Me and Die were laying down in the virtual field, side by side, looking at the night sky created in the dome. Unfortunately for me, my brain was going into overdrive now to make up for blanking earlier.

I wish we had gone further... but why do I feel happy about not doing so? It... It makes no sense. Then again, no emotions make sense... Not only that, but this makes things more complicated, before I was willing to run onto the front lines, and sacrifice myself for the good of others... Now... I’m not so sure... SHIT, I wish I knew what Die was thinking right now. Maybe it would give me some form of a calm feeling.

I cleared my throat, “Hey, Die?”

“Yeah?” she said.

“What are you thinking about?”

“You really wanna know?” she replied with a hint of sadness.

“Yeah, I do.”

“Ok. After this is over, you're gonna have to go back to your Equis, and I have to go to mine, and we'll probably never see each other again. At least when Noctis finally admits his feelings for Luna they can pursue a relationship in the same world. We can't.” a few tears started to slide down her cheek.

“I never thought of that...” I said, feeling sadness creep up behind me. “I was focusing on how much more complicated things have become from the past few minutes alone.”

"Just like a guy to think with his junk rather than his head." she laughed.

I chuckled, “Not what I meant.”

“I know.” She seemed to lose herself in thought for a few minutes. “Hey Ven?”

“Yeah Die?”

“What if...What if you stayed on our world with us?” she asked hopefully.

“I never thought of that,” I sat up, the sadness just... melting away. “I have no actual reason to stay on my Equis, I’ll have to quit my job as an assassin first though, for obvious reasons.”

“You were an assassin? Why am I only learning this now?” she said in mock-irritation.

“To be honest, Lumos is too, we’re part of a group called the ‘wind reapers,’ Lumos joined it before I did, In fact, when whatever caused us to move to your world happened, we were training, we’re the only two humans among them.”

“I see. so, Wind Reapers? Sounds like you chose the name, am I right?"

“No, they existed for a long time, they’re almost as old as the dark brotherhood.”

“Dark brotherhood?"

“A group of assassins over a thousand of years old, they were originally a part of a larger guild, but then broke off, worshiping a woman called the ‘Night mother.’ The Night Mother was a dead woman, who could speak to a single member of the Dark Brotherhood, called the ‘Listener,’ under the listener, there are four ‘Speakers,’ like... like four fingers and a thumb.” I said. Damn, feels good to be a nerd.

“Cool. So, back to what we were talking about. Will you stay?”

“Two words: Fuck. Yeah.”

"Maybe when we're married lover-boy." she said with a beaming smile.

I laughed “If we live that long.” My expression fell as my thoughts returned to the battle ahead.

"Uh, hello. I am immortal. As long as you stay behind me you're golden."

“It’s not that simple, Nihl can destroy, and antimatter can kill immortals. Trust me, I would know.”

“Thanks for ruining my epic pep-talk.”

“What are boyfriends for?” I asked nonchalantly.

“Hmmm, I could think of a few things. You might not like all of them though." she retorted mischievously.

I raised an eyebrow, “Oh?”

"Anyway, I'd better check on Noctis and the others. I'll leave you to think of what else boyfriends are good for."

I thought for a moment, “I’ll go with you, I’ve got nothing better to do with my time... or anything worse really.”

"Just as long as I don't have to save your ass from those balls of pain again." she smirked, pecking me again.

“I’ll just grin and bear it.” I said.

She smiled. “I'm sure you will. So, you wanna knock, or will we just burst in and hope to find him in a hilariously awkward position?”

I grinned, “Burst in, obviously, it’s only logical.”

“And that's why I love you, Venny.”

“... That... nevermind.” I said, facepalming to hide my blush.

“Awww, c'mon, a girl's gotta have an embarrassing nickname for her boyfriend. It's traditional."

I chuckled yet again, “Fine, you can call me... that.” I absolutely REFUSE to utter it. Never.

“Don't worry, I'll only ever utter it in your presence.”

I sighed, and muttered a quiet “Damn,” Before saying “So, shall we get going?”

"Yeah. Let's. I want to catch Noctis before he can clean up whatever mess I'm sure he made.”

“Alrighty then!” I said, and began to fly down the corridors, pulling Die along with my wind.

“Ven, I haven't said this before, but the wind-powers? Amazing!”

“It’s actually got more uses than you would think!” I shouted.

“Save it for the bedroom!”

“Yeah, yeah, anyway, we’ll be breaking through the door momentarily.”

"Oh, this is gonna be fun." Die said with a smile.

I created a low pressure barrier around me, and rolled up into a little ball, bracing for impact.

I crashed through the door, and slowed us both to a stop before I hit the wall, putting Die down, and standing on the wall myself.

“Room service!” I said with a grin.

"Awwww, and here I thought there would be a mess." Die complained

“Eh, it looks like something happened at least.” I looked at her “Also, you were right, its starting to hurt.”

“How did I know it would be Die...What. Are. You. Doing here?” Noctis growled through gritted teeth, while Luna tried to move him off the bed and pull up the covers over herself.

“Just checking up on ya,” I said whilst walking from the wall onto the roof.

"Ven, get off the ceiling. Discord'll kick your ass if you get the Swagwagon dirty in any way."

“I’m not actually touching it. Wind powers are best powers.” I said, reminding them of the minimum half inch distance between my feet and just about anything.

"Die, Ven. I'm asking nicely. Please leave. Do not make me break out 'the voice'." Luna said quietly.

I chuckled, “Trust me, princess, I’ve heard louder than the Royal Canterlot Voice, at point blank.”

"I was not referring to that voice."

“Oh... Die, shall we take our leave?” I asked in fear. Shit, please princess don’t use the god queen’s voice, I beg of you!

"In a minute." she said before she turned to face them again. "Noctis, you'd better make her happy. And Luna, keep him from getting himself killed. Oh, and be good. But if you can't," she turned towards the door, "Be sure to name the first one after me," and with that, she ran out of the room, cackling madly, with me following closely behind, letting out an evil laugh of my own.

"So, think we embarrassed him enough?"

“For today,” I said with a grin.

"I forgot what it was like to see him embarrassed. It's been way too long since he's shown any emotion at all other than the occasional fit of anger."

“Really? He seemed pretty open around Lumos and me.”

"Maybe, but before you came along he was always keeping his feelings to himself. Ever since we lost our parents."

“Maybe it’s the ponies?”

"And the fact that he's one too? Think that might have anything to do with it?"

“... Yeah, that could be it.” I floated in front of her upside down, so our eyes were level.

"So, we gonna tell everyone when we get to Twilight Town?"

“Yeah, why not?”

"You do know I'm talking about 'them' as well as 'us', right?"

“Yeah, I know.”

"Now, let's go figure out how long till we arrive." she said, giving me a quick kiss on the lips, before running around me and towards the bridge.

“Yes ma’am!” I shouted with an overdone salute while flying past her.

"I'm not in SOLDIER anymore, so only call me ma'am if you ever start training under me."

“Fine, fine, anyway lets go!” I said, picking her up with my wind, and carrying her even faster than before to the bridge.

"I could get used to that, but I'd end up getting out of shape if I did."

“On a related note, have you been eating a bit more lately?” I asked in a stupid way, earning a fist in my stomach, it didn’t hurt too much, but it got the message across. “I was just kidding!”

"In case you hadn't noticed, the entire time we've been in Equestria, and travelling on this ship, neither myself nor Noctis has eaten. We don't need to, haven't needed to since the Orbs started converting some of their energy to keep us going 3 years ago."

“Three years? Wow... Don’t you miss it at all? I know I would.”

"Not really. We were vegetarians back home, and we don't mind not eating or drinking. Actually, it's kind of an improvement since we used to see it as a waste of time we could use for training."

“Yeah, that makes sense... Wait... wouldn’t that mean Noctis has to eat now since he lost the lunar orb?”

“Huh, that’s a good question.”

“We’ll know sooner or later.” I said with a shrug.

“That we will. Oh, by the way, I wanted to ask, why do you like me? I mean, look at me. I’m a mercenary, for lack of a better word.”

“And I’m an assassin. Honestly, I couldn’t care less about occupation.”

“Ok then. So, are we gonna be walking for much longer?”

“Oh, please, I’m doing all the work.” I said with an eyeroll, “I AM carrying you after all.”

“Don’t tell me you don’t like it.” she retorted with a grin.

“Wouldn’t dare.” I said, turning backwards to face her.

“Soooo, can you kiss and glide at the same time?”

“Wanna find out?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, definitely.” she replied in a very bad attempt at a sultry tone. I changed the distance between us, and kissed her. Unfortunately, it was rather short lived in comparison to last time, due to me crashing into a steel wall.

“AAGH!” I shouted in pain, while trying to roll around on the floor pathetically. “IT BROKE THE BONE! IT FUCKING BROKE IT!”

“Ven, calm down. Let me fix it.” she said, placing a hand on each of my shoulders to hold me steady and casting a healing spell on me.

I looked up at her, and gave a sheepish grin, “Well, at least we have an answer.”

“Yeah, you can kiss and fly, but it’s not recommended except for those who like painful crashes.” she smirked.

I grinned, before jumping up. “Eeyup.” I looked around, “Anyway, we’re here.” I said, walking over to the first door on my right, which I remember as the bridge, and opening it.

“HELLO PEOPLE!” Die yelled. “We gonna get started or what?”

I walked in, suddenly noticing how dark it is in there, before holding my watch up to my mouth, and saying. “Bridge lights: on.” and the room lit up, only for me to wish it hadn’t.

“By Odin's beard” I muttered, horrified at what I saw: a certain pony princess of the day, and draconequus were... well... mating... in a bed that somehow manifested itself in the center of the damn room.

“AHHHH, MY EYES! THEY BURN! THIS IS WORSE THAN WHAT WE WITNESSED IN NOCTIS’ ROOM!” Die said in a mock-horrified tone, before putting a hand to her mouth. Whether it was to hold back laughter, or vomit, I didn’t know. Both Celestia and Discord turned to face us. Celestia’s face was red with embarrassment, while Discord didn’t seem shocked at all.

I slowly backed out, saying “I think this is a bad time. I’m gonna go sleep. Maybe bleach my eyes a little bit to try to unsee this. Thanks for the nightmares, Celestia, Discord.”

Die followed me out, and then, she slapped me on the back. “Well, looks like everyone’s getting together now. Who’s next? Tox and Sparky?” she said jokingly.

“Nah, that’s the least likely of them, maybe Aqua and Shade though.” I shuddered, remembering what I just saw. Don’t think of the children, don’t think of the children.

“Hey, what do you think the children will look like?” she asked innocently.

My eye twitched, before I grabbed my head with both hands, and began to scream uncontrollably as images began to flow through my mind.

“Ok, someone needs a nap.” She said, as she grabbed me by the shoulder and slammed the hilt of her sword into my skull as hard as she could without actually causing lasting damage. The effect was instantaneous, and I lost consciousness imagining all the possible combinations of looks the children of the two minor gods could have.

_____________________________________________________________________

I feel good... Maybe I should have gone to bed sooner... wait... why do I feel so warm? and why do i smell smoke?! I thought after waking up.

My eyes opened up to see one thing and one thing alone: Me on fire. I lept out of bed, before I did the smartest thing I’ve done in weeks, which was simply removing all oxygen from around my skin, immediately killing the flames. I winced in pain as I looked up to see Jolt standing in the doorway.

He grinned sadistically, “We’re here.” Was all he said as he walked out of my room.

“Sooo, that was his idea to wake you up? I knew I should’ve just gone with my plan.” Die said as he walked in

I managed to speak through my burns, somehow, “If you wouldn’t mind, a healing spell would be VERY helpful right about now.”

“Ok, ok.” she said as she cast the spell. “There, better?”

“Yeah, thanks.” I rolled my shoulder, “Is it weird that I’m keeping scars from almost everything?” I asked, looking at my arm, which is now covered in various scars.

“Damn, you’ve got a lot of mementos, huh?” she said, giving a barely audible whistle.

“The sad part is how many of them were gotten through me being an idiot.”

“Sounds like Noctis when we started out as SOLDIERs. You wouldn’t believe how many times I had to pull his ass out of the fray with some sort of wound. Then again, it was usually my fault for rushing in. He’d get hurt because he was coming to save me.”

“Did all of them leave huge scars?” I asked.

“Not all of them. The worst one was when we got tasked with fighting this huge sea-serpent though. It pierced him right through the chest, barely missing his heart. The blood loss alone should have killed him.”

“That... wow...” My mind then blanked right then and there for a few moments, before I remembered what Jolt had said, “Wait, we’ve arrived?”

“Yep.” she said. “But my brother and her Royal Nightiness are still asleep.”

“Should we ask Sparky to wake them up too?” I replied with a look of minor anger.

“No. And don’t worry about Sparky. I’ve already gotten him back for that. Discord should be reading the note on his back any second now...” she said with a grin.

“What did you... Actually, I don’t want to know what you wrote, let’s get a head start on going down there. I kinda want to see this world soon.”

“You go ahead. I’ll wake up Noctis and Luna. Oh, and by the way,” she whacked me on the head.

“Ow! What was that for?”

“Celestia taught me a cool method for removing memories from someone’s mind. You have to hit them though. I removed the images that our little ‘discovery’ cooked up inside your head. You can thank me later.” she said as she ran off.

Isn’t it called a concussion? Also, what discovery? Oh... she removed whatever that memory it was she was talking about, I guess. Eh, whatever. I thought as I walked out into the hall. I held up my watch, to thankfully see that it wasn’t melted by the fire. I held it up to my mouth, “Discord, could you send me down to a specific spot?”

“Where to?” His voice said.

I thought for a moment, “The top of the bell tower of the train station.”

“Yes sir!” I heard, before a bright flash engulfed me. When it cleared, I was standing on a slanted roof, I putting Tai Fuu No Me in it’s sheath, and jumped down, slowing my decent just enough for me to look epic.

I touched down with barely any sound emitted from my footsteps. I then immediately turned, and, grabbing a random skateboard I saw on the side of the road, and leaving roughly 20 bits in a small bag with a note there, explaining that i was buying it, I was off down the ‘road.’ I tore off the wheels with my wind, and just soared through the air on it, flying over people, who stared wide eyed at the armed flying stranger in town. I immediately headed to one of the places I remembered above all from KH2: the Sandlot.

The common two groups from KH2 were there, totalling up to the following: Hayner, Pence, Olette, Seifer, Vivi, Rai, and Fuu. Oh, Setzer was there also, but that wasn’t important, really. Anyway, I landed my makeshift hoverboard off to the side, of the area, and walked up.

“I heard that this is the place to go for a ‘struggle’ match.” I said plainly, looking at them with bored eyes.

“Oh, is that so?” Seifer asked.

“Yeah, I also heard that the champion here is a decent enough fighter. So I thought I might as well stop by and see.”

Seifer gave me an ‘are you serious?’ look, before letting a smile appear. “All right, If it’s a fight you want, you’ve come to the right place.”

I grinned, “Good.”

Several minutes later, I was wearing a sort of electric thing over my outfit, which held the balls for the competition on it, and had one of those weird baton thingies in his hand.

“Ready?” I asked, taking a ready position.

“Anytime.” He responded with a grin.

“Alright then, lets do this.” I said before charging.

Seifer was surprisingly skilled in combat, deflecting almost half my attacks, the rest managing to knock most of the red-colored balls off of his outfit. I jumped to the left to collect a large portion of the orbs, only to get a struggle baton in my back. I turned around with a huge swipe, striking the rest off of him. As I jumped forward to collect them, Seifer began a combo, that proceeded to knock every ball but five off of me. I quickly got them back, but damn, he has a good arm.

The last ten seconds were even more hectic: we had both managed to get back up to 100 balls each, and were furiously attacking each other to try to get even one more. I managed to barely hit one off his head, before knocking him back, and leaping for it, grabbing it just as the bell sounded, and the match was over.

I took the black over outfit thingy off, and said “Where did you learn to fight like that?”

“I taught myself.” He said, panting between words.

“Interesting, with a bit of tweaking, you would be on par with a good friend of mine. Though he prefers real combat.”

“Oh, also,” Seifer held up a handful of blue orbs, “I won.”

I stared for a moment, before I began to laugh. “It’d be nice to fight you again sometime.” I said as I held out my hand to him. A small smile appeared on his face, and he shook it, saying “Same here.”

“By the way,” I said, standing fully upright again, “If anyone asks if you’ve seen me, and where I’m going, tell them I’ll be at the old mansion.” and with that, I jumped onto my board, and flew toward the forests. Yeah, I know I don’t need the board, but hey, I left enough money to buy 2 or 3 of these, so I’m keeping to damn thing.

___________________________________________________________________

I walked through the Old, wooden doors to the place, the squeak of the hinges echoing through the large, almost empty room. I floated up to the second floor door on the right side, and tried to open to door, only to find it was locked. I then performed the next most logical option: blow the fucking thing down, and spread it over five square feet of the area. I then proceeded to walk over to the table in the center, and draw the symbol from sora’s necklace in the third of the circles, the floor glowed for a moment, and disappeared, revealing a large metallic area. I went through the doorway, and sat down in front of the computer.

___________________________________________________________________

“Ok, now, password: Sea Salt Icecream.” I said while typing in the password for the virtual Twilight town program, and hitting enter.

I turned toward the door as the blue beam appeared, and began to think aloud.

“Dammit, what's taking them so long? Its a 10 minute walk from any part of the town!”

Another two minutes passed, and I began to whistle to myself the ‘sacred grove’ theme from legend of zelda, twilight princess. This was both to amuse myself, and also so that if they DID get lost, they can just follow my whistling.

About a minute later I heard what sounded like Noctis shouting “VEN, STOP WITH THE EAR-RAPE!”

I got up, walked into the hall, and shouted “MAKE ME!” before continuing again while I sat down.

A few minutes later, Noctis kicked in the door, and yelled “UMBRA!”, silencing my whistling once and for now.

“................................................................................... Well, It’s about time you got here.” I said from my chair. “I was considering going without you.”

Noctis took one look at the computer screens. “Do you have any hacking skills?” He asked.

I pointed to the beam, “Three steps ahead of you.”

“Really? Then tell me why the beam is set to erase whatever touches it.” Noctis said with a frown.

“It doesn’t really erase it, it turns it into a program, and chucks it into a virtual version of this world.” I said as I

“No, that’s this program.” Noctis said as he began to type with his hooves... somehow. “The program you had running uses the same password, but it’s a false front. It’s meant to prevent anyone from entering the program by hacking the system. In short, you touch the beam, whatever part of you touches it is completely erased.” He explained.

I looked at the computer again, “Well, I feel silly all of a sudden.”

Noctis ignored me, and focused on the task at hand. “...and re-type the password aaaaaaaaand, done. There, we’re good to go.”

I looked at the top left screen and read aloud “Password incorrect, please try again.”

“Dammit. I hate working on computers using hooves. You type it.” Noctis muttered as he got off the chair.

“Ok, lets see... Sea Salt Ice-cream.” I said quietly as I typed the passcode, being careful not to misspell it. “Ok, now then, lets go!” And with that, I jumped head first into the beam.
__________________________________________________________________

“Well, it seems to have worked.” I said, motioning to the broken monitors while the rest came through.

“Wow, Roxas had anger issues.” Noctis said looking at the mutilated computer.

“You have no idea.” Ven said as he walked through a door, “This way to the Dark Realms!”

I walked over to the portal Axel had made, and said, “Dunno... Oh, and if this is anything like Lumos’ dark passages, you may want a jacket on hand.”

“Why?” Noctis asked.

“It’s like...” I thought for a moment, as I searched for the right words “It’s like going through a meat freezer... that has just been layered in honey.”

“Alright. Good thing I’ve got fur now.” Noctis said with a sigh of relief.

“Too bad your hooves are going to get all sticky.” Jolt said as he lit himself on fire and ran into the darkness, me and Clare following closely behind.

(And so I leave that part of the story in the almost trustworthy hooves, of clearshot01)

______________________________________________________________________

I held up my wristwatch, which discord embedded a transmitter in, and said “Discord, beam me, Celestia, Die, and Luna up, will you? The keybearer has already begun passing through.”

“Ok, removing you from the Virtual world, and then to ship...” I heard Discord’s voice say. Two bright flashes later, we were on the ship.

“So, how goes it?” Die asked.

“Well--” I began

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU GUYS THINKING!?” Die suddenly yelled. “WHY ARE WE NOT THERE WITH THEM!? WHY ARE WE JUST SITTING HERE WAITING FOR THEM TO GET-” and then a zipper appeared over her mouth.

I turned to Discord “Thanks for that. Anyway,” I turned back to the others, “The plan is to make sure of two things. One: so that it is properly landed, as landing on a mostly unmapped world requires a crew. Two: Darkness corrupts. Those I let go in were mostly immune to it’s corruption. If you went in, you could end up coming out with a little Akumu in your head. Therefore, It’s a better idea for you three to stay with the ship with me, Discord, Aqua, and Tox.”

“Oh, is that so?” Luna asked sarcastically.

“You were lucky, Luna, you were exposed to a very small amount of darkness. Unfortunately, not enough to give you an immunity to it.”

“Maybe so, but let me ask you this. What if the group down there can’t handle whatever comes their way? What if they die because we weren’t there to help? Can you answer me that?” She retorted with a scowl, crossing her arms.

“You would have been corrupted, and become one of them, thats what.”

“No. I wouldn’t.” Luna said, still scowling. “I would fight it with everything I have, and I would win. I’m that determined to protect Noctis and everyone else. No matter how dark things get, our lights will always shine.”

“You don’t know how bad darkness can get,” I said, grabbing my arm, and looking down, “When true darkness gets in...”

“BOTH OF YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Die yelled, somehow having removed Discord’s zipper. “YOU WANNA KNOW ABOUT DARKNESS SHADE!? TRY MEETING SEPHIROTH, TRY MEETING AKUMU. THEN TELL ME THAT WE CAN’T HANDLE IT!”

“Does visiting a world of nothing but darkness count? Because I’ve had to. Many. Many times.”

“And I’ve had to fight my own brother’s darkness, and the entire time it was trying to corrupt me too. You know what my head was telling me to do. It was telling me to kill him, saying that my brother was gone and not coming back. My heart, on the other hand, told me he could be saved. And you can see by the fact that he’s here, my head was wrong, while my heart was right. I know plenty about darkness.”

“As I said before: you know nothing. There is a difference between fighting yourself, and fighting another, that most can’t even begin to understand.”

“Oh, I know that. I know the difference very well. Even Noctis hasn’t seen my darkness. His wants to eliminate life. Mine is much more sadistic. It would prefer to torture life to the brink of death, then bring it back from said brink, over and over again until said life loses its sanity. Then it would start over. I wonder about it sometimes. Noctis’ desires the death of others, while mine still seeks to preserve their lives, albeit at the cost of their sanity.”

“All the more reason for you not to go.”

“You still don’t get it. Darkness exists inside me, as it does within all living things, but it’s presence is ignorable. It’s not strong enough to ever get out, and Akumu himself inadvertently made sure of that.”

“Whatever, they’re probably through by now, Discord?”

Discord turned to a monitor, “Lets see... Oh... Well that Isn’t good.”

“What?” Die and Luna asked in unison.

“Well... They haven’t got out yet.”

“Discord...can we get a visual of the Space Between?” Die asked.

“No, it’s an area even I have no control over.”

“Dammit, this s-UGH!” Die started clutching her head, then her eyes widened. “FUCKIT! I hate that stupid memory thing!” She yelled. “I thought we weren’t supposed to have that damn ability anymore.”

“What ability, Die? What are you talking about?” I asked, a bit worried.

“Noctis and I used to be able to share memories subconsciously for the first year after obtaining the Orbs. Then the ability suddenly disappeared. We thought it was gone for good. Apparently not. AND UMBRA IS DEAD WHEN I FIND HIM!”

Damn, girl.“Could we use this ability to contact him?”

“No. We can only see each others memories. And what I just saw...well, I don’t think you want to know what I saw.”

“... I wasn’t going to ask before you said that, but now I’m curious.” I said, putting my hand on my chin.

“Fine, but you’re gonna hate me when you hear it.” She replied. “Apparently, Umbra and Akumu learned how to create new creatures, and some of them, they glow blue and they....” She mumbled the last part, so we couldn’t hear it.

“What was that?” I said, straining my ear.

“THEY RAPED CLARE!” she yelled, covering her mouth immediately afterwards.

I felt my jaw drop, “Uh... Was there anything other than the rape?”

“Yeah.” She said, shaking a little. “Apparently, the ones that glow gold can copy abilities, and the green ones can mess with your head. Noctis could hear one of them in his head. There may be other kinds, but I don’t know.”

“Now that just sucks.” I said, “What about the others? Were they Ok?”

“Ven retreated with Clare, and Noctis is arguing with Jolt about exercising caution, but other than that, I didn’t see anything.”

A loud beeping sound came from the computer, and Discord flew up to a screen that had turned white, “Ven has made it out with Clare. Establishing com-link.”

“Houston, we have a problem,” Vens voice said from the ship’s speakers.

“VEN, WHERE THE FUCK IS NOCTIS!” Die yelled. “IS HE STILL FIGHTING THOSE THINGS!?”

“How do you know about... you know what, never mind, yes, him and Jolt are still there. Discord, beam Clare up, and send down Shade, Aqua, Mirum, and Tox. Now.”

“VEN, YOU’RE COMING BACK UP TOO! THOSE THINGS WERE MADE BY UMBRA!”

We heard him chuckle, “Yes, I heard Noctis shouting it earlier.”

“Did he tell you the green ones mess with your head and make you attack your friends?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised, they were messing with the mind from the start, so such a thing would probably be easy for them. DISCORD, reinforcements. NOW!”

“Right, On it,” Discord said, before a bright flash appeared, and me, Mirum, Aqua, and Tox were suddenly in a back ally

“Guys, try to keep one alive. I want something to interrogate.” Die’s voice said over Ven’s com-link.

“Got it, over and out.” Ven said, and turned off his watch before we stepped into the space between.

_____________________________________________________________________

We got in to see Noctis with a barrier around him, and four of the green creatures from before, the remaining gold and Violet ones were still there, and seemed to be bored.

“Tox, take care of the green ones, Aqua, Shade, you handle the Violet, Mirum and I will handle the gold.” I said as I rushed forward.

In under 6 seconds, I made all but one of the gold explode, and mirum had torn the other to pieces with his claws. I turned to see that Aqua was just simply drowning the fuckers. So I turned to leave, “Well, we’re done over here!” I shouted.

“OK. So, I’ll go on to the other side. Who’s going with me?” Noctis asked

I grinned, “We all are, stupid.”

“Ok then. But riddle me this. Where is Umbra if he’s the one who created these things? I don’t wanna go through there to find he’s waiting with a mini-gun or something.”

I rolled my eyes, “It’s possible they are like heartless in how they get around. Though why they aren’t affected by the keyblade itself is a better question.”

He thought for a moment, “They were, or at least all but the green ones were, though technically it was just them fucking with my head making me think I was fighting them when I was really fighting Sparky. I think...” He trailed off as we exited the space between worlds.

As soon as we were out, i held my watch up to my mouth, and said “Guess who’s back?”

“A very handsome, if somewhat annoying, wind master?” Die’s voice said over the speaker

I chuckled, “Close, but no, it’s just me.”

I heard a small chuckle on the other side, like she was trying to hide it, “Oh, how can you belittle yourself like that? Do I have to come down there and beat some sense of self-worth into you?”

I smiled, “Nah, I’m good. Discord, could you beam down whoever you can?”

“Aye, sir, that I can!” Discord’s voice said.

Moments later, Discord, Celestia, Luna, and Die appeared. Almost immediately, Luna glomped Noctis,“That is the LAST TIME I ever let you go off without me there to save your sorry flank!” She said as she tried to decide whether to hit or kiss him.

I held back at laughing at them,“Anyway, we’ve got ourselves a little test subject with us, don’t we Tox?” I said, turning toward the covered woman, who just dangled the green, unconscious... thing by a foot.

“Oh, I am gonna enjoy this.” Die said, cracking her knuckles with a sadistic grin as she stepped towards it.

“Just be sure to leave something for me to interrogate, sweetie.” I said, wondering what she was gonna do.

“Dude, if you want something to interrogate, do so while she’s working. Otherwise, you’ll get nothing.” Noctis told me.

“Trust me, I can get whatever info I need.” A grin appeared on my face, “I know some of the best torture tactics used throughout the history of my world, including some that are only theory.”

“I don’t wanna know what they are. Just do them where we won’t have to see.” Noctis said, turning a little bit white.

“Yeah, yeah. Also, Die, have you told them yet?” I asked, turning to Die, my grin changing to a simple smile.

“Told us what? About your ‘relationship’, or about my sister and Noctis’ ‘relationship’?” Celestia asked with a smug smile.

I held my smile, and looked at her, “I’ll take that as a ‘yes’ on both counts.”

“Not really. Discord had cameras installed in each room to, as he said, prevent the theft of the toiletries.”

Aqua turned toward Discord, “Damn it, that was one time! One. Time.”

“If it has happened once, it will happen again.” Discord said in a way similar to how I imagine a buddhist monk to be.

“Wait, why would someone steal toiletries?” Noctis asked, obviouslyconfused.

“THE TOILET PAPER WAS MADE OF GOLD, OK?!” Aqua shouted.

Noctis’ eyes widened quite a bit, “Woah, really? Why? Actually, don’t bother, you’re Discord, why should anything make sense when it doesn’t have to, right?”

“Where did you think the expenses for all the crap ‘Jolteon’ bought came from?” I asked him

“Seriously, why do you call him Jolteon now?”

“A TV show, and game series from earth, I’ll tell you about it when its over. To summerize: a Jolteon is a small, furry, yellow, dog-like creature with electric powers.”

“So, Sparky has similar powers to a cartoon dog-thing? HA!”

“Actually, so does Aqua, and even Lumos.”

“Really? Meh, at least I like them enough not to make fun of them about it, but Sparky’s too good a target. So, shall we get going? I wanna rescue Lumos before I’m old and grey.”

I chuckled, “That would take thousands of years, if you’re still as long lived as before. Also, indeed.”

“Hmmm, I actually don’t know if I’m immortal anymore. I can’t feel the Orb’s presence, yet at the same time, I can. Doesn’t make sense, does it?” Noctis said, scratching his head.

“Actually, it does. It’s like a microwave, it uses radio waves to warm something, while the same waves could be used to send signals.” I said, trying to make it a simple situation

“Ok, that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.”

My face connected with my hand then, at high speeds,, “And I thought you were the smart one... Lets just go.” I said as I turned to leave.

“Look, I don’t know much about physics, I just know I could pass some of its limitations after I became a SOLDIER. Now, I feel even less bound by the laws of physics, but it doesn’t mean I understand them.”

“That’s because you’re a pony, ponies and physics don’t mix.” I said simply.

“You mean like me and Sahagin?” Noctis asked.

“Let me explain in simple terms, you’re a pony, yet you can shrug. This means you have shoulders, physics says ponies shouldn’t have shoulders.”

“Good point. Except the physics of our worlds never encountered ponies that could use magic, or fly, or raise the sun and moon, so I don’t think it could accommodate for them, do you?”

“Exactly.” I said, feeling that he finally understood enough.

“We’re getting sidetracked, aren’t we? We should be getting to rescuing Lumos.” Noctis said.

“Yes. Yes we should. Meet me at the large tower in the center of the city, Tox, watch over our prisoner.” I flew down the alleys, killing every enemy that came close, whilst shouting at the top of my lungs, “COME AT ME BRO!”

“HEY! WAIT UP!” I heard Die shout behind me.

I turned another corner, only to crash into a brick wall. Thankfully, my low pressure zone destroyed it for me, and I never touched it. Behind the wall was an army of dusk nobodies, who I simply crushed with high air pressure.

“STOP KILLING EVERYTHING! I WANT A TURN!” Die shouted behind me.

“MAKE ME!” I shouted back. I would live to regret those words.

“FINE THEN! STOPGA!” I froze, but my wind kept going.

I vibrated the air, to send a sound wave saying “Nice try, but you can’t stop the mind, silly.”

“Don’t need to. Just needed you to take your attention away from that massive wall for just a second. Enjoy!” She said with a smirk as I collided with something extremely solid.

“AAGH!” I shouted as I head several snapping sounds, and I saw a bit of bone poke out of my arm. I kept the scream, the air around me becoming devoid of oxygen.

“Oh stop it. Curaga.” She said, although this time, my arm wouldn’t heal. “What the hell? Why isn’t it working!?”

“HOW SHOULD I KNOW?!” I shouted, trying to set the bone with my wind, only to fail miserably.

“Ok, that’s it. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to use this. WOUND TRANSFER!”

I felt my bone suddenly snap into the right place, and the wound heal instantly. I looked up to see that Die’s arm was broken.

“Owww, fuck, that hurts.” She hissed. “Now I remember why I hate using that move. So, you feeling better?”

“Yeah, lots.” I said as I stood up, “Anything I can do to help?”

“Nah, I’ll be fine. Immortal, remember. May not be immune to pain, but I’ll heal in time, though moving is gonna hurt like a bitch.” She said, trying to stand up.

I lifted her with my wind, and said “Try to relax,” Before pulling her along as I flew. A few moments later something occurred to me, “Hey, do wounds carry from one form to another when you change?”

“No, but if I switch forms, the wounds can’t heal until I switch back, and the pain is much worse. I figured that out when I switched forms after the practice fight between me and Noctis. It hurt like hell when I switched back.” She explained.

“Huh, well then, lets find somewhere safe,” I held up my watch “Discord, we’ve kinda got a situation here, beam us to... wherever the fuck you are.”

“Ok, I’m on it.” Discord said, before we were suddenly on a bright pink cloud, right next to one that Discord, Noctis, Celestia, Luna, and Tox were sitting on.

“Die, please tell me you didn’t use Wound Transfer. Please...” Noctis muttered quietly, though I heard it..

“She did. For some reason the healing spell wouldn't work on me.”I said before looking down, and only to see a mass of every colour of the rainbow, “What the fuck is that?”

Noctis held up two fingers“One, DIE YOU IDIOT! You know that move makes whatever wounds you receive twice as bad as they were on whoever you transferred them from. Two, that’s Umbra’s army.”

“Die, why would you worsen the wound? I could've just let it be.” I asked, feeling guilty for... for some reason.

“Cause Ven. I can recover from it. I couldn’t heal your wound, but I’ll heal from it naturally. Plus, I’m stubborn. Do you really think you could talk me out of it?” She smirked despite the pain in her arm.

“That’s a fair point.” I looked back down. “On another note... Umbra’s... army...” Ven started to gain an evil grin, “This is gonna be good!” I said as I began to stretch.

“Ventus, do not do anything reckless.” Celestia said, as though trying to warn me..

“Princess, you obviously don’t know me well enough.” I said before jumping off the cloud, and going straight up.

I began to do something incredibly stupid.

I began to pressure my body with extremely high air pressure, once every inch of my body was at the maximum AP, I began my descent. I landed a bit in front of the army, my wind tearing the world to pieces as I walked/floated toward them. “You really think you can beat me?” I asked as I threw every building, and scrap of road away, leaving a wasteland for us to stand on. Then the army charged. The gold ones copying my wind powers, the violet ones moving at superhuman speeds, the only ones not charging were the dark blue ones, which.... I don’t need to explain it.

The army stopped a few metres away from me, where my AP barrier started. I swung my right hand, and the resulting air blast killed them all. Then the air pressure began to fade unevenly, opening a large gash in my upper right arm. I also felt extremely weak, due to the amount of power used, and passed out as I flew back up.

________________________________________________________________________

BOOOM!

The sound of an extended explosion sounded throughout the whole castle, forcing me awake, after about a minute, it subsided. I looked outside, but couldn’t see anything from my vantage point in the castle.

Eh, the Organization can handle it, the lazy bastards.Ugh, I need to write, I thought as I walked over to my desk, to write a new journal entry.

Journal of a Nobody:

I remember a lot more now, I remember what Organization XIII’s goal was, I know how I became a nobody, and above all I remember my friends. The fact of ‘young Xehanort’ being here tells me that the story of Dream Drop Distance is in progress, but not yet complete. I know I can’t trust anyone here, so I’m sending this somewhere, where it is I have no clue, but hopefully these guys won’t find them.

~Lux

I put down my pen, and threw my letter through a passageway of darkness. A few seconds later I heard a shout of “MY EYE!” I stood up abruptly, and ran out of the room, following the sound of someone reading out my thing.

That voice... is that... Ven?

I turned a corner, and saw Ven, Aqua, Shade, and Jolt, I almost didn’t recognise Ven, due to the shoddy leather armor he was wearing. “Ha! It IS you guys!” I shouted, and threw my hood back. “Never thought I would see you guys here, especially you, sparky.”

“My name, isn’t Sparky, damnit! It’s ‘Jolt.’” Jolt said in a minorly enraged tone.

“We know, ‘Jolteon.’” Ven said in a mocking tone.

“DAMN IT!” Jolt shouted.

I grinned, “I see what you did there.”

“Yeah, yeah, laugh at the fire user. Anyway, we’re here to get you out of here.”

“Well don’t you guys have a good sense of timing.” I said, “Let’s get going.”

“Actually, ‘Lux,’ I have a second reason for being here,” Ven said.

“Really? What is it?” I asked, intregued.

“I want to swipe a couple of their robes, and watch Riku and Mickey rescue Sora.”

“Ok, I wouldn’t do the second, but the first is fine, go the way I came, fifth room on the left.”

“Got it,” he said as he ran off, with the others in tail.

“Wait... How the fuck did they get here?” I asked myself, before shrugging, and running in the direction they came from.
______________________________________________________________________

… Dafuq is this? I thought, shocked at the sheer number of black robes. … Eh, whatever, I’m sure they won’t miss a few of these outfits.

“Found the gloves!” I heard Jolt shout from one area of the room.

“Good!” I shouted as I took as many robes as I could carry “Get two for each of us! I’ve got the robes!”

“Got all the shoes!” I heard Shade’s voice say.

I heard Aqua laugh, “You would!”

“Whatever, let’s just get out of here before it’s too late.” She said, walking up next to us.

I took another robe, and began to pack the rest of the robes, and shoes into it, I then walked over to Jolt, who stuffed in the gloves. I turned around to see that the others had left, “Eh, Whatever, I’m gonna watch me some key-bearers.” I said, and ran off. What happened after that... I don’t remember.
_______________________________________________________________________

A/N: That’s right, I’m stopping here. Anyway, the answer to Chapter 9’s riddle is ‘any animal you can cook.’ Today I am not giving out any riddles, sorry.

~Cloud Nova/Madman12435 Falling out.