((Collab Post between Letter Bee and Shadowsaint007))

"Ah!" shouted the boy as he was unceremoniously taken away from Amelia and cradled in Jake's arms. "Can you let me go?" he implored, "you're scaring Amelia more." He then sighed, deciding that it was no harm to answer Jake's questions; he seemed like a friendly guy, and he did care, so, he decided to just relax in the larger man's arms; it was rare that he got cradled, and answer his question.

"Well, you see, I, Joshua, and Amaya came here so that Joshua can gain control of his inner darkness. However -"

Jake cuts the boy off.

"Whoa, there, champ, you lost me there," Jake chuckled apologetically. "I only know Thomas here and... Reno? Oner? Onerreno? Renoner?

"My point is, I'm a newcomer to this mess, and I owe Reno and Thomas. So how about we get you and the others home, [i]then[/i] you can explain everything to your heart's content?"

Ascot nodded, and spoke:

"Thanks, Jake," he said, smiling through his burns. "Yeah, take me away."

Jake nods, and turns to face Rose.

"Where to? You know a nearby hospital or medical center we could use, or is your house nearby?"

He turned to look at the other wounded child, a girl. He gave Ascot a piggyback ride.

"She okay? If you want, I still have room to help."

"Amaya's recovering, but Joshua's taking care of her, and wouldn't appreciate just anyone taking her away. As for Mom - she adopted me earlier today, she lives...elsewhere; she's just visiting here for the shops." Ascot then looked at Satoko one more time, and, smiling serenely, said:

"Sorry for, well, everything. And, you know what, you're right; I'm nothing without my friends. But when said friends include Amelia, I don't mind; after all, even Sora was nothing without the connections he made."

[B][I]Timeskip to the Local Hospital[/i][/b]

"So, as I was saying, we chose to stay and go to Twilight Town to shop, and see to the welfare of the local Nobodies - they regrow their hearts over time, as you know, but start out without one. Anyway, one of them, Joshua's Nobody, sent us off after a little girl, asking us to give her a home." Ascot was now continuing his explanation to Jake, now that the boy had been admitted to the hospital and was being treated.

"But, when we went there, this duo," he gestured at Satoko and Rika, "came over to accost and interrogate us about Amelia - the name of the little girl. And, well, I offered them a chance to better their situation, but apparently," he glared at Satoko, "charity is seen as an insult by one of them, and so I got challenged into a duel." And then Ascot gave a blow-by-blow account of the fight between them, culminating in his manifesting an Avatar of Light.

Jake sighed.

"Look, kid, some people, you can't force 'em to take charity. Like my old man used to say, you can take a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. If Satoko didn't want your help, you can't change her mind."

He then narrated the mysterious person's coming, and the ending of the duel. Then, the boy continued:

"Already apologized to Satoko; although I think she'll still rage at me. Also, I think that Reno and Oner are less two souls, less split personalities, and more different ways of expressing the same person. But, you probably don't want any more philosophizing from me." He then took a gulp of some nearby orange juice.

Jake mused a bit about that.

"Wait... it's like the whole 'Yin and Yang' deal, right? Multiple sides to the same concept, or person, or whatever..."

"Yeah, it works like that," Ascot said. "So, can you tell me more about yourself?"

"Hm," Jake began, rubbing his stubble. "Well, the name's John Grendell, but my friends call me Jake. Mispelled my name once - wasn't exactly too literate when I first became a Keyblade user - and it stuck, but I kind of like 'Jake' anyways. Used to be part of the Wild Boys... anybody heard of them? Anybody?"

((The Wild Boys were a party of six keyblade users, lead by one Gabriel Ors.))

He shrugged. "Aaanyways, about a dozen years back, we split up. The others settled down, but I couldn't bring myself to live a quiet life yet. So I stayed a wandering adventurer, travelling wherever the fates take me, right until I ended up in Prydain. After busting up a bunch of the Horned King's troops, I went to celebrate at a bar, and then got captured when I was really, really drunk.

"Yeah, not my finest moment, admittedly. My friends had always said I was a go-getter, and that I needed to be more careful.

"Anyways, spent a week or two in the Horned King's jail, right until Onereno here busted me out. Then he disappeared, and I ran into Thomas, followed him here, and here I am."

"I see," spoke Ascot, "I love a cool story. Anyway, well, guess I'll have to bring you up to speed, then. You know of the increasing attacks of Heartless all over the Worlds? Some of them have been consumed, others under siege? Well, we've discovered the cause; a new group, called the Six Senses, are trying to create a new world, an artificial world with a sinister purpose."

"This world is protected by an impenetrable barrier, which can only be dispelled by twelve artifacts sent forth from it: the Signs of Zodiac. The Signs' existence was a necessity for the protection spell to work in the first place, so the villains scattered them all over the Multiverse, and, we, in turn, were sent forth to find them, and bring them together for the siege of their new world."

"Huh... so that's why you were collecting them to begin with," Jake nodded, smile widening as he saw another adventure. Then the smile faded as he thought of Ascot's description of the shady man in the alley. "Though how does 'Mr. Spooky' fit into the whole mess? He said he wasn't part of the Six Senses?"

Jake tried to remember anything about the foes he faced before, if anyone fit the description. He shook his head; nothing came up.

"He isn't, and he has implied that he's part of a group that opposes them. I think...I think that after the Six Senses and their new world are defeated, that we're going to face another threat, stronger this time."

"Figures," Jake huffed. "Dang new-fangled bad guys, is there some sort of law everything they do has to be overly convoluted and planned? Then again, if they just wanted to sit back and enjoy life, they wouldn't be bad guys, would they?"

"So how many Signs did you guys collect so far?"

"Seven Signs already, counting the Sign we got from Amaya. So, that makes us halfway to our quest, I think." Ascot smiled a bit, and said: "You came at the right time."

"Yeah, things usually tend to get messier halfway through, don't they?" Jake mused. He twirled his Keyaxe for show. "Still, if you'd accept a veteran meathead like me in your group, I'd be glad to help. So whaddya say, guys? Mind if I tag along?"

"Well, I definitely won't mind," spoke the boy.

[B][I]END[/I][/B]