Destiny's Hand(Plot)

[Prythian]

A clearing amongst the ancient trees.

A strangely silent atmosphere, as if everything was holding its breath.

A rock, sitting in the middle of the grove.

And a hellish looking figure in a silver robe, onyx black of skin and blood red of hair, sitting on top of the rock. It was all in place for part of his plan to be set in motion. A powerful darkness, invisible to the sight but quite 'visible' to other senses, cloaked him, and those that could sense it would.

Fate would also play a hand in those that arrived on this empty, insignificant world of the Light Realm. There would be people here.

He simply had to wait, here, in this calming place.

((The way we're doing this is we want at least one person from each major side... someone to represent the RGRC or closely affiliated with them, someone to represent the Organization, and someone to represent Maleficent's group. There will also be four 'open' slots that anyone can use.))

[King Mickey]

Surprise, Surprise

The world sitting framed in the window of his Gummi Ship was not one Mickey usually frequented. There was no large concentration of civilization, which meant the Heartless population remained generally low and docile, anyway. Hardly any hearts to harvest meant there was no need for droves of them to occupy this world. Deep Jungle, it was called. Yet, he had felt inexplicably drawn here, as though something was telling him he should come.

Once he had set his ship down in a large enough break in the trees, he walked outside and was immediately taken aback by the utter quiet of the world. Being a jungle, there should have been birds and other wildlife calling to each other. But the silence hung like an oppressive blanket. It was more than puzzling.

He had been walking while he had been thinking, and he soon found his answer. Or at least part of it. A grove the mouse king entered contained a solitary rock upon which a figure whose appearance he immediately recognized sat. On the one hand, Mickey was relieved that his search was over, but on the other, he was instantly on edge. The dark-skinned man was not making moves to attack at this point, so Mickey's hands remained devoid of his Keyblade. He wanted answers, not a fight.

"You're a slippery one to track down, aren't ya? You make a mess of Radiant Garden and then disappear for a while?"

[Ain_Soph_Aur]

The deeper you go, the bigger the darkness. Isn't that right, Dad?

World of Empty Dreams from Touhou 2[/center]

After a good rest in Traverse town it was back to his gummi ship, at no point did he check to see if Soren was also present but he figured he was either below deck or back in town. Either way he didn't really have any strong feelings about his presence, well except to say he was mildly curious about the wings on his back- not to say he would even talk about it. It was more quiet traveling, more searching for things that may not exist in the first place and even with knowledge gained still lacked a firm goal to stick to and live by. The best words to describe him was probably, "The Drifter" or what people had started calling him without his permission, "The Pirate" a nickname that was counter to his life style. XD

He did not know how long he was traveling, maybe a day, maybe a week but soon enough he arrived at a world that was completely different then the other worlds he had visited. It appeared to be a jungle of some sort, a strange jungle that appeared to have more residence then he would have figured. For a little while he cruised to a halt at the border between the world that his navigation gummi listed as "Deep Jungle", since it had a different balance of light and dark it was obvious that he should check it out due to how much such a place would be overlooked.

He did however wish he could go to a world with water for once in a blue moon.

The ship landed in a clearing at the edge of the world and finally he stepped foot on the untamed jungle, bugs and wild animals must have been plentiful in such a world. Maybe even some that would become heartless, if they even had a heart to begin with. Though it wouldn't hurt to be careful as he searched around and made sure to bring a compass so he would not get lost. After a hour of walking he soon found snakes and even monkeys but he simply ignored them as went even deeper into the jungle. A hour more later he reached what he did not realize to be his destination, a clearing and the presence of others both light and dark.

Ain walked like a soldier through the brush and cut away some obstructing vines to finally walk on solid land again. While the trees blocked away the light he could finally feel the lights rays, if only he could as the darkness made everything cold and sad. The king mouse was present, what was he doing here? His eyes soon turned to the dark skinned man in a silver robe that was almost a contrast to the black robes worn by the people he had met in Traverse town, was the king after him.

"King mickey, Why are you here?" he asked dully, his eyes never leaving the silver robed one for a second. His body tensed slightly as his red and white clothes floated to rest on his body, he was ready to fight if need be.

[Fate]

Overwhelming Hesitation
Hesitation by Yoko Shimomura.

Zexion had purposely left this world as one of his last ones to visit on his mission to find the man that had nearly destroyed Radiant Garden. This world was not one frequented often by travelers or even humans, the jungle only hosting residence for various creatures. Heartless numbers were always low in this world, making it a less than ideal place for the Organization to bother with. However, he needed be sure to check every world for this man. His visit in this world would most likely last a few minutes at the most; he did not need to linger for too long if he could sense nothing.

A Corridor of Darkness sounded in the middle of the jungle, far away enough from anything that might consider it suspicious. The Schemer stepped out of it, the Corridor then disappearing, and gathered his senses. The world was incredibly still, raising his suspicions slightly; a world such as this was full of noises coming from animals, the rustling of leaves, or something else. Not a single sound echoed through the jungle, making it seem a little too quiet for his tastes.

He let his other senses kick in, though that nearly knocked him over just from the sheer overwhelming nature of what he sensed. There was darkness here, a lot of it. He gasped for breath after he sensed it, remaining completely still himself. This was not like anything else he had ever sensed before; not even Riku wore the darkness like this. It was powerful and extremely overwhelming, almost enough so he could not sense anything else in this world. Two other familiar scents were visiting the world as well; Mickey and the man he met briefly in Traverse Town. Neither of them were his concern though. His search for the man was, at long last, over.

He followed the scent to its location, treading as quietly as he could through the fauna. His hood was drawn as it almost always was, keeping it that way to be careful. It took a little more than a few minutes, but the Nobody at last reached where the scent was coming from. In a clearing of trees, the man that he had been searching for all of this time sat. The silver robe and the hair matched the limited description he managed to get before, his skin dark. Instinctively, Zexion took a step back from this man once he reached the clearing and simply gawked at the other two; they allowed themselves to get close to such powerful darkness barely without recognizing it. This darkness was almost encapsulating this world and they were treading closer to it?

He found his words caught in his throat for a moment, his ears barely registering the fact that Mickey had spoken to the man. He would wait until Mickey's question was answered; wait and watch as the remnant of fear quite nearly petrified him.

[/size]

[Angelus]

Quite Disquieting

Disquieting by Yoko Shimomura.[/center]

A corridor of darkness opened only meters away from where Zexion had been moments before. A man cloaked stepped out from within its depths, with a slight grin on his face. His Heartless guardian rose from the man's shadow and let out a hiss.

"Much darkness here. Smell Nobody, but something much worse ahead."[/color] Caliga warned, giving his master a slight indication of what was ahead. While he could not detect Nobodies, he could detect the scent of darkness, and the sheer volume of it nearly overwhelmed him. Nearly being the operative word. The man took a few steps forward at first, his smile fading. He stopped and saw light at the end of the tunnel, or rather at the end of the jungle as was the case here. He stepped into it and saw he was in a clearing, along with four others.

Caliga had been right about the Nobody, as one similar to Zexion was present. The thought ocurred to this man of the darkness that it could very well have been Zexion, but decided it best to keep their friendship secret. The source of the strong concentration of darkness, was sitting, as if waiting for all those who wished to be present to show up. He'd missed the lines of dialog that had been spoken by the mouse and the man who had just come from Traverse Town, and it appeared that Zexion was keeping quiet. So it appeared it was his turn to speak.

But before he got the chance to Caliga slithered over to this tool of the darkness, and revealed himself to him.

"Your darkness, intoxicating."[/color] It said speaking to the mysterious figure.

"Now now Caliga, don't you think it best to leave the kind man alone? I doubt he is one you could turn into a Heartless anyway.[/color] He stepped forward, his smile now back on his face. His keyblade appeared in his hand after a swirl of red and black darkness flashed. He pointed his Keyblade at the dark being, and then lowered his arm.

"It would appear that the darkness had found itself multiple allies."[/color] He turned toward the mouse and Ain. He sensed darkness within them both, but his senses told him that they were not of the sensible sort. They were warriors of the light, and at best, the twilight. They were not his allies, nor would they seek to be. His Keyblade hummed with anticipation, and only Everto's will kept both it and Caliga from openly seeking a target. Everto let a light laugh slip, and shrugged his shoulders.

"I suppose that one's alignment is what you get when you let your heart win." A truer statement could possibly reveal itself with time, but Everto wasn't exactly in the mood to care.[/size]

[Lagunamov]

And she stayed behind playing housewife.

A couple of days had passed since they left the desert world in Elrick’s ship, towing Lillian’s for it wasn’t working. While he was originally only planning on stopping at some decent world to explore, the extra person on the ship made the food supplies to run shorter than expected, so as soon as he flew by a world filled with such flora, he stopped to resupply. He was now traversing through the jungle, first inspecting the area around where he left the ships, Lillian staying back to inspect her ship and see if she could fix it or something. For now, he just focused on finding fruits.

The world was unusually quiet for his tastes, but somehow he managed to enjoy the exuberant nature that surrounded him. The lack of any animals around was strange though, almost as if they had left to avoid him, or something else was amidst. Regardless, he kept on walking, watching his feet so as to avoid tripping over the gigantic roots from the skyscraper trees. He stopped for a second, noticing the first living creatures that weren’t plants for the first time. A trail of ants was running beneath him, not carrying any food. He looked up and looked at the direction they came from; a small clearing in the forest could be barely seen in the distance.

Deciding to check it out, he picked up his pace and ran as quietly as he could towards the clearing, stopping on his tracks as he heard several voices coming from it. He crept through the shadows cast by the last few trees and kneeled behind a boulder close to the clearing, now close enough to distinguish the voices. One’s in particular was easy to tell apart from any other, it wasn’t like he was going to forget such a unique pitch. “So that’s the guy the King was looking for, huh,” he thought to himself, taking a peek by the side of the boulder and catching a glimpse of whoever was sitting in the rock.

Other people started to flock to the location quite soon after he showed up. The first was the other man he met at the desert and not long after someone who kept on babbling about darkness, with a shadow following him in tow. Him drawing a weapon alerted Elrick, who instinctively jumped out from behind the boulder and started walking towards the only two people he knew. “Good afternoon King Mickey, Water Delivery Boy,” he jested as he stepped forward, his hand always at the ready on the hilt of his sword. “Are we having a little picnic here? ‘Cause I could call Lillian and tell her to bring some food and a picnic basket for us,” he continued on with the joke, despite the atmosphere not being exactly the best for it.

[Administrator]

...you're lucky he's here, or there would be death.

Random colors swirled together in the area in which all where gathered. It was Chaos, formed into a pool, the Window it formed opening to release a Heartless, and closing back up. Ava shook himself off and looked around. He saw, seated on a rock, the man he was sent to find. It had taken some time, but he had found him. "I found him!" the childish Heartless cried out, yelling for no reason.

It was then that he noticed the others gathered. They were a mixed brew, that King Mickey Kadaj had warned him about, some other odd people, and a Nobody. But not just anybody--or lack thereof. No, this was Zexion, the one Nobody that Ava would have loved to tear to little pieces; at least, the only to the best of his knowledge. Unfortunately, this was an informational gathering only, so he could destroy the being of Nothing.

"Zexion." Ava spoke the word with no emotion in his voice, besides a little bit of a sulk in his tone and manner. The Heartless was not nearly excited to see the Nobody alive--or whatever constituted it for them--and well, especially here. Or anywhere, really. Just seeing Zexion in existence--kind of--very nearly set him off. Of course, that was just his hate leaking through. He wiped his face with a sleeve to make sure it wasn't leaking onto it. "I see you found him too."

Cold, emotionless...and the most difficult thing that Ava had done, besides keep himself from killing Zexion. He really wasn't sure WHY he hated the Nobody so much, but every fiber of his being hated every non-fiber of Zexion's non-being. Turning his attention to the Tool, Ava said, "Hiiiiiiiii~" It was as if his coldness towards Zexion had never existed. "My name's Ava~! I hear that they call you the Tool of Darkness, which is cool because I am a tool of Chaos AND Darkness!" He spoke as if it was the coolest club EVAR, and only the cool kids were let in.

[Prythian]

The grim figure smiled, almost smirked. "So..." He said in his harsh voice, not answering Mickey's question, since the answer was self evident. "It seems that fate has brought us all together onto this insignificant world at the same time. I am sure that most, if not all of you, have heard of the destruction a single man wrought on Radiant Garden."

"As is evident from my appearance, I am that man." It was an indirect answer to Mickey's question. "No doubt some of you are tracking me to ask me questions. Others to form an alliance. And still more may seek to destroy me. Yet, this is not the time and place for such battles... nor are any of you powerful enough to take me on alone. So we shall address the first concerns. Allow me to lay down some rules."

"Each of you may ask me a single question. I may answer it partially, fully, or not at all. If I do not answer the question at all, you may ask me another question. If you ask me a second question after I have already partially or fully answered your first one, the questioning ends, and I bring my power to bear." A small grin crept across his face.

"Just so none of you waste a question, I will tell you the rules are laid down merely for my own amusement, as none of you have the power to force me to answer more than one question, and I could choose to answer none."

[King Mickey]

Twenty One Question

Mickey was no longer alone with the figure. Ain was here, which was surprising. And Zexion appeared, as well, but Mickey chose not to acknowledge him for now. That connection would remain between the two of them only. He also saw Elrick, but a couple of other people whom he did not recognize also entered the grove. Both of them looked steeped in darkness, though they could not hope to match the silver-robed figure in that department.

Speaking of the figure, he was talking now, saying something about everyone getting to ask one question. Then, there were rules laid out. Just one question? Mickey had far more than one floating around in his head. Which one would be the most beneficial to ask, if the figure chose to answer it? He quickly brushed aside questions about the figure's purpose, origins, future plans, etc. This person obviously knew something about the imbalance, and so far, no one else had been able to offer any clues about how to repair it.

After casting a glance around the gathering, the king spoke up. "Well, I'll go first, if no one else wants to." The knowledge that this man had decimated Radiant Garden single-handedly should have intimidated Mickey, but it did not. "You claim to be a tool of the darkness, and you attacked Radiant Garden because the light is too strong. But destroying worlds isn't the only way to restore balance, is it?"

[Prythian]

"No, it is not the only way." The figure answered. For a moment, he sat still, merely waiting, as if for another question. Then he continued. "I shall be kind and answer the question further than you have asked. One way which will aid the darkness without destroying any worlds is to reopen the door you once sealed, King of Light. If balance is what you seek, it is improper for the door to light to be open, yet the door to darkness to be locked shut."

He glanced over the others gathered, gone silent once more, awaiting the next question. It was evident this 'kindness' could not be counted on to happen a second time. They would have to word their questions carefully.

[Lagunamov]

What is this, a Quiz Show? If so, shouldn't we get buzzers? What about a Score Board?

Ugh, what was it with sentient shadows nowadays? The very moment Ava showed up he started to wonder if he had a damn beacon that signaled those to come to his location. A Tool of Chaos and Darkness? From the way he spoke he seemed more like a Tool of Irony, designed to annoy those around him. Sure, Elrick was biased after Humor, but still…

Then the man sitting in the rock spoke for the first time since Elrick had arrived at the scene, deciding to ‘lay down rules of questioning’. His entire attitude rubbed him the wrong way, just like the higher ups back at Eurydice. Apparently, great power over darkness brought forth a great ego boost to its wielder. That was starting to seem like a universal rule nowadays. Either way, his rules seemed simple enough, and based on what he had heard from Lillian and Mickey, it was best to avoid making him use his powers on them out of spite.

“I’d like to see you standing so cocky in front of Orpheus’ battalions,” he thought to himself, biting his lip to hold back his tongue. Luckily for him, the King decided to start the questioning, with something that frankly surprised him. Elrick was honestly expecting the first question to be more along the lines of who he was, but then again, the King was smarter than he looked, he had to give him credit. The answer didn’t wait, through the expansion on the first sentence did. A Door to Darkness? A Door to Light? Such concepts were beyond his grasp, but he could only infer that both lead to a source of their namesakes. Which would explain why by locking one, the worlds started getting more affected by the other.

Now that the first question was over with, he decided to step up and ask himself. He wasn’t chasing him, and wasn’t interested that far in the subject at the moment, so it was best he picked on something odd he heard. “If balance can be restored by opening the Door to Darkness once more, then why bothering attacking worlds and spreading Darkness? Surely someone capable of opening the door, in the case you lack the ability, could have easily aided you, provided the situation was properly explained to them.”

[Prythian]

The figure actually laughed at that. "You make assumptions so easily." He mused out loud, eyes glinting in the still air. "Balance could not be restored to the worlds so easily as opening a single door. If the doors were all there was to it, then the worlds would never have entered into this peril in the first place. The door to darkness being closed merely exacerbated the problem. But I wonder..." And at this point, his voice grew sly.

"...where did you get the idea that my aim is balance?" And indeed, he had said nothing nor even hinted directly at the idea that that was his goal. Never had he claimed to be working for balance, only darkness.

[Ain_Soph_Aur]

Why does the darkness feel cold and sad...?

As a crowd grew around the silver robed guy, his expression did not change for even a moment. In stories the good guys always let the bad guy talk while really the bad guy is just buying time for something, perhaps he was strong but he was no fool. This was a lure tactic nothing more, he will talk and we will have no choice but to take the bait hidden in his word. Even still without knowing anything they can't stop anything, even if they were part of his plan to begin with.

Ain took a step forward and walked up closer to the silver-robed man. The darkness that he could not see was heavy enough to force him to a distance unconsciously, but it didn't bother him all that much. At any moment he would unsheathe his weapon and attack if he shown any sign of hostility. He still had no idea what was going on exactly but he heard the story from King Mickey in Agrabah, seeing this guy now he just stared through him instead of at him. Dusting off his white and red clothing he tightened his gauntlet.

With every encounter he learned that the darkness and light were constantly battling for dominance whether it was for own personal desire or the power to protect love ones. He wasn't so sure about this persons motive, in his life he had been taught that what looks nice from one side may very well be covered in sweat and blood on the other. Nothing is ever has it appears on the surface, as darkness and light can be used for good or for evil depending on how it is used; as well as by whom.

"I have one question for you..." he stated bluntly, his eyes getting a bit more tense. His tone getting slightly deeper. "Are you alone in your mission, do you have nothing but your darkness?"

[Prythian]

"Ha!" The figure burst into laughter, though the laughter, rather than being free spirited or cruel, sounded hollow. "I will not answer that question, for various reasons. You may, if you wish, ask another. I will even allow you to consult with your allies on what to use your allowed question for if you do not know what else to ask." He shifted, apparently getting more comfortable, waiting for a different question from Ain.

[Ain_Soph_Aur]

Unanswered questions tell me more based on body language...

The person laughter was hollow, it was likely that he hit a soft spot. That feeling was almost like loneliness, like this person had lost much in his life time. That he understood well, but what really made him wonder is why he was putting on a facade so deep or maybe he has no choice. Why would he laugh at that, is he so absorbed in the darkness that he left all that he cared about behind for his goals. Anything he thought was purely speculation but this man appeared to be logical enough.

Ain watched his body language, and didn't even consider asking the others present for advice. They were not his allies except maybe Mickey and even then he had no strong feelings for him beyond gratitude for saving him. "Being alone with nothing but empty goals is pretty sad." he stated not as a question but as a statement, his eyes stared emotionlessly at him all the while. "One more question then, why are you wasting your time in this world, isn't what you are after important to you?"