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[[ POST 6,000 BABY. PAGE 401, WHICH MEANS (if you don't include page 1, as it's nothing but RP information) THIS IS ACTUALLY PAGE 400~~~~!]]

[ Yen Sid ; Riku ; Kyle : Disney : Hall of the Cornerstone ]

As Joe stepped back, acknowledging he was done, Yen Sid looked around at the others. Kyle, seeing that Riku, Kyla, and Noelle needed to speak, waved them ahead, implying he didn't mind waiting; Amy did the same. As such, Riku stepped forward, with Kyla and Noelle at his sides.

"Yes, Riku?" Yen Sid asked, raising a brow at his pupil and the others. His words carried weight, however.

Riku hesitated. He knew the topic was controversial; he wished it could be discussed more privately. And yet, the outcome would invariably be useful to those listening, anyway.

"It's about training them, Master," he started, trying to hold his gaze. "Some of them have tampered with, or been touched by, the Darkness, and--"

Yen Sid didn't speak, but the sheer weight of his narrowed gaze caused Riku to pause. However, the wizard closed his eyes in contemplation for a moment--before opening them again and nodding, allowing Riku to speak again.

"One way or another, it can't be helped," Riku said, his voice more emphatic than before. "The Darkness isn't just randomly assaulting, it's targeted them directly. And with their replicas turning their own strengths against them, it's only natural to reach for some sort of power to defend themselves."

Yen Sid's response didn't come immediately, but his focus was unwavering. He glanced at them--Noelle, Kyla, even Kyle--before turning back to Riku.

"You have a point, Riku. They are untrained--thrust into this world from a home quite different. The pressures are great, and no doubt unrelenting," he spoke, his tone understanding, but not quite sympathetic. "There has been little time for personal training, and the need for power does not wait. And still, of all people, you should know the dangers of these shortcuts."

"I do, Master. That's precisely why I bring it up, especially now that we know our enemy," Riku said, bowing his head before looking back up. "They still need to grow, and with the darkness more malevolent now than ever before, they need to understand what they're doing. I can only explain so much; my skills are honed by experience, not wisdom. They need to hear it."

For the briefest second, one might have imagined Yen Sid's lips had an upward twitch, but if so, it was gone in an instant.

"You have chosen wisely, Riku," the wizard nodded in acknowledgment before focusing on the group in general. "First, travelers, let me ask you this. Why do you think the masters of the Keyblade spend their years training in the light?"

[[ Joe : Disney : Chamber of the Cornerstone ]]

Joe raised an eyebrow at Riku's question. From all the explanations he'd been given, he knew that at least Kyle had been touched by the darkness, and from what he remembered, so had some of the others. He didn't really get why this was even an issue that needed to be brought up: Riku was the most experienced person with this stuff they had who was definitively on the side of the angels, of course he should help out others who are struggling with darkness related matters.

His attention was quickly drawn away from that line of criticism when Yen Sid raised his question. He had a feeling it wasn't really meant for him, but the old wizard didn't specify anyone in particular, so why not? Plus, Kyla had given her best shot, so he might as well to.

"Well, let's see, Light and Darkness are irreversibly connected, right? One cannot exist without the other," he began, racking his brain for as much knowledge of Kingdom Hearts metaphysics as he could "So, given that they are connected and in constant flux with each other, one could conceivably train to counteract the effects of one by simply studying its opposite,"

He paused briefly, taking a breath before finishing his thought.

"So, then if one can learn ways to fight and defend against the Darkness by studying the Light, it would make sense that Keyblade wielders train in the light. Not only is it safer, but you learn valuable tools that will help you survive."

He really hoped he was close with that one. He didn't want to embarrass himself in front of one of the wisest beings in the universe.

[ Yen Sid ; Riku ; Kyle : Disney : Hall of the Cornerstone ]

Kyle was silent off to the side, listening. When the question was posed, his brows furrowed and he looked down.

Why they train in the Light...?



As he went over the details and memories, he listened to the others give their own responses.

Kyla spoke of its corruptive tendencies, of its sentient malevolence.

Joe spoke of their connections, of understanding one to counter the other.

Noelle spoke of balance, of the ease of darkness and the difficulty of light.

"Light cannot exist without Darkness, but Darkness sure seems to think it can exist without Light," Kyle started, shrugging. "So if for no other reason, I'd say they trained because the Light at least implies an acceptance of both."

Yen Sid remained stoic as they all spoke, giving their answers. Finally, after a few moments of silence, he began. "Each of you has a different view, and there is a measure of truth in each."

"At the heart of our conflict is balance. For true peace, for life to go on, there must be a measure of balance between these two primal forces," he spoke. addressing Noelle's point. "As a result, the Keyblade Masters--those who devote their lives to protective life--must maintain a level of balance, not simply in their actions, but in themselves."

"To truly understand and live within balance, one must accept both the light and the dark--not simply in life, but in our hearts. Both are necessary for life. Within light lies a sense of unity; in darkness, a sense of self," he said, now speaking on Kyle's point. "As one might expect, then, darkness itself is not evil, unlike this corrupt force that so hounds us. But as you can understand, those who live in darkness, those who tread only that path, begin to see only themselves, think of themselves."

"Take this very room. With the Cornerstone, we have both its light, and the shadows that our bodies cast. You see it all. Light, and Darkness. And yet, take away this light, remove all sources, and still, you have shadow. In the Darkness, you know only of yourself," he continued. "Such is the implicit error in an oft-cited testament to balance... that one cannot exist without the other. This is true, if one considers the whole of life a requirement. And yet, for those who walk in darkness, who think only of themselves... how can they bear the burden of protecting life?"

"So now, we understand that those in darkness see only themselves. Others, then, can either shed light upon them... or be felt as hindrances, blockades on their path. You see, it is not darkness itself that is evil, but a consciousness that knows only darkness," he went on, his tone becoming more grave. It was now that he addressed Kyla's point. "The heart that dabbles in darkness, in self-concern, will of course seek to satisfy itself--not others. In doses, there is no issue; in balance, acceptance, there is even prosperity. Joy in others, joy in yourself. But too much self-indulgence, too little balance, and those you would normally seek to help appear to be burdens."

"Consequently, training in Darkness only encourages such selfish thoughts. Treading such a path will show you no Light. However, training in Light, treading the path of bonds and unity, still allows for the shadows such light casts--again, the ideal is acceptance of all things. And in accepting those shadows, in acknowledging them, we prepare for them," he continued, finally getting to Joe's point. "By accepting the shadows for what they are, by accepting the innate sense of self-worth that all life holds, we prepare ourselves with the knowledge of how they work. The darkness may obscure our sight, but with the proper training, we know its intent all the same."

"Such is the way of a Keyblade Master... and such should be the way of any who protect life," he closed, stroking his beard. "By training in the light, you will not only master that part of yourself, but you will accept your shadows. And in accepting those--in truth, in compassion--your heart will be stronger than anything an outside force could throw at you."

[ Hojo : Radiant Garden : ShinRa Labs ]

"Hmm, perhaps..."

The lithe man adjusted his glasses as information gradually appeared the computer monitor in front of him. Whatever the screen revealed, it did little to impress him, causing nothing more than a raised brow. He pressed a few keys, giving him scans of some human anatomy, but even that did little to change his mood.

With a shake of his head, the scientist pressed a larger button to the side of his computer panel, causing a large glass door to slide open off to the side, just behind his computer terminal. After a moment, a pale hand gripped the door frame as a young man, no older than 18, pulled himself out from within. He was dressed in average garb for the city, a blue shirt and some black pants, with medium length brown hair. A logo was stitched into his shirt, on the left side of his chest, with the letters "RGDF". However, like his hand, the rest of his skin was ghastly pale, giving him the appearance of someone severely ill.

"How are you feeling?" Hojo asked, though his voice was anything but sympathetic--curious, yes, but compassion was absent.

"Honestly, doc... not too well," the young man said, his voice raspy. "Can... can we take a break?"

"Hmm." The researcher turned back to the screen, his fingers fluidly tapping away at the keys. "I suppose so. A delay in progress shouldn't set your defenses back too far. Would you like a day off? You'd only lose three or four kids, at most--"

"No! No, I..." he suddenly shouted, looking up to Hojo in desperation, his blue irises filled with specks of green and gold and the veins, normally red, colored a sickly black. Suddenly, he looked back to the ground, gripping the doorframe tighter to steady himself. "I'm okay. Just a little nausea... it's passed, I can..."

"Well, back in with you," Hojo said, waving the young man off impatiently, causing him to flinch before slipping back inside the chamber. As the glass door slid closed with a soft hiss, the scientist was left alone in the terminal room once again.

"I'm not getting the results you promised me," Hojo grumbled, starting up a different process. After a few key strokes, he sighed. "We'll see."

[ Yen Sid ; Riku ; Kyle : Disney : Hall of the Cornerstone ]



Kyle's brows remained furrowed as his gaze locked on the ground, listening but not speaking.

Riku only gave Noelle a small chuckle, though why he didn't explain, aside from a mental message. "Just wait."

"You've already begun," he responded, giving a slight nod as he spoke. "Indeed, your endeavors over the past week have brought many of you to the brink, I'm sure... and yet, here you all remain. Instead of setting out on your own, instead of thinking only about what you can accomplish, you stand before me as part of a group, each working toward similar goals in unison."

"Had we any real measure of time, I would have all of you--Sora, Riku, and Kairi included--go through the basics of true training. However, Xehanort gives us no peace, and to offer such to him would only be our downfall," he explained with a hint of regret. "So you, like my younger apprentices, must learn through experience and what wisdom I can impart."

"For example, you must learn to separate your ideas of darkness. There is darkness in your heart, and there is darkness in the world around you," he began. "I have already discussed the darkness in hearts, how it is neither good nor evil. The primal darkness that exists around us, however... even I cannot be certain."

"As recently as a month or so ago, I might have held the belief that even that darkness was neutral, a force to be understood and respected like any other. But now...," he continued, his face taut with stress as he stared at nothing in particular, the cogs of his mind turning. "Whether this corrupt force you face is truly the darkness itself, or some malign sentience at its core, I cannot say. What we know is that, since the convergence, its influence has been noticed everywhere the shadows touch. Attempts to mold even the slightest residual world darkness have triggered its tainted presence."

"Before, I would have advised against such acts. It is the act of drawing power from external darkness that invites its obscuring stains on your heart. As I have mentioned, what power you need can almost always be found within," he said. "Now, however, I must outright forbid these practices--especially the usage of the Corridors of Darkness. If the corruption is as omnipresent as it seems, then the mere act of reaching out to the primal darkness could give it a foothold onto your heart. Worse, in the case of the Corridors."

Riku's body had tensed and his eyes narrowed as he realized what Yen Sid was implying. "So if it wanted, this... corruption could redirect any corridor we step into... and send us anywhere it wanted."

Yen Sid nodded, his expression grave. "So you understand why I must prohibit such practices."

"Instead, focus on strengthening yourself through yourself. Seek to understand not only your strengths, but your weaknesses. In that understanding, find acceptance," he went on, the tension fading, if only a little--he seemed as unstressed as his character would allow. "There is truth in imperfection. Your flaws, your scars, and your fears are all just as vital to your identity as your virtues, your goals, and your passions. Once you have pieced yourself together, once you are truly whole, you will stop seeing things within you as "light" or "darkness", and you will simply see yourself. Then you will have mastered yourself, and in doing so, using your "darkness" will be no more a chore than using your ordinary powers--and you may find it won't even be necessary to do so."

"I know not what these fiends have planned for your replicas, but in their endeavors, they have unknowingly given you a gift--the perfect shaded mirror," he explained. "By creating entities born of personal darkness, they have brought you face to face with a side that any in your position would rather not see. Gaze upon them, and know that you see your darkness with all its obscurity lifted. What they say is what you must accept you think. What they do, you must accept you consider. Understand them, their vices, their fury, and you will understand that piece of yourself as well--and then remember that you are more than that. They are, after all, simply halves of a whole."

"Finally, in all training endeavors, light, darkness, or otherwise, you must remember the proper purpose. Why do you do this?" he said, gazing upon them now, one after the other. "That question, you may realize, is directly associated with why we train in the light. We train, we seek self-mastery, not only for ourselves--though we do, that is simple fact--but also for others. So long as you truly seek to aid the common good, so long as you work both for and with those you seek to protect, then there will be a light to guide you home, even if you must rely on your personal shadows to take you there."

With that remark, Riku gave Noelle a small smile, raising a brow as if to say 'I told you so'. Whether or not she remembered, he'd already gauged her purpose for training.

[Anthony ~.~ Disney ~.~ Hall of the Cornerstone]

Everyone began to disperse. Some went off into the castle, others back to the festival, and the ones that stayed behind in the Hall seemed to go out and seek wisdom and advice from Merlin or Yen Sid. Anthony wasn't all too sure what to do. He wasn't interested in the festival, he didn't want to get lost in the castle, and he didn't have any questions for the wizards. So he just sorta stood there, picking up pieces of conversations held around him, though never really focusing on one. However, his ears did perk up once a handful of the group began to discuss using Darkness.

The young man had dabbled in Darkness some hours before with Louis, and another time during the fight on the Pearl. As far as he was aware, no one other than Louis knew about it, and he planned to keep it that way.

The knight slowly walked away from the group. Though Anthony had no intentions to go further into the castle, he did so anyway because he was bored. He wouldn't wander too far, though, just in case he actually did get lost.

[Lucian ~.~ Forbidden Mountain ~.~ Maleficent's Castle]

The girl had disappeared into a portal, leaving Lucian behind with the Unversed. He stared at them and they at him. He tilted his head and they tilted their's. He waved at them and they returned the wave. This continued for a little while longer until they were willed away.

The Replica felt his anger return to him. It ran throughout his body, filling him with that blind rage he felt earlier. The emotion was so intense that his teeth began to grind and his finger curled as his body tensed. It almost felt involuntary. The feeling faded away slowly as his lips stretched into yet another grin.

Lucian liked this power.

The young man walked down the hallway, whistling and twirling the chain that was wrapped around his right gauntlet. He disappeared into the shadows, but his haunting melody continued to echo throughout the hallway.

[Kyla: Disney: Hall of the Cornerstone]

“I… “

She tried to answer, but the answer died on her lips. She had a personal part of herself revealed thanks to Tyue’s meddling and in the wake of everyone’s reactions.

She doubted the validity of her own emotions.

She had been telling herself that all she had been doing was for the sake of others. But maybe all along she was just a selfish person, and nothing she had ever done was genuine.

She didn’t trust these feelings she had towards her comrades. Everything could just be one big lie. And thinking upon what Yen Sid said concerning her replica.
Maybe it was the truth. Kai was so self-absorbed. She didn’t think anyone else in this world mattered anymore.
What if the original had done was pretend to be a good person? What if it was all an act to cover-up her true nature? …what if Kai... and herself. Were too much alike?
Kyla’s eyes widened at the sudden realization-
Was that it? Was that was Kai wants? Is that what she sees in me?

She couldn’t trust what she felt anymore. “.. what do you think?” Something about Yen Sid told Kyla that if anyone could sense what was true in the reassesses of the heart, then the wizard was the most unbiased choice to ask. It was warranted on the assumption that he could see things in people no one else could and while plausible was still a leap.

Another reason she went to see Ajora was to answer a question- a nagging question. Why? Was she really what this quest was dubbing her to be or was it all just one big mistake.

I used to be useful and independent back on earth. But here I can’t do anything by myself without messing everything up.

Suddenly remembering herself, she looked to Kyle again- realizing where her thoughts and feelings had gone to and she stepped away from the group like something radiated from her that was poisoness to them.

"-sorry."

[Kyla: Disney: Hall of the Cornerstone]

“I have everything to apologize for.” Realizing she said that out loud Kyla sheepishly continued-“ b-but thank you.” And she felt him continue to explain.
The wise man was right. She wasn’t ready. After everything that had happened her heart was extremely fragmented to boot. It was a shredded mess like a piece of paper that got pulled out of blender. It was full of holes.

‘But…’ she felt saying but thankfully it didn’t slip out... She didn’t want to seem rude after being given this important advice.

‘...what if you don’t have time to be patient?’

She wasn’t sure what exactly she could do now-

The Nameless was out there somewhere. Kai was no doubt using it to do something unspeakable! What if she didn’t overcome this uncertainty in time before things are so bad it was impossible to fix them? How could she rest knowing untold number s of people, their blood may very well be on her hands! And every second that passes, that number GROWS!

She couldn’t rest- not without some hope it could somehow still work in time.
“… I’m sorry I just- “She said sorry again, and had to stop herself before doing it AGAIN for saying it. It wasn’t like she wasn’t listening.

“..I can’t help but feel I don’t have a lot of time. I’m not looking for a short cut. But... I’d sleep much easier if I knew there was a hope that with… or without me, something can be done about what my replica plans to do. If I can’t get myself to a place where I’m confident in myself. How can I excuse the consequences for taking too long? Do I have a right to let that happen? Is it right to ask the world to wait till I’m ready?”

She hugs her book to herself eyes down cast to the silver lining of its cover.
How metaphorical about its design..

“I’m supposed to be responsible – is this really ok?”

This was getting just too depressing, not even the Cornerstone put enough relief on her troubles, at this point… she was just tired. Even though she knew she had slept on the ship. Somehow- perhaps it was the stress. She felt tired. Maybe that was what made her runnable to relax, what made her worry.