Kingdom Hearts - Blades of Three Realms

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiro blinked a bit, looking up towards the gummy tree house, frowning a bit lightly while his eyes slightly glowed and all, using structural grasping at the moment "that... that is not Crystal's idea, i see another magical source in there, and the signature isn't one i immediately know or recognize." he said to Xion, before shaking his head a bit, and sighing "oh well, we can deal with it in the morning." he said, chuckling a bit and continued onto the mansion which made even Shiro whistle at how far Roveth's gotten, even with the monsters he summons zipping about working at a furious pace in continuing to add more and more to the place, the whole -abandoned and worn down- look was completely gone though, and renewed to a pristine setting for it and a trimmed and well kept yard and even the start of a garden, if some of the plant monsters were any indication on them building that. on the inside it definitely looked like it had been re-done, and grown to larger proportions than the original, some rooms were kept, others were added, and still being added, if Roveth was honest, while he also made sure everything was up to code, the broken down chandelier and table replaced with a brand new white and black spiral marble table and a crystalline chandelier that seem to radiate and sparkle quite well with the lights on within it.

Roveth would come out of the library, having replaced the flooring and hidden path to the technological basement of the mansion with a more well constructed piece that didn't have virtual flooring, and a much more simple staircase and all while humming a bit "just you two tonight huh? well, that's fine, some of the bedrooms are finished and fully furnished outside of decorating the way you want it and the likes, so that can be another time." he said, waving it off, while Shiro raised an eyebrow "where are you getting the funds and materials for all this?" he plainly asked, while Roveth smirked, holding up a finger and wagging it lightly "secret secret, i got to keep this secret~" he sang a bit, not as masterfully done as Shiro could naturally sing, but he was doing it in a mocking way so he may be doing the off key on purpose. "... you're incorrigable. either way, you might want to build a training Dojo in the place as well." Roveth nodded, summoning out a few more monsters to get to work on that "i take it you need it because of that punk Seifer got to you?" shiro nodded, eyes hardening "bingo in one Yami-nii, he used -that- nickname." Roveth then sighed a bit, shaking his head "well, you two go ahead and choose a room, there will be plenty more bedrooms, as i intend to make this mansion into something to be envious of. of course, if you two want to share a room, you can as well~" he singsong'ed the last bit, while Shiro blushed profusely.


Axel meanwhile just stared a moment while giving off a snicker, and then a full-blown laugh as he heard that "you mean to tell me that 'old man' Leon actually had been forced to give you the talk? oh that is Rich! i gotta tease him endlessly on that one!" he said with a cackle and all.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"That's pretty much how it went down," Crystal nodded confirmation still chuckling herself. Cloud sure as heck wouldn't have been up to the task even without his inconsistent availability. Tifa was too busy looking for Cloud at the time so that had been a no go. Cid wanted none of that and he was too busy tinkering with the security system so he was let off the hook. Yuffie didn't really seem particularly qualified for it. Aerith probably could have been more gentle about it, but ultimately she agreed with Yuffie that they should let Leon take care of it because he was probably the most insightful and amusing about it. So yeah, he was basically forced into having 'the talk' with her and Shiro, not that Shiro had absorbed anything from it. He really didn't want to hear it and probably blocked it all out. Crystal had listened closely to the whole spiel and her own personal sense of responsibility meant that she had committed it all to memory. Heck, she'd even thanked Leon for his concern at the time even though there hadn't really been anything at all to worry about with her and Shiro. And now she had a newfound respect for those insights because the possibility clearly wasn't so nonexistent when she was alone with Roxas.

"Try not to tease Leon too badly," Crystal added sounding thoughtful. "I really appreciate how he and the others on Radiant Garden always look out for me when I'm visiting. I didn't exactly have a normal childhood so it's nice to have friends who treat me like a regular kid sometimes. That goes for you too, you know, Axel. I haven't known you as long as I've known those guys, but you're someone I don't mind looking up to."

"Anyway, it's already pretty late so we should probably turn in too," she added after a slight pause. "Especially with Roveth renovating the mansion and all. It's going to be interesting to have my own room to decorate."

"Goodnight Axel," Roxas added before taking that as his cue to show Crystal the way to his room having realized because of all the fun they had had with the tent in the guest room during the last visit he hadn't actually shown her to his room before. He closed the door behind him. Again, this was really more of a formality given the number of Keyblades in the vicinity meant that a locked door didn't exactly present much of a barricade.

"So, this is your room, huh?" Crystal looked around thoughtfully.

"Well, we kinda just took all this stuff straight out of the room I had in the simulated version of the town because it meant not having to buy new furniture, but I don't really have too much attachment to this stuff," Roxas admitted. "It was DiZ... er, Ansem the Wise, who arranged it all for me as far as I know. Not that I would have known where to start. When I was with the Organization I stayed in a plain white room with just a bed. Not exactly the most inspiring scenery."

"Back in my original world I would sometimes spend the night in the dungeon because I thought the prison cells looked cool," Crystal chuckled to herself. "Then again, sometimes I spent the night in the armory with Tyriel's mounted weapons collection."

"Okay, that does sound pretty weird," Roxas couldn't help laughing a bit at that too. "Although I suppose that's why it seems like you can sleep just about anywhere."

"I think I probably just got used to it," Crystal shrugged. Then she sounded a bit happy. "I haven't thought about it in a long time now, but I really did love that collection of swords. They were amazing to look at and Tyriel could wield every last one of them. Some of them were unlike even the many that Shiro has stashed away inside his Reality Marble. Tyriel didn't use magic either so every single of them was 100% war-forged steel."

"Now it makes a little more sense how you can get along so well with Shiro," Roxas observed. "You both have an incredible appreciation for swords."

"That's true," Crystal couldn't argue with that. "I was raised around knights and swords so I guess it must have rubbed off on me. At the time it was the only honest path available to me and I wanted to be able to defend not only myself but what's important to me. A sword isn't a tool for taking lives, but an extension of yourself meant to protect those who are unable to protect themselves. I think it should be the same with Keyblades, but obviously the powers they bestow upon their wielders are lot more easily abused."

"That's a bit of an understatement," Roxas agreed. "But I'm inclined to agree with your way of thinking. Protecting people from the Heartless is way more fulfilling than just fighting them for the sake of fighting them. And I've seen what you're capable of. Don't get me wrong, Shiro and Roveth bring a lot of strength to the equation, but your skill with magic and tactical ability makes the job a heck of a lot easier."

"Training aside, I'm pretty much hardwired to be a warrior," Crystal scratched behind her ear. "And really, I've been fine with that to a point, but it's also important to know when to stop. Being able to switch it off hasn't been easy, but I think it's necessary for maintaining a sense of balance."

"Well, I don't think you're really going to have to worry so much about that from now on," Roxas smiled. "There's definitely a lot more to you than just being a skilled fighter and I know I'm not the only one who sees it."

"I know," Crystal blushed a bit while also smiling. "Sometimes I just can't seem to help it though. But, all that aside, it's late and we really should be getting to bed."  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"I think there's probably time for one other thing," Roxas had suggested before pulling Crystal down onto the solitary bed with him. Then there had been quite a lot kissing and hands wandering over each other, devolving into a rather intense session of making out, but nothing more than that. Eventually they had gotten it out of their system enough to go about fumbling for pajamas, seeing as Roxas's street clothes really didn't make for practical sleeping attire, although he kind of gave up after he'd found his shorts and didn't exactly bother with tracking down the accompanying shirt, not that he desperately needed it. Crystal ended up deciding that that cute little blouse she had been wearing could probably double as a night dress. It was a bit on the short side, but passable. She might have worried in anyone else's presence about being seen with so much skin exposed, but considering she felt pretty safe with Roxas that was a concern that was immediately lost on her.

Eventually they would have fallen asleep curled up together looking quite cozy as was becoming something of a habit for them. Nothing of particular interest ended up transpiring in the realm of dreams so the rest of the night passed peacefully until sunlight came streaming in through the window at the start of the following morning. Crystal woke up first, greeted by the sight of a sleeping Roxas with no shirt on. It took several long seconds to process that yes, in fact, he had been like that when they'd both gone to sleep and that it wasn't anything out of the ordinary given the circumstances. Not that Crystal didn't still find it pretty distracting. Too many more nights like this and she was going to start having a seriously hard time with holding herself back with him.

Now that she was awake, of course, Crystal had to be concerned about the fact that eventually she was going to be leaving Roxas's room and there was the not-so-small matter of being seen by Axel or Demyx or Isa once she was out in the open and she didn't need any of them seeing her dressed in that little slip of a blouse masquerading as a night dress so she managed to slip away so she could see to getting herself dressed while Roxas was still asleep. Crystal settled on a mainly cream-colored top with detached sleeves that had a triple melon print pattern on the front and black shoulder straps that crisscrossed in the back. She also put on black denim pants with quite a mess of straps and zippers between the knees and ankles as well as a pair of black sandals with silver star-shaped buckles on them. She also tied a black and white spotted bandanna around her head to keep her bangs out of her face for a change.

Roxas had woken up while Crystal was getting changed and he might have seen more than he was meant to because he was definitely blushing when Crystal looked over. "Good morning," Crystal smiled at him completely unabashedly.

"Heh, good morning," Roxas was clearly going to need a moment to really wake himself up. It certainly took him that long to notice he still wasn't wearing a shirt. "Oh right, I should get dressed too."

Crystal gave Roxas plenty of space while he worked on getting himself dressed for the day. It was still awfully surreal, Crystal thought, that they could really be together like this. Up until a few days ago on that odd little world of Bending Harmony, Crystal wouldn't have believed that this was even possible. It was strange now to think that the mere idea of falling in love had frightened her so badly. Being in love like this, being happier than she'd ever been in her whole rough-and-tumble life, it really wasn't so scary at all. The only thing she really worried about was whether or not she might be taking too much advantage of the situation, but she trusted Roxas so it was a rather small concern.

Once Roxas was dressed the two of them left his room to see who else might be awake while also attempting to wrangle some breakfast before they headed out into the town for the day.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

thankfully, it didn't take long for Roveth to convince Shiro that he should get some sleep instead of badgering him about the mansion, so the light half of the pair just finally gave up on asking, and went to pick out his own room to get some sleep, after hanging up his clothes in the large walk-in closet that was there, figuring to use it for at least clothing space, though he might have to ask Roveth to get him some clothes however he got the materials and all.

of course, all through the night the monsters and Roveth continued to work on construction, at least within each room was a sound-proofing modulator that would keep the construction noises from being heard so Shiro and Xion could sleep easy, while Roveth continued working, even getting a pool put in as well as an entire -floor- dedicated to gaming, whether it be a room full of computers, a room full of Arcade games, and even a room with large TV screens hooked up to console systems, all in all, it was much bigger and more rooms than should be needed, but an extra three floors after adding on the rooms to the first two held a lot of potential for their group, especially if Demyx, Isa, and Axel want to forego the apartment setup and all, it'd be much less hassle in remembering rent at least. granted, there was a building out back aside the pool, and that was to build at least a very large one story (for the moment) Chocobo stable, for of course Shiroi Senko, who was led to there to rest and roost there for the night as well, all in all, each floor aside from the first floor would have about 10 -LARGE- spacious rooms, filled with whatever Roveth could think of for that particular room, once he was done having his 'crew' build up the 5 or so stories of rooms, making about 60 total, and furnishing the ones he had in mind properly, as well as make enough bedrooms for everyone he knew in their little group and a few guest bedrooms on the side just in case they had of course, people who wanted to stay over for a little while but had homes on other worlds. after that, the cards would finish their work on readjusting the roof properly before Roveth would retreat with the crew he had left back to the basement to fix that place up next, as well as continue studying what the hell he was working with down there.

Shiro the next morning would come out of one of the rooms on the second floor yawning a bit as he leaned on the railing and looked around, before widening his eyes in awe at the place and how much it had been transformed, so to speak "holy cow... Roveth did all this...?" of course, he was in shock that Roveth had enough munny to pull this kind of thing off and all.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

Incidentally, without any disruption or teasing from Axel, Demyx, or Isa, who were apparently all still in bed after all that heavy lifting the previous day it didn't take long for Roxas and Crystal to forage around for some breakfast before heading out into town. Roxas did have the foresight to pin a note to the refrigerator explaining that they were going to check out what Roveth had done over at the mansion if Axel wanted to come find them later on in the day. Not long after that they arrived at the mansion around the same time as the group of Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Namine did.

"Impressive timing," Riku spoke up in greeting. "So, can either of you enlighten us about what exactly is going on here at the mansion?"

"Shiro mentioned something about Roveth purchasing the rights to the property and doing some renovations, but that's all we've heard," Crystal explained while staring up at the now substantially taller building.

"I can't believe he did all of this in a single night," Roxas was staring at it too.

"That's why we came down here," Riku responded. "The construction project was visible all the way from Master Yen Sid's tower."

"So we have to investigate because there's all that sensitive computer stuff down in the basement," Sora added.

"But it's probably fine if Roveth is the one taking command of the situation," Namine admitted. "He seems like he'd know what he's doing."

"He saw something he wanted and he snatched it," Crystal agreed. "I'd say he more than knows what he's doing."

"But how is he funding it?" Kairi wondered. "Renovations like this would cost more munny than even your group is capable of earning simply by defeating Heartless."

"I'm sure he's just exploiting the virtual simulation down in the basement to generate an inexhaustible supply of munny," Crystal responded. "Not to mention the equipment and the furniture is probably being replicated from the simulation too."

"Ansem the Wise would call that horribly irresponsible," Riku pointed out. "But I kinda like it."

"Right, well let's see if we can find Roveth," Roxas suggested. "Assuming he's even still awake. It might be easier to find Shiro or Xion at this point."

"Good idea," Crystal agreed. She glanced over to the strange treehouse made of Gummi Blocks and easily assumed it wasn't part of Roveth's whole big construction project. Although it did seem strangely familiar to her. She shrugged that off though as the group started making their way inside the mansion. It was probably nothing to worry about.


Xion would have also emerged from one of the rooms on the second floor of the mansion and was more or less equally as stunned as Shiro to be seeing how different the interior looked now compared to when they had arrived late last night. This naturally made both her and Shiro exceptionally easy to find once the others entered the mansion looking to find them.

"If you think it looks impressive in here, just wait until you see how it looks from outside," Riku called up to them both with a slight smirk.

"We could see the renovations taking place from Master Yen Sid's tower," added Namine. "It was really quite something."

"It sounds like Roveth must have been up all night working on it," Xion realized.

"Well, just the same, we're going to want to talk to him about what exactly he's planning to use this place for," Riku mentioned. "There's some pretty sensitive computer equipment in basement laboratory and Master Yen Sid wants to be sure it's being properly looked after."

"Roveth has become rather tech savvy since we were whisked away to the world of Angel Grove," Crystal explained rather vaguely. "I'm alright with computers myself, but I'm really only a software person. Roveth can do the hardware too. And he does it so intuitively it's almost like magic in its own right."

"You definitely know more about it than I do," Roxas admitted.

"Well, at the very least, now that it's been all rebuilt and expanded upon, this place is way less spooky," Sora pointed out. "I mean, it's actually really nice in here now."  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiro had looked over to Xion a moment, before peering over the railing hearing Riku's voice, and chuckled a bit "well, knowing my dark half he's probably passed out in the computer room in the basement, if he's not still actively typing with bags under his eyes." he said, while reinforcing his legs and doing a front flip off the railing to land on his feet "either way he had some of his monsters he summons via cards do most of the work, and i guess from what i gather he probably used the stuff in the basement to materialize materials and furniture for the mansion itself." he shrugged a bit with a chuckle "but yeah, i don't think you have much to worry about if Roveth's at the helm of things." he said, while stretching a bit.

speaking of Roveth, he was in the basement, but he actually didn't have bags under his eyes, however he did have a few cans of caffiene drinks and cups of coffee already downed, so that's probably he was wired and wide awake at the moment typing along making small little worlds in the system, ones that'd be simple to use, like dojo worlds, trainings for Keybladers, so on. it wasn't hard to at least realize he was probably up all night and still awake if one got in the basement.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"Still, we should probably go down and have a little chat with Roveth if he's still awake," Riku decided. "Anyway, what's been going on with the rest of you since we parted ways at the tower yesterday? I mean, I can already guess from how cozy you two still are together that going on that date wasn't a complete disaster," he gestured broadly to Crystal and Roxas. "So, how was it?"

"We had a good time," Roxas shrugged. He knew that wasn't what Riku meant. He was trying to get the gossip train going.

"Other than Seifer trying to give us a hard time," Crystal added. "But that ended up backfiring spectacularly for him." She paused a moment before adding, "Oh right, we also had a small skirmish with some animated armor coming after me. It was mine to begin with and it was agitated because of being imprinted with some bad memories from before I came here, but it wasn't anything too serious. And I actually have a much clearer picture of the kind of person I was before my arrival in this era. Far from being the helpless coward I thought I was, I apparently never learned when to give up. That was what really frightened me so badly. I thought if I continued down that path of so much violence, even if it was only against the Heartless, that I was going to lose myself and become some kind of monster."

"I'm sorry, but I don't think you could ever be qualified as a monster," Riku actually burst out laughing.

"It's not funny! I'm being serious!" Crystal immediately protested. Riku went right on laughing like this was the funniest thing he had ever heard.

"Maybe you did feel that way, but Riku has a point. You'd never really want to hurt anyone and you have a ton of self control so it isn't like anyone can really make you either," Kairi pointed out.

"Yeah, well, that's the difference that a few years makes I suppose," Crystal scratched behind her ear. "Back then I didn't really know myself so well and it scared me to think what I might be capable of, but now I guess it really does sound kinda silly. But that doesn't mean you should be laughing so hard, Riku!"

Riku genuinely couldn't seem to help himself as he was practically rolling with laughter at that point.

"You know, thinking about it, I honestly can't see it either," Sora admitted as he stared at Riku in wonder. "But I don't know why Riku thinks it's so funny."

"Probably because she seems about as dangerous to Riku as you do," Namine explained. She must have hit the nail on the head because it got Riku laughing even more. Or it might have been the fact that Sora decided to immediately begin tickling him. It was definitely one of those things.

"Well, Seifer did manage to get to Shiro so he's decided to join the Struggle Tournament," Xion mentioned. "And he's probably going to start doing some training for it today."

Riku finally recovered from his laughing fit, once he managed to pry Sora off of him and set him off to the side. "Well, if he's getting ready for the Struggle Tournament, maybe he should borrow Roxas as a sparring partner. He has some experience with that."

"Huh? What about me? I've fought in the Struggle Tournament before too," Sora protested quickly.

"Quiet Sora," Riku pulled him back over and whispered loudly in his ear. "You need to talk to Crystal about planning for the party, genius. This could be your chance."

"Oh, right," Sora nodded while lowering his voice. "That's a good point. I forgot, I'm still a bit sore from yesterday's sparring match," he lied rather pointedly.

Now Roxas knew something was definitely going on here, but he hadn't been able to hear exactly what. "Well, I guess there's nothing wrong with helping Shiro to get ready for the Struggle Tournament. I've fought the simulated version of Seifer before so I know how he fights more or less. But where are we going to practice?"  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiro had raised an eyebrow, and would at least open his mouth to answer on that when a voice filtered through "i have a Dojo area set up on the basement computer drives you two can use to spar in pretty simple and basic, and will automatically repair itself should you two go further than struggle regulations. if Hayner comes by though you'll have to wait until he goes into the training area i set up for him before i can switch it to let you two back out." of course, Shiro blinked, and looked up to the second floor where Roveth leaned along the railing, smirking a bit lazily like, definitely showing he had the insomnia rings around his eyes though "eh? Roveth, have you gotten -any- sleep?" Roveth shook his head "not a wink, and i haven't exactly taught anyone how to utilize the computer mainframes yet so right now the only one who can use them is me right now."  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"Right, well I'm still going to want to access the partition you've made for furniture shopping and a few slight renovations to one of these bedrooms you've set aside for us," Crystal mentioned to Roveth. "I want my own access terminal connected to a private server for a little project I'm going to want to be working on. And I also want a small kitchen space so I don't have to leave to make tea and hot cocoa and the like. Oh, and there are some star charts I want to analyze from the Dimensional Distortion Grid that I'll probably need some help synchronizing into the local database. I can probably handle most of the rest myself though."

"Sora, Kairi, Xion, why don't you all go shopping with Crystal while me and Namine stay out here with Roveth to have a chat about the mansion," Riku suggested almost too helpfully.

"Well, I think we just found out how Roveth found out about the computer system in the basement," Roxas pointed out. "Hayner, Pence, and Olette all knew what was down there and he must have found out from them. Which actually does explain why it would have been re-purposed as a training arena." He was somewhat curious about why Crystal wanted her own terminal and a private server though. He knew she had some knowledge of computers for whatever reason, but what exactly did she plan to do with it was what he wanted to know. Oh well, he could always ask her about it later.

"I guess let me know when you'd like to get started," Roxas shrugged a bit while glancing toward Shiro. He seemed like he had just gotten out of bed so he probably still needed to have breakfast and all that before getting down to training for the day.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Roveth would chuckle a bit, walking down the stairs to the others as he looked to Crystal "with the stuff i've salvaged and so on for Ansem's tech, i should be able to decipher more about the Trans-Dimensional grid, so getting 'logs' of the star charts from your time period should be easy if it records it." he said, waiving off the thing "as for the other stuff, i'll build it myself later, right now we should get some food in us first." he would look over to the kitchen, where Shiro was already going, and sure enough, he began using the kitchen with earnest and working up a storm to fix food for everyone there, and with such a large dining table, how else would he do it but feast mode for breakfast?  

[[XIII] Roxas]

Roxas and Crystal had already eaten a little bit back at the apartment, but neither of them was about to turn down Shiro's cooking if he was offering. Sora, however, seemed absolutely crestfallen as he slumped into a seat at the table. His master plan, well Riku's plan really, to get Roxas away from Crystal for a few hours so they could plan for his birthday party had been thwarted for the moment and Sora was feeling rather impatient about it. At least, he was impatient until he could smell the food and that finally settled him down for the time being. He was lucky, at least, that Roxas didn't seem to suspect him of anything, although he had been very close to blowing his cover by acting all dramatic like that.

"You know, there's something I've wondered about that first time you showed up on the Destiny Islands," Sora spoke up rather curiously with regards to Crystal and Shiro, although his curiosity was much more directed at Crystal. "You introduced yourself, saying we had never met before, but that you were good friends with Leon and the others on Radiant Garden."

"That's right, I wanted to let you all know you had another Keyblade wielder or two as a potential ally," Crystal nodded. "But that was during the conflict with the Heartless Generals so I couldn't have stayed real long even if I had wanted to."

"But after we fought, when I was in my Anti-Form, and Roxas suddenly appeared there on the beach, you acted like you knew him already," Sora pointed out. "Why exactly is that?"

"We'd never actually met directly either, but I had seen him before during my stay here in Twilight Town," Crystal answered. "But we'd never really spoken or anything."


It was shortly after Crystal had come forward, revealing herself once again as a Keyblade wielder ready to face the Heartless, and not long after she had first met Shiro that she made the journey to the Destiny Islands. Leon had suggested that she go there and introduce herself to a boy named Sora and his friends because they might someday prove to be important allies. She had gone along with it mainly because she knew she could count on Leon's judgement.

There they had met Sora, Riku, and Kairi. Everything seemed to be going smoothly. Crystal got the introductions out of the way and it seemed like a nice day to spend there at the beach. But then something happened. Sora transformed into a Heartless version of himself, they called it his Anti-Form, and apparently it wasn't the first time such a thing had happened recently. Anti-Form Sora ran off and they split up to chase him down. Crystal was faster than the others and managed to corner him only to have it turn into a fight, his claws against her own Time Warp and World's Rift Keyblades. Crystal had remained on the defensive for most of it, waiting for an opening to smack Sora in the back of the head thereby knocking him out. Sora reverted back to normal and then Roxas had kinda just staggered out of him, first appearing as a projection of sorts, but then a bright light filled in the gaps and he became solid. Unknown to Crystal at the time, Roxas had been arguing with Sora's consciousness and trying to get him to stop attacking while the two had been fighting.

"... wait, you're Roxas, aren't you?" Crystal had spoken mere seconds before tripping over her own two feet and face-planting into the sand.

"Should I... know you?" Roxas had helped her to get back on her feet a bit awkwardly.

Crystal shook her head and quickly corrected herself. "No... we've never actually met before."

"But you wanted to meet him," Namine would have shown up with the others at that point. Apparently the same thing had happened with her and Kairi, only way less violently. "Isn't that right, Crystal?"

"I guess... maybe that's true," Crystal had met Namine once in Twilight Town too. She had been the one who told her the boy on the clock tower wasn't going to be coming back anymore. She had also known of Crystal's abilities as a Keyblade wielder and recommended she leave to join the battle against the Heartless on other, as-yet distant worlds. After Crystal had found out about Ansem the Wise's research on the experiments with the Heartless and of the existence of Nobodies it had been her assumption that she wasn't ever going to see either of them again. "But I don't see how that has anything to do with what's happening now."

"Perhaps one day you will come to understand," Namine had assured her.

Not long after that Crystal had decided that it was time to leave. She thought that she and Shiro were just making trouble for everyone. Not to mention the whole thing felt entirely too weird. They would inevitably cross paths again after that, but it would be a long while before a significant connection was finally made.


"Namine was right, though, I did want to meet him," Crystal could admit that honestly now. "At the time it didn't really seem possible though because I had heard about what had happened." Wishful thinking, huh? Had that been the key to awakening Cosmos's power all along? Crystal thought that was horribly irresponsible. Who in their right mind would bestow access to that sort of power on a reckless, impulsive, and unpredictable child?

"At least you've faced up to it now," Riku smirked a bit mildly. "Better late, than never, right?"

"It really seems like it's been a real long time now," Roxas pointed out. "I didn't have any idea what was going on and it surprised me when I didn't just fade back into Sora like before. But because of that I was able to meet Axel and Demyx again. And now Xion is back again too. It was definitely weird, but considering everything else I've been through it seems like a pretty good thing."

"And we haven't had any more problems with Sora transforming into his Anti-Form since then either," added Kairi.

Riku nodded. "I think subconsciously Sora must have wanted to set Roxas free again too, but he didn't actually have the means to do so and Roxas was uncooperative because he'd already become resigned to his own perceived fate as a Nobody."

"It sounds like that must have been quite the adventure," Xion observed also settling in for breakfast.

"For as weird as it felt at the time, there's no denying it was an exceptionally memorable one," Crystal agreed.