((A discontinued story of mine. *sweatdrop*))

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"I'd rather die than to live the rest of my life with you!"

With a sharp inhale, my eyes shot open. I found myself staring at the bedroom ceiling, randomly eying every single detail of it as I hopelessly tried to recall the nightmare I had only a moment ago. The morning sunlight shining into the room from the half open curtains had ruined my chain of thoughts, the light causing my eyes to slightly experience a small burning sensation.

Not exactly wanting to ponder on the dream, I took my stiff hand and ran it through the silver--and now messy-- hair of mine, then sloppily rubbed my warm face until I felt a sudden wetness hit my palm.

It was a tear.

A tear that must have shed during the nightmare.

~

I drowsily made my way to the men's shower room, closing my eyes halfway as I walked--which was probably not very wise. Doing so almost caused me to fall flat onto my face. Twice.

~
After washing sand out of my blue eyes and brushing my silver mane, a familiar voice echoed through the quiet shower room. "Good morning, Warrior!" greeted Onion Knight, a very close and long-term comrade of mine.

He carried a small comb in his rather small hand, repeatedly running it through the top of his blonde hair as he approached to where I stood, a somewhat peppy stride in his walk that morning.

Feeling only a tad more woken up, I greeted Onion with a bow of my head. "To you as well, Onion."

Onion stood on his tip toes due to his short hight, so he could look into the mirror I was currently using. "So..." he said, after one final stroke of his comb, then focusing his green-ish eyes on me. "...how are things going between you and Y'shtola?"

I glanced away from Onion's gaze into the mirror. The sound of Y'shtola's name had caused blood to shoot up to my cheeks, causing me to blush rather darkly.

Y'shtola was an individual that came from the fourteenth Final Fantasy realm, which Firion-- another comrade of mine-- along with Onion had introduced me to not long from that day. We had only recently started seeing each other and in no time at all, we were already making quite a bit of plans to meet.

"We are doing just fine, Onion Knight."

"Fine? Just fine? Aren't you gonna go steady with her one of these days?"

"What on Theatrhythm do you mean?"

Onion Knight rolled his eyes and almost slammed his comb down on the nearby sink. "You know exactly what I mean." The boy took a step closer and jabbed me in the stomach with his finger as he continued to speak. "Warrior, you have all this love building up inside you that you're just dying to share with someone! And one day...you're just gonna explode! Ka-blam!"

A rather awkward silence filled the restroom as Onion stared into my narrowed blue eyes; clearly a tad confused by his words. The knight sighed, obviously not pleased with my reaction, and proceeded, "That's why it's time to put your foot down and find someone to hug and kiss on! Which I suggest should be Y'shtola." Onion pointed his finger in the air as he concluded his little speech. All of a sudden, a round of applause was heard throughout the entire shower room. I uttered only a stammer, flustering a bit at the thought of every man in the shower room hearing Onion speak of my love issues.

Knowing I had quite a bit of work to do that day, I decided to cut me and Onion's conversation short, a subtle smirk resting on my lips. "I will surely take what you said into consideration, my friend."

What Onion was not aware of, is that I had already arranged plans with Y'shtola that very day. But I was afraid things were not going to roll so smoothly, for there were dangerous creatures roaming about lately.

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The Kasai; creatures that take the form of a young female with bodies engulfed in fire.

~🌟~

Cosmos, the goddess of harmony, made sure I knew of the Kasai first hand. The creatures had not yet reached civilization at that time, but I was strictly ordered to keep a close eye out for them. Of course, as the Warrior of Light, it was my duty to protect the residents of Theatrhythm University at all costs.

"Warrior?" a smooth, yet a tad chirpy voice interrupted my repetitive thoughts.

I met Y'shtola's striking blue orbs, her eyebrow slightly raised and a frown on her lips. Her tan colored skin almost sparkled in the sun that poured over us that afternoon-- making her even more radiant then usual.

Being so drowned in my concerns, I had almost completely forgotten I was taking a stroll through the quiet city with Y'shtola.

Apparently, that was Y'shtola's idea of 'spending time together'. Although I would've preferred training our fighting skills or anything along that line-- since the Kasai are roaming about, I'd rather have Y'shtola kept safe inside the university training alongside me rather than walking the open streets of the city... Fully exposed to the creatures.

Y'shtola tilted her head. "Were you even listening to a word I said? Am I really just blabbering away to myself?"

"My pardons... What matter were we discussing again?" I bit the bottom of my lip as Y'shtola's cat-like ears flopped down against her light colored hair.

"I'm sorry. It's obvious you didn't really want to hang out today..." she rubbed her sleeved arm slowly, refusing to meet my eyes anymore.

My heart skipped a beat.

No, that was not what I wished to display. I had been putting so much of my focus on the Kasai crisis, that I could just not fully enjoy my time with Y'shtola. But never once did I intend to neglect her.

Now, If only I could've gotten those words to emerge from my mouth.

"Y'shtola..." her name was the only thing that slid off my tounge.

In the corner of my eye, dancing flames taking the form of sphere had abruptly soared from midair, straight to the ground.

The object rolled on the sidewalk and halted just near Y'shtola's foot. As soon as the orb began trembling rather vigorously, my hands automatically latched onto Y'shtola's arms and began dragging her behind a nearby building; our shoes galloping across the street, synchronizing with the pounding of my heart.

In the back of my mind, I knew that choosing the closest building was not a very wise idea... But at the state of mere panic, my thoughts were not as crystal clear as they usually stayed.

I crouched down until I heard my armored kneecap come in contact with the ground, holding Y'shtola near the metal plate upon my chest-- tight enough to feel her flesh just barely digging into it.

We then braced ourselves for impact.

...

Surly enough, there were sparks of pure orange fire taking off to the endless sky, followed by the ear-shattering sound of the overall explosion. It felt as though the entire planet was shaking underneath our bodies-- So much that it could've taken us down into inferno.

Through it all, I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to ignore the fearful cries coming from the woman pressed against me.

It really did ache to hear Y'shtola so...afraid.

After a moment, everything went dead quiet. Only the very faint sound of distant car horns and birds crying in distress filled the city. Tuning out the rest of the world, I only focused on Y'shtola's shaky breathing, which fell into sync with mine as we both tried to comprehend what just happened. Y'shtola hesitantly pulled away from the armor that had probably left light scars on the skin underneath her clothes. "What the heck just--"

"Stay here," I ordered before she could conclude her words. Even I was not completely aware of what just took place, but I was ninety-nine percent sure the Kasai were responsible.

Rising, my stiff legs carried me back close to where Y'shtola and I stood before the explosion. The smell of smoke instantly entered my nostrils, almost making me gag at the sudden contact. The wall of smoke was fairly thick, although I could still barely see the shopping mall me and Y'shtola were just passing by a moment ago-- It had been almost completely destroyed from that little flaming ball of doom...to where you could notice the ruined insides.

I cursed under my breath. I'm the Warrior of Light, for heaven's sake. Yet, I let part of Theatrhythm city get blown up.

Just after those thoughts drained out of my mind, I summoned my sword into the palm of my hand, only in time for another lit sphere to clash against it. The Kasai were near-- I was certain of it. Especially since their attacks seemed to be aimed at me in particular.

"Show yourselves!"

-Warrior of Light