Kingdom Hearts: Kingdom Hearts: Light Chaser

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Just as Chrono had put the cut piece of rope down and was about to start walking around the deck of the ship, his eyes looked up and saw a piece of paper, burnt at that, falling in front of him. He held his hand out so it could land there and brought it up to his face to read it. Reading the note didn't bring back any fond memories for Chrono and it only got worse when he got to the point regarding the whoever wrote this mother shielding them. That was the point in which his hand had started trembling.

Vivid images had resurfaced all at once. His mother telling him to hide, watching his mother's murder taking place right before his eyes and lastly, his hands being stained red in her blood as a result of his futile attempts to keep her alive. Because of this, Chrono had started taking deep breaths to calm himself down.

His hands were clenched tightly to combat the trembling. A tactic that was slowly working. A couple of seconds had passed and he was relatively calmer than he was before. Remember this is why you left to train. To find out who or why his mother was murdered and, if need be, get even.

 

Illiana looked over at Chrono as the scrap of paper fell in in front of him. Looking over his shoulder, Illiana looked over the scrap before stepping away. Illiana sat back down and took another sip of tea. She then spoke up. "How many worlds need to be torn apart for those Heartless to be satisfied?" Illiana took another sip of tea before grabbing a cookie and taking a bite out of it. She then saw Scroop walk by the three. Illiana held her umbrella out a bit, with the handle facing the ground. As Scroop continued walking by, his foot had gotten caught on her umbrella. He tripped over and had fallen on face first.. Illiana immediately retracted her umbrella and placed it beside her chair. She looked over at Scroop before a smile appeared on her face. "Oh dear! Are you alright Scoopers? That was quite the nasty fall. What a shame!" Her smile had held a dark expression behind it as Illiana looked at Scroop. She then turned to Glyde and spoke before taking another sip of tea. "Well let's see, we're on a wooden and/or metal death contraption with pirates not too mention, and very questionable people. Now I could be assuming a bit but....no. No, they were not." Illiana looked over to Chrono once more. "Alright. How about a game? The game will be 20 questions! However, it'll be a new version called 3 questions! Just to make small talk. Well, how about it?" Illiana took another sip of tea and another bite of her cookie.

 

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Having been preoccupied with the rope, the scrap of paper, and the impromptu flashback, Chrono hadn't noticed or realized that Illiana had been reading the it over his shoulder. When she did finally speak it, he was completely caught off guard by it and turned. Turned just in time to see the crab guy fall flat on his face as Illiana retracted her umbrella. Chrono internally sighed at this. "Sure, I suppose. Long as I can ask some questions afterwards." If he was going to answer questions likely about himself, then it was only fair that he would be able to do the same afterwards.

 

Illiana nodded as Chrono responded. "Only fair. I'm not too cruel. Alright here's how it will go!" Illiana took another sip before speaking again. "So I'll ask a question and then you ask a question until we both have each asked three questions. Pretty simple to follow and understand." She took a bite of her cookie before pondering her first question. After a few moments, Illiana finally thought of her first question. "Alright. I'll go first. So my first question will be, besides Tinarah, do you have any other siblings?" Illiana interlocked her fingers together and rested her chin on top of her hands. She looked over to Chrono as she finished asking her questions. "Your turn Chrobo..."

 

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It was simple enough to understand as well as being fair. Her first question was simple enough. "No, Tinarah is my only sibling." Simple question, simple answer. Now as for what he was going to ask her, there was one thing that he'd recently heard that he was wondering about. "Okay, why did Take call you a Lieutenant General?" His hands were idly placed into his pocket as he waited for the answer to his question.

 

Illiana nodded as Chrono gave a simple response. "Got it. Alright let's hear your question." Illiana awaited in anticipation for Chrono's question. What came out of Chrono's mouth had surprised her a bit but she wouldn't let it show. "Okay, why did Take call you Lieutenant General?" Illiana smirked and chuckled a bit as she responded. "Ooo...Straight to the point aren't we? Already hitting the hard questions, alright. I'll go along with it." The girl took a sip of her tea and gave herself a moment to collect her thoughts. She placed her cup down onto the saucer. She looked up at Chrono and answered. "Since you're being straight to point then, I will as well. You wanna know why? It's because that's what I am back home, plain and simple." Illiana took another sip of her tea before continuing. "Time for Question 2! I'll let you start Chrobo! Ask away!" Illiana awaited for his next question and began collecting her thoughts once more.

 

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She happy when Silver gave her a thumbs up and took a mixing bowl out with measuring cups and spoons. Aria heard the sound of food being chopped and glanced over to see Silver going to town with it. She blinked a moment, amazed with how fluid he was. She then shook her head and focused on the task at hand, measuring her ingredients and mixing it in quickly (but still not as fast as the cyborg).

She then had everything ready in a pot on a stove and then had to be patient in waiting for the liquids to warm up and brew. When she heard the question, she looked over her shoulder at Take and Silver, seeing the cyborg’s attention was on the younger teen. Aria kept stirring her pot, keeping her eye on the pair. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Silver, it was that if Choma taught her one thing, it was to be cautious in other worlds with what you did and said. “You didn’t get a good look during battle?” Aria asked with a slight smile.

 

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Take wasn't that surprised that the follow up question was about seeing the keyblade so he could have a look at it. The boy tilted his head and managed to lie fairly smoothly, "Unfortunately, like us randomly teleporting, the weapon only appears when the creatures are nearby. or when the user is in immediate danger." Take shrugged and held his hands up, "I wouldn't fret about it though, that's a very good thing. It means we just need to focus on keeping this ship a'sailin." He hoped his bluffing was good enough, he made sure not to lose eye contact with silver, and because he was always taught to control his emotions he didn't feel the least bit intimidated by the guy. Take crossed his arms and said, "But if we end up in a scenario like that again, we can see if you can get a closer look before they vanish."

 

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Putting it simply, Chrono was just confused by the answer he was given. She...was a Lieutenant General? There was a couple of reason as to why he found that hard to believe, the primary one was how she acted most of the time. It was very hard to believe that a Lieutenant General would act the way that she does. A part of him almost felt sorry for whoever it was that she was in charge of. "Okay." Chrono noticed how much she seemed to be enjoying this. "What was your home like?" She'd asked a personal question about him, so why not do the same.

 

Illiana looked at Chrono as his expression looked as if he had a hard time believing her. After Chrono accepted her answered, he asked his next question. "What was your home like?" Illiana closed her eyes and began to collect her thoughts. After a few moments, she spoke. "Now we're getting to the personal part. Great." Illiana smirked before sighing. She rested her cheek on her right hand before speaking again. "Now we're not speaking of my home in the past tense. My home is still in one piece, can't say I'm surprised though, but I digress." Illiana paused then continued. "We run under a monarchy system. It's exactly how you would imagine. Peaceful, tranquil, friendly faces all around and beautiful environments around the kingdom. However, that's only the main kingdom. There's a separate world, a sister world you might say. Still lead by the same monarchy, except with a city twist to it. Tall buildings, cars driving around, et cerera et cerera. That's the basic run down of it, I suppose." Illiana took another sip of tea before refilling her cup once more. She took another sip before placing her cup down. "That's enough of that! My turn, hmm, let's see." Illiana paused once more then spoke again. "Alright. My question for you is, do you.......have........a sister complex?? Considering how close you two look, I kinda assumed but correct me if wrong here." Illiana interlocked her fingers and rested her chin on top once more as she awaited his answer.

 

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Aria sighed out quietly in relief when Take seemed to take things over smoothly. Though Silver’s tone kind of made her heartstrings jerk, it was better safe than sorry to keep their keyblades less visible as possible.

It didn’t take long for the hot chocolate to finish, and she found mugs to dish Take, Silver, herself, and even a fourth mug up in the time Silver talked. She was offered the Family Stew, and she saw Take’s get an eyeball just in time. She gagged and covered her mouth, wondering what in the world was an eyeball doing in there, only to see Morph pop up.

Aria coughed, and then she giggled as she shook her head. “I was wondering where he was.” Aria reached for a small teacup and poured some hot chocolate for Morph. “Here you go~. I made Jim a mug too, if he wants one... Hot chocolate usually helps me feel better when I’m down...”

She took the bowl of family stew in her hands and had a cautious taste of it, pleasantly surprised with how good it was. “This is amazing. Reminds me-“ She cut herself off when she realized she was about say the name and talk about her homeworld and swallowed another mouthful to save herself. “Reminds me of what my uncle and I used to make. He has a robotic arm and leg, just like you,” Aria said with a grin as she sipped the broth. “Although his doesn’t do cool fancy things like yours does.”

 

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There was a lot to Illiana's world, a lot more than he had been expecting. Monarchy, sister worlds, a lot more complex than the simple idea that he had in mind. He figured that it being peaceful and tranquil was good enough for him. Upon it being time for Illiana to ask him her next question, wasn't expecting another question about his sister. He probably should've thought given the way that this was going. "A sister complex? No, I don't have a sister complex." He was quick to deny that upon realizing what she meant by that, there was even a have way to further his statement. The reason that they seemed to be so close to one another had nothing to do with it being a complex and it was not a reason he was going to share if not asked. "Now that that's cleared up, for my question. Do you have any siblings?"

 

As Chrono quickly denied her statement, Illiana couldn't help but chuckle a bit. After a few moments, Chrono asked his final question. A question that made Illiana go dead silence. "Now that that's cleared up, do you have any siblings?" Silence. Nothing but sheer silence came from the girl. The silence continued on for a few minutes. Her expression became unreadable. Siblings. Something that Illiana didn't want to think about. Quite frankly, she didn't want to even remember. She placed her hands in her lap, away from prying eyes, and clenched it tightly. After a few more minutes, she began to speak. "......A little one...." She placed her hands back on the table and her expression changed. "Annnnddd that's all you get! A long story that will not be said. And quite frankly, one I don't care to remember. Alrighty! Ding Ding Ding! Final question!!" Illiana stood up from her chair, hoping that answer would avoid further questioning. She placed her hand on her chin and her other on her hip. "Hmm.....what should the last question be? Hmmmm....Oh! I got it!" Illiana turned her right into a fist as she lightly placed it into the open palm of her left hand. "Here's a more personal question for ya Chrobo! Why are you here? What reason do you have to study with Atmos? In other words, why are you fighting???" Placing both hands on her hips, Illiana looked over at Chrono as she waited for the answer to her final question of this game.

 

Spoiler: Episode Takehiko: Part I

Chapter 1: Outsider
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The world was beautiful even despite the air of fear dense in the air. On her hike to the village she had seen at least three dragons, majestic creatures regardless of their temperament, and found that the guards patrolling the area were unfortunately too young to be doing the kind of dangerous work they did. Though she supposed it was not much different to how it was for her training to wield a keyblade to fight Heartless at that age.

There were a few things keeping her from simply portaling into the Elders' chambers and asking to speak with them. One, it would have interrupted the world order(even if they were aware of outside worlds). Two, it would have put them on the defensive. Three, last but not least, she wanted to see the world for herself to get a feeling for the kind of place the boy had come from. She needed to understand him if she was going to be training him. From the tone this world set she knew she would have her work cut out for her.

Several more minutes passed as she walked forth, though her clothing had been magically altered to take on the style commonly found in this world, her clothes were a little less...ash-covered than some of the others around her. Eventually, she arrived before a doorway guarded by soldiers. From her research she knew the Elders, the leaders of this place, were not far now. "You Elders, I must speak with them. I have business regarding a keyblade-wielding boy named Takehiko."

The guard seemed very defensive, and when the name Takehiko was spoken they seemed... more on the defensive but at the same time looked a bit more trusting. Like a strange moment of understanding that this person did not seem to just be randomly looking for trouble, but that particular name set him on the defensive. But before the guard could even speak, one of the commanders was nearby and had heard the scenario and spoke, "Takehiko you say? I hope you are aware that speaking about a situation with this particular person puts people up on alert." The commander raised their hand to still the guard, which they listened to immediately and the commander bowed at her and said, "I can speak to the elders to get you an audience... surprisingly, they were waiting for someone like you to appear." the commander motioned for her to at least follow inside.

Atmos raised her eyebrow at the curious statement. There must have been some stigma on the boy likely due to his status. When the commander motioned for her she walked close behind. "I wasn't aware. Why does Takehiko's situation put someone 'on alert' as you say? Has he done something wrong?" She questioned the commander in hopes of getting someone to talk candidly with her as she did not believe people with the title "Elder" to do so without sounding either like a politician or someone with too many years looking at the world from behind a desk. You could always tell something from a title. Being a master, for instance, highlighted her extreme sense of unbelievable humility.

The commander looked to Atmos and said, "I am not authorized to answer that question." once they were at the commander kept her there and left to speak to the elders. It was not long before a man, dressed in the Elder robes, walked out and bowed to her, "Hello there, outworlder. I have been told you have business with a keyblade wielder on our world. No doubt you are a keyblade wielder yourself?" the Elder extended their hand and said with a smile, "My name is Yori. I am one of the Elders of Incandescent Peaks..." the man slicked back his hair, which was a black color with silver peppering it occasionally to make it appear like a mix, "I know I don't look very old but trust me, I've been around longer than many... you... aren't what I was expecting... admittedly..." they placed a hand on their chin and said, "Not to insult you, I trust your skills are wondrous and your knowledge plentiful, but I was expecting a man."

She kept her disappointment with the answer she received to herself. She had a few moments to herself when the commander left to retrieve one of the Elders. She used that time to straighten out her garb in some attempt to make herself look more presentable. When the Elder arrived he seemed to be friendly enough and when offered a hand she took it and shook his hand. "Yes, that is one of my many talents. My name is Atmos and it is a pleasure to meet you, Yori." He had expected a man? If she hadn't taken the moment to pause she would have believed it to be an insult but this culture, from what little she had seen, did not appear to be a sexist one. No, perhaps he wasn't expecting just any man but a specific one. The one who had granted Takehiko's keyblade was a man but right now that was too general a description to be sure.

"Well now that we are on a first name basis, tell me about the boy. What is your assessment of him? It seems that just speaking about him and the nature of his situation is sensitive to some people."

Yori shifted his stance a bit at the question and replied, "Takehiko is a little bit of a... black sheep. Admittedly, I'm not fully comfortable talking about it myself. But..." Yori looked over towards a guard over by the door and nodded at him and the room was cleared so it was just the two of them and Yori continued, "He's a very kind child who cares quite a bit for his family... but on our world, we try to discourage acting on emotions because of... well, the dragon attacks. It's been the best way to get people to cooperate..." Yori seemed to have something pop into his mind, as if he wanted to speak on something but shook his head to dismiss the worlds, like it wasn't his place to tell, "I must say, he's caused quite a stir. It's not very often our world gets a new keyblade wielder anymore. But now? We have another to talk about, and he's a known troublemaker. Not necessarily over the kindness, but his trouble with rules, his tendencies to cause trouble. I'm not quite sure if he's a kleptomaniac or if other people made it seem that way."

Atmos placed a hand on her cheek as she thought over what Yori told her about the boy. Those kinds of problems reminded her of a certain younger keyblader she once crossed paths with. Before the scars and gruff air about him. This all seemed promising save for the fact that Yori and the others, it seemed, were so concerned about the boy's kindness. Even with dragons and survival on their minds there was always time to just care. "I see. Still, he must be quite the character to have so much attention drawn his way. Good or bad. That kind of attribute is generally a sign of a strong heart." Atmos spoke with confidence.

"Well when do I get to meet this young lad? I'm assuming your colleagues will want to be there to see him off. Will I be meeting the other Elders? Not that you are dull but I do enjoy meeting new people."

Yori folded his hands politely and listened to what she had to say and he stopped keeping eye contact for a moment before looking up and saying, "Well, I was thinking we could manage to settle this without the other Elders getting involved..." just as Yori was finishing that sentence, Hotaka stepped in. Hotaka was a taller gentleman with white hair kept short and a beard that lightly framed his face. He had no mustache, and his eyebrows were very thin and stretched across his face oddly in comparison to most. His brow being wrinkled only seemed to make the eyebrows stretch further as the man stepped and said, "And just what do you mean, making a decision without other Elders involved, Yori?"

Yori's face looked distressed for a moment before he quickly became composed and turned towards Hotaka and smiled, "I just figured with all the stress going on between everything, you wouldn't mind me handling everything with Takehiko."
"Absolutely not." Hotaka spoke firmly walking closer to the two. As he got closer, it became more clear that his height was slightly artificial by way of his shoes, which seemed to be a bit more of a platform type. Probably for Elder decoration more than anything. Hotaka stopped when he was close enough and continued, "You are aware, Yori, that making a decision such as that could be considered an act of treason against the Elders."

Yori's smile faded as they spoke with a very serious tone in comparison to how he usually spoke, "You are aware, Hotaka, that we agreed to let the boy go two weeks ago to search for these masters. And you kept extending the date."
"That does not concern you or the outsider."
"Oh surely it does, especially since she'll be taking the boy temporarily under her care." Yori asserted. Another Elder walked in and spoke, "What is even going on out here. Do we need to gather the council?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, we do." Hotaka spoke, turning around and walking back towards the other room, "And our guest is most certainly welcome to deal with this procedure." and he left the room as quickly as he entered.

Yori took a deep breath and said, "I just wanted this to go cleanly. I apologize... High Elder Hotaka has had... previous complications with Takehiko. He more than likely wishes to deal with things smoothly. If you would like to follow me there... this hopefully won't take long." Yori began to walk a few steps before stopping and turning around, "Takehiko is a complicated subject not just because of who he is.... the boy is quite special... When you do train him, well." Yori grinned a bit and said, "Try and get him to smile, and you'll understand." then he turned around and entered the room, trying to motion for Atmos to follow.

And as soon as she did, all of the Elders were ready, some already beginning to speak. One Elder tried to slip out before Atmos got into the room, but failing to do so, "I still think Takehiko should not be subjected to outsider philosophies. Especially now that his training is beginning to show it's work. It took too long, I don't want this to be thrown awa-" they cut themselves off when they realized Atmos was there and they looked for a long time at her before looking away.

"Enough, this is not a discussant on whether or not he goes. It's how he will depart." Another finally spoke. Hotaka looked at Atmos and went to address her by saying, "Master..." they then looked at Yori who sighed and informed him, "Atmos."
"Master Atmos. I am aware that you are a keyblade master and are here to depart with Takehiko. Many of us would like to know how long the training would go for before he would be returned." Hotaka finished.

Atmos caught several pieces of information that were troubling from these people. They seemed...almost xenophobic which was something that would be a dangerous trait for one expected to visit many worlds. She hoped she was wrong to jump to such a conclusion but it was difficult to see otherwise. "Takehiko would be allowed to return when he is ready. I would not be able to allow him to return before then without supervision as he could cause more harm than good. There isn't an exact timetable for when one is ready."

Anticipating another question she continued, "A keyblade wielder isn't a protector of one world, they are protectors of many worlds. If another world were to be in danger of falling to darkness it would take priority." Speaking harsh truths were not likely going to gain her any favors but she preferred to be honest rather than give false hope.

There was a bit of a murmur between some of the Elders at her response before Hotaka spoke up, "We are aware of keyblade wielders' agenda. We have had a proud history of keyblade wielders protecting all the worlds... however..." Yori seemed to look over at Hotaka almost expectantly, but there was a bit of discomfort on his face from the subject before Hotaka continued, "Takehiko is not... an ordinary child. When keyblade wielders from here are made, there are certain... expectations beforehand..."

"Master Hotaka, I think you should just get to the-" Yori began before he was immediately cut off by Hotaka, "Takehiko did not meat any of these prior expectations. As a result we are hesitant to keep him from this world for long, particularly because of possible... detrimental effects it could have."
"On the boy for the most part." One of the Elders chimed in. It was clear from the way Hotaka and Yori were talking that there was something much bigger at play, and that they were hesitant to speak on it further.

Hotaka fixed his hair and said, "It would be preferred if you could bring him back often. Even for just a week every few months or so. This would possibly stop some concerns."
Yori looked at Hotaka and tilted his head, "Would that fix any of the problems? Would balance not be thrown off still? Or perhaps make it worse?"
"Well, a week of training every few months would be good maintenance." One of the other Elders chimed in before Hotaka just stood up and grumbled, "Just leave with the little thief. Maybe it'd be better to just rip it off like a bandaid."

"Uh... am I the only one not following this conversation?" One of the Elders chimed in looking at Yori. Yori turned to him and said, "It's settled then?"
"Yes, it's fine. We'll get the boy ready and send him to his home to pack whatever he needs." Hotaka rubbed his eyes, others didn't seem to disagree. Hotaka began to walk out of there but stopped next to Atmos and said, "Good luck with him. I hope he doesn't steal anything precious to you." then he began walking away, before he left he stopped next to a commander and said, "Make sure his family isn't home while he's there. I don't want that kid influencing his brother to do something crazy." the commander bowed and headed off and Hotaka turned back and said, "And Yori. I need you to come with me."

"Who's going to bring Master Atmos to the house?" Yori asked curiously and Hotaka smirked, "Not you." and Yori looked over to the other Elders and then Hotaka and stood up. He looked at Atmos with a look of apology before he followed Hotaka. The Elders broke off not soon after that.

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As the eye floated up in the soup, Take blinked at it and found a bit of humor in the "part of the old family" joke. He had gotten his spoon up and ready to basically eat it. He didn't have a problem with eyeballs. If anything, he'd had worse for dinner. But then the little blob came back and Take had to hold back one of his smiles again at seeing the little blob. Still, Take did end up trying to eat more of the soup but the second Aria mentioned the hot chocolate was done, he placed the bowl on the counter to take a long sip of the cocoa and he looked like he was enjoying it very much. Take looked up at Aria and Silver and said, "You both did very good at the food and drink." Take brought the cup up again to his lips and admitted, "I have a little bit of a weak spot for chocolate. Never had this kind of a drink before. It's good. Better than... chocolate milk or whatever it's called that Chrono had me try one time. It tastes like it would be very good with another dessert on the side or something. Like, iunno... a cake or maybe... the little white pillow like things. They're squishy." Take couldn't remember the word and it bothered him, "Marsmellow?"

 

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The silence that had preceded Illiana's answer was the most surprising part while the answer itself was a letdown for sure. Answers and reactions like the one he was given were the main reason behind him going further with the questions that he'd asked. He couldn't help it that he was a curious guy, especially when it came to none straightforward answers or ones that seemed to be hiding something. Hearing her question for him had cause Chrono to sigh. Now she was asking the more borderline personal questions to him. "Self defense, there's something I need to do and I want to make sure that I can handle it myself." He explained briefly, pausing slightly then adding. "I could go into details, but you'd have to share more about you younger sibling."

 

As Chrono answered her question, Illiana sighed and then spoke. “Well, can’t say I’m surprised but hey, to each their own.” Chrono continued as she finished her sentence. “I could go into details but you’d have to share more about your younger sibling.” Illiana sighed at Chrono’s next sentence. Damn. Thought that would work. Illiana pondered for a few moments before speaking. “What else is there to know? I have a younger sibling. The End. Nothing more, nothing less.” Illiana crossed her arms as she looked away from Chrono. She had been trying to push back her memories of her brother for awhile but somehow, someway, they still float about in her mind. She stood up and began to clean up everything. Opening the umbrella up, the teaset, chairs, and table were put away. She closed her umbrella as she walked over to the edge of the boat. “Just look at the horizon Illiana, just look at the horizon...” She whispered to herself as she did just that. After a few moments, she sighed and then spoke. “My sibling...” She started and then continued. “My little brother. He was a year younger than me. We were each other’s best friend...” Illiana kept looking over at the horizon before immediately turning around. Her expression became blank once more but her eyes couldn’t hide the pain she was keeping to herself. She walked passed Chrono and made her way toward the stairs. “That’s all your getting for now. Not a particular thing I’m fond of nor recounting the memories along with it........Sorry.....” Her expression broke a bit as the pain that was in her eyes had painted a bit of itself onto her face. With that Illiana walked down the flight of steps to try and find a place where she could collect her thoughts and calm herself for a bit even if it was for a minute. I’m sorry Koa. I’m not ready to relive those memories. I’m just not strong enough to do that.

Will edit later! Posting this from my phone!!

 

Chrys had just managed to notice Koa giving her some sort of look before he took off with the others. She had likely given him some cause for concern with her behavior, but she could reassure him of her well being at a later time. For the moment, she turned her attention back to her master... who had seemingly dropped all pretense of formality now that his other students were gone. She allowed herself the tiniest of smiles as the Light Chaser spoke; for of course he would know what had happened. He had a knack for such things, she would know that much if five years had taught her nothing else.

"I suppose I am quite lucky to have you." She was grateful to him for everything he had done. It would be no exaggeration to say that she would be lost without him, what with the worlds beyond her own having been completely unknown variables at the time. She likely would have wandered for a short time before doing something reckless and getting herself killed.

His admittance about Tinarah had helped to put her mind at ease as well. It seemed that she would be fine, and come back stronger than before. She couldn't say she was happy about being lied to, but at least he had done so without ill intent. ​

 

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Aria giggled to herself when it seemed like Take was really enjoying the hot chocolate. “Marshmallows?” She suggested as she finished the last of her soup. She then took her hot chocolate in her hands and sipped it quietly. “Mmm, yeah, marshmallows would have made it taste better, but I didn’t see any. I was going to make some cool whip to go on top and add some rainbow sprinkles. That’s how my aunt and uncle used to make it. But that takes a tiny bit longer to make, and I don’t think we have all of the ingredients for that. Maybe next time.”

A yawn suddenly hit Aria and she tried to hide it behind her mug of hot chcooate. “Sorry, excuse me...” Having all of this warm soup and hot chocolate was making her really tired all at once. She hummed out as she rubbed her eyes and leaned back against the counter. “I must be getting sleepy,” she sheepishly admitted in a quiet voice. “It’s been a long day... Thank you again Mister Silver for the soup,” she said with a sleepy smile. “It was really delicious.”