Pyros Communicating Passively [Axel]

[Axel]

You play with darkness? I play with fire.
--------

Radiant Garden. Axel suppressed a grimace. He would rather avoid going back there if at all possible. Not until he had his heart back. And not until he could return there alongside Saïx. Any other circumstances were simply unacceptable. Perhaps he wouldn't need to go there to find Shardd and would instead run into him in the Corridors.

Ah, more Heartless. But these, Origas seemed to summon himself. The amount of darkness released in that attack was fairly impressive, though from what the Flame had heard, that did not hold a candle to what the Champion could do.

It seemed Origas was in need of some protection. Normally, protection wasn't Axel's thing, but in this case, making sure he didn't lose a newly-made ally was enough to warrant his protection. Eternal Flames appeared in a whirl of fire, and Axel went to work fending off the Heartless, making sure they kept their distance from Origas.

Flames consumed his chakrams, and he unleashed the full fury of Solar Flare against the small band of creatures. Even the Defenders couldn't completely escape harm as the pillars of flame erupted beneath them. Most of the Heartless were incinerated. Just a few remained.

[Summary:
Axel used Solar Flare.
Posts until next use: 5
Uses remaining: 3]

[Administrator]

Stoking the flames.

Origas nodded to his newfound ally. "I thank you, and now, it is time for me to do what I do best." The soulfires were burning yet again, as hot as before. Drawing on them was a simple task, and the black fires formed between his fingers. The flames burned and burned, growing larger and being compressed, over and over again. Heartless gathered around him, but they did not attack. They seemed intrigued by what this mortal thought he could do.

The flames had been sufficiently stoked by the time the first Soldier leapt. Origas dodged to the side, kicking the creature aside and launching the ball of fire at a cluster of the creatures. After the ball exploded, destroying the cluster, there were not many left. Only two Soldiers and two of the Wizards, who were unaffected by these elemental attacks flying around. In fact, the energies likely helped to sustain the creatures. One lifted a staff, causing lightning to come crashing down at Origas.

"Lightning? Hmm," he said as the edge struck him while he dove to the side. There wasn't much he could do about those creatures, but... Pointing a finger at one of the Soldiers, a ball of black flames formed, just enough destructive soulfire to melt the creature into its component darkness. Breathing harder than he had before, Origas rose to a single knee, his back curved. The soulfire within him was exhausting quickly, as he wasn't giving it proper time to recuperate.

Standing up, Origas drew himself into a fighting position. He knew it was likely that Axel would finish off the remainder of the Heartless, but still...he wasn't quite sure that he wanted to wait that long.

Origas used Energy Blast. Cooldown 1/5. Uses 1/2
Origas used Soulfire. Cooldown 1/4
Shadow Eruption Cooldown 2/5. Uses 1/2

[Axel]

Next time, let's go for different entertainment.
--------

Well, slaying Heartless could only be entertaining for so long, and Axel had reached the end of that rope. If Heartless killing was all Origas was interested in, perhaps this alliance wouldn't turn out to be so favorable for the Flame.

His chakrams flew in rapid succession toward the two Wizards, both of them disintegrating as they met his weapons. The Soldier went down in a similar manner. Yawn. Once every trace of the Heartless was gone, his chakrams vanished, and he turned to Origas.

"Hey. Lookin' a little beat there. Might want to take it easy."

[Administrator]

Meaningful conversation?

As predicted, Axel was able to destroy the rest of the Heartless with ease. The man made a mention of his physicality, but Origas shook his head. "I'm fine. Just not used to the way Shardd's body works, even though I've shared it with him for about a year now." Though it was a lie, Origas felt nothing at it, not a twinge of conscience. Though now that the Heartless were destroyed, it was time to actually communicate. But what to talk about?

"My apologies for the seemingly random Heartless encounter, I needed to test out this body again. Now that I am much more comfortable in it, I will be far more useful when the time comes for it." Origas knew that the Nobody would understand the flexing of his metaphorical muscles. Or, rather, he assumed it. Just because he had a form did not mean he was capable of using it until he was comfortable with it.

Stretching himself out, Origas looked around. "I assume this is the part where we are supposed to have some meaningful conversation about light or darkness or something in between. To tell you the truth," the man laughed bitterly, "I don't give a damn about any of them. What good are forces if you don't stick around to use them? Dying for power is just stupidity, in my opinion."

After all, survival was tantamount; everything else was secondary.

[Axel]

That makes two of us, it seems.
--------

Origas abruptly switched tracks and decided he wanted to talk. Meaningful conversation? More like tiresome conversation. Talking about light and darkness was getting into metaphysical realms Axel didn't really care about.

He shrugged. "I don't usually make decisions based on the state of nebulous concepts. Maybe some people do, but not me."

Moving over to a nearby tree, the Flame leaned against it and crossed his arms. "As long as I get my heart back, I don't give a damn about the state of the worlds. I want what's in my best interest and no one else's."

[Administrator]

Something to chew on while sitting in the jungle.

Origas nodded, smiling. "See, that's what I'm talking about. You want very much the same thing I do; to live." Laughing, Origas continued. "I don't mean the pathetic existence of a Nobody; no offense to my present company, but the majority are wretches. No," he said, a grin spreading across his face as he began to circle the tree stump, making outrageous hand gestures reminiscent of a certain other Nobody, "I mean living. Knowing that you are alive, in control; feeling, touching, tasting, breathing, enjoying.

"That," Origas emphasized, "that is what I mean by wanting to live. I want my own body, this one or another; it matters not. I want to have my own actions without the shadow of another upon me--or, rather, in control of our shared body most of the time." Sighing, Origas sat back on the stump. He shrugged. "That's just how it is. Maybe you or I will change it, but not alone.

"No, it will take more than you or I to change our fate. We will need-" Origas was cut off as a sudden surge went through his part of their consciousness. "Shardd is awakening. I have not long. Keep this in mind; the way to your heart is not through a realm, but rather through the realm that is not." At this, Origas let go of control and Shardd came reeling back into his senses.

Checking all of his limbs, he found himself fully functional. Origas? Shardd's mind tentatively sent the thought out. A few moments passed without a response. You chose the most opportune time to butt in, as always. You're bitingly sarcastic, as always, Shardd replied, his pride sufficiently hurt. But Origas just mentally grinned and retreated to the recesses, muttering to himself about Nobodies and nothingness and hearts. It was kinda boring.

Turning to look at Axel, Shardd asked him a question. "Did I miss anything important?" Of course, Origas was professional enough not to respond, but he fervently hoped that the man would not respond. Shardd caught not a whit of it. Did I miss something? Origas mentally shook his head. We chatted, but besides that, nothing.[/b] Shardd trusted Origas, but he still wanted to know what Axel would say.

And so it was that Shardd awaited the Nobody's reply.[/size]

[Axel]

You can't do that to me. Come back, dammit.
--------

It was just Axel's luck that someone who seemed to know more than he did decided to go back into regression the minute he might have been getting somewhere. But the Flame resisted the urge to say anything to stop Origas from leaving. Shardd's darker half had made it pretty clear that it was futile, anyway. Unless...

No. Axel couldn't do that. If Shardd suddenly lost control again so soon after getting it back, he might start to grow suspicious. But Axel needed any and all information he could get out of Origas. If he had possessed a heart, hope very well might have flickered inside.

So... Kingdom Hearts isn't the answer? What, then? It's not surprising that Xemnas would lie to the rest of us, but did he actually know the truth, too?

Axel shook off those thoughts for now. Shardd was here, and the Flame didn't want to look too introspective. "Nah, you didn't miss anything important. Mostly just some Heartless."

[Administrator]

Shardd nodded. So, Origas had been telling the truth, which was exactly as he had thought. Kicking his feet, the boy could not think of what the two should do next for the life of him. Of course, at that point, he saw a gummi ship landing in a clearing in the distance. It being likely his only chance to leave this planet for a while, Shardd turned to Axel and spoke his parting words.

"I'm going to go see if I can go on that Gummi ship and get to my next world with them. So...bye, Axel! I'll see you again some other time!" Origas mumbled something in Shardd's head, repeating himself when he wasn't heard the first time. Shard repeated it aloud for Axel. "Origas says, 'if the time comes when one becomes two, there shall be a newcomer to the castle that never was.' I don't know what it means, but he said it was important."

Shrugging, Shardd turned away from Axel and ran towards the clearing and his path to the next world. Meanwhile, Origas sat back in the recesses of his mind. One day, there will be no burden, no weight upon my mind. On that day, Axel, there will be great things happening. Many great things.[/b] No one, not even Shardd, heard the deep, nearly maniacal laughter that Origas devolved into.[/size]

[Axel]

SOMEONE IS GOING TO BURN NOW. IF I HAVE TO PRETEND THESE TREES ARE XEMNAS, I WILL DO THAT.
--------

Dammit. That kid is even more annoying now. I should have smacked him behind the head when I had the chance. Now I don't know when I'll see him again.

Shardd vanished into the trees before Axel could say anything in response, which was probably just as well. He might very well have punched him in the face. Or probably burned his face off. One of those.

Well, he was gone. And he still wanted to burn things. Trees. Trees were good. All he had to do was imagine that these trees were all Xemnas.

Yeah, this is what I'm gonna do to you, Xemmy. Hope you like fire.

With a smirk, he summoned his chakrams and went to work setting every little scrap of flammable foliage on fire.