Ramza had been asleep for the better part of a day. Recently he had fallen ill and had to skip a few days of his training which made him feel like he had missed something important. Finally feeling well enough to get up and train he was getting ready to do just that. The brunette sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair, his hands were covered in black fingerless gloves. His hair was cut short just long enough to go anywhere it felt when he rolled out of bed. His hair was messy, a tuft of his bangs going up and out at the center. Clearing his throat with a quiet cough he looked at his mirror to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything. His shirt was a plain grey color under loose black hoodie, the sleeves rolled up just past his elbows and the zipper pulled up to his sternum. The hoodie wasn't very special except to Ramza, there were zippers that shut the pockets on the front to keep things safe and on the back just under his hood was the white outline of a keyhole. The hood also had two white lines helping keep the material flat if it was on his head. A thick black belt kept his uniform looking dark blue pants up. The buckle was plain other then the word NEVER on it, his pants looked loose but very comfortable and had black triangles sprouting from the bottom to add a pattern. His shoes were normal enough but looked worn with use as would be expected of Ramza's lifestyle.

Ramza knew he had to meet his master today along with the other students he trained with. Rolling his neck the air made a pop as it escaped his vertebrae, with another sigh of relief Ramza left his room. The main building of the Keyblade Master Academy had been rebuilt from the ruins around fifteen years ago. Riku, the Academy's master teacher, had been chosen from the test of keyblade mastery leaving his rival Sora to continue to try and keep balance to the worlds. After the aftermath with Orginization 13 new keyblades chose new masters mysteriously. Yen Sid asked Riku to teach these new Keyblade masters in order to avoid chaos and prepare for the reason these new wielders had been chosen. Riku, though reluctant had taken the position and sought out a place to train the new chosen.

Riku's search led him to a mysterious world that held many questions, Yen Sid agreed to help Riku build a Keyblade Academy on The World that Never Was knowing that new strong potentials would find their way there one way or another. Riku's style of teaching was harsh but it was the best way to prepare for whatever mystery the keyblades had shown up to solve. So far only three student had stood up to the tests they had been given but things had unfortunately taken a turn towards the worst.

The Princesses of Heart had begun to dissapear and with each one that had dissapeared stronger heartless seemed to pour from the doors to each world. Riku was pacing in council room, Yen Sid was also there. "Not many of the princesses are left, are you sure they are up to the task?"

Riku stopped to face Yen Sid, his appearance hadn't changed much other then some faint signs of aging starting to weather his face he was wearing a long white coat with no special markings. The abrupt stop made his wing shaped necklace jingle a bit and his long white hair shuffle on his head. His ocean tinted eyes looked up at the old wizard. "I believe they can, but the enemy keeps getting stronger everyday."

"I understand your concern but you have to choose, we have no choice. I know it puts them in danger but it would be foolish not to see the gravity or turning a blind eye."

"I know, don't worry I will not let the worlds come to darkness." Riku turned hearing the doors open. Yen Sid seemed to fade out of existence as he stopped using his scyring orb to communicate with Riku. "Ah there you are, do you know where the other students are? There is something very important that needs to be discussed and I don't wish to repeat myself." Riku may have seemed a little abrupt and he realized this. He assumed it was because of how flustered he was with the situation at hand. This may end up killing his students but he had a feeling if he were to ask them to help they would agree anyway, they were all extremely good at what they did and were passionate students.

Nox stumbled into her small apartment, tripping a little over the threshold and fumbling with her keys. As she shut the door behind her, she kicked off her running shoes and dropped her keys on the floor. She had planned to be home a bit earlier but a few heartless had sprung up on her morning run. Last night, she had gotten a letter of summons from keyblade master Riku for this morning and it wouldn’t do to be late. To send out a letter of summons meant that it had to be something important. Besides, she thought Riku was a nice guy over all, but she definitely didn’t want him to be upset with her.

Nox changed quickly, trading in her running gear for her typical street wear. She threw a dark blue jacket on over a light green tank top with read x’s stitched around the hem, not bothering to zip up the jacket. Nox gathered her dark brown, shoulder blade length hair into one hand and pulled it over her shoulder, revealing two wing shapes that were cut out of the back of her jacket, showing the skin of her back. She tied her hair up into a messy sidebun as she seated herself on the small step by her front door. Pulling on her boots, she glanced at the clock above the door and swore quietly. She zipped up the zippers running along the back of the dark grey boots and quickly fastened her white belts, one at her waist and two on her right thigh. Those two didn’t really serve a purpose but she liked the contrast they made with her dark, fitted shorts.

Nox stood up and brushed herself off, giving a little sigh. She was disappointed that her shorts ended about an inch above of her knees because her left knee was currently bandaged and she didn’t like walking around like that. It was only a bloody knee from a fall while running that didn’t want to heal as quickly as she’d like, not a battle scar to be shown off. No time to waste on that now though. Nox grabbed her keys and was out the door in a matter of seconds.

As she was running to the academy more heartless sprouted in front of her. Nox rolled her deep green eyes. “I don’t have TIME for this,” she panted, pointing her palm at the three heartless in her way. A glowing clock appeared on the forehead of each and immediately began ticking away at a quick rate, but the shadows had stopped in their tracks. She sped up a little, making sure she was around the corner at least when the magic wore off. Thankfully, the rest of her way to the academy was uneventful.

Nox skid to a halt outside of the council room, taking a moment to collect herself. Taking a deep breath, she pushed open the door and stepped in, “I’m sorry if I’m late.” She muttered, but Riku spoke over her. “Ah, no,” She said, shaking her head and nearly instantaneously losing her anxiety of meeting an angry Riku. “I told they would have beat me here, to be honest.” As she spoke, Nox stepping further into the room and shut the door behind her.

Atra walked steadily down the narrow street towards her destination, listening to the sound of her knee-high combat boots hitting the damp pavement. She reviewed the letter of summons once more before pocketing it. She readjusted her long blond hair and pulled up the hood of her lengthy black coat when the drizzle falling from the dark sky became more frequent. She caught a glimpse of her reflection in the dark windows of the surrounding buildings. Her purple bikini-style top and gray under-bust corset lacked color in the pale moonlight, but still contrasted with the black pants she had tucked into her boots. The purple suspenders that hung loosely from her belt were lost in the darkness of her coat.

Continuing on her way, she quickened her pace so as not to keep the Master waiting. She never liked being the first to arrive, so she made sure to give the others enough time to get there before she did. Atra turned the corner just in time to see a Stop spell wear off on three shadow heartless. Their antennas began to twitch in her direction, sensing her presence, and turning the anger for their previous attacker onto her. "Oh, great," she sighed before summoning her keyblade in a flurry of wisping light and darkness. Reeling her arm back, she chucked the keyblade at the closest shadow, slicing it in half. The key flew back into her hand, bracing herself against the weight of the weapon. The remaining heartless paused for a moment before advancing faster. Atra repeated the attack to finish off the remaining enemies in a matter of seconds. Once they were dealt with she dismissed her weapon and hurried towards the academy, not wanting to deal with more heartless.
Atra walked up the steps to the academy and gently pushed the door open, she met the gaze of both Riku and Nox. She took a spot near Nox, and shot a small smile in her direction, then bowed respectfully at their Master.

Riku grew a stern look on his face when the female students he was teaching had come. "No matter... Where is Ramza?" There was still a student missing. He knew Ramza had gotten sick recently and hoped that he would not miss this lesson of all of them. His brow furrowed looking as though he might have even been angry with the brunette. "You all know of the mark of mastery," His gaze left the door and moved to instead the two students in front of him. "It is unfortunate that I cannot train all of you at once to start the trails to earn your own marks."

The doors opened once more and Ramza coughed into his fist a couple of times, barely crossing the threshold he put the same fist into his palm and bowed to his Master. "Master Riku, I am very sorry t be la-"

"Just line up with Nox and Atra." Riku looked over to his last student and followed him with his ocean tinted orbs until he as in place. "Recently a darkness has brought itself to the attention of Yen Sid, heartless have begun to swell through the doors that dwell between worlds." Riku looked down for a moment before summoning his keyblade, "Surely you have noticed the shadows even here growing larger. Before I choose which of you to train to take your trails for the mark of mastery I ask for your help in defending the worlds."

Ramza looked down for a moment, he had only seen two worlds. The world he had grown up on and after he was chosen by the keyblade Sora sought him out and helped him to The World That Never Was. His attention moved back to Riku when he started to speak again. "You'll travel in teams as well as alone, so be prepared for anything. Your training hopefully has prepared you for this." Riku put his keyblade forward. Ramza sought his own keyblade from his heart and summoned it to him. The keyblade was larger then his counterparts, a cloth wrapped itself around the base of the blade and to the hilt. The long metal blade was centered by a pole, the blue metal looked almost cold. Where the pole ended was a crescent attached with a fishtail shaped bit facing the other way. Placing his forward his companions soon joined. Riku gave a smirk, "Good, I have already prepared gummi ships. Your adventure will begin after we train today. Riku put his keyblade down and unsommuned the weapon.

"Got it," Ramza stepped back holding his keyblade in both hands. Having practiced his forms many times he began to recite them from muscle memory. Beginning from the first form Riku had taught him to the advanced movements he had to learn from harsh trial and error.

Nox felt a little jolt of excitement pass through her heart when Riku mentioned mastery training. Her mind was about to run away from her when the door opened again. Looking over towards the door, she saw Ramza enter and bow to their master. It suddenly dawned on her that both her fellow students had greeted their master in the expected, respectful manner and Nox herself had just burst in like a fool. She shut her eyes and repressed a sigh, feeling thoughtless.

The feeling didn't last long though. Master Riku began to explain again, pulling her from her thoughts. Nox absently brushed her hair from her eyes as she listened. A chance to defend to worlds... A chance to prove herself worthy of becoming a keyblade master... That was the whole reason she was here. Nox watched Riku summon his keyblade and put it forward. The gesture had it's intended affect and Nox felt herself become determined not to let Master Riku or her companions down.

She opened her hand at her side and focused her heart to summon her weapon. The keyblade that appeared in her grip had a round hand guard that didn't attached to the bottom of the handle and the bronze coloured blade that extended from the handle had an ornately curved support and ended in a point, looking a bit like a clock hand. A bright, jagged lightning like pattern followed up the weapon and extended at the end on one side in two prongs. She brought her keyblade forward mirroring Ramza and Riku, the lightning in her blade pulsed with a faint light.