The Second District of Traverse Town was silent, save for the occasional crackle of magic and the faint hum of protective barriers.
Helios stood alone, his hands still tingling from his fourth explosive failure.
Charred and in pain Helios barely raised one hand to cast the Cura spell rejuvenating himself. He exhaled and he sat up slowly, rubbing his temple.
Four hours.
Four damn hours.
And every attempt to mix Light into Fire had ended the same way—
Boom.
He had been blown backward more times than he cared to count, but now, he was thinking.
His Light wasn't unstable. It was reacting to him and he could control it easily, so why wasn't it working?
The harder he tried to force it, the more it resisted.
He needed to approach this problem differently.
Helios raised his hand, summoning a small white orb that shined above his palm.
Unlike Darkness, which had always felt hungry, eager to infect and consume, Light…
It melded and it flowed. Even without any input from him, his light behaved this way. It was not meant to be controlled.
That was the difference.
Darkness, without strict control, would consume everything.
Light, without control, would simply exist.
His mistake had been treating them the same.
Helios' fingers curled around the orb.
This time, he wouldn't force it and he would let it be. He just put his hand nearby and cast the Firaga spell as he normally would making to effort to meld it with the light.
Slowly, Helios brought his hands together, summoning a small flickering Fire spell.
With a deep breath, he opened the flame to the light allowing it to sink into the fire—without forcing it.
The moment the two energies met they melded.
The flame did not resist.
It did not explode.
Instead, it changed and began to glow white.
The fire shimmered, taking on a pure, radiant form, hovering above his palm.
Helios stared at it.
Then—
He thrust his hand forward.
The white fireball shot outward, spiraling through the air before detonating in a burst of burning flame and brilliant light.
Not just an explosion but rather a purge.
The air hummed with energy, and Helios couldn't help but grin.
He had done it. He had succeeded and made what he called a Holy Firaga.
The question now is could he create that effect inside his body next time now that he understood the feeling?
Elsewhere in Traverse Town, Aqua stood alone in Merlin's training room, her fingers lightly tracing the edges of her Glacial Empress's Grace.
Skuld and Merlin were asleep.
But Aqua…
Her mind was awake thinking about Helios' words from earlier which still echoed in her head. "You lacked creativity."
He had been right. She had spent so long refining control that she had never expanded outward. In that sparring match she had been unable to truly scratch the surface of its true potential.
That needed to change.
Aqua drew back her bowstring, summoning an arrow of pure Fire.
She let it fly—watching as it ignited in midair before striking the far wall.
BOOM
Next—
She combined Fire and Wind.
BOOOOM
The arrow exploded on impact, sending shockwaves of flame outward.
It worked.
She tried Ice and Lightning.
The arrow froze the air around it, then shattered sending a massive electric pulse outward.
Aqua's eyes narrowed.
She was getting closer.
But this…
This still wasn't enough.
She needed something more.
A thought struck her. She remembered the last move Skuld used against her ricocheting against the walls to attack her.
She knew a spell that created momentum-reflecting platforms.
She had always used it to jump higher, creating a floating step midair.
But what if she could use it to redirect her arrows? Might she be able to create a move similar to what Skuld used?
Aqua raised her bow again, firing a simple Fire arrow.
At the last moment—
She summoned a small platform in its path.
The arrow bounced off the platform, changing direction and flying off before hitting the wall.
Aqua stared.
It worked.
Aqua tried it again, but this time aiming to have it redirect farther away.
She fired and the arrow redirected, but not where she wanted.
The farther the platform was from her, the harder it was to control.
Aqua frowned.
If she could perfect this, she could control the entire battlefield. She might even be able to expand on the technique and truly recreate the move creating a cage of arrows.
But for now, she still has a long way to go.
Helios stood in the Second District, watching the last embers of Holy Firaga fade away.
Aqua stood in the training room, gripping her bow as she reconsidered strategy.
They were both growing stronger with their motivation pushing them forward.
They were both taking a step pushing themselves toward something new.
The next morning Helios tiredly stretched his arms as he was in pain from constantly crashing against the barrier plus he hadn't gotten more than an hour of sleep.
With the sun barely risen, Aqua found herself standing before the Moogle's house in the First District that Skuld told her about.
She knocked on the wooden door.
A moment later, Helios opened it, looking only mildly surprised to see her.
Aqua crossed her arms. "Skuld is off training spells with Merlin."
Helios raised an eyebrow."So?"
Aqua tilted her head slightly to the left and sighed. "So… I'm here to continue training—I want you to master transforming your keyblade into a vehicle."
Helios' lips curled into a smirk. "Already mastered that yesterday."
Aqua's brow furrowed slightly. "…You what? Really?"
Helios shrugged. "Yeah, it took me an hour. Didn't see a point in waiting."
Aqua's eye twitched. "…Then why didn't you—"
"But," Helios cut her off, grinning, "I'd rather spar instead. I'm working on something else at the moment. I've noticed I make the most progress when I fight so will you help me?"
Aqua exhaled slowly.
Fine.
If he wanted a spar then he was getting one.