[IC] Kingdom Hearts: Fading Stars

[G3njii]

"For every night that passes, the sky becomes a shade darker." The quote replayed in his head over and over again. They were the last words he heard from his Master before he was sent off world and witnessed his world disappear into darkness. He knew not whether his master had survived, but he did know he couldnt let that stop him, he was now the only Keyblade Wielder left, and it was his duty to fight for the balance.

It had started out like a normal day, he awoke with brief fragments of the dream he had last night. The most he could put together was he fought against some shadowy figure, it was fearsome, and he couldn't remember who won the battle. He shook off his thoughts as he made his way to the training temple to see his master, when the he opened the doors outside he stood confronted with fearsome shadows and his master was fighting them off valiantly. "Master Xine," He shouted as he carved his way through the teeming darkness, but their numbers would not seem to wane. "What is going on here Master." He now stood with his back against his masters as the defended themselves against the onslaught.

"The Heartless have made their way into the realm of light."
"But this has neve-"
"Silence Eden, listen to me carefully. You must take the gummi ship I know you've been building"
"How did you know about that?!"
"Now is not the time Eden! Take your ship and flee this world, continue the fight else where. If we are both lost now, then there is no more hope. Trust in your heart, it will guide you where you need to go."
".. Master what about you?!"
"Don't worry about me, follow your path Eden." Master Xine cast an ice spell rocketing Eden out of the fray. "It's up to you now," he shouted and began to tear through the heartless with flying pillars of ice, but Eden did not stick around to watch.

He fled as fast as he could to his makeshift gummi-bay, the ship had not been tested yet but time was of the essence. He hopped into the cockpit and closed the hatch proceeding to flip the switches necessary to take off, the engine began to roar and the doors to the bay opened up. The sky lay before him, but what truly waited for him was a mystery. He hit the take off button and luckily his vessel rose from the ground rather than exploding. As his ship left the world surface he watch in terror as the darkness swallowed its light and it disappeared into nothingness.

His gummi-ship carried on through the dark sky and it wasn't long before he came upon a small residential world. He followed his heart and set down carefully on the planet on the large cliff that bordered the town. Stepping outside he could feel the darkness in the air, and then he saw them, the heartless surrounded the city and we systematically attacking the citizens. His master was right, time was of the essence, and he wasted no time diving off the cliff to enter the city and defend its people.

[Redwing]

The first thing Caius was aware of was a strangely peaceful sense of falling. He opened his eyes to find that everything around him was black. Save for a single spot of light that was getting bigger and bigger as he fell. Well it was more like floating downward than falling. His hair lay perfectly down by his shoulders, even though he was falling head first. This was most certainly a dream, as Caius had just gone to bed after a long exhausting day. His muscles didn't ache, his eyes didn't feel heavy, none of the day's burdens were on him here. He kind of liked it, it was peaceful. He could see the spot of light more clearly now, it seemed to be a platform. But what really caught his eye was what the platform looked like. It looked like it belonged in the window of a church with the art style. It depicted a sleeping girl with incredibly long blonde hair, she was wearing a purple dress. All around her were seemingly important symbols and figures. Though he wasn't sure what the frying pan meant.

As he reached the platform, he instinctively flipped himself around so he would land on his feet. Which he did. As he landed there was a flash of light and three pillars appeared out of nowhere. Each one held a different weapon of sorts. One was a katana with a silver blade, black hilt, and red wrapping. Another was a club sized staff that was white and had a red perfectly circular stone on the top. And the final was a kite shield that was black in color with blue trim. There was a symbol in the middle, one that Caius recognized fully. It was Phoenix rising from the ashes, it was also painted in blue. Something was telling him to choose one, he wasn't sure why. But he did know that he was really liking this dream. It was the most interesting thing that had happened to him since he had found out his now former girlfriend was making porn videos with his now former best friend.

He thought the sword would be most useful for combat, but he really was attracted to that shield. So that was what he picked. He walked up to it and took it off the pillar, hooking it onto his left arm. He was glad he choose the shield, it felt right, comfortable. The pillars wielding the sword and the staff disappeared after that, along with the platform. Panic surged in Caius' chest as there suddenly wasn't anything to stand on and he found himself falling through black.

He opened his eyes, not realizing he had closed them in the first place, to find himself on another platform. He climbed to his feet and noticed two things at once. One was that he still had the shield, two was this platform looked different than the first. This one had a normal looking girl with red hair, she was also sleeping. She held some sort of bud in her hands and was surrounded by a strange array of symbols and people. Like a slug, what appeared to be a samurai dressed in leaf armor, and a one eyed pug with three legs. Four strange shadows appeared on the platform and as Caius watched, turned into adorable black creatures with glowing yellow eyes. At least they were adorable until he was the claws, and they started trying to kill him. Fighting with a shield was going to be different, but he had been in his fair shares of fights. A few punches, kicks, and blows from his shield later and they disappeared. But something worse appeared in their place.

His sister, or at least a dream version, appeared looking very frightened. For a moment all Caius could see was her. Then what she was afraid of showed up. It was some sort of giant black shadow creature. Like a big ugly version of the ones he had just fought. The thing took a swipe at his sister and his brain stopped working. With no regard to himself, Caius leaped in front of his sister and threw up the shield. The creature's clawed hand slammed into said shield with enough force to send pain up the entirety of his arms. A look of surprised crossed his face, for two reasons. One being that he had felt pain in a dream. The second that he was suddenly airborne again, as the shadow creature's blow sending him reeling off the edge of the platform.

Once again he opened his eyes, and once again he was on another platform. This one was very different than the other two. There were no fancy symbols or sleeping girls. There were three people on this one, two boys one with silver hair and the other with spiky brown hair, and one girl with reddish brown hair. Each of them seemed to be looking at him with various shades of blue eyes. Each of them had some sort of weapon in their hands, some sort of blade. Suddenly a voice began speaking to him out of nowhere. "You have chosen the power of the guardian and have shown it by protecting those you care about without regard to yourself. You have already proved why you were chosen. But be careful, it will be those you wish to protect who suffer if you should push yourself too far. Caius opened his mouth to speak, to address the bodiless voice. But before he could a blinding light engulfed everything.

Caius' eyes snapped open and he shot straight up in bed. He was panting and covered in sweat. He remembered he had a dream, but couldn't remember what it was about. All he remembered was a single sentence. "Those who I wish to protect, will suffer if I push myself too far." He said softly to himself. His arms seemed to ache for some reason, and his left one felt too light. A scream tore through the air, breaking Caius out of his thoughts. He looked out his window to see people getting attacked, by these strange black creatures with glowing yellow eyes. Ones that seemed incredibly familiar. He didn't even think about, there was nothing to think about. Caius was out of bed within moments and quickly pulled on his clothes.

He ran out of his house, intent on helping anybody in any way he could. As one of the black creatures leaped up to attack his next door neighbor's daughter, he leaped at it, tackling it to the ground. He could feel the little thing's claws rake across his chest as he pinned it to the ground, but ignored the pain and instead drove a fist into its head. Though it didn't seem to do anything. He had to get up and grab another one away from another person, his attacks still seemed not to do anything. But that wasn't going to stop him from fighting. He'd either find a way to beat them, or make sure he got as many people to safety before he went down.

[HellOfALife]

ｒａｉｎａ

"Oh great, I'm lost...'

Raina grumbled as she attempted to smack her flashlight down on her palm to get it working again, to no avail. The flashlight gave out a few sputters of illumination before going out, and Raina felt a certain type of chill travel up her spine, before returning the light to her backpack. She was usually so calm when exploring, but it seemed like her skills served almost no purpose when she was lost in this immense darkness. She wondered when was the last time she actually saw anyone she knew, even what they looked like, as if she hadn't seen them in years. It was easy to think that when lost in the darkness, feeling cold, and even somewhat numb. She couldn't even think how she got here, only how it seemed as if the darkness was swallowing her in. Why all of this was streaming through her head at the time? It was easier not to think about the encroaching pitch black darkness, and the serene, crystal like sound throughout. She rubbed her arms together in a futile attempt at heat against the cold, her eyes trying to desperately adjust. She stopped when a sudden thought occurred to her, the leap of her heat beat, thudding inside her chest brought along the an almost overwhelming fear, fear that she had never felt before.

"I'm...I'm scared.."

she thought to herself as the words echoed endlessly in her mind, and in that very same moment, the next step she took led her to her legs sinking deeper into the pits of darkness below her like quick sand, the more frantic she became to claw her way out of it, the further she sunk until she could no longer sense an up or a down, a left or a right, just an abyss until the dark overcame her face and her eyes, finally leaving an out-stretched hand, as the sinking now became falling. The young woman was far too apprehensive to open her eyes and face the gravity that was pulling her down into somewhere, though this time the falling was slower, nuanced, and when she felt herself slowing down, and a bright light hitting her eyelids she finally opened them, staring into a cathedral like construction, a mural of someone she had no recollection of. She slowed down until her feet hit what seemed like solid glass, sparkles of light trailing behind her. The sound of her feet actually hitting the ground was such a relief that she let a breath of air rush pass her lips, closing her eyes for a moment and thanking whatever higher power allowed her to survive such a weird event. When she opened them, stairs seemed to appear and extend beyond the pillar, linking to another, from her vision she could a multitude of pillars extending even farther than her eyes could register. She stared at the horizon, unsure if the rest of the way was safe considering where she just came from, and this strange place provided little provocation from her to go any further. She took a few steps closer to the stairs, not yet deciding to go down, but she peered into the abyss below, the same fear she had when being swallowed crept up on her and she hoped she wouldn't fall.

"A-Alright then,,,here goes nothing."

as she walked down the first steps, just a few steps more she could hear something on the previous platform, turning around and then taking note of the rascally little creature on it, all tentacles and yellow eyes, something from beyond, and it was as frightening as its shadow multiplied, and ran rather haphazardly towards Raina. Without a second of doubt in her mind she began to run, taking a few glances back to stare at the creatures that were gaining leverage on her by the second. She quickened her pace, her run turned into sprinting as she stumbled on to the next platform, those things right on her tail, as she crossed the next set of stairs that descended downward. She couldn't call for help, and from what she knew she could be forced to run endlessly without stop, worse of all what would happen in those creatures caught her? It was only then that one of them caught her ankle, and she was was sent tumbling down the last few steps she had until the next platform. Breathing heavily she scrambled to her feet, the pack turning into a horde, collecting together to become some maligned monster.

What do you wish to protect?..."

Raina was so frantic, she honestly had no idea how she was able to listen to such a calming voice. she stood up to avoid a swing of the monsters hand as it attempted to squish her. Backed into the edge of the platform she was on, she answered the voice. "I-I don't want to die..." The voice laughed softly as if she wasn't currently in danger. "You wish it, and I will grant you a weapon to defend yourself..." She had no idea what she could use to defeat or ward off this thing, but before she knew it, a large sword appeared in her hand. She felt empowered by it, suddenly looking at the monster with a sense of ambition but with apprehension settling underneath. She pointed her weapon towards it, as it screeched loudly. "I..I will defeat you." she thought to herself.

Running towards it, the next few minutes, that actually felt something like hours went past she took her swing injuring the creature as much as she could and avoiding attacks, until she drove the sword into it's hand getting it stuck into the appendage. She didn't release her hand fast enough for her to be flung around with the sword and the beast that wailed and kicked around with the wound. The wailing was suddenly drowned out by the platform breaking into millions of glass shards. She was free falling with the screaming beast, maybe she was screaming herself, but she couldn't tell as the light engulfed them both. "Follow the path of light to save your world."

---

Raina! Raina wake up!

The young woman was jolted away by her friend, who frantically looked away from her before staring back. "We've got to leave!" he yelled, as he helped a disoriented Raina off the ground. "You knocked your head while we were running away, I dragged you here to keep us safe, but....those things are gonna get us if we aren't fast." he looked behind him as one of the same creatures from her dream reared it's head out. "Let's go!" he yelled as they ran together back towards the town.

[Redwing]

Caius ran through the streets of his town, breathing heavily as he did. He had already helped a good twenty people get to safety and was looking for more. Other than the claw marks on his chest, he had received several other wounds along the way. Each of which was bleeding and painful. Nothing he had found so far had been able to wound these strange black creatures. His fists and feet, sticks, broom handles, rocks, his pocket knife, nothing. He was having no luck in finding a way to beat them, but that didn't mean he was going to give up. There were still people to save somewhere. Another scream came from his left so he instantly turned down the pathway in that direction. Throwing himself at the black creature that was attacking another one of the people who lived here. Just like he had done several times already. As soon as the black creature was stunned, he grabbed hold of the person and ran.

He guided them to the shelter that had been set off and barely stopped for a moment before taking off again. Going in a direction he hadn't before. Only after he was out of sight of the people he had rescued did he collapse against a building and allow himself a moment to breath. With the sudden lack of motion, he actually got a moment to think. A moment to feel the fear, he couldn't beat these things. All he could do was delay the inevitable. He shook his head, refusing to let himself get discouraged. After climbing to his feet again, Caius continued on his way. Only to pause again he rounded another corner. He saw something incredible. A boy about his age with white hair, holding some sort of sword, and he had just slayed one of the black creatures. "You can kill them? How?" He said breathlessly demanding the other boy to spill his secrets.

He stepped closer to examine the weapon, but then froze, simply staring at it. He knew what it was called. He didn't know how, but he did. "Keyblade..." he said softly to himself, not even realizing he had done so. Then there was a flash of white light and Caius felt something in his right hand. He looked down to see a strange weapon, it too was a Keyblade. It was black with a white chain pattern down the blade, there was key chain on the end of a black crown. It just felt right in his hand, just the shield from his dream had. And once again a voice sounded in his mind. "You have chosen the power of the guardian. Use it well to protect your allies." It was the same voice from his dream.

Now he was scared. And tired. And in pain. But he wasn't going to show it in front of this stranger. Instead he pointed the weapon, the Keyblade, at the boy. He train of thought being that the kid had brought the black creatures with him. The timing was too perfect for it to be any other way. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" He demanded once again. He definitely looked a lot tougher than he felt at the moment.

[G3njii]

Eden ran through the city banishing a shadow here and there. He didn't see more than just a few people, meaning they had already started evacuating. Which was great, but if he couldn't find the keyhole, it would be pointless. The heartless would just keep swarming until the world was swallowed by the darkness. That would mean he failed, again.

Eden meandered the streets, deep in thought about the keyhole. "It would be someplace symbolic or of importance, it's also likely to be hidden in plain sight." He was interupted when multiple heartless burst from an ally attacking him. He summoned his keyblade spun around and parried the lunge. Two of the four heartless dissolved into the ground and Eden dashed into the remaining two, stabbing one destroying it and the sweeping out for the other. One of the remaining shadows leaped and caught Eden in the back, he quick shook it off and jumped back before darting back to attack. With one creature left he scanned the shadows of the walls around him, then just as it entered his sight it lunged in attack, Eden blocked the attack and finished off with a powerful counter.

As the keyblade caused the shadow to disintegrate into nothing, a local of the world rounded the corner. The guy questioned in disbelief as Eden had vanquished the heartless, but Eden had no time to reply, as suddenly this boy summoned his own keyblade leaving Eden at a loss of words. Eden was supposed to be the last keyblade wielder, this made no sense, he needed to know who this guy was and if there were more wielders.

The boy raised the keyblade and began to demand answers, looking at his eyes Eden could feel the desperation, and perhaps anger. Eden knew it wouldn't be beneficial to escalate the current situation and so he raised his hand slowly and made his keyblade disappear. "My name is Eden, I am supposed to be the last keyblade wielder, but we now both know that's not true. I am from another world and I'm here to save your world from the darkness, and in turn all the worlds. But you're a local, and you can fight now, I need your help." Eden continued, wanting to get as much information out as quickly as he could. "So simply put, I need to find the keyhole of your world. Or the Heart of your world, in other terms. If I don't seal this world off, the darkness is just going to consume your world and it will all be lost. Can you help me?"

[Redwing]

Caius had no idea what was going on. What the white haired stranger, Eden, was saying didn't make any sense. But at the same time it did. He was quiet for a moment as he let his brain digest the information he had just received. Apparent Eden was supposedly the last of the Keyblade wielders, but Caius was one too. He was from another world and was here to stop the darkness. So he wasn't the one making these black creatures show up? There just way too much for him to take in, adrenaline was already going strong and certainly wasn't helping things. The overload of information was making it hard to understand anything. But there was one thing that stuck out to Caius' overwhelmed brain.

Eden could save everybody and he needed Caius' help to do so. His wounds stung, his head hurt, he was tired. But he always put others first. He sighed and ran the fingers through his hair. He didn't have much of a choice, Eden knew how to kill these things. It was the only way to save everyone. He lowered the Keyblade is his hands. "I don't know what's going on, and I certainly don't trust you. But if it means saving everyone then I'll help you." He lifted the Keyblade and pointed it at Eden again. "But you better stick around afterward and tell me what the hell is going on. Or I will hunt you down."

Not that Caius knew how to get to other worlds, if there was even such a thing and this guy wasn't entirely crazy. But being tough was how he coped with fear and confusion. And right now he was feeling both. Another scream made Caius bite his lip. He really wanted to go help whoever it was, but he had to stick with Eden if he was going to save everybody. It seemed wrong in his eyes, ignore one person so you could save them all. As his thoughts wandered he realized he had yet to give Eden his name and that he was still pointing the Keyblade at him."Oh yeah, my name is Caius by the way." He said while lowering the weapon again. "You said you needed to find the keyhole right? What are we looking for?"

[G3njii]

After explaining himself the boy lowered his key and reluctantly agreed to help him. Eden understood why he wouldn't want to trust him, with the sudden appearance of heartless and all. This guy would need time to adjust to the happenings and his role as a keyblade wielder, but Eden didn't have much time. He had to take advantage of this guys good faith and convince him to fight along his side.

A scream sounded in the distance and the Eden could see the boy, who now introduced himself as Caius, cringe in restraint. "Do not worry, she will be saved." Caius then asked about the keyhole, "The keyhole is is exactly as it sound, it is likely to be hidden in plain sight, probably somewhere you see all the time. The keyhole leads to the heart of the world so it would also be someplace that's important to the people, or your towns history and culture." Eden had just finished his thought as he saw movement in the shadows around them. The darkness was slowly consuming the dim light around them and Eden could feel it approaching. "Quick Brace Yourself! Gravity" Eden shouted as he cast a Gravity spell but flipping the pull of his magic. The spell sent both him and Caius into the air to the rooftops of the buildings, looking down Eden witness the darkness over take the ground and begin to consume the physical presence of the world. "We have to move fast Caius. I will follow your lead."

[Redwing]

Caius immediately began racking his brain for where the keyhole may be. Somewhere important and out in the open. Where you see all the time. Only one place in town fit that description. Before he could say anything about it this strange darkness started appearing and Eden told him to brace himself. He tried to but was no where near prepared for what happened. Eden yelled out the word gravity and suddenly Caius found himself airborne. It took everything he had not to freak out completely. Or scream. He proud of himself for not screaming. He found himself on the roof of one of the houses along with Eden. He looked down and saw why they were now up here. The strange darkness was spreading across the ground. He assumed they would have to stick to rooftops.

He a pretty agile person and was used to running on rooftops with his friends. This wouldn't be too much of a problem. It took him a moment to get his bearings on the roof and find the direction they were supposed to go. "There's a mural on the library in the town square. It shows the founder of the town fighting off some bandits who tried to take over when the town was first developed. I don't remember seeing a keyhole on it before, but its the only thing that it could be." Without much hesitation, Caius took a running start and jumped to the next roof. He ran across that roof in the direction of the town square. "It isn't far from here!" He called, hoping that Eden would be able to keep up. It was a little weird trying to run with the Keyblade in his hand, but he had a feeling he would have to get used to it.

Caius really hoped that the mural was the keyhole. Even though he hadn't seen a keyhole on it in the past. But maybe it only appeared when it was needed? He didn't know how any of this worked. He jumped to the next roof, landing slightly off balance and managed to just barely keep himself from falling off. The strange darkness was creeping forward toward the square, meaning they didn't have much time. Caius picked up the speed, hoping he didn't make another mistake.

[G3njii]

Caius took off rather quickly, which surprised Eden considering most people aren't used to running across rooftops. He mentioned the mural at the library, it sounded like a likely place to Eden. It held importance of the city and was at the figurative heart of the city. He hoped this mural would at the very least point them in the right direction, if not the world may be lost. Eden wasted no time in following Caius, the city wasn't extremely large, and the boy said the library was near.

As Eden leaped from building to building he could see the horizon disappear into nothingness. It was an unnerving and scary feeling, like the darkness was pursuing them specifically, but it couldn't be. Mere heartless were not driven by motivation or thought, they were driven by pure instinct. They would devour everything in their path and consume any heart in the proximity. The thought of heartless reminded Eden that this new guy had no idea the threat they were facing, so he took it upon himself to educate his partner. "You should know what we are up against Caius." He said as they ran, he stopped when Caius almost lost his balance but he quickly regained it and the set off once more.

"These creatures attacking your home are called the Heartless. They are the embodiment of the darkness in people's hearts. They are drawn to the darkness the lies in other's hearts, they will find it and release it so it can too form a heartless. They can only be defeated by weapons of the heart, such as our keyblades." Eden noticed several heartless leap from the ground and dive at him, he quick parried the attack and spun around simultaneously banishing the shadows. He landed across the gap, seeing just a few roofs ahead the mural that Caius had mentioned. "They are also drawn to the keyblades, they fear them, but are also driven to destroy them. Most importantly you must remember that there is darkness in every heart, including our own." As Eden finished his quick lesson, they arrived at a rooftop across from the Libraries Mural.

Eden jumped down into the town square to approach the mural, but was intercepted by something that he had never seen before. A heartless of collosal power burst through the wall of a nearby building and began to charge at him and Caius. The beast was a wyvern like beast, it sport two wings and two powerful legs. Its chest was covered in thick bone ribs and its head an armored skull. The tip of its tail burned a ghostly blue flame and the same flames roared from the back of its skull. The heartless flew into the air and began to swoop around the two, launching ghostly colored fireballs at them from the distance of the sky. Eden looked to Caius, "Looks like we have a bit of an obstacle to clear first." He thrust his keyblade into the air and channeled all his magical power into one shout, "Gravity!" The sky lit up with a purple light above the square and the heartless was slammed down into the ground, damaging its wings and preventing it from continuing its flight. This would allow him and Caius to slay the beast.

[Redwing]

Caius listened quietly as Eden explained to him what the strange black creatures were. He looked down at his Keyblade when the other boy mentioned that it was a weapon of heart. So this was what his heart was like? Caius didn't understand how that worked, but it was obviously the shape it was for a reason. He didn't notice when Eden killed the Heartless, he was too focused on the rooftops in front of him. He really didn't want to fall into that strange darkness. And the part about darkness in every heart kind of worried him, though it did make sense. Did he have a lot of darkness in his heart? Was that why his Keyblade looked so dark? He'd have to ask Eden about that later. When they weren't trying to save the entire town.

He landed in the town square about the same time as Eden did. He still didn't see a keyhole on the mural. He instantly dropped into a fighting stance as the flying creature, he assumed it was another Heartless, burst through a nearby building. He didn't know how to fight this thing, he didn't know how to wield the weapon that could kill it, and he didn't have any fancy magic spells like Eden did. But that sure as hell didn't mean he was going to sit down and let it destroy his town. He would protect this place even if it meant losing his life. When the other boy yelled Gravity again and magically slammed the flying Heartless into the ground, Caius knew what he had to do. With a fierce battle cry, he ran at the Heartless, being mindful of its flaming tail. When he got close enough he drove his Keyblade into one of the Heartless' legs.

It roared in anger and pain and looked as if it wanted to kill Caius. Well more than it already did. He attempted to tug the Keyblade out of the Heartless' leg, only to find it not wanting to come loose. Suddenly the creature's tail slammed into his chest, launching him backwards. Not only did it aggravate the wounds he already had from the small black Heartless from earlier, but it knocked the wind out of him. But it did pull his Keyblade free from its own leg, and he did manage to keep hold of it. He climbed back to his feet after only a moment, ready to hit that thing again. He had been in his fair share of fights. He knew how to take hits, fight through pain, and win against impossible odds.

[G3njii]

Caius immediately entered the fray as the creature hit the ground, and Eden ran in after him. If anything were to go wrong Eden would be responsible, this kid had no formal training but being chosen by the keyblade he didnt have much choice. Eden was very glad that Caius had stepped up to help save his world and did not hesitate in the face of danger, these were truly traits that led to him being chosen by the keyblade. His thoughts were interrupted as Caius was sent flying back with a crash, normally Eden would run to the rescue, but there was a more immediate threat at hand, the creature began to charge at the winded boy and Eden had to intercept it. He dashed toward the monster and delivered a powerful spinning strike on the enemy, the monster's head reeled in annoyance, smashing against the entrance of the library, and it now had Eden in it's sights.

The Heartless' face was now marred by a large crack cause by Eden's attack, the crack crossed its face, like a fissure from an earthquake, from its eye to its mouth. Flames began to leak from the crack and it was inhibiting the heartless view. Definitely a small victory for the duo, but if he didn't end this soon, this whole world would wash away with the darkness, it would become nothingness. Eden witnessed, from the edge of his vision, a bright light glowing from a new crack in the mural, and he immediately knew what it had to be, or at least what he hoped it would be. With a plan in mind Eden charged the Heartless as it charged at him, the creature roared with flames burning at the sides of its mouth. Just as they were going to meet one would have assumed Eden would be snatched up by its mouth, but instead he slid just underneath its jaw and swung his keyblade up catching the monster in it's throat and continuing his slicing motion as far as he could. The monster leaped up in pain only to smash against the mural, the mural now falling away in pieces.

Light radiated from the now empty square, the light powerful enough to halt the approaching darkness and to annihilate the monster they had been locked in combat with. When the light began to fade, it was clear to see what had originally lied behind the mural, a large keyhole that led to this worlds heart. Eden wasted no time and pointed his keyblade at his objective, the light of the keyhole lifted him slowly into the air until he was level with it. Once there a bright pinpoint of light shot from the tip of his key and very audible locking noise was heard. As the tone echoed throughout the collapsing town, the darkness just dissolved and the world was returned to its original state albeit for all the structural damage that was spread world-wide. Not only did the buildings return but people began to pop back into existence, this really made Eden smile.

Eden approached Caius slowly and full of exhaustion, this was his first true moment of rest since his world was lost. All those people, his master, the man who raised and trained him for nearly as long as he could remember. He was lost forever now, Eden would never be able to thank him for all he did nor would he be able to guide him anymore, Eden was the closest thing to a master that existed now. A small tear rolled down his cheek but he shook the thought and looked at Caius, "Caius, you fought valiantly and if not for your help this world wouldn't be here now. As a fellow keyblader I welcome you to our ranks. I must be on my way, but before I do I want to invite you to join me. As a keyblader you and me are the only ones with the power to save all the worlds, it is your responsibility, but I cant force you to accept that. I can only ask, and hope that you will. If you join me, I wont lie, you may not see your home in a very long time and it is bound to be extremely dangerous. What I can offer you though is training, and my friendship." Eden extended his hand towards Caius. "What do you say, Caius? Will you help me fight?"

[Redwing]

Caius watched as Eden struck the giant Heartless shortly after he did. It seemed to do a lot more damage than his had. That was what he hated most, feeling helpless or useless. And boy did he fell useless in this fight. He didn't know how to use the weapon in his hands, he couldn't do any fancy magic tricks like Eden, he didn't even know how to fight this thing. Eden seemed to have the entire thing under control, but he still hated that there wasn't much he could do. But that had never stopped him before, Caius charged back in, only to pause as the Heartless jumped back into the mural. Shattering the most important object in town. This strange light came out from behind it and literally destroyed the Heartless. Caius had a feeling he now knew why he hadn't seen the keyhole before.

And he just knew it was the keyhole. He could sense it or something. He watched as Eden pointed his own Keyblade at the light and started floating. Another beam of light went from his Keyblade to the keyhole, and there was a loud click. Caius assumed that would be the world locking or something. So the Heartless couldn't get into it again. He instantly felt relieved knowing that his friends and family were safe. The buildings and people that had been consumed by the darkness were all coming back. Caius may not have been able to do much against the giant Heartless, but he had saved a lot of people beforehand, and it had felt good.

Caius watched as Eden approached him, noticing that the other teen looked tired. Not that he blamed him at all. He was tired too, and hurt. He listened as Eden spoke. At first he wasn't sure what to do. Leaving his world and traveling to other ones, fighting Heartless all the time. His brain was telling him no, stay here where it's safe. But his heart was screaming yes, protect people. And he had the tendency to listen to his heart more than his head. "If it means protecting people, I'll go with you." He said, taking Eden's hand. "But for tonight, why don't we rest at my place? You don't have to worry about meeting the family or anything, I live alone."

[G3njii]

Eden was warn out and the offer of rest was quite tempting, but they longer they waited the more people died. It took everything in him to agree to rest for the night, he knew that he would be no help to anyone if he was exhausted and restless. "Rest would be great thank you." He followed behind Caius as they turned through the meandering streets, he hadn't taken much of the surroundings in during the fight, not that there was much left at the time anyways. But the city and an old school but very modern feel to it, it was unique. Brick buildings littered the streets, all of varying heights, while cobblestone paths filled the gaps. Neon signs and fantastic contraptions could be seen hanging from buildings, it truly was a unique world.

It wasn't long before the arrived at Caius' place, Eden entered behind him and settled his worn self into the first chair that caught his eye. Now would be as good a time as any to discuss training and to answer any questions this new keyblader had. "Alright Caius, I dont mean to be single minded, but we may as well take this chance of rest to talk. Im glad you decided to join me, your help will be beyond valuable, but you are going to need combat training and access to magic." Reaching into his pocket he pulled out three different colored glowing stones. "These stones are used for learning magic. They allow people to tap into the forces with ease, until they can do so unassisted. I have the three most basic spells you can choose from, Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder. Choose whichever you would like to learn first."

[Redwing]

After Eden expressed that he did in fact want to rest for the night, Caius let out a breath of relief. One more night in his home would do him some good. He didn't think he was ready to leave quite yet. This place had been his home his entire life and in the blink of an eye he had chosen to leave it. Sure it was to protect people, but it was still going to be hard to do. He led Eden back to his house, where he had first started saving people when the Heartless attacked. It wasn't a large place, but it was neat and clean, Caius made sure to keep it that way. Especially the kitchen, considering he cleaned, skinned, and cooked cute little forest animals in there. He remembered the first time his father had taken him out hunting. He had cried when he found out that the rabbit they had killed was also going to be dinner. Then he realized how tasty it was and everything was okay. Caius hadn't been the brightest kid around.

Considering the fact that he had settled into the first chair he spotted, Eden seemed to be tired. Before Caius could do anything else, Eden began to speak to him. Basically telling him that he was useless how he was, with no magic or fighting skills in the slightest. He was about to protest that he was a good fighter when the other boy took out three glowing stone things. Though Caius was injured and tired, Eden seemed to want to focus on the Keyblade fighter track. Tonight was suppose to be to rest, not to train. With a sigh Caius examined the three stones. All three spells sounded very useful and fun to use. After a moment he picked one kind of at random. "Thunder I guess." He said, not sounding very eager to get to learning. His wounds ached and he really wanted to take care of them before anything else. He had been fighting a lot before Eden showed up, and those little black Heartless could sure tear you up.

[G3njii]

Eden could see the look on Caius' face as he began to discuss training, he felt bad but he just couldnt let it go. It was all that he could bear to have on his mind during these times, he couldnt allow himself to get caught up in other thoughts, but his mind would keep wandering back to it. He quickly shook it all off and looked back to Caius after momentarily zoning out. "Im sorry Caius I don't mean we will start training today, just that it needs to happen." Eden handed him the yellow stone that would tingle your skin at the touch as if it was releasing electricity. "Now that we have that settled. Go ahead and tend to your wounds. We will need alot of rest tomorrow. If you have any questions feel free to ask, I'll be outside for now." And with that Eden walked back outside exhaustively to prepare and plan.

As Eden walked into the small clearing behind Caius' house, a ship began to descend from the sky, the ship was a dark black color with a long front end and sharp wings. It had six visible cannons in its wings, and it landed merely feet in front of him. A hatch just big enough to get through opened up on the side and he entered his ship, inside was much more roomy then one would expect, it had three chairs in its cockpit area, and behind that there was storage and a lift to go to its lower floor. This floor was plenty big enough to practice basic one on one combat, as far as one could tell, it spanned the entire length of the ship. Eden went to the storage and opened up a panel that held several other stones than the two he still had on him. He replaced them into their slots and closed the hatch and walked over to the cockpit. "I need to figure out what world is next." He began to play around with a digital map looking for any signs of spreading darkness, and there it was, since he had been here two more world were lost to the darkness, and the only one left in the area wasn't just a planet but it seemed to be a small group of three planets orbiting each other. "THERE IT IS!" He shouted with excitement, not because the world was next, but because they would have plenty of time to arrive before the darkness reached it in force.

[Redwing]

Caius accepted the yellow stone from Eden, staring at it in surprise when he could literally feel the electricity in it. It was kind of cool actually. When the other teen spoke, he suddenly felt really bad for not being all excited and ready to train. "Oh, you shouldn't apologize. I'm just tired and only thinking about napping. Learning magic is going to be cool, really." It was the truth. He was looking forward to magic training, and Keyblade training, and all that stuff. But was also really looking forward to his some bandages and his nice warm bed. "I promise you, tomorrow I'll be more like a little kid on Christmas than a grumpy old man." He said with a smirk.

After that Eden left the room and Caius hoped that he hadn't upset the other boy. He was tired too. And people did things they didn't mean to when they were tired. Caius got up after that, heading to the bathroom, where he kept his first aid kit. Well, he also kept one in the kitchen, but this one was more specifically for fighting injuries. As he entered the bathroom he closed the door behind him. He took care of his injuries, starting with the worst ones, being the scratches on his chest. After that was done he donned a fresh set of clothing and then went to the kitchen to fix something for dinner.

He wasn't sure how the other boy would react to the fact that he was eating rabbit. So he disguised it with seasonings, vegetables, and a tomato based broth. In other words, he made rabbit stew. He'd also have to find Eden some place to sleep. Probably the couch if he didn't mind that. He had friends over sometimes, so he luckily did have some extra bedding. He thought about looking for Eden, but decided that the boy could find his way back himself. So instead he opened a window so the smell of the stew would hopefully reach him.