Disturbance in the Castle

[Deleted]

The castle stood in silence, the night sky clear of clouds. There was no sign emanating from the castle, not even the sound of the Beast's roar. That would all change, though. From the shadows, the Heartless crawled out. It was yet another attack by the Heartless. Normally, one of the attendants would have bothered the Beast, who would have annihilated them all in a rage. But this time was different. This wasn't another random attack by the Heartless. They were after something, made all the more apparent when they started marching right to Belle's room...

But why this sudden change from random destruction to a planned and purposeful march? Well, we need to wind the clocks back a bit.

In the village that sat near the castle, there was a tavern where the men of the village went to spin tales and enjoy their leisure. However, there was one man who was not happy about his lot in life. That man was named Gaston and he was sitting in his chair, brooding. His partner in crime, Lefou, tried offering him a beer only for him to be smacked across the room. All the men and women in the tavern were trying to cheer Gaston up but to no avail. "Aw, come on, Gaston," Lefou said in dismay, "There's plenty of women around town. You can't spend your life hung up on one gi-."

"Belle is MINE!" Gaston yelled, slamming his fists against the arm rests, shaking the tavern. "We were destined to be together. But now she's kept in that... THING'S castle, where he greedily watches over her every minute of every day! Between him and those hideous black creatures, that place is virtually impregnable." Suddenly, Gaston's rant was cut short by laughter from the corner of the inn. All eyes looked towards an incredibly skinny man wearing odd garb. It was Dr. Facilier, who had been sent there by his new Friend on the Other Side.

"Sounds like someone's in need of a little help." Facilier walked towards Gaston and pulled out his card, handing it to the burly man. "Dr. Facilier, dreams made real. Pleasure to meet you." Lefou looked up at Dr. Facilier and didn't like the look of him. Even as dim-witted as Lefou was, Facilier seemed like a conman. He tried to get Gaston's attention (who was busy trying to decipher the mysterious scribbles on Facilier's card. Perhaps it was this "writing" everyone had been talking about), but Facilier stopped by putting his cane between him and Gaston. "Hey guy, why don't you be a pal and get us some drinks?" Facilier's Shadow Demon helped Lefou by picking his shadow up (and by proxy, Lefou himself) and throwing him into a stool. Gaston, meanwhile, seemed to be pondering the sudden appearance of this man. And the scribbles.

"So... you'll make my dream a reality. Why should I believe that you can get in the castle? You don't look like a fighter." Gaston measured every man by the size of their muscles. Facilier, however, knew all too well, that what one lacked in strength, cunning proved a far superior substitute. "Well, I can't, but I do have a Friend who can. However, my Friend believes that if he's good at something, he shouldn't have to do it for free. His price ain't steep, of course. Just your loyalty to his cause. You in?" Gaston pondered this some more. Dr. Facilier wondered how often those two brain cells were hitting each other. "If he'll get my beloved Belle back? Then I will gladly accept!" He proudly shook Facilier's hand, accepting the contract with Facilier. Gaston had no idea what he had gotten himself into.

And that is the state of things. For you see, for Facilier's plan, he needed a little something from Belle. Some of her blood, that is. Just enough for a spell that would give Gaston all he wanted... and destroy the Beast.

[Deleted]

Radiant Garden. Hollow Bastion. Whatever you wanted to call the strange place that was home to Squall, his allies, the large data base, and that dark castle. That place had been Noctis's "home" for one whole month before he decided that it was time to go back into the worlds once more to resume his search for his home and other things. While there the young prince had used his time to study and learn what he could of the worlds, the dark portals, keyblade, and the dark shadows that popped up in each world he was tossed to. He had spoken with Squall (or Leon as he preferred to be called) and had gained an ally in the process.

The other man had been kind enough to take him to the dark castle. Helped him fight the Heartless and find the information he sought. Between his new ally, the mass amount of books in the ruined castle's undeniable beautiful library, and the strange data base that Squall and his friends protected, Noctis had learned a great deal about the state of the worlds and the wars that flowed through them. He learned of the many warriors out there and the various motives each had. That whole month spent in Radiant Garden had helped the prince put everything he thought he knew into perspective and in turn, plan better for the future.

With the new knowledge at his back, he had begun looking for a better way to travel around the worlds, so that he could not only get back home, but also help the other worlds out there that were suffering from the wars that swept over them. He knew he was only one man, but with people like Squall and Zidane in his mind, he knew he could not be selfish and only protect his world. He needed to protect other worlds too and aid those in need. This wasn’t a duty or some extravagant call for attention that made the prince want to take on this task. No, this desire was something his heart commanded him to do and so he did not disobey that call.

The desire to help others and get back home drove him in those past few weeks to dig into whatever he could in regards to world travel…a subject he found was quite difficult to study. Most didn’t know about world travel and he was warned by Merlin not to start speaking of such things with the locals and in turn disrupt the delicate balance of the world with unnecessary panic or curiosity. The warning made sense and so Noctis heeded the warning and took other paths to gain what he sought,

With only the help of the handful of folk who were already outsiders and knew about world traveling, and the small amount of data that could be gathered, Noctis found the solution to his problem. He learned about the gummy ship and after some trouble and a few arguments with the man who could help get him one, Noctis was eventually rewarded for his trouble with a custom made gummy ship from Cid. The rough man told him the reason he was helping him out was because he liked his guts and the fact he wouldn’t back down from his goal despite the various ways Cid tried to get the boy to give up on ever getting a gummy ship.

His persistence, determination, and Heart had won him his prize and after spending a week or so getting to know the very strange ship, Noctis was quite ready to travel where he wanted to without having to worry about the dark swirls called Corridors of Darkness.

Sure they were still a threat, but at least he knew how to avoid them and ignore them, so traveling on his own was not so intimidating or as daunting as before. The task he wished to carry out, on the other hand, was still as large as ever and while he had wanted to take someone with him from the small group of allies he had at Garden, the prince knew deep down inside he could not. They had to protect Garden from whatever may come its way and so he had to learn to say goodbye and move on his own, find new allies, and make his own mark in the worlds. It was difficult, saying goodbye, but it was something Noctis had to get used to if he was going make any progress at all. On a much happier note, at least now, he could revisit the place at will, so he supposed he didn’t have to worry himself too much about the place or his new friends.

In any case, when he left Radiant Garden, he traveled around the worlds looking for his own home, but for whatever reason could not yet find it. Still not giving up on the issue, he kept an eye out for his home world as he traveled the black expanse of space and explored the worlds he came upon, learning what he could learn for the time he stayed on the world.

It was the same routine he had been doing for a while now – exploring a world for a few days, seeing what he could do and learn, and then leaving once the tasks were done to start another journey to another world. He had become a drifter of the cosmos, but did not mind this new lot in life for he was never bored as he found new things to do every day. He had always been on the move, ripping and running from place to place, but today things had decided to slow down allowing the prince a much needed rest after all the traveling he had been doing.

Switching the gummy to auto-pilot mode Noctis had gotten out of his chair and let the ship continue its own path through space, trusting it to let him know when danger was about or a new world was near. Stretching a bit to loosen the tight muscles he had from sitting too long, Noctis headed towards the back of the ship where three extra rooms existed. The room to the left was a bedroom equipped to be as comfortable as possible on a flying vehicle, the one straight ahead was a bathroom, and the one to the right was a small storage area/kitchen.

It was to the kitchen area that Noctis went. Entering the small room, he made his way through the gloom to the refrigerator in the back and then opening it, he got a bottle of water before closing the object back up and leaving the area. Cracking open the bottle, he took a few swallows of the cool liquid as he moved back towards the front of the ship stopping near the right wall to tap a strange panel on the wall. As he tapped the panel, a simple bed unfolded itself from the wall already made up and ready to be slept in.

As the legs extended and became solid supports for the now fully extended bed, Noctis sat down on the edge of the bed, feeling himself sink slightly on the semi-soft mattress. He knew he could easily just sleep in the bed in the bedroom, but for some reason this little bed gave him the most comfort and allowed him to get the most out of what little sleep he could manage to get.

So taking his time with the water, he let his body slowly relax as he turned to the window to his left and watched the stars pass by. He continued to watch the stars until he began to feel sleepy. At that point, he closed the half-finished bottle of water, placed it on the floor near the head of the bed, and then after kicking off his shoes, he laid down and easily fell into a gentle sleep.

As Noctis began to doze, he had hoped that he would for once get a rest without nightmares to wake him up. He just wanted a peaceful rest where only warm darkness surrounded him; however, as was almost always the case with his sleeping, Noctis did not get a fully peaceful rest.

While the rest began peaceful enough, all too soon it was being plagued by nightmarish images of large shadows attacking people before moving on to show a larger shadow eating some strange land he had never seen before. The whole time this chaos was happening there was an image of a human like figure in the back ground with its hands cupped around the chaos that was happening to the people and the land. A hat was upon the figure’s head and a fangy grin was on its face. It was looking down at the chaos with flaming red eyes, laughing maliciously before it was lifting that chaos into the air and dropping it into its dark maw, consuming it. Once it consumed the chaos that large shadow shifted and exploded into dark tentacles that reached out to touch other lands and attack other people before it was wrapping one of those icy tentacles around Noctis’s neck! The tentacle began to tightened and cut off the air to his body.

Noctis tried to fight the tentacle, but the more he struggled the tighter the grip got. On and on this went. The prince felt panicked as his lungs began to burn and life began to seep out of him. He was getting closer to the edge of death with each passing second and then –

Thud!

“Umph!”

Those were the two quick sounds that filled the otherwise quiet cabin of the ship as Noctis body and face met the cold, hard floor. With a light groan and a wince, Noctis picked himself up blinking sleepily as his mind struggled to realign itself with reality once more. His heart was pounding and his breathing was coming out in gasps as a thin layer of sweat covered his face. He was trembling slightly from the dream as he vaguely wondered what all that had meant as he stayed on the floor for a moment longer.

While Noctis was used to nightmares due to his lovely ability to see the deaths of others before the events occurred happened, the nightmares he usually had had seemed to intensify and become something more ever since he had felt that strange dark presence flowing through that area by the cliffs when he had first arrived in Radiant Garden and laid eyes upon that dark castle. He wasn’t sure if these nightmares were warning him of Heartless attacks or some other form of death, but whatever they were doing he wished they would stop.

Thanks to the cursed nightmares he had not gotten a decent amount of sleep in weeks. It was…annoying and his mentality was beginning to pay for it. It was becoming a struggle to pull apart the dreams from reality with each rude awakening…and quite frankly Noctis did not like what that was suggesting for his future.

Slowly calming as his thoughts became slightly moody, the trembling would subside and his breathing would return to normal as the young man pushed himself up from the floor and retrieved the bottle of water from by the head of the bed. He finished the water off before moving about the ship, tidying it up as he went. He fixed the bed and refolded it into the wall. After that, he headed to the bathroom where he tossed the empty bottle into the trashcan before doing what he could to revive himself from the nightmare.

Leaving the bathroom a few minutes later feeling a bit better than before, Noctis used a drying cloth to wipe away the remains of the water on his face as he made his way back to the front of the ship. Half way back to the pilot seat, he heard a light beeping from the control panel.

Finishing wiping his face, he headed over to the panel as he dropped the towel in the passenger seat for now and moved over to the panel. Leaning over slightly, he pressed the flashing orange button causing the beeping to cease as a screen to pop up and reveal that he was approaching a world.

As he examined it the image, he realized it was a new place, but unlike other places that caught his curiosity and in turn drew him to them, there was a different sort pull coming from this new world that caused the prince to switch off the auto-pilot and sit in the driver’s seat once more as he neared the world.

Pulling in closer to the world, he slowly circled it looking at the strange shapes that marked forests and what appeared to be a castle. It was from the area around the castle that Noctis felt that strange pull tugging at him the strongest. It was a pull that made him uneasy and warned of trouble on that world. This world was calling for help and so Noctis would answer that call.

With his mind made up, Noctis strapped himself in as he began the preparations for landing as he switched the ship into stealth mode and entered the world’s atmosphere. Being careful with his steering to avoid crashing, Noctis moved the ship in close to the treetops as he searched for a place to land. It took a while, but eventually he was able to find a clearing. With careful movements, he steered the ship into its narrow hanger, touching down gently on the ground and letting the ship settle before he began to turn the ship off and unstrap himself from the seat.

Making sure the ship would remain hidden until he got back, Noctis made his way out of the ship stepping off the ramp and onto the crisp grass as a cool breeze passed over the area carrying with it the scent of the forest and the night. As the ramp pulled itself back in and the ship sealed itself tight once more, Noctis took one good look at the area he was in marking it in his mind with great details, so that he could remember where to return to once this visit had ended.

When he was confident he could find the spot again, the young man faced the forest before him and began to make his way cautiously into cool shadows of the trees. As he traveled, listening to the hooting of an owl and a the howl of wolves in the distance, Noctis’s blue eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness as they looked about the area watching for any danger as the young man’s body remained slightly tensed and ready for anything.

He kept walking and remaining vigilant of his surroundings expecting something to attack, but thankfully nothing ever came at him. Sure, there was a rustle here and there that startled him, but outside of these minor surprises, the walk was uneventful.

Noctis kept walking until the trees pulled back and revealed an old pathway cut out by humans long ago. Following this pathway, the forest continued to open up until a large stone bridge was revealed and at the end of the bridge a large and forbidding looking castle.

Scanning the area and the castle up ahead, Noctis kept moving towards the castle as the sense of dread he felt earlier sunk in deeper into his skin as he continued to move through the area that steadily became quieter and quieter as he neared the castle.

Once before the large doors with angry looking faces as door knockers, Noctis paused as he took a moment to listen to the area around him. The sound…it was complete gone, but why?

A light frown crossed the prince’s face as he kept this odd fact in mind and reached out a gloved hand to grasp one of the door handles. With a bit of a struggle, Noctis was able to push the door open and peek into the dark and gloomy halls beyond. As he did this a cold wind moved down the hall and brushed passed him whispering to him in an odd language as if it was warning him to stay away; however, instead of obeying those whispers, Noctis drew in his courage as he pushed the door a bit wider and entered the cold darkness beyond.

He had found the source of the pull and the bad vibes, so now all he had to do was find the cause and perhaps stop whatever was beginning to grip this place in a such a dark and choking grip.

[Deleted]

"Aw man," Roxas said while letting out a deep sigh. This had never happened to the Keyblader
before at all. His portal had brought him smack dab in the middle of the woods, and now he is
lost. Thirteen had to have been wandering the dark, cold woods for at least thirty minutes now.
However, being in his entire black Organization 13 outfit really didn't help with the cold.

After a while of wandering around, Roxas began to see a very ominous castle in the distance.
With the appearance of the castle, his lips curled into a smile. Finally, he had managed to find
the Beasts Castle. The closer he had gotten the more anxious he had become. Roxas only had begun
to hasten his movement towards this very large castle.

Upon approaching the gates, it appeared someone had already opened them and headed to the main doors.
So who was ahead of him? With a bit of caution, Roxas moved to the castle doors soon arriving to the
steps. It was quite obvious one of the doors was slightly opened, so he bolted up the stairs and burst
through the doors.

To his curiosity Roxas had spotted an almost military dressed man with spike blue hair. Thirteen knew
that he had to say something now right? " Hey! So do you know,whats going on here? "Roxas was referring
to that very ominous and awkward feeling this castle was releasing currently. What could be going on?

[Deleted]

Where am I?

Antique blinked open her ruby eyes and rapidly looked around, taking in her surroundings.  A forest?  And was that...was that a castle in front of her?  A large metal bowl fell in front of her, clanging onto the soft earth.  Yes, it was true that she tended to appear in places that she was not used to, but at least she was typically given some kind of warning when she was conscious!  The last thing she remembered was that she was baking in the café in Traverse Town's First District!  She tended to like hanging around there a lot because of the safety of encountering new vagabonds from different worlds.  Of course, it was not as if she had abandoned her own bakery in Radiant Garden--but it being destroyed, she had no real place to go.  So when the house chef of the café hunted her down, recognizing her because of one true talent and love--baking, of course she could not let him be disappointed!  It was not easy making a soufflé! And letting someone knowingly cook a deflating soufflé was a baking mage faux pas!  The injustice of it all! She couldn't handle it!

Annnnnd somehow she was here.  Mid stir.  She jumped back when she realized powder had landed on her navy socks and brown shoes.  Ah, what a disaster!

Brushing off her navy pleated skirt and yellow cardigan, she looked around.  Well--what was she here for, exactly?  Did someone pull her across worlds again? 

" Hey! So do you know,whats going on here? "

The green haired mage stepped forward as well.  "Ah--uhm...I'd like to know, too..." she said, clutching onto her spatula, still dripping with batter. 

((OOC: Sorry it's not fabulous!))

[Deleted]

As the trio were brought together, the doors burst open and one of the villagers was running away. He seemed to be in a panic, not even seeing the three people standing in the courtyard. "I'm done! I'm not going any further, those black creatures are abominations!" Another villager, his friend presumably, chased him through the courtyard. "Come on, we gotta do this for Gaston! You can't just run, he'll be furious." However, the two friends kept running out the gates, oblivious to their surroundings. Soon afterwards, the area shook with a bestial roar coming from the inside of the castle.

However, before the heroes would be able to investigate, they'd have troubles of their own. Namely, the arrival of more Heartless to annoy them. A few Neoshadows appeared from the ground, as gargoyles burst out of their stony shells. As if that wasn't enough, Rabid Dogs were running to join them. The roars from inside of the castle and the sounds of glass breaking also meant that there was a struggle going on inside.

[Heartless fight!

Neoshadow (x3)
Gargoyles (x3)
Rabid Dogs (x2)]

[Wow, this is a pretty terrible post OH WELL!]

[Deleted]

The air was cold with a hint of must on it that the young prince had learned to associate with old places that had not seen the light of day for many months or years and had not been blessed by fresh air in an equally long time. As the prince headed up the stairs and pulled opened those massive doors and entered that forbidding darkness, blue eyes would look into the dust choked gloom beyond hardly able to make out more than what was a few feet before him.

As he scanned that gloom, the young prince began to wonder if this gloom was natural or not. While it was true this castle did not have the advance lighting of his own home, but even so should it have really been this dark? Even in the deepest part his own castle with the lights off, Noctis could not remember the darkness being this thick. No…something was definitely wrong here, but what that something was, was not revealed here. He supposed he would have to go in further into this strange and heavy darkness to figure that one out.

Not exactly liking the idea, but understanding that it was something that had to be done if he wanted to help this world, Noctis pulled up his courage and took a few steps into the darkness as his hands automatically began to search his pockets for a flashlight; however, it would seem that he did not have this tool on him, so he would have to do some blind walking until found something to use as a light within the darkness or by some miracle found some magical item or switch.

In any case, Noctis took a few steps forward and watched how the darkness scurried away revealing some of the path it covered. Not quite sure what was going on here, Noctis took a few more steps forward, but found himself halting as he heard running footsteps quickly followed by the doors being forced open as said runner hit them from behind him.

The sound of the loud creek and the thud the door made as they were hit was amplified by the silence of this place…and it was this loud sound that made Noctis’s body tense as he instinctively turned to face what was behind him as he body fell into a light crouch prepared to fight or take flight; however, as his eyes landed on the strange figure in a black cloak with silver tassels gleaming off of it, Noctis relaxed the slightest bit as he heard the voice that called out to him.

The voice sounded like it belonged to a kid!

A bit perplexed by this new turn of events, Noctis was on the edge of speaking when yet another strange event happened. Somewhere behind the cloaked boy, there was a clatter as something metal hit the ground with heavy clunk and shortly after that a girl dressed in navy blue, yellow, and brown stepped up next to the boy asking her own question as she looked to Noctis for an answer. As Noctis took in the green haired young woman and took note of the spatula in her….wait a minute! A spatula?!

What? was the only thought that crossed Noctis’s mind as he blinked and shook his head mentally to clear his mind that was in a light daze from the confusion. As he shook his head, his mind snapped to attention as he focused on the strange object that was still dripping with some form of batter clutched in the girl’s hand confirming he was indeed seeing a spatula there.

So people were now pulled out of their daily lives by the black portals? Or was this something else? Not sure what to make of the situation, the older prince looked between the pair before him with a light frown of confusion before he was shaking his head lightly at them.

“I have just arrived here myself, so I am afraid I am in the same boat as you two are,” Noctis said as he took a cautious step towards them not sure if they were really kids or perhaps a trick of this strange darkness. They certainly appeared to be real and if that was the case, then he would have to take them with him and protect them. After all, there was no way he was going to shoo them away into the woods and even if they were enemies, he much rather have them in his face than coming back with an army to attack him from behind…

In any case, after he had answered the question, he paused for only a second before posing a question of his own as he kept a cautious eye on the pair before him.

“How is that you two have come here?” he asked in curious tones that held only the slightest bit of suspicion in them. It was a small hint that he didn’t quite trust this pair, but at the same time he wasn’t about to chase them away if they meant no harm.

In any case, the small bit of caution only lasted a second before Noctis’s protective instincts kicked in and washed the doubt away as the darkness within the castle took a malicious turn and actually appeared to take a physical form briefly as it swirled about him and drifted out of the castle to surround the other two. Shortly after this shift, Noctis stepped aside as two ordinary looking people came running down the hallway and after making a mad dash for the door, escaped the castle speaking of black creatures and making someone called Gaston mad as they made their way out of the area without noticing himself or the kids. Not liking where this was going, Nocitis began to backtrack out of the castle as he made his way towards the kids with no more caution when it came to them at least. His concern now was getting them somewhere safe before the darkness unleashed what he could only assume were the dark creatures which translated in Noctis’s mind as the Heartless.

Assuming that was what was plaguing the place, Noctis made up his mind to fight for this world even if it wasn’t his own; however, getting kids involved was no longer part of that plan despite earlier thoughts. If the Heartless were here, he did not want the kids anywhere near them, so as he was making his way out, the prince was on the edge of suggesting that the kids found a place to hide somewhere while he took care of whatever was coming as he herded them away from the castle; however, before the words left his mouth from somewhere inside of the castle he had left, a beast let out a powerful roar that shook the castle and the grounds themselves before the sounds of battle floated outside as glass could be heard breaking from inside. There was a struggle happening deeper within the castle. Maybe it was the same struggle that the two men he had seen earlier fled from? The prince wasn’t so sure as he picked up his pace to put as much distance between the kids he was herding away and the castle with the beast inside.

Noctis needed to help whoever was left behind by the fleeing men, but he needed to get these two kids away from here fir—

Noctis’s thoughts and movement was cut short as he was forced to stop his plan of escape as three tall and thin ant like creature popped up to block their path. Around the same time these golden eye critters popped up, the statues in the surrounding areas of gargoyles came to life bursting out of their stony prisons with clicks and growls that only added to the strange symphony of sounds the thin ant like creatures were making. Between the living statues and the thin ants, Noctis and the kids were already mostly surrounded, leaving their only option of safety was to head back into the very castle the danger reeked from; however, any plans of moving that way were quickly squashed as a strange barking sound was heard coming from that way. Turning his back on the kids, Noctis summoned his sword just as one of those short pooches were jumping up in the air with jagged jaws wide for a bite as they came in for an attack upon flesh; however, instead of chomping into flesh, the chubby creature got a powerful whap of metal to the face as Noctis brought his blade around with his spin.

Making a strange yelp the dog like creature was knocked away; however, Noctis had no time to see if it got up again for the second one was coming after him closely followed by one of those bouncing gargoyles. Bracing himself for the battle to come, Noctis stayed close to the kids unsure if they could fight or not. If they couldn’t fight he’d be their shield, but if they could fight…well selfish as it may sound that would make his job a whole lot more easier and bring his worry level down considerably.

(Note: You guys are fine. ^^ Alright, Roxie go!)

[Deleted]

Only moments after he had asked his question Antique had come stumbling in behind him.
It had only taken a few seconds for Thirteen to remember the girl from before. She was
the girl that he had helped out that day in Transverse Town. That was quite the interesting
day. Roxas had no time to respond with the upcoming events.

Roxas had simply watched as to rather odd gentlemen bolted for the exit with Noctis.
Everything was happening so fast it was amazing. Three Neo Shadows soon popped up from the
ground, while the Gargoyle statues came to life. Not to mention two rabid dogs making they're
very own entrance. What did those two guys do?

Now wasn't the time to just idle around and let his allies get hurt, he needed to take action.
With a rather ferocious look the Oblivion was summoned to his left hand, while the Oath Keeper
summoned to his left hand. Quickly, Roxas dashed towards one of the Neo shadows and attempted a
double horizontal swipe towards its mid section.

"Take that!"

[Deleted]

Even though she had been ever-so-elegantly been pulled from the current world she was in, Antique was very happy to see the boy in the black coat.  "Roxas...!" she said under her breath, if only because she was surprised that she was...well. Here.  Wherever this was.  It was dark here, yes, though the young baker was not necessarily afraid of the dark.  After all, she had been a resident of Traverse Town for the longest stretch of time.  What had unnerved her was that feeling that came with it; it was much akin to knowing that you were getting yourself into a load of trouble.  A lot of trouble. 

She did not have much time to introduce herself to the brunette man, or really to explain to him that more often than not she was pulled from whatever she was doing to come to different worlds.  It had never really been that way before--she remembered, before, when things were simpler, and if she needed to go from world to world, she'd have to hop on board of a Gummi Ship with someone.  Which, she never found too hard to do.  She vaguely remembered a boy that would take her from place to place, though she barely remembered his face, and there was no luck remembering his name.  She only knew that those memories were fleeting, and the more she tried to concentrate on them, the more blurry they became.  Somehow, she knew these memories were precious to her, and she didn't want them to fade anymore than they were...

A roar resounded from the castle, which brought her back to the present.  Suddenly, yellow beaded eyed creatures appeared!  Picking up the silver bowl full of cake batter that she had dropped earlier, she watched as the brunette and Roxas start the attack on the creatures--

Before she knew it, she took the spatula, dipped it into the battle, and flung it into the eye's of the creatures. She knew nothing much would come out of it--perhaps some confusion.  Throwing the spatula into the air, it spun like a baton--and with a flash of light, Heavenly Delight appeared in its stead, and fell perfectly into her hand.  As soon as it fell into her hand, she followed the assault, swinging the blade into one of the Neoshadow's. Her movements were nowhere near as graceful as Roxas' and screamed that she was new at it...though it also said that was nowhere near her first time in a fight. 

[Deleted]

(Lots and lots of apologies for not having this up sooner.)

Another roar emanated from the castle, followed by a crash that sounded a lot like furniture toppling over. Whatever was going on, the keeper of the castle was furious. More Heartless invaded the castle, seemingly on a mission. But unfortunately for the group, they could not investigate further without either fighting or evading the Heartless attacking them now. The ones being attacked were struck, with one Rabid Dog and one Neoshadow dissipating into the darkness. The two remaining Neoshadows melted into the ground and became actual shadows, moving towards Antique and Roxas before shooting out of the ground and attacking them. The Gargoyles, meanwhile, made for the swordsman and attacked with their axes, while the Rabid Dog just bit whomever it was nearest to.

([Neoshadow x2
Gargoyles x3
Rabid Dog x1])

(Wow, another terrible post, I'M SORRY!)

[Deleted]

The attack from the odd Heartless occurred shortly after the prince had herded the kids out of the castle that radiated with darkness and something else malicious. Concerned about what was going on in the castle, Noctis wanted to go back into that blackness that repelled him; however, being surrounded by the odd Heartless made it hard to do such a thing…and with kids to worry about, the task of going back into the castle was made that much harder. He couldn’t drag along potential civilians on his quest to save the world, but he couldn’t exactly leave them be until he knew that they were safe. The fact that pair with him were younger than him made the need to protect the pair even stronger.

It was this desire to protect that kept Noctis close to the pair and it was that same desire that made him react to the strange dog that leaped at them when the enemy had surrounded them. Spinning around, Noctis’s blade had met the crazy dog’s maw with so much force that when it was knocked away, the dog hit the ground with a strange yelp before it was becoming still on the ground and fading into Darkness. With one enemy down, Noctis took a step back as he fell into a defensive position with the kids at his back. Staying calm, Noctis’s blue eyes darted here and there to watch for the enemy’s next move as his mind worked to figure out which of this odd bunch was the best to take out first.

He needed to make this battle short…or at least punch a hole through the aggression to allow the kids room to escape. After all, Noctis wasn’t sure if the pair were warriors or not. Like others he had met, they were probably just pulled from their worlds at a whim by the dark portals and had unfortunately landed in this me—

!!

Noctis thoughts came to a halt as the two kids decided to put his worries about them to rest. To start things off the blonde kid…what was it the girl had said his name was in that whisper? Roxas? Yeah, that sounds about right!

Anyway, as soon as Roxas saw danger, the boy’s face became serious as he summoned an odd black key to one hand and an even odder white one to his other hand. Not sure exactly what the weapons were, Noctis had only a moment to ponder such oddities before the boy was charging forward to attack one of the tall ant like creatures lurking about. Bringing his strange keys upward, the boy slung them both outward in a double horizontal swipe that easily tore into the ant like creature and ripped it apart as if it were nothing.

Unlike the crazed dog Noctis had slain, the creature taken down by the boy’s odd weapons reverted to black smoke immediately before the remains of it was blowing away on the wind. The deaths were indeed oddly different, but for the moment Noctis put this note on the back burner as it would appear that the last of their group - the girl – had surprises of her own to deal out.

When all the chaos had started, Noctis saw the girl dash for the bowl that she had dropped earlier; however, he had not been able to see what had become of said girl and the bowl until this brief calm. The girl had managed to blind one of the Heartless with batter and on top of that had summoned a weapon similar to the ones Roxas wielded, but the design of hers was vastly different. With this odd weapon in hand, she had moved forward to attack another of the ant like creatures showing that she had very little fighting experience under her belt with her unrefined swing; however, the fact that the girl could and would attack in crisis such at this meant this was not the first time she had been exposed to such things. Relief washed over the prince at this knowledge. He didn’t have to worry about his allies after all. Good.

However, relief was short lived as another roar from somewhere within the dark castle rattled the area drawing Noctis’s attention once more to the present. He could hear what sounded like something heavy being tossed about drifting from the busted window high above and he even saw a few of the Heartless get swept out of the place as some form of furniture got caught in the window when it was sent flying.

Right. I need to get into the castle to stop whatever is causing this chaos, Noctis reminded himself as his eyes leveled once more with the enemies around them as the darkness in the area seemed to increase. While two of the enemy were indeed down, there were still six enemies left. Six enemies that were quickly taking action against them that is.

The two tall shadows sunk into the ground and made their way towards the kids.

“Company!” was the only warning Noctis was able to give the pair before he was being attacked by the stone gargoyles that the darkness had been given life. With blades of stone raised high the two of the gargoyles swung their heavy axes down upon the prince in a downward swipe that came from the left and right. On instinct and to save his head from being split in half, Noctis raised his sword to meet the heavy blades.

With a loud clunk and clang, the stone weapons came into a deadlock with the prince’s blade. Straining to keep the blades away from his flesh as the two gargoyles pressed downward on their weapons, Noctis’s eyes turned from the weapons above him as he saw the third of those statues charging forward with its weapon raised, no doubt to get at his exposed body since he was protecting his head. Knowing that he was not about to get out of this one unharmed, Noctis quickly shifted his weight as he crouched down and let up on his guard. Not expecting the sudden release of pressure, the two gargolyes that had him pinned wobbled forward unbalanced as their blades lowered even closer to Noctis and cut slightly into his left shoulder and tore a hole in his shirt as he pushed himself backwards and away from the blades and his captors. Freed from the pair, Noctis saw the unbalanced pair crash into each other as the third one was temporarily halted with its tangled allies in the way.

There was a great deal of hissing and clicking from the statues as the tangled paired tried to get untangled; however, Noctis did not have time to relish in his slight victory for unexpectedly over those gargoyles a dark shape hopped up over them and then upon landing lunged at Noctis at amazing speeds.

With no time to perform a counter strike, Noctis raised his right arm as he twisted his body away from harm’s path. As he moved, he heard the growl and felt the cold breath of the Heartless attacking him until with sharp suddenness that Heartless was clamping down on his arm in a painful bite.

“Gah!” was the involuntary yelp of pain from the prince as the chubby Heartless dog’s teeth found purchase in his bare arm. As fangs sunk deep into his skin, blood was drawn as needle like pain rose up and down his arm; however, Noctis blocked out his pain as he instead moved his sword towards the harmed arm as he pulled it closer to himself. Using the hilt of his sword, Noctis slammed the intricately designed hilt into the Heartless’s face a couple of times before it finally let go and flopped to the ground shaking its head. Not giving it a chance to recover, Noctis grabbed his sword in both hands as he took a step forward placing force behind the low swipe he sent at the stunned dog in an attempt to knock it away.

However, whether this was successful or not was left to the spirits of high to see for as soon as Noctis felt like he didn’t have to worry about the dog, the gargoyles from earlier had recovered and had managed to clunk their way closer to the prince without him noticing….
___________________________________________________________________

Tag: Tag! You’re it, Roxas!
Note: It’s alright Mordred at least there is a post. ^^