Symphony of the White Cloud

A fake date?

Easy. A grin spreads across his face in an instant.

His specialty, even.

"You've asked the man who's grown up in theater his whole life to act, of course it's not weird... komea poika. Plus, everyone at this diner knows me well, and they wouldn't be weird to you at all. I promise you can eat in peace. Let's go."

⋯✧・♪♫♪・✧⋯ He - Sielu isn't phased in the slightest when he asks him to fake a date for him so he can run errands in peace and maybe his crazy fans will leave him alone long enough that he can accomplish the things that need to be accomplished all while at the same time grabbing something to eat.

And not being asked for a photo, or an autograph - or having some woman come to squeal in his ear about how big of a fan she is of him while he's just trying to enjoy a meal in public for once.

That is why he is almost never in public - and here Sielu is just standing there proclaiming that he's been in theater his whole life so asking for such a thing isn't weird at all.

And then there it is. Two words. Komea Poika and he's blushing a building red behind his mask.

He can't just call him handsome and get away with it.

So he's reaching for the outstretched hand and taking it in his own.

After what feels like an eternity, Palo and Leimahdus scramble into the room asking what he needs.

"I need Palo to start running tests just in case this turns into an investigation later, Varjo to get on meds so we can get his heart under control, and Leimahdus to watch vitals and keep us updated. He needs to be stable before his left arm starts to - FUCK!" he shouts, interrupting his own sentence as any semblance of consciousness leaves Sitriini altogether.

He can't panic now, but -

But it's so difficult not to, and he wishes he could curse every fucking person who's ever failed him and led them all to this point, starting with himself.

This isn't right. His condition isn't supposed to be fatal. Misterican medicine is the best - it's supposed to be the best, they damn sure try - and he hasn't heard of anyone dying like this in their recent history.

Yet, much like Hiekka and Shokki before him, he seems doomed to a too-early demise. Tuli can't take another heartbreak.

Aurinko can't take another heartbreak.

He can't take another one, either.

He's praying under his breath to every god for more time. Just a few minutes to work. A few more seconds than he truly knows he has. Anything to give him enough time to fix it.

"Somebody keep Sielu out of here."

"No!" he protests as the door is shut in his face. "NO!"

He can't lose him. He thought he was willing to the day they separated, but deep down everyone knows otherwise. He knows they aren't together but nothing could ever change how his heart still sings for him.

His fists weakly collide with the door and he finds himself sliding down to his knees. He can't fix it.

He can't fix it and no one will let him in. He just wants to go back to when everything was fine.

Or even when it wasn't, just to apologize.

Just to make sure he understood it was a mistake and he didn't mean it and he still loves him as much as his lungs need air and as fiercely as the sun burns in the sky.

⏾⋆.˚ The Shadow feels a little heartless as he shoves the younger musician into the hall and closes the door. He's shouting. He's begging to be let in and he's sure that the ocean's soul is feeling all sorts of mixed emotions when everyone around them knew what was actually happening for the last two years. Neither of them could function without the other. Sielu was just as miserable as Sitriini was and all of them had been waiting for the two of them to finally talk so they all could move past this.

So the palace as a whole could start to function again because the Symphony just can't seem to sing when there's no Soul in his music and the Soul just never seemed to be able to find the notes to make a Symphony again.

They needed to talk but now who knows if they'd get to.

Sitriini's conditions were finicky but not fatal so none of this made sense - unless - unless his father was calling to him and in that case 'Sir, I am going to have to ask you to respectfully - shut the fuck up. You can't have him yet. Tuli would be heartbroken and Kapteeni would cease to function.'

They don't have time to think about it now. He's busy getting on medication to bring Sitriini's heart rate under control while Leimahdus starts monitoring vitals and Palo moves to take several small vials of blood so she can run tests to find out just what in Tiamat's name went wrong.

He doesn't know if Shokki can hear him but if he is beckoning his son to the other side then he needs to stop. None of them are capable of dealing with this right now.

It takes a moment but he can hear his heart start to stabilize and it's confirmed when Leimahdus announces as much. They all watch with baited breath as his right arm starts to become more visible until it returns entirely - solidifying from the elbow all the way to his fingertips.

It's only then that the Shadow feels like he can breathe again. It's only then that he takes a moment to step outside into the hall and sink down to the floor where Sielu has collapsed.

"He's stable." He explains. "But we're running tests and we need to have space to work to find out what happened and to keep him that way."

He's sighing as he half smiles behind his mask as if trying to keep himself just as sane as he is the young ocean before him.

"We stay at a place called the Comodeen," the man called Tuulta explains. "It is not ours. Cid, Miles, and Knave have been gracious enough to let any Mistericans and other lost souls stay there for shelter and food. Cid is a good kid but... impulsive. Miles and Knave I have only spoken to once. It is their home. That grey complex at the other end of the forest. I try to help do what I can where I can."

The red man still says he wants to repay him. For his precious baby brother.

"I get it now," he replies.

If somebody had taken care of Ven or Aqua, he'd do almost anything for that person and it still wouldn't feel like enough.

It's not lost on him that they could have gotten grabbed by that claw or-

Or they're in the Keyblade Graveyard waiting for him so that Xehanort can kill them in front of him as promised when he'd struck down Master Eraqus.

Aqua can take Xehanort, can't she?

Or maybe this man can help him do it. He has a dragon, after all, and he hadn't even needed a Keyblade to call it from the looks of things. Their power combined would be able to handle him for sure.

✩°｡⋆☼⋆｡°✩ There is a nod of understanding from the solar king as his lunar counterpart comes to join his side. This man says that his family is in danger and he needs help and honestly if he's here in this place then he probably doesn't know where they are either. Which could also prove a problem considering how long it took him to find Sitriini and the others. He's happy to know - that at the very least - Sitriini hasn't been alone all this time. At least he's had Sielu. At least he's had Setä Tuulta.

He can at least thank the Celestial Mother for that.

"I see. I'll help however I can." He pauses offering a hidden smile behind the mask that covers his face. "But first we need to get someone to look at Sielu and Sitriini. They should be in bed. So let's focus on getting to a safe location and then we talk - Terra was it?"

He continues, nodding to Tuulta as the knight leads the way and he feels their new friend take up the back just as he said he would. They should be - fine like this. They should be able to finally find a space to rest and look after each other. Find something nice to eat and a decent place to sleep. Bouncing from town to town has had it's uses but he really wouldn't mind having a place where they could actually stop for a while. It's been too many years since he's had a place to do so.

He glances down for a moment and he feels a sort of ease he hasn't been able to feel for quite come time. Sitriini has made himself comfortable in his arms and leaned his head against his chest and simply closed his eyes as if this were a dream and he could simply sleep his worries away now that big brother was here to solve all his problems.

Sielu - he thinks with a pause as golden eyes rise to glance towards the form of the man laying in Setä Tuulta's arms - looks rough. He looks weak for the lack of a better word. He looks small - and not in the way about him that says he's short but more like tiny and he's barely been surviving the time that they've been here. Only Tiamat knows how long they've been without Sydän and he can't imagine how hard that's been on him.

Maybe he's just thinking negatively and she's back where they're staying. Maybe she's fine. He can't imagine one being without the other after all. That - that would shatter Sielu. So it's not something he really wants to think about.

The man shakes his head in response. No, he's not hurt.

He really does have to be stressed though. Emotionally, he's obviously in agony.

The slight frown on the avian's face deepens into something even more concerned. Something is very wrong with this whole situation. The chase, the commotion, and now the tears that feel as if they're tiny daggers chipping away at his own heart.

Haya's voice whispers in the back of his mind that their souls know each other and that if he can just get through to this man and keep him safe, things will work out just fine.

He has no reason to disbelieve the Gods, and especially not Haya.

He feels everything coursing through him at a thousand miles a minute while his head spins from the rush. This man - with giant wings and made of so much blue is looking down at him and trying to help him. He says his name is Căntec and that he'll protect him. He wants to know his name and something in the back of his mind is screaming at him not to tell him but there is a tug at his heart that says it will all be okay if he does.

"I - I'm - Strălucire. I - I ran when someone attacked me. He woke me up and saved my life but I left him behind." He cries as he holds his knees to his chest. "He saved my life and I just left him. I left Furtună behind. I have to go back for him, but what if that beast is there - but Furtună. I can't just abandon him. He's all I have. He's all I have. I can't leave him."

He doesn't know what he's supposed to do because if the man that attacked him is still there then what will happen if he goes back - but if he doesn't will they hurt Furtună? Have they already hurt him? He can't leave him behind and he won't feel safe again until he has him in his arms.

The vice around his lungs squeezes so tight he feels they may burst as he doubles over in front of Varjo a complete mess of himself.

Now isn't the time to panic, but he doesn't fucking know how to stop. He chokes out a pathetic sob as he tries to pull in more air to explain, but all he can manage is, "Sinfonia."

He reaches forward to grab Varjo's hand, to lead him to the clearly dying man on the floor, and he can't seem to move fast enough. He doesn't feel like he can. He doesn't feel like he'll be able to help or keep Sinfonia alive, but he very well can't abandon him either.

Just because it feels hopeless doesn't mean it has to be, right? And maybe if he's lucky, Lord Haya will show up again.

If he didn't drive him away forever, anyway. He doesn't really know what a god of music will be able to fix, but surely he's more capable of helping than a regular Misterican.

Varjo takes off like a round fired from a gun, and Tuulta follows after once he picks his bag up off the ground. He's not sure why Sielu would be screaming, considering how silent the musician has become as of late, but it can't be good.

And with the way he only gets out Sitriini's name, it isn't. A million possibilities zip through his mind as his feet lift off the ground and he flies down the hall.

None of them, not a single one, prepares him for the actual sight of his godchild sprawled lifelessly on the palace floor, right arm unraveling before his eyes.

Arms are almost always the first to go. Arms or legs, and both are... difficult to work with. Fading limbs to this extent mean that the person is just as likely to be possible to bring back as they are to fade away forever, and the only real determinant is whether the Gods choose to assist him or not.

"Fuck - Varjo!" he barks. "Get me Palo and Leimahdus, meet in my office. RUN. I need more hands NOW."

He gathers the too-limp body into his arms, wasting no further precious seconds flying as fast as he can make himself go towards his office. All he can do is pray he's making the right call.

It gives him more options, more room, and overall better care if he's not in the floor.

"Listen to me Sitriini. Do not fucking fade on me," he pleads as he lays him on the sole bed and puts the railing down. "Not yet. Don't you dare."

Well-practiced hands work faster than his mind consciously registers as he pulls off the shirt that's in his way, tossing it to the floor. Monitors and oxygen come next - he needs someone to be able to read vitals when they get there so his focus isn't so split up - and of course it's his heart again that's the problem.

It's difficult to get access to a vein in his left arm, but on the second attempt he manages it.

⏾⋆.˚ Split up. They'll cover more ground. He doesn't have to see Sitriini to know this is bad. Kapteeni Tuulta doesn't panic and he doesn't yell. Basically ever unless someone is actively fading out and with that person being his godson, he can understand the panic. He's flying through the halls to stop at Leimahdus' office first where he only throws the door open and screams "Tuulta's office. NOW. Sitriini is FADING!!!"

The elder medic is out of his chair in an instant and flying down the hall to the place he was told to go without question. Next he's at Palo's classroom in a flash swinging the door open and he doesn't have time to worry about the wide jade eyes that turn to look at him with surprise.

"Tuulta's office NOW. Emergency!" He yells only to get a single sentence in return.

"What color?"

"ORANGE!"

He watches her eyes widen as she too yells "REVON! Take Pilvi to Valo and Aamunkoitto."

She's racing out of the room with a very obviously pre-packed bag in her hand as she rushes to Kapteeni Tuulta. Revon is shuffling in the room trying to remain a calm as possible as he lifts the child in question and gathers him up in his arms to carry him off to the company of his other binds.

It's only then that he starts to head back to find out how bad the situation actually is.

⋯✧・♪♫♪・✧⋯ He doesn't have the wherewithal to really understand what's happening just that Kummisetä is suddenly next to him and lifting him from the ground and he wonders if his wrist brace came with them. Everything is too fast and too muffled and just a mess. He hears 'listen to me' and 'don't fade', so whatever is going on with his right arm must be bad because he can't breath and the sensation in his arm is completely gone.

Where's Sielu?

Maybe he got sent on another mission and he hopes it's not mother because she's had enough stress and he really doesn't want her to see him like this. While he wants her, he also doesn't because she doesn't need to see him fade. Isä fading was enough and she doesn't really need to deal with that for her son.

He's down on a bed in a room with bright lights and he doesn't like any of it but there's no strength or energy to fight of complain. His tie and shirt come off of him at record speeds and something is being shoved into his left arm. Everything is so extremely bright. There's voices - Kummisetä is yelling.

There's another voice.

"What do you need?" It sounds. Followed by a different voice who sounds equally as flustered.

"Tell us what you need. We'll handle this Tuulta. We're not losing him."

'Losing him? Who's lost? Oh, me probably. I'm sorry Kummisetä but the sky is very loud.'

It almost sounds like Oranssi is screaming 'Aqua', but changing a letter. Maybe they mean the same thing.

Before he can offer to check on the unconscious man, a woman with deep purple hair appears and soothes the whole situation far better than he could hope to.

Seeing as how she has it way more under control than he does, he rises back to his full height. He almost feels invasive for standing here watching a reunion like this.

He's about to turn and give them space when there's a firm hand clapped onto his shoulder and thanks from the man in red. Aurinko is his name, and it has the same R sound he's going to struggle with for a while that Oranssi does.

"Oh, you don't owe me anything. My name's Terra. Nice to meet you," he replies, putting his right hand out to shake. "There's no way I'm gonna let some monster eat my new friend."

With Aurinko headed for Sitriini, he's left to pick up the literal pieces around him.

He doesn't want anyone else to do it anyway. This is a Knight's job.

And with Tiger's Fang specifically, it is a job with his name on it and no one else's. It takes more effort than he wants to admit to lift the blade from the mud if only because he's scared it will disappear from his grasp the moment he touches it.

Alas, it is just as real and just as solid as the day it was cast.

He remembers too vividly the teasing he'd given Sitruuna over its jagged, eccentric shape. "It's weird just like you," he'd said. That had died quickly after seeing him actually use the daggers.

His bag isn't too far, waiting for him where he'd thrown it to the wayside to fight. In it, he finds a clean cloth and starts to wipe away the mud and years of buildup off this half of Tiger's Fang.

Only when it turns from tarnished off-brown back to a recognizable yellow does he decide it's good enough until he can get "home" and polish it.

The thought nags, though, that this is only one half. Does Voltaire still have the other?

Or, maybe, is it somewhere on the ground in one of the pouches cut free off the beast's belt?

For that matter, is what's left of Varjo in one of them too, or was it hastily discarded because fabric provides no taste?

Gently, he wraps the dagger in a different cloth and tucks it neatly into the outer pocket of his bag before he starts picking up the pouches and placing them into the bigger compartment. He'll have to find out at "home", because he's not certain his heart can bear any more breaking right now.

His boots carry him towards his boys just like they always have, and he kneels to take Sielu from Kuu to avoid certain disaster should the small ocean wake up.

At least he isn't hurt any more by the looks of things, and neither is Sitriini.

He still checks the man's vitals anyway. He can never be too safe, especially with someone who blatantly refuses medical treatment most of the time.

⋯✧・♪♫♪・✧⋯ Kummisetä is taking Aqua away from him but if there was anyone to do it, he would rather it be him. There's no one he trusts more than his God father with his Bond's health. Besides, he already knows that when Aqua comes to - if he's still himself - he will already be crawling up the walls to get away from Kuu and Isoveli unless there is proof of their identity.

Aqua says there is a man that can fake faces and lie with voices. Aqua says there is a man that can mask himself in the flesh of another and that was how his mind got so twisted to mistrust Pilvi - and when he asked his Wisp about it, he too, said he had encounters with this man.

But they both confirmed that this beast cannot fake Mist. He's already seen Kuu's. He's tasted it on his lips when she blew into his face to help ease the wounds he might be carrying and luckily, and unbeknownst to her - he is fortunately not carrying any new ones thanks to Terra and his strange sword.

Isoveli however - he hasn't seen his mist yet but he did see his dragon and he can't imagine that beast of a man could fake something like that. Not when the core of its soul was Mist just the same as theirs were.

There is a bit of a laugh from the man in question and soon he feels himself being lifted from the ground and up into the arms of the sun. He feels the same. He sounds the same. His warmth is the same.

"Show us the way and I'll carry you back to whenever you're staying, Setä Tuulta. I've got Pikkuveli."

And the Symphony finds himself leaning his head against the shoulder of the sun without thought and not only does all of the previously listed feel the same but he smells the same excluding the tad scent of sourness on his breath. But really that's to be expected out here and he honestly doesn't know how he doesn't smell even more so.

He's practically curling up in his arms as his brother's head turns towards his new friend and smiles. "You say that but there has to be a way I can repay you, friend or not. I don't know what I would have done if something happened to him. He's my precious little brother, of course I want to protect him. So at least accept my thanks. Pikkuveli's health isn't the best, he shouldn't be out here by himself."