Kingdom Hearts: Night of Fate

[Hidden]

"But of course," their mysterious host said, and finally turned around.

It was only nine years of ingrained manners that prevented Sarah from leaping out of her chair with a yelp. With a long white beard and bristling eyebrows, this old man looked even more ancient than the one she had come with, but he was not the sort of grandpa Sarah would ever want to have. His expression was so severe, his eyes so fierce, that Sarah momentarily forgot all her other scars and became again just a little girl scared by a strange adult. Her caretaker seemed to sense her unease, and tried to alleviate it.

"This is Sarah. She is a survivor of Kismet."

Unfortunately, this only served to bring those fierce eyes to bear on Sarah, and she stayed perfectly still under their gaze, pinned to the seat of her chair.

"Is that so?" the gravelly voice mused, one hand reaching up to brush the length of his beard. "And how is it that one so small made it through the storm unscathed...?"

"Not unscathed," the other said purposefully, and for a brief moment those eyes left Sarah and returned to the older man. "Just so," he admitted at last. "Still, I can sense there is something special about this one. She has made it surprisingly far, for not being chosen." That word again....

"We can talk more of this later," Sarah's caretaker said, then suddenly he turned to her. "Sarah? Would you like to explore more of Master Yen Sid's tower? There are many wondrous things here."

Sarah knew she was being dismissed, but was happy for it. She glanced nervously at the fierce old man across the table, but he seemed to have lost all interest in her. Without a word, she got up hurriedly from her seat and made for the only other door besides the one they had come in from. Before this door (which moved without anyone touching it) had swung shut behind her, she could already hear the two of them again in deep conversation."

---

Oh dear, what have we here, girls?"

"Poor thing. She's been through a terrible ordeal!"

"We should find that Mr. Seyward and give him a good talking to!”

Sarah looked around wildly for where the voices were coming from, but the room appeared empty except for her. Scattered books and fragments of clothing were strewn across the floor, a contrast to the austere cleanliness of the previous room. At a loss, Sarah looked up—and saw the most peculiar sight of a thoroughly peculiar tower.

Three diminutive ladies were fluttering down towards her on tiny wings. Each was dressed in a wildly different hue, one red, one blue, and one green, and they were arguing between themselves as they descended.

“Really, Merryweather, I’m certain Mr. Seyward has been doing his best...”

“He’s a man! He doesn’t know the first thing about proper childcare!”

“Hush, dears, she can hear us.”

With that the three fairies alighted on the ground and gave a little curtsey. “I am Fauna,” the one dressed in green said sweetly. “And I, Flora,” the red one followed. “And I am Merryweather!” said the one in blue, who had spoken so robustly against Mr. Seyward’s parenting skills. Their hair was tinged with gray (except for Merryweather’s), but they hardly reached up to Sarah’s height.

“What’s your name, dear?” the red one, Flora, asked. But Sarah, who had briefly let down her guard in amazement, retreated back into her shell. The green one clucked sadly.

“Poor dear. You’ve really suffered a terrible fate.”

The three suddenly drew together and began consulting furiously. In spite of herself, Sarah leaned forward to hear. All three then sprang back into position, faces set.

“We’ve decided,” the red one said. “We’re going to help you!” the green one finished for her.

“After all, you’re going to need all the help you can get with old Mr. Seyward looking after you!” Merryweather chimed in, but she relented under her sisters’ disapproving glares. “Well, a little help anyway.”

“Each of us shall give you a single gift, no more, no less, as is the rule with fairies,” Flora explained, and as she stepped forward she drew a wand out from her sleeve. “Dear child, my gift shall be the gift of courage. You shall have need of it in the coming days.” With a flick of the wrist, a starburst of red stars appeared from her wand and settled around Sarah, slowly fading from sight.

Next came Fauna. “Sweet child, my gift shall be the gift of wisdom. In these dark times, you must be able to tell friend from foe.” A twist of the elbow, and a green light enveloped Sarah, also to fade away.

Finally Merryweather came forward, rolling up the sleeves of her gown. “Brave child, my gift shall be...” But suddenly a great gong emanated from the neighboring room, shaking Sarah and the fairies nearly off their feet. As Sarah regained her balance, she looked up just in time to catch a fading halo of blue. “Well, you’ll just have to wait and see what my gift shall be,” Merryweather said with a coy smile.

Flora bustled forward. “You are beckoned, child. It seems Masters Yen Sid and Seyward have need of you. Hurry back now!”

Truth be told, Sarah didn’t feel much different than she had upon walking into the room, though perhaps her step had a new spring in it and her eyes shone clearer. As she reached the door, she turned back to the three diminutive fairies.

“My name is Sarah,” she stated simply. Her three fairy godmothers smiled in return, and Sarah stepped over the threshold.

---

Whatever newfound confidence Sarah had gained from the fairies evaporated as soon as she reentered the room with the two old men. Both of them sat staring intently at her now, and a sense of expectation charged the room. Eventually her benefactor (the one the fairies had called Mr. Seyward) held out his hand to her.

“Sarah, would you come here please? There is something we must ask of you.”

 

[Ordeith]

Sarah passed through the doorway in a nervous shuffle, shoes scuffing against the floor. Wherever she was going—and Bryant had a fair notion of where that might be—she would be far out of hearing, distracted by the sights of Yen Sid's tower. And that is exactly what she needs right now, Bryant thought. When even the grown-ups have lost their sense of grounding...

He did not wish to complete that thought.
Instead, he launched into the details of Kismet's last night. The raw facts came quickly, and without much remark.

Black winds, Heartless.

A man with access to the Dark Corridors.​

The Heart of the world, devoured.​

Multiple lights, winking bravely in the darkness.​

Speculation followed.

"…and so we left the island to die. Sarah was the last one to see the heart of Kismet before it was swallowed. If my hunch is correct, she may indeed be the key to a solution—but I'm not worried about that, now. She is safe, and will remain with me if I can help it. But the other survivors, as I'm certain there are..." Bryant pinched the bridge of his nose, and closed his eyes. Though the initial shock of memory absorption had long since passed, it was still difficult for him to recall specific information.

"Three," he said after a moment. "With my own eyes, I saw two who had been chosen; with my heart, I sensed a third. Several others were not chosen, but were powerful all the same, and I know still less of their whereabouts."

Master Yen Sid raised an eyebrow. "Three is a significant number," he mused. "So have I always found. How certain can you be of their survival?"

"Given the circumstances, as certain as can be. As I mentioned, the young lady in town—the Shifter—is one. The young man with Santagar is two,” Bryant said. “The third, whoever he or she may be, did not follow us to Twilight Town. That said, this person’s light was still shining even as we fled the island; I wouldn’t discount the possibility that they also survived. If so…”

"I see. You fear that this third Keyblade will be used to malicious ends?"

"Yes."

"Rightly so." The wizard closed his eyes for a moment, as he spoke. "On Kismet, the darkness emerged in greater strength than ever before, and at least three Keyblades appeared in its wake. Clearly the two events are related; now we must determine which was a reaction to which. If the darkness sought these chosen out, with the intention of destroying them…"

"…Then we’ve misunderstood the nature of this thing from its very inception." Bryant had since drawn several new theories about the storm, and none was very hopeful.

"But if these three Keyblades appeared explicitly to defend against the storm, it can only mean that the worlds—together—chose their wielders. No awakening is ever a matter of chance, and every Keyblade is worthy of respect. However. If these Keyblades are the worlds' gift, and not merely the product of their wielders' strength, we cannot allow even one of them to slip away from us. Should the storm find this person before we do, our disadvantage would be beyond recovery.

"And we have already lost so much to this storm..." Yen Sid knitted his eyebrows.

Bryant smiled wearily, and warily. "That, I suppose, is where Sarah might be of some help to us."

__________________________________________________________________________​

"You are working with dangerous magic, my friend. I am hopeful, but still I pray that you are not wrong."
Now Yen Sid's eyes flashed warning, sharp and clear.

"Have a little faith," Bryant said. "After all, they say that light shines brightest in the hearts of children."

The sorcerer's mouth twisted upwards at the corners, into something that might be called a smile in the most categorical sense. At a slight gesture from his hand, the study shook with the brassy tone of a gong. It sounded from everywhere and nowhere, sending a slight tremor through every surface in the room. If anybody asks me the difference between magic and wizardry, Bryant thought, I'll try to remember this one.

Again through the wooden doors, Sarah rejoined them—changed, the old men could see.
She stood no taller, but her head was higher. Her eyes were dry, but they shone brighter. Though Bryant had always known it, he realized more clearly than ever that the small, withdrawn girl with whom he had traveled was not Sarah, not truly. Here was the person who had wanted so badly to laugh, when she rode on the train with him.

Though Bryant saw nothing in the room beyond, he heard the hushed rustle of skirts—and knew exactly whose handiwork it was. Kind old dears. But that's a reunion for another time.

Even so, his thoughts touched ever-so-briefly upon Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather.
Merryweather. Ah, yes. Perhaps a much later time.

Sarah looked at her chaperones expectantly, and Bryant snapped back to attention. He extended his hand towards her, and spoke to her as he always did. "Sarah," he said, "would you come here, please? There is something we must ask of you."

She stepped forward, and placed her hand in his. "Yes ... Mr. Seyward?"

A part of the old man's heart bloomed with joy, simply glad to hear her speak. Whatever had happened, whatever would happen, something of Kismet was alive and well. He gave silent thanks to the three fairies. "If you can remember, without it being too unpleasant for you, the night of the storm?"

A shadow came over Sarah's face then—but a brief one, a light one. She nodded.

"Now think," Bryant said, "about the light that you saw during the storm. In the middle of the ground, wasn't it? Close your eyes, and try to picture it. Go back to that spot, and remember everything you can about it. The way it looked, felt, smelt, tasted, sounded..."

"I can remember it," Sarah said. "I can see it."

Steward Brandt shot a glance back at Master Yen Sid, who sat with fingers steepled, eyes locked on the child. Then he plunged back into the magic that once resided in his paintings—magic which, if left to stew inside his heart, would eventually drown it in memories and tear it asunder.

The process of mnemonic manifestation returned to him, from the day in Ansem's throne room...

...and from it, he made a card. Its edges were immaculate, perfectly rounded off; the top was crowned by three points. On its center, an image of Kismet from afar. Though she had never looked upon the world in its entirety, Sarah recognized the islands plainly as the desk and chairs in front of her. Full of wonder, she took the card from Brandt's hand—and when she did, the image on its surface blossomed to life.

Sunlight chased away the twilit calm of Yen Sid's tower, burned holes in the ceiling to reveal a blue Kismet sky. A feathery ocean breeze swept away the bookshelves, revealing that they had really been storefronts the entire time. Heat radiated from the sandy stone pavement, and the air hummed with the islanders' carefree bustle; they chatted amongst themselves, changed bags between hands, and looked over each fisherman's daily catch. Here in this moment, Kismet was alive again.

At the very edges of the sky, one could see the darkness of that fateful night, raging and churning.
Looking closely, one might be able to see the trees blowing in the wind, or the eyes of a terrible giant.
A flash of fire, a white lion. A blacksmith, a fisherman's boy, and a frightened little girl.
A foolish old man, marveling at the grandeur of his failure.

But it was all faint, a vision at the edge of a vision. To Brandt, Yen Sid, and young Sarah, the town square was alive as it had been. Sarah looked about in awe, which slowly yielded to disbelief. She looked up at Mr. Seyward, the kind old man with the hat, pleading silently.

Steward Brandt looked down at her with pity, and placed a tired hand on her shoulder. "It's only a vision," he said. "It's only a memory, dear. I wish it were true—oh, how I wish that it was! I would like nothing more than to stay here, forever. But we can't." He knelt down beside her, and hugged her close.

Finally, back home for the last time, Sarah cried.

As tears robbed her of her vision, she heard the old man's voice continue: "It's a painful, dangerous thing. The desire for all that we've lost. But we came here for a reason, Sarah—to make sure that no one ever loses their home like you did. Thanks to you, Master Yen Sid and I can see the Heart of the World, and learn how we can save the hearts of other worlds.

"Thank you, Sarah. We all owe you a great debt, none more than me."

 

[Hidden]

The hotel seemed all but abandoned; since they had checked in with the wizened old man at the front desk, Izzy had neither seen nor heard evidence of another person. It was disconcerting.

"Ever since the Heartless began showing up in the Second District, the hotel has emptied out," Charlotte, their newfound guide, was explaining. "People just don't feel comfortable with those monsters running around.

"But it's perfectly safe!" she stammered out, catching herself. "P-Parker and the others, they patrol the district every night! And the Guard can handle any Heartless that show up."

Izzy hardly felt relieved. Looking back at their guide, he wondered how she had ever ended up in the Guard. With her soft blue eyes and blonde hair sticking out from under her helmet, she certainly didn't look intimidating, even in uniform. Still, Sergeant Parker had seemed competent enough, and at least these people seemed to know the threat they were facing. Maybe they would be safe here.

“H-here are your rooms,” Charlotte said, taking out a ring with two skeleton keys she had picked up at the front desk. The door opened with a soft click and the three of them stepped into a very large and very green room. The ceiling trim and door frames were all the same brilliant shade of emerald, while the walls were covered with a muted yellow. Izzy decided to call it the “Green Room.”

“Your room is connected with the neighboring one by this door,” Charlotte was saying, picking the other key from the ring. “It was empty too, so the hotel keeper let us have both… like I said, not too many customers these days.” She shrugged apologetically and pushed the second door open.

If the room they had just come from was the Green Room, this was definitely the Red Room. The décor was completely different too: the bed was canopied, the windows were covered with a delicate latticework, and on the walls were stylized flames and dragons and symbols Izzy didn’t recognize. This hotel was like a theme park, each room a different exhibit.

“We get refugees from lots of different worlds,” Charlotte explained, as though reading his mind. “Sometimes it helps to have a taste of home with you.”

“Do you have any rooms by the ocean?” Izzy asked. Charlotte just looked at him with those sad blue eyes, and Izzy had to avert his gaze. “Didn’t think so.”

He stepped over to one of those delicate windows and looked out. The rain that had been drizzling on and off since they had arrived was a steady shower now, blurring his view outside. Suddenly he realized it wasn’t just the rain—his own eyes had filled up with water, threatening to overflow. Quickly he brought his arm up to wipe away the unshed tears, before Mana could see. So absorbed was he that he didn’t notice the shadow that fell over the room behind him; but he heard the scream.

“Heartless!”

Whirling around, he saw a Heartless like nothing that had appeared on the islands. Clad head to toe in armor, its purple and blue body was largely obscured by the gigantic shield it held in front of it… and the ferocious dog’s head that glared out from that shield with three yellow eyes.

“A Defender,” he heard Charlotte breathe from the other side of the room, “in Second District… impossible.”

“Mana,” Izzy shouted towards where he hoped she would be. “Get back into the other room! Charlotte will take care of you!”

Eyes locked with the demon dog’s head mounted on the shield (which he had the distinct and unsettling impression was controlling the body behind it), Izzy let his right arm drift downward and clenched his fist, just as he had back on the islands. He waited for the now-familiar tingle to drift down from his shoulder, then looked in his hand to find…

…nothing.

“Wha-?” Izzy started to think, but then the demon head leaped towards him, and the blow took him straight in the chest. Time seemed to slow as his body flew backwards out the splintered window and into the waiting darkness below.

 

[Javelin434]

[Well, since the RP host hasn't said that Parker encountered any enemies, I'm assuming it's safe to say that he didn't]

The rain that started to pour was oddly fitting for the battle-hardened Guards as Parker and his buddies of First Squad inspected the grounds of the Second District. Everyone was methodical in their sweeps; Every corner was checked, every corridor walked through twice by every Guard and every potted plant was carefully inspected for the ruthless enemies. With their search complete, the leader of the Squad called everyone to regroup at the entrance of the hotel. Huh... That's the first time our sweep came up empty. Can it really-

Just them, everyone heard the sharp pang of shattered glass coming from above. Their reflexes were quick, their reaction even faster as they realized the entire situation in mere milliseconds as they looked up and saw a refugee careening towards the unforgiving ground that they were standing on. "I got 'em!" one of the squad members yelled as he bolted towards the falling boy. The leader rallied the rest of his boys for their next immediate task as he yelled to the group, "Storm the Hotel!" Parker's heart raced as he, along with the rest of First Squad minus one, bolted inside the building with their weapons at the ready and their heavy boot-steps announcing their presence. Charlotte... Please be ok...

Meanwhile... Charlotte was barely able to unsheathe her sword as the Defender rammed one of the refugees that she was supposed to be escorting. Oh no... Command isn't gonna like this. I don't want to be reassigned... Away from Parker. Training kicked in as she maneuvered swiftly to flank the well armored enemy and draw attention away from Mana. "Hey! Over here!" She barked atthe heartless, and it was at this point that she heard the bootsteps of Parker and the Squad not too far from where they were at. "Charlotte!" Parker's muffled voice resonated through the walls, "Report!"

"In here!" She yelled back, and just as quick was her response, the door swung open and in came a sizable number of Guards with pointy weapons and a seriously negative attitude. "Reinforcements have arrived..." the worried sergeant growled, now focusing on the new threat. "Ok, defender. Lets see your reservation card..."

 

[Hidden]

[Sorry for the lack of posts. Hopefully more people will get involved again soon.]

It took a long time to fall. Above, he saw the sky completely covered in black clouds; below, he heard the confusion of footsteps and shouting. Izzy was suspended somewhere in between, but he knew he was headed the same way as the raindrops racing to splatter against the pavement. He imagined himself with a similar fate.

"I got 'im!" a voice cut through the chaos, and suddenly time seemed to return to normal and Izzy felt himself crashing down, not onto the stone and concrete of Traverse Town's alleyways, but onto the armored body of a Guard. They both went down under the momentum of Izzy's fall, and the fisherman felt something in his back give way, but he was alive and conscious. That had to count for something.

"...thanks," he wheezed after he was able to suck enough air back into his lungs. "...saved me."

"All in a day's work," the young soldier grinned. Even though he had landed underneath Izzy, the guard seemed to have taken the fall somewhat better. He was the first to get up, and he turned to offer a hand to the islander. "Are you able to stand? I'll get you to somewhere safe."

At that, Izzy was on his feet without a thought to the pain in his back. "Mana," he breathed anxiously, "She's still up there with that thing!" The guard had to physically restrain him from heading back into the hotel.

"Easy! Captain Parker and the others are up there, they'll take care of her! All you need to worry about now is..."

Before he could finish the sentence, a streak of lightning ripped through the air between them so intense that it blinded them both. When Izzy's eyesight returned, he thought for a long, terrified moment that he had returned to the islands. Across the entire alley, black shadows peered out at him with yellow eyes. Heartless.

"...yourself," the young guard finished blankly. Recovering in a flash, he drew the long sword Izzy had seen all the guards carry, and it seemed to tingle with some unseen energy. "Stay close to me," the guard instructed tersely, "and keep an eye out above. There's at least one Yellow Opera somewhere nearby."

Izzy had no idea what he meant by this, but he glanced up instinctively and saw a little yellow figure hovering above the hotel roof. Static electricity danced along the tip of its long hat.

"Yeah, that's the one," the guard said, following Izzy's gaze. "Let me know if it's about to throw another bolt at us." And with that he began to lay into the heartless on all sides. His sword didn't slide through them as smoothly as Izzy's keyblade had, but it got the job done. Staring down at his empty hands, Izzy tried once again to imagine the energy that had pulled through them when the keyblade first appeared.

"Come on," he whispered, feeling helpless. "What's the matter with you?"

At a loss, he saw one of the smaller, bug-eyed monstrosities closer to him and drew his foot back to kick at it. When his foot connected, it sank satisfyingly deep into the bizarre creature's head and pushed it back a step, but when he looked again it hadn't even left a mark. One of thing's sharp claws lashed out and caught his retreating foot, leaving a gash along the ankle. "Dammit!" Izzy cursed, taking another step back and closer to the guard.

"Come on!" he shouted, not sure who or what he was appealing to. "How am I supposed to fight these things!?"

 

[Javelin434]

[Sorry about that. Was busy with other RPs. Well that and school is about to start again and there is a crapload of Administrative and legal BS I have to deal with. I can reassure you that once everything settles down I will be a regular RPer.]

Meanwhile... Back at the hotel.

As expected, the Defender Heartless wasn't exactly the talking type and refused to even acknowledge Parker's threatening request. "We'll take that as a no." Soon enough, the Guards of First Squad threw themselves at the enemy with calculated precision and tactics. With one of the guards keeping it distracted, Charlotte, Parker, and the rest of First Squad collaborated in taking out the adversary as their weapons each hit their mark. The Defender was quickly eliminated thanks to the superior numbers, but now their attention focused elsewhere as they heard combat occurring outside the hotel walls. Once again, the leader of First Squad rallied everyone in the room to assist whoever was fighting outside. "Move out!" With the three other guards bolting out of the room, Parker actually stayed put to check up on Charlotte and the refugees. "I'm assuming the other refugee who was supposed to be with you was the one who flew out the window, right?"

Charlotte quietly nodded and started walking towards the door that led to an adjacent room. "Yes. It was too fast for me to react."
"Where's the other one?"
"She should be hiding behind this door."

The blonde haired guard took a deep breath and slowly turned the knob of the door clockwise, and gently pushed it open...

[I have no idea what the rules of combat are for this RP Forum. Also, since Mana wasn't mentioned in the previous post, I figured leaving it vague will help avoid conflicting with players.]