The Finale: Return of the Dark Days

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Ana had nearly jumped out of her skin with the resounding crash from outside. Judging from the screams, it wasn't good. Not good at all. She knocked on the door to let Aedion know she wouldn't be standing guard anymore, then dashed out the door, past Hunter and the in-the-middle-of-being-interrogated man. Outside, it was completely chaos. People ran, screaming past her as bodies lay on the street, blood oozing onto the cobblestones and dirt. Somewhere, somehow, a fire had started, and as the flames liked the sky, Ana started into action. It would draw the Jester's attention, but Ana felt she had no choice. She would not let a child die. Dashing up the street, she wrapped her arms around the small child, pulling him into her arms while gripping her scythe in her right hand, holding the pole in front of them like the tiny wooden shield it was, before glaring up at the monster, turning so her back was to it and her face was turned over her shoulder. At least if it attacked before she could get away, the child would be safe.

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Kala narrowed her eyes when Osiris looked her up and down like a piece of meat hanging off a hook. She hoped he wasn't getting any funny ideas about exactly why she was here. "Four is a good number." she replied softly, looking around the building. Kingdom Hearts was beautiful, but staring at it did nothing for her. She wanted something tangible, something real. Like another report. "I wish to know everything. May I please start now?" She asked, anticipation and anxiety on the edge of her voice. "I wish to understand myself as soon as possible." Before whatever they did to me explodes and I die. The thought filled her with a little panic. Despite the killing she did, she liked life. Liked living. Sure it hadn't been much more then sex, violence, and alcohol up to this point, but she still liked it.

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It happened so fast for Tessa, her mind wasn't sure how to comprehend at first. The woman had appeared, killing one of Neoph's friends and one other before muttering some threats and vanishing. Tessa felt as though she had been put under a spell, unable to move or shoot as long as the woman talked. If that was true, they were in deep trouble. She didn't lower her bow, but warily watched Neoph and the others. Losing a comrade would have a negative effect on them, and learning their home was in danger made it worse. As they raced back, she quickened her pace until she ran next to Neoph, holding her arrow towards the ground in order to keep from accidentally shooting anyone else.

"I know you're shaken up, but you're going to need a plan. You can't just rush in, or more people are going to die." She told him as quietly as exertion and the noise around her would allow. "You need a plan." She repeated, hoping her words got through to him on some level.

 

Hunter grabbed the sword, ignoring the interrogation for the moment. From the sounds of it, there was something actually threatening people. Who did it think it was? Coming in and stealing his thunder? Shrugging off the light hit to the back of his head from Aedion, Hunter made his way outside immediately. What he saw when he got there was a kingdom hearts hentai nightmare, Twilight Thorn with its tentacle porn. "Alright, much as this situation interests me, you're going to have to die" the male said, leaping into the fray with the sword and swinging viciously at the tentacle nearest to him.​

 

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Zeal hadn't participated in the interrogating of the guard mostly because he didn't feel like it. Plus it looked like the others were handling the situation well so that his participating hadn't really mattered much. Then suddenly there was this crashing noise that could be heard from the outside. Going to see what had caused the noise had lead to an interesting sight. In fact Zeal wasn't sure what to make of what he was looking at. One thing that he could figure was that this giant monstrosity needed to be dealt with and they were the only ones around to do it. Thus, calling forth his scythe, Zeal went to attack the nearest limb of the beast.

 

Spoiler: Information

Boss Incoming!
Defeat the Twilight Thorn!

Twilight Thorn
HP: ???/???

As Ana rushed to the aid of the child, the Twilight Thorn turned its sights on her. It lashed out at her with one of the tentacles hanging off of its scarf, wrapping tightly around her and making her drop the child. It raised her up so she was at eye level with the creature. Ever so slowly, it increased its grip until Hunter slashed the tentacle off, freeing Ana. However, the creature was quick and with a single backhanded slap, sent Ana flying into the door of a shack, breaking the door down. Once Ana assessed the damage, she clearly had a couple of broken ribs and many cuts and areas that would probably be bruised tomorrow... if she lived that long. As it was about to finish the child off, Aedion came, drawing its attention away. Shortly after, Zeal struck its leg. The barrage of attacks seemed to make it angry. With a roar, thorns of black and white came out of various places on its body. The thorns struck everyone within a ten foot radius. They didn't feel like ordinary thorns, however. They burned. As if they were on fire. Unfortunately, that would mean the child and the mother were in the path as well. However, a shape burst from one of the alleyways and shielded the child with its own body. Everyone would see that this was indeed Neoph and the rest of the team that went to King's Island. The thorns bloodied Neoph's back, but the child was safe. The mother, however...

Neoph winced with pain as he stood up straight, blocking the child's view of his dead mother. "You know where the town hall is, child?" Neoph asked.

"Y-Yeah, but mom..." The kid seemed on the verge of tears as he tried to look around Neoph, only to have Neoph put a firm hand on his shoulder and hold him in place so he couldn't see his mother's body.

"Stay strong, kid. Now go!" Neoph gently pushed the child in the direction of the town hall. The kid hesitated, but eventually decided to go after a couple of seconds. Neoph tried to look at the condition of his back. His armor was rent and several large, bleeding gashes covered his back. In anger, he turned to the Twilight Thorn and shouted at it. "You'll pay for their deaths a million times over! You hear me!?" He drew his sword and gripped it tightly in both hands. "The hell are you all doing!?" He shouted to the rest of the group. "Someone needs to get control of the civilians!" Once everyone got the chance to look, they would see that the people were just running around in the streets, some escaping outside the village and others taking cover behind barrels and crates. Others still were trampling each other in a desperate attempt to escape. "Take them to the town hall and barricade the outside of the door. Instruct them to do the same on the inside!"

With a cry of anger and pain, Neoph charged the monster. With his sword, he delivered a heavy attack to the creature's leg.

Spoiler: Round Results

Twilight Thorn attacks Ana! 5 damage.
Twilight Thorn uses "Thorns"! Everyone (Save for Ana and the group that arrived [-Neoph]) take 5 damage!
Aedion attacks! 3 damage.
Hunter attacks! 2 damage.
Neoph attacks! 4 damage!

OSIRIS

Osiris chuckled at Kala's response. "Patience, I was getting to that." He continued. "Just north of Roland's Ford, there is a city they call Durlag. The lord of that city is a Keyblade Master by the name of Wallace. Everyone who is not a wielder of the Keyblade simply call him "Duke Wallace." You see, after the great war that united the worlds, the heroes wanted to make sure the worlds were never plunged into darkness again. And so, they created the Keyblade Council. They were a mightier order in their prime, but they are not to be underestimated now. The Council consists of seven Keyblade Masters, one for each of those who fought on the side of the light in the war. The location of the Council Meeting, which is held every seven years, is a mysterious land which, despite my best efforts, I have been unable to uncover."

He looked over at Kala. "Legend has it, that place was once a hub for Keyblade wielders looking for training. It stands on neutral ground. It does not pledge allegiance to light, nor does it owe itself to the darkness." He chuckled and looked back at the moon. "But i'm sure you are not interested in any of that. To the point, many Keyblade Masters have called that place their home. It has since become something of an archive. After the war, much information on the world before was lost. Not just from our books, you see. But from memories as well. Whatever ended the war also wiped the minds of the survivors clean of any memories from before the world's unification. We hardly even remember the heroes, but thanks to scraps of knowledge we have been able to uncover, we know some things for certain." He turned around and began walking again. Once Kala followed, he would continue.

"You, my dear, are the first of your kind. The only, as far as we know. That place's sole purpose is to collect knowledge. It would be an embarrassment if there was no information on you there. It is a shame that I don't know where it is. But someone does. See where i'm going with this?"

 

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Ana pulled herself up from the rubble, arm wrapped around her diaphragm. She had heard the crack, and the pain lanced through her chest as she tried to breath. Ouch. Moving slowly, she pushed herself up until she was standing on her own two feet. Throughout the entire ordeal, she hadn't once lost her grip on her scythe, and used the pole as a support. And so it seems we've come full circle. She grinned at the irony before her knees buckled as a giggle bubbled in her throat. "Whoever said laughter was the best medicine can go to hell." She muttered, glancing back the ruined frame of the doorway before stepping back onto the street.

Back into the chaos. Neoph was attempting to tell the group to get the civilians back to safety. Why? Because she was a girl? Because she was injured? She took personal offense to the comment and slashed the blade of the scythe through the air, creating a loud whistle. Her other arm still wrapped around her chest to try to hold the broken bones together, and, if she was lucky, keep them from puncturing her lungs. But she would be damned if she left the field of battle to go hide. She had looked into the eyes of this thing, or lack there of, and she felt no fear from it.

"So lets go, you son of a bitch." One foot in front of the other as her pace quickened before she rushed forward and slashed at one of the tentacles, eyes burning with the fire of vengeance. "No one puts a scratch on me and lives to tell about it."

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Tessa shrugged as Neoph ignored her words and charged into battle. She noticed one woman who was already injured, and the rest of the capable adults fighting the Twilight Thorn. "Well this is a hell of a welcoming ceremony." She said to herself before grabbing the nearest drain pipe and shimmying up. Once she was on top of the roof, she aimed her bow and took fire at the enemy as Neoph yelled for them to get the townspeople to safety. Well the others could do that. They weren't her townspeople. She had only signed up to kill Nobodies.

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The first of your kind. The only of your kind. She was sure she would have felt something from those words, but whatever it was she just shoved it down further, repressing it. Perhaps one day, she would go back and air out what feelings she might have had, but right now, she had a job to do. "Right, so someone knows about it. And you know the someone, and you want the information." She clenched and released her fingers, feeling excitement shiver through her. Damn she needed a drink right now. But it could wait. Maybe.

"Give me the name, the place. I'll get that information for you." In the best of ways, she would. She pulled her cowl up to hide her lower face as she looked down, trying to hide the excitement she felt.

 

In such a small amount of time, everything just went to the dark side of the spectrum. Widened in shock, Yu's sapphire irises stared at Aellon as she faded into nothing, the only remnants of her spiriting off into whatever afterlife this fantasy had in store for them. They traced the girls heart up into the sky until it merely faded. This Axe wielder, aside from Aedion, was the first company he had in a while. Albeit the team up wasn't even an hour long, but still he had considered her a potential friend. Had things gone a different route, perhaps they'd be a dynamic duo.

Knees felt weak, buckling under his own weight. It took him a bit of self awareness to gather himself. The dialogue commenced, and just hearing the laughter and that woman speak only added fuel to the anger that was welling up inside. It was not just that Aello had died, and this mystery girl was poking fun at it, but just the attitude and the cocky persona mixed in with suave femininity. Just who the hell did this girl think she is? It didn't help that Neoph was becoming vexed either.

Wizard hat hid sapphire eyes once more,despite him watching Neoph. Perhaps some of Yu's anger came from Empathy for Neoph.

After words were exhanged, the entire group found themselves rushing through the forest and back to the boat. Yu's small legs were darting like a ninja as he took up point. Speed wasn't just about who had longer legs, but a number of steps: distance ratio. The faster one moved their legs, the more ground they could cover. It helped even more if one leaned their body forward to position most of the weight forward.

Indignant about all of this, Yu kept quiet with gun still in hand. Cape flapped against the air resistance, no doubt revealing his hand holding on to the said gun as well as attire. Locks of red hair flowed with the wind in this evening.

 

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The black and white thorns had come as a surprise to the scythe wielder, but he was ale to avoid them fairly easily. The same couldn't be said about the little boy and his mother, more so his mother. While Neoph had arrived and saved the kid, the mother was slain right before his eyes.

While on the outside he appeared to have not been moved at all by the sight, on the inside though he was actually quite angry. Not being able to prevent the death of the child's mother reminded him of hos he was able to do nothing as his entire clan was cursed. His grip on his scythe had tightened as Zeal once more charged at the nobody. The difference was that instead of attacking its legs once more, he used his scythe to vault up towards the nobody's face. "Eat this!" With a hefty swing, he slashed across on it's face.

 

Neoph's group had made it to the scene of chaos that was unfolding within the town. Everything was happening so fast, and part of that reason was because of the civilians running around in fear. They were nothing more than a distraction to the untrained eyes, and would only be getting in the way. Most likely the reason behind Neoph's orders to maintain crowd control.

The young boy sighed after making a quick assessment of the fighters on scene. Most of them were all too busy jumping into the fray to even bother to deal with this mess. Odd considering Neoph had to take a massive hit in order to save ONE civilian. Could you imagine how much more annoying this fight would be if they had to protect more people in middle of this chaos? Wizard had shook left to right consistently as disappointed waved over the boy.

Yu took a step forward, and raising the triple barreled gun at the air he pulled the trigger. A firebolt launched into the sky, acting as some kind of flare to gather peoples attention; hopefully the Twilight Thorn wouldn't notice it while occupied. The flare would reach its peak with civilian eyes locked on to it; because who wouldn't look up to see a bright reddish light glowing in the evening sky, and thus descend down near the youth in order to bring attention to him.

Once the boy took a moment to look around, "Alright listen up! We need every none soldier, guard, or mercenary to head straight to the Town Hall! This is not up for debate! Your lives and the lives of the people trying to protect you are all at risk right now! Look around you! There are people on the floor being stepped on!" words shouted strong from the little adolescent. "In the midst of this chaos, will you all act like selfish animals? Take up courage! Pick up your neighbor if they need help, and escort the women, children, and elderly to the Town Hall! It's the safest place to be."

He began to take a few steps in the Town Hall's direction, stopping only to take a look at the civilians with the hope that they would listen.

"For everyone's safety, please follow me to the Town Hall! Forget your belongings. We have to get to safety NOW." he shouted as loud as he could, using as much of authority he could muster. You know what they say, you sell something you gotta own it. He had his game face on. No playing, no being cute, childish, or joking. Anyone with a common sense could see it. Once he would escort the civilians to safety, he'd make his way back to help the others fend off the Twilight Thorn. Hopefully doing so would not take too long.

 

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Ana jumped back from attacking, taking too deep a breath and wobbling for a moment as the pain shot through her body. When she had caught her breath, she yelled over to Aedion, finally responding to him as her creator apologized deeply to Aedion's creator for the delay; "Sounds like a good plan to me!" Others had joined the battle, and Yu was leading the townspeople away. Surely together they could defeat this thing.

She jumped back into battle, ignoring the pain for now.

 

As the thorns shot towards Hunter, he held his blade in front of him in an attempt to stop them from harming him, but the thorns were incredibly powerful and caused him to stagger slightly on impact, making their way past his defences and stabbing right into him. The searing pain was incredible, and yet Hunter stood there doing what he could to not show signs of feeling the pain. It was tough, and he did grimace once or twice from the pain, but after a few moments the thorns retracted and returned to the creature that had used them. God, if he had to rate how painful he'd made it seem he probably would've put it at a 5/22. Taking his sword and holding it in a more ready position, he completely ignored Neoph's comment (as he often did) to help the people, and simply dove forward towards the creature as he slashed with all his might.​

 

Spoiler: Information

Boss Incoming!
Defeat the Twilight Thorn!

Twilight Thorn
HP: 68/100

The onslaught of attacks continued. The blows to the face seemed to piss it off even more. Neoph jumped into the air with a fierce cry and slashed the thing across the face. With a roar, the Twilight Thorn gestured to Neoph. With a flash, he was bound in the air by four spheres of light that held his arms and legs. He couldn't move. Then, the thing wound its fist back and struck him. Neoph struggled desperately and managed to force himself to barely dodge the blow. Then, using the momentum from the dodging, he counterattacked by spinning his body around as it was suspended in the air to deliver a blow to the Twilight Thorn's face. The light spheres faded and Neoph dropped to the ground safely.

Meanwhile, Yu's attempt to get the villagers to the town hall was successful. While it took some doing as everyone was panicked, they eventually followed what he said and went to the town hall. It would appear everyone was safe for now.


OSIRIS

Osiris stopped walking and turned to Kala. "Head to the city of Durlag. It is just north of Roland's Ford. But first..." He extended his index finger and touched right over where Kala's heart was. A small dark spot appeared where he touched. She would feel an overwhelming darkness within her, but it would eventually subside and the tides of her heart would calm. "There. Now you can go wherever you want so long as you have been in the place physically before." He withdrew his hand and dropped it to his side. "Your target is Arianna. She is Master Wallace's adviser and the next best thing we have to the man himself. Find her and bring her to me. Alive. One more thing." His expression got really serious. "Do not engage Master Wallace. Avoid him at all costs. Make no mistake, he is stronger than even I. If you try to fight him, you will die."

Spoiler: Round Results

Aedion attacks! 3 damage.
Hunter attacks! 2 damage.
Neoph attacks! 4 damage.
Twilight Thorn uses "Imprison"! Neoph rolls a 15. Counterattack: 4 damage!
Ana attacks! Critical! 6 damage!
Zeal attacks! Critical! 4 damage!

 

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Ana kept up the onslaught, despite the pain. She tried to work in tandem with Hunter, Aedion and Zephyr in order to kill the thing quicker. Neoph seemed to be doing well on his own.

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Tessa wasn't doing any damage from her position, so she leaped across several rooftops and found a new archer position behind a chimney stack, where she continued to try and inflict damage from a distance.

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Kala frowned, but turned and with a curt nod, and left. The thought of more things happening to her without her consent was unnerving, but she decided not to focus on it. What was done was done. Now to test out her new-found ability. She put her palm out, pressing it against what she imagined was an invisible wall. It took a few tries, but eventually a corridor of darkness opened. Pleased with herself, she grinned underneath her cowl before stepping in.On the other side was the bustling city of Durlag...now to find her target. She breathed in the heady scents of the city, taking in the crowded streets before heading down a darkened alley. First step was information.

 

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The creature was getting weaker, possibly nearing its end. Thus the only thing that could be done was to continue to attack until it was defeated. To that end, Zeal raised his scythe and attacked at the nobodies mid sections after leaping at it.

 

Just as Neoph had advised, Yu made sure that the doors leading to the Hall were barracated(sp?) before running off to aid the others fighting. There had been a bit of resistance at first with the civilians as not many of them were too keen on following a "Little boy". The only reason the protesters decided to listen to him was that others had seen Yu with Aedion and Neoph earlier in the day. Two high ranking officials hanging around with a little boy meant that Yu must've carried some form of authority. Honestly, the gunman didn't care. As long as they had listened and followed him to safety.

"No one you do not recognize gets in, and no one gets out, understood?"

Scurrying through the town, the thudding and thunder of the climatic battle resounded throughout spacious town. It was faint, but the closer and closer Yu got the louder it became. Spectacularly designed sawed shotgun remained gripped tight in the boy's right hand, cape flapping against the air as Yu scurried through the town like some speedster. Turning a corner, his eyes met with the battle scene. A gargantuan sized white jumpsuit towered over the group. Neoph, Aedion, Ana, Tessa, Zeal, Hunter, and Lance were there fending off the creature and it's flexible maneuvers. Eyelids narrowed over irises as the boy entered into the fray, taking in the surroundings. Momentum stopped as he took one step forward, unveiling the beautiful gun he had always hidden under his cloak. Eyes locked on the behemoth's head, he shouted

"Blizzard!"

The gun's barrel blasted a surge of ice dust, it's power resonating in the battle field as an ice shard darted with unfathomable speed at the center of the giant Nobodies crest.

 

While Hunter couldn't visibly see any damage on the creature for some unexplicable reason, he knew that his attacks were working. In fact, he was fairly satisfied how it was going. Why? Because it was pissed off. It was easy enough to see that in its ruthless, aggressive actions, and Hunter liked nothing more than pissing enemies off. Enemies and allies really. Who wanted to discriminate? So keeping this in mind and successfully stretching out this post, the male swung at the twilight thorn with all his might.​

 

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Essentially a bump post to try and keep one of her favorite RP's alive, Kala had turned and twisted through the many streets of the city, and now stopped at a tavern for a drink. The ale was cool, refreshing, and strong enough to make her stomach turn warm. As she pressed her lips against the wooden tankard, she considered her new boss's position, and those of the people she met. There was no doubt in her mind that one day, she would have to fight them. She felt a tug of concern, but pushed it away. Couldn't be helped. They didn't have information on her, and Osiris had all the answers. She needed those answers.

Without them, she had no hope of understanding what she was, what she could do, or even her life expectancy. She was fairly sure that she could never become a mother, which had saddened her at first, but as life went on she realized it was for the best. The mothering instinct, however small it may have been, was destroyed, along with any hope for love or kindness. It had taken her some time to accept this, but she understood now that it made her stronger. She eyed the bartender before throwing up a finger, asking for one more. She had time.