Xehanort woke slowly, every sense fading back into consciousness. Pins and needles in his limbs and a fog in his mind as he crawled back into the waking world. When he was finally able to open his eyes, he was met with an unfamiliar room and his brows furrowed as he attempted to recall the events before he fell asleep through the heavy fog on his mind. A blue haired woman. And a keyblade. Did she attack him? And what about- 

Eraqus! Eraqus was with him. What happened? 

He shot up in the bed he was in, his body tense with the memory of the events before he was forced into sleep. 

He heard a few gasps as he sat up so suddenly, drawing his attention. Eraqus was there, sitting on a cot the same as his own across the room. And in a desk chair between them sat their friend Yen Sid. Both heads were turned toward Xehanort with expressions of surprise. 

“Xeha!” Eraqus was keeping his voice low. “You alright?” Xehanort didn’t really know how to respond to that. So much had happened, they didn't even know the extent of the situation they were in. The strangers that they had encountered, and why they had been confrontational. So, He didn’t answer, instead his gaze drifted behind his friend.

The sky outside the odd shaped window there was dark, but littered with countless stars in unfamiliar constellations. Waking up in an unknown place was already concerning, but the stars being so different was even more so and Xehanort wasted no time in voicing the question on his mind; “...Where are we? Another world?” 

It was Yen Sid who answered him, “ Yes, this is the world I’m from, it’s really just this tower and the surrounding land. No one else lives here except my grandfather.” 

“So, how did we get here then?” Eraqus asked before Xehanort could. 

“Those people brought you. You were both unconscious. No one said why you were out cold though. They told me they were here to see the master of the tower.”

“That lady cast a sleep spell on us, that’s why!” Xehanort stood from his cot. 

“The lady you hit on, you mean?” 

“I did no--!” Xehanort stopped himself, pressing his lips into a line as he glared back at the boy. Eraqus had a loose fist held up to his mouth. Failing to hide the cheeky grin on his face as he snickered. 

“Which girl?” Yen Sid asked Eraqus. Both ignoring Xehanort’s protests, who flopped back onto the cot and groaned into the pillow as the two he called his friends gossiped about him.

“Blue hair.”

“She hardly seems his type, Era.” Yen Sid added, matter of factly. “The other two, though~” they laughed. 

“I hate both of you.” Xehanort’s voice was muffled by the pillow.

They spent the next half hour or so just killing time. Yen Sid had told them all that he knew. That the blue haired woman introduced herself as Aqua and that when he told them his name they all acted like they recognized it and didn't speak directly to him at all afterwards, leaving him with the still asleep Eraqus and Xehanort. 

The boys added what they knew from before they were put to sleep, Aqua being hostile toward Xehanort without provocation. Had said something about “another one of his tricks” whatever that means. 

Xehanort had resorted to pacing after his initial snooping of the room came up empty. Yen Sid had taken a spot on the cot Xehanort woke up in and was reading one of the many books from the shelves. Lying on the other cot was Eraqus, who had found a ball that he was now tossing into the air. 

The three of them went still and all looked toward the open door at the sound of a voice. “Oh good, you’re awake.” The silver haired boy entered the room with a tray in his hand. “I brought you some water.” He placed the pitcher and cups down on the nightstand between the two cots.

Xehanort broke the silence after that. “So, where are we?”

 “I told you, in my grand-” Yen Sid began, but Xehanort interrupted him without once breaking eye contact with the stranger.

“I know what you told me, Sid. I want him to answer me.” They can only get so far with what they already know. There’s still so much they don't know about these people and why they were brought here. The more information they could gather, the better. 

The answers the stranger-- Riku, he introduced himself as-- gave them were consistent with Yen Sid’s story. That was enough to reassure them that it was, in fact, the truth. But Xehanort couldn't help but notice the man's eyes darting around. Sometimes lingering on him as if gauging any sort of reaction. Acting as if he wasn’t sure what he could share, they were hiding something from them, that was certain. 

Riku returned to the library where the others were, They’d been pouring through books since they’d returned, trying to find something that could explain to them what had happened to the masters. The hopes that Master Yen Sid would know had been dashed when they arrived to find that he also was affected by whatever was happening. 

Seeing a young Yen Sid was a shock to everyone. He was tiny, probably younger than the other two Masters-turned-teens. Wavy light brown hair and youthful round cheeks. 

Riku hadn’t known the other master, Eraqus, so he didn't have a reference to compare. But he did for the young Xehanort. Though the time traveling keyblade wielder they fought against was significantly more of a pain than the one they just met. 

The heads of Aqua, Mickey, Sora, and Kairi turned to him when Riku entered the room, which was much less crowded than it had been previously. Axel, Roxas and Xion, who had been on a call with Ienzo when he left to check on their ‘guests’, were nowhere to be seen. “Where’d the others go?” He asked as he sat back at his spot next to Kairi and Sora at the table. 

“Ienzo told them Isa was recompleted! They rushed over to Radiant Garden as fast as they could! Axel looked excited.” Sora filled him in on what happened. 

“Oh, he was Axels friend right? That’s good.”

“Yea, Ienzo also said they would have the vessel ready for Namine soon!” Kairi joined in with equally exciting news. “And Ven, Goofy and Donald headed to the kitchen for food.”

Riku started to return to the book he’d been looking through before stopping. He supposed he should update them all on the situation. “Those two are awake now, by the way.” Aqua and Mickey turn their attention to him immediately. Terra stepped out from behind a bookshelf and approached to take a seat next to Aqua, also giving him his full attention.

“Did you notice anything odd?” Mickey asked first. 

“No, they were just talking with each other but stopped when they noticed me. Xehanort was the first to ask where they were.” He told them of their discussion. “I think they actually don’t know what happened. Xehanort was acting defensive and kept asking questions. Who we were, why they were here. Things like that.” 

“And what did you tell them?” Aqua asked quietly. Out of all the guardians, she was the one most apprehensive and suspicious about the whole situation. And she’d gotten quite the talking to by everyone else about her ill advised use of sleep spell. It had been wildly unnecessary. Riku remembered the boys’ expressions as she threatened them and the fear he saw there.. His stomach turned at the memory.

“Nothing that they wouldn't already know, I think. Just stuff about where they were and how they got here, mostly. Though I think they picked out that I wasn't telling them everything. They’re not the same masters that we know, but they’re not stupid either.” it wasn’t only Xehanort who had been eying him critically after all, the other two were just as suspicious and inquisitive as he was. “Oh, one thing I noticed, Xehanort’s eyes are different. They’re not gold.” 

“That is odd.” Mickey mused, brows furrowed. But he offered no other comment. 

“Right. He’s different from the Xehanort we know. More importantly, they don’t seem to remember anything. If what Yen Sid said was true, they’re all classmates, right? Just a bunch of kids who have no idea where they are or anything that has happened.”

“They’re probably scared, then.” Kairi proposed, curling her arms in toward herself “I know I would be.” she added, her voice softening.

“Yea. I think, to them, we were a bunch of strangers. Who threatened one of them with a Keyblade to the face.” Terra grinned, eyeing Aqua, who merely gave him an even stare back before looking away. 

“I think we should at least try to be friendlier to them.” Sora started. “Let them know they’re not in any danger from us.”

“I agree.” Riku said. “I didn’t say anything but I left the door open, trying to show that they weren’t trapped there. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve started wandering around.”

The door hadn’t been closed when Riku left, but none of the boys attempted to leave. They weren’t given permission to wander, but they weren’t exactly told to remain in the room either. So they weren’t sure what they should do. 

“What is that?!” Eraqus suddenly exclaimed, pointing toward the open door. Xehanort and Yen Sid follow his gaze, but see nothing through the doorway. Eraqus had jumped from his cot and rushed over and out the door. 

“Era, wait!” Yen Sid calls after him. He and Xehanort share a concerned look before they both jump up to follow their excitable friend. Once out the door and into the study, they saw Eraqus kneeling on the floor. Looking ahead of him, they finally saw what he was talking about. And they both relaxed.

It was one of the enchanted brooms that helped out around the tower. Yen Sid had been seeing them his whole life, but he supposed that they were a pretty novel concept to anyone else. Yen Sid stood back as Xehanort joined Eraqus in watching the broom go about it’s business whispering to each other as to not disturb it. Yen Sid chuckled to himself at the sight of them. 

They watched as the broom walked across the room, dusting off low shelves as it went. The two Keyblade apprentices watching it all the way. Xehanort lets his curiosity get the better of him as he approaches the sentient broomstick and grabs it by the handle. It’s little arms flailing as it drops the dust cloth, clearly not happy to have been lifted from the ground. 

“Put it down, Xeh. It’s doing its job.” Yen Sid chuckles a bit as Xehanort turns the broom this way and that, poking at it with his other hand.

“Oh, sorry!” Xehanort snaps out of his curiosity trance and nearly drops the creature, but pauses to let it down gently. The broom waddles a bit as it regains its balance and shakes a fist at Xehanort before snatching its cloth off the floor and carrying on its way out the room. 

Xehanort scratched the back of his head as they watched it leave. “My bad..” He says to no one in particular. He’d let his curiosity take over again, he really needed to stop that. He stayed turned away from them, hiding his reddening face as his friends snickered at him from behind. 

Since they had left the room already with no resistance, the boys shared a look and shrugged before heading out the only other door in the study. Following Yen Sid down the stairs.