Kingdom Hearts: Kingdom Hearts: Light Chaser

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The girl chewed on her bottom lip when it seemed like the Light Chaser was a little bitter about her being chosen by fate. Wasn't like I had a choice, she thought in her head. "I'm having trouble believing you," Aria said as she placed her hands behind her back. "I guess the saying goes 'Seeing isn't believing, believing is seeing'. You saved me from the darkness, brought Tinarah here and I guess healed her... But how am I supposed to tap into my inner princess if I don't even understand it, let alone know what it is? Why do I have to help to make this Kingdom Hearts thing? How do I help with it? Why did Master Choma not tell me anything about Princesses of Light and Kingdom Hearts? How do I know this is not some kind of weird limbo or coma dream? And how long do I have to stay here for?"

She sat heavily on the bench, feeling the weight of the worlds on her shoulders suddenly crashing in on her. She rubbed the temples of her head and closed her eyes to take in a couple of deep breaths. "Nothing is making much sense right now, and it's really bothering me..."

 

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Takehiko was still in recovery when Torrin had told them Atmos was awake, there was a bit of relief on his face while he settled his breathing. The boy heard a little meow appear from his bag and Nini hopped out of it and Take winced, "Right... um, before we... keep going..." he straightened himself off and the pain from his face disappeared and he took a deep breath and said, "Mika.... Mika is gone... a guard said she sacrificed herself to save him and Tinarah..." Take's couldn't keep up the stoic expression for long before he said, "Which... brings me to..."

Take moved his bag around to reach into it, Nini was nuzzling up against Take's legs before she took a turn and ran over to Torrin and started rubbing up against his legs. The boy pulled the bright blue violin from his bag with the bow and held it out to Chrono and said bluntly, "Someone took Tinarah. I think they worked with the man who just left with the other girl... the.... one that was glowing? I, know that's not the point but, Tinarah was taken. By a boy with brown hair and green eyes and a keyblade." Take's face turned back into that of a straight one, but his body language disagreed, his hands were shaking as he held out the violin, but he was trying to hide how much it hurt him to be the messenger, "I'm sorry.... if I had been there... I..." his voice trailed before he just decided to stop and not say anything, and he took charge of the shakiness and fell back into his neutral expressions once more.

 

As Take and Chrono dealt the last hits on the Leviathan, Illiana shifted her blade back into its umbrella state. She flung her umbrella back over her shoulder. She looked back to where Dentro had stood after he fled the battle and spoke to herself. "He was no fun either. What a disappointing, ill-mannered coward." She turned towards the entrance they came from when she saw Torrin walk in. "I suggest you finish up whatever business you all have here and return to Master Atmos." Illiana raised an eyebrow as she was a little lost. Before she could ask, Torrin spoke once more. "She's awake." Her eyes widen in surprise over this new information. Illiana nodded and started to walk off before Take spoke up. "Right.. um, before we... keep going..." Illiana started to move once more before she suddenly stopped. "Mika.... Mika is gone... a guard said she sacrificed herself to save him and Tinarah..." Her eyes widen as she immediately turned to Take. First Aria, now Mika?! How? Why?! "Which... brings me to..." She looked up at Take once more. "Someone took Tinarah. I think they worked with the man who just left with the other girl... the.... one that was glowing? I, know that's not the point but, Tinarah was taken. By a boy with brown hair and green eyes and a keyblade." Illiana's eyes widen once more, Tinarah was missing on top of that? Illiana continued to process this before a certain fact just hit her. "I'm sorry.... if I had been there... I." Illiana walked up to Take, lowering her umbrella. "Where's the guard now?!?!" Moments went by before Illiana spoke up again. "Where's the guard now Take?!?!?!"

 

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After everything that had just transpired, news that Master Atmos had finally awakened was certainly a relief indeed. The relief from this had only last a short while before Take had brought the fact that Mika had died. Even if he didn't know her well, the fact that someone else in their group had just died. The shock from this had left his hands shaking. Hearing Tinarah's name however had caused his blood to run cold.

The gravity of the situation had finally applied its crushing pressure on him when Chrono realized that Tinarah had been nowhere to seen for the duration of this fight or before then. Where was she? What happened to Tinarah!? He couldn't get his voice to speak the words, they had become stuck in his throat when Take showed him the bright blue violin. Tinarah's Violin. "It's...not your fault." His voice had begun to falter with those words. At this point his fist was clenched as hard as he possibly could, filled with the anger. If Dentro had fled earlier, this anger would've been taken out on him. Still part of him wanted to blame Take, wanted to be able to blame someone else other than himself. That's wasn't possible. Take was one of the few people that he spend time with the most compared to the Atmos's other students. Most importantly, he was the one who last saw her walk off with the guard. If he had gone with them then this could've been prevented.

Hesitantly Chrono took a step forward and placed his hand on his friends shoulder. The anger that had welled up inside him still reaming, but pushed under a layer of regret. "It's mine. I should've been there for her as her older brother." Chrono tried to smile through his words that he managed to force out, give his friend some form of encouragement. His smile flickered however and soon turned to a grimace as his hand retracted from Take's shoulder and started to be rubbed through his hair vigorously. A nervous habit of his that only occurred when he had no idea what to do despite desperately trying to figure it out. This was only the third time that this had happened. The first being when he saw his mother died and the second was the first time that Tinarah had gotten attacked.

 

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Take had been a little... surprised at how quickly and aggressively Torrin had reacted all of a sudden, particularly towards the Rourke situation. But he was grateful at least, he didn't think this group could handle another fight yet. When he mentioned the King, Take nodded and he handed the violin and bow specifically to Chrono and said, "It's your sisters, you should be the one who holds onto it. I don't think if we find her she'd like to see anyone else with it." then he clicked his tongue for Nini who ran on back and Take held open the bag for Nini to hop into it and he started making his way back up towards the King without another word.

 

Illiana looked over at Torrin as he fought Rourke. Once Rourke was down, Torrin went over to the three, telling Chrono that they'll find Tinarah. He had also mentioned that the King had wished to speak to the group. Illiana stepped back from Take. She lifted her umbrella and set it on her right shoulder. The mysterious wielder would have to wait. However, it remained in her thoughts. Could it be? Would she dare to believe? Was her brother somehow back? No. It couldn't be. There was just no way. She walked on with her cold unreadable mask back on her face. Illiana took a glance at Nini before looking back ahead of her. Things Illiana had wanted to say to Mika, will be left unsaid. Just like with Aria, Illiana didn't want to dwell for too long but the thought of them gone had still caused her pain. However, she wouldn't let it show on her face. After Koa's disappearance, the pain in her heart had numbed Illiana's heart and her actions. Illiana shook her head as she continued walking as she made her way to the King.

 

Chrys looked to her fellow apprentice with a raised eyebrow that expressed both amusement and confusion. She didn't know what was so urgent that he would threaten her with pebbles, but she supposed she was willing to humor him. Turning around briefly, she gave a quick and sincere bow to her master and Aria. Not wanting to interrupt the conversation, but not really wanting to leave without some show of respect, she decided on this course of compromise. Leaving her new friend in the capable hands of the Light Chaser, Chrys turned and headed towards Dentro and the wall he was hiding behind.

"All right then, what's got you so worked up that you-" Her sentence died as she turned the corner; Her thoughts were frozen in complete shock at what she saw. A girl that she could barely identify as Kida, Princess of Atlantis, was resting peacefully on the ground. However...

"She's... What happened?"

 

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Contrary to how he still felt about Torrin, his words still helped. They would get Tinarah back, that was something that he could guarantee for certain. "Thanks." Chrono took the violin from Take and put it away. His eyes glanced down towards his hands, they were still trembling slightly. To no one's surprise he still hadn't calm down yet and it would been some time before he did. At the very least his hand had stopped running through his hair. Now he needed to see what the King wanted to give them before they went back to Master Atmos.

 

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At this point, Aria had little to no choice but to take the Light Chaser's words for it. She looked up at the cloaked man as he spoke and then glanced back at the image being shown to her. She felt her mouth go dry when she saw all the darkness surrounding their current world and swallowed a lump in her throat. Her little mind was quickly putting two and two together as she observed her surroundings.

"So... I am what's attracting the darkness. And if I try to leave, all the monsters will swarm and we'll be swallowed in Darkness. And I suppose... since you put this world in a 'sleeping state', you're also powerful enough to put some kind of barrier around this place... to protect me and what's left of this place."

Aria sighed out and rubbed the back of her neck, seeing that Chrys had left in a hurry. All these apprentices sure always had places to be and things to do. She went back to the situation at hand, her green eyes studying the Light Chaser. "And you probably have enough power to dispel the darkness, but you need more power to be rid of it completely... right? Thats what you said. That's where I come in, and this Kingdom Hearts... but Master Atmos and Choma don't agree with what you're doing. Why? I know they probably don't understand... Is this going to upset the balance of darkness and light at first and cause a lot destruction and conflict?"

Her eyebrows creased in worry as she looked up at the quiet sky. "No is going to get hurt though, right? And how was Tinarah able to leave? She didn't get attacked by the heartless, right? Did she really get back with everyone else?"

 

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Take accepted the gift from the King graciously and took a moment to process the request. He figured this was perhaps the only thing he could do to atone for his failures in this world. He couldn't save his friends, he couldn't save the princess here. It really struck him to the core, as far as he was aware this was the equivalent of failing to protect his village in his homeworld. The boy closed his eyes a minute and tried to hold back his pain as a memory seeped into him.

Spoiler: Flashback

It was only a few months before. Takehiko's hair was pretty much shaved to the point there were no hairs on his head. This was so the fire would not catch onto his hair. His clothes were designed to protect himself from that fire, he was dressed more in a military style. Except, he was covered in ash all over his face and his clothes were torn and Take seemed to be panicked as he held his keyblade out in his hands and stared at it. This weapon... it was not foreign to him. He had seen one look similar to it years ago.

As he held it out, Take heard a voice muffled before it came clearly to his ears,"So tell me, Takehiko... the fourth son of Noboru. How did you come to acquire a keyblade?" the boy seemed to look down at it a little longer before looking up towards the speaker. Sat on a throne in front of him were five men, all in chairs of varying sizes. The one sat in the middle was the largest throne, and happened to be the one who directly addressed him. Take lowered his hands as he looked to the man and said firmly, "I was gifted it years ago, sir."
"Who authorized such a procedure?"
"I... do not know his name, sir."
The man looked annoyed as his voice became more angered, "Lying to me will not change your fate, Takehiko."

"I am not lying." Takehiko asserted more before he backed away and added meekly, "..sir."

There was a pause before one of the other men spoke, "The boy is hopeless, he always has been..."
"Perhaps this is the best way to deal with the situation. We send him offworld for training and he comes back more disciplined and a benefit to our village." another replied, more amused by the situation than the others.
"So he can become more of an outcast?" the youngest of the five men spoke up with concern coating their voice, "The boy needs more basic training, he can't go running around in the outer worlds and come back and be a danger to us. I say we place him into more intensive training."
"I still think the boy would be more of a benefit to us as a healer than as a warrior." the final man spoke up, with a softer and more afraid voice than the rest.

Takehiko stood silently, listening to all of their words as they gathered their decision. Finally one spoke up and said, "Shoji... what do you have to say about your brother's situation?" Take tensed up and turned his head to his right. He had forgotten his brother was even here. Shoji looked almost identical to Take except that he was older and his eyes were blue rather than a deep green.

Shoji stepped forward and said, "Masters, my brother has always had a bit of a hero complex ever since he was young. I think if you banish him offworld it will only further upset that. I say keep him here, and forbid him from using the keyblade."
Take immediately turned fully towards his brother and in a pained voice spoke, "Shoji... I didn't-"
"You don't want to protect the village. You just want to show off, Takehiko. I think it's best for the village if you don't know how to wield this weapon." Shoji asserted and Take broke out of his calm to yell angrily, "This weapon saved your life! You would have died if I hadn't-"

The commander of the guard, who was required to be there for this incident, immediately walked forward and grabbed Take by the shoulder. A wave of fear immediately washed through him as his anger subsided while the commander spoke, "What are the words we live by, Takehiko?"

Take spoke up, almost automatically, "I am a guardian of the peaks, I am of the armor of this village. I protect and serve to my dying breath. I am a soldier of our truths and strengths. Good soldiers follow orders. Good soldier put their feelings last. Good soldiers forget their worth of self. Good soldiers protect the village before themselves." as he spoke the words, Take felt his keyblade fall out of his hands and disappear into specks of light. He stared down at the floor and the commander let go of his shoulder.

The man in the middle spoke up, "You, Takehiko, have always been quite the troublemaker. When you were little, we often found you sneaking in places you did not belong. But there is something I will not deny you have. You have a compassion for those you love that is strong. Unfortunately, that is your biggest weakness. You ran in front of your brother to protect him, not knowing the keyblade would appear to protect you. You both would have died, but your death would have been avoidable. There is no pride to be had in that, despite the fact you shouldn't feel pride at all."

Take finally looked up at the man and said, "Master Hotaka. Please... if you let me go and train with the keyblade, I'll come back stronger and more of an asset to the village than as I am without it... if you let me go and train... I..." Take tried to think up something he could offer up. But if did not matter. Hokata held up his hand to cut him off and said, "I will let you train offworld. But the concern the other councilmen have must be heard. As a result... you will be subjected to one more month of training before you may go. The hours will be rigorous, but it will be only a starting point to what you will endure as a keyblade wielder. Do you understand."

Take's eyes looked towards Shoji, who was clearly doing his best to hold back rage, Take couldn't look at him anymore and looked down to say, "Yes, Master."

Hotaka clapped his hands together and said, "Bring the little key wielder Takehiko to Jeral's Point and have him started immediately. Let your family know what his fate is, Shoji."
"Jeral's Point? You cannot be serious Hotaka he is just a boy."
"Nah, he placed himself on the fast track. He's gonna need to learn." Hotaka replied with a smirk as he turned around and Take felt his shoulder grabbed again and Hotaka said, "By the way, if you fail the training... you've failed our village.... Don't come back."

Take opened his eyes and looked at the King and said, "Don't worry, Your Majesty. We'll bring your daughter back. We won't let you down." and he paused a bit before he turned around and left the room. At that point, he was honestly more interested in finding Atmos and explaining what was going on. He figured this time it would be best to get guidance from a master. He also just wanted to hear her say she was alright rather than hearing Torrin say it.

 

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They were given a simple task from the king following receiving their gift from him. Returning his daughter, an easy enough task. Especially with the added benefit that the one who had taken her was the the same as the one who was allied with Tinarah's kidnapper. Dentro, finding him would be the quickest way to find both of them. Chrono's fist clenched as he affirmed himself of this, having no clue where he went made this a harder task. Fortunate for them, Atmos had awoken as according to Torrin so hopefully she'll have an idea on what to do next.

 

"Well, you know me and people." Chrys continued to gaze at the Princess of Atlantis as she worked out her exact response. "She definitely acts like one of the princesses I think, though friendliness is more a personality trait than something people with pure hearts will innately have. She's also pretty curious... and maybe a bit doubtful." She crossed arms in thought, already having dropped Dentro's question from her mind after her halfhearted attempt at an answer. Though she was definitely known among the others for being less social, if only a little. She turned to look at her fellow chaser, eyes burning with curiosity and the desire to sate it.

"They had that one Crystal there, right? The heart? Did you... get a good look at it?" She seemed to grow embarrassed and looked away quickly when she was done, placing her sights back on Kida. The Atlantean was honestly someone Chrys had taken a personal interest in along with her home world. She pondered the possible answers that might be in store for her there: About how the information might aid her in her own personal goals. She could be patient with Kingdom Hearts in the fulfillment of long term plans, but any information she could find sooner without jeopardizing the Light Chaser's mission would be treasured dearly.

 

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The Light Chaser answered most of her questions, but not all of them. If she was going to survive this, she was going to have to play along. Nothing would progress if she kept doubting or resisting the situation. She was outnumbered, and clearly outranked. The vision of Tinarah with her older brother though made her feel a bit at ease. At least one of them was safe from this place and the situation.

Aria looked up to see that night was coming on. It was strange that a sleeping world still followed the patterns of daylight and nighttime. She glanced to the Light Chaser when he told her she should get some rest and she could return to her friends in the morning... She gradually nodded her head and bowed her head respectfully to the Light Chaser. "Thank you for taking care of me, and for returning Tinarah back to my friends." She wondered if she was really going to be reunited with the group again... If the Light Chaser needed her to do something with this Kingdom Hearts, why let her go? Her mind was still abuzz with curiosity, but her body told her it was time to take a break and figure things out in the morning again.

 

Illiana walked over to the King and listened as he gave his thanks. He had asked the group to return his daughter back to him safely. She looked over to Take as he spoke to the King saying they'll bring his daughter back. The King nodded before handing over another piece of paper. It had looked familiar to the other piece of papers they had found. Parting with one more gift for the group, Illiana felt a new magic awakening within her. The girl turned around and began walking out of the room. Her mind was still puzzled over these recent events but Tinarah's kidnapper was the one event that stuck out in her mind. If the person was who Illiana was thinking of, it would raise a ton of questions. Can I really believe you're back? Is it possible?......No.....It can't be. It's impossible. You've been gone for so long now...I-I...I don't think you could've survived after so long, right? Am I wrong.....Koa? Illiana's eyes casted down as she followed Torrin to Master Atmos.

 

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A battle worn and increasingly agitated Glyde ascended the staircase without commentary. Entering into the throne room, he made a beeline towards the exit, hoping to return to Master Atmos as suggested. Only at the calling of the King, and the feeling of new power coursing through him, was he drawn to a stop. He listened, through briefly, to the Atlantis King’s words.

Though mere feet from the door out of the throne room, he would let the others pass by before leaving himself. Still cloistered behind a multitude of mounting confusions and perplexities, he allowed himself to wonder again of the questions he needed answered… And now, how to properly fight gets added to the top of that list, for now, he pondered, reflecting on his persisting insistence on hesitation. If nothing else, perhaps, Master Atmos would have a solution to that. But everything else… it seemed was on him to piece together. Maybe those papers we keep finding?

 

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Take listened to Atmos mention going to find Tinarah and the Princess of Heart. Take kind of paused at that and thought about it for a moment and recalled Atmos telling them about Princesses of Heart briefly. They were ones with hearts of pure light, which... made an awful lot of sense at to why the Light Chaser would want them. But why? Take was not entirely sure, not could he really figure it out but when Atmos mentioned splitting up with Torrin, Takehiko stepped forward and said, "Wait, Master, is that the best idea? Wouldn't splitting us up cause us more danger, especially with less people?" the boy paused a moment and looked over at everyone else and felt his hand move up towards his chest and said, "We might not be ready but... wouldn't we be stronger together than apart? We all want to help Tinarah and the princess, I don't see why it's a bad idea for us to go there?"

Take's face betrayed him more than he would like, his concern was showing more now than it had been previously and he said, "I don't want something to happen to all of us again... I don't want to run to find the new princess if we can't even protect our own partners."

 

Illiana walked into the abode and saw Master Atmos as she tested herself to see how much of her strength she had regained. Her expression had done a 180 as she saw that neither Mika nor Tinarah were with the group. As Torrin explained the situation, Illiana's eyes tore away before closing them. Atmos begun to speak to the group, thanking them for the work they have done in Atlantis. She went on to discuss their next course of action. The group would travel to a new world while Atmos and Torrin would search for the Light Chaser and Tinarah. Before Illiana could move her head, she heard Take speak up. "We might not be ready but... wouldn't we be stronger together than apart? We all want to help Tinarah and the princess, I don't see why it's a bad idea for us to go there?" Illiana looked over to Take as he spoke. She remained silent as Take spoke up once more. "I don't want something to happen to all of us again... I don't want to run to find the new princess if we can't even protect our own partners." Illiana closed her umbrella as she slammed the tip of it down to the ground, echoing throughout the room. Illiana had felt everyone's eyes on her as her eyes were closed. She opened her eyes before speaking. "Divide..." Illiana looked over to Take before opening her mouth once more. "Ever hear of the phrase, Divide and Conquer?" Illiana lifted her closed umbrella before placing it on her right shoulder. "We can accomplish both objectives if we split up. We're just going to hold back Torrin and Master Atmos." Illiana walked around the room still giving her thoughts on this ordeal. "I rather split up and accomplish whatever we can than stick together, lose and not be able to do anything. It's more efficient and safer that way. So I say go ahead with the plan." Illiana walked up to Take and met his eye level before she did a leg swoop, causing Take to fall over. Illiana stood up before speaking again. "You can't hide behind Atmos and Torrin forever. What good are you going to be to the new princess or Tinarah or anyone else if you end up as cheap dinner for the Light Chaser? Are you really going to let that fear be your downfall?" Illiana stepped back before opening her umbrella up. She turned around and began to make her way out the room. Illiana stopped at the doors and slightly moved her head to the side. "Divide and Conquer...That's the only way we're going to get answers.Answers about the princess. Answers about the Light Chaser. Answers about why they took Tinarah..."Illiana paused before speaking once more. "Answers on her kidnapper.....Though I may have some theories on that but it doesn't really matter that much." Illiana moved her head back to face ahead of her. "The air is getting to stuffy for my taste. I'm gonna go for a walk before turning in." With that, Illiana exited the room. She took a deep breath as she went outside. I cannot afford to have my life extinguished now. If you really have come back, It's my job to find you Koa. Just wait for your magna soror mea...