Libraries and Vices [Leon, Yuffie, Maleficent]

[Aerith]

Perhaps Brute Force is Called For?

Now that Leon and Yuffie were both here, Aerith was relegated to her background role of watching and offering support if needed. Not that there was much she could do beyond what Leon and Yuffie were already doing. If either of them needed healing, she would help. But they took out the Heartless obstacle well enough on their own.

With the way clear, Aerith took the initiative and moved past her two friends, into the room beyond. Stairs on both sides lead down to where the door that Yuffie said was locked. Not that Aerith didn't believe her, but she was never one to leave any possibility unchecked. As she walked down the stairs, she expected Heartless to pop up and attack, but none did. It was far too quiet.

She reached the doors and pushed on them. Nothing. Not even a small budge. Then she looked for a place to grasp and tried to pull them open. That also didn't work. The doors were, as Yuffie had said, quite locked. She turned around, putting her back to the doors, and looked up at her friends. "I don't suppose we could make this easy on ourselves and simply break the doors down?"

[Nothingness]

Batter Up!

Despite Yuffie's reassurance, Leon knew better; he knew that she was just as nervous and scared as before. Hell, even he couldn't help but feel a little nervous, himself. Still, at least she was trying her best, so that must mean something. "If only there was an easy way out of here."

Aerith piped up with a rather "Aerith" idea, but that wasn't particularly surprising. Breaking down the door would cause quite the ruckus, but its not like anyone in the Castle wouldn't have heard them before anyway. "Alright, let's see if this works." Leon said to no one in particular, marching towards the door. Stopping in front of it, he motioned for Aerith to move back. Once she was out of the way, Leon put as much force as possible into a swing of his gunblade. Yet, despite putting in both the power in combination with the trigger, his blade only left a gouge the door. Ripping the blade out, he walked over to the door and kicked it before slashing it a few more times. Still nothing. "Looks like we'll have to find another way."

[Yuffie]

Yuffie's smile disappeared as Leon and Aerith turned their attention on to the door. Despite the reassurance, she was still upset having to be here. She watched as Aerith tried the doors. They were still looked and she suggested maybe breaking the door down. Leon decided to try and Yuffie crossed her fingers hoping it would work. Of course he didn't manage to do so, which she expected but she was disappointed all the same.

She sighed, now they had to go in further into the castle. That was just asking for trouble. All of a sudden though, she had this chill running down her spine. She didn't know why that was, but then she heard footsteps. She turned around and gasped in surprise. She jumped backwards, flipping in the air and taking out her fuma shuriken as she landed.

"Its you!" she exclaimed angrily, yet slightly scared at the same time.

[Maleficent]

Maleficent had been watching the whole time. She had sensed the their presence in her castle and when she realized who it was, decided to have a little fun. Two of them had been tainted with darkness, which pleased her. However, there was still light in them and she needed to snuff that light out. She had not made her presence known, opting to watch them. However, she was getting rather bored of that quickly.

So she had decided to appear to them. Maybe now they would be more amusing. "Ah, so the Restoration Committee has graced me with their presence," she said mockingly. "What business do you have here?" She then smirked. "Are two of you ready to join the darkness already?"

[Aerith]

Negotiation Attempt

She really had expected Leon to be able to break through the doors, so her disappointment at his failure ran deep. However, she did not let it show on her face. As the self-appointed optimist of the group, Aerith couldn't allow herself to be the cause of more negative feelings than those that were already present. Yuffie, in particular, was radiating fear, and Aerith did not doubt that Leon was nearing that territory of emotion, as well.

She heard Yuffie shout and turned quickly to find Maleficent now in the hall. An involuntary shiver ran down her spine, but she stood her ground, fingers curled into soft fists at her sides. The witch had trapped them here, probably sensing the darkness growing inside Yuffie and Leon. Unwilling to watch her friends get caught up in these games, Aerith stepped forward and looked calmly at Maleficent.

"We didn't come here to fight. But we also didn't come here to join you. I was only borrowing some time in the library, and they followed me here." She doubted offering a simple explanation was going to convince the witch to let them go freely. But perhaps, showing some courage in the face of darkness would inspire her two friends not to fall prey to the witch's schemes. "We were on our way out, and we won't bother you again. Could you kindly unlock the door for us?"

[Nothingness]

The Host Arrives

Typical. Just when he was thinking of a way for them to get out, the witch just had to show her ugly face. Just as Leon was about to tell Maleficent in no particularly nice way that he and Yuffie weren't going to be joining her anytime soon, Aerith spoke up. Of course, going the pacifist route wasn't something he normally did, or agreed with, and he doubted that it would work. Still, some part of him hoped that it would. Naturally, that didn't stop him from keeping a firm grip on his gunblade, should the witch try anything.

[Maleficent]

Maleficent couldn't help but chuckle at the girl's words. The girl spouted incredibly naive words. She was asking for her to unlock the doors? And kindly no less? There was no chance of that happening, not now. However, she did not really care one way or the other about the girl, only the other two. "I have no interest in you young one," she told her. "So long as you don't interfere you are free to go. However, the other two, the man and child, stay here,"

She swirled her hand around above the orb on her scepter. It was a subtle motion, one that would go unnoticed until its purpose was made clear. "I cannot ignore this new darkness in front of me. Perhaps the both of you will need some coaxing before you are ready to join," she announced, as she worked her magic.

[Yuffie]

Ugh, that witch made Yuffie so angry! She was a bit surprised but not really surprised that Aerith attempted to try for a peaceful negotiation, but she knew that wouldn't work. Even though she hoped it would. However, there was no reasoning with this witch. They were going to have to-

Wait did the witch just call her a child? Oh.....it was on now! "I am NOT a child!!" she yelled at the witch angrily. It was then she started rushing towards her, ready to wipe that stupid smirk off the witch's face. However she stopped short, her chest suddenly feeling heavy. She put her hand where her heart was. "W-what's happening....?"

[Aerith]

Voice of Reason

Maleficent's lack of interest in her was further confirmation that Aerith was the only one of her friends not tainted by the darkness. While this was good news for her, it was not good news for Yuffie and Leon who were both right in the witch's sights. One of those long-nailed hands moved subtly over the top of the staff right when Yuffie decided it would be a good idea to launch a direct attack against Maleficent.

However, the ninja stopped about halfway there, confusion plastered on her face while a hand went to her chest. Aerith moved over to her and took hold of her friend's free arm. "Yuffie, stop panicking." Her voice was calm and soothing. "It will only make the feeling worse." Things couldn't get out of control now, not before they could find a way out of here.

[Nothingness]

Get Lost, Hag

Leon was done with talking. He'd make sure that witch was dead and gone before they were done here. Not even bothering to say anything, he charged at her, sword in hand. Before he even made it half-way to her, though, he stopped and gripped his chest. "Dammit...what's she doing?" His heart felt as though it were a brick of lead, and he started to fight back the feeling. Aerith's words gave him some support, but words were just words. Still, he couldn't let the people down--not now. Not after so much work had been done.

[Yuffie]

Yuffie felt like she could barely breath. Her chest suddenly feeling much heavier than she was used to. It was obviously Maleficent's doing. Aerith soon came over to her and told her to calm down. Unfortunately, that was easier said than done. It was obvious now that there was much more darkness in her heart than Yuffie had thought. It was now a much more real threat then it was before. And that angered and terrified her.

She looked up at Maleficent, the witch having that smug look on her face. Yuffie wanted to get rid of that look badly. "Stop this right now!" she managed to yell angrily at the witch. She felt so angry and suddenly she felt herself moving. Although it was almost like she wasn't exactly moving herself. But she had her fuma shuriken in hand and was headed straight for the witch, ready to attack.

[Maleficent]

Maleficent gave a small chuckle of amusement when she saw the two tainted ones fall to their knees, hands over their chests. The darkness was quite obviously affecting them. It was pleasing to see, and maybe it would be easier to open their hearts to darkness than she had previously thought. The idea that she would soon have more pawns made her smirk in delight.

It was then she noticed that the one she was not interested in trying to help them. However, it was futile. They would give in sooner or later, it mattered not to her. It was then though, that the child had started rushing at her, sounding much more aggressive than she had previously. Maleficent laughed at this and aimed her staff at her, a ball of green flame appearing out of it, hitting the child and throwing her back towards the young woman there. "Yes....that's it my child.... she told her. Do I make you angry? Use that anger, give in to the darkness in your heart!"

[Maleficent used Dark Fira 2 posts til next use]

[Nothingness]

Getting the Hell Outta Dodge

Leon had had enough of this darkness crap. Standing up straight he ignored the pain in his chest. Holding up his sword, he began to focus his magic into it, and within a second his blade became coated in energy. "You can go to hell." Was all he said to Maleficent before firing off a Fire spell directly at her. With that as a distraction, he raced towards the door and began assaulting it. Swinging the blade and himself upwards, he struck the door with enough force to create a crack in it, and before he even landed he spun in a circle, forming explosive orbs around himself. Detonating them, he blew the door away.

"Yuffie, Aerith, come on!" Leon shouted as he ran out the door. He wasn't fond of the idea of running, but there was no way that he would let that damn witch turn him on his friends. He didn't stop running until he was outside the castle gates where he knew the witch wouldn't dare head. Catching his breath, he took one last look at the castle as he waited for the other two to catch up. Once they did, the three of them returned to Merlin's house. It was pretty much an unspoken agreement that they were too tired from both the encounter with the witch and the mad-dash away to head back to their own houses.

[Leon used ALL of his abilities. Too lazy to post cooldowns]