Kingdom Hearts: The Apocalypse {Rp Chapter 2}

[Keyblade Seeker]

Part 18: Under Attack!

Cutter threw a look in Panfacag's direction and she looked a bit annoyed. She the spoke calmly, "Sorry about that, Panfacag. I guess I'm not as awake as I thought I was." Shrugging her shoulders, she hopped off the counter to help Leyla with breakfast, laughing as Ace joined them.

He then thought back on what Kana told him before the kids went in.

K—H—T—A—K—H—T—A—K—H—T—A

Raising an eyebrow, Kana halfway turned towards him—he wasn’t worth a full turn—and gave him the cold shoulder. "Oh, I get it. Your magical power is reading minds.", she commented, her voice soft and sarcastic. "In that case, I’m sure you already know what I’m thinking, but just in case the reception’s bad in this tin can of a ship: you could use some work." Kana then clicked her tongue impatiently, finished stirring hot water into a bowl of raw oats, and went to sit at the table across from Timmy.

It's hopeless convincing her. She's a lone wolf.

K—H—T—A—K—H—T—A—K—H—T—A

Meanwhile, just as Siaowe finished opening the can of sardines, she turned to see Cutter throw some peppers and other ingredients to Leyla. As for Gale, he was done with making tuna sandwiches and ate them all, though he left one for his two companions who found him.

Soon, the burritos were ready and everybody grabbed theirs. As Cutter reclaimed her spot on the counter and started picking the veggies out of hers, Panfacag noticed Rain ask Timmy something. And that's when he and the others noticed that his arm was bandaged. Before anybody could ask further…

Suddenly a high pitched noise pierced the air, red lights flashing in a regular interval. This disturbed Siaowe's still-sensitive feline hearing as she rubbed her head in pain. Gale did not react much except to look at the emergency flashing light, even as Timmy suddenly roared in frustration. Panfacag saw Cutter tumble to the floor, get up quickly, take out a wind-blade shuriken, and race out of the room. Shortly after, Nick entered the room with a grave expression.

"The ship is under attack, surrounded by enemy ships.", he said.

"Just great.", Siaowe complained.

As he noticed Kana push herself out of her chair, Panfacag asked, "What's the plan? I'm assuming you know the ship better than anyone else here. Where should we go?"

 

[Eternal Dream]

Carol of the Bells

~- Siege -~

Leyla tried to ignore the fumble in Timmy's come back, but it was hard to do. Her heart shot into her throat, then sank into her stomach; he was afraid of her, and that fact killed her to acknowledge. What hurt even more was that she still had no clue on how to get him over it.

"White sage," she muttered under her breath, "White sage to clear negativity, lavender for its calming capabilities, and.... and...." Leyla shook her head, frustrated. What had Anise said was a good counter for fear? Leyla couldn't remember. Was it aconite? No, not quite; aconite would help with a fear of heavy crowds, but Leyla had never considered herself a crowd.

Maybe you should just leave him alone. You'll just make it worse if you keep hovering like a mother hen.

Leyla laid her hands on the counter, forcing herself to take a deep breath so she'd stop shaking. Maybe that was all she could do. Maybe she should leave for a while, give Timmy some room to breath. She could show Nick how to work the white sage correctly, right? She...

"I made tuna sandwiches, though I'd like an omelet as well. Could you add in fish in mine?"

Leyla jumped slightly, having forgotten that she'd been in the middle of taking requests for breakfast. Before she could recover from her surprise, another voice rang out, a slight reprimand in the tone.

"No veggies in mine. And I'm surprised neither you nor Cutter have acknowledged me when I greeted you. Or for that matter, somebody familiar to everybody here except for Kana and perhaps the kids. He's…suffering a bit from amnesia when Siaowe and I found him, although I doubt that would ease your understandable antagonism."

"Sorry about the slight. I just..." Leyla shook her head, trying to get her arm and the gauze on Timmy's off her mind. "I guess I just got distracted. But the invitation was for everyone, not just personal friends. Fish in one, no veggies with the other. Got it."

The next few minutes passed rather quietly; or, at least as quietly as a kitchen with about a dozen people in it could be. Leyla had just slid the last of the omelettes onto a plate and given it to Kit; turning back to the stove, Leyla was just about to cook her own when she heard the question Rain asked Timmy.

“What’s that?

Turning from the stove, Leyla saw the girl pointing at the bandage on Timmy's arm. Looking up, Leyla noticed the flash of orange go through his aura as Timmy looked for some kind of lie to explain it away, to cover up the fact that Leyla and Kit both knew he hadn't injured his arm in the fight the other day.

But then sirens went off, interrupting the proceedings and causing a huge up roar that only quieted when Timmy bellowed for silence. But Leyla wasn't listening; she stood there with her eyes closed, throwing her senses out as far as she could, searching. Reaching behind her, Leyla flicked the stove off as Nick came into the room to tell them what she'd already realized.

"The ship is under attack, surrounded by enemy ships."

"Not just enemy ships," Leyla said grimly, checking the loading of her pistols. "Looks like those Nobodies are out for round two. So much for breakfast." Holstering her guns, Leyla shut off the stove before she made for the door, her face set in a tight mask.

Stopping by the portal for a moment, Leyla looked back at the kids standing around the room. "You should probably hide in mine and Kit's room for now You saw what happened yesterday; these guys means business. And they have someone new with them, too." Closing her eyes, Leyla felt that shiver of color again, the one that had a sinking feeling in her stomach before she looked at Timmy and whispered, "I think it's Aaron. The aura feels sort of like yours. I'm..."

Leyla shook her head, then walked out of the room, trailing behind Kit, who'd already left. Round two, and Leyla would be damned before she let it turn out like the last time.

~- The Empire Strikes Back -~

"I need to report to our leader, so until I return, I'm leaving the Task Force in Masquerade's capable hands."

No one seemed to particularly care for this development, especially the girls in the Force; though Illyx seemed to accept this rather quietly, despite her earlier hostility toward the Hybrid. White knew which battles were worth fighting; calling Sononea out for a rather stupid decision after he'd quite clearly fallen for the conniving minx wasn't one that was worth her time. So, with a flick of her wrist, she called her glider out, hopped on, and shot off through the atmosphere, the Force close behind her.

~-~-~-~

"Everyone in position?"

"Affirmative."

"Check!"

"Let's rock."

“Loud and clear. Standing by for orders”

White looked over to Red for a moment. Nodding her head, she said, “Move in.” Ignoring the Hybrids on the edges of her peripheral, White fired a blast of wind at the ship, the spell’s power keeping it from dissipating in the vacuum.

The effects were almost immediate. Through the bug Purple had placed in Leyla’s aura, White heard the sirens going off as nearly everyone fell into a panicked uproar. Their Hybrid bellowed for silence, Kit immediately rushed out of the room as the captain informed them about the attack and Leyla, schooling her mind into battle readiness, made for the door, informing those within the ship that White and her Force had made a return visit.

White watched as Leyla kept herself to a brisk, but calm walk. Reaching the cargo hold, White saw Leyla activate her Keyblade armor, making sure that the normally exposed skin around her legs and upper arms were covered in very thin plate as a helm covered her head.

Pressing a button to release the cargo door, Leyla changed her Keyblade into its glider form. Stepping onto the board, she kicked off, spinning through the vacuum of space like she was snapping waves. Her right heel slid behind her, as much for balance as to activate the thrusters on the board as a sail rose up, giving her extra stability.

White pulled herself from Leyla’s aura to watch the girl with her own eyes. A slight smile edged across the Nobody’s lips. While she knew the others were only a short way behind her, Leyla was the first to confront the Force face to face in this dog fight. But then again, the girl had always been a leader like that.

~- Awakening -~

The night wind was soft, whistling around town and kicking the leaves into abandon. Two young girls walked away from the hill; well, truth be told, one ran away, a soft giggle floating behind her as if she'd had too much candy. The other, a young woman in ornate robes, followed at a much more sedate pace, her sightless eyes missing nothing as she scanned her surroundings, searching out danger.

It was only after they left that he let himself take form. Appearing from the mist, he laid one foot in front of the other, walking around the base of the hill, his ghostly eyes trained on the sky. Closing his eyes, he threw his senses out, searching for what he had felt just moments before.

There it was; a shiver of power, much like his own and unmistakable. "It would seem that the tides have turned on us once again. But are these children up to the task of what is to come? Their greatest asset has been denied them." Opening his eyes once more, he studied the moon, his face unreadable.

Only time would tell.

 

[magicedd]

~Ceal and Sonea Return~

Boom! Crash! Burst!

The screams for help, the cry’s to be saved, the terror of hopelessness, rang through Sononea’s ears. The wind blowing hard, from the explosions in the background, Sononea looked around, as people ran helpless at his might.

“Huh?” There were people defending, those who held keyblades, the reached scum. Sononea jumped down and with a shake of his hand, the keyblader’s vanished into darkness becoming heartless instantly. “This seems a little too... easy…” Looking at the fountain where Traverse Town’s world heart would lay… “Why does this seem familiar…?” He stared down looking at the black cloak which kept his face hidden from other eyes. The coat was black, similar to those of older ages, the ones they called Organization XIII. They were meant to keep the darkness at bay, after all darkness was the key to complete self destruction, if it had happened to a Hybrid, they would probably revert back into a lesser shadow, if not let the impossible happen, and let the will inside the hybrid… the human… come out to take over his or her body… The only difference was that, these cloaks embraced the darkness, when putting the cloak on turning their darkness into a color, depending on his power; the cloaked was lined in dark poisonous green, going around the cloak, and up the zipper.

“Because you are dreaming, do you really think keyblader’s would knell and become heartless that easily?” A man in a similar black cloak, only lined in a dark blue that would change to light blue once in a while, stood behind Sononea.

Sononea summoned his sword Posena, and turned around pointing his sword dripping with poison at the man, “Who do you think you are to tell me that this is a dream! What are you doing in my-” Sononea stopped speaking and dropped his sword. “…Ceal? Is that... You?”

Ceal nodded “Yes it is I… How are my creations?”

Sononea looked at him trying to put things together “Who the K.E.F.T.? They are fine, annoying if anything, but seriously why would you give Xomie such an obnoxious behavior...??? He’s so damn annoying, and I swear if it wasn’t for Illyx he would probably be dead by now… And then even Illyx, seriously for having no heart she sure seems to have emotions toward Masquerade… Its annoying how they bicker.”

Ceal took off his hood revealing a face of maybe around 20, wearing glasses, white hair, and dark blue eyes. “… Masquerade… Sononea... Be wary, things all around you are not as they appear.. But alas we do not have time for this, one word of advice before we discuss what I came here to tell you. Keep Illyx close, listen to her, I gave her the emotion of leadership for a reason.

Taking his words into consideration, a thought popped into Sononea’s head “Ceal.. Where exactly have you been? I have been searching for you…”

“Sononea we don’t have time for that, I sense him coming… I need to discuss what I need to now before you wake up! This will probably be the last time I talk with you for a while. Listen to my advice, and take it wisely or don’t, you were always so stubborn.” Ceal looked at the clock tower in District two seeing the exact time Traverse Town would soon be destroyed.

Sononea nodded, thinking… Him? Oh he doesn’t mean… great…

“Sononea, I have made plans on things to occur, and I need you to wake me up from my slumber.”
“…You’re… Slumber?”

“Yes, I believe I’ve been asleep for far to long, its time for me to wake up and for things to change…”

“How do I wake…”

Suddenly the clock tower began to bang. And the ground began to shake,

“Listen I am aboard the ship, They know me a-“ Suddenly Ceal was sliced in half and his image faded.

A boy looking no older than 15 stood holding the same sword as Sononea, with similar looks to Sononea, appeared.

“Hi Sononea, Long time no see.”

“You little brat, why can’t you just stay quiet! He was trying to tell me something important!”

“My home world was important! My family, My body! Everything about me was important! Then you came and took it all away! So now I’m doing the same, anyway I can.

“Sonea, you may appear to be stronger but you are in no way able to take your body back. We gone through this again and again, just give up.”

“Never! I’ll have my body back in time! “Sonea began to charge, suddenly the world of Traverse Town was falling apart, Sonea falling through a hole in the ground, as the world tore in different directions. Suddenly the clock tower was about to fall on Sononea, when he woke up.
…..
Breathing hard Sononea sat up in his bed… “Ceal..”

 

[Eternal Dream]

~- Solid, Steady, True Down to the Core -~

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy, when skies are grey..."

"The King wants to speak with you."

Rhys looked up, dark hair falling in front of blue violet eyes, before meeting the green eyes watching him. Lily had spoken in that quiet way of her's, the voice she used when she had one of her feelings. He could also tell what she hadn't said; that this mission was likely to take a while, so he'd best be ready to be gone for what could be at least a couple weeks.

A knock sounded at the door, and both of them turned to look. With a sigh, Rhys got up from the floor, leaving the little girl to play by herself for moment as he went to see who was outside, even though he was sure he already knew. Opening the portal, he saw a young man with blond hair and brown eyes standing just outside. He couldn't help the slight smile that quirked his lips as he said, "Yes Lance?"

Snapping a quick salute, the young dragoon said, "King Cecil would like to speak with you, Commander Rhys. If you'll just follow me, please!"

Looking over his shoulder at the woman behind him, Rhys couldn't help the slight smile that had spread across his face. The youngest of the Highwind boys reminded him of his own kid brother: bright and strong, but given to occasional bouts of nervousness and lowered self-confidence. One of the hazards of being the youngest in a family with a great name, Rhys supposed. Then the smile slid off his face as that familiar, sick feeling slid into his stomach.

Were Rhys and his family the only ones to make it out? Or were the others out there, scattered to the far corners of the universe? Where the hell were his brothers? And where were the girls?

But still, now wasn't the time to be thinking about that. With a quick nod to Lance, Rhys followed the young dragoon out, allowing the teen to lead him through the twists and turns of the castle that he'd learned well over the last two years. Soon enough, they were standing in front of the doors to the audience chambers, but before Rhys could push the heavy doors open, Lance was passing them, heading deeper into the castle. Getting a feeling of his own, Rhys fell into step behind the boy again, his mind racing as they arrived at their true destination.

The King's personal quarters.

Lance rapped on the door softly, then drew his hand back; a muffled command of "enter" came through the wood after a brief moment, then the blond boy was throwing the portal wide and moving quickly inside the room. Rhys followed after a brief pause, his eyes taking in what awaited him on the other side of the door.

The first thing he saw was Edge, King of Eblan. The ninja had his eyes trained out the window, but Rhys knew better than to think the gathering didn't have Edge's full attention, especially since Rydia was also in the room. Edward of Damcyan and the Fabul monarch Yang were also present. Looked like a full out meeting of the kings to Rhys.

Then there was Baron's finest in the room as well. Lance had gone to stand close to his older brother Jet, both of who bore a striking resemblance to their father Kain. Rhys gave a quick nod to his captain, which Kain returned after a moment. Bluebell was also there, though Rhys wasn't expecting to hear much from her; she had been so quiet the last eighteen months, it was a great surprise when she did speak. Rhys couldn't fault her, though; that Holly was alive was a miracle, and if anything happened to her...

Rhys forced his mind away from such troubling thoughts, turning to face the final occupants of the room, and his eyes widened in shock. It wasn't from seeing Cecil and Rosa; these were the king and queen's chambers, so that wasn't surprising. Even seeing Ceodore playing with his baby brother and sister, the twins Kluya and Homina, weren't what surprised Rhys. The surprising thing was seeing Cecil's brother Golbez standing in the corner, his wife Amber not too far away, with Cecilia playing with her cousins. Rhys hadn't seen the Lunarian and his bride in almost the entire time he'd lived on the Blue Planet, let alone their daughter; about the only time was when they'd had that trouble with the Hybrids a year and a half ago, and Golbez and Amber had lent a hand in driving the Heartless back.

Rhys' quick mind started adding the pieces together, and fast. Sending Lance instead of one of the castle messengers; the meeting being in Cecil's chambers instead of the formal meeting hall; Golbez and Amber's presence; the three other kings, Rydia and the Highwinds....

"This mission's a personal favor, isn't it your Majesty?" Rhys spoke softly, keeping his eyes on Cecil.

Cecil smiled slightly, a subtle reminder that Rhys didn't have to be so formal. "Always quick to connect the dots, Hunter, aren't you? No, this isn't a formal mission, but that doesn't mean that the task is any less important." Breaking off, Cecil looked to where Amber was standing, and said, "Would you care to explain to Rhys what you told us?"

The red headed woman stepped forward, and Rhys was struck again by her beauty. Tall and fair of skin, Amber radiated confidence, a quality she couldn't afford to lose. Darkness lurked deep in her golden eyes, darkness that was well controlled, but still a part of who she was. Amber was a Dark Summoner, a person that could call up the shadows within another's heart and give it corporeal form. A lot of the credit for subduing the Heartless uprising went to her; a good guy that could control and quell the Heartless had been a godsend. It was a powerful ability, but dangerous too. It had taken Amber a long time to master this darker nature of her's, and there had been times when it had nearly mastered her instead. She kept a close watch on the Heartless and the Hybrids, but that wasn't all she did. She monitored the thankfully rare Hybrids called Soulless, the even rarer Innocence, and those who were the only ones that were capable of creating these monstrosities, people called Souls.

People like Rhys.

She fixed her golden gaze on Rhys before speaking, even though her words were directed to her brother-in-law. "It's rather simple, Cecil. Life and Fate's wheel are always turning; the peace you work so hard to gain might last, but it will always be threatened. I've felt an increasing presence of Darkness just past Mount Ordeals of late, near the Crystal Forest."

Though shifting balances were far from abnormal for him, Rhys' eyes widened at this news. "The Crystal Forest? But what about the Guardian? I thought the darkness was kept suppressed in that area because of their presence!"

"Which is the reasoning behind this mission," Cecil said, taking over once more. The paladin directed his eyes out the window where Edge sat, a troubled look passing over his features. "No one has ventured far into the Forest in twenty years, not since the Guardian took residence there. And yet, that area has been safe from most threats, even Zeromus, the Creator, and that assault from the Heartless. So, why would that protection be flagging now? The Forest and Mount Ordeals are both close to Mysidia, and the land around that place is steeped deeply in magic. It's something that can't be lost, but at the same time, the investigation needs to be carried out by very specific personalities."

"Meaning someone who's been raised to monitor the balances of energies."

Kain nodded in response to Rhys' statement. "A Watcher, yes. Which means you, my friend. Ceodore and Lance will also be coming along in case you should run into any difficulties along the way. You need to travel swiftly, so make what preparations you need to, then take the Devil's Road to Mysidia. You'll have a fourth party member join you just before you leave on the Road; I have been informed that she'll prove herself most useful to you, so you should be just fine. Is there anything you need to know before you leave?"

Rhys shook his head, causing the slightest smile to tug at Kain's lip. Rhys was efficient, gathering as much information as possible as quickly as possible, and he had a way with getting the most out of the men under his command; it was the reason why he was second in command of the Red Wings, under only Kain, even though Rhys had only been a resident of the Blue Planet for two years.

Rhys stepped away from the door, allowing Lance and Ceodore to go out before him. Rhys quirked an eyebrow when he saw the twins and Cecilia follow Ceo out, but he had a strong hunch that the three of them weren't going to be going very far; Kluya and Homina adored Holly, so Ceodore was probably taking the twins and Cecilia as far as Rhys' place before they left.

"Take this." Stepping forward, Rhys took the small bundle of herbs that Edward offered him, and a smile quirked at the younger man's mouth. Whisper Weed; it was one of Edward's favorite ways to communicate. Of course the Damcyan king would have thought of that.

Rhys was just about to follow the prince and young dragoon when a soft voice stopped him in his tracks. "Keep an eye out for Cutter."

Turning around, Rhys looked over at Edge, who had been silent the entire conversation. Unsure if he'd heard him correctly, Rhys said, "Excuse me?"

Edge turned to look at Rhys, leveling guarded, pale blue eyes on the Red Wing. "I said, keep an eye out for Cutter. It's just a feeling, but she might be back by the time you boys get to the Forest." Interpreting the look Rhys threw him, the ninja just shrugged his shoulder, the appearance of nonchalance blown by how well everyone in the room knew him. They knew he doted on the orphan he'd taken in and raised as his own, and no amount of bluffing or playing it cool could hide just how much Edge missed Cutter and worried about her.

Rhys gave Edge a nod and held his tongue, letting the ninja keep his pride. Turning to the rest of the room, Rhys saluted both the visiting royalty and Baron's own, then, turning quickly on his heel, he finally followed after Ceo and Lance.

Lily met Rhys at the door, a soft smile on her face as she wrapped him in a hug. Squeezing her shoulders in reply, he let her scent wash over him, that intoxicating conundrum of roses and woman that he loved about her. Stepping back ever so slightly, he kissed her softly, savoring a last touch before he had to leave. Looking past her, Rhys watched Ceodore attempt to untangle himself from Kluya and Homina for a moment before saying, "Are you sure about letting those three stay here? There's every possibility those Lunarian children will drive you crazy."

"More or less so than your brothers?" Lily cocked an eyebrow at Rhys, a spicy look of mischief in the look she gave him before she mellowed again. Kissing him on the cheek, she pulled back and said, "They'll keep Holly company, and it'll keep the twins minds off of Ceodore being gone. I think that should be worth any hi-jinks they get into. And if worst comes to worst, their parents can deal with them, right?"

Rhys' reply was cut off as a toddler ran into him, reddish blond hair flying. Wrapping her arms around his leg, the little girl lifted her face to meet his gaze, blue violet eyes wide above a beaming, baby grin. "Daddy!"

Reaching down, Rhys swung her up into his arms, a trail of high laughter left in the wake of the motion. Leaning his head closer to her's, he felt her put her small hand against his cheek as her head tilted to the side, her eyes shining curiously. "Daddy go bye-bye?"

Rhys nodded, playing with his daughter's hair. "Yeah, Daddy's gotta go bye-bye for a little. But I'll be home soon, okay Holly?"

Holly's mouth puckered into a frown, but she nodded. Rhys knew she wasn't happy, but she was also use to him leaving sometimes. It didn't make it any easier, though. Sliding a look at Lily, Rhys thought of something that might help the little girl out. "Hey, Holly. Can you be a big girl and look after Mommy for me?"

A smile flew across Holly's face at this. "Okay!"

"That's my girl. I'll be back soon, okay Sunshine?" Putting her down, Rhys watched Holly go running toward Kluya and Homina, that smile still in place. Turning to Lily, Rhys took the pack that she handed him; having known and lived with her for twelve years, he knew about her sense for things, and he'd known that he wasn't going to be preparing his own bag for this mission either. "We'll be back soon, Lil; you won't even know I'm gone."

"Right. I love you."

"Love you too." Leaning in, Rhys gave Lily one more quick kiss, then followed Lance and Ceodore, who'd finally gotten away from his brother and sister, out the door.

Following the twists and turns of the castle yet again, Rhys stayed behind the two boys as they slipped into the banter of life long friends. Lance threw a glance at Ceodore, unable to hide his curiosity any longer. "So, do you know who this girl is that we're suppose to be meeting up with?"

Ceodore shook his head, the light playing off his pale blond locks and making them look white. "No, I don't. She's not from here, I know that much. Father met with her a couple days ago, and she told him just about the same thing that Aunt Amber did, that trouble's brewing around the Crystal Forest."

Ceodore didn't get much farther in his tale though. Rounding the corner, the three of them came into sight of the entrance to the Devil's Road, and Rhys recognized the girl standing next to the portal.

"No way in hell... ARI!"

 

[Story Keeper]

~- Can't You See...? -~

Kit wasn't surprised when Leyla went racing past her, she knew that the other girl had started out at a leisurely walk; but had switched after getting battle plans figured out. She caught a glimpse of Nick heading toward the kitchen. "You tell Timmy to look after himself, 'cause if he does anything reckless, I'll hit him!" She called, knowing that right then probably wasn't the best time to threaten their skittish friend. Muttering a quick incantation, she felt her armor kick into activation. Not even slowing down, she threw a kunai at a shadow heartless that had been able to sneak onto the ship. She felt a little bad for it, until a sight outside of the window caught her attention.

Aria stared back at her from the back of an ice dragon, before she spun away and went racing after something instead. Banishing all other thoughts from her mind, Kit got to the docking hanger and called her glider; heading out after Leyla, who was already engaged in a space battle with the others. She instinctively dodged the attacks that could do the most damage; doing her best to just graze them if they were unavoidable. It didn't take her long to find Rixue or the man in green armor next to the purple clad woman, and it took even less time for her to pinpoint Aria; only to quickly lose track of her childhood friend once more.

Looking around, Kit's eyes landed on a boy with dark hair, looking at them in mild surprise, she tried to figure out where she'd seen them until her mind registered Blue. Ducking behind the other side of the ship, she looked over her shoulder to see if she'd been followed and saw Purple. Raising the shuriken to block the attack from the Nobody's staff, she glared at the purple clad warrior and shoved them backwards; Kit searched for any of her friends in case they needed help while calling a thin barrier of magic to shield her from any attacks that might have been thrown her way.

~- Forever In Debt to Your Advice -~

Brown sat back behind Blue, watching as the fighting was going on. He knew that Green was the planner, and White was the leader, but he didn't want to just rush into the fight without getting a grip on things. Watching as two of the keybladers slipped out, he recognized yet didn't recognize one of them, the other one he did. Kitridge, glancing at Blue, he sent across the link they shared, Leave Kit alone, I think I could swing her to our side so we could use her.

After getting Blue's answer, Brown shot threw the different groups of combatants. Pulling up short, he called up a wall of rock to deflect an attack that one of the white haired girls had thrown at him. Carefully, he lowered the defensive wall and glared at Leyla who hovered in front of him. Keeping the waves of agitation at bay, Brown rolled the glider fast enough to dodge her attack. "Why are you always attacking us! What did we ever do to you?" Leyla demanded, he heard a familiar note of protectiveness in the girl's words.

Smirking, he called his weapon and looked at her for several moments, only to throw the weapon at the ship she'd come from. Moving away before the young woman could strike, he said calmly, "Keep a levelhead, if you don't you won't be able to think clearly. Can't think clearly, you can't read auras; and if you can't read auras, your enemies get the jump on you, and if that happens, you can't learn how to conceal your aura from enemy aura readers." He watched the stunned look that came to Leyla's face, taking the chance to get away, Brown sped off in the opposite direction to deal with someone else that decided to slip off of the ship and attack.

~- I Shouldn't Speak to You -~

She stared around her to see the palace guards were lying on the floor, unconscious but unharmed. Looking up to the white haired king, she dipped into a formal curtsy and straitened to her full height, but only after she was given permission. "My deepest apologizes, Your Majesty, I didn't wish to do that, I only wished to talk." She said softly, trying to appear as demure as possible, her blue eyes flicking to the three men in draconic armor, though one of them looked to be no older than her.

She saw the king's son set foot into the room, along with the dark storm clouds that passed through his eyes. Dipping her head, she listened as Cecil ordered calmly, "Ceodore, stand down, our guest was merely defending herself against the guards. She's not here to take anyone else away from the kingdom. If she was, what makes you think I would have let her in here in the first place?"

Dipping her head in thanks, she turned to the boy and saw the clear pain in his heart. A gentle look coming to her eyes, she banished her weapons and walked toward him, her hand extended in a peaceful manner. "As your father says, I mean no harm, instead I've come to deliver a message. One that could assist you in the upcoming war and reclaiming that which has been lost to you."

She knew that would have everyone's attention, not wishing to be disrespectful to any, she angled her body so she had everyone in her sight. "The balance of light and darkness has been cast aloft, awakening powers that haven't been seen in years. My message is that this place seems to have a high concentration of said powers, matter of fact, I believe you will be getting a visit from another of these powers very soon. How soon? I'm not sure, but I suspect it'll be within a fortnight."

Catching the pensive look on Cecil's face, she turned to face him fully as he thought over her warning. Leveling her with a calm, knowing stare, he asked, "Will our guest be friend or foe?"

Smiling softly, she answered, "I'm positive they're friend, but the die has yet to be cast."

"No way in hell... ARI!"

She opened her eyes and turned to face the person that called out to her, smiling cheerfully, she gave a girly squeal of delight and tackled Rhys as he entered the room. "You're okay!" She cried, ignoring the two teenagers that stood in the room, after a few moments, she let her childhood friend go and backed away, a smile plastered on her face as she followed the guys into the Devil's Road so they could complete the mission they'd been given by Cecil.

~- Crystal Forest -~

The cry of a hawk bounced off of the trees, a moment before a red tailed hawk landed on the branch of a tree. Tracking the creatures below him, he took off to the air again and circled around a couple of times, searching for his destination. Spotting it, he flew in and saw the wolf curled up in the cave staring at the same spot as usual; and the hawk felt another pang of pity for the wolf, who rarely left his spot.

I heard them talking again, they refer to you by your old title.

That made the wolf turn to look at him, a haunted look in their blue eyes burned into his own blue-gold eyes. They both knew of things past, things that would have brought anyone to their knees. Lowering his gaze, the hawk knew how much the wolf disliked the title the humans called him. I'm no guardian, I've never been one. After all, what kind of guardian lets their charges die?

The hawk didn't bother answering, it was too much of a long standing argument to bother fighting today. Have any luck tracking any of them down? Looking back at the wolf, the hawk shook his head and turned to stare at what the wolf has been guarding for so long, that crystal casket and what it held within it.

 

[Lunarmaster54]

~Time to fly~

"I think it's Aaron. The aura feels sort of like yours. I'm..."

Leyla never finished her sentence and instead left the room, leaving Timmy to stare out the window and try and tune out the screaming alarm, the panic everyone else was feeling, and trying to decide what to do.

Aaron was here.

It came as no surprise that his ex brother would be working with the nobodies and by extention Sononea and Masquerade. Evil stuck together after all. His only issue was trying to decide who to focus his attacks on.. Aaron or the rangers? Should he try to find Aria if she was out there? He wasn’t at all sure so he decided to go with his gut.

Aaron was going down.

“If your going to fight then hurry and do it” Nick said “Me and Lindsey will go see to the shields and cannons”

Timmy waved a hand to show he had heard and then ran towards the cargo hold. There were gummi ships there, ships that were designed for battle. Aaron probably had one and he needed something with teeth if he was going to bring down the boy.

The cargo room was buzzing with activity. Kit had summoned armor and a glider and had shot off into space, shadow heartless were inside and making there way deeper into the ship and more types of them were following. Midnight roar appeared in a flash and Timmy leapt at them, cutting the monsters down one by one as he dashed towards the nearest ship, recognizing it and grinning savagely as he jumped into the cockpit and started it up.

The SZ4 Thunderbird. *OOC: the purple one!*

He buckled up and the HUD came to life as he pressed the button to blast off, shooting out of the hanger and into space, the radar showing a sea of red that represented the enemy.

“Its been a while” he said to himself as he got the weapons active “lets hope I haven’t lost my touch”


~Seeing you again~

Aaron smirked as Timmy joined the battle. It was finally time for a rematch, a rematch that the hybrid wouldn’t survive.

“Squad D attack that thunderbird” he ordered. It was time for a quick test. Just to give the traitor a warm up so Aaron could properly enjoy their space battle. The five drones shot forward as Brown told Blue to not attack Kitridge. The blue ranger answered in the affirmative and Aaron gave his own orders.
“Get Leyla Terra” he said, knowing that she would be a big threat both during this battle and in the future as well.

“Understood” he said and shot off towards her, firing several blasts from his cannons at her and her glider. Aaron laughed and turned his attention back towards Timmy’s battle, who was sweeping and flying circles around the squad sent to kill him, making short work of them. Good. He still had his battle skills. He opened a feed between them and his eyes darkened with hate as the visual of Timmy came up.

“We meet again” he said softly. Timmy’s expression mirrored his

“Yeah” he replied “Here’s hoping your not expecting a handshake or anything”

“Nope” Aaron shook his head “Here’s hoping your not expecting to survive this fight or anything”

“Oh i’ll do more than survive” Timmy snapped as the two ships face each other, both within attack range “This is where you die”

“But Timmy! Heroes don’t murder the villains” Aaron laughed. Timmy narrowed his eyes.

“I don’t want to be a hero”

He fired his cannons and the dog fight began.

 

[Keyblade Seeker]

Part 19: On The Defensive

"Not just enemy ships.", Leyla said grimly, checking some pistols in her hands, which Siaowe had noticed. "Looks like those Nobodies are out for round two. So much for breakfast." Holstering her guns, Leyla shut off the stove before making for the door. Before she passed by Nick and Panfacag, she looked back at the kids standing around the room and advised them to hide in her and Kit's room for the time being. "You saw what happened yesterday; these guys means business. And they have someone new with them, too." Closing her eyes, she then turned to Timmy—who was staring out a window—and whispered something before leaving.

Only Siaowe managed to catch it. "I think it's Aaron. The aura feels sort of like yours. I'm..."

Aaron? Who's that? Not knowing who this Aaron person was, she quickly forgot about it and didn't tell Panfacag.

Aapparently ignoring Panfacag, Nick said, “If you're going to fight, then hurry and do it. Me and Lindsey will go see to the shields and cannons.”

Timmy waved a hand to show he had heard, then ran off as well. Panfacag turned to his companions. "Siaowe. Gale. Follow him and help out. I think it's time we earned our keep."

"What about you, Pan?", she asked as she pulled Gale along as she went past the doorway.

"I'll see to the childrens' safety. Go." Once the catgirl was gone, the cap-wearing Keyblde wielder turned to Nick again. "Unless you need or want me for something else."

K—H—T—A—K—H—T—A—K—H—T—A

As Siaowe followed Timmy, she realized they were headed towards the room where she entered the ship and first met Diamond and Clare. She only noticed now that there were Gummi Ships there, vessels designed for battle. After managing to catch somebody in Keyblade Armor take off in a glider, she noticed Shadow Heartless appearing. As they also saw Timmy summon a Keyblade and cut down the monsters one by one, dashing towards the nearest ship, she turned to Gale and said, "Let's hold the fort here. If you got armor, activate it now."

Tapping a pastel pink bracelet on her left arm, her form vanished in light before it faded and revealed her clad in conservative armor colored in light blue and pastel pink. The armor also had shoulder guards, a long cape, inertial dampeners, and a gray circle with an open book inside displayed on her belt. Then, she produced a ZF-1 Prototype from hammerspace and started firing bullets at the Shadows, making sure not to damage any remaining ships or the one Timmy was now using.

As that vessel left, Gale held out his right hand and summoned a Keyblade. He remembered calling it Redirect Notice. Sensing a Shadow lunge for him from behind, he instinctively cast a spell. A shield of wind surrounded him and drove the attacker back. He then turned around and shot a fireball at it, destroying the Shadow.

 

[Key Wielder]

Everyone was off and moving long before Kana had made her decision, and before she knew it, she was the last one standing there. Well, there was the other person, but she hardly counted him any more than anyone else. Admittedly, there wasn’t a whole lot she could do. Revealing her Keyblade might end up being rather necessary in this instance (there was no hiding this time, unlike in Machinecken town), but she doubted she would be able to use it to get off this ship. Her lessons had never gotten that far.

Well, can’t just stand here.

Sighing, she left the kitchens and barely made it down the hall before her decision was made for her. Heartless were swarming in from the direction of the cargo hold. It was retreat or fight through, not that she knew where she would go in either instance. One way, she’d be cornered; the other, she’d drop off into space somewhere. Admittedly, it mattered little if she got herself killed by Heartless anyway.

Kana instinctively glanced around to make sure no one was nearby before summoning her Keyblade, almost a foreign presence in her hand from lack of use, and laid into the onslaught.

***
“Fight like you mean it.”

“Believe me, I am.”

Mortaeus chuckled, waving a hand. More indistinct Shadows popped up around her. They would have seemed real if not for the fact that they were a dull shade of grey instead of the black she’d grown accustomed to on the rare occasions she encountered one. These, however, were far more aggressive than the natural variety. It wouldn’t be training if Mortaeus conjured them just to let them sit there and be beaten.

“Could’ve fooled me.”

Slightly irritated, Kana renewed her efforts, plunging her Keyblade into each ghostly form with perhaps overdone vigor. If there was one thing she hated, it was being told she wasn’t trying hard enough, even if she wasn’t.

“Good. Faster.”

The number of phantom Heartless doubled—tripled. Now she was actually starting to break a sweat.

***

Jab. Kick. Fire. Whirl, aim, slice.

“What does it matter?”

Back. Parry. Lunge.

”What do you mean, ‘what does it matter’?”

Duck. Roll. Slice.

“Darkness is natural, and Heartless come from darkness. They’re not going anywhere no matter how hard we fight them.”

”No, probably not. That doesn’t mean it’s worthless to fight.”

“And how’s that?”

Fire. Dodge. Jab. Punch.

“What and how we fight, that’s what makes us who we are. As futile as it may be to try to destroy something that is just as eternal as light, it’s not the result that matters. It’s the fact that you fought at all.”

Run.

 

[Eternal Dream]

~- Spun Again -~

"Keep a levelhead, if you don't you won't be able to think clearly. Can't think clearly, you can't read auras; and if you can't read auras, your enemies get the jump on you, and if that happens, you can't learn how to conceal your aura from enemy aura readers."

"What the hell kind of nonsense is that?!" Leyla wanted to hit Brown, and hard, but she'd pulled up short at his words, shaken up. His use of them in the current situation made no sense, but she knew them nearly by heart, because that was something Anise use to tell her all the time. How did he know what Anise had told Leyla, and how much did he know about her abilities?

A glancing blow knocked into her gauntlet, pulling Leyla's attention away from Brown's confusing words. Pressing her heel down, she reignited the engine of her glider, doing a barrel roll to avoid the rest of the shots from Blue. Flipping right side up again, she returned fire, arcing crescents of energy back toward Blue. She could feel her wings just under the surface, her shoulders screaming for the release spell, but she held it back; she'd already discovered that using her wings to fly through space was difficult when she was in top shape, and right now, she was still tired from the previous day and lingering injuries.

Best to save the wings for later.

~- Waiting for the Right Time -~

White dipped and turned, twisting around the shots from the ship as the pilot activated the defense systems, doing his best to take out the Nobody and her team. But as she knew would happen, the ship's size hampered its accuracy, making it positive child's play to avoid the cannon blasts.

Sliding up behind one of the defenders, White charged a wind spell, sending it bulleting toward the one clad in armor of an almost feline persuasion. Lowering her hand by her side, the Nobody felt the familiar weight of the fan settle into her grip, the other one just a breath from her grip as well. Her plan was simple; remove the minor threats first, then take on those with more power.

That, or find a better distraction.

~- Pounding in My Head -~

Sirens screamed up and down the halls of the ship, its passengers either trying to heed the screaming warnings and seek cover, or they were preparing for battle. Several rushed toward the cargo hold, donning armor and throwing themselves into the mercy of space and their gliders, or seeking more substantial transport in the form of small fighter ships. Others were caught in the corridors, entrenched deep in battle as Heartless swarmed onto the ship. Lights were broken, casting entire passages into darkness as the Heartless sought out the sources of multiple, pounding heartbeats.

Unnoticed in the bedlam, shadows shifted, a subtle deepness to the darkness that slipped from one corridor to the next. Slowly, this darker patch of night made its way through the ship, searching out its own target. After a few moments of this searching, the shadow was rewarded with the discovery of a girl fighting against the Heartless. Though her attacks spoke of familiarity and training, her ability with the Keyblade seemed awkward, her dislike of the weapon obvious in her ungainly, yet deadly strikes. Her thoughts swirled turbulently, resentment and an instinct to survive and for secrecy adding a savageness to her bearing and a weakness in her mental defenses.

The perfect target.

"Does it really matter if you fight?" Pulling herself from the shadows on the wall, Masquerade watched the girl in front of her, a soft smile tugging at her lips. "After all, as long as there is Darkness, the Heartless will never cease to attack. Such is the order of things, and such is life. Why try to go against what is natural?"

 

[Story Keeper]

~- There's A Rumble in the Floor -~

He stood on top of a tall building, staring down at the children that raced below him. A smirk quirking his mouth, he leapt off of the building and flipped, calling his wings at the last second to catch himself. Beating them, he took off toward the sky, searching for something that he knew wasn't on this world. Twisting to avoid hitting a tower, he glared at it and almost called a ball of dark energy to destroy the offending building, only to hesitate as memories flickered through his mind. Shaking his head, the heartless spun around and flew away from the offensive building, trying to push back the small flickers of light along with the faint voice whispering, What do you think you're doing? This isn't like you.

Snarling in response, he glared at nothing in particular as he called a mix of darkness and fire to his hands. Throwing it down at the city below, he felt something inside him break as the children started crying while the women screamed, grabbing the children and running out of the town. He floated there, staring down at the destruction and flames writhing below him, totally unaffected by the chaos going on below. Watching as a woman with green hair came running out of the building, distress in her eyes as she came to the center of the town, a blonde man and a monk running up alongside her. He didn't flinch at the look of sheer rage that danced in the woman's eyes.

"Yang, Edward, stand back, this person's mine."

His mouth twitched into a smile at the woman's words, amused at the thought that she thought she could beat him. He dismissed Yang's complaints as he questioned the woman's decision on it, turning his head to look at the one named Edward, he saw the sorrowful look in his eyes. Becoming enraged at it, the man rushed forward and cut Edward across the chest, preventing the king from joining in on the fight. Whipping around, he kicked the monk in the stomach, sending him flying into a building. Seeing the shock that crossed the woman's face, he thought he heard the monk call her Rydia, as he slowly advanced on her.

"This is what you wanted, is it not?" He asked sarcastically, not quite giving a damn if it was or not; all he knew was that she was getting on his nerves and that she had to be taken care of...permanently.

Calling his sword to him, he lunged forward just as she called a staff to her and shouted, "Bahamut, use Megaflare!"

~- Just An Empty Heart... -~

The sound of waves lapping at the shore drew his attention from the darkness, opening his eyes he looked around the beach. He felt his muscles unwind as he registered no immediate threat. Walking along the shore, he remained quiet, letting the sunlight soak into his skin as the familiar sounds wash over him; before retreating for a few moments, taking a little of his tension with it. Yet despite that, he felt his mind churning over something he couldn't quite put his finger on. Shrugging his shoulders, he didn't think much of the niggling feeling, after all he was use to that type of feeling by now; with their adventures recently.

He felt his heart tighten at that brief thought, they'd all been fighting way too much. Too many people had sacrificed themselves, all for the benefit of their cause. "Hey, what's going on with you? It's not like you to be so quiet." The teasing jab came from the brunette warrior behind him, and despite the cheerfulness in the words, he knew that it wasn't really how the other warrior felt felt. Turning slowly, the swordsman looked his friend up and down, too numb to even care about throwing back his usual counter to the remark.

He watched the frown slide off the other's face, but it didn't matter as he turned his back on the other one. "Look, I'm sure she's okay, so don't worry about it." A sad, weary smile spreading across his face, the man shook his head and started to gather the words for a retort...

Pushing himself up, he frowned at the ground below him. How long had he been in this world? He didn't know, and if he was honest, he couldn't careless how long it'd been. Climbing to his feet, he looked around him in disinterest, he was just an empty heart; maybe not even that. Hehe, what are you doing sleeping in so late? It's not like you! Tell me something, just how long have you been fighting for everyone? When was the last time you let yourself break? I couldn't protect Ash, what kind of older brother let's their little sister die? When were you planning on telling me this truth? You know you can always depend on your friends...right? I won't let you hurt them! You can't possible understand even a fraction of the power we hold, you are weak, you are nothing. Namine don't!

Clutching his head as more words bombarded him, he shook his head to dislodge all of them, feeling another wave of guilt crash over him. "I'm sorry, I couldn't protect all of you, I failed." He whispered, after a few more moments, he lowered his hands and started walking around aimlessly. After a little bit of wandering around, he came to a stop as he felt another tickle of a long ago whispered conversation. That's funny, I always thought that you were stronger than this. Could it be that I was wrong about you?

A sad laugh escaping him, he felt a matching smile come to his face as he answered softly to no one, "I always thought that myself, but maybe we were all wrong. Maybe I'm not as strong as we all originally thought."

 

[Key Wielder]

“Does it really matter if you fight?”

The voice broke her concentration and Kana jumped, startled. Even in the midst of battle, the only sounds around her had been the distant echoes of clashing and the blaring siren that just wouldn’t quit. Yet the Heartless were ever silent, and she had tuned out the rest of the din until the only reality around her was the onslaught and her own ragged breathing. She had thought she was being careful, that everyone else would be too busy to remember her or come looking. That was the only way they would find her, after all; she hadn’t exactly gone in the same direction they had.

The person who had spoken, however, was completely unfamiliar. Like many of the ship's inhabitants Kana had met thus far, she was clearly younger than Kana, and a strange aura resonated from her figure that Kana could hardly fail to recognize. It was darkness of a kind she had not yet encountered. Admittedly, that was not surprising. She had been running for so long that she hadn’t had the chance to encounter many things, strong darknesses and strong lights alike. It was with a pang of trepidation that she met the newcomer’s eyes, feeling more than seeing the menace of this being.

“After all,” the girl continued when she didn’t reply. The Heartless stood down, their eyes intent on Kana without making a move toward her. “As long as there is Darkness, the Heartless will never cease to attack. Such is the order of things, and such is life. Why try to go against what is natural?”

Kana blinked, hardly believing her ears as her sense of unease grew deeper. Was it mere coincidence or did this person know just how close her words came to Kana’s thoughts?

One of the Heartless did not wait for her to decide. Drawing back, it pounced from her left, slashing a clawed hand. Kana didn’t think and, acting purely on instinct, she whipped around and the creature vanished in a flash of her Keyblade.

“Do you know the meaning of Darkness?”

It seemed impossible when the other Heartless did not attack after the sudden movement, but it was even more unbelievable when they sank into the floor, spreading their darkness until it moved down the corridor and out of sight. The ship shook from battle elsewhere; the siren blared louder than ever in the sudden silence. A few of the lights on the wall were shattered and flickering from where her Keyblade had swung wide or a Heartless had been thrown back, creating an eerie sort of atmosphere. But there was no danger here. At least, not from the Heartless.

“It is an abomination. It is evil incarnate. It is literally the dark side of all that is good in the wide World.”

Turning slowly, Keyblade at the ready, Kana faced the other woman again, ready to defend herself at a moment’s notice. She did not seem cruel, even if her words did cut like a knife.

Even if darkness seemed to seep out of her like a fume.

“There are people who will tell you it’s natural—that in order to have light, we have to have dark. All they are doing is justifying doing nothing. They sit by and let others fight the battles they should engage in. Then when they fall to darkness, they blame the light that did not save them—and the vicious cycle continues to revolve.”

Even remembering her master’s words, no righteous sense of idealism struck her. No anger, no passion. There was nothing in her as she stared at the other woman, not sure how to respond. After what seemed like an eternity, even the vigor with which she had fought the Heartless flagged, and her grip on the Keyblade loosened until her arm hung limply by her side. It suddenly struck her as she stood there forming an appropriate response that she had never felt so lost before, so unsure of what exactly any of this was for.

So empty.

“Everything’s natural—light and dark,” Kana finally shrugged. What she said was the truth, but she couldn’t bring herself to feel one way or another about it. “I fight whatever gets in my way, no matter which one that is.”

It wasn’t a threat or even a determined promise of violence if the girl stood in the way of…whatever it was she would do for or on this ship. It simply was.

Frowning, Kana shook her head. “Who are you? Why are you here?”

 

[Lunarmaster54]

~Ties~

A dog fight in the middle of a large scale battle was both the worst and best possible setting for an experienced pilot. On one hand there’s a lot going on at once for a person to keep track of, such as enemy ships and ally ships and blaster fire from both parties, you’ve got to keep track of both the things happening outside and the other guy trying to shoot you down. Its enough to tear a person’s mind apart if they aren’t used to doing that sort of thing, especially in a battle as big as the one happening right now. But on the other hand, forcing your opponent into a tight situation that could very well get him blown up is good strategy 101. Timmy and Aaron were both experienced pilots. They’d been taught by the best. They knew how to fly, they knew how to strategize and they loved doing it. It was fun for them.

This wasn’t an exception.

As much as the two loathed each other it was all put aside in the heat of the battle. No Timmy. No Aaron. Just Thunderbird and Striker. Just barrel rolls and thrusts, hammering the blaster button and spotting openings to pound the enemy’s shield into nothingess with a well timed and aimed cannon blast. Or a heat seeking missile. Swooping in and out and all around the other beings who were locked in combat with each other. Any outside feeds were cut, they didn’t matter right now no matter how important they were. The two flew high above the conflict around Ragnarok and far below it, spiraling down at the highest of speeds and slamming into and off each other. Teeny ships were launched and destroyed.

It was exhilarating.

“Shields at 30%” Timmy took a breath and held it for a moment before exhaling, knowing that both of their respective shields were at around the same level. This was going to end soon and one of them would die. But more than likely, they both would. They’d shoot each other down simultaneously and wipe each other out of existence with two presses of the cannons. Two absolutely flawless shots, powered up to the max. Timmy knew it. Aaron knew it. They could sense it, they could read each other. Timmy shook his head and flipped a switch to turn his feed back on, bringing up a visual of Aaron. He was grinning and Timmy felt his own lips twist into a smile.

“For a fight to the death, this is a lot more fun then it should be” Aaron remarked “I’d rather this not end in something as undignified as a draw”

“Seems anticlimactic” Timmy agreed “We need to finish this on the ground, you know, where I can properly hate and kill you”

“Indeed” Aaron nodded “Unfortunately we can’t just go now, we both have allies to help after all. We aren’t the center of the realm”

“Speak for yourself” Timmy quipped. Aaron rolled his eyes, an instinctive reflexive response that he didn’t know he still had in him when it came to Timmy. So familiar. So practiced.

“Go to Kingdom of the Sun” he said “I’ve got evil plans going on there that hero types like yourself always feel the need to self. We can fight there. Hell we can even exchange corny one liners”

Timmy found that was exactly what he wanted. That such a confrontation was how he wanted this thing with his ex brother to end. He didn’t want to just kill him with a button press. He settled on a sarcastic reply however.

“ooo” Timmy said sarcastically “Corny one liners?! Sold!! And stop calling me hero damn you”
Aaron snorted “Not my fault you fit all of the stereotypes. Tell me, when do you plan on spiking your hair?”

Timmy responded to that by flipping him off and they laughed. A genuine, honest to goodness, shared laugh. Their first in over a year. But it ended all too soon and Timmy, feeling a strange sense of companionship with him, almost as if they had been transported back to the olden days felt the need to ask him something, to let his own vulnerability show.

“Have you seen her?” There wasn’t any need to elaborate on who he was asking about.

Aaron shook his head, looking just how Timmy felt, worried. Afraid. Longing.

“Not since Twilight Town” he replied “She’s… vanished”

They went silent, connected by a need that filled both of their hearts, a desperation to be with the one they missed the most. A need to be friends once more, even though neither would ever admit it.

“Don’t get killed Timmy” Aaron said, attempting to shake off the moment and feeling “I want to crush your windpipe with my two hands”

“Sorry bro” Timmy grinned “They aren’t big enough for that. Though, you stay alive too. There’s dangerous stuff out here”

Aaron chuckled at that, confident “Like what? Space monkeys?”

“My friends are around, angry. Leyla’s around” Timmy shrugged and Aaron laughed out loud. This one was cold and disbelieving

“She’s on a glider” he scoffed “You really think she’s gonna shoot me down? As freaking if”

“You’d be surprised” Timmy replied, a little offended “Bigger people than you have underestimated her and gotten killed”

Aaron noticed, his eyes narrowing and face tightening

“You’d know” he sneered “your new best buddie. You replaced me and Shiki pretty damn quickly didn’t you? You’ve got your own little space crew now huh?”

“Well you murdered Master” Timmy snapped “I don’t need a friend like you”

“I murdered our master but you’re the one who murdered our friendship a LONG time before that” Aaron growled

“Oh really? You’re the one who went off on his own all the time after me and Shiki got together because you were too jealous to be a MAN and be happy for us” Timmy shouted, his fists clenched and anger coursing through his veins, insides twisting “If anyone murdered our friendship it was you! I guess your good at murdering stuff aren’t you?”

Aaron cut the feed, hate filling his heart. He knew that if they talked any longer then he’d break his shaky truce with Timmy and shoot the hypocritical asshole out of the space and his life. He didn’t want to do that, before it was because of some twisted sense of reborn brotherhood. But that had just been battle high. Now it was because he wanted to rip his spine out. Aaron shot up, reentering the battle against Ragnarok’s forces and scanning the area for Leyla, smirking viciously as he found her. He brought his ship up, cycling through his weapons until he landed on the heat seekers. He locked on the girl, too busy battling to notice him, just out of range and camouflaged by the rest of the fighting going on. His shot was lined up, according to the HUD his accuracy prediction was 97%. These missiles would blow her away, chase her until contact was made just as heat seekers were made for.

“Say goodnight bitch” he hissed and pressed the button, shots firing and zipping towards her.

Why did he suddenly want her dead?

 

[Keyblade Seeker]

Part 20: A White Wind Attack

Something struck Siaowe from behind, making her stagger. From what she felt, it seemed to be a wind-based attack, which her armor doesn't form a barrier against matter, though it protects from that some. She hadn't been able to notice because she was busy with the shadows. She turned around to face her opponent. It was a feminine figure clad in white spandex and helmet. The visor was is in the shape of a bird with its wings stretched. On her chest was the Nobody symbol and on her hands were.

Siaowe started on seeing this; Panfacag told her about these guys and they were bad news. Instantly, she aimed her ZF-1 Prototype and opened fire.

Upon hearing the sound of bullets pause, Gale turned to see Siaowe attacking a white figure, who seemed familiar to him somehow. He couldn't remember much, but he remembered that she was a bad guy. Immediately, using the power of wind, he glided over to Siaowe's side.

 

[Kingdomkeylight]

^Back in Green(XD)^
.
The fight continued on as the relentless wave continued to attack the ship with a few members on both sides headed straight into combat with each other on the outer interior. Green kept more a tab on the other members attacks growling a bit as a few turned this attack into a personal matter attacking certain members they had last time. He released a soft sigh as he knew no amount of scalding would do much now. Sometimes I feel like I am the only well thought out emotion along with White...... Green jumped off his glider as he decided to keep a eye on the most troublesome member Purple who traveled all about until attacking the ninja.... he had heard she had found a target among the hero's, but really to attempt such a weak starting strike.
.
"You have gotten soft Purple a shield is weakest at the back of its user," Green said as he skated past purple summoning his cannon yoyo like weapon nearing the end of his run at the back of the ninja girl. His stoic face kept no harsh look, no sorrow filled regret, nor monstrous lust for battle. it was simply a plan simple scanning look of one reading the enemy.... in this cause Purples ninja girl target as he shattered half of the girls barrier with his weapon. Not letting up he combo'ed in a round house kick slamming the girl into what was left of her barrier as he took aim and unleashed a raw blast of energy from his cannon yoyo sending the girl and what was left of the barrier slamming far off in the distance as he turned to Purple.
.
"Do we really have time for these petty little games Purple," Green asked.
.

 

[Eternal Dream]

~- Save Me Tonight -~

Barrel roll. Duck. Swerve. Fire off a few shots and then proceed to avoid the answering salvos. Leyla lost herself to the fight, her instincts kicking in and causing her body to react with trained skill and improvisation. She was focused, zoning in on just Blue and tuning everything else around her out, except for when she needed to dodge an errant attack from one of the other combatants.

Tonight your memory burns like a fire...

Leyla nearly stopped, her shield the only thing that blocked the next strike as her eyes widened in shock. That's it; the last few days had finally caught up to her, breaking her mind in such a way that not even Sononea or Masquerade had been able to do. She couldn't be hearing what she thought she had, could she? That voice...

With every one it grows higher and higher...

Forgetting all about the battle, Leyla shot off, her thoughts racing far ahead of her as she followed the sound of the voice. A soft whine sounded in her ears, but Leyla barely noticed; phantom of her past or an impossible prayer finally answered, her attention was solely on that voice now. She had no notion of the heat seekers bearing down on her, and nor would she have cared even if she had realized it.

I can't get over it; I just can't put out this love...

It couldn't be; it had to be. There was so much pain; had she caused that pain? She prayed she hadn't; she knew she had. All she could think of was finding him, of begging forgiveness and bleeding the pain from his words. It wasn't him; it was him; it had to be him. God, please, let it be him; let him be okay...

I just sit in these flames, and pray that you'll come back; close my eyes tightly, hold on and hope that I'm dreaming...

Leyla caught sight of a world as the words grew steadily louder. While still far above the atmosphere, and unable to make out much of the surface, there were a few things she could see. A huge, curling hill... and was that a massive Christmas tree?

Before she could get closer though, Leyla screamed, pain lancing through her head as broken images raced through her mind, too fast for her to catch more than just a few brief seconds here and there.

Wings, spread out against an inky night sky. But they were all wrong. The feathers were all pitch black. Where was the white? Where was the comfort? Wrong, wrong, wrongwrongwrong...

Screams rent the air, both human and animal. Looking up, there was just enough time to see a flash of red and brown before the hawk dropped out of the sky, another sharp cry rippling through the air from the beast's mouth...

Three forms on the ground, tossed far away. Wings spread across the earth, white mixing with black flowing into silver; just the slightest edge of a slim hand could be seen peeking out from beneath the black wings...

Frozen. Couldn't move; gotta move. Move, dammit!

Screams again. One of the forms stirred. A girl with silver wings, pain in her every move. Even from so far away, the fear in her gasp was clear. Was it any surprise when the black wings moved, revealing a young man with dark hair? He launched into the air, desperation on his face, the girl he'd been shielding still lying where she'd fallen...

Pain. Complete, utter pain that lasts for only a second, but stretching on for a thousand lifetimes...

Darkness...

Her glider disappearing, Leyla started to fall, just close enough to the world for its gravity to begin to pull her towards its atmosphere. She tried to fight it, to recall her glider, or even her wings, but she found she didn't have the strength to do so. Over the last few days, she'd slept poorly, had barely eaten, if at all, she'd gotten seriously hurt and suffered through a great deal of trauma. Combined with the vision, or whatever it was, it had finally proven to be too much. The last of the adrenaline fading from her system, she felt the blackness creeping into her vision, slowly forcing what she could see to a small pinprick, then nothing. The battle still waged, the heat seekers still bore down on her, but Leyla had blacked out.

Come wake me up...

~- Is the Light Weeping Somewhere? -~

“Everything’s natural—light and dark. I fight whatever gets in my way, no matter which one that is.”

A smile curled at Masquerade's lips. The woman was uneasy and world weary; the Heartless could see it in the wielder's eyes and the sudden way the fight had gone out of her after striking down that last Shadow. And she had seen the truth in the way the wielder battled; she might fight to protect herself, but she didn't have much more direction than that. Truth be told, she seemed to loath fighting, despising the responsibility she perceived the Keyblade to have saddled her with. The wielder wasn't aligned either way, with the light or dark it seemed. She was perfectly malleable.

The Heartless could use one like this woman.

“Who are you? Why are you here?”

Masquerade giggled softly, raising a finger to her lips as her eyes sparkled with ruby lights. "Who am I? I guess You could say that I'm just another soul in search of answers, like almost anyone else. But as the name given to me is Masquerade, I suppose you could use that. As for why I'm here? I suppose you could say I'm looking for... friends? For a few interested parties to help me with some items of importance."

Turning away, Masquerade said softly over her shoulder as her heels clicked down the hallways, "You say you fight for non but your survival, yet such lack of motivation could also prove perilous to you as well. What fervor, what spark can you hold if you hold no desire? No reason to continue a fruitless struggle? Even survival isn't enough after a while if you have no direction. You will be swallowed. Not by darkness; not by light. But by utter nothingness. Such has happened to those who have come before, and such will happen again."

Stopping briefly, Masquerade turned to look at the woman again, a slight smile playing about her mouth once more. "Once this little... misunderstanding? Once this skirmish has been settled, you will most likely go off on your own, correct? Think on what has been said, and seek me in the Kingdom of the Sun. There is business that needs attending to there, and so it is where I will await your answer."

And with that, Masquerade left, disappearing into the shadows from which she'd come.

~- The Weatherman Called for a Twister -~

The woman responded by firing a salvo at White. A sneer twisting her lips, she swept a hand before her as she intoned, "Bacainn!" Instantly, a gale of wind whipped around her, stopping the bullets from reaching their target. Her eyes cold behind the visor, she spoke again, her tone frigid and lilting. "Séid ar shiúl."

The wind that had shielded her moments ago blew out, heading straight for Siaowe and Gale. Clenching her fist, White jerked her hand toward her chest, forcing the wind to close around them. She could tear these two apart quite easily, she knew that. All she had to do was break their helmets with a forceful enough blast of wind, and the vacuum of space would do the rest for her.

A soft sound drifting to her on that same vacuum had White turning her head, momentarily disregarding the two she was battling. What heart she had jumped into her throat, although why, she couldn't say; or maybe it was that she couldn't admit it, even to herself.

Heat seekers. Aaron had deployed heat seekers, and they were trained on Leyla, who was racing away from the battle for some reason known only to the girl. Snapping her attention back to Siaowe and Gale for a moment, White swept her hand out again, forcing the two away from her. "Get out of here while you have the chance," she hissed at them, the warning cold and distant. "You have no ken of what you've stumbled in to."

Spinning her glider around, White shot off, following after Leyla. She could see that the girl's shoulders were tight; one long, tense line as she forced every last bit of power she could from her glider. If White didn't know better, she would have thought that Leyla was trying to avoid the heat seekers, but it seemed as if she was oblivious to them, some other demon biting at her heels.

A scream twisted out of Leyla, and White reacted without thinking. "Bacainn!" Once again, an inexplicable wind rose up in the vacuum of space; but this time, White directed the wind to wrap around the girl, causing the heat seekers to bounce off the shield momentarily. They righted themselves after a moment, turning around to once more seek out the girl that had lost consciousness, but White was prepared. Flowing right back into the primary purpose of her Whirlwind technique, White screamed, "Séid ar shiúl!"

Directing the wind into a scythe's edge, she caused it to slice straight through the heat seekers Aaron had deployed after Leyla. Looking back over her shoulder, White could see the members of her force who had drawn close enough to see what she had done, could see what looked to be Kit on her glider moving over to aide her friend. More importantly, White could see Masquerade watching, witnessing the betrayal committed by the leader of the Task Force. Feeling a surprising rush of hatred seething just below her skin, White did the only thing she felt fitting, given the situation.

Giving Masquerade a one fingered salute, the Nobody then spun to face straight ahead and rushed off, shooting right past Halloween Town and riding out for parts unknown.

 

[Story Keeper]

Re: Kingdom Hearts: The Apocalypse

~- Travel Back Down That Road -~

She quickly made her way toward the palace, she knew that the king was expecting her based on the messenger that had arrived at where she was staying just an hour earlier. Looking up at the sun, the woman pulled her hood closer to her face, tossing her features into deeper shadows. Reaching the top of the stairs, she glanced at the guard that ran up to her, half his body was painted red and the other half blue. Disdain uncoiling through her, she swatted their hand away when they reached for the hood of her cloak. Glaring at him from the deep shadows of her hood, she felt her lips curl back in a sneer the longer the guard stood too close to her.

Staring in contempt, she watched the guard shake his hand and glare at her in undisguised fury. "You will not lay a hand, accidental or not, on me. 'Cause if you do, you will loose the offending limb, understood?" She said coldly, not caring if the guard took offense or not. It was at this point the ruler of this world appeared, quickly diffusing the situation with a raised hand. Performing a quick; if informal, curtsy, the woman rose to her full height upon being given permission. "What honor do I owe for this measure of your time, Your Majesty?" She asked politely, with a faint trace of sarcasm lacing her words.

She felt her lips turn up in a small smile, the emperor apparently enjoyed her spunk; for he was laughing off her rudeness in a good nature fashion. "They're right about you!" He laughed, causing shock to sweep through the cloaked woman as she stared at him in confusion, not that he could see it.

"Beg your pardon, Your Majesty?" She asked, staring at him as her mind raced to register his comment. Her confusion only made him laugh harder, which in turned annoyed her and earned him a scowl from her. Remaining silent, she listened as he explained himself to her. "I was told you had a jaded air about you, so your speech could be polite but informal!"

Laughing quietly alongside him, she nodded in agreement, already being able to tell she'd get along with the young ruler just fine. Before she could say anything, the emperor turned on his heel and walked away, calling over his shoulder, "Well come on, we have much to discuss!" Smiling softly, the woman followed after the man to see what amusing things this man had in store for her.

~- You'll Find Me Waiting There -~

Purple went at Kitridge again, trying to find a way to break through her defenses even as she deflected the other girl's attacks. Circling around again, she summoned a portal to absorb the attack before she reflected it back at the ninja. "You have gotten soft Purple, a shield is weakest at the back of its user." The shout made both of the girls pause, looking around her, Rixue watched in silence as Green first attacked the weakest part of her barrier; before he continued his assault which ended with the ninja girl getting sent flying away from the two.

"Do we really have time for these petty little games Purple?"

Turning to look at Green, she frowned at him before she glanced back in the direction the ninja had flown in. She knew that they didn't have time for such petty games. Shaking her head, Rixue felt a smile flit across her face unbidden; scanning the area around her, she noticed the way several people were engaged in combat even as Aria threw a barrage of ice spells at the ship Timmy was in. "No, we don't have time for petty little games." She commented offhandedly, not even looking as she deflected a wayward attack from someone.

Throwing a side way glance toward her companion, Rixue giggled, "Hey, what do you say about a friendly competition, the winner gets to call in a favor from the loser at a convenient time to them? And by them, I mean the winner. What do you say? It'll be fun!"

~- Now's Your Chance to Run for Cover -~

Brown rolled his glider, barely dodging the errant attack that went soaring past his head. Looking over his shoulder to see that Leyla was facing off against Blue; only to have Aaron come swooping in to attack her while she was distracted. Pushing back his disgust at such a tactic, he spotted Aria giving chase to Timmy; instigating the fight by throwing spells at the other Hybrid; before moving away from him. Focusing back ahead of him, Brown swung off of his glider to avoid a sneak attack; clinging to the bottom of the transportation he took aim at Siaowe and watched until something caught his attention.

Watching as one of the white haired girls came flying toward him, he reached out a hand and grabbed her by the collar of her shirt. Looking the ninja in the eye, he saw the anger and darkness blazing in her eyes. Sensing the changes in her aura, he smirked softly before he let her go, glad that she still had her glider as he flipped back up so he was on top of his own. He didn't say anything at the piercing cold look in her eyes, instead he ignored it and felt himself slipping into a different mindset; one he'd missed for the past twenty or so years. A smile flitting across his face, he swerved to avoid the ninja's retaliation, he felt the others across the link; even hearing Rixue's teasing remark of, Whoa, popular with the ladies today, Brown?

Larxen didn't spare a single moment to retort, letting his old training kick into overdrive he quickly raced to her side, noticing where the shield had been weakened. Pulling up short, he watched White go racing past him, turning to look at what had his teammate's and leader's attention, Brown didn't react at the curse that slipped free from the ninja girl before she gave chase after his leader. Instinct grabbing him, Brown flicked his wrist, revealing a slim yet strong blade slide out of its hidden sheath. Speeding off after the two girls, it didn't take him long to notice the third one that White wound up protecting from whatever had been about to attack her.

"White, what are you do---"

Watching as Leyla blacked out, Brown felt the question die in his throat as he stopped in his tracks; he didn't see Leyla, but a different young woman instead. No, there's no possible way, he thought to himself, shaking his head in denial, Brown barely noticed Kit reaching out and grabbing her friend's hand, hauling her onto her glider; Brown instead noticed when White snapped the link shut, blocking everyone from her mind. Growing worried on it, he reached out to the others and thought, Back off of the heroes, retreat to a world and draw them to you. Avoid Halloween Town for the time being, we don't need them figuring out what's going on there, understood?

Hey, what about White?

Rolling his eyes at Rixue's question, he answered calmly, White can take care of herself; just follow the orders and I'll see about getting her to come back. Sensing Rixue's concern, Larxen felt a wave of relief pass through him when she agreed to the orders with a perky, Come on Maxchiel, we've got new orders; let's go!

After getting the different affirmatives, he tapped into Blue's mind and urged, Let's get going, I don't think it'd be wise to leave White by herself. Without waiting for a response or for Blue to get there, Brown quickly gave chase to White; unsure of where he was heading this time; but knowing that he didn't like the idea of the Task Force's leader running off by herself.

~- Can't Win For Losing -~

Kitridge was ready to retaliate toward Brown, but her attention was stolen when Leyla went racing past, heat seekers and White hot on her tail. Giving voice to several things that would've made even the sailors back home blush, Kit went racing after them, only faintly aware of Brown on her tail. Dismissing the Nobody from her mind, she called on her magic and channeled it toward Leyla. "Barrier!" She shouted, sending the protective spell to reinforce White's protective spell.

Why the Nobody was trying to protect Leyla, was a question for a later date.

"White, what are you do---"

Tuning the Nobody out, she reached toward the other white haired girl when she was close enough. Feeling her hand close around Leyla, Kit pulled her onto the glider and quickly sped backward until she was safely out of the gravitational pull of the world. Looking around, she turned her glider and quickly made her way through the battle; being careful to avoid getting into a confrontation. Spotting the two that had ambushed her earlier, she sent an icy gale in their direction.

Once clear of the battle, Kit flicked a switch on her glider, allowing her to jump through the lanes between until she was once again just above the Blue Planet's atmosphere. She sighed in relief as she caught her first glimpse of the familiar sight. "We're going to be okay," she whispered, closing her eyes briefly, she felt the gravitational pull of the planet draw her in. Eyes snapping open, she felt a shriek of terror claw it's way up her throat as her glider disappeared, dragging both girls down onto the world. Letting go of Leyla's hand, Kit landed hard and looked around her, dazed from the tumble and gasping for breath from the rough landing.

"What the heck--- Kit! Are you okay?"

Eyes snapping upward even as she felt her muscles tense, Kit smiled weakly as Palom and Porom came running up; concern clear in both of their eyes. "Hey you two, I'm alright, how are you?" She asked, tracking Porom as she ran over to check on Leyla, not even paying attention as Palom crouched down next to her. "Porom, is Leyla okay?" Kit called, trying to push herself up into a sitting positon as she waited for a response, only to have Palom gently push her back down.

"I think she's okay, but how about we get you two healed up and you explain to me everything that's happened?"

Laughing weakly, she nodded in agreement and was relieved when Palom gently pulled her to her feet. "You look like hell, girl, what happened?" Palom asked, even as he helped her make her way toward the center building for Mysidia. Sighing in exasperation, Kit retorted, "And you're still an ass, don't you remember what Porom said? Heal first, explanation second!"

 

[Keyblade Seeker]

Part 21: Blown Away and Gone Elsewhere

The white figure swept a hand before her and intoned, "Bacainn!" Instantly, a gale of wind whipped around her, stopping Siaowe's bullets from reaching their target. "Séid ar shiúl." That wind then blew out, heading straight for the catgirl and Gale. Clenching her fist, the white figure jerked her hand toward her chest, forcing the wind to close around the two. Gale managed to use his wind powers to prevent the opposing wind from choking them. Siaowe cast Aero, but its effect was superficial.

Before they knew it, they were blasted away, out of the white figure's range, who hissed a cold and distant warning, "Get out of here while you have the chance. You have no ken of what you've stumbled into."

They stumbled into the floor, back through the doorway they had used to enter the hangar. Utilizing her nimbleness, Siaowe quickly flipped to her feet and landed upright. "Leave? And let the bad guys win? Can't do that," she said to herself as Gale got up as well.

"Still, Panfacag did tell us to help them out." I hate having to leave him behind just after finding him. Shaking off that thought, she took Gale's hand and made her way back to the landing dock. "Gale? Do you have any armor that can shield you from the darkness in the Lanes Between?"

"I think so," he replied. Summoning his Keyblade and focusing, his body disappeared in a white light before it faded to reveal him clad in something akin to Keyblade Armor. Siaowe summoned her "Violet Wing" Keyblade, donned its armor, and hopped on. Gale did the same as they zoomed out of the landing dock. As they did, she suddenly realized that there was a planet right below them, if what she learned from the Story Crew was correct, this planet was— "Huh? What's that?"

Siaowe turned to see something descending to the surface. With nothing better to do, and hoping it was one of the "good guys", she pursued it. As they approached, they suddenly saw a flash come from the something and turn into two girls who stumbled into the ground from the hard landing. As they got closer, they could see two figures run over to them. Judging from their body language, they seemed to know at least one of the girls. As the two figures were helped the girls up and made to walk off, Siaowe decided to land.

If that didn't catch their attention, the dubsequent sound that came with the flash of dismissing Keyblade Armor did.

 

[Key Wielder]

"Who am I? I guess you could say that I'm just another soul in search of answers, like almost anyone else. But as the name given to me is Masquerade, I suppose you could use that. As for why I'm here? I suppose you could say I'm looking for... friends? For a few interested parties to help me with some items of importance."

Great, another dark loony. Just what I needed right now.

Kana didn’t interrupt Masquerade’s introduction, but her wariness of this girl doubled instantly. She had arrived in the middle of an attack on an otherwise peaceful vessel full of children and dull tools of the Keyblade, and she really expected her to believe that her purpose was as benign as she made it sound? Perhaps Kana’s answer to the question in hand hadn’t quite inspired confidence in which side her loyalties were given to, but certainly she didn’t think Kana was as stupid as this?

“If you’re looking for friends,” she ended up murmuring skeptically, “it might do to help them out of this mess instead of standing around while it all goes to hell.”

She didn’t expect an answer—she hardly knew why she’d said it at all, really—but there was no need to pull punches at this point. Masquerade’s face alone identified that she knew how suspicious she seemed, and she even appeared to take some perverse pleasure in it.

"You say you fight for none but your survival, yet such lack of motivation could also prove perilous to you as well. What fervor, what spark can you hold if you hold no desire? No reason to continue a fruitless struggle? Even survival isn't enough after a while if you have no direction. You will be swallowed. Not by darkness; not by light. But by utter nothingness. Such has happened to those who have come before, and such will happen again."

Most Keyblade wielders would have been outraged at the allegation, but uncomfortably enough, Masquerade was right, and Kana knew it. There wasn’t even enough of an indignant spark to fuel anger at essentially being called a nonentity. It did, however, keep her mind clear enough to think through what she was saying—enough to realize that she was absolutely right. Hadn’t her master told her the same thing before they’d gone their separate ways? Sure, she had placed it into more certain terms, something akin to, “If you have no path, darkness will take you,” but it was ultimately the same thing. To be consumed by nothing, however… It wasn’t something she would expect a being of darkness to say. Shouldn’t she be telling her to choose darkness because the light would swallow her? No, instead she was saying, “Pick a side or you may as well die anyway.”

Just when she thought things couldn’t get any stranger, she was thrown for a loop again. Maybe, she realized awkwardly, she didn’t know quite as much about the world as she thought.

Masquerade stopped walking away, shooting Kana a smirk over her shoulder as she vanished into the shadows.

"Once this little... misunderstanding? Once this skirmish has been settled, you will most likely go off on your own, correct? Think on what has been said, and seek me in the Kingdom of the Sun. There is business that needs attending to there, and so it is where I will await your answer."

Just like that, she was gone, a shadow that had blown through the ship, through Kana’s mind, and then passed as though it hadn’t existed at all. Kana was left standing there blankly, staring at the spot Masquerade had been standing in just a moment ago. There was no need to raise her Keyblade; she was vaguely aware of the din quieting somewhat outside the ship, and there were no more Heartless to attack. She was alone, as always.

“Even survival isn’t enough after a while if you have no direction.”

Kana’s feet were moving before she was even aware of where she was going. Her Keyblade vanished in a swirl of color and light, leaving her feeling oddly protected again, not so exposed as she had been all the time she’d used it. Was it mere luck or fate itself that had kept the others from seeing her? Leyla was the only one she felt certain knew her secret, but how that was possible, she had no idea. Whatever the reason, she hadn’t told anyone else, it seemed, and no one expected anything from her. Well, aside from not wreaking havoc on the ship, but Nick was certainly dealing with the miscreants who had done that and had little concern for her or the other uninvited guests anymore anyway.

It must have been a few minutes later, but it felt like only seconds before she was standing in the cargo hold she’d been hiding in, packing the few things she had taken out overnight into her bag mechanically, hardly seeing them. Slinging her bag onto her back in her familiar fashion, she zipped up her jacket, rolled her loose braid back into a bun on the back of her head, and left the hold.

“No, I’m done!”

“Kana Yamato, you get back here this instant!”

“I told you, I’ve had enough. This is stupid.”

The Master rolled her eyes impatiently, but Kana didn’t turn back again, trying and failing to leave the older woman in the dust. Somehow, she always seemed to be able to catch up. Mortaeus was behind her, standing in the doorway without coming any closer, a crease between his eyebrows as he watched the exchange. It was a smart move: he knew that once Kana’s mind was made up, there was no changing it, and trying to bully her would just strengthen her resolve.

The Master’s hand clamped down on her arm like a vise, and she yanked Kana back and whipped her around to face her.

“Don’t you walk away from me.”

“You’re not my master anymore. I can do what I want.”

Shaking her head with an ugly sneer, the woman let go of her arm. “You shame me. Have you learned nothing in all the years that I’ve taught you? Raised you practically as my own daughter?”

“You are not my mother,” Kana snarled immediately, taking a step back. “And you’ve made it very clear you would never raise such a stupid daughter.”

“You expected less? At every turn, you pull in the other direction. At every trial, you refuse to fight. You are lazy, you are ignorant, and you will get yourself killed or worse. Beware the darkness in your heart, child—worse things than an ‘intolerant master’,” she spat out the words Kana had thrown in her face minutes earlier, “may prey upon it.”

“Darkness is nothing!” Kana shouted in response, too angry now to keep her voice down. “Light is nothing! Nothing matters! You go through your life trying to fix everyone else’s problems, and you dress it up like you’re protecting them from something. Protecting them from what?! Living life as normal human beings and solving their own damn problems? They only want us around when they need us; they would let us rot if it weren’t for what we could do for them. You think I’m the one with problems? Try looking around you. Everyone is out for themselves.”

“Which is precisely why they need us, now more than ever!” the Master growled. “You are not a common sell-sword, a mercenary with a righteous mission—you are a Keyblade wielder. One day you could be a Master. Your job is to teach, to protect people from themselves more than anything else.”

“And did you ever think that in trying to protect them from themselves, you’re just forcing them to deny who they are? That you’re the one causing them to do the stupid things they do to begin with?”

“Oh, I wonder that every day.”

The insinuation was apparent; the disapproval, unwavering. Yet the Master refused to claim that the failure was hers. This was Kana’s problem. Hell, Kana herself was the problem. No matter what argument she made, however merited, there was no winning. There was no going back to the state of tutelage she’d held an hour ago. They had come too far now. It was truly over.

“You and your precious light and darkness and righteousness and grace—you can go to hell.”

Resisting the urge to look at Mortaeus, knowing the shame that would fill her if she did, Kana turned away one last time...

...and strode through the corridors, letting her feet guide her to the hangar. If there was no light and darkness, what was there? There was nothing. Or, impossibly, there was the indefinable grey area that just waited to be explored. If there were answers to be found—if she even wanted to find them—she knew where to begin. Let these fools toil away with their war between light and dark. There was no greater calling to be had. There was what was happening here and now, and what she chose to make of herself. For now, this had to be enough.

Ignoring the others who had returned in the hangar before her arrival, Kana stepped to the edge of the abyss, swallowing hard as she looked down into the darkness. It was more than just the edge of the ship, even if she thought it was terribly clichéd to think so.

Her resolve was wavering in the face of a space dive? I’m such a wimp.

Kana put a hand in her jacket pocket before she could think better of it and squeezed the device she had sewn into the lining. Light engulfed her for a moment, and when it cleared she looked down at herself, glad that her helmet hid the awe that would have been evident on her face. It was the first time she had tried her armor since her master had given her this device so many years ago. It had grown with her, covering her like a deep orange second skin, much more form-fitting than her usual attire, but still allowing her the freedom of movement she would need to navigate the Lanes Between or fight if necessary. In spite of where the armor had come from, it was a wonder in itself.

But that was the easy part. Taking a deep breath, Kana wavered for a moment, stepped backward, and then threw herself out into space, waiting until she thought the ship was well out of sight before summoning her Keyblade and throwing it out in front of her.

Please work, please work, please work...

Satisfaction and excitement swelled within her as the weapon changed, sailing back towards her and attaching itself to her feet as an extended board, the same patterns from her Keyblade flowing along the glider but otherwise completely changed. It was amazingly tuned to her desires, and as soon as she thought to go left, the glider shifted with the barest movement of her feet, sending her careening to the left with surprising force. She was so taken aback that she nearly rolled over herself as she struggled to keep control of the vehicle, but the sense of exhilaration outweighed her discomfort, and she soon got the hang of it as though she had been using it for years.

Kana blasted forward until she came within sight of a world. It was primarily green, but there were splashes of color here and there that undoubtedly represented civilization. Whatever world this was, it was most likely a backwater. Still, she had no doubt that this was the place Masquerade had mentioned when she crashed through the atmosphere and finally slowed some, examining the architecture. There was a palace some distance ahead, the very top shaped like some sort of crown, and she could see in the distance pictures of some emperor or other. If anything was going to be the Kingdom of the Sun, she was positive from what she saw and the proximity this world had been to the ship that this was it.

Slowing about twenty feet above the ground, Kana let the glider go and came to rest miraculously on her feet, the weapon vanishing once again and her armor melting back into her clothing. Her pack was still on her back, although how that had fit under the armor, she had no idea, and her clothing didn’t even have a wrinkle. That armor is something else...

She had landed in a clearing of a dense tropical forest, but she could hear the sounds of a town not too far away and stepped through the trees to find herself on the other side of a bridge overlooking a valley. Some distance off, she could see llama-led carts being driven towards an enormous market, the palace she’d seen from the sky looming in the distance. Kana glanced about for a moment before crossing the bridge and heading in the same direction. She didn’t know exactly where she was going to find Masquerade, but this seemed like as good a place as any to start looking.

 

[Lunarmaster54]

~Stumble~

Timmy saw Aaron shoot the heat seekers at Leyla and he watched as White protected her, a flip of the feed switch let him know that Aaron had saw this too and was not at all happy about the situation, if his cursing was anything to go by. Timmy cut that feed and switched over to the Ragnarok feed, patching in with Nick.

“I’m heading to Kingdom of the Sun to finish things up with Aaron” he reported “You following?”

“No” Nick responded “I’m gonna head to Olympus. I just got a distress call there about increased hybrid activity. I sent a message to everyone telling them to meet me there when they were done with whatever business they had to do”

“Alright cool. Timmy out” Timmy cut the feed and blasted away from the battle, following Aaron’s ship for awhile and raising his eyebrows in disbelief for a moment.

He was all alone again, for what was probably the fourth or fifth time, he’d been separated from Kitridge and the rest.

“How are we supposed to be friends if we’re never in the same place at the same time?” he wondered aloud, leaning back in his seat as he lazily followed his ex-brother. At least this would give him time to get over the whole nightmare incident and move past his fear of the ninja. Timmy wasn’t exactly sure how long he’d be on this world, but he knew it was pretty far away from Olympus so even if he sped through this, he wouldn’t be seeing Nick or anyone else for quite some time.

Half an hour or so passed by before Timmy finally reached the planet, Aaron’s ship moving past it to land at a different point. Timmy went through the various landing procedures and found himself inside of a dense forest. A forest he wasn’t exactly familiar with. He couldn’t even remember going to this particular world before!

“Damn it” he muttered “Now what am I supposed to..”

He was cut off by a scream, a female scream. Something blonde shot past him and out of the forest burst four wolves. Angry looking ones if their rabid eyes and bloodstained teeth were any indication to go by.

“A minute and a half” Timmy said, annoyed, his keyblade coming to his hand in a flash “I’m on this planet for a minute and a HALF and i’m fighting wolves. SOMEONE up there clearly hates me”

He moved forward, thunder magic coming up to the surface with a thought. Midnight Roar sparked and came to life in a burst of electricity as he swung at the nearest beast, bashing it in the side of the skull and smirking as he heard it yelp in pain. The other wolves quickly zeroed in on him but Timmy flipped his keyblade around to attack them with the teeth side, six or seven slashes later and the dead was done, the man finding himself surrounded by the dead wolves.

“Huh” he commented “That was easier than I thought it would be” he looked over at the girl and grinned “I guess their bark was worse than there bite!” he grinned at her and wagged his eyebrows, absent mindedly rubbing a painful bitemark on his arm, the only damage he took the entire battle. The girl looked unamused at his pun but still rushed over to his side as she saw him wince and cast a cure spell on himself “Are you okay?” she asked.

Timmy nodded “Yeah i’m fine. Are you?”

The girl nodded, still eyeing Timmy’s now wound free arm before looking back up at him “Thanks for helping me” she said “My name’s Astoria”

“Timmy” the keyblader introduced himself “So why were you in that forest anyway?”

Astoria looked panicked “Because my master got turned into a llama and so I went into the forest to find a dawnstone, which is the fastest way to reverse curses put on people, but I went alone to get it and before I knew it those wolves ambushed me!”

Timmy blinked “Yeah. You lost me at ‘My master got turned into a llama’” he shook his head and scratched his ears, which perked up at a rustling sound behind him. He spun around and growled, black tail lashing from side to side as a squirrel popped out of the underbrush. Seeing that it was merely a woodland critter Timmy relaxed and turned back to Astoria, who was looking at him with wide eyes.

“Just a squirrel” Timmy said brightly “and did you use coconut shampoo in your hair recently? Because it smells lovely!!”

“Um..Timmy?” Astoria began timidly

“So what’s in that forest besides wolves?” Timmy asked curiously

“Trolls, heartless, lizards and giant spiders” Astoria said “But Timmy..”

“Out of all the places I could have wound up, I find myself in front of a forest teeming with dangerous creatures” Timmy grumbled “Is it too much to ask to just land in a nice clearing where I could have just hopped out of the ship, walked past some tress and found myself next to a bridge that lead to a town to rest up in? Is it?!”

Astoria huffed and held out a hand mirror. Timmy smiled and took it, eyeing himself. Hair was a bit ruffled but everything else looked unhurt. His ears weren’t even torn or anything!

“Thanks” Timmy said, smiling “I needed to see what I... wait a minute..”

He looked back at himself. Or more specifically, the ears sticking out of his head. Wolf ears. He looked behind him, fluffy wolf tail. He opened his mouth to find that his teeth looked a lot sharper and animal like.

Oh no.

“What the hell is going on here?” he asked quietly

“Master Kuzco got bit by a llama and then he turned into one! You got bit by a wolf and now your turning into one too!” Astoria said

“But that’s stupid!! I’ve been bit by wolves before and this has never happened!” Timmy snapped.

But then again..

“Go to Kingdom of the Sun” Aaron had said “I’ve got evil plans going on there that hero types like yourself always feel the need to stop..”

Evil plans. People getting turned into animals. Aaron’s here..

The pieces fell together one by one and Astoria took a step back at the fury that was building on Timmy’s face

“Oh that MOTHERFU-”

~~

In a village on the other side of a certain forest, Aaron Riggs looked up as he heard a familiar sounding howl and smiled a little.

He didn’t know why, but suddenly his day seemed a little brighter

 

[Story Keeper]

~- Watching Me -~

Amethyst came to a stop at the guillotine, staring up at the blade again, she felt her mouth twitch up in a smile. Her head was clearer now that she was away from the childish girl and her darkness. Feeling the darkness coiled just beneath the surface, she looked away from the blade as some of the world's residents walked past her; chatting loudly. Wrinkling her nose, she watched them pass by, not even acknowledging her in any kind of fashion. Shrugging her shoulder, the dark summoner ignored them and returned to the task at hand.

Princess, may I suggest you leave this world? The ones who would've been appearing have changed course, so you'd be here by yourself. Well, there is that girl with her childlike darkness that'd be here to keep you company.

"Absolutely not!" Amethyst screamed in protest, a hand flying to her mouth to muffle the sound; she looked around her to make sure everything was clear.

Shoving the surge of emotion down, Amethyst shook her head before focusing her magic so she could have a little fun. Summoning a portal, she almost walked through it when an idea struck her. Giggling lightly, she searched out the three girls from before and conjured a portal beneath all of their feet. Send them to different worlds, separate them, make them miss each other, she commanded the darkness with her mind, then without anymore hesitation, the girl stepped through the portal before it collapsed in on itself.

Stepping out of the portal, she recoiled and hissed softly as the sunlight took a swing at her. Clinging to the shadows, Amethyst watched from her hiding spot and observed her surroundings to learn where she was this time. It didn't take long for the darkness on this world to reach out to her, beckoning to her like it always did. A cruel smile dancing across her face once more, she reached out and called to two different sources of "creatures of the dark". A soft laugh escaping her as they appeared on either side of her, Ame quickly reined in her laughter before she could be found.

Cocking her head to the side, she asked no one in particular, "Shall we get going my friends?" After getting a nod of acknowledgement from both of them; Amethyst quickly made her way toward the giant wooden doors that lead to the arena; and to where the true fun would be as soon as the heroes set foot on the world.

~- You Blame Me But It's Not Fair -~

Stella watched the event unfold in front of her, unable to participate other than witnessing the older of the two girls shove the younger one away. Watching the woman go, she shook her head and drifted over to the stunned child as her companion came running up. Hesitating slightly, she reached out a hand to touch Sasha, or she believed the girl's name was; watching her hand slip through the blue-haired Siamese-girl's arm instead of resting on top of it. Frowning again, Stella pulled her hand back and stared down at her hand lack it was to blame for the lack of physical appearance.

Shrugging her shoulders, she listened to the chatter the two girls had as she followed after them. Hearing a noise beneath her feet, Stella looked down and went wide eyed as a portal swirled into life. What the devils is going on!? The thought barely crossed her mind before Stella was engulfed in it, a terrified shriek escaping her, the portal snapping shut over her head. Twisting around to try and figure what it planned to spit her out, Stella frowned as she was greeted with nothing but pitch blackness.

Glaring at the ground below her, she gave voice to another frustrated scream as the exit portal appeared below her. Falling through that one too, she reached out and grabbed the tree branch that was to her right. Clinging to it, she felt the bark bite into her skin; cursing softly under her breath, Stella fell to the ground with a solid thud sound. A groan escaping her, Stella pushed herself up into a sitting position and stared down at the palms of her hands.

Scowling at the scraps on her hands, she stood up and dusted herself off before turning in a circle; searching for anything that could help her find her way. Spotting a mountain a little ways off, she easily noticed the quiet hum of power radiating from it. Shrugging again, and started to make her way toward it; curious to know what was there.

~- No Good For You -~

Aria dodged any stray shots that made their way toward her, circling around the ship again; she stared at it trying to figure out where it's weakness was. Tuning out the chaos around her, she held her hand out and shouted mentally, Seek and destroy! She watched the blast of wind hit the ship broadside, knocking it briefly off balance. Giggling insanely, she turned her ice dragon in the opposite direction and flew away, not even bothering with continuing with the fight.

Weaving between the combatants, she watched as Rixue dragged Green after her; retreating from the fight it seemed or at the very least moving into a different position so they had a better ambush point. Ignoring them, Aria didn't flinch as Aaron and Timmy both pulled ahead of her. Giving chase after them, she watched as a world came up into her view, circling around it she watched for a few minutes as Timmy and Aaron landed as she scanned the world. Smirking to herself, Aria turned around and headed back in the direction she'd come; deciding to check on another world that she knew to be in the vicinity.

After quite some time, she watched as the world seemed to materialize out of the darkness. Getting everything ready for her landing, Aria descended onto the world, dismissing her glider after she was safely on the world. She landed on a ledge and crouched there, taking in her surroundings from her perch even as she called a cloak of shadows to conceal her from view. Well, what do we have here? She thought, before she hopped down and became just another face in the crowd.

~- Call it Bittersweet -~

Arianne listened as the guys talked away, tuning the two friends out, she turned her head to Rhys and asked cheerfully, "How's things been for you?" She wasn't surprised when he pulled up short and looked at her, nor was she too surprised when he shook his head at her comment. After all, the first time they'd seen each other in two years and that's the first thing she asks him? Raising a hand to cut off any sarcastic response, she leveled a cool stare on him and said, "I'm serious Rhys, I've been really worried about you. How's Lily doing?"

Squeaking softly, she smiled as Rhys hugged her the way a concerned older brother would hold their little sister. "Ari, I'm fine, Lily and Holly are fine. How are you? Have you seen anyone else from the Islands? Are they okay?"

Squirming enough to get free, she took a step back and smiled, not quite sure how to answer the question about the others from the Islands. Steeling herself, Arianne started walking again with Rhys walking at her side; neither of them saying anything for several moments until they caught a glimpse of Ceodore and Lance up ahead, only then did Arianne stop walking and answered carefully, "I'm fine, and the last time I'd seen Zack, he was okay; along with Mel, but I haven't seen anyone else. Who's Holly?"

Arianne flinched at the half-crushed look that flashed in Rhys's blue-violet eyes, before he seemed to recover at the little bit of information she could give him. "That's great you're okay, along with Mel and Zack. Although, all things considered, I'm not surprised about those two terrors. Well, you see...Holly's my two-year-old daughter..."

Squealing in delight, Arianne tackled him and giggled as he laughed at her reaction. Pulling back again, Arianne shook her head and hugged him tighter. "That's great! Can I meet her after this is done, pretty please!" She chatted cheerfully, knowing that Rhys wouldn't have minded because he probably missed it. It was only confirmed at his amused chuckle and answering nod. Giving into another giggle fit, Arianne let him go and hopped backward, smiling cheerfully before the dark situation at hand remade itself known by slapping her in the face.

The laughter died off as the smile slid off her face, eyes darkening quickly she turned her gaze to the ground so Rhys would hopefully miss the change. Not that it'd matter, the change was too quick and Rhys knew everyone from the Islands too well to miss it. Shaking her head, Arianne smiled weakly and lifted her head again, more reserved than she'd been moments before she stated reluctantly, "Sorry, but can I get a rain check on the meeting Rhys? There's somewhere I've got to go, and unfortunately I need to leave now."

Conjuring a portal, she didn't look at any of the guys as Rhys answered, "Sure, a rain check's not an issue, but Ari, be careful. I can't help but feel like you're in something a lot more dangerous than you realize, heck more dangerous than I realize."

Looking at him, Arianne smiled slightly and nodded, she knew better than to brush off someone's warning. Waving in farewell, she said cheerfully, "I'll be careful, see ya until next time!" Then she stepped through the portal, collapsing it behind her before she could reconsider her decision.