What's up to people. Back with a new chapter from a new beta-reader name Nitty on discord. Btw Captain Imaginat I can't add those series because I watch/play them. As for the Pokemon movies, I don't think I going to use maybe after I make ask-blog for this fanfic series and do a Pokemon AU I would. But no plan for those ones.

Haelth's Mind, Late Night

"Ouch!" Haelth yelped in pain as she hit the ground hard, on her butt. The ground itself had cracked from the impact when she landed. She was lucky this was part of the dream world and not the real world or otherwise, she would've been in some serious trouble.

The Stranger explained that because this is a dream that the trio couldn't get hurt, but it made very clear that they weren't using any killing moves because the shock could wake them up. But it encouraged them to go all out because this is a dream and as long they didn't try to kill each other, then it was alright. So that's why Sakura and Edward had gone all out.

While Haelth did have some advantages over Edward at some point, due to her lightning bolts on Edward's auto metal work. At least until he'd use his alchemy on the earth to fuse it on his auto metal. Then he'd make sure to make Haelth payback for every giggle she'd done when his hair stood up from her lightning strike.

Sakura was a monster from beginning to end. She was fast, and her punches hurt. A lot. Luckily, Haelth had a high pain tolerance or else she would have been down for the count. Haelth could keep a distance from her and watch as Sakura and Edward duke it out on the battleground.

Haelth rubbed her swollen cheek, as she hid behind a rock. Haelth peeked around the rock to see what was happening on the battlefield. Haelth saw how Edward taunted Sakura into attacking him. Haelth couldn't make out what he'd said because she was further away, but whatever it was, Sakura's face had flushed red and she clenched her fists. She charged at Edward like a bull, but Edward rolled out the way. As he did that, Edward clapped his hand together and touched the ground. The ground rose up and Sakura flew across the air.

Haelth clenched her jaw then relaxed, and then let out a sigh. She was frustrated that she couldn't get a hit on any one of them and had to run and hide instead. As if sensing her frustration, the spirit appeared before her, rising from her shadow.

"What are you doing?" The Stranger asked her. Haelth glanced over the spirit, before turning her attention back to the battle. Edward made a spear out of the earth with his alchemy and swung it at Sakura who ducked under it. Sakura took this chance to punch Edward in the chest, sending him flying. "You know you're not going to beat them just by standing around." The spirit was telling her as she watched Sakura and Edward fighting.

Haelth turned to them with wide-eyed, "Did you see what they can do!?" She pointed at Edward who used his alchemy to make the earth soften up, that made Sakura start sinking and jumping in the air to kick her in the head. "I can't fight them! I could get killed!" Haelth exclaimed, while in the background Sakura grabbed Edward's leg and threw her away.

"If you fight fairly then yeah...you'd probably die," The Stranger replied with a straight face.

"Gee, thanks," Haelth rolled her eyes.

"Well," Haelth peeked up at the Stranger, tilting her head. "Yeah, it's true that there is no way you could beat them in a fair fight."

Haelth's left eyebrow twitched, "Then what do you want me to do? All I can do is wait and watch these two fight." She glared at the spirit who huffed at her response. The spirit raised one of their upper claw to stop Haelth from continuing her rant.

"Unless," The Stranger started and Haelth led in closer to them to listen, to what they had to say, "You have to cheat and attack the weaker one." Haelth frowned and was about to yell at the Stranger for suggesting such a stupid idea but they cut her off, "You have minor in the air element right?"

"Yes...but I'm not very good at it," Haelth answered, looking down. Most people in her world could make wings with their wind element and could fly even if it's for a short while. Haelth couldn't summon her wings no matter how many times her mother tried to train her. Even when throwing her off of a cliff at one time. "I can't use that element that well to fly."

The spirit turned their gaze back to the fight with Edward and Sakura. Edward threw a punch at Sakura who caught it and broke his arm armor by slamming her elbow into it. "You have to get rid of Edward because he's the one who's going to cause the most trouble for you."

Haelth raised an eyebrow after seeing Sakura breaking the ground, where she and Edward were standing on. He'd use the smoke cover to summon a fist of stone to throw Sakura into a tree.

"Should I take out Sakura first? I mean look at her," Haelth pointed at Sakura, who was picking up a tree and threw it at Edward, who got out of the way just in time, "I mean she's stronger than me and Edward."

"She may be stronger, but Edward is the smarter one." The earth softened around Sakura like it was quicksand. Sakura tried to get to the hard ground and by the time she was almost there, the sand came up to her waist and then the ground hardened again. She looked up at Edward who was smirking down at her.

Haelth gulped, "This is still crazy, Stranger! I'm not sure if I could do it." She told them, looking down.

The spirit patted the girl on her head and Haelth looked up at the old spirit. Stranger's eyes were full of compassion, that Haelth had to smile back at them.

"Then give up and go home kid." The spirit told Haelth with a straight face. Haelth felt like she'd been punched in the gut. Her eyes widened in disbelief but then she bared her teeth in anger.

"I can't do that. Scott and Oliver are still missing, and we need to get back home!" Haelth yelled, not caring if Sakura or Edward heard her. "And you can't get your revenge without me. Y-you need me" Haelth breathed heavily, her pupil enlarged.

The spirit crossed their arms and gave her disappointed looked, "Kid, we're going up against powerful enemies and if you can't fight those two, then you might as well quit." Haelth was about to shout back at them, but Stranger cut her off, "I can find a new host and this group had already fought stronger opponents so they don't need you too." Haelth's face fell, "Unless you can prove yourself." Haelth looked at the Stranger and then looked at Sakura's and Edward's fight. Who was too busy fighting each other than looking back at Haelth.

With a gulp, she darted forward into an another bolder for cover and took a peek to make sure Sakura or Edward weren't looking at her direction. She redid this progress until she was close enough to Sakura's and Edward's fight so that she could make out the insults they were shouting at each other.

"You called that a throw Sakura? A little kid could have hit me harder."

"Well, funny you should be the one saying that Edward because you're as small as one."

"OH NO, YOU DIDN'T!" Edward threw himself at Sakura and that was when Haelth took her chance. She took a deep breath and blew out a huge gust of wind. This caused Edward to lose his balance and fell to the ground. Sakura, while surprised, took this chance to grab Edward's leg, lifting him in the air and then slamming him to the ground.

Bam!

Edward yelped in pain, but before he could do anything Sakura once again lifted him by his leg and slammed him down again.

Bam!

Black spots flickered in Edward's vision, but before he could recover Sakura picked him up again and this time she was throwing him at Haelth.

"Shit!" She'd run out of her hiding spot but Edward's body hit her from behind before she had a chance to search for a new hiding spot.

"Oof!" Haelth yelped, as she and Edward tumbled across the ground. Haelth's back hit a tree, knocking the wind out of her and with Edward's body on her the stomach. Haelth took deep breaths and pushed Edward off of her. She summoned her spear to hold herself up as her legs were shaking, only to be grabbed by the collar by Sakura.

Haelth clenched her teeth in pain, "Guess you caught me." Sakura's lips flicked upwards a bit.

"You should have stayed hidden while you can, or I wouldn't have found when I did. If you just found another hiding spot instead of watching me kick the shit out of Edward, then you might have lasted much longer." Sakura told her in a matter-of-fact tone of voice. Which made Haelth feeling stupid. Why did she do that?

"Welp, you can't say I didn't try," Haelth commented, "Oh wait! I didn't try my best yet." Sakura's eyes widened as she took a step back. But it was too late, as Haelth's hand jabbed Sakura in the stomach. Sakura fell down, her muscles sizing up the pain as electricity traveled throughout her body.

Haelth whistled, "I didn't mean to hurt you that much, but I suppose it got the job done." She commented before looking down at Sakura. Haelth flinched at the sight of Sakura's twitching body. Haelth was thinking that Sakura would have cursed her out and at least glared at her, but she guessed that she was too paralyzed to even do that. No... wait she was still moving her eyes. Haelth noticed that Sakura was looking straight at her, which was a little creepy with her body twitching like that, but Sakura wasn't glaring at her. In fact, now that she was looking at the ninja right now her lips were curling up in a smirk.

This immediately set off red flags in Haelth's head. That was when she smelled something burning and heard a weird noise behind her. Haelth turned around and saw a burning sheet of paper that was sticking to the tree.

Sssizzz!

"What is th-" Haelth was cut off by paper exploding. The tree turned into a ball of fire splitters spraying in every direction.

Boom!

Haelth crossed her arms over her head to defend herself, but the force of the blast sent her flying into a tree, knocking her out and leaving her skin burned from the fire of the blast too.

Crack!

The spirit who was looking at the battle below them, flinched at the sight, "Well that went well," The kids were knocked out and the forest was on fire, thanks to the explosion tag that Sakura put on a tree.

But Stranger didn't look all that concerned about that. "It went a lot better than the ones I had before." The Stranger chuckled to themselves as the memory came rushing back, "Oh~ Those were the days." They sighed wistfully.

Then they got up, "Better get the kids up," Then there was another exploding sound in the background, "...and clean this mess up."

Haelth's mind, Later

After a while of fixing the damage that the kids have done and healing them, the whole group sat around a campfire. The trio felt like they fought an army of bears. Or at least that was how Edward felt like it. He glared at the two parties involved. Haelth was looking anywhere but him, while Sakura was looking right at him with a smug grin on her face. Edward would like nothing more, than wipe that grin off of her face, but the spirit told them to be civil to one and another.

"So, um..." Haelth was the first to break the silence, "Are you guys alright?" She asked them.

"Fine, as much as I can be," Edward growled under his breath.

"So, um..." Haelth paused thinking on what was she going to say, "What were your guys' worlds like?" She asked.

Edward raised an eyebrow, "What about your world?" Now that Edward was thinking about it, he hadn't known that much about Haelth's life. Makes sense; they only knew each other less than for a few days. But Spirit did say that if their bonds became stronger then so would their powers. Or at least that's what they said. So, he had to get to know not only her but Sakura as well. He looked over to Sakura who was telling Haelth about her homeworld. He'd known Sakura for months now, so their bond was pretty good as far as Edward could tell, but it still could be a little stronger. But he's wasn't that worried about too much, because the way things were going he was sure it would get better.

"So, what do you guys do?" Edward asked.

Both Sakura and Haelth stopped talking, "You mean what we do for a living?" Sakura asked.

"No, I'm asking you about your family; of course, I'm asking what you do for a living!" Edward exclaimed.

Sakura glared at him but before she could do anything, Haelth beat her to the punch, "I'm training to join the army, but that won't happen for three more years." She explained, raising an eyebrow at Edward. He was taken aback by this, she looked too young for someone training in the army?

"So, why did want to join?" He asked her. It was a simple question enough, but Haelth looked down and started sweating.

"Haelth?" Haelth flinched, looking up at Sakura who spoked, "Why did you join the army?" Haelth rubbed the back of her neck.

"It w-was because," Haelth took a deep breath, "I broke the law and the judge gave me a choice. To face exile, or to join the army." She told them.

Edward frowned, "What did you do?" He asked her. His body tensed up as if Haelth was about to bolt. He was ready to go after her.

Haelth was trying to make herself look smaller as she wished she could disappear. Edward and Sakura weren't giving her the chance to run away with this. They crossed their arms and glared at her. They needed to know the truth. If Haelth wanted to earn their trust, she needed to tell the truth.

Haelth was shaking as she held up one finger, breathing heavily, "Give me one moment," She took a deep breath and begun, "I did something, stupid. You see, my sister was coming back after doing a Long Portal where our troops went outside of our border, to keep the monster from coming into our kingdom. She was suffering PTSD after the attack that left most of her squad dead." She remembered the trauma in her half-sister's eyes "No one explained to me what had happened to her, and they told me to stay away. But I couldn't. I saw my sister was upset and my 10-year old self-decided to do something about it." She let out a bitter laugh, "I tried to set her up a surprise party for her! My sister, who was suffering from PTSD! What a great idea my younger self-thought of," She shook her head, "I waited for my sister to go to the bar she always goes to, before I set up the party. When she first got in I let out some loud party strings. And as you could guess I triggered her and got beaten to near death by her." Haelth curled up to a ball, shaking. Edward flinched, and Sakura gasped.

Sakura sat down next to her and hugged Haelth, "I'm sorry you had to go through that." Edward felt awkward in this situation, but sat down next to her as well, and gave a pat to Haelth. After a while, Haelth calmed down and continued her story.

"I tried to protect myself, so I grabbed a knife to stab her." Both Sakura and Edward looked shocked by this, "She didn't die! I only stabbed her in the leg." She told them quickly when she's seen the expression on Edward's and Sakura's faces, "Anyhow, because we both got their way for my family to hide this from my police. So, I had to face a choice to choose between exile and face monsters that run through my homeworld without any help or to join the army. You can guess what I chose." Haelth finished her story.

The two were quiet for a moment and were playing with the cat ears on her hat looking between the both of them. Edward didn't know what to say at first, so he said the first thing that came to his mind.

"That's really ...f*cked up." Edward said.

Sakura frowned at him but then turned to Haelth, "Did any of your family spoke up for you?"

Haelth shook her head, "No. In my world, parents have little authority over their children," She noticed the confused look on Edward's and Sakura's faces, so she started to explain, "In my world, we believe you should be only loyal to your country, not your family. In the past family, fends were so bad that we were killing more of our people than the monster that hunted us to this very day. So, our first General-King Cyclone made it the country have the best people at taking caring of children will raise them, not the parents. It's not unusual for a child to not be in content with their parents for most of their lives in my world. Even by law, we get to know our parent's names and our family's tree as soon as we ask for them or at the age of 15."

Edward found Haelth's world weird. He never heard a world where parents had no power over their children, but then again he didn't know about other world's laws or customs. While he and Alphonse were raised by Pinako after their mothers her death it was still strange to him.

"Your world sounds strange, in my world, we are taught the importance of upholding our family's honor," Sakura commented, earning herself a strange look from Haelth.

Edward rolled his eyes, "Sakura, why on earth do you think Haelth would understand family's honor when her planet didn't even have parents really raising them" Even he didn't fully get it but at least, he understood Haelth's confusion.

Sakura rubbed the back of her neck, "You're right, she probably isn't going to get it." Her face blushed a little in embarrassment.

Haelth shook her head stubbornly, "I understand it. But I don't understand like; what happens if a family member turned against your country? Would you be loyal to them or your home?" She pointed out.

Sakura paused and thought over how to answer Haelth's question.

"My sensei once told me that, 'those who break the law are trash but those who abandon their friends are worse than trash.'" Sakura told them.

Haelth furrowed her eyebrows, "I don't understand it, but I guess different worlds have different rules." Sakura gave her a flat look.

Before Sakura could, reply to Haelth stupid statement, the dream realm around them started to shake. Colors from Edward's eye seemed to blur together, his legs started to feel weak and his mouth felt dry. Edward fell to his knees and moaned in pain.

Thump!

Thump!

Thump!

Through Edward's blurry vision he could make out the forms of Sakura and Haelth falling.

"W-what's going o-on?!" Sakura cried out. Then Edward saw coming out from shadows in the area was the red-eyed spirit themselves.

"One of you were waking up and caused the link to break up." They explained to them, calmly, "Don't worry! While this could hurt a little, you'll get used to it as time goes on."

That was the last thing Edward heard before everything went black and then he woke up.

Hueco Mundo, Forest of Menos, Morning

Crona was used to sleeping by herself and with the lights on. So, it should come to no shock that Crona felt scared when she had to sleep in the dark and was the first one to wake from Haelth's tossing and turning.

In a blind panic, she quickly got up and put her back against the wall so fast that you'de missed it if you blinked. When her eyes adjusted to the darkness around her and she could see that it Haelth was making woke her up, and not some enemy, here to attack them.

Crona took a deep breath. 'Nothing is bad is happening to you. You're fine, you're fine, everything is fine.' Crona replayed those word over and over again in her head until she stopped shaking.

Haelth woke up in cold sweat. This caused Sora to wake up and Ashido (who heard something in caves where the kids were) to look at them confused while standing in the opening of the cavern.

After Haelth calmed herself down, Sora turned his attention over to Crona to make sure she was alright.

"Crona are you ok?" Sora asked her, raising a hand to touch her shoulder but stopped when Crona flinched. He quickly withdrew his hand.

"Sorry, Crona I didn't mean to scare you," Sora told her, smiling softly at her. Crona felt guilty about making Sora feel like he'd done something wrong. She straightened herself up and gave Sora a small smile even it was a little bit forced.

"It's o-ok Sora. You did nothing wrong." Crona told him. Sora frowned and opened his mouth to say something, but he never got the chance to.

"Hey! If you two are done flirting with each other over there," Ashido called out to the kids. Both Crona and Sora blushed and took a step away from each other, "Then you two could join us for breakfast." With that, he left the room with Haelth following close behind him, as active as ever. Leaving Sora and Crona calling out to them.

"That's not what happened Ashido!"

"I don't know how to deal with flirting!"

"Woah! Crona where are you going?"

"I'm going to the corner!"

It took a while for Sora to calm Crona dow. Then both him, and Crona walked down the hallway, into a big cavern. There, a lamp hung from the ceiling to give some light into the dark room, and there set a blanket for them to sit with some food in a basket in the middle of it. Both Haelth and Ashido were eating what looked like black meat...?

Sora sat down and grimaced as he looked up the meat. Crona, on the other hand, wasn't a picky eater, so she sat down next to Haelth and looked around for any forks or knives that could help her eat.

Ashido noticed this, "I don't have any forks or knives around. Resources are very limited down here." He explained, "Just use your hand for now." Crona nodded. She picked up the cooked meat, feeling the texture of weird meat made her want to turn away. But the numb pain in her stomach and the smell of cooked meat overpowered that feeling, and Crona started eating the meat at a fast pace. Crona blushed at her table matters but she looked around to see that everyone, but Ashido were eating fast.

"So," Ashido began and the trio looked up to him, "You kids going to tell me where you all came from?" Crona froze, it was a simple question sure, but Crona didn't know how to answer that. What could they say? That they all came from different worlds and they were here to stop a guy named Conner? He would look at them like they were crazy! Crona couldn't think of a good enough lie either. Not that she was good at lying anyway. Medusa made sure of that.

Crona looked around their little group to see what they thought. Haelth looked as uncertain as she was, and Sora closed his eyes and furrowed his eyebrows in deep thought.

"Well," Sora began, "I don't know where to start but we came from another world." Crona's jaws dropped, Haelth facepalmed and Ashido almost choked on his food.

"Another world, you say?" Ashido coughed, narrowing his eyes at the boy, "Do you mean the Human World or Soul Society?" He asked, surprising the trio. Ashido knew about other worlds? So maybe Sora telling the truth wasn't such a bad idea after all.

"Well no," Sora shook his head, "We each come from different worlds from this one and we got separated from our friends Sakura and Edward," Sora explain, Haelth and Crona nodded in the background.

Ashido raised an eyebrow, "I find that hard to believe." Crona flinched, she should know that it was too good to be true that Ashido believed them.

"What if I have proof?" Sora asked him.

"And how are you planning to do that?" He asked Sora who smirked back to responding.

"I could use my magic to summon a friend from another world! But we need to somewhere with more room." Crona tilted his head. Could Sora summon people from other worlds? She didn't know he could do that. Then again, she didn't know him or Haelth that well. Should she be making more of an effort to strengthen their bonds, or should she just go with the flow for now? Oh, why was this to happen to her? Maka was better at making friends than her. If only she were here she could give Crona the answer she wanted.

Crona snapped out of her thoughts when Haelth tipped her shoulder, "Crona we're heading out." She told her. Crona looked around to find Ashido leaving and Sora at the entrance of the cave waiting for the girls. Did she get so lost in her thought that she didn't notice?

Crona coughed, "Sorry about that. Let's go to umm?" Crona looked at Haelth with a questionable look on her face.

Haelth caught on to what Crona was asking, "Oh! Ashido said that above Forest of Menos is large enough for whatever Sora had planned to summon. He went ahead to see if it was ok to come out." Haelth explained to Crona.

"Oh, ok then, " Crona replied, getting up and walking over to Sora.

Haelth coughed, "I need to talk to you guys about something." Crona's and Sora's gaze turned to her.

Crona raised an eyebrow, "What is it?" She asked her. Crona used a soft tone but... were her eyes playing a trick on her? Because Crona thought she saw Haelth flinching at her? If she did, then Crona must have done something to scare her. And Crona wasn't sure it could deal with that right now.

"I know where Edward and Sakura are." She told them. Crona's and Sora's eyes widened in surprise. Crona didn't think that she would hear from them again!

"Are they alright? Are they in the same world we are?" Sora asked Haelth quickly, standing way too close for Haelth's comfort.

Haelth held up her hand to stop him, "They're fine! From what they told me, they're in the same world as we are but in a different part of it." Haelth answered Sora's questions.

Sora smiled, "I get it! It's because this world is split apart!" Both Haelth and Crona looked confused at Sora's claim.

"What are you talking about?" Haelth asked, tilting her head, "How can a world be split apart? That sounds like some sort of bad fantasy book."

Sora shook his head, "I know it's weird, but it happened to me before! Beside Ashido did say there were other worlds besides this one." He pointed out. Haelth furrowed her brow in deep thought.

"You do have a point," Crona commented, thinking back what Ashido said about the other worlds. He said they were called the Human World and Soul Society, right? She wondered what the worlds were like and which one did Sakura and Edward ended up in.

"Well even if this world is split into parts there must be a way to go where Sakura and Edward are. I mean, how does Ashido know about other worlds so he must know a way to get to them." Haelth told them. Crona folded her arms; could Ashido really help them? Sora seemed to think so because he was grinning and nodding to Haelth. So, if Sora thought it could be done then Crona believed it too. After all, he traveled to different worlds so Sora got to know what he was talking about.

"The coast is clear," Ashido told them scaring Crona a bit. The group left the cave after calming Crona down and followed Ashido. He leads them to one of the trees that were around the area.

"We have to climb this tree to reach the surface. Let me go first." Ashido took a huge leap that a normal human couldn't possibly do. He made it one of the higher up branches and continued moving upwards.

Sora followed Ashido shortly after by Haelth and then Crona. Crona had a harder time climbing the tree and was lucky, that both Sora and Haelth had stopped to help her when she was falling behind. But Crona waved them off. She wanted to get there by herself. To prove to herself that she could survive here.

When Ashido got off the ceiling and pulled out the sword from his sheath. With a quick swing, he broke through the ceiling of sand and Crona felt the moonlight on her face again. It was so bright that Crona closed her eyes and reopened them once her eyes adjust to the brightness. She could feel the cold air from the surface and Crona smiled a bit.

"Come on." Crona turned to Ashido as he leaped on the surface. Sora paused and waited for Haelth and Crona to jump on the same branch he was sitting on. The bench was strong enough to hold all their weight, which Crona got surprised at. But then again these were not like any tree that Crona knew back in her world.

"Are you ready guys?" Sora asked them. Both Crona and Haelth nodded in response. Sora smiled at them and then jumped to the surface.

Crona did notice that Haelth was sitting far away from her. 'Is Haelth scared of me?' Crona thought to herself. Haelth was acting strangely toward her lately. She made sure to put Crona in front of her when they traveled to the surface and flinched when she raised her hand. But even then Haelth always helped Crona when she was falling behind when climbing. So Crona wasn't sure.

But the question was, why? Why was Haelth scared of her? Crona tried to think back to everything that she did to Haelth but Crona couldn't remember anything. Crona felt a lump forming in her stomach. Stuck in a strange land with all kinds of monsters Crona needed all the allies she could get. And having one that was scared of her was not a good thing in her eyes.

Haelth turned to Crona, "After you Crona." She jumped to the surface and then looked around. And it was night time when they arrived just like when they first arrived. So Ashido was telling the truth. There was no daytime here.

"Oof!" Crona turned behind her and saw Haelth face plant to the ground. Both Crona and Sora ran back to help her up. As Crona grabbed Haelth's arm and lifted her up and Sora did the same on Haelth's other side.

Haelth called out, "I'm fine guys!" They let her go and Haelth got back up on her feet. After she dusted off the sand off of her clothes, Haelth looked around the area they were in.

"Look like Ashido was right about no sun here, Sora." She commented.

"Yeah, I owe him an apology," Sora rubbed the back of his head.

"You better," The trio jumped in surprise. They turned to see Ashido behind them and he returned a smirk at their reaction, "What? Didn't expect to see me around, here did you?" Crona was surprised by this side of Ashido but it was a welcome one in her opinion. He was scary to her.

"So," He turned to Sora who was taking in the attention, "How are you going to summon your friend here?"

"Oh!" Sora's lights lit up knowledge, "Give me some space ok?"

Ashido, Haelth, and Crona nodded and moved away from Sora to give him some room. Haelth sat down and Crona took a deep breath and she walked up to Haelth and sat next to her. They sat there, not saying anything to each other for a while and Crona was sweating nervously. Crona felt like they should talk, so she said the first thing that came to her mind, "So...um what do you think Sora is going to summon?" Crona asked her, then felt like smacking herself. 'That the best thing, I could come up with?' Crona scowled to herself.

Haelth didn't notice Crona's little freak and shrugged, "Who knows? People from my world can summon a creature from whatever gods they patron but I don't think Sora knows any gods from my world."

Crona peeked up at this, "Really?"

Haelth nodded, "Your world has witches too?" She asked her.

Crona nodded pushing back the memories of her mother, "There're some witches that can summon familiars or can transform into animals in my world. They can do other stuff too but often they are...not right in the head." She explained Haelth.

"Yes, we do but most of them like to be called mages." Crona tilted her head, "The term 'witches' is a bad word to call them." She explained to Crona noticing her questionable look. Suddenly the wind picked up and the two looked to where Sora was

The wind made Sora move but he didn't acknowledge that. His eyes were closed as his keyblade gathered magic. A magic circle appeared below him and the wind picked up even more. Then Sora's eyes opened up and the light had shot down on the magic circle. This caused blindly white light that caused everyone to shut their eyes and when they opened their eyes they were greeted by a sight of...

A baby deer.

All that talk and excitement and Sora only brought a baby deer...

Ashido let out a scowl and glanced at Sora. Crona was disappointed too but tried not to show it. She didn't want to hurt her friend's feelings as Ashido did. Haelth, on the other hand, looked happy at the summon.

Haelth squealed in delight, "It's so cute!"

The deer peeked up at Haelth's comment and to Crona's surprise, the deer opened up his muzzle and started to speak, "U-um thank you miss!" The deer said, causing everyone but Sora to look at the deer in a surprise.

Crona jumped back, "Y-you can talk?" Crona asked the deer, her voice cracking a bit as fear began to grip her heart. This was not normal.

"Well, yeah!" Deer told her, "All the animals in my world can talk." He explained to Crona.

Crona tried not shrink back. Her hand twitched but she didn't call Ragnarok just yet. She closed her eyes and took a slow, deep breath. It was a trick that Marie taught her to calm down.

Breath in and out....

Crona felt her heart slow down. Yeah, she could do this! She had faced bigger and scarier threats before. A fawn won't be any problem. She opened her eyes, only to find the big brown eyes of the fawn looking right at her.

"Are you o-" Before the fawn could even finish his sentence, Crona summoned her sword, and was about to slice the fawn's head off. But luckily someone stopped her before she had the chance to do so.

"Crona, no!" Haelth tackled Crona before she could have brought the sword down. The fawn yelped and ran behind Sora. Crona tried to throw Haelth off of her but, the girl was stronger than what she looked like. Haelth put her knee on Crona's shoulders and grabbed her wrist to stop her from moving.

"Crona calm down!" Haelth cried out, and when she didn't, Haelth slapped her. That snapped Crona out of her panic. Crona felt like someone punched her in the stomach. She'd let her fear to blind her again and almost killed a baby deer in front of everyone! Even to the point where one of her allies had to force stop her. Crona couldn't move so she glared at Haelth only to find her looking at her, not with hate but fear. She looked to Sora and Ashido who had held out their weapons. The fawn hid behind Sora who looked scared. The looks snapped Crona out of her fear and she felt sick. The fawn was only a child that wanted to help her, and she tried to kill it. Because she was scared of it. Because she didn't understand it. If Maka and the others were here, they would be ashamed of her.

Crona tapped Haelth's back, "Um Haelth," Haelth looked down at her, "You can let go of me now. I... promise I won't hurt anyone." Crona told her. Haelth paused for a moment and Crona thought she wasn't going to let her go but then Haelth got off of her.

Crona stood up but didn't look anyone in the eye. She didn't want to face them. She wanted to bolt off and find someplace to hide. But she forced herself to stay, 'Don't be a coward,' Crona told herself, 'If you run away it's only going to be worse for you.' Crona's mouth felt dry but she forced herself to talk.

"I," She gulped, looking up and seeing Sora looking at her and she looked down again, "I'm s-sorry. I," Crona's eyes looked further down at her feet, "was scared." At first, everyone was silent, but then one of them came forward and Crona looked up at them.

"You were scared of me?" The deer questioned Crona. She flinched at the fawn and nodded.

"But," Crona turned to Haelth, who tilted her head in confusion, "I saw you disembowel a Hollow no problem! And you're scared of a fawn that's harmless?" She questioned her.

Crona sat down on the ground and covered her face with her hands. Now she feels lower than dirt.

When Crona did this Haelth began to panic and tried to comfort Crona, "Crona I didn't mean it like that! I just was wondering why were you so scared of a baby animal in the first place? It's not that scary or anything..." Crona hugged her knees and hide her face, "You know what? I'm going to shut up now." Haelth coughed, blushing. She tagged out and left Sora to comfort Crona.

Crona felt someone moving under her skin and knew Ragnarok was about to wake up. She tried to tell Ragnarok that this wasn't a good time for him to come in her mind, but Ragnarok never listened to her. Ragnarok busted through her back again catching everyone by surprise and Ashido grabbed his sword. He narrowed his eyes and but stopped when Sora rose his hand.

"Whazz?" Ragnarok grumbled. He rubbed his eyes then looked around noticing the others around them, "What happened? What's going on?" Ragnarok demanded to pull some of Crona's hair, causing her to yelp in pain.

"Ragnarok stop it!" Sora ran over and grabbed Ragnarok's wrist to stop him from hurting Crona.

"Bring on punk!" Ragnarok freed his hand and threw a punch at Sora's face. Sora's yelped snapped Crona back to reality and she grabbed Ragnarok's arm to stop him from hurting Sora.

"Stop Ragnarok!"

"When did you suddenly get this b**** Crona!" Everyone's face beside Ashido, who just looked confused, turned bright red after what Ragnarok had said. After calming down Ragnarok and Haelth explaining to Ashido about Ragnarok so he wouldn't try to kill him.

Crona took a deep breath, "I'm not used to talking animals and so I got spooked by it." Which was half-true, but Crona wasn't ready to talk about how she was raised to kill.

"Sorry Crona, I had no idea." Sora apologized, bowing his head deeply.

"Me too." Haelth apologized as well.

Crona smiled at both of them feeling a huge weight was lifted from her shoulders, "Thank you."

Haelth tilted her head, "For what?"

"For not throwing me away." She said, almost feeling like crying.

"Crona..." Both Sora and Haelth looked at her with sad expression from their eyes. Haelth took a step forward but Ashido cut the heartwarming scene off.

"We need to go back," Ashido spoke up suddenly, an alarming look on his face.

"Wha-" Haelth was about to ask Ashido but cut off by him pushing her back toward the hole they all came from.

Crona and Sora followed them with Sora called out to Ashido, "Ashido what's wrong?" He asked.

"With that light show and your kids making a fuss about the deer Hollow will take a notice." He explained before stopping when they arrived next to the hole, "We need to get back in the cave, get a few things and then leave."

"Leave? Leave where?" Haelth asked, biting her lip, and looking around in case any Hollows appeared.

"To one of my other hideouts. Now get down there and no more questions until we're safe!" He told her, nearly yelling at her. Haelth flinched but jumped down to get to Ashido's hideout. Sora nodded at the fawn then he disappeared in a light. Sora jumped with Crona behind him. When they got there, they found Haelth waiting for them near the tree. Ashido got there as soon as they did.

They walked back to the cave but before they got in, Ashido stopped them, "Wait, I'll go in first."

"Why? Is something wrong?" Sora raised an eyebrow.

"I need to check it's safe. Sometimes Hollows sneak into caves and try to ambush you." Ashido explained before going inside.

The trio waited outside for a while and Sora was the one to break the silence first, "We are making progress."

"Are we?" Crona raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Yeah, Sora, I don't think it went well," Haelth said in a deadpan tone.

"He didn't say that he didn't believe me," Sora replied, with a grin.

"He was just humoring you Sora," answered Haelth, smirking a bit. Sora made a face but smiled at her. They both laughed and Crona felt a little left out. But now that everyone was in a good mood, maybe this was the perfect time to ask Haelth what was her deal.

"Um, Haelth," Crona spoke up nervously, "Can I ask you about something?" Haelth turned towards her.

"Sure! What's up Crona?" Haelth turned to Crona. Wondering what she wanted with her.

Crona gulped, it was now or never, "Why are you sca-" Crona was cut off by Ashido walking back from the cave. Crona almost huffed furiously, she finally had the courage, and this happens? But her face turned to surprise and fear as the ground exploded right under Ashido's feet.

Boom!

Crona, Sora, and Haelth covered their faces to block the smoke and sand from their eyes and mouths. When the smoke cleaned up and the trio saw Ashido was in the pincers of an antlion-like Hollow.

"Ashido!" Sora cried out in concern and shock. He summoned his keyblade and ran toward the Hollow. It tried to move away with its prey, but Sora moved so fast that he looked like a blur to the Hollow. Crona summoned Ragnarok in his sword form and darted forward. Haelth ran behind them looking for a chance to get Ashido toward safety. The Hollow let out a growl of surprise and fear as Sora jumped on its back and cast blizzaga, which caused its neck to freeze over. Sora used a fast and flashy strike against the armor plates which after it shattered into pieces, causing the Hollow to roar in pain and let go of Ashido. Haelth caught him and moved him away from the Hollow before it noticed that its prey was gone. One the Hollow realized its mistake and tried to get Ashido back by darting forward toward Haelth. Haelth summoned her spear and at the tip of it, shot out a lightning bolt. It strikes the mouth of the Hollow which made it roar in pain as the electric move had surfed throughout its body.

Hollow shook its head to get out of its pain. Once it did it took it out on the closest one to it: Crona. Crona turned her body with the sword in hand to the Hollow and on the cross-ground of her sword where Ragnarok's mouth was, and he screamed. He screamed so loud that it sent the Hollow flying back.

Thud!

Before it could get up, Crona jumped on the Hollow's neck. With one quick swing from her sword, she removed the head of the Hollow. The Hollow's head fell to the ground, sending grains of sand flying upward in the air. Crona let out a sigh of relief as she thought it was over but saw the legs were still twitching. Crona's face curled up in disgust and fear. Why didn't it die? It didn't even have a head anymore! It should be dead! Crona yelped as she was thrown off the body as it darted forward.

It headed straight for Sora, who jumped over the Hollow. He started to attack the back of the Hollow with quick and strong attacks. The Hollow tried to get the keyblader off by quickly rising the front of its body, straightening up, but Sora held on tight with the teeth of his keyblade.

But that left it open for Crona to attack. Which she used when the Hollow showed it's underside when trying to get Sora off. Crona jumped into the air and stabbed the Hollow in the chest. The Hollow froze up and Crona dragged her sword downward which made a horrible ripping sound as she cut the Hollow from the chest to the stomach.

Rip!

Sreeee!

The Hollow roared in pain as Crona cut into it. Crona jumped away once she got to the bottom of the stomach and the Hollow gave a couple of twitches before collapsing. then started to disappear.

"Next time go for the mask," Ashido pointed out, causing Crona to jump and turn around. She saw that Haelth was helping Ashido stand up, and he was holding the wound tightly around his stomach. While he said that in his usually gruff and annoyed voice, he was smiling at her despite that. Even if it's a small thing, it that made Crona feel a little bit more at ease.

"Ashido! Are you ok?" Sora asked him, as he ran to Ashido's side.

Ashido held up his hand to stop Sora from helping him, "I'm fine. The wound isn't that deep." He told him, wincing a bit, "Get some of the supplies in the cave and let's get out of here." He ordered the trio before any of them stepped in to help them.

Haelth frowned, "Wouldn't it be better to treat those wound first? I mean, they look pretty bad." She pointed out.

Ashido messaged his temples, "All the more reason to leave! If one Hollow found this hideout, then others would be sure to follow! Once we save then I treat my wounds. But right now, we need to get out of here!" He told them to push Haelth away and limped toward the cave.

"I'm afraid it's already too late for that Ashido." A voice called out, dripping with hate.

Out from the shadows, a pack of Hollows appeared and the one who spoke was a large jackal-like dog, towering above all the other Hollows. He was covered from nose to tail with a bone-like armor on. Oddly enough, that one of his back legs were twisted but even then he still held his head up. His lips were curled up in a snarl and his glare never turned away from Ashido.

The one the left on the dog Hollow was a humanoid shark. He was covered in ice-like armor and the ice form horn on the nose which looks like it could run through Crona. He laughed evilly, as he eyed the group.

The one on the right looked like a wolf that came from hell itself. He was a black-red color with darker red like-veins glowing from his neck. The two fangs both of his upper and lower lip were long and strong enough to break down any bone, and his paws had two sets of claws on each of them, which looked like they could cut through anything. He watched with his pupil-less eyes as if a predator were watching their prey

"You son of a bitch Ashido! We finally caught you!" The jackal-like Hollow snarled. Crona held up her sword in front of her and watched the pack warily. Sora and Haelth did the same thing while Ashido glared at the Hollows with a confused expression while holding the wound on his stomach so he wouldn't bleed out.

"...Who are you?" Ashido asked and everyone including the Hollows fell down in a comedy fashion.

The dog Hollow looked at Ashido in disbelief, "What do you mean, you have no idea who I'm am?! I'm Nicolas! The Hollow that almost killed you!" The Hollow yelled at Ashido, his ears flat against his skull.

Ashido shrugged, "There were a lot of Hollows that almost got me. That doesn't help me much."

Nicolas glared at Ashido and was getting ready to attack, but the shark Hollow stopped him, "Nicolas, don't let that soul reaper get to you. The poison is already in his system, so we better take our time with him ripping him apart." The shark Hollow told Nicolas just as if they were talking about the weather.

As soon as the Hollow said poison, the group widened their eyes in horror. Ashido looked down at his wound and noticed the weird purple color around the area of the wound. That's when his muscle sized up and Ashido fell down, gasping in pain. He tried to stand up only to fall down again.

"Don't worry the poison won't kill you; it's just going to paralyze you. Sit back and relax as we rip apart each and every one of you, one by one." The nightmare wolf chirped with glee.

"As for your friends here," Nicolas waved a paw over to the trio, "They'd make a good snack for the pack here." The said pack let out gleeful yells while eyeing the trio hungrily.

Crona gulped but drew her sword, standing her ground. The pack drew closer to the group and of course, Ragnarok chose this moment to scream at them, "You punks want to try to eat me? Ha! I'll kill you all before you'd even get the chance. You bastards!" This caused the Hollows to stop at the advance and glanced at Crona's sword in surprise.

"The hell-" Before one the Hollows could finish its sentence a bolt of lightning hit it square in the chest, sending it flying. The Hollow fell right into its fellow Hollows, knocking them down at the floor. Crona looked where the lightning bolt originally came from and saw that Haelth's eyes were widened in surprise as her spear was still smoking from the shot she made. Haelth snapped out of her shock when she noticed that everyone was staring at her.

"I didn't mean...um," Haelth straightened herself up, "I didn't think I put that much power into it. But I guess that training is starting to pay off." Before Crona could have asked her what she meant by that, a Hollow took this chance to pounce on Haelth and pinned her to the ground. Haelth had enough common sense to raise her spear up to defend herself before the Hollow tried to chop her face off. The Hollow tried to twist it's head side to side to get Haelth to loosen her grip on the spear, but Haelth held on.

She turned to Crona and Sora yelled at them in panic, "HELP!" Like dam break; all hell broke loose.

The pack Hollow charged at the group. Crona threw them back using Screeching Gamera. This caused the blade of her sword growing in width, length, and depth, and a purple area shot out and knocked all the Hollow back, cutting them in the process. Some of which lost limbs or heads in the attack.

One Hollow circled around and attacked Crona from the back. It scratched Crona's back but her blood protected her from any serious damage. Before the Hollow could correct their mistake, Crona had beaten it to the punch.

Slice!

Thump!

The Hollow's head rolled on the ground.

Crona took this chance to look around the battlefield. She saw Haelth blast a group of Hollow away with another bolt of lightning, and she darted away from them before they could have caught her. Haelth moved around the battlefield, stabbing at anyone that got too close to her and fired lightning bolts at a group this way she wouldn't be ganged up by the Hollows by keeping her distance from them. She even killed some of the Hollows with her hit-and-run technique.

Crona's eyes widened with worry when she'd seen Sora. Sora was fighting all three of the leaders at once while defending Ashido. The shark Hollow bloated it stomachs out until it was hopping around trying to squish the boy. Sora countered this by moving fast and aimed fire spells at the head of the Hollow, because anywhere else didn't make him flinch.

But the nightmare wolf Hollow proved to be a problem for Sora. His claws were not for show. Every time he hit Sora, it caused a lot of bleeding. If Sora didn't have any healing spells or potions, then he would have died from blood loss a long time ago. He watches the Hollow closely and moved to hit in the sides when the wolf tried to claw him.

To make the matters worse, Nicolas kept trying to get to Ashido while the other two Hollow were keeping Sora busy. Sora kept on stopping Nicolas from killing Ashido but that left him wide open for the other two Hollows.

Crona bolted and pushed away Sora before the nightmare hound's claw sank down on him. But the Hollow got her instead. The claws tore through her skin but luckily for her, the black blood stopped the claws from causing more damage. But the force of the attack knocked her backward into Sora. Some the black blood that spilled from her form into the needle and flew towards wolf Hollow in a fast pace. The Hollow tried to move away but it was too late...The wolf has been stabbed with all the Bloody Needles.

"Crona are you ok?" Sora asked her, helping Crona up.

Crona flinched in pain but forced herself to lie, "I'm fine." Sora frowned and Crona flinched; he saw right through her lies.

"Cure!" Sudden Crona's wounds started to heal right before her eyes faster then she could have done with her black blood.

Before Crona could say thank you to Sora, he'd dragged her away before the shark Hollow could squish them. Crona yelped in shock and coughed when some of the dust flew into her mouth. The Hollow lost turned back into its skinnier self and started sucking in air to bloat itself up again. Only for Sora, had used this chance to use his fire magic to shoot it down the Hollow's throat. The Hollow stopped and started coughing uncontrollably as the fire burned inside him. It tried to spit out the fire. But out of nowhere, Haelth jumped on top of the Hollow's head, stunning it. Haelth jumped to the ground, running away before Crona or Sora could question her. The pack of Hollow ran over the shark Hollow to chase after Haelth.

The trio looked at this display in confusing and shock but it was Ragnarok who broke the silence, "...The hell?"

Crona noticed out of the corner of her eye that Nicolas was darting toward Ashido. Crona stopped Nicolas before he could reach the soul reaper. She swung for Nicolas's head but he pulled himself back before the blade made contact. But the blade did scratch his nose which made Nicolas's flinch. He glared at Crona but turned his gaze at Ashido.

"Letting a female defend you? You're a disgrace, Ashido!" He spat. If Ashido's looks could kill then he'd be buried six feet under. Then Nicolas chuckled, "How the mighty have fallen."

Ashido glared at Nicholas and then he turned to Crona, "Crona get out of here." He told her, trying to get up but his body rejected him to do so.

Crona shook her head, not taking her eyes off Nicholas, "I won't leave you!"

"Go! You and your friend can poss-" Ashido barked before someone stopped his line of thinking.

"TAKE THIS!" Sora shouted. Nicholas and the three turned to see what was going on. Haelth was behind Sora when he jumped into in the air, with white energy gathered around his keyblade. When he slammed it to the ground the white extended outward, and cut to the Hollow in a flash so bright, that everyone had to cover their eyes. When they opened them again the Hollows that surrounded both Haelth and Sora, all disappeared except for the shark one, who was on his last legs.

"Damn you..." The Hollow growled before disappearing into black smoke.

Haelth looked at the spot where the Hollow was just a few seconds ago and commented, "That...was the coolest thing I have ever seen in my life."

Crona used this chance to attack Nicholas. With a quick swing of her sword, she tried to cut the Hollow's head off. The keyword here was tried. Nicholas had seen Crona's sword coming for his neck out of the corner of his eye and quickly moved back. But not fast enough. The sword had cut deep into the Hollow's throat, spilling blood on Crona's head and Nicholas's chest.

Nicholas gasped in pain and tried to stop the blood by putting pressure on it. But it kept on flowing out like a waterfall, and Nicholas knew that this was it. He was going to die. Not in the hands of an another Hollow, or even a soul reaper. But by a freak of a human. Nicholas looked down at his reflection in the growing and deepening pool of blood on the ground. What he'd seen was a Hollow, that looked old and tired. And the thought of just lying there finally resting was tempting, to say the least.

He looked at Ashido and the anger had risen once again in his eyes. Why should that soul reaper get to live if he can't? The one who took away his dream of being a Vasto Lorde. The one who had killed other countless Hollows. Why should he get to live, and he didn't? With newfound strength, Nicholas got up, and pushed Crona aside and leaped at Ashido. He felt a smug satisfaction as he saw Ashido's shock on his face. He finally killed that son of a bitch, that ruined his life!

Suddenly Nicholas felt something hit him in his back that threw him off the coast. He landed on his side a few feet away from Ashido. He tried to get up but his body he couldn't move. He couldn't feel his lower body and while his vision was blurring, he was sure he was standing in his own pool of blood. The blood loss started to kick in. Darkness was taking over his vision and he couldn't find any strength left inside him to continue fighting.

'It was all for nothing,' Were the last thoughts of Nicholas as he died.

Crona softened her black blood until it fell to the ground. She just got to the Hollow in time before he got to Ashido. With a great feeling of strength, she cut Nicholas almost in half(from the middle of the back to the stomach) and sent him flying. She turned to the remaining Hollows and glared at them. The Hollows looked at her then at Sora and Haelth who were both ready to go another round and froze in fear

"Retreat!" Shouted the last remained leader of the Hollow pack, after seeing Nicholas's body disappear. With that, the pack retreated with that nightmare wolf Hollow leading them away.

The trio didn't let their eyes off of them until the last Hollow disappeared into the forest. Crona let out a sigh and walked back where the others were. Sora put Ashido's arm around his shoulders to help him stand up. Haelth went back in the cave and got some supplies for Ashido's wound.

"I'm guessing you have some questions for us?" Sora laughed nervously and Crona almost felt like facepalming herself after Sora said that.

But Ashido smiles back at him, "Yes, but after we go to a safer location."

Hueco Mundo, Forest of Menos, Afternoon(?)

Sora, Crona, and Haelth sat around the new campsite which was inside one of those large trees in the Menos Forest. All their camping supplies were in the back and Ashido slept a little away from them. At first, he didn't want to sleep and wanted to take the first watch shift. But even with Sora's magic Ashido was still sore from the poison. So, after a long talking it out with the trio they convinced Ashido that he should get some rest.

Haelth looked tired but stayed awake to explain where Sakura and Edward were. Sora was worry about the others but was happy to know that they were alright. Better yet, they could still keep tabs with each other due to Haelth's mind being linked to Sakura's and Edward's.

Crona turned to Haelth and asked, "Um...Haelth?"

Haelth looked up at Crona, "What is it?" She asked her.

Crona shifted in her seat, "I umm...," Sora and Haelth waited patiently for Crona to say something, but she looked down and said, "You know what? Nevermind. Can I ask you about it tomorrow?"

Haelth raised an eyebrow at Crona's actions but then shrugged it off, "If you're sure about it Crona."

"Crona," Crona snapped her attention back at Sora, "Why did you try to kill Bambi?" Crona froze and she looked down, "I know you were scared, but trying to kill Bambi is going too far!" Sora almost shouted that last part. But who could blame him? His friend almost died!

But when Sora'd seen Crona cowering before him he backed off a little, "I mean just," Sora paused for a moment, trying to find the right words, "Crona just...try not to do that again ok?" He asked her, softening his tone.

Crona nodded and then Ragnarok busted out from Crona's back, yelling at Sora, "Don't tell us what to do spiky bastard!" Crona panicked and tried to stop Ragnarok from doing anything else by coving his 'mouth'.

Sora's face turned bright red, "What the heck Ragnarok! That was uncalled for!"

That only seemed to make Ragnarok mad, "What did I say you id-" Crona finally had enough, and punched Ragnarok's chin. Ragnarok yelped more in shock then in pain and for once was quiet for a few minutes as if he was processing what happened. Then Ragnarok glared at Crona and started to pull her hair.

"Ragnarok stop!" Crona shouted.

"Now you think you can give me orders, now Crona? Well, take this you b*tch!" Ragnarok's fist rubbed against Crona's head hard. Both Sora and Haelth grabbed Ragnarok's arms to stop him from hurting Crona more. Ragnarok could only curse them out as he couldn't hit them anymore.

All of a sudden, Haelth's shadow rose up from the ground and formed into the spirit, "Era uoy syug enod tey?" Everyone jumped and turned to the spirit in surprise.

"Spirit?" Sora raises an eyebrow, "Where have you been?" He asked them.

Haelth turned to the spirit with an annoyed expression on her face, "Yeah, where you all this whole time? We could have used your help." She scolded the spirit.

The spirit rolled their eyes and hit the back of Haelth's head with their hand, "Taht saw esuaceb gniog pu tsniaga tirips taht tae rehto stirips si ton a doog aedi."

Haelth rubbed the back of her head, "I guess you right."

Sora couldn't understand the spirit, so he turned to Haelth, "Hey Haelth," Haelth looked at Sora with a curious look in her eyes, "What is..." He looked at the spirit who rose an 'eyebrow' at Sora. He didn't know what to call them.

Catching on, Haelth told him this, "They don't have a name. So, you call them whatever you want. I call them Stranger for now." She explained while Stranger rolled their eyes. Sora thought the name was kind of weird, but if the spirit didn't really care then he supposed it was ok. Plus, in Sora's option, it was a good match for the spirit for now at less.

"What was Stranger was saying to you?" He asked her.

"Oh!" Haelth's eyes lit up, "They said that they didn't appear because Hollow would try to eat them because they eat spirit and all. So that's why they weren't around." She explained.

"I see," Sora nodded, then the sudden got an idea. He needed to keep taps on Edward and Sakura, and while he trusted Haelth it didn't feel right left out of the loop. Years being separated from your friends will do that to you. So, he made a choice that would change his life.

"Stranger," Stranger, Haelth, and Crona turned to Sora who spoke up, "Can I make a pact with you?" Crona fell down in surprise, Haelth jumped up in alarm, and Stranger just tilted their head. The spirit pulled aside Haelth and whispered into her ear. Sora couldn't hear what they were saying but what the spirit said Haelth agreed with it.

"Sure, but why do you want to make a pact with them?" Haelth asked Sora, "They said that as keyblader you don't have the same problem as me, Sakura, and Edward have with our powers. Your power comes from your weapon, so you don't need Stranger's skill to yours back." She explained to him.

Sora paused for a moment while Stranger crossed their arms and gave him a look that screams 'you better have a good answer'.

Sora is the type of person that said what comes into his heart. So, it should come to no surprise to anyone that knew him that his answer was this: "Because I care about Sakura and Edward and I wanted to help them in any way I can," He answered the spirit, truthfully.

The spirit nodded, seeming satisfied with Sora's answer. But Crona looked nervous, her eyes darting between him and the spirit. She raised her hand and let an 'umm' sound to get everyone's attention.

"What's up Crona?" Sora turned to the young girl.

"I don't think this is a good idea Sora," Crona commented, before shrinking back when Haelth and Stranger turned their gazes to her.

"Crona why do you think that Sora shouldn't make a pact?" Haelth asked Crona. Crona in reply looked away from her and Haelth looked away too, nervously, "Sorry if I made you uncomfortable." She said to her.

"I-it's ok I was out of line," Crona strummed, "Anyhow I'm heading to bed. Goodnight!" Before Haelth could stop her, Crona already got into a sleep roll and closed her eyes.

Sora looked between the two, wondering what happened between them? He thought that Haelth and Crona got along fine, but now after they got into this forest they were afraid of each other.

"Haelth what's going on? Did you and Crona get into a fight or something?" Sora asked her, as Crona wasn't going to talk. Haelth flinched but turned to Sora to answer him.

"There's,' Haelth looked at Crona who looked away, "Nothing wrong." She answered. Sora raised his eyebrow and then looked at Crona. Crona didn't say anything but looked like she wanted to, but she backed down. Sora wanted to demand a real answer but thought better of it. If they didn't want to talk when he couldn't force it out of them.

"Os touba eht tcap." Everyone turned their attention back to the spirit. Stranger bit down on their risk until they bleed. The blood wasn't red like his or Haelth's blood, but it was black like Crona's. Sora didn't think that spirits could bleed but not again he hasn't met other spirits like Stranger before.

"Knird siht dna eht tcap lliw eb etelpmoc." Of course, Sora didn't understand what the spirit was telling him so Haelth had to translate for him. Which left him feeling grossed out, but he had to do it.

Sora took a deep breath, "Ok, I'll do it." The spirit nodded and held their 'bleeding' risk to him. Sora cupped his hands together and got a fair amount of 'blood' in his hand. It felt unusually cold and it smelt like dead fish. Sora crinkled his nose and he pulled his face away from the 'blood'.

"This smell so bad!" Sora exclaimed which caused Stranger to glare in annoyance at his outburst.

"Sakura or Edward didn't say anything about that," Haelth commented and Stranger glared at her. Haelth looked away.

The spirit smacked Haelth behind the head again. "Ow!" Haelth yelped, rubbing the spot where Stranger hit her.

"Tusj knird ti," The spirit growled at Sora. Sora didn't need Haelth translation what the spirit wanted him to do. Sora took a deep breath and drank the 'blood.' While he tried to not taste the cold, smelly liquid, he could still feel the 'blood' going down his throat. It was like swallowing ice. Sora almost threw up but forced himself not to.

"I", Sora coughed, "I did it..." Sora panted, but then looked at his body confused, "I don't feel any different." True, he still didn't feel the unlimited energy he felt when he got his Drive forms or cold darkness in Anti-Form. Did he do something wrong?

But his doubts were put to rest when Stranger smiled at him and hold out their hand, "Welcome to the team Sora." Dumbstruck by the fact he could understand what the spirit was saying, Sora shook their hand.

Crona looked at the exchange worriedly.

Karakura Town, Urahara's shop, Night

The shopkeeper was sipping his tea in deep thought. At first glance, you may have not paid too much attention to this man. Unless you needed something from his shop or think that this man really needs a haircut. But this man was Urahara. A man with a plan that pissed off most of his friends and allies. He was tall, lean-built with light skin and grey eyes. His hair was messy which also went to the side of his face. The man wore a dark coat, which sports a white diamond pattern along its bottom half, with a green shirt and pants underneath, his hat which was a striped dark green and white bucket hat was causing a shadow over his eyes.

"Um..." A soft-spoken called across the table where Urahara's guest was. Strangely enough, the other voice was young but echoed a bit.

Urahara quickly gave his guest a good, natural smile, "Did you say something?" The guest nodded, "Sorry about that!" The man grinned in an easy-going way, "Just have a lot of my mind here after the ball you drop on me! "The other shifted around in their sent.

"But then again it's not every day you hear someone from another world." Urahara sipped some of his tea then put the cup down at the table.

"So how did you come into to this world..." Urahara trailed off as he didn't know the other's name.

The other caught on this, "Oh I'm sorry!" The 'click' of armor was heard as the other straight himself out, "My name is Alphonse. Alphonse Elric."

To be continued...

Next time- Edward and Sakura meet some strange new people.

And that's it for this chapter. Hopefully next won't take so long. *laugh nervously* But the fight scenes were the ones that took so long and the Crona's mental breakdown. As I'm used to writing those things but the only way you going to get better is practice! And hopefully, I didn't do that bad of a job.