Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2014 21:53:11 GMT -5
The night sky was peppered with stars as a gentle breeze floated through the area rustling leaves of the nearby trees and the neatly trimmed hedges in the well kept gardens that surrounded the large house that had all the lights on inside revealing shadows that rushed here and there as muffled shouting from within could be heard.
Anyone in the garden could see that the shadows were three women rushing about. Two of the women were giving orders to the third who was moving as fast as she could to keep up with all the orders being slung around. The two women were getting ready for the grand ball that the prince was holding at the glowing castle of dreams in the distance. Making sure to look their best was a high priority on the two women’s selfish list. In a nutshell, it meant ordering the poor third lady around making sure she dressed them and got every little article they wanted for the ball in a quick manner.
If one gazing into the house and hearing those muffled voices thought the chaos within the house was bad and decided to moved on, then that one person was very wise…and had saved themselves from the unnecessary noise and drama that was filling the house more and more with each second that passed.
The noise and drama… that is what a particular keybearer had to listen as he remained sitting quietly at the back of the deep pantry that he had been hidden in waiting for the sounds outside to calm down once more.
“Cinderella, where are my new pearls!” one woman was yelling.
“Cinderella, I told you to get my shoes right now!” the other was yelling.
“Cinderella, my scarf now!”
“Cinderella, my fan!”
Cinderella! Cinderella! Cinderella! Cinderella!
On instinct, the white hair keybearer pulled his knees closer to himself as he bowed his head, closed his eyes, covered his ears, and gritted his teeth silently within the darkness highly peeved by the two women –Cinderella’s step sisters – that had been calling the poor woman’s name and ordering her around ever since they had gotten back in from the market. Riku felt sorry for the woman who obeyed every whim of the pair and their mother too without any complaint. His more rebellious personality wanted to lash out at them. Tell them to shut up and do it themselves...anything to stop them for bullying Cinderella and finally give her, himself, and even the mice that resided in the house a break from all the whining and yelling; however, Riku resisted the impulse to act with all his might.
He couldn’t afford to make himself known to the stepsisters and stepmother. Not after everything Cinderella had done to keep his presence within the house hidden from them.
It had started earlier in the day. The light that had taken him to Dwarf Woodlands of Snow White’s world had transported him into yet another unknown world as the young keyblade master continued his quest of tracking the strange darkness that had lingered in the woods and making sure that it was only two Princesses of Heart that were captured by the True Organization.
Being dumped out into a smaller and much brighter wood than the one he left, Riku had only managed to turn his head to left before quite unexpectedly he was attacked by a strange group of creatures. The creatures were a bit smaller than Shadow Heartless, a dark purplish blue in color, and had red eyes instead of the trade markgold ones of the Heartless. While Riku indeed got a bad vibe from the creatures and knew that they were indeed dark, the keyblader was not fully prepared for just how quick and smart these strange little beings were.
Without warning, the clicking and growling creatures swarmed towards him at once deciding to attack him from various heights and positions. Remaining calm despite the strange situation, Riku had summoned his keyblade and forced his body into action. With graceful sweeps and twirls, Riku was able to hold off the first round of attacks as his blade easily sliced through and knocked away the thin creatures that attacked him. As some vanished in puffs of black smoke others were scrambling to their feet to attack again.
Staying in motion, Riku moved to finished off down creatures while swatting away and destroying the ones that came in to attack him once more; however, no matter how hard he battled, the creatures would not give up. They just kept reappearing and swarming forward in a fashion that was even more invasive and annoying than how Heartless usually swarmed.
The pressure and the fatigue that was slowly settling in as more and more of the odd creatures came at him, Riku began to feel his heart race even faster than normal as a bit of panic filled him. He didn’t want to get pulled into the Darkness again…didn’t want to have to deal with that fight again…and potential him again. While Rku was indeed stronger than before and more resistant than ever, Riku still had some doubts about his ability to keep the Darkness at bay for long. Sure…he could out last most…if he knew what it was he was facing, but up against this? An unknown force?
No…he couldn’t fall again. What if he couldn’t get back out again? If he fell again, then that would mean the Light would have one less warrior on their side and the worlds one less defender, but more important than that, it would mean Sora and Kairi would be lost to him….and he could not allow that.
Becoming a bit more desperate to drive the swarming creatures back, Riku had begun to fight back even more, but as he did the creatures that attacked only seemed to get stronger and more heavy. He didn’t understand…why couldn’t he push them back? What were these things that were pushing him a keyblade master back so easily? Was he really that weak still?
The negative thoughts continued to invade his mind as the creatures’ strength grew more and more until finally they had driven the keyblade master back and into a tree. Barely managing to keep the keyblade between himself and the claws that seemed to tear at every bit of his body. Riku had thought that the creatures would win, but then out of nowhere a whistle was heard and the strange creatures pulled away from him and retreated into strange portals that were similar yet very different than the typical Corridors the keyblader was used to seeing. Exhausted and hurting, Riku had remained slumped against the tree, the sturdy trunk the only thing keeping his heavy body from falling. Through his blurred vision he was able to make out a figure wearing a red cloak about it body as a hood kept its face hidden in shadows. The figure was surrounded by those strange creatures, but they were not attacking it. Perhaps, the figure was their master…or maybe it was something more resistant than himself to whatever the creatures were. Whatever the case was, Riku’s mind wouldn’t let him focus enough to figure it all out.
All he knew as he began to slide to the ground as his legs gave out on him, was that the cloaked figure gave off a bad vibe that suggested that it did not belong to this world and like himself was here with a purpose in mind. Trying to hold onto consciousness, Riku had watched the figure turn its back upon him and then began to walk forward before disappearing like a mirage in the dim light.
Confused and unable resist sleep any longer, Riku’s eyes had closed as the familiar and safe darkness of the unconscious world swallowed him whole. It wasn’t until some time later that he had woken up not in the forest he had started out in, but rather a simple room made of wood. Gazing about sleepily he found that the room had simple wooden furniture in and a single window that was pushed opened to let in the breeze and show the landscape draped in the noon’s shifting light.
This place as simple as it was was comforting to Riku and almost reminded him of the warm embrace of the islands, or the warmth he felt when his Heart knew it was in the safety of Light’s arms. He wasn’t sure where he was and for a moment had forgotten what he had set out to do; however, as the young man sat up in the bed and felt the pinches of pain from his side, the keyblader had winced as his hand instinctively drifted to his side where he could fill a strange lump under his shirt.
Moving his shirt, he found that his side had been wrapped carefully in bandages to stop a wound there from bleeding. He could still see a few small splashes of blood against the white bandages, but otherwise he seemed to be alright…
Right…
He thought as he recovered the bandages with his shirt. He had been fighting those strange creatures in the woods, but had lost to them. The only thing that had saved him was the red cloaked figure that had given off the bad vibes. Who was that figure and why was the battle with the creatures he fought so taxing upon him? While he not really damaged badly outside of the wound on his side, he still felt like he had been nearly drained of all of his energy during that fight in the woods, but why? Was it the creatures’ ability to drain energy or had he unknowingly already been tired and just didn’t know it until then?
Hmm…the questions kept coming making the keybearer feel more and more uncomfortable the more he pondered the new unknown and its effect upon himself.
Heartless, Nobodies, Dreams, Organization, Dark Warriors, an unidentified Darkness that rivaled Ansem’s and now this…
The stack of troubles kept piling up making the keybear wonder if in the end if all of the fighting done and to be done was even going to be enough to save the worlds from whatever was happening to them.
Sighing inwardly, Riku pushed those train of thoughts away before refocusing on the place around him once more deciding that his best option at the moment was to figure out where exactly the Light had dumped him and also thank the one who had dragged him to this safe area and had healed him up.
Moving to get out of the bed, Riku froze in his spot as the door knob to the room began to turn causing aquamarine eyes to drift towards the door as a young woman dressed in a simple maid's dress and wearing a white scarf upon her head entered the room bring with her a tray of food. Quietly she entered and then upon seeing him up and half way out of the bed, she smiled warmly at him.
She stated that she was glad to see he was up again, but advised him to stay in bed for a while longer to gain more strength. She said while she was no doctor, she still thought it too soon for him to move about and potentially injure himself some more. While under normal circumstances Riku might’ve easily made up some excuse as to why it was okay for him to be moving at this point, the usually stubborn keybladaer found himself being quite obedient to the woman as he pulled his leg back under the cover sand stayed put as his aquamarine eyes studied the woman intently.
She was beautiful and yet it was not looks that had made Riku obey, but rather surprise and shock. Without having to go hunting this time around, Riku found himself within the presence of a Princess of Heart. The warmth and Light she radiated with was evident enough of this, but there was another reason Riku knew that the woman he dealt with was the real deal.
…When he had been a puppet to Ansem…he had collected the Princesses for him. He knew their faces well, but thankfully just like Snow White, this woman did not seem to remember him or what he had done to her. If she did remember him, she played it off well enough treating him like someone she just met as she introduced herself as Cinderella before asking his name. A bit hesitantly, he replied back as inwardly he did his best to keep his discomfort with the situation away.
He was nervous that she would figure him out, but after about five minutes of being within the woman’s presence that nervous energy began to melt away as a calm came over him, allowing him to listen and speak to woman a bit more confidently than he had before.
She had asked him where he had come from and he had told her he was from somewhere far off before asking her bits and pieces about the place he was in. He found that this land was her home and that while her life was hard, she was still happy as the mice and animals kept her company and helped her keep the house clean for her stepmother and stepsisters. The conversation was light and enjoyable and lasted for about an hour before Riku felt comfortable enough to begin asking her more serious questions that would help him determine just how bad that cloaked figure he had seen was and if he should linger here for long; however, before that little conversation could even begin, there was banging on the door from downstairs as someone outside began yelling for someone to open door before the banging on the door was repeated.
Sighing lightly as that gentle smile faded, the woman named Cinderella told Riku to stay put and keep quiet while she dealt with her family. She promised that she would come back to get him out of the place, but for now he should eat and rest before she was getting out of her chair and leaving the room locking the door behind her.
Being still for a moment, Riku listened as the noise from outside moved inside as the door was opened downstair. There was a lot of yelling and whinning that Riku couldn’t decipher before more noise was coming from outside. Looking towards the window where two mice sat watching a scene below, Riku quietly slipped out of bed and after gaining his balance, he had drifted over to the window and carefully peeked out. Outside there were two carriages and many people that were running back and forth bringing stuff in the house while others wandered the garden. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but if he had to guess it looked like some sort of event was being set up for…and Cinderella was in the midst of all the actions helping with the boxes while an older woman with a plump cat in her arms and two younger women stood off the side yelling out orders to the people bringing all the stuff in.
It was indeed a strange event and one that would appear to take a while…so that meant he was stuck in the room for a bit. Not exactly ideal when a potential threat was on the loose, but he couldn’t risk being discovered, so the keyblader retreated back to the bed and sat on the edge of it to wait for Cinderella’s return or for the garden to clear out, so he could leave via the window; however, the garden never cleared out as more and more people came and went....and poor Cinderella was kept so busy by all the yelling that about time the house did quiet for a short period of time, the sun had set and darkness had set into the world.
In the brief calm, Cinderella had come for him as promised and had managed to get him into the darkened kitchen without anyone noticing; however, before she could get him to the back door so he could escape, there was a knock on the door causing the woman to instead hide him in the pantry for the time being until she could take care of the person at the door.
…The person who unfortunately had been a messenger. The announcement of the messenger's presence brought in the two women that were Cinderella’s stepsisters, who chatted loudly as they ordered Cinderella to do some other task for them. From there, Riku had to sit patiently in his hiding spot as the house erupted into chaos again and once more his escape was cut off. This time by the stepmother’s cat, Lucifer who had decided to come into the kitchen and sniff around for mice and when he found none he promptly sat in front of the slightly cracked pantry door forcing it to close when his weight settled upon it. So once more Riku had to play the waiting game....
Keeping his ears covered to muffle out the shouts that were now in the kitchen, Riku watched as light filled the room beyond the door, but could not come far into his dark hiding spot and thankfully no one had the need to open the door to get something. The noise continued on and on moving from the kitchen back out into the hallway as the sisters continued to squawk and scream.
When a brief calm came upon the house, Riku took a chance to lower his hands from his ears. Was it really over?
A second ticked by and then, yelling of a different kind began. It seemed that the stepsisters were upset about something and was yelling about items being theirs as the sounds of cloth being ripped and beads hitting carpet filled the air. Not sure what that was all about, Riku listened as the yelling ceased and the stepsisters and the their mother left the house. As the front door closed, Riku listened to the silence for a moment before hearing sobbing move through the kitchen and out the backdoor.
More concerned about what had happened rather than being discovered at this point, Riku had gotten to his feet and took his chances with cracking open the pantry door and peeking out into the kitchen lit by the dying fire. No one, not even the cat was around, so pushing the door open a bit more, he had entered the kitchen and made his way over to the slightly ajar back door. Approaching the door, he looked out into the garden where Cinderella was sitting on the ground leaned against the garden bench crying as she wore the tattered remains of what was once a beautiful dress.
Wincing inwardly, Riku had wanted to go to the woman and comfort heer. Had wanted do something to help her repair the damage done no doubt by the screamers that were her sisters. He wasn’t sure what the huge fuss from earlier was about, but he did remember hearing the words “royal ball” floating about the house all day long. Maybe it was this ball the sisters had gone to with their mother and maybe Cinderella had been prepared to go too, but instead was halted when the beasts tore up the dress she had probably worked very hard on to make herself.
The scene was indeed enough to get his blood boiling once more at the treatment of this woman. If anyone deserved happiness in this chaotic household, then it was the woman out there and not the ones who had left for the ball….He had to do something even if it wasn’t his business…
So deciding to trust his instincts on this rather than let his mind talk him out of it, Riku moved to go outside, but found himself retreating back into the shadows of the kitchen as a bright light appeared before Cinderella and formed into the shape of an elderly woman dressed in blue and wielding a wand.
A fairy…Riku thought to himself as he watched the woman and the Cinderella speak. The fairy posing as an older woman claimed she was Cinderella’s fairy god mother and had come to grant her wish of going to the ball. Something that Cinderella was a bit skeptical of at first, but as the fairy performed her magic creating a carriage out of pumpkin and horses and coachmen from mice, Cinderella’s doubts vanished as she instead became excited about the whole idea of finally going to the ball. Continuing to watch, Riku saw the whole transformation Cinderella went through going from a poor peasant girl look to the more familiar look of a Princess. He remembered the dress from when he had helped captured the woman before…it made him feel even worse for the past action now that he knew the story behind such a dress; however, unlike last time, this time he wouldn’t be ruining her chances of going to the ball.
So staying quiet Riku watched as the young woman stepped into her carriage and after being warned to be back home by midnight, the carriage was taking her off into the night and the fairy disappearing. Smiling inwardly, Riku shook his head happy that despite being forgotten by Cinderella that at least the woman would have fun at the ball.
And now that everyone was gone, he too could leave the house and in turn search for information the old fashion way. He’d simply have to go into town and start questioning the folks left behind or not going to the ball about the cloaked figure or anything else strange around the land. It was a bit depressing that he could not thank Cinderella for her help, but he couldn’t afford to linger here any longer with work to do. He had to make sure this place was safe before truly leaving.
So with his mind made up, Riku slipped out of the house making sure to close door behind him as he entered the gardens. Turning from the door, Riku faced the path that led towards the castle and towards the town; however, as he did this, he found himself tensing as the red cloaked figure from before stood on the same path a few feet ahead of him.
“Hey!” Riku called as he moved towards the figure aiming to keep it right was now that it had appeared again. It looked like he wouldn’t need to go information hunting after –
!!
Two steps forward and the figure was vanishing in a cloud of black mist that quickly began to travel up the road and towards the castle. Knowing that nothing ever good ever came out of a visit from something dark like that mist, Riku took off after the mist, hoping to be able to catch up with it before it had time to enter the ball and do whatever it was going to do to the ball and maybe even Cinderella….
________________________________________________________
Tag: Tag you’re it, Terra. You can meet Riku at the castle’s doors or bump into him as he goes after the mist.
Note: Black mist going to the ball? I don’t think so.
Anyone in the garden could see that the shadows were three women rushing about. Two of the women were giving orders to the third who was moving as fast as she could to keep up with all the orders being slung around. The two women were getting ready for the grand ball that the prince was holding at the glowing castle of dreams in the distance. Making sure to look their best was a high priority on the two women’s selfish list. In a nutshell, it meant ordering the poor third lady around making sure she dressed them and got every little article they wanted for the ball in a quick manner.
If one gazing into the house and hearing those muffled voices thought the chaos within the house was bad and decided to moved on, then that one person was very wise…and had saved themselves from the unnecessary noise and drama that was filling the house more and more with each second that passed.
The noise and drama… that is what a particular keybearer had to listen as he remained sitting quietly at the back of the deep pantry that he had been hidden in waiting for the sounds outside to calm down once more.
“Cinderella, where are my new pearls!” one woman was yelling.
“Cinderella, I told you to get my shoes right now!” the other was yelling.
“Cinderella, my scarf now!”
“Cinderella, my fan!”
Cinderella! Cinderella! Cinderella! Cinderella!
On instinct, the white hair keybearer pulled his knees closer to himself as he bowed his head, closed his eyes, covered his ears, and gritted his teeth silently within the darkness highly peeved by the two women –Cinderella’s step sisters – that had been calling the poor woman’s name and ordering her around ever since they had gotten back in from the market. Riku felt sorry for the woman who obeyed every whim of the pair and their mother too without any complaint. His more rebellious personality wanted to lash out at them. Tell them to shut up and do it themselves...anything to stop them for bullying Cinderella and finally give her, himself, and even the mice that resided in the house a break from all the whining and yelling; however, Riku resisted the impulse to act with all his might.
He couldn’t afford to make himself known to the stepsisters and stepmother. Not after everything Cinderella had done to keep his presence within the house hidden from them.
It had started earlier in the day. The light that had taken him to Dwarf Woodlands of Snow White’s world had transported him into yet another unknown world as the young keyblade master continued his quest of tracking the strange darkness that had lingered in the woods and making sure that it was only two Princesses of Heart that were captured by the True Organization.
Being dumped out into a smaller and much brighter wood than the one he left, Riku had only managed to turn his head to left before quite unexpectedly he was attacked by a strange group of creatures. The creatures were a bit smaller than Shadow Heartless, a dark purplish blue in color, and had red eyes instead of the trade markgold ones of the Heartless. While Riku indeed got a bad vibe from the creatures and knew that they were indeed dark, the keyblader was not fully prepared for just how quick and smart these strange little beings were.
Without warning, the clicking and growling creatures swarmed towards him at once deciding to attack him from various heights and positions. Remaining calm despite the strange situation, Riku had summoned his keyblade and forced his body into action. With graceful sweeps and twirls, Riku was able to hold off the first round of attacks as his blade easily sliced through and knocked away the thin creatures that attacked him. As some vanished in puffs of black smoke others were scrambling to their feet to attack again.
Staying in motion, Riku moved to finished off down creatures while swatting away and destroying the ones that came in to attack him once more; however, no matter how hard he battled, the creatures would not give up. They just kept reappearing and swarming forward in a fashion that was even more invasive and annoying than how Heartless usually swarmed.
The pressure and the fatigue that was slowly settling in as more and more of the odd creatures came at him, Riku began to feel his heart race even faster than normal as a bit of panic filled him. He didn’t want to get pulled into the Darkness again…didn’t want to have to deal with that fight again…and potential him again. While Rku was indeed stronger than before and more resistant than ever, Riku still had some doubts about his ability to keep the Darkness at bay for long. Sure…he could out last most…if he knew what it was he was facing, but up against this? An unknown force?
No…he couldn’t fall again. What if he couldn’t get back out again? If he fell again, then that would mean the Light would have one less warrior on their side and the worlds one less defender, but more important than that, it would mean Sora and Kairi would be lost to him….and he could not allow that.
Becoming a bit more desperate to drive the swarming creatures back, Riku had begun to fight back even more, but as he did the creatures that attacked only seemed to get stronger and more heavy. He didn’t understand…why couldn’t he push them back? What were these things that were pushing him a keyblade master back so easily? Was he really that weak still?
The negative thoughts continued to invade his mind as the creatures’ strength grew more and more until finally they had driven the keyblade master back and into a tree. Barely managing to keep the keyblade between himself and the claws that seemed to tear at every bit of his body. Riku had thought that the creatures would win, but then out of nowhere a whistle was heard and the strange creatures pulled away from him and retreated into strange portals that were similar yet very different than the typical Corridors the keyblader was used to seeing. Exhausted and hurting, Riku had remained slumped against the tree, the sturdy trunk the only thing keeping his heavy body from falling. Through his blurred vision he was able to make out a figure wearing a red cloak about it body as a hood kept its face hidden in shadows. The figure was surrounded by those strange creatures, but they were not attacking it. Perhaps, the figure was their master…or maybe it was something more resistant than himself to whatever the creatures were. Whatever the case was, Riku’s mind wouldn’t let him focus enough to figure it all out.
All he knew as he began to slide to the ground as his legs gave out on him, was that the cloaked figure gave off a bad vibe that suggested that it did not belong to this world and like himself was here with a purpose in mind. Trying to hold onto consciousness, Riku had watched the figure turn its back upon him and then began to walk forward before disappearing like a mirage in the dim light.
Confused and unable resist sleep any longer, Riku’s eyes had closed as the familiar and safe darkness of the unconscious world swallowed him whole. It wasn’t until some time later that he had woken up not in the forest he had started out in, but rather a simple room made of wood. Gazing about sleepily he found that the room had simple wooden furniture in and a single window that was pushed opened to let in the breeze and show the landscape draped in the noon’s shifting light.
This place as simple as it was was comforting to Riku and almost reminded him of the warm embrace of the islands, or the warmth he felt when his Heart knew it was in the safety of Light’s arms. He wasn’t sure where he was and for a moment had forgotten what he had set out to do; however, as the young man sat up in the bed and felt the pinches of pain from his side, the keyblader had winced as his hand instinctively drifted to his side where he could fill a strange lump under his shirt.
Moving his shirt, he found that his side had been wrapped carefully in bandages to stop a wound there from bleeding. He could still see a few small splashes of blood against the white bandages, but otherwise he seemed to be alright…
Right…
He thought as he recovered the bandages with his shirt. He had been fighting those strange creatures in the woods, but had lost to them. The only thing that had saved him was the red cloaked figure that had given off the bad vibes. Who was that figure and why was the battle with the creatures he fought so taxing upon him? While he not really damaged badly outside of the wound on his side, he still felt like he had been nearly drained of all of his energy during that fight in the woods, but why? Was it the creatures’ ability to drain energy or had he unknowingly already been tired and just didn’t know it until then?
Hmm…the questions kept coming making the keybearer feel more and more uncomfortable the more he pondered the new unknown and its effect upon himself.
Heartless, Nobodies, Dreams, Organization, Dark Warriors, an unidentified Darkness that rivaled Ansem’s and now this…
The stack of troubles kept piling up making the keybear wonder if in the end if all of the fighting done and to be done was even going to be enough to save the worlds from whatever was happening to them.
Sighing inwardly, Riku pushed those train of thoughts away before refocusing on the place around him once more deciding that his best option at the moment was to figure out where exactly the Light had dumped him and also thank the one who had dragged him to this safe area and had healed him up.
Moving to get out of the bed, Riku froze in his spot as the door knob to the room began to turn causing aquamarine eyes to drift towards the door as a young woman dressed in a simple maid's dress and wearing a white scarf upon her head entered the room bring with her a tray of food. Quietly she entered and then upon seeing him up and half way out of the bed, she smiled warmly at him.
She stated that she was glad to see he was up again, but advised him to stay in bed for a while longer to gain more strength. She said while she was no doctor, she still thought it too soon for him to move about and potentially injure himself some more. While under normal circumstances Riku might’ve easily made up some excuse as to why it was okay for him to be moving at this point, the usually stubborn keybladaer found himself being quite obedient to the woman as he pulled his leg back under the cover sand stayed put as his aquamarine eyes studied the woman intently.
She was beautiful and yet it was not looks that had made Riku obey, but rather surprise and shock. Without having to go hunting this time around, Riku found himself within the presence of a Princess of Heart. The warmth and Light she radiated with was evident enough of this, but there was another reason Riku knew that the woman he dealt with was the real deal.
…When he had been a puppet to Ansem…he had collected the Princesses for him. He knew their faces well, but thankfully just like Snow White, this woman did not seem to remember him or what he had done to her. If she did remember him, she played it off well enough treating him like someone she just met as she introduced herself as Cinderella before asking his name. A bit hesitantly, he replied back as inwardly he did his best to keep his discomfort with the situation away.
He was nervous that she would figure him out, but after about five minutes of being within the woman’s presence that nervous energy began to melt away as a calm came over him, allowing him to listen and speak to woman a bit more confidently than he had before.
She had asked him where he had come from and he had told her he was from somewhere far off before asking her bits and pieces about the place he was in. He found that this land was her home and that while her life was hard, she was still happy as the mice and animals kept her company and helped her keep the house clean for her stepmother and stepsisters. The conversation was light and enjoyable and lasted for about an hour before Riku felt comfortable enough to begin asking her more serious questions that would help him determine just how bad that cloaked figure he had seen was and if he should linger here for long; however, before that little conversation could even begin, there was banging on the door from downstairs as someone outside began yelling for someone to open door before the banging on the door was repeated.
Sighing lightly as that gentle smile faded, the woman named Cinderella told Riku to stay put and keep quiet while she dealt with her family. She promised that she would come back to get him out of the place, but for now he should eat and rest before she was getting out of her chair and leaving the room locking the door behind her.
Being still for a moment, Riku listened as the noise from outside moved inside as the door was opened downstair. There was a lot of yelling and whinning that Riku couldn’t decipher before more noise was coming from outside. Looking towards the window where two mice sat watching a scene below, Riku quietly slipped out of bed and after gaining his balance, he had drifted over to the window and carefully peeked out. Outside there were two carriages and many people that were running back and forth bringing stuff in the house while others wandered the garden. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but if he had to guess it looked like some sort of event was being set up for…and Cinderella was in the midst of all the actions helping with the boxes while an older woman with a plump cat in her arms and two younger women stood off the side yelling out orders to the people bringing all the stuff in.
It was indeed a strange event and one that would appear to take a while…so that meant he was stuck in the room for a bit. Not exactly ideal when a potential threat was on the loose, but he couldn’t risk being discovered, so the keyblader retreated back to the bed and sat on the edge of it to wait for Cinderella’s return or for the garden to clear out, so he could leave via the window; however, the garden never cleared out as more and more people came and went....and poor Cinderella was kept so busy by all the yelling that about time the house did quiet for a short period of time, the sun had set and darkness had set into the world.
In the brief calm, Cinderella had come for him as promised and had managed to get him into the darkened kitchen without anyone noticing; however, before she could get him to the back door so he could escape, there was a knock on the door causing the woman to instead hide him in the pantry for the time being until she could take care of the person at the door.
…The person who unfortunately had been a messenger. The announcement of the messenger's presence brought in the two women that were Cinderella’s stepsisters, who chatted loudly as they ordered Cinderella to do some other task for them. From there, Riku had to sit patiently in his hiding spot as the house erupted into chaos again and once more his escape was cut off. This time by the stepmother’s cat, Lucifer who had decided to come into the kitchen and sniff around for mice and when he found none he promptly sat in front of the slightly cracked pantry door forcing it to close when his weight settled upon it. So once more Riku had to play the waiting game....
Keeping his ears covered to muffle out the shouts that were now in the kitchen, Riku watched as light filled the room beyond the door, but could not come far into his dark hiding spot and thankfully no one had the need to open the door to get something. The noise continued on and on moving from the kitchen back out into the hallway as the sisters continued to squawk and scream.
When a brief calm came upon the house, Riku took a chance to lower his hands from his ears. Was it really over?
A second ticked by and then, yelling of a different kind began. It seemed that the stepsisters were upset about something and was yelling about items being theirs as the sounds of cloth being ripped and beads hitting carpet filled the air. Not sure what that was all about, Riku listened as the yelling ceased and the stepsisters and the their mother left the house. As the front door closed, Riku listened to the silence for a moment before hearing sobbing move through the kitchen and out the backdoor.
More concerned about what had happened rather than being discovered at this point, Riku had gotten to his feet and took his chances with cracking open the pantry door and peeking out into the kitchen lit by the dying fire. No one, not even the cat was around, so pushing the door open a bit more, he had entered the kitchen and made his way over to the slightly ajar back door. Approaching the door, he looked out into the garden where Cinderella was sitting on the ground leaned against the garden bench crying as she wore the tattered remains of what was once a beautiful dress.
Wincing inwardly, Riku had wanted to go to the woman and comfort heer. Had wanted do something to help her repair the damage done no doubt by the screamers that were her sisters. He wasn’t sure what the huge fuss from earlier was about, but he did remember hearing the words “royal ball” floating about the house all day long. Maybe it was this ball the sisters had gone to with their mother and maybe Cinderella had been prepared to go too, but instead was halted when the beasts tore up the dress she had probably worked very hard on to make herself.
The scene was indeed enough to get his blood boiling once more at the treatment of this woman. If anyone deserved happiness in this chaotic household, then it was the woman out there and not the ones who had left for the ball….He had to do something even if it wasn’t his business…
So deciding to trust his instincts on this rather than let his mind talk him out of it, Riku moved to go outside, but found himself retreating back into the shadows of the kitchen as a bright light appeared before Cinderella and formed into the shape of an elderly woman dressed in blue and wielding a wand.
A fairy…Riku thought to himself as he watched the woman and the Cinderella speak. The fairy posing as an older woman claimed she was Cinderella’s fairy god mother and had come to grant her wish of going to the ball. Something that Cinderella was a bit skeptical of at first, but as the fairy performed her magic creating a carriage out of pumpkin and horses and coachmen from mice, Cinderella’s doubts vanished as she instead became excited about the whole idea of finally going to the ball. Continuing to watch, Riku saw the whole transformation Cinderella went through going from a poor peasant girl look to the more familiar look of a Princess. He remembered the dress from when he had helped captured the woman before…it made him feel even worse for the past action now that he knew the story behind such a dress; however, unlike last time, this time he wouldn’t be ruining her chances of going to the ball.
So staying quiet Riku watched as the young woman stepped into her carriage and after being warned to be back home by midnight, the carriage was taking her off into the night and the fairy disappearing. Smiling inwardly, Riku shook his head happy that despite being forgotten by Cinderella that at least the woman would have fun at the ball.
And now that everyone was gone, he too could leave the house and in turn search for information the old fashion way. He’d simply have to go into town and start questioning the folks left behind or not going to the ball about the cloaked figure or anything else strange around the land. It was a bit depressing that he could not thank Cinderella for her help, but he couldn’t afford to linger here any longer with work to do. He had to make sure this place was safe before truly leaving.
So with his mind made up, Riku slipped out of the house making sure to close door behind him as he entered the gardens. Turning from the door, Riku faced the path that led towards the castle and towards the town; however, as he did this, he found himself tensing as the red cloaked figure from before stood on the same path a few feet ahead of him.
“Hey!” Riku called as he moved towards the figure aiming to keep it right was now that it had appeared again. It looked like he wouldn’t need to go information hunting after –
!!
Two steps forward and the figure was vanishing in a cloud of black mist that quickly began to travel up the road and towards the castle. Knowing that nothing ever good ever came out of a visit from something dark like that mist, Riku took off after the mist, hoping to be able to catch up with it before it had time to enter the ball and do whatever it was going to do to the ball and maybe even Cinderella….
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Tag: Tag you’re it, Terra. You can meet Riku at the castle’s doors or bump into him as he goes after the mist.
Note: Black mist going to the ball? I don’t think so.
