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

[Kaegoe]

[Dawn : Disney : Throne Room]

Dawn had returned to her coffee as she listened to Kyle start the explanation to the newbies. Like everyone else, she got shaken up when Steven asked about Ajora. She only stared at Steven with a blank expression. Of all the names he could of said. Had to bring up that one.

Dawn glanced away as she spoke up after John in response, "You could say Ajora is to Kyle as Louis is to Steven. A dark shadow with their face. Except Louis and Steven do not have the being the others' replica relationship." she paused to glance at Kyle before looking at Steven with a mournful expression.  

[pumpkinlanding]

[ Luke : Disney Castle : Throne Room ]

A grin formed on Luke's face at the mention of the name Ajora, and he beamed at Steven.

Yes, another Tactics fan! I wonder what his favorite job combinations are.

But the grin turned into a confused frown when other people at the table began voicing their responses to the question, acting not like they'd played the video game, but rather as if they had actually met the character! Well, this was the Kingdom Hearts universe, so Final Fantasy... But then, Dawn started speaking of dark shadows with faces and replicas, and at that point he was completely lost.

Apparently they've fought someone named "Ajora," but who was a replica or something, and not the character? Everybody seems tense. Whoever the Ajora-that-is-not-Ajora is or was, they must have given these people a lot of trouble. Well, there goes the light and easy mood for the third time today. Or is it fourth? No, pretty sure it's third. Well, might as well try to lift it back up.

"Yeah, I've heard of him," he said with another smile at Steven, this one merely the left edge of his mouth curling upward, with the right edge threatening to follow suit, but never completely following through with that threat. "Ajora Glabados. Never met the guy, but his church tried to burn me at the stake for being a heretic. Apparently, they don't take too kindly to people exposing the truth." He stifled what would have been a string of wild, mad cackling, though he couldn't stop the small grin from growing into a full smile.  

[phoenixianCrystallist]

{Bobbi, Demyx, Zell, Nanaki, Yuffie .:. Hall of the Cornerstone}

"What are you psychos talking about?" Bobbi asked when Noelle said something about Glow Clouds and Dawn followed up with SSNs. But the din of conversation drowned her out, and she shrugged and returned to her bacon, keeping one ear open for anything she might want to jump in on. Of course she was mid-bacon slice when the talk of summons happened, and as per usual it took twenty times longer to chew since she wanted to jump in on the conversation. As such, the moment passed, but she figured everyone could get an introduction to her Shiva later. Especially when she was less likely to be drowned out and they could properly bask in her majesty.

~:I love you, too, child,:~ Shiva chuckled in Bobbi’s mind.

Then Dawn launched a grape at Sora.

"Dawn," Bobbi said, in that tone of voice Dawn would most likely know quite well. That deadpan, "are you freaking serious" tone of voice that was so common when her best friend did silly s**t. And here she was, doing silly s**t, so she got the "you’re doing silly s**t knock it off" voice.

.:Thank you for being Sora’s voice of reason,:. she sighed through the charms to Riku. .:I don’t know what Dawn was thinking…:.

She returned to listening, and eating, and wondering why the hell food took so much longer to chew when you wanted to say something. Especially when Lou—Steven mentioned Ajora. She almost choked, but one does not simply choke on bacon. But fortunately the conversation moved on, and it was the new guy, Luke, of all people that managed to explain things. Apparently Ajora was also the name of… another world’s equivalent of Judge Claude Frollo?

"How many Ajoras in this ******** world are there?" she asked.  

[fractalJester]

[ Kyle ; Jenny ; Sora ; Riku ; Etc. : Disney : Throne Room Buffet ]

"What? What? What?!?" Sora asked, looking incredulously back and forth between people. First Lou—Steven was mentioning Ajora, and then other people were talking about a different person, and then Luke said—his own people tried to burn him alive??? He said it so casually, he said it like—

He frowned, looking genuinely a tiny bit frustrated. Oh. More Earthling jokes. It was getting impossible to tell what was truth and what was fiction with these people. Were they all actors? What was going on?

Kyle held his position, more or less, as more and more people around them reacted. Of course, to him, they seemed to grow slower, more distorted.

Ooooh my gooood this is so awkward.

Most reactions were pretty negative in some way, though of course there were some that got the reference Steven was making—a reference, he knew, was the entire point behind his replica's choice. After all, in this world there was no Ajora... not yet. He was the first of that name, and the first potential heir to the role. It had been a mantle to him, at the time.

Slower now.

It's like Noelle said. I'm why we can't have nice things.

Don't you think your self-deprecation is going a little far, even for you?

Yeah, it was in jest... mostly...

Their voices became almost indistinguishable—almost—and he just stared down, avoiding their gaze, knowing poor Steven—and now, the poor canons due to some people's remarks—were just thrown for ever more loops. This breakfast was practically doomed from the start, wasn't it?

Slower.

Suddenly, he felt a gaze on him, an inhuman presence, before a voice called through the charms at the same time, and in his time:

"Hey."

He snapped back into proper time, turning his gaze now to Jenny down the table; she gave him a reassuring look. Of course it was her who'd notice, with her heartsong detection.

"Okay okay, hold on, for basically everyone's sake," Kyle said, closing his eyes and trying to project his voice (which made for a peculiar echo, even though he wasn't yelling).

"First, we really should stop speaking in hyperbole around the... natives," Kyle said, struggling to find the right word, and even then still not liking it. He turned then to Sora and Riku, and who knew how many other canons (Genie, he noted, was eagerly and confusingly listening and watching, sitting in midair stadium seating like a spectator). "No, there wasn't... okay, so there were some religious extremists on our world who burned people they considered heretics, but by our time they were an infinitesimal... hairsbreadth... it was a really small minority. But the Ajora Steven is talking about wasn't real for us—he was a character in a story game."

"Oh, like us," Sora said, clicking things together. Though he then made a sour face. "Which means he might be real here? Besides your Ajora?"

"Only if there are two instances of the same world at extremely different points of time," Kyle continued, looking back to his tea. Don't look up, don't look up. "Ajora Glabados, the story Ajora, was from the world of Ivalice, but quite a bit later than the current Ivalice. I can't remember but I don't think they've been born yet."

"And he starts a church that's... bad?"

"Well yes but that's a long story that's neither here nor there right now," he said, rubbing his forehead. He wanted to clear things up for the others accusing Steven, not go on too big of a spiel. At this rate, though...

He groaned, his ears burning.

"Steven, the Ajora they're reacting about—Luke aside—is my replica. Long story short on that front, some of us had our hearts and memories copied a few days ago, but only the negative and neutral aspects. They were born, broke out of their lab, and basically have been an utter menace. And because they were only the darker aspects of us, their summons were, too. So mine, seeing the opportunity—having a dark version of Ultima—took on the name Ajora, referencing that same game."

"What does Ultima have to do with that guy, though?"

"The story goes that Ajora was blessed as a child by the gods, became a prophet, had amazing powers, et cetera. In truth, they were just possessed by Ultima practically at birth, the esper using the human to try and regain power in her rebellion against the gods which had failed eons past," Kyle continued, sighing. "That historical part is still true in this universe: Ultima lead the other eleven zodiac espers in a rebellion against their creators and allied with the Darkness, only to get banished. Some of those espers have now latched on to us. Ultima—my Ultima—was leashed before she could properly awaken, but over time, she's moved toward redemption—because of you all."

Sora sat back, humming in thought as he processed everything.

"You people sure do make things interesting," Riku said with a neutral, almost aloof tone as he dealt with his breakfast. "Anyway, you left out a small detail: one of the people who helped make the replicas was Louis."  

[Enji_Chou]

[Kyla: Axel: Disney Castle: Throne Room Buffet]

Kyla found herself over the course of the next few interactions with the urge to want to interact and answer some questions, or ask her own, but for some reason words just were not escaping her.
Unlike her, Carbuncle obliged Luke and would allow him to give some pets if he was still inclined, otherwise it sat there content to listen, but cast a watchful gaze at their silent partner who seemed to have turtled back into herself.
The brunet did look up when Feather left- wondering if she was actually going to the bathroom or- ------ -- - -

Then the explanation of Ajora happened- the Ajora of the game.

Of all the games she played, final fantasy regarding the world of Ivalice was one of the few had lesser interest in- and now it was biting her in the arse. Mind though- she DID lack the proper console and money of course at the time, so it's not like buying and playing was ever an option for her, but she found herself... perhaps.. a bit annoyed. She cursed herself for having not read up on it regardless, a simple wiki search couldn't have killed her. But also... All this information, lore wise and some people knew this and never thought to share?? Even if it was a slim possibility of a relation, it was a foreshadowing surely of issues to come- connections of alignment!
Withholding that seemed almost negligent to her. In the same vein, who was she to demand every nook and cranny of info and insight from anyone here? There was also no way to tell how soon they found this connection as well.
To be part of this team- did it mean to reveal all ones cards?- or was such transparency unnecessary if they trusted each other? It's not like she was being entirely forthwith either- and in some ways they could be paying for it.

If she had known it earlier, Would the strange behavior and interactions between Ajora, Kyle, Mateus, Louis- heck Ultima too- would they have clued her in sooner? If so then what? What could have she learned- Kyla was putting too much stock in her abilities to make sense of anything. Doubt bit at her- it bit down deep.

'Don't think you're so smart anymore..'

' - in the end, you found out you know nothing.'

~ You have that look on your face again- ~
' I'm just... '


Welp- more twisted confusion feeling to add to the pile- she pushed it back and put her unpleasant feelings in a box for now.

The feeling of being ignorant, knowing it, hating it- helpless- helpless- in the box inthe boxboxboxbox dannngiiit!!!

Returning to the moment again she looked around the room, realizing she'd stopped eating and just stared at nothing in particular for a while. Welp- might as well correct the issue. She summoned her book- it came to her hands with the flourish and speed as any other weapon and she cracked it open. Using her quill the artist began to make notes, jotting down all the information Kyle and others had explained. She even rolled back pages and placed foot notes under Ajora in certain parts.
This got her starting to add more to other chapters or milestones in their journey that made sense now.


"I'm suuuuure it would have poped up eventually." Axel replied to Riku swallowing his last bite for now. Looking at his coffee the nobody make a face and adds some sugar... maybe a bit more.  

[RhikoDemson]

[[Steven : Disney Castle : Throne Room]]

First and foremost, as Steven let the words slip carelessly from his mouth, the shocked reactions from Kyle and the others sinking in, Amy's reaction throwing accusatory daggers in his direction left a polite and equally condescending reply lying prominently at the front of his mind: Excuse you, b***h.

Though the words never left his mouth, his gaze in her direction lingered a bit longer even as a couple others seemed to grasp his meaning with increasing accuracy up to Luke who landed so close to the mark with his description it once again sent Sora reeling in confusion- which was just as entertaining to see in person as it was his video game counterpart. This would take some getting used to.

The more than sufficient answer from Kyle filled in the glaring blank that had Steven so confused up until that point, why the hell were they getting so worked up over a character from a lesser known game of the Final Fantasy series- the answer, Kyle had- "A replica. Like... Chain of Memories, Repliku, kind of replica?"

Riku had brought to light another clarification, Louis, Steven's doppelganger attributed to this replica's creation... and this replica took it upon himself to take on the name Ajora... as he had the version of Ultima that Steven was afraid of existing anyway. If taking that name wasn't as much of a warning as it was, their reactions to the mere mention of his name was enough to say that Louis' participation in his creation was enough to dredge up even more loathing for the man that Steven would have to shoulder. <********>  

[fractalJester]

[ Kyle ; Sora ; Riku ; Etc. : Disney : Throne Room Buffet ]

For the first time that morning, Riku's facade utterly shattered as he choked on his drink, loudly coughing and sputtering. It took a few seconds for him to manage words before looking to the Steven first, and then the other Earthlings.

"Repliku?" he asked, incredulous. "You called him Repliku?!"

Sora burst out laughing as Riku's cheeks suddenly grew the barest shade of pink.

"Well, Replica Riku was a mouthful, and 'the Replica' seemed too impersonal, so most just stuck with the portmanteau, yeah," Kyle said, scratching the back of his head to avoid Riku's gaze. He turned back to Steven. "But yes, basically like that. Even worked upon by Vexen himself as a personal project. He'd been put up to the task by Seymour Guado, another story. Unlike Repli... ca Riku, though, they utterly lacked light memories; their hearts are deformed, incapable of any benevolence without completely unraveling. They have our powers and gifts, but twisted and strengthened by shadow."

"As of yesterday morning, there were... let me see," he said, looking down the table as if trying to place faces. "Mine, Joseph's, Noelle's, Kyla's, James', Bobbi's, Amy's, John's, Anthony's, the other Kyle's, Dawn's, Dani's. And Jenny's, though her's was made differently. Oh, and Cory has one, that one was made differently, too. Alan and Kichi had one, but there's were killed off shortly after being awoken, Kichi's by Alan's, Alan's by mine. Jacob's was killed by mine, too, too rabid. Maggie had one, but the way she was made was unstable and she fell apart. Zeba had one, but she sort of vanished and I—" he caught himself, closing his eyes tight, rubbing his temple. "Ajora lost track of her. I... think that's all of them? The ones done since yesterday, anyway."

"Right, Ajora made more the night before last, I forgot about the second batch," Sora chimed in, biting off a piece of bacon.

"And then injected me with his memories in case he should die," Kyle said, grumbling to himself. "So now that my replica's caused so much s**t, I've been put into the ever uncomfortable position of exposition guy who takes over conversations."  

[HeadlessKoko]

[ Song : Disney : Rooms -> Throne Room ]

Listen and learn. That was quickly becoming Song's motto of the day. Kyle, who she had dubbed "The Explainer," was doing a grand job of explaining. Then there was Steven, "the Questioner," who was asking great questions, really. Song, for her part, just sort of watched the back and forth between the two, only breaking from it to acknowledge Feather's leave with a whispered, "See you."

As the others joined in after mention of this "Ajora" person, Song had even more reason to be silent. It appeared she was the only one who had no recollection of the name whatsoever. "Ajora wasn't the only mystery to her. "Ivalice" was an unfamiliar term. "Ultima," she'd only ever encountered as part of someone's avatar name on Gaia, and she'd never bothered to look it up. "Tactics" and "Replica" passed right over her head at first until she suddenly recalled the FF Tactics her friend liked to play on a GBA emulator and someone mentioned Chain of Memories and Repliku, For someone who claimed to like the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts series, she actually didn't know much about them. FF was too vast, having 15 main games and numerous other spin-offs, for her to ever feel like wiki-ing any of it that wasn't immediately relevant, and even though she did wiki through the KH games she couldn't play for lack of consoles and parental approval, it was hard to hold in all that information from just reading.

About when Sora freaked out over Luke's joke, Song had started to rub her index finger on the table in circles, staring at the grain of the wood as it disappeared and reappeared beneath her digit rather than the still ongoing back and forth. She was still listening, of course, and her eyes darted up every now and then. Though, she sort of wished she had a notebook, kind of like, On top of Kyla's name, Song already couldn't remember if it was actually mentioned that these FF, she assumed, Zodiacs were based off of real world Zodiacs or if that was just something her mind made up on the spot, and let's not even talk about stuff that happened a week ago. Dive? Sure, she remembered that. She also remembered the... uh... weapon, that was presented to her while in that strange twilight zone. As for the lines that came with the weapon? The ones that were said super mystical-y and you'd think they'd stick in your heart till your last days? Yeah, no, Song had forgotten those lines already as well.

Still, she tried. Song tried her best to remember everything that was said and to quickly catch up, so to speak. After all, this was the chance she was looking for, the opportunity to become less lost and confused.

Then Riku started coughing and sputtering, and of course Song had to figure out what had happened to cause the commotion. She had to hold back a laugh when Riku revealed that the source of his surprise was the nickname Earth had come up for his replica version.

Then it was back to serious business. The description Kyle offered regarding the replicas did not bode well, and neither did the rather lengthy list of replicas that followed. A rather concerned frown descended upon Song's face. she found it hard to believe that so many... people(?) had been created in such a short time.

"Well," for the first time in a long while Song chimed in, "You're doing a rather good job of it, so thank you." Lucky for her, the talk of an existing threat also gave her a good gateway to ask one of her questions, Now, about the replicas... Is that who we're going to have to fight?". Song couldn't remember for her life what it was that everyone in this hall was expected to do with their current situation. Except, the Earthlings maybe sharing the same goal of bringing back Earth. However, taking into account the setting of their current predicament, fighting someone, as violent and unwarranted as that seemed, seemed like a necessary step in whatever they were going to set out to do, and the replicas were the one thing Song could understand as possible enemies.  

[Psalm Grasshopper]

[Amy : Disney : Throne Room Buffet]

Unreal. So, Ajora was the name of a character in a game that a select few earthlings had played. What are the odds that Steven would bring that up. It seemed extremely suspicious. Louis had toyed with them in many ways just one day before. Was Steven as innocent and forgetful as Merlin and Co. claimed? Or had he fooled them all again. Had they even left Narnia? Was this still part of his sick game? How many times had it all turned out to be an illusion?  

[fractalJester]

[ Yen Sid : Disney : Throne Room Buffet ]

"Were it only so simple," Yen Sid responded to Song, speaking up from the head of the table and stroking his beard, his gaze low in contemplation.

"The battles we face in the future will have many different enemies, and sadly most of them will be as living as you or I," he said, looking up again. "There are the replicas, to be sure, but they were made solely as tools for a greater foe. It is only recently that we have learned the head of the snake is none other than some corrupted entity known as the Guardian of Darkness, who works through none other than Xehanort and his fellow vessels--the Fiends of Heart, as some have taken to calling them. They are certainly the primary threat to the cosmos."

"But they yet lurk in the shadows, playing the worlds to ruin. They let their forces spread destruction, and in that wake do they appear to claim fallen worlds, tearing them into the Realm of Darkness. Such has happened to the Land of Dragons already, though we were fortunate to evacuate them after some of you helped its emperor," he continued. "These forces are not all Heartless; some of the Fiends employ countries and armies to spread their grip, such as the Archadian Empire and the Gestahlian Empire. And even these are only the foes directly under their control; the influence of Darkness can be felt in countless places, with enemies not directly under Xehanort still unwittingly helping his goals."

"In short, we face down any that would spread darkness and oppression in the hopes of preventing more worlds lost to the Darkness. Who that may be depends on the given region and day," he continued. But now he paused, closing his eyes and breathing deep.

"But perhaps now is the best time to discuss your immediate futures," he said, opening his eyes once more. "Given the various extreme events of late revolving around you all, I have sought the counsel of the other Wise Ones, and we have come to a decision. Until further notice, those of you dedicated to our cause are to remain stationed here."

"The past week has taught us much, but has been chaos all the same. Your significance--particularly now that we have learned of your connections to the Guardian of Light--has grown too much to allow us a repeat of recent events," he explained, his tone clearly final. "Mickey meant well in sending you on your first quest when you arrived. The Queen was consumed with worry when she sent Squall and the others on the second. But now, with our forces consolidated, we can pull you in and do what must be done: train you not simply to survive, but to properly harness your abilities and stand against the tides of the dark."

"Many of you have never had to fight for survival before this week. You are inexperienced. Undisciplined. Sometimes more dangerous than you might know, both to yourself and those you're supposed to be helping," he said. "As such, we will be training you much in the same way we have trained Sora, Riku, and those before them. You may not have keyblades, but your powers are potent forces as they are, and if you are to do good with them, you must understand them fully. This training will take place in compressed time, with the aid of other tutors, fighters and scholars alike. Until we give our approval, you will not be given missions to pursue, nor will you accompany any forces out in the world. Unless, of course, you decide to go your own way and depart our cause; we will not keep you here in such a case."

"I hope you can understand our reasoning, but this decision is final."  

[Kaegoe]

[Dawn : Disney : Throne Room]

Dawn chewed on her lip while she stared at her mostly empty plate as the replica's were discussed more in detail.

'Right... I have one out there somewhere. How could I forget about her? She has certainly been one of the quiet ones....

She brought her eyes up when Yen Sid made his announcement about training. Dawn felt her heart sink. All the while her mind raced. She couldn't. Not now. Not without Garuda or her wind.

"But! I can't! I don't have Garuda" Dawn said more loudly then intended and put her hand to her mouth for a moment before she continued, "Since that ordeal with Louis, she hasn't been responding to me... and my wind is gone."

While she spoke her heart rose up to her throat and pounded as she waited for a response.  

[fractalJester]

[ Yen Sid : Disney : Throne Room Buffet ]

While other reactions might have differed, Yen Sid simply looked to the young woman with a questioning stare. "Then training becomes all the more vital for you, does it not? Your spirit has not left you. So either you must learn how to reconnect to it, or you must learn to press onward despite its absence with the abilities drawn from your own heart. After all, such spirits are not normal to begin with; many of your companions have successfully fought for years without such peculiar magicks. Do you somehow think yourself lesser?"  

[Kaegoe]

[Dawn : Disney : Throne Room]

"Yes! I mean no!" the dancer said in a rush then sighed, "I don't know. I just feel somewhat empty without Garuda's whispering to me. Her presence is comforts me. Without her lending me her power.... I feel weak.

Dawn's voice trailed off and as she stared down at her hands. Yen Sid was right. At the same time...

"I guess I am just scared. We've all faced so much at this point. Things that we would only read about in books or see on TV. I don't know about anyone else, but I wouldn't of been able to face half of it without Garuda. You say the real foe is to come. I will admit, it scares me still. I don't know if I could face it without her. I don't want to. But I...

Dawn's voice faded as she let out a shaky sigh.  

[fractalJester]

[ Yen Sid : Disney : Throne Room Buffet ]

Yen Sid's expression did not soften, though his voice held a hint of reassurance.

"And yet that is precisely why you must be trained if you are to continue with our cause," he said. "As I said moments ago, you are inexperienced. By some of your stories, you come from a world where your own lives were largely of comfort, and you have jumped into a conflict of cosmic scale. Of course you are frightened—in this case, fear is perhaps the most rational emotion to feel."

"But if you wish to help not only us, but the worlds at large, then there is no other reasonable course of action. You must be trained to survive and succeed with whatever you have at your disposal," he pressed. "If you wish to stay behind and lead a more normal life, then you are still free to do so. Otherwise, the only way forward for you is to work through your fear toward preparedness and, perhaps, acceptance of whatever your capabilities might be."  

[Enji_Chou]

[Kyla: Disney: Throne Room Buffet]

"... even if we had the ...if you'd call it a benefit- experience from living in one of the more war torn countries from our world- no trained marine
or tactical seal, or gorilla solider is entirely equipped with what we're about to face. Back home it was just humans killing other humans, here we got mages, heartless, monsters, curses, gods, eldritch horrors-twisted copies of people wielding powers beyond comprehension... yah.. we're a bit out of our depth even if we were the top ranked specialists our home world had to offer."

Needless to say, Kyla was on board with this, for multiple reasons. Some of them- were blazoned on the pages of her sketchbook as she did a visual recap of previous enemies. Sephiroth looked like a ominious entity on the page she inked him into- standing there just staring them down in Land of dragons.

Still for Dawns sake- the artist looked up from her book, " I'm sure we'll figure something out, if there's one thing for certain, Dawn, all sorts of possibilities are now open to you in a world like this. You're not helpless, not if you don't wish to be."

Her eyes were downcast once more, finger gripping the edges of her book, brows knit- "...least not forever.." she repeated.
A thought occurred to her- "- You mentioned time compression..? Can you explain or... will that be later?" She could think of a few ways this may be achieved, but some ideas that popped into her head were more worrisom then others.