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[Fal'Navi]

"...The shadows beckon."

The Wrathful Dragon heard the message, and took a deep breath through his mask, the black and red tattoos glowly slightly against the bare white room. He quietly opened a dark portal, stepping in it with a quick hop.

He landed in the room, the portal opening on the ceiling and dropping Fal'navi onto the floor with a gentle thump. "Good morning, Vereor. What kind of tea have you prepared for us today?" He pushed his bangs back, letting his golden eyes peer around at the members of the Conclave. With a quick 'hmph', he slid towards Vereor with very little noise.

Solaris
{Sorry, I'll be taking my leave now.}

[Traverse Town : First District]

Sol sighed a little bit as he scratched the end of his staff into the dirt. He was lost, confused, tired, and hungry. Not the best combination for anybody. Not to mention that he had lost his home and his master not even a day ago. Sighing again, he remembered the last time he had seen his master.

It had just been a regular day when the Heartless had turned up on his Master's doorstep. Sol had been practicing his Flare spell, trying to put more power into it. Still, no matter what he did, he just couldn't make it more powerful. Brushing his hair out of his eyes, he headed back inside to read up on some more spells. Sol was looking forward to a nice, quiet day filled with reading, then, when the moon rose, he'd practice his spells more. It was his favorite kind of day.

Walking back into the house, he glanced out a window and stopped. What he saw shook him to his core. Slowly moving into the town were the Heartless. They were invading buildings and decimating them before his eyes while the magi tried to do battle with them. Standing rigid, he couldn't move from the sight, until he saw the Heartless move onto the bakery. That was when he looked away, not wanting to see the bakery disappear.

Running up into his master's room, he found that his master was already preparing himself, his staff in one hand, his grimoire in the other. "Yes, I already know. Come, let's prevent them from getting us as well." His master had told him before he walked past the boy, heading down the stairs into the yard. When Sol stumbled down the stairs, his practice wand at the ready, his master had taken a long look at him and shaken his head. "Boy, it's time you got a real staff, fit for a mage." Said his master, right before he handed over his staff to Sol.

Hardly believing his eyes, he looked down at the staff. It was his master's most prized possession and he was just giving it up, to him nonetheless. Sol's eyes shined with tears as he looked at his master. "Thank you... Sol mumbled, wiping away his tears.

The next few hours could only be described as hectic. He and his master defended the house as well as they could, but they started to lose ground, especially when Heartless that were more resilient to magic started to appear. Finally, they were pushed back into the living room. That was where his master decided that enough was enough. Flipping through his grimoire, Sol expected him to use a massive attack that would destroy everything. Not recognizing the spell, Sol used his magic to protect his master, waiting for it to end. But the ending wasn't what Sol had in mind. The ground beneath him started to glow and his master closed his grimoire. "Sol, I hope that you live a good long life and that you overcome your fear of people. Goodbye Solaris Teodolis." As the magic started to encompass him, Sol watched his master disappear under hordes of Heartless, just before he was sent to another world.

Standing up, Sol started to try to find a place to sleep for the night. Not that he expected to get good lodgings, as he had no money on him. Still, even if he spent the night in the alley, it wouldn't be as bad as it was when he was a slave. It was semi-hard to believe that, just a couple hours previous, he had a warm bed waiting for him when he chose to sleep.

Trudging along, he heard something strange. A weird noise came from above him and, when he looked up, a strange...green...thing was falling towards him. Not sure if it would be able to catch itself, Sol waved his staff towards the thing along with a mumbled, "Aero." A gust of wind whipped over towards the thing, creating a soft cushion of air below it, hopefully preventing it from crashing onto the ground.

Looking up at the roof where the thing fell from, Sol caught a flicker of flames appear. Backing up a bit to get a better view of the flames, he pointed his staff to an area just above the flames. "Water." Sol said, just before a small pool of water appeared at the spot and crashed down on the flames, smothering them instantly. Bringing his staff down, he looked at the creature that had fallen, a questioning look on his face.

The young woman in pink smiled as Hefin opened the door, giving a brief giggle- she'd heard him storming their way a few moments ago, and knew it was only a matter of time before he'd enter. As he looked at her with his gruff smile, she stood from her position on the couch and walked over toward him.

"Oh, she's fine, she just laid down to take a nap a few moments ago, actually," she explained, her light voice filled with understanding. "Soryuju got me to come in as the two of you were heading into the Third District. I guess he forgot to tell you about me"

[∫ ʋ ʓ ʋ ʁ ᾲ ɳ]
{You look like you fell down a tree and hit every possible branch on the way down.}

[Traverse Town :: First District]

Suzu's eyes widened as she watched Soryuju bowed, before stepping forward and waving her arms rather frantically in opposition to all the bowing. Oh maybe she should have kept it under wraps that she and Kuu were royalty. Oh but then her dad always told her not to be ashamed of her lineage... what a pickle.

"No, no, no, Suzu works just fine and pleased to meet your acquaintance as well." The scythe wielder said, her face was lit up as if she were holding back a laugh. Though the change in Soryuju's tone sobered up her own mood though she was quite taken back when he asked if their world was destroyed. "Oh, no our world isn't destroyed. Heaven's no. Is that even possible? Ohhh... maybe we should go check Kuma-chan?" Suzu's brain filled with images of the palace smoking... and... and the timeglass in ruins, it's blue jewels spilling out into the depths of the lake.

"I'm sure they're fine, our father you see, is a powerful geomancer and our mother the best samurai around... I'm sure they're fine." Suzu finally reassured herself after several deep breaths of air. She gathered herself, smiling at Soryuju. "We're somewhat of travelers I suppose. We stopped by the day before yesterday. We were in need of supplies, and we did a bit of heartless whacking in the Second District, I believe that's what you call it."

((I know Kichiki said that maybe the Second District would be free of heartless at the moment, and I figured that the reason that would be was because they went heartless killing? Since it's not possible to have Suzu and Kuu in the Third District without Soryuju and Hefin knowing.))

[ Ѵ ͼ Ʀ ͼ Ѳ Ʀ ]

{A heart shed for power is the only heart of worth.}

[Castle Oblivion : Kitchen]

At that time, Number VI and VII finally arrived, just as expected. Without any hint of an emotional response, Vereor began to sip his tea, looking toward Fal'navi. After a moment, he palced his cup down, and- was that a smile? If it was, it was gone far too fast to say something about it.

"Paopu today, Number VI," he replied, finally sitting straight up and clearing his throat, as if to get their attention. "Now, it seems I have a number of missions to dole out today."

"Fal'navi, you're to kidnap a young blond girl named Alice from the world known as Wonderland," he explained, looking to the Wrathful Dragon with an hollow amusement. "Do with the world itself what you see fit- leave it within an inch of its life, or leave nothing but scattered remnants. So long as Alice is brought back, the world is useless to the Conclave."

"The next mission was meant for Masenko, but as he is not here, I am taking the liberty of giving it to a different member," he continued, glancing around now at the rest of them. "Aria- you are to cause some havoc in Traverse Town. There's been some decreased Heartless activity there, and we can't have the orphans feel too secure. Leave the world in tact- after all, it provides a steady supply of hearts from those the Darkness doesn't claim."

"You may each take one person of your choice to join in the chaos, though Revelin is not allowed to go to Traverse Town for obvious reasons," he spoke, now lifting his cup of tea once more to his lips. "Otherwise, the rest of you are free until called. Now, does anyone want a refill?"

[Harmony's Sanctuary : Nevermore Residence]

The Nevermore family, along with friends of Destati and his parents - Uncle "Sharkey" Pisces, Libra Stellazia III and her daughter Libra IV, Michael Proudstar, Leo Bluestar, and Canis Greymoon - were all crowding at a very small table, in an underground steel-enforced room which was once the basement of the Nevermores' house....back when it was still standing, anyway. A swarm of Heartless had torn it asunder months ago. Ironically enough, this was the first time since then that both Destati's, and his parents' units, were both given time off from the war. Every time this happened, the remaining members from each team gathered together for a sort of family reunion.

"HEY MAMMA, CAN YOU PASS THE CAYENNE?" Destati bellowed above the din of everyone speaking with each other enthusiastically....Everyone except Michael, that is. Luna Markes-Nevermore slapped her only son's hand with a loving smile.

"Boy, you know what you're suppose't say."

Destati gave her a huge grin and quickly added "PLLLEEEEEEEEEEEAASSSSE?"

With a roll of her eyes, his mother set down onto the table a large glass shaker half full of red pepper. Destati took the container with a quick "Thank ya" and smothered the contents of his bowl - thick gumbo over white rice - with the red spice.

He then held it out to the middle of the table, attempting to pass it to Michael....But the boy did not take it, or even say anything. He simply remained sitting motionless, staring off into space.

"Want some, Mikey?"

No response, or change in the young man's demeanor.

"Aw, come on, Mikey. I know you love this stuff."

Still nothing. Destati's father, William, shook his head sadly.

"Th' poor boy stll ain't speakin' yet?"

"Not at all, mister Nevermore," Leo answered. "He hasn't said a word since Zack died last year."

Mikey's body twitched once at the sound of his best friend's name, then went still again. Destati thought of saying he was sorry, but his throat immediately went dry, and he realized he had said the same thing over and over again, he didn't know how many times, ever since the incident. It never helped. Nothing he or the others ever did or said helped. He was completely broken.

No one could quite determine why such a tough kid, who had already gone through so much pain and suffering in his life beforehand, could have been so shaken. Other than the fact that, in that one case, it was his lifelong best friend whom the Heartless had killed, no one had any ideas. He was even more shaken than Destati had been when his former best friend, Orion, got fed up with him and left their world and everyone in it to their fate. Regardless of anything which had happened in the past, Michael Proudstar was now a hollow shell, living his life now for the sole purpose of destroying every Heartless in existence. He knew he couldn't do it, but it gave him something to live for.

Suddenly, nine simultaneous beeping alarms were set off, and the entire group siting at the table jumped, all of them save for the young Helena reaching to their pockets for their small mobile devices. Destati checked his, seeing the light blue screen lit up with an emergency prompt, and figured that the rest of his unit, along with that of the adults', had recieved the same message. They all rushed for the door, except Luna, who stayed behind a bit to give her daughter instructions.

"Stay down here, honey, you're safe under the barrier. If we're out on a long mission, don't stay up too late. No more repairing your brother's musical equipment for the week, you know I can't deal with more messes right now, and you know your brother told you everything is still in perfect condition since the last time you fixed it. No..." She was cut off by Helena, who must have heard these orders hundreds of times.

"No Heavy Metal after twilight hours, no headbanging while eating, no late-night snacks, no trying to cook anything or mess with anything hot, sharp, pointy, and/or with precise amplification settings. I know, mom."

"That's my girl. Now finish your gumbo," Luna said before kissing her daughter's cheek, grabbing her katana, and bolting through the trap door after the others.

Outside, Leo was leading his unit to battle, and from atop the roofs of the few buildings still left standing in Zodiac City, Destati could see clearly what they were up against: a small army of Behemoths. Libra leaped up to the rooftops to follow her friend, and bellowed a rather loud four-lettered profanity when she saw the purple brutes.

Destati turned to give her a reassuring smile, then leaped across the gap between his previous rooftop and the next.

"Just like old times, huh Lee?"

"Yeah, except back then, there was only one. This time, there are more of them and less of us!"

Destati chuckled, keeping his cocky attitude while he still could.

"Yeah! Remember how it took every single one of us in basic training to take that one down? That was hell. But fun. Lots of fun. The kind of fun you get when you feel like you're about to die, and you're doing everything you can to kick major a** and somehow manage to survive....Ya know?"

"Yeah...What was it you said to the behemoth once we finally managed to bring it down?"

"Well....I said...." Destati began as he drew his dagger and leaped into the air, preparing to lunge downwards on one of the gigantic Heartless,
"...YOU KNOW WHERE YOU AAAREE???!!! YOU IN THE JUNGLE, BABY!!!! YOU'RE GONNA DIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!"

[Hefin]

{The blades don't lead to war, it's the soldier}

[Traverse Town : Hefin's House -> First District]

"Much appreciated Aerith, I won't be long." Hefin stepped back out of his house and walked back down the alleys. He walked through his forgery and locked the doors as he did so. Arriving back in the plaza, he looked around trying to spot Soryuju. 'Boy, we got all sorts coming in today,' he thought to himself as he noticed all the newcomers.

He finally noticed Sory who had been talking with what looked like a set of twins. He plodded his way to the young adult, making a 'Sssh' gesture to the twins to not draw attention to him. He snuck up right behind his friend, then gave him a playful thump on his head. "Oi, I just talked with the babysitter you neglected to tell me you got for Athene," he said to Soryuju. He was unaware of any regal presence in the twins, and had no inhibitions towards making him and his younger companion look like goofs.

[Hefin]

{The blades don't lead to war, it's the soldier}

[Traverse Town : First District]

Hefin snorted and teasingly rolled his eyes "Well, it's not my fault that you can't keep up with a man in the prime of his life," he retorted, hitting his fist against his chest for emphasis. Mock-arguments weren't uncommon between the two; Sory was just too fussy was normally Hefin's explanation, which would earn him a rant.

"Anyways, I see you've made two friends, 'Zippo,'" he said while gesturing to the two teens. "I'm Hefin Estalle, blacksmith and weapons dealer extraodinaire. Care to introduce yourselves?" He was still extremely casual with the royal twins. That nagging sensation returned in his head, though he ignored it as he awaited their response.