Traverse Town never really slept.
Even in the quiet hours, the streets carried the low hum of distant voices, clinking glasses, and the occasional hiss of magic-infused streetlamps realigning themselves. Helios moved like a shadow through the Second District, his coat brushing against cobbled stones, his thoughts wandering as much as his feet.
The door he approached stood in the Third District—plain save for the fla insignia scorched in red paint across its center. A quiet sentinel marking the cavern filled with water and an island at the center with the house of one of the few remaining sorcerers in Kingdom Hearts who truly mattered.
Helios raised a hand and pushed his way through the door. Once inside the cavern, he used a Blizzraga spell to temporarily freeze the water and walk across to the house. When he reached the door he knocked.
It swung open a mont later, not with suspicion, but with a lazy arc of welco.
"Ah," rlin greeted, stepping aside with a faint bow. "The little wanderer returns. Oh, you seem to be alone this ti. Did the three of you get separated?"
Helios gave a polite smile. "Yes we did. You always seem to know."
The old man's long beard twitched with the upturn of his lips. "You leave ripples, boy. Most people toss stones. You throw boulders so it's hard not to notice."
Helios stepped into the cottage. Books were stacked in high piles, began floating, and rotated in midair returning to the shelves. The fireplace crackled not with fla, but with starlight—a spell Helios rembered from years past. It was warm but brighter than flas.
"I was just catching up on so reading. Give a minute to clean up. Would you like so tea while you wait?" rlin asked.
"And sandwiches, if you're offering. I haven't had a good al in a long ti," Helios said as he removed his jacket and set it across the armrest of a nearby chair.
"Of course," rlin chuckled, already waving his wand. A tray materialized with two cups, a teapot shaped like a turtle, and a tall plate stacked with finger sandwiches—cucumber, smoked ham, and so with a lemony paste Helios couldn't identify but liked anyway.
For a while, they simply ate. Helios didn't speak. rlin didn't pry.
Not yet.
Finally, the older man leaned back. "So… what is it this ti? So catastrophe that can narrowly be avoided? A forbidden spell you want to learn but I won't teach you? Or perhaps… sothing you haven't told ?"
Helios swallowed a bite and t the old man's eyes. "You ask that like you expect an answer."
"I always hope for one," rlin said, "though I've learned to be content with your silences."
Helios sipped his tea. "Then you won't mind if I offer nothing but thanks for the al."
rlin smirked. "Your manners have improved much since last."
"Not really," Helios replied. "Just saving my strength."
A knock interrupted them.
Then the door creaked open again.
Skuld entered first, her hood down, brown eyes alert, scanning the room until she locked onto Helios. "Helios!"
Her voice carried a mix of relief and a slight lingering resentnt.
Aqua followed a second later, slower, asured.
Helios rose, his expression neutral, but not cold. "You're both alright."
Skuld nodded quickly. "It's been a few days. We were sent back to Olympus. Our armors took damage when you sent us there."
"Fully repaired?" he asked.
"Yes," Aqua replied shortly. "Thanks to the ti we were forced to rest."
Her voice was flat.
Helios tilted his head. "You're angry."
"Yes, I am. Are you so surprised I would be?" Aqua said. "You lost yourself to darkness and threw us through a corridor of darkness."
"Well, hindsight is important here. Let's rember that I saved you from getting caught in the backlash of what was happening inside ," he replied evenly. "You would've been consud otherwise."
"You could have warned us. We would have helped you," said Skuld.
"I could have," Helios agreed. "But sad to say I need so alone ti to figure it out. If I had asked would you have left alone to do it?"
The silence between them was telling.
Skuld glanced between the two. "Okay, okay—let's not do this now. We're together again so let be happy."
rlin, as always, seed unfazed by the emotional undercurrents. "Sit, both of you. There's still tea, and I'll make more sandwiches."
Reluctantly, Aqua joined the circle.
Skuld sat near Helios.
Aqua chose a seat opposite him.
"Helios," rlin said, gesturing to the teapot, "tells very little. But he always cos here after sothing big."
"Because this place feels like ho sowhat," Helios said softly. "I guess even I get sentintal. Besides you don't ask much which I like."
"You're lucky I'm an old man who likes puzzles," rlin muttered.
Skuld leaned back. "So what now?"
Helios looked into the fire. "Now? Now we rest. I an we've all been through quite a lot. And then… the next move."
Aqua's eyes narrowed. "And what does that move look like?"
Helios finally looked at her.
Moreover, this ti, she saw it—the weariness. The weight of all he was carrying.
"Not what you think," he said.
"But still dangerous."
"Only if things go wrong," he answered.
rlin stood. "Then let us hope you don't. I do hope you three stay safe in your journeys."
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