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[Castle Oblivion : Common Room -> Halls -> Basement Hall]

"The best labs are in the lower levels, although there are many others scattered along various floors," Zekvyr explained as he walked. It wasn't long before he stopped and looked back at the man. He appeared to be another young one, although his hair was graying, and his eyes were an unusual shade of light blue. The drow resisted a sneer as he opened up a dark portal. This one was a scientist, and he was in need of... certain things. He could prove useful, despite how frail and human he was.

Human men were the most disgusting of creatures. They rampaged around with others of their species, and spawned babies as quickly as their sperm permitted. Potency was obviously not a problem with these beings, as there were at least a million in existence, as compared with the more reserved twenty thousand drow. Of course, the drow were probably so low in number because the females routinely murdered their 'husbands' as a random sacrifice to their goddess of chaos, who held such deeds in high respect. Being a male up here meant you were lazy and useless. Being a male down there meant you were a sex tool and as good as dead if any female took special interest in you. Being male all around sucked. Of course being a human whore who promoted such behavior in men up here was hardly ideal. And being a female whore who destroyed everything down there was... well, actually, that didn't sound so bad. But he digressed.

The dark portal was necessary, as the basement labs were too far to walk alone with this person, and he seemed none too trusting. That brought a smile to the drow's lips. Wise human. Gathering from this that the man wouldn't walk through the portal first, Zekvyr took the initiative, and walked through, ending up in another long hallway, much like the one he had just left. He stepped back, waiting for the man to follow.

Window stood transfixed for a minute. It all seemed so...surreal. Was this really happening? To witness the manifestation of the fine line between life and death, of which Nalo was wholeheartedly toeing? Time seemed to split, with one track speeding up as he watched, and yet a second track slowing down in the same instant. With this distortion in time, Nalo's leaps seemed to leave him floating in midair, and yet in the next second a Heartless appeared in front of Window that he was sure hadn't been there a second ago. The Heartless reached out to grab at Window, who stood there, frozen. Just as it was about to make contact, Nalo threw himself between Window and his aggressor. The man jerked out of his state of awe, and time snapped back into its normal flow. Window spun around and put his hand on the doorknob, putting all of his weight against the door.

It was locked.

A sign in the window read, "Be back in five minutes." Window desperately hoped that this had been put up four minutes ago. He turned to Nalo, shouting, "It's locked! I can't get in!" He looked around, trying to find a weapon, a stick, anything--but, unbeknownst to Window, Merlin's magic had cleaned up any extra trash or debris that might have been useful. A slight panic began to set into Window's being, but he pushed it down and tried to clear his mind. There had to be something he could do to help...but what? He clenched his fists, his mind flying through options. He had to be of some use to Nalo; he couldn't let him die. Window didn't see his hands glow ever so lightly in response to this ignition of emotion. Instead, he was focused on thinking of ideas, and the only ones which presented themselves at the moment were really ridiculous--most of which involved using his borrowed breeches to capture the Heartless. Window made a mental note to learn fighting tactics in the future.

The conflict had ended in a calm way, and the boy was glad that it didn't get too intense and that no one got hurt. He sighed with relief, but he knew that their "guard" was definitely going to get a piece of the twins' minds. Unfortunately their moment of rest would be cut very short as walls came up, engulfing the group. No one was around the boy, and his main concern was of his sister's safety. "Tch, what the hell is going on now?" He observed his surroundings for a bit and decided it would be more efficient if he proceeded forward. "Don't worry Suzu, your brother is on his way!" He then proceeded to walk through the maze in hopes of finding his sister.

[∫ 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 :: Second District Cafe -> Maze]

One moment, she had been staring at Mitsudo. Staring enough to throw daggers through his brain... but the next second, she found herself staring at a wall. A very solid wall in fact. Suzu frowned as she reached out to test the solidity of the wall, yup, just as solid as it was a second before.

"I've seemed to found myself in quite a cucumber," she mumbled as she grasped her scythe from her back and swung it around just in case something needed whacking and began walking as it seemed the logical thing to do.

[Harmony's Sanctuary : Zodiac Tower Knights HQ]



After descending a few floors on the elevator and traversing several hallways, Destati finally approached the grey metal door he knew was the portal to his current destination. The only decoration on the otherwise bland door, was a large black symbol painted rather carefully onto its surface - a Fleur de Lys.

Destati recognized the image well enough. It was the favorite symbol of his father, William. He always wore a charm of the same shape on several bracelets, pendants, and other glamorous body decorations. It was "a Paradise City thing", as it had been explained to Destati. He didn't really care; he thought it looked cool, and that was all he knew.

He hesitated only a moment before raising his hand up in a salute, straightening his back, and giving the door a series of knocks to the beat of "Knockin' On Heaven's Door". He only had to wait a few seconds before he could hear the sound of a lock clicking, followed by the door sliding open. Destati stifled a gasp as he stared into the face of Sergeant First Class Zachariah Hazel. The man standing in the doorway was hardly recognizable as the same man who had put Destati through Advanced Training several years ago. He had apparently gone quite a while without bothering with his own appearance.

His shaggy, dark brown hair - even longer than Destati's own jet-black locks - was in a tangled mess. He wore no shirt, leaving the tattoo on his chest - the same black symbol upon the door - clearly visible. He was clothed in a pair of slightly sagging, faded blue jeans. No shoes....no shirt....And judging by his reddened eyes, no sleep.

Cryin' all night...Aw damn, sir, don't look at me. You're gonna get me goin' too. C'mon, Destati, don't look in his eyes...

"At ease, Nevermore" Zachariah said, before turning and walking back into his rather horribly messy room.

"Yes, sir!" Destati replied. He lowered his arm, but remained standing straight as a board. True, other than his own father, no man held Destati's respect like his own Captain, Leo Bluestar. But that was due to all the time he had spent under Leo's command, accompanying him on missions, and the several times the older man had saved Destati's life. But just as Destati was under the command of Captain Bluestar, Leo himself, along with two of the other remaining six Captains, was under the command of SFC Zachariah Hazel. Picking a fight with Leo would be pure frickin' insanity. Picking a fight with Zach would be SUICIDE.

"Well, what were ya, raised in a fxxkin' barn? Come in an' shut the damn door."

Well, at least he still talks the same.

Destati walked into the utterly destroyed quarters of two of the greatest soldiers he had ever known. Well...now it was just one. He couldn't help but notice that, amongst all the trash and clothes and personal belongings thrown about the room in a royal mess, the only two things that seemed intact were the two recliners against the far wall. One was black, and the other a dark green color. They had names sewn into the arms in white thread: "Zach" and "John", respectively.

Zach had entered the small kitchenette area, and was mumbling to himself about broken and dirty dishes. Destati shrugged, and simply stood in the middle of the room, trying not to step on anything, waiting for whatever it is his Commanding Officer had to say.

"Here, have some tea," the man said, obviously not ASKING whether Destati would LIKE some, but ordering him to have it. The young Luna Berserker nodded and accepted the small orange cup.

"Well, you c'n sit down, ya know."

"Where....?" Destati tried to look for a place in which he might be seated.

"You can sit in John's chair."

Destati's eyes went wide, and he almost dropped his cup of tea as he shook his head wildly.

"WHAT?! Sir, no! I couldn't possibly...It's John...I can't..."

Zach suddenly rounded on him, his sad expression turned to a rather irritated one. "Shuddap! Sit yer a** down in the chair an' drink yer goddamn TEA!!!"

"Y-yes sir," Destati replied hastily, his a** quickly finding a resting place in John's chair, lest it be kicked by Hazel.

"Now...I wanted to talk t'you, Nevermore. I got patrolling duty startin' tonight, and it won't be done 'till around noon tomorrow, so I won't be there to see you off. So this may be the last....." He trailed off, shook his head, and took a sip of his sweet tea. Destati had no reservations, and quickly finished the sentence for him.

"This may be the last time you ever see me. I know. I'm fully aware of the risks, Sir. I know I'll most likely die on this mission. Don't worry, I'm fine with it. I'm prepared to do all it takes for the good of our people....for the good of our world. Not like I didn't know I was gonna die eventually. Hell, we only have half our unit left. Everybody else has either gone and left, or..."

"Died. I know. I'm sorry about Zack and Jayne."

"Sorry 'bout John. He was an excellent soldier, Sir."

Zach nodded. "He was the best of us...

Destati, wanting to change the rather touchy subject, cleared his throat and took another gulp of tea. "So where are you patrollin'?"

"The Theatre District. My favorite. The smells and the music always help ease my mind."

"I feel ya. Hey, tell Mrs. Fireblood I said hi, won't ya? And apologize for me not comin' to see her one last time. I just...ain't gonna have enough time to visit everyone."

"What, you want Bella to beat the s**t outta me for not makin' you get off your a** and goin' to see her yourself?" Zach chuckled loudly. Apparently, Destati had succeeded in cheering him up a bit. He laughed along with the older man.

"Naaah, she ain't gonna do s**t to ya. Zacky's mom can be really stern, but she loves us little hoodlums too much to stay mad at us.

"Alright, I'll risk some bruises for ya. Now....I think that's all I wanted. Oh! Here!" Zach tossed his cup across the room nonchalantly, then leaned over a pile of rubbish. After digging through the mess for a moment, he retrieved a small armband. It was a shield made of leather or something similar, with another black Fleur de Lys. He grabbed Destati's right arm and wrapped the leather strap around it, just below the shoulder. He adjusted the strap (a bit too tightly) then stood back and looked at his young soldier.

Although Destati lowered an eyebrow in confusion, Zach nodded his approval. "It suits ya well, Nevermore. John wanted me to do somethin' with this. Well, I can't just sit around n' look at his old s**t all the time. It'll kill me. And I reckoned you should have somethin' to remember him by as well."

"This is the band his mom gave him...that he used to wear all the time...?" It wasn't really a question, but Zach nodded. Destati raised his arm and looked down at the faded brown ornament. On the bottom, clear as day, were the green sewn words: "Live, Do, n' Die". Destati's eyes began to water uncontrollably as the phrase came back into his mind. John had said it all the time. It was like his own personal motto. He remembered the first time he had heard the man say it himself:

"Live, Do, n' Die. No regrets. Only mistakes we learn from and use to better ourselves. Worrying about what might happen is pointless when you have a gun pointed to your head. So you just live. And you do what is needed. And in the end, we all die. No looking back. No regrets. Remember that, Nevermore."

Destati wiped a single tear from his own cheek and managed a smile in Zach's direction. "Thank you, Sir. I'll bear it with honor to the end."

"Yeah, yeah, don't mention it. I'm givin' everybody somethin' I think he might've wanted them to have, seeing as how he was a stubborn a*****e and refused to write a will. Now, I think you've wasted enough time in this buildin', kid. You should be spending time with the people you're gonna have to say goodbye to tomorrow."

Destati saluted once again. "Thank you, Sir. Hopefully we'll see each other again soon. Take care of yourself."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever, that's all great. Now get the hell outta my room, Nevermore." The words may have sounded harsh, but the man was smiling, and Destati knew that SFC Zachariah Hazel was in a much better mood than he had been. He returned Zach's smile, then opened the door and walked out of the room, for the first and possibly the last time.

As absent-minded as he could be about the sort of thing, he had already left the Headquarters and started walking down the street by the time he made the realization:

Oh s**t! I'm still holdin' his teacup!
..............
Ah well, he's got more. I'll get Leo to bring it back to him later. This tea is good. Damn good.

And so, for anyone who was looking, there was the sight of an eighteen-year-old Elemental, walking down the ruined and charred streets of Zodiac City in the golden-black twilight...
...sipping from an orange cup of tea.


___________________________________________

((lol, Cid Highwind quote. I just had to. XD))

Kuropo Guroko

{Judge me not by my size; For I am much more then meets the eyes.}

{Traverse Town : Kuropo's Maze}

Kuropo was everywhere and yet no where at the same time. He was the foundation of the maze; the entire reason for it's existence. From his point of view it was as if he were floating high in the air, above the maze looking down upon it. He could see everyone as they reacted in their own unique ways to the sudden transporting. From the poor Moogle who tried to fly... five times only to fall each time. To the katar wielder who cut into the wall and as he walked. He could tell there was definitely plenty of interesting data to gather from these people.

"Careful now, steady as you go; For you never know if you will run into friend or foe."

He spoke, yet again the voice echoing into the maze from everywhere and yet no where at the same time. He then raised his staff and chuckled lightly as strange orbs came out from his staff and fell below into the maze. Upon landing, using the data he had collected on them when his home was attacked, the orbs transformed into Heartless of different kinds. The great majority of them the basic Shadow and Warrior Heartless. However there were also a number of stronger Heartless as well.

((Alright guys you are now playing the Kuropo Maze game, refer to the PLL Q,S & D Thread for the rules and get ready to roll in the random chance thread.))

[Moggie : Traverse Town : Kuropo's Maze]

Moggie was a little more than a little pissed off when she heard the voice of Kuropo. She could feel her eyebrow twitch, and if anyone saw her, they would see that her fur turned that of a red. The tarutaru and brushed her the wrong way. Whenever they got out of this maze and she ran into him again. She was going to let him have it.

"Stupid freak..." she mumbled to herself as she walked down the path.

As soon as Moggie, mumbled those words, several heartless appeared in front of the moogle. The group consisted of three shadows and three soldiers. An even group of six. Moggie puffed up her fur as she readied for battle, summoning her fire staff.

"Oooh, goodie," the moogle told the heartless, "I was in a bad mood and looking for something to thrash. I guess you will go first before that freak! Let's moosie!"

After her words Moggie unleashed a large fire spell, that was able to damage a couple of the soldiers but not take them down. A couple of the shadows took action and leaped at Moggie. She was able dodge one of them, but not before the second was able to give her a good scratch on her left arm.

The moogle quickly rolled to the side and leaned against one of the walls. She reached out her good hand.

"Sleep!" she cast the spell, putting the two who attacked her to sleep.

Moggie knew her spell wouldn't last long on them. And she still had four more to deal with. She slowly pushed herself off the wall, readying herself to attack.

"Blizzardga!!!" she shouted out freezing the remaining heartless, that were awake. Which she made quick work of by smashing them to pieces with her staff, before turning to the last two which she could feel pulling out of her spell, "Oh no you don't." she warned them before she cast a couple of fireballs on them to blow them to dust.

Moggie let out a deep breath as she fell to her butt, holding her wounded arm. This was annoying. In her rush of leaving the shop she forgot to grab a few potions or something to help her on her way.

"Damn it those stupid Moogles stab me in the a** again..." she growled as her anger returned, dispite the pain. She picked herself off of the ground and walked slowly down the path.