Kingdom Hearts; The Heartless Keeper

Chapter XLI; The Grim Future

Yuki sat on the ground watching the clouds roll past in the sky. X was sitting a little ways away cleaning the underside of his nails with his dagger. Y had vanished, claiming she had to check on something. What she wanted to check on in this world Yuki wasn't sure of. They were in Olympus Coliseum, outside the actual coliseum part, and in the town. What Y could want was beyond Yuki.

Yuki looked over at X in thought. He wasn't looking, like always. He had hidden himself in his own world. He was probably lost in thoughts that he would never share.

"Hey X," Yuki said. He didn't respond to her but she assumed he was waiting for the continuation of her question. He always seemed to know when she had one. "Do you know what Y went to check out?"

"We came to this world once about eleven years ago, give or take. She's probably looking for a friend." X replied calmly. He switched which hand he was focusing on, deciding the nails, on the other hand, were clean enough. Yuki frowned at his words. Eleven years ago? X and Y must have been much older than she had ever guessed. Yuki was about to ask how old they really were but was stopped by the appearance of Y, who looked very annoyed.

"Hey Y." Yuki greeted. She glanced at X cautiously before continuing. "What's got you annoyed?" At that X glanced up to see what was wrong with his sister. As he glanced up the reason for Y's annoyance became apparent. Not far behind her was a familiar redhead with gold eyes. X calmly spun his dagger in his hand, preparing for a fight.

"Hello, Aryum. What brings you out here?" X asked. The redhead laughed as she came to a stop in front of Yuki and X. Y stopped beside X, glaring at Aryum.

"I think it's pretty obvious why I was sent here." She said simply, beginning to toss dice up in the air as she spoke like she always did. "But, I don't feel like bothering you three. Considering Hysui lost her life for doing that." Yuki looked away in shame, still feeling guilty about that.

"Hysui's dead?" Y asked. Aryum nodded calmly.

"I guess it was just one of you then," Aryum said. Yuki felt Aryum's eyes land on her. X and Y shifted their gaze to her but didn't speak. X frowned while Y just gave Yuki a sad look.

"I didn't mean to." Yuki said softly. Aryum laughed once again. Why Yuki couldn't understand.

"You did her a favor. She'll get her heart back before any of us do now." Aryum replied. "Anyway, from the looks of it, you were acting in self-defense." Yuki didn't say anything. Just continued to stare at the ground.

"What do you want?" X asked. Aryum turned her gaze to him, smirking all the while.

"Why Xy, it almost sounds as if you don't trust me." She said in a mocking tone. X didn't reply with anything more than a glare. If it hadn't been for the tense situation Yuki was certain she would have laughed at Aryum's nickname for X. Aryum rolled her eyes, still tossing her dice. "I'm not going to force you all back. I'm just going to give you the option to see what the future holds." Yuki looked at Aryum with sudden interest. Y also did, looking confused.

"How can you do that?" Y asked. X rolled his eyes and answered for Aryum.

"Tempus, her set of cards." He said. Y gave him a look of disbelief. He didn't react so she instead turned her gaze to Aryum.

"You don't really have Tempus, do you?" Y asked. Aryum smiled and stopped tossing the dice. She put the dice in her pocket and pulled out a deck of cards. Yuki had seen them before but never given them much thought. Aryum never spoke of them as if they were special. They looked like a normal card deck, with the back of the cards being black with the Heartless emblem on them.