Kingdom Hearts - Blades of Three Realms

[[XIII] Roxas]

"Something like that," Roxas answered with a shrug. "At least, that's what Crystal said when Xion told us what she was going to be getting up to while we were visiting Divine Dragon Falls again. Xion thinks it will give her a chance to practice more so she'll be better prepared for the next time we visit Atlantica. It's kind of funny because apparently the two lead members of the Magical Dreamers band are actually the children of a famous pirate and a mermaid. Honestly, it's not hard to see why Crystal keeps coming back to this world. It's easy to blend in when basically everyone who lives on these islands would stand out anywhere else."


When Xion got back to the inn she was certainly glad to see that both Roxas and Crystal were notably in much better spirits than when she had left them in the afternoon, most likely aided somewhat by Roveth's return as well. The following day was, of course, met with sailing to yet another of the nearby islands, this time being the mysterious Gaea's Navel, one of the few places in El Nido even Crystal wasn't especially knowledgeable about as it turned out because she hadn't gotten to explore it thoroughly on her own quite yet so that meant this visit was going to be basically a brand new experience for everyone. Well, everyone who decided to tag along at least. That meant Roxas and Xion, for sure, and possibly Roveth and Axel if they decided they were up to it.

"Okay, so all I really know about this island is that the monsters are all prehistoric creatures that are supposedly extinct elsewhere in the world," Crystal explained rather vaguely. "Basically, we don't know what we're getting into exactly, but as a rule prehistoric monsters tend to be huge so it shouldn't be too hard to navigate around them."

"After everything else you've shown us, I think we can probably handle a few giant monsters," Roxas pointed out with some amusement. How much worse could it possibly be than facing off against the different varieties of Darkside or the Twilight Thorn? Not to mention how the magic on this world in particular seemed to follow very specific rules that were exceptionally easy to understand once they were properly explained and basically everything on these islands obeyed those rules so there couldn't be too many surprises.

"That's good because we might have to if some ferocious predator decides we look like tasty snacks," Crystal responded entirely too casually.

"If that's all you're concerned about, then it sounds like this is going to be just another typical day of exploring for you," Xion commented while taking a look around for herself.

"Yep, pretty much," Crystal grinned mildly. "Still, it doesn't hurt to try to be a little careful."  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Roveth had followed along, along with Axel since the latter felt he should spend some time with Xion and Roxas again now, and Roveth went along to not be stir crazy and worry about Shiro, as the fire-wielding former nobody chuckled a bit lightly "okay, so be careful of giant things that bite, not the first time i've had to deal with that." he joked about while idly bringing out his own Chakrams to twirl around a bit while Roveth just chuckled a bit and lightly stretched a bit "well, if we get too pressed i -could- bring out some of my own dinosaurs if need be." he said, chuckling a bit while putting his arms behind his head a moment while continuing to follow.

Shiro of course had been tossed, turned, churned, and dunked at least constantly ever since entering the Dead Sea, though thankfully with the help of Crystal's and Serge's teachings on how to survive in this kind of craziness, plus his own small speed methods, he would continue trekking towards the center of the storm at a snail's pace, but he would at least manage to do so, even with the issues of a terrible storm and a boat out on the sea, so on. Shiro would eventually make it to Lenne's Bell, and once he brought the boat to land so that it could not be washed out to sea again without him, he'd start exploring the place he landed in, basically looking for signs of the Frozen Flame, his senses screaming out that what he was being nudged to was here, but not exactly where was the question... at least for an hour until he narrowed his eyes, as if having eyes on his back, and sure enough when he turned around back towards the bell, there it was, the Frozen Flame, floating down from inside the tilted bell in particular, glowing a golden orange glow as shiro walked up the staircase, and looked at the object lightly ".... Lavos... yet you are not part of the decaying parasite, you're made of the divine essence within Lavos aren't you? the light to Lavos's Darkness..." he muttered, his blue-eyes glowing as if studying the Frozen flame, but he did sigh, and smile a bit "well... let's hope you're right, Namine..." he said, before reaching out, and proceeding to touch the frozen flame, which had begun glowing a bit, before it opened up slightly, showing multiple eyes staring out of the opening, causing Shiro to raise an eyebrow and step back, just as the frozen flame fully morphed from its dormant state to its active state. beginning to glow , and radiate pure light energy much like crystal once did, before suffusing streams of blue and green light right into and through Shiro,, before finally unleashing into a massive explosion of light and energy enveloping the artifact and shiro both, leaving a nice nova to form in the middle of the Dead Sea, and not to mention.. the huge amount of light was enough to start slowly ripping apart and destroying the link between Crystal and Shiro, but not without its own side effects as well as Crystal having the faintest feeling of Shiro being fully.. infused with light and his heart healing rapidly by the ancient energies of the artifact.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

The group had already ventured a good ways inland on the island of Gaea's Navel by the time the resonance from the Frozen Flame was felt by Crystal even as the direct link between her heart and Shiro's began to fade.

"It feels like Shiro must have found it," Crystal mentioned while stopping to press a hand against the trunk of a nearby tree to steady herself just in case of there being any adverse side effects.

"Crystal, you're glowing!" Xion was the first to call out, although they all could see it as it would have been impossible not to notice the distinct light coming off the other girl at the moment.

Crystal stared at the back of her hand pressed against the tree to confirm for herself. "It feels... familiar," Crystal contemplated the glow as she stepped back from the tree. It was definitely the same glow she had seen around her when she had woken up in the Realm of Darkness. Suffice it to say, the monsters in the surrounding jungle were keeping a cautious distance from the glowing human so at least they weren't going to have to worry about being attacked for a little while.

"Is this supposed to happen?" Roxas already sounded worried.

"Everything will be alright. You know what you must do." Crystal nodded as she heard the familiar voice speaking directly into her mind.

"This light... it's Cosmos," Crystal spoke up again. "She's finally waking up and she needs to be set free. Just... give me a minute..." She closed her eyes while cupping both hands over her chest, in front of her heart, as slowly the crystal contained within started to emerge. It was like a small, clear, rounded stone, although it could also be seen that the edges weren't entirely smooth either. The glow that surrounded Crystal began to fade as it became concentrated within the crystal floating between her hands.

"Wait, is it even safe to be doing that?" Roxas was startled to say the least. Based on everything he'd heard that crystal was supposed to be contained within Crystal's heart. So then, wouldn't removing it be dangerous for her?

"Fear not, her heart is not in any danger," Cosmos's voice could now be heard by everyone as the light emitted by the crystal started to radiate outward into an ethereal form of a woman with flowing golden blonde hair and wearing a long white gown embroidered with gold. The woman started out almost totally transparent, but gradually became more solid as the light condensed around her as she levitated several feet off the ground. Eventually the glow from the crystal would disappear completely causing it to seem quite an ordinary stone now that it was no longer emitting all that light. "Crystals like this one are symbols of power for the warriors who fight valiantly to protect the light. Naturally, this means ownership is only temporary as each crystal is meant to be passed down from generation to generation. This girl is the youngest in a long tradition of crystal bearers who have defended the worlds from eminent destruction by the forces of Chaos. However, the burden she has been forced to carry has been greater than most. Light has been nearly extinguished from the worlds more than once and it was only through the hearts of children that what remains of the light has been preserved. I was able to preserve myself within this crystal, drawing power to sustain myself from her strong light, but it has taken far too long for my power to return and it has placed an enormous strain on her life force. Especially when she unknowingly increased the burden on herself even further to save that boy, Shiro, from losing what remained of his heart."

"No, I knew there was a ton of risk involved," Crystal scratched behind her ear looking slightly embarrassed. "But he's my best friend. For a long time he was the only friend I had. I... I didn't want to lose him. I still don't. But I have to think about myself too and the people who care about me. A life doesn't equal a life. Each and every one of us is irreplaceable."

"You did what you felt was right," Roxas reminded her gently. "And because of that Shiro is still alive. You couldn't have known it was going to turn out this way."

"So this is Cosmos? The Goddess of Light who has slept within Crystal all this time?" Xion wondered in awe. There was no denying the otherworldly presence of the strange glowing woman levitating before them.

Cosmos's gaze fell on Roveth. "You should already know that Shiro is fated to become an Agent of Chaos. He is closer to the light than most, but my power cannot help him. That is why the burden fell to Crystal herself to keep what remained of his heart stable, but her light was not sufficient to sustain all three of us. Now that Shiro's heart has been mended his light can grow, but it will be up to him to decide whether or not to let it. He'll need your support, most of all, to achieve his true potential. And, perhaps, he may yet change his unfortunate destiny."  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Axel of course, upon seeing the Goddess did go wide-eyed and paled, before slowly backing off and at least moving to hide behind a tree so he could panic and freak out in quietness, as Roveth sighed, knowing all too well what Cosmos meant about Shiro, as he spoke up "yes, i long since had a feeling he was not one of your warriors, Lady Cosmos, why else would he have such a huge amount of darkness compared to his weak and fading light? its because of that fate as an Agent of Chaos, but if i know Shiro.. if i know my aibou.." he would look down, a small smile showing on his face as he remembered some of Shiro's memories with his mentor and all that "he still would want to save people, so i think becoming eventually what he loathes will unavoidably happen, but i will make sure he will never stray from saving others, stray from the path of being a being of Darkness walking the path of light." he said, looking up with a smile "we all will make sure of it, right, Crystal, Roxas, Xion?" he asked, looking back to the three of them, he knew Axel would also say yes in a heartbeat if he wasn't freaking out and all. "but given that Shiro was at least pushing the darkness into me in either case.. i think he will focus on growing the light within himself and let me handle the incoming darkness." he said honestly enough, as that would be something that Shiro would do, try to work on strengthening the weaker part of himself to match the stronger part, and just let the stronger part grow naturally on its own.

within that nova of light, Shiro would give off a muted cry of pain as he did feel the bonds and links burning away tethering his heart to Crystal's, however his soul itself still had that hole in it, it wouldn't be filled, his true heart however, had started healing at a rapid pace, before returning to being whole, and being filled with quite the powerful light energy, it would take probably a long time for Shiro to master this growing strength, but once the connection was made with the Frozen Flame, he was slowly becoming something.. more... yet still undeniably Shiro Musouka at the same time, especially when the scenery around him changed from bright white to a soft pale green, it seemed by becoming the Frozen Flame's new Arbiter, Shiro was coming into contact with another.. higher.. form of energy, and with the low moans and noises surfacing around him, Shiro had fought through the pain to look around, seeing and feeling the raw mana around him, one particular moan did start becoming clearer to him, though to outsiders it wouldn't "... Lifestream.. mako...?" he muttered, looking around a bit more "... WEAPON...?" he narrowed his eyes, even as his body continued to be healed and his scars except for one that was still cursed to never fade, started to slowly disappear, his arms.. also started to slowly unravel themselves, becoming an organic yet metallic looking silver with wicked looking claws, inside the new forming arms seemed to be oval like gems of various colors: a ruby, a jade, a white-silver pearl, an onyx which was more violet before fading to black on his left arm, on his right arm an Amethyst, a crystal blue topaz, a golden brown amber crystal, and finally, a clear almost prismatic diamond also formed into the back of Shiro's right hand in opposite to Shiro's left where the ruby was at. of course, the arms did bulk up a bit, but not enough to where they sacrificed speed for strength, or the build he went for with the athletics, but the muscles did become very -dense-, yet with a few movements of his hands he was getting the feeling for them via internal structural grasping, he would even feel less.. burdened, to try and call out his inner masks.. his Persona, as Izanagi had whispered to him that what was happening, was lessening the burden of wielding the light, and the Persona both. of course, another moan coming in from the blue-green sea-like area made Shiro's body wince, as he felt something being attached to his shoulders, however, once he got through the pain, he'd look to see that his shoulders would look normal, though he could feel within something.. special, as another moan came in, distracting Shiro ".... tactician.. of WEAPONS...? Prisma WEAPON...? aid.. Silver, Gold, and Crimson WEAPON?" he muttered, before shaking his head a bit as he saw images of Cloud, Sephiroth, and some red haired guy, with information flowing in known as 'Genesis' as he frowned a bit "... i will try to." he finally said, while the frozen flame's light reached for him once more, burying itself deep into Shiro's body with a piercing scream as he felt it, while his main Origin and 'Element' were being left alone, the 7th Element Resonance was filtering the strong light as best it could, while literally it seemed to be engraving into Shiro's soul three new Origins,and with that, the internal gears of Unlimited Blade Works started grinding to a halt, before slowly rusting away and the sky lightening up, from being the dusk of a fallen hero, to the dawn of a new day, the swords literally glowing, as they floated up into the air, following that, Pedestals started forming in which the blades and weapons would now rest upon soft velvet pillows, with tribute plaques it seems, as well as the landscape slowly becoming less of a barren wasteland, and more of a lush grasslands... "I am the Bone of my Sword... Steel is my Body, and Fire is my Blood... I have created... over a thousand blades. Blinded within the light, Yet Unseen in the Darkness... this life... had no meaning.. and yet... these hands... were made to hold everything..." he would close his eyes, the gears from his former reality marble did reappear, bringing a new harmonious sound in the skies, but also being made of a clear crystalline color that shone with white light when the sunlight shone on the gears just right "I am... Unlimited... Blade Works.!" with that, blue-white fire would shrink in on itself, bringing the newly reformed reality marble within Shiro's body, his blue eyes snapping open to reveal a more prismatic coloring within them, though they mainly stayed blue, it was clear he was fully different and yet the same, all in all it took about an hour for everything to finish, and the new.. knowledge.. flowing in within Shiro, that the Frozen Flame floated away from his outstretched hand, before closing itself up, and once the nova of light shrunk down and went within Shiro, the Frozen Flame started fading into a small orange light, and then shot off to who knows where at this point, leaving Shiro, dressed now in his red undershirt, a prismatic silver like jacket, shadow/midnight black pants, and a pair of black leather boots with metal straps much like his counter guardian Self's old shoes, when Shiro looked around and saw he was back at Lenne Square, he would bring up a hand, and focused a bit "Trace... on." he'd say, and in a flash of prismatic light flowing from his circuits, Kanshou would form in hand at its full splendor, shining with an unreal light as he hummed a bit with narrowed eyes, before dismissing the blade once more, and started to make his trek back towards the boat, so he could return back to the dead sea, and return to the others like he promised.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

Naturally, there were nods all around from Crystal, Roxas, and Xion.

"You can count on us!" Crystal chimed in as well just to give a little extra verbal affirmation and all. She glanced down at the crystal still floating conspicuously between her hands. "Almost forgot, back in you go." She moved her hands to pull the crystal back into her chest until it disappeared from view completely and then exhaled a sigh of relief now that that was over with. "So then, Cosmos, where will you go now?"

"For now, I shall return to the Realm of the Gods," Cosmos answered thoughtfully. "I must prepare for my reunion with Chaos. You can be sure now that I have woken from my centuries long slumber that he will also awaken from his long hibernation as well. And when he does we will have much to discuss about keeping the worlds in balance. We will, of course, be counting on all of you, and your other friends too, to prevent Xehanort from attempting to claim Kingdom Hearts on this side. And remember, Crystal, if you ever have need of me, you can always find me in the Spirit Realm."

"Well, I won't rely on that too much, but if it's to visit as a friend, then sure," Crystal nodded with a kind smile.

"Oh yes, I do recall you never did care much for gods, but that's all the more reason why we can so readily depend on you," Cosmos replied in an almost playful manner. "The princess who was cast into darkness and never lost sight of that inner light. I have no doubt that you will continue to carve a lively path through the worlds you visit and that you will make a lasting impression on all the friends you meet. Don't try to hide yourself away from the worlds. Let your light shine the way it is meant to."

"Heh, now that's something you can count on," Crystal gave a slight grin. "I've still got plenty of meddling to do."

"Huh, I wonder what happened to Axel," Roxas turned to Xion while Crystal was busy conversing with Cosmos at the moment. It seemed like everything was fine now, although Roxas couldn't deny that he was still feeling rather worried in general about the whole situation.

"He wandered off over that way for some reason," Xion gestured vaguely to where Axel had ducked off behind a tree to hide for the moment.

"Weird," Roxas folded his arms over his chest looking rather puzzled by Axel's sudden evasiveness. "He's missing out on all the excitement."

"It might take a little time, but pretty soon you will start to feel your old power returning," Cosmos continued to speak amicably with Crystal for the moment. "Once that happens you should consider what you truly believe to be the right path for you. If you have any doubts remaining, then listen to your heart and let it guide you."

"You mean, like that old saying, 'Let your heart be your guiding key' that was once commonly used amongst Keyblade wielders?" Crystal responded with some surprise.

"It seems like pretty sound advice," Xion pointed out.

"True enough," Crystal had to admit. "And besides, mine has yet to steer me wrong."

"Indeed," Cosmos smiled. "You always manage to find where it is you are meant to be."


Shortly thereafter Cosmos would depart to make her return to the Realm of the Gods where she would await her eventual reunion with Chaos. Crystal would start leading the way back to the part of the island where they had secured the boat so they could set sail back to the main island where they would await Shiro's return at Opassa Beach. Naturally that also included a brief stop in Termina to cancel their reservations at the inn as they would be camping out at the beach to wait until Shiro got back.

"I am a little curious about what Cosmos meant when she told you that your old power would be returning," Roxas decided he might as well ask Crystal about that now so that whatever did end up happening wouldn't shock him too badly when it did.

"It's like Cosmos said, while I was sustaining her within myself I wasn't actually deriving any power from that connection," Crystal explained while stretching out on the beach to stare up at the sky. "In fact, my power was being steadily depleted so that my magic reserves were severely restricted as Riku so often likes to remind me. Naturally, combining my heart with Shiro's to keep him stable would have increased the strain, although I was still able to function even with all that weighing on me. I couldn't handle the addition of the black blood and it's associated madness wavelength though. Anyway, if what Cosmos says is true, then I'll be able to use my magic a bit more freely and I'll be able to more fully utilize my higher tier spells and summons too."

"It sounds like you're going to be pretty unstoppable," Roxas chuckled in amusement.

"The only downside is that I won't immediately know my new limits," Crystal responded. "Still, it's not a bad trade off. In a way, I'll be stronger than I've ever been, but at the same time I'll probably need some extra training to get used to excess of magic."  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Axel would eventually reappear, and keep quiet at least until they saw what they wanted to see, when they returned to Opassa Beach, Axel would calmly turn to Crystal before he started freaking out and asking Crystal about why in the world she would release a goddess back out into the world, and other such nonsense that he was screwed and all that, pretty much acting more idiotic than Demyx would, at least until he got swatted in the back of the head Gibbs style by Roveth, and had him speak up "holding in an awakening goddess is akin to suicide, Axel, for one, and for two, what in the world has you so damn spooked?" of course, thankfully the swat made him gain some senses back, and he sighed "when i was younger.. as Lea, i would go hiding underground to train my chakram throwing techniques so i could one day learn to be a part of the guards at Radiant Garden, and i went underground in some of the caves because it's easier to find than accidentally letting loose one of my chakrams in wide open areas and losing it entirely and being grounded for it." he sighed a bit, rubbing the back of his head "i found a shrine of sorts that had a mural depicting the goddess of Light, Cosmos, and some texts as if saying if she is disturbed or her shrines are damaged, she'd have some sort of counter guardian? of sorts, or Chaos himself come after you, and i had freaked out back then and accidentally knocked a few vases over, so that was why i hid from Cosmos, as i didn't -want- to be recognized for what i did back then..." Roveth hardened his eyes, and looked to the side "Counter Guardian...? an enforcer of sorts? that doesn't sound like Cosmos... but if she asked Chaos he might send one -for her... i see... still, there's only one Counter Guardian that i know of.. and, well.." he sighed, shaking his head ".... never mind." he said, deciding to just leave it be, before turning to the beach, feeling an upswell of energy coming from it.

of course, sure enough, out of the sky, and landing on the beach was definitely Shiro, even if he had changed, his body slowly standing straight up and adjusting his prismatic looking coat, before turning to face the others, and giving off a kind wave and gentle smile "i'm back." he said, with his neck tilting forward, and sure enough, Apocalypse would pop out in chibi form, grinning cheekily too "and i'm here too!" of course this got a swat from a gem infused hand from Shiro, and the two started bickering and roughhousing on the beach right then and there, probably looking all too comical in nature with dust cloud and everything.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

What Axel described definitely didn't sound like the Cosmos she knew. The Goddess of Light wasn't a vengeful deity by any means, being one to sacrifice her own essence if it meant extending the lives of her chosen warriors so that they might have another chance to set things right. If anything, Cosmos was one of the few benevolent deities that Crystal was genuinely familiar with as most of the gods she had encountered, most notably Hades, even if they weren't outright evil, would tend to look down on mortals and that was assuming they weren't openly abusive toward them. Of course, Crystal's thoughts on the matter were interrupted by the timely arrival of Shiro and his sudden immediate bickering with Apocalypse.

"It figures," Crystal sat up on the sand looking rather amused. "Here we've been worried sick about Shiro and now those two are going at it like nothing even happened. Hey Shiro, you'd better not expect this to get you out of having to explain that new jewelry you're wearing!" Crystal called out to him to see if she could possibly disrupt the comical roughhousing between Shiro and Apocalypse.

"Apocalypse must have been holding back a lot," Xion observed while also taking in the spectacle with some amusement.

Roxas stood by Axel while watching the antics of Shiro and Apocalypse unfold there on the beach. "Honestly Axel, whatever you read in that shrine must have been some kind of awful prank because if you ask me, Cosmos was actually really nice. And I don't know if you were even listening at all, but Crystal wasn't exactly being respectful about it either. So really, I don't think you would have had anything to worry about. Besides that, Cosmos is the reason me and Xion were both able to be restored to the way we are now and Cosmos didn't even give us a chance to thank her for it."

"Sounds like someone else we all know," Xion pointed out. "Well, really it applies equally to both Crystal and Shiro, but in this case it kind of makes sense why Crystal was chosen as a warrior of light. She and Cosmos are definitely on the same wavelength."

"And she manages that just by being herself," Roxas added. "I know she keeps insisting she isn't anyone special, but that's still pretty amazing."

"Maybe you should tell her that," Xion suggested in a distinctly teasing manner.

"I should probably wait until after she gets done prying Apocalypse off of Shiro," Roxas gave a nervous laugh while showing a slight hint of a blush.

"Oi, leave some for the rest of us!" Crystal was most definitely about to start taking a hands on approach if Shiro and Apocalypse didn't lay off each other so she could give Shiro a proper greeting.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiro hummed a bit and proceeded to let go of Apocalypse, who had at least went back into his body for the moment "sorry, just had to release some pent up violence on Apocalypse because he's been sniping comments now and again, and the reaction of hitting him was kinda instinct." he said, rubbing his head a bit with a small chuckle as he sat on the sand a bit, while looking to his hand, and seeing the Ruby he sighed a bit, before chuckling "the jewelry's kinda special, but more to the point, i did find the Frozen Flame.. and its power, Lavos's power... light or dark.. is no joke." he said, looking all too serious, but he just smiled "but at least things are now.. well, free, with me untethered from Crystal's heart, i won't be a burden on her with the Black Blood anymore." he said, while Apocalypse had popped out again "which means i can come out more often if i want to! plus Shiro's new duds are magically woven to where i can pop out of his back and they won't rip. convenient for now, as it's only one set of clothes." he said, chuckling a bit while Shiro rolled his eyes "yes yes, instead of verbally harrassing me in my mind, you can harrass me physically. that's -so- much better." he said snarkily, while Apocalypse scoffed a bit.

Axel just sighed, relaxing a bit "i did hear everything Roxas, i may have been hidden but i wasn't like on the other side of the island, and remember, i was -young- when i found that temple. young and -very- impressionable. got it memorized?" Roveth of course snorted, but just put his hand on his hip in amusement "truthfully, Shiro is on the same wavelength as well, however this is what makes him fundamentally different compared to normal Agents of Chaos." he said, while looking at Axel "besides, you could've just -asked- Crystal about it, you do know she knew more about Cosmos than probably anyone else." Axel just sweatdropped, as Roveth leaned in, whispering lightly "besides, Shiro doesn't know or realize he's an agent of Chaos, so let's keep that between us... Crystal no doubt knows that Shiro doesn't know or hasn't awakened to the fact he is an Agent of Chaos, so the longer we keep Shiro from that tidbit of information, the more time he has to bolster his mind, and inner light, before -that- bomb is dropped on him. best leave said bomb to Chaos, once he finishes waking up and probably discussing things with Cosmos -hopefully- civilly."  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"I see, so the power of the Frozen Flame is from Lavos," Crystal responded while thinking it over. "But when I felt it, I didn't sense any malice or anything evil about it. I guess it kind of makes sense though because Princess Schala's wishes probably reshaped it into something positive that would serve to protect this world rather than destroy it. Anyway, I'm sorry to have put you through all that, but at least it seems to have turned out alright for both of us. And for Apocalypse too, although I guess we'll see how long it takes for him to drive us all crazy now that he feels entitled to be popping out more often."

"Okay, okay, I get it," Roxas chuckled mildly, clearly still amused by Axel's attempt to defend the actions of his younger self and all. "Still, maybe next time you'll keep your cool so you can actually meet Cosmos without the epic freak out."

"I don't think I've ever seen Axel get spooked like that before either," Xion chimed in trying to hold back her own laughter on the subject. Clearly, the teasing wasn't going to stop anytime soon.

"Anyway..." Crystal interjected, finally taking her attention off of Shiro and Apocalypse for the moment. "Now that Shiro has made it back safely we should all do something fun to celebrate."

"It sounds like you already have something in mind," Xion observed. After spending all that time exploring the islands of the El Nido archipelago it was easy to see that gleam Crystal got in her eyes when she thought she had a good idea.

Crystal grinned widely. "Who wants to visit Christmastown?"

"Wait, isn't that the place Sora gets all grumpy at Riku about and starts whining about how he's on the naughty list for life and it's all somehow Riku's fault?" Roxas realized. "Something about how awful it is knowing he won't be getting gifts from Santa."

Crystal was genuinely dumbfounded. "How the heck did someone like Sora get on the naughty list?"

"Apparently when they were younger he was tricked by Riku into denouncing his belief in Santa in front of the other kids on the Destiny Islands," Roxas answered. "Even so, from what I've seen, Sora still gets pretty over-excited about Christmas."

"It sounds like it must be a lot of fun," Xion commented while listening in on the conversation.

"Which is why I think it will be the perfect place to unwind," Crystal nodded sagely. "What do ya say, Shiro? Sound good?"  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiro would hum a bit, while nodding lightly while snorting about Apocalypse "well, i'd say Lavos is a mix of both, it's just i think coming into contact with Schala allowed for the Frozen Flame to form with the inherent light and goodness, as well as divinity in Lavos." he said, sighing "not only that, i kinda found myself in some weird green-white place in particular, i think it called itself the lifestream, that's partly where some of my changes came from while i was bonding with the Frozen Flame." he said, while apocalypse nodded "yeah, the talking sounding like low moans and s**t to me, but Shiro understood it perfectly, something about WEAPONs, and that he was becoming their leader, their 'tactician' or something like that. part of why his arms are so different than the rest of his body, the gems were added bonuses i think, as well as something else attached to his shoulders that i didn't get a feel for." Shiro nodded lightly "then it kinda asked me to aid and protect Silver, Golden, and Crimson WEAPON... and only gave me a clue to Crimson WEAPON." he said, frowning "some guy named Genesis Rhapsodos."he said, sighing a bit while ruffling his hair a bit "nothing on Golden or Silver WEAPON either." of course, on the mention of Christmastown, Shiro perked up a bit "hmm.. fun in the snow, and possibly meet santa? i'm game." he said cheerily, glad to have something that distracted him from his own thinking.

Roveth of course nodded, while idly holding his hand up "i'm game, also, i'm up for seeing Sora grumble over Shiro being on the Nice list when he isn't."" he said all too cheekily, while pondering "hey, maybe we can invite Riku, Namine, and Kairi too, have a Twilight Town vs Destiny Islands snowball fight?" Shiro of course would pipe up holding up his hand "not a good idea for me, as i'd be overpowering any team, so if anything i'll be the impartial one keeping the snowball fight civil, and pelt both sides equally, let it be say Sora, riku, Namine, and Kairi vs Crystal ,Roxas, Xion, and Axel."

speaking of Axel, Axel shivered a bit lightly, but nodded "that actually sounds like a good idea, what about Roveth?" Roveth shrugged a bit, chuckling "on the sidelines, as i kinda want to let the teams stay even, with Shiro being the impartial one i think i'll sit out." he said, not knowing what he might get up to anyway there. "lets not forget building snowmen and snow angels too."  

[[XIII] Roxas]

*~Twilight Town~*

And so, after a long pleasant afternoon of holiday hijinks in Christmastown, the group was finally back in Twilight Town to rest up after all that adventuring in the El Nido archipelago. Of course, they had also met up with Sora, Kairi, Riku, and Namine in Christmastown; and were even joined by Isa of all people, but now everyone was back at the mansion.

Rather unsurprisingly after the stress of that long journey and all the excitement of running around Christmastown, Roxas slept late into the next day and it was already afternoon by the time he woke up still feeling rather exhausted from the whole endeavor. He fully expected that Crystal would have been awake and gone already, but was surprised to discover that wasn't actually the case as she was still sound asleep laying next to him. In fact, it was probably the most relaxed and peaceful Roxas had ever seen her, very likely because there was no longer that huge burden weighing so heavily on her mentally and physically. Roxas was inclined to let Crystal sleep because she probably needed it more than anyone, but while he was contemplating that Crystal had already begun to stir. Which really wasn't so surprising as it was rather well known that Crystal was an unusually light sleeper.

"Good morning... er... afternoon... yeah, that sounds like it's probably right," Crystal smiled when she saw Roxas. She stretched out trying to get her bearings, confirming that yes they were back in Twilight Town, in the mansion to be more exact, and from the looks of the decor this wasn't her room, but in fact Roxas's which nicely explained Crystal's rather brief momentary confusion while taking in her surroundings. It was also, Crystal had thought, a rather clever ploy to throw Riku off if he decided to come looking for them in her room again.

"I guess we both kind of overslept," Roxas was smiling too because he really was happy to see Crystal there. For one thing, he liked it when they were together like this and for another thing it meant he didn't have to wander the mansion trying to guess which of the many rooms Crystal might otherwise have been hiding out in, assuming she didn't venture out into town for some reason instead.

"Well, there's nothing wrong with that," Crystal sat up stretching again. "We had a pretty stressful adventure out there and we've been keeping ourselves so busy it was bound to catch up with us eventually."

"Still, after everything we went through, you're definitely feeling better now, right?" Roxas was still a little worried as he started getting up as well since it wasn't really clear what was going to happen to Crystal now that her heart had been separated from Shiro's and all.

"Yep, I'm feeling pretty great," Crystal replied with a reassuring smile as she plopped back down next to Roxas seeming to get comfortable again. "It's like Cosmos said, it'll take some time for my old power to return, but little by little the reservoir will be replenished and once it gets filled to capacity, that's when I'll be able to really cut loose. But all that really means is that I'll have more magic to work with. And so long as Shiro is okay with how everything turned out, I'd say that all went better than expected."

"It's like you said all along, somehow everything worked out," Roxas pointed out.

"Well, I can't take all the credit for that one," Crystal admitted. "A friend from one of the worlds I've visited says it all the time and honestly, whenever he says it, it's hard not to believe him. Sometimes that kind of positive thinking and the right attitude can make a really huge difference. Anyway... since it is already well past noon we should probably get dressed and see if Shiro has been up already to make breakfast and, if so, whether there's anything left or if we're going to have to forage for ourselves."

With that Crystal headed for the secret passage through the closet so she could get changed into her usual outfit. Not long after she would meet back up with Roxas down by the kitchen to see if there was anything of interest. They weren't the only ones to have overslept as a bleary-eyed Sora had only recently emerged from one of the guest rooms with a bit of drool still dangling from the corner of his mouth before he suddenly gained enough lucidity to remember he should wipe it off with the back of his hand. Xion was already in the kitchen along with Riku, Kairi, and Namine. Isa was long gone, having headed out for his part-time job that somehow necessitated him wearing that rather embarrassing reindeer costume.

"Good morning everyone!" Sora grinned in greeting as he also poked his head into the kitchen expectantly.

"Isn't it already afternoon?" Xion commented while glancing around at everyone for confirmation.

"It's easier not to try to correct him about that," Riku explained with a slight shrug. "Just think of this as typical Sora-like behavior."

"He's pretty much always like this," Kairi agreed.

"Hey, I resemble that remark!" Sora protested in a clearly joking tone.

"Anyway, what's definitely more unusual is that both Roxas and Crystal are only just getting up too," Riku mentioned with a slight smirk.

"Whatever you're insinuating, you might want to remember the consequences of making lewd comments in Shiro's kitchen," Crystal stated simply as she took a seat for the moment.

"That's right, you should know better than to anger the cook," Roxas added while sitting down next to Crystal and giving Riku a challenging look as if daring him to continue what he was about to say.

Riku seemed to think better of it. "Fine, I won't say it, but you know we're all still thinking it."

"Thinking what?" Sora stared innocently at Riku.

"You know what, let's just forget about it," Riku gave a dejected sigh as he brought his palm to his forehead.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiro would still be wearing his long sleeve shirt and the gloves over his hands, though thankfully he was wearing the fingerless version so he had control and all for food, and sure enough, out came plates for bacon, pancakes, sausage, and other things, of course, there was no sign of Axel or Roveth at the moment, Roveth's probably in the basement again, and Axel was currently snoozing in, in either case, Shiro -was- wearing the typical 'I am the Bone of my Skillet' apron, just because everyone laughs at it, and because he enjoys it himself, as he was putting food out for everyone, yes, even he slept later than usual. either way he -would- eye Riku as if keeping an eye on him and his comments, given how he typically swats Roveth one, he'll let it slide this time and just shrugged "well, that was a much needed break. though i think Roveth needs another one if he doesn't get out of the basement soon." he said frowning a bit while passing out the food and everything.


of course, the next one out of bed was actually Demyx, and as usual, he'd be zombiefied looking and barely awake, when he sat down at the table and took the sat out cup of coffee for himself courtesy of Shiro as he drank some, hed' at least start to perk up "so i heard you guys had lots of fun while Isa and myself were busy huh? well, outside of the crazy things happening with Shiro of course." he said, with Shiro waving off that comment easily before heading into the kitchen to fix the next large batch of food and all "would've been funny too to see that snowball fight between Isa and Lea." he'd say, smirking a bit lightly, showing he was all too easily amused seeing the hardass getting pelted with snowballs in his mind.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"What's funny is that it actually seemed like Isa was really getting into it, almost like he was genuinely having fun," Roxas pointed out with some amusement.

"He acts so serious all the time I don't think any of us were expecting it," added Xion.

Naturally, everyone had already begun to dig in to the plates of food once Shiro brought them out to the table. And, as usual, Crystal couldn't help but laugh at seeing Shiro wearing that apron again. She didn't know why it struck her as being so funny each and every time, but it did.

"It's true though, aside from what was going on with Shiro, we did have a lot of fun," Crystal had to admit. "Although, it seems like Axel must have been the most worried the whole time considering he's still totally exhausted."

"He's been really looking out for all of us in his own way," Xion agreed.

"That's definitely true," Roxas nodded. "Although you were obviously really worried too, considering how you tricked me and Crystal into going to the Divine Dragon Falls by ourselves."

"You two needed to talk," Xion pointed out. "I knew you weren't going to just leave me behind if I didn't come up with some kind of an excuse. Anyway, it clearly worked because you've both been way more cheerful since whatever happened out there."

"Well, you weren't wrong. We did need to talk," Crystal scratched behind her ear looking a little embarrassed as she strategically avoided mentioning what they had talked about exactly. "So yeah, thanks again for that."

"That must have been some talk," Riku remarked with that patented smirk of his in full view. "I mean, I knew something was different when we saw you in Christmastown, but now it's all starting to make sense."

"Give it up, Riku, you have no idea what you're talking about," Roxas tried to ignore him to focus on eating.

"Don't be so sure about that," Riku persisted. "But, I suppose out of respect for your feelings, I'll leave it at that for now."

"Huh?" Sora paused in his inhalation of today's breakfast to stare at Riku in confusion again. "I missed something important again, didn't I?"

"Nothing you need to be concerned about Sora," Riku talked him down lightly. "Go ahead and finish eating."

"Um... okay, if you say so," Sora shrugged and returned to devouring what was probably his 3rd or 4th plate of food, this one stacked high with pancakes and syrup that threatened to get all over his face if he didn't slow down the pace of his eating. It seemed to have the desired effect as Kairi couldn't help laughing as Sora very deliberately made a fool of himself like that.

Roxas was thankful for the diversion as it seemed to get Riku off his case for the moment. Seriously, he hadn't even gotten around to telling Axel about what he and Crystal had talked about yet.

"Anyway, we'll probably be staying in town for a while to get properly rested up before we decide what we're going to do next," Crystal spoke up again. "As long as there aren't any Heartless related emergencies elsewhere, I'm really not in any hurry to leave. And there's also some stuff I'd like to start looking into."

"You mean you want to investigate what Shiroi Kumo told us about Twilight Town being the world you originally came from, don't you?" Xion caught on very quickly.

"Exactly," Crystal nodded. "If it's true, then I need to start finding out more about this world."  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiro would just raise an Eyebrow at Crystal's laughing, but he'd give off one of his more caustic 'hmph's' in general and continued to cook more food since he had lots of mouths to feed and all. of course once he came out with the next batch of food, with a thinner and leaner Apocalypse helping passing out dishes and all he'd speak up "well, i don't know about anyone else, but i need to up my training, so more than likely i'll ask Roveth to send me into a grass plain virtual world again to train, as i have new capabilities to figure out, and old ones i need to start working on again." he said, with Apocalypse nodding "for new, starting with the gifts the Frozen Flame gave you, and for old ones, your control on the Black Blood, and more work on Scream Resonance." Shiro nodded with a thoughtful hum, just as he waved to Axel walking in finally, looking as zombified as Demyx does daily. cue passing some coffee for him. "after that, well i'll just relax until something comes up that needs my attention, cook for everyone, or make sure Roveth gets some sleep." he said in amusement at the last part, knowing all too well with Roveth he's probably still wide awake. as for the banter between Riku, Roxas, and Crystal about Crystal and Roxas's Relationship... well, he'll at least give Riku a warning Stink-eye to drop that topic immediately before he got Shiro Chopped.

Axel would sip his coffee while grumbling a bit about idiotic dreams of sheep, clouds, and Demyx haunting him in his sleep, causing the Sitar player to actually -laugh- at hearing that "laugh it up music boy, just wait until i drag you off to do some side jobs." of course this shut Demyx up for a moment before frowning a bit and sighed "well, outside of catching some extra Z's, i might go get some stuff done, say hi to the old landlord, other stuff." he said, waiving off Demyx's paling face "maybe go through on my threat on Demyx, too."

Demyx shuddered lightly, waving a fork threateningly at Axel "first off, not gonna happen fire breath, i have my first Album i need to get to my Recording agents after i finish eating, and no way in -hell- am i going near that landlord of yours ever again Axel, so if you want me to follow you for some easy side jobs that can be after i go deal with the album." he said in response, while continuing to eat, though he did roll his eyes at Sora, how'd Roxas ever come out of that guy again? either way, he was currently looking all too amused in general at the banter between Riku, Roxas, and Crystal it seemed as well.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"That reminds me, I'm a bit curious about that Reality Marble thing I've heard about," Riku did, in fact, change the subject, although it was less in response to Shiro's expression and more because of his mention of training.

"What's that supposed to be?" Sora was confused again. It was getting kind of too easy to say things that immediately went right over his head at this point.

"I don't know exactly, but Roxas mentioned it while Crystal was running circles around you in the training simulation," Riku responded with a smirk. "And from what I hear it's supposed to be a really cool ability that Shiro has."

"Really?" Sora was already over his confusion and brightened considerably. "Well, in that case, I want to see it too!"

Crystal cast a sideways glance at Roxas. "You seriously told Riku about it?"

"It kind of slipped out while I was describing some of the ways Shiro might kick his a** if he were to challenge him to a fight," Roxas explained somewhat defensively. He hadn't mentioned the part about the ominous and ethereal presence of the Counter Guardian they had encountered when Shiro had manifested his Reality Marble before. Roxas had only brought up the wasteland filled with amazing weapons.

"Well, you're not wrong about that," Crystal had to admit. "Oh well, it was bound to come up eventually anyway. And at least here at the mansion we're in neutral territory so it won't draw too much attention. Besides, after what Shiro has been through, it's likely that his Reality Marble might have evolved along with his new capabilities so I'd like to see it again too."

Xion, meanwhile, had to ask the obvious question. "Why is Demyx so freaked out by that landlord anyway? He seemed nice enough when I met him."

"Well, you see, Barret has a soft spot for kids so he'll go easy on you or me, which is a big part of the reason why I was often the one paying the rent, but he wasn't so lenient with Demyx and it apparently traumatized him," Roxas explained with a slight shrug. "Not that I can blame him. It's probably just for show, but that arm cannon is still pretty intimidating."

"Oh, it's definitely functional," Crystal interjected. "I saw him chase Seifer's gang off with it once."

"I take it back," Roxas corrected himself. "If you get on his bad side, he must be downright terrifying."

"Still, it's pretty cool that Demyx is finally getting an album published," Xion pointed out.

"No kidding," Roxas agreed. "He must have been working really hard on that while we've been gone."

"It's good to know all that equipment Roveth supplied for him is being put to good use," Crystal nodded. "Alright, I guess I'll excuse myself so I can take a quick look around the library before Shiro decides to take center stage with his Reality Marble."


The others were still working on polishing off their breakfast so Crystal was alone when she entered the mansion library hoping to find some books that might give her a more detailed history of Twilight Town. She was dismayed to find, however, that the entire collection was comprised of nothing but do it yourself and instruction manual type books. The only useful thing she found while scouring the shelves was a detailed atlas of the town. Otherwise, it looked like she was going to have to go into town to pay a visit to the public library.

"Oh well, it was a worth a shot," Crystal sighed while rubbing the back of her head. She left the library and slipped back downstairs to see how everything was going back in the kitchen.

"No luck in the library, huh?" Riku was a little surprised to see Crystal back already.

"No, apparently it isn't that kind of library," Crystal responded while going to fetch herself the makings for some hot cocoa to cheer herself up. "Although if we ever need to learn how something works or how to build or fix anything, I think we're pretty much covered."

"Ansem the Wise is a little eccentric so I guess it really isn't too surprising that he'd have a weird collection of books like that," Riku pointed out with some amusement.

"Which is fine," Crystal went on. "It just means that later I'm actually going to have to go into town to visit the public library instead."

"I can go with you," Roxas volunteered. It wasn't like he had any plans for the day. "It'll look more natural if we pretend like we're studying, right?"

"Actually... that's kind of brilliant," Crystal actually paused a second at the suggestion. "And we might not stand out so much if we make it look like it's for a school project or something."

"You mean you're going to study on purpose?!" Sora's spit-take and incredulous wide-eyed reaction was totally priceless. He clearly hadn't heard any of the earlier conversation about how Crystal wanted to find out more about Twilight Town in general. Of course, Sora's reaction was rather less endearing to Riku who was now covered in the bits of food that had been ejected from Sora's mouth as the older boy shot a glare at his good friend.

"Sora..." Riku spoke ominously. "Could you maybe try not freaking out with your mouth full?"

"Whoops, sorry Riku!" Sora quickly apologized and ducked behind his plate.

Riku sighed, wiping off his face with a napkin while striving to regain his composure. "Anyway Roxas, I'm impressed you came up with that yourself."

"Don't act so surprised," Roxas scowled at him mildly. "Twilight Town is my home now too so of course I'm going to want to find out more about it."