A Question of Insanity - Hollow Bastion [COMPLETE]

[into_ruin]

Though his latest journal entry alluded to it, Zexion was not leaving Castle Oblivion because he'd grown bored. It seemed that in his time away he had become restless, unable to remain stagnant long enough for certain pawns to fall into play. Sometimes a spider waited in its web, other times it saw the need to hunt in hopes of returning with

Comments

[into_ruin]

What scent he had expected to find, Zexion could not say for sure. Any of the remaining members could be scattered across the worlds. Even if this world was the origin of it all it didn't hold any special meaning to them, no more than Travese Town might. Each Nobody had a different and distinct scent but, much like the castle, it wasn't so much the scent of a person as it was an object given human form. For most, they simply smelled like their element.

Naminé was a special case. Zexion always thought she smelled a bit like crayons-

"... IT'S A GHOST!!!""

-and shrieked like a banshee at midnight.

A body that small should not have been able to produce the sheer volume it just did. Zexion turned to face her fully, lilac bangs swept away from his face momentarily so he could cover his ear with a gloved hand. Hopefully, she would get the message.

In case she didn't, he shifted to her side with a quick stirring of the shadows.

"That's enough, Naminé." His tone was soft, his brow furrowed deeply with annoyance. If he got the same treatment from everyone who saw him, he would sooner lock himself in the basements for the rest of eternity. That, or start collecting voice boxes. Whichever was most satisfying given the circumstances.

..But for now, he just wanted Naminé to calm down.

[her_reality]

Naminé was shell-shocked, to say the least, and was positive that the familiar lilac-haired individual she saw standing at the foot of the falls was merely a figment of her imagination, or hopefully just a restless spirit (did Nobodies become ghosts? Was Zexion still roaming the realm of the living?), and she rubbed at her eyes to make sure that it was not a trick of the light. It seemed to be, for when she re-opened her eyes and saw nothing.

"That's enough, Naminé."

"Z-Zexion?!" The blonde gasped, whirling around. She continued to stare, bright blue eyes as wide as they were when she first saw him. Up close, she could see that he was no ghost, but Naminé prodded him carefully, to make sure she truly wasn't seeing things.

"But... how?!"

What other surprises would she uncover today?!

[infinityshot]

Xigbar stretched the minute that he had left his studies. Being cooped up in a room for several weeks on end had certainly left his muscles a bit tense. It didn't help that the experiment had just happened to blow up, either. Cursed thing...

And then to make matters worse? The bloody shriek of doom. It sounded like someone was trying to kill that witch...what was here name again? Well, it didn't matter. He hadn't been concerned with the events earlier in Castle Oblivion, mostly focused on his research. Stupid, bloody, exploding research...

He made his way calmly towards the source of the noise, shifting through Space to find out who was trying to kill who. He blinked. Well, well, and holy freakin' shit well...

Zexion. Xigbar had thought that the freak of the Shadows had been devoured by Vexen's Replica. But that was definitely Zexion,, scaring the shit out of the witch. Interesting and unexpected. Good research material.

He'd feel sorry for the blonde, but...

There was nothing better to do, so he leaned against the wall and said, "So yer back, and already tryin' to kill someone, Zexion?"

[into_ruin]

Zexion weathered the poking admirably, raising a very vaguely amused eyebrow at the witch. He could understand her surprise (having been gone from the castle for four years) but did she really think that Axel or a pathetic replica would mark the end of him? 'Close' was hardly 'stick a fork in, he's done'.

"I used a portal. How else?" He asked, lifting her chin a little with his finger in an effort to make her stop gaping at him.

Before she could answer or ask him for any clarification another scent met him, a rather obnoxious voice hot on its heals. Zexion always wondered why, with an element like space, Xigbar smelled vaguely of flavoured mouthwash. Then again, it was Xigbar; he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

"I think it was the other way around." He replied sardonically, folding his arms.

[her_reality]

Naminé obediently shut her mouth when Zexion raised a finger to lift her chin up, but it dropped right back open when she saw another Organization member come up from behind the lilac haired Nobody. Another?! They had been at the castle all along?!

Were they looking for her, or was this mere chance that they all met?

"Xigbar? You're here too?"

And she thought she was stranded.

"Did... did Riku ask you to come get me?" She asked hopefully, knowing they would take her back anyway, but Naminé was hoping to hear news of Riku.

[infinityshot]

Riku? Huh? What was she talking about anyway? Get stuck in a room and nearly blown up, and things stopped making sense, eh?

"I haven't seen Riku," said Xigbar, crossing his arms, and smirking. He really shouldn't be amused by this. But she seemed so desperate to find the silver haired man that he couldn't help the expression from crossing his face.

"Desperate to see yer boyfriend," he teased, walking closer to the witch, grin becoming even wider. "I'm sure he'll pop back up, just like Zexion here." A glance at the other Nobody confirmed that yes, he really was here. He would have to remind himself to stop being locked up in a room for days on end. Things got freaky.

"Anyway, Xigbar's here in the flesh. Just got out after some studyin'. Question is, what're the two of you doin' here?" Long strands of black and gray hair fell over his shoulder as he theaterically leaned down to look into Naminé's open mouth. "See a fly in there..."

[into_ruin]

"That boy..? If the same thing has happened to him, then you may as well count on the fact that he won't be returning to the castle."

Zexion replied, face once again smooth and unreadable. He didn't have any particular love for Riku, and being compared to him didn't put him in a pleasant mood.

He'd come here to find people he could manipulate, maybe even allies if one chose to stretch that definition. Xigbar was a prospect, now that he knew where the other was and by 'prospect' he meant something similar to 'last resort'. He didn't think he could bear that personality for more than a few minutes at a time.

He rolled his eyes at Xigbar's antics, though only Naminé could see it. Idiots.

"Riku left you here?" He asked her, resisting the urge to yank Xigbar back by the ponytail. He was half tempted to make her shriek again with Xigbar's face so close but his eardrums protested that idea enough for him to reconsider.

[her_reality]

Nervously backing away as Xigbar inspected her open mouth, Naminé's face fell. So... Riku didn't make it back to the castle either. Now she only felt worse, though she made an angry noise of protest when Xigbar teased her about him being her 'boyfriend'.

"He's not! And... n-no, he didn't leave me here..." The blonde looked away again, wringing her hands as she tried to find a way to explain what had happened. She was hesitant because she didn't want to get either of them into trouble. This was all done behind DiZ's back, after all.

And perhaps she didn't want to feel responsible for the boy's possible death.

"He teleported me to Traverse, but the return trip... I looked down and... he had to push me away and send me off to another world before I got swallowed by the darkness..."

It was hard to explain. She hoped they would understand.

[sleepy_shiki]

The people in the castle tended to frown upon him climbing out of windows. One had even thrown a rock at him once thinking he was a cat. Byakko hadn't been happy about that and had made sure a small tornado ransacked his room. A cat, honestly. He wasn't a cat!

But all that meant that he now tended to jump up the outside of the building instead. It gave him more time to waste in any case.

The third floor up provided a great vantage point. There was a little turret at he could sit on top of and look across the waterfalls. Sohryuu would like them if he ever thought to come out beyond when Tsuzuki called him. He frowned slightly, noticing three figured out near the falls. Two dressed in long black coats and a small whiter figure near them.

New people! Maybe they were lost or looking for something. It was his duty to go and help.

He jumped lightly down from the rooftop, papers still clutched beneath his arm. He'd hand them over eventually. But there were people to meet first.

He bounded over to them quickly, tail swishing in anticipation. He slowed as he approached, adopting a pace more fitting of one of the Four Gods, and stopped just out of reach of them.

"Hi!"

[infinityshot]

Well, seemed like the party was getting bigger and bigger. And he didn't even bring any booze! Shame, really. With all this drama going around, he needed something to knock him out for a while...or at least make this easier to deal with.

The tail intrigued Xigbar, and he watched it for a bit. Catboys...or whatever he was. Powerful...he could sense that. What the hell was he doing here anyway? The last thing he wanted at the moment was a fight. Not that he couldn't beat the crap out of people, but he wasn't in the mood for it. He was trying his best to irritate the other two, and now how was he going to know if he was doing his job properly? Though the witch did seem agitated already...

Right...catboy...

"And who're ya?" he asked to the stranger. "No offense or anythin' but yer a little new around here." He looked at the other two, wondering if maybe they recognized the guy. Or a name could help...if it was given.

[into_ruin]

Zexion's expression didn't change, but something in his eyes became very sharp. Riku had fallen into the darkness? Whatever DiZ's plan for the boy was, he doubted this was it, especially with a warning like 'don't interfere with him'. Don't interfere indeed. He would happily watch as the boy fell further and further into darkness, into his clutches as a result.

"When did this happen?" He asked, sharply enough to call her attention away from their visitor. Just an animal. A powerful animal, but an animal none the less.

He barely spared it a glance.

[her_reality]

And just when she thought the scene had finally calmed down and everyone could resume their conversation, a strange... cat... man hybrid walked up to them, offering his greetings. Naminé was clearly distracted, head diverted from Zexion to stare at the new arrival.

What a... curious creature!

"What? Oh..." Zexion's sharp tone brought her attention back to him, just as he intended. But she had no idea how to answer it, especially in her confused state.

"I'm not sure... I woke up here, but I'm not sure when this all happened. It was so sudden..."

It wasn't that she didn't remember, but Naminé never knew what day it was. She never thought it mattered, since until now, she had never been out in the real world.

[sleepy_shiki]

That little girl with the wide eyes looked a little like Sohryu's daughter Tenko. He flashed her a smile and then bowed briefly in greeting to the others. "I'm Byakko; Guardian Beast of the West and one of the Four Gods."

There. That about covered it for an introduction.

"And you are?"

They smelt kind of wrong though and his tail flicked as he tried to figure out what it was. Although the one ignoring him smelled mostly of sand and sun and beaches. But the odd smell was still there.

[infinityshot]

Figures that Zexion would be focused on Riku versus what was right in front of them. A god, eh? He wasn't sure if that was true or not, but wasn't it always said to assume the worst...?

Not that Xigbar always did that, but still...

"Riku's probably all right," Xigbar said, shrugging his shoulders as he moved closer to Byakko to examine the so-called god. Riku was strong and oh so mysterious. If he fell into darkness so fast, he wasn't worth their time.

He was relaxed as he circled Byakko slowly, but at any moment, he was ready to shoot.

"Byakko, eh? Name's Xigbar. The girl's Naminé, and the shorter guy's Zexion." Thank goodness he had remembered her name finally...

[into_ruin]

Zexion was never one to quit so easily, but trying to wrestle attention away from a large, obnoxious cat was probably going to get him nowhere. He would look for Riku on the way back to the castle, if only to know what had become of him.

The cat introduced itself as a God, which he could only assume accounted for the level of power and the quirky appearance. He watched Xigbar circle it, well aware of what the other Nobody was capable of if animal decided to flick his tail the wrong way. Not that he was worried about something so obviously clueless.

"You realize that this is the northern hemisphere, 'Guardian of the West'?"

[her_reality]

All attention shifted to the catboy, and Naminé felt oddly left out. Though she hoped that the other Nobodies weren't thinking of bringing harm to the poor thing; the way they were situated around the catboy reminded her of creatures who had their territory invaded. She read about them in Vexen's books.

"H-Hello..." Naminé attempted to greet him, but her words were probable drowned out by the others. Well, she supposed she would get her chance to speak to the strange catboy. It would be a shame for her to pass up such an interesting experience before going back home.

It'd be a nice story to tell Riku... when he came back. She felt awful, thinking of such things when finding Riku should have been first priority to her. But where could she even start? It wasn't as if she was able to search for him herself... hopefully the other members would. Riku was important to DiZ, she doubted he would allow the boy to just get "lost" like that.