"-And that's just the short of it." Luxu finished with an expectant glance to his dumbfounded compatriots.

The silence that fell over the battlefield could be severed with a knife. That being said, it took very little for Aced's typical volume to utterly shatter it. "Excuse me!? You're telling me that the master put us all through that just for this scheme!?" The bear of a man quivered with anger, earning a disapproving glower from Ira. Luxu, or as he was now called, Xigbar, quietly smirked in reply.

"It would make sense though," Gula interceded, now stirred from his thoughts. "If these events were the catalysts for his own existence, he would have no choice but to follow the proverbial script". Adopting a posture that conveyed critical thought he continued. "What I don't understand is why he would insist on using the box…"

Before Aced could share his own opinion on their master's "apparent insanity", it was Invi who provided further insight. "It's because he still has a role to play, isn't it?" The sharpshooter attempted to wink in reply. "You're right on the money sister. Speaking of, I'm going to need some help with this lid here" he explained with a brandish of No Name. "Boss made sure to seal it up nice and tight for trip."

Ira was the first to summon his own keyblade, followed by Invi and Gula. Taking a moment to curb his frustration Aced finally brandished his, muttering how his master would never hear the end of this. With an almost rehearsed motion all five keyblade masters pointed their blades at the box, dissolving the locks into stardust.

Slowly the lid of the ancient chest lifted of its own accord, revealing the black robed figure inside. Lazily extricating himself from the box, the master of masters thoroughly stretched himself out with a yawn, as if it was any other morning routine. "(*yawn), morning everyone, thanks for getting me out of that thing. Who knew I'd get a taste of Genie's old lifestyle?"

Finally boiling over, Aced menacingly marched over to the lazy orchestrator in a quivering fury. "You put us through all of this-this torture, just so you could take the longest nap in all of history!?" His master simply raised his hands in surrender, "what can I say? I needed my beauty sleep." With a combined effort, Ira and Xigbar restrained the bear masked fellow from lunging at their newly awakened mentor.

"Calm down big guy, you're not the only one here who wants to beat up the old idiot," Xigbar consoled. Having calmed his ursine friend into only staring daggers, he was able to display his full profile to the subject of their ire. "… Wait a sec…" the master of masters began to scrutinize his most valuable student, suddenly erupting in explication. "Luxu!? You were Xigbar this whole time!? Oh man!" having his mind thoroughly blown the teacher brought a hand over his forehead, "I can't believe it! I would have never seen this coming!"

He suddenly paused, having just arrived to the train of thought Xigbar was dreading for over a decade. "… Oh jeez, your eye thing… uh, wow, I feel really bad. Trust me I had absolutely NO intention of it going that way" the vibrant man tried to Supplicate with a steadying gesture. This did little to quell the grimace that adopted his disciple's features.

With a clench fist Xigbar muttered out "yeah yeah, I ended up losing an eye trying to get yours back. I'm sure it's downright hilarious." Slowly releasing a sigh he regained an amused expression towards his recently released charge. "Seriously, you never change master, no matter if you're a kid or adult." Xigbar then adjusted his grip on No Name, offering it back to the key's creator. "Here, now that you're done scouting, I want you out of the deadeye club."

"Well fine, as if I'm one to overstay my welcome" the hooded figure mockingly retorted with a classic grin. Recollecting his property the figure swiftly cast a spell, desynthesizing the instrument of darkness into nothing but its materials. Pocketing the excess he was left staring at his now human eye, just as sky-blue as its twin."Now children, I want you to look away, daddy needs to do something gross" the figure japed. Taking no head of his advice, the remaining lost masters observed as the former teacher pulled down his hood to reveal a head of brown spiky hair. At last, Sora was nearly home.

With exaggerated effort the former hero remedied his lack of depth perception, giving an audible shiver once his task was complete. "Now then," Sora began as he set his hood back into place, "I hope our dear Luxu got you all caught up, cause I'm not exactly interested in starting class right now." Despite his declaration Ira, the ever faithful student, stepped forward to initiate the new conversation.

"He did master, but I feel like you're still keeping a secret from us" Ira accused. Sora could only be proud of his student's newfound confidence. "Not bad Ira, you've strengthened your heart since the last time we spoke" the grown islander commended. Crossing his arms he then shifted his gaze downward. "Well, you're not wrong I guess, but honestly it's just because I don't like talking about it." Based on the sudden ripples of anger stemming from his students, MoM realized that his explanation was unsatisfactory.

"Fine, it turns out that young Xehanort was right about the power of waking having drawbacks." Setting his arms behind his back he adopted the posture of a mentor, igniting a sense of nostalgia for all of those in attendance. "In order to give someone time to be in the waking world, you have to give up some of your own. Suffice it to say that using all my time on the other guardians of light set me back a ways. Lucky for me I got really good at sleeping, so I learned how to keep my heart moving by take detours through the final world. And that's how I came over to your worldline" Sora gestured to the class, "I just… dreamt my way over."

"Then, why did you need to use the box?" Gula interjected. Seeing an opportunity to re-engage in the conversation, Aced also joined in. "Yeah. If you're supposed to be dreaming or something, wouldn't you just go back to your real body eventually?" This reignited Sora's infectious smile. "Actually that's where Kairi came into the picture. Thanks to her heart's connection to mine I could find my way back." With a sigh he deflated, turning around to make a seat of the box. "The problem is that Xehanort seemingly destroyed her, and my tether with it. The next time I fell asleep I got lost, and I just started popping up all over the place. Well, let's just say I'm worse off than Ventus was."

Xigbar tsked at the mention of the kid's name, having grown tired of running into his face as it throughout the countless centuries. Sora chuckled at the sound of this, having seen those encounters first hand through his errant eye. "Well, to wrap it up, I wanted to see if the box could keep me from wandering off in a dream" he explained with a gentle pat to the lid. "And thanks to our beloved Luxu here I'm the closer to the time of my sleeping body than I've ever been." Master Sora finished by walking over to Xigbar and awkwardly embracing the man. "I know I said this already but congratulations! You did a great job. You even completed my bonus mission! S-ranked all the way!" With a wearied voice the one-eyed student simply replied "yeah, sure thing master" all the while extricating himself from the unreciprocated hold.

Trying not to take offense to his student's clear lack of affection (and failing), Sora turned back to his personal time capsule. "Alright then, time for phase 6-ish" the brown haired schemer declared. The party then observed the man sift through what appeared to be bottomless container, seemingly tuning out the rest of the world. Surprisingly enough it was Invi to lose patience first. "Enough master!" the young woman exclaimed, causing her mentor to bump his head on the box's lid. "Why were we summoned back? Clearly you need our help with something" she stated.

"I was getting to that" Sora responded rubbing his sore head. "(Wow, take a short vacation and the whole house turns against you)." The master dared only to whisper that part, else risk the wrath of his surrogate daughter. In short order he found an old notebook tucked away in the corner of his compartment. Turning to the first page he began sharing his new master plan.

"Alright team, so the dream cycle that I came from should be starting pretty soon. After that I promise that I'm going in blind- no offense Luxu." Xigbar merely rolled his one good eye in response. "What I do remember is that early on in my adventure I met a hooded figure, or should I say, WILL meet a hooded figure." He passed the book over to Ira, knowing that he would desire to scrutinize the text the most of all. "This man in a familiar black coat will introduce himself as the fabled master of masters, and challenge me, who was still Sora, to unlock the secrets of dream-walking. The problem is that I fell asleep before I could make any headway, so all of the research I've done has been done in my sleep, which I will forget all about the moment I wake up."

At this point Ira finished the first few pages of the journal. Once again shocked by his master's depth of detail he looked up from the paragraphs with a sudden epiphany. "Master, could this be-" Sora interrupted Ira midsentence. "Yep, that is my one-of-a kind dream journal!" The black coat exclaimed gesturing to the tome in question. "It contains all the tips and tricks a starry eyed keyblade master could ever want, packaged in the cheapest leather the world of light has to offer."

"Please tell me this is not a trick master" Abed, in what seemed to be the humblest tone of his life, beseeched the wandering instructor. "I promise no more tricks guys" Sora answered with a palm raised in an oath. "This one you get to share, no missing pages, no time-paradoxes, no more excuses." Xigbar and Gula brightened at the mention of these declarations. "Think of it as a graduation present." At this all five students adopted a confused expression.

"Look, what I'm TRYING to say is…" Sora began to rub his head in an attempt to find the right words. "… (*sigh) I need your help again." A mixture of conflicting emotions arose from his audience. The traumas incurred by their last assignments irrevocably scarred the foretellers, one to the point of disappearing without a trace. "Look, nothing I say will make things right" Sora continued. "But the younger me had nothing do with the war. If anything I'm sure he'd start fight me the moment if he learns the truth." Standing up the shadowy figure addressed each of the former union leaders. "Please, watch out for Sora when he wakes up. The rest I collected in the box should keep him going for a while, but it will all be a waste if he can't find Kairi in time. Please help him, and at the very least teach him not to wander off. If nothing else you can get revenge on me by bullying him with assignments. What do you say?"

It took a while for them to respond, but Xigbar was the first to step forward. "Alright boss, I'll babysit you again. Besides, I've just started getting use to the Sora brand of crazy again." The gunman stated with a laugh. Next it was Abed, followed by Ira, Gula and Invi. "I'm going to hold you to offer about bully him master, especially if he's as lazy as you are." Abed stated with a grin. Sora couldn't help but sweat a little at this, but was distracted from his concerns by Gula's affectionate grasp to the shoulder. "Don't worry master, once we find Ava we'll find Kairi before you can even blink" the leopard man added. "Who knows?" Ira asked after grasping the other shoulder. "Maybe we'll turn you into a proper master this time around." Sputtering, the master of masters couldn't contain himself. "What!? Are you saying I was a bad instructor!? That's harsh even for you Ira." This actually got a chuckle out of his students, and the former keyblade hero couldn't help but smile for this.

"Alright guys, I'm counting on you. I know you'll do great." Fishing out the extra materials from No Name, he handed them to Xigbar muttering a spell under his breath. They instantly synthesized into a blade personally designed for the ancient guardian, easing a secret ache that was left in the unsung hero for so long.

Stepping back, the fabled master of masters looked upon his underappreciated family, believing that things will turn out this time. "… May your heart be your guiding key…" And with that phrase Sora disappeared with the box, ready to fulfill one final prophesy. After that, it was only a matter of waking up.