Wednesday Morning, Fandom Time - In the World that Never Was
The area where the three were now standing was a dark alley of some kind. The surrounding buildings were all the same shade of bluish purple, stretching high up against the skyline, with the occasional white or blue neon sign blinking its steady pattern. There was a large sewer grate at the end of the alley, and looming far above the town was a white fortress, with spires and towers silhouetted against a large yellow heart-shaped moon.
This was the World that Never Was.
Cassandra had pulled her mask over her face and her movements were tightly controlled. She stepped forward slightly to give the others room and her eyes slowly swept the alleyway in front of them.
A shape skittered in the shadows at the other end of the alley.
Shapes and shadows and things that skittered about in the distance weren't at all new to Valentine. This did not, of course, mean that he cared for them in the least.
"Something moved," he hissed, pointing at the skittery thing and ducking behind the nearest solid object. Sora, in this case.
"I see it," Sora nodded with a small smirk. "I'll take care of it." He moved forward, keyblade in hand to clear a path for them towards the castle. "There'll be a lot of them, don't let them get you or you'll loose your heart!"
"Can I punch them?" Cassandra asked as she fell back a bit to put Valentine between her and Sora. No point in leaving him off by himself where he might get attacked by an angry stray cat or something.
Valentine was doing an admirable job not flapping his arms about too much.
"Yes, yes, by all means! Punch them, kick them, beat them with a stick! I'm rather fond of my heart, you know!"
The Shadow noticed Sora and looked startled and scared. It sunk down into the shadows, becoming temporarily two-dimensional and intangible, and then resurfaced behind Sora and attacked.
That was a tactic that Sora was very familiar with from his journey and quickly spun slashing out with the keyblade and being sure not to hit Valentine.
"Huh? Oh yeah, punching works. Just don't let them get here," he said putting a hand over his heart.
Underneath her mask, Cassandra's lips curled up slightly in an expression that wasn't quite a grin. She watched the shadow thing with interest, trying to see how it worked.
It worked... pretty much like she had just seen it work. It watched for a while, attacked, and sometimes sank down in the shadows temporarily. And this one was already almost dead.
On the other hand, three more had just appeared, coming around the corner.
"We gotta keep moving," Sora said, moving towards the three that just appeared. "Because they won't stop coming." not dirty
Cassandra nodded and gave Valentine a little prodding push. Someone needed to bring up the rear and make sure no one came from behind. Somehow she didn't feel that Valentine would be the best choice for doing that.
Sora looked like he could handle these things, and she was willing to let him do it. She was splitting her attention between glances over her shoulder and careful observation of the shadow things. They moved funny.
One of the creatures pulled itself out of the shadows and Valentine's feet, and tried to attack him.
Valentine didn't need much more encouragement than that little push that Cassandra had given him, but the little shadowy thing attacking him certainly did convince him to move more quickly.
Melty shadowy attack-out-of-nowhere creatures. Valentine had really had enough of all of that.
So he was going to just squeak in a perfectly dignified and not at all girlish sort of way and attempt to dance around to the other side of Sora, now.
Cassandra's foot snapped out to catch the shadow thing in the head. She was hoping that that would hurt it. At the same time her hand reached up to catch Velentine on the shoulder as she shot him a glare which most people wouldn't see because she was wearing a mask.
He needed to stay between Sora and herself so that they could protect him. No running around!
Sora glanced back just to make sure that they were okay and then went back to focusing on clearing a path for them towards the giant white castle in the middle of the city.
There wasn't really a technique to Sora's fighting, just slash and flail at any heartless or Nobody nearby until they were dead. It had worked for him really well, but that did sadly mean that any allies would probably want to give him a bit of a berth.
It still worked pretty well for him, as Cassandra's more precise fighting style worked for her. After turning a few corners and fighting a few more waves of Heartless, the Nobodies appeared. A handful of Dusks jumped in front of the trio and swayed, bobbed, and weaved as they prepared to attack.
Cassandra stepped forward to slide past Sora and moved to grab the nearest Dusk and throw it across her hip into the next one to set them up for Sora to take out.
At least it was dusks and not those stupid dancers. He was really going to have to talk to Demyx about those when they got back.
Sora slide around behind the dusks, copying their own move to hit them from behind and take them out.
The Dusks came in a steady stream as they neared the Tower, its large screen blinking against the night sky, then gave way again as they reached the edge of town. Above them floated a large, ominous castle, looming stark and white against that same heart-shaped moon.
Once more it was Sora's keyblade that opened a pathway - a long, sloping arc from their feet to the edge of the fortress.
They were inside. Whether the Organization knew it or not.
Sora took a deep breath and frowned. "I didn't expect to be back here so soon," he said and pulled out Demyx's crudely made map. "Okaaay, so the last time I was here I headed up and it looks like the way we need to go is down?"
Sora frowned more and turned the map around. "Or is it up again?"
Cassandra leaned over Sora's shoulder and tilted her head. "Down... maybe."
"Maan, maybe we should have dragged Demyx along," Sora winced and turned the map around a few times and looked at it again. "Uh, lets head up and then it looks like we can go down again," he nodded, confidently this time.
"Oh! And watch out for any sparkling balls in the air!"
Just past the next slope's end was a small group of large metallic creatures. Most of them were leaning on their T-shaped claymores as if they were push-brooms. The gesturing and pointing appeared to convey the idea that they were supposed to be on break by now, and sick of patrolling this hallway. Not sick enough to actively rebel, but enough to lounge around griping about it? Certainly.
Cassandra stopped walking suddenly. "Those guys are big," she offered.
"Yeah.... yeah they are," Sora said carefully backing up slowly. "Let's not go that way. These guys we don't want to fight."
"Good plan," Cassandra approved as she stepped back and drew Valentine back by the shoulder.
Valentine was not complaining in the least as they led him about. If the possibility of being killed wasn't enough to deter him from straying far, the look that Cassandra had given to him with that mask of hers had done wonders to spook him into sticking close.
He wasn't certain which was more imposing, really.
A silvery creature with an oddly pointed head was watching from the shadows, just off to one side. He was shuffling a deck of cards in one hand, and had an air of boredom.
You, there. Yes, you. Would you like to play a game?
Frightened? Valentine?
Not in the face of the possibility of gambling! Imposing? Who was imposing?
Valentine was right there. By the shiny bored thing with the cards.
"What's the game?"
Valentine, attention-deficit? Never.
It's a very fun game. You just have to pick the circle, from among the Xs. Is it here, or here? Or here or here instead of here? They're moving along so quickly, here or here or here or here and circling and make sure you pick the right one before ... TIME'S UP!
Oh, look at that. You lost.
What? Lost? That was impossible! That was terrible! Next time, Valentine would be certain to have a circle up his sleeve. The one that hadn't burned off earlier.
... Which currently... wasn't... there.
Valentine the die was not impressed. He demonstrated how unimpressed he was by bouncing about some.
Sora looked over and groaned as he saw Dice!Valentine hopping around. "Valentine!" He whisper yelled and ran over to dispatch the gambler so that the juggler could return to normal.
Cassandra didn't facepalm. She was just holding her hand up to check to make sure her mask was on firmly.
NOT A DIE. NOT A DIE WAS GOOD.
Valentine patted himself over to make certain that he was all there.
And then looked up and smiled sheepishly at his companions.
"...It... seemed the thing to do at the time?"
Just beyond where the Gambler had been lurking in the shadows, hanging out in the air a few feet away from the platforms, there was an oddly-shaped dark purple enclosure. The front was barred, and behind those bars there was the slightest glimpse - if any of them squinted - of a tiny figure in white, lying on its side, very still.
Sora shook his head at Valentine and looked up. "Namine!?" He squinted at the dark looking enclosure before running at full speed towards it.
Valentine wasn't going to have to worry about heartless grabbing his heart from his chest, because at Sora's exclamation, it jumped clean from his ribcage and lodged itself somewhere in his throat instead.
"Naminé?" He was on his feet and hot on Sora's heels before his mind could formulate a thought.
Cassandra moved quickly but with her eyes looking back. No point in letting someone hit them from behind while they're all looking at Namine.
A Dusk popped out from the nothingness.
And then another.
And another.
And another.
The Organization had not left their captive unguarded.
That was a lot of Dusks, Sora wouldn't be able to take them easily like this. "I need to transform. You two stay back while I do!" He explained and moved to change to Final Form.
Freaky white things! And Sora telling him to stay back!
Valentine did not need to be told twice, here. He skidded to a stop and backpedaled and waved his arms around in a bit of a frantic panic, all the while watching that cage.
So close, yet so far away.
Sora began to change, but instead of being lifted in the air with white light, a darkness surrounded him, swallowing light and leaving a dark form behind. It resembled Sora, but crouched on all fours in a feral way, gave off black smoke and it's eyes glowed an evil yellow.
It didn't attack Valentine and Cassandra though, but made a b-line for the crowd of Dusks.
The fact that Cassandra's eyes widened was hidden by her mask, but she leaned forward slightly watching the... thing that was Sora. She hadn't expected that. It moved... a lot differently that Sora did.
Cassandra thought that the Dusks were in a lot of trouble now.
Valentine backstepped a little more.
Sora was a shadow?
Valentine wasn't terribly fond of the evil-go-killy sort of shadow. But he'd forgive Sora on the grounds that the evil that he was going to kill was decidedly not a particular very important man.
It happened quickly.
One moment, there was a flicker of a portal, from inside the cage, and a figure in a black cloak marched through. He bent slightly to lift the unconscious girl into his arms, then stepped backwards again.
An instant later, the portal snapped shut, and they were gone.
Sora continued his rampage through the Dusks not noticing the dark figure swoop in and take Namine from her cell.
When most of the dusks were dispatched the darkness lifted off of him and Sora slumped to the ground momentarily, reeling from the transformation.
"Naminé!" Valentine stepped around Sora and ran to the cage, peering inside.
She wasn't in there.
There was a small birdcage, however, with a doll inside its bars. A doll of Naminé.
He put his hands on the bars and attempted to rattle them open. She wasn't in there, but there was just something terribly wrong about leaving a representation of her inside a cage, that way. It was possibly his entirely too literal mind at work. But wasn't it understandable, given that he, himself, was a physical manifestation of artificial imagery?
The birdcage swayed lightly, tantalizingly out of reach.
It was identical to a cage which had hung in one corner of the top floor of Castle Oblivion, watching over Naminé as she lured Sora further inwards, tearing at his mind. It might even be the same cage, the same doll. Perhaps it held some strange power over Naminé, or her abilities. Perhaps it just seemed amusingly cruel.
Leaping lightly up to the hanging cell Namine had been in, Cassandra frowned. She flicked a lockpick set into her hands and quickly worked her way into the cell.
"Namine," she said quietly as she looked around.
Sora rubbed his face and slowly stood up, still not sure what happened as he followed the others into the cell. "Where's Namine? I saw her in there!"
Valentine made a beeline for the cage, opening it and removing the doll from her imprisonment immediately.
"Someone in an organization cloak took her," he mumbled, clutching the doll close to his chest protectively. "In and out before we could get anywhere nearby."
"In an Organization cloak?" Sora asked, perking suddenly. "Was the hood up!? Could you see his face?!"
Valentine, rather preoccupied with coddling the doll, shook his head, not looking up at Sora when he spoke.
"No, I didn't get a look at his face. But they aren't here anymore... We should... go somewhere? Perhaps?"
Sora looked around the cell a moment thinking. "Riku... it's must have been Riku!!!!!"
Valentine glanced up from the doll, looking at Sora curiously.
"No, I'm fairly certain that it wasn't Rikku. She's a good deal shorter." Pause. Consider. "And black is really not her colour at all."
Another portal flickered into being near the cage, and another would-be Naminé-rescuer stepped through. Ansem the Wise -- if he'd ever allow himself to call himself by that name again -- looked around, getting his bearings.
Naminé was gone. She had been here, but was gone, and that was worrisome. But even more so was the fact that Sora was here -- after all that had been done to restore Sora's memories, he shouldn't know Naminé at all. He shouldn't be here at all, especially not without Donald and Goofy.
The other two people were as yet unimportant. The fate of the universe was at stake; introductions could wait for a more suitable time.
"Sora," he called, in his deep, rich voice. "Why are you here?"
Sora was caught off guard at first, but then recognized the man's clothing. "You.... I know you. You were with the King at the top of the castle. Ansem the Wise."
The man had no idea what Sora was babbling on about, but... "That... is my name, yes." If Sora was here -- he had to determine what damage Naminé had done. "I must ask you again, Sora: Why are you here?"
Sora took a deep breath. This was really going to be complicated.
"Okay, I'm not the Sora you think I am. I'm from a different timeline than the one that you know. I was at a school called Fandom High that King Mickey sent me to after all the stuff here is over with and I met your Namine there. She was kidnapped from the dorms by this Organization that I'd already killed in my time line. So we had Demyx make us a map, because he's at school too and really is an okay guy, so we could find where they were hiding Namine and bring her back to school."
There, that made perfect sense.
No, of course it didn't make sense. But Sora seemed earnest, so it was worth remembering and trying to pick apart later. Maybe it was the truth, or maybe Sora's memories had been messed with again.
"You're here to rescue Naminé?" he asked, seizing on the important piece of data and studying it. "As am I. We appear to both be too late."
"Yeah... I think Riku came in and got her while we were fighting the Dusks," Sora said as he looked back over at the cell. "Valentine said he saw someone in an Organization Jacket inside take her out. So it must have been Riku."
Because Sora just knows these things.
How did Sora know Riku was dressed in an Organization cloak? And... Riku had, before, refused to acknowledge some hard truths about Naminé. Perhaps he'd finally seen that Light sometimes had to be pragmatic and decided to do what needed to be done.
...Or perhaps Sora had just made a lucky guess. He had never been all that bright, and who knew what Naminé had done to his mind this time. What mattered was that someone in an Organization cloak had taken her, he needed to check a few things and regroup, and Sora... Sora ought to be in Hollow Bastion, where the Nobodies were attacking. But Sora would never leave a rescue in the hands of anyone else.
"It most likely wasn't Riku. The Organization is pushing a major offensive on Hollow Bastion, as has probably moved her to be closer to them. You should look for her there."
Valentine squeezed the Naminé doll to his chest. This man was wearing something that could be considered a mask, of sorts, and he didn't much like the calculating vibes that he was catching from it. It gave him the chills, actually. He never did have good luck with the calm, calculating type.
He frowned deeply. What other choice did they have, though? Hollow Bastion was the only lead they really had. And he wasn't a fan of diving into major offensives, but if the Organization was there...
"Maybe she is there," he said, shuddering a little at the thought.
Having spent more time than was necessary determining that Namine had vanished from the cell without a trace, Cassandra finally turned to frown at the newcomer.
She tilted her head slightly. With the constant air of weighing options he had about him, he seemed a lot like Batman. That would have been good, but something was... off. She wasn't sure what it was.
Turning to Sora, she shrugged. "Not here," she offered helpfully, referring to the empty cell. As to where Namine might be, she had no idea.
"Check Hollow Bastion," Ansem repeated. "You ought to be there anyway. I have... other ways of searching for her." Ways that, hopefully, led to him finding her first. "I will contact you if I manage to find anything."
Sora took a deep breath and rolled his eyes. "But Namine isn't there! I know!" He looked between three set faces and slumped.
"Fine, let's go to Hollow Bastion. Maybe we can help them out a little if nothing else."
(OOC: preplayed with the kickass importantman, iseewhatyoumean, key_of_heart, and sarcasm_guy. NFI, NFB, YMMV, but hit me with OOC!)