“Damn, I’m still aching all over. How is an empty suit of armor so damn strong?”

“Magic and a soul.” Ven said plainly, while rubbing his bruises.

I gave him a flat look. “Shut up.”

“Fine. Still, I almost won, thats enough for me.”

I chuckled. “Yeah. Seriously though, I was surprised when you got hit by that last energy ball. I thought you’d dodge it easy.”

“Fighting for half an hour isn’t exactly helpful in dodging.”

“Try fighting all day with barely even a second of rest in a barren wasteland full of dragons, among other things.” I said, recalling my less than amicable arrival into Equestria.

“Yeah, you told me before.” He looked up, “So which shop should we go to first?” He asked me.

“I’d say let’s go to a weapon shop first. Then we should see about finding Yuffie and the gang. Hey, if we’re lucky, we might be playing through the events of 3D and we could meet Lea.”

“That would be interesting... I haven’t actually played that one myself.” He said as he walked up to the weapons store, with me close behind.

The guy behind the counter looked up, and said “Hey, what can I... Is that a pegasus?”

“Yes he is, anyway, I was wondering if you have any good shields, or keychains?”

“Oh, we don’t sell keychains here, bro. Try the jewelry shop, as for shields...” He ducked back behind the counter for a moment, before hefting up a large, purple shield with green chains on it. “I’ll give you this for 400 munny.”

Ven reached into his pocket, and pulled out a single bit, “And how much is this worth?”

The shopkeeper just stared at the gold coin for a few seconds, before saying, “I’ll give you the shield for four of those coins.”

“Hey sir, mind if I ask you something?”

“HOLY SHIT IT TALKS?!?!” The shopkeeper shouted.

I rolled my eyes and thought about summoning my keyblade, but decided against it. “Yes, I do. I want to ask if you know where we can find any of the following people: Yuffie Kisaragi, Squall Leonheart AKA Leon, Aerith Gainsborough, and Cid Highwind.”

“Oh, you mean the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee? They’re normally holed up at Merlin’s place.”

“Thanks. Oh, has a teenager named Sora been here recently?”

“Yeah, a couple days ago, he bought an ability ring at the accessory shop.”

“Ok, thanks.” I said as we left the shop with our new shield.

“... Why did I choose the shield?”

“Who cares, let’s go find Merlin’s house. I’m getting tired of all the staring.” I said impatiently as passersby continued to gawk at the ‘pretty little pony with wings’.

“Ok, ok, but first we should let the others know where we’re going, maybe get a keychain at the accessory stop.” Ven said with an excited tone.

“Fine. And maybe we’ll find some stuff we can use to make our own too.” I suggested.

“Yeah, if only we could find some Orichalcum plus. If we could locate enough of that we could make you the ‘Ultima’ keychain.” He said as he turned to the accessory shop

“That would be cool, but I’d prefer the Unbound keychain from Dream Drop Distance.”

“To each their own, personal favorite here is Two Become One, the keychain Sora gets after defeating Roxas in KH2 Final Mix.”

“I see. That one is cool.” I said as we entered the shop, ignoring the dropping jaw of the shopkeeper.

“Um, hello, I heard you sell keychains here?” Ven asked the shop girl, who was still staring at me, before looking up.

“Yes... We do, do you have one in mind or would you like to see all of them?”

“All of them.”

The girl turned away, and pulled down a display case with ten keychains in them. One I recognized as the keychain for the Bond of Flame keyblade.

“Ma’am, where did you acquire this one?” I asked, pointing to the keychain.

She stared at me again for a few more seconds, before saying “I found it on the sidewalk, I had it in the lost and found for two months, why, is it yours?”

“No, but I do know who it belongs to.” I recalled the one that I thought of at random during training. “Miss, have you ever heard of Infinity Spectrum?”

“I think I might have that one in the back, let me check.” And with that she walked through a door leading deeper into the shop

“So, Ven, you think we’ll be able to save Lumos, Mirum and Malum?”

“That depends on if we can find a new heart for Lumos.”

“I think it might be possible to help him if we bring them back and use the Elements on them. It’s a longshot, but it just might work.” I suggested.

“There are other ways to do it. Your keyblade purifies hearts, if we could find a strong enough heartless, we could try to keep the heart after defeating it. It’s more likely to actually work.”

“Ok then. But Infinity Spectrum....why does that keychain feel so important?” I mused.

“Probably nothing, like when you get a song stuck in your head.”

“That’s what I used to think about Akumu, and look where that got me.” I deadpanned.

“Fair enough.” Ven said as the shop girl walked back in with the keychain I asked for.

“We just got this one yesterday, the cost hasn’t been decided yet but-”

“How about 60 of these?” Ven asked, holding out a handful of bits.

“And we’ll buy the other one too. I have an idea where we might find its owner.” I said.

She just stared at the coins, “Do you know how much this kind of thing is worth?!”

“Where we’re from, the metal is as common as the stones used in the pathways here.” I replied cooly.

“This is worth over 300 munny! Just one of these! I’ll accept three, no more. Also if you really are returning the other keychain to it’s rightful owner, you can take it for no charge.”

“Damn it, that guy at the weapons shop ripped us off!” Ven said as he took back the remaining, unaccepted money.

“So, you’ve still got plenty of bits left, right? I hope you do, cause I lost my wallet when I lost my human form Ventus.” I said, emphasising his full name for no apparent reason.

“True, lets get going, and find your friends now, shall we?” Ven said as he grabbed the keychains and walked away.

“Thanks!” I called back to the lady as I left the shop after Ven.

“Ok, so then, where are the others? We still need to let them know.” Ven said as he walked around the area, glancing around.

“I dunno, I-agh!” I yelled as I bumped into someone.

“Hey, watch where...you’re......a pegasus?” A young female voice questioned.

“Who’s asking?” I replied, rubbing my nose with a hoof.

“Well this makes things significantly easier.” Ven said beside me.

“Yeah, and how-YOU!” I exclaimed as I found myself face-to-muzzle with Yuffie Kisaragi of Wutai.

“Sorry about this, we’ve sort of been looking for you.”

“Oh, and what do two travelers require of the Great Ninja Yuffie of the RGRC?” She asked with a raised eyebrow.

“... I... Noctis you explain.”

“Noctis Custos, former SOLDIER 1st Class, now a pegasus. How’ve you been ninja girl?” I asked.

“Noctis? Hmmm...nope, I got nothin’.” She said.

“Uh, Noctis, this is a different Yuffie than the one you know, this one has lived in Radiant Gardens a large portion of her life. The one you know is probably still on Gaia.”

“Oh,” I said, feeling stupid. “Maybe I should explain why we’re here. First,” I summoned my keyblade, “I’m sure you know what this is. Now, we’re looking for some friends of ours. Their names are Lumos, and Malum. We’re also looking for Sora, his friends, and Lea. Do you know where we can find them?” I asked, dismissing my keyblade again. “Oh, and how are Cid and Aerith doing?”

“Your not going to ask about Cloud?” Ven asked me.

“Knowing him, he’s fine. He can take care of himself.” I replied.

“Fair enough, I’ll go find Die and the rest.” He said as he walked away, leaving me alone with Yuffie.

“Soooooo...you have a keyblade too, huh? And you know Sora?”

“I know of him, but I don’t know him personally. I’ve got two reasons for finding him. The first is personal, but the second is so I can return this.” I said, showing her the Bond Of Flame keychain.

“That belongs to Sora? Then why do you have it?” She asked, eyeing me suspiciously.

“Shopkeeper found it a few days ago, no one claimed it so she put it up for sale. I figured out who it belonged to and bought it with the intention of returning it. That answer your question?”

“Hmmmm,” She kept eyeing me for a few more seconds before her gaze softened. “Okay then feathers, I believe you. Just make sure you do return it or you have to answer to me.” She said in a mock-threatening tone.

“Sure. Anyway, how’ve things been going with the reconstruction?”

She suddenly beamed at me. “It’s going great! We got the castle almost completely reconstructed, and the best part is some of the missing citizens just reappeared!” She almost shouted. She would’ve gone on longer, but we heard a *PING* sound. Yuffie’s expression quickly became serious. “That was Claymore!”

“Claymore?”

“The defence system Cid set up. There must be a Heartless somewhere nearby! C’mon, we’ve gotta go deal with it.” She said, running through the streets and leaving me behind.

“HEY! WAIT UP!” I yelled as I started running after her.

“No, now hurry up!” She retorted, still far ahead of me.

“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” A slightly distorted voice screamed.

“Ya hear that? It’s runnin’ scared cause it knows that the Great Ninja Y-OOF!” She was knocked down by a blur of dark feathers.

“SORRY!”

“Wait, that voice....MIRUM!?”” I half-shouted.

“NOT NOW LIGHT THINGS ATTACKING ME!”

“Mirum, it’s Noctis. Remember, you, Lumos and Malum saw me in bed with the princess, sorta.” I said.

“IF YOU WANT TO TALK WE’LL DO SO LATER!” He said as he ran up a wall and jumped over.

“Hey, get back here and face me, coward!” Yuffie exclaimed at Mirum.

“YUFFIE, TURN OFF THE DAMN DEFENCE SYSTEM!” I shouted.

“What? ARE YOU CRAZY!?” She asked in shock.

“No. That heartless happens to be a friend, and I’ve been looking for him so I can help him become whole again.” I replied as calmly as I could.

“Wha....you mean.....and he’s.....ugh, fine.” She said, before running off somewhere for a brief moment. When she came back, she was stuck between a frown and a smile. “There, the defence system’s been modified. It won’t attack your ‘friend’ anymore.” She said.

“KTHANKSBYE!” I said, taking to the air, clumsily, to search for Mirum. It only took me a few minutes to find him collapsed next to a dumpster in a disturbingly clean alleyway. I set down at the entrance to it and approached slowly, cautiously.

“Mirum? Is it really you?” I asked, still wary that he could be Akumu or Umbra in disguise.

“Who’s asking?” He replied.

“Um, I already said so earlier. Noctis, remember? You saw me in bed with...you know, let’s just forget that part.”

“Not ringing any bells, sorry.” He shakily rose, and looked at me with his flashing eyes, “Now, why did you follow me here.”

“For one, we’re trying to find you, as well as Lumos and Malum. We’re hoping we can make you guys whole again, help you get your hearts back.”

“Um. If you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly a Nobody here. I have a heart... Sort of.”

“Yeah, well your other half doesn’t. Malum, remember him? You two have to become one again, or neither of you will last long when Akumu and Umbra come after you.” I said calmly.

“Malum... Where have I heard that name before?” Mirum asked himself as he looked up at the sky.

“Malum, his name means evil, just like yours means paradox, and mine means Night.”

“Yeah, I know my Latin, I know what it means, so why,” A black circular blade appeared in each of his hands, “Do you want me to join with a being named ‘Evil’?”

“Dammit, it’s just a name. Don’t make me fight you, Mirum. I don’t want to have to hurt you.” I said.

“Yeah, you just want me to stop existing by fusing with a different being.”

“You won’t stop existing. All it means is you’ll become whole again, you’ll get your memories back. You have the heart but no memories, Malum has the memories but no heart. You need him, just as he needs you, but if you’re gonna be too stubborn to listen,” I summoned my keyblade, “Then I’ll just have to beat some sense into you! INFINITY SPECTRUM!” The keychain attached itself to my blade and transformed it.

Mirum just gave me a death glare, though his eyes did widen a little bit. He said, just barely audible to me, “Light mode.” and all of his feathers turned a brilliant golden as he charged.

“So be it.” I said quietly, before I charged as well.

We met near the middle, where Mirum simply jumped over me, and ran out of the alleyway, and kept running.

“OH NO YOU DON’T! STOPZA!” I yelled, and Mirum simply froze in place.As he fell, a passage of darkness opend under him, and he almost fell through, only to land next to it.

“What the...” I walked over to him. “Mirum, please. If you don’t become one with Malum again, a lot of innocent people are going to die. Do you really want the blood of hundreds, if not thousands, on your hands, just because you were too stubborn to do the right thing?” I asked with venom in my voice as I undid the Stopza spell.

“... Fine, I’ll fuse with this ‘Malum’ guy. Happy? Now where is he?”

“That’s the problem. We don’t know. We were hoping you might have an idea where to look. He is your Nobody, after all.” I said sheepishly.

“Yeah, well, shows how much you know.” He said with a roll of his eyes.

“Just as humorous as Lumos. So, you gonna come with us to save the world?” I asked.

“Do you have any idea how cheesy you sound right now?”

“At least I didn’t put emphasis on the last part. Anyway, let’s go find Discord and everyone else before they send out a search party.”

He sighed, and said “I won’t be getting out of it will I?” While his blades disappeared.

“Sorry, but no. Anyway, you know you wanna kick Umbra’s ass.” I said, smiling a little.

“Who?”

“Oh right. Basically, before you got separated into the four that exist now, you, Malum and Lumos shared the same body. This guy Sanguine took over your body and....” And so I went into a lengthy explanation about how Umbra came to exist, my own duel with him, how I almost fell to the darkness, up to our arrival in Radiant Gardens to look for information. He took it about as well as could be expected.

“WHAT THE FUCK?!”

“Dude, calm down before you hurt yourself.”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN CALM DOWN?! IF SOMEONE LIKE THAT IS ON THE LOOSE THEN HE HAS PROBABLY RUINED AT LEAST ONE WORLD ALREADY!”

“Ok, I am gonna say this once. CALM THE FUCK DOWN! If he has ruined a world, then we’ll just put it back together. That’s all there is to it. I don’t give a damn if everyone else says it’s impossible. We’ll do it!”

“Yeah, I gue- AH!” He shouted as Ventus jumped out of nowhere wearing a different outfit, pinning him down.

“Ventus, please release Mirum before I kick your ass.”

“It’s Mirum? I saw the heartless symbol on it’s back and just reacted.” Ven said, leaping off, “Also, we both know I would win if we fought.”

“Yeah yeah. Sorry about that Mirum. You ok?”

“My face... ow...” Mirum said, facedown in the dirt.

“Ven, apologise to Mirum. Then, we’ll go find the others.”

Ven pointed to the area behind me, “I already found them earlier, when I said I was going to go do so. Also, sorry bro.” He added, looking down at Mirum, Who was starting to get up, rubbing the dirt off his face.

“Seriously, why the fuck would you do that?”

“Because he can be an idiot sometimes. Anyway, let’s go find the oth-AGH MY EYE! FUCK!” I yelled as something lodged itself in my cornea. Upon pulling it out, and using cure to heal the damage, I found the object to be a paper airplane.

“Where did that paper come from?”

“You didn’t see it falling?” Mirum asked.

“Does it matter? Let’s read it before I get pissed off and burn it or something!” I said impatiently.

Journal of a Nobody: Entry 1:

I won’t write the details of the first four days, which were just getting used to the organization. I’ve remembered how my metal works, and how to infuse powers in them, but thats about it. I’ve managed to convince Xemnas to lend a small amount of his power to creating a new weapon with me, I call it the Nihl, since Xemnas’ power is Void control, which is basically antimatter. Anything Nihl cuts will disintegrate within a matter of seconds. I have also noticed something rather odd, all the members of this organization sound and look exactly the same. Something... just seems off.

~Lux

“What?”

“Oh, crap.” I said.

“What?” I jumped as I heard a voice from behind me.

“Hey princess,” Ven greeted in a surprised tone as Celestia, disguised as a human, walked out from the shadows.

Her hair still had it’s multiple colours and whatever magical properties allowed it to flow without wind, and her eyes were still the same vibrant purple, but now she had new clothes, courtesy of Discord, who insisted that they look the part since we were in the KH universe. I wasn’t surprised he had internet access, but I was surprised by all the artwork people had made of this world and Equestria. Anyway, back to Celestia’s new gear.

She wore a white t-shirt with her cutie mark emblazoned on the front and flames on the ends of the sleeves, a small medallion with an engraving of the sun, fingerless grey gloves that went up to the elbow and a golden bracelet, that used to be her royal necklace, on her left wrist, indigo shorts with small white crosses at the end, a small fanny pack on her left-hand side, a sash that went all the way around her waist and kept going until both ends almost reached the ground, a pair of yellow and white zip-up boots, and a rapier strapped to her back. Her wings and horn were still there, but whatever magic Discord used made them invisible and intangible whenever she wanted them to be. The same went for Luna.

“Don’t do that Celestia, you almost gave me a heart-attack.”

“They can’t fix you having a weak heart, Noctis.”

“Shut up Ven. We have a problem if you didn’t realise. Namely the fact that Lumos was found by Organization XIII.”

“Yeah, yeah, still, a joke never killed anyone... except that one rubber chicken...” He muttered the last part.

“This isn’t the time. They have Lumos, and he’s making weapons for them. So either he doesn’t remember anything, or he’s being controlled, in a sense.”

“Yes, that is the most logical of assumptions.”

“So, the question is, what are we gonna do about it? Oh, and where’s everyone else Celestia? Weren’t Discord and Luna with you earlier?”

She shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. “Luna said something about finding a flower shop, and Discord went with her.”

“And what about Die?”

“She’s touring the town with Tox, Sparky, Shade, Aqua, and Clare. They said something about finding somewhere to practice.” Once again, her ability to remain nonchalant was amazing.

“Ok then. Well we’ve found Mirum, and we got a message from Lumos, or Lux, I guess. So we should continue looking for more info and then head to our next destination. Which world is it again?”

“We never decided, we already know that our info from this world would determine that.”

“Well so far we know that Lumos is in the World that Never Was, most likely, while Malum is in the wind, so to speak.”

“That means our next location would be Twilight Town. Since that’s the only world with any sort of connection to the World that Never Was.”

“Well then, I’ll go find Discord and the others. Where will we meet?”

“The Dark Depths?” Ven suggested calmly. “It’s probably closer to wherever Die and the others found to train.”

“There gonna be any heartless there? I’m wondering if Mirum might be able to command lesser heartless to an extent.”

“Most likely there aren’t any around here. But as for the other part... thats a maybe.”

“Ok then. I’ll find you all later.” And with that, she was gone in a flash of magic.

I rubbed my eyes with a hoof to get rid of the blurriness caused by the flash, and I walked out of the alleyway, followed closely by Ven and Mirum.

“I’ll go on ahead,” Ven said, already beginning to fly away.

“Yeah... I think I’ll walk.” Mirum said.

“Same. Gives us a chance to talk without trying to kill each other.” I said...
__________________________________________________________________

I’d asked him several questions, mostly what had happened that he could remember, which wasn’t much. He’d asked some too, one of which was pretty snarky, asking why I chose to be an overgrown pigeon, which I ignored. Eventually, we arrived at the Dark Depths, where everyone else was already waiting for us. Jolt noticed us approaching, and walked up.

“What took you guys so long?” He yelled.

“QA Session Sparky.”

“Don’t call me Sparky... Tia! We’re all here!” Jolt shouted

“Thank you Jolt. Now, the reason we are here, is because we have two pieces of news to share. One, we have found Mirum,” She gestured towards us, specifically towards Mirum, who shrugged in response, “And the other thing is that we have discovered Lumos’ whereabouts. Unfortunately, he is in the clutches of the Organization.” She said.

“Wait, Organization XIII found him?! Oh this is bad! This is very bad!” Clare half-shouted with wide eyes.

“Calm yourself Clare. We will rescue him, no matter what. I promise you that.”

“No, you don’t understand, if he makes a weapon fused with Xemnas’ power, do you have ANY idea how powerful it would be?!”

“I know it would be bad Clare. It doesn’t matter though. We’re gonna beat him, we’re gonna save Lumos, and we’re gonna stop Akumu and Umbra. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!”

“Why are you going drill sergeant on us at a time like this?!” Clare shouted

“Because somebody has to keep us from losing our heads because of one piece of bad news. That answer your question?”

Clare had a blank look for a second, before sighing, “Whatever... Damn I need a drink.”

“So, Lumos is with Organization XIII? Does that make him a captive, or an enemy?” Luna asked.

“Neither, from what we read, I think he lost his memory, like Mirum did.” Ven said, looking deep in thought.

“Well, if ‘Lux’ is on the World that Never Was, then why are we here? To Twilight Town!” Discord exclaimed, and snapped his fingers, moving us all back to the ship.

“Uh, Discord, we still had to meet Aerith and the others to get info on Sora, Riku, Kairi and the others y’know?”

He got a disappointed look on his face, “Oh,” He snapped again, and teleported me, Ven, and Die down, putting us in the middle of town.

“Huh, that’s convenient. We’re here.” Ven said, pointing to a building, and walking forward slowly.

“HEY! You can’t enter without permission y’know!”

“Sure we can’t, Yuffie.” I said sarcastically, turning to face the ninja girl. “So, is there a reason you stopped us? Cause I know there’s no restrictions about entering a building.”

“Ok, ya got me. There’s actually nobody in there except for Merlin. They’re all at the castle right now.” She said.

“Oh, ok, thanks,” Ven said, before beginning to fly off.

“VEN! Aw, dammit.” I said, shaking my head. “Ok, I’ll talk to Merlin by myself then!”

“HEY! What am I, chopped liver?” Die retorted in mock-irritation, cuffing me on the head.

“Sorry Die.”

“Too late. I’m goin’ with Ven. Have fun talking to the wizard.” She said with a lazy salute before switching forms and flying off after her ‘boyfriend’. I shook my head with a small smile as I entered Merlin’s home.

It, was, a mess. Books were strewn everywhere. On the floor, on tables, desks, and chairs, anywhere except the bookshelves. All except for one, which I recognised from the Kingdom Hearts games as the book of Winnie the Pooh. As for the old wizard, he was nowhere to be found, despite Yuffie’s assurances that he was here. I turned to leave and jumped back as I found him standing right there.

“Oh, and what’s this? A pegasus? Hmmm, fascinating.” He said, invading my personal space and scrutinising me.

“Um, could you not get so close?” I asked.

“And it speaks!”

“Now that’s just plain rude.”

“Apologies, my dear equine friend, but I have only met with your kind on the rarest of occasions. As such, I haven’t had a chance to properly study one. Unfortunately, my overzealous attitude has caused me to forego common courtesy. I, am Merlin the Wizard. Now, who might you be?”

“My name is Noctis. I was a human at one point, but recent events have required me to adapt, as you can see.” I said calmly, despite my frustration.

“So you mean to say that you were, transformed?”

“For lack of a better word, yes. Now, would it be alright if I asked you some questions?”

“Ask away m’boy.”

“Thanks, I think. Anyway, I was wondering if you knew anything about some Nobodies named Lumos and Malum, or about some heartless named Umbra and Akumu?”

“Hmmmm....” He started tapping his head with a finger in thought before sighing. “I’m sorry, the names are not familiar to me, so I’m afraid I cannot help you.”

I nodded, a little disappointed. “Ok. Well, do you know where I can find Sora and his friends?”

He smiled. “Well there’s a question I can answer. Sora and his friend, oh what’s his name.....AH! Riku, that’s it! Well, Sora and his friend Riku are currently at the Mysterious Tower taking their Mark of Mastery exams, overseen by Yen Sid.”

Well that answers the question of the timeline. We’re somewhen during the events of 3D.

“Thanks. Well, I only have one question left. Can you teach me to control magic?”

He frowned slightly as he looked me over with slight suspicion. “May I ask why?”

“I have a, unique, power. Unfortunately, the object I was used to using as a medium to control it with was lost, and with it my control over said power. I obtained a new object, but it is vastly different to my previous one, and as such, I have to learn to control my abilities all over again.” I said, summoning BP and allowing him to briefly look it over before dismissing it. He gave me a sad look.

“I am sorry, but I am afraid I cannot help you.” He said.

I was more than a little surprised. “What? Why not?”

“I am afraid if you wish to learn to wield a keyblade properly, you must learn from a Master, and there are only two Masters who would be able to train you at this moment in time, Yen Sid, and Mickey.” He said calmly. “Oh, and one more thing.”

Sora’s keychain suddenly appeared in his hand. “I’ll be sure to give this to its owner. You just focus on your own tasks.”

“I see. Well, thank you for your time. I’ll be going now.” I replied quietly, before opening the door a little too fast.

“Yeah, that’s all we c-OW!”

“What the fuck?!”

Oh fuck!

I ran outside the door to see Die clutching her nose and glaring at me, and Ven with his hand on his blade.

“Oh shit, you ok Die?” I said worriedly as I ran towards her.

“DUMBASS!” She shouted, punching me on the forehead. “What the fuck did you slam a door on my face for!?” I couldn’t even say anything, I was too focused on what was the beginning of a massive bruise on her nose.

“Um... Die?”

“What?” She whirled around, glaring daggers at Ven.

“You’re bleeding.” He said, holding out a small rag.

She put a hand under her nose and pulled it back to reveal a red liquid on her hand. “Oh, great. Nice going Noctis.” She said sarcastically, grabbing the rag and cleaning off the blood before using a Cure spell to heal the damage. “You’re just lucky you’re my brother, you know that?” She said with a smirk.

“Yeah yeah. So, what did you guys learn?” I asked.

“We learned what point in the story we are in, and just how big of a problem we have on our hands.”

“I know, we’re here during the events of 3D, right?”

“Yeah, but that’s not all I figured out.”

“What else?” I asked.

“If the diary entry of ‘Lux’ is correct, then Sora or Riku could be killed if he doesn’t regain his memories. However, us trying to stop it from happening may stop the rescues of Aqua, Terra, and the Ventus from BBS.”

“Crap, so we’re damned if we do, and damned if we don’t?”

“Unless Lumos remembers.”

“Then I guess we’re going to have to get involved and make sure he does!” I said confidently.

“You aren’t getting it, we’re only able to really hope that he remembers on his own, our getting involved will change it even more.”

“Our being here has already done that, hasn’t it?”

“Yes, yes it has, but that-”

“No buts! We’re going to help them, we’re going to make sure that Lumos, Sora and Riku are saved, and we’re going to help rescue Master Aqua, Terra and Ventus.” I said.

“You know we might end up preventing their rescue by interfering.”

“I refuse to believe that. We won’t fail them. Do you doubt me, or yourself?”

He sighed, “No, it’s just tha-AAGH!” He shouted as a letter lodged itself in his left eye.

I fought the urge to laugh. “Well, at least it wasn’t me this time.”

Die hit me. “Shut up Noctis. You ok Ven? What is that? And what did Noctis mean by ‘this time’?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” He opened the letter, “Huh, it’s another one of the entries of the ‘Journal of a Nobody’ and what he meant was that the last one lodged itself in his eye. Also I think you should wear some sort of sunglasses, just in case.” He said with one eye squinted.

“Nah, I’ll be fine. If I can take a door to the face and heal up in a snap, I think a paper plane to the eye would only be a minor annoyance.”

“Anyway, lets see what it says...” and he began to read it out loud.

“Journal of a Nobody: Entry 2

I wonder why I keep writing these, with no emotions it just seems stupid and pointless. The rest of the members of the organization all have their hoods up, and won’t talk to me. So there isn’t much to really talk about. Although I did see one of the faces, he looked like a younger version of Xemnas, I wonder if they’re brothers or something? One last thing, a few of my memories have come back to me. One thing stands out above all: a thing called Kingdom Hearts.

~Lux”

“Shit, young Xehanort. Something tells me the next entry we get will not be good.” I said, slightly worried.

“At least he’s remembering.”

“Yeah, that’s something good, at least. But what if he doesn’t remember everything in time to save himself from being turned into a copy of Xehanort?”

“As I said before, we can only hope.”

“Screw just hoping, let’s get involved!”

“I think we should go back to the ship and take a vote.”

“Same here.”

“Alright then. Back to the ship. You still got that thing Discord gave you to contact him?” My question was answered when he took it off his wrist.

Ven held his watch to his mouth, “Discord, we’re ready to come back.”

A bright flash appeared, and by when my eyes adjusted, we were back on the ship.

“Dude, that was infinitely easier on the head than regular teleporting.” I said, thankful for the lack of headaches.

“Yeah, anyway,” he held up his watch again, “Intercom mode: All personnel report to the bridge.” He said, his voice filling the ship.

A few minutes later, everyone, and everypony, arrived, waiting to hear what we had to say.

“We have good news and bad news. Good news, we have another piece of the diary of ‘Lux,’ this entry telling us that he is regaining his memory slowly. The bad news is that he might be transformed into a Xehanort clone soon.” He looked up, “This leads me to my next order of buisness: a vote. Do we go to rescue lumos this second, or do we wait to let the timeline of Dream Drop Distance carry out first? If we rush in, we may stop the rescues of the main characters from Birth by Sleep.”

“And if we don’t get involved, then Lumos, or ‘Lux’, may kill Sora and Riku, completely wrecking the timeline, unless he remembers everything before it’s too late.”

“Ok, so who is for?” everyone but Ven, Discord, Jolt, and Tox raised their hands/hoofs.

“So that’s seven of us. Wait, Discord, you’re against this? Hmm, kinda surprised, but then again, you are a Spirit of Chaos, so being unpredictable is basically your job description, huh?”

“True, but I also know better than to rupture timelines.”

“... Well, Discord, I guess we’re off to Twilight Town.” Ven said with his head hung in defeat.

“Wait, what if just go and get Lumos back from The World that never Was before the fight if it hasn’t happened yet, and we make sure to take Nihl with us?”

“The fight will probably start before we get there, considering we have to go through a passage hidden in Twilight Town.”

“Hey, didn’t they rename it Traverse Town at some point? No wait, they’re two completely separate worlds. I think I’m messing up all the names now.” I said, facehoofing.

“Yeah, different world.”

“Ok then. So, where exactly is the passage that’ll take us to The World that Never Was anyway? Wait, since it’s a sleeping world now, won’t we only be able to access it the way that Sora and Riku did? By entering the realm of sleeping Keyholes?”

“Oh, now where is the fun in taking the normal route?” Discord asked.

“Oh right, I forgot you can go anywhere you want, anyway you want.” I said.

Discord put on a pair of shades, “We launch in 5. 4. 3. 2. 1.” the ship shook heavily, knocking us all to the floor but him, “We have liftoff.”

“You added that to mess with us, didn’t you?” Ven said from his spot on the ground.

“You can’t prove anything!” Discord shouted.

“He’s got you there Ven.” I chuckled.

“I wasn’t complaining,” It was then that I noticed Die fell on top of him.

“Yeah, you were whining. And get a room you two.” I retorted, and they both blushed furiously as they quickly stood up.

“Um... I’ll be training. I want to be as ready as possible for what is to come.”

“I’m gonna blow off some steam. NOBODY BOTHER ME UNLESS YOU HAVE A DEATHWISH!”

And with that, Ven and Die were off to the VR Room and Game Room respectively, leaving everybody else to slowly leave the room, wandering to who knows where. I went off to my room and flopped onto my bed, exhausted. Just as I was about to drift off, I heard a knock at my door.

“Come in.” I said, not wanting to be rude, and in walked Luna, still in her human disguise, which, just like Celestia’s, had her hair and eyes remain the same.

She had a blue sleeveless zip-up jacket with a turtleneck, four small strips of cloth that went from the front of her shirt to the back, over her arms, two strips per side, some sort of corset-like thing in a darker shade, ending in a skirt with her cutie mark on the bottom right-hand side. Her hands were adorned with two-toned blue fingerless gloves with white wrist-straps. She had midnight-blue shorts and extremely dark stockings with a white crescent moon embroidered on the side of each, and she wore sneakers of various blues with zips on the front like Celestia’s boots. She had her wings and horn on full display.

“Hello Noctis. I hope I’m not disturbing you.” she said.

“Don't worry about it Luna.” I said, motioning for her to take a seat.

She walked over to the bed, sat down and stared at me, her eyes filled with concern. “I am worried, Noctis. That weapon, Nihl, it could destroy anything, even immortals. And you plan to dive right into battle with its creator!? You are going to get yourself killed, and then I will be alone again.” she said, refusing to meet my eyes.

“Luna, you will never be alone. You have your sister, and if worst comes to worst, my sister'll be there for you too."

“It’s not the same...” she said, almost angrily.

“Why? They're willing to protect you with their lives too, so what's different?” I asked, though deep down, I already knew. Or at least my heart did. My head was taking a little longer to catch up.

“The difference is that I love you!” She shouted, finally looking at me with tears streaking down her face.

I was shocked for a moment, but then I remembered what Ven had said. I facehoofed at my stupidity.

“I'm an idiot, aren't I?” I said quietly.

Luna shook her head and wrapped her arms around me, pulling me close. “No, why would you say that?”

“Because Ven told me you liked me and I just ignored my head and my heart screaming at me to tell you how I felt. I'm a coward because I was too afraid to say four words. I was too afraid to say ‘I love you Luna’.”

I half-expected the slap that came next, but I definitely was caught with my pants down, so to speak, when she followed up by undoing her disguise and kissing me. My mind chose that exact moment to fall to pieces, and all I could do was lose myself in the moment as she forced my mouth open and slipped her tongue inside, her forelegs still wrapped around me as she pushed me onto my back and continued her assault on my mouth...
_______________________________________________________________________

Akumu’s PoV

UMBRA! IF YOU CAN HEAR ME WITH THAT FREAKY MIND SHIT, I NEED AN ADULT!

Every. Single. Resident. That's who the pink one had invited to her party. And every single one of them was staring at me with either confusion, or outright fear. There was a surprising lack of suspicion though.

Guess that Gluttonous mare is more influential than I thought.

"OHYOUMADEITNOWWECANSTARTTHEPATY!"

"Uh, ok." I said, backing away as she bounced around the room.

"Sorry about that, Pinkie is always on a sugar-high." A voice said from behind me. I turned to see a sky blue pony with a rainbow mane and tail smirking at me.

"And you are..." I said, despite already knowing from Noctis’ memories.

"Only the fastest flyer in Equestria, Rainbow Dash." She said with a massive grin.

Are we sure she isn't just another pride. She's got the right attitude for it.

"The fastest, huh? Wanna test that theory?" I said, "We'll need a judge though. How about, Pinkie, was it?"

"You're challenging me to a race? Oh you are ON!" she almost shouted.

Almost as she said that, I heard in my mind <Akumu, I have built us a small army, prepare to steal the soul of either the light blue pegasus with the rainbow hair, or the extremely pink one with the hair that looks like cotton candy, I’ll be ‘dropping in’ on the party in 4 seconds after I tell you this. Find a way to keep as many ponies as possible there, so I can make us more minions, or just kill them if you feel like it, just get one of the souls first... Actually, go for the pink one. I’ll take the Rainbow maned pony of ‘sloth’.>

"No worries. I challenged sloth to a speed challenge and gluttony's the judge. So they'll be in the same place at the same time. And where'd you get an army anyway?"

<The blades of sin, my friend, our army is of those transformed by four of the seven sins.>

"No fuckin' way. Just how powerful are these things?"

<I don’t quite know yet, but they are mostly like skeletons. Oh, and avoid any that are a dark blue color.>

"Why? Will they blow up or something?"

<The dark blue ones were made with the sin of ‘Lust,’ and->

"OK I'VE HEARD ENOUGH!"

I cut the connection and walked outside with Sloth and Gluttony in tow. What I saw outside was nothing. I didn't worry though. Umbra would come through.

<2 seconds to the drop of me, and my army.> I heard him say.

I chuckled to the confusion of the two. But before they could question me, all hell broke loose.

<Dropping now.> the next part they all heard <BANZAAAAIIIIIIIIIIII!>

Hundreds of skeletal winged beings suddenly began to land around us, while many large beasts that looked like the skeletons of giant cats and large lizards began to flow into the city. Sloth started to fly around and smash as many as she could, but during her distraction, I slammed into her and ripped her soul out before she could react.

"OK TIME TO GO!" I yelled as a crowd of angry ponies started to gather, before running in fear from Umbra's army. I could see Umbra dropping the body of Gluttony, with a charged glove on his right hand, followed by him grinning.

<No problem, creating sinblades. Just give them a nick with yours to change them to ‘Sinners’ for the army.> he ‘said’ as a new blade appeared in my hand. In the gloved hand of Umbra, a huge keyblade appeared.

"Nah. Let's just go find our weaker halves and end them."

<Ok, just give me a minute to get us some new soldiers, I wanna see what the complete sinblade is capable of later, just hold onto Sloth and Wrath for the moment.>

I sighed, but nodded, watching with slight satisfaction as everything went to hell...