Steps in the Right Direction [Castle]

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Let's get this show on the road.
--

The early afternoon sun made Emi's eyes hurt when she made the transition from indoors to outdoors. She shaded her eyes with a hand and sighed. Thankfully, Radiant Garden had always had mild summers.

It had been exactly two weeks since her fight with Sephiroth. The stitches had been removed, but she was still going to have a nasty scar across her chest. That probably could have been healed with magic, but Emi didn't want to have to ask. It was just a scar. Her chest and shoulder were still bandaged up, though not as much as they had been. She had grudgingly handed over a small amount of munny to have her shirt and beloved leather jacket repaired, and the seamstress had done a terrific job. You couldn't even tell they had been ripped in the first place.

On this afternoon, she was walking out of the house that she had been working on. The work was nearly done but there were other things on Emi's mind. That morning she had woken up and decided today is the day. She had grown strong enough after her battle. She was getting pretty good at using dark corridors. And she had munny, a pretty decent amount that she had saved up. No need to stick around, she had a drake to find.

There was always the reassurance that she could come home when she wanted now. She knew the way back. When her mission was complete, she wouldn't be wandering around like she had before. She hated to leave the Garden at a time like this. It made her feel like a coward and in the back of her mind, she feared she would return to find her home world destroyed- not just the marketplace this time. But she couldn't let that fear keep her from doing what needed to be done. What happened happened.

Emi walked up to her boss. She was going to be quite blunt about this. She hadn't exactly been able to work since... well she called it an "accident". She had felt that something was wrong when she mentioned Sephiroth's name to Aerith, so from then on she just kept her mouth shut, not wanting to cause panic amongst the already edgy people of Radiant Garden. Anyway, she hadn't been able to work since then. She probably could now if she had wanted to. She didn't want to.

Emi took a deep breath, as if she were about to go on a long rant. "I quit,[/color]" she told him blankly. Talk about anti-climactic. She turned and gave a wave, marching off without a care in the world.

I probably ought to tell Castle I'm done with this, she thought to herself. Although there was still tension between them, she figured it was the polite thing to do considering they had been working together for a little while now. It would be rude to just stop showing up without an explanation.

[Castle]

The item shop was finally repaired enough for them to take down the makeshift stand and start using the service window again. Though it was good to not sit on an overturned bucket anymore, and also to not worry about collapsing the structure if he leaned on it too much, the improvement failed to make this part of his job any less boring. Castle had his arms crossed on the counter, supporting himself that way while he stared blankly out at the Marketplace. Slow day. Again.

It had been nearly a month already since his arrival to the Radiant Garden, over twenty days of being employed to a moogle while doing part-time construction work. Well, that was the technical arrangement. After the shop was blown up, he was doing a lot more construction than store-watching. The best part? He wasn't getting paid. The moogle could only afford to give him a room at an inn, and his construction work was actually a volunteer job.

Castle recalled, repeatedly, that this was not what he had in mind when he finally got away from his home world. He hadn't worked so much, or been this bored, in his entire life. His schedule was now divided into two parts; work and sleep. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd picked a fight with anybody.

Though, there was one thing that always seemed to break some of the monotony, and that thing happened to be a person who was currently approaching the shop.

Castle perked up. "Hey, Emi!" he said, smiling now, "What's up? You look less ticked off than usual today."

They were far from being best friends, and heck, they were hardly even regular friends, but he was still glad to see her. Friend or no, she wasn't boring, and she was the only person he spoke to nowadays besides the moogle.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Whatevs.
--

"Uh, thanks I guess," Emi said. "I guess its because I kinda quit my job today. I have other things I want to do, you know? That's what I came here for."

She looked around the shop boredly, and picked up a small sign that was on the counter. She put it back down and wondered Should I maybe buy some stuff from here for the trip?

Honestly she hadn't done much planning but she was good at winging it. She shrugged. "That's what I came here for, actually. To say goodbye. I'm leaving Radiant Garden for a while. I left some things hanging when I came home and I think its about time I go tie up those loose ends. I just wanted to let you know I won't be around for a while."

She tapped her fingers against the counter. That kind of made her feel a little... nostalgic, she guessed. She had played the piano often since she had returned to Radiant Garden but she had yet to get her hands on a pair of drum sticks. She would have to see about remedying that.

"I'll be back soon though. I shouldn't be gone long."

[Castle]

Castle was surprised to hear that she'd quit her job, but he mustered a little snicker at the thought of what that construction boss's reaction must have been. That guy and Emi never seemed to get along well, and Castle really hated him, too. However, when Emi went on to say that she was leaving Radiant Garden completely, his smirk slipped.

"You're... You mean, you've got a way out? Do you have a gummi ship or something?" he asked, rebuilding his grin from before, "That's pretty sweet! I didn't know you had anything like that."

He uncrossed his arms, opting to grip the edge of the counter instead and lean on it that way. The stool he was sitting on was balanced on the front two legs, a habit that the moogle usually scolded him for, but he wasn't around at the moment. Even if he was, Castle wouldn't care until he said something about it.

"Ah, well, I guess that would make sense though. You mentioned coming here from somewhere else before," he amended, and then continued immediately, "So, where are you going? Have you been to a lot of other worlds before?"

[Oathkeeper Emi]

I should really stop being so compulsive about things.
--

Emi's face went pale for a split second before she laughed nervously. "I guess you could say that, yeah,[/color]" she said in response to his gummi ship comment. She couldn't tell him about the dark corridors. She was under strict orders from Zexion to keep it a secret. "But, uh... I don't really know where I'm off to.[/color]"

Well, that kind of put a damper on things. She didn't even know how to start this journey. Where was she supposed to find Arc, anyway? She didn't know, the last time they had run into each other had been chance. Not to mention an extremely awkward meeting with her getting caught diving behind a couch trying to avoid being seen breaking into the Beast's castle. In a ball gown.

She rubbed the bridge of her nose and sighed. There was really only one thing to do and that was to just start looking. She figured she would start by going to Beast's Castle and look for clues to what path he had taken from there.

"I've been to a couple of different worlds. There's some crazy, crazy stuff out there, man.[/color]"

[Castle]

Castle, now entirely interested in the subject, leaned in a little more, the legs of the stool barely staying in position. He chuckled at the wording of her last statement, though the curiosity was evident in his eyes.

"Yeah, I used to hear a lot of stuff back home, but sometimes I wondered if some of those guys weren't just making stuff up," he said nonchalantly. "Like, there's really a Santa Claus? And he's actually a skeleton dressed in a red suit? Talk about bull crap, right?"

That was a vague recitation of a rumor he'd heard a long time ago. He really didn't have the details straight at all, but it was good for small talk.

"Unless you've actually seen something like that?" he joked, smirking.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Maybe a whole box of crackers?
--

Again, Emi laughed nervously. "Heh, not quite.[/color]"

There was an awkward silence before Emi finally slapped the counter and said "I should really get going. I have to get ready to leave and stuff. I might be back in later to buy some supplies.[/color]"

It was true. Now that she thought about it, she did need to take a few hours to sit and plan stuff out. Where she would go and such. She thought the library would be the perfect place to do that.

As she was turning to leave, she was thinking and making lists. She had never been terribly good at planning things, being a largely impulsive kind of girl. She was going to need supplies probably, a few potions and maybe a pack of crackers? You're going to need more than a pack of crackers, she told herself with a sigh. Perhaps two packs of crackers.

What worlds would she visit? She hoped she didn't run into anything like what Castle had just described, not that she hadn't seen much stranger. There would probably be battles along the way. Her chest suddenly ached. She groaned. The more she thought about, the more this trip was staring to sound like a bad idea. It had to be done, though.

[Castle]

As he watched Emi turn away, he was overcome with the odd compulsion to call out and stop her, and that was what he did.

"Hey, Em- agh!"

The legs of the stool finally slipped, and he plunged downward, barely avoiding hitting his chin off of the counter on the way down. He popped back up in an instant, using the same momentum to pull himself through the service window. He stumbled a little when he hit the pavement, but righted himself quickly and looked up at her.

"Can you..." He hesitated, knowing that she would probably deny his request, but it was too late to just stop, "...Would you take me with you?"

What was he going to do with himself if Emi wasn't around? She was the only one here that he could stand to talk to anymore. On top of that, just the thought that he might be able to leave this world sounded really, really good.

"I won't get in your way or anything," he added quickly, "And hey, maybe I can actually help you out with what you're doing!" He crossed his arms and grinned up at her, hoping to look appealing, though for once not in the flirtatious sense.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Jesus Christ, I can't believe I'm doing this. Don't make me regret it, squirt.
--

Despite the fact they were the same age, Emi couldn't help but feel- if only for a split second- like Castle was something like her annoying kid brother. A clingy, annoying little brother. She looked down at him, and chuckled quietly to herself. Yeah, it was definitely the height difference.

"I... I don't know, man,[/color]" she sighed. She had been planning to use dark corridors to get around. Castle would have to go through unprotected because there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell Emi was going through without a cloak. And that was even if Emi would even be persuaded to let him tag along. One the one hand, she knew she would probably run into battles and get herself into trouble. Also, she knew how lonely it got. Company, and a battle partner, would be nice.

On the other hand, Emi was a natural loner, stubborn and independent. She liked doing things herself and by herself, even if the (very small) logical part of her mind was telling her it would be better to accept help. She had to remind herself that help did not always equal charity and she wasn't sacrificing her pride just letting this kid tag along with her.

When she raised a hand, subconsciously, to run her fingers through her hair, the pain in her shoulder told her it would probably be best to bring along a little (haha, get it, little) help. If nothing else, the kid could be used as a human shield or bait or something.

But there was still the problem of getting around. In theory, she could go back and find her gummi ship, presuming it hadn't been found and taken away yet. But they would have to go through a corridor to get there and Emi had been sworn not to tell about him.

She grimaced and crossed her arms. She would just threaten Castle's life if he told. Zexion was not her authority and he couldn't boss her around. Emi had gone unprotected through a corridor twice and came out fi-... well, she was okay now, at least. Besides being able to open corridors herself. But that... that wasn't much of problem was it?

"Okay,[/color]" Emi said. "You can come. On a few conditions. One, don't irritate me or I beat the hell out of you. Two, bring your own supplies and pull your own weight. And three, don't get yourself into any trouble, I am not your babysitter. Understand? Good. Meet me at the castle when the sun goes down and for the love of all things holy, don't tell anyone more than they need to know.[/color]"

[Castle]

While she mulled it over, Castle stayed exactly as he was, as if any movement would lessen his chances of her agreeing to let him come. Truthfully, he felt kind of anxious about her decision. He summed it up to simply wanting to get off of this world, very much, and also knowing that unlike most people, pestering her until she said yes was far from a realistic alternative. With that fiery temper, the most he'd get out of that kind of attempt would be a really good fight. Or maybe she'd just clobber him, because girls seemed to be able to do that for some reason.

Finally, she said "okay." Castle's grin became real again as he half-jumped for joy, uttering a triumphant "Yes!" before she quickly continued speaking, setting the ground rules for his participation.

"Got it!" he said confidently, giving her a thumbs-up, "And don't worry, you won't regret this," he added in a cooler tone before he turned back toward the shop. He chuckled quietly, wondering if the moogle would be happy or angry when he quit his job. Either way, he was so out of here.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

I'm not crazy, I swear.
--

Hours passed and the sun went down. Emi found her self leaning against a wall at the castle entrance with a few things in hand. She had spent her afternoon spending what little money she had on supplies. She had also sat down and made a travel plan. The plan was to take a corridor of darkness back to Beast's Castle to get the gummi ship and from there either follow any clues they found OR just start wandering aimlessly until they either got tired or found somewhere promising. Slung over her shoulder was the black Organization cloak. She contemplated letting Castle wear it, but she figured since it was his first time he'd be okay.

Now she was just waiting for him. She was already getting the munchies out of boredom so she reached her hand into the box of crackers and ate a few while she waited.

"That midget better not keep me waiting too long,[/color]" she muttered to herself, spewing crumbs all over the place. She brushed them off her chest and sighed. "Got to get out of here before someone sees us. Oh lord, we would be I wold be in HUGE trouble if I got caught letting him go through a corridor.[/color]"

Emi noticed she was developing a habit of talking to herself. Great.

[Castle]

Castle jogged toward the meeting spot at the castle entrance, hoping she hadn't left without him. The moogle had dismissed him without too much of a fuss, though he did seem a little annoyed. The reason behind that was a mystery to Castle, but he didn't really care. The last thing his former boss had done was throw a little bag of munny at the back of his head, saying it was the would-be room pay for that night.

With that said and done, the real reason Castle was running to get there on time was actually divided in two parts. He had gone back to the inn room to gather some supplies, meaning whatever he'd picked up during his errand-running, which wasn't much. Most of it was food, though, so that was good. However, that still would have let him set out on time, if he hadn't fallen asleep right after gathering the stuff.

The castle was in sight. He glanced over at it. The sight reminded him of the incident a few weeks ago, his encounter with that witch, and he turned his gaze straight ahead to fight off a chill.

He hated that the thought of that stupid witch still bothered him. She was a liar, anyway. This agreement to go off world with Emi proved it.

If she really disliked him, she wouldn't have said it was okay.

Take that, witch, he thought darkly, I hope you rot in there.

Emi was in sight. He slowed to a halt before her, pausing to catch his breath.

"Hey. Glad you didn't leave without me," he said, putting on the usual smile. He glanced at the thing slung over her shoulder. "What's that?"

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Almost too late.
--

Through a mouthful of crackers, Emi told him "Yeah, well... another minute or so and I would have left you. But whatever.[/color]"

In response to his question, she pulled the cloak off her shoulder and held it out. "You'll see what this is for in a minute. First we need to get somewhere private first.[/color]"

That might have sounded a little strange. Emi hoped that when she opened the corridor that Castle didn't run screaming to tell the whole town she was a witch using her black magic to open strange portals to mysterious new worlds. If that happened, Emi would just tackle him and sit on him until she figured out what to do. She didn't think he would though.

Gathering her things in her arms, she turned to face the door. She knew it was unlocked. Why would there be a reason to lock it? She kicked it open and walked right on in. She looked over her shoulder to make sure Castle was coming in behind her.

"Close the door behind you, okay? We don't want anyone following us inside.[/color]"

[Castle]

When Emi stated that they needed to be somewhere private, Castle's initial response was a raised eyebrow. There were many ways that his seventeen year old mind could interpret that, but he had enough sense to push some of the weirder options out of the way. This was Emi, after all, and now that she'd taken the object off of her shoulder and held it out, he could see that it was some kind of coat. With all that in mind, he had no idea what she was getting at.

"Sure, whatever," he shrugged, smirking to let her know that, yes, her statement had sounded kind of strange, but he knew what she meant anyway.

However, when she started into the castle entrance, he hesitated. She wanted to go in there, despite all the rumors? Normally, Castle would have been all for that, but after his last experience with this place, he was considerably less eager. However, Emi looked over her shoulder at him and told him to close the door, and he didn't have much of a choice but to step over the threshold.

"Yeah," he said, putting a hand on the door, but being purposefully slow in shutting it, "But uh, you know a witch lives in here, right?"

He masked his unease with a casual grin, like he was only joking about some neighborhood rumor rather than actually reminding her of a local hazard. A creepy, green, probably really old local hazard.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

I ain't afraid a no witches.
--

She watched Castle close the door. He was being quite hesitant about it. The corners of her mouth tightened. When he started talking about Maleficent, she rolled her eyes and made a grunting sound.

"Yeah? Well, well so do I,[/color]" Emi said under her breath. She wasn't afraid of Maleficent. She had been treading carefully, though, while she walked around the castle... avoiding the witch. But if she had run into her, well... she wouldn't be afraid. Just really mad.

She sat her things down on the ground. The hall was sort of dark now, but that was fine with her. She took the cloak and pulled it on over her clothes and didn't mind when it messed her hair up. It was probably an improvement anyways.

"Speaking of which, let's get going before she shows up and tries to start something,[/color]" she said as she turned around and held out a hand. She looked over her shoulder. "Don't get freaked out okay? And don't run. Don't scream. I'll just tackle you, got it?[/color]"

It had become so easy for her to call up the corridors. With that defining noise, the dark corridor opened and Emi dropped her hand and started gathering up her stuff.

"Let's go, squirt. Next stop, Beast's Castle![/color]"

And with that, she dashed through the portal.