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Fanfiction ► Memories are [NOT] Resolute



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Ðari

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Memory Fragment: Resolve Match#2 [Shiki, Yamato]
Location: The Dorms; Training Field #1
Time: 12PM




Not to be underestimated, Saebyeolbe walked away with a limp as he fostered some critical damage sustained from his practice round with Try. There was something to be said here, the master made a note of it as they returned to the side. Luxu cast a powerful curative spell to afflict them both, Try's rebound re-applying the effect on top of it's original cast at 75% potency.

"Resolve. I've already said it before my students, it will put the wind in your sails and propel you forward. I will say that, each of you represents something significant, but more than your resolve, what defines you?"

He left them with a question before he snapped his finger and pointed at two more of his students.

"Alright, lets get a move on. The Savage, Yamato and The Whisper, Shiki. Same drill as the previous two."


Yamato stood up and stretched pulling from his sides and his back as he looked over at ol' doom n gloom. He grazed the scar across his left cheek, how long has it been since he'd satisfied the desire to destroy? Too long, this state of being docile running rag-tag with that fool Komaeda was starting to put a damper on his style.

"Show me something worth my time. Or this won't take very long, honor above all else, but I don't mind a challenge if we're being transparent."

He purged the gluttony into his hands and turned to give her his full attention.

The was a quiet but firm release and draw of breath from Shiki. She'd given it a moment, before her right hand brought forth a dark keyblade that bent the softest of light, shine through from an orb at it's end. This was her memento mori.

"Wits about you Whisper." Yamato said walking forward, as the seems of reality where waving about.

He plucked his shades from his shirt and placed them on his face. Placing the left foot back, he compressed the zone behind him and fiddled with the contrast and brightness of the light intensity turning himself into a walking lantern that was getting brighter and brighter. He jumped forward with a double-flight jump angled horizontally and swung his gluttony to crash against Shiki's memento mori. He was too bright to see, but the sounds he made gave some evidence to his next movement.

"Relying on sound hm? Don't get cocky!" he tore the flow of ambient atoms brushing past each other within the zone, dulling the noise as his knee lodged into Shiki's stomach.

She was launched outside of the zone. Dimming the lights around him, he noticed he hit something strange. "Looks like she erected a barrier just now. Resourceful, but you'll need to do better." it took ample time, but his resolve finally dissipated around him and he held his hand outward to forge a zone in the vicinity of Shiki. It tore through space, and consumed the area behind her in order to forge a powerful string of meteors to release from just behind the zone's threshold.

Feckless youth, you can use the zone as a gateway too?

Shiki rolled to her right noticing the meteors were largely aimed at the rest of the group. Something to understand about using her resolve, there was a surge of hesitation. Barriers to protect her external, when in truth the chains themselves acted as seals for a much deeper source of conflict within her. She'd just have to trust that he would see to their safety. With a twirl of Memento Mori she launched it down the beaten path to cut through Yamato's defenses.

Your open.

A wince of her eye, you could barely see it. A single chain fastened to her keyblade as it arc'd downward and swatted him across the chest three times. The meteors the flew past her crashing into the scarred as he towered over holding a massive shield of light before dropping it downward. Memento Mori was then resummoned to her side, as her first chain coupled and doubled around Yamato, enacting it's sealing properties to neutralize him in place.

"Thats checkmate, Yamato."

The others looked on at Shiki with some wide eyes. Saebyeolbe having dropped the shield he was holding just shook his head form side to side, but acknowledged his partner was definitely talented and cunning.

"Niiiiiiiiiiiiice I think we can wrap this one up. Better luck next time Yamato."

Yamato could feel the bind becoming undone, but once it touched him, he had realized there was nothing more he could do with his resolve. That detrimental state, his thirst for a challenge finally feeling alive. As the binds slipped away he approached Shiki and gave a bit of an over-bearing embrace to which she fidgeted in shock.

"They don't make'm strong like you anymore. Good match!" he said exposing the sharpness of his teeth with a wide grin. He shook her hand before walking with her over to the rest of the group.

Shiki released a sigh, she had some odd feeling for the safety of the others as Yamato attacked recklessly in the way he did. Perhaps this sense of security came from Saebyeolbe not being a slouch to act? There felt like there was another interaction but she couldn't put her finger on it. She looked over at Eth briefly and he sighed.

"I didn't think we had crazies in our happy little flock." he said holding onto an umbrella and twirling it over his head.
 
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Ðari

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Memory Fragment: He...Can Do That..? [Lucrecia, Komaeda]
Location: The Dorms; Training Field #1
Time: 12:30PM




"Alright, your up. Numero Quatro, Monochrome and Number V, The Harbinger. Get in there and show us your resolves, Reesh, Lucky Pants!" The master clapped to the dismay of his two students barely having the desire to make eye contact.

"Ugh...YOU. Why did he have to match me against you, out of everyone here. I'd of taken Reforge over this creep."

"Woooooo! I'm popular with that ladies you know!" A child Ref shouted from the side.

"Put a sock in it Reffy." Try tapped his forehead and he sniffled.

Komaeda pulled forward, his sleeves were long and you couldn't see either of his hands. He cuffed his chin and tilted his head slightly, his teal orbs with their unorthadoxed swirls seemed rather demented. As good as it was going to get, fight with his resolve? What was the master's angle here, no one would even understand what was happening if he actually tried. He thought about it in the back of his mind briefly before he dropped his hand.

"This is a mistake master, can someone else fight? I don't want to use my resolve, it's worthless and wasted on someone as amazing as Lucrecia." he said it point blank and as bluntly as ever.

"Erk~!" The master cringed. "Well...you see...about that. Oh come on, I worked so hard to get you all out here. Fineness each other and impress them with the skills you developed from me! It's only fair!"

Lucrecia unfolded her arms and rolled her eyes at Komaeda before taking position. She was the daughter of a military commander, her tact and poise where far from abysmal. This rag tag shenanigan starter needed to be ironed out and fall in line with everyone else. She snorted purging the white radiance of her Lucient, and the grey eye that sat in the end of her keyblade.

"If you aren't going to fight Komaeda, then get off the field. Last warning."


"You wouldn't attack someone as worthless and uninteresting as me. Your heart always feels the need to save the ones like me, it's just how the natural order of things goes." a dark raincloud lingered over his head, miniature, without explanation it was just...there.

"Saebyeolbe is incredible, Try is phenomenal, Shiki and Yamato, flawless executioners, and now you Recia. Your lights are all so warm and radiant, I'm just happy to be able to bask in this kind of talent." Komaeda cupped both shoulders embracing himself as he shivered intimately. "It sends shivers down my spine. All of you are so wonderful!"

Komaeda snapped his finger. "I got it!" he reached behind his jacket and pulled out a revolver. "I'll show how my resolve works. Lets play a little game of russian roulette."

"SERIOUSLY!? WHERE DID YOU GET A FUCKING GUN!?" She retorted, justly so and in a panic eyes fixed on the revolver.

"Such language Recia, calm down. As you can see--" he removed the chamber to reveal six bullets, and only removing one. "It's loaded save for one bullet. Now what I'm gonna do is spin the chamber two times, the first time i'm going to point the gun at you and then fire. The second time I'm going to point the gun at myself and then fire. My promise is that both times, that 1 in 6 chance will occur both times, and the bullet won't leave the chamber." he spoked with his right eye open and left one closed.

Lucrecia was speechless, was this really a resolute? He sounded like a lunatic.

"Master! This is unacceptable, are we really going to just let Komaeda freely shoot himself and Lucrecia?? Where did he even get a gun."

"Yes, we are going to allow it." the master said folding his arms behind his back and standing by.

"WHAT!?!?" the remaining resolutes said as a collective, even Luxu and Eth.

"Then it's settled, no arguing with the master." Komaeda turned to Recia and pointed the gun between her eyes in the short 9 meter distance away from her. "Don't look so nervous, just trust me alright?" he started chuckling as he only had a single eye open when spinning the barrel and popping it and pulling the trigger back.

Everyone's eyes where on Komaeda as he was fixed to pull the trigger. Trusting in his resolve to bring with him fortune or misfortune, this was a reality twisting, gut-wrenching moment. Lucrecia a bit dumbfounded to even be in this situation, as his finger lurched slowly over the trigger. Finally a pull.

*click*.

empty. Empty. EMPTY.

"Huh? Well whaddya know, out of the five bullets left, you got the empty slot...thats not exciting at all."

Lucrecia's heart jumped into her throat, and she felt sick to her stomach. The sense of dread that hung in the air as their ally casually looked at the gun and counting the bullets, five where still in the chamber. Judgingly looking at him, Recia tumbled back and fell on her hands with her eyes wide as he spun the barrel a second time, this time pointing the gun at his own head, barrel to temple. Without wasting any time this time he pulled the trigger.

*BANG!*

"Hmm?"

"Working as intended Komaeda?" Eth's voice near him as he held the bullet in his hand and everyone looked at where Eth was last, and then holding the bullet in his left hand.

Laughter broke out from Komaeda as the gun dropped to his side, and you could visibly see the smoke sizzling from the barrel. To front, let alone laugh after narrowly escaping death or rather, cheating death on himself in that very instinct to force the probability of this outcome. What kind of mad man would use their resolve in a way that implicates or forces the involvement of their peers. He was happy, happy to have been a participant in a game of life or death and to beat it.

"You're...INSANE!" Lucrecia said nearly on the verge of vomitting as she returned from the field.

"I guess none of you really understand Number V's resolve then yeah?" The master folded his arms as he watched them walk back
slowly. "It's actually fairly complicated, but lets just say he can input his will over causality effecting multiple different timelines. Mind you, it's all about luck, so lets just say he's rolling a dice and gravity is his will all of it. In five out of seven potential scenarios at minimum, he shoots himself in the head and dies, in the remaining two despite the fact there could be more, he shoots a blank in one, and in the last scenario Eth saves him. Truthfully we'll never know which is which until the outcome is upon us. Hmph."

The master looked at Komaeda and then again at the revolver. "You must understand, it's dangerous game your playing with your own life, there more to his resolve than just that, but his luck does not mean he himself receives the benefit of it all the time. There has to be a trade off somewhere, if Recia not taking a bullet means he will while chancing on a different scenario where he lives, he'll gladly take it."

"A guy like that would risk everything on a gamble? Willing to die knowing he will or not by chance alone...? Recia is right, he is insane..." Saebyeolbe gave Komaeda an odd look one where even he was unsure of that kind of resolve.
 
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Ðari

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Memory Fragment: Resolve Match#4 [Reforge, Midna]
Location: The Dorms; Training Field #1
Time: 12:40PM





After Komaeda's less than stellar stunt that nearly put everyone's blood pressure through the realm of darkness and back, things calmed down. The master gave everyone a couple minutes to calm their nerves, and from the distance Komaeda was talking to Eth, Shiki, and Saebyeolbe. Recia rightly so was having a conversation, still shaken from the pair of balls Komaeda had on him for playing double jeopardy with both of their lives as if they were throwaways. Unable to respect how quickly he would extinguish his own light if it meant the others could blossom and prosper.

"While everyone's settling down, we're continuing with the matches. Gonna ask that number X, Harbored Destiny and number IX, The Eloquent step forward to do the tango with each other for a couple minutes."

"Oh?? You don't have to tell me twice master!" Reforge perked up and came flailing forward in his child form no taller than three feet and nine inches. His arms were arched like and airplane and he scuffled about in circles waiting for Iontis.


"Hard to believe that he can do that at will. Seems a bit odd, but I digress, lets have some fun Ref-kun" Midna said with vigor.

Placing her left heel on the back foot his shifted his stance to one of aggression. Midna took a breathe and her palms glowed with white transmutation circles as twirled and and graced the field inside of a massive white circle, encasing her and Reforge inside.

"Spellcaster??" Reforge said as he was preparing an incantation.

"Alchemist." Midna responded clasping both hands together.

"Lets gooooooo!!!" his mind uttered the words Progenoskes & Fortainbras and the key blades came to him. "Mystokinesis, Tenga-Ryu."




Reforge released both of his key blades and they suspended around his form moving in accordance to his mind. They hovered just behind his back crossed in an "X" position. He raised his hand to Midna and taunted with a motion to come at him. Holding up that same hand, his palm opened. "Don't go running away...Ruinga." A sliver light rapidly purged into his hand creating tiny silver orb that released from his hand and dropped slowly above her, before inducing a massive explosion.
"More where that came from!!" he said firing another blast as a few seconds past before the next one was on it's way.


Midna's raised her hand. "Come, Cedo." purging a red keyblade, she snapped it into the circle creating a red-light the filled the air with it's color and erected pillars of light that tanked the damage of both Ruinga spells. "Crush." From the sides of the pillars massive red arms jettisoned forward collapsing on Reforge from both side.


"Reflect~!!" Reforge shouted taking stance erecting a barrier bouncing back the physical force to collapse the hands, but they reconstructed as quickly as the recoil hit. "What??"

"Constant repair, thanks to your spell it can reconstruct by converting the damage it receives to reconstruct itself."

"Totally cheating! Lets see how you like this!" Reforge pushed both hands outwards towards his Reflect spell, releasing his aura. "Double!"

Explosions pinged outward completely over taking the arms, and Midna jumped backwards as they would trail back to her position. "He amplified the spells effects and outpaced the reconstruction of the arms. Well alright."

"Hyper Glide." Reforge emerged through the red explosions like a rocket, both of his key blades floating around him carving out multiple swipes in all manner of direction.

"Haste x5" The white circles over Midna's body activated and her overall movement speed enhanced to keep up with reforge's mystokinesis.

The clanging sound of his fortainbras and progenoskes clattered throughout Midna's massive circle against her Cedo. Seems he wasn't just reliant upon spell casts, neither her alchemy exclusively. She swung an uppercut straight up, as both blades broke position and quickly reversed to swing into her knocking her near the circle's outer rim. Midna reached a hand out, her palm glowing to completely stop the sliding of her own momentum. She flipped up and held her side briefly, looking at Reforge.

"You landed a hit, well done Reffy." She smiled.

"Oops! Might've been a little too hard there!!" Reforge cheesed hopping in place. "You still wanna do this??"

She stood in place, her hand on the circle from the floor crafting a red-canon, and pointing Cedo towards Reforge as it charged. "Resolve right? Show us yours." Red lightning channeled from the entire circle into a compressed point at the barrel of the canon.


"Right!!!" He said happily acknowledging her resolve with his own and using his aura and double skills to their utmost limit. Reforge's physical extended to where you could visibly see light rising from beneath his feet and compressing at the tip of his keyblade. "Zetta Flare!!!"

Reforge cast with one of his key blades spinning in place to mimic the canon-like construction. The beam compressed, at the very tip of Progenoskes and ushered in a bright light, before ripping through the air like a knife of light. Midna's canon fired on all cylinders and came to collide with the raw power of Reforge's Zetta Flare. The cohesion between the massive bursts of damage seemed unparalleled but the zetta flare pulled ahead slightly. Midna shifted the trajectory intersection of the beams on a vertical but was ultimately obliterated as the circle shattered and the force of both attacks exploding collided in an upward cone animation. Holding in place the wind blew outward towards the rest of the group, kick up one hell of a storm of dust and dirt and the sound of panting from the two of them could be heard. Flying reverse from both sides where Reforge and Midna and they tumbled along into two wicked rolls before finally stopping.

The master then clasped his hands.

"I swear. It's like you kids want to destroy half of the field to show off...jeez." The master said scratching the back of his hood. "Well then! Good job Reffy and Midna, I'm really excited to now remove you both for all that collateral damage! Have a seat!"

He was teasing of course, but if you looked directly up you could see the explosion extend outward high above the stratosphere.

"Haaaaaaaah! Take that, pew pew!" Reforge rolled along the dirt and pushed himself up, hands on his hips standing triumphantly. "That was SO much fun! Let me go again Master!" he said shaking his head vigorously.

"Reforge, you nearly blew the dust in our eyes. I think it's time for your nap." Try said folding her arms.

"Ack!" Reforge grueled, "Not yet! Hey Midna say something to her, she's not my mom!!" Reforge touted with a puffy cheek in response to Try with a tongue sticking out that followed shortly after.

"He's a pretty damn impressive spell caster. Let him have his fun." She walked over to him taking his hand firmly and walked back towards the group.

 

Ðari

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Memory Fragment: Resolve Match#5 [Iontis, Jay]
Location: The Dorms; Training Field #1
Time: 12:55PM






Iontis was on the field this time, holding his Bahamut Arc in his hand and he was looking at the ashes and crispy singes of the blades of grass. Reforge and Midna truly did a number on the training field and he looked up briefly at the sky as the sun hung high over the world of The Dorms. His eyes looked over and he saw Jay stood on the opposite side a few meters away, it didn't take a genius to figure out they were the last two that had yet to go.


"Motivated this time?" Iontis said picking at Jay who wasn't saying anything.

Jay turned and slighted his eyes with a turn. There was a fire burning in his eyes, that skeptic, that atypical dissonance he brought to the table didn't exist at the moment. This whole string of matches, since watching one of them hold another down at gunpoint without knowing the outcome, all these things rattled around in his head. Rubbing the side of his short cropped hair, he released a breath and just didn't say anything.

"Split." he illuminated on a split, one of light, the other or darkness both seeming to fade instantaneously.

Iontis balled his fist looking to the left and to the right, scanning the area and no Jay to be found. His fist closed, tightening the grip on his bahamut arc, he may not even need the assist of his armor but he'd have to show them, per master's orders. His dark hair blew over his shoulder and he held stance. His ears twitched, hearing the sound of buzzing and then looking straight up. Two key blades were dropping from the sky as if in a motion of free fall, these were Jay and Jaz's Dark Paradise and Redemption key blades.
Forms from light and darkness burned into existence resting their hands around the grips as two sets of hands slamming hard into Bahamut Arc.

"So this is Crossroads. Two hearts in one body that can separate at will? You've been holding back number VI."

Iontis did a bit of a dance backwards parrying the blows of their two-pronged assault. Instantly pulling themselves back together, Jay crossed up Iontis, and dual-wielded both his key blades. Thrusting his right foot behind Iontis' left heel, he pushed forward, shouldering him with a bump. Iontis tripped over the locked heel assailing forward and upward as Jay pointed his Dark Paradise forward.

"Triple Firaga." Jay swept his key blade throwing three firaga spheres directly colliding into Iontis sending him on high before it exploded in a brilliant light.

Does this make me less of a coward...Recia?

"THUNDAZA!"

A massive quadruple burst of lightning reigned from the sky zapping Jay who stood with a fidget in his step eating the jolt head on. "Ungh..." he grunted jabbing both key blades into the grass.

Dropping down fast Iontis fell, baring his keyblade armor's second form. Clutching his bahamut arc, he held it like a shield in his hand and approached slowly while Jay was still in a state of stun from the lightning grand magic.

"You're running away less, I suppose it's a start." Iontis said as his keyblades was transforming into an elongated version of itself. "Don't bother trying to flee, that spell has an adverse effect from my resolve. You'll be neutralized for a few more seconds, so you won't be splitting anytime soo-

Jay spun around and pressured Iontis back with a string of normal attacks from his graceful dance of dual-wielded strikes. Sure enough, he couldn't use his future sight, split, summoning, or even shape-shifting abilities to tip things in his favor. His raw talent and fighting ability burned like a bon fire as he stringed along a combo of strikes. Two swings came on the vertical upward, separating Iontis from his bahamut arc keyblade, crossing both key blades under his neck in an X-formation.

The sound and tone of the breath had changed over the course a few moments, it sounded more feminine and Jaz held the key blades in place. With baited breath she pushed the key blades closer to Iontis neck. He dropped his hands slowly and placed it on her shoulder.

"I think that'll do for now. You have my respect Crossroads." he cleared his throat behind the armor's helm, "I mean, Jaz."

The key blades lowered and the master dropped both his arms and shouted loudly.

"ALRIGHT! I think we'll wrap it up with that submission!"

Jaz fell backward and Iontis took her by the wrist and pulled her up over his shoulder. His armor then decoupled and he was in his standard blue tunic and carried a fatigued Jaz on his shoulder off the field.
 
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Ðari

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Memory Fragment: Final Resolve [Master of Masters, Luxu, Eth]
Location: The Dorms; Training Field #1
Time: 1:15PM





The master clapped briefly. "Proud of you for your participation in the demonstrations so there should be no mysteries between what you can do. To keep things fair, I'm gonna ask Luxu and Eth to reveal their resolves for real this time."

Eth stared off the the side and looked at Luxu to whom was shrugging.

"If you insist Master." Luxu cracked his neck from side to side and stood out. "You sure this is a good idea putting us against-"

"Me. You'll both be pitted against me. How's that for throwing a wrench in your expectations?"


"That...might be a bit overkill master..." Eth said nervously, "Luxu and I aren't...well...i guess they'll see for themselves..." Eth sighed.

"Ethy is right you know, sure you don't wanna reconsider Master?" Luxu extended a palm as he retorted, "Once we get started...As if, we're gonna slow down after that."

Eth purged the keyblade Luxu had entrusted to him recently in his left hand and standing rather close to Luxu, the normally translucent keyblade could be seen in it's full marvel. The eye towards the blade's very edge standing out the most. Luxu scratched the back of his his hood, a dark swirl of fire burned into his right hand, and to him came the Gazing Eye. Each taking a mirror stance to the other.

The master plucked a dandelion from the grassy fields as he leaned down and brought it towards his hood. "Some day this will be all of you. Scattering to the winds like the seeds of a dandelion, bringing your light, resolve, and hope to the worlds in dire need of it." he blew into the dandelion and the seeds scattered across the fields being carried on the wind.

The master clasped his hands loudly as he purged to pure blinding wells of light, one was blue adrift with a white tint, the other yellow adrift with a deep purple tint. In his hands, they were expanding to the size of two bounce houses, titilating on a parallel to the other. Slowly he raised his hands towards the sky and merged the two orbs, caught in between what appeared to be transmutation circles similar to what Midna had demonstrated earlier. The orbs began to fuse and compress until he was holding holding a weapon about the length of his entire body, emblazoned with a heart at it's center and an eye that was no different than the one in Luxu and Eth's key blades.

"Keyblades can be forged. Light. Darkness. There is no discrimination so long as the wielder bares a powerful heart to carve one forward. Are there such a thing as special key blades? Absolutely, in fact some of you were blessed with those, none the less they all serve the same function." The master whisked the elongated keyblade to the attack position.

"Another tool that can enact a war or bring about it's end. The wielder decides which. Which will you decide? Let this be your first lesson everyone..." the master swiped forward and carved through the air burgeoning a powerful diagonal slash illuminating with dark chains that whirred along towards Eth and Luxu both.

The two guarded with their stance, struck at the oncoming blast, Ethernal and The Gazing eye both proved to be quite formidable. They'd slid back a tad before a blade of light formed by Eth came to hit from the top and one of darkness from Luxu from the bottom, effectively snapping the fold in half.

"Counter-offensive? As if!" Luxu spun his keyblade and pulled in the light surrounding them as it grew darker and darker until he created a range where the light dimmed. "Haaaaahhhhh!!!" a jagged zigzag of light bounced around through the air moving rather quick moving towards the master.

Without moving, the master lifted his keyblade and smacked the jagged moving particle of light diminishing it's return of power. This let to a multiple string of deflections as it picked up speed between Luxu and Eth returning the beam backwards with a counter-hit and this quickly became a game of badminton.

"Your tickling my sense of humor you two, why is this so much fun??" the master laughed shattering the beam on his last hit, and splintering it into micro shots that looked like tiny daggers of light being spread like raindrops.

"Looks like we're screwed." Luxu said holding stance.

"Stopza!" Eth lifted his hand and tapped Luxu's shoulder as everything suddenly froze in place.

"Whoa...would you look at that." Luxu whistled in an enamoring fashion, "You totally stopped the flow of time just now. That how you stopped that bullet from entering Komaeda's brain earlier? Same with the meteors right?"

"....." Eth looked away. "Would you rather we be down multiple resolutes from everyone abandoning self-restraint? None of them seem to think about the others well-being."

"As if. Trusting you to bail'm out seems like an understanding to me. Not that I'm complaining if any of you live or die. It matters more what you do amongst each other. Now come on, the master gonna-"

"How long do I have to pretend like I'm frozen in time??" the master's voice from his body suddenly started to talking. His shoulders dropped, and he rubbed them as they were stiff from all the standing still.

Eth's swords of light quickly formed and slammed into the master's attack cross-clashing to neutralize the other, as time slowly started to pick up and the sound effects rippled across the field. The master zipped across the field, gripping Luxu by the hood and throwing him towards the sky.

"Luxu!!" Eth touted before the master spun butting him in the chest with a jab from his keyblade and throwing him into his partner.

"You won't have time to mourn when the end comes. The darkness will never stop coming, and you'll be faced with even harder decisions to make." There was an explosion and the two resolute fell like ragdolls from the sky. The master's keyblade boasted a powerful apparatus, transforming into a canon mounted over his shoulder's in a similar way Iontis utilized his Bahamut Arc, and a powerful collection of light forming into a beam-like conjuration expelled from the canon.

Eth grabbed Luxu's hand and spun him around to wrap around the Master as he fell. Luxu free-fell downward with a swiped upward to knock the trajectory of the beam that would've annihilated Eth in one fail swoop. It shuffled past the resolute gaining his baring to move instantly toward the last place he was standing on the ground. He tackled the master as Luxu was reeling back for a second swing.

"Tch. Don't get in the way Ethy!" Luxu said holding off on his cross-slash follow up.

As Eth and the master tumbled to the ground, Luxu stood over them both. There was a tight hug on the master from Eth, and a sense of connection as the tackle quickly turned into something of a hug from his pupil. The master released the hand holding his keyblade and stroked Eth's head. While giving Luxu a gesture of no resistance.

"That'll do you two. I suppose we can call it for today." there was a brief laugh from the master as he lay there with his student a while longer and the rest of them collapsed from the sidelines to generate a large circle around the three of them.

"We're done for today everyone, head over to the dining hall by 4 after you've rotated showers, I've got something to tell you all there."
 

Ðari

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Memory Fragment: 8.9 [ALL]
Location: The Dorms; Dining Hall
Time: 4PM




The dining hall was buzzing with conversation this time around. It'd roughly been over a week, but today's escalation of training seemed to give each of them perspective in it's own way. The master proceeded to respond in kind to oblige their kindness that actually seemed genuine. As he took his usual spot at the head of the table, the chatter quickly dispersed as he took a spoon and tapped his glass.

"Settle down everyone. Thank you all for choosing to stay this time and not abandoning the table. Ahem, all of try and Iontis both." his call out encouraged some snickering from Komaeda and Reforge.

Clearing his throat he spoke with precision, "Your participation today was better than I could have hoped for. As you should well know by now, each person in this room to whom is not your partner is to be considered your ally, dare I even go so far as to say your friend. That friend you will come to find in each person here, should persist through in through."

He tugged down on his hood and exhaled.

"I know this will not be an easy road for many of you, I know of much of your histories, grueling and down right cruel experiences from most of you here. I only ask that you share that vulnerability over time and build connections with your comrades. It isn't my place to force anyone here to operate outside their safe spaces and self-security, but it would lend strength to your heart to remember the fine line between the roles some of your will operate under and where your heart itself resides on the matter. Listen carefully..."

The shift in his tone grew feverishly serious.

"May your heart be your guiding key." he placed his hand on his chest before dispersing arms comedically outward, "I say it all the time. You ultimately need to do whatever your heart feel is right, but understand the consequences of such actions well before you cast such judgement. Conflicting with your own ideals or even principles, morals, or duties I've tasked you with, there must exist some form of counter-weight in your decision-making."

The master snapped his fingers, a light protruded off the bodies of each of the resolutes.

"When you accepted Omni and made it your own, your resolve, you invoked a promise to inherit my will. Understand that the brands that appear randomly across your form speaks of loyalty to that conviction, to my will. Should the day arise when that brand no longer exists...well...so too shall you perish and your resolve or fragment of Omni will return to me, even if I am gone."

The room was silent, some eyes were widened and unmoving from the master's position and fidgeted nervously.

"W-w-what?? Don't give me that look! I'm kidding about you vanishing! No, it's not that you will perish, but you will essentially be abandoning your beliefs that made you worthy to inherit omni in the first place. The heart can waver, some of you i've given roles to ensure that you do not stray from the path I've set to guide you on, as for the others that I have not given a role to, you are to facilitate and balance your comrades with roles without the burden of structure and heavy conviction. You see, you are much different in being...well, how do I say this."

He took up a position of deep thought briefly before he continued.

"Your kindness is a welcome invitation to those with task that shouldn't be underestimated. It may come out strange, Komaeda's obsession with pushing you all to the absolute limit for example, is a way to motivate you and keep you determined. All done without a roadmap, because you believe in your heart to be right, I won't say that your misguided, the brand vanishing from you or not will let you know if your breaking any rules or not. Considering two of you almost caught a bullet today, i'd say that qualifies as right by way of honoring my will."

He chuckled, then what the hell qualified as not honoring his will.

"Betrayal." he folded his arms behind his back. "Is completely unacceptable and by no means would I recommend you turn against each other. You can disagree, you can take up arms against each other, hell you did it today, but the heart will determine on what basis you do these things. For malicious intent, for treachery, for unnatural gains to benefit you while denouncing another, all things that defile my will, that mark will fade."

That one. Is worthy to lead. his final thought was silent.

He raised his glass.

"We will be leaving this world to take live classes being held on the Cul-De-Sac world in two weeks. There are things about that world, about the keyblade, about certain techniques that i've taught the children there that I must teach you and those grounds are more fitting to facilitate all of it. In the meantime you can wander about as you please and check the bulletin board in the lobby for your assignments and group tasks, it will be updated daily for your convenience."

The Master cleared his throat and spoke at length.

"You will always be asked to sign off and date and time your start and completion as per usual. All completed task are to be removed from the bulletin board and placed on filing cabinet next to it for me to review before posting your next set of assignments to be completed the following day. If you ever come across an empty board, it means all twelve of you are off that day. If you ever see a single piece of paper on the board, it should give you instruction on a meeting or set of announcements akin to this. I've taken enough of your time for now, the board will be empty tomorrow, so try to relax everyone. You're dismissed."
 

Ðari

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[Author's Pow Wow#2]

*Wipes away bead of sweat*

Now that I've gotten demonstrations of a majority of the casts "resolve" out of the way time for a some break down explanations. In this world I've assembled if you read the previous post about "Omni" in the actual roleplay this is what is known as a resolve. Your resolve is your unique and quite frankly blatantly over-powered skillset as a character that manifests on of the above aspects listed in my previous Pow Wow.

Resolves
(as per the role-player's who represent these characters in the thread currently):

The Current Casted Resolutes Templates can be found [HERE].

??? - The Master of Masters
[The Almighty]
The Master is able to freely utilize the existing components of his disciples at will, and even taking it a bit further. However unlike the others the key component of his resolve is the bestowal and removal of "omni" IE: The Almighty's main trait. This essentially means the master can at will bestow or grant the user a component of Omni that matches the resolve they are compatible with. This also means he can at will, remove the specific component of Omni from the user indefinitely. The Almighty in utilizing the resolves of his students is by no means anywhere near as potent as their control over their resolves. Finally par for the course, the master has incredible foresight, utilizing the eyes of the world embedded in multiple of his resolutes keyblade, over the course of several centuries he's foreseen the future, the fate of reality, and many other components. When the master speaks confidently that an event will transpire and says it is "unavoidable" this is to be taken as fact. The limits to the master's foresight were first introduced as he speaks with an unknown enemy (in the roleplay) and admits "even I don't know what will happen." and proceeds to trust the actions of the resolutes he's trained.

∞ - Luxu
[Continuum]
Luxu has an interesting skill set compared the other resolutes. He is currently the only resolute now that exist who can freely use multiple different variations of both light and darkness. In a sense it like this [see below]

[Darkness]------[Dawn]------>[Light]
[Darkness]<------[Dusk]-------[Light]
[Darkness]------>[Twilight]<------[Light]

Just as a base example.

Effectively, he and Eth are polar opposites of each other. Where as Eth utilizes and embodies both time and memories as a variation of light/eternity, Luxu unquantifiabley embodies a resolve that is infinity/perfect zero/endlessness in that of space, it's content, and all things that inhabit. Using variations of light and darkness in their most physical sense, creating areas, portals and gateways, even amassing attacks that cannot be stopped by even Eth's time resolve depending on how they're made. His preference ultimately dabbles in darkness and the many variations he is able to call fort, generating pocket areas that can absorb massive amounts of light.

10 - Midna
[Celestial Transmutation]

(Given that Midna like the Master and Luxu is an NPC, here is an official explanation of her resolve as well.)

Midna is the 10th resolute chosen by the master and boasts an innate talent of using alchemy that isn't bound to any set of rules or restrictions when constructing matter. It requires here to have a thoroughly and methodical understanding of materials, their strengths and weaknesses and she can then proceed to construct the material. Any physical piece of matter that Midna touches, can activate her resolve and she is able to freely adjust and change the composition of the object or surface. These interactions work a bit differently with resolutes as she's demonstrated possessing the skill to forge key blades from the wielder's heart via touch. Midna can also amplify a key blade's power, as strong as key blades are in general, even they can be shattered or deemed unusable.

She is the only resolute on record that can repair broken key blades. In addition to powering up a key blades durability, she can effectively increase the attack power and magical potency of key blades, even going so far as to amplify limits when used with a resolutes partner. As a resolute she is no stranger to weaponizing light using her transmutation circles, this light can be purged red when she's charging it to it's max potency. Midna additionally is skilled with the application of minor buffs drawn on herself and allies by marking them with a transmutation circle. Any allies within a circle can receive the benefit of a mobile buff such as barrier, reflect, haste, and empower.

Loosing your resolve.

Now this is important because it becomes pivotal. Each resolute when they received Omni to forge their resolve, a brand or number appeared somewhere on their body. This mark/brand is acknowledgement of the master's will, that the master chose a resolute and tasked them with a responsibility, an aspect of omni to uphold indefinitely or til they perish.

In real life, specifically in our society we have our instances where people break promises, break hearts, break or disrupt rules. Resolutes by their very nature, have a belief complex so strong and they commit to those principles, set of beliefs and is that which makes them worthy to be a resolute.

How do I lose my resolve?
If I do, is it gone indefinitely?


You can lose your resolve by choosing to abandon your role
You can lose your resolve by choosing to abandon what you believe in that deemed you worthy
You can lose your resolve by death
You can lose your resolve if your All Series is destroyed
You can lose your resolve if you use your finishing move on another Resolute
You can lose your resolve by using it against another resolute if it violates your resolve
Indefinitely? It returns to the master of masters whence it came.

Example: If Komaeda's resolves to empower his friends by being a controversial be it by the most extreme or subtle means, and that is his belief, choosing to fight his fellow resolutes under this condition if it is believed it will boost their current abilities, morale, or even hopes, this does not violate his personal resolve that made him worthy.

If Komaeda tries to destroy his fellow resolutes and abandons the very idea of helping them through his actions and believes to the utmost extremes in their peril or just the idea of killing them unjustly, his resolve will vanish, the mark will fade, and he will lose his resolve indefinitely.

Nothing will kill you faster than going against you initial belief. Nothing will kill you faster than being unable to understand and realize that while these characters develop and ultimately change, forgetting what makes you worthy, will in return make you worthless.
 
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Ðari

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Memory Fragment: 10 [ALL]
Location: Cul-De-Sac; The Academy
Time: 9AM




It was early and the sounds of shuffling feet through some grand halls of Cul-De-Sac's Keyblade Academy loud. An understatement shared among the students, alumni, and staff almost unanimously. As you'd wrap the first corner from the massive lobby, the halls become narrower, one side facing a string of glass and on the other side a grand scaled courtyard. On the left were doors leading into classroom after classroom, about large enough to seat thirty children and two teachers, one being a study or teacher's aid.

The master tapped the board with a rather elongated wand and grazed it underneath a word.

"Session." he said reading it aloud. "Your first official extra-class will be about sessions."

There were some yawns from other students, the resolutes for a change, where the far older individuals here and within reason. Rolling up his sleeve, the master pulled down a projector screen.

"A session is what is commonly referred to as a joint-limit move. Requiring two and only two to perform, namely your partner or rock. Sessions are conjoint 3-part combination attacks. Harmonizing their maximum combo output requires a concrete understanding of rhythm with your partner and developing synergy all your own."

The master dropped the baton on the white board's ledge and pointed into the class room as his finger scanned. "Come up here Cerczi, Alfa. I want you to demonstrate a session for my Resolutes." the master said.

Watching attentively, his resolutes could see the somewhat somber faces of the men and women of the academy's faces around them. The two young kids had only the best intention as they came forward, but there was a sense of hesitation between them. As the master stood there with folded arms, he started to understand the reasoning behind their delay.

"You all seem to sorely miss your friend. An ode not to fight, I believe thats what you all took isn't it?"

"Master..." the two students said at the sometime, sudden sorrow blanketed their eyes and voices.

"No no, it's fine. Your parents communicate things such as that very well. I think it's admirable, but I'm training a joint class and I'll need as many willing active participants as I can get." The master cleared his throat and his eyes rolled around to the side.

Sliding out from the desk. "We'll do it!" you could hear Midna's voice perk up as she cupped Iontis' hand and dragged him to the front.

"Oh ho hoooooo. I appreciate it, but if you don't see it performed first, you can't just do it on the fly. These kids are seasoned, I'm gonna need to show you how to personally so..."

An image of the master stepped outside of himself and gave him a high five.

"Session: The Omni Grip."

The room went dark, so dark that the light from their very eyes had all fizzled out and expired before bursting forward in a hellishly blinding fashion where they al phased in limbo. The master and his double had changed this classroom and split it into a completely different dimension. Color left everyone, consciousnesses were splintering out into multiple different directions, and there was a feeling of weightlessness."

"URAAAAAAHHHHH!!!" You could hear Yamato's voice echoing across the shifting area as he leapt forward.

"Yamato wait! Do you have a death wish?? What are you-" Komaeda shouted barely missing the grasp of Yamato's foot as he jumped from his position in the elevated seating.

A b-line was made from Saebyeolbe who dove from the seats and caught Yamato, flipping over and setting his back to dive towards the right side of the desks, sliding across the long counter-top.

"Lets not get too reckless, alright Yamato?" Saebyeolbe said, fastening his arms in a bear hug around his waist and applying pressure to ensure he didn't get any ideas.

The fissure of power siphoned out and hitting in all directions above head level and in a fixed area. The two master's committed to a dance, of elegance and grace. The disorientation, the change of scenery seemed to be a trait exclusive to the master as it was very possible for him to do just this. His student's marveled and his dance was brilliant, unsuppressed the light he brought worth vanquished several test dummies he'd set up.

"Get the idea now, my resolutes?" he said extending an invitation and point to them all, as numbers from their tattoos flared up in response from random spots on their body.
 

Ðari

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Memory Fragment: 15 [Saebyeolbe, Eth]
Location: Keyblade Graveyard
Time: 7PM




Two sets of footsteps trudged a long since dead and beaten path. The marks of many of the deceased create a path for them, separated only by the light, the dirt, and death. Leading in front, Saebyeolbe walked ahead and Eth followed until they broke the clearing, the darkness sank into the graveyard as the sun was no longer visible anymore. As the night fell, the two continued to pace themselves along, realizing curfew was in roughly two hours.

Saying nothing, Sae stopped Eth, and the stood staring at three key blades in particular jammed into the ground.

"See those Eth?" Sae said pointing in the middle. "Thats the reason I come here after hours."

Eth was confused, he scratched his head and squinted his eyes. "Some rusted keys from wielders that no longer exist in this reality..? Am I...I don't know...supposed to feel sentimental here?" his tone was flat and brazen.

Saebyeolbye walked with a slow rhythm and weight to his foot steps. His frame was fairly light, you could see some clear formation of his physical training in the definition and shape of his shoulders. Eth largely was looking past him fixated on the key blades and posed the question of "why is this relevant to me?" on repeat. His comrade walked towards them and got down on both knees and raised his hands.

"Um...what are you doing exactly..?" Eth said, a look of cringe furrowed.

"Paying my respects to the lost masters from a long time ago." Saebyeolbe said as his eyes were closed tight and he put his will into a prayer. "Gone before our time. I would've very much liked to have met the heroes from the old world."

Eth was feeling cynical, more so than normal. "You're chasing power aren't you Sae?" he inquired.

Saebyeolbe turned, shouldering the question as he released his hands from prayer. "I'm seeking the power to protect, yes."

"Then question. What happens when the world ends...and theres no one left to protect. Then what was the point in chasing that power? Attaining it even, only to fall short-"

"Eth." Sae interrupted. "Why do you want to know this?"

Eth sighed, "I'm an advocate for taking it a day at a time, but resolve means resolve for a reason doesn't it? Your conviction in using yours...just like me, matters, beyond just you Sae. I want to know what resolve means to you. What power, power you have, power you have yet attained, MEANS to you."

She's silver hair flit a bit in the wind, and the sun finally disappeared from sight. Night had finally fallen, and number one answered, "Kindness." he spoke softly.

"Kind...ness..? Huh? What kind of answer is that? Explain." Eth demanded Saebyeolbe tell him the deeper meaning.

"Your show of analysis, distancing, all don't really fall in with how I resolve. Kindness. I'm overly understanding to a fault, inhumanly kind, but thats because i've committed every sin and carry them on my person as a constant reminder. You know Eth...Shiki's told me some fucked up stories too. Do you even talk to anyone Eth?" The questions were turned towards Zero now.

No sound came from him, a simple shrug of the shoulders, cold guarded, and he turned and started to walk in the opposite direction. "Some other time. We have a curfew Sae, lets go already."

His eyes were a bit sad, Sae looked down and sighed, the distance was apparent, but worth the slog.
 

Ðari

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Memory Fragment: 17 [Komaeda, Shiki]
Location: The Dorms; Conference Hall
Time: 3PM





The master was a known collector of all pieces of literature, but he was a historian to say the least. Many of his students inquired about old stories, timelines, how things that happened well before their time. The nature of their curiosity was to be revered among the other resolutes.

"Hmm...did you really see the end once before...Master?" Shiki uttered nigh inaudible to herself.

In the nearby hall, Komaeda strummed along and came to poke his head into the room. He took notice of Shiki essentially thumbing through books she'd brought from the library to read in the conference room in silence. There was a glint in his eye, he was seemingly polite and friendly, and made his presence known.



"Oh. Sorry to bother you, mind if we chat a moment?" Komaeda's eyes were shut, he smiled as he waved to signal he was coming in.

"It's not a problem, please sit." Shiki folded the book, and placed it to her right before she sat across from him. "What brings you here. Komaeda...was it?"

"Ah yes. You must be Shiki, apologies, i believe this is our first time actually speaking with one another. Might I add you're quite beautiful, in a deadly sentiment I might add. How purposeful and-"

"Flattering, but I've taken this room to conduct some independent study for the evening. Not to be rude but...could you keep this brief?" She said as politely, yet firmly as possible.

"It's not everyday I get to chat one on one with a murderer." Komaeda jabbed hard, as his eyes were closed and tinted with a smile.

"...!" Her eyes narrowed, and where her guard dropped, it was now reasserted.

"Oh. Forgive my crass comment, you've a certain smell on you that's hard to miss. Your much more skilled than that performance leads anyone with my perception to believe. I find you fascinating...even if you reek of this abhorrent scent."

"Did you come here only to badger me with condescension..." she was growing restless.

"Nothing of sort." he raised his arms behind his head for no resistance, "If anything I'd like to know more about you. I have an interesting relationship with the light, a certain master is quite a favorite of mine in history. Eraques, do you know of him?"

He stared down at the books, and sure enough, one was an autobiography of said Eraques.

"Who are you really Komaeda...?" she picked up the book and with force, tossed it his way.

Extending his arm, in shock he caught it, briefly scanning the cover. "Hm, Nagito. Nagito Komaeda, I am resolute number V. The Harbinger. Though, I suppose my speech doesn't do me any favors...rather unlucky, but thats my resolve." he scratched his frizzy hair lightly

Shiki sighed and took a seat at the table, "Well Nagito if you won't leave, you could at least share the hall with me in silence...theres much I have to research. I don't mind your company."

"Ah! I see you're a little rough around the edges, this is to my liking Ms. Shiki." Komaeda said in earnest.

"Let's not be so formal, just Shiki is fine. Now if you're finished, have a seat." She spoke not breaking her own concentration from the remaining stack of books she had at her disposal.

Komaeda sat and he unpacked the book, turning it to flip open it's pages. "Try as you might Shiki, but a demon can never escape their nature and the burden of their errors."

"...." she had a pensive stare before continuing to flip through her book. "Distorting perspectives and twisting them until they are unrecognizable or to enforce a radical train of thought...fascinating."
 

Ðari

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Memory Fragment: 18 [Try, Eth]
Location: Radiant Garden; Underground Caverns
Time: 11AM





Try and Eth were sent to resolve an unhandled issue from a visit made by herself and Reforge prior. The master thought sending Eth would've been the difference here. If they kept things concrete and up with everyone's comprehension, no one was quite aware to his resolve's nature. It freezes their cognition and awareness in bursts so he can act before they become aware. It appeared that the townsfolk were in a state of unrest as the nested heartless were still attacking the town.

Try's boots hit the ground and she wasn't happy. Eth walked a good distance behind her, naturally he kept quiet, saying little and thinking more about the task than the awkwardness of this partnership. Her helmet tilted and he shifted his gaze, releasing a sigh that indicated he didn't know why he was here anymore than she did.

"You could at least attempt to make this less miserable you know...what are you, a coward? Scared to talk to a lady like myself?" Naturally, she only knew how to be honest.

"......" he tread lightest of them all. Honesty right? He was being honest here, they were briefed prior to being sent here. Eth only knew of his solitude and to zero in on the task, much like Iontis, to whom he'd of preferred to take the task with. Unlike Try, Iontis wouldn't waste energy on meaningless conversation, which he could get behind because he didn't have much to say to begin with.

The corridors of the caverns felt as though they could extend indefinitely.

"Earth to Un-Ethical. I'm not talking to myself, thats for crazies and murderers!" She snapped, stamping her boot impatiently.

"What. What do you want me to say? Focus on the task, thats all I ask. If not, i'll do it with or without you." Eth said rather coldly, but with nothing but a reservoir of confidence. "Was this too much for you a Reforge a few weeks ago? I don't want cleaning up my teammates leftovers to become my job title..." he sighed.

Her fist curled up tight, "Are you always THIS RUDE??"

"Are you always this chatty...?" he pressed on and ignored her whirling a string of no very nice things said.

There was a nest of heartless caked in deep, the yellow eyes were on the walls, the ceiling, even the stalactites. They billowed out in triplicate, mass producing a miniature army in mere seconds, with a set of red eyes rolling inside the darkness. Try eagerly rushed to the forefront and called her clear keyblade, it looked about as fragile as a wine glass.

"Arm yourself! Why are you hesitating?" She shouted prepping for the wave to fell upon them like a sea of arrows.

"Huh...? What are you talking about. Are we looking at the same sight?" Eth pointed to the direction her head jerked towards.

The path was completely clear.

"WHAT!!?!?" She could feel her eyes roll into the back of her head behind her helmet. "Wh-wh-wha-whaaaaaat the hell???" stumbling, backward, Eth caught her and propped her up.

"Was that all we had to do..? Are we finished her number three?" Eth cracked his neck and turned on a heel towards the exit.

She turned and tapped him on the shoulder and stopped his advance for the exit. There was a firmness of grip, the intent wasn't hostility, but somewhere between a mild delirium or possible hysteria. Try couldn't quite put her finger on it, but Eth...was that him that wiped out the nest?

"What's your resolve..? Did you do that?? How come I couldn't see any of what you did??"

"Oh. That. Yeah, more questions...great. No. Their dead, we can go. Conversation over." He was curt, short-winded, annoyed and wanted to be done with this. "Now if you don't mind, could we move this along? I'd like to have this report done, next time send me alone, this was a complete waste of both of our times."

Try couldn't believe how impertinent and impatient Zero was. Of all people, the nerve, it was setting her blood to boil, how he talked was wholly unacceptable. "By the lost masters, do you have to talk like such a jackass! Living honestly, doesn't mean being totally unlovable...it's like you don't even care that I'm here!"

Eth sighed. "You want the truth?"

"Clearly!" she shouted.

"You're just weak. Why else would they send me with you. Reforge was volatile and unpredictable, and paired with you the task given was incomplete. Together, you failed. Both of you. Let this be your first lesson...i don't fail. Even if it means I have to do it alone without anyone's help. Even if it means I have to play the long game and victory can't be determined immediately, I NEVER fail. Take a page number 3, this is just the first lesson...in the difference between us. I won't always be around to save your skin or that idiot number 5 who nearly put a bullet in his head...I don't even know why I'm here, your nothing but a liability to yourself and to me."

He shook his shoulder free and started to walk towards the opening of the cavern. Eth didn't think it wise to be dishonest, those were his truest thoughts. Guises were complicated, they drew things out, not his style. It didn't however, eliminate the lack of tenderness and warmth he did not emanate, there's was nothing resonating about what he said and how he delivered it. As Try observed his back she stood for a moment, and the thought struck her much like her rage, but she saved it.

"Your the one who's weak Ethnicity...your just a coward afraid to allow anyone near you. When it's your ass on the line, no one is going to go to bat for you...not with that attitude!" she folded her arms.

He stopped, still, for but a moment as his thoughts captured him.

"Better to suffer this way than to put any of you through it for having known one so unreliable and distant."

A sharp jerk of her head, what was that? Was that actual empathy? If for only the briefest of moments, a portal of light spurred mere feet away from Eth, and she watched as he vanished into the light. He was abstract, he was rude, and his people skills completely sucked...though not like hers were substantially better, but at the minimum she had some inkling of understanding. This choice of a lifestyle to her...was just foolish, but she soon vanished into the portal behind him.
 

Lumine

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Memories of The Whisper
Entry #1
World: 竜 山土地 - (Ryuu san tochi) Dragon Mountain Lands (A minor world in the pseudo-Japanese system of 月本 (Tsukihon - Land of the Waning Moon))

8 years ago….

“Spring here is always the best, isn’t it?”

The peach blossoms were in full bloom. Clouds and Strokes of soft white danced across the vivid green horizon. The backyard garden was flush with all manners of trees, plants and blossoms that wove an articulate tapestry of colours and smells. A feast for the senses. The Master of Masters sat on the wooden railing of the pond bridge with a cup of steaming green tea in his grip, his ever-present black coat a stark contrast to the bright and lush scenery surrounding them. Shiki had wondered on more than one occasion if he ever felt hot wearing it all the time especially in warm weathers like here, but apparently it didn’t affect him much.

So, you brought us here only for the scenery?

Shiki was leaning back lazily against the fence beside him, head inclined back, eyes closed. Her shoulder length black hair swayed in its neat pony tail in rhyme with the windchime every few seconds or so. The wind was so light and cool.

So peaceful.

“Well of course not. There is, indeed, a little matter in the north that we should attend to. Some mountain dragons seem to have suddenly gained quite the appetite for the… border villages. Should be an interesting trip!” he added.
“It doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy a bit of spring before we get to it, no?”

Shiki wasn’t fooled. His little mission might be a good enough excuse to warrant their stop here, but that was not it. This lovely little place he brought her to, this quiet haven was a ruse for something else. Just a cushion to soften the steep drop. She could sense the controlled, almost surgical consideration creeping beneath the laid back and casual attitude. The question inched towards her with every second that passed, like a boulder rolling down the hill, unstoppable but by the bottom it would collide with.

“So,” He took a sip from his cup, “It’s been 2 months now. You’re fully recovered and back on your feet” He paused for a moment “Don’t you think it’s about high time you talk?”

And there it was.

You say this as if you don’t already know everything.” She replied, still not opening her eyes. She didn’t want to go through the memories again. For these brief moments, she just wanted to be normal. All the pain, guilt and grief could be a haze in the distance. An illusion. Not hers. Someone else’s. A different Shiki altogether. In this moment, she was no one and no body. A blank and peaceful thing. Gods above and below, she really didn’t want to remember any of it.

“Ah True, true. but you see,” He crossed his legs under him, turned fully towards her, “I want your version of the story.” His tone was light, conversational but Shiki felt the intensity of his gaze, beneath the hood’s dark folds, fully on her. He was adamant about it.

She turned her head away from him. She opened her eyes and in the near distance, the main house commanded the view. Charmingly rural and unassuming. Nothing like the houses she knew.

What is it you want to know?

“Why did you kill your family?” it was so casual, the way he said it.

There was a long moment of silence that followed. It felt infinite.

I had to.” Shiki uttered softly. She closed her eyes, but she could still see it behind her lids.

That hellish night was a regular nightmare. She could recall it in full and absolute detail as vividly as if it just happened moments ago. The iron tanged smell of the air, their hitched breaths. The cold and smooth links sliding through her fingers as the chains released their weight. The sound their bodies made when they hit the marble floors. The blood warm and sticky on her fingers, it looked so black in the moonlight. No different than spilled ink. She felt sick.

Do you know my full name?

“Naturally.”

Then you know who my family were.

“You were a member of The Noble house of Vjetrove. The last of the 5 Khranyti Houses. Guardians and Keepers of the gods who served the royal line.”

“From what I know, none of the surviving Khranyti Houses had served one for at least the last 3 centuries or so?”

No. Nothing was left to serve after the Great Fall.

“Ah yes. Your gods warred against each other. Destroyed the conglomerate of worlds they resided in. Tragic really” He took another sip from his cup, “but what a show it must have been.”

A koi fish jumped out of the water. It’s bright orange and black pattern gleamed in the sun light before it dipped through the water again, joining its sisters.

“So, your family were the only one of the Khranyti who survived the great fall and lived on the sliver.”
Leaves rustled in the trees. The wind chimes clanked melodically around them in unison, a discordant symphony of soothing twinkles.

The Larenisky House. They too outlived the great fall… The other 3 did not make it.

They were long dead before I was even born.


“I wonder,” he rubbed his chin, “If your family and the Lareniskys were not harbouring a god-level entity, how come your new world got destroyed?”

Shiki tilted her head, trying to locate a bird singing an exotic string of chirrups a considerable distance away from them. The
cacophony of answers from its friends didn’t help.

The Great Fall… We thought none of the gods survived the end of it. But there were two who did. The only two.” Her voice grew quieter.

“Hmmmm. But I thought your family didn’t serve any gods after the great fall.” He pressed.

They were gods no more.” And the shadow of anger laced her voice, she pushed off the railing and straightened up, “They were less than a shade of what they once were. Sick and weakened. One we were bound to and the other by the Larenisky house.

“So, the Houses served them still.” She paused for a moment before answering. Maybe she should just get it over with, the quicker this goes, the better.

The Ancient Pact held even in the new world. The Royal line might no longer be able to enjoy the ‘precious’ protection and ‘mighty grace’ of the gods, but the Khranyti Houses were still bound by the pact the royals forged with them.” She hugged herself, rubbing her arms in the golden drapes of the sun.

We were forever compelled to serve the gods and see to their keeping.

“Compelled?”

She turned towards him, her gaze meeting the featureless dark hood of his cloak.

The Pact was not a simple thing to break. It was forged simultaneously on the three different planes: the physical, the mental and the spiritual. Then, it was sealed on the fourth: Time’s passing. The two final seals resided in the hearts and blood of the Khranyti.

So, you see, even if we wanted to, we could never not serve them. It’s why the Royal line often held at least one member of the houses in their custody and kept every house under tight observation.

“They feared you’d usurp their reign?”

The Pact ensured the protection of the Royal line through us. The Royal line’s only power was its entitlement to the throne. The Right to rule was forever theirs. But the power to protect that throne-

“Was the Khranyti’s.” He put the empty cup to his side, and gestured to one of the maids walking by the main house for another pot.

“So, your bloodline had special powers?”

Yes. Every House possessed a bloodline that had unique powers bestowed to them by the gods.

“And the Royal line, naturally, wanted that power to never waver in its loyalty to the throne.”

We were both their only shield and their bridge to the gods. The Royals never had to pay for anything. All they worried about was not having the favor of the gods on their side. The price was our servitude for both of them. We… we were the sacrifice.

“A Glorified sacrifice.” He countered.

“The Khranyti Houses lived better than any nobility could ever hope for. You were given dukedoms and lands of your own. Oh, and the Heroic Tales they raved about you. Don’t get me started. You were not exactly the hostages you make yourself seem to be. And many members of your houses held prestigious positions of power and pursued different paths than the servitude you speak of.”

I don’t deny it.” She said, giving him her back as she leaned on the opposite railing, her gaze moving past the tree line and towards the valley, “But you speak of a time when the houses had members to spare, and both the gods and royals were lenient towards us.
I never knew these times. I grew up in a world where the royals barely let us breathe and the god we served enslaved our will.


“So that’s why you killed them?”

She didn’t answer, but her silence was enough of a response. The Master of Masters stretched and got off the railing, right when the house maid arrived with a fresh pot of green tea and a platter of rice cakes.

“ああ, どうもまやちゃん” The Master of Masters took the tray of rice cakes and tea away.

Shikiさん, ほかになにかひつようですか

私はいい です, ありがとう まやさん.” The house maid bowed, and made her way back to the main house.

“This still doesn’t explain why your world got destroyed in the process, Shiki.” The Master resumed his questioning, pouring himself another steaming cup of tea.

“Was the Larenisky house involved?”

No, they weren’t. The Larenisky House was murdered by the Throne a year before the destruction of the sliver.” That gave him pause, he stopped pouring the tea.

“All of them?”

They weren’t that many to begin with.

“And how did that come to be?” He moved next to her, offering her a cup.

There was talk that they conspired to overtake the throne. I am not entirely sure if they ever actually did, but The Larenisky house were always too ambitious. So, I doubt it was that far from the truth. I think they even reached for my father’s cooperation, but my family had other plans.” She took a sip from her cup. It was hot and bitter, and fragrant with jasmine. The bitterness was at a point where it felt almost cleansing. It was a good cup of tea.

The King and members of the court visited their estate in the mountains. They often led hunting parties there so it wasn’t unusual. It all seemed like it was a tragic hunting accident. They even went as far as throwing in a few minor members of the royal court and some of the villagers. But we got word that specialized poisons were involved.
She took another sip.

After that incident, the noose tightened even further around us.

“What happened to the god they served?”

It had… faded off.

We had doubted it for a while, but my grandmother was the one that confirmed it.
They were not able to sustain his existence, I think.
With no gods to stop them or a pact to bind them, they were free to challenge the throne.
]”

The Master of Masters nodded in understanding.

“And that brings me back to my question: How did your world get destroyed Shiki?”

She stared at the bottom of her cup, the surface of the tea reflecting the contempt in her dark blues.

One god faded. The other grew stronger.

When the Master didn’t question her further, she knew he was waiting for her to elaborate.

Oryimence, the wretched god my house served, may have been greatly weakened after the Great Fall,” She continued, “but he was still a shade of a god. One hell of a powerful entity.
And He… He required us to survive.
” She finished her cup in one gulp, curls of steam still floating from the empty china.

He was older and far more experienced than Kanyes, the Larenisky’s dead god.
And by Stars Infinitum was he sooooo patient.
” Her words flared with a scornful chuckle, dark and humorless.

So. Darn. Crafty.” She spat. The warm rays of the sun might have frozen against the chilling depths of her dark blues. Their gaze was trained at a thing past the valley, past these moments. The Master could almost touch the waves of hatred radiating off of her.

In order to preserve his existence, he devoured the new world’s heart. Became one with it, so that its very existence depended solely on him. His beat was its beat. His breath was its breath. Everything that lived on it, was from him and to him.

Her fingers tightened around the delicate China cup.

It wasn’t enough for him to rob a world from its heart forever. He wanted his powers back… He wanted everything. And a whole damn world wasn’t enough.

The Master lightly plucked the cup from her grip before it broke and balanced it on the wooden railing. She blinked and exhaled audibly, running a hand through her hair.

“So?”

He was the nexus for every heart and soul that existed through the world’s cycle; the end and the beginning. He could practically remake the whole world if he wished to. But his powers were just that. Only confined to the Sliver.

“Ah…” The Master raised a knowing finger, “He wished to transcend his rooted existence. Interesting… Interesting.” He crossed his arms, started to pace thoughtfully back and forth across the bridge.

“I assume, he looked to fashion for himself a suitable vessel. Deific optimally. Humans wouldn’t last him much if at all, that’s a given. No no, for that, he’d require the usual if he went through the traditional primes. He’d-” He paused abruptly as it dawned on him, and slowly turned to her.

Shiki hadn’t moved this whole time. There was that eerie stillness in her posture again, as if she’d slipped out of existence between one heartbeat and the other.

“How did he do it?” He asked heedlessly, as he returned to her side.

You were right.” Her voice came out monotonous. Detached and remote, as if from somewhere else.

No regular human was able to hold his essence.
His mere presence crushed their spirit and mind. Their bodies withered before he’d even touched them.
” Her tone grew colder.

"I was too young to understand what was happening. Why some of the people who came into our castle never left. And when I was old enough to question it, my brother told me that they were happy to volunteer for such an honour.

I wish there was some truth in that.
” She hadn’t looked at him this whole time. And her gaze was distant and fractured, watching a world that existed only in her darkest memories.

“So, he turned towards the very guardians who served him.”

Our powers may have weakened since the Great fall, but our blood was ancient and thick with the olden gods’ touch. We never were entirely human to begin with and He realized that quickly.

“But?” and she could hear the anticipation at the tail of his breath.

While our house was the perfect solution for him, it’d still take him a long time to fashion from us what he wanted.” The trees around them grew too quiet.

He needed to revive the bloodline’s strength in order to shape and guide it to his pervasive will. So that in time it would yield him the desired host.” No birds chirped; no wind chimed through the leaves. Only Shiki’s distant voice braved the silence.

He used our blood against us.

The symptoms were unnoticeable at first, only the oldest members of our house even displayed them. The accounts of my grandmother and my father’s grand uncle traced it to their great great grandparents.
” The colourful koi fish and minor denizens of the pond seem to have vanished from around them.

"It started out with a thought here, an idea there. A stray and random impulse, nothing so unnatural. Nothing you’d doubt.” Even The main house in the distance suddenly seemed deserted and empty. Though they stood in the light of the sun, the orange yellow rays seemed paler, somehow dimmer. Like they lost something of their warmth.

But then, His very words would spill out from their mouths. His thoughts, emotions, even his intent became theirs. You wouldn’t begin to know where he started and where they ended.

Her brows furrowed, eyes narrowing as she recalled the emptiness and frailty of their gazes near the very end. Toys waiting to be broken.

One second, they were the people you loved and knew, the other it was him… Until they were all him and he was them.

No separating line. Nothing but husks filled with his will.

“You tried stopping him.” And it wasn’t a question. There was no more jolliness in his tone.

Once the soul metamorphosis went past a certain point, nothing would restore it. No heart, no memory… Even magic has its own limits.” The finality in her voice was pure despair, as if it had known no hope. How many times must have she tried?

They lost their souls before I even realized what was happening…

For a while, none of them spoke, the abnormal silence dominating their surroundings as if in a bubble of its own.
“How is it that he hasn’t gotten to you too?” The Master finally asked.

Our powers were the bridge. The only thing that had stopped him from seizing me was because of how late my powers had manifested.

“Oh?” She could tell he didn’t expect that.

My family thought that I was where the bloodline would end. Even I thought it as well.

Since our arrival in the new world, no one manifested their powers past the age of four. And even before that, the latest anyone had manifested their powers was at ten, and that was rare.


“That is… peculiar.” He lingered on this thought for a moment.

“The Power’s strength was inversely related to the age it manifested on?”

Yes.

But It’s a fine balance.” She continued, “If you manifested your gift at an older age, your powers were bound to be powerful. Overly powerful.” She elaborated, “Even for you to be able to control them.

“And too young, and you wouldn’t be near what you ought to be.
Yes yes, you did say the line was weakening. Tell me,” He drummed his gloved fingers melodically on the railing, “What happens if you DO manifest your powers at an older age?”

You don’t survive long in that state. The powers would be uncontrollable, explosive. I went through the entire family tree of the 5 houses and their genealogy tomes, no one had manifested it past the age of ten and lived more than a year at best.

“How old were you when it happened then?”

Fifteen.

The Master whistled.

I could barely reign it in. I don’t- I don’t even know how I lived through it.

“Oh, you do, Shiki.” He interrupted, “And of course, He also knew.”

“How did it happen?”



They ambushed me.” She closed her eyes, trying so hard not to see, but lightning still flashed against the windows of the drawing chamber. Their shadows still crept against the porcelain floors as they came at her. Her father, her mother, her twin nephews, her two aunts and uncle, her grandmother, her four cousins. And at last, her brother. All Brandishing their powers, all gazing at her with those dark pitiless eyes. Faces she loved twisted with the intent of killing her.

I wanted to run away. Leave before He realized- … But they-” she gulped, and breathed in a shuddering breath. Tears trickled silently down her cheeks.

She remembered the chilling fear that gripped her, the panic. Her back hitting the posh antique sofa.

Not like this…

Please! I don’t want to die…

Mom, please! Stop! Stop!

She knew what would happen to her. She saw the very result in front of her eyes. All she could recall was how her fingers had willed the Eosian Chains into pushing them away. Just to leave her alone. And the sensation of the fine razor tips piercing their hearts. The way blood splattered around her in a crimson rain.

“You killed them.”

Yes...

“And he didn’t stop you?” She opened her eyes, and brushed away the tears.

He tried to possess me…” Her breathing slowed as she calmed down. “And he almost succeeded.

She remembered the horrible sensation, the phantom agony of the pain coursing through her body till this very moment. Her screams as he slowly devoured her. The sensation of being crushed from the inside out by an impossible force. An invisible hand tearing her soul at the rims without even so much as physical contact. An existence that was far vaster than the very world. Than Life. Immovable. Eternal. A rock against a mountain. An ant under a shoe.

She remembered dying. She remembered wanting it to be faster. Just to end.

But then,” She extended her arm in front of her, and pearly light shimmered through her fingers as her Keyblade materialized, “I got Memento Mori.

It was what gave him pause then, what gave her a chance.

And then I knew… I knew what I had to do.

She had opened a door to the heart of the world. She could still feel the impact of his violent lashes of power as he tried to stop her, push her away. How she fought it, cut through it. The amount of effort it took, how she strained against all of it. Life or Death.

The way the heart of the world cracked and broke when she plunged the Blade through it. The dying screams of a god. The incredible burst of power and energy that hit her before it all went dark.

I killed him.” She finished, her hand touching the blue orb in her necklace. The only shard remaining of the world’s dead Heart. A memory Of the Sliver before it was Oryimence’s.

“And in doing so, you destroyed the world…” He straightened up from his slouch.

You can’t kill something that was already dead.” She shot back, turning to him, dismissing her Keyblade.

“No. But you resulted in a level 1 World Destruction.

And THAT” He pointed a finger at her, “isn’t something that can ever be reversed.” He sighed.

“Not to mention the number of citizens who lost their lives fleeing the destruction. And others who had lost their homes and world… again.” He yawned, stretching.

You have no idea how many times I wished I’d died that day.” She levelled her dark blues at him, their intense and unshy gaze unwavering. And he knew that she meant it, still means it. It wasn’t like they gave her a choice.

“Ah Foolish Shiki. Very foolish.” He shook his head, “I’m just glad Serena was able to rescue you that day.” And the usual casualness slipped back into his tone again.

I’ve told you everything.” She turned around, and started walking away leaving him behind. She was done. She just wanted to get away from here.

She did, however, pause before leaving the bridge, “You should’ve saved her instead Master.” She glanced towards him without turning, her dark hair swaying in the returning wind “You chose the inferior Wielder.” She left without giving him a chance for a reply. So sure in her words.

“Serena was an optimal candidate, indeed” He mused, a smile lingering in his voice “but I got the more interesting choice.”
 

Ðari

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Special Memory: The Harbinger's Goal [Komaeda, Master of Masters]
Location: CDS Academy
Time: 5PM





"Now now, is there a reason you wanted to chat after class like this? It's not very polite to disrupt your master's busy schedule like this. It's hard to wonder sometimes, if you're truly lucky or just bold sometimes. Anyway, whats up Nagi?"

The master sat in his chair and gave a casual brush to the air. Before him, Komaeda stood there with an almost pure and exhilarated look in his eyes. This was one of the most unusual and unbridled forms of joy he'd ever seen in another person before, quite the spectacle. Nagito had always been...a bit off the rails with his devotion to the cause in such a way that augmented perspectives...almost at will, convoluted, yet misunderstood.

"Oh. Well I just wanted to talk a little more about taboos with you personally Master. I'd be a fool not to understand them better, the devout often appeal to the origin of their faith you know." Komaeda's gaze shifted to the side, staring at the master's book of prophecy neatly sitting on his desk. "You've already seen the end of days, it's why I even agreed to become one of your resolutes. Out of curiosity in that future you've seen."

"Tread carefully Nagi, you don't want to fly too close to the sun. The light you cherish may end up blinding you."

Komaeda coupled his arms together and shuddered in ecstasy. The very thought of more brilliant and powerful efforts put form by not only him, but those of the other resolutes, it filled him with an unbridled and selfless love and devotion that only strengthened at the thought of impending danger. The masters words didn't deter him from this feeling, it only further amplified how he felt.

"Master." Komaeda trailed.

"Hmm?"

"I'd gladly give my life to prove something. To prove that we aren't as loyal as you give us credit for. That...we'd go against your wishes and that our interested would span to serve ourselves under the guise of your will."

He spun around in his chair and clasped his hands, utterly intrigued.

"Ohhh? Your starting to make of everyone already!? Come onnnnnn, have a little more faith, I chose you all for very different reasons. It's not like your hearts are that different from each other right? Don't you all have varying degrees of commitment to the cause I gave you after all? Why would anyone even consider breaking the rules...unless of course it was their job riiiiight?"

The master was as sharp and chatty as ever. Komaeda never thought about it like that, he wasn't given a role...he wasn't like Luxu, or Eth, or Shiki, Saebyeolbe, Try, or Lucrecia. They were unique...unique in their different areas of entrapment and being encumbered by a burden so great the others had so little wiggle room to understand.

"You've said it before master. Those that willingly break the rules, are no different than scoundrels who'd sooner knife their comrades in the back. I'd like to think, guiding my comrades to the perfect outcome will end up becoming my intentions here. With every part of my existence, theres one truth...that your hiding, that i'll unearth after i've died. For you see master...I'm just lucky. I believe in that 1000%, and you gave me the tools to control that luck, but even without that...even if I don't have that help from you, i'll still trust in my luck and i'll come back to expose the truth that i'll learn in death."

"............" The master was silent. Expose him in death?

Memories, consciousness, and the cycle of reincarnation where all parallels in the world between dreams and sleep. The master knew these lessons like old fairy tales, but rarely was there individuals outside of him and his colleagues that could freely navigate the world that freely, resolve or not.

"Kidding." Komaeda leaned in and placed his hands on the desk, "You've already got a rat digging around for scraps don't you? If theres anything I'll trust over everything and everyone besides the light, it's my luck. That luck will bring that rat you've recruited out into the open one day and they'll be paraded as the traitor...it's a future i'll wager my life on."

"A rat and a traitor? Are they not the same person I wonder?" The master chuckled.

"No fair master. Don't make me guess right now, but it remains to be seen if either actually exist...yet."

Komaeda turned away from the desk and walked towards the window and looked through the glass. He could see Try conversing with Midna in the courtyard. The bright shine from her helmet nearly blinded him as he stared from across the way. Classes were over for the day and he turned back to the master.

"The rules aren't the same for the rest of you, I'm sure you've already realized that. I ask that you do only one thing Nagi, 'May your Heart Be Your Guiding Key'. Who knows, maybe you'll prove me right someday, the future i've only seen once that's yet to come true. Well, enough of that, lets go home for the day."

Komaeda stopped before he broke sight from the window.

"Is there a reason for all of this beyond the terrible future you're preparing us for?" his first honest question today, "...because I won't waste my life needlessly. The future thats eluded you will transpire right before your very eyes as long as I exist."

He twirled his messy hair and strummed towards the exit, stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

"......." there was a bead of silence exchanged as his palm rested for but a moment.

"Only agonizing despair can come about a reckless attitude and ambition like that...just be careful. Resolute or not, all of you, and I mean all of you are like children to me."
 

Deimos

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Memories of The Scarred
Entry#1
World: ????


"There a reason you brought us to this...wasteland?"
there was volatility in her address.

The ground was barren as well as empty of any form of vegetation or wildlife. Scorch marks were burned forever into the face of the rocks. Sae balanced himself as he pointed over towards a single crater, bigger than the rest of them. It was quite easily something to the scale that would rival a ravine, but without a single drop of water. Desert stretched for miles, not a single structure was left, no semblance of a town or any ruined buildings.

"You said you wanted to know more about me right?" Sae turned and his eyes connected Shiki's. "This place used to be my home, but as you can see..."

"To say that it's on the brink of ruin...no, it's pretty much been like this for well over 15 years now."

"What happened here..?"

"You ever hear about the Dark Emperor?"


"Keyblade legend that disappeared from the world for a century and returned with an empire..." there was murmur that tailed her speech at the end.

"He...did so much irreparable damage here...it's a really long story."

She had flashes to a grueling conversation, it was like pressing buttons. The visible soured expression was enough to trigger a bodily reaction to personal experience. His eyes were acute and picked up on it, he scratched his head reluctant to speak.

"Commit, we're already here." she suggested cutting him a hard stare

"Right..." he sighed, staring at the crater."Don't say I didn't warn you."

"The hole your staring down at, it's the core of a megaflare attack...and it was the Dark Emperor that cast it. It wiped out this massive desert town and left nothing but a smoldering crater and scorched rocks."
his hand was shaking, his heartbeat increased.


"Your saying...you survived that...? How is that-"

"It's because I was shielded by a friend. We weren't related, we were orphans together and she was like a big sister to me. When I really needed her, she was there for me...even in death."


"Sae...even if she shielded you, everything else...still burned. You never questioned that?" her curiosity turned to inquiry.

"I always knew my body was weird...insanely durable, but had she not of protected me, I'd of most certainly died. Her flesh, and even heart were incinerated and...merged with my body. It'd definitely explain why I'm so pale huh?" he poked an inappropriate joke.

"Thats awful!"

"Yeah...couldn't always smile like now, but what happened here didn't really inspire altruism. I met the master days after this place had gotten wiped out and he tended to my intense burns. Starved, devastated, and overflowing with a hunger for vengeance."


He stopped before sliding further into the crater.

"I was weak. Shiki. I couldn't protect myself, I had to rely on Allison...my only family and a fellow orphan to protect me. I was only ten years old when all this happened. Scars...that go beyond the physical are ones you never really erase or forget."

"So was the master a vessel for power?"

"Don't misunderstand, he'd never have it, I had to earn his respect and he had to see my conviction for himself. In crutches, through horrendous burns, I trained every single day with him no matter how much it physically hurt me. That animosity and anger nurtured and cared for until I was rife with lust for vengeance."


Sae's eyes scanned, before he looked straight up at the sky. The stars...they were actual worlds, and the dimmer those stars got, the closer a world was to the verge of extinction. Snuffing out entire civilizations is what the Dark Emperor sought, but if you knew the reason why he did it...

"Master tends to let us do...some unspeakable things, it's that fatal attraction to curiosity he has..."


"I became a warrior Shiki. When I understood the keyblade...understood my durability, I decided to take on every hint relating to the dark emperor until I found him. For years I went from world to world...I did nothing but fight, cause collateral damage beyond repair, be abhorred and shunned by the people I encountered between witnessing my destructive power and how disfigured my body was from the burns and accumulation of scars."


"Its kind of pathetic. I'd grown used to such debilitating speech...hearing families scold me for unnecessary meddling in situations they could handle. Some of their family even joined the empire, they even condoned their crimes and repudiated any connection to their evils."


Sae turned and rubbed his shoulder.<<

"No one trusted you, then...what became of the emperor?"

"Try wasn't the only person I met that wore a helmet, he did as well. We met on his turf, and I'd gone through his entire army of regular every-men. I incapacitated every last one of them, leaving them alive. He'd...recruited some old legends from the golden age...I think they were the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee. Now they were tough...I must've been fighting them for three days straight that combat experience became invaluable, but I'm usually the victor in battles of attrition."


Shiki's ears heightened, intrigued as he continued.

"I was impressed, they used the realm of darkness to combat against aging too rapidly and were in prime form, but I bested all of them from learning and adapting during that encounter. They went on and on about searching for a friend that vanished from the world to save someone and no matter what horizon they searched, they never found that friend. The Dark Emperor said the very same, and that despair became his army..."

A chill surfed down his spine, "...It was like staring death in the face..." a cold bead of sweat traced down is face.

"Such an unnerving presence, it was cold, frustration and sorrow could be felt ebbing from him. The helmet served nothing more than a means to conceal his shame, the expression of aguish he released in ambience. I thought little of his situation, I knew only perpetual rage, even if those people hated that I was a peddling orphan, they didn't deserve death...Allison didn't deserve to die for protecting me...!"

He pitched an emotional fit, tightening his fist, clenching his teeth with a soured grit of remorse. Shiki placed her hand on his shoulder, a somber expression a bit of a deviation from her enclosed melancholy. Her grip was firm, and when he caught his nerves to a stall, he continued.

"I fought him with everything in my power inside of the realm of darkness...it persisted for what felt like an eternity. Could you believe that we ended in a stalemate...a double knock out. We fought from one end of the realm...to the shores and water I'm sure you knew all too well. The two of us hit pressure points simultaneously and we both dropped into the dark waters sinking way down to the depths."

He cut his eyes away as this memory was on the darker side of his career, the negative emotions associated definitely triggered he heartless to spawn around them.

"I don't know how. I don't know who did it, but someone or something rescued us both. In that time, once he was able to stand he spoke to me. Telling me though this was the end, he'd accepted he'd never see his dear friend and was ready to meet oblivion. It was six years ago today that I fought tooth and nail to draw. I defeated his guard, underlings, and supporters that followed him and the families have never forgiven me. Making those kinds of decisions so frequently...I doubt I'll ever be accepted, but I believe I did the right thing no matter how many times I'm asked."

Alabaster flooded his left hand and he gripped tight. "You knew his name before he left everything behind right?" he turned his head towards her as she swatted the shadows away.

"Everyone knew his name. A war hero as well as a legend. Master ****, it's no surprise he wasn't easy to defeat."

It came to her ever so briefly, as the numbers increased.

"Wait...Why did he even bother coming here in the first place."

"Its because this world was considered to be one of the most dangerous hubs for criminals plotting to execute. As a preemptive measure...he wiped everyone out...except for me. Once he understood who I was, his remorse faded and he fought to end my life. It said to me...that none of the innocents lives mattered...that the ends justify the means, and I couldn't go back on that fight."


The heartless swarmed to a suffocating number, a demon tower whirled sucking up the straggling shadows. He could hear the serene sound of Memento Mori enter Shiki's hand as he took a step to her side, shoulder to shoulder. The "I" was tatted on his right shoulder and he raised his hand. A bright orange and red sphere started to form, as he was channeling power from a scar located on that very same arm.

"I could never judge you for decisions that were forced on you regarding your family...peace, is so desperately difficult to obtain, it even feels fleeting at times." Sae could feel the orb expanding to critical mass and size. "...but don't ever stop doing what your heart believes is right Shiki. That's why I brought you here, these pests are just in the way!"

Sae cupped his fist, crushing the ball, creating a volley of falling orb colliding with the demon tower as it whipped around like a snake taking damage but pressuring with insane speed. He could detect what felt like the glint of a smile, truly he began to feel a bit more genuine about his acceptance. His smile and demeanor just seemed like disingenuous obstacles at times, but he'd actively tried to be as open with everyone and those smiles don't seem to feel falsified or pretense after awhile.,

"...Your heart...belongs to you Sae. No one else." that glint of a smile shone through, "...Embrace it, and the dangers it poses along with it."
 
Last edited:

Ðari

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Memory Fragment: "Darkness" [ALL]
Location: High Ground
Time: 12PM





They'd been taken to a place out of the way. A floating world of sorts, where nary but the sharpest of lights would grace the land. An island with pillars of stone and marble, and a shrine that sat the the very center. Etchings in white and ash, where only the name "X" presided over all. Symbols they were used to, "Chi" in pronunciation, followed by "blade". The master strummed through the fields, hearing nothing but the sound of the crashing of waves. Multiple sounds bouncing off of his portal of light as his student's physicals began to take form.

There was no cause for alarm, there was only the grandeur of a place that only the light touched. Here, resolve felt at it's purest if not aided by the very world on which they walked.

"High Ground. I suppose you'll want to know why I rounded you all up here on a field trip of sorts. Well, let me teach you a little about yourselves." The master gallivanted about and placed his arms behind his back and stepped to the right and an image of himself was left over.

"Darkness." he said as the shell of the master began to reduce itself to a floating mass. "Whoa! Easy there, no need to tense up, this is just an example not the real thing! Hold your horses."

His hands moved in a way as to calm their sense of alarm.

"But more over...thats what your resolves are for. To protect you from darkness, nothing to fear when your hearts are committed to each of your individual disciplines. Darkness has been around since I was but a boy...and as I wrote the book, saw the future of this world line, I saw all of you as well. The calamity that is to occur has already been decided, but what you'll realize..."

The master brandished his Ultima Weapon and rest the other end of the blade in his open palm, gripping the blade.

"By the end of the books pages, is a future that I have not seen. Yes, the worldline may very well see it's end, but it's future will be left to you. That's something I trust you'll figure out in order to make it a reality. When the time comes, six of you will be given tasks with my own being the 7th, and the remainder will be a support network for the six."

There was a beat of silence, ever inquisitive, curious still.

"A worldline with nothing but darkness waiting for us? The only fitting answer is to crush it mercilessly." Komaeda clutched his elbows as he got a chill down his spine.

"Is someone such as yourself even capable of such a feat..?" Iontis leered coldly.

"Darkness huh?? Does it really want to test it's luck against us, what do you mean?!" Reforge played with the idea for a bit.

"It's a reasonable threat, this is the end of the world we're talking about, take this seriously..." Lucrecia looked over at Jay who had a delinquent scowl. "You too!"

"Darkness, yeah yeah I heard the master, Komaeda already spelled it out for us, just crush it." Jay was hardly jubilant about the idea himself.

There were a set of foot steps brushing away along the stone path. Three of them were approaching the master as he held the keyblade in his hand. Three all brandished relatively at around the sametime. Ethernal. Memento Mori. Alabaster. Standing under the shrine, the placed them on the ground at the alter mounted under and lowered their heads, shutting their eyes.

"
What...are they doing..?" Try inquired.

"Paying their respects." Luxu said, "But what are few long dead masters to honor is what you may be thinking, but to those that know history, it's more than the legends would profess. As if."

It was hard to tell if Luxu was rolling his eyes, but he watched them all the same.

"Honestly." Eth turned and plucked Ethernal from the stone, "Just resolve. When met with adversity and lives are at stake, there is no halfway. People...worlds will be counting on us, no matter how difficult it is or the length after the end, it's in our hands after that. No exceptions."


"Pffffft HAHAHAHAHAHA. What? Who died and made you the leader pal? I think we all understand what we have to-"

"Yamato."
"Yamato."

Shiki and Saebyeolbe said at virtually the same time.

"The burgeoning of a constant string of negative feelings are the very place from which our enemy spawns and expands. Be sure to remember that if any in house fighting ever occurs. Don't go making your jobs harder because you have a few disagreements. It's ESPECIALLY bad if you lot start adding to the pile. The darkness will no longer be Rank n' File, just a warning." The master asserted ever so playfully.

Not even for a second did Eth's pale gaze break from Yamato. His eyes merely closed as he walked taking a step forward down the stone path. This place would probably be important in the future, it could purify darkness? The real question should've been this.


"Master."

"Hmm? What is it Shiki-pan?"

"What is...Darkness..?"

He paused for a second looking up at the high noon sun. "An old friend. No song lyrics please."

"Huh..?"Shiki was about as puzzled as ever. "You really are hard to figure out sometimes."

"Save yourself the trouble, it's no friend of ours. Such a vile and loathsome existence isn't something so few of us care to actually understand." Komaeda thrust a sharp retort.

"It isn't interested in understanding us either Nagi, only expansion. It knows whats in the book, and whats not, it doesn't know what to expect and I wouldn't have it any other way. What happens after, is your advantage, play to it." The master dismissed his ultima and walked the rest of them down.

"When you enter new territory, the long-game ends up looking like the best chance. Whether we face the darkness tomorrow or down the road, we won't have to do it alone. Isn't that why we have partners master?" Midna cupped her hat as it slid left and right.

"Well look at you engineering the right idea! Full marks Ka-Err! Right, our secret on that." he rose his finger to single his lips were sealed

"Master!" pulling her hat, her fist balled and steam came out of her ears.

"Easy easy, I didn't say anymore, withhold your wrath!" in dramatic fashion his body language instinctively moved as if he were blocking a hit with his arms.

The group broke out into a mild laugh save for Eth.
 

Ðari

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Memory Fragment: 20 [Try, Reforge, Jay/Jaz, Lucrecia]
Location: Radiant Garden; Villain's Vale
Time: 2AM





There was enough to contend with, it's presence alone was hard to understand. There was only one solitary and arbitrary fact that stood out to the team. This was "Darkness" or some vague centered joke the master spoke of when assigning them all.

"Your enemy is darkness itself. Quite literally, it won't be...well lets just say it won't be like fighting any normal heartless you've come across...you'll find destroying it might be harder than you think...Good luck!!"

His words were puzzling, naturally any disciple of his would feel skeptical of defeating such a target. There was only pain that could be felt in multiple directions. A demon tower swam in the background puddling up a ruckus in waves of lesser shadows. Front and center, the actual target finally revealed after it appeared formless for a time. Scitar-esque blades, a dual-wielding monster as the blades were doubled edged and curved at opposite ends with crescent formations. Ebbing in a pinkish & rose colored aura this heartless boasted gravitic pressure and a moral decay for the light.

"What the hell..." Jay scoffed sucking his teeth, "What the hell is that heartless!? I've never seen anything like it befo-"

Lucrecia jumped over to tackle Jay, her back landing on a bed of Noct orbs floating away slowly like a magic carpet. A wicked aura surfed under theme, exploding like shark surging to the surface, shattering the bed of orbs and the two of them tumbled along the granite and crystal footing.


"Huuuuuuuh?" Try said extremely smug as a nerve popped and she cracked her fist. "I see another one we gotta teach a lesson. Darkness? Pfft. Lets get him Reffles."

"Yeah! Ready to send the darkness packing Giant lady!" Ref was in his child-state, cupping his fist as his keyblades swiftly floated behind him through manner of his use of mystokinesis.


"I told you not to call me that! I can't help it that I drink plenty of milk and eat my veggies." Try had a moment of pure modesty.

It was getting more dire as the time crawled forward. A hot beam heated light brushed past Try's shoulder and the heartless gave a gentle flick, disintegrating the light. It released steam just a few feet from it's position, Lucrecia's teeth grit as she helping Jay to his feet. Try gripped her shoulder and moved the joint around in place, you could hear an obnoxiously loud cracking sound being made. Tilting her neck to the left and right, a keyblade populated in her hand. Two flits of winds past, Fortainbras and Proginoskess respectively, doubly reflected by the beasts dual-wielding.

There was a loud pounding of the ground, as Try's steps were heavy, crushing even. Tiny cracks in the crystal, blemishing the rock as she jumped and came down a with a thunderous crash titivating a gravitational force to be rivaled. Pressure increased from her own weight and strength, as an echo followed tightening the hold of hits being multiplied in around the area of impact from her keyblade. The heartless radiated a rose-pink aura and blasted her outward. Her head tilted, getting right back to the thick of battle.

The sound of steel parsed an unimaginable amount of heat from the speed and strength of each hit. You could smell the burning from how hard they were slamming into each other, the friction was suffocating, creating a mild fog of carbon monoxide, being made worsened by Try's resolve and expanding towards the outer area.

"What is this smoke...What are you doing Try?! We don't have helmets you know!" Reforge shouted as he started coughing, trying to blow the smoke away, but it just served to get pushed towards Recia and Jay.

"Hey, watch where your throwing that smoke around Reforge!" Jay rose his arm, tearing off a piece of his long shirt and tying it around his nose and mouth.

The smoke expanded and the heartless that were largely unaffected without the need to breath, took cover in the limited visibility and toxic atmosphere. The demon tower, spiral through and swept up Reforge and Jay both releasing a collective of smoke to knock them both out respectively. Twisting just over the cliffside it dropped the two of them over the edge. The drop of which was virtually bottomless.

"No! No! No! No!" Lucrecia shuffled hand over fist behind the twister.

Jay responded throwing a rope back as he swept down to catch Reforge in his arm, swinging to slam directly into the cliffside. Lucrecia was holding one end of the rope sliding along the crystal surface closer and closer to the edge. She sent her two orbs floating over and into the cliffside, Jay had messed up his shoulder pretty back from the slam, reforge was unconscious and Jay was barely conscious himself.

"Damnit helmet what are you waiting for an invitation! Get your ass over here and help us!" Jay shouted from the rope he hung by feeling the blood flow from his shoulder.

"Sit tight, she's kinda busy at the moment Jay." Lucrecia was tugging at the rope slowly pull her partner and reforge up towards her. "Didn't I tell you to lay off the sweets."

"Not the time for jokes Recia!"

When she fought it was almost as if it were an entirely separate mode. Hearing the screams of her 'comrades' she'd known only a few weeks, one had to wager if these weirdoes were capable on their own. There was an image of Lucrecia sliding ever forward over the edge reflected in the visor of her helmet. No part about that was a good sign, Reforge was the first to go over the edge, then Jay/Jaz, and Lucrecia was holding them both by a rope Jay produced. To be honest, weren't they able to solve this problem without her? There were a string of different attacks she had to deal with as it swept an attack arc'd towards the cliff.

"You bastard!" As the flick passed her she sent an incredible powerful wave of force to displace the heartless into the nearest wall before breaking into a dash towards the edge.

CRASH!

The edge of cliff was cut clean through, and it started to slide, triggering a massive free-fall. The collateral of the rock smacked Jay square in the head, hard to enough render him unconscious and drop Reforge from his arm further into the ravine. Try darted over to slide down the falling chunk of rock and jumped like a bullet in a straight line for Reforge who was the furthest down. As she drifted closer and closer, she clutched his shirt holding him by his stomach as he jerked backward violently unconscious in her hand. Readying her right fist she punched the wall, effectively stopping their momentum.

"Well thats...Oh."

She realized the piece of debris that was still above them, tucking Reforge under her, it slammed directly over Try effectively snapping in half and rolling off into the ravine below. The crystal shattered and tore her red body suit to shreds as her helmet was intact, with nary but a few scuffs. Try twinged a bit, but her body was much, much harder than you'd be lead to believe at a glance. Directly above her and off to the right, Lucrecia was along the wall with Jay fastened to her back. Moving Reforge in her hand, she dangled his unconscious form in a callous attempt to wake him by shaking violently.

"What the hell are you doing sleeping at a time like this Reffy?! What knocked you out anyway huh?"

This was a terrifying sight, Reforge's slobber was getting all over the place and he didn't wake for not even a second. The two of them slowly began to scale the wall with their partners on their backs.

"Was what I just saw real just now..?" Lucrecia asked nervously, trying not to stare too hard at her shredded clothes.

"What?" Try questioned

"The crystal cliff...it..."

"It broke in half over my head right? No big deal, you worry too much Recia. It's obvious that I'm ok, duh!" she shrugged, "When I said I knew I was gonna carry this team, I didn't expect it to mean LITERALLY."

Lucrecia laughed a bit, "Tell me about it."

The two of them paced themselves as they scaled the rock further and further upward. As their hands clutched at the very top, when they both pulled themselves and their teammates onto the edge, the foes they cornered had long since departed.

"Looks like they're already outta here. Whats done is done. Can't wait to hear pissy epithet complain about failure...AGAIN." You couldn't see it, but Try rolled her eyes under the helmet.

"You're really starting to take after Reforge, even talking like him a bit."

"That brat? I'll have you know I've only repeated a few things he's said." she folded her legs, realizing something was breezy.

Slowly you could see the open areas of her body suit gradually repairing itself over time using magic, but her skin itself from what Lucrecia could see, the blood...bled into the red leather. This sullied Lucrecia's expression as she noticed it and slightly turned her head to the side, she'd already bandaged Jay's head wound and he was resting his head on her lap.

"What are you gonna do when we get assigned our roles Try?" Lucrecia inquired.

"Master is gonna be counting on us, no sense in letting him down, thats all there is to it really. I plan to take it seriously like any other assignment. Like today...you have to adjust when things don't go as planned...obviously." She looked down at Reforge who was now drooling in her lap. "Yuck..."

"Fair enough." Lucrecia smiled opening a portal of light, "Lets get back and file our report."
 

Ðari

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Memory Fragment: 21.8 [Master of Masters, Reforge, Midna]
Location: The Dorms; Kitchen
Time: 9PM





Back to the kitchen, Reforge was sitting on the counter with a dry cloth next to the drying rack. House rules were, if you drew the three short straws, those three did the dishes. This was unchanged since their first night here, you had to imagine the master's predicament. Master yes, but a resolute all the same, there were chuckles coming from both Midna and Reforge both as he got elected to wash the dishes and they got the easier jobs.

"You'd never thought you'd see me over here huh? Unlucky." The master said rolling up his coat sleeves and circling his hand motion.

"Well master, it build character to do chores like this." Midna teased.

"And I had planned to do another pass on one of my tomes before bed tonight, looks like that plans been averted!"

"Ohh??" Reforge gripped the plate and placed in the drying rack. "Your not upset with us are you master?"

"No Reffy. I should've known better than to send you against something like that this early into your training." He held a cup covered in suds in his hand slowly scrubbing the rim of the glass. "The Darkness has gotten far more complex than from when I was a boy. I'll do better to prepare you all for your future encounters."

The master passed Midna the cup, he seemed more concerned and modest than usual. "You'll be happy to know that Iontis and I have been working on our Session...he was pretty hesitant at first, still is about practicing."

"Giant lady won't even lemme see her face."

"It's good that you two are getting your bearings for teamwork in order, he's been notorious for trying to do quite literally everything by himself, you'll have to help more than just him Midna."

He gave Reforge's statement some thought, "Don't feel too bad, I think i've only caught a glimpse or what I thought was a glimpse of her, beyond that I guess you could say none of us know what Try looks like!"

Holding his hand on the rubber stopper he pulled it from the drain and let the water vanish from the sink. "If you stay up any later you'll wake up late for our next lesson on keyholes and their significance."

"Goodnight Master." The two said almost at the sametime as they scurried from the kitchen, to lobby, then upstairs.

There was a mass of darkness that lingered off to his right side.

"What do you wish for them to do?" The Darkness commented in confusion

"You wouldn't understand it anyway, but lets just say it's easier to understand if I told you not even I have foreseen what happens next."

"Expansion will happen soon, you'll leave them unprepared?"

"Hardly. The Gambit hasn't even started, just enjoy the downtime." The Master fold his arms and the shadowy mass disappeared.
 

Ðari

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Memory Fragment: 23.3 [Komaeda, Yamato]
Location: The Dorms; Study Hall
Time: 8AM




There was an air about the scent of dust and boredom. Annoyed, Bryce was thumbing behind a shelf and observed a few books on the shelf. Over his left shoulder, he could see Komaeda flipping through pages of manuscripts at an alarming speed. Yamato's eyes averted back and he looked at the cover of one thick black book in particular.

"Hmm?" He skimmed for the title on the binding, "The Door...To Darkness..? The fuck."

A flippant reaction, he put the book back and dragged his feet back to the table with Komaeda.

"Remind me again why we're doing these additional assignments...?" Yamato rolled his eyes, steam snorting from his nostrils.

"It was per the master's request, he said there were certain books he needed you and I to scope." Komaeda had a radiant glow, a smile that didn't seem deceptive for a change. "Can you spare a moment to chat Yams-san."


"Dude...you and Shiki be using these weird endings to names, I'm starting to feel alienated from the culture. No offense of course..." he scratched his head nervously, that sounded awful.

He flicked his hand namaste-like, "It's a term of endearment big guy, you're nothing short of wonderful. You kidding? I can't even fight...what low-level trash like me is doing here...don't get me started."

Yamato started at him for a second. The chair was turned around backwards and both his arms rested on the back of the chair. There was this leering look of concern in his eyes. Komaeda knew this look, a nervous trickle of sweat hung off his left brow. It inched down and dropped onto the table before Yamato burst.


"Listen Kommy...stop trash-talking yourself. It just pisses me off, you and I both DON'T want that ok." his eagle-eye like gaze averted and mellowed out some.

"Besides...no one here is even remotely close to you in terms of ability. Blessing. Curse. Whichever you see it as...you are undoubtedly the most unique one."

"Yamato..." he closed his book and stared at him, "...You actually said something nice to me for a change."

Komaeda's eyes were shut and he tilted his head smiled vigorously.


"I think lying to your comrades is the lowest thing you can do. So take what I said as how I truly feel Kommy." his finger edged over his nose and he briefly darted between eye contact. "Why are you looking at me like that...?"

A knee-jerk reaction, Komaeda teared up a bit. He raised the sleeve of his coat to wipe his face, to be herald as unique and actually meaningful? It's rare anyone says that, turned off by his diluted perceptions and deranged use of semantics crafting his rhetoric.


"Water-works aside, your my partner. I don't like every which way you spin things, but I'm here to support and protect you. Got that?"

Yamato pat the mess of his head and grinned. Sliding a book from under him and taking a look at what it was titled. He was genuinely interested, it was only one word. "X" commonly translated as "Key, Qi, or Chi".
 

Ðari

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Memory Fragment: 23.4 [Saebyeolbe, Midna, Shiki, Iontis, Master of Masters&Try]
Location: The Dorms; Training Field #2
Time: 11AM






Well this was...an eventful meeting.

. . . . . . .


"Remind me what we're doing here Master. Midna and I should be partaking in the studies we're behind on." Iontis had steam coming out of his ears.

"Now now Ion, if the master says it's important it is."

Shiki and Sae had their eyes averted, they already knew what this was about, neither of them spoke. Iontis wasn't much of a people person, but even he could tell this was already a weird situation to be in. The Master took a brief number of steps before the turned on his heel. Holding out his hand he had what looked to be a "blitzball" of sorts and he tossed up and down in his palm repeatedly.


"This exercise is gonna be one thats simple. I chose the two teams that have had the most partner depth and emotional growth in the shortest amount of time. Good Ol' Olby and Shiki, as well as Ion and Midna here."

The Master smirked under his hood. "Seems unbalanced at glance, buuuuuuuut I've made it interesting. Look at your feet." The master pointed down. Their tatoos radiated briefly, forging what looked like cuff attached with an bright white electric cord from both feet. "Your shackled to your partner with cords that will extend no further than ten meters before you SMACK into each other."

He spun the ball on his finger "Goal is simple. You will be pitted against a rival team of two. The objective is to score this ball into the opponents Goal but a single-time in order to complete the objective. Thats all you have to do. Easy yeah?"

"Master..." Shiki said with a long and auspicious trail off, "...What are the rules?"

"Hey hey now Shiki-pan, I was getting to that. Ahem. Theres a few conditions you have to follow."


  • You can only hit and interact with the blitzball with your keyblades & and every other body part besides your hands.
  • You must also navigate the training field dealing with heartless as an active threat
  • There will be a 3rd-Party in the form of an enemy resolute who's goal is to disrupt both opposing teams and are consented to attack, while not maiming either team. They've permission to strike the ball away from either Goal, even into a bed of heartless.
  • The final condition, is NO Resolute is allowed to use their resolve, Teams of Two nor Third-Party. You must rely only on your keyblades, your trust in your partner, and controlling the flow of your movement with the restraints applied.

"Try's your third-party. Take center field, both teams and third-party." The master could already sense the tension, raising his hand, a foghorn sounded and he tossed the ball straight up.

*CLAP*

Midna clasped her hands shooting a pillar of rock from the ground straight up like a catapult as Iontis keyblade shifted into a glider, carrying their momentum upward. Shiki climbed on Sae's back as he a jumped up perhaps a second or two after their counterparts catapulted themselves into the air. As for Try? She stood there and gave a at least five seconds. Once the ball it Apex, she felt steam surge through her legs before jumping straight up, flattening the earth and blowing a hellish gust of wind horizontally and carrying a windbox upward thrusting her leg into the blitzball. It broke the sound barrier, barreling down towards the field, and causing a massive rupture on the surface shooting the heartless off into oblivion.

"What..." Iontis jaw had dropped.

"...did she just do..." Sae's eyes were practically outside of his head.


"Aaaaaaaand thats game over. The ball is out of play!" The master raised a white flag.

"Huuuuuuuuuuuuh? What the hell just happened?!" They all said simultaneously with the exception of Try.

"Yeah. I wasn't expecting our Third-Party to take out the ball, how else are you supposed to play without a ball? Sorry, we'll have to do a rematch tomorrow, same time. I'm gonna kindly ask that all of you..." He pointed at the now desecrated Training Field #2 "Get the field together, luckily she wiped out all of the field heartless in 1 pass. Points for efficiency Try!"

Try popped a quick dab in dramatic fashion before she walked side by side with the master leaving the remainder of them to clean up the field. "You really gotta teach me your technique, I mean I wish I had upper and lower body strength like that! What's your training regiment?"

The two had become involved in a conversation as they exited. Saebyeolbe and Shiki looked on back at Iontis and Midna. There was a sense of competition when their glares became too much to bare. They brandished their blades at nearly the same time and there was a brief stare down.

"I can't quite put my finger on it, but you've gotten a bit kinder since you've been here Iontis. Your eyes are definitely different." Sae's gaze eased and a warm smile then flooded his cheeks. "You seem less timid as well Midna, shame we'll have to postpone our competition til tomorrow."

"Hmph. Theres things even I can't do by myself Saebyeolbe, even I understood that the day the master paired us. I respect his wishes, as well as Midna herself."

"Just respect hmm? Would you trust her with your life if the situation was dire?" Sae seemed content to constantly push buttons.

"Sae..." she trailed again interjecting concern for Sae's badgering.

"No, let him answer. I'd gladly Trust Iontis with my life, he's pretty spectacular for a partner." Midna responded with confidence.

"I'm not quite there yet...it's far to soon to say anything definitive, but without question Midna is someone that I am learning to bestow great amounts of faith, even rely on...more time never hurts." Even his serious demeanor, could detect traces of warmth and camaraderie.
 

purgatory

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Memories of Monochrome
Entry #1
World: Ogen - Snowy Mountain Range




6 years ago...

I couldn't tell you what it was about this place. Master thought, "Hey, lets send you here to bare the environment for a week before I train you myself!" This was definitely normal for him though, sends me to a snow ridden villa to stay in. Logs and Amber colored wood, the inner decorum had to be manually heated by a chimney fire and other functions behest a coal-furnace. The pantry coupled with dry foods, all other tools were found for manually prepared meals over the chimney and a massive pot for boiling.

"He really was serious about this..." I stared briefly, clad from top down with cloth fitting every inch of my anatomy. Bulky mainly towards the middle where the heat circulated through my jacket.

I stepped onto the porch-top and looked as the wind picked up. That gust was strong, carrying with it a nice blanket of snow fettering in my view and further complicating this already vexing predicament. I was annoyed sure, but I had to prove my resolve, how else was the tattoo going to respond? I still don't even know what the hell this "resolve" is supposed to do, or however the hell he explained it. I released a sigh, the heat from my breath condensed into a puff of smoke to the front of me. My hands shook some and i rubbed my shoulders some before bending down to attach snow-cleats to my boots.

"Just dandy, no telling whats in these woods..." I sounded less than enthusiastic, but it was the groaning that kept me on base with reality.

I set off onto the path towards the mountain-side, crossing through a vista of snow covered trees. The wind started to pick up and I could hear the complimenting rustling coming from all around me. A chilling whisper from the surrounding trees shaking the snow off their leaves. You'd imagine that kind of noise would draw in the natural predators, and you'd guess right.

"Heartless. How original..." that soft groaned sounded thoroughly unimpressed, "what the hell man...I can't turn these fools into a sou-"

I barely blinked and wolves, darted around circling even the heartless with a kind of tenacity you'd normally see in really determined folks. I was watching in horror as they bore their fangs and claws into the heartless, splattering everywhere into a black mesh. My legs shook some as that anxiety started to pick up before they finally noticed me and the stranglers without heartless fodder turned their attention to me.

"Heh...found the prey at least." I took a step and purged Lucient into my hand. These feral creatures were gunning for my throat looking at the elevation they leapt, jaws gunning for my neck and claws aimed to press into my chest. Curtly side-stepping and tapping them on the head with enough force to put them in a daze, pissing off an entire pack wasn't something I wanted to do outright.

I needed something, something extremely bright and to mask my scent, but what? The tattoo just above my left breast was glowing "IV". That vigor I was starting to build must've triggered something, popping into light in front of me where two floating orbs, one black and the other a gold color. In latin, their names were "Noct" for the black orb and "Diem" for the golden orb.

"What...is this feeling...?" I was hesitant for a second as the wind howled, and the wolves ears perked up as they scuttled away fleeing the scene. I could hear a tremor surf along the snow filled ground and it shook side to side as what looked like an Ice Titan parted the trees. "Oh...COME ON!"

I jumped and rolled to the right as it dropped a speedy fist into the last spot I was at. Raising it's feet from one broken set of ice to another, it was creating shock-waves along the ground. Like the little forest regular I was, I took to climbing the trees and gained a foothold. I still no clue on what those stupid orbs were supposed to do, that was already one more thing to juggle, not entirely sure what i triggered but maybe it was related. The little orbs raced along the forest, following me everywhere like I was a giant planet with mini-moons orbiting. "Work your magic, whatever the hell you do!"

I ordered them to attack, anything really, but they didn't respond to the verbal command. "Hey!" I stamped my foot on the branch hearing a slight crack. "Listen to what I'm saying dammit! Do something!" with my second stomp, i snapped the branch entirely and entered a free-fall motion. The two orbs Noct and Diem imparted unto me and acted like small footings to catch me from the fall and levitate downward. Taken a back, I slid and dropped to the side as the orbs, the black one in particular split itself into doubles lining up on multiple points spread across the titan. The golden orb, presented me with a small screen-like radar budding from my left hear and over the left eye.

"Targeting?? Holy crap." The surprise, once I saw the orb rev up and spin faster and faster gathering heat for what looked like a canon of sorts. I raised my hand giving a point for what spot, and it locked in place sending an elongated beam vaporizing the snow in the air and creating a steam-trail as it hit the Ice Titan. Pumping my fist, I thrust my arm forward with a clutched fist, Diem seemed to respond opening itself up into what looked like a flower with detached petals, siphoning heat into an intense beam with complimenting rays being released from the petals. Hitting multiple marked areas, the Titan released an agonizing screech before punching it's fist into the ground causing the snow to shift on a downward incline, taking me along with it.

I was rolling now, sliding more and more against the incline of the mountain digging my arm into the snow, to try to slowdown the slide but it was barely decreasing my momentum. I slammed Lucient instead and felt a violent whip and ricochet, but I stopped. Looking up, the Titan...I shit you not, it jumped in pursuit of me down the mountainside. At this time, the wind started to blare unceremoniously beating against the trees.

BOOM!

It crashed next to me, lifting me up from snow as the only brown-clad winter gear chica there. I could feel my body getting crushed, slowly starting to collect ice at the ends. My breath released, becoming droplets of ice instantly, I struggled in it's grip as it gave a loud roar with me in it's grasp. The golden Orb Diem hovered just in front of it's face, and i turned my eyes away, as it let off a bright flash of light streaking across the sky. I was content to just drop and freeze to death in the bank of snow that waited for me at the bottom.

Those pesky wolves from earlier were really out of their minds to still be around, i could feel the snap of a jaw grip me by the loose end of my scarf and throw me on it's back sprawled arm and leg over each side. I was shaking from the shock alone, I was hungry above all else and I had planned to kill one of these things and prepare them into something...well that's out the door now. It was a lesson within this, maybe this training was in preparation for something more chaotic...but it seemed like nature was taking it easy on me...granted, these were territorial wolves.

I suddenly fell unconscious not before long. When I woke up, i was surprisingly warm, i felt a tongue brush across my face and it was a nice feeling nonetheless. The wolves had bundled in between them, the collective heat permeating through and my shivering was minimal, feeling my basal body temperature rise. I sat up looking at the one that carried me and cautiously but slowly raised my hand, and it stroked it without me needing to continue the friendly gesture.

"Thank you." I said, that time to rejoice slowly getting beaten down by a growling stomach. "Yikes..."

I was definitely ready to track down that exit.
 
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