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Post by Xion on Jan 2, 2011 21:27:37 GMT -5
By now, Xion knew three things.
First of all, Wonderland was a weird place. Everything here seemed to have lost it's mind, if it even had one. Flowers talked, animals talked, and to make matters worse, they said nosense. No wonder why the place was called Wonderland.
Secondly, she had to get rid of a few Heartless. That wasn't much of a tough mission, but it was all she could manage for now. She wasn't that strong, and she doubted she'd be able to do anything harder. She doubted it highly, so she wanted to succeed in her mission that day.
And third, no one in the Organization knew her anymore, so they wouldn't really mind if she failed...or ended up being crushed by a rock or whatever. Not that it really mattered, actually. She hadn't kept contact with any of the Organization members anyway, but still...it bothered her a little bit.
Though, that wasn't the point. The point was that Xion was stuck with this mission and she wouldn't leave until she had completed it. So she made her way across Wonderland, pretty much ignoring everyone and everything, and keeping her eyes set on the road, just in case. But her mind went on tearing the same questions apart. Why had she forgotten? And why did everyone forget? That had been a price to pay, but what exactly had she paid. She'd have to ask Naminé the next...
No, wait. Focus. Don't think of that.
A tree branch broke nearby and a few Shadow heartless emerged from nowhere.
Stay in the path first. Questions later.
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Post by The Cheshire Cat on Jan 3, 2011 16:01:33 GMT -5
If up was down and down was up, which way was left? The cat pondered, floating through various trees, just above their limbs. Well, he assumed it could be right. But if right was left as well, it would have to take an unexpected turn. Perhaps, it was down. Yes, down seemed a likely option. Or, even, pink. Oh - oh. No, it was Cheshire. Yes. Left was Cheshire. Like the cat!
Like himself!
Proud with his decision on what direction left truly was, the maddened cat twirled around, still floating. Soon, though, his concentration was broken by a sudden feeling. The ripping and tearing of the darkness that had penetrated his mind, slowly, but surely turning, and soon after, it felt as though it had bashed into the sides of his brain, giving him a most uncomfortable ache. If the feeling was accurate, it meant that the darkness was around.
Becoming nothing but dark purple stripes and a grin, the cat pressed on, to find the creatures leaking out of the shadows, and... toward a young being? Oh, my.
When had she gotten here? How had he not known? He had to have known. He had to have. No if's, and's, or but's. This crazed cat needed to know everything. And, if he knew everything, why didn't he know about this one?
These heartless, though. They weren't his. It wasn't really rare to find them wandering the world, but it was to see them actually going out of their way to make a target out of a being. After all, the cat had seen the shadows. Cheshire had seen them move.
And, for entertainment's sake, the stripes and grin would rest on the nearest non-heartless infested branch that he could find. Because, oh, weren't fights with the darkness so maddening?
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Post by axie on Jan 4, 2011 19:57:30 GMT -5
The Queen of Hearts was anything but queenly.
Axel heard about her from a rabbit with a pocketwatch, having dimly remembered something about her on one of Saïx's reports--not that he'd ever been to Wonderland except through stories on the clock tower--figured she couldn't be any worse than Xemnas, and resolved to either steal said hearts or figure out if they could be stolen. There'd been a lot of talking plants and not so silent houses along the way, but once he found the stupid castle it didn't take a lot of work to get inside unnoticed.
Problem was, the only thing in the royal vault seemed to be a mess of tarts.
He would've investigated further, except he got caught--and he was certain the very flammable card soldiers regretted having to pursue him. The queen herself was shrieking something about "off" and "his head," and Axel was pretty sure a Nobody wouldn't survive that either, so in no time it was back out through inky blackness and back to square one.
At least he didn't have to worry about the Organization finding him now. They'd already investigated the hell out of Wonderland, which was part of the reason he knew it was relatively safe ground, and he'd found a little spot to hole up in at that Traverse Town world Xemnas had never seemed too interested in. Axel wasn't sure why--if any other worlds got split to atoms, the first place they'd drop their survivors would be Traverse Town, and after Sora'd locked it up as tight as he had there was no reason to worry that the place would go under.
Meantime, if only he could find something useful here before...
Was that a Shadow?
It wasn't attacking him, at least. But Axel hadn't asserted authority over the Heartless here, and Queen Bitch sounded like she'd be able to do just that. Either it somehow hadn't noticed him or it was after a more important target.
Axel followed.
When the Shadow still didn't bother him, he knew something was up, and the instant he reached the road again he saw why.
Tiny hooded figure walking alone along the path.
Before he could tell himself it was impossible--before he could realize it had to be a trap--Axel had already let the name fall from his lips in an incredulous shout.
"Roxas!"
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Post by Xion on Jan 4, 2011 21:17:24 GMT -5
This was going to be easy. It had to. They were just Shadows after all, they weren't that tough to fight off. Xion summoned her Kingdom Key, gripping it tightly with both hands and charged her way toward the Heartless, striking them until they faded away.
But it wasn't just as easy as she expected.
They had already started to swarm around her; one of them was actually clinging to her ankle tightly. She flailed a bit, trying to get it off until it finally flew away. She then resumed her attack, slashing many heartless out of her way. Though one of them jumped it's way around the others and on her head. She wasn't all that sure of what to do with it, and hitting herself on the head with the Keyblade didn't seem too appealing.
And then...
There was a cry, somewhere nearby that could have been directed toward her. Only, whoever it was was actually looking for Roxas. That was odd, as far as Xion knew, she was the only other preson there...and then it hit her that she and Roxas were about the same height. Meaning this was all a confusion.
She didn't have the time to clear it right now, though, a Heartless was clinging to her head...! Then she punched it with all the strength she had, and in doing so, her hood fell off. She then turned toward Axel -oh....she hadn't expected him there- and gave him a look.
"I'm not...AAAAAGH!"she shrieked, then had to turn her attention back to the swarm of Heartless in front of her. They just kept appearing, damn it!
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Post by The Cheshire Cat on Jan 5, 2011 3:45:33 GMT -5
As soon as the other appeared, Cheshire's stripes faded, rapidly, until nothing was left but his grin. But, oh, was it a grin? No! It was a frown! Why a frown? Well, the cat had rolled over onto it's back. He had to get comfortable, to be able to watch the two interact, and, of course, to watch the heartless, which moved around humorously.
Especially so when one had actually gotten onto the small being's head. The cat only chalked it to the cloaked one's luck that the heartless didn't gouge out her eyes. Then again, they weren't they type to go for the eyes. Aim at everything easy, and eliminate seemed to be their strategy. Thinking of it, that wasn't a very good strategy. No, not at all.
In fact, it was a horribly poor one. Even the mindless should know better than to just flail their claws at whatever was in sight!
But -- oh -- he had to keep an eye on this man-person, too, now! He was yet another that hadn't been noticed by the cat before! This couldn't do! Oh, no, no! This couldn't! Cheshire had to be on top of everything. If he wasn't, who was he? The lilies would surely laugh about this one! He should have checked up on them a fourth time today, it seemed. It wasn't as though they could keep their lips shut for long. It took very little prying to get a lily to reveal anything it knew, and at least one of them had to have seen one of these!
And who was this 'Roxas' that the taller one spoke of? Oh, how the striped feline needed to know!
It was so difficult to contain himself, that it forced him to roll over a few times, before returning to his upside down position. It was like a horrible show with a cliffhanger! The cat couldn't bear to wait and discover these mysteries, but at the same time, he was forced to!
That was, if he even kept himself around long enough to watch the 'conclusion' to the mystery of these people, and the Roxas that the one spoke of.
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Post by axie on Jan 8, 2011 2:48:14 GMT -5
This wasn’t right.
A short week ago, Axel would be moving before he stopped to think—at Roxas’s side and attacking. A too short year before that, he’d know to run before an Organization member spotted and reported him. In the eerily familiar second he stood caught between two roles, that hood went down and—
He didn’t realize he’d ducked and shielded his eyes until he saw the darkness of his own thoughts. There was something too bright, or maybe it was too dark, or maybe it was too wrong, and it was underneath that hood. Some instinct that knew he couldn’t deal with whatever he might see had spared him the sight.
A girl started to say something and he looked up when her cry rang out. That was odd…she got that hood back up again awfully fast for someone in the middle of a fight. Maybe he was wrong, and it hadn’t fallen? It seemed important for a reason he’d forgotten. That Replica—Vexen’s—seemed tied to everything for an instant, and there was something so special right on the tip of his tongue, but in the next second all that certainty was gone and it was just a fading mess of false realizations.
Whoever she was, she could use backup. The Heartless must’ve been attacking her due to the Keyblade, but they could also be after her heart—and Axel didn’t recognize her from the Organization. That meant she was a new recruit or hiding under the cloak just like Riku did, and either way she was vulnerable enough that Axel could chance aiding her. If she was the only Keybearer left on the map, he couldn’t afford to let her die, anyway.
That soft little voice…
Can’t be Naminé.
He knew she couldn’t, so they were back to square one. Still, the moment he’d recovered from that moment of muddled déjà vu, uncertainty, and absolute certainty, Axel leapt into the fray, chakrams blazing. He wouldn’t be able to make them stay gone like she would, but he could at least keep them off her back. Her movements were distantly familiar, letting him keep his weapons closer to her than he normally would, and in a few short swipes he was back to back with her in a lull.
It felt right.
Still, he cast a suspicious glance over his shoulder at her. “Alright, if not Roxas then who the hell are you? And don’t say Sora.”
[OOC: Axel is back to Who The Heck Is This status, and is also missing his feelings from hanging around Roxas, so he still only sees her as a doll with her hood up.]
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Post by Xion on Jan 9, 2011 11:20:22 GMT -5
She wasn't going to stand for much longer. The fight had turned out to be tougher that Xion had expected, and the fact that she was outnumbered wasn't much help. She was going to end up falling at some point, but then-
Axel had rushed to her aid all of a sudden. She didn't notice that, until he questioned her identity, like mostly everyone had done lately. Xion wasn't all that sure that telling him anything, whatever, would help at all. She'd still be a stranger to him, to everyone.
That mattered little at the moment; she wanted to get rid of the heartless and needed help.
But she still took half a glance at Axel, and gave a confiden't smile. "I'm Xion. But...wait, who's Sora?"she asked, more curious than anything. The answer would have to wait, though. The Heartless weren't gone yet. Why couldn't they just vanish and be done with it already...?!
The rage that came with that thought didn't belong to her, it just didn't feel like her own rage. It confused her for a moment before striking forward once more.
[OoC: Right, that makes sense xD]
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Post by axie on Mar 1, 2011 9:05:38 GMT -5
[OOC: Posting since Cheshire gave the okay, and since this thread has been around awhile this can act like an exit post if needed.]
Xion.
In the waltz of fire and darkness, the Flurry of Dancing Flames lost track of the tempo. A chakram whizzed over his head, miscalculated flourish, and the tight turn like guiding a partner made him slip awkwardly out of the way of a direct assault. Something about that name hit him in a place he wasn't used to getting hit, somewhere that almost made him protective and destructive at once. It was like hearing the title to an old childhood storybook, but being unable to recall the story, or even be sure it was really familiar at all.
But maybe she was just reminiscent in a distant way. Her voice, now that he'd heard it again, sounded a lot like one fiery princess who once dove into darkness to escape him. It was just different enough that he could catch it, since the way she spoke also reminded him of Roxas. Both Roxas and Kairi should have made him at ease--overall, anyway, he couldn't be sure how peeved the princess was at him by now--so Axel couldn't explain the equal and opposite inclinations to fight alongside her and turn his chakrams against her at the same time.
If he'd had a heart, it would be infuriating.
Since he didn't, Axel stuck to the facts. This girl wasn't Roxas, no matter who she was, and the only person who might change his mind at this point would be Roxas. Finding him or Sora meant finding an ally, whether that meant joining with the Organization or not, but besides that Axel really needed an ace in the hole about now. "Xion" wasn't it. "Nobody you gotta be concerned about," was all he afforded her. Eternal Flames made short work of the remainders, and while they'd probably crop up again, Axel figured they'd made enough of a dent that the Heartless wouldn't bother her for a while. Which, in his case, meant exiting stage left.
With a negligent snap of his wrist, Axel called a portal. "You never saw me. Got it memorized?" It was past his lips before he stopped to think about it. This "Xion" felt like an enemy and an ally at the same time, so Axel couldn't be sure, and for all appearances she was with the Organization and with no idea who Sora was. There was absolutely nothing to indicate that she could be trusted, unless the Keyblade always chose someone good at heart, which from Axel's experience wasn't necessarily the case. But he still said it like a reflex. If they had ever been allies, maybe she wouldn't betray him to the Organization.
Was that really how it'd be? Betraying him to the Organization? Funny thought.
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