Chapter 3

UPON RETURNING TO DAYBREAK TOWN AFTER A MISSION, you stopped by one of the Moogle shops to see if there was anything that might come in handy.

“Well, well. Another wielder,” said a boy who was also picking up a few supplies. He had a Keyblade, too, and so did two other customers. You got the feeling that the three of them knew each other. “Have you heard? A new breed of Heartless has been spotted all over town.”

You shook your head.

“Sounds like they’re a handful. We’re thinking of splitting up and thinning them out. Care to help?”

You accepted. After all, four Keyblades were way better than one.

“We’re all meeting back here when we’re done with our share. Good luck out there!”

With that, the other Keyblade wielders left.

“Kupo!” one of the Moogles added. “If there’s some hardy Heartless roaming about, then you’d better come prepared, kupo!” Maybe he’d already forgotten about how he snatched those Gummi blocks away from you not so long ago.

You bought what you needed and left the shop.

Everything seemed normal in town—no sign of the new Heartless for the moment. Where could they be lurking?

You started your search by heading first for Waterfront Park, taking out the usual Heartless along the way. Some of them were stronger than normal, you noticed, but you had help now. Most of the time you fought on your own, but it was kind of nice to have some friends to share the action with.

You did a circuit of the whole town, absorbed in your Heartless hunt.

Still, why were there so many Heartless in Daybreak Town in the first place?

While you were busy fending off the Heartless—

I was doing a little solo sky-gazing in one of the quieter parts of Daybreak Town when I was joined by another me—another Chirithy.

“Hi, Chirithy,” I said, and the other me answered in kind.

“Hi, Chirithy.”

The two of us were identical in every way, from our appearance to our behavior, voice, and mannerisms.

“So how’s your wielder?” I asked him.

“Indifferent.”

“Oh…,” I responded with an understanding nod.

“I don’t think he understands what’s going on.”

“He’ll learn. He has to.”

“You’re right. There are only five unions.”

“…And we can’t afford to lose any of them, which is why we need to trust our wielders will flourish.”

After our hushed conversation was over, we looked up at the sky. It was the same predawn color as always…

With the Heartless a thing of the past, you returned to the Moogle’s shop.

But the Keyblade wielders you’d agreed to work with were nowhere to be seen. In their place was a Chirithy. You searched for your friends, but could find neither hide nor hair of them. The Chirithy in the shop seemed just the slightest bit different from your constant companion—which would be me. You weren’t sure what exactly felt off about him.

Suddenly, the Chirithy quietly told you, “He’s not coming…”

The words came as a shock. You had an arrangement, so why couldn’t he come?

“…But he left you a message,” the Chirithy continued. “‘I’m sorry I couldn’t keep our promise.’ That’s it. Hafta go!”

His message delivered, the Chirithy did the usual flip and vanished in a puff of smoke.

You simply stood there alone, unsure what had happened to your friend.

And then—

A few days later, I was in the same spot where I’d talked with other Chirithy, beneath the dawn sky in a corner of Daybreak Town with a view of the clocktower. This time, though, the other me was lying weak and exhausted on the ground.

He offered a feeble greeting when I approached. “Hi, Chirithy.”

“…What’s wrong?” I replied, a little saddened.

“My Keyblade wielder disappeared into darkness… Is this the end?” he asked. I wondered if he was referring to your friend. Maybe it was someone else. “We have a connection to our Keyblade wielders. If they disappear, so do we,” he told me. He was trying to warn me, I think.

“Yeah…”

I knew exactly what he was talking about, but I had nothing better to say than that. I sat up and directed my gaze toward the sky. It was that same familiar color.

In front of me, the fallen Chirithy floated into the air. Up and up he rose, until he gradually faded from view.

All I could do was watch.

We meet the same fate as the ones we guide—if they disappear, then that’s what happens to us, too.

His Keyblade wielder was lost to the darkness.

It was a fearsome force we were fighting. I had no way of knowing if or when you might vanish, too, which was scary to think about.

After the other me had completely faded from sight, Invi the Foreteller appeared behind me.

“The wielders are gathering Lux at an extraordinary pace,” she said. “However, the darkness is spreading even faster.”

I spun around toward her. Choosing my words carefully, I asked her a question. “Then…there really is a traitor among the five?”

“I’m not willing to believe that yet,” the Foreteller said in a subdued voice, and then we both looked up toward where the Chirithy had vanished.

What happened? Why didn’t he come? you wondered to yourself as you walked around the streets of Daybreak Town alone. The Heartless you faced earlier were fierce. A shudder ran through you as you imagined the worst. If you didn’t get stronger, there was no telling when you would start breaking promises, too.

You had to get stronger.

Your grip on your Keyblade tightened.

Much stronger.

Nearby, I appeared with my little flip from a puff of smoke—except it wasn’t actually me. Still, I’m sure you thought it was.

“You’re making amazing progress! I could tell you had potential from day one. But what if I told you…I had something to make you even stronger?”

He was right; you’d just been thinking about that.

You nodded, and Chirithy peered into the pouch hanging from his neck.

“Let’s see here… Dun-dada-duuun!” he said with a showman’s flair as he removed his gift from the purse. It was a pretty bracelet, embedded with a star-shaped stone. “Check out this Power Bangle!”

You accepted the bracelet and put it on your arm. The sparkling Power Bangle fit so comfortably that it was hard to believe you’d only just put it on. You were so pleased you couldn’t help but show it off.

A hard-to-read expression appeared on the other Chirithy’s face—an expression I never would have made. “Yep, looks great. Moving on,” he said, jumping right into the next topic. “Just keep this little bangle on, and you can collect something called ‘Guilt’ from the Heartless you defeat. You can use Guilt to get even stronger—although you won’t get it every time.”

“Guilt”—this was new. Your lowered your head in thought. Wasn’t guilt that awful feeling you got when you did something wrong? How do you collect it from Heartless to boost your own abilities?

“Don’t look at me like that. Come on, give it a shot. It won’t be so bad! And the best part is, it’s a gift! The bangle is yours to keep. Well, if you really want to do something in return, then…just keep it equipped and continue to do what you’re doing. I hope it’ll motivate you to get out there and do even better!”

He had a point—you’d be able to collect Lux for your Union and Guilt for yourself at the same time. Two birds, one stone.

You held your Keyblade aloft, telling him you would.

“I knew I could count on you. Good luck!” the Chirithy said cheerily, and then did a flip and vanished in midair just like I would.

So of course you didn’t realize I was never there.

After you set out for the next world, you arrived in a small chamber. This was Wonderland. You didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, just a solitary table with a small bottle atop it in the middle of the room. Well, there was one odd thing—you couldn’t find the exit.

You did spot a small door eventually, but you wouldn’t be fitting through that anytime soon. It would’ve been a really tight squeeze even for me.

You squatted down to get a better look at the door. Then—

“Looking for a way out, I suppose.”

The doorknob talked! You drew your hand back in surprise.

“Sorry, you’re much too big. Simply impassable.”

But by all appearances, this door was the only way out of here.

As you tried to come up with some kind of idea, the doorknob hurriedly added, “Oh no. You’re not going to cry, are you? Crying won’t help.” It closed its eyes for a moment as if trying to remember something. “Hmm…but perhaps this will. A girl visited earlier. Why don’t you talk to her? She may have some advice.”

You tilted your head to one side inquisitively.

“Where is she, you ask? Why, on the other side. Naturally.”

With no other options, you reached for the doorknob, but this time, it glowered angrily at you.

“No, no, no. As I said, you’re simply much too big. Of course, there’s always another way.” The doorknob looked over at the table. “Why don’t you try the bottle on the table? Read the directions, and directly you’ll be directed in the right direction. And then— Wait, you have a key! Well, why didn’t you say so? Now all you need—”

But just as you stood up to look at the table yourself, a mysterious shadow snatched up the bottle and ran off.

It was a Heartless!

“Oh, that’s rather unfortunate.”

The doorknob urged you to get it back, and you gave chase with Keyblade in hand. Unfortunately, the little thief was quite agile, and it stayed just out of reach as it darted all over the tiny room. You chased it over the sofa, onto the shelves, under the table, and pretty much everywhere else before you were finally able to catch it and get the bottle back.

There was a red label affixed to the neck of the bottle, a drawing of a big tree becoming small.

“I wonder if this is a good idea…,” I thought aloud, but you simply nodded, brought the bottle to your lips, and took a big gulp. A few seconds later, you were tiny. You seemed okay, so I took a drink from the bottle myself. Hmm, tastes funny. Next thing I knew, I was shrunk, too.

We shared a laugh and then headed for the little door.

You touched the doorknob only to find that it was locked. The doorknob itself wasn’t very chatty this time, either. There was only one way to handle this—you held your Keyblade to the keyhole, a beam of light fired out, and there was a click.

We stepped through the door.

Beyond lay a lush, green forest.

“Now what’s all this?” I asked, confused.

You responded with a shrug and started walking off. These woods were full of oddly shaped trees, but there were still clear paths to follow. We came across a lone girl at a fork in the road. She had gold hair and wore a blue dress with a white apron.

“Why, hello there. My name is Alice. Who might you be?” the girl asked, and you introduced yourself, too. “Oh? Thank goodness! I was afraid you’d speak in riddles, too.”

Riddles? What does she mean?

“I don’t suppose you’ve seen a white rabbit, have you? I’ve been looking for him everywhere.”

You shook your head.

“I see. How unfortunate. Now, where could he have gone?” Alice said, then paused to think.

And that just so happened to be the moment when a peculiar white rabbit in glasses dashed by the two of you in a terrible hurry, clutching a watch in his paws. “I’m late! I’m late! For a very important date! No time to say hello. Good-bye! I’m late, I’m late, I’m late!”

“Why, there he is!” Alice cried, giving chase. This was the very rabbit she’d told you about. “Wait! Please! Mr. Rabbit!”

You were about to go after her when you heard another voice behind you. “Lose something? Your way, perhaps?”

You looked back to find a talking cat, a very curious creature with pink and purple stripes.

…Well, I’m kind of like a talking cat myself, so maybe I don’t have room to judge.

“Or an answer? I’ve lots of those. The questions don’t matter, of course. All answers here have lots of questions. Alice went after the White Rabbit, but who’s asking?”

You and I shared a glance. I mean, we just saw! What a weirdo!

The two of us hurried off after Alice instead. We searched around the forest for a little while, when…

“Help!” The rabbit from before came running in our direction. “A monster! Help! Assistance!” he shouted as he kept on going right past us.

What if he was talking about a Heartless? We went up the path he’d come from and found a clearing in the forest.

There stood a house with a red roof and one giant problem—Alice’s arms and legs were sticking out from the doors and windows, and her face was peeking out of a second-floor window.

In this state, someone could easily mistake her for a monster.

Did she suddenly get bigger? we wondered.

“Oh dear…,” she said, her eyes welling with tears.

That was when the Heartless arrived. Alice wouldn’t be going anywhere like this, so you squared off against them. They liked to use fire spells, but you fended off their magic as you took them down, taking care not to let the flames reach the surrounding trees.

Once you had finished dealing with the last of them, you turned around and grinned at Alice.

“That’s better,” she sighed. “At least now I shan’t be burnt. Oh, but whatever shall I do about my…unusual size?”

We were all racking our brains over that very question when Alice spotted something nearby.

“Why look! A garden! Perhaps if I ate something, I’d return to my regular size. Oh, but I can’t quite reach it. Would you kindly gather some vegetables for me?”

With a nod, you picked some ripe carrots and fed them to Alice. They did the trick, and she shrank right back down again.

“Thank you!” Alice said with a bob of her head as she burst out of the house, happy as can be—and then she immediately took off after the White Rabbit again. “Oh no, wait! Please, wait! Mr. Rabbit!”

“What a weird world,” I remarked, and you laughed.

That night, you had a dream.

There were six people in a room, apparently inside the clocktower. You knew one of them—Master Invi, the leader of your Union. Four of the others wore masks of different animals, so you guessed that they were the Foretellers.

The masked five were listening to the sixth as he gave a speech to them, but you had no idea who he was.

All you knew was that this dream was going to lead you to actions, and those actions would change the course of your future.

When you woke up in the familiar comfort of your room, I was worriedly watching you from beside your bed. “That must’ve been some dream. You were tossing and turning like crazy,” I said.

You couldn’t remember anything about what you saw, except that it was about something you didn’t know.

“Close your eyes and try to get some sleep,” I told you softly, and you drifted off again. Once I was sure you were snoring quietly again, I spoke to someone outside the window. Another Chirithy. “Was that you?”

He poked his head inside and said, “Did you show him the dream?” I didn’t reply, so the Chirithy outside the window asked me another question. “What is it you’re trying to do?” Maybe it was just my imagination, but this other me looked just a shade grayer.

“The opposite of what you’re doing,” I answered.

The other Chirithy thought for a moment. “I guess that makes us enemies,” he said, melting away into the gloom of the night. I watched him go, then turned back to your sleeping face.

“Don’t worry. I’ll protect you. I have to…,” I whispered.

The next morning, you woke up without any memory of the dream and headed for the Fountain Square.

“Hey! Kupo!”

A Moogle came rushing out of his shop with some news for you.

“Help! There’s a big, scary monster in Waterfront Park, kupo! It’s frightening away all my customers! If I have to close up shop, my regulars will be lost, kupo! Can you take care of it? Please, kupo?”

Once the Moogle finished foisting his problems off on you, he scurried back into his shop.

Still…if he went to the trouble of asking you, maybe he actually had more faith in your abilities than he did in the other Keyblade wielders.

You left the Fountain Square for Waterfront Park, and there, in the exact same spot where you met Donald and Goofy, was a Heartless you had never seen before—a giant, pitch-black Invisible with enormous wings.

There was also a boy with a Keyblade like yours facing off with the Heartless. He had silver hair, and he wore a black jacket over a white shirt with a red scarf around his neck.

He sprang into the air and dealt the Invisible a swift blow with his Keyblade. You could tell just from watching him move that your skills had nothing on his. With one final strike, the boy vanquished the Invisible.

But only a second later, he nearly collapsed right then and there. You hurried over to him and called out.

The boy looked up with a wince of pain. “I’m all right,” he said.

You lent him a hand as he tried to get to his feet.

“I’m Ephemer. I belong to the Union Unicornis. Nice to meet you!”

You responded in kind, telling him your name and the Union to which you belonged.

“Looks like we’re on different teams,” Ephemer commented, noticing your Union name.

You nodded back. This was your first time meeting a member of a different Union…or was it? You hadn’t heard the names or the Unions of the other wielders you’d met in the shop that day, you remembered sadly.

“But I’m working on something other than my Union task today, so think of me as Union-free for the day,” Ephemer added. He must have misread the melancholy in your expression as distrust for the wielders of other Unions.

Anyway, what did he mean by “something other than my Union task”? Your head tilted curiously to the side.

“Hmm,” murmured Ephemer, trying to decide what to say. “I guess I can tell you what it is, since you helped me out. Can you keep a secret?” He took a step closer and continued. “The worlds we visit—the worlds of fairy tales—are nothing more than holograms. You know, projections. The light we collect there is actually this world’s light.”

The revelation went right over your head. Fairy tales? Holograms?? Projections???

You were obviously confused, so Ephemer fell into thought and walked a short distance away. “Um…”

Another moment of contemplation, and then he spoke up again.

“To put it simply: There are lots of worlds, right? And they’re all connected by land. But it’s impossible to go around all of them. That’s why there’s a mechanism that projects those worlds here and allows us to collect Lux from faraway lands.”

You didn’t quite understand, but you were starting to sense that whatever Ephemer was talking about was extremely important. You nodded enthusiastically anyway.

“I’m gathering information, trying to figure out how the whole thing works. My hunch is that the Book of Prophecies held by the Foretellers is what’s creating these holograms.”

But the more he explained, the more confused you got.

“Get it? Or have I lost you?”

You knew Ephemer was telling you something big, but you couldn’t quite get your head around the implications.

This involved the Foretellers, the Book of Prophecies, and projections of worlds?

You understood the Foretellers and Book of Prophecies well enough. It was the part about the worlds being holograms that had you stumped.

Ephemer had paused, maybe to see if you were still with him, and then kept talking. “Anyway, we’re in this town, gathering the light that belongs to this vast world. Not just gathering, fighting over it, without knowing why. After a little digging, I discovered that all the Unions have different goals.”

That was when last night’s dream came rushing back to you all at once.

You remembered that room where the five Foretellers had been, and if Ephemer was right about the Union leaders being after different things…?

You began to wonder if that had really been a dream at all.

“What is it?” Ephemer asked, noticing your reaction. You told him what you’d seen, and he lapsed into a contemplative silence as he listened. “Really? Interesting… Hey, I’ve got an idea. Why don’t you come with me?”

You decided to say yes. If that vision was showing you something real, of course you wanted to know more.

“Great! Then let’s head to the place you saw in your dream.”

Ephemer looked at the clocktower in the distance. Right—whatever you saw had happened in there.

Once you and Ephemer had left, I appeared in the vacant park.

But I wasn’t the only one keeping an eye on you.

“Is he yours?” I asked. Unable to hide, the other Chirithy from the night before revealed himself.

“I don’t know, is he?” he retorted. Whatever the real answer was, I doubt he would have told me. Just as I wasn’t about to tell him why I showed you that dream.

“You’re not the same color you were before,” I commented. I couldn’t believe it; he was so dark now.

“Very perceptive. So what’s your next move? They’re getting closer to the truth. Are you going to allow that?”

I didn’t answer; my gaze just followed you and Ephemer to the clocktower.

The two of you arrived at the base of the great tower.

“So you don’t know where the room is?” Ephemer asked, and you shook your head. “I’ve been here a few times, but I haven’t found a way in.”

The tower was apparently designed to keep out all but the most determined. You looked up at it, slightly dismayed.

“All right, let’s split up,” Ephemer suggested, “and see if we can get inside somehow.”

That sounded like a good idea to you.

“Okay, I’ll go check over by the bridge,” Ephemer said, already heading over. “You go see if there’s some other place we can get in.”

You decided to start with the front door, just in case, but it wouldn’t open. You gave the problem a little more thought.

A way you could get inside… This seaside town was full of canals, which led to the clocktower. Maybe following one of them would provide you with the entrance you needed.

Oh, right—there were stairs leading down to the canals from the Fountain Square.

You made that your first stop, disposing of the Heartless that popped up along the way. If you remembered correctly, there was a small passage partway down the stairs from the square to Waterfront Park.

You descended the narrow steps to a waterway that had run dry, and inside it was a manhole that led underground.

Once you dispatched the Heartless hovering almost protectively over it, you climbed into the hole and down the ladder. At the bottom was a dark sewer, stuffy and humid. As you headed deeper, you could see water flowing down from overhead like a waterfall along several gears turning together. Ephemer came running up from behind.

“Great minds think alike,” he quipped as he surveyed the area. “Other than the entrance, this is the only place that connects outside. Be careful, there’s a fair share of Heartless around here.”

The two of you ran through the sewers, which turned out to be even more infested with Heartless than the streets above. Still, you kept pressing onward—until you met an Invisible.

Directly in your path was the same kind of Heartless as the one Ephemer had fought earlier, hovering near the ceiling. There was also a door visible just past it.

You got your Keyblade ready. Even if Ephemer had managed to beat one, this Heartless was no joke. Fortunately, you weren’t on your own here.

You sprang at the Invisible, chopping at it with your Keyblade, only to be knocked away by its sword. Ephemer was sent tumbling across the ground next to you, too. You got your Keyblade back into position and lunged again. If attacking from above was no good, then this time you would come in low.

You swung your Keyblade upward at the Heartless’s legs, but its sword was already coming for you. Just then, Ephemer darted forward, launched himself into the air, and landed a full combo. You quickly followed with a rising strike from your own Keyblade.

The combined damage from your Keyblades hit home, and the Invisible dispersed into black smoke.

Ephemer turned to you, out of breath but beaming. “Now we’re even,” he said, and you heard the door opening.

You rushed over to it, but then Ephemer stopped you.

“Wait.”

You turned back toward him.

“I think we should come back later.”

The suggestion was surprising, especially since you had worked so hard to find this entrance.

“It’s taken us this long just to find a way in,” said Ephemer. “Think of how much longer it’ll take for us to enter the tower and find the room. It’s gonna look suspicious to our Union leaders if we’re missing for too long. We know how to get in now. Let’s save the rest for another day.”

He had a point. It had taken you quite a while to get to this passage, so maybe calling it a day here was for the best.

You nodded in agreement.

“We may not be in the same Union, but we’re friends, right?” Ephemer grinned and held out his hand. You quickly offered yours as well, and the two of you shook on it. “Let’s meet tomorrow at the Fountain Square. How about noon?”

The idea brought a smile to your face.

After that, the two of you retraced your steps back to the surface.

It was night, and you were back in your room, lying in bed thinking about the boy you’d met. I was over by the window, where I usually spent my evenings with you.

“Someone looks happy,” I commented. “Tell me, tell me!”

As you told me all about Ephemer, just listening to you made me happy, too.

“You made a new friend? That’s great! No wonder you’re smiling. I hear having friends is nice. But I wouldn’t know because I don’t have any.”

You looked a little upset and pointed at yourself.

“Huh? You?” I asked, and you nodded back at me.

I found myself feeling slightly bashful. “You’re my friend…? Oh, ha-ha.”

You chuckled a little, too.

It had never occurred to me that a familiar could be friends with his Keyblade wielder, but now that I thought about it, maybe that’s what we actually were.

—Meanwhile, Ephemer was standing in the sewers alone before the door. He’d chosen not to go through with his new friend.

“Sorry…,” he whispered, slipping into the tower through the door he’d found with that very same friend.

The next day, you went to the Fountain Square, killing time by yourself until Ephemer would arrive—but he never did. You waited and waited and waited, but to no avail.

“Have you been here all day?” I said to you. You were too disappointed to reply. “Come on, let’s head home.”

At my suggestion, you lowered your gaze. I knew what you wanted to say: I have to be here when Ephemer comes.

“Look. I’m sure something important came up.”

You raised your head and shot me a look.

You were remembering the other Keyblade wielder who hadn’t come back—the one who had promised to hunt Heartless with you. You still hadn’t crossed paths.

“A friend always keeps their promise. Maybe he had an emergency. You should give him the benefit of the doubt.”

Though you got to your feet, you still moved very slowly. I could tell you really wanted to wait. You trusted him, but you were worried that the same thing that had happened to your other friend had happened to him—and maybe he was never coming back.

“Don’t be sad. When you’re sad, it makes me sad, too.”

I walked up to you slowly and squeezed your hand with my own tiny one.

You swept me up into a tight hug.

The Master of Masters stood on a hill overlooking Daybreak Town. Behind him was a young man in a unicorn mask—Ira. He was tall, and the skirt of his white robe was the blue of an early morning sky. Atop his hood was a blue unicorn’s mane.

“So, did you look through the Book?” asked the Master of Masters.

“Yes. But I’m still analyzing it,” replied Ira quietly.

The Master chuckled. “Wow, no quick skim for you, huh?” he commented, still surveying Daybreak Town.

“I just prefer to be thorough,” said Ira behind him. “Master, is what it says in the last passage true?”

“Oh yeah, that. Bummer, huh?” The Master of Masters sounded almost cheerful, but Ira was not.

“…Yes.”

“By the way, if one day I suddenly disappear, I’m countin’ on you to keep the others calm. Okay?”

Ira raised his head. “Huh? Dis…appear?”

“Vanish? Dim? Fade? I don’t know how to explain it. It’s just hypothetical talk,” the Master of Masters elaborated as he watched the sun set on Daybreak Town.

“Okay…,” Ira agreed, though obviously shaken.

“This world is full of light. It’s a world comprised of many smaller worlds, all connected, stretching as far as the eye can see. One great light protects us all throughout this vast land. All worlds share one light, one fate,” he told Ira, his voice unusually soft.

“I take it you’re talking about Kingdom Hearts,” Ira replied.

“Yep! You’re right on the money. People believe that the light that is Kingdom Hearts will be here forever. But if it were to disappear, the world would be enveloped in darkness.”

It was an ominous thing to hear from his teacher.

“I understand,” Ira said. “And that is why you granted us these Keyblades. With these we can spread the teachings of light, and we can protect Kingdom Hearts from darkness—”

“No, they’re not for protecting Kingdom Hearts,” the Master of Masters interrupted.

“Huh?”

Once again solemn, the Master quoted a line from the Book of Prophecies. “The final passage reads, ‘On that fated land, a great war shall transpire. Darkness will prevail and the light expire.’”

“Isn’t it our duty as Keyblade wielders to prevent this war from taking place?” his student asked back.

The Master stretched his arms over his head, almost playfully. “Nah, not possible.”

“Wha—?” Ira could not hide his surprise at such a blunt reply.

“You really think you can change the future?” the Master of Masters chided, as if his student should know this already.

A bit nonplussed, Ira asked yet another question: “Then…what do you want us to do?”

“We have to focus on what comes after,” the Master explained, a little more gently this time. “There’s no use thinking of ways to change events we know are gonna happen.”

Still, Ira wasn’t satisfied. “But what about all of those who are here now? And the ones who will be here when the darkness finally comes? Are we to abandon all of them?”

The Master of Masters barked an exasperated laugh at that. “C’mon, are you telling me that you think the world can be saved by just seven people?” He watched as Ira hung his head, searching desperately for an answer.

“We have to at least try! With enough Keyblade wielders we could…”

“Well, if you wanna give it a shot…,” the Master offered.

“Yes,” replied Ira earnestly.

“All righty, good luck!” the Master of Masters said. The reply came so quickly, it was as if he already knew what his student would say.

Before them, the darkness of night settled over Daybreak Town.