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[ ӄ ¥ Ѳ ƺ Ʉ Ӷ Ѳ ]

{I shall ascend beyond the gods themselves.}

[ Edo : Village ]

The hooded man's gaze fell upon the samurai the moment he began to speak; it was impossible to see, but it was obvious from the direction the hood was facing. The entity seemed unfazed by Saito's possible hostility, not even bothering to change his stance.

"You have potential," he said, almost as though he were simply thinking out loud, his tone of voice hollow and apathetic. "But even unbound by the ties of emotion, you held a grudge. You will learn."

After he spoke, he turned his gaze to the mass of Heartless, all of whom seemed to be heading in the same direction- they were closing in on it. The being began to walk in that same direction, following the corrupted hearts. They would lead him to his destination, of that he held no doubt.

"I've come for two reasons," he spoke, no longer looking at the ronin, but instead gazing down the path that lay before him. "If you are interested in cosmic power, then you'd be wise to follow me. Otherwise, leave this planet at once."

: - {άℓєχάηdѓά} - :

|My allegiance lies with no one, but I am no bounty hunter.|

: - {Traverse Town : Second District Cafe} - :

She chuckled at Elde. "You are drunk, Elde," she said, stating the obvious. Alex pulled her long ponytail over her shoulder, running her fingers through it, and glanced off towards the glasses for a moment.

"It seems like an interesting turn of events, I must say," she said. Alex paused, finishing off her glass. "What are you going to do, Elde? Go with Soryuju or take up Mr. Shinra's offer?" She let her eyes slide back to him, a soft expression of curiosity on her face. She smirked and held up a finger as she added, "Ah and remember we did pledge loyalty to Soryuju, mind you."

She leaned in her chair, feeling pleasantly loose from the drinks, a perpetual smile on her face.

| I simply hunt Heartless, nothing more. If you need that, then I am your girl.|

[ ӄ ¥ Ѳ ƺ Ʉ Ӷ Ѳ ]

{I shall ascend beyond the gods themselves.}

[ Edo : Village ]

"To the heart of this world."

The response was simple; not curt or rude, but not quite a good explanation, either. However, as both of the men were beings borne of nothingness, their hearts no longer within their vessels, the phrase held a somewhat deeper meaning than one might originally think. They knew all too well of the importance of a heart; and the implications of a world having a heart was grave...

... and promising.

The Heartless all seemed to be flowing into a large shrine, its exterior well decorated, promising an even more intricate interior. Most of the area had already been torn apart, with a large amount of blood stains every so often. Mysteriously, there was a disturbing lack of bodies within the shrine, leaving one to wonder what had happened.

But then again, both of the Nothings already knew.

Within the center of the shrine's main structure, there was a large spherical boulder, with a strange, thin ritual rope strung around it. The Heartless were coagulating around it, waiting for something. Some of them jumped at and attempted to strike the rock; however, a strange barrier of light always seemed to interrupt, though it grew dimmer and dimmer with each strike.

The cloaked being stepped into the temple, nearing the boulder; the Heartless shied away, making a path for the giant. With his last step, their beady, golden eyes all focused upon him, their attacks ceasing, leaving a violent silence in the air around them. He clapped his hands together, keeping them there.

"With this world, may the gods grasp my dominance; with this heart, may they fear my destiny."

[ ӄ ¥ Ѳ ƺ Ʉ Ӷ Ѳ ]

{I shall ascend beyond the gods themselves.}

[ Edo : Village ]

As the renegade Nobody struck at the barrier surrounding the rock, Kyozuto felt the Light shudder underneath the dark force before falling to its strength. He made no response, but noted how devoted to 'revenge' this being was. He was without true emotion, and yet his mind clung to a false grudge that was only there as a defense mechanism by this point.

The man was a very young Nobody, indeed, if his mind was still acting as if the heart was there. It would take time to grow accustomed the apathy that would envelope him, but until then he was still a child. At least, in the hooded man's eyes.

"With this deed, may they wallow in futility," he continued, his voice growing somewhat louder, as if he was nearing the end of a chant. His hands parted from one another slowly; within the gap was a strange sphere of dark purple energy, sparking with ferocity. Gradually, as if a veil was being lifted from their eyes, a strange vision appeared hovering over the center of the x-shaped gouge left by the samurai- an image of a Keyhole, outlined in white and filled with black.

"And with these hands, may their submission be made absolute."

The strange energy in-between his hands began to grow, soon pushing his hands a part, before finally it shot forth a beam into the Keyhole. First, there was nothing... then the image of the Keyhole began to shudder. It was small at first, like a light tremor; over a few moments, it began to grow more violent. In time, the ground itself was trembling, the shrine being wracked with the force of the quake. Indeed, it began to seem as though the entire world was cringing. Perhaps it was just that- perhaps the world was reeling from the pain of its final protection being torn asunder. The Heartless surrounding them had, by this point, began to writhe and squirm, convulsing in what could only be considering pain (or perhaps anticipation). The Keyhole was cracking, fracturing-

"Amen."

And finally shattering in a brilliant flash of light.

All was still. All was quiet. All was Light.

The samurai would have felt bodiless... formless, as if his conscious and only his conscious was drifting in an endless sea of Light. It may have felt like hours- it may have felt like days. But, in reality, moments after the blinding flash, the Nobody would have 'awoken' to find himself standing once again in the shrine- with some very blatant differences.

The room of the shrine was completely missing, as were most of the walls, allowing him to see the black, violent storm above him- a massive black-and-crimson sphere was only a few hundred feet above him, pulling in all forms of debris. Beyond and to the sides of the vacuum sphere, where there might have once been sky, their was only the darkness- black and purple endlessness, with large pieces of debris and earth swirling around before being sucked in one by one. However, it may have been the ground itself that was most shockingly changed: all that was left of his world was a small chunk of land, the remnant of the shrine, and in the center, still in front of the sacred stone, with his back turned to the samurai, was the cloaked man.

"This world has been wrought to nothing by my hands," he announced over the slight trembling of the earth and the high gusts of winds around them. He seemed utterly unfazed by the current situation. "In a matter of moments, not even this remnant shall remain. So I ask you- would you wander, a rogue of nothingness, or would you join me and my brethren for a greater cause? Time is running out."

[[In case visualizing isn't your thing, picture the destruction of Destiny Islands. Specifically, this from 3:11 onward.]]

[♫- λ ŗ ﭑ ᾴ -♫]

№ Ѷ -{Let's finish this up quickly, I wanna sleep.}- № Ѷ

[Castle Oblivion :: Commons Area]

Aria watched the variances of emotions play across Tsurumi's face like a slideshow. As curious as the Nobody was, Aria made no effort to unveil what was really going on. It would be quite amusing to dispose of all the new members in a single day but Aria wouldn't let her hopes get raised for nothing.

The Twilight Requiem made her way to the table where she picked up her own cup and sipping at the tea, all the while keeping Tsurumi in her peripherals to await her reaction. A fight maybe? It was highly unlikely that she would win. Maybe she was going to shrink backwards, tail between her legs and act like the way she was supposed to act.

Aria felt the silence clinging to the walls of the Castle as she enjoyed her tea, hearing the liquid slosh against the sides of the cup at the tiniest of movements. The sounds from other parts of the castle began to filter in, singing softly in her ear as she waited in quiet anticipation.

[ Ѵ ͼ Ʀ ͼ Ѳ Ʀ ]

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

[Castle Oblivion : Commons Area (AKA Kitchen)]

"Enough."

The two women were, without warning, encased in cylindrical crystal walls, trapping them within without an exist. Vereor's eyes were now stern, the golden sphere glaring into the two women's own pairs of eyes.

"Betrayal is not allowed under penalty of death. And yet, you hold this rule no higher than you hold your own dignity," he stated, cold and blunt. "Tsurumi, you willingly attacked what you believed was Aiko in an attempt to suffocate her. Such an act would normally have ended in your immediate execution."

"Aiko, I gave my subtle hint to cease, and yet you ignorantly dismissed it. There will be no goading of other members into betrayal; such acts will earn you equal punishment. And do not think I am incapable of such an act."

The words were meant as threats, obviously, but to Aiko, the illusionist, the trickster, the girl who could escape from anything, they may have meant something different; something heavier.

"The only reason the two of you have not been removed from existence is that you are both relatively new, relatively useful... and we've already lost one member today," he said, slowly returning to his calmer demeanor. "Do not let this nonsense happen again, are we clear?"

While he spoke, a Corridor of Darkness opened up in the center of the room, in between the dining area and the lounge area.

[[This post would have been so much more epic if I hadn't had to retype it 3 times.]]

[Traverse Town :: Cafe]

Window sighed. It was a little true, him needing something of comfort. Being in a slightly familiar setting was a bit unnerving, and it just brought the image of home a little closer. He hadn't allowed himself to think about that, not after the first dawning realization, not with all of the other issues he had to deal with. Window felt his mind beginning to twist itself into a jumble. The heat of this dining facility almost beckoned him with the temptation to relax and enjoy himself. But he knew that he wouldn't have made it to the "enjoyment" part, because a hint of relaxation would only allow the bottled up emotions and irrationality to pour forth, and this was definitely not the place to have a temper tantrum. Window shook his head, clearing his mind of any radical thoughts like throwing a fit. Who does that, anyway?

"Well, I do not eat much meat anyway," he assured. So caught up in his thoughts, Window hadn't noticed the change in Nalo's voice, otherwise he might have inquired. Scanning around the room, he spotted a menu the next table over. He grabbed it and gave it a quick glance as a man came over to take their order. "An vat voud you like to awdear toodei?" the man inquired in an interesting accent. Window hoped that he had heard him correctly, "Ah, yes, I think I will have this 'rice and tofu' dish." He double checked the back of the menu where there were some definitions about the food that they offered at this establishment. It was in small print at the bottom, and there were some languages he didn't recognize written there as well. Well, considering this is a town 'where everything ends up,' it should be expected to have something like this. Ah, 'rice' was a grain and 'tofu' was a meat substitute, just like he thought he read. "And a little bit of soup, if you could trouble yourself. Whatever soup you are serving for the day is fine." He looked back to Nalo. "Isn't there anything you might want?" But before Nalo answered, Window reached down to pick up a coin he saw on the floor; by the time he got back up, the waiter was walking away. Nalo must have either ordered or declined, Window assumed.

Picking up the thread of the conversation again, Window looked across the table at Nalo, just now processing what the Viera had said. "Oh. Well...er..." He should have realized what a clingy and unlikable figure he must have cut in Nalo's eyes--always asking him questions as if he were a tour guide and making him feel like a fool for not knowing. Window gave a quick bow of the head. "If you could forgive my silly presupposition that you had extensive background experience about Traverse Town. I...I usually don't make ridiculous conclusions like that. I hope that I have not put you in too uncomfortable of a situation for all of your trouble." Dang it all, Window just could not seem to do anything right today. He looked down into his lap, staring at the alien blue trousers he was wearing. His eyes burned slightly. You haven't cried since middle school, a part of his mind chided. How can you not keep a lid on your emotions now? Another voice retorted, "Yeah? Well, when in middle school did you find yourself on another planet, with no explanation for how you got there? When did you feel so alien, so lost, and so lonely? Window squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, missing the sight of the flickering image of his foot. You are better than this, Window! You will find out about everything soon enough! Patience, man. It will fall together. The bout of weakness passed quickly on, and Window opened his eyes to look back up at Nalo while taking a breath. "My world?" he laughed, slightly weakly. It was all Window could do to not think about the subject too much. "Again, there is not much to say about it, and I do not know what aspect of it you would find the most pleasing to listen to. What...aspects about my world would you find pleasing to listen to?" He quickly looked away after saying this, feeling slightly awkward about how the words tumbled from his mouth. He transformed the reaction into something that appeared to be done on purpose, turning his head back to furtively glance at the young man Nalo had gestured to. Ah, yes, it was the young male whom he had caught taking a brief gander at him. The blonde was surrounded by a variety of other companions as well--a set of twins, a red-haired man, a sturdy-looking raven-haired female...there were actually a lot of people who seemed to be dining with the blonde male. He wondered what had brought everyone together. "Hmm...I wonder why this world is filled with such a collection of people...?" Window muttered under his breath. After a second, he wondered if Nalo could hear him with those ears.

[ Enyb ]

{Kweh...[Oh my...]}

[Traverse Town: First District]

Enyb sat there, alone, and finished plucking out those dratted feathers that were messed and bent, before settling and going through his bag of 'finds'.

Another shard, like the one that caused the flames to appear on the roof, except this one was blue instead of red, and cold instead of warm. A spinning piece of metal with some soft woody stuff attatched. A small, ticking object with leather straps that hands three little arms that moved in a circle at different speeds. And a small, shiny thing impliment that left a streak of color behind, and was wrapped is some kinda of fabric-y paper.

And so, with his inventory out, the chocobo decided on something. He needed more stuff.

So, with a ruffle of feathers, and after packing his items back, Enyb stood and wandered off in the direction everyone else seemed to have wandered off to. Apparently, there was food...and anywhere that people gathered was bound to be filled with little treasures.