"This is new?" Roxas said as he examined his surroundings.
He was in some kind of spacious workshop with the walls aligned with stain glass windows and candle lit lamps. On the left side of him was a ton of bookshelves blocking him from seeing the rest of the room and to his right side were two massive blue gears turning in motion. To the back of him was a wall with the largest stain glass window in the room. In front of him was a large desk with a shelve above it. All across it were books, ink holders, papers, quilts, and various other writing equipment and other items strewn about.
Roxas could tell that it was another dream like the last time. If he had a guess about his current location it would be inside the castle in his last dream due to the gears.
He was pondering how this was related to Ava when he suddenly collapsed onto his knees due to a massive amount of pressure being emitted in his general direction.
"Wh-what is this?!" Roxas groaned out. He could barley stand it for a few moments before he slowly got used to the pressure as he began to compose himself.
"Well that is impressive. It took a bit longer for most of my apprentices to get used to that." A voice said behind Roxas. "The only ones who have beaten your record are Ira and Ava. Well you have also tied in with Luxu, but congratulations are in order anyway!"
The sound of clapping erupted behind Roxas and he nearly summoned his Keyblades when he saw the figure behind him. But he didn't summon his Keyblades as he had sensed the man's power.
It was absolutely massive. In fact the closest thing that he could compare it to was the Kingdom Hearts that he had a part in creating before Sora woke up. Of course it was incomplete before Riku captured him, but it was still radiated power like crazy. Even then the man was not that far behind it in terms of power.
The figure in question was a man of unknown age wearing the Organization coat with his hood up. Roxas could not make out any details about the man as the coat hid pretty much everything. He was clapping his hand onto his forearm as in his left hand was an orange flask. Inside it was a small cat plush like creature that was currently curled up and asleep.
Roxas would have asked what that creature was, but he had another question in mind.
"You can see me?!" He said surprised. In his last dream no one could interact with or hear him at all. So to see a man wearing the Organization's cloak and having that much power behind him did not bode well for the Nobody.
"You are correct, in fact I'm the only one who can interact with you in your current state Roxas. But it won't be for long as you'll see later." The man said as he stopped clapping. "But for now it is time for your prize! It won't change anything about the exam when you wake up, but I suggest you start practicing mixing magic energies. I suggest for a start to mix fire and ice plus a little wind for effect as it is one of the easiest combinations to learn. After that improve your repertoire a quite a bit then continue to experiment. But hey it is your choice to accept my advice or not. Still I suggest you to at least give it a try when you wake up okay?"
The tone of the last sentence was serious and the young Keyblade wielder could only gulp at the sudden change in demeanor at the man's posture.
"Alright." Roxas said a little nervously. It wouldn't hurt to take this man's advice or to stay on his good side.
But there was one thing that he picked up on.
The man knew who he was, the fact that he was currently dreaming, and the fact that he was from the future from when he mentioned the exam. The fact that the man also mentioned Ava's name didn't bode well for him.
The man as if noticing his thoughts relaxed and put a comforting hand on the Nobody's shoulder.
"If you wanted to know how I know who you are or what the future is, well I can't say that for now as we are on a limited time frame before my apprentices appear. But you should know that I found out what Ava did only yesterday. Can't say what she did was irresponsible beyond belief, but I'm honestly glad she changed the timeline. As for how I know Ava, well she is the youngest of my apprentices. Now for who I'm it is not so simple. I'm known by many names, but the one I prefer to be called is the Master of Masters! But please just address me as simply The Master or Master from this point forward." The Master said calmly, but his tone was filled with merriment. If it wasn't for the hood Roxas would assume the man was smiling underneath it.
"Alright." Was all Roxas said as he began to process what he heard from The Master. He not only knew what would happen in the future, but also how he and Ava traveled back over 12 years into the past. The fact that he could tell what would happen centuries or possibly millennia into the future was startling. It was probably best not to think about it as The Master didn't seem willing to share the method he could do it for right now. But for now he decided to ask the first thing on his mind.
"So your Ava's Keyblade Master, then why do you have a title like Master of Masters?" Roxas asked bluntly.
The Master was silent for a moment before he let out a chortle. Soon it grew into a giggle, then into chuckling, and finally into laughter. He let it hang into the air for a minute before he composed himself.
"Thank you Roxas, I really needed that with all the things I've been seeing lately." The Master said before he put the orange flask onto a nearby bookshelf. "As to answer your question my title is rightfully earned. I may not be the first Keyblade Master as like everyone else I had to learn from somewhere, but I'm one of the first known and possibly the strongest Keyblade Master to have ever lived. Plus all of the Keyblade Masters of your era can trace their teachings all the way back to myself and my six apprentices Luxu, Ira, Aced, Invi, Gula, and Ava. Each and everyone of them are some of the strongest Keyblade Masters to ever live with only a handful that I know of to have existed between my time and yours to have been on par with or surpass them." He continued, puffing his chest out in pride at the thought of his apprentices.
Roxas once again shifted through the new information that he had just learned from the man. Not only was Ava a Keyblade Master like Eraqus, but was also one of the earliest to ever exist. But not only that, but in a way this man in front of was the very origin of Keyblade wielding itself. Passed down through the ages from master to apprentice. Well except for ones like himself, Sora, and Riku as he knew that they were mainly self taught. The only other person of his time that knew how to use a Keyblade was King Mickey and Roxas was guessing that he was a Keyblade Master.
However that brought another question to his mind. What happened to Eraqus, Terra, Aqua, and Ven?
However before he could say anything, The Master covered his mouth with a gloved hand.
"I know that you have a lot of questions on your mind, but we don't have enough time for all of them so just pick two questions and stick with them." The Master said. He then removed his hand and pointed at his wrist. As if he was showing the Nobody that he was running out of time.
Roxas immediately knew one question that he wanted to ask.
"How are interacting with me? Last time I tried no one else could see, touch, or hear me?" He asked. It might be one of his least important questions to ask. But his had an inkling that the man in front of him wouldn't give him any information about what would in his time soon.
The Master hummed in thought for a seconds before he had an idea.
"I truly have no idea how I can interact with you. I can guess why, but I won't tell you now as that would be spoiling." He said simply. "Now as for your next question it can be anything except for anything important in your future. It can be anything else though. Like which of the two rocks that you should avoid to trip on in Tatara."
"What do you mean by that?" The Nobody asked. He was curious about any details about his future.
The Master just chuckled at that.
"Sorry, but that would be telling." He said in a singsong voice, causing Roxas to sigh.
'I should have expected that response' He thought in deadpan. The Master seemed to be a wise, yet highly eccentric individual.
Still there was one question that he wanted to know and it concerned his new friend.
"Do you know how Ava ended up in the Realm of Nothingness?"
At that The Master seemed to lose all his energy and slumped onto the nearest bookshelf.
"I really wished that you didn't ask that question." The Master said in a hollow tone. "But I guess that couldn't be helped. You're curious on how she ended up in that horrid place. I'm sorry but that is one question that I can not answer." He said.
"Why?" Roxas asked carefully. He had learned from his various lessons in the Organization that's when a Somebody could get into a state of emotional turmoil like The Master that if pushed to far, they could snap.
It would be a wise choice not to tick off someone with power comparable to an incomplete Kingdom Hearts.
The Master just froze for a second before he let out a sorrow filled sigh.
"It is personal, but I will give you the gist of it." He said separating himself away from the bookshelf and turning to face Roxas.
Through the hood of his coat Roxas could only get a single detail of The Master's face. A single blue eye with a catlike pupil that was emitting a faint glow. With a single tear forming at it's corner.
"I have failed my students Roxas. Believe me I have tried to find ways of averting their fates, but at every turn it only lead to something worse or it their fates didn't change. So I could do nothing but set them on the path that led them with the least amount of hardship possible. But in the end I still failed." The Master said as his head hung low.
Roxas didn't know how to respond to that. So both Keyblade wielders just sat in silence for a few minutes until the sound of a bell began to fill the room.
The Master seemed to perk up at the sound and picked himself off the bookcase.
"Looks like our time is almost up Roxas. So when the door opens please just keep your voice down, I don't want my apprentices to think I'm starting to go crazy by talking to empty air." He said jokingly, his somber mood seemingly gone.
"Alright then, so it'll pretty much be like last night anyway." Roxas replied back.
"Pretty much." The Master said as he grabbed the flask off the bookshelf and began to walk towards the door.
However before he disappeared behind the bookshelves he spun around to face Roxas.
"Roxas, you do not know how lucky you truly are. You are going to do the one thing that I could never do." The Master said somberly to the Nobody and began to walk away to the door, not bothering to continue conversing with him. But he did say something as he vanished behind one of the shelves.
"For unlike me, you actually have the chance to save everyone you care about."
With that he left Roxas dreading what would happen next. By the way that The Master sounded it, the dreams were probably going to show a good portion of what happened all those years ago. If he had to guess correctly then the dreams were going to end in tragedy.
The end of the age of fairy tales.
"What have I gotten myself into." He mumbled to himself. It seemed that the Nobody had no choice but to watch the events unfold before his eyes that would lead to the end of an era.
"No backing out now." Roxas said sighing.
These dreams were probably a side effect of him and Ava traveling back in time and merging with him. How he was able to interact with The Master was beyond him. But he had agreed to the decision o travel back in time. Like with what happened to his timeline these dreams were beyond his control. So he would just have to get used to them and fill in any gaps that he had when Ava woke up.
The second later The Master returned and sent a glance towards the Nobody before walking towards his desk. A second later the dream version of Ava ran past him. After that he saw four figures right behind her.
All four of them were wearing outfits similar to Ava and each of them had an animal mask like her. So they must have been 5 of The Master's other apprentices
The one closest to him was a young male who looked a little older then Ava. He was wearing a white leopard mask and a yellow hooded cloak with light blue tassels. His shirt and sash were a yellowish-tan color with light grey embroidering. His robe was purely light grey.
Behind him were two more males, both looking at least a decade older then Ava.
The man on the left had a white unicorn mask with gold trimming around it and framing his face. He had a white hooded cloak with gold embroidering which also had purple tassels hanging off it. It did nothing to hide the mane of blue hair at the top of his head that ran along his head and ended in a ponytail. His shirt and sash were white with some gold and his robe was light blue.
The man on the right looked a little younger, but he was a head and shoulders taller then the other man along with having a much more muscular frame. He had a dark grey bear mask while wearing a tan colored cloak with black embroidering and golden tassels. His shirt and sash were a lightish brown with black embroidering and tan robe.
Behind them was a young woman who looked about a year or two younger then two men. He couldn't make out any details of her face as it was obscured by a white scarf and a blue mask with a white snake on it. She had a light blue cloak on with gold embroidering and turquoise tassels. Her shirt, sash, and robe were a darker shade of blue with the former two also having gold embroidering on it.
Roxas concluded that these were four of The Master's other apprentices due to each of them having similar attire to Ava.
But there was only five apprentices present at the moment. So where was the sixth apprentice?
He didn't get a chance to think about it, because as soon as The Master put the flask down onto the desk the creature inside began to wake up. Ava immediately bent down to get a better look at it and began to gush over the creature in the flask.
"Master, did you make this? It is so cute!" Ava said as she was immersed the creature's cuteness. Roxas couldn't help but chuckle at their reaction along with the leopard masked apprentice and The Master.
"Well, things are going to get pretty hectic around here soon." The Master explained as he turns to face his apprentices and Roxas. "But this Spirit Chirithy is going to make your lives easier!" He continued before shrugging. "Hopefully."
The apprentices nodded at this before the leopard masked one walked over to get a closer look.
"Spirit?" He questioned.
The Master picked up the Chirithy's flask and began to elaborate.
"You can say they're like cats or dogs. And they'll be your loyal pets." The Master said as he tapped against the glass, waking the Chirithy up. "Every wielder will have one of these adorable little guys at their side."
The Spirit then proceeded to pounce onto The Master's finger in retaliation for disturbing it's nap.
However it hit the glass and slide down back to the bottom of the flask. This caused Roxas to let our a silent chuckle at the Chirithy's antics as it proceeded to sit up and began to sniff around in it's flask. The Master also let out a snicker before he composed himself.
"They're here to help, so play nice." He said..
"Okay" Ava said simply.
"Oh right, before I forget..." The Master said as he put the Chirithy's flask back onto his desk.
Roxas then noticed that his posture turned serious and that his apprentices were giving him their full attention.
"If a wielder is overcome by malice or rather, if their heart is tainted by darkness their adorable little Spirit will turn dark and become a Nightmare." The Master said.
Roxas didn't like the tone The Master had when he had described who the Chirithy would become a Nightmare. It reminded him a bit too much like how someone becomes a Heartless.
"So you're telling us that if we see a Nightmare..." The unicorn masked apprentice started to say.
"Someone has fallen into darkness." The snake masked apprentice finished for him.
"You are correct Ira, Invi. And if you don't stop this renegade Spirit it'll plant darkness into the hearts of others and you'll have an army of Nightmares on your hands. So beware." The Master explained with his tone solemn.
"So basically these Nightmares are like about as dangerous as Heartless except you could get killed instead of turning into one of them." Roxas muttered to himself. It sounded like that a Nightmare Chirithy was just as bad as a Heartless, but were probably intelligent like Ansem, Scar, and Sora when he was one. He was hoping that he wouldn't be facing anything like them anytime soon.
But with his track record it was bond to happen sooner or later.
"So if we seeing of these Nightmares anywhere, we have to get rid of it on the spot." The bear masked apprentice said breaking Roxas out of his thoughts.
"No!" Ava shouted from across the room, getting everyone's attention. She looked rather cross at the bear masked apprentice. "I won't let you do that!"
The leopard masked apprentice placed a hand on Ava shoulder to calm her down a bit. After a few seconds it worked, but she still looked upset at the much larger apprentice. He let go of her shoulder and the corner of his lips began to twitch upwards.
"No wonder you were given the bear mask Aced. You're scary." The leopard masked apprentice said mockingly. Ira and Invi looked like they were going to laugh by how their were holding themselves and how their bodies began to quake.
"Your point Gula?" Aced said, clearly unaware of the other two apprentices holding in their laughs
"Maybe you could grow at them?" Ava suggested.
Roxas proceeded to join Ira and Invi in holding in his laughter when Aced was actually beginning to consider doing exactly as Ava said.
Eventually he figured it out and the three trying to hold in in their laughter nearly burst at Aced's expression.
"Don't insult me!" He said glaring at Ava behind his mask. He began to approach her, but The Master held out his hand and stopped the large apprentice in his tracks.
"Come on, Aced." He said with his voice cracking with humor. "You won't know unless you try." After that he burst out into laughter. He was soon joined by everyone else in the room except for Aced.
It was a refreshing experience for the Nobody as he hadn't laughed like that in far too long.
"Please tell me your joking." Aced said exasperated. It caused everyone to burst into another round of laughter at his expense.
But like pretty much everything in Roxas's life so far, the good times would come to an end.
Roxas stopped laughing when he noticed that his surroundings were getting brighter and brighter by the second. Eventually all he could see was a white light and his surroundings vanish.
The Master noticed that Roxas had vanished while his apprentices were still laughing with Aced joining in half heartedly.
He really loved these moments with his apprentices, in fact they were apart of the reason why he still around in the first place. As he considered them his family, his adopted sons and daughters. Especially Luxu and Ava.
The Master let out a sigh at the thought of Luxu. He had sent his first apprentice out on his task a few weeks ago and he hasn't said anything of the details of his disappearance to any of the others. It was for the best of any of them don't know his current whereabouts.
It was the only way Luxu would survive the Keyblade War at all. As for the other apprentices, their fate in that war was far nicer then anything else he had seen what was fated for them.
Except for his little pup, Ava.
No matter what he could change, the end result was always the same. She would always in some way, shape, or form end up in the Realm of Nothingness.
All because of his life long enemy, fate.
He could travel to other The worlds beyond his own, have total control over reality to a certain degree, have fought god level beings one on one and won, and at the age of 13 helped topple his world's tyrant who had almost succeeded in absorbing all of time and space into herself and becoming the goddess of everything.
But The Master couldn't fully go against fate. Somethings were fixed and somethings weren't. What was going to happen soon was one of the things that he couldn't change. Especially with what was going to happen soon to the young Nobody.
However Roxas was an unique case. He had not only traveled back in time which was near impossible to do, but had also did so without getting Chronos on his tail. That was a miracle in itself as he tended to go after anyone who time traveled beyond the normal conditions.
But then again the way Roxas and Ava traveled destroyed the previous timeline and put an end to that upstart Xehanort, so the spirit was most likely letting it slide. That was unusual given his temperament for humans, but The Master had an inkling on what happened to change his mind besides also getting rid of Xehanort.
The inner workings of the pantheon that governed his and the rest of the worlds always confused and amused him.
But anyway Roxas had actually defied his fate to fade away albeit it took some convincing from his apprentice and Sora plus nearly getting killed by Young Xehanort for him to fully comply. In the end he has succeeded and reversed all the damage that Xehanort had ever inflicted once he acquired the X-Blade.
He had also involuntary created an entirely new timeline that went back to the first major tragedy orchestrated by Xehanort. Sure it was a fixed point, but that didn't mean that the outcome could be altered.
Still there was one major concern The Master had for Roxas.
The current timeline has not settled in yet.
Of course he saw Xehanort's demise and the destruction of the timeline through Riku's Keyblade, but as things were now The Master wasn't sure that Roxas had completely settled the Seeker's fate.
He was seeing multiple ways this could end including everything that Roxas and Ava had changed easily being undone at this point.
Even worse is that while the Nobody couldn't interact with anything besides him, he was also affecting the time stream by crossing over through the Corridor of Ages.
He knew the dangers of using that method and had even made sure that he had erased every last trace of creating one, except for some notes that he made sure that only he could access.
It was probably for the best that he destroys them later.
Evidently Ava had snuck into his study again and must have read a part of those notes. He would have been proud of her for marketing one almost entirely from scratch if it hadn't been for a few things including how irresponsible it was!
First she couldn't enter in alone as it was incomplete. She would lose her physical body and endanger herself to nonexistent simply through entering it. Only Nobodies or Heartless could cross through. And finally it had the same restrictions of regular time travel the allowed form of time travel.
Personally he had created and tried the completed method once. It was as a trial run a trip 10 minutes into the past.
He only got 6 minutes in when he was yanked out of it and forced into a fight. After it was interrupted, both parties agreed to destroy the method, because of the side effects.
Just by crossing it put a considerable strain and the timeline. Causing it to be damaged and like a few minutes ago allowed Roxas to crossover involuntary to this era temporary. Small inconsistencies like that will happen throughout time and space as the concepts began to fix the damage caused by the Corridor.
However whatever way the time stream fixed itself could spell disaster if it hasn't set yet.
He just hoped Roxas could make it stick by the time that he next spoke with each other.
Or else The Master would do what he has wanted to do since he first saw what Xehanort planned, consequences be damned.
He would personally crossover to the Mark of Mastery exam and shove the X-Blade up his wrinkly old ass! Even if he destroyed the time stream it would be worth it.
No matter the cost, he will never allow another tragedy like the Keyblade War to occur for as long as he could
(Chapted 13 end)