Kingdom Hearts: The 13th Requiem [PG-13/Not Accepting]

[Kōsuke Ueki]

That's...not good. Seeing extremely powerful magic energy surge through Mateus' hands, Ryan quickly removed his katana from the same wound he inflicted prior. He jumped back a small distance to see what he would do next. He looked as the Entice spell was cast and saw that it was targeted at Viola. He didn't know what that spell would do to her, and he didn't want to find out. Adrenaline took over at that moment. He ran as fast as he could to outrun the spell and save Viola. He knows that she can handle herself just fine, but he reacted in such a way that he didn't want to lose another person he cares about in his life, not without a fight. [i][color=#b22222]No more![/color][/i] thought Ryan. [i][color=#b22222]I'm done just standing by and watching the people I care about die right in front me! It's time I prove myself of being the protector I'm destined to be. Enough. Is. ENOUGH!!![/color][/i] The time to make a stand is now, even if it means taking the blow himself. That was, in fact, his intention, cause to him, the risk of Viola surving such a spell would slim to none. He had outran the spell far enough for him to take the hit. "[color=#b22222]NNNNNNOOOOOOOO!!![/color]" Ryan jumped in front of the spell, and his mind took the full force of it, Ryan hoping to survive.

[Phantom Roxas]

Balthazar was disappointed that Viola was interested in what the Emperor had to say. "Viola, whatever you do, don't listen to him!" Viola wasn't listening. She was desperately screaming to the Emperor for an answer, all the while keeping up her attacks. Balthazar aimed for the Barrier Master, but Viola was at least able to hear the man who said to destroy the Barrier Master. With the barrier gone, Ryan finished off Mateus. However, as Mateus' heart sank up to the sky, Balthazar realized the error of Ryan's actions. "Ryan, you don't know it yet, but you've done may have created something worse than that man.

Shuren watched as the Gargoyle and Wizard's hearts flew up into the sky. He looked at Trevor's Keyblade, and Shuren couldn't hide from himself that he was a little jealous. Balthazar said I might turn to the darkness someday, he thought. Now Trevor has a Keyblade, and I'm just backup. I wonder… Am I jealous? Is that what's going to make me turn bad or whatever that ring thinks I'll do? Shuren shook his head, not wanting to think of the possibility. "Thanks for the save, Trevor." Trevor looked around, trying to find the man who was savagely attacking the Heartless. "Um, did you see where that other guy went?"

Before Trevor could answer, he heard the scream of Mateus. He saw a spell aiming for Viola, and Shuren ran as fast as he could. Ryan was just a little bit faster, not that it did him any favors. The spell struck Ryan, and the spell suddenly began to consume the boy. Balthazar rushed to his side, resting one hand on Ryan's shoulder and holding the other up to his face.

"He tried to control you," Balthazar said to Viola. "I can save Ryan, but believe me when I say that this magic is powerful enough to make me lose my own will. If that happens, you. Must. Kill me." Balthazar could feel the spell flow through him, but not enough to free Ryan. "Viola, please don't be tempted by the things he said." Shuren approached Balthazar, with Trevor behind him. "I've gathered all of you for a reason." Balthazar looked around, but couldn't see a fifth apprentice. "Where's James?"

"He's been at the Arcana Cabana since this whole thing started," Shuren answered.

Balthazar shook his head. "This can't wait. In the basement, at the Arcana Cabana, there is a Star Shard. You must all use it together to travel between the worlds, and stop the Organization."

[hr]
Merlin flew up to Sephiroth's side, high above the Nightmare Palace. "Sephiroth! Why, I thought we were rid of you centuries ago! What brings you here?"

The Zip Slasher look up at the dragon in the sky. It couldn't fly, but there was something it could do. The Zip Slasher teleported to the foyer of the castle, looking at the stone Gargoyles. Waving its hands at them, it gestured to the top of the castle. The Thresholder at the side of the castle submerged itself into the walls of the castle, and the stone Gargoyles all disappeared.

The tip of Nightmare Palace began to open up, creating a round platform. Bars raised among the sides, trapping Merlin and Jenova I inside. On the platform, the Gargoyle Warriors and the Gargoyle Knights materialized, and the Zip Slasher stood in front of all of the Heartless. The wall was filled with three faces, as Shadow Stalkers surrounded the wizard-turned-dragon and the swordsman.

"Of all the people to be stuck with in here, why did it have to be you?"

[Merci]

[i]"I will...tell you later."[/i]

 

Only a moment afterwards, Viola watched as Ryan plunged his katana into the Emperor's chest, a tiny bit of blood splattering out through the other side. Blood. Nobody else apparently cared about the sight of blood, but she did. Ryan had attacked with the full intention of ending this man's life, of murder... Anyway, Mateus was quickly consumed by darkness afterwards, his body disappearing off into who knew where, so it wasn't anything major. Knowing him with his vast knowledge, he probably survived.

 

But while she was processing this, he had fired some sort of Entice spell at her. To her further shock, Ryan had taken the full blast of that spell and began writhing on the ground, as if locked in a mental battle. She couldn't understand why he, who wasn't even particularly close to her, had done that. He could've died- well, he was dying right now.

 

Then Balthazar went over to him and told everyone else something vital; that he could be saved, but they may have to kill their master to prevent him from doing anything bad... he also told her not to be tempted by Mateus's words, and besides, who would trust him after he launched a spell aimed at taking her over? Seriously? Then again, he may be one of those chessmaster types who wanted to get rid of Balthazar as quickly as possible...but that was so unlikely it probably wasn't true.

 

It was a desperate situation, so to say. "Trevor. Shuren. I'll...go check up on James and bring the Star Shard back here," she said, her voice filled with uncertainty. "...If anything happens, well..."

 

Then, without halting to allow anyone else time to ask her, Viola sped up her feet with magic and dashed for the Arcana Cabada. In truth, she just wanted to temporarily get away from it all, and didn't want anyone questioning her about the reason why she erected that wind barrier. She also didn't want to - since she'd read enough stories to know that it was highly likely - witness Balthazar's ultimate death. He had been their trainer and teacher for three months, with a mysterious past that hardly anyone knew about. She didn't want to be the one to end his life.

 

Maybe some of the new arrivals would do it instead. Hopefully, they were on the side of good...

[Dad]

As he settled, the blue wizard approached him.  "I don't believe we've met, and yet you know of me."  Before he could continue the conversation, a rumbling and groaning came from beneath their feet, and bars enclosed Jenova and Merlin inside.

 

"Of all the people to be stuck with in here, why did it have to be you?"

 

Jenova remained quiet for a moment, but a sinister smile crossed his face.  "Stuck?  I digress.  But it appears the Heartless wish us to partake in their event.  Should I become unamused, I will simply eradicate the Heartless where they stand.  Until then, we should press on."  The air pressure tightened around Jenova, and the bars beside Merlin and he creaked and began to bend outwards.  Turning to the bars in surprise, Jenova relieved the air pressure and looked for a way inside the Nightmare Palace.

[The Warden]

With Mateus gone and the barrier down, Haxz was going to need all his tact to deal with these guys, but first, he had to address Omcraxs. He spoke his next words through his teeth. "Next time, ix nay on the orridor kay."

 

III was a tough one, and skillful, but he was completely tactless, especially after a temper tantrum. Now, for the kids and the magic man. Thankfully, Haxz still remembered his hustling days, especially how to be buddy buddy with stupid people. The first thing to do would be to pretend you care about them, thus his first action would be to check up on them.

 

He sauntered over at a reasonable pace with a hand inside his pocket. "You guys did pretty well for yourselves against the Heartless. Are any of you guys hurt?"

 

In honesty, he had zoned out a bit after the Barrier Master was defeated, as he was a bit more concerned with Omcraxs going nuts, and didn't really know what happened after. But, he could tell the grim looks on all their faces. "Umm, am I interupting something?"

[Nexev]

The dark energy coursed within Balthazar, knowledge flooding fill him. Histories of men too vile to ever be redeemed flashed through his mind, as well as the secrets of illusions and mystical force, and one word repeated Empire. Eventually all these eldritch thoughts tie togething into one being of taboo lore. And Mateus walked among the mind of Balthazar. "You as well? First your merry murderer and now the man of the hour himself. You guys seem to be hell bent on preventing me from socializing with people of mutual interests. Did you know preventing interaction with people you don't approve of is a sign of a abusive relationship? Yeah, think about that for a bit while you stew in mental hellscape. It matters not I have plenty of mes hanging around now, once again thank Ryan so I'm sure one of them will be able to simply use the postage system eventually. You know... Ryans a killer at a only 18, Shuren is clearly struggling with jealousy, a easy emotion to turn to darkness, and Violia is more concerned with the dead then with the living. You only gave them power not restraint." Mateus smiled "Do you realize how simple it will be run them to the ground? A telepathy spell here, an illusion spell there and it will be one big royal court of Palamecia."

[Super Chaos Sonic]

Balthazar was disappointed that Viola was interested in what the Emperor had to say. "Viola, whatever you do, don't listen to him!" Viola wasn't listening. She was desperately screaming to the Emperor for an answer, all the while keeping up her attacks. Balthazar aimed for the Barrier Master, but Viola was at least able to hear the man who said to destroy the Barrier Master. With the barrier gone, Ryan finished off Mateus. However, as Mateus' heart sank up to the sky, Balthazar realized the error of Ryan's actions. "Ryan, you don't know it yet, but you've done may have created something worse than that man.

Shuren watched as the Gargoyle and Wizard's hearts flew up into the sky. He looked at Trevor's Keyblade, and Shuren couldn't hide from himself that he was a little jealous. Balthazar said I might turn to the darkness someday, he thought. Now Trevor has a Keyblade, and I'm just backup. I wonder… Am I jealous? Is that what's going to make me turn bad or whatever that ring thinks I'll do? Shuren shook his head, not wanting to think of the possibility. "Thanks for the save, Trevor." Trevor looked around, trying to find the man who was savagely attacking the Heartless. "Um, did you see where that other guy went?"

Before Trevor could answer, he heard the scream of Mateus. He saw a spell aiming for Viola, and Shuren ran as fast as he could. Ryan was just a little bit faster, not that it did him any favors. The spell struck Ryan, and the spell suddenly began to consume the boy. Balthazar rushed to his side, resting one hand on Ryan's shoulder and holding the other up to his face.

"He tried to control you," Balthazar said to Viola. "I can save Ryan, but believe me when I say that this magic is powerful enough to make me lose my own will. If that happens, you. Must. Kill me." Balthazar could feel the spell flow through him, but not enough to free Ryan. "Viola, please don't be tempted by the things he said." Shuren approached Balthazar, with Trevor behind him. "I've gathered all of you for a reason." Balthazar looked around, but couldn't see a fifth apprentice. "Where's James?"

"He's been at the Arcana Cabana since this whole thing started," Shuren answered.

Balthazar shook his head. "This can't wait. In the basement, at the Arcana Cabana, there is a Star Shard. You must all use it together to travel between the worlds, and stop the Organization."

 
"Hehe, those two are finally gone!" Trevor said, until he heard what Balthazar said...and witnessed the events that took place. Obtain the Star Shard...and travel between the worlds to stop the Organization, they're mission from Balthazar. It almost felt like...like this was goodbye. "Balthazar..." he started, but simply just gripped the Keyblade's hilt tighter. Don't...don't say goodbye. You gotta help the others...fight back to the shop and get the shard...Balthazar, the others, hell the worlds are counting on it. he thought, until he looked up and stared at Balthazar, before nodding. "We'll find it...I hope we'll see you again..." Trevor said, before turning to the other Apprentices. "Stay behind me...I'll make a path to the shop...just watch my back!" he said, as he began to run back toward the shop, the rest of the group following close behind.

 

[hr]
Meanwhile, back at Halloween Town, Zack in his Reaper/Combat form was still having a bit of trouble. Not because of the three Creepers, but the fact that apparently a few Heartless joined the fight too. However, he quickly dispatched of them...returning to face the Creepers, the Dusks, and Doxfer.
 
Alright...first thing on the To Kill List...little midgets...then the flexible dude...then the mad horse over there... he thought, as he readied his claws. He first rushed at the Creepers, slashing them one by one...each slash not missing a single beat. Before too long, the three Creepers were gone...leaving only the Dusk and Doxfer.

 

"So...whose next?" Zack hissed.

[Frybread002]

A job far away from you; I work to make sure that those who can’t defend themselves can be defended. There is not a single moment when I think you. I lost track of time and the track of my thoughts; the only thing I can make sure of, is the fact that you were once mine. There is no sky that I can’t see, so there is no chance we can gaze at the same night-sky. For all I know, the great spirit of wind may have taken it so he could fly. I will one day find my way back to the warmth of your arms and feel the comfort of your eyes.

~Your love, The Peaceful Guardian~

 

First it began as a dream that kept on repeating – the moment of his death.

Then it turned into a paradise of grandeur – his acceptance of death.

Thirdly, discontent had been placed in his heart – the darkness was taking over in death.

Finally the perverse of his heart had begun – the darkness finally swallowing him whole in death.

 

Waking up from what he could best describe as a nightmare, Yasu Go found himself on a desert plateau overlooking a gorgeous valley of canyons, his chest was bare and his hair was flowing freely in the wind – if it wasn’t for his breach cloth, Yasu would’ve been fully nude. Walking towards the edge of the plateau, the sun was now setting on the horizon and colors of purple and red could be seen in the sky. He stretched his arms out in open and embraced the scenery – nightfall was coming and it was soon getting chilly for him and began to make shelter for the night.

 

He could not recall anything from his nightmare and any special mention of names held no meaning to him. The roaring flames of his campfire helped warm his body and after looking around the plateau, he found a letter and began reading it.

When he was done reading the letter, Yasu was only puzzled and bewildered by its contents; Is it supposed to matter to me? He thought and only stared at the dusk sky…pondering if he was to know something.

[Mugendramon]

"Ix nay WHAT? You say some weird things sometimes, I swear..."

 

Omcraxs felt a weight being lifted off his shoulders. Turning around slightly, he let out a sigh of relief. No Heartless around, this was a good sign. A bit more loosely now, he noticed his question had actually been left unanswered.

 

"So... what DID just happ..."

 

Number III's mouth was left hanging open. Haxz had walked right next to him with a smug expression, but that wasn't it. That's a goddamn Keyblade! This is one of the wielders! And that means the other two must be among them. A group of six. Two females, two adults. They took out a horde of Heartless, they must have some experience with the Keyblades. We can't be reckle-Is that fucker talking to them. WHAT THE HELL HAXZ. The Nobody let out a sigh, and began walking towards the group like his companion had. I guess this will serve as a little extra, we could know more about the keyblade wielders...

 

Before he noticed, he was standing in front of the pack. Totally out of words, he scratched the back of his head and gave them a modest smirk. "I, um... I'm... sorry you had to see that..."

[Premier Alexander Romanov]

"Esuna."
Lightning placed her now-glowing hand over Balthazar's forehead and concentrated, sending the cleansing magic coursing throughout the sorcerer to hopefully rid him of Mateus' influence. She had been preoccupied with another outbreak of Heartless ever since Mateus had shown up, ripping away at their numbers with a combination of Commando swordplay and Ravager magic, but when things started to hit the fan for her new teammates, she switched back to Medic and rushed to Ryan and Balthazar. She turned to Ryan and also declared softly as her palm started to light up. "Esuna." This casting would also try to remove the negative effects of the Entice spell from Ryan, freeing their minds of the dark emperor.

[a bad post]

The being once known as Lettya awoke, her last memory being of the Heartless, of course she had no idea that’s what they were called, attacking her office building. Devouring her, so shouldn’t she be dead? It became obvious quite quickly to Lettya that she wasn’t, but she no longer was in her office either. If she wasn’t dead or in her office, then were was she? All these question swirled around in her mind, until she realized one more thing… she was naked.

 

“The hell!?” Lettya jumped back, looking around the room for something to cover herself with, her eyes landing on a crumpled piece of black clothing, which she crawled over to using it to cover her vitals. Only then up close did she realize that the black piece of fabric wasn’t just a rag, but a coat. She would have taken the time to put it on had she not been distracted by a silver rapier that not far away from her. Using her long hair and the coat to keep herself covered Lettya scooted over to the sword, and noticed it had a symbol that looked like a cross, with the bottom of it replaced by the up-side-down top half of a heart.

 

“Interesting,” Lettya mused, “Hmm… an elegant weapon for an elegant woman.” Lettya toke the time now, since she was done freaking out, to take in her surroundings and noticed many of the strange symbols were arranged around the room.  It was about time she got some answers, but from who there seemed to be nobody around, and why did she feel so cold? Not physically cold, but you could say emotionally, it was like she couldn’t feel at all.

 

“Ummm… Hello? Is someone there? A little help here.” For the first time in her life Lettya felt helpless, and she hated it. 

[Love of Ghibli]

And thus the show was over. It was quite entertaining. There was love, action, self sacrifice, comedy, heart-break, and even a touch of madness. Nerhyx and the Gentlemen applauded the work of the keyblade wielders because they indeed defeated a strong foe. Well he looked strong anyway. And thanks to the stupidity or the recklessness of youth one of them cause the sorcerer problem to go away. He watched as Balthazar was being attacked by the influence of  darkness and all Nerhyx could do was shrug. Sadly this meant he had no valid reason to seek out Merlin anymore...but wait its seems that some armored combatant was using some other magics to heal the sorcerer. Nerhyx wanted to intervene but why should he there were two other perfectly good (for lack of a better word) Nobodies in the immediate area.

But what are the two stooges doing you ask they are talking to the kids. Nerhyx facepalmed. The amusing theory that those two could meet their end at the fight was now gone and now that a potential threat to the plans of the superior was right there they could easily kill it. But no they would rather entertain themselves with the young novice keybladers. 

[Phantom Roxas]

Balthazar could sense that there was less to drain from Ryan, and he could feel Lightning's spell weaken Mateus' influence on the two of them. Balthazar thought of Veronica, who took an evil inside of her so that she could save Balthazar. Mateus was trying to taunt him with the thoughts of his apprentices. "I will teach Ryan restraint, teach him when to use his power for good. Shuren…" He hesitated. The ring foretold that James could fall to the darkness, but Shuren was trying to prove himself to Balthazar. "He won't let it control him. And Viola is the Prime Merlinean. She is destined to overcome wicked forces like you."

Balthazar could feel the last of Mateus' power leave Ryan. As the Esuna's continued to free Balthazar, he prepared a plasma bolt. "You're in my world, Mateus. Tell me where the Grimhold is." Balthazar launched the bolt at Mateus. "I'm holding back for now. I don't expect you to answer me, but I'll give you one last chance.

[hr]
Doxfer and Jumpsuit watched as Zack tore apart the three Creepers. "Huh, wasn't expecting that. Not that I'm impressed, mind you. Those were just Creepers. Still, you got guts, kid, I'll give you that. Jumpsuit coiled Zack, bending its body until it had completely wrapped around the Skeleton Prince. "Now if you kill Jumpsuit, then I'll be impressed. The Dusk turned to Doxfer, then back at Zack. "I've shown enough embarrassment, Doxfer. A Nobody doesn't need to feel something like that. "Oh, who cares if we're Nobodies? If you think you want to have fun, have fun! Now, hold still…" Doxfer held his lance straight at Zack, with Jumpsuit still holding the boy tight. Doxfer charged forward, his lance pointed at Zack's heart.

[hr]
A lone Samurai Nobody wandered the halls of The Castle That Never Was. It saw two lines crossed before they split apart. It ascended the stairs, trying to remember beyond that, but to no avail. It made its way to a hall. It saw a woman trying to cover herself by holding her hair down a clutching a coat close to her, but turned its head back down to the floor, continuing on its aimless path.

[Nexev]

Mateus shrugged. "Actually given that you absorbed the entirety of a mental transfer spell I don't think your in the position to teach them anything." Mateus sidestepped the plasma bolt and watch it fly away into nothingness. "You can't really kill a thought, well maybe with a lot of alcohol but to remove darkness from you that's counter intuitive. You also seem to assume her status as merlinean would make her uncorruptable but I am not trying to corrupt her not really. Light's not actually that much of a sweet heart. In addition if she was so pure you wouldn't be so hellbent on stopping me from granting her access to my power. Hell if she would not fall to temptation you should HELP ME on this part as it would increase her power." Mateus shrugged. "But as for the grimhold thats easy, one of the mes have it. It has a bunch of magicians in it right, if you have darkness swallow all of it at once should make some really cool compound heartless, which you know would really help me in the whole 'scour the worlds to appease a all powerful unfeeling dragon god'. Confidentially though he's kindof a jerk. Anyway the heartless horde should be about letseee here, usually in the dead of space but you can probbably find the heartless me near Traverse town, always liked that place it's like a whole world built out of my wins."

 

[hr]

 

It was heavy. As Strider came too he couldn't help but notice how hard it was to move. Oh well probbably what happens when your dead...except he didn't feel dead? Could you even feel dead?  Instead he felt sortof stuck, well maybe he's some kind of handsome zombie, that would rock, a handsome zombie who is paralyzed cause his house fell on him before he was eaten by a evil dog thing. That makes as much sense as any. After some of the darkness cleared around his eyes he noticed a slumped man in the corner... is that Cal. Oh dunder me thats bad, he did NOT look like a handsome zombie. "Yo Cal, cal can you give me a lift sortof stuck here, okay no don't help wow  your about as wooden  as your puppets... oh shit you turned into a puppet didn't you, always knew this would happen, dramatic irony all the way bro but your like 'nooo i shall defy expectations and besides howould making puppets transform ME?' well look at your life, look at your choices, here we are, me and gross puppet you. Sitting, forever, what if i have to crap Cal DID YOU THINK OF THAT no cause your a puppet and I am a panicking zombie. Ugh why can't you do some weird hocus pocus and help a bro." Feeling energy surge through his body Strider noticed Cal rising up. "Okay so I'm apperantly a magical handsome zombie, thats cool i can work with this, now pick me up." Cal crawled over to Strider and hoisted him on his back. "H to the earts yes, look at me, a fucking tutrle shell, this is a dream come to goddamn truth. Now we are going to go find something for your face it's creeping me the shit out. turn me around I got to see the sights." The view that surronded him was one of gothic greyscale splendor, it was like costume warhouse ran out of sexy and was trying to overcompensate. "Well that's great we are in the worlds biggestest haunted house, I'm already stuck with you why do we have to deal with halloween as well?"

[ListenToLife]

Well, things certainly got serious quite fast. No sooner had the guy in the cloak left the shop when the other three guys grabbed themselves a weapon from the floating circle of weapons floating in the centre of the shop. James had hesitated to reach out and grab one – it would be useless to a magic wielder like him, and he had already proven that he was terrible in battle, and he would only be more of a hindrance with a weapon like them. In fact, he probably wouldn’t be much use as a keyblade wielder.

 

And this musing just made him even more useless, for as he finished his musing, he realised that the shop was suspiciously empty. He had dazed out once again, and when he actually realised where he was, everyone had rushed outside. He didn’t know why, and he silently berated himself for again being one step behind everyone else. He jumped from the chair he was on and took a few hasty steps towards the door, before stopping as something flashed in the corner of his eyes. He stopped and looked down at his hand. Nothing was different and yet...there was something. Something had changed. A small weight pressed down on his hand and his heart, and he could taste a faint tang of metal in the air. He frowned and lifted his hand up to his face. What had happened? What was that thing he had seen, that thing that avoided his vision and evaded his memory?

 

He sighed and shrugged to himself. What could he do about it? He had hoped for a moment that it could’ve been a keyblade, but that was ridiculous. Why would such a noble and powerful weapon choose such a doubtful, pessimistic and useless person as himself. He shook his head and continued towards the door before his vision was taken up by a man, suddenly appearing before him. James didn’t stop running, his eyes widening as he rushed into the man’s outstretched fist, which hit his abdomen like a brick.

 

“You’re coming with me.” The man said, his voice echoing from above James as the teen collapsed to the floor, seeing only a slight smirk from underneath the hood’s shadow before falling into unconsciousness.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Lexamus had given up on the dark castle. He’d obviously appeared at the wrong time, as when he finally reached the cauldron room, it was cracking down the middle, and it’s power was quickly diminishing. The lord of the castle was being absorbed into its darkness, and a group of would-be heroes at the sides were looking on with shock at the cauldron. Lexamus sighed and decided it was a wasted trip; his main possibly ally was now dead, and the heartless were already swarming. The world would be wasted within but a few days.

 

He shook his head and turned away, stepping into a Corridor of Darkness behind him, standing for a moment in limbo, deciding what he needed to do. A corridor appeared next to him, one not of his summoning, and out from it emerged Bonishxi. The figure was silent, merely raising an arm to create a small corridor next to Lexamus, barely big enough to fit a hand through. It was in the library of the Castle that never was, looking down upon the other Numbers, asides Xelo. They said lots that didn’t interest him, but one thing that did. Keybladers, in New York City.

 

Lexamus grinned and closed the portal himself, giving a brief nod to his subordinate before disappearing, reappearing outside Balthazar’s shop. The shop seemed inaccessible initially, warded by some strong magic, but the infiltration of a Luna Bandit gave Lexamus the opportunity to quickly enter the shop, teleporting in front of a boy, something glinting for a moment in his hand. Lexamus grinned at his own luck.

 

A quick punch to the gut dispatched the boy, and Lexamus reached down to lift the unconscious teen onto his shoulders, turning around to watch a girl of a similar age to James walk into the shop, directly in front of him. Chuckling, with James’ limp form over his shoulder, he merely waved to the girl before vanishing into darkness. 

 

As they vanished, a small, paper dragon fell out of James' pocket, tapping softly on the ground, and landing facing VIola. On the side of its head lay the words 'Happy birthday' in a rough, rushed scrawl.

[Phantom Roxas]

Balthazar was frustrated that his attacks kept doing nothing against the Emperor. "One of the 'you's'? You mean your Heartless or your Nobody, don't you? The reason I won't let Viola be trained by you his because you want her to fall to your temptations. She'll use her power to misuse the dead and do horrible things in your name. Now who is this dragon god you're talking about?" Balthazar kept trying to fight back against Mateus, hoping to purge the Emperor from his body. He thought of his apprentices and Lightning, hoping his words could reach them. His hands roared with fire as he called out loudly, "When you find the Star Shard, think of a place called Traverse Town! This man's Heartless is there, and he has the Grimhold with him!" Balthazar swung the flames at Mateus, hoping to destroy the Emperor no matter how futile it was supposed to be.

[hr]
Xelo arrived to watch the end of the battle with Mateus. As the Emperor's heart when into the sky, he nodded. He had seen enough to consider Mateus as a valuable ally, and opened a Corridor. He found himself standing at the gates of the old mansion at Twilight Town. He saw a figure with purple hair, muttering to himself. "I take it you must be the Nobody of that powerful sorcerer who just succumbed to the darkness. My name is Xelo, and I'm from the Organization. Interested in joining me?"

[Super Chaos Sonic]

Heartless....Heartless....Heartless....

 

That's all Trevor saw as he led the other Apprentices back to the shop. Slashing one way and then another, swinging the Keyblade in a fluid motion as he kept making the path for them. It shouldn't be too much further... he thought, as he kept running. It didn't take them long to return to the shop...but then he saw the hooded figure and a knocked out James. "H-Hey!!! James!" Trevor yelled, but it was too late...the hooded figure left within the darkness. Dang it!! James was taken...I'll find you dude...but first things first. he thought, opening the shop's door.

 

"Quickly! Inside now!! Once inside, everyone in the basement like Balthazar said!!"

 

[hr]

 

"Careful what you wish for..." Zack hissed, as his claws gripped the Jumpsuit's neck, beginning to pry him off him...until...he squeezed him a bit tighter, watching him dissipate. He glared at Doxfer, before showing his claws at him. "Just you and me now..." he said, but right now something else was on his mind. There's only a few minutes left in this form...I got to take him out before it ends its session! Zack thought, preparing to strike.

[Frybread002]

Even before the light of dawn reached the horizons in the east, Yasu awoke from his sleep and propped himself up towards his warm fire; the flames were about to die and the ambers from the charred wood still radiated softly, reflecting the glare from Yasu’s tired eyes. As he was about to stand up and look for wood to feed his dying fire, Yasu stumbled over his own foot and nearly fell over before catching his balance.

 

Looking down at his feet, Yasu noticed his left leg was completely made of metal below the knee and simply stared at it. Not sure what to feel, the only thing Yasu could do was recall a particular dream he had while sleeping…

 

[spoiler=The Failed Avenger]

It was about mid-day in the afternoon – the exact time was unknown and the only thing that could be assured was the sun at its highest point in the sky, not exactly noon, but sometime mid-day…in fact, nobody seemed to care; It was a hot summer day and people were anxiously waiting to get inside the ‘Dome’ to cool off and see the main event, a three-way triple threat match!

 

Located in hollowed remains of a large mountain, the ‘Dome’ was used for special events such as concerts, plays, and whatever else you could think of. In this case, it was once every four years that a great tournament was hosted to celebrate common ground between the warring countries of Yasu’s home world; for once, the countries would fight for sport, glory and fame – instead of territory, money, and political reasons.

 

The contestants were – to everyone’s surprise – Yasu Go, the underdog; S’ai O’naw, the dark horse who could use his psychic powers to control your body; and Axle Fireseed, the dangerous ruffian known to magically bend the earth around him. The rules were simple; you either knock them out of the ring or knock them out cold and in a worst case situation, ‘accidental killing/deaths’ were allowed. For the main event however, weapons were now allowed and the whole ‘accidental killings’ was disbanded.

 

Wasting eight years of his life searching for Axle, Yasu was determined to kill him for the murder of his mother and massacre of his people.

 

When the match started, Axle used his earth-bending abilites took a cheap shot towards S’ai and effectively knocked him out cold, eliminating him from the tournament. This only left Yasu and Axle in the ring; skillfully evading all of his attacks, Yasu had the physical advantage of being fast and small, but when Axle resorted to his heavy grappling style of wrestling, along with his earth-bending powers, Yasu was clearly out-matched and out-sized. In a desperate act of rage, S’ai suddenly re-entered into the match after regaining consciences and unintentionally saved Yasu from Axle’s brutal attacks.

 

As the matched became prolonged, it also continued to become increasingly violent as well. With each passing second, all three individuals came close to death and with time moving forward; it became clear that no one was going to win. Sensing this instability between the fighters, Axle used his powers to raise the entire arena to hopefully crush Yasu and S’ai. Fortunately for Yasu, his agile body was no stranger to heights and the raised arena was more of a home to Yasu, when he had the cajones to leap off the edge, free-fall a hundred or two feet from the ground, and land directly on Axle.

 

With the only goal of killing Axle, Yasu held little regard to his own life when he entered this fight. Having spent years formulating his vengeance right down to very last step; after landing on Axle, the raised arena began to topple on itself and cause a massive cloud of dust to form from the debris of falling rock.

 

The roaring sounds of crashing rocks reminiscently mimicked the force of thunder and caused everyone to panic; both fighters and audience were disorientated when the madness of clashing rocks finally ceased.

 

Lying face down on his stomach, Yasu could barely move as it was and any sign of injury was clear, a concussion from landing on Axle, an entire rib-cage broken or fractured from the falling arena, and a dazed mind. Getting up was hard, lying down was painful, but breathing hurt the most.

 

Looking around him, it appeared that he was trapped under some rubble; To the right, S’ai was on his back, unconscious and barely alive. To his left, no farther than an arm’s reach, a stream of light peered through a little opening that provided an exit, and on the outside was a knife lying on the ground (Yasu carried this into the tournament due to the ‘special’ rules allowed for the main event).  But straight ahead of him, laid Axle Fireseed, completely defenseless and unaware of where he was.

 

Weighing his options extremely carefully, Yasu began to crawl on his belly towards the exit, smelling the clean fresh air that wasn’t tainted by dust. When he made it out, he was greeted by a thunderous roar of applaud. It was clear that the people didn’t care much for a victor, but for an exciting match. However, when the crowd realized that it was Yasu left standing, they couldn’t believe that the underdog was the winner.

 

Taking this chance to catch his breath, Yasu was sure that Axle lay dead…and as for the other guy…he didn’t care much for him. Taking a couple of minutes to struggle to his feet, Yasu soaked in the embrace of the crowd and finally realized that it was all over; his mother was avenged, his massacred village could rest in peace, and most of all he could now start living for himself. Somewhere underneath all of that rubble, his nemesis would be buried for an eternity before his body would be found…His only regret, was that he could not see how he died.

 

Walking away from the destroyed arena, the crowd was cheering Yasu’s name and he reveled in it. The further he got away from the arena, the more he thought about Axle’s death. A few more steps in, Yasu had a bad feeling about everything. Five more yards away than before, he’d sense that something was really wrong. Stopping one foot away from exiting the destroyed arena, Yasu just stood there before he realized that Axle was still alive.

Racing back to the rubble, Yasu picked up the knife from the ground and crawled back onto his belly to finish the job. Much to the crowd’s dismay, Yasu couldn’t rest until he could Axle's dead body!

[/spoiler]

 

Coming back to reality, Yasu simply shrugged the dream off and got back up. Looking up towards the sunrise in the east, Yasu noticed something on the horizon, but it lasted only a moment before disappearing into the sun’s bright gaze.

 

Looking for wood proved to be difficult when there were no trees on the plateau. Discouraged from looking any further, Yasu decided to let the fire die when he noticed the sun was now sitting on the edge of the horizon and brightly covered everything in its warm light. Staring far off into the sun once again, Yasu noticed the same irregularity before it disappeared again. Intent on waiting for it to happen again, some time had passed before he spotted it again. Only this time, the strange occurrence stayed there, as if it were beckoning to him.  Feeling something inside of him, his instincts told him to follow it.

 

With no direct route off the plateau, Yasu decided to go against his better instincts and climb straight down to the ground.

 

As curiosity his only companion, Yasu began his journey eastward towards the sun.

 

[Barian Warlord]

Xemyrom had been obsessed with the research he was going over and i took some time for him to realize that Kreix was talking to him and when he finally did he turned to him and simultaneously logged of the computer.

"Sorry about that I was a little consumed but all the information there, now I had only read about this computer in  few notes but the one in the library told me about this room and the not on the table told me how to log on. This room was designed to hold the seven princesses and can only be accessed using a CoD so only Xehanort's allies would be able to enter, and as for as this computer is concerned it seems to contain all the data on each of his experiments including the design for his heartless engineering device in Radiant Garden and the process used to make something called a replica but the data seems to suggest that they become unstable very quickly and it is unwise to use them but there is so much here that it will take me a while to go though it all."

[Phantom Roxas]

Shuren turned to the two men who had arrived. He recognized one of them as the man who was furiously destroying wave after wave of Heartless. "It's okay, I understand. We were being attacked by Heartless, what other choice did you have? Still, you fought pretty well, so thanks for that." Then the other man stepped closer. "My master is trying to help one of my friends, from some curse that sorcerer cast on him." Shuren sat down next to Ryan and rest his and on his free. "Don't worry, Ryan, I'll save you." Shuren was worried. He didn't want to lose any of his friends in this fight. Balthazar suddenly lost his grip on Ryan and began writhing on the ground, telling them to go somewhere known as Traverse Town to find the Grimhold. "Balthazar, what about you? I'm not going to leave you here!" He looked around, not seeing Viola or Trevor.

Balthazar righted himself up. "Shuren… The ring was wrong. If you want to help me, go, now! I can handle him from here."

Shuren stood up, and tapped Ryan on the shoulder. "Come on, Ryan, let's go. Balthazar, promise us you'll be okay."

Balthazar laughed. "Now that's something… I can answer honestly. Yes."

Shuren nodded. "It's a promise."

[hr]
Kreix tapped his staff, knocking it into his other hand, which he used to tap the staff back again. The sickle swung in the air like a pendulum, and Kreix raised an eyebrow at Xemyrom's response.

"That's a fascinating story. Alas, you forget something important. I have Haxz to search through that sort of information. If you think you're worth a thing because of your researching skills, you are sorely mistaken. We are well aware of the poor record exhibited by the Replicas, and we're taking precautionary measures to prevent such a repeat." Kreix stopped the staff, gripping it tightly. The world around him turned monochrome, and Kreix stretched his free hand, command ice to appear around Xemyrom's feet, then threw out his hands as frost spread across Xemyrom's body. Returning time to normal, the ice began to grow across Xemyrom's body.

"Congratulations, Xemyrom, you have reminded me what boredom feels like. This is your last chance to prove why I need you over the five Nobodies I have at my disposal."

[Mugendramon]

"Well, let's just say I can't quite stand it when someone is attacked by the things. They took one that was precious to me, and so I despise them. But my reactions tend to be a bit... overbearing as you might have seen."

 

Omcraxs slowly turned a curious eye on the Keyblade. "But that kid..." He said, pointing at Trevor; "his weapon is of a very curious design. It's not sharp, but I saw him cleave through Heartless like hot butter with it... just what is it?

 

...

 

MAN, are you even listening to me."

 
[hr]
 
Another day, another sigh. Life was so boring for this young girl. "Little town, it's a quiet village" and shit. Actually it wasn't even a village. She had stumbled across a lonely house in a creek, home of an elderly, lonely woman. A few months had gone by since that day. Widow Tweed and old grumpy Slade had been brought together by her since, and they now lived a happy married life.
 
As she got settled with them however, she started getting bored. And moody. She would sometimes venture out into the woods to meet up cute little Tom and his many little foxes, yeah like 20 of them, then would come back to her foster caretakes in such a vile display of anger that they would both stand away from her as she stormed into her room. She would then emerge ten minutes later with a sorrowful expression, only to recover her usual smile and latter bored look.
 
But even this was getting old. The girl, who upon not remembering her own name had been named Chloé by her caretakers, wondered how long would she have to sit out until something happened. Sometimes she wondered if there even was a something.

[a bad post]

Lettya examined the room she was assessing her surroundings hoping to maybe find some clues to uncover some of the mysteries in her fate after those creatures of Darkness attacked. Lettya was examining  one of the strange markings on the wall when something caught her, a strange silver creature near the exit of the room, seemed to study her for a moment then move on.

 

“Hey! Wait!” Lettya shouted trying to stop the creature, but it moved on anyway, “Damn it! Can’t I catch a break… I bet this is what hell is like.” Lettya quickly slipped the coat on, and ran after the creature rapier still clutched in hand.  Unfortunately in the time she had taken to put the coat on the thing was long gone. With no other ideas Lettya began to wander the castle hoping to maybe find some form of life, someone or something to explain what was going on here.

 

“Hello! Is anybody here?” Lettya continued this call for quite some time wandering  the halls of the castle, still not having found the thing she had previously seen. Eventually Lettya stumbled upon an older man wearing a coat similar to the one she wore.

 

“Hello… Sir? Would you mind explaining to me how I got here, and what the hell is going on, because I have no clue.” Lettya may not have been the nicest person, but she knew when to be tactful when necessary. Older folk like him usually responded badly to younger people like her acting uncouth, plus he seemed to be the only one who could give her answers at the moment, so best to use charm at the moment. 

[Nexev]

Mindtaus sighed. "Balz, this is not the way to form a good lasting relationship, fire is often considered physical violence, this is bullying and it's a terrible example for your students." Mindtaus casted water on himself which doused the fire. Dragging his hand through the air he formed a book out of the thoughts of Balthazar. "Yup going to read your mind now, you already have a lot of my thoughts thanks to the mind transferal spell, and to avoid an abusive relationship we need a equal balance of power." Mindtaus whistled, "Huh so this Veronica girl is why you want that grimhold back I'm guessing? That's sweet. Anyway you can keep control of your body for now, I will just piggy back. Anyway to answer the dragon thing basically some big dragon named Shinryu decided to sow infinite conflict by having armies of dark plauge the lands of light and an army of light plague the land of dark. However each one has to be lead by a traitor and as I'm a heartless I don't qualify, being a being of darkness and not light and all. That's where Violia was supposed to come in, give her a lot of power  and all she has to do is make sure the cycle of darkness and rebirth does not cease, and of course that's her decision but SOMEBODY WON'T LET ME ASK HER CAUSE HE WANTS TO CONTROL PEOPLE'S LIVES." Mindtaus sighed. "Look maybe we can help eachother out, I am sure I can find some way to just rip Morgana out of Veronica and then just use the evil one to make my super heartless, no big deal for me. All you have to do is let me talk to Violia for three hours, whether she will use all of it is up to her, I'm not like you I don't bully people into doing what they want. They just realize what I want is always the best option."

[Love of Ghibli]

Seeing as this story had come to its end and the other nobodies were doing nothing substantive. On the plus side it looked like the armored one's magics did not negate the darkness that was encroaching on the old sorcerer. It was then that Nerhyx started to hear a voice in the distance. He naturally dismissed this as senility at first because there is no one who he knew that would "wonder" around in this castle. Funny though because this voice kept getting louder and closer. Eventually it made its way into the library. While Nerhyx was still watching the fine viewing of the Keybladers and Nobodies he turned his head with his tea still hand and gave witness to a maiden. This was new. He listened to her ask about the her whereabouts and her current circumstances. Initially Nerhyx thought he should kill this woman where she stood but two things the Gentleman and himself noticed. First she had a rapier meaning that there is another fencer. Second if she was genuinely here then she was most likely a Nobody.

 

With those to factors taken into consideration her life should now be up to the superior to decide. He looked away from the stranger lady and then the Gentlemen began to cater to the women like you would expect to be treated at one of the infamous host clubs. Nerhyx proceeded to explain this woman's situation to her. 

"Well, I guess it is easier to start with myself. My name is Nerhyx which comes from my human name Henry. You most likely have a human name as well, but know this. You are not human. Not anymore anyway. You are an entity called a Nobody. We are creatures without hearts. The last moment of your life you were consumed by darkness at some point. This darkness took your heart. What sits across from me is the remains of that event. Do not be offended the simple fact that you exist means that you had a strong will and presence that you forced yourself into existence. In addition to that you have luckily landed in the house of Nobodies. We are lead by the supreme ultimate high nobody lord Kriex. His vision and plan for us however is something best described by him. So until you have the distinct pleasure to meet the Superior and are blessed with his words? I will answer an questions you have. By the way do you want tea?"

[Dad]

Before Jenova and Merlin, mechanical torches began to light a shallow hallway which led to a narrow spiral staircase leading to the lower innards of the Nightmare Palace.  There was only one direction to go, so the swordsman and wizard (who was still in the form of a dragon) would play along.  As they climbed down the gloomy staircase, what little light they had began to fade, as  everything around them grew darker and darker.  Eventually, the area was completely black, until Jenova cast a silent fire magic lighting a controlled air bubble in front of him.   "You can use magic?  I knew you were quite the warrior, but now I'm fascinated.  Fascinated indeed," remarked the wizard.  They reached the bottom of the staircase, and came to yet another gloomy hall, much wider than the first. It was decorated with moss and the interesting smell of stale bread and rotten eggs.  But soon the smell was overpowered by the obnoxious grinding noise of what sounded like a gigantic clock.

 

Jenova did not respond to Merlin, as he was observing the now expanding hallway which slowly transformed into a dark blue and purple circular room.  In it's center there was an enormous glass globe, housing gears of many sizes (from about six feet wide and high to about thirty feet wide and high) which grinded in harmony against each other, causing the circular room to spin.  It was a gigantic room, at least sixty feet deep.  There were no simple joined floors.  Instead, there were platforms made of what looked like limestone; gaps between each platform allowed Jenova and Merlin to see the fall to the bottom of the large room.  Oddly enough, there wasn't enough room to fall through the gaps in the floor, just enough to look below    Leading the way, Jenova would take the first step onto a platform ahead.

 

His footsteps rang out as he stepped onto a platform and began floating in a clockwise motion.  As he did so, each platform began to expand and connect to it's adjacent platform, eventually forming one solid floor.  Merlin followed a few steps behind Jenova, landing several feet apart from him.  Suddenly, a metallic clang and a noticeable click grabbed the duo's attention.  Above them, four solid steel walls began to rapidly fall around them, separating them completely.  When the walls had landed in place, the rotating floor began to slow.  As it came to a stop, it began to lower like an elevator; they fell about one floor, when they heard another metallic clang above them.  A ceiling began to form where their platform had just lowered from, sealing off the previous area.

 

"This is quite the Heartless.  Such a complicated creature," Merlin called aloud.