The Boy in the Mask

Kiera flew through the tunnels in her ship and armor for a long while, searching for the next world, as well as traces of Ventus. Then, after flying for about an hour, Kiera spotted a person, without a ship, floating through the lanes. It was a boy, in a black mask, with a tight, black and red bodysuit. Kiera gasped.

“That boy matches the description the Grand Duke gave Terra and I” She thought. 

Then, Kiera spotted another person in a suit, similar to her, except blue, black, and gold details, and on a glider of the same colors, not a spaceship.

“Ven!” Kiera realized. 

She floated over and above the glider.

“Ventus!” She called.

Ventus looked up.

“Kiera?” He asked. 

Then, dark smoke suddenly appeared. 

“What!?” 

It seeped into Kiera’s suit and into her lungs. She could hear Ventus call her name, but faint and muffled. She tried to navigate out of it but the engine in her ship stalled. It was getting harder and harder to breathe, and more and more difficult to see. She gasped for breath.

“Ven-!” she croaked.

Then her vision faded, catching a quick glimpse of the masked boy. 

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

“-at did you mean about Terra becoming a different person!?”

“Exactly what I said, idiot. The Terra you know will change forever.”

Kiera pulled her eyelids open. She could see Ventus, a blurry image, amidst bone-dry land with cracked canyons. She felt limp, yet heavy as a stone, floating, bobbing up and down in the air. Looking to her right, she could see the masked boy. Ventus saw her stirring and awaking.

“Kiera!” He cried.

“Ven…tus…” she mumbled.

The masked boy glanced at her, and chuckled. Ventus was furious.

“Why’re you doing this!?” He demanded, “Let Kiera go!”

“What’s…happening…?”

“Stupid. I’m giving you a little motivation,” the masked boy answered, baritone, cooly, “Besides, having your friend get you out of this would be cheating.”

He reached out his hand. A weapon was summoned, a keyblade, black and red with a blue dragon eye at its hilt. Ventus summoned his keyblade. 

“Good. Let’s see what you’re made of.” 

Kiera could only watch helplessly as Ventus charged towards the boy. The two fought for a long time, slashing at each other. The boy mocked Ventus constantly, only making him more angry. He would suddenly disappear then reappear behind him, hitting Ventus hard in the back. Ventus became overly exhausted. Soon, he collapsed to the ground. The boy chuckled impishly again. 

“That’s really all you got? Man, you are worthless. I’d be going against the Master’s orders, but so what? As far as I’m concerned, your job here is done.”

“Master…?” Kiera thought. 

He pointed his keyblade at Ventus, powering up a dark blast to end his life. With all her might, Kiera opened her fist. With great difficulty, against all the clouds and fog in her mind, she summoned her keyblade. 

Suddenly, the masked boy shot his attack. 

“Th-UNDRA!” Kiera managed to shout.

She had shot the back of the masked boy and sent him flying nose-first into the ground. Whatever was holding her lifted, and she fell to the ground. She scrambled up and dashed over to her friend. At the same time, a bright beam of light shimmered from the sky and flashed down towards them. 

    “VENTUS!” 

She fell over him in an attempt to protect him. There was a flashing sound. Then silence. 

Kiera felt nothing, and by nothing, she didn’t feel anything hit her. She opened an eye, then turned around. A little mouse with big round ears, dressed in a black vest and big yellow shoes, stood in front of them. He had a keyblade in his hand, blueish purple with stars and a star at the end of the blade. The mouse glanced around, and smiled with relief at Kiera.

“HEAL!”

With a flash of light, Ventus stirred and opened his eyes. 

“Ven! Oh my gosh, you’re okay!”

He got back onto his knees and looked up.

“Kiera?” 

Kiera helped Ventus back up to his feet and embraced him.

“You’re alright! Thank goodness!”

Ventus was surprised, then returned the hug and closed his eyes.

“Kiera…” he sighed, happily.

The mouse turned to the masked boy, who had just recovered from Kiera’s shock blast.

“Tell me where you got that!” The mouse demanded, pointing his keyblade at the boy, “Keyblades are not used just to bully someone around! Here, I’ll show ya!”

Kiera grabbed Terra’s hand and squeezed it. Kiera summoned her keyblade. 

“Me too!” She exclaimed.

Ventus summoned Wayward Wind.

“So will I!” 

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

With the combined abilities of the three keyblade wielders, the masked boy had no chance. Even with his teleportation ability, his constant mocking, and massive speed, Kiera, Ventus, and their new friend had the upper hand. Soon, the masked boy tired, and he finally collapsed to the ground.  

He laid there for a moment. They wondered if maybe he had passed out, or perhaps even died. However, once they took a step closer, the masked boy suddenly lept to his feet. He summoned a dark portal behind him.

“Hmph. You win” the masked boy announced.

He turned his head slightly to Kiera, who simply scowled at him.

“Interesting…” he said out loud.

Then, he slowly backed into the portal and turned back to Ventus.

“Consider yourself, on probation.”

And with that, the masked boy was gone. 

“Probation…for what?” Ventus asked himself, puzzled.

Ventus and Kiera disabled their keyblades and faced their new ally.

“Thanks for saving us” Kiera thanked.

“Yeah, we owe you one” Ventus added, “My name’s Ventus, this is Kiera. What’s yours?” 

“I’m Mickey!” The mouse greeted.

Kiera observed him curiously. 

“So small, yet so full of light, one of the brightest I’ve ever seen.”

Ventus bent down to speak to Mickey at eye level.

“I see you’ve got a keyblade” he observed.

“Yep! I’ve been trainin’ under the great Yen Sid” Mickey explained.

“I remember him. I overheard Master Eraques speak about him” said Kiera, “Apparently he was one of the best and most powerful Keyblade Masters, but stepped down years ago.”

“Really?” Ventus asked.

Kiera nodded. “So how come he’s training you, Mickey?” 

“Well, I was his appearance before he stepped down. He and I went our separate ways, but after a while, I had this powerful feeling in my heart, that the worlds would soon be in danger, and I needed to prepare.” 

Mickey scratched behind his head embarrassed.

“So when Master Yen Sid found out about the worlds being in trouble, I sort of took off without telling him.” 

Kiera giggled. “That sounds familiar” she commented, glancing at Ventus.

Ventus giggled back, with an embarrassed smile. Mickey looked at the two of them and understood. He pulled out a peculiar gem looming object from his pocket: a blue star, with a lime green bolt going through it. 

“All I hafta do is think it, and this Star Shard will take me anywhere I wanna go! At least, I thought it would. I haven’t quite got the fine points down, like…when, or where… It just kinda kicks in whenever it wants to. But I wouldn’t have met you if it hadn’t brought me here!” 

Kiera and Ventus grinned.

“Ya know, it might not be an accident. Maybe it starts workin’ ’cause it’s reactin’ to somethin’” Mickey suggested. 

“That’s a pretty good theory” Kiera responded, “Maybe you’re right. You sure saved our hides!”

Mickey chuckled.

Suddenly, there was a bright glowing light. Ventus and Kiera were quickly blinded. The Star Shard has kicked in, and they were being carried away. Kiera grabbed Ventus’ hand.

“Ven!” She cried. 

And with that, the three wielders vanished from the Badlands.