Kingdom Hearts: Recollect

As the core hit the ocean, it seemed to quietly sink for a few seconds before the water above bubbled and there was a sudden shaking of everything. It almost felt like a smaller scale earthquake hit the area, and just as it did, the cave that everyone had worked so hard into clearing out was caved in again. It was quite fortunate everyone had been out by that point, though they probably could have dug themselves out once more since it just seemed to be the entrance that fell.

Mora walked with the rest of them and was able to stand up a little straighter and without support anymore. She looked at everyone and smiled a bit and said,"I know it you guys kind of kicked off this mess, but you guys did end up coming through and getting everything fixed. All of you." she emphasized that point as she looked over at Chrono and then looked to the rest and said, "Thank you for saving my home, and thank you for saving me. I wish we didn't lose so many along the way but, I'm glad this did not turn out for the worst. And I've got a cool new weapon out of it... wait..." Mora backed up a bit and tried to summon out her keyblade again just to check, and it did appear once more, though it appeared out of a darker aura than a spectacular light. But Mora didn't pay that too much mind as she gave it a couple of swings. A little blue bird with the golden eyes flew quickly over and landed on Cerdic's shoulder with a suddenness that would probably freak out the man, but more birds could definitely be heard chirping now, in fact there seemed to be a lot more sounds from nature now, like there was life in the world again.

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Chrono hadn't been expecting Daeni of all people to be the first to speak with him, though Alder had run off to dispose of the core so he was out of the running. Either way she had spoken to him and he might as well give a response. "I've been better, least I assume I've been." Which was all he said, again odd feeling like this after getting back all of his memories but there was nothing that he could really do about it at this point.

Mora had thanked them right as Chrono had moved to get back on his feet. "It was the least that we could do." Might've sounded a bit more on the heroic side of things all things considering, but it was the truth. Even if the reason behind it had been killing Ria and getting his memories back for the most of it.

 

Daeni pouted at Cerdic. "At least I don't get bit by birds." she retorted. "You're just mean, Cerdic. Really, really mean. That's why the bird bit you, it knew how mean you were!" she said, smiling. "Alsoooo, I remember stories of siblings being best friends, so nyeh!" she moved a little away from Cerdic and heard Chrono.

"Do you think you'll ever start using your name again? I kinda like Chrono better anyway. Fits you better, I think." she said, looking at Chrono.​

 

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Based on that little back and forth that Daeni and Cerdic were having, he could easily see him believing that they were in fact siblings had he been told that before his memories had returned."Probably not." 'Aveum' was too deeply rooted to everything that had just transpired here and he'd rather not have his name be a constant reminder of that. Not that 'Chrono' was all that much was all that better. Comparing the two though, 'Chrono' was the more tolerable name. "Wait, how does 'Chrono' fit me better?"

 

"Alder's right. Anyway, Mora, take us to your home. I wanna meet your parents! And maybe get some food, take a shower, get some clean clothes.... "she listed off on her fingers, trying to think of more. She looked at Mora and then smiled. "That is, if you wouldn't mind."

After getting her memories back, Daeni was feeling more confident in herself. She wasn't a crybaby now, or at least she thought so, and she was happier for it. She was going to miss the friends they lost, but she knew they were happier now that they were free. Daeni put her hand on her pendant, holding it gingerly. She remembered getting it as a gift from Relli back before the recent events. She wasn't sure if it meant anything to them, but she knew Relli got it as a present for her birthday.​

 

Mora smiled at Daeni's suggestion and looked at her clothes, "We'd probably all do well with a change of clothes after all of this. Either way, I wanna make sure my parents are alright. So I'll take that suggestion." she started heading in the direction of the village and looked towards the rest and asked, "Do you wanna come with?" she didn't wait very long for the answer before she started heading on towards the path.

As they approached the village, it was very clear it was suddenly filled with life again, people moving around trying to clean up. A lot of people seemed to have trouble standing up straight and had others helping them out towards their house, but as soon as someone caught eye of the group walking, someone began shouting and others in the village began to gather towards the entrance. When they were finally close enough, a black haired man, and a silver haired woman stepped forward. The man held his arms out towards her and said, "Mora!" and she quickly ran over and hugged him, tearing up a little bit happy that they were okay.

The silver haired woman however continued to step forward and looked at the group that had come with them and said, "You all should leave this place. Now. And don't even think about coming back."
Mora looked over freaked out and stopped hugging and said, "Mom, they just saved us-"
"They were the ones that started this. We asked them to come in and help with the growing heartless problem, NOT to open the floodgates. And some of us did not end up waking up." the girl crossed her arms and said, "I won't pretend you did not help to undo whatever damage you caused. But I can't let this happen again. You are not welcome here."

Mora looked scared, back and forth between them and said, "I was awake for everything, I saw how they helped out. They did more to help out than to harm."
"Tell that to your grandparents who did not wake up. Tell that to some of the families that lost brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers. We can't let them stay."

The black haired girl ran back over towards them and her mother tried reaching out for her. When Mora got in front of the group of four the silver-haired woman glared, "Mora. This is not the time for your games."
"I did just as much damage here as they did. If you're kicking them out, you're kicking me out too."
"Mora. Come over here dear."
"No. They're the only ones who can show me how to use this." Mora held her hand out and her keyblade materialized in her hand. Some of the villagers looked surprised, some of the kids started gawking and trying to come closer only for their parents to hold them back.

The woman paused a very long time before saying, "That's not just any keyblade. That's a keyblade passed down through our people. A keyblade presumably lost to time. How did you even get it? How did they give it to you?"
"It is? I uh... I don't know. But I have it. And if you kick them out... I might never be able to learn how to use it."

There was a long pause of silence before the woman's face softened up and she let out a sigh, "Then I don't exactly have a choice... if you want to learn, you would have to leave with them."
Mora looked suddenly scared at the idea of leaving her homeworld and looked between them saying, "Wait.. no... why would I have to leave? Can't they stay here somewhere away from the village and train me?"
"I don't even think that's what your... friends would want to do anyway. But no. It was agreed they would not be welcomed here anymore. I'm not going to make an exception just because you're my daughter. Wouldn't make the rest happy just to up and do that."

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Of course things weren't as peachy as they seemed. People woke up, but many more did not. A somber look spread across Daeni's face as she listened to Mora's Mother go on about the troubles their group had caused. Clearing her throat, Daeni spoke up. "We...understand. We lost people as well, just...not as many..." she muttered, fiddling with her sleeve. Mora summoned her keyblade and Daeni looked upon it, then towards the Mother. It seemed she wanted all of them to leave.

Cerdic already voiced his opinion before Daeni, too, stepped forward. She put an arm behind Mora and kind of pulled the girl closer. "If you want to throw her out, then we'll just take her. It's not fair to leave her out to die after she also helped save all of you." she spoke. "Things would have been far worse had she not been there to help us. We're grateful for it and I would gladly take her away from this place if even her own mother was beginning to despise her for it." Daeni spoke, venom in her voice. She already knew all too well what it was like to be cast out by your family.​

 

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Unsurprisingly they weren't not given a warm welcome or hailed as heroes when they had arrived back to Mora's village. If there was to be a surprise behind this, it was that all of them were treated with the same disdain as opposed to just himself. It was his idea that they all followed, so him getting the full treatment made sense to him in his head. Now Mora being kicked out along side with was not expected. Her mother was very adamant about kicking them out.

"Somehow I don't think it'll be that easy." He muttered to himself. Could be him just being pessimistic though and he was willing to admit that. If he was proven wrong anyway.

 

Daeni kept looking forward, staring at the ground. She heard Cerdic's words, feeling what he was saying was honestly right. She couldn't help feeling this way, it was going to stay like that. Her eyes were full of sadness as she was turned to face Cerdic. She looked up at him and nodded. It wasn't like her parents despised her, they just despised the thing that had chosen her. Or at least, this small group of wielders. Daeni was just about to speak when Cerdic pulled her into a hug. Her eyes widened and she soon felt tears pricking at her eyes again. Everything he said was right and he hit the issue on it's head. She soon reached up and covered her eyes, trying to stop herself from crying. The whole series of events that unfolded her hard on the entire group. Everyone suffered in some way, if not more, and she certainly got the brunt of it. It was as if a weight was on her the entire time, what with everything that went on. Even now, her head was trying to wrap around the fact she'll never get to see Relli or Marley again. Those two were probably her closest friends along with Cerdic. She still had Alder, Cerdic, and Chrono. So it wasn't like she was completely alone.

Taking a deep breath, she turned around and listened to Alder. The talk of teachers was funny, considering she had no idea where their own Master was. Daeni took one more step to Mora and she placed both her hands on Mora's shoulders. "Well, you've got a choice to make. Keep her here, with no way to be trained, and possibly calling the heartless back. Or maybe letting her go with us so she can be properly trained and thus able to return to protect this world when she's a Master." Daeni looked Mora's mother in the eyes. She hated that look that mother's got. The one where they think they know everything.​

 

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Chrono glanced around at everyone others had continued to step for as to volunteer to teach Mora how to use a keyblade. They were serious about this weren't they? Maybe it was just him and he just wasn't seeing a good enough reason to do so. As far as he was concerned, any obligations that they had to this world had been settled once they'd done away with the extractor's core. "You sure about this?" Truth be told he didn't see any of them as good teachers, well maybe Alder, but Cerdic on the other hand he had no faith in.

 

There was a long sigh from the sudden accusations the mom was getting. She looked towards the group and clarified, “I’m not kicking her out. I’m simply giving her opportunity we cannot give her. No one here can wield a keyblade, imagine trying to train without one. We can’t keep you here and you seem to at least understand the weight of what happened, which gives me relief.” the woman looked towards Alder and said, "If you wish to truly help this time... give it time. Maybe when you guys check in occasionally for Mora to visit. But not visits here at the village. Sometimes time helps heal wounds."

Alder nodded slowly and responded with a respectful, "I understand." He understood that these people had been placed in a painful situation that they had caused and the fact that Mora's mother considered Alder's offer at all made him feel that there was hope to make amends.

Mora walked a bit closer to her mother nervous for a moment before finally coming up to hug her. The woman held her close as she held her head close to her before kissing her on top of the head and placing her hands gently on Mora’s shoulders, “Be safe. Be happy. I’m proud of you, I promise I am.”

The black haired girl felt tears pouring out a bit as she nodded, “I know…” she backed away from the hug afterwards and looked to her father who also came in to hug her again. Once they were done Mora smiled at them and said, “I love you.”
“We love you too.”

Mora backed up and turned away from the village and towards her new companions and said, "If you guys will teach me, I trust you. Hopefully I could make up better for... ya know... almost letting some of you die..." she chuckled nervously and looked over towards Chrono and Alder, "There's uh... no hard feelings about that still... is there?"

Chrono had been intending to slip back into silence when Mora had approached him. "None at all, you had your reasons for doing it." Reasons that at the time he'd been too preoccupied with his own fleeting memories to fully take them into consideration. Either way he bore no ill will towards the girl for any actions she might have taken in the past.

"You did what you thought was right and that is all anyone can be expected to do." Alder nodded towards Mora. "Don't worry about making anything up for our sake. It's your own future you should keep in mind." He added, feeling a hint of his old self speaking when he spoke. "Besides, once your training is done we've still got this world to help."

Mora had a clear look of relief upon seeing the two’s reactions and said, “I guess you’re right. Better to put that energy into the future. Maybe. I hope that’s how that goes.” Mora scratched the back of her head nervously and said, “It’d probably be best if we left the world back towards the cliffs. It’d keep everyone in the village from freaking out or something.” she motioned to lead them forwards to walk away from the village, though she briefly looked back towards the village to see her father and mother still standing there and when they saw her looking back they both gave a wave. The father with quite a bit of energy and the mom a little bit more subtle about it.

The girl waved back towards her parents and finally stopped looking so she didn’t feel homesick, though she felt a pit in her stomach about it. She looked towards Daeni, since she happened to be the one she was next to and she admitted, “It… seems scary to leave home though…”

Daeni walked with the group, putting a hand behind Mora's back and giving the girl a small hug. "Yeah uh, it is scary....I was scared at first, but then I found Cerdic and we ended up with the others eventually. Right?" she chuckled, looking at Cerdic. "But ya know, we'll take care of you. We can be like family some day, I hope." She chuckled, ruffling Mora's hair.

"Only if you can manage hanging out with a dysfunctional family like us. Leaving home is always scary but I would have never met a bratty little sister, or the annoying old man." Cerdic jerked his chin over to Alder as he laughed as he walked over to to Alder and put a arm on his shoulder. Alder looked towards him with a raised eyebrow and started, "We're the same a-"
"-Or a great leader and friend like Alder. I probably would have remained the stuck up rich brat. So not all bad things come from leaving home. You will just have to learn to live in our weird little group, and we will look after you."

Mora fixed her hair up a bit after it was ruffled and giggled towards Cerdic’s reply and said, “Maybe you’re right. Heck maybe I’ll be a better person than right now…. Or maybe I’ll get worse. Iunno… you guys seem to be unpredictable.” Daeni laughed quite loudly when Cerdic was done. “Unpredictable is an understatement. Wait until you see Cerdic on a bad hair day.” she joked.
“Hey! What do you mean by that? My hair is always fabulous!” Cerdic argued back purposely messing up Daeni’s hair to prove a point.

Mora giggled a bit at the two and looked over towards Chrono and asked, “Are they always like this?”
“From what I can recall, yes. Even more so now.” Chrono replied.
Mora let out a bit of a sigh and smiled a bit, “Then at least it’ll be fun. I’m excited for this adventure.”

As they finally got to the cliffs where they had started it all, Mora looked out towards the water and asked, “So… how does your travelling work? It seemed cool from what Chrys had done.”

“Cool? It is awesome! Just watch and learn my little cricket.” Cerdic was clearly having way too much fun with the fact that he had a student of his own, even if he wasn’t actually that good with a keyblade and shouldn’t have a student of his own. Giving Mora a grin that was clear he was just trying to be cool, he faced the cliff and made a stoic face as he let the wind blow his hair back. With a swift movement he slammed the activator on his arm and a light enveloped his body, fading away until only his keyblade armor was visible. Without looking out at the group he held his keyblade to the side before throwing it up in the air. Like a boomerang, it flew out then came back towards him in it’s new form. Jumping up he landed, planting one hand down on the board to look like a superhero landing. Standing up and turning back, he looked to Mora “Now your turn kid.”

Mora blinked for a moment and looked around herself and shrugged saying, “Well, I don’t have armor… I think. But I’ll try the keyblade thing…” nervously the girl held out her hand as her key apparated into her hand, but with almost a darkness around it as it did. She looked at it a long moment before tossing it up in the air like Cerdic did, and she watched as the keyblade came straight back down and she quickly moved back as it stabbed into the ground right there. Mora stared at it wide eyed and approached it cautiously, “I-I don’t think I did that right.”

“Er...I think you’ll need to do more than just toss it in the air. It’s not that simple.” Alder raised an eyebrow and pried Mora’s keyblade from the ground to hand it to her. He called for his own blade and held it out in front of Mora. “It’s not too complicated though. Close your eyes, envision the form you wish it to take...and take your time solidifying the image in your mind, then…” He tossed the blade into the air and by the time it came to the ground it had transformed into a glider and hovered before them. “Like that.”

Mora nodded at Alder and closed her eyes for quite a bit before she took a deep breath and threw it up again. When it finally came back it returned as a glider. It was a bit oddly shaped since she didn’t quite have much in mind besides a glider but she grinned and said, “Hey, I did it!”

“Good job!” Alder exclaimed.

Daeni watched the group and chuckled, wondering how they were going to be good teachers to the girl. Thankfully Alder came forward and made more sense of things. “Well Alder used his honor and it worked….just like with Ria.” she trailed off and tapped her chin. “I guess I better get my glider now.” she stepped towards the cliff, glancing back. “Don’t try this yet.” she gave a thumbs up. Daeni pressed her hand on her necklace activator. She turned around to face Mora, falling backwards. She came back up moments later with her keyglider attached to her back. “Mine are wings, so hey, I wanted to show off.” she shrugged.

Meanwhile while all this was going on Chrono had activated his keyblade armor for the first time since getting all of his memories back. Unlike Cerdic he didn’t make a big deal out of it. In fact he was pretty casual about the whole process of pressing the button and standing idle as the armor had enveloped him. “Neat.” Summed up his reaction to his armor being fully formed on him. By this point Daeni had already jumped off the cliff to show off her glider transformation. Well Chrono certainly wasn’t going to do that for calling in his glider. Instead he chucked his keyblade afar causing a brief twinkle to shine in the distance. Moments later and a cycle shaped glider had appeared and sped right towards Chrono. Just before the moment of seeming impact, Chrono casually held out his hand and was picked up by his glider. He’d gotten properly situated right when it had leveled out and slowed to match the pace of the others.

Mora looked at everyone else’s gliders and looked towards her own and shrugged and got on it and smiled, “It’ll work for now.” she leaned into the handles of her glider and asked, “Now what?”

“Eh, Alder or Cerdic usually argue about where to go next and then Chrono and I just shrug and go with it.” Daeni shrugged, floating around. She had her hands behind her head. “Maybe we ought to find our own Master…” She opened her eyes, blinking.

Mora was a bit surprised by the fact that the other members didn’t have an impact on destinations or anything, but they weren’t exactly around and she didn’t know how they worked so she suggested, “Maybe we should find Kara and Chrys?”

“I suppose you have a point. We can go find them. It wouldn’t take too long. I already have an idea where they’d be.” Alder stated.

“I think we should take the new one somewhere a little more exciting. I mean there is so much to explore, why go home and settle in just yet? I am sure Kara and Chrys are safe there, a little adventure never hurt anyone.” This whole endeavor gave Cerdic a bit more of a taste for adventure. If he had it his way they would travel around and explore a little bit longer before going back to relax and train Mora properly.

“Or we could get the others then go on the sightseeing tour.” Alder spoke plainly. “We don’t need to settle in when we get back to base...as much as I wanted to just shower and get some much needed rest…” He grumbled.

Daeni raised her hand and flew behind Cerdic, pushing his head down. “I’m all for going home and even having an adventure before doing it, but I really want a shower so going home is preferred.” she said.

“Showers, who needs… Oh… point taken. Home it is. Then more adventuring. I mean if we didn’t already leave we could have asked Mora’s mom to use theirs, but too late for that now. Onwards and upwards.” Cerdic stated.

Daeni looked up at the sky. “So should I get the portal going? We gotta get home to Aeonian Springs.” she said, looking down at the rest. She just really missed her bed at the end of the day.

“Aeonian Springs? That sounds beautiful. Especially compared to Orphic Coast.” Mora shivered a bit at thinking of the name.

“Well I’m sure this world had it’s glory days too...right?” Alder frowned slightly at the gloomy atmosphere, trying not to insult Mora’s home. “Eh...well enough about that. I’m sure you’ll love the place. If I recall correctly, it’s got the best observatorium I’ve seen! And...uh...the springs are great too. Yeah…”

“Guys.” Chrono said, motioning out to the portal in the distance. While they had been chatting about showers and the various other things either about the world or that they wanted to do, he had gone ahead and made said portal. In fact the only reason why he didn’t go on ahead of them was cause he thought they would notice it a lot sooner than they actually did. “Its been waiting on you this whole time.”

Mora looked over at it and was a bit embarrassed about not noticing but she had been quite overwhelmed by the adventure. Soon the five began to fly up towards the portal going through it one at a time until all of them were gone and the portal blinked away. Leaving behind a quiet world finally at peace as the water crashed into the rocks below.