~- Your Face is Like Winter -~
Cecilia frowned at Astral, trying not to get too irritated with his lack of answer to her question. She glanced at the ceiling again as the speakers crackled to life once more; to deliver another message. One that seriously did not sit well with her as a voice announced, #Warning. All Personnel Prepare For Decimation Program: Designation Incena. Ion Cannons Configured And Targeted On Designation Incena Growths. Warning. All Personnel Prepare For Decimation Program Activation. Three...Two...One...Firing Main Cannon.#
The message was accompanied by a loud, insistent wail of a siren; which led to Cecilia covering her ears with her hands as the piercing sound continued. It was at this moment the ship chose to move, and the sudden, albeit slow, movement threw Cecilia off balance. Lowering her hands as she stumbled backward, Cecilia quickly caught herself, and after a few moments of silently cursing the ship, she composed herself and turned back to look at Astral; her face devoid of emotion other than an icy challenge for him to make fun of her for that brief stint of undignified stumbling.
"So, what do you reckon is going on down there?" She asked coldly, being careful to keep the small hint of worry she had for Sleif hidden from the hybrid standing across from her.
~- Backs to the wall, Darkness will Fall -~
Casper remained still, searching for any sign that the figure on the other side of the door was gone. Sensing that the creature was gone, he waited a moment before he moved back over to the door; pawing at it to see if he could open it. He stopped after a few moments, trying to figure out the easiest way to get out of the room he found himself in. Sure, he could just call a portal, but that didn't sound appealing at the moment. Looking around him again, Casper froze as an all too familiar voice said sadly, "Sorry Siren, and Casper I leave all my plans.... in your hands."
Crouching low to the ground as his anger got a hold of him, Casper taped into the link he had with Hazoc and snarled, What the hell do you think you're doing? You do realize we've only got about three or two lives left out of the nine, right? He spat angrily, his fury and disgust slipping into his words as he analyzed what was going on with the totema to see the darkness crept in all around the warrior despite the swords of light being scattered about Hazoc.
Angry at the sight, the feline crouched low and watched silently as Sleif started extinguishing the light one piece at a time. A snarl escaping him even as the lights went out, Casper closed his eyes and called every speck of light to him that he could; before transferring it to Hazoc. Casper distantly heard the shouts of surprise as all of the lights in the castle flickered out and bathed it in darkness; but he didn't care. Casper channeled the gathered light and shipped it toward Hazoc, only to sense him be rendered unconscious via of Sleif; cutting him off from his ally for the time being.
Curling up into a ball as a sudden rush of exhaustion hit him, Casper tried to ignore the sensation of the darkness creeping in closer to him; of it trying to smother the tiny flicker of light that was barely keeping it at bay. Whining softly, Casper closed his eyes against it and subconsciously attempted to connect his mind to Hazoc again; but between Hazoc being unconscious and Casper being worn out from the stunt he'd just done (Casper’s slightly out of practice), he was unable to connect their minds.
Note to self, when I wake up from this stunt, practice a little bit more so I’m not totally exhausted, he chuckled darkly, before Casper felt the tiniest bit of shifting starting to happen again; but what this one would contain, he wasn't entirely sure.
~- One Last Blow -~
"Ugh Glaxsudo way to mess things up!"
Glaxsudo frowned as Harm leapt down between him and Isa, deflecting the other man's attack. It wasn't that he had been rescued, even though that was irritating as hell. What annoyed Glaxsudo was the fact Harm was scolding him! He watched numbly as the illusion was dispelled, freeing the other illusionist from Harm's grip.
"And I almost had a new toy to take home."
"Sorry, you can put it on my tab if you want, Harm." He said sarcastically, before he heard a dry chuckle to the right and behind him. Whipping around to see what was there, he watched as the air wavered before the empty space had someone standing in it. To be precise, it was Ienzo standing there, looking only slightly less beaten up than his illusion had made him out to appear. An idea coming to his mind, Glaxsudo grinned darkly as Harm spoke with Isa.
Taking the chance to get in one last barb against Isa, Glaxsudo chuckled as the blizzard kicked in again, "Harm, it's fine, we've got the information we were sent to get. I'm positive Xart will be pleased with the information so he can get those broken collies under his complete control."
It had the reaction he thought it would.
Glaxsudo chuckled at the howl of rage from Isa, only to break down in a laughing fit as the portals spirited them away just in time to avoid the other warrior's lunge; the echoing sound of Ienzo's curse and Isa's enraged howling drifting after them into the portal. Glancing at Harm after he got it under control, Glaxsudo grinned and asked, "So, what is next on the agenda, madam?"
~- All We Can Do Is Live -~
Ienzo watched the two nobodies, weary from the battle that had ended mere moments before. Disgust flashed across his face at the look Harm threw him, it was one that loved battle and wanted nothing more than to continue the fight. Ienzo ignored the dull roar of pain from his head, happy that he could finally drop the illusion that had been casted shortly after the poison had started to take root.
Bristling at the mention of the terminology for the female wolves, Ienzo got a brief flash of Kari standing before him, only for the image to fade a moment later. Reaching out a hand, Ienzo fought back the urge to call out to his sister; knowing that it was an illusion and not wanting to give Harm any true indication of what was going on; instead he charged up a fire spell and got ready to shoot it at the other illusionist when she called up a blizzard to conceal her and Glaxsudo’s retreat.
Cursing her again, Ienzo halted the spell and started to lower his hand; only to throw it back up as Isa lunged at him and forced the younger man to throw himself to the side to avoid the other man’s attack. Landing hard on his right side, Ienzo felt the majority of his weight hit his wrist; and instantly felt it start swelling as heat radiated from it.
Pushing himself up with his left hand, Ienzo glanced down to check the damage that had been done. He didn’t have to look up to see that Isa looked guilty, nor that he and Cuore had wandered over to assess the damage too. Waving off Isa’s concerns with his left hand, Ienzo gently started prodding it; checking to see if it was broken. He’d had a broken arm once, it was after he’d been got caught with a baby chocobo he’d been hiding so he could give it to Kari as a birthday present.
Thankfully, this time around it was just a bad sprain.
Ienzo climbed to his feet and glanced at Isa and Cuore, before he glanced ahead of them; trying to think of where they should go again. Unable to come up with a destination, Ienzo glanced at Isa and almost asked where he wanted to head to now; but for some odd reason stopped himself from asking the blue-haired man that seemed to be anywhere but there.
~- Wish It Was Over -~ ((OOC: Rena has given me permission to control Wielder's characters until she returns))
Riku hadn't realized he'd fallen behind until Sora stepped in front of him, and judging by the feel of the look his friend was shooting him, Sora was worried about something. "What is it Sora?" He asked calmly, and it unnerved him the way Sora seemed shocked that Riku could tell he was there before the brunette had even said a word. And as much as Riku hated to admit it, he was unnerved just as much as Sora was by how easy it was for him to know where everyone else was despite his handicap.
"Sorry, I should've told you in Midgar, I...I can sense when someone's nearby." Riku added as an afterthought, knowing that it'd sound weird to anyone who could see normally; and sure enough Sora was confused by his comment, judging by the air that had surrounded the brunette.
"So, about those questions?"
"I'll keep my word, what do you want to know?"
Riku took a quick step back as Sora reached a hand out, cursing his reaction as annoyance rushed through Sora's aura before it disappeared. "Sorry, the blindfold makes it where I react poorly at times." Riku explained quickly, even as Sora's gloved hand landed on his arm and started to tug on Riku's arm; at first leaving the silver haired boy confused until it caught up to him.
Sora was trying to help him catch up to the others.
Hesitantly taking a step forward, Riku waited patiently as Sora tried to figure out which questions he wanted to ask. "Why did you run that night? Why do you have a blindfold again?" Sora blurted, a mix of anger and concern creeping into the two questions.
Neither emotion Riku could blame Sora for, but the former hadn't expected the latter to go for those two first. Okay, that was a lie. He had expected those two painful questions first. Chuckling slightly at the two questions, Riku said half-sarcastically, half-jokingly, "Wow, those questions came totally out of left field!"
"I'm serious!"
Now that irritated Riku, pulling up short, Riku glared at Sora behind the blindfold. Struggling to keep his voice level, Riku took a deep breath before he spoke, "I know you're serious, Sora. I was just joking around a little! The first one is a little hard to explain, but I'll try to answer it as best as I can. I hadn't been planning on, to quote you, running away; all I'd planned on doing was going out, killing some heartless as I got my thoughts in order and then going back and explaining why I couldn't take that exam to you and, hopefully, Mickey at the same time. But no, it didn't happen like that. I got turned around and confused, and by the time I got back there three days later you were gone!" He snapped, a little surprised by how angry he was at that turn of events.
Looking away, Riku continued in a more gentle tone, "After that I wandered from world to world, even encountering and fighting this strange white haired girl along the way. I don't remember what happened during and directly after the fight, my memory is fuzzy almost like a piece got broken off and sealed away." He shrugged at it, trying not to let that sensation bother him once more. "As to your question about the blindfold, we went to Castle Oblivion and got attacked by some totema, and Hazoc was among them. I don't know why, but for some reason I got reckless, and by the time my head caught up with what my body was doing he had me surrounded by four walls of light. He overpowered me and did a light overload on my system, so because of that the light hurts and I need this blindfold to keep the light from hurting me." He admitted weakly, ashamed at his weakness and that everything so far could've been avoided if he'd done things differently.
"Okay, but why can't you take the Mark of Mastery exam?"
Riku cringed at the question, not wanting to delve into that one and admit just how weak he really was. He waited a few moments as he tried to find the words that would explain it the best; shaking his head, Riku lowered his head, not sure how to answer that question. Luckily at that point, Tora had gotten sick of waiting for them and had doubled back to get them to the house. "Come on you two slowpokes, Lea's trying to eat as much food as he can and he's threatening to not leave any for us!"
Riku smiled weakly and let the Nobody girl drag him along, relieved that he didn't have to explain yet that he wasn't whole, that apparently that fight with Xemnas had compromised him somehow, so because of that he wasn't worthy of the keyblade. Raising a hand to his chest, Riku made a quiet note about the swift stab of pain that raced through him as something coiled tighter around his heart.
Stepping foot into the little house, Riku heard a snarky remark about "oh great, now I have more mouths to feed", only to have Howl cut across the speaker telling him that it's not nice to be so unfriendly. Carefully making his way to a chair, Riku sat down and gratefully accepted his plate before he started picking at it; ignoring the looks that were burning into him from anyone that might have been watching him.
