A Relaxing Vacation [Zack, Lanying, Loru]

[Nothingness]

It had been only two days since the events at Beast's Castle, but Raen could feel that everyone was still a little tense. He and Lanying had explained to Zack the whole deal with Nobodies, the balance, and their own missions. Raen was pretty sure that Zack understood all of it--the guy was energetic, not stupid. Still, at least now everyone knew exactly what was going on and was aware of the circumstances. It didn't really make him feel particularly better, but it was a nice consolation at least.

After their third day of flight, Raen spotted a rather interesting looking world in the distance. At first it looked like just ocean, but then he saw a few small islands--one of which had a rather quaint little town situated on it. Turning his head to the other two, he said rather cheerfully, "I think it's time for a real vacation, guys." He flew the ship in and landed it at a small port a little ways away from town. It had a few fishing vessels and nothing nearly as impressive as a Gummi Ship, but it didn't seem like anyone would mind.

Stepping off of the ship he immediately smelled the salty air of the ocean, felt the cool breeze that carried it, and could hear the sound of the waves crashing on the beach. It was so tranquil here. "Yeah, this is the perfect place for a vacation."

[Aerith]

Easiness

Lanying spent most of the flight tucked as comfortably as possible in a chair with all the pillows she needed. Thanks to the first-aid supplies on the ship, Raen and Zack had managed to bind up all her wounds to stop her from bleeding completely out. When she was not sleeping to recover her full strength, she was helping Raen explain to Zack everything that was happening. He seemed to absorb it all fairly well, which was good. Now, if they could just avoid running into any other hostile people for at least a few days, she could perhaps allow herself to be happier.

Eventually, they came upon a world that looked covered in water, and that instantly lifted her spirits. Raen mentioned something about a vacation, a real one, and Lanying could not help but crack a smile at that. Pessimism had no place here. This world looked too remote and too sparsely populated for anyone sinister to pay much attention to it. Here, they finally might be able to relax. They landed on the smaller island, which suited her just fine. The fewer people around, the more relaxing the three of them could do.

Raen immediately exited the ship, leaving her and Zack to follow. She stood slowly from her chair, only a hint of discomfort whispering through her body. There was enough water here that, should her wounds reopen, she could heal herself. Gingerly, she also left the ship and stood just outside. This place was beautiful and calming, and she hoped they could stay here for a good while.

Raising her voice so both of them could hear her, she said with a slight tease, "You boys should not expect me to go swimming for you this time." Then, she picked her way down to the beach. Right now, she would love to sit and simply watch the waves lap against the shore.

[Zack]

Zack finally understood this whole Nobody business now. Raen and Lanying had told him everything they knew. He was surprised to hear that they were creatures who had no hearts. He never thought something like that could exist, but here he'd already had met two of them. They even explained the current balance of the worlds, which now it finally made sense why Raen was using darkness.

However, now wasn't the time to think about that. They had just landed on a new world, one covered in water. Zack followed after Raen and Lanying as they came out of the ship. They had landed on a beach on an island. Raen made a good choice for a vacation spot. He turned when he heard Lanying's voice and he cracked a smile. Good, she seemed to be in better spirits, enough so to make a joke about what had happened in the jungle. "Aww, and we were so hoping you would!" he teased back.

He looked over at the surrounding area. Truth be told he never really knew what to do during a vacation. So he did the one activity he enjoyed and that relaxed him. He started doing squats. "One....Two.....Three...."

[Nothingness]

I'm Not Asleep...Yet

Raen chuckled a little at Lanying's comment about her not swimming. "Well, maybe next time." He was certainly glad that they all seemed to be in a much better mood than before. As he started to walk a little further down the beach he heard Zack counting something. Turning around, he stifled a little laugh at Zack doing squats. Of all the things a person could do during a vacation. But, hey, whatever made him happy. Raen, personally? He just sat down on the beach, laid on his back, and closed his eyes. He wasn't planning on sleeping--although this place was a perfect spot for a nap--but he just wanted a little down time before doing anything that required the slightest effort.

"Maybe I'll head into town in a bit," he thought, "After all, maybe we can actually stay here a few days. I doubt either of them would mind." He couldn't remember the last time he'd been so relaxed. Every muscle in his body seemed to loosen up. Crossing his legs, he put his hands behind his head and yawned. The sound of the waves was making it harder and harder for him to stay awake.

[Aerith]

Persistent Thoughts

Lanying reached the shoreline and sat down in the sand. The water, combined with the smell of the sand and sea and the sight of the blue sky dominated by a friendly sun, was so soothing. All three of them seemed content to go their separate ways for right now. Raen was farther down the beach, looking as though he might fall asleep any second. Zack was doing...squats? She resisted the urge to sigh. After all, if doing squats entertained Zack, then who was she to tell him to do something else?

While sitting in the sand, she unlaced her boots and slid them off her feet. Her stockings were next so that she could dig her bare toes into the sand. It was not too hot at all, and the sensation of the sand between her toes was pleasant. She leaned back and supported herself with her hands right behind her. Wisps of cloud floated above, and Lanying traced her eyes over the various shapes, imagining they were things other than simple clouds.

Alone with her thoughts, her mind inevitably wandered to her home. She wondered how the emperor was and if everything was still peaceful. Feelings of homesickness welled up in her heart. What if she was needed? Maybe she should suggest to the other two that they return to her homeworld next. But had she gained enough strength in her travels to face the emperor with confidence? And what if she was needed? Would she stay, while Zack and Raen left to continue their journey without her?

[Zack]

Zack continued doing squats as he looked to see what Raen and Lanying were doing. Raen looked as if he was about to fall asleep, while Lanying was just sitting by the shoreline. He knew that a vacation was supposed to be more for relaxing like they were doing, but squats were what relaxed him, so that's what he was doing. Plus, he felt like he needed more training after all that had happened.

After all first there was that Zexion guy who had utterly trounced them. What bothered Zack most was that the guy didn't even seem like he was much of a fighter either. Then there was also that other cloaked guy and that witch who controlled the darkness. So many strong people out there he had no ideas existed. Granted he had been gone for about 10 years, but that was no excuse. He started doing his squats faster. He hoped they would head back to the coliseum sometime soon, he needed the training.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Buttons wants a vacation, too.
--

Out in the city, Loru sat under her crate, her makeshift home. It was upside down on top of her this time, rather than her sitting in her. She sat with her knees pulled up to her chin, watching dust motes float about in the light coming in from the gaps in the crate. In her lap, visible only to her, was her trusty side kick: Buttons the White Cat. She stroked his fur with one hand.

It had been about a week since her encounter with Furiae, Asa and Xigbar... and the Nobodies that had attacked her. With a wounded look on her face, she rubbed a sore spot on her shoulder. She was still bruised from the Sniper's projectiles. Her pride was wounded more, however. All of her targets had gotten away and that was the second time in a short period of time that had happened. Loru didn't like that one bit. She was going to have to stop being so gosh darned kind to people.

Out of nowhere, Loru decided to turn the box over. Buttons disappeared and she flattened her palms against the top of the crate. She pushed up and then flipped over, landing with her feet in the air and her face in the bottom of the box.

"Well, Buttons... I wonder what fun we'll have tonight.[/color]"

[Nothingness]

Oh, So NOW it Works

A stray thought drifted into Raen's mind. Chewing on the thought, his eyelids slowly lifted. Taking much more effort than required to sit up, he eventually was sitting upright with one hand in the sand behind him, and curiously looking at the other. Just like in Beast's Castle, he let the darkness flow out of his heart, but all the while controlling how much. "Water flowing through a dam," he thought. The darkness the water, his heart the dam.

A dark fog began to roll off of his hand, dispersing on the sand. Standing up, he walked over to the water and rested his hand just on the surface. It instantly froze over and spread outward a couple of feet. Taking his hand off of the ice, he clenched it into a fist and staunched the darkness. "Well, at least I've got a little control." He muttered, smiling a little. Turning to the others, he said quite cheerfully, "I'm gonna head into town--see if I can't find us a nice place to stay. Sleeping on a bed should certainly be much nicer than sleeping on the ship, right?" He couldn't help but think that now would be the perfect time to finally start practicing.

[Aerith]

Overprotective

Being able to sit in relative silence was nice. There was nothing but the sound of the waves, the wind brushing through the sparse trees, and Zack grunting from exertion nearby. She glanced over at Raen, who was being rather quiet. For a moment, she thought about talking to him, but then he sat up and stared at his hand for a bit. Darkness seeped slowly down to the sand, and Lanying tensed, which only made a dull pain throb along her body from her mostly-healed wounds.

Please, not another fight. Please, not another fight.

She watched him move to the water and freeze a little of it, then step back to admire his handiwork. He did not look like he was about to snap again. Instead, he made the darkness fade away and then turned to her and Zack with a rather cheerful expression on his face. When he said he was going into town, that caught Lanying's interest. She stood her feet, leaving her boots and stockings in the sand.

"Do you want some company?" While she did not expect them to run into anything threatening on this island, after the events in Beast's Castle, she found herself feeling very protective of Raen. And the idea of him wandering off on his own was not very appealing to her.

[Zack]

Zack continued his squats, his eyes looking towards the horizon....for the most part. He gave the occasional glance towards Lanying and the less occasional glance towards Raen. They both weren't really doing anything all that interesting though, so he kept his focus. At least until Raen got up. Zack noticed a puff of darkness coming from his hands and his squats slowed for a moment, wanting to pay attention and see if he needed to head over there.

However, everything seemed okay. He went over and froze some of the water and then gave a cheery smile to him and Lanying, which Zack returned and started doing squats again. However he stopped when Raen addressed them. He was going to go into town. Zack wasn't going to think much of it, but Lanying suddenly asked him if he wanted company. She seemed slightly worried, which he didn't blame her for after what had happened.

He went back to doing squats. "Go on.....you two..." he said as he did them. "I'll watch....the ship....while you two....go into town...." Hopefully this way Raen would take Lanying along and then she would feel better. Maybe he could try and beat the squat record while he was waiting for the two as well.

[Nothingness]

I Don't Need a Chaperon

Raen was looking at the town in the distance before Lanying spoke up. He figured that she would still be worried about him, but apparently she was more worried than he thought. "I don't blame her, but she won't be able to watch me like this 24/7." Zack mentioning that he would watch the ship almost convinced Raen to say, but he figured that at least Zack hadn't done anything to damage it (yet). He turned his head to Lanying, saying with the same cheer in his voice, "Sure, the more the merrier. But I think," he pointed at her shoes and stocking, "You should at least put your shoes on before we head in." He waited for her to catch up before heading into town.

The actual town was very quaint. There was really no other word to describe it. It was a small seaside town--nothing fancy about it at all--with small houses, picket fences, and beautiful plant life. It took a while to find the inn, but that was mostly because it looked more or less like every other house, just larger and with a small sign reading "Inn." It wasn't difficult to get three rooms, and as soon as that was done, they left. As they were walking through the town, Raen said to Lanying, "I know it's gonna sound selfish, and I really have no right to say it, but, you really don't need to worry about me. I know how dangerous what I'm doing is, but I'm going to have to do it. I feel terrible for the things I've done, but I'm not going to stop." Yeah, he could already tell that he was making a mistake saying this.

[Aerith]

I Need to Know

After Raen had agreed to her indirect request to come with him, Lanying hurriedly brushed the sand off her feet and slipped back into her stockings and boots. Zack was going to stay behind and watch the ship while continuing to do his squats. Raen almost looked like he was hesitant about leaving Zack alone with the ship, for which Lanying could not blame him. She was sure Zack could handle himself just fine, but sometimes, his tendency to get over-excited could possibly get the best of him.

She caught up to Raen as he headed into town, and they wandered the streets in search of the inn. Suddenly, she was struck with the vast diversity of the worlds. Her own homeworld was rich with ancient, mystic beauty. The Coliseum had its own form of ancient richness, and Deep Jungle went in the opposite direction with its dense and sparsely populated scenery. Beast's Castle had been imbued with mysterious gloominess, and Traverse Town was a bustling metropolis of eternal night. Here, everything was peaceful and relaxed. Orderly, even. Houses of simple construct lined the few streets present. She and Raen had a bit of trouble finding the inn to begin with since everything was so similar in appearance.

After finding it and getting three rooms, they began walking back to the ship. For the most part, they had been walking in relative silence with a bit of small talk thrown here and there. But now, Raen was telling her that she did not need to worry about him and that he was not going to stop heading down the dark path he had chosen. She shut her eyes for a brief moment. "I know. You are not a child and can make your own decisions." For a moment, she paused. She could not look at him when, after taking a deep breath, she asked, "Had you not come back in that castle... you were not going to stop until I was dead, were you?" She needed to know. Because if that happened again, she would use that knowledge to push aside the guilt she would feel at the prospect of killing him instead.

[Nothingness]

Not a Question I'd Like to Answer

Raen held back a rather irritated groan--he hated being right about stuff like this. He knew that it was a mistake, yet he said it anyway, and now he had to answer the last question he wanted her to ask. "Honesty's the best policy, right?" He thought with more than a hint of nihilism. Taking his time to answer, he finally found the words and the voice to speak with, but opted to look down instead of at her. "I probably wouldn't have stopped, and even then, I'd have probably gone for Zack then those other two. I tried to free myself, but it was like I was suffocating. I kept trying to take a breath, but there wasn't any air. I couldn't move, I couldn't feel. All I could do was watch what I was doing, and struggle as best as I could to break free."

He stopped. He didn't want to remember that feeling, nor experience it ever again. Hell, talking about was making him feel a sense of claustrophobia he'd rather not be having. Looking at her at last, he said a little more awkwardly, "Uh, anyway, that's all I'm going to say about that. I'd rather we not talk about this. It's in the past--no need to bring it up again." That being said, Raen knew that he wouldn't be forgetting any of this any time soon, but the less it was mentioned the more likely it was to stay out of his mind. But in the back of his mind, he already knew that those memories would be his drive to control the darkness within him. A nightmare like that...he'd never let it happen again.

[Aerith]

Reaffirmation

She had suspected as much. The darkness had so dominated Raen that he would not have stopped until both she and Zack were dead. And probably even the witch and that pink-haired man, too. She needed to stop being so pessimistic about this. It was not as though Raen wanted to lose control, and she was sure he was working hard to keep from doing that again. He would get stronger, just as she would.

After he finished and said that he did not wish to talk about it anymore, she finally looked up at him and gave him her best reassuring smile. "Neither do I wish to speak of what happened in that castle again. As you say, it is in the past and is best forgotten." She turned her gaze back to the road ahead and watched the sun sinking ever so slowly toward the horizon. "And I still stand by my promise. I won't abandon you, no matter what happens." She had been too immersed in a culture of honor to even consider leaving a friend, even if he could be a potential threat to her life.

Quickly deciding to change the subject, she pointed at Zack, who they could see off in the distance, still doing his squats. "Does he not know how to relax at all?"

[Nothingness]

On Relaxing

It was nice to hear that Lanying still wasn't going to give up on him, despite everything he'd put the group through. The most he could say to that was a meager, "Thanks." He was glad that she had his back, even if there was a chance he might be attacking hers.

As Raen watched the slowly setting sun, Lanying commented on Zack still exercising. Raen chuckled slightly at that, as well as what he was planning on saying. "We all have different ways of relaxing. Some prefer a nice book and a comfy chair. Others," he pointed to Zack, "Enjoy to work out." Looking at Lanying with a mischievous grin, "Others prefer a nice dip in their underwear."

Walking towards Zack, he called out with a smile on his face, "It's getting to be a little late. We've got the rooms ready--wanna head in for the night?" After having been on a ship for so long, sleeping in a cozy bed was certainly a luxury.