The Black Figure(Plot/Light)

[Prythian]

In the middle of the Marketplace, a silken silver-robed figure appeared. In his hands were a large greatsword, made of shining gold. It vanished from his hands the moment he appeared on the ground. He raised his hands, lowering the hood on the robe to reveal gunmetal-black skin, with red-irised eyes and messy, midlength red hair.

"Wielders of light, beware. I come to snuff you out." The anonymous figure held out his right hand, closing it around midair. In a black flare of energy, a longsword made of darkness appeared in his hands. "Let the light dim!"

With one great swing of the sword, he sent a wave of darkness outwards from it, smashing into buildings.

[Fate]

Nothing Is As It Seems
A Little Theme Music

The travel to Radiant Garden had been a long one in the Gummi Ship from Traverse Town. Lillian found that she was still getting used to the foreign controls of the "New and Improved" Falcon. She had battled with a couple of ships on the way there, but only a few. It was sort of surprising; she thought the Heartless would be everywhere since they had attacked Libertas with such a large quantity. That just wasn't the case though; she barely encountered any, even less when she reached Radiant Garden.

This world reminded her slightly of Libertas, at least in some ways. It looked like it had seen a lot of battles, now in the process of being cleaned up. That was a good thing to see; hopefully it would go back to having that same sort of beauty Libertas had at one point. She could get used to staying in this world for a while, at least until she felt like hitting the road again; she found she grew restless staying in one place too long, or at least that's how she felt when she was in Traverse Town. Radiant Garden was different though; she had a good feeling about this place.

Though, after staying there for a couple of hours, she really was beginning to rethink that feeling; especially after she heard buildings being smashed by something. Lillian immediately started running to where she thought she heard the noise from, running past screaming people muttering about the darkness. That only made her run faster, though, she immediately stopped dead in her tracks as soon as she reached the Marketplace.

There was a man, or at least what she thought was a man, standing some distance away from her. His skin was dark and his eyes were a frightening red color. He was holding a sword in his hand, which probably meant that he was the source of that smashing sound she heard earlier. She didn't want to look at the damage that he brought upon this place yet-- for now, she was focused on him.

"Hey, what are you doing?!" she yelled out to him, though, she was starting to regret that. There was a sort of air about this guy, a formidable one. She instinctively went for her guns on her belt, though didn't raise them; no, not yet.

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[Castle]

Castle was already in the Marketplace before the man arrived. He was inside one of the shops, scrubbing the floor and grumbling to himself. It had been two days since his arrival to the Radiant Garden, two days since he lost track of time and ended up having the gummi ship he traveled on fly off without him. Even worse, all the belongings he'd brought for the trip, and all his munny, flew off with it. Consequently, he couldn't afford to stay at any of the inns. On the first night, after some amount of asserting himself, banging on the doors of shops that had just closed for the day, he'd finally managed to get one of the shop keepers to hire him. That shop keeper happened to be a moogle. And not just any moogle, but a moogle that Castle privately dubbed, "the most ornery moogle in all the worlds."

Now, under the employment of said moogle, he was stuck scrubbing the floor. He was used to most shop work, given his lifestyle back home, but this kind of chore was his least favorite. He would much rather be at the counter interacting with people.

Suddenly, there was a commotion outside, and the entire building rattled as a great force struck the front of it. Castle yelped and dropped the scrub brush. The moogle flew past him and collided with the back wall. The light dimmed. Castle sprang to his feet.

"What the heck was that?" he exclaimed, rushing to the counter to look out the sale window. He spotted the source of the action immediately. It was a guy with a sword.

"Get away from there, kupo! But close and bolt the window first!" the moogle cried.

Castle ignored him. He put his hands on the counter and pulled himself out the window and onto the street.

"What the heck is your problem?" he shouted at the man, adjusting his fighting gloves. Someone else had just yelled out, too, but Castle didn't see the person.

[Cloud]

An Unpleasant Return

Cloud was beginning to have second thoughts as he slowly made his way through the Bailey. Maybe he shouldn't have been returning here yet. Had he really managed to shake the darkness for good? He told himself that he would come back when he did, but... Maybe he hadn't. The last thing he wanted to do was put anyone in danger... What if something happened, and he couldn't protect them? He didn't want any innocent blood on his hands.

He stepped off of the stone steps, into the Borough. Merlin's house standing only about a dozen feet in front of him. Exactly the same as it had been the last time he had stood there looking at it. Slightly reluctantly, he began to move towards the door. But right as he started to reach for the door, he was suddenly interrupted by a loud explosion. As if by instinct, he immediately grabbed for his sword, looking towards the place where the sound had come from.

The Market.

Without a moment to loose, he took off towards it, reaching his close destination within less than a moment. In the center of the square stood in a silver robe, with bright red hair. Cloud was partially relieved to not see a much more familiar face with longer, silver hair. But there was no time to waste dwelling on that. This man was clearly to blame for all the destruction that lay everywhere, and he had to be stopped. Running towards the mysterious foe, he leaped at him, bringing his large sword down toward him in a diagonal swing.

[Prythian]

The robed figure raised up his own sword to meet Cloud's, blocking the attack ."My, my... how direct and to the point." He murmured. "I knew that I would not fail to meet a warrior of light who speaks through actions and not words... never thinking before the act, only doing..." He grimaced. "Thus, I snuff you OUT." He jumped back, swinging the dark blade once more, sending forth a large crescent of darkness flying out of it towards Cloud.

"To those of you who asked me what I'm doing... it is quite simple, really. The darkness is striking at this world named Radiant Garden. I am the tool that is being used to achieve this. And if you claim to be of the light, you cannot and will not countenance my transgression. And if you do not fight back... My purpose will already be served, for the light is not served by cowards." He swung the sword again, sending more darkness flying forwards to smash into some shops.

[Yuffie]

Today had started out pretty normal for Yuffie. Well as normal as it could be around here anyway. She had been keeping an eye on the castle like Leon had asked her too. It was still the only spot in Radiant Garden that couldn't seem to be rid of the darkness. She watched it from a distance for the moment. Every time she tried to enter the castle, she was greeted by the heartless, so she had given up on trying to get in for now.

I really wish I knew what was going on in there.....Or that we could find a way to get rid of the darkness that comes from it... she thought to herself as she watched. Though her thoughts were soon interrupted, having heard commotion coming from the town. Yuffie turned to see where it was coming from and soon realized it was the marketplace. "Oh no! The marketplace is under attack!" she exclaimed and immediately started to run back there.

She managed to get there in time to see the person causing the disturbance. Yuffie didn't recognize him and wondered what his deal was. They had worked so hard for so long to get this town back to what it once was and this guy was ruining it! Though that was when she saw that one of those crescents that the man had sent out was aimed at Cloud. "Cloud!" she exclaimed, before noticing she had happened to fall in the path of one of those crescents as well.

She quickly moved out of the way and dodged the attack, taking out her fuma shuriken as she landed. Whoever this guy was, it didn't seem like he came here to talk. "Cloud! Any idea who this is?" she asked, looking over at him while keeping an eye on the other person.

[Aerith]

It's Good to See You Again, Despite the Circumstances

It was amazing how tranquility could be shattered in mere moments.

Aerith had woken that morning with the intention of visiting the Marketplace to see if she could find seeds. Not just flower seeds, but any kind, since she wanted to start her own little garden as part of her personal endeavors to help restore Radiant Garden to its former light.

She had not yet reached the Market when buildings exploded in an eclectic spray of wood and shrapnel. Even from her current location a little ways away from the source of the explosion, she could see the strange figure--a man?--with black skin and glowing red eyes, wielding a blade of darkness. She listened for a moment to the subtle rhythms of the world only she seemed to be able to detect, but they could tell her nothing. The world itself was reeling with confusion, just as she was.

A blur caught her eye, and she quickly recognized Yuffie sprinting toward the scene. But it was Yuffie's shouted words that made Aerith's eyes widen.

Cloud is...here?

The basket she had held fell from her hands, forgotten as she ran toward the Market. Had he really returned for good this time? She caught up to Yuffie and looked up at the enigmatic figure. "Yuffie, what's happening?" Her eyes landed briefly on Cloud, but she shifted them back to Yuffie, waiting for any sort of answer.

[Fate]

I'm No Coward

Lillian wasn't the only one to come running toward the commotion instead of away from it. A few others came as well, none of which she recognized. Only one of the ones who came went to confront the enigmatic man directly with a rather large sword, though it was quickly blocked. The mysterious man then spoke directly to the group of people that had come, answering the single question that they had asked him: why was he doing this?

He wanted to get rid of the light. He was a "tool" that was being used to get rid of the light and he was starting with Radiant Garden. That made everything up in Lillian's mind right then and there. If they didn't fight back, or at least tried to fight back, Radiant Garden would definitely fall. They would be counted as cowards for not trying to protect their world; while this wasn't Lillian's home world, she had fought desperately on Libertas against the same darkness. She wasn't about to let herself be counted as a coward and not fight back at all. That was something that just did not happen.

"You got that right!" she yelled out to the man, though it truly made no difference if he heard her arrogant statement or not. He sent darkness flying into more shops after he spoke, causing Lillian to duck and run quickly out of the way to avoid it. She then pulled out her two guns, Virtue and Vice their rather cliche names, and held them firmly in her hands. If she stayed well enough away from this guy, she could avoid at least some of his attacks. Though, she had no idea what else he had to offer. She opened fire and fired four shots, waiting before she fired anymore; she never liked firing too many at once.

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[Castle]

Castle ducked and rolled to avoid the next wave of darkness that the man sent out after countering the guy with the big sword. He ended the roll in a crouch and looked back over his shoulder at the shops. He cursed under his breath. He'd neglected to see the damage that the first wave had done, and now the buildings, including the one he was in moments earlier, were totally wrecked. He wondered if the moogle was all right in there.

Now genuinely angry, he turned his gaze back to the man and stood up. A tool of darkness, huh? And not a Heartless, as far as Castle could tell. He was obviously much more powerful than any Heartless he knew of, at any rate. But that wasn't about to intimidate Castle into fleeing. This person was out to destroy and cause pain, and he simply would not stand for that.

There were quite a few other people here now, as well. The sound of gunfire turned his attention to the side, and he saw that one of them, a woman, was attacking the man. As her shots ended, he dashed around and jumped at their opponent from behind, launching a crescent kick at his head. Even without the high jump, Castle was flexible enough to make the kick reach.

[Nothingness]

Heart of a Lion

Defeating the last Heartless on the path to the Crystal Caves, Leon wiped his brow with the back of his hand. "Man, I hate chasing after these things. Oh well, that should take care of the ones along this path for now." As he walked back to the city, he heard a loud explosion coming from the direction of the Market. Without a second thought he began running as fast as he could. He hoped that no one was hurt, and that the others had already arrived.

Arriving at the scene, he saw Cloud, Yuffie, Aerith, and two other people standing off against a red-headed man in a silver cloak. As one of the man's blades of darkness struck the building behind him, Leon rolled out of the way as debris fell where he had just been standing. Drawing his sword, he charged at the man, dragging the blade on the ground and swinging it violently upwards as he got within range. There was no way he would let this man just waltz in and start destroying all of what they worked so hard to accomplish.

[Leon used Rough Divide, four posts until next use]

[Yuffie]

Before Yuffie got an answer from Cloud, She looked over and saw that Aerith had arrived as well. "Aerith! Glad you're here too," she told her as she kept an eye on the stranger. "I'm not entirely sure myself what exactly is going on. I was up at the castle when I heard noises coming from over here. I got here and this guy is just destroying the marketplace." It was so disappointing to see the Marketplace in such a state of disarray, they had put so much work into rebuilding the area.

Yuffie then watched as a girl she didn't recognize started shooting at the stranger, followed by a guy who went to kick him. And before long it looked like Leon had gotten here as well. Leon charged at the stranger and Yuffie realized that they should be backing him up.

"We'll worry about who he is and why's here later! Let's take care of this guy!" she exclaimed to Aerith and Cloud. She jumped into the air and threw her fuma shuriken as hard as she could at the stranger. She was determined to stop this man before anymore damage was dealt to the town.

[Yuffie used Greased Lightening, 4 posts till next use]

[Cloud]

Thought is Nothing Without Action

Cloud frowned as the figure spoke. He didn't not think things through. With man attacking the Marketplace, what was he supposed to do? He wasn't about to sit back and watch his home be destroyed. Not this time; not ever again. But he didn't need to explain himself to this man. All he need to do was stop him. Without warning, he suddenly had a blast of darkness coming straight at him. At such close range, there wasn't enough time to dodge the attack. So he swung his sword around to stop the blow, the impact sending him flying backwards.

Managing to land on his feet, he heard a familiar voice call his name. He didn't glance toward Yuffie, instead keeping his eyes on the enemy, but acknowledged her question. "Don't know." It obviously didn't really matter what the man's name was. He was about to rush back towards the enemy, when he heard another old friend. "Aerith." He turned look at her as she spoke, and as Yuffie answered her. A conversation would have to wait though. Despite the fact that he had already been thinking the command she had just given, he nodded anyway. "Right." Lifting his sword, he charged back at the opponent, leaping above him and bring the large blade straight down at him.

[Prythian]

The figure began to spin the moment he saw the shots fired from Lillian's gun, gracefully swinging his sword in an almost dance-like fashion. A trail of darkness remained behind as he moved, spreading outwards to form a barrier that the shots impacted harmlessly against. The movement also let him see Castle's attempt at an attack, which he didn't block, but rather attempted to make it not even happen by firing the sheet of darkness, which he manipulated effortlessly, towards Castle to knock him out of the air.

That's when he heard the steps of Leon, his sword meeting Leon's. The kickback sent him staggering back a few steps, most of the force absorbed by the blade. "Impressive attack!" The man smirked, using the sword to deflect finally the shuriken as it flew towards him with another blast of darkness.

The only attack to land home, in the end, was Cloud's. He hadn't had the time to focus on every single attack, and so only managed to move so that the sword landed on his shoulder. "Again... impressive. But foolish to get so close to me!" With that, the sword surged with power, he released darkness outwards from him in a hemisphere with a 20 foot radius, which would harm and knock back all that were in its range.

[Fate]

Keep Your Distance

It seemed that almost no one's attacks did anything to this guy; he blocked just about every attack except blondie's, which was her current name for him. Though, that attack didn't even seem to do much damage. Darkness man, which was her nickname for their opponent, let off a darkness attack; it was a strong one too. It sent Lillian flying backwards into some building she didn't recognize. Her back hit it hard, though through sheer determination to continue, she picked herself back up and stood once more.

"Gotta stay far away from this guy," she muttered to herself, looking at the other fighters. A lot of them seemed to know each other it seemed, which probably meant they lived in this world or something. Now wasn't the time to ask how they all knew each other or even their names; they just needed to concentrate on getting rid of this guy before he tried to destroy this world. She wasn't going to stand by and let another world get destroyed, at least not without a fight.

She held her guns steady, backing away a bit more from her current position. "Keep your distance guys if you can. If we can hit him from far away, then we won't get murdered." Her stance wasn't as steady as she would have liked it to have been because of the darkness blast, but she shot a few shots nonetheless and tried to keep firing. She didn't like firing a lot, no, but it might help if she did so she could possibly keep this guy distracted. The others might be able to get a couple of hits on him.

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[Castle]

Castle was not ready for that sort of retaliation. The sheet of darkness succeeded in knocking him out of the air, and knocking the air out of him. He hit the ground hard and rolled several times before he came to a halt. A few, short moments later, the pain set in. He sucked wind through his teeth and clutched his ribs, wondering if he broke any.

He heard the distinctive rush of more darkness and looked up just in time to see the wave coming at him. He forced himself up to a crouch and pushed off, attempting to high jump horizontally. He was already about ten feet away from the guy from the first attack, and the jump carried him swiftly toward the edge of the radius. Even so, the jump was clumsy in his current state, and the edge of the darkness caught him, launching him haphazardly out of range about a second too late.

He landed on his back on the pavement and skidded to a stop. With great effort, he managed to sit up, though he felt pretty dizzy.

"Damn you...!" he hissed.

He heard one of the women give advice to the others. Keep his distance? That just about excluded him from the fight! Castle swore again and struck the ground with his fist, which succeeded in jarring his ribs and making him wince.