Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » Kingdom Hearts: Scattered Fragments (Private RP)

'Perceptive little punk, what a pain.' Ryuga thought, an irritate look on his hidden face, but gave nothing away.

"I told you before, didn't I? I'm a Heartless, just like you, sure I can think for myself and all, but when I get a whiff of some potent darkness, I just can't help myself." He said. He wasn't lying, he did come to him for the great deal of darkness in his heart, it just so happened that Raixon beat him to the punch. "Of course, by the time I made on the scene, Raixon had already gone and done the deed, but I figured I'd ought to stop him from finishing the job. Oh, and by the way, I wasn't exactly on his radar before I stepped in to help you, so I basically blew my cover to help you out. Just something to consider." Ryuga didn't expect any true sympathy or gratitude from Katsuki, but Seekers were always prideful, and a prideful heart wouldn't allow itself to remain in debt to anyone.

"Not but a single day, believe it or not." Phoebus replied, holding a torch up to allow for the group to see better. "I had been away for nearly a decade fighting in the wars, it was actually Frollo who summoned me back to aid in his insane crusade against the gypsies."

"Didn't take long to see his true colors, huh, kupo." Moguri commented.

"Indeed, my only regret is that I didn't speak out against him right from the start." Phoebus declared. "I must admit, I never thought much of the gypsies, living on the fringes of the city, but even I could see that they didn't deserve what Frollo had in store for them."

"...Then, you were already better than me." Quasimodo said with a crestfallen look on his face. "I always thought that the gypsies were evil, even after meeting Esmeralda I figured that she had to be an exception... that such a kind person didn't belong amongst such horrible people... I'm just as bad as my Master."

"You're wrong, Quasimodo." Ritsuka said, putting a hand on the hunchback's shoulder. "You only believed that because Frollo told you to, you didn't know any better."

"But..."

"The important thing is that you're willing to stand up to him now." Ritsuka declared. Quasimodo thought on it for a moment before nodding his head in approval, the group forging onward through the catacombs.

Katsuki breathed out a silent sigh. It was a logical, believable explanation, but it still seemed like that the other Seeker wasn't being totally truthful with him. He'd be sure to get it out of the other Seeker later. However, he still nodded and cut a sideways glance at Ryuga. "Thanks, then," he said. He wasn't feeling particularly thankful, but he might as well extend the courtesy. His newfound pride wouldn't let him not address it.

It was then that the Heartless pulled his hood up over his head, blacking out his face completely. After doing this, Katsuki felt a strange, if small, sense of protection wash over him. A small, slightly malevolent smile appeared on his face. He looked over at Ryuga. He was still loath to trust him, even if the other Seeker did save his life. "So," he said, uncrossing his arms, picking up a flat rock off the sand, and sidearming it at the water. It skipped about 10 times before it sank beneath the surface. "What happens now?"

When Xazek stepped into the large space, he saw Raixon waiting for him, the barest hint of a smile on his face. Xazek reflexively returned it before the perfectly neutral expression reappeared on his face. The space he had entered was an impressive one, but he was totally unmoved by it; where there should have been wonder was simply cold and neutral observation.

When introduced to Yuxara, and when she doffed her hood and verbally acknowledged him after Raixon left, he calmly nodded at her in return. When she began to walk back up the steps, he followed her in short order, managing to keep up with her without much effort. After a few seconds, the nascent Nobody broke the silence. "What is it you do here?" he asked her, his voice and expression still perfectly neutral. "And what about the organization? How many of us are there? How are our goals carried out?" He felt that 3 questions were enough at this time.

Hanox listened to the conversation in front of him, and also offered verbal encouragement to Quasimodo. "Ritsuka's right, Quasi," he said to the hunchback. "Frollo gaslighted you for years and treated you horribly, but now that you're willing to stand up to him, it's a whole different ball game." After Quasi thought about their words and nodded, there was more silence. The Nobody tried to think of something else to say, as the eerie feeling of being watched once again returned to him.

After a bit, he once again broke the silence. "How old are these catacombs?" he asked, mainly speaking to the two native Parisians. "I'd peg them at at least two to three hundred years old. Am I right?"

Yuxara did not look back at him as she ascended the steps, rather, she slowed just a hair to allow him to catch up alongside her as their may their way from the main stairs into the first alcove of corridors. The ceilings were high and the walls and floor pristine; the only color to be seen throughout was a pale and dusky grey all around, with only the shadows to bring variation into the palette. It made the black cloaks of the members stand out amongst the comparatively bright surroundings.

“There are currently ten of us in the Organization, yourself included,” the Nobody replied. “Our overall goals in keeping the Light and Darkness aligned primarily involve keeping the darkness in check. Rarely does light transcend the barriers of the Realm that it was given; darkness, on the other hand, leaks into this realm too easily, in greed, envy, and hatred. This darkness acts as a magnet to dark hearts, Heartless, that we vanquish to keep the balance.”

She led him to a hall, and before Xazek’s very eyes a faint, translucent light flickered across the door that they paused at, where an ‘X’ was suddenly engraved into it. The other doors down this particular hall would display other Roman numerals lesser than 10. “As for me, as our coordinator I am the one whom the intel is reported to, and based on that I assign missions to most of our members. There are times when I will assist in the endeavors that prove to be a significant nuisance.”

“This will be your room,” she explained calmly. “This Castle and this World is our base and sanctuary, and the state of it reflects our nature as Nobodies.”

Xazek had followed Yuxara up to where he stood now, his long, smooth strides allowing him to keep up with her with relative ease. His eyes had darted around the scenery as they had ascended to this point. As before, there was no awe or impressed look on his features. Nothing, but pure, cold observation of his surroundings. Also during the climb, he had been listening to his guide's words, and nodding at the appropriate intervals. The mission statement of the Organization seemed to be a logical one, and that sat just fine with him, for now, at least.

When Yuxara told him about the room behind the door on which the large "X" had just appeared, he simply nodded once more, and opened the door. Inside was a small room, with naught but a bed and a window, which looked out into the eternal night that was The World That Never Was. Upon seeing it, the nascent Nobody spoke for the first time since he had asked Yuxara about the Organization.
"Hmm, seems Spartan," he said. It wasn't a complaint, merely an observation.

After Xazek's solid-gray eyes gave his room the once-over, he looked over at Yuxara.
"I recall Raixon mentioning a formal induction," he said flatly, his voice still perfectly neutral. "Where and when is this to take place?"

"That's about as good a guess as any." Phoebus replied with moderate disinterest.

The further they went, the less... abandoned the catacombs seemed. The dust that should have been building up for centuries of disuse seemed much more fresh than it should have been, and certain graves seemed to be emptied out, after all, nobody wanted to sleep next to a corpse.

"Something's wrong... we should've run into more trouble by now?" Phoebus said.

"What do you mean?" Ritsuka asked.

"You know like, uh, a guard, or a boobytrap, or..." Suddenly, the torch that the captain had been holding went out, leaving them in total darkness. "Or an ambush."

As if on cue, the tunnel they were in illuminated with torch light, revealing that the group were surrounded by a troop of gypsies that were mascaraing as skeletons in the tomb.

"Well, well, well, what do we have hear?" A man in bright, colorful clothes taunted as he strode down the tunnel towards them. "A merry band of Frollo spies!"

"What? N-No, we're not..." Ritsuka was cut off as a gypsy guard gagged him with a thick red scarf, others doing the same to his companions, holding them in place and attempting to tie them up with rope.

Ryuga couldn't help but smirk a bit under his helmet. He didn't know just how much this new Seeker trusted him, but in the end it didn't really matter. He didn't need Katsuki's trust, he just needed his cooperation, and seeing the inky blackness that was his heart, he knew that he wouldn't be able to resist.

"Well, considering that I REALLY inconvenienced myself rescuing you back there, I think it's reasonable to ask you to help put me back on track." Ryuga suggested. "I don't need you to do anything too complicated, just a little favor while I go out and cover my tracks so Raixon doesn't catch wind of what I'm doing."

With that said, he opened up another dark corridor, leading back to the Realm of Light.

"If you're at all interested, follow me."

When Phoebus' torch went out, the hair on the back of Hanox's neck stood on end. As if on instinct, the Nobody summoned his pistols and pointed the black one in a random direction into the darkness, which so happened to reveal the face of a Gypsy when the ambush party's torches were ignited. Another had tried to sneak up behind him with the gag and the rope. Unbeknownst to the Gypsy, the Nobody had heard him, and he raised his other pistol to his face, daring him to try it. His attempted assailant got the message, but the rope-holding gypsy did pull out a knife.

The Nobody's index fingers slipped inside their respective trigger guards as the man in colorful clothes - perhaps the leader - came down the tunnel towards them. Hanox saw Ritsuka, Quasimodo, and Phoebus next to each other, all bound and gagged. Hanox had the feeling that if he tried anything, an order to kill might be given. As the man came closer, the Nobody's grip on his guns tightened. "Let them go," Hanox said to him, hardening his voice. "We're not working for that absolute wackjob. We're actually trying to save you all from him."

Hanox figured that his word alone probably wasn't going to do much, but he had to try. "My friend Quasimodo over there has a woven band that was given to him by a woman named Esmerelda. That's how we found this tunnel."

"Hmm~..." Clopin eyed the bound Hunchback with a wary gaze, Quasimodo nodding furiously in agreement with Hanox's words. Silently, Clopin kneeled down next to Quasimodo and dug his gloved hand into the his ragged shirt, eventually pulling out the promised woven band. The demeanor of the gypsies immediately shifted, their scowls turning into looks of surprise and slight guilt.

"Why, this is Esmerelda's band. The outsider speaks the truth!" Clopin announced, the gypsies all cheering in response as they unbound Ritsuka and the others. Before they had the chance to explain any further, some burly gypsies hoisted the group up onto their shoulders and guided them through the tunnel until they came out into a large, brightly lit out-cove filled with other gypsies. The walls were adorned with bright, colorful fabrics and tapestries, the people stopping whatever they were doing as they noticed the merry procession of Clopin and the gypsy guards.

"Welcome to the Court of Miracles, friends of the fair lady of Paris, Esmerelda!" Clopin announced as the guards set the group down on a big stage at the center of the makeshift town. "Now then, what brings a turncoat soldier and a traitorous little henchmen to our humble hideaway?"

"We came to warn you! You are all in grave danger!" Phoebus announced to the crowd that had gathered. "Frollo knows where you are and is going to attack tonight with those demons he controls!" The gypsies immediately began to panic, looking amongst each other with terrified expressions. "You have to leave, NOW!" With that the gypsies all began frantically packing their things, Quasimodo looking amongst the chaos with a worried look.

"Where's Esmerelda?"

"Don't worry, I'm sure she's around here somewhere." Ritsuka assured the hunchback. "You and Phoebus go find her! Hanox, Moguri, let's stand guard at the tunnels to make sure no Heartless show up!" He suggested to his companions before leading them into the main tunnel they came from.

Yuxara had merely stood outside the doorway while Xazek surveyed his room, waiting patiently and quietly for whenever he would come back out into the hall. The stillness of the atmosphere about the castle and the world itself was familiar. Stillness and emptiness meant that things were well. That tides did not yet shift. And it was comfortable.

She had closed her eyes briefly as she waited, and upon hearing Xazek’s voice once again she opened those violet hues once more, registering the question he posed to her. The Organization was a relatively small group, and she allowed her mind to wander back to the other inductions that had taken place. “Raixon is off taking care of a couple of things. For the time being we will finish our tour. By the time that we conclude, he should be back. And as for where…our meeting room, shall we say. It shall be our last stop.”

“Now, let us continue,” she mused, walking past him and continuing down the hallway, evidently expecting him to follow. “If any other questions come to mind, free free to ask.” And with that, she led him along the near-silent halls. The end of the hall opened up to a large room with one wall entirely of glass from floor to ceiling, displaying naught but the everlasting, starless night as well as a view of the town below the Castle. It seemed like a commons and almost a lounge area. The shade of the room was marginally darker than the bedroom and the halls had been, and slim couches were scattered about the room, three on each side. “This is the Grey Room,” Yuxara explained briefly. “It is usually here where you will report and receive your missions for today.

She looked to her right, where a slim figure had begun to walk up to them. His windtossed hair was a striking blonde and his hues a glassy, almost seafoam green. “Yuxara,” he acknowledged her immediately upon hearing her voice, apparently waiting off to the side. “Have you seen...?” However, at the sight of Xazek, he allowed his words to trail away into nothing. “Oh. A new one, it seems.” The passing musing held a sigh within the words. “Welcome to the Organization, then, fellow wielder.” There was a smile offered to Xazek, and yet the expression still fell flat. “We hope that you find your place here among us.”

“Let Kingdom Hearts remain untainted by desire,” Yuxara intoned, nodding to the two men. “Seixan, your mission rotation, like everyone else’s, will be slightly tweaked to accommodate training sessions.”

The blond man, or Seixan as he had been so identified, glanced over at Xazek. “Surely. Number Ten won’t have any problem with picking everything up, I’m sure. Do you have a name?”

Katsuki cast a quick sideways glance at Ryuga with his eyes before looking out at the still water once more. Despite Ryuga helping him, Katsuki didn't trust him as far as he could throw him. Something still felt off about his new ally of necessity, but he didn't know what it was. His gut told him not to just cooperate and go along with it, but there was something about the way the other Seeker said "favor" that intrigued him. That, and he didn't want to be indebted to Ryuga any longer than he had to.

Still, however, he wasn't going to follow blindly. Katsuki crossed his arms, but still didn't look at Ryuga, even when the latter summoned another Corridor of Darkness. "Depends on what you mean by 'favor'," said Katsuki.

"Like I said, I just need something done that I was going to do anyway before I had to go and save you." Ryuga replied, his casual way of speaking masking the annoyance he was feeling at Katsuki's constant prodding. He knew from the start it wasn't going to be easy to get a Seeker of Darkness to do what he wanted, but he just had to put up with it until he found the opportune moment to take what he wanted from him. Then, it would all be worth it.

"It's nothing strenuous, in fact it's something incredibly easy for the likes of us. It'll be as natural to you as breathing. If you want any more details," He crossed his arms before pointing his thumb at the swirling Corridor of Darkness. "You'll have to step through."

Having not dismissed his guns since being jumped in the tunnel, there was very little preparation to be made as Hanox, Ritsuka, and Moguri made their way back over to the entryway of the Court of Miracles. The Nobody nodded in agreement with Ritsuka about standing guard. They would need to buy as much time as they could so that the Gypsies could get out safely.

Once they were stationed at the mouth of the main tunnel, Hanox looked back and forth between the two Keyblade Wielders, silently affirming that he was ready. They waited there for several minutes. The Nobody's eyes probed the darkness, trying to pick out the telltale yellow eyes of any approaching Heartless. While he personally didn't feel tense, Hanox's shoulders were tense and he had a near-white-knuckle grip on his guns. Realizing this, he shut his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths to relax his body. This managed to counteract his reflexes and he reopened his eyes. The Nobody once again probed the tunnel trying to see- there.

Barely even pausing to think, he fired both his pistols twice at a spot down the tunnel on the left side. Hanox had seen a pair of yellow dots spaced only a few inches apart from each other suddenly appear. He heard a small whooshing sound as the Heartless those eyes had belonged to burst in the characteristic shadowy cloud. It had been only about a foot of the ground. Probably a shadow.

Hanox's gaze was pulled further down the tunnel as more and more pairs of eyes started to appear.
"Here they come..." he said, his voice hard. There were only a few Heartless right now, but he knew that there would be more coming. If Claude Frollo had any sense, he would try to overwhelm them, even with the giant Heartless waiting in the wings.

The moment Hanox open fired on the appearing Shadows, Ritsuka summoned his Keyblade to his side and falling into a fighting stance, Moguri doing the same with his casting sword. He watched as Hanox made quick work of the appearing Shadows that melted out of the dimly lit hallway, Ritsuka amazed at how sharp his aim was to be able to hit every single time with only a pair of beady yellow eyes to show where his target was.

However, the Shadows eventually gave way to Soldiers, who managed to close the gap between them despite the rain of bullets Hanox was sending their way.

"Cover us, we're going in!" Ritsuka declared before sliding across the floor and tripping one of the Soldiers off its feet. Ritsuka then followed up with a swing of his Keyblade that tore through the Heartless' shadowy flesh before bringing the blade up to defend against a swing fo the claw from a second Soldier.

"Freeze!" Moguri cried, sending a blizzard spell at the attacking Soldier that encased it in a coating of thick ice. Ritsuka then shattered it into countless pieces in a single slash, before standing back to back with Moguri as a few more Soldiers popped into existence, surrounding them. Without missing a beat, the two apprentices cried out "Thunder!" in unison, their individual Thunder spells combining into Thundara, raining down bolts of lightning onto the Heartless that momentarily stunned them.

Ritsuka and Moguri cut down the stunned Soldiers with ease, trusting that Hanox would keep any more encroaching Heartless at bay.

Katsuki let out a silent, annoyed sigh. Because of course Ryuga wasn't going to tell him anything.
Not gonna give me anything, are you? he thought bitterly. Again, the new Seeker didn't want to just go along with whatever the other had in mind. While Ryuga didn't seem to pose much of a danger to him at that second, Katsuki still had a gut feeling that Ryuga was not to be trusted. Either way, he didn't have much of a choice right now.

When Ryuga finished speaking, Katsuki turned to look at him. The other Seeker had his thumb pointed over his shoulder at the Corridor of Darkness.
"Fine, I'll bite," said Katsuki, turning the rest of his body towards him. "Where to?"

'Finally, stubborn little shit!" Ryuga thought to himself once Katsuki finally decided to do as he was told.

"To another world, back in the Realm of Light." He explained as he made to step through the portal. "A place called La Cite des Cloches, though I don't expect that to mean anything to you." Considering that Katsuki was created in Traverse Town, a world meant to act as a refuge for those who lost their own, he figured that his Somebody, Zinkaze, wasn't a world traveler of any sort. Good, that would make it easier for Ryuga to put him where he needed him, since he would have no sense of direction otherwise.

"Shall we?" He said before finally stepping through the Corridor. The duo of Seekers would appear on top of the Notre Dame cathedral, giving them a perfect view of the city below, the sun still hanging high in the sky. "Not a bad view, is it?" He said back to the Seeker that hopefully followed him.

The name "La Cité des Cloches" was indeed unfamiliar to Katsuki. Although he didn't remember, his Somebody, while being aware that other worlds existed, had never left Minata. Something told the Seeker he'd have to learn about the worlds in the Realm of Light for multiple reasons, not the least of which would be to avoid being led by the nose from place to place. Katsuki kept his arms crossed and shifted his weight from his left to his right, indicating that he wasn't familiar with the World on the other side of the Corridor.

When Ryuga made his move through the Corridor of Darkness, Katsuki waited a moment before reluctantly following the other Seeker through. Pure, comforting Darkness surrounded Katsuki for a few moments before giving way to the top of Notre Dame. The light from the late-morning sun shone down upon them, but, luckily, couldn't penetrate the shadows created by his hood.
"No, it isn't," Katsuki responded, agreeing with his ally of necessity.

Having resolved to do this during his trip through the Corridor, Katsuki grabbed the loose fabric at the base of Ryuga's hood and then pushed him so that his center of gravity was just over the ledge, but his feet were still on it. If Katsuki let go, though, Ryuga would plummet to the street. The element of surprise had been key here. On a basic level, he knew that the other Seeker was much stronger than he was. If this had been done head-on, he wouldn't have stood a chance.

"Alright, what's your damn game here?" Katsuki demanded, his voice low and menacing. "What the hell do you want with me you little shit? Yeah, you saved my life, but there's no way in hell that your motives are as innocent as you say they are." Katsuki gave the other Seeker a small, if forceful shake. "Answer me, or you die," he said. A barely noticeable aura of darkness was starting to form around him due to his anger, a sign that he didn't really have any control over such things yet.

'Seriously, this is his big threat?' Ryuga had to suppress the urge to burst out laughing, he really was a naive little welp of a Seeker. Honestly, even a fledgling somebody Keyblade Wielder like Ritsuka could survive a fall like this with a well timed forward roll, while he could pull off a triple flip and stick the landing without so much as a sprained ankle. He could only assume that "Zinkaze" was just used to dealing with squishier opponents, leaving Katsuki with no frame of reference for how durable world travelers were, especially Seekers and Nobodies.

He could have easily escaped, either by warping, or summoning his weapon and stabbing it through his assailant's chest. It wouldn't kill him, but it would hurt like hell, and be oh so satisfying. However, Ryuga decided to just go along with this little development, after all, if he gave in to his little threat, then he was more inclined to believe whatever he would say next.

"W-Whoa, whoa, take it easy there!" It was a strange, paradoxical ruse, pretending to pretend to not be phased by a life threatening fall. He had to make sure not to sound too desperate, but at the same time shaken enough that he felt that the threat was successful. "Fine, you got me, I didn't exactly save you out of the "goodness of my Heart". Look, just... let me back up, and I'll explain." Of course he knew Katsuki wouldn't comply, he would want the answer while he still had the leverage, but he needed to at least make it seem like he was trying to weasel his way out of telling him.