“You’ll never beat me!” Vaex looked around and spotted a teen with short brown hair and of average height. His green eyes sparkled mischievously as he circled around her.
“Like to see you try!” Vaex heard herself say. The funniest sense of déjà vu struck her, leaving her dizzy and slightly out of breath. Without warning, her knees bent and she sprung forward, pinning the teen to the ground. She dared a quick look around. It was a brighter version of Hollow Bastion. Funny…
“No, don’t do that! Pay attention!”
“Watch out!”
Two new voices rang out and at the same moment she felt herself fly through the air to land on the ground a few feet away. She saw the teen coming for her and tried to move but was too slow. He pounced and this time pinned her to the cobbled stone floor.
“Stop! There is no roughhousing around out here!” an authoritative voice shouted.
“Shit!” The brunette quickly got up off of her and stood at attention.
“Now, what did I saw about doing things like this, B—?”
~*∞*~
Fourth District,
The Defense HQ
“Good morning! It is five in the morning and looking like it’s going to be another wonderful day!” Vaex woke with a start and an explosive chain of swears. “Oh I’m sorry,” Toby taunted, “Were you dreaming of Luxord?”
“You asshole!” Vaex shrieked jumping out of bed. She took her pillow and began to hit Toby. “I was so close! Someone was going to say his name! Then you had to eff-ing wake me up! You asshat!”
“What?” Toby’s look of confusion would have been cute if Vaex was in a playful mood.
“I don’t know! You woke me up! He was going to say a name!”
“Oh what name? His lovey-dovey nickname for you?”
“What? What the hell are you talking about!”
“Luxord!” Toby said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Forget Luxord! It was someone else!”
“How can I forget Luxord with his beautiful baby blues and charming personality and—“
“Shut up!” Vaex roared. She looked ready to murder him. Toby caught on and held up his hands in defeat. “Can I tell you what happened? Or are you just going to keep interrupting me?” The boy shrugged. “Be that way.” Vaex told him of the dream.
“Wow.”
“Yes. You’re still an asshole.” A beat. “Unless you make me breakfast.”
“Fine.”
A few moments passed before the redhead changeling said, “Maybe you should get dressed?” Vaex yelped and threw her pillow at him. “What? I doubt that you would’ve wanted to go outside with your underwear on! I mean, I, and probably a lot of other guys wouldn’t min—Ow!” Vaex punched him in the arm and told him to get out.
~*∞*~
Six AM sharp found Toby and Vaex at their usual spots in the Diner. They sat in companionable silence instead of their usual chatter.
“Hey-a guys!” Demyx bounced into the Diner, almost slamming the door into Xigbar’s face. The man with the eye patch growled something underneath his breath. “Xaldin said that the food here is good.” Toby blushed and muttered a thanks as he moved into the kitchen. “But I can’t believe you guys are up so early in the morning! If I had a job, I’d work from eleven to one or something. None of this six in the morning stuff for me!”
Xigbar and Luxord greeted Vaex as they entered the Diner. Vaex responded, “Morning. Sit where you want. And the menu is on the wall over there.” They studied the menu, then gave their orders. Xigbar and Demyx talked, though Xigbar did most of the listening then talking. Luxord took out a deck of playing cards and shuffled them.
He noticed Vaex watching him and said, “Care for a game, love?”
“I can’t,” she shook her head. “Work.”
“There’s not much of it,” Luxord said back with another charming smile. “How about after work?”
“Sure…?” Vaex cursed to herself, silently, but showed a smiling face. A little bit later, she handed out everyone’s food. Demyx ate with gusto, exclaiming between mouthfuls how good the food was. Xigbar, obviously not a morning person, picked at his food. Luxord occasionally would pause in his eating to talk to Vaex or Toby.
“Ohmf yeah!” Demyx suddenly said through a mouthful of eggs. “Sompf opf mourf—“
“We can’t understand you. Swallow then continue,” Vaex cut in.
He did as she said, “A few more of our friends will be coming to Traverse Town.”
“Sweet. When’ll they get here?” Toby asked.
“Tomorrow or something,” Xigbar answered.
“We could be the welcome party.”
“That’s fine, I guess. How many?” asked Vaex.
“Four. I think it’s Vexen, Saïx, Axel, and Marluxia,” Demyx answered.
“Not Marly, Larxene,” Xigbar corrected.
“Marly.”
“Larxene.”
“Marly.”
“Larx—“
“Okay, okay. One of the two,” the green-haired girl said hastily.
“It’s Marluxia,” Luxord said. “He always travels with Vexen.”
“But Axel always travels with Larxene,” Xigbar argued.
“Xemnas wanted to make sure Axel behaved so he sent him with the three he trusts the most, I believe.”
“’Xemnas sent’?” Toby asked.
“He’s our leader-ish, sort of person, –ish,” Demyx explained after a quick look at Xigbar and Luxord.
~*∞*~
District Two
1:05pm
Vaex wandered the main street of District Two alone since Toby had a few errands to run. The green-haired girl decided to go over to the Alleyway to visit Samanya at the Trinket Store. Halfway to the door on the opposite side of the courtyard, she stopped. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. All of her senses were telling her that she was being watched. She looked around and scanned the rooftops.
Nothing. No one. Nada. Not even a bug or one of those orb-like fairies. “Funny…” Vaex murmured. She continued on her way, glancing over her shoulder every other step. She pushed open the door and entered the short, dark hallway. Vaex bumped into a young child who muttered an apology. Her mother walked passed a few seconds later looking tired and fed up. She gave the green-head a small haggard smile as she passed.
After a few more steps, she saw the small, rectangular pool that led to an underground passageway leading to Merlin’s House. The Hotel was on her right, balconies looking over the bluish wall of the Alleyway. She made a left, and walked all the way down to the end. On her left was the Trinket Store. Beautifully worked necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and rings were set on display on black velvet. The most prominently displayed work of craftsmanship was a pair of diamond gloves that could protect someone’s hands from anything and mold to the flesh of whoever wore it. Next to that was a pair of emerald and ruby earrings that held protection spells.
Vaex pushed open the wooden door to the shop. “Samanya? Töçal?” After a few seconds. “Anyone?” Three orb-like fairies, two blue and one purple, flew around her head. They whispered in their freakishly echoing, feral voices. The purple fairy stopped in front of her face. She or was it a ‘he’, (or just an ‘it’?), was just a clear sphere with a glowing purple eye that spun around to look at its surrounding. Two small bee-like wings were on opposite sides, beating ferociously to keep it aloft. The ‘voice’ came from the beating of its wings. The echo came from the reverberations from the inside of the sphere.
“Where is everyone?” Vaex asked as she lifted her hand up for the fairy to land on. The orb was cool and malleable, sort of like a jelly bubble. The eye spun around and landed on a spot in the floor. She crossed the floor and opened the trapdoor to the cellar. “Thank you for your help.” With a flurry of whispering and a soft breeze the orb-fairy took of to join its friends.
Vaex lowered herself down the ladder and turned around. “Samanya? Töçal? Hello?”
“Hmm? What? Who’s there? Show yourself!” an old, gravelly voice that had an odd clink after each syllable said somewhere off to Vaex’s front right. “You, youngling, find out who just came down!”
“It’s Vaex.”
“It’s a bay lick? Stop speaking nonsense!”
“No, VAEX!” Samanya said louder, beckoning to the green-head. Vaex stepped forward into the dim light of the torch Töçal was holding.
“It’s about time she came here! I’ve been waiting for you.”
“You have?”
“A new fad?”
“No I asked ‘You have?’” Vaex said loudly. “What are you talking about?”
“Samanya bring it here.” Samanya picked up a large chest and carried it over to Töçal and Vaex. It was carved from stone and bound with a bit of leather. “Open it, girl. Inside this chest is something from my world. I made this back when I was freshly carved from the Life Stone.” Töçal’s large, pale, round eyes shone sadly, yet proudly.
“What is it?”
“These are weapons. Samanya told me that you had nothing to fight with but borrowed weapons. That is unacceptable!” The shouted words echoed. “In my world, one never fought without his or her weapon.” He bent down and placed his hands on top of the chest. “Since I had no time to carve my heir before those damned Heartless, I have decided to pass mine onto you and you can do with it as you wish. And you wish to present it to Vaex. I accept your choice and will allow you to do that.” He was speaking to Samanya. Once again addressing both of the girls in his presence, “Normally the heir would make his or her own, but since you lack the materials and the skills of one carved from the Life Stone….”
Vaex clenched her jaw but let it pass. “Thank you, Töçal.” Samanya muttered thanks as well.
“I would have given this to Samanya anyway. She has cared for me like one of the newly Carved.” Vaex smiled at the dark skinned girl, who smiled back awkwardly. “I will present mine own weapon to her and she in turn will present it to you.
“Are you ready, youngling?”
“Yes.”
In a different language that seemed to contain nothing but vowels and only two consonants per word, Töçal said something that sounded like a question. Samanya said something back in the same language. Töçal smiled and opened the chest. Much to Vaex’s chagrin, he hid the object from her sight as he handed it to Samanya. She casually tried to peek around the old Gemperson but was met with failure. His emerald skin shone in the firelight, blocking her view through him.
Samanya said something else in the language and Töçal answered back. “It is done. The heir has been named. You are free to do as you wish with my gift.”
“Thank you, Töçal!” Samanya gushed. The beads in her hair clinked against the Gemperson’s hard skin as she hugged him. She let go and sidestepped to look at Vaex. “Is it okay if I show this to Zuberi?”
“Sure, sure. That’s fine. After all it is yours,” Vaex said smiling, as she waved her hand. Samanya babbled a word of gratitude as she rushed past. The greenhead looked at Töçal. “Thank you for what you did for Samanya.”
“I didn’t do it for you.”
“I know.” That’s what I said, she thought, slightly annoyed by his words, but then again as you age you get crankier. Stopping a smile from appearing on her face she said softly (but loudly enough for Töçal to hear), “Samanya has no one but her brother. No mother. Or father.”
“Aiudeotai, Ioilaueit, Reoqi.”
Vaex blinked in confusion. “What?”
“It’s just a saying from where I was from.”
“Oh-hoh.” Vaex waited patiently for him to explain the meaning but when that was not forthcoming she cleared her throat and asked, “So what was the, erm, gift?”
“I don’t need a lift!”
“No what was the—? Oh nevermind…. I have to go see if Leon or someone needs my help. Or something…”
“You would have been made from diamond,” he said as she began to leave.
“Oh… um… thanks?” Vaex paused in her climb up the ladder.
“One carved of diamond,” he muttered, ignoring her.
~*∞*~
By the door to Third District
District Two
A scream rent the air, making Gabe stop in his tracks. Part of him wanted to play the part of hero, just like Leon and Toby and Vaex and Aerith and Yuffie… But part of him wanted to run and find someone who knew how to deal with whatever was happening. He bit his lower lip, green eyes dark with worry. He took a few hesitant steps forward and peered around the corner of the building. He stifled a gasp. Five Heartless had surrounded a mother and her son. She was holding her child to her chest, in a vain act of protection. She was pleading with the very monsters that had destroyed her home world. Tears coursed down her face. The boy seemed to be petrified by fear and could only look on in horror at the Shadows lusting for his heart.
Gabe shrugged off the indecision when a wave of adrenaline hit him. “HEY!” he shouted in his most childish, high-pitched yell. Five antennae-d heads with oval-shaped yellow eyes perked up and looked at him. He took a step back. They took a step forward, all thoughts of the mother and child behind them. “See if you can catch me!”
And with that he about-faced and ran for his life, intent only on making it to the safety of First District. His heart was pounding, it was all he could hear. How he loved the sound. There was no way they were going to get it! With a war cry and another surge of energy, he stopped and picked up a board from a pile of construction. He faced the five charging Heartless. They popped out of the ground and spread out into a semi-circle around him.
Calmness seeped into him. He was ready. He knew what to do. Leon and Vaex told him about this. He was ready.
He hoped.
With no warning, one Heartless leaped for him. Gabe yelled and swung at it like he would a pitched ball. The board made contact and the Shadow disappeared in a swirl of darkness. “Yes!” A sharp pain from his leg made his victory short lived. He yelled and slammed the board down on the Heartless that had hurt him. “Oh no…” The world was going black, sounds were muffled. Another slice across his back, right side, and stomach made him see red stars in all that blackness. All Gabe could hear was his breathing and his weakening heartbeat as the blood poured from the wounds.
A blur and three swirls of darkness was the last thing he saw before mercifully losing consciousness and slipping into dreamlessness.
~*∞*~
The Red Room, Hotel
District Two
“What happened? Why are you here?” Vaex stopped short when she saw the crowd in the Red Room.
“Vaex—“
“What. Happened.” Vaex glowered at Aerith as she got out of her chair. “Tell me!”
“Gabe was attacked—“
“WHAT!” She threw off the arm that Toby had put across her. “Why wasn’t I told earlier!”
“We didn’t know until now! Vaex, please calm down,” Aerith said in her calm, quiet voice.
“No! He’s hurt! Is he gonna be okay?”
“We’re quite sure. Xaldin got to him before the Heartless could get his heart.”
“Xaldin! Where is he? How come he couldn’t get to Gabe before he got hurt?” Vaex nearly sobbed. Vaex sat back down on the chair that Aerith had just vacated. Toby put his arm around her shoulders again.
“Hello, Vaex.” Luxord entered the room, deck of cards in his hand. He shuffled them, cards flying through the air. “Cid told me you were headed here to help Aerith. Want to play now?”
Vaex give the blond an incredulous look. “Are you serious.”
“Oh shit…” Toby slowly backed away and off to the side.
“What do you mean?” Luxord looked puzzled.
“Gabe is hurt! And all you want to do is play poker or something!” If looks could kill….
“Well….”
“You bastard!” Vaex looked ready to slap him.
“Vaex,” Aerith said quietly.
“What! He doesn’t care—!”
“I apologize. I didn’t know that Gabe was hurt,” Luxord said softly. Vaex held on to her anger for a few moments more before releasing it in an explosive breath.
“Fine.”
Silence reigned supreme in the room for five minutes or so. The door opened to Samanya, Zuberi, Cid, and a few of Gabe’s friends. The dark-skinned boy and girl came over to Vaex and hugged her. The greenhead hugged back robotically. No one said anything.
~*∞*~
“He’s sleeping now. And he’ll be all right. You don’t need to worry.” The mother that Gabe had saved walked out of the blue room, (she chose blue to promote peace and healing), and smiled thinly at the waiting group. She was a healer, skilled in magic. Some of the magic from her old world had traveled with her. Deep blue light surrounded her hands and trailed the designs she sketched in the air. All the tension in the room dissipated when the sign was complete.
“Four people at a time,” she said. “The room’s not large enough. Be quiet and don’t stress him out.” Over the next two hours, everyone entered the blue room. Vaex, Toby, and Luxord were the last, with Cid, Leon, and Aerith going before them.
“Come on.” As the trio walked across the room to the connecting door, the door that led to the balcony opened.
“Hello Xaldin,” Luxord greeted. “Have you come to see Gabe?”
“Yes,” he answered.
“Thank you so much!” Vaex hugged the blue-violet eyed man.  “Thank you for saving Gabe!” She took a step back and looked at him, embarrassed. “Let’s see if Gabe is still awake,” she said quickly.
“Hey guys!” Gabe said weakly as the group entered.
“Hey Gabe,” Vaex said quietly as she sat on the bed next to the young boy. “How are you doing?”
“Well, geez, he nearly escaped the Heartless and got two deep cut on his body. He’s probably feeling just ducky!” Toby muttered. Vaex glared at him and mouthed, ‘Shut up and be nice.’
“I’m doing fine! Let me up!” Vaex had placed a hand on his shoulder when she saw him start to sit up. “Come on, I’m—“ he stopped in a whimper. He moved his hand to his side were a bandage stained with a tiny drop of blood was wrapped.
“Just think,” Vaex said quietly, “you’ll practice with your left arm a whole lot and you’ll get really good at fighting left-handed. You’ll become ambidextrous!” She smiled.
“Then I might beat you next time we fight!”
“Like to see you try!” Vaex joked back. “Xaldin saved you,” she whispered to him. “Say ‘thank you’.”
The young brunette looked beyond the teen girl and at the black haired man. “Thank you Xaldin.” He shrugged a shoulder. “But I did kill two of the five! Did you see that?” Xaldin grumbled a positive.
“That’s great sweetie!”
“I just need my own weapon though,” the young boy said in a singsong voice.
“And you might just get one.”
“If you play your cards right,” Luxord cut in, with a charming smile. Vaex laughed slightly at that, as did Toby. Xaldin merely smiled.
Gabe yawned though he tried to stop it. “We’ll visit later, ‘kay Gabe?”
“O-o-okay,” he managed to say through another yawn.
“Nighty-night.” Vaex kissed his forehead as the three others left the room.
~*∞*~
Pipaluk’s Home
District Four
“Mommy?”
“Hmm?” the white haired healer asked.
“That boy… is he going to be okay?”
“Aap. He’ll be confined to a bed for a while but he’ll be good as new.”
“Oh that’s good. I wanna play with him. We could play hide-n-go-seek or tag or we could pretend we’re warriors and we’re on a quest to save the princes!” The boy’s dark eyes sparkled. “We’ll have so much fun!”
“Of course you two will. Now go to bed and get some sleep.”
“Will you tell me a story?”
“If you get to bed right away.”
With a cheerful shriek the boy ran out of the living room and into his bedroom. A minute or two of quiet shuffling and he yelled out, “Okay! I’m in bed!”
Pipaluk laughed quietly to herself and picked a book to read to her son. She entered the room and sat on the chair next to his bed. “Which story do you want me to read?”
“I wanna hear a song instead. No wait, I want a story. Yeah a story!”
“Which story? There are many. Do you want another legend?”
“The one that Oksana told us! About the hero of light who will destroy the darkness! Maybe it might be that kid! He could say that we know the Hero of Light! You healed him! That would be so cool!”
Pipaluk thought for a moment as her son chattered on. She had heard the story before but was unsure if she knew it in its entirety. She cleared her throat, the child fell silent, and then she began to tell the tale of the Light Warrior in a theatrical whisper.
~*∞*~
Later…
A knock interrupted Pipaluk’s thoughts. She looked out the window to see the green-haired girl from the tunnel and the redhead from the Hotel. She opened the door and said, “Inuugujoq. How may I help you?”
“Inu-goey-whatsits?”
“Shh! Hello. I just wanted to come by and say ‘thank you’ for what you did for Gabe. The boy. Who you healed,” Vaex said brokenly. “And to bring you cookies. Made by Toby for you and your son. Oh, and I’m Vaex.”
“Tikilluarit, Toby and Vaex. I am Pipaluk. Come in.”
“Thank you,” both of the teens said. “What’s Ti-kill-eo-thing-y?” Toby asked as he stepped through the threshold.
“Inuugujoq means hello. Tikilluarit means welcome,” Pipaluk explained. “Sit at the table and make yourselves comfortable. My son and I would like to thank your son—“
“My what!?”
“He is your son, isn’t he?”
Vaex made odd choking sounds before saying, “N-no!”
“He ain’t my son either.”
“Oh?” Pipaluk raised an eyebrow.
“I just care about him. But he’s not my son.”
“Ah. Though you treat him as such?”
“I guess,” Vaex said in a confused tone.
Vaex and Toby chatter with Pipaluk. All three were seated around the small table in the kitchen. After half-an-hour, Vaex couched lightly and looked at Toby. The redhead nodded. “We would like to offer you a job, Pipaluk.”
“What sort of job?” the white-haired lady asked.
“You’ll be a healer—“
“A nurse.”
“With the Defense,” the greenhead finished with a hard look at Toby. “You’ll get to live in HQ, if you choose to, and you’ll be given what you need. Munny and other stuff.”
“My son would be safe from those monsters?” The fear that everyone felt for their loved ones shone through her voice, tried as she might to mask it.
“The Heartless, and we can’t say for certain how safe you’ll be,” Vaex said apologetically. “But HQ is definitely safer than anywhere else in Traverse Town.
“Except maybe Merlin’s house,” Toby cut in.
“Naturally,” Vaex murmured. Silence fell over the three of them while Pipaluk thought and the two teens watched her from the corner of their eyes.
“I will think about it,” she said finally.
“That’s all Aerith, Yuffie, and I ask,” Vaex said after giving Toby a warning kick. He looked at her innocently.
“But that is not what everyone wants?” the bronzed skin woman asked, seeing the transaction between the two.
“Leon’s just an ass sometimes.”
“That is what I have heard,” she said with a smile.
“It’s late. We’re sorry that we’ve taken up so much of your time, Pipaluk, and keeping you up,” Vaex said standing up. Pipaluk and Toby followed her example.
“Qujanarssuaq,” She said as she showed them to the door. “It is fine. Takuss.”
“Bye for now!”
~*∞*~
On the roof of the building across from the balconies of the Hotel
The Alleyway
Two figures watched the sleeping boy and the brunette woman taking care of him.
“That was a good plan.”
“It was.”
“What if she finds out?”
“She won’t.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”