[IC] 𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘋𝘶𝘴𝘬 𝘛𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘋𝘢𝘸𝘯 | 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒐 // 𝑻𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒂

[AlteredTundra]

"That's it!" Kai suddenly shouted, the volume of voice high. He slammed his fist in his other, open palm, giving both Aerith and Cielle a smile, which was a total stark difference to his previous mood. Boy, Kai was all over the place wasn't he?

He looked at them once again, going back and forth between their no-doubt alarmed faces. He knew something about Cielle was familiar. Since laying eyes on her and seeing the way she acted towards him, though it was different than how Aira did, he knew there was something about her that was the same. And even though she was obviously alarmed when he called her Aira, Kai knew that there was a part of her that responded to that name. Kai was never one to dig too much into facial reactions, but it was too hard to miss. Then, when he laid his eyes upon hers for the first time, Kai was trying to figure it out. He was trying to decipher what it was about her eyes that made him follow her.

And then, when she spoke about her grandmother, it hit him like Cielle's head had done earlier.

"Wait..." Kai was suddenly remembering something that literally just came to him as soon as he heard those words come from Cielle's mouth. "Cielle...You're that Cielle!" Kai would, once again, invade Cielle's personal space; only this time his hands gripped her shoulders, demanding she look at him. "When Aira disappeared, there was this woman--girl, I don't know who she is or how old she was--but she called Aira by your name."

[Hero]

This boy was just full of surprises. Just when Cielle thought he couldn't surprise her any more, something had apparently clicked in his mind. He was all too happy to share it, and by sharing it meant that once again, much to Cielle's annoyance, he felt the need to grab her by her shoulders. Why?! She had half a mind to run, but as he spoke, his words dawned on her. Aerith had definitely caught what he said as well, a concerned look on her face following the end of Kai's rambling. For a moment, both Aerith and Cielle looked at one another, then at Kai. As she was unsure how Kai would react (and feeling that he was just a tad all over the place) Cielle had to wiggle her way out from his grip, clearing her throat to retain her dignity.

"They may have mistaken Kai's friend for you," Aerith suggested. "Did this girl dress oddly? Maybe she had a scythe?"

With Kai's nod as confirmation, Cielle had to think for a moment. "If what you say is true, then I can guarantee your friend is safe," She stated. "Although I must apologize. The girl you saw, she is called Despa. She's been chasing me around for some time and must have assumed your friend was me."

For a moment, Aerith seemed troubled. "I wonder how long it will be until they realize the truth. The Darkness will do whatever it takes to find the Keys."

Cielle perked up for a moment, suddenly remembering what she had wanted to tell Aerith. "Speaking of the Keys...Kai has one, as well," She said. "I strongly suspect him to be the Key of Light."

[AlteredTundra]

Kai was utterly lost during this whole exchange. Key of Light? The Darkness? Deepa? None of these things meant anything to Kai. But, if there was one take away that Kai could take from this entire exchange was that, if they were willing to kidnap and shroud an entire world -- his world -- into darkness just to get what they wanted, Kai knew that this...Darkness had to be stopped at all costs. And, if his dream was right, this meant that Kai's fate with Cielle and Aira's were intertwined in some way.

Green eyes met the eyes of both Aerith and Cielle. "I don't know what this Key of Light means or what is really happening right now, but if they think Aira is you and if they realize this before we save her, then she's in danger. So, please, help me save her," Kai pleaded with them.

[Hero]

Kai was fiercely determined to save his friend. As much as she understood, however, Cielle felt that maybe he had yet to understand the seriousness of the situation in its entirety. She caught Aerith's eyes, and the older girl silently prodded Cielle the go-ahead to explain the situation. Staring at the blonde haired boy for a moment, she tried to find the words when a yell was heard. The following sound was one of metal scraping against metal. It seemed to be coming from the plaza, although once she was able to focus her hearing, Cielle realized that those were the sounds of a sight happening.

Aerith seemed to know what was happening even before she reached the window, having risen from her seat as soon as the shout was heard. "That sounded like Yuffie...!" She gasped, looking at Cielle.

Then the time for action had come. Without a moment's hesitation, Cielle summoned her keyblade in a flash of light and sprinted out of the house. Aerith made to follow, stopping at the door to look at Kai. "I'm sorry, we'll explain things later," She told him. "Our friends are in trouble!"

Cielle practically flew down the stairs, skidding to a halt as she watched the scene in front of her. A large, rotund Heartless was charging at a girl with short hair. Wow, that Heartless was a little bigger than the ones she was used to, especially with the numerous shadow Heartless around it. Why were there so many of them? Aerith's magic must have waned without them realizing it.

"Yuffie!" Cielle called out to her. "Are you okay?!"

"Just peachy!" The ninja replied, swinging at the Heartless, only to find her shuriken bouncing off of its stomach. "Oooh! I hate these guys!"

[AlteredTundra]

“Hold up! I’m coming too!” Whether or not Aerith and Cielle were going to deny him to tag along, they weren’t in a position to choose. Besides, if they were going to help him save Aira, the least he could do is return the favor by helping them out too.

Kai followed them out of the house they were in and down a flight of stairs. They went through a few corners and ended up in the main plaza of the Second District. There were a few things that caught Kai’s attention. Of course, the first thing he noticed was the heavy-set Heartless in the middle of the spacious plaza fighting a petite girl who had a giant star-like weapon that she was using to fend off the increasing amounts of enemies.

“That’s a huge Heartless,” Kai noted, his eyes wide. He couldn’t take his eyes off of it, but he knew he had to focus. The events around him kind of him kick it into high gear.

The fat heartless aside, there was another to the shadow heartless. They were about half of Kai’s height and had full-fledged limbs. Whatever they were, Kai knew that he had to be more alert than he ever was. They didn’t seem to be the same as the shadows. To Kai, they seemed to be aware and a bit more intelligent than the ones that hugged the ground to move around. Still, they moved slowly, so Kai would be able to pick his spots.

He didn’t wait for Cielle or Aerith to make their first move. He reacted first and ran forward, his Keyblade appearing in his left hand. The heartless saw him and about ten of the shadows and three of the other kind noticed him. Again, acting out of pure instinct, Kai jumped and spiraled at them, hitting about half of them - all Shadow Heartless. The soldiers were a little more capable and side-stepped kai, attempting to hit him. He maneuvered himself to block their hits with his Keyblade and spun around again and delivered a horizontal swipe, executing them all.

Kai’s actions had put him about a few feet away from the one called Yuffie. “Hey, I’m Kai. Kinda new around here, but figured you could use some help,” Kai greeted Yuffie with a smile, looking at the larger heartless, poising himself for battle.

[Hero]

Well, someone was certainly eager to go. He had the right idea at least, and Cielle found herself following his lead. She probably should have been the first to strike, but assessing the situation is just as important as running in swinging your weapon around. Except...Kai did just that and got results. Okay, maybe she needed to act more and think just a little less. Fine, whatever, right now their concern should be Yuffie's safety, anyway. Luckily for the ragtag group, the ninja girl was relatively unharmed, if not having taken a slight hit to her ego. She was less than pleased to see her attacks ineffective against the Large Body, and was determined to bring it down.

"I'd say welcome to the club, but this is one club you don't really want to join!" Yuffie chirped back, pointing at the Large Body. "All my attacks keep bouncing off its fat body! How the heck am I supposed to beat it?!"

As Yuffie spoke, Cielle searched the area. "Weren't you with Leon?" She asked as Aerith joined them.

"Yeah, he went over to the Third District, said something about going straight for the head honcho," Yuffie replied. "I was thinking of going there, too, but then this guy showed up!"

Head honcho? Cielle had a bad feeling about that. He must have gone there after she had bumped into Kai. But he had a point--dealing with the small fry was a waste of effort. Going for the one in charge would scatter the rest--a typical battle tactic.

"Then we'll take care of this one and follow suit!" Cielle declared, keyblade aloft. If hitting it head on wouldn't work, then she would go for its head.

Kneeling down, Cielle jumped high into the air. As she went for the strike, she noticed one of its arms aiming right at her. Bringing up her keyblade, she blocked its punch, though it did send her a short distance away. As she readied herself for its next strike, she realized it was giving her all of its attention. "Strike it from behind while I have its attention!" She ordered Kai, blocking another hit.

[AlteredTundra]

“It’s nice to feel included,” Kai joked, giving Yuffie a laugh before giving the Large Body his full attention.

As the trio of teens was facing off against the Heartless, Kai heard some mention about a guy named Leon. He, like with Yuffie until just a few moments ago, didn’t know who this person was, but he would likely get to know this Leon very soon. Of course, that was assuming they were able to deal with the fat heartless in front of them. After a brief exchange between Yuffie and Cielle, Kai deduced that this one was only the appetizer and whatever that Leon fellow was fighting was the main course. And right now, Kai was both intrigued and worried about who it might be.

Shaking his head, Kai, once again, diverted his full attention this heartless in front of him. Cielle went on the offensive as Kai and Yuffie stood ready. When she did her thing with her keyblade, Kai noted how she obviously had her way of fighting. Though Kai was new at this with the Keyblade, he also had his own style. It was nothing like Cielle’s, however. She was certainly elegant in how she conducted herself against the heartless.

On her cue, Kai nodded he jolted forth, doing the same thing he did when he met Cielle. He took to the air and used her Keyblade as a stepping stool, though there was the added bonus of the Large Body’s arm adding an extra boost to elevate Kai into the air. Then, as Kai was airborn, he twisted his body to where he was upside down. To his surpirse, he felt something deep in him that he couldn’t quite explain. It would soon manifest on his exterior. He soon became surrounded by some kind of aura of green hue. Whatever it was, it gave Kai an additional boost in his capabilities. As a bonus, he was magically able to push off of the air and dive into the heart of his target.

He contorted into a spiral, aiming his Keyblade at the back of the head of the Large Body. In one, fell swoop, the large heartless fell victim to Kai's attack, the large body fading into darkness like all other heartless before it had done.

When he landed, the aura was goen and Kai looked at Yuffie and Cielle. "Whoa, that was too trippy. Did anyone else see what just happened? I feel...weird."

[Hero]

Patience, patience...it wouldn't do to lose your cool at a time like this...although he is making it VERY difficult.

Seeing Kai use her as a stepping stone again only served to heighten Cielle's annoyance, though she clamped her mouth shut as she watched his display of power. It was raw and in dire need of polish--he definitely had a little experience fighting, but not like this, and not with the Keyblade. She supposed she should have taken the moment to count herself lucky for her own training, but even though they had won against the Large Body, there were bigger fish to fry.

Aerith watched Kai closely, though said nothing. Instead, Yuffie would be the first to acknowledge Kai. "That was pretty cool! I had no idea Keyblade wielders could do stuff like that," She said, grinning.

Cielle dismissed her keyblade and placed her hands on her hips. "Don't praise him, he hasn't the slightest idea what he's done," She couldn't help but point out, annoyed. "Your recklessness is going to get you hurt!"

"It got the job done, didn't it?" Yuffie defended him, elbowing Cielle. "You're just mad 'cause he took care of it all by himself. All those years of training versus a little natural talent really shows who's on top, hm?"

Letting out a huff of indigence, Cielle crossed her arms, trying to hide her red cheeks. "I've come this far, haven't I?" She snapped.

"Now, now, the important thing is we're all safe," Aerith intervened, placing her hand on Cielle's shoulder.

Shrugging Aerith's hand off, the young girl seemed to get over her annoyance. "We need to get to the Third District, Leon could use our help," She changed the subject.

"Whatever you say, Your Highness~" Yuffie teased, giving Kai a wink. "Let's get going, then!"

[AlteredTundra]

Though it was usually in his nature to respond to praise he received from others, there was this small part of Kai’s mind that told him to simply remain quiet. Maybe it was the voice of reason that told him not to do it. It’s funny, the voice of reason was always Aira. She knew exactly how to keep Kai tame and not dig too much into the praise he often received from people. She knew what to say to remind him that he shouldn’t soak it all up all the time. He was a humble boy underneath it all.

At times like this… “At times like this, I really miss you, Aira.”

“Hm?” Yuffie asked, looking over to Kai.

“Ah, it’s nothing - just mumbling to myself.”

Yuffie gave Kai a look, though she seemed to give up not long after.

Though Kai dodged that bullet, he was stuck on the thought of his dear friend. He wondered if her captors were taking good care of her. He had no idea who The Darkness was nor did know the extent they would go to make sure whatever they were planning went without a hitch. He was just a kid from Twilight Town. He wasn’t some intergalactic fighter like Yuffie and Cielle was. He didn’t understand half of the things that were happening around him and to him. It also didn’t help his cause that, whenever he stared long and hard at Cielle, he was reminded of Aira.

Being stuck in his own head, Kai had no idea that they were already at the Third District. More to the point, Kai ran into Yuffie, almost knocking her over.

“Wha-hey! Watch it, Kai!”

“Sorry,” Kai apologized, being uncharacteristically minimal in his words.

“You okay there?”

Kai nodded, looking forward. And there, with a weird gun-like sword, he saw a man who looked far older than Kai imagined he would be. He was a man with long, dark locks, wore a fur-like coat, and pants. He moved rather fast and Kai could tell he knew exactly what he was doing, though his opponent was no slouch either. It was an odd-looking foe. Kai gathered it was a heartless when he saw the emblem on its head. But, again, Kai’s mind went to the way it looked. It was like a hollow suit of armor.

“What in the--” Kai couldn’t move. Unlike previous times when he would jump head-first, he was frozen solid. The big suit of armor was intimidating, yes, but it was something else. Kai has seen it before. “This is...Guard Armor…”

But how did Kai know this?

[Hero]

"He's staring at me again, isn't he?"

Seeing as how Kai was a stranger to the world, Cielle and Aerith had taken the lead. The boy trailed behind, staring intently at Cielle, who had definitely taken notice. It was less that she found it annoying, rather she was embarrassed, really; his stare was so intense, filled with a longing that honestly threw her off guard. She didn't know how to handle it, nor did she really want to mention it to him. So instead, she asked Aerith, who had looked back at a distracted Kai and nodded in confirmation.

"So your sister ended up in his world," Aerith quietly said to Cielle. "It looks like fate has brought the two of you together."

"Not yet, if the Darkness has her..." Cielle said.

"I meant you and Kai," She corrected herself, smiling as Cielle widened her eyes in surprise. "I'm kidding!"

She didn't bother responding. No way could she confide in Aerith about her embarrassment now, lest the older girl have a field day. Luckily for her, the sounds of another fight distracted her, and her heart raced as she saw Leon fighting the rather large Heartless. It was definitely bigger than any run of the mill--likely the boss Leon was after. In that moment, however, Kai mentioned its name. Cielle noticed his hesitation, though she felt there was no need to comment on it. Not yet, anyway.

"We'll divide and conquer, then," Cielle said as her keyblade formed in her hand once more.

"I've got your back!" Yuffie cheered, and together the two girls ran forward to join Leon.

The young man looked at the pair, shaking his head. "It's got a few tricks up its sleeve. Be on your guard," He told them.

"Understood!" Cielle confirmed, charging forward.

Meanwhile, Aerith placed her hand on Kai's shoulder, noticing his hesitation. "Are you alright?" She asked him gently.

[AlteredTundra]

Was he though?

Kai couldn't explain it. Nothing in his body nor what he has experienced today or any day in his life has prepared him for this moment. It was unnerving, to say the least. Kai wasn't usually the guy who hesitated. He was always the first one to dive into adventure. Sometimes it was reckless and sometimes the recklessness was rewarded. Whenever people needed him to act, he acted. Whenever they needed his strength, they had it. Whenever Kai needed to be strong for others, he always stood proudly. But as he gazed upon the Guard Armor and saw Leon, Yuffie, and Cielle struggle in their efforts, no matter what he told himself at that moment to hype himself up, or what the voice of reason in him tried to tell him so he could get the courage to go forward, Kai stayed frozen.

And to make matters worse, he couldn't even answer Aerith when she asked him if he was okay. Someone who showed him nothing but kindness since meeting him, Kai couldn't give a single answer.

"N-no, I c-can't.."

Kai was backing up, even more, his entire body trembling.

[Hero]

Yuffie let out a rather dramatic yell as she pelted Guard Armor with her shuriken. As she jumped in the air to avoid one of its swipes, she gathered up her energy, forming a larger shuriken and throwing it at the enemy. Leon followed her cue, a radiant light enveloping his sword, and together the two sliced through one of the feet, rendering it useless. Taking advantage of the enemy's hesitation, Cielle ran forward, unleashing a flurry of swings at the other foot. Leaping back, she eyed the arms warily. The arms were definitely more dangerous than the feet, so their accomplishment was somewhat minimal.

Exhaling, Cielle ran forward, preparing a swing only to watch her strike parry the Guard Armor's. It was then that the enemy started twitching slightly, and then its limbs separated. Leon eyed the chest, watching as it began to spin around. "Move!" He called as the arms also spiraled towards them.

Throwing herself to the side to avoid getting clipped, she noticed the arms making a beeline towards Kai and Aerith. Picking herself up, she jumped in front of them, deflecting the attack with her keyblade. He hadn't moved at all, planted to the ground. Had he lost his nerve? It was bad timing, especially considering they really could have used his abilities right about now.

"Take him somewhere safe!" Cielle told Aerith, looking back at the pair.

Aerith nodded, taking Kai's arm, though in that moment, she realized much too late that the chest was charging up an attack. Both Yuffie and Leon managed to dodge it, and Cielle jumped backwards, only for the ensuing blast to knock her back. Aerith threw herself on top of Kai, protecting him as the three were sent flying backwards.

"Aerith!" Yuffie cried. "Cielle! Kai!"

[AlteredTundra]

For a reason that Kai couldn’t explain, no matter what he did, he couldn’t find the courage that he needed to find to help Cielle and Yuffie and Leon fight the Guard Armor. He didn’t even know what it was that refused to let him do what he did best and that was helping those who needed his help. The one thing that seemed to be a constant since seeing the Guard Armor was the sinking feeling that he not only experienced this thing before, he had a terrible memory that accompanied this experience

As he continued to back away, Aerith grabbed his arm as an attempt to get him away. Kai didn’t know what happened next, but when he looked up after crouching, Kai was brought to the sight of a smiling Aerith. The gentle smile that reminded him so much of his own mother. The peaceful, protective eyes that reminded him of Aira. And the desire to do everything in her power to make sure no harm came to him reminded him of…

And then, as Kai felt a sudden wave of force hit him and Aerith, the two were sent flying against the door behind them, Kai taking most of the hit, resulting in him wincing in pain. Though he was experiencing a large amount of physical discomfort, Kai’s first action was to make sure Aerith was okay.

“Why did you do that?” Kai asked her. He hated himself for being so helpless and hated that he couldn’t do anything.

“To protect you, silly.”

When she spoke those words, Kai didn’t know what to say. He was at a loss for words because that was the same exact thing his mother said to him when he was younger. He didn’t know why, but to hear those words come from Aerith’s mouth gave Kai something he’d been lacking for a while. Sure, he was able to fight before, but that was nothing compared to now.

Kai stood up, smiling once more at Aerith. It seemed she lost consciousness. Kai looked over at Cielle, who seemed to be relatively unharmed. He gave her a nod and then held out his hand, summoning his Keyblade. And without warning, the same aura from before surrounded Kai.

“Cielle, think you can do that lightning magic like you did before? I want you to strike me with it.”

[Hero]

Rolling to a stop, Cielle rubbed her shoulder as she picked herself up off the ground. How could she have been so careless? Letting out a breath, she realized that Aerith was now unconscious. She had protected Kai? At the very least, the attack had finally snapped Kai of whatever funk he had been in. It looked like Kai had a plan as well, so Cielle found herself joining him. About half her confidence went out the window once he asked her to electrocute him, though. Initially she thought he wanted her to cast her magic on the Guard Armor, but nope, he seemed really, really set on it. There was not a trace of his previous playfulness--Kai was completely serious.

Nodding, Cielle raised her keyblade once more. "Thunder!" She called, watching as the bolt of lightning struck Kai.

[AlteredTundra]

Kai’s plan might’ve seemed foolish to the outside onlooker, but there was a method to his madness. Or rather, something in Kai was telling him exactly that, what he was about to attempt, was absolutely possible. He couldn’t explain it or say with certainty that it was going to work, but Kai had a feeling about this. In his gut, he knew that what he was about to attempt was done before.

The two exchanged looks before Cielle cast her spell. Nerves kicked in as the bolt of lightning approached closer to the blond teen. Was her nervous about getting struck by lightning? Maybe just a tad. At the same time, Kai somehow knew this would work out in the end.

And so Kai raised his Keyblade - along with himself - into the air and the lightning bolt made contact. At first, it was an explosion of magic, whcih directly caused Kai’s body to contort. But that only lasted for a moment. When he adjusted to it, the lightning, to Kai’s complete surpise, was absorbed into his body, the aura around him now with the added bonus of a static feature. Using it to his full advantage, Kai used this new power in him to fly though the air and delivered a full body, static charge to the Guard Armor, damaging the center immensely. Though not entirely dead, Kai did give Cielle the perfect opportunity to deliver the finishing blow.

[Hero]

There was no time to gawk in awe, as the battle was not yet over. Indeed, once Kai had hit the Guard Armor with his admittedly impressive display, Cielle had begun to charge her attack. Drawing her keyblade back, she closed her eyes and focused. She could feel her Thunder spell running through Kai, and while she couldn't quite understand it, she definitely felt his power, too. Argh! No! She needed to concentrate! Shoving her thoughts to the back of her mind, she took in a deep breath. Opening her eyes, she darted forward faster than she had ever been, driving her keyblade through the Guard Armor's head.

At first, everything froze, as if stopped by time, but the head would collapse into itself with a rather loud 'clang'. As it began to fade away, a large heart floated out and flew into the air. As Cielle landed, she let out a breath, only to gasp as Yuffie tackled her into a tight hug.

"We did it!" Yuffie cheered, lifting Cielle off her feet and spinning her around in victory.

Brushing his hair out of his eyes, Leon let out a sigh and turned his attention to Kai. "They did it," Leon corrected Yuffie.

Once Cielle managed to free herself from Yuffie's clutches, she approached Aerith, who seemed to have gotten up. "Are you okay?" She asked.

She nodded, getting to her feet and dusting herself off. "I'm fine," She replied cheerfully, smiling at Kai.

Staring at Kai, Leon felt the need to ask, "Who is this?"

"He's the Key of Light," Cielle replied.

[AlteredTundra]

After his attack had damaged the Guard Armor just enough to stun it and knock it off its game for a brief moment, Kai waved over at Cielle, giving her the universal signal to take advantage of this newly-created opportunity to deal the finishing blow. As for Kai, he landed about three paces northeast of where the Guard Armor was. He was close enough to watch the magic unfold as Cielle's Keyblade jammed straight through the temple of the Guard Armor's head. For a moment, Kai didn't think that was the end. It was at that moment he began to worry that their efforts were all in vain.

"No, don't tell me--"

Kai spoke too soon.

After it was all said and done, the combined efforts of Kai's innovative lightning-charged - well, charge - and Cielle's precision strike dead center in the Guard Armor's temple, they had done what neither of them had thought was possible a few minutes ago: they had defeated the Guard Armor.

Kai was on his bottom, arms holding him up as he let out an excited, panting laugh. He glanced over at Cielle and Yuffie who were celebrating the victory. Though, the celebration was cut short by Leon who asked about Kai. And sure enough, Cielle mentioned that Key of Light thing.

Kai stood up, approaching Leon. He didn't realize it before, but Leon was a lot taller than Kai originally thought he was. "You can call me Kai."

[Hero]

Once Kai introduced himself, Leon seemed less on edge, though unconvinced. Placing his gunblade on his shoulder, he turned towards one of the larger doors and simply walked off. The others were used to it, but rather than wait, Cielle took off after him. Aerith let out a small giggle as she watched the younger girl catch up with the man, and motioned for Kai to follow. Yuffie was grinning from ear to ear as well, placing a finger to her lips and pointing at the pair ahead of them.

Cielle's shorter legs couldn't quite match Leon's stride, and she ended up having to run to catch up with him. He eyed her, still frowning, though he let out a sigh as she nervously spoke, "How did I do?"

"Your magic is on point as always, but you need to work on your physical attacks," He stated dully, giving the impression that they've had this conversation before. "You lost your awareness at one point as well. Worry less about what everyone else is doing and focus on what you're doing. You're lucky that Heartless attack didn't get you head on."

Hanging her head, the pink haired girl's expression fell. "I'll...keep that in mind," She mumbled, dragging her feet slightly.

"And here comes Mr. Emotional," Yuffie whispered to Aerith and Kai.

Sure enough, Leon ended up patting Cielle's head, perking her up instantly. "You're improving, so no need to get down on yourself. Just keep it up and you'll be fine," He told her.

Nodding rather enthusiastically, Cielle's step definitely had more of a spring to it, and they reached the First District in no time. The small group came to a halt once Leon stopped in his tracks, and he looked at them all for a moment.

When he said nothing, Aerith looked at him curiously, her hand to her chin. "Well...some explanations are due, aren't they?" She asked, smiling. "You took off without saying anything to Kai."

"...whatever." was all Leon had to say about it. "Cielle can explain the keys, she's heading off this world soon, anyway."

"You don't want to say goodbye?" Yuffie asked him.

Once again, Leon looked at Kai, though at least it wasn't as intense. "Stick together and you'll be fine. Take care of each other--though before you go, I think showing the kid a little magic would help," He stated. "Other than that, it's in your hands."

[AlteredTundra]

“Nice to meet you.” Kai said, watching the older male with the gunblade not really give Kai a vote of confidence. It would be further proven as he flat out ignored Kai and went around the table (as it were).

This Leon guy might have been a good fighter (of what Kai saw), but he wasn’t one for talking, it seemed. Unlike the others, Kai noticed he wasn’t high on his manners. What was even more, he noticed that Leon also seemed quite unconvinced that Kai was this ‘Key of Light’. Well, at least he wasn’t alone. Kai still had no idea what this whole Key of Light-thing was. By now, however, the blond teen learned to accept it and stop asking the same questions he had been asking. It didn’t do him any good when he kept on getting the same answers.

When it seemed like he finished talking to everyone, Leon walked away before Kai had a chance to ask about what magic he was going to be taught. Kai assumed it was going to be like what Cielle was capable of. And Kai was one of those people who asked a lot of questions - sometimes, anyway - but Leon didn’t stick around, which left a sour note in his mouth.

“Ah cheer up, Kai! Leon’s not one for to explain stuff,” Yuffie said, trying to cheer up Kai.

The blond teen shrugged, though he eventually accepted it and nodded.

After a moment of silence, Kai looked to the others. “So, about this magic I’m supposed to learn.”

[Hero]

In their hands, huh? The thought wasn't exactly a comforting one, but nonetheless Leon's counsel was appreciated as it always was. Cielle watched him walk away without another word, and it was then Kai would ask about magic. So Leon wanted her to teach him? He sure had a lot of faith in her ever waning patience, all things considered. Sure, she had the basics down pat, and maybe it was because of that mysterious power he exhibited that gave Leon confidence he could learn, but it wasn't really easy. She was still learning herself, even if she did favor a certain element.

Catching Cielle's hesitant expression, Aerith clapped her hands together. "I guess this means Kai will be accompanying you from now on," She happily pointed out. "You'll have plenty of time for learning."

Cielle hadn't considered that. Kai had asked for her help in saving his friend, there was no way she could just leave him here. But accompanying her meant constant danger--his safety wasn't exactly guaranteed. As she looked at him, she could see that determination in his eyes once more. They had just met, and already she recognized that look on his face. There was no helping it...though the thought of being alone with him made her slightly uncomfortable. Why was she doubting herself? She had bounced around worlds, slayed Heartless; she could handle a fourteen year old boy. Sort of. Maybe. Hopefully.

"Hmm? Gonna ditch him?" Yuffie asked her.

She shook her head. "Of course not, staying here would be dangerous," She said, frowning. "We'll have to see if my ship is ready, then everything else will fall into place--magic included."