Master Orion's Story

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Master Orion was feeling cheery today. No, nothing could bring her down. It was because this day was the day that both her young students would start their long journey's onto becoming keyblade masters. She has practically raised both of them teaching them some of everything she knows. The boy was her adopted son of course but he showed a slacker nature to himself. The girl on the other hand was rough around the edges but focused. Together they would make a great team. At least she hoped. She folded her hands on her desk and closed her eyes.
If their not ready, then the universe will be bathed in darkness.

---

Ygdrasil walked through out the corridors with the boy at his side.
"I have to help her?"
"That is what I said."
"Pft." The boy spat.
Ygdrasil turned and grabbed the boys throat slaming him against the wall. "I may not have the same power I had when I was younger, but, I will show you something more terrifying than the darkness if you disrespect me boy." He glared at the kid and let him go.
"Now then. The reason your with Xion is because she has the power to summon the beast. You have the power of teleportation through the darkness."
"So thats what you want."
"Exactly. I need more dark energy flowing."
"Why?" The boy said.
There was no answer. He then opened the meeting room door. "Xion. This is another apprentice of mine. Meet Crow. He will accompany you on this task."
Crow took a seat next to Xion in front of Ygdrasil's desk. "Yo." He said, trying to cut her with his eyes.

Akihiro woke up in a cold sweat. His eyes were wide open, his head pounding, and heart racing. He looked around and already knew he had been late, just like in his dream. He quickly got dressed and rushed out of his room passing threw the spiral staircase all the way down to the last floor. He passed pictures of various order members, some dead and some still alive. He kept running and panted until he reached the picture of the current leader. He made pivot and headed down the corridor towards her office and flung the door open, tripping on the hinges. "Oof." He grunted on the impact from the sharp pain that filled the crown of his skull. Slowly he got up rubbing the top of his head. He noticed the girl standing next to him and said, "Oh. Good morning Kianne."

Not soon after did the master clear her throat, stealing his attention from the girl. Quickly he bowed to her. "Good morning to you too, Master Orion. I'm sorry I'm late."
The woman's eyes pierced through him with her gaze as she said, "Well. You could have came later, I suppose." and gestured him to stand up straight. "Now then. As I was about to tell Kianne, I summoned you both for an important task. As you both know, the balance in the universe thus far have been equally divided into light and darkness. Just recently however I have felt a disturbance in this balance. I don't quite know what is causing it, but it seems the light is starting to be overrun by the darkness."

---

Tora's face frowned at his friends suggestion. He didn't necessarily like working for the moogels. You know, all work, no play, and definitely not enough pay. "I'd rather just stargaze." He said looking back up at the sky.
I'd rather actually see the stars up close.
He thought, remembering something one of the store owners told him once about stars. Each star out there is a planet. At least, that's what he was told. He would've wanted to see for himself whether that was true or not. Then again, getting off the planet and traveling made for a heavy workload. He let out a sigh thinking of how much his friend was rubbing off on him.

It wasn't long before something to do did come up as a strange man asked where old man Merlin was. He watched as Ryuu gave a plethora of reasons why they shouldn't trust the guy. One reason of course, being the main thing that confused Tora about him. "Hail? I've never heard someone greet someone like that before." Tora shrugged at the question. He waited for the man to answer Ryuu main question before he could decided for himself whether the guy was friendly or not.

Kianne glanced over her shoulder as the door to the office flew open, a familiar boy tumbling inside and cracking his skull as he fell. She pursed her lips slightly, neither a smile nor a frown - looking more unimpressed than anything else.
"Akihiro," She murmured a reply, acknowledging his greeting as she turned her attention back to Master Orion. She tried her best not to let her amusement show as the Master chided him for being late. At least when you can't sleep, you can't oversleep and be late. She was still as Master Orion explained of the strange tipping of the balance between light and darkness as of late.

She couldn't help but think about the attack on her home not so long ago, and how the darkness had managed to corrupt Luca. If hearts as strong as his could be broken and taken in by the Dark Order, then who knows how many others had fallen prey to them in the same way. Kianne had self-assigned the mission to bring peace to those lost souls: with the help of Heaven's Seeker. She knew the same had to be done for Luca when the time came, it was just a matter of whether she was strong enough to take on that task yet. She mentally shook the thought from her mind, concentrating on the Master's words as she seemed to finish.

"Where ever you need me to go, Master - I'll restore the balance between our Orders." Kianne said, armoured hand raised to her heart. She naturally assumed that the pair would be sent off their seperate ways. Since Luca's corruption, she had not taken on a new partner for missions. On occassions she had gone with one of her brothers - whom were already well established within the Order of Light, but that was not the same as taking on a new partner. She wasn't sure whether she would be able to work with another person that closely again just yet. After almost being killed by the last, it would take a while before she could trust another to work with so closely.

Tora listened to the hooded mans explanation about his words and his dress. He didn't really care much for what he was saying. He did however come to a single conclusion.

This guy either likes to hear himself talk or talks to much.

He decided to agree on both. The next words came as a light shock to him. The man told him of what he wanted from Merlin. "Pft. If you need to use Merlin for his studies than I can't say no now can I. But, I don't think either side will listen to you just because you have knowledge." He grinned. "My name's Tora." He said sticking out his hand for a handshake. "And you are?"

---

Master Orion cuffed her hands together and placed her elbows on the table. With a sigh she leaned in and said, "I'm afraid it wont be as easy as it sounds my dear. Whatever is causing this imbalance is also tampering with my powers as well. I fear it wont be long now. With each passing day I will loose my power over the light. It is up to you two to stop the darkness. You're going to need each other in this task."

"W-what are you talking about master?" Akihiro asked. "You're suppose to be all powerful."
The master gave a small chuckle. "I wish I could say that I am boy, but, with age, you realize how weak you truly are by yourself. That's why I need you two to work together. You must protect each other from the darkness." Orion place a small crystal on the desk. "This is a transportation crystal. It's good for multiple trips but each time it will take you to a different destination. It follows dark signatures so you should already know what to do when you get to your destination. Are there any questions?"

Akihiro didn't have anything to ask but he couldn't help but glance at Kianne. He knew that she wasn't the partner type. Not after what happened to Luca. Around that time, he was still new in the order. Still, he remembered the changes in her attitude.
He then looked back at Master Orion. She was of course the woman who raised him and now she was talking as if she was going to die soon. Well he wouldn't stand for it. He never really wanted to be a keyblade master, but if it meant saving her, then he would fight all of the darkness out there. This he swore to himself.

---

"Hey, wait a minute. There's no one here." Crow snapped.
"It seems you wont be having backup for a while." Ygdrasil informed him. "Until then, take this." He paced a black marble on the table.
"What am I supposed to do with this?" He picked it up and looked around it, even shining it in the light. "It's just a marble."
Ygdrasil just smiled evily as he gave Crow his instruction.

Tora ignored half of what his friend said. He was the type of guy to give respect and kindness to people until proof was presented that they weren't deserving of it. Still, this guy must have been from one of those old language types of worlds with knights and dragons because he put sir in front of his name. The more the man talked, the more Tora couldn't make out what was being said. He just gave a slight nod here and there. "Alright Jericho, lets get a move on then. Don't know when Merlin's going to decide to switch houses again. See yah Ryuu."

He continued on to lead the man towards Merlin's place. "Oh and by the way. You can just call me Tora. Either that or Tor. After all, we're buds now, aren't we?" He chuckled. He gave a brief explanation of where they were walking seeing as the man looked new to the area, letting him know of the different shops and stores as well as the people who ran them. The tour ran all the way to the third district, through an alleyway, and into a red door with the symbol of fire on it. Tora whipped out his keyblade. "Fire." He muttered and the door opened. He turned to Jericho. "Alrighty. Now all we have to do is go through this door and his house will be over the moving stepping stones. Watch your step though because the like to move."

Once inside the door, Tora hopped over the stones and knocked on the wizards door. "Hey." Bang Bang Bang. "Merlin!!! You in there?"
The door opened slowly but there was no one to be seen inside. Tora turned to face Jericho. "Well he may just be hiding so lets go in."

---

Akihiro couldn't help but to smile at Kianne's words. It gave him hope in the fact that this wasn't a goodbye. It was just a mission.

"You're right dear." Master Orion said, "This isn't a goodbye." She looked at Akihiro. "Come here boy." He slowly walked to her and knelt down so she didn't have to get up. "I gave you your name for a reason. You never stood up to most of my expectations because of your laziness, but you always surprised me by your actions. I expect the both of you to do the same thing here." At that moment the boy leaped and forced a hug on her mostly to hide his own tears. "I'll do whatever it takes master." He said, his voice a little cracked.

Master Orion gently pushed him off. "Do not cry. You're a man. Act like it." She said as she whipped away his tears. "Now. The both of you remember. Whatever happens from here on out there is not such thing as failure. Only bumps in the road. I believe in you just as you believe in me. You two are the pillars of light now."

With her speech, Akihiro got up and nodded his head. "Are you ready?" He asked Kianne, more confidence showing in his voice.