Apparitions of Melody [Raen/Zack/Animositas]

The Desert Wasteland

Truth be told, Raen only landed the ship for the moment because of how long they'd been cooped up inside. Plus, it didn't seem particularly threatening, just very barren. He couldn't picture anything living here--human, Heartless, or Nobody. It was such a harsh environment, what with the dust storms in the distance, whipping winds, and lack of any vegetation. In the distance he could make out a massive spire of rock that seemed to scrape the ceiling on the sky itself.

Stepping off the ship after Lanying, he heard her muse about what this world was. "I've heard of many worlds, but never anything like this. I...I don't know what this place is." Closing his eyes, he could almost feel a pulse from the very world itself. So much anguish...pain...rage...despair. If it wasn't for the Champion's assistance, those emotions would have easily taken him over. Still, despite having control over it, those emotions managed to make him feel somber.

Taking a few steps forward, a part of him wanted to see what all was in this world--if there was any sort of bastion of serenity--while another part of him just wanted to leave now. Still, there was something significant about this place. Regardless, he was going to be letting Lanying and Zack take care of the leading here. If anything did live here, he doubted that it would be friendly, and he'd much rather have their backs.

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On the barren soil at the Seat of War, gathering dust and slowly starting to get covered by sand. How long had it been since it last moved? Animositas remaining fragments of mind could not remember at all. So many years had passed since its creation, left resting there, immobile and purposeless. Or maybe, that’s what it now thought. After all, after so many years, who was to say its mind hadn’t degraded to such a point where the thought of moving wouldn’t occur to it?

Of course, said thought never crossed its mind. Visitors were a very rare occurrence. Unflinching, it sensed three new presences in the world. The first moving creatures in who knew how long. However, that changed nothing. They were far, somewhere close to the last location that had witnessed battle at the Graveyard. The armor’s faint interest subsided, its consciousness going numb.

Something is…

Consciousness returning to the armor after an unknown amount of time, it could see that one of the visitors had come to approach it. “Is that… a girl? Yes, it’s female…” Interest was starting to rise within the empty armor’s mind, the visitor slowly coming closer to it. “What is this… a familiar feeling?” thoughts started to rush into its mind faster than it had in ages. Maybe even faster than they’d ever had since the sentiment had been created ages ago. “I know that… Yes… She’s one with…” the thoughts continued, the woman almost touching Animositas’ helmet now.

“Potential,” that single word, a shared thought transmitted to her visitor, was uttered as the sentiment raised its head in a sudden movement. Its limbs no longer numb, it slowly raised its arm a couple of inches. Then, in a fraction of a second, it plunged its right arm forward, its hand pointing forward, light reflecting on its sharp, skin tearing fingers.

Mirror Mirror.

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Dodged. Naturally. Anyone with the potential Animositas had sensed would be able to avoid such a simple attack. Even if it wasn’t done in such a… graceful manner. Its head tilted slightly to the side at the sight of the girl falling on the ground in such a way. The visitor was starting to put distance between the two of them, while the animated armor started to slowly get up. The sound of metal moving broke the silence of the graveyard as it reached an upright position. Sand was slipping through its joints and falling to the ground, showing the age of the armor.

A question was called out. If Animositas were human, it might have chuckled at the girl’s lack of knowledge. “Unaware one…” That was the only thought sent to the girl’s mind. What purpose was there in explaining it? None. If she lived up to the potential, she’d know. If she didn’t… then Animositas’ armor would be bathed in fresh blood.

Another purposeless question. It was what it was. Moving one step forward, the hollow sound of its foot on the ground echoed around them. The armor stared at its visitor, no, at its target. Distortions of light surrounded the sentient object, warping the images as if it were a mirage in a desert, each passing second the distortion getting worse. In a matter of moments, after the distortion had reached a point where nothing could be told apart, it stopped.

“Who are you?” Lanying’s voice asked back. Where the sentiment stood now was an exact replica of the girl. The second Lanying let a slight smirk on her face show up for a second, quickly raising her arm after that and aiming at the original. A red ball of energy, surrounded by a dark mist formed in the palm of her hand and quickly shot towards its target.


[Energy Blast used. Five posts cool down. One more use.]

Taking the gloves off.

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The girl seemed to be proving worthy of the potential the Sentiment could feel. Of course, not fighting at even ten percent of its capabilities could be a factor in this assessment. Now the target was rushing towards it, sword in hand and ready to strike. "Foolish," Animositas uttered to the girls mind as the bladed connected to the armor's chest. The sound of metal clashing echoed in the usually silent wasteland that was the graveyard. The hollowed sound continued for a few seconds as the Sentiment slowly backed away, the mirrored gazed of the girl never leaving her.

Turning its back on her, the disguised armor reached to the handle of the weapon that, until moments ago, was acting as a tombstone for it. It raised the humongous weapon from the ground slowly, the sand that had accumulated over the ages on it dripping to the ground and blown away by the dry wind of the desert. Facing the girl once more, Animositas changed its grip to the middle handle of the giant rifle and holding it backwards.

"Prove your worth," It once again uttered into the girl's mind. The illusion the armor had created to look like the girl persisted. With no warning, the Sentiment started dashing towards its target, raising its left hand forward midway and summoning four crystalline objects that began to circle it in fixed orbits. Leaping high into the air on approach to the target, the sentient armor raised its weapon upwards with both hands, the tip of the gun pointing downwards and firing five quick shots. Immediately after that, the Sentiment came crashing down on the target, attacking with the blunt backside of its weapon.


[Crystal Stalagmites activated. Three posts to dismiss/use. Four posts cooldown.]

I Leave You Alone for a Few Minutes...

As they walked along the desert path, Lanying broke off to somewhere else. Raen wanted to follow, but it felt as if something was stopping him from following her. He felt as if his mind had numbed, and, incapable of thought, just let his feet lead him into the sea of keys. His hands glided over various keys as he walked, each filled with so much despair and rage. Raen couldn't help but wonder why so many Keybearers had fought, and what for? Was there any victor, or had they all perished without having completed their mission?

He stopped and tried to pull one of the rusted keys from the ground, but with even the slightest of tugs, the handle broke off with a resounding crack. Looking at it like some cheap toy, he tossed the fragment aside. If he had any mental focus, he would've found something interesting about that, but at the moment could only see it as something slightly odd. Just as he turned around to go look for Lanying, and immense wave of emotion seemed to explode from a singular point. It was overwhelming, and he knew immediately what had happened. Breaking into a sprint, he ran as fast as he could towards the source. The worst-case scenario already entered his mind, but he kept trying to shut it out. Having regained his mental clarity certainly had a downside in that respect.

It was then that he saw them--Lanying and...herself? She was fighting a copy of herself? Well, it wouldn't be hard to tell them apart seeing as how one had what appeared to be a huge hunk of steel as a weapon. He could see the real Lanying, battered and bleeding, barely able to keep fighting. Her arm and hip were bleeding, and it didn't look like she could last another hit.

Raen ran over to her, standing about ten feet away. Drawing his blade, he focused his new-found darkness into the blade. "Sorry to steal the show, but I'd rather not have a vacancy on the ship." He began to slash the air around him, sending out various blades of ice--five cutting through the air and three slicing through the ground--and each blade seemed to have a black core. Not of his own free-will, he raised his free hand, and punched the ground, forming a black portal beneath him, and a mirror beneath Lanying's doppleganger. He could feel the darkness pouring out of his body and into the portal, and without any warning, a black mass with two eyes were bulging out of the mirrored portal, and quickly raised itself up into a wolf's head, jaws snapping shut. If that managed to hit, well, then hopefully that was enough.

[Raen used Ice Beast, three posts until next use]

Zack snored loudly. For once the easily excitable hero-in-training was asleep while they traveled on the ship. They hadn't really found a place to go to next after the islands and since he hadn't been able to get much sleep there anyway, he decided to catch up while on the ship. He had slept through them managing to land, and even was asleep when Raen and Lanying left the ship. However, soon it seemed like he had gotten enough sleep, since he began to rise.

He yawned loudly. "That was some nap...." he mumbled and then jumped up to his feet. He did a few quick squats, which quickly woke him up. He headed for the bridge and asked "Hey, have I missed-" he started to say and then realized no one was there "....Anything?" He looked around, looking at the spot where the Gummi ship said what world they were on. Apparently they were now at a place called the Keyblade Graveyard.

It was definitely an interesting sounding place. It then dawned on to him "Don't tell me they left to explore already! Man, talk about oversleeping...." he said aloud and rushed out of the ship. He was surprised to see how desolate the world was, it was practically a desert. Then again the fact it was supposed to be a graveyard, left little to the imagination he guessed. Unsure, of which way Raen and Lanying went, he picked a direction and started to head that way. Hopefully with luck he would find them soon enough.

However, it wasn't going as well as he thought it would. The further he walked, the more barren the world seemed and everything was starting to blur together. He soon happened upon three giant craters in the ground, about the only notable landmark he had seen at this point. He was surprised to see them. "What could have happened here...?" he asked aloud as he looked at them. However, he couldn't think about it long. He had to find Raen and Lanying, wherever they were.

Disbelief

Raen was astonished at how nimbly that old hunk of armor could move; it dodged or stopped all of his attacks like they were nothing. Even more surprising was that the suit's weapon turned into a some sort of jet-propelled board or something. Then to add to it all was that it was talking telepathically to him. "Then how about you make me leave!?" Raen shouted back at the suit. Naturally, as if in response, the armor shot launched two of those strange crystals towards he and Lanying.

It was then that he heard Lanying shouting into the air. He didn't know what she was talking to or why she was, but if she didn't snap out of it soon then she'd be hit by that thing. Remembering that he was also the target of one, Raen turned around and fired off one his Blizzard spells just in time to stop it. However, he didn't expect the crystal to explode into the large stalagmite that it did. Definitely something to watch out for.

Looking back at Lanying, she looked completely dazed. "Lanying, move!" The sudden flash of light from her forced him to shield his eyes. When he dared to look he saw a...Keyblade? Lanying had been chosen by the Keyblade? "No way..." He uttered, barely audible. Still, she seemed to have a new found determination and quickly avoided the first crystal and launched her own counter-attack with something Raen had never seen her do. Raen couldn't help but think that things were finally starting to look up for them.

[Raen used Dark Blizzard, three posts until next use.]