One

"The stars have all burnt out, one by one. Sooner or later, we'll fade into a deep slumber and remain that way; nonexistant.

"Xaroval, you piece of trash!" a husky voice calls from over my shoulder. I slowly swivel my head back, looking at the speaker; it's my best friend. Garrick. We've known each other for ages; it seems like he's been my constant companion since I was brought into Hollow Bastion by the orphanage.

I stick my tongue out at him playfully. "What? I'm on time, aren't I? You're the one who decided to be late," I giggle, enjoying the aggrivated expression on his face. "In fact, I'm five minutes early. On the other hand, you're ten minutes late."  I pat the empty spot beside me on the narrow concrete wall that I'm seated on. "C'mon, sit." 

He obeys and soon he's by my side, sitting criss-cross-applesauce. I glance at him for a split second, taking in his handsome features- wavy, shoulder-length blond hair, a soft jawline, lazy, pale green eyes.. His nose is dotted with a spray of dainty freckkles, and he wears a frustrated-yet-confident smirk. 

He clears his throat and says, "I'm sorry, Val. I shouldn't be so rude to you," Garrick's voice cracks with emotion- what's going on? It's unlike him to let himself seem so.. vulnerable. 

"Are you alright?" I turn to him and sigh. "I was just teasing. If I upset you, I swear I didn't mean to."

He's still smiling, so I guess that's a positive sign. "No, no, no, I'm alright. I'm beyond alright! I just got some good news earlier, that's all. I'm just so excited." He pauses for a moment and then shoves a clumsy hand into one of his pockets, "just give me a sec."

I wait. I wonder what he's talking about, but then I recall what we'd been talking about a few weeks ago. The topic of leaving this town lights up bright neon in my mind. "Did you find a way? Out, I mean."

"Oh, heck yeah, I did," Finally he retrieves a small luminescent, blue-and-yellow, star-shaped object from his cluttered pocket. He offers it to me with a painfully large grin. "I snagged it from a guy on the street. I think it was-"

"What?! Garrick! I told you. No more stealing! You're not a street rat anymore!" I'm beyond furious with him. I snatch the item from him. It's breathtakingly gorgeous, seeming as if it were hand-picked from all of the stars in the sky.

"What's it for, anyway?" I try to dismiss the majority of my anger, but it's still bubbling deep inside of me, waiting to overflow. "You've got to return it. The guy that you got it from has got to be missing it."

Garrick shoves a hand over my mouth. "Would you shut up? Someone is going to hear you."

I bite his hand. He recoils and rubs the tender spot, wincing. "All I say we need to do with it is take it back," I spit.

"That isn't an option. Look, if he finds out I took it, I'm so dead." He looks desperate.

I rise and jump down from the brick wall, landing cleanly on my feet ten feet below my stupid friend. "Tell me who you got it from."

"Before you so rudely interrupted me, I was saying: I think it was Leon. I can't be too sure, but I think it was him." Garrick glares down at me. "Look, you said you wanted out, so I found a way. That's a star shard. You can use them to teleport from world to world. I was reading about them the other day when I was studying with Master Merlin."

"You can't just steal from people, Garrick. It's wrong," I call up to him. I turn around and start to stalk away in the direction of Merlin's study. 

"Where do you think you're going?" 

"To take this to a professional. It needs to be returned. I don't care if it's our ticket out of here. It's not ours and that's all that matters."

I sassily walk away, keeping my head held high.

What an idiot Garrick is.

* * *

I knock on the large wooden door to Merlin's study and then slowly push it open. It squeaks obnoxiously and I cringe. I hate that sound. "Mater Merlin, are you here?" I call.

"One moment, please, my dear!" I spot his pointy blue hat, peeking out from behind a large black pot. He seems to be crouching down.

I see he's got his cauldron set up, and it's frothing with some strange blue liquid. I step inside and softly close the door behind me. I take a few steps closer to him. Creak. Creak. Creak. The floor screams with agony from my weight as I press further into the study.

"I believe that this isn't Garrick's. He said he snagged it off of Leon," I place the magical object on the table beside the cauldron. "I didn't want him to stay in possession of a stolen item."

He looks out from the other side of the cauldron. "Oh, yes, yes! Yes, my dear, that is indeed Leon's," he smiles warmly from underneath his snow-white beard and adds, "Thank you, Xaroval. I was- or- ah- am in the process of synthesizing a new one for him. I'm pleased that you brought this one back to me. I'll be sure to let Leon know that it has been found. He has been frantic!"

Relieved, I say, "You're quite welcome, Master Merlin." I pad lightly over to a chair and collapse onto it. It's cushiony and oh-so comfortable.

"Did Garrick by chance speak of why he stole this star shard?"

"Yes Master. He said that he wanted to use it to leave Hollow Bastion."

Merlin scowls. "Not without completing his training, he's not. I was considering synthesizing one for him, but now I'm convinced that that would be a most unwise idea. He's got to be punished," he huffs, "I'll pause his training and make him reorganize everything in this dratted place. It's a mess."

"Oh, well I'm sorry that he decided to do that," I say, "He was only trying to help me. He knows I'm not from Hollow Bastion. He was only trying to help me find my way home."

The wise old wizard picks up the stolen star shard and treads over to me. Creak. Creak. Creak. The squeaking is unbearable. He seems to notice my discomfort, fishes his wand out from his robe, waves it at the floor, and presto! No more noise. He returns the wand to his robe and pauses in front of me.

"Now, I want you to hold onto this for me, dear. I'm nearly done with Leon's new one, and I already have one of my own, and there's no point in either of us having two." He produces some twine from out of his robe and wraps it around the shard. He then ties it around my neck like a necklace.

"Th-thank you, Master Merlin." I'm shocked by his trust in me. I've only been in this part of Hollow Bastion for a little over a year and he's already presenting something so important to me.

"I know that you're not from around here, and I want you to one day be able to find your way back home. But, you must first promise me something."

"Anything, Master. What is it?"

He looks me dead in the eye and places his hands on my shoulders. "You mustn't leave until the stars return."

I tilt my head, confused. "What are you talking about?"

He looks behind him, as if he's checking to see if we're alone, and then returns his attention to me. His voice is hushed. "What I am about to tell you must stay between you and I; you cannot tell Garrick."

I nod, yes.

He also nods. "Very good. Well, this isn't going to be easy to swallow, so listen closely."

"The stars are disappearing, Xaroval. Each star resembles a different world. Metaphorically, the worlds are falling asleep. They're vanishing from existence. It's too dangerous to travel between worlds right now. Yes, the star piece will take you to a world that is awake, but there is still a risk of that one world falling asleep while you're there. You could become stranded."

"And also, the thing that Garrick did not mention- because he did not learn it, because he was too busy horseplaying with magic tricks- about the star piece.. You cannot control where it will take you. It selects a world at random and it takes you there. Whether or not you end up in a world in turmoil is out of your power."

I frown. "So, will I ever be able to leave?"

He sighs. "Let me put you through training, at least. You may have my permission to travel if you complete it. I'll talk with Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith. Leon and Yuffie can teach you the basics of defending yourself, and Aerith can teach you how to heal yourself and stay well. And then there's myself; I'll teach you all you must know about travelling between the worlds."

I blink away the tears that have been forming in my eyes. "Really?"

He lends me one of his pinkies and I lock one of mine with it. "I promise, on one condition; you must keep this a secret from Garrick. He mustn't ever learn that you posess such a power."

"I won't tell him. I promise."

Merlin produces a thick black scarf from his robe (seriously, what else does he have in there? King Mickey?) and wraps it around my neck, concealing the powerful star shard. "Be careful."

I nod, smiling. "I will. You won't regret this."