Chapter Text
When the dust had settled on the blood-soaked ground, forgotten keyblades lay scattered around. Countless warriors' lives were lost; for an unfinished war, it was such a cost. With this great battle left in a time behind, the many deaths will weigh on the new five’s mind.
Ephemer was walking alone down the path with dead keyblades lining either side, the sunrise casting a faint light. Not long ago had he and Skuld parted ways after having seen a mutual friend pass on during the war. Now, he had returned to this fated land. This was someplace he had to be, others he had to meet.
This secret must stay with the five of you. When all is said and done, you must come to the fated land. You'll be joined by four others.
It wasn't long before Ephemer heard footsteps approaching him from behind, when he turned around and saw a familiar face.
He let out a gasp before blinking a few times. He wanted to make sure that he was seeing things correctly. “Skuld? Well, this is a surprise!”
“Disappointed?” she started before pausing. “I, on the other hand, had a feeling you might be here.”
“Of course not! We came here once right after the war, remember?” Ephemer asked. He sighed heavily before glancing away. “I just never thought I'd see you here again.”
“This whole thing is a big secret. We weren't supposed to tell anybody,” Skuld replied, giving an understanding nod to Ephemer’s concern.
Ephemer looked back at her, meeting his eyes to hers. “I suppose you're right.” Now he was the one to pause while he pondered over his thoughts. There were still so many questions that he had for all of this. And he knew many of them he wasn’t going to get them easily. “I wonder who the others are.”
“I dunno,” Skuld replied staring at the dusty ground. “I wasn't sure I believed Master Ava when she said others would come.” She held her breath for a second. "But now that you're here…”
She trailed off, letting out a sigh. She started to scan the horizon, in hopes that someone might be showing up. Within a few seconds she did start to see someone coming from the west. Her eyes widened slightly as she pointed in the direction of the incoming person.
“Look! Someone's coming,” she said before running off to greet the newcomer. “Welcome! You're number three. I'm Skuld. Nice to meet you.”
The person that had come closer to them was a young boy with bright golden blond hair and deep blue eyes. Once he was close enough to talking range, he started to talk with Skuld and Ephemer.
“Oh, uh, thanks. You too,” the boy said, in a quiet, shy tone.
Ephemer then walked a bit closer before he spoke up. “So Master Ava talked to you too, huh?”
“Yeah,” Ventus nodded. “She said I should come here when everything was over, and that I was one of the five.”
“I got the same speech,” Ephemer replied.
“I'm Ventus,” the boy finally said. “Call me Ven.”
We cannot avoid the end; not even the Masters, including myself, are likely to survive.
The three then began to talk more about the subject at hand. As far as they could tell, they were the only three there at the time. The other two would come eventually, but to when that would be, they had no idea. The waiting game was all they could do for the time being.
It wasn’t long before they were interrupted by input from a new arrival. The fourth leader to arrive; Brain. His longish black hair and cowboy-esque hat cast a shadow over his eyes, matching quite well with the darker toned ensemble he was wearing. None of the three heard his approach, but they we’re talking, so they thought nothing of his surprise appearance.
Now with their numbers up to four, they were only waiting on one more. They did talk a bit to pass the time, but morning drew out to day, and then set into evening. The four were bored of waiting, growing impatient, and as they were about to start looking around, the final member of their new group of leaders arrived. However, what he had with him surprised them all.
Laurium, with his flowing pink locks and semi-formal attire, had come across Master Invi's keyblade in his search.
"So you're the fifth leader?" Ephemer asked after introductions were given, as if wanting to be sure.
Lauriam nodded. "Yes, that's correct."
Skuld took a step forward, her eyes locked on the keyblade in the newcomer's hand. "But… But why do you have Master Invi's keyblade?"
Lauriam looked down at it, gripping the handle tightly in his hand. A pensive look spread across his face. "I found it lying on the ground on my walk here. Thought it would be better to bring it along rather than leave it to be covered in dust."
“Maybe we should find all of the Masters’ keyblades, and memorialize them in this place," Skuld suggested.
Ephemer nodded. "I think that would be a good idea. It could be a way to show respect if we did that."
"The Masters were fighting each other, right? So their keyblades wouldn't be far from where you found Invi's, Laurium,” Ventus suggested.
“Then let’s go and search for them,” Ephemer said. “We will meet back here with them okay?”
Everyone nodded in agreement before walking off in directions. There were hundreds upon hundreds of keyblades scattered across the battleground. Maybe of them laying flat, but others lodged into the ground, their chains blowing in the wind.
Skuld tried not to stare too much as she walked by rows of now unused keyblades. It only brought her heartache to see all of them, sitting there now. She glanced away and tried to focus back to looking for one of the keyblades of the Foretellers. They would stand out far more than the majority around her.
Eventually she did see a sight that stood out from the rest. She could see a larger, fanicer keyblade several feet out in a clearing. The closer she got, she ended up seeing it was not one keyblade, but two. They were crossed at an angle, with the tips buried into the ground.
“Hey Skuld!” Ephemer’s voice rang out.
Skuld turned to her left and saw Ephemer walking from another path.
“Looks like we found Master Ira’s and Master Aced’s,” Ephemer said as he approached Skuld.
“They were together then… when…” Skuld started to say, but she found herself at a loss for words. “Do you think they were fighting against one another? Just like how their unions were?”
Ephemer stared at the keyblades, his eyes deep in thought. After a few moments of silence, he stepped forward and picked up Ira’s keyblade. “I’m not sure. Nor… do I really want to think about that happening. I guess… it’s possible though.”
Sklud quietly moved over and picked up Aced’s. “It’s terrible to think that this had to happen…”
“Agreed. But let’s head back. We both have found a keyblade at least.”
The two of them headed back the way they came, this time walking together. Ever so often they would glance at the fancy keyblades that they now held in their hands. The keyblades they never thought they would get to hold. If it weren’t for the circumstances that lead them there, they would have thought it was cool. But now holding the keyblades only brought a heaviness to their hearts. It didn’t take much longer before they had returned to where Lauriam was waiting.
Lauriam saw them approach then looked to their hands. He nodded slowly once seeing the two keyblade. "I see you've found Master Ira and Master Aced's."
The two nodded at the young man, both still with heavy hearts. They made their way to Lauriam and took a seat next to him, placing the keyblades gently on the ground. They wanted to have words to speak, but nothing would come. They now had three of the masters keyblades. And soon there would be two more to join.
Before long the remaining two were seen coming down other paths. Ventus came closer first, and in his right hand, held like he would his own when fighting, was Gula's keyblade. Brain on the other hand had no keyblade.
"Why are you holding Master Gula's keyblade in such a way?" Skuld asked.
Ventus looked down, seeing how he was holding the keyblade. He shrugged. "It's how… I would normally hold my own. Just habit I guess?"
"Ah, I see. But good that you were able to find it," Skuld replied back.
Ventus nodded slowly, his eyes still on the keyblade. "Yeah… that's true…"
"Brain, does this mean that you were not able to find Master Ava's?" Ephemer asked.
Brain took a step forward, lowering his head. "I looked as much as I could. But I could not locate her keyblade in the area I was in. I doubt any of you saw it on your searches."
Everyone else shook their heads.
"No, we found Master Ira's and Master Aced's keyblades near each other, but there were no others nearby," Skuld said, trying to think if she had seen anything else, but no image of the fox foreteller's keyblade came to mind.
"I didn't see Ava's keyblade nearby when I found Gula's," Ventus replied.
"And I only saw Master Invi's," Lauraim added.
Ephemer lowered his head, trying to understand why none of them had found the last keyblade. "Where could it be? She… she had to be here right? All of the others were."
"Did anyone actually see her on the battlefield? Wasn't she in Daybreak Town when the war began?" Lauriam asked.
"I believe so," Skuld started to say. She closed her eyes, wondering what could have happened to the soft spoken Forteller.
She then cleared her throat. "If we cannot find hers… I suppose we should still continue with the memorial for the others. Even without Master Ava's keyblade we shouldn't forget the others."
"Agreed," Lauriam said, standing back to his feet. "How will we do this though? What I mean to say is, how will we arrange them?"
"I have an idea," Ephemer stated before he stood up and picked up Master Ira's keyblade.
After debating between themselves, the decision was to have Master Ira's and Master Aced's crossed at the point where they were embedded into the ground, a bit of space between them. Master Invi's was beside Master Ira's while Gula's was on the opposite side, next to Master Aced's.
They had no verbal words that they could say. All of their thoughts and feelings stayed within their hearts and minds. But they all knew what the others were thinking. Without words they all mourned the fallen fortellers. Once their thoughts and prayers were finished they discussed what they had to do next. After a few minutes they left the battleground to carry out the next phase of the mission they had.
The wind blew through the land that was now a graveyard. It picked up dust and blew it in every direction. The keychains of hundreds upon hundreds of keyblades blew with the wind, swaying back and forth.
In the center of the crossroads the foretellers' keyblades remained, their keychains moving with the wind just like the rest. Eventually footsteps were heard on the empty and vacant land. A black cloaked figure approached the four keyblades. In their hand was a large keyblade with pretty pastel colors of yellow, pink, and light turquoise.
They walked up to the memorial that the new leaders had made before speaking.
"While some say that ignorance is bliss, I believe that it is the beginning of one's own destruction."
They planted the keyblade into the ground, burying the tip into the small gap of earth between Master Ira's and Master Aced's.
"Would you have still chosen this path if you had known the outcome of your decision, Ava?"
The person then took a step back to view all five the Foretellers' keyblades.
"But this is not the end of the road, fellow apprentices of the Master, for we shall meet again in another life." They paused for a moment. "although I am curious if we should recognize each other, for by that time, I will no longer appear as Luxu."
He turned, and began to leave, before he heard the sound of a keyblade being summoned. When he faced back towards the memorial, Luxu noticed that one of the keyblades had vanished.
"Interesting, it seems as if you've escaped your fate, but how?" He thought aloud, pausing before continuing, "and for how long?"