Hearts of Darkness, Chapter 33

Chapter 33: When you believe

    Myde went off to talk with his other sisters while Earthshaker and Hercules left in search of a medic, Lightning limping between them. That left the teens all by themselves in one corner, huddled around Serah’s crystal as they tried to figure it out.
    Sitara couldn’t tear her eyes away from the massive crystalline structure imprisoning her friend. She still had no idea what it was. What did kind of idea did her brother have to make him think they could free Serah? And what did her sisters have to do with it?
    “How did this even happen?” Tala tapped her nail against one twisting spire surrounding the woman. Leaning up close, Tala could see the magic energy pulsing through the crystal, steadily like a heartbeat. “The magic vibes coming off this stuff is something else, but it feels kind of like Earth magic…”
    “Can you get it off of her?” Riku frowned when Tala answered his question with a disgruntled shake of her head.
    “I can manipulate rock, soil, dirt, sand, and mud,” she explained, frustration seeping through her voice. “But I’ve never tried to manipulate crystal and gems before. I don’t even know if I can and I don’t think it would even help…”
    “And why not?” Solus staggered up to his feet, putting a halt on Lita’s attempt at healing his injuries. His twin huffed impatiently and yanked him back down. Tala shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest.
    “Whatever magic sealed Serah inside this crystal is something I’ve never seen before. Not only that, but it isn’t just sealing her up. This stuff has fused with her.”
    “What?!?” Solus and Sitara gaped, staring back and forth between the brunette and their friend.
    “Take a look for yourselves,” she gestured to the crystal. “The pulsing glow is in time with a heartbeat; my guess is Serah’s. And there’s no way to tell where a layer of crystal stops and Serah’s body begins. You can even sort of see through to the other side…I've read a lot of books before my Mark of Mastery exam, and one of those was a book on Earth magic. This…This is some old magic, seriously archaic stuff. I wouldn’t know where to start…”
    Of course, that frustrated her almost as much as Serah being in trouble in the first place. Tala hated being out of her element in one of the few things she was actually skilled at. She didn’t know what to do. But being a Keyblade Master and not being able to help someone was the worst of all. It was her job and she couldn’t do it. It seriously sucked.
    “So if the resident molewoman can’t jailbreak Serah,” Solus grumbled. “What makes Myde think the Seven Sisters of Feathered Hell can do anything?”
    “Solus!” The raven-haired teen flinched as Sitara snapped at him. “S-Stop calling my s-sisters that!”
    “Well, maybe if they hadn’t tried to waste me multiple times, I wouldn’t have to…”
    “Anyway…” All attention turned to Riku. “Point is, Serah’s stuck inside some kind of crystal prison. Tala can’t get her out, but Sitara’s sisters might. Am I missing anything else here?”
    Lita nodded. “Sounds about right. But—”
    “Come on, Clio, help us out here!” Lita’s words were drowned out by one loud, semi-whining, shout from Myde. The teens turned towards the noise to see the former Nobody surrounded by his sisters, all of which were staring at him like a pack of angry wolves. The tallest one—Clio—stood right in front of Myde and stared down her nose at him.
    “Why should we,” she asked in a mildly bored voice. “It’s just a silly bunch of humans, after all…”
    “Clio, Serah is a friend of our youngest sister, which makes her one of our friends too,” Myde shouted angrily. “We have to help her!”
    “Oh, and did you forget the last time we ‘helped’ one of her friends?!? It’s bad enough that we took in that monster child and look where it got us!” Clio whipped her blonde head around and shot an icy blue glare Solus’ way before she went back to the heated debate with her brother.
    Solus shrunk back, pale-faced. Sitara gasped, hands flying over her mouth as he eyes burned furiously.
    “What…?” Riku shared a confused glance with Tala.
    “Did she just call my brother a ‘monster child’?!?” Lita roared. “Say that to my face, you blonde, scraggly-feathered witch!!!”
    Lita shot to her feet, livid and seeing red. The rest of the Kafeiri brood turned to face the angry Nightshade. Clio raised one arched brow but remained indifferent. Because of that look, Lita would have stormed over and given her a piece of her mind. Or, given Lita’s rage, a solid beat down. The only thing that got in her way was Sitara grabbing her arm and holding her back.
    “L-Lita, please!”
    “I’m not going stand here and let some old hag call my big brother a monster!” Lita raved. “Somebody bring me barbeque sauce, cause we’re having roasted bird tonight!”
    Tala and Riku stared at the scene incredulously.
    “Well, at least her heart’s in the right place.”
    “Her head though…that’s another story.” Tala sighed, pressing her hand over her eyes.
    “Lita, knock it off,” Solus ordered. “Clio may be a stuck up bag of dusty feathers, but she’s right. I’ve been…nothing but trouble for the Kafeiri family…”
    Solus’ single glowing eye dimmed as he clutched his sister’s shoulder. Lita staggered under a wave of anxiety and guilt. Flashes of fire in the dead of night and screams burned through her mind as Solus passed what was in his heart to her. The weight of it pressed down on her and Lita found her body jerking away.
    What the…What happened that night???
    “Why should we concern ourselves with the problems of some pesky humans?” Clio continued with disdain. “The troubles they bring to their own lives are none of our concern. I for one will have nothing to do with it…”
    “Clio, in the name of the Gods, shut up!!!” Sitara’s anger, still bubbling from her confrontation with the Lava Titan, had reached an all-time boiling point thanks to her oldest sister. Letting go of Lita, the blonde rushed at her sister, glaring fiercely,
    “I get it, you can’t let go of what happened with γιαγιά, but newsflash, that was years ago! And the fire, that wasn’t Solus’ fault, so stop blaming him for it! He was only trying to protect me. I don’t care if you like him or not, but he is my best friend. I know he’s a good person. I believe in him!”
    Clio’s face was frozen in outraged shock, her ice-blue eyes wide with disbelief. Sitara, the mousy, shy little girl of the bunch. She had never been one to raise her voice, let alone shout at any of her sisters like that.
    The others watched in a similar state of shock, the rest of the Siren brood in particular. As the eldest of the bunch, Clio was next in line to be the leader of their flock. Because of that, she had taken on the role of “leader” among the siblings. She was well-respected so it was a rare occurrence for someone to actually argue with her. Especially since she was usually calm and level-headed.
    It was only in regards to humans that Clio went into her “Ice Queen” persona. It wasn’t that she hated humans, but she had a hard time trusting them, much like most Sirens.
    “And another thing!” Sitara jabbed her forefinger at Clio. “Are you forgetting that I’m half-human, and Myde too?”
    Sitara and Myde weren’t like their other sisters. They all shared the same mother, but the fact that their father had been human set the two apart from their half-sisters. It was also why they didn’t have so much of a problem with humans like other Sirens.
    Clio grimaced ever so slightly. “Sitara, I know this is one of your…friends. But please, just listen to me!”
    “No! Clio, I rarely ever ask you for anything, but I’m asking now. Help me save Serah, please!!!” Sitara stood her ground, even though it was clear to her that Clio was refusing to budge. “My whole life, you’ve been telling me what’s best, but I’m trying to do the right thing! If you won’t help me, I’ll do it myself!”
    “And how do you plan to do that?!” Clio shouted back, losing her composure. “You understand nothing, Sitara!”
    “Even if I don’t, I have to try! Isn’t that what γιαγιά taught us? Never give up and never stop trying. Do whatever you can to reach your goals, and seize them with your own hands!”
    Even if she didn’t know what to do, if she didn’t know the way, Sitara knew that she had to try. For Serah, who had been imprisoned because she had been too scared to fight back. For Lightning, who just wanted to be reunited with her sister. For Solus, who was always shouldering her burdens despite the ones he already carried. But most of all, she had to do it for herself.
    “Where there’s a will…there’s a way,” she said quietly. “I’m a Kafeiri Siren and it’s time I started acting like one…”
    “…If that is what you believe, Sirensong will be your key.”
    Sitara looked up at her sister Calliope, the second oldest sister with dark gold hair and midnight blue eyes constantly peeking out behind a set of wire-rimmed spectacles. Calliope, who was by far the wisest member of their family.
    “I know you don’t agree with Clio, but you must understand. As the youngest, none of us want to see you get hurt…But you aren’t a child anymore,” Calliope shot Clio a pointed look. “You’re old enough to stand on your own. Starting with this. Use Sirensong to show Ice Queen here a miracle. You know what song to use.”
    Calliope ruffled Sitara’s hair and smiled to her. “You can do it, Little Bird.”
Sitara stared back at her other siblings, each other them nodding or smiling encouragingly. Her heart warmed to see almost every one of her siblings lending her their support without someone yelling at another. When it came to nine siblings in one family, those kind of moments were far and few in between. But when it did happen, it was one of those hard-to-forget moments.
    “Σας ευχαριστώ όλους.”
    Sitara spun on her heels and scampered back to Serah’s crystal with a spring in her step. Luckily, she did know what song Calliope meant. It was the one her grandmother used to sing all the time. The one that was supposed to create “miracles”.
    “Sitara…” The blonde turned to face Solus. The dark-haired teen had “worried” written all over his face. “You…You’re gonna be alright, right?”
    “Uh-huh!” She smiled brightly. “S-Someone has to be around to knock s-some sense into you when you try and do something s-stupid, right?”
    Solus chuckled and shook his head. “That’s true…Get us our friend back, Star.”
    Sitara smiled as she turned back to Serah. She took slow, steady breaths to calm herself. If this spell was going to work, she would have to charm two things: the crystal itself, and Serah inside. By focusing her magic Serah more than the crystal, there would be a greater chance of freeing her while making up for the fact that Sitara hadn’t fully recovered from her battle against the Lava Titan.
    I hope you’re watching me, Γιαγιά. I’ll need your guidance to pull this off…
    “Many nights we’ve prayed…with no proof anyone could hear. In our hearts a hopeful song we barely understood.” Sitara sang softly, praying that she would be able to pull this off. “Now we are not afraid…Although we know there’s much to fear. We were moving mountains long before we knew we could…”
    As Sitara laid her hand against Serah’s crystal, the faintest traces of lights lit up around the girl and her crystallized friend. The strain was already beginning to weigh down on her, pressing down on her lungs like bags of sand. It didn’t hurt terribly, so she would push through it.
    I can do this, she thought determinedly. I faced the Lava Titan and saved Solus. This…This is definitely easier. I can do this. I CAN do this.
    “There can be miracles when you believe. Though hope is frail, it’s hard to kill. Who know what miracles you can achieve? When you believe, somehow you will. You will when you believe…”
    Beads of sweat dotted her face as her magic reserves slowly depleted. Who would have thought this would be so hard? Singing was as easy as breathing, and Sirensong was second nature to Sitara. But because she rarely used her ability on living objects, contesting with the crystal and Serah together was harder than she had thought.
    Of course, Sitara knew it wouldn’t be easy having two long sessions in one day. But she hadn’t expected this much strain. Had she really used so much energy with that crystal against the Lava Titan?
    Her limbs felt like rubber as Sitara pushed her will even farther into the crystal, desperate to reach Serah. But it was like swimming in syrup and the “will” of the crystal was just as determined to push back as she was.
    On the sidelines, Solus tugged at the ends of his bangs, a nervous habit when he was anxious or stressed. He could see that Sitara was starting to run out of steam and it was freaking him out.
    Even after living with her family for a few years, he never knew what happened if a Siren tried to use Sirensong without enough magic. Solus hoped it wasn’t dangerous. Sitara was his closest friend, and she was really important to him. He didn’t know what he’d do if she got hurt.
    “I hate being so damned useless,” he snarled. Riku nodded sympathetically and set a hand on his shoulder.
    “I hate to say it, but it’s not like there’s anything we can do. Tala’s magic won’t work and I don’t I could do a Dive like this.”
    Solus shook his head and kept his sights set on Sitara. She was starting to really shake now…
    “In this time of fear…when prayers so often proved in vain. Hope seemed like the summer birds too swiftly flown away…”
    Sitara felt almost completely drained as she drew to a stop in the middle of her spell. She felt so tired. It was a struggle to even stay on her feet, let alone continue singing. Her head felt like it was filled with water and her mouth felt like it was full of cotton. Sitara didn’t know how long she could stay on her feet. Her legs were starting to give out on her.
    N-No, please…Just…Just a l-little more! Please…
    “But now I’m standing here…”
    “With hearts so full I can’t explain.”
    Two sets of hands caught Sitara by the shoulders as she slumped, guiding her back up and helping her find her bearings. Tired caramel-brown eyes met with cobalt-blue and blue-green.
    Urania and Erato stood on either side of Sitara, lending their voices as the smiled down at her.
    “Seeking faith, and speaking words I never thought I’d say…” Polyhemia and Terpsichore, the Kafeiri family’s only pair of identical twins, jumped in to the song. Their strong voices harmonized together perfectly and Sitara felt a surge of warmth spread through her body. Amazingly, her strength returned and the fog cleared in her head. She felt stronger.
    “We can see how much this means to you, Little Sister,” Melpomene moved to take a spot next to the twins with Myde. “But there’s no reason that you should do this alone.”
    “Right! Birds of a feather flock together.” Myde grinned proudly as he clapped his hand over Melpomene’s shoulder. “Who said this needs to be a solo act? Let’s get the whole choir in on this!”
    Erato rolled her teal eyes. “And quick, before we all die from Myde’s terrible puns…”
    Sitara’s heart gushed with love over her family’s support. She really did love her brother and sisters. Together, they could do what none of them could accomplish alone. Like her grandmother once said: “Alone you are strong, but together the world is yours for the taking.”
    “There can be miracles when you believe. Though hope if frail, it’s hard to kill. Who knows what miracles you can achieve? When you believe, somehow you will! You will when you believe…”
    Sitara glanced around and smiled at the fact that she was singing with her siblings. With all of them working together, their voices bounced off of each other and amplified their individual power, making them stronger. That’s how the song worked.
    It used magic in a way that was completely different from what Sirens normally used it for. Instead of manipulating free will—bending it and breaking to her own—the song would fuel it, make it stronger. Free will and spirit are two of the strongest gifts given to humanity. Sitara’s grandmother, Thetis, knew that and she was sure to teach it to her children and grandchildren. It was something a half-breed like Sitara took to heart.
    With the help of her family, her words and feelings would be able to reach Serah and together they would break the spell. But something was still missing.
    Turning around, Sitara ran up to Clio.
    The eldest sister stood off to the side, scowling as she kept her cold gaze fixed on the columns next to her. Sitara kept in a giggle. Same old Clio, always trying to look all cool and detached and apathetic about everything but sour when she felt left out.
    Sure, Sitara was still mad at her over how she had treated Solus, but that was just how Clio was. She knew that her older sister was just looking out for her.
    “Come on, Clio. We can’t do this without you.” Sitara held her hand out to her sister. Clio started, staring down at the hand with slight apprehension. But Sitara’s sweet smile won her over and Clio relented, allowing her sister to pull her over to the rest of their siblings. With all nine of them together, the Kafeiri brood formed a circle around the giant crystal and holding hands.
    “A-shir-ra a-do-nai ki ga-oh ga-ah. A-shir-ra a-do-nai ki ga-oh ga-ah.” Sitara and Clio’s voices rang like bells through the air as the flock of Sirens moved slowly around the crystal. “Mi-cha-mo-cha ba-e-lim adonai. Mi-cha-mo-cha ne-dar-ba-ko-desh. Na-chi-tah v'-chas-d'-cha am zu ga-al-ta. Na-chi-tah v'-chas-d'-cha am zu ga-al-ta! A-shir-ra, a-shir-ra, a-shir-ra!!”
    One by one, the other Sirens added their voices to Sitara and Clio’s until they were all singing in harmony. Their slow circling soon turned into dancing as they spun faster and faster, clapping their hands or stamping their feet to the beat. Feathers and brightly-colored chitons rippled and waved in the air. Bright, colorful light exploded around them, spinning and twisting around Serah.
    As the Sirens sang, the others watched in awe. Lita couldn’t smile any bigger as she clapped her hands along with the tune and even Tala hummed lightly. Riku glanced to the side and caught sight of Solus, watching the scene play out spell-bound. The dark-haired teen could take his eyes off of Sitara as she spun and twirled.
    Riku bit back an amused grin. Solus may call Sitara his “best friend”, but it was pretty obvious that she meant more to him than that. It was clear by the admiration and goofy grin plastered on his face. Come to think of it, Riku had seen that kind of look on Sora’s face more than once around Kairi.
    “Look!” Lita shouted excitedly. “Look!”
    As the lights spun faster, Serah’s crystal began to glow brightly. The swirling spires started to develop small web-like fractures. Flecks of blue crystal fell away, shimmering as the wind carried them away. Sitara beamed.
    “Almost there!” she cried. “All together!”
    Her siblings were more than happy to oblige.
    “There can be miracles when you believe! Though hope is frail, it’s hard to kill.” The Sirens gave it everything they could, their voices rising with every beat. Chunks of crystal broke off and dissolved into glittering dust. “Who knows what miracles you can achieve? When you believe, somehow you will! Now you will…You will when you believe…!”
    “You will when you…”
    “…Believe…”
    Sitara came to a stop in the middle of a twirl when she felt a sudden weight against her back and a voice echo in her ear. Turning around, she came face-to-face with a pair of blue eyes and a smiling face framed by pink hair. A smile of her own broke out as the blonde wrapped her arms around her friend with a joyful shout.
    “Serah!”
    Solus snapped out of his little daze and ran over as fast as his feet could carry him and pulled both girls into a hug. “Serah! Are you okay?!?”
    “Ser..ah?”
    Serah turned her head towards the one voice she had been waiting to hear for a long time. Earthshaker was leading Lightning down the steps, the latter wrapped in bandages with her arm in a sling. Lightning’s face was unguarded and filled with shock as she stared wide-eyed at her beaming sister.
    “Claire!!!” Serah flung herself at her sister as soon as she got within arm’s reach, joyful tears pricking at her eyes.
    “Claire?” Tala tilted her head to the side in confusion. Well, she figured “Lightning” might have been a nickname, but she hadn’t thought of that as the woman’s real name. “Claire Farron” didn’t exactly fit the tough, military attitude Lightning had…
    “Serah, I was worried…Are you alright?”
    Pulling back, Serah Farron gave herself a once-over, flexing her limbs and wiggling her fingers. “Looks like it. Sitara, Solus…Thank you.”
    “I…It was Sitara that saved you,” Solus said, ashamed. “All I did was get myself into one mess after another. I’m sorry, Serah…”
    “Solus…” Lita stepped forward. “You did the best that you could…”
    “Did I? Because from where I’m standing, I got beat at every opportunity.” he snapped back bitterly. “That crazy redhead knocked me out, I couldn’t control Chaos during that match, and the Lava Titan would have eaten me if it wasn’t for Carbuncle and Sitara! There’s no getting around it, Lita. I’m too weak!”
    “Who cares if you’re weak?!” Riku retorted. “Power isn’t everything, Solus. I made the same mistake of wanting power and I was stupid enough to think I could handle what was too far beyond my control. Trust me, that’s a road you don’t want to go down.”
    “You already have a monster inside you, right?” Tala reasoned. “Do you really want to give it even more power to use against you?” It would be like super-charging a battery…
    “You don’t understand,” Solus protested heatedly. “If I can’t protect my friends, what use am I?! I can’t just sit back and let the people close to me get hurt because I can’t protect them!!”
    Solus couldn’t let himself be weak, he just couldn’t. Weakness meant that one day, a single hit could mean life or death for him. Chaos was always raging inside him, trying to swallow his existence so he could take over Solus’ body. And if that happened, who knew what Chaos would do. He couldn’t let it happen.
    You can’t protect everybody, Sol…Sitara sighed, knowing full-well that Solus wasn’t planning on backing down any time soon. His stubbornness could give any mule a run for its drachma. Once he got an idea in his head, it wasn’t leaving for a while, come hell or high water. And his quick temper made him a ticking time bomb if you didn’t know how to handle him. Luckily, Sitara did.
    The key was simple distraction, believe it or not.
    “Sol, what should we do now?” Solus blinked and stared at her, mouth gaping from cutting off in the middle of his tirade.
    “Hah…?”
    “Serah’s been saved…and now you know your sister is alive so…What do we do now?”
    Solus paused and considered the question. It was a good question too. It wasn’t like he had expected any of this to happen, after all. He has firmly believed that he wasn’t ever going to see Lita again, and part of him had wondered if she had even been alive just as much as she had thought of him.
    Damn…What the hell do I do now???
    “Ah…”
    “Why don’t you both come with us?” Lita suggested. “Sitara’s got an Elemental Crystal like me, so we need to find the other two. And both of you are Keyblade wielders.”
    “What’s that got to do with anything?” Solus asked. “Honestly, Lita…”
    “There’s an important fight ahead of us,” Riku explained. “So we all thought it would be smart to keep an eye out for others that would add numbers to our ‘army’ against Xehanort. Contrary to what you think, you are strong Solus. Sitara too. You would both be smart choices in allies. You could really do some good coming with us.”
    Solus stared at Riku disbelievingly as a dry, bemused chuckle wormed its way out of his throat. “Dude, you sound like a friggin’ military recruiter. Like ‘Kingdom Hearts want YOU to join the army’…Got any good benefits? With Carbuncle eating me out of house and home, I can always use good snacks. Especially if they’re spicy!”
    Riku’s eye practically twitched as he stared at Solus, who smirked back relentlessly. Solus broke out into a malicious little cackle, showing off a pair of abnormally sharp incisors. It was all Riku could do to not give into the strong urge to knock the teen upside the head to shut him up.
    He didn’t have to though, once he noticed an odd buzzing coming from his one of his pockets. Perplexed, Riku dug around until his fingers closed around the source of the odd buzzing and withdrew the Communication Sphere Aria had given them in Radiant Garden. The small crystal vibrated and buzzed like a swarm of angry bees, pulsing with a bright green glow.
    “Oh? What’s that?” Sitara leaned up and peered at the Sphere with child-like wonder.
    “It’s something a friend of ours gave us,” Lita hummed. “She said we could use it if we ever needed to contact each other, so I guess now is one of those times.”
    Tala snatched the Sphere out of Riku’s hand and held it up to her eye, scrutinizing it closely. The odd sound it kept making was driving her crazy.
    “That stupid greenbean never did explain how to use this thing,” she muttered vehemently. “How do you turn off the buzzing?!?”
    Solus quirked an eyebrow at the brunette’s grumbling. Especially when she started grumbling incoherent words while smacking the little crystal against the palm of her hand.
    Wow, and Clio thinks I'm <i<a manic lunatic??? What kind of friends does Lita hang out with?</i>
    Earthshaker sighed patiently and snatched away the sphere before Tala could damage it. Luckily for all of them, she had worked with Communication Spheres before. It paid off sometimes to be over seven hundred years old, after all.
    “Earthshaker speaking.” She held the sphere by its chain and let it dangle in front of her face. “Who’s calling?”
    The Sphere glowed even brighter as the sunlight passed through the center of the crystal and projected an image in the middle of the group. Aria’s familiar form materialized in the projections, sitting with what looked like part of a giant keyboard in front of her. The green-haired mage grinned and wiggled her fingers in greeting.
    “Yo, guys, great news! How fast can you all get your butts over to Radiant Garden?”
    “Radiant Garden?” Sitara repeated, drawing Aria’s attention towards her. The greenette’s eyes widened slightly and she grinned amicably.
    “Well hey there, cutie! Radiant Garden’s my home world. Come visit, we could really use the tourism!”
    Sitara stammered, unsure of what to make about that statement and Riku snapped his fingers.    “Aria, focus. What do you have for us?”
    “Oh, I did some digging around in Master Ansem’s computer. Master had all of the Apprentices back-up their data onto the hard drive, so I was thinking that I might be able to hack it and see if Xehanort or Braig left any interesting information lying around in cyberspace. Ladies and gents, I hit pay dirt!”
    “You found something that could help us?”
    Aria nodded, leaning back and grinning proudly. “Did I ever. So hurry up and get your rears in gear! I swear, some of this stuff you gotta see to believe!”
    “We’ll be over as soon as we can, Aria. Thanks.” Aria nodded and gave Riku a mock salute.
    “Don’t keep me waiting, my lovelies. Aria the Magnificent, over and out!” And with that, the image dissolved and Earthshaker tossed the Communication Sphere back to Riku, who pocketed it.
    Solus blinked, scowling confusedly. “You guys have some…interesting…friends…”
    “Looks like we’ve got a heading,” Lita said excitedly. But seconds later, she sobered and turned towards her brother with a sad smile. “I guess this is goodbye for now…?”
    Solus opened his mouth to speak, but someone else beat him to the punch.
    “You both should go with them…” Sitara and Solus glanced back to Clio and the other Kafeiri Sirens who had come up behind them and heard the entire conversation. Lightning and Serah stood with them as well. Sitara shifted apprehensibly.
    “C-Clio…?”
    Her eldest sister gave her a very small, but no doubt genuine, smile and a nod of her head. “You’ve proved today that you don’t need all of us…me…hanging over your shoulder anymore. It is your life, αδελφή. It’s time you lived it.”
    Clio’s blue gazed passed over her sister and onto Solus, hardening slightly as she spoke sternly. “I have never thought of you as anything but a danger to my family, boy. But…for some reason my sister trusts you, so I don’t have any choice but to respect her decision. Watch over her and keep her safe. Do not make me regret this, because I will not show mercy if something happens to her…”
    Solus stood up straight and squared his shoulders, staring Clio straight in the eye. “You have my word, Clio. No harm will come to her as long as I can help it. I’ll do everything in my power to keep her safe.”
    Sitara felt her heart hammer in her chest at his promise. “Solus…”
    Clio nodded and placed a hand on each of their shoulders. “Then you both have my blessing. Fight admirably, live freely, and defend each other…”
    One by one, Sitara’s other sibling came up and said their goodbyes, making promises to see each other soon and making sure they would stay safe. When Myde came up to them, Sitara rushed into her brother’s arms and buried her face in his tunic, holding him tightly. How ironic that not long after he had come back, she was leaving on an adventure of her own.
    Myde gave his little sister an affectionate squeeze before placing something in her hands: a blue-green stone about the size of her forefinger.
    “That’s a buddy of mine that kept me safe so I could come back home,” Myde smiled softly, ruffling Sitara’s hair. “So hopefully, he’ll make sure you find your way home too. Careful though, he’s a handful when he comes out.”
    Sitara nodded and held the stone to her chest. “Thank you, Myde…I-I’ll be back soon!”
    “I’m counting on all of you to watch out for these two,” Myde called to the others. “I don’t know about you, but they’re hopeless trouble magnets!”
    “Hey!!” Sitara and Solus protested as Lita giggled, nudging Riku’s shoulder playfully.
    “They’ll fit in just fine, won’t they?”
    “I’d say so. Especially if the Cyclops is your brother.”
    “Oi!” Solus shouted. “You ain’t the greatest either, Snowball!”
    “Well, what are we waiting for?” Tala turned around and ran for the coliseum exit. “Let’s get this show on the road!”
    “Radiant Garden, here we come!”
…
…
    Aria leaned back and stretched her arms, popping her joints back into place after sitting hunched over a keyboard for way longer than she expected. Funny how time flies when you’re sucked into cyberspace.
    Who would have really figured that the Master’s computer would be so extensive? If it weren’t for her contacts inside Space Paranoids, she’d be totally lost.
    “Hey, Tron. You’ve got those files saved and encrypted so we can go over them later, right?”
    The computer beeped and whirred before a voice answered back from the speakers. “Yes, Miss Aria. All files have been locked up in the I/O Tower memory banks and are ready to be accessed at any time. Is there anything else you would like me to help you with in the meantime?”
    Aria typed away on the keyboard and punched in a few commands. Thank god for Cid giving her those computer lessons as a kid. Sure, she was a better magic user than a hacker, but she wasn’t completely inept. And it was better her than Yuffie. Aria loved her childhood best friend and all, but it was safer for everyone if she stuck to being “The Great Ninja Yuffie”.
    “I’m sending you some codes to get into the town’s archives right now. When you get the chance, can either you or Ghost look at all the data we have for the castle? I’m talkin’ blueprints of the original contractor’s designs, renovations, land surveys; the whole nine yards. I need to take a look at them and compare everything. Oh, but be sure to send copies to Leon and the Restoration gang for me too, okay?”
    Something had been bothering Aria ever since they started restoring the castle. There was a lot of area unaccounted for and some of the numbers and schematics just didn’t add up.
    “Yes, of course, Miss Aria,” Tron answered. “We will get on that right away.”
Aria got out of her chair and stretched her back. She really needed to sleep.
    “Thanks a ton, Tron. You’re a real doll.”
    “Any time. Have a nice rest, Miss Aria.”
    Aria logged off and started shutting down the computer room. She had a lot on her mind, along with lack of sleep, which was why she probably didn’t notice a certain part of machinery activating behind her. At least until it was too late…