Every Rose Has Its Thorns

[Maleficent]

Maleficent laughed at his statement of keeping the three out of her hands. When did she ever mention the other two? The only one she was interested in was the one who's heart was tainted with darkness. She saw the crescent-shaped attack come at her and she shot out a ball of dark green flames right at the attack, and then floated back a bit to gather even more distance than there currently was. "You can have the other two," she told him "The one who's heart is filled with darkness belongs to me,"

Things were not going exactly as she had planned. And it was all because of this wretched cloaked man. She didn't exactly want to continue this fight either, her powers still not as strong as they could be. However, her interest was piqued when this man mentioned that destroying the Organization was not his top priority yet. Rather it was revenge against a different Nobody. "Oh, is that so?" she questioned, thinking of how to use this information.

At this point, she didn't see herself winning against this man, she needed for more of her powers to return. So the next best course of action was to manipulate the man into stopping this current fight. However, it would not be as easy, since his kind did not have hearts that could be easily manipulated. She had paused for a moment and now she had thought of what to say. "If I leave these three alone for now and let you go about your plans of revenge, will you not concede the tainted one to me when it is accomplished?" she asked the Nobody.

[Maleficent used Dark Fira 2 posts till next use]

(Asa, I wasn't sure if her Dark Fira (which is moderate) could dissipate Marluxia's attack (which says its moderate in strength), so let me know if I need to change it)

[Zack]

Zack was ready to take down Raen if he needed to. He didn't want to at all, but he knew that if he didn't then Raen would finish both him and Lanying off. He took a deep breath, he knew that it wasn't going to be easy. Though he then heard Lanying's voice from behind and he turned his head to look at her. She had walked out from behind him and was telling him to get out of the way and keep the other two from interfering.

He didn't feel comfortable leaving Lanying to fight Raen by herself. He wanted to say as much, but she had a fierce look in her eyes. And well....maybe it wasn't his place to bring Raen back from the darkness. Reluctantly, he stepped back. "If you get into too much trouble, I'm stepping in," he told Lanying. "I can't stand on the sidelines and watch you two fight for too long," It wasn't that he didn't think Lanying couldn't handle it. It was just he couldn't stand letting her do this when he could do something as well.

Raen had wasted no time in attacking after Lanying put up her shield and Zack restrained himself from moving in to help. She wanted to do this herself and he didn't want to take that away from her. He only hoped that Raen somehow managed to gain control over the darkness soon.

[Aerith]

You Will Need to Do Better Than That

Zack's words about getting involved should things get out of hand barely registered in her ears. She had eyes only for Raen at the moment. Not even the obvious skirmish happening between the witch and the cloaked man concerned her. Watching Raen through the shifting lens of her water shield, she could see, even through the slight distortion, the ravenous look he was giving her. It was a look that would have petrified and even broken a lesser woman. But she was in her element now, both literally and figuratively. Emotions were locked away. She had vowed to fight against the darkness, and now there was someone in front of her who was allowing himself to be consumed by it.

The temperature suddenly dropped, and she knew what was coming next. More ice expanded over the floor, and Raen was headed straight for her. This was familiar, and she had counted on him making this move. Before he even reached her first level of defense, he changed his approach, aiming a strike for her stomach. The thought briefly wandered across her mind that this was some sort of sick payback for the punch she had inflicted on him on the jungle world. It didn't matter. He would never reach her.

As she had expected, the dramatically colder air around him, combined with the ice now beneath them, almost instantly froze her shield. The thick shell of ice now encasing her rattled a little as he slammed into it, a mere two feet from her. She resisted the urge to arch a quizzical eyebrow. He should have known this would happen. Of course, while he could not reach her, she also could not move from this spot unless something was done about her icy prison. She already knew what to do about that. And what she would do immediately after escaping. The shield may have been ice, but it was still water, just in a different state.

And this water is still mine to command.

There was just enough room for her to bring the end of her sword's hilt to bear. After searching for possible weak spots, she struck the ice once. Twice. One deep breath. A gathering of strength. A third time. Her shield shattered into myriad ice fragments of assorted sizes. Rather than fly off in random directions, though, they spiraled around her for a moment. The sight could have been considered beautiful had the scene not been so tense with violence.

Raen was too close not to take advantage of this opportunity. She released her mental hold on the pieces of ice that had been her shield. There were too many for her to control at once, so their targets were haphazard at best. With any luck, Zack would be able to avoid getting hit, Raen would take a non-lethal hit, and perhaps a nice chunk of ice would impale both the witch and the cloaked man.

She did, however, grab onto one of the larger fragments, this one oblong in shape and riddled with several sharp ridges. Allegretto sang through the air as she took a swipe at Raen's neck. This was followed up immediately with a stab at his shoulder with the ice fragment. If all went as she hoped, he would choose to block the obviously more dangerous sword attack and take the ice. Of course, there was always the possibility that he could stop everything she had thrown at him, but she thought that was highly doubtful.

[Summary:
Shield Raid Cadenza has (violently) dissipated.
Posts until next use: 2
Uses remaining: 4]

[Nothingness]

Almost Freed

Raen could feel his blade stop short as Lanying's shield froze. He hadn't expected it to freeze so easily, but no matter. Quickly drawing out the blade before it could get stuck, he heard the sound of Lanying attacking the inside of her shield. He jumped backwards, just barely avoiding the shattering of her prison and its becoming a shield of swirling ice shards. Ice was just frozen water, how could he have been so stupid? No, it didn't matter--she was just delaying the inevitable. Her heart would sink into the darkness regardless of how much she struggled.

He began to walk slowly around her, looking for some sort of opening, but she decided that for him. She released her hold on the shield, sending out the shards everywhere. Quickly lifting his blade he managed to deflect some of the shards, but many managed to strike him, though only maybe one or two managed to cut him noticeably. Running at Lanying, he saw her slash at his neck and immediately went to block it. However, he didn't see the large chunk of ice in her other hand, and she managed to embed itself in his shoulder. Grunting in pain he backed off, taking a few steps away. Gripping the ice, he ripped it out, letting blood flow freely down his arm.

At that point it felt like something managed to break through Raen, but it lasted only for a split second. The darkness was back in control right after, fiercer than before. Holding the ice in his hand he looked at Lanying and smiled. Running at her, he waited until he was a few feet away before lifting the hand holding the ice. He let it go in his hand for just a moment, and then released a blast of wintry air, shattering it into fragments that were all directed towards her. Between the shards flying at her, the shards appearing around her, and least of all the powerful pulse of air, he figured it best to add one more attack: a quick stab at her shoulder. It'd only be fair.
---
"Dammit! So close!" When Lanying had stabbed him, Raen had managed to find a break in the darkness' hold, but it had sealed itself too quickly for him to take over. Still, that had rattled it enough. A good attack or two more and he'd be able to take his body back.

[Raen used Winter's Wail, three posts until next use]

[Aerith]

Stand My Ground

The small feeling of triumph when she successfully plunged the ice shard into Raen's shoulder was short-lived. He tore the ice out of his shoulder, and for a moment, she watched the blood pour down his arm. Instinctively, she wanted to heal the wound. No. She would wear him down first and hope he could regain control of himself. Healing him now would just encourage him to keep attacking her, if the look on his face was any indication.

He was not letting go of the ice shard, which sent a spark of warning through Lanying. Then he gave her a smile that was colder than all the ice around them. Narrowing her eyes, she tensed. But she was not entirely ready for what came next. He ran for her again and suddenly sent a powerful blast of freezing air in her direction.

...The disadvantages of being small and light.

She really could not do much besides brace herself as best she could, which turned out to be nigh impossible on this new sheet of ice that had formed on the ground. Ice was flying at her from every angle, slicing into what seemed like every inch of her skin. She may have drawn first blood, but this was drawing a lot of more of hers at the moment. However, the thing she was most concerned about stopping was Raen's blade that she saw coming for her shoulder. This was much harder than it looked, considering that she lost her footing due to the wind howling toward her.

Hitting the ice as well as she could, she managed to at least avoid the initial stab at her shoulder this way. Raen's momentum also worked in her favor. As he came toward her, she leaned forward, hit his knee with her shoulder, and wrapped her arms around one of his legs. Pulling with every ounce of her strength remaining, she brought him to the ground with her. As fortune would have it, he landed on his back, and she moved quickly to his side, specifically the side she had wounded earlier. His surprise from suddenly ending up on the ground would only last so long. She only needed about two seconds to do what she wanted to, though.

"If you are ever yourself again...forgive me."

She left no force in reserve as she pulled back an arm, fingers curling into a fist, and then punched him right in his already-bleeding shoulder.

[Nothingness]

No Pain, No Gain

A look of sick and twisted amusement crossed his face as he watched Lanying struggle from his barrage of attacks. But then that looked turned to complete shock as she managed to duck underneath his blade, grab on to one of his legs, and force him to the ground. He would have scrambled back up to his feet immediately had he been expecting something like this, but needless to say it caught him completely off-guard as well as caused him to drop his sword. The next thing she did was probably the cheapest shot she could take: ramming her fist into his wounded shoulder.

Raen gasped in pain. Pain? He could feel pain! As much as it hurt, he could feel again! And his legs? He could move them! He was back in control of his body! Coughing, he managed to wheeze out, "I'll forgive you if you get your fist out of my shoulder. Damn, that hurts!" Using his uninjured arm he pushed himself upright, but as he did he felt more than one surge of pain go through his body. Still, it pain was better than numbness, and it truly meant that he was the one in control now. Now that he was sitting up he brought one leg in closer to keep his balance, and pressed his free hand against the still-bleeding wound. A rather weak coldness passed from his hand into his shoulder, but it numbed it a little. "I'm sorry for what I did to both of you. I know an apology doesn't mean much, but, I am sorry. Thank you for bringing me back. That witch, she just..." He let his voice trail off. Making excuses wasn't worth his breath, nor their ears.

[Aerith]

Honor and Care

Raen finally spoke, and Lanying could tell this was the Raen that she knew. It took her a few seconds to take her fist away from his shoulder, since part of her was still wary. There was no telling if this was some sort of trick. But she finally did remove her hand and watched him struggle to sit up. He began to apologize to her and Zack, but he stopped in the middle of his excuses. There was no need to make excuses. What had happened was already done. For now.

He pressed a hand to his shoulder, and Lanying immediately lost the battle-hardened expression that had dominated her face during the fight. Her own wounds were numerous and still bleeding, but she had gone through worse in experiences with the Heartless on her homeworld. She could hear the emperor's voice in her head.

Honor your allies.

There was melting ice aplenty around them, and so she sang. Gently, she moved his hand away from his shoulder and touched her own to the wound she had inflicted upon him. The bleeding trickled to a stop as flesh knitted back together. She finished her song, though her hand lingered for a moment. "I'm sorry, too," she said faintly. "Do not make me do that again."

[Summary:
Lanying used Soothing Sonata.
Posts until next use: 3
Uses remaining: 4]

[Zack]

Zack didn't know how he was able to just stand and watch. It went against his instincts, but Lanying right now reminded him of another girl he had run into. He had wanted to back that girl up too, but she had also refused and had done very well without his help. Hopefully something similar would happen here. He still kept his sword ready though just in case. He watched as Lanying use the ice that had formed on her shield to turn them into little spikes that shot out across the room. He held out his sword in front of him, deflecting any that were headed this way.

Though he couldn't help but wince when he saw the icicle stab through Raen's shoulder. He was surprised at Lanying's tenacity. It didn't look like he would have to step in at this rate. The air became colder as Raen used another one of his attacks, but it barely registered to Zack as he watched the two. Lanying was getting attacked but she managed to turn it against Raen and ended up punching his fresh wound. It looked like that was enough to get Raen back to normal. Lanying immediately healed up his wound.

He smirked as he watched the two and put his sword away. It really hadn't been his place at all to bring him back after all it looked like. He walked up to the two and gave a light punch to Raen's shoulder (he made sure it was the other shoulder). "Good to have you back," he told him.

[Angelus]

Marluxia scowled as Maleficent's dark fire attack caused his attack to turn into the hundreds of flower petals that it was famous for turning into when it collided with something.

"How unfortunate. It appears neither of us shall gain the upper hand in this duel." He dispersed his scythe, and smiled at Maleficent. He shook his head.

"Their involvement with me goes farther than revenge against any one member of the Organization. And because of such, I cannot simply allow you to have any of the three." He said this in his normal voice, so that if the three could hear him. But he spoke the next words quieter so that only Maleficent would hear them. And to make sure such was the case he vanished, and reappeared behind her, his scythe at her neck.

"At least not in their current state. My plans for them is far greater than just awakening the darkness in their hearts. The expression Rome wasn't created fits rather well with what I have planned. To abolish one Nobody power such as the Organization, one must have another Nobody power to replace it with. Such is the way of the Nobody, and such is the way it will always be." He spoke up, letting the three below hear his words.

"When next we meet witch, you will be eliminated. I cannot in good conscious allow you to pester these three." He teleported down to the three, and turned to them, faking a smile. These three might know he was, but that was only if they knew anything about Nobodies.

"After all, we share the goal of eliminating the Nobodies of Organization XIII, to protect the worlds."

[Maleficent]

Maleficent nodded as the cloaked figure shared her sentiments that neither of them would be winning this fight. "Indeed, she replied, watching the scythe disappear. Unfortunately the Nobody was not going to be so easily swayed, which did not surprise Maleficent. However, it was worth trying but now she saw that there was no point in continuing in trying to do so.

However, it was then that the Nobody told her of his intentions and Maleficent couldn't help but laugh at the foolishness of it. "Is that so?" she questioned after she was done laughing. He wanted to turn the three into Nobodies now did he? She doubted he would be capable and knew his foolish plans would fail. With luck the three would probably figure out his plans and put an end to them. Let him have the three for now then, she could return later once he had failed.

The Nobody then teleported down to the three and faked a smile, talking of taking down the Organization to save the worlds. She smirked at the foolish false statement. "When next we meet, I am sure you will be the one on the brink of your non-existence." she then turned over to the one whose heart was tainted. "As for you....Raen, was it? Do not think this is the end. Next time, you will bow down to me!" With that she disappeared in a burst o fgreen flame, laughing madly.

[Nothingness]

Piss Off; I'm Tired

Raen was about to object when Lanying started to heal him before she treated herself, but figured that he wasn't in any place to make requests. After she was done, she told him to never make her do that again. Her voice sounded so sad, so worried. He felt pretty bad about it, not that he wasn't already feeling bad enough. "I won't." He whispered, gently pushing her hand off of his shoulder. "Take care of yourself now. I can live with a few scrapes and bruises for a little bit."

Zack came up to him a few minutes later and gave him a friendly punch on the (uninjured) shoulder, welcoming him back. "Glad to be back. Sorry that you had to see that." Raen gave him a rather faint smile, though it certainly had a hint of apology in it. Pressing his good arm into the ground he pushed himself up, stumbling slightly as he stood up and grabbing onto Zack's shoulder for balance. His legs were shaking as well as his arms slightly, but that was most likely the adrenaline still coursing through his veins. "Better that than darkness." He thought with some melancholic amusement.

He looked up at the balcony just as Maleficent began screaming something about taking control of him again or some stupid crap. Yeah, what was the phrase? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice... Then the androgynous pretty boy that had protected Lanying and Zack spoke up. "Good conscience? You're a Nobody, and..." The man teleported down to the base floor, telling them that they shared a goal of eliminating something called Organization XIII all the Nobodies that belonged to it. "...you're dressed just like them." Raen walked over to where his sword lay and picked it up, making sure the blade wasn't damaged. It shouldn't have been--Moogle-crafted weapons were nigh unbreakable. Still, didn't hurt to check.

Satsfied, he sheathed his sword, turned towards the man, and gave him probably one of the most tired, bored, and flat stares he'd given anyone. "Listen pal, after all this crap I'm not in the mood. Quit the fake emotion bull--you're a Nobody, and wearing the same coat as those Organization guys, or whoever. As far as I'm concerned, you're asking me to kill you too, you abomination." He turned around and started to walk out of the ballroom. It would certainly be better to not listen to the snake in the garden anymore than he needed too.

[Aerith]

Not Above Asking for Help When Needed

She would have loved to heal herself, but she lacked the strength just now. A little blood never hurt anyone, and besides, the wounds were not that deep. Zack walked over to them and told Raen it was good to have him back. She could not agree more. But she wondered if this was permanent. Had this been a one-time episode, or would he lose himself to the darkness again? She did not know how many more times she could fight him.

When she heard the cloaked man's voice, she lifted her head. In the midst of battle, she had nearly forgotten that there were others here besides she, Zack, and Raen. The man was putting on a smile, pretending to be friendly, while the witch was yelling half-baked prophecies at Raen. She then vanished in quite the dramatic fashion, leaving the trio alone with the Nobody.

An attempt to persuade them to work with him in destroying the Organization was summarily rejected by Raen, who headed for the door. He had the right idea, she thought. They did not need to stay here and listen to whatever nonsense this Nobody spouted. With a soft groan, she pushed herself to her feet. A spike of alarm went through her at the sizable patch of blood she left behind on the floor, but she did not comment on it. Instead, she gave the cloaked man a cool, yet drained, look. "Leave us out of your petty squabbles."

With that, she turned to follow Raen through the doors, but she had to wait for the room to stop spinning first. Her head felt light. She attempted to shake it off and take a few steps forward, but she did not make much progress. Her strength abruptly gave out, and she collapsed onto her knees. The blood loss was getting to her. She needed things to stop moving in odd directions, so she closed her eyes and murmured to no one in particular. "Too exhausted... I cannot make it back by myself..."

[Zack]

Zack gave Raen a smirk as Raen apologized. "No worries man," he told him . He let Raen use his shoulder to help get him up off the ground and onto both his feet. He and Lanying looked pretty beat up. Again he was the only one really more than capable of moving around with no help. Though he now turned towards were he heard the voices of the cloaked figure and the witch. The witch had spoken about seeing them again and disappeared in a flash.

The cloaked man was now right by him and Zack had barely noticed, he had jumped back a bit in surprise. He was gonna thank him, but Raen acted hostile towards him calling him a Nobody. He wasn't sure what was going on and had a confused look on his face. Lanying also did not act friendly to the guy and both started walking towards the exit. Zack stared at the guy for a minute and then started heading out of the room himself.

However as he walked over he saw Lanying collapse onto her knees and he rushed over. He heard her mumble about not being able to make it back herself, so he came over and started to help her up. "You won't have to. I'll help you to the ship," he told her. He hoped they could hurry her over to the ship, Lanying deserved a rest.

[Angelus]

Always leave them wanting more...

[/center]

Marluxia's smile went away as Raen verbally assaulted Marluxia's fake attempts at being nice. This Nobody may have been a member of the Organization once, but not anymore. Marluxia pointed this out, as calmly as he could.

"True I wear the uniform of the Organization, but I'm one of them no more. They don't take kindly to those they consider traitors." He wouldn't elaborate on why he was considered a traitor, but it was obvious that these three were not fans of the Organization by any stretch of the imagination, so he figured that bringing it up would possibly rule in his favor. Doubtful, but it wouldn't hurt to say it anyway. His next comment was addressed to Lanying's statement.

"Petty though it may be, I would hardly call my conflict with the Organization a squabble. The end of our dance to the death will decide the fate of many worlds, possibly even those that you three came from." He put his hand to his chin, and thought. There were few within the Organization that could have antagonized these three so much.

"If you will not join me in my quest yet, tell me which member of the Organization has angered you so? Was it Xaldin? Or Xigbar? Or maybe even Zexion?" He stopped there for the moment, and waited for a response of some sort, though from the looks of things, he would get none.

[Nothingness]

On Empty Ears

Just as Raen was about to pass through the doorway he heard the sound of something hitting the floor. Turning around, he sighed and did his best to run to Lanying. The actual outcome was that his run was more like a wounded animal jogging. Luckily Zack had helped her up before he got there. "You shouldn't have healed me, you know." A friendly little smile crossed his lips. "Let's hurry back. There's plenty of first aid supplies on the ship." He started to walk quickly to the ship--the sooner he got there the sooner he could get the stuff to treat Lanying.

That pink-haired man kept rambling on about some nonsense: Raen didn't really catch anything important outside of the fact that this guy was a traitor. Seriously? He's a traitor and expecting to earn their trust? And he had such a histrionic attitude that it was really wearing on his already thin nerves. At least Demyx had been humorous (for the most part). Then he mentioned Zexion. As much as Raen would have loved to reply, he decided against it and just kept moving, not even pausing to register the name. Accepting help from a Nobody to get revenge on another Nobody? They didn't even understand the concept of "revenge." Besides, that was a personal matter between them and that certain Nobody.

He had already reached the door to the courtyard and pushed it open. Hopefully Zack and Lanying wouldn't be too far behind.