Welcome to Gaia! ::

Anna took her hand and stood up. "Why not? All the stronger. How knows, you might just find someone to help you out there too. Lot's of worlds, bound to be someone. I can't guarantee how thrilled Hotaru will be..." She cast her eyes down at her sword and it disappeared. Anna summoned a smile and looked back up at Italia. "But we could always use someone else to help. Now if you excuse me, I need to go somewhere for a little while."

((Because you're awesome enough to actually give her an award when I wasn't being serious))

Anna watched her leave and took off her teal cape, her outfit bubbling to her normal jeans and t-shirt. The cape simply disappeared as the sword had just moments ago. She turned and walked away into the dark night. The streets she traveled down became more and more poorly lit, with fewer signs of life on each one. Finally she came someplace where there was only a few dim lights on and only one person could be seen inside. She took a deep breath and entered.

"Anna! It's about time I see you again! I told you that I will only give you plain chocolate cake if you took to long to see me! Remember?" Harold bellowed from behind the table, scolding her jokingly.

"Sorry, Harold. There's been a lot going on lately."

"Oh, yeah? Like with your boyfriend?"

"Don't call him that."

"Oh? And why not?"

"Because it makes us sound like a couple of puppy-love crazed kids." Harold laughed.

"Must really have feelings for him if you don't want to be compared to that!" Anna gave a quick fake smile and thought 'Or that must really be what we are.' "Speaking of your lovebird, where is he?" Anna shook her head.

"I have no idea" she said as she frowned down at his counter top and pretended to starch something off.

"Trouble, eh?"

"I guess you could say that."

"Well don't let it ruin it! You remember when you brought him here? You guys were like kids in a candy shop, I've never seen two people so happy together! Expect for me and the Mrs of course." Anna smiled distantly at the memory.

"Yeah, that was a good night."

"Don't let this 'trouble' stop you form having more. You, of all people deserve it!" Anna shook her head.

"Don't say that," Anna almost pleaded.

"It's true!"

"It's not that simple." Harold looked at her hard but sympathetically.

"How bout I get you some triple chocolate cake, even if you have taken too long to see me. Hm?" he asked smiling kindly at her. Anna mustered a smile for him.

"Maybe in a little bit. Right now I just kind of want to sit." Harold shrugged, wordlessly saying 'Suit yourself'.

((Haha, Chaos! You're not the only one who can do long posts! Even if I did cheat by pressing enter every time a new person talked, still! Even if this post does make me feel awkward, still! Actually, I don't know why that last thing has to do with the length... Maybe it has something to do with failing to prove myself... but then again I'm not trying to do that either... By darn! I'll find someplace it fits in!!))

((haha. Actually, to tell the truth, I really don't care, I was just having fun with Chaos.))

Anna stood outside the little desert diner with Harold as he locked up and then turned to her. "Are you sure, kid?" he asked with a silver of hope in his voice which he knew was useless. Anna nodded.

"Yea, it's time." Harold looked at her and smiled.

"Well, thanks for telling me. It means a lot."

"You're the first person I ever met here, my first friend in this place. It wouldn't seem right if I didn't." Harold placed his hands on her shoulders and looked at her sentimentally.

"Promise me you'll find a path that will make you happy, alright kid? For me?" Anna smiled and shook her head.

"I wish I could, but for now I need to follow the path I know is right, and I'm not sure if they are the same." Harold laugh.

"That's the Anna I know!" he said with a hint of nostalgia and pride in his voice. He took one more good look at her and kissed her forehead. "May you have all the blessings you need and more."

"Don't say that, I don't deserve it, not yet," Anna pleaded, casting her eyes down.

"Yes, you do deserve it, even now." He lifted her chin so their eyes could meet. "I may not know who you were, but I know who you are now, and that person deserves more than she thinks." Anna looked up at him as her eyes thanked him. "Well, this is just a little too much feely stuff for me. Making me miss my wife. So I think I'll just go home and never let her go, if you don't mind." Anna shook her head.

"Of course not, give her my love for me." Harold nodded and waved his hand as he walked away.

"Goodbye, Anna!" he called to her. Anna gave a small, feeble wave.

"Goodbye, Harold," she said quietly as she watched him walk away. With his figure fading away, her thoughts were forced to focus on Merlin and with a sigh she started towards his house, walking slowly, as if to take in the path and never, ever forget it. When she arrived, she found Merlin in the kitchen, putting things on a tray. "Hey. How's Leon? He still out of it?" Merlin looked behind his back at her and then focused on his task at hand again.

"He's recovering as nicely as he can. I don't know if he's awaken yet, I've been in here for awhile, putting this meal together for him, you can go check if you'd like."

"Maybe in a little bit," she responded, walking up to him. "Man, what is this stuff, Merlin? Looks worse than my cooking."

"I'd never thought I would say this, but it just might be. But it will help him heal, so he gets the pleasure to eat it." Anna gave a fake smile as she tried to find the correct words to give him. Deep inside she already knew that those words were simply the truth.

"Merlin, I'm leaving. Tonight." Merlin stopped frozen for a second, then stood straight.

"With Hotaru?" Anna shook her head.

"No, I have no idea when he's leaving. But the people who were here earlier, they were from the Heartless." Merlin shook his head as if to say, 'I knew it.' "They discovered my identity. I would just feel more comfortable if they can't find me here and put everyone through even more craziness than they already have. I'll just meet up with Hotaru whenever he decides to leave."

"Have you told him?"

"No. He's training. I wouldn't want to get in the way." Anna looked down at the counter top, examining it as if she really cared if it was clean or not. "Anyways, I just wanted to say... Goodbye." Merlin looked at her, giving a bitter-sweet smile and Anna left the counter top so she could meet his gaze. In those silent few seconds, everything was said. Anna turned as Merlin continued with his tray. "I'll just go check on Leon now." She entered the room Leon was resting in, staying at the edge and cautiously checking to see if he had awaken yet.

Hotaru merely nodded. "So, while I could use it to screw with someone's head, something that isn't my type of thing, it's all interdependent on how I wish to use the power......guess it's just like a blade then....you can either use it take lives, or protect. Just depends on the person." He shrugged as he poked at the armband. "So, aside from restricting, does it do anything else? Like, say, should a situation arise, when I needed to blast away with more than what I can pull now, could I? Or would it be best to figure out another way to win?" He looked at Phantom. "Also, how do you know just what my family has done to gain more power?" He shook his head. "No, whatever your thoughts on the matter or, I'd rather they stay with you, then let Zero hear about them." He sighed as he scratched the back of his head. "Either way, it's now my burden, doesn't matter what anyone else has to say about it."

Leon remained completely unconscious. His body's severe trauma and blood loss preventing anything from disturbing his much needed rest to heal. However, he occasionally let names slip out in a slightly fevered delirium. Names none have heard, as well as Hotaru's. The times he mentioned Hotaru's name were in fact to curse the power he showed minutes before Leon's overwhelming defeat, as well as comparing Hotaru's power to that of some one he hadn't gotten a name for, the destroyer of Leon's world.

Anna walked up to Leon, looking at him with sympathy. "Poor, Leon," she whispered to herself. She shook her head; the statement wasn't useful in any way. "I don't know how much I can help," she explained to the unconscious body, "but I did heal many of my companions back in the day, and my healing powers have gotten stronger in these four years that I've snooped around Merlin forbidden magic library. Who knows if it will even make a difference, but it can't hurt, right?" She placed one hand on the wound created by his own weapon and the other on his forward. "This might at least let you sleep in peace." Her hands radiated green more vibrantly than ever. She put all she had into it, hoping it would accomplished something. Her face started to pale in a sickly manor and and her breathing shallowed. Finally, after a few minutes, she wasn't able to take anymore, and she pulled away. Her face instantly regained it's color and she breathed deeply once more. She looked down at him one last time before she started to turn to leave.

Anna stopped by the door and turned to look at Leon once more. "Keep everyone safe," she told him. "Keep Merlin from blowing up the town; who knows what expirements he'll try if I'm not there to stop him. Make sure you make a full recovery, and compliment Yuffie on her cooking. Even if it is still horrible, she's had enough critiziam about it. And I promise I'll bring back Hotaru alive so you can scold him. I'm not sure how, but I will." With that she left, without another good bye or second glance. There was no need. She had never given a last glance to the places she left in her life, and this one she would actually come back to. She had to. They were her... well, they were very close to her.

Anna had found it just where she left it. In an abandon building with a cover over it. She gently ran her hand over the cloth. With a last look and a great heave, she pulled it off and revealed her gummy ship. She smiled up at it and enter. Sitting in the poilet chair she muttered "You better still work." Sure enough it did. She smiled widely as she lifted out of the whole in the roof she had made years earlier when she landed the thing. Anna looked down at the city below. "See you later" she whispered almost sentimentally. After that she finallt left, already having her destination in mind.

((Now Anna gets to do self-roleplaying!!! Which is so increadibly awkard and werid! YAY!!!))

Hotaru's answer was merely a deep breath. 'So I just have to let go of everything.......' He exhaled the breath he took moments before and summoned the tiniest amount of power. 'Suppose I should start with my namesake....' A small grin appeared on his lips as he started concentrating. "You'll have to let me know how it goes right now....." He told Phantom, keeping his eyes closed, he focused on creating the form of a firefly.

((Awkward, yes. I know from all the fights I've had between Hotaru and Leon.....why do you think Leon went from being talkative to comatose? It's just less I have to deal with!))

((I notice that now! Except Anna doesn't even have Merlin, Sir or Sarah to interact with; it's just her!))

((Welcome to the short side, Chaos!!))

((Okay, I'm going off the Tarzan movie right now and in the movie there's an ocean with a different land across it, so yeah, that's what I'm doing.))

Anna walked down a dirt road to her destination. She had landed the ship elsewhere, it just didn't seem right that, they would have hated it. A breeze came and tried to tangle Anna's hair. She turned to face it. You couldn't see the ocean from here, in face you'd have to go quite a ways to reach it, but it was close enough that the breeze was salty from it. Anna walked off the dirt road to the soft grass. It was hard to believe from this flat, fertile farm land that just across the sea there was a wild, think jungle with Tarzan flying through the air on a vine with Jane. Anna stopped just short of where the house used to be. It amazed her that after 18 years there could still be ash. In fact, with the once black earth now covered in grass, that was the only way you could tell there was once life there, that and the rock ring of an abandoned campfire. To anyone else it would hard to locate where everything once was, but not for Anna. She saw it as if it was still there. She sat right in front of where the porch once was. Anna could imagine it perfectly, with it's broken steps, creaking wood, and dirty white door that always let in a draft in the winter. She looked up at what other people thought was the sky, but in truth she could see the old, two-story farm house, all beaten up by time. It's shutters with pealing white paint that would never close and always threatened to fall off. And it's once light blue paint had turned gray with time and how she would go on and on about painting them teal. Every single window was cracked and the roof always leaked when rained. But despite all it's flaws, there was a certain magic about it, and Anna was sure the Earth mourned it's lose. "It's been awhile," she said to the the salty breeze. "18 years. Can you believe it? You would all probably gush at how much I've grown. Fussing at how it seemed like just yesterday I was that mischievous little Anna who was always looking for trouble. I'd like to say that I've mellowed out since then, but it a bit more serious than that, and with how things have been going lately, I've been anything but. I think you guys would like how I turned out. I try to be kind, although I can't grantee it, always try to do what's right, and I'm self-reliant it." Anna laughed. "Though I don't ever think that me being self-reliant was ever in question. I've made a decent life for myself, though it's probably all going to be turned around again. I lived in Radiant Gardens. Can you believe that? Me, a little farm girl, living in a place like Radiant Gardens. I remember how you would gush over living in a place like that Angelica. Oh, yes, I remember. I think you guys would have liked it there, but just to visit. I don't think any of you could really ever actually leave this place, no matter how much you dreamed about it. You all loved it too much." She gave a short laugh. "I could see it, all of you married and all living in this same house, managing the farm and raising your families together. I did love this place, but I never got the time to love it quite that much. Close thought, sometimes, close. But I've got a new place like that. When I went to Radiant Gardens I took up a job as an assistant with a man named Merlin. Ancient, queer guy. He was suppose to look after me, but I think I did most of the looking after. Probably would have blown up Radiant Gardens by now if I wasn't there to stop his 'experiments'. He gave me a room and kept me safe and I cooked and cleaned for him." Anna gave a loud laugh. "You're all probably amazed. Me, cooking! Don't get too excited, I'm still just as horrible. Looking back now, I'm surprised you would still have me learn how to cook. Do you remember how you would always say that if I didn't find a cook to marry, then my family better be lucky or else they would all die of either starvation of food poisoning? Even now that's probably still true, though I've only made Merlin sick twice! Maybe a third time... but he survived! I love that place. It's my little farm house to never want to leave, in a way. It's become my home over these four years. Toughest thing I have ever had to do is leave it. But I didn't want it, and the people there I'm lucky enough to call friend, to have to suffer for my decisions." Anna looked down at her fumbling hands as she bite her lip and tried to hole back tears. "I'm- I'm sorry for my decision. I know you guys would have never approved. You'd have rather seen me run off with some worthless scum and ruin my life than make that decision. Everyday I wish I could take it back, to go back in time and choose the other option. They try to tell me to not make regrets but they, they don't-" She shook her head as tears gathered at the side of her eyes. "I've met someone. You're all probably buzzing, right? His name's Hotaru. When I'm with him, it feels like I'm back here, with you guys, before that night ever happened. It feels like I'm laughing with guys once again. But lately... Hotaru is the son of the head of the Heartless. But I swear! He's nothing like them! But he has their power... Normally, I wouldn't care, but when he uses it, it's like he becomes someone else. Things have been rocky for us lately. He want's to kill his family, and I know the end of the Heartless is a good thing, but I don't think he cares how he does it or- or who he hurts on the way. He doesn't understand." Tears began to escape and slowly slide down Anna's cheeks. "I'm a murderer. I've killed so many people, caused so much pain. There isn't a single second I don't wish I could take it back. I love who I've become, and all the people I'm privileged to be friends with, but I would trade it all in a second just to have that one decision back. They would probably say that couldn't live without me, my friends back their, but that's a lie. They would all go about their normal lives if they didn't know me. It wouldn't make any difference. I know that I wouldn't be whole without them, but it doesn't matter. I would rather just be incomplete. All the pain I have caused in the world, it's just not worth. Even if the same amount of pain existed, without my help, just to know that I didn't cause, I would do almost anything. Every single day I have to live with the knowledge of how many lives I've ruined, of much hurt I've caused, and nothing is worth it. That's all I want him to understand. That's nothing is worth the pain and the hurt. Nothing." She shook her head as tears began to flow more freely. "I miss you guys, so very, very much. However said that times heals all wounds is an idiot and a liar. It never gets any better, this pain of not having you here. Actually it just gets worse. But I wouldn't have it any other way because I know that all this hurt and miss is because I still love you guys so much, and I never want that to go away." Anna's tears broke out into a sob. "I'm so, so sorry. I loved you guys so much, I really did. Despite all my teasing, and jokes, and pranks, you guys were everything to me, and yet I made you my first victims. Mommy, daddy, sissy's, brother's," she looked up at the sky, pleadingly, as if asking them to forgive. Her tears became less dense and she tried to wipe them away. "You guys deserved a better little sister. A better daughter."