersby continued to gawk at the ‘pretty little pony with wings’. “Ok, ok, but first we should let the others know where we’re going, maybe get a keychain at the accessory stop.” Ven said with an excited tone. “Fine. And maybe we’ll find some stuff we can use to make our own too.” I suggested. “Yeah, if only we could find some Orichalcum plus. If we could locate enough of that we could make you the ‘Ultima’ keychain.” He said as he turned to the accessory shop “That would be cool, but I’d prefer the Unbound keychain from Dream Drop Distance.” “To each their own, personal favorite here is Two Become One, the keychain Sora gets after defeating Roxas in KH2 Final Mix.” “I see. That one is cool.” I said as we entered the shop, ignoring the dropping jaw of the shopkeeper. “Um, hello, I heard you sell keychains here?” Ven asked the shop girl, who was still staring at me, before looking up. “Yes... We do, do you have one in mind or would you like to see all of them?” “All of them.” The girl turned away, and pulled down a display case with ten keychains in them. One I recognized as the keychain for the Bond of Flame keyblade. “Ma’am, where did you acquire this one?” I asked, pointing to the keychain. She stared at me again for a few more seconds, before saying “I found it on the sidewalk, I had it in the lost and found for two months, why, is it yours?” “No, but I do know who it belongs to.” I recalled the one that I thought of at random during training. “Miss, have you ever heard of Infinity Spectrum?” “I think I might have that one in the back, let me check.” And with that she walked through a door leading deeper into the shop “So, Ven, you think we’ll be able to save Lumos, Mirum and Malum?” “That depends on if we can find a new heart for Lumos.” “I think it might be possible to help him if we bring them back and use the Elements on them. It’s a longshot, but it just might work.” I suggested. “There are other ways to do it. Your keyblade purifies hearts, if we could find a strong enough heartless, we could try to keep the heart after defeating it. It’s more likely to actually work.” “Ok then. But Infinity Spectrum....why does that keychain feel so important?” I mused. “Probably nothing, like when you get a song stuck in your head.” “That’s what I used to think about Akumu, and look where that got me.” I deadpanned. “Fair enough.” Ven said as the shop girl walked back in with the keychain I asked for. “We just got this one yesterday, the cost hasn’t been decided yet but-” “How about 60 of these?” Ven asked, holding out a handful of bits. “And we’ll buy the other one too. I have an idea where we might find its owner.” I said. She just stared at the coins, “Do you know how much this kind of thing is worth?!” “Where we’re from, the metal is as common as the stones used in the pathways here.” I replied cooly. “This is worth over 300 munny! Just one of these! I’ll accept three, no more. Also if you really are returning the other keychain to it’s rightful owner, you can take it for no charge.” “Damn it, that guy at the weapons shop ripped us off!” Ven said as he took back the remaining, unaccepted money. “So, you’ve still got plenty of bits left, right? I hope you do, cause I lost my wallet when I lost my human form Ventus.” I said, emphasising his full name for no apparent reason. “True, lets get going, and find your friends now, shall we?” Ven said as he grabbed the keychains and walked away. “Thanks!” I called back to the lady as I left the shop after Ven. “Ok, so then, where are the others? We still need to let them know.” Ven said as he walked around the area, glancing around. “I dunno, I-agh!” I yelled as I bumped into someone. “Hey, watch where...you’re......a pegasus?” A young female voice questioned. “Who’s asking?” I replied, rubbing my nose with a hoof. “Well this makes things significantly easier.” Ven said beside me. “Yeah, and how-YOU!” I exclaimed as I found myself face-to-muzzle with Yuffie Kisaragi of Wutai. “Sorry about this, we’ve sort of been looking for you.” “Oh, and what do two travelers require of the Great Ninja Yuffie of the RGRC?” She asked with a raised eyebrow. “... I... Noctis you explain.” “Noctis Custos, former SOLDIER 1st Class, now a pegasus. How’ve you been ninja girl?” I asked. “Noctis? Hmmm...nope, I got nothin’.” She said. “Uh, Noctis, this is a different Yuffie than the one you know, this one has lived in Radiant Gardens a large portion of her life. The one you know is probably still on Gaia.” “Oh,” I said, feeling stupid. “Maybe I should explain why we’re here. First,” I summoned my keyblade, “I’m sure you know what this is. Now, we’re looking for some friends of ours. Their names are Lumos, and Malum. We’re also looking for Sora, his friends, and Lea. Do you know where we can find them?” I asked, dismissing my keyblade again. “Oh, and how are Cid and Aerith doing?” “Your not going to ask about Cloud?” Ven asked me. “Knowing him, he’s fine. He can take care of himself.” I replied. “Fair enough, I’ll go find Die and the rest.” He said as he walked away, leaving me alone with Yuffie. “Soooooo...you have a keyblade too, huh? And you know Sora?” “I know of him, but I don’t know him personally. I’ve got two reasons for finding him. The first is personal, but the second is so I can return this.” I said, showing her the Bond Of Flame keychain. “That belongs to Sora? Then why do you have it?” She asked, eyeing me suspiciously. “Shopkeeper found it a few days ago, no one claimed it so she put it up for sale. I figured out who it belonged to and bought it with the intention of returning it. That answer your question?” “Hmmmm,” She kept eyeing me for a few more seconds before her gaze softened. “Okay then feathers, I believe you. Just make sure you do return it or you have to answer to me.” She said in a mock-threatening tone. “Sure. Anyway, how’ve things been going with the reconstruction?” She suddenly beamed at me. “It’s going great! We got the castle almost completely reconstructed, and the best part is some of the missing citizens just reappeared!” She almost shouted. She would’ve gone on longer, but we heard a *PING* sound. Yuffie’s expression quickly became serious. “That was Claymore!” “Claymore?” “The defence system Cid set up. There must be a Heartless somewhere nearby! C’mon, we’ve gotta go deal with it.” She said, running through the streets and leaving me behind. “HEY! WAIT UP!” I yelled as I started running after her. “No, now hurry up!” She retorted, still far ahead of me. “WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” A slightly distorted voice screamed. “Ya hear that? It’s runnin’ scared cause it knows that the Great Ninja Y-OOF!” She was knocked down by a blur of dark feathers. “SORRY!” “Wait, that voice....MIRUM!?”” I half-shouted. “NOT NOW LIGHT THINGS ATTACKING ME!” “Mirum, it’s Noctis. Remember, you, Lumos and Malum saw me in bed with the princess, sorta.” I said. “IF YOU WANT TO TALK WE’LL DO SO LATER!” He said as he ran up a wall and jumped over. “Hey, get back here and face me, coward!” Yuffie exclaimed at Mirum. “YUFFIE, TURN OFF THE DAMN DEFENCE SYSTEM!” I shouted. “What? ARE YOU CRAZY!?” She asked in shock. “No. That heartless happens to be a friend, and I’ve been looking for him so I can help him become whole again.” I replied as calmly as I could. “Wha....you mean.....and he’s.....ugh, fine.” She said, before running off somewhere for a brief moment. When she came back, she was stuck between a frown and a smile. “There, the defence system’s been modified. It won’t attack your ‘friend’ anymore.” She said. “KTHANKSBYE!” I said, taking to the air, clumsily, to search for Mirum. It only took me a few minutes to find him collapsed next to a dumpster in a disturbingly clean alleyway. I set down at the entrance to it and approached slowly, cautiously. “Mirum? Is it really you?” I asked, still wary that he could be Akumu or Umbra in disguise. “Who’s asking?” He replied. “Um, I already said so earlier. Noctis, remember? You saw me in bed with...you know, let’s just forget that part.” “Not ringing any bells, sorry.” He shakily rose, and looked at me with his flashing eyes, “Now, why did you follow me here.” “For one, we’re trying to find you, as well as Lumos and Malum. We’re hoping we can make you guys whole again, help you get your hearts back.” “Um. If you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly a Nobody here. I have a heart... Sort of.” “Yeah, well your other half doesn’t. Malum, remember him? You two have to become one again, or neither of you will last long when Akumu and Umbra come after you.” I said calmly. “Malum... Where have I heard that name before?” Mirum asked himself as he looked up at the sky. “Malum, his name means evil, just like yours means paradox, and mine means Night.” “Yeah, I know my Latin, I know what it means, so why,” A black circular blade appeared in each of his hands, “Do you want me to join with a being named ‘Evil’?” “Dammit, it’s just a name. Don’t make me fight you, Mirum. I don’t want to have to hurt you.” I said. “Yeah, you just want me to stop existing by fusing with a different being.” “You won’t stop existing. All it means is you’ll become whole again, you’ll get your memories back. You have the heart but no memories, Malum has the memories but no heart. You need him, just as he needs you, but if you’re gonna be too stubborn to listen,” I summoned my keyblade, “Then I’ll just have to beat some sense into you! INFINITY SPECTRUM!” The keychain attached itself to my blade and transformed it. Mirum just gave me a death glare, though his eyes did widen a little bit. He said, just barely audible to me, “Light mode.” and all of his feathers turned a brilliant golden as he charged. “So be it.” I said quietly, before I charged as well. We met near the middle, where Mirum simply jumped over me, and ran out of the alleyway, and kept running. “OH NO YOU DON’T! STOPZA!” I yelled, and Mirum simply froze in place.As he fell, a passage of darkness opend under him, and he almost fell through, only to land next to it. “What the...” I walked over to him. “Mirum, please. If you don’t become one with Malum again, a lot of innocent people are going to die. Do you really want the blood of hundreds, if not thousands, on your hands, just because you were too stubborn to do the right thing?” I asked with venom in my voice as I undid the Stopza spell. “... Fine, I’ll fuse with this ‘Malum’ guy. Happy? Now where is he?” “That’s the problem. We don’t know. We were hoping you might have an idea where to look. He is your Nobody, after all.” I said sheepishly. “Yeah, well, shows how much you know.” He said with a roll of his eyes. “Just as humorous as Lumos. So, you gonna come with us to save the world?” I asked. “Do you have any idea how cheesy you sound right now?” “At least I didn’t put emphasis on the last part. Anyway, let’s go find Discord and everyone else before they send out a search party.” He sighed, and said “I won’t be getting out of it will I?” While his blades disappeared. “Sorry, but no. Anyway, you know you wanna kick Umbra’s ass.” I said, smiling a little. “Who?” “Oh right. Basically, before you got separated into the four that exist now, you, Malum and Lumos shared the same body. This guy Sanguine took over your body and....” And so I went into a lengthy explanation about how Umbra came to exist, my own duel with him, how I almost fell to the darkness, up to our arrival in Radiant Gardens to look for information. He took it about as well as could be expected. “WHAT THE FUCK?!” “Dude, calm down before you hurt yourself.” “WHAT DO YOU MEAN CALM DOWN?! IF SOMEONE LIKE THAT IS ON THE LOOSE THEN HE HAS PROBABLY RUINED AT LEAST ONE WORLD ALREADY!” “Ok, I am gonna say this once. CALM THE FUCK DOWN! If he has ruined a world, then we’ll just put it back together. That’s all there is to it. I don’t give a damn if everyone else says it’s impossible. We’ll do it!” “Yeah, I gue- AH!” He shouted as Ventus jumped out of nowhere wearing a different outfit, pinning him down. “Ventus, please release Mirum before I kick your ass.” “It’s Mirum? I saw the heartless symbol on it’s back and just reacted.” Ven said, leaping off, “Also, we both know I would win if we fought.” “Yeah yeah. Sorry about that Mirum. You ok?” “My face... ow...” Mirum said, facedown in the dirt. “Ven, apologise to Mirum. Then, we’ll go find the others.” Ven pointed to the area behind me, “I already found them earlier, when I said I was going to go do so. Also, sorry bro.” He added, looking down at Mirum, Who was starting to get up, rubbing the dirt off his face. “Seriously, why the fuck would you do that?” “Because he can be an idiot sometimes. Anyway, let’s go find the oth-AGH MY EYE! FUCK!” I yelled as something lodged itself in my cornea. Upon pulling it out, and using cure to heal the damage, I found the object to be a paper airplane. “Where did that paper come from?” “You didn’t see it falling?” Mirum asked. “Does it matter? Let’s read it before I get pissed off and burn it or something!” I said impatiently. Journal of a Nobody: Entry 1: I won’t write the details of the first four days, which were just getting used to the organization. I’ve remembered how my metal works, and how to infuse powers in them, but thats about it. I’ve managed to convince Xemnas to lend a small amount of his power to creating a new weapon with me, I call it the Nihl, since Xemnas’ power is Void control, which is basically antimatter. Anything Nihl cuts will disintegrate within a matter of seconds. I have also noticed something rather odd, all the members of this organization sound and look exactly the same. Something... just seems off. ~Lux “What?” “Oh, crap.” I said. “What?” I jumped as I heard a voice from behind me. “Hey princess,” Ven greeted in a surprised tone as Celestia, disguised as a human, walked out from the shadows. Her hair still had it’s multiple colours and whatever magical properties allowed it to flow without wind, and her eyes were still the same vibrant purple, but now she had new clothes, courtesy of Discord, who insisted that they look the part since we were in the KH universe. I wasn’t surprised he had internet access, but I was surprised by all the artwork people had made of this world and Equestria. Anyway, back to Celestia’s new gear. She wore a white t-shirt with her cutie mark emblazoned on the front and flames on the ends of the sleeves, a small medallion with an engraving of the sun, fingerless grey gloves that went up to the elbow and a golden bracelet, that used to be her royal necklace, on her left wrist, indigo shorts with small white crosses at the end, a small fanny pack on her left-hand side, a sash that went all the way around her waist and kept going until both ends almost reached the ground, a pair of yellow and white zip-up boots, and a rapier strapped to her back. Her wings and horn were still there, but whatever magic Discord used made them invisible and intangible whenever she wanted them to be. The same went for Luna. “Don’t do that Celestia, you almost gave me a heart-attack.” “They can’t fix you having a weak heart, Noctis.” “Shut up Ven. We have a problem if you didn’t realise. Namely the fact that Lumos was found by Organization XIII.” “Yeah, yeah, still, a joke never killed anyone... except that one rubber chicken...” He muttered the last part. “This isn’t the time. They have Lumos, and he’s making weapons for them. So either he doesn’t remember anything, or he’s being controlled, in a sense.” “Yes, that is the most logical of assumptions.” “So, the question is, what are we gonna do about it? Oh, and where’s everyone else Celestia? Weren’t Discord and Luna with you earlier?” She shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. “Luna said something about finding a flower shop, and Discord went with her.” “And what about Die?” “She’s touring the town with Tox, Sparky, Shade, Aqua, and Clare. They said something about finding somewhere to practice.” Once again, her ability to remain nonchalant was amazing. “Ok then. Well we’ve found Mirum, and we got a message from Lumos, or Lux, I guess. So we should continue looking for more info and then head to our next destination. Which world is it again?” “We never decided, we already know that our info from this world would determine that.” “Well so far we know that Lumos is in the World that Never Was, most likely, while Malum is in the wind, so to speak.” “That means our next location would be Twilight Town. Since that’s the only world with any sort of connection to the World that Never Was.” “Well then, I’ll go find Discord and the others. Where will we meet?” “The Dark Depths?” Ven suggested calmly. “It’s probably closer to wherever Die and the others found to train.” “There gonna be any heartless there? I’m wondering if Mirum might be able to command lesser heartless to an extent.” “Most likely there aren’t any around here. But as for the other part... thats a maybe.” “Ok then. I’ll find you all later.” And with that, she was gone in a flash of magic. I rubbed my eyes with a hoof to get rid of the blurriness caused by the flash, and I walked out of the alleyway, followed closely by Ven and Mirum. “I’ll go on ahead,” Ven said, already beginning to fly away. “Yeah... I think I’ll walk.” Mirum said. “Same. Gives us a chance to talk without trying to kill each other.” I said... __________________________________________________________________ 2 Hours later I’d asked him several questions, mostly what had happened that he could remember, which wasn’t much. He’d asked some too, one of which was pretty snarky, asking why I chose to be an overgrown pigeon, which I ignored. Eventually, we arrived at the Dark Depths, where everyone else was already waiting for us. Jolt noticed us approaching, and walked up. “What took you guys so long?” He yelled. “QA Session Sparky.” “Don’t call me Sparky... Tia! We’re all here!” Jolt shouted “Thank you Jolt. Now, the reason we are here, is because we have two pieces of news to share. One, we have found Mirum,” She gestured towards us, specifically towards Mirum, who shrugged in response, “And the other thing is that we have discovered Lumos’ whereabouts. Unfortunately, he is in the clutches of the Organization.” She said. “Wait, Organization XIII found him?! Oh this is bad! This is very bad!” Clare half-shouted with wide eyes. “Calm yourself Clare. We will rescue him, no matter what. I promise you that.” “No, you don’t understand, if he makes a weapon fused with Xemnas’ power, do you have ANY idea how powerful it would be?!” “I know it would be bad Clare. It doesn’t matter though. We’re gonna beat him, we’re gonna save Lumos, and we’re gonna stop Akumu and Umbra. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!” “Why are you going drill sergeant on us at a time like this?!” Clare shouted “Because somebody has to keep us from losing our heads because of one piece of bad news. That answer your question?” Clare had a blank look for a second, before sighing, “Whatever... Damn I need a drink.” “So, Lumos is with Organization XIII? Does that make him a captive, or an enemy?” Luna asked. “Neither, from what we read, I think he lost his memory, like Mirum did.” Ven said, looking deep in thought. “Well, if ‘Lux’ is on the World that Never Was, then why are we here? To Twilight Town!” Discord exclaimed, and snapped his fingers, moving us all back to the ship. “Uh, Discord, we still had to meet Aerith and the others to get info on Sora, Riku, Kairi and the others y’know?” He got a disappointed look on his face, “Oh,” He snapped again, and teleported me, Ven, and Die down, putting us in the middle of town. “Huh, that’s convenient. We’re here.” Ven said, pointing to a building, and walking forward slowly. “HEY! You can’t enter without permission y’know!” “Sure we can’t, Yuffie.” I said sarcastically, turning to face the ninja girl. “So, is there a reason you stopped us? Cause I know there’s no restrictions about entering a building.” “Ok, ya got me. There’s actually nobody in there except for Merlin. They’re all at the castle right now.” She said. “Oh, ok, thanks,” Ven said, before beginning to fly off. “VEN! Aw, dammit.” I said, shaking my head. “Ok, I’ll talk to Merlin by myself then!” “HEY! What am I, chopped liver?” Die retorted in mock-irritation, cuffing me on the head. “Sorry Die.” “Too late. I’m goin’ with Ven. Have fun talking to the wizard.” She said with a lazy salute before switching forms and flying off after her ‘boyfriend’. I shook my head with a small smile as I entered Merlin’s home. It, was, a mess. Books were strewn everywhere. On the floor, on tables, desks, and chairs, anywhere except the bookshelves. All except for one, which I recognised from the Kingdom Hearts games as the book of Winnie the Pooh. As for the old wizard, he was nowhere to be found, despite Yuffie’s assurances that he was here. I turned to leave and jumped back as I found him standing right there. “Oh, and what’s this? A pegasus? Hmmm, fascinating.” He said, invading my personal space and scrutinising me. “Um, could you not get so close?” I asked. “And it speaks!” “Now that’s just plain rude.” “Apologies, my dear equine friend, but I have only met with your kind on the rarest of occasions. As such, I haven’t had a chance to properly study one. Unfortunately, my overzealous attitude has caused me to forego common courtesy. I, am Merlin the Wizard. Now, who might you be?” “My name is Noctis. I was a human at one point, but recent events have required me to adapt, as you can see.” I said calmly, despite my frustration. “So you mean to say that you were, transformed?” “For lack of a better word, yes. Now, would it be alright if I asked you some questions?” “Ask away m’boy.” “Thanks, I think. Anyway, I was wondering if you knew anything about some Nobodies named Lumos and Malum, or about some heartless named Umbra and Akumu?” “Hmmmm....” He started tapping his head with a finger in thought before sighing. “I’m sorry, the names are not familiar to me, so I’m afraid I cannot help you.” I nodded, a little disappointed. “Ok. Well, do you know where I can find Sora and his friends?” He smiled. “Well there’s a question I can answer. Sora and his friend, oh what’s his name.....AH! Riku, that’s it! Well, Sora and his friend Riku are currently at the Mysterious Tower taking their Mark of Mastery exams, overseen by Yen Sid.” Well that answers the question of the timeline. We’re somewhen during the events of 3D. “Thanks. Well, I only have one question left. Can you teach me to control magic?” He frowned slightly as he looked me over with slight suspicion. “May I ask why?” “I have a, unique, power. Unfortunately, the object I was used to using as a medium to control it with was lost, and with it my control over said power. I obtained a new object, but it is vastly different to my previous one, and as such, I have to learn to control my abilities all over again.” I said, summoning BP and allowing him to briefly look it over before dismissing it. He gave me a sad look. “I am sorry, but I am afraid I cannot help you.” He said. I was more than a little surprised. “What? Why not?” “I am afraid if you wish to learn to wield a keyblade properly, you must learn from a Master, and there are only two Masters who would be able to train you at this moment in time, Yen Sid, and Mickey.” He said calmly. “Oh, and one more thing.” Sora’s keychain suddenly appeared in his hand. “I’ll be sure to give this to its owner. You just focus on your own tasks.” “I see. Well, thank you for your time. I’ll be going now.” I replied quietly, before opening the door a little too fast. “Yeah, that’s all we c-OW!” “What the fuck?!” Oh fuck! I ran outside the door to see Die clutching her nose and glaring at me, and Ven with his hand on his blade. “Oh shit, you ok Die?” I said worriedly as I ran towards her. “DUMBASS!” She shouted, punching me on the forehead. “What the fuck did you slam a door on my face for!?” I couldn’t even say anything, I was too focused on what was the beginning of a massive bruise on her nose. “Um... Die?” “What?” She whirled around, glaring daggers at Ven. “You’re bleeding.” He said, holding out a small rag. She put a hand under her nose and pulled it back to reveal a red liquid on her hand. “Oh, great. Nice going Noctis.” She said sarcastically, grabbing the rag and cleaning off the blood before using a Cure spell to heal the damage. “You’re just lucky you’re my brother, you know that?” She said with a smirk. “Yeah yeah. So, what did you guys learn?” I asked. “We learned what point in the story we are in, and just how big of a problem we have on our hands.” “I know, we’re here during the events of 3D, right?” “Yeah, but that’s not all I figured out.” “What else?” I asked. “If the diary entry of ‘Lux’ is correct, then Sora or Riku could be killed if he doesn’t regain his memories. However, us trying to stop it from happening may stop the rescues of Aqua, Terra, and the Ventus from BBS.” “Crap, so we’re damned if we do, and damned if we don’t?” “Unless Lumos remembers.” “Then I guess we’re going to have to get involved and make sure he does!” I said confidently. “You aren’t getting it, we’re only able to really hope that he remembers on his own, our getting involved will change it even more.” “Our being here has already done that, hasn’t it?” “Yes, yes it has, but that-” “No buts! We’re going to help them, we’re going to make sure that Lumos, Sora and Riku are saved, and we’re going to help rescue Master Aqua, Terra and Ventus.” I said. “You know we might end up preventing their rescue by interfering.” “I refuse to believe that. We won’t fail them. Do you doubt me, or yourself?” He sighed, “No, it’s just tha-AAGH!” He shouted as a letter lodged itself in his left eye. I fought the urge to laugh. “Well, at least it wasn’t me this time.” Die hit me. “Shut up Noctis. You ok Ven? What is that? And what did Noctis mean by ‘this time’?” “Yeah, I’m fine,” He opened the letter, “Huh, it’s another one of the entries of the ‘Journal of a Nobody’ and what he meant was that the last one lodged itself in his eye. Also I think you should wear some sort of sunglasses, just in case.” He said with one eye squinted. “Nah, I’ll be fine. If I can take a door to the face and heal up in a snap, I think a paper plane to the eye would only be a minor annoyance.” “Anyway, lets see what it says...” and he began to read it out loud. “Journal of a Nobody: Entry 2 I wonder why I keep writing these, with no emotions it just seems stupid and pointless. The rest of the members of the organization all have their hoods up, and won’t talk to me. So there isn’t much to really talk about. Although I did see one of the faces, he looked like a younger version of Xemnas, I wonder if they’re brothers or something? One last thing, a few of my memories have come back to me. One thing stands out above all: a thing called Kingdom Hearts. ~Lux” “Shit, young Xehanort. Something tells me the next entry we get will not be good.” I said, slightly worried. “At least he’s remembering.” “Yeah, that’s something good, at least. But what if he doesn’t remember everything in time to save himself from being turned into a copy of Xehanort?” “As I said before, we can only hope.” “Screw just hoping, let’s get involved!” “I think we should go back to the ship and take a vote.” “Same here.” “Alright then. Back to the ship. You still got that thing Discord gave you to contact him?” My question was answered when he took it off his wrist. Ven held his watch to his mouth, “Discord, we’re ready to come back.” A bright flash appeared, and by when my eyes adjusted, we were back on the ship. “Dude, that was infinitely easier on the head than regular teleporting.” I said, thankful for the lack of headaches. “Yeah, anyway,” he held up his watch again, “Intercom mode: All personnel report to the bridge.” He said, his voice filling the ship. A few minutes later, everyone, and everypony, arrived, waiting to hear what we had to say. “We have good news and bad news. Good news, we have another piece of the diary of ‘Lux,’ this entry telling us that he is regaining his memory slowly. The bad news is that he might be transformed into a Xehanort clone soon.” He looked up, “This leads me to my next order of buisness: a vote. Do we go to rescue lumos this second, or do we wait to let the timeline of Dream Drop Distance carry out first? If we rush in, we may stop the rescues of the main characters from Birth by Sleep.” “And if we don’t get involved, then Lumos, or ‘Lux’, may kill Sora and Riku, completely wrecking the timeline, unless he remembers everything before it’s too late.” “Ok, so who is for?” everyone but Ven, Discord, Jolt, and Tox raised their hands/hoofs. “So that’s seven of us. Wait, Discord, you’re against this? Hmm, kinda surprised, but then again, you are a Spirit of Chaos, so being unpredictable is basically your job description, huh?” “True, but I also know better than to rupture timelines.” “... Well, Discord, I guess we’re off to Twilight Town.” Ven said with his head hung in defeat. “Wait, what if just go and get Lumos back from The World that never Was before the fight if it hasn’t happened yet, and we make sure to take Nihl with us?” “The fight will probably start before we get there, considering we have to go through a passage hidden in Twilight Town.” “Hey, didn’t they rename it Traverse Town at some point? No wait, they’re two completely separate worlds. I think I’m messing up all the names now.” I said, facehoofing. “Yeah, different world.” “Ok then. So, where exactly is the passage that’ll take us to The World that Never Was anyway? Wait, since it’s a sleeping world now, won’t we only be able to access it the way that Sora and Riku did? By entering the realm of sleeping Keyholes?” “Oh, now where is the fun in taking the normal route?” Discord asked. “Oh right, I forgot you can go anywhere you want, anyway you want.” I said. Discord put on a pair of shades, “We launch in 5. 4. 3. 2. 1.” the ship shook heavily, knocking us all to the floor but him, “We have liftoff.” “You added that to mess with us, didn’t you?” Ven said from his spot on the ground. “You can’t prove anything!” Discord shouted. “He’s got you there Ven.” I chuckled. “I wasn’t complaining,” It was then that I noticed Die fell on top of him. “Yeah, you were whining. And get a room you two.” I retorted, and they both blushed furiously as they quickly stood up. “Um... I’ll be training. I want to be as ready as possible for what is to come.” “I’m gonna blow off some steam. NOBODY BOTHER ME UNLESS YOU HAVE A DEATHWISH!” And with that, Ven and Die were off to the VR Room and Game Room respectively, leaving everybody else to slowly leave the room, wandering to who knows where. I went off to my room and flopped onto my bed, exhausted. Just as I was about to drift off, I heard a knock at my door. “Come in.” I said, not wanting to be rude, and in walked Luna, still in her human disguise, which, just like Celestia’s, had her hair and eyes remain the same. She had a blue sleeveless zip-up jacket with a turtleneck, four small strips of cloth that went from the front of her shirt to the back, over her arms, two strips per side, some sort of corset-like thing in a darker shade, ending in a skirt with her cutie mark on the bottom right-hand side. Her hands were adorned with two-toned blue fingerless gloves with white wrist-straps. She had midnight-blue shorts and extremely dark stockings with a white crescent moon embroidered on the side of each, and she wore sneakers of various blues with zips on the front like Celestia’s boots. She had her wings and horn on full display. “Hello Noctis. I hope I’m not disturbing you.” she said. “Don't worry about it Luna.” I said, motioning for her to take a seat. She walked over to the bed, sat down and stared at me, her eyes filled with concern. “I am worried, Noctis. That weapon, Nihl, it could destroy anything, even immortals. And you plan to dive right into battle with its creator!? You are going to get yourself killed, and then I will be alone again.” she said, refusing to meet my eyes. “Luna, you will never be alone. You have your sister, and if worst comes to worst, my sister'll be there for you too." “It’s not the same...” she said, almost angrily. “Why? They're willing to protect you with their lives too, so what's different?” I asked, though deep down, I already knew. Or at least my heart did. My head was taking a little longer to catch up. “The difference is that I love you!” She shouted, finally looking at me with tears streaking down her face. I was shocked for a moment, but then I remembered what Ven had said. I facehoofed at my stupidity. “I'm an idiot, aren't I?” I said quietly. Luna shook her head and wrapped her arms around me, pulling me close. “No, why would you say that?” “Because Ven told me you liked me and I just ignored my head and my heart screaming at me to tell you how I felt. I'm a coward because I was too afraid to say four words. I was too afraid to say ‘I love you Luna’.” I half-expected the slap that came next, but I definitely was caught with my pants down, so to speak, when she followed up by undoing her disguise and kissing me. My mind chose that exact moment to fall to pieces, and all I could do was lose myself in the moment as she forced my mouth open and slipped her tongue inside, her forelegs still wrapped around me as she pushed me onto my back and continued her assault on my mouth... _______________________________________________________________________ Akumu’s PoV UMBRA! IF YOU CAN HEAR ME WITH THAT FREAKY MIND SHIT, I NEED AN ADULT! Every. Single. Resident. That's who the pink one had invited to her party. And every single one of them was staring at me with either confusion, or outright fear. There was a surprising lack of suspicion though. Guess that Gluttonous mare is more influential than I thought. "OHYOUMADEITNOWWECANSTARTTHEPATY!" "Uh, ok." I said, backing away as she bounced around the room. "Sorry about that, Pinkie is always on a sugar-high." A voice said from behind me. I turned to see a sky blue pony with a rainbow mane and tail smirking at me. "And you are..." I said, despite already knowing from Noctis’ memories. "Only the fastest flyer in Equestria, Rainbow Dash." She said with a massive grin. Are we sure she isn't just another pride. She's got the right attitude for it. "The fastest, huh? Wanna test that theory?" I said, "We'll need a judge though. How about, Pinkie, was it?" "You're challenging me to a race? Oh you are ON!" she almost shouted. Almost as she said that, I heard in my mind "No worries. I challenged sloth to a speed challenge and gluttony's the judge. So they'll be in the same place at the same time. And where'd you get an army anyway?" "No fuckin' way. Just how powerful are these things?" "Why? Will they blow up or something?" "OK I'VE HEARD ENOUGH!" I cut the connection and walked outside with Sloth and Gluttony in tow. What I saw outside was nothing. I didn't worry though. Umbra would come through. <2 seconds to the drop of me, and my army.> I heard him say. I chuckled to the confusion of the two. But before they could question me, all hell broke loose. the next part they all heard Hundreds of skeletal winged beings suddenly began to land around us, while many large beasts that looked like the skeletons of giant cats and large lizards began to flow into the city. Sloth started to fly around and smash as many as she could, but during her distraction, I slammed into her and ripped her soul out before she could react. "OK TIME TO GO!" I yelled as a crowd of angry ponies started to gather, before running in fear from Umbra's army. I could see Umbra dropping the body of Gluttony, with a charged glove on his right hand, followed by him grinning. he ‘said’ as a new blade appeared in my hand. In the gloved hand of Umbra, a huge keyblade appeared. "Nah. Let's just go find our weaker halves and end them." I sighed, but nodded, watching with slight satisfaction as everything went to hell... Chapter 10: Chapter 10: Swagwagon, Noctis' Room (Noctis' POV) To say I was happy would be an understatement. I was ecstatic. I finally acknowledged my feelings and now I was going out with Luna. Figures it would take a slap and a make-out session with her to get me to realise running from my feelings was a bad idea. That and going missing for two days. Anyway, back to the matter at hand. I woke up a little later to find a still sleeping Luna's hooves were still wrapped around me, and her head was nuzzling into my chest. I shook her awake as gently as possible, and my reward was a hoof to the face, followed by Luna apologising as she became aware of her surroundings. "Noctis, I'm sorry if I was...too forward." "I'm the one who should be apologising. I kept my feelings hidden when I should've just told you from the outset. If I had, we would probably have had a lot more time together before now. So, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't admit that I loved you earlier." She simply pecked me on the cheek. "Uhhhhh....what was I....oh, right. So, should we tell everybody about, y'know, 'us'? I just want to know if and when you want to, ‘go public’. before someone, most likely Die, comes in and-" I was interrupted by the door to my room exploding inward, and Ven standing sideways on the wall, with Die almost right next to him. “Room service!” Ven said with a grin. "Awwww, and here I thought there would be a mess." Die chuckled. “Eh, it looks like something happened at least.” He looked at her “Also, you were right, it’s starting to hurt.” "How did I I know it would be Die...What. Are. You. Doing here?" I said through gritted teeth, while Luna tried to move me off the bed so she could pull up the covers and hide in them. “Just checking up on ya,” Ven said, walking from the wall onto the roof. "Ven, get off the ceiling. Discord'll kick your ass if you get the Swagwagon dirty in any way." “I’m not actually touching it. Wind powers are best powers.” "Die, Ven. I'm asking nicely. Please leave. Do not make me break out 'the voice'." Ven chuckled“Trust me, princess, I’ve heard louder than the Royal Canterlot Voice, at point blank.” "I was not referring to that voice." “Oh... Die, shall we take our leave?” Ven asked, suddenly afraid. "In a minute." she said as she turned to face us. "Noctis, you'd better make her happy. And Luna, keep him from getting himself killed. Oh, and be good. But if you can't," she turned towards the door, "Be sure to name the first one after me." she ran out the door laughing like a hyena, with Ven flying after her with an evil laugh of his own. Neither of them even bothered to look back at our faces turning blood-red from embarrassment. "Well that was typical. At least now we don't have to worry about breaking the news ourselves." She threw a pillow at me and scowled as she finally succeeded in knocking me off the bed. "Shut up, Noctis." was all she said before pulling the covers over herself completely and forcing us both to sleep with a quick spell. __________________________________________________________________ A few hours later... My wake-up this time was noticeably less than amicable. “NOCTIS, LUNA! WAKE THE HELL UP! WE’RE IN TWILIGHT TOWN!” “AGH!” I shouted as I rolled off of my bed, landing face first on the cold steel of the floor, while Luna simply shot up, launching a spell that barely missed my sister. “Dammit Die, do you have to be so loud?” “Of course, WE’RE HERE!” “Ugh, can you please not be so loud, Day Warrior? And please leave so we can prepare.” Luna requested irritatedly. “Ok, see ya.” she said, turning to leave. “Oh, by the way, Celestia and Discord are a couple now.” And she was gone. I took a moment to register the new information before turning to Luna. “Wait, so Discord and Celestia...” “Honestly, I’m not surprised. Discord always did love her. Unfortunately, she didn’t know how she felt about him when he first confessed, and it wasn’t until after we had sealed him in stone that she realised she loved him too. Of course, then it was too late. Maybe now they can be happy.” She said with a hopeful look. “Well, here’s hoping that it works out.” “Attention passengers, we are disembarking now, so please get your flanks topside.” A mechanical voice said over the intercom system. Luna and I just shrugged before we got ready to leave. I placed the ‘IS’ key-chain on a small string and tied it around my neck, while Luna put on her regalia and tapped it, activating the disguise spell Discord had placed on it. It only took a minute, and then we were off to the deck, where everyone else was already waiting. Die, Tox, Shade, Aqua and Jolt were sitting around talking, and Celestia, in her own disguise, was nuzzling up to Discord. “Save it for the bedroom you two.” Die said, causing an immediate break-out of red-faces. I noticed, but I ignored it in favour of a more pressing matter. “Where’s Ven?” “He went down earlier.” Discord said calmly. “Oh, ok. So, we gonna get going now, or are we gonna wait until we’re old and grey?” “Very well, any preferred destination?” “I dunno, ummm...” “How about the sandlot?” Luna asked, receiving a few looks from everyone. “What, I studied this world too, y’know.” “I brought the weapons!” Clare shouted as she flew into the room, carrying a HUGE burlap sack. “Finally,” Sparky said with an eyeroll. He then walked over, opened the sack, and pulled out a sword almost as tall as him, the others from Lumos’ world began to pull out weapons as well. Clare pulled out two extra: a bow and a staff, though she was being more careful with the bow than anyone else was with any of the given items. Also some of the others seemed to look at it she had with fear. “Interesting choices Clare.” “If anyone else took them, they would end up either killing themselves, or everyone.” She said calmly, but she was eyeing the bow with fear just as much as the others were. “Clare, Lumos told us never to use the PB.” Aqua said, placing a blue-grey whip on his belt. “PB? Nice abbreviation. Gonna tell me what it means and why you’re wielding it when the guy who most-likely made it told you not to?” “It means Planet Buster, he told us never to wield it because it could easily destroy the very world you fire it on. I’m bringing it so that if the rescues of Ven, Aqua, and Terra have happened, I can blow up the castle that never was. Also because I’m the least likely of us to actually fire the damn thing. This bow is the reason I’m afraid of what ‘Nihl’ can do.” “Well, a little advice.” I leaned in close to Clare. “When the shooting starts, try not to wet your pants.” This earned me a fist in the gut, followed by being slammed into the ground by her ‘gravity’ power. “Asshole.” she muttered “Well, at least it took your mind off the pointless worrying.” I groaned through the pain as Luna tried to alleviate it with a spell. She turned to Discord, “Just get us down there, dammit.” His eyes widened a little in fear, “Yes ma’am.” He said, and snapped his fingers. __________________________________________________________________ We found ourselves right in the middle of the sandlot, and there were several pairs of eyes on us. “Well this is awkward,” Shade said quietly. “It could be worse.” I replied, almost shocking our watchers. “It... talks?” A girl said, who I recognized from the KH2 library as Ollette “Yes, he does. His name is Noctis. Now, if we’re done with pointing out the obvious, we need to find our friend Ven. Have you seen him?” Luna said irritatedly. “That flying blond guy from just a moment ago?” “Yeah, probably him. So, he was here in the sandlot? Where’d he go?” “He had a struggle match with Seifer, and then said something to him, before flying off. Try asking him.” The one I recognized as ‘Hayner’ said. “Well, where can we find Seifer and his cronies?” I asked. “Try looking behind you.” A voice behind me said. I turned around, and lo and behold, there was Seifer and his two friends, Rai and Fuu. “Hey. So, where’s Ven?” I said nonchalantly. “He said you would be looking for him, and to go to the old mansion in the woods.” “Thanks. See ya later, maybe!” I said as I ran off on the path to the Old Mansion. The rest of the group looked at my retreating form as if I’d gone crazy. “I’ll go after him. Where will we find you afterwards, or do you want us to wait for you when we get there?” Luna asked. “Probably the mansion’s library,” Everyone turned to stared at Clare, “What? It’s where the hidden zone is. Besides, Ven probably already got it open, so as long as Noctis doesn’t break the computer, we’ll be fine.” “Alright then. We’ll see you there.” Luna replied as she ran off after me. __________________________________________________________________ Twilight Town “Ven, wait up!” I yelled as he entered the mansion, my call seemingly unheard. Just as I was about to follow him though, “Noctis!” I turned to see Luna running towards me with a mildly angry face. “Don’t run off by yourself. We have to be there for each other, and we can’t do so unless we stick together, right?” “Well what about Ven, who’s there for him when he’s off by himself?” “Ven is currently more capable of defending himself at the moment, seeing as he has more knowledge of his environment, and enemies, and has a body he is used to. You are still learning how to use your new form. Which begs the question, why did you decline when Discord offered to create an item which would allow you to temporarily take a human form?” “I dunno. I guess I’m just a little too proud or something like that. You know, I either reacquire my human form myself, or not at all.” Luna shook her head slowly. “Noctis, you need to let go of your pride. It will on--” A loud crash came from the inside of the house, with what sounded like wood splintering. Luna shot me a look. “Please tell me he didn’t blow something up!” She said. “Come on, let’s go find him before he breaks the computer systems or something.” I said, running towards the source of the sound with Luna in tow. “What the...” Luna trailed off as she stared at the splintered remains of a door and the massive opening in the middle of the library. The opening was oddly metalic, and had stairs leading down it on the right side. “Wow, Ven sure hates doors.” I said quietly. “That was a very poor joke. Now, let’s wait until the others get here before we go find Ven.” Almost on cue, Clare came flying in through the window, and said “Hello!” In a cheery tone. Luna raised an eyebrow. “The window? Really? What’s wrong with the door? I swear, it’s like you’re taking lessons from Discord...” She said. “It was faster,” she said with a shrug. “... Wait, what happened to the door, anyway?” “Ven.” I said simply. “Oh.” She rolled her eyes, “Anyway, everyone is almost here, so we should be good to go soon enough.” “Clare, you didn’t even look behind you to see we were right there.” Celestia said as she came through the now door-less opening. “True, but we still have to wait for Sparky, he’s still getting potions, ethers, and such.” “Actually, he’s right behind you. We got the items in less than a minute.” Celestia replied. “... Oh... Well, lets go then!” “Yeah, lets. Wait, where’s Discord?” “Ship, same with Aqua, they’re going to follow our energy signatures so they can land the ship on The World that Never Was properly.” Jolt said calmly as he jumped down, and walked through one of the doors in the metal pit. “Wait up Sparky!” I said as we went after him. “MY NAME ISN’T SPARKY, DAMMIT!” He shouted “Ok then... Jolteon.” Clare said in a teasing tone. “... Fuck it, I’m not even going to try anymore.” He said as he hunched over, and stuck his hands in his pockets. “I don’t get it. What’s it me-wait, you hear that? It sounds like...someone’s torturing a flute.” “Damn it, Ven’s whistling again.” I heard Jolt complain, as he turned down a hallway to follow the noise. “VEN, STOP WITH THE EAR-RAPE!” I yelled in no particular direction. “MAKE ME!” I heard from the direction Jolt started going in, followed by the starting back up of that infernal sound. I walked in the direction of the noise, kicked in the door, and yelled “UMBRA!”, silencing the horrible whistling. “................................................................................... Well, It’s about time you got here.” Ven said from a chair in front of a large number of monitors, and a caged section of the floor, with a blue beam passing through it. “I was considering going without you.” I took one look at the computer’s programs. “Do you have any hacking skills?” He pointed to the beam, “Three steps ahead of you.” “Really? Then tell me why the beam is set to erase whatever touches it.” I said with a frown. “It doesn’t really erase it, it turns it into a program, and chucks it into a virtual version of this world.” “No, that’s this program.” I said, making a few adjustments, which, let me tell you, was hell to do with hooves. “The program you had running uses the same password, but it’s a false front. It’s meant to prevent anyone from entering the program by hacking the system. In short, you touch the beam, whatever part of you touches it is completely erased.” I explained. He looked at the computer again, “Well, I feel silly all of a sudden.” I ignored him as I was too focused on the task at hand, or hoof. “...and re-type the password aaaaaaaaand, done. There, we’re good to go.” He looked at one screen and read aloud “Password incorrect, please try again” “Dammit. I hate working on computers using hooves. You type it.” I said, getting off the chair and letting Ven do it. “Ok, lets see... Sea Salt Ice-cream.” he muttered as he typed the passcode, being careful not to misspell it. “Ok, now then, lets go!” And with that, he leaped into the beam. We followed him moments later. __________________________________________________________________ Virtual Twilight Town “Well, it seems to have worked.” Ven said, motioning to the broken monitors on his right as we appeared. “Wow, Roxas had anger issues.” I said. “You have no idea.” Ven said as he walked through a door, “This way to the Dark Realms!” “Ok then. So, are we gonna have to fight an army of nobodies to get there?” I asked. “Dunno” He said, walking up to an orb of darkness, “Oh, and if this is anything like Lumos’ dark passages, you may want a jacket on hand.” “Why?” I asked. “It’s like...” He looked like he was searching for the right words “It’s like going through a meat freezer... that has just been layered in honey.” “Alright. Good thing I’ve got fur now.” I said with relief. “Too bad your hooves are going to get all sticky.” Jolt said as he lit himself on fire before running into the darkness, Ven and Clare following closely behind. Shade just floated above us on a small amount of smoke. “Well, see you on the other side.” I said to Celestia and Luna as I ran in after them. Shade held up a watch almost identical to Ven’s, “Discord, beam me, Celestia, Die, and Luna up, will you? The keyblade bearer has already begun passing through...” __________________________________________________________________ Dark Realm Oddly enough, we were in a bright blue room, with the nobody symbol flying around. “What the hell are these things?!” I heard Jolt shout, as he shot fire at odd, skeletal beings, as well as Nobodies. “DOES IT MATTER? JUST KILL THEM!” Ven said as several nobodies around him exploded. “Ok, I’m gonna try something. Pray it works!” I yelled as I barely dodged a swipe from a green creature. “Dark...SPLICER!” The creatures froze and I rushed through them, making multiple strikes on each one I passed. I reappeared beside Ven, smirking as many of the creatures unfroze and fell apart as the wounds caught up to them. “Well, that was interesting.” Jolt said. “KYAAAA!” We heard behind us, turning... Well... We saw two blue versions of the skeletal creatures raping Clare. “I feel a little bit conflicted here.” I heard Ven say, before he snapped his fingers, and both beings exploded into hundreds of pieces. “Ok, note to self, stay the fuck away from the blue ones...” I said as Ven helped Clare up, and handed her a jacket, from another of his many pockets, which she quickly put over her now torn up outfit. “That’s it! I can’t take it anymore! I’m going home!” Clare shouted as she marched off toward the exit. “Ven, stay with Clare.” I said, not taking my eyes off the remaining creatures. “Aye, sir.” He responded, a small whirlwind whipping up around both him and Clare. Jolt stepped up next to me, both fire and electricity covering his body, “We gonna do this or what?” i could word it better, so that it’s less obvious “Yeah. Jolt, something about the green ones seems off, like... I just don’t want to fight it.” “Aww, is the little pony scared?” Jolt mocked. “Shut up Jolt, this is serious. I think this thing subconsciously causes inner conflict or something.” “Phht, whatever,” he said before charging, and cleaving one of the Gold ones in half with his sword, “It doesn’t matter, you kill them all the sa--.” and then a flaming lighting-bolt struck him in the jaw. He stood back up, rubbing his jaw, “Damn, that hurt,” He looked in the direction it came from, before grinning, a gold one was covered in the same fire and lightning as Jolt was. “Shit. The gold ones can copy us, and the green ones do something to our heads. What do the violet ones do?” I asked more to myself than to Jolt, trying to figure out a counter-strategy to their abilities. While I was thinking, a current picked up, as a different gold thing created a whirlwind around itself. I then heard a voice in my head say What? These things were created by Umbra!? I looked over to the group to see one of the green ones staring at me. “Shit. JOLT! These things were created by Umbra, and the green ones can get inside your head!” “DON’T CARE FIGHTING FIRE WITH FIRE!” Jolt shouted as his flame began to grow brighter, and change to become violet. “THIS IS SERIOUS SPARKY!” I yelled. “The green ones can affect our minds, doesn’t that warrant caution?” “I’LL CROSS THAT BRIDGE WHEN I COME TO IT!!” He shouted as the flames became a dark blue. “Dammit.” I muttered, before rushing to engage the green ones. The beasts began to all glow, and shift in shape, becoming replicas of me, Die, Luna, and Celestia, each with their respective weapons, and clothes. One of the ‘me’ replica’s ran forward, swinging a keyblade at me. “Too slow.” I muttered as I ducked under it and thrust my own towards its throat. The blade phased through, and it’s own keyblade struck me, drawing blood from my side. My eyes widened at the sudden pain and I jumped back as quickly as I could, putting some distance between me and the impostor. “Dammit, what was that? My weapon just passed through, and his made contact. Why?” The others joined in, swinging their blades rapidly at me, opening wounds all over my body. “Shit.” I yelled. “Let’s see how you like this! FIRAGA BURST!” “The hell? Wait...SHIT!” I yelled as the realization hit me. “CURA!” A green beam of light erupted from my keyblade and struck Jolt, and his wounds started to heal almost immediately, though the spell wasn’t strong enough to heal them completely. And with that, the Green forms charged. This time attacking with claw and foot. “Just what I was waiting for. DARK BARRIER!” A spherical barrier made of dark tiles sprung to life around us. One of the creatures hit the barrier, and just bounced off. “Well, at least it works. I’ve gotta come up with my own moves though, can’t keep copying techniques used by Riku and Sora forever.” I muttered as I tried to come up with a counter-strategy. “Come on, gotta think! This would be so much easier if I had some damn back-up besides this hot-head!” I yelled. Suddenly, a hand was placed on the head of one of the green ones, and it began to wither and fall apart, “Seriously,” Tox said, “Can’t even handle creatures like these on your own?” “Ha ha. You try fighting using my body and see how you do! Especially with this idiot rushing in and making proper planning impossible!” I said, pointing at the still unconscious Jolt. “So, got any plans?” She hit a few more with her ungloved hand, each of them dying almost instantly, “Yeah, I help you, Aqua and Shade deal with the Violet, and Mirum and Ven kill the power-snatchers.” “Ok, but we need at least one of them alive. I want to find out just how Umbra created them.” She grabbed the last green one with her gloved hand, and slammed it into the ground, “That’s almost exactly what Die said. Although she just said she wanted something to interrogate.” “Ok, just as long as you don’t leave her alone with it. We’ll more than likely end up with a huge mess to clean up, though we will get whatever information we need. The mess isn’t worth it though, most of the time.” She turned, and started to walk to the exit, the now unconscious creature held in her hand, “I was planning on my own approach to this situation.” She said, turning her head back to reveal her mouth, in an evil grin. Still couldn’t see her eyes though. “Ooookaaay, so, who should go forward to the other side? Cause if there are more of these things on the World, then solo is most definitely not the way to go.” “Well, We’re done over here!” Ven shouted. I turned to see the gold ones in pieces, and the violet ones floating in the center of a large orb of water. “OK. So, I’ll go on to the other side. Who’s going with me?” I called. “We all are, stupid,” Ven said with a grin. “Ok then. But riddle me this. Where is Umbra if he’s the one who created these things? I don’t wanna go through there to find he’s waiting with a mini-gun or something.” “It’s possible they are like heartless in how they get around. Though why they aren’t affected by the keyblade itself is a better question.” “They were, or at least all but the green ones were, though technically it was just them fucking with my head making me think I was fighting them when I was really fighting Sparky. I think...” And then we exited the space between. Ven held up his watch, “Guess who’s back?” “A very handsome, if somewhat annoying, wind master?” Ven chuckled, “Close, but no, it’s just me.” “Oh, how can you belittle yourself like that? Do I have to come down there and beat some sense of self-worth into you?” “Nah, I’m good. Discord, could you beam down whoever you can?” “Aye, sir, that I can!” Discord’s voice said, and moments later, Discord, Celestia, Luna, and Die appeared. Almost immediately, I was tackled by Luna. “That is the LAST TIME I ever let you go off without me there to save your sorry flank!” She said as she tried to decide whether to hit me or kiss me. “Anyway, we’ve got ourselves a little test subject with us, don’t we Tox?” Ven said, turning toward the covered woman, who just dangled the green, unconcious creature by the foot. “Oh, I am gonna enjoy this.” Die said, cracking her knuckles with a sadistic grin as she stepped towards it. “Just be sure to leave something for me to interrogate, sweetie.” “Dude, if you want something to interrogate, do so while she’s working. Otherwise, you’ll get nothing.” I said. “Trust me, I can get whatever info I need.” A grin appeared on his face that only a madman would normally carry, “I know some of the best torture tactics used throughout the history of my world, including some that are only theory.” “I don’t wanna know what they are. Just do them where we won’t have to see.” I said. “Yeah, yeah. Also, Die, have you told them yet?” Ven asked, turning to my sister with a simple smile. “Told us what? About your ‘relationship’, or about my sister and Noctis’ ‘relationship’?” Celestia asked with a smug smile. “I’ll take that as a ‘yes’ on both counts.” “Not really. Discord had cameras installed in each room to, as he said, prevent the theft of the toiletries.” Aqua turned toward Discord, “Damn it, that was one time! One. Time.” “If it has happened once, it will happen again.” Discord said in a way similar to a monk. A very calm, disconnected monk. “Wait, why would someone steal toiletries?” I asked, confused. “THE TOILET PAPER WAS MADE OF GOLD, OK?!” “Woah, really? Why? Actually, don’t bother, you’re Discord, why should anything make sense when it doesn’t have to, right?” “Where did you think the expenses for all the crap ‘Jolteon’ bought came from?” “Seriously, why do you call him Jolteon now?” “A TV show, and game series from earth, I’ll tell you about it when its over. To summerize: a Jolteon is a small, furry, yellow, dog-like creature with electric powers.” “So, Sparky has similar powers to a cartoon dog-thing? HA!” “Actually, so does Aqua, and even Lumos.” “Really? Meh, at least I like them enough not to make fun of them about it, but Sparky’s too good a target. So, shall we get going? I wanna rescue Lumos before I’m old and grey.” “That would take thousands of years, if you’re still as long lived as before. Also, indeed. “Hmmm, I actually don’t know if I’m immortal anymore. I can’t feel the Orb’s presence, yet at the same time, I can. Doesn’t make sense, does it?” I said, scratching my head. “Actually, it does. It’s like a microwave, it uses radio waves to warm something, while the same waves could be used to send signals.” “Ok, that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.” Ven face-palmed, “And I thought you were the smart one... Lets just go.” He said as he turned to leave. “Look, I don’t know much about physics, I just know I could pass some of its limitations after I became a SOLDIER. Now, I feel even less bound by the laws of physics, but it doesn’t mean I understand them.” “That’s because you’re a pony, ponies and physics don’t mix.” “You mean like me and Sahagin?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. “Let me explain in simple terms, you’re a pony, yet you can shrug. This means you have shoulders, physics says ponies shouldn’t have shoulders.” “Good point. Except the physics of our worlds never encountered ponies that could use magic, or fly, or raise the sun and moon, so I don’t think it could accommodate for them, do you?” “Exactly.” He said, as though making a point. “We’re getting sidetracked, aren’t we? We should be getting to rescuing Lumos.” I said. “Yes. Yes we should. Meet me at the large tower in the center of the city, Tox, watch over our prisoner.” And with that, he began to fly down the back-alleys of the city, shouting “COME AT ME BRO!” Followed by the death-shrieks of several creatures. “HEY! WAIT UP!” Die shouted as she went after her boyfriend. We let out a collective sigh. Tox, with our prisoner on her back, and the rest of us started walking through the now completely empty street. Soon I found myself surrounded on both sides by Luna and Celestia. “You know, if you wanted to know if you were still immortal, you could just ask my sister and I.” Celestia said as we walked through the somewhat empty streets, taking out whatever came our way. “We can perform a scan to find out, if you want.” I raised an eyebrow. “Since when have you been able to do that?” “My sister and I have been able to utilise that ability since four years after we were granted our powers and immortality. And just so you know, I already performed the scan while you were asleep, and yes, you are still immortal. The orb has just taken on a new form.” Luna said. Aqua was suddenly in front of us in a ball of water that almost covered his whole body.. “Let me guess: the keyblade?” He asked, interested in the conversation. Luna nodded. “Correct. That is why Noctis is still able to use the magic the orb once gave him access to though at the moment it is limited to telekinesis and the techniques he copied from playing those games. Basically, it is as if he is learning to control its power all over again.” “Ah, that makes sense... One sec.” His water disappeared and he fell to the ground, landing with both feet in the same spot. “What are you-” Tox began, before a massive spike of ice came out of the ground, launching Aqua into the air. He managed somehow to land on top of one of the taller buildings. He looked around for a moment, before jumping down, surrounding himself with a ball of water that barely broke when it hit the ground, and was then absorbed into him. “We better move. Now.” He said as he broke into a sprint. “Aqua, what is it? What’s wrong?” Celestia asked as we followed him. “ARMY COMING! RUN NOW! UNDERSTAND!?” He shouted at the princess in the unmistakable tone of fear. “Army!? What kind of army!?” Luna asked with worry. “THOSE SKELETON THINGIES, THREE KINDS THAT WEREN’T IN THE DARK AREA! JUST RUN, DAMNIT!” he launched himself off the ground into a wall, and launched himself again, performing ice spike wall jumps rapidly down the street, easily outdistancing us. I looked over, and saw Jolts legs crackle with electricity as he began to move at superhuman speeds, and shade turn into a puff of smoke that followed, the only ones that stayed with us were Tox and Discord. “This is not how I imagined this going. Anyone got any ideas?” I huffed as I continued running. “Run faster?” Discord suggested, floating on a cotton candy cloud. “Don’t make me poison you,” Tox said in a icy tone, her eyes flashing from inside her outfit. “Yes ma’am,” Discord said as he shrunk away. “Tox, leave him alone. Discord, do you think you could slow them down, even a little?” Celestia asked. “No, but I could teleport us.” “Sounds like a plan. Do it!” “Aye aye!” Discord said, before snapping his fingers, and we were all sitting on a huge cloud of cotton candy, with a table and tea set out in front of us. “Woah, cool. So where are we?” “Look down, and see.” Discord said as he took a sip of his tea. I poked my head over the edge of the cloud. “What...the...hell?” We were right above a massive army of red, gold, green, light blue, dark blue, purple, and orange skeleton things. “That’s....a lot of ugly bastards.” I said. “Damn strai-- One second, got a call,” Discord said as he pulled out a phone. “... Ok, on it,” He snapped his fingers, and another cotton candy cloud appeared, with Ven and Die on it. I took one look at them, and I did the first thing that came to mind. I facehoofed. “Die, please tell me you didn’t use Wound Transfer. Please...” I muttered to myself. “She did. For some reason the healing spell wouldn't work on me.”Ven said before looking down, and seeing the army, “What the fuck is that?” “One, DIE YOU IDIOT! You know that move makes whatever wounds you receive twice as bad as they were on whoever you transferred them from. Two, that’s Umbra’s army.” “[color=gren]Die, why would you worsen the wound? I could've just let it be.” “Cause Ven. I can recover from it. I couldn’t heal your wound, but I’ll heal from it naturally. Plus, I’m stubborn. Do you really think you could talk me out of it?” She smirked despite the pain in her arm. “That’s a fair point.” He looked back down. “On another note... Umbra’s... army...” Ven started to gain an evil grin, “This is gonna be good!” He said as he began to stretch. “Ventus, do not do anything reckless.” Celestia warned him. “Princess, you obviously don’t know me well enough.” Ven said before jumping off the cloud, and going straight up. “... Fuck he’s gonna do it.” Tox said, “Discord, move the cloud about a macro-metres south” Ven then landed softly, his body glowing a little. Each step he took sent large sections of the world around him into the air, where they floated around him, the buildings began to get torn out of the ground, and he threw all of this to the side, leaving a barren wasteland. The parts of the army remained after this charged him head on, only to be held back by an invisible force. Ven swept a single hand to the side, and all of the creatures were cut cleanly in half. The glow around him slowly faded, and a deep cut appeared in his right arm, though he didn’t seem to notice it as he flew back up. I noticed that his eyes were mostly glazed over. “Yo, Ven? You alive in there?” There was no response, not even a twitch as he went up.. “Uhhh, guys? I think Ven’s broken...” I said. “Yeah... That’s happened before.” Tox said, shaking her head. “When exactly did this happen before?” Celestia asked. “From what he told me about it, that technique throws him into his subconscious, I haven’t actually seen him use it before, but he talked about it. He called it the ‘White Wind’ technique.” “Well, how do we get him out of his subconscious and back into the real world?” “Three weeks and a cup of hibiscus tea.” She said flatly. “WHAT!? FUCK THAT, I’M Go-” “Fooled ya.” Tox pulled down her masking cloth a little to reveal a grin with sharp teeth, “Wait 5 or so minutes, and the tea part was serious, but we got that.” “That, was not funny.” Die replied with a glare. “But it was good.” she conceded with a sigh. “But anyway, the gash is weird, he never mentioned anything along those lines.” “That could be because of Die’s recent use of the Wound Transfer.” I suggested. “No, from what he told me, there would be something like a paper cut from the pressure, but nothing even nearly this deep.” “Maybe he put too much power into it? The more power he puts into it, the higher the pressure, correct?” “Wrong, it’s a technique that requires him to put the maximum amount of air pressure possible on his whole body, making it respond in an inhuman way. The pressure is high enough that, if it weren’t on every inch of the body, it would break every one of his bones.” “Woah. Then what if it’s not the exact same technique? What if it’s an alteration?” “Probably not.” “Well then, for now, we should focus on the tasks at hoof. One, we need to wake Ventus up, and two, we need to rescue Lumos, correct?” “On it,” Tox said, before putting down the green creature, and punching Ven in his... his...let’s just not say testicles and pretend we did. His eyes burst open, “AGH!” and he fell off the cloud, before rising slowly, holding himself. “Why would you do that?!” “Cause you decided to be reckless with that move of yours? What was it, the white wind or something?” “Wait how do... Oh, she told you, didn’t she.” “Yes, she did. Now, give me one reason why I shouldn’t shove some coal so far up your ass you’ll be coughing out diamonds for being so reckless.” Die said in an eerily sweet voice. Ven shuddered “Thanks for the mental image. Anyway, how about taking out an army in ten seconds flat?” He crossed his arms, still wincing in pain from... what Tox did, and the gash in his arm. “Hmmmm....I guess that is a pretty good reason. However, you still owe us for almost getting yourself killed. And don’t try to tell me it wouldn’t have killed you. We both know you’d be lying.” He rolled his eyes, “Fair enough,” “Just ignore her Ven, she’s only going to try and trick you in some way. You don’t owe us anything.” “SHUT UP NOCTIS!” “Anyway, lets go,” And with that, the cloud began to move on its own, Ven sitting at the front of it, he held up his watch. “Guys, go to the Castle that Never Was.” “I thought you’d never ask.” I said as I steeled myself for the fight to come. “Look out Organization bozos, here we come!” The cotton candy cloud began to accelerate rapidly. I felt like it was going too slow, so I prepared to take off. “I wouldn’t recommend taking off, we would leave you behind.” I glared at him for a bit, but I sat back down. “So, do you think we’ll run into Riku or Sora or anyone else there?” “Possible, but I doubt it.” “Ok then, but after we get Lumos back I’m going to find a Master to teach me how to wield this thing.” I said, summoning my keyblade and waving it around a little. “And since the only masters available are Yen Sid, Mickey, and possibly Riku, the Tower’s my best bet for finding them.” “Eh, whatever.” Ven said with a shrug. “Seriously? You seem to be good enough as is. Well, except for having your ass handed to you by those things Umbra made.” Die remarked. “Yeah, that was pretty interesting, actually. Anyway, we’ll be at the castle momentarily.” “Good. I want to kick some ass. Anyway, Ven, what kind of creatures did you encounter before that army of Umbra’s things showed up.” “Nobodies, mostly.” “That’s weird. This is a sleeping realm, so there should only be Dream Eaters here.” “Not if the Nobodies were already in the world.” Ven said plainly. “....shut up.” I huffed. “But if that is, or was, the case, then why didn’t Sora and Riku ever encounter them in Dream Drop Distance? Were they under orders not to go after them or something?” “Nobodies have personalities, maybe they know better than to mess with them.” “Would they have messed with you if that was the case?” I pointed out. “Well, they haven’t met any power users before, so I guess they’ve learned..” “Yeah yeah, blah blah, I’m sure this conversation is riveting for any who can follow it but we’re here.” Die said, pointing to the massive castle right in front of us with an arm I could have sword had been broken a few minutes ago. “Now, do you want to knock, or can I?” She smirked. “Go ahead.” “Ven, you just cost us our hearing for the next ten minutes.” I said as I dismissed BP and covered my ears as best I could. Luna took one look at me and followed suit, as did Celestia, Discord, and Tox. “SOLAR BLAST!” A massive beam of energy shot out of her arm and blasted into the castle. The contact created a massive shock wave that threatened to tear the clouds apart, and the noise was worse than being blasted point-blank by an ambulance siren being amped by a megaphone. For some reason, only Ven was unaffected by the blast. After about a minute, Die finally cut off the flow, and the beam abruptly thinned out and disappeared, leaving a gaping hole in the side of it. A few seconds later, Ven yawned, and said “That wasn’t so bad.” “Are you kidding? The first time she used that move, I lost my hearing for a week straight.” “And I have the power to remove all air around me, making a sound proof barrier, I believe I win.” He said with a grin. “And you couldn’t have placed this barrier around the rest of us, why?” Celestia asked with a hint of annoyance in her voice. “I could’ve.” Ven said, keeping his grin, before jumping off the cloud, and rocketing toward the castle. “We’ll get him back later. Right, Dissy?” She said, grabbing one of Discord’s arms and interlocking it with her own while batting her eyelashes at him. Discord shuddered, “Right.” “Pffft, Ven is so dead.” Die said, chuckling. “Shut up Die. Celestia, don’t go overboard. We do kinda need him alive.” “Hmph, fine. Now, we need to separate into groups in order to speed up the search f--” A voice said in my head. “What the fuck was that? You heard it too, right?” “That would be Umbra, or at least one of his crappy puppets.” I replied disdainfully, summoning BP again. The voice said, and Umbra appeared, floating in the air in front of us with a strange, mishmash keyblade in his hand. “The fuck is that?” Tox said, her eyes flickering with rage. “You mean the thing you used to separate me and Akumu?” “Well, that thing doesn’t look like much. What’d you do, use ‘soul food’ to make it or something?” “Wait, you used souls to make it? Who?” I asked. He grinned. “What do you mean, in a sense? What have you done, monster!?” “Let’s just say,” a serpentine voice said behind us “One version of ‘Equestria,’ no longer has element bearers.” Celestia’s eyes widened in rage as she turned to face the figure. “So, this is where you turned up, huh Akumu?” I said calmly. “Now, what. Did. You. DO!?” Umbra began to float in circles around the cloud, but suddenly he was engulfed in flames. “How. DARE YOU!” Celestia screamed with fury as she undid the illusion hiding her wings and horn, rising into the air to meet him head on as she did so. Umbra said as the flames moved off his body, and into the symbol in the hand-guard of the blade. He didn’t get a chance to counter though, as walls of light surrounded him and started to close in, creating sharp spikes as it came closer and closer. Umbra yawned, and slipped into a dark passage, appearing just outside of the sphere, “It matters not. You have commit grievous offences, and you shall pay for them. Noctis. You and everyone else are to rescue Lumos. I shall handle Umbra and Akumu by myself.” “Sorry Celestia, but FUCK THAT! You are not fighting the both of them by yourself. I’m staying. The rest of you guys can go.” “Hey Noctis,” Akumu said, stepping in front of me, “Recognize this?” he asked as Tsuki no me appeared in his hand. “So, it remained. I see. But you don’t have the Orb. I do, and that’s all the advantage I need.” I said. “Ah, but I don’t need the orb, thanks to Umbra.” He said, his eyes sparkling with pride. “We’ll see about that.” I said, throwing BP at him and taking to the skies. Umbra just knocked the blade to the side, ignoring its disappearing act, and Akumu followed my movement with his eyes as I re-summoned it and shot a giant fireball at him. The fireball curved, and went into the blade Umbra held, just like the fire before. “Dude, if you love fire so much, then why don’t you just ask it out. Too hot for ya?” I asked. “So you eat fire? That’s gotta cause some serious heartburn.” I joked, charging him, trying to run him through. He smiled as he disappeared, He appeared right behind Tox, and cut her arm with the blade, .. “Shit!” Die yelled, rushing Umbra and running Taiyo no me through his arm before he could react. To everyone’s surprise, Umbra laughed. Moments later, his arm exploded into a ton of tentacles, which began to rapidly strike her blade from almost every direction that didn’t cut them. “Let me guess. This is possible because you used to be part of Lumos, right?” I asked as I tossed BP through the tendrils, severing them and allowing Die to retreat with her blade, holding onto Tox with one arm. The tendrils floated back and reattached, before they reformed as two arms, his other arm followed suit. he pulled out two different gauntlets, one I recognized as the two bladed one as before, the other was different. “NOCTIS! Something bad is happening to Tox!” I turned to see that Tox’s body was changing. Her outfit slowly disintegrated, to reveal a black skintight one underneath it, her flesh slowly turned black, darkness was slowly spreading up her arm from her cut. Her teeth became jagged, and her eyes hardened. Claws grew out of her hands, and her legs gained a new joint in them. She stood up slowly, grabbing Dies arm. The flesh on that spot withering immediately. “AHHHHHHHH!” She screamed as she pulled away. “SHUT UP! WHAT DID YOU DO TO TOX!?” I yelled. Tox’s voice said in my head, sounding a bit like a snake’s, “Understand? Tox, what are you talking about? This isn’t you. Don’t you dare let him beat you.” She warped behind me, and slashed my foreleg with her claws. “FUCK.” I yelled as I severed her hand and glided away from her, clutching my bleeding leg. She frowned. Her arm began to bubble, and a new hand slid out. “Sorry Tox.” I said. “DARK FIR--” I stopped, unable to move, thankfully, I was standing on a cloud wide enough to catch me so I didn’t fall to my death. Hey Tox, you can hear my thoughts now, right? Since you’ve switched? I mean, the ones from the Space Between could hear them, so I assume you can too. And if so, I’ve got one thing to say. Umbra’s voice said. Well then, tell her this for me. Time for heads to roll. Tox’s voice said as she appeared above me, punching me through the cloud. Oh, and Umbra, you forgot about something. I thought, smirking as I fell towards the streets far below. You forgot about Luna. I had just enough time to see the Night Goddess appear behind Tox and shove her longsword through her throat, before the cloud closed up again and I continued to fall towards the ground at increasing speed. Sorry Tox. I’ll make ‘em pay double for you. Tox appeared above me, the sword stuck in her neck, she ‘said’ before stabbing my chest with her claws. “That’s what I was waiting for.” I said, smirking as I ripped the sword out and forcibly closed her wound telekinetically. “DARKNESS ABSORPTION!” The darkness began to flow out of Tox’s arm, and her claws disappeared, she kicked me away, before the darkness returned to normal. She held up a clawed hand, and a large drop of poison fell. I righted myself mere feet from the ground. “It’s not quite done yet Tox. You see, I don’t have to maintain contact. Once the spell is cast, it’s effect continues until all the darkness is purged. I’m not losing a friend, even if I have to absorb all the darkness that ever existed. I’m not letting you die.” “Fine then, I’ll absorb that too. Tox, whether or not you’re on my side right now, I’m gonna save you. I never leave anyone behind when I can help them. YOU HEAR ME UMBRA, AKUMU! YOU CAN’T HAVE HER! SHE’S OUR FRIEND AND WE WILL SAVE HER!” I yelled, charging towards her again. The ball of poison struck, and I felt a burning sensation throughout my entire body as my fur, feathers, and skin were melted. “FUCK THAT HURTS!” I yelled as I started falling again, hitting the ground a few seconds later, creating small cracks. “Alright, I guess I’ve got no choice. DISCORD! YOU STILL GOT ONE OF THOSE ITEMS ENCHANTED WITH THOSE DISGUISE SPELLS!?” “Just one, and it’s almost out of power!” Discord shouted, blocking an attack from Akumu with a sword that looked like it was made of fur. “WELL TOSS IT DOWN HERE! I DON’T GIVE A DAMN HOW LONG IT LASTS, I NEED MY OLD FORM, EVEN IF ONLY FOR A LITTLE WHILE!” “Take it!” Discord threw a small metallic blue disc at me. I caught it and realised one thing. “HOW DO I MAKE IT WORK!?” “JUST SLAP IT ON, DAMMIT!” He blocked a blow that would have decapitated him otherwise. I shook my head as I put it on my right leg. Unlike the times I used the orb, this change took a while, and it hurt like hell. The first time it changes you involves a lot of snapping bones, and ripping skin. In my case, lacking skin, I grew new skin which was stretched, ripped and magically sewn back together multiple times as I became human again. My disguise spell gave me a new outfit too. A dark blue jacket with the right sleeve rolled up to the elbow and some sort of armor on the left shoulder, a red t-shirt, blue and red gloves with the moon on the right glove, and the sun on the left, and black shoes. Tox hissed as her mind spoke, “Then why didn’t you take any of them?” “That proves it. You’re not one of them. Not completely. You’re still our friend.” She scoffed she said with pride, Her arm turned gold I pulled the Infinity Spectrum keychain from my neck as I raised Blackout Prizm. “Tox. Do you know what this is?” “Ah, but that’s only a vague description. This keychain is very special. See, I kept asking myself why it felt so important, why the name and symbol kept popping into my head. Now I know. This keychain,” I attached it, and BP transformed into its solar counterpart. “Represents redemption.” “What’s been done to your body may be permanent, but I still believe I can save your mind. You’re not too far gone for that.” I retorted. “Says you.” “Whatever.” I said, rushing Tox and making a vertical slash to try and sever her arm. Suddenly, she was gone. Everywhere I looked, I couldn’t see her. All I did see was the falling bodies of the princesses of the sun and moon, as well as Discord. “LUNA! CELESTIA! DISCORD!” I yelled as I ran towards them yelling, “AEROGA!” and forcing wind to flow upwards, slowing their descent, but not stopping it. Thankfully it slowed them enough that they hit the ground with no damage. Discord then got up, brushed himself off, and teleported himself and the princesses back to the cloud with a wave. I shook my head and went back to looking for Tox. “ALRIGHT YOU COWARDS! COME OUT AND FACE ME!” I yelled in rage. Two voices spoke in my head simultaneously, The three appeared around me. “Darkness gets there first, right? Good thing I can wield it safely now that you and I are separated Akumu.” I said, smirking as I vanished into the shadows at our feet. Umbra’s voice said “Yeah, how so” I asked, “You know what, don’t bother telling me. INFINITY RUSH!” The ground erupted in pillars of light that grew in larger and created a massive cube of light, surrounding and blinding them as I reappeared and made several swift strikes against them, causing severe damage to the buildings and the streets around us. Umbra’s voice spoke again, chilling me to the bone. The light cleared enough for me something that made me sick to see. Tox’s body was on the ground, torn apart and burned, with Umbra squatting over her, closing her eyes as her corpse started to fade away. My anger reached it’s boiling point as I realised the that I had failed to save her, and that Umbra dared to pretend to care. “SHUT UP! DON’T YOU DARE TOUCH HER! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT AFTER WHAT YOU TURNED HER INTO!” “Don’t try your mind games on me, Umbra. This is where you die.” I said. “Then it’s a good thing he’s right behind you, ready to lock you up and throw away the key.” I said smugly. “Too bad you don’t have them underground.” I said, as my copy disappeared. He never finished since I stabbed Infinity Spectrum right through his heart. “Don’t worry, you’re not gonna die, your powers are just being sealed, and about your sinblade. The souls you used are gonna be returned. Unfortunately, the blade’s power is such that even without the souls, it will remain, but with its powers greatly reduced.” He let out his low, barking laugh, I closed my eyes and took a breath as I registered the information. “I see. Then I guess I’ll make sure they find peace.” I said, driving my blade further into his chest. He grabbed the blade of IS, He said plainly as he pulled it out of his chest and threw it away, and his body began to fade, He snapped the sinblade in half. That which came from it was a horrible cross of seven voices screaming and a bright flash, when it cleared, seven different blades were floating around him. “You’re gonna pay for that.” I said. He grinned, he ‘said’ as all the blades cut off various parts of his body. “Let me guess. More tendrils?” I asked, summoning IS back to my hand and taking a stance. The pieces began to smoke, “So, even now the souls fight you. Just proves you’ll never win.” He said as he pulled out a glove with his remaining arm, and tore something out of himself. The glove glowed for a moment, before a metal orb dropped into it. Almost immediately, his body turned to dust. “What are you talking about?” I asked confusedly. and then his head evaporated. The orb continued to glow for a moment, before it became white and black, in a similar pattern to that of the robes Xemnas wore at the end of kingdom hearts 2, with the symbol of the heartless on it. “I must say, I wasn’t expecting that.” A familiar voice said behind me. “Lumos?” “Close enough.”A black cloaked man wielding a blade said as he stepped in front of me. “Lemme guess. That’s Nihl?” I asked. “Gee, I wonder how you knew.” Lumos said with a grin, “Also, I’m ‘Lux, the incomplete’ not ‘Lumos the neutral god,’ anymore.” “Ok then, Lux. Do you remember me? Or Die, or Clare, and Ven?” “Will you stop asking stupid questions already, Noctis?” He pulled back his hood to reveal him being exactly the same, with the exception of the whites of his eyes being black. “Dude, I don’t ask stupid questions.” I said with a small frown. “And I’m not the one who created that thing that killed the populations of two towns and an entire world.” “Fair point,” He walked over to the orb that Umbra made. “That's weird.” “Yeah, he made it just before he ‘died’. Now, where are those sinblades?” I mused, looking around. “You mean these?” I heard from above me, and I looked up to see Akumu standing on the largest one. “AKUMU! Give up. Umbra’s dead, and you’re outnumbered, as well as outmatched. Or do you wanna make this your last stand? Go ahead, all it means is I’ll get to go home a little earlier and spend time with my girlfriend.” “HA! Now that’s a good one. Umbra planned for this, actually, he knew that seperated, we couldn’t win, so he gave me... his soul.” He said with a grin, “He set it up so that when he died, I would inherit the blades, giving me eight.” “Eight? Last I checked, there were only seven. Unless you’re talking about Tsuki no me as well. In which case, bring it on.” I said. “After all, that blade belonged to me, so it’s only fitting I be the one to destroy it.” “Gladly. Now then, let me show you the power Umbra taught me, but was afraid to use with only one soul!” He said, as he slipped on a glove identical to that Umbra used to create the orb. “I’m guessing that’s what you used to get the souls to create your precious sinblades.” I spat. He grinned, and said in my head “... Did you just Quote Joseph Stalin?” Lux asked, a look saying ‘what the fuck’ on his face. “No shit, Sherlock,” Akumu said with a chuckle, “With his soul,” “Ok talking in two voices. Creepy as fuck, but not gonna change a thing.” I said. Akumu spoke the next part, both out loud, and in our heads “” and with that, he disappeared. “Fuck. Lux, be careful, he can mess with our heads and make us attack each other.” Lux picked up the orb, “This... this is a heart...” He chuckled, “That bastard is less predictable that Discord.” “I heard my name.” Discord said, popping in out of nowhere, almost completely healed. Lux just stared at him, before turning to me “Mind explaining?” “Uh, sure. Discord from my world is a good guy now. It’s only cause of him we were even able to get here on the Swagwagon.” I said quickly, searching for Akumu/Umbra. “The... what the fuck?!?” He shouted as a sinblade crashed into Nihl knocking it out of his hands, before both disappeared. “Well that isn’t good.” he deadpanned, “give me a moment.” The orb began to glow, and his robe disappeared, changing into a simple long sleeve shirt, and pants, made of the same material as Ven’s old outfit, and covered with pockets. “Nice gear. Hey, if you’re here, where are Ven and the others anyway?” “Still in the castle, said they had something they wanted to look for. Now then,” He held his left hand to the sky, and a white and black scimitar fell from it, landing perfectly in his hand, followed by taking a dual wielding stance, “lets kill this bastard.” “Gladly.” I said, raising IS, as Nihl reappeared in Lux’s other hand. Lux charged forward, fast enough that I could barely follow the movements myself, and he made a swift uppercut with Nihl, which Akumu dodged with a slight adjustment to his stance. Lux then threw his blade straight down, right before it hit the ground, it entered a dark passage, and flew out, going through Akumu’s leg. “Gah!”Akumu shouted, before doing something I didn’t expect: he began to pour light into the wound, closing it up, and making it heal. “Light? Really? I didn’t expect you to ever use it Akumu. Or Umbra? Or are we gonna have to come up with an entirely new name for you?” I asked as I tossed IS at him. “SPARK RAID!” The blade only nicked him, but it separated into several spinning blades of light which flew in all directions. Akumu managed to dodge each blade, “Oh, I’m still Akumu, I just know everything Umbra knew, and have his powers as my own.” he said, as a flintlock pistol appeared in his hand. He pointed it at me, “Glasis.” he said as he pulled the trigger. “and I would be a fool not to use them.” A beam of light blue shot out of the barrel of the gun. “Shadow Slide.” I disappeared just as the bullet passed through the space I had occupied just a second earlier, impacting harmlessly against one of the remaining buildings, and reappearing behind him with IS raised. Just as I brought it down, one of his ‘sinblades’ floated up, blocking the attack. “[color= blue]Sonvabitch.” “Well that’s a familiar use of blades.” I heard Lux say from somewhere, sounding muffled, “Also, Noctis, you’re doing it wrong.” and with that he physically burst from Akumu’s chest. He wiped the blood from his face, before saying “THAT, is how you use darkness in battle.” “Dude, now that’s what I call a heart-attack.” I said, chuckling at my own bad joke. “Whatever, he’s healing faster than I could.” He said, looking back at his work with an approving smile. “Whatever. Just hit him once with Nihl and it’s over, right?” I said. “Not quite, Nihl does destroy, but only the parts it DIRECTLY touches, if you nick his ear, that part is gone for good, and can’t be regenerated, but the rest of him remains.” “Then pass it to me, and I’ll decapitate him. Problem solved.” I said, reaching out to grab it from him, and getting my hand swatted away. “Sorry, but to keep others from stealing it, it’s set up so that only I can wield it without my hand getting fucked up.” “Oh, right. Like with the other weapons you made? Then wouldn’t Xemnas be able to use it, since he helped make it?” I said, wondering why Akumu was just standing there and letting us have a conversation. Turning to look, I got my answer: he wasn’t there at all, he was going upwards toward the clouds. NO! DIE , LUNA AND CELESTIA ARE STILL THERE! “NOPE!” Lux shouted as he appeared above him, sinking his heel into Akumu’s face, before disappearing, and reappearing behind him, giving a sharp kick to the spine, followed by several other teleportations, and hits to sensitive areas, the last, being a place found between ones legs. “Ouch, I felt that.” I said, holding back a laugh as I ran towards the spot Akumu was going to land at. Lumos’ cheeks puffed up, “Shadow dragon’s...” (wait for it,) “ROAR” He shouted, and with the word, came a large amount of darkness, tearing everything in it’s path to shreds. The blast narrowly missed me by a couple inches, not counting the bit of hair I lost. Akumu got the blunt of the attack though, losing one arm, and everything below the chest, while leaving a massive gash in the ground and completely obliterating the rest of the remaining buildings. “Gah, leaves a rotting taste in your mouth.” Lux complained, as he was spitting out little bits of darkness, which instantly disintegrated whatever they touched. “Dude, where’d you learn that!?” I exclaimed, awestruck. “You mean that technique specifically, or dragon slayer magic in general?” he asked, before saying, “White Drive.” a pure white aura appeared around him, making him, and the air around him, look like it had been bleached. “Dude, what’s with the glowing? And I wanna know where you learned about, what did you call it, ‘Slayer Magic’, as well as the technique, you gotta tell me how you learned that.” “Dragon slayer magic is something I read about in a manga called ‘Fairy Tail,’ other forms of dragon slayer magic are fire, lightning, poison, sky, and iron. A level higher than that, is God slayer magic. Unfortunately for me, there isn’t enough knowledge on it, or how it is used, to properly replicate it.” “Cool. So, think you could teach me Light and Shadow sometime? I mean, after I learn how to use a keyblade properly I mean.” I said, just as the magic in the disc I’d been given started to run out. “Awww, crap” “What?” He asked, looking at Akumu’s regenerating form with interest. “Remember how I used to be able to switch forms at will? Emphasis on ‘used to’. I had to give up my human form and my sword when Umbra released my darkness. It saved my life, but it also gave Akumu my human body and Tsuki no me. The only reason I’m human now is cause of this disc thing Discord gave me so I could disguise myself as a human again, and the magic’s about to run out.” “It looks sort of like a keyblade armor thing. Could I see it?” “Sure, but I’ve got about ten minutes before I switch back to my pegasus form, which was previously devoid of skin, thanks to Tox.” I said, shaking a little. “Tox is here too? Where?” I thought about lying to him, but I shook my head, knowing that he’d just find out later and it would be worse because of the lie. “Lux...I’m sorry. Umbra turned her into one of them, and...she’s gone, Lux.” I saw the aura around him fade, and he grit his teeth, “No... NO! I REFUSE TO ACCEPT THIS!” He shouted as a large amount of darkness and light began to pour out of him. “WELL YOU HAVE TO! AND I HAVE TO LIVE WITH THE FACT THAT I’M THE ONE THAT ENDED HER LIFE! I THOUGHT I COULD SAVE HER AND I WAS WRONG!” The darkness and light began to take the shape of an orb, “Where is the body?” He asked, a look of rage on his face. “I don’t know. Umbra did something to it before we started fighting again, and now I have no idea what happened. The worst part is that he actually had the nerve to pretend to mourn her death.” I hissed. “Very well then,” He jumped up, grabbed Akumu’s still legless body by the throat, and slammed him into the ground. A flurry of fists fell onto his face, each moving faster than the last, and with each one the crater Akumu was in grew larger. “WHAT DID HE DO WITH HER BODY?! TELL ME!” His shouted, “TELL ME! TE-” he stopped as a black katana went through his chest. A trickle of black blood came out of his mouth, “Wha...” “You’re a fool.” Akumu said, barely audible, “Umbra’s given me the knowledge to kill you, did you really think you could win?” “SHIT! LUX!” I yelled as I charged Akumu and slashed wildly at him. “That’s... wow, not even trying to use frozen heart, are we?” “I don’t need it anymore. I have this one. WOUND EQUILIBRIUM!” “Just wondering, how much energy you got left? Also,” His arms split, similarly to Umbra’s, only to form eight arms instead of the tendrils, “I say it’s about time I end this crap.” He landed on a disk of darkness, a blade in each of his hands. “I haven’t... got much left... Akumu. Just enough for... one more spell. Then I’m... done.” I huffed, my body starting to revert back to it’s previous form, melted skin and all. “But I think...you know...what spell it’ll be.” “We’ll see.” He said, looking at me with a look, not of fear, not of assumed victory, but one of curiosity. “Akumu...do you remember the first technique I ever learned after my sister and I relieved the Orbs. I assume you would since you were around since that day.” My wings were ripping through my sides now, and the pain threatened to make me pass out. “Long before, darkness is always present.” “Then you know the first move Die and I ever mastered. The one move we can always use. Soul Transfer.” My arms had turned into hooves, and my legs were following quickly. “Your point being?” He cracked hes neck, and stabbed a sinblade into the ground. “Do you remember what it does?” My face was becoming longer and more equine. “It let’s you use your sister’s techniques, and merges your personality, so?” “It doesn’t just let me use her techniques. It let’s her use mine too! Soul transfer.” I yelled as my transformation finally ended and my consciousness started to fade from the agony. Akumu just had one of those looks on your face you get when you think ‘what the fuck did i just see,’ before saying “... Well this sucks.” and then he felt something ram into him, like a bullet train slamming into a car at full speed. “THAT ONE’S FOR TOX!”... __________________________________________________________________ (Die’s POV) “I should have seen that one coming from a mile away.” Akumu said as he stood slowly. “SHUT UP! I’m gonna gut you, Akumu. And for your information, Celestia and Luna are gonna be fine, so you failed on two fronts. Now, draw your blade, bastard.” He held up his eight arms, each holding a sword, and grinned, “Eight steps ahead of you.” I didn’t bother replying, simply choosing to rush towards him, Taiyo no me raised above my head as I ducked and weaved through his flailing blades and severing the arms when they came too close. As I got close I stabbed my blade through his throat. “That’s the power of soul transfer.” I said. “Combined with the fact that now I can do this!” I said, smirking as I summoned IS, much to his intrigue. <... Dafuq?> He asked as I pushed Taiyo no me through the rest of the way and raised IS to strike. He jumped back, with Taiyo no me still in his throat, he ‘shouted’ as he tore the blade from his neck, the wound healing quickly with his newfound ‘light’ power. He flipped the sword a couple of times, only for it to disappear like IS would. “Surprised? I learned that trick during the training on the Swagwagon.” “No, I’m really not, I can do the same with Tsuki no me, so it’s understandable that it’s solar counterpart would have the same ability.” “Yeah, yeah. I’m gonna enjoy this.” I said, taking a stance used by samurai warriors, my legs spread, Tnm parallel to the ground and positioned so that it was at chest level and running across my chest with the blade facing outwards, and IS raised to face the sky. “Lets just get this over with, I’m on a schedule, after all”he said, his sinblades fusing back into one, and his arms changing from eight to four, and wielding the sinblade in his left top, Tsuki no me in his top right, and his lower arms holding a pair of guns. “Navitas Reposita” He said, and the guns began to glow softly. Akumu moved fast, like before he was only playing around, and was suddenly trying. He dashed froward, and made several gashes in my arm with Tsuki no me before I could even react, though for some reason, the sinblade just kept getting stabbed into the ground. “Trouble controlling your blade?” I asked, smirking despite my wounds. “Ha! Hardly, this thing is easier to control when all together, which, considering that these are the elements, is a little wierd.” “Well, I hope you enjoy this next move. LIMIT REMOVAL!” I felt the energy rush throughout my entire body, and I moved at speeds that matched Akumu’s with ease, landing several swift blows on him. “Hey, I know that move!” Akumu said, in an eerily cheery tone, “Though I call it... UNLEASH!” He said, and moved fast enough that he physically disappeared, leaving a small cloud of dust. “Forget about something?” I said as I barely dodged his blows. “Did I?” “Eeyup. You forgot about the nasty side-effect of Unleash.” “Yeah yeah, damage taken is damage doubled.” “That’s Limit Removal. Unleash cripples the user after two minutes, and I believe you have about 30 seconds left.” He grinned, “Better make the most of it then,” He appeared behind me, and said, with the barrels of his guns against my shoulders, “DIMITTAM!” and a huge bolt of energy shot out, breaking the bones, “Deactivate technique: unleash” he said, just before the limit was reached. I grimaced as I hit the ground.“Dumbass. You just signed your death warrant.” I said, as my vision started to fade. He pointed at me, “Sigillum Potentia. Welcome back to mortality.” My vision was almost completely gone by this point. “V...Ven...help...” was all I could muster up with what little strength I had left. “He can’t hear you,” Akumu said, as he poised Tsuki no me over my throat, when suddenly, both his arms and his legs exploded, as did his chest. “...Dafuq?” “YOU FUCKING BASTARD!” I heard Ven’s voice shout, as he crashed into Akumu’s falling body, which was quickly regenerating. Ven then ran over to me, and started to pour a foul tasting liquid into my mouth, “Here, it’s one of those potions. I know it tastes terrible, but drink it anyway.” He was right, it tasted like raw sewage mixed with manure, but I drank it nonetheless, grimacing the entire time. “...Thanks...you’re a good...boyfriend...now kick his ass...” I saw the whites of his eyes turn black, the irises changed to be orange, and his teeth sharpened to a fine point, “Right away, ma’am.” He said as he stood up, and a black wind surrounded each of his hands. He sheathed Tai Fuu No Me, and a demonic-looking blade appeared in his hands. Ven let out an ear-piercing shriek charged forward, at the now-healed Akumu, who was paralyzed by the sound. Ven managed to swing the huge sword hard enough to break Tsuki no me, and sever both of his left arms. Ven picked up one of the guns as he kicked Akumu away, and pointed it at his chest shouting, “POTENTIA LEVO!” the beam ripped through him, but when the light faded, he had no wound. The dark wind around him began to form circles. The then exploded off of him, cutting everything they touched. If I weren’t lying down, I would be dead, thanks to Akumu’s spell. Ven appeared behind Akumu, who had jumped over, and severed his arms with two swings of his sword, before grabbing Akumu’s head with his feet, and turning it, creating a sharp cracking sound echo through the air. “Let me give you a warning, you stupid bastard:” Ven said, his voice distorting “YOU. DO. NOT. HARM. MY. FRIENDS. OR. MY. GIRLFRIEND!” With each word, he cut Akumu in half in a different direction each time. Blood fell from Akumu’s mouth, and his pieces slowly pulled themselves together. Meanwhile, Ven poised the blade over the Sinblade, and swung downward, saying ““Aeterna sigillo.” Blade struck blade, and the Sinblade glowed for a moment, before turning to stone. “D-damn you,” Akumu said, before exploding into a mass of tendrils, all aimed at Ven’s chest and head. Ven just held up the blade, which glowed black “LUPUS DENTE DIVIDENDO LUNAM” He shouted, and a black wave, surrounded by red shot from his blade as he swung it, cutting through each and every one of the tendrils, only leaving Akumu’s head, and a bit of his chest. Ven walked over to Akumu slowly, flattened his hand, and stabbed it into his opponent’s heart, “Ducenti anno sigillo.” He said, and Akumu, just barely finishing his regeneration, was turned to stone. Ven pulled out his hand before the transformation reached the spot, and placed his hand gently on the chest, “Energiae Furari. Sui Sana.” He said, and his wounds closed. The blade faded out of existence, and Ven collapsed, unconscious before he even hit the ground next to the statue of Akumu. I smiled, feeling my consciousness fade away, and the embrace of sleep. Chapter 1: The villageNoctis stood at the edge of the small village, his face unreadable, his glowing sky-blue eyes checking over a large group of trees and boulders, the boulders setup so that they constructed a massive barrier, and the trees turned into giant spear-like defences, at the entrance the Shinra troops would come from, to the North. The terrain to the south was too mountainous for a ground assault, as Shinra intended, and to the west was a sheer drop, hundreds of metres above the ocean, meaning that their only option there would be to use ships, which they believed to be a waste of resources for the destruction of one village filled with women and children. To the east was a series of tunnels, which his younger sister Die was using to evacuate the villagers before Shinra troops arrived to burn it all down. There was no way in hell that Shinra’s troops would be able to navigate the tunnels, seeing as not one person in this entire village had ever left to join the military. They hated Shinra with a passion for all that had they had done to the planet. Noctis sat down, satisfied with the defence preparations, and took a moment to recall the events which had led to this moment... Flashback “What do you think we’re gonna find when we get there?” “Probably a bunch of rebels and deserters, if the intel is solid. If not, we just say so, and head home. Don’t worry either way Noctis, nobody can beat two first class SOLDIERs.” “You know I don’t get worried.” “I know, you never get worried. It would be nice if you did though, once in a while...” Noctis shook his head slowly while keeping his face expressionless. Die had just finished up a call with President Shinra about their mission, and they. Unusual, but the order had come directly from him to them, and they were only to speak to him about it. They had been told that there was a village filled with rebels who were threatening to destroy any and all mako reactors they could if Shinra didn’t shut them down. Their mission was to go in, neutralise the rebels, and get out. They were to call the president the moment the job was done for pickup. Sounded simple enough. If only it were. Noctis and Die ran to get their equipment from their lockers. They grabbed their blades, and packed their materia into their backpacks in case they needed them. Once they were sure that everything was prepared, they checked on their secret equipment. They were the items that the two SOLDIERs never showed to anyone. The one secret they treasured more than anything... Daydream They obtained the materia and their blades a year before they had joined SOLDIER, in the ruins near their home. They’d been searching through the forest nearby and, after several stumbles, falls and close calls with the local wildlife, they came upon the ruins by chance. Being curious kids, they went in, focused on seeing the ‘cool treasures’ they were sure to find in here, though they had some interest in the history behind the ruins as well. They had no idea that what they found was going to set them on a path that no one could have foreseen them being on. The ruins were crumbling badly, and more than once, they had to climb over fallen debris, or backtrack to find another way around a blocked path. Despite their eagerness, the two took their time, both to make sure they didn’t go head first into a trap, and to admire the murals and paintings that survived. They were all of strange equines of various shapes, sizes and colours. Some had wings, some had horns. And at least two of them had both. They didn’t know what the ones without wings or horns were called, but they remembered the ones with wings were called Pegasi, and the ones with horns were called Unicorns, mostly from books on mythology they had read. They had no idea what the ones with both were called, but they were sure their parents had probably mentioned such creatures at one point or another. See, most parents focused on academics, but Noctis and Die’s parents had been obsessed with creatures of legends and myths, convinced that they had existed at one time or another, and they had passed that obsession on to their children. After about an hour of trekking through the ruined hallways and collapsed rooms, they came to some sort of treasury, except the only treasures that they could see were two strange orbs on a pedestal in the center of the room, the path to which was flanked by several statues of various equines like the ones from the murals. On either side of the pedestal were the same two creatures with wings and horns. The statues were wearing some sort of shoes and necklaces. But the two children were not paying attention to the statues. They were too busy staring at the orbs. Only one word came to mind. Materia... They approached the pedestal cautiously, noting that each of the statues had some sort of orb at its feet, and each orb had a different symbol on it. What could they mean? the two thought. They spent a good hour trying to come up with any possible meanings for the individual symbols, but they had nothing. Fed up, they turned their attentions to the materia on the pedestal. They looked to each other, then to the materia, which were completely unlike anything they had ever seen before. The one on the left was a dark blue, and within it, they could make out a symbol, a black crescent moon. The one on the right was red, and its symbol was a shining sun. They had never seen anything like them, but they somehow knew that they were neither support nor summoning materia, despite their coloration. They talked briefly about who would pick which one. Noctis chose the Lunar Materia, and Die chose the Solar Materia, seeing as they matched their names.. They reached out slowly, being on the lookout for any potential traps they may set off. It was only a few seconds, but to them it seemed like hours, until finally, they had plucked the materia from the pedestal. They turned to leave, but as they reached the end of the room they felt that something was calling to them, telling them to turn around, back to the pedestal, though they couldn’t explain it. They followed the call, and saw something they never expected to see. Floating above the pedestal, right where the materia had been, were two blades, with similar symbols to the materia they had taken. They looked back to the materia, which had merged with them, embedding themselves in the arms of the two. They tried to remove them, but nothing they thought of worked. They gave up, and the materia suddenly became completely hidden, though Noctis and Die could still feel their presence. “Well Die, guess they’re here to stay. So...should we take the blades too?” “Yeah, let’s. Something tells me that we’re meant to have them, or something.” The siblings took the blades in their hands, and immediately power surged through them. It was agonizing, and at the same time, euphoric. The two blacked out, unable to handle the immense power coursing through their veins, so they did not hear the voices of the two beings who had been watching them the whole time. “Are you sure that letting these children take the artifacts is wise, sister?” “I am sure. They are the ones who are meant to wield them.” “But they are too young! They cannot handle su-” “Little sister, do not think that just because they are young, they cannot control this power. When the time comes, they will be ready. After all, you were freed from your darkness by ones not much older than these two.” The younger of the two sighed in defeat. “Fine, but you know they may not appreciate the responsibility we force upon them.” “I know, but we have no choice. None from our world can wield these weapons, not even us. If they are the ones that the Celestial Orbs, the Eye of the Sun and the Eye of the Moon have chosen, then we must accept it, and trust that they can handle their task when the time comes.” “I’d rather keep an eye on them, and make sure they stay out of trouble.” “You know you can’t. The effects on your body and mind if you spent prolonged periods of time here would not be very, pleasant. Even as immortals, we cannot spend more than a few months at most in any world but our own without suffering some sort of damage to our minds.” “I know, I know. But sister?” “Yes?” “You know that when their true power is unlocked they will beco-” “I know. It is both a gift and a curse. Now come, we have preparations to make.” And with that, the two figures left, returning to the world they had come from. Noctis and Die meanwhile, had woken up outside where the ruins had been, only to find that the ruins were gone, with nothing to suggest they had ever even existed. Nothing except for the materia in their arms, and their blades. The two returned home, explained their decision to their parents, and left to join SOLDIER... Daydream is Over Noctis was snapped out of his daydream by his sister, who had playfully punched him on the arm when they arrived at the helicopter. It could only take them as far as the forest leading up to the village. Any closer, and the anti-aircraft weapons that the village had apparently installed would obliterate them. Noctis faced his sister as the chopper ascended. “Hey Die?” “Yeah?” His face turned sombre. “Why do you think those ruins disappeared after we found the orbs and the blades?” “I dunno. Why are you thinking about it, anyway? It’s been five years.” “I know, but I keep thinking about them, especially since it was only a few days before the incident.” “Dammit Noctis, stop obsessing over it. Sephiroth was a traitor, and he took away our home, yeah, but he’s gone now.” “Just like Zack.” Die fell silent at the mention of their fallen idol. The death of someone who always believed in honour, at the hands of his so-called comrades, had shaken their faith in what Shinra was doing. It was the reason that they had decided that this would be their last mission as SOLDIERs. “Noctis...” He turned to his sister, his face once again devoid of any emotion. “It’s fine, let’s just forget about it.” Die just sighed and remained silent for the rest of the trip. She had always worried about her brother. Ever since their parents had died in the Nibelheim incident, he had become withdrawn, only ever being comfortable to let his emotions show around her, and only her. Not that she was ungrateful for his trust in her, but she wished she could help him to open up to others. Until then, she just had to be there for him, and hope he’d be able to make some friends and maybe he’d finally- Die was interrupted from her thoughts by the pilot. “Hey, SOLDIERs, we’re here. Get out there and do what you gotta do.” They nodded silently and exited the ‘copter. After giving the pilot a quick salute before he brought the ‘copter back up and headed back to HQ, the two SOLDIERs turned and sprinted through the thick forest. It only took a few minutes to traverse, thanks to the mako and JENOVA cells coursing through their bodies, as well as the Lunar and Solar materia, as they called them, enhancing their physical, mental and magical capabilities even further. They weren’t invincible, but they were pretty damn close. Upon reaching the village, the two were surprised to find that there were no weapons of any kind, and it was filled with nothing but civilians. They looked around the village, staying unseen as long as possible considering President Shinra had said the village was filled with rebels, but they could find absolutely nothing to support the intel they had been given. All they could find were small houses, busy market stalls, children playing in the streets, farmers taking care of crops and livestock. All in all, it was just a normal village, nothing to even warrant a search for rebel forces. Definitely nothing that required two SOLDIERs to be sent in. Die decided to make a call to the president, seeing as they were to report directly to him, and only him. Noctis paid close attention to his sister during the conversation. “Mr. President, we’ve arrived at the village, but it’s not what we thought.” “...” “No, there is no evidence of any rebels ever having been in the area, Mr. President.” “...” “What do you mean destroy it anyway? There are no rebels, they’re just civilians!” “...” “You know what, Shinra, take your orders and shove ‘em. We quit. And make sure the troops you send don’t mind dying, cause that’s all they’re gonna do.” She hung up the phone and slammed it on the ground, busting it into a million pieces. She then turned to Noctis. “Noctis, gimme your phone. We’ve gotta destroy it.” He handed his phone to his sister, who promptly smashed it on the ground and stood on the surviving remains. “Alright. So, I’m guessing that the ‘chat’ didn’t go well?” There was a hint of venom in his voice. “No, it didn’t. You probably already know that he ordered us to burn down the village despite the fact that there are no rebels. When I pointed it out, he said if we didn’t complete the mission, he’d send enough Shinra troops to do it for us.” “That bastard. Well, looks like we’re officially enemies of Shinra. Fine by me. We’d better evacuate the village and prepare a defence.” Die nodded and the two proceeded into the village, drawing looks from everyone. The inhabitants were less than happy to see two SOLDIERs. “Get out of our village, Shinra dogs!” “We won’t tolerate your blatant abuse of the planet!” “Leave now, before we put you down, like the monsters you a-” “ENOUGH!” The entire village fell silent, including Die. She had never heard Noctis yell before, not even when they found out what really happened at Nibelheim, and five years later, to Zack. “Call us what you want, but the matter is simple. Shinra is sending an army to wipe this village off the map. We can help you, but only if you let us. You can hate us after we save this place.” The villagers looked to each other, murmuring amongst themselves, until one of the children spoke up. “Mr? Mommy always told me that Shinra was hurting the planet, and everyone who worked for them was evil. If you’re evil, why do you want to help us?” Noctis kneeled down and looked the child in the eyes. “Because, I lost my home and my family a long time ago. What Shinra is trying to do here is no different. I refuse to let them do to this village, to your family and friends, what Sephiroth did to mine.” The crowd looked at Noctis intently, trying to find lies in his words, but there were none. Die was just shocked that Noctis had actually talked about his past, and with a complete stranger, a child. “So, does anyone else wanna question me? Or are you going to let us help you?” The crowd was quiet for what seemed like hours, but an old man, the village elder, walked up to the front, and spoke. “It is true, that we openly despise Shinra, for everything they have done has harmed the planet. We openly despise their use of the planet’s lifeblood to create their SOLDIERs, their forces of oppression. But you, something about you is different. You are willing to take on the very people who gave you the powers you wield. You are prepared to risk everything for us, despite the fact that it means betraying the ones you once worked for. For that reason, we shall accept your help.” Noctis and Die nodded silently, and began the preparations. They gathered as many large boulders and trees as they could, and Noctis set to work creating a massive barricade around the village, leaving only a small opening to the west, which would force the Shinra troops towards the cliff. Meanwhile, Die had begun to take the villagers to the nearby tunnels, which would be used to escape into the plains beyond. From there, the villagers would find another place to live. But in order for that to happen at all, Noctis and Die would have to buy enough time for them to escape... Flashback is Over Noctis’ attention snapped to the forest, the sounds of twigs snapping just barely picked up. Shinra was coming. Noctis ran back towards the caves and tunnels, where Die was still helping the young and the injured to evacuate. “Die, they’re here.” “Alright, hold ‘em off as long as you can, I’ll join you when I’ve gotten the rest of the villagers together.” Noctis nodded and ran back towards the barricade, taking note of the gunfire in the distance. He found signs that they had attempted to move them aside and, failing that, to destroy them outright. Noctis smiled inwardly when he noticed that the only marks on them were from the rifles of the regular troops. He saw the telltale lights of their helmets close to the small entrance they had set up near the cliff. The plan was to force them towards the cliff and, hopefully, force them to choose between jumping and being slaughtered. He ran towards the small opening and waited, his sword drawn. Time slowed to a crawl in his mind. His whole body tensed. The first troop walked through the narrow opening, his helmeted face scanning the area ahead, but failing to consider the possibility of an attack from the side. He never stood a chance. Noctis swung his blade at his opponent’s head, decapitating him. Blood spurted from his neck, and pooled at the spot his body and severed head landed. He quickly jumped out from the corner, taking a moment to analyze of troops. There were almost two hundred troops standing there, unmoving, too shocked at how quickly their comrade had died. But only for a moment. Most of them quickly recovered and opened fire on the lone SOLDIER. The rest ran towards him with their standard issue blades held high above them. He ran towards them, dancing through the throng of ill-equipped and poorly trained opponents, using his blade to mow down the troops foolish enough to try and get into a close quarters battle, and to defend himself against the shots that would actually have hit him. He ploughed through the unprepared troops, leaving a pile of bloodstained corpses in his wake as he drove them towards the cliff. He was so focused on the troops, however, that he didn’t notice that they had air support. He barely managed to dodge the missile that passed through the space he had been only a moment before, hitting the ground and exploding a few feet away from him. It wasn’t enough to harm him, but the shock wave forced him back a few feet. “Dammit, Die, hurry up!” He hissed in frustration, as the combined assault of the remaining hundred or so soldiers and the helicopter forced him to call upon the lunar materia’s power. “Full Moon Shield!” A small, transparent, midnight-blue barrier surrounded Noctis’ entire body, the fire from the shinra troops bouncing off harmlessly, allowing Noctis to focus on the helicopter. As he was about to destroy it however, he was interrupted. “SOLAR BLAST!” The helicopter fell somewhere in the forest and was engulfed in flames after being struck by a bright yellow beam of energy. Noctis turned to see his sister Die standing on one of the boulders, the solar materia in her right arm glowing, and the Eye of the Sun in her left hand. “Hey Noctis. Miss me?” “Die, let’s just focus and get this done.” She only smiled and ran straight towards the soldiers, dodging and blocking the incoming fire. It only took a few seconds before she was upon them, hacking and slashing with fury in her eyes. “THERE IS ABSOLUTELY-” A troop fell to the ground, his body severed into two bloody pieces. “NO WAY WE ARE LETTING SHINRA-” Another troop was knocked off the cliff. “DESTROY THIS VILLAGE!” A third troop fell to the ground clutching his throat, which was gushing blood. The remaining troops were still shooting at Die, but she wasn’t paying attention to them. She was looking towards Noctis, a look of horror on her face. “NOCTIS GET DOWN!” Noctis instinctively dove out of the way, just as a rocket hit the ground where he had been standing only a second earlier, taking out its own troops instead of its intended targets. He turned to the direction it had come from, to see three more helicopters hovering above the barricade. How the hell did they manage to sneak up on us like that!? He looked back to Die, seeing she had taken the opportunity cause by the missile mishap to take out almost all the remaining ground troops, who were too shocked by what they had seen to react. That meant they only had to deal with the helicopters and around fifty more troops. Noctis focused on the closest helicopter. “FULL MOON BLAST!” A beam of energy, the same color as his shield, struck the helicopter, causing the pilot to lose control and crash right into the next helicopter, bringing both down right into the ocean. The pilot of the remaining helicopter started to fall back, and the two thought that the battle was over. They were wrong. The pilot turned back towards them, and fired another missile at them, but this one was different. “Noctis, that missile’s loaded with mako!” “Dammit. It’ll blow everything to hell! We’ve gotta do something!” “I have an idea, but it’s a longshot.” “Well, let’s hear it.” “What if we combine the energy from the solar and lunar materia...” “Die, we have no idea what could happen. It could do more harm than good!” “Well it’s better than getting blown to bits!” “Fine...” Noctis and Die focused on the materia, letting the energies build up. When they was at the highest level they could safely control, they merged them, and let the combined power loose towards the missile. The impact of the energy from their materia with the missile caused a massive explosion, completely engulfing everything, including the surviving troops, the helicopter and the village. Noctis and Die looked to each other once more, and did the only thing they could think of before the blast reached them. They shared one last embrace as siblings. Die looked to Noctis and noticed he was crying for the first time since they had been told that their hometown of Nibelheim had been burned down and their parents slaughtered. Their only thoughts before darkness took them were We couldn’t save the village, but at least we saved the people who lived there. Mom, dad, we’ll see you soon... Canterlot, Equestria Princess Luna had just finished raising the moon when she felt it. A massive surge of magical energy pulsed furiously past Luna. This caught Luna by surprise as she was blown back a few meters before recovering. “What is this disturbance that interrupts our raising of the moon?” she wondered as the moon successfully hung above the night sky undisturbed by the magical pulse. She rushed towards her sister who was in the archives to tell her the urgent news. “Sister! Did you feel that burst of energy that had just occurred recently?” “Yes I did. and I know all too well what that magical pulse of energy was.” “Does that mean-” “Yes my sister. They are here.” For those who don’t know what materia are, see here. Also, do you think I should keep it in third person, or switch to 1st Person, and if so, should I keep it at only one POV, or should I switch it up every now and then? Chapter 2: Impossible?Canterlot - Equestria. Twilight Sparkle and her friends were taking a casual stroll around the darkened streets of Canterlot, which was filled with guards at every door of every house of every block, hoping to locate any suspicious activity within the magical force field that engulfed the entire city like a brightly coloured snow globe. The girls all gathered in a restaurant and talked about their day. The girls were all expressing how happy they were to partake in the Royal wedding which was to take place two days from then. All except for Twilight Sparkle, who had been the only one to witness the bride’s high-and-mighty attitude and disregard for her friends hard work, yet they did not take it the way Twilight had thought they should have, chalking it up to nerves as the day loomed closer. She decided to leave the girls to their blind admiring and decided to take a stroll around the city to think about her situation. Why would Cadence treat my friends so badly? She wondered as she continued to stroll onwards towards her brother’s home, paying no attention to her surroundings, wrapped in her thoughts as she was. So, she never noticed the strange, bipedal creature hiding in the shadows of a nearby alleyway, trying to cover the faint glow from one arm, while keeping the other arm ready to draw its sword... __________________________________________________________________ What the hell is with this place? I mean, unicorns, pegasi, and, the other ones, I knew they existed, even though most said it was only in myths and legends, but how the hell is there an entire city filled with them? Die was struggling more and more to keep her thoughts together and her emotions in check with each passing second. Nothing made any sense. She just couldn’t understand how she had gone from being caught in a massive explosion on a cliff beside a small village, to being in a city filled with creatures she’d only ever heard about from her parents and seen in paintings and carvings on the walls of the ruins from all those years ago. To see them walking through the streets so openly, it was just so, strange. It didn’t help that the solar materia was constantly glowing brighter and brighter all the time, making it much more difficult to stay hidden, and she didn’t want to take the chance that these things would try and lock her up or worse. Not before she found Noctis anyway. Seriously, where is that idiot? If I’m here, he should be too, right? I swear, if he got himself killed, I am gon-AGH! Die clutched her arm, it felt as if it was on fire, and the solar materia produced a bright flash. She saw an image in front of her, like the equines she had seen around the city. It was a pegasus with a red body, a yellow mane and tail, and a mark on its flank that she couldn’t make out. It was only there for a moment, and then it was gone, and she was alone in the alley again, trying not to cry out and still clutching her arm, waiting for the pain to subside... __________________________________________________________________ Twilight had just left her brother’s house after seeing Cadance perform a spell on her brother, one she was sure was intended to manipulate him. She had to warn the princess about it and save her brother. She was so focused on the task at hand that she almost missed the bright flash coming from nearby. She almost assumed that it was her brother performing maintenance on the shield spell, but then she remembered that he was back at his home with her. Thinking that it was another possible danger to her friends and family, she cast a spell to trace the source of the flash to the alley she had passed on the way to her brother’s house. She was unsure whether or not she should proceed, but the thought of her friends, her family, being harmed in any way strengthened her resolve. She stepped into the alley, her horn aglow, and what she saw shocked her. It was some sort of strange bipedal creature. It had no visible fur anywhere except on the top of its head, and it was wearing some sort of strange clothing. It had a bag, and it was clutching one of the appendages on its upper body. As soon as it noticed her, it started slowly backing away and reaching for something on its back. Not wanting to take any chances, she fired off a bolt of magic, electrocuting and knocking the creature out. She saw its open backpack filled with strange orbs, and the sword strapped to its back, and she was sure that it had something to do with the threat to Canterlot. With that idea rooted in her mind, she levitated the creature and its belongings through the empty streets of Canterlot towards the mansion where her friends were staying, only to be confronted by Princess Luna. “Twilight Sparkle, what is that strange creature you have with you?” She asked curiously. “Princess Luna, I believe that this thing may be a threat to Equestria. I need to bring it to Princess Celestia, right now.” “Twilight Sparkle, my sister is at the palace, and she is resting. I shall bring this creature to her. You shall head indoors and remain there.” She said sternly. “But I-” Luna just gave her a hard look until Twilight bowed her head in submission. “Alright Princess.” She handed over the creature to the Princess of the Night and ran inside to her friends. The princess meanwhile, brought the creature to the palace’s throne room and ordered the guards to fetch her sister, with the instructions that it was of grave importance. As she waited for the guard to return with her sister, she looked over the creature and its possessions, with only one thought running through her mind. Where is your brother, Day Warrior... __________________________________________________________________ Unknown Location - Wastelands of Equestria Noctis stood at the edge of the volcano, surrounded by dragons, though this was nothing new for him, considering the past few days were almost exactly the same. Ever since he woke up in this barren wasteland filled with cracked, scorched earth, active volcanoes, ash-coated trees, and of course, the creatures that thrived in such conditions, the most notable of which being dragons, he’d been attacked over and over again, barely having more than a few minutes to rest, and it was taking its toll. His entire body felt heavy, he was barely able to stay awake, and his mind was feeling sluggish. Regardless, he pressed on, taking down anything and everything that tried to make a meal out of him. He was determined not to die as long as his sister was alive, and he had every belief that she was. Alright, just gotta take these things down, then I can go back to finding Die, and hopefully, civilisation. This should be fun. One of the creatures charged him. He simply grabbed it and crushed its throat. Two more tried to rush him together, only for their skulls to be smashed together with such force that they were completely shattered. Three down...and only a whole lot more to go... __________________________________________________________________ Canterlot Die woke up slowly, her body and mind still stinging from the shock of whatever that purple unicorn had done to her. As her mental capacity returned to normal, she was vaguely aware of someone watching her. She stayed as still as possible, trying to wait until her reflexes were back to full capacity. Her sight was blurred, but she could make out two figures approaching her, and she could make out the sound of hooves on stone. Great, more equines. This time though, I’m not gonna be surprised. This time, they’re go- “Glad to see you’re awake, Day warrior. Are you alright?” Die shot up and jumped away from the two equines, her left arm reaching for her blade, while her other was raised in preparation to use the solar materia. The two equines in front of her shared a look before turning back to face her, each with a different expression. The midnight blue one looked slightly amused, while the white one’s face showed slight concern. She didn’t pay attention, choosing to rush the two equines, only to be knocked back by an unseen force and restrained. She noticed that both there was a golden glow emanating from the white equine’s...horn? She looked at the two of them more closely, and sure enough they both had horns. But they also had something at their sides. Die couldn’t believe it, they had wings as well. Their expressions never changed, though the blue equine chuckled lightly at Die’s shocked expression. Suddenly, something clicked in Die’s head. Die: “Oh my God! You two...you look like the statues from those ruins!” She exclaimed in disbelief. The blue equine looked at her and laughed softly. “That’s not surprising Day Warrior, seeing as those were statues of us.” She said with a smile. Die: “What? But how, those ruins were several millennia old. How could you be alive so long ago, unless...no, that’s impossible, you can’t be...” She trailed off. The white equine took her turn to speak. “It is quite true. My sister and I are immortal, and, because the celestial orbs bound themselves to you, the same is now true of you and your brother.” Die tensed up at the mention of her brother’s name. Die: “How do you know about Noctis?” She said quietly. “Because we were alerted when the orbs were removed from their resting place. We assumed that it was grave robbers attempting to steal valuables with the intent of selling them. Imagine our surprise when we discovered that instead, it was two children, and what’s more, that the orbs were bound to them. You are quite lucky they chose you. If not, you would have been burned to ash in an instant, and your brother would have been encased in ice for eternity.” Die said nothing, allowing the information to sink in. “Anyway, allow us to introduce ourselves. I am princess Celestia, and this is my sister, princess Luna.” She gestured to the blue equine, who walked over and raised her hoof towards Die. She took it in her hand and shook it. Luna walked back to Celestia, smiling. Die: “Well, my name’s Die, SOLDIER 1st Class. Actually, I should say ex-SOLDIER, seeing as I no longer work for Shinra. Um, sorry for, you know, trying to rush you.” Celestia: “It is alright. From what my sister has told me, you had a less than civil encounter with Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student. Sadly, she has let her paranoia get the best of her, accusing my niece of manipulating her brother, Shining Armor. He and Cadance are to be married tomorrow.” Die: “I see. So, this Twilight Sparkle, she’s your student?” Celestia: “Yes, she is my most gifted pupil, as well as a holder of one of the elements of Harmony.” Die: “The elements of Harmony? What are those?” Celestia: “They are artifacts which hold great power, a power whose sole function is to protect the harmony of our world. I would explain further, but unfortunately, there is not enough time.” Die: “Alright then. Well, do you mind if I have my backpack back? I want to make sure I didn’t lose any of my materia.” Celestia: “Materia? What are those?” She inquired. Die: “They’re crystallised orbs of mako, the lifeblood of our planet. They’re what allow us humans to use magic, but they can do other things too. Some can be used to summon creatures to aid us in battle, some can make other materia stronger, but most allow us to use spells. Noctis and I always carry the same materia. So may I have my backpack?” Luna: “Ah, yes, you may, on the condition that you explain the powers of each ‘materia’.” Die: “Sure, no problem.” Die looked through the backpack, grabbing each materia, explaining its purpose and giving a small demonstration. She started with her offensive magic materia. Firaga, Thundaga, Blizzaga and Aeroga. After explaining their uses, she moved onto her healing materia, Curaga, which could heal all but fatal wounds and Esuna, which could remove almost any illness. She then explained her summoning materia. She and Noctis only had one each. She had Phoenix, a giant bird with colourful plumage and wings surrounded by flames, while Noctis’ was a mystery, even to her, seeing as he’d never once used it. Lastly, she told them about the solar and lunar materia. Die: “Ever since we found them, we felt like we had some sort of connection, me with the sun and Noctis with the moon. It was like they were feeding us power, making us even faster, and stronger, than the SOLDIER procedures made us.” Luna: “That is to be expected. It was the celestial orbs, as we know them, that gave my sister and I our powers in the first place.” Die:“Powers? What do you mean?” Celestia: “My sister and I are alicorns. We are literally the physical embodiment of the three species of ponies, as our race, in general, is called. Those three are pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies. Our world is much different from yours, Die. Here, the weather can be controlled, and pegasi are responsible for that particular task. My sister and I are responsible for raising and lowering the sun and moon, for our planet does not orbit the sun, nor does the moon orbit our planet, as yours do. Our talent is shown by our cutie marks, a symbol which appears on every pony’s flank when they discover what makes them special, the skill that makes them who they are. The celestial orbs helped us find ours, but afterwards, they disappeared. We found them again, but we could not remove them from their resting place. They were only meant to guide us in the right direction. But they were meant to bond with you and Noctis.” Die was speechless. She had seen the markings on their flanks, Celestia’s sun and Luna’s crescent moon, but she had no idea what they meant. She thought they were just tattoos. The fact that these two in front of her were responsible for raising and lowering the sun and moon in this world was making her head spin violently, and the fact that it was the lunar and solar materia, no, the celestial orbs, that gave them their powers and responsibilities? It was taking all her self control not to have a mental breakdown right now. Celestia noticed this and placed a hoof on her shoulder. Celestia: “Die, I understand if this is a lot to take in, but I need to ask, where is your brother? Where is Noctis?” Die looked at her as if she had just been slapped. Die: “What do you mean? You don’t know where he is? This is bad! This is very bad!” Luna: “Die, calm down, I’m sure he’s alright.” Die: “NO! You don’t understand. I have to find him. We keep each other in check. He keeps me from rushing into trouble, and I keep him from losing control when he fights.” Celestia and Luna started to become worried. Luna: “What do you mean, ‘losing control’?” Die took a deep breath. Die: “Noctis doesn’t remember this, except for what I told him, but a few months after we joined SOLDIER, someone came in and told us that Sephiroth, another SOLDIER, had gone insane and burned down Nibelheim, massacring everyone in the village. Nibelheim was my hometown, and my parents were among the dead.” Die took a moment to examine their reactions. Both were visibly shocked at hearing of such a thing, though Celestia was hiding her anger better than Luna, who seemed ready to burst. She took another breath and continued. Die: “When we heard about it, something happened to Noctis. His entire body turned pitch-black, and his eyes turned to yellow slits, like a dragon. His whole body started shaking, and his face was set in an enraged expression. He started calling himself Akumu, and said he was going to destroy every living thing in existence. He went berserk and attacked the everyone in the room. A lot of people were injured by him. He ended up killing his closest friend, Chris.” Luna was visibly shaking, and Celestia had placed a wing around her sister, trying to comfort her. Luna: “How could he do such a thing?” Die: “He wasn’t in control of himself. Akumu was a spirit born within the lunar orb when Noctis bonded with it, and it came out when his anger surged, as far as I could tell. It took over, and it used his body to try and realise it’s sick desires. I had to fight it myself, and it almost killed me. At the last second, when it was about to finish me off, it lost control for a brief second, and Noctis threw the blade to me, asking me to end it. At first, I refused, but then, I saw something. It was like some sort of vision. I saw the blades in the ground, and a bunch of symbols, and a flash. Then it was gone, and I was facing Noctis, or Akumu, again.” Luna: “What did your vision mean?” Die: “The solar materia was responding to my desire to save Noctis, and it showed me how to perform a technique called the celestial seal. The technique worked, and Akumu was sealed inside Noctis’ mind, but Noctis lost most of his memories regarding what happened that day, and I have to stay in close proximity to him, or the seal could be broken from the inside, and Akumu would break free again.” Celestia faced Luna, her expression stern and serious. Celestia: “Luna, I want you to find Noctis, and bring him here, no matter what.” Luna nodded and left the throne room, spreading her wings and taking off into the sky, praying that she could find Noctis before this Akumu could take over... __________________________________________________________________ Unknown Location Noctis was busy trying to find some source of water to wash the blood out of his clothes. The dragons hadn’t gone down easily, but they did go down, and he had been left standing among a multitude of corpses. It took him a while to make his way down the side of the mountain, and the whole time there was a dull throbbing in the back of his head, and it got more painful every second. Eventually, he managed to find a small stream, and though the water wasn’t clean enough for consumption, it was enough to wash out the bloodstains. The ache was almost unbearable at this point. Then he heard it. ‘Noctis...’ “Who’s there?’ ‘Noctis...’ “Show yourself!” ‘Oh Noctis, you know I can’t do that yet. Or do you?’ “The hell are you? How do you know my name?” ‘All in good time, Noctis, all in good time.’ “Back off!” He said in a quiet, but dangerous, tone of voice. ‘Alright, but know that I will come for you, and I will take what is mine...’ The voice grew fainter and fainter until he could no longer hear it. His headache disappeared with it. Good riddance. Maybe I can f-AHHHHHHHH! Noctis’ arm began to throb. It felt like his entire arm was encased in ice. The lunar materia produced a flash, and he saw an image. It was some sort of equine creature, a pegasus, like the ones from the walls of the ruins. It was blue, with a dark brown mane and tail, and it had a mark on its rear-end, though he couldn’t see it clearly enough to figure out what it was. It was only there for an instant, and then it disappeared, leaving Noctis holding his throbbing arm, waiting for the pain to stop... __________________________________________________________________ Luna had been searching for over a day. She was visibly tired, but she could not take any time to rest. She had to find Noctis, for the sake of Equestria, but also for his sister. She knew the pain of being separated from a loved one, and even though she had been imprisoned on the moon, she always knew that she would see her sister again one day. However, if this Akumu was anything like the Nightmare, and she was terrified that it was, she didn’t know if she or her sister would be able to help Noctis overcome it. From what Die had said, this Nightmare’s desire was nothing short of the death of every living thing in existence, while her own wanted only eternal night. Granted, an eternal night would eventually result in the deaths of every living thing, but her Nightmare never wanted to end those lives by hand, it didn’t want to feel the life leave a body. Akumu however, did. It was more malevolent, more bloodthirsty, than her Nightmare had ever been, and she shuddered to think what would happen if it ever took Noctis over. Please, please let me find him in time. I don’t want to have to harm him. I may not have met him, but from what his sister said, he’s already been through enough. Please. As if her prayer was being answered, a massive flash came from nearby. She turned towards the source of it, and sure enough, at a nearby stream, sat a human male. She was absolutely sure it was Noctis, and she set down nearby to meet him. She didn’t expect him to draw his sword when he saw her however, and she shrank back, more than a little afraid. Noctis: “Don’t come any closer. I had to take down a whole army of dragons already. Don’t make me kill you too.” His voice was completely devoid of emotion. Luna: “Please, I mean you no harm, I only wish to help you. My name is Luna, alicorn and co-princess of Equestria.” Noctis: “Well, I’m Noctis, ex-SOLDIER 1st Class. Now, tell me why I shouldn’t drop you where you stand.” Still nothing. Luna was slightly taken aback by his hostility, but she chalked it up to nerves and the fact that he had to fight an ‘army of dragons’. Luna: “Well, for one, Die sent me.” Noctis stumbled at the mention of his sister’s name. Noctis: “My sister? Is she alright?” This time there was worry in his voice. Luna: “Yes, she’s safe. She is currently staying with my elder sister Celestia. I promised her I would bring you to see her safely.” Noctis: “Yeah, well right now, I don’t feel safe. This whole place feels haunted, what with the voices coming from nowhere.” Luna became puzzled. Luna: “Voices?” Noctis: “Yeah, I heard a voice a few minutes ago. It knew my name.” Luna’s puzzled expression turned to fear as the realization hit her. Luna: “Noctis, we need to go now! We need to get you back to your sister as fast as possible. Unfortunately, I cannot teleport us from this distance, and even if we get within range, I cannot try using magic while you are in your current state, or there is a risk of your mind being damaged.” Noctis took a moment to think. He couldn’t be sure if this creature was telling the truth, but she knew his sister, and he felt, deep down, that he could trust her. He didn’t understand it, but he went with it. He placed his sword on his back, and walked slowly towards Luna. Noctis: “Alright. I’ll go with you princess. If it means I’ll see my sister, I’ll trust you.” Luna tried very hard to contain her relief and...something else. She couldn’t quite place her hoof on it, but she felt something about Noctis. She put it out of her mind for the sake of the task ahead. Luna: “Thank you Noctis, but please, just call me Luna. I’m not really fond of formalities. I just wish we would have had time to make it to the wedding.” Noctis raised an eyebrow. Noctis: “Wedding? Aren’t you being a little forward.” He questioned with a small smirk, and Luna started blushing profusely. Luna: “No no no, that’s not what I meant. There is a wedding today between my niece, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, though she prefers to be called Cadance, and Shining Armor, the captain of the Solar Guard. I’m sure you will get to meet them someday.” She said, still blushing. Noctis: “Okay. So, shall we get going?” Luna nodded and grasped Noctis with her magic, placing him on her back. She flared her wings in preparation to take flight. She looked back towards Noctis, and smirked, her previous embarraassment forgotten. Luna: “You may want to hold on if you don’t want to fall.” Noctis took her advice and wrapped his arms around her neck not a minute too soon. They took to the skies in an instant and flew towards Canterlot.. __________________________________________________________________ Canterlot “Dammit, what is going on here!? What the hay are these things!?” “All guards fall back! Evacuate the citizens!” “There’s too many, we can’t stop th-AAAAAAAAAAGH!” Great, I fall asleep for a couple of hours and everything goes to hell. Die stood atop the tower overlooking the city, analyzing the army of strange creatures scattered throughout the city, and at the guards who were either restrained by the strange green goo the creatures secreted, or were busy trying to evacuate the citizens. The city was, for all intents and purposes, a warzone. Well, might as well make myself useful. Good thing I got my materia ready before I came up here. Die smirked as she jumped from the tower, timing it so that she landed on one of the creatures around halfway through her descent. The creature tried several times to shake Die off, but in doing so, it failed to avoid crashing through a window of a nearby house, destroying the owner’s kitchen. Die shrugged it off, but the creature wasn’t so lucky. She frowned as she noticed it’s head at an awkward angle, it’s neck clearly broken. She climbed out the shattered window, and was immediately surrounded on all sides by more of the creatures. She smirked as she drew Taiyo no me and raised her right arm, preparing to use the solar materia. Die: “Well, COME GET SOME!” She yelled as she charged into battle... __________________________________________________________________ Celestia was trapped in a pod on the ceiling, helpless as she saw her student and her friends being led back into the chapel, several changelings surrounding them, including the two who were restraining Rainbow Dash. She could do nothing but hope for a miracle as Chrysalis began to lord her victory over everypony. Twilight, Cadance, everypony, please forgive me. I failed you. I failed Equestria. I- *CRASH* “Ok, who put that window there!? Cause I’m not paying for damages!” Celestia looked towards the now shattered window behind Shining Armor and her niece, and who was standing there but Die. Everypony had mixed reactions. Celestia was relieved, Chrysalis was unimpressed, Cadance and Twilight’s friends were speechless, and Twilight herself had a mixture of confusion and anger on her face as she recognised the ex-SOLDIER. TS: “YOU!” She shouted. Die: “Hey, you’re the one who electrocuted me. How’ve you been?” She replied nonchalantly. Twilight never got a chance to answer as Celestia spoke first. Celestia: “Die, thank you for coming. We need your help.” She sighed with relief. TS: “Princess Celestia, you know this thing?” She exclaimed with disbelief. Celestia: “Twilight Sparkle, this is Die, a human, ex-SOLDIER, and a friend.” Chrysalis: “Oh Celestia, this is too rich. You actually mean to say you befriended this freak?” She said with a smirk. Die frowned as she turned towards the changeling queen. Die: “Look who’s talking you overgrown cockroach.” Chrysalis’ eye twitched, and she became enraged. Chrysalis: “Cockroach? COCKROACH? Listen here you walking abomination, I am Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings, and compared to me, you are nothing, you hear me? NOTHING! I’ll smite you where you stand!” Die just smirked and drew her sword. Die: “Then bring it on, Chryssy.” Chrysalis lost what little composure she had left and charged at Die, fangs bared, wings flared and horn glowing. Die just sidestepped her, and Chrysalis flew out the window. Die took this opportunity to quickly take down the changelings surrounding Twilight and the others, and to free Celestia and Cadance, before jumping out the window and crashing into Chrysalis, sending them both hurtling towards the ground far below them. __________________________________________________________________ A massive cloud of dust rose up on impact, and Die was blinded for a few seconds. When she finally got the dust out of her eyes, Noctis was standing in front of her. She placed her sword on her back, relieved to see him, but confused as to how he was here. Die: “Noctis? When’d you get here? And where’d Chrysalis go?” Noctis didn’t answer. He just stood there, unmoving. Die: “Noctis? You ok...” She asked worriedly, stepping towards him. She barely had time to move out of the way when he drew his blade and cut through the space where her throat had been just a second earlier. Die: “The hell, Noctis! What’s going on with you?” She exclaimed, preparing to draw her sword. Celestia: “Die!” Celestia flew down to Die, while staying out of the battle, as she had not recovered enough of her strength to go up against Chrysalis again. Celestia: “So, this is what Noctis looks like?” Die: “Looks like? What’s that supposed to mean?” Celestia took a deep breath and instinctively rubbed her horn. Celestia: “Chrysalis is a changeling, they can copy the forms of others. She must have gone through your memories while you were falling and decided to copy him.” Die took a look at ‘Noctis’, and noticed she couldn’t sense the Lunar orb’s presence. That was impossible, she could always feel it when he was nearby, just as Noctis could always feel the Solar orb’s presence when Die was nearby. Die: “You’re just imitating my brother?” She whispered, lowering her head. The faux Noctis smirked, but that smirk soon turned to a horrified gasp, as Die’s body became coated in armor that burned and flowed like flames, and when she brought her head back up to face the impostor, her eyes were filled with rage. Die: “How DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU INSULT MY BROTHER’S HONOUR! I’LL KILL YOU!” Die rushed the fake, and grabbed it by the throat. She started to squeeze, cutting off the air supply. She started to squeeze harder, but just as she was about to crush the copy’s throat, she felt something on her shoulder. She turned to see Celestia with a pleading look in her eyes. Celestia: “Die, don’t. Please don’t kill her.” Die: “Why? She tried to take over this place, she tried to kill you, your friends, your family. Why shouldn’t I kill her?” Celestia: “Because if you do this, it will be in cold blood. Do you really want to be a murderer? Do you really want to become like Akumu?” Die froze at the mention of that demon’s name, and the flames surrounding her died. She, she’s right. If I kill Chrysalis like this, I’ll just be a murderer. And Noctis would never forgive me. I’d, never forgive me. She loosened her grip on the changeling queen’s throat, and brought her back up to the chapel, where Shining Armor and Cadance were already performing the shield spell together. A purple dome started to form around them, and it grew exponentially, forcing all the changeling invaders out with it. The last to go was Chrysalis, and she screamed silently, her throat damaged from being choked by Die. Die watched her go, and turned away just in time to be surrounded by Twilight and her friends, while Celestia, Cadance and Shining Armor looked on, chuckling. RD: “I’m Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer in Equestria, and I got one thing to say to you!” The cyan pegasus mare said with a smirk. “THAT. WAS. AWESOME! HOW’D YOU DO THAT!” She exclaimed. AJ: “Wow, I reckon that if you’re willin’ to take on that ornery changelin’ queen for us, you’re ok in mah book. Name’s Applejack by the way, proud worker of Sweet Apple Acres.” The orange earth mare with the stetson tipped her hat to Die. PP: “I’m Pinkie Pie, Ponyville’s premier party planner! OOH! You’re new here, aren’t you! THAT MEANS I HAVE TO THROW YOU A PARTY! It’s gonna be a ‘Welcome to Equestria and thanks for saving Canterlot from that meanie Chrysalis’ party!” The pink earth pony said while bouncing. FS: “U-um, I’m F-f-Fluttershy. Thank you for saving us. I appreciate it.” The yellow pegasus whispered. Rar: “Thank you very much. I’d hate to think what would have happened to us if you hadn’t stepped in. I owe you a favour. Stop by my boutique sometime and I’ll make you a fabulous dress to replace that hideous ensemble you’re wearing.” Die: “Hey, I happen to like this gear. I’ve worn it to hell and back, so to speak, so it happens to mean a lot to me. Almost as much as Taiyo no me.” She said, drawing her blade so they could get a good look at it. Rar: “I apologise, I would never be so cruel as to toy with something that has sentimental value to you or anypony. But I would like to at least fix it up for you, sew up the tears and such.” Die: “Thanks. I might just take you up on your offer.” Die turned to face Twilight Sparkle, who flinched, afraid that Die would try to hurt her. Die put one hand on Twilight’s shoulder, and ruffled her mane with the other. Twilight opened her eyes, confused. TS: “Y-you’re not going to hurt me? I mean, I electrocuted you and knocked you out. Aren’t you angry?” Die chuckled. Die: “Nah, you were trying to protect your friends and family. I’d probably have done the same thing in your position. No hard feelings, right?” She took her hand off of Twilight’s shoulder and held it out. Twilight met it with her hoof, and they shook. TS: “No hard feelings.” She said with a smile. With that, Die started to walk out. Cadance called out to her. Cadance: “Hey, where are you going? We still need to thank you for saving us. And we still have to have the wedding.” Die: “I’m tired after fighting all those Changeling things. I’m gonna catch some Zs. Talk to ya’ later!” She said, waving her arm in a lazy goodbye as she left the chapel and walked through the city towards the castle and her room... __________________________________________________________________ That Night... Noctis felt great, better than he’d ever felt before. He and Luna had talked all the way to Canterlot about several different subjects, and found they had a lot in common. They both had trouble opening up to others, they both felt they could only really confide in their respective sisters most of the time, and they both loved the night, Noctis because the beauty of the moon and stars helped him feel at peace with himself, and Luna because she enjoyed guiding the moon and making the constellations, especially now that so many ponies stayed up to see them. He was currently walking through the palace hallways while Luna was at the wedding reception, trying to avoid the guards, completely unaware of what had happened while he and Luna were on their way here. For the first time in a long time, Noctis was happy. So happy, he almost missed his room. Luna had said it was at the far end of the castle, the room beside the stairs that led to her own room. It was very nicely furnished. A large bed, wardrobe, mirror, desk and a bathroom. It was definitely better than the SOLDIER barracks. He smiled and walked towards the desk. There was a note. Greetings Noctis, I hope that the accommodations are acceptable. I understand if you wish to meet with your sister Die, but there has been quite a commotion, and she is currently resting. I would advise that you rest as well, as you are no doubt tired from your journey. And do not worry, you may meet with your sister tomorrow. My sister and I will be there also, I look forward to making your acquaintance. Yours sincerely, Princess Celestia Noctis put down the note and walked over to the bed, looking out the window. The moon was high in the sky, and the stars shined with an intensity they had never had back home. He let his mind wander, and it wandered to thoughts of Luna. She’s amazing. She’s smart, funny, kind, and she’s beautiful. It’s weird, but I think I actually like her. But she’s a princess, I’m just an ex-SOLDIER. Plus, I’m not a pony. I doubt there would be many who would accept it if she did like me, but I don’t even know if she does. I just wish there was some way I could be like her. If I was, then maybe I’d have a chance. You know, it’s funny. The first time I ever have feelings for someone, and it’s an immortal alicorn goddess from another world. I should just ask her how she feels. If she likes me, then that’s great, if not, I’ll accept that. Don’t really have much choice... He drifted off, his thoughts fading as he let sleep take him... Chapter 11:Unknown Location (Noctis’ POV) The first thing I heard when I woke up was a very feminine scream. “AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!” “FUCK! I’m up, I’m up!” I yelled, falling out of the...bed? The fuck? Where am I? “You’re finally awake! Took you long enough.” I turned to see Luna, Celestia, both in their true forms, Die, and a very scared looking Ven in bed next to me. taking a calmer look around the room, I saw it was similar to a hospital. “Sooo, where are we? Oh, and did we win?” I asked as Luna levitated me back into the bed and hugged me tearfully for a brief second. The door to the room slammed open, and Shade ran in in a doctor’s uniform, “I heard a scream, is everyone OK?” “Ven’s just having nightmares.” Die said with a roll of her eyes. “Of course he would, after kissing you.” I replied with a forced grin. “What happened? I remember seeing Die... Dying, I gave her a potion... then..” he trailed off, and shrugged. “You don’t remember? You went berserk and killed Akumu, sorta. You even sealed his sword in stone, permanently, and him for a couple of centuries, at most. So, we don’t have to worry about him for a while.” He gave it a moment to sink in, “... I did what!?” He shouted. “Wait, he beat Akumu? Wait, LUX! Where’s he?” “He’s fine, from what I saw, he had only a bruise on his shoulder, he’s in the dark room with Erahaor.” “Figures. And...Tox...she’s really...” I trailed off, not wanting to face it. “Yes, Lux found her body, and gave it a proper burial.” “Dammit...I keep thinking I can save everyone, but I can’t save anyone. DAMMIT!” “Wait... Tox... died?” Ven said, his eyes widening in shock. “Umbra turned her into a sinner, and I had to fight both him and her at the same time. I kept thinking I could save her, but instead, I’m the one that killed her.” I said, unable to look him in the eyes. Ven stood up, and walked out of the room muttering “It’s just like before.” I looked around. “What did he mean by that?” “I dunno,” Aqua said, also wearing a doctor’s outfit as he walked in, “That’s the closest he’s ever gotten to talking about his past, actually.” “I’m gonna go talk to him. Luna, make sure Noctis stays in bed.” Die said, running out the door. Luna nodded silently and started grinning at me. “Ok, one question. How long have we been out for, and are we anywhere near the mysterious tower?” “It’s saturday... the seventh... of may. Also we’re outside Twilight town, since the only known passage Discord is gonna take is the ‘ghost’ train.” “Two months? Well, that’s not so....WHAT THE FUCK!?” “Told ya,” Aqua said, holding out his hand to Shade, who dropped a sack of bits into his hand. “Ok, what was the bet?” I deadpanned. “And when can I get out of this hospital bed?” “The bet was who would shout it first: you or Luna. And we aren’t in a hospital, this is the SWMB, or Swagwagon medical bay.” “Ok, then when can I get out of this SWMB bed?” “You already healed a week ago, you just needed your rest... and we may have drugged you to stay unconscious a bit.” Aqua said with a grin. “Ok, I’m used to being drugged, sorta. The SOLDIER program put us through worse. I saw the game, it doesn’t even cover half of the augmentations we underwent.” “Yeah... Well, I recommend exercising... a lot. The two months unconscious has made you a bit weak.” “Can do! Also, what happened to the disguise disc Discord gave me? Has Lux had a chance to study it like he intended?” “He didn’t even try, the moment he arrived he walked off to find a place to think.” “I...see. Is he still in mourning for Tox?” “He hasn’t left the dark room for two months. He’s lucky he can eat darkness.” “And I’m lucky I don’t have to eat. Right?” “Actually... You do have to eat.” Aqua said as he walked out. “What are you talking about? I’m immortal, remember? I haven’t needed to eat or drink since I bonded with the Orb. What changed?” “Lack of a Lunar Orb?” Shade suggested. “No...the Orb turned into a keyblade, remember? So it still exists, sorta.” “Keyblades don’t have that effect, when we left you without food, your body went into a starvation mode. Therefore, you now officially need food.” “Ok then. Well, at least it means if I ever plan a picnic, I can actually enjoy the meal. Man, that line was crappy.” “Yes it was. Good day!” Shade said as she walked out. “Thanks.” I replied, getting back out of the bed, before being levitated back into it by a stern-faced Luna. “And where do you think you’re going?” She asked with a cold tone. “Uhhh, to exercise?” I said, confused. “Didn’t they just say I needed to get exercise so my body could recover.” “True, but I said to Die was that I would keep you in bed for a bit, and I’m gonna do just that.” I raised an eyebrow. “Oh? And how are you gonna do that?” A grin crossed her face. “I have my ways,” Immediately, Celestia got up, and left, mumbling something about “Those fools and their silly games.” I jumped out of the bed again, but Luna just levitated me back onto it, this time casting several restraining spells to make sure I stayed put. “Dammit. Luna, let me go.” “No” She said sternly. “Pleeeeeeassseeeee.” I said, trying to put on a puppy-dog face. I say tried, because it was about as cute as a pile of garbage. Luna began to laughed at the look on my face, and in her lack of focus the magic restraints disappeared. I took the opportunity to dive into my own shadow, and I waited until I saw her leave from inside the shadow zone. I prepared to exit, but I felt a breath at the back of my neck. Oh, crap. “Indeed, Noctis.” Came the stern, yet slightly amused voice of Luna. I couldn’t even muster up the strength to turn and face her. “I’m gonna die, aren’t I?” I said quietly, closing my eyes and waiting for the inevitable blow. It never came. Instead, I was turned around and grabbed in a tight hug. “Uhhh, ok? Wait, you’re not gonna kill me?” I asked, confused. “What? Why would you think I’d....never mind. No, I’m not going to kill you. I’m going to force you into the bed and I’m going to tie you down so you don’t leave.” She replied sternly. I flashed her a grin. “Didn't know you were into that sort of thing Luna.” It most definitely had the desired effect. She blushed so red I thought she was gonna burst into flames. Instead, she shot me a smirk. “Well, if you’re so adamant about staying out of bed, let’s see how you handle being sealed in here for a few hours.” She said, exiting through one of the many windows. Followed by all of them closing right after she left. “Fuck.” I said. as I looked around to find that there wasn’t a single window anywhere. “Dammit Luna.” __________________________________________________________________ 2 Hours Later... GODDAMN IT LUNA! ONE JOKE AND YOU STICK ME HERE FOR 2 WHOLE FUCKING HOURS!? I’d been trying to create my own window for the past 15 minutes. Needless to say, it hadn’t worked, and to make things worse, I was starting to hear voices in my head. One voice stood out against the rest. “Noctis... Why did you kill me?” Tox’s voice came from every direction, yet from nowhere at the same time. “You know why, Tox.” I said calmly, though I was anything but. “We both saw, once it took you, there was nothing left that I could do. I tried, I failed, that’s all there is to it.” “But there is something you can do now.” another voice said. “I’m not interested. Tox is gone, trying to bring her back is just tempting death.” “Ah, but that’s only if you haven’t looked into it beforehand.” The voice said, a female sound to it. “What makes you think I haven’t?” I asked angrily. “When my parents were killed, I looked it up all the time, to the point that I became a recluse to all but my sister. All my research proved one thing. Death. Is. Permanent.” “Ok then, I’ll play along, what methods did you try?” The voice said, seeming amused “I didn’t try anything. I researched several topics. All of them would result in death without even coming close to achieving a resurrection.” “Then I guess you didn’t try Alchemy.” I could tell from the sound that whoever the voice belonged to was trying to keep from laughing. “Alchemy? You mean that fool’s science?” I scoffed, trying to ignore the voice as I continued to search for a way out. “Fool’s science? Really? I guess you haven’t heard of the golden sun, or the fact that there are whole worlds where Alchemy is true, besides, different dimension, different rules.” “Yeah yeah, in my world it’s a fool’s science. I’m done talking. Bye.” I said, trying to forcibly create a portal out. “Fine then, I guess I won’t help you get out either.” “I don’t need your help. I’ve got it covered.” I replied. “Very well.” A window opened, and I saw a figure go through, before it disappeared. Well, at least she left me alone now. I thought to myself as I refocused on creating my own window. Suddenly, all the voices I heard began to mutter basically the same thing“You idiot, much longer and you’ll be a permanent resident, you could have at least tried to get the shade walker to help you leave.” “I DON’T NEED HELP!” I yelled as I pushed as hard as I could on a specific spot, shattering the darkness and creating a temporary window. “There. Told ya.” I saw a hand waving from the other side, “Nice to see you again, still, how did you know where I was going to open that?” The voice from before said, “You know what, actually don’t answer that, I’ll have it soon enough.” “The hell?” I said in confusion, trying to back away from the window, only to find myself frozen in place. “What the fuck?!” “I’m sorry, but I need a body.” The figure began to evaporate. “Yeah, and why should I let you have mine?” I asked, putting up a weak barrier. “Because I can bring back the one you killed.” “Oh, and what’s the catch?” “I get to use your body to visit someone.” The voice said. “Who?” “Someone I should have visited two centuries ago.” I could have sworn I heard sadness and... Regret? “....Alright.” I muttered. “You can stay with me. But they can’t know about you. Just make it look like the zone made my guilt exponentially larger or something.” “... Thank you.” The black mist the figure became then began to float around me, and rapidly flew into my eyes, mouth, nose, and ears. Before my vision faded to black, I had just one question. “Who are you anyway?” “I wish I could remember.” I heard, and then all was black. __________________________________________________________________ Spirit’s POV This is what it feels like to be a horse? I thought it would actually feel different to being human. Weird... ‘Technically, I’m a pony, not a horse...second, you’re using my body, which is technically already used to being in this form, so you’re feeling it as I would.’ I heard Noctis lecture. Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Now, what first? Recieving no answer from himself, I decided to try my luck and walk around randomly. Surprisingly, walking was a hell of a lot easier than I thought it would be. Wow, never thought having four legs would be so easy... Or feel so familiar. ‘Like I said, experiencing it through my body, which is already used to it.’ … Shut it. ‘Ok...I’m starting to wonder whether this was a good idea...’ Trust me, it’s a good idea. ‘But what if you’re wrong...what if it backfires when you try to bring Tox back?’ If it backfires... Well... To say the least, it won’t be pretty. ‘So you’ll die? Then let’s not do it. You can stay here indefinitely if it means you won’t have to go back there.’ Wanna mess with the others on the ship? I asked. ‘If you mean making them think I’ve gone mad...eh, why not. I haven’t tried to prank anyone since I was a kid.’ I know just the thing. We pretend to be trying to revive Tox, y’know, make it seem like you’ve gone batshit insane ‘Wait, wasn’t that the plan anyway? To bring Tox back?’ Yeah... To tell you the truth, the plan in alchemy isn’t perfected. It hasn’t really worked... and when someone DID try it, they lost an arm, a leg, and their brother’s whole body. I admit, feeling a little sheepish. ‘AND YOU WERE GONNA TRY TO DO IT YOURSELF?!’ Honestly? I wasn’t, I just REALLY needed to get out of there. Also, I could reanimate a corpse in a different sense, though. ‘Y’know, if you wanted to just get out, you only had to ask. You didn’t need to go through the whole temptation thing.’ “IT SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA, OK?!” I shouted out loud. “Um, Noctis, who are you talking to? And how did you get out of the Shadow Zone by yourself?” … I leave this to you. I said, and gave control of the body back to Noctis. “Uhhh, hey Luna, what’s up?” “What’s up? You shouted while you were the only one around, and you got out of the Shadow Zone after I sealed it. Why, and how?” She asked sternly. “Uhhh, no comment on the first one, and the second, I forced a window into existence.” Liar. I said in his mind. Don’t take credit for my achievements. ‘Hey, unless you want Luna to find out and force you back in there...’ … Very well, continue. “Noctis, don’t lie to me. I know something is bothering you. Just tell me.” LIE! LIE YOUR ASS OFF! I mentally shouted. “Alright. It’s just...I still...I still see Tox sometimes...I mean, sometimes I think I see her ghost, blaming me for her death. And the worst part is, I agree. It’s my fault. I thought I could save her, and I failed.” Wow, nice lie. I said, feeling a little impressed. ‘Yeah, not a lie exactly. The part about seeing Tox is a lie, but blaming myself for her death is true, you know that already though. Now, is this where the prank starts?’ We just have to take it a liitle further. If I had control of the body, I would be grinning right now Make it seem like you’re going to try to revive her, and don’t take no for an answer. ‘Fine.’ He replied. “I’m gonna fix it though. Luna, I’m gonna bring her back.” “WHAT!? Noctis, I’m sorry for saying this, but HAVE YOU GONE INSANE?!?!” Luna shouted at the top of her lungs. “No. I can do it. I won’t let death take another of my friends before their time. I’m bringing her back, and nothing’s gonna stop me.” Noctis said, as he walked past her. “And I’ll tell Ven you were looking for him.” “Wait...how?” I got this part. I said, and took control, and grinned. “Through the glorious power of alchemy.” “I was asking how you knew I was going to ask you to tell Ven that we wanted to see him. But you really think you can bring Tox back with Alchemy?” Luna said, spitting the word Alchemy as if it were poison. “Trust me, alchemy works,” I said, “I’ve seen it.” And with that, I walked away. ‘Well, that was interesting....so, you wanna go find Ven? Scratch that, you wanna go mess with Ven and my sister? They’re probably in bed together or something.’ That far already? I asked, That’s quick. ‘Yeah...it’s not that quick, is it?’ A bit, considering that two months of the relationship you were both in a coma... and yes, I’m going through your memories. I said, while, you guessed it, going through, and watching his memories. ‘Ok...hey, do you think Luna really likes me? I mean, I know she said it, but I’m afraid of going too fast and wrecking what I already have with her.’ Well, I’m pretty sure she likes you, but you can never really know for sure... Switching control back to you. I said, letting go of the body. “Ok. Now to find Ven and Clare.” Noctis said as he looked for whichever room they were in. Evil laugh? I asked. ‘A bit much. How about a pregnancy joke instead? And if alcohol becomes part of the topic, make fun of her for getting Bahamut drunk. That never gets old.’ … One sec, I need to find that memory. I said, flipping through the library of memories he had. ‘Well look fast. We’re here.’ He said, coming to a large doorway. ‘Found it yet? Though I’m guessing by the lack of laughter the answer is probably no.’ Almost... Ok, found it...... What the hell is this? I was watching one of the weirdest things I ever have: a huge dragon getting drunk off it’s ass, and destroying a whole. Freaking. Mountain. ‘Yeah, after that, I forbade Die from even touching anything with alcohol in it. It won’t bring back that mountain though. And I don’t think Bahamut has forgiven her for the hangover...Anyway, let’s head in, pretending we don’t know where Ven is, since I already know he’s there.’ Lets do this. I said in agreement. With that, Noctis walked in the door. “Die, I came to ask you...where Ven...was...what the fuck!?” He said, covering his eyes at the sight of his sister in nothing but a bright orange bra and a pair of matching panties lying under her boyfriend. Oh, this is good. I said in my head. “Um... Uh...” He mumbled. Noctis started smiling, “It’s cool, Ven. We’re all adults here, and it would be stupid of me to try and tell my sister who she can and can’t be with. It’s her choice, after all. Anyway, glad you’re here Ven. Discord, Celestia and Luna wanted to see you. They wanted to make sure you were ok after...well, everything. I’ll tell them you’re fine, but you’re busy.” “No, I’ll go see them,” Ven sighed, “You already ruined the mood.” “Ok. Oh, and one more thing,” He said, turning towards the door and letting me take over, “Name the first one after me!” And we ran out laughing. ‘Ahhh, classic. Hey, isn’t that what Die said to me when she walked in on Luna and me the first time?’ I thought you were quoting her. I said. ‘Wait, you’re the one who said it...so technically you were the one quoting her. And...crap, Ven told her about Discord’s alcohol stash. You wanna take this one too?’ Hmm... Nah, I’m good. I said, and returned control to him. ‘Ok. 3....2.....1....NOW’ He said, slipping in using the shadows. “Don’t even think about it Die. We don’t need a repeat of the Bahamut incident!” he said before slipping back out. ‘Ok. Now, shall we continue with the rest of the prank?’ Damn strait, anyway, we’re going to need 35 litres of water, 20 kg of carbon, 4 litres of ammonia, 1.5 kg of caustic lime, 800 grams of phosphorus, 250 grams of salt, 100 grams of saltpeter, 80 grams of sulfur, 7.5 grams of flourine, 5 grams of iron, 3 grams of silicon, chalk, and a few candles. ‘Wait...we’re not really gonna do it, right? As much as I want Tox back, we both know it’ll fail. And chances are, we’d both die. So it’s just for show, right?’ Yeah, the candles are just for dramatic effect, mostly, so is the chalk, which I’m going to use to just make an random magic circle. ‘Ok. So, let’s pick a room to do it then. Has to be one that’s hard to find, but not too hard.’ Hmm... it would have to be about the size of a walk in closet, and empty too. I added to the list. ‘Ok...got one. So, you wanna be the one to walk in, or should I?’ Sure, I’ll do it. I said, taking over and shadow-walking into the room he’d chosen. Not bad, and the lack of windows is a nice touch, and will go a long way in the lighting. ‘Why thank you. I couldn’t find any completely devoid of windows, but one window isn’t too bad...’ Eh, we can just cover it with this. I thought, picking up a piece of cloth, and putting it over the window. ‘Cool. So, shall we get ready, I get the feeling they’re about to show up.’ Yes, lets. And with that, I drew a large circle on the ground, with an eight point star in the middle. Followed by placing a candle at each point in the circle. ‘Ok, here they come. Shall I handle them or should you?’ You start the conversation, then I’ll take over randomly. ‘Ok. Shall we make it sound like you took over my body against my will?’ That was my plan. ‘Alright then.’ He said. ‘Ready to go!’ Start just by going through the ingredients. He nodded and started to measure them, not even turning around when his friends showed up. “Get. Out.” “Noctis, you have to stop this, you have no idea what will happen to you if you mess with death. I do know, but that’s beside the point.” “Luna already told you about the Shadow Zone, I’m guessing. Then you know I can’t stop. DAMMIT!” He yelled as he spilled some of the salt. You spilt the damn salt, you wasteful person. “Only the part about locking you in, the rest I already knew about. And it’s only salt.” “Yeah, how do you know about the Shadow Zone anyway? Are you a Shadow Walker?” “A what?” “A Shadow Walker. It’s what we call those who can willingly enter the Shadow Zone.” He explained. “Oh... No. As for how I know... I have no clue, I just have the information, with none of the pretext as to how.” Ven said, shrugging. “Enough. I’m done talking. It’s my fault Tox is gone, now I’m gonna fix it.” He said, reaching for the last jar. Ven suddenly created a gale, spreading the ingredients over the entire room, and sending some out the window. “I said, don’t. Do it.” I got it from here. I said, and took control “You, just made a big mistake.” I said in a more feminine tone than I normally use. “And you are?” Ven asked me, giving a ‘really?’ kinda look. “I don’t have a name. All I know is I’ve been living in that damned Zone for the past two centuries. Then this idiot’s girlfriend locks him here, and while he’s looking for a way out, I came in. Even managed to cast some illusions making him and everyone around him think the zone just amplified his guilt.” “... That... wow... he’s stupider than I thought he was.” he said, shaking his head. ‘Bastard!’ “Aww, don’t talk about my host that way. That’s my job.” I said playfully. “Besides, it’s his bitch-of-a-girlfriend’s fault for trapping him there in his condition anyway.” ‘HEY! NO BADMOUTHING LUNA!’ I need to make myself look like the bad person, remember? ‘Dammit. Fine, but damn, you are good at it...’ “Now, where was I?” I started to gather the ingredients again. “Oh, and this time, no interruptions.” Noctis’ body glowed black, and a dark barrier surrounded us. “Well, at least you have a better sense of humor that Akumu did. Also, nice barrier. But you don’t seem to have Akumu’s... talent for dark material either.” Lux said, examining the barrier. “Oh, that’s not normal darkness honey. This darkness amplifies your negative emotions, and turns all of you into targets for each other. In just a few minutes, you’ll be ripping each other to pieces while I perform the ritual, get this kid’s soul ripped out of his body for eternity, and take said body for myself.” Wow, I am acting like quite the bitch here. I mind said, surprised at my own way of wording things so far. “Wow... You know next to nothing about this ritual, don’t you? It doesn’t just destroy the soul, but the body as well.” Ven said, “Trust me, I have a good knowledge of death and how he works. As for the darkness... Lux, would you like to handle it?” He grinned “Aye, captain,” he said, and the darkness began to slowly move, flowing into a dark passage, as it was going in, a small, jagged knife fell out. “Hey, isn’t that... that unnamed knife you made?” Ven asked. “Damn it, not again, it just keeps coming back.” Lux complained as he picked it up, and threw it back in with all his might, closing it as the last of the darkness went in. “Now then,” Ven cracked his neck, and scattered the ingredients again, “How would you like to spend another few millennia in the darkness?” “Excuse me? Your question makes no sense.” ‘I said. “Oh?” Ven asked, bending the air around him and becoming invisible, “It doesn’t? My friend here just got rid of your darkness, and I sealed a darkside like yourself in stone for the next 200 years, and you think we can’t banish you to the dark zones?” “One. I am not a darkside. I used to be a Shadow Walker, until my so called ‘best-friend’ stabbed me in the back when I showed him the Zone. Idiot never knew that if a non-walker enters the Zone and ever lets go of the one that brought them there, the Zone rips them apart, and the remains just fade into the shadows. But it didn’t matter to me. I should have died. Instead, I was cursed to survive as nothing more than a GODDAMN GHOST!” I yelled. “I AM NOT GOING BACK TO THAT AGAIN! EVEN IF I DIE, I AM NOT GOING BACK!” ‘Wait...you were stuck there because your friend betrayed you? I...I’m sorry...’ And you thought that two hours was bad. I thought angrily. ‘Wait, just how long were you awake for?’ The whole thing. I said simply. “Wait wait wait,” Lux said, “Just one question: once you have a body, what will you do? That’s all I want to know.” “Why do you care?” I said with a sneer. “It’s my job as a guardian of darkness and light.” He said with a shrug “If you must know, I have a grave to visit. After that, I don’t know. I’ll probably just wander around the worlds or something.” “If that’s all, then I have a separate solution.” Lux said, with his arms up. “Oh, and just what would that be?” Suddenly, gear by gear, a bipedal mechanical body began to form next to him, “I happen to be able to control this metal quite well.” “The fuck!?” I shouted. Lux rolled his eyes, “Oh come on! I’m telling you I can give you a body made of a metal stronger than diamonds with a simple soul injection, what the hell is wrong with you people?!” “Wait, what? You want to help her?” Ven asked, staring at him as if he’d gone mad. “I’m a gentleman, I have to.” He said with a shrug. “Yeah right. I know how this’ll end. I trust you, then I end up back in the Zone.” I said, glaring at them. “No, no dirty tricks, as the self proclaimed god of Neutrality, I vow I will not do that.” Lux said with a single hand up. “God? You? That’s a laugh. You look like one of those kids the bastard used to pretend he wasn't beating up. God, I can’t believe I was ever friends with him now.” “Don’t believe me? I’ve been to many worlds, seen things that almost prove it. Also I can do this.” And as he said that, a pair of wings burst from his back, one white and feathered, the other black and leathery. Also half his hair turned white. “That’s...you realise the black one looks like Sephiroth’s, right?” “Wait... how do you know of Sephiroth?” Ventus asked, looking at me with a bit more interest than before. “Well, it was 2010 when I ‘died’, FF7 had been out for years. Why, what year is it now?” “You say you were in there for 2 centuries?” “Yeah...where are you going with this?” “My god I’ve been gone longer than I thought.” Ven said, facepalming, “But still, its nice to see someone from my planet again.” “Wait, you’re from Earth. Please tell me the government didn’t do that to you!” I said, pointing to Lux, horrified. He was taken aback for a moment before he responded, “No, I was given this power by a being only calling itself ‘wisp.’” “Seriously, Wisp? What’s next, a guide called Navi?” I said sarcastically. Ven grinned, and said “Hey! Listen!” in a decent Navi impression, and began to speak normally “Anyway, the year when I left was 2013, Lux left in late 2012. But on a more serious note, Lux, why the fuck are you trying to help her?! She fucking possessed him!” Lux gave him a cross between a glare and a look of boredom“What part of ‘Neutral’ Do you not understand? I belong to neither your side or hers, I just want my friend free through a peaceful solution, and from what I can tell, she isn’t a threat. Therefore, I will help her.” “Fine! If it blows up in our faces, it’s your damn fault if she kills us or something!” Ven shouted, before walking to one of the corners, and eating a roll of bread that was sitting there. Moody much? “Oooookaay. Your friend is kinda temperamental.” I said. “And by the way, about your earlier comment, Noctis isn’t an idiot. I just had an IQ of over 200, last time I checked. So in a battle of brains, I can beat most opponents.” Lux turned to me, giving a slight smile, “For the first part, he’s angry because you took over his friend, and soon to be brother in law. Second, and unrelated, Sephiroth had a white feathered wing, Cloud was the one who was drawn with the black leathery one.” “Not in Advent Children.” I replied smugly. “Sephiroth had a black wing.” Lux shrugged “Fair enough. Also, what did you mean I looked like one of the people your ‘friend’ beat up.” He said, air quoting the word ‘friend.’ “Just that when I looked at you, your face sorta seemed familiar. I remember my ‘friend’ beat up a kid years ago that had a similar face. Hell, for all we know, it could have been you. That was the first time I ever questioned him.” “What did he look like?” He said, pulling out a drawing pad from nowhere in particular, with a pencil. “He was caucasian, 6ft 2, had short, spiky black hair, sharp nose, really small ears, dark blue eyes, and a scar right between them in an S shape from when his old man took a branding iron to him.” I said, shuddering at the last part. Lux just looked up, saying, “So that’s what happened to him... So he was eaten by darkness, huh?” He said, folding his hands behind his head. “Not eaten in the traditional sense, he was ripped to pieces and absorbed.” “Actually, that sounds pretty accurate to the term eaten.” Lux said matter-of-factly “Trust me, if you saw it, you wouldn’t call it eating. You’d call it puke-city.” “There actually is a way to show him,” Ven said from the corner, “The VR room on this ship allows you to show memories to others.” “Seriously? We’re gonna go through this ship where noone knows anything about me, to a room made to fool your senses? This has prank/ambush written all over it.” I said in a flat tone. “Think what you want, I was just saying that the VR could be useful. Speaking of which, I’m gonna need to do a bit of training once this is done, being in a two month coma kinda isn’t that good on the body.” “Yeah, it definitely didn’t help your friend’s mental state. Now, just a minute. Gotta get out of this.” I said as I pulled my soul out of Noctis, who passed out from it. “The fuck just happened?” Ven said, looking down at Noctis, and rubbing his eyes. “I left his body, genius.” I said. Ven turned, and instinctively covered his eyes from the light that was me as a ball, and I couldn’t help but laugh. “Ah, so that’s what you did.” Lux said. “Yeah. Oh, he’s gonna be unconscious for a few hours, and when he does wake up, he’s not gonna remember anything.” “So, does this mean you accept my offer for the mechanical body?” Lux asked. “I guess so.” I said. “Well, three things about it, One: the machine itself will change once you are in it, probably to form the look of your old body. Second, You have to stay near a power user, otherwise it will become immobile, and third, you will have a nervous system, so you will feel pain. The last one was a ‘be careful’ thing though.” … Shit. “Greeeeaaaaat.” I said sarcastically. “One warning. If I catch either of you staring at me for more than a millisecond, you’re gonna lose your chances of ever having kids. GOT IT?” I growled. “Oh, also, before I inject your soul into it...” Lux spawned a rather badass looking outfit, like a ninja costume, but made from some weird cloth. He then put it onto the robotic body. “Just in case clothes don’t spawn on it.” He cracked his knuckles, “Now then, shall we begin?” “Sure. Just lemme know when you’re about t-AGH!” I flinched as a sharp pain reverberated through my mind, and didn’t stop. “Sorry, It’s my first time working with an actual soul, rather than pure energy.” Lux said, a look of worry on his face. “It’s nearly done.” He was making motions with his hands that reminded me sort of of sewing, or stitching. “By Odin’s beard this is horrifying.” Ven said, just watching what was happening as I withered slightly, and Lux sewed me into the cybernetic body, before being fully absorbed into it. Suddenly, the sounds had stopped, and the gears in my new body started to move. Muscles then burst from the gears, followed by a skin growing out of that, and long, straight black hair came out of my head. “Wow, Lux, You’ve gotten better with your metal, to be able to create a body.” Ven commented. “This feels...kinda weird. But at least I’m able to feel something other than pain now.” I said, turning my wrist, feeling the gears in my new body turn. “That wierd feeling is because you’ve been without a body for so long, as well as the gears inside you.” Lux looked over his work for a few seconds, “Ok, it seems I didn’t forget anything this time.” He said with a sigh of relief. “Doesn’t feel like you did.” I said, rotating my neck and smiling as I heard the joints pop every now and then. “Ahhh, can’t believe I went 200 years without being able to stretch my body. Plus I had this itch I just couldn’t scratch, it was so annoying.” Lux held out a mirror, “Is there anything I got wrong?” “Nah, I look just like I did back then. Actually, I seem more physically fit. Not an ounce of excess fat anywhere.” “That’s because you run on chaos energy rather than carbohydrates.” Lux said with an air of general happiness over succeeding, “Which is the reason you have to stay near a power user for the body to work. Also, you don’t have the need to eat, drink, excrete waste, or... really anything, you don’t even have to breath with that body, if you don’t want to.” “Chaos? Cool. Hey, can I break any of the laws of reality or something like that?” I asked. “Sadly, that would need more excess chaos energy than we can give off, so no.” Lux scratched the back of his head. “Crap. So, is there a way to make it so that when I go I won’t have to stay near a power user, as you call yourselves? Cause when I do go home, I plan to spend a lot of time at that grave. What date is it here anyway?” “I don’t know, and I don’t know. Although, what town is the grave in?” Lux said, looking a little sheepish. “Cork. You know, in Ireland.” “I see, then we have to touch down at two separate graveyards, I guess.” “I haven’t seen my family in almost a year.” Lux said, with a look that screamed not to ask. “I...see. At least tell me the bastard responsible suffered for it.” I said in a cold voice. “I don’t know if he did, I saw a spike of darkness go through him, but then again, when I was starting out, my dark spear wouldn’t even make a wound in anything. It could only hold things in place.” “That’s explainable. Let me ask you, how did you feel when that spike went through him? What was going through your mind?” I asked. “Mostly rage, from seeing him stab my kid brother in the throat with a fucking GAS INJECTION KNIFE!” He shouted the last part, darkness beginning to seep out of his skin. Wow, this guy has problems too... “There you go. You wanted him to suffer for what he did. That’s how you make the darkness kill. You have to want the person dead, or it won’t do the job.” I explained. “So, next time you’re in a fight, remember that bastard, and remember how badly you wanted him dead, and focus that desire onto your opponent.” “Oh, I didn’t want him dead,” Lux said with a sadistic grin. “I wanted him to suffer as his victims did, torn to shreds by hand. Then gut, and the organs removed.” “Well, that works too.” I said with a shrug. “Who knows, maybe that’s exactly what happened. Or maybe the darkness permanently trapped him in his own personal hell, where exactly what you wanted happens to him over and over for eternity within his mind.” “I recommend you stop there, before I begin to lose my source of rage.” Lux looked upwards, “Now then, lets get you introduced to the group!” He said walking out the room. Ven slung Noctis’ unconscious body over his shoulder. “Ugh, this guys heavier than he looks.” “You know, now that I’m not inhabiting his body, he looks kinda adorable, like I just wanna--” “I would recommend you stop before his mare-friend hears you.” “Oh come on, I didn’t mean that. I’m not into him that way. I meant I’d just act as if he was a lost puppy or something. Is that a result of this new body or something?” “Probably not.” Ven held a watch up to his mouth. “Hey Discord, we have a newbie on board the ship, could you show her around, oh, and bring Jolt with you.” “FUCK NO KEEP SPARKY AWAY FROM ME!” I shouted. Ven looked at me like I’d grown a second head. “What?” “Sorry, residual memories from being in Noctis’ body. Apparently he and Sparky don’t play well together. Oh, and he’s waking up.” I said, pointing to Noctis’ stirring form. “Uhhhhhh, the fuck just happened? Did I get hit by a train or something?” He asked, opening his eyes and wincing. “Bout time you woke up.” Ven then him down. “And no, you were just trapped in the shadow zone for a few hours before she got you out.” He said, pointing to me. “Where am I and what the fuck happened?” He deadpanned. “AND WHAT THE FUCK AM I!?” He yelled suddenly as he failed to get up. “Oh....crap.” I said. “Noctis? What’s wrong?” I asked, kneeling down next to him. “This is bad. I think when I left his body, I may have taken some of his memories away. They should come back in a few days, but for the meantime, he won’t remember anyone.” I said, feeling a strong urge to facepalm. “Any idea which memories you took?” Ven asked, giving me a look of ‘really?’ “Long story short, judging by his reaction, I took any memories from his arrival in Equis onwards. Possibly earlier ones too.” “Well then, this sucks.” Ven helped Noctis up “Noctis, listen to me, my name is Ventus, and you have lost a few of your memories.” “Your name is wind? And what are you on about? What memories? Did I forget the part where Shin-Ra turned me into a FUCKING HORSE!?” “That was the Lunar orb, not Shinra, you haven’t-” “FUCK! How do you know about the Orb? Die and I never told anyone. ARE YOU A SPY!?” Ven held up his watch to his “Die, your brothers gone crazy again. Could you come here and get him?” “SHUT UP, I’M NOT CRAZY! YOU’RE CRAZY!” Noctis yelled. “You know that’s the craziest thing you could say, right?” Ven said with a perfect poker face. “No, the craziest thing I could say is I’m a talking blue horse with wings and I’m proud of it.” He deadpanned, before realizing what he said. “Wait...WINGS!? FUCK!” “... Anyway, back to my explanation to what’s happening. The Solar and Lunar orbs are not from your world, they come from the world of Equis, roughly.... four months ago, you were brought there by the orbs. You have lost all memories since. Oh, and Akumu is now sealed away in a separate body that i turned to stone..” “Who’s Akumu? And four months!? What the fuck did I miss!?” “The last two you didn’t miss much, as you were in a coma. The first two it would be better if Die explains it when she gets here.” “No thanks, I’d rather keep my sanity thank you very much.” Noctis said. “I don’t know if you know this, but when Die gets really into an explanation, sometimes you get sucked into it as if you were in the training room at Shin-Ra HQ.” “Oh, also, on a separate note, I’m dating your sister.” I said, and prepared for his reaction. “Wait, what? My sister’s dating a lunatic? That’s weird, she said she had a crush on...you know what, never mind.” He said. “Hey, everyone is insane, those who say otherwise are idiots. Plus you also have a girlfriend now.” “Wait....WHAT!? That’s impossible, I can’t talk to girls to save my life!” He shouted. “Thats news to me. By the way, what’s the last thing you remember?” “Being put to sleep so they could begin the SOLDIER Procedures. Why? Wait...I get it. This is a dream!” He said with a small grin. Ven hit him in the side of the head, “This isn’t a dream, if it was, you wouldn’t be able to feel pain in it.” “Ow, fuck. Dammit. Not a dream, got it. Wait, that means I actually have a girlfriend? Since when? And who?” “I’m not sure about the since when part, but to sum it up, with a literal goddess of the night.” “Wait, a Goddess? As in, Immortal, All-Powerful? How did that happen? And seriously, what would a Goddess see in me?” “Well, lets just say the Lunar orb gave her her power too, as well as some... similarities in personality.” “What kind of similarities?” He asked cautiously, one eyebrow raised. “It would be better if you just met her.” He held up his watch to his mouth again, “Discord, Could you teleport Luna and Die to my location?” “On it.” I heard a voice say. “And three... two... one..” Ven counted down. “Wait, who’s--” Noctis began, and then, in a bright flash, Luna and Die were right in front of us. I saw Luna about to say something, but Ven held up my hand, and said “Before either of you say anything, he’s lost all his memories from him going under for the SOLDIER procedure onwards.” “Hi Die, who’s your friend? She’s....cute.” he said, lowering his head and trying to hide his blush. “Hey, Noctis. So...you seriously lost your memories? That...sucks.” Die said awkwardly. “Actually she accidentally took them,” Ven said, pointing to me. “Hey, it’s not my fault I made a small error the first time I ever entered someone else’s body!” I retorted. “Besides, he’ll get them back in a few days. But for the love of all things holy, DO NOT try to jump-start them. You do that, and he’ll lose all his memories. For good.” “Ok, so don’t try to remind him of anything... Fine by me.” Ven said with a shrug. “No, not that. I’m assuming that magic exists here too, judging by all the crazy shit I saw in his memories?” Ven floated up, and stood on the ceiling. “No shit Sherlock.” … That’s surprisingly impressive. “Yeah, well what I was referring to is that you can’t try to restart them with magic. I learned enough on the subject. Subtle hints can speed up the recovery slightly, but if you ever use magic to do it, you’ll erase everything, and be left with nothing but an adult with a child’s mind. He’ll have to learn how to do everything all over again.” “Oh... what about electroshock therapy?” Ven asked with a slight grin. “FUCK NO! That’s even worse. It’ll make him remember, but it’ll make the memories seem like living nightmares for the rest of his life.” “Damn... I think I remember a few methods for memory retrieval from our world, such as a certain acupuncture point.” “Acupuncture, with the needles?” I asked skeptically. “Oh, and I finally decided on a name for myself. At least until I eventually remember my old one.” “What is it? And acupuncture doesn’t have to use needles.” “Dana. Short and sweet. And really? Then what can be substituted for needles?” “Watch.” Ven walked up to Lux, who was just watching, and poked a sleep point on his body with a single finger, and a lot of strength, knocking him out. “It’s not that hard to learn, all you need are steady hands.” “Um, isn’t he gonna be pissed when he wakes up?” Die asked. “That’s why I’m going to go hide.” Ven said, before flying away at full speed. “Oooookaaaaay. That guy is just weird. I don’t know what you see in him Die.” I said with a raised eyebrow. “You may not, but I do. He’s sweet, kind, caring, and he’s willing to put his life on the line for any of us. And he’s pretty funny too.” Die replied. Suddenly, Ven’s voice came from out of nowhere. “Thanks, Die, but I’m really not that funny.” Dafuq? “Oh come off it Ven. And also, this is the new girl? She looks kinda...mechanical.” “Technically, she’s a machine with a soul.” Ven said. “So, bio-mechanical? The merging of man and machine kind of thing?” “No, just Lux putting a ghost into a robot that then grew flesh to show her original appearance... I didn’t see anything I swear!” “Ah. And I know. You wouldn’t do something like that. It’s not who you are.” She said. “Yeah, I know,” Ven ‘said’. “By the way, could we talk... you know... in private?” he asked Die. “It’s about our earlier conversation.” “Sure. No problem. I’ll leave you guys alone.” She said, running off. Ven then added one last thing “Oh, and Dana, stay with Lux so your body doesn’t freeze up.” I rolled my eyes, and picked up the unconscious body, and walked off in a random direction, saying “Follow me, Noctis.” “Ok. Wait, who are you again?” “For now I’m calling myself Dana.” I said. “Cool...” He said, following me until we were out of earshot. “Ok...that prank was awesome. Seriously.” “Wait, you didn’t actually lose your memories?” “Yes and no. I lost some memories, but I remembered most of them, you seemed to only take a few random ones...nice acting by the way.” “Thanks, you weren’t bad yourself.” I hefted Lux’s body onto the other shoulder. “So, am I really Luna’s boyfriend? That memory’s a little fuzzy.” “From what I saw in your memories, yes.” I said. “Wow...Hey, can I ask you something?” “Yes?” I stopped, and turned to face him. “Why do we call Jolt Sparky?” “I dunno, but his reaction is funny.” I said with a small smile. “Yeah...Sooo, any advice for my relationship with Luna? I don’t wanna mess it up via not having any memories of it.” “... Nothin in that area, sorry.” “Crap. Oh well.” “Don’t worry about it, if I’ve learned anything, it’s that what will happen will happen.” “Ok. Well, how do you think they’ll take it when they find out this was all a prank?” I thought for a moment before I responded, “Probably with shock, and maybe a sliiight beating from your sister.” “Oh...crap. If Die gets her hands on us...” “I would worry about yourself, I’m mechanical.” “But you can feel pain, remember. The nerves Lux gave you...” “... Shit!” I shouted, coming into realization, “Lets try to catch her in a good mood or when something else is keeping her from killing us, agreed?” “Yeah...well, I should probably try to find Luna and salvage what I can, huh?” “Go for it. I’ll be at the bridge... If I can find it” I said the last part in a whisper. “No worries. Oh, and you know Discord and Celestia probably already know about our little prank. My guess is they went along with it for shits and giggles.” “... Lets hope so, and let’s pray that they don’t tell Die. Bye.” I waved my free hand as I walked off, carrying the winged body of Lux under my arm. __________________________________________________________________ Noctis’ POV Ok...so I have a girlfriend who rules the night...I am so gonna blow it... I kept imagining the various ways I could mess up my meeting with Luna, and each one made me more and more nervous. When I finally came up to her room, I was shaking, sweating, and extremely close to losing my lunch. I couldn’t even bring myself to knock so I just stood there, unable to even breathe. Thank the Gods I didn’t need to anymore... After a few minutes the door opened, and Luna stepped out, giving me a ‘what are you doing’ kinda look. “Uhh, I......” I never had a chance to finish, as Luna jumped me, and began to drag me into her room. “The hell? What are you doing?!” “Apologies Noctis. I’m just...well, I’m glad to see you. And at the same time, I’m angry with you.” “Wait, what?” “I’m angry at you as well as glad. My sister informed me of yours and Dana’s little, ‘joke’.” She said, shooting me a glare that would strip paint off a car. Suddenly, her expression softened into a loving smile, “However, I suppose I should be happy you only lost a few of your memories.” “Wait...you knew? The whole time? You knew I was-” “The eyes don’t lie, Noctis.” “Crap...well, you know I wasn’t kidding about not remembering ‘us’, right? I mean, it’s just, gone. I can’t remember us getting together. Hell, if I hadn’t been told by several people, I don’t think I could have believed it.” After all, she’s a Goddess. I’m just some loser who can’t save anyone. She gave me a seductive smirk, “Well then, only one thing to do about that.” and with that, she picked me up with her magic, and began to carry me towards the bed. “Hey, lemme go!” “Don’t worry, it won’t hurt.” Luna said as she put me on the bed, and tackled me. The rest... I’m not going to tell you. __________________________________________________________________ One *Message Redacted* scene later I was completely shattered after what we’d just done, I couldn’t move an inch out of fatigue. Luna was faring better though, managing to place a hoof on my face and looking me in the eyes. “That was definitely not how I imagined my first time.” I said between breaths. Luna was about to respond, but was cut off by the ship shaking, and sirens beginning to blare. “Crap, what the hell’s going on?” I muttered. “Sinners on the Deck!” Discord’s voice boomed in our room. “LET SOMEONE ELSE DEAL WITH THEM! I CAN’T MOVE!” I yelled. “Uhh...You know what, forget about it. Die already took care of them. They’re just ashes in the wind now... Also, nice form, you two.” I turned to Luna, who was blushing and snickering at the same time. “Revenge?” “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Discord said in a tone that argued with the words. “I was asking Luna whether we should seek revenge for our privacy being invaded.” “HA! Good luck.” He said, his laughter echoing through the halls, but growing quieter. “Thanks for the well-wishing, Pervy Sage.” “Pervy Sage?” “I dunno. It just popped into my head.” “... Good night, Noctis.” Luna said, and after a few moments, I heard soft snoring coming from her. I smiled and kissed her forehead, before laying down myself. “Goodnight Luna. I love you.” I said, before I too entered the realm of sleep. ___________________________________________________________________ Later! I awoke to the sound of a violent sounding explosion. “The fuck’s going on?! DISCORD! TELL ME YOU DIDN’T TRY A NEW CHOCOLATE MILK RECIPE!” “No, Discord isn’t even on the ship.” Jolt said from the doorway, his two-handed sword on his back, “That was Ven. He’s apparently fighting some guy on a moon we stopped by.” “Wait, who’s he fighting? And we stopped by a moon?” “Himself. And yes.” “Crap. Well, where’s Die?” “At the bridge, giving moral support, part of it being something about her being pregnant.” “Wait...my sister is....pregnant? I’m going to be an uncle?!” “Eeyup, and as it seems you’re the last to know. Lucky you.” He said with a chuckle. “Ok. You go. I’ll wake up Luna. Trust me, you don’t wanna be here when she wakes up. As far as I know, someone can be really cranky when woken up after...” “It’s ok, we all know.” He said, “Discord told us.” “Can he even keep a secret? I swear, I’m gonna get Pinkie to prank him.” “One, he can, two, good luck. Bye, good luck with the grumpy gf.” He said, and ran out so quickly it made the sound of thunder cracking, waking Luna up on the spot. “Luna, two things. One, you’re going to be an aunt, and two, Ven is apparently fighting himself on a nearby moon.” “... What?” Luna said, giving me a look that pretty much said ‘Dafuq?’ “Yeah, Die is pregnant.” “... I know that part, I was asking about the other bit.” “Oh, you mean about Ven fighting himself on the moon we stopped near?” “Yes, that, what do you mean by ‘fighting himself’?” She asked with a raised eyebrow. “My guess, it’s like when I fought Akumu, it’s like I was fighting myself. So technically, he’s probably fighting some warped and twisted part of himself.” Her eyes widened, “... We... We should probably go help out.” “Agreed. Except I still can’t feel my legs...” I said sheepishly. Luna fluttered her wings, “What do you think these do?” She said with a small smile. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure these are useless too for the moment.” I said, pointing to my very limp wings. “Seriously, where did you get the energy for all that?!” “Pent up over thousands of years.” She said with a smug smile. “Ah. I thought you were in heat.” I replied. She blushed, “The fact that it was mating season... may have been a contributing factor. Also sorry about the biting.” “Wait...you were in heat...And about the biting, no worries. It was...interesting. Wait, does this mean I might be...” “... I don’t know...” She said hesitantly. “Well, if I am gonna be a father, I’ll make damn sure I’m a good husband too!” I replied confidently, though my inability to move made it almost comical. “Well, you’re off to a great start.” She said, eying my motionless form with amusement. “Shut up...but seriously, I’m excited and nervous at the idea of being a dad, and I can’t think of a better mare to be a mother than you.” Luna chuckled“We’re probably going to be such a dysfunctional family.” “And how do you figure that? Am I really that bad?” I mock-pouted. “Think about it: a goddess who tried to bathe a land in eternal night, two ex-SOLDIERS, and an assassin from another dimension. Assuming he and Die can stay together when this is all done.” “Luna, I don’t give a damn what you did in your past. What matters to me is that I love you. I wouldn’t care if you were a flying spaghetti monster or something.” “WHAT DO YOU KNOW OF THE GIANT FLYING SPAGHETTI MONSTER?!” I heard Aqua shout from the doorway. “Wait, it’s an actual thing in your world?” “In my world, there is a religion based around the damn thing!” He said “Most of them just worship it as a joke though... most of them.” “Wow. Well, as I was saying, Luna, I love you, and I think our kid is gonna grow up just fine with a mother as wonderful as you.” “That’s not even the weirdest of them,” He began “There is also the ‘Giant Invisible Clown’ theory, or the ‘Church of the Holy Twig,’ or even--” “I think they got the point,” Shade said, appearing suddenly behind him, anyway, we came to tell you that Ven’s fight is over, though he’s in pretty rough shape.” “How rough are we talking? Please tell me I’m not about to lose a brother-in-law.” “He was gutted, his throat was stabbed twice, his arm exploded, and he’s in a small coma.” Aqua listed on his fingers. “Shit...where is he?!” I said, leaping up with a sudden burst of adrenaline. Shade rolled her eyes, “I just examined him in the medical wing, he somehow managed to heal his neck and arm, but his guts... It’s going to take a lot of surgery, even if he is now immortal.” “Wait WHAT?! VEN’S IMMORTAL?! WHEN THE FUCK DID THAT HAPPEN?!” “Earlier today, apparently him doing Die while she was in heat lead to a portion of the solar orb’s energy going into him.” Shade explained “Wait....DIE WAS WHAT?!” “Is it really so shocking, when it’s apparently mating season for immortals?” Aqua said with a chuckle. “This has gotta be one of those things that could only happen because of the orbs...” “Eh, whatever, you wanna go see him?” Shade asked, turning away before I could answer, and walking away, saying “Then follow me.” “Ok. Wait, how the hell am I standing again? Eh, forget it, let’s just go.” A huge ball of white smoke appeared in front of her, “Damn I love doing this.” She said, and jumped in. “Cool. So, after you ma’am?” I offered, extending my hoof towards the portal. Luna chuckled, “How chivalrous, sending the lady into the large ball of smoke that came out of nowhere, and may hold unknown danger.” She said as she stepped in. “It’s only good manners.” I retorted as I followed her... ___________________________________________________________________ Medical Bay Ven was the only person in the medical wing besides us, although half the space was filled with the tons of machines he was hooked up to. “It’s weird, according to Discord, even though he is now an immortal, he nearly died, and still could.” Shade said as she started to check the machines. “Let me ask, was he stabbed with his own sword?” She turned toward me, a look of surprise on her face, “Yes, how did you know?” “Because if I’m right, those blades were made to do the same thing ours were. To be able to kill anything. Even immortals are vulnerable.” “No, only a single knife was made for that purpose, but Lumos deemed it too dangerous to use, and threw it into the darkness.” “Doesn’t matter. The metal itself is meant for that purpose, even if you don’t intend to go killing immortals anyway.” “Oh” Was all she said, before just turning slowly, and continuing her checking of the machines. “So, how long before he’s up and at it again?” “Well, once we get the replacement organs in, and the pieces of his shattered blade out, he should be fine within a few days.” She said. “Replacement organs? Fuck, that is gonna hurt like hell.” She filled up a needle with some sort of green liquid, “Not if I have anything to say about it.” “Really? You can make it painless? Fuck, wish you were around after all the augmentations they put us through. I mean, forcibly increasing bone density, muscle mass, and so on and so forth, painful as fuck.” She gave me a bored look, “This stuff I perfected on Lumos. There is enough in this one injection to knock out three dragons. I mostly made it as a way to get back at people.” “What did they do that required getting back at them?” “Someone ‘accidentally’ lost all of my ingredients. There were over 2000 kilos. You don’t just lose that much on accident.” “You must not have heard of Hollander then. I heard that guy lost over 10000 kilos of raw mako once. Seriously, how he made it as a scientist, I have no clue.” “Well, I know if he ever lost my supplies, he may wake up with a few parts missing to pay for replacements.” She said with a smile that sent chills down my spine. “Stop it Shade, you’re scaring the poor pony.” Aqua said, “Besides, shouldn’t we get ready for the surgery?” He asked, putting on, gloves, a generic doctor’s apron, and a mask with a long, pointy nose. She rolled her eyes, “Fine,” she said, as she began to get into another copy of the exact same thing. “Man, I miss being able to go emotionless sometimes.” “You’re more fun this way,” Shade said, waving a hand, “Also, could you leave the room? It would be better, and probably more successful if there aren’t spectators.” “No worries, I’ll go back to bed.” I said, already heading out the door. “Now,” I heard Shade say, “This should be interesting, I’ve never put organs in to a body before.” “Yeah, I’m out of here! See you in your room Luna!” I mock-yelled as I dove into a nearby shadow to escape the sight, exiting the zone to get to Luna’s room. “OK, time for sleep.” I muttered, clambering back into the bed and pulling the sheets over myself. _________________________________________________________________ Later! Once more my sleep was interrupted, but this time, I was being shaken awake. “Finally awake, are we?” Jolt said, letting go. “Shut up Sparky. So, why is it you waking me up? “Not even that can ruin my mood now! We’re at Earth!” He shouted, jumping up. “YOU GOT A GIRLFRIEND TOO!” I mock-shouted, grinning and pointing behind him. “I’m not stupid enough to fall for that.” He said. “Then why is Dana behind you and smiling like a love struck fool?” I asked curiously. He suddenly looked serious, “Wait, what?” He asked as he turned around to see her smiling softly, just watching what was happening. “I was wondering where you went.” “Congrats you two. So, Dana, what made you change your mind on Sparky? I thought after the memories you saw of my interactions with him you’d avoid him like the plague. “Lets just say your memories were very misleading.” She said with a sly grin. “Cool. Something tells me you’re gonna be having lots of fun. Be careful though, she’s completely mechanical in the bedroom.”They both blushed the shade of a good cherry juice. “And exactly how would you know that, Noctis?” Luna’s voice said behind me, in a sweet tone, with an undertone saying ‘tell me what you know, and I might not destroy you.’ “It was a joke Luna, y’know, since she’s essentially a robot with a soul.” “Oh... OH, I get it now! But anyway, does she even have the parts for that?” Dana’s blush went a shade darker, “Well, if you must know, I haven’t checked yet.” “If I know Lux, he probably created said parts, just to see if he could.” “... Well, if it isn’t there, I’ll ask him to add it in.” She said with a small smile. “Looks like one of your many fetishes is about to be realised Sparky.” I joked. “If you knew what my fetishes were, you would avoid me even more than you do now.” He said with a slight look of evil in his eyes. “Sparky, nothing I learn about you could make me want to avoid you more than I already do.” I said in a teasing tone. He grinned, “Like the fact I owned a BDSM club back on earth?” “BDSM? Seriously? Didn’t take you for that kinda guy. Oh well, to each their own.” “I actually wasn’t into it, I just owned the place.” He said “The guy who was actually in charge didn’t want to go to prison if the place was found out, so I got a slice of the profit, so long as I owned the deed, and kept quiet.” “Ah. Well, you gonna go visit that friend of yours Dana? After all, you said it’s been two centuries for you.” “What do you think?” “The obvious answer is yes. Your boyfriend gonna go with you? Actually, I already know he is, since you need a power-user nearby to keep your body energised.” “Yeah, yeah, whatever.” She said, waving a hand, before turning to Jolt “So, we gonna go yet?” “I wish you luck, Dana.” I said under my breath with a small smile. “So, Luna, what now?” Before Luna could answer, however, Aqua burst into the room, shouting “HELP ME!!” and diving behind a wardrobe. “Aqua, what happened?!” I asked worriedly. “Somebody was stupid enough to give Shade whiskey, and now she’s trying to take my pancreas.” “Oh, is that all? No worries, I’ll do what I do best.” I said confidently. “Is that all? IS THAT ALL?! IT’S MY FUCKING PANCREAS!” “And I already told you I’ll do what I do best.” I repeated. “Go right ahead, I’ll wait here.” He said, before putting going into the wardrobe he was hiding behind. “Ok. Though y’know, I was kinda hoping you’d ask what I do best. Oh well.” I shrugged as I got out the bed and walked to the door. “And Aqua, don’t even think about it.” “... I’m not going to ask.” I heard from the dresser. I just shook my head and walked outside to see a clearly drunk Shade barreling towards me. “Ok, time to do what I do best, which, according to Die, is ‘something stupid’. Fuck.” And that’s exactly what I did, blasting a weak bolt of magic into Shade. “SHADE STOP BEING DRUNK!” Unfortunately, this didn’t exactly work, but her coordination got better. Oh, and she pulled out a scalpel. “Oh fuck me!” I muttered, before bolting past her and running as fast as I could. “FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK! I’M STARTING TO REGRET DOING TH-” I was cut off as I was tackled by Shade. “You know, I’ve never examined the organs of a pony before, and I’m sure that a sample of the wings would be interesting too.” She said as she began to make marks in my fur with a small marker. “Yeah, well, lemme ask you something.” I said between pained gasps as I’d somehow landed hard on my... ‘private area’. “You know what my nickname was back in Nibelheim?” “Not a clue,” She said, making more marks, and not really paying any attention. “They called me the runner, since I always ran from bad situations before joining SOLDIER. You’re probably wondering what that has to do with this though.” “No, not really.” She said, before switching to her scalpel, and preparing to make the first cut. “Well, it doesn’t have anything to do with the conversation, but it did provide a great distraction while my ‘friend’ got ready.” I said smugly. “Wait, what?” Shade said, looking up suddenly. “NOW DISCORD!” I shouted, and a bolt of multicolored chaos energy shot down the hall, hitting Shade in the back of the head. She hit the floor with a thud and laid there, breathing, but otherwise unmoving. “Wait, you were really there? I was just bluffing.” I said. “Noctis, I’m a god. I’m everywhere and nowhere at the same time.” “Ok. Oh, and one thing.” and I kicked him square in his nethers. “THAT’S FOR PERVING ON ME AND LUNA!” “Nice try, but you missed.” He said smugly, before disappearing in a puff of smoke. I chuckled, making my way back to Luna’s room. “Ok Aqua, it’s safe. Discord knocked Shade out.” “Really?” Aqua asked, his head poking out of the wardrobe. “Yes, then I kicked him where I thought his nethers were for spying on me and Luna while we were...y’know...” “He can move them around on his body... somehow.” “Good thing that Joy Freezer I hit him with will move on till it finds them, then freeze them for a few hours. Thank you tracker magic! When do you think he’s gonna realise what happened?” “I already did,” Discord’s voice said behind me. “Lemme guess, couldn’t get it up for Celestia?” I joked. “It isn’t in the physical realm at this moment.” “Wow, you magically castrated yourself?” “What? No, I can just absorb it and grow new ones at will!” He said in a proud sounding tone. “Ok. But seriously, why did you watch me and Luna? Do we spy on you and Celestia?” “No, but Die and Ven did walk in on us, so I’m just passing it on.” “Wait, they....BAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Classic! But seriously, going around publicly announcing the sexual activities of others seems....well, it seems too...weird, even for you. But I digress. How is Celestia? Did you knock her up yet?” “No, I made sure not to. Besides, hearing Ven screaming in horror sort of ruined the mood.” “Funny, he doesn’t act like one would after seeing two friends doing it.” “I heard Die say to him right before to imagine what the children would look like.” He said with a chuckle “HA! Then why hasn’t he seemed like he’s been doing just that. Did he forget what happened or something?” “Die wiped his memory of it.” “Headshot with her fists?” “Yes and no, it’s a magic technique Celestia taught her, where one charges their attack with magic, and aims for the base of the neck. The magic then wipes the memory from the short term before it can become a long term memory.” “Nice. Hey, any that could wipe long-term memories? I wanna forget my first day of school.” “Sorry, haven’t got one like that.” He said with a shrug. “Oh well, can’t blame a guy for trying. So, do you think you’ll be a good dad someday?” “Hmm.. I dunno, oh, also.” Suddenly, he was behind me, his leg slamming into my... equipment. “That’s for freezing mine.” “Ouch. Thank god for balls of steel.” I groaned. “And trust me, I could’ve done a lot worse than freezing them for a couple of hours in retaliation for you making the fact that Luna and I had sex known to the public. Do you want to be sterile?” “Ha, good one, I don’t even have balls!” “Then how you gonna knock her up?” “My testacles are inside my body, not outside, like you people.” “Thanks for the info. Now I know where to target the next time you do something stupid...” “No, you really don’t know where to aim.” He said, and disappeared before I could finish. “I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE!” I shouted. “Besides, I was kidding. Like I’d ever actually sterilise the guy who saved my life...Anyway, sleep!” I put my encounter with Shade out of my head as best I could, which wasn’t very well, considering she had been about to relieve me of my wings. “AGH! I hate alcohol...” I muttered as I crawled back into the bed. “... I’m going to leave the room now,” Aqua said, backing out of the room quickly. “Whatever...Luna, unless we’re about to die, please don’t wake me.” I said as I closed my eyes. _________________________________________________________________ One good sleep later. For the first time this week, I got a decent sleep, no rude awakening, no explosions, no deities of chaos watching me and Luna... I’m not going to finish that sentence, but that’s beside the point. The point is that I felt good. “Ahhh, damn, normal wake up for once.” “WHAT THE FUCK?!” I heard someone shout from another room “YOU SAID I WOULD BE FUSING WITH ANOTHER PERSON! NOT SOME... BIRD THING!” “GODAMMIT CAN’T A GUY GO ONE DAY WITHOUT A DAMN ARGUMENT OUTSIDE HIS AND HIS MAREFRIEND’S ROOM!” I screamed as I leapt out of the bed and slammed the door open. “HEY, I’M NOT HAPPY WITH THIS EITHER! NOBODY SAID I WOULD BE FUSING WITH SOME SUITED PRICK!” Another voice, which I instantly recognised as Mirum shouted, even louder than the other. “OH THAT’S IT!” The first voice shouted. “SHUT THE FUCK UP!” I yelled, accidentally letting off a shockwave of energy, wrecking Luna’s bed and knocking her out of its remains. A few moments later, two figures, who I recognized as Mirum and Malum, burst in through the wall, with Malum’s knee in Mirum’s... Junk, and a look of rage on his face. “What the fuck? Malum? WHEN THE FUCK DID YOU GET HERE?!” “Few minutes ago, Lux found me.” He said, spitting out a little blood. “Oh, cool. Mind explaining WHY YOU RUINED MY LIE-IN WITH LUNA?! AND AFTERWARDS, GIVE ME ONE GOOD REASON NOT TO FUCKING CASTRATE YOU HERE AND NOW!” They both pointed at each other, and simultaneously shouted “HE STARTED IT!” They turned towards each other, “NO, YOU DID!” And with that, both of their right hands hit the other in the face. Suddenly, a large hand of darkness grabbed each of them, “Can I leave you alone five damn minutes without you two getting in a fight? Seriously, what kind of consciences are you?” Lux said as he floated into the hallway through the hole. “They’re the bratty kind Lux. Kindly get them to fuse with you again so I can go back to sleeping with Luna.” I said irritably. The words pulling a muffled chuckle from Malum. “They’re not going to fuse with me, they’re fusing with each other.” Lux said. “Whatever. If you need me, I’ll be sleeping.” I said, going back to my room and slamming the door shut, before repairing the damaged bed, all while trying to ignore the death glare Luna was aiming at me. Moments later, a loud bang sounded outside the room, and a large flash of light came through the crack under the door, followed by smoke. “Godammit. Luna, do you think we could move to another room? I’m really getting sick of being involved in all their problems.” I muttered as I walked back over to the door, opening it to see only two figures. One was Lux, the other was an unconscious guy covered in feathers arranged in a pattern similar to a black suit with a white shirt, and a tie. The guy on the ground got up, and opened his eyes. Seeing that one was solid grey, and the other flashing every color, with a golden iris, I immediately knew what had happened: Lux had forcibly fused Mirum and Malum into one being. Right. Outside. My damn room. “Ow, our head.” The guy said, clutching his head on both sides. “So, how do you feel?” Lux asked, looking at him. “Like I fell two stories onto a sharp spike head-first, and lived to tell the tale.” He muttered. “GRAAH! Please move the conversation somewhere that won’t wake me the hell up!” I yelled. Lux reached back, and scratched the back of his head sheepishly, “Sorry, I was short on time to fuse them together, so I had to do it here...” He turned to the Mirum/Malum guy, “Now that I think about it, what are we going to call you, anyway?” “... How about we figure that out when I’m not in pain, and while there is an angry pegasus ready to kill us.” He said, getting up, and stumbling off, with Lux slowly following him. “Oh I’m not going to kill you.” I said, glaring at them. “I’m gonna FUCKING NEUTER YOU!” “FUCK!” He shouted, and jumped through a wall, fading into the metal, and making it appear as though he was never there. Lux stared at the spot. “... What... the fuck?” “You know what? Forget this. If anyone needs me, I’ll be sleeping.” I droned, closing the door once again and getting back into bed beside Luna. She hasn’t said a single word this entire time...I am so dead. “Luna, I’m sorry. For destroying the bed, for shouting, pretty much for everything and anything I did.” Surprisingly, she was asleep, her soft snoring barely audible. “Good idea...sleepy time...” I mumbled, yawning as I succumbed to the call of the sandman. _________________________________________________________________ The next week was fairly uneventful. I got mostly used to Luna’s sleep patterns, by which I meant I got mine synchronized with it. It helped that we hadn’t done it, instead just choosing to spend our time together sleeping, Also, the Mirum/Malum guy finally picked out a name for himself: Mar. And apparently he has only one power, and it’s more basic than any of the others: he can make himself and whatever he is in direct contact with phase through matter. He found a way to make himself invisible, barely even casting a shadow. For almost the entire week, Die was in the medical bay, sitting at Ven’s side, just waiting for him to wake up. The one time I did talk to her, it somehow lead to her contemplating ways to guilt Ven into doing something, but wouldn’t say what. I gave up after the first few times asking, knowing she wouldn’t admit what it was until she was ready to do so. For once, my wake up wasn’t followed by an explosion, or a scream, or some other interruption. The only thing that followed was Luna nuzzling me in her sleep, drooling a little on my chest as she snored quietly. I smiled and just lay there, nuzzling her back, content to have a normal day for once. Unfortunately, today wasn’t a normal day. Today was the day we separated with the others, dropping them off on their own world. I sighed sadly, nudging Luna awake slowly. “Luna, we have to get up. Lux and the others are leaving today. We have to see them off.” “Five more minutes.” She mumbled, slurring a little. “Luna, if you don’t get up right now, I’m going to tell everypony how you sleep with an abacus each day.” I threatened. “I’M UP!” She shouted, shooting out of bed. “Thank you. Now, we gotta go see them off.” I said sadly. “I... I’m not going.” She said, “In a sense, for me it isn’t really goodbye, since an alternate me is on their world.” “Oh, ok then. Sorry to wake you so.” I said, getting out of the bed and heading for the bridge at a gallop. It only took a few minutes and a few crashes (No, not gonna tell you what or who I hit.) before I arrived. Upon my arrival though, the only ones there were Jolt, Dana, Die and Ven. “Ok...how late...am I?” I huffed. Ven looked at his watch, “Exactly... 25 seconds... no, 28...” “Dammit...Erahaor still has some of my materia!” I grumbled. “Like the Choco-Mog, oh glorious ex-SOLDIER?” Jolt said with sarcasm. “He can keep that one, I wanted my Firaga Burst materia back! Did you know Era is a pyromaniac? And he’s got a materia designed to burn things to death!” “Why else would we get along so well?” He said with a chuckle. “He actually gave me a few tips for working on my own power I wouldn’t have thought up.” “Doesn’t matter. You realise you let a potential arsonist loose in your world with a tool that could potentially burn everything to the ground, right?” “And said world has a person that controls water, another that control’s earth, one who controls smoke... they can handle a little arson.” He grinned as he spoke. “Fine. So, why’d you two stay, Sparky, Dana?” I asked. Dana smiled, “I have a lot of questions I never got a chance to ask about your world, especially why you keep saying Cloud wasn’t part of SOLDIER.” “No, Cloud Strife was a regular Shinra troop. Zack Fair, his friend, was a SOLDIER.” “Ok... So then why does he have the ‘Mako eyes’ that are a key signature of SOLDIER?” “They performed similar experiments on him after he went missing.” “And why is it that he was a first class before the Nibelheim incident?” “He wasn’t. I saw the games. They pretty much confirm most of the history. For one, his memories of being in SOLDIER were actually Zack’s, ones that he’d been told about, mixed in with his old experiences with him.” “Also, how long after the Nibelheim incident did you leave that world?” “Not long after Zack’s death.” I replied bitterly. “And I’d appreciate it if we stopped talking about it.” “Sorry, just wanted to see what you knew before seeing the game.” she said, holding up her hands. “I’ll say this. The process they mentioned in the game, it doesn’t even cover half of what we go through to become SOLDIERs.” She was silent for a few moments, before turning to look at Ven “So, how are the new organs working?” Ven cocked his head, “New...Organs? By the gods, what kind of damage did I have?!” He shouted the last part. “I’m leaving before the yelling starts!” I said, running out the door before I could hear the screams start, and echo throughout the ship. A few minutes later, I found myself back outside Luna’s room. I pressed my ear to the door, and all I could hear was the soft snores of the sleeping princess. I opened the door and snuck back into the bed as quietly as I could, making the bare minimum of movements to get the covers over me. “Night Luna...” I mumbled, extending a wing and trying to gently place it over her like a second blanket as sleep took me.
Chapter 3: Friends or foes?A/N: Ok, quick thing, before we start, I’m gonna start using 1st Person POV for Noctis, occasionally switching to Die, and I’m also coding Noctis, Die, both siblings, Luna and Celestia’s speech. The Next Day... Die woke up with a start, her heart pounding. It was the same dream she’d been having ever since they’d found out what had happened in Nibelheim. It was always a replay of the battle between her and Akumu, except he didn’t hesitate with the final blow. She always woke up before his blade reached her, though each time it came just a little closer. Is it a sign? Is Akumu coming back? Or is it just a bad dream? And what’s with my body, it feels so strange. Die tried to get up, but the second she got to the edge of the bed she fell flat on her face in front of the mirror. Her room wasn’t very large, but it was well furnished. As she tried to get back up, she finally noticed herself in the mirror, and she froze. Staring her in the face, was the pegasus from her vision. Die raised her head, and the pegasus did the same. She pushed off the ground, the pegasus followed suit. Die turned her head away from the mirror to face the rest of her body. Sure enough, she had somehow turned into the pegasus from her vision, except the mark that had been on its flank wasn’t there. She started breathing and counting to ten in an attempt to calm down. What’s going on here? Why am I a pony? Ok, gotta stay calm, gotta stay calm. Gotta change ba- Die was cut off by a sudden surge of energy coming from all over her body being released in a bright flash, and she instinctively closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she saw her human self in the mirror again. What the hell was that? All I did was think about being human again and- She smacked her head as the realization hit her. I guess I have to will myself to change. Can’t believe it’s that simple. Well, now that I’m no longer freaking out, I guess I should go take a look around. Right after I see Celestia and Luna about this. Maybe they can tell me what’s going on with my body. Die stood up and walked out the door, heading straight for the throne room. She knew Celestia would be there, she wasn’t sure about Luna, since she didn’t see her before she went to her room. Wonder if she’s still looking for Noctis. I hope they’re alright. Upon reaching the throne room, she saw both Celestia and Luna talking to a strange blue pegasus with a dark brown mane and tail. The trio didn’t seem to have noticed her, so she made her presence known with an exaggerated cough. “Ah, Die, glad to see you are awake.” “Thanks, princess. So who’s that guy? Is he your boyfriend or something?” She teased as she walked towards them. It had the desired effect, both Luna and the mystery colt were blushing profusely. “Come on Die, can’t you go five minutes without teasing me?” Die stopped in her tracks, recognising the voice instantly. “Noctis? Is that really you?” She asked, taking several shaky steps towards him. He merely smiled, and suddenly, there was a bright flash. When Die opened her eyes, Noctis was standing in front of her, grinning. Die stood there for what seemed like hours before charging her brother and embracing him... __________________________________________________________________ Noctis’ POV starts here I laughed as Die hugged me, she’d never once acted like this before. She was always too proud. I guess being separated for a few days just made her worry that much about me. I turned to my head towards Celestia and Luna, who were both holding back giggles. “Uh, Die? You can let go now, It’s not like I’m gonna die. Besides, Celestia and Luna have something to tell us.” She let go, blushing at the fact that she’d hugged me, and in public. Granted we were siblings, but that didn’t make her feel any less embarrassed. She tried to change the subject rather quickly. “Uh, yeah, sorry about that. Anyway, you said that the Princesses had something to tell us?” She inquired, looking at the two. “Yes, we know you transformed last night as you slept, Die. We want to explain why.” She said, her expression stern and serious. “Ok then, I’m listening.” Luna began the explanation for us. “When we found the celestial orbs, they gave us the power to manipulate the sun, moon and stars. What we didn’t tell you is that before we found them, we were regular earth ponies. The orbs gave us our powers, but they also allowed our bodies to adapt so that we could control these powers. If we had tried to use them as earth ponies, they would have overwhelmed and destroyed us, so the orbs took the traits of unicorns, and pegasi, and implanted them within us, turning us into alicorns and making us immortal. Tia, would you care to finish?” “Gladly Luna. In your case, because you weren’t even ponies, and because the orbs were permanently bound to you, your bodies adapted in a different way. The orbs themselves turned you into ponies. Were they not bound to you, they would have made you pegacorns, a simple cross between a pegasus and a unicorn, at the very least, and alicorns at the very most, though the latter would have been very unlikely. They also made it possible for you to return to your human forms by willing it. Has our explanation been satisfactory?” Die and I nodded, and Luna began speaking again. “Now, we have a request to make of you both, Noctis and Die. Captain Shining Armor of the Solar Guard has left for his honeymoon with Princess Cadance, and we wish for you to help tr-” She was interrupted when a dark grey pegasus, with a light brown mane and tail, and a cutie mark of a sword coated in shadows, burst in, his eyes widened in fear. “Shadow Steel, for what purpose do you interrupt us?” She bellowed, and he shrank back for a moment. “Forgive me, Princess Luna, but I just returned from a scouting mission, and I saw something you needed to be made aware of immediately.” He was panting from exhaustion, and he looked ready to keel over at any minute. “Then speak, Shadow Steel. What is it that you saw?” “Yes, Princess. As I was scouting the outskirts of Canterlot, making sure there were no changelings left in the area, I came upon a small metal hut.” Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Please continue.” “I got as close as I could to the hut without being close enough to get spotted, and I saw something outside it, sleeping.” “Well, what was it Shadow Steel? What was this creature you saw?” “That’s just it, I don’t know what it was. It was sleeping ten feet off the ground, and what it was sleeping on, was pure darkness. The darkness itself surrounded the creature, so I couldn’t get a good look at it.” Celestia and Luna took a step back upon hearing this, while Die and I just shared a worried look. “Thank you Shadow Steel, we shall deal with this immediately. You may go, as it is clear that you need to rest.” “Thank you, Princess.” He walked off, barely managing to keep his balance as he left the throne room. Celestia turned to face us. “Noctis, Die, I hate to ask this of you, but could you search the area in which Shadow Steel found this ‘hut’. I know you can handle this if it turns violent, whereas the Solar and Lunar guards may not be able to do so.” Die and I smiled. “No worries Celestia. After all, If anyone can handle themselves in a fight...It’s us! The SOLDIERs of Night and Day!” Celestia and Luna smiled warmly. “Then go, we have faith in you.” Die and I nodded and turned to leave, but Luna stopped me. “Noctis, please be careful. I don’t want either of you to get hurt.” I just smiled, and gave her a salute, and she blushed a bit, before I left with Die, who was smirking at me. “Noctis, you totally have the hots for Luna, don’t you?” I nodded slowly, a light blush forming on my cheeks. “Yeah, but I can’t tell her, I tried, but I just couldn’t.” Die just punched me lightly on the arm. “Quit being such a baby. If you like her, just tell her. I could see it from here, she likes you, so just go for it.” “But what if others don’t like it if she has a relationship outside her species? What if they start to shun her because of it?” Die slapped me, hard, leaving my cheek stinging like crazy. “What the hell Noctis? Why should it matter if others aren’t accepting of your relationship? If you like her, and she likes you, what the hell does it matter?” Her eyes were filled with anger, and I realised she was right. God, I am such an idiot. I shouldn’t be afraid to tell her how I feel just because some don’t approve of our relationship, if it gets that far. Besides, if she does like me, then I should be happy, not worried. Anyway, it’s time to get going! __________________________________________________________________ Somewhere just outside Canterlot It took us about an hour to get ready, but only five minutes to find the area in which the metal hut was located. As he said, there was a creature sleeping above the hut, on a platform of what looked like pure darkness. I turned to Die. “You think it’s the result of some sort of Shinra experiment?” “Doubtful, how would Shinra even make it here?” “Don’t underestimate Shinra, Die. Who knows what they’re really capable of.” “Fine. I’ll confront it face to face, you sneak up around back. If it looks like I’m in trouble, then you know what to do.” I smirked. Same old Die, if things go bad, go all out and kick some ass. I proceeded to make my way around the hut, being careful not to be seen, while Die walked straight towards the hut... __________________________________________________________________ Die’s POV The moment I started walking towards the hut, the creature woke up, saw me, jumped off the platform and ran straight into the hut. I noticed two things about it. One, it had a symbol on its chest, a circle with a line through it, and its eyes were different colors, the left was gold, and the right was brown, which meant it wasn’t part of any experiments involving mako, though that didn’t mean Shinra wasn’t involved somehow. I heard voices, meaning someone else was in there with it. If they are with Shinra, they’re gonna wish they’d never come here. I stopped a few metres away from the house. just as the creature came out, and I finally got a good look at it. It was some sort of monster, like a dragon. It had a long black head of hair, and it was wearing strange clothes on it’s lower body. It’s upper body was completely bare, no fur, no scales, nothing. It had feet like a griffin, and large black wings. There were spikes on its shoulders and it had horns like a bull, only longer, on its head. It had some sort of scarf that looked as if it was made of black flames around its neck, obscuring its face from view. It was accompanied by two humans, one female, and one male, who was limping slightly. The female was the same height as the creature would be without the horns. She had red skin, green hair, orange eyes, and she was dressed in rags, with cloth sandals on her feet. The male was wearing a muscle shirt, but it looked to be made of some sort of strange material I’d never seen before. His pants were made of the same material, and they kinda looked like pajama pants. He wasn’t wearing any shoes, but I could somehow see that there was air surrounding his feet. His eyes were green, and they were slanted. His hair was short and blonde. His skin was somewhere between tan and caucasian, and he was sort of muscular. He was actually kind of cute. AGH! Focus, Die. Don’t get sidetracked. We’re here to make sure these guys aren’t a threat! I was a little surprised when the creature was the first to speak. “Greetings, wonderful day isn’t it?” It, he, shouted, the voice was undoubtedly male. I didn’t care, all I cared about was making sure he and his friends weren’t a threat. “Let’s just cut to the chase. Who are you, and what are you doing here? Did Shinra send you?” I said coldly. I couldn’t afford to let emotions cloud my judgement, just in case they were a threat to this world. There was no way in hell I would let anymore innocents be harmed. He looked at me with, confusion? and replied "The first two I can answer. I am Lumos, Demon of Balance, and these are my friends, Clare and Ventus. To answer the second question, I was training and I lost control of my power, next I knew, I was a few miles south of here. The third question I must respond to with one of my own, who, or what, is Shinra?" A demon? That’s new. And those two are his friends. But the last one, who is Shinra? Ok, he’s either lying on that one, or he’s been living under a rock his entire life, or something. “Don’t give me that bullshit. Everyone from my world knows who the Shinra Electric Power Company is. They’re responsible for making an energy source using mako, our planet’s lifeblood, and for creating SOLDIERs, their ‘living weapons’, as we’ve been called. Now don’t lie to me. Did they send you to eliminate me and Noctis, or just to bring us back for a public execution? Cause either way,” I drew Taiyo no me with my left hand, and charged the solar materia embedded in my right arm, “Shinra’s gonna be disappointed.” The whole time we were standing there, darkness was being exuded from his scarf, and from his pants. I didn’t know how, but I didn’t care. Lumos, as he called himself, face-palmed. “You think you’re on your own world? This...is going to take a while to explain." He said as he sat down. "Would you kindly put away your blade, and that... orb thing? Now that I think about it, why is it glowing, anyway? It looks like an ordinary crystal, yet it seems to have some form of magic in it...it’s a lot like my metal, actually." The girl, Clare, stared at Lumos angrily. "Are you kidding me?!?! She pulls a sword on you, and you don't even LOOK at it?! Seriously, if you won’t be prepared, I will be." She pulled a blade off her back and took a battle stance. Lumos jumped between us, "Calm down, deep breaths, Clare, deep breaths." He turned to face me again. "Sorry about this, she gets like this sometimes." I glared at him, but I complied and slowly sheathed Taiyo no me. “She’s smart then. When someone pulls a weapon out, you either run or get ready to fight. That’s how you survive. As for your earlier statement, I know I’m not on my world, Celestia and Luna already explained things to me. I just assumed Shinra found a way here and sent you after us. I still can’t be sure you’re not with them. And the ‘orb thing’, as you call it, is the solar materia. It enhances my abilities even more than the mako and JENOVA cells inside me, plus it lets me draw strength from the sun itself.” "Oh, OH!" The other guy, Ven, said, "I think I finally understand some of what you’re saying now," He turned toward Lumos, "She seems to be from whatever dimension Final Fantasy is from." The hell is Final Fantasy? Lumos gave him an ‘are you serious?’ look. "You sure?" Ven shrugged, "There is always a possibility, plus it would explain most of what she said." "...Fair point," Lumos faced me again, his demeanor extremely calm. "I think there has been a slight misunderstanding. You see, I ended up on this world months ago, due to a situation I would rather not talk about, my travel across the void caused other humans to cross, oddly, each one I caused got an... ability of sorts, just as I can control darkness, as you can see." I looked at the darkness swirling around him, and I thought of something. If he can control darkness, then what can his friends do? “I see. Well, I wield solar magic, and my brother, Noctis, wields lunar magic, thanks to the solar and lunar orbs. We can also channel it through our blades,” I drew Taiyo no me again, though I placed it in the ground, “Though we still don’t understand everything about them, or their limits. And two more things. What kind of powers do your friends,” I gestured towards them, “have? And just what is this ‘Final Fantasy’ crap you mentioned?” __________________________________________________________________ Noctis POV I was watching them talk from behind the house. I saw the darkness around the guy with the horns. Lumos, was that his name? Anyway, I could make everything out easily, but as they talked, I started to feel strange. The voice I heard in the wasteland returned, but this time, every time it spoke, I felt weak. ‘Noctis...’ “What do you want this time?” I whispered. ‘I want to end all life in existence, Noctis, and thanks to the horned one’s darkness granting me strength, I can do just that...’ “Screw you. You’re not taking anything. I’ll stop you, Die will stop you!” ‘So naive. How will you stop me, when you’re about to become a prisoner of your own mind...’ I tried to make a retort, but suddenly, I lost control of my body. It felt like my soul was still there, but someone else was in control. My body started to darken... __________________________________________________________________ Back to Die Lumos sighed, "If I told you what 'Final Fantasy' is, it would likely lead to you questioning your own existence, and possibly an end to all worlds." He then clapped his hands. "Now, to answer your question, Clare can use Gravity based powers, she can control the effects that gravity has on anyone, in any way. As an example, she can make gravity go up, down, left, right, and so forth, as well as changing how strong it is, it can be focused on a single person, or on a whole area. Ven here," He gestured to Ven, "Can control the wind, such as creating whirlwinds, flight, creating blades of air which can then be shot, said blades would be invisible, as they are only air. I have three abilities, the first is to create an odd metal, such as that which makes up the cabin, and our weapons, this can then be enchanted, and only those who have either created the item, or the enchanter, or enchanters, can touch it. My second ability is darkness control, I can not only create shadows, but also create semisolid armor, like that I'm wearing, or the platform I was napping on. My third, and final power, is the exact opposite of the second, light control, which is almost the same in what I can do, these, in combination give me control over the metal I make, known as 'twilight matter,' which even I cannot fully control, the metal itself will attack anyone who it doesn't recognize as its creator or enchanter. If you don't mind, I have a question of my own now. You keep mentioning this 'Noctis' person, who is he, and while I'm at it, who are you?" I facepalmed, realising I hadn’t introduced myself. “Die. My name is Die. And Noctis, as I may or may not have said before, is my older brother. Both of us are ex-SOLDIERs, 1st Class. And if you’re wondering, he’s somewhere around here, waiting, ready to go if you try anything. And as for the whole ‘questioning my existence’ thing, I’m in a land of talking ponies after apparently being caught in a giant explosion, at this point, I doubt anything else you say will surprise me.” I smirked. No matter what he says, I won’t be surprised. No way in hell. He turned to Ven and said, with a bit of a worried look, "Should we risk it?" Ven looked at Lumos with a calm expression, though I could see the worry in his eyes, "That's up to you." He sighed, and scratched the back of his head, "Well, I suppose we can blame her if it causes a paradox," He turned to me again and said, "Final Fantasy is a series created by a company called Square Enix. The series itself has at least 12 or so games, there may be more, but I don't know, I've been away too long to know, it takes place in... I actually know very little about it myself, Ven played it more than I did, I only played a bit of number 7, in which you play as a young man named Cloud Strife, an Ex-SOLDIER member, who is selling himself out as a mercenary. The 'materia' you mentioned are often found in the game, there are five main kinds: magic, command, summoning, support. The big bad guy of the game is named Sephiroth, according to most, he seemed to have a certain respect for Cloud and considered him unequal in power. He turned evil after realizing he might be a monster created by something called Hojo." He looked me in the eyes, gauging my reaction. "Does that answer your question?" A video game? So in their world, mine is just part of a video game? Meh, Weirder things have happened. I shrugged my shoulders. “I’ve heard stranger things that have turned out to be true, except Hojo was a person, not a thing. He was a Shinra scientist. And did you say Cloud? He was never in SOLDIER, though he was friends with one, Zack Fair. Before the Nibelheim incident, Sephiroth and Zack were our idols. We joined SOLDIER because we wanted to be as strong as them. After what Sephiroth did, and after Zack was killed, by Shinra no less,” I spat the name as if it were poison, “We decided that the next mission we took on would be our last, that we no longer wanted to be part of an organization that so willingly killed without remorse. Turns out, he wanted us to destroy a village filled with civilians.” I took a deep breath. “It was the Nibelheim incident all over again, except this time it was being sanctioned by Shinra. Instead of following orders, we evacuated the villagers and prepared for the army we knew Shinra would send. Noctis engaged them first while I finished helping the oldest and the youngest escape using a series of tunnels located nearby. Afterwards, I got there just in time to save his ass from a helicopter.” I chuckled, recalling how I took it down just as he was about to. “Afterwards, we finished off most of the Shinra troops, three more copters appeared. Noctis took two down, but the third fired an experimental missile, loaded with mako, at us. We took a risk, combined the powers of the solar and lunar orbs, and fired at it. The explosion destroyed everything, and dumped us in this world.” He just stared at me for several second, eyes wide open, before Ven broke the silence. "Wait, if the explosion sent you here, what’s to keep it from sending others here too?" He had a look in his eye that I couldn't quite tell if it was fear for the majorities, or fear for his friends, or just him being excited by a chance to fight all out against something, but judging by the way his muscles suddenly tensed, I'm going to assume it was the third. “It’s pretty simple. The solar and lunar orbs brought us here, they just used energy from the explosion to do it. The shinra troops, not so lucky, since the orbs were only targeting us. And even if they didn’t do anything, we would’ve been ok. Turns out, we’re immortal. Can’t die of age, can’t be killed. Or so Tia and Luna say anyway.” I grinned. “So anyway, you wanna meet my brother? Hey, Noctis, you can come out now!” I heard something coming from behind the hut, and Noctis stepped out, except something was wrong, with him. His skin was as black as pitch, and his pupils were sharp, his eyes glinting with malice. His blade was drawn and pointed towards us, and he was sneering at us. I was frozen. No, it can’t be. Not him. NOT HIM! I took a step back, and everyone looked at me, confused. “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING! GET AWAY FROM HIM NOW!” ‘Noctis’ looked at me, and smiled maliciously. “Aww, what’s wrong Die? Didn’t you miss me?”...
Chapter 4: Old Nightmares Die HardA/N: If you haven't guessed yet, this is a crossover with Tales of Illumination: Book 2, by Cloud Nova. Noctis, Die, Noctis + Die, Celestia, Luna and Akumu I couldn’t believe it. How was it possible? “Akumu.” I hissed. “How are you here? You’re supposed to be sealed within Noctis’ mind, so how’d you break out of it?” “You can thank your new friend with the horns.” He said, pointing Tsuki no me at Lumos. “He was giving off darkness, and when you and Noctis were separated the seal was damaged, just enough for me to be able to absorb darkness from the world around me. He gave off enough for me to completely break the seal and take over your dear brother’s body again. So thank you Demon of Balance!” He laughed maniacally. I looked at Lumos, anger welling up inside me, not towards him, but towards Akumu for trying to take my brother away from me again.. “Lumos, Ven, Clare, I barely know you, but I need you to help me save my brother. Please. I can’t lose him. He’s the only family I have left.” I didn’t know if I could trust them completely yet, but for my brother’s sake, I had to take the risk. "Very well, I've been looking for an excuse to try this in combat anyway." Lumos placed his right hand on his left shoulder, and began to channel darkness from the platform above into it. After a couple seconds, he added, his face hardening into a scowl, "Besides, I know what its like, to lose your family." He knows what it’s like? I was interrupted from my thoughts by what happened next. His arm turned black, and he moved his right hand down to his left, gripping it so that the fingers were interlocked, and he pulled back with his right, severing the flesh, and tearing it into five sections. These parts then changed slowly, smoothing out, and regenerating to the point where they had become five black tendrils. Clare pulled off her spear, and got into a defensive position, and Ven pulled off his own blade and held it above him in one hand, while the other was held out in front of him. Lumos then used the darkness from the platform to make blade of his own, which gave off the appearance of a saw of the length of a claymore, with a sword handle. He took a position, his tendrils and hair flowing with the breeze, and his sword pointed toward a spot on the ground directly between Akumu and him. A single tentacle wrote, just outside his vision, so that only Ventus, Clare and I could see 'Do NOT strike the final blow, you two know why.' “No, don’t hold back. Like I said before, when our bodies fully adapted to the solar and lunar orbs, we became immortal. We can’t die, so there’s no point in holding back. Besides, Akumu didn’t hold back 5 years ago, when he used Noctis’ body to kill his best friend. All I need is to distract him long enough to grab Tsuki no me, then I’ll use it alongside Taiyo no me to perform the celestial seal on him. One more thing.” I took a deep breath. “I need one of you to go to Canterlot and inform Celestia and Luna of what’s happening. Worst comes to worst, they bring the Elements of Harmony here to do the job. Decide between yourselves who goes. Just be careful telling Luna. She might do something reckless when she finds out.” Lumos just laughed. "If what that Akumu guy said is true, we have no need for them." He looked right at me. "Controlling darkness isn't just shaping it, after all." He said with a crazy grin, writing 'Right, I forgot to mention that part to you... I can remove darkness from anything, and add it to myself, and discharge it elsewhere, or convert it into chaos energy, Light I can do the same with, only rather than Chaos, I convert it to the power of Order.' “Interesting power. How big a distraction will you need to get in range to use it? Cause I ca-SHIT!” Akumu had rushed us while we were talking, slashing at us wildly. We scattered. I stood in front of him beside Lumos, while Ven and Clare stood on either side, all of us with our weapons ready. “Ok, to those with knowledge of materia, then this one should be familiar to you.” “FIRAGA!” Several fireballs erupted from in front of me and charged towards Akumu. He just smirked. “Full moon shield.” A midnight blue barrier surrounded him, the fireballs bouncing off it harmlessly. He started whispering, so as not for Akumu to overhear, "I need to directly touch any part of his body directly with my right hand, due to my left being... well, in its 'tendril' formation. As for the shield, let me handle it." He angled all five tentacles in front of himself, and arranged them in a circle. A black pentagon formed inside them. A grin spread across his face, as he shouted "MIDNIGHT CANNON!" A pitch black beam shot from the circle,heading into a hole of darkness, another of which then opened up, aiming from the inside of the shield, strait up. As this was happening, Ven shot a lightning bolt from his blade towards Akumu. A huge explosion occurred from inside the shield, and for a second I thought he’d done it, I thought he’d managed to immobilise Akumu. Then I felt something sharp press into the back of my neck. I scowled, realising that Akumu was toying with us. “Die, Die, Die. Did you forget. I can turn into smoke and move around freely, without restriction, just as you can turn into light, though you only used that ability once. Do you even remember how to use it?” He started laughing. Wait, I could turn into light? Why can’t I remember doing that? “Guys, I suggest someone gets Celestia and Luna here. NOW!” Lumos sighed, "Fine, Clare! Go warn the princesses, while we can still fight! We may need a bit of help with this, remember, tell them exactly what happened, and DON'T STOP UNTIL YOU GET THERE." Clare looked at Lumos with worry in her eyes, but she nodded, lifted herself up with her gravity, and took off to Canterlot so quickly she was almost untraceable. I wonder, does she like him? Lumos moved all the darkness around him into his shoulder spikes. He got a bit of a mad glint in his eye, and shouted "Cover me!" to me and Ven. I didn’t wait to see what he was doing. I turned as fast as I could, knocking Tsuki no me away and punching him in the gut. He barely felt it. He grabbed me and tossed me into the hut, completely demolishing it. As I got back up, I saw Ven rushing him, using the air around us as a weapon on top of his own sword, launching lightning bolts at odd intervals. Akumu kept dodging them, smirking the whole time. Then he got serious. He moved so fast that Ven couldn’t dodge in time. He slammed his fist into Ven’s gut, winding him, before slamming his elbow into the back of his head. Ven slumped to the ground, unconscious or dazed, I couldn’t tell. Akumu raised his blade to strike the final blow. NO! This is just like my fight with him. Even together, we can’t do anything! Noctis, what do I do? I was struggling to think of something, anything, that would save Ven, when it happened. A small tornado appeared around Ven, growing rapidly, and as he got back up, I saw his eyes glazed over with hatred. He lifted his sword to the side, and began to charge the whirlwind with lightning. He shot Lumos a look that said "you know what to do." He nodded, stopped whatever he was doing, entered a dark passage, also appearing inside the whirlwind, and began to shoot a beam of pure chaos into the sides of it from his shoulder spikes, powering it enough to begin to destroy the ground we were on. He then harnessed it via the chaos implant, and focused it into a spherical barrier around Akumu. "Lets see you escape a high density chaos tunnel." He began to walk toward him. Akumu just smirked as Lumos approached him. What is he u-OH NO! “GET BACK NOW! IT’S A TRICK!” Lumos and Ven turned to me, giving Akumu the chance he was waiting for. The lunar orb embedded in his left arm began to glow, and he disappeared. The surroundings started to change, or at least it seemed to change. I recognised this move. It was one of Noctis’ most powerful moves. “Full Moon Rush.” We were still in the same place we had been in, but what we were seeing was a part of the technique. Instead of rocks and hills, we were surrounded by darkness. Gradually, stars started to appear around us, and the moon hovered from above. “LOOK FOR THE STARS THAT ARE FLASHING! THEY’RE THE ONES HE’LL ATTACK FROM!” "Thanks for the advice, but if we do that, he can stab us," He grabbed Ven, and ran over to me, stopping a few feet away, creating a flashing, multi colored orb around us, just as images of Akumu started rushing past and slashing the shield, disappearing as soon as they made their attack. Somehow, Lumos’ shield held. "Chaos magic is different. It's only limited by what you can imagine, and the amount of chaos used. This shield-which I call a 'Chaos field'- can't be passed through by anything, and nothing can warp inside it without my admission, so we should be able to live, the problem is how long I can hold it up, the slower the color changes, the closer the shield is to discharging." Lumos smirked, "The good news, is that I can convert the darkness Akumu just placed around us into chaos, thus weakening him, and keeping the shield alive longer, the problem is that it will weaken the shield itself a little bit. Wish me luck!" He sat down, and began to collect darkness with his left spike in the shape of a dark tornado. It then converted to chaos as it moved to his right shoulder, where it shot out as a flashing, multi colored beam, strengthening the shield, and keeping it alive. "One last thing about this: the way it discharges, is with an explosion, the longer it lives, the more powerful, so I say we have about 3 minutes if we don't want the explosion to take out Canterlot." I gathered all the power I could muster into the solar orb. My only focus was to stop Akumu, protect Lumos and Ven, and save my brother. Nothing else mattered. “3 minutes? Plenty of time. Lumos, do me a favour. If I don’t make it out of this, keep my brother from making an idiot of himself when he finally tells Luna he likes her.” I said as I walked outside the shield, despite his protests, and let the power from the solar loose, allowing my rage towards Akumu to build. Ok, Solar orb. Do your stuff. I felt the change, like when I had fought Chrysalis. My body became enveloped in flames like armor, and Taiyo no me glowed furiously bright. I stabbed it into the ground, and the shockwave dispelled Akumu’s illusion by changing the environment. See, in order the illusion to be maintained, the landscape has to remain exactly the same. If it changes even slightly from the way it was when the illusion was cast, it fails. I didn’t look back to gauge their reactions. I focused on Akumu, who was looking at me with genuine fear. “You mastered it? You mastered the Burning Soul technique!? HOW!?” I looked at him, feeling nothing but anger at this monster, this Nightmare, that dared to think it could take my brother from me. “So that’s what this is called? And as for how, I used it when I fought against this lady called Chrysalis. I almost killed her too. Celestia made me think though, and I realised I couldn’t kill anyone in cold blood. Anyone but you Akumu. This time, I’m not gonna bother sealing you away. I’m gonna rip your soul out of my brother’s body and watch as you fade away into nothingness. And I’m gonna enjoy every last second of it.” I smiled sadistically. This time, when I slammed my fist into his gut, he doubled over in pain. “That was for Chris. This,” I smashed his head into the ground, “is for Noctis. And this one,” I focused the solar orb’s power into Taiyo no me as I drew it. “Is for me.” Just as I was about to stab him and rip his soul out, he started laughing, and it was making me angrier, which made the flames around me burn brighter and hotter. “What’s so funny, you bastard?” “Oh nothing, just the fact that you’re about to kill your brother.” I frowned. “What the fuck are you on about?” “My life is linked to his. Unless you sever that link, separating my soul from his body will kill him as well.” His laughing grew louder as I dropped him. I can’t kill him without killing Noctis? No, NO!!!! "Can't... hold... it... anymore." I turned to Lumos, who was losing control over the chaos field. It exploded. He and Ven were unaffected, as they we were inside the field before it went 'boom', but it hit both me and Akumu with the force of a Shinra train going at full speed. The flames surrounding my body had completely disappeared. I couldn’t move. Akumu was right there, and I couldn’t move. I saw Lumos warp beside Akumu, and place his hand on him. I didn’t have a clue what was going on, but I prayed that he could help him. What I saw, more or less shocked me. It was like there was smoke being drawn out of Noctis’ body, and Lumos was absorbing it. His skin started to turn pale, and his pupils became round again. It was working, he was actually doing it. But of course, it all had to go wrong, just as it was about to go right. “HALT! STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING TO NOCTIS AT ONCE!” I mustered up enough strength to look up, and what I saw made me feel both happy and worried at the same time. Luna and Celestia were standing a few feet away from us, and Twilight and her friends were there beside them. Clare was standing behind them, looking worriedly at Lumos. I tried to get up to say something, anything, but my body was too weak to respond. I saw Luna stare at Lumos, standing over Noctis, and I saw her face contort in rage. “HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU HARM HIM! YOU SHALL PAY, DEMON!” Luna was charging up a spell, and judging from her anger, I figured it would be a lethal one. In a desperate attempt, I turned to Ven, who had made his way over to me. I just about managed to muster up enough energy to speak. “Hey, Ven. Can you use your...powers to get...me between Lumos...and Luna?” I whispered. It hurt to speak, but I didn’t have time to care about that. I had to stop Luna before she hurt Lumos or Noctis. “Yeah, why? And it’s Ventus. But you can call me Ven, if you want.” He replied. “I need to...stop Luna from harming...Lumos. He can’t do...anything while...he’s draining the...darkness...from Noctis.” He gave me a ‘you’ve gotta be kidding me’ look and said “You’re crazy you know that?” “So? You in?” Ven sighed and said “Alright. But this is gonna hurt!” I started to feel weird, like I’d suddenly lost weight or something. I saw Ven’s brow furrowed in concentration, and I could feel the air pushing me in front of Luna. She turned her attention to Ven and prepared to launch her spell at him instead. “Luna...don’t.” She faced me, puzzled. Angry, but puzzled. “Why, Die? They hurt you and Noctis. Even now, that one,” She pointed a hoof accusingly at Lumos, “Was trying to finish him off. Why would you want to protect them?” “I think I’ll...let Lumos...handle that...when he’s done. So Lumos...you finished...removing the...darkness from...Noctis yet?” “Darkness? What are you talking about Die?” “Like I said...Lumos can explain. So, you ready...to start yet...Lumos? Or should I call...you Umbra when...you’re in that form...since your power...revolves around...shadows when you’re...like that.” Lumos turned to me with raised eyebrows. "No, I'm fine with just being 'Lumos,' and yes, I'm done absorbing the darkness, I also managed to convert a small amount into chaos, and used it to seal up the cracks in that seal you placed between Noctis and that 'Akumu' thing. So I think I'm ready to begin explaining." At the mention of ‘chaos’, Luna turned to Lumos again, with anger in her eyes. “CHAOS! YOU ARE A CHAOS WIELDER!? GIVE US ONE GOOD REASON WHY WE SHOULD NOT STRIKE YOU DOWN!” “Cause..he just saved my life. That enough...of a reason...Luna?” Luna ran up to Noctis, knocking Lumos down, which I found funny, though I managed not to laugh, and she wrapped her wings around him as if both her life and his depended on it. “Noctis, you’re ok.” She turned back to Lumos. “Explain. Now.” Lumos cleared his throat and started talking. "Before I begin, chaos isn't something you should kill people over, it is, quite simply, a 'limit breaker,' meaning it allows the user to do anything, as long as they have the chaos energy required and a clear image within your mind. Law, or 'order' energy puts boundaries on chaos, creating harmony. Now, to explain what happened here, when I woke up on my dark platform, which as you can see is not here anymore, I saw Die approaching the hut. At first, she was accusing me of being here as an assassin of sorts, after explaining who I was, the best I could at least, she called her brother out, who, at that moment, had black skin, and was calling himself 'Akumu.'" He paused to rub his head. "Anyway, it turns out my scarf, lower body armor, and platform of darkness all were being absorbed by this being. Die asked me for the help of me, Clare, and Ven," He said, motioning to Clare and Ventus "And damn, he was, as odd as it is to say, stronger than Discord himself, and that you can trust, I've had a first hand experience fighting him, and I won too, but thats a story for another day. Back on topic now, after the battle, I accidentally caused a large chaos blast, which is what caused this crater, I then moved through what I call the 'dark world' to teleport to where he was. I removed his darkness, then you guys, almost stopped the process, which would have made all my darkness go into him, which would have been a very, VERY bad thing." He glared at Luna. "Thankfully, Die stopped you, allowing me to finish, and asked me to explain, and thats where we are now, any questions, both related to what I just said, and not? Just... one at a time, please" We stayed silent for a few minutes. Then, I spoke up. “I have one. You said you knew what it was like to lose your family. What happened to them? I understand if you don’t want to talk about it, but in my experience, talking helps. It doesn’t make the pain go away, but it does make it a little easier to bear.” Lumos sighed. "Very well, sadly, this is also the tale of how I got my first power: darkness control." He took a deep breath, and began. "I would rather not get into who my family was, but to say the least, I had a mother, father, and younger brother, all kind, all generally good people, despite their flaws. One day, back when I was still human, I woke up to find myself chained to a wall, in a dark room, then the lights turned on, and what I saw... It was horrible" He sat down and was hiding his face within his hand, "There were bodies everywhere, bodies whose body parts had been made explode without gunpowder, skeletons, the flesh of whom had been neatly peeled off, and their organs removed and put in a pile, so many organs. The worst part, the absolute worst part, was when I looked to the right, and I saw my whole family chained up next to me, then a man walked in, and slowly killed each one of my family, slowly, and painfully, first was my father, who he put eight metal bands on him, two on each limb, then he stabbed each one with a WASP gas injection knife, Its design, for those who don't know, is to move highly condensed air, through a small tube in the blade, and it causes whatever it stabs, to explode, he stabbed my father with it nine times, twice in each limb, and once in the chest, as I was closest, I was covered in his blood." He was trembling now, tears streaming from his eyes, but he didn't look up, or wipe them away. "Next was my mother, who he slowly peeled the flesh off of, followed by breaking every one of the 206 bones in her body, after that, he gut her, and began tearing out her organs, starting with her intestines, next her liver, the stomach, some others I don't know the names of, then her lungs, and finally, her still beating heart. Finally, was my kid brother, he was only 7, and he was crying his eyes out, the man then said only one thing, he said 'I hate crybabies,' And stabbed him in the throat with the knife, the explosion killing him instantly. At least he showed him enough mercy not to torture him." He was sobbing between words, not daring to look up at us. "Then what happened, is the part I remember clearest, I made a spike shoot out of the man’s shadow, killing him instantly, almost immediately some ball of light came through the wall, and complained about getting there too late, and that he was supposed to have arrived soon enough that my brother would be alive, and instead gave me what he was supposed to give to my brother: he allowed me to go to the world of Equestria, not this version, but a different dimension from this one, that part I figured out only five minutes ago, when neither of the princesses, nor the elements recognized me." I just stood there, silently processing what he just told us. After a few moments of silence, he said "Any other questions?” Noctis came up. “Yes. Your weapons. They all give off a different magical energy, but the signature of said energy is basically the same. What’s more, it’s similar to the signature given off by Tsuki no me and Taiyo no me. Any ideas as to why?” Trust Noctis to ask a technical question, rather than an emotional one. “Noctis, can’t you actually think of something more important to ask?” “Die, this is important. If we can understand more about the blades, then maybe we can unlock their secrets. We might be able to understand why they chose us. Don’t you ever wonder why the orbs and the blades chose us?” “Yeah bu-” Lumos stopped me. He shook his head to try to remove the emotions his story had reawakened, "Well, the first one, is because I made them all, and many more, including whips, bows, spears, katanas, and even my left hand, which is actually mechanical. As for why the energies are different, every human I caused to enter the Equestria I was in was infused with a small amount of Chaos, which formed itself into a power, each power, from what I've seen, has always been different, I have not seen two with the same power. Other than Clare, Ven, and me, there are 6 living humans in the Equestria I'm from. One of them has two powers, but other than him and me, all of them have only one. I am able to copy their power into the metal I make these weapons out of, but only at one time, after that, it will wound anyone else who so much as tries to grab it. There is no limit on the number of enchantments that can be placed on one object, but we decided four was the limit, as when I tried five, I lost my left hand, and had to create a mechanical replacement which you see now, the hand is the only one that can touch others without them becoming wounded in the process. I'm not entirely sure how it is different, though. As for the final part of your question. It is POSSIBLE that the blades are made of the same material as my weapons, but there is really only one way to find out, and personally, I don't want to try it, as it could lead to being encased in ice, burnt to ashes, blasted by one of those attacks relating to the heavens of yours, or simply stabbed by a sentient blade that knows I'm not it's owner. Although, you are right, the energy signature is only slightly different from those of your own weapons. However, yours seem to be of higher skill in enchantment, while mine are rather simple in comparison, not counting the Gate wand, the reason for me only having one hand." He yawned, and I looked to Noctis who was paying close attention, his curiosity peaking with the mention of this ‘Gate Wand’. Lumos noticed, and went into a little more detail. "The Gate wand contains light, dark, gravity, fire, and water enchantment, it can create up to two portals on any surface, so long as light is touching them. Taiyo no me seems to contain every energy, I can recognize fire, light, electric, and the lot, Tsuki no me seems to have light, dark, land, smoke, and even a bit of water within it, I can't quite tell if there are others in either of them, though. In short, the energy similarity is likely because, just like my weapons," Lumos looked right at my brother, "Your swords, are fueled by Chaos." So our weapons are fueled by chaos? That’s new. “So you’re saying that our blades, which we found in ruins with carvings and paintings of ponies, who live through harmony, are fueled by Chaos? Now I’m definitely gonna need to do some research on them, figure out just how they balance the scales, so to speak. And as for being harmed by them, you shouldn’t worry. As long as the lunar and solar orbs remain in close proximity to their respective blades, you should be safe. I know because Die wielded Tsuki no me along with Taiyo no me when she first sealed Akumu within my mind.” I looked at him, dumbstruck. “Noctis, you remember that?” “Yes, I do, because I never forgot about it in the first place. And before you ask, I never talked about it because I’d already resolved to become strong enough to face him myself someday, plus you never mentioned it. You remember what he said about the two of us being linked? Well he wasn’t telling the whole story. It’s true that you can’t kill him without killing me. But I can kill him. If your life is linked to another, only you can kill the one whose life you are linked to, and vice versa. In other words, if I face him from within the seal and win, he dies, and I live.” Is he crazy? How can he honestly believe that he can do that alone? “Noctis, forgive my callousness, but ARE YOU INSANE!? You just barely made it through this encounter with Akumu, and now you want to face him again! WHAT IF YOU GET HURT!? WHAT IF YOU DIE!?” Noctis just chuckled, much to Luna’s annoyance. “Don’t worry about that Luna. I’m not gonna be alone. As my mom used to say, no matter where you go, your friends are always standing by you, even if they’re not right there with you.” A smile appeared on Lumos’ face, “A fair point, and there is more truth in it than you think.” Noctis shot him a smirk, and said “Besides, we’ve got our new powers. How can we lose? Especially seeing as we’re not really human anymore.” Lumos didn’t seem to hear that last part, he just sighed loudly and shook his head. “You know nothing about ‘dark sides,’ do you? When you gain a power, they gain it on an equal scale.” Noctis flashed a brief smile, before adopting a stern expression. “I know that, or did you not realise I could see everything he did in that fight. I don’t give a damn how strong he is, I’m not gonna lose.” A small grin appeared on Lumos’ face. “Just being cocky won’t get you through this, but I am working on a few theories, related to making the battle... easier for you.” “Will they work if I’m not human?” Noctis asked. "Wait, what do you mean by that? You look human to me, genetically modified humans, but still humans." Luna smirked at him. “Looks can be deceiving, Lumos. Though they may look human now, that is no longer their true form. The celestial orbs saw to that. When they arrived in this world, they not only found the one place that the orbs could attain their full power, they were, changed, to be more suited to this world. Think of their human forms as a remnant, a memento of their past. Noctis, Die, show him.” I looked to Noctis nervously. Luna had released him from their hug, though they were still staring at each other, blushing. He eventually noticed my look, and nodded slowly. “Are you sure? I mean, you and Celestia are the only ones who’ve seen us in that form.” “It’s fine Die. What’s the worst that could happen?” I sighed, and focused on my other form. I saw Noctis doing the same. The flash associated with our transformation blinded all but Celestia and Luna. Needless to say, when the others saw us in pony form, there were dropped jaws all around. The first to recover from the initial shock, and speak was Clare, "... What the hell just happened?" Celestia put a hoof on her shoulder. “What you saw was a result of the celestial orbs granting Noctis and Die their blessing, as we prefer to call it. They bestowed that blessing on us, and that is how Luna and I became alicorns and were given the power to move the sun and the moon, though as the orbs themselves are permanently bound to Noctis and Die, they saw no need to give them a horn, as they only need to focus on the orbs to wield magic. Is that explanation satisfactory?” Ven raised a finger, and tried to summarize, "I think she means the orbs let them turn into ponies." A collective "oh," was made among us. Lumos spoke again. "This is unrelated, but I don't have a clue how I even got here in the first place. So we may be here for a little while. Is there a way you could keep most ponies away from a specific forest?" Clare gave him a look that shouted, 'really, there?', while Celestia looked at him, puzzled. “Are you sure you wish to stay there? I would be more than happy to grant you more fitting accommodations while we think of a way to get you back to your Equestria. Besides,” She gave Noctis and I a brief look, “I’m sure those two would appreciate having help training the guards.” Wait, what? “Uh, what do you mean, training the guards?” “Oh, that’s right, we were interrupted before we could explain. Luna and I wished for you to train the Solar and Lunar guards. You, Die, would train the Solar guards, and Noctis would train the Lunar guards.” “Ok. Sounds simple enough. But first, how many Solar and Lunar Guards are there?” Luna answered me. “There are a little over two hundred Solar guards, and only around two dozen Lunar guards. Why do you ask?” “Sounds like my kind of group. I could probably try and turn them into a covert ops unit. What about you, Die?” I chuckled. “Come on Noctis. You know I’m more of a head-on clash kind of girl. So I’d be turning each and every single Solar guard into a veritable one-pony army. So, what about you, Lumos, Ven, Clare? You interested in whipping the guards into shape?” Clare and Ven both agreed quickly, but Lumos just sighed. "I might as w-" Suddenly, he started clutching his tendril arm, and he looked like he was holding back a scream. What the hell, what’s with his arm? Clare tried to approach Lumos, but he shouted "STAY AWAY! IT'S TENDRIL, IT'S OUT OF CONTROL!" He started screaming as the spikes retracted into his shoulders, followed by the horns curving around like a ram’s, and all four of his wings turned white. As soon as he had transformed, light began pouring into his left arm, and tendril started slowly fusing it back into his left arm, with a stump at the end. Once ‘tendril’ was calmed, he collapsed, breathing heavily, but still conscious, and strong enough to say, whilst panting between words, "I might as well help out, just remind me never to change forms again, will you? Also, Clare, do you still have my spare hand?" So, I was right, he has separate forms depending on which powers he uses. Clare nodded, and ran over, it was right then that I noticed something: the mark on his chest had gotten larger. He took the metal hand, and placed it onto the end of his arm, and sat back up. “So, your tendril thing has a time limit? What happens if you exceed it? And why is changing forms a bad thing for you? Is it like Die’s Burning Soul technique, where her anger is amplified exponentially? Or is it like my Frozen Heart technique, where I become completely emotionless?” "First, if I exceed the time limit, I will lose my arm, due to the fact i infused it with some of that metal from my weapons. Second, its not that changing forms is BAD for me, its just that while i change, my senses are all amplified, increasing my pain from tendril. Oh, while I'm on this topic, in this form, I am Lumos, the god of balance, or god of shadows, if you prefer." He grinned at the last part. "Oh, yeah, forgot this, but yes, I will help with training the guards, preferably working with some of both, if you don't mind." “Alright. That sounds acceptable. Now, we can prepare rooms for all of you at the castle. Please hold still.” Celestia and Luna charged their horns, and there was a bright flash, along with the feeling of being pulled apart and put back together again... __________________________________________________________________ Noctis’ POV So that’s what teleporting feels like. Kinda glad Luna didn’t do it when she first found me now, my head is pounding more than my heart. All of us were in the throne room. Twilight and her friends were standing off to one side, staring at me and Die, probably still in shock after seeing us transform. Clare, Ventus and Lumos were standing around, looking at the stain glass windows, while Die was stealing glances at Ventus. Celestia and Luna were standing in front of us, smiling. “So, what do you think? Is it any different to the Canterlot of your Equestria?” Lumos smiled back. "I only see one difference, here, and thats that there isn't a stained glass window of Clare killing Discord by ripping him asunder." Celestia, Luna, Twilight and her friends paled at this, but Die and I just chuckled, trying to imagine Clare ripping someone apart. Something then occurred to me. “Hey, what does Discord look like? All you told me was that he was the God of Chaos here. You never actually said anything about his appearance.” “Well, Discord is a Draconnequs. His body is made up of different types of limbs, and they are, for lack of a better word, random and chaotic.” “Guess his body fits his style. So where is he in this Equestria?” Luna answered this time. “He is sealed in stone, and it was Twilight and her friends that did that to him, wielding the elements of Harmony.” Die and I took a moment to examine the six. Pinkie was bouncing in place, Fluttershy, Rarity and Twilight were blushing, avoiding eye contact, Applejack was rubbing the back of her head with a hoof, and Rainbow Dash was smirking. Die cleared her throat. “Ok, so those six wield the elements, cool. Now, how’s this training thing going to work?” “When they’re not on duty, we train them, and we keep training them until they’re as good as, or better than, 1st class SOLDIERs. Simple as that, right little sis?” I looked to Die, who was facepalming, realising that it was obvious. “Right, just like back when we were in SOLDIER, we were constantly training when we weren’t on a mission. Kinda glad the orbs make us mostly immune to fatigue, huh?” We both nodded. “So for starters, we’ll need to meet every single able-bodied guard, both Solar and Lunar, so we can make the announcement. How long will it take to gather them?” Luna smirked as her horn started glowing again. “Not long, Noctis. Not long at all.” Just before she teleported us, I saw Celestia’s horn glowing, and an aura of the same colour around Twilight and her friends, then everything went white... __________________________________________________________________ Canterlot Gardens When my head stopped spinning, Celestia, Luna, Die, Lumos, Ven, Clare and I were in the gardens, with every Solar and Lunar guard who was fit for duty standing in front of us. They were all standing at attention. Ok, either they were here all this time, or, well I don’t know what else, but whatever. Lumos shot a look at Luna, who just smiled in understanding, and said “Alright then.” Muttering under her breath, “You big baby.” eliciting a silent chuckle from me. It was only then that I noticed the absence of Twilight and the rest of the gang. “Um, where are Twilight and her friends? They were with us in the throne room, right?” Celestia smiled warmly. “I teleported Twilight and her friends home while Luna was teleporting the guards and ourselves here. The events of the past few days really wore them out. Now, allow me to introduce you to the Solar and Lunar guards.” She and Luna then proceeded to a podium, which I, once again, had failed to notice. She cleared her throat, and addressed the assembled guards. “Greetings, Solar and Lunar guards. You have been called here today for an important announcement. As you all know, yesterday, Canterlot was attacked by changelings, and we almost fell to them. What you may not know, is that we were aided by a visitor from another world. Her name is Die,” She gestured to my sister, who walked over and stood beside her, rubbing the back of her head with her right hand. “And she is a human. She and her brother Noctis,” She now had me stand beside Luna. My mind started to wander to thoughts of this world, how I had found friends in Luna and Celestia, in Lumos, Ven and Clare, I think. I almost didn’t notice when Celestia called the five of us up to address them. “Die, Noctis, Lumos, Ven, Clare, you may now address the guards.” She smirked as she added, “Just don’t make them soil themselves on the first day. My sister and I occasionally made glimpses into your lives after you obtained the orbs, so we’ve seen some of the things you’ve been through. As long as you don’t mention the darker moments, you should do fine.” With that, she left the five of us to either make an inspirational speech, or to make complete fools of ourselves. Lumos looked over at us, and said "May I?" in a tone that just screamed ‘PRANK!’ Oh god, this is gonna go so wrong! Against my better judgement, I let him go first. “I am Lumos, I have quite a few titles on the world I'm from. The first is 'Terra,' which is just a shortened version of my real name, which I will never utter aloud. Second is the God of Neutrality. I also have the titles of 'Lance Daemon,' which is Latin for balance demon. My final title, is 'The First,' as I was the first of my kind to arrive on the last world I was on. I will be working with both Solar and Lunar guards, mostly because I have been trained by the Wind Reapers well enough that I could easily take out a good three towns without my powers, at least, that's what I was told, but know this, my training," A sadistic grin spread across his face. "Is one of the most brutal things you will ever go through, Ventus here has been through the same training system as me, so he knows what I'm talking about, In fact, I lost three of my mechanical hands in one session once." He chuckled. "Anyway, my specialty is stealth training, and whoever I decide does the best, of each group, gets a... reward of sorts: a weapon made by me, with the powers of darkness and light infused within. Due to the difference in numbers between solar and lunar guards, there will be 2 rewards for the lunar guard, and 8 for the solar, each will be based off of a different achievement, 'most improved' is not one of them, they will be based off of your skills by the end of the next two weeks, which I will be testing then. Any questions?" A single Lunar Guard spoke up, "Yes, how will the training schedules work?" "... I have no clue, you have to ask Die or Noctis on that one." He bent backwards at an unnatural angle, looking right at us, and asked "Would you like to answer that?" I answered with a simple “Sure.” and took the podium. “First off, what Lumos says is true. This training will be brutal. You’ll be cut, you’ll be battered, and you’ll be bruised.” I took a moment to gauge their reactions. Not one of them even flinched. “But by the end of this, you’ll be either masters of covert operations, or one pony armies. As for your schedules, when you’re not on duty, you’ll be training. That means Solar guards and those who want to specialise in head-on combat will train during the night, and Lunar guards and those who want to train to be masters of stealth will train during the day. Any questions? No? Alright then.” I turned to walk away, then made one more line. “And remember, just because you’re going to be exhausted after training will be no excuse not to do your job. If I hear that any of you are slacking off, you’ll be running laps until you puke. No flying for pegasi, and no teleporting for unicorns. Otherwise you’ll be put in combat practice against me and Die for the entirety of your training.” Some of them scoffed at this, but soon became terrified when I moved right behind them in less than a second. “Am I clear?” They nodded fervently, and I walked back to the podium, standing beside Luna again. She was trying not to laugh, but it was a losing battle. She settled for muffling them with a hoof. Die gave the closing statement. “Alright, we’ve said what we have to say. If any of you are still skeptical of my brother’s, or my, skills, feel free to watch our sparring session in an hour. Just remember this,” She smirked maliciously. “You haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen a SOLDIER fight.” She walked off with a lazy salute, while I was facepalming. Really Die? We just got back and we’re sparring already? Oh well, at least it’ll be good training for when I face Akumu. She came back a few minutes later, smiling weakly. “Uh, which way to the training area?” Luna and I both covered our mouths as we chuckled. Celestia offered to show her the way, and the two walked off. The guards dispersed towards the training hall, though a few remained behind to speak with us. I saw some of them walk over to Lumos, though I couldn’t hear what they were asking. I ignored it and left Lumos with the guards. Ven followed me, while Clare stayed with Lumos...
Chapter 5: SOLDIER BattleNoctis, Die, Noctis + Die, Celestia, Luna and Akumu Training Grounds Before we started getting ready for the match, I took a moment to take in the sights, though there weren’t many. It was a pretty simple setup. Large open area, soft grass, pony-shaped training dummies, a few circles in the ground, presumably for close combat training, or maybe wrestling. There was also an obstacle course. Not bad, a little simple, but not bad. Started with a tall wooden wall with a single rope for climbing it. Seriously? A rope climb? How are they supposed to use it? With their mouths? Die was busy doing her regular routine before any sparring match, which consisted of checking her equipment, taking a few practice swings at the dummy targets, and of course, a silent prayer to our parents to watch over her. With her ritual complete, she looked to me expectantly. I nodded, my excitement growing. I hadn’t had a proper sparring match with Die for over a year, and that was a mandatory combat skill evaluation. We weren’t allowed to go all out in case we caused unnecessary property damage. Not a problem here. Here, we can fight with no limits, not so much to put on a show for the guards, but to test our new limits. I’ve been feeling stronger ever since I got here, probably since the materia had found their way ‘home’, but the same went for Akumu. At least he’s not a problem anymore for now. And I don’t plan on giving him a chance to become one either. There’s no way I’ll let him hurt anyone else. After making sure I had my ‘secret’ materia ready, I practiced with my blade for a while, swift stroked against the dummy, all vital spots. My specialty was being fast and precise with my attacks, after all. Die can’t complain when I use these, I know for a fact she has her own with her, and I know for a fact she won’t have shown them to anyone, not even Celestia and Luna. If she has them ready, good. If not, this won’t be as fun, or as educational for the guards, but then aga-. “Hey, Noctis!” Die’s voice shook me from my thoughts. “Yeah?” “How about we make this more interesting?” She was grinning madly. Yup, she brought her secret stash. She never wants to make things interesting otherwise. “What’s the wager?” She smirked. “How about if I win, you not only reveal your full name, ask Luna out on a date.” Figures my full name would be part of the wager. Oh well, if she’s gonna make the wager interesting, I’ll have to make it just as interesting from my end. “Fine, but if I win, you not only have to reveal your own full name, you have to ask Ven, out on a date.” I knew I had turned the tables when she started blushing redder than a bomb, the monster, not the explosive weapon. “So, we got a bet?” She huffed, but nodded reluctantly. “Fine. You’ve got yourself a bet.” She leaned in, whispering “I hope you’re prepared to go public with Luna when you two end up in love. Cause you know I’ll win.” and she walked to the opposite end of the grounds, smirking. I took a deep breath, and walked to the other end. We drew our blades, and recited the pact we had made not long after finding the materia. I went first. “As long as we live,” Die continued, “And as long as we bear the eyes of the sun and moon,” and we finished it together “We shall protect the innocent, as the SOLDIERs of Night and Day.” Our oath recited, I charged, resolving to give it everything I had... __________________________________________________________________ Die got off the first shot, letting loose a Firaga attack straight away. It was simple enough to dodge the three orbs of flame shot at me, but I didn’t expect what came next. Just as I swung my blade, a shield of pure light knocked me back, and Die took full advantage of my surprise to launch a flurry of strikes to counter me. Damn, so she mastered light-based techniques. Oh well, now it gets interesting. The strikes weren’t very accurate, and the wounds were shallow, but they were enough to force me back slightly. Die continued to press the attack, not letting up for a second, and I kept moving backwards to avoid her continued onslaught. Each strike came a little closer, so in a last-ditch effort to get some breathing room, I moved back to the far edge quickly. When she saw I couldn’t fall back anymore, she rushed towards me with the Icebreaker, the wheels of ice and flame contrasting each other in a display that could be described as breathtaking, if you’re not on the receiving end. I was ready for it though. Just as she was about to strike, I disappeared into the darkness using the Shadow Slide, warping right behind her and quickly putting as much distance as I could between us. My chest started to hurt, and I dropped to one knee for a few seconds, gasping. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Shouldn’t have tried the dark techniques, they’re too dangerous while Akumu’s still around. When Die noticed me grasping my chest and the rapidly vanishing wisps of darkness, she started to run towards me, sheathing her blade. I noticed Luna out of the corner of my eyes, she was also rushing towards me, a look of fear on her face. “NO!” Both Die and Luna almost stumbled, caught off guard by my forceful reply. “Noctis, it’s not worth it if-” “I can and will continue. You already know that I’m every bit as stubborn as you when I need to be.” Die facepalmed, and Luna frowned, but returned to her position at the sidelines. “Fine, but don’t push too hard, and for the love of the Ancients, don’t use the darkness again!” I smiled weakly, the pain in my chest mostly gone thanks to a quick use of Curaga, and I stood back up as the green light enveloped me, pain just disappearing. “Deal. Now, shall we continue?” She nodded, and we took our stances again. Once again, I rushed her, but this time I didn’t give her a chance to even put up her shield. I slammed my elbow into her gut, and when she doubled over, I used her back as a springboard, propelling myself into the air. I knew my body felt lighter here, but I honestly didn’t think I could jump as high as I did. I was at least twenty feet in the air. I ignored the feeling of anxiousness at not knowing exactly what my new limits were, and loosed a Triple Plasma towards the ground. Of course, Die and her Light Shield managed to stop all three of the lightning orbs, but as soon as she blocked them, I tossed my blade right at her. She could only keep the shield up for a few seconds at a time, and unfortunately for her, the blade would hit after the shield went down and before she could bring it back up. Though, through some amount of luck, she managed to move enough so that it only tore her shirt, leaving her unwounded and me at a disadvantage. I was unarmed, while she still had her own sword, and the only way to get to mine, was through her. Well, I wanted it to be interesting... She smiled, thinking it would be a simple matter to beat me now that I had no weapon. She thought wrong. The second she charged, I knocked her blade aside, grabbed her arm, and twisted around, knocking her front foot backwards with one leg and using my momentum to throw her over my shoulder. I ran back and grabbed my blade just in time to block a strike that came out of nowhere. It wasn’t Die, she was only just getting back up. Someone had attacked me while we were sparring. I was pissed, not because someone had the gall to attack me while I was unarmed, but because they interrupted one of the few opportunities I had to see how much I’d improved compared to Die. I turned to see a cloaked figure disappear behind the wall on the far-side of the grounds. Not bothering to wait for anyone else, I ran towards, and jumped over, the wall, and I gave chase... __________________________________________________________________ Whoever, or whatever this is, they’re fast. It’s seriously pissing me off. I’d been chasing the mysterious figure for the past ten minutes, and they’d been trying very hard to lose me. I probably could’ve ended the chase a lot sooner if I used my materia or even if I used my pony form, but I couldn’t use the materia without there being a risk of civilian casualties, and I still wasn’t completely used to my pony form yet, so I didn’t want to risk losing them due to being unfamiliar with my limits. Anyway, the figure tried a few different tricks. It moved through crowds, which were easy to navigate, though I probably have to apologise later for using those ponies as stepping stones to avoid getting swept up in the group, and tore through alleys, knocking over trash cans. It was easy to dodge them with the parkour skills I picked up. Growing up with Die, you learn to traverse obstacles of all shapes and sizes. They definitely came in handy when hands made of darkness suddenly appeared and nearly grabbed both of us. We both managed to dodge them, but as we came to the city limits, a huge wall of darkness appeared in front of us. The cloaked figure scaled it like a pro, but just as I came to the wall, it just disappeared, and Lumos landed in front of us both, wearing black chainmail armour, and two balls of light in both hands. The figure froze, and I took the opportunity to jump them, and rip off the cloak. It was humanoid, but it’s ears were pointed. It was clearly male. He wore a green shirt, with some sort of a brownish red scale-mail shoulder pad on the left shoulder, and on his back was a great-sword, a quiver, and a bow that was longer than him. His shirt had no sleeves, and he wore dark brown fingerless leather gauntlets. There was also leather armor of the same color around his waist, and it went all the way up to his lower chest. His pants were made of slightly thinner, but just as strong, brown leather, like the gloves, and he wore boots of even thicker material. There was also more of the brown-red armor on the outside of his left leg, and all of his clothes were badly ripped up. He was about as tall as me, had short hair that looked rust colored. His eyes were sky-blue, and his eyebrows were thin. He had a pointed jaw, and a hateful look covering his face. The last thing I noticed was the scar on his neck. It was like the symbol on Lumos’ chest. “Alright, I’m only gonna ask once,” I said as I circled him, drawing Tsuki no me, and charging up the lunar orb, pointing both at him, “Who, or what, are you, and why did you attack me?” He glared at me with all the hate he could muster, saying nothing, and slowly reaching behind him for his bow. I sighed with disappointment and let off a small blast towards his feet. He just stared at me, dumbstruck. “How?” “Excuse me?” “HOW!? How can a human wield magic!? It’s impossible” he spat. I finally came to stand beside Lumos, who was watching my assailant. “So, suggestions?” I whispered. He just cleared his throat and spoke directly to our opponent. "So, how was Mirrodin, last you were there? Or should I call it by its new name, 'New Phyrexia'?" The elf's eyes widened, then narrowed with hatred. Ok, what? "How do you know about that?" He spat out. Lumos sighed in frustration, and pointed at his mark. "Your neck, you've been marked by them, haven't you?" He pulled off the top of his chainmail and pointed at his chest. "You're not the only one. I didn't even know what I was fighting until I was marked, stabbed right through the chest, thank god for light magic. Now, if you would kindly NOT attack my good friend here, I would be happy to explain." He looked at me, and said, "I'll explain it to you as well, as you don't seem to have ever seen an elf before." He turned back to the elf. "Do we have a deal? My explanation will include how I know of the Phyrexian invasion of Mirrodin, as well as how the human can use magic." The elf, dropped the bow, and Lumos picked it up. I placed Tsuki no me on my back, and allowed the energy in the Lunar orb to dissipate. “So, introductions. I’m Noctis, this is Lumos. You are...” “Erahaor Bonegleam. And I’m not interested in speaking to you, only to the marked one.” Great, he’ll speak to him because of his mark? "Very well, Erahaor, now, to start my explanation, how I know of Mirrodin:" Noctis created a ball of light, and shaped it like some sort of card, and began. "On my home world, there is a card game, known as magic the gathering, in which you collect cards to create decks of 60 of them, these cards are split into many types and subtypes, as well as what we call 'sets,' the invasion of your world was a full 3 sets of cards." He became serious, and his expression hardened. "This is the part I regret to inform you of, your world, has been corrupted beyond recovery, one of the cards, is this one," He slowly turned the card to show its other side. "This is what has happened to the very core, of your world. I know this is a lot to take in, but there is more," Erahaor looked at him with sad eyes. I wasn’t surprised, hearing that your home was lost is never easy to take. "There is still a group of pure people of Mirrodin, they are few, but when the sets of the Mirran/Phyrexian war was over, they still lived. They probably won't live much longer, though, you're lucky though, you escaped with only a curse mark, and the only Phyrexian for miles here has been turned to stone." Erahaor just stared at him warily. "He was the one to give me this guy, and with it came my wings, and a large amount of power, since I... absorbed him a bit." "Next subject, why Noctis can use magic, in a sense of the word," He faced me, "Do you mind if I borrow a materia, to explain. Elves have a... connection with magic, so to speak, it's really hard to explain." I sighed and shook my head. “Sorry Lumos, I can’t let you use them.” I let a small smile escape me. “I can, however, give a small demonstration and explanation, if you’re interested.” Lumos just shrugged. "It wouldn't help, I could explain them decently, and he's already seen what one can. I was hoping you could only let him touch it, even lightly, most beings with ties to magic can recognise an enchantment, but if we can't use them as an example, perhaps I could try an idea I've been forming since I saw them in battle when Akumu broke free," He turned to Erahaor, "Give me a moment," Lumos suddenly created two metal spheres out of nowhere, and, sighing heavily, said "Now for the hard part." He began to create a ball of chaos, barely around the tip of his finger. At the same time, he created a somewhat larger ball of light, and tried to place them both into a single orb. The orb let out a large magical aura before dying down. It shone a pure white, and had a circle embed upon it. He looked to me, and said, "Can you keep Akumu under control if I use a large amount of darkness for this one?" I shook my head. “No, but in about a week it won’t matter.” Lumos raised his eyebrows questioningly, but didn’t pry. He began the process for the darkness, and created an ebony orb along with the white one. Inside it, was another circle. He tossed me the white one and asked "Does this seem like an accurate copy?" I focused on probing the orb, searching for any similarities and differences between the orb and a normal materia. It was a perfect copy, other than one thing: it didn’t embed itself in my arm. Interesting. “As far as I can tell, the only difference is that it didn’t embed itself in my arm. And I know you’re itching to ask, ‘what did I mean by it won’t matter in a week.’ I can see it in your eyes. So go ahead. Ask. I won’t lie. Honestly, lying about it will just put others in danger.” Erahaor looked to Lumos, who just shrugged and gave him a look that said ‘Don’t ask’, before turning back to me, stroking his chin. "Lets see, from what you said after I drained your darkness, and the wisps of it I saw earlier, it probably has something to do with what you said about fighting Akumu in the sealed zone, right? Speaking of which, I need to examine the seal later, I think you may have broke it." I just smiled. "It's not broken, but in a week, it will be, whether or not you fix it. At that point, instead of just taking over, Akumu's gonna make a game of it. He'll challenge me for control, and if he wins, he'll let my consciousness exist just long enough to let me see him kill the one I care about most. And I'm guessing you know who I'm talking about." I stared at him for a few seconds, then Erahaor spoke up. "Um, excuse me humans, but I don't appreciate being left out of the conversation like this. Who is this Akumu?" "Two things: one, I'm not human, at least, not anymore, now I'm more of a strange cross between an angel and daemon. Second, Akumu is a being of darkness that resides within Noctis' mind. He is stronger, than the Phyrexian, who ran a blade of pure energy through me. I have fought him, alongside Noctis' sister, Die, and a couple other humans." Era was now eying me suspiciously, until Lumos continued. "I removed all darkness from him, and strengthened the barriar between the two personalities" "Anyway, on with my demonstration." Lumos picked up the dark orb, and tossed it in the air, it was about one and a half times the size of his fist. He aimed the orb straight up, and muttered, "Umbra Blaster," and a huge black beam shot out of it. Lumos nodded in satisfaction, and put it down. "These orbs are known as Materia, they are a condensed form of magic, where Noctis is from, it's made using the life force of the planet itself, I, however, simply infused my own brand of chaos into it with some of my own power. Apparently, the combination worked well, as it at least works, these orbs could hold many different powers, but only one general spell per orb, with the occasional exception, examples of basic ones are fire, thunder, Ice, and wind materia, as well as healing ones. There are also-" I interrupted him. "Non-elemental offensive, defensive, support, command and summoning materia. The only ones that don't fall under any one category are the Lunar and Solar orbs, since they're not really materia. They're also the reason your assassination attempt wouldn't have worked even if you had hit me. They made Die and I immortal." I waited to see how he'd react. Lumos shrugged. "It's as he says. Now, any questions?" Era looked deep in thought for a moment, before responding. "So, they are just rocks that hold magic?" "Exactly, though I prefer Infusing weapons and items for specific uses personally, like... like this." He said, pulling out a blade from out of nowhere "This blade I haven't named yet, but it is enchanted with fire, so I can do, say... This." He pointed the blade up, and a small whirlwind of fire came out the top. I was actually pretty shocked, and so was Era. "Interesting. You ever used it to perform the Fire Cross?" I asked. He chose to answer my question with a question, "... The what?" Era jumped at the new voice that appeared behind him. We definitely weren't expecting her to show up. "It's a unique fire wielder's technique. The user slashes vertically, leaving a vertical trail of flame and then across at the center of the vertical slash, leaving another trail of flame. Then, the two trails combine into a cross of pure flame, and the user propels the cross with energy. How far it can go before the flames disperse depends on how much energy you put into it. The more energy, the further they go." Lumos turned toward Princess Celestia, surprise obvious on his face, "Hello princess, when did you get here?" She chuckled. "I've been here for a while, you just weren't paying attention. Also, Noctis," She turned to me, and her expression was stern. "You do realise that both Luna and Die are going to have a talk with you regarding this, don't you?" Oh, crap. I was trying, but failing, to keep from shaking. "I am so dead..." Era gave me a confused look. "I thought you said you were immortal?" "Yeah, except I'm dead in the sense that Die's 'talks' always result in grievous bodily harm, so pray that she never wants to 'talk' to either of you. The princesses are exempt, not because they're royalty, but because Die doesn't 'talk', to girls." Lumos let off a small chuckle, before putting his shirt back on, though I didn't actually notice him take it off, and grabbing the artificial materia. "Well, good luck, my friend." He turned to Celestia, and asked, "Is there anything else, princess." She let her stern expression fade, and re-donned her motherly smile. "Actually, I was wondering if I could ask you more about the Equestria you came from. If I know more about it, it may help get you home sooner. Remember, nothing is insignificant." I sighed. "Well, if you guys need me, I'm gonna get my scolding over with. I'd like to hear a little more about your Equestria myself. Oh, and Lumos?" "Yes?" I smirked, knowing full well the consequences if the next sentence was ever relayed my sister. "If I can't beat Akumu, do me a favour, and look out for Die for me. In case you hadn't noticed, she and Ven are crushing on each other, so be sure to try and create some awkward situations for them. Try and put them in a situation where they have to admit they like each other." Lumos laughed, "I was already planning on it." He turned back to the princess, "I will gladly tell you about 'my' world, but I'd rather talk back in the palace, where less would overhear it." Celestia nodded, her smile never faltering. "Agreed. So, let's get to it, shall we?" I took a deep breath and started walking back to the palace with Lumos, Erahaor, and Celestia, who had cast a portable soundproof spell around us so we could all listen to Lumos' descriptions of the Equestria he came from and the adventures he'd been on since he first arrived there. All too soon, I had to separate and walk towards my doom... __________________________________________________________________ I won't bore you with every last detail of Luna and Die's 'talk' with me, but I'd never been in so much physical pain. Luckily, Luna was in a forgiving mood, and she healed my wounds not long afterwards, but only after I swore that I wouldn't, and I quote, 'Be such a stupid flankhole, charging off and almost getting myself killed'. Die then reminded me of our wager, and that since I had left during the fight, I had lost by default, and as such, had to reveal my full name and ask Luna on a date. When she said as much, Luna just blushed, and said she was very busy for the next few weeks, but maybe once the training of the guards was finished and she had some free time, she could take me up on it. I just nodded with my cheeks reddening as I realised she was basically saying I had a chance with her. Die just started laughing as she walked off leaving Luna and me alone, until she too left for her chambers. I waited a while, letting my blush fade, before I went off to my own room for sleep...
Chapter 6: First MissionI woke up from a relatively dreamless sleep, to find I was not only in my pony form, though I don’t know how as I had gone to sleep in my human form, but I was not in my own room. My room was pretty plain, dark blue walls, a light blue carpet, and a blue bed. This one was decorated to look just like an indoor version of the night sky, complete with a full-moon. After noticing the small lump next to me, I realised that I wasn't alone in the bed, and where I was, and I started blushing profusely. Ok, what happened last night? Luna chose that exact moment to wake up. She was blushing when she realised I was awake, and you could cut the awkwardness with a knife. Eventually, she broke the silence. “Luna? What’s going on? Why am I in your room? Not that I’m complaining, but I-” She silenced me with a hoof to my mouth. “Um, Noctis, you mean you don’t remember how you ended up here?” She asked, removing her hoof from my mouth. I shook my head. “No, I don’t. The last thing I remember was going to sleep in my own bed.” She sighed before she explained. “Okay. Noctis, while I was in my room, I heard a very loud noise coming from yours. When I went downstairs and looked in, you were clutching your head and screaming in your sleep. The staff were nowhere near, as they’d been instructed to leave you alone, so I tried to wake you up myself, but I couldn’t. After a few minutes, though, you just seemed to calm down, and then you just suddenly switched to your pony form. I was worried it might happen again, so I brought you to my room so I could keep an eye on you, just in case. Are you angry?” Her lower lip was trembling, and her eyes were beginning to water. I wrapped my hooves around her neck and nuzzled her. Not in a romantic sense, just as someone trying to comfort a friend. “Luna, why would I be angry? You were helping me. You were worried about me. Back home, the only one who ever showed concern for me was Die. Everyone else saw me as a weapon, or a monster, something to be feared and hated, or used until I was no longer useful, and then thrown away. Here, I actually have friends. I have peo-sorry, ponies, that care about me, ponies that I want to protect. That includes you.” She nuzzled me with a small smile on her face. “Thank you Noctis. But there’s something more important we need to talk about at the moment." She said in a serious tone. I just nodded my head. "Ok, what do you wanna talk about?" "Well, I wan-” She was interrupted by the appearance of a strange portal of darkness. After a few seconds, Lumos stepped through, and Standing beside him were two figures. The one on his right was a human with short hair, and pure grey eyes that showed no emotion or life within. He wore a black suit, shirt pants, jacket, tie, all black, and leather shoes. The other figure was like nothing I had ever seen before. It had arms and legs like a human, as well as a normal torso, but they were covered in a mass of differently colored feathers. It's lower legs were similar to those of birds, but its hands seemed to be changing shape every few seconds, and it was wearing blue jeans. There were two wings of the same colors on the rest of its body. It had a human face that looked exactly like Lumos’, and its eyes... its eyes flashed in so many colors that they could give someone a seizure in a matter of moments. And the irises, they were the color of pure gold. For a good few seconds, we were just staring at each other, before Lumos slowly backed toward another portal, whilst saying "I'm going to leave for now, and come back when less weird shit is happening." I just smirked and said, "Alright, but your two new 'friends' will have to explain themselves first." "Wait, you can see them? Well, thats a surprise." "Yeah, I can see them. Why, shouldn't I be able to?" I asked. Luna gave Lumos a look. "Yes, why should we not be able to see your friends? Are you casting an invisibility spell on them or something? If so, you need to work on it a bit, they're more visible than Celly's flank when she eats too much cake." She said, grinning a little. Lumos rolled his eyes. "Well, to start off, their names are Mirum and Malum, they are my Conscience..." He gestured to the one on the left, "Mirum is the embodiment of my chaos. The other is Malum," He continued, making a gesture at the one on the right, who gave a slight bow of his head in respect, "who is the embodiment of my 'order' energy, I only became aware of them earlier today myself. The very fact that you two can see them means quite a bit, either you are both Naturally seers, or the Orbs have even more power than I originally thought." We were silent for a moment, and Luna spoke up. "Well, my sister and I are able to raise the sun and moon because of those orbs, so I'm guessing it's probably the latter of the two explanations. Also, why are they called Paradox and Evil?" Lumos gave Malum an angry look. "So THAT'S what you said 'wasn't important,' and 'inaccurate,' if it weren't a direct breach of our contract, I wouldn't let you have any control, damn mental contracts." Malum grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. Mouthing the word ‘sorry’. He then shot a glare at Luna, quickly replacing it with a raised eyebrow when I got out of the bed, switched to my human form, and placed a hand on Tsuki no me, all the while staring at him with a face completely devoid of emotion. "Ok.I’m running out of patience here, so I’m going to ask once. What are you doing here, and what’s this about a contract." Lumos looked me right in the eyes, with no readable expressions. “I guess I’ll answer your second question first, as I actually know the answer to it. I made a contract with them that requires them to control my body for at least 5 minutes a week each, or more if I need their help.” I raised an eyebrow curiously, “As for the first question, I was trying to use a dark passage, and... we each chose a different location... I’m lucky I’m not inside a rock or something.” Luna giggled a little, and the four of us turned to her. She almost burst out into full-blown laughter before regaining her composure. "I apologise, but you're not the only one that has happened to in the past." Lumos blinked twice, "Really? Who else has this happened to?" He asked, waving Mirum and Malum over. Her face became deadly serious. "You must swear that this conversation will never be heard by anypony outside this room. Not Die," She said, looking at me, "Not Clare or Ventus," She turned to Lumos, Mirum and Malum, "And most definitely, not, my sister." We all nodded silently, and she began the anecdote. "When Celestia and I were still relatively new to being rulers, we had just started learning to teleport, and she tried performing it with two young unicorns, one of whom was Starswirl the Bearded. However, they had never agreed on a destination before casting the spell, all of them thinking up a different location, and they ended up teleporting right into a concert hall in the middle of a performance. Starswirl and the young unicorn were unharmed for the most part, but Celestia, she got a cello stuck to her horn, and it took well over an hour to pry it off. It's why I call her Celly sometimes." Lumos stayed silent for about two seconds before saying "That’s... Interesting" Both Mirum and Malum suddenly burst into laughter. Mirum shouted, almost falling over. Lumos sighed and shook his head, watching them roll around on the floor, laughing their butts off. Luna and I rolled our eyes at their antics, before she held up a hoof for silence. "Now that your laughing fit is over, it's almost time for you to begin training the Lunar Guards, Noctis. Have fun." With that, her horn flashed and I found myself outside the training grounds, along with Lumos, Mirum, and Malum. My head only felt slightly on fire. "You know, I think she enjoys giving us headaches." I said to Lumos, who was still holding his head in his hands. He chuckled. "You're lucky, all you have is a headache, meanwhile, I'm about to puke." He said, clutching his stomach. "Do you mind if I take control of this training session?" I just shrugged. "Sure. If you want. Just call me when it's my turn to train them. In the meantime, I'll be taking a nap. I didn't get much sleep, according to Luna." Lumos' eyebrows rose at this, and he said jokingly, "Oh, is that so? I'm surprised your relationship has gotten that far already!" I narrowed my eyes at him. "It wasn't like that. Apparently I was screaming and clutching my head in agony last night, and when it was over I suddenly switched forms, which she said should only have happened the first time. She brought me to her room so she could do something if it happened again. Honestly, I already have a clue what it means, but I don't want to worry her. Anyway, wake me when you need me." Lumos rolled his eyes, and said, "Yeah, be right back," and then fell into a dark passage in the ground below him. When he came back, he was holding the hand of a very confused Clare beside him, while she staring at Mirum and Malum. He let go and said, "Sorry about this, as for those two, I'll explain later, could you please increase the gravity to 20 times that of this planet within these grounds for my training of the guards?" Clare did nothing for a moment, then nodded, and began to focus. I started to feel very heavy. He turned to me. "Brace yourself." I just nodded and said, "Sure, just wake me when it's my turn to train them. Oh, and if you start seeing any floating images emanating from me, that's just cause of the lunar orb. Sometimes it projects my dreams for some reason." before laying down for a nap. I sighed as I allowed sleep to take me into its embrace, completely unaware of what Lumos and his friends were going to see... __________________________________________________________________ Dream World Great, our first mission and we're crawling through a sewer system. This is not what I imagined when I joined SOLDIER, though I guess the dream I did have is unattainable now... I shook off the memories that were worming their way into my thoughts and snapped back to reality. It stunk, literally. We'd been walking on the very small, very narrow pathway overlooking the murky water and who-knows-what-else, for the past half-hour, and we'd still found no trace of the missing children we'd been sent to find. There had been reports of children going missing for over a week, there were at least 30 confirmed missing. We'd been sent in to find them, as a test of our abilities. The residents were more than helpful, already having made some investigations of their own, presenting us with several pieces torn from clothing apparently belonging to the children. All of them had some sort of slime coating them, and reports from the ones who found them said that the latest article was found near a sewer entrance. So naturally, Die and I head straight into the den of water and, other substances, to find them... "ugh, are we THERE YET!?" Die shouted. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply, immediately wishing I hadn't as I gagged on the putrid smell of the water and excrement. I got back what little composure I could, turned back to Die and whispered "Die, for the last time, no, we're not there. Now be quiet. Do you want to alert whatever creatures are down here to our presence?" Die shut up with a sheepish grin on her face and we continued walking, eventually coming up to a massive open area. What we saw, we prayed we'd never see again. Almost all of the missing children were there, but we had been too late. Not one of them had survived. Most of them were nothing more than piles of bones, but those who still had flesh on their corpses had been mercilessly disembowelled and dismembered, and judging from the blood in the cages, it had been done while they were still alive. Die and I fought the urge to vomit as we searched for the cause of their deaths. It didn't take us long. They were humanoid, except with a turtle-like shell covering their torsos, a slightly extendible reptilian neck attached to a gilled eel-like head with its eyes at its sides, long, reptilian tails, webbed feet, some sort of fur covering their shoulders and wrists, and claws. Most of them were carrying tridents. One word came to mind. Sahagin. They were gathered around something, and as we slunk closer to get a better look we saw, to our horror and rage, that it was the last child, who was around my age. She had been badly beaten, tears and mucus mixing with the blood seeping from the various open wounds on her body as she cried, desperately pleading for her life. The leader stepped forward, a sahagin king, basically the same in terms of physical description except for its height. It was much taller. It was carrying a large trident, caked in the blood of the children whose lives it had so mercilessly ended. I rushed forward after telling Die to stay put and only interfere if it looked like I was in trouble, but even if I had been as fast on foot as Bahamut in flight, I wouldn't have made it in time. All I could do was watch as the King brought the trident down on the child's throat, then raising it again and bringing it down on her chest, piercing her heart. I froze as I saw her look through the crowd to me. I could see words forming on her lips as she took her last breath, and my own caught in my throat as I realised what they were... 'Why?' I just stood there, paralyzed as the group finally started to notice me. None of them made a sound as they advanced with their own tridents raised while the King just stood there, studying me, probably determining if I was worth killing with his own trident. I didn't pay attention to them. I was too busy looking at the face of the little girl who'd died because we hadn't been in time, a solitary tear dropping from one eye. Because I, hadn't been in time. I was in charge on this mission, the responsibility ended with me. It was my fault she was dead, my fault that thirty children were dead. I had to be the one to inform them that their children, who should only have had to worry about school and chores, were gone, killed by these monsters. I had to go and shatter what little hope they had while more of these things did exactly the same thing the ones here were doing. While more innocent people die... No. NO MORE! I Won't let them get away with what they've done. No survivors. No MERCY! I felt a cold wind pass through, despite us being underground, but I didn't react. I didn't react as the sahagin started to shiver uncontrollably, or as Die called my name. I didn't react when my entire body was encased in ice, or when said ice started to cover my body like some sort of armor. I didn't react until the remaining ice exploded outwards, impaling some of them, and knocking back the majority. As I rose up off my knees, not even realising I had been on them, I uttered two words in a tone completely devoid of any emotion whatsoever. "Frozen Heart." And then I charged. It was a massacre. Most of them didn't even have time to bring their tridents back up to defend themselves before being bisected or decapitated or even just rapidly dismembered. Those that did only lasted a few seconds longer, their tridents bouncing off the ice-like armor covering me, as if they were rubber balls thrown at a brick wall, before I dispatched them too. This just terrified the creatures more, and several of them tried to run. They didn't get far. When I had finished the ones that actually tried to fight, I started dragging the ones who tried to run back to the center of the area, right where the King was standing over the girl's body, and one by one, I slit their throats. I watched as they brought their clawed hands to the wounds in a fruitless attempt to stop the bleeding, and I watched as the light eventually left their eyes. The whole time, I felt nothing. There was no anger, no regret, no sorrow. There was absolutely no emotion whatsoever. The King turned to me, his face had a look of rage, and he charged me, stabbing me with the trident in his hands. This one didn't bounce off. It cracked the armor. It didn't pierce it, but it came close. When he brought it back for another stab, I rushed forward and grabbed it with one hand while pushing him back as hard as I could with the other. He couldn't keep his grip on it and he stumbled backwards, just barely keeping his balance. I snapped his trident in half as if it were a twig. His only response was to spit water at me in a narrow, high-pressure stream. He smirked, or gave the closest thing he could to a smirk when he saw me being pushed back, but it soon turned to shock as the armor's other function kicked in. The stream started to turn to ice, and the ice was starting to overtake the water. He quickly cut off the stream before it reached him, but it was too late. With a single wave of my hand, the ice suddenly created several spears right below him, impaling him in several places. Somehow I had missed all his vital spots, but as the ice receded, I knew he wasn't going to recover. The holes in his body meant that his limbs were just hanging off him at various points. His Torso was intact, saved by his incredibly dense shell, and so was his head, but everything else was just dead weight. He looked at me, terror in his eyes, and he knew he was going to die. He knew that I was going to kill him without hesitation, remorse, or regret. He started pleading in the language of his people, knowing that it was pointless. I raised my blade, which was literally absorbing all the light around it, leaving only shadows. I made sure to make my aim just so. He, no, it, gave me one last pleading look. I brought my blade down, and its head rolled behind me, across the slime-covered ground. It stopped at the body of its previous owner's last victim, and as it did so, the ice around me broke apart and melted as it hit the ground. My head started throbbing, and I could feel my emotions again. I turned and walked towards the poor girl, picking up the bodiless head and tossing it away. Her eyes were still open, so I closed them for her, praying that she could find peace in the lifestream. I picked up her body, then I turned and walked past Die, who was still sitting there, wide-eyed with her jaw dropped, before she regained her senses and followed me back to the sewer entrance to inform the families of what we had found, and so that they could begin preparations for the children's funerals... __________________________________________________________________ I woke up with a slight start, I noticed all the present guards staring at me with a mix of shock and horror etched on their faces. After a few minutes of stillness, one of the lunar guards came up to me. "Sir, what was that?" I gave him the short version. "My first mission. That's what that was. Now, where's Lumos?" "Uh, Sir, he left. And he told us he wasn't to be disturbed." The guard replied. "Alright then. Everyone form up in groups of four." In less than a minute there were around seven groups of four, consisting of the 22 Lunar guards, and 6 Solar Guards, with three Lunar Guards and one Solar Guard per group. I took note of their complete lack of expression and movement once they were in their lines, and decided to give them a standard test for Shinra stealth units. "ALRIGHT, LISTEN UP!" My voice was booming with almost the same intensity as Luna's was when she saw Lumos standing over me, but the guards didn't react much, only flinching slightly. "WITH LUMOS, YOUR TRAINING SO FAR HAS FOCUSED ON STRENGTH, SPEED AND STAMINA! With me, you'll be training your stealth skills." I made the last sentence just loud enough for them to barely hear. "When this is over, most of you will be a part of a special unit under the direct command of the Lunar Guard. Solar Guards will still be part of their original regiment. The groups you are in will be your team for this next exercise, and will be altered if necessary to balance each one out afterwards. Now follow me." We started walking out of the training grounds towards the garden, followed closely by Clare and Ven, who had joined us a little while ago while I was still asleep. "What are the rewards, sir?" One of the Solar pegasi asked. "That, soldier, is a surprise. Just be patient, and don't mess up." I said calmly. Eventually, we reached our destination, a large hedge maze in the center of the garden. "Now, your training session will take place in this maze. Your job is to get to the center of said maze, retrieve the object inside, and get back out, without being detected. If you are seen, you fail the exercise, and will be made to do it again after everyone else. If you succeed, you can take a break from training if you so choose. You will succeed as a group, or fail as a group. Is that clear?" They just gave me a determined look. I channelled energy into the Lunar Orb, and focused on the maze. The drain was massive, but I kept it up until I was finished. The groups all had a few raised eyebrow "Alright. First group, you're up. Let's see what you can do." The first group that stepped forward consisted of two pegasi, a unicorn and an earth pony. But as they were about to begin, we were rudely interrupted by the arrival of a messenger, much to the chagrin of myself, the groups, and Ven and Clare. Seriously, am I ever gonna get involved in the training? "I apologise for interrupting, but Princess Luna has requested your presence immediately, all of you." He said, looking from me to Clare, to Ven, and back again. "She says that it is urgent!" He continued, quickly becoming breathless. I sighed, annoyed that training had been interrupted right when I was supposed to get involved, and nodded. "Sure. Come on guys." Ven and Clare just nodded, and the three of us followed the messenger leaving the seven groups to train alone... _______________________________________________________________ Site of Lumos and Akumu's battle A lone pegasus was flying around, just enjoying herself, when she saw something standing in a large crater. Being unable to make it out from the height she was at, she lowered herself to get a better view. What she saw terrified her, almost as much as the horrible roar that erupted from the thing's mouth. It was worse than being hit point blank by the Royal Canterlot Voice at full volume when it's amplified by several megaphones. It was more than enough to knock her through several trees, breaking bones and causing several large gashes all over her body. The poor mare barely managed to muster up the strength to limp back to Canterlot, but she did, wincing with every step, blood flowing profusely from every cut, as she made her way back to warn the city of its impending doom...
Chapter 7: SanguineThe messenger leading us seemed all too eager to lead us through every twist and turn the palace had to offer, it was really pissing me off, and so was the constant sound of hooves and feet on stone. By the time we arrived at our destination, the entrance to the throne room, a couple of hours later, seriously, why so long?, I was ready to rip his head off, and that's saying something. So when he looked back and saw my face turning from irritation to outright rage, he quickly announced our arrival and ran off as if his life depended on it. On our entry, I noticed Die was here too, though she looked wrecked. Must've been woken up in the middle of a nap or something. I noticed the quizzical looks on both Luna and Celestia's faces. Before they could even ask a question, I said "I don't like being interrupted when I'm either training, or about to start training. I also don't like pointless scenic routes." Celestia frowned. "That is no excuse to nearly traumatise one of my little ponies, Noctis." "I didn't even do anything. Did I?" Ventus chose to make a smart-ass comment. "Well, the look you gave him could make Jason Voorhees run and hide." I gave him a confused look. "Who?" "Never mind." "Alright, may we please get back to the matter at hoof?" Celestia asked. When we nodded in silence, she continued. "Now, this meeting was going to be in regards to what happened last night," She began, and I immediately opened my mouth to interrupt, but I was immediately silenced by Luna, who gave me a glare that said 'Speak now, and you'll regret it for eternity.' Celestia ignored me, and kept going. "But something more urgent has come up." Clare raised an eyebrow. "What exactly came up?" Luna took her turn to speak. "About an hour ago, a pegasus named Bright Skies was found at the entrance to Canterlot, severely injured. She was brought to the hospital, but her wounds have been deemed untreatable. When asked what caused such wounds, she claimed that it was a wingless dragon..." She paused as she gauged our reactions. Die yawned, more out of fatigue than anything else. Clare and Ven shared a look, and I just raised an eyebrow. "So where exactly was this creature spotted anyway?" Celestia hesitated before answering. "It was seen at the site of the fight you had with your sister and your friends here." That caught me off-guard. I left the hall without a word, ignoring the calls of the others as I headed for my room to grab one last thing. I found it after a few seconds of searching, and, after making sure I had all the necessary equipment, slung the backpack over my shoulder. Instead of going through the door, I just jumped the window, not wanting to waste time wandering through the halls, preferring to get there quickly and without getting lost in the labyrinth that was the royal palace. My landing could’ve been better though. “Dammit!” I whisper-yelled, as I clutched my leg, before making quick use of curaga to heal the damage. “You know, human, you could have saved yourself the pain by just using a door like a normal person.” A familiar voice to my left stated. Who should I see when I turn towards it but Erahaor. “What’s up? You missing your friend Lumos?” I asked with suspicion. I still didn’t fully trust him after the whole ‘trying to kill me’ thing. “What makes you say that?” He asked with a raised eyebrow. “For one, he’s the only one around here you seem to trust, and he’s not here. If it were me, I’d be missing his company. And second, you wouldn’t talk to me unless it was important to you. I think a missing friend qualifies.” I stated. “Maybe so, but this is not about Lumos right now. I trust that he can take care of himself. No, this is about what Celestia said in the throne room.” He replied. I just smiled. “So, you were listening.” I said. He just shrugged in response. “So, you coming with me then?” Once again, just a shrug. “Ok, what happened to actually saying something?” “Why bother you already know the answer?” He replied with a smirk. “Fine then, let’s just get going.” I replied, grabbing my bag and tossing him some materia from it. The second they came into contact with him, his flesh started to ripple like a pool of water after a stone is dropped in it, and the materia slowly sunk into his flesh, their soft glow the only signal that they were there. “I thought you didn’t trust anyone with your orbs, human.” “Ok, first, quit calling me human. My name is Noctis. And second, if this thing is as strong as I think it will be, we’re gonna need as much of an advantage as we can get.” I replied. Erahaor’s smirk grew into a cocky grin, “Indeed, human.” I just shook my head in defeat and motioned for us to scale the wall, much like when he had taken his pot-shot at me. “Alright, while we’re moving, let me teach you how the materia that are now embedded in your arm work.” I said as we started climbing. “Ok, the materia I gave you are very powerful ones. Thundaga, Firaga Burst, and a summoning materia not even Die knows about. Mainly cause she’d laugh her ass off if she did.” We dropped over the other side of the wall onto a nearby roof and started running towards the city wall. Erahaor looked at me and waved a hand, signalling me to continue. “Ok, the summon is called Choco/Mog. Basically, it summons a chocobo, a large bipedal avian, being ridden by a moogle, which is literally a living doll. It has two attacks. Death-Blow, which is basically a suicide run where the chocobo literally explodes on impact, and Fat-Chocobo, which causes an enormous Chocobo to fall on the target.” I explained. Erahaor gave me a look that basically said ‘What the hell?’ “Trust me, its come in handy when I’ve actually been able to use it.” I replied. “Anyway, Thundaga causes lightning to shoot out of your arm and spread out in a wave pattern, while Firaga Burst summons a giant fireball which explodes into dozens of smaller fireballs that track the target you choose. In other words, you use that, and your opponent has nowhere to run.” At the mention of this, Era’s grin returned, but this time it had a mad glint hidden within. “Dude, you ok? You look like a pyromaniac with matches and gasoline.” I said. Upon pointing this out, he quickly lost the look, but the mad glint was still in his eye. He punched me on the arm, and I gave him a glare before realising we were at the city limits. We started climbing... __________________________________________________________________ (Later) “No way...” I trailed off, unable to find anything to say about the destruction before me. The entire town had been massacred, and the blood pool made a giant T. All that was left was rubble and corpses. Erahaor took it as well as, if not better than me. He kept up his stoic disposition without fault. I took a deep breath to steel myself, knowing my emotions would only burden me at this point. There would be time to mourn later. “Come on, we have to keep moving, the destruction continues that way.” Erahaor said. I nodded, and we started walking, following the trail of destruction left by the monster responsible. I swear, it’s dead. When I find it, it’s dead. After a while, we eventually came across another ruined town. This one was intact mostly, some buildings were damaged, and we were starting to think maybe he hadn’t reached this one yet. That was before we saw the bodies. Something was different about these ones though. These ponies looked like they had killed each other, but we couldn’t understand why. Or at least I couldn’t. Erahaor tapped me on the shoulder as I was looking around and said two words. “Mentality alteration.” “Wait, you mean their minds were-” “Exactly.” His face remained unreadable, but his eyes were another story. I could see rage behind them. “So, do you think whatever did this is still here?” I asked. “There isn’t a trail leading away from here, so either it left in a less destructive way, or it’s still here. Lets hope its the latter.” “Same here. This thing’s gonna die.” I said without any emotion, though I could feel my rage building under the surface. Out of nowhere, we started to hear music. “Hey, you hear that too, right?” I asked. Erahaor nodded and pointed to a nearby building, and silently motioned to follow as he walked towards it. We entered and started searching the rooms one by one. Eventually we came upon a room with a piano facing away from the door, and that was where we saw it. It’s entire body was enveloped in blood red scales, and its legs were covered in jeans of the same color. It had a full head of hair somehow, which was black, and reached the floor easily. It didn’t seem to notice us as it kept on playing, so Erahaor and I started to approach it from either side as silently as we could. Era drew his bow, and I drew Tsuki no me. Just as it finished the piece, Era let loose an arrow straight towards its neck, and I rushed it with my left arm charged up for a quick blast, only to get knocked back to the door with a swift kick as the thing picked up the arrow, which had just bounced off its scales, and tossed it lazily back to Era. Neither of us moved as we looked from each other to the creature, which was just watching, studying us with eyes as black as tar with a white ‘x’ in the centre. Then, it began to let out a mad cackle, which sounded quite similar to the laugh of a Hyena, before it started. It dug both of its feet into the ground, and began to swing it’s head like a pendulum while drawing a sword. The force of the movements slowly making him rock from side to side, further and further, until each time he went down to an inch from the earth. Suddenly, one of the time as it went down, it went forward as well, easily reaching Erahaor’s ankle with it’s sword. “AGH!” He shouted as he stumbled, only to be hit in the other foot by the blade next, the force of the blow causing him to fall over. The creature then released the grip it had on the ground, jumping overhead, blade poised for the kill. I didn’t hesitate, letting my protective-type mindset take the reigns. I threw my blade at it, disorienting it enough for its stab to miss Era’s ear by mere centimetres. Era gave it a punch, trying to force it off him, but with his legs so badly damaged that wouldn’t do much good. The creature just smiled, and shook its head, as though amused at his antics, before turning to me, and it gave me a grin that could rival Pinkie’s, if not for the teeth being so sharp. It pulled out a strange bladed glove, and ran forward with it on it’s left hand, it’s right still on its sword. I jumped over it and ran towards Era, stopping just in front of him and handing him my Curaga materia. Just like the others, it sunk into his flesh like a stone in a pond, giving off a faint green glow to symbolise its presence. “Curaga. Most powerful healing materia there is.” I said with no expression. “On your feet soldier, we’ve got work to do.” Era grunted in response, simply muttering “Curaga” under his breath. The results were immediate. His wounds started to fade, and his face, which was set in a grimace at the start, slowly started to become calm. The creature was watching this with what seemed to be curiosity in its eyes, before grinning again. It raised its gloved left hand, and slammed it into the floor, making the building collapse almost instantly, we barely had time to make it to the window before the building came down on top of us. As it was, we didn’t see the thing escape it, though I thought better than to count it out just yet. Era seemed to share the thought, nocking an arrow to his bow and aiming in any direction that he could. I got off my butt and went back-to-back with Era so we would have no blind spots. The ground then began to shake. The remaining buildings collapsed, and the air itself seemed to move in unison with it. The ground right underneath the miniscule space between me and Erahaor exploded as the creature jumped out, slashing at both our backs. This time with a huge, winged axe in his left hand, which barely nicked the back of my neck, Era had been faster to notice, and had somehow escaped unharmed by it. The creature then leaped toward me, and swung at my neck rapidly, trying to remove my head with each strike. I was barely parrying the blows, when an arrow hit it in its eye. The creature howled in pain, before tearing the arrow out, and its eye regenerated. In a desperate attempt to buy us time, I got back to Era and threw up a spherical barrier around us, one that extended into the ground, so it wouldn’t get us with that same trick again. The problem was that I could only maintain it until I ran out of energy. The creature walked around it, examining it with what looked like careful analogy, before walking right up to it, and placing both its hands on it, trying to tear it apart. Slowly, to my and Era’s horror, the thing began to make a small hole in the shield. “Dammit. This thing’s tearing the barrier like a piece of tissue paper. We need a plan.” “No shit.” Era said flatly “Too bad it’s almost through, to make a plan you need time.” “Then I guess I just have to buy us some.” I said, dispelling the barrier just long enough to slam into the creature, knocking us both to the ground, before recasting it around Era. The creature smirked, and a light appeared around its hand, forming into the ax it was holding a moment ago, followed by dropping into a stance, staring at me, waiting for me to make the next move. I took a deep breath, and looked to Era, who was glaring at me furiously through the barrier. “Hey Era, I know you don’t like me, but I need to ask you a favour.” I said calmly. He seemed to hear me, so I continued. “The technique I’m about to use will force me and the creature into a realm known as the Dark Zone. I probably won’t come back from it, so tell my sister I said goodbye, and tell Luna I’m sorry I didn’t get to take her out on that date I promised her.” I said, smiling even as a single tear rolled down my cheek. The creature charged me head on with a spear that seemingly came out of nowhere. I moved just enough that it would avoid a vital spot, and let it impale me until it was close enough for me to wrap both my arms around it, pinning it to me. To my surprise, it did the same, as though it knew what was coming. “DARK ABYSS!” I yelled, releasing every last scrap of the energy stored in the lunar orb. “NOCTIS!” I turned to see Die, as well as Celestia, Luna, Ven and Clare, running up to us. Die had never seen this technique before, but even so she still knew what it was, and what it meant. “Hey sis. You doing ok?” I asked, coughing up a small amount of blood. “YOU IDIOT! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING!?” “The right thing. This thing has to go, and Akumu does too. I’m killing two birds with one stone.” I said, still smiling. The darkness swallowed us up before I could even hear the response. __________________________________________________________________ Die’s POV That stupid idiot! Why did he do that? Why? Why did he leave me all alone? I couldn’t stop crying. The second he was gone I just broke down, right there and then. I just dropped to my hands and knees and let the tears flow. Luna had done the same, and Celestia had wrapped her hooves and wings around her, rocking her slowly and trying to comfort her as best she could. I knew she liked him, but it was another thing entirely to see her openly crying for him. “What was that?” Clare asked with confusion and fear. “That was my brother sacrificing himself to protect us. The technique is one of the two techniques we discovered that we forbade ourselves from using, due to their destructive potential.” I said, not bothering to look up. “They’re called Dark Abyss and Light’s Judgement. Dark Abyss swallows up anything in range and sticks it into the Dark Zone. Light’s Judgement forces punishment upon the target for every wrong they ever committed. It could probably drive someone insane at full strength.” I felt something fall on my shoulder, and looked up to see Ven sitting next to me, an expression of near-depression, with a glimmer of hope in it, “If thats what he did, then we need to find Lumos. Now.” “I don’t think that will be possible.” Celestia said in a calm voice with an undertone of sadness. “What do you mean?” Clare asked. “Think about it. Right after Lumos disappeared, this creature showed up. Luna told me that there were two beings with him that were actually a part of his mind. I’m saying that I believe the creature was Lumos.” She replied. “No,” Clare said, as the hope in Ven’s eyes died slowly, “That...” “However,” She continued, “There may be another way.” “What are you talking about?” I asked, afraid to get my hopes up. “Luna, you know that there is somepony who can travel there without restriction.” Celestia said in her usual calm tone. Luna’s eyes widened when she realised who her sister was talking about. “Tia, you can’t be serious. H-he’s too unpredictable! What if he tries to take over Equestria again!?” She protested. Ven got a confused look about him, before his eyes widened as well, “You don’t mean... Him, do you?” “I do, Ventus. While in your world, Discord was a true danger, causing deliberate harm to others, in ours, he never caused so much as a scratch to a single living creature, simply playing pranks, though they got out-of-hoof rather quickly. And when he refused to stop, despite the misery he caused, my sister and I sealed him away. I never forgot our friendship, and I kept hoping one day he would become as he used to be, a kind, carefree spirit, who, although a little random, actually cared about others.” Celestia explained with barely audible tone of hope in her voice. “So much for plot holes,” Clare muttered under her breath. “What was that?” Celestia asked in a dangerously sweet voice. “Nothing! Nothing at all!” Clare said quickly. “Very well then. Luna, I will need your help to free him.” “Sister, you know I am against this. It’s a bad idea.” “Wouldn’t some simple chaos wake him? If an argument could wake him up, I’m sure Lumos’ orbs could do the trick.” “That was because we were separated from the elements, so their power keeping the seal in place was gradually weakened. As long as Twilight and her friends are their new Bearers, the seal will stay strong, unless Luna and I deliberately undo it.” “So you’re saying that Discord is the only one who can save my brother?” I asked, standing up and dusting myself off. “Well then, let’s go get him out!” I said. Luna looked at me as if I was crazy, same with Clare. Celestia gave a small smile at my determined look. “Um... Die?” Ven said, “I don’t think it could be that simple to overpower the elements,” He turned to Celestia and Luna “Could it?” “Ventus, the Celestial Orbs were what created the elements in this world, and my sister and I were given our own powers by the Orbs. As such, I think we can handle it.” Celestia smiled. “Oh... nevermind then.” He said with a sheepish grin. “Yeah, where was that power when Chrysalis kicked your flank?” Die asked with a smirk. “Die, if you don’t want to spend some time on the sun, you’ll never speak of that again.” I just smiled and switched forms, following Celestia and Luna as they flew back to Canterlot... __________________________________________________________________ Dark Zone (Noctis) It was cold. That was the first thing that came to mind when I entered this place. The second was that I couldn’t sense anything for the most part. I could still see, I think, but all my other senses were useless. I could barely hear my own thoughts. What was getting to me though was the fact that I’d never see Die again. The darkness felt like it was closing in on me as I thought about it, so I did what I usually do when my emotions turn me towards despair. I shut them off completely. The technique was a deliberately weakened variation of the Frozen Heart I’d worked on in secret. Even Die didn’t know about it. I called it the Chilled Heart. All at once, a booming that came from no direction cut through my thoughts. The voice said. I couldn’t see it, but I knew it was nearby. “Where are you? What do you want, Creature? And how exactly are we able to communicate like this? Is it one of the Dark Zone’s hidden rules?” I replied in monotone. “Transformed? Into what?” “Heartless? Interesting name. Now why exactly is that supposed to scare me?” “I see. So Akumu is a heartless? And if that’s true, then does that mean Nightmare was a heartless as well?” “You know what else is rare?” “No, people who can actually fool me. The chilled heart allows me to think without my emotions clouding my logical process, so I can deduce things that others could not. And I know who you are.” “True. But still, the way you act is so different to your other self, the real you. So, why exactly are you talking to me, Lumos?” “It’s an interesting name, I’ll give you that. Now why don’t you live up to it and be silent so I can speak to Lumos?” “I see. Then where is this, ‘husk’, as you call it. Or do you even know?” “Hmm, I think he’d probably become something, unique, even among these Nobodies as you call them. He’s definitely more unique than you are for sure.” “Hmm, well, that’s the thing about Lumos. In the short time that I’ve known him, I’ve learned that he’ll never bow down to anyone. Even as a Nobody, he won’t change. He’s just too stubborn. Now, are you done, or are you going to persist in trying to talk me to death?” “Enough. Or did you not see the lack of emotions in my heart?” “The organization?” “Umbra, if you honestly think that Lumos won’t be as strong as them, you’re a-” “So why exactly are you telling me this? What purpose does it serve? Or are you just spouting lies?” “I’d wield swords, I know that much. Anyway, how are you so knowledgeable about all this?” “Yeah, no. That’s not gonna happen. And you already know why.” “Wrong. You’re not proof of it being false, you’re proof of it being true.” “Yeah, and you will never leave this place. I beat you, whether you admit it or not. I’m proof that the darkness can be beaten, my sister is proof that it can be beaten, LUNA IS PROOF THAT IT CAN BE BEATEN!” I’d disengaged the chilled heart to allow my emotions to give power to my words. “That’s where you’re wrong. The dark abyss is a very specific technique. And beings with dark hearts, or no heart at all in your case, are permanently stripped of any ability that would allow them to leave. I never had the ability to leave, so I’m all the company you’re ever going to have.” I smirked. The voice began to laugh, It asked smugly. “You’re lying.” I said. “Yeah, well then I’ll just have to make sure you don’t have the chance to leave!” I shouted, drawing my sword. The voice said, fading out. “NO, I WON’T LET YOU LEAVE!” I roared, letting my own darkness out just long enough for me to figure out his location and charge him, knocking us both onto the ‘ground’, if it could be called such. He glared at me with glowing golden eyes, as he grabbed a gun off of his hip with his gloved hand, and his sword with his other. “If you think I’ll die here, you’re sorely mistaken. I have friends, family, that I want to protect, and as long as you’re around, they’re in danger. THERE’S NO WAY I’M GONNA LET YOU THREATEN THEIR SAFETY!” It looked deep in thought, before grinning, and ‘saying’, before snapping his fingers, and the scenery changed. We were suddenly on a huge, blue tower, with a stained glass floor in the shape of someone I had never met before, wielding a giant key. Umbra seemed a little confused for a moment at how it looked as well, before shrugging. “Enough, are we going to talk, or fight? Hey, why can I hear my voice now?” I asked, confused as to the sudden reacquisition of my hearing. It grinned, still using its method of talking in my head, “I’d ask who Sora is, but I don’t have time. I’ll just assume that the guy in the mosaic is him. Now, prepare to die.” I said, brandishing Tsuki no me. The creature grinned, and sank into the floor, before splitting off into multiple pieces around me, as I heard his voice say “I don’t care. I fight to protect the ones I love. That’s all I need. I’ll protect them, even if it means you and I battle for eternity.” I said calmly. “Immortal, remember? I don’t need to eat or drink in order to survive.” and the darkness flowed around him, forming some sort of chain-bound creature. “Is this my opponent? So be it!” I said. I don’t know what this thing is or what it’s capable of, I can’t afford to underestimate it. Umbra walked over to the creature he created, and said, whilst breaking the chains It stood up, and held out a cage-shaped hammer, which caught fire. The creature jumped forward, swinging its now flaming hammer to the side. I jumped back as far as I dared, stopping just short of going over the edge. The creature snapped its fingers, causing a flaming cage to appear around me, lighting me on fire, as the thing then sunk into the ground. I tried breaking it open, but it was too strong for pure physical strength to work, so I tried another tactic. I charged up the Lunar Orb and let the power flow into Tsuki no me. Just as it reached its limit, I stabbed it into the end where the cage met the pole, and the pole shattered, along with a small portion of the cage, just enough for me to climb out. It was right then that I noticed the creature was right between me and it, while still within the ground, and came out in a huge explosion that knocked me into the back of the cage, which repaired itself, much to my annoyance. The creature then caught fire, and began to spin inside the tiny cage, lighting me on fire once more. This time I didn’t bother wasting time using the sword as a medium. I just let off a quick burst of power straight from the orb itself. Its focus wasn’t to just break the cage. This time, it was going to completely disintegrate it. The creature let out a howl of pain as the blast hit it and changed back into a black mist, which flowed back to Umbra, and absorbed into him. He let out a slow clap, “What can I say, I like to put on a show sometimes.” I retorted with a scowl. I replied with a simple “Blizzard,” dumping a single shard of ice on my head and putting out the flame. Umbra pulled back out his guns, and his other weapons, before throwing them all off the tower we were on, before turning to face me, his yellow eyes glowing menacingly. He took an odd stance. I placed Tsuki no me on the magnetic disc and took a stance of my own. “So, you ready?” I said calmly. and with that, we began. I rushed him with a quick right hook, followed by a flying reverse roundhouse kick. With the right hook he bent directly backwards at an impossible angle to avoid, and bent even further at the kick. he said as he let his feet leave the ground in a huge upward kick, forcing me to pedal backwards furiously, though I couldn’t avoid it completely, taking it to the chin and being launched a little into the air. He then ran forward on all fours, and lunged at me with an open hand. That was exactly what I was waiting for. “Too slow.” I said as I grabbed his arm and threw him even higher than I had gone. He righted himself in the air, and gathered the darkness around him as he dropped, The explosion shattered a large portion of the glass that made up the floor we were standing on, leaving holes everywhere. I was knocked off the platform, barely managing to grab ahold of the edge before I could plummet into the endless depths of the darkness below. Umbra landed not ten feet from where I was dangling and made his way over slowly, savouring his victory. He said smugly, he grabbed me by the hair, and held me up. “I won’t give up. Even if you toss me into the darkness I won’t give up hope. I’ll keep coming back and fighting until I can’t anymore, and even then I’ll keep going.” I replied, slightly afraid, but not enough that it was noticeable. He smiled, he threw me back into the arena and took his ready stance, “Fine, same to you.” I said, brandishing Tsuki no me and taking deep breaths to calm down. Two of the bladed gloves from before appeared on his hands. “So, no holding back?” I asked, charging the Lunar Orb and letting its energy flow into my blade. He let out a huge spiked grin, he said before charging, the blades on his gloves crackled with electricity and fire simultaneously. Striking out randomly at me every time he got close enough. On the fifth strike, I jumped over him, and used his body to propel myself into the air, letting loose the energy I had built up in both the blade and the orb. “I’m sure you know about the fire cross. WELL HERE’S MY VERSION! LUNAR CROSS!” I yelled as I created two trails of lunar energy, which I propelled at Umbra using the energy I had stored in the orb. He didn’t even move as it hit him and exploded in a shower of stardust. When the dust cleared, he was still standing there, with a small cut on his head. He asked before jumping at me, his flaming/electric blades aimed at my guts. I threw tsuki no me into the air and twisted my body, just barely avoiding getting disembowelled by the attack. In the short time he wasn’t facing me, I elbowed him on the back of the neck, raising my hand just in time to catch my sword and thrust it through his spine. Umbra let out a horrible shriek of pain, before smiling, and his flesh began to shift, slowly pulling the blade the rest of the way through, and he stabbed me in the shoulders with his glove-blades. I grunted as they dug into my flesh, and I pulled back before they could reach the bone, but the cuts were still deep. “I’ll admit I’m impressed. But you’re still nowhere near Lumos’ level.” I taunted, trying to rile him up. he countered. He wants me to prove I’m worth it, fine. “Let me ask you something. Did I ever tell you what kind of summoning materia I possess?” I asked. “Nah, I gave that one to Erahaor. The one I’ve got is a little more, interesting.” I replied, as my right arm started to glow red. “DRAW YOUR BLADE! YOJIMBO!” I yelled. At that exact moment, five creatures landed on what was left of the platform. One was humanoid, wearing a long cloak and a hat with a very wide rim, and a red dog dog at his side. The other three were in one shape, making up a giant suit of armor. The two of us stood at opposite ends, on the same side as the ones we’d summoned, Umbra with the armors, and I with Yojimbo and Daigoro. “So, do you think I could get a freebie this time?” I asked casually as I looked at the samurai. He gave me a look that said ‘Are you fucking kidding me?’ I sighed and reached into my pocket, pulling out my wallet. I had no idea how I still had it after everything that had happened, but I was glad I did. I tossed him 500 gil. He just gave me a blank stare, before pocketing the cash and moving to engage the armors. The armors moved first, its torso spinning and shooting lasers, while its arms and legs remained straight forward, the lasers barely going around Umbra’s head. Yojimbo ducked and weaved through the deadly light show with speed and grace, the kind that takes years of dedication and mastery to attain. Even I couldn’t move that well. As he closed the distance, the lasers started to come close to hitting him a few times, yet they never actually did. By the time they lined up a proper shot, he was upon them, drawing his short sword and slashing just in front of them. For a second, there was nothing. Then, the armors stumbled back as an invisible force slammed into every part of their bodies, slashing through them as if they were made of paper. Yojimbo returned to my side, shooting me a smug look. I replied with a shrug and a quick thumbs-up. “Yeah, well I wish you weren’t so ugly, but we can’t always get what we want!” he held out his hand to the side, and a giant key appeared in it. “What, you don’t want to see your creature lose?” I asked. “Fair enough,” I replied, mimicking his words, getting a grin from him, before drawing Tsuki no me again. “Ready to lose?” His grin grew, “Alright, but he’ll only fight if you pay him.” I replied. “And I’m all out of cash.” I concluded, smirking. “Oh? And that would be...” I thought for a moment, and I was surprised by what I thought of. “You’re insane, you know that? You really think I’ll let Akumu out just to let you have a challenge?” “Ok, then you’re really insane. I don’t really give a damn what others think of me for the most part. And I’m not letting Akumu out.” His key began to glow black, and he pointed it at me, “Not gonna HAPPEN!” I yelled, preparing to charge him. The darkness around his key continued to grow, and grow as I prepared. Just as I began, a beam of darkness shot out and hit me in the chest, and I started to feel dizzy, just like the first time Akumu took over. My vision started to fail, and I collapsed to the ground, clutching my chest. Just as the darkness was about to claim me, I heard a voice. ‘It is not yet your time, Night Guardian.’ What? Who.... ‘You still have friends you wish to protect, do you not?’ Yeah, but what does that have to do with- ‘Then you have a reason to stay, though not without cost.’ What kind of cost? ‘Your sword is bound to you, or to your human body, and it acts as a medium between you and the orb, granting you control over much of your power. However, you must cast both aside if you truly wish to protect those you hold dear to your heart.’ So, it’s either give up my human form and my sword, or give up my heart? No contest. The sword and my old self may be important to me, but if it’s a toss-up between them and protecting my friends? I’ll choose my friends every time. So, are you gonna help me gain the strength to protect them, or what? ‘Very well then.’ The voice faded away, and I saw a flash of pure light, before a presence entered my mind. I could feel it as if it was a part of me, as it pulled me away from the darkness. Then I started to feel as if a part of me was being taken away, not a physical part, but a spiritual part. Then I came to. I was still in front of Umbra, but he was looking at me as if I’d grown a second head. I soon saw why, as standing right beside me, was Akumu, in my body, looking just as shocked as I was. That was when I noticed I was in my pegasus form. “I don’t know. But the floor changed. Take a look.” I said, pointing to it. The top level of the dive had become a darker shade of blue. The young man’s picture had morphed into one of me in my pegasus form, the small scene of an ocean, clouds and a lone palm tree had changed to resemble Nibelheim to an extent, and the faces in the other circles shifted to show Luna, Die, Celestia, and my human face. Finally, the crowns in the outer rim of the floor had changed into symbols I had never seen before, except for two that I recognised as the symbols within the Celestial Orbs. “So this is my Dive to the Heart as you call it? Does that mean we’re actually in my heart or something?” I asked confusedly. “Yeah, well you’re gonna think this is even more incredible!” I said, as I let my heart react and bring forth a new weapon for me to fight with. Umbra shouted as he jumped off the pillar and into a dark passage. I turned to Akumu, who promptly followed Umbra through the passage just before it closed, leaving me alone with my thoughts. So, is this where it ends? Do I just spend eternity trapped in my own heart? ‘No. This is not the end.’ Oh, it’s you again. ‘Your journey is not over. You still have a task to complete.’ And what is that? ‘You must find the nobodies of your friend Lumos and his other self, Malum before Umbra and Akumu do. Unfortunately, the one known as Mirum has become a heartless rather than a Nobody, and there is little hope for saving him.’ Ok, so I have to save Lumos and Malum, and I also have to beat Umbra, Akumu, save Mirum if I can, and destroy him if I can’t. Does that about sum it up? ‘Yes. It does.’ Well, how am I supposed to do that? I can’t exactly leave this place, can I? ‘That is where you are wrong. You will be released very soon.’ Wait, what? ‘Apologies, but it is time for you to go home to your friends.’ Just like before, the voice and its presence faded from my mind, just as a tear appeared in the darkness above me. A hand, well, more like a paw, shot through and grabbed me, pulling me through to whatever awaited me on the other side... A/N: I know, I haven’t done ending Notes in a couple of chapters, but that’s cause I had nothing to say. The way this turned out the first time wasn’t exactly, good. Well actually, we erased it cause it was shit compared to this.Trust me, you don’t wanna see what we had before. But if you do, maybe I’ll consider showing it sometime. Then again, maybe not. I’ll leave it up to you to decide. PM me if you do want to see it. No promises though. Also: “It always runs but never walks, often murmurs, never talks, has a bed but never sleeps, has a mouth but never eats. What is it?”
Chapter 8: Never too latePocket Dimension Office Woah, definitely wasn’t expecting this. I was sitting in a rather well organized office, with a man wearing a skull hat and a Polka Dot covered business suit, which was weird enough without the snaggletooth and mismatched horns growing on his head. After a few seconds of silence, I decided to see if I could still speak. “Um, thanks, I guess, for pulling me out of there. But who are you?” I asked. “Discord, spirit of chaos, though a better question is how did you get out of the realm of darkness?” he said “Don’t know. One minute the darkness was consuming me, then I heard a voice, then I was in what Umbra called my Dive to the Heart. And I thought it was called the Dark Zone.” I replied. “Different worlds call it different things, the void between worlds has many names, the dark zone, the darkness, the void, but... It’s been so long since I’ve heard that term, ‘dive to the heart,’ anyway, what did this voice say? Oh, wait, before that, would you care for a beverage?” He asked, snapping his fingers. Suddenly, a glass of a brown liquid appeared in front of me in a glass. “Thanks.” I said, trying to grip the glass, though it was kinda difficult with hooves. How do they do it? I thought as I repeatedly failed to grasp it several times. Discord noticed my plight, and said flatly, “Straw?” I nodded, and a silly straw manifested itself in the glass. “Thanks, again.” I said, before slurping the chocolate milk through the straw. “So then, what did this voice say?” “It said it wasn’t my time, that I had a reason to stay, though there was a cost. I had to give up my human form, and my sword, meaning I apparently lost the one thing that allowed me to control my powers when I used them. In exchange, I got this weird weapon shaped like a key. Umbra called it a keyblade. Then he ran off, then the voice showed up again and told me I had to find Lumos and Malum before Umbra and Akumu did. That’s when you showed up and brought me here.” “I see, and then what happened?” “Then I asked your name, you told me, you gave me some chocolate milk, and it’s awesome by the way, I couldn’t grip it so you gave me a straw, and here we are.” I said. “Interesting... Anyway, off you go, there are people and ponies waiting.” He said. “Wait, I have a question.” He sighed, “Yes?” “Why? Why did you save me? I don’t mean to be rude, but I don’t understand why.” I said. “I made a deal, if you got out, I got to be free again.” “I see. So it’s a chance at redemption, if you will.” “You could see it as that, now, out you go!” He said, snapping his fingers, and the world disappeared around me... __________________________________________________________________ Canterlot Gardens My vision was blurry, but I could just make out the familiar sight of the Canterlot Gardens. I only had a second to take it in before I was tackled by two blurs, one black and yellow, the other midnight blue. I heard a chuckle, followed by a voice saying “No brakes on the rape train.” “Shut up Ven.” Die said, briefly turning to flip him the bird, before slapping me, then embracing me again. “You idiot. Don’t ever do anything like that again, you hear me?” She said, and I could make out the tears as my vision cleared up, thanks to her slap, as much as I hate to admit it. “Got it sis.” I said, smiling. “So, what happened in there? Where is Lumos?” Clare asked. “Lumos’ darkness won. He became separated into what he called a ‘heartless’ and a ‘Nobody’. The heartless called itself Umbra. I don’t know what the Nobody is called, since Umbra said it was sent to a random place depending on what kind of Nobody he became. The same for Mirum and Malum. Mirum is a heartless now, and Malum is a nobody. Oh, and Akumu’s been separated from me and is with Umbra right now.” I said, completely calm the whole time. “Wait, wouldn’t that make you a nobody as well?” Asked Ven. “No. There was a voice, it let me keep my heart, but I had to give up my human form, and my sword, and with them, my control over the powers of the Lunar Orb. In exchange, I got this.” I said, removing myself from Luna and Die’s embrace, summoning my keyblade and levitating it in front of me, thankful that I at least could still use telekinesis safely. Ven’s eyes widened a dramatic amount upon seeing this. “Do you even know what that is?!?!” He asked, nearly a shout. “Yes. I do. It’s a keyblade. Umbra told me what it can do, how it’s the only weapon that can defeat a heartless. It’s called Blackout Prizm.” I replied. “Yeah, that about sums it up. So did the voice say anything notable?” “Yeah. It said we had to go and find Lumos and Malum’s nobodies before Umbra and Akumu do.” “Wait,” Clare said, “Why would Umbra and Akumu go after Lumos and Malum, and what about the other one... Mirum, was it?” “It’s actually very simple Clare. Umbra and Akumu seek to destroy their Nobodies to prevent them from regaining their hearts, and as for Mirum,” I hung my head sadly. “The voice said we probably can’t save him.” “Well,” Ven said, “As long as Organization 13 doesn’t find them...” “Yeah, Umbra mentioned them as well.” I said. “He didn’t go into too much detail, just said they were the strongest nobodies around, the only ones who keep their old forms.” “Yeah, thats one part of it, they are a group of thirteen nobodies, thirteen who didn’t transform, other than number 13, who was a fraction of two different people. I’m getting off track, anyway, the point is that they use keyblade wielders to hunt heartless, so they can use the released hearts to create a thing called ‘Kingdom Hearts.’” “So, we need to find Lumos and Malum before these ‘Organization 13’ creeps do, and help them get their hearts back.” “Well, if they joined the organization, then two things could happen that i know of: first, they complete kingdom hearts and both become whole, and leave the ‘world that never was.’ or they become two of the thirteen ‘darknesses.’ That are meant to start a huge war.” “War?” I asked, the word shocking me a little. “I don’t really know the details, but for a thing known the ‘keyblade war’ to start, there are meant to be 13 ‘darknesses’ which all hold one soul, the soul of the #1 of the organization, and seven different ‘lights,’ which I think are keyblade wielders, unless that storyline has already happened in this world.” “I see. So we’ll not only be trying to find and rescue, Lumos, Malum, and Mirum if possible, but we’ll also be trying to prevent a war?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. “Sounds good to me.” “The last part is a maybe on whether or not we have to, as that storyline might have already happened. But yes.” Ven said nonchalantly. “Wait wait wait, are you saying that you are going to try and stop a war?” Luna asked. “ABSOLUTELY NOT! You’ve almost died three times already, you are not going to tempt fate any further!” She yelled. “Luna,” Ven said, with an air of seriousness that normally isn’t there, “You don’t understand, this war will affect ALL worlds, and could very well end them. Every last one.” “But Noctis almost died again. I’ve already lost so many friends through my life. I can’t lose another. I can’t.” She said, wrapping her hooves around me again. I just wrapped my own around her and returned the hug, trying to stay calm despite the situation. Eventually, I managed to assure her that I wouldn’t leave her, and she released me, still sobbing a little. “Honestly, I don’t know how we would even get off this world...” Ven said, looking deep in thought. “I think I could help out a bit there.” A familiar voice said from above me. “Hey, Discord. I was wondering where you went.” I said, smiling despite the bone-crushing hug I had received. “So, why’d you come back?” “Eh, I was just in the neighbourhood, and happened to overhear.” he said with a shrug. “So, you can help us out? That would be awesome.” I said. Clare, who had been silent until this point, spoke up, saying “Why is it I’m the only one who isn’t following what’s happening?” “Don’t worry, you aren’t.” said Erahaor, who was standing a few feet away. “Ok, I’ll sum it up for you.” I said. “Discord saved my flank by pulling me out of my DtH into a pocket world, then he sent me here, we talked, got frustrated about being unable to travel to other worlds to find Lumos, Mirum and Malum, and Discord showed up again, offering to help us out. Does that sum it up for you Clare, Era.” I said smugly. Clare blinked a few times, before saying, “Yeah, it does.” “Ok then. So, Discord, do you mind if I call you Dizzy?” I asked. “I mind, yes, but if you want, I can’t stop you from calling me it.” “Ok. Well, are there any nicknames you do like? I won’t call you one you don’t like going by.” I said. He looked deep in thought for a moment, before looking up, and saying, “Nnope!” “Ok then. Well, how can you help us?” “I pulled you into a side dimension. I think I can handle moving you from one world to another.” “Good point. So, have you been to any worlds other than this one before?” I asked curiously. “Lots, I’ve watched tons of worlds, such as the one Lumos, Clare, Ventus, and several other humans were on before, their Equis.” “Cool. So, how would it work anyway? Do you just snap your fingers and open a portal to another world?” Discord scoffed, “Oh, please, that's too mainstream, we’re taking the Swagwagon.” He said with a joyful tone. “Swagwagon?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. Discord snapped his fingers, and a large ship appeared above us, “Yes, the Swagwagon battleship.” He said smugly “Woah. Cool.” I said, staring at the ship. “Is that a chocolate fountain mast?” I asked, confused. “Why don’t you see for yourselves?” he asked, obviously proud of the ship. “Don’t mind if I do!” Ven said, flying to the ship. “Be careful of the-” discord began before Ven crashed into something, “... force field.” he finished. Ven slid slowly down the field around the ship, before falling off it and catching himself after falling a few feet. I almost doubled over laughing. “So... how do we get on then?” Clare asked, curiously. “Teleportation.” Discord said. “Thats simple... especially for someone who often speaks in riddles.” Ven said, Discord simply shrugged. “Oh shut up and go make-out with Die.” I said, receiving a hard punch from my now blushing sister for my trouble. Ven glared at me, “Shush, nobody needs to know that.” I stared at him, wide-eyed. “You actually did!? Ha, I knew you two liked each other!” I shouted triumphantly. Ven blushed, and a small whirlwind appeared around him, followed by him flying off at amazing speeds. “Wow, I didn’t think he’d be that embarassed.” I said. “Well you just revealed he had a crush on your sister, from what I’ve seen, he normally doesn’t talk about anything personal really.” Clare said, seemingly bored. “So, he keeps to himself? How did he end up falling for Die, anyway? Was it a love at first sight thing or what?” “I honestly don’t know, as you just put it, he keeps to himself about that kind of thing. Although I did notice her sneaking glances at her shortly after the battle with Akumu.” “I see. I should go apologize, huh?” “Nah, he’ll get over it,” she lowered her voice, “Besides, now Die knows he has feelings for her as well.” “Uh, I think she already knew. After all, he did technically admit that he made out with her, though that may just have been male exaggerated bragging.” I replied. “Hmm... I haven’t really seen much of them for the last couple days, so it’s possible they actually were...” She looked deep in thought, “Also, why did it take Discord 2 days to find you?” It took a few seconds for me to register this information. “WHAT!? I’VE BEEN GONE FOR TWO DAYS!?” I yelled. “Yeah, Luna spent most of it staying out here, just waiting.” “But, I thought it was only a few hours. What the hell!?” “Well, different worlds should have different passing of time, shouldn’t they? It’s possible you’ve only been gone from your world for less than a second in their time.” “Hmmm. Hey, Discord, can you travel through time as well as space?” I asked. “Not at all.” “Do you have any ideas whose voice it was that I heard? I’ve been wracking my brain but I can’t figure it out.” I said. “Not a clue.” “Ok then. One more thing. Of all the worlds you visited, which one would be best for learning to control the power I’ve got. I need somewhere I can train without causing a lot of collateral damage. Plus, I kinda need to figure out how to walk, run, all that stuff.” “I could answer that,” Clare said, “Olympus Coliseum.” “Olympus Coliseum?” I asked. “Sounds good. What’s it like there?” “It’s best if you see it yourself.” She said. “Splendid. Now, shall we get going before worlds start disappearing?” Discord asked. “Sure. But who’s going and who’s staying?” “I’m going,” said Erahaor, “I can’t stand this world anyway.” “I volunteer,” Said Clare “And I know where we can get more ‘helpers,’ if we take a bit of extra time.” “I’m going.” said Die. “If you go, Ven is probably going too, so that makes a total of 6, since the princesses have to stay here.” “Actually, we shall be accompanying you as well. Discord, we were wondering if you’d be able to create doppelgangers to stand in for us while we’re gone?” Celestia replied with a small smile. “That wasn’t my reason.” Clare said flatly, “The first world we’re going to is an alternate version of this world, if you see yourself...” she trailed off. “That’s why we’ll be disguising ourselves. I am not abandoning my friends.” Luna deadpanned. “You’d better stay on the ship on that world anyway,” Clare said, “So Its 8 crewmembers so far. Noctis, Die, Celestia, Luna, Ven, me, and Era. So on ‘our’ world we could probably get others to help us.” “Ok,” Discord said, “Die, since you are the... closest to Ven, you should go get him so that he will come with us.” “Fine.” She said, before switching to her pegasus form and taking off in the direction Ven had gone. “So, do we get the grand tour?” Clare asked Discord, who gave a grin. “Yes, come right this way,” he said, and snapped his fingers. __________________________________________________________________ The good ship Swagwagon [one huge tour later] “Woah, I am definitely liking the game room.” I said, glad I’d managed to learn how to walk without stumbling every two seconds. “So, how long did it take you to make the ship?” “About a second.” Discord said. “Just wish Clare would stop playing the final fantasy games,” Ven said. He and Die had joined us a few minutes after we started, along with Celestia and Luna, who were content to just enjoy the tour in silence. “I dunno, I thought it was cool seeing Zack’s story, except for, y’know, the ‘incident’ onward.” I said. “It’s not that, its that I wanted to play some Kingdom Hearts.” He said glumly. “Well, we can come back to it later. I’d like to see just what a keyblade is really capable of.” “Easiest way would be to play the game, too bad you have hooves.” “You forgot about telekinesis.” I said. “Actually, I solved the whole ‘hooves’ problem by making a VR room.” Vens eyes widened, “Holy crap, really?” “Eeyup!” Discord said in a southern accent. He turned to Die and me, “Don’t. Tell. Clare. She would hog it.” “My lips are sealed. So, how does it work? Is there a helmet you put on or something, or is it something even cooler?” “No, its just Illusions, and minor shocks will go through injuries when you’re hit, you could use that for your training as well.” He explained “So, it is cooler than tech. Color me impressed Discord.” I said. “So... How long will the actual cross dimensional travel take?” Ven asked. “Depends on the dimension, if we’re going to an alternate version of the same world, half an hour, to a completely different world, at least a day.” “So, Ven, what’s your world like?” I asked. Ven just chuckled “You’ll see soon enough, we ready to go?” Die shrugged. “Sure, I guess. Hey, Discord, we’re ready when you are.” “WE GO!” Discord shouted as he slammed a paw onto a big red button that materialised out of nowhere. I tensed up, expecting a sudden movement but when nothing happened, I relaxed. “That, was surprisingly uneventful.” I said. “What did you expect?” Ven said. “I dunno. A sudden drop, or movement, or something.” I replied. “Exactly.” “Soooo....wanna get some training in?” I asked. “Eh, why not? If we come across any heartless it would help for you to be skilled with a keyblade...” “Plus, I need to learn control over my powers all over again. Without Tsuki no me, I’m a disaster waiting to happen.” I said sadly. “Well, if you don’t mind me asking, what did the Lunar orb actually look like?” “It looked like a support materia, except for the crescent moon symbol inside it. It acted like a magic materia with multiple spells available, but it was hard to control without using the blade as a medium.” I explained. “... and could I look at your keyblade?” He asked with a spark in his eye. I shrugged. “Sure.” I summoned it and levitated it over to him, but the second he touched it, it disappeared and reappeared next to me. “What the?” He facepalmed “Yeah, I forgot they did that... Anyway, the coloration is the similar to the orb, and it does have the whole ‘moon’ thing with it... Could the keyblade... be the orb itself?” “Wait, what? So the orb may have become this? Then does that mean Die’s Orb could do the same?” I asked. “Possible, though not likely. If her orb does have an alternate form, it would probably be a different kind of item. So about that training?[/green]” I nodded, and we followed Discord to the ‘VR Room’. __________________________________________________________________ ‘VR’ Room Ven stood in the middle of the chamber, reading the instructions Discord gave us on how to activate it. “Virtual Reality, On.” The room instantly lit up. “Run battle simulation: Basic Heartless attack.” The room grew dark, and the environment changed to a forest in the night, and tons of black creatures came out of the ground. Ven grinned, and said, “Create item: keyblade. Create ‘keychain’: Way to the Dawn.” and a Giant silver key appeared in his hand, and strange symbol, which he attached to the key. A large amount of light came from the keyblade. When the light faded, it had changed. “Ok, now what? These ones seem a little, tame, to me.” “One moment, and I’ll start it.” He looked up, “Create enemy: Vanitas.” A ball of darkness appeared, and out of it walked a guy in a strange outfit and a keyblade of his own. “Wait, Vanitas? Umbra mentioned this guy. He can create these things called Unversed, right?” “Yeah, thats him, you ready?” He asked, dropping into his ready stance. I nodded. “Simulation: Start.” he said, and ran forward, shouting “Ability disable: attack magic.” “Making it harder for us? Fine with me.” I said, levitating Blackout Prizm in front of me and charging towards Vanitas, who summoned several unversed, who divided themselves between attacking me and attacking Ven. The ones who attacked Ven lasted about a second. “My powers technically aren’t magic,” He said with a grin as he dispatched two more heartless and unversed. He leaped into the air, and dispatched another heartless, “That makes 20 heartless, 23 unversed. Change difficulty: pureblood heartless, level 2” More of the ‘shadows’ popped out of the ground, as well as taller ones that otherwise looked the same. (These, and these.) “Hey Ven, can I create an enemy for us to fight? There’s a specific one I want to go up against.” I asked. “Sure, why not? Pause simulation. Remove enemy: Vanitas.” And with that, the masked figure faded away. “Ok, my turn. Create enemy: Iron Imprisoner Stage Four!” I said, and the creature I had fought before appeared right in front of me, flaming cage hammer and all. Ven grinned, “Hm... All right, if we’re going with higher rank enemies. Create enemy: Guard Armor. Create enemy: Number 13: Roxas.” and with that, two more creatures appeared, one was a large suit of purple armor, and the other was a black cloak, and held two keyblades, one Light, the other dark. “Woah, two keyblades? Where’d he get those? And that armor, sorta looks like the Trinity Armor I fought, if a more simplistic version, that is.” “Trinity Armor was an unversed, the Guard armor was the original idea’s form, a heartless. As for the two keyblades, its a rare occurrence, anyway, meet Roxas, member number 13 of the organization, he is the Nobody of a boy named Sora.” “Wait, Sora? Umbra made a fake DtH that he said looked like Sora’s. Does he have brown spiky hair and wield a silver keyblade with a black handle and golden handguards?” I asked. “Yeah, he is the main character in the Kingdom Hearts games.” “Huh, this Roxas guy doesn’t look much like him, and from what Umbra said, Nobodies are supposed to look like the person they used to be.” “Thats because he is based off of someone else’s heart that was fused with Sora, coincidentally also named Ventus, and depending on where we are in the KH story line, you may meet him while he’s awake.” “Dude, you share a name with a video game character? That’s pretty cool.” I said. He grinned, “Why do you think I chose it? Unsummon pureblood Heartless and basic unversed. Change location: New York. Unpause Simulation.” He said and all the black creatures and all the unversed but the Imprisoner remained. I looked around, seeing us in a large open area with tall buildings on all sides. “Welcome to my old home, New York city.” He said as he blocked an attack from Roxas, “I’ll take this one.” “Ok then, I guess I get the imprisoner and the armor.” I replied, spreading my wings and flying above the Imrpisoner’s swinging hammer. Ven then said “Allow ability: Drive forms: anti form and final form.” and darkness flowed around him, making him look like a heartless as his keyblade disappeared. The now heartless-esque Ventus ran forward on all fours, and attacked Roxas with rapid attacks, moving so fast I couldn’t even see, it wasn’t until I took a hit from the guard armor that I remembered my own fight. I released a breath I hadn’t even realised I had been holding, and I used a technique I’d learned around 3 years after obtaining the Orb. I held BP to my opposite side and took a deep breath as I faced the Guard Armor. Cherry Blossom leaves started to appear and blow around us Suddenly, I disappeared in a blur of speed as I charged towards and past the Armor, making a single strike before reappearing behind it. “ZANTETSUKEN!” I said, as the strike caught up with the armor, completely bisecting it. It disappeared in a flash of darkness, leaving only the Iron Imprisoner for me to face. “Not bad.” Ven said, sitting on top of Roxas, who then faded out of existence. “Thanks. A lot tougher to use as a pony though.” I huffed, exhausted after what usually only used up a fraction of my stamina. “Think it’d be a bad idea to use it again?” I asked as I faced the Imprisoner that was charging towards us. “Ability activate:synch blade. Summon keychains: Oathkeeper and Oblivion” Ven said whilst dodging a flaming spin attack, and another keyblade appeared in his left hand, as well as two other symbols, he then attached the symbols to his keyblades, and they changed again into the same ones Roxas used. “Cool. Hey, if Die’s orb ever did become a keyblade, what do you think it would be called?” I asked, trying to imagine my sister with a keyblade. He shot a beam of light out of both keyblades, instantly destroying it, “Hm.. now thats a good question... Probably something like this... remove ability: synch blade, remove keychains, way to the dawn, oathkeeper, oblivion. create keychain: ignited heart” this time the ‘keychain,’ as he kept calling them appeared on the keyblade, instantly transforming it, and making it catch fire. “Ok, now that’s awesome.” I said, when suddenly, a random name popped into my head. “Create keychain: Infinity Spectrum.” A keychain with a sun appeared in front of me, and as I stuck it onto my keyblade, it completely transformed. “Cool, so mine can transform.” Ven grinned, “All keyblades can change shape based off of the keyblades.” “So, do you think I can keep the keychain?” I asked with a small grin. “Probably not, since it’s just virtual reality.” He shrugged, “How long have we been here?” “Lemme check. Display Time/Date, 12 hour system.” I said. Nothing came up. “Wrong command if you want to know that. Display ‘play’ time.” a timer appeared, saying 24:13 and went up every second. “Oh. Then how do I check the time itself then?” I asked, a little embarrassed by my blunder. “Display calendar.” and a calendar appeared, saying it was the fifteenth of June. “Huh, Lumos was right, the world is on a different clock.” “Ok. So, who are we going to ask for help when we get there anyway?” I inquired. “Oh, just the rest of our little human ‘colony.’” Ven said, “I know a few who definitely will join, and one who probably won’t.” “I see. So, can you tell me about them?” “Well, I don’t really know much about them personally, but I know what they call themselves, and their powers more so than them. To start, there are the first two, Shade and Aqua, they were sort of in a relationship at last check.” “Like you and Die? And don’t deny it. You like her, right?” I asked with a grin. He turned a deep shade of crimson, “Please stop bringing it up...” “I will when you and Die both admit you like each other.” I said with a small scowl. “Well you already know I like her, now will you stop pushing it?” “Did you tell her?” I asked. “... No, I haven’t... It’s just...” He looked like he was searching for the right words, “I don’t know how... and honestly, I don’t know how she’ll respond immediately to it, which is the part that scares me the most.” “Look, I know she likes you. We even had a bet before the fight that Era interrupted. If I won, she had to ask you out, and when I said that, she blushed redder than the Solar Orb. The problem is, you’ll never know how she’ll respond until you try, but I have the utmost faith that it will be a good one.” I said. “Fine, I’ll tell her, just... Not until we reach a specific world.” “Which one. And before you say ‘wait and see’, know that I’ll keep hounding you until you tell me.” “I won’t tell you the name because you’ll hound me to go to that world if I do, but I will tell you its the most likely world for us to be separated from the rest on, if I’m right. Anyway, we should be arriving any moment, so lets find the others.” “I won’t hound you to go. We’ll get there when we get there, and all that. All I want to know is its name. Is that so much to ask?” “Well, how about this: think of it as... a surprise for you as well as her. Besides, if you knew, you might act a little off when we get there, which could tip her off.” “I’ll give you that. Ever since that DtH incident, I’ve felt different. If I had to describe myself, I’d say I was more like, well, a pony, in regards to my emotional state. I feel more open than I ever did, and I find it a little easier to be happy about things.” “Yeah, makes sense. Anyway, lets go to the bridge.” “Ok.” I said, and we headed through the ship. “Hey Ven, you know I like Luna, right?” “We all do, dude.” “Yeah yeah.” I said in mock-irritation. “What I mean is, does she feel the same way?” “Is it not obvious?” “Well, she did hug me when I got back....but I thought it was just because she was worried. So she actually li--” “You two can talk about it later,” Discord said, appearing in front of us, “We’re here. Now, I’m only teleporting Clare and Ventus down. Everyone else has to stay on the ship, including myself, the environment apparently has formed some sort of thing that could harm off worlders since I was last there.” “Ok Cap’n Discord. I wish I could’ve seen what your Equis is like though Ven.” “Yeah, and I wish I was the one who owned this ship. Ok, Discord, anything I should know before you send me off?” Discord snapped his fingers, and a device appeared around his wrist. “That will let you contact me when everyone you can bring is with you, and we only have 4 spare rooms, so choose carefully.” He said. Ven did an overdone salute, before saying “Ready to go, sir.” Discord just snapped his fingers, and he disappeared. “Well that’s cool. And only four? Couldn’t you make more if you needed to? I mean, you can do practically anything, right?” I said. “True, but I don’t like dealing with too large of groups. Too much noise.” “Good point. Too many and it get’s way too hard to get things done too.” “Glad to know we see eye to eye on that, my pony friend.” “Thanks. Hey, can I ask you something?” “Sure, but there is no guarantee I’ll answer it.” “Ok, better make it a good question then. Hmmm....do you like Celestia? I mean romantically.” Without blush or any sign of bashfulness, Discord, just said “Yes, very much so.” “Ok then. I was gonna ask you about why I feel different, seeing as you tend to know things that not even Celestia could figure out, but I already think I know why, besides not having to worry about Akumu taking over my body anymore.” “Oh trust me, the trouble Akumu will be is far worse now than before. At Umbra’s side, he can travel to any world much faster than us, and spread heartless easily.” Discord said glumly. “Then we just have to take him down, don’t we?” I replied with a confident smile. “I wish it was that easy, there are only... I think 10 living keyblade wielders right now. One is currently in a coma, one is a statue, one is trapped in the world of darkness, three are children with next to no training with it, one just discovered his, one is too old to really fight well enough, one is a humanized mouse, and one is the guy who created the very first heartless, and by connection the nobodies.” “Ok then. So, do you have anything besides the games I could use to learn more about this Kingdom Hearts stuff, including previous keyblade wielders?” I asked. “I have a written collection of a group of items in the game called the ‘secret reports,’ and the guides to each game. As well as some of the research that, once stolen, helped create the first heartless.” “Awesome. So where is it? I wanna learn as much as I can before we get to where we’re going.” I said. “VR room: library mode.” Discord said, as though bored. “Not a fan of libraries?” I asked as the room became a huge library with books of all kinds. “No, I just don’t want people stealing my books.” “Dude, couldn’t you enchant them to trap any would-be thieves inside until you decide they learned their lesson?” “Yes, but this is easier. Plus they might like that kind of punishment.” “Not if they become a blank page or something. Then they’re not in the story, they’re just blank.” “Still, it’s easier to just make them illusions.” “I guess. So, is there anything you wanna do?” I asked as I looked through the various sections for information on the Kingdom Hearts games. “Got nothing to do, really, since simply leaving the ship may kill me. Also, Find related articles: Kingdom hearts.” The library shrunk to just a handful of books. “Cool. I should really start reading the instructions, huh?” I said. “It would be better if you just played the Kingdom Hearts games in VR mode.” “Maybe, but I like to read up on things as well before I experience them. Except instruction manuals. I always dive in without reading them and cause havoc as I try to figure out the controls by myself.” I chuckled remembering when I went with Die and my parents to the Gold Saucer, and getting addicted to all the games. “Well... In this version there are no real controls, since its true virtual reality, scents, sounds, sight, even emulation of touch.” I could hear the pride from his voice. “Dude, that is definitely awesome. Wish I could make something like that.” I said, more than a little jealous. “It’s magic. I don’t have to explain shit!” I chuckled. “I never said you had to explain it. I was just wishing I could make something as awesome as what you made, dude.” “Well you can’t cause you don’t have as large magic supplies.” I sighed. “Technically it’s because I can’t use chaos magic. The Orbs that gave Celestia and Luna their power reside within me and Die. Well, technically, my Orb may have become a keyblade. And I have to learn to control that power all over again. Hey, any ideas just how powerful the Orbs really are? I’m asking a lot of questions, aren’t I?” I said, giving myself a headache. “Yes you are. Enjoy the reading, and I do recommend playing some KH for a better understanding, as not much is written about the keyblade.” Discord said before disappearing. “I will. Thanks.” I started to go through the books one by one, in historical order, rather than in order of which game came first. “Man, Discord has definitely got an awesome collection.” I said as I went through the various books, guides and journals at hand... I mean hoof. __________________________________________________________________ Three hours later I’d fallen asleep about 3/4 of the way through all the books. I was completely wrecked. I was awoken by a voice I recognized as Ven’s came over the intercom, saying “Beam me up, Scotty.” I got up, turned off the VR, and headed straight to the bridge, where I saw several humans that I assumed were the friends Ven had talked about, and each was an oddity on their own. The first one was completely covered from head to toe, in a grey, loose fitting robe and face wrap, with a black stripe going up the front and back. Second, there was a guy who wore a simple business suit from the same material as Ven’s outfit, had neon blue hair, and was soaked in water. After that there was a woman secreting smoke from her hands somehow, who wore a t-shirt and shorts ALSO made of the same material. Last, there was a guy with Spiky Red and Yellow hair, who was wearing blue jeans, a red shirt, and a light blue one of those jackets than have fur coming out of the hood. I walked up to the four new arrivals and introduced myself. “Hi. Noctis, ex-SOLDIER, pony, and immortal, at your service.” They all stared for a few moments, before the guy in the business suit stepped forward said, “I am Aqua, that” he pointed at the woman secreting smoke, “Is shade, that,” he pointed at the robed one, “Is Tox, and finally, we have ‘Sparky.’” The man in the jacket glared at him. “Its ‘Jolt,’ not ‘Sparky.’” He said. “Well, it’s nice to meet you all. So, did Ven tell you about Lumos?” I asked. “About how he is now four beings, two heartlesses, and two nobodies?” Shade asked. “And about how one heartless, Umbra, nearly got to me, and released my own darkness, Akumu, who now exists in my human form, while I am now a pegasus and wield a keyblade ? Did he tell you about that?” I asked. “Well,” Said the one called ‘Tox,’ in a feminine voice, “We seem to be on the same page here.” “Alright then. So, you know we’re going after Lumos and Malum, and Mirum if it’s possible to save him that is. We have to find them before Umbra and Akumu.” “Yes, that we do,” Jolt said, “Anyway, Ven also explained who we would be traveling with beforehand, which is probably why Stan refused to come with us.” “Stan?” I asked. “One of the others who arrived after Discords defeat, he has earth based powers, and is a stereotype jock, and a sexist pig.” Clare said angrily. “Ok then. Good thing he didn’t come with you. Anyway, where are we off to first Cap’n?” I turned to Discord, who was in his human form. “Ask navigation.” He said, pointing at Ven. “Well?” I asked. “We’re going to the world every KH game has visited at least once: Hollow Bastion, also known as Radiant Gardens.” “Nice. So, what exactly are we hoping to find there? Think we’ll meet Yuffie and Cid?” “How do you know of Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee?” Ven asked. “I spent the past three hours reading up on Kingdom Hearts, that’s how.” I said smugly. “By the way, I really wanna obtain some of those keychains sometime. They look like they’d be handy.” “Well, they might have one or two in the shops there, thats one reason we’re stopping there. Also, we’re going to look for information on recent heartless attacks, maybe try to find other keyblade wielders, oh, and maybe meet with some people from your world. Though they probably won’t recognize you.” “Ok then. If I recall, the ones there should be Tifa, Cloud and Yuffie, right? And Cid, can’t forget that crazy flyboy.” I said. “Well, Cloud may or may not be there, depending on if the battle with Sephiroth has happened yet.” I bristled. “Don’t. Mention. Sephiroth.” I said, trying to calm down by taking deep breaths. “Got it, anyway, if that battle has occurred, then KH2 has already happened, if not, we may run into Sora if we wait near the Dark Depths.” Ven said. “Also, the information we do gather will decide the next location. So I’m only deciding which world to go to out of those available.” “Ok then. Hey, where are Die and the princesses by the way?” I asked, only just noticing their absence. Clare answered, “They are all in the game room, Die playing the final fantasy games, and the princesses are playing Halo, oddly enough we have an internet connection here.” “Ok then. So, got an ETA?” “One day two hours.” Discord said, and said, “Liftoff in five, four, three, two,” The people who just got on all grabbed onto something and tensed up, “one, and we have liftoff.” Ven chuckled at the antics of the other humans, and walked over to me, before whispering “Don’t tell these guys about the VR room either, Aqua would ruin it with his water secretion, shade would fill the place with smoke, Sparky would electrocute the damn thing in anger, and Tox would sit in there for hours playing card games with illusionary opponents.” “Is Tox a gambler in disguise?” I asked. “No, she plays Magic the Gathering, I’m pretty sure you’ve heard of it from Lumos.” “Yeah. Era, the elf who tried to kill me, was from one of the places that the game is set in.” “Yeah, I know, Mirrodin.” He said, “I’m gonna go play some KH in the Virtual room” “And speaking of Era, where’s he? And why do I keep failing to notice others being absent?” “Era has been in the ‘dark room’ since we left, as for the second question, you’re not very observant. See ya in a bit.” Ven said as he left the room. “Oh. Right.” I said, facehoofing. “And yeah, I’m not very observant anymore. It used to be hard for me to miss something. Now I feel like I have to reach that state of alertness all over again.” I said. “Um, Noctis?” Clare said, “He left.” “Oh. See what I mean though? I’m starting out as a complete amateur again.” “Yeah. I see. Maybe having Akumu was constantly keep you on your toes, which now would have to be metaphorical, made you more observant, and being without him, you’re relaxing to the point you stop noticing normal things? Damn, gave myself a headache.” Clare said, gripping her head lightly. “So because he’s separated from me, I subconsciously lowered my guard and as such, I’m much less observant etc. Well, at least I seem to regain that alertness in battle.” I said. “Eh, good enough, anyway, goodnight.” She said, and turned to leave. “Sure.” I said, before turning to Discord. “I’m gonna go train for a while. If I start spending too long, you have my permission to have whoever you want do whatever you want them to if it gets me to take a break.” I said. “Seems legit,” Discord said. “Aqua, Shade, Tox, ‘Sparky’.” I said nodding to each of them, smiling despite the glare Jolt gave me, before heading to the VR Room for another training session. Unbeknownst to me, someone was already there. As I walked in, I found myself in Hollow Bastion, the KH2 version. There, I saw ‘Sora’ battling against an army of heartless. ‘Sora’ charged forward toward the hoard, Kingdom key in hand, slashing through the first three that came his way. This was followed by charging through several, and letting out a wide slash, taking out a good portion of them. His body glowed, and he lept up, diving through the crowd of heartless and floating up several times, before landing again, and continuing his onslaught. About two minutes into the battle, one of the floating heartless began to create a blue energy. ‘Sora’ saw this, and jumped up and grabbed it. He then landed, and used the heartless to destroy the heartless in a wide radius. His keyblade then glowed red, and with a shout of “FIRE!” several fireballs began to orbit him for a few seconds, striking any heartless stupid enough to draw near. ‘Sora’ kept this strategy up until the rest of the heartless were all dead. At which a mechanical voice said “Battle of Hollow Bastion: Complete. Damage taken: light. Time taken: 4 minutes, 40 seconds. Kills: 1000. Reaction commands used: 2. Spells used: 1. Items used: 0. Overall Score: A” “Damn, I was aiming for ‘S’ rank... Shouldn’t have used Fire.” Ven’s voice said. “That was still damn impressive, and coming from a former 1st Class, you know that’s something.” I said as the Virtual battleground faded away. “Hey,” Ven said, “... How much of that did you see?” “Pretty much all of it. Never seen fire used like that before. Is that what a keyblade is really capable of?” I asked. “Hardly, Sora’s abilities are nowhere near those of any who have obtained a ‘Mark of Mastery,’ from what I understand.” “I remember. Master Aqua was able to completely alter the Land of Departure into what is now Castle Oblivion, where Ventus sleeps and Aqua’s armor resides.” “Also known as ‘the castle that never was.’ Another ability related to the mark of mastery is the ‘Keyblade inheritance’ ceremony.” “Actually, that’s not true. The inheritance ceremony can be performed by any keyblade wielder. Take Terra passing his on to Riku as an example.” I explained. “A fair point, and Riku performed it accidentally with Sora in KH1/” “And Aqua with Kairi in Birth By Sleep.” I reminded him. “I think you may have read more than needed.” Ven said with a chuckle. “Maybe I did, but right now I’m here to train. I need to get back to the level I was at before Akumu was separated from me. Ven grinned, “Well then, how about this? Change Scenario: Kingdom Hearts 2 final mix, hidden fight: Lingering Will battle, replace characters with Players, unlimited MP, all keyblades allowed.” “So, Lingering Will, huh? This should be fun.” I said with a mix of excitement and nervousness. “Create weapon: Way to the dawn. Create weapon: Halted Dusk.” Ven said, the keyblade of Riku appearing in his hand, and a reversed version in his left. “I’ll stick with my own keyblade for now.” “Sure you don’t want a keychain?” Ven asked. “I’ll stick with my own until we obtain some keychains. Then I’ll start learning to use those.” I said. “Fair enough.” “So, when do we start?” I asked. “Simulation: Start” Ven said, and the suit of armor began to attack relentlessly. _________________________________________________________________ Akumu’s POV Umbra asked, holding out his sixth attempt at making me an MP5. “You forgot the firing pin, again.” I said, rolling my eyes. he mind-shouted, throwing it at the nearest tree, followed by charging chaos into it, making it explode. “Umbra, calm the fuck down.” I said, drawing the sword he made me. “If it’s that difficult, just stop for now. It’s not like I’m gonna need it right now. Is Noctis here? Is Die here? Are Lumos or any of his other parts besides you here?” Umbra took a few deep breaths, before ‘saying,’ “Then I don’t need it right now. I want it, but I can wait until you can focus. Maybe trying to create all these weapons in a row was a bad idea?” I said calmly, though inside I was raging. Thank the darkness Heartless can conceal it as well as we can when we want to. “And besides, Lumos is probably nothing more than a dusk right now. He’ll be easy to kill, and once he’s gone, we can take all the time in the world to finish off Malum and Mirum.” “Well even if he did, and even if they do, we’re the most powerful Heartless that ever existed, except for maybe Ansem, but since he’s not around anymore, we’re top darkness dogs.” Umbra said with a sadistic grin. “Oh, do tell.” I said with a manic smile. “You didn’t need to. I guessed that was the one you used on Noctis to separate us, good job by the way, you couldn’t even kill him.” “What, we need seven or something?” I asked sarcastically. Umbra ‘said,’ his grin widening. “Oh, don’t keep me in suspense, where are we going? Also, why do you use that mind thing, why don’t you just create a mouth for yourself or something?” “Fine, then allow me.” I said, drawing my sword and advancing towards him with the intent of cutting him a mouth. “Yeah, well what about when you’re thinking about those magazines. I couldn’t get to sleep for hours cause you kept getting those damn images popping into your head and broadcasting them in your sleep!” “Oh, you sonova...No, not gonna let you win. I’m gonna calm down, and think about ripping Noctis’ throat open.” Umbra let out a low, barking laugh, one of the few sounds his mouth can make, “So, a new dark keyblade. And since we’re using the elements, how about we give it the name ‘False Harmony’.” I suggested. “Wait, what if the princesses of that world come after us for going after all of them? We’re strong, but I don’t feel like going up against the two who control the sun and moon just yet.” Umbra ‘said’ as he began to form something with his metal. “Not necessarily. Remember, the rules are always slightly different at the very least in each Equestria. They may be weakened by it here, but what if it has the opposite effect there?” <... A fair point, but then again, what if we go to a world where both are already dead?> “I would say you’re crazy, then I would say I’m in.” I replied, smiling like a fool. “Ha. Then we’ll arrive incognito, as they say. Let ‘em think we’re there to help or some shit like that, then when their backs are turned, slice, out with their hearts.” Umbra corrected “Well, Noctis only met those ponies briefly, but I’d say that Applejack bitch represents pride. I could feel it radiating from her. If she’s got as much pride in the world you speak of as she does here, then we’ve got our ‘Pride’.” “Oh, and how would a lazy bitch be a problem?” I asked, a little confused. “Ha. You said she’s sloth, she’d probably be too lazy to use it.” “Ugh, fine. So, calmed down yet?” He tossed me a small hand crossbow, “Yeah, and I can mod it later. Ah, the joys of knowing almost everything there is to know about weapons.” “We shall...” Umbra said, picking up a sword with darkness infused, and created a dark passageway with a single swing of it. “Ok, you have to teach me that.” He grinned, I shrugged and took the crossbow as well as the blade, and followed him through the passageway, with one thought on my mind. I’m gonna enjoy thi-FUCK IT’S COLD IN HERE! After nearly a minute in that frozen hell, we walked out of the passageway in the branches of a large tree. Thankfully, Umbra hand made a platform out of darkness right before I could fall. “So, where to, since I have no fucking idea where I am right now.” I whisper-yelled. “Ponyville? What kind of retarded name is that!? And who builds a library in a tree? What are they, elves or something!?” “Oh. Ok then. It’s still a retarded name, though.” “Oh? What’s the city called, and can we blow it up or something when we’re done here?” “I wasn’t gonna bi...well, maybe a little.” I admitted. “Seriously? I’ll just pop my head out and check.” I said, poking my head up only to be yanked back down by Umbra. “Then do it before I go stir-crazy!” Umbra said, as he slowly poked a sword through the branches, resulting in a single bit light coming through, “Alright then. Let’s get to...wait, where are we going again?” “Oh. Sounds more like the name of a brothel to me.” “Eh, when we’re done here, let's find a world where it really is one.” I said, jumping out of the tree and hitting the ground running. Umbra’s platform of darkness pulled out over me, and Umbra just shook his head. “I heard that!” I said, appearing behind him as I switched from my smoky form to my solid one. He ‘said,’ as small amounts of darkness wrapped around our feet, and the platform sped up at an astonishing rate. “So, where do you think little Knocky and his friends are?” He paused for a moment, before the darkness began to slow. “I doubt that C is true” He asked as the platform dissipated beneath us, and we dropped onto the ground. I gracefully landed on my ass. “Ow. Dammit, I am so outta practice. Stupid Die with her stupid seal, I should’ve been in charge of this body for six years, but instead, I get locked in the weakling’s mind, then you get me out, and I’m too new to using the body to be effective outside of combat.” I complained. he said, And with that, he put on a black glove with a white line down the middle of it. “Nice glove. Is a blade gonna pop out? Can it make stuff burst into flames if you touch them with it?” “It traps the soul of whoever you hit with it within the glove, correct?” “So, we’ve got a week to do it? Easy munny!” “We won’t need the extra time. Even if they find us, they won’t be able to do a damn thing.” “Well, I’m wondering why we ran from Noctis. I mean, I know he had a keyblade, but he’s a weakling, and he can’t even use that body, he has no practice with it.” “Yeah, but he didn’t know that.” “Even so, he’s still a weakling. But enough about him. Let’s get to soul stealin’!” Umbra ‘said,’ while walking over to a tree. “Oh, well I’m starving. So I’m gonna grab an apple now.” I said, reaching towards the branches and plucking a juicy apple from it. Umbra’s voice said, as he grabbed one of the brightest, shiniest apples off of a tree. I heard an angry roar come from behind me, and I turned to see a bright orange pony with a yellow mane running right at me, only for Umbra to appear next to her, and stick his gloved hand into her stomach. Her eyes faded a bit, and she collapsed. <’Pride’ captured. Creating sinblade of pride.> Umbra thought-spoke, as a ball of metal appeared in his other hand. The metal shaped itself into a misshapen black keyblade with a golden handguard. “Cool. Hey, since she doesn’t have a soul anymore, does that mean she’s technically a zombie? Can we order her around and stuff?” “Only if we ordered her to follow us. We could just order her t-” “Oh. Ok then.” Umbra said as he lifted us into the air on a new dark platform, which began to fly over the town. We were outside of an odd building very soon. “Why is it shaped like a darkness damned merry-go-round?” “Fuck the children if this is what they want!” Umbra said as he warped us inside with a dark passage “And you say you can’t do precise.” I smirked.. “Meh, whatever floats your boat. So, where’s this Envy girl anyway? I wanna do it this time. Gimme the glove!” He said, tossing me the glove he used to capture the last sin. “Oh yeah, bitch is gonna get punched!” I said as I started towards the stairs. Umbra told me as he followed me. “I don’t need to be quiet, I’ve got a soul stealing glove!” I retorted. “Maybe so, but if anyone else comes in, I’ll just kick their asses.” He replied, opening a door that led to a large bedroom, in which an ivory pony with an overly fancy purple hairdo was sleeping. I walked up to her, slapped her awake, and smiled as I shoved my gloved hand into her chest, revelling in the shocked face she made as I pulled her soul from her body. When her eyes were completely dull and lifeless, I took the glove off and tossed it back to Umbra. “That was fun.” “Yeah. I get the feeling someone’s letting us do all this. Like they’re pulling strings or something to make sure we succeed. I don’t like it.” He put on the glove again, and ‘said’ As a larger, jeweled keyblade appeared instead of the design of the last one. “So, Sloth next, since you’re so scared of being nuked?” “Again? When did you get nuked a first time?” “What does it feel like?” “Well alright then. We’ll just avoid ‘inspiring’ her.” “Hmm, I’m gonna go with attack at night. But we’ve gotta find her first.” “Alright then, lead the way. I wanna get this over with so we can get out of this shithole.” Umbra said as he warped us out and put us on another dark platform. “I just want to kill those idiots.” I said as we arrived near a ‘house in the sky’. “DAFUQ! How can a house be made of clouds!?” Umbra said “Yeah?” I said. “I would hope so, otherwise it wouldn’t be much of a challenge. Also, who would they get to help?” “Well, I already know who I like the most among them.” I said, grinning. Umbra said with a grin that was as creepy, if not creepier than my own. “Well, the poison user of course. Think we could use their own poison against them if they come along with the little ragtag group?” “How come?” “Ok, I officially hate Lumos.” I said as we finally reached the house. “Hey, will we be able to stand on these?” I asked as I put out a foot with the intention of testing it’s solidity. He grabbed me by the scruff of the neck as I began to fall through. “Dammit. I hate clouds.” I huffed. and then he fell through the cloud as he tried to step on it. a dark board rose up, barely large enough for him to stand on. “You don’t have wings. That sucks.” “Oh. Wish I could’ve seen that. It would have been awesome.” He ‘said’ as the platform I stood on began it’s decent. “Awww, I wanted to see you rip her soul out!” I complained as I stepped onto the hard ground. and with that, his dark board lifted him into the cloud house. I sat on the ground with crossed legs, wondering what had happened to my weaker half’s sword, when suddenly, it just appeared in my hand. “Well, this is interesting.” I heard Umbra’s voice say, as he landed in front of me, “Well, I got something to show you first.” I said, holding up Tsuki no me for him. “Yup. Idiot had to give it up, as well as his human form and his ability to control the Lunar Orb’s powers, in order to keep his heart. Turns out I got the blade.” Umbra asked. “Dunno. Lemme check.” I said, reaching into my arm and pulling out several glowing orbs. “Oh FUCK YEAH, WE HAVE MATERIA BITCHES!” “From what I can tell, every single one he brought with him when he went to kill you. That means we’ve got Firaga, Firaga Burst, Blizzaga, Thundaga, Shadow Flames, Curaga, and-SWEET, WE GOT YOJIMBO!” “Only if we can’t find his weak spots. We find those, all we need to do is kick ‘em and he’ll either do exactly what we want, or...” I started rubbing the back of my head. “He’ll try to kill us. “Noctis doesn’t know about it. Besides, he’s too goody-goody to ever use it even if he did know.” “No need.” I said, pulling out a small leather object. “I got his wallet!” “Are you kidding? Noctis has several million gil saved up from missions and such.” “Yeah. I really don’t like this feeling of invisible helpers, despite how lucky it makes us.” “Talk to the hand, cause the face ain’t listenin’.” “Sure thing bossless.” “Yeah, cool. So, to the tree again?” <Eeyup.> Umbra’s voice did a southern accent for that. “What’s with the sudden accent?” “I see. So he’s retarded?” “Sure.” I said as Umbra warped us back to the library. “So you have a second glove?” He said as he tossed me a left hand version of the glove he was wearing. “Nice.” I said, putting on the glove. “So, Wrath or Greed for you?” I asked. “I want to steal the soul of the one who shocked Die. Despite the fact that I hate her guts, I still desire revenge against the one who hurt her. Stupid remnants of Noctis’ emotions.” <... We could use those emotions, you know.> “Oh, how so?” He said before opening the window quietly, and jumping in. I followed him and opened the first door, in which slept a small purple unicorn and a titchy purple and green lizard. he said, putting himself over the dragon. “1.” <2...> I tensed up and waited a moment, before hearing Shouted in my mind, and seeing Umbra’s hand shoot into the lizard’s chest. “The fuck?” I said, before rushing the now awake unicorn and jamming my left hand into her, and pulling out her soul. Umbra said, an orb of metal appearing in his gloved hand, which became a metalic red, and formed a simpler keyblade, while another orb dropped into my own gloved hand, which formed a different blade of sin. “The fuck was that? Five?” “Well fuck Monty, and his Pythons.” “So, we’ve got four sins now. All we need is Lust, Sloth, and Gluttony, and we’re done. And it hasn’t even been one day yet? Seriously, this is definitely too easy.” “Fun. Hey, on the off chance that we lose, what happens to the sinblades?” He looked deep in thought for a moment before saying, “So we’ve still doomed a world by eliminating its heroes. I like it. Even if we lose, we win.” “Sure, so where’s she hiding?” “HI! I’M PINKIE PIE!” I jumped back as a pink pony, with a mane and tail that looked like cotton candy, jumped out from between us, completely defying the laws of physics. “Um, what are you talking about?” <... You can hear me? Even though I’m using private though-speech?> “OOOH, is that telepathy, are you psychic? Can you tell what I’m thinking-oOOH can you control my mind? Are you controlling it right now or are you making me think you’re controlling my mind or-OOOOH nice gloves!” She said at a mile a minute. Umbra let out a small grin, He asked. “Maybe later, right now I have to-*GASP*-, I totally have to throw you a party!” She said, bounding off, leaving an after-image. “Umbra.” “Actually, we could turn this to our advantage.” <... I see what you’re getting at, if we get ‘Lust’ before hand, we could get both ‘Sloth’ and ‘Gluttony’ at the party, right?> “Yeah. So, to Lust’s house?” “How so? Is she gonna try and seduce us or something?” he said as he opened up a dark passage under us, only to pop out next to a small hut at the forest’s edge. “Woah, that’s a lot of animals.” I said, a little creeped out by all the eyes staring at us. “Oh, come on, what harm could they possi-AGH, GETITOFFGETITOFFGETIFOFF!” I yelled as a white furball attached itself to my leg and immediately started chomping on it. Umbra pulled the rabbit off my leg, “Rabbit? RABBIT!? IT’S MORE LIKE A FUCKING SAHAGIN WITH THE WAY IT TRIED TO CHOMP ON ME!” he said as he crushed it’s throat. “Good riddance, now where’s th-” “ANGEL! YOU MONSTER!” A voice exclaimed. Umbra asked as he jabbed his hand out, stabbing it onto a butter colored pegasus. “So Lust is ours. Now we’ve got two to go.” I said as Umbra created yet another sinblade. Umbra shuddered. “Something tells me I don’t wanna know.” I said with a raised eyebrow. “Dude, I want to kill every living thing and even I think that’s fucked up.” I said, shivering. “Good point.” “Wait, if this is that universe, wouldn’t Gluttony have already turned Sloth into cupcakes?” “No, you said we’d leave and get them from another world, I pointed out that if this is that universe, then sloth is dead. Though I doubt that she is.” “Well, I think Sloth is alive here. Trust me, I know psychotic, and while Gluttony is crazy, she’s definitely not psychotic.” “Why did you say pullen? It’s pulled.” “Ah. Let’s get to wherever this party is before we die of old age.” “Oooookaaaaaaay?” I said, forgetting about the party in a moment of confusion. “Wow, that’s...weird. The moment he gives up, lady luck smiles on him? Does that happen to him a lot?” “Ok then. So where to next?” “Well, I’ll go back to town, maybe see if the library has some useful information, as unlikely as that is.” I said, walking towards the town. “If you need me, yell ‘I NEED AN ADULT!’ with that mind thing.” Umbra chuckled, “Wait, what? What do you mean flaming unicorns?” “Um, how would she do that without her soul? She’s essentially an empty husk.” “Ok then. Well, see ya Umbra. Don’t kill too many of the forest’s inhabitants.” He said as he flew off on a dark platform. “Ok-wait! I forgot to give you wrath back! Aw, dammit.” I said, as he was already gone. “Dammit, how do I make it disappear? Ah, forget it.” I just placed Wrath on my back as I walked back towards town, merely content with imagining the entire place burning to the ground as I navigated the empty streets. Eventually, after many, many detours, I found the library again. As I walked inside, I felt a presence. And then the lights came on. “SURPRISE!” “Aw, fuck.”
Chapter 9: Chapter 9: Radiant Garden “Damn, I’m still aching all over. How is an empty suit of armor so damn strong?” “Magic and a soul.” Ven said plainly, while rubbing his bruises. I gave him a flat look. “Shut up.” “Fine. Still, I almost won, thats enough for me.” I chuckled. “Yeah. Seriously though, I was surprised when you got hit by that last energy ball. I thought you’d dodge it easy.” “Fighting for half an hour isn’t exactly helpful in dodging.” “Try fighting all day with barely even a second of rest in a barren wasteland full of dragons, among other things.” I said, recalling my less than amicable arrival into Equestria. “Yeah, you told me before.” He looked up, “So which shop should we go to first?” He asked me. “I’d say let’s go to a weapon shop first. Then we should see about finding Yuffie and the gang. Hey, if we’re lucky, we might be playing through the events of 3D and we could meet Lea.” “That would be interesting... I haven’t actually played that one myself.” He said as he walked up to the weapons store, with me close behind. The guy behind the counter looked up, and said “Hey, what can I... Is that a pegasus?” “Yes he is, anyway, I was wondering if you have any good shields, or keychains?” “Oh, we don’t sell keychains here, bro. Try the jewelry shop, as for shields...” He ducked back behind the counter for a moment, before hefting up a large, purple shield with green chains on it. “I’ll give you this for 400 munny.” Ven reached into his pocket, and pulled out a single bit, “And how much is this worth?” The shopkeeper just stared at the gold coin for a few seconds, before saying, “I’ll give you the shield for four of those coins.” “Hey sir, mind if I ask you something?” “HOLY SHIT IT TALKS?!?!” The shopkeeper shouted. I rolled my eyes and thought about summoning my keyblade, but decided against it. “Yes, I do. I want to ask if you know where we can find any of the following people: Yuffie Kisaragi, Squall Leonheart AKA Leon, Aerith Gainsborough, and Cid Highwind.” “Oh, you mean the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee? They’re normally holed up at Merlin’s place.” “Thanks. Oh, has a teenager named Sora been here recently?” “Yeah, a couple days ago, he bought an ability ring at the accessory shop.” “Ok, thanks.” I said as we left the shop with our new shield. “... Why did I choose the shield?” “Who cares, let’s go find Merlin’s house. I’m getting tired of all the staring.” I said impatiently as passersby continued to gawk at the ‘pretty little pony with wings’. “Ok, ok, but first we should let the others know where we’re going, maybe get a keychain at the accessory stop.” Ven said with an excited tone. “Fine. And maybe we’ll find some stuff we can use to make our own too.” I suggested. “Yeah, if only we could find some Orichalcum plus. If we could locate enough of that we could make you the ‘Ultima’ keychain.” He said as he turned to the accessory shop “That would be cool, but I’d prefer the Unbound keychain from Dream Drop Distance.” “To each their own, personal favorite here is Two Become One, the keychain Sora gets after defeating Roxas in KH2 Final Mix.” “I see. That one is cool.” I said as we entered the shop, ignoring the dropping jaw of the shopkeeper. “Um, hello, I heard you sell keychains here?” Ven asked the shop girl, who was still staring at me, before looking up. “Yes... We do, do you have one in mind or would you like to see all of them?” “All of them.” The girl turned away, and pulled down a display case with ten keychains in them. One I recognized as the keychain for the Bond of Flame keyblade. “Ma’am, where did you acquire this one?” I asked, pointing to the keychain. She stared at me again for a few more seconds, before saying “I found it on the sidewalk, I had it in the lost and found for two months, why, is it yours?” “No, but I do know who it belongs to.” I recalled the one that I thought of at random during training. “Miss, have you ever heard of Infinity Spectrum?” “I think I might have that one in the back, let me check.” And with that she walked through a door leading deeper into the shop “So, Ven, you think we’ll be able to save Lumos, Mirum and Malum?” “That depends on if we can find a new heart for Lumos.” “I think it might be possible to help him if we bring them back and use the Elements on them. It’s a longshot, but it just might work.” I suggested. “There are other ways to do it. Your keyblade purifies hearts, if we could find a strong enough heartless, we could try to keep the heart after defeating it. It’s more likely to actually work.” “Ok then. But Infinity Spectrum....why does that keychain feel so important?” I mused. “Probably nothing, like when you get a song stuck in your head.” “That’s what I used to think about Akumu, and look where that got me.” I deadpanned. “Fair enough.” Ven said as the shop girl walked back in with the keychain I asked for. “We just got this one yesterday, the cost hasn’t been decided yet but-” “How about 60 of these?” Ven asked, holding out a handful of bits. “And we’ll buy the other one too. I have an idea where we might find its owner.” I said. She just stared at the coins, “Do you know how much this kind of thing is worth?!” “Where we’re from, the metal is as common as the stones used in the pathways here.” I replied cooly. “This is worth over 300 munny! Just one of these! I’ll accept three, no more. Also if you really are returning the other keychain to it’s rightful owner, you can take it for no charge.” “Damn it, that guy at the weapons shop ripped us off!” Ven said as he took back the remaining, unaccepted money. “So, you’ve still got plenty of bits left, right? I hope you do, cause I lost my wallet when I lost my human form Ventus.” I said, emphasising his full name for no apparent reason. “True, lets get going, and find your friends now, shall we?” Ven said as he grabbed the keychains and walked away. “Thanks!” I called back to the lady as I left the shop after Ven. “Ok, so then, where are the others? We still need to let them know.” Ven said as he walked around the area, glancing around. “I dunno, I-agh!” I yelled as I bumped into someone. “Hey, watch where...you’re......a pegasus?” A young female voice questioned. “Who’s asking?” I replied, rubbing my nose with a hoof. “Well this makes things significantly easier.” Ven said beside me. “Yeah, and how-YOU!” I exclaimed as I found myself face-to-muzzle with Yuffie Kisaragi of Wutai. “Sorry about this, we’ve sort of been looking for you.” “Oh, and what do two travelers require of the Great Ninja Yuffie of the RGRC?” She asked with a raised eyebrow. “... I... Noctis you explain.” “Noctis Custos, former SOLDIER 1st Class, now a pegasus. How’ve you been ninja girl?” I asked. “Noctis? Hmmm...nope, I got nothin’.” She said. “Uh, Noctis, this is a different Yuffie than the one you know, this one has lived in Radiant Gardens a large portion of her life. The one you know is probably still on Gaia.” “Oh,” I said, feeling stupid. “Maybe I should explain why we’re here. First,” I summoned my keyblade, “I’m sure you know what this is. Now, we’re looking for some friends of ours. Their names are Lumos, and Malum. We’re also looking for Sora, his friends, and Lea. Do you know where we can find them?” I asked, dismissing my keyblade again. “Oh, and how are Cid and Aerith doing?” “Your not going to ask about Cloud?” Ven asked me. “Knowing him, he’s fine. He can take care of himself.” I replied. “Fair enough, I’ll go find Die and the rest.” He said as he walked away, leaving me alone with Yuffie. “Soooooo...you have a keyblade too, huh? And you know Sora?” “I know of him, but I don’t know him personally. I’ve got two reasons for finding him. The first is personal, but the second is so I can return this.” I said, showing her the Bond Of Flame keychain. “That belongs to Sora? Then why do you have it?” She asked, eyeing me suspiciously. “Shopkeeper found it a few days ago, no one claimed it so she put it up for sale. I figured out who it belonged to and bought it with the intention of returning it. That answer your question?” “Hmmmm,” She kept eyeing me for a few more seconds before her gaze softened. “Okay then feathers, I believe you. Just make sure you do return it or you have to answer to me.” She said in a mock-threatening tone. “Sure. Anyway, how’ve things been going with the reconstruction?” She suddenly beamed at me. “It’s going great! We got the castle almost completely reconstructed, and the best part is some of the missing citizens just reappeared!” She almost shouted. She would’ve gone on longer, but we heard a *PING* sound. Yuffie’s expression quickly became serious. “That was Claymore!” “Claymore?” “The defence system Cid set up. There must be a Heartless somewhere nearby! C’mon, we’ve gotta go deal with it.” She said, running through the streets and leaving me behind. “HEY! WAIT UP!” I yelled as I started running after her. “No, now hurry up!” She retorted, still far ahead of me. “WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” A slightly distorted voice screamed. “Ya hear that? It’s runnin’ scared cause it knows that the Great Ninja Y-OOF!” She was knocked down by a blur of dark feathers. “SORRY!” “Wait, that voice....MIRUM!?”” I half-shouted. “NOT NOW LIGHT THINGS ATTACKING ME!” “Mirum, it’s Noctis. Remember, you, Lumos and Malum saw me in bed with the princess, sorta.” I said. “IF YOU WANT TO TALK WE’LL DO SO LATER!” He said as he ran up a wall and jumped over. “Hey, get back here and face me, coward!” Yuffie exclaimed at Mirum. “YUFFIE, TURN OFF THE DAMN DEFENCE SYSTEM!” I shouted. “What? ARE YOU CRAZY!?” She asked in shock. “No. That heartless happens to be a friend, and I’ve been looking for him so I can help him become whole again.” I replied as calmly as I could. “Wha....you mean.....and he’s.....ugh, fine.” She said, before running off somewhere for a brief moment. When she came back, she was stuck between a frown and a smile. “There, the defence system’s been modified. It won’t attack your ‘friend’ anymore.” She said. “KTHANKSBYE!” I said, taking to the air, clumsily, to search for Mirum. It only took me a few minutes to find him collapsed next to a dumpster in a disturbingly clean alleyway. I set down at the entrance to it and approached slowly, cautiously. “Mirum? Is it really you?” I asked, still wary that he could be Akumu or Umbra in disguise. “Who’s asking?” He replied. “Um, I already said so earlier. Noctis, remember? You saw me in bed with...you know, let’s just forget that part.” “Not ringing any bells, sorry.” He shakily rose, and looked at me with his flashing eyes, “Now, why did you follow me here.” “For one, we’re trying to find you, as well as Lumos and Malum. We’re hoping we can make you guys whole again, help you get your hearts back.” “Um. If you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly a Nobody here. I have a heart... Sort of.” “Yeah, well your other half doesn’t. Malum, remember him? You two have to become one again, or neither of you will last long when Akumu and Umbra come after you.” I said calmly. “Malum... Where have I heard that name before?” Mirum asked himself as he looked up at the sky. “Malum, his name means evil, just like yours means paradox, and mine means Night.” “Yeah, I know my Latin, I know what it means, so why,” A black circular blade appeared in each of his hands, “Do you want me to join with a being named ‘Evil’?” “Dammit, it’s just a name. Don’t make me fight you, Mirum. I don’t want to have to hurt you.” I said. “Yeah, you just want me to stop existing by fusing with a different being.” “You won’t stop existing. All it means is you’ll become whole again, you’ll get your memories back. You have the heart but no memories, Malum has the memories but no heart. You need him, just as he needs you, but if you’re gonna be too stubborn to listen,” I summoned my keyblade, “Then I’ll just have to beat some sense into you! INFINITY SPECTRUM!” The keychain attached itself to my blade and transformed it. Mirum just gave me a death glare, though his eyes did widen a little bit. He said, just barely audible to me, “Light mode.” and all of his feathers turned a brilliant golden as he charged. “So be it.” I said quietly, before I charged as well. We met near the middle, where Mirum simply jumped over me, and ran out of the alleyway, and kept running. “OH NO YOU DON’T! STOPZA!” I yelled, and Mirum simply froze in place.As he fell, a passage of darkness opend under him, and he almost fell through, only to land next to it. “What the...” I walked over to him. “Mirum, please. If you don’t become one with Malum again, a lot of innocent people are going to die. Do you really want the blood of hundreds, if not thousands, on your hands, just because you were too stubborn to do the right thing?” I asked with venom in my voice as I undid the Stopza spell. “... Fine, I’ll fuse with this ‘Malum’ guy. Happy? Now where is he?” “That’s the problem. We don’t know. We were hoping you might have an idea where to look. He is your Nobody, after all.” I said sheepishly. “Yeah, well, shows how much you know.” He said with a roll of his eyes. “Just as humorous as Lumos. So, you gonna come with us to save the world?” I asked. “Do you have any idea how cheesy you sound right now?” “At least I didn’t put emphasis on the last part. Anyway, let’s go find Discord and everyone else before they send out a search party.” He sighed, and said “I won’t be getting out of it will I?” While his blades disappeared. “Sorry, but no. Anyway, you know you wanna kick Umbra’s ass.” I said, smiling a little. “Who?” “Oh right. Basically, before you got separated into the four that exist now, you, Malum and Lumos shared the same body. This guy Sanguine took over your body and....” And so I went into a lengthy explanation about how Umbra came to exist, my own duel with him, how I almost fell to the darkness, up to our arrival in Radiant Gardens to look for information. He took it about as well as could be expected. “WHAT THE FUCK?!” “Dude, calm down before you hurt yourself.” “WHAT DO YOU MEAN CALM DOWN?! IF SOMEONE LIKE THAT IS ON THE LOOSE THEN HE HAS PROBABLY RUINED AT LEAST ONE WORLD ALREADY!” “Ok, I am gonna say this once. CALM THE FUCK DOWN! If he has ruined a world, then we’ll just put it back together. That’s all there is to it. I don’t give a damn if everyone else says it’s impossible. We’ll do it!” “Yeah, I gue- AH!” He shouted as Ventus jumped out of nowhere wearing a different outfit, pinning him down. “Ventus, please release Mirum before I kick your ass.” “It’s Mirum? I saw the heartless symbol on it’s back and just reacted.” Ven said, leaping off, “Also, we both know I would win if we fought.” “Yeah yeah. Sorry about that Mirum. You ok?” “My face... ow...” Mirum said, facedown in the dirt. “Ven, apologise to Mirum. Then, we’ll go find the others.” Ven pointed to the area behind me, “I already found them earlier, when I said I was going to go do so. Also, sorry bro.” He added, looking down at Mirum, Who was starting to get up, rubbing the dirt off his face. “Seriously, why the fuck would you do that?” “Because he can be an idiot sometimes. Anyway, let’s go find the oth-AGH MY EYE! FUCK!” I yelled as something lodged itself in my cornea. Upon pulling it out, and using cure to heal the damage, I found the object to be a paper airplane. “Where did that paper come from?” “You didn’t see it falling?” Mirum asked. “Does it matter? Let’s read it before I get pissed off and burn it or something!” I said impatiently. Journal of a Nobody: Entry 1: I won’t write the details of the first four days, which were just getting used to the organization. I’ve remembered how my metal works, and how to infuse powers in them, but thats about it. I’ve managed to convince Xemnas to lend a small amount of his power to creating a new weapon with me, I call it the Nihl, since Xemnas’ power is Void control, which is basically antimatter. Anything Nihl cuts will disintegrate within a matter of seconds. I have also noticed something rather odd, all the members of this organization sound and look exactly the same. Something... just seems off. ~Lux “What?” “Oh, crap.” I said. “What?” I jumped as I heard a voice from behind me. “Hey princess,” Ven greeted in a surprised tone as Celestia, disguised as a human, walked out from the shadows. Her hair still had it’s multiple colours and whatever magical properties allowed it to flow without wind, and her eyes were still the same vibrant purple, but now she had new clothes, courtesy of Discord, who insisted that they look the part since we were in the KH universe. I wasn’t surprised he had internet access, but I was surprised by all the artwork people had made of this world and Equestria. Anyway, back to Celestia’s new gear. She wore a white t-shirt with her cutie mark emblazoned on the front and flames on the ends of the sleeves, a small medallion with an engraving of the sun, fingerless grey gloves that went up to the elbow and a golden bracelet, that used to be her royal necklace, on her left wrist, indigo shorts with small white crosses at the end, a small fanny pack on her left-hand side, a sash that went all the way around her waist and kept going until both ends almost reached the ground, a pair of yellow and white zip-up boots, and a rapier strapped to her back. Her wings and horn were still there, but whatever magic Discord used made them invisible and intangible whenever she wanted them to be. The same went for Luna. “Don’t do that Celestia, you almost gave me a heart-attack.” “They can’t fix you having a weak heart, Noctis.” “Shut up Ven. We have a problem if you didn’t realise. Namely the fact that Lumos was found by Organization XIII.” “Yeah, yeah, still, a joke never killed anyone... except that one rubber chicken...” He muttered the last part. “This isn’t the time. They have Lumos, and he’s making weapons for them. So either he doesn’t remember anything, or he’s being controlled, in a sense.” “Yes, that is the most logical of assumptions.” “So, the question is, what are we gonna do about it? Oh, and where’s everyone else Celestia? Weren’t Discord and Luna with you earlier?” She shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. “Luna said something about finding a flower shop, and Discord went with her.” “And what about Die?” “She’s touring the town with Tox, Sparky, Shade, Aqua, and Clare. They said something about finding somewhere to practice.” Once again, her ability to remain nonchalant was amazing. “Ok then. Well we’ve found Mirum, and we got a message from Lumos, or Lux, I guess. So we should continue looking for more info and then head to our next destination. Which world is it again?” “We never decided, we already know that our info from this world would determine that.” “Well so far we know that Lumos is in the World that Never Was, most likely, while Malum is in the wind, so to speak.” “That means our next location would be Twilight Town. Since that’s the only world with any sort of connection to the World that Never Was.” “Well then, I’ll go find Discord and the others. Where will we meet?” “The Dark Depths?” Ven suggested calmly. “It’s probably closer to wherever Die and the others found to train.” “There gonna be any heartless there? I’m wondering if Mirum might be able to command lesser heartless to an extent.” “Most likely there aren’t any around here. But as for the other part... thats a maybe.” “Ok then. I’ll find you all later.” And with that, she was gone in a flash of magic. I rubbed my eyes with a hoof to get rid of the blurriness caused by the flash, and I walked out of the alleyway, followed closely by Ven and Mirum. “I’ll go on ahead,” Ven said, already beginning to fly away. “Yeah... I think I’ll walk.” Mirum said. “Same. Gives us a chance to talk without trying to kill each other.” I said... __________________________________________________________________ 2 Hours later I’d asked him several questions, mostly what had happened that he could remember, which wasn’t much. He’d asked some too, one of which was pretty snarky, asking why I chose to be an overgrown pigeon, which I ignored. Eventually, we arrived at the Dark Depths, where everyone else was already waiting for us. Jolt noticed us approaching, and walked up. “What took you guys so long?” He yelled. “QA Session Sparky.” “Don’t call me Sparky... Tia! We’re all here!” Jolt shouted “Thank you Jolt. Now, the reason we are here, is because we have two pieces of news to share. One, we have found Mirum,” She gestured towards us, specifically towards Mirum, who shrugged in response, “And the other thing is that we have discovered Lumos’ whereabouts. Unfortunately, he is in the clutches of the Organization.” She said. “Wait, Organization XIII found him?! Oh this is bad! This is very bad!” Clare half-shouted with wide eyes. “Calm yourself Clare. We will rescue him, no matter what. I promise you that.” “No, you don’t understand, if he makes a weapon fused with Xemnas’ power, do you have ANY idea how powerful it would be?!” “I know it would be bad Clare. It doesn’t matter though. We’re gonna beat him, we’re gonna save Lumos, and we’re gonna stop Akumu and Umbra. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!” “Why are you going drill sergeant on us at a time like this?!” Clare shouted “Because somebody has to keep us from losing our heads because of one piece of bad news. That answer your question?” Clare had a blank look for a second, before sighing, “Whatever... Damn I need a drink.” “So, Lumos is with Organization XIII? Does that make him a captive, or an enemy?” Luna asked. “Neither, from what we read, I think he lost his memory, like Mirum did.” Ven said, looking deep in thought. “Well, if ‘Lux’ is on the World that Never Was, then why are we here? To Twilight Town!” Discord exclaimed, and snapped his fingers, moving us all back to the ship. “Uh, Discord, we still had to meet Aerith and the others to get info on Sora, Riku, Kairi and the others y’know?” He got a disappointed look on his face, “Oh,” He snapped again, and teleported me, Ven, and Die down, putting us in the middle of town. “Huh, that’s convenient. We’re here.” Ven said, pointing to a building, and walking forward slowly. “HEY! You can’t enter without permission y’know!” “Sure we can’t, Yuffie.” I said sarcastically, turning to face the ninja girl. “So, is there a reason you stopped us? Cause I know there’s no restrictions about entering a building.” “Ok, ya got me. There’s actually nobody in there except for Merlin. They’re all at the castle right now.” She said. “Oh, ok, thanks,” Ven said, before beginning to fly off. “VEN! Aw, dammit.” I said, shaking my head. “Ok, I’ll talk to Merlin by myself then!” “HEY! What am I, chopped liver?” Die retorted in mock-irritation, cuffing me on the head. “Sorry Die.” “Too late. I’m goin’ with Ven. Have fun talking to the wizard.” She said with a lazy salute before switching forms and flying off after her ‘boyfriend’. I shook my head with a small smile as I entered Merlin’s home. It, was, a mess. Books were strewn everywhere. On the floor, on tables, desks, and chairs, anywhere except the bookshelves. All except for one, which I recognised from the Kingdom Hearts games as the book of Winnie the Pooh. As for the old wizard, he was nowhere to be found, despite Yuffie’s assurances that he was here. I turned to leave and jumped back as I found him standing right there. “Oh, and what’s this? A pegasus? Hmmm, fascinating.” He said, invading my personal space and scrutinising me. “Um, could you not get so close?” I asked. “And it speaks!” “Now that’s just plain rude.” “Apologies, my dear equine friend, but I have only met with your kind on the rarest of occasions. As such, I haven’t had a chance to properly study one. Unfortunately, my overzealous attitude has caused me to forego common courtesy. I, am Merlin the Wizard. Now, who might you be?” “My name is Noctis. I was a human at one point, but recent events have required me to adapt, as you can see.” I said calmly, despite my frustration. “So you mean to say that you were, transformed?” “For lack of a better word, yes. Now, would it be alright if I asked you some questions?” “Ask away m’boy.” “Thanks, I think. Anyway, I was wondering if you knew anything about some Nobodies named Lumos and Malum, or about some heartless named Umbra and Akumu?” “Hmmmm....” He started tapping his head with a finger in thought before sighing. “I’m sorry, the names are not familiar to me, so I’m afraid I cannot help you.” I nodded, a little disappointed. “Ok. Well, do you know where I can find Sora and his friends?” He smiled. “Well there’s a question I can answer. Sora and his friend, oh what’s his name.....AH! Riku, that’s it! Well, Sora and his friend Riku are currently at the Mysterious Tower taking their Mark of Mastery exams, overseen by Yen Sid.” Well that answers the question of the timeline. We’re somewhen during the events of 3D. “Thanks. Well, I only have one question left. Can you teach me to control magic?” He frowned slightly as he looked me over with slight suspicion. “May I ask why?” “I have a, unique, power. Unfortunately, the object I was used to using as a medium to control it with was lost, and with it my control over said power. I obtained a new object, but it is vastly different to my previous one, and as such, I have to learn to control my abilities all over again.” I said, summoning BP and allowing him to briefly look it over before dismissing it. He gave me a sad look. “I am sorry, but I am afraid I cannot help you.” He said. I was more than a little surprised. “What? Why not?” “I am afraid if you wish to learn to wield a keyblade properly, you must learn from a Master, and there are only two Masters who would be able to train you at this moment in time, Yen Sid, and Mickey.” He said calmly. “Oh, and one more thing.” Sora’s keychain suddenly appeared in his hand. “I’ll be sure to give this to its owner. You just focus on your own tasks.” “I see. Well, thank you for your time. I’ll be going now.” I replied quietly, before opening the door a little too fast. “Yeah, that’s all we c-OW!” “What the fuck?!” Oh fuck! I ran outside the door to see Die clutching her nose and glaring at me, and Ven with his hand on his blade. “Oh shit, you ok Die?” I said worriedly as I ran towards her. “DUMBASS!” She shouted, punching me on the forehead. “What the fuck did you slam a door on my face for!?” I couldn’t even say anything, I was too focused on what was the beginning of a massive bruise on her nose. “Um... Die?” “What?” She whirled around, glaring daggers at Ven. “You’re bleeding.” He said, holding out a small rag. She put a hand under her nose and pulled it back to reveal a red liquid on her hand. “Oh, great. Nice going Noctis.” She said sarcastically, grabbing the rag and cleaning off the blood before using a Cure spell to heal the damage. “You’re just lucky you’re my brother, you know that?” She said with a smirk. “Yeah yeah. So, what did you guys learn?” I asked. “We learned what point in the story we are in, and just how big of a problem we have on our hands.” “I know, we’re here during the events of 3D, right?” “Yeah, but that’s not all I figured out.” “What else?” I asked. “If the diary entry of ‘Lux’ is correct, then Sora or Riku could be killed if he doesn’t regain his memories. However, us trying to stop it from happening may stop the rescues of Aqua, Terra, and the Ventus from BBS.” “Crap, so we’re damned if we do, and damned if we don’t?” “Unless Lumos remembers.” “Then I guess we’re going to have to get involved and make sure he does!” I said confidently. “You aren’t getting it, we’re only able to really hope that he remembers on his own, our getting involved will change it even more.” “Our being here has already done that, hasn’t it?” “Yes, yes it has, but that-” “No buts! We’re going to help them, we’re going to make sure that Lumos, Sora and Riku are saved, and we’re going to help rescue Master Aqua, Terra and Ventus.” I said. “You know we might end up preventing their rescue by interfering.” “I refuse to believe that. We won’t fail them. Do you doubt me, or yourself?” He sighed, “No, it’s just tha-AAGH!” He shouted as a letter lodged itself in his left eye. I fought the urge to laugh. “Well, at least it wasn’t me this time.” Die hit me. “Shut up Noctis. You ok Ven? What is that? And what did Noctis mean by ‘this time’?” “Yeah, I’m fine,” He opened the letter, “Huh, it’s another one of the entries of the ‘Journal of a Nobody’ and what he meant was that the last one lodged itself in his eye. Also I think you should wear some sort of sunglasses, just in case.” He said with one eye squinted. “Nah, I’ll be fine. If I can take a door to the face and heal up in a snap, I think a paper plane to the eye would only be a minor annoyance.” “Anyway, lets see what it says...” and he began to read it out loud. “Journal of a Nobody: Entry 2 I wonder why I keep writing these, with no emotions it just seems stupid and pointless. The rest of the members of the organization all have their hoods up, and won’t talk to me. So there isn’t much to really talk about. Although I did see one of the faces, he looked like a younger version of Xemnas, I wonder if they’re brothers or something? One last thing, a few of my memories have come back to me. One thing stands out above all: a thing called Kingdom Hearts. ~Lux” “Shit, young Xehanort. Something tells me the next entry we get will not be good.” I said, slightly worried. “At least he’s remembering.” “Yeah, that’s something good, at least. But what if he doesn’t remember everything in time to save himself from being turned into a copy of Xehanort?” “As I said before, we can only hope.” “Screw just hoping, let’s get involved!” “I think we should go back to the ship and take a vote.” “Same here.” “Alright then. Back to the ship. You still got that thing Discord gave you to contact him?” My question was answered when he took it off his wrist. Ven held his watch to his mouth, “Discord, we’re ready to come back.” A bright flash appeared, and by when my eyes adjusted, we were back on the ship. “Dude, that was infinitely easier on the head than regular teleporting.” I said, thankful for the lack of headaches. “Yeah, anyway,” he held up his watch again, “Intercom mode: All personnel report to the bridge.” He said, his voice filling the ship. A few minutes later, everyone, and everypony, arrived, waiting to hear what we had to say. “We have good news and bad news. Good news, we have another piece of the diary of ‘Lux,’ this entry telling us that he is regaining his memory slowly. The bad news is that he might be transformed into a Xehanort clone soon.” He looked up, “This leads me to my next order of buisness: a vote. Do we go to rescue lumos this second, or do we wait to let the timeline of Dream Drop Distance carry out first? If we rush in, we may stop the rescues of the main characters from Birth by Sleep.” “And if we don’t get involved, then Lumos, or ‘Lux’, may kill Sora and Riku, completely wrecking the timeline, unless he remembers everything before it’s too late.” “Ok, so who is for?” everyone but Ven, Discord, Jolt, and Tox raised their hands/hoofs. “So that’s seven of us. Wait, Discord, you’re against this? Hmm, kinda surprised, but then again, you are a Spirit of Chaos, so being unpredictable is basically your job description, huh?” “True, but I also know better than to rupture timelines.” “... Well, Discord, I guess we’re off to Twilight Town.” Ven said with his head hung in defeat. “Wait, what if just go and get Lumos back from The World that never Was before the fight if it hasn’t happened yet, and we make sure to take Nihl with us?” “The fight will probably start before we get there, considering we have to go through a passage hidden in Twilight Town.” “Hey, didn’t they rename it Traverse Town at some point? No wait, they’re two completely separate worlds. I think I’m messing up all the names now.” I said, facehoofing. “Yeah, different world.” “Ok then. So, where exactly is the passage that’ll take us to The World that Never Was anyway? Wait, since it’s a sleeping world now, won’t we only be able to access it the way that Sora and Riku did? By entering the realm of sleeping Keyholes?” “Oh, now where is the fun in taking the normal route?” Discord asked. “Oh right, I forgot you can go anywhere you want, anyway you want.” I said. Discord put on a pair of shades, “We launch in 5. 4. 3. 2. 1.” the ship shook heavily, knocking us all to the floor but him, “We have liftoff.” “You added that to mess with us, didn’t you?” Ven said from his spot on the ground. “You can’t prove anything!” Discord shouted. “He’s got you there Ven.” I chuckled. “I wasn’t complaining,” It was then that I noticed Die fell on top of him. “Yeah, you were whining. And get a room you two.” I retorted, and they both blushed furiously as they quickly stood up. “Um... I’ll be training. I want to be as ready as possible for what is to come.” “I’m gonna blow off some steam. NOBODY BOTHER ME UNLESS YOU HAVE A DEATHWISH!” And with that, Ven and Die were off to the VR Room and Game Room respectively, leaving everybody else to slowly leave the room, wandering to who knows where. I went off to my room and flopped onto my bed, exhausted. Just as I was about to drift off, I heard a knock at my door. “Come in.” I said, not wanting to be rude, and in walked Luna, still in her human disguise, which, just like Celestia’s, had her hair and eyes remain the same. She had a blue sleeveless zip-up jacket with a turtleneck, four small strips of cloth that went from the front of her shirt to the back, over her arms, two strips per side, some sort of corset-like thing in a darker shade, ending in a skirt with her cutie mark on the bottom right-hand side. Her hands were adorned with two-toned blue fingerless gloves with white wrist-straps. She had midnight-blue shorts and extremely dark stockings with a white crescent moon embroidered on the side of each, and she wore sneakers of various blues with zips on the front like Celestia’s boots. She had her wings and horn on full display. “Hello Noctis. I hope I’m not disturbing you.” she said. “Don't worry about it Luna.” I said, motioning for her to take a seat. She walked over to the bed, sat down and stared at me, her eyes filled with concern. “I am worried, Noctis. That weapon, Nihl, it could destroy anything, even immortals. And you plan to dive right into battle with its creator!? You are going to get yourself killed, and then I will be alone again.” she said, refusing to meet my eyes. “Luna, you will never be alone. You have your sister, and if worst comes to worst, my sister'll be there for you too." “It’s not the same...” she said, almost angrily. “Why? They're willing to protect you with their lives too, so what's different?” I asked, though deep down, I already knew. Or at least my heart did. My head was taking a little longer to catch up. “The difference is that I love you!” She shouted, finally looking at me with tears streaking down her face. I was shocked for a moment, but then I remembered what Ven had said. I facehoofed at my stupidity. “I'm an idiot, aren't I?” I said quietly. Luna shook her head and wrapped her arms around me, pulling me close. “No, why would you say that?” “Because Ven told me you liked me and I just ignored my head and my heart screaming at me to tell you how I felt. I'm a coward because I was too afraid to say four words. I was too afraid to say ‘I love you Luna’.” I half-expected the slap that came next, but I definitely was caught with my pants down, so to speak, when she followed up by undoing her disguise and kissing me. My mind chose that exact moment to fall to pieces, and all I could do was lose myself in the moment as she forced my mouth open and slipped her tongue inside, her forelegs still wrapped around me as she pushed me onto my back and continued her assault on my mouth... _______________________________________________________________________ Akumu’s PoV UMBRA! IF YOU CAN HEAR ME WITH THAT FREAKY MIND SHIT, I NEED AN ADULT! Every. Single. Resident. That's who the pink one had invited to her party. And every single one of them was staring at me with either confusion, or outright fear. There was a surprising lack of suspicion though. Guess that Gluttonous mare is more influential than I thought. "OHYOUMADEITNOWWECANSTARTTHEPATY!" "Uh, ok." I said, backing away as she bounced around the room. "Sorry about that, Pinkie is always on a sugar-high." A voice said from behind me. I turned to see a sky blue pony with a rainbow mane and tail smirking at me. "And you are..." I said, despite already knowing from Noctis’ memories. "Only the fastest flyer in Equestria, Rainbow Dash." She said with a massive grin. Are we sure she isn't just another pride. She's got the right attitude for it. "The fastest, huh? Wanna test that theory?" I said, "We'll need a judge though. How about, Pinkie, was it?" "You're challenging me to a race? Oh you are ON!" she almost shouted. Almost as she said that, I heard in my mind "No worries. I challenged sloth to a speed challenge and gluttony's the judge. So they'll be in the same place at the same time. And where'd you get an army anyway?" "No fuckin' way. Just how powerful are these things?" "Why? Will they blow up or something?" "OK I'VE HEARD ENOUGH!" I cut the connection and walked outside with Sloth and Gluttony in tow. What I saw outside was nothing. I didn't worry though. Umbra would come through. <2 seconds to the drop of me, and my army.> I heard him say. I chuckled to the confusion of the two. But before they could question me, all hell broke loose. the next part they all heard Hundreds of skeletal winged beings suddenly began to land around us, while many large beasts that looked like the skeletons of giant cats and large lizards began to flow into the city. Sloth started to fly around and smash as many as she could, but during her distraction, I slammed into her and ripped her soul out before she could react. "OK TIME TO GO!" I yelled as a crowd of angry ponies started to gather, before running in fear from Umbra's army. I could see Umbra dropping the body of Gluttony, with a charged glove on his right hand, followed by him grinning. he ‘said’ as a new blade appeared in my hand. In the gloved hand of Umbra, a huge keyblade appeared. "Nah. Let's just go find our weaker halves and end them." I sighed, but nodded, watching with slight satisfaction as everything went to hell...
Chapter 10: Chapter 10: Swagwagon, Noctis' Room (Noctis' POV) To say I was happy would be an understatement. I was ecstatic. I finally acknowledged my feelings and now I was going out with Luna. Figures it would take a slap and a make-out session with her to get me to realise running from my feelings was a bad idea. That and going missing for two days. Anyway, back to the matter at hand. I woke up a little later to find a still sleeping Luna's hooves were still wrapped around me, and her head was nuzzling into my chest. I shook her awake as gently as possible, and my reward was a hoof to the face, followed by Luna apologising as she became aware of her surroundings. "Noctis, I'm sorry if I was...too forward." "I'm the one who should be apologising. I kept my feelings hidden when I should've just told you from the outset. If I had, we would probably have had a lot more time together before now. So, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't admit that I loved you earlier." She simply pecked me on the cheek. "Uhhhhh....what was I....oh, right. So, should we tell everybody about, y'know, 'us'? I just want to know if and when you want to, ‘go public’. before someone, most likely Die, comes in and-" I was interrupted by the door to my room exploding inward, and Ven standing sideways on the wall, with Die almost right next to him. “Room service!” Ven said with a grin. "Awwww, and here I thought there would be a mess." Die chuckled. “Eh, it looks like something happened at least.” He looked at her “Also, you were right, it’s starting to hurt.” "How did I I know it would be Die...What. Are. You. Doing here?" I said through gritted teeth, while Luna tried to move me off the bed so she could pull up the covers and hide in them. “Just checking up on ya,” Ven said, walking from the wall onto the roof. "Ven, get off the ceiling. Discord'll kick your ass if you get the Swagwagon dirty in any way." “I’m not actually touching it. Wind powers are best powers.” "Die, Ven. I'm asking nicely. Please leave. Do not make me break out 'the voice'." Ven chuckled“Trust me, princess, I’ve heard louder than the Royal Canterlot Voice, at point blank.” "I was not referring to that voice." “Oh... Die, shall we take our leave?” Ven asked, suddenly afraid. "In a minute." she said as she turned to face us. "Noctis, you'd better make her happy. And Luna, keep him from getting himself killed. Oh, and be good. But if you can't," she turned towards the door, "Be sure to name the first one after me." she ran out the door laughing like a hyena, with Ven flying after her with an evil laugh of his own. Neither of them even bothered to look back at our faces turning blood-red from embarrassment. "Well that was typical. At least now we don't have to worry about breaking the news ourselves." She threw a pillow at me and scowled as she finally succeeded in knocking me off the bed. "Shut up, Noctis." was all she said before pulling the covers over herself completely and forcing us both to sleep with a quick spell. __________________________________________________________________ A few hours later... My wake-up this time was noticeably less than amicable. “NOCTIS, LUNA! WAKE THE HELL UP! WE’RE IN TWILIGHT TOWN!” “AGH!” I shouted as I rolled off of my bed, landing face first on the cold steel of the floor, while Luna simply shot up, launching a spell that barely missed my sister. “Dammit Die, do you have to be so loud?” “Of course, WE’RE HERE!” “Ugh, can you please not be so loud, Day Warrior? And please leave so we can prepare.” Luna requested irritatedly. “Ok, see ya.” she said, turning to leave. “Oh, by the way, Celestia and Discord are a couple now.” And she was gone. I took a moment to register the new information before turning to Luna. “Wait, so Discord and Celestia...” “Honestly, I’m not surprised. Discord always did love her. Unfortunately, she didn’t know how she felt about him when he first confessed, and it wasn’t until after we had sealed him in stone that she realised she loved him too. Of course, then it was too late. Maybe now they can be happy.” She said with a hopeful look. “Well, here’s hoping that it works out.” “Attention passengers, we are disembarking now, so please get your flanks topside.” A mechanical voice said over the intercom system. Luna and I just shrugged before we got ready to leave. I placed the ‘IS’ key-chain on a small string and tied it around my neck, while Luna put on her regalia and tapped it, activating the disguise spell Discord had placed on it. It only took a minute, and then we were off to the deck, where everyone else was already waiting. Die, Tox, Shade, Aqua and Jolt were sitting around talking, and Celestia, in her own disguise, was nuzzling up to Discord. “Save it for the bedroom you two.” Die said, causing an immediate break-out of red-faces. I noticed, but I ignored it in favour of a more pressing matter. “Where’s Ven?” “He went down earlier.” Discord said calmly. “Oh, ok. So, we gonna get going now, or are we gonna wait until we’re old and grey?” “Very well, any preferred destination?” “I dunno, ummm...” “How about the sandlot?” Luna asked, receiving a few looks from everyone. “What, I studied this world too, y’know.” “I brought the weapons!” Clare shouted as she flew into the room, carrying a HUGE burlap sack. “Finally,” Sparky said with an eyeroll. He then walked over, opened the sack, and pulled out a sword almost as tall as him, the others from Lumos’ world began to pull out weapons as well. Clare pulled out two extra: a bow and a staff, though she was being more careful with the bow than anyone else was with any of the given items. Also some of the others seemed to look at it she had with fear. “Interesting choices Clare.” “If anyone else took them, they would end up either killing themselves, or everyone.” She said calmly, but she was eyeing the bow with fear just as much as the others were. “Clare, Lumos told us never to use the PB.” Aqua said, placing a blue-grey whip on his belt. “PB? Nice abbreviation. Gonna tell me what it means and why you’re wielding it when the guy who most-likely made it told you not to?” “It means Planet Buster, he told us never to wield it because it could easily destroy the very world you fire it on. I’m bringing it so that if the rescues of Ven, Aqua, and Terra have happened, I can blow up the castle that never was. Also because I’m the least likely of us to actually fire the damn thing. This bow is the reason I’m afraid of what ‘Nihl’ can do.” “Well, a little advice.” I leaned in close to Clare. “When the shooting starts, try not to wet your pants.” This earned me a fist in the gut, followed by being slammed into the ground by her ‘gravity’ power. “Asshole.” she muttered “Well, at least it took your mind off the pointless worrying.” I groaned through the pain as Luna tried to alleviate it with a spell. She turned to Discord, “Just get us down there, dammit.” His eyes widened a little in fear, “Yes ma’am.” He said, and snapped his fingers. __________________________________________________________________ We found ourselves right in the middle of the sandlot, and there were several pairs of eyes on us. “Well this is awkward,” Shade said quietly. “It could be worse.” I replied, almost shocking our watchers. “It... talks?” A girl said, who I recognized from the KH2 library as Ollette “Yes, he does. His name is Noctis. Now, if we’re done with pointing out the obvious, we need to find our friend Ven. Have you seen him?” Luna said irritatedly. “That flying blond guy from just a moment ago?” “Yeah, probably him. So, he was here in the sandlot? Where’d he go?” “He had a struggle match with Seifer, and then said something to him, before flying off. Try asking him.” The one I recognized as ‘Hayner’ said. “Well, where can we find Seifer and his cronies?” I asked. “Try looking behind you.” A voice behind me said. I turned around, and lo and behold, there was Seifer and his two friends, Rai and Fuu. “Hey. So, where’s Ven?” I said nonchalantly. “He said you would be looking for him, and to go to the old mansion in the woods.” “Thanks. See ya later, maybe!” I said as I ran off on the path to the Old Mansion. The rest of the group looked at my retreating form as if I’d gone crazy. “I’ll go after him. Where will we find you afterwards, or do you want us to wait for you when we get there?” Luna asked. “Probably the mansion’s library,” Everyone turned to stared at Clare, “What? It’s where the hidden zone is. Besides, Ven probably already got it open, so as long as Noctis doesn’t break the computer, we’ll be fine.” “Alright then. We’ll see you there.” Luna replied as she ran off after me. __________________________________________________________________ Twilight Town “Ven, wait up!” I yelled as he entered the mansion, my call seemingly unheard. Just as I was about to follow him though, “Noctis!” I turned to see Luna running towards me with a mildly angry face. “Don’t run off by yourself. We have to be there for each other, and we can’t do so unless we stick together, right?” “Well what about Ven, who’s there for him when he’s off by himself?” “Ven is currently more capable of defending himself at the moment, seeing as he has more knowledge of his environment, and enemies, and has a body he is used to. You are still learning how to use your new form. Which begs the question, why did you decline when Discord offered to create an item which would allow you to temporarily take a human form?” “I dunno. I guess I’m just a little too proud or something like that. You know, I either reacquire my human form myself, or not at all.” Luna shook her head slowly. “Noctis, you need to let go of your pride. It will on--” A loud crash came from the inside of the house, with what sounded like wood splintering. Luna shot me a look. “Please tell me he didn’t blow something up!” She said. “Come on, let’s go find him before he breaks the computer systems or something.” I said, running towards the source of the sound with Luna in tow. “What the...” Luna trailed off as she stared at the splintered remains of a door and the massive opening in the middle of the library. The opening was oddly metalic, and had stairs leading down it on the right side. “Wow, Ven sure hates doors.” I said quietly. “That was a very poor joke. Now, let’s wait until the others get here before we go find Ven.” Almost on cue, Clare came flying in through the window, and said “Hello!” In a cheery tone. Luna raised an eyebrow. “The window? Really? What’s wrong with the door? I swear, it’s like you’re taking lessons from Discord...” She said. “It was faster,” she said with a shrug. “... Wait, what happened to the door, anyway?” “Ven.” I said simply. “Oh.” She rolled her eyes, “Anyway, everyone is almost here, so we should be good to go soon enough.” “Clare, you didn’t even look behind you to see we were right there.” Celestia said as she came through the now door-less opening. “True, but we still have to wait for Sparky, he’s still getting potions, ethers, and such.” “Actually, he’s right behind you. We got the items in less than a minute.” Celestia replied. “... Oh... Well, lets go then!” “Yeah, lets. Wait, where’s Discord?” “Ship, same with Aqua, they’re going to follow our energy signatures so they can land the ship on The World that Never Was properly.” Jolt said calmly as he jumped down, and walked through one of the doors in the metal pit. “Wait up Sparky!” I said as we went after him. “MY NAME ISN’T SPARKY, DAMMIT!” He shouted “Ok then... Jolteon.” Clare said in a teasing tone. “... Fuck it, I’m not even going to try anymore.” He said as he hunched over, and stuck his hands in his pockets. “I don’t get it. What’s it me-wait, you hear that? It sounds like...someone’s torturing a flute.” “Damn it, Ven’s whistling again.” I heard Jolt complain, as he turned down a hallway to follow the noise. “VEN, STOP WITH THE EAR-RAPE!” I yelled in no particular direction. “MAKE ME!” I heard from the direction Jolt started going in, followed by the starting back up of that infernal sound. I walked in the direction of the noise, kicked in the door, and yelled “UMBRA!”, silencing the horrible whistling. “................................................................................... Well, It’s about time you got here.” Ven said from a chair in front of a large number of monitors, and a caged section of the floor, with a blue beam passing through it. “I was considering going without you.” I took one look at the computer’s programs. “Do you have any hacking skills?” He pointed to the beam, “Three steps ahead of you.” “Really? Then tell me why the beam is set to erase whatever touches it.” I said with a frown. “It doesn’t really erase it, it turns it into a program, and chucks it into a virtual version of this world.” “No, that’s this program.” I said, making a few adjustments, which, let me tell you, was hell to do with hooves. “The program you had running uses the same password, but it’s a false front. It’s meant to prevent anyone from entering the program by hacking the system. In short, you touch the beam, whatever part of you touches it is completely erased.” I explained. He looked at the computer again, “Well, I feel silly all of a sudden.” I ignored him as I was too focused on the task at hand, or hoof. “...and re-type the password aaaaaaaaand, done. There, we’re good to go.” He looked at one screen and read aloud “Password incorrect, please try again” “Dammit. I hate working on computers using hooves. You type it.” I said, getting off the chair and letting Ven do it. “Ok, lets see... Sea Salt Ice-cream.” he muttered as he typed the passcode, being careful not to misspell it. “Ok, now then, lets go!” And with that, he leaped into the beam. We followed him moments later. __________________________________________________________________ Virtual Twilight Town “Well, it seems to have worked.” Ven said, motioning to the broken monitors on his right as we appeared. “Wow, Roxas had anger issues.” I said. “You have no idea.” Ven said as he walked through a door, “This way to the Dark Realms!” “Ok then. So, are we gonna have to fight an army of nobodies to get there?” I asked. “Dunno” He said, walking up to an orb of darkness, “Oh, and if this is anything like Lumos’ dark passages, you may want a jacket on hand.” “Why?” I asked. “It’s like...” He looked like he was searching for the right words “It’s like going through a meat freezer... that has just been layered in honey.” “Alright. Good thing I’ve got fur now.” I said with relief. “Too bad your hooves are going to get all sticky.” Jolt said as he lit himself on fire before running into the darkness, Ven and Clare following closely behind. Shade just floated above us on a small amount of smoke. “Well, see you on the other side.” I said to Celestia and Luna as I ran in after them. Shade held up a watch almost identical to Ven’s, “Discord, beam me, Celestia, Die, and Luna up, will you? The keyblade bearer has already begun passing through...” __________________________________________________________________ Dark Realm Oddly enough, we were in a bright blue room, with the nobody symbol flying around. “What the hell are these things?!” I heard Jolt shout, as he shot fire at odd, skeletal beings, as well as Nobodies. “DOES IT MATTER? JUST KILL THEM!” Ven said as several nobodies around him exploded. “Ok, I’m gonna try something. Pray it works!” I yelled as I barely dodged a swipe from a green creature. “Dark...SPLICER!” The creatures froze and I rushed through them, making multiple strikes on each one I passed. I reappeared beside Ven, smirking as many of the creatures unfroze and fell apart as the wounds caught up to them. “Well, that was interesting.” Jolt said. “KYAAAA!” We heard behind us, turning... Well... We saw two blue versions of the skeletal creatures raping Clare. “I feel a little bit conflicted here.” I heard Ven say, before he snapped his fingers, and both beings exploded into hundreds of pieces. “Ok, note to self, stay the fuck away from the blue ones...” I said as Ven helped Clare up, and handed her a jacket, from another of his many pockets, which she quickly put over her now torn up outfit. “That’s it! I can’t take it anymore! I’m going home!” Clare shouted as she marched off toward the exit. “Ven, stay with Clare.” I said, not taking my eyes off the remaining creatures. “Aye, sir.” He responded, a small whirlwind whipping up around both him and Clare. Jolt stepped up next to me, both fire and electricity covering his body, “We gonna do this or what?” i could word it better, so that it’s less obvious “Yeah. Jolt, something about the green ones seems off, like... I just don’t want to fight it.” “Aww, is the little pony scared?” Jolt mocked. “Shut up Jolt, this is serious. I think this thing subconsciously causes inner conflict or something.” “Phht, whatever,” he said before charging, and cleaving one of the Gold ones in half with his sword, “It doesn’t matter, you kill them all the sa--.” and then a flaming lighting-bolt struck him in the jaw. He stood back up, rubbing his jaw, “Damn, that hurt,” He looked in the direction it came from, before grinning, a gold one was covered in the same fire and lightning as Jolt was. “Shit. The gold ones can copy us, and the green ones do something to our heads. What do the violet ones do?” I asked more to myself than to Jolt, trying to figure out a counter-strategy to their abilities. While I was thinking, a current picked up, as a different gold thing created a whirlwind around itself. I then heard a voice in my head say What? These things were created by Umbra!? I looked over to the group to see one of the green ones staring at me. “Shit. JOLT! These things were created by Umbra, and the green ones can get inside your head!” “DON’T CARE FIGHTING FIRE WITH FIRE!” Jolt shouted as his flame began to grow brighter, and change to become violet. “THIS IS SERIOUS SPARKY!” I yelled. “The green ones can affect our minds, doesn’t that warrant caution?” “I’LL CROSS THAT BRIDGE WHEN I COME TO IT!!” He shouted as the flames became a dark blue. “Dammit.” I muttered, before rushing to engage the green ones. The beasts began to all glow, and shift in shape, becoming replicas of me, Die, Luna, and Celestia, each with their respective weapons, and clothes. One of the ‘me’ replica’s ran forward, swinging a keyblade at me. “Too slow.” I muttered as I ducked under it and thrust my own towards its throat. The blade phased through, and it’s own keyblade struck me, drawing blood from my side. My eyes widened at the sudden pain and I jumped back as quickly as I could, putting some distance between me and the impostor. “Dammit, what was that? My weapon just passed through, and his made contact. Why?” The others joined in, swinging their blades rapidly at me, opening wounds all over my body. “Shit.” I yelled. “Let’s see how you like this! FIRAGA BURST!” “The hell? Wait...SHIT!” I yelled as the realization hit me. “CURA!” A green beam of light erupted from my keyblade and struck Jolt, and his wounds started to heal almost immediately, though the spell wasn’t strong enough to heal them completely. And with that, the Green forms charged. This time attacking with claw and foot. “Just what I was waiting for. DARK BARRIER!” A spherical barrier made of dark tiles sprung to life around us. One of the creatures hit the barrier, and just bounced off. “Well, at least it works. I’ve gotta come up with my own moves though, can’t keep copying techniques used by Riku and Sora forever.” I muttered as I tried to come up with a counter-strategy. “Come on, gotta think! This would be so much easier if I had some damn back-up besides this hot-head!” I yelled. Suddenly, a hand was placed on the head of one of the green ones, and it began to wither and fall apart, “Seriously,” Tox said, “Can’t even handle creatures like these on your own?” “Ha ha. You try fighting using my body and see how you do! Especially with this idiot rushing in and making proper planning impossible!” I said, pointing at the still unconscious Jolt. “So, got any plans?” She hit a few more with her ungloved hand, each of them dying almost instantly, “Yeah, I help you, Aqua and Shade deal with the Violet, and Mirum and Ven kill the power-snatchers.” “Ok, but we need at least one of them alive. I want to find out just how Umbra created them.” She grabbed the last green one with her gloved hand, and slammed it into the ground, “That’s almost exactly what Die said. Although she just said she wanted something to interrogate.” “Ok, just as long as you don’t leave her alone with it. We’ll more than likely end up with a huge mess to clean up, though we will get whatever information we need. The mess isn’t worth it though, most of the time.” She turned, and started to walk to the exit, the now unconscious creature held in her hand, “I was planning on my own approach to this situation.” She said, turning her head back to reveal her mouth, in an evil grin. Still couldn’t see her eyes though. “Ooookaaay, so, who should go forward to the other side? Cause if there are more of these things on the World, then solo is most definitely not the way to go.” “Well, We’re done over here!” Ven shouted. I turned to see the gold ones in pieces, and the violet ones floating in the center of a large orb of water. “OK. So, I’ll go on to the other side. Who’s going with me?” I called. “We all are, stupid,” Ven said with a grin. “Ok then. But riddle me this. Where is Umbra if he’s the one who created these things? I don’t wanna go through there to find he’s waiting with a mini-gun or something.” “It’s possible they are like heartless in how they get around. Though why they aren’t affected by the keyblade itself is a better question.” “They were, or at least all but the green ones were, though technically it was just them fucking with my head making me think I was fighting them when I was really fighting Sparky. I think...” And then we exited the space between. Ven held up his watch, “Guess who’s back?” “A very handsome, if somewhat annoying, wind master?” Ven chuckled, “Close, but no, it’s just me.” “Oh, how can you belittle yourself like that? Do I have to come down there and beat some sense of self-worth into you?” “Nah, I’m good. Discord, could you beam down whoever you can?” “Aye, sir, that I can!” Discord’s voice said, and moments later, Discord, Celestia, Luna, and Die appeared. Almost immediately, I was tackled by Luna. “That is the LAST TIME I ever let you go off without me there to save your sorry flank!” She said as she tried to decide whether to hit me or kiss me. “Anyway, we’ve got ourselves a little test subject with us, don’t we Tox?” Ven said, turning toward the covered woman, who just dangled the green, unconcious creature by the foot. “Oh, I am gonna enjoy this.” Die said, cracking her knuckles with a sadistic grin as she stepped towards it. “Just be sure to leave something for me to interrogate, sweetie.” “Dude, if you want something to interrogate, do so while she’s working. Otherwise, you’ll get nothing.” I said. “Trust me, I can get whatever info I need.” A grin appeared on his face that only a madman would normally carry, “I know some of the best torture tactics used throughout the history of my world, including some that are only theory.” “I don’t wanna know what they are. Just do them where we won’t have to see.” I said. “Yeah, yeah. Also, Die, have you told them yet?” Ven asked, turning to my sister with a simple smile. “Told us what? About your ‘relationship’, or about my sister and Noctis’ ‘relationship’?” Celestia asked with a smug smile. “I’ll take that as a ‘yes’ on both counts.” “Not really. Discord had cameras installed in each room to, as he said, prevent the theft of the toiletries.” Aqua turned toward Discord, “Damn it, that was one time! One. Time.” “If it has happened once, it will happen again.” Discord said in a way similar to a monk. A very calm, disconnected monk. “Wait, why would someone steal toiletries?” I asked, confused. “THE TOILET PAPER WAS MADE OF GOLD, OK?!” “Woah, really? Why? Actually, don’t bother, you’re Discord, why should anything make sense when it doesn’t have to, right?” “Where did you think the expenses for all the crap ‘Jolteon’ bought came from?” “Seriously, why do you call him Jolteon now?” “A TV show, and game series from earth, I’ll tell you about it when its over. To summerize: a Jolteon is a small, furry, yellow, dog-like creature with electric powers.” “So, Sparky has similar powers to a cartoon dog-thing? HA!” “Actually, so does Aqua, and even Lumos.” “Really? Meh, at least I like them enough not to make fun of them about it, but Sparky’s too good a target. So, shall we get going? I wanna rescue Lumos before I’m old and grey.” “That would take thousands of years, if you’re still as long lived as before. Also, indeed. “Hmmm, I actually don’t know if I’m immortal anymore. I can’t feel the Orb’s presence, yet at the same time, I can. Doesn’t make sense, does it?” I said, scratching my head. “Actually, it does. It’s like a microwave, it uses radio waves to warm something, while the same waves could be used to send signals.” “Ok, that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.” Ven face-palmed, “And I thought you were the smart one... Lets just go.” He said as he turned to leave. “Look, I don’t know much about physics, I just know I could pass some of its limitations after I became a SOLDIER. Now, I feel even less bound by the laws of physics, but it doesn’t mean I understand them.” “That’s because you’re a pony, ponies and physics don’t mix.” “You mean like me and Sahagin?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. “Let me explain in simple terms, you’re a pony, yet you can shrug. This means you have shoulders, physics says ponies shouldn’t have shoulders.” “Good point. Except the physics of our worlds never encountered ponies that could use magic, or fly, or raise the sun and moon, so I don’t think it could accommodate for them, do you?” “Exactly.” He said, as though making a point. “We’re getting sidetracked, aren’t we? We should be getting to rescuing Lumos.” I said. “Yes. Yes we should. Meet me at the large tower in the center of the city, Tox, watch over our prisoner.” And with that, he began to fly down the back-alleys of the city, shouting “COME AT ME BRO!” Followed by the death-shrieks of several creatures. “HEY! WAIT UP!” Die shouted as she went after her boyfriend. We let out a collective sigh. Tox, with our prisoner on her back, and the rest of us started walking through the now completely empty street. Soon I found myself surrounded on both sides by Luna and Celestia. “You know, if you wanted to know if you were still immortal, you could just ask my sister and I.” Celestia said as we walked through the somewhat empty streets, taking out whatever came our way. “We can perform a scan to find out, if you want.” I raised an eyebrow. “Since when have you been able to do that?” “My sister and I have been able to utilise that ability since four years after we were granted our powers and immortality. And just so you know, I already performed the scan while you were asleep, and yes, you are still immortal. The orb has just taken on a new form.” Luna said. Aqua was suddenly in front of us in a ball of water that almost covered his whole body.. “Let me guess: the keyblade?” He asked, interested in the conversation. Luna nodded. “Correct. That is why Noctis is still able to use the magic the orb once gave him access to though at the moment it is limited to telekinesis and the techniques he copied from playing those games. Basically, it is as if he is learning to control its power all over again.” “Ah, that makes sense... One sec.” His water disappeared and he fell to the ground, landing with both feet in the same spot. “What are you-” Tox began, before a massive spike of ice came out of the ground, launching Aqua into the air. He managed somehow to land on top of one of the taller buildings. He looked around for a moment, before jumping down, surrounding himself with a ball of water that barely broke when it hit the ground, and was then absorbed into him. “We better move. Now.” He said as he broke into a sprint. “Aqua, what is it? What’s wrong?” Celestia asked as we followed him. “ARMY COMING! RUN NOW! UNDERSTAND!?” He shouted at the princess in the unmistakable tone of fear. “Army!? What kind of army!?” Luna asked with worry. “THOSE SKELETON THINGIES, THREE KINDS THAT WEREN’T IN THE DARK AREA! JUST RUN, DAMNIT!” he launched himself off the ground into a wall, and launched himself again, performing ice spike wall jumps rapidly down the street, easily outdistancing us. I looked over, and saw Jolts legs crackle with electricity as he began to move at superhuman speeds, and shade turn into a puff of smoke that followed, the only ones that stayed with us were Tox and Discord. “This is not how I imagined this going. Anyone got any ideas?” I huffed as I continued running. “Run faster?” Discord suggested, floating on a cotton candy cloud. “Don’t make me poison you,” Tox said in a icy tone, her eyes flashing from inside her outfit. “Yes ma’am,” Discord said as he shrunk away. “Tox, leave him alone. Discord, do you think you could slow them down, even a little?” Celestia asked. “No, but I could teleport us.” “Sounds like a plan. Do it!” “Aye aye!” Discord said, before snapping his fingers, and we were all sitting on a huge cloud of cotton candy, with a table and tea set out in front of us. “Woah, cool. So where are we?” “Look down, and see.” Discord said as he took a sip of his tea. I poked my head over the edge of the cloud. “What...the...hell?” We were right above a massive army of red, gold, green, light blue, dark blue, purple, and orange skeleton things. “That’s....a lot of ugly bastards.” I said. “Damn strai-- One second, got a call,” Discord said as he pulled out a phone. “... Ok, on it,” He snapped his fingers, and another cotton candy cloud appeared, with Ven and Die on it. I took one look at them, and I did the first thing that came to mind. I facehoofed. “Die, please tell me you didn’t use Wound Transfer. Please...” I muttered to myself. “She did. For some reason the healing spell wouldn't work on me.”Ven said before looking down, and seeing the army, “What the fuck is that?” “One, DIE YOU IDIOT! You know that move makes whatever wounds you receive twice as bad as they were on whoever you transferred them from. Two, that’s Umbra’s army.” “[color=gren]Die, why would you worsen the wound? I could've just let it be.” “Cause Ven. I can recover from it. I couldn’t heal your wound, but I’ll heal from it naturally. Plus, I’m stubborn. Do you really think you could talk me out of it?” She smirked despite the pain in her arm. “That’s a fair point.” He looked back down. “On another note... Umbra’s... army...” Ven started to gain an evil grin, “This is gonna be good!” He said as he began to stretch. “Ventus, do not do anything reckless.” Celestia warned him. “Princess, you obviously don’t know me well enough.” Ven said before jumping off the cloud, and going straight up. “... Fuck he’s gonna do it.” Tox said, “Discord, move the cloud about a macro-metres south” Ven then landed softly, his body glowing a little. Each step he took sent large sections of the world around him into the air, where they floated around him, the buildings began to get torn out of the ground, and he threw all of this to the side, leaving a barren wasteland. The parts of the army remained after this charged him head on, only to be held back by an invisible force. Ven swept a single hand to the side, and all of the creatures were cut cleanly in half. The glow around him slowly faded, and a deep cut appeared in his right arm, though he didn’t seem to notice it as he flew back up. I noticed that his eyes were mostly glazed over. “Yo, Ven? You alive in there?” There was no response, not even a twitch as he went up.. “Uhhh, guys? I think Ven’s broken...” I said. “Yeah... That’s happened before.” Tox said, shaking her head. “When exactly did this happen before?” Celestia asked. “From what he told me about it, that technique throws him into his subconscious, I haven’t actually seen him use it before, but he talked about it. He called it the ‘White Wind’ technique.” “Well, how do we get him out of his subconscious and back into the real world?” “Three weeks and a cup of hibiscus tea.” She said flatly. “WHAT!? FUCK THAT, I’M Go-” “Fooled ya.” Tox pulled down her masking cloth a little to reveal a grin with sharp teeth, “Wait 5 or so minutes, and the tea part was serious, but we got that.” “That, was not funny.” Die replied with a glare. “But it was good.” she conceded with a sigh. “But anyway, the gash is weird, he never mentioned anything along those lines.” “That could be because of Die’s recent use of the Wound Transfer.” I suggested. “No, from what he told me, there would be something like a paper cut from the pressure, but nothing even nearly this deep.” “Maybe he put too much power into it? The more power he puts into it, the higher the pressure, correct?” “Wrong, it’s a technique that requires him to put the maximum amount of air pressure possible on his whole body, making it respond in an inhuman way. The pressure is high enough that, if it weren’t on every inch of the body, it would break every one of his bones.” “Woah. Then what if it’s not the exact same technique? What if it’s an alteration?” “Probably not.” “Well then, for now, we should focus on the tasks at hoof. One, we need to wake Ventus up, and two, we need to rescue Lumos, correct?” “On it,” Tox said, before putting down the green creature, and punching Ven in his... his...let’s just not say testicles and pretend we did. His eyes burst open, “AGH!” and he fell off the cloud, before rising slowly, holding himself. “Why would you do that?!” “Cause you decided to be reckless with that move of yours? What was it, the white wind or something?” “Wait how do... Oh, she told you, didn’t she.” “Yes, she did. Now, give me one reason why I shouldn’t shove some coal so far up your ass you’ll be coughing out diamonds for being so reckless.” Die said in an eerily sweet voice. Ven shuddered “Thanks for the mental image. Anyway, how about taking out an army in ten seconds flat?” He crossed his arms, still wincing in pain from... what Tox did, and the gash in his arm. “Hmmmm....I guess that is a pretty good reason. However, you still owe us for almost getting yourself killed. And don’t try to tell me it wouldn’t have killed you. We both know you’d be lying.” He rolled his eyes, “Fair enough,” “Just ignore her Ven, she’s only going to try and trick you in some way. You don’t owe us anything.” “SHUT UP NOCTIS!” “Anyway, lets go,” And with that, the cloud began to move on its own, Ven sitting at the front of it, he held up his watch. “Guys, go to the Castle that Never Was.” “I thought you’d never ask.” I said as I steeled myself for the fight to come. “Look out Organization bozos, here we come!” The cotton candy cloud began to accelerate rapidly. I felt like it was going too slow, so I prepared to take off. “I wouldn’t recommend taking off, we would leave you behind.” I glared at him for a bit, but I sat back down. “So, do you think we’ll run into Riku or Sora or anyone else there?” “Possible, but I doubt it.” “Ok then, but after we get Lumos back I’m going to find a Master to teach me how to wield this thing.” I said, summoning my keyblade and waving it around a little. “And since the only masters available are Yen Sid, Mickey, and possibly Riku, the Tower’s my best bet for finding them.” “Eh, whatever.” Ven said with a shrug. “Seriously? You seem to be good enough as is. Well, except for having your ass handed to you by those things Umbra made.” Die remarked. “Yeah, that was pretty interesting, actually. Anyway, we’ll be at the castle momentarily.” “Good. I want to kick some ass. Anyway, Ven, what kind of creatures did you encounter before that army of Umbra’s things showed up.” “Nobodies, mostly.” “That’s weird. This is a sleeping realm, so there should only be Dream Eaters here.” “Not if the Nobodies were already in the world.” Ven said plainly. “....shut up.” I huffed. “But if that is, or was, the case, then why didn’t Sora and Riku ever encounter them in Dream Drop Distance? Were they under orders not to go after them or something?” “Nobodies have personalities, maybe they know better than to mess with them.” “Would they have messed with you if that was the case?” I pointed out. “Well, they haven’t met any power users before, so I guess they’ve learned..” “Yeah yeah, blah blah, I’m sure this conversation is riveting for any who can follow it but we’re here.” Die said, pointing to the massive castle right in front of us with an arm I could have sword had been broken a few minutes ago. “Now, do you want to knock, or can I?” She smirked. “Go ahead.” “Ven, you just cost us our hearing for the next ten minutes.” I said as I dismissed BP and covered my ears as best I could. Luna took one look at me and followed suit, as did Celestia, Discord, and Tox. “SOLAR BLAST!” A massive beam of energy shot out of her arm and blasted into the castle. The contact created a massive shock wave that threatened to tear the clouds apart, and the noise was worse than being blasted point-blank by an ambulance siren being amped by a megaphone. For some reason, only Ven was unaffected by the blast. After about a minute, Die finally cut off the flow, and the beam abruptly thinned out and disappeared, leaving a gaping hole in the side of it. A few seconds later, Ven yawned, and said “That wasn’t so bad.” “Are you kidding? The first time she used that move, I lost my hearing for a week straight.” “And I have the power to remove all air around me, making a sound proof barrier, I believe I win.” He said with a grin. “And you couldn’t have placed this barrier around the rest of us, why?” Celestia asked with a hint of annoyance in her voice. “I could’ve.” Ven said, keeping his grin, before jumping off the cloud, and rocketing toward the castle. “We’ll get him back later. Right, Dissy?” She said, grabbing one of Discord’s arms and interlocking it with her own while batting her eyelashes at him. Discord shuddered, “Right.” “Pffft, Ven is so dead.” Die said, chuckling. “Shut up Die. Celestia, don’t go overboard. We do kinda need him alive.” “Hmph, fine. Now, we need to separate into groups in order to speed up the search f--” A voice said in my head. “What the fuck was that? You heard it too, right?” “That would be Umbra, or at least one of his crappy puppets.” I replied disdainfully, summoning BP again. The voice said, and Umbra appeared, floating in the air in front of us with a strange, mishmash keyblade in his hand. “The fuck is that?” Tox said, her eyes flickering with rage. “You mean the thing you used to separate me and Akumu?” “Well, that thing doesn’t look like much. What’d you do, use ‘soul food’ to make it or something?” “Wait, you used souls to make it? Who?” I asked. He grinned. “What do you mean, in a sense? What have you done, monster!?” “Let’s just say,” a serpentine voice said behind us “One version of ‘Equestria,’ no longer has element bearers.” Celestia’s eyes widened in rage as she turned to face the figure. “So, this is where you turned up, huh Akumu?” I said calmly. “Now, what. Did. You. DO!?” Umbra began to float in circles around the cloud, but suddenly he was engulfed in flames. “How. DARE YOU!” Celestia screamed with fury as she undid the illusion hiding her wings and horn, rising into the air to meet him head on as she did so. Umbra said as the flames moved off his body, and into the symbol in the hand-guard of the blade. He didn’t get a chance to counter though, as walls of light surrounded him and started to close in, creating sharp spikes as it came closer and closer. Umbra yawned, and slipped into a dark passage, appearing just outside of the sphere, “It matters not. You have commit grievous offences, and you shall pay for them. Noctis. You and everyone else are to rescue Lumos. I shall handle Umbra and Akumu by myself.” “Sorry Celestia, but FUCK THAT! You are not fighting the both of them by yourself. I’m staying. The rest of you guys can go.” “Hey Noctis,” Akumu said, stepping in front of me, “Recognize this?” he asked as Tsuki no me appeared in his hand. “So, it remained. I see. But you don’t have the Orb. I do, and that’s all the advantage I need.” I said. “Ah, but I don’t need the orb, thanks to Umbra.” He said, his eyes sparkling with pride. “We’ll see about that.” I said, throwing BP at him and taking to the skies. Umbra just knocked the blade to the side, ignoring its disappearing act, and Akumu followed my movement with his eyes as I re-summoned it and shot a giant fireball at him. The fireball curved, and went into the blade Umbra held, just like the fire before. “Dude, if you love fire so much, then why don’t you just ask it out. Too hot for ya?” I asked. “So you eat fire? That’s gotta cause some serious heartburn.” I joked, charging him, trying to run him through. He smiled as he disappeared, He appeared right behind Tox, and cut her arm with the blade, .. “Shit!” Die yelled, rushing Umbra and running Taiyo no me through his arm before he could react. To everyone’s surprise, Umbra laughed. Moments later, his arm exploded into a ton of tentacles, which began to rapidly strike her blade from almost every direction that didn’t cut them. “Let me guess. This is possible because you used to be part of Lumos, right?” I asked as I tossed BP through the tendrils, severing them and allowing Die to retreat with her blade, holding onto Tox with one arm. The tendrils floated back and reattached, before they reformed as two arms, his other arm followed suit. he pulled out two different gauntlets, one I recognized as the two bladed one as before, the other was different. “NOCTIS! Something bad is happening to Tox!” I turned to see that Tox’s body was changing. Her outfit slowly disintegrated, to reveal a black skintight one underneath it, her flesh slowly turned black, darkness was slowly spreading up her arm from her cut. Her teeth became jagged, and her eyes hardened. Claws grew out of her hands, and her legs gained a new joint in them. She stood up slowly, grabbing Dies arm. The flesh on that spot withering immediately. “AHHHHHHHH!” She screamed as she pulled away. “SHUT UP! WHAT DID YOU DO TO TOX!?” I yelled. Tox’s voice said in my head, sounding a bit like a snake’s, “Understand? Tox, what are you talking about? This isn’t you. Don’t you dare let him beat you.” She warped behind me, and slashed my foreleg with her claws. “FUCK.” I yelled as I severed her hand and glided away from her, clutching my bleeding leg. She frowned. Her arm began to bubble, and a new hand slid out. “Sorry Tox.” I said. “DARK FIR--” I stopped, unable to move, thankfully, I was standing on a cloud wide enough to catch me so I didn’t fall to my death. Hey Tox, you can hear my thoughts now, right? Since you’ve switched? I mean, the ones from the Space Between could hear them, so I assume you can too. And if so, I’ve got one thing to say. Umbra’s voice said. Well then, tell her this for me. Time for heads to roll. Tox’s voice said as she appeared above me, punching me through the cloud. Oh, and Umbra, you forgot about something. I thought, smirking as I fell towards the streets far below. You forgot about Luna. I had just enough time to see the Night Goddess appear behind Tox and shove her longsword through her throat, before the cloud closed up again and I continued to fall towards the ground at increasing speed. Sorry Tox. I’ll make ‘em pay double for you. Tox appeared above me, the sword stuck in her neck, she ‘said’ before stabbing my chest with her claws. “That’s what I was waiting for.” I said, smirking as I ripped the sword out and forcibly closed her wound telekinetically. “DARKNESS ABSORPTION!” The darkness began to flow out of Tox’s arm, and her claws disappeared, she kicked me away, before the darkness returned to normal. She held up a clawed hand, and a large drop of poison fell. I righted myself mere feet from the ground. “It’s not quite done yet Tox. You see, I don’t have to maintain contact. Once the spell is cast, it’s effect continues until all the darkness is purged. I’m not losing a friend, even if I have to absorb all the darkness that ever existed. I’m not letting you die.” “Fine then, I’ll absorb that too. Tox, whether or not you’re on my side right now, I’m gonna save you. I never leave anyone behind when I can help them. YOU HEAR ME UMBRA, AKUMU! YOU CAN’T HAVE HER! SHE’S OUR FRIEND AND WE WILL SAVE HER!” I yelled, charging towards her again. The ball of poison struck, and I felt a burning sensation throughout my entire body as my fur, feathers, and skin were melted. “FUCK THAT HURTS!” I yelled as I started falling again, hitting the ground a few seconds later, creating small cracks. “Alright, I guess I’ve got no choice. DISCORD! YOU STILL GOT ONE OF THOSE ITEMS ENCHANTED WITH THOSE DISGUISE SPELLS!?” “Just one, and it’s almost out of power!” Discord shouted, blocking an attack from Akumu with a sword that looked like it was made of fur. “WELL TOSS IT DOWN HERE! I DON’T GIVE A DAMN HOW LONG IT LASTS, I NEED MY OLD FORM, EVEN IF ONLY FOR A LITTLE WHILE!” “Take it!” Discord threw a small metallic blue disc at me. I caught it and realised one thing. “HOW DO I MAKE IT WORK!?” “JUST SLAP IT ON, DAMMIT!” He blocked a blow that would have decapitated him otherwise. I shook my head as I put it on my right leg. Unlike the times I used the orb, this change took a while, and it hurt like hell. The first time it changes you involves a lot of snapping bones, and ripping skin. In my case, lacking skin, I grew new skin which was stretched, ripped and magically sewn back together multiple times as I became human again. My disguise spell gave me a new outfit too. A dark blue jacket with the right sleeve rolled up to the elbow and some sort of armor on the left shoulder, a red t-shirt, blue and red gloves with the moon on the right glove, and the sun on the left, and black shoes. Tox hissed as her mind spoke, “Then why didn’t you take any of them?” “That proves it. You’re not one of them. Not completely. You’re still our friend.” She scoffed she said with pride, Her arm turned gold I pulled the Infinity Spectrum keychain from my neck as I raised Blackout Prizm. “Tox. Do you know what this is?” “Ah, but that’s only a vague description. This keychain is very special. See, I kept asking myself why it felt so important, why the name and symbol kept popping into my head. Now I know. This keychain,” I attached it, and BP transformed into its solar counterpart. “Represents redemption.” “What’s been done to your body may be permanent, but I still believe I can save your mind. You’re not too far gone for that.” I retorted. “Says you.” “Whatever.” I said, rushing Tox and making a vertical slash to try and sever her arm. Suddenly, she was gone. Everywhere I looked, I couldn’t see her. All I did see was the falling bodies of the princesses of the sun and moon, as well as Discord. “LUNA! CELESTIA! DISCORD!” I yelled as I ran towards them yelling, “AEROGA!” and forcing wind to flow upwards, slowing their descent, but not stopping it. Thankfully it slowed them enough that they hit the ground with no damage. Discord then got up, brushed himself off, and teleported himself and the princesses back to the cloud with a wave. I shook my head and went back to looking for Tox. “ALRIGHT YOU COWARDS! COME OUT AND FACE ME!” I yelled in rage. Two voices spoke in my head simultaneously, The three appeared around me. “Darkness gets there first, right? Good thing I can wield it safely now that you and I are separated Akumu.” I said, smirking as I vanished into the shadows at our feet. Umbra’s voice said “Yeah, how so” I asked, “You know what, don’t bother telling me. INFINITY RUSH!” The ground erupted in pillars of light that grew in larger and created a massive cube of light, surrounding and blinding them as I reappeared and made several swift strikes against them, causing severe damage to the buildings and the streets around us. Umbra’s voice spoke again, chilling me to the bone. The light cleared enough for me something that made me sick to see. Tox’s body was on the ground, torn apart and burned, with Umbra squatting over her, closing her eyes as her corpse started to fade away. My anger reached it’s boiling point as I realised the that I had failed to save her, and that Umbra dared to pretend to care. “SHUT UP! DON’T YOU DARE TOUCH HER! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT AFTER WHAT YOU TURNED HER INTO!” “Don’t try your mind games on me, Umbra. This is where you die.” I said. “Then it’s a good thing he’s right behind you, ready to lock you up and throw away the key.” I said smugly. “Too bad you don’t have them underground.” I said, as my copy disappeared. He never finished since I stabbed Infinity Spectrum right through his heart. “Don’t worry, you’re not gonna die, your powers are just being sealed, and about your sinblade. The souls you used are gonna be returned. Unfortunately, the blade’s power is such that even without the souls, it will remain, but with its powers greatly reduced.” He let out his low, barking laugh, I closed my eyes and took a breath as I registered the information. “I see. Then I guess I’ll make sure they find peace.” I said, driving my blade further into his chest. He grabbed the blade of IS, He said plainly as he pulled it out of his chest and threw it away, and his body began to fade, He snapped the sinblade in half. That which came from it was a horrible cross of seven voices screaming and a bright flash, when it cleared, seven different blades were floating around him. “You’re gonna pay for that.” I said. He grinned, he ‘said’ as all the blades cut off various parts of his body. “Let me guess. More tendrils?” I asked, summoning IS back to my hand and taking a stance. The pieces began to smoke, “So, even now the souls fight you. Just proves you’ll never win.” He said as he pulled out a glove with his remaining arm, and tore something out of himself. The glove glowed for a moment, before a metal orb dropped into it. Almost immediately, his body turned to dust. “What are you talking about?” I asked confusedly. and then his head evaporated. The orb continued to glow for a moment, before it became white and black, in a similar pattern to that of the robes Xemnas wore at the end of kingdom hearts 2, with the symbol of the heartless on it. “I must say, I wasn’t expecting that.” A familiar voice said behind me. “Lumos?” “Close enough.”A black cloaked man wielding a blade said as he stepped in front of me. “Lemme guess. That’s Nihl?” I asked. “Gee, I wonder how you knew.” Lumos said with a grin, “Also, I’m ‘Lux, the incomplete’ not ‘Lumos the neutral god,’ anymore.” “Ok then, Lux. Do you remember me? Or Die, or Clare, and Ven?” “Will you stop asking stupid questions already, Noctis?” He pulled back his hood to reveal him being exactly the same, with the exception of the whites of his eyes being black. “Dude, I don’t ask stupid questions.” I said with a small frown. “And I’m not the one who created that thing that killed the populations of two towns and an entire world.” “Fair point,” He walked over to the orb that Umbra made. “That's weird.” “Yeah, he made it just before he ‘died’. Now, where are those sinblades?” I mused, looking around. “You mean these?” I heard from above me, and I looked up to see Akumu standing on the largest one. “AKUMU! Give up. Umbra’s dead, and you’re outnumbered, as well as outmatched. Or do you wanna make this your last stand? Go ahead, all it means is I’ll get to go home a little earlier and spend time with my girlfriend.” “HA! Now that’s a good one. Umbra planned for this, actually, he knew that seperated, we couldn’t win, so he gave me... his soul.” He said with a grin, “He set it up so that when he died, I would inherit the blades, giving me eight.” “Eight? Last I checked, there were only seven. Unless you’re talking about Tsuki no me as well. In which case, bring it on.” I said. “After all, that blade belonged to me, so it’s only fitting I be the one to destroy it.” “Gladly. Now then, let me show you the power Umbra taught me, but was afraid to use with only one soul!” He said, as he slipped on a glove identical to that Umbra used to create the orb. “I’m guessing that’s what you used to get the souls to create your precious sinblades.” I spat. He grinned, and said in my head “... Did you just Quote Joseph Stalin?” Lux asked, a look saying ‘what the fuck’ on his face. “No shit, Sherlock,” Akumu said with a chuckle, “With his soul,” “Ok talking in two voices. Creepy as fuck, but not gonna change a thing.” I said. Akumu spoke the next part, both out loud, and in our heads “” and with that, he disappeared. “Fuck. Lux, be careful, he can mess with our heads and make us attack each other.” Lux picked up the orb, “This... this is a heart...” He chuckled, “That bastard is less predictable that Discord.” “I heard my name.” Discord said, popping in out of nowhere, almost completely healed. Lux just stared at him, before turning to me “Mind explaining?” “Uh, sure. Discord from my world is a good guy now. It’s only cause of him we were even able to get here on the Swagwagon.” I said quickly, searching for Akumu/Umbra. “The... what the fuck?!?” He shouted as a sinblade crashed into Nihl knocking it out of his hands, before both disappeared. “Well that isn’t good.” he deadpanned, “give me a moment.” The orb began to glow, and his robe disappeared, changing into a simple long sleeve shirt, and pants, made of the same material as Ven’s old outfit, and covered with pockets. “Nice gear. Hey, if you’re here, where are Ven and the others anyway?” “Still in the castle, said they had something they wanted to look for. Now then,” He held his left hand to the sky, and a white and black scimitar fell from it, landing perfectly in his hand, followed by taking a dual wielding stance, “lets kill this bastard.” “Gladly.” I said, raising IS, as Nihl reappeared in Lux’s other hand. Lux charged forward, fast enough that I could barely follow the movements myself, and he made a swift uppercut with Nihl, which Akumu dodged with a slight adjustment to his stance. Lux then threw his blade straight down, right before it hit the ground, it entered a dark passage, and flew out, going through Akumu’s leg. “Gah!”Akumu shouted, before doing something I didn’t expect: he began to pour light into the wound, closing it up, and making it heal. “Light? Really? I didn’t expect you to ever use it Akumu. Or Umbra? Or are we gonna have to come up with an entirely new name for you?” I asked as I tossed IS at him. “SPARK RAID!” The blade only nicked him, but it separated into several spinning blades of light which flew in all directions. Akumu managed to dodge each blade, “Oh, I’m still Akumu, I just know everything Umbra knew, and have his powers as my own.” he said, as a flintlock pistol appeared in his hand. He pointed it at me, “Glasis.” he said as he pulled the trigger. “and I would be a fool not to use them.” A beam of light blue shot out of the barrel of the gun. “Shadow Slide.” I disappeared just as the bullet passed through the space I had occupied just a second earlier, impacting harmlessly against one of the remaining buildings, and reappearing behind him with IS raised. Just as I brought it down, one of his ‘sinblades’ floated up, blocking the attack. “[color= blue]Sonvabitch.” “Well that’s a familiar use of blades.” I heard Lux say from somewhere, sounding muffled, “Also, Noctis, you’re doing it wrong.” and with that he physically burst from Akumu’s chest. He wiped the blood from his face, before saying “THAT, is how you use darkness in battle.” “Dude, now that’s what I call a heart-attack.” I said, chuckling at my own bad joke. “Whatever, he’s healing faster than I could.” He said, looking back at his work with an approving smile. “Whatever. Just hit him once with Nihl and it’s over, right?” I said. “Not quite, Nihl does destroy, but only the parts it DIRECTLY touches, if you nick his ear, that part is gone for good, and can’t be regenerated, but the rest of him remains.” “Then pass it to me, and I’ll decapitate him. Problem solved.” I said, reaching out to grab it from him, and getting my hand swatted away. “Sorry, but to keep others from stealing it, it’s set up so that only I can wield it without my hand getting fucked up.” “Oh, right. Like with the other weapons you made? Then wouldn’t Xemnas be able to use it, since he helped make it?” I said, wondering why Akumu was just standing there and letting us have a conversation. Turning to look, I got my answer: he wasn’t there at all, he was going upwards toward the clouds. NO! DIE , LUNA AND CELESTIA ARE STILL THERE! “NOPE!” Lux shouted as he appeared above him, sinking his heel into Akumu’s face, before disappearing, and reappearing behind him, giving a sharp kick to the spine, followed by several other teleportations, and hits to sensitive areas, the last, being a place found between ones legs. “Ouch, I felt that.” I said, holding back a laugh as I ran towards the spot Akumu was going to land at. Lumos’ cheeks puffed up, “Shadow dragon’s...” (wait for it,) “ROAR” He shouted, and with the word, came a large amount of darkness, tearing everything in it’s path to shreds. The blast narrowly missed me by a couple inches, not counting the bit of hair I lost. Akumu got the blunt of the attack though, losing one arm, and everything below the chest, while leaving a massive gash in the ground and completely obliterating the rest of the remaining buildings. “Gah, leaves a rotting taste in your mouth.” Lux complained, as he was spitting out little bits of darkness, which instantly disintegrated whatever they touched. “Dude, where’d you learn that!?” I exclaimed, awestruck. “You mean that technique specifically, or dragon slayer magic in general?” he asked, before saying, “White Drive.” a pure white aura appeared around him, making him, and the air around him, look like it had been bleached. “Dude, what’s with the glowing? And I wanna know where you learned about, what did you call it, ‘Slayer Magic’, as well as the technique, you gotta tell me how you learned that.” “Dragon slayer magic is something I read about in a manga called ‘Fairy Tail,’ other forms of dragon slayer magic are fire, lightning, poison, sky, and iron. A level higher than that, is God slayer magic. Unfortunately for me, there isn’t enough knowledge on it, or how it is used, to properly replicate it.” “Cool. So, think you could teach me Light and Shadow sometime? I mean, after I learn how to use a keyblade properly I mean.” I said, just as the magic in the disc I’d been given started to run out. “Awww, crap” “What?” He asked, looking at Akumu’s regenerating form with interest. “Remember how I used to be able to switch forms at will? Emphasis on ‘used to’. I had to give up my human form and my sword when Umbra released my darkness. It saved my life, but it also gave Akumu my human body and Tsuki no me. The only reason I’m human now is cause of this disc thing Discord gave me so I could disguise myself as a human again, and the magic’s about to run out.” “It looks sort of like a keyblade armor thing. Could I see it?” “Sure, but I’ve got about ten minutes before I switch back to my pegasus form, which was previously devoid of skin, thanks to Tox.” I said, shaking a little. “Tox is here too? Where?” I thought about lying to him, but I shook my head, knowing that he’d just find out later and it would be worse because of the lie. “Lux...I’m sorry. Umbra turned her into one of them, and...she’s gone, Lux.” I saw the aura around him fade, and he grit his teeth, “No... NO! I REFUSE TO ACCEPT THIS!” He shouted as a large amount of darkness and light began to pour out of him. “WELL YOU HAVE TO! AND I HAVE TO LIVE WITH THE FACT THAT I’M THE ONE THAT ENDED HER LIFE! I THOUGHT I COULD SAVE HER AND I WAS WRONG!” The darkness and light began to take the shape of an orb, “Where is the body?” He asked, a look of rage on his face. “I don’t know. Umbra did something to it before we started fighting again, and now I have no idea what happened. The worst part is that he actually had the nerve to pretend to mourn her death.” I hissed. “Very well then,” He jumped up, grabbed Akumu’s still legless body by the throat, and slammed him into the ground. A flurry of fists fell onto his face, each moving faster than the last, and with each one the crater Akumu was in grew larger. “WHAT DID HE DO WITH HER BODY?! TELL ME!” His shouted, “TELL ME! TE-” he stopped as a black katana went through his chest. A trickle of black blood came out of his mouth, “Wha...” “You’re a fool.” Akumu said, barely audible, “Umbra’s given me the knowledge to kill you, did you really think you could win?” “SHIT! LUX!” I yelled as I charged Akumu and slashed wildly at him. “That’s... wow, not even trying to use frozen heart, are we?” “I don’t need it anymore. I have this one. WOUND EQUILIBRIUM!” “Just wondering, how much energy you got left? Also,” His arms split, similarly to Umbra’s, only to form eight arms instead of the tendrils, “I say it’s about time I end this crap.” He landed on a disk of darkness, a blade in each of his hands. “I haven’t... got much left... Akumu. Just enough for... one more spell. Then I’m... done.” I huffed, my body starting to revert back to it’s previous form, melted skin and all. “But I think...you know...what spell it’ll be.” “We’ll see.” He said, looking at me with a look, not of fear, not of assumed victory, but one of curiosity. “Akumu...do you remember the first technique I ever learned after my sister and I relieved the Orbs. I assume you would since you were around since that day.” My wings were ripping through my sides now, and the pain threatened to make me pass out. “Long before, darkness is always present.” “Then you know the first move Die and I ever mastered. The one move we can always use. Soul Transfer.” My arms had turned into hooves, and my legs were following quickly. “Your point being?” He cracked hes neck, and stabbed a sinblade into the ground. “Do you remember what it does?” My face was becoming longer and more equine. “It let’s you use your sister’s techniques, and merges your personality, so?” “It doesn’t just let me use her techniques. It let’s her use mine too! Soul transfer.” I yelled as my transformation finally ended and my consciousness started to fade from the agony. Akumu just had one of those looks on your face you get when you think ‘what the fuck did i just see,’ before saying “... Well this sucks.” and then he felt something ram into him, like a bullet train slamming into a car at full speed. “THAT ONE’S FOR TOX!”... __________________________________________________________________ (Die’s POV) “I should have seen that one coming from a mile away.” Akumu said as he stood slowly. “SHUT UP! I’m gonna gut you, Akumu. And for your information, Celestia and Luna are gonna be fine, so you failed on two fronts. Now, draw your blade, bastard.” He held up his eight arms, each holding a sword, and grinned, “Eight steps ahead of you.” I didn’t bother replying, simply choosing to rush towards him, Taiyo no me raised above my head as I ducked and weaved through his flailing blades and severing the arms when they came too close. As I got close I stabbed my blade through his throat. “That’s the power of soul transfer.” I said. “Combined with the fact that now I can do this!” I said, smirking as I summoned IS, much to his intrigue. <... Dafuq?> He asked as I pushed Taiyo no me through the rest of the way and raised IS to strike. He jumped back, with Taiyo no me still in his throat, he ‘shouted’ as he tore the blade from his neck, the wound healing quickly with his newfound ‘light’ power. He flipped the sword a couple of times, only for it to disappear like IS would. “Surprised? I learned that trick during the training on the Swagwagon.” “No, I’m really not, I can do the same with Tsuki no me, so it’s understandable that it’s solar counterpart would have the same ability.” “Yeah, yeah. I’m gonna enjoy this.” I said, taking a stance used by samurai warriors, my legs spread, Tnm parallel to the ground and positioned so that it was at chest level and running across my chest with the blade facing outwards, and IS raised to face the sky. “Lets just get this over with, I’m on a schedule, after all”he said, his sinblades fusing back into one, and his arms changing from eight to four, and wielding the sinblade in his left top, Tsuki no me in his top right, and his lower arms holding a pair of guns. “Navitas Reposita” He said, and the guns began to glow softly. Akumu moved fast, like before he was only playing around, and was suddenly trying. He dashed froward, and made several gashes in my arm with Tsuki no me before I could even react, though for some reason, the sinblade just kept getting stabbed into the ground. “Trouble controlling your blade?” I asked, smirking despite my wounds. “Ha! Hardly, this thing is easier to control when all together, which, considering that these are the elements, is a little wierd.” “Well, I hope you enjoy this next move. LIMIT REMOVAL!” I felt the energy rush throughout my entire body, and I moved at speeds that matched Akumu’s with ease, landing several swift blows on him. “Hey, I know that move!” Akumu said, in an eerily cheery tone, “Though I call it... UNLEASH!” He said, and moved fast enough that he physically disappeared, leaving a small cloud of dust. “Forget about something?” I said as I barely dodged his blows. “Did I?” “Eeyup. You forgot about the nasty side-effect of Unleash.” “Yeah yeah, damage taken is damage doubled.” “That’s Limit Removal. Unleash cripples the user after two minutes, and I believe you have about 30 seconds left.” He grinned, “Better make the most of it then,” He appeared behind me, and said, with the barrels of his guns against my shoulders, “DIMITTAM!” and a huge bolt of energy shot out, breaking the bones, “Deactivate technique: unleash” he said, just before the limit was reached. I grimaced as I hit the ground.“Dumbass. You just signed your death warrant.” I said, as my vision started to fade. He pointed at me, “Sigillum Potentia. Welcome back to mortality.” My vision was almost completely gone by this point. “V...Ven...help...” was all I could muster up with what little strength I had left. “He can’t hear you,” Akumu said, as he poised Tsuki no me over my throat, when suddenly, both his arms and his legs exploded, as did his chest. “...Dafuq?” “YOU FUCKING BASTARD!” I heard Ven’s voice shout, as he crashed into Akumu’s falling body, which was quickly regenerating. Ven then ran over to me, and started to pour a foul tasting liquid into my mouth, “Here, it’s one of those potions. I know it tastes terrible, but drink it anyway.” He was right, it tasted like raw sewage mixed with manure, but I drank it nonetheless, grimacing the entire time. “...Thanks...you’re a good...boyfriend...now kick his ass...” I saw the whites of his eyes turn black, the irises changed to be orange, and his teeth sharpened to a fine point, “Right away, ma’am.” He said as he stood up, and a black wind surrounded each of his hands. He sheathed Tai Fuu No Me, and a demonic-looking blade appeared in his hands. Ven let out an ear-piercing shriek charged forward, at the now-healed Akumu, who was paralyzed by the sound. Ven managed to swing the huge sword hard enough to break Tsuki no me, and sever both of his left arms. Ven picked up one of the guns as he kicked Akumu away, and pointed it at his chest shouting, “POTENTIA LEVO!” the beam ripped through him, but when the light faded, he had no wound. The dark wind around him began to form circles. The then exploded off of him, cutting everything they touched. If I weren’t lying down, I would be dead, thanks to Akumu’s spell. Ven appeared behind Akumu, who had jumped over, and severed his arms with two swings of his sword, before grabbing Akumu’s head with his feet, and turning it, creating a sharp cracking sound echo through the air. “Let me give you a warning, you stupid bastard:” Ven said, his voice distorting “YOU. DO. NOT. HARM. MY. FRIENDS. OR. MY. GIRLFRIEND!” With each word, he cut Akumu in half in a different direction each time. Blood fell from Akumu’s mouth, and his pieces slowly pulled themselves together. Meanwhile, Ven poised the blade over the Sinblade, and swung downward, saying ““Aeterna sigillo.” Blade struck blade, and the Sinblade glowed for a moment, before turning to stone. “D-damn you,” Akumu said, before exploding into a mass of tendrils, all aimed at Ven’s chest and head. Ven just held up the blade, which glowed black “LUPUS DENTE DIVIDENDO LUNAM” He shouted, and a black wave, surrounded by red shot from his blade as he swung it, cutting through each and every one of the tendrils, only leaving Akumu’s head, and a bit of his chest. Ven walked over to Akumu slowly, flattened his hand, and stabbed it into his opponent’s heart, “Ducenti anno sigillo.” He said, and Akumu, just barely finishing his regeneration, was turned to stone. Ven pulled out his hand before the transformation reached the spot, and placed his hand gently on the chest, “Energiae Furari. Sui Sana.” He said, and his wounds closed. The blade faded out of existence, and Ven collapsed, unconscious before he even hit the ground next to the statue of Akumu. I smiled, feeling my consciousness fade away, and the embrace of sleep.
Chapter 1: The villageNoctis stood at the edge of the small village, his face unreadable, his glowing sky-blue eyes checking over a large group of trees and boulders, the boulders setup so that they constructed a massive barrier, and the trees turned into giant spear-like defences, at the entrance the Shinra troops would come from, to the North. The terrain to the south was too mountainous for a ground assault, as Shinra intended, and to the west was a sheer drop, hundreds of metres above the ocean, meaning that their only option there would be to use ships, which they believed to be a waste of resources for the destruction of one village filled with women and children. To the east was a series of tunnels, which his younger sister Die was using to evacuate the villagers before Shinra troops arrived to burn it all down. There was no way in hell that Shinra’s troops would be able to navigate the tunnels, seeing as not one person in this entire village had ever left to join the military. They hated Shinra with a passion for all that had they had done to the planet. Noctis sat down, satisfied with the defence preparations, and took a moment to recall the events which had led to this moment... Flashback “What do you think we’re gonna find when we get there?” “Probably a bunch of rebels and deserters, if the intel is solid. If not, we just say so, and head home. Don’t worry either way Noctis, nobody can beat two first class SOLDIERs.” “You know I don’t get worried.” “I know, you never get worried. It would be nice if you did though, once in a while...” Noctis shook his head slowly while keeping his face expressionless. Die had just finished up a call with President Shinra about their mission, and they. Unusual, but the order had come directly from him to them, and they were only to speak to him about it. They had been told that there was a village filled with rebels who were threatening to destroy any and all mako reactors they could if Shinra didn’t shut them down. Their mission was to go in, neutralise the rebels, and get out. They were to call the president the moment the job was done for pickup. Sounded simple enough. If only it were. Noctis and Die ran to get their equipment from their lockers. They grabbed their blades, and packed their materia into their backpacks in case they needed them. Once they were sure that everything was prepared, they checked on their secret equipment. They were the items that the two SOLDIERs never showed to anyone. The one secret they treasured more than anything... Daydream They obtained the materia and their blades a year before they had joined SOLDIER, in the ruins near their home. They’d been searching through the forest nearby and, after several stumbles, falls and close calls with the local wildlife, they came upon the ruins by chance. Being curious kids, they went in, focused on seeing the ‘cool treasures’ they were sure to find in here, though they had some interest in the history behind the ruins as well. They had no idea that what they found was going to set them on a path that no one could have foreseen them being on. The ruins were crumbling badly, and more than once, they had to climb over fallen debris, or backtrack to find another way around a blocked path. Despite their eagerness, the two took their time, both to make sure they didn’t go head first into a trap, and to admire the murals and paintings that survived. They were all of strange equines of various shapes, sizes and colours. Some had wings, some had horns. And at least two of them had both. They didn’t know what the ones without wings or horns were called, but they remembered the ones with wings were called Pegasi, and the ones with horns were called Unicorns, mostly from books on mythology they had read. They had no idea what the ones with both were called, but they were sure their parents had probably mentioned such creatures at one point or another. See, most parents focused on academics, but Noctis and Die’s parents had been obsessed with creatures of legends and myths, convinced that they had existed at one time or another, and they had passed that obsession on to their children. After about an hour of trekking through the ruined hallways and collapsed rooms, they came to some sort of treasury, except the only treasures that they could see were two strange orbs on a pedestal in the center of the room, the path to which was flanked by several statues of various equines like the ones from the murals. On either side of the pedestal were the same two creatures with wings and horns. The statues were wearing some sort of shoes and necklaces. But the two children were not paying attention to the statues. They were too busy staring at the orbs. Only one word came to mind. Materia... They approached the pedestal cautiously, noting that each of the statues had some sort of orb at its feet, and each orb had a different symbol on it. What could they mean? the two thought. They spent a good hour trying to come up with any possible meanings for the individual symbols, but they had nothing. Fed up, they turned their attentions to the materia on the pedestal. They looked to each other, then to the materia, which were completely unlike anything they had ever seen before. The one on the left was a dark blue, and within it, they could make out a symbol, a black crescent moon. The one on the right was red, and its symbol was a shining sun. They had never seen anything like them, but they somehow knew that they were neither support nor summoning materia, despite their coloration. They talked briefly about who would pick which one. Noctis chose the Lunar Materia, and Die chose the Solar Materia, seeing as they matched their names.. They reached out slowly, being on the lookout for any potential traps they may set off. It was only a few seconds, but to them it seemed like hours, until finally, they had plucked the materia from the pedestal. They turned to leave, but as they reached the end of the room they felt that something was calling to them, telling them to turn around, back to the pedestal, though they couldn’t explain it. They followed the call, and saw something they never expected to see. Floating above the pedestal, right where the materia had been, were two blades, with similar symbols to the materia they had taken. They looked back to the materia, which had merged with them, embedding themselves in the arms of the two. They tried to remove them, but nothing they thought of worked. They gave up, and the materia suddenly became completely hidden, though Noctis and Die could still feel their presence. “Well Die, guess they’re here to stay. So...should we take the blades too?” “Yeah, let’s. Something tells me that we’re meant to have them, or something.” The siblings took the blades in their hands, and immediately power surged through them. It was agonizing, and at the same time, euphoric. The two blacked out, unable to handle the immense power coursing through their veins, so they did not hear the voices of the two beings who had been watching them the whole time. “Are you sure that letting these children take the artifacts is wise, sister?” “I am sure. They are the ones who are meant to wield them.” “But they are too young! They cannot handle su-” “Little sister, do not think that just because they are young, they cannot control this power. When the time comes, they will be ready. After all, you were freed from your darkness by ones not much older than these two.” The younger of the two sighed in defeat. “Fine, but you know they may not appreciate the responsibility we force upon them.” “I know, but we have no choice. None from our world can wield these weapons, not even us. If they are the ones that the Celestial Orbs, the Eye of the Sun and the Eye of the Moon have chosen, then we must accept it, and trust that they can handle their task when the time comes.” “I’d rather keep an eye on them, and make sure they stay out of trouble.” “You know you can’t. The effects on your body and mind if you spent prolonged periods of time here would not be very, pleasant. Even as immortals, we cannot spend more than a few months at most in any world but our own without suffering some sort of damage to our minds.” “I know, I know. But sister?” “Yes?” “You know that when their true power is unlocked they will beco-” “I know. It is both a gift and a curse. Now come, we have preparations to make.” And with that, the two figures left, returning to the world they had come from. Noctis and Die meanwhile, had woken up outside where the ruins had been, only to find that the ruins were gone, with nothing to suggest they had ever even existed. Nothing except for the materia in their arms, and their blades. The two returned home, explained their decision to their parents, and left to join SOLDIER... Daydream is Over Noctis was snapped out of his daydream by his sister, who had playfully punched him on the arm when they arrived at the helicopter. It could only take them as far as the forest leading up to the village. Any closer, and the anti-aircraft weapons that the village had apparently installed would obliterate them. Noctis faced his sister as the chopper ascended. “Hey Die?” “Yeah?” His face turned sombre. “Why do you think those ruins disappeared after we found the orbs and the blades?” “I dunno. Why are you thinking about it, anyway? It’s been five years.” “I know, but I keep thinking about them, especially since it was only a few days before the incident.” “Dammit Noctis, stop obsessing over it. Sephiroth was a traitor, and he took away our home, yeah, but he’s gone now.” “Just like Zack.” Die fell silent at the mention of their fallen idol. The death of someone who always believed in honour, at the hands of his so-called comrades, had shaken their faith in what Shinra was doing. It was the reason that they had decided that this would be their last mission as SOLDIERs. “Noctis...” He turned to his sister, his face once again devoid of any emotion. “It’s fine, let’s just forget about it.” Die just sighed and remained silent for the rest of the trip. She had always worried about her brother. Ever since their parents had died in the Nibelheim incident, he had become withdrawn, only ever being comfortable to let his emotions show around her, and only her. Not that she was ungrateful for his trust in her, but she wished she could help him to open up to others. Until then, she just had to be there for him, and hope he’d be able to make some friends and maybe he’d finally- Die was interrupted from her thoughts by the pilot. “Hey, SOLDIERs, we’re here. Get out there and do what you gotta do.” They nodded silently and exited the ‘copter. After giving the pilot a quick salute before he brought the ‘copter back up and headed back to HQ, the two SOLDIERs turned and sprinted through the thick forest. It only took a few minutes to traverse, thanks to the mako and JENOVA cells coursing through their bodies, as well as the Lunar and Solar materia, as they called them, enhancing their physical, mental and magical capabilities even further. They weren’t invincible, but they were pretty damn close. Upon reaching the village, the two were surprised to find that there were no weapons of any kind, and it was filled with nothing but civilians. They looked around the village, staying unseen as long as possible considering President Shinra had said the village was filled with rebels, but they could find absolutely nothing to support the intel they had been given. All they could find were small houses, busy market stalls, children playing in the streets, farmers taking care of crops and livestock. All in all, it was just a normal village, nothing to even warrant a search for rebel forces. Definitely nothing that required two SOLDIERs to be sent in. Die decided to make a call to the president, seeing as they were to report directly to him, and only him. Noctis paid close attention to his sister during the conversation. “Mr. President, we’ve arrived at the village, but it’s not what we thought.” “...” “No, there is no evidence of any rebels ever having been in the area, Mr. President.” “...” “What do you mean destroy it anyway? There are no rebels, they’re just civilians!” “...” “You know what, Shinra, take your orders and shove ‘em. We quit. And make sure the troops you send don’t mind dying, cause that’s all they’re gonna do.” She hung up the phone and slammed it on the ground, busting it into a million pieces. She then turned to Noctis. “Noctis, gimme your phone. We’ve gotta destroy it.” He handed his phone to his sister, who promptly smashed it on the ground and stood on the surviving remains. “Alright. So, I’m guessing that the ‘chat’ didn’t go well?” There was a hint of venom in his voice. “No, it didn’t. You probably already know that he ordered us to burn down the village despite the fact that there are no rebels. When I pointed it out, he said if we didn’t complete the mission, he’d send enough Shinra troops to do it for us.” “That bastard. Well, looks like we’re officially enemies of Shinra. Fine by me. We’d better evacuate the village and prepare a defence.” Die nodded and the two proceeded into the village, drawing looks from everyone. The inhabitants were less than happy to see two SOLDIERs. “Get out of our village, Shinra dogs!” “We won’t tolerate your blatant abuse of the planet!” “Leave now, before we put you down, like the monsters you a-” “ENOUGH!” The entire village fell silent, including Die. She had never heard Noctis yell before, not even when they found out what really happened at Nibelheim, and five years later, to Zack. “Call us what you want, but the matter is simple. Shinra is sending an army to wipe this village off the map. We can help you, but only if you let us. You can hate us after we save this place.” The villagers looked to each other, murmuring amongst themselves, until one of the children spoke up. “Mr? Mommy always told me that Shinra was hurting the planet, and everyone who worked for them was evil. If you’re evil, why do you want to help us?” Noctis kneeled down and looked the child in the eyes. “Because, I lost my home and my family a long time ago. What Shinra is trying to do here is no different. I refuse to let them do to this village, to your family and friends, what Sephiroth did to mine.” The crowd looked at Noctis intently, trying to find lies in his words, but there were none. Die was just shocked that Noctis had actually talked about his past, and with a complete stranger, a child. “So, does anyone else wanna question me? Or are you going to let us help you?” The crowd was quiet for what seemed like hours, but an old man, the village elder, walked up to the front, and spoke. “It is true, that we openly despise Shinra, for everything they have done has harmed the planet. We openly despise their use of the planet’s lifeblood to create their SOLDIERs, their forces of oppression. But you, something about you is different. You are willing to take on the very people who gave you the powers you wield. You are prepared to risk everything for us, despite the fact that it means betraying the ones you once worked for. For that reason, we shall accept your help.” Noctis and Die nodded silently, and began the preparations. They gathered as many large boulders and trees as they could, and Noctis set to work creating a massive barricade around the village, leaving only a small opening to the west, which would force the Shinra troops towards the cliff. Meanwhile, Die had begun to take the villagers to the nearby tunnels, which would be used to escape into the plains beyond. From there, the villagers would find another place to live. But in order for that to happen at all, Noctis and Die would have to buy enough time for them to escape... Flashback is Over Noctis’ attention snapped to the forest, the sounds of twigs snapping just barely picked up. Shinra was coming. Noctis ran back towards the caves and tunnels, where Die was still helping the young and the injured to evacuate. “Die, they’re here.” “Alright, hold ‘em off as long as you can, I’ll join you when I’ve gotten the rest of the villagers together.” Noctis nodded and ran back towards the barricade, taking note of the gunfire in the distance. He found signs that they had attempted to move them aside and, failing that, to destroy them outright. Noctis smiled inwardly when he noticed that the only marks on them were from the rifles of the regular troops. He saw the telltale lights of their helmets close to the small entrance they had set up near the cliff. The plan was to force them towards the cliff and, hopefully, force them to choose between jumping and being slaughtered. He ran towards the small opening and waited, his sword drawn. Time slowed to a crawl in his mind. His whole body tensed. The first troop walked through the narrow opening, his helmeted face scanning the area ahead, but failing to consider the possibility of an attack from the side. He never stood a chance. Noctis swung his blade at his opponent’s head, decapitating him. Blood spurted from his neck, and pooled at the spot his body and severed head landed. He quickly jumped out from the corner, taking a moment to analyze of troops. There were almost two hundred troops standing there, unmoving, too shocked at how quickly their comrade had died. But only for a moment. Most of them quickly recovered and opened fire on the lone SOLDIER. The rest ran towards him with their standard issue blades held high above them. He ran towards them, dancing through the throng of ill-equipped and poorly trained opponents, using his blade to mow down the troops foolish enough to try and get into a close quarters battle, and to defend himself against the shots that would actually have hit him. He ploughed through the unprepared troops, leaving a pile of bloodstained corpses in his wake as he drove them towards the cliff. He was so focused on the troops, however, that he didn’t notice that they had air support. He barely managed to dodge the missile that passed through the space he had been only a moment before, hitting the ground and exploding a few feet away from him. It wasn’t enough to harm him, but the shock wave forced him back a few feet. “Dammit, Die, hurry up!” He hissed in frustration, as the combined assault of the remaining hundred or so soldiers and the helicopter forced him to call upon the lunar materia’s power. “Full Moon Shield!” A small, transparent, midnight-blue barrier surrounded Noctis’ entire body, the fire from the shinra troops bouncing off harmlessly, allowing Noctis to focus on the helicopter. As he was about to destroy it however, he was interrupted. “SOLAR BLAST!” The helicopter fell somewhere in the forest and was engulfed in flames after being struck by a bright yellow beam of energy. Noctis turned to see his sister Die standing on one of the boulders, the solar materia in her right arm glowing, and the Eye of the Sun in her left hand. “Hey Noctis. Miss me?” “Die, let’s just focus and get this done.” She only smiled and ran straight towards the soldiers, dodging and blocking the incoming fire. It only took a few seconds before she was upon them, hacking and slashing with fury in her eyes. “THERE IS ABSOLUTELY-” A troop fell to the ground, his body severed into two bloody pieces. “NO WAY WE ARE LETTING SHINRA-” Another troop was knocked off the cliff. “DESTROY THIS VILLAGE!” A third troop fell to the ground clutching his throat, which was gushing blood. The remaining troops were still shooting at Die, but she wasn’t paying attention to them. She was looking towards Noctis, a look of horror on her face. “NOCTIS GET DOWN!” Noctis instinctively dove out of the way, just as a rocket hit the ground where he had been standing only a second earlier, taking out its own troops instead of its intended targets. He turned to the direction it had come from, to see three more helicopters hovering above the barricade. How the hell did they manage to sneak up on us like that!? He looked back to Die, seeing she had taken the opportunity cause by the missile mishap to take out almost all the remaining ground troops, who were too shocked by what they had seen to react. That meant they only had to deal with the helicopters and around fifty more troops. Noctis focused on the closest helicopter. “FULL MOON BLAST!” A beam of energy, the same color as his shield, struck the helicopter, causing the pilot to lose control and crash right into the next helicopter, bringing both down right into the ocean. The pilot of the remaining helicopter started to fall back, and the two thought that the battle was over. They were wrong. The pilot turned back towards them, and fired another missile at them, but this one was different. “Noctis, that missile’s loaded with mako!” “Dammit. It’ll blow everything to hell! We’ve gotta do something!” “I have an idea, but it’s a longshot.” “Well, let’s hear it.” “What if we combine the energy from the solar and lunar materia...” “Die, we have no idea what could happen. It could do more harm than good!” “Well it’s better than getting blown to bits!” “Fine...” Noctis and Die focused on the materia, letting the energies build up. When they was at the highest level they could safely control, they merged them, and let the combined power loose towards the missile. The impact of the energy from their materia with the missile caused a massive explosion, completely engulfing everything, including the surviving troops, the helicopter and the village. Noctis and Die looked to each other once more, and did the only thing they could think of before the blast reached them. They shared one last embrace as siblings. Die looked to Noctis and noticed he was crying for the first time since they had been told that their hometown of Nibelheim had been burned down and their parents slaughtered. Their only thoughts before darkness took them were We couldn’t save the village, but at least we saved the people who lived there. Mom, dad, we’ll see you soon... Canterlot, Equestria Princess Luna had just finished raising the moon when she felt it. A massive surge of magical energy pulsed furiously past Luna. This caught Luna by surprise as she was blown back a few meters before recovering. “What is this disturbance that interrupts our raising of the moon?” she wondered as the moon successfully hung above the night sky undisturbed by the magical pulse. She rushed towards her sister who was in the archives to tell her the urgent news. “Sister! Did you feel that burst of energy that had just occurred recently?” “Yes I did. and I know all too well what that magical pulse of energy was.” “Does that mean-” “Yes my sister. They are here.” For those who don’t know what materia are, see here. Also, do you think I should keep it in third person, or switch to 1st Person, and if so, should I keep it at only one POV, or should I switch it up every now and then?
Chapter 2: Impossible?Canterlot - Equestria. Twilight Sparkle and her friends were taking a casual stroll around the darkened streets of Canterlot, which was filled with guards at every door of every house of every block, hoping to locate any suspicious activity within the magical force field that engulfed the entire city like a brightly coloured snow globe. The girls all gathered in a restaurant and talked about their day. The girls were all expressing how happy they were to partake in the Royal wedding which was to take place two days from then. All except for Twilight Sparkle, who had been the only one to witness the bride’s high-and-mighty attitude and disregard for her friends hard work, yet they did not take it the way Twilight had thought they should have, chalking it up to nerves as the day loomed closer. She decided to leave the girls to their blind admiring and decided to take a stroll around the city to think about her situation. Why would Cadence treat my friends so badly? She wondered as she continued to stroll onwards towards her brother’s home, paying no attention to her surroundings, wrapped in her thoughts as she was. So, she never noticed the strange, bipedal creature hiding in the shadows of a nearby alleyway, trying to cover the faint glow from one arm, while keeping the other arm ready to draw its sword... __________________________________________________________________ What the hell is with this place? I mean, unicorns, pegasi, and, the other ones, I knew they existed, even though most said it was only in myths and legends, but how the hell is there an entire city filled with them? Die was struggling more and more to keep her thoughts together and her emotions in check with each passing second. Nothing made any sense. She just couldn’t understand how she had gone from being caught in a massive explosion on a cliff beside a small village, to being in a city filled with creatures she’d only ever heard about from her parents and seen in paintings and carvings on the walls of the ruins from all those years ago. To see them walking through the streets so openly, it was just so, strange. It didn’t help that the solar materia was constantly glowing brighter and brighter all the time, making it much more difficult to stay hidden, and she didn’t want to take the chance that these things would try and lock her up or worse. Not before she found Noctis anyway. Seriously, where is that idiot? If I’m here, he should be too, right? I swear, if he got himself killed, I am gon-AGH! Die clutched her arm, it felt as if it was on fire, and the solar materia produced a bright flash. She saw an image in front of her, like the equines she had seen around the city. It was a pegasus with a red body, a yellow mane and tail, and a mark on its flank that she couldn’t make out. It was only there for a moment, and then it was gone, and she was alone in the alley again, trying not to cry out and still clutching her arm, waiting for the pain to subside... __________________________________________________________________ Twilight had just left her brother’s house after seeing Cadance perform a spell on her brother, one she was sure was intended to manipulate him. She had to warn the princess about it and save her brother. She was so focused on the task at hand that she almost missed the bright flash coming from nearby. She almost assumed that it was her brother performing maintenance on the shield spell, but then she remembered that he was back at his home with her. Thinking that it was another possible danger to her friends and family, she cast a spell to trace the source of the flash to the alley she had passed on the way to her brother’s house. She was unsure whether or not she should proceed, but the thought of her friends, her family, being harmed in any way strengthened her resolve. She stepped into the alley, her horn aglow, and what she saw shocked her. It was some sort of strange bipedal creature. It had no visible fur anywhere except on the top of its head, and it was wearing some sort of strange clothing. It had a bag, and it was clutching one of the appendages on its upper body. As soon as it noticed her, it started slowly backing away and reaching for something on its back. Not wanting to take any chances, she fired off a bolt of magic, electrocuting and knocking the creature out. She saw its open backpack filled with strange orbs, and the sword strapped to its back, and she was sure that it had something to do with the threat to Canterlot. With that idea rooted in her mind, she levitated the creature and its belongings through the empty streets of Canterlot towards the mansion where her friends were staying, only to be confronted by Princess Luna. “Twilight Sparkle, what is that strange creature you have with you?” She asked curiously. “Princess Luna, I believe that this thing may be a threat to Equestria. I need to bring it to Princess Celestia, right now.” “Twilight Sparkle, my sister is at the palace, and she is resting. I shall bring this creature to her. You shall head indoors and remain there.” She said sternly. “But I-” Luna just gave her a hard look until Twilight bowed her head in submission. “Alright Princess.” She handed over the creature to the Princess of the Night and ran inside to her friends. The princess meanwhile, brought the creature to the palace’s throne room and ordered the guards to fetch her sister, with the instructions that it was of grave importance. As she waited for the guard to return with her sister, she looked over the creature and its possessions, with only one thought running through her mind. Where is your brother, Day Warrior... __________________________________________________________________ Unknown Location - Wastelands of Equestria Noctis stood at the edge of the volcano, surrounded by dragons, though this was nothing new for him, considering the past few days were almost exactly the same. Ever since he woke up in this barren wasteland filled with cracked, scorched earth, active volcanoes, ash-coated trees, and of course, the creatures that thrived in such conditions, the most notable of which being dragons, he’d been attacked over and over again, barely having more than a few minutes to rest, and it was taking its toll. His entire body felt heavy, he was barely able to stay awake, and his mind was feeling sluggish. Regardless, he pressed on, taking down anything and everything that tried to make a meal out of him. He was determined not to die as long as his sister was alive, and he had every belief that she was. Alright, just gotta take these things down, then I can go back to finding Die, and hopefully, civilisation. This should be fun. One of the creatures charged him. He simply grabbed it and crushed its throat. Two more tried to rush him together, only for their skulls to be smashed together with such force that they were completely shattered. Three down...and only a whole lot more to go... __________________________________________________________________ Canterlot Die woke up slowly, her body and mind still stinging from the shock of whatever that purple unicorn had done to her. As her mental capacity returned to normal, she was vaguely aware of someone watching her. She stayed as still as possible, trying to wait until her reflexes were back to full capacity. Her sight was blurred, but she could make out two figures approaching her, and she could make out the sound of hooves on stone. Great, more equines. This time though, I’m not gonna be surprised. This time, they’re go- “Glad to see you’re awake, Day warrior. Are you alright?” Die shot up and jumped away from the two equines, her left arm reaching for her blade, while her other was raised in preparation to use the solar materia. The two equines in front of her shared a look before turning back to face her, each with a different expression. The midnight blue one looked slightly amused, while the white one’s face showed slight concern. She didn’t pay attention, choosing to rush the two equines, only to be knocked back by an unseen force and restrained. She noticed that both there was a golden glow emanating from the white equine’s...horn? She looked at the two of them more closely, and sure enough they both had horns. But they also had something at their sides. Die couldn’t believe it, they had wings as well. Their expressions never changed, though the blue equine chuckled lightly at Die’s shocked expression. Suddenly, something clicked in Die’s head. Die: “Oh my God! You two...you look like the statues from those ruins!” She exclaimed in disbelief. The blue equine looked at her and laughed softly. “That’s not surprising Day Warrior, seeing as those were statues of us.” She said with a smile. Die: “What? But how, those ruins were several millennia old. How could you be alive so long ago, unless...no, that’s impossible, you can’t be...” She trailed off. The white equine took her turn to speak. “It is quite true. My sister and I are immortal, and, because the celestial orbs bound themselves to you, the same is now true of you and your brother.” Die tensed up at the mention of her brother’s name. Die: “How do you know about Noctis?” She said quietly. “Because we were alerted when the orbs were removed from their resting place. We assumed that it was grave robbers attempting to steal valuables with the intent of selling them. Imagine our surprise when we discovered that instead, it was two children, and what’s more, that the orbs were bound to them. You are quite lucky they chose you. If not, you would have been burned to ash in an instant, and your brother would have been encased in ice for eternity.” Die said nothing, allowing the information to sink in. “Anyway, allow us to introduce ourselves. I am princess Celestia, and this is my sister, princess Luna.” She gestured to the blue equine, who walked over and raised her hoof towards Die. She took it in her hand and shook it. Luna walked back to Celestia, smiling. Die: “Well, my name’s Die, SOLDIER 1st Class. Actually, I should say ex-SOLDIER, seeing as I no longer work for Shinra. Um, sorry for, you know, trying to rush you.” Celestia: “It is alright. From what my sister has told me, you had a less than civil encounter with Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student. Sadly, she has let her paranoia get the best of her, accusing my niece of manipulating her brother, Shining Armor. He and Cadance are to be married tomorrow.” Die: “I see. So, this Twilight Sparkle, she’s your student?” Celestia: “Yes, she is my most gifted pupil, as well as a holder of one of the elements of Harmony.” Die: “The elements of Harmony? What are those?” Celestia: “They are artifacts which hold great power, a power whose sole function is to protect the harmony of our world. I would explain further, but unfortunately, there is not enough time.” Die: “Alright then. Well, do you mind if I have my backpack back? I want to make sure I didn’t lose any of my materia.” Celestia: “Materia? What are those?” She inquired. Die: “They’re crystallised orbs of mako, the lifeblood of our planet. They’re what allow us humans to use magic, but they can do other things too. Some can be used to summon creatures to aid us in battle, some can make other materia stronger, but most allow us to use spells. Noctis and I always carry the same materia. So may I have my backpack?” Luna: “Ah, yes, you may, on the condition that you explain the powers of each ‘materia’.” Die: “Sure, no problem.” Die looked through the backpack, grabbing each materia, explaining its purpose and giving a small demonstration. She started with her offensive magic materia. Firaga, Thundaga, Blizzaga and Aeroga. After explaining their uses, she moved onto her healing materia, Curaga, which could heal all but fatal wounds and Esuna, which could remove almost any illness. She then explained her summoning materia. She and Noctis only had one each. She had Phoenix, a giant bird with colourful plumage and wings surrounded by flames, while Noctis’ was a mystery, even to her, seeing as he’d never once used it. Lastly, she told them about the solar and lunar materia. Die: “Ever since we found them, we felt like we had some sort of connection, me with the sun and Noctis with the moon. It was like they were feeding us power, making us even faster, and stronger, than the SOLDIER procedures made us.” Luna: “That is to be expected. It was the celestial orbs, as we know them, that gave my sister and I our powers in the first place.” Die:“Powers? What do you mean?” Celestia: “My sister and I are alicorns. We are literally the physical embodiment of the three species of ponies, as our race, in general, is called. Those three are pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies. Our world is much different from yours, Die. Here, the weather can be controlled, and pegasi are responsible for that particular task. My sister and I are responsible for raising and lowering the sun and moon, for our planet does not orbit the sun, nor does the moon orbit our planet, as yours do. Our talent is shown by our cutie marks, a symbol which appears on every pony’s flank when they discover what makes them special, the skill that makes them who they are. The celestial orbs helped us find ours, but afterwards, they disappeared. We found them again, but we could not remove them from their resting place. They were only meant to guide us in the right direction. But they were meant to bond with you and Noctis.” Die was speechless. She had seen the markings on their flanks, Celestia’s sun and Luna’s crescent moon, but she had no idea what they meant. She thought they were just tattoos. The fact that these two in front of her were responsible for raising and lowering the sun and moon in this world was making her head spin violently, and the fact that it was the lunar and solar materia, no, the celestial orbs, that gave them their powers and responsibilities? It was taking all her self control not to have a mental breakdown right now. Celestia noticed this and placed a hoof on her shoulder. Celestia: “Die, I understand if this is a lot to take in, but I need to ask, where is your brother? Where is Noctis?” Die looked at her as if she had just been slapped. Die: “What do you mean? You don’t know where he is? This is bad! This is very bad!” Luna: “Die, calm down, I’m sure he’s alright.” Die: “NO! You don’t understand. I have to find him. We keep each other in check. He keeps me from rushing into trouble, and I keep him from losing control when he fights.” Celestia and Luna started to become worried. Luna: “What do you mean, ‘losing control’?” Die took a deep breath. Die: “Noctis doesn’t remember this, except for what I told him, but a few months after we joined SOLDIER, someone came in and told us that Sephiroth, another SOLDIER, had gone insane and burned down Nibelheim, massacring everyone in the village. Nibelheim was my hometown, and my parents were among the dead.” Die took a moment to examine their reactions. Both were visibly shocked at hearing of such a thing, though Celestia was hiding her anger better than Luna, who seemed ready to burst. She took another breath and continued. Die: “When we heard about it, something happened to Noctis. His entire body turned pitch-black, and his eyes turned to yellow slits, like a dragon. His whole body started shaking, and his face was set in an enraged expression. He started calling himself Akumu, and said he was going to destroy every living thing in existence. He went berserk and attacked the everyone in the room. A lot of people were injured by him. He ended up killing his closest friend, Chris.” Luna was visibly shaking, and Celestia had placed a wing around her sister, trying to comfort her. Luna: “How could he do such a thing?” Die: “He wasn’t in control of himself. Akumu was a spirit born within the lunar orb when Noctis bonded with it, and it came out when his anger surged, as far as I could tell. It took over, and it used his body to try and realise it’s sick desires. I had to fight it myself, and it almost killed me. At the last second, when it was about to finish me off, it lost control for a brief second, and Noctis threw the blade to me, asking me to end it. At first, I refused, but then, I saw something. It was like some sort of vision. I saw the blades in the ground, and a bunch of symbols, and a flash. Then it was gone, and I was facing Noctis, or Akumu, again.” Luna: “What did your vision mean?” Die: “The solar materia was responding to my desire to save Noctis, and it showed me how to perform a technique called the celestial seal. The technique worked, and Akumu was sealed inside Noctis’ mind, but Noctis lost most of his memories regarding what happened that day, and I have to stay in close proximity to him, or the seal could be broken from the inside, and Akumu would break free again.” Celestia faced Luna, her expression stern and serious. Celestia: “Luna, I want you to find Noctis, and bring him here, no matter what.” Luna nodded and left the throne room, spreading her wings and taking off into the sky, praying that she could find Noctis before this Akumu could take over... __________________________________________________________________ Unknown Location Noctis was busy trying to find some source of water to wash the blood out of his clothes. The dragons hadn’t gone down easily, but they did go down, and he had been left standing among a multitude of corpses. It took him a while to make his way down the side of the mountain, and the whole time there was a dull throbbing in the back of his head, and it got more painful every second. Eventually, he managed to find a small stream, and though the water wasn’t clean enough for consumption, it was enough to wash out the bloodstains. The ache was almost unbearable at this point. Then he heard it. ‘Noctis...’ “Who’s there?’ ‘Noctis...’ “Show yourself!” ‘Oh Noctis, you know I can’t do that yet. Or do you?’ “The hell are you? How do you know my name?” ‘All in good time, Noctis, all in good time.’ “Back off!” He said in a quiet, but dangerous, tone of voice. ‘Alright, but know that I will come for you, and I will take what is mine...’ The voice grew fainter and fainter until he could no longer hear it. His headache disappeared with it. Good riddance. Maybe I can f-AHHHHHHHH! Noctis’ arm began to throb. It felt like his entire arm was encased in ice. The lunar materia produced a flash, and he saw an image. It was some sort of equine creature, a pegasus, like the ones from the walls of the ruins. It was blue, with a dark brown mane and tail, and it had a mark on its rear-end, though he couldn’t see it clearly enough to figure out what it was. It was only there for an instant, and then it disappeared, leaving Noctis holding his throbbing arm, waiting for the pain to stop... __________________________________________________________________ Luna had been searching for over a day. She was visibly tired, but she could not take any time to rest. She had to find Noctis, for the sake of Equestria, but also for his sister. She knew the pain of being separated from a loved one, and even though she had been imprisoned on the moon, she always knew that she would see her sister again one day. However, if this Akumu was anything like the Nightmare, and she was terrified that it was, she didn’t know if she or her sister would be able to help Noctis overcome it. From what Die had said, this Nightmare’s desire was nothing short of the death of every living thing in existence, while her own wanted only eternal night. Granted, an eternal night would eventually result in the deaths of every living thing, but her Nightmare never wanted to end those lives by hand, it didn’t want to feel the life leave a body. Akumu however, did. It was more malevolent, more bloodthirsty, than her Nightmare had ever been, and she shuddered to think what would happen if it ever took Noctis over. Please, please let me find him in time. I don’t want to have to harm him. I may not have met him, but from what his sister said, he’s already been through enough. Please. As if her prayer was being answered, a massive flash came from nearby. She turned towards the source of it, and sure enough, at a nearby stream, sat a human male. She was absolutely sure it was Noctis, and she set down nearby to meet him. She didn’t expect him to draw his sword when he saw her however, and she shrank back, more than a little afraid. Noctis: “Don’t come any closer. I had to take down a whole army of dragons already. Don’t make me kill you too.” His voice was completely devoid of emotion. Luna: “Please, I mean you no harm, I only wish to help you. My name is Luna, alicorn and co-princess of Equestria.” Noctis: “Well, I’m Noctis, ex-SOLDIER 1st Class. Now, tell me why I shouldn’t drop you where you stand.” Still nothing. Luna was slightly taken aback by his hostility, but she chalked it up to nerves and the fact that he had to fight an ‘army of dragons’. Luna: “Well, for one, Die sent me.” Noctis stumbled at the mention of his sister’s name. Noctis: “My sister? Is she alright?” This time there was worry in his voice. Luna: “Yes, she’s safe. She is currently staying with my elder sister Celestia. I promised her I would bring you to see her safely.” Noctis: “Yeah, well right now, I don’t feel safe. This whole place feels haunted, what with the voices coming from nowhere.” Luna became puzzled. Luna: “Voices?” Noctis: “Yeah, I heard a voice a few minutes ago. It knew my name.” Luna’s puzzled expression turned to fear as the realization hit her. Luna: “Noctis, we need to go now! We need to get you back to your sister as fast as possible. Unfortunately, I cannot teleport us from this distance, and even if we get within range, I cannot try using magic while you are in your current state, or there is a risk of your mind being damaged.” Noctis took a moment to think. He couldn’t be sure if this creature was telling the truth, but she knew his sister, and he felt, deep down, that he could trust her. He didn’t understand it, but he went with it. He placed his sword on his back, and walked slowly towards Luna. Noctis: “Alright. I’ll go with you princess. If it means I’ll see my sister, I’ll trust you.” Luna tried very hard to contain her relief and...something else. She couldn’t quite place her hoof on it, but she felt something about Noctis. She put it out of her mind for the sake of the task ahead. Luna: “Thank you Noctis, but please, just call me Luna. I’m not really fond of formalities. I just wish we would have had time to make it to the wedding.” Noctis raised an eyebrow. Noctis: “Wedding? Aren’t you being a little forward.” He questioned with a small smirk, and Luna started blushing profusely. Luna: “No no no, that’s not what I meant. There is a wedding today between my niece, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, though she prefers to be called Cadance, and Shining Armor, the captain of the Solar Guard. I’m sure you will get to meet them someday.” She said, still blushing. Noctis: “Okay. So, shall we get going?” Luna nodded and grasped Noctis with her magic, placing him on her back. She flared her wings in preparation to take flight. She looked back towards Noctis, and smirked, her previous embarraassment forgotten. Luna: “You may want to hold on if you don’t want to fall.” Noctis took her advice and wrapped his arms around her neck not a minute too soon. They took to the skies in an instant and flew towards Canterlot.. __________________________________________________________________ Canterlot “Dammit, what is going on here!? What the hay are these things!?” “All guards fall back! Evacuate the citizens!” “There’s too many, we can’t stop th-AAAAAAAAAAGH!” Great, I fall asleep for a couple of hours and everything goes to hell. Die stood atop the tower overlooking the city, analyzing the army of strange creatures scattered throughout the city, and at the guards who were either restrained by the strange green goo the creatures secreted, or were busy trying to evacuate the citizens. The city was, for all intents and purposes, a warzone. Well, might as well make myself useful. Good thing I got my materia ready before I came up here. Die smirked as she jumped from the tower, timing it so that she landed on one of the creatures around halfway through her descent. The creature tried several times to shake Die off, but in doing so, it failed to avoid crashing through a window of a nearby house, destroying the owner’s kitchen. Die shrugged it off, but the creature wasn’t so lucky. She frowned as she noticed it’s head at an awkward angle, it’s neck clearly broken. She climbed out the shattered window, and was immediately surrounded on all sides by more of the creatures. She smirked as she drew Taiyo no me and raised her right arm, preparing to use the solar materia. Die: “Well, COME GET SOME!” She yelled as she charged into battle... __________________________________________________________________ Celestia was trapped in a pod on the ceiling, helpless as she saw her student and her friends being led back into the chapel, several changelings surrounding them, including the two who were restraining Rainbow Dash. She could do nothing but hope for a miracle as Chrysalis began to lord her victory over everypony. Twilight, Cadance, everypony, please forgive me. I failed you. I failed Equestria. I- *CRASH* “Ok, who put that window there!? Cause I’m not paying for damages!” Celestia looked towards the now shattered window behind Shining Armor and her niece, and who was standing there but Die. Everypony had mixed reactions. Celestia was relieved, Chrysalis was unimpressed, Cadance and Twilight’s friends were speechless, and Twilight herself had a mixture of confusion and anger on her face as she recognised the ex-SOLDIER. TS: “YOU!” She shouted. Die: “Hey, you’re the one who electrocuted me. How’ve you been?” She replied nonchalantly. Twilight never got a chance to answer as Celestia spoke first. Celestia: “Die, thank you for coming. We need your help.” She sighed with relief. TS: “Princess Celestia, you know this thing?” She exclaimed with disbelief. Celestia: “Twilight Sparkle, this is Die, a human, ex-SOLDIER, and a friend.” Chrysalis: “Oh Celestia, this is too rich. You actually mean to say you befriended this freak?” She said with a smirk. Die frowned as she turned towards the changeling queen. Die: “Look who’s talking you overgrown cockroach.” Chrysalis’ eye twitched, and she became enraged. Chrysalis: “Cockroach? COCKROACH? Listen here you walking abomination, I am Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings, and compared to me, you are nothing, you hear me? NOTHING! I’ll smite you where you stand!” Die just smirked and drew her sword. Die: “Then bring it on, Chryssy.” Chrysalis lost what little composure she had left and charged at Die, fangs bared, wings flared and horn glowing. Die just sidestepped her, and Chrysalis flew out the window. Die took this opportunity to quickly take down the changelings surrounding Twilight and the others, and to free Celestia and Cadance, before jumping out the window and crashing into Chrysalis, sending them both hurtling towards the ground far below them. __________________________________________________________________ A massive cloud of dust rose up on impact, and Die was blinded for a few seconds. When she finally got the dust out of her eyes, Noctis was standing in front of her. She placed her sword on her back, relieved to see him, but confused as to how he was here. Die: “Noctis? When’d you get here? And where’d Chrysalis go?” Noctis didn’t answer. He just stood there, unmoving. Die: “Noctis? You ok...” She asked worriedly, stepping towards him. She barely had time to move out of the way when he drew his blade and cut through the space where her throat had been just a second earlier. Die: “The hell, Noctis! What’s going on with you?” She exclaimed, preparing to draw her sword. Celestia: “Die!” Celestia flew down to Die, while staying out of the battle, as she had not recovered enough of her strength to go up against Chrysalis again. Celestia: “So, this is what Noctis looks like?” Die: “Looks like? What’s that supposed to mean?” Celestia took a deep breath and instinctively rubbed her horn. Celestia: “Chrysalis is a changeling, they can copy the forms of others. She must have gone through your memories while you were falling and decided to copy him.” Die took a look at ‘Noctis’, and noticed she couldn’t sense the Lunar orb’s presence. That was impossible, she could always feel it when he was nearby, just as Noctis could always feel the Solar orb’s presence when Die was nearby. Die: “You’re just imitating my brother?” She whispered, lowering her head. The faux Noctis smirked, but that smirk soon turned to a horrified gasp, as Die’s body became coated in armor that burned and flowed like flames, and when she brought her head back up to face the impostor, her eyes were filled with rage. Die: “How DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU INSULT MY BROTHER’S HONOUR! I’LL KILL YOU!” Die rushed the fake, and grabbed it by the throat. She started to squeeze, cutting off the air supply. She started to squeeze harder, but just as she was about to crush the copy’s throat, she felt something on her shoulder. She turned to see Celestia with a pleading look in her eyes. Celestia: “Die, don’t. Please don’t kill her.” Die: “Why? She tried to take over this place, she tried to kill you, your friends, your family. Why shouldn’t I kill her?” Celestia: “Because if you do this, it will be in cold blood. Do you really want to be a murderer? Do you really want to become like Akumu?” Die froze at the mention of that demon’s name, and the flames surrounding her died. She, she’s right. If I kill Chrysalis like this, I’ll just be a murderer. And Noctis would never forgive me. I’d, never forgive me. She loosened her grip on the changeling queen’s throat, and brought her back up to the chapel, where Shining Armor and Cadance were already performing the shield spell together. A purple dome started to form around them, and it grew exponentially, forcing all the changeling invaders out with it. The last to go was Chrysalis, and she screamed silently, her throat damaged from being choked by Die. Die watched her go, and turned away just in time to be surrounded by Twilight and her friends, while Celestia, Cadance and Shining Armor looked on, chuckling. RD: “I’m Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer in Equestria, and I got one thing to say to you!” The cyan pegasus mare said with a smirk. “THAT. WAS. AWESOME! HOW’D YOU DO THAT!” She exclaimed. AJ: “Wow, I reckon that if you’re willin’ to take on that ornery changelin’ queen for us, you’re ok in mah book. Name’s Applejack by the way, proud worker of Sweet Apple Acres.” The orange earth mare with the stetson tipped her hat to Die. PP: “I’m Pinkie Pie, Ponyville’s premier party planner! OOH! You’re new here, aren’t you! THAT MEANS I HAVE TO THROW YOU A PARTY! It’s gonna be a ‘Welcome to Equestria and thanks for saving Canterlot from that meanie Chrysalis’ party!” The pink earth pony said while bouncing. FS: “U-um, I’m F-f-Fluttershy. Thank you for saving us. I appreciate it.” The yellow pegasus whispered. Rar: “Thank you very much. I’d hate to think what would have happened to us if you hadn’t stepped in. I owe you a favour. Stop by my boutique sometime and I’ll make you a fabulous dress to replace that hideous ensemble you’re wearing.” Die: “Hey, I happen to like this gear. I’ve worn it to hell and back, so to speak, so it happens to mean a lot to me. Almost as much as Taiyo no me.” She said, drawing her blade so they could get a good look at it. Rar: “I apologise, I would never be so cruel as to toy with something that has sentimental value to you or anypony. But I would like to at least fix it up for you, sew up the tears and such.” Die: “Thanks. I might just take you up on your offer.” Die turned to face Twilight Sparkle, who flinched, afraid that Die would try to hurt her. Die put one hand on Twilight’s shoulder, and ruffled her mane with the other. Twilight opened her eyes, confused. TS: “Y-you’re not going to hurt me? I mean, I electrocuted you and knocked you out. Aren’t you angry?” Die chuckled. Die: “Nah, you were trying to protect your friends and family. I’d probably have done the same thing in your position. No hard feelings, right?” She took her hand off of Twilight’s shoulder and held it out. Twilight met it with her hoof, and they shook. TS: “No hard feelings.” She said with a smile. With that, Die started to walk out. Cadance called out to her. Cadance: “Hey, where are you going? We still need to thank you for saving us. And we still have to have the wedding.” Die: “I’m tired after fighting all those Changeling things. I’m gonna catch some Zs. Talk to ya’ later!” She said, waving her arm in a lazy goodbye as she left the chapel and walked through the city towards the castle and her room... __________________________________________________________________ That Night... Noctis felt great, better than he’d ever felt before. He and Luna had talked all the way to Canterlot about several different subjects, and found they had a lot in common. They both had trouble opening up to others, they both felt they could only really confide in their respective sisters most of the time, and they both loved the night, Noctis because the beauty of the moon and stars helped him feel at peace with himself, and Luna because she enjoyed guiding the moon and making the constellations, especially now that so many ponies stayed up to see them. He was currently walking through the palace hallways while Luna was at the wedding reception, trying to avoid the guards, completely unaware of what had happened while he and Luna were on their way here. For the first time in a long time, Noctis was happy. So happy, he almost missed his room. Luna had said it was at the far end of the castle, the room beside the stairs that led to her own room. It was very nicely furnished. A large bed, wardrobe, mirror, desk and a bathroom. It was definitely better than the SOLDIER barracks. He smiled and walked towards the desk. There was a note. Greetings Noctis, I hope that the accommodations are acceptable. I understand if you wish to meet with your sister Die, but there has been quite a commotion, and she is currently resting. I would advise that you rest as well, as you are no doubt tired from your journey. And do not worry, you may meet with your sister tomorrow. My sister and I will be there also, I look forward to making your acquaintance. Yours sincerely, Princess Celestia Noctis put down the note and walked over to the bed, looking out the window. The moon was high in the sky, and the stars shined with an intensity they had never had back home. He let his mind wander, and it wandered to thoughts of Luna. She’s amazing. She’s smart, funny, kind, and she’s beautiful. It’s weird, but I think I actually like her. But she’s a princess, I’m just an ex-SOLDIER. Plus, I’m not a pony. I doubt there would be many who would accept it if she did like me, but I don’t even know if she does. I just wish there was some way I could be like her. If I was, then maybe I’d have a chance. You know, it’s funny. The first time I ever have feelings for someone, and it’s an immortal alicorn goddess from another world. I should just ask her how she feels. If she likes me, then that’s great, if not, I’ll accept that. Don’t really have much choice... He drifted off, his thoughts fading as he let sleep take him...
Chapter 11:Unknown Location (Noctis’ POV) The first thing I heard when I woke up was a very feminine scream. “AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!” “FUCK! I’m up, I’m up!” I yelled, falling out of the...bed? The fuck? Where am I? “You’re finally awake! Took you long enough.” I turned to see Luna, Celestia, both in their true forms, Die, and a very scared looking Ven in bed next to me. taking a calmer look around the room, I saw it was similar to a hospital. “Sooo, where are we? Oh, and did we win?” I asked as Luna levitated me back into the bed and hugged me tearfully for a brief second. The door to the room slammed open, and Shade ran in in a doctor’s uniform, “I heard a scream, is everyone OK?” “Ven’s just having nightmares.” Die said with a roll of her eyes. “Of course he would, after kissing you.” I replied with a forced grin. “What happened? I remember seeing Die... Dying, I gave her a potion... then..” he trailed off, and shrugged. “You don’t remember? You went berserk and killed Akumu, sorta. You even sealed his sword in stone, permanently, and him for a couple of centuries, at most. So, we don’t have to worry about him for a while.” He gave it a moment to sink in, “... I did what!?” He shouted. “Wait, he beat Akumu? Wait, LUX! Where’s he?” “He’s fine, from what I saw, he had only a bruise on his shoulder, he’s in the dark room with Erahaor.” “Figures. And...Tox...she’s really...” I trailed off, not wanting to face it. “Yes, Lux found her body, and gave it a proper burial.” “Dammit...I keep thinking I can save everyone, but I can’t save anyone. DAMMIT!” “Wait... Tox... died?” Ven said, his eyes widening in shock. “Umbra turned her into a sinner, and I had to fight both him and her at the same time. I kept thinking I could save her, but instead, I’m the one that killed her.” I said, unable to look him in the eyes. Ven stood up, and walked out of the room muttering “It’s just like before.” I looked around. “What did he mean by that?” “I dunno,” Aqua said, also wearing a doctor’s outfit as he walked in, “That’s the closest he’s ever gotten to talking about his past, actually.” “I’m gonna go talk to him. Luna, make sure Noctis stays in bed.” Die said, running out the door. Luna nodded silently and started grinning at me. “Ok, one question. How long have we been out for, and are we anywhere near the mysterious tower?” “It’s saturday... the seventh... of may. Also we’re outside Twilight town, since the only known passage Discord is gonna take is the ‘ghost’ train.” “Two months? Well, that’s not so....WHAT THE FUCK!?” “Told ya,” Aqua said, holding out his hand to Shade, who dropped a sack of bits into his hand. “Ok, what was the bet?” I deadpanned. “And when can I get out of this hospital bed?” “The bet was who would shout it first: you or Luna. And we aren’t in a hospital, this is the SWMB, or Swagwagon medical bay.” “Ok, then when can I get out of this SWMB bed?” “You already healed a week ago, you just needed your rest... and we may have drugged you to stay unconscious a bit.” Aqua said with a grin. “Ok, I’m used to being drugged, sorta. The SOLDIER program put us through worse. I saw the game, it doesn’t even cover half of the augmentations we underwent.” “Yeah... Well, I recommend exercising... a lot. The two months unconscious has made you a bit weak.” “Can do! Also, what happened to the disguise disc Discord gave me? Has Lux had a chance to study it like he intended?” “He didn’t even try, the moment he arrived he walked off to find a place to think.” “I...see. Is he still in mourning for Tox?” “He hasn’t left the dark room for two months. He’s lucky he can eat darkness.” “And I’m lucky I don’t have to eat. Right?” “Actually... You do have to eat.” Aqua said as he walked out. “What are you talking about? I’m immortal, remember? I haven’t needed to eat or drink since I bonded with the Orb. What changed?” “Lack of a Lunar Orb?” Shade suggested. “No...the Orb turned into a keyblade, remember? So it still exists, sorta.” “Keyblades don’t have that effect, when we left you without food, your body went into a starvation mode. Therefore, you now officially need food.” “Ok then. Well, at least it means if I ever plan a picnic, I can actually enjoy the meal. Man, that line was crappy.” “Yes it was. Good day!” Shade said as she walked out. “Thanks.” I replied, getting back out of the bed, before being levitated back into it by a stern-faced Luna. “And where do you think you’re going?” She asked with a cold tone. “Uhhh, to exercise?” I said, confused. “Didn’t they just say I needed to get exercise so my body could recover.” “True, but I said to Die was that I would keep you in bed for a bit, and I’m gonna do just that.” I raised an eyebrow. “Oh? And how are you gonna do that?” A grin crossed her face. “I have my ways,” Immediately, Celestia got up, and left, mumbling something about “Those fools and their silly games.” I jumped out of the bed again, but Luna just levitated me back onto it, this time casting several restraining spells to make sure I stayed put. “Dammit. Luna, let me go.” “No” She said sternly. “Pleeeeeeassseeeee.” I said, trying to put on a puppy-dog face. I say tried, because it was about as cute as a pile of garbage. Luna began to laughed at the look on my face, and in her lack of focus the magic restraints disappeared. I took the opportunity to dive into my own shadow, and I waited until I saw her leave from inside the shadow zone. I prepared to exit, but I felt a breath at the back of my neck. Oh, crap. “Indeed, Noctis.” Came the stern, yet slightly amused voice of Luna. I couldn’t even muster up the strength to turn and face her. “I’m gonna die, aren’t I?” I said quietly, closing my eyes and waiting for the inevitable blow. It never came. Instead, I was turned around and grabbed in a tight hug. “Uhhh, ok? Wait, you’re not gonna kill me?” I asked, confused. “What? Why would you think I’d....never mind. No, I’m not going to kill you. I’m going to force you into the bed and I’m going to tie you down so you don’t leave.” She replied sternly. I flashed her a grin. “Didn't know you were into that sort of thing Luna.” It most definitely had the desired effect. She blushed so red I thought she was gonna burst into flames. Instead, she shot me a smirk. “Well, if you’re so adamant about staying out of bed, let’s see how you handle being sealed in here for a few hours.” She said, exiting through one of the many windows. Followed by all of them closing right after she left. “Fuck.” I said. as I looked around to find that there wasn’t a single window anywhere. “Dammit Luna.” __________________________________________________________________ 2 Hours Later... GODDAMN IT LUNA! ONE JOKE AND YOU STICK ME HERE FOR 2 WHOLE FUCKING HOURS!? I’d been trying to create my own window for the past 15 minutes. Needless to say, it hadn’t worked, and to make things worse, I was starting to hear voices in my head. One voice stood out against the rest. “Noctis... Why did you kill me?” Tox’s voice came from every direction, yet from nowhere at the same time. “You know why, Tox.” I said calmly, though I was anything but. “We both saw, once it took you, there was nothing left that I could do. I tried, I failed, that’s all there is to it.” “But there is something you can do now.” another voice said. “I’m not interested. Tox is gone, trying to bring her back is just tempting death.” “Ah, but that’s only if you haven’t looked into it beforehand.” The voice said, a female sound to it. “What makes you think I haven’t?” I asked angrily. “When my parents were killed, I looked it up all the time, to the point that I became a recluse to all but my sister. All my research proved one thing. Death. Is. Permanent.” “Ok then, I’ll play along, what methods did you try?” The voice said, seeming amused “I didn’t try anything. I researched several topics. All of them would result in death without even coming close to achieving a resurrection.” “Then I guess you didn’t try Alchemy.” I could tell from the sound that whoever the voice belonged to was trying to keep from laughing. “Alchemy? You mean that fool’s science?” I scoffed, trying to ignore the voice as I continued to search for a way out. “Fool’s science? Really? I guess you haven’t heard of the golden sun, or the fact that there are whole worlds where Alchemy is true, besides, different dimension, different rules.” “Yeah yeah, in my world it’s a fool’s science. I’m done talking. Bye.” I said, trying to forcibly create a portal out. “Fine then, I guess I won’t help you get out either.” “I don’t need your help. I’ve got it covered.” I replied. “Very well.” A window opened, and I saw a figure go through, before it disappeared. Well, at least she left me alone now. I thought to myself as I refocused on creating my own window. Suddenly, all the voices I heard began to mutter basically the same thing“You idiot, much longer and you’ll be a permanent resident, you could have at least tried to get the shade walker to help you leave.” “I DON’T NEED HELP!” I yelled as I pushed as hard as I could on a specific spot, shattering the darkness and creating a temporary window. “There. Told ya.” I saw a hand waving from the other side, “Nice to see you again, still, how did you know where I was going to open that?” The voice from before said, “You know what, actually don’t answer that, I’ll have it soon enough.” “The hell?” I said in confusion, trying to back away from the window, only to find myself frozen in place. “What the fuck?!” “I’m sorry, but I need a body.” The figure began to evaporate. “Yeah, and why should I let you have mine?” I asked, putting up a weak barrier. “Because I can bring back the one you killed.” “Oh, and what’s the catch?” “I get to use your body to visit someone.” The voice said. “Who?” “Someone I should have visited two centuries ago.” I could have sworn I heard sadness and... Regret? “....Alright.” I muttered. “You can stay with me. But they can’t know about you. Just make it look like the zone made my guilt exponentially larger or something.” “... Thank you.” The black mist the figure became then began to float around me, and rapidly flew into my eyes, mouth, nose, and ears. Before my vision faded to black, I had just one question. “Who are you anyway?” “I wish I could remember.” I heard, and then all was black. __________________________________________________________________ Spirit’s POV This is what it feels like to be a horse? I thought it would actually feel different to being human. Weird... ‘Technically, I’m a pony, not a horse...second, you’re using my body, which is technically already used to being in this form, so you’re feeling it as I would.’ I heard Noctis lecture. Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Now, what first? Recieving no answer from himself, I decided to try my luck and walk around randomly. Surprisingly, walking was a hell of a lot easier than I thought it would be. Wow, never thought having four legs would be so easy... Or feel so familiar. ‘Like I said, experiencing it through my body, which is already used to it.’ … Shut it. ‘Ok...I’m starting to wonder whether this was a good idea...’ Trust me, it’s a good idea. ‘But what if you’re wrong...what if it backfires when you try to bring Tox back?’ If it backfires... Well... To say the least, it won’t be pretty. ‘So you’ll die? Then let’s not do it. You can stay here indefinitely if it means you won’t have to go back there.’ Wanna mess with the others on the ship? I asked. ‘If you mean making them think I’ve gone mad...eh, why not. I haven’t tried to prank anyone since I was a kid.’ I know just the thing. We pretend to be trying to revive Tox, y’know, make it seem like you’ve gone batshit insane ‘Wait, wasn’t that the plan anyway? To bring Tox back?’ Yeah... To tell you the truth, the plan in alchemy isn’t perfected. It hasn’t really worked... and when someone DID try it, they lost an arm, a leg, and their brother’s whole body. I admit, feeling a little sheepish. ‘AND YOU WERE GONNA TRY TO DO IT YOURSELF?!’ Honestly? I wasn’t, I just REALLY needed to get out of there. Also, I could reanimate a corpse in a different sense, though. ‘Y’know, if you wanted to just get out, you only had to ask. You didn’t need to go through the whole temptation thing.’ “IT SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA, OK?!” I shouted out loud. “Um, Noctis, who are you talking to? And how did you get out of the Shadow Zone by yourself?” … I leave this to you. I said, and gave control of the body back to Noctis. “Uhhh, hey Luna, what’s up?” “What’s up? You shouted while you were the only one around, and you got out of the Shadow Zone after I sealed it. Why, and how?” She asked sternly. “Uhhh, no comment on the first one, and the second, I forced a window into existence.” Liar. I said in his mind. Don’t take credit for my achievements. ‘Hey, unless you want Luna to find out and force you back in there...’ … Very well, continue. “Noctis, don’t lie to me. I know something is bothering you. Just tell me.” LIE! LIE YOUR ASS OFF! I mentally shouted. “Alright. It’s just...I still...I still see Tox sometimes...I mean, sometimes I think I see her ghost, blaming me for her death. And the worst part is, I agree. It’s my fault. I thought I could save her, and I failed.” Wow, nice lie. I said, feeling a little impressed. ‘Yeah, not a lie exactly. The part about seeing Tox is a lie, but blaming myself for her death is true, you know that already though. Now, is this where the prank starts?’ We just have to take it a liitle further. If I had control of the body, I would be grinning right now Make it seem like you’re going to try to revive her, and don’t take no for an answer. ‘Fine.’ He replied. “I’m gonna fix it though. Luna, I’m gonna bring her back.” “WHAT!? Noctis, I’m sorry for saying this, but HAVE YOU GONE INSANE?!?!” Luna shouted at the top of her lungs. “No. I can do it. I won’t let death take another of my friends before their time. I’m bringing her back, and nothing’s gonna stop me.” Noctis said, as he walked past her. “And I’ll tell Ven you were looking for him.” “Wait...how?” I got this part. I said, and took control, and grinned. “Through the glorious power of alchemy.” “I was asking how you knew I was going to ask you to tell Ven that we wanted to see him. But you really think you can bring Tox back with Alchemy?” Luna said, spitting the word Alchemy as if it were poison. “Trust me, alchemy works,” I said, “I’ve seen it.” And with that, I walked away. ‘Well, that was interesting....so, you wanna go find Ven? Scratch that, you wanna go mess with Ven and my sister? They’re probably in bed together or something.’ That far already? I asked, That’s quick. ‘Yeah...it’s not that quick, is it?’ A bit, considering that two months of the relationship you were both in a coma... and yes, I’m going through your memories. I said, while, you guessed it, going through, and watching his memories. ‘Ok...hey, do you think Luna really likes me? I mean, I know she said it, but I’m afraid of going too fast and wrecking what I already have with her.’ Well, I’m pretty sure she likes you, but you can never really know for sure... Switching control back to you. I said, letting go of the body. “Ok. Now to find Ven and Clare.” Noctis said as he looked for whichever room they were in. Evil laugh? I asked. ‘A bit much. How about a pregnancy joke instead? And if alcohol becomes part of the topic, make fun of her for getting Bahamut drunk. That never gets old.’ … One sec, I need to find that memory. I said, flipping through the library of memories he had. ‘Well look fast. We’re here.’ He said, coming to a large doorway. ‘Found it yet? Though I’m guessing by the lack of laughter the answer is probably no.’ Almost... Ok, found it...... What the hell is this? I was watching one of the weirdest things I ever have: a huge dragon getting drunk off it’s ass, and destroying a whole. Freaking. Mountain. ‘Yeah, after that, I forbade Die from even touching anything with alcohol in it. It won’t bring back that mountain though. And I don’t think Bahamut has forgiven her for the hangover...Anyway, let’s head in, pretending we don’t know where Ven is, since I already know he’s there.’ Lets do this. I said in agreement. With that, Noctis walked in the door. “Die, I came to ask you...where Ven...was...what the fuck!?” He said, covering his eyes at the sight of his sister in nothing but a bright orange bra and a pair of matching panties lying under her boyfriend. Oh, this is good. I said in my head. “Um... Uh...” He mumbled. Noctis started smiling, “It’s cool, Ven. We’re all adults here, and it would be stupid of me to try and tell my sister who she can and can’t be with. It’s her choice, after all. Anyway, glad you’re here Ven. Discord, Celestia and Luna wanted to see you. They wanted to make sure you were ok after...well, everything. I’ll tell them you’re fine, but you’re busy.” “No, I’ll go see them,” Ven sighed, “You already ruined the mood.” “Ok. Oh, and one more thing,” He said, turning towards the door and letting me take over, “Name the first one after me!” And we ran out laughing. ‘Ahhh, classic. Hey, isn’t that what Die said to me when she walked in on Luna and me the first time?’ I thought you were quoting her. I said. ‘Wait, you’re the one who said it...so technically you were the one quoting her. And...crap, Ven told her about Discord’s alcohol stash. You wanna take this one too?’ Hmm... Nah, I’m good. I said, and returned control to him. ‘Ok. 3....2.....1....NOW’ He said, slipping in using the shadows. “Don’t even think about it Die. We don’t need a repeat of the Bahamut incident!” he said before slipping back out. ‘Ok. Now, shall we continue with the rest of the prank?’ Damn strait, anyway, we’re going to need 35 litres of water, 20 kg of carbon, 4 litres of ammonia, 1.5 kg of caustic lime, 800 grams of phosphorus, 250 grams of salt, 100 grams of saltpeter, 80 grams of sulfur, 7.5 grams of flourine, 5 grams of iron, 3 grams of silicon, chalk, and a few candles. ‘Wait...we’re not really gonna do it, right? As much as I want Tox back, we both know it’ll fail. And chances are, we’d both die. So it’s just for show, right?’ Yeah, the candles are just for dramatic effect, mostly, so is the chalk, which I’m going to use to just make an random magic circle. ‘Ok. So, let’s pick a room to do it then. Has to be one that’s hard to find, but not too hard.’ Hmm... it would have to be about the size of a walk in closet, and empty too. I added to the list. ‘Ok...got one. So, you wanna be the one to walk in, or should I?’ Sure, I’ll do it. I said, taking over and shadow-walking into the room he’d chosen. Not bad, and the lack of windows is a nice touch, and will go a long way in the lighting. ‘Why thank you. I couldn’t find any completely devoid of windows, but one window isn’t too bad...’ Eh, we can just cover it with this. I thought, picking up a piece of cloth, and putting it over the window. ‘Cool. So, shall we get ready, I get the feeling they’re about to show up.’ Yes, lets. And with that, I drew a large circle on the ground, with an eight point star in the middle. Followed by placing a candle at each point in the circle. ‘Ok, here they come. Shall I handle them or should you?’ You start the conversation, then I’ll take over randomly. ‘Ok. Shall we make it sound like you took over my body against my will?’ That was my plan. ‘Alright then.’ He said. ‘Ready to go!’ Start just by going through the ingredients. He nodded and started to measure them, not even turning around when his friends showed up. “Get. Out.” “Noctis, you have to stop this, you have no idea what will happen to you if you mess with death. I do know, but that’s beside the point.” “Luna already told you about the Shadow Zone, I’m guessing. Then you know I can’t stop. DAMMIT!” He yelled as he spilled some of the salt. You spilt the damn salt, you wasteful person. “Only the part about locking you in, the rest I already knew about. And it’s only salt.” “Yeah, how do you know about the Shadow Zone anyway? Are you a Shadow Walker?” “A what?” “A Shadow Walker. It’s what we call those who can willingly enter the Shadow Zone.” He explained. “Oh... No. As for how I know... I have no clue, I just have the information, with none of the pretext as to how.” Ven said, shrugging. “Enough. I’m done talking. It’s my fault Tox is gone, now I’m gonna fix it.” He said, reaching for the last jar. Ven suddenly created a gale, spreading the ingredients over the entire room, and sending some out the window. “I said, don’t. Do it.” I got it from here. I said, and took control “You, just made a big mistake.” I said in a more feminine tone than I normally use. “And you are?” Ven asked me, giving a ‘really?’ kinda look. “I don’t have a name. All I know is I’ve been living in that damned Zone for the past two centuries. Then this idiot’s girlfriend locks him here, and while he’s looking for a way out, I came in. Even managed to cast some illusions making him and everyone around him think the zone just amplified his guilt.” “... That... wow... he’s stupider than I thought he was.” he said, shaking his head. ‘Bastard!’ “Aww, don’t talk about my host that way. That’s my job.” I said playfully. “Besides, it’s his bitch-of-a-girlfriend’s fault for trapping him there in his condition anyway.” ‘HEY! NO BADMOUTHING LUNA!’ I need to make myself look like the bad person, remember? ‘Dammit. Fine, but damn, you are good at it...’ “Now, where was I?” I started to gather the ingredients again. “Oh, and this time, no interruptions.” Noctis’ body glowed black, and a dark barrier surrounded us. “Well, at least you have a better sense of humor that Akumu did. Also, nice barrier. But you don’t seem to have Akumu’s... talent for dark material either.” Lux said, examining the barrier. “Oh, that’s not normal darkness honey. This darkness amplifies your negative emotions, and turns all of you into targets for each other. In just a few minutes, you’ll be ripping each other to pieces while I perform the ritual, get this kid’s soul ripped out of his body for eternity, and take said body for myself.” Wow, I am acting like quite the bitch here. I mind said, surprised at my own way of wording things so far. “Wow... You know next to nothing about this ritual, don’t you? It doesn’t just destroy the soul, but the body as well.” Ven said, “Trust me, I have a good knowledge of death and how he works. As for the darkness... Lux, would you like to handle it?” He grinned “Aye, captain,” he said, and the darkness began to slowly move, flowing into a dark passage, as it was going in, a small, jagged knife fell out. “Hey, isn’t that... that unnamed knife you made?” Ven asked. “Damn it, not again, it just keeps coming back.” Lux complained as he picked it up, and threw it back in with all his might, closing it as the last of the darkness went in. “Now then,” Ven cracked his neck, and scattered the ingredients again, “How would you like to spend another few millennia in the darkness?” “Excuse me? Your question makes no sense.” ‘I said. “Oh?” Ven asked, bending the air around him and becoming invisible, “It doesn’t? My friend here just got rid of your darkness, and I sealed a darkside like yourself in stone for the next 200 years, and you think we can’t banish you to the dark zones?” “One. I am not a darkside. I used to be a Shadow Walker, until my so called ‘best-friend’ stabbed me in the back when I showed him the Zone. Idiot never knew that if a non-walker enters the Zone and ever lets go of the one that brought them there, the Zone rips them apart, and the remains just fade into the shadows. But it didn’t matter to me. I should have died. Instead, I was cursed to survive as nothing more than a GODDAMN GHOST!” I yelled. “I AM NOT GOING BACK TO THAT AGAIN! EVEN IF I DIE, I AM NOT GOING BACK!” ‘Wait...you were stuck there because your friend betrayed you? I...I’m sorry...’ And you thought that two hours was bad. I thought angrily. ‘Wait, just how long were you awake for?’ The whole thing. I said simply. “Wait wait wait,” Lux said, “Just one question: once you have a body, what will you do? That’s all I want to know.” “Why do you care?” I said with a sneer. “It’s my job as a guardian of darkness and light.” He said with a shrug “If you must know, I have a grave to visit. After that, I don’t know. I’ll probably just wander around the worlds or something.” “If that’s all, then I have a separate solution.” Lux said, with his arms up. “Oh, and just what would that be?” Suddenly, gear by gear, a bipedal mechanical body began to form next to him, “I happen to be able to control this metal quite well.” “The fuck!?” I shouted. Lux rolled his eyes, “Oh come on! I’m telling you I can give you a body made of a metal stronger than diamonds with a simple soul injection, what the hell is wrong with you people?!” “Wait, what? You want to help her?” Ven asked, staring at him as if he’d gone mad. “I’m a gentleman, I have to.” He said with a shrug. “Yeah right. I know how this’ll end. I trust you, then I end up back in the Zone.” I said, glaring at them. “No, no dirty tricks, as the self proclaimed god of Neutrality, I vow I will not do that.” Lux said with a single hand up. “God? You? That’s a laugh. You look like one of those kids the bastard used to pretend he wasn't beating up. God, I can’t believe I was ever friends with him now.” “Don’t believe me? I’ve been to many worlds, seen things that almost prove it. Also I can do this.” And as he said that, a pair of wings burst from his back, one white and feathered, the other black and leathery. Also half his hair turned white. “That’s...you realise the black one looks like Sephiroth’s, right?” “Wait... how do you know of Sephiroth?” Ventus asked, looking at me with a bit more interest than before. “Well, it was 2010 when I ‘died’, FF7 had been out for years. Why, what year is it now?” “You say you were in there for 2 centuries?” “Yeah...where are you going with this?” “My god I’ve been gone longer than I thought.” Ven said, facepalming, “But still, its nice to see someone from my planet again.” “Wait, you’re from Earth. Please tell me the government didn’t do that to you!” I said, pointing to Lux, horrified. He was taken aback for a moment before he responded, “No, I was given this power by a being only calling itself ‘wisp.’” “Seriously, Wisp? What’s next, a guide called Navi?” I said sarcastically. Ven grinned, and said “Hey! Listen!” in a decent Navi impression, and began to speak normally “Anyway, the year when I left was 2013, Lux left in late 2012. But on a more serious note, Lux, why the fuck are you trying to help her?! She fucking possessed him!” Lux gave him a cross between a glare and a look of boredom“What part of ‘Neutral’ Do you not understand? I belong to neither your side or hers, I just want my friend free through a peaceful solution, and from what I can tell, she isn’t a threat. Therefore, I will help her.” “Fine! If it blows up in our faces, it’s your damn fault if she kills us or something!” Ven shouted, before walking to one of the corners, and eating a roll of bread that was sitting there. Moody much? “Oooookaay. Your friend is kinda temperamental.” I said. “And by the way, about your earlier comment, Noctis isn’t an idiot. I just had an IQ of over 200, last time I checked. So in a battle of brains, I can beat most opponents.” Lux turned to me, giving a slight smile, “For the first part, he’s angry because you took over his friend, and soon to be brother in law. Second, and unrelated, Sephiroth had a white feathered wing, Cloud was the one who was drawn with the black leathery one.” “Not in Advent Children.” I replied smugly. “Sephiroth had a black wing.” Lux shrugged “Fair enough. Also, what did you mean I looked like one of the people your ‘friend’ beat up.” He said, air quoting the word ‘friend.’ “Just that when I looked at you, your face sorta seemed familiar. I remember my ‘friend’ beat up a kid years ago that had a similar face. Hell, for all we know, it could have been you. That was the first time I ever questioned him.” “What did he look like?” He said, pulling out a drawing pad from nowhere in particular, with a pencil. “He was caucasian, 6ft 2, had short, spiky black hair, sharp nose, really small ears, dark blue eyes, and a scar right between them in an S shape from when his old man took a branding iron to him.” I said, shuddering at the last part. Lux just looked up, saying, “So that’s what happened to him... So he was eaten by darkness, huh?” He said, folding his hands behind his head. “Not eaten in the traditional sense, he was ripped to pieces and absorbed.” “Actually, that sounds pretty accurate to the term eaten.” Lux said matter-of-factly “Trust me, if you saw it, you wouldn’t call it eating. You’d call it puke-city.” “There actually is a way to show him,” Ven said from the corner, “The VR room on this ship allows you to show memories to others.” “Seriously? We’re gonna go through this ship where noone knows anything about me, to a room made to fool your senses? This has prank/ambush written all over it.” I said in a flat tone. “Think what you want, I was just saying that the VR could be useful. Speaking of which, I’m gonna need to do a bit of training once this is done, being in a two month coma kinda isn’t that good on the body.” “Yeah, it definitely didn’t help your friend’s mental state. Now, just a minute. Gotta get out of this.” I said as I pulled my soul out of Noctis, who passed out from it. “The fuck just happened?” Ven said, looking down at Noctis, and rubbing his eyes. “I left his body, genius.” I said. Ven turned, and instinctively covered his eyes from the light that was me as a ball, and I couldn’t help but laugh. “Ah, so that’s what you did.” Lux said. “Yeah. Oh, he’s gonna be unconscious for a few hours, and when he does wake up, he’s not gonna remember anything.” “So, does this mean you accept my offer for the mechanical body?” Lux asked. “I guess so.” I said. “Well, three things about it, One: the machine itself will change once you are in it, probably to form the look of your old body. Second, You have to stay near a power user, otherwise it will become immobile, and third, you will have a nervous system, so you will feel pain. The last one was a ‘be careful’ thing though.” … Shit. “Greeeeaaaaat.” I said sarcastically. “One warning. If I catch either of you staring at me for more than a millisecond, you’re gonna lose your chances of ever having kids. GOT IT?” I growled. “Oh, also, before I inject your soul into it...” Lux spawned a rather badass looking outfit, like a ninja costume, but made from some weird cloth. He then put it onto the robotic body. “Just in case clothes don’t spawn on it.” He cracked his knuckles, “Now then, shall we begin?” “Sure. Just lemme know when you’re about t-AGH!” I flinched as a sharp pain reverberated through my mind, and didn’t stop. “Sorry, It’s my first time working with an actual soul, rather than pure energy.” Lux said, a look of worry on his face. “It’s nearly done.” He was making motions with his hands that reminded me sort of of sewing, or stitching. “By Odin’s beard this is horrifying.” Ven said, just watching what was happening as I withered slightly, and Lux sewed me into the cybernetic body, before being fully absorbed into it. Suddenly, the sounds had stopped, and the gears in my new body started to move. Muscles then burst from the gears, followed by a skin growing out of that, and long, straight black hair came out of my head. “Wow, Lux, You’ve gotten better with your metal, to be able to create a body.” Ven commented. “This feels...kinda weird. But at least I’m able to feel something other than pain now.” I said, turning my wrist, feeling the gears in my new body turn. “That wierd feeling is because you’ve been without a body for so long, as well as the gears inside you.” Lux looked over his work for a few seconds, “Ok, it seems I didn’t forget anything this time.” He said with a sigh of relief. “Doesn’t feel like you did.” I said, rotating my neck and smiling as I heard the joints pop every now and then. “Ahhh, can’t believe I went 200 years without being able to stretch my body. Plus I had this itch I just couldn’t scratch, it was so annoying.” Lux held out a mirror, “Is there anything I got wrong?” “Nah, I look just like I did back then. Actually, I seem more physically fit. Not an ounce of excess fat anywhere.” “That’s because you run on chaos energy rather than carbohydrates.” Lux said with an air of general happiness over succeeding, “Which is the reason you have to stay near a power user for the body to work. Also, you don’t have the need to eat, drink, excrete waste, or... really anything, you don’t even have to breath with that body, if you don’t want to.” “Chaos? Cool. Hey, can I break any of the laws of reality or something like that?” I asked. “Sadly, that would need more excess chaos energy than we can give off, so no.” Lux scratched the back of his head. “Crap. So, is there a way to make it so that when I go I won’t have to stay near a power user, as you call yourselves? Cause when I do go home, I plan to spend a lot of time at that grave. What date is it here anyway?” “I don’t know, and I don’t know. Although, what town is the grave in?” Lux said, looking a little sheepish. “Cork. You know, in Ireland.” “I see, then we have to touch down at two separate graveyards, I guess.” “I haven’t seen my family in almost a year.” Lux said, with a look that screamed not to ask. “I...see. At least tell me the bastard responsible suffered for it.” I said in a cold voice. “I don’t know if he did, I saw a spike of darkness go through him, but then again, when I was starting out, my dark spear wouldn’t even make a wound in anything. It could only hold things in place.” “That’s explainable. Let me ask you, how did you feel when that spike went through him? What was going through your mind?” I asked. “Mostly rage, from seeing him stab my kid brother in the throat with a fucking GAS INJECTION KNIFE!” He shouted the last part, darkness beginning to seep out of his skin. Wow, this guy has problems too... “There you go. You wanted him to suffer for what he did. That’s how you make the darkness kill. You have to want the person dead, or it won’t do the job.” I explained. “So, next time you’re in a fight, remember that bastard, and remember how badly you wanted him dead, and focus that desire onto your opponent.” “Oh, I didn’t want him dead,” Lux said with a sadistic grin. “I wanted him to suffer as his victims did, torn to shreds by hand. Then gut, and the organs removed.” “Well, that works too.” I said with a shrug. “Who knows, maybe that’s exactly what happened. Or maybe the darkness permanently trapped him in his own personal hell, where exactly what you wanted happens to him over and over for eternity within his mind.” “I recommend you stop there, before I begin to lose my source of rage.” Lux looked upwards, “Now then, lets get you introduced to the group!” He said walking out the room. Ven slung Noctis’ unconscious body over his shoulder. “Ugh, this guys heavier than he looks.” “You know, now that I’m not inhabiting his body, he looks kinda adorable, like I just wanna--” “I would recommend you stop before his mare-friend hears you.” “Oh come on, I didn’t mean that. I’m not into him that way. I meant I’d just act as if he was a lost puppy or something. Is that a result of this new body or something?” “Probably not.” Ven held a watch up to his mouth. “Hey Discord, we have a newbie on board the ship, could you show her around, oh, and bring Jolt with you.” “FUCK NO KEEP SPARKY AWAY FROM ME!” I shouted. Ven looked at me like I’d grown a second head. “What?” “Sorry, residual memories from being in Noctis’ body. Apparently he and Sparky don’t play well together. Oh, and he’s waking up.” I said, pointing to Noctis’ stirring form. “Uhhhhhh, the fuck just happened? Did I get hit by a train or something?” He asked, opening his eyes and wincing. “Bout time you woke up.” Ven then him down. “And no, you were just trapped in the shadow zone for a few hours before she got you out.” He said, pointing to me. “Where am I and what the fuck happened?” He deadpanned. “AND WHAT THE FUCK AM I!?” He yelled suddenly as he failed to get up. “Oh....crap.” I said. “Noctis? What’s wrong?” I asked, kneeling down next to him. “This is bad. I think when I left his body, I may have taken some of his memories away. They should come back in a few days, but for the meantime, he won’t remember anyone.” I said, feeling a strong urge to facepalm. “Any idea which memories you took?” Ven asked, giving me a look of ‘really?’ “Long story short, judging by his reaction, I took any memories from his arrival in Equis onwards. Possibly earlier ones too.” “Well then, this sucks.” Ven helped Noctis up “Noctis, listen to me, my name is Ventus, and you have lost a few of your memories.” “Your name is wind? And what are you on about? What memories? Did I forget the part where Shin-Ra turned me into a FUCKING HORSE!?” “That was the Lunar orb, not Shinra, you haven’t-” “FUCK! How do you know about the Orb? Die and I never told anyone. ARE YOU A SPY!?” Ven held up his watch to his “Die, your brothers gone crazy again. Could you come here and get him?” “SHUT UP, I’M NOT CRAZY! YOU’RE CRAZY!” Noctis yelled. “You know that’s the craziest thing you could say, right?” Ven said with a perfect poker face. “No, the craziest thing I could say is I’m a talking blue horse with wings and I’m proud of it.” He deadpanned, before realizing what he said. “Wait...WINGS!? FUCK!” “... Anyway, back to my explanation to what’s happening. The Solar and Lunar orbs are not from your world, they come from the world of Equis, roughly.... four months ago, you were brought there by the orbs. You have lost all memories since. Oh, and Akumu is now sealed away in a separate body that i turned to stone..” “Who’s Akumu? And four months!? What the fuck did I miss!?” “The last two you didn’t miss much, as you were in a coma. The first two it would be better if Die explains it when she gets here.” “No thanks, I’d rather keep my sanity thank you very much.” Noctis said. “I don’t know if you know this, but when Die gets really into an explanation, sometimes you get sucked into it as if you were in the training room at Shin-Ra HQ.” “Oh, also, on a separate note, I’m dating your sister.” I said, and prepared for his reaction. “Wait, what? My sister’s dating a lunatic? That’s weird, she said she had a crush on...you know what, never mind.” He said. “Hey, everyone is insane, those who say otherwise are idiots. Plus you also have a girlfriend now.” “Wait....WHAT!? That’s impossible, I can’t talk to girls to save my life!” He shouted. “Thats news to me. By the way, what’s the last thing you remember?” “Being put to sleep so they could begin the SOLDIER Procedures. Why? Wait...I get it. This is a dream!” He said with a small grin. Ven hit him in the side of the head, “This isn’t a dream, if it was, you wouldn’t be able to feel pain in it.” “Ow, fuck. Dammit. Not a dream, got it. Wait, that means I actually have a girlfriend? Since when? And who?” “I’m not sure about the since when part, but to sum it up, with a literal goddess of the night.” “Wait, a Goddess? As in, Immortal, All-Powerful? How did that happen? And seriously, what would a Goddess see in me?” “Well, lets just say the Lunar orb gave her her power too, as well as some... similarities in personality.” “What kind of similarities?” He asked cautiously, one eyebrow raised. “It would be better if you just met her.” He held up his watch to his mouth again, “Discord, Could you teleport Luna and Die to my location?” “On it.” I heard a voice say. “And three... two... one..” Ven counted down. “Wait, who’s--” Noctis began, and then, in a bright flash, Luna and Die were right in front of us. I saw Luna about to say something, but Ven held up my hand, and said “Before either of you say anything, he’s lost all his memories from him going under for the SOLDIER procedure onwards.” “Hi Die, who’s your friend? She’s....cute.” he said, lowering his head and trying to hide his blush. “Hey, Noctis. So...you seriously lost your memories? That...sucks.” Die said awkwardly. “Actually she accidentally took them,” Ven said, pointing to me. “Hey, it’s not my fault I made a small error the first time I ever entered someone else’s body!” I retorted. “Besides, he’ll get them back in a few days. But for the love of all things holy, DO NOT try to jump-start them. You do that, and he’ll lose all his memories. For good.” “Ok, so don’t try to remind him of anything... Fine by me.” Ven said with a shrug. “No, not that. I’m assuming that magic exists here too, judging by all the crazy shit I saw in his memories?” Ven floated up, and stood on the ceiling. “No shit Sherlock.” … That’s surprisingly impressive. “Yeah, well what I was referring to is that you can’t try to restart them with magic. I learned enough on the subject. Subtle hints can speed up the recovery slightly, but if you ever use magic to do it, you’ll erase everything, and be left with nothing but an adult with a child’s mind. He’ll have to learn how to do everything all over again.” “Oh... what about electroshock therapy?” Ven asked with a slight grin. “FUCK NO! That’s even worse. It’ll make him remember, but it’ll make the memories seem like living nightmares for the rest of his life.” “Damn... I think I remember a few methods for memory retrieval from our world, such as a certain acupuncture point.” “Acupuncture, with the needles?” I asked skeptically. “Oh, and I finally decided on a name for myself. At least until I eventually remember my old one.” “What is it? And acupuncture doesn’t have to use needles.” “Dana. Short and sweet. And really? Then what can be substituted for needles?” “Watch.” Ven walked up to Lux, who was just watching, and poked a sleep point on his body with a single finger, and a lot of strength, knocking him out. “It’s not that hard to learn, all you need are steady hands.” “Um, isn’t he gonna be pissed when he wakes up?” Die asked. “That’s why I’m going to go hide.” Ven said, before flying away at full speed. “Oooookaaaaay. That guy is just weird. I don’t know what you see in him Die.” I said with a raised eyebrow. “You may not, but I do. He’s sweet, kind, caring, and he’s willing to put his life on the line for any of us. And he’s pretty funny too.” Die replied. Suddenly, Ven’s voice came from out of nowhere. “Thanks, Die, but I’m really not that funny.” Dafuq? “Oh come off it Ven. And also, this is the new girl? She looks kinda...mechanical.” “Technically, she’s a machine with a soul.” Ven said. “So, bio-mechanical? The merging of man and machine kind of thing?” “No, just Lux putting a ghost into a robot that then grew flesh to show her original appearance... I didn’t see anything I swear!” “Ah. And I know. You wouldn’t do something like that. It’s not who you are.” She said. “Yeah, I know,” Ven ‘said’. “By the way, could we talk... you know... in private?” he asked Die. “It’s about our earlier conversation.” “Sure. No problem. I’ll leave you guys alone.” She said, running off. Ven then added one last thing “Oh, and Dana, stay with Lux so your body doesn’t freeze up.” I rolled my eyes, and picked up the unconscious body, and walked off in a random direction, saying “Follow me, Noctis.” “Ok. Wait, who are you again?” “For now I’m calling myself Dana.” I said. “Cool...” He said, following me until we were out of earshot. “Ok...that prank was awesome. Seriously.” “Wait, you didn’t actually lose your memories?” “Yes and no. I lost some memories, but I remembered most of them, you seemed to only take a few random ones...nice acting by the way.” “Thanks, you weren’t bad yourself.” I hefted Lux’s body onto the other shoulder. “So, am I really Luna’s boyfriend? That memory’s a little fuzzy.” “From what I saw in your memories, yes.” I said. “Wow...Hey, can I ask you something?” “Yes?” I stopped, and turned to face him. “Why do we call Jolt Sparky?” “I dunno, but his reaction is funny.” I said with a small smile. “Yeah...Sooo, any advice for my relationship with Luna? I don’t wanna mess it up via not having any memories of it.” “... Nothin in that area, sorry.” “Crap. Oh well.” “Don’t worry about it, if I’ve learned anything, it’s that what will happen will happen.” “Ok. Well, how do you think they’ll take it when they find out this was all a prank?” I thought for a moment before I responded, “Probably with shock, and maybe a sliiight beating from your sister.” “Oh...crap. If Die gets her hands on us...” “I would worry about yourself, I’m mechanical.” “But you can feel pain, remember. The nerves Lux gave you...” “... Shit!” I shouted, coming into realization, “Lets try to catch her in a good mood or when something else is keeping her from killing us, agreed?” “Yeah...well, I should probably try to find Luna and salvage what I can, huh?” “Go for it. I’ll be at the bridge... If I can find it” I said the last part in a whisper. “No worries. Oh, and you know Discord and Celestia probably already know about our little prank. My guess is they went along with it for shits and giggles.” “... Lets hope so, and let’s pray that they don’t tell Die. Bye.” I waved my free hand as I walked off, carrying the winged body of Lux under my arm. __________________________________________________________________ Noctis’ POV Ok...so I have a girlfriend who rules the night...I am so gonna blow it... I kept imagining the various ways I could mess up my meeting with Luna, and each one made me more and more nervous. When I finally came up to her room, I was shaking, sweating, and extremely close to losing my lunch. I couldn’t even bring myself to knock so I just stood there, unable to even breathe. Thank the Gods I didn’t need to anymore... After a few minutes the door opened, and Luna stepped out, giving me a ‘what are you doing’ kinda look. “Uhh, I......” I never had a chance to finish, as Luna jumped me, and began to drag me into her room. “The hell? What are you doing?!” “Apologies Noctis. I’m just...well, I’m glad to see you. And at the same time, I’m angry with you.” “Wait, what?” “I’m angry at you as well as glad. My sister informed me of yours and Dana’s little, ‘joke’.” She said, shooting me a glare that would strip paint off a car. Suddenly, her expression softened into a loving smile, “However, I suppose I should be happy you only lost a few of your memories.” “Wait...you knew? The whole time? You knew I was-” “The eyes don’t lie, Noctis.” “Crap...well, you know I wasn’t kidding about not remembering ‘us’, right? I mean, it’s just, gone. I can’t remember us getting together. Hell, if I hadn’t been told by several people, I don’t think I could have believed it.” After all, she’s a Goddess. I’m just some loser who can’t save anyone. She gave me a seductive smirk, “Well then, only one thing to do about that.” and with that, she picked me up with her magic, and began to carry me towards the bed. “Hey, lemme go!” “Don’t worry, it won’t hurt.” Luna said as she put me on the bed, and tackled me. The rest... I’m not going to tell you. __________________________________________________________________ One *Message Redacted* scene later I was completely shattered after what we’d just done, I couldn’t move an inch out of fatigue. Luna was faring better though, managing to place a hoof on my face and looking me in the eyes. “That was definitely not how I imagined my first time.” I said between breaths. Luna was about to respond, but was cut off by the ship shaking, and sirens beginning to blare. “Crap, what the hell’s going on?” I muttered. “Sinners on the Deck!” Discord’s voice boomed in our room. “LET SOMEONE ELSE DEAL WITH THEM! I CAN’T MOVE!” I yelled. “Uhh...You know what, forget about it. Die already took care of them. They’re just ashes in the wind now... Also, nice form, you two.” I turned to Luna, who was blushing and snickering at the same time. “Revenge?” “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Discord said in a tone that argued with the words. “I was asking Luna whether we should seek revenge for our privacy being invaded.” “HA! Good luck.” He said, his laughter echoing through the halls, but growing quieter. “Thanks for the well-wishing, Pervy Sage.” “Pervy Sage?” “I dunno. It just popped into my head.” “... Good night, Noctis.” Luna said, and after a few moments, I heard soft snoring coming from her. I smiled and kissed her forehead, before laying down myself. “Goodnight Luna. I love you.” I said, before I too entered the realm of sleep. ___________________________________________________________________ Later! I awoke to the sound of a violent sounding explosion. “The fuck’s going on?! DISCORD! TELL ME YOU DIDN’T TRY A NEW CHOCOLATE MILK RECIPE!” “No, Discord isn’t even on the ship.” Jolt said from the doorway, his two-handed sword on his back, “That was Ven. He’s apparently fighting some guy on a moon we stopped by.” “Wait, who’s he fighting? And we stopped by a moon?” “Himself. And yes.” “Crap. Well, where’s Die?” “At the bridge, giving moral support, part of it being something about her being pregnant.” “Wait...my sister is....pregnant? I’m going to be an uncle?!” “Eeyup, and as it seems you’re the last to know. Lucky you.” He said with a chuckle. “Ok. You go. I’ll wake up Luna. Trust me, you don’t wanna be here when she wakes up. As far as I know, someone can be really cranky when woken up after...” “It’s ok, we all know.” He said, “Discord told us.” “Can he even keep a secret? I swear, I’m gonna get Pinkie to prank him.” “One, he can, two, good luck. Bye, good luck with the grumpy gf.” He said, and ran out so quickly it made the sound of thunder cracking, waking Luna up on the spot. “Luna, two things. One, you’re going to be an aunt, and two, Ven is apparently fighting himself on a nearby moon.” “... What?” Luna said, giving me a look that pretty much said ‘Dafuq?’ “Yeah, Die is pregnant.” “... I know that part, I was asking about the other bit.” “Oh, you mean about Ven fighting himself on the moon we stopped near?” “Yes, that, what do you mean by ‘fighting himself’?” She asked with a raised eyebrow. “My guess, it’s like when I fought Akumu, it’s like I was fighting myself. So technically, he’s probably fighting some warped and twisted part of himself.” Her eyes widened, “... We... We should probably go help out.” “Agreed. Except I still can’t feel my legs...” I said sheepishly. Luna fluttered her wings, “What do you think these do?” She said with a small smile. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure these are useless too for the moment.” I said, pointing to my very limp wings. “Seriously, where did you get the energy for all that?!” “Pent up over thousands of years.” She said with a smug smile. “Ah. I thought you were in heat.” I replied. She blushed, “The fact that it was mating season... may have been a contributing factor. Also sorry about the biting.” “Wait...you were in heat...And about the biting, no worries. It was...interesting. Wait, does this mean I might be...” “... I don’t know...” She said hesitantly. “Well, if I am gonna be a father, I’ll make damn sure I’m a good husband too!” I replied confidently, though my inability to move made it almost comical. “Well, you’re off to a great start.” She said, eying my motionless form with amusement. “Shut up...but seriously, I’m excited and nervous at the idea of being a dad, and I can’t think of a better mare to be a mother than you.” Luna chuckled“We’re probably going to be such a dysfunctional family.” “And how do you figure that? Am I really that bad?” I mock-pouted. “Think about it: a goddess who tried to bathe a land in eternal night, two ex-SOLDIERS, and an assassin from another dimension. Assuming he and Die can stay together when this is all done.” “Luna, I don’t give a damn what you did in your past. What matters to me is that I love you. I wouldn’t care if you were a flying spaghetti monster or something.” “WHAT DO YOU KNOW OF THE GIANT FLYING SPAGHETTI MONSTER?!” I heard Aqua shout from the doorway. “Wait, it’s an actual thing in your world?” “In my world, there is a religion based around the damn thing!” He said “Most of them just worship it as a joke though... most of them.” “Wow. Well, as I was saying, Luna, I love you, and I think our kid is gonna grow up just fine with a mother as wonderful as you.” “That’s not even the weirdest of them,” He began “There is also the ‘Giant Invisible Clown’ theory, or the ‘Church of the Holy Twig,’ or even--” “I think they got the point,” Shade said, appearing suddenly behind him, anyway, we came to tell you that Ven’s fight is over, though he’s in pretty rough shape.” “How rough are we talking? Please tell me I’m not about to lose a brother-in-law.” “He was gutted, his throat was stabbed twice, his arm exploded, and he’s in a small coma.” Aqua listed on his fingers. “Shit...where is he?!” I said, leaping up with a sudden burst of adrenaline. Shade rolled her eyes, “I just examined him in the medical wing, he somehow managed to heal his neck and arm, but his guts... It’s going to take a lot of surgery, even if he is now immortal.” “Wait WHAT?! VEN’S IMMORTAL?! WHEN THE FUCK DID THAT HAPPEN?!” “Earlier today, apparently him doing Die while she was in heat lead to a portion of the solar orb’s energy going into him.” Shade explained “Wait....DIE WAS WHAT?!” “Is it really so shocking, when it’s apparently mating season for immortals?” Aqua said with a chuckle. “This has gotta be one of those things that could only happen because of the orbs...” “Eh, whatever, you wanna go see him?” Shade asked, turning away before I could answer, and walking away, saying “Then follow me.” “Ok. Wait, how the hell am I standing again? Eh, forget it, let’s just go.” A huge ball of white smoke appeared in front of her, “Damn I love doing this.” She said, and jumped in. “Cool. So, after you ma’am?” I offered, extending my hoof towards the portal. Luna chuckled, “How chivalrous, sending the lady into the large ball of smoke that came out of nowhere, and may hold unknown danger.” She said as she stepped in. “It’s only good manners.” I retorted as I followed her... ___________________________________________________________________ Medical Bay Ven was the only person in the medical wing besides us, although half the space was filled with the tons of machines he was hooked up to. “It’s weird, according to Discord, even though he is now an immortal, he nearly died, and still could.” Shade said as she started to check the machines. “Let me ask, was he stabbed with his own sword?” She turned toward me, a look of surprise on her face, “Yes, how did you know?” “Because if I’m right, those blades were made to do the same thing ours were. To be able to kill anything. Even immortals are vulnerable.” “No, only a single knife was made for that purpose, but Lumos deemed it too dangerous to use, and threw it into the darkness.” “Doesn’t matter. The metal itself is meant for that purpose, even if you don’t intend to go killing immortals anyway.” “Oh” Was all she said, before just turning slowly, and continuing her checking of the machines. “So, how long before he’s up and at it again?” “Well, once we get the replacement organs in, and the pieces of his shattered blade out, he should be fine within a few days.” She said. “Replacement organs? Fuck, that is gonna hurt like hell.” She filled up a needle with some sort of green liquid, “Not if I have anything to say about it.” “Really? You can make it painless? Fuck, wish you were around after all the augmentations they put us through. I mean, forcibly increasing bone density, muscle mass, and so on and so forth, painful as fuck.” She gave me a bored look, “This stuff I perfected on Lumos. There is enough in this one injection to knock out three dragons. I mostly made it as a way to get back at people.” “What did they do that required getting back at them?” “Someone ‘accidentally’ lost all of my ingredients. There were over 2000 kilos. You don’t just lose that much on accident.” “You must not have heard of Hollander then. I heard that guy lost over 10000 kilos of raw mako once. Seriously, how he made it as a scientist, I have no clue.” “Well, I know if he ever lost my supplies, he may wake up with a few parts missing to pay for replacements.” She said with a smile that sent chills down my spine. “Stop it Shade, you’re scaring the poor pony.” Aqua said, “Besides, shouldn’t we get ready for the surgery?” He asked, putting on, gloves, a generic doctor’s apron, and a mask with a long, pointy nose. She rolled her eyes, “Fine,” she said, as she began to get into another copy of the exact same thing. “Man, I miss being able to go emotionless sometimes.” “You’re more fun this way,” Shade said, waving a hand, “Also, could you leave the room? It would be better, and probably more successful if there aren’t spectators.” “No worries, I’ll go back to bed.” I said, already heading out the door. “Now,” I heard Shade say, “This should be interesting, I’ve never put organs in to a body before.” “Yeah, I’m out of here! See you in your room Luna!” I mock-yelled as I dove into a nearby shadow to escape the sight, exiting the zone to get to Luna’s room. “OK, time for sleep.” I muttered, clambering back into the bed and pulling the sheets over myself. _________________________________________________________________ Later! Once more my sleep was interrupted, but this time, I was being shaken awake. “Finally awake, are we?” Jolt said, letting go. “Shut up Sparky. So, why is it you waking me up? “Not even that can ruin my mood now! We’re at Earth!” He shouted, jumping up. “YOU GOT A GIRLFRIEND TOO!” I mock-shouted, grinning and pointing behind him. “I’m not stupid enough to fall for that.” He said. “Then why is Dana behind you and smiling like a love struck fool?” I asked curiously. He suddenly looked serious, “Wait, what?” He asked as he turned around to see her smiling softly, just watching what was happening. “I was wondering where you went.” “Congrats you two. So, Dana, what made you change your mind on Sparky? I thought after the memories you saw of my interactions with him you’d avoid him like the plague. “Lets just say your memories were very misleading.” She said with a sly grin. “Cool. Something tells me you’re gonna be having lots of fun. Be careful though, she’s completely mechanical in the bedroom.”They both blushed the shade of a good cherry juice. “And exactly how would you know that, Noctis?” Luna’s voice said behind me, in a sweet tone, with an undertone saying ‘tell me what you know, and I might not destroy you.’ “It was a joke Luna, y’know, since she’s essentially a robot with a soul.” “Oh... OH, I get it now! But anyway, does she even have the parts for that?” Dana’s blush went a shade darker, “Well, if you must know, I haven’t checked yet.” “If I know Lux, he probably created said parts, just to see if he could.” “... Well, if it isn’t there, I’ll ask him to add it in.” She said with a small smile. “Looks like one of your many fetishes is about to be realised Sparky.” I joked. “If you knew what my fetishes were, you would avoid me even more than you do now.” He said with a slight look of evil in his eyes. “Sparky, nothing I learn about you could make me want to avoid you more than I already do.” I said in a teasing tone. He grinned, “Like the fact I owned a BDSM club back on earth?” “BDSM? Seriously? Didn’t take you for that kinda guy. Oh well, to each their own.” “I actually wasn’t into it, I just owned the place.” He said “The guy who was actually in charge didn’t want to go to prison if the place was found out, so I got a slice of the profit, so long as I owned the deed, and kept quiet.” “Ah. Well, you gonna go visit that friend of yours Dana? After all, you said it’s been two centuries for you.” “What do you think?” “The obvious answer is yes. Your boyfriend gonna go with you? Actually, I already know he is, since you need a power-user nearby to keep your body energised.” “Yeah, yeah, whatever.” She said, waving a hand, before turning to Jolt “So, we gonna go yet?” “I wish you luck, Dana.” I said under my breath with a small smile. “So, Luna, what now?” Before Luna could answer, however, Aqua burst into the room, shouting “HELP ME!!” and diving behind a wardrobe. “Aqua, what happened?!” I asked worriedly. “Somebody was stupid enough to give Shade whiskey, and now she’s trying to take my pancreas.” “Oh, is that all? No worries, I’ll do what I do best.” I said confidently. “Is that all? IS THAT ALL?! IT’S MY FUCKING PANCREAS!” “And I already told you I’ll do what I do best.” I repeated. “Go right ahead, I’ll wait here.” He said, before putting going into the wardrobe he was hiding behind. “Ok. Though y’know, I was kinda hoping you’d ask what I do best. Oh well.” I shrugged as I got out the bed and walked to the door. “And Aqua, don’t even think about it.” “... I’m not going to ask.” I heard from the dresser. I just shook my head and walked outside to see a clearly drunk Shade barreling towards me. “Ok, time to do what I do best, which, according to Die, is ‘something stupid’. Fuck.” And that’s exactly what I did, blasting a weak bolt of magic into Shade. “SHADE STOP BEING DRUNK!” Unfortunately, this didn’t exactly work, but her coordination got better. Oh, and she pulled out a scalpel. “Oh fuck me!” I muttered, before bolting past her and running as fast as I could. “FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK! I’M STARTING TO REGRET DOING TH-” I was cut off as I was tackled by Shade. “You know, I’ve never examined the organs of a pony before, and I’m sure that a sample of the wings would be interesting too.” She said as she began to make marks in my fur with a small marker. “Yeah, well, lemme ask you something.” I said between pained gasps as I’d somehow landed hard on my... ‘private area’. “You know what my nickname was back in Nibelheim?” “Not a clue,” She said, making more marks, and not really paying any attention. “They called me the runner, since I always ran from bad situations before joining SOLDIER. You’re probably wondering what that has to do with this though.” “No, not really.” She said, before switching to her scalpel, and preparing to make the first cut. “Well, it doesn’t have anything to do with the conversation, but it did provide a great distraction while my ‘friend’ got ready.” I said smugly. “Wait, what?” Shade said, looking up suddenly. “NOW DISCORD!” I shouted, and a bolt of multicolored chaos energy shot down the hall, hitting Shade in the back of the head. She hit the floor with a thud and laid there, breathing, but otherwise unmoving. “Wait, you were really there? I was just bluffing.” I said. “Noctis, I’m a god. I’m everywhere and nowhere at the same time.” “Ok. Oh, and one thing.” and I kicked him square in his nethers. “THAT’S FOR PERVING ON ME AND LUNA!” “Nice try, but you missed.” He said smugly, before disappearing in a puff of smoke. I chuckled, making my way back to Luna’s room. “Ok Aqua, it’s safe. Discord knocked Shade out.” “Really?” Aqua asked, his head poking out of the wardrobe. “Yes, then I kicked him where I thought his nethers were for spying on me and Luna while we were...y’know...” “He can move them around on his body... somehow.” “Good thing that Joy Freezer I hit him with will move on till it finds them, then freeze them for a few hours. Thank you tracker magic! When do you think he’s gonna realise what happened?” “I already did,” Discord’s voice said behind me. “Lemme guess, couldn’t get it up for Celestia?” I joked. “It isn’t in the physical realm at this moment.” “Wow, you magically castrated yourself?” “What? No, I can just absorb it and grow new ones at will!” He said in a proud sounding tone. “Ok. But seriously, why did you watch me and Luna? Do we spy on you and Celestia?” “No, but Die and Ven did walk in on us, so I’m just passing it on.” “Wait, they....BAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Classic! But seriously, going around publicly announcing the sexual activities of others seems....well, it seems too...weird, even for you. But I digress. How is Celestia? Did you knock her up yet?” “No, I made sure not to. Besides, hearing Ven screaming in horror sort of ruined the mood.” “Funny, he doesn’t act like one would after seeing two friends doing it.” “I heard Die say to him right before to imagine what the children would look like.” He said with a chuckle “HA! Then why hasn’t he seemed like he’s been doing just that. Did he forget what happened or something?” “Die wiped his memory of it.” “Headshot with her fists?” “Yes and no, it’s a magic technique Celestia taught her, where one charges their attack with magic, and aims for the base of the neck. The magic then wipes the memory from the short term before it can become a long term memory.” “Nice. Hey, any that could wipe long-term memories? I wanna forget my first day of school.” “Sorry, haven’t got one like that.” He said with a shrug. “Oh well, can’t blame a guy for trying. So, do you think you’ll be a good dad someday?” “Hmm.. I dunno, oh, also.” Suddenly, he was behind me, his leg slamming into my... equipment. “That’s for freezing mine.” “Ouch. Thank god for balls of steel.” I groaned. “And trust me, I could’ve done a lot worse than freezing them for a couple of hours in retaliation for you making the fact that Luna and I had sex known to the public. Do you want to be sterile?” “Ha, good one, I don’t even have balls!” “Then how you gonna knock her up?” “My testacles are inside my body, not outside, like you people.” “Thanks for the info. Now I know where to target the next time you do something stupid...” “No, you really don’t know where to aim.” He said, and disappeared before I could finish. “I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE!” I shouted. “Besides, I was kidding. Like I’d ever actually sterilise the guy who saved my life...Anyway, sleep!” I put my encounter with Shade out of my head as best I could, which wasn’t very well, considering she had been about to relieve me of my wings. “AGH! I hate alcohol...” I muttered as I crawled back into the bed. “... I’m going to leave the room now,” Aqua said, backing out of the room quickly. “Whatever...Luna, unless we’re about to die, please don’t wake me.” I said as I closed my eyes. _________________________________________________________________ One good sleep later. For the first time this week, I got a decent sleep, no rude awakening, no explosions, no deities of chaos watching me and Luna... I’m not going to finish that sentence, but that’s beside the point. The point is that I felt good. “Ahhh, damn, normal wake up for once.” “WHAT THE FUCK?!” I heard someone shout from another room “YOU SAID I WOULD BE FUSING WITH ANOTHER PERSON! NOT SOME... BIRD THING!” “GODAMMIT CAN’T A GUY GO ONE DAY WITHOUT A DAMN ARGUMENT OUTSIDE HIS AND HIS MAREFRIEND’S ROOM!” I screamed as I leapt out of the bed and slammed the door open. “HEY, I’M NOT HAPPY WITH THIS EITHER! NOBODY SAID I WOULD BE FUSING WITH SOME SUITED PRICK!” Another voice, which I instantly recognised as Mirum shouted, even louder than the other. “OH THAT’S IT!” The first voice shouted. “SHUT THE FUCK UP!” I yelled, accidentally letting off a shockwave of energy, wrecking Luna’s bed and knocking her out of its remains. A few moments later, two figures, who I recognized as Mirum and Malum, burst in through the wall, with Malum’s knee in Mirum’s... Junk, and a look of rage on his face. “What the fuck? Malum? WHEN THE FUCK DID YOU GET HERE?!” “Few minutes ago, Lux found me.” He said, spitting out a little blood. “Oh, cool. Mind explaining WHY YOU RUINED MY LIE-IN WITH LUNA?! AND AFTERWARDS, GIVE ME ONE GOOD REASON NOT TO FUCKING CASTRATE YOU HERE AND NOW!” They both pointed at each other, and simultaneously shouted “HE STARTED IT!” They turned towards each other, “NO, YOU DID!” And with that, both of their right hands hit the other in the face. Suddenly, a large hand of darkness grabbed each of them, “Can I leave you alone five damn minutes without you two getting in a fight? Seriously, what kind of consciences are you?” Lux said as he floated into the hallway through the hole. “They’re the bratty kind Lux. Kindly get them to fuse with you again so I can go back to sleeping with Luna.” I said irritably. The words pulling a muffled chuckle from Malum. “They’re not going to fuse with me, they’re fusing with each other.” Lux said. “Whatever. If you need me, I’ll be sleeping.” I said, going back to my room and slamming the door shut, before repairing the damaged bed, all while trying to ignore the death glare Luna was aiming at me. Moments later, a loud bang sounded outside the room, and a large flash of light came through the crack under the door, followed by smoke. “Godammit. Luna, do you think we could move to another room? I’m really getting sick of being involved in all their problems.” I muttered as I walked back over to the door, opening it to see only two figures. One was Lux, the other was an unconscious guy covered in feathers arranged in a pattern similar to a black suit with a white shirt, and a tie. The guy on the ground got up, and opened his eyes. Seeing that one was solid grey, and the other flashing every color, with a golden iris, I immediately knew what had happened: Lux had forcibly fused Mirum and Malum into one being. Right. Outside. My damn room. “Ow, our head.” The guy said, clutching his head on both sides. “So, how do you feel?” Lux asked, looking at him. “Like I fell two stories onto a sharp spike head-first, and lived to tell the tale.” He muttered. “GRAAH! Please move the conversation somewhere that won’t wake me the hell up!” I yelled. Lux reached back, and scratched the back of his head sheepishly, “Sorry, I was short on time to fuse them together, so I had to do it here...” He turned to the Mirum/Malum guy, “Now that I think about it, what are we going to call you, anyway?” “... How about we figure that out when I’m not in pain, and while there is an angry pegasus ready to kill us.” He said, getting up, and stumbling off, with Lux slowly following him. “Oh I’m not going to kill you.” I said, glaring at them. “I’m gonna FUCKING NEUTER YOU!” “FUCK!” He shouted, and jumped through a wall, fading into the metal, and making it appear as though he was never there. Lux stared at the spot. “... What... the fuck?” “You know what? Forget this. If anyone needs me, I’ll be sleeping.” I droned, closing the door once again and getting back into bed beside Luna. She hasn’t said a single word this entire time...I am so dead. “Luna, I’m sorry. For destroying the bed, for shouting, pretty much for everything and anything I did.” Surprisingly, she was asleep, her soft snoring barely audible. “Good idea...sleepy time...” I mumbled, yawning as I succumbed to the call of the sandman. _________________________________________________________________ The next week was fairly uneventful. I got mostly used to Luna’s sleep patterns, by which I meant I got mine synchronized with it. It helped that we hadn’t done it, instead just choosing to spend our time together sleeping, Also, the Mirum/Malum guy finally picked out a name for himself: Mar. And apparently he has only one power, and it’s more basic than any of the others: he can make himself and whatever he is in direct contact with phase through matter. He found a way to make himself invisible, barely even casting a shadow. For almost the entire week, Die was in the medical bay, sitting at Ven’s side, just waiting for him to wake up. The one time I did talk to her, it somehow lead to her contemplating ways to guilt Ven into doing something, but wouldn’t say what. I gave up after the first few times asking, knowing she wouldn’t admit what it was until she was ready to do so. For once, my wake up wasn’t followed by an explosion, or a scream, or some other interruption. The only thing that followed was Luna nuzzling me in her sleep, drooling a little on my chest as she snored quietly. I smiled and just lay there, nuzzling her back, content to have a normal day for once. Unfortunately, today wasn’t a normal day. Today was the day we separated with the others, dropping them off on their own world. I sighed sadly, nudging Luna awake slowly. “Luna, we have to get up. Lux and the others are leaving today. We have to see them off.” “Five more minutes.” She mumbled, slurring a little. “Luna, if you don’t get up right now, I’m going to tell everypony how you sleep with an abacus each day.” I threatened. “I’M UP!” She shouted, shooting out of bed. “Thank you. Now, we gotta go see them off.” I said sadly. “I... I’m not going.” She said, “In a sense, for me it isn’t really goodbye, since an alternate me is on their world.” “Oh, ok then. Sorry to wake you so.” I said, getting out of the bed and heading for the bridge at a gallop. It only took a few minutes and a few crashes (No, not gonna tell you what or who I hit.) before I arrived. Upon my arrival though, the only ones there were Jolt, Dana, Die and Ven. “Ok...how late...am I?” I huffed. Ven looked at his watch, “Exactly... 25 seconds... no, 28...” “Dammit...Erahaor still has some of my materia!” I grumbled. “Like the Choco-Mog, oh glorious ex-SOLDIER?” Jolt said with sarcasm. “He can keep that one, I wanted my Firaga Burst materia back! Did you know Era is a pyromaniac? And he’s got a materia designed to burn things to death!” “Why else would we get along so well?” He said with a chuckle. “He actually gave me a few tips for working on my own power I wouldn’t have thought up.” “Doesn’t matter. You realise you let a potential arsonist loose in your world with a tool that could potentially burn everything to the ground, right?” “And said world has a person that controls water, another that control’s earth, one who controls smoke... they can handle a little arson.” He grinned as he spoke. “Fine. So, why’d you two stay, Sparky, Dana?” I asked. Dana smiled, “I have a lot of questions I never got a chance to ask about your world, especially why you keep saying Cloud wasn’t part of SOLDIER.” “No, Cloud Strife was a regular Shinra troop. Zack Fair, his friend, was a SOLDIER.” “Ok... So then why does he have the ‘Mako eyes’ that are a key signature of SOLDIER?” “They performed similar experiments on him after he went missing.” “And why is it that he was a first class before the Nibelheim incident?” “He wasn’t. I saw the games. They pretty much confirm most of the history. For one, his memories of being in SOLDIER were actually Zack’s, ones that he’d been told about, mixed in with his old experiences with him.” “Also, how long after the Nibelheim incident did you leave that world?” “Not long after Zack’s death.” I replied bitterly. “And I’d appreciate it if we stopped talking about it.” “Sorry, just wanted to see what you knew before seeing the game.” she said, holding up her hands. “I’ll say this. The process they mentioned in the game, it doesn’t even cover half of what we go through to become SOLDIERs.” She was silent for a few moments, before turning to look at Ven “So, how are the new organs working?” Ven cocked his head, “New...Organs? By the gods, what kind of damage did I have?!” He shouted the last part. “I’m leaving before the yelling starts!” I said, running out the door before I could hear the screams start, and echo throughout the ship. A few minutes later, I found myself back outside Luna’s room. I pressed my ear to the door, and all I could hear was the soft snores of the sleeping princess. I opened the door and snuck back into the bed as quietly as I could, making the bare minimum of movements to get the covers over me. “Night Luna...” I mumbled, extending a wing and trying to gently place it over her like a second blanket as sleep took me.
