Symphonic NIGHTMARE| Lit.Kingdom Hearts| Need Sages!

[Latias Saphira]

(( LOOK UPON THIS OUTLINE OF FAIL. IT MAY GET BETTER EVENTUALLY. ))
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ღ ღxx It was dark. And bright. Hot...no, cold. Temperate? Average?

What was this place?

But the time to dwell upon it was rapidly slipping away, Sora could tell, because it was getting darker--no, lighter...? At any rate, something was changing. Passing. Was he floating? Maybe. Or he could have been flying. Sort of. His eyes were closed, but he could feel himself moving. Or was that this world moving around him? Could this even be counted as a world? Probably not. A place, then. Why was he even thinking about this, though? There was...something. Yes. Even just thinking about the idea of that something pulled him along, making him go faster. Could he put a name to it? Joshua? Neku? The Composer? But no--all of those names slowed him down. What about Roxas? No change. Hm. Actually, where was Roxas? An age-old question to him, unfortunately--the name just always changed. Where was Shadow? Where was Riku? Where was...was...it was there, somewhere in his--

'Kairi!'

"FIRE!"

Apparently, Sora had somehow picked the most inopportune moment he could have, not to mention one of the worst places he could have ended up. Not to mention he was directly in front of the one and only target on the range that people were aiming at. He couldn't have known that they were training to take out the commander of an army, and frankly, he did not particularly care about the reason right now. Without even thinking about it, as a horrible screech emitted from his right shoulder, he summoned his Keyblade and shouted, "Reflect!", causing a nearly invisible barrier to form a shell around him. And not a moment too soon: as soon as the shield had gone up, differently-coloured arrows clattered against it and fell to the ground. Normally, the men who had fired them would be somewhat upset that their shots had been ruined--except almost all of them had never seen magic performed before. And with good reason, considering the magic of this world was a far different one.

Wanting to know what sort of thing had tried to burst his eardrum, Sora glanced at his right shoulder to see Shadow there, clutching his sleeve and looking as displeased as a Shadow Heartless could. At the exact same time, Sora heard a single bow being drawn back, and instinctively, he snatched Shadow from his shoulder and hit the ground in time to hear an arrow bury itself in the target behind him.

"Auuugh, don't shoot, don't shoot!" he cried, casting wildly around in his mind for something, something that would tell him what world this was, whether he'd ever been here, and whether or not he had any friends. Luckily, he didn't have to think about it for long, as a voice called out that he recognized:

"Sora, be wary of that Heartless!"

Panicking, knowing that Shadow had been the target, Sora replied quickly, "Nonononono! Shang, don't shoot him, he's--! Er, well, maybe not friendly-looking, but he won't hurt anyone!"

There was a moment of silence, and one could almost hear the bafflement floating silently around. After a few moments of this, Sora felt it safe (well, as safe as one could be on a shooting range in front of the only target with a whole line of fairly good shots, bows and arrows at the ready) to look up, still pinning a squirming Shadow to the ground with his hand. He grinned a little sheepishly at the man in teal-coloured armour who approached him, picking himself (and Shadow) off the ground and extending his free hand. "'Lo, Shang. Long time no see."

"Indeed," the captain replied, taking Sora's hand but appearing somewhat wary. Understandably so, as Sora had placed Shadow on his shoulder once again, and the Heartless was leering at the captain. Shang released Sora's hand, then asked, "How did you get to be here? I mean here, the archery range." The last bit was added for clarification, as he had seen the confusion in Sora's blue eyes.

Sora began to answer truthfully, but stopped himself before he could speak. It would not be smart to claim to have some back from the dead to anyone who didn't know he had died. Because it was obvious that he was no longer in UG Shibuya, and therefore no longer deceased. So, he partly lied: "I'm not entirely sure. One minute, I was somewhere else entirely, and the next...well, I was here." Actually, that was more or less the truth. More of a white lie, really; he simply hadn't told Shang everything.

Shang raised a brow, but said nothing. There were men watching that did not know the full extent of what Sora could do. True, they had seen him perform some of the magic that he could wield, but Shang had seen him in battle, battles where there seemed to be no hope of winning, but would come out alive anyway. There was something about the teenager that suggested he would never die. (Which was both absurd, which Shang knew, and ironic, which he didn't.) But he was also from a far-off place, which was obvious by the way he looked, acted, talked, and even moved. This, for some reason, made Shang think of something else, and he suddenly asked, "Where are your friends? Donald and Goofy?"

A shadow passed over Sora's face, even if just for the briefest of seconds, and he looked away. He was almost certain Donald and Goofy had seen what that Nightmare had done to him. He couldn't believe what he had done to his friends and all of the people who had been counting on him. For an entire week they had thought him dead (which he had been) and gone forever (which he obviously wasn't). He knew the pain of being separated from his best friends in the entire world, but to know that one of them was gone forever...he couldn't even imagine.

To Shang, he replied truthfully, "I don't know."

[Simex]

Only the insane,

equate pain with success.

..

ѕнєѕѕιє
ⓣⓗⓔ ⓦⓐⓝⓓⓔⓡⓘⓝⓖ ©ⓐⓣ
σηℓу α ƒєω ƒιη∂ тнє ωαу,
ѕσмє ∂ση'т яє¢σgηιzє ιт ωнєη тнєу ∂σ -
ѕσмє...
∂ση'т єνєя ωαηт тσ.
ღ

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A room covered in mirrors. Shessie's blood-red eyes looked into each, searching for something. Damn, he hated this room. Gateways to each sector to his mind changed constantly, and now they were mirrors. There was no telling which one was possible to pass through and which one would shatter at your touch. What was worse was that it seemed the room liked to make the person forget their purpose. For instance, Shessie could not remember for the hell of it what he was doing in here.

"Creativity is playing around again, it seems," he spoke aloud to no one in particular. Conscience, a dark void of a being, stepped into the room wearing his crisp white suit as usual. "You're quite correct. Follow me, we have much to discuss, master." Shessie's ears twitched as his tail swished, and he followed without hesitation. The walked through a mirror, as if it were liquid, feeling the ripples of this strange substance flow away and then stand still when they both had entered a new room. Shessie turned to place his paw on the mirror again but it did not move. It had hardened and turned to stone. There's never a way to go back. Only a way to push forward.

The black cat turned forward again to see the small room was like that of a small and quaint office. A fireplace on one side and several plush cushions and chairs around it. The lighting was dim, but it was still possible to see the figures who stood about the room. A tall woman with the complexion of a ghost stood near the fire. Her dark dress flowed to the ground and seemed to turn into a gaseous state, allowing a small fog to settle near the floor. She was Guilt. Conscience had taken a seat in one of the chairs, whilst Creativity-- a very bright and colorful little boy, danced around Logic a meek and drab little girl. A silver form of a cat sat on the ledge on top of the fireplace and beckoned him closer. It was Magic.

"Where is Memory?" Conscience seemed to let out a small eerie chuckle that silenced the room and made everyone else settle down. "He has forgotten the way here." Guilt glided near Conscience, draping her arms over the top of her seat. "At least he has not forgotten that there was a meeting. At least he is still here. Oh, I'm so sorry Shessie. We should have kept that locks on that beast tighter. We should have-" Conscience raise his arm, and placed a single black slender finger to Guilt's lips. "Hush. What has happened has happened. What matters is how we deal with it. I can't live in peace knowing the thing is on the loose again."

"You can never live in peace old man!" Creativity began to laugh loudly. "What Creativity says is true. You are Conscience after all. It's hard to live in peace when your job is to show Master Shessie the way," piped up Logic. The group began to bicker amongst each other, until the silvery form spoke. "SILENCE." Shessie watched Magic closely, and with much caution. "Shessie, you have done well so far. Most of us have been retrieved save the host body. However, it seems Emotion is still with him. If he breaks Emotion's seal, he will regain his memories and will cause harm to everyone near. We have to retrieve him as soon as possible."

Shessie closed his eyes. "I am aware. You're all quite a hassle making such a huge deal out of it. I don't think there is any need to fear though. Emotion is powerful on her own, and without you all pestering her every second, she can really settle down and maintain control," he opened his eyes. "All we need to do is-" A voice intruded the room. Wake up, Shessie. And shut up. The room around him melted and his eyes flew open.

It was still dark. Shessie got up, and turned to Rei, who seemed to be looking out from the opening of Sharpedo Bluff. Shessie heard some muted growls and garbled chatter from above, and could only assume something was bothering Rei about it. However, Shessie wasn't really seeing what the problem was. It wasn't like he had any ears at the moment anyway, or at least, not any visible ones. Shessie did though, and he slept all too well, despite the little meeting that had been interrupted. "What's the deal? I was in the middle of some business, why did you wake me?" he hissed quietly at Rei. He was not pleased to have been awoken now.

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ღ
❝ єνєяу α∂νєηтυяє яєqυιяєѕ α ƒιяѕт ѕтєρ. ❞
тяιтє, вυт тяυє, єνєη нєяє.

[Simex]

This is impossible.

Only if you believe it is.

¢σяηєℓιυѕ тαм∂єнтяα
ⓣⓗⓔ ⓐⓑⓢⓞⓛⓤⓣⓔⓛⓨ ⓜⓐⓓ ⓖⓔⓝⓘⓤⓢ
нαvє ι ɢσɴє мα∂?
ι'м αғяαι∂ sσ.
чσυ'rє єɴtιяєℓч вσɴкєяs.
вυт ι'ℓℓ тєℓℓ чσυ α sєcяєт.
αℓℓ тнe вєsт ρєσρℓє αяє.
✩
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Cornelius’ hands gripped the steering wheel of the Gummi ship. Both Tara and Hayner had used the escape pods. He was on his own now, zipping through a warp hole. Damn, how in the hell had it come to this? Everything had been fine. Supplies had been organized, the new Gummi Ship had been built, and they had a map. They should have been fine. The chances of everything going to s**t had been close to nil. Of course, when you’re Corn, your calculations should become invalid, because the percentages of everything automatically invert due to the insane amount of luck—preferably bad, that got thrown in.

Cornelius sucked in a deep breath of stale air trapped in the flying vehicle. He could have escaped too. He could have just gone ahead and not have taken any chances. But that isn’t Corn. He was a wuss, but when it came to betting on the better outcome, he was a bit of an optimist. He was hoping that being the highest bidder on surviving whatever came at him and being able to find Shessie and his father would be worth it. Tara and Hayner would be able to manage on their own. They had their human survival instincts plus weapons, and supplies. ”Just breathe in and out. It’s like you’re throwing rocks into the Jabawocky’s cave,” he spoke to himself, trying to calm the rising fear and anxiety.

The Gummi Ship began to creak and spin. The eerily beautiful noises of the metal exterior being pummelled by the dark voids of the warp played like a symphony in the background while Cornelius felt himself jolted from his seat. His hands clenched onto the wheel, his knuckles turning white. ”C’mon, Corn,” his voice rose louder. ”Keep control. Keep everything in gear. It’s gonna work.”

A bright light appeared, an exit on the other side of the warp, and Corn threw the Ship into full gear, aiming for his only hope. The ship groaned in agony, seeming to try and resist, but it pushed one. Corn’s hands were becoming sweaty, and he could feel the heart in his chest beating so hard he thought he might explode. His eyes strained to focus, as he yelled furiously.

Forward he went, out of the warp. The white light that covered outside, he realized, was snow. Oh god, he was going to make it. He was in a new world, and he was going to make it. He let go of the steering wheel and jumped for joy. And why shouldn’t he? He had just beaten the odds. Success weighed proudly on his shoulders as he basked in the moment. That was until a small beeping noise brought him out of glory. He had used a little too much fuel pulling against the current of the warp. Well, not just a little too much, more like all of it.

The Ship careened to the right, heading into the snowy peak of a mountain. Cornelius began screaming for his life. ”HOLY WGB$TGESR!?!?!? NOOOOOOOO!” Grasping hold of the steering wheel again, he tried manoeuvring, but the ship began to whip around out of control. The engines shut off, and finally the Ship began to propel near the base of the snowy mountain. Corn, in a last minute attempt to try and save the ship from being brutally mutilated, engaged the emergency system. He walked to the middle of the ship, and slammed his hand onto the floor. He began to feed the Ship his own magic. The systems were shut so he could not turn on the shield. This was all he had now.

Bracing himself for impact, but not really, he continued to shove whatever power he had into the metallic beast. The Ship hit the snow with a massive thud. Corn’s body was thrust up, and hit the ceiling violently. The whole ship shook, but managed to hit a rather sudden stop. Corn had fallen back to the floor, and lay there breathing heavily. His head throbbed painfully, as he managed to push himself off the floor and open the door of the ship. Small snowflakes fell and kissed his cheeks as he watched the hazy blur that was his surroundings.

”I need a nap.” That was all he could muster. Then he face planted in to the snow, rolling over just a bit, and fell unconscious.

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✩
❝ ωнч ιs α яαvєɴ ℓιкє a ωяιтιɴɢ ∂єsк? ❞
๑ ❝ ι нαvєɴ'т тнє sℓιɢнтєsт ι∂єα. ❞ ๑

[Requiem of a Firefly]

ʀαι мєʀιdιαn
the { l i g h t n i n g } sage

₪₪₪₪₪₪ ↯ ₪₪₪₪₪₪

"And....you're gonna trust this piece of paper," Seifer asked, his expression dubious as he folded his arms and glared down at the boy in front of him.

Rai glanced at the tattered, wrinkled scrap of paper in his hands, skimming its contents once more before quirking an eyebrow at Seifer. "Look, you're not asleep, you're with me, and I have this," he explained patiently, gesturing with his free hand at the keyblade he held in his right. "So it seems like it's right about that. Maybe it's right about the worm, too. Maybe I can do something about it, if you'll help me."

"So really, it boils down to whether we wanna trust you," Seifer concluded, his misgivings evident in his tone.

"He does glow," Larger Rai supplied helpfully, indicating the faint phosphorescent glow surrounding Rai, lighting the dark space around the four so they could see. "And he has the same name as me?"

Fuu's glare silenced any further comments from the peanut gallery.

Rai's frayed patience snapped. He'd been locked in a janitor's closet with these three for two long, after somehow accidentally teleporting himself into the midst of....well, something like the apocalypse. He was usually a pretty nice person, but he didn't have the willpower to restrain himself any longer.

In spite of his inferior stature, Rai grabbed the larger boy by the shirt collar and yanked him down so they were on eye level. "Look, I don't want to be the hero," he hissed angrily, "but we don't have a lot to work with. And I'd rather try to do something about this than be locked in a closet with a bunch of sweaty, stinky teens for another second more."

For a second, Seifer looked surprised. Rai thought he might get punched, which, he noted, would probably not make the situation much nicer. Then the other boy's face split into a grin, and the Rai inside heaved a sigh of relief.

"You got guts," Seifer said. "We're in."


* * * * * * *


The plan went wrong almost as soon as they stepped into the tunnels.

The eerie silence that had enveloped the town up until this point suddenly broke into a series of long, mournful calls, almost like the howling of a pack of wolves, but more alien. A very un-ladylike exclamation went up from Fuu, standing in the middle of the group.

"How did they find us?" Seifer growled, struggling to make himself heard over the sounds of the monsters' cries echoing through the tunnels. They were drawing closer by the second.

Rai took a step back, clenching his teeth. "We should go back. They know we're here; we have to figure out what went wrong and try again later!" He hissed hurriedly.

"Oh no you don't," Seifer snapped, spinning around and seizing him by the front of the shirt. Rai found himself roughly shoved down a narrow side tunnel, one that led deeper into the underground of Twilight Town. "Go kill that worm while we distract them!"

That wouldn't work, and Rai knew it. "You're just going to fall asleep - "

"Move your a**!" Seifer bellowed, leaving no room for argument.

Rai hesitated only a moment, then without a word turned and sprinted into the dark to the sounds of shouting behind him. He didn't look back, instead summoning the keyblade in a vortex of golden sparks. He felt safer with it in hand...even if he didn't quite understand how to use it.

It had come to him a few months ago, and he couldn't seem to get rid of it. It liked to appear at random, inopportune times for the first few weeks, until he learned to control it and only summon it when needed. The magic was a different story. So far, all he'd learned to do was glow, and maybe generate a few electrical sparks from time to time. Not exactly useful in a combat

He didn't want any of this - he just wanted to go home.

His footsteps carried him doggedly on through the tunnels, in spite of the fact he didn't know where he was going - he just knew the worm slept down here, somewhere. He was surprised he didn't find any monsters lurking in the dark; they were crawling all over the surface. The paper he'd found, the one that looked like it had been torn from a book, said the worm was the key to getting rid of the monsters. Kill it, and they would flee.

Unfortunately, what the paper failed to mention was the size of the worm. And when he came upon it abruptly, his jaw dropped.

Rai could only see a portion of the creature, its head, as he emerged from his small side tunnel into the large, open room. The rest of its length was hidden from view, disappearing into the depths of a large drainage tunnel on the other side of the room. Water to his knees splashed around his boots as he ground to a halt, gaping at the monstrous thing in front of him.

He felt dwarfed by its head alone. His skin crawled as he watched the movement of hundreds of extensions along its head that looked suspiciously like human skulls, shifting with the rhythm of worm's slow, even breathing. It seemed to be asleep.

He only realized the trap when something large and heavy slammed into him from behind, knocking him to the floor and pinning him face-down in the water.

No! Rai flailed against the weight of his attacker, trying to lift his head above the water to catch his breath, but the pressure on his back only increased. He felt himself suffocating, his lungs crying for air, and gradually his struggles weakened.

I don't want to be a hero... guess I get my wish, he thought dimly. He knew well enough when it was over; his body still struggled vainly, but his mind had given up. He didn't have a prayer.

Silly boy. People are relying on you.

Well. Well then.

Electricity suddenly surged to his fingertips, charging the water around him as it spread from his body. He felt his attacker leap free, and promptly scrambled to his feet, soaked through and gasping for air. He spun around in time to see a pair of monsters that looked like... burlap bags?... backing warily away from him, walking on their gigantic fists. Their stitched smiles seemed, well, angry. And yet, they were backing away. What?

Then came the sound of something huge and awful moving behind him, followed by the low rumble of something that sounded disturbingly like a growl.

Rai spun and, sure enough, found the worm moving, awakened from its slumber. He recalled he was supposed to kill it - but how? The electricity he'd summoned, which had already taken enough out of him, had merely made it cranky. No damage to be seen.

He felt cool metal in his hand and looked down. Keyblade? An idea occurred to him, one that seemed entirely implausible.

But sure, why not.

The worm bellowed, opening its massive, stinking maw to reveal spiraling rows of teeth all the way down its throat. Eurgh. The head shot out at him, lightning quick; Rai dove to one side, narrowly avoiding being eaten. The worm responded by thrashing after him, its enormous bulk slamming into his chest like a freight train and pinning him to the wall with an awful, sickening crunch of ribs. Waves of pain ricocheted across his torso, but Rai gritted his teeth against it, sifting through to the clear spot in the back of his mind where he could focus.

His keyblade was buried up to the hilt in the monster's fleshy hide, using the worm's own force against it. As a result, of course, his arm now felt like jelly (on top of everything else).

Focus.

Rai reached down inside, searching for something he'd had the misfortune of touching upon by accident, the first time. This time, he needed it. When he found it, he drew it out, put as much of his own energy as he had left into it, and then let it loose.

Worm and boy both vanished from the tunnels, leaving a horde of very confused Nightmares behind.

It worked. Rai suddenly found himself floating in a void of shifting colors and dim stars, the space between worlds. He'd been here a few times; he knew what it looked like. He also knew the things that lurked here...precisely the reason he'd done it.

Though it pained him to do it, he twisted in time to see a hoard of inky black creatures descending upon the enormous, thrashing bulk of the worm. He was satisfied to hear it screeching in pain as he shut his eyes, trying to drive off his own pain. His whole body throbbed with the pounding of his heart.

Congratulations, you're accidentally a hero, he thought to himself. Ugh. No autographs, please.

With any luck, it would take the Heartless some time to notice one small human floating in space, busy as they were with the much larger worm. But Rai didn't really care, at this point.

...He just wanted to sleep...


₪₪₪₪₪₪ ↯ ₪₪₪₪₪₪


I want to | s | t | a | n | d | up
You know, you know
I { want } to let go
No you don't, you don't

↯ ↯

[Simex]

♕
╔====H====A====Y====N====E====R====╗
====H====A====Y====N====E====R====

====H====A====Y====N====E====R====
╚====H====A====Y====N====E====R====╝

Don't use art without permission first.

Hayner hacked and slashed at one Heartless, when an unfamiliar voice called to him. His head jerked up in surprise, allowing him to be open for attack. So, he hardly got a good glimpse of the girl drawing near, when he ducked quickly to avoid the pounce of on of his foes. Close one, he thought hurriedly. That was when another decided to lunge. He wasn't going to be able to block this one by the looks of it. He braced for the worst.

Though nothing slammed into him. He peered up at the young female who fended off the Heartless. She had blonde hair, and wore a rather short dress. That HARDLY looks like anything that someone should fight in. Then his eyebrows perked up. She hadn't blocked the Heartless, in fact, it had merely latched to her and did nothing. That had to be the weirdest s**t Hayner had seen in a while, and he had seen some weird a** s**t.

When she flashed a small smile, he had to admit in his head she had a pretty face. Pretty plus gutsy. That's a dream girl right there. However, Hayner would never say that. Plus, he really had no idea who in the hell this was, and he wouldn't be surprised if she actually turned out to be some demon in disguise. I mean, c'mon, the heartless didn't take her heart if she even had one. That's just freaking weird.

She spoke an obvious truth, to which he replied, "Well, duh. But we're going to have to kick some huge amount of a** to do that." The girl had pulled the Heartless off her and given it a good kick. He grinned. Well, this new partner could be a blast. He had a feeling she'd fit in with the rest of the gang back in Twilight Town. Her next request almost made him beam. "Oh, hell yes I can! I'm a freaking warrior!"

With a devilish smile, he lunged forward and began whacking away(PFFFTCH-CHHCH-BAHAHAHA, LOLOLOL) with his bat. The Heartless mostly decided to move out-of-the-way, but some stood as if challenging him. Others clawed from the sides, and managed to nick him here and there. The cuts stung fiercely, but he was a real boy and real boys SUCK IT UP. He was going to clear this on his own though, and be recognized as the awesome Hayner who made Heartless tremble in non-existent fear and fray away.

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[Simex]

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Art made by emixoO

"Who are you?" was not a question he was eager to answer at the moment. However, where and what was something he could do. "We're in the Beast's Castle. But uh, from what I've heard, he wasn't always a Beast."

Demyx's blue eyes seemed to glitter with eagerness to tell the tale. "How it goes, is that there once was a young prince and he lived in this castle. He had everything he wanted handed to him on a silver platter, real spoiled. He was really selfish and not too kind either. Then, one night, an old beggar woman came to the Castle doors. She offered him a single rose in return for shelter from the bitter cold. The woman's appearance repulsed him, and he turned her down. She warned him that 'beauty is found with'," he said and tapped at his chest where a heart would be, had he had one.

"He dismissed her again, and lo' and behold, she turns into a beautiful enchantress. He tried to apologize, but she could not forgive him. Instead, she punished him by placing a spell on the castle as well as all its inhabitants, turning him to a Beast. She left the rose with him, because it was enchanted, and would bloom until his twenty-first year. If he didn't learn how to love and be loved by the time all the petals had fallen, he would stay a beast forever." He breathed a sigh and tapped a finger against his chin.

"I, uh, don't know if his time is already up though, or if that story is even true." He let out a care-free laugh as he shrugged. A loud roar sounded through out the castle and made him jump. "EEEK!" he squealed with growing panic. "Something tells me hanging in this hallway isn't the best of ideas. To be honest, it's dark, creepy, and a little cramped if a Beast enters..." His eyes kept zooming around, glancing at every wall. They both finally rested on the door at the end of the hallway where the girl stood. He stepped carefully, walking past the girl, and drawing near the door.

He swallowed nervously, and placed his ear against it, listening for any signs that he was near. Distant sounds of crashing and shattering were heard, and then something large bounding nearby, but then leaving to the left. When the footsteps were further off, Demyx sighed with relief. "Seems clear for now. I'm gonna say let's skidaddle before he hears us or sees us later," Demyx said, beckoning the brunette over to him with his gloved hand. His expression was extremely anxious.

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"Oh, we do too have hearts! Don't be mad..."

[Shader-san]

A book is like a garden carried in the pocket. ~Chinese Proverb

____________________

The rumble of the ship crashing was enough to jolt Silvia from her sleep, so much that she nearly rolled over and into the fire Mulan had made the night before.

“Ow… ow!” Silvia yelped, beating her hand on the side of her sleeve as the flames blackened the fabric.

“Are you okay?” Mulan asked worriedly. She’d been dozing, too, until the blast had jolted her awake.

“I’m okay, but what was that? Khan in a bad mood?”

She paused to survey the large black and white horse near the mouth of the cave, and the beast regarded her with an expression of a sour child. ’Excuse me…?’, was what it seemed to say. But the horse was still sitting down, the sound couldn’t have been caused by him.

“No… it was something outside…”Mulan said slowly, “I should go investigate.”

“Can I come? Don’t leave me in this cave all alone!” Silvia insisted. Honestly, who wanted to be out in this snow on their own? It was terrible, and, if things went wrong, you could very easily die. In fact, she’d probably be a Popsicle if Mulan hadn’t found her when she did. She also seemed awfully calm with the whole, ‘I fell from the sky” thing when Silvia explained her predicament. It was also as if Mulan was used to this sort of thing.

“My job is to survey the mountains for any risks to the Imperial City and protect it,” Mulan told her, “And you’re just an innocent kid, I should protect you, too, and I—“

“You know I’m gonna follow you,” Silvia told her, “Please? This place is creepy without company, Mulan.”

Mulan could hardly disagree. This situation surrounding Silvia’s arrival certainly made little sense, but her odd company wasn’t something to be shunned to readily. That… and there were still many questions she had about the girl’s… peculiar skills with a book. For her, it wasn’t simply reading, nor was it something she seemed to be able to do consciously… yet.

“Alright, but I should keep an eye on you, too. Just stay on Khan, okay?”

“Right!”

Mulan’s feet were a bit bigger than Silvia’s, but with all the extra padding it hardly made the different, anything to cover Silvia’s near-frozen toes was welcomed, as was the spare blanket draped around her shoulders as she rode atop Mulan’s large, moody horse. Mulan lead the way, tugging on Khan’s reigns as she used to sword’s sheath to check for steep dips in the snow. Neither really knew what had caused the rumbling earlier, but since it hadn’t caused a (second) avalanche, Mulan-the-Mountain-Expert deemed it safe for travel. In her heart of hearts, Mulan hoped it wasn’t anything too serious, she already had her hands full with her usual companions, if not also keeping them in check when around the strange brunette girl. Something like Mushu was a bit too weird to show to someone so soon. It was likely she’d be terrified by him.

But, when Mulan saw Silvia’s ecstatic reaction to what they found in the snow, she considered just letting Mushu run amok at this point.

“I know what this it! Really! I know this thing!” Silvia insisted. Ignoring her agreement with Mulan from earlier, she’d hoped off the horse’s back to run around said thing: a Gummi ship.

“This… This was how I got here! A ship! It’s just like I said, I was with lots of people on it, and there was this monster, but then it hit the ship and it was all Ghhrrk! And we were all Auuuugh!, and then it exploded!” Silvia yelled, running arounf and stopping on the other side of the ship.

Maybe keeping Mushu out of sight wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

“Silvia, don’t get to close to that it. It could be—“

But no sooner had Mulan begun her warning to be careful did Silvia trip and fall over something in the snow.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah… I think it was a rock or something…”

Tugging her foot free form the snag it’d caught in Cornelius’ coat, she yelped when her tug and accidentally dislodged hid arm and most of the snow that was covering him.

“… Cornelius!”

“A what?” Mulan asked aloud.

“It’s not a what! It’s a HIM! I know him!” Silvia yelled, jabbing a finger in Cornelius’ direction, “Come over here, Mulan, I found Cornelius! He didn’t get exploded!”

The female warrior and her four-legged companion followed Silvia’s voice to where she crouched and tried alone to haul Cornelius out of the snow. Mulan was shocked that she’d found another odd person out here, but even more so that he was breathing and alive. How did they survive in this harsh environment?

“Let’s get him out of the snow, we can go back to the cave and light another fire to warm him up,” Mulan suggested as she grabbed Cornelius’ other arm to help drag him along.

[Latias Saphira]

(( CRAPPY POST.
SHADER, JUST GRAB 'ER WRIST AND RUN. ))

❄❄ xx Rain flapped her hand briefly in dismissal of the idea of getting help from Genie, but winced slightly and stopped when she found that it hurt, as she had moved her shoulder. It wasn't that she didn't trust the Genie...it was more the fact that he was sort of an all-powerful being, and it felt like cheating to her if they just got Genie to do everything for them. "Pah. I lived inside a computer for years; you can't do that without picking up some things along the way. I could probably build one out of the most bare essentials." At this, she paused, thinking, then mentally kicked herself. "Although...it does take quite some time to assemble everything properly, not to mention an actual plan so it won't fall apart two minutes after exiting the atmosphere. Maybe we should ask him for some help," she sighed.

Actually, that brought up her old question, and offered a possible solution: since she had no idea where any Gummi Blocks could be found around here, would Genie be able to help them find some? After all, the blocks were incredibly special and somewhat rare, and she doubted even the Genie could simply make them out of thin air. He could certainly help them look, however...but then there was the cheating thing again. Damn her conscience. Leaning back in her chair, Rain covered her eyes with her fingers on one hand, thinking hard. "Okay, okay...so if I were some colourful, rubbery blocks that are just weird things, when you think about it, not to mention able to completely change their size and their form, to an extent, where would I be...?"

Wait, that was stupid. If she was a Gummi Block, she wouldn't be able to hear or see or touch or think or anything. She would just be a block. Why in the multiverse would people ever think in that way? What had prompted them to do so? Maybe that adage, "Put yourself in someone else's shoes." Except Gummi Blocks didn't have shoes.

Buhhh...

We've been here ﹝far too long﹞
And ﹝everything's﹞ gone ﹝wrong﹞
And just say ﹝goodbye﹞
And ﹝show﹞ some ﹝bravery﹞
And just say ﹝goodbye﹞
Try not to make a ﹝scene﹞
And just ﹝speak﹞ your ﹝mind﹞
﹝Speak﹞ your ﹝mind﹞
To cut this ﹝tension﹞ through
And just ﹝let﹞ it out, let it ﹝out﹞
Let's hear what's ﹝best﹞ for ﹝you﹞

[Latias Saphira]

ㄨㄨ xx At the cat's awakening and hissing, Rei shot Shessie one of his cold glances, the one that said, "Whythehelldidn'tyoudowhatIsaid?" Just to emphasize his own displeasure, Rei snapped back mentally, 'What the hell don't you understand about shutting up?'

At that moment, however, he had to focus more of his mental power on his copy, and both of their eyes narrowed as the copy watched the gaseous Pokémon floated towards him, but did not even flinch as the ghostly hand passed through his illusionary head. A thought occurred to him, though: the pair had been discussing death for whatever reason, and the ghost seemed to think the illusion was actually a spirit of the dead. Why not humour them?

Rei's copy hoisted himself from the hole, staring coldly down at the actual ghost and then shifted his gaze towards the blue-furred canine. He had seen a similar Pokémon in Treasure Town a few times that week, one that seemed to be part of a rescue team, but its fur was black. The residents seemed to take that as the norm, but Rei couldn't be sure, as he'd never seen another one until now. Maybe the town's inhabitants were used to the strangely-coloured one and just didn't treat him any differently. At any rate, now wasn't the time to be thinking about this; he had to come up with a way of explaining what a ghost was doing here, why it was hiding, and why it simply didn't become invisible.

Mind, he would only answer if asked.

In the meantime, the illusion responded coolly, "I am dead, if you must know. Now answer me this: what business do the likes of you two have on this bluff, at such a late hour?"

When your only ﹤friends﹥ are ﹤hotel rooms﹥
Hands are distant ﹤lullabies﹥
If I could ﹤turn around﹥ I would ﹤tonight﹥
These ﹤roads﹥ never seemed so ﹤long﹥
Since your ﹤paper heart﹥ stopped ﹤beating﹥
﹤Leaving﹥ me suddenly ﹤alone﹥
Will ﹤daybreak﹥ ever come?

[Latias Saphira]

ღ ღxx A little time had passed since the mishap at the archery range. Sora and Shadow had been taken back to Shang's tent, where the captain brought the brunette up to speed on what had been happening since Sora's last visit to China. Since defeating the Huns and Shan Yu, Shang had gone back to training troops, though he was not nearly as pressed for time as before, and so could teach the men some other skills, such as survival in the cold, snowy mountains. Mulan, after a brief rest at her home, had gone to work for the Emperor in his army, mainly as a scout. She surveyed every area around the Imperial City to determine whether it was in danger, whether it was from opposing armies, natural threats, or Heartless. (When Sora slyly asked how the captain and Mulan were getting along with one another, Shang expertly skirted the subject.)

However, some of his news was more disturbing: recently, some new threats had been popping up, and attacks on the Imperial City and smaller villages and towns were becoming more frequent. As such, Shang had to abandon wilderness survival and instead reverted back to wartime training, as it did seem very much like there was a war brewing. But these new threats, Shang said solemnly, did not seem like Heartless. They were bigger, more vicious, and a lot harder to kill. Somehow, they had been given the name Nightmares, and so that was what everyone had started to call them. It seemed altogether too fitting. Sora was able to supply little information about them, though: he told Shang that the term 'Nightmare' was what the creatures actually were called, suggesting at least some influence from other worlds, and said that they were popping up in "other parts", as well. (He wisely didn't elaborate on what he meant by that--he knew it was important to keep the knowledge of multiple worlds out there something of a secret.) He didn't know how to effectively kill them; he just knew that you had to just keep on hitting them until they died.

The pair had fallen silent only moments before a man suddenly burst into the tent, looking fairly worried. Immediately, both males rose, and Shadow began to hiss softly. Quickly, the man reported, "Sir, there's been an avalanche up on the mountain!"

"Does it pose any threat to our camp, or any people nearby?" Shang demanded.

"No, sir," the man replied. "It's isolated up on the mountain. But sir--"

"Then why are you bothering me with this?" Shang thundered, moving forward to expel the man from his tent, but abruptly found himself impeded by Sora's arm. He was about to turn his irritation on the teenager when the soldier continued:

"Sir, Fa Mulan is up there!"

There was an immediate change within Shang. His anger turned to fear and worry, and without a word, he circumvented Sora's arm and followed the soldier out, only to find his horse already waiting for him. Had he not been so worried, he might have offered a grim smile at the soldiers' sensing what Shang would have ordered anyway. Some were already mounting their horses. "The five men who shot the best on the range today, mount your horses! The rest remain here to guard the camp and supplies!" Shang shouted. Bringing all or most of the troops under his command would have been foolhardy, as they could very well trigger another avalanche. The less people up there making noise, the better. As he swung into the saddle himself, he spotted Sora leaving the tent, appearing at a slight loss as to what to do. The captain then offered his hand, helping Sora into the saddle behind him. "Ever ridden a horse?" he asked.

"Nope," the brunette replied, sounding somewhat nervous as he looked at the beast he was now astride. He was higher off the ground than he had thought he would be, and he could feel the horse moving slightly underneath him, feel every breath it took. It was a bit weird. He was far more used to paddling canoes.

"Hold on tight, then," Shang warned, then spurred his horse into action. The white beast leaped into action, galloping out of the camp with five brown and black horses right behind him.

- - -

It did not take the small party long to reach the area of the avalanche, although unfortunately, they had reached it only halfway up; the cause of the avalanche was farther up, and a lot of the caves were around that area as well. Shang ordered his troops to leave their horses behind and scour the snow pack, searching for survivors. He didn't mention Mulan, but the men all knew he was thinking it. The captain himself took Sora with him, and they started to struggle through the waist-deep snow towards the top.

Within minutes, Sora's bare legs were freezing, and his exposed arms weren't much better off. Still, he made no sound of protest or complaint and pressed on. Mulan was his friend, too, and she likely had Mushu with her as well, who had helped him through more than a few battles.

Wait--Mushu! He could breathe fire, so shouldn't Mulan be all right? Mind, Shang likely didn't know about the little dragon guardian, so he wouldn't know that Mulan had a safeguard in the snow. At this thought, Sora considered casting at least Fire to create a path for the two of them, but he might weaken the snow pack and the ice and just end up causing another avalanche, endangering the soldiers below, not to mention anyone around the mountain's base.

But now Shang was beginning to get too worried to care too much about causing another avalanche. As such, he decided to risk it. "Mulan!" he called out, hearing his voice bounce back at him, then shouting her name again. If he lost her...

[Shader-san]

This ride that takes me through life,
Leads me into darkness but emerges into light.
No one can ever slow me down,
I'll stay Unbound.

Kairi didn’t even bother wasting a breath with questions about Rain’s brief mentioning of her origins. A computer? For six years? Why even ask about it. There were just something things Kairi had come to accept immediately. After all, how many people would believe her when she said she was friends with a talking dog and a pantless duck?

Though she knew she wouldn’t be much help when it came to the actual ship pants. After all, how often had she’d even been in or around a Gummi ship? Most of the time her travels involved being kidnapped and forced against her will to travel through Dark portals, not comfy luxury ships.

“I would think asking Genie would be our only option at this point, I don’t know who else might know about the kind of traveling we need,” Kairi admitted. She loathed being so useless at a time like this, but they were severely limited in options. Mei’s portals were not a good option to work with. Forall they knew they could be killed en route to their destination by the other creatures that used the portals. It wasn’t as if Kairi knew how to make a Corridor of light for personal travel (though that would have been a rather swanky way to go). Without Genie and without the Gummi blocks, the only thing they could likely do now was work on their tans.

"Okay, okay...so if I were some colourful, rubbery blocks that are just weird things, when you think about it, not to mention able to completely change their size and their form, to an extent, where would I be...?"

Rain almost made it sound like the blocks were alive with her last comment. They didn’t even sound like anything Sora had mentioned before when he talked about Gummi ships. The way he drew them out in the sand made them look like a child’s toy, not some amazingly complicated and sturdy vehicle that could traverse the various worlds. And since it seemed that only a few people knew about them and how to make them, they were probably a rarity on the worlds that did know about their ex—

Kairi paused mid-thought, the ping! of her idea was so loud she wouldn’t be surprised if Rain could hear it.

“… Rarity,” Kairi repeated, touching her chin thoughtfully, “Rain, what about… the Treasure Room?”

[Sweetly Sardonic]

┏━━━━━━━━━┓
𝕹 𝖆 𝖒 𝖎 𝖓 𝖊
┗━━━━━━━━━┛

"Your memories are connected, like links in a chain."

Naminé smiled again, though this time it was a combination of grim and wry. Hayner had gotten along with Kairi, so of course he wouldn't simply force her away now... the blonde did wonder, in the back of her mind, if he would be so receptive if he hadn't already been acquainted with the redhead. Since she was essentially born from Kairi, it seemed as if those who were friendly with the Princess of Heart were more likely to be friendly towards her Nobody... Helpful as it was in situations like this, it brought a feeling of slight frustration to the white-clad girl that she wouldn't have been able to feel if she'd been created in any other way.

She was never going to be able to make her own way, was she? In some way or another, everything always came back to Kairi for her. Not that Naminé was bitter, because she really wasn't. She owed Kairi a lot, and there wasn't anyone else whose Nobody she would rather be.

"Well, lead the way, oh knight in shining armor~" The words were said with a teasing lilt to her voice and an easy smile that Naminé had picked up from Kairi before they'd been separated again. It was difficult to - well, not live - exist within someone for any period of time without picking up some of their habits.

Doubtless the Heartless would have been shaking in their boots - if, of course, they had them, and if, of course, the creatures had even a vague understanding of the concept of fear. Hayner, armed with his weapon, was a formidable force. Perhaps not quite as formidable as a Keyblade wielder, but still strong enough to take a good number of them down. And Naminé herself... Well, she was a Nobody. As a general rule, the Heartless and the Nobodies did not get along.

When the two teens finally managed to get to a place that was relatively safe, Naminé stopped to catch her breath and gave Hayner a quick once-over. The cuts were nothing fatal, and could be easily fixed. Toyah had been in much worse shape, and she'd managed to help her, after all. "Stay still," She murmured, and she held her hand over the cuts before closing her eyes and concentrating on urging the wounds to mend themselves.

Her skill lay in working with memories, but the connection between herself and her Other was such that casting Cure wasn't entirely impossible for the girl. Soon enough, Hayner's cuts wouldn't be stinging too badly, and all but the deepest would have faded away into almost invisible scars. "My name is Naminé," She said once she'd finished, opening her eyes and clasping her hands behind her back. "Who are you? How did you get here?"

_____ "Those same chains are what anchor us all together." _____________________ ☾_____ ❣ ___ ❤ ___ ❣ _____☽

[Sweetly Sardonic]

xxxxxxxx
t h e _ s a g e _____
_____________ o f _ s k y
xxxxxxxx
"Sometimes people come into your life and you know right away that they are meant to be there.
They serve some sort of purpose, teach you a lesson, or help you figure out who you are."
x

"Wasn't always a...?" Despite the situation, Olette found herself eagerly awaiting the cloaked boy's explanation. It wasn't every day that one had the opportunity to learn about other worlds, after all. She was aware that she knew more than most, if the others in Twilight Town were anything to go by - but she knew very little about this place and most places other than Destiny Islands; Sora and Kairi hadn't been completely detailed during their stories, probably for good reason... so Demyx's story was entirely new to her.

Her expression was solemn when he finished retelling the Beast's tale. "What a sad story..." If he found someone to love him and to love in return, he could go back to how he used to be, right? Just... hopefully without the selfishness. It would be so romantic if that happened... but it didn't sound like it had, yet. She found herself wondering who would be able to love a beast, though. The only picture that came to mind when she thought of 'beast' was one of the strange creatures that she'd fled from Twilight Town to escape... she certainly didn't think she would ever be able to love one of those!

For the prince's sake, Olette hoped he'd become a different sort of beast.

She was about to say something else, but something had roared and Demyx had jumped - and it would have been a lie to say she hadn't gasped and hugged herself, clenching her eyes shut. Even if the story wasn't true, something was in here with them! And it didn't sound very happy to have visitors. "Y... You're right. We should find somewhere else to..." To what? She wasn't sure. What she was sure of was that she didn't want to stand around and become beast chow.

She kept quiet as he headed for the door, but turned to look after him and took a few steps to bridge the distance between them when he beckoned her. "Yeah, I... I don't think we want to run into him, wherever he is." She gulped, glancing at the door warily. This place seemed too old-fashioned to have some sort of alarm rigged... but what if there was someone quieter out there who would be able to call for the castle's master once they opened the door?

"Where will we go?"

It occurred to her that he hadn't given his name yet, but at the moment the task of getting out of the castle before its owner found them seemed a bit more important.

x
♪ Did I ever tell you you're my hero? And that you're everything I want to be
I want you to know that I know the truth, I know I'm nothing without you ♪

...and I can fly higher than an eagle... ____________
________ ...'cause you're the wind beneath my wings...

xxxxxxxxxxxx

[Qwirx]

⇌Ⅶ⇌⇌⇌⇌⇌
⇌Ⅶ⇌⇌⇌⇌⇌
iiiiɌəɱɑlүӽiiii
⇌⇌⇌⇌⇌Ⅶ⇌

ஞ Ƞobody, as long as he moves about among the chaotic currents of life, is without trouble. ஆ


Treasure Town

If Remalyx was startled by the figure rising from the ground, he didn't show it. He had grown up in Halloween Town- this sort of thing was not out of the ordinary. In fact, a peaceful, semi-tangible... celery monster floating his way in a very conspicuous manner was very tame. The nobody dog watched him patiently, and listened similarly so, responding calmly thereafter.

"I am nocturnal, and a traveler." Remalyx replied in a succinct manner. "This is simply where I ended up."

Though the nobody wouldn't label it as such, he was a bit amused by how two ghostly creatures had found their way to him after he'd howled. This one was certainly more tangible than the last, even casting a shadow. Yet if one stared long enough, one could tell that something was certainly off, but it wasn't the level of ghost-like that he was accustomed to. Normally, he'd have let this sit as fact, but his dealings with the shadowy creature had gotten him in a conversing mood.

"I have seen many spirits in my time, including this one," He nodded toward the shadow beast. "And you do not resemble them as I know them."

ஜ I'm Ƞobody! Who are you?
Are you Ƞobody, too? த

XXXi
XXii

[Miyavi The Destroyer]

-"Sora your Lucky"

━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ N O B O D Y I S P E R F E C T

Roxas prepared himself as more heartless quickly morphed out of the darkness and headed for him. He jumped back as a neo swiped at him only to back up into a shadow. He let out a small irratated growl. 'If I had my other keyblade.' With the oathkeeper slaying the heartless would be quicker and more effecient.

Though since all he had was his oblivion he had to strategize and make due. As a shadow leapt at him he quickly struck and vanquished it. The pure breeds were one of the easier species. The more the more they derived from looking like mere shadows the stronger and more intelligent they were.

He let out a small surprised bark as ta neo had managed to seep into the ground and get behind him while he dealt with the lessers. He quickly blocked as span towards him like a boomerang. Succeeding to knock him down. 'I must be getting close to the castle.' He was about to get back onto his feet as the neo suddenly pounced on him.

Pinning him to the ground. He struggled to hold it back with his keyblade. He glanced past the neo on top of him and noticed the other blending into the ground to get under him and attack him while he was down 'Darnnit!' The neo tried to peirce him with its claws. Both of which were being blocked with the keyblade.

"Get off of me!" He slashed it back a moment to late asit already melted into the floor. He quickly rolled out of the wall as the other neo sprang out of the ground where he had once laid. He panted as he stood up, he still wasn't fully recovered from his awakening.

He carefully watched his foes prowlingly start to inch towards him. 'There's no way I'm going to lose to heartless! As one of the neo twitched it's talons as it drew foward Roxas charged towards letting out a battle cry as he reeled his keyblade back.

T H E O R G A N I Z A T I O N ' S N U M B E R : X I I I ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━

-"Looks like my Summer vacation is over"

{{OoC: }}