Kingdom Hearts : Heartfelt Adventure {Day 8 ; Invite Only}

[Enji_Chou]

[Kyla: Red Rose: Kyla’s room]


~ He’s right. Conflict is inevitable, they will be upset- but they wont hate you. Besides-~
The creature pawed at the covered figure under the cloth again.
~Deep down inside you know beyond any shadow of a doubt that despite all the issues, and arguments and conflicting personalities you KNOW Kyla these are GOOD people. With GOOD hearts. No one is perfect and not without problems, but you know people who are good at heart cannot help but eventually come together. ~
“…with…instead of for?”
The ears on the summoned perked up, something finally resonated with the girl.
~That’s right! That’s what working together means.~
There was another silence and slowly the blanket began to move. Inch by inch the fabric moved down until it actually slumped onto the bed again revealing Kyla sitting with her legs crossed, her dressphere had reverted to a more comfortable version, very reminiscent of Namine’s slip dress with the notable tunic jacket that was distinctly Kyla’s own design.
“Kyle?”
She reached up and touched a spot on her head, like it was sore or something. The golden hue from her eye was gone again for now but she looked up at him with such trepidation.
“I…they're all gone..aren't they?”

All this time. she never admitted it, refused to look at it, acted like it was completely separate form this situation.

"...gone."

“D-do you think…my little..my brother…”

“… do you think… he’d forgive me..”

“For not protecting him?”

There it was. One of the reasons Kyla push hard, and away. Why she worked herself to death yet made no leeway towards her goal. She was stuck in an endless denial of the guilt she was truly harboring over failing to protect her little brother.

Kyla's eyes were wide. Wide like saucers.

"He..he went after our dog, Dante, I..I couldn't get to him..."

'...Elliott. Wont you forgive your big sister?'
 

[fractalJester]

[ Kyle : Red Rose : Interior ]

His smile flickered, but it didn't fade. If it was at all possible for a single moment to change the atmosphere around a person, then that would perhaps be the only explanation for what subtle, barely noticeable change just occurred with the dragoon as the artist spoke up. His smile remained, but his head lowered, maybe only half an inch, so easily missed. His eyes, though, his gaze... was gone.

"I certainly hope so," he replied with the utmost sincerity. There was a note in his tone, a twist to his voice, something unguarded. "'Cause if yours can't forgive you..."

He turned, looking into her eyes, his lips still curled into a smile, but everything about him was hollow. Whatever strength he'd had, whatever walls he'd built, whatever defenses were there... were gone. Dead.

There was a moment--one, singular, fraction-of-a-second moment--when the two locked eyes, Kyle's brown eyes meeting his brother's teal eyes--

And then there was nothing.

"Then mine certainly couldn't forgive me."  

[Jeimuzu Kuro]

{James : Red Rose : Galley}

James fell silent after his little revelation, he knew he would have to warn the others too, given time. He couldn't let the others fall for the same trick. He took another drink of his coke, finishing off the can before he answered.

"Yeah you're right...," he replied with a sigh, her mumbled "anyway a good indication that she wanted a change of topic, not that he could blame her. This was all far too much to think about in the state they were in.

It was at that time that James received Kyle's less than positive mental reply, but it didn't surprise him. 'That's fine, it seems like everyone is just about to pass out from exhaustion, and it's not even the evening yet,' the corsair replied with a light chuckle.

"So, is Riku a good teacher? And what are your thoughts on using the darkness? Does it concern you that we're using the very power that we are opposing?" he asked, these were all questions of moral that the corsair himself had asked a number of times, and until now hadn't really had anyone else to ask what they thought about it.  

[phoenixianCrystallist]

{Bobbi .:. Red Rose .:. Galley}

When she caught the general strain of conversation James and Noelle were having, Bobbi's ears would have perked up had she been a dog. As it was, she finished moulding the salted and peppered ground beef around a slice of Swiss cheese, and decided to speak up as she fought the meat into the shape she wanted.

"Darkness, huh?" she said, almost no inflection in her voice. That was mostly because she was tired and distracted, really. "I thought that was a Dark corridor you opened there, Noelle. How long've you had that trick up your sleeve?"

She'd gotten the patty the way she wanted and plopped it into a pan to cook, then reached for the bacon and began frying the strips in a second pan. As she waited for the meats to cook, she took the time to make the bases for a couple of awesome BLTs and Joe's burger. Multi-tasking was such a handy skill to have!  

[AldrickZearse]

[Joe: Shipwreck Cove: Red Rose Entry Ramp]

Interesting. So, 'blood-ink' was a thing, and it was his magic, basically. Well, that was...an interesting magic. It could probably do more than just harden and spread, but he didn't really feel like delving too far into it. Especially considering the next question that came about.

"...Well...I don't know? It's kinda...new, and don't really don't know what to actually call it or anything." Okay, so it was a partial lie. A drive was a drive. Well, not that he was going to let it slide that they pretty much could all do it. Well...not that Joe knew if they could, anyway, but he assumed they could with the dress spheres involvement or something.

"Sorry, guess that wasn't much of an answer. My talents lie more in just kicking the snot out of people, really."  

[Enji_Chou]

[Kyla: Red Rose: Kyla’s Room]



The change, no matter how subtle would not have gone unnoticed by the artist. She was all about subtly, hidden meanings of the unspoken words- the language of the hidden. From the moment his head dropped slightly, to the slight tremor in his voice-
Kyle dropped his defenses and for once in a long, long, long while-
There he was. It was faint and perhaps very different but the resemblance was there.


There he was Kyle.
Cue: Hane
The one from the first day they met. Not the cheery big smiling dude with the-, “good morning princess.” This was the Kyle beneath that act that was probably there staring at her all along. The one behind the sunny side, yet who still was smiling through all the pain of the loss he felt. Because he had to, how else could one hold themselves together when their world had fallen apart?


He really did come back.

Kyla stared back at him, brown eyes meeting brown eyes, realizing the symmetry between them went deeper than just opposing names.
He gave her an answer, but what could she say back?

Stop acting for.


Start acting with.


With.


“Let’s-“ the carbuncle almost startled when the artist finally spoke up. The artist extended a finger to the dragoon, a simple pinky hooked in offering.

“-..l..”

Suddenly a strange but unusually fitting look came on Kyla’s face.

It was a smile. Not just a basic smile or a curving of the lips or that passive neutral gaze, this was a real cheering up smile. A smile that looked like she had perhaps used it often, maybe back home?
Up till now, since this story started Kyla hadn't been seen or known to have this look on her face but as new as it seemed, it seemed...fitting.

Was this the real Kyla?

“- Lets find out. We'll win this, we all will. We'll save this universe and at the end of the journey we’ll ask them, together.”

“ Ok?”
 

[fractalJester]

[ Kyle : Red Rose : Interior ]

Kyle paused, momentarily taken aback by her sudden hand offering--nothing malicious, just confusion. When she spoke and smiled, he gave a small laugh under his breath. And he was the optimist.

He reached out and hooked his pinky with hers. "Deal," he responded, grinning, light returning to his attitude. It was good to get her smiling again. Hopefully she'd fair well with the others; he'd try to help, but he could only negotiate so much.

"Anyway, I should probably get some sleep," he said, getting to his feet and yawning, almost falling backward in the process. "No telling when the next name on the list will pop up. You should sleep, too."  

[Je suis a toi]

[ Noelle ~Shipwreck Cove ~ Red Rose: Galley]

Noelle was about to respond to James when Bobbi joined the conversation. The blonde looked up to her as her face went a little pink. It was difficult to read her tone, so she was unsure of what she was thinking about the matter. Noelle had been worried about scrutiny from the beginning, that was why she asked Riku not to mention anything. She was hoping to keep it under wraps for a little while, but desperate times called for desperate measures. The agromancer slouched back into her seat.

"Well, I could do it since the day you guys found me after . . . that stint with Elleon." She began shyly, holding her mug with both hands, "Being able to control where it opens is a . . . more recent development."

Noelle turned her attention back to James and offered him a small, but very unconvincing, smile, "Riku is a good teacher. He made sure my heart was in the right place before he'd even consider teaching me. I just . . . didn't want to fight it any more. I figured the sooner I embraced my stain the sooner I could be sure I, or anyone else for that matter, wouldn't be hurt by it. I just wanted to keep everyone safe and even to be able to use Darkness to protect you guys if I can. That's important to me. That doesn't mean I think being able to use Darkness is vital for myself or any of us. Being able to monitor my stain and even the stain of others is more important. But again, I . . . I care about everyone. If learning to use Darkness can help me assist everyone, it's a worthy endeavor. But it comes with risks--especially up against such experienced users. Our own manipulations of Darkness can be turned against us by someone stronger. Darkness isn't loyal to any one person. So using Darkness against someone like . . . Kuja, or Seymor, could cause a serious backfire."  

[Enji_Chou]

[Kyla: Red Rose: Kyla’s Room]

It wasn’t like one single promise, or one talk was going to change all of Kyla’s bad habits, that smile would not last forever-but perhaps this small step would be an important motion in the right direction. Something small that could lead to bigger better and more permanent things.

Kyla did her best not to turn into a tearful sobbing mess of it all, and just gave the pinky swear a soft tug before letting her hands drop to her lap as Kyle stood up.

His stumble reminded her just how tired she was too, and for just a moment she was about to agree and go to bed- when someone nudged her- Tyue again.
“hm?” Kyla shifted around to see the carbuncle poking her with a little paw.
~ Kyla, remember there was something you had to give Kyle??”~
Of course!? How could she forget??

Probably because by then she still highly suspected Ajora of foul play and had been holding onto it in case it was some kind of trap. But now… after all they learned, maybe it wasn’t what she thought it would be after all.
“Are you sure it’s safe?”

Kyla’s frowned cautiously, but was already rummaging through her robe sleeves to find it. With her back facing Kyle he would see the large inky stain that spread up from her left shoulder blade if he was observant enough. Kyla was too engrossed in finding the little object to remember why she had hidden under her blanket and eventually she extracted what she was looking for.

“This …was from Ajora.” She explained apologetically, “At the time it was before you arrived, and during the fight I thought it was a trap. It wasn't like I accepted this item willingly.” Shifting back around she showed him the small cloth covered item with the blazing seal on the top.
“ Looks familiar doesn't it? Do you know what this is? Is it safe?”
 

[fractalJester]

[ Kyle : Red Rose : Interior ]

Kyle paused and looked down, his curiosity piqued. However, when he saw the marking on her back, he tensed--and was tempted to use a bit of his own brand of healing. He refrained, however; she'd been hiding it. He didn't like the idea of someone purposefully keeping something that could be healed, but he reminded himself that it was her choice, not his.

As such, he ignored it--and his interest was genuinely on something else, anyway. When she brought around the small cloth pouch, he tensed, immediately recognizing the seal--Ultima's command seal, glowing crimson, just as the seal on the door. Just as the seals on their bodies. She was right to have been suspicious.

But she was also right about what they'd learned. So, hesitantly but purposefully, he took the small pouch in his own hand--

--and the moment it was in his grasp, the seal vanished.

"I... have no idea," he replied honestly, raising a brow at the pouch. Driven by curiosity, and exhausted to the point that his paranoia slipping away, he carefully opened the pouch and emptied the contents into his palm.

There, smaller than a quarter and just as flat, was a small, metallic silver dragon piece, with a single chain loop around the thinnest portion. His face contorted a bit in confusion.

"Well, that's weird," he said, genuinely lost as he lifted the piece up. He felt no magic, no Darkness, just an odd metal... "I wonder..."

He brought it close to the Trinity Charm on his wrist, the small bracelet having over a dozen unique pieces on it, each representing their target. However, before he'd even gotten the dragon-piece within half a foot, it flew from his hands, immediately attaching itself to the charm with a light clink.

His face deadpanned. "Oh... Well."  

[Enji_Chou]

[Kyla: Red Rose: Kyla’s Room]


When Kyle held up the flat piece Kyla examined it’s likeness for a moment. It reminded her of a few things but within the context of this distorted universe any concrete matching seemed impossible at the present time. Still.
“A dragon?”
It’s size though…
“I wonder…” Kyle mused and Kyla would node slowly and watched, tension running through her shoulders as he brought the piece towards his own trinity charm bracelet.
“A charm?”
The answer came instantly as it snapped into place on his bracelet.
“- a secondary addition? Interesting. Didn’t Ajora say before he was able to tap into our frequency, we ran the danger of the replica’s hearing what we were up to?”
Kyla slipped her feet off the bed and stood up, coming closer to get a good look at- immediately copying the likeness into her book for reference.  

[fractalJester]

[ Kyle : Red Rose : Interior ]

"Well, the reason he had access before," Kyle began, eyes narrowing on the new charm, suspicious but unable to really do anything about it. "Was that he'd had James brain-washed, linked to Ajora's mind. He only heard things if people included James, but he could send out messages to anyone."

He frowned. A last ditch effort to give the other replicas intel?

"I don't know. It doesn't... match up," he said, frowning, playing with the charm a bit using his other hand. "He went through all that to help us. I don't think he'd give a backdoor to people who had to be told not to kill us. But..."

He shrugged. "When Merlin comes by, we'll get him to look over it. It doesn't feel malicious, but then again, that wouldn't be too obvious anyway," he said, tiredly shrugging. "It's definitely Ajora's, though. This mark... I'd used it in my writing. He made this for me, to him... which means he probably expected to get out of that alive. Which means--" he realized, snapping his fingers in mild frustration. "--that while they had James, he was able to mimic the charms."

"Since it's only one link, it's a single target--both ways," he explained, flicking the others as if to emphasize the point. "It's only connected to mine, and mine's only connected to his, so... I dunno. But I'm not activating it until Merlin gets a look at it."  

[Enji_Chou]

[Kyla: Red Rose: Kyla’s room]


“ I see, perhaps he counted on surviving, and in the future being able to speak with you. You specifically. Seems like something he’d want.”

But Kyle was right, best leave it for now and consult Merlin if there was any malicious spells or attributes to the item that may not be so obvious. “ I guess it goes without saying, be careful- “

You should talk. She berated herself.

“-and sleep. Yes. Sleep. “ she pat the dragoon on the shoulder softly and wen to open her door polightly for him. “I have to update my records… but I’ll do the same soon” She offered a supportive smile again, “ Thank you. For everything, I’ll see you later.”
 

[fractalJester]

[ Kyle : Red Rose : Interior ]

"No problem, chica," he said, smiling at her and patting her, as well, being careful to pat her shoulder, not her back--he remembered the bruise, but made no mention. "Don't wait too long, we didn't get any sleep last night."

With that, he walked out the room and down the hall. There had to be a spare room somewhere, he figured--but then he realized that none of the rooms were actually marked. So, giving up, he walked into the closest unoccupied room, walked over to the bed, and collapsed on it, curling up immediately.

He was so, so done with the day.  

[Enji_Chou]

[Kyla: Red Rose: Kyla’s room]



“ Alright, Goodnight Kyle.” And she closed her door shortly after she saw him disappear into a room somewhere adjacent in the hall. There were lots of spare room, it was sort of first come first serve, but there seemed no real difference in style or level of quality that she could see- except maybe captains quarters.

Leaning heavily against the door Kyla closed her eyes. She had a lot to think about. So much to think about- but… sleep. Right.

It seemed so hard to relax, her entire body was tingling from left over adrenalin, shock, after shock, emotional anxiety, you name it. Sleep? Was it possible? Maybe updating her book would help her wind down. Something proactive yet mundane.

Settling back on herbed she cracked open her book as Tyue crawled over to her side. She pawed at her arm- ~ It will get better Aibou, I know it will.~
“You’ll be with me, through everything, wont you?”

~ Aren't I always?~
The artist huffed an agreement and shifted in bed when she heard a crinkling of paper again.

“huh- I don’t remember-“ she muttered fishing her hand around the covers and under her pillow for the offending source of the noise. Her fingers coiled around the crumpled folded letter, pulled it out and opened it’s edges.

~ What is it?~


“ I don’t remember making a spare page an-“ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This page! Tyue recoiled like they had picked up a live mine. Too scared to hold it, too worried or suspicious to drop it- but fi it was cursed wouldn't have activated by now? What was her game?!

“…Oh god… It’s her. Does this mean- she’s made her move?”

Kai. Her replica had a little message for her. There in her open hands was her missing picture of the creature she accidentally brought into existence. Her sin made flesh and form.
There was something strange about the lines. No- this wasn't the original copy! Scribbled beneath the illustration of the abhorrent apparition was-

‘Do you like tracing?’

“…Kai…”