Fellowship & Fairydust

Kicking a stone I watched it bounce down the cobblestone road, sighing as I reflected upon the turn of events. Alone again. It always seems to happen no matter what. At least this time I had been given a reason why. Because of how I acted. 

Taking a seat on a crate, I thought back to when I first came here. It hadn’t been the greatest highlight of my life, but I think now I understood why someone had turned me down when I made a request…

 

Five Months Ago…

I still didn’t want to believe I wasn’t on Harthyn anymore, but the evidence continued to pile up. Still, that didn’t mean I liked it because everything was so different. Everything had to be made by hand, from the food to the shelters. They have machines for heavy lifting, but they’re so primitive this place may as well be in the stone age. Man, I wish someone would figure out how to get us back home so I could leave this behind– Gri’s beak! I had to jump back to avoid getting crushed by some rubble.

“There you go. It should be easier to work now.” I heard someone speak. Turning the corner, I saw some construction workers thanking a woman dressed in black clothes that matched her hair. I didn’t understand the point of the train as she wasn’t in a wedding dress, but I guess that’s another reason why this world was weird. As she began walking away, I saw her brush some dust and pebbles off her. Did she clear that stuff away? How? Did… did she use her hands? No, her fists?! I could see the dust on them, but she wasn’t even hurt. That shouldn’t be possible but here it was. That was incredible, so I jogged over to her. “Hey!” 

Turning to me, she blinked in confusion. “Can I help you, kid?” 

“Yeah. That back there. Did you do that with your bare hands?” 

“Well, yeah.” 

At first, I was going to scoff, but then stopped as I noticed something in her answer. “You sound like that wasn’t even a challenge.”
“Kid, it wasn’t even a warm-up.” 

Okay, that surprised me. Just how strong was she? All the science I had learned on Harthyn said such feats were impossible, and here it was right in front of me. The way she was talking made it sound like she could crush steel with her bare hands and she wouldn’t break out in a sweat. 

The woman then scrutinized me. “Wait a minute. Aren’t you one of those kids who fell out of the sky?” 

“… yes,” I admitted, though I didn’t want to discuss that incident. What she was doing was incredible, and now I had something I liked about this world. “Could you teach me to do that?”

“No.” She spoke like I had told her a joke that she didn’t understand.

That caught me off guard. “What? I’m not joking.” 

“Neither am I. I heard a lot about you, and none of it was good.” Putting her hands on her hips, she continued, “You sound like a trouble maker and I don’t want to create a potential problem by taking you on as a student.” 

Rolling my eyes, I said, “Hey, I don’t plan on becoming a monster.”

“No one ever does, and yet many do. Even if you don’t become one you don’t have the right heart to learn.” Her frown actually scared me. “You’re short-tempered, ignore instructions, have no concept of teamwork and are just plain rude. So my answer is no.” With that, she turned and walked away. As angry as I felt, I knew I would lose any fight against her. So I turned and walked in the opposite direction. 

 

***

 

I see now that woman had the right idea not to train me. With a dejected sigh, I couldn’t help but feel grateful that she refused to train me. Traveling to these worlds has taught me that I was not worthy to be her disciple. With that kind of power, I would’ve done more harm than good. So why did I still feel pain over that rejection? 

“Hey there!” I looked up to see a woman with short black hair wearing shorts and a black shirt with flowers and a vest leap in front of me. “Finally found you.”
“Yuffie? What are you doing here?” I asked. 

“Looking for you, duh. We have a solution to your problem back at HQ.” 

 

***

 

“No, no. This will never work.” I heard Scrooge’s voice outside of the Restoration Committee Headquarters.

“Now, Scrooge. We haven’t given it a try yet.” Merlin insisted as I ended up listening from outside. “Who would’ve guessed after his actions from a few years ago that Riku would’ve become one of the best protectors of the light?” 

“What is your point?”
“That everyone, even him, deserves a second chance.”
“Comparing Jason to Riku is like comparing a lump of coal to a diamond. He’s caused nothing but trouble ever since I agreed to take them to the other worlds.”
“He will try to make amends for what he did, atone for his reckless behavior. I have seen his future.” Merlin can see the future? That was a joke right? But then things out here didn’t seem to follow Harthynian rules. 

I heard a scoff from Scrooge. “How often do your prophecies come true, Merlin?” 

“Always.” The wizard defended his power. 

“I find that hard to believe.”
It was then that Yuffie decided to barge in. “Hey everyone!” She greeted, drawing out the first word for dramatic effect. I wanted to walk away to avoid the embarrassment but she grabbed the back of my shirt and pulled me inside. Scrooge frowned when he saw me, but I didn’t blame him for it. 

“Why did you bring him back? Leaving was the best move he made.” The old duck told the woman who called herself a ninja. “He’s been a reckless pain in my–” 

“That’s enough, confound it!” Merlin scolded me. “We’ve all heard your criticizing ever since you returned. Any more and you’ll make me lose my hearing.”

“There is no way your solution will work.”

“What solution?” I asked.

“Well, I went to see an old acquaintance,” Merlin said. “When I heard what had happened I realized you needed special help.”

Ugh. This was getting nowhere. “What is this help?”

“We’re going to give you a conscience.”

“What?”

“Down here.” A new voice said. Looking down, I saw the source of the voice was an insect in a black coat with a top hat? He was also holding an umbrella that he was partially using as a cane. Taking his hat off, he introduced himself. “Cricket’s the name. Jiminy Cricket. And I’m going to be your conscience.”
“What?” I asked before turning to Merlin. “Are you serious?” 

“Yes. I can see you don’t know right from wrong, so I asked Jiminy to help you lean it.” The wizard answered.

“I sure will.” The bug conscience confirmed while he hopped up onto some furniture so he could get on my shoulder. 

“But how is this to help with my business?” Scrooge asked. “Surely you don’t expect me to continue taking him to other worlds.” 

“Who else would we expect to do it?” Cid asked. 

“My nephew and his friends.”
“They could, but then you would miss a profit.” Merlin smiled. “I saw you took some of Tamatoa’s gold when you thought no one was looking.” 

Scrooge opened his mouth but then closed it again. With a sigh, he admitted, “I did. But I’ve faced many creatures that hoarded treasure, and claimed it for myself.”
“There are those who would claim that is stealing,” Clair said as she walked in with Aerith. I noticed she looked as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders, which made me feel glad. “How are you, Jason?”

“Good. I guess.” I was still unsure what to think of the conscience given to me. 

“No, no. Be more open. Don’t sugarcoat things.” Jiminy told me from my shoulder.

That got Clair’s attention. “Who’s that?”

“This is Jiminy. He’s going to be my conscience.” 

“How does that work?”

“I guess it just does. Oh, and Jiminy? This is my cousin, Clair.” 

Taking off his hat, the conscience greeted my cousin. “Salutations. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” 

“I like him.” She smiled at Jiminy. 

Turning to Scrooge, I said, “Look, I’m not good at this sort of thing so I’ll cut to the chase. I’m sorry.” 

“No need to get dramatic,” Scrooge said. “If you are determined to get better, I suppose I could give you a few pointers in how to be a proper adventurer.” 

“Didn’t one of you say something before about making contact with your world?” Cid asked us from the other side of the room. 

“Oh, yeah.” Taking out her holo-screen, Clair called our only way back. “Hello? Johri? Eini? Anyone?” 

After a few seconds, we got a response. “Hello? Clair? Is that you? Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. Jason and I are back in Radiant Garden.” 

“Where?”

“The place where we were sent to after the incident.”

“So why are you calling?” 

“So we can set up a better means of communicating,” Cid said, which I was sure surprised Johri. As Clair and I approached the computer, we placed our holo-screens on the keyboard thing. Some of the data numbers appeared on Cid’s computer screen before an image of Johri appeared. 

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