TRACES OF AFTERMATH [a kingdom hearts roleplay]

[Lunarmaster54]

I could have at least said goodbye.

It was morning in Twilight Town and Hitomi Shizuki was getting a bacon and egg biscuit from a food stand.

It wasn’t exactly the healthiest of meals, in fact if her parents knew this is what she was spending her munny on they’d probably get pretty peeved, but it was fast and it was hot and Hitomi didn’t have the time to cook herself something more parent approved, not today. Today she had to slip out of the house before her mom or dad woke up and asked her what in the world did she think she was wearing. It most certainly wasn’t the proper school uniform that she would have been wearing only last week. No, the black long coat she had on would never be allowed at the private school her parents had been sending her to for the last few years, it would make the headmistress have a stroke. If it didn’t the sword strapped to her back certainly would.

“You should eat here more often Hitomi.” The elderly lady who handed Hitomi her sinful meal smiled kindly at her, a smile Hitomi tried to return. It probably looked more like a grimace.

“I’ll have to try.” She lied. It would be a while before she set foot on the street again. Before she was even on this world again. Before the morning was even over the green haired girl planned to blast off into space and go…somewhere that wasn’t here.

“GOOD MORNING TWILIGHT TOWN!!!”

A voice rang through the streets and Hitomi jumped, almost dropping her breakfast.

Must be nice she thought bitterly to wake up so happy that you have to scream to the heavens to get it all out

She could remember a time when she was that happy, a time before monsters and before her friends looked at her with something other than disappointment or unmasked disdain. Unfortunately it was getting harder and harder for her to call those memories up.

Shaking her head to dispel such bitter thoughts Hitomi shoved her biscuit into her mouth and started walking, drinking in the sights of people going about their business in her hometown one final time as she made her way into the woods that would lead her to the old mansion.

A mansion that doubled as a hidey hole for one Mami Tomoe.

Well, it did. Until recently when the blonde got killed by a heartless thanks to Hitomi. Now it belonged to no one and Hitomi had been spending more and more time there, hiding from her rather sharp parents who were asking annoying questions like why were her eyes so puffy and how come she didn’t smile as often as she used to? It was a place where her best friends (no, ex best friends) didn’t want to go to because the pain of losing their new but still beloved mentor was still fresh. Which was good because then they wouldn’t notice the coat or sword missing. Sayaka would surely raise a fuss about her taking them, telling her that she didn’t have any right to touch them and such things, and Madoka would just look at her with sad eyes that would surly make her feel worse than she already did about herself.

Luckily by the time they went inside and saw that a few things were missing from within Hitomi would be long gone. Deep in space away from this place and away from the memories and away from their accusations of why did you have to run off you stupid thoughtless bitch

She gasped.

Her precious biscuit fell from limp fingers as a lump of sadness rose up in her throat. She didn’t want to leave! She was just a girl, a fourteen year old girl who shouldn’t have any responsibilities other than going to school and getting her homework done around all of her lessons! She shouldn’t know what a heartless was! She shouldn’t know what another person’s blood felt like on her skin! She shouldn’t know what it felt like to have your best friend in the whole realm of light tell you that you should have died instead because no one wants you here!

Her eyes burned but Hitomi fought the tears back. No. She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t let herself be weak and cry and dwell. That’s not what Mami would do. How could she be like her hero if she started sobbing at the drop of a hat? She had to buck up! Space wasn’t forgiving and if she wanted to last through even one fight then she had to bottle up those weak emotions. She had to. Deep breaths. Just take deep breaths.

They’re going to be so worried when they realize I’m not coming home.

It was for the best.

They’re going to hate me too.

It was…for the best…

My own parents are going to loathe me just like Sayaka does.

She couldn’t stop the tears from falling this time, not even when an angry voice cut through the silence and she realized somewhere in the back of her mind that she wasn’t alone.

“How’d you get those?!”

Hitomi didn’t recognize the male who was growling and charging at her, clearly about to strike. Mami would have reached behind her and grabbed the hilt of her sword, unsheathing Candeloro and making an easy quip about how it wasn’t any business of his how she had gotten anything. Hitomi wasn’t Mami Tomoe.

Hitomi couldn’t even begin to choke out a quip, all she could do was stare at the man violently charging at her while she cried.

 

[Professor Ven]

I: Between the Inbetween​

This World was fetid, and reeked of transience. It held the lost souls of those who had nowhere else to go, whose Worlds had fallen into the deepest Darkness, the weary few who managed to somehow wind up here, in one way or another. It's buildings, like its residents, were comprised of a cobbling of houses and street-shops, all built atop each other in a ramshackle, haphazard fashion. There were only Three Districts, each with it's own flavors and motifs (though he had known once of two other Districts existing at one point in time). Always infested with minor Heartless, it was merely a crossroads to other Worlds, and a usually host to a menagerie of characters. He had once called this World home, if only for a brief time.

Xanatos walked with a steady, sure pace, clothed in his only attire, hood concealing his face from view; he preferred no knowledge of his existence - or rather, lack thereof - to gain word or spread among the few stable Worlds of him. Far too many deals I've gained from, too many artifacts and resources obtained . . . too many adventurers dealt with once their zealousness against the Heartless or those with my disposition.

After all, when they realize what I am, or rather, what I am not, they tend to become far too destructive. Did they lack any sort of morality, or is it simply in Somebodies' nature to attempt to release Heartless and Nobodies from their . . . how did the last one say it . . . "eternal torment?"

I've "lived" too long in this non-life to afford a peckish brute or raga-tag mercenary to remove me from it.


The Second District hummed softly with its warm streetlights, the shops along its boulevard and the hotel eternally empty, save for the Heartless which occasionally swarmed in the presence of those with Hearts. Quite like now, I see. Shadows began to materialize, waddling and hopping; Soldiers clanking about in their toy-like fashion; Large Bodies blopped into the World, bouncing along. They ignored him, as he lacked that which they wanted most of all. The few of the strongest Heartless had known what it meant to stand in his way; likely the instinct had generated itself since he had removed the last great one from its nocturnal existence.

And they all head towards the Third District. Did someone open the gates from the First District again? I informed them the last time I was here that the gates should remain closed . . .

Xanatos merely folded his arms behind his back, and began walking towards the Third District from the Second, beginning to pass by the white mansion to his left. Above the ramshackle rooftops, he saw the lucid eruption. Eyes widening, he continued on, as the Heartless ignored him. They hunger, and they pain for it. In their desire to return to normalcy, to have a Heart, they seek out Hearts, and in doing so, only breed more of them in the process. Such pitiful beings, even if they are sometimes comical to observe.


But what created that flash of . . . and another flash of light?


Impossible. There cannot possibly be a Keyblade Wielder, not yet.


Not yet . . .

 

[Aphex]

CLANG!

"Huh?" Whipping around, he saw Rena had fallen over but there was something that stood out. Some very familiar.

"Is... is that a-"

"What's... this...?"

Eyes widened, jaw dropped, the boy pointed right at the newly received weapon.

"A Keyblade?!" No way! She had done too?! Derrick had been under the impression that he was the only one that had one but seeing another in person debunked that thought of his. Rushing to her side, the boy knelt down and helped the girl to stand. "This is insane! You have a Keyblade too!"

"Thank you all for your help, thank you! I've figured out a solution, however, so I recommend you all close your eyes immediately if you still want to be able to see!"

"Ngh!" Arms thrown in front of him as a blinding light filled the district, he could hear the sounds of the Heartless disintegrating. Luckily, this didn't last long, eyes opening slowly as his arms lowered to his sides and from what he saw, the cloud had disappeared! Instead, there stood a man in its place but there were a few Soldiers left behind in which Derrick felt the need to handle it.

Wanting to make this a quick task, that purple aura from before returned, a black flame swirling within his palm as it grew in size.

"Dark Firaga!" Taking a step ahead of Rena, Derrick released the fireball once it was ready, conjuring several of them to kill off the remaining Heartless.

"All right, now talk," Derrick chimed in, referring to the two men that stood before them. "Who the are you guys, anyway?"

 

[Mason Stark]

Still taken aback, Rena could only bring herself to stare at the strange weapon that appeared. The world around her faded into the background, and the more she took it in, the more familiar it seemed.

A weapon to end chaos and suffering. A weapon that can shatter peace and bring ruin... A weapon of light and darkness. Show me that you're worthy to wield such a weapon. Show me that you're worthy to wield--!​

A Keyblade?!

Blinking then shaking her head to snap out of her trance, she looked up, watching as Derrick stared in shock. She stared absent-mindedly at him, unsure what the importance of such a weapon was.

This is insane! You have a Keyblade too!

"I... guess...?" she said, taking another look at the weapon. The boy came over and she took his hand, hopping upright into a stand. With a childlike curiosity, she still fixated on the sword, poking the keychain on the edge, that she hardly noticed what was about to happen. But she did catch onto something...

...I've figured out a solution, however, so I recommend you all close your eyes immediately if you still want to be able to see!

"Hmm?"

She looked up. A sudden burst of light filled the area and, in a panic, the girl threw her hands over her eyes, dropping the Keyblade to the ground with a loud clatter. When the big blast seemed to be over (she checked to make sure, peeking through her fingers), Rena lowered her hands to her sides, realizing that all but a few of the monsters were gone.

As soon as she lowered her hands, there was suddenly a burst of light.

SHISH!

"Whoa!" Rena squeaked, stumbling back. The Keyblade had returned to her grip! Perplexed by the action, she dropped the sword again and, lo and behold, the same thing happened. Fading into the background as Derrick interrogated the two strangers, the girl became more and more perplexed with how this thing worked. How was it supposed to go away? She repeated the action a few more times, but the Keyblade never hit the ground before returning to Rena's grip.

With a nervous laugh, she muttered, "Okay, umm... how do you go away...?"

-------------------​

The man had been so consumed in his thoughts that he barely gave notice to anything else that was going on around him. Specifically, if there was anyone else around to realize that he was up to something.

It was a peculiar sound that snapped him out of his trance, causing him to focus on the left side of the alleyway; the closest side to the Second District.

"Hmm? What the..."

Narrowing his eyes, he focused on the sound.

click... click... click...

His eyes bugged.

Footsteps.

"Oh... f**k!"

With a rapid wave of his hand, he opened a dark portal, stumbling to reach it before the newcomer discovered that he was there.

 

[HyperShadic]

This was bad, with the black creatures that seemed to be immune to frontal attacks and they seemed to be spawning around whatever the dark cloud was. Glancing at the kids he was shocked to see one of the creatures attempting to attack the boy. Before he could even try to help; however, the girl ran between them and blocked it, sending it flying back with the girl herself going in the opposite direction. Theo’s eyes narrowed on the weapon and felt his right arm throb once. With a light smile he pushed back the Large Body and prepared for a counter-attack.

Thank you all for your help, thank you! I've figured out a solution, however, so I recommend you all close your eyes immediately if you still want to be able to see!

And then the person who called out for help said this. Jumping back from the area Theo shut his eyes, and a bright light came from somewhere. After it faded he glanced around and saw a few armored creatures still around and was about to attack them when the boy threw some kind of black projectile at them.

Now that the fighting was over he placed his sword back on his hip and rechecked the bandages on his right arm. Happy that they weren’t loose he turned to the boy who had asked who he, and presumably who the one wanting help was. Theo leaned against the wall and responded, “My name is Theo.” He pointed towards the girl, who was dropping her weapon only to have it reappear in her hand stating, “Maybe you should help her out kid.” He then turned his attention towards whoever the other man was his hand drifting down to his sword instinctively and asked, “It would seem that you didn’t need help at all, so why did you call?”

 

[Eventua]

Traverse Town ~ A Heartless Fool
​

As soon as the brilliant Light had swelled to its brightest and most powerful, Jotin quickly turned the dial again, resetting it to its basic form - a short, unimposing dagger that he promptly sheathed away somewhere within his robes before it could be sighted. Turning to look at the individuals present, he couldn't help but put a finger to his lips and stare, goggles extended to their full lengths at the children with those most legendary of weapons.

"All right, now talk," chimed the boy with powers over Darkness, "Who are you guys, anyway?"

Jotin chuckled and shrugged, gesturing to the man who had struck down the Fat Body earlier and entered right into his cloud.

"Well, I don't know about this fellow-"

"My name is Theo."

Jotin turned to the stranger and looked him over, his goggles providing all manner of data, and...

Hmm... why do the sensors pick up what appears to be a Heartless? Or... eugh, something... something else? A Light that isn't Light...? Or, a Darkness within Light? How contrary indeed...

For a moment he was less concerned about the Keyblade - the children appeared to know very little despite wielding them and were in no real hurry, but this gentleman seemed to have a better grasp on things and was quite a different situation indeed.

A Heartless of some unknown type? Perhaps - the Darkness can influence people in peculiar ways after all, so perhaps the Light, in its imitations, can do something similar? Not a Heartless of Darkness, but a Heartless of Light...?

He shuddered.

Goodness, what a mockery that would be. However, this subject will need further resear-

"It would seem that you didn't need help at all, so why did you call?"

Jotin nearly jumped out of his skin as he tugged the goggles from his head and gave a nervous laugh.

"O-oh, well, ahem,"

He quickly straightened up, brushing down his robes before holding out a hand for Theo to shake. His dulled, faded eyes tried to make contact with Theo's own, his smile widening to reveal cracked teeth.

"I am a researcher, studying the Worlds. I was intrigued by this one when I heard about it - a World for those fleeing the Heartless - and felt compelled to visit it, but, uh, well..."

He shrugged.

"I must confess, I wasn't expecting Heartless to be here, too. When they arrived I was so frightened," he sighed, clutching his chest, "I... goodness, thank you all so much. That strange gloom appeared and followed me, and in my fear it took me some time to activate one of my 'Light Bombs' and get rid of them, yes. Why, if you all hadn't been here, goodness knows what might of happened? I might have been turned into a Heartless too!"

The final experiment will have to wait, of course.

He smiled and tapped his feet.

"So may I ask good sir, what brings you to this desolate place?"

He turned to the two Keyblade wielders and started walking towards them.

"And likewise, the same to you two. You're both awfully young to be spending time in such a... ghastly place, and both armed with such," he gritted his teeth a little, "wonderful weapons, said to be able to slay Heartless?"

He shrugged and laughed at nothing in particular.

"I suppose we all must be a little strange, really!"

 

[Story Keeper]

~- Can’t Stop the Crying -~

His mind processed what he was doing, it processed the girl in front of him, and that she was crying. Then before Nico could stop himself; his body flung him to the right, tumbling hard to the ground. Picking himself up, Nico rubbed at his shoulder, which had collided with a tree root. Glancing in the girl's direction, he felt a rush of awkwardness crash over him; he hated seeing a girl cry. He wanted to make her stop, but he wasn't sure how to. His older sister, Sara, had ground that instinct into his head by the time he was four.

Picking himself up, Nico rubbed the back of his head and asked nervously, "A-Are you okay?" Taking a step forward, his eyes drifted back to the coat she was wearing, and he wanted nothing more than to ask how she had gotten it; but something told Nico that it would just set the girl off again.

"Little brother, what are you doing? Apologize to her."

The phantom words drifted through his mind, causing Nico to flinch at the reprimand, he stammered, "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry."

Nico glanced around, trying to see if anyone else was there to be a witness to this stupidity, he hoped not. Taking a couple of hesitant steps forward, he looked at the girl and hesitantly reached a hand forward, brushing the tears away he grumbled, "You're too pretty to cry, so you stop it." He fell silent again for several minutes, before he added in a softer tone, "The Heartless will devour you if you show weakness, I should know."

He felt the tug of a memory, and he was positive he knew which memory it was. Mentally stomping on it, he glanced around again, determined to make sure that they weren't about to be attacked and to keep an eye out for Arno, or at least that's what his mind was trying to tell him, but he knew what he was truly on the lookout for. Heartless and the Night Angel. Hearing a door creak open, his eyes darted to the front of the mansion to see a familiar head of blonde hair. Scowling at Arno for only now showing up, he glanced at the girl again before he focused back on Arno, motioning for the younger boy to get his butt over there.

"Nico, did you make this girl cry?" Arno asked, having moved close enough to hear the girl crying.

Shaking his head in answer, Nico kicked the ground and grumbled, "She was already crying when I found her." He pointedly ignored the look Arno shot him, which told Nico that they would talk about what fully happened later, and that if Nico had any part in making her cry, he was in big trouble. He watched as Arno moved to stand in front of the girl, a soft smile on the younger boy's face as he tried to cheer the girl up. Nico on the other hand decided to step back and keep an eye out around them, one of his daggers repalmed into his hand so he wasn't completely defenseless. Although, as much as he hated to admit it, Nico kept sneaking glances in the girl's direction, trying to piece together what had happened.

~- Water Under the Bridge -~

Cecilia felt Eternity slink up next to her, reaching down to scratch the feline’s behind the ears; she stared out over Radiant Garden as her eyes drifted from one member of the Lost to the other. Hearing someone walk up behind her, she turned to look at them, her eyes growing unfocused from how fast she spun to face them, take a few moments for her brain to catch up; she saw that it was Ronin, who seemed on edge. She kept her face impassive, watching as Ronin looked at her with uncertainty. “Have I ever told you that you impress me?” Cecilia asked nonchalantly.

She watched Ronin raise an eyebrow at that, his face betraying his surprise as he said just as blandly, “Oh?”

“Your soul is strong Ronin; you are able to take human form even though most Fragments can’t. You also know that your human half is unique.” She explained calmly, this wasn’t a new conversation for the two; she’d frequently informed him of how special he was.

She watched the flinty expression that crossed his face, and she knew that once more she’d crossed a line she shouldn’t have. Watching as Ronin looked past her to the Lost below, she allowed him to compose himself before she asked, “What brings you here, Ronin?”

“It’s rumored that there’s been a Pureblooded spotted in Traverse Town. I was wondering if I had permission to go and investigate.” He answered after a few moments, dragging his eyes back to the whitenette, and Cecilia knew that now it was her move. She could grant him his wish, and he’d willingly come back, or she could refused and he’d still do it anyway but then she’d be hunting him down.

A thin smile spread across her face, they constantly did this game. Looking at him fully, Cecilia answered, “You may Ronin, but remember the usual rules that apply to this situation.”

Ronin nodded curtly, before he turned on his heel and left. Turning back to look out at the chasm below, she saw the way the Lost were having fun celebrating, they’d brought someone new into their ranks, so they were trying to help the newcomer adjust to this life. Reaching a hand up, she traced the necklace that she wore, knowing that things were about to explode into a giant storm; and that it’d give her the perfect opening.

~- Yikes! Cy, Jewel, help! -~

The sounds of footsteps approaching made James tense, turning slowly around, he eyed the giant man that was approaching as he called, "Hello!"

Weakly waving back in greeting, James listened as the man continued, as if he hadn’t done anything. "Sorry about this, but my friend here-says she overheard you talking about Cerberus? Would you, uh..."

James’s eyes darted to the friend in question as she was gestured to, only to return his gaze to the man that was talking. Squaring his shoulders, James waited until he paused and then asked, “What’s it to you if we’ve encountered Cerberus?” Even as he asked this, James couldn’t help but note that the guy’s attempt at a hushed whisper wasn’t very good. Instead it sounded more as if he was shouting when the man finished loudly, "Be travelers to other Worlds by any chance?"

He choked at the question, not quite sure how to answer that. Sure, he knew that he'd been a little loud when talking about Cerberus, but he hadn't thought that he'd been loud enough for someone to figure that fact out. Flushing a little in embarrassment, James spun on his heel and bolted over to his sister, grabbing a hold of her hand, he spun her around and took cover behind his sister, a strangled squeak escaping him as he mumbled, "I think I messed up." Suddenly feeling shy, James did his best to hide behind his sister so the two strangers that had approached them wouldn't be able to see him.

After all, children aren't supposed to talk to strangers.

 

[sephiroth2]

----------------------------------------------------------

The sound of feet clicking against the ground outside the room was enough to cause the cloaked figure to immediately take notice, focusing on that sole sound as it grew louder and more distinct the closer it got to the room.

"Oh... f**k!"

With the sudden and quiet exclaim, the man was already busy trying to make some kind of unnoticeable escape, the swift sweep of his hand causing a dark portal to form at the far end of the room while he tried to scurry up onto his feet, stumbling slightly in the process.

Though the sound of footsteps continued to march forward to the room, it was the seeping black dust under the door’s tiny gap that would have been most troubling if noticed, yet the lightless room was perfect to mask it seeping in through the space before spreading out like tendrils around the outer sides of the room, soon forming back together right in front of the dark portal like a shadow.

Just as the cloaked man was in position to make a run straight through into the swirling portal, the slowly formed shadow suddenly shot up like some kind of jack-in-the-box, a pair of wide purple spheres for some kind of eyes now looking down at the man from its looming 6’’+ height.

“BOO!!”

------------------------------------------------

While Sleif spoke into the communication device since arriving through the gateway, it appeared the only responses he received were in dictated messages, the text appearing across the screen before the man would soon speak again in reply, keeping the entire other side of the conversation hidden.

“Mhmm, that’s right. Getting some kind of energy readings, but this place is screwing up anything specific, even something generally in one area. Going to have to get these things readjusted for these worlds it seems, might be possible the same problem could come up again if we don’t.”

A few more seconds of silence filled the area as Sleif read the next set of replies, the man soon fiddling with some of the little dials on the edges of the device’s frame before swiping his finger along the smooth surface. Two more swipes on the screen soon had him smiling, the image appearing before him now seemingly focused on just one type of energy for the moment. That of Darkness.

“Thanks there Command. This should be good enough until you lot figure out a better way. Counting on you all back there.” It was with that final reply that the device finally seemed to power down a little, the once spread-out frame soon retracting back inwards, hugging tightly around the inner parts of it all, yet still currently working judging by the way Sleif slowly moved it in front of himself.

“Okay now let’s see...got some splotches all over the place, nothing really new there...faint trace from some kind of large group that was pretty far off, hmm, might give that a check lat...woah now, wait a minute...where did you come from big guy…?” It was a slight surprise for the Captain to see such a large reading suddenly just appear, the device telling him whatever it was, it was definitely something strong and large, though the faint echoes of metal clanking about from over the rooftops could have told him that too.

As he continued to watch from the device, the man soon began to move away from the gateway, pushing lightly against one of the two large doorways that was present underneath the hotel’s balconies, allowing him to pass and eventually see through into the Second District, and that of the slow march of a giant floating suit of armor as it made it ways through another alleyway, disappearing gradually out of sight behind the houses.

“Well, you definitely seem to know where you’re going, huh fella?” Said Sleif to himself, the Captain soon slipping out into the Second District proper, making sure to keep his distance as he followed after the Guard Armor, and its slow approach to the Third District.

 

[Lunarmaster54]

Hitomi watched quietly as the man caught sight of her tear streaked face and stumbled, forcing himself to turn right and then fall down after tripping over something. To some it might have been comical but It looked to be rather painful from her perspective. She sniffled, considering going over to help him up but at the same time rather suspicious. This man had tried to attack her in broad daylight! So she just stood there and forced her emotions under control, or at least, she attempted to. The pain was still in her heart, pulsing and burning, and even though she was trying her best not to think about it, the tears wouldn’t stop falling.

“You need to be careful when it comes to strong feelings of negativity” Mami had once told them “Strong feelings of hate or sorrow can sometimes draw the darkness if you aren’t careful, once it’s got a hold of you, it’s hard to get it to let you go.”

Was that what this was? Did the darkness have a hold of her? The very thought of it didn’t do much to calm her down, if anything it was making the pain in her chest even worse than it was a moment ago. Plus was it just her or was the temperature dropping?

"A-Are you okay?" the boy rubbed the back of his head looking a little awkward and Hitomi couldn’t bring herself to speak. She instead crossed her arms and shivered, starting to really worry now. Sure she was sad, who wouldn’t be? But these feelings felt unnatural..they felt like they got too strong, too fast. She wanted to banish away what was causing this but couldn’t bring herself to. If the darkness was going to swallow her then maybe, just maybe, she should let it. What good was a murderer like her for anyway? If she struck up a friendship with this boy then surely, surely he would just wind up dying too.

The boy walked over to her and slowly reached out, brushing some of Hitomi’s tears away. She responded with a flinch and a step back. "The Heartless will devour you if you show weakness, I should know."
“No one would miss me.” Hitomi said quietly, wiping away the rest of her tears. She sniffed and looked down, the cold and hurt not going away even a little.

The door to the mansion opened and Hitomi jumped, panic rising. A boy stepped out of the mansion, a boy that she had never seen before. What was he doing there? Did he know about Mami’s hideout? Her gummi ship? Another feeling, a slow anger started to fill her heart as well. What right did he have to set foot there? What right did he have to desecrate Mami’s place?! If Hitomi had been thinking clearly then maybe she’d consider the fact that the mansion had been standing for many years before the blonde swordsman had set up shop there. But she wasn’t, she was cold and angry and hurting and who were these people?!

The two boys talked for a few seconds before the newcomer walked over to Hitomi, smiling softly and clearly wondering if she was alright. Hitomi’s eyes were on the shadows behind him though. The shadows that were moving around in a very familiar way. In fact this whole scenario was familiar to her now that she thought about it. Tears, a cold feeling, moving shadows, all of it pointed towards a memory Hitomi couldn’t help but obsess over, the reason why she wore this coat and sword.

“They’re here again.” She said, voice filled with despair as the shadows materialized and became the monsters that had been haunting her nightmares ever since Mami had been struck down. The monsters surrounded them, some of them little with big yellow eyes that looked like bugs, others looking humanoid with wicked swords that Hitomi knew could cut through humans like tissue paper.

Shadows and Invisibles. There were even more of them than the last time.

“We’re all going to die.” She said numbly, a voice that sounded like Sayaka filling her ears.

You are all going to die and it’s once again all because of you!

 

[HyperShadic]

It was just Alexandra’s luck to be stuck with the jack-in-the-box, Gnostos. Not that she had any real problems with any of the others it was just that well, frankly speaking, Gnostos was weird, and his jokey nature was somewhat off putting. And asking her to stand here on the other side of the door he went through was odd. But she humored him for no real reason. With an ear to the door she heard him go “Boo!” She shook her head, now who was he reveling himself to? She sighed on the other side of the door and counted to 6, before accidentally ripping the door off its hinges and turning to her companion and asking, “Don’t you think it would be better if we kept a low profile Gnostos?” Turning to the person Gnost was trying or succeeding to scare and staring at him, “I am sorry about my friend, please . . . “ Alexandra took a closer look at the persons face before commenting, “Aoi? What was your purpose in coming here? You are supposed to be on a mission.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Theo stared at the man as he came up and extended his hand, causing him to chuckle and use his left to raise his right arm into the man’s grip to shake, “Sorry, it’s kind of useless,” he spoke giving a few small laughs, his right arm throbbing twice in the process. When his arm finally came to a rest he spoke to the man, “I think you’ve yet to introduce yourself ‘Mr. Researcher’. It is rude to keep your host waiting after all.” Unfortunately, at that point his head throbbed and he could hear a voice conveying sarcastic sadness, “Awwww, come on Theo aren’t ya going to introduce me to your new pals?” Theo had to clutch his head for a moment while the voice spoke. Quickly shaking it clear when it was done.

 

[Eternal Dream]

~- Thanks for the Reminder -~

"Hello!"

Juliet had been two seconds away from telling James and Cyrus both off when the man's voice rang out. Blowing a quick breath of air, the goth spun on her heel to face the stranger, her head tilting to the side when she saw his companion standing just a little behind him. Was that a moogle...?

"Sorry about this, but my friend here-says she overheard you talking about Cerberus? Would you, uh... Be travelers to other Worlds by any chance?"

Go figure, that was the exact moment that James' bravado decided to abandon him. Squeaking softly, he whipped behind Jewel, taking just the barest instant to flip his Assassin hood up to cover his eyes before burying his face in the back of her shirt. Juliet heard the soft laugh that rumbled in Cy's chest as he came to stand closer to her right side.

"I think I messed up."

"You're just fine, James. He's just curious," Juliet said, trying to get her brother to calm down some. Shaking her head, she looked to the man and said, "Kind of. Our world was destroyed, so we're more like refugees trying to find a new place to fit in, though."

Yeah, talk about the fastest way to bring the mood down. Smooth move, Jewel.

~- Gathering -~

Aoi? What was your purpose in coming here? You are supposed to be on a mission.

"Well, well. It would appear that we have ourselves quite the little gathering, would it not?"

The voice was smooth and dark, just the barest edge of a laugh to be heard in the sound. Stepping from a shadowed corner, one final cloaked figure joined the impromptu gathering, bringing their numbers from three to four. Shrugging her shoulders, the newcomer slipped the hood from her head and the folds of her cloak back, revealing the lithe figure of Rae, the VIII member of the Embodiment.

Rae leaned backward, her shoulders coming to rest against the wall as a soft smile brushed at the corners of her mouth. Her eyes firmly glued on Aoi, she admonished, "Really now, number VII, I thought that even you, our resident slacker, knew when to stay on a mission. What could be so important that you would throw caution to the wind and disregard the Superior's orders?"

~- Angel with a Shotgun -~

“We’re all going to die.”

The Heartless grew bold on the girl's negativity. An Invisible crept forward, its grip shifting on the massive sword it held in its fist.

It floated to a stop though as a feather landed in front of it. For a moment, it stared at the feather, confusion flitting across its black face. After a moment, another feather landed in the ground, this time in front of a Shadow; soon, a small shower of feathers fell into the clearing, each one landing in front of a Heartless.

"You might want to get down."

The warning rang through the clearing just as multiple explosions erupted, each of the feathers going up in a puff of fire and a 'bang'. The older of the boys jumped to the side, dragging the younger one down with him, while the girl continued to just stand there.

A form dropped out of the sky, landing with a soft whisper of wind before bringing her wings around the other girl. Selene made sure the feathers were hardened, protecting the girl from the explosions. Softly, she muttered to herself, "Well, looks like activity has increased here, too. At this rate, Twilight Town just might go the way of Traverse Town.

"And you," she said in a sterner voice, looking straight at the girl as Selene moved her wings away, "Need to focus on the here and now. Whatever problems you might have aren't to be dismissed, but they need to be saved for a moment when you're not gonna get someone killed. Got it?"

 

[Mason Stark]

[I completely forgot to post this (probably 'cause I just got the idea today whoops lol), but Aoi is extremely loyal to the Embodiment. He completes every mission without fail, so the fact that he's in Traverse Town without completing his mission means that something's up because it's extremely out of character for him. Just so you know! ]

The young man started cursing even more under his breath, watching as a shadow started to stretch along the alleyway's walls. He snapped his fingers faster, beaconing and pleading to the dark portal to just freakin' open already but it was definitely taking its sweet time to do that!

"C'mon... c'mon!!" he hissed, giving another snap to hurry the darkness up as the portal started to swirl open just enough for him to step through, "Why the heck is this taking so damn long--?!"

BOO!!

"AHHH!!"

Everyone in the district probably heard that. No, everyone in the entire world probably heard that. Leaping probably a good foot off the ground, the teen whirled around, breathing fast. There, looking like some sort of bizarre movie monster, was a shadowed figure with big, purple eyes.

He didn't care who or what this damn thing was. All he wanted to do was beat it up.

"Are you f**king kidding me?!" he said, grabbing the figure's collar and throwing a punch at his shoulder; it was more of a pathetic punch, but it was a jab nonetheless, and this continued on for a few moments. Even though the figure was six feet tall, he was still an inch or two shorter than the shadow, making the intimidation of the beast go down just a little bit; still, if it was any taller, he probably would've been a little less angry and a little more terrified.

"F**K YOU!!" he screamed, throwing another jab, "I hate you so damn much, you piece of--!!"

Don’t you think it would be better if we kept a low profile Gnostos?

The man blinked, turning and staring wide-eyed at the figure behind Gnostos.

His voice reduced to a tiny squeak, he said, "Oh f**k..."

I am sorry about my friend, please . . . Aoi? What was your purpose in coming here? You are supposed to be on a mission.

"H-Hey there, Alexandra! Gnostos, you too! S-Sorry 'bout that whole... um... thing, you really scared me, heh," he laughed, quickly releasing Gnostos' collar and even patting it back into place.

With a scoff, he folded his arms, wearing a big, confident, there-is-nothing-bad-going-on-here-i-don't-know-what-you're-talking-about grin.

"Mission? Phft, I finished that hours ago!" he laughed, waving his hand before stuffing his hands into his pockets, "Y'know me -- I always finish missions as soon as I get 'em, y'know? Besides, it was a really simple recon mission, no big deal!

"The more important question is what're you guys doing here?" he said, "Did you guys really get sent out to dead dump like this?"

Well, well. It would appear that we have ourselves quite the little gathering, would it not?

Oh great... This just keeps getting better... Slinking out of the darkness was none other than Rae, and just the sight of her made Aoi snarl, tensing his fists tight.

Really now, number VII, I thought that even you, our resident slacker, knew when to stay on a mission. What could be so important that you would throw caution to the wind and disregard the Superior's orders?

"Um, excuse me, bitch?" he snapped, give a little laugh. He stabbed a finger at the woman and, as he spoke, it seemed like his eyes were starting to glow, "I would never, ever betray the Superior's orders and, if you think that I would, you can kindly go f--"

CLANG!

"Huh?" Beneath the shadow of his hood, the man looked up, hearing some sort of metallic stomping. Upon hearing the sound again, he looked back towards the opposite end of the alleyway and he could've sworn he saw some sort of giant monster or something. And, upon seeing a giant, metal gauntlet and boot, he realized his suspicions were right after all!

Emerald eyes bright, a big grin cracked onto his features.

"A boss level Heartless..." he muttered, giving a laugh, "Oh, this is perfect..."

The Heartless was heading down the alleyway, straight to the Third District! His plan was already setting itself into motion and he didn't even need to do anything!

"Well, I'll catch you guys back at the castle! See ya!" he waved goodbye to the trio and hopped through the portal as it swirled out of sight.

-------------------​

Rena concluded her little experiment, accepting the fact that this Keyblade thing wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. Still, it seemed silly to carry it around, especially right now. There wasn't anything happening, no reason to fight at that moment. Still, she was so perplexed by what had just happened that she wasn't even sure how to react to the situation; was she supposed to be relieved that the monsters were gone or supposed to be all super serious and question these guys with Derrick? To be honest, she barely paid any mind to the newcomers -- Theo and the other guy -- thanks to everything that just happened with the Keyblade.

clang!

"Hmm?" the girl looked up towards the night sky, blinking. Wait... did she hear something?

clang!

Yeah, it sounded like some big, metal clunky thing!

First, there was a scream, then the stomping metallic sound got louder, as if it was coming closer. The odd chorus of sounds put Rena a little bit on edge, so much that her grip on the Keyblade grew tighter.

"Umm... Derrick...?" she piped up, hesitantly stepping closer towards the stairway.

clang!

"What's..."

"Heartless!!"

[♫ the deep end]

The girl panicked, stumbling back upon hearing the scream. Suddenly, a cloaked figure, their features hidden by the shadow of their hood, burst down the stairs, vaulting over the wall and sliding into the centre of the district.

"You guys gotta move, now!" the newcomer snapped at the group, stabbing a finger towards the Second District. He ripped a pistol out of his pocket, loading it and readying it for the oncoming battle, "There's a huge Heartless coming and it's trying to destroy the whole damn town!"

 

[Aphex]

One of the men had introduced himself, going by the name of Theo. The other however, had yet to do the same.

"I am a researcher, studying the Worlds. I was intrigued by this one when I heard about it - a World for those fleeing the Heartless - and felt compelled to visit it, but, uh, well..."

Instead of saying his name, he revealed himself to be some kind of researcher.

"I must confess, I wasn't expecting Heartless to be here, too. When they arrived I was so frightened, I... goodness, thank you all so much. That strange gloom appeared and followed me, and in my fear it took me some time to activate one of my 'Light Bombs' and get rid of them, yes. Why, if you all hadn't been here, goodness knows what might of happened? I might have been turned into a Heartless too!"

Still didn't get an answer as to what was his name but it was close enough. Though he had explained as to what had happened to him which led up to them meeting one another, Derrick was still one edge about the man. That cloud... he was in it and it was also a spawning pool for the Heartless which seemed extremely suspicious but he did get rid of them with that 'Light Bomb' he mentioned before.

"Okay... but what's your name? Again, the boy wanted answers, unaware of Rena's little 'experiment' happening behind him. The creature from before hopped down from his shoulders, its red tail swaying back and forth rapidly as it piqued up.

"I'm Gigimon!" Hopping in place, thinking that the goggle-headed teen was referring to it instead of the man. "Sorry for the later greeting but it's a pleasure to meet ya!"

CLANG!

A loud sound echoed from behind the gates that led to the Second District followed by a yell.

"Heartless!!"

A hooded figure vaulted over the ledge and landed before the group, their features concealed by the hood of their cloak.

"You guys gotta move, now! There's a huge Heartless coming and it's trying to destroy the whole damn town!"

A Heartless that threatened the town? Teeth bared, gritting, Derrick rushed past the entire group and ran up the ramp towards the Second District.

"Not on my watch!" Skidding to a halt, Keyblade grasped tightly in his hand, the boy took a step towards the gate as it burst open, revealing an armored beast behind it. Taken aback, the Keyblade started to lower itself as Derrick stood there in disbelief by the sight of it, watching as a pair of gauntlets circulated around its torso. The helm tilted back and forth as its beady yellow eyes snapped onto the boy, one of its Hammerlegs lifting up and shot towards him.

"Gah!" Throwing his Keyblade up in front of him to guard against the attack, the blow had such force that it lifted the boy off of his feet and over the wall! He fell from such a height that as he slammed back first against the center below, Derrick had bounced and flopped onto his stomach, the Shadow's Requiem sliding along the ground next to him.

His arms shook as he started to push himself off of the ground, back throbbing immensely as Derrick struggled to breathe a bit. "Th... that's the last time... I try to be a hero..."

 

[Mason Stark]

Before Rena had any time to think, Derrick leapt into action, racing up the stairway to apprehend the oncoming threat before it made it to the Third District. That left her wondering what to do next -- was she supposed to wait here or be all heroic and follow, too?

"I-is it a scary Heartless?" Rena said, turning to the newcomer.

Focusing on the door and bracing himself into a battle position, the young man replied, "Yeah, pretty intimidating, but not something unbeatable, at least."

The girl followed suit, trying to figure out what kind of battle position she was supposed to stand in as she waited for the monster to come.

"Yeah, that's--"

Gah!

Her gaze shot up. Moments later, there was a goggle-headed boy flying over the wall and back towards the ground.

Watching the scene unfold, the man couldn't help but be a little impressed. Rather than, y'know, feeling bad about the situation, he muttered an off-hand comment under his breath.

"Huh, kinda majestic... like an eagle, piloting a blimp..."

SLAM!

"Derrick!"

Rena panicked, racing over her friend and nearly dropping her Keyblade while doing so. She had almost made it to the boy's side when a hand snapped onto her arm.

"Move, kid!"

She blinked, "Huh?"

The girl was ripped back and fell backwards onto the ground with an 'oof!', just as one of the hammerlegs slammed down on the ground -- where Rena was seconds ago!

"Gotta watch what you're doing, kid!" snapped the man, racing past the girl. He started firing bullets at the hammerleg, which had fallen right next to Derrick as well. The rest of the Heartless was starting to crawl over the wall and into the centre of the district.

Shaking off the scare, Rena scrambled to her feet, readying her Keyblade and trying her best to act brave. The problem was... well... she didn't really know what to do. She had sparred before, sure, but fighting with wooden swords on the beach was not the same as fighting a big giant, scary monster.

"Ahh!"

She slammed her Keyblade in the air, hastily blocking one of the gauntlets that had shot at her.

The Heartless wasn't going to wait around for her to figure out how to fight -- she needed to do something, now!

[yay for portal references :'D]

 

[HyperShadic]

Theo was rather distracted to say the least what with the strange red creature that seemed to be able to talk, and that scream.

Clang

Huh, what was . . . . .

Heartless!

He turned to the newcomer, who seemed to be in a hurry, here, and telling them to run to the second district. Now Theo didn’t move from his spot already suspicious of the newcomer. He also needed to figure out what he meant by heartless, most likely he was referring to the black creatures. The Derrick went flying over his head. He was about to rush over to him when the foot, he guessed, attempted to stomp on the girl and then attempted to stomp on the boy. Drawing his blade he readied for the creature which was essentially living armor. “Yes let’s run to the giant monster he’s running from, brilliant idea boy,” he said to Derrick as he blocked a fist that was swung at him. The blow still lifted him and sent him back a few feet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alexandra wasn’t quite convinced by Aoi’s performance. He was far too nervous, not that he wasn’t always trying hard to be cool, but he had sounded a tad nervous when they had met. After Aoi left she turned towards Rae, “Must you antagonize him? We all have the same goal, do we not?” She sighed crossing her arms her head now bowed in thought before turning back to Gnost, “Do you think he was acting strange Gnost? I wonder where he was headed to in such a hurry?” She shook her head to banish the thoughts, Aoi had only acted only slightly stranger than usual and had been nothing but loyal to the embodiment. She turned back to Rea, "So Rae how goes your mission?"

 

[Eventua]

Radiant Garden

​

Gadele chuckled as the boy ran away.

"I think I messed up," he whispered.

Gadele shook his head a little before turning to the teenagers, smiling warmly and giving a slow bow. The girl spoke up - from her poise and the way the boy hid behind her, she seemed to be 'in charge', so Gadele focused his eye contact on her.

"Kind of. Our world was destroyed, so we're more like refugees trying to find a new place to fit in, though."

The giant bit his lip, as if trying to snag the rising sensation of 'you too' before it escaped from his mouth as a gasp. Instead, he just sighed a little.

"I see..." he rumbled, "I'm sorry to hear that, to have lost so much while so young."

I was not so much older, though.

He raised his right hand to shake them all one by one, before giving a wide grin.

"Well, I - Gadele - and my friend - Mogoni - are travelling, uh... helpers? Adventurers? Heroes?"

"... Mercenaries?" chipped in Mogoni, before hastily mumbling 'kupo' as if she'd forgotten that was what Moogles say.

"Yeah, something like that. Anyway, we came here to collect supplies for our next journey, but since you all seem like you need help, we could stay a little longer-"

He winked at the Moogle, whose eyes were wide with excitement, starting to excitedly hop up and down like a hyperactive child.

"-and, well, help you out. Maybe try and find a place for you all to stay, or if you have a particular place you wanted to visit, we can give you a lift in our-"

"My!"

"... Mogoni's Gummi Ship."

-----

Traverse Town

​

Jotin gave something of an awkward smile as Theo had to lift his right arm with his left to meet the shake. To fight even with a broken right arm? Hmm...

“I think you’ve yet to introduce yourself ‘Mr. Researcher’. It is rude to keep your host waiting after all.”

"Oh, ahem, well, my name is-"

Think of something, keep a low profile, don't say anything too weir-

"Theo. Yes, that's my name - what a funny coincidence! But, uh, but you can call me John."

... You're a moon-suckered moron sometimes, dear chap.

As Theo started reacting to some sort of headache, the sensors in Jotin's goggles started going crazy. The 'Light that wasn't a Light' was doing... something, and it was emitting faint signals of radiation that indicated...

Brain activity? But how can he have two brains? In the absence of Heartless, this-
Clang

"... Hmm...?"

Clang

"Wait, is that...?"

Clang!

"Why yes! Those sound like the footsteps of a-"

"HEARTLESS!"

Jotin did an admirable job of containing his excitement, readjusting his goggles as some ominous cloaked figure burst through the massive gates of the District and vaulted over the stairs towards them.

"You guys gotta move, now!" said the cloaked stranger as he pointed at the gates and drew his weapons, and Jotin couldn't help but smile widely. "There's a huge Heartless coming and it's trying to destroy the whole damn town!"

Jotin had to bite his lip quite hard to stop himself from giggling like a small child in a candy store. His lips couldn't help but curl and spread out, cracked teeth bared, as the gates were smashed open by... yes, by the very thing he'd hoped to see at some point on his trip. Except now he could observe it in its most perfect environment - On the hunt.
Huge, rounded arms and legs of metal like hammers and maces. A rich mixture of different purples and pinks and subtle grays - its appearance at once both a tribute to and a mockery of great chivalrous knights. Its whole body a night impregnable suit of armour - a weapon, an animal, a Heart in its purest sense now free of the constraints of the mind and body, so...

So perfect.

"My my, a Guard Armour?" he laughed loudly, finally unable to contain his excitement as the battle began, watching as one of the great Armour's legs crashed just a few meters away from him. Taking just a few steps back, he further adjusted his goggles, picking up statistics on everything - its speed, its angles and trajectory, its structural integrity, its kinetic output with each strike... a smorgasbord of data.

And, lucky for him, it was far more focused on the Keyblade wielders and gung-ho soldier types than some dork in goggles.

Oh goodness, just like I remember from that World with the sword and a stone and, eugh, I think there was a wizard? What a ghastly awful place that was till this beauty showed up... what a sight that was.

As the warriors dealt blow after blow against it, however, he couldn't help but snarl a little.

At this rate it wont last more than five minutes... and...

The boy with the Keyblade took a solid hit from the Heartless and tumbled, the girl following to try and help him. He gritted his teeth.

"... Wait a second."

The Keyblade is the one thing that can permanently destroy a Heartless, and two Keyblade wielders are right here, distracted. One is injured and stunned, the other is an inexperienced girl...

He turned to the Guard Armour and smirked, before running over to the girl.

"Girl, follow me! I can get us out of here, and you're too inexperienced with that weapon! You need to be protected so you can continue the... the good fight, yes! The boy will be fine, he can obviously handle himself, as can Theo and this stranger!"

He gestured to a back alleyway, a place clearly too small for the Guard Armour to reach as he started running towards the girl. His Heart flared ever so slightly with Darkness as he reached into his robes, drawing the knife. She was distracted, yes...

I can't allow such a pointlessly dangerous weapon to continue, girl...

"I know you must be concerned for them, but please! Escape with me-"

He ran towards her as another hit came in close, gasping as the ground exploded from the impact of the punch, launching him forwards. He coughed as he awkwardly got to his feet, his goggles cracked and his robes dusty. He heard another loud clang ring out, and its foot landed inches from him, the shockwave dragging him from his feet and pushing him backwards towards the edge of the District.

Gritting his teeth, he watched through purple lenses as the battle unfolded. His mind went into overdrive, but it became readily apparent that he was not going to be destroying the Keyblade under these circumstances at all. Nor was studying the Guard Armour really possible while it was on a rampage, so... well.

My whole body, eugh... okay, plan B - get out of dodge. I'll have to stomach the Keyblade's presence a little longer, but I need to get out of here before I get killed.

Crawling as fast as he could on all fours, he made his way around the edges of the district towards the stairs leading up to the Second District, now that the Guard Armour was again more heavily focused on the others.

 

[Eternal Dream]

~- Hunter -~

"Um, excuse me, bitch? I would never, ever betray the Superior's orders and, if you think that I would, you can kindly go f--"

Rae couldn't help herself; she started laughing again, continuing to do so even as Aoi became distracted by the presence of a strong Heartless and rushed off. Still giggling softly, she whispered to herself, even though he was no longer there to hear her, "While that idea may prove to be an enjoyable, I never said you betrayed your orders, VII. I was simply curious as to what could have derailed you from your mission."

Must you antagonize him? We all have the same goal, do we not?

Rae turned to face the other woman, her laugh freezing somewhat in her throat as she said coolly, "And yet, he makes it so easy to get under his skin, always jumping to false conclusions, that it is impossible to pass up on a moment to have a bit of fun. Forgive me if I decide to indulge, instead of being a bore like yourself, Alexandra."

So Rae how goes your mission?

Choosing to ignore her, Rae instead turned to Gnostos. Sweeping an elegant curtsy, the red haired Nobody murmured sweetly, "I have been tracking a most, interesting individual of late, and he appears to be near the location that the Heartless has just appeared in. So, if you will kindly excuse me, I am afraid that I need to take example from Aoi and depart."

And with barely a whisper of darkness, the summoner was gone.

~- Running for Daylight -~

"I see... I'm sorry to hear that, to have lost so much while so young."

Cyrus noticed the way the man bit his lip before that statement, keeping his answer shorter then what it could have been. The teen was almost certain that the man was like them, set adrift thanks to the Heartless. Not that surprising, really; too many worlds had fallen to those monsters, and those that escaped the destruction were all in the same boat.

The man then went on to introduce himself and his companion, extending an offer of assistance to the three kids if they wanted it. Jewel slid a glance up at Cy, green eyes meeting blue as an unspoken question passed between the two of them. Cy nodded his head, raising one finger at the same time.

Turning back to Gadele, Juliet said, "That would be kind of nice, actually. We're all kind of tired, so having some extra company for a bit would be great. We just need to restock on a few supplies, first. My name's Juliet, and this is my little brother James." She pointed behind herself to where James was just starting to get over his fit enough to peek around her side.

Meanwhile, Cy extended his hand to take Gadele's offered one as he said softly, "My name's Cyrus."

~- Wolf Pack -~

The Guard Armor was starting in a pretty good rampage, causing a dangerous environment for the people that were gathered near it. It kept stomping around, doing its best to stun its prey long enough to deliver the final blow that would separate their hearts from their bodies, releasing the food that would momentarily ease its never ending hunger.

As one of the men fell to the ground from a shock wave caused by its massive foot falling to the ground again, a sharp growl rang through the district, catching the attention of a few of the combatants for just a brief moment. A dark blur shot forward, leaping at the Heartless with teeth bared. The wolf landed on one of its gauntlets, racing up its arm to take a snap at its head before jumping off again so that the Heartless couldn't smack the wolf away.

Colt watched from a short distance away, his golden eyes wide as he hid in the shadows. He hated leaving Roanoke to fight for him, and seeing that girl try to defend herself when she didn't seem to know what she was doing made him want to be stupid and run out there to help. But he couldn't. He was even smaller than she was, and he knew all he'd be able to do was get in the way. So he clutched his dagger, keeping a close eye out for Shadows and Soldiers, and did the only thing he could while Roanoke helped the fighters.

He waited.

 

[sephiroth2]

--------------------------------------------------

If the large looming shadow thing could smirk, it would probably have a grin reaching as wide as its head, the reaction from Aoi, both his scream and jump, was exactly what it wanted. Hysterical laughter began to bellow out from the mouthless shadow, even as Aoi proceeded to punch and grab anything he could from what was before him. Every punch seemed to just displace the dark particles, while his grasping of the things collar region seemed to be the only kind of real contact the Hooded man could get.

At the sign of the large door suddenly being retched from its hinges, the action immediately caused both Aoi and the purple-eyed shadow to freeze in their positions, both focused now on the large figure that now entered.

“Don’t you think it would be better if we kept a low profile Gnostos? I am sorry about my friend, please . . . Aoi? What was your purpose in coming here? You are supposed to be on a mission.” Spoke the newly arrived Alexandra, whose presence immediately caused Aoi to feel tiny as he released the grip of the shadow’s collar.

"H-Hey there, Alexandra! Gnostos, you too! S-Sorry 'bout that whole... um... thing, you really scared me, heh," Said Aoi, apologizing as best as he could with the situation. Stretching fully out from the shadows, the remaining particles soon joined with the looming shadow, and as if now complete, finally took on a clearly solid presence within the room, the once 6’’+ height immediately lowering so the now real cloak trailed behind the now smaller figure.

“That’s what I was hoping for! You have such a fun scream!! I bet there’s some people on the next world that didn’t get a good listen still!!!” Said Gnostos, the figure laughing so much that the familiar hood fell back, revealing the familiar mask the man wore, his dirty and exceptionally dry blonde hair just barely moving even with his wild head movements.

“Well, well. It would appear that we have ourselves quite the little gathering, would it not?”

The new voice immediately caused a small happy gasp to erupt from Gnostos, the masked man looking around for the person it belonged too, and not too long after did the form of Rae, Embodiment number VII, appear.

Gnostos merely stood in place, always loving the way both Rae and Aoi acted with one another, each one clearly getting under the others skin, although more one sided than most other times. Still, it was like watching some kind of staged play, and Gnostos always made sure to be there to watch.

Soon the sound of something large marching outside caused Aoi to leave the little “group meeting”, and while the conversation wasn’t as interesting without the perfect actor to be the butt of Rae’s twisted words, it was clear the summoner would leave too.

Before that though, Rae performed a rather elegant curtsy before Gnostos, allowing her to lean in close enough for the Masked man to hear her.

"I have been tracking a most, interesting individual of late, and he appears to be near the location that the Heartless has just appeared in. So, if you will kindly excuse me, I am afraid that I need to take example from Aoi and depart."

While the mask’s molded lips were fashioned in a rather neutral form, one could always imagine the happy smirk as Gnostos listened to Rae’s words.

“Always such a tease. You’ve got to tell me more later.” Said Gnostos, laughing as Rae disappeared from the room, leaving both himself and the imposing Alexandra.

“Do you think he was acting strange Gnost? I wonder where he was headed to in such a hurry?”

Shrugging his shoulders, the much shorter Gnostos walked up to Alexandra, easily managing to slip past her and out into the alleyway they both had come through, the Masked man causing the trailing cloak of his to part a little and revealing the rather old and tattered outfit beneath it, along with the clinging sabres that clung around his waist.

“He’s always acting strange! It’s why it’s so funny to mess with him!! Everything makes him so darn jumpy! But if anything he’s probably gone off to where all that noise was coming from…” Said Gnostos, boredly flinging his marble white hand towards the other end of the alley, the same direction where a whole lot of clanking metal and crashes were now erupting.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Sleif had to admit the large Guard Armor seemed rather used to the tightness of the streets through the town, its massive form easily passing the rows of houses and shops without even scraping against one, though that just seemed to show it had a destination clearly in mind, and that usually didn’t mean anything good, especially with these symbol types.

Turning one of the last corners immediately caused the Captain to suddenly step backwards and out of sight of the Heartless, his back firmly pressing against the corner’s wall before he dared to take another look around. The long stretch of street which lead to the district’s exit was no good for the tall man, the Guard Armor most likely spotting him before either even reached the gates, and ruining trying to find out where it would be going to.

Glancing around an alternative soon showed up, the tiny gap between some of the buildings just ahead of Sleif clearly showing signs of some kind of wider alleyway through it, and hopefully a way to enter the next district without gaining the Heartless’ attention. While it would have been a natural course to try and squeeze through the gap to reach the alley, the Captain seemed to have a better idea.

Testingly tapping his heel on the ground, a sudden brief purple spark appeared just before Sleif leapt higher than any normal person should have been possible to do, the Captain landing on top of the taller roofs before leaping once more down into the newly accessed alleyway. The gently glide allowed the tall man to safely touch back down onto solid ground, the faint glow that was present along his boots fading away before he started to quickly run down the alley, trying his best to make up the time and distance the Heartless had on him.

Reaching the end of the alley, and this time choosing to just slip through the gap of the building, Sleif turned to pass through the now demolished doors, but was further delayed by someone ramming into him.

Stumbling backwards a bit, but managing not to fall to the ground, the Captain shook his head as if trying to knock away any sort of shock from the collision.

“Oh, sorry there...listen, you didn’t happen to see a kind of giant ghostly floating suit of armor pass through here…?” Asked Sleif as he reached out with his gloved hand to help the man up, the Captain taken notice of the cracked goggles and dusty clothes, though the sound of large heaps of metal clattering around ahead brought his attention back.

“It’s alright, think I found it!!” Called out the Captain as he ran past Jotin and onto the raised level of the third district. The scene of others fighting the Guard Armor had Sleif both worried and also impressed, knowing personally how feral the Heartless could get when suddenly given sources of hearts on an otherwise empty word. One particular scene immediately caught his now undivided attention though. Not that of the two older warriors, even though one was fully cloaked, or that of the dark blur that seemed to pull the Torso’s attention away from the others. No, it was that of the stopping feet of the Heartless, one just barely missing that of a young girl and boy.

Without a second thought the Captain leapt over the raised wall, the same purple glow appearing around his feet as he quietly landed on the tough ground of the district, before racing towards the site of the feet and young man and girl. While the Guard Armor’s feet were momentarily dazed after missing their target, it took a few seconds for them to finally right themselves up, the immensely heavy boots jumping into the air ready to crush those in their sights. Yet it never happened. Merely hanging there in the air after they jumped, the feet floated around weightlessly, as if gravity had suddenly disappeared from around them, and allowing the tall man to protectively stand guard for Rena.

“Hey there, you and your friend alright?”

 

[Eventua]

Traverse Town

​

Okay, okay... phew.

He breathed a deep sigh of relief as he crept through the door between the Third and Second Districts and made his way down one of the seemingly infinite number of ramshackle, decaying alleyways. Were he an architect or genuinely interested in the Worlds, perhaps he might have enjoyed spending time in such a place.

But he wasn't, so he didn't. Slowly brushing himself off and pausing to take a few deep breathes, he was promptly knocked flat on his back by a stranger, the goggles falling from his eyes. Without them, as usual, his dull and faded eyes left things blurry...

More foolhardy warriors... he grimaced, getting to his feet as the man dashed off to further help with the murder of such a beautiful creature.

Once the man was out of earshot, he sat himself down on an old box and sighed, rubbing his eyes and squinting as he tried to get a better look at the damage to his goggles. His lips started to tremble slightly as he peered, and a terrible thought came into his head.

Are they broken?

"This... this wont do at all? I... why today? I come to this place and finally find an interesting Heartless, and..."

He gritted his teeth.

"Keyblade," abomination, "... oh goodness, what have I done?"

He gazed back in the direction of the District, the sounds of battle already so distant. No doubt the Guard Armour would soon be beaten, and...

He practically choked on the thought of it.

"It's... eugh, how can they all be so selfish?!" he cried, getting up and kicking the wall. The pain was immediate, and he couldn't help but clutch his foot, sitting down again and gently breathing on the shoe as if that would somehow help.

"They... I get it, 'survival instinct' and all that, but they so futilely cling to the Light! They destroy the Heartless with that wretched weapon and proclaim themselves heroes! Eugh, it, argh, why...?! Why?!"

Ooh, how he wanted to hit something. He considered the wall, but quickly reconsidered and just slumped onto the boxes again, sighing deeply as he put his head in his hands, slowly dragging his face through them, cracked skin peeling slightly and flaking off in tiny particles.

I can't destroy the Keyblade, that's... eugh, that's nonsense. Maybe I'll just get lucky and the wretched thing will just disappear again for no reason? It did that once before, after all...

He sighed again, before getting out his notebook and checking his watching. Turning the dial on his dagger, he made a single small note, reading it out loud as he wrote it down:

"The Keyblades are coming back. Will need to be cautious when visiting new Worlds for Heartless strains. Cons: There's now a bunch of idiot teenagers running around who can permanently destroy Heartless,"

He quickly looked over his shoulder towards the Third District.

"WHICH IS A FUTILE ENDEAVOR THAT WONT ACTUALLY CHANGE THE FUTURE!" I'm really glad they probably can't hear that.

Then he turned back to his notebook, coughing into his hand.

"Pros: This will probably lead to an increase in the Heartless, including new types designed to combat the Keyblade and its wielders? Interesting hypothesis - needs further investigation."

He sighed, before continuing.

"Cons: This will probably lead to an increase in open action by the Nobodies."

He shuddered. If there was one thing worse than the beauty of a human Heart bound by frail bodies, bizarre rules, social constructs and needless 'intelligence', it was all of the worst things about human beings without the Heart...

-----


Radiant Garden​

Gadele nodded at each of them after taking Cyrus's hand.

"Juliet, James, Cyrus. Pleased to meet you all. And I agree - company is always appreciated, especially when in a strange place."

He gestured back to the entrance to the waterways from where the two of them had come, and started walking towards it.

"That way is the market. I was surprised how cheap everything was, actually."

---​

As the group headed for the market, Mogoni was quick to walk alongside James while Gadele excitedly told Juliet and Cyrus about the differences between the architecture on his home world and the waterways.

"So you see," he rumbled, "back on my homeworld, we didn't have access to enough stone to produce great buildings like this. Between that and the heat, we mostly made our homes from sand, mud, wood or straw. Not very durable," he laughed, "but kept you cool in the long summers. We still carved some pretty impressive temples, though. Why, it reminds me of-"

And so he rambled.

Meanwhile, Mogoni was quite... eager, about talking to James.

"Hey! Sorry to frighten you back there, but I just overheard by accident," she gestured to her ears, "side-effects of being a moogle, ya know?"


She gestured to his hood.

"Nice hood, by the way. It looks pretty cool, like an assassin or somethin'!"

 

[Professor Ven]

II: Gift From No One​

Xanatos stood as still as a statue next to a brick chimney, arms still folded behind him, form concealed by the night. His gaze loomed over the Third District from a high enough elevation to afford the greatest discretion, as he observed the various peoples in the Third District. Like flies to honey, they are drawn to that fabled weapon of ruin, and not to the hand who holds it. None of those beings below have any true loyalty to the bearer of the Keyblade, only to the device.

A waste of an existence; remove the Wielders below, and others will be chosen, ceremony or no. Such has time shown, again and again. Better to slowly filter them out, and purge as needed. There was once a Castle where such a plan began; and there is no memory witch or traitor (as of yet) to cause backfire.

That girl is the Key.

Xanatos opened a gateway, as he had to come to this rooftop a moment after the Heartless had crossed over into the Third District, and entered it. It sealed behind him as he appeared in the First District, in an alley facing the west side of the Accessory Shop. It would not do to be seen as a villain. It's been seen too many times for there to ever be an exception. The gateways operated similar to the Corridors of Darkness which powerful Nobodies - those who retained their human forms, at least - could conjure, but gateways were specific only to Xanatos. And for another reason; not causing erosion of Darkness upon a user's Heart.

The rest of these XIII Embodiment that I am unfortunately forced to deal with . . . more or less . . . will need to be monitored. It would be wise to ensure that those children know only of Heartless. I do not need another generation-long confinement to the undergrounds of the Known Universe simply because of a lack of competency. It's difficult enough as it is, finding true allies among the Worlds.


Xanatos opened the door to the Accessory Shop, and greeted the fellow behind the counter with unusual congeniality. Reaching a hand into his coat, he pulled out a large bag of Munny, setting it on the table. "I have a task I need done, only something simple. Ensure this reaches a young girl, who bears a Keyblade; she will no doubt stop by here at some point." Xanatos pulled out a simple red lanyard, with a charm at the end - a simple black cat doll. "Tell her a friend left it. It should aid her on her journey. And if she does not arrive here, I will return to collect it." And if she takes it, all for the better; if not, I have countless others collected over the years, from across Worlds and Planes of Existence.

Xanatos left the shop as cordially as possible after the shopkeeper had counted out the Munny and placed it into the register, and the keychain inside a display case on top of the counter, where it could be seen by all who entered the Accessory Shop. If the girl takes it, she will at least be easier to track across the Worlds.

Xanatos opened another gateway as he walked into the alley, this time to a long, seemingly endless stairway inside a tower, with no railings around the center or even windows; only columns stood every fifth step for structural logic. The stairway seemed to reach up and down endlessly, and a door stood in the wall every two steps. Cold white light from glowbulbs that stood on either side of every single door, bathing the dark granite stairway in a harsh color - or rather, what little light remained that wasn't soaked up by the rock's darkness. The gateway shut behind him as quickly as it had appeared.

Calmly approaching the nearest door, Xanatos opened it, and entered a room filled top to bottom with endless amounts of bookshelves, and tall, wheeled ladders to reach the top of them in their respective places. Glowbulbs sat at every desk, and the table he walked over to held a small pile of papers and parchments, and several open books. A metal, fluted flask stood on the right of the information mass. He sat down, and began to read.