Me back at it again with almost forgetting about KHOC Week, But thankfully I decided to do my heartsmiths this year so I already had some refs laying around that I just needed to finish coloring! Sorry for the repeat art, but it’s been awhile since I’ve posted these too so I thought I’d brush the dust off and repost them!
My main man Atlas, he’s gone through some changes recently! Mostly with his hair, but his entire Knave of Hearts design got a makeover that you can see in THIS COMIC I made awhile back.
Kei!!! The main and best girl. Her design hasn’t changed much from the beginning, mostly I just changed my style of drawing her, and figured out how I wanted her hair loopys to work. Along with her body ref we have her keyblade ref! I absolutely love drawing her keyblade tbh it might be my favorite one to draw out of all my personally made ones. It fits her personality so well and shows how strong of a member of Ursus she is.
Quest’s design is probably one of my favorites out of the group. I don’t know where in the hell I came up with this, but I did and it’s just always worked out for him. I can’t picture this outfit on anyone else, it’s just so very Quest. He’s my ‘protagonist’ as it were, my original plan was for him to be the KHUX protag but things ended up changing as I developed him. But he’s still a strong wielder and party leader for Leopardos.
Wynter is so neglected so I decided to include him in with the kids. He’s the OG heartsmith and known as Father Time, the creator of Time Magic and best friend(?) To the Master of Masters. I do think his design is the weakest out of the four, but I also haven’t been able to design an outfit in a way i’m 100% content with so the battle continues.
His keyblade is special because he can freeze hearts in time, which he ends up using on Atlas before the keyblade war. He has a bittersweet ending as he ends up reincarnated in the main KH storyline after dying in the age of fariytales.
For those who don’t know what my concept of a heartsmith is, please read the below! It’s the abridged version so if you have any questions feel free to ask them!
In the age of fairytales, when the foretellers were chosen and given their roles, others rose up to their own calling. With the abundance of keyblade wielders now in Daybreak Town, a local smith decided to take it upon himself to learn how to help these young warriors. With the Master of Master’s permission, Wynter Penn started experimenting on how to repair keyblades that were damaged, and the hearts of their wielders by extension. Because of this he was known as the ‘heartsmith’.
Heartsmiths are those with the ability to repair keyblades and hearts. The former being the focus and the latter actually just a useful side effect. As keyblades are manifestations of the heart, being able to repair one means you’re able to repair the other to some extent. The ‘extent’ varies from smith to smith, it depends on how easily the smith can connect with a heart that is not their own.
It was also their job to upgrade keyblades, making them more powerful and suited to their wielders wants more often than not. Though wielders could do this themselves by other means, the smiths offered a more in depth process. They could also repair the keyblade while upgrading it, making it more durable for a time.
There is pretty much two kinds of damage a keyblade can take. Physical, such as the keyblade actually physically breaking and everyone can see that. These are actually more difficult for the smiths to work on but through their magic and their actual smithing backgrounds they are able to build a keyblade back no problem.
Then there’s what I like to call ‘Aches’ because I can’t think of anything better. Aches are the damage wielders have a harder time seeing. It’s when the wielders mental and emotional states physically start affecting their keyblades. As keyblades are manifestations of their heart, it stands to reason if there is something burdening them, something weighing down on their heart, then their keyblade is affected as well. This is the sort of damage only a heartsmith can fix - but it’s also half on the wielder. The wielder has to talk out their burdens, say why their heart is aching, before it can be 100% healed. Sometimes the smiths simply close it the best they can, because at the very least by this point the wielder is aware of their heart’s ache and can work on healing it in their own time. This can lead to multiple sessions but the smiths do their best to repair it to a point that the wielder isn’t just walking in the next day.
So visiting the smiths is akin to a therapy session. They have to talk to the wielders, gain their trust, realize what is bothering them, and talk them through on how to improve.
Upgrading a keyblade is very similar! While combining the materials to make the keyblade stronger, the smiths will talk with the wielders about their goals, why they want to get stronger - and what that even means to them. The upgrade will always succeed, but depending on the wielder’s state of mind and heart during the process and the answer to the questions the smiths ask, that will determine the new strength of the keyblade.
I wanted to use this chance to draw fighting poses for the heartsmiths, while technically three of them are wielders, Wynter and Atlas don’t see much combat - but I wanted to talk about their fighting styles anyways. I know this doesn’t entirely fit the prompt but I thought it was close enough, how they fight is determined by their goals, strengths, and of course - determination to better one’s self.
I’ll talk about them individually below the cut! (Didn’t color this sketch cause I knew it would take more than a few hours to finish and I don’t want to be late again)
Quest is actually a fencer! He uses his keyblade much like a fencing sword, one handed quick but powerful attacks. He learned fencing from his father at a young age, and it has stuck with him throughout his life. It’s the reason his party is called the Chevaliers, cause his father used to be one who used a similar fighting style.
Kei is the heaviest hitter out of the four. Her style is all strength based, she’s the tank of the group. Though she suffers in movement speed because of this, she has enough health to back her up as well as enough strength to block or parry most physical attacks. Magic is her weakness (and her savior, as a healer always ends up helping her out).
Atlas’s fighting style is entirely magic based. While he does inherit the hand of time keyblade from Wynter later on in his story, before that he was simply a magic user. His magic is off the charts and wacky due to his wonderland origins. For example the gravity spell changes his gravity, not that of his opponents. His healing spell has roses and a red glow instead of lilies and a green glow, etc. He’s mostly the one healing Kei and Quest up after missions.
HM WYNTER’S STANCE LOOKS FAMILIAR DOESN’T IT? But yes Wynter’s style of fighting is a lot like Riku’s, you could say Wynter was the one to ‘invent’ the fighting style since he came first. Wynter is a rounded fighter but definitely not the strongest. He’s stronger than the average union wielder mostly due to his age and experience, but I wouldn’t say he’s as strong as the foretellers either as he hasn’t had alot of training. His keyblade is mostly used for magic, like Atlas, Wynter is a heavy magic user. His keyblade is also used for it’s special gift of stopping someone’s heart in time. This he uses on Atlas to bestow the Hand of Time onto him and to freeze him in time so he could survive the keyblade war.
Being wielders in their respective unions, Quest and Kei carry items on the daily. However, Quest is a mother hen with an entire party to look after, so he ends up bringing the most items out of everyone on missions, on the daily, whenever and wherever. He especially has things to prevent his friends from getting sick, as it’s something he takes very seriously (having been really ill when first joining the leopardos union and needing care from Gula himself to get better). (the little heads on the side are True, Val, and Penelope respectfully. One day I’ll do a full color reference of his party).
Kei will just shove things in her pockets, or gives them to her chirithy to hold on to. She normally has a potion or two on her but that’s about it unless she finds it in the wild. Her and Quest get into arguments about inventory management on occasion, which just leads Atlas to break them up. Atlas will sometimes give Kei supplies because he’s worried about her safety, while Quest will force her to take some of his if its an emergency or to show he cares- it’s hard to tell.
Being those who barely leave daybreaktown, Atlas and Wynter just need to go on regular shopping trips. So they have the most supplies out of the four. Atlas himself will spend a little extra to have spare potions, etc, at the heartsmith’s shop so that Quest and Kei and other close friends can restock if needed.
All four of them have a key to the heartsmith shop, the keys that atlas, quest, and kei wear are these keys. Wynter had them made special for the three once he knew he could trust Atlas with the shop alone on occasion, and then once he trusted Kei and Quest enough to let them come over as needed.
I’ll go more into this at the end of the week as the keys are kind of their wayfinders so to speak.
I couldn’t draw the prompt for today (data) cause I was out all day, but I decided to write a drabble instead! It showcases Quest, who I was originally going to do solo for this week, and him first joining Leopardos and how he knows all the foretellers from the getgo. I had to stop myself from making this any longer than it already was, there’s so much I could write about this time of Quest’s life.
It’s super long and going under readmore but I hope people enjoy learning about Quest’s backstory!
“You're….the new wielder?” Gula hesitates in his normal welcome ramble after taking a moment to take in the appearance of his new wielder. God damn, it looks like he had gone through hell and back already.
The boy had messy amber hair, cut unevenly, and was a ratted mess. His clothes were dirty and loosely hanging off of him, Gula worries about how skinny he must really be if such small clothes were so baggy on him. He was barefoot, his feet and hands covered with dirt. His dirty hands were gripping onto the starlight keyblade like his life depending on it, pointing it towards the foretellers as he breathed heavily.
But what caught Gula’s attention the most was the wielder's eyes. They looked like twilight, yellow fading into amber. But besides that, they almost looked lifeless. Did this kid even have a heart? That was his first thought upon seeing those emotionless eyes.
“Who…are you?” The wielder asked.
“That’s Master Gula! Put your keyblade down!” The wielders charity jumps up and tries to grab onto the wielder's arm, and he stumbles. As he does the keyblade disappears, and Gula takes the chance to take steps forward.
“Easy.” Gula said, reaching out to catch the other. God he really was all skin and bones. “You look like you’ve been through hell.”
“No need to be so blunt, master Gula…” the Chirithy said softly. Gula ignored it and focused his attention on the wielder who was actively not trying to put weight on Gula. “It’s okay, you can lean on me.”
“Master…Gula?” The wielder asked and he gave a nod.
“That’s right, I’m the one in charge of the union you chose.” He smiled. “But we can talk about that later. Why don’t we get you somewhere you can rest?”
There’s silence as those twilight eyes looked at the ground for answers. Then he nodded and began leaning against Gula at last. Gula wraps an arm around his thin waist and puts one of the other's arms over his shoulder.
“Why don’t we start with something easy.” Gula started as he began to walk towards the house that would soon house the wielder. “What’s your name?”
There’s silence for a couple of steps, and for a moment Gula wonders if he has the strength to talk. But then he hears the other faintly speak.
“Quest….Quest Belrose.”
“It’s nice to meet you Quest.” Gula adjusted his grip and continued walking. Quest dragged his feet a little, but he managed to keep up with Gula’s pace. “Where I’m taking you now is going to be your new home.” He explained, “you’ll be the first one to live in this building but soon enough other wielders will occupy the rooms near yours.”
He wasn’t sure if Quest was taking any of this in, but he continued. “Normally, I’d ask for you to head out right away, but I can make an exception this once.”
“Sorry,” comes a mumble.
“Don’t be, I’m impressed you managed to get it this far.” Gula looked at quest as he came to a stop in front of a housing building. “You should be proud of your accomplishment.”
Quest looked at Gula for a moment, Gula just now realizing that the other was taller than him, if only barely. How old was he? Gula couldn’t help but wonder. He was the youngest foretellers sure, but he still managed to be older (and taller) than his wielders. Would Quest be another exception?
“Is this it?” Quest asked weakly, looking towards the building.
“Yup, your new home.” Gula faced forward and started to pull quest up the small set of stairs and into the building. “You get first dibs on a room, aren’t you lucky?” He chuckled softly as he looked around. There were a few rooms on the bottom floor, then a few on the second, and one attic room. “We should probably put you on the first floor so you don’t have to deal with the stairs.”
“I can handle the stairs,” Quest announced, Gula’s eyebrow raised underneath his mask.
“You could barely handle the walk over. Cmon, at least until I see you’re doing better we’ll take this room. Master’s orders.” He notices a sigh coming from Quest, but at least he’s not arguing. They turn into the closest room.
It was the bare basics; a bed, a nightstand, a dresser, and some toiletries in the attached bathroom. They were made so the wielders could customize them as wanted or needed. For now, it would definitely work for a sick wielder. He walks over to the bed and puts Quest down, the wielder groans a bit but moves to be laying against the headboard. “Chirithy,” Gula called, and both his and Quest’s appeared. “Do either of you have a potion?”
“I do!” Said Quest’s chirithy. He reaches into his little pouch and pulls out a bottle of potion, and Gula contemplates how the pouch on the Chirithy’s works for a moment before taking the potion. “Thanks.” He took out the cork and handed the bottle to Quest. “Here, drink up.”
“…..What is that.”
“A potion.” Gula explained. “It’ll heal your wounds.”
Quest looked at it with an unimpressed look before taking the bottle. He took a sip and coughed, “it tastes strong.”
“Really?” Gula tilted his head. “It’s just a basic potion, not a special one, it should be fine.”
Quest raised an eyebrow before attempting to drink the rest of the potion.
‘Ava has the best healing magic, maybe she should come to take a look at him too.’ Gula thinks as he turns his back to Quest for a moment, ‘then again, what kind of keyblade master would I be if I can’t take care of one of my own? I need to not rely on anyone, especially if I’m to find the traitor-‘
His thought process is cut off by stomps behind him. “Quest!” The Chirithy calls before the bathroom door slams shut. Gula walks up to the door quickly, only to hear the poor wielder throwing up his guts on the other side.
‘He can’t even keep down a potion? It’s worse than I thought.’ Gula thinks, ‘perhaps I can make an exception….’ Another one. How many exceptions would Quest make him make?
“Quest?” He calls, knocking on the door. The door opens, and Quest leans against the doorframe, breathing heavily. “Okay I’ll admit, the potion was a bad idea.” He holds up his hands defensively. “I didn’t think you couldn’t keep it down and that’s my bad. Why don’t we get you washed up and I’ll use healing magic instead.”
“….there’s such a thing?”
Gula smirks, “You have a lot to learn. Now into the bath with you.” His hands move into a shooing motion as he silently tells the wielder to get back into the bathroom. “I take it that you can do this much by yourself?” Quest nodded, “Alright, yell if you need anything. Your chirithy will watch after you just in case.” The chirithy salutes and finds a place upon the sink counter to sit as Gula exits the bathroom and closes the door behind him.
“Do you want me to call Master Ava here?” His chirithy asked, and Gula gave a nod.
“If you could. I have a feeling this is beyond battle wounds.” And out of everyone, Ava would be willing to help the most. He wonders if this would count as an alliance. He shook his head. Right now he was focusing on a person more than a wielder, despite just meeting, Gula finds himself compelled to help this wielder and not just as his master but as another person. He hasn’t felt this way before with his other wielders. Perhaps it was the way Quest looked at him, with those dead eyes. His curiosity was getting the better of him. Could he change that look? What caused it to begin with?
“Also bring an extra pair of robes from my closet.” He calls to his chirithy before it leaves. “He needs something more than those rags he’s wearing.”
“Sure thing.” The chirithy spins and disappears into a puff of smoke. Gula goes to stand near the window with a sigh.
A while later, the water stops and there’s a knock on the door. “Wait a minute, Quest. I have a change of clothes for you.” He called into the bathroom before going to the door of the room. He opens it to see Ava standing there with his robes over her arm. She must’ve stopped by his room for his chirithy.
“Hi Gula.” She greets with a smile. “ You needed this?” She offers the robes which he quickly takes.
“Thanks, I’ll explain in a second.” He shuffles over to the bathroom and knocks. He waits a moment before opening the door and handing the robes to the chirithy. “They might be a bit small but it’s better than nothing.” He said before closing the door again. When he turns back around, Ava has already let herself into the room, looking around for a moment before her eyes settle on Gula. She’s waiting for an explanation. He sighs and rubs at the back of his hood for a moment before going over to her. “I have a wielder I want you to look at.” She tilts her head. “He’s…sick. Not just hurt but sick. He couldn’t even keep down a potion.” He shakes his head. “I’m a little out of my element here. Normally wielders come to us in perfect condition but…this guy went through something Ava, I don’t know what but he—“
The door to the bathroom opens and both foretellers jump a little and turn towards the door. Quest is standing there with soaking wet hair and in Gula’s blue robes. They were a bit small on him, but they fit well enough considering they were still somehow baggy on him. Ava and Gula share a look before Ava moves to stand in front of Quest. “It’s nice to meet you, I’m Master Ava.” She gives a little bow, and Quest glances at Gula. He makes a motion with his hand, telling the wielder to return the bow, so he does so and looks down at Ava.
“I’m Quest…”
“Well Quest, Gula asked me to take a look at you so why don’t you go ahead and sit on the bed.” She motions for him to do just that, and he follows the instructions. “Gula get another towel and dry his hair.”
“What?”
“You heard me!” She shooed him into the bathroom much like he had done to Quest not to long ago. He shakes his head and grabs a towel before going back to the bed. Ava has Quest pulling up his sleeves to inspect his arms. Gula climbs onto the bed to get behind Quest and flip the towel on his head.
“Hey—“
“Don’t complain.” Gula huffs as he starts to rub the towel over the other’s long hair. It’s longer than he thought, and still a little knotted, but it looks much better than before. He sees the soft green glow of Ava’s healing magic and can’t help but watch for a moment as he rings out the ends of Quest’s hair.
“When was the last time you ate something, Quest?”
The silence is deafening. The foretellers give Quest a worried look. “Quest, answer the question.” Gula encouraged as he moved to sit at Quest’s side.
Quest looked like he wanted to disappear.
“I don’t know.”
“Well,” Ava dusted off her robes, “that has to change. No wonder you couldn’t keep down a potion.” She brings a hand to her chin as she bums. “Invi’s stew might be the best option here.”
“I don’t really want to get anyone else involved,” Gula said with a shake of his head.
“Well, it’s too late for that,” Ava waved her finger.. “Besides, Invi used to feed us that stew when we were sick, I don’t think she’d have a problem making it for Quest.”
“You….really don’t have to,” Quest spoke up softly but both foretellers gave him a look. Even if he couldn’t see the full expressions with their masks on, he shrank back.
“Just lay down Quest,” Gula said as he slid off of the bed. “We’ll figure it out. You’ll be better in no time.”
“I’m not sick, though.” He tries to argue.
“Quest, you could barely walk here by yourself.” Gula cuts him off. Quest opens his mouth, shuts it, then opens it again.
“I’ve always been like this…”
The foretellers look at eachother again. “Then you must have an extremely strong heart to have gotten through this burden by yourself all this time.” Ava sits on the edge of the bed, reaching over to cup the side of Quest’s face. “I know Gula is proud to have someone whose heart is as strong as yours in his union so please, let us help you get physically better.”
Quest looks frozen in place, eyes wide at Ava then glancing towards Gula. Gula nods, affirming Ava’s words. And just as he did so, he swears he sees light in Quest’s eyes, finally.
Maybe he had a heart after all.
“Okay.” He looks back at Ava and nods. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Ava smiles and stands up. “Now just try to rest. We’ll get to work.” Quest nods, and moves to lay down. The chirithy sits down next to him and covers him with a blanket. The two foretellers carefully make their way out of the room. “Gula-“
“Fine, fine,” he shakes his head. “I’ll ask Invi to make her stew. Maybe having something in his stomach will help him keep a potion down.”
“I don’t think this is something a potion can fix.” Ava crossed her arms with a worried look still showing through her mask. “He’s clearly malnourished, probably dehydrated too.”
“And probably pushed beyond his limits. He beat a Darkside all on his own before I could even meet with him.”
“Really?! All by himself? In that condition?”
“He looked like he had been to hell and back, Ava.” He shook his head. “His eyes barely have any light in them, he looked so empty.” He paused, “until just now, but even then, it’s just barely.”
“You might have to watch him for a while.” Ava uncrossed her arms and started to head towards the door. “I’ll talk to Invi for you, you should stay with him.”
“Thanks.” He watched her leave before sighing softly and going back into the room. When he shuts the door, the chirithy shushes him. Gula looks to see Quest passed out on the bed. He must’ve been seconds from passing out before. Gula releases a sigh of relief, had he not been tired he’d be worried that Quest wasn’t human after all.
Gula sits at the end of Quest’s bed, watching Quest. “He reminds me too much of me.” There’s a low chuckle as he reaches out to pet the chirithy who now sat beside him. “You have a big job ahead of you, be sure to watch after him.”
“You can count on me, sir.” The chirithy whispered.
It must’ve been an hour or two later when he heard a knock on the door. Quest was still asleep and Gula had almost fallen asleep himself. He quickly shuffles up and crosses the room to open the door. Invi and Ava are on the other side, and both giggle at his appearance.
“Have a nice nap?” Ava ruffles his hair, and he realizes his hood fell down. He grumbled and shoves his hood back on.
“Thanks for coming Invi.” He looks down to see her holding a bowl of her famous stew. “And for cooking.”
“Well, Ava explained the situation to me. It sounds like you have an exceptional keyblade wielder on your hands. It’d be a shame to let him continue on as he is.”
“I brought him some water as well.” Ava motioned next to the door where there was a case of water. She must’ve put it down to knock. “If we don’t get rid of his dehydration he might break out into a fever.”
“Right, right, here, come on in.” Quest moved aside to let the girls in, grabbing the case of water from Ava to carry it inside the room. The noise has Quest stirring, but he doesn’t quite awaken, “he’s been asleep since Ava left.”
“So I guess you haven’t had time to explain much to him,” Invi said, putting the bowl onto the nightstand. Ava goes over to the bed and shakes Quest slightly.
“Wakes wakey!” Ava giggles.
Quest stirs for a moment more before blinking his eyes open. For a moment, he looks confused, jolting up and away from Ava and into the corner that the bed rested next to. He looked at all the foretellers in the room before slowly calming down with help of his chirithy.
“Sorry. I…thought it was a dream.”
“It’s okay, I’m sorry for scaring you,” Ava said with a nod before standing up. “We brought you some food. You should try to eat some.”
“Thank y—“ Quest moved to the edge of the bed before finally noticing the new face in the room. “Um…—“
“I’m Master Invi.” Invi introduced herself with a bow. “Quest Belrose, correct?” Quest stands up (just barely managing it), and gives a bow himself. “Please sit, I can tell you’re not at full strength yet.” With a soft sigh, Quest sits back down on the bed. Invi picks up the bowl of stew and hands it to the wielder “It should be cool enough to eat now. I would make this for The other foretellers when they were sick. I hope it helps you as well.”
Quest gives a small nod, pushing back some of his semi-dried hair behind his ear. “Thank you.” He says before grabbing the spoon and taking a spoonful into his mouth. His eyes shine, dimly but it’s still there. “This is good.” He mumbled and started eating with more vigor.
“Slow down! You don’t want to make yourself even sicker.” Invi scolded and Quest slowly swallowed the spoonful he had in his mouth.
“Sorry, ma’am.” Quest mumbles.
Ava and Gula chuckle from a few feet away. “She’s giving him the big sister treatment,” Gula whispers.
“Yeah, but maybe he needs it.” Ava whispers back.
“Gula!” The younger foreteller straightens up as Invi calls his name. “Get Quest a water.”
“Oh uh sure,” he said, breaking open the case of water and putting it on the nightstand. Quest thanks him quietly and takes it to take a couple of sips from it.
“I’m sorry, I think I’m full.” He hadn’t managed to eat even half of the stew. He puts the water back and the bowl on the nightstand. Then a hand flies to his mouth and Gula jumps forward. “You okay?”
“I just….feel sick again.”
“Was that too much for your stomach?” Invi asked, tone sounding very worried even if her face was covered by her mask and scarf. “You might need something not as rich, like bread and some basic soup, not stew.”
Quest squeezed his eyes shut. “Okay, no more talking about food I think we’re just making it worse.” He helps Quest to his feet and helps him over to the bathroom. Quest thanks him and shuts the door after his chirithy walks in after him.
Gula turns toward the other foretellers and gives a small sigh as he rubs at the side of his neck.
“It’s worse than I thought.” Invi hummed as she crossed her arms. “My stew isn’t that rich, it’s almost as basic as you can get.”
“He said he couldn’t remember the last time he ate anything so many he just had too much.”
“I told him not to eat too fast.” Invi huffed and Gula gave a nervous chuckle.
“Try not to hold it against him.” Especially since they could hear him getting sick in the bathroom again, Gula winced and motioned for them to leave the room. The noise wasn’t noticeable out in the hall.
“You need to feed him very basic food and make sure he drinks enough water.” Invi instructed. “It’s going to start getting dark soon, maybe wait until tomorrow to give him any more food. If we can get him to keep something down then that’s progress.”
“Progress for what?”
The three freeze up as a new voice enters their conversation. They turn around to see that Ira and Aced have both joined them. When did they even get in here without the three of them noticing?!
“Ira! Aced!” Gula greeted, giving a nervous laugh. “What- what brings you two here?”
“I saw Ava and Invi enter here, but I know this building was given to you for new wielders so I couldn’t help but check it out.” Ira explained, “I brought Aced with me in case something was the matter.” There was a heavy pause, “so what are you all doing here?” He finally asked.
“Master Gula?” A soft voice calls that gets all of the foreteller’s attention.
“Coming!” Gula called before opening the door, “Please explain, I’ll be back in a minute.” Ava nodded and Gula thanked her with a smile before entering the room and shutting the door behind him.
Quest was gripping onto the doorframe of the bathroom, looking…scared, almost? “Hey it’s okay, I was just talking with Ava and Invi.” Quest nodded, his grip loosening on the doorframe. Gula holds his hands out and Quest hesitates, but grabs onto them. Gula gently and carefully leads Quest back to the bed, getting him to take a couple sips of the water before laying down. “How are you feeling?”
“Sick still…” but he gets comfortable under the sheets regardless.
“That might take a bit to go away. But don’t worry I’ll be here watching after you.”
“You can’t always be here to watch him, Gula.” Gula swallowed thickly and turned around to see Ira walk into the room, Aced and the girls not far behind him. “You have your duties as a foreteller.”
“Um….” Quest was understandably confused, having all these fancily dressed people in his room. Ira cleared his throat before approaching the bed as Quest sat up.
“Forgive us for intruding. I’m Master Ira, and this is Master Aced.” Aced only huffed at being recognized, and Quest nodded to the both of them.
“I’m Quest…Quest Belrose.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet such a strong heart.” Ira gave a bow of his head. “But I’m afraid I can’t let you have Gula all to yourself.”
“Ira, he’s my wielder, I can take care of this-”
“Ontop of your normal duties and your role?”
“Of course!” Gula huffed.
“How about this.” Ava cut in, breaking into the front of the group. “Why don’t we take turns!”
“Hey, don’t drag us into this!” Aced huffed.
“Well Gula needs help, and Quest definitely needs help, so why not? We’re a team in the end too, right?” She looks at all of the other fortellers. “We’re all master’s apprentices, and keyblade masters, taking care of one sick wielder shouldn’t take too much time out of our schedules if we just take turns.”
“You don’t have to–” Quest tried, but Ava waved her hand to shush him. He closed his mouth and looked down at the sheets.
“Well, I,” Ira coughed into his hand. “I was going to suggest he get members of his union to help him -”
“Oh come on, you heard Quest’s story, how can you not want to help him!”
“We’re all very busy, Ava.” Invi intervened. “I do not mind coming by with food but you shouldn’t drag everyone into this–”
“Why not!”
“Ava, really,” Gula chuckled at her antics. Before anyone else could speak, there was another noise that interrupted them. A….sob? The foretellers were quick to turn to Quest, who was wiping at his eyes with a shaking breath. Ava quickly moved to Quest’s side and puts a hand ontop of his head.
“Quest? Are you okay?”
“It–It’s nothing–” Quest sniffs, wiping away tears from one of his eyes. “It’s just…..--”
“You guys remind me of my family.” Quest shook his head.
“Your family?” Ira, now curious, moves closer to the bed aswell.
“Yeah. My parents they–they bickered alot.” Quest explained, taking a deep breath. “But I could tell they cared for eachother, just like you all do.”
“Well….--”
“How are your parents, Quest? Do they know you’re here?” Ava asked.
Quest shook his head. “My parents are dead. I buried them, and then right after the monsters showed up.” That got all the foretellers to freeze. “Next thing I know, I’m here and saving that girl, fighting those big monsters back to back...”
‘This poor guy….he can’t catch a break.’ Gula squeezed Quest’s hand tighter. ‘He buried his parents and then got attacked by heartless? No wonder he looks so dead inside.’ “Wait, what girl?” He blinked in the realization, looking up at Quest, who looked at him with red swollen eyes.
“Oh, yeah, there was a girl when I showed up, and she was scared, so I, uh, took over the fight for her, she ran away somewhere safe.” Quest shook his head as if it was nothing. “Then afterwards, another big monster showed up, so I beat that one too. That’s when you showed up, Master Gula.”
“So let me get this straight,” Aced suddenly spoke. “You beat TWO darkside heartless? Back to back? In your condition?”
“Heartless?”
“That’s what we call the monsters of darkness, heartless.” Gula quickly explained. “But is that right Quest? You beat two giant heartless?” Quest nodded. The foretellers are just staring in silence at Quest, while he looks sad and confused. Had he said something wrong?
“Now that he mentions it…” Ira cups his chin as he thinks, snapping out of his daze. “There was a girl wielder hanging around the building. I didn’t think much of her at the time, but I wonder if she was the girl that Quest saved. She might be looking for a way to approach him.”
“I’ll go get her!” Ava hopped and quickly made her way out of the room before anyone could stop her. Ira and Invi found themselves chuckling at her childish actions.
“Well, what do you think of Ava’s idea?” Gula offered to the other three. “I can handle it, I promise. Like Ira said, I can just rely on my union members.”
“But that would make Ava upset.” Invi said with a shake of her head. “And I’d rather not deal with that.”
“Agreed.” Aced crossed his arms. “I’m quite curious to test Quest’s strength aswell. Let me know when he can hold his keyblade again, then I’ll help him train.”
“Th-Thank you, sir.” Quest bowed his head, and Aced huffed. Gula could tell he was embarrassed, and chuckled softly.
“I’m back,” Ava suddenly announced and the fortellers (plus Quest) looked over towards the door. There was a girl standing beside her. A nervous looking girl with blackish hair with a ribbon tied in it. She wore a white and yellow dress that flowed slightly as Ava pushed her forward abit. Gula remembered her, she was a somewhat lazy girl that joined his union just last week. The girl swallowed nervously and gave a bow to the foretellers, who split apart to let the girl approach the bed. She blinked and took the hint, slowly walking towards the bed and looks at quest.
“Um, th-thank you for saving me!” She quickly bows again, and Quest looks more confused than ever.
“It-It’s okay, really-” Quest waved his hands, giving a shake of his head. “I’m just– glad you’re not hurt.”
“But you are.” She frowned abit and held up a bag. “I bought you some potions. I wasn’t- sure how else to thank you.” Gula puts a hand on the girl’s shoulder, causing her to jump somewhat. “Master Gula….”
“I hope you’ll learn from Quest’s example.” He said, taking the bag of potions from her and placing them next to the nightstand.
“I-I will!” She nodded, reaching forward to grab onto Quest’s hand. He flinches slightly, but no one seems to notice except for Gula. “Please let me know if there’s anything I can do to help you.”
“Why don’t you help watch him?” Ava said, trotting up to stand next to the girl. “We’re all pitching in, do you want to help?”
“Yes, Yes of course!” She looked towards Ava and nodded before back at Quest. “We’ll get you up and att’em in no time!”
“Er….thanks, I think.” He mumbles, looking away from the girl.
“Alright, I think we’ve crowded him enough.” Ira steps back from the bed. “Let us go, Gula can handle everything tonight then we can work out shifts later.”
“Right…” The girl let go of Quest’s hand and was about to leave, when suddenly Quest grabs it. “Hm?” Gula looks at Quest aswell, and he seemed to have a confused look on his face. Did he not realize he reached out to her? “Something the matter?”
“I….never got your name.” He mumbles as he let go of her hand.
“Oh! Silly me, it’s Penelope.” She smiles softly. “It’s nice to meet you….”
“Quest. Quest Belrose.”
“Quest! What a cool name!” She clapped her hands together. “I’ll come over first thing tomorrow!” She made her way towards the door, waving at all the occupants before going out of the building.
“She’s a lively one.”
“She wasn’t a few days ago, so I’m glad.” Gula sighs softly. “Alright, everyone out, shoo.” Aced didn’t take kindly to being shooed out, but Gula only teased him along with Ava as they left the room. Ira looks back at Quest, who stared back at him.
“Your eyes….” Ira started, then shook his head. “Be sure not to lose track of what is infront of you.”
“....Yes Sir, I won’t. Not again.” He bowed his head, Ira frowned abit but returned the gesture to Quest before leaving the room.
With a few seconds alone, he leaned down to look at the bag Penelope had brought. He reached down and picked up a potion, looking at the green liquid. “Don’t even think about it! You couldn’t keep it down just a few hours ago!”
“But I ate–”
“You couldn’t keep that down either!” The chirithy bonks him on the head. He rubs at his amber locks with a huff.
He looks at the potion then at the water bottle he had next to his bed. “Do you think I could mix them?”
“Dilute the potion, you mean?” He looked up to see Gula walking back into the room. “Not recommended. I’ve tried it and it just tastes like sour water which wouldn’t be good for your stomach right now.”
“Hm. Worth a shot.” He puts the potion down on the nightstand.
“You’re really something else.” Gula chuckled before pushing on Quest’s shoulder. “Alright, back to bed with you.”
“...Is taking care of me really going to be that time consuming?”
Gula shakes his head. “Ira’s just a busy body. He only thinks about work.” Gula waved his hand. “Don’t worry about him. But I am going to have to step away sometimes but I know for a fact Ava and Penelope won’t leave you alone, so you’ll be fine.”
“I can handle myself–”
“I don’t doubt that.” Gula sits on the edge of Quest’s bed and crosses one leg over the other. Quest lays down as asked before Gula speaks again. “But right now you need to let others help you. You’re apart of a union now. A team. You need to be a team player.”
“....I’m not used to being in a team.” Quest mumbles as he turns on his side, turning his back towards his foreteller.
“Trust me, I know the feeling. But it’s nice, to rely on others and be relied on. It’s a fulfilling feeling.” Gula reaches to run a hand through Quest’s hair. He closes his eyes shut at the feeling, slowly starting to relax. “We can be your new family.”
“....I want my old one back.”
“I know you do.” His tone is sympathetic as he puts the outstretched hand on Quest’s arm. “But think of it this way. Your parents would be so proud that you saved Penelope today, wouldn’t they?”
“....Yeah.” Quest mumbled, slowly starting to drift off. “They would be.”
“Get some rest Quest, you deserve it.” He patted Quest’s shoulder before standing up. The wielder was out before the foreteller could even get his feet back onto the ground. “Watch after him, Chirithy.” The wielder’s chirithy gave a salute. “Call mine if anything happens during the night. And I mean anything.”
“Yes sir.”
Gula nodded and made his way out of the room. He takes one last look at Quest, the potion on the nightstand, and then turns around to walk out of the room. This was going to be a busy week….
WOW I FINALLY?? GOT AROUND TO POSTING THIS. Truthfully it was going to take longer but I decided to toss out screentones - I need to practice on something smaller than this.
ANYWAYS HI HAVE SOME ATLAS LORE. Atlas/The Knave are both my most in depth oc and I really wanted to touch upon more of his backstory as The Knave. There might be more comics like this in the future, not all based around the knave but some with Atlas and his trio too! I’m working on covers and stuff for that aswell.
Please let me know if you like this and I can plan on making more specifically with the Knave and this storyline
I have been working on these since I did atlas’ that i posted awhile ago and I decided to add onto his aswell. I plan to make more content with my heartsmiths so I wanted to update their designs and make references.
me: I need a break from my big comic
also me: draws a comic as a break from my big comic and includes important atlas lore in it.
Anyways I drew this for @amyhayanora who has been working so hard lately and I knew needed something wholesome with her keykids. I already showed this to her on discord but I wanted to share it here too.
Out of Interest what would some ofyour KHocs think of Mine and would they get along.
Taiyo
Kumo
Tsuki
@fumikomiyasaki Thanks for the question and talking to me a bunch through IM! I’m excited to finally get to this question you sent like last month alskdfj.
Since it’s khocweek I’ll add Sid onto the list and also do the main heartsmith trio’s opinions.
Readmore because I’m long winded af:
Sid:
For Taiyo: I can see them getting off to a rough start because of how socially awkward Taiyo is and how socially forward / aggressive Sid is. However, if she mentioned looking for a cure for her condition, Sid would do a 180 (but be tsundere about it) and try to help her out. Truthfully he can’t stand seeing people in trouble / hurting so he’d do his best to try a few things at the vert least. I could see them eventually becoming friends, maybe not on a super deep level but they could have eachother’s backs.
For Kuma: Protect friends first squad TM. He could at least see where Kuma’s more serious nature comes from and would like, find equal ground on them always looking after their friends first. Also if Kuma was up for it I could see them sparing since they’re both strong, but Sid isn’t used to using a keyblade so there would be a lot of losses on his part before he started to even put a scratch on Kuma. Also sid DEFINITELY wants to examine that keyblade transformation and learn how it works. Mechanic brain goes bbrrrr
For Tsuki: Sid would....find her annoying. At least at first. It takes him awhile to warm up to people with more bubbly personalities. He’d probably be wary of her most out of the trio - but then learn that she’s just extremely dense lmao. He’d be interested in her keyblade transformation like with Kumo and want to know how it works. He’d probably ask a bunch of technical questions she doesn’t know the answer too lol.
Atlas:
For Taiyo: Atlas was / is good with kids so he probably knew the trio when they were young in Daybreak town, if only through passing. He doesn’t like that such young kids could be apart of unions but since they were he did his best to always make sure to check up on them. Post KH3 timeline though, he would be so emotional meeting Taiyo again. Even if she doesn’t remember him - he’s just glad some people from daybreak town are popping up and survived the war. Learning about her sleep problem though, Atlas would do his best to help look for a solution in all the spell books left by Wynter - he’d also offer his services of fixing keyblades free of charge for her.
For Kuma: Again, he didn’t like that kids were apart of the unions but did his best to check up on the younger ones personally. Meeting him post KH3 and him actually remembering daybreak town and stuff about keyblades, well, Atlas might be an emotional mess. I can see Kuma remembering about the heartsmiths too since they were a normal part of taking care of keyblades in daybreak town, so he could remember atlas and man i think this would be the first time someone would recognize him so yeah, emotions all around. Atlas would offer his services free of charge and keep an eye and ear out for his friends.
For Tsuki: Since Tsuki was in the Leopardos union it’s possible he met her first, considering his best friend Quest is apart of that union. Again, he probably check up on her personally (maybe with Quest in tow sometimes). Post KH3 he’d do his best to help her as she lost the most memories out of the group. again, emotional on Atlas’ part but he’d keep it together to not seem weird infront of a girl who he had ‘just met’. He’d explain his services and offer them to her and hopefully try to reawaken some of her memories. In the end, he’s mostly sad that she doesn’t remember Quest - as he was someone who cared about her from the sidelines too.
He’d be friends with all of them of course, he’s very easy to get along with and a very caring / empathic person. Post kh3 especially he’d try to be close with them because of all they’ve had to go through since the time of the war.
Kei:
All: Kei is amazing with kids, but i’m not sure if she would have approached them aside from maybe giving them flowers to make flower crowns with or something. She was in a different union and definitely one of the ones who got blindsided by union loyalty and all that. though she was more of a medic in the war than a fighter, she died there and wouldn’t be revived in the ‘canon’ timeline, so she wouldn’t meet them post kh3.
Quest:
Tsuki: Quest is....not great with kids. Still, he’s known as a mom friend for a reason. He’s very worried about the younger members of the Leopardos union so he’d check on Tsuki from time to time from a distance - it was only when Atlas was with him that he would approach closer. Tsuki probably would think he’s just someone who nags her alot and reminds her of her parents laskdjf but quest has good intentions at least. Sadly, he also dies in the war with Kei so he wouldn’t meet her most KH3
Taiyo and Kuma:Again, Quest isn’t good with kids and unless he was with Atlas m he wouldn’t approach kids especially those who weren’t in a union / not apart of his union. So they probably had the same impression that he was a very naggy person, but likely didn’t have a close relationship with him before the war started.
