Chapter Twelve – Reality Burns

~Pyra~

I awoke in the early morning to the sound of something scratching at the door, and loudly at that. It was too loud to be a cat, even too loud to be a person with long nails.

Naturally, I got up to investigate. I blinked myself awake, wandered over to the door, and opened it to find –and what else could it be- an Unversed. Scratch that, seven Unversed. The little Scrapper type. You know the ones. I folded down the edge of a glove to sneak a peek at my watch. 4:30 AM.

"Do you buttwipes ever just GIVE UP?" I groaned. I pointed at the ceiling. "Thunder."

I wiped my eyes with my free hand as lightning seemed to fall from the ceiling and strike down every Scrapper in the corridor. If a simple Thunder spell was enough to beat these guys, then maybe I was cut out for magic. Just didn't have the drive.

"Let that be a lesson to ya'," I nodded, picking up the dropped Munny before turning to go back into my room. Then I realised it would probably be pointless; I sleep like the dead, but once I wake up, that's it, I'm awake, no changing that.

So, instead, I just sat on the floor in front of my door, keeping watch with crossbow in hand.

I heard something to my left, and instantly swung round, crossbow armed and ready, pointed at the source of the noise.

Lea had just left the room next to mine, eyes wide at the threat of a crossbow loaded with something sharp and pointy. "Mind where you're wavin' that thing…" He eyed the crossbow groggily but cautiously, hands in the air.

"Sorry," I apologised, "damn Unversed woke me up about ten minutes ago, I'm keeping watch to make sure nothing else comes down here. Guess I'm a little jumpy at this time of morning. What you doing up?"

"I heard the Unversed, too, but only just before you zapped them," he smirked. "I got up cause it's boring just staring at the ceiling."

"Too right it is," I agreed, nodding sleepily. I played with my sleeve absentmindedly, crossbow on my lap, locked to safe as I leaned against the wall, eyes shut. Damn, was I drowsy.

"Hey, what's that emblem you wear mean? The sort of spiky heart shaped one," Lea asked groggily, wiping his eyes and blinking a few times.

"It means I can use the Keyblade. Two thirds of the people I know with Keyblades wear this emblem somewhere on their clothes," I explained, looking at the emblem embroidered into my jacket. "I like it, as much as I can't do shit with the Keyblade, I've worn the emblem since I was eight-ish."

"Fair enough," Lea nodded, sinking down the wall, hands in the pockets of his jeans as he shut his eyes, relaxing. "It's nice in this world," he mused.

"I agree," I smirked. "The parties could use a bit more oomph to their music, though. Everything else is pretty good."

"Good company?" Lea opened his eyes, looking up at me from where he was lying on the floor.

"Yeah, why else would I have you guys here?" I nodded, hoping my cheeks weren't as red as they felt. Damn straight I ain't telling him, I thought.

"A good point," he smirked, shutting his eyes again. He hadn't noticed, brilliant.

There was a scuffle from the end of the hall, and instantly, my hands were on the crossbow, and the crossbow was pointed at the source of the noise, no longer clicked to safe. A Bruiser. I fired, and the bolt in the action hit the mark perfectly, Bruiser now flailing on the ground as it struggled to get up. I loaded another arrow from the quiver on my back, then fired, hitting the thing dead centre. It vanished, and I got up to collect the Munny it dropped, as well as my arrows. I returned to find Lea staring at me.

"Two shots ain't that many," he noted, "and that's a lot of Munny."

"Enchanted bolts," I told him, "imbued with light energy. Defeats any dark thing about two times as quick as normal, and I don't need to exert myself to do it. Thankyou, Dad," I smirked, looking at the ceiling as if I could see Departure through it.

"Your dad must be good at magic and stuff," Lea smirked.

"He has to be, he runs the Keyblade Academy in my world. Has done since his teacher handed over to him. He's a Keyblade Master, kinda like how I'm not quite ready to be one yet," I laughed.

"You'll get there. If I've learnt anything about you in the past… Five days now? It's that you're persistent. You'll do it, I know you will."

"It'd be good if I did, but it's just that the damned wrist guard keeps getting in the way! I just can't seem to be able to work with it, not knowing that it's there."

"Then pretend it's not. That might help," He suggested. "Ignore it."

"Doubt that'll do much," I mused, sitting down beside him once more.

"You never know until you try."

"I guess."

There was a long, yet accepted silence. It's good when you have a friendship with someone where you can just sit in silence without it being awkward. It's kinda relaxing.

Eventually, I put up my hood, and slid down the wall, falling asleep on the floor in the hallway.

…..

I awoke a few hours later to realise my crossbow was missing from where I'd put it next to me when I sat down, to find that Lea had it, and had been sneakily prying arrows from my quiver whenever an Unversed had come along. "Sorry," he apologised, "you fell asleep just as an Unversed showed up. Your crossbow was just lying there, I knew summoning weapons made noise, and I didn't want to wake yo-"

"Stop trying to explain. You were holding down the fort while I was asleep. Thank you," I nodded. I looked at my watch. 7:45 AM. "We should start preparing for the trip back to Radiant Garden. I'll wake up Zack, shall I?"

"Go ahead, oh, and here's your crossbow, I'll use my chakrams now," Lea agreed, handing back my crossbow, which I put away immediately.

"If any Unversed come by, hit 'em hard!" I fist pumped once, before bursting into Zack's room. "WAKEY WAKEY," I yelled in his ear. "Fire," I laughed, holding a fireball above his face as he opened his eyes. "THE FIRE'S GONNA GET YOU IF YOU DON'T~!"

He blinked warily, suddenly very awake, before slipping out of the bed and away from the looming fireball. "Did you have to wake me up like that?"

"It worked, didn't it? Get ready, we're going soon," I told him, walking out of the room and into my own to get my stuff. I shut the door behind me, and took off my jacket, replacing it with my armour. I grabbed my bag, but not before sending away my quiver. I slung the bag over my back, made the bed, then left the room. I looked down at where Lea was sitting, keeping guard. "I'll take over until you guys are ready," I said. "Then we should go find that butler and thank him and his bosses for letting us stay."

"Agreed. Back in two minutes," Lea grinned, darting inside his room. I leant against the wall, and summoned my Keyblade. I examined the handle.

'Maybe what Lea said would work…' I thought to myself. I looked at the keychain hanging from the handle that gave the blade its form. 'It's unlikely… Maybe not…'

An Unversed (a Flood) rounded the corner down the hall. I reacted by throwing my Keyblade at it, full force, in the only Keyblade manoeuvre I was really good at: A strike raid.

The Keyblade flew past the Unversed, clipping it hard on the antenna, then spun back like a boomerang, smacking the Flood in the back of the head before I caught my weapon again. The Flood's attention now gained, I darted over to it and smacked it as hard as I could. It vanished, dropping Munny. I picked it up and put it in my pocket, before wandering back to the rooms.

I sat down on the floor across from the boys' doors. Zack was the first to emerge. He shut his door and leant against it, one foot against the hard wooden surface. "So, we're going back to your base, then?"

"I suppose you could call it that," I smirked. "Radiant Garden's pretty damn cool, full of light. You'd like it."

"I hope so."

Lea exited his room.

"Ready to go, then?" He asked us.

"All set," I nodded, "Zack, you good to go?"

"Sure. Let's do this."

"Well, off we go, then."

….

~ABOUT AN HOUR LATER~

We touched down in Radiant Garden at about 9 AM. Zack looked at the castle in awe, as I concentrated on landing. Wouldn't want to stuff up like the last time I landed here. I slowed to a halt, hovering inches above the flowers in the Outer Gardens, avoiding the one citizen in the area. I went to get off the glider, before I heard a sharp cry.

"NO! DON'T STEP ON THE FLOWERS!"

I noticed Zack snap his head around to the voice the moment the girl cried out. "Aerith!"

"Zack! What are you doing here?" The brown haired girl asked, blinking.

"I could ask you the same thing…" He jumped off of the glider, clearing the flowers by about an inch as I steered the glider away from the flowerbed.

"Apparently, one of the firsts went crazy in Nibelheim and burned everything… I could sense his darkness flowing into the Lifestream, our world just… imploded. Those with strong hearts wound up here, I guess," 'Aerith' told him. "Who're your friends?"

I got off the glider, and Lea followed. I took off my helmet, offering my free hand for a shake. "I'm Pyra," I smiled.

She accepted the shake, getting up from her place by the flowers, her blue and white dress ruffling in the slight breeze. She turned to Lea. "And you?"

"Lea," He grinned as he banished his armour. He also held out his hand for a shake, which Aerith accepted.

"Wait, what do you mean the world imploded?" Zack and I made the connection at the exact same time. This was some serious shit.

"Shinra's Empire is gone. The darkness that lay waiting within was too great," she frowned, gently caressing a flower she'd picked.

"Well, I'm glad you're okay…" Zack smiled warmly, his face showing genuine concern. I realised that Lea and myself were probably a little out of place here.

"Lea," I said, deactivating my armour, "we should let Shiloh know we're back for now."

"Agreed," he nodded. Together, we left the Outer Gardens, heading in the direction of the house he called home.

….

~Zack~

As the others walked away, I realised there was something strangely familiar catching the morning sun just past the fountain. The light shone in my eyes, and I was forced to look away. "Hey, Aerith, you have a better angle than I do," I began, "is that a sculpture over there, or are my eyes telling the truth?"

"Zack…" she paused, frowning slightly. Aerith hardly ever frowned. "Zack, I'm sorry… Just… Don't freak out…"

Suddenly quite anxious, I moved a little, so the object was out of the glare of the sun. I gasped.

Jutting out of the ground in front of me was Angeal's sword.

"AWESOME!" I grinned. "Angeal's here! I wonder what he'll say when he sees how much I've improved!"

"Zack… That's why… That's why I didn't want you freaking out…" Aerith trailed off.

"What d'you mean?"

"He… He didn't make it, Zack. He went back to the Lifestream just before it ended. This was attached to the sword, it's got your name on it…" She held out a note to me. I did nothing; I just stood there.

How could Angeal, my teacher, my mentor, be gone?

Hesitantly, I took the note. I pulled it from the envelope, reading it slowly.

None of what I read sank in.

…

~Pyra~

"So, I think Zack might have been a bit of a hypocrite," Lea sniggered.

"Yeah, I agree," I nodded. "At least he knows the people we're looking for."

"Speaking of looking at stuff, I was gonna show you the library here, wasn't I?" Lea elbowed me gently, taking me by the wrist. I was reminded of the first time I was in the Outer Gardens; afterwards, he did just this, and led me in the direction of his and Shiloh's house. "You'll be really blown away, it's huge."

'That's what she said, hah,' I thought, before speaking. "Oh yeah? Prove it then!"

With grins on our faces, he led the way to the library, just like he led the way five days before. Except this time, he seemed stronger, prouder. A smidge quieter, but I guessed he must have been thinking. Quietly, I wondered what he was thinking of, but didn't interrupt his train of thought.

I hate when someone stops my train.

….

-MEANWHILE-

The purple haired young woman stared at the young librarian, chained and gagged deep under the library, hidden in a dark corner of the basement, amongst the archives. With a twitch of her pointed ears, she transformed into an exact likeness of the girl before her, clothes and all.

The librarian, her mousey hair trimmed to just below her ears, a pair of round spectacles perched upon her nose, tried to cry out, her voice greatly muffled by the material in her mouth. She squirmed and writhed in her bindings, desperately trying to escape.

"So, Reality, is it?" The shapeshifter asked, putting one foot on the edge of the chair the librarian was struggling to be free from. "Do people call you Ria from from time to time? Might work well for me, it's one of my nicknames." Her mouth curled up at the corners in a somewhat sinister smile. "Go on, shake your head, nod, whatever."

Reality nodded her head madly, so fiercely that her long, plaid skirt ruffled slightly beneath the chains as her entire body moved. It was a vigorous nod.

"Brilliant," the clone of sorts leaned a little closer, mimicking Reality's voice while grinning sadistically, taking the librarian's glasses with a flick of the wrist. "That'll do perfectly."

She removed her foot, taking a few steps back. She silently conjured a wind to move the paper surrounding the librarian about two feet away from the poor girl, then forged an invisible but soundproof barrier around her. With a snap of her fingers, she set the librarian ablaze, and watched as she writhed in her chains. Within about ten seconds, the intensity of the flames killed the girl, who had no resistance to magic, and a little while later, all that remained was a charred pile of ash.

"Pity you had to die," the new Reality sneered, scattering the ashes around the room like regular dust, the assassin masking the odor of burnt flesh with the sharp smell of the lavender essence she carried for just such reasons. "Oh well. It's not like you'll be missed too badly. Technically, you're not even gone."

With a smirk, she whirled on her heel and headed for the stairs back up to the library.

"The race is on, Vanitas," she mused, putting on the spectacles, "Pyra and her friends are my kill."

….

~Pyra~

"Well, here we are," Lea grinned, waving his hand at the large, rectangular building. "The library."

"It's MASSIVE," I gawked, before quickly doing a scan of my surroundings. No Unversed lying in wait. Everything seemed saf-

"Hey there!" came a sharp, loud, young voice from behind us. I flinched, whirling on my toes. Standing before me was a young girl, about ten, dressed like a young ninja, silver ribbon wrapped around her forehead under her short black fringe. Her green and yellow attire nearly made me laugh.

"Well hi," I smirked. "Looking for someone? Something?"

"Nope! I've come for your materia!" She grinned, then she was suddenly behind me, digging through my bag.

"HEY! Get outta there, that ain't yours!" I snapped, thrashing a little, bucking the girl off. This girl wasn't just an actual ninja, but a thief!

"And what the hell's a materia?" Lea asked, grabbing the girl by the hood of her wrap around.

"STOP STALLING, I know you have some SOMEWHERE," She karate chopped Lea's wrist, before attacking my bag again. I pushed her back, holding her at arm's length.

"Stop attacking us, maybe we can help without you trying to pinch our stuff," I scolded, an eyebrow raised.

"THE GREAT NINJA YUFFIE SHOWS NO MERCY!" She cried, attempting to tackle me. I sidestepped, and took her by the hood as Lea had done before. I quickly spared a glance at him. His wrist was red, and he was rubbing it gently.

"Yeah, well, the phoenix warrior Pyra doesn't take no for an answer. Stop attacking us!"

"I want… my materia…" the girl Yuffie whined, before struggling free and sprinting away.

There was a long silence, before either of us spoke. "Well, that was weird," I shrugged, turning back to the library, and searching my bag. All of my weapons were still there. All of my Munny was still there. "Back to business then!"

"Phoenix warrior Pyra?" Lea smirked. "Sounds like a cartoon superhero. Superman, Wonder Woman, the Incredible Flash, the Mighty Phoenix…"

"Oh, shut up," I laughed, elbowing him, "I had to think of something. My fave mythical creature would do. How's the wrist?"

"Fine. A bit red, but otherwise fine," he nodded, "shall we go then?"

"Indeed we shall," I agreed, and we went to enter the library.

We were met at the door by a girl, maybe sixteen, dressed very properly. She was in a long, plaid skirt and an argyle patterned vest, worn over the top of a pristine white shirt. Upon her nose sat a pair of spectacles, and her mousey brown hair seemed to be the only part of her that was even semi unkempt, trimmed to just below her chin, small tufts sticking up about five centimetres above either ear.

"Hello, are you coming to borrow something?" She asked.

"Hm? Nah, we're just here so I can show her how much stuff this library has," Lea grinned, gesturing towards me. "She's never actually been here, would you believe?"

"Really? Are you not a library person, then?" The girl asked.

"No, no, I love reading," I nodded, ad-libbing. "I just never realised there was a library here, is all."

"Well, if you want, I could show you around?" She grinned, gesturing that I follow her.

"Sure, as long as Lea can come too, I guess. I'm Pyra, by the way," I told her.

"Nice to meet you Pyra, Lea, It's a pleasure. I'm Reality. Call me Ria."

"Reality, huh? That's an unusual name," I noted.

"Only as unusual as you want it to be," she grinned, turning to the library. "Now come on in, choose your poison."

...

~MEANWHILE~

The boy wandered down the unfamiliar streets, scratching at his neck warmer. He was used to slightly cooler weather, and his Shin-Ra infantry uniform wasn't helping. At all.

He mutely wondered if anyone else from his world had wound up where he did.

Wherever that was.

He scanned the world for something, anything: A familiar face, objects from home, anything.

There was nothing.

Not one member of the Shin-Ra infantry. Not one friend from Nibelheim.

Not that anyone from Nibelheim would be around anymore anyway. Not after what Sephiroth did. Not his mother. Not his next door neighbour.

Not Tifa.

With a sigh, he walked through the square and through a gate. It looked like the way to leave town. There wouldn't be much of a point staying if he didn't know anyone. When he joined the infantry a few months earlier, it was different. He was in a place where he could dream of becoming a SOLDIER. Dream of being able to go home to Nibelheim one day, look Tifa in the eye, and say, 'Look, I became a 1st. You proud?'

In the distance, he could see a fountain. There were two figures by it, one standing, one crouched. He squinted.

No, the crouched figure was two people, one was hugging the other from behind as if to comfort them. The standing figure was, when looked at properly, the sword of the SOLDIER 1st class Angeal.

Then he realised he knew the SOLDIER by the sword. Not the girl giving him a hug, but the SOLDIER.

Zack.

He moved to go greet him, but was stopped by a voice from behind him. "Cloud?"

The blonde boy whirled around to see a girl dressed in a brown outfit, her black hair pulled into a ponytail at the nape of her neck.

"Tifa?" He gasped. "You're alive?"

"Yeah... One moment, Nibelheim was burning, the next... I woke up here in the middle of the night," the girl explained, rubbing her head. She looked at the boy, her brown eyes relieved. "I'm glad at least you and me made it."

"Yeah... I don't think everyone was as lucky," Cloud could hardly talk, he was that relieved.

"Reality really sucks sometimes, doesn't it?" Tifa groaned.

"Yeah," Cloud agreed. "It does."