The Dream World

Ever since the coming of the Moogles and Gummi Ships, things were fast-changing in the Near East. The Cimmerians now had weapons of Black Powder, loud, ugly, inelegant arms with which to drive back the Scythians' attempts at raiding, the Babylonians had advanced medicine, plows, and agricultural techniques that multiplied the yields of their fields by a hundredfold, and the Ming-Hwa now had advanced magic.

Urusula would find herself uncomfortable with all of this, especially with developments in Cimmerian lands, but at the same time, she had Heartless to fight; other Humans can wait. Besides, the Scythians themselves got Stirrups from the Moogles, as well as the secrets of steel.

In fact, one of the Moogles was approaching her right now, carrying a letter in his hands. This letter would read:

Dear Ursula of Sycthia, you may not know me, but I do know you. A storm is coming that would engulf all worlds if unchecked, a storm that comes from the origins of the Heartless, those that you call the Masses. Although these creatures would never truly leave as long as there is darkness in the hearts of thinking beings, you must have guessed that they have begun to appear in unprecedented numbers, with a disturbing amount of...organization in their activities. This is no coincidence, this is artifice. So, I, an Emperor in another world, am extending an invitation to all heroes who might wish to band together to fight the Heartless, for the salvation of existence.-- Basileus Michael XIII Sideros

Before Urusla can wonder how she would get to this 'Michael', the Moogle was already bringing a brightly colored vessel over, which he would then call a 'Gummi Ship', or 'Gummi Skiff'. The Moogle would further explain that this vessel would get her into another world, and had been 'programmed' to go to 'autopilot' to the world of Renovation. He would then say that all she had to do to activate said autopilot was to press the big button that said 'ON'...

City of Shadows

As soon as the Moogles began appearing in the city, trade in Magic, both legal and illegal, had flourished, causing no amount of headaches to the Police, who themselves bought magic spells for their own use. But for Rei Shibuya, this would not matter one bit; he had a one-man war against the Heartless to fight...which would be much easier if said Heartless weren't becoming more...organized.

No, really, the Heartless were employing increasingly sophisticated tactics, mostly ambushes, with lesser creatures as bait for the bigger ones. Not merely that, but their numbers were growing as well, such that ordinary people were beginning to take notice. And, of course, the news from the Moogles was that this was happening all over the various worlds...

Suddenly, Rei would find himself surprised when a Corridor of Darkness opened up, and a young boy, about 13, with black eyes and hair, came through, carrying a Keyblade much like his own, and clad in a black cloak. Before the man could react, the boy would throw him another cloak, and say:

"Come with me, the Basileus wants to see you."

Apocalyptia

Henry was already in the Gummi Ship, with the Moogles bringing him to the world of Renovation. He might find himself musing on the effects of Magic and the like in Apocalyptia.

True, Magic was being used as a weapon there, but at the same time, dried up fields were being irrigated, the soil restored to fertility, rock transmuted to iron and other useful materials, and healing was made easier and more available. At the same time, however, the Moogles did require payment in the form of samples of Pre-War technology, which earned them the ire of the Brotherhood of Steel, along with Gecko Hides and Meat, and Brahmin Meat, Fur, and Products. All in all, Apocalyptia, especially the NCR, was finding itself on the cusp of a new era...

Skotadis

Skotadis, the first world to be attacked by the Heartless, even before Shining Field fell. Skotadis, the tragic, the besieged. Nevertheless, Jupiter, though not a Keyblader, would find herself approached by a Moogle and a Gummi Ship, the former who brought her a letter almost identical to the one Ursula had received.

It was night time, though one would be justified in asking when it was ever not night time in a place like this. An eternal night sky, lit up only by a handful of stars and a moon in the distance. On this night, however, the moon was not visible, in fact the whole of the night sky was blanketed by dark clouds. Some kind of storm was about to fall, according to the weather experts, and the sudden chill in the air was an indication of such. But the weather wasn't important, it was the incident taking place that was. Outside of Police Headquarters, a slew of Heartless dotted the streets. How convenient that they would be targeting the Police and not some mob hideout somewhere. In fact it was a little too convenient.

Rei had not failed to notice the increased level of... organization the Heartless attacked with. Usually they were like packs of wild animals, but lately they were becoming more and more strategic with their attacks. It was like someone was pulling the strings, but how was that even possible? Heartless were basically a force of nature, not something someone could just control or command. Moogles often spoke of individuals who just jumped head first into the Darkness in the hopes of taking control of it, but Rei had always wrote those stories off as people being stupid. But what if they were on to something? What if there was something to gain by willfully submitting to the Darkness? An investigation for another time, Rei decided. For now, he had a Police HQ to rescue.

From his perch atop a nearby rooftop, Rei literally leaped into the fray. He dove from his spot and clung to the flag pole outside the HQ and let gravity slide him down it safely. Once at the bottom, he jumped clear over a line of police with riot shields to put himself between them and the Heartless. Without a second to lose, Rei silently charged into the oncoming Heartless with his Keyblade. His training was paying off, he could tell. He was able to cut them down with surprising efficiency, and was even getting better at sensing incoming strikes so that he could better counter them. Magic may have given people like the Police a viable weapon to use against the Heartless, but this little battle was proof enough that Rei's Keyblade was still the best suited weapon for destroying them. Rei's timely appearance seemed to give the Police more courage, as some of them began using the Magic they'd acquired from the Moogles to give Rei support from behind their defensive lines. In time, the Heartless were gone.

Rei heard a cheer from the police behind him, but he said nothing to them, because something else caught his eye. The ground in front of him darkened into a pitch black spot, and then the blackness began to take shape. It looked... it looked almost human, at least in shape anyway. It was still a pitch black creature with bright yellow eyes to serve as the dead give away that the thing was indeed a Heartless. But since when could Heartless take on such a human-looking shape? The Heartless was just as efficient as Rei himself, for the creature wasted no time and lunged at Rei with such speed and agility that it Rei was barely able to defend himself. He had to quickly pivot his body to avoid having his face clawed off by one of the Heartless's hands, and then he had to swing at the Heartless just to keep it at bay before it could make another move. This Heartless... it was different from the others. It was faster, stronger, and smarter. But just as Rei was about fully engage it in battle, the Heartless suddenly decided to retreat, vanishing in a similar manner to how it appeared. In the distance behind where the Heartless once stood, there was an open portal of some kind, that appeared to just be oozing with Darkness. He'd heard of these, the Moogles mentioned them once before. Then someone stepped through, a kid of some kind, barely a teenager.

Rei's first instinct was normally to attack something or someone that came waltzing out of Darkness, but something about this kid caught Rei's eye and he stayed his own hand. The kid carried a Keyblade. The Moogles did say there were others, but Rei thought they were each confined to their own world, unable to travel between them like the Moogles could. The Kid tossed Rei a cloak, and announced that someone called Basileus wanted to see him. Rei had never heard of the person, but the kid did seem to know a thing or two, so maybe Rei could at least question him along way. He unfolded the coat and wrapped it around his shoulders like a cloak. Rei had no desire to lose his current white coat, as it used to belong to his grandfather and thus held sentimental value to the hunter.

"Good..." Rei finally said in response to the kid, "...because I've got some questions of my own."

Background Music

Many moons had passed in meditation in the moon grotto, and many more had passed since Ursula the Scythian brought together the Trigon Trifecta and sealed away the dark creature known as the Gogolothic Mass. Tracking him down to Caucasia and beneath the holy mountain of Mingi Taw, surrounded by loathsome rainbows and mysterious artifacts hidden in the dreams of the mountain people. She was certain that the beast had been sealed away for all eternity and her woeful errand was complete.

And yet, here she was, still alive and well, even after she was sure that the force of expelling the Gogolithic Mass from her timeline would have torn her to pieces. Saved by strange, furry creatures and brought to safety in the woodsman's cabin before returning to Scythia. But not before discovering the so called moon grotto. Though she wasn't sure how, this place calmed her, made her feel like all was right. This little pocket dimensions was unknown to the Megatome, but after many a month of meditation she had come into possession of a mysterious weapon.

It was a beautiful silver color, with an ivory core, below its pearl handle was a thread made of horsehair, ending in a small charm in the shape of a crescent moon. The blade itself was a standard sword shape, but at its end a crescent shaped secondary blade was out, almost like another moon attached to the blade, roughly in the shape of a key.

But meditation in the moon grotto would have to wait, for now the masses had risen up in previously unseen numbers, stronger and more organized. Gone were their days as mindless animals, now they attacked in droves and with previously unseen tactics. Their attacks were wearing on everyone, with Cimmeria now able to fight back from the lightning fast raids with their explosive weapons. The Scythians would need to move south and target Babylon, now a land of plenty.

But the problems of the waking world could be set aside. As a Scythian Warrior, and the bearer of the Woeful Errand, it was her duty to stop the masses. But how...even with the Luna Sarmatae, the Masses were overpowering her in sheer numbers. But as she was pondering the inevitable migration of the Scythians and the growing threat of the Masses, Ursula was caught off guard by a moogle, a creature she hadn't seen in quite a while.

Taking a look at the letter, She nodded in agreement with the sender, taking a look up to see the brightly colored ship. She groaned a bit at the motley transport, its many colors so reminiscent of the vile arches of refracted colorful light that were burned into her nightmares full of dark monsters. None the less, it was not like there was any other way. Taking her place on the ship, The Scythian pressed the button to go off to Renovation.

The cold evening air burned through Nintys lungs while sharp stones on the road stabbed her feet. The street was completely empty save for a few cars with their wet rooves shining brightly under the yellow street lights in the light rain.

After a few blocks Ninty was forced to stop under the complaints of her feet, scraped and bloodied with a few more holes in her tights, and pressed her back against a brick wall of a shop. There she stood with head turned upwards to let the rain was over her and while the world around her was still the alarm bells in her head rung louder than ever. It was just too quiet. Even if she hadn’t just come sprinting out of a pub filled with screaming people it would still have felt too quiet.

This was her city and even though this wasn’t anywhere near the centre of Brazen you would still have met at least a dozen people, even at this late hour. Lights were still on, shops were still open, faint music of a gramophone came lazily from an open window down the street and a nearby truck had its doors open filled with grates of fresh fruit for tomorrow. It looked as if everyone had just disappeared.

Looking further down the street Ninty tried to see if any of her friends had followed her. They had been just behind her, she was certain of it. After people started screaming at their performance and then those…things had appeared the band had quickly scrambled out the back door and out the alley. But where were they?

Pushing herself off the wall Ninty then became aware of a tug on her left arm from the strange sword, or more accurately club considering there weren’t any sharp edges along it, in her hand. She had no idea where it come from, possibly she had picked it up in fear somewhere along the way, and whilst it would’ve been easier to have left behind Ninty couldn’t bring herself to. It was oddly comforting to have at least something she could use to defend herself.
“Ah, you have a Key Blade! Kupo!” Came a voice from behind her.

Ninty in her surprise nearly screamed. With nerves shot and adrenaline still pumping its way through her body the elf quickly spun around bringing the weapon up to strike at the being that had scared her. Ninty watched as the thing gave a yelp of painful surprise and slam into the ground, only after a moment did she actual register that it wasn’t a threat but instead on of those ‘Moogles’ which had been appearing lately. Mainly around the docks and other areas of business and trade around Brazen.

“Oh by the Gods I am so sorry, are you okay?” Ninty bent down to help the wounded Moogle back up into the air. It was still odd to see them hovering without actually flapping their wings.

“Yes I’m fine, ouch.” The Moogle held its head with a paw. “But we have to hurry. We have to get you to Renovation. Follow me.”

“Wait, what? Hold on” Ninty followed off after the Moogle whilst trying to ignore her protesting limbs. “What’s going on? Where are you going? Where is everybody?” She ran after the Moogle down a side street lined by the backs of terrace houses, colourful and oddly shaped craft lay.

“Everything will be explained when we get to Renovation.” A door formed on the ships side and the Moogle floated in. “Come on get it in.”

Ninty raised an eye brow at the ship. It didn’t look like any aeroplane she had ever seen before, through process of elimination she had decided it no to be of the water borne variety. Its wingspan was far too small to get in the air even if it had a propeller, plus the door looked to have been built for a human child not for a full grown Elf.
“There is no way I am going to get in there.”

“Just duck and get in, come on we haven’t got all day!” The Moggle then turned its head to look at something inside the ship before turning back to her again. “Actually we haven’t even got half a day, just get in I have a schedule to keep.” And with the Moogle disappeared inside the ship.

This was by far the worst day Ninty had had, although that time she threw up on stage from food poisoning was a very close second. Despite Ninty being very much against going off with some strange creature in an even stranger ship as the last drops of adrenaline faded from her system her resolve seemed to bend under a mix of exhaustion and various aches around her body. And then there were also those things with glowing yellow eyes still out and about in Brazen.
“Well finally.” The Moogle spoke with an air of annoyance as Ninty crouched in order to get in. “Sorry about the door, I was expecting someone much younger to be the Key Blade wielder. Human too. Should be able to fix it when we get to Renovation”

“Key blade?” She replied with some puzzlement not only from the odd phrase but also that it was a lot bigger inside than she had originally thought, but the space to stand up was nothing to turn ones nose at.

“Here.” The moogle handed an envelope to her once Ninty had slumped into the second chair with a worrying creak. “This should answer at least some of your questions.”

But Ninty was too tired to open the letter and quickly fell asleep in the very comfy chair with her limbs resting on the floor. Even the odd whine of the engines and the thud of the ship punching its way out of the world did nothing to disturb her, but her nap was filled with a dream of stars.

Jupiter had been walking around Skotadis for days now since she had gotten off the boat, she'd kept around the port city of Marose so that if needed she could escape with ease. She had just expertly stolen a loaf of bread from a poor baker and gone down an alley to eat it, she was about to do so when she saw a strange creature, well, not any stranger than anything else in this multiverse but altogether peculiar. The creature looked like some sort of small mammal had bat-like wings along with a pom-pom sticking out of it's head, she had seen them a couple of times and they had never attacked her before but she still didn't trust it one bit. She quickly and with ease took out her gun but didn't point it at the creature just in case it wasn't actually dangerous, for all she knew it might actually be helpful which she thought would be a first in this multiverse.

The creature took a step towards her and said in a high-pitched whisper," You need to come with me!" and started to walk away until it realised that she wasn't following," Well, come on then."

"No, I'm not coming with you, that is, unless you tell me exactly what you are, who you are, why you want me to go with you and finally why I should go with you," Jupiter stated slyly, she wanted to know everything and anything that she needed to know and she didn't mind doing anything to get that knowledge," or you could just go back to wherever you came from without me."

The creature glared at her but then sighed and replied in an annoyed tone," Fine, I am a Moogle, that's all you need to know about me and it's not a matter of me wanting you to come but a matter of you have to come, this might be a little more explanatory," the Moogle handed her an envelope. Jupiter cautiously opened the envelope and read the letter held inside, she looked at the Moogle every now and then to check that it wasn't going to attack, she could never be sure.

She had never heard of this 'Basileus' before and wondered who he could be," I'll come but before I do I would like to know who this 'Basileus' guy is," she could be stubborn at times and this was one of those times.

The Moogle was getting visibly frustrated," Look, you'll find out when we get there but we have to get a move on, we have to go now!" and it started to walk off again, except this time it wasn't stopping.

"Hey, wait up!" She may not of liked the idea of getting into something she didn't know let alone didn't understand but she figured that by the sounds of it, it would be better staying in the hellhole she was in at the moment. That's when she realised that she didn't even know where it wanted to take her so while she followed the Moogle she asked," Where are we going anyway?"

"You ask too many questions, that's going to get you into a lot of trouble one day, we're going to Renovation, happy?" The Moogle answered in a matter-of-fact voice. She was going to answer his sarcastic question with more sarcasm but they went around the corner and what she saw stopped her from saying anything else, the Moogle saw her expression and chuckled to itself saying," I should do this more often if it makes you be quiet so easily." Jupiter saw before her a brightly coloured ship, mainly red, white and yellow, the Moogle took her wrist and started to drag her towards it," Come on, we're running out of time!"

She took her wrist out of the Moogle's grasp and went to the ship herself, she wanted to know what it was so much but she knew that she was getting on the Moogle's nerves. Suddenly the door opened so she went inside, it was roomier than expected but still wasn't exactly big, there were two seats and a whole bunch of controls which she had no idea to what they did. One control was very easily understandable though, it was a button labeled 'ON'. After they , the Moogle and herself, had secured themselves in the plush seats, the Moogle flicked a switch which closed the door and pressed the 'ON' button and off they went to Renovation, wherever that was.

So....this was a new experience. Henry Sullivan took a long, satisfied drag on the cigarette as he sat heavily on the heap of metal he guessed used to be a car. It was hard to tell with how mangled most of the scrap in the cargo hold was. Must have been stuff caught in the shockwave of one of the bombs when they fell over 180 years ago. The Moogles had been collecting lots of old tech, even bits of scrap metal like this. He didn't have time to ponder the former state of his seat right now, though. Right now he was more concerned about just what the hell the damn thing that had attacked him was, and where the Moogles were taking him now. They hadn't been in the mood for questions at the time. They'd just said, "Come with us, and you will have answers."

The thing that had attacked him...it'd been short, not much bigger than a dog. It looked a bit like a kid, in shape. But it had been...black. Inky black, like a shadow. And the eyes...they glowed gold and bright as a Glowing One. It'd taken buckshot like a champ, and the only thing that seemed to hurt it was the...thing in his hand. He guessed it was some kind of sword, but sure as hell not like the katanas that he'd seen those Yakuza boys carrying. It looked evil, but...it felt right, for some reason, in his hand. It'd just sort of appeared during the fight, right in time to catch the sucker in the chest. It'd gone up in smoke after that. And this was coming after all that crazy shit that was going on in NCR and the rest of the wasteland.

So now the wastelander sat and smoked, trying to figure out just what the hell was going on. He had the feeling that he wasn't going to like the answer.

"Hell...guess the Good Lord does work in mysterious ways..."

He sighed and let his cigarette drop, crushing it under his boot as he looked up at one of the tiny, white and red little critters waddling toward an old suit of power armor, probably bought off some scavenger that found a dead Brotherhood knight. It seemed like it was having the time of its life poking at it, seeing how it ticked. He couldn't help smiling at its glee.

The ship lurched suddely, slowing as it started to move to the right. The wastelander looked over at the Moogles curiously.

"Guessing' we're jus' about there? What's this place called again?" He asked, his voice deep and gravelly.

Renovation

The party were brought, either by the Corridor of Darkness or various Gummi Ships, to a brightly lit place of marvels.

The Palace of the Blachrenae was the main residence of the Emperors of the Byzantine Empire since the days of the Kommenoi/Commenus dynasty, and, in this alternate history, continued in its former glory. With exquisite gardens, fountains, and tilework, as well as red roofs that evoked the Byzantines' Greco - Roman roots, it was a building that evoked the best of Medieval Architecture, but, at the same time, was filled with modern amneties such as electricity and air conditioners, all fitted subtly into the existing structure. Inside, where the guards would usher them in, were tapestries, paintings, carpets and vases, all of great value. However, all these were not signs of weakness, as the aforementioned guards were heavily armed in 'modern gear', and security cameras can be seen all around.

"You must all be mystified," said the boy who had brought Rei in, and who was now acting as their guide in this strange place. "It's an understandable reaction."

"Anyway, we are in the Blachrenae Palace, in the city of Constantinople, in the world of Renovation. The current ruler is Michael XIII Sideros, the Basileus ton Basileon (Emperor of Emperors) of the Basilea ton Rhomanion (Byzantine Empire, although the literal translation is 'Roman Empire'), Viceregent of God on Earth, Lord of Space and Time - that part isn't literal, not even with Gummi Ships and Magic - and a host of other titles that I can't be bothered to give."

"Oh," the boy continued in an afterthought, "and my name is Tocsax, by the way. Let's just say...I'm a special agent and friend of the Emperor. Anyway, throne room coming!" And with that, Tocsax led them to a great chamber furnished with silken tapestries, floors of exquisitely tiled marble, with persian carpets, fluted columns, and strewn with flowers.

However, lest all this be taken as a sign of opulence, the room was also filled with ferocious-looking soldiers in black special forces armor with helmets that made them almost look like Heartless, who carried a bewildering array of guns. But at the far end of the room was a golden throne, and upon that throne sat a person wearing a diadem, clad in more anachronistic armor.

This person, evidently the Basileus, was also a 14-year old boy who was flanked by two other teenagers, the first one another 14-year old wearing bright silk robes and carrying a Wizard's staff, and the second one a 16-year old clad in special forces armor, but carried no guns, or any weapon at all, preferring to carry only a round shield emblazoned with the Double-Headed Eagle.

"Damianos Sardis and Girogios Kyros," said Tocsax, "the Emperor's best friends, and mine too." Going to the very foot of the throne, and gesturing to the party to follow him, the Nobody announced:

"My Basileus, I have brought you the people you asked for." He would have bowed, before the other boy's eyes shot up, and he said, frantically:

"No need to do that, Tocsax! No need! This isn't a ceremony, this is a war council." He then got up, allowing the others a closer look at his face; he had brown hair and blue eyes, with a sun-tanned complexion. Despite the richness of his surroundings, he had an air of authority that showed that his strength was not sapped by luxury and wealth. Gazing at them, Emperor Michael continued:

"Heroes and Heroines of the worlds, thank you for answering my summons and enduring the...atmosphere of this place. As Tocsax may already have told you, I am Basileus Michael XIII Sideros, and I am a Keyblader, like most of you." His voice then turned grave.

"I assume by now that you all know of the Heartless, how they are getting more numerous and more organized, and how, as I said in my letters, this is not a coincidence, but something deliberate. Well, I am here to confirm that; there is an intelligence behind those Heartless attacks, and that intelligence can prove the doom of this Multiverse."

"You see, the Heartless are led by an organization called the 'Thirteen Seekers of Darkness', led by Leo the Second Mathemathician, a traitor to my kingdom and one of the Old Keyblade Masters; you can ask me more about them later. These 'Seekers' are looking for seven women called the 'Princesses of Heart', who not only have Hearts of pure light, but are also the components to a Superweapon that can destroy, then remake, all worlds."

Michael then gazed at them and waited for their reactions.

Rei, unaware of the protective quality of the black coat given to him, proceeded to ditch the thing immediately after exiting the portal. Again, he preferred his own white coat for its sentimental value, and besides, the other one didn't seem like his style anyway. Before him stood a palace, of what culture he didn't know. History was never his strong point, but the architecture certainly seemed... old. It was definitely built a long time ago, only recently adding modern attachments like security cameras. Still, that wasn't his main focus. Instead, his attention was drawn to a group of others that the boy led him to.

It was here that he finally gave his name, Tocsax. Well, he gave his name after introducing the world itself to the group. He called it Renovation, and the palace itself was apparently in a place called Constantinople, Byzantine Empire according to Tocsax. Constantinople... Byzantine... both names sounded vaguely familiar. Perhaps those places existed in his own world's history though, again, history was not Rei's strong point, so he couldn't be sure.

At this point, Tocsax had been guiding the group through the palace, presumably to wherever this Emperor of his was waiting. Eventually they were in a throne room. And on the throne sat... another kid. And he was flanked by... two more kids. Wait, what? Was this the Great Children's Empire or something? So far, Rei hadn't met a single adult other then the other strangers since coming here. There... were adults in this world, right? Otherwise how could...? Rei just shoved those thoughts away, deciding that he probably didn't want to know. Anyway, Tocsax proceeded to introduce them, using a gratuitous amount of titles for the Emperor in question. Yeah, there was no way in hell Rei was ever going to remember all of those, so he'd just stick to the name Michael, at least that part sounded normal. Then the other two were introduced and... they had names that he couldn't even pronounce, much less remember. For future reference, he decided to mentally remember them as Jim and Bob, respectively, because seriously, how was he supposed to remember those names and titles?

When the Emperor finally spoke, Michael introduced himself as a fellow Wielder of the Keyblade. He then summarized the reason for summoning the group. Apparently there were 13 entities calling themselves Seekers of Darkness out to try and control the Heartless and that was why they were suddenly acting more organized. They were led by a traitor from this world, named Leo, who also had some strange title... because of course he did. Anyway, their apparent goal was to gather seven "Princesses of Heart" which would supposedly let them create a super weapon that would essentially turn them into God.

"In other words..." said Rei, bluntly, "...this Leo is trying to become a god." and to be honest, as simple and laconic as the response was, it was probably not that far off, "Well, he doesn't want much, does he?" he asked, the inherent absurdity of the story causing him to snark a bit, "Look, whoever this is, he's probably dangerous, I'll grant you that. But unless there's some super urgency here, I'd rather stick to defending my city which, I should probably mention, is currently being left completely undefended without me there to hunt Heartless."

Ninty wasn’t all too sure what to make of everything going on around her. Although the décor of the place was nice she had had to duck through many of the doors she had been lead through. All throughout this strange encounter Ninty had yet to see another Elf, just humans. She supposed it may well have been a Human city but even so Humans were a minority species so she there should’ve been at least one other Elf around the place. A small part of her continued to panic about the possibility of her actually being on another planet but the rest of her was far too rational to acknowledge it, that she was still in denial.

On the plus side though that strange weapon she had had was now gone, sadly the same couldn’t be said for the many cramps in her muscles from her awkward nap, and the people here had been so kind as to give her some new clothes. Of course she had gone with a simple red dress with beaded embroidery at the bottom to simply die for along with equally nice shoes.

“Pardon me, but I have a few questions.” Ninty moved forward to step both towards the Emperor and the other people who had gathered. “Namely what is a Heartless? And furthermore who are you…people?” She added with a twiddle of her fingers to the others.

“Not that I have anything against humans.” She was quick to add, twisting around to look around. “It’s just that I’ve never seen so many around in one place. Where did you say this was again?”

@Arty Fox @Letter Bee

Jupiter hadn't thought much for the decor as she had never seen the point in having more than one needed, she listened carefully to all Tocsax had to say, that was what she planned on living on anyway. She had almost laughed when she saw how old the ruler of this place was but luckily she managed to contain it, she hadn't liked the look of the guards that they had passed on the way in, but then she didn't like anything that resembled the Heartless. "When the Heartless first began they would be uncoordinated but now....they're the complete opposite. Therefor, if they are organised and we are not then technically speaking, we are doomed, so, we have to be organised." she said in reply to what Basileus had told them all," Wouldn't it be best to at the very least get to these 'Princesses of Heart' before they do, are they scattered or together?"

Then Jupiter faced towards the Elven lady," I'm not sure about the others but I am Jupiter Lark and for future reference I'm not a Keyblader.....but the Elf does have the beginning of a point, we need to figure out what exactly the Heartless are otherwise we won't be able todo anything about them," she said this last part towards Basileus.

Henry had to admit that the view was mighty impressive. It was the first time he'd ever seen a city that wasn't crumbling buildings and shanties, and he marveled at some of the architecture, reminding him of an old picture book his father had shown him once. Byzantium, the book had said the place was called. Then he blinked, looking up sharply at the younger man that had spoken, Michael was his name.

"Wait...but...the book...it said Byzantium got conquored by the Muslims hundreds've years ago. How the hell's it still around...an'....wait..." He blinked again, the thoughts rattling around in his head. "How the hell does this place have a Byzantium too?"

His question trailed off when Michael described the Heartless, and the weirdos that were leading them. He promtply shut up, looking shamefaced at having interrupted such an important speech. He waited until the emperor was done before speaking again.

"Sorry for...uh...the rudeness, sir. All kinda new to me. But count me in on this. Ol' man always said the Almighty'd call me for sum'n great one day. Figure this is about as great as it gets."

Ursula was a bit in shock at the very presence of everything around her, totally speechless at the marvels of architecture and technology that was before her. The ship in itself was impressive but this was beyond anything the Scythian could have imagined from her Iron Age home. Seemingly out of focus while the Basileus was speaking, she snapped back in after the others began to discuss why they were here and what exactly the heartless were.

Oh, right, the heartless, that was what they called the Masses.

"We do not mean to interupt," herself still speaking in Scythian, but every word she said understandable to the others by way of the Megatome's language barrier crossing telepathy sworcery. "Back home we called these creepy things Masses. Other Scythians say that they are the dark thoughts of people who escape the land of dreams to make the living suffer. You can't kill them, at least not normally, the only way to get rid of them is to banish them to another part of the world with super powerful sworcery or with this thing for some reason." She said, referencing her lunar styled keyblade. "We have been able to slay more than a few of our share of masses with this."

"Good point, Rei," said Emperor Michael. "And, yes, there is some super-urgency here, but I am not leaving your city undefended; Tocsax will go to your world and fight the Heartless in your stead." The Emperor knew that Rei would not be satisfied with that, but, he needed the Japanese man to go on the quest with the others; like he said, there was some super-urgency there. Now for Ninty, Usula, and Jupiter's concerns.

"The Heartless are black creatures with yellow eyes that, despite their name, are actually made up of disembodied Hearts - the name comes from their behavior, not their nature. You may remember them attacking you and your band, Ms. Ninty. And, as for this place, this is the Palace of the Blachrenae, in Constantinople, in the world of Renovation. Renovation, in turn, is an Alternate Timeline of Earth, a planet in the Original Universe."

"Yes, Ms. Ninty, you're on another planet," said Michael. "No, another universe. The Moogles must not have told you; nor must they have been buying and selling stuff in your world for more than a few days. All understandable." He then looked at Henry, slightly displeased, but the annoyance left the boy's face as soon as he looked at the older man.

"As said, this is an Alternate Timeline of Earth, which is a planet in the Original Universe. In this Timeline, that conquest you were thinking of was averted - barely averted - and it was the Ottomans that were crushed, instead, though not without great cost. But that is centuries ago now in this world, while the Original Timeline, for better or worse, is gone. That is something I'll elaborate on."

"Long ago, there was only One Earth, One Universe, One Timeline. Magic was completely unknown, Science and Reason paramount. It wasn't a bad world, not entirely, but it had more Darkness than Light. Then came a child, Ascot, who thought the world was doomed, and so sought for ways to 'save' it, delving into the secrets of the Light as he did so. And he discovered, that the Light flowed from an unseen land by the name of Kingdom Hearts."

"If he can burst the barrier separating Earth from Kingdom Hearts, he thought, he can save the timeline. And so he fashioned a weapon, the X-Blade," he pronounced it 'Key-Blade', and broke the seperation between the Original Universe and Kingdom Hearts. And what was one, became more, what was absurd, became possible. Why? Because the Original Earth was split into several timelines, several universes, including yours'."

"Seeing the consequences of his actions, Ascot broke the X-Blade into several pieces, then vanished. But by then, it was too late, for the people of the worlds fashioned weapons in the shape of the X-Blade, and warred with each other to dominate Kingdom Hearts. They mostly killed each other, but a few repentant survivors foreswore any attempt to conquer the Multiverse, forming the Old Keyblade Order."

"The Old Keyblade Order prospered, taking new recruits from people with strong hearts. One of those recruits was someone from this world, Leo the Second Mathemathician. Leo was a bright soul, but one who chafed under the strict restrictions of the Old Keyblade Order, as well as doubted their beliefs in cosmology; that Light was always good. To him, Light and Darkness were merely two sides of the same coin; neither can exist without the other."

"In fact, in his view, Light was tyrannizing over Darkness, and so the worlds had to be remade, so that Light and Darkness had to be in equal balance. So, he moved to do just that, summoning three Dragons - Alduin of Skyrim, Deathwing of Azeroth, and Acnologia of Fiore - to destroy the Old Keyblade Order. It was a mutual kill, but it was of little comfort to the Multiverse, for Leo, under the guise of a student..."

"...Went to the world of Shining Field, a world where Genghis Khan was never born, and his son Hulegu never destroyed Baghdad, allowing the latter to remain a centre of knowledge and wisdom. There, he convinced Hakim the Wise, the Grand Vizier, to conduct experiments on Light and Darkness, experiments that caused the world to be consumed in Darkness, and the Heartless to spread and become organized."

"And that is when worlds began falling and falling in quick succession." He then paused for breath.

"Michael, let me continue," said Tocsax, his face turning towards the group.

"I used to be a part of a group created by Leo, the Circle, which in turn was the precursor to the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness. From there, I discovered many of his secrets before defecting to Emperor Michael. The tales of my exploits would keep you standing for far longer than comfortable, so I'll make this brief."

"The Seven Princesses of Heart, Seven Women with Hearts of Pure Light, they are in truth seven pieces of the X-Blade. If Leo and his Thirteen Seekers kill them, then they can recreate the X-Blade and create a New World that fits Leo's ideals...but at a high cost."

"You must stop him. By any means possible."

@Letter Bee

Jupiter took in everything like a sponge, she knew that this was all information that she needed to know," Leo's theory that the Light needs the Dark would more than likely be correct as if there were no Dark then we would not know that Light existed and was good because we would have nothing to compare it to. Does anyone have any idea where these Princesses of Heart are? If they are all together already then we have a very small percentage of a chance, if they are separated then we have more of a percentage of a chance. Of course letting something like this happen is pathetic but now that it has happened it needs to be changed, I don't see how it could work without killing many people in the process though."

She stopped to take a breath and think for a minute and then finished her rant," If you want to succeed then you need to come up with a strategy and fast."

Ninty felt her brow furrow as the others continued to speak. She wasn’t sure what it was she was expecting it certainly wasn’t this. Their explanations made some sense, Ninty supposed still with some doubt, and everyone spoke in a manner of someone who knew what they were talking about.

But there was something else, something that had sent a horrible twisting sensation through her stomach and her outspread fingers twitched into steady fists. How had that Michael git known about her? How had he known her name? How had he known about her and her mates? Ninty did not like this human Child and was fully intent on expressing her displeasure in the only way she knew how. Which also happened to be the exact same way one could get a refund at the Docks for back piece of merchandise.

“Yeah yeah yeah.” Ninty waved away Jupiters comments. “Princesses of Light, go look for royalty pricks in each world, kidnap them or whatever, yada yada yada, job done. You’re welcome.” She snapped with no small amount of venom although none of it intentionally directed at anyone else.

“Now onto the next piece of business.” Ninty took another step or two toward Michael, though still stayed back just a little in case the guards were to suddenly use those lethal looking weapons of theirs.

“How in the Name of the Thirteen does a little piss-pot like you know about what happened to me an’ma mates?” Ninty snarled down at Michael, with a few swears from her childhood sailor friends slipping in. “On another note How do yer know my? Eh? Cause I certainly didn’t say nuffin, nor did I about bein on another planet. So what’s your secret then you Mongrel?” While the insult wasn’t exactly accurate, with a mix of fear and anger inside her Ninty didn’t really care.

“Better start talking quick sunshine, before I give yer a good ol’ scar for the local bar girls to swoon over!” She spat.

With the final comment Ninty’s keyblade flashed into being once more in her hand, so sudden was it’s appearance that it caught Ninty off guard and brought her seething rage to an abrupt halt. Ninty herself had actually flinched and was now giving the weapon a mixed look of surprise and puzzled frustration.

((Collab Post by Letter Bee and Arty Fox))

"We have a simple strategy," said Tocsax in response to Jupiter, "basically, we send you guys to gather the Princesses of Heart, while we follow with a fleet of Gummi Ships and attendant troops. That way, we can secure their safety, as well as continuing to purge the Heartless from the worlds; of course, as only the Keyblade can kill the Heartless without them coming back, the Basileus will be coming with said fleet."

"Not merely that, but in light of this crisis, the Byzantine Senate - I mean, Roman Senate - is willing to work closely with Michael and you guys, giving you almost unlimited resources; Troops, Money or Munny, Magical and Mundane Items; you name it, it is yours. And that includes Gummi Warships, too. This, of course, is if you don't abandon the quest, and at least show a listening ear to any instructions we might give."

Then Ninty just had to make her outburst, drawing a weapon in the hall as she did so. This caused 1.) the rows of soldiers in the sides of the hall to draw their guns at the group, and 2.) for Damianos Sardis* to grow red with rage, before pointing his wand up in the air, creating a large fireball that looked like a miniature sun. However, despite his anger, the Mage retained the presence of mind not to burniate the group immidiately.

"How dare you call our Emperor a Mongrel, you [REDACTED], [REDACTED] Elfling with a superiority complex?! You're the one who comes from a backwater world, while this is the Queen of Cities! Your world would not have existed in the first place if not for Humans!" Damianos was fuming, about to do something stupid if not for Giorgios Kyros coming over and putting his hand on his friend's shoulder.

"It's okay, Damianos, it's okay; calm down. Besides, an explanation was what the Elf asked, right? I'm sure the Emperor can give it." All the while, Basileus Michael was unflummoxed by the whole commotion, waiting until Giorgios had calmed down Damianos. Then, facing Ninty, he, with a flash of sparkles, caused a crystal ball to appear, then float, right in front of him; said crystal ball showed visions of Ninty's world.

"The Old Keyblade Order, in its mission to keep the Heartless from consuming the worlds, had to find ways of keeping themselves...apprised of how things were progressing in said worlds. To do that, they used a combination of 1.) Magic, and 2.) keeping local allies among the 'Gods' and 'Goddesses' of each world." How he was able to say the quotation marks was a mystery.

"Before your 'God of the Future' slept, he gave the Old Keyblade Order information about the future of your world, including your emergence and manifestation of the Keyblade. Tocsax managed to acquire said information from where Leo had hidden it, as well as the magic stones that kept us up-to-date. Does that answer your question?"

"I...I suppose?" Ninty was very much taken aback by this latest development. "So Font Ri is real?" She asked with some hesitence with a wary gaze flickering from the large orb of fire to the crystal ball and back again.

"Yes; the old man is real - he seems scary at first, but is actually really nice. I found his' hiding place in my travels, and he told me some lore that helped give me a better picture of Multiversal cosmology," Emperor Michael spoke a bit happily now, with a tone of nostalgia.

At first Ninty scarecly believed it but as she looked through to the scenes on the other side of the crystal ball there was no denying that that was her world. The ball obviously acted like a television of some sort nly much larger and in full colour as well. In one vision she saw the back alleys of Brazen, in another an empty kicthen whilst another showed a colourful festival occouring in a small cobbled square.

"Hang on." She moved a bit closer to the ball to get a closer look at that particular vision. "How come that place has people in it and Brazen's practically empty?"

She pointed at the scene which shone brightly in sunshine and in jubilation of the harvest, a stark contrast to the ghostly streets of the city.

"Blame the Heartless," Damianos spoke, his anger fading. "They go into worlds, consume Hearts that become more Heartless, and, when 'killed' by mundane weapons, would only reform elsewhere; only the Keyblade can purify them. But, before you go and blame us for taking you away while the Heartless consume your world, here's a secret: Should Leo the Second Mathemathician be defeated, all the worlds consumed by the Heartless will be restored, and all the people turned into Heartless will be brought back."

"Brought back?" Ninty's gaze caught Micheals own. "What do yo-"

The two thoughts clashing together in her mind could be seen by everyone else in the room and Ninty's eyes grew wide with a gut wrenching twist of realisation.

"Everyone in Brazen is dead." Her voice was barely audible, a weak little whisper of defeat where a roar overflowing with rage had once been. "Edios, Harevy, Trime. My little brother and all my mates. They're all dead and those things ate their hearts."

In her mind the images played through of those little yellows eye happily wacthing their claws of shadow make quick work of the fragile fabric and soft flesh. Then she thought of those people enjoying the sun. How long did they have left of blissful ignorance before they too were killed and wiped away from the world without leaving even a single trace of them being there. Ninty took a deep, ragged breath and vissibly shook.

"I'm going to murder those Heartless bastards." Her grip on the key blade tightened. "I'm going to choke them with their own arse-holes!"

"Did she miss the part about how everyone will be brought back if Leo is defeated?" Damianos muttered.

"No, I think she got it just fine," Giorgios replied. "Now, you'd better dispel that fireball, it's getting hot in here..."

*It's Damianos, not Daimanos; my spelling was bad.

“What if something goes wrong? Do you have a plan B?” Jupiter replied, she wanted to make sure that this was at the very least the tiniest bit safe,” Are you absolutely positive that everyone here can be trusted? I mean no offense to the others but you’re putting a bunch of people who have never met before all together and expecting that they will be able to work together, aren’t you?” She didn’t know about the others but she didn’t play well with others, especially under pressure, she needed to be reassured that she wasn’t going to have to keep one eye open at night, even though she was going to anyway.

Jupiter sighed and told them matter-of-factly,” You still haven’t said if you knew where these women are or not but by your plan, I’m thinking that you do, unless of course that’s what you want us to think,” she just confused even herself. “All I want is the right to ask as many questions as I desire and a get a truthful answer,” she said truthfully. She took one look at those guns that were now facing her and the rest of the group and brought out her own gun as a back up. She listened to everything that everyone said before realising something," Wait, so everyone that was ever killed by the Heartless will come back?" if this was true then conquering Leo would not only stop the Heartless but bring back her parents. That made up her mind," I'm in but if you better not be wrong about everyone coming back once Leo is defeated."

Jupiter wondered what it must be like for the Elf, by the sounds of it she had a home that needed to be kept safe, she doubted that she would ever know what that was like according that she didn't have a home because she never stayed in one place for longer than was necessary.

Rei just... crossed his arms. The pointy-eared girl made the mistake of going off on some rant against the Emperor and, predictably, his bodyguards all responded in kind, training their guns on all the visitors. Oh and, they outnumbered the guests by quite a margin, so in a straight fight they would win by sheer force of numbers. This was all becoming rather annoying, people puffing out their chests and going at each other half-cocked, they may as well have been asking for a disaster to happen.

The one of them, the wizard, said something that really caught Rei's attention. According to him, everyone who had been killed by the Heartless would come back if Leo were successfully stopped. Normally, Rei would be questioning how such a thing was even logistically possible even with the involvement of magic, but it made him realize something. His predecessors, the previous wielders of his Keyblade, had all perished fighting the Heartless. Would they all be brought back if Leo was defeated? More importantly, would they all still retain their ability to wield the Keyblade? If so, the City of Shadows could stand to gain quite an advantage against the Heartless menace. After all, a dozen Hunters would obviously be a superior fighting force than a lone Hunter.

"Right," he finally said, having grown tired of the arguing and decided to take it upon himself to make it stop, "if we're all done acting like a bunch of children, might I suggest we actually do something productive instead wasting our time with squabbling?" he stepped forward, approaching Tocsax specifically. Something about the kid's story was suspicious and, true to his blunt nature, Rei intended to get answers, "So tell me, how exactly does one go about surviving all the crap you went through, Ascot?" he asked, calling the kid Ascot. Rei wasn't an idiot, and wasn't about to let anyone treat him like one. By simply removing the X and rearranging the letters, Tocsax's name would spell out Ascot, the name of the person from the story. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the rest.

Henry just stood and blinked at the weirdness going on around him at that moment. The wastelander frowned at the pointy-eared woman as she went in her little tiraid, and when things started to get really heated he'd let his hand drop to the sawed-off shotgun at his hip, though thankfully the others managed to calm her down before he'd had to draw iron. He shook his head and listened to the fellow named Rei talk. He and the girl, Jupiter were about the only ones making sense out of the squabbling.

"God Almighty, folk, let's jus' take it down a couple levels. We're here to fight the bad guys, not eachother. Back home only way to get things done is workin' with other folk, not startin' pissin' contests to see who's hometown sucked the most." He turned and offered as polite a bow as he could to the Byzantine emperor.

"Still confused as hell as to how this shit is goin' on, but you got my word I'll be doin' everythin' I can to set things right."

"Plan B involves an all-out, brute force attack on Leo's citadel in Shining Field, while as for why I'm putting you all together, it's because most of you are Keybladers, while you yourself, Ms. Lark, are someone who has the potential to manifest a Keyblade in the near future. Like it or not, Keybladers are a precious resource, and concentrating them together helps constitute our hopes. And no, we're not wrong about everyone coming back once Leo is defeated," Michael was using the 'royal we'.

Then, Rei just had to approach Tocsax, calling him 'Ascot', figuring out the not-so-subtle secret of the anagram. This caused Tocsax to laugh, before saying:

"I'm called Tocsax becauae I was split off from Ascot, not because I am Ascot. Tell me, do you know what a Nobody is?" After a few seconds, the boy continued:

"A Nobody is made up from the body and soul left behind when a Heartless consumes a person, basically, the leavings of the Heartlesss. Some Nobodies are feral, stupid creatures, no better than the Heartless. But when a particularly strong-willed person is consumed by the Heartless, the Nobody left behind can take a form similar to the original person. Not merely that, but Nobodies start out...emotionless, but gain emotions and Hearts as they grow older."

"The Circle, aka the predecessor to the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness, was made up of Nobodies, whose purpose was to provide new bodies for Leo to implant pieces of his Heart in. To do that, they were lied to, told that they could not recreate their hears on their own, and so they needed Kingdom Hearts, an artificial facsmile which can be summoned by killing enough Heartless with a Keyblade."

"The truth of the matter was, though, that Leo wanted to use the Kingdom Hearts for the implantation mentioned, and, well, let's just say we found out before it was too late." Tocsax then finished, allowing Emperor Michael to talk again.

"Anyway, Tocsax and the members of the Circle rebelled, but were defeated by Leo and the incomplete league of Thirteen Seekers, and only Tocsax escaped with Leo's secrets." the Emperor turned silent.

"But in any case, we can now plan the counterattack; should you guys agree to it, you can stay in the Palace for the night, before departing on a special Gummi Cruiser for tomorrow's destination, the world called 'Reign of the Confederacy'. After all, you guys will need to eat, sleep, bathe, and of course, get to know each other as a team, right?" Emperor Michael was anticipating being hospitable...

------

Should they agree, and there was no real reason they shouldn't, the party members would each be guided to their own suite by servants; the ones with Henry and Ursula would also give a crash course on how to use the showers, the air conditioners, and the Television, along with other appliances. Not merely that, but each suite was connected to each other via a central courtyard, which was also linked to a gym and training room.

Let's just say that if Emperor Michael wanted the five members of the party to know each other, well, he succeeded.