The guardians watched as the two masters began to glow. A warm light emanating from both of the two former friends as they smiled at one another. The darkness Xehanort harbored nowhere to be seen. But then the light grew brighter, flashing blindingly white. Those witnessing the phenomenon covering their eyes from the sight.

The light faded, the guardians blinking stars from their eyes. The scene in front of them now changed. Where the two masters had once stood, there were now two figures huddled together on the ground, unconscious. 

A few moments passed where no one dared to breathe. A few more beats and the two figures began to stir. Awake again. And what comes after, not even Kingdom hearts could have predicted.

Eraqus came to slowly, the deafening ring in his ears lulling to a hum as the feeling in his limbs returned. The hard surface beneath his side telling him he was lying on the ground. Why that was, he couldn't tell you.  He heard another sound then, a voice he knew. 

"Stay back!" The sound of his friend's voice laced with an uncharacteristic apprehension spurned Eraqus to open his eyes. Where he was greeted by an unexpected sight. 

He saw Xehanort's back. His friend crouched down in front of him. Keyblade arm outstretched. Defensive but ready to strike. 

Eraqus sat up. Looking where xehanort had his keyblade raised toward a large group of people. Who were all staring at them. A blue haired woman stood in front. The keyblade in her hand poised to strike. 

"...Xeha.." Eraqus said. Now just as apprehensive as Xehanort's voice had sounded before. Placing a hand on Xehanort's shoulder, he began to stand. His friend rose with him as they tried to back away from the clearly angry woman. 

"What'd you do this time!?" Xehanort has been known to cause trouble. Picking fights, hitting on girls who couldn't be any less interested. Surely this situation was the same. 

"Nothing!!!" Xeha hissed back at him. "I wake up on the ground and this lady pulls a keyblade on me!" 

"Yeah, and? Vera did the same thing last week! You deserved it then!" 

"I did no-! Okay, maybe I did. But this isn't last week Eraqus!" Xehanort turned to his accuser "Oh but  weren't you the one who told Aliana she wasn't pretty enough to be my type?! That's some tact you have, Mr. Nobleman!"

The current situation faded away as the two bickered. Xehanort dispelling his keyblade as he fully faced his raven haired friend. Hostile woman and group of strangers forgotten. 

 Eraqus sputtered, "I just told her the truth! I don't do well under pressure, Xeha!"

"You could have been nice about it!! She was crying when she attacked me!" 

"Oh like tears have ever moved you before." Eraqus had crossed his arms now.

Just because the strangers faded from their minds however, didn’t mean that they weren’t there. Their bickering was silenced as the tip of a keyblade returned to Xehanort’s face. The silver haired boy flinching back, eyes widening at the culprit. The same blue haired woman glaring him down, unwavering.

“H- hey! What’s the big idea, Lady?” Xehanort and Eraqus both voiced protests at the woman. Raising their hands in surrender. 

Eraqus saw a tall man approach behind the woman, his brows knit in concern as he reached toward her. “Aqua, I don’t think-” 

“This is just another of Xehanort’s tricks! He always has a plan, Always!”

“Hey , I don’t know what you’re talking abou--” Eraqus

“Aqua, wait! Maybe we can-” 

“Sleep!” The woman’s voice rang out with the spell. 

Eraqus felt the effects immediately, vision blurring as his body gave out on him. His eyes closed as he slipped into sleep.

Yen Sid woke with a splitting headache. These headaches weren’t uncommon, his ability of postcognition and clairvoyance allowing the universe to constantly whisper into his mind. 

Besides the headache, Yen Sid also noticed that he didn’t appear to be in his bed. Groggily opening his eyes he discovered that yes, he had been asleep sitting at a desk. But not his desk as he recognized the room he was in to be his Grandfather's study and decidedly not his dorm room. 

Odd. Yen Sid thought to himself as he tried to recall how he’d gotten back to the tower. The last he remembered was-- what? Was he in class? In his dorm? The memories were fuzzy and his headache was doing the opposite of helping. 

The tower was quiet as he made his way down the stairs. He’d called for his Grandfather a few times with no luck, the tower seemingly empty aside from himself and the few enchanted brooms he’d seen wandering around. 

It had been about three hours since he woke, Yen Sid had found himself in the library skimming through a book on magic when it happened. He felt the familiar disturbance in the magic around the tower. Yen Sid could tell that the barrier had let them in, whoever it was. Permitting access to the visitor. 

Yen Sid closed the book he’d been reading and headed for the entrance. Assuming his Grandfather had returned to the tower, he felt he should greet him home. It had been a while since he’d seen the man who’d raised him. Nearly an entire year had passed since he’d left to become an apprentice of the Keyblade. 

At the top of the stairwell now, Yen Sid saw as the doors opened below. A few unfamiliar people stepped inside. None of them his grandfather, making Yen Sid uneasy. But they were in the tower, and as far as he could tell he was the only one there to greet them. He took a steadying breath and continued down the stairs as he spoke. “Can I help you? I'm afraid my Grandfather is away if you've come to see him." 

The woman holding the door open turned to him as he announced himself. Her brows furrowed in confusion. "A child.." he heard her mutter to herself, before she addressed him. "We've come to see the Master, I didn't know he had a grandchild. My name's Aqua."

As she introduced herself others came through the door she'd propped open. The last two men to enter carrying two familiar faces. 

"Era! Xeha!" Yen Sid's eyes widened at the sight of them, unresponsive in the stranger's arms. He rushed forward. Startling the red haired man holding his friend Eraqus. 

"Woah! Who's the kid?" The redhead shifted, adjusting his grip on the teenager in his arms. Eraqus looked to be alright, at least physically. A glance at Xehanort, who was held similarly by another tall man, showed the same. Both of them seemed uninjured, but they were unresponsive. Both very deep in their slumber, not stirring at all from the commotion. 

"He said he's the masters’ grandson." Yen Sid ignored the strangers as they muttered amongst themselves.

"What happened to them? Are they alright?" Yen sid had forgone all formalities, worried for his friends. 

"They're just asleep. They'll be fine." The brunette man holding Xehanort assured him. 

"R-right," Yen Sid relaxed at that. "that's good…" The stranger's assurances helped ease his worries some, but he couldn't help but feel uneasy. Everything had been odd since he woke up here. His head pounded, his headache returning as he tried to recall how he was here and not in his dorm at Scala. His Grandfather being gone was very odd as well, the man very rarely ever left the tower. Everything he needed was here, after all. 

And now a group of strangers arrive with his two friends who are unconscious for an unknown reason. Yen Sid is certain that something has happened.

The group had started up the stairs as Yen Sid shook himself out of his musings to follow them through his grandfather’s study and into the adjacent room where there were a few cots. Likely magically conjured, the tower sensing their needs. 

Eraqus and Xehanort were laid in the cots, Yen Sid looking between them concerned. 

“Hey, kid,” Yen Sid turned to the red haired man who had carried Eraqus in. “you said their names earlier, you know these two?” the man crossed his arms.

“Yea, you called them by shortened names too, ‘Era’ and ‘Xeha’, right?” The woman, Aqua, added her own question. Yen Sid could feel the others’ eyes on him too. The tension in the room making the line of questioning feel more like an interrogation than casual conversation. 

Yen Sid cleared his throat before answering. “Yes, they’re my friends. Eraqus and Xehanort.” He gestured toward the two in turn. “We go to school together.” He gave them the safe answer of course, as it’s not safe to just tell anyone of the Keyblade or Scala ad Caelum. But after he said it, his interrogators all shared glances and he suddenly felt that he gave the wrong answer. 

The woman looked back to him then and smiled softly as she asked him yet another question; “What did you say your name was?”. 

He answered honestly. “It’s Yen Sid.” and he watched as her eyes widened. The others’ having similar reactions too. They knew something, knew him, and Yen Sid grew uneasy at the realization. 

He had a feeling that things were about to get a lot more complicated.