Alrighty peoples, it's the long awaited chapter ten! I now am in the double digits chapter-wise, yes!
Riku: "Eh, I guess it's a decent job. Hey, this is pretty damn long."
Yep, got a pocket PC for Christmas and I've been typing like crazy ever since.
Riku: "Do you mean to tell me you wrote all this on a tiny screen like that!?"
Well, yes. I suppose that is true.
Riku: "Sigh, you have too much free time, don't you?"
That and the fact that there are several hours during the school day that I just spend staring out the window, coming up with this stuff. Add to that the fact that I posted a new Legend of Dragoon fanfic, which had been bugging me for some time, and I start to love my new toy.
Sora: "You know, I still don't get all this stuff…"
Sigh, Sora, I'm gonna have to teach you everything from scratch. Well, in the beginning, or so they say…
Riku: "This will take an eternity!"
Narrator: "Yes, but it is an eternity spent making your life easier. Now you don't have to teach Sora all this stuff."
Riku: "Good point. Hey, where's the pansy?"
Narrator: "Pansy? (Looks around) I don't see anything here that the Author created that isn't tough in its own way."
Riku: "I meant Acronos, he's so mushy by the ending that I can probably kick his ass from here to the moon!"
Acronos: "(Emerges from shadows, places knife to Riku's throat) Care to back up that statement?"
Riku: "Gulp? Help?"
Narrator: "Sorry man, your funeral. Why don't you try not defying all the characters?"
Riku: "Force of habit."
Acronos: "You know what, I think I'll let you slide this once, but if you say anything at the ending…"
Riku: "Right, I'll keep my mouth shut."
Irvine: "How come you get your own missions, Acronos?"
Acronos: "Dunno. Probably the Author trying to get me stronger and stronger, and perhaps to delve into my character more?"
Selphie: "Either that or you're his favorite."
Acronos: "I don't think so. He put his heart and soul into each and every one of us, some more than others, but only extra to create the designs."
Riku: "Well, I'm just wondering when we'll get to the point of this story? It's the tenth chapter and so far the villain hasn't shown himself yet."
Blasphemy: "What about me? I'm just chopped liver or something?"
Riku: "You're the anti-hero, not a villain."
Blasphemy: "That sucks, I wanted to beat you all senseless!"
Narrator: "Actually, I think the Author is planning for you to do that, many times. Just 'cause you're the hero doesn't mean you have to be good and nice."
Blasphemy: "Now that is a quote I like."
Narrator: "That's probably from Devil May Cry. Let's see, next chapter should be… I think either next chapter or the chapter after that Acronos and company will visit that world."
Acronos: "Hey, if my memory serves, I played that video game."
Narrator: "You did. You're still going anyway."
Acronos: "Cool."
Narrator: "Hmm, if my mind reading powers are working, there's going to be an interesting plot twist there."
Acronos: "Like…?"
Narrator: "I don't know, but I think it has to do with romance."
Acronos: "Crap."
Narrator: "Violent romance."
Acronos: "You know what, I think I'll go train."
Narrator: "You do that. Oh, hey, the Author made something new, and this time not to torture us!"
Acane: "And that would be?"
Disclaimer: "Author does not own all legally licensed articles mentioned in the story herein. Author does not own anything but plot and characters… Beep!"
Narrator: "A disclaimer machine! Now none of us has to do it."
Disclaimer: "Author does not own all legally licensed articles mentioned in the story herein. Author does not own anything but plot and characters… Beep!"
Riku: "Yeah, we know."
(I look up) Is that thing malfunctioning again? Here, let me…
Disclaimer: " (Giant cannon comes from mouth)"
Umm, not cool. When'd it get that cannon?
Riku: "Can't you just destroy it?"
I uhh kinda made it so that this thing would continually revive itself.
Riku: "Perfect, just perfect."
Well, it only is supposed to talk when the story begins…
Disclaimer: "Author does not own all legally licensed articles mentioned in the story herein. Author does not own anything but plot and characters… Beep!"
I have a feeling we're going to destroy that very often…
Maioko: "Kaede, we're going to have to set you back down along with Yuki and Yumemaru."
Kaede: "Do so, I've got to search for Samanosuke!"
Yuki: "I hope he's okay…"
Yumemaru: "I'm sure he is, even if we don't find him."
Acane: "Oh yeah, Yumemaru, I'll need your heartless emblem, it will give you too much power to be allowed in your world."
Yumemaru: "Awww…"
Acane: "I'll grant you some magic, the cure spell and a small fire burst, but be careful nobody sees you using it, at least, nobody who'll live for much longer."
Yumemaru: "Okay."
Maioko: "Where's Acronos? I hope he's okay."
Tifa: "Don't worry, he always survives."
Auron: "Well, do you believe he can survive being crushed under an enormous palace?"
Tifa: "I doubt anyone can survive that."
Auron: "Then…"
Tifa: "You're kidding."
Maioko: "Oh no!"
Acane: "Damn it!"
Auron: "It's possible that he managed to run out before it collapsed, though."
Maioko: "Yeah, but then why's he so late?"
Auron: "I said it was a possibility, not that it was certain."
Acronos: "(Appears) Auron, you've gotta stop the pessimism."
Maioko: "Acronos! You idiot, you're late!"
Acronos: "Sorry, the magic mirror in the demon's area sent me to some random place, so I had to find another save point, which took a bit."
Maioko: "You were still late."
Acronos: "Sorry."
Acane: "Alright already, we get the point. Glad to see you. Anyway, I've got a question. How come the heartless were there? There wasn't anyone controlling them, aside from Yumemaru, but he didn't summon them to the world, I hope."
Acronos: "Since most worlds have been sealed, the heartless are desperate to gain another foothold, so they'll go anywhere."
Yumemaru: "So, where will you be dropping us off?"
Acronos: "I suppose that the guard station near where princess Yuki was found the first time should do for the time being."
Yuki: "Yes, I remember, but I'm not sure if they survived."
Acane: "Don't worry, Kaede will be with you, so you can get where you need to."
Kaede: "Right. We'll remember you all, and I hope you come visit under better circumstances."
Auron: "Right." With that, Kaede, Yuki, and Yumemaru left to go their own ways.
Acronos: "Okay, so now where to?"
Acane: "Hmm, lets check the star chart."
Acronos: "I got it. (Summons the chart from his computer) Hmm, it seems that a world was recently unsealed. Strange thing is that it was sealed right before-hand."
Maioko: "Where to?"
Acronos: "Doesn't really say what planet this is."
Acane: "Hey, where are the notes I copied onto my chart?"
Acronos: "What notes?"
Acane: "Hold on. (She gets the chart) These notes!"
Acronos: "Umm, Acane? Those are scribbles that even my computer couldn't translate."
Acane: "Good, my code works then. It says that the world you mentioned is known as Final Fantasy 7 to you."
Acronos: "Yeah! That's your world, Tifa!"
Tifa: "Really? Uhh, (pictures of everything that's happened) can I sit this one out?"
Acronos: "You sure?"
Tifa: "Yeah, Uhh, personal reasons."
Acronos:"I won't press you."
Auron: "I'd like to mention that we currently are all quite a bit tired, and most of us are low on mp, so why don't we go back to Traverse Town for a rest? We also need to regroup."
Acronos: "Not a bad idea, I'll drop you guys there and head back for everyone."
Maioko: "Sure. Just don't be late again."
Acronos: "Hey! Heh, I didn't specify a time, so I can't be late."
Maioko: "Nice idea." A few minutes in interspace got them to Traverse Town, and even though fatigued, Acronos hit nothing. After dropping everybody off, he left and set the ship for Destiny Islands. The events of his journey started to catch up with him. Since he hadn't rested, even after surviving the Dark Realm, tiredness was catching up with him. Luckily, he only needed to warp directly there, so piloting was unnecessary and he couldn't mess up even if he fell asleep. Then it hit him that he hadn't sealed Onimusha! Cursing his idiocy and the impending doom that caused his rush, he stopped the ship mid-warp, turned, and sped off for Onimusha again. Upon reaching the world, he checked if he could warp to the Magic Mirror inside the Demon's palace, and it turned out that he could. He did so and found himself surrounded by rubble, but the place was no longer falling apart. With a few swears, he began blasting his way through, but it didn't take too long. Finally he reached the place where Samanosuke had last been seen. Nobody was there, no one crushed beneath rubble, there was blood on the walls, but that could've been from earlier. With a smirk he turned to the place Fontibras had come through, and saw a keyhole shining. Pointing his keyblade to it, a beam of blue energy and magic shot out and sealed it, protecting the world. Again pointing at it, Acronos unsealed the barrier so he could leave. Tiredness hit him suddenly and his world spun for a moment, but Acronos managed to stay standing. He walked the path he'd created, and returned to the Magic Mirror. He teleported to the gummi ship, and began to set the coordinates. Unfortunately, his eyes were nearly shut and he imputed coordinates far off from where he needed. The ship obediently began the warping process, and Acronos decided to take the advantage and maybe rest his eyes for a bit. He awoke to a violent shaking of the ship and a blaring alarm. Upon inquiry, his computer told him he'd been asleep and a passing meteor had hit. It also mentioned that the stabilizers were damaged and that they were about to crash. The calmness in its voice was quite funny in comparison to Acronos' reaction, which mainly involved yelling. The computer, analyzing the situation, simply plugged itself in and stopped the ship by transferring power to the spare stabilizer. Acronos kept yelling until he realized that the ship had stopped. With a sigh of gratitude, he got the ship into orbit and made a few basic repairs, enough for the ship to fix the rest on its own. The computer gave an hour of estimated time and told him to examine the world. He landed at the nearest save point and followed orders. He appeared to be in a dark room, vaguely mechanical in nature. The save point he was standing in was a beam of blue light that had a light-blue orb in the center. After a moment, a group of seven individuals arrived on the scene, along with an eighth from another direction. Acronos waved and introduced himself. The people gave their names as Dart, Albert, Kongol, Miranda, Rose, Meru, Haschel, and the last being Lavitz. A little banter in between Dart and Lavitz revealed that Lavitz was apparently dead. After a little more talk, he changed from being in mostly knight armor with green pants and spiked, short, blonde hair, to not having a shirt, and having some sort of parasite taking up most of the space on his back. He also had a spear with a red point. He seemed to be controlled, but managed to run away. Acronos ventured to ask what the hell was going on.
Dart: "That was Lavitz, he was killed by a man named Lloyd, and we were mostly there at the time. Currently we're in Death city Mayfil, which should've been destroyed in the Dragon Campaign. We're all the Dragoons of legend. Right now we're trying to stop Zeig, who was the first Red-eye Dragoon, from destroying the Signet Sphere that keeps the Moon that Never Sets in the sky."
Acronos: "Come again? If you're dragon knights, then what nation do you belong to, what's the Dragon Campaign, and why would a moon fall, or never set?"
Dart: "Where are you from? Dragoons, we're capable of using the spirits of dragons to transform into stronger beings, capable of magic even. We don't belong to any nation in particular. The Moon that Never Sets is the flesh of the god of destruction, and I don't know why it would fall, but it will if there are no Signets."
Rose: "Look, why don't you just leave here, this isn't a place for a kid."
Acronos: "Dammit, why do people keep calling me kid?! I'm fifteen!"
Meru: "So am I, but I'm still treated like a kid, even though I'm a Dragoon."
Acronos: "Sigh, whatever, I'm just here to look around until my ship gets fixed."
Kongol: "Ship? No water nearby."
Acronos: "Water? Uhh, I meant the ship I use to travel interspace. Oh boy, Maioko's gonna kill me for being this late!"
Albert: "Interspace, what's that?"
Acronos: "Long story short- there are different worlds and interspace lies between them."
Albert: "Different worlds…"
Miranda: "C'mon, Zieg will destroy the Signet and who knows what if we don't hurry."
Acronos: "Okay, I'll go with you, I'm a good fighter."
Rose: "You're too young, and you don't have a dragoon spirit."
Acronos: "I bet I could beat you."
Rose: "Really? Prove it." In a flash of dark blue light, she was covered in black armor. The armor had a chest plate with a ruby in the middle, square shoulder guards, arm-pieces, metal boots, leg guards that ended at the knees, and where the chest plate ended, there were metal pieces that covered the upper legs in the back and sides in separate pieces, but the front was open. The most important things on the armor were the two wings coming from the shoulders and pointing out from the back, they seemed to be crystalline feathers, seemingly of draconic origin. The other thing was the rapier, long, thin, and very deadly looking. Acronos backed up, now a little wary.
Rose: "This is the power of Dragoons, are you scared?"
Acronos: "Cautious, yes. Scared, no." He charged, but Rose just flew over him. He kept moving, unlike Rose expected, jumped onto a wall and jumped towards her. At the speed he was going, and at the height, it would be impossible to fly over the attack, but Rose moved to the side. He just bounced off again, but instead of just charging, he launched a fire burst to keep her occupied. For some reason, Rose's eyes widened and she was hit with the attack. Acronos was a bit confused, but hit her with his slash anyway, knocking her to the ground. He landed, and began to attack madly before she could rise from the ground. Rose tried valiantly to block and counter, but she was at too much of a disadvantage. Finally he gave one heavy thwack and placed the blade calmly to her throat.
Acronos: "The power of Dragons? Perhaps, but against a good strategy it fails."
Rose: "I suppose, but you do know I can get out of this situation, right?"
Acronos: "You could try flying up, but my blade's too close. You could try to attack my stomach, but your arms are too far away, and I'd notice, block, and slit your throat. Any more bright ideas?"
Rose: "… Fine, you are quite strong, I wouldn't mind if you fought with us, but that's up to Dart."
Dart: "(Smirking) Fine by me. If you can beat Rose, then you must be good."
Albert: "Hurry, I do not know how much longer we have!"
Dart: "Right."
Rose: "A quick question, are you a wingly?"
Acronos: "A what?"
Meru: "You can use magic, and have wings, like these, see? (Blue energy wings some out of her back)"
Acronos: "I can use magic, but I have no wings."
Rose: "I have no time to learn how you can use magic, lets go." They ran into the next room. Lavitz was there, and chatted with Dart, before he transformed back into the form with the parasite. His eyes were blank, but he settled into attacking stance as if it hurt to do so. Acronos ran in and began the duel. Lavitz was able to keep up with him, even at close range. When Acronos did manage to hit him, Dart yelled out, but Acronos sensed that it didn't do anything.
Acronos: "Dammit! I suppose being dead makes you immune to being killed. " He jumped back. Dart yelled out to his comrade, bent on trying to make him go back to normal. Lavitz straightened, and then turned around, muttering in confusion. Acronos smirked when he saw the parasite, and began attacking that. Dart and Albert tried to restrain him, but he dodged them and yelled that the parasite was probably controlling him. After a good session of slashing, Lavitz turned around to attack again. Dart again talked to him, and this time, they managed to aggravate Lavitz' possessor. He took control, revealing himself as Zackwell. He was a demon, and looked like a human with black wings and a scythe.
Dart: "We will make you pay for what you did to Lavitz!"
Zackwell: "Ah, but I only did him a favor. He was so worried about you that he wanted to return to life. I thought that a bit presumptuous, but let him have his life, at a price."
Acronos: "Damnable spawn of hell!"
Zackwell: "Actually, I'm a demon, not a hell spawn."
Acronos: "Whatever you are, you still die! I may not have known the guy, but you do not mess with the dead!" Acronos held true to his threat, he distracted Zackwell by attacking directly, while the others transformed and attacked. Finally Zackwell retreated into Lavitz once more. Everyone returned to normal, but Lavitz charged at Dart. Instead of blocking, Dart threw down his sword and yelled out Lavitz' name. Before coming close to Dart, Lavitz stopped, shook his head, and finally gained control. To rid himself of the parasite, he stabbed through his chest, impaling the parasite and killing it.
Lavitz: "Dart, thank you."
Dart: "Lavitz…"
Lavitz: "I know what you must do, and I shall help you. (His arm seems to crack and chip, like a statue) Keyblade master, I learned a few things from those who'd died, so you should know that this world is unsealed. Go with Dart, and that should lead you to the keyhole. Now, I will send you to the signet sphere, with my last breath!" His energy turned him into a beam of golden light, and his form disappeared from within it. Acronos closed his eyes and bowed, his way of showing respect. Dart gave a sad smile. They went into the beam and were thrown upwards. They landed on a platform, which led them to the Signet.
Dart: "Good, we got here before Zieg."
Acronos: "If we have some time, can you fill me in on what's been going on?"
Voice: "You won't need to know that, for soon this world shall cease to be. The plan of Soa will be fulfilled."
Dart: "Zieg, show yourself!" He did, as a guy in red armor, with blonde hair. Acronos looked from him to Dart and back. The resemblance was quite striking, both wore red armor, Dart having a chest plate with one arm covered, red knee-pads, a red headband, and brown pants and boots otherwise, with Zieg wearing full armor.
Acronos took a moment to study the rest of the warriors, Kongol was a giant with fur for a lower covering, metal boots, straps forming an X on his chest and green half-orbs (a sphere cut in two) on his shoulders. Meru wore very little, a sash on her chest, a bow on the rear, and a bow in her hair, and that was about it, she wore blue mostly, with platinum hair and red eyes. Albert bore himself with a regal bearing and wore mostly green, green pants and shirt, metal chest covering, and a green cape. Haschel wore purple pants and a vest, and he looked old on his face, but young physically. Miranda wore white, a white shirt and pants, with an archer's glove and a quiver. Rose wore dark blue, a dress of sorts that was basically a shirt reaching about mid-thigh, made of leather, with gold linings, and legging of different sizes, with a choker and a black headband that looked like she had elf-like ears.
Zieg: "Dart, how fitting to see you here."
Dart: "We won't let you get the Signet sphere!"
Zieg: "We shouldn't fight, not when there's about to be a birth." Dart charged him, but Zieg threw him to the floor. He raised his hand, holding a gem. Acronos could feel the magic flowing around him, so he jumped in and smacked him upside the head. Zieg reeled for a moment, and Acronos pressed the attack, but was thrown into a wall.
Zieg: "Watch yourself, boy."
Acronos: "Rot in hell, wretch!" Acronos was aiming to tick him off, and it worked. Zieg turned to him and floated over, rage easily visible on his features. Kongol walked over to him and put him in a headlock. Haschel slowly walked over and hit a pressure point that knocked him out. Acronos pulled himself free.
Acronos: "Thanks, I thought he'd impale me."
Kongol: "He no threat anymore. What we do with him?"
Dart: "Ugh, lets just tie him up or something. Better yet, lets take him out of here and to the winglies to restrain him."
Zieg: "Not likely, fools." Everyone was shocked, especially Haschel. Zieg threw Kongol, and then broke the sphere. He then teleported away while he could. Acronos shook it off, and asked how many more there were.
Rose: "None…" The ground promptly began shaking. Everyone ran out the nearest exit, but it was a dead end, a very dead end.
Acronos: "Crap." Just then, a freaky manta-ray-like creature glided towards them. It was large enough for them all to stand atop it.
Dart: "(Thankfully) The wings of Savan! Thank goodness you're here. Okay everyone, next stop: the moon!" They all jumped on the creature, and it took off.
Acronos: "(Yelling over the wind) How the hell is the moon gonna fall and not blow up!?"
Rose: "I don't know!" They got their answer. From the moon, a bright yellow light flew out and circled it, then landed first, and revealed itself as a supremely enormous tree that had apparently grown from several places with one center trunk.
Acronos: "What's that?!"
Rose: "The Divine Tree! Don't ask much more, we have to rush!" A moon flew down, and crashed in the middle of the tree, breaking off the connections between the trunks. Some tendrils came from the center and wrapped around the moon.
Dart: "Coolon! (That's the creature's name) We've gotta go faster!"
Coolon: "I can do that." From its wings, energy poured out and they moved at a terrific speed. From the moon, craters opened like flesh, and strange, disturbing, large creatures came out, they looked like giant humans, except that they had several bulbous green eyes, a giant, triangular chest, and really thin connections between its appendages and its body. Thousands of these things poured out and grew wings, turning into jets.
Acronos: "I'm guessing they're bad!?"
Meru: "Those are virage! They're nasty, and powerful!"
Acronos: "Okay, I'll take care of a few of them!" He charged his magic and unleashed a flare spell from that distance, which blew away a few of the virage. They flew towards them. Acronos charged energy and magic and began to fire as best as he could at them. The virage began shooting beams of light from their eyes, which Coolon made its best efforts to dodge. Acronos realized that there were just too many of them, so he cast several barriers on Coolon. It kept dodging, but the few beams that hit were deflected. They reached the Divine Tree.
Acronos: "Coolon, get the hell out of here! We'll be fine."
Coolon: "I will see you all." They began progressing up through the Tree, fighting the occasional monster. Finally they encountered a caterpillar-thing. After a beating, the thing cocooned itself. Everyone took the opportunity to heal. Acronos then asked if they even had to continue fighting.
Rose: "Do you really want to let it live?"
Acronos: "You said yourself that it was a miracle for it to exist."
Rose: "I suppose."
Acronos: "Lets just leave it to its devices." Unfortunately, the attacker in question didn't accept his wishes, since it emerged as a fairy thing. Acronos shrugged and everyone continued the battle. They emerged victorious and headed to the moon. Once inside, it seemed just plain freaky, with a heartbeat and everything. Then everything got white and everyone reappeared, apparently on the ground.
Dart: "What the? What just happened? Are we on the ground?"
Acronos: "I don't think so, I can still hear that heartbeat."
Miranda: "Hey, these are the forests near my home! Dart, guys, I need to take care of something personal." She ran off.
Acronos: "Huh?" When they reached her, she had a few scratches and looked like she'd been crying for a second.
Miranda: "It's nothing, lets go." This was her response to any questions asked. Next they arrived at an inn, and went through a wall to a village of tiny people Rose called Minitos. One said that they were currently within the psyche, and that it changed. After some consideration, Acronos figured that they were being tested by their pasts here. This one was Haschel's test, where he fought his daughter Claire. Upon learning a bit, Acronos suggested that perhaps Haschel was Dart's grandfather. Albert said that couldn't be so, since they didn't look alike. Acronos pointed out a few details, and upon hearing that Zieg was Dart's father, he concluded that Dart looked like his father and not like his mother. This concluded they all went on to their tests. After Meru's test, they were transported apparently to Earth.
Acronos: "Hmm… Yeah, the heartbeat's still there, guys, this is my test, stay here until I come back, okay?" He walked until he reached his home.
Acronos: "Is this, my home? " His friends stepped out from the shadows.
Maioko: "You're late again, Acronos."
Acane: "You idiot, you never do anything right."
Auron: "You couldn't even get your friends from Destiny Islands to Traverse Town. You are completely pathetic."
Tifa: "You idiot."
Acronos: "(Looking down, depressed) I'm truly sorry."
Maioko: "Sorry isn't good enough! And to top that, you went and replaced us the moment you got to this world!"
Acronos: "I didn't replace you! I'm just traveling with a few people who happen to be on the same route as me."
Acane: "Then why don't you ditch them and come with us?"
Tifa: "Yes, we know where the keyhole is, it's at the core of this moon." A loud heartbeat echoes.
Acronos: "Okay, let me just tell Dart and the others, it wouldn't be fair to leave them hanging."
Maioko: "Who cares about those idiots, lets just go, just the two of us."
Auron: "(smirks) Yeah, you two lovers should be alone." Everybody but Maioko disappears.
Maioko: "C'mon Acronos, just you and me, alone at last, nobody to bother us. (She says this somewhat seductively)"
Acronos: "Maioko, is there something wrong?"
Maioko: "What do you mean?"
Acronos: "You don't usually act like this."
Maioko: "… And how would you know?"
Acronos: "I don't know how, but you just seem different. I don't know, I usually feel a bit of a connection to you, but now…"
Maioko: "Does this mean we're no longer friends?"
Acronos: "No, just… I think I'm supposed to be tested in this moon, and…"
Maioko: "So that means that just because of some stupid suspicion, you'd give up the friendship we have!"
Acronos: "No, that's not what I mean!"
Maioko: "Fine, if that's how you want to be, then we're no longer friends, but now we're enemies! Die!" She attacks, nearly cutting his stomach open.
Acronos: "Whoa! (Panicked) Maioko, I don't want to fight you!"
Maioko: "Too bad, you picked your fight, and now you must fight it! (Her eyes flash red)"
Acronos: "No! I don't want to hurt you! I couldn't!"
Maioko: "Then that makes this far easier!"
Acronos: "Ahh!" Closing his eyes, he guards her attack, but the edge scratches her hand. She jumps back hissing.
Acronos: "Huh? But I checked, and the paopu fruit gave her a permanent barrier against any physical harm I could cause her. I can't feel that link that's usually there. This isn't her! You're not Maioko."
Maioko: "Huh? Are you kidding? Now you've gone crazy too, even easier."
Acronos: "Please, I do not wish to harm you, even if you are not her in reality, I could not harm Maioko willingly."
Maioko: "Then die!" The illusion doesn't have Maioko's skills, so it left itself open to attack, which Acronos exploited. With his eyes closed in mourning of his attack, he cuts a deep gash in her stomach, a mortal wound. It falls to the ground. Acronos immediately runs over and turns her over, holding her up.
Maioko: "Your test was past."
Acronos: "What are you, exactly?"
Maioko: "A memory, altered by the moon's magic to be real."
Acronos: "I still didn't like having to attack Maioko, why'd you make me do it?"
Maioko: "Unfortunately for you, your duty as keyblade master, your ranks, they come before what you feel."
Acronos: "First off: are you implying something? Second: I won't accept that!"
Maioko: "I imply only what you believe. Thank you for what you said. You have proven yourself."
Acronos: "How?"
Maioko: "You have the strength to face your fears and your feelings, yet you can still believe in something. You are the keyblade master."
Acronos: "Could you do me a favor?"
Maioko: "Depends. Hmm, I can see it on your face, don't worry, I'll make sure Maioko understands who you are, and what you do."
Acronos: "Thank you."
Maioko: "Good luck." With that, the scenery disappeared and the path to the virage embryo was opened.
Dart: "What happened?"
Acronos: "You know, we should get some supplies at the inn, facing Zieg won't be easy."
Dart: "Good idea."
Rose: "So what did happen?"
Acronos: "Do you think we'll need any mind purifiers? I doubt that Zieg has many status inducing attacks, but still…"
Rose: "Perhaps three should do."
Acronos: "I'll get them."
Rose: "But you still didn't answer my question."
Albert: "I don't think he wants us to know, it's his trouble."
Rose: "Good point, lets move on." They went deeper into the moon until they reached another virage, except that this one seemed really different.
Rose: "Super virage."
Dart: "Stronger by far than a regular one, and this one won't kill itself."
Acronos: "One of them did?"
Dart: "Long story."
Acronos: "Attack!" Everybody attacked the thing, but it seemed to not want to die, because it stubbornly held on to life even though everyone was attacking like crazy. The thing was, that nobody went into Dragoon state because they felt it might be needed for the fight with Zieg. Finally Acronos got a bit ticked and began blasting it with magic and energy. Upon inquiry, he answered that he doubted Zieg would stand still long enough for the magic attacks. Finally it died.
Dart: "Could that thing have been Shana?"
Acronos: "Who?"
Rose: "The moon child, that's a long story, and also the woman Dart cares deeply about."
Albert: "I doubt it."
Dart: "What if it had been!"
Acronos: "Calm down. First off, that was not female in any way, shape, or form. Secondly, I really doubt Zieg would give up his hostage so easily."
Dart: "Yeah, I'm sorry, I'm just a bit tense since I don't want anything to happen to her. You know what I mean?"
Acronos: "I think so." They moved on until they met Zieg. After some laughing, and his stealing Dart's spirit, the battle began. Dart was the first to attack, but he did no damage, and Zieg countered with a magic spell, Final Burst, which did no damage since Dart's current armor absorbed fire magic. Acronos laughed, and charged in, doing some damage of his own. Finally, Zieg was a bit worn down and closed his eyes for a second, and the area charged to red with trails of magic. Dart warned of the upcoming attack as his most powerful one. Instead of Zieg manipulating the element of fire as usual, he summoned the dragon of which his spirit was named. Acronos gulped, and when it hit, most were thrown back, damaged pretty badly. Dart had shielded himself, and then charged. He and his father dueled excellently, since Zieg didn't dodge, and focused more on attacking. But finally Dart hit Zieg with the attack combo that he'd been working on for some time.
Dart: "Blazing Dynamo!" Zieg flew back and then both gave a final charge, which connected with the others' blade. Zieg looked up and behind him, smirking. Within a blue orb was a girl, who Acronos figured was Shana. Zieg's eyes glowed green and he stated calmly that he no longer needed this flesh. From Zieg emerged a spirit. This was the spirit of the wingly dictator Melbu Frahma, at least, according to Rose. After gloating for a moment, he booted Shana from the core of the virage embryo, and merged with it himself. The result was a human attached to a swirling mass of red-yellow energy, with several tentacles. Everyone was a bit apprehensive. That is, until Blasphemy calmly strode in.
Acronos: "Huh? Blasphemy! Why the hell are you here?"
Blasphemy: "I should ask you the same. Aren't you supposed to be getting your friends in Destiny Islands?"
Acronos: "A) How'd you know that? B) I sorta fell asleep and imputed the wrong coordinates."
Blasphemy: "HAH! That's so like you! As to your first question, just know that we have our ways. Oh yeah, and I suppose I'm here to help you."
Acronos: "WHAT!?"
Blasphemy: "The heartless shall destroy this world, not some freak who claims to be the god of destruction!"
Acronos: "Well, to each their own, I guess we'll have a temporary truce until he's dead."
Blasphemy: "Actually, here's a better idea, I kill him, and you sit still and watch a pro at work."
Acronos: "Pro? I do believe I remember kicking your ass previously."
Blasphemy: "If you think I'm the same as then, you're sadly mistaken."
Melbu Frahma: "No matter how good you are, you still cannot face the power of a god."
Voice: "A god? Don't make me laugh."
Dart: "Lloyd!"
Blasphemy: "It seems I'm not the only villain around with the idea of a temporary truce."
Dart: "We thought you were dead."
Lloyd: "I can't die, not with the wrong god still around!" With that he flew, (He's a wingly, all winglies have white hair and red eyes), into action, along with Blasphemy. Lloyd took out his sword, a dragon skull with a handle that emitted an energy blade of yellow fire, and shook out his armor, (Full metal armor, a bit large around the shoulders, with places to cover his wings, and rubies in various places). He slashed Melbu in a zigzag pattern, so fast that he couldn't react. Blasphemy did a spinning combo with his scythe, and then switched to his katana. Melbu then lashed out with his tentacles at Lloyd, but he dodged so fast it seemed like he disappeared. Blasphemy just cut anything that came at him.
Lloyd: "You forgot our supernatural spirit and pursued your own ambitions! Unforgivable! Destroy yourself and preserve my vision!" He charged his magic and energy, creating a blue ball around him. He then started shooting purple blasts in rapid succession, damaging Melbu and his tentacles. Finally, he flew out of the sphere, made it larger, and fired it, doing damage to all parts of Melbu, once again. Melbu then fired a laser directly at Lloyd's heart. Just before it hit, Blasphemy jumped in the way and it reflected off his katana. He landed and pushed off into a powerful slash.
Lloyd: "Why did you save me?"
Blasphemy: "You're similar to me, we're both villains who want a truce to further our goals."
Lloyd: "Hmm. Dart, catch." He gave Dart a spirit that reacted in his hand.
Dart: "The Divine Dragoon Spirit?"
Lloyd: "Now it seems that taking that trophy was a good idea." By this time, everyone had regrouped a little farther back. After a moment to heal all wounds and such, Dart took a moment to talk with everyone.
Dart: "So, are you ready to face a god?"
Acronos: "Him? If he's a god, then there really is no chance of there being fate, since such power can't be controlled by weaklings like him!"
Dart: "Right, we can always change fate."
Acronos: "Actually, I believe fate is unchangeable, but there's only one fate that applies to nearly everyone."
Dart: "What's that?"
Acronos: "At one point or another, you will die. Lets make it so we can choose when we die."
Dart: "Right." With that, everyone gathered underneath Melbu and got ready.
Melbu: "Do you really think you have a chance? Hah! May your deaths be a blessing upon the world in which I shall descend!" The battle began. Acronos and Blasphemy had similar strategies, magic, and fighting styles, so they consented to fighting together. Dart and Lloyd were capable of similar fighting styles, especially when he went into Dragoon state, in which the armor was very bulky, but extremely powerful. Dart's Divine Dragon Ball annihilated the tentacles from the get go. After a prolonged beating, Melbu transformed into another form, which was simply a blob with a head, a hole for vacuum and canon, a screen showing what it vacuumed, (this was all demonstrated when it vacuumed up Meru, showed her face on the screen, and then shot her back out when the attack intensified), and a long, thin arm that could create a weak energy blade. After another prolonged beating, Melbu changed the scenery to a canyon and turned into a ship of sorts. This ship was pretty tough to beat on, it had several strong attacks of its own, but it eventually succumbed to pain and transformed. After some magic, the place turned into an island in a sea of blood. The island was made of bones and flesh. Everybody immediately Dragooned, so as not to stand upon the ground. Acronos and Blasphemy didn't have this option, but they didn't much care at the time. The reason is that unfortunately, the sight of so much blood and carnage made them battle mad, berserk, for different reasons. Blasphemy got caught up in the blood lust. Acronos wanted revenge and that drove him over the edge. The two began attacking insanely, not caring about openings, but its not like Melbu could exploit any, he was busy, since their attacks were so fast put together that his brain barely handled it. He summoned monsters, and that attracted Acronos and Blasphemy's attentions enough to leave him alone. Miranda focused on healing everybody, along with unleashing her dragon every so often. Dart kept on blasting Melbu with his cannon, while Lloyd blasted in tandem with his most powerful magic attacks. Kongol attacked slowly, but with enough force to make up for it. Meru stuck with magic, Haschel did what he felt like doing, and Albert used a defensive barrier, and then some powerful magic, along with attacks. Finally, Melbu used a spell that blocked Dragoon powers. Everyone went back to normal, albeit hesitantly. The monsters were currently powder, so Acronos and Blasphemy got right back to Melbu, which was not good for him. The spell wore off as another chunk of his flesh flew off, and Dart transformed. Acronos was hit with the energy, and regained his senses, Blasphemy too. They looked at what they'd done, smirked, and jumped back; as they could see that Dart was going to use as much power as he could in the last Divine Dragon Cannon. Dart charged for longer than usual, and finally, he unleashed the mother of all magic attacks, since everyone was channeling most of their magic into him. Melbu was ripped apart, so only his skeleton and a huge right arm remained. He had been blasted into his original form. Everyone saw that he was about to die. Dart flew in front of Shana. The reason for this is that Melbu Frahma was charging energy into his arm, to fire a cannon attack at Dart, (his target was discerned through who he was yelling profanities at in an immense quantity. Acronos caught 'Black-eyed son of a whore!' Somewhere in there). The shot was fired, but Acronos got in front of it and blocked with a barrier spell. Rose and Zieg talked for a moment and then asked Lloyd for the Dragon Buster, his weapon. Blasphemy put his scythe in front of them and said that Acronos would be taking care of this, so they need not worry. Acronos was finished withstanding the blast and raised his weapon, and saw the keyhole glint behind Melbu. He smirked.
Acronos: "Dart, guys, get the hell out of here! I'll take care of Melbu."
Dart: "But how will you get out?"
Acronos: "Don't worry, I have a way, but I won't be coming back here for a while, okay?"
Rose: "Let us kill him, we aren't needed in this world anymore."
Acronos: "Nah, your friends need you. Now MOVE!" No one would question this, so Dart picked up Shana who was just waking up, and Blasphemy just used his dark powers to teleport back, but Lloyd followed him. Everyone fled, and Acronos was left with an insane Melbu Frahma to deal with. He wasn't even looking at him, though, and was charging the cannon for Dart again. Acronos ran at him and extended his keyblade length, using the lightning property that the Onimusha-styled weapon gave him. He unleashed a couple of strokes and then jumped up, and impaled Melbu through the head! Instantly pulling his weapon out, he pointed it at the keyhole while casting a barrier on himself. After sealing it, he unsealed the barrier. Taking note that the entire place was about to blow, he jumped down and ran like hell. With the flames quite literally behind him and the save point right in front, he reached out, his hand almost touching the point as the flames caught up…"
Traverse TownAcane: "Where is Acronos!"
Tifa: "This takes the cake for being late."
Maioko: "I'm kinda worried. I mean seriously, how could he be this late? There's no way a trip to Destiny Islands could take this long, especially with the instant warping."
Auron: "You're right, but what could be the cause?"
Acane: "Maybe he landed on a different world by accident."
Tifa: "Or worse, he's been taken hostage."
Acane: "That's definitely worse, then we have no transportation. (She and Tifa laugh a bit)"
Maioko: "How can you laugh like that? If he were taken or something, he could be in grave danger, and all you can do is laugh?" She storms off for the alley.
Acane: "Huh? What'd I say?"
Tifa: "You'd think she would understand that we were laughing because if he were caught, he's probably strong enough to break out without any problems."
Auron: "I do believe your timing was off. Maioko was distraught, and your saying only added to her tension, and gave a bit of fear, and she snapped from too much pressure. I think she'll use this time to sulk."
Acane: "Oh." That's all she was capable of saying. Later on in the alley, Maioko was smashing through some heartless, and most were of a stronger sort than they were before, but not enough to match her, especially since she needed to release some rage. Finally most of them were only wisps of smoke. She jumped up to the ledges in between the rooms' balconies. She sat down on one of them, and wandered through the unknown territory known as feelings.
Maioko: "Grr. How could they something like that? Sigh, I'm hopeless, why am I getting so worked up? Sigh. Hmm, hey, if weaklings such as these heartless caught Acronos, he'd be able to break free with ease. Oh, so that was their joke. Sigh, I'm getting worked up over nothing. But what if he is in trouble? I'd feel terrible if something happened to him. Why though? Why do I care about him at all, I only met him at the Realm of Sorrow, then at Destiny Islands, why do I care? I've known him for less than I've known a lot of people, and yet I still care about him. Sigh, why do I? It's not as though I'm in love with the guy, but I still want him to be happy, and I'm unusually concerned with his wellbeing. I don't know, maybe he has some sort of charm? Or maybe it's just that damn fruit! Hmm, I did share it with him willingly, so what does that make us? Everyone's always trying to get us together, like some sort of game! Sigh. That's how its always been, everyone back at home wanted me with someone they thought was my perfect match, and that person never really disagreed. Ugh, yet they always had the habit of choosing the absolute wrong person! It's so annoying. I preferred it when mom and dad and I were all traveling. We had so much fun, we were a real family, maybe not like those families you hear about on TV, but we were so close together, so much like a real family. Then we settled down 'cause the folks thought that the traveling was hurting me. In a way it was, I was always distant from everyone but those that I really knew. After a few years, I was as outgoing as everyone around me, just like everyone wanted. I still wish we'd kept up the travels; I'd rather be shy and happy, than outgoing and miserable. Maybe I learnt how to fight like I do just to defend myself from the world around me. I guess… Maybe I'm as shy and distant as ever, just in a different way. So I guess that makes me a weakling whose only advantage over life was gained through fear, man I'm pathetic." She noticed another heartless had just formed and was charging at her. There was dullness in her eyes, as if she cared for nothing in the world. A dart went through its head, and it died. Acronos calmly walked up to her, albeit with massive burns on his back, but still calm.
Acronos: "I couldn't help but overhear that last bit. You know, it doesn't really matter where you gain advantages from, or what the past was, all you have to do is use those advantages as they are. As a Japanese saying goes: 'There is no past or future, there is only now.' Just live in the present, the past is past, so let it go and move on with your life. Oh yeah, and hello, sorry I'm late."
Maioko: "Whatever. You wouldn't understand, you have amnesia, you don't remember your past, and it can't haunt you. All you know is that your parents died. In fact, your past isn't even that special. In the Realm of Sorrow, I got a glimpse of what was troubling you. Your parents died, and you couldn't stop them from dieing, you couldn't save them. Your trouble was that you couldn't save everyone, not that you were unhappy with what happened."
Acronos: "… What's past is past, I cannot change what your life was, nor can I change that I was unsuccessful in my attempt to save my world. All I can do for myself is come to terms with it, which I have, and fight in the memory of our world, fight and save others, so that they may not have that save experience. As for you, all I can do is change how your life goes from here, and I intend to do so. From the way you're talking, I intend to make your life as good as I can, instead of allowing you to dwell on the past that you could not change, and live in misery. I know that sounds a bit conceited, but I don't want you to be that sad, so I'll try my best to make you smile. Even if it takes a while."
Maioko: "I don't think that what has happened is the problem, it's who I am. I mask who I truly am, so even I don't know, and I think that's a good thing. Perhaps if I saw who I truly was, then I'd go mad, maybe destroy myself just to end it."
Acronos: "Maioko, everybody has masks, and there are very few people who know themselves truly. Hell, I don't. However, I'm pretty good at seeing who people are, inside and out, even beyond the masks, sometimes better than they know themselves, and what I see in you, isn't that bad. You're a good friend Maioko, strong, capable of being a role model, and you're also able to shoulder every burden, physical and mental that's thrown at you, and you're even standing up to those you throw at yourself. I say that if nothing else, you are a good person, even if you have different reasons than most for being so. I can make friends with people rather easily if I try, but I always select those I trust with care, and I trust you. I thank you for being a person I can trust, even if you don't believe that you are."
Maioko: "Hmm… Why are you saying all this?"
Acronos: "I suppose it's to make good on what I said. I want to see you smile; I'd like you to be happy, not sad."
Maioko: "I guess it's mutual then, this feeling of caring about the other person's feelings. You want to make me happy, and I don't want you to get hurt."
Acronos: "Don't worry, I don't get seriously hurt that easily, and I heal fast. Besides, I want to protect you too. I don't know... it's just that I have this weird sense of concern."
Maioko: "I know, it's a bit annoying, huh?"
Acronos: "Well actually, I don't mind as much. I like being kind, and being concerned about someone is what I do, so I don't mind."
Maioko: "Sometimes I wonder about you, Acronos."
Acronos: "Yeah, I'm a bit confusing."
Maioko: "Not only that, but I'm now wondering how you got that immense burn on your back?" Though she said this as calmly as before, Acronos could see that her usual toughness was back, a fire seemed behind her eyes again. Acronos was happy to see this, but a little concerned, because he knew that that's the fire he usually saw when she was having fun by bashing him around a bit.
Acronos: "It's a long story."
Maioko: "I've got time." She motions for him to sit next to her.
Acronos: "Well, it all began when I set out for Destiny Islands like you said, but I remembered that I hadn't sealed Onimusha! So I headed back and blasted my way through the rubble between Fontibras' camber and the Magic Mirror. I saw the keyhole, but nobody was there, so I sealed it and unsealed the barrier. Now, I really should have rested a bit, since sealing a keyhole and unsealing a barrier takes it out of you when you're tired, especially after all the stuff we went through in Onimusha. I didn't, so I went back to the gummi ship, and started to dial the coordinates…(Insert above story here)… And the flames hit me a bit for the time while I started the call, and finally touched the save point. It was kinda funny since I was on fire and the ship had to put me out. I then put the ship in warp and headed off for Destiny Islands. I ran to everybody's houses and managed to get them on. They were all wondering what had happened, so I guess I'll have to tell them too. Then I got here, and noticed you were gone, and I asked. Auron said that you were probably sulking, but that I should go check. He mentioned about you heading towards the second district, so I thought about where I might go to be alone, and here you were."
Maioko: "I'm surprised Blasphemy did that. It doesn't seem like something he'd do. Hmm, was your hair set on fire?"
Acronos: "Blasphemy is a confusing character, we don't really know that much about him. I kinda get the feeling he has his own motives for everything he does, including serving the darkness, maybe I'll try to find this stuff out. Oh yeah, and no, my hair wasn't set on fire since the barrier I'd used to protect Dart lasted a bit longer than I'd intended it to, which was a good thing."
Maioko: "Heh, it would've been funny to see you with your hair on fire yelling and screaming. (Laughs a bit)"
Acronos: "That's better. I like it when you smile."
Maioko: "(Smirks) Don't go all sentimental on me."
Acronos: "Just making sure you won't first."
Maioko: "Okay. (Gets up and dusts herself off) Well, since you took so long, we rented out some rooms. You left us enough money to pay for six rooms. That means that everyone has to bunk with at least one other person, and no, we can't get more rooms."
Acronos: "I suppose it'll be girl-girl and guy-guy? Either that or, through some twist of fate, the couples will go together. Auron will probably go with Acane, me with you, and Kairi and Tifa will probably share since they're master and teacher, plus they're the odd ones out."
Maioko: "Hmm, chances are that Selphie would do something like that. Why don't we just bunk together anyway, it'll save her the trouble, and it's not like the situation hasn't occurred before."
Acronos: "Whatever. If she starts to say her plot, then we'll just go together, but if not, then we'll just go with whatever there is." They walked back to the others. Acronos told his tale once more, and then Selphie predictably mentioned the rooms.
Selphie: "Okay, I'm sure you know by now that there are only six rooms and twelve people. I've checked with the clerk, and nearly all of them have one bed only. Another thing, the only rooms were in the 'couples only' section. Believe me, this one wasn't my choice; I've already gotten several death threats. Oh yeah, there was one room that doesn't require a couple, but then again, there are seven girls and five guys…"
Acronos: "Sigh, I thought as much. Tidus, Yuna, room one. Wakka, Lulu, room two. Maioko and I have room three. Selphie, Irvine, room four. Auron, Acane, room five. Tifa, Kairi, the room that doesn't require a couple. If I remember correctly, Auron and Acane's room has two beds, and so do Wakka and Lulu's. Tidus, here, take one of my extra sleeping bags, just in case you feel like being a gentleman."
Tidus: "Thanks. I was about to ask."
Auron: "Well… At least it has two beds."
Acane: "Better than one with someone else."
Kairi: "Muahaha! I'm not subject to the tortures of fate!"
Acronos: "A) Don't try the evil laugh. B) I have only a few words: cave drawings."
Kairi: "You wouldn't!"
Acronos: "I've gotta torture you somehow…"
Kairi: "Well, better than what you've got."
Acronos: "Sleeping bag?"
Kairi: "Darn."
Wakka: "I have a feeling that I'm going to die by the time the night's through."
Acronos: "Don't worry, I planned where I put everyone. Wakka, if Lulu burns you, I'll hear you next door. Selphie, Irvine, you know what I'm implying, so be careful."
Irvine: "What? Us?"
Acronos: "(Stern look)"
Selphie: "Right-o boss man!"
Acronos: "Boss? Interesting."
Tidus: "Can we eat?"
Yuna: "I am a bit hungry myself."
Acronos: "I hope this place has a buffet." It did, so that need was satisfied. Due to lack of sleep, and the strenuous workout, everyone went to sleep early. Each room had a bathroom, so each person got changed in there. Acronos unrolled his sleeping bag.
Acronos: "All I've got to say is that I hope it won't get too cold in here."
Maioko: "I think they've got heating on during most of the night here, so no worries." A knock at the door announced someone. They announced that due to technical difficulties, the heating system was down and wouldn't be fixed until morning.
Acronos: "Hmm, fate loves to play games. It probably will be cold, but worthy of only sharing the bed, since it can't be too cold for everyone else. I'll go set up a fire."
Maioko: "A fire? But how, without burning everything down?"
Acronos: "Like this. (Conjures up a black flame in mid-air) I'll shift it to red if we need light."
Maioko: "Good idea." Acronos gets into his sleeping bag. Later that night, it got really cold, really quickly. The reason is actually because the shadow energy that was in the heartless generator was still concentrated, so things would be darker, drearier, and colder for a while, (nice excuse for author powers, neh?). Upon waking up, due to cold, and due to hearing himself and Maioko shiver, Acronos calmly got out of his sleeping bag, went over to the bed, and got in. Maioko shuffled closer to him, and in that warmth, they fell asleep. Morning found Acronos about to go into shock once again. Since he'd gotten sleep and food, he now had recuperated his energy, and most of his wounds had healed properly, (cure magic sows the wound and stuff, but its possible to reopen it if too much stress is on it.). Acronos again remembered fate's little joke, so he got out calmly. He stretched out for a moment, and then looked at Maioko. She felt around, looking for him, and upon not finding him, curled up into a ball. He could tell that it wasn't that cold. He checked the time on his computer, and found that it was quite early; perhaps some extra sleep wouldn't kill him. He crept back in, and Maioko wrapped her arms around him. He tensed for a moment, then relaxed and promptly fell asleep, turning around. About an hour later, Acronos woke up again. This time, he wasn't shocked, he kinda figured as much. He got out and this time Maioko just shifted positions a bit. He felt a little better, and went inside the bathroom to get washed and changed. Upon exiting, he noticed that she was still asleep. The computer gave readout that she was quite tired, so she wouldn't wake up for quite some time. Acronos nodded, went downstairs, paid for a breakfast, went back to the room, left it on the bed stand with a spell to keep it as warm as before, and then got breakfast for himself. He was actually the first one in his group to wake up, though only a few had been through Onimusha, and nobody had fought as much as he did, what could he say, it was a habit. Auron was the next to come down and he stretched, yawning loudly, as if to get several joints undone.
Auron: "Good morning, or evening. One can't really tell here."
Acronos: "My computer has its clock set by Destiny Islands time, but it has the readout for the time here too. I don't know how it does it, but I suppose that's its job."
Auron: "Have you eaten?"
Acronos: "Just finishing up. I already left a serving for Maioko. I hope she doesn't mind my selection."
Auron: "Acane was waking up as I left, so lets see who's the next to come down." Surprisingly enough, Irvine came down next.
Irvine: "Hey. I've gotten plenty of sleep, so I was up bright and early this time."
Acronos: "Interesting." There wasn't any particular order to who came down, so I won't describe it. Maioko hadn't come down by the time everyone was, so questions as to where she was were asked. Acronos just repeated that she needed her sleep, so they shouldn't disturb her.
Acane: "Okay, so, which world should we be heading to next?"
Acronos: "Didn't you say that Final Fantasy VII was our option?"
Acane: "Yeah, but there are others nearby, for instance, I located one yesterday named Legend of Dragoon."
Acronos: "Hmm, I sealed that yesterday."
Acane: "Really? Then I guess we've only got FFVII to go to, hmm?"
Acronos: "Yeah."
Acane: "Hey, where's Maioko?"
Acronos: "Still sleeping."
Acane: "Any reason, you think?"
Acronos: "No, none I can think of."
Maioko: "(Just entering) Hey everyone."
Acane: "This time,
You're late."
Maioko: "So sue me, I felt like getting some extra sleep. Oh yeah, thanks Acronos. I didn't expect breakfast in bed."
Acronos: "(Rubbing back of head) you're welcome, I just thought it was the nice thing to do."
Auron: "Is everyone here? Good, then where to, Acronos?"
Acronos: "We're heading to the world of Final Fantasy VII. Apparently it was unsealed."
Irvine: "Hey, I thought you and Sora were the only ones with keyblades."
Acronos: "Yeah, but you never know." They walked to the gummi ship and headed out to the new world. Upon reaching the world, there was a slight, sarcastic congratulation of Acronos for not hitting anything. Looking around, Tifa said they were in Midgar. She gave them an old map of hers, pointed out various places, mentioned her friends, and then left.
Tidus: "Hey, why is Tifa leaving?"
Acronos: "Personal reasons."
Tidus: "Oh."
Lulu: "How exactly are we supposed to find the keyhole? We got lucky last time, but I'm not so sure that'll happen twice."
Acronos: "Well, up until now we've found keyholes where there were immense fights, usually the final fight of an adventure. If I remember, Tifa and several friends of hers defeated a powerful enemy on this world. We should find her friends around here and ask where they fought this great enemy, maybe the keyhole is still there."
Kairi: "Next question, where exactly are we?"
Acronos: "Hmm, if my memory serves, we're in a city named Midgar. Apparently it's now the ruins called Midgar. There's a town nearby called Kalm. We should go there and try to get some information if possible." He pointed to the horizon where there seemed to be a structure blocking some of it. It took a while, but the group reached Kalm as night settled upon the world.
Tidus: "Lets get some rest, we won't be able to do much now." They got rooms at the inn, and slept peacefully. When Acronos woke up in the morning he went to town to see if he could find out anything, leaving a note just in case. Maioko woke up second this time, and looked for Acronos, but found the note instead. She nodded and left to look around too.
Maioko: "Now where can a person find some information around here? " She went into homes that were open and asked the people there. Each one said that someone had asked them that earlier, and that they didn't know anything. It was now a relatively normal time period, and everyone else was starting to leave. Maioko noticed that the bar was open and figured she might as well see if anyone in there might know something. Inside she found Acronos in a discussion with a guy at the bar, they were discussing various phenomena particular to the world.
Acronos: "So you're saying that some heartless have been coming from the crater in the northern continent?"
Guy at bar: "Yeah, but these heartless you've mentioned have been coming from Midgar too."
Acronos: "You think the heart of this world would be linked to the crater or Midgar?"
Guy at bar: "I personally don't think so, but since you're nearby, you might want to check anyway. One more thing you should know. The Midgar source seems to be emitting lots of darkness. I don't mean your standard shadows and stuff, this dark stuff is evil or something."
Acronos: "Thanks, you've been a big help. Would you like a drink, on me."
Guy at bar: "No thanks, I'm from elsewhere and I might be allergic."
Acronos: "Another world?"
Guy at bar: "How'd you know?"
Acronos: "Same deal."
Guy at bar: "Cool. If you need anything else, just ask." Acronos left his seat and nodded to the guy and walked to Maioko. They left the bar.
Maioko: "Hey, are we going to follow what that guy said? Who was he anyway?"
Acronos: "Probably Blasphemy. I could feel that he had his own intentions, but he wasn't lying. I think I'll go with what he says. Ever since I fought on the same side as him in the Legend of Dragoon world, I have the feeling he's not as evil as he makes himself out to be."
Maioko: "Are you sure?"
Acronos: "I'm pretty good at telling how people are, I can usually sense when they're lying."
Maioko: "Okay..."
Acronos: "Look at it this way; chances are that a trap has already been set at the keyhole, taking Blasphemy's advice will probably lead to that same trap, but it will be quicker, and we'll know it's coming."
Maioko: "Good point. Lets tell the others." They left for the inn and the guy at the bar came out as well. He looked at Acronos and shakes his head. The magical disguise he'd been wearing was shed like a second skin. It was indeed Blasphemy under that. (I never described him, did I? He wears a once black shirt that slowly fades to gray on the way up. The bottom's in tatters, and there are dark bloodstains here and there. No matter how many times he washes it, and he washes it at the end of every day, he can't get rid of the stains. He wears gray sweatpants as well. The cloak I mentioned for the mysterious cloaked figure is part of his regular attire, and it's a dark brown that looks like it's seen one too many battles. In fact, most of Blasphemy's attire seems like a direct part of him. His hair is brown, slightly curly, and reaches almost to his shoulders. His face has a long, jagged scar running down it from the upper right to lower left cheek, with another scratch making an X in between his right eye and nose. He constantly looks unshaven, with a little stubble. His eyes have the look of someone who's seen a lot in a short space of time. His darkness is characterized by the sad smirk he almost always has upon his face, and the long chains wrapped around his arms. He looks like someone who's been on a long, hard journey for so long that he's gained the characteristics of the journey. Oh yeah, and he wears long boots that look ideal for crushing someone's skull he is one inch taller than Acronos, wears his scythe on his back and katana on his side, has spiked kneepads, a chain around his waist below the katana, and an amulet around his neck.) Blasphemy shook his head at Acronos' retreating form, he knew Acronos had sensed him under the disguise.
Blasphemy: "Why didn't he attack me or show distrust? Perhaps he can sense people's characters too? Lets see if he passes this world's test. " He created a dark portal and left via that. Back to Acronos, he'd told his friends what he'd found out.
Irvine: "So why don't we split up and tackle each one individually?"
Auron: "I don't believe that is wise. We may be strong, but this could be a trap."
Acronos: "I'm almost positive it is. Lets go to Midgar first, since it's nearby."
Acane: "I've got a question. Supposing we survive Midgar and it turns out to not be the keyhole, what then? This is a very large world, with seas in between each continent, we need a way to cross."
Acronos: "Good question. I have a feeling we'll find a way, and if we don't, we could always use the gummi ship."
Acane: "True." They set off for Midgar, and saw a heavy concentration of darkness somewhere inside it. The group took a step forward into the shadows, but they seemed to clear up like fog in the sun. The further they went, the more the shadows retreated. Acronos found this exceptionally strange, especially since the darkness seemed to have a vendetta against him. No heartless came near them at all, nor any monster. Finally they reached the source of the darkness. As they went in, the shadows closed in upon them again, but only enough to lessen visibility. Acronos sensed that the darkness was only covering something, but the thing it was covering didn't seem evil at all. They reached the core of the room, a sort of shrine. On the floor before it were many flowers, and they all seemed to be still blooming, but as if they were in a state of suspended animation. Acronos looked up from them and realized that this had been a church, and it had once housed a large amount of light energy. Without wanting to, he raised his left hand, and the symbol began to glow. He noticed this and tried to lower his hand. He couldn't, and tried to manually do it, but that failed too. It was almost humorous to see him struggling against his hand, except for the fact that everyone was focusing on the fact that the shadows were now condensing and loomed over all. From deep within the shadows, large black claws emerged, reaching for the group, and tendrils of darkness reached for their hearts. Acronos finally lost all control over his hand and it suddenly began to absorb every bit of energy in the place. After a few tense moments, all the darkness had been absorbed, and Acronos collapsed to one knee.
Acronos: "Ugh, too much… I shouldn't have done that." However, he got up, seemingly fine.
Acronos: "I think… We need to go to Junon, and get the submarine from there."
Maioko: "Submarine? Why do you think there's…"
Acronos: "I know, okay! Ugh, sorry. I just have a feeling."
Acane: "Are you sure you're okay, physically and mentally?"
Acronos: "No. I think absorbing that much darkness did something to me, but I don't think it's a problem." Foreign thoughts of destruction and chaos flickered through his head, and his keyblade flickered between a scythe and a blade for a moment.
Auron: "You do know your blade is flickering, right?"
Acronos: "Yes. Do you have a…. Damn thoughts. I don't know what's going on, but I don't think I should lead much more."
Irvine: "Then who will, we're kinda used to your sense of direction by now."
Maioko: "Acane, you want it?"
Acane: "What, you kidding? I hate leadership roles! You always have to listen to everyone bickering, you have to inspire morale… (Goes on about the worse points of leadership)"
Maioko: "Auron?"
Auron: "…"
Irvine: "He says that one can't lead if they don't speak."
Maioko: "Sigh, Tidus?"
Tidus: "Huh? Sorry, I'm not used to the idea."
Maioko: "Does anyone volunteer, so I don't have to ask every single one of you?"
Acronos: "I highly doubt anyone will, so you be leader, Maioko."
Maioko: "What! I am not the leader type."
Acronos: "You took command of the situation, that's enough." His blade changes to the scythe entirely. Maioko sighs and shakes her head, points out Junon, and they all leave. About two seconds into it, her eyes open wide in realization of something. She tells them to stay there while she gets something. Acronos immediately draws his scythe and looks for the nearest monster to kill, so as to relieve some bloodlust. Everyone else just sits and chats, oblivious to the explosions coming from where Acronos went. Maioko finally returns carrying several tents.
Maioko: "We'll need these, the trek to Junon will take a while. Where's Acronos?"
Tidus: "Follow the burn/explosion marks." They indeed do so, until they find him at a nearby swamp, cleaving through a giant snake's head.
Acronos: "These things just kept on coming, so I decided to stay here since they're pretty tough." Another serpent rears up and lunges, and is about to rip into his shoulder, only to find that he turned around and pointed his scythe blade up, so it cut itself in half. Everyone cringes.
Acronos: "Didn't like that, huh? Then try not to look around, I swear this swap water will be crimson for at least a day or two." He places his scythe on his shoulder casually, and points to a cave at the end of the swamp. Maioko nods and leads them all there. Several times the giant snakes attack, but are cut down quickly. Maioko told Acronos to restrain himself a bit and let the others get some training in. The trek through the swamp wasn't pleasant, but they made it to the cave. Acronos looked around and said he sensed something new, and told them he'd meet up with them at the end. When they did reach the end, Acronos held out his hand to reveal lots of materia.
Acronos: "This is materia, you can use it to cast spells. It still uses mp and contains only one spell per orb, but they're useful anyway." After some trying out, those who could use the orbs took one or two so as to settle their curiosity. Outside the cave was a fort in the distance.
Maioko: "It's getting late, lets go to that fort."
Acronos: "We should run if we want to get there in time, the heartless tend to like to come out at night." Running there, they made it just as the sun set. Inside they were greeted kindly. Since Acronos had the money currently, he started to negotiate a fee for some rooms. When he'd agreed with the price, they went to their rooms.
Maioko: "Oh boy, these are way too few rooms Acronos."
Acronos: "Sorry, they didn't have any other ones."
Maioko: "Sigh, good thing I got some sleeping bags too, some people will have to sleep on the floor." Acronos grabbed his own bag and threw it in a distant corner. He walked over and looked at the others, as if daring them to dispute his territory. His gaze shifted and he shook his head, sighed and began to set up his sleeping area a little more dedicatedly. Selphie and Kairi got beds, in fact the girls mostly got beds while the guys offered to sleep on the floor or a couch, (Irvine got the couch). After setting up, they left to check out the fort. Acronos immediately went outside for more training. After a few more hours, everyone returned and crawled into their sleeping bags. Acronos actually looked oddly clean.
Maioko: "Hey, wait a second, didn't you say there were heartless out there and that you were going to train?"
Acronos: "Yeah, I did."
Selphie: "Then how come you're so clean?"
Acronos: "I took a shower."
Selphie: "There are showers here? Where!?"
Acronos: "Dunno. I made my own."
Selphie: "?"
Acronos: "(Rolls eyes) Remember, I made all the stuff for my bathrooms at home? I still have access to the water, fire, and wind gems."
Selphie: "So you went outside in the cold, stripped down to nothing in the middle of a field where anyone could have seen you, dunked yourself in cold water, used soap, used wind magic to dry your hair, dried off, and came back in here?"
Acronos: "I made a sort of a room, it was warm water, heated wind magic, and yes that's about it."
Selphie: "Pardon me if that doesn't sound appealing."
Kairi: "Are you sure, I've been dying for a shower."
Acronos: "Sigh, fine. I'll make something, just give me a moment."
Maioko: "It's dark, lets save the showers for morning."
Acronos: "Yeah, you're right. It was kind of annoying to thrust my fist through a heartless' head while attempting to shower at the same time." The girls giggled a bit, and the guys nodded. Everyone went to sleep. Acronos woke up first in the morning, and left to make the showers, leaving a note. Maioko woke up second because she'd set an alarm. She took notice of the note and went to find Acronos. She found a few rooms near the fort, and Acronos working on them. He finished and smirked. He'd created a long-term hot spring that had a natural way of pumping into each room. Inside each room was a bath with benches and stuff. He'd actually created more of a Japanese style of bath, or a sauna. Nodding he turned to leave, to find Maioko looking on.
Maioko: "How long did it take you to make that?"
Acronos: "An hour, give or take."
Maioko: "Good job, that's a work of art almost."
Acronos: "Yeah, thanks, I just hope Selphie doesn't complain about the arrangement of plants or something."
Maioko: "I'd like to shower, are there any instructions?"
Acronos: "That side's girls, that's guys. In the center is a warm pool for taking a bath in. Near to that are the regular showers. The towels are over there in the pool area. I'd recommend wearing them in the bath too since they're water resistant, but that's me. Oh damn, I forgot the curtains in between the girls showers!"
Maioko: "(Raised eyebrow) Any particular reason?"
Acronos: "Yeah, the guys showers have walls, but I felt you girls might want something nicer than stone in between. Hmm, what should I use?"
Maioko: "There's plenty of sand nearby, why don't you make one of those distorted glass things?"
Acronos: "Sure, I'm on it!"
Maioko: "Uhh, how long will this take you?" Unfortunately, Acronos hadn't heard this as he'd rushed off to the nearby beach to begin work. Maioko waited for a few moments, and then decided to take a bath anyway, she had a bathing suit with her, and Acronos was almost guaranteed to shut his eyes unless absolutely necessary. As she stepped to the door, Acronos arrived in Haste mode. After he'd slowed down enough to be understood, he asked her to give him ten minutes to finish, but she said she had a bathing suit anyway, so there wouldn't be any problem. Acronos nodded, re-cast Haste, and set off. Inside the bath, Maioko changed into her bathing suit and went into the bath. Acronos had made sure the water was of a perfect temperature, and had set several candles that relaxed and revitalized the body. Maioko settled into the water and could feel all her tensions just ease away. She sighed in content, and let her eyes close a bit, just because it was so nice, and peaceful… She fell asleep within a minute. Meanwhile Acronos had finished the glass panels, which all had different colors, but one common thing was that they were all a bit dark so as to make it difficult to see through. Since Acronos had made many showers and many panels, he had to lug them all on his back, and this wasn't exactly easy. He entered the bath, and headed to the showers. He noticed that Maioko hadn't made a noise once. After setting the panels down quietly, he went to the large bath, almost pool-size. He spotted Maioko fast asleep, looking very peaceful. He rolled his eyes in an expression that read, "Sigh, what am I ever going to do with you?" and propped her arms against the floor so she wouldn't slide into the water and drown. He then set upon fixing the panels. After finishing, he nodded to himself in satisfaction, and left. Maioko was still sleeping. Acronos checked the time, and figured that she might need a wake-up call. Walking towards her, he lightly poked her shoulder.
Acronos: "(Softly) Maioko? Maioko, it's time to wake up." She shifted around a bit, and then wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his head into the water, next to her shoulder. Acronos immediately began flailing like no tomorrow, trying to keep his balance, or at least get out of the vice-like grip she had on him. He lost both battles and fell into the water with a loud splash. Maioko, (Please take note that she's still out cold, this is some subconscious desire, not anything she actually is thinking) shifted her grip on him and settled comfortably. Acronos got his head out of the water, gasping for air. He noticed that she still hadn't woken up. He reasoned that she was a very heavy sleeper. Again poking her, but this time with a bit more force, all he got was a stronger hug. Acronos just couldn't bring himself to punch her or something like that, she looked too darn innocent. A bright idea lit his face, and he heated the water several degrees until he didn't like the temperature himself. His clothes were keeping in the heat, while Maioko seemed comfortable still. He rolled his eyes and resigned himself to the fact that Fate loved playing games with them and he just lowered the temperature to normal. He tried cooling the water, but that was worse for him too, since Maioko's hug became even tighter and he was freezing too. He gave up, shaking his head, and settled them near the floor, placing a grip on it himself, and then rested a bit, tilting his head back to look at the ceiling. The computer had pasted an image of the heavens on the roof, and Acronos dozed off thinking about everything in the world. About half an hour later, Auron woke up. He shook off his drowsiness, and found that Acane was also rising. He nodded to her and got up, noticing the note left. He read it, and then went downstairs and outside. It was still a bit cold this early in the morning, so he sniffled once. He looked around and found the baths nearby. He raised an eyebrow; Acronos had made this in an hour or two? Auron shook his head, marveling at how Acronos was capable of insane feats. He went to it, and saw a sign that pointed out the guy's side, the girl's side, and the collective sink for brushing teeth. He almost smiled and went to the guys' side to take a quick shower. After finishing, he exited, shaking out his hair. Acane now was looking around the area, and Auron exited.
Auron: "Amazing what Acronos is capable of, right? The baths for girls are on that side. Excuse me while I go brush my teeth. He left, and as he reached the sink, he heard Acane yelp. He turned around instantly, half expecting a huge monster, but found nothing. He looked around and found some bamboo rods on the ground, and they'd been arranged to be weapons. Auron shook his head again, and picked up the one that looked closest to being a katana. He walked over to the girls' side, and inside he found Acane pointing to something and had a hand clasped over her mouth, apparently trying her hardest not to laugh. Auron looked where she was pointing, and saw Acronos, fully clothed, sleeping next to Maioko who was in a bathing suit.
Auron: "Heh. That's something you don't see every day. You want to wake them?"
Acane: "Do you?"
Auron: "Not particularly. I'm not afraid of Acronos, he'll just blush and probably spazz until he passes out, but Maioko will probably beat me silly."
Acane: "Good point, but I don't think she'd kick another girl's ass since we usually aren't the perverted ones."
Auron: "… I am not perverted."
Acane: "I didn't say you were, but there are a few on our team…"
Auron: "Irvine?"
Acane: "You mean you have to ask?"
Auron: "Good point. Wake them up." Acane nodded and poked Maioko and Acronos. They stirred, but remained in the same position as before. She poked them harder, but Maioko just shifted her head to Acronos' shoulder and Acronos put his free hand around her protectively.
Acane: "(Raised eyebrow) Are they awake?"
Auron: "They're not talking, it must be their subconscious." Acane gave them both a punch, but Acronos took both punches without twitching. His face turned into one of defiance, as if they were sharing a nightmare about facing something. Acane looked surprised and hit Acronos harder this time, aiming only for him. He grabbed her wrist after the punch and flung her to the far end of the pool. He laid his head on Maioko's. Acane was now quite pissed.
Auron: "It appears they are very heavy sleepers, or sharing a dream. Probably both."
Acane: "Are you just going to stand there or are you going to help me!?"
Auron: "(Smirking) I value my safety, thank you." Acane growled at him a bit, and got out. She called forth her twin lightning blades. A demonic glint was in her eyes. She lowered the charge a bit, and tapped it to the pool. While the results were flashy, Acronos shielded Maioko from the entire thing. Maioko's face was one of worry, while his was one of acceptance and assurance. Acane raised her eyebrows at this and tilted her head. Auron just shook his head, slowly reached over, and whacked both their heads together. Both awoke, extremely startled.
Auron: "Good morning lovers. I hope your shared dream was pleasant?" Both looked around confused for a moment, and then Maioko realized the situation. She looked from Auron to Acronos, as if deciding whom to kill first. Acronos shook off any remaining magic.
Acronos: "Oww, did I get hit with something?"
Acane: "I zapped you both, but neither of you woke up. Actually Acronos, you were quite gallant and shielded Maioko from the entire shock. Whatever you were dreaming, it must have been quite interesting."
Computer: "Dream recorded. Press play to view."
Acronos: "Huh?"
Maioko: "(Trembling with rage) What…Happened!?"
Acronos: "I finished with the panels, poked you to wake you, you grabbed my neck and pulled me in with you, I tried to wake you, but you wouldn't, so I just fell asleep here."
Computer: "Previous statement's events have been recorded, do you wish to see them?"
Maioko: "Prove it." The computer plays back everything that happened, and Maioko figures that she doesn't need to kill Acronos.
Maioko: "Okay Acronos, you're off the hook, but you're not, Auron!"
Auron: "Actually, all I did was bash your heads together, Acane did the more painful attempts." The computer shows them and everyone laughs a bit.
Acane: "Yeah, yeah, just show me that dream, I'm actually very curious."
Acronos: "Sure, but can I get out, I'm kinda soaked."
Maioko: "Yeah, and I still need a shower!"
Acane: "Maioko, you've taken a bath for nearly an hour, you probably smell like flowers."
Acronos: "(Sniffs the air) Yep, you do."
Maioko: "Okay, whatever, I just need to change, this isn't exactly fighting attire."
Acane & Auron: "You'd be surprised."
Acronos: "Why do I get the feeling I don't want to know?"
Auron: "Because you actually don't." Acronos gets out and tries drying himself with wind, but to no avail. He shakes his head and goes into a shower stall and changes into another attire. To be honest, it's a pair of jeans and a white T-shirt. He stores his clothes to dry in the pocket dimension. The computer mentions that the dimension is capable of copying certain things, mainly clothes. Acronos tells it to copy more of his usual attire. Auron hands him Maioko and Acane's usual attire.
Auron: "They said to dry these and copy them."
Acronos: "What will they be wearing in these clothes' place?" Both Acane and Maioko come out in white T-shirts and jeans.
Acane: "We raided the gummi ship's wardrobe, so we're using your clothes for a bit."
Acronos: "Oh boy, this will raise way too many questions."
Auron: "I can almost hear Irvine. 'Whoa! You must have had some fun last night, eh Acronos?' Bleh."
Acronos: "If he says that, I may be forced to thwack him upside the head." They all go and brush their teeth, excepting Acane, who still has to shower. After she's done, they return to the fort.
Auron: "Acronos, that bath/sauna is a work of art, are you just going to leave it here?"
Acronos: "No, of course not, I made it portable, and linked it to my pocket dimension, so I can make it appear and dissapear at will."
Acane: "Good idea." Upon entering the room, Tidus greeted them.
Tidus: "Hey guys, where were you all?"
Acronos: "Long story. Oh yeah, the baths are downstairs if you need them." Selphie runs him over, and Kairi is second in rush. Irvine follows them, and then everyone else is in a normal rush. Acronos pulls himself off the floor, cracking his vertebrae into place.
Acronos: "Owie."
Acane: "Hey, your dream, we still need to see it."
Acronos: "Oh, right." he pulls his computer into view and tells it show the dream. It gets all creepy as the computer projects a hologram that takes up the whole room. Everything seems foggy, and there isn't any definite source of light. A hologram Acronos wanders in, looking confused.
Acronos: "Where am I, what happened? Hmm, wasn't I just asleep?" He continues to wander around, and the hologram follows him. At one point, a few shadow heartless appear and sink towards him. Acronos doesn't seem surprised at all, and reaches, calling his keyblade. Nothing happened, his keyblade remained in wherever it was previously. Acronos tried again, but still to no avail. He thinks for a moment and raises his hands in a different manner. The darkness collected around his hands, and the key-scythe appeared. The shadows lunged for him, and he cut straight through them. He returned his scythe near him, and looked at it, smiling evilly. He held it like one who holds life and death in his hands, and darkness coalesced around him. With a demonic grin, he sheathed it at his back, Blasphemy-style. When it was on his back, the darkness followed it. He shook his head to get rid of what had possessed him.
Acronos: "No, I am not a minion of darkness! Dev, I chose the path of justice, stop messing with me! I thought we were friends!" A voice came from the shadows.
Dev: "It's not me, kid. It seems that the darkness you absorbed from Aeris' church is affecting your mind."
Acronos: "Is there anything I can do?"
Dev: "Use it all up. Once you reach the northern crater, you'll face Sephiroth in his other forms. It's an illusion of the past that still remains because of all the emotion there, and heartless powers of course. Use those powers of yours until you run out of strength, miss if you have to!"
Acronos: "Okay. Huh, what's going on?" The ground was shaking heavily, and Dev's voice had stopped. A sense made Acronos turn his head, and he saw Maioko running towards him. She didn't seem to notice him, and he'd seen her way too late, so she crashed into him and they rolled forward a bit. Maioko raised her hands to punch him, but noticed who he was.
Maioko: "Acronos? What are you doing in my dream? You're probably just a figment of my imagination, what am I saying?"
Acronos: "Actually Maioko, you're in my dream. I think we're sharing it or something."
Maioko: "Then you're in danger too, come on!" She grabs his hand and they dashed off. After a few moments of being dragged along, Acronos got his balance and started to run as well.
Acronos: "Hey, what are we running from?"
Maioko: "Well, you know how we were talking about what's been happening to me and the problems I have back in Traverse Town? It seems that they manifested themselves physically in this dream." A roar sounded behind them, a terrible sound that shook the ground. Behind them, a creature that looked like it had once been human was chasing them. Its flesh was hanging off it, froth ran in torrents from its mouth, and all in all it looked like a Devil. Both of them ran faster.
Acronos: "Hey, are the things bothering you really this bad?"
Maioko: "Uhh... I guess."
Acronos: "Provided we live through this, if you ever need someone to talk to..."
Maioko: "(Blushing a bit) Thanks." they continued to run fast, until the thing put on a burst of speed and lunged at them. Acronos flung Maioko ahead so it wouldn't hit her, and reached for his scythe, only to find it not there. He would've made some comment about the keyblade making up its mind, but instead called forth Test of Heart in the sword form. He raised the blade up and allowed the thing to impale itself. Jumping back, he readied it, and slashed forth to cut the thing's face. It reared back, roaring in pain. Acronos saw the opportunity and after calling forth some of his power, swung into its stomach, cutting it in half. Still alive somehow, it roared again and bean pulling itself towards him. He cringed and pulled back. Maioko came up next to him, and after hitting him upside the head for leaving her; Acronos asked if all her inner demons were this tough and long lasting. The demon thing roared out, "Who are you?" and Maioko shook her head.
Maioko: "Let me put it to you this way, that's one that's been bothering me since I was eight."
Acronos: "Then let me get rid of it for you. You are Maioko, a warrior and a human, you are friend to those who you care for, and enemy to those who would seek to destroy you. You are alive and due to that, subject to the complex emotions that make it up." The demon screamed in pain as Maioko's questions were answered. It burst into flames and slowly dissolved.
Acronos: "If nothing else, you are still yourself."
Demon: "(Shrieking its last words) Who are you?"
Maioko: "I am... Myself, good or bad." The demon let loose a final, dying screech and returned to ash. Maioko looked at it happily.
Maioko: "Thank you so much! I've never known fully the answer to that."
Acronos: "Any time." Acane chose this time to interrupt.
Acane: "Is that it? Where's the fighting, the protecting, the barely concealed mush?" The hologram of Acronos and Maioko embraced.
Acane: "Oh, there." the real Acronos and Maioko blushed. Another immense shake rocked the land. A giant rose from the shadows. This one was a heartless, a dark-side. Acronos readied his keyblade while Maioko settled into a stance. He figured he wouldn't need his knife and passed it to her, and she handled it with practiced ease.
Acronos: "That's your main weapon, isn't it?" She nodded, smirking.
Maioko: "So what do you think this is?"
Acronos: "Probably some residual darkness from your combats with the heartless. I'd hate to see what I've got." They both ran at it, but the thing swiped, knocking them away like rag dolls. Acronos' shirt had three long gashes the long way, but the actual scratches weren't at all deep. Maioko had similar gashes to her shirt, but not as large. Before they even had a chance to blink, the thing had stabbed at them, and caught them at the shoulders.
Acane: "Uhh, I think that was me." both backed up a bit, apparently unhurt. Acronos charged at it, the thing dodged his strike, but Maioko hit it in the head. Its only response was to laugh, and it stabbed again, this time putting an inch-deep gash in both their shoulders. Maioko yelled in pain and went down to one knee. Acronos, despite being under similar circumstances, immediately ran over and put his arm around her, trying to protect her.
Auron: "I remember this part." The thing looked at Acronos and Maioko, smirking, charged up a small energy burst, and fired twice to hit both of them. Acronos put himself in front and took the attacks. It laughed and punched at him, hitting him very hard. Seeing an opportunity, he grabbed its arm and threw it into what seemed to be a wall. The thing rose in fury and charged a massive shot that Acronos took the full brunt of.
Maioko: "Acronos! C'mon, stop taking the shots for me, I don't want you to get hurt, remember?"
Acronos: "Yeah, but I still have to protect you. You can't really be happy if you're dead." he looked at her, trying to comfort her with his eyes while she looked on, worrying for his safety. The thing raised a massive hand up and lunged, intending to destroy them both. Both closed their eyes, but Acronos turned around and impaled the thing through the skull. The two stood a moment in each other's arms. There was a flash of light and pain, and the dream ended.
Auron: "I believe this is where I came in." Acronos and Maioko had remained silent through the entire thing, so as not to confuse anyone.
Acronos: "Yeah... What next?"
Maioko: "Junon is nearby, less than a day's travel from here. After everyone's done, I say we set off."
Acane: "I wonder what's taking so long?"
Acronos: "Maybe they fell asleep too?" Heading out of the fort, they went to Acronos' bath/sauna. There they found that most of the guys were outside either training or drying their hair. Tidus came up to them, rubbing a towel through his hair.
Tidus: "Hey guys. What took you? Acronos, I can't believe you did this in only a few hours!"
Acronos: "I still stand by my quote: 'Haste spell, never work without it.' It's true."
Tidus: "Yep. I'm only surprised that me and Wakka are the only ones done."
Acane: "'Wakka and I', you grammatically challenged fool!"
Tidus: "Geez, don't blow your top!"
Maioko: "I wouldn't normally expect one shower to take this long. I'll check the girls' side, Acronos, you check the guys'. Oh, and no coming over to my side."
Acronos: "Hey, I had a reason, I had to install the glass panels!"
Maioko: "I was kidding."
Acronos: "Sigh." They went to their respective sides. Acronos found Irvine still in the bath.
Irvine: "Hey! C'mon in, the water's great!"
Acronos: "You've been in there long enough, have you even taken a shower?"
Irvine: "Yeah, brushed my teeth and everything. Did it quickly beforehand so I could stay in the bath longer."
Acronos: "Well get out before you get steam fried."
Irvine: "Well I guess we do have to get moving." The two leave and wait outside. Kairi leaves from the girls' side, looking very relaxed and calm, drying her hair with a towel. Yuna comes out too; she greets Tidus with a smile. Acronos notes that she seems not to truly put her heart into her smiles that often, and makes a mental note to find out about it. He looks at Kairi, and remembers they both do the same thing. He tries to think of where the connection may lie, and remembers that both are daughters of well-known people. He reasons that that must be the cause. Lulu comes out and flashes a rare smile. Wakka sees and goes to chat with her. A minute passes by, and Acronos wonders where Maioko and Selphie are. He hears the sounds of a scuffle going on, and Maioko drags Selphie out by the back of her bathing suit, very slowly. The two are in combat, since Selphie still wants to bathe, while Maioko is trying to get her to leave. A few seconds of this keep going, and everyone is amused. Then Acronos, with his good hearing, hears some of the strings in Selphie's bathing suit break. To him, everything goes slow motion as he can tell the top is going to rip wide open. Reaching into his pocket dimension, he pulls out a fluffy towel and flings it forward. Right as Selphie's top rips, the towel wraps around her. She pitches forward and into the pool, while Maioko stumbles backward, straight into Acronos' waiting arms.
Acronos: "The score is now: me: 2, fate: 1. I win!" Maioko gets up as he helps her, and notices that she's holding the top. Her eyes widen.
Maioko: "Glad you did." Selphie comes out steaming literally and metaphorically.
Selphie: "What was that all about?!"
Maioko: "Uhh, sorry? I had to get you out?"
Auron: "(Whispering to Acane), she sounds a lot like Acronos right now, doesn't she?" she nods.
Acane: "I think there's an expression about lovers imitating each other?" Acronos had heard this.
Acronos: "In what sense are you using the word 'lovers'? In poetic language it's usually used to describe two people in an, Uhh, intimate relationship. Gotta be careful about semantics."
Acane: "Now, I actually didn't know that."
Auron: "Hmm, I don't wish to insinuate anything between you and Maioko that isn't reasonable or can't be proven, so I think I'll find a new nickname for you two."
Acronos: "Guh." Now, I just realized that this chapter is getting immensely long, so I'm gonna have to shorten just about everything a bit. Everyone got to Junon wit out incident, but found no submarine. Acronos had gone dark again and got pissed and dived underwater, and he found it all but destroyed there. He quickly repaired it, and brought it to the surface and dried it with magic. They took it to the northern continent. They found a shortcut through the mountain and made it. After traveling to the depths, the ground opened up beneath them, and sent them really, really deep into the planet. There they found Sephiroth. He transformed into a blue-green giant with wings for arms, and a spherical core where the torso ended. Acronos called forth tons of dark energy and began firing it in the form of magic and energy attacks. Unfortunately, he couldn't consume all the dark energy at once, and he was starting to loose. He was exceptionally frustrated by the fact that he couldn't use all his energy. He wasn't exactly loosing, but wasn't winning against the power of Sephiroth either. Acane finally had the bright idea of calling to him.
Acane: "Acronos you idiot, Devil Trigger!"
Acronos: "Now why didn't I think of that before?" He calls forth the demonic power and goes into his Devil state. The dark energy blade cuts through Sephiroth with ease, but Acronos still appears to be doing no damage. Despite being triggered, he could still think, give targets and also advice.
Acronos: "Hmm, wasn't there something specific you needed to do against this boss? Oh yeah, you had to destroy the lesser parts first, the upper head, the wings, the arms, the outer core, the inner core, and finally the body. " The Devil takes his advice and attacks the parts mentioned with a vengeance. The giant Sephiroth falls and is defeated. With a shock, Acronos figures that he probably won't have much more energy left.
Acronos: "Whoa. I didn't think using up all my dark energy would involve using all my energy too. " From the ruins of the giant Sephiroth, another emerged in its place. Acronos knew this was the last one, and was pretty damn tough. This one had angel wings for legs, a crimson wing for one arm, a golden halo behind him, and looked like the regular one otherwise. Devil Acronos charged it and began to attack, only to be blocked by the crimson wing. Sephiroth smirked and threw him off.
Sephiroth: "You fool, you haven't accessed your full dark potential yet, and you're at way too low a level. You don't stand a chance." A fully charged Pale Horse was fired directly at Acronos and hit him full force. Everyone gasped, and Maioko remembered this wasn't a one-on-one fight, so she began to run at Sephiroth. The smoke cleared from around Acronos, and found him still there, unharmed. He just looked at Sephiroth and smiled.
Acronos: "You're right, I can't beat you without using my full darkness. Guess if I use it, that should get rid of the excess dark energy, neh? Lets see what happens." His weapon shifted to the scythe again and his symbol became all black. It coursed with dark flames and so did his blade. The Devil form now looked terrifying, even though before it was scary, now it would send a grown man crying if Acronos so much as looked at him wrong. The next attack sent Sephiroth back, reeling. A quick succession of attacks, with intervals of using energy and magic, damaged Sephiroth heavily. He summoned the Supernova attack, but it didn't do too much damage. Acronos got bored and began using high-level energy attacks to waste and burn off as much as he could. Sephiroth finally got enough space to use Wall, which blocked almost everything. Acronos could feel himself weakening, loosing most of his strength, so he cast Dispel. He landed to regain some energy, and his friends came around him.
Maioko: "We're here to help. I know it's your job to burn off energy, but you should have him in critical condition anyway. Lulu, Wakka, Irvine, Selphie! Use all your long-range attacks! Tidus, Auron, Acane! You guys are with Acronos and me, we attack close-range! Yuna, Kairi, stick with healing and summoning!" Nodding, everyone went with that strategy. Acronos thought to himself that Selphie should have been in with Yuna and Kairi since she could heal and provide backup, and Tidus should have been with the long-range fighters just in case, plus his energy rain attack was ranged. He shook it off and they all charged in, laying the smack down on Sephiroth. That is, until he spotted the weaknesses, and charged the long-range attackers, knocked them down, then hit the healers with Pale Horse. Acronos swore to himself in the Devil language, and charged even faster and harder, almost putting himself into berserk in his adrenalin. Finally, when he saw that even he was wearing down, he could feel that almost all the darkness was gone, he flew back.
Acronos: "Acane, Tidus, Maioko! Heal those who are damaged! Tidus, stick with the long-range fighters for backup and because you can fight long-range too! Auron, attack from where there are openings, I'll distract him. Tell Selphie to stick with the healers too, she can heal and destroy!" Acronos' following charge wasn't even regular hacking and slashing, he landed, pooled his remaining darkness, and unleashed shadow blade. If you remember, Ansem used this the first time they met. Sephiroth was finally wearing down, and Acronos could feel that he was at one-quarter strength. Unfortunately, this was the time when his dark energy had been totally expended.
Acronos: "NO! This is really bad timing! Fine then, Full Dark Power! " He went insane, to put it lightly. Auron couldn't even move closer than ten feet due to Acronos' slash-happiness. He resorted to using his Overdrives when he could find space. Everyone was now up and ready, but weren't doing anything because Acronos was moving too fast. He'd equipped himself with Haste, Shell, Barrier, Reflect, Berserk, and increases for Strength, Accuracy, and Agility. Sephiroth found that he simply could not withstand such an onslaught. He was now down to his last grain of energy. Acronos rose above him with his scythe held high, ready to strike. However, he heard in his head the question of who he was and what path he chose.
Acronos: "I am myself, and my path is that of Justice, always. " He stopped being in Devil Trigger, and landed. He somehow still had some energy left, perhaps due to the Ether he'd drained earlier, so he readied his scythe, which changed back into his keyblade.
Acronos: "Ahh, much better. I missed you, the grip difference is just too much for me." Sephiroth, using his last magical energies, used Sin Harvest Angel. Acronos fell to the ground as if dead right on the spot. Sephiroth swung with his crimson wing, and the sharpness left Acronos with millions of tiny, but still deep enough for blood, cuts. Acronos was still conscious however, and managed to gasp out, "Owwie", and tried to sit up. Sephiroth readied Pale Horse, only to find that Acane and Auron had impaled him in the head and chest at the same time. They saw each other, nodded in some sort of signal, and both jumped back. Auron unleashed his Tornado Overdrive, while Acane's spear split in half, combined with her swords, and she unleashed thousands of strikes. Acane's finishing strike left an electric explosion, while Auron stuck with the flaming explosion. The illusion of Sephiroth disappeared like most monsters and Heartless, and Auron and Acane both started to talk about whose style and finishers were better. Acronos sat up, looked to where Sephiroth had been in front of, and saw the keyhole, albeit with some trouble since his body was going into shock slightly from blood loss and the sudden drop in adrenalin. He pointed his keyblade at it and the blue beam came from it and sealed the world. His arm dropped a bit, but he pointed to the keyhole again. The red beam came this time, but it wavered heavily. Acronos pumped a little more energy into it, and the barrier unsealed itself. Maioko came up next to him and crouched to be at his height.
Maioko: "I take it you're okay?"
Acronos: "Just my body going into shock. Can you hand me a potion?"
Maioko: "Here."
Acronos: "Thanks." He downed it in one gulp. From even deeper into the planet and rumbling came. The computer actually scanned it and gave the translation as thanking them. A wave of green energy/liquid came at them all. Acronos looked at it and said as it came near them that it was like green materia made into liquid. Actually it was more towards energy since it passed right through them, healing every wound, and liberating Acronos from any excess darkness. On the ground in front of him, something shone. He picked it up and found that it was a key chain. This one was also a crystal, but it was like materia, except more clear. Acronos attached it and viewed his new keyblade. It was itself also a large crystal, completely green, just like the wave they'd been hit by. It was very large, about as tall as Acronos himself. The handle wasn't that unordinary, except for the fact that it was golden, with some sort of skin surrounding it, making it exceptionally comfortable and easy to use. The hand guard was a blue crystal that seemed to act look like a vine and made a large circle. The symbol was a large meteor, red, with its tail functioning as the actual cutting edge. Acronos hefted it up, since it was more than a bit heavy. Suddenly it became almost effortless to lift, and his symbol now had a tiny blood red circle where the two blades crossed, and surrounding it were two vines, one green, the other blue. He could feel that this had a healing effect on him, and allowed him to recuperate from absorbing vast quantities of darkness or heartless hearts in hours or minutes instead of days or weeks. As to why the blade had adjusted itself so it was perfectly in tune with his strength, he didn't know but didn't much care.
Irvine: "Hey, where are we?" Looking around, they found that they were in a small town that appeared to have recently had an earthquake. Judging by the fact that there was a gaping hole in the ground filled to the brim with the green stuff from before, Acronos figured it might be due to that.
Maioko: "Ugh, who cares, let's just find a save point and leave, shall we?"
Selphie: "Should we split up?"
Acronos: "This place feels…nice, warm. We're safe here for a while."
Maioko: "Whatever you say. Okay people, split up as you feel." The couples went together, and Auron and Acane kept up their debate on fighting while searching. Maioko turned to Acronos.
Maioko: "It seems we're always stuck together. Do you like mooching off me?"
Acronos: "Heh, no. Fate just loves us and wants us together, that's all."
Maioko: "Oh no, don't tell me you believe that stuff too!"
Acronos: "I believe it, but accepting it is an entirely different story."
Maioko: "Okay."
Acronos: "It will be night here soon. Lets go to the inn. I bet you ten munny the save point's there."
Maioko: "Since your feelings haven't led you wrong up until now, and your eyes look like you're far off somewhere, I'm not taking that bet."
Acronos: "You can tell? Yes, I suppose we've known each other long enough."
Maioko: "Huh?"
Acronos: "I am feeling a bit distant, I was just saying that we've been friends long enough to sense that in each other."
Maioko: "Well, we're friends for life, whether we want to be or not, right?"
Acronos: "Of course." With this the distance left his eyes and he sprang up looking cheerful, but went into a normal position saying "Oww!" His cuts still hurt. They headed off to the inn, and there was the save point.
Maioko: "See, this is why I'm not going to ever take a bet against you."
Acronos: "Alright, whatever. (Says so she can hear, but as if whispering) Dang, and I was planning on making some extra munny…" Maioko smiled and said they'd better get everyone. Upon exiting, they found the sun to be setting. Tidus and Yuna were watching it, while everyone else was just milling around. Acronos jumped into a tree, yelping upon reaching the top. He mentioned that he'd like to see the sunset of this world and see if it was any different. Maioko jumped up with him.
Maioko: "I like sunsets, plus I need to make sure you don't fall asleep again and break your neck." They watched the sunset in peace, but occasionally made jokes and such, acting almost like siblings. The sun finally set.
Acronos: "Though our worlds are different, the sun still sets in the same way. Perhaps not in the same direction, or onto the same landscape, but it still sets. Both the sun and the stars are the same for every world. They are all connected in more ways than their inhabitants know. Yet there is still the belief that all is completely different and must then be destroyed. (Shakes head) Why must we do such things?"
Maioko: "That's deep man, really deep."
Acronos: "Sorry, thoughts like those always pop in now and then."
Maioko: "Do you ever stay as one person?"
Acronos: "If I did, I wouldn't be me, then wouldn't I?" With that slightly enigmatic statement, he jumped off with no yelp since his cuts had been given time to heal.
Maioko: "(Shakes head) No, I suppose you wouldn't be. If you weren't you, then who would you be? Well one thing's for sure. You wouldn't be the most intriguing person I've ever met. Hey Acronos, wait up!" They walked in together, and found everybody already there, except for Irvine and a few others who walked in a few seconds after them.
Auron: "Let me address a point simply. Should we stay here now, or leave for Traverse Town or Destiny Islands?"
Acronos: "I can warp us to either place in an instant, so time isn't a problem."
Selphie: "Maybe not, but you usually hit us with some kind of projectile when we fly!"
Acronos: "I keep telling you, those meteors come out of nowhere! I don't fly into them, they flying into us!"
Irvine: "Sure, just keep telling yourself that."
Auron: "As you can see, we are all quite a bit tired, so we really should rest."
Maioko: "Well, Acronos?"
Acronos: "Huh? Hey, I'm just navigator, pilot, engineer, and strategist, so you're still leader."
Maioko: "What? Oh well, I say we just stay here, I'm kinda tired too."
Acane: "I was afraid you'd say that."
Acronos: "Let me guess. To few rooms?"
Acane: "Actually, they have one room in this entire place. One room, can you believe that?"
Acronos: "This whole inn thing is starting to tick me off, maybe I'll create a few bedrooms myself."
Tidus: "Your house had plenty of bedrooms, right? Why not just connect to that?"
Acronos: "Well, it's not that simple. With the sauna, I have it exist anywhere, but with my house I'd have to… Actually, I might be able to use my pocket dimension as a wormhole. Problem is that it's untested, and somebody will probably get sick."
Tidus: "Right, good point."
Acane: "Lets just go with couples again, the place has three beds and two roll-out couches. Wait, no one's with Kairi, so she'll have to share a bed with another couple."
Maioko: "I'm guessing couple means me with Acronos, right? Well, I doubt there's any problem with Kairi sticking with us."
Acronos: "Wait just one second here!"
Kairi: "It's okay guys, I'll take the floor."
Acronos: "…Damn you good side. Kairi, I'd rather take the floor myself. Secondly, why exactly don't we have several people sleeping on the floor?"
Irvine: "Simple old chap, not one person here prefers entertaining the idea of trying to get a good night's sleep on a hard, probably wooden, surface."
Acronos: "Excellent Irvine, your English-English was pretty damn good! Okay, I relent. Kairi, do you want me to sleep on the floor, or with you two? Please be the floor, please be the floor, please be the floor…"
Maioko: "Please be the floor, please be the floor, please be the floor…"
Kairi: "Nah, stick with us, I'm sure Maioko doesn't mind. I just wouldn't feel right refusing you the bed." Acronos and Maioko almost visibly cringed at that, but nodded.
Acane: "Obviously you guys get the first bed since I really don't envy the idea of three people on a small couch. (Everyone nods), so who else gets a bed?" A brief scuffle ensues, Tidus and Yuna, and Auron and Acane get the remaining beds. They all go into the room, and start fighting over the bathroom, except for Acronos who changes in his pocket dimension and uses the shared bathroom. Maioko follows suit and so does Kairi. They all go to bed. Finally, Auron and Acane use the other bathroom. Irvine uses cunning and weasel tactics to get the bathroom, but comes out quickly. Selphie does as well. Wakka gets the bathroom after that because Tidus wins, surrenders like a gentleman to Yuna, who gives it to Lulu, who tells Wakka to go in then and there. Obviously he obeyed. Lulu went next, and then from there the order went. They all go to sleep. Towards midnight, Acronos gets out of bed without waking anyone and goes to the balcony. The weather is close to summer, so he isn't cold. For some reason he can't sleep, but feels relaxed outside. He sort of meditates, and was planning on doing that until Maioko came outside as well, fully awake too.
Maioko: "(Whispering) Why are you up?"
Acronos: "(Whispering too) Dunno, but I can't sleep. I think I'll stay out here until daybreak."
Maioko: "You need sleep."
Acronos: "I'll be fine."
Maioko: "Sigh, you don't get it do you? All this stuff will continue to take a toll on you, get some sleep or you'll pass out. Besides, for whatever reason, when you're awake next to me, I can't get to sleep."
Acronos: "I don't trash when I'm awake, do I?"
Maioko: "No, just… Whatever. If you don't sleep, I can't sleep either. There, I'm blackmailing you with your own righteous personality, so get some sleep."
Acronos: "A) Damn you, B) I'd love to, but I seem to have insomnia."
Maioko: "What, do you have some ritual of going to sleep that you haven't been following?"
Acronos: "Well, not really."
Maioko: "C'mon, tell me so I can help you get to sleep, I'm tired!"
Acronos: "Shh! If you must know, when I was a kid, my mom sang me a lullaby or something, but that was way back, I usually get to sleep without any ritual besides brushing my teeth."
Maioko: "Okay then, I'll sing you something."
Acronos: "No, you shouldn't…"
Maioko: "Awww, don't worry. I haven't sung to anyone in a really long time, I could use the practice."
Acronos: "But!"
Maioko: "Shush now. I feel like singing anyway, so I'm gonna. If you make fun of me, I'll see if I can remember the pressure point for knocking someone out."
Acronos: "Okay, but I never pictured you as the singing type."
Maioko: "(Smiling) There are a lot of things neither you, nor anyone else knows about me, not even the darkness or the light. I like to have my secrets ready, just because everyone else has theirs. Now, sit down and shut up." Acronos did so and put his head in one hand. Maioko cleared her throat.
Maioko: "Yeesh, you just had to wake me up this early, I can't remember the actual song. I do however remember how to hum it." She started humming a nice song. Acronos was surprised at it, but Maioko shifted to actually singing, (La, la la?), and looked as if remembering something. The song was beautiful and Acronos could feel himself calming down more than he'd been in a year or two. He joined in with the lullaby his mother had sung for him. While humming, his deeper voice contrasted with Maioko's lighter one, but made a beautiful harmony. The two songs blended and merged, making a song that only they could sing. Acronos was reliving his past as he sang, and Maioko was too. They sang from their pasts, their hearts. Finally Maioko stopped and so did he, but the song was not yet completed, or so Acronos felt. Maioko was looking down, too wrapped up in her thoughts to sing. Acronos started it off by humming, but it wasn't the lullaby from before. For the ending had been a bit fast and held a premonition of coming power. Acronos had shifted it to a march, a song to stir anyone's soul into moving forward, onward, even in the face of death. He sang a song of light, of dark, of justice and existence, he sang in defiance of those who wished to defeat him, he sang to make certain he would go forward, and never stop until there was no longer anywhere forward to go. He could feel power rallying under that song, some special meaning. He knew what he was singing. Before it had been a lullaby for the past, now it was a march for the present. Finally Acronos exhausted himself, he needed a drink to calm his throat. Maioko picked up from where he'd left off, and started a bright song. It shone, it danced, and it had the clarity of a bell. This was a song of purity. It changed at one point to a darker song, a song of what wrongs could happen, but then it changed back. This was now a song for the future. This showed that the future was bright, and even if it wasn't, they could make it better if they tried. Maioko sang until she got tired, and so tired in fact that she fell asleep. Acronos shook his head, but the notes still rang into the night. He knew that his computer, which seemed to always be doing stuff like that, had recorded it. He lifted her into his arms and walked to the bed, placed her down, got in himself, and fell asleep.
Riku: "(Trying very hard to not laugh)"
Acronos & Maioko: "(Blushing furiously)"
Hey, this is turning out pretty good. If my facts serve, I've added everything I know about love and such into this romance.
Auron: "Huh? How much do you know?"
Here are a few things I've heard. Love is being able to picture yourself with the person for the rest of your life, but being unable to picture life without it. Love is what remains after passion dies, (I think I borrowed that from another fanfic, so if it's yours you get bragging rights). Also, love is separated into three qualities, the physical-sexual side of it, the mental/friendship side of it, and the emotional connection. What else… Oh yeah, love is a deep caring for a person. For instance, take what Acronos said in this chapter about caring for Maioko. He feels as though her being hurt is as bad if not worse than his own personal pain, and she feels the same. Both would die for the other's happiness, but neither wants the other to die. I think I'm starting to understand this stuff more and more.
Riku: "But usually if love is brought up, both you and Acronos spazz like crazy."
I can talk about love from a third-person point of view, if it's a subject and not actually affecting me.
Riku: "Interesting…"
Acronos: "Did you have to include all that?"
Not really, but I feel it makes more sense for you two to have a developing and growing romance, than to suddenly start making out for no apparent reason. (Both blush even more) If you add any more blood to your faces, your heads will explode from the pressure.
Narrator: "Dear God, when do you write all this?"
I already told Riku, my Pocket PC.
Disclaimer: "Author does not own all legally licensed articles mentioned in the story herein. Author does not own anything but plot and characters… Beep!"
May ye be damned to the deepest hells! (Uses grenade-gun on Disclaimer) Ah, better.
Riku: "But you built the damn thing!"
So? I made Acronos and I'm gonna have him stabbed, run over, shot, burnt, frozen, cut, slashed, electrocuted, and otherwise beaten over the course of the story… Hey wait, all those have already happened! Hmm, mostly in this chapter too.
Acronos: "Good thing both of us are quick healers."
True.
Narrator: "Hey, the Disclaimer's coming back!"
What, I just killed it!
Disclaimer: "Author does not own all legally licensed articles mentioned in the story herein. Author does not own anything but plot and characters… Beep!"
That's it, now you die! Here's a technique I'm gonna give you in a bit, Acronos. Grand Finale! (A description shall not be added for sake of plot, Disclaimer lies in ruin) Better.
Riku: "(Mouth agape) Acronos is going to master that!?"
Yep. It'll be pretty useful at the time, if the plot goes my way.
Sora: "How could it not, you are the Author."
Simple, your personalities could clash with my ideas, I could forget them, or the Facts of Existence could disagree with them.
Riku: "You mean there's something more powerful than you in this fanfic?"
Of course, the laws of my realm affect me in this one, mainly because I let them, but I digress. Also, if someone were to take control of the story, I'd be of my usual strength, which actually isn't much compared to yours.
Riku: "So I'm stronger than you, in a direct comparison?"
Well, I can't jump six feet into the air, and for whatever sick demented reason, the game developers said you could.
Riku: "Yes, I'm stronger than you!"
Actually, if luck went my way, I'd probably win in a fight.
Riku: "Huh?"
I saw that you left yourself open, a lot, during your fights. Your technique leaves you open after every single strike, and your reaction time isn't exactly impressive.
Riku: "Hey!"
I have to preserve some of my ego, even though not having any ego whatsoever is a good idea.
Riku: "Being insecure is good?"
No, simply accepting your limits, and also believing that you are not the only thing in this universe, that in fact you're practically just dust. That's a good thing.
Narrator: "This is getting too philosophical for my tastes. Where's the humor?"
School doesn't give me much to laugh about, it's too boring, and so that kinda reflects in my writing.
Narrator: "Well, that's the end of this chapter."
Yep. To anyone reading, make sure to review and give your opinions. I try my best to take them to heart and add them to the plot.
