Kingdom Hearts - Blades of Three Realms

[[XIII] Roxas]

An ordinary man faced with sudden gunshots to the face would have been killed in an instant, but this Shiroi Kumo merely drew out his peculiar blade and swatted away the bullets into the sky producing sparks and explosions as the bullets ricocheted and burnt up in the atmosphere.

"Kuroki Kaze, it's been a while," the white-haired young man spoke in greeting, his voice totally lacking in malice as though he were speaking to an old friend although clearly from Kaze's reaction to him that feeling wasn't mutual in the slightest. He took in the sight of Shiro's collapsing to his knees with a slight frown. "It would seem that your new companion is unwell. Perhaps you ought to tend to him."

Granted, even if he was attempting to defuse the situation before it could escalate any further, Shiroi Kumo knew that Kaze wouldn't be so easily discouraged and continued to hold his blade aloft ready to issue a counterattack if necessary.


The others would, of course, begin getting settled at the vacant hot spring overlooking the mountain while witnessing the mysterious fireworks. Crystal naturally sensed the rise in Shiro's magical aura and knew he was somehow connected with the unusual display, but beyond that she couldn't say much given she didn't know the true extent of the situation. Roveth wasn't reacting negatively to the fluctuations in Shiro's aura so Crystal decided to trust that whatever was going on his life probably wasn't in any danger and that Shiro could be trusted to take care of himself for now.

"Oh look, the host brought us some tea and crackers," Xion was first to notice the serving tray that had been placed at the edge of the hot spring nearest to the mostly empty inn that Roveth had found for them.

"Careful, that isn't tea, it's sake," Crystal pointed out as even though it was pretty subtle she immediately smelled the alcohol. "I guess with this being a tourist trap they aren't too concerned about giving alcohol to minors."

"You don't seem very surprised," Roxas certainly was. Of course, he was also wondering how exactly it was that Crystal seemed to know at a glance what was in that alleged tea.

"I've been to places like this before," Crystal explained quickly. "In certain cultures it's sort of customary to serve sake at natural hot springs like this so it's not really all that unusual. So, like I said, just be careful. It's fine if you want to try it. A little bit is pretty harmless. It's only if you drink too much that you'll get yourself drunk, but I think we're all responsible enough to avoid that particular problem." Not that she could really speak for Roveth, but with all that being said she did venture over to help herself to a saucer. She took a sip and nodded sagely, although she was by no means an expert. "It's pretty good quality at least."

"How do you even know that?" Roxas wondered. He would have expected this sort of thing from Axel, maybe, but there wasn't any reason at all for Crystal to have this type of knowledge.

"Well, there's this shop where the owner grants people's wishes and the owner is something of an enthusiast who drinks only the finest, most expensive sake that money can buy," Crystal answered with a perplexed sort of expression. All she remembered about that visit was staying up late to watch the full moon and she didn't know how much she'd been coerced into drinking and that she had later woken up in a guest room without any idea how she had gotten there. With that in mind, Crystal was perfectly content to stick to the one saucer today, thank you very much. "Yeah," she said mainly to herself at that point. "Best not to overdo it like last time."

Curiosity eventually won out so that Roxas and Xion were both tempted to try some of the sake, although the taste was mainly just weird to them so there really wasn't any danger that they would be going back for more. If Crystal had been there alone or if it would have been only Shiro and Roveth that were with her, then she most likely would have found her own secluded alcove amidst the smooth rocks to recline and stare off at the sky, particularly if it had been night. Fireworks aside, the atmosphere was just that relaxed and peaceful that it seemed to set her mind at ease more-so than usual. Things were different now. Yes, Crystal had spent a lot of time being alone and she still sometimes slipped into that head-space of the wandering loner who might wander off somewhere to watch the stars or to stare off at the sky through the leaves of some cozy tree, but she had friends now and she didn't feel so overwhelmed anymore about having them. And that meant she didn't have to keep to herself the way that she used to.

"Tell you what, we should definitely come back out here after the sun sets to look up at the stars," Crystal announced after thinking it over a bit. "Crisp, clean air at this altitude, the view should be incredible."

Roveth would know very well that in the not-so-distant past Crystal would have kept her stargazing habit mainly to herself, slipping off by herself when she thought no one else was watching and finding some secluded place to gaze up at the stars as though she were waiting for someone else to come and find her. Of course, she knew well enough now that that wasn't going to happen, but it had been a tough habit to break.

"Sounds good," Roxas agreed easily. Maybe Axel would turn up again by nightfall, assuming he ever found a spring hot enough to satisfy himself.

"This view of the mountain is really nice too," added Xion.

"You know, Roveth, you've got a pretty good eye for real estate," Crystal pointed out only half-joking given his crazy success at making the mansion functionally livable without compromising the aesthetics of the area.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Kaze would only look at Shiro from the side with his covered eye before lookign right back to Makenshi with a death glare that'd probably surpass Roveth's a good bit (though Roveth's own malice and killing intent is much more... lethal, in a way.) before continuing to fire his rifle at Makenshi "i've told you once before... Shiroi Kumo... allies.. enemies.. bystanders.. even ideals... if it means destroying the man who banished my world to the darkness and my little sister to her death... even the cost of this very world doesn't matter to me!" of course, Shiro would snap his head up hearing that, just as Kaze swung his golden casing arm in front of him "Soil, Become my Strength!" with that, the drill popped out, and soon after, four fan blades as well before they begun spinning, kicking up an ominous black wind, the Ma-Gan powering up causing the golden cylinder to disassemble itself and started reforming into the gun-like shake, drill spinning, heart beating, the gleaming gold of the powerful weapon, which still pulsed vibrantly in shiro's mind as Kaze brought a finger up to snarl out "i've chosen the appropriate Soil for the likes of you!" he called out, before bringing up the first bullet to his face, inside of it held a fine dust or sand with a red-ish tint "A Bladestorm of Bonds... Sword Viridian!" of course, Shiro had stared as the bullet was flicked into the air like a coin, staring at the 'Soil' within however had actually made his Reality Marble shake, the grounds changing color slightly to resemble that very same red color and almost sand-like texture, though no one would feel it or see it happen. Kaze would move on to the next bullet which held a royal blue-like sand "The Squall of Fortitude... Kingdom Blue!" with that, the second bullet would go flying right into the right slot almost as if magically, before Kaze slapped his belt, launching one last bullet into the air right in front of his face "and Finally... a Prideful Gale... Warrior Platinum!" with the last bullet inserted into the Ma-Gan, the drill would start spinning powerfully once more as if using that drill to charge energy from the very air, Shiro's heartbeat starting to pulse as erratic as the black one inside the Ma-Gan as it began suffusing the Soil within for energy as well, priming it for its job as Kaze swung the Ma-Gan to point right at Shiroi Kumo "Slaughter! I SUMMON YOU! KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND!" the ma-Gan would then fire, unleashing a lot of smoke coming from its triple barrels, which started to spin in a clockwise fashion for a little bit, before three blasts of dust-like energy could be seen spiraling out of the smoke, aiming for Makenshi before they shot up into the air and collided with each other in a bright explosion of colors, before revealing twelve knight-like figures, and once Shiro had managed to process what he saw on the earlier soil bullet, he would look up, and immediately his eyes went wide, before the pupils almost shrank to nothing, each sword, each spear, each weapon in hand was being sent into Unlimited Blade Works, but at the same time it was breaking his mind with how hard and fast the information was coming, and how some of it contradicted other world's variants leaving 'blueprint errors' popping up despite being forged and spawned in his own soul, leaving of course, the madness to start encroaching Shiro's mind and the black blood beginning to bubble and flow faster within his body, the third red eye snapping open with a menacing red gleam to it as his other eyes also gained what looked to be arcane patterns in them in a blue color. either way, while Shiro 'broke' once again mentally, the Knights of the Round would make their move, charging in to attack their summoner's enemy with their weapons (and magic).

Roveth would at least settle down himself into the springs, once Crystal mentioned Sake he'd blink a bit and peer at the bottle, before humming in particular, as he shrugged a bit, and helped himself to a saucer, sipping on the Sake with a small sigh as he seemed to handle the alcohol well "eh, might as well partake in some, since it'd be bad manners not to, let's just not go overboard though okay?" he said with a chuckle, given he knew how bad Shiro was when alcohol came into play, being such a giggly-drunk, he himself, he seemed to be a calm drunk, one that'd basically non-chalant over things in general. when the birght flash eappeared in the sky (Summoning of Knights of the Round) he'd just look up rather calmly, shrug, and take another sip, his cheeks a small bit pink at least.

Axel would eventually find the 'Lava Bath' he had heard about, and was currently lounging in it giving off a sigh, and even chatting with another tourist it seemed who had similar tastes for heat, a female Ctarl Ctarl in fact. (Yes its Aisha.) to relax and get a load off his feet, so to speak for the long trek. soooo worth it.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

The white-haired man looked genuinely surprised when he listened to the sinister accusation from Kaze. "Did you lose your memory again?" he spoke with the same calm as before, although it now held a distinct note of unease. And Shiroi Kumo was certainly right to feel that unease as Kaze activated the Ma-Gan to go on the offensive with the powerful Knights of the Round summon. Makenshi had no choice but to defend himself. So, with his peculiar blade still in hand, the white-haired man reached down and took in hand four bottles from the compartments on his belt, flicking them high into the air and striking them with his blade to split them neatly in half while releasing the contents, the fabled Mist, around the Ma-Ken. "Play... Quartet of the White Wall!"

The Mist formed into four silvery white blade-nosed serpents, Makenshi's infamous Sword Dragons, to clash with the warriors summoned by Kaze's Knights of the Round in glorious fashion, striking both directly and with energy rays launched from the blades on their snouts to divert the warriors away from Makenshi himself. It would most likely be clear to Shiro at least from the way the white-haired man had reacted to Kaze's accusation that the two men were not on the same page about their history with each other.


"No... not again..." Crystal felt the resonance with Shiro's black blood as it rebounded onto her own heart and managed to scramble out of the water before collapsing outright from the intense pain that shot through her body as her consciousness plunged deep into her latent memories.

"Crystal!" Roxas climbed out after her and caught her before she hit the ground.

"What just happened?" Xion was naturally worried too.

"I don't know," Roxas looked Crystal over to make sure she wasn't hurt or anything. "It's just like that time back on the last world we were on when she suddenly collapsed in the infirmary."

"Then something probably must have happened with that black blood stuff that's inside of Shiro," Xion suggested. "That's how they told us it works, right?"

"Something like that," Roxas nodded vaguely. He still didn't totally get it and this time seemed much worse than the last time for some reason. "Well, I'm going to take her inside to lay down at least until she snaps out of it," he snatched Crystal up to do just that. As much as he truly wished he could do more to help Crystal, Roxas was quickly learning from their time together that the one thing he couldn't protect Crystal from even if he wanted to was what happened to Shiro.

"I hope Shiro isn't doing anything too reckless," Xion observed while noting that Roveth still didn't seem to be particularly bothered by anything that was happening even as the majestic serpents clashed with the strange knights that had also appeared suddenly in the sky. Something very strange was taking place further down on the mountain. That much was certain.

Roxas naturally remained by Crystal's side. He knew he couldn't do anything to help her out of whatever was going on inside her head right now, but he could at least be there when she woke up. He had to trust that she was going to be okay from all of this otherwise there was no way he would have been able to remain so calm about it.


Crystal was overlooking a scene of herself when she was quite a lot younger, barely even a teenager by the looks of it. With her was a slightly younger boy who looked remarkably similar to Tyriel. This boy was, in fact, Tyriel's kid brother and usually went by Scythe. He didn't live with Crystal and Tyriel, but rather still lived with Tyriel and his's parents at Tyriel's childhood home away from the castle. Also with them was another younger boy, this one having the distinction of also being an anthropomorphic panda with an impressive auburn afro and wearing a bacon-weave vest. That was Blaze. He hailed from a family of Gummi Ship engineers. And finally, there was another girl, slightly younger also, who appeared rather similar to Crystal although she had dark reddish brown hair and dressed in full armor. She was from one of the many families with ties to the kingdom's royal knights so it wasn't surprising that even at such a young age that this girl, called Silver, had her own full set of armor. Overseeing the four was a strange man with the robes of a traveling monk. His hair was buzzed exceptionally short and he carried with him a Keyblade that very closely resembled a monk's staff.

"Master Shiva!" the four young apprentices bowed respectfully to their mentor.

"So, what are we going to do for our training today?" Silver was eager to get things started.

"Well, I was thinking, first I'd have some lunch," the monk speculated innocently enough.

"Here, you can have some of mine," Crystal tossed half a sandwich at him along with some other snacks she had brought along with her for just such an occasion.

"Well, I can see you're all very eager to get started so perhaps today we'll take that big step toward visiting other worlds by taking a trip to Daybreak Town," Shiva suggested before biting into the sandwich. "Normally the Unions don't accept such young apprentices into their ranks, but I think if you show enough promise they'll make an exception for you all."

"That's great!" The four young apprentices cheered. Their Master was a bit of an eccentric and had decided that getting them started at an early age would make them more competent wielders once they were old enough to join one of the Keyblade Unions.


The scene transitioned to a point sometime later with the young Crystal perched on the branch of a tree overlooking things. Shiva could be seen in the background dragging Blaze around by his lunch pail.

"I'm beginning to think he only agreed to train us so he can steal our lunches everyday," noted Silver with some annoyance.

"I think it's all part of the training," Crystal answered with a shrug.

"Well, I don't expect you to understand since you aren't even interested in becoming a Keyblade Master," Silver retorted with a laugh. "Still, it's more than a little disappointing to have him for a Master when he's like this."

"Crystal already has years of experience under her belt from living with Tyriel," noted Scythe. "Maybe we could learn something from her instead?"

"Heh, now there's an idea," Silver gave another laugh. "Why don't we just train amongst ourselves. I'm pretty sure the panda only became a wielder so that he'd get out of his parents's garage and away from their Gummi Ship blueprints to get some sun so he'd just be getting in our way anyway."

"Hey, you shouldn't talk like that about Blaze," Crystal interjected as she dropped down from her perch. "We're all friends, right?"

"Right," Silver gave a vague sort of nod. "If you say so."


Then, even later, Crystal clashed against a veritable army of Keyblade wielders on the outskirts of Daybreak Town. They weren't even all from the same Union, but rather members from each of the four rivaling her own, which was Vulpes at the time. She had been led into this ambush by none other than Silver. Scythe and Blaze were nowhere to be seen because she had told them both she had a bad feeling about the outing Silver had planned for them and Crystal had been right. She'd led been led straight into a hostile ambush.

"Why would you orchestrate an attack like this?" Crystal growled in protest, swinging World's Rift to deflect incoming attacks from opposing wielders as she glared ahead at Silver.

"Why?" Silver leered at her. "Because you're a pathetic loser with no ambition of your own. You have all that privilege that comes from being a princess, but you twiddle your thumbs pretending to be a mage, a swordsman, or a Keyblade wielder because you think it suits you. You don't take anything seriously!"

"A Keyblade... chooses it's wielder," Crystal gritted out as she deflected yet more incoming attacks. "We're supposed to be friends!"

"Ha! Friends? We were never friends," Silver spat out at her. "Maybe you thought so in your simpleminded little worldview, but you're just a stepping stone. The brave little warrior princess. You're not even qualified to be my rival. I'll admit, I've never been able to figure you out to beat you one-on-one, but fortunately for me it seems like there are a lot of wielders who'd like to take a stab at you."

"Shut up!" Crystal's aura flared as World's Rift became enveloped by an extended blade comprised of light energy. "All I ever wanted was to make some friends and to try to help people. Defeating the Heartless seemed like a good way to do that. That's it. Why is that such a problem?"

"Because you don't even have any reason to be fighting!" Silver came at her this time, her own obsidian-bladed Keyblade shrouded in pulses of gravity magic. "This isn't a game so stop acting like you're enjoying it!"

"Sorry, but that's just not possible," Crystal responded as sparks flew from their respective blades as they clashed. "Even if you despise me, Scythe and Blaze, they're still my friends. And I like getting to train together with them with Master Shiva! When we're out helping people I really feel like we're doing the right thing!"

"Fine," Silver was knocked flying as Crystal's blade left her hand in a Strike Raid attack before immediately reforming in Crystal's hand again to point menacingly at her opponent. "With that attitude you'll always be a loser anyway. But you know what, you idiots aren't my problem anymore. You just go on home to your little friends. This time I won't trouble you by coming back with you. I'm done with that pathetic kingdom. You and that sorry excuse for a prince are worthless."

"Watch it!" Crystal's glare turned harsh. "You can talk bad about me, but I won't hear you talking bad about my brother. He works hard keeping the peace for everyone."

"Well, at least one of you is working hard," Silver sneered at her.


That night Crystal sat beneath the old oak tree overlooking the river by the stargazing spot. She was covered in cuts and bruises, but ultimately she had won they day with no fewer than a dozen or more of her rival Keyblade wielders making accusations about how there was no way a regular person could move the way that she does. Soon enough they were all criticizing her for the way she fought like a demon.

"Honestly," Crystal sighed while peering down at her reflection on the water's surface. "I only fought that way so I wouldn't lose. Who knows what they might have done to me if I had fallen out there today?"

"Rough day, huh?" Jake had made it to their spot for once.

"I don't think I'll be returning to Daybreak Town anytime soon," Crystal nodded with a tired frown. "It seems like I'm not particularly welcome there. And there are probably others in my own Union who feel the same about me too."

"You have a different set of ideals than they do," Jake explained patiently. "All they really care about is defeating Heartless to accumulate Lux for their respective Unions. It's all one big competition."

"Right, and I have no interest in competing so maybe I should just resign and become unaffiliated," Crystal decided. "Besides, isn't collecting all that Lux ultimately going to be a problem for the worlds? I mean, if all that light is being gathered in one place, then it's gradually being depleted from the wider worlds in general, right? Doesn't that seem like a terrible mistake."

"They're vying for control of all the light in all the worlds," Jake nodded. "I'm glad you realized that. The light doesn't belong to anyone because it really should belong to everyone, but not everyone can agree on that point so they're just going to keep fighting over it until the universe gets plunged into darkness and there will be no one to blame but ourselves."

"Can't we stop that from happening?" Crystal wondered.

"Probably not," Jake admitted. "But, the worlds are resilient. They'll bounce back from it. Besides, our kingdom has bigger problems thanks to the forces of Chaos."


And finally, Crystal stood at a crossroads with Shiva and Scythe. Blaze had gone missing some days prior in a freak accident using an experimental prototype Gummi Ship using a new propulsion system he had found on some other world, an odd mechanical creature called a Mecha Grunty. The navigational system, the Dimensional Distortion Grid, had fallen out during takeoff and was now in Crystal's possession.

"Shouldn't we be doing something to track down Blaze?" Crystal asked.

"There's no time," Shiva informed both of his young apprentices. "The Keyblade War is upon us. I'm going to try to dissuade as many as I can from fighting at that fated location, but it might already be too late."

"I'm coming with you," Scythe volunteered himself for the task.

"Me too," Crystal insisted.

"No, one of you must remain here to defend this world from the Heartless," Shiva asserted.

"Then it should be Crystal," Scythe recommended. "With just one of us here it should be her because she's the strongest between the two of us. That way we can be sure we'll still have a world to return to once our task is over."

"An excellent point," Shiva agreed. "If you were old enough, I'd have made you both Masters by now."

"Okay, but you'd both better make it back safe!" Crystal responded with notable desperation in her voice.

"Right, and once we do, then you and me can start scouring those other worlds out there until we find Blaze," Scythe answered in agreement. "Don't worry, everything will be fine. You'll see."


But everything wasn't fine. The Heartless, they just kept on coming like there wouldn't ever be an end to them. And eventually Crystal blacked out from the exhaustion of fighting them continuously.

"Sorry, it looks like I won't be keeping that promise after all," Crystal heard Scythe's voice within her Dive into the Heart. "I don't think I'll be making it home, in fact. Something happened. Something unexpected. And I guess we must have gotten caught in the crossfire. But Crystal, don't let sadness and grief extinguish your light. You might have been chosen by the Goddess of Light, but you were the one who decided to save all those people. Myself included. I want you to remember you were always special to me. I know you didn't think of me the same way, but I really hope you manage to find someone who will make you feel like you matter. There's a lot of negativity and cruelty in the worlds, but that's why we were going to try to make them a better place, one day at a time, right? That was your dream from the very beginning. Silver couldn't see it. She just wanted to become stronger and gain the recognition of becoming a Keyblade Master. You want to make it so that everyone has a chance to be happy. And there's nothing wrong with that. Just because it's idealistic and sounds hopeless, that doesn't mean it isn't a future worth fighting for. You might lose your way, but the warmth of your kindness will touch the hearts of everyone you meet. So, you know, just keep being you. And find that place where you know you belong because you deserve it too."

Everything went dark for a long time after that.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

The Knights of the Round would fight long and hard trying to get at Makenshi even with the four Sword Dragons at his command (which once again made Shiro go into near convulsions) as his reality marble now had what looked to be an almost full moon night setting, with the sword dragons floating in the sky untouching of anything, being much like the gears, a background feature, while Shiro himself had finally started rebooting after the twelve of the knights had been destroyed in good bits of explosions and color, before the 13th would appear, the biggest of them, and wielding a sword which actually made Unlimited Blade Works shudder and strain to hold together as the large blade landed amongst the Soil-ridden sands, standing up not as a grave marker, but as a tribute to that very warrir as Shiro's eyes immediately went from sky blue to a cold, unfeeling steel Grey in color, and started to stand up while the final knight charged in, aiming to decapitate all the sword dragons, even if it itself was taken down in the action. Kaze of course was narrowing his eyes, and was about to reach for the next bullet when Shiro stumbled over glaring at Kaze "that's enough Kaze!there has to be a way we can talk this out!" Kaze would turn his head to glare into those steel orbs, before pushing Shiro away with narrowed eyes "No. there is no recourse for this traitor... he will be annhilated... even if it costs my own life." he then brought up his hand, and slammed it on the side of the ma-Gan, the three chambers opening up once more after brutally ejecting the now empty bullet casings, and pointed at Shiroi Kumo "i'm not done.. this Soil will be your end!" he then brought out the first bullet with unforgiving eyes "Origin of all... Mother Black!" he called out, sending the black bullet into the first chamber, while he reached for the second one, a bright red that to Shiro, reminded himself of the fires that kicked up whenever he unleashed his reality marble "A heat that will scorch all of creation... Fire Red!" with that, he inserted the second bullet into its chamber, the Ma-Gan glowing a bright golden now as the second one came in "and finally.. the Critical Point of all... Burning Gold!" with that, the Ma-Gan started charging up more and more energy, a lot more than what was used for Knights of the Round before Kaze brought down the Ma-Gan, and then proceeded to point it once more at Makenshi "Burn... burn it all.. I SUMMON YOU! Giga-Phoenix!" he shouted out before firing the Ma-Gan once more, unleashing the triad of spiraling dusty energy blasts, which would converge and shoot straight into the sky, before the sky would actually -Shatter- like glass, and reveal the large fire-bird descending from above, firey wings ready to ignite at a whim. Shiro of course stared at Giga Phoenix, to keep his eyes from seeing what's going on with the sword dragons and the last Knight of the Round, if only to keep his madness and breaking mind from falling completely into chaos, so to speak.

Roveth had finished his first saucer, and was starting a second one, but he had also pulled out a camcorder to put on a tri-pod and capture the fight going on, otherwise he was clearly not minding the entertainment whatever that fight was doing was giving, as he didn't even notice the sharp violent tugs along his mind that had been the slowly awakening personality of the Counter Guardian within Shiro.

Axel of course was watching the show even while chatting it up with his new friend in that Ctarl Ctarl female about various things, seeming to be amused, even when he saw the large firebird, as his inner pyromaniac (inner Chibi-Axel) was cheering on whoever was fighting, cause explosions and fire are cool!  

[[XIII] Roxas]

The four Sword Dragons fulfilled their purpose and were eventually annihilated in their battle against the Knights of the Round, with Makenshi looking on as Kaze readied to fire the Ma-Gan once more.

"This again," the white-haired warrior shook his head. "It still won't work," he assured his determinedly misguided adversary. "Pairing a duet to play into the depths of time... You should sleep!" He reached down and removed two more bottles of Mist from the compartments on his belt, flicking them both gracefully into the air and bisected them with his peculiar blade. "Duet of the Midnight Sun!" This time two of the silvery white Sword Dragons appeared from the Mist, these appearing slightly larger in scale to the four that had appeared previously, as they then charged at Kaze's Giga-Phoenix without delay.


It was hard not to notice when the sky suddenly shattered to reveal the massive Giga-Phoenix. Xion recognized it as being remarkably similar to the Phoenix that had appeared during the Behemoth attack on Wasteland Paradise when that quiet man had appeared during all the chaos. So did this mean that Kaze was also traveling to other worlds in search of that Shiroi Kumo person he had mentioned? Given the intensity of the battle it looked like he might even have found him somehow on this one.

"And no one is trying to stop this?" Xion watched the battle ensue as all Roveth seemed inclined to do was to setup a camcorder on a tripod to record the action and nothing more. "I mean, what if it triggers an avalanche or something?"

Roxas was only seeing the parts of the action that were visible from the window of the room he had taken Crystal to. And aside from the sound of the sky shattering like glass to unveil the Giga-Phoenix he really hadn't been paying very much attention to what was going on outside as he was quite a bit more concerned about keeping an eye on Crystal. The last time she'd gone into this sort of trance she had come out of it mere minutes later, but it seemed like this time it was dragging out much, much longer.


Within Crystal's consciousness she was finally flung from the broken door out onto on the stained glass panel that was her own Dive into the Heart with the smaller, angrier version of herself peering down at her with a combination of amusement and contempt.

"So, I trust this time I have your full undivided attention," the younger one spoke in a mocking tone.

Crystal was visibly shaken by what she had seen, but realizing she had been somehow cast into the depths of her own mind again allowed her to begin to snap herself out of it. "You know, there are better ways to get my attention than by recapping why I don't talk about my old life," Crystal cast a glare at the younger one.

"You treat your past like it never happened," the younger one retorted. "What would your friends say to that?"

"They know I'm doing the best I can," Crystal snapped back. "And my old friends wouldn't want me to grieve over them by dwelling forever on a past that can't be changed!" She flicked her left hand out at her side to summon Light's Shadow and did the same with her right to summon Angelic Prism into hand as well.

"Oh, you're serious this time," the younger one smirked as she brought out the familiar forms of World's Rift and Time Warp. "Now that's more like it!"

"Was I really this much of an idiot?" Crystal stared disdainfully at the image of her younger self. "If you're really supposed to be me, then you'd know when it comes to a battle I'm never not serious!"

"That's good because neither am I," the younger one retorted as an array appeared overhead. "Summon, Bahamut! Mega Flare!" she decided to get the ball rolling, as it were, with the familiar flashy display of raw power from the Dragon King himself.

"Che, using my own summons against me," Crystal twirled her own blades in hand and pointed them up at the demonic looking Dragon King. "Two can play at this game and I'm not about to lose! Summon, Typhoon! Disintegration!" The rather small and unimpressive looking summon appeared from an array in front of Crystal's own feet and flew up into the air to begin compressing Bahamut under the pressure of densely packed space before the Dragon King even had time to ready his magic blast.

"Now stop screwing around!" Crystal rushed forward, casting Haste on herself to accelerate even faster, to start exchanging direct blows with her younger counterpart.

This internal battle naturally manifested externally as Crystal went into minor convulsions in her sleep although she seemed to be making a conscious effort to keep her real body from moving while she fought inside her dreamscape at the moment.

"This definitely isn't normal," Roxas knew well enough from having watched Crystal sleep on what was becoming a pretty regular basis that she was usually calm and peaceful. Clearly, this wasn't normal sleep. And whatever was going on inside that head of hers had gotten turbulent somehow. There was something more to it than though. It was like a feeling of white-hot anger, totally different from the fear induced rage that Crystal had previously directed at Kefka. "What is going on in there, huh? You'd better wake up soon so you can at least tell me that much," Roxas was really worried by this point, but he was trying to stay optimistic damn it.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiro of course watched as the three beings begun to fight, with Giga Phoenix fighting beak and talon, and of course, the two sword dragons aiming to impale the bird, it was quite a spectacle, however the steel-eyed Incarnation of sword had had enough, even as more sword dragons faded into the background of his reality marble, the Counter-Guardian within was far more aware of the situation, and took control as he grumbled a bit "Time Alter... Square Accel!" he said, just as he used the Black Blood to harden and reinforce his internals, and reinforcement magics to his legs, proceeding to launch up into the air, and while in mid air Apocalypse had shown himself at the counter-guardian's will, destroying the shirt he had on (Again) before the demon sword got the hint, and overlaid its arms with Shiro's to make them two black and white spiked almost draconic arms, before two words came out of the sword incarnation's mouth "Trace... ON!" with that, he would fling both hands to the side, quickly and under the power of Time Alter Square Accel, quickly trace out two copies of the first peculiar weapon within Shiro's Reality Marble, the Goldion Hammer, into each hand, the augmenting from Apocalypse's help did keep his arms from recoilingbadly from just touching the hammer handles, and gave him enough time to reinforce the arms next before he proceeded to turn a bronze colored tan on his skin, apparently the magic and tracing over-use starting to kick in as he narrowed his eyes "saa... HIKARI NI... NAAAAAARRRRREEEEEEEEEEE~!" he shouted, both hammers shining golden in color before he did a 360 degree front-flip, and proceeded to slam the twin hammers, shining brightly, right into the Duet sword dragons and Giga Phoenix's head, proceeding to send them careening off a bit before the effects of the hammers would be seen scattering their heads, and soon the rest of their bodies, for pretty sparkly light motes to be seen while they returned to their summon dimension, and Shiro once done, would land back on the ground, ignoring the screaming protest of his body as the Time Alter after effects hit, he managed thankfully to stave off the majority of the damage with the Black Blood's help as he glared at both fighting men, moreso at Kaze however as those molten steel eyes burned, and a cold, almost -GLACIAL- presence began pressing down on the area "that is quite ENOUGH out of both of you.. especially you Kaze." of course, Kaze would bring up the Ma-Gan, almost about to start another summoning sequence when the MaGan pulsed, and radiated power, as if resonating quite powerfully with Shiro, and sensing the boy's intent, the Magan would start slowing down, and starting to invert on itself and return to it's casing form which caused Kaze to go slightly wide-eyed in surprise with the wind blowing and fluttering his cloak, staring at the now re-frozen Ma-Gan. Shiro of course just looked between the two parties, and seeing no more fighting at the moment, would dismiss both hammers, and look to Makenshi with that hollow, cold gaze from his steel orbs (and the intimidating crimson red one from his third eye) "from what i can tell from your voice before... this started, that you were surprised at what Kaze mentioned." he would look right back to Kaze "so, here is what i propose. you will stand down, Kuroki Kaze, and with me as a mediator between you two, we will talk this out like civilized gentlemen and get to the bottom of this. is this understood?" Kaze of course just glared into Shiro's own eyes who was glaring back, before turning his head to the side as if saying 'tch. whatever.' and Shiro once more glanced to Shiroi Kumo and all "is this agreeable as well with you?" he asked, though he seemed to be showing some favoritism for Shiroi Kumo, he wasn't, he really was impartial at the moment as he would smite either of them down the moment they started looking hostile at each other again.

Roveth meanwhile had at least gotten the footage on tape as he sipped on the sake, looking much more relaxed than he had for the past few worlds, especially after the Soul-Eater one. "looks like the battle's over to me, and i can hazard a.. 'hic!' guess as to who stopped it. Shiro." he would swirl the sake in the saucer a moment before taking another sip "Shiro can be a force of nature.. 'hic!' when he wants to be. Vanitas knows that, and quite a few... 'Hic' of our older enemies the Heartless Generals witnessed that first hand." he smiled, apparently not even worried for a second, or even feeling the distinct urging tug and nudge coming from within him via the link with him to Shiro, that was signaling the guardian being awake.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

Makenshi was quite visibly shocked when his Sword Dragons along with Kaze's Giga-Phoenix were both struck down by the strange power of the young man in Kaze's company. However, with Shiro now somehow reigning in Kaze's hostility for the moment, Makenshi quieted released his hold on the hilt of his peculiar blade dismissing it to re-attach itself onto the back of his belt as a gesture to show he had no intention of showing any further aggression either.

"Indeed, I suppose conversing with the both of you might be the only way to clarify this rather elaborate misunderstanding," Shiroi Kumo gave a nod to Shiro while also seeming a bit wary of him. Shiro did just banish their summoned beasts by his own hand so clearly he wasn't one to be trifled with. "While I can't speak as to why Kuroki Kaze now perceives me to be his enemy once again, it is true that I was there to witnessed when his world was plunged into the darkness not long after my own world became lost to me, but the one responsible was an incarnation of Chaos that we worked together to eliminate. Goodness, that must have been centuries ago by now. The last time we crossed paths, Kuroki Kaze here was aloof and antagonistic like always, but we parted on terms of mutual respect, or so I had gathered. And from that I would hazard to guess that his current state of memory alteration must have occurred somewhat recently. Certainly, with his power being what it is, having him wrongfully chasing after me is an effective means of keeping him diverted from his real adversaries, whomever they may be.


"That might very well be true, but something triggered him to activate the black blood inside of him for Crystal to have the reaction that she did," Xion reminded Roveth. "Do you really think it's safe to just leave him along at a time like this?"

The light show had ended without the rest of the inhabitants being none the wiser as to what had taken place further down the mountain.


Crystal was very quickly gaining the upper hand in the mental duel she was having with her younger self, but when Shiro resonated even more strongly with the black blood that whole plan dissolved away as she was once again flung into the broken door to take another plunge into the latent memories of her own past.

"Wow, who knew you could inflict so much damage with a plastic prop sword?" Blaze examined the toy sword Crystal held aloft as a group of wild eyed and certainly much larger children, bullies from the look of them, all ran off scattering to the corners of the playground at an elementary school.

"Technique is everything," Crystal nodded sagely while appreciating the lines of scorch marks in the ground where she had projected blades of high velocity heated air as a means of intimidation. "If you know the right way to use it, anything can become a weapon. Anyway, it doesn't really matter. I only did it because those other kids were seriously bugging me."


"Come on, there's someone I want you to meet," Blaze urged Crystal on as he took her to meet Scythe, who was quite a lot smaller and seemed almost terrified by the introduction. "This is Scythe. He's been picked on a lot and doesn't have a lot of friends so I told him he should talk to you. You seem to be pretty good at chasing away the mean kids and he needs all the help he can get."

"We've met," Crystal scratched behind her ear looking embarrassed. "His older brother, Tyriel, is my sword master."

"Oh, well then that should speed this up nicely!" Blaze remained undeterred.


"You live with my brother at the castle, right?" Scythe asked as the three of them sat on the branch of a large tree overlooking a proud and noble waterfall carving its way down an impressive mountainside.

"Well, I don't exactly live with Tyriel," Crystal admitted. "He's sort of like my guardian, I guess, and I do spend the night in the armory sometimes, but I don't really see him too much outside of sword training. He had more free time when I was younger, but lately he's become more busy since he's been made a captain and all."

"I've barely ever even seen him since he became a knight not long after I was born," Scythe explained. "I've thought about becoming one myself so I could meet him again, but I don't think I'd be brave enough to join the royal army."

"Then don't," Crystal pointed out. "If it doesn't seem like the right fit for you, then there's no reason you should force yourself."

"But you know what might be neat?" Blaze inquired suddenly.

"No, what?" Crystal and Scythe both glanced at him in unison.

"I've heard rumors that an eccentric Keyblade Master has been visiting our world lately in search of apprentices," Blaze answered with a grin. "My parents are thinking about introducing me to him so I'll stay out of the Gummi Ship workshop. Wouldn't it be great if we all became apprentices together?"

"A Keyblade Master, huh?" Crystal nodded. "I've heard about him from Tyriel. It sounds like they go way back and were friends before he became a knight and this guy, Shiva, I think his name was, went off to become a Keyblade Master."

"Only thing is you kinda need to have the knack for it," Blaze pointed out. "Not just anyone can wield a Keyblade. They're a bit choosy about their wielders."

"Well then there's no reason we can't at least find out whether or not we've got the knack for it," Crystal reminded him. "Come on, let's all go together."


"Impressive, you all seem to have the gift," Shiva smiled pleasantly at all the three of them. "And there was one other apprentice I managed to snag. Her name is Silver and she'll be joining us for training beginning tomorrow. Do try to get along with each other, okay?"

Crystal, Blaze, and Scythe all nodded enthusiastically while each brandishing their own distinctive Keyblades.


"So, you're all set to become a Keyblade Master," Tyriel smirked while admiring the blade shown to him. "When you're older, of course. They've got pretty strict age restrictions about that. Of course, it's a wonder you were even given this chance to become an apprentice so young. Still, I'd say it's a more elegant and fitting weapon for you than any ordinary sword. You should be proud."

"Well, I don't know that I have what it takes to become a Master, but as long as it allows me to help people on other worlds, I'll defeat as many Heartless as I can," Crystal gave an eager smile.


"You really are amazing, you know," Scythe spoke as he and Crystal were idly smacking down some nearby Shadow Heartless. "You learn new skills so fast and you put them into action even faster."

"I keep telling you it's because I've had years of practice already," Crystal retorted while making a wide sweep with her blade to knock down several of the encroaching Shadows at once as the two stood back to back.

"And I still think you're being too modest," Scythe replied unabashedly. "You have genuine talent. I get why you dislike being reminded about your title of being a princess, but why not take some credit for being skilled the way you are with a Keyblade?"

"Come on, do I really have to spell it out for you? In the eyes of the Unions we're only apprentices, and probationary ones at that on account of our ages, and there are tons of other much more experienced wielders out there than me," Crystal responded. "It'll be years before I've honed my skills enough to even think of trying to become a Master."

"Well, whatever you decide to do, you know I've got your back and I'll always be rooting for you," Scythe assured her. "And Blaze too, whenever we can drag him out of the Gummi Ship workshop."

"He's been pretty lousy at keeping up with missions lately," Crystal agreed. "We should check up on him tomorrow since Master Shiva hasn't been around lately either."


"The Keyblade War... just what is it?" Crystal asked while having one of her rare meetings with her elder brother.

"Ah, so you've heard of it now too," Jake frowned sadly. "Unfortunately, it's a prophesied event that will take place in the very near future. The Foretellers who guide the Keyblade Unions know of it as well and nothing that has been done has managed to change those predictions. Very soon, also, I fear that our own world will succumb to the darkness at the hands of the forces of Chaos. Time has become disjointed and unstable. Tyriel has been leading our knights to determine the cause of this 'time compression' incident. Even if they discover the cause, however, there is little that can be done to alter the course of history going forward."

"This all has to do with that thing they've been talking about in Daybreak Town," Crystal frowned deeply. "Everyone keeps talking about how they're going to be the first to find Kingdom Hearts. Just what is it?"

"The heart of all worlds," Jake answered. "Off limits to the realm of mortals. However, this time compression incident might have helped to expose it somehow."

"Well, I'll defend the castle to my last breath so you don't have to worry about the Heartless," Crystal reminded him. "You have my word on that."


Crystal finally emerged outside the broken door again. "Ugh... I really can't take much more of that," she grumbled while rubbing her head mildly.

"You can't own up to the past you abandoned can you?" Her younger self was still there to mock her.

"I never abandoned my past!" Crystal growled out at her. "There's no going back so I had to concentrate on making a new life for myself here in the present. That's really all there is to it. I don't need to weigh my new friends down with all that old baggage. And besides... I'm not ready to talk about it."

"Because you don't want your new friends to pity you," her younger self retorted. "You're so predictable. You were always the strong one so you try to keep up appearances."

"Actually, I don't," Crystal lunged forward, snatching her younger self in a binding grab while pinning both her arms behind her back to prevent her doing anything foolish like trying to make another battle out of it. "I've lost plenty of battles. Sure, I was undefeated in my original era because I always chose my opponents carefully until I was left with no other choice against that army of Heartless, but now I fight to protect what I care about. And sometimes that means relying on the strength of others to see our way to victory. I've had to depend a lot more on Shiro to defeat our mutual enemies than I ever could have on my own."

"Are seriously trying to bore me again with this humility nonsense?" her younger self wriggled in protest.

"Not at all," Crystal let her younger self go, allowing her to stumble her own way across the platform they both were standing on. "I might not pack the raw strength necessary for vanquishing my fiercest enemies, but the power I do have is far greater than anyone could have ever imagined." She placed a hand over her own heart. "This power that flows from within me to be shared with everyone I meet. My light might not be the purest or the brightest, but it's resilient enough to revitalize a dying goddess and it has served as a fine enough beacon to those who have had need of it. I'll do what I've set out to do and I'll keep helping as many people as I can. It's what we all would have wanted."

"I really can't stand it when you get all mushy like this," her younger self answered in a huff. "Fine, go on, get out of here!"


Crystal woke with a start, in part because she didn't immediately recognize her surroundings until her gaze finally settled on Roxas in the room and she managed to settle herself back down. "I'm so glad that's over."

"It seemed like whatever you got pulled into this time it must have been pretty intense," Roxas observed.

"I'll say it was. I kept losing lucidity so I couldn't even fight back against it," Crystal sighed tiredly. "I guess my past must really have it in for me. She wasn't pulling any punches this time."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Roxas asked still visibly concerned over what had happened. Crystal was out of it a lot longer than the last time this had happened and it was scary to think what they could even do if she hadn't managed to pull herself out of it.

"I don't want to talk about it," Crystal sighed again while shaking her head. "But you know what else? I think, at this point, I might need to talk about it anyway. If I don't it'll probably just keep eating away at me like this forever."

"Well, we can start by going back outside to soak in the hot springs," Roxas suggested. "You might feel better outside."

"Right, hot springs!" Crystal sat up again sounding more cheerful already. Of course she slowed down a bit seeming a bit more thoughtful about the whole situation. "And thank you for being here. I really needed that."

"Any time," Roxas smiled at that sentiment.

And soon after that they would have slipped back outside to try to get comfortable in the hot springs again.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiro just looked at Kaze once more, before finally relaxing, the Black blood cooling off, and Apocalypse had also returned to within Shiro's body though he had not worked to get another shirt as he was more focused on keeping Kaze from doing anything stupid. once that was done he'd let his presence up on the two, and would focus a bit on sensing signatures, before nodding "alright, i think i found my friends, so let's head up the mountain, i don't know about you, Shiroi Kumo.. but i think Kaze -really- needs to take a dunk in the hotsprings to cool off, as do i." he said, lightly motioning for them to follow him, Kaze just stared at Shiro's back, of course, if both were observant, they'd definitely see the starburst looking scar right over Shiro's heart and with his back to them they could see the matching one as well as he sighed lightly to himself "man.. i'm gonna catch hell from Crystal and i know it.." he muttered to himself a bit while walking along, with Kaze finally following, as he had questions to ask Shiro, especially the fact that the Ma-Gan seemed to resonate with Shiro quite strongly.

Roveth meanwhile just gave off a shrug as he hummed a bit "looks like he solved it himself after he snapped out of whatever had him rebounding on Crystal." he said nonchalantly while waving to Crystal and Roxas's return. "looks like things handled themselves for the most part." he said, stopping the recording on the camcorder so he could put it away for later video editing and all. of course, behind Roveth who was now resuming his casual sipping on Sake, one would see Shiro starting to make it to the others.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

The white-haired swordsman graciously accepted the invitation to accompany Shiro and Kaze back up the mountain. At the moment he didn't really have anywhere in particular to be going and he did wish to clarify with Kaze, if at all possible, that he is not his enemy so that the other man would preferably cease pursuing across the worlds. Naturally, Shiroi Kumo was also immensely curious about this strange boy who could banish his and Kaze's summoned beasts and whose body was riddled with scars that were incomprehensible for his tender age. Beyond that, Makenshi was only vaguely curious about this Crystal person whom Shiro had mentioned as after that whole awesome display of power it was fascinating that there could be someone who exists to keep someone as powerful as Shiro in line. So, the white-haired swordsman kept quiet as he followed the other two up the mountain to where the resort was situated.

Of course, rather than being lectured by Crystal upon arrival as Shiro might have expected, he would be greeted by the sight of Crystal and Roxas both staring at him in alarm, taking in his newly tanned skin and mistaking him very rapidly for his Counter Guardian counterpart from within his Reality Marble to the point that they backpedaled rapidly until tripping over some of the loose sediment at the bottom of the hot springs pool and subsequently gurgling beneath the surface. When they resurfaced, sputtering from the sudden submersion, they had a little more time to examine Shiro and come to realize that he didn't actually have the same ominous presence as his Counter Guardian self, although his appearance was nonetheless deeply unsettling, especially with Crystal and Roxas both already worn down to their last nerves respectively by the whole rebound incident so fresh in their minds.

"So you did find that man from that desert world we visited," was Xion's main observation of Shiro's arrival. "And someone else too."

"Shiroi Kumo," the white-haired swordsman introduced himself with a gentle bow. "Pleased to make your acquaintance. I do hope myself and Kuroki Kaze haven't caused your group too much trouble."

"Ah, so he's the guy Kaze was looking for," Crystal realized once she had managed to catch her breath after taking the momentary plunge beneath the surface in her panic to get away from what she thought was the Counter Guardian but who she now knew was only Shiro with the same unusually tan skin-tone. She was sure there must be an explanation for it, but given she still had tons of explaining to attend to herself she wasn't really inclined to give Shiro a hard time about it right now. "But wait, he doesn't seem like a bad guy to me either."

"You're right," Roxas was inclined to agree. This Shiroi Kumo guy was very polite and didn't seem like the type to go around making enemies. "There must be some sort of misunderstanding."

"That's what we're hoping to clear up," Shiroi Kumo answered with a soft smile. It was humbling to be welcomed so graciously.

"So, Shiro, what happened to your shirt?" Crystal decided to change the subject for the moment, if only to ease some of the tension she was still feeling bogged down with. "Did you decide you wanted to show off your scars to your new friends?"  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiro would blink a bit despite his steel grey eyes, with the third eye closed, it was slowly bleeding back to the hollow yet expressive ice blue eyes he had "uhm..." he said, looking down, before proceeding to comically dive into the hotsprings and seemed to look -very- red in embarrassment at showing his scars out in public once more, causing Roveth to laugh wholeheartedly and a dirty look to come form Shiro before he raised his head to reveal his neck at least so he could talk properly "it kinda happened when i had to ask Apocalypse to help bolster my arms when holding the Goldion Hammer." he said with a squeak, before sighing "speaking of, i assume from the.. haggard and slightly distressed look that i accidentally caused another Black Blood rebound when i saw Shiroi Kumo's sword, and his.. peculiar summons. not to mention the crimson haired one's first summon." he would look to Kaze, who had settled into the water calmly enough, not worried about water getting in the Ma-Gan and all. "... Shiroi... Kumo. tell me... is what your saying true? that it was not you, but an Incarnation of Chaos?" he asked, while Shiro frowned a bit, thinking a bit and looking to Kaze in particular with a very piercing gaze which actually unnerved Kaze a slight bit given the slight bead of sweat running form his cheek, before Shiro sighed a bit lightly "well, from what i can tell he doesn't have any concussions or any sign of brain trauma, so amnesia is out..." Kaze would look at Shiro closely a moment despite only seeing just a head.

Roveth just giggled a bit when he saw Crystal and Roxas trip, and had laughed when Shiro realized he had no shirt on again, just smiling with his reddened cheeks and sipping on sake "Oi, Aibou, maybe you need to relax and have some fun, come drink sake with me~!" this caused Shiro to stop thinking a moment on the current issue and snap his head around with an immediate frown on his face "what do you mean Sake? we're underage, present guests nonwithstanding!" he'd then get up, reveling his front and back again with hand going up quickly "Shiro CHOP!" he called out, before sending Roveth burbling into the water KO'ed from the hand chop, and the clear anger-vein on Shiro's head about it. granted, Roveth would get back up not too long later, rubbing his clearly comically indented head "jeez aibou, can we do without the skull abuse!?!" Shiro glared even more, before sighing, and slumping back down in the water, relaxing more naturally despite at least not hiding the particular scar he wanted to hide from Crystal the most "... you are a riot, Roveth, an utter- riot-." he said with sarcasm literally pooling from his mouth.

Axel had finally pulled himsellf out of the lava-springs he was enjoying way too much with almost a longing sigh, before bidding his farewell to the Ctarl Ctarl woman to head back down to the others, since he could at least sense them. it'd take a few minutes but probably about shortly after Shiro 'chopped' Roveth, Axel would be seen coming down in his towel with a hum as he looked to everyone, but more particular Kaze, because something had bugged him about the man, something familiar... wait... "i see you guys have been having a blast, some more literal than others." he said, glancing to Shiro and seeing the tanned scarred skin with a raised eyebrow.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"Whether or not you feel you can believe my words, what I am telling you is the truth," the white-haired swordsman answered softly, a distinctly pained note of sadness in the way he spoke. "Those were very dark times and many worlds were lost, not only being swallowed by the darkness themselves, but their inhabitants consumed by the monster we called the Count. Cosmos and Chaos had both already vanished from the worlds, but a remnant of Chaos did remain, although far from being the proud and noble God of Darkness, he was nothing more than a gluttonous and endless abyss of a stomach with a taste for mortal suffering. I suppose, in some small way, Chaos was making one last bid at returning to power. It was your sister, Aura, who pleaded with us to join forces to finally put a stop to him, although admittedly our victory came much too late, long after both our worlds were already lost."

"That's a really sad story," Crystal piped up from where she had settled down next to Roxas in the hot springs. "But wouldn't that all have happened like centuries ago? I mean, you both barely seem older than most of us. Are you guys like immortal or something?"

"I suppose that's one way of describing it, although not entirely accurate," Shiroi Kumo gave as an answer. "The terminology I've generally heard used to describe us both is 'Unlimited'. Power that surpasses even the gods. We can still die, but for us death is only a minor temporary inconvenience as we resurrect almost immediately afterward." He gestured to Shiro. "Your friend here also shows signs of having the same potential."

Of course, now that Crystal was no longer floundering about in the water to evade the perceived Counter Guardian and the white-haired swordsman had gotten a better look at her he now realized he had seen her before, centuries ago, although she had been far younger and much more brash and aloof than she appeared now. Shiroi Kumo was genuinely surprised by this newest realization. Even if he hadn't recognized the girl by her appearance, there was no mistaking the familiar presence of Cosmos's power sleeping within the crystal inside of her. Somehow, although it hardly seemed possible for her to be here now and only marginally older than she had been back then, it was the same girl.

"The Princess of the Last Light," Makenshi spoke with a note of awe and reverence. "You've grown up well, although I find it difficult to imagine how you can be here now. From what I had heard you were lost to the darkness centuries ago."

"Wait, back up, did people really call me that?" Crystal was more taken aback by the title than the sudden recognition this white-haired swordsman seemed to suddenly have of her. But then she realized she recognized him too because he was the same rather remarkable swordsman who had once bested Tyriel in a fantastic duel the first time they had met. No wonder the name had sounded so familiar! "No way, you're the same Shiroi Kumo from back then? The one who beat Tyriel? I mean, he said you only beat him by using magic, but come on, that was still amazing! And hold on, weren't you supposed to be a prince or something?"

"Your Master Tyriel was an extraordinary swordsman," Shiroi Kumo answered although he was clearly showing shades of embarrassment behind that mask of his. "One of the best, in fact. Even without magic, he was one of our greatest allies against the forces of Chaos. Your kingdom was fortunate to have had him."

"Anyway, it's true that I was apparently locked away in the Realm of Darkness for a time," Crystal continued. "I don't really know how it happened because I was unconscious at the time, but when I woke up I managed to use the power of the Keyblade to return to the Realm of Light and I found myself in a place called Twilight Town. By my own personal timeline, that was about four years ago."

The white-haired swordsman couldn't seem to contain himself as he actually laughed at Crystal's utterly vague, yet highly informative explanation. "He was actually right. Your brother predicted in his prophecies that although you were lost to the darkness beyond time, someday you would manage to find your way home even if you couldn't recognize where you were."

"Wait, what?" Crystal was understandably confused.

"Your world still exists. It isn't the same, of course. The kingdom fell long ago," Shiroi Kumo regained his composure while trying to explain. "But in its place a prosperous and flourishing town was built, the world called Twilight Town. You see, they're one and the same."

"You're serious?" Crystal was beyond surprised, teetering on the edge of full blown shock, thank you very much.

"He did say you never had much sense of direction," added the white-haired swordsman. "Although they do say the world only survived because of the sacrifice of the lost princess. A young prodigy wielding a Keyblade, one who never backed down and refused to give the Heartless or the darkness an edge. One of the last Warriors of Light chosen by Cosmos herself."

"Oh man, Roveth is never going to let me live this down," Crystal mumbled while sinking down into the hot springs and making bubbles as she went red in the face with embarrassment.

"So then that means this whole time without even knowing it she was actually from Twilight Town all along?" Roxas seemed to find this point entirely too amusing for some reason.

"Yes, that's exactly what it means," Crystal was flailing now. "How did I overlook something so very, very obvious!"  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Roveth was giving Shiro his usual angry glare over being chopped, but when Crystal started flailing and Makenshi's explanation of Crystal's arrival in their time made him start cackling like a madman, before sinking back underwater laughing and burbling in it quite a bit from said laughing, unable to help it given he was drunk and actually enjoying things, but yes, in large part Roveth will -NOT- let this one go, much like he won't let go his slight grudge with Crystal over the Synthesis items debacle.

Shiro was looking like he almost wanted to Chop Roveth again when he had glanced to Makenshi a bit in mild surprise at his mention of him being an 'Unlimited'. "eh? really?" he'd tilt his head a bit, before shaking his head a bit and sighing "i don't think i have that potential." he said, it seemed the 'cooling off' from using the hotsprings was helping, as slowly the tanning of his skin was fading to reveal his usually pale skin and all, not as pale as Roveth is, but still as pale as Makenshi "as for that story..." he looked down, almost losing himself in thought, mainly because of what he felt when he laid eyes on both Makenshi's sword, and Knights of the Round, it seemed he had seen the 'history' of the blade quite well. Kaze just kept silent for now and was thinking on it, but something else bothered him. "... you do have the potential, kid. you not only stopped my Giga Phoenix and Makenshi's Sword Dragons, but... the Soil is responding to you." Shiro blinked a bit, before tilting his head "Soil?" Kaze would nod as he brought out a bullet, which looked like the one he used for Giga Phoenix: Fire Red, as it pulsed vibrantly "... Crystals of life, lost to the darkness, destroyed by Chaos, or their own destruction, can be found sometimes across the dimensions... it can be a powerful catalyst, which helps empower one's attacks, or in my case, as an Unlimited... summon powerful creatures to fight for me, with the help of the Ma-Gan." Shiro blinked a bit, tilting his head lightly "you froze the thawed Ma-Gan... tell me, why did it respond to you?" Shiro just blinked, staring a moment, while apparently confused and had no idea, he'd lok to Makenshi hoping the swordsman had an idea as to why.

Axel would chuckle a bit, but settled into the springs next to Roxas and Xion with a thoughtful frown as he looked at Kaze more, narrowing his eyes "hmm... for some reason i can't help but shake the feeling i've seen him before we met him at the wasteland paradise... and i -think- i might have an idea where... Castle Oblivion.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"You haven't yet realized the full extent of your true potential, but that doesn't mean you don't have it," Shiroi Kumo went on to say as Shiro looked to him. "I don't pretend to understand the workings of Kaze's Ma-Gan, but it is clear to me that it seeks to protect and purify, not to destroy. That is probably why it resonated with you."

On that note, a second Ma-Ken would appear, this one materializing in front of Shiro directly, although this blade was notably different from Makenshi's own peculiar blade in that the parts that were white on his were colored red on this one. "It would seem, also, that my dear brother's old sword yearns to be taken up by a new master as well," the white-haired swordsman added with a note of sentimental sadness. "So, as you can see, it isn't up to you to decide the true nature of your potential. Your only choice is to decide how you will hone it."

"Castle Oblivion, huh?" Roxas frowned at the mention of the place. The place where Xion had come from. The place where when searching for Xion he could barely enter a few steps before collapsing.

"If that's true, it would explain how his memory might have been altered," Xion nodded in understanding although she didn't like hearing about Castle Oblivion again either.

"It sounds to me like that place is more trouble than it's worth," Crystal finally resurfaced from her earlier embarrassment to comment on it. "Still, if Kaze did have his memory altered inside Castle Oblivion, then that means Xemnas was at least partly behind it, and that means Xehanort by association."  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiro would blink a bit, still looking skeptical, but upon seeing the new blade actually in front of him it took every ounce of control and grip on his sanity to keep his mind together and break once more, thankfully he succeeded and the black blood had not been even so much as risen in temperature, but the memories "... your brother's... Madoushi..." he muttered, reaching out to touch it, more memories forming, also giving Shiro a startling sharp migraine as the blade did not show in his reality marble, but the one in his hand now definitely bonded to him as the gem within the center went from the vibrant purple color, to a solid steel silver, before turning back as it floated around, and gently moved to press itself against Shiro's back, as if there was a holster there, which there wasn't but it was staying at the moment so he couldn't feel bad about it ".... ugh..." he would sit down once more, just as a saucer was passed to him from Roveth, he gladly took it and just sipped the sake with a groan and laid back "... your world... yours and Kaze's... looked to be very interesting worlds." he said, rubbing his temples a bit while trying to sort through the information flooding through his head, seeing an invisible spectre of Madoushi appear near Makenshi, mouthing the words 'protect my brother', before vanishing as he sighed "well... right.." he just chuckled a bit "hone it.. much like a sword has to be sharpened to retain its keen edge..." he almost wanted to say a line of his Aria, but he left it be for now as he sighed rubbing his head "... so all in all i just gained a new set of powers to work with, and a massive headache. well, the headache is at least manageable.. Shiroi Kumo, you're wlecome to journey with us for a while, at least until we can get Kaze's memories fixed, and i learn the basics of using this... Mist sword i now have."

Kaze just looked to the others, seemingly agreeing with Makenshi about the MaGan, however for some reason while the soil is calling for Shiro, it seemed to also be drawn towards the blue haired one in Roveth, however he kept himself silent on it once more to think, as he instead asked "what is this Castle Oblivion?" Roveth glanced over, while Axel spoke up "Castle Oblivion is a place that seems to hold some odd secret, and used to be one of the headquarters of ORganization XIII, a group of nobodies that were.. controlled by a piece of Xehanort, his nobody named Xemnas, and those within Castle Oblivion slowly lose their memories, well, at least, they are subjected to the will of the castle. but given what i remember from Vexen's Research as well as Zexion's.. there was something about a crimson haired gunman being brought to Castle Oblivion to have his memories altered i think..." he said, frowning lightly, while getting up "give me a moment to make a call to Isa." he said, heading off to find a nearby phone booth or building where he could borrow a phone to call Isa up and ask if he could ask Naminé if she remembers any crimson haired gunmen being brought to Castle Oblivion.

Roveth just hummed a bit lightly, while blinking a bit when the MaGan started moving, in the gem eye, before what looked to be it starting to turn to dust, but it was really shedding parts of itself which it regenerated, but the parts breaking off were flowing towards Shiro, to touch onto him, before moving to Roveth, and forming into a similar golden casing around his own left arm, before it started to glow, and slowly turn not silver, but a platinum in color, with Kaze going mildly surprised in seeing that "... that is new." he said, looking to his own MaGan and then to Roveth's platinum looking one with a ruby red orb in place of the normal sky blue one., though Kaze seemed to look down, sad, as if thinking on something, which he was thinking about the only one who could probably explain the Ma-Gan's behaviour patterns better than he could, and said person was no longer living, of course, his memories had said person.. brutally murdered in front of Makenshi, but if what the swordsman said was true, then these memories of his were no longer trustworthy.

Axel meanwhile, would find a tourist center of sorts, and head inside to ask to borrow a phone, and proceeded to shell out munny to pay for the call he was about to make, once he did, he'd dial up the number to the Mansion back at Twilight Town, sighing a bit lightly while putting his ear to the phone and all "please be home please be home and god blast it why didn't i buy a cellphone when i had the chance?" of course, there would be a few shops he'd peruse a bit for one so he could have constant contact capabilities with Isa back at home in case he needed to contact the others or something, much like now.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

Much to his chagrin, Isa was still unfortunately in the market to find himself a part-time job in Twilight Town. As such, he was indeed at home at the mansion when Lea decided to call, perusing one of the local newspapers to skim over the wanted ads to see if there was anything that might catch his eye. Of course, given that the transfer in ownership of the mansion was still fairly recent and they hadn't exactly gone around handing out the phone number to just anyone, there were only two people Isa could think of who might be trying to reach himself or Demyx, Namine, or Riku. And as soon as he picked up the receiver and put it to his ear he could easily ear Lea's familiar muttering on the other end of the line.

"Hello Lea," Isa greeted his friend with amusement evident in his tone. "I must say, hearing from you out of the blue like this is rather unexpected. Did something happen?"


Roxas and Xion both watched in confusion as Axel ran off to find a phone to get in touch with Isa. Crystal, meanwhile, stared long and hard at Shiro. Sure, the exchange of weapons all around was fascinating, but it wasn't anywhere near as fascinating as that impressive scar on his chest.

"You're even more indestructible than I thought," Crystal observed. "I mean, a regular person probably wouldn't have survived being impaled through the chest like that. Straight through the heart from the looks of it. And certainly not a wound that would have been left by a Keyblade. Do tell, how long have you been hiding that one?"

"You know, me and Axel went to Castle Oblivion once when we were trying to find you," Roxas mentioned to Xion while only half-listening to hear how Shiro would react to the accusation being thrown at him by Crystal. "But I honestly don't remember any of it. Axel said I collapsed right away and he had to drag me back to Twilight Town."

"That's not surprising given Castle Oblivion is where Sora was being kept at the time," noted Xion. "You were lucky to make it out of there at all."

"I wonder about that," Roxas frowned slightly. "I mean, getting that close to Sora when I wasn't prepared for it must have triggered something, but the way Axel was talking it sounds like Castle Oblivion must hold other secrets."

"When I was trying to find out more about myself I did learn one thing about the castle, it's apparently impossible for anyone to explore every room," Xion mentioned vaguely. "It's almost like the castle itself must have a will of its own."

"Okay, I believe in ghosts, I've seen them in fact, and that sounds outright creepy," Crystal interjected. "How about we steer away from visiting the castle of malevolent architecture, okay?"