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fractalJester
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 30, 2012 12:29 am


{ ATE : A Broken Whole : Round Two }
{ Kyle ; Ajora, Jr. : Kyle's Heart : Repaired Station }


{ Cue : Beatdown Round 2 }

The clash of metal echoed throughout the heartscape as both original and doppelganger met in the middle, swinging their spears at one another and rebounding a couple meters as a result. From then, it was nothing but motion.

One swung high, forcing the other to duck; mid-dodge, he twisted his body to the side to slash at the opponent's legs, forcing the former to jump over the blade and his target entirely. In doing so, he flipped, vertically slashing at his back; he once again twisted, doing a swift one-eighty and swinging horizontally as the other landed. To avoid the blow, he bent backward and flipped away, unleashing two blasts of magic at the former's feet, causing him to hop back in defense.

In their momentary pause, both tensed, as if calling on their magic. The Station seemed to glow bright with Light as the stains shrank away--called into the doppelganger, who absorbed the Darkness for strength.

They leapt at each other again, their spears clashing like blurs of white and black, unleashing odd static with each connection, like the "snow" seen on a missing television station. One went on the offensive, going for a powerful stab at his opponent's chest; the other twisted and lashed up at the spear, attempting to knock it out of his target's hands, though it only pushed it away, before following up with a sharp stab of his own with the other end. The former used the rotational momentum to spin as well, avoiding the stab with a vicious horizontal sweep. He brought his spear to his side to block, unleashing another burst of static, before twisting his swallow up and hoping to hook the other. He pulled his spear back to avoid and, in the opening in his target's guard, threw his free hand out and shot a blast of magic.

There was a sudden shout at he was knocked back a few meters, tumbling over before managing to roll onto his feet and one hand, the other holding his spear.

The doppelganger looked over at Kyle, stunned and wide-eyed. They were supposed to be even--they were supposed to be equals, only Kyle would inevitably wear out. Darkness would reign--

Kyle's eyes narrowed and his smirk widened, the bright aura slowly building in strength.

"Why--?!" he shouted, quickly getting to his feet as Kyle began to dash. Before he could get an answer, Kyle was upon him with a swing, forcing him leap--high into the air.

Without hesitation, Kyle followed suit, launching himself at an angle against the invisible barrier before beginning to bounce around and around, climbing his way after his doppelganger. He dodged numerous blasts of magic with each leap and, as he caught up at the apex of the doppelganger's jump, lashed out with a blast of his own, sending him flying back against the invisible barrier.

Ajora quickly twisted his body and pushed feet first against the barrier, launching off to the side. The two were blurring in the air, rising and clashing against one another, releasing strange errant bolts of black-and-white static. With every collision, they pushed off once again in a different direction, continuing their leaping climb into the endless æther.

He was getting desperate, firing off blasts as often as he could. Kyle would merely keep moving, leap a different way. But there was no mistaking it--Kyle was the hunter now. Ajora was the hunted beast.

The doppelganger shouted in fury as he unleashed three separate Banishes, and Kyle managed to leap ahead of them all, a blur of white light. It was outrageous, he was to dominate, he was supposed to gain control, he was promised--

With a roar, he leapt straight across the chasm at Kyle, and he watched as Kyle smirked, launching a direct assault as well.


They met in the middle with a loud crash, their spears erupting with energy. Neither leapt away this time, starting to fall as they attacked one another, Ajora savage and he precise. The station was like a speck of Light below, but getting closer quickly.

"Why--" Ajora shouted, swinging blindly in anger. "--do you keep fighting?!"

Kyle saw the assault and parried, skewing Ajora's momentum--before using the other end of his spear to hook around the clone's waist. With a burst of magic strength, he twisted both of them in mid-air and sent Ajora careening down toward the Station--which he could finally see clearly.

So many portraits of friends and family, save the center, which had an Outraged drama mask. And for the first time since he could recall, instead of a massive black scar, he could see what his form was embracing--who he was embracing.

Josh, facing the same direction as Kyle, his eyes closed in slumber.


He wouldn't blame you.

He watched Ajora spinning wildly, charging a blast which he threw at Kyle. In response, Kyle pulled his spear back, charged it with magic... and tossed.

"GUNGNIR!"

The spear pierced the blast and struck Ajora in the chest, causing the doppelganger to go wide-eyed, before the magic erupted from behind, like a rocket, launching the amalgam like a blur into the Station, where he erupted in an explosion of Light.
PostPosted: Fri Nov 30, 2012 12:30 am


{ ATE : The False Dichotomy : Final }
{ Kyle ; Ajora, Jr. (?) ; Ultima : Kyle's Heart : Station of Awakening }


Kyle landed in a kneeling position before standing to his full height, looking down at Ajora's battered body. There were patches of translucent black all over his form, particularly around where Gungnir pierced his chest, but it seemed as though he refused to fade away. Shaking his head, Kyle dispelled the spear.

"You're not Ajora," he said, looking down into the yellow eyes, so full of rage, so full of negativity.


The entity starting laughing--it was a hollow, spectral laugh, far deeper than Kyle's normal laugh. As he did, the patches of shadow grew, slowly encompassing his entire form, leaving him as a translucent black spirit with pure-yellow eyes and an unnatural, malicious grin.

"Might as well be," it sneered with a deep bass.

"Not even close," Kyle replied, still glowing white. "You've no mind of your own. Just rage, and envy, and sorrow--"

"Now now," the specter interrupted, its voice suddenly a much higher pitch. Its body evaporated, disappearing into nothingness. "Don't forget whose I am~"

"I haven't," he said, tensing and looking around. He felt a chill from the direction of the only spot of Darkness left--the portrait of the drama mask. He turned, watching as the mask rose, marked by Sinister Glee as the negative entity lifted itself out using its hands on the platform.

"That's right--I'm everything you repress, everything you ignore," it sneered as it grew free of the Station; its voice then grew to its deep bass again. "You cannot destroy me without ripping yourself apart. And you may suppress me now, but I'll only grow stronger by the minute anyway."

"... I know," he said, releasing his tension and sighing, shaking his head.

"Then give in. You know it's inevitable--"

"Not quite."

The entity suddenly froze, as if stopped in time, and was lifted just barely off the ground, hovering closer to Kyle.


"Wh-what are you doing?!" it shouted, its voice reverberating from the shadows as it was forced down onto its knees in front of the dragoon.

"You're right. You're my Darkness, all the doubt, the anger, the negativity that I've held on to, ignored, suppressed," he began, towering over the entity. "But you know what? You're mine."

He lifted his right hand, and gently placed his palm upon the mask's forehead.


"NO! YOU IDIOT, YOU WORTHLESS COWARD, YOU CANNOT DENY MY FREEDOM!" it seethed, the surrounding abyss shaking, trembling in the spirit's outrage.

"Can't I?" he replied calmly, giving a small, weary smile. "Darkness of mine--I accept you."

The entity screeched in ear-piercing agony as his form was enveloped in a blinding aura of Light, shining brilliantly like a star. Over the course of a few seconds, the white aura began to converge, sliding from the rest of its form into its forehead, before disappearing entirely under Kyle's palm. The screeching stopped, and the entity slowly fell backward against the mosaic.

Engraved and gilded into the mask's forehead was an emblem: the Seraphic Star.

Kyle heaved another sigh, not even tensing as Ultima's voice filled the Station.


.:Kyle, I can't hold my form much longer... I've used so much energy just repelling the constant stream of Darkness--:.

"It's okay, Ultima, I'm done," he said, looking around at his Station. It was glimmering like it had been recently polished.

.:I'm afraid it's not going to be that simple.:.

That's when Kyle tensed. "What's wrong? What's happened?"

.:When you're heart gave in, my bindings shattered. As of a few minutes ago... I am no longer your esper.:.

It didn't register at first, but when it did, his mind reeled. He couldn't access her magic earlier not simply because she was absent, but because the link itself was severed. Ultima wasn't protecting Kyle using his own magic--she was doing so with what little essence she had on her own as an aeon.

"Is there anything we can do to fix the bonds?" he asked, his voice rushed--she could fade at any second.


.:Well, considering who I am and the consequences my presence has brought so far, is that what you really want?:.

"Wha--?" he stuttered, literally pulling his head back in confusion. Was she hurt about earlier? He was practically fallen at that point, given to rage--

--and then he figured out her intent.

"Ultima, you've saved me time and time again," he said, chuckling. "Without me asking, even! I don't care about the other espers--better they come after me than aimlessly causing world-wide destruction, right? I have you and everyone else to back me up."


.:So... you would...?:.

"Come back, Ultima. I'd miss your bitching, anyway."

There was a sudden flash of light in front of him, and there she stood, towering at seven feet with her six golden wings spread wide.

"Besides, look at you, you've gone and gotten your full potential back," he said, admiring the wings in particular. She, however, was solemn.


"Do you, Kyle, take me on as your servant?" she asked, holding her arms out and close together, as if preparing herself for shackles.

"I, Kyle," he said, grinning and reaching under her hands to gently grab her wrists, upon which golden bracelets appeared--without chains, though the Dress Sphere's binding effect still occurred, which they both felt. "Take you on as my ally and friend."

She shook her head, rolling her eyes. "Your friends are waiting for you."

"For us," he corrected with a smirk, holding up his hand for her to grab, much like arm wrestling but as a sign of unity. "Let's kick some a**, shall we?"

She smirked back, giving her familiar haughty laugh. "It will be good to wipe that smile from Chaos' face."

She reached out and gripped his hand, and in a flash of light... they were both gone.

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PostPosted: Fri Nov 30, 2012 2:04 pm


~~{ ATE: The Dark Visitor and the Opened Door }~~

[??? : ???- Sanctuary of Heart : Crystal Fields -> Crystal Caverns]


The figure stood, watching, observing with interest the possible miracle happening before his eyes, though neither of them could ever imagine what it was. The crystal floated up and away to join the other fragments still encompassing the two in endless color. As it vanished from view the scenery shook once more, clattering of tiny chimes flooding the eardrums after her question was posed as they flowed down like a waterfall and vanished, leaving the two in the dark once more, shadow fading and letting light through once more revealing a far less abstract scene. A small cobblestone room with a fire, sparkling golden trim curtains in royal blues, purples, and reds, a large, almost royally coated bed with a rich, dark wood frame, and on it a girl... Kyla to be exact.

He looked around and then at the girl, "I chose you because I want to protect you. I've watched you and your friends for some time now and you proved yourself to be different... possessing qualities that most lacked. Opportunity gave me the chance to offer you this protection... now here we are. So, I suppose you could say it was a little of both... luck and choice. But ultimately, the choice was yours."

At first glance, everything seemed real, as though one could reach out and touch the blankets and feel the silk under their fingertips, but the moment it came in contact, it would fold around their touch and flutter away like butterflies from a net. The only thing in the room that gave off a different feel, was the woman sitting by the fire. A gorgeous young woman, supernaturally so with high cheek bones and sparkling blue eyes like sunshine on a lake during a clear summer day. She radiated royalty from the tip of her raven black hair to the soles of her crystal heels. She looked at them, right at Kyla as though her soul was burning itself onto the other's, then without a word she looked away, back at the fire, expression deep in thought.

Then just as quickly as they'd arrived, the scenery faded like smoke on the wind. once more they stood in the crystal cavern's, right from where they'd departed.
PostPosted: Fri Nov 30, 2012 7:23 pm


~~{ ATE: The Dark Visitor and the Opened Door }~~

[Kyla : Sanctuary of Heart : Crystal Fields >???> Crystal Caverns]


It had become apparent a while ago that both her heart and that of something else was meeting in the middle, and so their dreamscapes were converging because of the two occupants involved. Was it a possible result of this give and take mentality?

Entranced by the sight of the shards falling away below them, and then when the environment changed again, Kyla was surprised to see herself on the bed that materialized. Was this a memeory, no- this was right now.
With her back bare and exposed, the blankets pulled back down to her hips, they showed the gruesome telltale signs of the previous battle that was now etched along her spine. The damage had been diminished, blood clotted, but the skin was still open and torn with a very obvious gap caused by the entry. Artemis really did a number on her.

Just seeing that sight, contrasted so grisly against the silken glamorous furnishings struck a chord with her all of a sudden. It reminded her just how badly things had gotten the last time she was truly conscious. The last thing that went through her mind- she couldn’t even peg what she was thinking.
Just seeing those wounds though made emphasis on how easily it could have been over, right then and there.

By all accounts, thinking of where she had been, verses where help was on the battle field-
… I should have been dead.

"I chose you because I want to protect you. I've watched you and your friends for some time now and you proved yourself to be different... possessing qualities that most lacked. Opportunity gave me the chance to offer you this protection... now here we are. So, I suppose you could say it was a little of both... luck and choice. But ultimately, the choice was yours."


Kyla’s eyes rose up from the grotesque sight of her inflictions to look at Avat Mat, in all his shadowy distorted glory, with those bright yellow hued eyes.
This thing, this person, this former earthling chose to help her- and because she had accepted his help, she was alive this moment. He was right, Kyla had made a choice, and though it cost her dearly, and she could very well be still paying for it- did she regret it?

No. Not for herself, no,.

Still she did regret worrying the others about it.
The others had so much to deal with already. Their burdens were no more or less then her own, and it was foolish to think otherwise. Despite her good intensions, she had no doubt struck pain upon her teammates who had come to aid her. A vision of Kyle’s broken form in her arms came to mind. Along with Noelle’s sad face, Joe’s disappointing glare, Bobbi’s worried expression, Amy’s sad smile, Jenny’s pleading glances, and everyone else. Suddenly everyong was in her minds eyes looking at her with such shame and disappointment. Everyone was carrying something and was her choice worth putting more weight upon them.


‘ But I tried so hard! I really did! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!’


How could it be when all she wanted to do was help- she still ended up feeling like she acted nothing but selfishly? What was it that this person saw in her that was so different?

At some point she couldn't look into his eyes anymore, and she had to turn away. Turn right into another pair looking very intently at her. Such a lovely woman, so regal, so otherworldly and how she looked upon her with those stunning eyes of hers. Who was she? A princess? A ghost? A goddess?
Kyla hadn't realized she’d been staring right back into that woman’s face when she reached that thought. Somehow in the transition between ideas her gaze had locked with hers, and now the mysterious woman bore into her with al the weight her gaze seemed to command….and it was a LOT.
At long last the radiant apparition look away and back into the flames, finally releasing Kyla at last. It seemed strange how tight her chest felt, when this couldn't be her chest- or her body, or even real. The real her was laying prone on a bed in a place she hadn't a clue about its whereabouts. Still…
It felt tight all the same.

Then all faded away, and they were back. In familiar territory, the caves leading into the deeper recesses of Kyla’s own fragmented world inside her faceted heart.
Unbidden Kyla began to walk forward again, pausing a step in tie to say with all the sincerity she felt- “ Thank you. For saving my life.”
As the light danced across the polished surface of the caves, a transition of colors would bleed into the quart surface the closer they approached the other side. Into the light it would turn was white to green, then lush hues of the same type going ever deeper as the world once against transformed once again around them.

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PostPosted: Tue Mar 12, 2013 1:26 pm


{ ATE : Created to Serve : 1 }
{ Ajora ; Ultima : Ajora's "Heart" : Station of Awakening }

The cavernous dimension was anything but bright. The vast black expanse was completely covered in black, pulsing veins, only visible due to their dark indigo outline. The mosaic, if it could be called that, gave off no light of its own, unlike normal hearts. The only "light" came from the large monitors on one side, slightly blocked by a crimson-dressed Ultima watching the destruction outside.

The dim florescent only made the scene eerier. The "mosaic" was blurred, like murky, colored glass with no definite outlines, showing only ghastly visages of those within his memories, like spectral aberrations. There were entire spaces that were simply black, not from darkness, but absence--as if entire chunks of glass had simply been taken out, revealing a pitch-black platform underneath.

At the center of the platform stood a large crystal, easily eight to nine feet tall with a meter-thick diameter, multiple sides, and a sharp peak. It was dark, practically opaque, making it effectively impossible to see within, even as the light from the screens flickered across its facets.

In the distance, there was a dull murmur, as though something had been spoken from behind a thick, distant veil. The sound seemed to bounce around the emptiness, constantly deterred through the farther rings of oblivion.

At the screens, Ultima gave a sickeningly-sinister chuckle, amused by whatever she was watching. Images of the battle played across the main screen, with side screens taking completely different views of the same scenario--most of them airborne.

However, something made the Bloody Angel tense. A split-second later, the heartscape quaked as a large gash flared above them, like something had literally cleaved through the black veins to let in a crack of brilliant light.

White noise erupted and the previous murmuring became a violent shout, echoing throughout the station and piercing the previous silence with a fury.


"AJORA--!"

Ultima wasted no time in tapping in commands, and the black veins above rushed to seal the wound, flooding the light with darkness. The shout dropped in volume as quickly as it had risen, once more becoming a murmur lost in the void. Seconds after it had opened, the gash of light was "healed," and silence returned to the station.

The white-haired angel glowered at the screens, feeling the wrath of her master as they focused down on their foes.


Behind her, two narrowed eyes opened within the confines of the crystal, glowing gold and burning with rage.
PostPosted: Sun Mar 24, 2013 3:13 pm


{ ATE : Created to Serve : 2 }
{ Ajora ; Ultima : Ajora's "Heart" : Station of Awakening }

{ Cue : Rise in Arms }

The battle waged on. She giggled as the monster threw the Keyblade "Master" like a ragdoll, her laughter echoing throughout the abyss--

--but then the assaults struck. The station quaked, rocking to one side and the other as each different offense struck. The tear of Light above reappeared brighter and larger than before, accompanied by another, and another, as the barriers were ripped apart. Ultima cursed, rapidly trying to reseal the walls, pushing her magic through the station to keep the connection strong.


"AJORA! WAKE UP!"

"Shut up!" she seethed, not that the insolent Avatar of Mateus could hear her. She slammed her palms down against the console, and black veins surged into the station's system, pushing the black walls above to speed up as they tried to cover the Light again.

"The Maester has sent me to collect his new experiments."

... Anger...

There was a powerful jolt--the monitors flickered and sparked loudly for a brief moment, and Ultima laughed. Her masters were pulling them away, dragging them into a dark pocket. The Light tears were closing ever-faster now, but a thin, black wisp of smoke filtered through into the Station.

"Well, they're not ready. Tell him his toys will be done in about an hour."

... Anger...

Another wisp managed to slink through just as the Light was beginning to fade. The Bloody Angel sneered, preoccupied with the vision of the battle, seeing it from the eyes of the beast. Finally, after days of sitting idle in her host, she was watching the damned Earthlings crushed, watching as the Darkness began its assault.

But then she heard a strange, glacial crack behind her. It was a single noise, barely heard over the other sounds from the monitor, but she froze all the same. A second passed, and then another--and then there was another, lighter crack. Slowly, she turned her head, craning her neck over her shoulder to look at the large crystal structure behind her.


The last thing she wanted to see, and the only thing she saw, was a pair of flashing golden eyes, burning with rage as the black prison slowly began to crack around her host.

As the noises became more frequent, her lips slowly curled into a smirk. "So, you're awake? I wouldn't do that if I were you--you'll fracture your heart. Wouldn't want that--"

The cracking intensified--and true to her words, the station itself began to break, lines spreading like uneven webs from the crystal's location.

"Look, see? Just give up," she said, turning to face him completely with narrowed eyes and a disdainful gaze. "You can't expect to overpower this--"

The once-soft sounds grew exponentially louder as Ajora's eyes seared with fury and the station began to fracture entirely, the dimmed glass appearing like thousands and thousands of smaller pieces jammed together. Everything trembled, shaking with the Replica's accumulated wrath. Ultima's face contorted in her own rage. "Stop, you idiot--!"


Everything exploded, sending glass shards everywhere while the two entities, Aeon and Host, began to fall into oblivion. The fragments began to disintegrate into a fine black powder before vanishing entirely, and Ajora and Ultima found their bodies turned upside down. They continued to glare at one another, he in his black and red suit, she in her crimson dress, both plummeting into the barren fragments of his heart.

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PostPosted: Thu Mar 28, 2013 10:18 pm


{ ATE : Created to Serve : 3 }
{ Ajora ; Ultima : Ajora's "Heart" : Station of Awakening }

{ Cue : Pride of Lions }

Ajora kept his eyes on the Bloody Angel across from him, and she returned the favor, as they continued their long descent, head first. Neither could reach the other, or alter their course at all for that matter, leaving them glaring for some time.

"You're a fool, Ajora," she taunted, snarling at him. "You've felt their power. You've seen what they can do. Do you really think you can stop them?"

"Not in the slightest," he replied, his tone still gruff, anger flowing through his veins--anger that kept him alive. Without that drive... "But I'm not intending to fight alone. That's what the others are for."

"The earthlings? Hah!" she scoffed. "They're almost dead as it is."

"We'll see," he said--and ground was fast approaching. Simultaneously, both summoned their weapons: Ajora, his spear, Ultima, her two blades. The Bloody Angel even shifted garb, from dress to armor. "We'll see."

"Hmph."

The world was coming into sight. A desolate, black beach, the waves eerily silent. Stranger still, the unnatural tears in existence, like black rips in space, that dotted the landscape, appearing and disappearing.

Their speed slowed--and it began.

Both flipped backward in mid-air, landing on their feet before launching at one another. They met in the center, with the clash of metal echoing endlessly into the abyss. They commenced less in furious battle, and more in a dance of bloodlust, their movements both fluid and constant. For every torso twist that Ajora began, Ultima finished with the swaying of her arms.

He spun to slash, and she blocked with a blade angled downward; she countered with her other hand in a stab, which he evaded with a slide. He tried to slink around her with a horizontal sweep, she leapt and tried a vertical strike. Steel on steel, with with feathers flashing and coat flapping.

Finally, the two hopped away from one another, both thinking of some new approach--and both jumping backwards, unknowingly, into separate tears in the Heartscape.

Ajora appeared in a thick, dead forest, its trees barren and made of stone, and the tear closed in front of him--but he was not lost. Immediately, he began running to his left. This was his heart. He knew it at every level, felt its paths, breathed its existence. He dashed between the petrified monuments of life, knowing exactly where Ultima was--

--before suddenly jumping up to grab a stone branch, lifting his body just above her swing as she jumped through another tear in space. She knew his heart, as well. He spun around the branch and dropped down in a stabbing motion, only to strike dirt as she slide to the side. He rolled away from her vertical counter and jumped farther out of range of her second strike.

He was on his feet by the time she was through with her swing, and with a jolt of strength in his legs, he vaulted toward her for a charged swing. She was forced to block with both blades crossed, and still the two flew backward--into another tear in space.

They reappeared in a broken cathedral, its interior vast but its entire ceiling and roof missing, revealing the fractured sky, black with gashes of white. There were numerous mosaic windows, but most were broken, foggy, or twisted in someway unnatural. At the front, behind the altar, was a massive circular mosaic, appearing much like his station, except it had a single form, most of his form and face blackened out, or broken entirely.

Ultima was able to catch her ground and leap backward into another defensive stance as Ajora landed, flourishing his spear as his eyes flashed at the ready.


"I warned you," she taunted, smiling. The gashes in the sky were still closing on their own, but slowly. Meanwhile, a rip appeared to their side for a split second before vanishing. "But you fractured yourself anyway. As if you weren't unstable enough--even your deepest levels are torn."

"I am no one's puppet," he snarled, flourishing his spear again. "You know how this ends. Just kneel already."

"Hah! You still don't get it!" she shouted, smirking widely. "Not only is your own heart still feeding me energy, but the Darkness placed me as your warden. The only one to kneel will be you, Replica--just as you were born to do."

"No!" he snarled, a crimson aura suddenly flaring up around him. "I bow to no man, no gods, against my will!"

"Will?!" she shrieked in laughter, her body quickly surrounded by Darkness. "You have no choice!"

Ajora roared in fury and leapt at the scion, his speed increased by magnitudes in his rage--even the realm itself shook with his anger. Still, she parried, twisting to the side and letting him fly past--into another planar tear.

He flipped around, his feet sliding against stone and dust as he appeared in an expansive, plateau-filled desert. He was on top of one of the higher plateaus, though each were only a few meters wide, and he could see to the edge of the world--which was only a few hundred meters in any direction, where the desert simply stopped existing, and oblivion began. In the distance, he could see the other fragments of his heart. But those weren't his concern right now.

He pulled his spear back, like a batter preparing to swing, and with a crackling-blur, he did just that, right as Ultima exited the portal. She had come through with a powerful cross-slash of her own, so when the two blades struck the spear, time paused, energies clashed, and there as a sudden detonation, sending both flying far off the plateau.

Ajora rolled to his knees in the desert sand, immediately looking the direction Ultima had been knocked--only to have to jump backward as the Bloody Angel tried to strike after having caught herself mid-flight with her wings and soaring after him. She threw her second blade at him, which he deflected while circling around her in unmatched speed. She summoned her blade and held a defensive stance, watching, waiting, until suddenly spinning to her left to counter the coming strike.

Once again, the two locked in a fatal waltz, only now charged with rage and malevolence. Their movements were as blurs, only barely visible even to themselves, and the clashing of their weapons sent errant bolts into the abyss with sounds of ear-rending thunder. He flourished, she parried, she thrust, he contorted, he swept low, she struck from above, both dodging, both blocking, both knowing the other with perfect clarity.

Once again, they leapt apart to begin again. Neither needed breath, for both were simply constructs within the heart.

Ajora growled before dashing forward again. This time, Ultima refrained--and with the sudden appearance of black veins along her skin, she parried, spun, and kicked Ajora in the chest, sending him flying back through a spatial rip.

He landed painfully, rolling down a length of concrete sidewalk in a vast, dead metropolis. Skyscrapers towered above, unlit, devoid of any life, and rain fell in torrents from the black-and-white sky, all without a single sound, all passing through him, leaving him dry. It was at least ten meters beyond the tear before Ajora finally stopped tumbling, landing face down on the "wet" stone path.

He pushed himself up onto his knees as Ultima strolled through, the rip closing behind her. The black veins were even more prominent now, visible down her arms, her legs, and along her neck. She laughed.


"Stay. That's where you were meant to be," she said, her haughty tone more piercing than her blades. "Kneeling before the Darkness and its chosen. That is your purpose."

{ Cue : All Hell Breaks Loose (Choir) }

"No," he snarled, slowly getting back to his feet, though he seemed to waver.

"You were made to be a conduit. You were born to be used."

"No," he said, though something about her seemed to make him step backward, like a flame too hot.

"You were created to serve us."

"I said NO!"

His voice was a roar, a booming declaration that caused the entire realm to quake, pulsing with sudden energy. It was Ultima who took a step back now as Ajora's crimson energy spiked with blinding intensity, as his anger sent a rippling pulse of energy throughout the metropolis and beyond.

Suddenly, in all corners of the metropolis, the shadows began to flux, swirling before slowly rising, even along the sides of the dark buildings.

"I am Ajora," he seethed, his voice no longer booming but pervading every inch of existence, as if the world itself was speaking. "My heart, my body, my mind are mine and mine alone. None influence me or command me without my consent."

The rising shadows opened their eyes--their white, human, golden eyes.

"I am Ajora," he declared, beginning to step forward. "My resolve is unbreakable. My will is supreme. I have no equals."

The shadows began to take humanoid forms--and as they did, they shed their black skin, their inhuman appearance.

"I AM AJORA!" he shouted, stepping forward again, causing Ultima to take another step back, her face contorted in rage and disgust. "BORN OF KYLE! BORN FREE! AND I WILL KNEEL TO NO ONE!"

Where once were countless shadows, now... were dozens, hundreds, thousands of Ajoras, all formed of anger, of rage, of infinite fury, all of their eyes piercing Ultima.

"Now," he seethed, lips curled in venomous wrath. "On. Your. Knees."
PostPosted: Mon Apr 01, 2013 6:24 pm


{ ATE : Created to Serve : 4 }
{ Ajora ; Ultima : Ajora's "Heart" : Station of Awakening }

{ Cue : Fight with Seymour {Black Mages} }

Her grip tightened on the blades as she held a defensive stance, staring at the primary Ajora, but unable to resist glancing at the many others he'd managed to form. She hadn't expected such a reversal--she knew of his anger, but never its extent. He'd always channeled it outward, into his Unversed.

So this was her foe.

"Hmph," she huffed with a callous smirk. "Defiant until the end?"

With a ferocious shout, dozens of them converged on her, jumping from the buildings, the alleys, behind her, beside her, their black spear-copies flourishing, waiting to cleave her--

With a surge of Darkness and flash of her eyes, she twisted and contorted, parrying two above, dodging a trio from behind, countering her sides with a horizontal sweep, and using her wings in a burst of expansion to repel any other attackers. After a swift 360-spin, knocking countless copies airborne, she lunged forward in flight, her blades ready for Ajora's throat.

He flourished his own swallow, deflecting the first blade and countering the second in a vicious vertical uppercut. She spun around to his side, sweeping high and low with one blade each, forcing him to jump back. In his place, a flood of clones surged her again, swinging at her legs, trying to grab and sunder her wings. As she fought them off, she felt a powerful kick to her gut--Ajora had used his backpedal to vault forward with a dropkick.

The two flew backward into a spatial tear, appearing high in the air above the desert. As they fell, Ajora hauled forward and punched her face; in fury, she countered with a knee to his stomach and an elbow to the back of his head--which he only countered by flipping forward in mid-air and kicking her face with his heel. She grabbed his ankle and, using their falling moment and the force of her wings, spun round-and-round before launching him toward the ground they were fast approaching.

To her frustration, he glared in her direction as she fell--and masses of clones launched themselves from the desert sands at her skyward presence, shouting and slashing. She never saw how he landed, too busy cleaving and kicking the clones off of her, the black veins on her flesh fluxing with rage and might. Finally, with an enraged shout, she unleashed a pulse of dark power, flinging dozens of the clones away.

She caught sight of the primary Ajora, his crimson aura still flaring with rage, and the two launched at one another, meeting in mid-air with a thunderous clash of steel on steel. He twisted, she countered, she stabbed, he contorted, he swept, she leaned backward, it went and went, they rent and rent, until just before they hit the ground. At that point, they pushed off one another, landing and sliding along the sand.

Before any more action could be taken, Ultima let loose her blades and thrust her hands forward--unleashing a devastating beam of Light magic, sparkling crimson, at Ajora. The blades rotated wildly at her sides, deflecting and slicing up any clone that approached, her wings spread wide in vein-driven power.

Ajora, she noticed, countered her beam with a potent beam of black-and-crimson as well. The two beams met in the center, fluxed, surged, and finally erupted with a powerful detonation that sent both flying even farther back.

She appeared atop one of the many skyscrapers, but he was nowhere to be seen--unless she included the thousands of clones climbing and jumping her way. With a growl, she looked off into the horizon, gazing at the torn black sky that only seemed to grow brighter and brighter with each passing rumble--


We have to keep fighting...

She snarled as the Light tore into her lord's defenses. It wouldn't matter, so long as Ajora was preoccupied--it would just make it that much more complicated to fix later.

Returning to the present, she leapt off the side of the building, unleashing a volley of charged Light spheres, each of which exploded and sent dozens flying while she fell toward her target: another rip.

As she slipped into this hole, she reappeared in the stone forest--only to twist her body, dodging Ajora's horizontal sweep by hairwidths. Their eyes met, and she brought her blade down on him. He slipped aside and flourished his spear in a vertical uppercut, which she parried into a stab. He pushed the blade aside and, contorting himself, attempted to do the same. She caught his spear between her blades in an x-cross and shoved it downward--stabbing all three into the ground.

He tried to kick her away, but she only spun, attempting a roundhouse hick toward his head. He flipped backward, away from his spear, and reversed into a forward lunge, tackling her to what he'd hoped was the ground--

--except they slipped into another rip, this time winding up under the ebb and flow of the dark-ocean tide. Needing no breath, they continued their struggle below the waters. He attempted to punch her gut once, then twice, only for her to block both fists and launch her knee into his gut. He curled as it struck, only to violently lash forward in a headbutt. Her head snapped back, and he took advantage by grabbing her throat and squeezing it, trying to break everything he could in her neck. She slipped a hand between his arms in a powerful uppercut which knocked his own head back, forcing him to let go.

Before she could attack more, the shadows of the sea flooded her, as Ajora's rage-clones assaulted, slashed, and tore at her from whence she couldn't see. Finally, after another pulse of wrath, she burst upward in a violent spiral of black and white, soaring out of the sea and into the air, revealed they were just a short distance from the beach front.

After spiraling upward a dozen or more meters, she stopped in a sudden flex, rapidly expanding her white wings, which even now were slowly being covered in black veins as the Darkness fueled her with more and more power. Below the waters, all she could see were eyes-thousands and thousands of searing golden eyes, staring up at her. She scanned as much as she could, looking for the tell-tale red aura--until it began to come to her.

Exploding outward from the sea, with the black waters acting as a waterspout within which Ajora stood, his chest and arms poking out above the water's tip. Beneath him, the countless eyes filled the tower, waiting, furious.

"You can't win, Ajora," she scoffed, flapping her wings, curling and flexing her fingers, each crackling with energy. "You fight the invincible. They are gods. How foolish can you be?"


"If gods would take my freedom," he snarled, his hands curled into crackling fists. "Then I'll just kill them."

They both lunged forward, Ultima with her left hand, Ajora with his right, and they met in the center, unleashing blasts of Light and Dark, respectively.

However, where they clashed, a tear in space appeared--and unmoving, they began to flux through the heartscape, the world around them twisting and flashing a new location every few seconds.

They never tore their eyes from one another. A few moments later, Ultima threw forward her right hand, charged with Darkness--and Ajora countered with his left hand, flowing with Light.

As the two clashed, their bodies never anywhere more more than a moment, the entire heartscape began to quake, not because of them, but for the two massive holes that sundered the black sky with Light.


"THAT’S for ELLIOTT you b*****d!"

The sudden explosion of energy made the tear fluctuate more rapidly, more violently. They were flashing through the heartscape, errant bolts of energy detonating, destroying stone trees, blasting holes in buildings, causing craters in the desert sands--

--and then Ajora's eyes and mouth began to glow.

"As if I don't know that--" she started, only to stop midsentence. His eyes weren't glowing black or white. They were glowing both--a crackling static, a distortion in reality itself, Light and Darkness forced together in one assault, energies that could not existe together forced to do so by his anger. Finally, with a roar, he unleashed the entropic blast, the energies causing a chaotic explosion that sent both fighters flying away from one another out of the rift.

Ajora was flung backward against the stone walls of the cathedral, directly underneath the circular mosaic. Ultima skidded and rolled along the central path, crashing against the massive wooden double doors. As they groaned, recomposing, the missing cathedral roof revealed a fractured sky, black mixing equally with white, impossible to tell what was truly tearing what.

fractalJester
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UrabaiN

PostPosted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 8:31 pm


{ ATE : Near-Death Crossroads }
{ Daniel ; Zodiark : Daniel's "Heart" : Arbitratus Station }


Celestial bodies hovered in space as far as the eye could see above a backdrop of endless lights on a black canvas. All about were planets, stars, and galaxies slowly traversing the void. The scene almost passed as an arbitrary location in the universe, however as planets spun into view with no sun to orbit and small slithering cracks appeared at the edge of time it would be apparent that this was in fact Daniel’s heart.

He stirred, picking himself up off of the glowing mosaic floor and looked out into the dark expanse. A gas giant took up every inch of his view, it’s swirling storm of hydrogen and helium practically within arms length. Daniel took a moment to assess his well being, worried that his body was ruined by Ajora’s attacks. He breathed in relief; this was a different sort of place and he was in control. A moment later Jupiter retreated until it was barely the size of a quarter.

The Turk stood, turned, and surveyed. His heartscape had changed very little since he had last delved into it. His platform sliced through an asteroid belt that orbited seemingly nothing, the gigantic rocks careening in slow motion. Above, stars twinkled in peace. Daniel couldn’t help but think it looked like a backlit canopy with holes punched in it. He smiled; space was his favorite place to be.

Metallic grinding, clinking.

Daniel snapped his attention to the edge of the platform and approached slowly. When the Turk had played the Kingdom Hearts games the concept of “stations” and “hearts” seemed foreign and unrelatable. Sora’s first “deep dive” involved a series of platforms with ornate mosaics for floors and steps leading to each platform. He had never expected to see his own deep dive, and had no idea what to think when he laid eyes on his.

Daniel had two platforms delicately balanced on a massive set of scales. The platforms branched out from a central mechanism that seemed to dictate the position of the scale. The housing was ornate, and the inner workings were a delicate and complex series of gears and shafts.

Each mosaic depicted a world; One was the Earth, and the other was “Kingdom Hearts”.

The cogs whined as if they had rusted for centuries without a caretaker, and the platform Daniel stood upon shifted downwards relative to the opposite side of the scale.

Which was a first; The platform he was standing on had always progressed upward.

Daniel’s heartscape was a mystery. As far as he could tell the scales never had any visible weight on them, and certainly never experienced any force. The planets and debris around his construct always narrowly avoided collision or were at his beck and whim anyway. His own weight had also never halted the rise of his side before, which remained a slow, steady process. The Turk assumed there was some unseen pressure acting against the platform opposite. Or maybe the whole mechanism was like a clock; on a set course for an intended purpose Daniel did not understand. Today’s shift was unusual

"…Daniel, you are not allowed to die."

The Turk turned, tension leaving his stance. It was good to hear someone else’s voice. His summon floated just above the surface on the opposite side of the mosaic, staring with a worried expression.

"I seem to be ok, Zodiark, I—"

“NO! YOU WERE NOT OK, DAN!! I was THERE—“, The air around Zodiark blurred as he shouted, “I watched you break—“

He faltered

“I watched you break…”

Daniel stiffened and held his breath. Memories of Darkness’ assault poured in- the fear, the pain, the uncertainty. The scion’s screaming. His own. Daniel rushed across the platform, only to be halted by Zodiark’s rising anger.

“You weak, fragile idiot! You FOOL!! All of that training, and for what?? So you can try and be a hero for your new pals?”

The spellblade took a step back

“You think I can’t see it? You think I can’t see how you changed when you saw them?”

The air fluctuated around the scion again. A galaxy seemed to be careening towards them from behind Zodiark. Or was it them rocketing through space, closing the gap?

“ ‘I don’t need anyone else’, you say--yet here you are partnered with Shinra. FINE.”

The galaxy expanded, so close now that it seems more like a cloud of stars. In moments they would be passing through it, or it through them.

“ ‘I’m content with just this’, you said. And here you are greedy for the attention of others! You show off, you act the fool… You are content with just leaving me behind-“

“NO!” Daniel choked, horrified, “No, I would not do that, Zodia—“

Zodiark lunged forward abruptly, inches from the Turk. The platform and its surroundings nearly collided with a wayward sun, the ball of fire consuming the farthest end of the asteroid belt that was visible.

“ARE YOU THIS DISTRACTED, DAN?! REALLY?! Your selfish games will result in your death! You may as well cast me into the void again! AGAIN, DAN.”

The memories shared between them, the true nature of the “Creators’ betrayal” surfaced. A wayward comet streaked across Daniel’s vision and collided with an asteroid to his left. The violence was dazzling.

When Darkness had removed the veil from all the Scion’s memories the nature of Ultima’s rebellion and it’s connection to Zodiark’s exile became clear. Considering many of the guilty parties had been present during the battle it was a subject Daniel had done his best to avoid. Unfortunately, it seemed Zodiark did not do the same.

Darkness’ manipulation and Ultima’s rebellion had caused the “creators” to exile Zodiark. Without provocation and without any evidence that he would join the bloody angel’s cause they stripped him of power and left him a defenseless child in the void. Daniel cringed at the thought of Zodiark’s ‘life’ and what it may have been like. And while this fate saddened him and welled up the Turk’s empathy, the fact that Zodiark was accusing him of casting the scion into the void was infuriating.


“DON’T YOU DARE COMPARE ME TO THEM! DON’T YOU DARE--!”

Daniel leaned forward and smacked the ‘face’ of Zodiark with all of his might. The scion shifted, stunned.

“Zodiark, I’m a F%^&ing human being! You got it right when you said I was fragile because @!^&#$@ did I get my arse kicked back there- And guess what? It’s going to happen AGAIN. And even if stay cooped up in paradise and it’s just me and you as safe as can be—I’M STILL GOING TO DIE.”

Daniel’s brow furrowed in unchained rage, yet tears welled in his eyes. To his right a green lush planet careened through the asteroid belt. The chain reaction liquefied the surface and boiled the atmosphere.

“I’m not your creators and I promise right here and now I am going to make waaaaay %^$#ing more mistakes than they ever would. I AM an idiot. I’m going to hurt you, Zodiark because that’s just the way it is.”

Daniel turned to the side, biting his lip and rolling his jaw, trying to form his next sentence coherently. Zodiark floated in silence. A solar system in the distance seemed to be trapped in slow motion as it disappeared from view, swallowed into the event horizon of a black hole.

“You are right, I DO want to know the other Survivors. They may not be blood but they are as much kin as you are—and OH do I know that bothers you. OH DO I KNOW IT. You think everyone on this god-forsaken adventure wants to steal me away or manipulate me. Convince me I don’t need you or want you. I’ll tell you what Zodiark: If you want to send me in that direction-- CALL ME SELFISH ONE MORE TIME!!!”

Zodiark retreated to the edge of the platform. The air around him trembled again, but it was different.

“I…I.. I’m sorry Dan. I can’t.. I need…”

The air around him violently pulsed as the Scion’s desperation manifested. Daniel’s anger, on the other hand, melted. He dashed towards Zodiark, closing the distance in a flash. The summon reared back as if expecting an attack—Daniel wrapped his arms around the Scion’s body, hugging and squeezing him tightly. Zodiark was speechless.

“Zodiark, I’m sorry too. I really am. This whole battle was stupid. I got ahead of myself, I thought that one lucky shot meant I was turning the tides! I thought it meant I was strong and I could go toe to toe with this thing. And worst of all, I thought people would care. I thought they would be impressed.”

Daniel buried his face in Zodiark’s ‘chest’, cringing at his useless and obviously dangerous pride.

“You were right for calling me out. I was foolish and it nearly cost us both our time in this world. It could have ended our brotherhood. That’s not fair. That’s not fair to you. I’m sorry”

The debris seemed to be retreating on the far end of the platforms, coalescing into swirling gasses, then stars, before zooming out to become a bright, swirling galaxy. Despite all of the destruction, from this angle and scale it seemed as though nothing was amiss, and all was peaceful.

Zodiark finally spoke up, clearer of mind but considerably quieter, “I… Have a lot to understand about you. I thought I knew you. You would think seeing all of your memories would make ‘Daniel’ obvious.”

Daniel laughed, but Zodiark remained stoic and continued.

“I accept your apology. I think…”

Suddenly, a shift occurred in Daniel’s heartscape that both summon and summoner sensed. It quickly became apparent that magic was being cast on the Turk’s broken body and he was rousing—someone was reviving him.

Daniel turn to Zodiark, “Finish your sentence, you think what?”

The Scion hovered in silence for a moment

“it can wait.”

Daniel nodded, accepting Zodiark’s need for space. The Turk had a feeling their argument was far from over, but there were more pressing matters at hand. Daniel’s ethereal body began to disappear, his consciousness slowly dragged to the surface where he would rejoin the fight.

As he began to make the transition he glanced down at the floor. The mosaic glowed bright as ever, but one detail peeked his interest and caused him to do a double take—

He was no longer standing on the mosaic that depicted Earth, instead he now stood above the conglomerated mess that was Kingdom Hearts.
PostPosted: Sun Apr 07, 2013 10:53 pm


{ ATE : Created to Serve : Final }
{ Ajora ; Ultima : Ajora's "Heart" : Station of Awakening }

{ Cue : Eternity Served Cold }

"Idiot," she grumbled, beginning to stand up a few moments before Ajora could, though he did so all the same. Ajora didn't answer, still getting to his feet, wavering slightly. The clones were nowhere to be seen in here. The Bloody Angel stared at the sky and snarled. The weaves were weakening. She needed to get back to her post.

"Why do you fight that which fuels you?" she asked as she once more looked his way, beginning to walk toward an unsteady Ajora. "They have chosen you as their Harbinger, their avatar, their conduit. Can you not revel in that honor?"


Ajora was too busy observing the sky with narrowed eyes to look at her. "I don't care. Their goals are not mine, so I refuse to sit back and let them control me."

"Again, as if you have a choice!" she sneered, laughing as she approached, her blades flashing into her hands. "You are Darkness. You are born of them, born for them."

"Give it a rest, b***h," Ajora growled, lowering his gaze to her for a brief moment to glare before looking back up. She stopped walking forward after she realized he wasn't fighting--not directly, not anymore. They fueled one another, and neither could beat the other. "I may have been born for them, but I refuse, just as you refused your purpose."

"Because I was given a greater calling," she insisted, dispatching her blades again. "To remake the world, the universe itself. Isn't that what you want?"

"Not like this," he said, his voice solemn as he watched white and black clash and swirl above them. "They would erase everything to start anew--including us. And a world ruled by them would be anything but what I desire."

"They could give you your own world to rule!" she called out, leaning forward as if to grab his attention. "You would be a god of your own domain, if you would just--"

The heartscape rumbled with fury as more Light tore at the black seams above them--Ajora's own voice, or that of his original, shouting through.

"FIGHT, COWARD. FIGHT, YOU WORTHLESS GARBAGE."

Ajora chuckled, shaking his head as the ground trembled beneath them. "Not like this."

Ultima snarled, quickly looking upward once again as more Light ate away at her master's dark barriers, trying to come up with an idea--

--except Ajora noticed this time, lowering his gaze and narrowing his eyes. Just then, the Heartscape erupted even more powerfully, knocking them both to their feet as a massive eruption of Light burst above them.

"PRISMATIC MISSILE!"

The Replica landed on his hands and knees, but kept his eyes on Ultima, who was still glowering at the skyline. There was something amiss, and though in their conflict their minds were shielded from one another, he had a vague idea.

He smirked before vanishing into a Dark Corridor, which closed shortly thereafter.

At that point, he reappeared in a large, circular room, its ceiling, walls, and floors all made of transparent crystal. From this point, he could see the entirety of his heart: the tumultuous, clashing sky above and around, and the many fragmented lands below, with the cathedral at the center.

In the center of this room, hovering in the air, were many crystal fragments, all colored a dark, bloody red. They revolved around a two black masses that remained hovering in the center, one atop the other, connected by black tendrils. The lower of the two appeared to be a sickly, cancerous mass, glowing with a cold aura--his false-heart. The higher of the two, from which the connections originated, appeared like a perfectly spherical crystal, pitch black, without so much as a gleam, as if no Light would touch it--this was the "Gift" of the Darkness, and its primary connection to him.

He had literally become their conduit, and this was how.


"What are you doing?"

Ajora didn't respond immediately as Ultima appeared on the other side, cautiously eying him. Outside, the Heartscape continued to take a beating, the others still striking at the monstrous form he'd been forced to take. More and more, Light assaulted the Darkness; with each assault, the "Gift" seemed to pulse, as if fighting back, trying to keep the weaves in place.

Ajora smiled. "Ending it."

He lifted both his hands toward the two masses within the fragments, and a distant hum began--as the Light above began to descend, like cracks in the Heartscape's walls.


"NO!" Ultima shouted in horror, reaching forward but stopping herself, her eyes wide with shock. "Stop! Stop this!"

"It's too late for that," he said calmly, his arms remaining in place. "I've let the Light in. In moments, my heart will be undone, destroyed."

"Why?!" she demanded, stepping forward and throwing her arms to the side in desperation. "You could have anything, everything! But instead, you would erase yourself?!"

"And you," he corrected, smirking. The Light was slowly but surely tearing at the black walls of the pocket dimension, revealing it to be a spherical in shape. "I warned you, Ultima. Their goals are not mine."

She stared at him, uncomprehending, torn between fury and terror. How could he deny such power? Such sovereignty? And all the worse, he had damned the both of them to nonexistence. Death would be preferable--she would simply return to the mystic plane. But this...

"You could help me."

She shot him a nasty glare, her lips contorted in rage--oh, she knew how to feel now. "How dare you. How dare--"

"Do you want to exist," he began, his eyebrow raised, though his smirk revealed he knew the answer. "Or not?"

She hesitated, watching the world around them. The cracks had reached the bottom of the realm now, and were dangerously close to the land fragments. As she watched, Light erupted like a bolt of lightning from below, striking out at the desert scene--and erasing a small plateau from existence. One of the crystal fragments cracked. Both she and Ajora tensed, feeling their presence flicker as memories were annihilated.

She stepped forward, holding her arms forward like he was. "How?"


"Simple," he said, turning his gaze to the Gift. "We destroy this, severing the connection."

"And betray them?" she snarled, pulling back--only for another bolt of Light to destroy a stone tree below, causing them both to twitch.

"If you don't exist, you can't rejoin them."

Once more, she paused--before returning her arms to surround the heart and crystal again. They grabbed each other's hands. "Fine. Initiating redirection."

Both of them suddenly erupted with auras, both black and white, as Light rushed and converged in a single spot above them. Bolts like lightning, flows like torrents, all manner of Light from the surrounding dimension assimilated in a massive, swirling white vortex, causing everything to quake and flicker in and out of reality.

A slitted golden pupil appeared in the gem, staring up at the vortex, and the gem began to crackling with Darkness, a monstrous roar echoing from everywhere. Ajora sneered, Ultima's brows furrowed, but they never stopped, continued channeling the Light. Their entire beings trembled and fluctuated, neither touched by the Light but both wielding it, amassing an assault on the seed of evil.

When all had converged, the vortex, once spiraling as if out of control, now exploded with Light in a downward beam, striking the roaring gem. Once more, Light and Darkness clashed, and once more, as all of existence quaked, the energies exploded, sending both Replica and Aeon flying backward against the crystal walls.

But they survived.

Ajora's head reeled, eyes desperately trying to focus as he recomposed. Again he stood, legs shaky, but he glanced upon the core of his heart--and saw no gem. No tendrils, no connections, no seed--just his heart, his fragmented being. He couldn't help but laugh.

Opposite him, he noticed Ultima stir, trying to stand--

"Stay down."

--and just like that, as if a force had pressed upon her, her back slid against the wall.

His will, restored.


"But at what price?" she glowered; with the conflict decided, their minds were linked again.

He shrugged, looking at the portions of each fragment that had been struck during the explosion. He'd lost some memories, but they had kept it out of the core. The remnants of Light had been ejected back beyond the walls--still there, still assaulting, but denied entry. "Don't know--not like I can mourn what I can't remember."

"Not that," Ultima seethed. "Our potential. So much potential, thrown away..."

He rolled his eyes, deciding to ignore that. The realm continued to rumble under the assaults of the outside. "So, why haven't I jumped out yet?"

"You severed the connection--you didn't get rid of what has already gotten through. They might be able to survive what's left--"

"No, it's almost over," he growled, smirk slipping into a frowned as he felt through the Darkness of his heart, his used body. The monstrosity had summoned the consumptive vortex. By the time they did enough damage to significantly stop it on their own... "I need to get out there--"

She snorted. "You're broken, Ajora. Look at your fragile, shattered little heart. In that state, you're trapped in here."

He narrowed his gaze, walking back over to the hovering crystal pieces. She was right. He was a broken man, and all the anger in the world couldn't fix a broken heart, especially one so fake. It needed something else. Kyle had used the assurances of his friends--but Ajora had no friends.

A soft laugh escaped his snarling lips. He didn't have friends to drive him on--but he did have something else. And it would do just fine.


"What...?"

Ajora reached forward, through the crystal fragments, and grabbed the black, cancerous core of his heart. With eyes closed, he took a deep breath, relaxing his heart-manifest body, and channeled his thoughts, calling through his heart for the power he sought.

The heart released a single, audible beat. At that moment, golden, human eyes lit up the Darkness of the massive room's translucent walls, causing Ultima to noticeably tense, though they remained in wait. The crystal fragments stopped their revolutions, freezing in midair, and the representative Heartscape regions were suddenly still as well, flickering with red energy. Ajora himself began to glow a deep crimson, the energy aura waving off of his body like slow, translucent steam. His thoughts reached deep into the core, searching, feeling, and the aura grew with intensity with each passing moment, each remaining memory. He knew the one, knew it was there, buried deep; if he could just feel it again--


Hello?

His eyes shot open, pure crimson, as his entire body tensed with rage.

Every fragment quickly glowed with brilliant red auras, which extended inward toward the core to connect them; simultaneously, the regions below flared with energy, beams of crimson connecting them to one another. The memory began to play, driving Ajora onward, igniting his fury.


Josh--Josh, talk to me--

You failed.

The realm began to shake again, trembling as Ajora willed it to move, to mend, all driven by anger. His face contorted into a snarl, both hands tightly gripping the core, body flaring with energy. Up above, something glimmered in the sky. The fragments began to move, fraction by fraction, closer to the core, just as the lands below began to come together.

Mom's dead, Kyle--

You were too slow.

The energy surrounding Ajora began to shift--massive energy-formed wings began to slowly take shape behind him. The thousands of golden eyes narrowed, judging the Replica at the center. The trembling grew to quaking, as if the very realm was at risk of tearing apart. Perhaps it was.

Josh! JOSHUA! ANSWER ME--!

You couldn't do anything.

Ultima could only watch, wordlessly, as Ajora struggled to channel his most powerful emotion into raw will, into something he could control. The energy around his body thickened, appearing more like a raging fire than rising steam--a fire growing feral and wild.

GET OFF ME! YOU'RE NOT REAL, GO AWAY!

You're pathetic.

As the realm of the dark heart shook with instability, its shell continued to crackle with Light, the others desperately fighting for their lives. Something, somewhere, sounded as if it was cracking--whether from pressure internal or external was anyone's guess, though it wouldn't matter much longer. Ajora began to growl in frustration. For every inch the fragments moved, the Heartscape seemed to suffer more--

Your will, given form, will grant you strength...

You couldn't do anything.

A wyvern-hearted vigilance--

You couldn't save anyone.

A spear to both desolate and preserve--

You were a failure.

Can you bear this burden?

What's changed?

Without warning, Ajora's flaring aura was pulled inside him, as if he were a vacuum, and his eyes were normal once more.

I have.

The vacuum force intensified exponentially, and the countless eyes were pulled from the walls, taking the form of Ajora's all-black specters as they were assimilated into his being. With every consumed fraction, the crystal shards and the lands below grew brighter and brighter, their vivid crimson auras now giving the entire realm a bleeding, living appearance.

I serve no one. Light be damned. Darkness be damned.

One by one, the fragments converged over the core, phasing through Ajora's arms, and one by one, the lands below rushed together, clicking into place like one unified world. Piece by piece, Ajora was putting his heart back together again.

I will not fail again.

The final piece clicked into place--and Ajora vanished.

Above, the glimmer had grown--his station remade, though a few more spots were now blacked out.

fractalJester
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fractalJester
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PostPosted: Thu May 02, 2013 10:07 pm


{ The Ajora Epilogues : Chapter One }


"--and the volcano's eruption essentially decimated the island," came a familiar baritone. His voice was very regal--Vayne Solidor. "The place is nothing more than a Mist-ravaged wasteland now, ripe with Auracite for our picking. Operations began less than an hour after evacuation."

"So the fortress...?" asked a second voice, this one a deeper base, more commanding, and much more familiar--Xehanort, for certain.

"Will be operational without the use of the Cryst, as we hoped," the first responded, a pleased tone to his voice.

"Excuuuuuse me~" a high-pitched voice cracked through the conversation--definitely Kefka. "Can we get to the main point of our conversation~?"

"Yes, Sephiroth and Ultimecia are likely busy elsewhere, so we may as well convene," Xehanort started, and there was the sound of fabric twisting, as if he changed his stance. "Seymour?"

There was a small pause, though it wasn't awkward, more like recognition. "Ajora, as you know, was one of the... failed specimens I had Vexen create a few days ago."

Ajora did everything he could to prevent himself from tensing at the mention of his name. He had been wise enough to keep his eyes closed while he laid motionless on the tile floor, to regulate his breathing, to do nothing until he knew where he was--and now... now he knew. He was in the middle of a trial. His mind raced.

He was conscious, he knew that much. He focused on his extremities, not tensing them, but forcing blood that way to see if he had sensation--and he did. So he wasn't paralyzed, either. Even better, they'd reverted his body to its previous state, so he wasn't in the middle of dying. Best of all, because he'd destroyed the Gift of the Darkness, it was severed from his mind--his thoughts were his own. And they had, apparently, overestimated how severely his body reacted to pain. They underestimated his stubbornness.

"Maria!" his mind called out over his charm. praying she'd answer. "Emergency."


"They were not enough to act as conduits into this world. However," Seymour went on, and his tone took a twist for delight. Cold, unpleasant delight. "This one grew ambitious. Vayne, I believe your scientist fellow was experimenting with man-made Nethicite?"

"Do I get to play nurse now~?" came her response, playful. He wondered if she had any idea how terrible things were about to get for him.

"Yes, Doctor Cid has had quite a bit of success in manufacturing it, but we've had no success in getting people to use it as a proper channel," Vayne said, his tone hesitant but curious. "Are you saying it was this boy who took the sample from Ghis?"

"Not quite. Kefka and company are about to kill me because I know their secret," he explained, though not one-hundred percent true. "They want to erase existence. Good, bad, all of it. Pure chaos. I disagreed."

"Indeed. And then he came here--" Seymour continued, his tone haughty even now. "--where he awoke the Darkness in the Cornerstone. In his ignorant quest for power, he became the perfect conduit."

"I have a safe place. We can fight to live and have our way," he explained. Even his thoughts were rushed. "No time. You in or out?"

"Two failed experiments combine to create one successful specimen," Xehanort spoke, a small chuckle escaping his lips. Nearby, even Kefka couldn't help but giggle. "But what happened?"

"Oh, well... that's no fun," she muttered, her tone capricious, as if even that news was water off her back. "What a thing to do. I suppose I'm in."

"As is part of his nature as a failed specimen, he was... rebellious. Used the others' attacks to help sever the connection between him and our masters," Seymour explained, and it was at that moment that Ajora felt every single eye turn to him. He was out of time. "Luckily, Kuja and I were able to salvage him, so the connection can be reforged--"

"Grab the basin!" Ajora mentally shouted, and as he did, his emotions surged outward as Unversed, appearing en masse around him and launching various assaults while he fell into a Corridor of Darkness.

---

By the time Ajora reappeared in Maria's Study, his body still in one piece (but still battered, bloody, and bruised), he could feel the Unversed had been destroyed--it had taken them barely a second's thought.

Before Maria even had time to say another word, he grabbed her, made sure they had Kefka's magic basic, and fled through another Corridor. The Fiends would, inevitably, be close behind, hoping to use the basin to spy on him.

Not today.


---

This time, the duo appeared in the lower labs--Zexion's, to be precise. Lugae was elsewhere, likely doing Kefka's personal research, while Zexion was working on more general catastrophes.

The brainwashed Nobody turned to look at Ajora, his gaze dead, hollow--

--and in a flash of motion, Ajora ripped off the brainwashing amulet and slid on a Slave Crown from one of the Replicas. When they were made, he'd made sure Zexion attuned the crowns solely for whoever placed them.

The Nobody had a single, half-second spark of life in his eyes before they went hollow again.

"Use an illusion to hide the crown and make this appear on you at all times," he commanded, his voice rushed as he showed the amulet. "You should appear to be doing everything they ask, but if they ever ask you to do anything against me, slow it down as much as possible. While you're here, I want you to make back-ups of every speck of data you can get your hands on, Lugae's included."


"Understood," Zexion said dully, returning to his work.

There was no more time to waste. Ajora once more grabbed Maria and leapt through a Corridor--

---

And this time, they appeared in a large, circular room of white marble, with no entrance or exit, filled with white chairs at even level. This was the Round Room, also known as "Where Nothing Gathers".

Almost immediately, Ajora groaned, stepped forward once, and collapsed over the central, circular table, his knees remaining on the ground. His body heaved, and his face was contorted in pain. He prayed--though to what, he couldn't care less--that no one else was in the room.

This place, the World That Never Was, was... safe. Mostly. They had the only two ways Ajora knew to magically spy on people from any location--though, in time, they could very easily conjure another. This place was safe only as long as they didn't know about it, so Ajora's time was severely limited.


"You sure know how to wisk a woman off her feet. You sure you don't want me to play nurse? You'd like it~" Maria teased, placing the basin on the table near Ajora.

"Thanks, but I think I've got it," he groaned, sitting up, and after a moment, he held up a hand. A small Corridor appeared, letting two of the heart-stolen replicas walk in--they were James' and Bobbi's second replicas, those that were only kept stabilized with the Slave Crowns. They were utterly useless, except for one thing.

Ajora grabbed "James" by the coat and immediately began to drain his life away. Within seconds, the Bloody Replica's wounds began to vanish, but not entirely--and he would not waste James just yet, so he pushed him back through the portal. Immediately, he also grabbed at "Bobbi's" clothing and did the same until he was fully healed, shoving her back through the Corridor, leaving he and Maria alone.

"... Thank you," he muttered, motioning for her to set the basin down on the table. "With you, they'd have immediately tracked me down and finished the job."


"What would you ever do without me," she replied, smirking as she began to pace around the large, circular white room.

"That reminds me," he began, fishing out a vial; a single hair, Matthew's, was trapped inside. He lightly tossed it to her. "New blue mage guy. Figured you'd want a sample."

"Oh goody! You're my new favorite person," she said, catching it happily and pocketing the vial.

Ajora gave a small laugh, though it was hollow. "I have to go. I'm no good like this," he groaned, standing up. He could use some sleep, but that simply wasn't a risk he could take. "This room has no entry or exit, but the corridors are fairly open-ended around here, so you can find your way around."

"Excellent. Well, toodleoo, then. Don't die," she replied, dismissive as ever. Her focus was obviously elsewhere.

He didn't bother to respond. He slid into a corridor, disappearing from the Castle That Never Was.

---

When he reappeared, the sudden blast of heat washed over him like a flood of sensation. The midday sun of the desert was anything but welcoming, but it was certainly better than the cold of being near-death. He looked down at his nearly-naked body, covered only in the Atlantean robes around his waist--he didn't care. It wouldn't matter long. No, he had to find something, and immediately.

Summoning the Compass of Desire, he brought it up and gazed at its direction. To his right?

He gazed toward the right, over the tops of the Agrabah buildings, toward the endless expanse of sand that lay between the desert kingdom and Disney Castle. Right, he vaguely remembered something about being close to the city's edge...

Jumping from rooftop to rooftop, he kept his eye out for the tell-tale signs, but he wasn't sure it would happen the same way. After all, Genie was at Disney...

There wasn't even any telling if he was in the right time. What if he was too late? No, the compass was pointing him this way, and what he desired most wasn't an object, but anything, anyone, that could change what he'd thought unchangeable--and it was this way, so if he was right--


"Thanks a bunch, Eden!"

Ajora stopped, sliding perilously close to the edge of a rooftop as he heard the young girl's voice. He turned to face the direction of the voice, looking over the edge--and there they were.

Two women. The compass was pointing directly at one of them. Just moving his hand a bit to the side made it tilt. This was it. This could make all the difference in the universe. One street rat, one slave. Oh, but this slave was far different from other slaves. No, this slave was important. Green, smoky skin, lively eyes, ancient knowledge...

... phenomenal, cosmic power.

The young girl, Dhandi, wasn't holding Eden's bottle, which made it all the easier, but Ajora was taking no risks. He knew genies were a bit airheaded, and that, perhaps, was his only saving grace. That, and using the compass to find this single needle in the entire desert.

There was no time to waste, so he didn't. To his side, Celia reformed, though she looked thinner, weaker than before. It didn't matter--he didn't need her strength. Immediately, she vanished from view, and he slid into the shadows of the ground.

The next moments were a blur. Celia, using her speed and stealth, grabbed the bottle. Eden immediately turned to face the woman, eyes wide, and attempted to launch an attack. After all, Celia was no living creature, so she could not be her master.

The attack struck, destroying Celia, but it was too late to stop her from tossing the bottle to her master as he hopped out of the ground a few meters away, his eyes ravenous, his face tense. The two looked on, the girl shocked, the genie furious. It didn't matter.

He was, technically, human. He was her master.
PostPosted: Sat May 11, 2013 1:39 am


{ The Ajora Epilogues : Chapter Two }


[[ DISCLAIMER: There is a song used near the end. It is from a motion picture that, I'm sure, many will think of with disdain. Please simply listen to the music with this post, no other strings attached. Thank you.

EDIT: Also, any interaction with characters I don't control was done alongside the character owners, such as Elizabeth and Jack. ]]


"Eden, I'm scared," Dhandi whispered, trying to hide behind her genie friend, away from Ajora's gaze, but Eden merely stood there, tense, watching the replica.

"Am I your master now?" he asked cautiously, holding up the bottle, his grip unnecessarily tight; he wasn't going to lose it, not when he'd come so close.

"... yes," Eden finally answered, her head lowered, as if she'd been consumed by defeat in a battle that never was. Behind her, Dhandi took a step back in fear.

"Good," he sighed, taking a deep breath and relaxing before opening a Corridor to his side. He looked to Dhandi, and though he knew he couldn't possibly reassure her, he motioned as easily as possible for her to come along. "There's little time. You won't trust me, but I'm going to bring you to the safest place in all the worlds."

"I... I dunno," the young girl responded, looking to the genie, who was busy looking suspiciously at her new master.

"Fine. Eden, go on through the portal to see if I'm telling the truth," he commanded, rolling his eyes. "You'll find yourself in the middle of the desert, but in the distance you'll see a massive set of white walls, and the entire area will be touched by Light."

The genie didn't bother hovering through the portal. Instead, she held her place in front of Dhandi and stretched her neck all the way through the corridor; genies were notorious for finding loopholes in demands they didn't like--especially wishes.

However, a few moments later, her head snapped back out, and she spun to Dhandi with an overjoyed look. "Come on! You'll love it!"


Before Ajora could even say another word, the two rushed through the portal, leaving him on the desert rooftop. With a groan, he paused to roll his shoulders back and walked through to the other side.

Immediately after exiting the hole in space, he could feel his body burn and sear with pain. They were standing in the middle of the desert, but this agony was caused by no heat, no sand, no sun. No, what burned him came from the land on the other side of this desert.

Disney.

As soon as the Corridor closed, he took a step back into the spot where it had been, and the pain subsided--mostly. It's not that he had opened it closer than expected; quite the contrary, the white-marble walls were easily a few miles away. The problem wasn't his closeness.

The Cornerstone's influence was spreading. Somehow, they were increasing its output of power, of light, of purity...


"What is that place?" Dhandi asked, smiling for reasons even she couldn't really understand.

"I dunno! But he was right, this place is covered with protective magic!" Eden chimed, spinning around and round Dhandi in pleasant surprise.

"Can we go there, Eden?" Dhandi asked, giggling as she watched her friend spin round and round. However, at her question, the genie stopped in midair, her energy drooping slightly as she glanced toward her new master.

"Eden, I think we can agree to this freebie, hmm?" he said, eying her carefully. Immediately, she began to smile--wider than her face. Genies were weird. "If you can both agree not to reveal that Eden is a genie, or that she is with me, then Eden, I would like you to bring her to the gates--they'll allow anyone into the gates."

The two girls quickly smiled, but Eden almost immediately faltered. "I don't get to stay."

Dhandi's smile quickly dropped into a frown as well. "Eden... you don't think he'll--"

"You probably won't like working for me," he said, rolling his eyes. "But what we do, we do to help those people behind their safe little walls. People like this girl. Our hands will be filthy, but if we succeed..."

Eden scowled momentarily before hiding it away, turning back to an uncertain Dhandi. "Don't worry. It'll be as easy as that stupid thug before," she whispered, winking, which made the girl giggle.

"Then it's agreed," Ajora said, remaining in his spot. "Drop her off at the gates."

The two didn't waste a single second, rocketing off toward Disney's walls. Eden quickly took the shape of a magic carpet as they soared away, appearing as no more than a speck. It only took a minute or so before she reappeared, frowning with a glare at Ajora.

"Don't give me that look," he grumbled, walking through a Corridor and motioning for her to follow after him, which she did obediently.

"What good could an abomination like you want?" she asked, her voice seething with a venom she'd kept well-hidden in front of her young ex-master.

"What are your rules?" he asked, ignoring her remark as they appeared back on the rooftop, allowing him to take a seat in some shade under a makeshift hut. "What wishes can you not grant?"

Eden paused, biting her lip in frustration. "I cannot kill. I cannot raise the dead. I cannot force emotion. Those are the main three," she began, but the way she looked off revealed she wasn't quite done. "With the worlds fusing together, though, things... have gotten complicated. Cosmic powers get sort of messed up when the cosmic rules are wonky."

"Go on."

She huffed. "The primal force of Darkness is really messing with the cosmos at the moment. So those granted power by that Darkness are... immune. I can't affect them, and I can't protect from them. They... they break even my rules," she explained. "Add in the worldly chaos..."

"Please get to the point," he interrupted. "Those forces are trying to kill me."

Eden was taken aback momentarily, gazing at Ajora uncertainly. "Uh, well, basically, I can't make you immune to them, more powerful than them, and I can't even make you the "best in the world" at anything because, well, which world?" she said before tilting her head. "The Fiends are trying to kill you?"

"Sort of," he muttered, lightly twisting her bottle in his hands as he thought. "So, then, that's it? Nothing else I should know?"

"Well, I'm still getting used to the bureaucratic tape, so if anything comes up, I'll let ya know," she said off-handedly, still looking hard at him. "But why would they want you dead, you're--"

"Trying to stop them," he cut her off, his voice increasing in volume somewhat to imply that she should stop asking questions. "So, three wishes per person. Could a person give up their wishes?"

"Pfft, like anyone would do that," she said, rolling her eyes and laughing, as if he'd told a joke. When he didn't respond, when he kept looking at her expectantly, her eyes went wide, brows furrowed. "Well, I mean, it's not against the rules, but you can't seriously expect--"

"I get what I'm owed," was all he said as he stood up and opened another Corridor. In his other hand, he held out the open bottle, waving it slightly. "Come on, I have some debts to collect."

---

The dry heat of the desert was immediately replaced with the intense humidity of the Caribbean as the Replica stepped through his Corridor on a small island in the middle of the ocean. He was surrounded by trees and brush, so any sign of his appearance was hidden from possible viewers. There were only two people he was concerned about, though, and one of them he could sense a short distance from the shore.

He quietly passed through the dense brush, following the direction of his own seal on the target. He knew what he'd be interrupting, and perhaps had the situation been more light-hearted, he'd have a bit of fun. Right now, however, there were other forces to be concerned with. So, when he made his way into the small clearing where the newly-weds were completely naked and sweaty for entirely different reasons, he cleared his throat rather formally, making the them both shout and jump apart, with the man shielding the woman.


"Oh, it's you," Will Turner sneered, narrowing his eyes at the Replica before darting his gaze toward his pants; the blade and gun were both meters away, out of reach. The same went for the recently crowned Pirate King, Elizabeth, with her weapons lying on the ground haphazardly.

"Believe it or not, I really wish I could have picked a different time," Ajora said bluntly, the genie bottle in his hand tapping lightly against his thigh as he spoke. "But I'm afraid I'll need to collect on that debt now rather than later."

"Collect--? Will, what is he talking about?" Elizabeth asked, not bothering to whisper; no, she had too much spirit in her to hide.

"I made a deal with him--you and my father would live, and I'd owe him. But this?" Will remarked to Ajora, lifting his hand, revealing the black seal on its back; with only a moment's effort, he was able to dissolve the seal entirely. The powers of being the new Davy Jones. "Don't try to force yourself--"

"We made our deal, regardless," Ajora interrupted, growing increasingly frustrated with his time being wasted. "Are you a man of your word, or not?"

"... I am," Will grumbled, sitting up and propping his knees up, uncaring about what was seen.

"Excuse me, but owe what?" Elizabeth demanded, now glaring at both men with equal frustration as she carefully crossed her legs.

"That's what I'm here to discuss--with both of you," he began. "Because in fact, even you owe me something, Misses Turner."

Before they could pipe up, he continued. "Will, how many souls would you say your wife and father are worth?"


"Many--is that what you want? An army?" Will asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Not even close. Elizabeth, do you remember Celia?" Ajora asked, though it was rhetorical; he held out his free hand, and darkness flew out of him into the ground, quickly growing into the form of a lithe, beautiful blonde woman--the same woman that had freed them from the Dutchman.

"What about her?" the woman asked, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"How would you have escaped the Dutchman without her help? She opened a portal for you to escape quickly, getting your entire crew away from the magic negator that prevented your strongest fighters from fighting back against our ghastly crew," he explained, raising a brow. "As well, she held Davy Jones' heart--and had she not given it to Jack Sparrow when he escaped in that final battle, would your lover not be dead, and would you have not lost the entire battle?"

"What exactly are you getting at?" she asked, trying to make him get to his own point.

"As you just saw, I created Celia. She is connected to my mind, and obeys my every thought," he explained bluntly. "I set you free. I gave Jack the Heart of Davy Jones. Without me, you would likely already be dead--instead of blissfully married and bound to have your firstborn son."

"And if that's not enough--" he continued, holding his free palm toward them. With a moment of effort, he forced a small, circular golden glyph to appear in midair--identical to the glyph that prevented the monsters from stopping the ritual that freed Calypso. "I'm also responsible for ensuring Calypso's freedom, without which, Davy Jones would have simply called the Kraken to destroy the Pearl with all of you on it."

"So I think we can all agree that you each owe me quite a bit, no?"


Elizabeth was taken aback--long enough for Will to jump in, looking frustrated. "Answer the question--what do you want?"

"Something you would have never used in the first place," he explained, lifting the bottle in his other hand. "This bottle holds a wish-granting spirit from a different world entirely. Normally, a person would only get three wishes. However, they can give those wishes away, if they so choose."

"I'll be blunt," he said, nodding his head--almost respectfully--toward the other two. "If both of you give your three wishes to me, I will leave the both of you alone for as long as I live. All debts repaid--you will never have to deal with me again, so long as I can control it."


Elizabeth looked incredulously at the Replica before turning her gaze to Will, who was silent in thought.

"You'll leave us alone?" he finally asked, weighing his honor against his distaste for the young man in front of him.

"As much as I can will it. If someone were to knock me out and throw me on your doorstep, well, that's not my fault--" he explained, shrugging. "But personally? I'd rather the two of you have your happy little ending without me."

Will was silent again, and he looked to her. They made eye contact and held it.

"Agreed."

Ajora smiled. "Then let's get this over with."

---


With the primary debts claimed, Ajora decided to move on to a different prospect--making a deal. There was one person in mind who he was sure, at least mostly, would be willing to trade his wishes for something Ajora could provide.

So he soared overhead, held aloft by a winged Unversed, looking for his target. From this height, it would be hard to spot the man, but with the compass as his aid, he'd know immediately if he passed the spot. However, it turned out to be unnecessary; below, on the turning sea, the replica managed to spot the rocking rowboat, paddling away from Shipwreck Cove and the others it held.

With a simple pat on the creature's back, the two suddenly dropped into a rapid descent, the wind rushing past his hair, cooling his bare chest in the hot Caribbean sun. As they approached the ocean, the Unversed quickly pulled out of its dive, once more moving horizontally--this time, however, it was just at sea level, leaving a large wake behind it as it rushed toward the rowboat. Ajora took the moment to stand upright on the creature's back, bottle in hand, watching as the rogue pirate grew closer and closer.

It was only a matter of time before the raggedy man took action. First, he tried to row faster, but Ajora's Unversed was moving faster than most sailing ships in a good wind. Then, as he noticed just who was on it, he quickly drew his pistol, shooting at the Replica--who simply contorted sideways, letting the bullet past him.

"Come now, Jack, I bring good tidings!" Ajora called out, smiling as his Unversed slowed down in its approach. Jack didn't have time to reload his gun, but that didn't stop him from dropping it and standing up to swing his oar at the replica, who simply grabbed it and held it in place. The Unversed had slowed to a matched-pace with the boat, allowing the two men to converse. "Careful, don't want to fall into the water with this beasty."


"Begone!" he shouted, trying in vain to pull the oar away from Ajora, though it only caused his boat to rock more. "I don't believe in you!"

Ajora snorted at the pirate. "That's swell, but do you believe in immortality?"

Jack stopped, eying the younger man suspiciously. After a moment of pause, he humorously gave the oar one final pull, but it didn't budge. He conceded the useless plank, he had another. "What did you just say?"

"Oh? Let me clarify," he said, grinning lightly at "Captain" Sparrow. "I can give you immortality--I can make you eternally young--right here. Right now. For a small price that has nothing to do with your soul or slavery or any such nonsense. Interested?"

The pirate paused, tilting his head back and giving an almost accusatory smile. "You wouldn't be asking if you I wasn't, now would you."

Ajora smiled in return, lightly dropping the oar back onto his boat. "No, I guess I wouldn't," he replied, keeping his grip tight on the bottle in his other hand. He knew Jack was wily, and he wasn't going to risk letting this slip from his grip any time soon. He lifted it slightly, shaking it a bit as if to bring attention to it. "I believe you're familiar with a number of spirits. Well, what I have in this bottle is a genie--or a djinn, I suppose--capable of granting its master three wishes. I'm its master--and I'm willing to grant you your single greatest desire for the price of the three wishes you won't have the chance to use anyway."

"Well, that's not very fair, is it?" Jack responded, looking toward the bottle, eyes narrowing; for the moment, it appeared as if he'd forgotten Ajora was even in front of him. "You assume I would be willing to make a deal upon the notion that this bottle of yours could grant such a wish."

"And if it couldn't, then you would lose nothing anyway, now would you?" Ajora responded, raising a brow and grinning.

The pirate's gaze turned back to the replica. "Ah, but you see, there's no incentive. I'm already on my way to find a nice bit of eternity, with no cost at all--"

"Oh, you mean that fountain?" he interrupted, smiling as Jack paused in his spin to sit back down. "It's got a cost, alright--you have to steal the years from another soul using two chalices from Ponce de Leon. Rumors I'm sure you've heard. Besides, it could take years to reach. And the worlds are just in so much chaos, after all, you may not get there in time..."

Jack remained facing away from Ajora, bringing his hand up to his mouth in thought. He was muttering somewhat under his breath, as if thinking aloud. After some time, he finally turned to face the replica, smiling. "And how do I know I can even trust the filthy likes of you, hmm? A pirate, you can at least trust to be dishonest. You, though--" he said, waving his hands and fingers rather disdainfully at Ajora and grimacing. "You're a little deviant, with no evidence to make your claim credible. Your fiendish nature belies your intentions, and give me no incentive to put faith in an unsavory blaggard such as yourself."

"I'm not offering an apology, Jack. Just immortality. You've been struggling to get it for years," Ajora replied with a small scoff. "Aztec gold, the heart of Davy Jones, now you're off to some rumored fountain that could take years to find and can't even grant true immortality. I'm offering the ultimate shortcut, and the only thing you have to give is something that you'd have never had to begin with."

"Mmm...," he hummed, once again turning his eyes to the bottle. The boy kept shutting him down. "What about my compass? After my previous crew dispossessed it to find their friend--whom you later killed--I would prefer to once again have said compass back in my possession to assist me in my various endeavors upon the open seas."

"With immortality, would you even need it? Nay, want it? You'd have eternity to travel and plunder, with no risk of running out of time. The compass would just lessen the journey. How many centuries would you spend in boredom after you were finished?" he asked. He was getting a bit impatient--there was no telling how long until he was found again. "Besides, I'm afraid that, for the moment, it's not on the table. Perhaps for another agreement, but this deal is non-negotiable--your eternity, my wishes. Take it or leave it, Captain."

The pirate's lips curled in frustration, eyes narrowing in thought and contempt. "Very well, you have a deal. However, no tricks--I wish to be undying and unaging, forever free to pursue whatever I please without inhibition."

"Deal."

---


The Replica strolled out of another Corridor, this time appearing in the vast, endless checkered halls of Castle Oblivion. Almost immediately after the portal closed behind him, he popped open the bottle, letting Eden out. Her accusing glare would have been enough to chill most normal people, but Ajora was unfazed.

"Congratulations. You've got eleven wishes--eight more than anyone probably in the history of genies," she fumed, crossing her arms as she hovered behind him, the two making their way deeper into the castle. "Now what?"

"I'm going to use one, of course," he stated, in utter simplicity, as he maneuvered the various halls. He wanted to get utterly lost; the deeper he went, the less likely he'd be disturbed.

"I never even got your name," she said, keeping a suspicious eye on him. "Or what in the blazes you're trying to do against them."

"Ajora. And I want to live freely. Something I thought you, of all people, would understand," he growled, pushing open another large door. This one led to an odd drop-off onto the floor below. "And as an 'abomination', there's no way I can do that."

"... oh," she said, keeping her gaze on him.

After dropping to the floor, he finally turned around to face her. "Look. You called me an abomination, so you obviously know about me," he began, frustrated. "Can you see this false heart, too?"

"Well, yes, that's what gave you away," she said, keeping her arms crossed, remaining in the air a few feet away, looking at him as if he were some strange specimen. "There are rules as to what can be my master, so any time someone touches the bottle, I know if I'm being called upon or not."

"Then you can understand what I mean when I say I want you to make it a real heart."

Her eyes widened. "You want to be a real human."

"Through and through. A true heart with a balance of Light and Darkness. But...," he trailed off, looking to the side. "There are complications. If I'm too similar to the person I was created from, I'll break down and cease to exist. Something about those specific people is keeping them protected in a number of ways."

"So it's not just bringing back the missing light," she said, her voice slow as understanding slowly dawned.

"It's making sure I survive the process."

"Well... it's not against the rules," she said, bringing her hand to her chin in thought. He seemed genuine enough--maybe he wasn't as bad as he'd seemed. "But I've certainly never done it before. I'll need some pretty specific wording."

Ajora chuckled under his breath. "That's the easy part," he said, looking tensely into her eyes. "Eden, I wish for you to transform my false-heart into a real heart, with a balance of Light and Darkness, in such a way that I survive--"

.:NO!:.

"--and the entity within me known as Ultima is evicted."

You traitorous b***h.


"Alright, here we go!" she said, cracking her knuckles as Ajora was suddenly surrounded in a twister of pure cosmic energy. "One metaphysical cardiac transplant coming up! But first--"

Ajora jolted in pain as his chest surged forward, something powerful tugging at his core--and then he watched as the crimson form of Ultima was pulled from his chest, writhing, cursing, trying to assault anything and everyone nearby in a mad attempt to survive. However, without a binding, without a host, it took mere moments for her body to dissolve into multi-colored Mist, which then dispersed.

Despite her infinite pride, her death was quick, thoughtless--as if it had been nothing at all.

With the Scion gone, there was still a wrenching pain in his chest, but he had little time to make note of it before his vision blacked out entirely--


{ Cue : Twilight Overture }

--and he was falling deep into the confines of his heart.

Beneath him, the scarred mosaic was slowly beginning to emit a dim light. His approach never slowed, and for a brief second he thought he would crash; instead, he passed straight through, plummeting further and further. He only finally slowed as he approached the core, still hovering over the massive land amalgam below. Phasing through its crystal walls, he flipped and touched his feet down in time to feel everything begin to tremble.

The massive blood-red crystal at the center was beginning to glow brighter, while below, the dead realm vibrated with instability. Instantly, while his chest had stopped hurting upon entry, he felt a pang in his head--and images began to flash through his mind as he once again phased through the floor, descending into the heartlands.

There were images of Earth. Friends, family--and they weren't malicious. They weren't deviant, or hateful, or furious, but something else. Brighter memories were beginning to make their way back into his heart, filling in the holes that the Darkness had left vacant.

He passed over the black-sand beach like a ghost flying through the air, and with every inch he passed, more turned into golden sand, the seas became a vibrant blue, and the sky lit up, a distant ball of yellow appearing as a sun.

The desert plains came next, bringing forth memories of his childhood, of youth, adolescence--so unfamiliar, so... painful. He gripped his chest as he watched the lifeless dirt suddenly flush with grass, becoming a massive prairie. He turned to look at it all, pausing once he was completely around to look back at the beach, and the source of the pain in his chest--

--the boundaries were cracking again.


Wait, I can fix this--

He couldn't respond as he was pulled deeper, his entire being wracked with pain now, memories flooding him of his schooling, his life, his future endeavors--all while the stone forest burst to life around him, obsidian shells becoming brown, lively bark, the sun from the beach reaching even here...

... as the cracks grew more thorough, and the land quaked with uncertainty, fragments breaking apart and simply... vanishing from beneath him.


No no no, don't do that--

By now he was flying through the abandoned city, where the skyscrapers flashed with light, reflecting the sun's rays and emitting their own light sources. Everything was coming together, memories weaving together like an actual life story--he could see them all, through the bad, through the good.

And his heart couldn't stand it. Massive chunks of the previous lands were disintegrating now, becoming nothing more than dust in a white cleansing, remnants swirling around the remaining heartscape.

He soared now through the massive double doors of the city's central building--the cathedral. Here, he landed, his feet cautiously touching the ground as the testaments began to unveil themselves. Mosaics that were once blurred, obscured, grew vivid now--scenes after the fall of Earth. Memories were crashing into him now with merciless force as he recalled everything that happened both as Kyle, and Ajora--except now, he could see them in the light.


--what you meant? I don't understand--

There was a cataclysm happening outside the hallowed walls of this building, but he slowly strolled forward, staring at the large, circular mosaic at the center. His entire being was collapsing now, with the side mosaics being sucked into oblivion outside, all while the prime portrait cleared. Before it was complete, he knew it. Every memory was in place now, and in that moment, he swore...

He was finite.

There, eyes closed in the center of the mosaic, was his younger brother.

The cathedral was crashing now, the walls beside and behind him evaporating and being pulled into the endless white abyss of a heart consumed by light it was never meant to have.

Ajora fell to his knees as his heart gave in around him. It wasn't his heart, though--it never was. He was never meant to be, and in that limited existence, he had caused so much devastation. Staring through tears at the picture of his brother, his own existence composed of guilt and wracked with pain, he could only utter three words before his inevitable erasure.






"I'm so sorry."






Fin.

fractalJester
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Je suis a toi
Vice Captain

PostPosted: Thu May 16, 2013 4:56 pm


[ATE : NICKIEPOO VS. SASSAFRAS : 1]
[Noelle ~ Red Rose ~ Girls Washroom]


Noelle sighed and leaned into the door of the girls washroom. A bath would help ease her tired body and hopefully help clear her mind. She looked around and, upon discovering that the room was empty, entered. It had seemed so long since she'd been in that same room last--just last night she and some of the other girls had sat in for a bath. Until the event went a little sour, that was. Nothing would sour her bath this time, though. She was finally going to get a little peace and quiet.

The small blonde shuffled over to one of the baths and turned the water on, unceremoniously dumping in some soap and bath oil. Good enough. While waiting, she decided to splash her face with some cool water. Noelle wandered to one of the sinks and leaned on the counter, staring at herself in the mirror. Maybe she did need some sleep, her eyes looked tired. She shrugged to herself as she reached back to pull the tie out of her hair to loose the braid she'd hastily done to keep her hair out of her face. A nap would be nice, but maybe later.
PostPosted: Thu May 16, 2013 5:19 pm


[ATE: NICKIEPOO VS. SASSAFRAS : 2]
[Nick :: ??? :: ????]


Nick leaned against the tarnished brick wall, breathing heavily. His ribs ached horrendously, and he suspected that his ribs had been broken by the staff-wielder's strike. He wanted to lie against the wall and sleep and wish the pain away. But, there was no rest for the wicked, and the Avatar of Chaos couldn't help but sigh as his feet slid from underneath him. He relaxed in the middle of the alleyway he had hidden himself within, then crossed his legs, closed his eyes, and began to focus on a little gift he had left a certain blonde haired, spear wielding plant demoness who had oh so brutally had attempted to murder his future offspring.

On the opposite side of the bath tub, a small flicker of movement would be faintly noticeable. A glowing pair of green eyes slowly poked over the edge of farthest tub in the corner, staring calmly at the blonde girl. Okay, you have no idea how she'll react upon talking to her. Be calm, be polite, and most importantly, don't let her call for the others. That would ruin the game! He slowly rose to his full height, then proceeded to scream in a high pitched, maniacal shriek,

"HI HOW ARE YOU I NEED TO ASK YOU SOMETHING ARE YOU BUSY!?"

Nailed it.

ArcanaFate


Je suis a toi
Vice Captain

PostPosted: Thu May 16, 2013 5:38 pm


[ATE : NICKIEPOO VS. SASSAFRAS : 3]
[Noelle ~ Red Rose ~ Girls Washroom]


Noelle barely caught the movement in the mirror as she went to turn on the water in the sink. She blinked, thinking it was her tired eyes playing tricks on her. It wasn't. Her eyes widened as Nick stood up behind one of the baths. One thing came to her mind--it wasn't a question of how he got there, or what he could possibly be doing there. It was destroy. He started shouting at her, making her jump to action even faster. Noelle clenched the porcelain sink with her hands and pulled. The porcelain, essentially being a molded and fired clay, reacted quickly to the pull of her magic.

"GET. OUT." Noelle roared. She quickly reared, sink in both hands, and raised it over her head before throwing it with all her might at Nick.
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KHBTD : Kingdom Hearts Roleplaying and OoC

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