Welcome to Gaia! ::

[ Grand Councilwoman ; Cid of the Al-Bhed ; Regent Cid ; Zordon ; Sora ; Riku ; Kyle : Hawaii : Bridge ]

At Bobbi's question of bets, Kyle couldn't help but chuckle somewhat- only for a scream of pain to ring through their minds with crystal quality, causing him to tense up everywhere, eyes widening as he tried to think of the source...

Only to realize it sounded like him.

"Oh, for the love of," he muttered, massaging the bridge of his nose under the looks of both Sora and Riku, who had pegged the scream as Kyle's pretty quickly, having been listening to him speak so recently.

"What seems to be the issue?" Zordon asked from his projector, looking concerned (or as concerned as a giant gray floating head could sound).

"One of our long-time enemies has access to our communication, and he just projected a cry of pain, from what I can tell, to everyone," Kyle said, now holding his neck in an attempt to loosen its built up tension.

"Is that, um... good or bad?" Sora asked, looking to both Kyle and Riku- mostly Riku, who seemed just as much in thought as Kyle.

"I don't know of any good guys powerful enough to make a guy like him scream like that," Riku said, hinting toward his opinion that it was the latter.

"You know what would be nice? A break. A break from things just constantly barraging us. A few hours, is that so much?" Kyle grumbled, his frown curling into a snarl for a split second before he received Dawn's concerned call. When he responded, he did so to everyone, sans-James.

"I'm fine, Dawn, thank you for asking. That was Ajora. We're on the Bridge right now, talking to the Councilwoman, the two Cids, and Zordon; if there were any signs of a Darkness spike, they probably would have been alerted, so relax, we're all still safe for now. Odds are, it was probably just some attempt to psyche us out, ruin what little rest we have..."

Though, that's a stretch, even for him...

.:I'm sure he's just getting what he deserves. Probably screwed something up and has to suffer the consequences.:.

But what did he screw up...?

As Leon spoke up, taking the directive into his own hands (thankfully, as they'd left the leaders in an awkward position), the others seemed to nod, with Zordon suddenly clearing his throat.

"That reminds me- Alpha has repaired your Red Rose, with some aid from the Council. They're flying it over- it should be landing just outside as we speak."

"Oh, good, so we won't have to bother Merlin to get back to Shipwreck Cove before morning," Sora said, scratching the back of his head. "We still have to worry about Atlantica and Atlantis, too."

"Why the rush?" Riku asked, glancing toward Kyle and Sora, his eyes slightly narrowed out of confusion. "You guys- you didn't say you were in the middle of anything-"

"Well, we weren't at the time. Everything's supposed to happen in the morning," Kyle said, sighing as he and Sora explained the situation. Might as well, now that the topic had been breached. "There's going to be a large sea battle between the pirate lords and the British fleet, and supposedly there are plans to siege Atlantica and Atlantis, both under the sea, at the same time."

Riku glanced to Leon, their eyes locking for a few moments of silence as the Keyblader turned the story over in his head. After awhile, he nodded, knowing that Leon would be on the same page.

"Sounds like you're going to be spread even more thinly than we were," he said, looking back to Sora and Kyle. "We don't have anything to do until that scout comes back tomorrow afternoon, we could help out."

"Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-he-he-heeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaase," Kyle suddenly whined, his head cocking back up to the ceiling and his face contorting into that of a crying child-- a humorous sight, apparently, as Sora couldn't help but laugh.

"That bad, huh? Why didn't you ask sooner?"

"Everyone was busy and things were hectic and I felt stupid for asking."

"Everyone needs help sometimes, stupid," Sora said, lightly punching Kyle in the shoulder.

[Alice :: Ivalice :: Pharos Lighthouse Ascension]

The animator tried to keep her composure, but she couldn't quite keep the look of shock from her face. She followed Ajora with the knowledge that anything could happen and so she steeled her mind; but still, she wasn't quite expecting this. Or maybe she was, but as the actual events unfolded, the gravity of the situation impacted her mind differently. Auburn eyes flashed about the lighthouse, Kefka had entered but her looked mildly entertained as opposed to threatened. Still, Alice didn't want to take the chance. As Alys unwound behind her, the poisonous gases floated and drifted about the animator. She glanced up at the form of Ajora before finally firmly planting her gaze on Kefka. Ajora wasn't going anywhere and the person she needed to keep an eye on was the lunatic clown.

Then a breeze seemed to wrap itself around her, to Alice it felt almost welcoming even with the hint of foreboding.


A soft sigh released from her lips as she watched Kefka leave. That was one down, but there was still Xehanort who didn't look quite as humored by the situation. Alice drew the threads tighter and quickly looked to Ajora as CúChulainn laughed in the recess of her mind. "I would hardly warrant this as an appropriate time for a beauty nap Ajora..."

[ Ajora ; Xehanort's Heartless : Ivalice : Pharos Lighthouse Ascension ]

What...My head...I feel... different...I remember...





Ajora's eyes (he still only had two) shot open, his normally brown eyes glimmering gold for a few seconds before he blinked, returning the irises to their dark chocolate shade. The light from the Sun-Cryst was still brilliant, but he seemed unaffected by it. Slowly, he stirred, lifting himself from his horizontal position by his arms, drawing his legs up at a lethargic pace. If he'd processed their questions and statements, he didn't show it. When he was standing again on his own two feet, his shoulders were still slumped, one hand holding his head as he locked eyes with Xehanort's Heartless.

"This isn't just some chunk of crystallized Darkness, is it?" he asked, though his question was practically rhetorical. "The way you all gather around it... The way this land practically repels the Light..."

"You are correct. What you stand before now," Xehanort spoke, and despite his earlier frustration, he'd seemed to regain his composure and haughty air as he sneered, glancing down at Ajora. "- is the Cornerstone of Darkness."

"So... those things were?"

"Darkness. The Black Will. The driving forces behind everything dark in nature," Xehanort explained, watching as Ajora looked away and began to slowly walk toward the others. "More ancient legends call them the Void or the Clouds of Darkness, though in recent times, I have heard the term Occuria... You're leaving? So soon?"

"I'm not exactly in a revering mood," Ajora grumbled, looking to the three that had come with him-- he seemed like his pride was wounded more than anything, though the headache was obvious from the way he held his head. He barely even moved his other arm when a Corridor of Darkness opened up between them, causing him to hesitate for a moment, eyes narrowed for that split second.

"I still need to pay you three for this-- I'm a man of my word," he explained, his voice devoid of intonation. "I have just the thing in mind. I just need to... set up a few things. I apologize for the run around."

Without looking any of the three in the eyes, he began to walk past them toward the stairwell, leaving the Corridor open for them. Of course, at his pace, it's not like it would be difficult to stop him or catch up.

[[The first person who goes through, PM me or just post going through and I'll edit in some details or whatever. Still trying to decide where the next step is taking place, actually xD]]

{Bobbi .:. Hawaii .:. Mothership .:. Bridge}

As Kyle muttered and basically reacted like he was surprised by the scream, too, Bobbi heaved a sigh and leaned back against the wall. She hadn't even realized she'd pushed off from it. She pressed one hand to her chest, feeling her heart pounding even through the leather breastplate she wore. It had only started to calm down when Kyle and Sora started talking about a fight scheduled for the morning.

Crap on a cringle, she thought, heartily agreeing with Kyle about the much-needed break. Just long enough for us to sleep and recuperate, universe, it would be much appreciated.

~:Do you truly believe the universe will listen?:~ Shiva asked. Her tone wasn't mocking, she sounded truly concerned.

I can hope, Bobbi responded, sighing again, then snickered at Sora.

"Don't feel stupid, Kyle," she said. "We've had a long week, I'm sure your brain is just as fried as everyone else's is. ...are. Whichever is proper grammar. Anyway. Who wants to help me go round people up and herd them towards this Red Rose?" She'd shoved off from the wall again, and was halfway turned towards the door leading from the Bridge, though she kept her head and upper torso turned so she could talk directly to the people in the room. Yay, flexible abdomen! Or, rather, flexible breastplate not impeding flexibility of abdomen. Crap, she was tired.

[Matthew :-: Hawaii :-: Mothership -> Mess Hall]

Still tweaked from the random scream, Matt made a whining sound once he started hearing yet another one pipe into his head. He was able to recognize it as Kyle shortly, but it just worried him more that NOW he was hallucinating his friend's voice. He slumped forward, rested his head on the table and sighed.

"Joe I don't know what's wrong with me. Ever since I met up with you guys I've been hearing and seeing things; first I saw you and the others on a pirate ship and watched you lose your eye, then I heard someone telling me to listen to my heart or something, then a voice telling me how to summon and Mix items, that scream and now I hear Kyle," he ranted, hoping that maybe Joe knew something.

[Matthew :-: Hawaii :-: Mothership -> Mess Hall]

Upon hearing Joe's voice and an explanation, Matt started to settle down considerably. He was greatly relieved that the voices weren't in his head and could be shut off if he so wanted. But wait, a summon?

'Oh, did I forget to mention that?' said the voice from the battlefield.

Matt suddenly sat bolt upright, and one of his eyes twitched behind his mask. 'Oh that is just not cool' he thought at his summon, who responded with laughter. Matt grabbed a napkin, wiped his mask clean and threw it on to his half eaten plate of pasta. Matt then took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "How about we meet with the others, Jojo?"

[ Ajora : Ivalice : Pharos Lighthouse Ascension ]

As Nicholas entered the Corridor, Ajora noticed that Azrael and Alice instead decided to follow him; as such, he closed the Corridor without a second thought, moving on down the stairs and assuming they planned to follow him the rest of the way down. Xehanort, he felt, stayed behind, content with gazing into the light of the Sun-Cryst.

"I apologize for leading you on this goose chase," he said to the two behind him, finally taking his hand off his head and walking normally (though there was, notably, no arrogance in his stride- merely the determination to keep walking). "This was... unexpected. Did either of you suffer injuries while I was out?"