New Design [Champion/Open]

[Aerith]

To defend one's honor means starting a food fight.
--------
[July 28th]
[Also note that I'm not bothering with dialogue coloring.]

The castle had lately been subdued. They had had no visitors, and the Heartless had been relegated to mere memories of the past. Almost. Beast still went on occasional hunting trips down in the cellars of his domain, but for the most part, peace reigned.

If you didn't count the antics of Lumiere and Cogsworth.

Belle had been reading in the library when a huge commotion broke out in the kitchen. Hurrying to the scene, she nearly tripped over a frantic Mrs. Potts.

"What's going on?"

The teapot was shaking with worry. "Oh, my goodness. It's terrible. Just terrible. Everything is ruined."

Belle knelt down to better speak with Mrs. Potts. "Is it Heartless? Do I need to find Beast?"

"Oh, no, dear, no. Heartless would be a grave matter, indeed. A very grave matter, but this isn't... Well, perhaps it is..."

Clearly, Belle was not getting anywhere fast with the teapot, so she quickly made her way to the kitchen. Upon opening the doors, she could understand what had twisted Mrs. Potts' handle out of whack.

Food was everywhere, splattered on the walls, floor, and ceiling. It was a veritable painting of culinary delights... which were all now completely unable to be served. Dinner was in less than an hour, too.

In the middle of everything, a candlestick and a clock were hurling insults--and food--at each other. What had happened this time? A few steps put her between the pair.

Her hands went to her hips, an admonishing look in her eyes. "What have I told you two about fighting? It gets you nowhere, right? And it's counterproductive. Not only have you ruined dinner, but you've put poor Mrs. Potts in a tizzy. What do you have to say for yourselves?"

Cogsworth was the first to speak up. "This craven candlestick dared insult the grandfather clock in one of the upstairs guest rooms. It was a matter of clock honor! I simply had to intervene!"

Belle held up a hand before either of them could say another word. "I want you both to help clean up this mess right now. And you'll help remake dinner, too."

Her judgment passed, she exited the kitchen and made her way to the entrance hall. From there, she would find the Beast and try to stall him. His temper still flared up from time to time, after all.

[Prythian]

Out in the courtyard, someone appeared, striding forth to the large doors that were the entrance to the castle proper. The Champion examined the doors. Perhaps they were locked. Perhaps they weren't. A grin spread across his face. He should arrive in style, though, so even if they weren't locked...

A black sword appeared in his hands, which he stabbed into the doorway, cutting through it like butter and beginning to carve out a section. Once that was done, he would simply use his sword of darkness to blast such a segment for it to fall inward and allow him passage through.

He wanted to leave remnants of his power on this world so that others would know he had been there.

[Aerith]

Who in the world?!
--------

Belle had ascended only one stair on her way to the west wing when she heard something plunge through front door. Whirling around, she gasped at the sight of a large sword cutting through the wood. The doors weren't locked against visitors. Who felt the need to destroy them unnecessarily?

No time for thinking about that now. She spun back around and flew up the stairs. She needed to find Beast.

It turned out that he already knew something was wrong. She ran smack into him as he was bounding down the hallway. He caught her up in his arms to keep her from stumbling backward and falling over.

"Belle, what's going on?"

She had to work to pull herself out of his tangled mess of fur so she could reply. "Someone's cutting through the front door in the entrance hall. I don't know why." Her pulse was pounding in her ears.

"I'll go take care of this. You stay here." He loosened his hold on her.

"No. I'll come with you. And you can't stop me." She put on her best stubborn look.

The Beast sighed in resignation. "Fine. Just stay back."

He descended the stairs first, but Belle was not far behind.

[Prythian]

As the section of door fell inward, the Champion stepped through. A wry smile was on his face as he surveyed the area before him, noting the Beast, and behind him, his target. "You know, I would've thought for sure your curse would have been lifted by now." He mused aloud. "However..." The Champion pointed his dark sword at the beast. "I'm afraid I must ask that you step aside. I require the princess behind you, and your might will not stand against mine."

Belle would likely be sensing the pure darkness rolling off the sword by now. "If you give her to me quietly, I promise to both safeguard her from any possible harm and bring her back once her job is done. Oh, and Princess, if he refuses my deal, you can still accept it to prevent me from harming him."

[Slash]

Oh, it's you. You dishonorable swine.

[/center]

Shisou was, once again, aimless. This was a nice enough world, though- the architecture was fascinating, if not tainted with the disgusting smell of human. Besides, the only activity for a great distance seemed to be inside the castle.

There was a loud sound a bit off. Perhaps a fight? Shisou lazily opened a corridor, moving to the source.

Oh, it was just the creature who had promised so much and then been such a disappointment. He was terrorizing...oh, it was a frail little human girl and some sort of monster guarding her. Ugh. This one didn't even look worth killing or even speaking to.

Shisou walked forward and leaned in the doorway, waving a fan idly to cool herself. He was threatening to kidnap her, it seemed. Even for someone who enjoyed the theatricalities that came with immortality and power, this seemed almost comically overdone.

"Terrorizing a little girl and her pet dog after tearing down such a nice door? You are low, aren't you? Lower than I could have expected, even after gathering such a pitiful force at the battle and then scurrying off like a mouse when the cat wakes up."

She shrugged. "What will you do with the human? Kill her? Rape her? Obviously something bad, since you couldn't be bothered to just explain yourself. No, had to destroy the door. It is a nice door, too..."

Shisou pondered the loss of the door for a few seconds.

[Prythian]

"I promised a large fight, and I delivered." The Champion said without turning around. "It is not my concern that many promptly left the fight. My concern was an objective that was taken out of my reach with that battle. If you would consider me a coward for leaving when such a fight is pointless, then do so; I am not one for unnecessary bloodshed."

He shook his head. "I no longer have any need for you to help me specifically. If you fight in the war, then fight in the war. If you don't, then don't. You will help me or not either way, and leaving a fight due to time and place has nothing to do with weakness or cowardliness. My goals are beyond what you can understand, obviously, and I have no need for a weakling who understands nothing of strategy."

[Slash]

Empty words from an empty creature.

[/center]

Shisou was completely unfazed. Her overestimation of him had been too great for words. It was as if someone had made a weapon of ultimate destruction and had then put it in the hands of a bratty little boy. "How silly. Saying that your objective moved is another word for saying that you miscalculated something."

She looked at the human girl. "Poor thing. Even you don't deserve to be accosted by such an arrogant child."

Waving her fan, she smiled slightly at the robed man. "Do not mind me, little one. I will watch you try, and I will watch you fall."

[Nothingness]

WAIT A MINUTE!

Yes...yes, he was here! He could smell the legendary steel! How many marches had he scoured, how many times had he purposely taken detours that were well off the beaten path only to take more? But now, the man from the desert was here! Getting lost--er, taking the scenic route--was not for nothing after all!

Gilgamesh appeared overhead, landing gracefully on his head in front of the three people and the furry dog-man. Leaping onto his feet, he drew and pointed the Wyrmhero Blade at the man in the silver cloak, speaking both loudly and very quickly. "Greetings, mortals! Before you stands the mightiest warrior in all Ivalice. It is I, GILGAMESH! So, you collect blades of legend, too, yes? Well, then let us see who possesses the most legendary of all! Hi-yah!" Doing a fantastic backflip and landing on one foot, Gilgamesh once again brandished his weapon towards the Champion. "Your weapons are forfeit to me!"

Naturally, Gilgamesh failed to realize just how ridiculous he looked. But, none of that mattered to the "Greatest Swordsman" who had never lost a battle in his life! These mortals would soon realize his magnificent prowess in battle.

[Fate]

I don't know if I want to know what I just walked into.
--

Neverland's Clock Tower was currently being repaired, leaving Zexion without his usual world to go off to and think. Why did Xigbar destroy it again? Oh yes, because he could. That's right. Unfortunately, that left the Schemer searching for somewhere else to go that wasn't The World That Never Was; he hadn't yet heard what Vexen had to say about the events at the Graveyard, but he definitely did not mind that one bit and was prolonging when he would have to hear it. Next week might work.

The Beast's Castle was a decent enough world to start off with. It had no clock tower, but it had a castle with a library where he wouldn't be bothered if he could help it. The building itself was rather large and there were most likely many unfrequented wings. Though, when he arrived, not in his normal cloak but his "average" attire, that thought flitted off. Of course. Why not just pick the world that the Champion just happened to be visiting? Why couldn't this have happened earlier when he was actually trying to find him? That would have been convenient. But why be convenient? That would just makes things easy and one couldn't have that.

Well, this meant that he should probably figure out what the Champion was doing here without getting spotted. He had left the Graveyard so quickly without much of a word and there were many questions as to why. Hopefully, he would get that answer while he was here. He started on his way to the castle, wondering what the hell the other scent was that was near the Champion. It shouldn't be anything to worry about...

[/size]

[Aerith]

Such an eclectic gathering.
--------

Things happened so quickly that neither Belle nor Beast had much time in between to react. The original intruder had pointed a large sword at them, the same sword that had sliced through their front door. It was pulsing with darkness. Belle had no problems telling that much. In fact, his whole person was steeped in it.

He was demanding that she leave with him. Or else he would hurt Beast. This action did not exactly mark him as trustworthy. Someone who lacked moral restraint to the point of threatening to kill was not usually someone of high character.

She would have said something along those lines in response, but they were interrupted by a strange, fan-bearing woman who threw some not-too-friendly words at the man. This was immediately followed by the appearance of another strange man, this one babbling on about swords. It was all very confusing, and Belle almost thought she would take the opportunity to slip away.

Beast erased that possibility quickly. With a low growl, he protested. "You're not taking Belle anywhere."

Truth be told, Belle didn't want to go anywhere else, especially not if it meant being away from Beast. For the moment, she would refrain from protesting his protest.

[Prythian]

"You think you're going to stop me, do you?" The Champion said, quite pointedly ignoring Gilgamesh. "I have given you my word that she will be even safer than she is in this castle. I have also given her the opportunity to spare you from the pain you will be feeling should you be foolish enough to attack me. And I am not leaving without her. It is vital beyond what you can even imagine."

He pointed his dark sword at Gilgamesh. "As for you... you should wait outside. I have business to take care of that is far more urgent than you."

He turned his attention back to Belle and the Beast. "So what is it? Will you attack me? I would hate to harm you, but I have absolutely no choice. Those are your options; attack or accept my offer. I am not the sort of problem you can ignore until it goes away."

[Aerith]

The answer is no.
--------

Belle had had just about had enough of people showing up here and trying to tear her and Beast apart. If it wasn't the Organization, it was someone else. The difference this time seemed to be that she was the primary target of concern. It didn't matter. She would have none of it.

Moving to Beast's side, she slid a reassuring hand into his fur. She wasn't going to leave him, but she didn't want him losing his life for her sake.

Turning her eyes to the dark-skinned stranger, her expression turned steely. "I'm not going with you. Why should I trust someone who broke into my home and threatened someone I care very much about? On top of that... you're covered in darkness."

[Slash]

I think I've had enough of this little charade.

[/center]

Shisou closed her fan resolutely. "That's quite enough." She'd had enough of this swine's game.

In a flash, she was gone from her spot. Grabbing the arm of the filthy human, she created a Corridor and was gone from sight.

God, but the feel of human arm flesh was disgusting. All grimy and filthy. She'd have to scrub her hands with acid.

"I'm not doing this to save you," she said as she passed through Corridor after Corridor while opening a few that she did not go through, making her path far more twisted. "Only to spite the swine."

[Aerith]

...?!
--------

No sooner had the words left her mouth than the woman leaning by the door had disappeared. In the blink of an eye, she was suddenly beside Belle.

Her fingers came out of Beast's fur, and she gasped. The woman had grabbed her arm and was hurriedly tugging her through one of those Corridors of Darkness. Belle had no time to say anything before the castle, its current occupants, and, more importantly, Beast disappeared from her sight.

The woman's words did nothing to clear the cloud of confusion. "Wh-what? Who are you and who was he?"
____________________

Meanwhile, back in the castle, Beast was furious. Belle had been snatched from him, and there was nothing he could do to get her back. He had no idea where she had gone.

He wanted to rip something apart.

Letting out a fierce roar, he dropped into a fighting stance. "Where did she go? Tell me now!"

[Slash]

Shut up, human.

[/center]

She was so annoying. Shisou kept traveling, unsure of exactly where she was now. Ugh, but she hated the humans.

"When we are somewhere safe, perhaps I shall tell you."

Shisou then summoned all of her strength. It was time to go to a place where neither light nor darkness could touch.

Belle disappeared along with her.

_________

This was the great void, the endless purgatory, a vast sea of grey. It was the land of the Cursed Ones. They knew it well. It was where they were sent when they "died", and where they were born again. Only the Cursed Ones themselves could enter it, and some of the oldest ones took almost permanent residence here.

It had taken most of her strength to bring the human. Shisou took a deep breath, listening to the far-off screams of her brothers and sisters. They bothered her, but she could not help their pain.

"Human. We are safe now, so please get your questions over with. Speak up so I can hear you over the screams."