Constant Motion [Radiant Garden People]

[Cloud]

Speechless

Reluctantly, Cloud lowered his sword at Aerith's request, though that didn't mean he trusted their so called "guest". Since when did the Organization go around delivering important news? And what on earth was even being delivered? Perhaps some sort of ultimatum. "Surrender to the Organization or die". That was probably it. Coming inside of the house, he moved to the left of the door, taking a spot against the wall behind where Aerith was sitting. His eyes were trained on the messenger, watching carefully for any signs of trouble. Leon and Yuffie both made their entrances (Yuffie's being not all that graceful), before the announcement was finally given. Apparently it was from Queen Minnie, supposedly.

King Mickey was... dead? Killed by the Champion... His initial reaction was one of disbelief, automatically causing him to question the truth of this news. After all-- this was a member of Organization XIII they were talking to; it was hardly a trustworthy source of information. But what motive would the Nobody really have for lying about that? None really came to mind... Regardless of how much he might have wanted to deny it, he had a sickening feeling it was completely true. For a moment, the entire room was silent as the message sunk in.

Cloud looked down at the floor. His hands tightened into fists, he suddenly finding himself filled with anger, much more than sadness. It wasn't like he hadn't already had plenty of reason to hate the Champion after the original encounter with him and what he had done to the Marketplace, not to mention them. But now, knowing this... Honestly, he hadn't even know King Mickey all that well; probably less than anyone else in the room... Still, that didn't matter. Going around killing any innocent people was wrong. And not only the King, but more than fifty other keybladers too?! That was just...

It was then that a silver-haired boy that Cloud did not recognize entered the room, acting strangely as if he knew the members of the Restoration Committee. Which was possibly true with some of them, he supposed [though it actually isn't, Jay]. This identity confusion was soon cleared up, however, when a more familiar face, Sora, followed soon after, along with a girl who was likely Kairi. All three of them were unaware of the grave subject of the current conversation, but Cloud was still at too much of a loss for words to inform them. The Nobody reiterated what had already been said and then left, off to inform someone else.

Hearing it shut, Cloud looked over at the door. Who was showing up now? It was Vincent, making a surprising appearance in the middle of the day (usually the rumored vampire was never seen about while the sun was up). And of course he was wanting to know what had happened, evidently being able to read the gloomy air of the room. It would have been nice if everyone had shown up at the beginning, so they didn't have to continue to repeat that the King was dead. Cloud started to open his mouth to answer the question for hopefully the last time, but shut it, changing his mind.

[Aerith]

Now What?
--------

Zexion left without too much ado, only to be replaced by Sora, Riku, and Kairi. Vincent also entered late. Considering that no one else seemed up to repeating this devastating news, Aerith took it upon herself to do so. Fixing the three teenagers with a look of great sadness, she said softly, "King Mickey is dead. The Champion has killed him."

_______________________

It was strange returning to her original homeworld like this. Everything was so different since the last time she had been here. It was both worse and better. The Restoration Committee was obviously hard at work repairing the damage done when she was still a small child and also the more recent damage done by the Champion.

However, she had not expected to hear those words come out of Aerith's mouth.

The King was dead? The Champion had done it? Kairi suddenly went cold. How dare he? How dare he ask for her help and then turn around and...

Guilt lanced her chest. Wait. Had he killed Mickey because she wasn't acting fast enough for him? No, that couldn't be right. Mickey hadn't been mentioned at all in their conversation. Only Sora had.

Sora. If Mickey could fall to the Champion, then Sora was in even more danger. She believed in his strength, of course. But Mickey had possessed something that he lacked--experience. Instinctively, she felt for Sora's hand and squeezed it.

"What do we do now?" She asked the question that was probably on everyone's minds.

[Nothingness]

Do What You Want

Zexion left, Vincent came in, followed shortly by Sora, Kairi, and their friend, Riku. Everyone was caught in whatever turbulent thoughts were stirring within their minds. Aerith repeating what they all knew was enough for Leon. Pushing himself off the wall, he answered Kairi's question, albeit rhetorically, "Whatever you want too." He couldn't stand it in this damn house--he needed some air. Anything to get his mind off of this. He walked out of the house and went down to the farthest restoration site, vainly hoping that doing something would keep his mind off the subject.

[Yuffie]

Yuffie gathered herself as she got back up from her failed attempt of a sneak attack. Man, it would have been perfect if she hadn't tripped! Reluctantly she put away her shuriken, as it seemed the Organization member was here to talk instead of fight. She was a bit disappointed, she kind of wanted to kick his butt. However the guy was about to drop a bombshell on them.

The king had been killed. At first the words didn't register, but then they hit full force. "W-what?!" she replied in disbelief. There was no way that could ever happen! The king would never have been killed ever! But somehow, she knew that it was probably true. Not to mention hearing that around fifty or so keyblade wielders had been killed as well, the information was overwhelming.

She couldn't stop the tears from starting to form. What was worse was that Sora, Kairi, and Riku all happened to arrive just in time for the Organization member to inform them what had happened. Yuffie was trying to be strong but it was hard with so many people around. She went outside the house and leaned against the wall outside, letting the tears flow.

[Castle]

That was probably the worst news that Sora had ever heard in his life.

At first, his brain just sort of shut down for a second, unable to comprehend what Zexion had just told them. He stared blankly at the Organization member, mumbling a confused "What?" before the Nobody left the house through a Corridor. Sora then looked from one RGRC member to the other, hoping feebly that someone would say something to disprove what had been revealed.

"That can't be possible, right? There has to be some mistake..."

Somebody else entered the house, a man in a red cape whom Sora did not recognize. His arrival prompted Aerith to summarize what Zexion said. The finality of her words finally struck Sora's brain into gear, and a look of shock crept onto his expressive face. Leon and Yuffie both left, Yuffie in tears.

"This can't be happening," he said quietly, bowing his head and shaking it slowly back and forth, "It just... can't."

He suddenly noticed that Kairi was holding his hand. His gaze traced a path up her arm to her face, where he made brief eye contact. He turned his head the other way to look at Riku, wondering about his reaction. He wasn't even sure what his own reaction was yet. The information had only just gotten in and was still processing.

[Administrator]

...no...

It couldn't be true. Riku stood completely still, so still he could almost be mistaken for a dead corpse, if not for the slow and steady rise and fall of his chest. Mickey's dead? His mind tried to process it. Memories of all of the times he had shared with the King flashed through his head, from their meeting in Castle Oblivion to where they had last parted, and the boy had told Mickey that he needed time off.

And now he was gone. Riku couldn't believe it. "Did he," his voice asked quietly, the tone of deep sorrow coated by a false emptiness carrying through, "die in his castle?" That was where Riku had told him to go...and if he died there, then it was his fault he was there. Maybe if he hadn't told Mickey to slow down... Riku felt the grief, so similar to the grief he had earned himself two years earlier, when he had not been strong enough to keep himself from the darkness and he had hurt his friends.

He could have stopped it. Riku just knew it. If he had done something different, he could have stopped Mickey from dying. If he had been there, maybe he could have fought off the man who had killed him. I could have done something. I should have done something. Riku turned away from the gathered assembly and stared away from them, so that they couldn't see the tears that streaked down his face.

The rivulets ran down his face to his chin, where small droplets dripped consistently, striking the floor where none would see.

[Vincent Valentine]

Too much to think about...
--

Vincent reacted as he always did: silence. This, however, was a completely different kind of silence. The tension in the room, the sadness... it was suffocating. The cloaked man went tense. He wasn't speaking, not because he didn't want to but because he wasn't able to. Leon stormed past him and Vincent didn't move.

He wasn't sure what to say. What could he say? Any comforting words would only be empty. There was no explanation, nothing. His brain finally registered the fact the Champion had done this and Vincent looked directly at Aerith. He had been afraid of something like this happening. And the worst part was... he still didn't know how to answer Aerith's question. He had been thinking about it ever since their discussion in her home but there was no solution in sight. How infuriating. What he really would have liked to do was give the Champion what he deserved. Normally, Vincent's first instinct would not be to kill but in this case... that man had caused his friends so much grief. Mickey couldn't have possibly been the only one killed. With the kind of power the Champion obviously possessed, surely there had to be more.

He hated having come to this point but he got the feeling that this Champion wasn't one to be negotiated with. Talking him out of his goal, whatever it was, was not a likely option. Given their previous experience fighting him, it would have to be a fight to the death. How were they supposed to do that, though? Weeks ago, there had been at least five against him and they lost miserably.

This notion only got stronger when Yuffie ran past him and out the door, obviously in tears.

Something occured him just as he was leaving to go find her. He thought the Champion needed to be stopped but what if he was stopped? What would happen then? He hesitated at the door. Aerith had mention an imbalance in light and darkness and it was no coincidence. That imblance and the Champion were connected... so what would become of all the worlds if he was stopped? It was an impossible choice, but Vincent was sure there had to be a better way of going about fixing the imbalance without murder. So maybe there was a better way to go about stopping the Champion...

He opened the door and found Yuffie sitting against the house. He wasn't sure what to say, or what to do so he just stood there, dumbly. It was a lot better than being inside the crowded house, drowning in sadness.

[Castle]

Sora's heart sank even further when Riku turned away. He didn't need to see his friend's face to know what was going on there. It was bad enough to feel his own hurt, but watching the others feel the same way made it worse. A cold fist squeezed the inside of his chest, and he turned toward Aerith and Cloud, who were the only other Committee members left in the room.

"Are you... are you sure this is even true? Wouldn't someone have been there with him, to help him? Even if the Champion ambushed him, his friends would have been..."

He couldn't say any more. The frustrated anger that had risen in his voice and expression wavered and vanished as a tear finally escaped his eye. He glanced away and brushed the side of his fist over his face.

Denial wouldn't erase the truth. He knew that what Zexion said was true. It was painful, but he just knew it, and so did everyone else here.

I should have been there.

The King would have been there for him. He had been there for him. And now, Mickey was gone, and Sora and the others had been powerless to help him. It didn't seem right at all.

[Aerith]

Sorrow
--------

Everyone was leaving. Only she, Cloud, and the three teenagers were left. The sadness was almost unbearable. She could understand why all the others had left to grieve in their own ways. But out of all of them, Aerith felt as though she needed to be the pillar of strength, the one anchor that would keep everyone from drifting into an endless sea of despair.

Would she break under the strain? Cloud alone was difficult to hold onto.

"Sora, Riku, Kairi. Stay here for as long as you need."

She rose from her chair and took Cloud's hand, leading him outside. Just as the others had their personal ways of dealing with loss, so did she. Her flowers would be her comfort. And having Cloud with her, even if he said not a word, would help, too.
__________________________

After Aerith left, Kairi did the only thing that sprang to mind. She wrapped her arms around Sora and just held him for a long time. A few tears soaked into his shoulder.