Behind the Sun [Coliseum/Open]

[fullmetal_smile]

The Coliseum seemed like the exact opposite of Traverse Town, bright hot sun instead of cool twilight. That warmth was good to feel, especially after so long in Traverse. He'd begun to think that the sun only existed in his imagination. It was good to feel it on his skin, warming the automail which leached so much heat from his body

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[fullmetal_smile]

Ed gasped, fighting for breath for a moment before the band that seemed to have wrapped around his chest faded a little. He swallowed thickly and then concentrated on forcing his breathing back to normal. There was blood on his lip from where he'd bitten it, and crescent patterns cut into the skin of his palm.

What had happened?! He looked around himself wildly, barely noticing his companions or the tall man nearby for the moment. He just needed to know what had happened. Why did he feel like he'd died?

Finally, Claudia's words filtered through to him and he gave her an odd look, a wild, scared expression in his eyes. "Didn't you feel it?" he asked sharply, wondering how she could be smiling at a time like this. "People... I think I felt them die." That was the only way he could describe it. Suddenly, the entire universe seemed a little darker, hope a little further away.

He wrenched his gaze away from her, turning towards K and moving over to him. He squeezed the older man's hand gently, not sure what he could do in a situation like this.

[shining_gonne]

"Judgement?" asked K, smirking, his eyes darker than normal. "Those without Hearts don't get judged."

K could not explain it, but the falling of the stars didn't just make him scared or just in pain. He was angry, and he felt as if he were detached from his body. Any second, he felt as if he was going to snap into half, or maybe it was to become whole?

Yes, he was angry...angry at what had happened beforehand, and the fact that he had been dumped in Traverse Town, that he could not find his friends, and what had happened...

Yet seconds later, his eyes snapped away from the other two, turning instead in the direction of the unknown man. He took a step away from Ed, disconnecting himself from the other two.

"Who's there?"

[fifteen_lost]

Perfectly oblivious to the real situation, Ichigo found himself at opposite emotional ends from the others. The nagging sensation he felt, something tugging at the strings of his conscience, was not yet so strong nor so attached to the plight of these cascading stars. Instead, with nothing else to do until his next scheduled match, he had found himself a stoney seat on the Coliseum steps, his blackened robes folding around his arched legs.

There, he silently watched as trails of light shot from one end of the sky to the other, his chin tilted up towards the open air. "This place is so strange..." he muttered quietly to himself. Ichigo had never been much of a traveler, despite a trip to the afterlife, so all of this, these new surroundings, new faces, new ideas, was all incredibly overwhelming.

A voice chimed in from nearby. Raising his head, as well as a questioning eyebrow, Ichigo's head bobbed up and looked towards the source, with a look that seemed to say 'Are you talking to me?'.

[cafe_paradise]

She knew they would not understand. Of course, the deaths of the people on the worlds saddened her, but they would return. God's plan was merely not destruction, but the rebirth of the world. All would return, in due time.

"Do you think death is an absolute? Their deaths are not in vain," She said cryptically, ending the subject.

For now, they had a new visitor. Claudia turned to look at the man, but said nothing. K had already pointed him out, after all. He merely had to introduce himself.

[fullmetal_smile]

"Death is death!" Ed snarled at the woman, anger in his eyes. "People die. They don't come back!" He knew that better than anyone. Death was an end. You were just gone.

He turned his attention back to K, more than a little worried by the man's bahviour. He reached up and grabbed the man's shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly. "K... if that's the case then you still have to worry about being judged," he said firmly. He didn't believe in all this judgement crap. It was remnants of a dead religion, but he could at least try and persuade K to start acting normally.

He turned to face the newcomer. "It's nothing," he said firmly, not wanting to get anyone else involved in this.

[shining_gonne]

K's eyes flashed dangerously as he looked at Ed, before he relaxed just a little bit. He had no more to say about the subject of death. Either way it did not matter. Those who were lost, whether the were gone for good, or to be brought back later, were dead now.

"Who are you?" the blonde asked the stranger, his eyes narrowing. Was this some other person who would backstab them?

[fifteen_lost]

Immediately gone was Ichigo's look of curiosity, and in its place, a sharpened look in his eyes brimming with coarse irritation. Wherever he was, and however he had arrived, apparently had no place for manners. Even worse was the look this person gave him, a stare of distrust and anger, unprovoked. Che, doesn't he know? If you want to know somebody's name, you introduce yourself first. he thought, scowling deeply.

Exhaling sharply, Ichigo pushed himself up to his feet, then promptly brushed the dust of the stairs from his hands. He wasn't going to let just anybody talk to him like that. Just as he was about to open his mouth and bite back with an equally heated tone, though, Ichigo stopped, then let out a gentle sigh. He just didn't have the heart. Not after what he'd been through.

"Kurosaki Ichigo." he finally stated. He may have chosen not to speak bitterly, but his sour expressions didn't change. "And maybe you shouldn't act like that to a total stranger. Can't say I'm really in the mood today."

[cafe_paradise]

Claudia found herself getting increasingly irritated with the unfaithful. It was not their fault; surely God could not have converted all of her creations. Even her own world was teeming with the unfaithful. Until she could find Alessa, there was little Claudia could do or say to sway her companions.

"Forgive him. We are new to this world and we arrived at a time of distress, it seems," She sharply spoke, before K could do anything else foolish. "I am Claudia, the man who addressed you is K and he is Ed."

Kurosaki Ichigo. The name was exceedingly foreign.

[fullmetal_smile]

Ed returned K's look squarely, refusing to back down to the older man. He could be as stubborn as he had to be when it was needed. Part of him wanted to shake K until he came to his senses. The other half just wanted to hug the older man until this darkness went away.

He nodded at the newcomer, making sure to stay by K's side in case he did something stupid. "Edward Elric," he elaborated, looking this Ichigo person over, noting the sword on his back.

[shining_gonne]

K clenched his fists, thoughts running around in his head, not all bad, but not all good either.

Once more, the darkness was wrapping around him like a cloak, reminding him of what had happened. It made him want to hurt and to kill.

Taking a step back from the man, he closed his eyes. He forced his mind to go through several relaxation techniques that he had learned beforehand, and focused on those he cared for. Yet it was hard to think of those he loved when he had just recently witnessed the stars falling.

'But,' the tiny voice in his head said, 'there are still your friends here, who can be protected, who can fight with you...'

"I apologize for my rudeness," said K finally, opening his eyes. "I was a bit...caught off-guard, and didn't censor my language..."

Yet still, he did not feel that he could approach this person without feeling the need to act violently.

[fifteen_lost]

"Eh...don't worry about it. No harm done." What wonders being lost and alone had done for his attitude. Any other time, he would have been quick to clentch his fists up tight and dig in his heels. Ichigo instead gently shrugged his shoulders and nodded stubbornly, rather than strike while the iron was hot. "...wait, what did you say?"

This world. Ichigo paused, suddenly looking particularly confused over the woman's choice of words. That implied more than one world. He was in a different 'world' now? Did it also mean he'd been booted out of his own, and into another? And if these people were new here, they could obviously go from one world to another! They must've known something! Several times then, his mouth parted open, but no words came out; he just couldn't find the right ones to use to pull himself out of his confusion. It explained why no one he had spoken to knew about his home, but it still didn't give any reason why he came here, or how! His hands flailed around in front of him, as if grasping the air for the words he sought. It was so horribly frustrating, Ichigo could feel his stomach twisting itself in knots as he struggled to express himself. The intensity was visible on his face as well; he didn't look as crazy as he felt, he simply looked angry beyond words.

Finally unable to hold it in any longer, he spoke up, furiously blurting, "Alright, you've got to tell me...where am I? What's going on? I've been stuck here for days, and I've got to get home!"

That felt a little better. The outburst had relieved a little of the pressure. Pacing quickly down the steps, Ichigo approached the group with a longing look in his eyes. "You guys obviously know something about this. My home got attacked by these...things. Monsters. Some kind of army. I tried to fight them, but before I knew it, every last place in the world was overrun by them. I gave it one last go, but there were just...too many."

Sadly, the idea of his own failure just dawned on him, letting a weighted frown spread across his lips. An enemy had stepped up; sure, it boasted vast numbers and plenty of muscle, but that never should have been an obstacle. He simply hadn't been strong enough to stop them.

"I woke up here. I've been wandering around this place, trying to find a way out, but I just can't." he continued, staring solemnly down at the ground. "I need to get home. Really. Those things were already swallowing up everything before, and by now..."

[cafe_paradise]

Ah. This man was a recent victim of the Heartless as well. Claudia nodded, trying to find a way to explain this man's situation as painlessly as possible.

"The monsters are called Heartless. They seem to be able to bring worlds to ruin. I do not know how. Very few survive such an event," Claudia explained. "You cannot leave worlds unless you have a ... a ship."

She couldn't say Gummi Ship without sounding like a complete fool. She just couldn't.

[fullmetal_smile]

Ed practically heaved a sigh of relief when K relaxed, backing away from the man and losing the dark look in his eyes. He kept his eyes on the older man though, watching him warily in case he tried to do something foolish.

"They steal people's hearts," Ed added to the end of Claudia's explanation, turning his attention to the orange haired man. "And worlds too, from what I've heard." At least some people from his world had survived, although it was of little comfort. He didn't know if Al was even alive.

[shining_gonne]

K remained quiet, looking around the Coliseum. What else could he say? It basically had been covered by what the other two had explained, and he really had no urge to add anything.

Instead, he worked on relaxing his muscles in hopes that it would relax his mind.

[fifteen_lost]

Looking bleak and puzzled, Ichigo stepped back almost weakly and stared down at the bare, sandy earth, his mind in a blank state. Not Hollows, but Heartless; souls weren't lost, but hearts instead; and his 'world', his life...was gone? Once again, he found himself struggling for words, quietly shaking his head as if silently arguing with the only clear concept he could grasp: his failure had cost hsi world everything.

Stirred up inside of him by a stunning blow of shock and grief, a strange and tremendous sense of energy began to build up within Ichigo. It flowed out from him quietly, but forcefully, as he tightly clentched his fists hanging down at his sides. Growing, churning, boiling, it poured out like a river from his very core, and once it touched the earth beneath his feet, the loose, sandy soil shifted against an unseen sense of pressure and began to softly swirl about.

It was in that moment of heightened spirit that Ichigo suddenly found himself able to sense what had struck some of these strangers earlier. Like tiny lights being snuffed out in the dark, the stars that streaked across the sky flooded him with the rampant feeling of loss and nothingness.

Naturally, it filled him with a deeper sense of fury, forcing more of his spiritual power, his reiatsu, to come flowing out of him like a spurred bull. The pressure, the intensity of the very air around him, grew stronger and stronger, until some of the smaller rocks and pebbles around his feet trembled, cracked, and collapsed into split shards. The sensation was not overwhelming to anyone around him, but definitely noticeable, as if the air had grown thicker.

Gritting his teeth furiously, Ichigo turned his back on the group, giving them all a perfect view of the massive blade clinging to him. "It's not just my world...they're everywhere." he exclaimed. It wasn't anger he showed to them, but pure contempt of these 'Heartless' and their reckless neglect. Sharply, Ichigo turned towards the others again, his voice raised demandingly. "You have one of those ships, right? Then take me! Take me where I can help some of these people! Take me where I can fight these bastards! Take me somewhere, please!"

[cafe_paradise]

Claudia could feel it; whomever this person was, he was powerful. She could almost see the streams of power that erupted from him. Still, she made no indication that she had seen it, or that she even cared. Instead, Claudia merely shook her head.

They could not take Ichigo with them if they couldn't get the permission of Yuna and the others. Alas, it seemed like they would be stuck here unless some other form of transportation was found.

"The ship is not ours," was all Claudia said. She looked towards Ed and K, as if asking them if they wanted to add anything else to that rather simple statement.