Kingdom Hearts - Blades of Three Realms

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Axel had raised an eyebrow, given he had been spinning one of his chakrams on his finger before flicking it up into the air and eventually catching it and de-summoning it in a burst of flames, looking all too amused "figured that's what you'd want, i'm ready to go anyway, and i'm sure Leon, Cloud, and Zidane will keep Shiro at Olympus should he show up while we're gone, right?" he said, looking over to the two dueling swordsmen, while Gilgamesh had come out of the barracks not too long after, looking like his casual wear self, though it seemed to be different, a white poofy collared jacket, black shirt and black pants, with some black loafers and his hair still down in its usual non arrogant style "hmm.. well, if you three are going then i will accompany you, since it has been a while since i traveled the worlds ever since that pathetic mongrel of a death god had tied me down here to Olympus until recently. have you thought of an excuse for the one you say is scarier than the King of Swords?" Axel cringed a bit, and looked aside "pretty much gonna tell him the truth, that after having a.. very brutal fight with you, Auron offered training and that he took it, only he was not allowed to tell us exactly where he was going." Gilgamesh shrugged, cracking his neck a bit "a correct and good enough explanation."  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"Don't worry Axel, we'll back you up," Xion assured him.

"And really, Roveth can't stay too mad at us once we explain it was Shiro's decision to do the training that Auron offered to him," added Roxas.

"We'll keep an eye out for Shiro and make sure he stays put once he gets back," Leon nodded.

"Yeah, we can't let him weasel his way out of the tournament," Cloud agreed with some amusement. "I still owe him since we never did finish our last match in Radiant Garden."

"Right, then we'll see you all at the Games," Roxas bid farewell to the three warriors from Radiant Garden as he left with Axel, Xion, and Gilgamesh. Not long after the group departed, however, a Corridor of Darkness opened up accompanied by some very familiar and iconic theme music to signify the arrival of none other than Sephiroth as he stepped out into the courtyard with a smirk directed at Cloud in particular.

"Did you miss me, Cloud?" Sephiroth greeted him with his characteristic air of indifferent antagonism.

Cloud howled with rage and immediately charged at said villain with reckless abandon. Leon sighed and shook his head in exasperation at Cloud's rather predicable response to seeing Sephiroth.

"Here we go again..." Leon grumbled as he readied his own blade in case he had to intervene in the confrontation.

"Do you think maybe Sephiroth wants to fight in the Games too?" Zidane wondered as he watched from the sidelines.

"I seriously doubt that's his only reason for coming here," Leon retorted in frustration at Zidane's total lack of concern. It was too bad Gilgamesh was going to be missing out on this. He'd probably get a real kick out of seeing Sephiroth in action. Not that Leon was looking forward to having to explain this to Tifa later.

*~Radiant Garden~*

Crystal would have moved from the shower to soak in the bath for a while, but she knew she couldn't stay in there moping forever. Eventually she got out of the water to dry off. If she were in a better mood she probably would have changed into some pajamas and gone back to bed, but right now she really wasn't feeling her usual battle outfit even if it would have been an appropriate thing to wear. Still, pajamas didn't seem like the right choice either because Crystal definitely didn't feel like going back to bed either, the images of limbs flying and blood spattering still too fresh in her mind's eye, so she was probably going to slip out for a quiet walk beneath the night sky in another valiant effort to quiet her nerves after the long soak failed to yield any measurable results. So, instead of pajamas, Crystal decided to put on a comfortable pair of black silk pants and a short-sleeve white silk shirt decorated with colorful ornate images of phoenixes and dragons, and outfit that wouldn't have been out of place if she were visiting Nerima. Once that was done she headed downstairs, slipped on some shoes, and headed out into the night of Radiant Garden. She knew that Roveth would probably see her from the roof, but anything was better than being cooped up inside after the visions she had seen.

Riku had naturally fallen back to sleep while Crystal was still in the shower so he wasn't going to be of any use to anyone until morning or something else managed to wake him.

Not long after the group from Olympus Coliseum would arrive outside the tavern with Roxas leading the way with a growing sense of urgency. He just couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

"It's been a while, hasn't it?" Xion realized as she started to have a look around.

"Yeah, I guess it has," Roxas had to agree. They hadn't been back to Radiant Garden since Xion was restored. Hopefully Tifa and Yuffie would be less hostile than Leon when they found out about him and Crystal. Roxas was scared enough about having to face Roveth without Shiro. He didn't want to have to fight them off too. "Well then, I guess we should find out if the others are even here yet..."

Roveth would, of course, see them arrive. And if he were feeling generous he might even point Roxas in the direction of the fountain plaza as that was the direction he would have seen Crystal wander off in before their arrival, but only if he was feeling generous. Otherwise, Roxas would just have to figure it out on his own.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Roveth did see them arrive, and while he seemed to raise an eyebrow towards the golden haired man with them he could see Roxas's urgency and concern in droves as he sighed, getting up from his spot on the roof, and proceeding to jump down off his usual perch, landing acrobatically in front of the group he would stand up to his full height and smile warmly and all, raising ah nad up in a wave "Yo, looks like you guys came earlier than you said you'd would... guess it can't be helped." he said, looking to Roxas with amusement and a bit of concern "if you're looking for Crystal, head in that direction, towards the Fountain Plaza.. i think she needs you more than anyone else." he said, pointing his thumb in the aforementioned direction, while while after that he would cross his arms and look at Axel and the others "looks like things have been interesting though if you managed to meet a new traveler." he commented, tilting his head a bit, though he held no malice or at least wasn't letting his earlier bubbling rage show at all. "one question i do have though... where is Shiro?"

Axel had mentally gulped, even though Roveth seemed to be playing the easy-going and helpful individual he usually is, he could easily tell something's not sitting right with him, which made that question he just asked a -hell- of a lot deadlier, but he did steel himself for the inevitable blowup and decided to speak up "Shiro did train at Olympus for a few days, and caught the eye of two people, one being a red clad swordsman by the name of Auron, and of course our current.. traveling companion here Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes." Roveth actually looked to Gilgamesh more closely, as if sizing him up, before snorting a bit "haaa, i guess it was a matter of time before Shiro would end up meeting Gil again.." gilgamesh of course spoke up, now a bit curious "how do you know of me? the fire hair here made it sound like you didn't know about me." Roveth actually looked a bit surprised, before actually starting to snort, and then chuckle a bit more fully "Axel didn't tell you? the reason why is because not too long ago Xehanort captured Shiro, and managed to extract and effectively split him from his inner darkness... and his Inner darkness manifested into a new being, a being of Shadows, me. so in essence Shiro and i are two sides of the same coin, he is my light, and i am his darkness." Gilgamesh nodded, accepting the explanation, though he did give Axel a dirty look which made him hold his hands up as if 'don't shoot the messenger!' was clearly written on his face "anyway! Gilgamesh and Shiro fought with Shiro winning in an epic display of power... after that, Auron stepped up and offered to take Shiro somewhere else to train, and Shiro took the offer, and left for an undisclosed location." Roveth chuckled a bit, that was so like Shiro, going all out if it was against Gilgamesh, but hearing the last part made the chuckles and amusement stop immediately, as Roveth actually straightened up his spine and looked deadly serious into Axel's green eyes "you mean to tell me that my light, went off on a training trip with a guy you or anyone else barely know, and didn't leave anything as to where he was going, or couldn't? and you did this knowing how bad Shiro's magnetism towards danger can be?" Axel of course nodded, not backing down at least this time as Roveth stared into those green eyes unblinkingly, before his eyes started to go inverted scelera and blood red irises shining with righteous fury, but he kept a calm tone of voice and virtually no signs of his malicious killing intent in sight, due to Xion being in the vicinity for now "... on the one hand, i commend you for telling me the truth and not giving me some bullshit excuse that he stayed behind while the rest of you came to Radiant Gardens, because even -he- would sense Crystal's current.. emotional state. on the other, i want to viciously eviscerate you, douse myself in your blood, and dance on your entrails Axel, you had ONE job, ONE! and that was to make sure Shiro stayed out of trouble! even if it was his choice to leave, you still should've had presence of mind to at least grill this Auron guy about where they were going to go! what in the blazing depths of Hades's underworld WERE YOU THINKING!!!!" of course, with that last bit of yelling, Roveth couldn't hold in his killing intent anymore, and unfortunately it blasted out like a geyser, revealing the multitudes of red eyes, gnashing teeth in fanged smiles, and Roveth's hair floating on end reveling his utterly demonic looking visage when pissed off. of course, Gilgamesh had actually took a step back in actual surprise more than fear, given the killing intent didn't affect him, as it seemed to be directed at Axel only, even Xion would be untouched by that intent, but it was no denying it that it was saturating the air "haaa... that is definitely some killing intent right there, Shadow of Swords." Roveth had only glanced to Gilgamesh to acknowledge his compliment, but was more focusing at the now currently inch-sized Axel that he had been verbally tearing into.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

Roxas hesitated because he was worried about leaving Axel and Xion to deal with Roveth without him, but then Xion shoved him toward the fountain plaza.

"Go on, she's the reason you came here," Xion reminded him. "I can take care of things here with Axel."

"Okay," Roxas agreed reluctantly. "I'll try to be back as soon as I can." Then he raced off toward the fountain plaza.

After Roveth was finished chewing Axel out, though, Xion had her doubts that her being there was going to make any difference. "Look, we were all there and it's as much mine and Roxas's fault that Shiro managed to sneak off with that Auron guy. But we spoke with Cloud and Leon. They both vouched for him saying he's a good guy and that they know for a fact that Crystal and Sora have met him before. They assured us that Shiro is in good hands and we chose to believe them which is why we were willing to come back here on such short notice."


Roxas reached the fountain plaza, although he didn't immediately notice Crystal because she was perched on one of the upper levels of the fountain out of view from the entryway. The sound of the waterfall sections and the fountain jets had calmed her down somewhat, but Crystal was still very deep in thought about the visions in her dream. Really, more like a nightmare. It all really happened just like that. There wasn't anything she could do to change it.

"What am I supposed to do now?" Crystal asked the most damning of the many questions she had been mulling over since leaving the tavern to come out here beneath the starlight. "Yeah, I know. I'm not stupid. I know there's no one on this or any other world that can give me the answer. But how am I supposed to face him knowing what I know now? He's going to know I'm acting weird. He'll want answers. What am I supposed to tell him? If it hurts this much for me to know this truth, then what would it do to him? It doesn't matter what he did! It wasn't his fault! He's still my best friend... how could I ever blame him for what happened?" Tears streamed down her cheeks as she shouted up at the heavens in futility. Naturally, it was her shouting that made her easy to find when Roxas finally spotted her way up at the top of one of the ledges on the uppermost level of the fountain.

Roxas wasn't sure that Crystal would be able to hear him over the noise from the waterfalls and fountain jets, not to mention the loudness of her own shouting, so he started looking for his own way up. Gravity was no obstacle and the pressure from the fountain jets was surprisingly strong enough to propel him upward if he timed it right. "It's strange how we keep meeting like this, don't you think?"

"Roxas... you're here," Crystal was quickly on her feet and hugging him.

"Yeah, I'm here," Roxas answered while lightly hugging her back. "I had this feeling that you'd be here already and then it felt like something was wrong and maybe you should be alone. I mean, I know Riku is supposed to be here with you, but this sounds like something he probably can't help you with. So, why don't you try telling me what happened?"

It was difficult to start, but Crystal would begin to open up about the visions she had seen as well as everything else that had happened since they had parted ways in Twilight Town. Roxas would listen attentively, realizing as Crystal went on that listening was probably all he was going to be good for as it seemed the visions themselves were a rather difficult problem that he didn't have any experience with. He was, of course, surprised at the mention of the Data Replica system and what had happened upon Crystal's arrival in Radiant Garden, but hearing that he was mostly just glad Crystal hadn't been hurt considering he was very much aware of his own capabilities at the time when he originally left the Organization and it could have been bad if she had gotten into a serious fight with his Replica. The fact that Braig was behind the whole thing certainly sparked his anger on top of that, but Roxas quietly pushed it aside to the back burner so to speak so he could focus on being there for Crystal without dwelling on something as petty as revenge, even if Braig definitely deserved it for all the trouble he had caused.

"So, the Samurai Nobodies protected you from the Unversed, huh?" Roxas seemed genuinely surprised to be hearing that. "I never asked them to do that. Honestly, I never even thought of it."

"Then maybe it had something to do with that keychain you gave me," Crystal wondered vaguely. "Well, whatever, they were a huge help and it's because they showed up that I was finally able to put Vanitas in his place so it was pretty lucky."

"Anyway," Roxas decided to change the subject, not really wanting to think too much about Vanitas. As far as Roxas was concerned Vanitas was a massive creep and the fact that he'd nearly been killed by the guy no less than twice didn't exactly give Roxas the highest opinion of him. "I don't think you can protect Shiro by keeping this a secret from him. Trying to hide it will only put more of a strain on your friendship with him, right? I'm sorry I can't think how you should tell it to him either, but I don't think you should lie to him. I dunno, maybe we should ask Roveth what he thinks... once he's cooled down that is."

"What's the matter with Roveth?" Crystal was confused by that sentiment considering her own emotional turbulence had drowned out Roveth's earlier explosion of killing intent.

"Um... well, we kind of lost Shiro," Roxas explained hesitantly.

"Wait, what? You lost Shiro?" And just like that Crystal was already on high alert.

"Look, it's not what you think," Roxas added quickly. "He got coerced into a battle with this guy, Gilgamesh, King of Heroes, and when he won this other guy Auron apparently offered to take him somewhere for some sort of special training. Evidently, Shiro decided to go with him. Cloud and Leon seemed to think it was okay because Auron isn't a bad guy and they said that you know him so that's what happened."

"Oh, well, that's different," Crystal heaved a tired sigh. "I guess if he's training with Auron that means he's finally getting the kind of guidance that he needs."

"So then... you're not mad?" Roxas was still a bit worried about that.

"I'm worried, but no, I'm not mad," Crystal confirmed. "Shiro proved on El Nido that he can take care of himself now if he has to. And I think Auron is probably taking decent enough care of him wherever he's taken Shiro so that will probably be fine. And it gives me more time to figure out what I'm going to say to Shiro when we see him again."

"So then, do you think you're maybe ready to start heading back?" Roxas suggested since it was already getting kind of late and all.

"Yeah, I think thanks to you I'm alright now," Crystal nodded with a soft smile. "I can't make any promises, but I'll try to convince Roveth to go easy on you if he's still in a bad mood once we get there."

They would leave the fountain plaza to start heading back to the tavern.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Roveth would continue glaring hard at the inch sized Axel for a few more moments, before sighing, and pinching the bridge of his nose while inside his head muttering so many unintelligble curses as to try and keep from going on a murder spree, however his killing intent was slowly receding back a bit "i'm not going to blame you, Xion, because you were there mainly to patch up Roxas and Shiro should they have went too far in their training, or did something stupid like Shiro did fighting Gilgamesh here, most likely having to go all out from round one, and overextending himself -again-." he said, while opening his eyes, showing they were slowly turning back golden ,but the blackness had not crept away just yet "and i cannot fault Roxas either as he was going specifically to train, and i know why he went to train, or at least have a very good idea why, so he was busy working himself to the bone with Phil, i cannot fault him for losing Shiro. the one who i DO fault for it, is standing right in front of me and if he doesn't stop staying shrunk so i can't throttle him i will just stomp on him instead." cue Axel quickly returning to normal size while holding his hands up, too late however and Roveth had aready grabbed Axel and started throttling him and shaking him violently for a good few minutes, before he let go and left Axel coughing on the ground while Roveth's hands twitched "be glad its not more Axel, because i'm -REALLY- not in the mood, especially with having to deal with the fact that sniping a*****e put Crystal in emotional Turmoil somehow, and everything just going to hell in a hand basket, and by god, if i don't get any straight answers from that omniscient wizard who i know dang good and well has an eye here..." his eyes started to bleed red again showing that his fury was -definitely- still on a short fuse and bubbling "there is going to be one less magic user in the world, so help me." oh yes... the keg has been.. held down for now, but one wrong move until either Shiro returns or Roveth has ample time to go find somewhere to vent his rage, there's going to be a bloodbath.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"Braig was here?" Xion certainly didn't miss that detail of Roveth's venting.

Crystal returned with Roxas, looking visibly less shaken than when she had left the tavern. "Roveth, lay off Axel and try to get some rest so we can be ready to interrogate Master Yen-Sid first thing in the morning. Like you said, he's an omniscient old wizard. If we want to get answers out of him we'll need to be at the top of our game and that means both of us."

Roxas nodded. "We know he's been keeping secrets, not only from us, but from everybody."

"And Mark of Mastery or no, I think I finally know the right question to ask him," Crystal added. "Who is the other boy who looks just like Roxas and what is his connection to Sora and Vanitas? If we can get Master Yen-Sid to answer that one question it should answer most if not all of the others."  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Roveth turned, looking to Crystal, given his fury was at an all time high despite having reigned it in even after throttling Axel a bit, he would sigh, and pinch the bridge of his nose once more, knowing crystal was right, he -would- need to be at the top of his mental game in the morning he wanted to help Crystal get those answers, while also being of use and not causing pointless bloodshed at least "fine, i'll let him off the hook for now." he said, turning and heading back inside the tavern, not seeing Axel's pale face, given he might've just gotten a clue who exactly Crystal meant.. but he hadn't seen him in ten years, so why him of all people? "right.. uh.. thanks?" he said, while at least trying to play off things in general while rubbing his throat "man... those hands of his are strong.." he muttered, shaking his head a bit. Gilgamesh meanwhile just followed Roveth inside, at least keen on getting some rest, even if the information he had gained was quite substantial about the King of Swords...

once Axel got his own room, and made sure no one could hear him, he would lay on the bed looking at the ceiling ".... couldn't be him... i haven't seen him in ten years..." he muttered to himself, before turning and at least going to sleep, vaguely remembering his memories of one such person who Roxas did remind him of now that crystal drew those Parallels...  

[[XIII] Roxas]

Xion would of course be getting her own room while Roxas followed Crystal to the room she had abandoned earlier.

"So, is this really okay? I mean, you said Braig sicced another version of me after you so are you sure you're still comfortable with this?" Roxas was clearly concerned by what had happened. His eyes widen when Crystal reached out to touch his cheek.

"I'm not scared of you," Crystal stated with a smile. "I know what Braig was trying to do by sending that Replica after me, but I think I probably intimidated him more than he intimidated me. Besides, other than knocking me and Riku out so he could abduct me for a few hours, he never did anything else to hurt me. I am a bit concerned about that boy from my vision, but that's mostly because if he was there for the Keyblade War and somehow has ties to Sora and Vanitas that would mean he's somewhere in this era too. And there's no telling how badly traumatized he might have been by that experience with Counter Guardian Shiro. It wouldn't surprise me if he's forgotten everything that happened that day. But, all that aside, even if there's a connection, he isn't you."

At that point Crystal leaned in to kiss him and Roxas's immediately went very bright red as he kissed her back. When they broke away Roxas reached up to cup his hand over Crystal's. "But you do think whoever that person is, he probably needs our help, don't you?"

"That's what we're going to find out by talking to Master Yen-Sid," Crystal answered with a nod.

"Right, well, before anything else, I should probably take a shower," Roxas admitted rather sheepishly.

"Oh yeah, you've been training hard at Olympus Coliseum," Crystal smiled again as she let go of him for the moment.

"Exactly," Roxas didn't elaborate on the fact that it was more along the lines of him letting himself get worked into the ground several days in a row before everyone started getting on his case about overdoing it.

"You go do that," Crystal sat down on the bed. "I'll be here when you get back."

Watching Roxas leave the room reminded her of another reason why Crystal had seen right through meeting that Replica. Roxas had grown up so much in the past couple of years it was hard to believe he was ever that small. He hadn't just grown up physically either. He was also much better adjusted and certainly more mature, especially compared to Sora, than he once was. She had mainly watched from a distance so Crystal hadn't seen all the progress Roxas had made in finding himself. Suddenly he didn't seem as fragile as he used to be.

Roxas would naturally return from his shower dressed in his pajamas and the two would sleep through the remainder of the night with Roxas holding Crystal close and hoping she wouldn't have to face any more of those awful visions. Roxas thought a little bit about what Zidane had said about wanting to know what exactly it was that Crystal saw in him that she was willing to let her guard down. The only thing that came to mind was what Crystal herself had said before about how his presence made her feel safe. Thinking about that reminded him how Shiro and Roveth could both project their killing intent and other aspects of their respective presences, but generally that was either in combat situations or out of anger. Roxas didn't really understand how that all worked because he only ever sensed them when they were at those sort of extremes. Apparently Crystal could sense a person's presence even when it wasn't being projected and Roxas assumed that was something that Shiro and Roveth were also capable of as well. It did explain how they were able to pinpoint each other's locations even when they were far apart. Come to think of it, Riku was notorious for being able to do that too. Roxas supposed the reason he didn't have that ability was because Sora didn't have it either and Roxas himself had never learned it because no one had bothered to teach it to him, assuming it was a skill that could even be taught.

In the morning they would wake up early to head downstairs. Crystal was a morning person and she had a lot still on her mind so waking up was easy for her and it wasn't so hard for Roxas either, given that he'd spent a good part of the previous afternoon resting off his training fatigue anyway. Riku had slept through the night and was also an early riser so he was already down at the breakfast buffet that had been provided for them. Xion emerged from her room around the same time that Crystal and Roxas were leaving theirs so they all headed down together.

"Why am I not surprised?" Riku greeted Roxas and Xion, smirking at Roxas in particular. "Couldn't stay away, could you?"

"And leave Crystal alone with you for company, as if," Roxas shot back although his tone was clearly more sarcastic than anything.

"Actually, we came here early because Roxas was getting really worried," noted Xion. "It was like he knew something wasn't right."

"Well, that's certainly interesting," Riku nodded with some amusement. "It sounds like he's starting to develop a little bit of intuition."

"I'm not really sure I know what that actually means," Roxas responded in obvious confusion.

"Basically, that's the spiritual sense," Crystal explained. "People who have it use it differently, but in the most basic sense it functions as a danger sensor that responds to hostile negative energies. Like how I can almost always anticipate when there's something really bad nearby."  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Roveth of course would have walked in with a bit of a yawn shortly after as he heard the conversation "it's also how i can tell when someone is lying to my face, well that and observation skills at least." he said, waving it off while moving to sit down with the others as he chuckled a bit lightly "mmngh... i also use that kind of sense to sense out where other people are, like how i knew when Riku was in the area, but couldn't immediately sense Crystal's signature because it was out of my range." he elaborated, chuckling a bit lightly as he he looked about a bit lightly, seeing Gilgamesh somewhere in the area drinking coffee, Axel was sitting at the bar doing the same while thinking way too heavily, Roveth just hummed in thought while looking to Crystal with a hum "once you get the basics of it down, you could start possibly look within to find your own presence, for Gilgamesh, a Charisma about him, and you know about mine and Shiro's versions, the intensity we show when in a fight, between that and the maliciousness of my killing intent when extremely angry." he said lightly while rubbing his chin a bit "though Crystal might be better teaching you that bit, since i'm not that great a teacher, and well, we all know Shiro's not cut out for teaching, even if he was here." he did turn to give Axel a dirty look, causing him to stiffen up, but relaxed when Roveth looked back towards Crystal with his serious gaze despite still being groggy "either way, we have a long day ahead of us, especially if we're going to get the answers we want from Yen-Sid." he said calmly, while humming in thought as Gilgamesh spoke up from his coffee drinking at the moment, which was alright, definitely not better than his usual wines. "from my own experiences with magi and the likes, they are a dodgy sort, so prepare for just about anything, even this Yen-Sid person trying to flee the moment you come knocking for answers to uncomfortable questions." he said, while cracking his neck a bit with a small yawn "though i doubt he'll get away what with the Shadow of Swords here." he said, motioning to Roveth, who actually bowed a bit "thank you for the compliment oh great King of Heroes, my day has just been made." of course, this caused an eyetwitch out of Gilgamesh "mongrel..." he growled out, but returned back to his coffee, while Axel just stayed strangely silent, given he had way too many thoughts running around in his head.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"The simplest way to put it is that everything has a certain flow of energy associated with it giving every person, place, and object a unique signature," Crystal would explain with a nod as she took over explaining for Roveth. "I'm more sensitive to that energy than most because I have a lot of that spiritual sense from being a summoner. That's why I can so easily adapt my fighting style to the techniques of other worlds, like the moves I've borrowed from the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts of Nerima, how I so quickly adapted to the capability of elemental bending with minimal teaching when we were on the world of Bending Harmony, or when I was being taught to use Soul Menace while we were on the Soul Eater world. It makes my abilities extremely diversified, well enough to suit most of the types of situations I tend to find myself in."

"I think I get what you mean, more or less," Roxas nodded. "It's like how the clock tower in Twilight Town is a place that's comforting."

"That's exactly right," Crystal confirmed. "Usually the sense is subtle so even people who have it don't realize what it is and they will often choose to ignore it, which is usually a mistake. Our intuition is something that tries to protect us against the unseen aspects of the worlds. It isn't really something that can be controlled or manipulated, but awareness of that sense can help in other ways."

"Like how Roxas could feel that you needed him even though we were far apart, on different worlds even," Xion pointed out.

Roxas blushed visibly and flailed in protest. "It sounds incredibly corny when you put it like that!"

"Well, that's another thing about intuition. It tends to play off our emotions," Crystal told them. "So, if Roxas was worried about me, which he must have been because he knew what me and Riku were up to was likely going to be dangerous to a certain extent, then it stands to reason that he might have also started reaching out subconsciously with his intuition."

"Come to think of it, when I was still worn out from my training, at one point I thought I heard your voice, but no one else seemed to notice so I thought I might have imagined it," Roxas admitted looking slightly embarrassed.

"That might have been around the time I was in a bit of a tight spot with Vanitas when he started siccing the Unversed after me," Crystal suggested. "Especially considering that's also when the Samurai Nobodies appeared to support me."

"D'aww, did you hear that Tifa, they really do love each other!" Yuffie was awake and watching with endless mirth from the rafters.

Not long after that the group would depart for Twilight Town to pay a rather purposeful visit to Master Yen-Sid at his tower.

*~Twilight Town: Mysterious Tower~*

Not long after that the group would depart for Twilight Town to pay a rather purposeful visit to Master Yen-Sid at his tower. When they arrived at the top of the tower they would find Kairi the only one there other than Master Yen-Sid himself.

"Where's Sora?" Riku demanded on reflex more than anything. He wasn't really privy to why everyone else was so intent on interrogating Master Yen-Sid given that he had slept through the discussion during the night.

"I have sent Sora away to Olympus Coliseum for somewhat more hands on training to see if he shows any improvement," Master Yen-Sid answered.

"Then I guess that means I might have a chance to fight him in the Games," Roxas realized with some amusement before the conversation could turn too serious.

"You might have to get in line behind everyone else who wants a piece of him," Xion reminded him. "Not to mention you'll both have to worry about being matched against Shiro."

"Still, I guess this simplifies thing," Crystal mentioned while giving Master Yen-Sid a serious look. "I'm guessing the secrets we want to ask you about are things you've also been keeping from Sora. Things I reckon he still isn't ready to know about. So, I'm going to cut right to the chase. I want to know about the boy who looks like Roxas. What is his connection to Sora and that creep, Vanitas, who keeps attacking us?"

"So you've met Vanitas," Master Yen-Sid remained his usual neutral calm. "But I cannot fathom how you could possibly know about Ventus. He was hidden by Master Aqua well before your time in this era."

"I saw a vision of him in a dream last night," Crystal stated simply. She didn't elaborate on the contents of the vision because that hardly seemed relevant and it would only raise further questions.

"I did not realize you are a dream seer," Master Yen-Sid stroked his beard in contemplation.

"It kinda comes and goes," Crystal shrugged mildly. "My brother was skilled at it, but I never really learned how to control it. Still, when I do have visions, they've very rarely been wrong."

"And you are certain that the one you saw was not simply Roxas," Master Yen-Sid pressed further.

"It was a little bit different, but he had the same presence as Vanitas," Crystal answered.

"I see, then yes, it must have been Ventus," Master Yen-Sid acknowledged. "As you are probably aware, Vanitas possesses a heart of pure darkness, darkness that was extracted by Master Xehanort from the boy you saw in your vision. He planned to use Ventus and Vanitas to forge the χ-Blade and nearly succeeded about a decade ago. My apprentice, King Mickey, brought Ventus back here afterward along with Master Aqua, but Ventus had fallen into a deep sleep and what remained of his heart had already left him. We've been searching for the whereabouts of Ventus's heart for quite some time now and a long last we finally discovered it has resided within Sora's heart all along. However, Master Aqua is still missing in the Realm of Darkness and only she knows the actual whereabouts of young Ventus. Also, Sora still hasn't mastered the power of waking and is unable to restore Ventus's heart to him to awaken him."

"What's this all about?" Riku wasn't so much confused as he was angry that it was the first time he was hearing any of this. "What do you mean there's another Keyblade Master trapped within the Realm of Darkness."

"For that, I will have to summon Mickey to tell you the whole story," Master Yen-Sid admitted. "He was the one who encountered Master Aqua within the Realm of Darkness."

"So then, this Ventus, he must be the reason I don't look like Sora," Roxas was smart enough to interpret where this was going.

"Yes, I have suspected since meeting you that Ventus's heart must have influenced your appearance," Master Yen-Sid admitted. "However, you are no more Ventus than you are Sora. You have become your own person, one who is distinctly separate from them both."

"Right," Roxas nodded. "Vanitas thought that by clashing with me he could forge this χ-Blade thing, but he got upset when he realized I wasn't the right person and that my heart isn't compatible with his."

"Indeed," Master Yen-Sid mused. "And clashing with Sora would do him no good either because Ventus's heart is largely obscured by the brightness of Sora's heart."

"Right, well you'd better send for Mickey and tell him it's urgent," Riku asserted as he pulled up a chair at the table. Now that he knew more about what was going on he wasn't leaving without some answers either.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Axel had gulped visibly, hearing Ven's name once more just made him glance to Roxas again, before looking away, shaking his head a bit as he frowned ~no, Roxas is Roxas, and my best friend!~ he thought to himself, all the while Roveth had been keeping a close eye on everyone's emotions, and seeing Axel's fluctuate made him glance over with a calm visage, it seemed that the fact that Yen Sid being straight-forward for once was at least nice, but waiting for Mickey was going to be a -long- wait. "something bothering you Axel?" Axel glanced to Roveth, who saw the concern despite the passive visage in his eyes "yeah... i just didn't expect to hear that name again after a decade of not seeing any sign of him... Ven." he said while Roveth actually raised an eyebrow, surprised "you met this Ventus guy?" Axel nodded, while sighing "yeah, like i said it was about a decade ago, maybe a bit longer, it was before he disappeared suddenly, and at that time i hadn't been got dragged into the experiments and the Organization until after that, but Ven, myself, and Isa played a while back in Radiant Gardens.. i actually acted a lot more arrogant back then and used frisbees instead of chakram's, called his wooden Keyblade cute and all, and challenged him to a fight.. needless to say that didn't end well for me at all." he said with Roveth looking amused as Axel sighed "a decade.. and his heart's been residing in Sora... but if that's the case, then where is his body?" he thoguht a bit, frowning lightly, while Roveth shrugged a bit "maybe this Keyblade Master that's in the Realm of Darkness knows?" Axel hummed in thought, while Roveth turned his attention away from Axel and resumed listening in on the main conversation in case anyone tried to speak to him or catch his attention.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"It is a place you know all too well, Castle Oblivion," Master Yen-Sid informed Axel. "However, the room where Ventus's body is hidden cannot be found without Master Aqua. Only she knows the correct path to find him."

"So then, we can't do anything unless we find this Master Aqua," Xion realized.

"And even then, I feel like Castle Oblivion is still someplace you and I should stay away from," Roxas pointed out. "I know we're different than we were back then, but the one time I went into that place looking for you I collapsed as soon as I stepped inside and Axel had to carry me back to Twilight Town."

While the others were discussing Castle Oblivion and Master Yen-Sid went to send for King Mickey, Crystal decided to take Roveth aside because there was still one vital piece of information he needed to have.

"You should know, I wasn't actually training when I left with Riku," Crystal started. "But I can't let Shiro know about the place I needed to go to. The Keyblade Graveyard is the place where the Keyblade War took place and if he saw that many Keyblades all at once he might not be himself anymore, but in the vision I had last night... Counter Guardian Shiro is the one who ended the Keyblade War. He was under direct orders from the God of Darkness himself, Chaos. Of course, I don't think Shiro knows about any of this because it probably happens later in his personal timeline, but it would probably break him to see the remnants of what happened there just the same."  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Axel blinked when he heard that, ad went green in the face, while pale at the same time "that must've been what Xemnas was hunting for in Castle Oblivion, Isa too, before we released him from Xehanort's Clutches... oh man, no wonder!" he shivered a bit, and just kept quiet, but he did raise an eyebrow seeing Roveth leave to talk with Crystal a moment aside and all. he then focused on the conversation with Roxas and Xion as he nodded "yeah, that might've been because you were so close to Ventus that it was causing you physical pain..." he said, while rubbing his chin a bit softly to think about Castle Oblivion and how it worked.

Roveth meanwhile had listened to Crystal speak, and given that it was another secret coming loose as well, he did look concerned when Crystal mentioned the Counter Guardian ending the Keyblade War "i see... i had figured that you had left for a reason other than to train with Riku, nothing against him but he wouldn't make much of a sparring partner for you, plays too defensively for his own good." he said, waving it off "as for this Keyblade War, and this graveyard... i take it the vision you saw must've not been pretty if it had you that shaken up last night before Roxas and the others shown up at Radiant Garden." he said, having a pretty good idea as to why she might've been shook that badly, especially if she encountered the Counter Guardian in combat.. there's only one explanation in his mind "... a one sided slaughter. that's the only thing i can think of, and you're right, if Shiro did see the graveyard, keyblades aside, the would see their history, their memories... and see -that-... yes, it is, for now, a -very- good idea to keep him away from that place as long as possible." Roveth said, while frowning, glancing over his shoulder, apparently hearing the name Castle Oblivion again "also.. from what i know from talking with Ienzo and Aeleus about Castle Oblivion.. you might want to stay away, it might affect you badly, dunno how, given those two never elaborated on it, but i think it will probably be myself, and at least this Master Aqua going there, myself given what i know about the place, can beat the place's card system with my own." he shrugged a bit, while sighing "Yare yare daze.. now i'm really worried about these times ahead, especially since i don't know what's going on with Shiro..."  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"Like I said when it happened, I really don't remember anything after going inside," Roxas mentioned when Axel described what might have caused him to faint when they had gone to Castle Oblivion.

"No, you're right, Riku would be a terrible sparring partner for me," Crystal had to admit. "Although being aware of his teleport spamming capabilities was how I was able to predict where to cast my Toad magic to transform Braig so it wasn't a total loss." Then, more seriously, Crystal continued. "It was a complete massacre. You know, I was always strong enough to handle most of what the worlds have to throw at me, but what I saw in that vision... all that blood... it reminded me how soft I really am. I've only ever fought Heartless or Nobodies or the Unversed. I've never actually killed anyone. Heartless don't bleed when you defeat them. They poof away into black smoke and then the hearts just fly away. And I've always understood that releasing those hearts is the right thing. But I never wanted to raise my blade against another wielder. Not for real, not to the death. Some warrior that makes me, right?"

"Well, I don't think that's really a weakness," Kairi finally spoke up having been listening in on the conversations going on around her. "Honestly, you're one of the strongest people I've met. You've been fighting just as hard as Sora and Riku, well maybe a little bit harder than Sora, he has been slacking off. Meanwhile, it's taken this long just for me to find some way to be able to help out."

"And once you get done with your Keyblade training you're going to be kicking just as much Heartless butt as I do," Crystal grinned mildly. Then she looked over to Roxas and Xion before turning back to Roveth. "I wasn't planning on going to Castle Oblivion anyway. From what little I've uncovered about it, it sounds like that place messes with your head. It will try to mislead you and make you forget. More importantly though, I don't want to go anywhere that Roxas can't follow. If the situation at the Keyblade Graveyard had gotten too desperate he still could have gotten there. It's not like he would have been physically inhibited from going there. The reason he stayed away is because it might have attracted Xehanort to try to collect him as another vessel for his heart since he failed to collect Sora before. But we really don't know how Castle Oblivion might effect him. It's true that he can be around Sora without any negative effects now that he has been restored by Cosmos's power, but that doesn't necessarily mean he can handle Castle Oblivion seeing as that place plays by drastically different rules than the outside worlds. Anyway, the one who really needs to go back in there apparently is Sora. He's the one who needs to wake up Ventus, but before he can do that he needs to master his training."

"Perhaps we ought to put you in charge of his training," Master Yen-Sid considered.

Crystal paused and stared at the old wizard like he was insane. "Who, me? You've got to be kidding."

"It is unpolished, but perhaps even your limited abilities as a dream seer will allow you to get through to him in a more nuanced way," Master Yen-Sid continued. "Right now, I'm afraid Sora's greatest weakness is that he cannot differentiate between the waking world and being in a dream. And with his other responsibilities, our brand new Master Riku cannot always be there to bail him out."

"I know he'll get the hang of it," Riku responded. "But it's definitely taking too long."

"So then, while we continue waiting for Mickey to arrive, why don't you tell me how it went with your little endeavor at the Keyblade Graveyard?" Master Yen-Sid carried on conversing with Crystal. "I take it you were successful."

Crystal held out her hand to materialize the Sounding Staff Keyblade she had retrieved to augment her powers of purification. "I found his Keyblade, but Master Shiva's spirit had already moved on so I wasn't able to speak with him about how I'm supposed to show the Mark of Mastery."

"Then perhaps you will find a solution by working with Sora," Master Yen-Sid wasn't letting the subject drop. "If you can help him to awaken his true powers that would certainly prove that you are a Master."

"You do realize that since you asked I was already going to be doing that anyway, right?" Crystal raised an eyebrow.

"Indeed," Master Yen-Sid almost cracked a smile.

Considering what had happened the last time Crystal had been put in charge of training with Sora, Roxas couldn't help but laugh. "Sora is going to freak out when he hears about this. And if he doesn't learn fast he's not going to know what hit him."

"It seems a little unfair when you put it that way," Crystal chuckled mildly. "But yeah, I can't exactly afford to go easy on him."

"Poor Sora," Xion chimed in. "I almost feel sorry for him."

"Yeah, but we know Crystal won't really do anything too bad to him," Roxas pointed out.

"True, but she knows how to force him to think and that's really more what he needs right now," Riku mentioned. "Who knows, maybe it'll work."

A Few Hours Later...

King Mickey would arrive to begin telling his story about how he had met Master Aqua in the Realm of Darkness back when Sora and Riku were going to close Kingdom Hearts. When he reached the end of his story, Riku couldn't conceal his anger at having been kept out of the loop when Master Aqua had sacrificed her freedom to save him and Sora. And then they began their discussion of how they were going to travel into the Realm of Darkness to save Master Aqua which would very likely catch Roveth's interest.

"It's weird though," Crystal scratched behind her ear. "Back when I was in the Realm of Darkness I had no trouble getting out."

"That is, perhaps, because you are not without any ties to the darkness," noted Master Yen-Sid. "One who wields only light would find it a great deal more difficult to escape."

"Right, it must be because I'm an In Between," Crystal realized.

"An In Between?" Riku wondered.

"Someone who was born between the Realms of Light and Darkness, and who can wield light and darkness in equal measure," Crystal explained. "It must sound weird because I obviously wield a lot more light, but remember I was chosen by Cosmos to be one of her Light Warriors. Shiro is the same way, only he was chosen by Chaos. The way I understand it, it was a test to see if choosing representatives from the middle of the spectrum might prove that light and darkness can coexist as long as balance is maintained."  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Roveth had been about to speak to Crystal more about the whole slaughter she had witnessed, especially how he knew that if there was another choice, Shiro would've taken it, when his ears caught the discussion about the Realm of darkness as he snapped his head over towards Riku and King mickey's direction, raising an eyebrow "really now, if you wanted to head into the Realm of darkness all you have to do is ask me to help yanno. i -AM- darkness incarnate in this very room." he said with a sarcastic deadpan in his voice at least speaking up more frankly "Chaos had.. other reasons as to why he picked Shiro as an agent, as much as i hate to reveal it now, but technically... where Gilgamesh is the -Beginning- of Heroes, Shiro is meant to be the -End-. the -Last- Hero. he is called the Counter Guardian by those who know of his inner.. self that Yen-Sid has mentioned, because Shiro, ultimately.. is a deterrent, a -last resort-. not because his Counter Guardian self is unstable or anything, he's -very- stable, and is usually of the same mind as Shiro, just usually more jaded due to the path he has to take." Roveth took a breath before continuing "Chaos chose him not only because of this and of course, the inherent darkness that i became, but because as an in-between, he would be able to access both light and dark realms with ease." Roveth brought a hand up, a black smoke rose to form a black-ish blue ball of darkness in his hand, eyes glowing a bit "it is because of that that Shiro was chosen, because Light cannot exist without Darkness, just as Darkness cannot exist without Light. yes he was split between both halves by Xehanort, but the thought Chaos had remained the same, return the balance to what it was, and maintain it, should something tip the scales... then eliminate the problem, whether light or darkness." he closed his hand a bit and dismissed the ball lightly before looking to Mickey and Riku "normally i would say to leave things to me, but given you two have.. personal connections to this Master Aqua, it might make it easier to convince her we're there to rescue her rather than just me alone." he said, with a small smile "and yes i won't drop you in on your heads when we go Riku, i may be a troll and know how to push the buttons on you, but i'm not going to be trolling when this is a serious place we're talking about going to." he said reassuringly while looking to Crystal once more "Crystal.. not everyone has to be cut out to take down actual people. remember, even Shiro and his Counter Guardian self both hate fighting real people if there's a chance they can avoid it, more often than not the case is he has no choice, as his opponents won't listen to reason, or things have progressed far enough to where he can't make them see reason. don't let the visions control how you act around him, he is still the same passionate emotionally skewed distorted man you know and care for as a friend."

Axel had been listening quietly, frowning in general when he heard of expeditions of going into the realm of darkness, Roveth's explanation of Shiro being the Last Hero, so on and so forth, to where he shook his head lightly, and more thought about the fact that apparently crystal had seen quite a bit of bloodshed within those visions of hers, he just sighed, and rubbed his hair, nto really sure how to help at this point, with everyone having their own things they were about to do "i guess i'll stay here and help out wherever i can, seems to me there's not much i can do at the moment outside of going to find wolfwood and see if he has any news or information on fronts we might not know to look at." he said, scratching his head a bit "well, that and check on the coliseum periodically just in case Shiro does show up there.